Posted 11-01-11, Edited 12-21-12
I know it's been a year, once Halloween was too far behind us I figured I'd wait. So here is the last chapter.
Baggers Night
I hope you enjoy it.
A (Halloween) Candy Contest
Chapter Three
Sunday, October 31st 2010
"Come on in Tatsuki," the door was opened by Sora, Orihime's older brother.
"Oh, Tatsuki, hold on, stay there!" Orihime cried as Sora closed the door behind her. "Keep your eyes closed! We're almost ready!"
"Ok, ok," Tatsuki replied, closing her eyes. She could hear shuffling around and the rustling of fabric.
"Okay… you can look… now!"
Tatsuki opened her eyes to see Orihime in her 'Lily' costume. She wore a blue leotard with dark blue designs and an orange choker necklace around the collar. Along with giant yellow goggle glasses her hair was up in three buns, with a tuft hanging over her left eye. She had dark blue leggings underneath the leotard that ran down to her feet, with tabi socks and flip-flops of dark blue. But by far the most interesting items were the large pink and white wings that attached to her forearms. They somehow stood on their own, arching up as tall as Orihime before bending back down to the ground near her ankles.
"Orihime, that's amazing! How did you get the er- wings like that?" Tatsuki asked, moving to take a look at them.
"Sora did it; he got some wire and made them just like the shows! They aren't even that heavy!" Orihime explained. "See, they just strap on to my arm," she showed Tatsuki the buckle straps that the fabric hid around her wrist and forearms.
"Awesome," Tatsuki agreed, "And where's Ururu?" Tatsuki looked around the room, not seeing the girl.
"She's finishing up in the bathroom, she's a little shy…" Sora explained.
"Come on, let's go check on her," Orihime cried, hurrying down the hall of their apartment. The door to the bathroom was shut tight so Orihime knocked instead. "You getting it on ok, Ururu? Tatsuki's here."
"Hai," came the small reply, with a small click the door opened and Ururu stepped out and stood beside Orihime, looking quite shy in her 'Ayame' costume. Tatsuki thought it suited her quite well. Ururu's hair was down in two white ties, hanging over her shoulders. Her costume was a simple pink kimono with wide white trim that hid her hands completely. With white tabi socks and flip-flops just like Orihime's. And like Orihime, she too had rather interesting 'wings'. On top of her head sat the start of the winds that came out to incase her body in a small cocoon of red fabric. Behind her, Tatsuki could see similar wings coming from the back, also running as far down as her ankles. With yellow trim and designs, her costume was very impressive, yet distinctly shy.
"Wow, Ururu, I think I like you're even better! It's amazing!" Tatsuki cried, a smile on her face. This only caused Ururu to blush and stutter a small 'thanks'.
"Tatsuki I love your costume! It's so cool!" Orihime cried happily, finally taking in Tatsuki's full fighter costume. She's decorated her normal karate uniform with wide strips of red fabric at the edges. A belt of gold and black her mom had made her. And her arms and feet wrapped up in white tape. With some tabi socks and flip-flops her costume was complete.
"Yeah, but now I feel underdressed," Tatsuki joked, causing Orihime to laugh.
"But it suits you perfect! Yours are just as good as ours or anyone else's costume!" she said. "Ok, you ready to go?" Orihime asked, bouncing in place.
"You bet 'cha!"
4-4
"Let us is Ulquiorra! You're not getting out of this!" Grimmjow's voice came through Ulquiorra's bedroom door. In the end Grim had told Harribel to pick a costume for their green-eyed friend.
Now Ulquiorra stood in this room looking at the mirror.
He should have just picked his own costume, but each one he looked at had made him cringe inside. This one…well it wasn't as bad as it could have been, he just wished he didn't have to wear it.
"If you don't come out, we'll knock the door down!" Grimmjow hollered again, pounding on the door.
Ulquiorra sighed, sooner or later he'd have to go through with this; it might as well be now.
The bedroom door creaked open slowly, letting the light flood in from the hallway. Grimmjow and Harribel stood outside. Grimmjow looked mad; Harribel, bored. Grimmjow stood in a blue and white shirt with blue pants. It wouldn't have been so bad if the two weren't skin-tight. Over his ears he had fake pointed furry extenders and behind him Ulquiorra could see a blue striped tail sticking up, forced in an awkward position thanks to a wire inside. The only good point? The blue matched perfectly with his hair.
Harribel had on a traveling kimono of white and red with a wooden sword slung around her waist. She even had on straw shoes that tied around her ankles.
"Are you coming out now or do I have to pull you out?" Grimmjow hissed, his foot tapping in annoyance, but it only made the picture all the more funny.
Ulquiorra stayed behind his door. "Go on without me," he tried one more time.
"Not a chance," the blue boy said, grabbing hold of the pale hand that stuck out of the room. With a good solid yank, Ulquiorra was sent stumbling into the hallway, his vampire costume flowing in the air for the world to see.
