Orihime's House.

Mira heared their voices inside and realized they were coming. She decided to get a headstart. Walking slowly down the road she yawned. It was a quiet and dark night in Karakura town. A slight chill in the air. As She walked she looked around a small fog had gathered in the town, it covered the entire area, giving it an ominous feeling. The visibibilty must have been less than half of its usual.

By the time Orihime got home, it was already getting rather dark outside. While the show 'had' been enjoyable, Orihime was still rather disappointed that her friends had not been there for it, and neither had they given an explanation or came back.

Slipping inside, Orihime set a few candles around the house to burning for light, and took another - A little orange candle that smelled faintly of pumpkin, as a matter of fact - by hand as she continued on. A glance at the table brought a guilty grin to her face. She'd forgotten all about her homework, but she would have to take care of that later.

Right now, what Orihime needed was a good bath.

Collecting a towel and a spare change of clothes, Orihime picked up a rubber ducky on the way and set the water to running with a splash of Irish Springs bubble bath soap; it was the old Mountain Spring kind that had gotten discontinued some time before, but not before she'd stocked up.

"You know, duck, sometimes I wonder what everybody thinks about me. I know they're my friends, but sometimes I don't think anybody likes me very much... And I know the reiatsu today wasn't -that- big of a deal..."

Sighing, Orihime turned off the water and got in, rubbing above her eyes with her palms frustratedly, trying to understand just why nobody seemed to want her around.

"I'm just useless... Selfish and useless. I couldn't even help anyone when they really needed it, and here I am feeling sorry for myself instead of worrying about them, or getting stronger..."

Orihime sighed again, sucking in her breath before dipping under the bubbly water and staying there until she was short of breath. It felt like forever, and the warmth and flow of the crisply hot water around her felt as gentle as a mother's touch... an ideal mother's touch, that was. And that only made her think of her brother, the one that had raised her alone in her parent's stead.

The steadfast Sora; there for her first day at school, her first skinned knee, to wipe her tears the first time she had been picked on by the other children... yet had never been there for her first friend, or the first time she fell in love, taken away because she was too weak to do anything about it.

When she came back up, she'd made her decision.

She would find someone strong... And she would do whatever it took to get stronger, strong enough that she would be a help to her friends and not simply be in the way. She wouldn't just be a nuisance anymore.

"I'll do it..." She quietly promised herself, blowing the bubbles along the water line with little propeller noises "... first thing in the morning..."

Beep! Beep! Beep! Ring-a-ling-ling!

Orihime yawned sleepily as... two of her alarms went off. Well, that was a new record... Wiping her eyes, she managed to successfully turn one off, however, when she reached for the other one she merely knocked it over, and it continued ringing on the floor.

"Oh bother... It always does something like this."

Orihime blinked tiredly as she swung her legs out of the bed, catching the alarm by it's oversized hoop accessory with her big toe and flicking it up into her lap to turn it off.

"Oh well. Today's going to be different... It's going to be different."

She quietly repeated to herself as she dug through her closet for something to wear. It was... Was it really the weekend already? Why yes, it was... So she wouldn't have to wear her uniform today.

"Hmmm. Ooh, that looks nice.."

She nodded as she selected out her clothes for the day, a pale green tank top and a pair of dark jeans with a rope belt (one she'd woven herself, actually, in the Craft's Club)... And, of course, her hairpins. Yes, that would do... They looked nice, and they wouldn't interfere with getting around if she had to. When these were all selected, she washed up for the morning and changed, grabbing a small pouch with some spare change in case she needed anything and scribbling down a note to leave on the door in case anyone visited.

~ 'Out for the day, should be back later.' ~

With this done, she was prepared to start the day's search... But would she be successful with just one day's work?

"Oh, my.."

Orihime had felt it from the tea shop... the same reiatsu from before, familiar, but a little... off. Who or what was causing it, and why? Now was her chance to find out.

Breathing heavily, she reached the top of the stairs that lead to her apartment to find... Matsumoto knocking on the door? A second, smaller reiatsu - Probably closer to her own, she realized - could be felt close by... But from where, she wasn't sure.

"Matsumoto-san! I thought you were leaving back to Soul Society."

With a flourishing gesture with her hand that encompassed the entire area, she referred to the other reiatsu that seemed to have joined her... Decently strong, she corrected her earlier thoughts, possibly stronger than her, but still a crudely tempered blade. Still, in the end it meant more or less the same thing, so why quibble?

"And who's your Shinigami friend?"

