5.

"So where are we going today?" I asked Rukia as we were walking. I had gotten used to our little "training sessions" being outside the city, but today we were walking toward Karuizawa park.

"You are going to hit baseballs," said Rukia, and I stopped.

"That's my training?" I asked disbelievingly.

"I'm teaching you more about Hollow hunting!" said Rukia, frowning. "The trick to Hollow hunting is to cut through the Hollow's head in one clear shot, preferably from behind, though not always. So, to practice this, you are going to hit a hundred balls. Some have heads drawn on them, some hands. The hand balls have pepper in them, so you'll know if you've made a bad hit. Your job is to only hit the balls with heads."

I was uncomfortable. Rukia loved art, but was not necessarily a good artist. I honestly wasn't sure if I could tell the difference between her heads and her hands. "Couldn't you have just, you know… told me this?" I tried.

Rukia scowled. "I'm trying to get the practice ingrained into you. No complaining! Now, I have a question for you." I raised an eyebrow. She held up her book. "Is this contemporary language? Shinigami training says it is."

I took the book curiously. "No," I said at last. "This isn't contemporary at all. But the reason you're probably reading it is because it has to do with aspects of living world culture: Heaven and God."

"Heaven and God?" Rukia echoed curiously.

"See, humans don't know what happens after death. So someone tells a story about what happens after death, that story becomes a belief. One of the most common hopeful beliefs about death says that after death all the 'good' souls go to a perfect region of bliss called Heaven, ruled by a king called God. This God created all of heaven and earth and is supposedly all loving and all powerful." I made a face.

"But that sounds good," said Rukia. "Why the look?"

"Because I see far too much ugliness in the world to believe in things like a region of perfection and an all-loving God," I said firmly, handing the book back to her. "That's why."

Just then, there was a thump, the sound of a cry, and the vrooming of a car motor. We both looked around, and found Orihime lying there in the street, her grocery bags around her, a car driving away.

"Orihime!" I cried out, running over to her, Rukia right behind me, but to my relief Orihime was getting up even as I was speaking. "Did that car hit you?" I asked in concern, bending down to look her over.

"Uh… maybe?" said Orihime.

"Maybe?! You don't know?!" I yelped.

"Don't worry! I'm fine!" said Orihime, brightening cheerfully. "Really, I am!"

"That car hit you and it just drove away? Aren't you angry?" I asked incredulously.

"Nope! I'm fine!" She beamed. She really did seem to be standing okay and everything. Her eyes weren't unfocused, no swaying. Weird. A car hit her and she was perfectly fine?

"Well, as long as you're okay…" I said suspiciously.

"Why do you look like that?" Orihime whined.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you're super clumsy and you're always getting hurt and you always say you're fine?" I glared.

"I do not do that!" said Orihime vehemently.

"Well… actually…" Rukia put in.

"Oh, not you too, Rukia-chan!" Orihime wailed. Rukia winced and shrugged apologetically. Then she pointed behind Orihime.

"Your groceries," she reminded her awkwardly.

"Oh yeah! My leeks, butter, banana, and bean jam jelly! They're all fine too!" said Orihime brightly, going to pick up her groceries.

Rukia and I shared an amused look. "Should we ask her?" I said.

"No," said Rukia, "on further reflection, I don't want to know what she's making."

"Fair enough," I laughed. Then, as Orihime was walking back over, Rukia suddenly frowned and began staring at her leg.

"How long have you had that bruise?" Rukia said suddenly.

The bruise caught my eye, too. It was all blue and purple, in the shape of a great claw mark.

"Oh, I don't know," said Orihime, looking down. But that was no surprise, Orihime didn't know when she got any of her bruises. "Maybe just now when the car hit me?"

"That looks like it hurts. Are you sure you're okay?" I said frankly, concerned.

"Oh, it hurts a little, but I'm fine," Orihime insisted. She stared in surprise down at Rukia. Rukia had bent over to stare intently at the bruise. I knew that face. That was her Shinigami Face.

