The screams of a little girl echoed through the alleys as she ran. People looked at her oddly, she seemed to be running and crying from…nothing. But there was something there, pushing its way through the sparse crowd and destroying sides of buildings and fences as it moved down the street after the girl.
The girl looked back at the monster chasing her, wondering why no one would help her. Her silver eyes were covered with tears and her long, plum colored hair whipped behind her as she ran for her life. She ran down another alley. Empty. And a dead end. She cowered in the corner, curling up into a ball.
Suddenly someone was standing in front of her, gripping a huge black sword with a silver edge shaped like a chef's knife. "Getsuga Tenshou!" she heard him shout. She watched in awe as a crescent shape of black light came out from the sword, slamming into the skull mask of the monster that was chasing her. His black robes fluttered in the remaining wind from the finishing blow. The monster dissolved into the air, leaving her alone with the man with the sword.
But then, they weren't alone. A young woman appeared almost instantaneously next to him in a matching black robe, breathing heavily. "What the hell was that for? You didn't need to bust out with that, Ichigo!"
"Oh, shut up! Do you know how long it's been since I've had a decent fight? Besides, I don't have to follow Soul Society's rules."
"That doesn't mean you can just go off blasting everything in sight! You know your spirit power can influence people easily." The young woman slapped the orange-haired man she called Ichigo upside the head. "It was the last Hollow of the bunch," he rebutted.
The little girl's eyes widened and a whimper escaped her lips. The noise immediately grabbed the two's attention.
Her lower lip trembling, the little girl looked at the two people with curiosity and gratitude. "What was that monster?" she softly spoke, looking directly at both of them.
The man and woman looked at each other and then back at her. "You can see us?" they asked simultaneously. The little girl cautiously nodded, her brow furrowing with confusion. "Who are you?"
The young woman was the first to step forward, bending down and extending her hand in greeting. Her smile was warm. "I'm Rukia."
The little girl swallowed and accepted Rukia's open hand to stand up. "Ben-Ten," the little girl spoke quietly, her voice nearly under her breath.
"Ben-Ten-chan? Are you hurt?" Rukia's eyes were a pretty violet with a hint of blue in the light.
Ben-Ten shook her head no.
"Were you scared?"
Ben-Ten jutted out her bottom lip and felt tears fall from her eyes. She nodded yes. Rukia smiled sweetly. "It's okay to be scared." She kneeled down further until she was at eye-level with Ben-Ten.
"Will there be more monsters?" Ben-Ten said to Rukia.
Rukia bit her bottom lip and looked up at Ichigo. She thought for a moment before answering. "Maybe," she finally said. "But don't worry. Ichigo," she motioned towards the orange-haired man, "and I will make all these monsters go away."
Ben-Ten smiled through her tears before suddenly snapping her head in the direction of a human voice. "That's my daddy. I got lost when the monster showed up." She dropped Rukia's hands and ran towards the opening of the alley. "Thank you, Rukia-onee-san and Ichigo-oni-san." Ben-Ten waved goodbye before running completely out of the alley.
"Wait!" shouted Ichigo, trailing after her. When he got to the street he looked both ways, but Ben-Ten could not be found. Rukia caught up with him at the street corner. "What was that about?"
Ichigo's brows furrowed deep in thought. "I don't know. Just…something I noticed."
"You couldn't feel a spiritual power from her, right?" Rukia answered the silent question for him.
Ichigo turned to Rukia with surprise. "You didn't either?"
Rukia looked down, tucking her katana into the hakama belt. She shook her head to answer Ichigo's question. "So the problem is, why were the hollows after her?"
"And without reiatsu, how could she see us?" Ichigo said the last sentence as a statement.
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Ishida, Orihime and Chad had felt the rise of hollows and ran to the area where they were sprouting from. By the time they got to the street corner, they were just in time to see Rukia and Ichigo finishing off the last hollow. The threat was gone for now.
"That was the first major hollow attack I've seen since we got back," Ishida commented. "It's odd. You'd think they would have been showing up for souls before then."
Chad just nodded in agreement. His eyes were barely visible under the thick dark brown curls around his face.
Orihime nodded too, her eyes not leaving the sight of Ichigo and Rukia in Shinigami form walking close to each other, playfully bumping the other with a stray elbow. She knew she shouldn't be jealous but couldn't help it. Ishida caught sight of her reaction and frowned. How dare that orange-haired asshole make her feel pain. He gulped the suddenly dry patch in his throat. "Inoue-san, may I walk you home?" he blurted out.
Orihime broke her gaze immediately at Ishida's sudden—and rather loud—question. He looked serious and slightly nervous, his posture remaining perfectly straight as he awaited her answer. "S-Sure, Ishida-kun." She smiled. "See you tomorrow, Sado-kun," she addressed Chad. He bid farewell with a simple wave.
Ishida wasn't sure why he suddenly needed to walk Orihime home. She was perfectly capable of getting there herself, even with hollows lurking around. But something inside him clicked and he couldn't bear to see her upset over that dumb Ichigo anymore. He stole glances at her every few minutes on their silent walk to her apartment.
Orihime was still stunned by Ishida's forwardness. He had never asked to walk her home before. In fact, no boy had really asked to walk her home since Tatsuki would beat the snot out of them if they tried. "All those boys want is one thing," Tatsuki would explain. Orihime was grateful she never had to deal with inappropriate actions from teenage boys with her around. Ishida was just a friend, so this wasn't anything big…was it?
She casually turned her head to his as they walked and smiled when his eyes connected with hers. He slightly smiled in return. Suddenly Orihime yelped and jumped back, running into Ishida's chest.
"Snake!" she screamed, frantically pointing down to the sidewalk. Ishida looked over the vibrant orange of Orihime's hair and tried to ignore the sweet smell of berries. He saw a small garter snake, no larger than one foot long, slither lazily across the sidewalk.
"Zai, come back!" a tiny voice called, emerging from the break in the buildings. The girl dove to catch the bright green snake, prompting Orihime to lose her balance and fall back on Ishida. "Got 'cha!" the little girl exclaimed once she had the snake in her grasp, its slender body coiling and twisting around her tiny fist. She then turned her attention to the two people she had knocked down in the process, her silver eyes wide and dark purple hair flying in the wind.
"I'm so sorry!" she apologized to Orihime and Ishida. "Zai," she picked up the snake higher to explain, "he got away from me." The little girl grinned widely before bolting off in the same direction she came from.
Orihime had braced her hand against Ishida's chest for support, then quickly removed it and stood up, dusting herself off before offering a hand of help to him. Ishida hesitantly accepted her open hand and lifted himself off the ground. He felt a spark go through him when his fingers touched hers. Orihime seemed not to notice though, straightening her hair after the fall. "What was that?" she asked.
"I don't know," answered Ishida. But there was definitely a spark.
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PLEASE READ AND REVIEW
Okay so I lied about new Chapters every Wednesday... ^_^
Seems this story is going along really fast, so I will be updating twice a week!
Look forward to updates on Tuesdays and Fridays!
A big Thank You to Pippin's Socks for Beta reading ::thumbs up::
Also, thank you to those who reviewed and added this story to their alert list!