All Hollow's Eve I
Holidays were supposed to be days of joy and celebration, special occasions that came about fairly rarely, such as only once a year…or so Tia Halibel had mistakenly allowed herself to believe. In truth, it felt like humans had some damnedable holiday to celebrate every other week and it was impossible to finally wash your hands of one without tripping over the next.
Human holidays were a nuisance that the former Espada could do without and while too many of the celebrations seemed to require some level of participation in order to keep up the guise of being 'normal,' Halloween had at least seemed like one of the precious few holidays that could safely be ignored for this year.
Downtown at the bar where Halibel normally worked, The Oasis, there was a small costume party going on and while she had originally been slated to work tonight, the Espada had finally managed to convince her manager to give her the evening off, saving her from the nightmare; she had absolutely no intention of wearing a silly and somewhat-suggestive costume while serving drinks to desperate men if there was any way in Hell it could be avoided. No, her idea of a good Halloween was to spend a quiet evening at home with the moron, drinking beer, eating a frozen pizza, and critiquing the stupidity in horror movies all night.
The elevator doors opened up to the tenth floor and Halibel exited with a smug grin at having been victorious in securing the evening off as Tyn dutifully followed behind her, his arms laden with grocery sacks containing all the ingredients necessary to make the night as enjoyable as possible, namely plenty of beer, the frozen pizza, and a plethora of extra meats to heap upon said pizza.
The tercera led the way down the hall to their apartment door, opening it and allowing her roommate and lover to enter first and deposit the multiple grocery sacks on the bar. As Tyn began unloading the goods, Tia stared at the front of the open door thoughtfully, pondering if it might be best to make a sign deterring children from coming by in a pathetic attempt to get candy; after all, neither arrancar was terribly fond of being interrupted for anything, least of all if things were to get…personal.
She opened her mouth to ask Tyn for his input, only to feel an all-too-familiar presence around her waist before she could utter a single syllable.
"Happy Halloween, Miss Halle Belle!" sang Emi cheerfully as she hugged Tia, looking up at the adult with a big grin. Suppressing both a twitch and a sigh, Halibel forced a smile down at the child as she ruffled her dark hair in a manner that humans seemed to consider affectionate.
"Happy Halloween to you, too, Emi," she said pleasantly, though her keen ears could hear Tyn muttering a rather impressive variety of colorful expletives under his breath as he continued unloading the groceries. Normally Halibel might have shared his frustrations but tonight it was entirely unfounded; after all, she had thought ahead and purchased a few small bags of candy for just such an occasion and surely Emi would be on her way once she was given a handful of the sickeningly-sweet treats.
Or that was Halibel's thought until she saw Emi's mother, Miyo, come out of her apartment with an apologetic smile akin to the one she'd had the day she asked the Espada to babysit the child…
"Tia, I really hate to ask, but…" began the human slowly as Tia's mind began screaming NO as loud as it could inside her skull, "my husband is working late tonight and I have to take care of the baby; would you and Tyn please take Emi out Trick-or-Treating for me?"
Hesitantly, Tia cast a glance back over at the bar and Tyn, who was frantically shaking his head and silently mouthing the words "no, no, no, Hell no" at her, but the Espada knew in the void where her heart was supposed to be what the correct response should be, what the normal human response was…
"We'd be glad to," she lied with a forced smile, ignoring the sound of Tyn slamming his forehead against the bar repeatedly in frustration as Emi cheered.
"I think you're enjoying this entirely too much."
Neliel stuck her tongue out at her husband's teasing tone as she continued stringing various decorations, most in shades of black and orange, around the office in a festive manner. The former Espada practically danced around the office as she worked, humming contentedly and leaving her Captain with the distinct impression that she was already enjoying a sugar buzz derived from eating too many of the sweets contained in the bucket sitting on her desk…and it was barely noon!
"Was the costume really necessary?" asked Anrak with a bemused smile as he pushed his paperwork away for the moment and put an arm up on his desk, resting his head against his fist as he watched the dress-wearing arrancar climb up on a small stepladder to hang some more decorations from the ceiling, shaking her hips in rhythm to some unheard melody the entire time.
