"It's ready!" Orihime announced from the kitchen of her apartment.
Her guests - Ichigo, Rukia and Tatsuki – sat at the kotatsu table in the living room, waiting to discover what disgusting meal Orihime managed to come up with.
"If we die because of this, I'm blaming you, Ichigo." Rukia muttered, watching Orihime cook whatever she was cooking in the kitchen.
Ichigo huffed, crossing his arms. "Well, you should've warned me."
"I tried!"
The two silenced their bickering as soon as they saw Orihime step out of the kitchen, awkwardly carrying three bowls in her hands.
"Here you go!" Orihime placed the plates down before them with enthusiasm.
The three's eyes followed the food as it was placed on the table.
A strange bean scent escaped from the brown slop that filled their bowls. Chucks of what seemed like smashed banana floated at the top and pieces of leek stuck out from the bowl.
They uneasily glanced over at Orihime who urged them to try it.
Not wanting to disappoint the girl, Rukia was the first to scoop up the slop in her spoon. She stared at contents on the spoon, almost cringing at the sight and smell of it. Wanting to get it over with, Rukia quickly slurped up the soup. It took everything in her power not to throw up.
It tasted like nothing she had ever tasted before, and that wasn't a good thing. All she tasted was beans and bananas, which are ingredients should never be combined together.
"How is it?" Orihime questioned with a sweet smile, wondering why Rukia was so quiet.
"Yeah, how is it, Rukia?" Ichigo asked tauntingly, smirking.
Rukia gave Ichigo a death glare at Ichigo before she looked up at Orihime and painfully swallowed the food. "It's…great, Inoue!" She lied, putting on a smile.
Orihime beamed with achievement. "I'm glad you like it!" She then glanced at Ichigo and Tatsuki. "Why aren't you two eating?"
The two jumped slightly - they thought they were free. They quickly tried the food, trying not to gag.
"Good!" Ichigo exclaimed, the soup still in his mouth.
Tatsuki gave her a thumbs-up, not wanting to swallow the revolting soup to speak.
"Yay! I'm glad you all like it! Maybe I'll make it again!"
The three practically turned white hearing those words.
As soon as the orange haired girl skipped back into the kitchen, Ichigo and Tatsuki spit the food back into the bowls.
"That was disgusting…" Ichigo said as his face turned upward with repulsion.
Rukia glared at him. "At least you didn't actually eat it."
"You know, no one forced you go first." Ichigo commented with a chuckle.
That comment earned him a punch in the gut.
Tatsuki laughed at Ichigo, who moaned in pain. "You deserved that one."
Suddenly, a loud sound caught the three's attention. It sounded almost like a strong gust of wind. But, there was something strange about it. Something that wasn't normal. It was almost eerie.
Tatsuki glanced around the room, trying to figure out where it came from. "What was that?"
An all too familiar beeping noise sounded from Ichigo's pocket.
Hollow.
Rukia's eyes shot to Ichigo as he flipped open the phone. "Where-?"
"Oh, shit!" That was all that escaped from Ichigo's mouth before a thunderous boom filled the air.
Their heads snapped towards the direction of the kitchen only to see Orihime being launched from the kitchen into the living room, slamming hard into the wall before she collapsed to the floor.
"Orihime!" Tatsuki screamed as confusion and concern filled her eyes.
As the snake-like Hollow flew towards them, Ichigo acted fast. He lunged over the table, slamming his gloved hand against Rukia's chest, knocking her Shinigami form out of her body.
The blade of Rukia's zanpaktou collided with the Hollow's hand as it came only inches from smashing them. Using her strength, she pushed the hand away before she rolled out of the way, the Hollow following her.
"Kurosaki! What did you do to Rukia!?" Ichigo heard Tatsuki shout as he lifted himself off of Rukia's unconscious body and stood up.
Tatsuki scooted over and shook her friend vigorously. "Rukia! What the hell!? Wake up!"
She had no idea what was happening. First, Orihime was thrown through the air then Ichigo randomly knocked Rukia unconscious. As her head shot around the room, she could feel some sort of malevolent presence over them. Something was happening, but what?
Looking up at Ichigo, Tatsuki opened her mouth to question him again but she stopped. He was looking up at something. She followed the path of his gaze, only seeing the ceiling - nothing else. "Hey! What's your problem!? What's going on!?"
Just as she spoke, Ichigo's eyes grew wide. "Move!" He shouted before he grabbed her by the arm, quickly yanking her to the other side of the room. The table she once sat by was smashed to pieces.
"W-What the-?" Tatsuki muttered with disbelief. Had Ichigo not grabbed her, she would've been crushed. But, by what?
Ichigo huffed out of annoyance. Tatsuki's lack of understanding was getting on his nerves. He couldn't blame her though. Who wouldn't be confused after seeing your friend thrown into a wall by an invisible force?