"Here," Harribel said, holding out a plastic object.
"What is it?"
"Plastic teeth with fangs," Grimmjow announced cruelly, a grin on his face.
Stifling his grumble Ulquiorra took the teeth from Harribel.
"Good, now let's get going!" Grimmjow shouted, running down the hall toward the stairs.
"I am not wearing them," Ulquiorra informed Harribel as they followed the blue boy.
"That's not my problem," she replied.
4-4
"I'm going dad!" Soifon yelled, her hand reaching for the front door. When no reply came she shouted again. "Bye!" Again nothing. "Whatever," she mumbled, slamming the door behind her.
Out front stood half their group already. Renji stood at the head of the group, his black robs billowing in the wind with a tall scythe standing beside him. The hood to his Grim Reaper clock hung behind him. Upon seeing Soifon, he nodded his head like a general noting that his solder had joined the army. With a call to the group they all started forward.
Soifon fell in step beside Unohana, dressed in her simple Nurse outfit, her hair pulled back in a bun rather than its usual braid. Unohana nodded to Soifon and continued in silence. In front of them Momo and Toshiro walked side by side, Momo glanced around at the different Halloween decorations they were passing, Toshiro just looked straight ahead. Toshiro appeared like a white dragon. Wings jutted out from his shoulders and a large decorated head sat on top of his head almost like a hat. The rest of his costume was plain white clothes. Beside him Momo wore a bright pink Kimono with a deep purple sash. Gold thread was sewn into a beautiful flowered pattern that glittered in the street lamps. Her hair was up in a bum with a matching pink and gold comb to hold it in place and on her feet were dainty purple slippers.
"It's beautiful, isn't it," Unohana said from beside Soifon.
"What? Oh, yeah, it is," Soifon replied, nodding her head, "Just not something you'd ever find me in."
By now they reached the corner of the street and spotted another group heading toward them. This group consisted of Rukia and Byakuya, with Jushiro leading the way. Byakuya looked like he could be Momo's husband in his stately Emperor Robes and head-dress. When he approached he nodded politely to Momo and took a place beside Toshiro.
"Hey, good, everyone's here, now let's get hunting!" Renji hollered leading the group to the first house of many to come.
4-4
"Ok, everyone! Let's move!" Ichigo shouted, his feet halfway up the first driveway.
"Uryu, I didn't know you were going as Robin Hood," Orihime said, tagging alongside the boy.
"I'm not Robin Hood, he didn't wear white. I'm an Archer from the Quincy Clan," he replied stiffly, it being the seventh time he had to explain his outfit tonight.
"Oh, I've never heard of them, are they on TV?" Orihime asked.
"No, they are real; my family's passed down the knowledge of the Quincy for generations-"
"Hey! Uryu! Get up here and say your joke so we can move on! We're on a schedule here!" Ichigo shouted from the door, only herself, Chad, Tatsuki and Uryu were left to say their jokes.
"I'm coming Kurosaki, you're not the boss of me," Uryu grumbled.
"Yeah, well if you want to lose to the Espada and Shinigami then be my guest, but I want to win!"
The couple at the door laughed as Chad finished his joke; they placed three pieces in his brown furry bag.
"Nice, Chad," Ichigo said, slapping the Sasquatch on the back. "See Uryu, some people want to win."
Uryu jumbled as he passed the two boys.
"What is your joke, Chad?" Orihime asked, waiting for her turn at the door.
"Why did the runner quit the race against bigfoot?" Chad asked in a monotone voice.
Orihime's eyes squinted as she thought, her face turning to the sky. A few moments later she gave up. "I don't know, why did he?"
"He couldn't face defeet," Chad replied.
Orihime blinked once, then twice before laughing out loud. "That's great! I would never have thought of that! That's hilarious, Chad!"
"You're turn, Orihime," Tatsuki called, backing away from the door.
"Ok!" Orihime stepped up to the door.
4-4
"Here, I wrote up some jokes for when we do go up to the houses," Grimmjow said, handing Ulquiorra a piece of paper.
Ulquiorra took it. "What do you mean when? Is that not what trick-or-treating is?"
"Pss, yeah, it you do it the sappy way, now come on," Grimmjow took off, leaving the vampire behind to look at his 'cheat sheet.'
'Vampire Bat jokes,
What do you get when you cross a vampire and a snowman?
Frostbite…
What is a vampire's favorite mode of transportation?
A blood vessel…
How do you know a vampire likes baseball?
Because he turns into a bat each night…
Why do vampires need mouthwash?
They have bat breath…
What's a vampire's favorite fast food?
A guy with very high blood pressure…
Why did the Vampire subscribe to the Wall Street Journal?
He heard it had great circulation…
A vampire bat came flapping in from the night, covered in fresh blood, and parked himself on the roof of the cave to get some sleep.
