Here is the conclusion to the 'Sleeping Princess' story arc. Stay tune for the next arc 'Rearming for Battle'. Once again thank you to all who have reviewed. And remember, if you don't like it.... blame Persephonae ;D.

Chapter Eleven – Sleeping Hime

Time.

It's our most valuable commodity--something so important that we divide it into increments to keep track of how we spend it. We count it in every way possible: years, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds, and even fractions of seconds. For Orihime Inoue, time is running out.

2:55 PM - Hospital Room

Yasutora Sado continues to loyally stand guard over his friends, though even his legendary patience is wearing thin. He can hear the doctors and nurses gathering like vultures in the hallway outside. Their low-pitched conversation comes through the closed door in bits and pieces.

"…coma for over three months…"

"…No discernible brain activity…"

"…chances of waking up…slim to none."

'Those people know nothing. Ichigo and Uryuu will definitely save Orihime. And I will buy them whatever time they need.' Chad reassures himself as he worriedly glances at the clock.

The nearly five hours of lonely, silent vigil have taken their toll on him. His normally impassive demeanor is beginning to crack, and his concern for his friends burns clearly in his eyes. His worry is heightened by the fact that Yoruichi is visibly weakening. In the past few minutes, she has started to shiver violently; her cheeks have sunken into her face, and she has developed deep bags under her eyes. Currently, she bears more of a resemblance to an animated corpse than to a person.

To Chad's eyes and spirit senses, her usual vibrant flame has dwindled to a flickering spark. 'Please be safe my friends. Please don't leave me behind.' Chad sends out his thoughts in a silent plea.

Just then, the last flickering pinprick of spirit energy Yoruichi possessed dies out completely. The stream of reiatsu that had been flowing from her into the control rod sputters to a halt. She falls forward out of her chair, lying in a crumpled heap on the floor.

The rainbow glow that had been emitting from the wand-like controller fades away completely.

"No." The word comes softly out of Chad's mouth, but it erupts into the silence of the room with all the power of an explosion.

Without warning, powerful dark bolts of energy begin to fly outward from Yoruichi, shooting into everything around her. Even though the bolts miraculously avoid striking Chad or the room's other human occupants, nothing else is spared. Waves of black lightning sweep across everything, leaving trails of scorch marks on the walls and ceiling. An arc of energy blasts out from Yoruichi, flinging the chair she had been sitting on into Chad, knocking him to the ground. Her body rises into the air, supported by a column of dark purple lightning. Her head continues to hang limply onto her chest.

'What is this power?' Chad asks himself as he pushes the chair away. 'And why does it feel like a hollow's?'

The amount of spirit energy in the room builds until it can no longer be contained. Churning, sizzling, fighting for release, the energy finally finds a way to escape; directly into Orihime's life support machinery. With a whine of tortured components, the capacitors in the equipment blow and the devices sizzle before they go dark. Down the hall in the nurse's station, alarm bells begin to bleep and whoop. That only lasts for a heartbeat before the power grid for the entire floor is overloaded. All the lights go out, to be replaced by the dim glow of emergency lamps.

For a few seconds, everything is dark. The backup generators kick on, restoring power to the vital equipment. The lighting comes back on, but only at dim levels. Out in the hallway, hospital personnel can be heard running back and forth, calling to each other as they check on the patients.

Suddenly, Yoruichi's head jerks upright and her eyes open to reveal solid yellow orbs glowing with madness.

"Yoruchi! You have to wake up and get a hold on yourself!" Chad yells at her as he shifts onto his knees before climbing to his feet.

Her head sweeps toward the sound of his voice like a gun turret. Her arm rises to point at him, the energy coiling and thickening around her hand, as if in preparation of a strike.

"Yoruichi! Please! You'll kill them if you don't stop!" He cries out to her.

Something in her seems to acknowledge his words, because the bolt of energy sizzling around her hand doesn't fire. Her hand drops to her side, and Yoruichi lets out an animalistic howl. She shakes and writhes as if there is a battle raging inside her, multiple forces fighting for control of her body. After a few seconds, that feel more like hours, Yoruichi's eyes begin to clear. The yellow fades out of the whites of her eyes, leaving her normal, golden irises. The wild energy around her begins to subside, and her body slowly drifts down to the floor.

