Thank you so much for the new follows/faves/reviews! I wasn't able to pm anyone this week since everyone reviewed as a guest, so allow me to respond here:

Guest (1): Thank you! I'm glad you liked how that resolved.

Me: Thanks! I suspect you are no stranger but I don't want to assume… ;)

Guest (2): Thank you Thank you!

Ayame: Here it is!

LoveMyShips: I get where you are coming from; he has never been like that before, BUT! There is a reason for that! He's never been in this situation before. I wanted to portray the intensity of his frustration, unreleased aggression, and ultimate impotence in this situation. There is NOTHING he can do without destroying Ichigo, except observe silently. I know when I am feeling oppressed, rage is JUST below the surface, and in the absence of action, language is the only way to express aggression. Anyway, that's the reason for the colorful language, and I stand by it. You are, of course, welcome to your opinion and I am happy to hear it! :)

And without further ado,

Chapter 15: Temporary Order

September 26th

Orihime sat at her desk that Friday afternoon lost in thought while waiting for the bell announcing that school was done for the weekend. The weeks following Orihime's assault had been peaceful. There were no further glimpses of Ichigo's hollow trying to manifest, no extraordinary hollow numbers in Karakura, and things within the group of friends at Karakura High School had returned to a steady rhythm of classes, after school activities, homework, and casual socializing.

Orihime had been proving herself exceedingly resilient. Although she consciously exercised greater awareness and caution, she was able to quickly put this most recent event into perspective. After all, she had been through and survived so much already - abusive parents, the death of her brother, school bullying, her hollowfied brother's attempt to murder her, being on the lam in Soul Society, and being abducted by Aizen - that this most recent event, although certainly traumatic, was just another experience to learn from. She was honestly surprised by Ichigo and Chad's hyper-protective reactions; neither of the boys let their guard down around her while in public. She traced her name on the ID bracelet Ichigo had given her for her birthday and laughed quietly to herself, raising her gaze across the classroom to her boyfriend and his right-hand man. The threat had already been neutralized, but her protectors were on higher alert than ever. She sighed softly, grateful that they cared.

Orihime's thoughts drifted toward her plans for that evening. Keigo had been badgering Ichigo to go to karaoke with him since the start of the school year, and Ichigo had finally relented in hopes that Keigo would be satisfied and stop asking, on the condition that Orihime could come along. Naturally, since she was coming the invitation was then extended to Uryuu and Tatsuki, so in the end it would be Ichigo, Chad, Keigo, Mizuiro, Uryuu, Tatsuki, and Orihime. Orihime was looking forward to it all week. It hadn't been since the camping trip that all seven of them had gone out somewhere together.

When the bell finally rang, she was up and out of her chair before anyone else, her body bouncing to attention as she tried to find her balance after her poorly executed launch out of her seat. She felt a heavy hand on her shoulder and looked up into Chad's slightly blushing face, as he mumbled, "careful…" and continued making his way up the row of desks toward the classroom exit. Orihime shook her head, smiled, and followed him, feeling the presence of her other friends not far behind.

The group convened in the school courtyard to confirm their plans. Keigo reminded everyone at least four times that they were to meet at the karaoke house in front of the train station at 7:30, which would give everyone time to get home and get changed and eat something.

Because Orihime and Chad lived near to one another, he, Orihime, and Ichigo began their walk toward their neighborhoods. Ichigo had decided to go to Orihime's and wait on her to change, then walk her to his house so he could change and they could grab something to eat before going on to Karaoke, since he lived the closest to the station.

Chad waved and continued on to his apartment when they neared Orihime's place. As she led the way up the stairs to her apartment, Ichigo trailed behind quietly, mesmerized by the way her hips swayed with each step. By the time they reached her door, Ichigo had completely forgotten their evening plans. As soon as they closed the door behind them, Ichigo's hands reached out for Orihime's waist, turning her to face him as they both stepped out of their shoes. His lips met hers before they were past the concrete genkan and in his eagerness they both lost their balance when the backs of Orihime's legs met the raised hardwood ledge of the main floor. Ichigo broke their fall slightly, catching their combined weight on one hand, but did not let go of Orihime's waist.