Pretty soon all the other bats smelled the blood and began hassling him about where he got it. He told them to go away and let him get some sleep. However, the bats persisted until finally he gave in.
"OK, follow me," he said, and flew out of the cave with hundreds of bats behind him. Down through a valley they went, across a river and into a forest full of trees. Finally he slowed down and all the other bats excitedly milled around him.
"Now, do you see that tree over there?" he asked.
"Yes, yes, yes!" the bats all screamed in a hungry frenzy.
"Good," said the first bat tiredly, "Because I didn't!"
"These are terrible. And how is that last one a joke, it'd take two minutes to say it all?" Ulquiorra mumbled as he crumpled up the paper.
"What'd take two minutes?" Starrk asked, from his gigantic brown paper bag.
"What are you supposed to be?" Ulquiorra asked, unable to figure it out.
"I think I'm a couch potato…or bag of couch potato's… I'm not really sure," Starrk replied, looking down at this costume. "Lilynette made it…"
"Oh."
"So what would take two minutes?" Starrk asked again.
"These jokes Grimmjow gave me," Uluqiorra said, handing the paper to Starrk. "I'm pretty sure that last one can't be a joke.
Starrk read through the jokes, only nodding from time to time.
"Yeah, that one is kinda long, but it is funny. The bat was as blind as a bat," Starrk said. "Hey, there's a joke right there,"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, how about, 'Why did the bat fly into the tree?'" pause for dramatic effect, "'cuz he's as blind as a bat!'"
Somewhere in the dark a cricket squeaked.
"Or maybe not…" Starrk said, giving up.
"Well, it was a try, and it wasn't bad, only that bats have fine eye-site, so the 'blind as a bat' thing is wrong," Ulquiorra replied, taking the paper back from Starrk.
"You a bat lover or something?" Starrk asked.
"They are interesting creatures, you can learn a lot from them," was the vampires only reply.
"Then use the baseball one, it involves bats in a good way…"
"Yeah, maybe…" Ulquiorra finished.
Up ahead Grimmjow was trying to grab a hand full of candy from the ladies bowl. The slightly elderly lady was slapping his hand away. "Only one piece, there are other kids you know, you can't take it all! You didn't even tell me a joke!"
"I don't think this night is going to go very smooth," Starrk mumbled.
4-4
By now the group of eight Shinigami had reached their second street and were starting up the walk to the next door.
"Renji," Rukia was saying, "You have to use a few different jokes, not just the same one over and over. Eventually the people will hear it before and want a different one, then you won't get any candy."
"And what if the one joke I'm using is the one they haven't heard. They would be all the more annoyed if they had to hear more than one joke from each kid," Renji replied.
"You're hopeless," Rukia said, "We'll never win with you." She walked up to the man sitting at the door. "Hello, sir."
"Hello there. Happy Halloween," he replied.
"And Happy Halloween to you too! Ok, Why do witches ride broomsticks?"
"Um…I don't know, why?"
"Because vacuums don't have long enough cords!"
"Oh, that is a good one, nice. Here you go then." The man place three pieces into Rukia's witch's bag.
"Thank you!" she cried, stepping back to let Renji forward.
"Hey there. Ok, Knock, knock." Renji said.
The man's face fell. But he complied and responded. "Who's there?"
"Grimm?"
The man looked like he wanted to hit himself.
"Grimm who?"
"Grimm and bear it," Renji answered and held out his bag for candy.
"Have a good evening," the man said, shooing Renji away.
"Hey, what about my candy?"
"Grimm and bear it, kid. Next."
Renji walked away slowly, shock on his face.
"Told you."
"Shut up."
4-4
"AARrrrr," Mizuiro cried, jumping out from behind a bush to scare the girls, his hand was covered in a bloody hook and an eye patch hid an eye. Orihime and Ururu screamed at the pirate's appearance and ran to hide behind Orihime's brother. Mizuiro started laughing as the girls screamed; but right as he was holding his gut Tatsuki punched him in the stomach.
"There, now you really do have a reason to hold your stomach," Tatsuki said, brushing fake dirt off her hands.
"Tatsuki, that was mean," Orihime said from behind Sora.
"Yeah well he had it coming. Now come on, we have more houses to get to," she said, pulling the two fairy girls down the street toward the next open door.
"Trick or treat!" They all shouted (Ururu more quietly though).
"And Happy Halloween to you!" the woman replied. The baby on her lab was dressed in a pumpkin costume and looking up at the girls like they were the strangest things he'd ever seen. The baby's strawberry blond hair poked out from underneath his little hat, matching the pumpkin color.
"So cute!" Orihime cried, holding her hand out to shake the baby's little chubby one. "Don't you deserve every piece of candy there is in the world!" she cried, making the baby laugh.
"Yeah, good job," the mother said, holding out two candy bars to Orihime.
