I do not own bleach
You might have noticed that I started putting titles to the chapters, I figured it would make it easier to browse through them.
Thanks to Hell's Butterflies, Xxdreamergirl95xX, and Nanodayo for reviewing the last chapter! I'm glad I did a decent job with the cliffhanger ending.
It's now one year since I published this story, and it also just recently reached 1000 views! Thanks to everyone who's following this story. Hopefully we can make it through another year!
So the Chapter doesn't exactly start off where we left off, so sorry for those expecting an epic fight scene.
My eyes fluttered open to the sound of simultaneous beeping. I looked around to see monitors, the endless color of white, and tubes stuck to my arms. My body ached from head to toe, but the most pain came from my left arm, which I could hardly move. I was in the hospital, that I knew for sure. I couldn't exactly remember why, until the memories poured back into my mind.
I was at the beach with everyone, and when Orihime and I went to get water for the sandcastle, monsters appeared. It attacked us, and I guess that's how I ended up here. But where were Orihime and the others? She was badly injured. Where they all fine now except for me?
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps could be heard outside the door. I didn't know what to do, so I closed my eyes, pretending to still be asleep. The person came in the room and stopped a few feet away from the bed.
"You're finally awake," they simply stated.
Nicara jumped at the sound of the man's voice. She knew who it belonged to, but was taken by surprise. Why would he be here visiting her at the hospital? Her eyes opened wide to search for face of the owner's voice to confirm who it really belonged to.
"Grimmjow?!" she asked astounded. "What are you doing here?"
"Nice to see you too," he replied sarcastically as he plopped himself into a nearby chair, then bringing his focus back to the girl.
"How'd you know I was awake?"
"You're acting skills are horrible, so it was pretty obvious," Grimmjow lied. The real reason he knew she was awake was because he sensed her reiatsu go up, not by much but enough to let him know she had woken up.
Nicara stuck her tongue out like a child at Grimmjow, slightly embarrassed by his comment. "Seriously, what are you doing here?"
"What? Can't visit my good friend?"
"Since when were we friends?"
Grimmjow's face contorted into a fake, wounded expression. "Ouch, that hurt, cause last time I checked you were trying to win me over with gifts."
Nicara rolled her eyes. She could tell Grimmjow was making small talk, and avoiding her question. He was being his usual jackass self with his smartass comments, but for some reason something about him was off. He still had his cocky smirk, but the smile didn't meet his eyes. In fact, he even looked a little tired.
"How long have I been out for?"
"Almost a week, it's Saturday morning."
"Ohh... and you decided to visit me so early because...?"
"Look, the only reason I'm here is because Kurosaki and other's made me, and plus I didn't have anything better to do."
"Thanks, that make's me feel so special. For a second I thought you were actually worried about me."
"Keep dreaming, woman."
Part of Nicara didn't believe in Grimmjow's words. He wasn't the type of guy you could force to do things. He does things his way whatever and whenever. Minutes of silence passed before she asked, "What were they?"
"Huh?"
"Those monster's at the beach." She didn't know what they were, but at the moment the word monster was the best way to describe it.
"How would I know?"
"Because you were there," muttered Nicara.
"What are you talking about, woman? Did you get hit in the head that hard?"
" I saw you. You brought me here didn't you? And I heard Ichigo's voice, he was carrying Orihime in his arms."
Grimmjow was at a standstill. What Nicara said was all true, but he didn't expect here to remember all this. At the time she was barely conscious, so he was hoping she would've forgotten everything."Com'on Nicara, you're just imagining things."
"Grimmjow, stop lying to me, I know you're hiding something."
"How do you know I'm lying?" he challenged.
"Because you just addressed me by my name."
Shit. This girl was smarter than he thought. Grimmjow was speechless, how was he suppose to explain this to her? Was he even suppose to tell her? Where were the shinigami when he needed them?
"How much do you remember?" He finally asked, dropping his act.
"Everything."
