She continued staring at me for the longest time it felt like, as if she didn't know what to say. But why was she staring at me like I would hurt her? That was actually insulting but I couldn't let it bother me. It was probably because of my hollow that she was staring at me like I would attack her any second. But I had full control and I doubt the hollow would take control. And I was in my body too, so that helped. The hollow was weak from the recent fight and had to recover; it would be a few days before she could ever take control from me again. Which at the moment made me glad, because her ability to sap my strength made me angrier than I was grateful.

Finally Rukia spoke. "It seemed when we finally found you, the hollow had completely taken over and was actually taking Ulquiorra on. She seemed to be on equal footing with him, she even cut through his skin a few times, which was surprising. That was probably the only time I have ever seen him lose his cool before. That is probably a façade he uses then, if he can lose it so easily. She stayed on even footing until for some reason she passed out, and we thought maybe you'd wake up. But before we could check, the fight started getting out of hand, and we had to leave you behind so we could keep track of it. We figured maybe if you woke up as yourself, you'd be safer where we left you, we never thought your hollow would have maintained control so it surprised us all when she came flying out but then she eventually passed out and the fight ended, with Ulquiorra severely wounded, but not dead."

I growled. "So we know he's going to be back for revenge then."

"Yes, and hopefully we'll have been able to get you strong enough to fight without your hollow getting involved like she did."

"She was forced out because Ulquiorra beat me half to death. She wouldn't have gotten in the fight otherwise."

"You're not going to like me much for saying this, but maybe it was good she took over. She made the fight more even than Ulquiorra had to expect."

I scowled, but nodded. "You're right. It sounds like she fought better than I ever could have."

"Do you even know bankai?" Rukia asked.

I shook my head. "We never really got to it. They said I was ready but we never got to it."

Rukia looked frustrated but then sighed. "We'd have to wait for Ichigo to recover and wake up, which he hasn't yet. So it might be a few days."

"A few days?!" I looked stunned.

She nodded. "He got pretty extensive injuries that even Orihime couldn't handle, even if she was here to take care of it. He's lucky he's still got his powers, and that he's even alive."

I made a strange noise and regret crossed Rukia's face. She must've known that she had said too much, that she had hurt me without really even meaning to. I blinked away tears, trying not to seem weak, especially since my hollow had done all the fighting for me. I had to stay strong! Rukia turned her head away, looking pretty upset herself and I noticed Renji was sitting on the floor, looking like he's waiting for Ichigo to wake up. His eyes meet mine and I let them drift away, just staring into space really now. What else was I supposed to do?

I slowly sat up, but nearly screamed in pain. I'd forgotten how much abuse I had gone through. I still sat up anyways, despite the pain. I could see Ichigo, and I could see that he was still out. I felt absolutely horrible, knowing it was my fault that he had nearly died. I mean, I couldn't help the kidnapping but I really wish I could have prevented him from getting so badly hurt. But there was nothing I could do about it now. I flinched at the sight anyways.

"This is my fault. I should have been able to stop him from getting so hurt." I said, glancing at Rukia.

"No. There wasn't anything you could do. You weren't even the one fighting. That couldn't be helped." She said, a slight scowl forming on her face.

"But he's half-dead because I wasn't strong enough to fight him myself." I growled.

Renji had walked into the room right as I said that, and he stared at me like I was completely insane. I flinched from the look he was getting me, and resorted to staring at the floor, because I didn't want to see Ichigo in the condition that he was in. I believed what I did; they didn't understand that I blamed myself because I was the one who didn't fight and even the hollow couldn't beat him because we were too weak to.

"It's not like you would have been able to beat him in the first place." Renji snapped at me, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "He's too strong for all of us combined."

"Clearly." I spat at him, fed up with them both.

He scowled at me. "You need to relax. And stop blaming yourself. It's Ichigo's own fault he wasn't prepared to fight Ulquiorra, not yours."

If I could get up right then, I would have gotten up and punched him right in the face. Although he would've been able to block me pretty easily. I finally just laid back, because I knew that this conversation would explode into a fight if I kept on blaming myself. What I wanted more than anything was to have Ichigo wake up, just so I could know if he was alright. I finally fell asleep.

At least three days went by before Ichigo ever did wake up. I was able to get up and move about the day after, although I was still sore. Ichigo remained unconscious during that time, which I never left his side, even to sleep. I just slept on the floor next to the couch. I hardly ate either; I was too worried about Ichigo to really eat anything. Every day I sat by the couch and watched Ichigo's face waiting for him to wake up. It stung me to go to bed when he didn't wake up. I was beginning to believe he was in a coma and would never wake up. Rukia just tries to tell me that his body is trying to adjust; the injuries on his soul were lagging in his body. I wasn't sure if I really believed her. So that's how I spent the next three days, although school was pricking at the back of my mind. That was a minor issue.

When Ichigo did wake up, it actually startled me. One minute he was just lying there unconscious. Then around noon that day, it was a Thursday I thought, he suddenly bolts upright, gasping. I could have sworn I jumped about two feet off the ground. I looked at him, and he looked bewildered and confused.

"How'd I get here?" He frowned.

Rukia answered before I could. "Back at the Shoten. You've been out for about 4 days."

4 days? That meant I'd been out for a day. Ichigo looked horrified. "I was?"

She nodded. "Yeah, you were. We thought you maybe lost your powers or…" She trailed off with a shrug.

He looked confused. "I didn't use my powers to the max. I may have overstrained myself, but if I had used the entirety of my powers I would have probably been out for a month."

I stared, not willing to say anything.

He could have been unconscious for an entire month?!