"Yoruichi? What about Ichigo and Uryuu..." Chad asks with a worried nod in the direction of the controller that is laying on the floor.

Yoruichi eyes widen in fear as she follows his gaze toward the indicated object. With the waves of energy still surging and ebbing around her, she bends over to pick up the remote. Amazingly, the controller is once again glowing and humming with life. Apparently the excessive amount of reiatsu spiraling out of control in the room was enough to temporarily power the device.

"It's still active," Yoruichi says out loud, to herself. The relief is easily heard.

With a final pulse, the wild discharge of power around Yoruichi appears to be contained, though her reiatsu still simmers darkly. It tastes more like a hollow's, than a Vizard's or a Shinigami's.

"Are they… Are they alright?" Chad asks her, the fear causing his voice to tremble.

Yoruichi glances at the two men slumped beside the bed, and then at Orihime. With a cry, she rushes to Orihime's side and checks for a pulse. After a moment, her eyes meet Chad's. The expression in them is bleak.

"Yoruichi-sama, what's wrong?"

"Ichigo and Ishida's minds are still alive and active," she gestures toward the blackened medical equipment. "But, there is no life support for Orihime. If they can't wake her and return to their bodies in the next minute or two before her brain dies, I fear they will be lost… forever."

Orihime's Mindscape

Ishida and I are still resting on the floor of the tent when, unexpectedly, things change. First, the bodies of our fallen enemies dissolve into thin air. Then, the tent above us disappears. We sit there stunned at the abrupt change, until Uryuu brings something to my attention.

Waving a hand toward where we entered the valley, he asks, "Kurosaki, does the scenery over there look unusual to you?"

"More unusual than what we've already seen?" I ask with a laugh, as I look to where he's indicating. The laughter dies in my throat as the importance of what I'm seeing becomes evident. Looking toward the valley entrance, we can see that something horrible is happening.

The sky, the plants--even the ground, are vanishing like the bodies of our fallen enemies did moments ago. And they are not simply disappearing. Instead, they are being consumed by something. The very fabric of Orihime's mind is being pulled into tiny pieces--which then vanish into a dark emptiness. This darkness isn't just the absence of light; it has a hungry quality to it. It also feels oddly familiar.

"That is very strange. It looks like Orihime's mind is being shredded into nothingness." Ishida's words pull me out of my musings. Then, I realize why this darkness feels familiar: it reminds me of death and the grave. This dissolving mindscape is similar to what happened when Urahara helped me to find my Shinigami powers.

In a flash, I know what's occurring: Orihime is dying!

"We've got to move, Ishida! We're out of time!" I stand up as quickly as I can, and reach over to give Uryuu a hand getting to his feet.

As we run toward the stone archway, the ground beneath us starts to shake violently. Both of us stumble, but we manage to stay on our feet as we hurtle toward the tunnel entrance. Behind us, the nothingness is gaining.

Once we pass beneath the arch, I can see a long, twisting stone tunnel stretching before us. Without warning, Ishida crashes into my side. A stalactite dislodged by the earthquake crashes into the space we were just occupying. This time, Ishida is the first to his feet.

As he gives me a hand, he tells me: "Stop napping, Kurosaki! We have to find Orihime"

We take off, side-by-side through the tunnel, with the dissolution of Orihime's mind gaining on us.

After what feels like hours, we finally reach the end of the tunnel and emerge into a huge cavern. Once we leave the tunnel, the earthquakes and the disintegration that is following us inexplicably stop. It's like something in this place is holding it at bay. In front of us is a cavern filled with a series of stalactites and stalagmites in every color imaginable--some more examples of colors that shouldn't ever be seen. Near the middle of the cavern is an open area, inside the open area is a large pool of molten lava. Floating in the middle of that pool is an island of stone. The only access to the island appears to be a narrow stone bridge on the side that is closest to us. In the center of the island resides a golden pyramid. Inside the pyramid, I can barely make out a glowing oval of energy. Floating inside the oval is a sleeping Orihime.

Both Ishida and I take off running toward the bridge. Once we reached the open space--but before we can get close to the bridge--we are knocked off our feet by a fiery red trail of light. The glowing light resolves itself into a small, crimson flying object. It's Tsubaki, one of Orihime's guardian fairies. Ishida and I climb to our feet and try to once again approach the island. Like the first time, we are attacked and knocked off our feet by the tiny form.

