Date written: 01/06/10 – 06/06/10

Posted on FanFiction: 09/06/10

A/N: For all you readers out there, I must inform you that I write things for a reason. Some of you may have already picked up on the small plot hole concerning Orihime's zanpakuto and she kept using it without a problem at all, but I'll tell you now that it was intentional. This chapter explains all of it. Whether you were one of those keen observers or not, it doesn't matter to me. What matters is the effect. Once you finish the chapter, answer this question: "Were you surprised?"

- CHAPTER 27 -

Let There Be Light

"THIS IS AMAZING! To think that such a vast place could be found under the house of a simple candy-maker with a cool hat!"

Ichigo just stared, not really sure if he should make a snide remark about Sandal-hat stating the obvious. After he had set his belongings in the room he had stayed in yesterday night, Sandal-hat and his minions (he didn't know what else to call them) directed him to the trapdoor behind the counter in the shop. When you look below the trapdoor, all you'd see was darkness and a ladder almost completely consumed by it. He was not afraid of the dark or anything, but he hadn't seen the merit of climbing down to the basement for his shinigami training. He was proven wrong the moment he laid his eyes on the barren landscape that made up the wide open space. It was as if he were standing in the middle of a wasteland but with a sky as clear and crisp as a fresh Monday morning. And for a brief moment, he wondered where the light source for this big room underneath the shop was.

Best not to go there, he thought, sliding both hands into the pockets of his jeans. Ignorance is bliss, after all.

"No comment at all?" Sandal-hat asked, his fan flapping like a fish out of water. "Tessai and I worked so hard just to fix all this in one day. The least you could do is give us a reaction."

Ichigo had the distinct feeling that the blond was bullshitting again, but he played the ignorance game once more. He just wanted to start the training as soon as possible. "Oh my, this is amazing," he said monotonously, "I can't believe such a vast, crummy wasteland was created under the house of a shaggy old businessman."

"Thank you." Sandal-hat grinned and bowed.

His eyebrow twitched. "I wasn't complimenting you."

"You should," he said, stopping his fanning to do his trademark grin-behind-fan, "because for the next ten days, this place will be our playground." As if Sandal-hat was bipolar, his carefree façade was replaced with the face of a battle-ready soldier.

The next thing Ichigo knew was his soul getting ejected out of his body. Whether he liked it or not, whether he was prepared for it or not, his training had just begun. And Sandal-hat didn't look like he was going to pull any punches.

Yoruichi once more wished that her feline instincts weren't so dominant when she was in her cat form. At the moment, Orihime was gushing all over her just because she believed that Yoruichi was this 'Luna' in disguise. Yoruichi didn't see any connection with her and the moon, but she couldn't voice this out because she was busy purring like a pet appearing submitted to its master. How disgracing. To think that Orihime would immediately find her biggest weak point while in this form. Her neck and jaw were quite susceptible to the girl's gentle rubbings.

"Rrrrr . . . Orrrrihime, stop forrrrr a second," Yoruichi said. "This is serrrrrious."

She complied.

"I want you to refrain from doing that to me again."

"Eh~? Why?" she pouted.

"I am not a pet cat, got it?" Her words were laced with a subtle threat, one that promised immense pain. Yoruichi understood Orihime could be dense at times, but also knew she wasn't stupid to not realize the severe repercussions if she were to continue treating Yoruichi as a mere housecat.

When that was out of the way, she started with what she first intended Orihime to do. Her command was crisp and clear: find Yasutora Sado and then Uryuu Ishida. Orihime had looked confused at first, so Yoruichi had to explain that it was necessary for the girl to detect and pinpoint the spiritual signatures of the two aforementioned boys. While Urahara was already training Ichigo, Yoruichi was just starting with Orihime's training, which had gauging her sensory abilities as the appetizer. The main course wouldn't come until Orihime found out the name of her zanpakuto and subsequently achieved shikai, but Yoruichi withheld that tidbit for later. It was better to take things one at a time.

