Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, they all belong to the wonderful Tite Kubo.

Author notes: Voices written Like this belong to otherworldly beings. Roles will sometimes reverse with Orihime's voice as this and the otherworldly being's voice written normally.

Surviving School

It was late at night, and Ichigo still hadn't returned home. It didn't bother her that he may still be out with the two lieutenants but it did bother the voice in her head. Orihime waited until the girls and Ichigo's father were fast asleep, before sneaking downstairs to the kitchen. She needed a few cups of coffee and she needed them now. If anyone were awake right now, they'd question why she was drinking coffee at this time of night.

Orihime was on her eighth cup. She never really liked the taste of coffee but it would have to do for now. There was nothing else here that contained caffeine, and it was too late to go out to a store and buy something. Orihime stared out of the window at the dim street light, while rubbing her swollen shoulder. She didn't want to go back to her bedroom until she could feel the caffeine in her bloodstream.

She hadn't slept in days and her body was at its limit, especially with what happened earlier. With all the crying she had done, her eyes were worn out and wanted to be closed badly. Orihime let her guard down and gave in to her overwhelming desire to sleep. She just wanted to close her eyes for a few minutes, giving them time to rest. She remembered reading somewhere that your body doesn't enter the 'deep sleeping stage' until at least an hour or so. She told herself that she wouldn't lay in bed with her eyes closed for that long.

As she laid there with her eyes closed, she began to hear someone knocking at her door. She told herself to get up, but her body didn't respond. Her eyelids would not open and all of her limbs felt heavy as if someone was holding her down. 'No I have to get up!' Orihime tried telling herself she had to move but nothing cooperated. She began to feel that her attempts to awaken her body were useless so she laid there hoping that the darkness of her eyelids wouldn't fade away. The knocking went silent, and so did every other noise around her. Her mind was being pulled into a 'deep sleeping state', a state where she could dream.

'Orihime was in her high school sitting at the desk she always sat in. Ichigo sat two desks in front of her, Uryu sat behind her, Chad sat next to her, and Rukia sat across from her. Ichigo sat at his desk talking to Keigo and Mizuiro, who were standing around him pointing at pictures out of a manga they were reading. Uryu sat at his desk sewing a pair of blue pants. Chad had his head down on his desk, most likely sleeping. Rukia was at her desk drawing a comic strip with bunnies. Orihime looked around the room and seen Tatsuki with her arm around Chizuru's neck, giving her a head lock.

Orihime stood up from her seat and shouted towards the ceiling hoping the voice could hear her. "I'm not falling for this again!" She was tired of these dreams, well actually nightmares which they turned out to be. She was done playing games with this voice that belonged to some unknown being living within her.

"Oh now you want to act tough! Well come and find me Orihime!" The owner of the voice began to laugh allowing Orihime to use this time to follow the direction it was coming from. She walked out into the hallway cautiously, making sure nothing was out there. "Hurry up Orihime, I'm getting impatient!"

Orihime walked faster down the hallway as the voice became louder. She wanted to put an end to this and confront whatever was messing with her mind. She walked down the hallway leading to one door which was the office. She stopped and surveyed her surroundings. 'It cant be this easy.' Orihime was no fool, she knew that coming face to face with this entity wouldn't be such a simple task. The voice spoke louder as if whoever it belonged to was right beside her. "Well don't just stand there! Come in come in!"

Orihime gulped and slowly walked closer to the door with he floor creaking beneath her feet. The lights on the ceiling began to flicker on and off as she neared the door. She wrapped her hands around the door and slowly slid it open. She readied herself as if waiting for something to jump out at her but nothing did. The office was empty. Papers were scattered all over the floor and the chair behind the desk was slowly spinning as if a ghost was sitting in it.

