Date written: 08/07/09 – 25/07/09

Posted on FanFiction: 27/07/09

A/N: I'm back! Did you miss me? I have one reason, and one reason only, for the long wait: Preliminary Exams. That's kinda obvious, don't you think, putting priority to real life and studies, which can only happen once, before a story you can write at anytime? But that's not the worst part. My stress must've accumulated during the grueling weeks of studying (snort) that I've gotten a slight fever on the morning after the final day of the test.

Anyway, my beta and I have been brainstorming over the escalating plot in this story, and let me tell you, it has grown substantially through the months. Ferri had to create not only a Cheat Sheet for the complicated plot (I thank Dean Koontz for his thriller and suspense novels in this) but also a Timeline to keep everything clean and in order. I have estimated that this would be over between 300,000 to 400,000 words before, but I don't think those numbers are enough to completely satisfy the whole story. Think about it. I'm still writing the first arc of the series and it's already reaching the 100,000 words milestone. The Soul Society arc is massive and the amount of characters they've introduced there just shouts out pages filled with über-character development that I need to do. But I don't think I will, not because I'm lazy, but because it's tedious and I'm sure that most of you are already familiar with most of the personalities of the shinigami in the next arc. It would sound kind of redundant if I dig into each and every shinigami's psyche, like a broken vinyl record. To put my explanation in short, I'll be breaking this story down into two parts (three, if you consider the prequel my beta and I are thinking up) and keep the story in a normal pace with minimal pit stops for character spice-ups. Though that doesn't mean I won't be adding in a few original fillers, if any, during the current arc.

Apart from this story's currently unknown total word length (I don't really mind if this turned into an epic length . . . though I'm not a poetic person at all), the storyline has evolved in ways I would've never imagined before. In two or three instances, my beta, NocturnalFerri, has become the voice of inspiration into which I've created and innovated much of the backstory concerning certain characters in canon. (Couldn't have done it without ya, Ferri!) This is an AU, so this universe will completely diverse from the events of canon once reaching the end of Part 1.

And to a reviewer named Demonbloodfeeder: I thought about your suggestion, but, as I said before, I've drawn out the outline of this story from start to finish before I even started writing the chapters out. The events that lead up to the Soul Society arc have all been set in stone months ago. If I were to use your interesting idea, the plot would fail to deliver what I needed for the development in the characters and the plot itself. This story has a massive plot, but I also deeply intertwine the characters into it. And besides . . . I still want to see Byakuya whoop Ichigo's ass.

--- CHAPTER 12 ---

6-17: I'm Not Okay

Orihime tensed, clearly not expecting her objective to come out so suddenly and without warning. It was strong and as potent as ever. A course of dread cascaded through her body like a crawling snake wrapping around her. The shivers came right after. But there was something else she was feeling, something that contrasted to the definite feeling of fear in her.

The dread was an emotion stemming from her soul. But her alter-ego was mostly feeling a sense of anticipation, like how a hardboiled cop couldn't wait for another brutal and dirty case or how a vampire felt when he was only seconds away from sucking out his victim's succulent blood. Orihime might try to deny this but there was no mistake to what kind of anticipation her alter-ego was hoping for: She wanted a fight. And that dark presence was the target.

The presence moved, shifting ever closer to—

Oh no! Kuchiki-san!

—Rukia's place in the forest. Orihime only took four steps forward to where she felt where Rukia was before halting; she glanced back at the dirt path that Ichigo took. The silence of the forest was absolute. Ichigo was already far away. She wanted to warn him of the impending trouble but if she were to do that then it would leave Rukia to fend for herself. Rukia had to be warned about the threat as well. So with a heavy heart, but with a promise to inform him after telling Rukia, she looked away from that small dirt path and ran the opposite direction.

She ran nonstop, leaving her panting and sweating, but she didn't care. The presence was getting closer. Much, much closer.

11:15

Rukia sat in the middle of a stairway, silent and undisturbed. She was thinking back to a few minutes ago when Ichigo had confessed of something she had trouble believing. She understood enough about his mother's death to know that he and his family took it hard. When the Kurosakis had left early today, she had come downstairs to the living room, only to see the giant poster of Masaki. The culprit was Isshin, as she undoubtedly pieced together in just less than ten seconds. Masaki was beautiful, that was for certain.