Orihime didn't need any more convincing; she dove into her sensory mode (it was only dubbed as such because Orihime stated it out loud, like an anime character shouting out their signature attack-slash-ability) with haste and went to work. Yoruichi thought that it'd take a while for Orihime to grasp the whole concept and power of her innate talent, believing that Orihime had been doing her sensory scans subconsciously, but the orangehead continued to surprise her. And she also had a feeling Kisuke must be having the same thought she had.

"I think I found Sado-kun," Orihime said. "He's somewhere in the shopping district."

Yoruichi wagged her tail, left and then right. "Well, no use wasting time here. Let's go find him."

Orihime nodded.

They crossed town without any kind of conversation between them. With Yoruichi's current state, it would be unwise to start talking like a fable character when there were so many wandering ears tuning in and out at any noise that'd come their way. The crowds around Karakura town during these hours (nearing five o'clock in the afternoon), especially when they were still passing through the market district, were often flooded with their numbers that it was like crossing a jungle. Yoruichi was finding it a bit annoying to constantly avoid the onslaught of stomping feet and swinging shoes as she followed Orihime.

Finding Sado was the easy part; persuading him to come with Orihime after she asked a few questions (it'd be useless if Sado was part of the majority who forgot Rukia) to explain the whole situation better was the hard part. The reason why Sado was in this district was because he was accompanying his band-mates, Gitano and Harutoki, to help the former decide on what kind of electric guitar to buy; Gitano wanted to "upgrade" from acoustics. Sado promised him he would help, and he was a man of his word.

Yoruichi, while perturbed that Orihime gave in so easily and saying that she'd approach him on a later date, didn't urge her to go back and get the guy by force. By the end of the day, it would be Sado's choice whether to continue with his spiritual discovery and pitch in for the rescue mission or play ignorant and never lift a finger. But somehow she didn't think the giant would choose the latter option; his honor might be as strong as his physical strength. She was looking forward in teaching him.

Their next target was the Quincy. And long story short, it didn't go as well as she'd first thought, although she had expected his full rejection of the notion of being trained by a talking black cat. He was probably thinking he'd have to dress up in a tuxedo, a top-hat, and a billowing cape, wear a white eye-mask like in those masquerade parties, and carry a red rose at all times. Then again, he might not have seen that old show, so the whole Tuxedo Mask routine would be a whole new experience for him. Pity he refused, though. It would've been fun to mess with the kid.

She also didn't believe his reason for the refusal. He was out in the middle of the woods, isolated from the city and society. The only thing he brought with him was that box and a bag he both hid before Orihime got closer to him. Yoruichi had a lot of experience when it came to people lying (she wasn't the former Commander-in-chief of the Onmitsukido and Corps Commander of its Executive Militia for nothing) and the Quincy's excuse came off as a one-hundred percent lie. He wanted to train for the rescue mission; he just rather wanted to train himself alone, segregated from human contact as much as possible. Yoruichi had no choice but to respect that; it had to be a Quincy thing.

As they made their way back to Urahara Shop, already near the edges of the woods, Orihime apologized to her.

"For what?" Yoruichi asked.

"For failing in recruiting both Sado-kun and Ishida-kun."

Yoruichi laughed. "What are you talking about? You passed my test with flying colors."

"Heh?"

"Orihime, this test is not about recruiting—I even expected the Quincy's rejection."

"What? Then what was I being tested for?"

"Your extra sensory perception, of course."

"ESP?"

"Yes, but not in the way you're imagining. The human notion of ESP is different to the spiritual aspect of ESP. It's a very rare gift, even in Soul Society. But even then, those gifted few have their limits in sensing reiryoku. Tell me, Orihime, did you feel something strange while you were searching for the boys' spiritual signatures?"

She nodded. "It was a little harder than before. I can sense Kurosaki-kun with no prob—" She stopped talking, stopped walking. Her confusion turned to worry. "Kurosaki-kun . . ."

"What is it?"

"His reiryoku . . . it feels like it's been severed. Like . . . like . . . he died."