"It doesn't matter. It will be over soon. Just chill out." He responded very nonchalantly.
"'Chill out!?'" Tatsuki screamed at him. "How can I possible be calm in a situation like this!? Are you insane!?"
Ichigo signed again then glanced back at Orihime, who was still unconscious. "Look, just go check on Inoue."
Tatsuki huffed before running over to help her friend.
Rukia leaped into the air, slicing off the Hollow's hand as it attempted to punch her away. The large hand plummeted to the ground, vanishing into dust. The Hollow howled which gave Rukia the perfect opportunity to go in for the kill. She swung her zanpaktou down on the Hollow's head with a battle cry. However, her zanpaktou didn't go all the way through, causing only a chunk of the mask to fly off - revealing part of a human face.
Rukia gasped in shock upon seeing the eye of a human staring back at her. The Hollow screamed, holding a hand its exposed face.
The Shinigami landed back on the ground and fell to her knees. The Hollows were humans. She had been killing humans.
"Rukia! Get up and kill it before it gets away!" Ichigo shouted from behind her, confused on why she suddenly stopped fighting.
Rukia sent a glare his direction. How could she kill it knowing the Hollow was human? But, if she let it get away, who knows who else it will hurt?
She clenched her fist and her zanpaktou tightly before rising back to her feet. The Hollow was still screaming, its mask slowly starting to regenerate. If she was going to do something, this was her chance.
With a yell, Rukia leaped into the air, holding her zanpaktou above her. With one powerful slice of her blade, the Hollow's body was split directly in half, the pieces dissolving into the air.
After landing back on the ground, Rukia sheathed her zanpaktou.
"Rukia! You okay?" Ichigo ran over to her.
Rukia unexpectedly grabbed Ichigo by his collar. "Why didn't you tell me that Hollows were humans!? I've been killing humans for you!"
Ichigo blinked out of surprise before sighing, prying her hands away from him. "They're not human beings anymore, Rukia. They are monsters. Souls that hold on to feelings or resentment refuse Konso and linger around the world alone. Eventually, they turn into Hollows themselves or other Hollows devour them. You don't really 'kill' a Hollow. You're actually cleansing it from its sins committed as a Hollow so they will be able to go to the Soul Society."
The girl let out a breath, shaking her head slightly – still unhappy with the situation. "Whatever, we will talk about this later." She told him as she stepped past him and reentered her body.
"Rukia! Oh my god, are you okay!?" Tatsuki shouted at her as she climbed back to her feet.
"Yes, I'm fine." She replied, walking over to her and Orihime. "How is she?"
Tatsuki looked back down at her friend with concern. "I don't know. We should probably take her to the hospital to be sa-"
A bright light suddenly flashed and Tatsuki's facial expression had gone completely blank.
Rukia glanced over at Ichigo, who held the memory replacement device in his hand.
"I replaced her memory. She's going to think Inoue fell while she was cooking." He explained, dropping the device back in his pocket.
"What about Orihime?"
"I think she will be fine. If anything, she probably has a concussion. I'm sure Arisawa will take her to the hospital anyway."
They noticed Tatsuki was starting to come out of her daze.
"Come on, we should get out of here before she wakes up." Ichigo told her as they rushed out of the door just before Tatsuki woke up from her daze.
Once they were far enough away, the two slowed down to a walk.
"Are you still thinking about that Hollow?" Ichigo asked Rukia as they walked down the dimly lit street.
Rukia nodded, looking down at the sidewalk. "My friend got hurt because of a Hollow. If only I had been faster…or maybe it was because of me?"
"Rukia, there was nothing you could've done. You are still new to this. And, I think the Hollow's target was Inoue, not you, which would explain why it attacked her."
"What? Why do you think that?"
"Yesterday, I noticed a weird mark on her leg. And that kind of mark can only be done by a Hollow. The Hollow wanted to kill Inoue for some reason. Maybe it was someone she knew…"
Rukia crossed her arms. "So, not only did I kill a human but probably someone who Orihime knew. Thanks for making me feel better, Ichigo."
Ichigo huffed. "Look, if you hadn't killed it, it will probably would've kept coming after her until it killed her. By killing it, you saved Inoue."
"Alright, fine. I get your point." The girl replied, continuing their walk in silence.
The orange haired boy placed his hands back in his pockets. "Well, I'm going home."
Rukia stopped, her eyebrow rising, as Ichigo walked past her. "And where is that?"
The Shinigami turned around and smirked. "Do you really want to know?"
"When you put it like that then I guess not."
"I'll see ya' later." Ichigo waved his hand as he walked away.
The two went their separate ways. Once she arrived at home Rukia opened the door and went inside, but she failed to notice a tall figure sprint behind her and head for her window.