"Ow," he said softly with a smile in his whisper, and then dipped his head back down to kiss her again. He broke it after a few more seconds and added as an afterthought, "Are you alright?"

"Yes," she whispered softly and pulled him by the collar back down to her, allowing her shoulder blades to touch the floor and her knees to bend up around one of his legs, returning his kiss with a kind of urgency that surprised him. Her fingers threaded through his soft orange hair as she used the back of his head for leverage to deepen their kiss, slipping her tongue between his parted lips.

Ichigo was not disappointed. Something in the way Orihime pulled at him had fanned the fire in him that had been smoldering since their camping trip. Since Orihime's run-in with his hollow, those embers had been burning increasingly brighter, much to his own shame. He had fought with himself the past few weeks to keep his more protective, possessive, thoughts to himself, thinking that any physical advances would be the last thing Orihime needed now. And yet, here she was, taking the initiative and making it clear to him that this was not an unwelcome turn of events. The corners of his lips turned upwards slightly as he let a hum of satisfaction rumble in his throat and his knee creep toward Orihime's center.

When the muscle of his thigh made contact, Orihime broke their kiss, allowing a choked "Ngh" to escape before gulping a lungful of air and scooting back enough to rise up on her elbows. A flicker of worry crossed Ichigo's face until he made eye contact with Orihime, and saw unveiled desire swimming in her bronze eyes.

"This way," she said, raising up from under him and backing toward her sofa. She reached for his hand, which he gave her without a thought, allowing her to lead. Orihime guided Ichigo to sit in the middle of the sofa and sat astride his lap without hesitation, wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing her lips to his ear, whispering, "Thank you, Ichigo," before placing a kiss on his jaw.

"For what?" Ichigo barely croaked back, shifting in his seat, trying to shield Orihime from the growing cause for concern below her.

"Everything," she answered seriously, looking down at his guarded eyes with her sincere ones for a moment before tightening her hold around his neck and crushing her breasts to his hard chest, burying her nose into his hair and just breathing in his scent. She hung on like that for a long moment, until Ichigo tentatively brought his arms around her waist and held her back, squeezing her small body to his and letting his head settle in the crook of her neck. A relaxing sigh passed his lips as he melted into her embrace, breathing in her scent, allowing himself to be completely cocooned by her presence.

Just when he thought he could be satisfied just to hold her like that for eternity, Orihime loosened her hold around his neck as her lips sought his again and she allowed her hips to settle atop Ichigo's, brushing her cotton panties against the zipper seam of the slacks of his school uniform.

Ichigo nearly sobbed out a soft cry into her mouth at the contact and fought the urge to thrust his hips upward toward her core. He was growing painfully hard, and he felt that Orihime didn't seem to have a clue, until she moaned into his mouth and tentatively pressed her warm, cotton-clad lips against his rock-hard length. Despite the multiple layers of fabric, Ichigo could feel her heat radiate through. His mouth suddenly went dry and he could no longer take a full breath.

Orihime was similarly surprised at the new sensation. She could feel a blush bloom from her eyes to the tips of her breasts, tightening the soft mounds and traveling down her abdomen. Her entire body started to tighten up; every part except her desperate mouth, that attempted to suck Ichigo's tongue into it, and her core, which was melting into a hot pool of what, she didn't know. She was curious, though, and tilted her hips up, allowing herself to slide up the clothed ridge of Ichigo's length. He whimpered in response, breaking their kiss and hissing out a soft, "shit, 'Hime," and latching his lips onto the pulse point of her neck, sucking the delicate skin softly, trying in vain to distract himself from what Orihime was doing.

