Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Acidwire

 is a fight which takes place at night in Karakura Town. It involves Ichigo Kurosaki learning about the true nature of Hollows.

Prelude
As Orihime Inoue walks down a street, a car speeds towards her. The next day, Rukia Kuchiki, reading a book to herself out loud, is interrupted by Ichigo, who asks her what she is doing. Telling him not to surprise her like that, Rukia explains she is studying modern speech, which angers Ichigo because while she is relaxing, he has to train. When Rukia asks him if he is done with the training, Ichigo, stating he is, wonders why he had to hit 100 pepper-filled balls. Shocked by this, Rukia asks Ichigo if he actually hit all of the balls. When Ichigo states he did, Rukia, yelling at him, explains he was only supposed to hit the balls with the picture of a head on it. Ichigo tells her he has no way of telling which ones had a picture of a head because her drawings are so bad. Walking by, Orihime spots Ichigo.

Rukia explains to Ichigo a Hollow's weakness is its head, and the point of this training is to teach him to kill Hollows easily. When Ichigo points out he has been doing fine defeating Hollows so far, Rukia, telling him he must learn to defeat them in a single blow by attacking them from behind, states she has no idea how he has survived this long. When Ichigo tells her he cannot attack Hollows from behind because it would be fighting dirty, Rukia tells him to save that stuff for when he fights Humans, because he will end up dead if he thinks like that against Hollows. As Ichigo tries to come up with a response, Orihime, appearing behind him, loudly greets Ichigo. Shocked by this, Ichigo asks Orihime what she is doing here. Stating she was shopping, Orihime asks Ichigo the same question. As Ichigo tries to come up with something to tell her, Orihime notices Rukia. When Rukia does not remember her, Ichigo reminds her Orihime is in their class. Realizing her mistake, Rukia greets Orihime as well.

Noticing Orihime's arm is bandaged, Ichigo asks her what happened. Stating that she was hit by a car last night when she was getting something to drink at the store. She laughs about this and Ichigo, shocked from this news, tells her she should be angrier. When Rukia asks her if she gets hit often, Orihime states she does, but mainly because she zones out a lot. Noticing Orihime's left leg is injured as well, Rukia asks if she could examine the injury. Allowing her to do so, Orihime states she must have got this injury from the car as well. As Rukia begins looking at the injured leg, Orihime asks her why she has such a scary face when doing this. When Rukia states she was just thinking it looks painful, Orihime, stating she is right, realizes it hurts much more than her arm. Realizing it is late, Orihime leaves to go watch "laugh hour". When Ichigo offers to walk her home, Orihime, telling him she is fine, leaves. As Orihime walks back, she thinks to herself she should accept Ichigo's offer.

When Rukia asks Ichigo if he is close to Orihime, he states he is since she is best friends with Tatsuki Arisawa, who has lived in his neighborhood since 8th grade. When Rukia asks him if she has any family, Ichigo states she had a brother, but he died three years ago in a car accident. Stating he remembers what happened well, Ichigo explains he died in the Kurosaki Clinic before an ambulance could arrive to take him to a bigger hospital. Stating he only just realized the girl who was with him that day was Orihime, Ichigo asks Rukia why she wants to know this and if she is interested in Orihime, but Rukia, telling him she is not, states she is going home. When Ichigo asks her where she always goes to, since she has nowhere to live, Rukia asks him if he is really interested in her personal life. When Ichigo states he is not, Rukia, telling him he should not ask, leaves, angering Ichigo.

Opening the door to Ichigo's room, Yuzu Kurosaki asks him if he has seen her dress. Appearing behind her, Ichigo states she should not open his door without knocking first. Realizing Ichigo took a bath, Yuxu states she wanted to go in too. When Ichigo tells her she should learn to go by herself because she is in the 5th grade now, Yuzu tells him he has become colder since he entered high school. Stating he has not, Ichigo tells Yuzu he does not know about her dress. When Yuzu asks if he has at least seen her pajamas, Ichigo, telling her he has not seen that either, asks her why she thinks he has the answers to everything. After entering his room, Ichigo, hearing beeping from his closet, wonders what it is. When Rukia emerges from the closet, a shocked Ichigo asks her when she went in there. Telling him to forget about that for now, Rukia states there is an order to kill a Hollow. Stating the Hollow is going to appear in this room, she sends Ichigo into his Shinigami form just as the Hollow appears.

