..So… Before I start, let me remind you that I am MENTALLY INCAPABLE OF CONSTRUCTING A SOUND PLOT. So thank you, goodbye, and I don't own anything that may pertain to the official plot and such of Bleach. Oh, and have an ambulance on standby in case your brain implodes whilst you are reading.
Crack! Thump!
"What?" A muffled query could be heard from under Hoshika's thin cotton blanket, bunched up over where she lay on her bunk below Saiko. Or rather, where Saiko should have been.
Instead, Saiko lay on the floor, half-under, half-on top of her own doona, her figure only barely discernible in the weak dawn light. She opened her eyes, slowly, one at a time, and after at least a minute of lying there looking at the ceiling, turned her head to look at Hoshika.
" I think I fell out of my bunk."
Yes Saiko, I think I can see that quite clearly. Am I supposed to be awed by your amazing observation skills?
"I had a nightmare though.. Something about freaky ass hollows running around and… you know… going all Godzilla-y on Soul Society, smashing stuff up and screaming incoherent things at people."
What the hell is she talking about? Then again, this is Kirawe're talking about here. She must have had too much ramen last night.
Hoshika flinched when Saiko's eyes snapped wide open all of a sudden.
"What's wrong with you kid?" Hoshika lifted her head out of the mess that was her bed to look at Saiko properly, "Seriously, you're practically shaking. What's up with you?"
Saiko sat up and stared at her for a while, then began to babble and wave her arms around, "It was the dream dude, the freaking dream. I dreamt we were all in class just doing boring shit, like that time Sanada made us meditate to try and find our true self, and then it was like BAM! And everyone except us was dead and lying on the ground and there was this huge, freaking super hollow just standing over Sanada sensei, about to eat him, and we all freaked out and ran at it with our swords out, ready to skewer the damn thing, and then it turned around and swiped at us and then I woke up," Saiko finished her narrative abruptly, shook her head as if to clear those thoughts out and looked back up at Hoshika from the floor, "That didn't make any sense at all, did it?"
Hoshika blinked once, then twice, then stared at Saiko for all of a good two minutes before speaking, slowly, much like the way one would speak to a five year old who thinks they've just seen a flying unicorn spewing rainbows in the sky.
"Kira. You just predicted the imminent deaths of all our classmates, excluding us and the four other dimwits I am forced to share my existence with and Sanada? And they were killed by a "huge freaking super hollow"? I have to say, your IQ has obviously reached an all time low, and to answer your question, no. That didn't make any sense at all," she paused, and mentally went over the contents of Saiko's dream. Suddenly, just when Saiko was starting to think she'd slipped into another of her intense thinking trances, Hoshika's head snapped up and her eyes found Saiko's.
"You said "huge freaking super hollow", right?"
Saiko nodded dumbly, with no idea of what Hoshika was getting at.
"Well what did it look like?"
"I don't know... It was big, and black, and the mask looked funny... Oh god, the mask!" her jerked up and her whole body became more rigid, "There were three masks. All lined up on the front of its body. I remember, 'cause when it turned around, all three of them looked straight at us, and one of the masks just sort of grinned all creepy at us and the others screeched and howled like the fucking harpies in hell," she paused and breathed out heavily, "I have no idea how I forgot to mention that, but there you go."
She nodded and waited for a response, but Hoshika stayed silent, staring at Saiko like she was crazy. Finally, she spoke, "You wouldn't happen to have been listening in on any senior officers' conversations, have you?" she directed a questioning glance at the girl.
Saiko raised her eyebrows, "Dude. No. Why the hell would I do that?"
"Oh, I don't know, because everyone knows you're a delinquent and because," Hoshika paused and looked straight at Saiko's eyes, looking for a trace of a lie, "There would otherwise have been no way that you could have known about the hyper-charged(1) hollows the divisions have been talking about."
There was a silence in which two things happened.
Saiko's face adopted a distinct what-the-hell-are-you-on-about look, confronting Hoshika's oh-yes-I-know-you-were-listening-in-on-them-talking face. The other thing that happened was—
"Hoshi-hoshiii! Are you awake?! You too, Saiko! Wake up!" Hiyori burst through their door, closely followed by Tifa.
They skidded to a stop and looked at Saiko who was, still, sitting on the floor, half covered by her doona.
"Why are you on the floor?" Tifa stepped closer and peered at Saiko critically, like an art critic trying to figure out what the hell the artist had intended to convey with their "masterpiece".