"Oh, but I didn't tell you my joke yet," Orihime/'Lily' replied.
"But you performed a trick. You got Gin Jr. laughing, and that's not easy to do!" the woman said happily, smiling at her son who was now trying to eat Orihime's hand. "Now, now, Gin, we don't eat the trick-or-treaters."
"Ha? I wasn't eatin' no'body," a tall man with silver hair appeared behind the woman. Clearly the boy got his hair color from his mom.
"Not you, Gin Jr. He's trying to eat our young fairy friend here," the mother replied, looking up at 'Gin'.
"Oh, ok, if he only eats a few a' them, that's fine," Gin replied.
"Gin!" the mother cried, as all the girls, including her, started laughing.
"Ok, let's hear some jokes now," the mother said, looking to Tatsuki and Ururu.
"Ok, where do baby ghosts go during the day?" Ururu asked.
The parents thought for a bit but both ended up just shaking their heads.
"Where?"
"Dayscare centers," Ururu replied with a smile.
The two laughed happily at the joke and gave her two pieces of candy.
"Ok. Tatsuki, your turn," Orihime said.
"Ok," the couple turned to look at the fighter.
"How do you mend a broken Jack-o-lantern?" she asked.
The couple thought…then shook their heads.
"With a pumpkin patch, of course!" Tatsuki said, swinging the baby-pumpkin's hands and getting another laugh out of little Gin Jr.
"A pumpkin patch," the mother laughed, giving her baby a hug, "That's perfect! And another laugh from Gin Jr.! Four pieces for you!" she said, dropping the candy into Tatsuki's bag.
Sora had stepped up while the jokes were being told and was whispering something in Orihime's ear. Seconds later she was giggling behind her hands.
"Can I tell a joke too?" Orihime asked, "Not for candy though."
"Sure dear," the mother replied.
"Ok, what did the baby ghost wear on his feet?" Orihime asked.
Blinking the parents looked to their son's feet, thinking. "I just don't know," the mother said.
"He wears Booooooo-ties!" Orihime said; tickling Gin Jr.'s feet. The baby laughed again and stuffed his orange gloved hands into his mouth, kicking his feet all he could.
The group broke out laughing again.
"That one deserves candy! I can't let you go without some! Come here," the mother said, holding out another three pieces.
"Oh, no, that's ok, I already got my share," Orihime replied politely.
"Oh, no, you come here and take this candy," the woman said again.
"You better do as she says, miss, my Ran can get scary when you disobey her," Gin said in a spooky voice.
"Ok," Orihime said quietly, holding open her bag. Ran dropped in the candy and with one last laugh from Gin Jr. the girls waved good-bye to the little family.
4-4
"Call me 'Tink'!" Nelliel cried from the head of the group. She was talking with Lilynette and trying to get the Fairy Princess to call her by her character's name, 'Tinker Bell.'
Starrk and Harribel shook their heads as the rest of the conversation disappeared from the air. "I can't wait till they learn to keep their voices down," Starrk said.
"I don't think that day will ever come," Harribel replied glumly.
Szayel was currently taking count of the candy they had gathered. "I still think we need more, I can't help thinking that this isn't enough to beat the Humans and Shinigami. They have eight people, remember, we only have seven." The skeleton said, his glowing hand waving over the bags of candy.
"Well if Grimmjow would quite trying to take all the candy then we might have more by now," Harribel said. "At lease make him go last so the people don't think we are all going to be like him."
"No way, I'm leading this hunt, I go first!" Grimmjow hissed.
"All in favor of Grimm going last say 'Hai'," Harribel called.
Four 'Hai's were heard from the group.
"Nel-I mean, Tink, Lilynette, cast your vote. Should Grimmjow go last?" Starrk called.
The two girls turned from their conversation.
"Yes!" they cried together before turned to each other again.
"That's six 'Hai's and one 'Nei'. Majority rules Grimm, you go last," Harribel said, turning up the next walkway. Grimmjow grumbled at the back of the line; awaiting his turn impatiently.
Ulquiorra grimly walked up behind the group. This would be the twenty-second time he had to tell this dumb joke. Grimmjow's 'tricks' had gotten them nowhere within the first five minutes and the group had resorted to the old fashioned way of getting candy. Jokes.
Harribel stepped up first. "What's the ratio of a pumpkin's circumference to its diameter?" this only made the homeowner at the door blink wildly at the ten-year-old, along with half of her group.
"Pumpkin Pi," she said, giving up on an answer. The homeowner laughed a quick short laugh and placed three pieces in her bag.
Starrk was next. "What's a vampire's favorite candy?" he asked.
"I don't know," the home owner replied.
"A sucker," Starrk said, then held out his bag. With a small laugh the homeowner put three pieces of candy in Starrk's bag. Somewhere behind them one member of their group cheered quietly. Harribel and Starrk walked back to the street.
