Warning: Spoilers for Manga chapters 185 and 186.
My Reason Why
What is this spiritual pressure I sense coming this way?
Startled, I look up and I see a gigantic Hollow break through the sky; it suddenly makes a quick leap in my direction. Out of instinct I start to run away.
As I run away, I can sense it's spiritual powers. This feels somewhat familiar; what is it? Ah yes... I remember. It feels somewhat like that Menos Grande Ichigo and I fought before we left for the Soul Society. Fighting a Hollow shouldn't be a problem now; I came prepared this time. It will be different, as I won't have to be saved by someone else again.
As I turn and face the Hollow, I grab the 3 Gindou tubes I had in my shirt pocket, holding them between my fingers. I had filled these tubes with my spiritual power while I was training for the Soul Society.
"Feel the wraith of nature and accept this cup! Haizen!" I yell as I throw the Gindou tubes at the Hollow.
My tubes hit the it right on it's right side, which should cause it some damage. After the dust settles, I notice that part of the Hollow's body is missing. Yes, it worked. But wait... No, this can't be. Almost as quickly as it vanished, the Hollow's body is returning to normal. What is this? Does it have instant regeneration? This can't be good. I better try something else.
I roll up my sleeve and pull the string I have rapped around my forearm. So, here's another thought - I'll use my spiritual string to cut him in half. I look up and see two trees right in front of me, so I quickly jump up to one and tie the string around a branch. Then, I jump to the other tree and hook the string around the tree.
As I jump to the ground, I look back at the Hollow and notice its upper body is missing. What happened? Where did its upper body go?
Then I feel the looming presence above me. I turn my head back and see the Hollow's upper halve. It looks as though it's grinning at me. It separated from itself? No. That can't be right! Two spiritual pressures; there were two of them from the start! How could I have missed it...
Suddenly it's tongue starts to extend towards me; I know I must get out of here quickly. But...shit. I can't move. My body...isn't obeying my mind...I can only watch...
Then...I see it. The flash of light. Its tongue was stopped by something. But who stopped it...who saved me this time?
"My My… You sure look pathetic Uryuu?"
That voice. It can't be. It's impossible.
"What… you," I stutter.
"You're so weak Uryuu," he grates at me as he walks in my direction.
"You are… Ryuken." My father.
That bastard, what is he doing here? He doesn't have powers, does he?
"You call me your father by my first name," Then I see it, in his left hand. He has a bow. And he sounds so condescending. "Your manners still haven't changed, Uryuu. You still act like the brat."
Then the Hollow behind me makes a grumbling sound. I had almost forgotten about that, with that bastard showing up and all.
"For the love of...shut up, you!" Ryuken yells as he takes aim and shoots Hollow. It is destroyed instantly by this single attack. "Now, you see, Uryuu… instant regeneration is useless, unless you totally destroy it before it has a chance to regenerate."
What's going on? How is he that strong?
"How is it that you, the one who hated the Quincy so much, have the powers of a Quincy?" I ask. "I thought that you gave up your powers a long time ago..."
"And that is how you are a failure." He's so hiigh and mighty, isn't he?. It's really starting to bother me. "I told you before, 'I don't have any interest in you. You have no talent.' But my powers would have never disappeared so easily just because I left you. Whether you like it or not, boy, I am Ishida Ryuken. That is the name given to Quincy who has learned every technique created by the first Quincy Ishida Souken. And, I was given the nickname, 'The Last Quincy.' This is who I am."
He just sounds so full of himself, doesn't he? Oh, god, how I hate him.
Then, I notice it. He is holding something in this right hand...a cross with 5 lines. It's the same one Sensei used to wear around his neck.
"The Quincy Cross!" I gasp.
Then I hear something behind me again, and I turn around. It's the Hollow's lower half, llunging this way. Predictably, I see the quick flash of a Quincy arrow. Ryuken has (of course. He's 'the Last Quincy!') destroyed it. And of course, he's at it again with me.
"You really are weak, Uryuu. You took your underdeveloped skills to the Soul Society and lost what little power you had. But… I can return your powers to you…"
...What? Is he for real; would he really do that? That doesn't seem much like his him to suddenly take an interest in me.
"You don't believe me, do you?" He smirks. "But it's the truth, boy."
"You can really do that."
"Of course. I have one condition though."
Of course. There is always a catch.
