Progress
AN: Yo, yes I am reverting back to "AN" for "Author's Note". But more importantly, Chapter 4 titled "Compromise" was updated because I made a wee bit of a mistake. Instead of him being adopted a year ago, it was four years ago. Please Reviews are welcome (and kind of wanted). Hopefully with that, I'll finally get reviews! lol Also thank you for no flames! Other than that please continue to Read, Review and Enjoy.
As the days went on, Fernando and Orihime talked a little more. Even though he was never much of a talker, he was a good listener. He listened to her rant on about some of her crazy daydreams she has whenever she zones out and to him it seemed like she zoned out a lot more times than he ever does. She always daydreams at random times while he, on the other hand, only zones out whenever he is bored. Which is why he became so good at cleaning, so he no longer has think while he cleans leaving him time to daydream.
Even now, he daydreamed as she talked but these were a little more sensual than when he was bored. He tried to rid his mind of these nasty thoughts but at same time he knew that there was nothing he could do.
'I am a guy after all,' he thought as he grinned to himself, confusing Orihime.
"What are you smiling at?" she asked him, very innocent to his dirty grin.
"Oh, nothing… nothing at all," was his answer. Satisfied with that answer, she continued her rant about all her friends. Then came the time when she mentioned the new girl, Rukia, and how she hung around Ichigo but the way she mentioned this gave away something she might not known she had.
"It looks like they became really good friends in a few days," she said in an unusually sad tone.
"You have a problem with that?" Fernando asked already knowing the answer.
"No," Orihime answered, a little panicky.
"Don't worry about it; you're just a little jealous is all," he told her.
"But I don't feel right," Orihime said, saddened.
"It's alright to feel jealous, especially over someone you love. Just try not to act on it," he told her. "One more thing, that little speech about love is not mine. My mother gave me that speech when asked her what happened to her husband and why she never tried dating after that. You still have my wallet, you've seen the photos of my mother, she was still pretty young and very beautiful, not to mention very tough. Not once have I ever been able to touch in a one-on-one fight."
"You and your mother fought?" Orihime asked, astonished. 'How did he know I looked at them?'
"It was actually a weekly challenge. If we able to beat her in a fight, we wouldn't have to do chores," he said with a sigh, reminiscent of his home. "Neither me nor my stepbrother ever beat her one-on-one. We did beat her together, though. But that didn't count."
"Stepbrother?" Orihime asked confused.
"The other boy in the photos of us, he's adopted too," he answered her.
"Why did she adopt you two?" Orihime asked, finally able to get her guest to talk more about himself.
"Because I told her if she was going to adopt me that she was going to have to take him too," Fernando said, remembering his past. "We were supporting each other because we weren't able live separately, so we stuck together. They never pay you enough so that you can live and eat like any person should be able to. That's all I'll say for now."
"Why don't you ever finish any of your stories?" Orihime asked.
"No suspense that way," he said, grinning.
As days passed, Urahara had put him through the toughest training he ever had, this included climbing, then balancing on steep and jagged boulders, running around the entire training area at full sprint while dodging Ururu's rockets and finally finishing the day with combat training against Jinta. These battles were usually very one sided because the only weapons Fernando had were small knives, which Jinta broke all except the one he kept hidden under his boot. For some unknown reason no matter how hard he tried, Jinta could not break the small blade. Soon Fernando was able to keep his grip on his blade even through Jinta strongest blows.
But yesterday Urahara added something new to the mix, he tried to bring about the claw that he had seen before. Trying to get Fernando to draw his power to his hand seemed useless; he had no idea how to even draw upon his power. When Urahara tried explaining it to him but that seemed to confuse further.
So now here he sat alone, trying to understand how to form the claw on his hand. "Maybe you can't do it right now," he heard Ururu's sad voice say. "You did use up enough energy to exhaust yourself. That probably means that you use a lot of your energy every time you form that claw. Try to do something that will use only a little bit of energy." So he began to concentrate on just one finger in front of his face, trying to imagine the energy flow and control it. All of a sudden, he felt almost like a huge force push his head backward, causing him to hit it against a serrated edge of the boulder behind him.
"You did it! Did you see the little black ring that came from the tip of your finger?" Ururu asked. Although still in pain, he opened his eyes and saw the small black ring, almost like a smoky circle, expanding and eventually dissipating. It might not have been the claw he was hoping for but Urahara found himself satisfied to know that his student could now somewhat control his power. He smiled sitting on the opposite side of the same boulder they were sitting at.
