Arriving at her house, Orihime guides Toushirou to her room where he gently lays Yuuki on the bed while Orihime covers her with a blanket. Toushirou gazes at the sleeping girl for a while as he somehow feels a certain familiarity towards her. His attention then turns to Orihime who was rummaging her closet.
"Hmm... I know I just put them here...... Ah! Found them! I'm sure my old clothes would fit her!", Orihime said as she holds some clothes then turns to Toushirou. "Umm... Toushiro-kun? Could you step outside for a moment please?", she asked politely.
Knowing what she's about to do, he steps outside without saying a word and wait. After Several minutes, Orihime steps outside the room carrying Yuuki's bloodstained clothes.
"Toushirou-kun, I bet you're tired. Why don't you sit down and rest for a moment while I make some tea.", she said.
"I'm fine... thanks.", Toushirou said and sits on the couch.
After dumping Yuuki's bloodstained clothes to the hamper, Orihime returns with some tea.
"Will Unohana-san arrive any time soon?", she asked.
"Yeah. I told them our location and they said they're on their way. They're about 10 minutes out."
"I see... that's good.", Orihime said and puts down some tea on the table in front of the young captain.
"Thanks.....", Toushirou said as he sips some tea, a pause. "What was she like?", he asked as he stares at the teacup in his hands.
Orihime sips some tea too and looks at him.
"Who? Yuuki-chan?", she asked in confirmation.
"Yeah."
"Hmmm...... she's kind, smart and always puts others first before herself. Despite her meekness she's also confident and shows great courage and determination. She might not know it but she has a tendency to attract people. She also has a keen intuition in determining good from bad people.", Orihime said, then a pause. "But underneath all those, there's a deep sadness within her that we're unable to reach. Kurosaki-kun and his dad tried their best to reach out to her but........ ah! S-Sorry I think I might have talked too much, but why do you want to know about her anyway?"
(Courage and determination... huh? No wonder...), Toushirou thought as he remembered how she looked at him in the eyes. ".... she looks like someone I used to know a long time ago.", he answered truthfully.
Orihime wanted to ask who to keep the conversation going but decided against it. She felt like she's prying because he doesn't seem to want to talk about it in much detail. Silence befell around the two for a while.
"What are we going to do now? When Unohana-san gets here then what?", she asked thus breaking the silence.
"We'll take her to Soul Society until she fully recovers.", Toushirou answered, then looks at her with a serious expression. "But Kurosaki must not know about her 'till then. You know about his situation right now."
"I understand...", Orihime sadly said. "Kurosaki-kun... I wonder how he's doing...", she mumbled with a concerned look on her face.
"If you're worried about him you can go. I'll watch over her for the time being and Unohana will be arriving any minute now so it'll be okay."
Orihime lightly smiles at him in appreciation.
"If you say so then, arigato Toushirou-kun. I'll be back as soon as I can.", Orihime said.
"Just be careful. It's already late."
"Hai."
******
Orihime rushes to Ichigo's place and ran into Yasutora along on the way.
"Sado-kun! Are you going to Kurosaki-kun's house too?", she asked.
"Yeah.", Yasutora simply said.
"I'm also on my way there."
"Inoue-san, what happened?", Yasutora asked as they walk briskly.
"... I'll tell you what happened later, Ishida-kun might also be there and ask the same question."
"Alright.", Yasutora said as he nods in understanding.
Upon arriving at the Kurosaki residence, they saw Rukia and Uryuu talking at the front door.
"Ishida-kun! Kuchiki-san! How long have you been here?", Orihime asked as she jogs towards them with Yasutora trailing behind.
"We just arrived.", Rukia said.
"Can I talk to you for a moment?", Orihime whispered to Rukia.
She pulls Rukia away from the rest so that they can't hear their conversation.
"Kuchiki-san, about Yuuki-chan...", Orihime started.
"I know. Hitsugaya-taichou already told me about it."
"I see... isn't Unohana-san with you?"
"We arrived shortly after you left. I went straight here from Soul Society while Unohana-taichou went straight to your place."
"That's a relief. I'm sure Yuuki-chan will be okay now that Unohana-san is taking care of her."
Rukia nods in agreement then they make their way back to Uryu and Yasutora to tell them what happened.
*******
"So that's what happened...", Uryuu said with a sad look on his face.
Everyone shares the same sentiment.
"It appears that no one's home.", Yasutora said as he looks at the house with no lights on.
"They might be at a hospital morgue right now.", Uryuu said.
"I tried calling him on his phone earlier but no one was answering.", Orihime said.
"We don't know where they are right now so I think we should come back tomorrow when things settle down a bit.", Rukia said.
Everyone nods in agreement.
"I'll see you guys tomorrow then.", Orihime said.
They wave their hands and went on their separate ways.
