Chapter 9

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Yuki had been in the ninth division for almost a year. She'd mostly just been doing paperwork and running errands. She and Hisagi had tried to avoid eachother as much as possible. When they did have to interact, the tension was so strong it made anyone else around them uncomfortable.

Yuki sat down at the table in her quarters. It was a rather large place. The main room had her low table. Four dark purple cushions sat around it. Several shelves were scattered around the room, on them rested knick knacks of all kinds. She also had a television and a radio. Several wallscrolls and posters covered her walls. Most of her decorations were gifts she'd received for joining the squad. She treasured all of them. A short, narrow, hallway lead to a large sliding door that opened to her bedroom. A large bed sat there with a light wood frame. It had black sheets and a grey comforter with big black polka dots all over it. She had a ton of huge, cushy pillows and in front of the pillows sat all kinds of stuffed animals. She collected any she found in the shopping district that she thought were cute. She had two matching bedside tables on either side of her bed, with matching lamps. On one of them sat an alarm clock with big blue neon numbers on it. Across from her bed was a huge closet with a sliding, mirrored, door. More shelves with knick knacks were scattered around the room, she had a lot of posters here as well. She also had a small kitchen. Her bathroom had a tub that took up most of the room.

It was dark outside, she'd spent the entire day working and was exhausted. She poured herself a cup of tea and picked up a piece of paper that sat on the table in front of her, "Ugh…more paperwork…"

She'd just gone to take a sip of her tea when a knock on her door made her jump. The tea splashed all over her,

"AH! HOT!" She dropped the cup on the floor, and it shattered, "SHIT!"

She slammed her hands down on the table and stood up,

"This better be important…"

She slammed open the door to find Hisagi standing there. He let out a small snicker,

"What happened to you?"

She shot him a death glare, "What do you want..?"

"Tousen Taichou wants us to go out. Apparently there have been reports of a hollow terrorizing a few districts of Rukongai."

"Alright…Just gimmie a minute…"

She shut the door, and walked back to the bathroom, coming back out a moment later with a towel over her head. She walked over to where she kept KoriHoshi hung on the wall, and carefully took it down. She attached it to her robes, dropped the towel over the tea that spilled on the floor, and walked out the door, slamming it shut once again.

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Yuki, Hisagi, and a small group of other ninth division members made their way through the vast grassy fields that lead to the area where the Hollow was last spotted. Their way was lit by bright stars and the full moon.

They soon came to a small area, scattered with little cottages. Every cottage had been smashed. Some were even burning a bit. There wasn't a single soul in sight. They walked into the center of the tiny village,

"It can't have gotten too far," Hisagi remarked, "Before we go on, we should check out these houses."

Everyone split up to check them. Yuki walked over to one that seemed to be smoldering, smoke billowing from a large hole in the roof.

She pushed in the door and it fell off it's hinges. She carefully walked over it and into the building,

"Hello? Is anyone here?"

The only response she got was silence. She continued through the house, checking things out. It only took her a moment to realize that no one was there, and she walked out the back door.

The second she emerged, it was nearly pitch black. She looked around, the stars and moon seemed to have disappeared,

"What the hell?"

"Yuki!" Hisagi called from a house a little further down,

"What's going on?" She responded.

He quickly made his way over to her, "It's the hollow…It's got some kind of strange power." He looked around, "It's separated us from the others."

"What do we do?"

"We have to stick together."

Yuki rolled her eyes, "Great…"

The walked around the perimeter of the village, trying to stay as close to the buildings as possible. Suddenly the one they were passing by was smashed to pieces. They both backed up, unable to see anything,

"Where is it?" Yuki demanded, trying to hide the fear that was welling up inside her.

"Don't panic." Hisagi told her.

Suddenly something smashed down between them. They rolled out of the way in opposite directions. Yuki stood up and looked back to see a massive hole between herself and Hisagi. She looked around frantically but could see nothing,

"Ugh! How the hell are we supposed to fight something we can't see?"

She started to run toward the center of the village again, able to see nothing but darkness.

She kept running as fast as she could, but managed to snag her ankle on something and fell flat on the ground. She rolled over,

"What the hell?"

She sat up and began clawing at whatever was around her ankle. A loud roar filled the air. Her eyes widened, "Shit…"

She was lifted up by the ankle and held upside down by an invisible force,

"Put me down you bastard!"

She unsheathed KoriHoshi and began swinging wildly as it transformed into it's Shikai to give her a longer reach. It did no good as she was raised further into the air.

Hisagi watched from below, trying to find any flaw in the Hollow's invisibility. He quickly spotted one. In the dim light from one of the burning houses, he could see it's outline,

"Gotcha…"

He ran around the back of the hollow and jumped on it's back,

"You're done!"

He stabbed Kazeshini into its head and sliced it all the way down to the ground.

Yuki felt it release her foot,

"Eh…?"

She suddenly realized how quickly she was headed for the groun. She tried to brace herself for the fall but it was too late. She fell, head first, into the ground below.

A moment later the Hollow desintegrated and the light from the moon and stars once again filled the sky. Yuki slowly pushed herself up,

"Ugh…"

Hisagi ran over to her, "You okay?"

She stood up, "I'm fine…"

She took an unsteady step forward and fell right back down. Hisagi managed to catch her,

"Yeah, you're fine alright."

He turned around and knelt down, "C'mon, climb up."

"You've got to be kidding…"

"You can't walk like that, just c'mon."

She sighed and gave in, having little other choice. She climbed onto his back and he stood up. She let her arms hang down over his shoulders and rested her bleeding forehead against the back of his neck,

"Thank you…" She muttered, "…Maybe you're not so bad after all…"

He smiled a little, "Yeah…Maybe you aren't either."

"I didn't just get into your squad because of Toushiro, y'know…I'm told I was at the top of my class…"

"I figured it was something like that…"

"Why were you so mean to me then?" He demanded, lifting her head up a little,

"I got so mad the first time that it seemed like if I didn't keep it up, it would be weird."

She laughed a bit, "I guess I can forgive you…"

"And I guess I can accept." He glanced back over his shoulder, "You should rest."

She rested her head again, cracking the tiniest of smiles as she drifted off to sleep.