I kick a can down the street and shove my hands in my pockets. The sun begins to set behind me and I continue to walk, in a hopeless case of catching my shadow. I huff an annoyed sigh and kick the can again with enough strength to call it a punt. It flies and lands in my neighbor's front yard. I turn and walk through my gate and up the steps to the porch. I take my keys and jam them into the deadbolt. I twist my wrist and it unlocks. I enter, throwing my bag onto the couch.
Pressing the message receiver, it states that I have one missed call.
"Tatsuki, call me back once you get this."
I roll my eyes and drag my sore self into the kitchen. I'm not in the mood to talk to him, now.
I've been trying to ignore him ever since he stopped telling me what is going on with him. I don't want to be lied to, so I dodge a conversation with him. He's been hiding things from me for years and I thought we wouldn't since he's my oldest friend. We've been drifting, though. We've begun to hang out with different people and before I knew it, we're like strangers.
Seeing no food in the fridge, I decide not to have dinner tonight. I'm not really that hungry.
I tiredly walk back into the living room and take a few items out and spread out on the couch.
Math. The thing demons decided to plague the world with. It's hated among most on the earth as well as my least favorite subject. I jot down the problems and an hour of torture later the sheet of filled out. I stuff the sheet back into my bag and head upstairs to my room. I plop down onto my bed and groan. Turning my bedside lamp off, the room becomes dark.
My cell phone rings and I slowly take it out of my pocket and hit the talk button on it.
"…Hello?" I mumble through my pillow.
"Hey Tatsuki, you have to get-!"
I hang up instantly and set my phone on the nightstand. It was Ichigo. I close my eyes, ready to fall asleep, only to have my phone ring again.
I let it ring, but after a good amount of time, I get tired of my ring tone and I answer it.
"What do you want?" I snap.
"Tatsuki…"
"O-oh," I sputter, sitting up. "Sorry Orihime. I thought you were someone else."
"You have to talk to him."
"You don't understand, though," I say. "He's been telling you everything and while I'm shut out."
"But-"
"Listen, Orihime. You don't need to get in the middle of this, okay? It's late, so you get some sleep. 'Night."
"…Good night."
I end it and put my cell back on the nightstand again and I collapse back onto the bed.
Every noise at this time of night just seems to be louder than I want it to. I hear some yelling, cars swerving to prevent accidents, and-
A piecing scream shoots through the neighborhood. I bolt up and stagger to the window. I rub my eyes to have a better view. A few blocks down I spot a large mass of black playing in the shadows. It turns to my direction. It's face white in contrast with its dark body. It screeches a blood-curdling scream similarly to the previous and begins to sprint like a wolf down my street. The road cracks under the weight of the huge beast.
I step away from the window. I see the monster just out from it, stopped, with its face pointed to the sky then in other directions as if sniffing for prey. Its white face turns sharply to me. I can feel it looking at me through the glass. It's about to charge when a figure appears on it with a sword. The weapon slices straight through it's face. The monster roars and it almost dissolves into the air.
Without thinking, I run down stairs as fast as my tired legs can go. I literally throw myself out the door, almost falling flat on my face in the process. My head snaps to where the monster was.
Standing there is a man, outfitted in black attire, that blending into the night. His head is peering over, looking at a device in his hands. His spiky hair falling into his face, making it hard to distinguish his features. A sword is in is his other hand, his fingers white from a tight grip.
I step quietly down from the entre way and peek behind my fence. His head shoots up and looks my direction; I duck to avoid his eyes. I hear him step closer and I lower myself in silence. Leaning against the fence, I hear his steps stop behind me.
The night is noiseless for a while.
He must be gone by now.
I look up at the sky. Pitch black with angelic stars. I run my hand through the grass and close my eyes. I should be sleeping in my bed instead of outside, but a few minutes can't hurt.
Who was that man? And what's with the giant, creepy monster? I let those thoughts float in my head. I'm adding that to the list of things Ichigo has to explain to me. I mean -if he explains...
