Author's Note: It's been so long since I've posted anything! T_T I miss not having a life...*sniffles* Well I'm back now along with a friend of mine who is co-writing this story with me. Well read and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own BLEACH. Hurray!...not
Chapter 1: Objective #1: Don't get Eaten
"AHH MUTANT MOTH!" A young blonde girl screeched as she darted across the bridge. Her companion, a tall girl dressed in dark denim, raised an eyebrow in amusement.
"Dare I even inquire as to what the hell that was?" The girl called as she stepped off the bridge onto the soft earth next to her friend. Looking down towards her she saw the girl scrunch up her face in thought before answering.
"I'm serious! It was huge! I sorta wanna catch it . . ." The taller girl shook her head as her friend once again darted off in hot pursuit of the moth. Shaking her head the girl began jogging to keep pace with her friend, following deeper into the woods. Pushing her legs to a faster speed the girl felt worry begin to run through her when suddenly she caught sight of the young woman.
"Kiri!" The denim-clad girl growled as she followed her friend, her large pack of camping gear hitting her back painfully as she made her way down the trail. After a few minutes of pursuit she finally found her crouched down on the side of path examining a large moth in her hand.
"Arrow! It's pretty!" Kiri grinned insanely, turning her hand about so Arrow could get a view of the creature. It was large almost the size of Kiri's palm, black in color with specks of blue running across its wings.
"Yeah, gorgeous." Arrow replied airily, sarcasm coating her voice thickly. Her arms were crossed across her chest and an arched eyebrow was lifted as she watch the blonde girl stick out her tongue in response.
"You're no fun." Smiling happily Kiri flicked the moth off her hand before rising into a standing position. She adjusted her blonde ponytail as the dark-haired girl rolled her eyes.
"I wonder about you sometimes." Arrow mumbled before turning on her heel and making her way back onto the trail. Shaking her head she began the ascent up the steep incline. Kiri remained in the same place taking in her surroundings enjoying the nature around her. Lost in thought she jumped when Arrow's sharp voice cut in her thought process.
"Hurry up!" The girl barked glancing over her shoulder, "We need to hurry if we want to make it to the falls before sun down."
"Before sundown! What the hell? We should be there well before that!" The blonde screeched as she rocked on her toes and pointed an accusing finger at the girl paused on the trail.
"Well we would be if you would stop getting side tracked by moths." With that Arrow pulled herself over a fallen log and began pushing her way through the overgrowth.
The blonde grumbled in response before adjusting her pack and taking off towards her tall friend. Sprinting for a time she finally caught up to her friend, slightly out of breath. She wasn't renowned for her athletic ability; rather she saw it as one of her shortcomings.
She took note of her friend's long legs and was immediately reminded that wasn't her only 'short' coming. For each one of her strides Arrow had taken two. She scrunched up her face in annoyance, damn being vertically challenged.
Smiling to herself the blonde sighed in content as she followed up the trail. This was the ideal graduation gift she thought happily.
Stepping over a rock, she considered with happiness, really, there was nothing better than a week-long camping trip with friends. Namely a friend that didn't whine if the natural elements decided to drench them, if their tent fell over, or if she may have forgotten to pack enough rations to last her for a week and had to bum food off said friend to prevent starvation. She grinned and caught up to Arrow, a mischievous thought playing at the back of her mind. With skills she would have considered comparable to a ninjas she poked her friend in the back and snickered as her friend squeaked indignantly.
"STOP THAT!" She screeched in annoyance, startling several birds out of a nearby bush and almost obscuring a distant howling, screaming roar.
The black haired girl glared at her short friend contemplating kicking the girl off the trail into the underbrush. Opening her mouth to respond she was interrupted by the distant sound of a deep screaming roar.
"Did you hear that?" Arrow questioned the hair on the back of her neck begin to prickle up. Her eyes scanning the edges of the forest, she caught no signs of predators but her guard immediately rose. Subconsciously her fingers feeling for the gun stored in the side of her belt.
Kiri, having her heard nothing took more interest in the gun sitting in the holster on her friend's belt. Giving Arrow a "What the fuck" look as she calmly questioned. "Since when do you have a gun . . .?"
Arrow gave her an incredulous look. "I always carry one when hiking or camping . . . where the hell have you been?"
