Anju gritted her teeth as she stared at the hollow in front of her and out of the corner of her eye a shadowy figure hiding in the shadows of the trees.
"I didn't expect an Arrancar to be out here." The shadow hissed. "How disgusting."
One thing was certain that voice didn't belong to anyone she had heard before, and even though his body was hidden that silhouette was unmistakably a Soul Reaper's Shihakushō.
"I was hunting down this hollow known as Ebirukoyōte
but I didn't expect to find an Arrancar chasing him as well." The Soul Reaper chuckled, "Are you wanting to eat him for your gain, filthy Arrancar?" He continued to taunt the woman, "I bet he looks tasty to a beast! Then again I bet you look tasty to him as well. Either way, you beasts can hash it out I will make sure Ebirukoyōte dies here and now, and then report to my Captain my findings."
Anju's eyes lit up as she stared at the Soul Reaper in fear. He was going to report her to a Captain, which meant that she'd be hunted yet again. She couldn't let that happen! Not till Veigas got a chance to explain her situation to the Soul Society! She did her best to calm herself and exert her anger onto her Zanpakutō's handles as she gripped them tighter. On the other hand, this Soul Reaper was an idiot for revealing his orders to her.
Ebirukoyōte cackled,"Kahaha! GO on ANJU! TeLL OuR NEw FRIeND HeRE WHy YoU'Re REaLly HEREEE!" He started quietly whispering to both of them, "She's a runaway!" This his voice raised in volume, "A-A ... KEHKEHKEH," Finally his voice gave out and he vehemently shouted, "TRAITOR!"
Anju stared at both of them with complete shock in her face. Both of them could run off and tell either side where she was hiding, on one hand, if the Soul Reaper got away it meant only she would be in danger. On the other hand, if the Hollow got away she'd risk endangering anyone who harbored her if she didn't come out and return to Hueco Mundo. Although . . . if Ebirukoyōte were to escape, Hueco Mundo was in it's darkest never-ending monstrous free-for-all, Espada turning against Espada now. It was all a power-gain monarchy though. So at least she could take the risk that he'd most likely get eaten.
Just then the Soul Reaper leaped and spiraled towards the giant wolf-like hollow. Unsheathing his Zanpakutō. Ebirukoyōte reflected his measly attempt to strike him, sending the Soul Reaper flying.
"Hm?" Anju audibly expressed her absorption.
Anju was honestly a little bit surprised that the Soul Reaper was so easily overpowered, however, she knew that the Soul Reaper could very well be hiding his power.
"WELL!" Ebirukoyōte grinned, "I bESt BE gOiNg NOw."
Anju quickly swung her Zanpakutō by their chains, using her reiatsu she can extend the said, "chains." The two Kama blades spun around Ebirukoyōte before trapping him in an entanglement of knotted chains.
Ebirukoyōte bellowed, "GAAAAHRRRRWWWRR" His voice became distorted as he yelled but it sounded like a thousand voices at once. "LET ME GO!"
"Execute," Anju whispered.
The chains began to tighten before essentially popping the hollow like a zit. Anju stared at the hollow's remains as they began to fade into thin air. Her eyes had this cold expression, the same expression you'd find on an unremorseful killer. Just then she could sense the Soul Reaper running back, his spiritual energy seemed bigger than before.
"I can't risk staying in this form any longer, or having a witness . . ." Anju mumbled. "But... I can't kill him- right?" Anju pondered, "Maybe . . . I could? No, I promised Veigas. If he convinces them I'm good, a murder of a Soul Reaper by my own hands would be bad for me."
"HYAHH!" The Soul Reaper yelled before lunging himself at the woman,
quickly whipped one of her Kama's back to deflect his attack. Which caused his blade to bounce out of his hands.
He was nowhere near her level even with her body readjusting gaining her powers back. She was the former Forth Espada- hell! She was probably the only Forth Espada still until her subordinates proved they could take her position or some other Arrancar could fill the space she left. No matter how he came at her she could easily reflect anything he threw at her, even the ball of red energy he was charging.
"Hadō Technique Number 31: Shakkahō!" The Soul Reaper yelled as he finished charging the Hadō technique.
Anju smirked as she had thrown her Zanpakutō into the dirt. The dual-kama blades were now sheathed in the ground. She quickly held her left arm up and with the flick of her wrist, she used her index finger to reflect the ball of Kidō energy back at her foe. She then used her Sonido to quickly move behind the man and open up a Garganta. The impact of his own attack would surely knock him out as he had put most if not all of his reiatsu into his attack. He would wake up in an abyss of hollows, the homeworld to hollows. As the man passed through she walked to the front to see him land on the other side.
"I'm sorry . . ." Anju whispered as the Garganta closed. "I had to do this, I refuse to kill you myself, but I also refuse to let you destroy what Veigas made happen for me, or potentially risk hurting Hanabi."
