"Hey Ichigo-kun!" Orihime called out as she stood up and waved. Tatsuki mumbled something that sounded like a 'good morning'. Ichigo grunted and took his seat, apparently in a foul mood. Tatsuki looked over her shoulder at the grimacing teen and sighed. Orihime looked at him as well, clearly confused.
"What's got him in such a bad mood today?" Tatsuki mumbled at Orihime, though she was still turned towards her childhood friend. "He looks more…upset than angry." Tatsuki pointed out quite absentmindedly, a faraway look in her eyes.
"Yeah…" Orihime said after studying Ichigo's face for a few seconds more. She smiled at Tatsuki who turned away as well. "I suppose I should go and see what is wrong." Orihime suggested. Tatsuki gave her an affirmative nod and the perky teen got up and sauntered over towards the Shinigami. She took the seat beside his, which was still vacant and usually occupied by the Quincy.
Ichigo seemed to tense visibly before he turned to look at Orihime. She tilted her head and gave him a polite smile, as if to try and ease him without words. Ichigo offered her an uneasy smile, more of an awkward twitch of the corners of his lips and she sighed.
"Ichigo-kun, how did you find Uryuu-kun?" Orihime asked cautiously. By the way Ichigo tensed at the mention of the Quincy's name, Orihime figured that his emotional state was due to Uryuu. "What happened?" Orihime asked as gently as possible.
"Oh, I found him." Ichigo said, trying to hide the bitterness in his voice. "He was with the new girl."
"Oh, Mitsukai-chan!" Orihime squeaked. "What were they doing together?" Orihime asked herself. Unfortunately the girl was very loud and Ichigo winced at the question. "Uryuu-kun and Mitsukai-chan, together in the hallway, alone..." Orihime whispered pensively. For the first time in her fifteen years of life, Orihime learned the art of connecting broken information into a string of juicy gossip.
"Yeah, it's what you think." Ichigo said with false happiness. Orihime noted the false emotion and sighed.
"Ichigo-kun, does the thought of Uryuu-kun and Mitsukai-chan being romantically involved bother you?" Orihime whispered. Ichigo turned and looked at Orihime, stupefied. Orihime seemed to have this gleaming in her amber eyes, the kind of look of new found knowledge that slightly fazed Ichigo.
"Of course not, I'm just mad because the idiot ignored me when I called out for him." Ichigo said with a shrug. Orihime seemed to look past his lame-brained excuse. Ichigo was seriously freaked out. Orihime was usually the brainless girl, the victim of all of the 'blond joke' clichés. That was the Orihime Inoue everybody knew. Not this suddenly deep, amazingly insightful Orihime. Ichigo turned away as, much to his favor, the bell rang.. Orihime seemed to drop out of her "psychic" trance and smiled gently before leaving to her seat. Ichigo looked away as Uryuu entered the classroom, demeanor stern.
Ichigo tried to think that things weren't as he had seen, that he was wrong. Still, it did hurt a little bit, somewhere in his heart. Ichigo shoved the pain and all of the thoughts surrounding it into the back of his mind as Uryuu took his seat beside the Shinigami. Uryuu seemed bothered, even a little upset, but Ichigo just shook his head and let it pass as his wishful thinking.
"Good morning, Kurosaki." Uryuu said finally, voice half an octave off of a whisper.
"Hn." Ichigo replied with a grunt, clearly not wanting to talk to Uryuu. Uryuu seemed surprised for a moment before his features took a more caring, kinder manner.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Uryuu asked politely, turning to face the Shinigami. Ichigo couldn't meet the soft stare of those azure eyes. "Kurosaki-kun?" Uryuu asked more softly. Ichigo seemed genuinely bothered and it was a little unnerving to Uryuu.
"Nothing. I'm fine." Ichigo said with his voice laced with anger. Uryuu sighed and nodded, turning back to the front of the class. Ichigo tried his best to stay angry, but after ten minutes of class time he had already forgotten why he was angry. Thirty minutes into the class and Ichigo seemed more worried for the Quincy then angry.
There was something in those cobalt eyes, something that seemed to dull their usual intensity. The Quincy also looked paler, his hair seemed lusterless. He seemed so worn out and tired, almost like an old shell of his former self. Ichigo felt bad after how he had treated Uryuu.
Maybe…I should apologize...
When nutrition time came, Ichigo turned to Uryuu. Unfortunately for him, the Quincy was no longer in his seat. Uryuu was up and out of the door, dragging Mitsukai out the door with fast strides. Ichigo frowned. Something didn't sit right with him-something about Mitsukai didn't seem right.
Ah, King! Jealous much! His hollow taunted with an evil cackle. Ichigo rolled his eyes and proceeded to walk out of the class room. He was still thinking when his feet had dragged him up the familiar flight of stairs. When he finally pulled himself out of his fog of thought, Chad was speaking to him.
"Ichigo, there's a hollow; I can sense it." Chad spoke with his words low, more of a simple vibration than actual spoken word.
Uryuu was tired of her games; she would flare her unusual reiatsu, making his insides churn. It was unusual in a sickening way-like the concoctions of food that Orihime made. No one else seemed to notice the unusual energy.
Uryuu felt it.