"Just because you have no holiday spirit doesn't mean I can't have a little fun," answered Neliel with a lighthearted tone as she shook her rear at him.
"Who say's I'm not having fun?" smirked Anrak at the sight, "I just don't care to dress up myself, personally."
"Oh, we'll change that," Nel said with a confident grin, "Next year, I'll have you in costume, too."
"We'll see about that," chuckled the shinigami as Nel made her way over to sit on his desk. Anrak looked up the green-haired woman in her witch costume, the black, pointy hat only partially covering her white hollow mask, and shook his head as he laughed again. "You're one of a kind, sweetheart, you know that?"
"If I can get you to loosen up just a little bit more, we'll be two of a kind," Nel countered, leaning over and giving him a kiss before taking a serious tone. "Besides, with what tonight really is, a little levity is a good thing."
"All Hollow's Eve…" Anrak sighed, "All squads have quadrupled the usual number of shinigami sent to the world of the living for tonight, but it won't be enough to save everyone. It's never enough."
"I try not to think about what I used to do before I became an arrancar…about what this night meant for me and the others…" began Nel slowly, the faintest glimmer of tears appearing in her eyes. "We all did such horrible things, so many lives taken… I was a monster, An."
"That was a long time ago," countered Anrak firmly, reaching up and gently wiping the tears away from her hazel eyes, "You couldn't help it; none of you could. You were victims of raw, primal instinct and an insatiable hunger that I can't even begin to imagine. What you do now is repentance for those sins; we've sent far more to the human world tonight than any of the other squads, all at your urging."
"But it won't be enough…" she reminded him.
"No, it won't," he agreed softly, "But there will be a lot less casualties this year than in the past and you're playing a major part of that; the squad has been trained well and they'll make us proud."
"I know they will," said Neliel, smiling gently once again. "I just wish we could end the annual horror forever and cling only to the celebration the humans enjoy."
"Perhaps someday we will, koibito," Anrak assured her, "Until then, put your smile back on and go spread some of that cheer to the remainder of the squad; after all, just because I don't have any holiday spirit doesn't mean the rest of you shouldn't have a bit of fun."
Neliel grinned and kissed him again as she hopped off his desk and picked up the candy-filled bucket from her own desk and headed for the door. She pushed the door open just in time to hear her captain stand up from his seat and clear his throat, demanding her attention. She turned to face him with a quizzical look on her face as he approached, but he just gave her another smile, winking as he reached inside the bucket and extracted a handful of fruit-flavored candy for himself before sending her on her way.
Lilynette sat on the bleachers at the park, watching the sun slowly set and fidgeting as she waited for Karin, her best friend, to respond to her story. It had been a long time coming, but Lilynette had finally found the courage to have a talk with the human and explain the truth to her, to tell her about the Arrancar and the Espada and who she really was.
Karin knew some of it already; how could she not? Her own brother was a shinigami, even if he had refused to tell her exactly what that meant. She'd seen the spirits of the deceased her entire life and had even had a few run-ins with hollows in the past and while she'd always known the Lilynette was different, the arrancar doubted she had realized just how different.
"So?" asked Karin finally after a long, nerve-wracking silence. "I get it; you're not human. Do you really think I give a crap about that?"
"I just kinda thought you should know…" Lilynette shrugged. "I should have told you a long time ago, especially when I found out Ichigo was your brother. I mean, we fought on opposite sides of a war—"
"And he's still alive, and you're still alive, so it doesn't matter if you were a 'bad guy' in the past; he doesn't seem to hold a grudge against any of you, 'cept for maybe that Grimmjow guy, so why should I?"
"I want to be a shinigami, too…" Lilynette sighed. "I want to be a good guy instead of a monster."
"A good guy like Ichigo, you mean?" asked Karin with a teasing grin. "Are you saying you have a crush on my brother?"