"Tsubaki what are you doing? We're here to help Orihime. You need to let us get to her, we don't have much time!" I tell him.

He replies in the same six-part harmony that our guide from earlier had used. "Only one may pass to attempt the tests of worthiness."

I respond: "What do you mean, 'the tests of worthiness'? We've already had to fight all those clown things! Haven't we done enough already?"

He flies to hover in front of our faces, and continues like he didn't hear a word I said, "To reach the Princess. You must first complete four tests of worthiness. Only one of you may compete. If you both attempt to take the tests, you will both be killed. If you attempt the tests and cannot pass them, you will be killed. If you do not successfully complete the tests the Mistress will remain trapped here forever. Which of you will attempt the tests?"

"What is the nature of the tests?" Ishida asks as he pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"The first is courage, the second is wisdom, and the third is will. The nature of the final test, you must determine on your own. Each test will be administered by us, the Guardians. I am the gatekeeper and the first test."

"I'll do it," I volunteer.

"No you don't, Kurosaki, I'll be the one to rescue Inoue." I can hear the determination in his voice, but I didn't come all this way to fail Orihime again. I need to be the one to rescue her.

"You heard what he said, Ishida. If you try it and fail, you die. I'm not letting you take that risk."

"No! You cannot stop me. You heard Tsubaki describe the tests. One of the tests is of wisdom, you have no hope of passing that one. And you have no chance of figuring out what the secret fourth test is.I will be going."

"Look, Ishida, I understand that you want to rescue Orihime, but I need to do this. I need to prove to myself that I don't always let my friends down."

Uryuu gets right up in my face and growls out, "I don't care what you think you need Kurosaki! Who cares about you? Inoue, needs the person who will provide her the best chance, and, let's face it, Kurosaki, you are no one's best chance. I refuse to place her chances of survival in your hands."

With that, he shoves me hard in the chest, and I trip and fall on my ass. Apparently, we haven't worked through as many of our issues as I'd hoped. While I'm still sitting there, he turns and sets off toward the bridge. I quickly rise to my feet and chase after him.

"Ishida, wait!" I cry out to him, racing to catch up. He's already halfway across the bridge when I first set foot onto it. As soon as my foot touches the bridge, I hear a scream of fury from Tsubaki.

"Only one may compete!" He screeches and flies directly towards Ishida. I've seen what a determined Tsubaki can do to a hollow. He'll punch clean through Ishida!

"Ishida, NO!!"

Ishida turns around and slows down when he hears Tsubaki scream, so I'm able to close the distance between us before Tsubaki attacks. I throw myself in between Tsubaki and Ishida, pushing Uryuu out of the way of the attack. I feel a stabbing sensation in my back, followed almost instantly by a ripping pain in my chest accompanied by a sizzling noise like butter dropped into a hot skillet…

How? How did I end up on the ground? And why is it so hard to breathe?

"Ichigo!" Ishida screams, picking himself up off the ground and running to my side. Once there, he drops to his knees next to me.

"Why did you do that?" he sobs. Tears from Ishida? For me?

I struggle to get enough of a breath to answer him. "Because I had to. I will not let any more friends die for me--" I break out into fit of coughing and choking. I think my lungs are filling with blood.

I wheeze out one final statement, "Save her, save… Orihime!"

Then everything goes black.

2:57 PM Hospital Room

The doctors and nurses finally make their appearance in Orihime's room. Perhaps they have delayed, hoping the power outage will have taken the burden of unhooking Inoue's life support out of their hands. Or maybe they just feel that the hospital patients not in comas were a higher priority. Either way, there is a commotion when the staff enter the room.

The male doctor, who enters the room first, is the loudest. "Dear god! What in the hell happened in here?"

There is a chorus of exclamations and gasps of shock as the new arrivals take in the destroyed equipment and the burns marring every surface in the room.

After a moment, the medical staff turn their questioning gazes to Yoruichi and Chad. Before they can ask any of the questions running through their minds, Ichigo's body starts to violently convulse as he coughs up blood. He suddenly collapses, slumping lifelessly out of his chair. The doctor rushes to his side.

"Clear the room! And seal it off to prevent the spread of any potential toxins." He orders the staff crowding around the bed and Ichigo's body. The unoccupied hospital personnel quickly exit.