I began to connect the dots. I knew what car injuries looked like, from my time nursing, and that didn't look like one. It looked like a claw mark. What if it was a claw mark? No Hollow would pull someone out of the way of a car, but if you pushed a person into one… easy prey.

I looked around. The Hollow seemed to be gone. Neither Rukia nor I would have sensed it. Rukia had no powers and sensing was one of the only things I still didn't know anything about yet.

"Rukia-chan, are you okay?" Orihime was asking. "You look really serious."

I turned back to Orihime and smiled, saving Rukia. "She's probably just wondering if someone pushed you into the way of the car," I half joked. Rukia looked over at me in surprise, with the kind of expression that told me I'd guessed right, even as Orihime squealed.

"That's a horrible thing to say!" she said.

"Just in case, Orihime, why don't we hang out at your place tonight? We could have a sleepover," I suggested.

"Yes, Orihime-chan." Rukia stood, smiling. "Let's have a sleepover!"

"Oooh, ooh, okay! I know, I'll call Tatsuki-chan too!" Orihime jumped up and down, cheering, and so we followed her back to her apartment.

While Orihime called Tatsuki over the phone, Rukia hung back to talk with me. "Does that girl have any family?" she muttered.

"Orihime? No, she lives alone. She had an older brother who raised her, but he died of a car accident in our clinic a few year ago," I said. "That's how Orihime and I first met."

Rukia looked even more serious.

"What would her dead brother have to do with a Hollow pushing her in front of a car, though?" I asked, confused.

"Now's not the time," Rukia muttered tightly. Then Orihime turned back to smile and talk with us, and I couldn't respond.

"Come on, slow-pokes!" she teased. "It's sleepover time!"

We stopped by Orihime's house to drop off our things, and then hurried back to the Kurosaki place to get pajamas and sleeping bags. As we were heading back toward my house, I asked irritably, "Is now the time?"

Rukia sighed, looking away. "... All Hollows used to be ghosts," she muttered. "Plus souls. Either they're attacked by other Hollows, or they're left without a world too long, so grounded to this one that no Shinigami is able to send them on. They lose their hearts and minds, and become Hollows to feed the emptiness inside them. That's why we attack them from behind, slaying them through the head in one stroke - so that we never learn the human identity behind the mask."

I stopped, infuriated, and grabbed her by the collar. "I thought they were monsters!" I snarled. "You never told me I'd be killing people!"

"They're not people anymore! They eat souls for sustenance! They are monsters now! And you're not killing them." Rukia pulled herself with dignity out of my grasp and straightened her dress. "You're cleansing them of their sins as Hollows and helping them pass on. That's what zanpakutoh do. It's also what Shinigami do. Our job is simply to find and ferry lost souls."

"So you think her brother is after her?" I asked, letting go of my anger only begrudgingly. "Then why haven't I seen him? I guess if he was only ever hanging around their apartment…"

"Exactly. All Hollows begin their hunt by attacking the ones they loved in life, the ones they feel left them behind," said Rukia darkly. "It makes sense, in a twisted sort of way. And it takes a long time to become a Hollow. So if he died a few years ago… the timing would be right."

"So we have to hurry back to Orihime's place -" I realized.

Rukia nodded. "Before her brother eats her," she added grimly.

It was surprisingly hard to have a fun sleepover when you half expected a Hollow to come bursting through the door at any minute.

Tatsuki's Mom sent over boatloads of warm, filling comfort food, mainly because Tatsuki insisted she was not eating anything that had leeks, banana, and bean jam jelly in the same meal, and the four of us all sat around on our sleeping bags in Orihime's apartment and chatted. Mostly about boys.

"What about you?" said Tatsuki to me, grinning. "What does the great and fearsome Kurosaki Ichigo want in a guy?"

"I don't really know," I said, shrugging.

"Bullshit!" called Tatsuki. "I call bullshit!" Orihime giggled.

