Here we go! Hope you like it.
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Chapter Twelve
Hints
Las Noches, Hueco Mundo
"Well what do we have here? I knew you would come, Short, but I didn't expect you to bring a friend," Koboi purred. She wore what appeared to be a white pants suit that hugged her curves, the neckline of the shirt was cut low leaving the hole in the left side of her chest clearly visible. Her straight dark hair fell to her shoulders, and her mask remnant circled the top of her head rearing up in front in the shape of a cobra's head with the hood spread and fangs bared. Her delicate pixie features would have been pretty if they had not been twisted into a condescending sneer. Piercing dark eyes were focused on Holly. The elf realized that her old enemy was taller now, human sized.
"Where is Artemis?" Holly demanded, her miss-matched blue and hazel eyes meeting Koboi's without flinching.
"You really should be more concerned about yourself, Captain," Koboi lowered her eyes a moment taking in the fact that Holly no longer wore the LEP uniform. "Or should I say former captain?"
Holly ignored the Arrancar's mocking tone. "Why should I be worried? We've beaten you before," she pointed out. From the corner of her eye she could see Ishida moving, he pulled something from his weapon's belt and drove it into the ground. He started stealthily moving away, pulling out another of the mysterious objects. Holly wasn't sure what he was doing, but she knew her job was to keep Koboi from noticing. Considering the former Pixie's obsessive nature that shouldn't be too difficult.
Koboi's sneer never wavered at Holly's defiance. "I am aware of the past, but I am so much more powerful now. Ironically you and Fowl are the ones who made that possible. Had I not died in our last encounter I would still be a mere Pixie, reliant on runes and black magic. Now I make my own magic. Those in this world who do not answer to me fear me and soon I well have an army to take the others."
"If you owe us so much, why did you capture Artemis? Why can't you just leave us alone?" Holly asked, taking a step back. She was beginning to recognize the shape Ishida was making with his stakes and suspected it would be better if she was outside it when he finished.
"I still want revenge, you two were at least partly responsible for my death after all," she spoke as if this was completely reasonable. "Besides, I couldn't leave Fowl loose to concoct any plans to rescue you."
"Rescue me?" Holly kept backing away, she was almost clear. Ishida was holding a vial of blue liquid, poised to pour it onto the last stake he had placed in the pentagon.
"Of course. I am searching for a magical artifact. I need your help to find it."
"You know I would never help you!" just a few more steps.
"Poor choice of words on my part. I need you to motivate the archaeologist who can find it. She's already been enlisted thanks to an old…acquaintance of yours. She is giving us an awful lot of trouble, however. I suspect she would cooperate better with you around."
Holly froze. Was Koboi suggesting what she thought? Was it even possible? A part of her desperately wanted to believe it.
Ishida let a drop of the liquid fall onto the stake. Blue reishi exploded within the pentagram. Holly stared at it, wishing she could have gotten more information from Koboi. Ishida ran past her, grabbing her arm and dragging her away. "Come on! She's strong, I don't know how long that will slow her down." Holly started running, struggling to keep up. If not for his hold on her she would have fallen behind. She realized he was using reishi to propel himself, moving faster than humanly possible. She focused, mimicking him, not only to move faster but to take her mind off Koboi's' words. She had probably been lying anyway.
"I can't sense Inoue's reiatsu anywhere in Las Noches," Ishida informed her.
"Artemis would have realized she was trying to lure me in. He might have found a way to escape and taken Inoue with him," Holly decided.
"Maybe Koboi didn't take her in the first place and Fowl is still here," Ishida pointed out.
Holly shook her head, "Then who else would have taken her? Aizen is still in prison. Our best chance is to get out of here and hope you can zero in on her reiatsu. If Artemis isn't with her we can come back."
"That might not be our only option. I can sense two of the Arrancars who helped us get to Las Noches before. They might know where they are."
"I thought Arrancars were the bad guys."
"The third one was a little girl. She took a liking to Kurosaki."
"But she's not one of the ones that's here now?"
"No, but these two shouldn't be hard to get information out of."
"I guess it's worth a try," she just hoped he was right.
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Abandoned Caves, Hueco Mundo
Artemis was awakened by a kick to his side. "Where is she?" Kasai demanded as he sat up.
"Who?"
"Your little girlfriend isn't here. Where has she gone?"
Artemis stood so that Kasai wasn't looming over him quite as much. She suddenly seem very threatening. "She has nightmares. Perhaps she couldn't sleep and went outside."
"Daichi and Akio were keeping watch. They never saw her leave. How could she have gotten past them?" Why was she so eager to find Orihime? She didn't sound worried about her.