Ichigo . . . killed his mom, she thought gravely, opting more to believe that Hollows will make friends with shinigami than this simple fact. The whole situation was all so vague that she couldn't get a proper glimpse of the bigger picture. Ichigo had said that he killed Masaki, but there had to be something deeper than that. She wanted to ask Ichigo about the details but quickly banished that train of thought without even taking it into consideration. Ichigo obviously didn't want to talk about his mother and Rukia would have to respect that.

He will tell me when he is ready.

There was movement in her backpack and out came a small lion plushie. Rukia could've sworn she had zipped closed her bag, yet Kon was able to get out with little difficulty other than the tight hole.

"Man, it's hot in there," Kon said, using his soft, cylindrical arm to fan himself. "Hey, Nee-san, I'm bored."

"I thought I told you not to come out unless I told you otherwise," Rukia said, a little irritated.

"Yeah, yeah," he replied offhandedly, waving his arm as if to swipe the sound off from his space. "But don't you think that Ichigo could at least have one day off? I mean it couldn't really hurt, right?"

"Shinigami do not rest while in the line of duty. What would happen if a Hollow were to appear and I am not there to eject his soul?"

Kon sighed, and lay back on the bag. "Ah, that's all you ever think about. Hollow, Hollow, Hollow. If you keep that workaholic attitude up, Nee-san, then you won't have many friends in the future."

Rukia said nothing. But she suddenly grew tense as she felt something shift in the air. It was a familiar presence but different at the same time. She remembered where she had felt this kind of feeling before, and it sank her stomach. She had been close to dying the last time she had encountered the unknown creature, and now another one was making an appearance near her location. This didn't bode well for Rukia.

She stood up from the stairway, making Kon fall from the backpack and land face-first with a muffled grunt.

"N—Nee-san, why'd you stand up all of a sudden?"

Rukia didn't answer. She was pinpointing that creature's exact location.

"Nee-san?"

Rukia silenced the plushie with a harsh glare and a hiss to be quiet. She went back to sensing the creature's general area, only to take a step back at the building amount of reiatsu radiating in her surroundings. That meant that the creature was getting closer to where she was.

We have to get away from here, she thought worriedly, as she grabbed Kon by the scruff and ran down the steps.

The reiatsu rose in inhuman proportions, followed by a thunderous roar. The dark feeling of the reiatsu was enough to make Rukia hesitate, almost leading her to tumble down the rest of her descent in the stairway. She landed on her bottom, instead.

Before Rukia could stand back up, she heard a crash to the right, and she instinctively turned towards there. Her eyes widened, while Kon shrieked in terror.

Above a small crater of cement in the middle of a path stood a tall human-shaped figure. Its whole body was completely black, while the edges of its outline were like dancing flames of shadow. It looked like he was burning in black fire. Muscles captured most of the outer edges of the body, making it more akin to a bodybuilder's body. Its hands not only had five fingers but also long, protruding claws that looked a cross between a giant eagle's talons and a bee's cone-shaped stinger. The creature even had spiky black hair that reminded her of the hairstyle of the Tenth Division Captain, but it had more of a wild look to it as it reached further down to the creature's shins. The overall appearance was undoubtedly intimidating to Rukia, but what set her off to a temporary state of consternation were the two yellow-brownish orbs staring at her narrowly, as if it thought she was scum that needed to be wiped out.

Without warning, the creature let out another roar, screaming it out to the heavens, and then attacked her. Rukia dodged quickly and missed being skewered deeply by the sharp claws. The creature had attacked with a downward momentum, and since they missed their initial mark, the claws stabbed one of the steps of the stairway.

When Rukia moved swiftly, she accidentally let go of Kon, who was then hurled a few feet away. The creature didn't seem to care much about the plushie since its eyes were completely fixated at her.

"Kon," she called, "go get Ichigo."

"But what about you? How'll you hold him off?"

"Let me worry about that. For now, get Ichigo here or I'll be dead by the next five minutes."

Kon outwardly gulped and said, "All right." Being the Mod Soul with leg augmentations, he wouldn't have problems with distance. The real problem was how he can find Ichigo in time.

The creature had removed its claws from the steps by the time Rukia finished the short conversation with Kon. It raised both hands and thrust them in a descending, diagonal path.