"You never told me that!" Kiri promptly retorted, her arms reflexively crossing over her chest. She had known Arrow for years, and had gone camping with her on several occasions but had never took note of her friend being in possession of a gun. Combustible materials? Absolutely, but never a gun.
"Huh. I thought I showed it to you." Shrugging her shoulders Arrow turned from her friend back towards the woods which had grown deathly silently almost instantly.
Sighing in slight exasperation the blonde followed her friends gaze towards line of the forest.
"I didn't hear anything. Honestly I think you're being paranoid..." Kiri supplied her eyes squinting trying to make out shapes through the trees.
Arrow shook her head before pulling the gun free from its holster and making her way to the edge of the beaten trail.
"Well only one way to find out."
Kiri raised an eyebrow, of course Arrow wanted to go hunt the imaginary noise. Muttering Kiri stated, "You know this is almost as bad as the invisible cockroach."
Arrow, completely ignoring Kiri, stepped up onto the bank and began making her way through the dense underbrush. Her pistol was drawn and her keen eyes searched for any signs of movement, none came.
Stopping momentarily she heard Kiri approaching and watched as her friend opened her mouth to speak when the howl became louder and much more prominent. The sound was unlike anything she had ever heard before, and growing up quite literary in the middle of the woods made her quite familiar with the cries of the bob cats and howls of the coyotes. This was completely different.
Arrow felt a shiver run up her spine as she looked to Kiri who had frozen her eyes wide.
She smirked slightly, more out of habit than need, "Nothing out there, huh?" She prodded a sense of cockiness overcoming her.
"Shut up and turn around." Kiri stated very slowly her mouth barely moving as her eyes were locked on something over Arrow's shoulder.
Since Kiri sounded unusually serious (A very rare thing for her), Arrow did as she was told and pivoted on her toe. Taking in the sight before her she raised an eyebrow at the masked creature contemplating them.
"Is that a . . ." She began questioning quickly taking in the appearance of the creature before her. It was a few inches shorter than herself and had wide set shoulders. Its body, almost humanoid, was sickly green in color. Its arms hung low and were tipped with razor sharp claws at the end. However what strut her most was the authenticity of the mask.
"I think it is." Kiri said almost breathlessly her eyes never leaving the creature before her.
Arrow sighed. "Fucking cosplayers all the way out here . . ." she shook her head in disappointment. Turning slightly she address the 'monster' directly. "Hah, good one. Did you record the roar? I found it very impressive; now take off the mask so I don't have to fill you full of holes."
The creature turned it's heard slightly analyzing the girls its mask face sticking out prominently in the evening light.
Growing annoyed at the imitated 'hollow' Arrow stepped forward her gun hanging loosely in her hands, "Hey jackass I'm talking to you."
Kiri poked Arrow timidly. "Uhhhh Arrow . . . I don't think that's a cosplayer . . ."
The taller girl looked at the creature more closely. It certainly did seem very authentic. She turned back to her friend and in a very calm voice stated "We are hiking in the middle of the woods, nowhere near Japan, how does that work?" Her eyes stayed locked on the creature as it began to emit a low growling sound. The Hollow, in turn, continued to contemplate the two increasingly tasty-looking humans before him.
Ever the nerd, Kiri raised a finger. "Actually, if you go with Bleach lore Hollows and Shinigami shouldn't be unique to Japan. So theoretically they would be here too . . ."
The Hollow had made up his mind. He wanted lunch.
Arrow muttered back, her position suddenly becoming tense, "But Kiri, we're not in Bleach!"
The Hollow lunged.
With no time for a retort Arrow grabbed Kiri and dove towards the left dragging the girl down with her. The hollow, having missed its lunch cried in outrage sending Arrows senses into overdrive and adrenaline coursing rapidly through her veins.
"Stay!" Arrow barked her black braid swinging as she jumped up from her friend turned to face the hollow. Pulling her gun free she pointed at the mask of the creature and with no hesitation shot off several rounds, each easily richocheting off of its marrow mask.
"Well shit." She muttered as the creature lunged at her again throwing herself backward she narrowly missed its long claws. Landing solidly on her ass Arrow's gun was thrown several feet away from her as she quickly tried to regain control over her legs. Slipping into a kneeling position she swung her leg out in attempts at tripping the furious creature. Her leg clashed with its knees and it was sent tumbling with an antagonizing roar.