"Perhaps they fell asleep," Artemis suggested. Kasai raised a hand as if to strike him, but restrained herself.
"Go find her." Her tone implied a threat if he failed. Artemis slipped past her towards the cave entrance, glad Kasai hadn't insisted on looking herself. Holly should be the one dealing with this. She would have known exactly what to do with Kasai. She would have been able to protect Orihime.
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Edge of the Valley, Hueco Mundo
Orihime turned to see the same Arrancar who had taken her from the lab at Las Noches. "Who are you?" she asked, surprised by her own boldness. Shouldn't she be afraid of him?
"Ulquiorra Schiffer, I was the fourth Espada when Aizen gave the orders." Orihime somehow knew that meant he had been the fourth strongest of the ten strongest Arrancars that had worked for Aizen. "I was also the one who brought you here before." He seemed be watching her reaction, so she didn't react.
"You know I don't remember?" she tried to stay as poker faced as he was, but the chance to get answers made that difficult.
"It was not difficult to guess what the Shinigami had done. Besides there would hardly be a point in asking me anything if you did remember."
"So it was the Shinigami who took my memories? Why?" all attempts at a poker face were abandoned.
"It was most likely the Shinigami, although it is possible there was some other cause. If the Shinigami are responsible it would be because they considered you a traitor after you healed myself and two other Arrancars."
"So were they right?" Why did she think he would tell the truth? There was no reason to believe him.
"Aizen arranged things so that it would appear you were willing to come. You were not, you came only to protect your friends. I do not pretend to understand your motivation to heal us. Except Nelliel, she helped your friends find you."
"So people came for me last time," she whispered. He didn't answer. It wasn't really a question anyway. "Did Koboi send you after us?"
"Yes," he answered simply. That surprised her. Just because she thought it was true didn't mean he would say so. Of course he had just admitted to kidnapping her. She doubted there was anything she could do about it if he wanted to drag her back to Las Noches. She was about to ask him why had hadn't yet when she heard Artemis calling her.
She looked down at the valley and saw Artemis standing in front of the cave they had spent the night in. When she turned back around Ulquiorra was gone.
"Orihime!" Artemis called again. Was that the first time he had used her name without an honorific?
"Coming!" She called back, not sure he could hear. She retraced her steps around the edge and back down the path that led into the valley. Artemis was waiting for her.
"I thought you had wandered off and gotten yourself eaten!" he exclaimed when they no longer had to shout.
"Sorry. I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk."
As they walked back to the cave Kasai came to meet them. "I can't imagine how you got out without anyone seeing. You really shouldn't wander alone out there." Orihime thought the concern in her voice sounded false.
"I didn't mean to worry anyone. I didn't go far."
"Where were you?" Kasai asked.
"Just exploring some of the other caves." Artemis was holding such a good poker face that Orihime wondered if he and Ulquiorra could possibly be related.
"You're lucky a Hollow didn't show up. I sent Daichi and Akio to look for food. They should be back soon." Kasai started back towards the cave, but Orihime and Artemis hung back. Artemis waited until the Arrancar disappeared inside to speak.
"She was angry when she found out you left. I think you might have been right about her. She certainly doesn't seem to like the idea of us finding a way back without her. How did you get out anyway?"
"Remember how someone passed us in Las Noches? I just concentrated on not wanting the Visoreds to see me and walked right past them." Artemis looked at her in surprise and she hurried to tell him the rest. She described her encounter with the Hollow and her conversation with Ulquiorra. "It doesn't make any sense, he had the perfect opportunity to take me back to Las Noches, but I'm still here."
Artemis nodded, "At least we know we were right about you being here before, and now we have some idea why you don't remember—if he was telling the truth.'
"I think he was, but I guess we can't be sure. Admitting we were enemies before could be a trick to make me think he was being honest when the rest was lies."
"At this point all we can do is hope that Holly gets here soon so we can leave."
Orihime nodded, but after being teased with possible answers she wasn't sure she wanted to leave.
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I kind of feel sorry for Daichi and Akio, seems like they get stuck doing all the work.
Obviously I'm messing with the end of the Arrancar Arc here. I just didn't think it made sense for Orhime to let someone die right in front of her like she did Ulquiorra, and frankly I didn't want him to be dead even if it did make sense. As for Grimmjow I'm not up to date on the mange, but I don't think he died and it made sense to me that Orhime would heal him if she came across him while looking for Nel. Anyway, let me know what you think.
Thanks and prayers,
RAHbooks.