"Actually, so do I," Rukia admitted, crossing her arms and smirking.

"No, I'm serious," I admitted. "I… haven't really thought about it. I've never seen myself as the 'happily married' type. I suppose he'd have to be intelligent. Strong enough to be able to stand up to me. And he'd have to be able to deal with my big personality and weird, bizarre, informal family."

"You'd also have to be able to make each other laugh," Tatsuki mandated. "No offense, Ichigo, but you take everything way too seriously."

"No, I get that. I guess I'm looking for a friend," I admitted. I turned to Orihime. "And you?"

Orihime smiled. "Someone really dark and stern," she said. "So I could cheer him up!"

"And I'd need a guy who'd be okay with me kicking the crap out of him on a day to day basis!" said Tatsuki, punching the air. We all looked exasperated. "What about you, Rukia?"

"Rukia's too mature for all this," I said, only half-joking. Rukia had to be at least a hundred years old.

"No, I'll take that question," said Rukia. "I'm definitely looking for someone with less formality than me. Who can make me smile and laugh, make me feel included." Rukia nodded. "And strength is a must-have. I would say a strong, fun extrovert."

Just then, there was a thundering crash. We all looked around. "What was that?" Tatsuki asked.

Rukia and I looked at each other, tense.

Then, before we could stop Orihime, she'd run forward. "Enraku! You fell and you're all torn up!" she cried, picking up a ripped old teddy bear from where it had fallen off a shelf.

Rukia stood in growing alarm. "Orihime, wait -!"

But it was too late. A Hollow hand suddenly jumped out of the teddy bear and plunged a claw straight through Orihime's chest, and out popped her soul, chain and all. It retreated into a corner in fear. Her body collapsed, unconscious.

"Orihime!" Tatsuki had run forward, but the Hollow - massive, red, scaled, and clawed with a long tail, appeared from out of the teddy bear and threw her across the floor and against the far wall, beginning to choke her. She struggled, making pitiful noises, and the Hollow's eyes narrowed in a kind of sneer.

"Rukia!" I called, filled with anger and determination, but Rukia had already reached for her glove. She pushed my Shinigami soul out of my body and I ran forward, cutting off the Hollow's arm where it was holding down Tatsuki. It howled and shrieked, backing up, clutching a bleeding stump. It didn't seem able to regenerate the way the first one could.

I took a stance in front of it, but inside I was troubled. This monster… had once been that handsome brown-haired man I had seen dying in our hospital? Had he really just killed his own sister?

I was so distracted I didn't see the tail coming at me until it was too late.

My sword was slammed against my face as I was thrown off to the side of the apartment. Blood colored my vision for a moment, accompanied by Rukia rushing to my side calling, "Ichigo! Ichigo!"

"I can hear you, I can hear you," I groaned, sitting upright.

"What's wrong? It's not that much stronger than the other two!"

"I know. But it's Orihime's brother," I said quietly. "I can't -"

"But you're not destroying him," Rukia emphasized. "You're saving him. His sister isn't fully dead yet. Her Chain of Fate is still attached to her body. As long as she doesn't do anything stupid -"

But Orihime had heard our words and run out in front of the Hollow, holding out her arms. "Oniichan!" she cried, determined. "Stop!"

"Shit! Goddamnit!" I hissed, running in that direction. Blood was still getting into my eyes, which didn't help!

But it was too late. The Hollow had grabbed a shrieking Orihime up in its one hand and slammed itself through the apartment wall, carrying her away. Tatsuki shrieked as she suddenly saw a hole appear in the wall. I ran out after the Hollow and waved a hand, crying out a kido incantation. A huge explosion rocked the Hollow as a part of it was blown to pieces. Orihime fell from its grasp, and I was already on my way to her, leaping down air levels.

I grabbed her soul, tossed it upward, and Rukia standing at the hole in the apartment wall caught it. Tatsuki was standing beside her.