Saiko shot her a disparaging look and stood up slowly, slinging her blanket over her shoulder, still watching Hiyori and Tifa as they took a step back. She grabbed her bunk and pulled herself up to her bed where she promptly fell asleep.
"Well. That was weird," Hoshika looked at Hiyori and Tifa, as they began to slowly edge away. "And don't you dare try to run away and pretend this never happened."
She looked out the window, "Anyway, what time is it really?"
Tifa gave her a look that may have been tinged with a little, tiny bit of disbelief, "Dude, what were you doing? It's like, seven, as it should have been made obvious by Hiyori's stupid alarm clock ringing half a hour ago, and we should all be out at the table, eating breakfast so we're not late," she looked out the window, " again."
Tifa stood there for a while, Hiyori looking a little bit offended at the cruel remark about her alarm clock, then they turned and left. Hoshika sighed and rolled out of bed, shoving the bunk above as she stood up, waking Saiko up roughly.
"Whaaa, was that you Bakawaka?" She pulled her self to the edge of her bunk and looked down at Hoshika, her eyes half closed and hair messed up badly, even though she'd only been back in bed for a few minutes.
"Yes, Kira, it was I. And you need to be out of bed, at the table now, unless you want to be late again." Hoshika turned and began to walk away.
Whumpf!
"Oi!"
"Yeah yeah, you so deserved that anyway," Saiko jumped down and walked past Hoshika, where she lay on the floor, trapped by the girl's doona. No one else would have seen it, but she was smiling. Ear to ear, I swear.
--
Of course, like they always did, they left just in time to get to class a minute or so before Sanada walked into the classroom and spent most of the lesson dozing off, or starting fixatedly at that spot on the wall just above Sanada's head. That is, until he announced that they would actually be moving their limbs, and then they would all jump up, eager to do something that wasn't sitting there and listening to an old man talk about reiatsu.
Though unfortunately, this was not exactly how their day turned out. Yes, they did arrive at the usual time just before Sanada arrived, yes, they did doze off, and yes, they did jump up eagerly when he spoke of putting into practice what they had supposedly learnt that lesson. But what everyone noticed, what made the classroom seem empty, was that Saiko and Hoshika were fighting less. Significantly less. As in, the maintenance crew actually had the time to fix things that weren't located in or around Sanada's classroom.
And, having gotten used to always hearing Saiko and Hoshika fighting in the background, everyone was feeling ever so slightly awkward.
"Hey, Shioru, what do you think's wrong with Saiko and Hoshi-Hoshi?" Hiyori leant over to whisper in Shioru's ear.
At a questioning glance from Shioru, she elaborated, her voice raised just enough that most students in the immediate could hear, "Well, they're not fighting anymore, and neither of them have really insulted each other properly yet, or broken something, or even gotten shouted at by Sanada-sensei," she stopped talking and just watched the two girls for a while. Saiko seemed strangely subdued, sitting there, slumped at her desk, seemingly watching Sanada with only one eye open, and Hoshika was just sitting next to her, not even making a cruel remark about how Saiko looked like a total stoner.
Shioru followed her line of vision and nodded, "I can see what you mean... Maybe they're just tired after last night, I mean, we did stay out pretty late."
Tifa joined in, having eavesdropped for a while, "Nah, I think there's seriously something wrong with them. No one looks that stoned after a late night out unless they really have been taking drugs."
"No, Hoshika wouldn't ever take drugs, she thinks she's too good for them, and Saiko wouldn't either, even if she is a bit psycho sometimes," Shioru rejoined, shaking her head.
"Well either way, we're going to have to do something about it soon, don't you think?" Hiyori looked at them worriedly.
"Yeah, I think so too, because if this keeps up, there'll be nothing to distract Sanada from telling me off for reading in class," Mochi butted into their conversation suddenly. Having said what she needed to, Mochi left immediately and walked back to her seat, reading all the way.
Tifa looked at the others, "So should we ask them what's up tonight? When we get home?"
Shioru opened her mouth to reply, probably in the affirmative, "Ok, tonight, after--"
"That may be a good idea, girls. And it'd be even better, for me and the rest of your classmates, if you could stop discussing how to assume the role of family counsellor, and actually listen to what I am speaking about," Sanada looked down at them severely, "Yes? No? Or do you have something else that you would like to discuss in total confidentiality with your friends here?"