She asked politely, as if talking about death gods in the hallway to your apartment wasn't anything unusual. Squeezing past with an apologetic expression, she unlocked the door, took down the sticky note and slipped inside, turning on the light on the way.

"You can tell your friend they don't have to be shy, you know... You're the scariest person here."

Tsubaki looked curiously around her as Matsumoto knocked on the door on the apartment. Finally she'd get to meet a human, and Matsumoto had said that this was an ally of Soul Society. That meant Tsubaki would perhaps be able to meet this human more often in the future, that is if they would get well along. Stepping out of her gigai as Matsumoto did the same she was back in her cute little blue dress, fumbling and fussing over it while she tried to fix it a little. Really...dresses were not her thing.

So who is the person..

she got caught off in mid sentence as she noticed that someone with a fair amount of spiritual energy was coming close to them. Peeking from Matsumoto's side she saw a very pretty girl with an orange kind of hair color walking towards them. She looked very friendly and Tsubaki sighed a little in relief. The girl was speaking to Matsumoto, but Tsubaki barely noticed her joyful voice as she kept wondering about her spiritual feel and without staring in a rude manner still looked her over as if she would look any different than herself since she was alive. Then as if all of the sudden remembering her manners she stepped forward and bowed while introducing herself

I am Hasegawa Tsubaki, a lower shinigami of the 10th division. Nice to meet you.

Matsumoto groaned as a speaker in her ear chimed up. It was byakuya captain of the 6th division, asking for her.

"Orihime-chan, im sorry to go already, keep my gigai safe would you. Oh... and do have fun with my friend here. Hasegawa-chan... no matter.. what you sense for spiritual pressure... stay... here. Understand that, stay here."

Matsumoto stepped out of her gigai and let it fall next to orihime-chan. She flashed back off into the distance.

Orihime watched Matsumoto for a moment with a slight frown, then nodded. She was a lieutenant for the Shinigami, it was inevitable that she would be busy... If only she hadn't kept getting her hopes up, it wouldn't even be a problem. Still...

She had to show her manners. Bowing politely in response to her new guest, Orihime couldn't help but watch them curiously. A lower Shinigami, travelling with the Lieutenant? And what was so urgent that Matsumoto hadn't even been able to make sure she was properly settled? Ah, well. It was none of her business anyways.

"My name is Orihime Inoue, I'm a student in Karakura High, pleased to meet you! Please, come in Tsubaki-chan."

Orihime unlocked the door as previously mentioned, ushering the "pair" into the house, one with a mother-hen like insistence to make herself comfortable and the other with greater difficulty - It was considerably harder carrying a limp body than a stiff one, and the sudden loss of animation had made Matsumoto's gigai anything but "tense".

"Is there anything you'd like? Tea? A snack? I can get it for you if you'd like."

Tsubaki frowned slightly as Matsumoto took off and wondered to herself what was going on. I wonder if there is a battle somewhere she thought to herself before bowing her head slightly and then entering the apartment.

Ojama shimasu (a polite thing to say when entering a hosue / apartment. simply means "entering".)

She looked around and admired the apartment, well the things she saw from where she was standing. She couldn't believe all that was happening, to be able to come back to the human world and now standing in a human's apartment. At Orihime's question she turned towards her and nodded with a small, shy smile

Tea would be nice, thank you

she had noticed for just a split of a second as there was some familiar reiatsu close by. Taichou...?

*seeing the way Matsumoto flees and the direction she took he knew where she was going but he also did not want to intervene so he stays on top of the roof keeping guard and staying quiet at the same time keeping he's reiatsu in check so they won't know he's here at least he's hoping they won't know..... checking on the hollow detector that he has in his hand every 5 min making sure that no body is around so he just sit back and start to think*

i wonder what they doing inside? and will Hase-chan be Okay with Orihime?

*then he start thinking about wut happend on the training field with her*

i wish that time has time back then.... *he shakes his head*

No...No...No... stop thinking like this and get ahold on yourself, your her captain for christ sake...

*accidently loosing track of supressing his reiatsu*

u cant be thinking about her that... *he then smile and chuckles*
who am I kidding? even if I say that i think its already too late cause this feeling won't go away no matter what I do

"Tea... Tea... Tea... Ah. I remember now."

Orihime tapped her forehead in a comical, almost cartoon-like style before nodding and slipping off into the kitchen. A series of strange noises, a single cascading crash and a meek declaration of victory later, she managed to find the kettle, get the water boiling, clean up the mess of simply 'finding' everything, and slide out the wicker basket that contained a variety of teas. Which one to choose, which one to choose... It'd be best to check first, just in case.