Rukia rolled backwards. The lower end of her skirt was scratched but her gigai was at least unscathed for the moment. The way this creature moved was unlike any Hollow she had encountered. She knew that this reiatsu was truly like a Hollow's, only it had a more tainted feel to it. If her visit with Urahara weeks previous was any evidence to go by, then this creature might just be one of those altered Hollows he had been talking about. If so, then she was not entirely prepared for this encounter. For one, she didn't know the altered Hollow's capabilities and limits; it could be just holding back on her, but she couldn't think of a plausible reason for that. She just had a gut feeling that it was doing so.

For now, she just had to keep moving until help arrived. Her state was still weak for her to handle any kind of Hollow except for very low-level ones. She steeled her resolve and was about to attempt a narrow escape, already formulating a successful plan in her head, but the sudden appearance of something orange distracted her.

Ichigo! she thought with relief, but only for a few seconds before her sight caught the whole picture. I—Inoue-san?!

Orihime stood in front of Rukia, facing the altered Hollow.

"Kuchiki-san, the glove!"

Rukia understood immediately what Orihime was talking about, but it didn't really lessen her worries. While she'd be safe in the sidelines, Orihime would have to fight the Hollow alone and without proper training. Of course, there was still the fact that Orihime was the one who killed the first altered Hollow they encountered during the cockatiel incident, but there was no telling whether that was an inborn talent of swordplay or just a one-time thing.

But Rukia didn't have much of a choice in the matter. It was better to arm Orihime with her shinigami heritage rather than fight the Hollow with her in that constricting human body. So without further hesitance, Rukia quickly took out the Soul Glove from her backpack, slipped it on, and slammed her palm on the right side of Orihime's head while using her other hand to grab onto the physical body so that it wouldn't unceremoniously fall down the hill. And Rukia was lucky enough to have done that just in time, because the Hollow had once more tried to attack. It would've stabbed Orihime's face with all five of its claws if Rukia had taken an extra second to eject Orihime's soul.

Because of the timed save, the Hollow stabbed only air, while Orihime, now in her shinigami form, was readying herself to unsheathe her blade. This was something that surprised Rukia since the first time she had seen Orihime take up that stance. Batoujutsu requires much discipline and handling in the drawing of the sword. Orihime's zanpakuto is at the same height as an average nodachi, even though the sheath can only hold a blade with the height of a katana. The nodachi is normally a two-handed sword, which is why the hilt is around a foot or more long. And with a longer blade means that it is harder for a practitioner of batoujutsu to draw out the blade. But Orihime, who had no background on any kind of swordplay, was able to perform the art with little difficulty back then. And now, Rukia thought that this was a moment of truth whether Orihime really was a naturally talented shinigami or a very lucky soul.

Orihime unsheathed her nodachi, almost blinding Rukia with the flash of light that came with its exit, and directed the blade at the extended arm of the altered Hollow. Rukia saw the sharp edge slice through the entire arm like it was made out of water. It was clean, precise, and unbelievably fast. Yet the Hollow's arm looked undamaged. Orihime attacked again, this time going for the Hollow's midsection, but the Hollow dodged backwards while clutching onto the arm she had sliced. The arm began twitching like it had some partial form of epilepsy.

The Hollow rectified the twitching by flexing that arm vigorously. It didn't seem to notice Orihime's swift advance to his left side. Orihime swung her sword horizontally with both hands. It connected with air.

Before either Rukia or Orihime could react, the Hollow reappeared behind Rukia, its claws out and more than ready to strike with pinpoint accuracy. There was no way Rukia could dodge with the Hollow too near. Her survival instincts kicked in, and a kidou spell was already at the tip of her tongue.

"Sekienton! (Red Smoke Escape!)" Rukia lowered to a squat, and then slammed both of her palms to the pavement. Red smoke erupted like a ninja's smoke bomb, giving Rukia a window of escape. She quickly backflipped out of the vicinity of the smoke, though she had to balance herself during her landing. If she were in her spirit form, that little display of acrobatics would've been nothing. It was strange how her gigai was responding less and less to her intended movements.