"God no!" exclaimed Lilynette in horror. "I want to be a shinigami like Nel is; she was always so cool in Hueco Mundo, so strong and confident, but really nice and awesome. The rest of us are doing this, pretending to be human, but she joined the shinigami and now she's a Lieutenant in Squad 13! I want to be just like her one day!"
"I think I've met her once…" Karin said, scratching her chin thoughtfully. "Green hair, brown eyes, big, goofy smile?"
"Yep!" confirmed Lilynette. "Nel is the strongest woman ever, even if she doesn't always act like it."
"I didn't know she was a shinigami, or an Espada, either," said Karin. "Probably should have, though; she was with Ichigo and Tōshirō and a bunch of other people I didn't know. Should have guessed they were all Soul Reapers."
"Who's Tōshirō?"
"He's…" began Karin before pausing, blushing a bit, "He's this pretty cool guy I know. Really good soccer player, like almost as good as I am."
"Uh huh…" said Lilynette with a knowing grin, but for the moment she opted to keep talking about the shinigami rather than calling out Karin for her obvious crush, "Anyway, Nel comes back here every few weeks to spar with me and teach me how to fight. She says she doesn't know how she'll get me into the Soul Academy, but she and her husband both promised they'd make it happen."
"If she's a Lieutenant now and a former Espada, both of which sound like pretty high-ranking positions, isn't sparring with her hard? I mean, doesn't she kick your ass all over the place?" asked Karin.
"Kinda, yeah…" Lilynette admitted. "I know she's holding back to keep from hurting me, but it's really hard because she's just so much stronger… And the size difference! She says that'll change in a year or two when I hit a growth spurt, but right now it's pretty tough."
"You should find someone your own size to spar with…" Karin suggested. "I could probably help."
"Karin, thanks, but you're…human," said Lilynette slowly, trying to not offend her friend. "The strength difference between us—"
"Then I'll just become a Soul Reaper," shrugged the other girl nonchalantly. "They can obviously hang with Espada and Arrancar and whatever, so if I'm a Soul Reaper, I'll be just fine."
"How?" asked Lilynette. "I don't think it's that easy—"
"Hey, Ichigo is a Soul Reaper, right? And you said he's one of the strongest ones, right? I'm his sister; I should be able to do the same. It's probably genetic."
"But…how?" asked Lilynette, confused. "I mean, it's not as simple as putting on a black uniform and fighting ghosts. There's the Soul Academy and all…"
"I'll bet that creepy Urahara guy knows," said Karin confidently. "Ichigo hangs around him a lot and it all seemed to start right about the time he became a Soul Reaper, and I don't think he ever went to some dumb academy. It can't just all be coincidence."
"So we ask him?"
"Yep!" declared Karin, standing up. "We'll force him to tell us how Ichigo got to be a Soul Reaper, and then I can be a Soul Reaper, and then I can help you train!"
"Awesome!" cheered Lilynette, jumping up excitedly. "This is going to be so cool and…wait a minute, you wanting to be a shinigami wouldn't have anything to do with getting closer to that Tōshirō guy, would it?"
Karin's face turned an interesting shade of red from embarrassment.
"S-s-shut up!"
The sunlight was just beginning to fade as Tia knocked on Miyo's door to pick up Emi, ready to take the child out to gather candy and get the entire hellish ordeal over with. Tyn leaned up against the wall beside the door frame, arms folded over his chest in frustration as he alternated between grumbling and growling at the situation. While Halibel shared his frustrations, they had to put on a good face and pretend to be looking forward to helping out their neighbors and "friends," and as such Tia had found it necessary to give her roommate a good, hard smack to his head to silence him.
Not that she expected it to keep him quiet for long.
Impatient to get the evening over with, she rapped her knuckles against the door once more and was rewarded with the doorknob turning as Miyo opened up the door with young Emi in tow.
"Hi, guys," said the human woman with her apologetic smile, "Thanks again for taking Emi out for me; I really appreciate it."
"It's our pleasure," lied Tia with a practiced smile as Emi stepped out into the hall and grasped the Espada's hand tightly.
"You behave for Tia and Tyn now, Emi," Miyo reminded her daughter. "Don't give them any trouble."
