NamesOfTheForgotten pointed something out to me back in the 32 chapter reviews. In the beginning, I put that Orihime's powers were gone when she first came to as an arrancar. Now, I think that I may have been unclear. I meant to say that her hairpins were no longer there, simply because I wanted her powers to be part of her arrancar form. I will re-discuss via Rukia to give more of an explanation. But thank you for pointing this out! I realize it doesn't make much sense. Sorry about that!

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Rukia was quiet content draped over Ichigo's stomach. She was scrolling through her phone, looking up what she could on Orihime's condition. She was in no hurry, nor was she very disappointed when she repeatedly got no answers. It was the same way if one tried to search Ichigo's powers- until he had become something of a legend in the Soul Society.

She figured a couple of things using her only background knowledge. Thing number one- Orihime was sort of what Ichigo was now. A human who had their own powers at first, and then had power transferred into their soul. Ichigo had been run through by her zompakuto, and Orihime had her heart stopped at the same moment Ulquiorra's reatsu was poured into her, patching up her body and soul. So, logically, she could now leave her body in another form, just like Ichigo. The only difference was that she was an arrancar and he was a shinigami.

Thing number two- Orihime's powers were probably in her arrancar form. Rukia herself didn't know, but it made sense that they would be. Ichigo didn't have a sword on his back as a human; his unearthly powers had been retained to his Soul Reaper form. So Orihime would probably have her own powers in her other form as well. They were most likely stronger, too, simply because she had more spiritual pressure and power in a hollow form.

Thing number three- Orihime would probably be able to live in the human world again after some time. Ichigo hadn't needed any time in the Soul Society to adjust to being a soul reaper, most likely because he had the blood of the shinigami flowing in his veins all his life. Orihime would need some times, but she was human. She would come back to them and live just fine, if Rukia was right.

"Will you stop that beeping?" The man under her growled.

Ichigo had his arm draped over his eyes, resting. They had just come back from another hollow fight. It seemed that hollows had been popping up a lot as of late, probably due to the reatsu Orihime had been leaking all over before she had left.

Of course, that should have cleared out about a week ago. But it was the only explanation.

"Don't be such a baby." Rukia drawled. She didn't really want to get into a verbal fight at the moment. She was happy to just bask in the sunlight, her back arched over Ichigo's stomach with her head resting against the window and her legs bent of the edge of the bed. Ichigo was laying in his bed with his head on the pillow, one hand comfortably resting on her thigh, his other arm blocking out the light.

"It's annoying." He softly growled. "You've been playing with that damn phone of yours for forever now."

"I'm looking things up." She excused. "So just endure it."

He huffed, but didn't protest.

Beep-beep. Beep. Beep, beep, beep, beep. … Beep-beep-beepbeepbeepbeep! … Beep. Beep, beep. Beep, beep-beep. BEEP. Beep-

"Please, Rukia." He moaned. "Make it stop."

"You are so demanding." She grit back to him.

"I can demand things like this." A pause. "It's my bed!"

"Oh, so I have to pay toll now, do I?"

"If you're going to do things that drive me crazy-"

"If only you were stronger." She drawled, smirking at her phone. "A shame you can't handle little things like this."

"I can handle anything but this."

"So quick to admit your own weakness?"

"This isn't a weakness, it's-"

"Something I can hold over your head."

BAM!

The door flew open, Isshin and Yuzu falling face-first onto the floor, blushing furiously. It was evident that the two had been eves-dropping, and must have leaned on the door, which wasn't quiet closed all the way.

"What the hell!?" Ichigo roared, sitting up and accidentally rolling Rukia down into his lap. "What are you two-"

Both of the intruders hurriedly slapped their hands over their eyes, turning around to crouch in the doorway.

"Ichigo, my boy, you've tainted my lovely Rukia!" His father wailed. "You've finally become a man! And now you'll both probably be moving out and leaving your old man!"

