Orihime woke up on the couch. Her hair matted and last night's clothes still on. She had been talking with Kon until almost midnight about mostly what to do if Ichigo were to stay as he was and what to do if he broke through. Kon sat and listened. As much as he just wanted to hold her curves and make it all better, he knew he needed to stay composed. When she drifted off, he put a blanket around her and left the room to let her sleep.

As she rose slowly from the couch, she noticed Kon was leaning back on the other side of the couch. He wasn't moving, so Orihime scooted across the couch and poked him in the face. For science of course. She never thought mod souls would need sleep. She poked his lifeless form again, this time harder. Kon yelled out in response and sprang up, only to knock into Orihime, causing both to fall back.

"Ow, why were you poking me so hard?"

"For science!" Her fist in the air.

"Huh?"

"I thought mod souls wouldn't sleep."

"Oh, I guess it's more of an energy saver mode than sleep. I can't sleep the way a human does, but it's close enough."

Orihime looked intrigued. "Interesting."

Kon looked at the time while trying to not feel awkward at Orihime's sudden closeness. "Uh, Orihime-chan? Urahara will be here soon. You should get ready."

She looked at her watch quickly. "Oh, you're right! I better go." She rushed over to her bedroom and then into the bathroom. Kon sighed and brushed himself off. Looking in a mirror to make sure he didn't have a bruise. A few moments later, there was a knock at the door. Kon rushed over to the door and opened it quickly, causing a rush of air to bring in the snow from the outside. Kon covered his eyes for a moment, then looked out to find four people standing there. A voice came through the flurries.

"Ah, Kon, so good to see you again. This is Yoruichi, my good friend. You of course know Abarai-san and Kuchiki-san." Kon bowed and stepped back to let them in. "Oh my, Inoue-san sure has a nice place. Where is she?" Kon shut the door behind everyone and waited a moment for everyone to take their boots off. Kon directed them to the living room to all sit down.

"Well Urahara-san, inoue's in the bathroom getting ready." His voice was low and his eyes looking down at the floor. "There was an issue last night."

"I can see that by the fact that you're in the gigai. Tell us what happened."

Orihime quickly finished in the bathroom and could hear Kon talking. 'They must be here!' She thought. She scrambled out the door just as Kon was done talking. She bowed low. "Forgive me everyone!" She shot up and noticed the unfamiliar face. Yoruichi smiled and got up.

"Pleased to meet you Inoue, I'm Yoruichi Shihouin"

"Ah, yes! Pleased to meet you Shihouin-san."

"Please, call me Yoruichi."

Orihime nodded. "So, Inoue-san" Urahara stood up and walked towards her. "Kon has us up to speed on what happened. Once I got caught up on what happened, I was going to remove the salt so that Ichigo, or Hichigo can come in."

"Hichigo?" Orihime wondered.

Kon piped up. "That was my idea. It means hated Ichigo!" Orihime smiled at his face of awkward determination that only Kon could show.

"If you don't mind Inoue-san, I'd like to remove the salt now." Orihime nodded, but noticed the large trunk he had with him, which she assumed was the real body. She had a pit in her stomach that suddenly grew to the size of a melon as she fought back the urge to cry. Urahara walked over to the door and kicked the salt. He walked back inside and sat back down. "Now Inoue-san, I'd like you to try calling out to Ichigo." Everyone was seated except Orihime. She clasped her hands and closed her eyes. She called out slowly to Ichigo, hoping that she could focus on imagining where he was. Several minutes passed of her calling to him with no success. Orihime sighed deeply and sat on the edge of the couch by Yoruichi. Yoruichi put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about it too much. We can find him. Let's sit and chat for a while." Orihime agreed and they all sat back making small talk for a few minutes. As the room was becoming strangely quiet, everyone felt the unmistakable energy of Ichigo.

"Ichigo!" Orihime yelled and stood up from the couch, frantically calling out to him as she paced the living room. Slowly in front of everyone, Ichigo began to form. Orihime's eyes began to tear up and she stepped back until Ichigo was fully formed. A look of fear, and shame was plastered on his face. Orihime ran to him and immediately hugged him as hard as she could, her mumbled voice over the tears gave a strange sense of peace to Ichigo, despite being so fearful of what had happened. He held her close and could feel the strong emotion from everyone.

"Welcome back Kurosaki-san. We all heard what happened yesterday. Do you remember any of that?" Urahara asked.

Ichigo pulled away from Orihime and stood in front of Urahara. "I do. I could see everything, but I couldn't move my spirit body. I don't know how that's possible."

"Do you feel the other spirit now?" Urahara asked, looking very serious.

"Not really. I almost feel a kind of lingering sadness or hate, but it feels pretty far away."

"That's good. The sutra Kon recited helped. Nonetheless, we need to tread lightly and make sure that Hichigo is suppressed enough that he won't cause a problem. We may have to do an exorcism on you once you are in the permanent body. That will be very difficult. We have to only exorcise Hichigo and not you as well." Urahara's eyes widened. "I know someone who could do this."

Ichigo's face tightened. "Well, call him up, bring him over. If he's the best for this, we should get him here right away." Ichigo paused, looking at Urahara. "Why do you look so upset?"

