Orihime Inoue's emotions were a mess, as her power surrounded Ichigo Kurosaki. Anger and shame over the violation she had suffered and the inability to help her friends that had resulted. Sadness over what Ichigo had endured, and what majority of his friends and family continued to endure. Worry for those people, and a hint of embarrassment over her physical contact with the former Soul Reaper. And a sliver of hope that Ichigo had a plan.
She gave her head a metaphorical shake, setting all of that aside to focus on her healing power. The cut to his chest was obvious. And though she could not see them, she could easily feel the variety of minor muscles strains he had accumulated during the battle. But more important was the damage to his soul.
The location corresponded roughly to the physical injury, but the damage was much greater. It appeared to her like a large portion of the skin and muscle from Kurosaki's sternum to his waist had been roughly carved off. The cause was obvious enough, this was the result of Kugo Ginjo stealing Ichigo's Full-Bring powers. For her it was simple enough to heal. She actually had more experience restoring spiritual injuries of Soul Reapers and friendly Hollows, than she did with repairing a solid Human body. She knew it would be easy enough to reject the damage, restoring his soul and with it his powers. She was uncertain if doing so would take this powers back from the other Substitute Soul Reaper, but that was less important. However in the external heartbeat that passed while she diagnosed him, Orihime saw something that stopped her from just healing her friend's current wounds.
Deep inside Ichigo's soul there were thick, jagged scars. Before she had been unable to sense them, but now the gap created by the theft laid them at least partially bare to the young woman. Though she was not truly seeing this with her eyes, it still 'looked' like injuries she had seen in old pictures and a handful of films. This was what was happened when someone's body was flayed. And not just with a simple whip, but with a cat o' nine tails or similar barbed torture device.
'How did this happen to your soul?' Orihime thought, knowing he could not hear her. But it only took a second for her to answer her own question.
An image popped into her head. One of the friend before her, but with longer, black hair. But before the last change, he had had with what looked like barbed chains wrapped around his right arm.
'Final Getsuga Tenshou,' she remembered, 'a state so powerful it burned away his Soul Reaper power forever. But maybe that's not true. Maybe they don't know how it really works. Or maybe they lied to make it easier.'
Her mind spun outward, thinking about what she had seen and been told. About her failed attempt to reject the consequence of using that power. And about what she was seeing now, and how that might explain various aspects.
'Perhaps the Final Bankai does not consume a Soul Reaper's powers. What if it scores their soul, allowing them to dig deeper and access their power more freely. And then afterwards, their soul is scarred, just like a Human would be, and they cannot access their power anymore. Like how some scars can cause constant pain or limit a person's mobility.'
It was conjecture, but it would fit. It would explain those last few moments of power he had had after the battle with Sosuke Aizen ended. And why he fell unconscious for a month after his power was gone. While the 'wound' still bled, he could still reach his power. And while his soul healed, his mind was dormant, putting his body into that coma-like state. That was why she could not reject the loss of his powers; his powers were not lost, they were blocked by the result of an injury she was not aware of, something buried within his soul that she could not see. And now that she knew, now that she could see, she could fix it.
'I reject,' she said silently, more firmly than she had before. Under the hole in his soul, Ichigo's old wound began to fade. The scars smoothed and then vanished, leaving behind an undamaged spirit. She kept going, restoring the Full-Bring powers that had been cut out of him.
'That way, even if I am wrong, he will still have his new powers at least.'
But she was certain that she was right. What she was less sure of, was if she would be able to do this second time, if Ichigo ever used the horrible power again. Even if she knew what it did to him, if she could not see the wounds because of their depth, she might not be able to remove them.
Ichigo looked at her in surprise as she finished, which she took as a good sign. She jogged over to Ishida, and negated the Quincy's wounds too. Then she took her place at Ichigo's right side, while Uryu moved to back him up on the left. She was happy enough when his Full-Bring armor reappeared. But she was thoroughly gratified when a moment later her theories were confirmed. Ichigo had his Soul Reaper powers back, and she had been the one to restore them. More than just restore, it appeared that learning Full-Bring had enhanced his other powers, though she could not tell to what degree.
"You did this, Orihime-san?" Ichigo asked as the leader of Xcution glared at them in uncertainty.
"Yes," she smiled and nodded, "Thanks to Ginjo-san stealing your Full-Bring powers, I was finally able to figure out why you lost your Soul Reaper powers from using the Final Getsuga Tenshou."
"You'll have to explain it later," Ishida interjected, sounding curious and nervous. But definitely more nervous, for as he raised his bow towards the Full-Bringers, the other members of Xcution finally reached the battlefield. Jackie Tristan, Yukio Hans Vorarlberna, and Giriko Kutsuzawa all looked surprised at Ichigo's current form, but their attention quickly shifted to their leader. Riruka Dokugamine, however, could not take her eyes off Kurosaki. Orihime felt a pang of concern and took a half-step closer to the restored Shinigami.
"I would be interested to hear about that too," Ginjo added, his confidence restored by his allies' arrival, "But Ichigo, you aren't going to make this difficult are you?"
"That depends," Kurosaki growled, "I might be willing to overlook this, if Tsukishima restores the rest of my friends and family. And dispose of that copy of my powers you stole."
"You already took Ichigo's powers?" Yukio prompted, looking back to the older boy in confusion.
"If that is true, I would like to know why you have taken his power for yourself," Giriko said sternly, "That was not our arrangement. We agreed to help Ichigo, in return for an equal share of his abilities. Do you intend to betray us?"
"What?" Riruka screeched, seemingly unaware of her allies' goal, "I never…"
"Quit your whining" Kugo sounded tired as he snapped at his comrades, "You'll get what's coming to you."
"I don't…" the pink-haired Full-Bringer's protest was cut off again as Ginjo half turned, and slashed his sword through the other four members of Xcution.
"You killed you own…" Ichigo shouted, but fell silent as, instead of collapsing in sprays of blood, the four Humans were engulfed in plumes of white Spiritual Pressure. When it faded, each was transformed. Yukio, Giriko, and Jackie studied their new forms with interest, but Riruka just looked down pensively.
"Now then, will you help me get rid of this guy?" their leader prompted, pointing his sword at Kurosaki, "He has already played his part, but is proving to be quite the persistent pest. But try not to kill the girl, not until we find out what she did and if we can use it."
"Are you ready, Uryu, Orihime?" Ichigo left off honorifics in his haste, and drew the restored Zangetsu.
"Of course," the Quincy said smugly, his previous doubts overridden by annoyance that his ally had even asked the question.
"Urk?" a random noise escaped Inoue, and when her friends turned to look, they saw the curved blade of a katana emerging from her left breast, over her heart.