"How could you do such dirty things to Rukia?" Yuzu cried. "Ichigo, I thought you were a nice boy!"

"Wh-what?!" Ichigo's whole face went crimson. "What are you talking about?!"

"We were here from the time you… you…" Yuzu trailed off.

"Were moaning out, 'Rukia, please, make it stop!'" Isshin finished.

"What?! We weren't doing anything!" Ichigo roared, face going up in a burst of flaming blush. Rukia's own face reddened from where she was positioned in his lap.

Isshin and Yuzu bother turned their heads at the same time. Mouth dropped open, over-active imaginations flaming to life as they discovered Rukia, hair mused from being suddenly thrown when Ichigo had sat up, blushing and in a most compromising position in Ichigo's lap.

Faces sporting blushes, Ichigo's father and sister both jumped up and ran out of the room, slamming the door closed behind them.

"We can't believe this!" The two relatives cried, their voices and sobbing slowly fading until they were silent.

For a second the two were silent, still sitting in the bed.

Ichigo sighed after a moment, face still red, and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeesh. Those two stick their noses into everything and then jump to all kinds of damn conclusions."

Rukia nodded, still blushing lightly. "And we weren't even doing anything…"

"What do you think 'jumping to conclusions' means?" Ichigo asked, a little irritated.

She glared. "What I meant was that there are times they could have heard something and jumped to an accurate conclusion, but when they do barge in here, nothing is going on." She held back a smirk, knowing how easily Ichigo was embarrassed when she said that they were together in any type of context.

It was a bit of a surpise, albeit a pleasant one, when he just smirked. "Yeah, Rukia?" His face neared her own, the atmosphere changing at the drop of a dime.

His lips neared her own, and slowly Rukia closed her eyes…

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Gah!" Ichigo jumped back, nearly dumping Rukia out of his lap. "What now?!" He bellowed, glaring down at her phone.

Rukia was much more composed. "Hello?" She asked, turning in Ichigo's lap so that she just sat there, leaning against his chest.

"Rukia?" Chad's deep tenor met her ears.

"Yes?"

A slight sigh. "It's your turn."

She frowned. "Oh… I didn't realize you were still there… how long has it been?"

"Three hours."

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She jumped out of bear, nearly elbowing Ichigo in the face.

"Hey!" He yelled out indignantly.

Rukia quickly dropped to the floor, pulling her sandles out from under the bed and forcing them on to her feet. "We'll be right there." She told Chad, throwing Ichigo's own shoes at him.

"What do you mean, 'we'?" Ichigo yelled as he caught the footwear. "I'm not-"

She grabbed his collar and tugged hard, forcing him to walk behind her as she headed downstairs. "Why don't you feed her? That keeps her quiet." Rukia paused to let Ichigo shove his shoes on. Rukia paled. "She's figured out she can talk with her mouth full?" Dread coated her words.

"I'm still not-"

"We'll be right there, I promise. Just hold on." Rukia hung up, dropping her phone into the pocket of her blue dress.

"Hey-"

Slam!

Moments later it seemed, and much to short a time of freedom it was, they had arrived at Orihime's apartment.

Rukia raised her hand to the doorknob, hesitating at the last moment when she heard the loud voice firing away behind the door.

"And then I thought that maybe it wasn't such a good idea, because Aligators actually eat people, and that's not good. I wouldn't eat a person. Well, maybe, if they were all cooked up and dipped in Itiallian dipping sauce. Mmmm, that stuff is to die for! But not, you know, really die. Because that's no fun. I mean, I've never tried it before, but I wouldn't think it's fun. Just really painful. Like the dentist. Never been, but I just know it would hurt. I don't want to go there any time soon. Instead, I want to travel the world! I want to sail on the sea! Wait, is the big one a sea or an ocean? It's the same thing, right? Kinda like twins? I mean, I know they aren't actually friends. Like, ponds and puddles aren't twins. Even if they sound alike, and they both have water… maybe they are twins! What if they are?! Like those two twins at our school! They even talk the same. But they don't talk very nice. They're always telling me-"

Ichigo grabbed Rukia's hand, pulling her back into his chest. "We can make it if we run now." He whispered in her ear. "She'll never find us in the library. We never go there, she'll never think of it. All we have to do was run."

