Hi guys! Omg I didn't think this was going to be anything worth noting but to the people that took the time to read, add to their alerts and favorites or review - thank you so much! My grammar is not so good so if anything seems funky please feel free to let me know. In the spirit of Halloween I thought I'd post a fun story about monsters and witches and ghosts or what not. I hope you guys like it. Please be patient. I've never done a big story like this and am still learning in this field (while also navigating real life which at this moment is online schooling and losing my kitty cat who I loved very much!) I don't want to end on this sad note, I want to keep posting new chapters and hearing from you. Happy October 1st!
I don't own Bleach
Chapter Two
Orihime frowned and stared determinedly at the cow as it drooled and stared blankly back at her. Flies swarmed around it's head and it's regular brown fur had been dulled to a matted grey. It's normally robust body had been transformed into a sickly skeletal frame.
It was a cold, grey day at the local market. Though winter was a few weeks off, a frigid wind had set in on the small and shadowy, northern village of Karukura.
"Oh no, I know that look," Orihime's best friend Tatsuki groaned next to her as they stood at the nearly vacant market stall. Most of the goods had already been sold, sans one starving cow..
"What?" Orihime asked defensively. At nineteen years old, Orihime was one of the oldest unmarried women in the village. Slim, but healthy and with pretty silver eyes and shiny, long red hair it was a shame that she only had eyes for just one person.
"You want to buy it don't you?" Tatsuki demanded with crossed arms.
"If I had a cow, I could get my own milk," the redhead argued.
"It's a male cow," Tatsuki reminded her. Orihime smiled sheepishly.
"But they're gonna kill him," she offered weekly and gestured to the owner, Mr. Chad. The man shrugged.
"He stopped eating after he got kicked in the head by one of my horses."
"That doesn't mean he can't be saved," Orihime protested with a pout and tugged at her long grey skirts nervously. Though Chad was a nice guy, none of the villagers knew him very well as he kept mostly to himself. It was his late wife that had kept him socially tied to the village, but with her passing Chad had decided to sell his assets and move south.
"Sora wouldn't forgive me if I let you spend the gold he sent you on a lame cow," Tatski argued and shrugged her winter pelt closer to her in frustration.
"He's a vassal to Lord Byakuya Kuchiki now. In his last letter, he assured me that he'll send me part of his monthly pension," Orihime reminded her patiently.
"Good afternoon," a new voice greeted. Chad nodded his head in acknowledgement while Orihime and Tatsuki as one stood up straighter when the local blacksmith, Ichigo Kurosaki and his new bride Lord Byakuya's younger sister, Lady Rukia Kuchiki stepped towards them.
"We're sorry to interrupt," Lady Rukia offered before looking to her husband. She was a tiny, petite thing with a heart shaped face and beautiful dark eyes. Her long black hair was tied loosely down her back in contrast to the common fashion of wearing it in a loose bun. Tatsuki smiled faintly at the woman before side-glancing at Orihime but the red head had only eyes for the blacksmith, Ichigo.
At twenty, Ichigo was not only tall but muscular with piercing brown eyes and short cropped strawberry blonde hair. Orihime was often gushing in private about his strong jaw and perfectly broad shoulders. Tatsuki never thought much on these traits, as she had grown up with Ichigo and viewed him as a goofy brother, but Orihime could not be shaken from her attraction and admiration for the man.
Together Lady Rukia and Ichigo made a handsome couple.
"It's no trouble," Tatsuki spoke when the silence grew awkward. Nodding, Ichigo turned to Mr. Chad.
"I was hoping that I could invite you over for dinner and finish our business today with the land deed," Ichigo told the man. It was well known that Mr. Chad was selling his land and that as the new husband to the local lord's sister, Ichigo was looking to expand his own fortune and improve his status from a mere blacksmith's position.
Instead of answering, Chad merely nodded which unintentionally added to the growing, awkward atmosphere.