Grimmjow and Ichigo watched as the hollow's claws pierced through Nicara's body. "Pathetic little human," it laughed. As the hollow sensed the approach of the two newcomers it flung Nicara's body into the air, quickly losing interest in her. Grimmjow quickly caught Nicara's body before it could hit the ground. She was covered in blood, and if she didn't stop bleeding soon, she could die.
"You fuckin' bastard!" Grimmjow growled. In seconds, Grimmjow drawled out his sword, sonido, and cut through the hollow's mask. The hollow cried out in pain, dissatisfied with it's defeat. It hadn't stood a chance against him."What do I do with the fuckin' woman?" Grimmjow yelled over to Ichigo who picked up an injured Orihime into his arms.
"We're taking them to Karakura Hospital, Uryu's dad's the in charge of that place."
Grimmjow nodded and let Ichigo lead the way. The journey to the hospital was silent. The two men weren't in the mood for their usual arguments, because they with both preoccupied with other things.
Grimmjow couldn't help but wonder if the woman in his arms was going to make it. She was dying, he could tell, and her gradually fading reiatsu wasn't a good sign. Was she going to make it? Surely if the shinigami or red-headed woman healed her she would be fine. But she was just another human who was attacked on the beach by some hollows. Everyone else would get a normal human treatment, so why wouldn't she?
The sound of the woman's voice quickly pulled him out of his thoughts.
"Grimmjow?" Nicara mumbled, her voice horse.
"Yeah, what?"
"Am I dead?" she asked, her eyes barely opened.
'What kind of dumb question is that?' Grimmjow wondered.
After a few seconds of silence and constant stirring, Nicara reached up and gently caressed his jaw bone on the right side of his cheek. Her touch was soft, smooth, and warm, nothing he had felt before. The sudden movement caused Grimmjow's non-existence heart to flutter with foreign sensations.
"What's this?" she asked innocently, like a small child.
"It's nothing, just go back to sleep," he muttered. As much as he hated to admit it, Grimmjow wanted Nicara to touch him there again. It was one of his soft spots, like scratching behind the ears of a kitten, or rubbing a dogs belly.
"No... not yet" she grumbled, but her eyelids became too heavy, causing her mind to slip back into unconsciousness.
"You guys aren't human." Nicara stated, rather than asked.
Grimmjow was about to deny it, but in walked the shinigami and others.
"Oh my god Nicara, you're finally awake!"
"We were so worried about you!" cried Orihime. "Are you okay?" she asked, while smushing Nicara into a bear hug.
"I'm fine," she sighed. " I mean my entire body hurts like hell, but I'll live."
Grimmjow chuckled at her statement, she was definitely a fighter, something he looked for in a woman. However, Grimmjow's interruption only caused Nicara to return to the previous subject matter.
"Is anybody going to tell me what the hell is going on?"
"What do you mean?"
"What happened at the beach, and why am I the only one who's injured?" she questioned. She looked towards Orihime to see if she had any wounds, but she had none, she looked like her usual self. It didn't make any sense, nothing did. Maybe she was going crazy after all.
Orihime quickly thought of an excuse, a very poor excuse. "Umm... you hit your head on a rock while you were swimming, so that's why you're here at the hospital!"
Grimmjow and everyone else face palmed. There was no way Nicara was going to believe that.
"Is that seriously the best lie you could come up with?" Nicara questioned in a serious tone. If they wanted to lie to her, they could have at least done a better job and made a believable excuse.
Everyone made eye contact with each other, deciding whether or not to tell Nicara the truth.
"Well she's not stupid, so why don't we just fuckin' tell her?" suggested Grimmjow.
"We could just wipe out her memory, and she won't remember a thing."
Nicara looked at all of them wide-eyed. "You're gonna do what?!"
"Come on let's just tell her," said Rangiku, agreeing with Grimmjow.
"What if we get in trouble?'
"Then I'll take the blame."
"Okay, fine..."
Slowly taking a seat on the bed, Rangiku sat face to face with Nicara, making eye contact with her as she told her the truth. "Nicara, we're not humans, we're shinigami's." They all watched Nicara to see what kind of reaction she would have to the news.
"Shinigami? I didn't know those existed." Her face stayed neutral with a hint of doubt.