It was a useless attempt, and within seconds, his hands moved on their own accord down her shoulders, past her elbows, to her ribs, finally cupping the sides of each breast, which were still pressed against his chest. Orihime responded with a soft hum and a rock of her hips, causing another eruption of sensation in his groin. He squeezed the soft, sweater-enveloped mounds in his large hands, testing their weight, and pushed his thumbs between their bodies, searching out her nipples.

When they found their intended target, he circled them with the pads of his thumbs. Orihime's response was more than he bargained for, however, mewling into his ear and settling into a slow, gentle rocking rhythm against him.

Ichigo's head snapped back, looking to Orihime with huge, surprised eyes and pink cheeks. He caught the briefest glimpse of Orihime's red complexion and dark, unfocused eyes before her mouth dove into his neck, returning the attention he had given her neck earlier. The sensation of her lips on his neck overwhelmed him so that the last of his inhibitions shattered, and he raked his hands down around Orihime's sides around to her buttocks, grasping tightly and pulling her weeping core tightly against him as he thrust against her covered slit, roughly brushing against her with his pants' seam with each pass.

Ichigo's pace was not as slow and sensual Orihime's, and it wasn't long before both of them were panting, frantically racing toward an unmarked goal. As the heat in her hooded pearl started to simmer over into a boil, Orihime began chanting Ichigo's name into his ear, which caused him to increase his pace in a desperate attempt to get her wherever she was going. It wasn't long before the strain in Ichigo's own pants had reached a breaking point, and before he knew what was happening, his panting became erratic, and he choked out her name and he bit down on her shoulder to silence his cry as he unexpectedly came all over himself.

Mortified, Ichigo stopped moving and loosened his grip on Orihime's bottom, but she wasn't finished yet and, being inexperienced, didn't realize what had happened. She continued to rock against him, to his horror, until she became aware that he had completely softened. She whined in frustration as she tried desperately to find something to rub against, something to help ease the ache that wanted so urgently to shatter, which was quickly starting to ebb further and further from the realm of possibility. She finally found his thigh, and rocked against it for a bit, experiencing a few sparks of relief, but nothing close to the promised explosion she had felt was so imminent moments ago. Defeated, she sighed, kissed Ichigo's cheek, and pulled back, finally noticing the look of dismay on Ichigo's pale face.

"Oh no! Is something wrong, Ichigo? Did I hurt you?" she asked, scrambling off of him, fearing she may have done something to make him reject her.

"Um, I have to use your bathroom," Ichigo answered awkwardly before making an even more awkward run for it.

Once inside, Ichigo groaned as he pulled down his pants and saw the mess he had made. As he tried to clean it up with toilet paper, he worried about what he was going to say to Orihime when he came out with a large stain on his crotch and her whole roll of toilet paper used up. He considered asking her to leave without him, when he heard a soft knock on the door.

"Um, Ichigo? Are you alright in there? You keep flushing the toilet…" her timid voice asked through the door.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Orihime. Just, uh, leave me alone for a minute!" he accidently shouted while trying to remove a piece of toilet paper that was all but glued painfully to his crotch.

Then he heard a dreaded sound. A soft hiccup, followed by a sniff, followed by a soft, sad voice, "I don't know what I did, Ichigo, but I'm sorry! Please don't hate me."

Ichigo groaned. "You didn't do anything… Well, you did something…But I would never hate you for it. Quite the opposite, actually. It's just…" he trailed off, unable to form the words in his mouth.

"Just what?" Orihime asked in a carefully hopeful voice.

"I made a mess." He blurted out, half whining, half cursing.

"Oh," Orihime replied. "Ohhhh," she repeated, the actual meaning of his words dawning on her as a wicked smile began to cross her features. "Oh, I see," she added, before breaking out into a peal of laughter. It sounded to Ichigo like someone was tickling her, the way she was laughing. He started to feel a bit miffed.

"Hey! It's not funny! Stop laughing Orihime!"