At this a snicker went around the classroom, as most of those sitting in the immediate area around the three girls had over heard some, if not all of their conversation.
Tifa, however, did not recognise the obvious sarcasm in Sanada's voice and opened her mouth to say something, "Actually, sensei, I would—"
"Oh, for the love of all that is good and intelligent, that was a joke! A jest! A false suggestion with a sliver of sarcasm hidden deep within its gullet," a tone of exasperation found its way into Sanada's voice, "I didn't mean to say that you could continue your little discussion, so just clam up, and listen, please!" Having finished his tirade, he turned sharply and marched back up to the front of the classroom and continued his lecture in that boring and oh so monotonous voice. Every student who had been laughing, stopped laughing, and soon, there was no one left sitting up, only teenagers in red and white uniforms, mostly sprawled over their desk, with a few struggling to appear as if they were actually listening.
"And so, when you do end up transferring your reiatsu into your empty vessels, which I can see some of you, being over eager, have brought in to class today, you will be able to release it into its shikai form, or initial release..."
--
"Geez, Sanada was being really lame today, wasn't he, Tifa?" Hiyori nudged her as they walked along the path home.
Normally, Saiko and Hoshika would have been trailing behind the others, fighting about whatever miniscule dispute that had occurred that day, but everyone could tell, this was not a normal day. Instead of fighting loudly, Saiko was walking stiffly up front, and Hoshika seemed to just walk normally, in the middle of the group, with everyone else, though she said almost nothing to them.
"Yeah, he was, seriously, what was up with him? It's like everyone's acting weird today, eh?" Tifa kicked a pebble lying on the road and sent it skittering down the slope towards the river.
"Well, I guess you guys don't want to go check out that little market again?" Shioru looked at them hopefully.
"Yeah, I would, but you know, we've got to find out what's up with them," Hiyori lowered her voice so that neither Saiko nor Hoshika could hear.
"You'd better, because I want to be able to read my book in class without getting in trouble," Mochi looked up from her book and glared at them.
They turned off to the right and continued through the field of grass and weed flowers, walking home to confront whatever bullshit had taken over the two who were normally the noisiest in the group, but now were almost completely silent.
--
"Hey," Shioru dragged a chair over to the table where everyone, sans Saiko and Hoshika, were sitting, "Should we ask them now?"
Hiyori shook her head, "I thought about it for a while, and I thought that maybe we should wait a while and see if they get over it."
"Nah, we have to, tonight, because this is seriously getting weird, and—"
"And it's stupid that the two loudest people in our group are being quiet," Mochi interrupted Tifa. The others looked at her, startled, if not confused, at the fact that they had heard, just then, a tiny bit of what may have been concern in Mochi's voice, "And no, I don't actually care about whatever's wrong with them, but I do care about the fact that I can no longer read my book in peace, and you all keep on babbling about how you're going to help, them, so let's get on with it!" Mochi snapped her book shut and shoved it in some hidden pocket.
They all looked at her, still trying to figure out why she had suddenly decided to help them. Then Shioru spoke, "So does anyone have ideas?"
Her question was greeted with silence.
That is, until Hiyori decided to break the silence. "We could always just ask them,".
The whole group just turned and looked straight at her incredulously. Then they all began to speak at the same time.(2)
"Tch, like that's going to work, Bakari."
"And dude, Hoshi would never just spill something like that just 'cause we wanted to know."
"I don't think so, because A, Hoshika's a smug little bitch who has a superiority complex, and B, if they're in it together, Saiko would probably eat her alive if she did."
Hiyori reeled back, feigning extreme offense, laughing. The others laughed too, but it was only temporary as Hiyori sat back up straight, "But seriously, it's not like there's anything else we can do."
"Well I can't think of anything else..." Shioru trailed off.
"Ok then! Let's do it!" Tifa got up and marched off to barge into Saiko and Hoshika's room to demand an explanation, with Hiyori marching right behind her, Shioru walking like a normal, sane human being, and Mochi trailing at the back.
As they approached the door, Tifa stopped, and put her ear to the door.
"I still think we should tell them something, because you saw them going all conspiratorial in class. They might start thinking you're going emo and that you're gonna take me down with you!" Saiko's muffled voice could be heard through the door, even without them pressing ears to it.
"No way, if we tell them, they're going to go crazy and someone might tell Sanada or something, and he'll think we've been eavesdropping!"
