58 Test of Sewing (2)

Orihime grabbed all of the discarded cloth and began working. After practicing for hours, Orihime discovered something. At first, she would sew slowly and carefully, getting into a good rhythm, but after a while her mind would begin to wander and think about random things. Once distracted, she would destroy the section she was stitching. She didn't think anything of it at first, but once it happened five times in a row, she knew there was something going on.

Fortunately, she had decided to use the scrap cloth to practice, or she would only have one try left at this point. There is something strange about this needle. Orihime focused on the feeling of her concentration slipping and counted the stitches. It was within ten stitches of the last mistake. She went back over all her stitches and there was an increasing number of stitches until she made a mistake since her first attempt.

'If concentration can be quantified, it seems that using this needle directly reduces my concentration. Once it is low enough, my mind begins to wander. However, based on the steadily increasing endurance, it seems to be training something.'

Orihime continued to practice on the cloth until it was all used up. Based on her calculation, she was able to determine how many stitches she could do before needing to take a break to refocus her mind. Once she had regained her confidence, she began to create a new bolt of cloth with the loom. The sewing training seemed to benefit her greatly since the weaving process was much easier than before.

This would be her fifth bolt which left her with five tries left if this failed. She finished dyeing it and then began the stitchwork. Including breaks, from weaving to the final product, she took four days to finish the whole project. What she created was a version of Soi Fon and Yoruichi's keisen Shozoku. There were a few aspects to the outfit that didn't fit her well-endowed body.

The final step was to bring it to Senjumaru to get it appraised. She folded the uniform and headed over. She expected to be finished, but the moment Senjumaru touched the cloth, it was turned to shreds.

"Failure. The stitching isn't consistent, as if you stopped between stitches."

Orihime's eye twitched. That was exactly what she did. She wondered if the correct method was to do the whole stitching without stopping. This was impossible, she had to take over twenty breaks to do a whole outfit. Orihime went back and decided that she would just have to try her best. Bolt after bolt she attempted to do the stitching in one sitting but all were destroyed. On the eighth bolt, she was half way through the outfit when she could feel thoughts of carnival food start to surface.

However, in that moment when she was about to lose it, she felt a splitting sensation in her mind. The hogyoku sent wave after wave of power into her brain. She felt as if everything doubled. After the disorienting feeling subsided, she opened her eyes. The cloth was naturally destroyed during the experience as she was unable to control herself. However, she seemed to hear two mental voices at the same time.

Whenever she thought of something, it would seemingly echo. She sensed within, and discovered the hogyoku had broken the limits on her concentration. Since her mind couldn't stayed focused on its own, it created a parallel thought process. With this, she would be able to think two thoughts simultaneously and independently of each other. That means she could split the task of sewing into actions and concentration. The communication between the parallel thoughts was also instant since they were part of the same source.

Orihime stitched the rest of the cloth and discovered how easy it was. She had created a pair of evening gloves in very little time. Originally, she was just testing out her new ability, but she was fond of those gloves as they reminded her of Hanayo no hime. She thew the gloves on top of the pile of cloth she had been practicing on and went to play around with her new ability. Her thoughts were simple, if she could have two separate thoughts, wouldn't dual casting Kido be as easy as single casting. And since she was capable of dual casting Kido already, could she triple or even quad cast?

Orihime unleashed a few low-level Kido on a mannequin she found in another room. She managed to cast two simultaneously. Then she attempted to do three, and felt like when she used to do dual casting. When she attempted to add a fourth, it caused her Kido to fail. She played around more until she was comfortable with the results. She could not quad cast yet. She determined that more training would be required. However, dual and triple casting were simple. This would greatly improve her combat prowess in the future.

The ninth attempt would be when she finished the test, in her opinion. Having acquired the ability to double her concentration, she would easily finish the stitching in one shot. She wasn't sure how long it has been since there are no windows, but Orihime was certain it has been a long time. She weaved the bolt, dyed it, and stitched the outfit in one go.

With a triumphant expression, Orihime walked to Senjumaru. She took the outfit and examined it closely. She nodded at the various sections and some of the more complicated stitching. She was nodded most of the time. Her artificial hands were testing the durability by pulling on various areas. After a complete inspection was over, she held up the outfit and smiled.

"There are no technical flaws whatsoever. This is some great work!"

"That means I pass?" However, while Orihime asked the question, Senjumaru destroyed the outfit with a golden needle.

"There are no technical flaws, however, this work has no soul. It is just a copy of a design. You did not put your heart into it. Clothing without soul is not flawless. It seems you only have one attempt left, good luck…"

Orihime returned to the weaving room and stared at the large machine in a daze. She did not understand what Senjumaru meant. How could clothing have a soul? Perhaps this was related to artificial souls? But that wouldn't make sense, since Kirino was the inventor of artificial souls, not Senjumaru. She went over to the weave and slowly created the last bolt. There was some waste material on the end this time since the machine ran out of thread to weave together. This was the last attempt.

She sat on the ground staring at the bolt of cloth for hours. She got up and kicked the pile of discarded cloths in frustration. That is when she saw the evening gloves, she had created in the model of her bankai. Suddenly, Orihime was struck with inspiration. She decided to make an outfit based on her soul, her bankai.

She made the legs short and wide, so that it would seem like a dress even though there was stitching in between. She made a pair of long socks and remade the gloves with a black flower embroidery along the wrist. The sleeves were made long and wide so that they would cover her hands at rest. Since her fighting style was barehanded it wouldn't get in the way.

…

Senjumaru watched the passion in Orihime as she created her last piece. The outfit before was flawless and would have passed, but she noticed that Orihime subconsciously wasn't satisfied. She made up the idea of clothing with a soul. Although the concept is interesting, that wasn't a reason to destroy her work. Now that she saw Orihime's excited look with her new outfit, she knew this would be the end of the test.

When Orihime returned to the bed chamber, Senjumaru returned as well. She laid on the bed, pretending to have been there the whole time. Orihime submitted the new outfit and Senjumaru picked it up and simply nodded without putting it through the ringer. After returning the outfit, Orihime changed into it immediately and felt a huge difference.

"As you can see, this isn't an ordinary fabric. Come with me, I shall show you the production method."

Senjumaru led Orihime to a room in the back. When they entered, Orihime was shocked. Chained and tied down were twelve large worm-like Hollows. They moaned occasionally, and from their backside a thin thread was being collected. Under their heads were empty troughs. She looked over at Senjumaru with a questioning gaze.

"Did you think Aizen, Urahara, and you were the only ones to experiment with Hollows? If we wished, we could wipe out all of the Hollows as a full force. We do not do so because they are a necessary evil. The intellects of Soul Society have been studying and using Hollows for a long time.

These are artificial hollows created with the souls of fallen Royal Guards. They are able to create a thread with the properties of the King's Key. The clothes you are wearing have the highest durability and best Reiatsu conductivity of any other substance."