Ichigo Kurosaki's eyes lit with rage at the sight of the curved blade emerging from his friend's ample chest. His attention briefly returned the members of Xcution, but Tsukishima had not moved. In fact, the Full-Bringers looked as surprised as he was. Except for Ginjo, who either expected the attack, or just had a better poker face than the rest of his allies.
"Kuchiki-san?" Uryu uttered in shock, and Ichigo looked towards Orihime again. Realizing he could not see who held the sword, he took a step back and craned his neck. The tiny Soul Reaper had been hidden completely behind the more voluptuous Inoue. As Ichigo finally noticed her, she carefully slid the katana back out of the wound, and regarded him impassively.
"Rukia?" he queried incredulously, "Did Tsukishima get to you too?"
Her eyes narrowed dangerously at the statement, and he tensed for an attack.
"You fool," she snarled instead, "Do you think I would let someone like that land a hit on me?"
He considered that for a moment, until Orihime collapsed backwards. He used Flash Step to appear behind her, catching the healer before she hit the ground. Ishida watched them out of the corner of his eye, but kept most of his attention on the Full-Bringers. Who, in turn, were too confused or amused by the events unfolding, to try to take advantage of the situation.
"What the hell am I supposed to think? You attacked Orihime," Ichigo shouted at Rukia, not willing to admit it had been a terminal strike.
"Orihime, is it?" she flashed a smile for a second. Then it quickly turned into a smug glower, "And here I thought you were finally using your brain, after pulling off the ploy on Ginjo just now."
"What do you mean?" Ichigo said dangerously. He did not miss the fact that she had apparently been watching for a while without making her presence known or helping. It reinforced his initial theory for the reason behind the attack. But after everything they had been through, he could not help but give the slender woman the benefit of the doubt.
"Use your eyes, you idiot," she countered, "This sword doesn't even have a blade."
He studied the scene again. The first thing he noticed was that the katana she held was not her Zanpakuto. Sode no Shirayuki was still in her scabbard at Rukia's waist. Looking more closely, he saw that the sword Rukia held indeed did not have a solid blade, just a flickering mass of insubstantial spiritual energy in the shape of a katana. Glancing down at the girl in his arms, he saw that for the second time that evening, Orihime had been cut without any visible damage. He touched her neck to check her pulse. It was steady and strong. And the instant his skin touched hers, her eyes snapped back open and light blue Reishi began to pour from where Rukia had stabbed her. Orihime muttered a soft thanks as she staggered back to her feet, stepping away from him.
"This sword was meant for you," Rukia told him, "But in the event it proved unnecessary, Urahara had other plans for it…"
Isshin Kurosaki watched in anger as Kugo Ginjo withdrew the tip of his sword from Ichigo's chest. It was all he could do to not jump out and cut down the twice traitor himself. But there were multiple reasons why he could not intervene, so Ichigo's father swallowed his rage. As his son collapsed with a look of defeat, his gaze shifted to Rukia.
"It's time," he told her, "go."
"Hold up a second," Kisuke Urahara interrupted, his eyes narrowing as Ichigo's expression quickly changed to thoughtful, and then determined. His companions both glared at the shopkeeper, but Rukia did not move.
The three watched as Ichigo played Ginjo like a cheap fiddle, instilling doubt in Tsukishima and then convincing the leader of Xcution that asking for Orihime was just a ploy to get Chad back. The young woman healed him and an instant later, Ichigo revealed his Full-Bring had been restored. Isshin's scowled deepened at that, and only faltered for a moment when Ichigo revealed his Shinigami powers had returned as well.
"Well then, I guess we will be going with plan B," Kisuke stated with his typical dry, smug, amusement. Rukia nodded and darted away.
"You knew this was going to happen," Isshen's voice said that he was very displeased with his friend.
"This?" the scientist shook his head, "No, in my probability analysis, the permutations of 'Orihime breaks free from Tsukishima and restores Ichigo's Soul Reaper powers' had slightly lower chance than 'meteor strike kills everyone here' and slightly better than 'the loss of Full-Bring causes Ichigo to spontaneously become a Jedi'. Oh, and that's the combined probability for every variation of what just occurred."
"Enough jokes."
"I'm not joking," Urahara said flippantly, "I can even show you the spreadsheet."
"There was a small but definite chance that Ichigo's Soul Reaper powers would return without our intervention," Kisuke continued, his voice finally becoming serious, "We just don't know enough about Full-Bring. Or the Final Bankai, for that matter. That's why we decided to wait until his Full-Bring powers were removed in the first place. Too much uncertainty. So, in the event that Ichigo's powers were restored, I had a backup plan. No use letting everyone's efforts go to waste."
"Yamamoto is not going to be happy about this," the elder Kurosaki finally calmed, slightly. Kisuke simply grinned.
"Just what was the probability that Ichigo would not need that sword," Isshin asked.
"One in fifteen."
The swirling cloud of Reishi enveloped Orihime, different than what happened to the Full-Bringers only in its color. When it faded away, Inoue's appearance had changed. She now wore the same heavy black robes Ichigo and Rukia did. And a katana with a simple oblong tsuba sat on her left hip. Most unexpectedly, her normally loose hair had been drawn into a ponytail, with six thick bands of silver and turquoise even spaced down its length.
"Ehhh?" She exclaimed, looking at herself, spinning in place to try to see the back of her altered outfit.
"Did you give Orihime Soul Reaper powers?" Ichigo asked skeptically.
"As I said, that sword was meant to restore your powers," Kuchiki explained, "attempting to give Orihime Soul Reaper powers was a backup plan."
"It won't matter," Ginjo shouted, unnerved again, "You were able to make Ichigo a Soul Reaper the first time because of his heritage; the potential was already there. Just pouring your measly Spiritual Pressure into Inoue will give her temporary powers at best."
"Why was that your backup plan?" Uryu prompted curiously.
"Hachigan Ushoda," Rukia supplied, ignoring the Full-Bringer "He said Orihime's powers were similar to a Soul Reaper's and that he considered teaching her Kido. And Orihime has been training with Yoruichi this past year. It wasn't that much of a stretch."
"You idiot," a new voice, directed at Ginjo, rang down from above them, "It wasn't just Rukia's power either."
Everyone looked up to see five familiar figures staring down at them from the newly opened Senakimon.
"Almost every seated member of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads loaded their Spiritual Pressure into that sword," Renji Abarai continued.
"Or did you think all of us couldn't bring out one person's potential," Byakuya Kuchiki continued imperiously. The members of Xcution blanched as they did the math in their heads.
"Tsk. It looks like you've gotten some reinforcement," Kugo sounded more annoyed than anything, "But it is still eight on nine. And no matter how much power they poured into her, some newly minted Soul Reaper wll be backup at best."
"Unfortunately, we are only here to observe," Toshiro Hitsugaya said apologetically.
"Old man Yama ordered us not to fight," Kenpachi Zaraki spat, sounding disgusted, and the look in Ikkaku Madarame's face indicated his third seat agreed.
"Eight on three then?" Riruka sounded even less happy at the disparity.
"Four," Rukia countered, "I'm under no such orders."
"And one of you totally worthless," Giriko inclined his head towards Orihime. In response, she took her position at Ichigo's side, and drew her Zanpakuto. She held the blade horizontally in front of her chest, and Ginjo snorted at her lack of sword skill.
"Reject the unwanted Fate, Shun Shun Rikka!"