"Well they do, and that's what we are. Those monsters you saw on the beach, those are called hollows. Hollows are corrupt spirits with supernatural powers which devour the souls humans."
Nicara looked at Rangiku, slightly confused with all the new information. "So let me get this straight, you guy's are all shinigami's who protect humans from getting attacked by hollows?"
"Yeah, basically. Well some of us aren't a shinigami, just a human with above average spiritual pressure and power, like you."
"Me?!" Nicara asked in shock.
Rangiku nodded her head. "Tell me, Nicara, how long have you been able to see hollows for?"
"A while, " Nicara admitted.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
Nicara's face turned into a puzzled look. "Well, what was I suppose to say? I can see ghosts? If you guys were normal humans you would think I was crazy!"
"I guess you've got a point. Well now that you know what we are, we don't need to hide so much things from you."
"Oh, you mean like your group bathroom runs?" Nicara chuckled.
"We weren't that obvious were we?"
"Psh,,, not at all, " Nicara replied sarcastically.
"Anyways, since that beach incident the amount of hollows in town has gone up, and they like humans with higher spiritual pressure like you. So we need to make sure someone stays by your side most of the time."
"So like a bodyguard?"
"Yeah, but they don't have to follow you everywhere, just around the same area so if anything happens we can get to you."
"Look you guys, I appreciate the concern and all, but - Ahhh,,,!" Sharp pain went through her left arm, causing Nicara to collapse back on to the bed. Her even breathing became a slight pant.
"Nicara, What's wrong?!"
"It's my arm, it still hurts pretty bad, " she explained while clutching her arm in pain.
"Oh about that..."
"What?"
"Just promise you won't scream..."
"What are you talking about?" Slowly Rangiku and Orihime untied the bandages on Nicara's arm. The sight before Nicara wasn't what she expecting to see, but she didn't scream, just as they told her not to."I think I'm gonna be sick.." Nicara mumbled, covering her mouth getting ready to hurl.
Most of Nicara's arm looked fine and fully healed, except for one spot. On her arm in between her shoulder and elbow was a hole about the size of a plastic bottle cap. The odd thing was, you could see right through the void, no veins or bones were visible, but most of all no blood was leaking from the wound.
"How is this even possible?!"
"We're not sure, but when the hollow stabbed you, it went through your chest and your arm. We were able to close up your chest wound, but for some reason your arm wound wouldn't heal any further."
Nicara relaxed and asked,"So am I okay then?"
"You should be fine, but we need to check up on that arm wound every few days."
"Cool, " she said, returning to her normal composure. "Then can I get out of the hospital now? I really hope Ari's doing okay."
"Your dog?"
"Yeah..."
"It's alright Nicara-chan! I've been going to your house after school to feed Ari-kun!"
"Oh my god! Thanks so much Orihime, I owe you big time."
"You already risked your life to save me from that hollow, remember?"
Nicara made eye contact with Orihime and nodded, silently thanking her one last time.
"Anyways, let's check you out of this hospital"
Nicara didn't need to be told twice. She quickly got out of bed and gathered her belongings while the others helped her out. While making their way out of the hospital a group of students in uniforms passed by.
"Shit!" exclaimed Nicara.
"What's wrong, does your arm hurt again? " Orihime asked, face full of concern.
"I forgot all about school!"
Rangiku chuckled. "Don't worry,we'll come over to your house tomorrow to discuss the bodyguard issue and get you caught up on homework."
Nicara sighed, tomorrow was going to be a long day.
Just getting out of the hospital all Nicara can think of is school. Hee hee. I actually portray some of Nicara's personality and traits from me ( like the do good in school and self-conscious in a bikini thing). But at the same time Nicara's a lot more brave and athletic than me, I defiantly don't know any karate whatsoever.
Next update: Ummm... next month maybe? I'm kind of having trouble trying to write it. Also, it's September, which means updates are going to be slowing down again!:( I'm sorry, I know, just when you've forgiven me for the nine month wait. I'm sorry, but school is my first priority. Let's just hope I'll still be able to update during the holidays. :)