Down to the Wire

Chiaki froze at the sight of the hollow dragging itself through the Garganta, her mind racing to try and find a counter-maneuver. Should she let things play out like in the original? Should she try and stall for Ichigo? A million thoughts whirred through her head as she tried to find the best possible way to react. Unfortunately, the hollow had no such hesitation.

"ORIHIME! COME TO ME ORIHIME!"

The hollow that was once Orihime's brother ran towards her, Tatsuki and Orihime being none the wiser. Taken off guard, Chiaki just barely managed to react in time, jumping up and slamming into the hollow's outstretched arm, knocking him back, with the recoil sending both flying into the ground. Tatsuki and Orihime stood up from the floor, looking incredibly alarmed at the sight of their friend being tossed back.

"Chiaki, are you ok?"

"Get up! What's going on?"

Chiaki gritted her teeth as the hollow quickly regained his bearings. Acidwire, aka Sora Inoue, Orihime's brother… she hadn't been expecting him to appear so fast, she'd been expecting a few more days at least. She didn't have time to wallow in regret or beat herself up for her mistake though; Acidwire was already making his way towards the Inoue with another charge. This time, Chiaki was ready however, and seeing an opening, Chiaki slipped under his arm and delivered a punch with her full momentum behind it, audibly knocking the wind from the hollow who hadn't been expecting much resistance.

"So you really can see me? No, it doesn't matter what you can do… YOU WILL NOT KEEP ORIHIME FROM ME ANY LONGER!"

The hollow lunged forward, going into an animalistic fury as he attempted to rip off Chiaki's head with his giant jaws, and Chiaki quickly was forced to deliver a knee straight to his face to knock him away, before following by slamming her elbow straight into his chin. Chiaki tried to knock him out with an uppercut to the jaw, but Acidwire quickly realized his mistake and pulled himself up to his full height, dodging her strike and moving to attack her with his claws instead. Chiaki slipped under one of his claw strikes and kicked away his other hand, only to see his tail fly her way. Rolling out of the way, Chiaki avoided the strike perfectly… only to see she was not the intended target, as the tail speared through Orihime's chest.

"No!"

Blood erupted from the wound as Tatsuki looked on in shock, and at the same time, a fuzzy aura appeared next to Orihime's body. Slowly, the hazy presence grew more solid, taking the form of a person and transforming into the spitting image of the girl's impaled body- Orihime's spirit, bound to her body only by a quickly eroding soul chain. Acidwire began laughing raucously, before swiping his hand and grabbing the stunned Chiaki. Pain flared across her entire body as he squeezed her body with all his strength, claws digging into her skin, piercing through sinew and muscle as she screamed, her cry of pain only seeming to invigorate the hollow further.

"Perhaps you should have thought of this pain before you got in the way of me and my sister… It's too late though… I'M GOING TO RIP OUT YOUR SOUL!"

Mustering all of her strength, Chiaki reached into the depths of her soul for power, reiatsu erupting in the face of imminent danger as she clenched her teeth, fighting through the pain.

"I'M TIRED OF BEING GRABBED BY ALL THESE BITCH-ASS HOLLOWS!"

Chiaki's arms flared with power as her Burst Blade exploded outwards, growing to the largest size they had thus far, knocking away the hollow's hands even as they pierced gaping holes through his pals. Acidwire cried out in pain, leaning back before trying to swing around his tail again to run her through. Chiaki raised her hands and prepared to parry the strike, but before she had a chance to move, a black shadow appeared in the corner of her eyes, a glint of steel flashing as a sword parried the tail of the hollow, knocking the creature back.

"Sorry I didn't get here sooner. I didn't know this bastard would be gunning for Orihime…"

Ichigo and Rukia both appeared from the doorway, Ichigo having flashstepped to intercept the strike for Chiaki, a grimace on his face as he looked at the slithering mass that had once been Orihime's brother. Chiaki moved to his side, wrist blades fully extended to help him take out the hollow.

"You know I could have handled that myself right?"