Urahara sighed and stepped back. "The person who can perform this healing of good soul and banishing of bad soul is your father Ichigo, Isshin Kurosaki." There was a mutual gasp amongst everyone. Urahara looked at Ichigo, then continued. "Your father knows that you are trying to regain a body. He has a hard time accepting that you can essentially be brought back from the dead. He believes what we are doing is not the natural order of things and what is dead should stay dead.

Ichigo's fists clenched. "That bastard."

Urahara raised his hand. "However, you are still his son, and he would give anything to see you have a normal life again."

Ichigo's hand loosened, and he looked down. The pain showing deep on his face. "I have to get in the body now. Even if it takes my dad a month to get here, I need to have my senses back and be able to get used to the body so that I am strong enough to handle the exorcism."

"I agree with you Kurosaki-san. You should get in the body now, but let me chant a few sutras just to be sure. Urahara began reciting a few sutras, making sure Ichigo didn't look to be in distress. He only looked impatient, which slightly amused Urahara. When he was done, he opened the trunk and there sitting in it, was his body. It looked exactly like him. He was dressed very simply in jeans and a t-shirt, but to Orihime, it was the most wonderful thing she had ever seen. While everyone helped get the body onto the couch, Orihime stood back and sobbed softly to herself. She knew she had to stay strong and believe that this will work, but she felt in the back of her mind that Hichigo would take over, or Ichigo's dad would mess up the exorcism and she would lose him forever. Kon saw her in distress and put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to stop shaking. "It'll be ok Orihime-chan. Let's go over by them." Orihime nodded softly and sat down next to the new body.

Renji finally spoke. "Ya better get in that body fast."

Ichigo looked down at Orihime. She stood up and gave him a hug. "The next time I hug you, it'll be better. Good luck. You can do it." He smiled briefly, then looked at the lifeless body in front of him. The four shinigami began forming kido around the body and Ichigo. Urahara handed him the same concoction that he gave Ichigo at his place. Ichigo's eyes widened at the energizing drink and drank it in one gulp. The energy flowed in him and he felt the same surge as last time. Trying not to yell out at the sudden rush, he looked down at Orihime again. She was holding the hand of the new body and looking up at him with a smile that melted his heart. Her other hand reached out and grabbed his. "It's time Kurosaki-kun." Urahara said with his kido intensifying. "It's the same as getting into the temporary gigai. Remember how you felt, and what you did." Ichigo looked at Orihime one more time and closed his eyes. He could feel the connection, but it was hard to get to. He tried several times. Renji was starting to get tired from using kido and had to sit down.

"Get up Renji!" Rukia ordered. He popped back up and wiped the sweat from his brow. They all kept quiet as Ichigo continued to struggle. Orihime tightened her grip on Ichigo's hand, but realized that he was probably trying to keep his grip on her and it may be distracting.

"Hey Ichigo. I'm going to let go of your hand now. Please use our energy. I believe in you." Ichigo looked over, pain in his eyes, but a smile forming slowly on his lips. She looked up at him with a noticeable blush. She softly spoke to his very soul with the words he needed to hear. "I love you." The words were soft and breathy, but she smiled with a warmth that sent him the energy he needed. With one final yell, he tried one last time and found the connection. He entered the body and immediately passed out. Orihime let go of his hand and looked at Urahara. He grabbed something that looked like a watch and put it on him. He turned it on and moved so he could see the screen. He smiled.

"He's in." Everyone cheered and Renji fell over onto the couch. Orihime hugged everyone and wiped away tears as they just kept falling. Urahara sat down and configured more on the device. "Inoue-san, I want you to see how this works." She sat down and Urahara moved Ichigo's arm over to where she could see. "This indicator bar will show how complete the connection is. When the connection is at the top and turns green, he will be completely connected with this body and will never leave it again. Right now, as you can see, he is in the red. It is quite low, but I see it very slowly moving up. We just have to wait now and make sure he is comfortable. It should take a few hours for him to wake up. By then, the indicator should be about half way. We can all go out to eat then. The introduction of food into him will certainly help. Especially if we go to a place where he can get his favorite foods. Do you know what those are Inoue-san?"

"He told me he likes anything with chocolate in it and mentaiko, especially karashi mentaiko."

"Ok, we will just have to find a nice place that has dessert as well as spicy dishes. Now we should let him rest. I'm not going to get his father until he is fully in the body. In the meantime, why don't we all go out for breakfast? My treat."

"All right! I am going to get the most expensive thing I can find!" Renji said enthusiastically. Everyone laughed and Rukia squeezed Renji's hand. He looked down at her as she let go. They smiled and she walked over to Orihime.

Yoruichi looked excited. "Oh Orihime, you have to take us shopping in Sapporo. Rukia and I need nice dresses for tonight. Plus the guys need suits. She winked at Urahara."

Urahara smirked. "Yes, Renji, we should go find Ichigo a suit, Kon, would you stay and watch Ichigo for us? Call if anything happens."

"Roger!"

Orihime kissed Ichigo on the cheek before she left. "You stay and rest. We will be back soon." They all walked out the door and Orihime waved to Kon before stepping out and locking the door behind her. Kon leaned back and turned on the TV. He looked over at Ichigo. "You have it made. You have a sleek new body, a beautiful woman that loves you, a great house. You have it all." Kon shook his head. "What am I saying? I guess everyone can get jealous once in a while, huh?" Kon grabbed the remote and settled in. "Just wake up soon."