A/N: I'm SO sorry I am so late. My twin sister and I went to a Basketball camp, overnight, for a whole week! And then, every week day since then, I've had basket ball and volleyball Practice. I'm so exhausted, but it's time I've updated.
Thank you so, so, very, very much for the Alerting, the Favoriting, and the Reviews. It makes me so happy!
Enjoy!:
Chapter 8
The hollow began to laugh menacingly. I gritted my teeth. How much was a my presence going to effect this fight? I could beat this guy; he was a low level hollow, but how could I do it with Ruki there? And I couldn't just ditch her, because if she doesn't fight this hollow, Fate would definitely know.
I thought about letting myself get hurt, but quickly shut that down. If I were to get hurt, then Ruki and Ichi wouldn't let me hang around for their battles anymore. I put my attention back on the current situation.
Ruki was slammed into the wall by the beast, its hand around her throat (and torso, since it's so big).
"You're weak," He teased, chuckling. "If you're really a Soul Reaper, then why don't you lose the meat suit and fight me for real? Either way... you die." I was just about to do something (don't ask me what) when I remembered not to. I watched as Chad literally came out of nowhere and punched the hollow, right in the face. It went flying, crashing down on the ground, groaning.
"I hit something," Chad exclaimed, getting as loud as he ever dare to again. "Alright..." He then began to punch thin air repeatedly, making Ruki sweat drop. I heard Wrath cackling so loud, I thought everyone could hear her.
The hollow, recovering, was wiping the injured part of his face, just like a normal person would. Everyone stood in a tense pose after Ruki told Chad he wasn't there anymore.
Then something I didn't expect happen. He went after me. I tried leaping to the side, but his claw wrapped itself around my waist, pinning my arms. Chad seemed to noticed my 'gasp', even though it was soundless. He would have hit the Hollow again if it hadn't taken flight, dragging me with it in the air. I squirmed, of course, but that did next to nothing.
"Mao!" Ruki gritted her teeth.
"Heh heh heh," The hollow chuckled, "I'll eat you first, little girl. You smell delectable." I shivered.
'Gross!' Wrath shrieked. What to do. what to do... I could use Bakudo, or call Wrath and Sloth and kill him that way... But I couldn't let Ruki or Chad see that. But if I stayed captive, I wouldn't get to join in on anymore fights... it would be just like the fight with Ori's older brother. I sighed, in my current situation...
I would just have to let Ruki and Chad handle this. But that didn't mean I couldn't struggle. His grip tightened considerably.
"Yes, you smell so good, Soul Reaper."
'Yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck...' I managed to twist around so I could look at him... as he was about to take a bite out of my head. Wait... he thought I was a Soul Reaper? Hadn't Sloth said that Hollows can travel between worlds, so most of them know what Paladin are?
"I want to hear your wonderful screams for the rest of eternity!" I glanced down at the ground. Chad and Ruki was discussing something urgently (I hoped to God it was 'how to help Mao'. The next thing I saw, Chad breaking off the telephone pole... Oh, Please, please, please don't hit me!
"Be careful, you could hit Mao!" Thank you, Ruki! Chad swung the pole at an inhumane speed as he made contact. He missed me, smacking the hollow straight in the face. He brought it down to the ground, and me along with it. I closed my eyes and braced myself, but luckily, Ruki caught me. I was still in his tongue, but Ruki unwrapped it for me and jumped back to Chad's side with me in her arms. Inspecting me closely, she asked,
"Are you okay?" I nodded, signing,
'Thanks.' We turned our attention to the hollow, now crushed in a huge indent in the cement.
"You should be scared now, Hollow. The other Soul Reaper in on his way here right now to finish you for good," Ruki warned, smug. The hollow began to chuckle again, recovering very slowly.
"What's so funny?"
"Lazy Soul Reapers... It's no wonder you keep getting beaten and humiliated every time you battle." It gave us a smug look from behind, reminding me... I jumped back as far as I could as Ruki a Chad were barraged with hollow bugs. They were thrown to the ground, now unable to move. The monster eyed me.