Yoruichi stayed indifferent, but her whiskers flicked upwards by a fraction of an inch, almost unnoticeable.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ichigo yelled, gripping the broken chain attached to his chest. He really wished he could get up and beat the hell out of that blond asshole. Didn't he know what he just did? But currently his henchman Tessai was pinning him down. "With my Chain of Fate severed I can't get back to my body. I'm gonna die!"

"I know that," Sandal-hat said offhandedly.

"You do? Then what the fuck, man? You're pissing me off more and more."

"It's all part of your training, Kurosaki-san. When that chain reaches your chest, then that's the end. You will turn into a Hollow."

Ichigo gulped.

"But," he emphasized, "there is a way for you to avoid that fate. By becoming a shinigami."

A distinct memory popped up in his head. "Like how Inoue became one? That's impossible! I'm not related to a shinigami or anything."

"Ah, but you're missing something vital, Kurosaki-san. Rukia's shinigami powers inhabited your soul for how long exactly? Around two months, correct? Let's not forget your gargantuan amount of spiritual energy. These two factors—prolonged exposure to the spiritual presence of a shinigami and containing enough spiritual energy to rival low-classed shinigami—helped evolve your soul. As of this moment, the innate portion of your soul that has become a shinigami is closed off. You just need to find the key and open its door. And fast."

It would be another few months when Ichigo realized that what Kisuke Urahara had said then was complete and utter bullshit.

"I wonder how many more surprises you have in store, Orihime," Yoruichi said. "I'm already amazed at your ability, but this display takes the cake."

"But what about Kurosaki-kun? He must be in danger."

"Don't worry. It's just Kisuke's over-the-top training regimen."

"Urahara-san?"

She nodded. "Right now, Kisuke's doing what he can for Ichigo to retrieve his shinigami powers. It would be unwise to interfere."

"But his reiryoku—"

"You have to trust Kisuke, Orihime."

"Do you?"

"With my life." But not Ichigo's, she thought. She knew what Kisuke was trying to do, but it was a choice Ichigo had made, and he was honor-bound to repay his life debt to Rukia at any means necessary. It was the most plausible reason she could think of for a teenaged boy to wage battle with the most guarded place in existence, aside from the Spirit King's realm, all for the sake of one shinigami's life.

"Will Kurosaki-kun . . . be all right?"

To that question, Yoruichi had no answer. "That would be up to Ichigo's will." She could only be vague. "Moving back to our earlier conversation, I have to confess about something I forgot to tell you." More like refrained from saying, actually, but she doesn't need to know that.

Orihime's brows furrowed. "What is it?"

"You're under a kidou spell."

"Eh? Who? When? How?"

"It was Kisuke when he urged you outside of the shop. I told him to put that spell on you; I had a hunch, and I wanted to capitalize on it."

Orihime rubbed her back, as if she were searching for a 'KICK ME' sign pasted there. "What does the spell do?"

"Disrupt your ability to sense other spiritual beings. Do you see the implications?"

"That . . . the spell didn't work?"

She shook her head. "Quite the opposite. It was working flawlessly."

"Then, why can I still sense spiritual signatures around me?"

"ESP," Yoruichi answered simply.

"ESP?" Orihime echoed. She still looked confused.

"Yes. You should also know that for humans with high spiritual sensitivity, sensing spiritual signatures is as easy as looking through your own eyes. Therefore, all shinigami—even ones fresh out of the Academy—have the ability to sense other beings with their reiryoku. It'd be hard to detect Hollows otherwise."

"Then what does ESP do?"

"Those with ESP have a more advanced form of the spiritual sensor inside every one of us. It is how these gifted individuals use them that could mean the difference between detecting a Hollow a mile away and detecting a Hollow in Hokkaido."

"So this means I just have a bigger radar than other people?"

"Not only bigger, more sensitive as well. There are some kidou spells where a shinigami can mask their spiritual presence. The more experienced shinigami, including all the captains except for one, can mask their presence at will. To those with ESP, none escapes their radar.

"But even then, your ability should've been cut down by that spell. For you to sense Ichigo's reiryoku to a detailed level, it's just extraordinary. Can you sense other beings in that long distance?"

