At the Hands of a Hollow

Chapter 8: Knives and Various Visitors

Previously: "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."

"N-not good news then..." she sighed to herself, "but anyway, please continue."

The shinigami woman nodded, "We can confirm that you are in fact carrying a 'child' that is both human and hollow." Orihime nodded briefly, she had expected this to be the truth. After all, it wasn't normal for it to be visible after only two weeks.

"We can also say that; no, this has never happened before. But we've found ways to prevent it, one of which shouldn't harm you at all.

"First of all, we could perform some kind of surgery to get rid of it. Perhaps Ryuuken Ishida would help us out with that. Though it would be possible for Kisuke to do it...but well...I don't think you'd want that, really. Second, we can hope that the foetus is too weak to survive however long it will rely on you without souls, and will pass naturally. Or then, of course, you could probably just reject it's existence."

"Y-Yoruichi-san... I don't...want...to get rid of it."

She blinked, "What do you mean? You don't...expect to be able to keep it, do you? I hope you realize the potential danger here, this is serious."

"I-I...don't think I could take a life like this, not when it never did anything to deserve it. Yoruichi-san...I don't want to kill a baby..."

It felt strange to Orihime to admit to the more serious version of Yoruichi that she didn't want to kill it. "I'm sorry..." she whispered.

"Orihime, I understand you here, I do. But you have to think about what could happen if this thing turned out to be something other than you'd expect. It will surely have hollow powers, abilities we can't control. Anything could happen here, it could hurt somebody."

"Then...I'll make sure it never does...I'll give my own life stopping it before anybody else's can be taken. If it turns out that it will want to...kill people...then I-I'll take back...what I say now...please. I can't let you kill something that you can't yet prove isn't innocent."

The look in her eyes as she spoke, Yoruichi couldn't figure out. It was somewhere between the plea of a kind soul or the love and determination to protect of a mother, potentially. She pleaded and pleaded just with that spark in her shining, tear-filled eyes.

"...It's not my place to allow it, really. It's been your decision all along, but if you made the wrong choice I would have to do something. Orihime, I'll let you do as you please, what you just said now. But honestly, if it all goes wrong and we find a monster on our hands, I really will have to stop you both."

"So...I can...?"

"Yes, I'm going to watch over you. But I have a request."

"R-right! What is it?"

"You have to tell Ichigo."

–

Orihime paced by her front door. It was Monday, and she was about to leave for school. However, the presence of Ichigo waiting outside for her was making her 'reconsider her health.'

It was be so simple to go out and say 'I'm not coming today, I don't feel good.'

Except she was already dressed for school, and it would take her a while to undress. With that, she didn't want Ichigo to be late because of her.

She sighed, why did he have to be so nice to her? If she wasn't so in love with him, maybe she'd say something. But being rude to him was out of the question in any scenario, as they were still friends.

He knocked on the door.

Orihime jumped and and her knees buckled. At the point she was standing in the kitchen, and pulled down a cloth hanging from the edge of the counter, resulting in a few metal pans falling to the ground too. They clattered loudly on the hard surface.

Ichigo pushed the door open and ran inside. He froze to look around. Everything seemed fine, until Orihime groaned slightly on the floor.

"Orihime!" he shouted and ran to her, "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah...it's nothing..."

"Look at your hand!" he practically screamed. Orihime looked steadily down at her hand. 'Oh right...I forgot to put it away, huh?'

Then she entered a world of pain. "O-okay!" she observed the source of the red river. A large knife had fallen and stuck right through the palm of her hand. It throbbed and stung and ached, yet she could hardly make a noise. She became tired, and her vision became blurry through tears and darkness.

She passed out without knowing what Ichigo was saying to her.

–

"Oh, are you waking up now?"

Her eyes fluttered open, she was in her apartment, and Ichigo was standing over her. He smiled warmly at her, "I guess that was a stupid thing to say, more so if you hadn't have actually woken up then."

Orihime had to look around a bit before she could figure it out. She was still in her uniform, now covered in dry blood, and she was lay on her couch. "What happened?" she squeaked out quietly.

She didn't remember anything until Ichigo explained it all, speaking with concern. "So, do you feel okay?"

"E-except for my hand, yes, I...probably am."

"I'm sorry that I didn't know what to do...I should have taken you to a hospital or something..."

She blinked, "Uhm...what...did you do?"

"Oh, right," he smacked his hand against his forehead, "I kinda panicked, then I called the quincy. He came and bandaged up your hand for you, and then he left, because I already dragged him out of school for this."

