Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Acidwire

 is a fight taking place during The Death Trilogy Overture, consisting of Ichigo Kurosaki protecting Orihime Inoue from her Hollowfied older brother, Acidwire.

Prelude
At night, as Orihime Inoue walks down a street while singing to herself, she is shocked to see a car barreling toward her. The next day, Rukia Kuchiki tensely reads a horror comic, only to be surprised by Ichigo popping up behind her and demanding to know what she is doing. Rukia claims that she is studying the Human World's modern language.

While Ichigo and Rukia bicker about Ichigo not properly completing his training with the balls and pitching machine Rukia set up earlier, Orihime walks on the elevated path nearby while singing to herself, only to stop upon seeing Ichigo. After Rukia explains that Ichigo should be finishing off Hollows with a single blow to the back of the head, Orihime suddenly pops up behind Ichigo and greets him.

As she talks to Ichigo about getting ingredients for dinner, Orihime notices Rukia and they formally greet each other. Noticing Orihime's bandaged arm, Ichigo asks if she fell again, only for Orihime to reveal she was run over by a car, shocking Ichigo. Upon being told that Orihime manages to get hurt almost every day, Rukia notices a large bruise on her leg and inspects it, prompting Orihime to note that her leg hurts much more than her arm does before realizing that she is going to be late for Shōten. After declining to have Ichigo walk her home, Orihime leaves while noting she actually did want him to accompany her.

As Ichigo notes that he gets tired just watching Orihime, Rukia inquires about her, prompting Ichigo to explain how he has known her for a while before revealing that she had an older brother who died three years ago at his family's clinic. Denying being worried about Orihime, Rukia declares that she is going home and refuses to tell Ichigo where that is, to his irritation. Later, at the Kurosaki Clinic, Yuzu Kurosaki asks Ichigo if he knows where her dress and pajamas are, leading a confused Ichigo to ask if Yuzu thinks he is stealing her clothes as he enters his bedroom, while Rukia lies in his closet. Suddenly, she receives an order on her Denreishinki and is shocked by the details.

Noticing the beeping coming from the closet, Ichigo is shocked when Rukia slams the door open and points out that she is wearing Yuzu's pajamas, but Rukia proclaims that there is no time to address this because a Hollow is about to appear in the room as she pushes Ichigo's soul out of his body with her Gokon Tekkō, just as an enormous claw bursts out of the air above his bed.

Battle
As Acidwire pulls himself into the bedroom, Ichigo slashes at his head on Rukia's command, only to land a shallow blow that slices off part of Acidwire's mask, shocking him with what it reveals. When Acidwire howls in pain and retreats, Ichigo stops Rukia from pursuing him and demands to know what is going on because he recognized Acidwire as being Orihime's brother, Sora Inoue, prompting Rukia to reveal that the method of purifying Hollows with a single strike from behind exists so that Shinigami do not learn their Human identities, as all Hollows are originally Humans. Meanwhile, at Orihime's house, she and Tatsuki Arisawa eat and talk in the living room.

An incredulous Ichigo reminds Rukia that he was told they were monsters he had to kill, only for Rukia to confirm that they are monsters now and Ichigo must kill them before proclaiming that Orihime will die if they do not hurry. Meanwhile, at Orihime's apartment, Tatsuki demands to know if she is stupid for losing such a chance to be alone with Ichigo before detailing how Orihime should have lured Ichigo to a secluded spot on the way to her apartment and thrown him to the ground, to Orihime's shock. Tatsuki notes that Ichigo has gotten pretty close to Rukia, prompting Orihime to reveal she saw them in the park earlier before daydreaming about going to the park with Ichigo, which quickly turns into her racing him and another person.

In her daydream, Orihime beats them both to become a boxing champion, but sees a man in a trenchcoat pointing a gun at her from the crowd. As Orihime and Tatsuki react to the former's daydream, they are startled by Enraku falling on the floor behind them. Rushing to check on her stuffed bear, Orihime sees that there is a large rip in his fabric before noticing blood pooling on her hand. Suddenly, Acidwire's hand bursts out of Enraku and through Orihime's back, causing her to fall over with a blank expression on her face as Tatsuki frantically asks her what is wrong.

Elsewhere, Ichigo carries Rukia while hopping between rooftops and learning that Hollows devour the souls of their family before they go after other Souls and Humans. Rukia further clarifies that Hollows devour souls in order to ease their own pain, as they are themselves souls who were not sent to Soul Society by a Shinigami and who were not saved from other Hollows, and stalk those they loved in life in order to fill the emptiness inside of themselves. Revealing that she saw a large bruise on Rukia's leg earlier in the day, Rukia tells Ichigo that Acidwire will surely go after her if they are each other's only family. Back at Orihime's apartment, Tatsuki is badly wounded by Acidwire.

Watching from the corner with a chain attached to her chest, Orihime wonders what is going on and why she can see her own body lying nearby. Orihime tries to pull off the chain because it makes her uncomfortable, only to be alerted by Acidwire pinning down Tatsuki. As she realizes she cannot be daydreaming and must save Tatsuki, Orihime runs at Acidwire and pushes his arm off of Tatsuki, whom she tells to run away. When Tatsuki does not acknowledge Orihime's words or presence, Acidwire calls Orihime by her name and reveals that she cannot see or hear them, prompting Orihime to ask how he knows her name, angering Acidwire.