Thinking it's been long enough, I prepare myself to stand as I open my eyes. Immediately, I smack back against the fence and my breath hitches. There, right above me, is the man in dark clothing, leaning over from the other side of the fence, looking down at me.
"I knew you were behind here," he says with an amused expression. "Still I'm pretty surprised that you can see me-"
My fist smashing an upper cut, severs his speech. I stand while he falls into his back. I hop over the fence and cross my arms, glaring down at him.
With a large hand, he nurses the lower half of his face. He muttered a few cures then scowls at me.
"What was that for?" he hisses through his teeth, obvious sign of pain.
"You tell me what that thing just now was!" I bark at him.
He picks himself up and brushes off the dirt from his clothes. He takes out the device again and scans the screen. A faint beeping noise is heard from it, and his eyes become larger.
We both hear a cry. I ump when I register its proximity. I whip my head back and see the beast emerging from a street a block over. I look back at the man. He stuffs the device into his clothes and steadily holds his sword with two hands. He face indicates that he's ready to fight.
"Get back in the house," he says slowly to me. Before I can even reply, he's running after it.
I decide to be smart, and I go inside just as I was told. I climb the stairs and fly into my bedroom. Looking out the window, I watch the battle go down.
He leaps forward at beast and swings down on it. When the sword is about the penetrate its face, the monster throws it's arm at him and he flies and crashes into the ground below. I wince when I see it, but once I notice him getting back up, I know he can handle this. He cuts the incoming attack and the creature's arm is slices off. I want to hurl by the gore, but I'm too interested to miss the fight by one second. The man gets the upper hand and cuts down onto the monster's white face and, just like the other, it disperses into the air.
I stare, a little shocked how he can easily defeat something so horrifying –not that I was scared or anything.
I seem to have lost him while I was in thought. I sigh at this and sit on my bed and stare at the floor.
How can I sleep now? Those monsters can come back and try to kill me! Or perhaps I'm asleep right now, dreaming this all up?
Tapping is heard from my window and it startles me, but I'm soon relieved when I look up to see the man perched on the sill. Shuffling to it, I unlatch the window and slide it open. He ducks his head in and swings his legs over, making him sit awkwardly on the window's frame. I go back on my bed and lay on my side, facing him. He looks around and his body langue reads uncomfortable.
After a moment of utter silence, I get annoyed and dryly state, "So…are you going to tell me what that thing was or not?"
I can tell this catches him off guard as he rubs the back of his neck, slightly embarrassed. He fumbles at his words before finally saying, "…Not." The next thing he knows, a pillow smacks into his face. "Why did you-?"
"That's not the answer I want to hear."
"But you said 'or not'," he points out, a little frustrated.
"I say a lot of things I don't mean," I bluntly say, glaring at his response. "If you aren't willing to tell me then why would you come back?"
"It would be rude of me to abandon someone I just met."
"Oh, so you're a gentleman now?"
"Yes, I am, and you're not being much of a lady."
"I've been called worse," I say rolling my eyes. "But I like to be called by my own name." I flip to lie on my back. "Tatsuki Arisawa."
"Lieutenant Shūhei Hisagi," he replies.
"A gentleman and a lieutenant? You're just whole package," I tease.
"And you're being childish," he shoots back, irritated.
"I've still been called worse."
"I bet you have."
"Ouch, hit to the ego," I say acting like it hurt.
"Sorry…"
I blink. "Sarcasm must be a foreign langue to you."
"No, I have to go," he clarifies, throwing his leg back out of the window.
"Where?"
"Those Hollows will be back and it's my duty to slay them."
"So 'Hollows' are what they're called…" I joke, knowing that I got some wanted information.
His eyebrow twitches. "Fine. You win," he mutters, and he swings out his other leg out.
"Wait," I involuntarily say. He looks over his shoulder and at me. "Are those things ever going to stop?"
"Who knows?" He shrugs. "Probably not, but don't worry. There's always one of us looking after you."