"She'll be fine," Tia assured her, "Emi's a little sweetheart, aren't you, dear?"
Emi gave an affirmative and while Halibel gave her another smile, she heard Tyn make a faint gagging noise off to the side. She gave him an icy glare that the humans thankfully missed, but Tyn didn't; he went silent once more as he looked away from the menacing tercera.
Tia exchanged a couple of more pleasantries with the girl's mother before Miyo disappeared back into her apartment, leaving the small child in the care of the two Espada. The irony of a human entrusting her offspring's safety to them tonight, of all nights, wasn't lost on the blonde, but she kept her mouth shut about it.
Tyn, on the other hand, was chuckling darkly to himself.
"Behave," growled Halibel threateningly, keeping her voice just low enough that the young child holding her hand wouldn't hear. Tyn gave an annoyed sigh and fell silent again, and Halibel hoped that this time he might actually heed her warning for more than ten seconds.
"Do you like my costume?" asked Emi as they stepped onto the elevator to go down.
"It's wonderful, dear," said Halibel, making a show of looking over the child's white dress that was cut in such a fashion as to make it nigh-impossible to determine if she was supposed to be a princess, a bride, or a ballerina.
Though the cardboard fin taped to her little tiara helped give it away.
"I'm the Shark Queen!" announced Emi proudly, "Just like from the story you told me!"
"I see…" said Halibel, her smile becoming even more forced. "You look just like her."
And that was the point where Tyn lost his remaining self control, laughing deeply as he fell back against the elevator's wall, catching himself with one hand and using the other to wipe tears from his eyes. Tia gave him another death glare, but this time the silent threat did nothing to silence his guffawing.
The elevator doors opened up and Tia led Emi out into the lobby, heading towards the glass doors leading outside as Tyn followed behind them, still laughing at his roommate.
"So in a year or two, when he's old enough, I'm guessing your baby brother will go as the Raptor Prince?" Tia asked the girl conversationally.
"Oh yes!" agreed Emi. "And I'm going to help him make the bestest costume ever, just like mine!"
Tyn's laughter finally died, the mirthful look on his face quickly being replaced by one of abject horror at the thought, and Tia couldn't help but give a smug, almost-evil grin at his sudden predicament.
Sometimes, just sometimes, karma could be fun.
"I do not understand how I allowed you to talk me into this, woman."
Orihime looked over at her sullen companion and gave him another one of her painfully-bright smiles as she hugged his arm. It was a lie, of course; Ulquiorra knew exactly how the crafty woman had conned him into this, what with her strangely-alluring smile and big brown eyes…and worse, she was doing it to him again!
"Oh, don't be like that, Ulqui!" she admonished him playfully as she half-dragged him towards the school gymnasium and the Halloween party inside, "It'll be fun!"
"I do not share your assessment of the situation," Ulquiorra stated flatly, feeling decidedly uncomfortable in the ridiculous gray and blue tights his roommate had picked out for him. "I know very little of this particular version of the character I am supposed to be imitating and even less of your friends at this party we are going to."
"It's not necessary to know the character…" said Orihime, taking a moment to straighten out his blue cape for him, "and you'll know Tatsuki, at least."
"That is not entirely comforting," stated Ulquiorra, ignoring the phantom ache in his jaw brought about by the mere mention of the overly-protective and equally-violent human.
"Just stick with me and try to loosen up; I promise you'll have fun," said the teen, adjusting the fake cat ears she wore on her head to complete her strange feline-esque costume.
"And if someone were to recognize me, such as the Quincy…?" asked Ulquiorra with a frown. "I do not wish to become embroiled in a fight that would likely destroy your school and cause many casualties."
"Uryū won't be there; he says there's no reason to celebrate Halloween—"
"He is correct," Ulquiorra interrupted her stiffly. "Once upon a time, humans understood the true nature of this night and they knew better than to go outside and draw attention to themselves, but somehow over the centuries, it has become this…perversion."
"Relax!" Orihime reminded the overly-analytical Espada. "For once, just try and enjoy yourself and forget about facts and history and being all super serious!"