"While you're very capable Chiaki, Ichigo's blade is necessary to send that spirit to Soul Society, otherwise he'll never revert from being a hollow! What you should do is keep him occupied while I use my healing Kido to restore Orihime's body and soul"

Rukia quickly interrupted the sibling's banter as she moved to flash the memory-changing device at Tatsuki to knock her out, before crouching down to heal Orihime, the light of Kido emanating from her palms. Acidwire growled once again, the injuries he'd taken thus far against Chiaki slowly beginning to heal.

"Chiaki and Ichigo Kurosaki! It's always you and that brat Tatsuki, keeping me separated from my sister. It's because of you that her prayers no longer have me-"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Ichigo cut the serpentine hollow off with a slash of his blade, both metaphorically and literally, as he leapt to cut Acidwire's head in half, only to be just barely blocked by the hollow's bladelike fingers and knocked back. At the same time, Chiaki ducked under another slash of Acidwire's tail, which whipped around with incredible speed to try and catch her off guard. Chiaki managed to parry the strikes she couldn't dodge, but she was being kept on the defensive from the ferocity of the strikes. Seeing Ichigo embroiled in combat with the hollow on the other side of the room, and sensed an opportunity to turn the tides in their favor.

"Ichigo! Pin him down!"

Ichigo didn't need to be told twice; Ichigo stepped back, prompting Acidwire to lunge forward with another slash of his massive claws. This time though, his strike was quickly parried by Ichigo, knocking the now off-balance body of the massive monster onto the ground, Ichigo quickly thrusting his sword through his clawed hand to pin it to the ground.

"I got it! Now do your thing Chiaki!"

As Acidwire struggled to pull himself from the ground, Chiaki jumped on his tail, using her own weight to pin his other limbs down, as she began pulling her wrist blade through its length. Acidwire roared in pain, but his eyes betrayed fear and panic. Opening his mouth wide, a jet of acid gushed from his mouth, hitting Ichigo straight in the chest and knocking him down. Pulling the sword out with his other hand, Acidwire swung his entire body like a whip, sending Chiaki flying into the air- exactly as she'd predicted!

[This is checkmate!]

As Acidwire's tail whipped into the air, Chiaki swung her wrist blade into it, where it clashed against the snake hollow's scales. Pushing off of the impact, the recoil propelled Chiaki's fist like a jet as she hurtled back down to the ground, accelerated by the focused release of her reiatsu, and her fist went straight down into Acidwire's face, the full force of her blade's jet and her own weight going straight into a blow which shattered half of its mask. The hollow was knocked straight down into the ground, seemingly down for the count.

"You'll never reach Orihime. That I can promise you."

"Alright! Now Chiaki, wait for Ichigo to grab his sword, it-"

Rukia didn't have a chance to finish her sentence, however. Chiaki saw the tail swing her way once again, and quickly moved to parry. However, instead of moving to strike, the hollow began moving backwards, a black void appearing in front of it as it began to slither back into the void.

"I'll remember this! I promise, Orihime will be mine forever, and nothing you can do will change that! You're only delaying the inevitable!"

"Don't let him escape!"

Ichigo quickly got up from the ground, grabbing his Zanpakuto off the floor and swinging for the head; Unfortunately, in his current wounded state, his movements became sluggish, and before he could finish off the beast, it had already disappeared into the void, his blade reaching only air.

"DAMN IT"

Ichigo tossed his blade to the ground, looking angrier than Chiaki had ever seen him. Rukia pulled herself up to the ground, evidently having finished healing Orihime, but much to Chiaki's surprise, she looked more perturbed than angry.

"He was a difficult opponent to be sure. The strength of his missing heart meant he was all the more dangerous as a Hollow… We'll need to stay on our guard for now, who knows what he might do the next time he appears? He may have realized he can't beat the two of you together, perhaps he may try something underhanded in order to get his hands on Orihime…"

At the mention of her name, Orihime began to stir, her soul now reunited in full with her healed body. She didn't seem to be fully conscious, but she was half-awake, possibly in partial shock, as she continued to murmur to herself:

"Sora… I'm sorry…"

Rukia sighed, before pulling out the memory changer and flashing it in front of Orihime's fluttering eyelids. As the flash died down, Orihime slowly began to drift off to a full, peaceful sleep, leaving the three as the only ones awake left awake, as the tense silence of a failed mission hung over them.