TMOTL
Chapter 20: Explanations
"Orihime can sit on your other side. No boys can sit by you though."
I groaned at my dad choosing who would sit next to me for the explanations I was going to get as he sat down on my right. Orihime paused for a second before sitting on my left so I looked over at Uryu and Chad choosing other places to sit while Hachiro moved to stand in front of everyone.
"Alright. Now, you wanted to know some things?"
"Yes Hachiro. You have a lot to explain."
"Such as?"
"How you managed to kill the hollow, what you were doing over there at that precise time in the first place, why you killed the hollow, what exactly you are, and how you can changed between spirit form and human form."
"Ok. I'll start with the last two. I'm what's called a soul reaper. A soul reaper is a soul that cleanses the souls of hollows so that they can go to the soul society and that sends souls that have trouble passing on to the soul society as well. However, I'm not like most soul reapers. My main job is actually to protect the royal family of the soul society. I'm here on vacation. I can change between a spirit form and this form because this is a gigai. A gigai is an artificial body we use so that we can interact with people that can't see spirits… basically."
"I get the feeling that there's a lot more to all this than you're telling me."
"I can talk about gigais for hours if you like."
"Never mind. Next topic?"
"I cleansed the hollow the way I cleanse any hollow, with my zanpakto. A zanpakto is a double-edged sword that soul reapers use to cleanse hollows and send them to the soul society. We don't kill hollows, we just cleanse their souls so that their souls may go to the soul society and live peacefully. They're no longer hollows when we cleanse them."
"Ok. So, why did you decide you needed to 'cleanse' that specific hollow?"
"Well, I've grown attached to you. You interest me so I couldn't just let the hollow kill you. I was taking a walk when I felt a hollow's presence. I could feel your spiritual pressure going towards the hollow so I headed over. I watched things transpire and these people try to protect you. When they failed, I had to step in. You shouldn't go against hollows on your own, Yama. You're not strong enough to fight them, even with what you did today." I frowned at him.
"Why did you hide this all from me?"
"Why would I tell you any of this? I had no reason to let you know what was going on so I didn't." I sighed in annoyance at him.
"Fine. Whatever. Ok Uryu. It's your turn."
"What?"
"You said you'd explain hollows to me more. Now, get talking."
"Ok. There are different types of hollows. They fall into different categories based on power levels. What we fought today wasn't even a real hollow, though he used to be a vasto lorde, according to what he was saying."
"Uryu, I don't understand what you're saying about hollow power levels and vasto lorde and that thing not being a hollow. It was a hollow! I have seen enough hollows to know that we were facing a hollow today!"
"It was what's called an arrancar. Arrancars start out as hollows, but then they lose parts of their mask and have more power than normal hollows. Most arrancars aren't fully realized now."
"Wait. Now? There was a time when they were?" I asked with my head tilted to the side.
"There was something called the Hogyoku. It allowed someone to create fully realized arrancars. A war between the soul reapers and the arrancars happened," Orihime answered. I looked over at her.
"Ok? How do you know this?"
"I was involved. So was Chad and Uryu. I was taken to Hueco Mundo, where the hollows come from, and forced to work with the arrancars. When they came to save me, I did what I could to help them, though it wasn't much." Orihime seemed sad so I grabbed her hands reassuringly in mine.
"Hey, I'm sure they appreciated the help you gave them and that you did more than you think you did."
"But they probably wouldn't have gotten hurt as badly as they did if it weren't for me."
"Or they could have been hurt even worse. Orihime, you never know what will happen with a certain event so don't worry about what happened with that war, ok?"
"Ok." I smiled at her.
"Great. Now, what else do I need to know?"
"There are different types of hollows. Some types are more powerful than others. Vasto lorde are some of the strongest hollows you can face. Below them are the menos grande. You'll know them when you see them. I'm pretty sure that what you've seen up until now were neither of those."
"Yeah, Uryu, I saw nothing that looked even remotely close the arrancar from today and most of what I see are like that hollow that lured me into a trap with a fake you. Is that a menos grande?"
"No. That was incredibly weak compared to a menos grande. Since you've just seen hollows like that, you haven't seen a menos or a vasto lorde. The hollows you've seen so far are at the bottom. They're the weakest hollows and the easiest to beat."
"That explains why I was able to beat one."
"You beat one?"
"Yeah. I remember that," Yoko said from behind Uryu. He turned his head to look at her.
"What?"
"The first day I was in this town, I saw Yoko getting chased by a hollow. I saved her by killing the hollow."
"Yeah. I was running because I thought that was all I could do. While I was running, I got hit with a powerful blast so I went back to see what was going on and saw that she killed the hollow. But, you fought another hollow off too."