She had to be sure that her identity wouldn't be revealed . . . not just for Veigas or herself anymore, but for Hanabi. Anju felt herself blushing at the thought of wanting to protect Hanabi, but it was true even though she didn't know her for long she felt a connection with her.
"I'm on my way home Hanabi." Anju smiled to herself, as she slipped on the necklace and ring, Veigas gave her.
Once again her identity was masked and her hole had disappeared, and her Arrancar outfit faded with the hole, revealing the clothes she had on originally.
"Anju?" Hanabi yelled as she looked around the house for her friend.
Cordelia huffed, "Maybe she up and left. Or maybe that boogie monster you all keep talking about, ATE HER!" Cordelia insensitively joked.
Hanabi's head whipped back at Cordelia, "That wasn't funny."
Cordelia frowned, "I'm sorry . . ."
Tatsu chuckled, "Poor Umbilical Cord. She's being cut off."
Zahro smirked and couldn't help but laugh slightly at the nickname Tatsu gave Cordelia.
Cordelia went to gut-punch Tatsu, but of course, he was the quickest in the group and swiftly ducked under her before pushing her forward into the kitchen.
"Hey!" Cordelia screamed, "Whoa! AHHH!" As she fell and got back up she noticed a letter on the kitchen counter. "Hey, Hana! A letter from Anju is in here!"
Hanabi ran into the kitchen from one of the living rooms to grab the letter.
She began to read the letter out loud, "Dear, Hanabi. I was feeling upset about being too anxious to meet your friends today. So I decided to go for a walk if you get back home before I do." Hanabi glared at Cordelia, "See! Not EATEN! Just taking a walk!" Hanabi had emphasized, "eaten," just to rub it in Cordelia's face.
Hanabi couldn't help but feel guilty though, when Anju gets home she'll be greeted by faces and people she had yet to meet or hardly knew.
"Let's go up to my room guys." Hanabi waved for her friends to follow her. 'I hope Anju doesn't get too overwhelmed meeting Tatsu and Cordelia, and officially meeting Zahro- and Kayn whenever he got back from running back to their house.' Hanabi thought to herself.
They all took their places in her room the girls sat on Hanabi's California King sized bed. The boys sat on the floor beside the bed. Her room had this nice eggshell beige color to it, with two arch windows that met in the middle on the opposite side of her door. The room itself probably took up nearly a thousand square feet. Other than a few decorations here and there and her walk-in closet the room was pretty vacant beside her bookshelf, bed, and her flatscreen television.
The house was full of chatter between Cordelia questioning Hanabi about her choices of giving some random homeless woman a place to stay, and a hopeless Tatsu trying to impress an uninterested Zahro. The group was busy in their own little world of socializing, another hollow was near the house, looking inside. It screeched as it swooped in towards the house.
The group yet again began to panic again as they saw the illuminating blood-red eyes in the night sky out one of the big arch windows in Hanabi's room.
SCRRRREEEEEE! It sounded like the wind screeching, or maybe it was the beast, either way, the red eyes disappeared, and the group looked around questionably.
Tatsu frowned, "Awe! I thought I was about to have a moment to show off to Zahro." He smirked, "Bet I could kick a monster's ass faster than you could Zahro."
Zahro glared, "You wish, fanboy."
Cordelia sighed, "Hanabi, I think my eyes are broken, I can only hear them, I can't see them and if I try to it just looks like . . . - it looks like when you look at a road after a long day of heating up and you can kind of see the heat waves."
"Oh my, well, maybe you're lucky. They're the stuff of nightmares. I wish I could unsee that big beast from earlier and that cockatoo-looking monster from just now." Hanabi sighed, "Maybe we're all tired and we just need a break."
Just then Hanabi's door slammed open.
"Yo! Ho-ho~ Kayn has arrived." Kayn obnoxiously announced his arrival, with a timid Anju behind him. "I found a party guest on the way back! By the way Zahro, the house is all locked up just like you asked, and I brought Pizza!"
Anju once through the door quickly took a b-line to Hanabi's bed and sat next to her. Kayn had dropped the several boxes of pizza he brought on the floor in front of Zahro. As the boys began to talk amongst themselves and dig into their food, Anju took the opportunity to reside in Hanabi.
Her voice was soft and quiet, she obviously didn't want the others to hear her. "Thank you, thank you for giving me a home." Anju bowed her head and leaned onto Hanabi's shoulder, "Without your help, I'd be out there probably dead by now. You are one of my only friends, and I do hope we grow closer."
Hanabi smiled and hugged Anju. "Of course!" Hanabi stated excitedly.
Anju's face became all different kinds of shades red. Cordelia smiled at the two of them as she sat on the opposite corner of the bed, their backs to her.
'That's cute.' Cordelia thought to herself, 'Maybe Anju isn't so bad after.'
The group spent the night watching movies and eating pizza as they talked about the stress of college or the annoyance of trying to be perfect in today's standards. Anju, of course, didn't speak much but every now and then when Tatsu or Kayn cracked a joke she would share a few laughs with the rest of them. Maybe Anju was finally finding her place in this world.