"Excellent. If you'll excuse us," Ichigo nodded before he and Lady Rukia turned and briskly walked away.
Orihime watched them go with a mixture of sadness and longing.
"Are you alright?" Tatsuki asked her friend softly and watched as Orihime shook her head before turning back to Mr. Chad with a stiff smile.
"I'd like to buy the cow," she declared.
"What!?" Tatsuki exclaimed and watched with disbelief as Orihime exchanged her gold for the cow's rope.
"Why did you do that?" Tatsuki demanded as Chad took down his market stall and bid them a good afternoon. Tatsuki's exasperation grew when it became apparent the cow had been leaning on the stall and could not properly stand or walk right on his own.
"You can't just give up on something, no matter how dire the circumstances," Orihime snapped at her with an unusual vigor. Tatsuki was wise enough to recognize what her best friend was not saying. Together, the two women braced themselves on either side of the cow and slowly led it towards the outskirts of the village where Orihime''s modest home was located.
"He looks like he's starving, why does he feel so heavy?" Tatsuki complained. Halfway to their destination, both women had let their hair down and despite the cool wind, she and Orihime were both sweating from exertion.
Before Orihime could respond, the village bell rang out in an ominous warning. Tatsuki and Orihime both froze.
"We need to get inside," Tatsuki told her nervously as villagers quickly scrambled past them, some acting as soldiers preparing to fight, while others hurrying to find shelter.
"Do you think it's the Wandereich again?" the red head asked nervously. The fanatic branch of the church that called themselves the Wandenreich had been harassing the northern villages for years in its quest to eliminate the supernatural creatures dwelling in the nearby territory. Any and all that stood in their path were cut down in the name of 'God' even as the true church condemned their violent and barbaric acts.
"We need to hurry!" Orihime exclaimed in fear as she doubled down in guiding the cow along. Unlike Tatsuki who had grown up in Karakura Village, Orihime and her brother had originally come from another village that had burned down in a Wandenreich raid. Thankfully, Lord Byakuya had recently sent his own soldiers to protect Karakura ever since his younger sister had taken up residence after her wedding.
"Leave the cow!" Tatsuki urged just as a horrible screeching sound echoed out from the direction of the Howling Forest..
"No!" Orihime shouted and clung to the cow. The two women watched in growing fear as not a moment later, countless dark blurs shot into the village, all eminting shrieks and howls as they descended down on their human prey.
"Demons!" Tatsuki shouted. They moved fast and were hard to see, but both women knew what they looked like from memory. With bulbous orange eyes and shapeless black bodies with wings, their faces were covered in a skeletal mask. Their killing features were their abnormally large mouths filled with razor teeth that they used to tear into humans. Demons were lower class supernatural creatures that were often controlled by more powerful entities like goblins or witches.
Occasionally, they would come out of the Howling Forest to feed. If the villagers of Karakura were lucky, the Wandenreich and the Demons would encounter one another outside of their settlement and destroy each other, but more often than not, the conflict bled into their territory.
"We are going to die if we don't get inside!" Tatsuki shouted amidst the growing chaos.
"I'm not leaving my cow!" Orihime insisted. They were both unprepared when one demon flew down between them and swooped the cow up in its talons before it fled back into the Howling Forest.
"Not my cow!" Orihime screamed and took off before Tatsuki could properly grab her.
"Orihime wait!" Tatskui cried and chased after her. Despite her boots and long skirts, the red head was surprisingly fast. The dark hair girl only managed to catch up with her friend when they were both well and truly deep in the forest. It was a spooky place with thick, black covereage that completely blocked out the sun. Strange plants and hostile animals were common and unfortunately so was death.
"What were you thinking, Orihime!? We're never supposed to enter the Howling Forest," Tatsuki hissed as she grabbed Orihime by the shoulders and tried to steer her friend back towards the direction of the village.