"What is it?" I ask.
"You must swear to me that you will never associate yourself with any Shinigami again."
What the...and what kind of request is that? Does he really expect me to do that? After all, Ichigo is my friend, and of course there is that other bastard, Mayuri. He's still alive; he needs to die for what he did to Sensei. If I can't associate with the Shinigamis, I can't hunt him down.
"I will give you a few minutes to think about this, Uryuu. Choose your answer wisely. Truly, do you always want to be saved by someone else?"
Well, of course I don't want to have to be saved by others. But it seems that's what been happening recently. Just a few weeks ago it was Orihime…
Approximately two weeks earlier…
We had just returned from the Soul Society a few days before, and school going to start in a few days. I had decided to ask Orihime out to lunch, she accepted, and I had just arrived at her house. I lifted my hand and knocked on her door.
"Coming," I heard her voice from within. "I'll be there in a second."
About a minute later she opened the door. I saw she was wearing a light yellow dress. It looked great on her and really accented her brown eyes. I thought she was so beautiful.
"Good Afternoon Ishida-kun." She smiled sweetly. "How are you today?"
"I'm fine Inoue-san." I shuffled my feet. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yes, of course," she replied as she locked the door.
"You're really going to like this place," I explained as we started to walk. "My grandfather used to take me here sometimes when I was younger..."
"I see you still think about him a lot, Ishida-kun"
I stopped at this. Naturally, this caught me off guard. She was never good at saying the right thing; for whatever reason, someone always ended up embarrassed. Then again, that's one of the things I find adorable about her.
"Well...sometimes, it's a bit harder now knowing what happening to him after he died. But, I think..."
Wait, What was this I was sensing? I looked around, my hands clenched into fists. Is there a Hollow around? That's never good, especiallyat that time. I have nothing to protect me or Orihime.
"Ishida-kun, are you okay?" I just hoped it hadn't noticed our spiritual pressure as Orihime stopped alongside me. "You seemed to stop mid sentence. Actually, you seem to do that a lot-"
"There's a Hollow nearby. Don't you feel it?"
"A Hollow!"
It was coming closer; it must have noticed us. I grabbed her arm and started to hurry to the other side of the street. I thought that maybe we could gain a better advantage if we see it before it sees us.
"Um...what are you doing?" Orihime questioned as I hid behind a bush.
"We can plan strategy better if it we see it before it sees us."
...You know, I'm going to have to tell her I lost my powers soon. I can't have her thinking I have them before having us run headlong into danger.
Anyways, I heard a loud shriek right above us. I look up...and what do you know? It's right there. Oh, shit. Again.
"Oooh, Ishida-kun!" Orihime looked up in horror. "I guess you were right..."
"You guessed..."
I notice the Hollow's giant mouth seems to be filling with something everytime it made a gurgling sound. It was some sort of liquid, which it naturally shot right at us. I didn't have time to move or do anything; I was stilll trying to think of why I thought hiding there was a good idea.
"Hinagiku! Baigon! Lily! Santen Ketsuhun!" Orihime threw up her hands, fingers in triangle. "I reject!"
Good thinking Orihime. Use your shield. And I'm glad she did; the bushes around the shield looked like they are melting.
"Ah...so that was the spiritual pressure I was feeling,"
The Hollow spoke. Its voice was deep and menacing, I thought - well, looking back, I think - it looked like a mutant hamburger. With a mouth. A very ugly mouth.
"You both will make a tasty meal!" It started to move towards us. "Sooo...how would you like me to eat you? I prefer raw souls myself, but I like to give the stronger ones their choi-"
"You won't be able to eat us, demon!" Orihime responded. "Although I have spiritual powers, the one next to me is a lot stronger. He a Quin… "
I covered her mouth quickly with my right hand and put my left index finger to my lips.
"Um...Inoue-san, there's something I need to tell you…"
I then heard the Hollow making the same sounds as before. Because, shit, it was powering up again. So I dragged Orihime, who was now confused, up from the ground, and we start to run. In retaliation, the Hollow shot its acidic spit again, this time in our direction. We both managed to jump out of the way...but in opposite directions.
"Ishida-kun! Why don't you use your bow and shoot this thing down!"
Orihime was yelling to me from the other side of the street as I landed on the ground with a thud. Oh man, she was relying on me to kill it - NOT good.