Orihime moved her body into a kendo stance, her zanpakuto prepared for immediate offense or defense. Rukia could still sense the lingering presence of the Hollow even when the smoke finally dissipated and revealed that the Hollow had disappeared. It was close, but there was no way of telling where exactly it was hiding in. Taking another glance at Orihime's direction, Rukia saw determination in her gray eyes. The grip on her zanpakuto was tight and maybe a little tense, but the girl was not shaking in fear. There was a small lopsided smile on her face which seemed to tell to anyone who noticed it that she was enjoying this.

No, that was not quite right. Orihime wasn't enjoying the situation but rather the exhilaration effected. It was something Rukia often saw in battle-hungry shinigami, like Zaraki Kenpachi, showing off a kind of predatory gleam when they fight seriously. This was something she did not expect, most especially from a gentle person like Orihime. But something was familiar about that smile; it seemed to also radiate a sense of ecstasy, like the orange-haired shinigami was fighting while high or drunk from the pleasures of battle. Rukia was beginning to believe that it might be a combination of both.

A pulse of tainted reiatsu breached her thoughts, whirling her busy mind back into reality. The Hollow was about to attack again, and she had no idea where. The ground made a slight tremor as if a giant had stepped his humongous foot on the ground. The sound of it came from behind her, and even before she could turn around and face her enemy, the feel of its glare was powerful enough to stun her for a few seconds. It just didn't make sense that a trained shinigami like her could be easily handled like a worthless civilian by a Hollow, excluding the fact that this Hollow was altered in some unknown way.

A clash of metal rang in her ears.

Turning a hundred and eighty degrees, Rukia looked shocked to see Orihime locking her blade with the long claws of the altered Hollow. She pushed it back without much hardship. The Hollow took three steps back and readied its claws for another attack. But it didn't come straight away. If Rukia had to take a guess, she would've said that the altered Hollow acted as if it was contemplating whether to make another reckless move like the lunges it had been using more than once during the entire fight. Its fighting instincts were foretelling it of a great danger, and Rukia knew the source of the Hollow's hesitation. Because the aura around Orihime had changed since she blocked that last attack.

"Wow, you're smarter than you look, big guy," Orihime commented. Her voice carried an air Rukia had only felt once, and Rukia was quickly accepting the possibility that Orihime was no longer Orihime right now. "I'm bored right now and I don't like it." She pointed the tip of her blade at the Hollow. "You, fight me till your death."

The Hollow threw hesitation out of its mind and charged with all it's got. Orihime pushed Rukia out of the way and met with the claws of the Hollow once more. She swung her blade around with ease and practice, like an interpretive dance that was rehearsed for quite some time. The Hollow would go for a lunge, then she would dodge without hardship. A horizontal swipe, she'd just jump above or duck under. It was like she already knew where and how the Hollow was going to attack before it actually did it. But what was more intriguing for Rukia to see was the way how Orihime handled her long blade: She was wielding it one-handed.

Rukia blinked. But her eyes weren't playing tricks on her. Orihime was actually using a nodachi one-handed.

That's close to impossible! Rukia thought. A sword that size and length would be too heavy for someone like Orihime to carry with ease, more so one-handedly. But she can still see the advantages of it. By having a sword of that length being swung around as if it was just a lightweight shinai (Bamboo sword), not only would it catch the opponents off-guard but it could also be helpful in switching between offense and defense. Though it also had its disadvantages. For one, Orihime had to be careful with her handling lest she gets cut from misdirecting the angle of the long blade towards any part of her body.

Rukia lifted herself off from the ground when Orihime pushed her earlier, and stepped back from the battle. Even with the additional distance between her and the two fighters, she had no difficulty in discerning the eye color of the orange-haired swordswoman.

They were brown.

Orihime leaned back, letting another swipe attack from her opponent to cut air instead of her face.

"Hmph. Dumm wie Scheiße," Orihime scoffed, acting like she was having the time of her life.

Rukia already had a feeling that this was going to be a really long battle. Her cell phone, then, suddenly buzzed to life, indicating the response call of a Hollow that was about to appear nearby. She cursed silently while hoping that the upcoming Hollow would be dispatched quickly by Ichigo. Surely Kon had already found him.

Looking at the upper right of the phone's screen, Rukia absently noted the time.

11:27

She then looked back at the battle, and caught a glimpse of Orihime slashing her enemy without intent for a quick kill, almost as if she wanted to prolong this battle for as long as she could. Yes. This will be a long battle, indeed.