"My limited understanding of this character is that he does not relax and, in fact, takes everything quite seriously."
"That's just one interpretation of him; you're dressed as a different one," Orihime reminded him as she opened the door and gestured for him to go inside. "Just give everyone a big smile and maybe say things like 'pow' and 'bam' periodically."
"This is getting more ridiculous by the minute…" lamented Ulquiorra as he reluctantly entered the crowded gymnasium. "Could I not have disguised myself as one of the other, less-emasculating interpretations?"
"Nope!" chirped Orihime brightly, "Now go get 'em, Batman!"
Halibel stood on the sidewalk with Tyn, carefully watching Emi as she went up to each house and knocked on the door with her little bag of candies. A virtual sea of children and their guardians flowed around them, flooding the streets in an effort to get their grubby little hands on sugar-filled candies that would undoubtedly leave them hyperactive and positively wired for weeks to come.
The thought only reinforced Halibel's own reluctance to ever have children of her own.
Emi thanked the owner of the house and happily skipped back to the two Espada that were escorting her, taking hold of Tia's hand and grasping it tightly as she smiled up at the blonde in a sign that she was ready to move on to the next house.
"Halloween is the second best holiday ever!" Emi chirped brightly as the adults led her down the street past a few houses whose lights were off, indicating they wanted nothing to do with the holiday.
Tia sympathized with them wholeheartedly.
"Only Christmas is better, 'cause of all the presents and stuff!" continued Emi, who failed to notice the irritated twitch on Halibel's face at the mere mention of Christmas. "But still, whoever invented Halloween was really smart!"
"Whoever 'invented' Halloween forgot the true meaning of the day…" growled Tyn as he shoved his hands into his pockets, sulking, and Emi looked up at him quizzically.
"Why? What do you mean?" asked the child and Halibel sighed, torn between answering her honestly and smacking Tyn for even bringing it up. She weighed her options for a couple of seconds, noticing that Tyn seemed to be expecting a reprimand and while it was very tempting to belt him one, the tercera instead opted to answer the question somewhat honestly; after all, part of the modern human tradition for the night seemed to include stories of a 'scary' nature.
"Halloween was originally called All Hollow's Eve…' said Tia, drawing Emi's attention to her rather than Tyn, "Hollows, as in the monsters from the story about the Shark Queen."
"Monsters celebrate Halloween?" asked a confused Emi.
"Not willingly…" muttered Tyn, looking away.
"On All Hollow's Eve, the natural barrier between the world of the living and the world of the dead becomes very thin…" continued Tia, "Sometimes, doors open up that allow the spirits to come back to the world of the living, but it's not usually the 'good' spirits from what you call Heaven; only the bad spirits from Hueco Mundo, the hollows, cross over."
"And they eat people, don't they? I remember you saying that in the story cause they were all bad," said Emi nervously, clutching the adult's hand tighter.
"Certain people, yes; people who can see or hear spirits like that weird guy on TV, Don Kanonji. People like that have a special smell about them that Hollows find particularly appealing, but most everyone else is safe," Tia assured her.
"Somewhere along the way, people thought that wearing costumes and masks to 'blend in' with the spirits would help protect them…" added Tyn. "Pity for them that only the exceptionally retarded hollows would fall for their simple disguises."
"Over the years, people began calling it All Hallow's Eve instead of All Hollow's, and they forgot the real reasons behind the tradition of wearing costumes. Today, we call it Halloween," finished Halibel, giving the child a comforting smile. "But that's just an old legend; it's nothing you need worry about."
"Why did candy become a part of it, then?" asked Emi. "Do the monsters like candy?"
"Humans add candy to everything," grunted Tyn bitterly. "I think it's hardwired into their DNA to add chocolate and sugar to everything they can: Christmas, All Hollow's Eve, Valentine's Day, Easter…"
"How do you know so much?" asked Emi, "You two must be really smart!"
"Different places in the world celebrate holidays differently…" Tia told the girl. "Where we used to live, we never forgot the truth behind All Hollow's Eve; everyone there knows the story."