Tatsuki turned to Rukia. "You know what's going on here?" she asked determinedly. Her shoulder was bleeding, but she barely seemed to notice.

"Tatsuki-chan!" Orihime called, but Tatsuki didn't even blink.

"She can't hear you, Orihime," said Rukia, apparently to no one, and then she turned to Tatsuki. "Yes, I know what's going on."

"How do I help Ichigo and Orihime?!" Tatsuki demanded, pointing at the two prone forms. Orihime saw her own body and she gasped, her eyes widening.

"Right now," said Rukia, turning back to the fight outside in the air that Tatsuki couldn't see, "We help them by not getting in their way."

It was like playing some bizarre game of tag. I kept running around and around the Hollow, so that wherever it turned, I was blocking it from going anywhere. At last, it roared in frustration.

"Why do you stop me, Kurosaki Ichigo?!" it howled.

"So you things can talk, eh? I'm the one who should be asking the questions, asshole! I know you used to be Inoue Sora. So why are you attacking your sister?!" I demanded.

"You don't understand," the Hollow hissed, the light in its eyes narrowing again. "I was lonely. I saw myself fade a little more from Orihime's heart each day! When I died, she prayed for me every day. It was her prayers that gave me peace. But then she became friends with you and that other brat Arisawa! And she prayed for me less and less. Then she entered high school and she stopped praying for me altogether! I was lonely… so lonely sometimes I just wanted to…"

"Oniichan, no, wait, that's not how it was at all -!" Orihime cried, and her brother whirled around.

"Shut up!" he shouted, and flew at her. "Whose fault do you think it is that I became this way - ?!"

I leaped in front of the apartment and drew another kido spell, making a shield. He pushed me further and further back… But I held.

"Do not bother, Orihime," said Rukia quietly. "He is a monster now. There is nothing you can do."

"Orihime? Orihime, everything's going to be okay!" said Tatsuki, with a false sense of calm, looking around wildly for her friend.

Suddenly, I flexed my spirit energy. The shield curled around the Hollow's hand, crushing it into a bloody pulp, and I slashed out at the Hollow - it dodged, but a great slash of blood was made across its front. It fell to the ground below, crippled, handless, and cut and blown to pieces - but its tail lashed around at me from behind again, and this time I cut right through it.

"Oniichan!" Orihime screamed out as the Hollow fell to the waiting ground below. "Wait! I have to talk to him!"

"Orihime, that's not a good idea -" I began, but she interrupted me.

"No, please." She looked up at me with pleading eyes. "The reason why he took me away and raised me is because our parents were abusive! He grew up in that kind of environment, but he raised me because he didn't want me to have to go through the same! He's - he's not usually like this, he's not like you think he is, he's -" Tears shone in her eyes.

"It's true Hollows can erupt from perfectly kind, peaceful souls," Rukia admitted, when I looked to her. "But I don't know if he can change. I don't know if -"

"Let me try," said Orihime.

Cautiously, I stepped down beside the dying Hollow in the street, Orihime's soul on my back.

"Orihime…" he writhed, moaning. "She's mine… I won't let anyone else have her…"

"Orihime is Orihime, jackass," I said, crossing my arms, scowling. "She doesn't belong to anyone. Least of all you."

"Oniichan," she said, kneeling down beside his monstrous form, "I'm sorry. You're here because that day, as they were loading you into the ambulance, I pleaded for you not to go… That's why you're still here, isn't it?"

I remembered it. She'd been crying, running beside the ambulance, screaming, "Oniichan! Don't go! Don't leave me all alone!" Then she'd fallen back, and I'd run up and put a hand on her shoulder. She'd hugged me, crying, and I'd watched as the ambulance drove him away. By that point, my Mom had already died… so in a way, I understood.

Now, Orihime continued speaking, "I felt that you were always with me. Even earlier today… with the car… you pulled me out of the way, didn't you? But if I keep relying on you forever, you'll never be able to rest. So… when I talked to you about happy things… I was trying to get you to see… that you didn't have have to stick around for me anymore if you didn't want to. But I'm sorry. That made you sad. I'm sorry." There were tears in her eyes.