"Kuchiki-san, you can spend the rest of the night at my place if you want.", Orihime said.
"Thanks Inoue, but I'll be going back to Soul Society. I left right away after talking to Unohana-taichou. So everyone in Soul Society are still clueless as to what happened."
"I understand... see you tomorrow then."
"Yeah."
With that, everyone went on their separate ways. Orihime walked back home with a lot on her mind concerning Ichigo and his sisters. She opens the door and steps inside.
"I'm back! Toushiro-kun? Unohana-san?", she called.
"I'm in here...", Retsu said.
Orihime opens the door to her room and saw Retsu sitting beside Yuuki. She approaches them and sits beside Retsu.
"Unohana-san, how's Yuuki-chan doing?", she asked.
"She stable for now but she has a fever due to her injury. We'll take her to Soul Society once her condition improves a little. My powers didn't work on her as well so it might take some time for her to fully recover, but we'll still do our best for her safe recovery."
Retsu notices the sad expression on Orihime's face but didn't say anything.
"Arigato, Unohana-san for taking good care of her when I wasn't able to.", Orihime dejectedly said.
"No. It's all thanks to you and Hitsugaya-taichou. If it weren't for his immediate actions then she wouldn't even be here while you helped her in your own way."
"But I wasn't able to help her at all. I don't know why my powers didn't work either."
"You talked to her when she was in a precarious condition, right? Maybe she heard you that's why she held on."
"..... thank you Unohana-san, when you say it like that it did make me feel a bit better."
Retsu places a comforting hand on Inoue's shoulder.
"Don't look down on yourself, she needs you too. You're her friend aren't you?"
"She's like a sister to me, she has always been by my side when I needed someone the most. So right now it's my turn."
"That's the spirit.", Retsu said as she smiles gently.
"Oh! That's right! Where did Toushirou-kun go?"
"He's at the roof.... yelling..."
(*sweat drop*) (He must be talking to Rangiku-san), she thought. "I'll go prepare supper then. He might get hungry when he's done yelling. Unohana-san, will you join us for supper?"
"I'd love to.", Retsu said with a gentle smile on her face.
Orihime smiles at her in return and heads to the kitchen. After preparing supper she calls on to Restu then heads outside to call for Toushirou.
"Toushirou-kun supper is ready, you should get inside before it gets cold."
"Coming.", Toushirou said and shortly went inside.
*******
The next morning,
Kotetsu Isane, Retsu's lieutenant, along with some medical personnel came to fetch Retsu and the others.
"Unohana-taichou, Hitsugaya-taichou. Kuchiki-san already informed us everything that happened. We came here to get you and the girl.", Isane said.
"Did the Head Captain sent you here?", Retsu asked.
"Yes ma'am."
"Uhmm... Isane-san is Kuchiki-san with you?", Orihime asked.
"She was with us a short while ago but I don't know where she went afterwards."
"I see...", Orihime muttered. (She must have gone to Kurosaki-kun's place.), she thought.
"We should get going then.", Retsu said.
"Toushirou-kun, Unohana-san. I'll leave Yuuki-chan to you. Please take good care of her.", Orihime said as she bows deeply.
"We will, don't worry.", Retsu said.
"We will take care of her and return her safely to her family.", Toushirou firmly said.
"Hai. Thanks again."
Orihime watches them as they leave through the Senkaimon. Shortly afterwards, Orihime rushes to Ichigo's place to meet up with the rest.
By the time she arrived, all of them were already there talking to him. Ichigo's back is facing her.
"Kurosaki-kun?", Orihime called.
Hearing his name, Ichigo turns to look. It didn't surprise her to see the pained look on his face. His eyes are red rimmed and puffy, there are bags under his eyes as well. Orihime had that look once, when her older brother died.
"Inoue, you're just in time why don't you guys come in.", Ichigo said.
Everyone remained silent as they wait for him until he's ready to talk. When they entered, everything was already arranged for the funeral. They paid their respects and expressed their condolences to Ichigo and they sat on the couch.
"How's your dad?", Uryuu asked breaking the silence.
"He's still coping. Yuzu and Karin are upstairs with him.", Ichigo said.
"You haven't done the soul burial yet?", Rukia asked.
"I already told them about it but they said they wanted to stay a bit longer. Perhaps after the funeral."
"What did you say to your dad?", Orihime asked.
"I told him the truth. Nothing can explain the fact that they've been gone for almost eight years and suddenly appearing out of nowhere looking like 6-year-olds instead of eleven."
Silence once again hung in the air for a little. Orihime hugs Ichigo to comfort him and he also hugs her in return. Out of everyone, Orihime is the only one who understands Ichigo the most. She lost her older brother at a young age and has lived alone ever since. They let go of each other and turns their attention back to everyone.
"I guess there's no helping it.", Rukia said.
"How are you feeling?", Orihime asked Ichigo.
