"The Jirichi's in...
Some place called Alaska.
From what he knew about geology, it was pretty damn cold up there.
Pretty damn far away too.
Upon his return, he was surprised to see that the bout had continued without him, and in fact, the only two left to have at it were Ying and had just finished his match with Jacqli, but it had been declared it a draw, so both would pass. But at the moment, Ichigo really couldn't care less, in fact, he was just about ready to call it a day.
Again.
"Kaname, continue in my place, will you?"
When the latter gave him a questioning look, the vizard replied with a:
"I gotta get some rest."
"Why the long face?" Gin asked with that sly grin of his, as the vizard trudged past.
"It's a long story." Ichigo muttered, pushing past him...
--
"Open." He commanded, and a portion of the wall before him slid up, revealing a door.
Upon entering it, a wave of killer intent greeted him.
"Who let you in?"
"Your fraccion."
"What do you want?"
"..." He looked to the side.
'Feh, I don't even know why I'm doing this...
Gathering his fragmented thoughts, he finally spoke. "Does...that wound still hurt?"
"I bear my scars with pride." She snorted.
"Jeez, what good is pride if you're dead?" The shinigami muttered.
"Oh, come to gloat have you?" Eva countered, still refusing to look at him, but trying to ignore the warm sensation of blood trickling down her back. "Well save it for someone who cares! I don't need your pity, shinigami!"
"Shut up."
A small gasp escaped her throat as he touched her bare back, his fingers brushing up against raw, torn flesh.
"A-Ah!" Shrieking in surprise, she whirled around to smack him, but the strawberry caught her wrists in a crushing grip. "Okay, I'm really, really tired your complaints!" Looking at his face remained her of that horrifying mask, and made the arrancar fight even harder.
In his current state of mind, Ichigo wasn't willing to tolerate any of it.
"Enough! Shut up, don't move, and stay put!" Forcing her down, he now pinned Eva down on the bed, with her chin resting atop the pillow, so as to prevent her from suffocating. Keeping her arms restrained at the small of her back, he freed one hand, and placed it over the wound.
It came back slick with blood.
'Crap, I really did overdo it...
"Get your filthy hands off me, murderer!"
"Hold still!" He grunted as she began her struggle anew, making it difficult to restrain her with only one arm. "You're going to bleed to death at this rate."
"Why?"
"What?" He blinked in surprise as she briefly ceased her struggles.
"Why are you trying to heal me? You know it won't change anything between us."
"I know."
"I'm still going to kill you."
"Yeah, I know, I know." He muttered to himself.
For a moment, there was silence.
"Why did you kill my sister?"
"..."
"Hey, its not like I went there with the intent of killing just her," He gently massaged the wound, feeding a steady stream of his reaitsu into it, and trying his best to keep her distracted before the pain from the transfusion set in. "Besides, Halibel wasn't even at full strength when we fought her-
"We?" She twisted her head around to frown at him over her shoulder. "Who is this 'we' you keep speaking of?"
"Well," This was the tricky part. Either way, she wasn't going to be changing her disposition anytime soon, so he'd have to feed the other half of the story, albeit with a few changes, if he wanted to keep her under control. "Did you see your sister's death, or did you only hear about it?"
Briefly, she relaxed.
"No...I didn't see it."
"Then would you like to see what really happened?"
Just like that, every fiber in her being went on high alert.
"If you're about to lie to me-
She didn't have time to finish, for the wound now closed itself.
"Brace yourself." He warned. "This might sting-
Major understatement.
"Ah!" Eva screamed as fire coursed through her veins, setting off every nerve in her body. Ichigo wisely released her, and almost imediately, she began to tremble, even as she sat up. Throwing her arms around herself, she shot him a glare. "The...hell...is this...?!"Eva had no recollection of this, she had no idea what this sensation was, other than an exhilerating mix of pain and ecstasy, all at the same time.
"Well, you lost alot of blood and reiatsu, so I...gave you some of mine."
"WHAT?!"
'Hopefully, that wasn't a mistake...
"AH!" Bright, emerald eyes tripled and then scrunched themselves tightly shut. "Ah...shit! What's happening to me?!"
"Looks like you're rejecting my blood." He offered. "Painful isn't it?"
"No shit sherlock!" She snarled, wishing it would all just stop...
And all at once, the pain did just that...
It stopped.
What was left, felt like the afterglow of an orgasm, heaven in this wretchedly humid wasteland. But no matter how good it felt, Eva had to remind herself that this was the blood of the enemy, her sister's killer, flowing through her veins.
She both loved it, and hated it, all at the same time. Part of her wanted to get as far away from this-this thing, as she could, but another, wanted it, craved it, reveled in it, basked in this glorious sensation of pure adrenaline, raw unfiltered power, that was now her own to command.
"I...owe you, I guess." She muttered half heartedly. "Now show me how sis died. I wanna see the full battle, from start to finish."
"That'll be two you owe me then." He countered quietly.
"You say something?"