Trying to regain her footing she felt the creature grip her ankle its deep claws sinking deeply into the skin. She yelped in agony but still fought to get away from the creature. Her thoughts focused primarily on how the hell something that was supposed to fictional had ended up in the real world.
"DAMN!" Arrow yelled in frustration as her balance failed her and she tumbled forward the hollow quickly closing the distance between them.
"KIRI!" Arrow yelled, sounding more pissed than scared, "Get my gun!" Arrow sent out a sharp kick at the hollows head.
Kiri still grounded in pure shock began scrambling towards the gun fear driving her towards the firearm. Crawling for what seemed like an eternity her hands came about the smooth handle of the gun.
"Got it!" Pointing the gun she shot off a round and completely missed.
"KIRI! You can't fire a gun!" Arrow screeched in disbelief as she sent a solid punch towards the hollows mask.
Kiri in her panic glared her friend "I'm not an idiot! I've shot a BB gun before at Styrofoam cups when I was ten..."
Even in pain the taller girl felt a line of sweat trail down her neck as she fought furiously, we're so doomed she thought.
Pulling the gun up once more Kiri tried to calm her frazzled nerves and to carefully aim the gun at the screaming hollow as it attempted to dig its claws into her friend.
One clean shot, she thought pulling the trigger slightly, one clean shot, and please dear flying spaghetti monster in the sky don't let me hit Arrow. Pulling the trigger back the gun jumped and sent a bullet flying into the soft back of the hollow. Letting out a pained scream it let Arrow loose and reeled back momentarily to assess its wounds.
"Damn It," Kiri muttered. "Supposed to hit it in the mask . . . . Arrow! Are you ok?" She turned to her injured friend. Her hands held out around her unsure of what to do.
Through gritted teeth Arrow growled, "I'll live! Just shut up and focus on THAT THING!"
Kiri turned just in time to see the Hollow had recovered and was now determined that these two pesky creatures would be eaten. Straitening her back Kiri pulled the gun into position and clicked the trigger, nothing happened.
"DAMN!" Arrow hissed as she dug through her pockets, "I don't know where my other clip is!"
Kiri, one who had never believed in heroic mannerisms almost contemplated throwing the gun at the hollow and high tailing in the opposite direction. Her thoughts of fear and selfishness however were drowned out when she heard Arrow struggling to pull herself into an upright position.
Stealing herself Kiri searched around her, her pulse resonating in her ears drowning out all noise except for the deep growl of the coiled hollow.
Catching sight of something she let out a small ah hah and jumped over Arrow leaving the injured girl lying on the ground and watching the hollow prepare to pounce.
"Kiri?" Arrow called, watching the hollow trail back and forth towards her, "Oh Kiri. KIRI!" Pushing herself onto her elbows she tried to steal a glance behind her but heard the hollow pounce.
Preparing herself for the pain she closed her eyes expecting death to come soon but felt nothing.
Daring to open an eye Arrow couldn't believe what she saw. There laying on the ground less than two feet from her was the hollow with what appeared to be a pair of scissors stuck through its throat. Kiri stood to the side shaking profusely as she watched the collapsed hollow for movement.
There was a moment of silence during which both girls stared at the monster. Finally Arrow looked at Kiri. ". . . Where in the HELL did you get scissors?"
Kiri, shaking slightly, looked as though she wasn't sure what exactly had just happened. "Uhm . . . I usually tend to have scissors with me . . . for art, you know. Uh . . . we should try and get you out of here. Can you stand?"
The dark-haired girl pulled herself up, wincing. "I'm really glad you're short, you're the perfect height for me to lean on…"
Kiri glared at her, her normal persona beginning to return, "Glad to be of assistance." Pulling her friend up, Arrow focused her weight on her and the two quickly hobbled off back down the trail. Neither entirely sure what happened they remained silent trying to soak in what had just happened.
As they made the painful jump down from the bank Kiri couldn't help feel something wasn't sitting right with her. She was sure she had missed something, something important. When she heard a low and rather furious growl behind them, everything clicked.
"Arrow . . ." She said slightly panicking as she looked at her sweat drenched friend, "aren't Hollows' bodies supposed to disappear if they're dead?"
There was a pregnant pause as both girls looked at one another.
"SHIT!"
Turning both girls eyes widened as the hollow descended on them.
Author's Note: Muahahaha! Cliffy...er well sorta, anywho review!