"I'm fine as I can be for now. Yuzu and Karin said that they don't want to see us sad and should be happy for them instead because they're finally free.", Ichigo said.
"Ichigo, Soul Society isn't such a bad place to be.", Rukia said.
"I know. But that won't stop me from missing them so much. I'm trying to stay strong for theirs and dad's sakes as well.....", Ichigo said and after a short pause he remembered something. "Oh, by the way what happened at your end?", he asked.
Orihime and Rukia looks at each other then back to Ichigo.
".... when we caught up to them, Hitsugaya-taichou already defeated the Chained Hollow...", Rukia hesitantly said.
"What happened to the person who saved Yuzu and Karin? How was she? They kept on asking me how she was doing so I told them that I'll tell them right away once I get some information."
They both hesitated at first but they have no choice but to tell him the truth or at least half the truth.
"..... when Toushirou-kun arrived the Chained Hollow already got to her and was severely injured so.... ", Orihime sadly said and purposely didn't continue.
Ichigo looks down at the floor and thought that somebody might have already finished her off so he didn't ask further. He felt really sad and wasn't sure how to tell the grim news to his sisters.
"She's the only one who knows what happened. Yuzu and Karin only remember being in the dark. Then she suddenly appeared and the next thing they knew is that they're back here.", he said.
Isshin, Yuzu and Karin finally descends from the stairs. They saw Ichigo and the others talking and approaches them. Isshin seems to be a bit okay now after the three of them talked but his pained expression still remained.
"Ichigo, I'll and take a nap for a while. I wasn't able to sleep last night.", he said.
They knew that he just wants to be left alone for a while so they didn't say anything. Ichigo and his sisters worry about him.
"Yuzu, Karin. What did you guys talked about?", Ichigo asked.
"We told him the same thing we told you.", Yuzu said.
"Yuzu-chan, Karin-chan.", Orihime started. "What you're asking of your brother and father is pretty hard. Wounds don't heal overnight, specially wounds from the heart. It's impossible for them to be happy just because you asked them to. At least give them the chance to mourn that way it can lessen their pain even for a little bit. So give them some time, okay?", she said.
"I guess you're right. But there are things worst than death you know. You have no idea what it was like to be in the dark for such a long time. It felt like an eternity... or maybe it was. It's like there was no hope of us getting out of there.... that suffocating feeling still lingers. I thought that no matter what the cost, as long as I get out of there, I'll do anything.", Karin said as tears well up from the corners of her eyes but she refused to let them fall.
"It's the same for me too. I didn't even know Karin was there so I felt all alone.....", Yuzu said as tears trickle down her face and wipes them off. "So what happened to her?", she asked.
Silence hung in the air for the third time. Ichigo and the rest weren't sure how to tell the twins.
"What's wrong? Everyone suddenly went quiet.", Karin asked with a puzzled look on her face.
"I'm sorry Yuzu-chan, Karin-chan... but when we got there... we were already too late.", Orihime dejectedly said.
Saddened by the news, everyone went silent again and this time it was suffocating. It was truly a day of mourning.
******
A few days later, the day for Yuzu and Karin's soul burial came. Everything went smoothly as the family say their final goodbyes. Ichigo was the one who performed the soul burial.
Afterwards Isshin and Ichigo went on with their daily lives like eight years ago before they met Yuuki. She was the one who filled the void in their lives when Yuzu and Karin were missing. Now that Yuzu and Karin are gone for good, no one is left to fill that void.
*******
Three days have passed since then but Yuuki still has no signs of waking up. Toushiro often visits her and Momo at the 4th division barracks, but right now he's only doing paperwork. It has also been 3 days since a Chained Hollow last appeared.
"Ahhh.... I'm so bored, there's nothing to do.", Rangiku said as she sighs.
But the stacks of documents on her desk said otherwise.
(*cross popping veins*) "Matsumoto, look at your desk and finish those before you say that again.", Toushirou said with an irritated look on his face.
"You visited her again earlier today right? How was she?", she asked as if she hasn't heard him.
"What are you talking about? Were you even listening to what I just said?"
"You know what I'm talking about. I was talking about her... uhh... what was her name again? Yuumi? Fuuki?"
"It's Yuuki."
Rangiku snapped her fingers.
"Yeah! That's it! The sleeping Princess that you brought from the Human world!"
"Princess?", Toushiro asked raising an eyebrow.
"That's right. Most people here don't know her name so when they see her, they just say the first thing that comes to their minds. You know how people's imagination goes. I mean you got to admit she really does look like one. No wonder you visit her often.", Ragiku said. "Awwh... captain has a little crush! Our captain is growing up really fast! (^w^)", she teased.
(*cross popping veins*) "S-Shut up and do your work!", Toushirou said as he blushes.
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Japanese words used:
-kun (君) - honorific that's usually refers to boys