"But if we don't, they're probably launch some rescue plan," Tifa heard a slight shuffling noise, "And then it'll just be a huge heap of wtf-ery in one place, all for—"
"Whaaa!" Tifa fell into the room, followed by Hiyori and Shioru, leaving Mochi standing just outside their door, looking straight at Hoshika with her hand on the doorknob and a smirk on her face.
"And to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you lot dead on my floor," Hoshika nudged Hiyori's head with her foot, "Eh, Rii-tard? Tifa?"
Shioru got up and dusted herself off, "Well, we were just wondering if—"
"If you and Saiko are going emo, and that's why you haven't been fighting in class?" Tifa jumped up and interrupted Shioru, saving her from having to make up a completely obvious lie.
Hoshika raised her eyebrows and looked first from Tifa to Hiyori, still on the ground, then to Shioru, finally resting on Mochi.
"Since you're probably the most likely to come up with a decent, answer, Mochi, would you like to explain what the hell is going on?"
She shrugged, "They," she nodded at Tifa, Hiyori and Shioru, "Seem to believe that you and Saiko are keeping some strange secret, or may be emo, or even possibly may be possessed. And they want to get to the bottom of it. And so do I, merely so that I may read my book in the peace once again. So spill it." She switched her gaze from Hoshika's slightly irritated face to Saiko, standing as she was on the ladder that was hardly ever actually used to get up to the top bunk.
Saiko jerked her head back, "Hey, I don't know anything, serious!"
"Yes you do," Mochi stared at her levelly.
She screwed up her face, "And how do you know that? Because you've been eavesdropping?" she scoffed, "the almighty, Kanda Mochi, was eavesdropping?!"
"No," she said coldly, "It's just that it's completely obvious from your expression that you're just bluffing. So. Spill."
Saiko's expression changed and her eyes widened, "Well. Fine. Bascially, me and Bakawaka here think that there are going to be some super, freaking, epic hollows coming around sometime soon, and—"
"That's enough, Kira," Hoshika stepped forward, grabbing Saiko by the arm, pulled her off the ladder and onto the floor. Then she turned to face the others, "She's just being a retarded attention-seeker, so just ignore her. And if you were wondering, the reason why we haven't been fighting as much is because Sanada got really pissed at us yesterday and threatened to kick us out, so there, you have your answers, so go." She stared them down until it was just Mochi left. She stood there, in the doorway, looking critically at Wakanao, then turned and left.
Saiko lifted her head up from its place on the floor to look at Hoshika, "Dude. Was it just me, or did your mouth just spew a veritable fountain of bullshit?" she scratched her head and muttered quietly, "Sorta like that whole spewing rainbows thing, huh?"
"Shut up, Kira," Hoshika glared at her, "Or do you really want them to know that your brain has decided that our classmates and teacher will die in a hollow attack sometime soon?"
There was silence for a while, as they stared each other down. Finally, Saiko screwed up her face and dropped her head back to the floor, "Fine. Shut up, smug asshole."
Standing outside their doorway, Mochi smirked and flash stepped to the door of her own shared room.
"I knew it."
--
Two days later, early in the morning, after Tifa and company had finally gotten over the fact that Saiko and Hoshika were not fighting as much, the two girls sat in their bunks, or rather, Hoshika sat, and Saiko hung over the edge of her bunk, looking for all the world like she was about to topple off and land in an ungainly heap on the floor.
"So I guess this means I'm not actually an epic priestess of doom and damnation that can see the future of the world in her dreams?" Saiko looked at Hoshika and cocked her head, making her hair sway so that it almost hit Hoshika in the eye. Almost.
"Maybe," she flicked the offending strands of hair away from her face, "It's only been two days, so I guess we're safe."
"Well that's great. Should we be going to get breakfast now?" she raised her eyebrows and started to swing her torso from side to side, mimicking an oversized pendulum on a clock.
"I guess," Hoshika leaned forward and flicked Saiko right between the eyes, "but maybe you should stop acting like a retard first, Kira."
Saiko sighed and fell off the bunk, somehow still landing in a crouch on the ground, "Can't I just stay here and sleep? Skip school? Eat ramen all day?"
"No," Hoshika interrupted, "Come on, let's get breakfast." She walked out of the room, leaving Saiko crouched on the ground.
She sighed and stood up, "Ok then."