"So did you two ever dress up and go Trick-or-Treating before you moved here?" asked Emi.
"We had masks…" said Tyn, grinning darkly the entire time, "but we never ate candy…."
Halibel wanted to smack the redhead, but the horrible truth behind his comment went right over Emi's head as the child hugged her two guardians around their waists tightly.
"That's so sad!" she practically wailed. "I'll share my candy with you!"
"Thank you, Emi, but that's not necessary—" began Tia as a hollow roar echoed across the city, but she cut herself off when she noticed Emi's brown eyes go wide.
"W-w-what was that?" she asked timidly. "I thought I heard something…something weird and scary!"
The two adults looked at each other, surprised. Tia wanted to believe it was a fluke, but the roar sounded again, louder this time, and Emi hugged her waist tightly in fear, crying.
"Perfect, just perfect…" growled an annoyed Tyn as Tia knelt down before Emi and wiped the tears from her eyes gently.
"It's okay, sweetie…" she soothed, "You're perfectly safe with us."
"B-but aren't you afraid of the monsters?" sputtered Emi, trembling as Halibel continued to try and comfort her. The two adults looked at each other for a second before Tyn answered her.
"Kid, if anything, they should be afraid of us."
Starrk and Keiko waved goodbye to the children as they headed away from Keiko's apartment and down the building's long hallway to continue their hunt for candy, and the primera allowed himself a small, sad smile as he watched them go. All Hollow's Eve, or rather, the human variant of it, seemed like the sort of thing Lilynette could have enjoyed had she been younger, and a part of Starrk lamented never being able to take her out Trick-or-Treating.
But it was too late now; Lilynette, while still quite childlike in many ways, was what the humans would consider 'too old' for Trick-or-Treating now and she'd never allow herself to do something that could make her appear too childish in the eyes of her peers.
"You miss taking Lilynette out on Halloween, don't you?" asked Keiko, noticing and misinterpreting his expression.
"Something like that…" Starrk said, shaking his head slowly. "They really do grow up too fast, don't they?"
"You're just a big softy at heart, you know that?" teased his girlfriend, prompting a light laugh from Starrk.
"Maybe just a bit," he agreed, "But I just can't help thinking of all the missed opportunities with Lilynette… She's the only real family I have and since moving to Karakura, that's been weighing more and more heavily on me; I haven't done enough with her, enough for her…and I don't really know what I should do anymore."
"You're over-thinking it," chastised Keiko as another group of children approached them. "She's at that age where it's difficult to connect with her; she's growing up and discovering herself, who she really is, and what she wants in life. Don't focus on missed chances in the past and don't worry about what to do in the future; just be available for her now and be supportive, let her know you love her."
"It feels like she's closer to her aunt Nel than me anymore…" said Starrk, giving a couple of handfuls of candy out to the costumed kids in front of him. "It sounds terrible to say, but I'm a little jealous; I don't even know what they're doing when they go off together, or what they talk about, anything. I've been left completely in the dark."
"That's probably for the best…" mused Keiko, waving to the children as they departed. "It's good for her to have a strong female role model to look up to and answer her questions. Seriously, Starrk, are you really prepared to answer a teenage girl's questions about her body and how to deal with feelings towards boys?"
"Well, no…" admitted a red-faced Starrk as he shut the apartment door until the next visitor came knocking, "I didn't think about it that way."
"I didn't think so," said Keiko, grinning at the Espada's embarrassment. "Just give her time to grow and let Nel help her through the journey into being a young woman."
"I just hope you're right and that's all it is," sighed Starrk as he went over and sat on the couch. Keiko plopped down beside him and kissed his cheek lightly to reassure him.
"Of course I'm right; after all, what else could it be?"
The revelation that Emi appeared to possess some level of spiritual pressure, enough to hear the hollow cries echoing through the city streets at least, had brought yet another complication and annoyance to the godforsaken task of taking the child out for candy; now Halibel had to be far more diligent since Emi would be considered a tasty little treat for any hollow that might pass close enough to sense her. Going against every fiber of her very being, the Espada now refused to release the little girl's hand and allow her to venture up to houses alone, which meant Halibel had little choice but to accompany the child up to each and every door and interact with the humans who answered.