"Told you it would work," Harribel said as they passed Grimmjow.
'Tink' and Lilynette went next, each getting three pieces. Then it was Ulquiorra's turn.
The pale vampire approached the door way with his bag and held it open. Silence. The homeowners looked at each other than at the boy. More silence. The husband opened his mouth but the vampire merely narrowed his eyes dangerously. More silence. Quickly the wife dumped a handful of candy into his bag. "There you go, have a nice night," she said nervously. The vampire blinked in response and left the doorstep.
Ulquiorra walked past his group to the back without saying a thing.
"You are so weird, Ulquiorra," Grimmjow mumbled.
More silence.
4-4
The school was up ahead. Lights glowed from windows as the schools own Halloween party went on. Inside there were hunted classrooms for students and siblings to walk though and a costume contest at the end of the night.
Right now, the Human group was arriving at the gates.
"We had to have won; no way will those losers beat this load!" Ichigo was saying, struggling to carry his bag of candy. Having hauled it around for two hours, it was getting heavy and his arms were getting tired.
"What do you think Tatsuki? Think we will win?" Orihime asked, her bag swinging beside her.
"Maybe," Tatsuki agreed her eyes on the front door of the school. Standing around the entrance were the Shinigami, each in a costume and carrying a bag of candy. From where she was standing she could see most of their costumes. Momo was in a beautiful kimono and was standing between Byakuya, who looked like an emperor, and Toshiro who looked like a white dragon. Jushiro and Unohana stood side by side, one a gladiator and the other a nurse. The black and yellow hornet next to them had to be Soifon, it fit her perfectly. Renji stood at the front of the group, his black robs pulled around him and a scythe leaned against the building. Tatsuki had to admit, it looked good on him.
Ichigo walked up to the group. "Ready to lose?" he asked, his wizards hat standing tall on his head.
"As if," Renji called, a wicked smile on his face.
Ichigo looked around their group, sizing up their load, Tatsuki figured, until his body froze. Tatsuki turned to see what had stopped him. Rukia had stepped out of the building, the light behind her shining bright. She was dressing in a slimming and flowing garment of black and midnight blue with stars and moons glittering at the base of the outfit. A pointed witch's hat sat on her head, its silvery color glowing in the night. In her hand she held a realistic witch's broom to finish the look.
Tatsuki looked back at Ichigo, confused on why he was frozen. By now the boy had turned away, looking toward the building rather than the Shinigami, and not responding to Renji's taunts. Tatsuki didn't fail to see that Rukia and Ichigo were matching as witch and wizard, nor that both their faces reddened a bit in the dark.
Tatsuki chuckled.
"What's funny, Tat?" Orihime asked.
"Oh, nothing, nothing at all…" Tatsuki said, turning away from the two spell-casters. Orihime let the matter drop as she watched the Shinigami.
"Momo and Byakuya look good together, don't they," she said, watching the two nobles.
"Yeah, if you like that kind of thing."
Back at the school yard entrance, a group of seven had just entered. Ulquiorra brought up the rear as they walked, his bag weighing down his right arm. Grimmjow was staking proudly up to the groups at the entrance, a cocky grin on his face.
"Are you losers ready to lose," He sneered.
"You really have a way with words, Grimmjow," Ichigo said, rolling his eyes.
"I'm just telling it like it is," the blue panther replied.
"What are you supposed to be anyway?"
"I'm the blue panther! What does it look like! And what about you? A wizard is so boring!"
"At least no one has to ask me."
"Now, now, let's not tear each other's throats out just yet."
The groups turned to see a slim woman standing at the school entrance. Dressed like a Hogwards teacher, the young woman assured them inside. Her white hair was hanging free from its usual braid and bun, and poked out from her hat. The gold and red lion roared from the embroidered emblem on her chest and a red and gold scarf hung from her neck. She was the school's nurse; Isane Kotetsu.
"Head up to the science lab, you'll find a useful scale in there," she said, pointing to the stairway. "Dr. Kurotsuchi is in charge of the lab tonight."
"Thank your Miss Kotetsu," Rukia said, bowing to the nurse.
"No problem." With a smile the nurse turned and headed down the hall.
The entire school was decked out in Halloween garb. Spider webs hung from every corner and door way. Pumpkins huddled in corners with bales of hay and scare-crows. Ever room the fourth grader's passed was a different Halloween theme. They passed a corn maze and mummy's tomb, a vampire's castle and haunted forests. And in each room kids from their school huddled together, ready for the scare of a lifetime as teachers and parents popped out of corners and coffins dressed in every costume imaginable. Screams rang from different rooms that soon turned into laughter as the students learned the monsters identity.
