AN: Sorry I didn't update yesterday, guys. I meant to, but it was on like Donkey Kong at my school yesterday 'cause of protests and just – needless to say, your truly is a stubborn bitch when she thinks she's right and got thrown into in-school suspension. ^_^"

So this chapter is mostly about Orihime and Chad! They haven't had nearly enough story time. =] Unfortunately they're probably going to continue to not have much time after this... =[

A few miles out of Karakura, next to a less than safe looking dock, was an abandoned warehouse with the numbers "227" painted on it. Chad checked the card Yoruichi had tossed him and the numbers on the building. "This is it," he said.

Orihime looked at it skeptically. "This isn't cliché at all," she said.

That wasn't to say it wasn't disturbing, especially when the door creaked ominously as it opened. "Hello?" called Chad.

A glint of dim light and a soft sigh answered from a place far back in the shadows. Footsteps other than their own echoed from that same direction. "Come closer," said a voice like the sound of white rapids. It possessed strength, dignity – but more than a little danger.

They moved towards it. A wolf-like face emerged from the darkness, possessing bright silver eyes. "I believe you were looking for me?"

"It depends. Are you Kiyomi?" Orihime asked.

"I am," replied the woman, nodding. "Why are you here?" Orihime looked at Chad hesitantly, twisting at the hem of her shirt.

"We want... we want our powers back," she said quietly. "Yoruichi said you might be able to help us..."

One fierce, contoured eyebrow was raised. "How do you propose I do that?"

"That's why we're here... We don't even know where to start."

She let out a hoarse, throaty chuckle. "I could drag this out, making you recount every event that led up to you 'losing' your powers, but I'm sure you relive them every day, and I'm not stupid enough to waste my time. I can see that you two are human, not shinigami hiding in gigai, and we're fresh out of Quincies, so I can figure out the natures of your powers easily enough. And I can also tell you, easily enough, why you lost them."

Orihime couldn't disguise her eagerness. "Tell me!"

"No. That old saying about teaching a man to fish?"

Orihime sighed. "So it's one of those 'figure it out for yourselves' things?"

Kiyomi laughed again. "You're smarter than you look, kid."

Chad looked down at his arm. He hadn't started this with a sword or spirit bow... Just a few blind punches in midair, trying to protect a defenseless girl. And maybe that was the key to the whole thing. His determination to keep Rukia and that little boy safe – that was where it started. He didn't think he could keep anyone safe now. His fingers wrapped in towards his palm, clenching into a fist. He never needed a zanpakutou. Wasn't a Hollow just another soul, in the end? The weapons Ishida and Kurosaki used to fight weren't physical objects. They were spiritual. Even though it took on a strange appearance to him, normal people couldn't see the difference between his arm before and after. It was all in his mind. It was after he stopped believing that he could save everyone that he lost all his strength. And Orihime?

The barrettes had broken. Shattered into a thousand tiny pieces. But in the beginning, they were a simple gift from her brother. They had no power... Orihime was the one with the power, and in believing in the love of her brother, the love of her friends, and love itself, they took on a life of their own... But that life came from Orihime. And when everything came crashing down after the war, love seemed a far off notion to everyone. Even Orihime.

Chad looked into Kiyomi's silver eyes. "I know."

She nodded. "I see that. It makes sense to you now, doesn't it? But the question is – can you do what needs to be done?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well, you better get sure, because they're coming, and I don't have my zanpakutou right now," she grinned.

A Hollow burst through the wall. It was nothing, the kind of Hollow Chad could have killed with a swat when he was a younger man. A scorpion's tail hunched over its back and a long forked tongue poked from between the teeth of its mask. Chad instinctively raised his arm. He looked at it, remembering the last time he'd used it – the last time he'd failed everyone, and reminded himself that he still had a chance to save them, if only he could bring himself to believe that.

With a loud grunt, he rushed at the Hollow and sank his arm into its mask. The hit was mostly ineffective, but the Hollow did react, shaking its head in confusion. Chad felt a burst of hope and maybe a little pride at the fact that perhaps he could get his powers back. The Hollow's tail swung down towards him and he grasped either side of it in his hands. Struggling to hold it back, he took a deep breath. He looked over his shoulder at the defenseless women (though he didn't believe for a minute that Kiyomi didn't have her zanpakutou within reach somewhere) and reached deep within himself. And was surprised at the strength he found there.