11:16

Ichigo stood still over the grave of Masaki Kurosaki, his head low, his demeanor silent and unresponsive. His family took his newfound melancholy as another phase of his so-called denial, but in actuality he was swimming in a pool of self-hatred. This was the grave of their mother, their mother for God's sake!

So why doesn't anyone blame me for her death?

This was a question he never found the answer to. He didn't want to ask his father as much as he didn't want to admit that he wasn't at fault of Masaki's untimely demise. His family changed because of this day, but not as much as he had.

He heard a roar of thunder. It was faint but it still had that rumble effect in his ears, like the insides of his eardrums were being pummeled with drumsticks in a quick tempo. Looking towards the sky, he saw dark clouds slowly invading the space of what once was the place of white clouds.

The calm is over . . . the storm is approaching.

His father was nowhere to be seen; the same went for his two little sisters, though he at least had a slight idea as to where they were at right now. More than likely, Yuzu was bawling her eyes out with tears and Karin was beside her to lend a shoulder for the girl to lean on. They were twins, so they had a much deeper connection to each other than what Ichigo could even understand about sibling relationships. Maybe it was because they've met each other since they've been conceived. Ichigo didn't really know.

Time passed uneventfully for a while. He didn't even know how long he had been standing there in front of her grave. His legs felt quite stiff, though they were far from feeling fatigue or numb or both. He just didn't feel like moving from that spot anytime soon.

And during this time alone for himself, he thought back to what he shouted at Orihime.

A single raindrop fell just a few feet away from his face. And for some reason he pictured Orihime shedding a tear from one of her eyes and it raced down her cheek, then fell from her cheek, paralleling the fall of the raindrop. Time slowed down as the droplet was coming closer and closer to the dry, cemented ground. The raindrop was tiny; he compared it to the size of an HB pencil's graphite. In the outside world, it was impossible for the human ear to pick up the sound of the splat. But in Ichigo's mind, that sound reverberated in all the walls of his mentality, shaking and disorienting him from the inside, like putting Mentos into a bottle of cola.

In all his anger over what Rukia had said, he forgot all about Orihime's experience with the death of a loved one. His mind was preoccupied about the concept of his grief and the insinuations formulated from the raven-haired shinigami's mind that his common sense and restraint on his more . . . outspoken emotions were almost nonexistent. And Orihime's reaction to his shouts was something he was having more trouble coming to terms with than the fragility his heart was currently in. When Orihime said she understands him, back when he was oblivious of other people's situation due to his clouded head, he had cared less if he hurt her feelings for saying what he had said. Now, he wished he could go back to that moment in time and erase all of that from every happening. He wanted to wipe the whole thing clean and start over, but there was a difference from what you want and can get and from what you want and cannot get.

There's no way around this. The only thing I can do is apologize. Another raindrop came into his view and landed on the ground. This time, there was no distortion in his mind and the splash was inaudible to his ears. And then another raindrop came; another two or three came in succession. Are you crying, Inoue? Are these your tears or are they mine?

Ichigo didn't care about the drizzle marching forth towards the concept of rain. He stood there alone, contemplating over what he would have to say in his apology to Orihime.

But that didn't really last long . . .

"ICHIGO!"

Just two feet away, Ichigo's left foot stomped on a lion plushie, crushing its bawling face to the dirty and wet pavement. His left eyebrow twitched in great annoyance.

"Mind telling me why the hell you're here?"

Kon's reply was muffled as Ichigo's foot was still firmly planted on the back of his head. If Ichigo were to take a guess on what the Mod Soul was saying, it would be this: "Get your foot off my head, dammit! Aaah! Some asphalt's coming into my mouth!"

His foot rose from the poor doll's head as the annoyance in him was sedated at just seeing the little thing squirm. He didn't really know why, but seeing Kon suffer in one way or another somehow soothed a bit of his troubled state. Some could call this sadism, but Ichigo thought it was different. He was only cruel to the little thing, not sadistic.

"Answer my question," Ichigo ordered.

"Damn you! Do you know how long I've been looking for you in this wide cemetery? I've tripped over trenches on three different occasions, got chased by bees, and had to climb all the way up eight sets of stairs to get here."

"While I'm sad that your journey in finding me was an unfortunate one," he said nonchalantly, "just tell me why you're here."

