Become A Ghost

Become A Ghost, Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Orihime wandered the streets the rest of the night. She saw various other plus spirits, even waved at them before continuing on her way. She visited the sewing store where she and Uryuu liked to get their supplies, the parks where they'd had so many battles, the high school that had been the sole common link between all of them.

She wondered if, when Sora-nii-chan had died, she'd gone away to live with her aunt instead of staying in Karakura. How would her life had differed? She'd never have come to love Ichigo, never developed her spiritual powers, never met Rukia or the other shinigami, never been kidnapped by Ulquiorra... so many amazing and frightening and wonderful things, and she'd have done none of them.

Was that... wistfulness that Orihime felt? Did she wish that had been the case, that she'd remained a normal person (well, as normal as Orihime was bound to get) instead of the girl who could raise people from the dead? But then, without her, so many people would have not been healed, or restored to life... shame at such a selfish thought filled Orihime, and she trudged on through the night.

A crackling split the air, and with a roar that made the shop windows tremble, a Hollow thrust itself through the barrier between Hueco Mundo and the living world. It looked like a praying mantis, with big buggy eyes that rolled wetly as it scoped out the vicinity for tasty souls to devour.

Orihime, with the ease of long practice and expertise, thought, Koten Zanshun, and Tsubaki streaked forward to effortlessly split the hapless Hollow in two. It dissolved into the night just in time for straw sandals and black hakama to appear in Orihime's down-tilted vision.

"Ah, Nakai-san, hello," she greeted the shinigami assigned to Karakura Town that month.

"Hardly any need for me here, between you and the others killing all the Holllows for me," he joked, smiling until he noticed her life-challenged state. "What happened, Inoue-san?"

"Appendicitis," she admitted.

"And you a doctor!" Nakai exclaimed. "I am sorry." His hand went to the hilt of his zanpakuto, the seal on the end of the hilt already glowing in preparation of konshou.

"I'm afraid I'm not quite ready to go yet, Nakai-san." She was able to summon a watery smile. "Don't worry about me, I'll get there in time!" She even managed a fist-pump, though it was lacking its usual energy.

He nodded. "I'll check back with you in-" he too assessed her chain "- two days. Please be ready by then." He leapt away into the overcast night.

The sky was lightening; it was almost morning. Saturday mornings were busy for Tatsuki at the dojo, and she was sure to be there early. Orihime couldn't put off telling her best friend for too much longer, but first, maybe another turn around town...

When the sun was fully risen and shining warmly over Karakura, Orihime forced her feet toward the dojo. Since buying it from her former instructor, Tatsuki's business degree had held her in good stead, and the dojo was enjoying success. The down side, however, was that it kept her there almost 24 hours a day. She even slept on the couch in the office, though she mentioned about once a week that she needed to get her own apartment.

Tatsuki was indeed in the second-story office, a wad of papers clenched in her fist and a pencil behind her ear as she peered far-sightedly at her computer monitor.

"Tatsuki-chan, I need to talk to you," Orihime said from the doorway.

"Sure, Orihime, just give me a-" Tatsuki's swift glance up from the monitor froze, then slowly returned. She wasn't as spiritually aware as her friends, but she knew that Orihime appearing before her with a chain dangling from her chest was not good. "What- Orihime, what-"