Battle
As she tells Ichigo to aim for the head, Ichigo, telling her he knows, swings his Zanpakutō down on the Hollow's head, but the wound is not deep enough, and the Hollow gets away. As Rukia tells Ichigo they are going after him, Ichigo, telling her to wait, states he saw part of the Hollow's face, which resembled that of Sora Inoue, Orihime's brother. Rukia reveals the reason she said he should sneak behind Hollows is not only to avoid being damaged, but to avoid seeing the Hollow's identity, since all Hollows are the souls of former humans. Now at her house, Orihime talks with Tatsuki. While they talk, a seam splits on the face of Enraku, Orihime's teddy bear.

Going up to Rukia, Ichigo yells at her for not telling him about what Hollows really are. Telling him that right now the Hollows are monsters who must be defeated, she states they have no time for discussions because as they argue, Orihime may die. At Orihime's house, Tatsuki tells Orihime she should have let Ichigo walk her home and taken him into a dark place so she could take him down. As Orihime is shocked from her idea of what she should have done, Tatsuki wonders why Ichigo would be hanging out with the new transfer student. When Tatsuki asks Orihime if she has been to the park with Ichigo alone, Orihime fantasizes about what would happen if she was. When Enraku falls from the shelf it was on top of, Orihime, going over to pick it up, spots the rip on it. As she wonders what happened, blood begins to form in her palm and a hand, bursting out of Enraku, impales Orihime's chest. As she falls down unconscious Tatsuki, unable to see the Hollow, wonders what happened.

As Ichigo, now knowing Hollows attack their families, heads over to Orihime's house with Rukia, he asks why this is since Hollows are meant to only eat souls when they are hungry, and they are indiscriminate. Stating this is only true after the Hollows eat their family, Rukia reveals Hollows only eat souls so they can ease their pain and suffering. Stating Hollows go after the ones they love most to fill their empty hearts, Rukia tells him the mark on Orihime's leg is actually the bite from a Hollow, and her dead brother is definitely going to be attacking her again.

Tatsuki is attacked by the Hollow, who cuts her shoulder, spilling blood. As Tatsuki wonders what is happening, the Hollow, attacking her again, forces her onto the floor. Now out of her body, Orihime, wondering what the Hollow is and why she can see her own body lying on the floor, notices the Chain of Fate on her chest. As she tries to pull it off, Orihime, noticing Tatsuki being attacked by the Hollow, charges into the Hollow's arm to stop him. Going up to Tatsuki, she tells her to run away, but she does not hear her. As Orihime wonders why this is, the Hollow, referring to Orihime by name, reveals Tatsuki can neither see nor hear them. When Orihime asks the Hollow why he knows her name, he, stating it is sad she even forget his voice, goes to attack Orihime, but Ichigo, arriving, blocks the blow with his Zanpakutō. When the Hollow asks Ichigo why he interferes, Ichigo tells him this is his job, and if he wants to kill Orihime, he will have to kill him first.

When the Hollow stops his assault, Ichigo, wondering if he scared him off, looks at Tatsuki and gets mad at how she was unfairly caught up in this. Noticing someone on the ground, he is shocked to see it is Orihime, even though Orihime is right behind him. When Orihime greets Ichigo, despite how she should not be able to see him while he is in his Shinigami form, Ichigo asks Orihime why she can see him. Telling him she can do so because he is looking at Orihime's soul right now, the Hollow, stating Orihime is already dead, swings his tail at Ichigo. Ichigo tries to block the attack with his Zanpakutō, but he, unable cut through the scales on his tail, is sent crashing through a wall. As Ichigo lands on top of a roof, blood begins spilling from his forehead. Going up to the newly-formed hole in the wall, the Hollow tells Ichigo despite how much he talks, his movements are too slow for him. Asking Ichigo if Orihime's soul being removed from her body is that much of a shock, the Hollow spits out an acid-like substance which, hitting Ichigo's hand, burns it, causing Ichigo to drop his Zanpakutō. Swinging his tail down on Ichigo, the Hollow sends him crashing down into the streets below. Having been grabbed by the Hollow, Orihime yells out to Ichigo as Rukia runs towards Ichigo to help him. Orihime tries to get away from the Hollow, who asks her if she has truly forgotten about him. Taking a closer look at the Hollow, Orihime finally realizes it is her brother.