His angry voice, the use of her given name, and the absurdity of the situation were pushing Orihime over the edge ever further. Her laughter became almost hysterical, and she had to push her down on her cheeks to stop the pain that was gathering there and force herself to breathe.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she laughed, although she was doing her best to calm down, taking deep breaths and trying to think about anything else. It took her several minutes until she was successful.

When she was finally able to speak normally, she tapped on the door again. "Ichigo, I think I can help you, but you have to open the door."

"No way. There is no way I am coming out there like this…" Ichigo trailed off, obviously still quite distressed.

"I promise I won't look, Ichigo. But don't think it will work unless you open the door."

Orihime could hear him stand up from the toilet and shuffle toward the door. As she backed away from the door, she could feel her now cool, damp panties between her thighs, and squirmed a bit in disgust at herself, giving her greater insight into Ichigo's distress. When the door finally opened, she screwed her eyes shut, and held up her palms, picturing his clean school uniform in her mind, and said, "I reject."

Ichigo watched as his mess quickly disappeared and the disheveled state of his uniform righted itself. He sighed in relief, and let himself enjoy the restorative effect on his abused member for a moment, before he spoke softly, "Honestly, Orihime, I could stand here all day, your healing technique is so relaxing. But I'm all better now; you can open your eyes."

She did open her eyes and smiled at the look of contentment on his face. "You know, I could use it to restore your energy and relax you from time to time. If you are not injured it is hardly any effort for me," she offered with a smile.

Ichigo's face lit up. "You really would do that for me? I mean, I don't want to tire you out or anything, but if it's really no trouble, I would love that," he nearly babbled in anticipation.

Orihime giggled at his reaction and nodded, and without delay, called her Shun Shun Rikka, casting a dome over his entire body. Ichigo felt his muscles relax and a feeling of general well-being. He sighed contentedly and closed his eyes, letting her restorative power wash over him.

After about fifteen minutes, Orihime interrupted his quiet. "Uh, Ichigo, I'm sorry, but I have to…" she eyed the bathroom longingly as he opened his eyes to look at her. "Yeah, oh, yeah, of course, do what you gotta do," he said groggily as if she'd woken him from a deep sleep. As she called back her fairies he saw the tone of the color in the room noticeably cool. He chalked it up to just being kind of 'out of it'.

In the bathroom, Orihime removed her soiled panties and threw them into her shower stall to hide the evidence for the time being. She took out a washcloth and wet it with warm water, using it to clean the remaining wetness between her thighs. When she made contact, she shuddered, remembering the sensation of Ichigo rocking against her. Only then did she realize what they had actually done, and she was suddenly overwhelmed by too many emotional responses to count. First, she felt wonder at their actions; they did something she had never even considered a possibility a year ago. Then, embarrassment – she had been so forward! Next was happiness, fear, excitement, anticipation for what may come in the future, and finally, a vague dissatisfaction. She knew that she hadn't really 'finished', and part of her was put out by that. As she cleaned herself, the ache she had felt before started to return, so she quickly tossed her towel back into the shower, getting the hell out of the bathroom before her imagination took her to a dangerous place.

She threw the door open and marched to her bedroom to change without sparing a glance to Ichigo. Suddenly it was his turn to feel insecure. He sat on her sofa wondering if he had done something wrong as he heard her shuffle around in her bedroom. Now that he was passed his own embarrassment he was able to consider what Orihime might be feeling. Had she enjoyed it? Was she disappointed? Did she regret it? Did he regret it? Well, apart from the unfortunate mess he regretted nothing. In fact he was keen to do it again. He recalled the feel of her taut nipples against his thumbs and the firmness of her behind in his palms and began to get aroused again. He stood quickly and tried to think of something else as he paced the living room.

Orihime came out of her room in jeans and a lightweight boat-necked sweater. She had brushed her hair so that it cascaded over the front and back of her shoulders, proving some coverage to her neck and otherwise-exposed clavicle. She glanced at her wall clock and squeaked, "We have to go! It's almost six o'clock!"