"Sorry, I grew tired of waiting for you, so I left. Now I'm somewhere else so come and find me!" An outburst of giggles rose in the direction that Orihime had came from. Orihime turned around and began walking back when suddenly the lights turned off. She was surrounded by nothing but darkness. "This isn't fair, I cant see!" Orihime began to panic, it was so dark that she couldn't even see her arms in front of her, as she held them out feeling around for something to grab onto. Anything from any direction would be able to pop out at her at anytime and she wouldn't be able to see it.

"Awe is the poor baby afraid of the dark? It's your fault for taking so long, and here in my world I like to reserve electricity!" The owner of the voice laughed evilly startling Orihime. "I'm giving you three minutes to come and find me Orihime. If you fail well you'll just have to fend for yourself!"

Orihime didn't know what the voice was talking about but she knew it wasn't good. She began to walk feeling against the walls as she went. She no longer had her sense of sight so she had to rely on her other senses. "Tick Tock Orihime!"

Orihime walked faster, she didn't know what the voice had in mind but she didn't want to find out. The hallway seemed to have no end, as her feet began to grow tired as if she was walking for hours. "Where the hell are you?" Orihime was now the one becoming impatient. She just wanted to see what or who was behind that voice and end everything. "Orihime you now have a minute to get to me!" The voice sounded closer, and Orihime let out a sigh of relief thankful that she was almost there. She felt against the wall and found a doorknob and began to turn it. Once she opened the door, and the lights came back on.

Orihime could now see, she looked into the room shocked by what she saw. The door didn't lead to a room, it led to another hallway. "Thirty seconds!" The voice shouted this time making sure that Orihime could hear the remaining time she had left. Orihime picked up her feet and started to run. She had a feeling that she wasn't going to make it in time, but she could at least try. She had a very bad felling that something was going to happen, and it wasn't going to be something good.

The hallway she was now running down was much different from the first one. This had large windows on both sides revealing the dark night sky, and it was longer, much longer. Orihime's legs gave out and she fell to her knees.

"Oh Orihime you can do better than that! Too bad you're almost out of time!" The voice began to count down the remaining time as Orihime began using her arms to drag her worn out body down the hallway. "10..9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1! Sorry Orihime maybe next time!" The voice faded away and Orihime laid on the floor feeling hopeless, when suddenly the building began to shake. "What's going on? Is this an earthquake?" Orihime expected the voice to reply to her questions but it didn't. Orihime began to panic as if her life was in danger. Her adrenaline kicked in allowing her to use her worn out limbs, as she stood to her feet and ran down the hallway. She didn't know where she was running to but she knew she had to get out of the school.

"It's such a beautiful day out! Don't you agree Orihime?" Orihime ignored the voice and continued running down the hallway, when something out the window caught her eye. She stopped running and turned so that she could look out both windows on either side of her. "Well don't just stand there! Introduce yourself to my friends!" The voice laughed off into the distance.

Orihime couldn't believe what she was seeing. On both sides of her stood gigantic hollows walking towards the school. It was like the movie Godzilla but with a giant hollow who decided to bring along some of his friends. There were four, no six, maybe eight hollows on both sides of the glass. They began to howl as they grew closer towards the building.

Orihime had nowhere to hide so her only choice was to continue running down the hall. Windows began to shatter on both sides of her as large white hands broke through reaching in to grab a hold of her. She ducked down on her hands and knees and began crawling. Glass shattered over her head as the hands broke through grabbing nothing but air.

Orihime looked ahead as the hallway finally ended and led to a staircase. She crawled over to the staircase and sat down on a stair, resting her head against the wall. She felt that this was a safe area to rest at since there were no windows.

Orihime felt powerless in these dreams. She couldn't do anything but run and try to avoid getting hurt. Every time she landed in this dream world, her hairpins that possessed her Shun Shun Rikka abilities disappeared. Her hairpins are her source of power just like a Zanpakuto is for Ichigo. Without them what could she possibly do but run?

Orihime never took on an enemy by herself, she either had someone there to aid her or someone intervened. Her powers didn't compare to Ichigo's and her other friends. Their powers allowed them to play the offensive role while she played the defensive role healing and shielding comrades. Of course when she needed to change roles, her power allowed her to do so but it wasn't enough to take down a powerful enemy.