"...Nothing. Ulquiorra's outside. Talk to him about it."
With that, he headed back to his room to get some shut eye.
He only prayed his mind would be able to rest as well.
'Inoue....was that... really you back there?'
--
(Menos Forest)
"Ah!" She hit the ground with a hard, audible thud, bleeding at the left shoulder, and from her right leg, where she'd been brutally slashed. Now she remembered why she didn't come down here anymore. Vasto Lorde dwelled down beneath these sands, and as luck would have it, she'd encountered not one, not two, but three of them.
"C'mon! Get up!"
A massive shadow loomed over her, and she found herself staring up at one of them, a stocky humanoid, male by his voice, with an X shapped mask.
When she made no move to rise, the high level hollow kicked her with its spiked foot, the sharp points of its heel digging into her Inoue's abdomen, and prompting a small gasp.
"Did you see that?" A snide female voice laughed from somewhere behind her, but before Orihime could determine the identity of its owner, a cero picked her up off the sands, and violently heaved her body into the air. For a moment, she hung there, praying that they'd just leave her alone...
Alas, it was not to be.
Another hollow flash soon slammed into her back, burning right through h sending the poor adjuchas flying through a tree.
There, the last vasto lorde was waiting there for her, and its teeh curved up into a wide grin behind it's oval shaped mask.
"Die bitch!"
The next ten seconds were a blur, for the three vasto's harassed her even as she fell to the ground, scraping and slashing at her, yet thankfully not once did they bite her. She didn't want to be stuck this way, she couldn't bear the thought of it...
When at last the girl came too, she was on the ground, bleeding.
"She saved that menos! Ha!" The first one laughed, digging its booted heel into her mask.
"P-Please stop...
"Stop? Ha! You hear that? She want's us to stop!"
She now noticed the hollow's foot was right next to her mouth.
"She's way too softhearted to be an adjuchas!"
Unbidden, the hunger rose within her.
"Let's just eat her and get it over with."
I'm...so hungry...
"Fine," Sighed the second, then...
So...hungry...
"Hey, watch it!!"
Too late, her jaws closed on the hollow's heel, and with a sickening tearing sound, Orihime ripped off a huge chunk of flesh, and swallowed it. Screaming in fury, the second hollow sprang at her, but she somehow rolled away, just before she could be stabbed by the vasto's pincer like arms.
The claw again struck a mere centimeter from her face, and before she could stop herself-
RIIIIP!
The Vasto Lorde shrieked as Orihime bit off its entire hand, chewed once, then swallowed.
"YEARGH! My arm !" It howled, glaring fiercely at her, causing the former human to gul nervously in fear. "Bitch, you are so-
"K-Koten Zanshun!"
Tsubaki flew from the side of her mask, ripping off a good chunk of the vasto's face in an eyeblink. Startled, his comrades leapt back, wary of the darting blur that had just taken the life of their terror did not have time to sink in for Orihime. No, her soul howled for food, and against her will, even as she squeezed shut her eyes behind the mask, she was all too aware of everything, devouring the hollow with ravenous haste.
Horrified that she'd done such a thing, she nearly vomitted on the spot, as Tsubaki returned to her.
Then, the remaining vasto lorde turned their gaze upon her.
Content, the hunger left, and renewed strength flowed through her, but Orihime didn't want to stick around regardless. Making use of the one thing she was good at, the adjuchas ran, trying to ignore how heavy her body felt. Despite her limber build, she could barely even walk now, a result of absorbing so much reaitsu at once.
Eventually, she couldn't move at all, not without searing pain.
Why can't I move... I feel...strange...
As she slowed to a halt, her entire body began to glow a vivid orange.
'What's...happening to me....
She began to tremble, as the vasto lorde closed in.
"Ah shit, she's changing! Quick! Eat her before its too late!"
"Shut up! I know what I'm doing!"
Slowly, those wide, gaping jaws seemed to close in on her...
Yet still, she couldn't move.
"That is quite enough."
A series of thin red lines appeared across its chest, then the hollow fell apart, reduced to little more than bloody chunks. A flash of a dark, tattered shihakusho was seen now, then a soul reaper with red hair could be seen, a zanpaktou held tightly in his right hand.
The sole remaining vasto tried to run, but the man pointed his sword towards it, and uttered:
"Die before my eyes, hollow scum."
Just like that, the hollow turned to stone, and fell into a million pebbles.
"There." He nodded to himself, and turned to face her. "Now you, adjuchas, have some explaining to do."
Orihime vaguely recalled his name. Rukia had told her about him, during their escape from Hueco Muendo.
"I saw you save that hollow from those vasto lorde. Tell me why?"
Ashido...
"Um...I...well...
"Answer quickly, or I'll do to you what I did to those 'friends' of yours."
"N-No! They're not my friends, they-
But before she could hope to defend herself, her entire body went rigid, and the dim orange glow around her abruptly turned into a blazing aura.
"Uh-oh." Was all she could manage...
Before the transformation began.
--