Ichigo jumped up to follow her and they took off toward his house. When they arrived Ichigo bounded up the stairs two at time and directed Orihime toward the kitchen to find some leftovers. No one was home, but Yuzu kept a stocked fridge. Orihime pulled out some leftover vegetable side dishes and found some ginger pork from the night before and put it in the microwave. She stuck her head back in the fridge and looked around for something. "Ah-ha!" she cried as Ichigo entered the room in jeans and a hoodie.

"Ah-ha what?" he asked slightly amused, while pulling out two portions of microwaveable instant rice.

Orihime twirled out of the fridge holding a tube of red bean paste aloft like Excalibur. "I found it!" she proclaimed triumphantly.

"What are you going to do with that?" Ichigo asked innocently. He didn't know what Orihime had pulled out of the fridge previously.

The microwave dinged and she took out the ginger pork and Ichigo passed her the microwave rice. As she put the pork and veggie sides on the table, she waved the tube of red bean paste toward the pork. "To go with the pork, of course!" she answered cheerily.

Ichigo was unable to disguise his initial reaction as his face screwed up into a grimace. Orihime's cheerful façade fell into one of skepticism. "Don't make that face, Ichigo. I'll bet you haven't even tried it."

Ichigo raised his eyebrows back at her and retorted, "I'll bet no one besides you has ever tried it."

"Come on!" she nearly whined, taking the hot rice out of the microwave and setting the portions down on the table. "Haven't you ever had a chutney before?"

"A what?" Ichigo asked through his first bite.

"A chutney. It's like a jam that people eat with meat," she answered while squeezing out a line of bean paste on her plate next to the pork. Ichigo shook his head no.

"How about turkey and cranberry sauce? I think that American assistant language teacher brought some to English class for us to try last year."

"I must have been sick that day."

"Ketchup on a burger?"

"Of course, everyone has had that."

Orihime looked at him with a gleam in her eyes. "This is practically the same thing! You should just try it!" she said enthusiastically, cutting a piece of pork for him and slathering on a teaspoon of bean paste, holding it out for him to try.

Ichigo shook his head and shut his mouth like a toddler refusing food. Orihime rolled her eyes.

"Come on, if you try it and you don't like it you don't have to finish it. Please?" she begged.

Ichigo huffed in defeat. He couldn't refuse her. He opened his mouth as his brows knit together in anxiety and allowed Orihime to put the concoction into his mouth. He cringed before he even bit down on it, but as he continued, he had to admit it wasn't even half bad. In fact, it was pretty good after he got past the initial fear factor. He finished chewing and swallowed, continuing to eat the rest of his food without giving Orihime any indication that he had found it tolerable.

"Well? What did you think?" she asked excitedly after a moment.

Ichigo swallowed his current bite and answered flatly, "It was OK."

Orihime took that as a win and gave him a huge smile, and then tucked into her food in earnest. If they didn't hurry, they were going to be late.

They arrived at the karaoke house just in time and the staff immediately ushered the group into a medium-sized room and got their drink orders going. As they were all underage they all decided to get all-you-can-drink self-serve soft drink bar, and they ordered some snacks to share right away as Keigo, Mizuiro and Chad started queuing up their songs and passing the songbooks around the room.

About half an hour later, Orihime's first song came up, which she sang with Tatsuki. The girls were rather enthusiastic, bouncing around as they sang the upbeat tune. As they danced, Orihime flipped her hair behind her shoulder, revealing an angry, reddish-purple mark on her neck. Tatsuki noticed immediately, and, unthinkingly, pointed at the offending blemish and shrieked into her microphone, "Is that a hickey?!"

Immediately, all eyes were on Orihime, and blushes started to spread around the room like a virus. Keigo began to lament the fact that he hadn't been the one to give it to her, and Orihime excused herself to run to the bathroom to see for herself.