He needed answers, and he needed them right away. So, as soon as the bell had rang, he gabbed Mitsukai by the sleeve and dragged her out of the classroom. He never was ungentlemanly, nor was he usually rude. This was just too much for the Quincy and, whether she wanted to or not, Mitsukai was going to answer him.
"Hey, Ishida-kun, what are you doing?" Mitsukai shouted, yanking herself away from Uryuu once they were outside in the empty courtyard. "If you wanted me to-"
RuMbLe!
"It's-" Uryuu choked out, startled by the strong power.
"-a hollow." Mitsukai finished, turning towards the loud roar that was sent towards them. Uryuu began to run towards the energy, the same energy from the night before. He scowled, picking up his pace as the hollow's words, its threat, rang in Uryuu's mind.
"I will get you Quincy!"
Uryuu saw it now, the large ape-like hollow from the previous night. True to his word, the hollow was larger and more powerful, an especially dark pulsing to it's energy. When Uryuu conjured his bow, someone darted out towards it. The hollow turned it's head nearly a full 180 degrees before it's mask slid open.
"QUINCY!" It bellowed and turned fully around. Uryuu cringed and looked at the shadow, the dark figure with silver hair billowing behind it.
"Mitsukai-san, don't!" Uryuu shouted and ran, condensing his bow into a smaller, more manageable form. He ran and fired a few arrows towards the arm that shot towards the charging student, only to have them fizz away.
"No, Uryuu-kun." Mitsukai said as she stopped running. He raised her head and ripped off the band that had tied back her hair. The silver tresses flowed in the wind and when she turned to Uryuu, the hair in her face brushed to the side and he could clearly see the darker, much bluer eye. "You are still wounded. Let me take care of him."
"Oh? Such big words from a small girl!" the hollow guffawed. It took a good whiff of air and exclaimed with a sinister kind of joy: "Mm! Your spirit is so strange.…All the better for me to devour it!" It slammed its fist, missing the glint of black below it.
"You are such a big and stupid creature." Mitsukai said, all joy and kindness drained from her tone and demeanor. "Know your enemy before you charge into battle." Mitsukai stood as before, defiantly, before the large white fist that oozed with a dreadfully dark substance. Uryuu stood stock-still until the hollow started to thrash around and roar.
"I WILL SHOW YOU!" It roared and it leaped high above them, ending up in front of the main building. Uryuu cursed under his breath and turned to Mitsukai. She yelped in fear at the deadly glare she received and took a few steps back.
"I did what I could for now, I don't have anything to get there faster, I'm sorry!" She shouted and turned away. When she peeked open her eyes, Uryuu was gone, now a single speck compared to the huge white monster.
"Bastard, what are you doing?" Uryuu shouted and fired, piercing the hollow with a few more arrows. It roared and smashed its fist on the floor, crying out in pain. Just then Ichigo, Chad and Orihime spilled out of the building. "Stay back you guys!" Uryuu shouted, aiming his bow. "I'm the one he wants."
"Shut up!" Ichigo shouted as he shoved Uryuu away. Uryuu fell, skidding against the concrete. "We won't let you-" Ichigo's eyes went wide as the hollow spat out something goopy and sickly green at him. The mess stuck against his shoulder and neck, and before anyone knew it, the substance began to fizzle and burn his flesh.
"Ichigo!" Orihime shouted and she sprinted towards him, Shun-Shun Rikka glowing before it shot out towards Ichigo. Ichigo was still arching on the floor and screaming out in pain when Uryuu heard Orihime call out "Soten Kisshun!"
Uryuu turned towards the hollow, anger boiling deep inside. He looked up, hatred in his eyes as he raised his bow and pointed an arrow threateningly at the large Hollow.
"If it was me that you wanted why did you attack him?" Uryuu shouted as he released powerful arrow after powerful arrow. The hollow howled in pain as it lost yet again to the Quincy. "HOW DARE YOU ATTACK THOSE THAT I CARE ABOUT!" Uryuu cried out before sending one last arrow to crack the mask. The mask did crack, but only half-way, and the hollow retreated, running away into darkness.
Uryuu was panting, having not realized that he was halting the healing process with his surging spiritual pressure. He turned and looked at Chad, who had appeared behind him only a few seconds before. They both walked in an awkward silence towards the healing glow of Orihime's Soten Kisshun.
"You should be fine now, Ichigo-kun." Orihime said softly, dispersing the shield. Her Shun-Shun Rikka returned into its hairpin state. Ichigo got up, but when Uryuu tried to help him up, Ichigo turned away. Uryuu was taken aback, and a little hurt. It was something so simple, so stupid but it still hurt.
"Let's go, Chad, Orihime. Uryuu wanted to fight the damn hollow alone, let's just leave him alone." Ichigo said in a low voice. Uryuu scowled, about to say something when a familiar figure came running towards them. They all recognized it as Mitsukai. Orihime looked at Uryuu with sad eyes but left anyway, followed by a slowly moving Chad. Once they were out of sight, Uryuu collapsed onto his knees.
Mitsukai ran towards him, alarmed. She kneeled by Uryuu, arms around his shoulders. He looked visibly upset, and she had a slight hint of why.
"Uryuu-kun, who is Kurosaki-san to you?" She asked, looking towards the entrance, as if still following them with her eyes.
"I..." Uryuu choked out, still looking at the entrance incredulously, his emotions running wild. "I just don't know anymore..."