She twitched at virtually every other stop as people mistakenly assumed her to be the girl's mother, but she managed to keep the fake smile intact as she thanked each person for their time and wished them all a "Happy Halloween."
Inwardly, the tercera couldn't remember that last time she'd wanted to just punch someone, anyone, so damn much…
Where the hell was Grimmjow when you actually needed him?
As they stood at the door to yet another house with Emi standing up on her toes to reach the doorbell, Tia allowed herself to turn back and look behind them for just a moment, glancing at Tyn.
For his part, the raptor paid her no mind; he stood on the sidewalk slowly and carefully surveying the area for threats, his sharp eyes granting him night vision far superior to any human and his keen nose could be seen twitching ever-so-slightly as he took in the scents wafting by on the night winds. Despite having his normal senses watered down by the gigai, the quinto's senses still greatly exceeded human capacity and would quickly alert the two Espada to any hungry hollow that came too close.
Of course, the matter of what they would actually do if something were to show its masked face was still up in the air; their faux bodies hindered them far too much to actually win in a fight and would slow their speed so much that escape would be impossible…
The only other option was their soul candy and from her spot on the front porch, Halibel could see that Tyn still had his hand in his pocket, fingers tightly curled around his own soul candy as a precaution. They both knew that the instant either one of them used it, however, their existence would be exposed to the Soul Society and their lives in Karakura would come to an end.
That was as unacceptable as allowing harm to come to the child.
They were effectively damned either way.
Halibel silently cursed the need for secrecy and turned back around just as the door opened, greeting the homeowner and wishing her a "Happy Halloween" as the woman deposited a handful of candy into Emi's waiting loot bag.
At least Emi's not crying anymore, thought Halibel as they turned and headed back to the sidewalk and the raptor waiting on them. Every time a hollow roar sounded off in the distance the human child would tighten her grip on Halibel hand slightly, but that was only to be expected; Emi was still human and still prone to fear, despite how much she might be trying to hide it at the moment.
Joining back up with Tyn, the group headed for another neighborhood and more candy as Halibel gazed up at the moon briefly; so full, so bright…
"A real hunter's moon, isn't it?" Tyn asked her quietly.
"A night like this would have been a godsend back then…" agreed the blonde. "Fortunately, here and now, it can still work in our favor."
"What are you talking about?" asked Emi, looking up at her two guardians.
"Nothing you need to worry about…" Tia soothed the child, "We're just…reminiscing."
"What's that mean?"
"Remembering how things used to be," answered Tyn, "before we moved here."
"Oh…" said Emi, falling silent for just a moment. "I bet you miss your old home, but I'm really glad you moved here, 'cause you two are really nice and I like you a lot!"
"We like you, too, Emi," said Halibel as Tyn predictably ignored the girl's comments. She wanted to elbow him and encourage him to try and say something nice, but the way Tyn narrowed his eyes alerted Tia that something wasn't quite right.
"Act casual," he said simply as they neared the street corner they were going to turn at. Tia opened her mouth to ask what he'd smelled, only to close it immediately as she finally noticed the faint scent in the air.
Soul Reapers.
The two Espada and Emi turned the corner and sure enough, there were two shinigami standing just a few feet from them, leaning against a tall wooden privacy fence surrounding a house. There was no indication of a trap or ambush, though, and the two shinigami simply seemed to be resting or killing time.
Slackers… thought the tercera disdainfully.
Halibel didn't recognize the young-looking duo, which hopefully meant that they wouldn't recognize her either, but the safest course of action was to just 'act casual' as Tyn had said; pretend that they weren't there, pretend that they were invisible, just as they would be to normal people.
"Cool costumes!" blurted out Emi, effectively ruining that plan. "How'd you make yourself all see-through and stuff?"
See-through… mused Halibel silently. If the girl couldn't see them clearly, solidly, that meant her spiritual pressure was on the low end of the spectrum, which would make her a somewhat less-appetizing meal to hollows.