After checking Ichigo for a pulse, Doctor Loud begins to administer CPR. After nearly three minutes of chest compressions, he looks up into the horrified eyes of Chad and Yoruichi and sadly proclaims, "He's dead."

Orihime's Mindscape

Ishida slumps over Ichigo's lifeless spirit body. Tsubaki returns to hovering over the island end of the bridge. He is no longer talking in six-part harmony. Rather, he appears to be having an argument with himself in six different voices.

"Perhaps we should've kept the other one, it seemed to understand the principle behind the test. This one doesn't do anything." This comment is in a mature-sounding male voice.

"Yes, but that one would not have been able to complete all of the tests. So we must deal with this one." A female voice.

"Are we agreed then?" Tsubaki asks the other voices.

"Agreed"

"Agreed"

"Agreed"

"Agreed"

"Agreed"

"Very well then, I will see if he will continue." Tsubaki returns his attention to the human, asking him in his own voice. "So will you attempt the tests?"

"Yes."

"Then begin."

Uryuu begins walking toward the island. As he approaches, Tsubaki begins to emit fiery rays before charging toward Ishida at high speed in a repeat of the fatal attack against Ichigo. Ishida tries to dodge the attack, but as soon as he ducks out of the way, there is a flash of light and Ishida disappears. He reappears almost instantly, back at the center of the bridge.

"What just happened?" Uryuu asks himself. He tries walking toward the end of the bridge, again. Once more, Tsubaki begins to glow crimson as he approaches. When he reaches some predetermined location, the fairy charges him again. This time, instead of trying to dodge he moves his bow to deflect the attack.

Once again, as soon as Ishida moves there is a flash of light and he reappears at the middle of the bridge. 'What is going on? Isn't this supposed to be the test of courage?'

Suddenly, a look of comprehension fills Ishida's eyes, and he walks confidently toward Tsubaki's position. This time, when the fairy begins his deadly attack, Ishida stands his ground. The fairy flies toward the center of his chest.

Ishida thinks to himself, 'If I'm wrong about this I'll soon be joining Kurosaki.'

As the fairy charges for his heart, Ishida makes no move to dodge or to defend himself.

Tsubaki makes contact… and passes through, harmlessly, like a ghost.

Ishida looks down and pats himself on the chest, looking for damage and is shocked to find none. He turns to face the fairy who is now hovering behind him.

The fairy smiles, "You have passed the test of courage. You may proceed." He immediately fades away.

Ishida crosses the bridge and approaches the second barrier. This one is in the form of a glowing, three-sided golden pyramid. Each of the bottom corners is occupied by one of the Santen Kesshun, Orihime's 'Three Sacred Links' defensive shield.

"We are the test of wisdom." Baigon, Lily, and Hinagiku speak together in unison. "Who are you?"

"I am Ishida Uryuu."

"That answer is only partially true. We ask again, 'Who are you?'."

Ishida thinks for a moment and then replies, "My name is Ishida Uryuu, I am the last Quincy, and friend of your Mistress."

"We did not ask your name or title. We asked who you are? Once again your answer is truthful and yet incorrect. We will only ask once more."

"What do you mean? I told you who I am. I thought this was a test of wisdom, not some kind of trick question. Do you want to know what pi is, out to twenty decimal places? Don't you have some kind of a riddle you want solved? Do you need to know the flight speed of an unladen swallow? WHAT DO YOU WANT?" As he is speaking, Ishida becomes increasingly upset, screaming the final words.

All three fairies of Santen Kesshun begin to buzz angrily. The walls of the pyramid shift from gold to an angry orange color.

"We do not test knowledge. We are the test of WISDOM. And we ask one last time: 'WHO ARE YOU?"

"I DON'T KNOW!!" Ishida cries out.

"Finally," they respond, "he answers with wisdom. Willingness to admit to a lack of knowledge or understanding is the first step to true wisdom. You may proceed." With that, the three fairies bow in Ishida's direction and then they, and the pyramid, fade out of existence.

When Ishida approaches the floating oval of energy, whatever had been delaying the destruction of Orihime's psyche loses its power. The earthquakes start again. At the cavern entrance, the creeping nothingness reappears.