The others all looked up as Hoshika walked in and sat at the table, then watched Saiko as she sat down on the table and grinned at them all.
"Hey dudes. Breakfast?" she looked around at them, all eating their own individually prepared meals and slumped, suddenly looking significantly more bored, "It's obviously not quite so forthcoming today. Fine then. I'll make my own," she jumped off the table and stumped off to boil water for coffee(3).
They all watched her go, "Since when did Sai drink coffee?" Hiyori whispered loudly.
Saiko looked over her shoulder, still making her 'coffee'. "Since I didn't. It's got chocolate in it. Got hooked on the stuff in Europe, back when we were alive," she shrugged. They all stared at her. She stared back.
"And me, I'll have milk," Hoshika broke the silence, "and no cereal."
Mochi stared out the window, avoiding eye contact with Hoshika. Well, actually, the window was more of a hole in the wall, but she could and was staring out it. Outside, it was quiet, but every now and then, someone passed by, either running in a hurry or walking, slowly, tired, and probably thinking that it was far too early to even be awake, let alone running errands.
"Kanda. Kanda Mochi!"
"What?" she turned her head, suddenly more awake.
Hoshika stood in the doorway, looking at her, "Mochi. We have to go. The others have already left," she turned and left.
She sighed irritably, and followed after the others, still avoiding coming into contact with Hoshika.
--
They arrived at the door to the classroom more or less on time, but having seen Sanada walking on his way, they charged in and skidded in and onto their chairs. Or at least Saiko did. The others, with the exception of Mochi, ran in and sat down hastily.
Seconds later, Sanada walked in and stood at the front of the classroom.
"Today, we are just going to go over what we've learnt so far, so first, I want you all to practice Kidou. The target boards are over there," he waved to an obscure corner of the classroom, "Set them up in rows along the length of the room, so that you have space to move the board back if you can shoot that far."
They all moved off and fetched boards, and Shioru immediately set up hers at the very end, then walked to the other end and fell into position, ready to fire off a shot.
"Shioru," she jumped and looked around. "Start in closer, I don't think you can fire a shot that far, even if you are one of the best kidou students," Sanada looked down at her.
She grinned, "Yeah, just watch me, sensei," she turned back to face the board, "Destructive Arts No. 31, Shot of Red Fire!" she sent a ball of blazing red fire crashing into the board, punching a hole through its centre and leaving it broken on the floor. She turned to face Sanada, triumphantly. "How's that, eh?"
He looked down at her, severely, lips pressed together in a hard, thin line, "You've been practising outside of class."
She ducked her head and looked at the ground, "I haven't, Sanada sensei, I swear I haven't!" It wasn't practise so much as entertainment, old man.
"I don't believe you at all, but since you're such a good shot, I'll let you practise outside, but only in a secluded area and when there is no risk whatsoever of you hitting someone and killing them with the force of those shots," he glanced at the broken board where it lay, in pieces, the broken hole blackened around its edges, "However, if I allow you to do so, I will expect you to show yourself in perfect form each lesson, regardless of what may have happened elsewhere. Understood?" he glared down at her.
She grinned, "Yes, sensei!" Well now I don't have to keep it as so much of a secret.
Saiko was still struggling to produce so much as a spark, and was clearly venting her frustration verbally on the unfortunate target board from her position where she stood less than a metre away.
She looked around desperately and spotted Shioru looking at her with what may have been a small trace of amusement curling around the corners of her mouth. Shioru raised her eyebrows at her and walked over.
"What's the matter with you?" she stood in front of Saiko, now grinning.
Saiko pulled a face, and twisted her hands around randomly in a tragic imitation of the real hand movements, "I can't even make a damn spark, dude. It's like I have no reiatsu at all or something! See?!" she began to move her hands, and speak the incantation, "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Destructive Arts No.31: Shot of Red Fire!"
She looked expectantly at her hands. They twitched slightly, but nothing happened, no fiery ball of crimson fire spewed forth, no miniscule spark flared in the palms of her hands. She threw her arms up in frustration, "I mean seriously, I can't do anything that even vaguely resembles kidou! Even if I say the right words, and do the right things, it still does not work." Her face became progressively darker with each word.
"Well first, you're not moving your hands right, you have to do this, not twist your hands around like that," Shioru demonstrated, then made Saiko repeat this until she got it right. "Now, try the shot."
