At the Hands of a Hollow

Chapter 7: Forced to Admit

Previously: The door slid open and the man in the hat appeared, waving a hand-fan in front of his face. "Good evening, Inoue-san."

"U-Urahara-san? You knew I was coming?" she was startled by his sudden appearance.

"Indeed," he nodded, "I sensed your spiritual pressure coming this way. Now, is there anything I can help you with?"

She thought carefully about her words. "...I was hoping to ask a question, a very important one. I'm very sorry to burden you with it, but it's necessary that I know."

"Yes?"

"Well, I must first quickly ask, you...you know about the nature of hollows, don't you?"

"I do," he said firmly.

"Then I think...I came to the right place with a problem like this."

Urahara paused, "Perhaps we should talk inside," he offered, reading the desperation in her voice. She nodded slowly and followed him through the door and delicately placed herself at the opposite side of the table in which they were sitting.

"Again," she whispered, "I'm sorry to have to ask you this, but I can't think of anybody else who could know something..."

"Please, don't worry," he showed a smile, "I'm happy to help if it's needed."

Yoruichi strolled in wearing her black fur and sat close to them. Orihime shot a quick smile to show her acknowledgement of her presence.

"Well..." she breathed, "I'm not sure if you're aware...that Ichigo has been training recently. Because I let him know...about...half of this, he was trying to help me. But since then, I've found out a little more information. Now I think, that this is the only place where I can find an answer."

Kisuke nodded and watched her speak intently.

"I asked you...about the nature of hollows. It's an embarrassing subject really...but, have you ever heard...of a hollow taking a strange sort of...interest, in a human?". He looked confused for a moment, "By that I mean...wanting something other than to eat their soul," she explained herself, blushing brightly.

Taking the hint, his eyebrows raised and he glanced over at Yoruichi. "Uhm, well," he scratched his head, eyes flickering back over to her, "is this related...to Ichigo's hollow?"

"...D-does it change the answer?"

"A great deal so, yes," he looked sure of himself for a moment, but his confidence seemed to wipe quickly off his face.

Orihime shifted uncomfortably, "Then...yes, I mean that hollow."

Knowing the man she was talking to was smart enough to get this quickly, she wondered how much more she'd have to say. Talking about the situation hadn't proved to be fun the first time, and it wasn't changing now. She held her breath and waited for him to answer.

"I can't say I have heard anything. Though of course...I'm not an expert on those kinds of hollows, but no, I don't believe I have anything else to put into an answer. But considering what you have said, and how you have said it, perhaps it would be best to explain a little more. That would increase the chance of my being able to help you."

She slowly nodded. "Maybe it would have been a little clearer if I had tried to say or imply it in the beginning...I'm sorry. I've only ever said this once...and it's hard to find the right words."

There was another pause. Yoruichi carefully slipped in her offer, "Would it be any easier if you spoke to me alone?"

Orihime wasn't sure how she had picked it up so easily, looking at her face now, it hadn't changed. Though she looked like a cat, her yellows eyes were bright with intelligence that she could never hope to obtain.

After a brave however short nod, Kisuke left without a word. She was glad they understood her, and how hard it was for her to explain. "So..." she whispered, as Yoruichi glared over at her.

"I have to ask..." her tone was extremely serious and slightly interrogating, "is whatever you want to ask about going to put anybody in danger?"

The girl flinched in a quick, violent motion. Of course it could be dangerous, but she wasn't completely sure. The hollow only seemed to want to mess with her head and 'enjoy himself', whereas whatever was growing inside of her, due to his actions, could be a merciless murderer given it's sire's nature. "Maybe..." was all she could say.

"Orihime," the cat's eyes closed, "the only thing I can really ask is; do you regret coming here to ask about it, however awkward it may be for you?".

"No matter what information I can get here, it will help, I'm sure, and I do not regret it. This will definitely present itself in an uncontrollable way if I cannot learn now."

Yoruichi's eyes flashed open again, "I'm sorry, but it's definitely urgent if that's the case. If anything at all happens to the humans, or yourself, I won't be able to forgive myself, not if we can't help you before that time comes. So please, explain everything to me, and I will do what I can to prevent whatever catastrophic events you think will leave your problems if unsolved."

Again, she nodded, and took a deep breath. "I mentioned Ichigo's hollow earlier, he's the source of this really. The only thing I can guess is that he decided to try sneaking out as Ichigo slept. I think, the first time he did that was the night of the incident. It was...two weeks ago, on Saturday. H-he...well...this is the part that's hard to say...ack. I should just say it...he...the hollow...raped me..." - now the cat's eyes burned with curiosity - "...and has done again many nights since then."