Acidwire attacks Orihime while proclaiming he is wounded by her not knowing who he is, but his attack is blocked by Ichigo, who proclaims that Acidwire will have to go through him in order to get to Orihime. With Acidwire having paused his assault, Ichigo wonders if the cut he left on the Hollow's hand scared him before noticing Tatsuki on the ground nearby and noting she was in the wrong place at the wrong place. Suddenly, Ichigo notices Orihime lying on the floor as well and realizes she is also sitting behind him as she happily says that she knew it was him. Ichigo recalls Rukia's explanation that only spiritual beings can see him while he is working as a Shinigami.

When Ichigo asks Orihime how she can see him, Acidwire proclaims that Orihime is a spirit and already dead before slamming his tail into Ichigo, who is unable to cut through the scales and is sent crashing out of the house into the air. Stopping himself in midair, Ichigo grunts in pain as his forehead begins bleeding, prompting Acidwire to note he is slow despite talking tough before demanding to know if this situation is really so shocking as he uses Vitriol Shot, burning Ichigo's hand and forcing to drop his Zanpakutō. After slamming Ichigo into the ground below with his tail, Acidwire grabs Orihime and asks her if she has really forgotten him.

Acidwire lifts up his hair to reveal his exposed Human eye, causing Orihime to recognize him as her brother Sora. On the ground below, Rukia berates Ichigo for being so easily taken down, prompting Ichigo to admit that he hesitated because Sora is different from the other Hollows. Back in Orihime's house, Orihime asks Acidwire why he hurt Tatsuki and Ichigo, prompting Acidwire to proclaim that they tried to tear him and Orihime apart before detailing how Orihime has stopped praying for him after befriending Tatsuki and Ichigo, the latter of whom she would talk about all the time, and how this made him feel like he was fading from her heart.

Declaring that it made him want to kill, Acidwire sees Ichigo entering the house behind him and pushes him aside with his tail before asking Orihime to come with him so they can live together again. However, Orihime tearfully asks why Acidwire did not simply tell her he was lonely and declares that the brother she knew would never do this, prompting an enraged Acidwire to begin crushing her in his hands while declaring that he will kill her for turning him into a Hollow. Suddenly, Ichigo cuts off Acidwire's hands and most of his tail and claims that big brothers are born first to protect their younger siblings before angrily proclaiming that no brother should say they would kill their sister.

Howling in pain, Acidwire demands to know why Ichigo is getting in his way. Acidwire recalls how, as the Human Sora Inoue, he had to protect Orihime after she came into the world when he was 15 because their parents were true monsters who would beat children to silence their cries, and eventually ran away with his sister when he was 18. In the present, Acidwire tells Ichigo that it was them against the world from that point on and that he raised Orihime by himself before declaring that Ichigo will never have her as he lunges at him. Blocking Acidwire's bite with his Zanpakutō, Ichigo tells him that Orihime belongs to no one, but Acidwire decides that Orihime will have to die for him if she will not live for him before lunging at her and biting down.

Aftermath
However, Acidwire is stunned to find Orihime hugging him, even as he bites into her body. Orihime explains that she only ever wanted to make Sora happy by sharing the things that made her happy and hiding her sadness from him before apologizing for not realizing how lonely it would make him feel as she collapses. While Ichigo and Acidwire call out to her, Rukia reveals that it is not too late to save Orihime and that she can use her Kidō to put her soul back in her body. As Rukia tends to Orihime, Acidwire admits that he knew Orihime was simply trying to hide her sadness from him, but he did not want her to stop praying to him because her heart was all his while she did so. Asking Acidwire what he is looking at, Ichigo points out the hairpins Orihime is wearing and explains how Orihime wears them every day because they are the first gift Sora ever gave to her.

As he notes that he thought Orihime threw the hairpins away, Acidwire grabs the blade of Ichigo's Zanpakutō and uses it to cut off the rest of his Hollow mask, to Ichigo's shock. When Sora explains that he wants to use this moment of sanity to pass on, Rukia agrees with his decision because Hollows cannot go back to what they once were and explains that the Zanpakutō merely cleanses Hollows of sin instead of killing them outright so they can enter Soul Society. While Sora leans over Orihime to bid her farewell, Orihime recalls how she did not like the hairpins he gave her at first and had a fight with him before he left for work and died the next day without saying anything to him before taking the opportunity to finally tell him to have a nice day as Sora dissipates.

Watching this with Rukia and Ichigo, Orihime declares that she has many questions to ask them, only for Rukia to use a memory-replacement device on her and explain to Ichigo that Orihime will have the events of tonight wiped from her memory and replaced with random memories. The next day at school, Orihime tells her friends that a Yakuza gunman blasted a huge hole in her wall, to their great disbelief, only to have Tatsuki back up her story while Ichigo watches and realizes that this is what Rukia did to his family as well.