Orihime paused as they passed a room decorated like a murky swamp with fog billowing into the hallway. She watched as a group of students crept around the room, looking for the monster that inhabited the swamp and for the candy hidden within. One girl, dressed like Cinderella, opened up a desk and screamed as spiders sprung out from their nest. The spiders dangled from springs, bouncing back and forth. The other students laughed at Cinderella, whose hands covered her mouth as she recovered. Before the students stopped laughing, a large muck monster crept up behind them; grabbing one of the boys' and roared. The laughter turned into screams as the kids fled the monster.
Orihime laughed at the monster, recognizing old Baraggan under the green moss and black webbing. He had been their teacher two years earlier.
"What are you doing?"
The creepy voice caused Orihime to jump and scream, unprepared to be snuck up upon. Turning she saw the vampire known as Ulquiorra, his green eyes shining in the dim lights.
"You scared me!" she shouted, almost taking a whack at the boy. "I could hit you for that you know!" she cried, hitting the air in front of the boy
"I only asked what you were doing; you do not have to damage my hearing," the boy said, turning he walked down the hallway, after the group.
"Hey, wait up!" Orihime cried, running after him. Falling in step beside Ulquiorra, Orihime turned to him with a smile on her face.
"Did you enjoy the trick-or-treating?" she asked him, taking a look at his treat bag.
"It was acceptable," he said.
"That's it? Well I had fun; I got this cute little baby to laugh with my jokes! He was adorable!" Orihime said, laughing. Ulquiorra merely nodded.
He could see her from the corner of his eye as she started on about some baby named Gin Jr. and jokes about baby ghosts. He let her ramble; after all, he really didn't have anything to say. It was clear she enjoyed her night as she needed only a nod of his head to keep up talking. It seemed she had only just started telling him about the evening (and still had much to say) when they arrived in the 'laboratory' classroom.
The school scientist, a rather creepy fellow any day of the year, took today to dress even more so. He wore a white coat over an old-time black kimono with black detailing. His unusual blue hair was done up in a large arch over his head, reminding Orihime of an Egyptian pharaoh, his hair being the golden headdress they wore. The man's face was painted black with his cheeks in white, accentuated by gold items that made up his ears and chin. And a large purple collar rose up behind his head.
His whole costume reminded Orihime of anime characters, that, and it made her want to run away.
Their group entered the Frankenstein Lab, complete with crumbling stone walls and a large electric storm playing in a glass ball on the ceiling. Dr. Kurotsuchi was just finishing scaring some first graders into tears and turned excitedly to his newest group of victims.
"New test subjects, I always love getting new test subjects!" he cried, creeping forward, giving each student a careful look over. Now Orihime had an even better view of the mad man. And the one thing she missed the first time was his right hand. Not only were all his nails blue, but his middle fingernail was inches long, doubling the length of his finger. Orihime was beginning to miss his usual scary appearance of shaggy blue hair. No makeup then.
Orihime had been so preoccupied with his nails that she failed to relies he had stopped in front of her. And he was talking to her too. "If you work for me, I'll treat you well and how about this? I'll give you top class special treatment. I'll only drug you eight times a day and only four hours of machine operations a day. You will eat with your mouth. And I'll stay away from any life-threatening operations if I operate on you. This is a special offer that I've never offered to any test subject before. How about it?"
Orihime felt the color draining from her face. Swiftly, before she could answer, Ulquiorra had stepped between the mad man and herself.
"We are not here to participate in the haunted house," he said, he slowly pointed to a large golden scale system that looked like it came straight out of Egyptian hieroglyphics.
The mad man, Dr. Kurotsuchi, turned his eyes to the vampire. His eyes narrowed. "Ooh, a vampire? They are a rare breed. I haven't seen a live one for many years. However, I'm sorry, but I've already finished studying your kind. I have absolutely no interest in you," he said, turning away from the boy. Before he could continue to speak with Orihime, Renji had walked up as well.
"We want to weigh our candy! The group with the most candy wins! You have to let us use the scale or we're leaving!" Renji called, pointing to the scale.
Dr. Kurotsuchi's eyes narrowed farther. This next statement came out like venom. "Test subjects shouldn't run their mouths so much. This is an experiment. You don't have the right to make any decisions here," he said.
Byakuya stepped forward. "There is a score here that needs to be settled, if we may use the scale for a few minutes we will be out of your way and you may continue with your experiments."
"And why should I do as you ask," the mad man said, unfazed.
"You will let us use the scale, Dr. Kurotsuchi."
The mad man turned to see Retsu dressed in her nurse's outfit. When he turned to her, she opened her eyes slowly, a small sweet smile on her face. The mad man's own eyes widened at this. Slowly he made his way to the scale.
"Very well, but do this quickly, now, what are you weighing?" he asked defensively, moving the scale to a large board that imitated the table Frankenstein should be laying on.
"The candy, we want to know which of the three groups got the most," Retsu said kindly.
"Very well, choose two and the winner will go up against the third group," the mad man said, looking to the group.