"Okay..." she said, "...wait, school! You didn't go to school?"

"Well, no...I couldn't just leave you here to figure it all out for yourself when you woke up. And I found these," he said, and held up her hairpins.

Her eyes shone brightly at the sight of them for a second, "Thank you." He placed them in her still-decent hand, "You should be able to heal yourself now."

"R-really...thanks a lot," she sniffled, eyes filling again, "but you really shouldn't have stayed here, you should have gone to school! I don't want to hold you back any more..."

"Hey," he said, "you're not holding me back at all. I only want to help you, Orihime..."

Just realizing what he said, he turned away and blushed a little. She wanted to giggle at this, but was still crying.

'Maybe that's the hormonal part...'

She'd forgotten right there that she was pregnant, or was. She looked ahead of her. The bump was just a slight mound under the blanket covering her, and she was definitely still pregnant.

And she had to tell him, somehow. She'd been thinking about it while curled up in the corner all day, yesterday.

Ichigo walked away for a second, and came back with a pair of scissors. "We may as well take the bandage off, then you can heal yourself and you should be fine."

She nodded and sat up, careful that the blanket covered up the bump in her torso. She slipped her hairpins in and let him cut off the bandage, careful not to start any more bleeding.

"How many layers did that idiot think was necessary, jeez..." Ichigo muttered on the sixth layer of bandages. They kept going and it made them more and more nervous to be so close to each other for so long.

"I think this is the end," Orihime informed him as the pressure started to dissolve from the tight bandage, and the last thin layer could be seen. Ichigo pulled it right off and found nothing.

Her palm had no evidence of a knife ever sticking through it. "What...happened..." Ichigo rubbed his hand and stared at her perfectly clear skin.

"I d-don't know..." she gaped at it. "It disappeared?" he coughed in disbelief.

I wanted to help you.

Orihime shuddered and looked around. Who spoke to her? Ichigo looked at her with a confused expression. But really, his eyes were still curious from the 'mystery'.

'Who wanted to help me?' Orihime wondered in her head. She looked down at her stomach, and got up from the couch. "Please excuse me," she murmured and shuffled to the bathroom.

When the door was locked, she pulled up her shirt to look at her stomach. "Are you talking to me?" she whispered quietly.

I'm sorry, Mama. I tried to help you.

Her eyes widened again. This had happened before, only once. It was at the moment in which she tried to destroy her child, and then he pleaded for his life just once, and she couldn't continue. That was partly how she decided that he was innocent.

She pulled down her clothing and sat down on the floor, knees up to her chin with her arms wrapped around them. 'What is going on here...' she thought, rocking slightly.

When her courage gathered a little, she emerged and wordlessly sat on the couch next to Ichigo.

"Orihime...?"

"Yes?"

"Are you okay, is there something you need to talk about?"

She studied his knowing eyes carefully. She'd never really thought about him figuring it out, assuming something was wrong.

"Yes...but I can't talk about it, I'm not brave enough," she sighed.

"So, you don't want to tell me?"

"No, no, I do. I have to tell you in fact, one way or another."

"Is it important that you tell me?"

"Yes."

"So you should?"

"Yes."

"Then you should go ahead and tell me, what's gonna happen?"

"I can't...I-I...just...don't know, it's complicated, and stupid. I have to pretend like I'm happy!" she cried, "I don't want to pretend, I want to sit in the dark! My mind is running in circles trying to figure out what I should do, how I should act, but I don't dare to do anything!"

She stood up and started to panic, crying and waving her arms about. He could see very well that she was confused and afraid.

"Orihime...it's okay..." he said, and grabbed her hands. She froze and looked through her teary eyes, watching him intently. "I was the one to say it was okay, but...I don't know, I just don't know..." her voice gradually rose with each word.

"Then I'll help you make it okay, but you have to tell me..."

"I can't, Ichigo! I'm sorry, it's all too stupid and dangerous and...nobody knows anything! I wasn't even so...worked up about this, I never really had a chance to be afraid before! You must hate me right now for acting so crazy and-"

She was stopped by his lips. During her ranting she never noticed his hand cup her face or his own come closer. He kissed her and she stopped it all, and forgot.

The moment was peaceful, the opposite to her shouting. However, it was a little too peaceful, and some people weren't willing to miss the opportunity that it opened.

When he opened his eyes again, they were golden. His skin turned pale, and his presence cold rather than warm. The hollow took control in seconds.