When she crept back into the room, Uryuu was halfway through a serious-sounding pop song. She sheepishly took a seat next to Ichigo, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible, with all her hair covering his mark. Ichigo was embarrassed, but also kind of proud, elbowing her in the ribs good-naturedly and smiling. Orihime was cheered by his expression and began to sing along with Uryuu's song.

The group stayed for about three hours in total, and when they were finished, they were all feeling pretty high on life and youth and friendship, and walked outside into the cool air laughing and not really paying attention to anything, until Ichigo called out, "Yoruichi?"

The woman in question approached the group with a curious expression. "Yes, Ichigo, it's me, she said cautiously. Uryuu looked between the two with alarm.

"What's with the weird looks, guys?" Ichigo asked suspiciously.

Yoruichi laughed then, and answered, "Well, Ichigo, I'm surprised you were the one to spot me."

"And why is that? It's not like I walk around with my head in the clouds," Ichigo answered defensively.

Yoruichi raised a single brow at him. "I never said you did, boy-o. I'm surprised because I am not wearing a gigai."

Ichigo staggered back a bit in shock, and then looked at her with a hopeful expression. "Does this mean-" he started to ask before the catwoman interrupted.

"I don't know what it means, but I'm here to bring you back to the shoten to speak with Kisuke anyway, so you can ask him," she answered casually, and started walking toward the shop. Keigo and Mizuiro had to catch the last train home, so they quickly said their goodbyes and the rest of the group turned to catch up with Yoruichi.

Yoruichi led the group into Urahara's office, which was a cramped space filled with monitors and stacks of journals. She sat down in his chair and tapped on a screen that appeared to be powered by tentacles. The screen flickered to life and after a moment the green-clad shopkeeper toddled into view.

"Wow, so many guests! I feel honored," Urahara said through the screen, fanning his face.

"You wanted to see us?" Ichigo wasted no time getting to the point.

"It's good to see you too, Kurosaki-san. And actually, I believe it was you who wanted to see me. I'm sorry it has taken this long for me to contact you, but I have been traveling."

"Oh, where did you go?" Orihime asked with wonder in her voice.

Urahara chuckled and answered, "Sadly, it was business, not pleasure, that took me away, Inoue-san," he answered dramatically, before continuing in a suddenly serious tone, "Actually, I have been in Hueco Mundo."

Orihime and a few others in the room took a sharp intake of breath through their noses as Urahara let what he said sink in.

"What were you doing there, Urahara-san?" Uryuu asked the question on everyone's minds.

"The purpose of my trip is classified, Ishida-san, but I did make an interesting collateral discovery that I can share with you," he said conspiratorially from behind his fan, pausing to allow suspense to fall over his listeners.

"And what's that?" Uryuu asked without delay, disappointing the shopkeeper.

"Well, as I traveled its desert, I found that the four corners of Hueco Mundo have been sealed. If my thinking is correct, this is the reason the superfluous hollow appearances in Karakura have ceased."

"Four Corners?" Tatsuki asked, confused.

"Yes. As Inoue-san will recall, Hueco Mundo's night was never-changing. The moon was stationary and there is no way to tell the passage of time without counting the hours yourself, right?" Orihime nodded as he continued. "Well, unlike the living world which is spherical and revolves around the sun on its axis creating days, nights, and seasons, Hueco Mundo exists on a flat plane. When one reaches the ends of Hueco Mundo, he or she will see nothing but a void similar to the interior of a Garganta. Now, the land shape of Hueco Mundo is more or less square-shaped, the four corners of which had historically leaked spirit particles into the surrounding void, and more recently had been left opened to Karakura via actual Garganta. I believe all of you have had to deal with the effects of these four open portals several months ago."

The eyes in the room widened at this new information and a few heads nodded in understanding as Urahara continued, "Those Garganta have been closed since 'the incident' in Soul Society, as you all could deduce. What we couldn't know, however, was that not only were the Garganta sealed, so were the Four Corners of Hueco Mundo. There are no spiritual leaks anymore. The corners have been so strongly sealed that the only way in and out of Hueco Mundo now is via a Garganta, which, as you know, can only be opened by a high-level shinigami or an Arrancar."