"We'll go last, because we know we are going to beat you all!" Grimmjow hollered, jumping up to sit on a table, he sat his bag down beside him. With that the rest of the Espada joined him, awaiting their turn to be weighed.
"Guess we are first," Renji said. He stepped forward and set his bag on the scale's pan, sending the arm downward.
"Oh no. No bags allowed candy only," Dr. Kurotsuchi said, emptying the bag into the scale pan.
"But then we won't know whose candy is whose! We won't get back the right amount!" Renji cried.
"Too bad, the bag would throw off the measurement. No bags or no weighing," the mad man said. "Next!"
"Renji just do as he says," Rukia called.
Ichigo stepped forward this time, and dumped his candy on the second pan. The scale bobbed as it evened out and settled with Renji's candy hanging higher than Ichigo's.
"What!" Renji hollered. "But my stack is bigger! That scale must be broken!"
"That is impossible. I checked the measurements after I set it up just a few hours ago. It is correct," the mad man said. "Next!"
Rukia's stash brought the arm down and Keigo's evened it out some. Then Byakuya's vs. Chad's; Toshiro's vs. Mizuiro's. Over again until all sixteen bags had been emptied. Everyone watched with rapped attention as the scale bobbed one way then the other. No one breathed as it slowed down, bobbing less and less. And eventually it came to a stop. Orihime's team's pan was lower than the Shinigami's.
"Well, looks like Mr. Kurosaki and his team win this round," the mad man said. No one saw his slight glance at Retsu, or the bead of sweat that had formed on his black forehead. Everyone was too busy watching Renji shout and complain.
"That can't be right! There has to be a mistake! We need to use a different scale. See if this one is off! It has to be off!" Renji argued, looking around for a different scale. Rukia was nodding her agreement, looking with him. Meanwhile Ichigo was laughing his head off, pointing at the two.
"Can't take a little competition, can you! You lost! Face it!" he laughed while Keigo was pumping his fists in the air.
"Alright, alright, settle down, we still have the third group to measure," said Dr. Kurotsuchi as he dumped the Shinigami's candy on to the table. He held the pan with the Human's candy up so that the scale was level, as to not strain the arm, and beckoned the Espada forward.
"Alright, time to show you who's boss," Grimmjow called, jumping back down from the table. "Ok Starrk first!" he called, pointing the boy forward.
Confused the brown blob moved forward non-the-less and tipped his bag into the scale. With all of the Human's candy in the second pan, it was impossible to tell if this one bag did any good. Lilynette skipped forward, dropping in her stash. Next was Harribel, then Nelliel, followed by Ulquiorra. Grimmjow finally stepped forward to tip his candy in and Szayel went immediately after, spreading out his candy all over the pan in a nice layer.
The mad man released any pressure he as holding from the Human's side of the scale and everyone watched as the scale plummeted down on the Espada's side. A large whoop was heard from Grimmjow and Szayel as the clear winner was revealed. Everyone else's faces fell.
"How 'bout that, Kurosaki, beat ya big time! You'll never live this down now! Not Ever!" Grimmjow gloated, poking Ichigo in the chest. Ichigo shook with anger at Grimmjow, his fists coming up fast. In seconds the two were on the ground, fighting it out.
"No wait a minuet here," Dr. Kurotsuchi said slowly. "It looks like there has been some foul play here." The mad man was examining the scale's pans. Particularly, the Espada's side. Whatever he saw, he didn't like it.
His hand stretched forward and began moving the candy around and slowly he uncovered a large plastic bag. He lifted it up for the room to see. It was a five pound bag of candy, clearly and undeniably store bought.
"What have we here?" he said, looking toward the Espada. "No house I know gives out five pound bags, so where could this have come from?"
The room turned to the Espada. Some were steaming with anger others glowered at the group, but none as much as Szayel who stomped forward and gave Grimmjow a punch in the side of the head.
"You didn't even bother to dump it out of the bag! Did you really think that would fool anyone if it was still in the bag!" Szayel said, hitting Grimmjow again.
"You cheat!" Ichigo yelled, doubling the whipping Grimmjow was getting.
While the three stayed on the ground, hitting and yelling, the rest of the classroom turned back to the scales. The golden pans had evened out during the outburst and now hung, still as stone, on the scales arm. A new winner revealed.
No one groaned now, only the Human's started cheering. At least, the loud, male humans did.
"Ichigo! We won! We Won!" Keigo shouted, having grabbed hold of Mizuiro and started jumping up and down.
"What?!" Ichigo yelled from the ground. He paused in his fist throwing to look at Keigo.
"WE Won! Not them!" Keigo shouted.
"Sweet!" Ichigo said as a fist impacted his cheek. "Grimmjow!"
And the fight continued.