He wrapped his arms around her after their kiss broke and he inhaled her scent. "I missed you..." he breathed.

Orihime stayed still in his arms until he let go, and then she saw his face. "Y-you...how did you get out...?" she whispered. And then she looked a little closer.

Instead of bloodthirsty and crazed, his eyes were sad and lonely. He stared into her eyes in a different way, one he'd never shown to her before.

"I haven't seen you in a while."

"There's a reason for that..." she began to breathe faster and faster, stepping slowly backwards, away from him. Even if he didn't appear the same, he could always have the same intentions as before.

"I didn't come to hurt you."

"Then what do you want?"

The smirk he wore as he cocked his head to one side was strangely close to a genuine smile of amusement. "Is it so bad that I want to get a proper view of you? He stares at you all he wants and you never question him."

"W-well...you are d-dangerous...you hurt people."

His 'smile' vanished and he shot her a hurt glance, "I told you, I didn't come here to hurt you. I'm not gonna do that."

"There are other people who you could hurt..."

"Who?"

"I-Ichigo...or...the humans," she said, trying to avoid the child.

"Well, if I hurt him, I hurt myself, and I rarely ever get the chance to kill anybody, so why would I now? I'm here right now with you, not out looking for people to slice up."

She had to admit to herself in her head, that he had a point. "Well, what are you going to do here, then?"

"I don't really know yet..."

Orihime sighed, what was she supposed to do now? He couldn't have come just to look at her, could he? It sounded just about crazy enough to be a real idea of his, though. Was she supposed to talk to him about to weather or something?

"What do you really want?"

"I just want to..." his eyes, fixed to hers, seemed to glow as the clouds uncovered the sun and a little extra light shone in through the window. He slowly stepped towards her and kissed her.

She didn't stop him, she still had no idea what to do, or what kind of game he was trying to play. She let him captivate her senses, and practically hung in his arms, which had snaked around her waist.

He released her lips and embraced her again. Behind her head, his lips were still and straight as he smiled through his eyes.

"What game are you playing with me?" she murmured into his neck, arms hanging loose still and legs feeling weak.

"I'm not playing games, I don't know what's wrong with me..." he muttered.

Mama...

The voice of her child echoed out loud. The hollow became suddenly even more still, "What was that?"

"Y-you heard?"

"Yeah...what was it?"

Orihime slipped into a panic again. What should she tell him? 'What an inconvenient time to do that...' she thought to herself. Sorry, Mama.

"There it was again," the hollow let go of Orihime and strode about the apartment, looking for the source of the voice.

"Nobody else is here..." she whispered with a guilty expression.

"What, you mean to tell me it never happened? You heard it too, right?"

"Yes, it came from me."

"What?"

The hollow gazed at her with a look she couldn't figure out. It was anger, curiosity and denial all mixed together. She nodded.

He walked back over to her and waited for her explanation. Orihime kept her head down as she asked, "May I have your hands please?"

After a moment of suspicion, he held out both of his hands. She hesitantly pulled up her shirt again, revealed the bump at her abdomen, and she placed his hands on the cool surface of her skin.

He stared for a while, not looking very surprised. "So this is what you couldn't tell him about, huh?"

She nodded briefly. "It's not an easy thing to say, you know..."

"Well, I hope you realize he's listening now."

"H-he is?"

The hollow flinched, and looked at her with worried eyes. "He's coming back..."

"B-but..." she stared at him confusedly.

"I'm sorry I did this to you."

And then the white hair turned back to orange, yellow eyes to brown, and pale skin to regular tone. The Ichigo she knew was back again. His hands were resting on her stomach, and he shakily turned his head up to her.

"I-Ichigo..." she whispered, seeing the terror in his usually calm eyes.

He pulled his hands back quickly. "I have to leave now..." he said and ran, up to the door and outside.

–

*Update!*

There, I did as RainingLight1 asked! XD I'm going on holiday from Friday until...Friday next week, I think. So I thought I may as well finish off this chapter (which has been sitting here with three sentences for a while.)

As always, it killed me to write. But actually, I did the second and half of the third page super quickly cos' I got really into it and was slamming at my keyboard while just staring straight at my screen like a mad woman. :P (So excuse typos.)

Review please! That's all I ask for c:

Just say anything; you hate it, you love it, it lacked something, you enjoyed a particular scene, or you can beg me to update and I might try do to it before I leave on Friday! (And I promise, I really will try my best, for the children's sake...s)

;)

~HellYus