"Over there! I think I see Tsubaki!" Orihime exclaimed and shrugged out of her friend's grip before running off into a cluster of nearby bushes. Tatsuki had no choice but to follow.
"Tsubaki?" Tatsuki couldn't help but ask only to pause when Orihime shushed her and gestured to the small clearing.
"I decided to name the cow Tsubaki," she explained. The two women spotted the cow, resting against a tree and chewing on some foliage, oblivious, while the demon that had carried it off was engaging in a fight with a man with a glowing bow and arrow.
"It's a Wandenreich soldier," Tatsuki whispered. Beside her, Orihime had completely sight of the pristinely dressed man of white and cold had sent her back into a terrible flashback where a man in similarly dressed garb had pointed one of those glowing arrows at her and accused her of being a witch because of her red hair.
"Foul beast," the man presently spat as he fired a glowing arrow at the demon just as it had started its charge. The arrow hit the demon directly in the forehead before it exploded in flaming guts and gore.
Orihime couldn't help but squeak in dismay at the sight only to instantly regret as the man turned his attention towards their hiding place. Shaking, Orihime tried to quietly retreat, aware that Tatsuki was mirroring her movement. The seriousness of the situation was slowly starting to dawn on Orihime and she was beginning to regret chasing the cow into the Howling Forest.
"What's this, another demon?" the man murmured as he parted the bushes. Orihime and Tatsuki froze up as the man spotted them.
"Ah, it's only to two villagers. No matter,"
Such a statement only brought the two women more terror as the man narrowed his eyes at them before notching another arrow, this time in their direction.
"No," Orihime murmured. She felt more than saw Tatsuki clutch her hand and curl in on herself as she braced herself for the end. The red head could only watch helplessly at the glowing arrow.
Her last thought was that she wished her brother, Sora was with her. That thought followed by the miraculous appearance of a white and shadowy figure rising up from behind the girls and jumping onto their attacker. It happened fast and chaos ensued.
"Tatsuki!" Orihime called as she jerked her friend away from the violent scene unfolding before them. They just managed to get out of the way before the Wandenreich soldier stabbed a small silver cross shaped blade into the back of newcomer's skull and in retaliation was hurled the through the bushes where they had been hiding, and then some distance beyond where the Wandenreich impacted with a tree.
Orihime only had a moment to take in the newcomer's dark hair and pale skin before he charged after his foe. The sequence afterwards happened so quickly, neither woman could believe their eyes when the newcomer sliced off the Wandenreich's soldier's head just as a blue arrow flew out and hit the newcomer directly in his chest and sent him sprawling on his back near Orihime's feet.
Silence descended on the forest. Orihime only stirred from her shock when Tsubaki let out a nearby 'moo.'
"Did - did that just really happen?" Tatsuki gasped before turning to Orihime in alarm.
"Are you hurt?"
Orihime barely heard her as she knelt towards the unconscious man on the ground. She noted immediately how deathly pale he looked. He wore black trousers that were torn in various spots and his lack of a shirt made it easy for Orihime to spot the no longer glowing arrow protruding from his chest. To her surprise, it had not hit him directly in the heart but off to the side somewhat.
"He saved our lives," the red head murmured as she ran her hands through his limp black hair, grimacing when she found a bloody wound on the back of his head. It was surprisingly deep. She remembered that the Wandenreich soldier had stabbed him but could not find any sign of the blade.
Leaning over his chest, Orihime listened for a heart beat but sighed when she found none.
"Leave him, he's dead," Tatsuki dismissed. Orihime could tell that her friend was anxious to leave the Howling Forest and shared the sentiment. Nodding, Orihime turned to the stranger. It was a shame that they could not stay and bury him, but any moment longer in the forest put them in more jeopardy.
"Thank you for saving us," she told him softly, before moving to stand.
Before she could find her feet, however, a pale hand shot out and grasped hers.
Shouting in surprise, the red head jerked back only to find a pair of green eyes staring up at her.