"Yes well, it appears the Kurosaki team has won, and as for Mr. Jaegerjaquez, stop punching Mr. Kurosaki, and see me in detention on Wednesday," Dr. Kurotsuchi said, "Now come collect your candy and be on your way! I have students to experi-I mean scare."
It took longer to divide up the candy then it did to weigh it, the more childish boys wanting more than they were getting. But finally the fourth graders made their way out of the lab and back into the hallway.
"I can't believe we lost to those pathetic Human's," Grimmjow muttered, his head hung low.
"I can't believe you didn't take the candy out of the bag! That was the stupidest thing I have ever seen!" Szayel said, hitting Grim one more time.
"It just goes to show you, you can't win by cheating," Rukia said loftily.
"Hey, we never found out who came in second," Renji cried, having just realized this fact.
"If you want to go back, go ahead, I've had enough of this," Toshiro said, heading farther away from the group.
"Hey, wait up Shiro!" Momo called, hurrying after the boy.
"We do know Renji," Rukia stated. "The Espada's stash made the Human's stash go down farther than ours did, thus ours was closer in weight to the Human's than theirs. We came in second."
"Oh, well in that case," Renji turned to the Espada. "HA! We beat you all! You get last!"
Tatsuki rolled her eyes at the red-haired idiot, and turned to Orihime. "Time to head home I guess."
"Yeah, I can't wait to look through all the candy I got," Orihime said happily.
"Right," Tatsuki smiled.
The two bid goodbye to Ururu, her guardians having been at the school already, she didn't have to leave yet. The other fourth graders were splitting up as well. Ichigo was walking his sisters' home, Chad and Uryu headed home together and Keigo and Mizuiro as well.
Tatsuki and Orihime chatted adamantly on the way home. Tatsuki examined Orihime's costume some more and they exchanged different jokes that had been heard throughout the night. As they were nearing home, Orihime turned to see Ulquiorra walking silently behind them. Tatsuki turned to see Orihime had stopped. She waited a few feet away as Ulquiorra joined Orihime at the gate to his yard.
"Did you have fun tonight Ulquiorra?" Orihime asked, smiling.
The boy shrugged indifferently and nodded to Tatsuki in greeting.
"I love your costume, it suites you a lot, well, not the blood sucking part, but the sophisticated gentleman part. Did you have teeth to go with it? I never saw you ware any," Orihime said.
"Grimmjow got some but I never put them in," he said, holding up a set of glowing fanged teeth.
"Well that would have been kind of creepy; them glowing in your mouth and all," Orihime replied, looking closely at the teeth. Ulquiorra nodded his agreement.
Orihime was just about to say good-bye when a screech came through the night air. The group looked up to see bats having come out for the night, swooping around the blackened sky.
"Cool," Orihime said softly, watching the black masses.
As they watched one bat in particular seemed to be circling them closely. Orihime gasped as it flew around her head.
Ulquiorra barely suppressed his smile when he held out his right arm. Instantly the bat landed on his clothing sleeve. It crawled down to hang from Ulquiorra's sleeve, tiny claws clinging to the fabric, tiny wings wrapping around its body.
"Oh!" Orihime gasped, her hands covering her mouth in awe. "That's so cool! It's like it knows you!" she cried, looking from the bat to Ulquiorra and back.
"It does. This is Murciélago," Ulquiorra said. Raising his arm higher so Orihime and the bat were at eye level.
"He's adorable," she breathed, leaning in to look at the creature. It opened its mouth to squeak at her and revealed tiny white teeth. "Aahhh." Seconds later the bat dropped from Ulquiorra's arm and into flight. Ulquiorra lowered his arm.
"He comes home when the sun rises to stay in the bat house in our backyard," he explained.
"Really?"
Ulquiorra nodded, "I should be getting in, Happy Halloween, Little Girl," he said, nodding to her and then to Tatsuki.
"Happy Halloween, Ulquiorra," Orihime waved good-bye. He nodded once more before closing his front door.
"Happy Halloween," he murmured again into the dark.
-4-
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In case you were wondering, here is everyone's costumes:
Orihime – Lily
Tatsuki – Fighter Campion
Ururu – Ayame
Ichigo – Wizard
Uryu – Archer
Chad – Bigfoot
Keigo – Darth Vader
Mizuiro – Pirate
Renji – Grim Reaper
Rukia – Witch
Byakuya – Emperor
Unohana – Nurse
Jushiro – Gladiator
Soifon – Bee/Hornet
Toshiro – Ice Dragon
Momo – Kimono Cutie
Starrk – Couch Potato
Harribel – Wandering Samurai
Ulquiorra – Vampire
Grimmjow – Blue Panther
Szayel – Skeleton
Nelliel – Tinker Bell
Lilynette – Fairy Princess
Reviews are appreciated! Thanks to yoyogigi125 and Seihana who sent in reviews for this story.
The continuation to this story is posted: A Thanksgiving Day Get-Together