"Wow. That's a lot of information we weren't expecting, Urahara-san," Orihime finally broke the silence that followed his explanation with a slightly overwhelmed voice.

"I know, Inoue-san. I did think that you all would be interested to hear the cause of the sudden drop off in hollow numbers, though…" Urahara replied, somewhat defensively.

Chad nodded and rumbled, "Thank you, Urahara-san," giving him a thumbs up, restoring the shopkeeper's cheer.

Ichigo was starting to get irritated. Although he was interested to learn about Hueco Mundo and hollows and all that, he was anxious to learn what he could about the manifestation of his own hollow.

"Thanks. Anyway, Hat-n-clogs, what about my hollow trying to take over my human body? And what about me being able to see Yoruichi without a gigai? Am I regaining my reiatsu?" Ichigo spat his questions out before Urahara could go off on another tangent.

"Not quite yet, Kurosaki-san," he answered sympathetically. "I confess, when you delivered Inoue-san to me for our experiment in Soul Society, I was able to detect a faint amount of your reiatsu."

Ichigo's eyebrows shot up at this, disappearing under his bangs. Urahara continued, "My equipment in the room you now occupy is picking up a significantly larger amount of your reiatsu today than at that time, Kurosaki-san, so whatever it is you are doing, keep it up," he said encouragingly.

"Now, as far as your hollow trying to manifest, I'm not surprised. Your hollow was not destroyed as a result of using the Final Getsuga Tensho, only your zanpakuto and spiritual pressure. This means that your hollow remained with you, dormant, until your recent reiatsu restoration. However, your zanpakuto remains destroyed, leaving you, much like Arisawa-san and Inoue-san, spiritually aware but unable to separate your soul from your body. My understanding, however, is that Inoue-san stabilized your body while your hollow successfully manifested, and that it was only for a brief period of time. Correct?"

Chad, Ichigo and Orihime nodded silently.

"I see. And, I was made aware that Inoue-san was in a great deal of danger at the time, correct?"

"Yes," Ichigo answered.

"Well, you'll remember, that your 'hollow' is really just part of your own soul, Kurosaki-san, the part that deals with base instincts. I would venture to guess that your hollow is becoming aware due to your climbing levels or reiatsu, and your desire, on an instinctual level, to protect Inoue-san caused that power to try to manifest. It has not happened since, correct?"

"Right," Ichigo answered, still confused.

"Well, my best advice is not to worry about it, and keep Inoue-san out of harm's way for now. As I said before and as you know, your hollow is a part of you, and if your body is destroyed with your soul in it, the hollow will also be destroyed. And we know your hollow is the embodiment of your own instinct, correct? And what is every animal's most basic instinct?" he asked like a school teacher.

"To screw like rabbits?" Tatsuki asked under her breath to Orihime, giving her an evil smirk.

Urahara did not miss it. "Arisawa-san is not far off the mark. Producing offspring is certainly a base desire for most organisms, and in fact just an offshoot of the most basic instinct of all: self-preservation. In order to preserve itself, Kurosaki-san's hollow should not try to manifest again in his physical body."

"Ok, so what do I do now?" Ichigo asked, somewhat comforted but still confused.

"You'll have to wait until more of your reiatsu is restored before there can any action is required on your end, Kurosaki-san. I don't believe there is really anything you could do until that time comes. Until then, just live your life. Nurture your relationships with friends and Inoue-san; since you have been more social and closer to her, your reiatsu has increased exponentially."

"I see. Thank you, Urahara." Ichigo bowed his head gratefully and put his arm around Orihime's shoulder.

"It's my pleasure, Kurosaki-san. Well then, back to the lab for me. I don't have plans to be back in Karakura for the foreseeable future, but you can always get in contact with me here. Good luck, Kurosaki-san, Inoue-san, everyone," he said, tipping his hat before the screen went black.