"You're more perceptive than I thought... But you let your guard down too easily," He hissed, obviously enjoying himself. Stupid me. He made more bugs come from behind me, just like before, but I didn't know about these. I was held to the ground, right next to Ruki. The hollow laughed.
"You Soul Reapers take us too lightly; that's the reason you keep dying. Now you're being held face down, defenseless. I think I'll eat the tasty Soul Reapers for last." With a monstrous roar, Chad rose, flinging the frog sized Hollows off and away. Ruki and the hollow stared at him in wonder.
In real life, that moment seemed a dozen more times impressive. I couldn't even struggle, and here he was, getting free from things he could not see. I needed to step it up.
Chad's 'moment' turned ridiculous when he punched thin air again... and again... Until Ruki said,
"Over here Chad! Kick the air right above us!" Chad obliged, smacking off the beasts that were holding us down. We stood up quickly, me brushing off my uniform to keep what dignity I had left. Turning to the hollow, I saw him take off into the sky. Then Ruki revealed that she had a plan...
When Chad held her up, I sweat-dropped. I would have told her she looked ridiculous, but she wasn't looking at me, so there was no way to get her attention. Plus, I couldn't change the plot... But Wrath's cackling was really getting on my nerves.
"I'm not sure this is the best idea..." Chad said.
"Don't worry, combining your brute strength and my intelligence is our best shot." I pouted. What did I have? Incredible sexiness and cunning? Not that I don't, but I haven't really done anything, yet. Still, she could have said something about me.
"There! At four O'clock!"
"I'll have you know, whatever you're planning is-"
"Fire!" Chad launched Ruki at the flying best, surprising the heck out of it. Or... as he tried to make her think.
"Oh! Oh no!" He cowered in fear. "Oh- Just kidding." More bugs emerged from his skin, leaping out a Ruki and causing her to fall back to the ground. Chad took a running start to go catch her. He made it in time, but he had to dive.
I rushed over to their side, kneel beside Ruki to try and help pry the bugs off. I knew they wouldn't come off, but hey, I was acting.
"Are these leeches?"
"Exactly," the hollow laughed as he landed, catching our attention. "Pry if you like, but they won't come off. And you'll find that they have a nasty little habit... of exploding!" The Hollow stuck out its special tongue, sending off sound waves. Ruki's eyes widened as one blow up on her head.
"Oh no! New Girl!" Chad cried, worried. He couldn't see, couldn't even hear the Hollow, so he must have been totally lost.
Chad stood up and approached the hollow, serious.
"Oh, you want some more, ay Hot shot? Well, I've got someone you may want to see!" The hollow stepped to the side to reveal the bird, in his cage, in the middle of the sidewalk.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. I was trying to call for you." The little boy said shamefully. The hollow chuckled. revealing that he had three leech bombs on his cage.
"Now let's play a new game. Muscle head stays put... While I play tags with the two Soul Reapers." Ruki narrowed her eyes. Standing up, she said,
"Do as he says. He'll blow up the bird, without a doubt, and at least the chase will keep you safe."
"What about you two?" Ruki smirked, and put my arms on my hips.
"Don't worry, we can take care of ourselves. I made a promise... We'll be just fine. I'll make sure of it." With that, she took off, my close behind her.
I was a little touched. Ruki had made a promise to Ichi in the show that she would be careful, and alright... but it sounded like now she promised to be careful and protect me. Awww!
A dozen cat sized hollows began to follow us as we were separated from Chad.
"I'm going to enjoy every second of this." The hollow laughed, also joining in the chase. I noticed I was considerably faster than Ruki, probably since she was injured. In no time, two hollows flanked us on both sides, spewing leeches at us. Ruki leapt high in the air, while I dove to the side, so that I was no longer in between them. Ruki landed on a tree branch, that also had hollows on it, which were hidden in the leafs. She jumped back to the ground, covered in leeches.
