The sun streamed down from the sky, softly warming the town of Karakura. Soft, cottony clouds drifted overhead.
A set of cool gray eyes examined the wisps.
They kind of look like peaches, the girl mused.
She set off down the street, her long orange hair swishing around behind her.
"Hi, Orihime!" called out a voice from across the street.
Orihime snapped out of her little world and glanced over. Rukia was dodging cars, running towards her and waving.
She smiled. "Hello, Rukia! How are you?"
Rukia came to a halt and panted a little before speaking. "I'm fine. And you?"
"Just… peachy," she hummed, chuckling to herself about the previous reference to the clouds.
Now I'm actually in a peachy mood. Might as well buy some for my cooking experiments.
"Where are you going?" the shorter girl questioned.
"The grocery store. I'm gonna get some ingredients for dinner tonight!"
Rukia gave her this weird, slightly nauseated smile. "Uh, hehe, yeah. That seems great."
Orihime, however, didn't notice. "Yeah. I'm thinking peach and fish cobbler, with a mayonnaise and calamari marinade! Hey, you should come over so we can eat together!" the girl beamed at her friend.
Rukia appeared slightly alarmed. "Err, Orihime, that would be great, but I promised Ichigo that I would help him with his homework. With all his shinigami duties, he's been falling behind, so I feel like I should help him out some," Rukia sputtered out, maybe a little too quickly.
"Oh, that's okay. Maybe some other time," Orihime said as she grinned and started off towards the grocery store.
"Yeah… some other time…" Rukia trailed off as she waved to her friend from the corner, a little pale.
The red-head was now skipping through the crowds, making her way to her destination. Once she reached the store, she breezed over the various displays, selecting the tastiest looking items.
Mmm, those oranges look so yummy… I think I'll just get some of those too.
Items in hand, she walked over to the register.
"Hello!" she sang out.
The man at the counter looked up. "Oh! Orihime!"
"Huh? Oh, it's you, Keigo! I didn't know that you worked here!"
"I only work part-time. I'm trying to pull together some cash so I can get cool video games, ya know?"
"Of course."
Suddenly, there was a weird banging sound coming from outside. Orihime looked around. None of the other people there seemed to notice except for her and Keigo.
"What was that?" she asked.
Keigo just sighed. "I have no idea. It's been happening for around three hours, but when I told the manager, he told me to take some pills because I was hearing things."
Orihime crinkled her eyebrows together.
Then it must be a spiritual being…
"Well, here's your stuff," he said, handing her the bag. Then he made a face. "I really hope you aren't planning on eating all of that together…"
"Hey, why not?" She defended. "I won't get fat because this is all healthy food, and I exercise!"
With that, she stomped out of the store.
"It's not gaining weight that I'm concerned about…" he mumbled to himself as he moved to help the next customer.
Who's he to judge my eating habits? Hmph.
Remembering the strange banging, Orihime made her way down an alley near the store.
"Hello?" she called out. "Anyone here?"
She heard a faint whimpering. Rushing over, she found the source of the banging. And nearly passed out.
Lying in the shadows was a basilisk-like creature, at least four feet in diameter, with light, airy aqua skin (or whatever it was covering the creature) and a padded white underbelly. It was curled up in a ball with its tail waving back and forth, sometimes hitting the garbage can next to it and producing a loud rattling sound.
"Aww, poor thing," Orihime said to herself before reaching a hand out to the creature.
She made contact with its tail, and a head shot up. Big golden eyes stared back at her, but what really caught her attention was the object below them.
A great white mask rested just under the creature's eyes, rather mustache-like in appearance.
The Hollow looked at her, analyzing.
Orihime was worried. This close to the Hollow, it could kill her in a second.
She was about to retract her hand when the Hollow moaned a little bit and let its head fall back across its body.
Huh?
Orihime, now thoroughly curious, approached the Hollow again, this time noticing a terrible gash in its side.
Gasping, she ran over and felt at the wound.
The Hollow cried out, but was too weak to stop her as she examined it with a practiced eye.
What do I do? I can't just leave it here… Ichigo or Rukia would just come and kill it, and this one doesn't seem all bad…
She let her thoughts wander to her brother, Sora.
Sora turned into a Hollow, but he was okay in the end. Maybe this one was like him.
"Shh, I'm going to make you all better now. Keep quiet, or Ichigo may find us," she informed it.
"Soten Kisshun, I reject," she chanted as she brought her hands to her clips.
The Hollow was slightly alarmed when the gold aura encircled its wound, but quickly calmed itself when it saw the damage being greatly reduced.
When the injury had been completely erased, the Hollow gave the spot a once over.
Quite happy with the results, the Hollow flung itself at Orihime with a satisfied, "Moo!"
Orihime squealed as she was glomped by the Hollow. "Moo?" she asked it.
"Moo!" it repeated.
As the Hollow nuzzled into her shoulder, she instinctively pet its head.
It mooed again.
"You aren't so vicious, are you Moo?" she trilled out.
Moo, as she now called it, hummed back to her.
She stood up.
I can't just leave him here…
Suddenly, her face lit up. A huge smile then plastered itself across her face.
"Hey, Moo! Follow me!" she sang out to the Hollow.
"Moo!"
And so, Orihime skipped back to her home through the streets, Hollow in tow.
She grinned again.
I've always wanted a pet.