Orihime slept peacefully through the whole night and Ichigo never left her side. He watched her and never looked away as he waited for her to wake up.
'This isn't fair. Orihime never did anything to deserve this.' Ichigo thought. 'This is all too much for someone as kind, selfless, and beautiful as her. Wait! What am I saying?' He just stared at her peaceful face and cleared her bangs from her face.
"Ichigo, we're coming in." Rukia said as she entered with Yoruichi. "How is she?"
"She seems to have settled down. She hasn't made any commotion and has slept peacefully." Ichigo said.
"That's good." Yoruichi said. "Listen, I can watch over her. You should probably go and get some rest. You look like you've been up all night."
"Thanks Yoruichi." Ichigo said as he got up and left with Rukia.
'Orihime seems like a helpful girl. She holds more power than she lets on and if she's gonna have a chance, we need to awaken it.' Yoruichi thought. She noticed Orihime was starting to move and sat up. "Oh good, you're awake."
"Yoruichi?" Orihime said.
"How are you feeling?" Yoruichi said.
"I feel fine. I guess I just needed to let out some stress and emotion." Orihime said.
"They do say that keeping everything hidden inside you isn't healthy." Yoruichi said. "Now that you're awake, I'm going to need you to come with me."
"For what?" Orihime said.
"Something that would be a great asset to us." Yoruichi said.
…
Ichigo
Ichigo headed over to the Squad Four barracks to check on Karin. When he arrived he saw Karin was asleep and Yuzu was watching over her.
"Yuzu, how's Karin doing?" Ichigo said.
"She seems to be doing well. Is everything okay, I heard a few people say there was a commotion going on outside just last night?" Yuzu said.
"A little trouble with Orihime, but everything is okay now." Ichigo said.
"That's good. I always did like Orihime. I thought you and her made an adorable couple." Yuzu said.
"Don't go saying stuff like that. Orihime and I are not a couple." Ichigo said.
"But Ichigo she's so sweet and nice." Yuzu said.
"I know, but you can't just assume she and I are a couple because we're not." Ichigo said and his face was starting to turn red. "I swear if one more person says something like that, we're gonna have a bigger problem than what we have now."
"So where is she now?" Yuzu said.
"Oh, Yoruichi is watching over her." Ichigo said.
….
Orihime
Orihime was brought to the old hideout that Yoruichi and Kisuke used. Yoruichi was holding up a tenshintai.
"What is this place?" Orihime said.
"Kisuke and I used this place to play as kids and training." Yoruichi said. "I trained Ichigo here to learn bankai and that's what we're going to do."
"Bankai? You mean you're going to teach it to me?" Orihime said.
"I know that you just recently got your soul reaper powers, but you hold more power than you imagine." Yoruichi said. "We might need it against our enemies."
"So what do I do?" Orihime said.
"This thing here is a tenshintai." Yoruichi said. "Usually it would take a soul reaper ten years to achieve bankai, but this was invented by Kisuke to achieve it in about three days."
"How does it work?" Orihime said.
"All you have to do is strike it with your zanpakutō." Yoruichi said. "It will manifest the spirit into our world. You'll have to defeat your spirit to obtain bankai and you have to do it in that time limit or it will just get more risky for your life the longer it goes on."
"Are you sure about this?" Orihime said.
"It is more dangerous, but I wouldn't suggest this if I wasn't sure if you could handle it. Remember, you only have three days." Yoruichi said. Orihime understood and took out her sword. She struck the dummy and Hogohana arrived in its place.
"Your friend is right, Orihime. This won't be an easy task for you." Hogohana said.
"So you heard us, then you can choose the challenge. I will stay here as a spectator." Yoruichi said.
"Very well." Hogohana said. She placed her hands together and they began to shine. Swords rained down and impaled the ground and her shikai formed in Hogohana's hands. "All you would have to do Orihime is take the weapon from my hands. You can use any of the swords here."
"I don't know how I feel about this." Orihime said.
"You have a lot more to worry about. You don't have the time to decide on how you should feel." Hogohana said and attacked. Orihime dived out of the way and grabbed a sword to defend herself. Hogohana swung and the sword Orihime held broke easily.
"What?" Orihime said.
"I told you it won't be easy." Hogohana said. "The more you resent this fight, the more easily your swords will break." Orihime reached for another sword, but no matter how many Orihime grabbed, they kept getting broken.
…
Masara
As Orihime's training went on throughout most of the day and it soon became night. Masara and her group were making their move at this vary moment. They gathered at the wall as they were ready to infiltrate the Seireitei.
"You think you've finally figure out a way for us to get inside?" Masara said.
"I have. The barrier and the material of this wall rejects spirit energy, but by using Kyūshū Shimasu and the power of Girusei's zanpakutō we can get in." Susuke said.
"What are we waiting for?" Nyle said.
"Let's get in there and start tearing these soul reapers to shreds." Hayne said.
…
Orihime
Orihime were running side by side as they continued to fight. Orihime tried to attack, but Hogohana blocked her and knocked the katana out of her hands. She slashed at Orihime and left a cut on her shoulder. She was going to bring it down, but Orihime rolled out of the way.
"Stand up and fight Orihime." Hoghana said. Orihime reached for another sword, but sensed something. "Is something wrong?"
"I sense strange spiritual pressure. It's them!" Orihime said.
"You shouldn't worry about that now." Hoghana said.
"She's right." Yoruichi said. "Right now, you need to focus on obtaining bankai. Leave this to Ichigo and the others for now." Orihime hated that she would have to leave her friends to fight them, but she had no choice.
…
Masara
A piece of the wall was shot out and Masara's group walked right in.
"Spread out and find a place to rest for the night. It all begins in the morning. If you find any soul reaper, destroy them." Masara said. They all agreed and took off in different directions. Soon, an alarm was sounded and everyone was alerted of the intruders.
"What's going on?" Ichigo said.
"Someone broke into the Seireitei." Rukia said. "Ichigo, do you feel that spirit pressure?"
"I do. It's definitely Masara and her friends." Ichigo said.
"We better split up and find them." Rukia said as they headed out to find them. Uryu, Chad, and Renji felt the same thing and they went to investigate.
"They got guts to come here." Renji said.
"What do we do?" Chad said.
"That's simple. We find them and bring them down." Uryu said.
"Should we look for Ichigo and the others?" Renji said.
"No, surely they'll be looking for them too. We should do the same thing." Uryu said. All three of them went in different directions.
…
Hayne
"Give up, you're surrounded." Soul reapers were all around Hayne, but that wasn't stopping him. He pulled out his sword and slashed or absorbed all of them.
"These guys are total pushovers. Right now, there's only one I'm interested in." Hayne said as he entered a storage room. "I know you're out there, Ichigo. I'll be waiting to bring him down." He was looking forward to face against Ichigo.
….
Orihime
Orihime was pushed down to the ground as the training progressed. It proved to be a challenge as she already used up most of her strength.
"Can you still stand?" Hogohana said and Orihime was able to get up and pulled for another sword. Orihime tried to attack, but Hogohana was able to block each of her swings. Yoruichi watched and she could see why Orihime was struggling.
'Orihime is a strong girl, I know she is.' Yoruichi thought. 'The problem is she can't bring herself to hurt a friend or enemy. If she doesn't get over that, she doesn't have a chance. Orihime, you need to fight.' The walls have been broken through and Orihime is struggling to learn bankai. This is where it all begins.