Saiko nodded. "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Destructive Arts No.31: Shot of Red Fire!"
Nothing.
She sat down on the floor abruptly, and fell back, "It's useless dude. Tell Sanada that I have no spirit energy or something, because I can't."
"That's weird, something should have happened, or at the least, it should have backfired," Shioru scratched her head.
"Che, so the little midget has finally realized she's not the best at everything?" Saiko opened her eyes properly, and hey, who else could that voice belong to, but the supreme and quintessential smug, superior stick-up-your-ass freak, Hoshika Wakanao? She smirked down at her, prodding her with her foot, "At least I can fire a shot off, never mind how big it is. Just goes to show that size really does matter."
Saiko's eyes shot wide open and she swiped at Hoshika's leg, jumping up and shoving her while she was still off-balance, sending her crashing to the floor.
She pumped her fist in the air, "Yeah! Size does matter, because it's always the little ones that win in the end, eh Bakawaka?" she placed her foot squarely on Hoshika's stomach and pressed down ever so slightly so that she tensed up.
"Saiko..." Shioru began to intervene, but was cut off by an angry scream and the sound of something small and heavy crashing through one of the classroom's screen doors. She rolled her eyes and looked at the others, "Well at least they're back to normal now."
They all nodded, peering out through the hole that offered a panoramic view of nothing but ordinary buildings, with their own screen doors and thin paper walls. To the right, they heard an indignant scream followed by a loud thump. They could see Saiko holding Hoshika down with a foot whilst pinching her cheeks as she tried in vain to kick Saiko, succeeding only in putting another hole through the screen door.
Saiko grinned, "And that's for always pinching my cheeks when we were alive, ba—oof!" she fell back, pushed by a strong kick to the stomach. She jumped up and back, rubbing her stomach, "Well you've just made me hungry, so you are doomed, Bakawaka!" she lunged at Hoshika, arms stretched out at her neck, and just when it seemed that the taller girl would end curled up on the floor, they all heard a loud crash from inside. They all froze, looked at each other, then, in a panicked scramble, dived and fell through the hole in the screen.
Saiko and Hoshika were through the screen first, and they froze. There, before them, was the exact scene that had appeared in Saiko's dream two days ago. The seven other members of their class lay scattered around, passed out, if not dead. The triple masked hollow was crouched over Sanada, and rubble lay scattered everywhere under a gaping chasm in the roof, flooding the scene with sunlight and making the hollow's masks seem to glow.
Hoshika leant towards Saiko and whispered, "It's just like your dream."
She nodded, "I know. We're doomed."
As she said this, the hollow moved closer to the body of their teacher, preparing for the spiritual feast that was to come.
They flinched visibly and turned in time to see Mochi pull out her sword, and no sooner than they had wondered in their minds how she could possibly think of taking on a large and unknown hollow with such a sword, she shouted, her whole body constricting to force every last bit of air in her lungs into that cry, "Soragen! Hatsudo!"
They all stared as her sword exploded in a blinding flash of white electricity, coming out transformed into a previously unseen shape, its crossguard gone, a strange pattern racing up its newly white length and a glittering chain ended by two savagely pointed lotus flowers. She held it before her body, and began to charge at the hollow, alternating between shunpo and running. The others looked at each other, shrugged, and on drawing their own empty vessels, charged, screaming their support for the head of the pack, their figurehead for the moment.
The hollow, hearing this clamour, turned away from Sanada's body to look at the girls charging at it. For a moment, the centre mask was a face of filthy rage, then it changed to glee, pure glee and amusement at the six untrained, teenage shinigami running at it, with only one released zanpakutou among them. It grinned, savagely, already tasting these young souls on its mutated tongue as its companions, a mask on each side, screamed and howled, sometimes laughing, cackling in a fine sadistic style.
These soon peeled away, leaving only the torturous screaming and howling of one mask and a mask next to it that no longer pulled a savage smile at the girls as Mochi, her sword ablaze with crackling electricity, struck and cleaved in two the howling mask beside it. Limbs formed from the black mass that was its now writing body, and it clutched at the broken mask, the remaining masks all the while glowering at Mochi.
Suddenly, it gathered its body up and broke into an all out charge towards Mochi, moving so fast that, however great her shunpo skills could have been, she was still struck in the neck by a flailing and misshapen limb as the hollow charged past her, still screaming its horrible dirge.
The others gasped, uttered quiet curses and ran to her as she fell.
