Rising Moon - Bleach Fanfiction

Ch. 2: Hollows and Shinigami

Lucina was not having a smart day.

She had resisted the urge to return to Tayne's cave for a day, but the day after she decided to return out of curiosity.

Curious about the strange girl, Lucina sent a text to her mother that she was going over to hang out with Orihime and Tatsuki for a few hours. She

'I wonder who she is...' the girl pondered as she walked down the path from yesterday. She groaned a bit and rubbed her shoulder, which was sore from carrying her bag for so long. Since she couldn't finish all the homework, the teacher had angrily given her extra.

There it was- the cave from yesterday. Again it was empty, so Lucina plopped down beside it. She flipped open her phone.

'4:12'

Tayne was nowhere to be seen, so Lucina dug out her math textbook and began working.

It was about 4:30 when Lucina looked up at the sound of footsteps. There was Tayne, arms crossed and looking down at her suspiciously. "It's you again. What do you want?"

"O-oh!" Lucina looked up, closing her math book. "Well, I searched you up and I'm curious... who are you?"

Tayne tilted her head ominously. "And why do you want to know? Sounds like my business. Shouldn't you be freaking out about being infected by some weird effects that may or may not exist?"

"Weeeell..." she drew out the word. "You don't seem like a bad person so if you're dangerous I doubt you'd let me stay. Also, I talked to you yesterday, and I'm fine."

Tayne sighed. "Fine. Come on in."

She turned around and ducked into her cave,  Lucina scrambling after her. Inside was the same as yesterday, the fox curled up on the blanket bed. Tayne dropped a few plants and a piece of meat on the old shelf and sat down beside her fox, patting the ground in front of her.

Lucina dubiously sat down on the cold, dusty, ground, dropping her old bag beside her.

"My name is Tayne Raveli, I am 16 years old. This fox is my friend, Scarlet. I left because it's stupid that I have to be 'contained' because of some side effect or disease that doesn't exist. Plus, I like it better out here where I'm in control of what I do. My weapon is for hunting so I don't die, and self defense." Tayne closed her eyes for a moment. "That answer your questions?"

Lucina opened her mouth, then closed it. "Uh, yeah. Thanks for trusting me, I promise I won't tell anyone."

Tayne just nodded, and didn't say anything more.

"I guess... I'll take my leave now? Can I come back tomorrow?" Lucina asked, grabbing her bag and standing up.

"Bye." Since the strange girl didn't say no, Lucina took it as a yes. As she neared the entrance, a loud roar hit her ears. It wasn't new, just one of the strange monsters with white masks. But this one sounded much closer.

"Don't go!" Tayne yelled, running towards the entrance and dragging Lucina back. "Trust me, it's dangerous."

"Are you talking about that howl just now? The monster with a mask?" Lucina asked, complying with the girl and sitting down. Tayne narrowed her eyes. "You can hear it? And see it?"

Lucina tilted her head. "Am I not supposed to? I thought everyone did and just ignored it."

Tayne shrugged, keeping her gaze fixed on the entrance of her cave. Her hands slowly drifted towards her bow. "I don't think people see them. From what I've gathered, these monsters are called 'hollows' and they can only be seen by people with high 'reiryoku', which is some form of spirit power. And... there are these souls in black called 'shinigami' or soul reapers who can kill these hollows. Understand so far, stranger?"

Talk about information overload.

"Um- not really." Lucina admitted. "Also, my name's Lucina Laurence."

Tayne looked like she was about to smile when the cave shook, a few chunks of rock falling from the roof. Another hollow roar followed.

"Should I be worried?" Lucina asked a moment later, her voice a bit too squeaky. "Tayne, you have your weapon, right? Can't you take down the hollow?"

Tayne shook her head. "Just normal physical arrows won't do any major damage. I can't use my Reiryoku."

Lucina had no idea what that meant, but nodded. Another ear-piercing howl echoed through the cave, sending a few more rocks tumbling. Suddenly, a face appeared in the entrance.

It was a huge white mask, with sharp teeth going from one end of the face to the other. Red eyes glistened from behind the two circles.

"Humans... with delicious reiatsu too..." the hollow giggled, a huge black claw reaching into the cave.

"Stay back!" Tayne yelled, weakly raising her wooden bow despite knowing it wouldn't leave a scratch on the hollow. Lucina meekly hid behind her newfound friend, unsure of what she could do.

The cyan-haired girl shot an arrow. It managed to just scratch the hollow's thick skin, but it healed in an instant.

"Tayne, what do we do?" Lucina fretted. She was prepared to whack the monster with her bag if she had to, but if a real weapon can't hurt it, what could she do.

Tayne was silent, sending a clear message. I don't know.

Then there was a flash of silver across the hollow's mask, and it was split in half. As the pieces fell aside, there stood a boy with orange hair, wearing black robes, holding a disturbingly oversized sword.

"Are you two okay?" before Tayne or Lucina could reply, he facepalmed. "Oh, right, you can't see me- or can you?"

"Of course we can see you." Lucina replied matter-of-factly, "Are you one of those 'soul reaper' guys?"

Then she narrowed her eyes, crawling forwards to get a better look at the strange savior. "Aren't you Ichigo Kurosaki? I think you're in my class."

Ichigo shrugged, preparing to leave. As he started to walk away, a girl with short black hair in a school uniform stopped him, ducking into the cave. Lucina recognized her as the new student, Rukia Kuchiki.

She gave them a smile, before holding up a tool with a duck head on it. Before anything could happen, Tayne slapped it out of her hands. "Watch it. What're you doing to us?"

Rukia didn't seem to know what to say. Ichigo decided to step in. "They can see hollows and shinigami just fine, I think we should just leave 'em."

"But..." she sighed, before turning to Lucina and Tayne, "Alright, fine, just don't mention anything about me and Ichigo to anyone else, okay?"

Lucina meekly nodded. Tayne added, "Deal, I don't talk to others anyways. But you can't tell anyone about me either. Deal?"

Rukia nodded. "Fine. Deal."

Ichigo and Rukia left, and Tayne began cleaning up. Lucina wanted to help her clean the mess, but one look at the time- 4:57, she quickly bid farewell and rushed home.

Hollow attacks, shinigami, seeing things other people don't, just what was her life dissolving into?