"I see...but I'm not sure what you mean by this."

"Uhm...well, he said he'd do it again...which...he did, basically. Ichigo knew something was wrong, but he had no idea about his hollow, and how he took over every night. He kept asking and asking, and I told him last Saturday. The Visoreds helped him, they trained him. He practised fighting with them for three days, and the hollow hasn't come back since then. I know now that he's strong enough to stop him."

There was yet again, a pause. "What else is there to the story?"

"...How...did you know, that there was something else?"

"Orihime, I know you wouldn't come here asking for help with a solved problem. That makes no sense, and also, how will the events of that be uncontrollable? It sounds perfectly in-control to me."

"Yes...that part is fine now...but you guessed right, there's something else. This...I think, is even worse than the rest of it. Definitely, yes. I'm starting to think now that those seven days in which I could never speak of the hollow went by too quickly, and...well...somebody else was involuntarily brought into this equation. And I don't know how innocent they might be, it's hard to tell right now."

"You need to be a little clearer," her eyes scanned Orihime, "or else I'll get the wrong idea, and that will end badly, no doubt."

"W-well this is harder than the other thing! Now it's not like that...it's this..." she whispered, one hand coming up to rest on the evidence, her swollen stomach. Surely, if Yoruichi was in human form, her shock would be much more visible.

"Are you sure...that could be possible?"

"No, not at all..." she blinked, eyes falling to the floor, "...I wanted to see if you or Urahara-san had ever heard of something...like this..."

"I certainly have not! It's just...crazy! I don't even think Kisuke will know of any incidents like this..."

"Nope!" the man walked in and sat back down.

"Y-you listened?" Orihime gasped.

He gave her a reassuring look and nodded, "Don't worry. I would have had to have heard it at some point anyway, correct? That's why you came here."

"Yes..." she agreed slowly, "I'm sorry...I-I don't know...what..."

"We'll figure something out, Orihime. Just give us a few days, we can look into this. Just because we've never heard about something like this doesn't mean it's never happened. Try to just continue, and we'll tell you as soon as we find something. Have you mentioned this to anybody yet?" Yoruichi took several short, of course, cat-sized, small steps over to her.

"N-No...I mean, not yet."

"Let's keep it that way for now. Once we can confirm what it is, we'll handle the situation before the danger comes," Kisuke said.

The cat nodded and wandered further into the back rooms of the shop. "Inoue-san, you may leave now. Please keep yourself safe, and try to avoid combat. I promise to do whatever I can to help, and I will send somebody to inform you once we find a little more information on this matter. You may leave now."

Orihime nodded, thanked him, and left. She'd have to cross several districts to get back home, it was quite a journey. There was no rush, she silently scurried back with attempts to forget her embarrassment.

–

It passed on to Saturday. Everything had been normal through the two days she'd had to return to school, where she easily brushed the concern of her absence on the previous day as a twenty-four hour illness. Everything had to stay normal too. After talking with two of the most intelligent spiritually-aware people in town, she'd waited. Any news would be good, even if it was bad. There were too many unanswered questions.

Now that the weekend had come up again, she wondered what to do with herself. Speaking to her friends had been difficult, because there was still so much curiosity. Ichigo was the only one in school who knew, the others were still asking. But still, there was that other secret that she had to keep from him.

Ichigo seemed fairly happy with all he knew about. They were friends just like before, Orihime had to use her fake smile and pretend that it was fine. It was working so far, but it was tiring. She wanted to know how long she'd have to keep it up before she told him, an event which she feared, though knew as unavoidable.

Though she was scared, and had no idea what would become of her, she woke up happy. At last, she had two days to herself. Whether they would be boring or not, she could drop the stupid act and sulk while curled up, lay in darkness. Rolled over to the edge of her bed, she grabbed her phone from the nightstand and flicked through her contacts.

Of course, she didn't have to see him and make the effort, but the good morning message was still necessary. After typing in the familiar keys, she hit send and threw it back at the surface.

Today was a day of freedom, but also possibly a milestone. It was two weeks since she was first raped, obviously, but she wouldn't know the chances of her crazy sped-up pregnancy beginning on that same day.

Her proof was getting more visible each day, though of course, at first she hadn't noticed. The elegantly-shaped however scarred bulge of life was forming at her abdomen quite quickly, and it was becoming harder to cover it up in her clothes. She wasn't expected any visitors, but whatever clothes she chose to where would have to serve that purpose. Any of her friends could show up with offers of a trip out into the bustling city life of Karakura.