"Mochi! Are you ok?" Hiyori screamed into her ear.
Her eyes flickered then closed as her head flopped to one side and she mumbled something incoherent, "Soba... tempura soba... want soba..."
Crouched down around Mochi's limp body, they heard a crash, and a skid, as the hollow broke Saiko and Hoshika's combined record for the greatest hole made in a classroom screen and dragged itself around, once again charging at them. Their small huddle scattered, and Hoshika was left there, standing, looking down at Mochi's body.
"Aww, shit," she picked Mochi up awkwardly and began to flash step away from the hollow in small steps, shouting over her shoulder as she went, "You guys are going to pay for this later!"
Huddled against the far wall with the other three, Saiko sniggered at Hoshika, "Look, Bakawaka's being the brave prince saving the lame damsel in distress!" she cracked up, then fell silent as she realized that they were all glaring at her, "Ok, ok, I know she's probably going to die, but can't you at least see the bright side?"
"No," Shioru cut in shortly, "we can't. Because she probably will get killed, so we should go get some help. Now."
The others nodded in agreement, and Tifa, being the second best at flash stepping, shot off to inform the nearest figure of office, or really, any shinigami that actually knew how to use their sword properly. Saiko glanced at the others, grinned, and ran off after the hollow and her friends, eager to see the outcome.
Hoshika looked down at Mochi, her face relaxed for once and her hand still firmly gripping Soragen.
"Hello again, little sister," Kanda looked down at her, a smirk on his face.
Mochi lay on her back, on something soft. She turned her head to the side and saw grass, beyond it, that same gazebo stood. She closed her eyes again, "Not here again... does this mean I'm mortally injured?"
He smiled, stifling a laugh, the lotus flowers on his necklace clinked gently together, "Nah, you've just passed out in the arms of that smug girl, Wakanao her name was, I think."
Mochi sat up, and one of her hands turned into a fist, "I'm getting rescued by Hoshika? Dammit, I'm getting out of here," she turned and glared at Kanda, "Let me out of here, dammit!"
His smiled widened even more as he shook his head. "No can do, Mochi, if you woke up now, you'd upset that Wakanao girl's pace and she'd probably drop you. Then the hollow would get you, and that wouldn't be nice, would it?"
She gathered a handful of the well-tended grass, and tore it out, throwing it at the river, only to see it swept away by a faint breeze. She turned and saw Kanda laughing quietly, almost silently, "You know it's futile anyway, trying to wake up by yourself. Nothing except an extreme shock would let you wake up without me knowing, but if you really do want to go back, I guess I should send you now, before Wakanao gets into some real trouble," he sighed, and looked away, at the lake, at the flowers resting on their lotus pads, at the sunset casting a golden light over everything.
"Well, at least I was right, about them hiding something, I mean," she spoke quickly.
He smiled and nodded, "Indeed you were. Sayonara."
The last thing she saw was the shattered lotus on the lake then it all faded to black.
She opened her eyes, her return to the world greeted by a startled Hoshika looking down at her as she flash stepped away from the howling hollow behind her.
"So you're not dead?" Hoshika looked over her shoulder, seeing the hollow gaining ground slowly, but inexorably, and glanced back down at Mochi to see her nod, "Then can you carry your own weight and run?"
"Yeah. Put me down, baka."
Hoshika obliged immediately, stopping momentarily to drop Mochi on the ground and continue her escape from the monster. She stepped alone for a while then Mochi caught up and began screaming abuse at her.
"What was that for? You could have at least warned me, so I could have avoided almost getting eaten by that thing back there!"
"Well, it was your fault for attacking it anyway, Kanda," she glanced behind her again, "And I think you should shut your trap now and concentrate on getting away, because that hollow's getting real close now. I don't think you want to get your soul sucked out."
"It's not that close behind," Mochi looked over her shoulder and watched the hollow, "See, it's still at least 50 metres back, ohh no it's not!" her voice peaked and Hoshika flinched, then looked around, thinking the hollow had suddenly come up behind them.
But it hadn't. Instead, all they saw was a blur of black and white, hacking and slashing, gouts of red blood flying, staining everything within reach. Then, once there was no longer anything to slash, nor hack at, Mochi, squinting at the scene, realised the former black and white blur was in fact Zaraki Kenpachi, Captain of the 11th squad.
"Hey, Hoshika," she whispered, nudging the girl, "Isn't that the guy Saiko crashed into during class?"