Orihime wasn't the fighting type. She was more of the peacemaker. She hated to fight and she hated to see her friends risking their lives. Maybe that's why her powers manifested into defensive types. She chose to be on the sidelines helping the injured instead of in battle. Maybe if she gained the will to fight, then her powers would allow her to take down stronger enemies. 'Why am I thinking about fighting? Aizen is gone so I no longer have to fight anymore.'

A small piece of the ceiling tile fell off and landed on Orihime's head knocking her away from her thoughts. The building was collapsing and she knew she had to get out fast. She stood up and began running down the stairs. The wall around her began to crumble as a large white hand made its way through the wall, and grabbed her by her legs. Orihime fell sideways and landed hard on her shoulder. The giant hollow wrapped its hand around her legs and pulled her out of the building through the hole it just created.

Once outside the giant hollow proceeded to toss her around as if she was a toy. Her body flew into the air only to land on another hollow's hand. They did this until she was in the hands of the hollow that was way bigger than the others. Its black body blended in with the night sky, allowing the white mask on its face and its white hands to remain visible. The hollow threw Orihime down. With its height, it felt like she was falling off a twelve-story building. Orihime screamed as she became closer and closer to the ground, she franticly moved her arms trying to grab something to stop her fall. Her hands felt something cold and hard and she grabbed onto it for dear life. It was the flag pole that stood out in front of her school. She tightened her arms around the pole and slowly slid down until she could feel her feet touch the ground.

Orihime began to run away from the school and into town. She had to get away from these hollows. They were trying to kill her, and if she died in her dreams then she would probably remain dead when she awakened. Once she was far enough, she decided to take a rest. She felt sick like she was going to pass out and the pain in her leg from the other dream began to make itself known. Her shoulder also hurt but not as badly. She moved it around thankful that it wasn't broken.

Orihime heard howling close by and looked up from the buildings she was hiding in between. A giant white hand was coming down on her fast, ready to make contact with her face. Orihime closed her eyes and put her hands over her face hoping to shield herself from the blow.

"Your weakness disgusts me!" The voice spoke with so much hatred. Orihime opened her eyes thankful that the hollow's hand didn't connect with her face. She seen a flash of silver and white and then the hollow was gone. It rained ashes as if the hollow was incinerated.

"How do you expect to defeat me when you can't even defeat these weak hollows!" The voice was close too close. Orihime looked around as all of the hollows began to disappear one by one. Fast flashes of silver and white lit up the night sky where there was a hollow, and when the flashes ceased the hollow was no more.

"I'm more powerful than you Orihime therefore I should be the one in control! Not you!" Orihime cringed at sound of the voice. She never heard it talk like this before. It was like it wanted to get rid of her. "The next time you step foot into my world, don't expect to leave!"

No matter how many times Orihime tried to forgot what the voice said, she couldn't get it out of her head. Was the owner of the voice going to keep her asleep so that it could haunt her forever? Or is it planning to kill her so she wouldn't be able to wake up at all? Orihime didn't know what was going to happen if she fell back asleep and she sure didn't want to find out.

Orihime drunk the last bit of her coffee, and decided to head back upstairs before Ichigo came home. She pushed in the chair and heard something fall beneath the table. She bent down and picked up a bag that someone had to have dropped. She reached inside and brought out a short black and gold dress that looked too revealing. It was definitely not something she'd wear. It had to belong to Rangiku who had a taste in stuff like this.

'Take it! Ichigo would love to see you in it!' Orihime hadn't heard the voice all day since her dream and hearing it now only brought back the memories of what it said to her. Not wanting to anger the voice, she put the dress back into the bag and carried it upstairs with her.

Next chapter: "On My Mind" coming soon!

Special thanks to: himelove22, nypsy, immorallnjustice, bluewitch143, Boobie-Chan for your wonderful reviews! *Smiles*