Focusing their attention on Ishida, Ayame and Shun'o tell him, "We are the test of Will. All you must do to pass is make your way to the Mistress' side." The room shakes again, and the lava begins to bubble violently. "You must hurry. We do not have much time remaining."

Ishida puts his hand out to touch the shield. The instant that his flesh meets the glowing barrier, he screams in agony. He jerks away from the shield as quickly as possible. He looks down at his completely unharmed hand in disbelief.

'It felt like my hand was being burned off with acid. Yet I'm physically unharmed. Somehow the healing power of Sōten Kisshun has been turned around. It seems to be directly stimulating all of the pain receptors of the nervous system simultaneously.' His eyes widen as he realizes the full extent of the test. 'It will be the most excruciating experience of my life. All of the pain receptors will activate and stay active until I pass through. And I bet the healing powers of Sōten Kisshun will prevent the nerve endings from burning out from over-stimulation.'

The unraveling of Orihime's mind continues to accelerate, the swirling destruction reaching halfway into the cavern. Ishida looks around at the destruction and then plunges into the barrier.

The pain is excruciating! It feels like being burned, cut, crushed, scraped, and shredded simultaneously across every millimeter of his body. From the outside the shield appears paper thin. But once Ishida steps into it, the internal distance seems to stretch for miles. Biting his tongue to keep from screaming in agony, Ishida advances.

2:59 PM Hospital Room

The doctor arranges Ichigo's body on the floor next to Orihime's bed. Yoruichi slumps onto the ground next to Ichigo and is staring dazedly at his slack face as the mental projector hangs limply from one of her hands. The doctor briefly checks Orihime's status. After writing down the time of her death on the chart, he walks toward the door.

Mental Landscape

With a harsh scream, Ishida stumbles forward out of the barrier of the test of Will, and crumples alongside Orihime's bier.

Shun'o begins speak, "You must figure out the fourth test quickly, the Mistress is-" He suddenly fades out of existence in mid-sentence.

The destruction of the room is almost complete. Death's unforgiving advance has reached the island. All that remains are Ishida and Orihime's body on a small piece of land surrounded by the hungry darkness. And even that last remaining piece of solid ground is rapidly dissolving away beneath them.

Ishida looks down at the silver ribbon still fluttering around his midsection. For just a second, he considers taking hold of it and following it back to his body. 'It would be so easy. All I have to do is take hold of this thread, and I can live.'

'Yes.' His conscience agrees. 'But do you really wish to live the rest of your life, knowing that you failed your friends? That you failed the woman you lo--'

Ishida shakes his head violently, cutting off his train of thought. 'Better to die here, than live with that.'

He turns to Orihime and begins speaking to her, "I'm so sorry, Inoue. I don't know what the fourth test is. I don't know how to save you." Tears roll down his face as he sobs out his next words: "I don't know which is worse. The fact that I will die knowing I failed you, or my regrets that I never told you how I felt for you."

"But, perhaps I can change that now… I Love You, Inoue." With those final words, he falls to his knees and places a gentle kiss on Orihime's lips just as the destruction of her mind rushes in to claim him.

3:00 PM Hospital Room

Yoruichi is still sitting on the floor beside Ichigo's body, her face filled with disbelieving horror. Chad is standing along the wall behind her, feeling the same emotions crashing through him.

'I have lost two of my friends today already.' He glances at Ishida's still unconscious form, 'And I may soon lose a third.'

On the bed, Orihime's slowly cooling body takes on a golden hue. Chad watches in amazement as the leads of her implanted pacemaker dissolve at their contact point with her skin. The IV feed lines slowly creep backward out of her arm, as if they are being pushed out from the inside. Once they are completely ejected, the incision heals without a trace that it was ever there.

From his place at Inoue's side, Uryuu suddenly gasps and sits upright. His eyes jerk wide open and he stares hopefully at Orihime's face. The dark circles under her eyes and the loose flesh caused by months of inactivity reform into the firm, full appearance of healthy youth.

A golden oval of energy snaps into appearance around Ichigo's lifeless body, forcing Yoruichi to back away. Everyone's attention is inexorably drawn to the hospital bed.

And they all bear witness to a miracle: Orihime Inoue opens her eyes and looks around her. Upon realizing she is surrounded by people staring at her, open-mouthed in shock, she nervously greets them.

"Ohio. Is, ah, are you all here for breakfast?"