Hoshika's eyes weren't fixed on the towering man, but instead watched a small red and white figure sitting on a rooftop, "Yeah, but look over there," Mochi followed her line of vision and her eyes widened, "who do you think that is?"
Mochi almost laughed, for the small figure was now running along the tiles, jumping from roof to roof, flailing and screaming, "That's got to be her, I mean, who else would be stupid enough to run around like that on a roof top that far off the ground?"
A smile crossed Hoshika's face, "Kira, that's who. One day, that stupid bastard's going to run out of luck and fall, but I guess that until then, she'll keep doing that," she shook her head and started to walk back to their classroom, where hopefully their classmates and teacher were still alive.
Saiko caught up with them, "Dude! You guys are actually alive! So," she looked from one to the other, "who killed the damn thing?" she grinned expectantly at them.
Hoshika snorted derisively, "Neither of us, you retard, didn't you see the captain tearing into the hollow?"
"No, I didn't," she swung a fist at Hoshika's shoulder, "but I did see you running away like the little sissy you really are," she ducked under Hoshika's swinging elbow, "And I don't think it's all such a great idea, because," she ducked another arm, stepping behind her and jabbing her sides sharply, "I'm shorter than the average person, so it's not that hard for me to avoid such a high blow, and— oof!"
"Really now?" Hoshika dug her elbow into Saiko's stomach harder, "because I think I just got you, despite your supposed height 'advantage'."
"Oh, shut up, and let go of my neck or I'll bite you!" she struggled to free herself from the headlock Hoshika had her in.
"Guys! Just shut up will you?" Mochi cut in, rubbing her temple with one hand and brandishing Soragen dangerously close to their faces with the other. Obediently, they ceased arguing, though Hoshika did not release Saiko's neck.
"Where are we?" Saiko twisted her neck to try and get a better look at their surroundings.
Stopping, Hoshika looked around, not recognising any of the buildings.
"I don't know."
Behind the pair, Mochi sighed and smacked her face with the palm of her hand.
--
"So..."
"Shut up, Kira," Hoshika looked at her irritably from where she sat against the wall of a nondescript and unknown building in a nondescript and unknown part of Seireitei.
"Hey, it's not like it's my fault I dreamt about this happening, it was only the whole RAAWRG-I'M-A-HOLLOW-FEAR-ME bit. And anyway, this is kinda fun," she grinned, because her hair, for once, had gotten out of her face, and it was good.
Mochi glared at her, "That's only because you're hanging upside down, Saiko. You look like a monkey, and truly, you smell like one too," she sniffed and gagged.
Hoshika had smelt it too, "Oh god, what is that?" she clapped a hand over her mouth and nose and tried not to breathe in.
Thump!
"This... This is painful," Saiko said, lying on the ground where she had fallen with her face screwed up, "Do you think hollows have BO?"
Any sneering response from either of the other two girls was cut off as Hiyori ran around the corner, holding a bag that seemed to be the source of the terrible smell.
"Hey guys! I found you!" Yes, Ri, I can see that. Hoshika turned her face away, keeping her hand firmly over her mouth and nose, "Look Sai! I found that ramen you threw away last week!"
Saiko gagged and turned away too, "Dude, that's disgusting, throw it away, or dump it in a bin or something before I pass out and die, will you?" as she said this, she saw Hoshika slump over, her hand dropping to expose her mouth.
Mochi raised her eyebrows, almost amusedly, "Or rather, before Hoshika passes out and dies."
"Yeah," Saiko nudged her body with her knee, "Or that. Smooth, Ri, smooth."
A/N!
(1) Lulz, ultimate wtf-ery. Must change that later.
(2) AHAHAHA! GUESS WHO'S SAYING WHAT! It's probably not that hard though. D:
(3) WITH CHOCOLATE IN IT. D Got some of that stuff from Salzburg when I was there, AND I'M ADDICTED. IT'S A DRUG. D:
And, OUCH. THAT WAS PAINFUL. -sob- Yes, I know it's REALLY too long now, but I couldn't really think of a way to squish all I wanted to write into less than this without ruining the OLULZFAIL effect that I obviously worked so hard on.
And I don't want to write anymore, therefore (is there a symbol for that on the computer?) goodbye, and rejoice, for there will not be anymore tragic writing such as this in the world for another five chapters! Huzzah!