"Oh right! Ichigo, you've got to help Nee-san. She's in trouble."

"Trouble? What trouble?"

"Hollow trouble. And that thing looked like it was no pushover, either."

"All right, then—"

A girl's scream reached his ears. And not just any girl; it was Yuzu's.

Ichigo's brotherly instincts took over, and he ran towards where he could pinpoint the origin of the scream.

"Hey, Ichigo, wait up!"

Kon followed close by, but that fact was in the back of his mind right now. The scream of his sister echoed in his head, and he doubled his pace. He climbed up a set of stairs and turned right, entering into a grassy area where to his right was a view of the graves below the hill, and to his left was the sight of the forest he had been in less than an hour earlier.

Another scream. It was Karin's.

Ichigo's blood grew cold as his senses were picking up the scent of a Hollow nearby. Without warning, he pulled Kon by his scruff and impaled his hand into his mouth. Kon protested the invasion of privacy but Ichigo didn't understand a thing he said, seeing that he still had his hand inside the toy's mouth. His fingers went high and low inside that mouth, and there was no telling how much he was disgusted by the wet substance inside—he doubted it was Kon's saliva. After about ten seconds of searching for Kon's pill inside the body, Ichigo went for the alternative choice.

"What the hell, man?" Kon yelled at Ichigo's face once his fingers were out of his mouth.

He paid it no heed and positioned his hands correctly. His right hand was now holding on the back of the plushie, palm parallel to the surface. His left hand was clenched and reeled back as if readying for a haymaker.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! STOP! NOOOOOOO!"

The punch connected with Kon's stomach, causing him to spit out a small, green pill. Ichigo dropped the toy and grabbed the pill, mid-air. The pill's taste was bitter, but it did its purpose. As the pill traveled into his stomach, Ichigo felt his soul detaching from his physical body. He skidded his sandal-wearing feet on the ground while Kon adjusted himself with a body of flesh and bones.

He heard Karin scream again.

Ichigo grinded his teeth and dashed towards the clearing. There, he saw Karin lying face-down on the grass with her body being stepped on by a giant foot. Yuzu was in a more dangerous situation as her throat was slowly being crushed by a red tentacle, while dangling a few feet above the ground.

He acted quickly, drawing the large mass of metal out of the sheath on his back. Slashing the tentacle, Ichigo shifted his weight mid-air and grabbed onto Yuzu's unconscious form before landing on the ground. After settling his sister on the ground, he turned back towards the Hollow.

It was huge, to say the least. The first thing that came to Ichigo's mind when he saw the creature was 'haystack.' And sure enough, the fur-covered beast's posture resembled the shape of a haystack. The Hollow's mask took about two-thirds of its front, showing off perfectly white teeth with such intensity that it reminded Ichigo of Batman's archrival. It also had two forepaws, while its hind legs were surely covered by the thick fur; he then realized that it was not a foot but a forepaw that was crushing Karin.

"What's this?" the Hollow wondered, looking like he was surprised but it contradicted immensely with the shit-eating grin of its mask. "Ah, a shinigami. Yet again, you sword-brandishing fools have butted in with my meals."

Ichigo saw the tentacle he had sliced off was taken by a second tentacle back towards the host. It entered the domains within the fur, like there was a second mouth from inside that gobbled up the cut appendage.

"No matter. I still have this to satisfy me somewhat."

The Hollow picked up Karin and waved her right next to his slightly open mouth. He exhaled breath that was as thick as steam, making Karin gag at what could be a disgusting smell that could make your stomach churn in uncomfortable ways and your nose in admitting submission just to stop the smell from irritating it further.

He tightened his grip on the hilt and charged straight at the Hollow. He didn't care if he was going to get hurt from this. He had to save Karin no matter what.

It was somehow a feeling of detachment that Orihime woke up to. Her eyes fluttered open to view the picture of a bright and cloudless blue sky. And what flew between her vision and the sky were petals of Sakura trees. Behind her were the soft earth and the prickly tips of grass. It was like she was in the middle of Hanami, gazing onwards as the petals of the cherry blossoms fly along with the wind, symbolizing the season of spring. But Orihime's mind was clear enough to know that currently the season was summer, not spring. And that déjà vu feeling of hers was strong. They all left no doubt as to where Orihime was currently residing in.