Orihime shook her head. "No, I can only sense Kurosaki-kun. And right now, he's feeling really angry for some reason."

Yoruichi laughed. "I'm glad he is."

"Why?"

"Because if he isn't, then he must be wrong in the head."

"A—A—AMAZING! Who would've thought that such a vast place is under Urahara-san's house!"

"Ah, finally someone who appreciates our handiwork, Tessai," Urahara said down the Shatter Shaft.

"It lifts my heart so, Manager," Tessai replied, but kept his posture as Ichigo tried once more to climb out of the deep hole he and Tessai had fallen in while having both arms tied behind his back.

"Welcome back, you two," Urahara said to the nearing females. "I trust that it was a success?" His question was directed to the cat, who nodded. "Excellent. Now come over here, Orihime-san. I'll have to remove the spell."

Orihime walked closer to him, though a little apprehensive because his arms were spread out as if he were about to give her a big hug. "Where's Kurosaki-kun?" she asked.

Below the pit behind Urahara, she heard a disembodied grunt, some consecutive taps like footsteps, a shout, a thud, then the disembodied grunt again.

He looked at her, as if to say 'Does that answer your question,' but not in the sarcastic way, more like friendly banter. With an outstretched hand, he maneuvered it to Orihime's nape and tapped that part twice. She winced both times as the first tap deactivated the limit seal placed on her spiritual radar and the second tap revitalized it from its stasis.

"There we go, good as new," he announced, once again covering half his face with the fan. "Are you ready for your training, Orihime-san?"

Orihime gulped. She rubbed her hands together. "I—I hope so."

"Don't worry," Yoruichi said. "You'll do just fine."

She nodded in her direction, but still uncertain about how well she'd do. Urahara brought up his cane and hit its tip with her forehead, ejecting her soul out of its physical shell. And like it was choreographed, she knelt down as soon as her feet touched the ground, spread her arms out like how Urahara did earlier, and caught her body before it landed. She set it down gently and then closed its unblinking stare, those gray eyes, her gray eyes, glazed over before the eyelids covered them up. This was the first time she just stopped and gazed at what would technically be a dead body, though she liked to call it a soulless body than dead. The implication brought back memories of that night when she had first become like this, a shinigami.

Ichigo's curses at the bottom of the circular pit breached her thoughts.

"Will Kurosaki-kun be okay?" she asked Urahara.

"That depends upon his will," he answered. There was an edge in his voice, like a blade pulled from its scabbard, its sharpness glinting, proudly displaying that it could cut you down if you made a wrong move. Like he wanted Ichigo to pull through, but the odds of him doing it were unknown. "He only has less than three days before Tessai takes the next step."

Orihime opened her mouth—

"Let's concentrate on your training first. And no questions concerning Kurosaki-san. Period." He looked damn serious about that order, too.

Near the ladder, resting on top of a low rock, Yoruichi shook her head. Only Urahara saw this motion, but he paid it no mind. It would do no good if he kept wearing the kiddy gloves around the female orangehead. He needed her to be as strong as Ichigo once they started their way through Soul Society. This had to be done.

"Shall we start?" he asked her.

She couldn't trust her voice at the moment, and she kept taking fleeting glances at the pit where the two children were staring at the bottom. The redhead child was talking animatedly at whoever was down there. Still, she nodded at Urahara's question.

"Then the first order of business for you is your shikai."

"My shikai?" She tested the familiar word, her mind reeling back to when she had that last conversation with the kimono woman. The woman had said that Orihime would be on her own until she heard her name and awakened her shikai form. Ever since then, Emi was taking cheap shots in trying to regain supremacy over Orihime's body, physical and spiritual. It was a battle of will Orihime had no trouble winning, but the usual slipups of her control were often costly, albeit not exactly unwelcomed. Emi was just too unpredictable to be considered as an ally or a foe.

"Orihime-san, draw out your sword."

She complied to the shopkeeper's request, unsheathing her six-foot nodachi, followed by the usual flash of light, with practiced ease.

"Hmm. Have you noticed the oddity yet?"

"Oddity?" Is he talking about that flash?