"I didn't kill it though. A guy in a black kimono showed up with a sword and killed it."
"A guy in a black kimono like the one I was wearing?" Hachiro questioned.
"Yeah. He had a fro too. Why? Do you know him or something?"
"No. He's a soul reaper though."
"How do you know?"
"Because the black kimono you refer to is the uniform for all soul reapers."
"Oh."
"If he had the kimono and the zanpakto, he's a soul reaper."
"I don't know if it was a zanpakto, but he was a spirit too so I guess it makes sense."
"Yamasorrowichi, I'm amazed that you killed a hollow on your own. You don't have enough spiritual pressure for that."
"Uryu, it was like today. I managed to send out a blast that was strong enough to send the arrancar flying back. What I did that time though was much stronger. That's how I killed the hollow. I've only ever killed the one though."
"Did you ever figure out what happened with that hollow the day you were going to the sleepover and you decided to save me along the way?"
"Nope. I was running away from it with you. Then a blue thing whizzed past me and the hollow disintegrated."
"I killed it," Uryu told me.
"Really?"
"Yes. I know what hollow you're talking about too. I was out for a walk when I sensed a hollow so I ran towards it. When I got close, I saw you running from it so I killed it from a distance and then headed off again."
"Why'd you just leave afterwards?"
"I thought it best if I didn't explain everything to you at that time."
"Ok. Fair enough. Wait. Hachiro, you showed up after Uryu killed the hollow that day. Why?"
"Once again, I'm interested by you. I sensed a hollow and I sensed you near it so I went to see if you'd be ok." I sighed in annoyance at him.
"Whatever."
"Is that all you wanted to know?"
"Yes Hachiro."
"I'm going to go then."
"Bye."
"I'll be going too. Bye Yama. Bye Uryu. Bye Chad."
"Bye Orihime."
"Bye Orihime. See you in school."
"I'll go too. Bye."
"Bye Chad."
"Bye. See you in school."
"Bye Orihime. Bye Chad. I'll stay just a little longer."
"Ok." Orihime, Chad, and Hachiro all left.
"I'll be keeping Yoko with me for that week. If I get attacked because of her being around, I'll tell you right away, ok Yamasorrowichi?"
"Ok Uryu. Thank you."
"You're welcome. I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"I failed at protecting you today. If Hachiro hadn't shown up when he did, you'd have been killed by the arrancar."
"Uryu, it's ok. I fought it like an idiot."
"I let you because I saw Orihime and I thought she could just put up a barrier to protect you if you were attacked. I can kill arrancars that are fully realized, but I couldn't beat that arrancar while you were in danger. I'm sorry for being useless in keeping you safe."
"No. I'm sorry. I insisted that I go with you instead of just waiting where you told me to. Then I kept putting myself in danger, even though you tried to keep me out of harm's way."
"Mr. Kunarowichi, I failed today at keeping Yamasorrowichi safe. I won't let it happen again though. I will make sure that I do whatever it takes to keep her safe from now on. I'll get stronger and keep her safe."
"Ok Uryu. I'll hold you to that. Take care of Yamasorrowichi. If she's in danger, save her. I leave her in your care when I'm not with her."
"Thank you. I'll make sure that I keep her safe."
"Good." My dad looked at me. "I don't approve of that Hachiro boy, despite him saving you. There's just something about him that makes me feel like he's hiding something. As for Chad, he doesn't talk enough so he'd make you feel neglected." I was so confused by what my dad was saying. "So, out of all the boys I've met, Uryu really is the only one I could ever approve of for you."
"DAD!"
"What?" he asked innocently.
"Now is not the time!" Uryu snickered so I looked over at him.
"What are you laughing about?"
"I'm sorry Yamasorrowichi. It's just that you're incredibly cute. I'll be going now." I got up.
"Ok. I'll show you out."
"Hugs cannot last for more than five seconds!"
"Dad!"
"I'm not joking."
"Come on Uryu." I grabbed his hand and took him to the front door. "Ok. Be careful out there."
"I will. You be careful too. Don't face hollows alone if you can avoid it."
"Ok. Bye Uryu."
"Bye Yamasorrowichi." We wrapped our arms around each other in a hug and he placed a gentle kiss on my forehead before releasing me. "I was worried about you today. I almost lost you and it had me panicked. I didn't know what to do if that happened."
"Oh come now Uryu; you're not getting rid of me that easily."
"Good."
"Hugs better not be lasting more than five seconds over there!"
"DAD!"
(A/N: And Hachiro's presence is sort of explained! Now, I'm tired so quick thing. I don't own Bleach or its characters. I only own Yama, Yoko, Yama's dad, and Hachiro. Thanks for reading! Have a nice day/night!)