He threw the Hollow off and smashed his fist into its mask again. His arm didn't change, but this hit was much more effective than the last, running a deep crack along the gruesome visage. It wasn't anything to write home about, but it was something. He swung again and the mask fell off. He dodged the tail again and while it was stuck in the ground he hit at its head one more time. It let out a screech and keeled over. Chad showed no outward reaction, but he was proud, and Orihime was proud of him, if jealous. And then the Hollow's tail let out one last shudder and impaled him. Orihime's scream was penetrating.

"I am not losing anyone else!" she shrieked, hate twisting her face as she sprinted towards the Hollow, smashing her small fists into its unresponsive tail. Chad looked up at her with fading eyes and she sank to her knees, sobbing. "Don't leave me..."

Chad shook his head. He tried his hardest to speak, couldn't, tried again. "Orihime... don't..."

A large noise came from the other wall – the other Hollows had come. Kiyomi had started to look vaguely nervous but predominantly unconcerned as a rather large one headed straight for her.

Orihime let out another bloodcurdling shriek. "I SAID NO!" she screamed angrily, and much to her surprise and Chad's, the old half-oval barrier glimmered into existence. The wound sealed itself and Orihime gaped. She stared at her own hands in disbelief and a knowing look came into her eyes. She stood up; Chad watched her. He realized that sometimes protecting someone meant letting them stand on their own.

A huge Hollow – a Menos – smashed its way through the roof. As the dust settled, Kiyomi and Chad watched Orihime straighten almost regally and stare at its empty face with no sign of fear. The full moon in the sky was reflected in her dark eyes.

She laughed lightly. "I get it now. Same thing as before – I was always so afraid to believe in myself, wasn't I? And I just realized something. Something I never got before because I was too kind, but I'm more than bitter enough now to understand this. Anger and hate are not only very powerful emotions, but the longer you suckle their evil, greedy little mouths at your breast, the more you look on them as your children. And the easier it is-"

She raised one arm, the hand attached to it limp. With a sudden flash of determination entering her eyes, the hand snapped up into a claw aimed straight at the Menos and a near invisible flash of light that looked precisely liked Tsubaki once had, but much brighter, shot through the Menos' mask.

"To kill."

Kiyomi and Chad barely saw her move, but they saw the rest of the Hollows fall. She had lost none of her reflexes.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," Orihime quoted. Kiyomi laughed loudly, for she liked nothing better than watching a young woman come into her own.

Kurosaki was standing there when Ryuko opened her door. Ishida was right behind him. "Okay, I've seen some weird shit on the streets, nee-san, but I know damn well that someone doesn't get hit by a car and not have any wounds on them the next day."

"Don't ask," said Ryuko, a hard glint coming into her eyes, the kind Kurosaki had learned meant to do what she said. He'd seen more than a few people crushed viciously beneath those stilettos after ignoring that look. "So anyway, you throwing him out on the street or not?" she asked.

"Don't change the subject-"

Ryuko backhanded him with more force than he had ever felt from a woman. His head spun. "You're lucky I like you, Ikari," she shouted at him. "Now, he followed you home – are you keeping him?"

Kurosaki wisely decided to drop the subject. With a quick glance over his shoulder, he shrugged. "I don't know. What would the Oyabun say?"

"Lucky for you, I just talked to him. I can read you like a book, kid. He said he doesn't mind if the puppy has a chew toy," she laughed. "Okay, get the hell in the car. I have shit to do and you two are in the way. Wouldn't want your new toy to get dirty, 'cause some of the shit I have to do... Well. You wouldn't like it if I told you."

Instead of protesting, Kurosaki headed for the car. Ishida hesitantly followed him. He had no idea what to do otherwise, but he did not want to stay here with the brutal woman. Not that he'd be allowed to do anything but what she and Kurosaki said, but it was nice to think he had choices.