He pointed at her blade. "You just drew out a very long blade without overextending your arms, as if it were intangible."

Orihime was silent, but then widened her eyes, the brunt of this new piece of information threw her off a few feet, figuratively. She stared at her shining blade, as if doing so would make it spill its secrets. All this time, she had never noticed the strangeness of it; it just felt so natural pulling it out, like there was no need for an explanation as long as her zanpakuto was sharp and willing to live up to its general name and cut down her enemies.

When it comes to unsheathing swords, the swordsman has to be careful with longer blades. In Orihime's case, the nodachi is six feet long, while she was only five feet tall. Consider how long her flail arms would stretch before they reach their limit. All Orihime had been doing was drawing out the sword like she had seen in TV, but she never thought about taking the sword's length into account. It was like the sword—

"I already have a theory as to why that is possible," Urahara said. "It must be your zanpakuto's natural affinity."

"Natural affinity?" she echoed.

"Yes. An affinity with nature. Fire, water, wind, earth, light, shadow, everything that pertains to nature. Not all zanpakuto have a natural affinity—some are more unorthodox—but those who do, more often than not, have their affinity tuned to their personality. Care to take a guess what yours is?"

She shrugged, absolutely having no idea.

"It's light."

"Light?" She stared at her sword again.

"Yes, concentrated light that becomes tangible to the touch. But its weight becomes negligible. The flash when you unsheathe your zanpakuto is it materializing itself in real time. While encased inside your scabbard, however, it becomes a bladeless hilt. In this case, it explains both why you have a scabbard that's only three feet long and why you can swing your zanpakuto around as if it weighed no more than a six-pound dumbbell."

Orihime couldn't rebuke that logic. And her hilt guard seemed to hint at it as well, since it was shaped like her hairpins, which were shaped after the sun, the main source of light in the Earth.

"This might be enough of a hint for you to have a head start in learning your zanpakuto's name. I can already guess what it is, but I won't give you more than what I already gave."

She nodded in understanding. A deep connection with her zanpakuto was needed, therefore she needed to learn the kimono woman's name on her own.

"So with that said, let's start the battle."

"Battle? What battle?" Orihime instinctively took a step back when Urahara drew out the blade inside his cane. She didn't like where this was going, and the predatory gleam in the shopkeeper's eyes (the shadows forming under that hat only made it more predatory) was coercing her to shiver.

"We don't have a lot of time, Orihime-san, so I'll have to be frank with you. Shinigami learn their shikai better if they are in a life or death situation."

Her stomach sank deep, and she broke down in a cold sweat.

"In other words, I will be attacking you with the intent to kill. And if Emi were to suddenly come out . . ." He remained silent, and Orihime didn't need to ask because she knew what that silence meant.

"On the count of three, we will start. One."

Orihime wanted to voice out her opinion, that they were rushing this. But her voice box seemed to have locked itself because she only had her mouth open like a gaping fish, and the clearest sound you could hear coming out of it was a muffled choke.

"Two."

The look in his eyes didn't waver. He was serious. About everything. Orihime wished she could just hide under a rock and hope for the best. She had been in these life-or-death situations before, but they were never this tense because Urahara's eyes alone were enough to paralyze her in fear. Her hands were shaking badly, her stance unguarded and full of openings. She was a sitting duck.

"Three!"

Chapter Afterword:

I ask again, were you surprised?

You know I find it a little funny that nobody commented about the "plot hole" I wrote about Orihime trying to unsheathe a six-foot long sword without help a thousand chapters ago. This was an intentional "hole" because Orihime's zanpakuto's nature was already known to me. I only implemented what I knew while playing ignorant like the characters in the story. I mean, small five-foot-two girl who has never done weight-lifting can suddenly carry a six-foot long nodachi without straining herself, can sheathe it in a scabbard half the length of the sword, and is also able to unsheathe it as if she were pulling out a mere dagger? Surely someone should've noticed that. No insult intended, of course. It just adds into the "shock value" once I reveal it like this, to those who weren't looking too much into it. Expect more surprises to come in the Soul Society arc.