Returning home late because of a small celebration in honor of him finally making some head way, Fernando felt a little uneasy. With his acute sense smell, something, both literally and figuratively, smelled foul.
'What is that?' he wondered to himself. As he neared the apartment, the smell grew stronger and stronger. Once at the door, the foul odor was at its strongest. As he opened the door he saw a huge black mass inside the small living room. Suddenly, a giant black claw grabbed him and pinned him against the ceiling.
From here he could see everything, including the huge black monster's white mask and immediately he knew he was a Hollow. But that was not the thing that caught his attention the most, in its other claw the Hollow held a terrified Orihime in complete shock with a chain on her chest which he followed with his eyes to another Orihime laying on the floor, and a wall next to the Hollow leaned an unconscious, bleeding Tatsuki.
"Who is this, Orihime? Another friend that you forgot about me for?" the Hollow spoke and tightened his grip around Fernando and her. Then after slamming him against another wall, the Hollow flung him out the window, hitting him against the tree right outside. Fernando's body hit against several branches as he flies towards the ground.
Meanwhile, Orihime is on the verge of crying thinking that this monster had just killed two of her friends. Then to her surprise a young, orangey haired, teen appears in a black kimono and behind him, Rukia. The orange haired teen blocks the black monster's claw using a huge sword. Surprising to all in the room, Fernando jumps back through the broken window and kicks the Hollow's mask, but even though he used all his force it seem that the Hollow barely felt it, just managing to push it back a few feet.
"Crap! Talk about a hard head," he rubbed his foot with just his right hand. His left arm appeared to be immobile, the shoulder seemed dislocated.
"Who are you?" the orange haired teen yelled.
"I'm sorry, could you scream that again," Fernando said still semi-calm.
"Well, then at least get out of the way," the teen ordered.
"I don't think so. I'll fight it," Fernando said.
"I-Ichigo?" both turned around, surprised to hear Orhime's voice.
"Wait, aren't you Kisuke's student?" Rukia asked. But before any answer could come, the Hollow struck again. Both Ichigo and Fernando managed to dodge it just fine.
"How are you going to fight with your arm like that?" Ichigo asked.
Then biting down on his the sleeve of his coat and groaning throughout, he used his right arm to pop his left one back into place. "What? What wrong with my arm?" Fernando asked.
Ichigo stared in complete astonishment, "Wait if you are going to fight it, then at least know that it's actually Orihime's dead brother?"
"Hmm… Okay then," Fernando said, retrieving the small blade from underneath his boot.
"Wait, are you going to try to kill it? Even after what I told you?" Ichigo asked angrily.
"He's obviously not himself. What do you expect me to do?" Fernando asked him, while avoiding the Hollow's attacks.
"Try to snap him out of it!" Ichigo said, blocking the Hollow's attack again.
"Fine, we'll try it your way first," Fernando said, kicking the Hollow away. "I got you covered."
"HOLLOW! IF YOU'RE REALLY SORA, THEN WHY ARE TRYING TO HURT ORIHIME?" Ichigo yelled, almost as if stunning the Hollow with just his words. "YOU'RE HER OLDER BROTHER, AN OLDER BROTHER IS SUPPOSED TO BE THERE TO PROTECT HIS BROTHERS AND SISTER THAT COME AFTER HIM."
"What do you know about that?" the Hollow asked.
"I have two younger sisters that I will always be there to protect," Ichigo answered.
"And what about you?" the Hollow asked Fernando, slightly slicing his shoulder.
"I have a brother, he might be just a step-brother but he's as close to me as any real brother would be. And I let him get into something very dangerous, now it's my job to make sure that he makes it out safe even if I die trying," Fernando said, feeling the blood pooling around his wound.
"While I was alive that is all I did. I looked out for her since we left our parents. That was the reason we left our parents in first place so that I could protect from them. But she's forgotten all about me. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW THAT FEELS? Now you tell me I have no right to take her!" the Hollow growled.
"You should be satisfied with how she turned out! Don't you see how happy she was! It was all thanks to you! If you didn't do everything you did while you were alive, do you think she would have ever been happy? Her happiness should be yours!" Fernando yelled, putting himself between the Hollow and Orihime.