Mean while, I was cornered by the two that had missed us earlier on the ground. I backed up as far as I could, hitting a wall with my back. Suddenly, I heard a clicking sound above me... Looking up, I saw a Hollow stuck to the wall, above me. He shot leeches, directly hitting me. Shit... I retreated next Ruki, covered in slime. Then the Large Hollow appeared from nowhere, saying,
"This might sting a little." He detonated the bugs, blowing me and Ruki. She grunted in pain, and I dropped to my knees, unable to stand. Ruki had gotten hit in the arm, leg, and shoulder, while I had been hit in the waist, head, and back. I glanced at her through half closed eyes. There was blood dripping from her wounds, so she began to lean against a fence. I felt my head, where I was undoubtedly bleeding as well. Both of us were breathing heavily, when the hollow said,
"My, my, don't you two look pretty, covered in your own blood. Let's see some more!" He then threw a mini hollow at us, but I scrambled to my feet just in time as Ruki grabbed my wrist and led me down the street.
"Faster, Faster, faster! Ha, run, you little Soul Reapers, run!" The hollow followed close at our heels, throwing mini hollows at our feet. They burst at contact with the ground, making leeches fly in every direction. The Hollow continued to mock us.
"How long before you get tired and get blown up?" But then, Ruki Stopped. She still had my hand in hers, so I stopped too. The hollow looked confused.
"Huh? Done already?" Ruki and I smirked, but we still weren't facing him, which probably made him mad. "How boring, run some more! It's not every day I get to chase Soul Reapers; I was having fun!" He whined, though he didn't approach us any farther. I turned around to face the hollow, but Ruki still had her back to him. Hey, I wanted to see his face, alright?
"I haven't given up. There's just no need for me to run from you anymore." Ruki told him. I laughed on the inside. It sort of felt like she was giving him the finger, but with her words.
'Ruki's so cool!' Wrath all but shrieked.
"What are you blabbering about?" The hollow demanded.
"You challenged me to fight you, didn't you? Or was that just an idiotic bluff?" She finally turned around. "Either way, you're about to meet your doom." The hollow tensed.
Wrath actually did shriek when Ichi came in.
"Hold on!" He exclaimed, stepping on the hollow's head, and digging him in the dirt.
"Perfect timing, Ichigo!" I smiled at him, relieved that I actually wouldn't have to show Ruki my Paladin powers. In all honesty, I wasn't nearly as strong as Hotaru had been, which was about Captain level, but I would still have been able to beat this guy. Hopefully, If I just kept sticking to the plot, every battle would end up like this one.
"You act like you planned it this way!" Ichi accused, sounding irritated. "I thought you promised not to screw this all up!"
"Well now, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you actually care about what happens to not just Mao, but me, too." She teased. I could see the relief in her eyes.
"I guess I do."
"Heh, How touching," The hollow interrupted. "Do you plan on standing on my head all day?" He began to stand up, so Ichi jumped off and landed a few yards behind him. "Just who are you, anyway?"
"Ichigo Kurosaki. Age fifteen, Substitute Soul Reaper. And if you want to play some serious tag, I think it's me you wanna chase."
"Substitute Soul Reaper... Crap... I screwed up!" I scoffed, which caught his attention. I didn't know if he knew sign language or not, but at least Ruki and Ichi would know what I had said. However, judging from the look on his face, I was pretty sure he knew what I had said. And he looked really surprised that I couldn't talk.
'Yes. Yes, you did screw up. Big time.'
An/ I'm soo sorry I haven't up dated this in so long. To be honest, I sort of forgot about it because My life has been so hectic lately. My parents are really... what's the word... I don't know, but they get obsessive sometimes. If me and my sister aren't the best, we're the worst... or, whatever. They really pressure us into practicing our sports A LOT! But I'm just complaining cause I got in a fight, so I'm kinda blowing of some steam. And I know that's no excuse for being so late with this update, so I apologize.
! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!
~Mao