"Get up, child." It was the kimono woman.

Orihime turned her head to the left. Sitting on a low-end bench was the kimono woman. Her hair was undone from the ponytail she had worn the last time Orihime had visited, letting the strawberry blonde curls to cascade down and reaching the center of her breasts, accentuating much more of her overall beauty. Her pale hands held onto her parasol, which was closed and lying right on her lap. Her gray eyes looked like they were waiting for something that Orihime had to do.

It took another moment to realize that the kimono woman was waiting for Orihime to follow her request. So Orihime immediately got herself off the ground, brushing her back side to remove any dirt, though she wasn't sure if it would matter since she was inside her own mind . . . or was it her soul?

The kimono woman tapped the empty seat to her left. "Take a seat."

Orihime complied. She opened her mouth to say something but the older woman interrupted her.

"You have questions you seek answers to, am I correct?" she said, her eyes closed as if contemplating whether to tell Orihime truths or things that were really close to the truth.

"Yes, I do."

"It is about her, am I correct in assuming so?"

Orihime did want to know more about this alter-ego residing in her mind along with the spirit of her zanpakuto. Surely the kimono woman would know something about her.

"She's a troublesome girl," the woman said, fixing a strand of hair to the back of her ear, "quite possibly more annoying than Aros. But she seems to have good intentions, even though her methods tend to be more in favor of her own amusement than helping you out."

"Who's Aros?"

"An old acquaintance of your father, and that's as far as I can tell you about either person."

"Why not? Why won't you tell me if you know something?" A sudden thought came to her. "Do you know why I have these powers? You called them my birthright."

"My answers are limited, child. And do not force me to give them to you. I'm doing this for your own good. Such secrets of the past are best left buried within and forgotten."

"But—"

"If you want to know more about . . . your alter-ego, as you put it, then ask your questions. I feel that you will be stuck inside this world for a while."

"What do you mean?"

"She took over your body, and I don't have enough control to restrain her. The presence of that creature was enough to drive her instincts wild, and she couldn't resist it." She chuckled a bit. "The boredom must have gotten to her."

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Orihime asked the ultimate question that was about to rock her out of her seat when answered. "Who or what is she?"

The kimono woman turned to look at her, gray eyes to gray eyes. She then answered, "She goes by the name of Emi . . . and she is a curse unwillingly given to you by your father."

Orihime was left speechless.

Emi was excited. Exhilarated. Euphoric.

This was what she had been waiting for: A battle. An interesting battle with a creature she wanted so much to fight and test her potential on. Being cooked up inside the mind of a female human was very boring for her, and she hadn't much time to really explore the flawless movements of this body since the first and second time she took over. She also knew the reason why her 'roommate' was still unable to stop her control over the body while the real owner was stuck inside her own mentality, left in there to make idle talk with the other occupant.

It was because of the enemy she was fighting. Not only did Emi wanted to prolong the fight for more enjoyment of on her part, she also wanted to be dominant for as long as possible. Fun wasn't inside the princess's head. Outside was where it was at, and there was no stopping her once she had her first taste of it.

She dodged another swipe that was intended for a quick decapitation. Honestly, her enemy was becoming more and more predictable that it was just sad to see it being toyed around like a kitten's ball of yarn. Maybe it was time to spice up the fight.

Emi sensed Ichigo-kun several hundred yards away fighting a Hollow that was quite strong and old. She didn't think Ichigo-kun had enough skills to take care of the pest problem by his own, so why not help out. An idea came to her, and she smiled wickedly.

"Hey, shorty," Emi called to the raven-haired shinigami, whom blanched at being referred in that manner. "I'm changing battlefields. Think you can keep up."

Before Rukia could answer her, Emi turned back towards her opponent and said, "Big, muscle-bound doofus! Wanna play tag? You're 'it.'"

And with that, she dashed away towards another battlefield, one that was already occupied by another orange-haired shinigami. Emi was so excited of the prospect of her idea that she was getting goose flesh just thinking about it.

She heard the creature give out a loud roar and followed after her.

Hook, line, and sinker.

Chapter Afterword:

Hanami literally means "flower viewing." It's a traditional custom in Japan where people enjoy the beauty of flowers blooming in spring. The main "flower" the people view are the cherry blossom trees.