literature

The Hollow Princess Ch 5

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It was Ichigo's turn now. Standing up, he made his way to the front of the room to the incense urn where he bowed, probably lower than anyone else had before him, but he didn't think he could grovel on the floor and be too low. Not in honor of this girl whose life he had so taken for granted, had completely ruined because of his own idiocy. No, he could not bow too low for her.

Lit incense and another low bow later, Ichigo was back to kneeling on his cushion, his little part in the ceremony almost ludicrously short, compared to the part he played in getting all these people there at this time. That was a thought he couldn't rid himself of; that thought of guilt and responsibility.

Back into that haze of indifference, Isshin had to grab the back of Ichigo's head to force him into a bow when the priest finished reading the sutra. Ichigo didn't even care to fight back.

Finally free of the service, Ichigo stood up and practically led the way out of the room. Completely ignoring the gift at the door, he didn't want anything from this family that didn't know anything about Inoue, nor did he want their thanks for coming. It was truly the least he could do and he really didn't care how rude he was acting.

Leaving the funeral hall with the crowd of other guests, he almost missed it in the shuffle. That feeling of being watched. Of being watched by something sinister. Trying not to alarm his family, Ichigo carefully looked around for a pair of eyes watching him. Nothing was apparent at first, but was that something in the tree...?

He focused on it, in case it had reiatsu, but no luck.

“What is it, Ichigo?” Yuzu asked, concerned.

Squinting up into the tree branches didn't help at all, so he just shook his head, saying, “Nothing. I thought I saw a ghost.”

“A ghost? Here?!” Isshin exclaimed, acting terrified.

Karin punched him, saying with much annoyance, “It's a funeral hall, of course there'll be ghosts, idiot!”

For the sake of those around him, Ichigo shook off that feeling and stared walking toward their car. That feeling followed him for a moment more before disappearing. What did that mean? But he really couldn't dwell on that for long. Somewhere inside him, the soldier that he had not known existed was telling him that while that battle was not over and he would have his chance again, he didn't have the luxury to keep brooding over it. Something was going to come, something always came, and he had to be ready for it.

So with the firmness of his unwavering conviction and resolve, Ichigo swore to himself that he would not forget Inoue and he would save her some day.

***

She sat on an outcropping of rock, one of the few in Hueco Mundo, as the rest had been worn down to sand. There were a few Hollow corpses strewn about her, some of her fairies still nibbling on them.

It was amazing, really, how much stronger she felt after just these few cretins. Before, she had thought that Hollows only fed on human souls, but maybe those were just the ones that were too weak to feed on other Hollows. Because as delicious as Kurosaki-kun had smelled, there really weren't enough humans like him to sustain her for long. Even Ishida-san, he had seemed so weak that he had not smelled appealing at all. She wondered absently why he seemed so weak in the first place. He had been so strong back in Soul Society...

He must have lost his powers somehow, she finally concluded. It was so like Ishida-san to not say anything about that, even before they had all made it home.

These Hollows around her, on the other hand, weak as they were, they had still been more filling. She could already feel stronger and she even had more fairies flying around her than before. She must be getting new ones the stronger she got, and since for every Hollow her fairies ate she could feel her power grow, then the more fairies she gained, the faster she would grow. But still...she wanted to find stronger prey, to become stronger herself. To see Kurosaki-kun again...

There was a blink of black in the distortion of dimensional fabric, and then her scout fairy was back. It flitted to her hand, but even just being in the same world gave the Hollow access to its memories.

“Ah, look at all the people that went to my funeral. Did I even know that many? Poor Chizuru-chan, she looks so sad. And Kurosaki-kun looks even gloomier than usual.” She let the memories play in her mind for a few minutes more, watching her mourners as they left the funeral hall before something occurred to her.

“...where's Tatsuki-chan?”
Chapter 1: [link]
Chapter 2: [link]
Chapter 3: [link]
Chapter 4: [link]
Chapter 5: Look up!
Chapter 6: Forthcoming...maybe.

Yeah, it's been a while. Sorry about that to those of you following this. How many of you are there? Anyway, if you saw my monster of a journal, I WAS a bit distracted by convention awesomeness. And in true form to how I usually seem to do this story, I pretty much wrote this entire chapter tonight. So mistakes and crap is expected and I won't be offended or anything if you point them out.

Very sleepy now. I need to shower then go to bed. Enjoy!

Bleach (c) Kubo Tite-san
Written by me, mormongirlbyu, though
© 2008 - 2024 mormongirlbyu
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Ookoii's avatar
Wow this is good scratch that this is really good I'm soooo curious on what'll happen next

I even wonder how orihime looks and sounds lol