She winced. It was so tempting. So, so tempting. But she couldn't just abandon Chad like that. He had been there in battle for her time after time. "We… we have to do this. No matter how much we don't want to. Think about Chad."

Ichigo slowly let her go. "You're right…"

She wrapped her hand around the doorknob once more.

"And I was like, 'don't call me armadillo you can!' And then she ran away screaming something about the funny farm? I don't really know. You want to know what is funny? Chickens. Those things are the most funny things ever. They have beaks and feathers. Oh! Birds have feathers. Are chickens birds? I thought all birds can fly. Can chickens fly? I know penguins can, because they're super cute. Oh! Chickens are cute, too, though, so maybe they can fly!"

She reached back and grabbed Ichigo's hand, knowing that he would probably book it first thing she opened the door if she didn't. She turned the doorknob, opening the door. "We're-"

Chad came running out of the room. "Thanks." He muttered briefly, taking off in a cloud of dust.

And then they were with the terror of their lives.

Talkihime.

"Ichigo, Rukia, my love birds! Welcome back! Did you miss me? Of course you did." Orihime's body came dancing to the door, big scarfs tied all over her on top of her normal clothes in what might have been a fashion statement. She grabbed both of them by the fronts of their clothing, pulling them inside and slamming the door shut. "So clad you're here! I was just telling Chad about my plans to go out tonight! You guys are lucky, you can come with!"

"Uh, sorry Talkihime-" Ichigo winced. "Uh, I mean, Cana Elizabeth Retsu Hime." That was the name the soul said she wanted to go by. He had tried just calling her Cana, as did everyone. They had all had it drilled into their minds that her full name was the only thing she would be called by.

"Come, sit, I'll make tea while we talk!" She pushed RUkia and Ichgio over to the couch, shoocing them down and running into the kitchen as she babbled on. "I have a spoon, and it's really nice, it's called a teasoon! Ha, isnt' that funny? I know it is. Anyway, I only use teaspoons to make tea. Because, duh, it's a teaspoon! You have to use one! And-"

By this point, Ichigo and Rukia had toned her out, and sat smiling and nodding as they talked through clenched teeth.

"When will Orihime be back?" Ichigo asked, sweeting lightly.

Rukia was the same. "I thought she's be back a while ago."

"I'm going to kill that damn Ulquiorra." Ichigo happily said through his smile.

"Give them time." Rukia allowed. After a second, "Well, they've had time…"

"I give them a day and then we go get her."

"A week."

"Deal."

A pause.

"Do you think he's holding her prisoner?" Ichigo asked, concern leaking into his voice.

Rukia didn't hesitate to answer. "No."

"Why isn't she back?" Ichigo complained.

"… I don't know." Rukia said, puzzled herself.

Both sighed.

"-and that's why I think that pizza should be banned from men over thirty. Makes sense, huh? I know, I'm brilliant, really. It's cool how I'm so smart. Just today I discovered that if you leave the tap running with only one handle, the temperate-ur-a gets ether hot or cold! It's amazing! And of course none of you knew this. It's okay, we can't all be as smart as I am. The world needs normal people and dumb people, too." She looked back from the teapot, smirking. "Rukia is normal, but Ichigo is stupid. Well, you're both pretty dim."

"Can we get rid of her yet?" Rukia seethed, still brightly smiling.

"Soon." Ichigo said with a smile. "Soon."

.

HAD to bring Talkihime back. This scene had some points. XD Anywho, I hope everyone enjoyed. If you have a pairing you would like to see, lemme know. However, the two pairings I already have in here are staying. It IS a Ulquihime fic, after all, and I adore Ichiruki. Thanks!