Oh, wait. Most of them were afraid to talk to her. They asked about the scars every day, of course, but they feared whatever had caused them. Words just couldn't go too far between them.

So she'd have to be alone, like she wanted, and probably would be. Who would pay attention to her? The only person who she would sacrifice her weekend for was Ichigo, and he wouldn't just show up, not usually, anyway.

After a couple of minutes spent lay there in bed, thinking, her stomach demanded food. There was no choice but to give in. Orihime pulled herself up and out, and wandered to the kitchen. She emerged again with a bowl of rice and chopsticks, which she placed on the table and sat down to eat. As she indulged in a few minutes of peace, completely without worrying, without thinking.

Those were rare moments, and she was sure to stop and enjoy them whenever they came by.

–

Ichigo shuffled down the stairs, yawning and rubbing his eyes. He wasn't surprised to have just made it out of bed at one in the afternoon, not after staying up for so long during the previous night. For the first time ever, he'd gone with the idea of finishing his homework on Friday, rather than worrying about it all weekend.

"Brother!" Yuzu called. He saw her run towards him as he reached the bottom. Karin followed, "Go get dressed Ichigo, you're coming with us!"

"Wha-?" his sister shoved a slice of toast in his mouth mid-sentence.

Isshin, his father, stepped forwards, "You missed my wake-up call," he sobbed, "now you must be punished, my son!"

Ichigo pulled the toast out for a moment, "What? What do I have to do?"

"You're gonna come with me and Karin to Tsubakidai Park!" Yuzu answered cheerfully. He shook his head rapidly, and they pushed him back to the stairs.

"Fine, fine! Just give me an hour..."

"Ten minutes!" the girls grinned behind his back, and pushed him up further and further. It was exactly ten minutes later that he stood against the wall, by the front door. "Come on, Ichi-nii!"

He followed them across the streets. His head was down low and he was bored, so much that he thought about sneaking away from them and back to bed.

That really wouldn't do him any good though. Karin would just kick a soccer ball through his window and wake him up again, and Yuzu might make him get his own dinner.

They arrived not too long after he had this idea, and it just didn't seem worth it. As the girls went off and into a crowd of people their age, he wondered what to do. Sitting there on a bench wasn't proving to be much fun. And this was because of a stupid wake-up call.

Maybe if his dad would have tried a little harder, he wouldn't be here.

With a sigh, he stood up and made an escape. Of course, he'd come back. A walk around the area just seemed like more fun. This place was familiar, more so than anywhere else in Karakura. Around here was his home, including the clinic, the park of course, then both Chad and Orihime's apartments. The thought lit up his mind; Orihime's apartment.

He didn't think about barging in and surprising her, but another cup of coffee with her sounded pretty good to him. In just a minute, he came to the street right behind hers.

"Ichigo!" somebody called.

The human-shinigami-turned-Visored teenager looked around. There was nobody in sight. "Hey, I'm right here!"

It was only then that he recognized the voice. Yoruichi strolled over, fashioning her black fur. Ichigo carried on walking.

"That's quite ignorant, you know."

"I'm not talking to a cat in public," he whispered through gritted teeth. The cat at least looked to be grinning, "No worries, I'm out for a reason anyway. See you some other time."

"Wait, where are you going?"

"...To see Orihime, she asked for me to suggest ways for her to train a little, that's all. Don't worry, I won't hurt her!" her eyes seemed to be laughing.

Ichigo pushed it out of his mind and continued, deciding to head to the supermarket in search of some boxed sushi.

–

"Orihime?" Yoruichi called.

She'd just changed to human form, and quickly dressed herself outside the apartment, only after thoroughly checking that Ichigo was gone, and no other people were around. The girl with the worried face opened the door, and gave a quick smile to the caller.

"Hello, Yoruichi-san."

They both went inside and sat at the table, she could see that she had something to say, at least. "It's been two days, and it's finally time to report the findings to you."

Orihime gave another short smile, almost more genuine than the other. "Okay, what is it?"

"I'm afraid you don't have any reason to be smiling with this case."

–

Long time no see, eh? Eh? EH? Feels good to be updating again, after soo long. Sorry about that, I promise you, I tried! But I was really stuck there for a while.

After my huge efforts (hehe) to get this finished and up before my last week of freedom is over, a review would be just incredible, and I will love you forever.

~HellYus