The Hollow seemed to be suffering from something in his head, as he held it and thrashed about. It seemed like their words were getting through to them but then suddenly it shoved Fernando completely the wall leading to the street. "ENOUGH TALK, JUST DIE!" the Hollow screamed, following him through the hole it created.
Fernando managed to get up but he just about done, he was incredibly exhausted and injured. "You have no right to attack her or the home you helped create for her!" Fernando yelled. It was a familiar site; he began to absorb the shadow from the debris he was under. The same black aura began to engulf his hand and once again the claw was formed. After slicing through the debris, he faced the Hollow, "I wonder… Whose claw do you think is stronger?"
Both rushed at each other, both had their claws ready strike. Then in a flash both were at the opposite sides they started at, "Damn it!" Fernando exclaimed to himself, collapsing as blood flowed out of the giant gashes the Hollow's claw created. But his effort had not been in vain; he managed to not only slice off one of the Hollow's arms but also was able to damage its mask. Unfortunately for him, the Hollow was still in fighting shape and was heading towards him to finish the job. He only enough strength to sit himself up and watch as the Hollow rushed at him but as he waited for what would be certain death, he closed his eyes and to his amazement nothing happened.
It turned out that Ichigo had blocked the Hollow from killing him. "I know what you're going to say, 'I didn't ask for your help.'" Ichigo said as he repelled the Hollow's relentless clawing.
"I didn't but thank you for it," Fernando said, falling back down.
"No problem," Ichigo replied.
Then someone began tugging Fernando away from the battle, it was Rukia. "I never thought I'd be glad to see you," Fernando said.
"Just stay down and stay quiet, you're already very close to death," Rukia ordered.
Fernando sight soon began to fail him, everything became very blurred. He tried to observe the battle but he could only see their position during the fight. As the fight drew closer to its end, it appeared that the Hollow had hurt Ichigo with some sort of liquid from its mouth. Then it took a turn no one there suspected as Orihime protected Ichigo from an attack by the Hollow. He could not really see or hear what was happening but soon he was able to see that Hollow's mask disappeared and revealed its human face. Soon afterward, Orihime collapsed and it seemed that the Hollow had also regained its human personality as it no longer attacked and was actually talking but Fernando was already losing consciousness and was not able hear him from where he was.
Very little time passed before, Ichigo came to him, "You, he wants to talk to you for some reason. You have to hurry, he doesn't have that much time left," Ichigo told him.
"You expect me to walk up to a Hollow and talk to it, after it sliced me open? Anyway, I don't have that much time left before I black out, look at all the blood I lost I'm surprised I'm not dead yet, and I don't even know him but I'll go," Fernando replied.
"Just get and talk to him he does have that much time left either before the Hollow in him takes over again," Ichigo said, helping Fernando stand back up. He could already feel his wounds begin to bleed more and as he walked, he felt incredibly woozy. It took him a while but he got there and was now face to face with his host's brother, which in any other circumstance probably would have been very awkward.
"I'm sorry for what I've done," the unmasked Hollow apologized as he looked upon the injured young man.
"It's alright, I'll live. I guess you want me to explain why I've been living with your sister, huh?" Fernando asked but clear in knowing what the now sane Hollow was about to do.
"You don't have to, the way you spoke about her and the way you protected her and our home, I know you have good intentions. Just promise me one thing, my final request, please protect Orihime, take care of her and make sure she keeps smiling and being happy," Sora asked him.
"I'll try my best," Fernando replied.
"I know you will," Sora said.
"Do me one favor as well, I'm not sure if she's over there but if she is, tell my mother thank you for everything, that she raised both of us well and that I'll make sure to bring Tony back," Fernando asked this of him, showing him a picture of his mother from his wallet.
"I'll be sure to if I see her," Sora said. As soon as that was said, Ichigo returned.
"Have a nice day," Orihime awoke to speak these last words to her brother, just as he picked up Ichigo's sword from the ground.
"I'll be going now," Sora smiled, as he plunged Ichigo's sword into the hole in his chest. Strangely, he began to dissipate into many small lights. After fully disappearing, Orihime broke down crying and a black aura appeared from Fernando hand stretch sideways to a long length. After the aura faded, it left in its place a sheath.
"So I guess this is my Zanpakutō, huh?" he asked himself just before collapsing onto the ground. "It's about time."
"Well… now are you going to tell me who you are?" Ichigo asked.
"Maybe after a nap," Fernando answered, fading off into a dream.
