For all of Nel's words warning her, Orihime could not suppress her body's constant shuddering. With a deep breathe; followed by a nervous gulp of whatever moisture left in her dry mouth, the human girl took another fearful step into the dark Menos Forest.

A shrill cry came from one of the directions again. She tried to keep herself from jumping in place. It wasn't the eighth time, she counted, she heard that tone and she was starting to suspect if someone – or something – knew she was out here. On another note, she started seeing the foolishness of following the secret doorway. But she had seen her chance and she took it, even if it meant distancing herself from the good feeling she undoubtedly experienced.

"Nel-chan… You do know your way out, do you?" She asked her guide. The little greenette walked cheerfully ahead, thankfully not too far. She giggled, and it made Orihime wonder if she even knew of the possible danger she was in.

"Of cousse I do! Newu been hewa many times! Hea bwothas said they be hewa!"

"Your… brothers?" To this moment, she still had a hard time translating the little Hollow's speech. However, she was taken aback by the girl's choice of words. "Where are they?"

She stopped for a moment, slowly turning around with a small frown that tugged at the human's heart. "I don't know. They got lost."

"I see…" She took this opportunity to catch with her, steps jittery with her nervousness, reaching a hand out for the girl's. She placed her tiny hand in her grasp. "I can help you find them if you want."

Nel nodded. "Thank you. Thatit be nice."

The two continued to walk in silence, though the lack of sound did not last for long. Another sound broke through the sound screen, successfully scaring Orihime into running towards the nearest giant tree root. She was gasping for breath by the time she managed to stop, sweat pouring slightly from her pores.

"Owihime, awa you allwight?"

She meets the little Arrancar's curious face with a shaky smile. "Y-yeah, just a little surprised. I haven't been here before."

"Don't wowee. The Howwoahs won't botha you if you ignowa them."

She simply nodded, not knowing how to feel about that. In truth, she was sure she could handle anything that attempts to harm them. The presences around her were not suffocating like in the castle – thank goodness. However, she knew from experience that spiritual entities were fully capable of hiding their presences.

Her gray eyes zipped from left to right, a hand subconsciously lifting to the teal hairpin by her right ear. Nel tugged at her hand, pulling them away from the shelter, deeper still into the woods.

The last thing she wanted was for the two of them to get lost. She turned back every now and then, watching the trail of footprints they both left behind. Although there was no wind, she felt as if they would be gone if she tried to turn back to see the rest of the long line. As an experiment, she threw out her senses beyond herself, trying to catch a hold of anything out there.

It… wasn't an easy process. Orihime knew she had well enough control over her spiritual pressure, but she faintly recalled lessons taught to help her suppress her spirit in form. It was an entirely different process letting it out, especially to one who does not have such large reserves of reiastu to begin with. She couldn't put out too little; otherwise the tendrils of spiritual power wouldn't react to nothing at all. Too much, and it'd cover up whatever it could manage to find. Not only that, but she was pretty sure that such overabundance of her reiatsu exposure would give away her position. She rather not let the whole forest know she was here.

However she needed to familiarize with everything. It hurt to think it, but Orihime couldn't entirely rely on Nel to deliver her from this forest safely. She couldn't be too hopeful of what laid at the end, either. It occurred to her she had no idea of what she would do if and when she found her way out.

Could she possibly find a way out of Hueco Mundo in general? Even her normally optimistic self failed to produce a very hopeful possibility. If she recalled correctly, Hollows had a special way of getting in and out of their dimension, making her one of the few, if not the only, human to be in this place. Quite clearly, her options were mostly cut off.

She sighed. What could she do?

From the end of spiritual tendrils, something spiked. It made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

"Nel!" She hissed, scaring the little thing. "Over here!" Without waiting for a response, she picked her up – quite easily – rushing over to another giant tree root. Once she had her back against the hard surface, her breathes coming out harshly through her nose, she tried to smother her presence as much as she could. The fear she felt was evident; her spirit spiked and even little Nel appeared to realize the reason for Orihime's reactions.

The human girl bit the bottom of her lip to prevent from whimpering. Her hand returned to being placed over her right hairpin.

A roar echoed through the woods – Orihime and Nel froze stiff in their spots – a cry of agony which lingered in the air too long for their comfort. It was followed by a series of other cries and movements. Orihime still could not bring herself to move, but she thought it all came from a distance.

"They huntin'…" She heard Nel mumble.

"Hunting… who?"

"Each otha." The little Arrancar left it at that, whimpering and burying her head into her chest. Orihime pasts a soothing hand over her green locks in an effort to assure. She wasn't so sure how well that went.

"Can we rest here?" She sighed, settling Nel onto her lap. She never got her answer, for she was already sound asleep. Despite the tension she felt, a smile managed to worm its way to her face. It was times like these she truly wondered if Nel really was a Hollow.

Her feelings of content soon faded as she studied her surroundings. Nel had the opportunity to relax, but Orihime's body stood on nerve's end, doing everything in its power to ignoring the unsettling noises the forest produced. She started to wonder if stopping to rest really was such a good idea. True, she believed to be hidden from view, but were they really safe?

Ignoring the nagging feeling in her gut, she nestled further into the bark, her gaze directed to the branches overhead. Or rather, the tree trunk overhead. The tree was so tall she could barely see what she thought were branches extending from the bulk of the form. And then she couldn't even see the very end of the structure. It was so tall… the only thing at the end was pitch black darkness. All of the trees extended towards this same space with seemly no end. Maybe they didn't… it occurred to her that before now, she never seen anything outside of Las Noches. Of course, she had seen the moon, but aside from that… nothing. Her curiosity peaks its head past her fear, and soon she started imagining climbing these trees. Who knew how far up it went, but maybe just maybe she could find her way out…

Another roar broke through the silence. Orihime nearly yelped out loud, her whole being ready to jump out of her skin. It sounded too close! Wide gray eyes surveyed the area, but through the roots she could not see any possible candidates to its origins.

"No… no, this is too much." She sighed shakily, unable to get the sound of the roar out of her mind. How could Nel sleep so close to her without waking when she was shivering from head to toe? And was it just her or did the air feel colder?

With held breath, she reached out her sense again. She took great care not to put out too much; she needed to be very carefully otherwise she'd have unwelcomed company. The process was slow, but in due time she covered a good portion of the area around her. To her surprise, she could even sense the tendrils of thin reiastu filing out of the various landmarks around her – the tree her supporting her back felt so warm with its soothing collection of spirit particles.

But soon something else came into her transcendent vision.