Still…
"You can see us?" asked one of the two near-identical looking men, sounding confused.
"Well, yeah…" said Emi. "Am I not 'sposed to?"
"Not really…" said the other male. "It's kind of rare for people to see us at all."
"Why?" asked Emi as Halibel and Tyn stood there frozen, each looking at the other for a solution to get away from the current predicament.
"Because we're ghosts!" said the first male, giving a good-natured grin before going, "Boo!"
Emi yelped and took refuge behind Halibel as the blonde began to contemplate striking the idiot Soul Reaper for frightening the child.
How fortunate it was that the other one took care of it for her, slapping his partner in the back of the head.
"Moron…" he growled at his companion before looking at the child, "Ignore my idiot brother here; he's harmless. We're not going to hurt you; we're the good guys."
"B-b-but Miss Halle Belle said the bad ghosts came out tonight!" answered the child, refusing to come out from her hiding spot behind the adults.
"They do…" answered the shinigami honestly, "But we've come out to try and stop them from hurting people. That's our job."
"Are they really good guys?" Emi asked Tia timidly, looking up at the blonde for some kind of reassurance.
"Your parents here probably can't see us…" said the shinigami again, mistakenly identifying the trio as a family. "Remember, most people can't see ghosts."
"See, watch!" said the first shinigami again, going up to Tyn and making a bunch of goofy faces and sticking his tongue out. "See? He can't see me at all!"
It was a miracle Tyn had restrained himself from striking the foolish soul reaper, but as he moved to stand in front of Tia and repeat the act…
The tercera finally gave in to her earlier desires.
*POW!*
A thunderous right came out of nowhere and connected with the shinigami's jaw, sending him flying backwards against his brother who was too surprised to catch his twin. The duo crashed to the ground roughly as Emi giggled at their confusion and Tyn gave a little grin that was nothing short of malicious.
"Takk, I think they can see us…" said the first shinigami, rubbing his bruised jaw.
"No shit," snorted Tyn, earning him a hard punch in the arm from the menacing blonde.
"How many times do I have to tell you to watch your language in front of kids?" she hissed.
"Hey, if you can get away with punching a shinigami in the face, then I can get away with a little swearing."
"And you know what we are…" said the second Soul Reaper, now identified as Takk, as he slowly got back to his feet, pulling his brother up along with him. "How do you know what we are?"
"That's not how it works," Halibel snapped at her roommate, ignoring the two shinigami. "There's a difference."
"I don't really think that's fair…" complained the redhead.
"And I think you must want to sleep on the couch tonight," countered Halibel coldly.
"…that's fighting dirty," growled Tyn bitterly as he folded his arms across his chest and looked away, but he said nothing further and effectively conceded the argument to his roommate. Halibel smirked at her victory and resumed walking, leading Emi and Tyn past the shinigami and hoping the two slackers wouldn't feel inclined to pursue the matter further.
As if she would be so lucky…
"Wait a minute here…" said Takk, falling into step behind the trio. "You didn't answer my questions and—"
"Didn't you two idiots say your job was to protect people from the 'bad ghosts' out tonight?" asked Halibel irritably as she whirled around to face the Soul Reaper.
"Well, yeah, but—" Takk tried to answer, only to be cut off again.
"Then go do your job and stop harassing us!" roared the Espada in his face as she jabbed an accusatory finger at his chest. "Stop slacking off, do your stupid job, and leave us alone! You're setting a bad example for the girl!"
Stunned at the outburst from the rather intimidating woman, the two shinigami stepped back away, cringing at her tone and looking away for a moment like a pair of children who'd just been scolded. Neither tried to speak again and, hoping that they had finally been put in their place, Halibel turned and resumed walking once more, taking Emi and Tyn along with her as the two bewildered shinigami just stood there, blinking stupidly.
"Uh, what just happened?" the first shinigami timidly asked his brother after several long seconds.
Emi just giggled and waved goodbye to them as 'Miss Halle Belle' led her to the next house.