And a strange thing began to happen. The mask fazed in - and out. First we saw Sora. Then the Hollow. Sora. Then the Hollow. A howling scream erupted from the monster.

"He's fighting the Hollow inside him." I turned around to find Rukia standing there with a very confused Tatsuki. "I get the feeling a great big Hollow is after you, Ichigo - one that is sending lesser Hollows around to do its bidding. This man didn't become a Hollow himself. He was attacked and made a Hollow by another. When you're made a Hollow by another Hollow… you must be ultimately loyal to that Hollow. This big Hollow I'm speaking of, he changed a soul you had an emotional connection to, hoping to get at you. But this man… Orihime's brother… he's fighting the Hollow within."

Orihime and I both turned to look at the Hollow. "Hey… I can kind of see them…" I heard Tatsuki whisper.

I decided to give Sora a little help. "Hey… you see these star hairpins holding back Orihime's hair?" Orihime and Tatsuki looked completely different - Tatsuki tall and lanky with a black pixie cut, Orihime small and curvy with long caramel-colored hair. But Orihime's trademark were the star hairpins that were always tying her hair back. "Orihime told me a long time ago: she wears them every day because they were a last gift from her late brother."

Then the mask broke, shattering into a thousand glowing blue pieces, and Orihime's brother's face was freed. Orihime smiled blissfully. "Oniichan…"

"Thank you… Orihime. Thank you… Ichigo," said Sora softly. As a human, he had a gentle voice. Then he grabbed my sword and held it up to his face. "If I stick around, I'll just revert back to being a monster," he said. "So now… while I still have a semblance of sanity… I want to disappear."

Orihime gasped.

"Don't worry, Orihime," I said. "The sword helps them pass on, into the next life."

Orihime swallowed. Smiled tearfully. Nodded.

Sora went to make the movement, and Orihime said, "Wait! There's something I've always wanted to say. You bought me these hairpins, and I called them childish. We had an argument, and I let you go off to work the next morning without saying anything… That was the last time I would see you alive.

"So, I want to say now, what I've always wanted to say: 'Oniichan. Have a nice day.'"

Sora smiled. "Yeah," he said quietly. "I'm off now."

He pierced himself with the sword, and dissolved in a whirl of blue. The sword fell to the ground, silent.

I healed Tatsuki's shoulder in a flash of blue as Rukia placed Orihime's living soul back in her body. Then, just as Orihime was about to ask questions, Rukia placed a little device in front of her face and issued a puff of smoke. Orihime fell over, unconscious.

"Hey, what the hell -?" Tatsuki began, backing up, just before Rukia went over and did a puff in front of her face too.

"... Rukia," I said flatly. "If you just drugged my friends I'll kill you."

"Don't be silly," said Rukia matter of factly. "It's called memory replacement. But some of the memories can be a bit random, according to people's imaginations… I used it on your sisters and your neighbors, too. You'll see what I mean tomorrow."

"No, really!" Orihime was insisting the next morning at school. "A yakuza gunman totally came and, like, blasted a huge hole in the side of my house!"

Everyone thought it was Orihime's imagination playing tricks on her again.

"Hime-chan, your daydreaminess is so adorable," said Chizuru condescendingly.

"At least try to make it a little realistic," said Mahana disbelievingly.

"Actually…" I sighed. I couldn't believe I was about to say this. "It happened. We were there too."

And they all just gave me this Look. I wished I could give it to myself right now, to be honest.

"Yup!" said Rukia cheerfully. "It happened!"

"Yeah…" Tatsuki admitted. "I was there."

"If you guys are playing a prank, this is the worst prank ever!" exclaimed Chizuru, pouting.

Rukia and I exchanged a look. We both glanced away, trying not to laugh.

"I knew it! It is a prank!"

In the end, no one believed us.