"That's what I was trying to tell you just now... I lost my powers while fighting Mayuri back in the Soul Society!"
"Whaaaat?"
I suddenly noticed my leg starting to sting. I looked down to see that my lower pant leg melted away and a burn starting to form on my leg. And it hurt. A lot.
"Hee hee! Looks like your friend isn't as powerful as you thought," the Hollow taunted, it's hamburger bun head flapping in the wind, to my chagrin. "I guess that means he's easy prey then! So, I'll finish him off first."
I struggled to get up, but my leg wouldn't move. Something in the acid was incapatiating me, rendering me more helpless than before. All the Hollow needed to do was take aim, hoc a good one at me...
Then I saw Orihime standing up, a strong look of determination in her eyes.
"Tsubaki! Koten Zanshun! I reject!"
Just as the Hollow is about to attack, something shot out from her hands and smashed into its side with a good deal of force. It gave a howl, and floated back, its arm (what looked like his arm?) sizzling like a sausage.
"Ooooh! You stupid person!" The Hollow spat angrily as it turned in Orihime's direction. "Why did you do that! Or are you going to be more of a problem than I thought!"
So, it immediately prepared itself to attack Orihime, obviously having forgotten about the stupid weak former Qunicy. Within a few seconds the Hollow's mouth was full and it shot its venom it Orihime's direction.
And what did I do? Squirm in vain, of course.
"Orihime!"
After the dust settled, I look in her direction, thinking of seeing a human figure half-eaten by acid. She was dead. She had to be dead. And it was all my fault.
"No one hurts my friends and gets away with it."
I heard her, and open my eyes to see what damage was done. That was when her shield dissipated.
Thank God for that shield.
"Don't worry, Ishida-kun." She looked back at me and smiled. "I'll take care of it."
She sounded so determined to protect me. If I hadn't been in such pain, my heart probably would have melted at her selfless act. Probably.
"Inoue-san, the Hollow!"
I pointed in its direction, and she looked up just as it shot spit right at her. She didn't have enough time to put up her shield, so she dove out of the way. Just as she landed in front of a large tree, she grabbed her leg and fell to the ground.
No! I thought. She was hit!
"Hee hee! Not so strong, now are we?" the Hollow grinned with a wide smile with teeth that looked like (ugh) onions as it began to laugh at her. "Give it up, silly little human person! I beat you, and now, I'm going to eat you!"
The Hollow really was really enjoying itself. Disgusting creatures Hollows are. And their rhymes stink.
Orihime placed her hand against a nearby tree and started to pull her self up. She never gives up, does she? The Hollow was still laughing, probably still thinking of bad rhymes, not paying any attention to Orihime as she used the tree to support herself. With a huff, she pointed her right arm out in front of herself, aiming strong and true.
"Tsubaki! Koten Zanshun! I reject!"
Tsubaki shot out again, this time in a straight line, right into the Hollow's unprotected mask. The Hollow's shocked scream echoed through the street loudly as it quickly disintegrated, its acid turning into pure water as it hit the street. She had done it. The Hollow has been destroyed...without my help.
Relieved as I saw that the hamburger was dead, I looked back over at Orihime and noticed that she looked greatly wakened. Suddenly she collapsed on to the ground.
"Inoue-san...!"
As I dragged myself over to her, I started to feel really bad. This never would have happened if I still had my powers. I should have been the one protecting her, not the other way around.
As I lay down beside her, I noticed she was still breathing. I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Ishida-kun," she said weakly.
"Shh…" I shook my head. "Don't speak. we need to get you to a hospital."
"Wait… is the Hollow dead?" She was still worried about that.
"Yes you destroyed it. You did a good job." Something she wouldn't have to do if I still had my powers...
As I was still pondering my father's offer my thoughts strayed back to that day. I thought about how things could have been so much easier if I still had my Quincy powers. I could have just shot it down with one shot from my bow and we could have been right on our way. Orihime wouldn't have had to deal with a three day stay at my father's hospital, and I wouldn't have had to have dealt with my father like this.
But it doesn't have to be that way anymore. I can only see that I have get my powers back, no matter what the cost to me. Even if I have to train with this stupid bastard, and be humiliated by his taunts, by his calling me "boy" and in all ways letting me know I am nothing like him.
I'm not doing this for me; I'm doing this to protect the ones I love.
"Ryuken, I accept, I'll train with you."
Fin.