Telling Ichigo to wake up, Rukia asks him why he is getting beaten up like this. As Ichigo states this battle is different from the ones he has had before, Rukia tells him if he loses, Orihime will die. Asking the Hollow if he is really her brother, which the Hollow confirms, Orihime asks him why he is doing such horrible things to Tatsuki and Ichigo. Stating he is doing so because those two are trying to tear them away from each other, the Hollow explains how after he died, Orihime would pray to him every day, which made him happy. After she became friends with Tatsuki, her praying began to stop, and after she became friends with Ichigo, the praying stopped altogether. As the Hollow states the only thing she would talk to him about would be Ichigo, which was painful to listen to, Orihime tries to reason with him, but the Hollow continues to talk about how painful it became, and how eventually he simply wanted to kill her. Jumping through the hole in the wall, Ichigo goes to attack the Hollow, who stops him with his tail again. Looking at Orihime, the Hollow tells her they are going to live together like they used to. Telling the Hollow if he was sad, he should have said something, Orihime asks him why he is hurting her friends, since her brother was not the type of person to do stuff like that. Angrily grabbing Orihime, the Hollow tells her she was the one who turned him into what he is now. As he begins squeezing her, Ichigo, cutting off both of his hands, tells him big brothers are born first so they can protect the younger siblings which come after them. As he tells the Hollow he should never tell his own sister he is going to kill her, the Hollow asks him why he interferes.

Telling Ichigo he thought of Orihime as more of a daughter than a sister, the Hollow states they had terrible parents, and the day he turned 18, he took Orihime away to live somewhere else with him. Stating they have lived together ever since that day and he will not let anyone else have her, he, charging towards Ichigo, tries to bite him, but Ichigo, blocking the blow with his Zanpakutō, tells him Orihime does not belong to anyone. Stating since he lived his life for her and she will not live her life for him, the least she could do is die for him, the Hollow charges towards Orihime while Ichigo tells him to stop.

Aftermath
Allowing herself to get attacked by the Hollow, Orihime, hugging him, tells him she wanted to show him she could be happy so he would not have to worry about her anymore, but because it was making him sadder, she, apologizing, tells the Hollow she loves him. As Orihime faints, Ichigo tries to go and save her. Stopping him, Rukia states as long as the Chain of Fate is still there, she can be saved. As Rukia tells the Hollow to get out of the way so she can heal Orihime, the Hollow says to himself he knew why Orihime stopped praying, but even so, he still wanted her to pray for him because it was the only time her heart was all his. Telling the Hollow how Orihime wears the hairpins she got from her brother every day, Ichigo, stating the ones who live and the ones who die are just as sad as the other, tells him he is selfish in thinking he is the only one who is sad. Stating he thought Orihime had thrown away those hairpins, the Hollow jumps out into the streets of Karakura Town.

Going after the Hollow, Ichigo sees him removing his mask. Stating if he stays like this, one day he will lose himself again and go after Orihime, the Hollow tells Ichigo while he has a small part of himself back, he wants to disappear. As Ichigo tries to reason with the Hollow, Rukia, telling Ichigo he is making the correct choice, says not to worry, as cutting a Hollow is not actually killing him, but washing away his sins so he can be sent to Soul Society. Thinking back to the day her brother died, Orihime remembers getting into her first fight with Sora because he had gotten hairpins for her which she really hated. She thinks to herself she regrets never saying goodbye to her brother that day, despite it not changing anything.

Looking at her brother, Orihime says goodbye to him. As the Hollow fades away, Ichigo asks Orihime if her wounds are healed. Stating she is fine, Orihime tells him to ignore that for now because there are many questions she wants to ask him. Knocking Orihime unconscious, Rukia tells Ichigo she is replacing her memories. Going over to Tatsuki, she does the same thing to her while telling Ichigo the only problem with doing this is the memories are completely random. The next day at school, Orihime tells her classmates a sumo wrestler came into her room and shot a bazooka at her wall, but no one believes her. When Ichigo asks Rukia if she did the same thing to his family before, she, stating she did, asks Ichigo if it worked well.