Things she didn't expect when her eyes fluttered open and shoots of pain made her groan aloud were this, she was still alive, she was lying on some sort of bed of rags—her Shihakusho she found out later—and when her head wasn't spinning any more as she cautiously sat up, she was nearly naked.
Her hands grasped at the white under kimono, bringing it up to cover her bosom, her wide violet eyes suspiciously scanned the sandy ground and crystalline trees, realizing in fact that she was still in Hueco Mundo. But not dead and in some Hollow's belly.
Why?
A shifting noise to the side brought her eyes to the Hollow, the one whom she had been fighting with before. He was small, his size perhaps in relation to an Adjucha from a textbook, yet his claws looked more like hands now that she looked at them. They stared at each other, Hollow and Shinigami for what seemed like an eternity until Rukia couldn't take it anymore.
"Why didn't you kill me?"
~~~*~~~
Her single question burned in his mind, echoing, turning over as he examined the words for their real meaning. Why hadn't he eaten her like he'd originally planned? The Shinigami wasn't particularly powerful; indeed he was much stronger than her. Instead he'd carried her unconscious and tended to the single bite he'd taken out of her side, leaving her slumbering and undressed in the pile of her clothes. Her eyes watched him, not with terror reflected in them only confusion.
"You weren't worthy of me."
His response stunned her, he saw. Not only the depth of his voice, smooth and baritone or the careful inflection of the words but as a whole. She wasn't worthy of him? The Shinigami adjusted the fabric she held to cover her body, crossing her arms over it, "I wasn't worthy of you?" she seemed to be asking herself so he didn't bother responding.
She sniffled a little, almost sounding like a giggle escaping her tightly pressed lips. He simply ignored her and continued on what he was doing. In time after she had settled down, her curious violet eyes finally took in his movements and obvious lack of success.
"You're trying to start a fire?" A raven eyebrow was cocked; then she crawled onto the sand, keeping a firm hand on the white kimono wrapped around her. She knelt beside him, her right hand over the crushed sticks in the tiny mound. Muttering something, most likely a Shinigami spell, she lit the glittering wood into a small blaze.
Forgetting for a moment what was beside her, she turned a triumphant smile to him. It faltered only the littlest bit when she recalled him for what he was. Sharply then she went back to her perch, perhaps mentally berating herself for treating him differently.
"Shinigami, there's one thing I want to ask you. Why are you here?"
She looked surprised, just as she had before at hearing him speak then inhaled deeply, "I don't understand why you want to know since you're just going to eat me later anyway. But…it's to atone. To make up for my sins, that's why I'm here."
~~~To be continued I guess~~~
A/N: hmm short but eh, well I'm still not sure about keeping this…anyhow.-) sleepy…