"Tsubaki-chan, do you have any allergies?"She asked, attempting to deliberately ignore the strange reiatsu that seemed to be fading to nearly nothing in the background... But it was a strange sort of fading, nothing like that when someone died. It was... Well, it was weird, and it worried her nonetheless.

Tsubaki watched Orihime closely. Was this another one of those unique persons that she met today? It didn't look like it, this girl seemed harmless and acted pretty normal...kinda. Tsubaki shook her head slightly, she had to try to loosen up. She wouldn't be able to get new friends or allies if she kept being this closed person she was. She was going to try her best to get friendly with this human girl.

That was until Orihime started what seemed like a war in the kitchen. Tsubaki walked slowly and hesitantly towards the kitchen, unsure if she should dare to peek in when Orihime's voice sent her jumping slightly in the air

A-allergic? Not that I know of.

At this point she was starting to scan the room in seeking for the best way to jump out, just in case. But this girl seemed well... the innocent and kind type, maybe this wouldn't end up with Tsubaki's second death?

So... ummm you live here alone Orihime-san?

The reiatsu was sending slight trickles down her spine, but she didn't mind it at the moment.

"No allergies? That's good."

Orihime fussed for a little while before choosing two packets - Green tea and a faintly orange coloured teabag with no lable. Once these were set up in the teapot, she waited for the water to boil... And heard Tsubaki's second comment.

Quietly at first - Nearly so much so that it would be difficult to tell that she had been speaking at all initially, but later clearly audible, she answered.

"... here since I was little, from before my aniki passed away, but yes, alone."

When her explanation was done, the kettle began whistling merrily... Water was done, then. Turning it off, she poured the water into the teapot with the bags and left it to brew awhile, making her way back into the 'living room' to join her guest.

"But I'm okay! I've got my friends from school, and they're my family now. I think you might've heard of one of them, actually. Does the name Kurosaki mean anything to you?"

Tsubaki mentally slapped herself, what was with her curiosity..? She hoped she hadn’t offended her host in anyway.

My apologies… I didn’t mean to pry.

When Orihime joined her she put up one of her plastered, nervous smiles. She looked down, fixing her gaze on the floor and opened her mouth only to close it again, trying hard to find something to say. But then she heard Orihime’s question and sighed slightly in relief. She pondered to herself, that name did ring some bell.

Kurosaki? I have read a little about him… he’s that substitute shinigami if I am not mistaken. Quite powerful I have heard.

"Oh, that was a long time ago, you don't have to worry. I have his picture over there."

Orihime beamed as she took a seat across from her guest, pointing in the direction of her small 'shrine' to her brother before folding her hands in her lap as she glanced over Tsubaki curiously. Tilting her head to the side in an owlish gesture, she took the opportunity to get a better 'feel' for her guest, both through mundane means and a feel of her 'aura' of power.

"Kurosaki-kun is a person with very strong convictions."Orihime agreed with a slight, reserved smile. After all, she was a guest - The least she could do was be polite.

"So what is it you do, Tsubaki-chan? I've heard that different Shinigami have different jobs, and I'm sure you have separate interests. Would you be willing to share anything?"

She looked at where the shrine was that Orihime pointed to, and without knowing herself a small smile was on her lips and softened her usually serious eyes as she saw her hosts brother. That kind smile... the faces of her own brothers appeared in her mind for the split of a second. Brothers...how did you do after I went away? she shook her head slightly and got her attention back to Orihime, now was not the time to be letting the mind slip

He looks like a very gentle and kind person.

At Orihime's next question, Tsubaki got a slightly troubled look on her face. What indeed was it that she did?

Well.. I just recently joined division 10. I have been taking care of some of the paperwork and this is really my first mission. Before I was accepted into the division then I just lived to train and gain more power. There isn't much that I have interest in, simply to gain power is enough for me.

she was curious about Orihime, but was careful not to ask too much since she didn't want to seem too eager or become rude. So she was slightly hesitant as she asked her next question

I actually...have been wondering what it is that makes you the ally of Soul Society if you don't mind me asking? I can feel that you are no ordinary human, but you are not a shinigami either.

Orihime looked down sheepishly at Tsubaki's compliment to her brother, though she remained quiet for the moment - She felt a slight chill that, she was sure, would just have made her stammer if she spoke.

Listening intently to Tsubaki's explanation - A rather typical one, though she would be the last person to say that - Orihime nodded slowly, chewing awkwardly on her tongue to keep silent.

At the following inquiry - Quite a tricky one, and she almost called her on it - Orihime replied quietly after a moment of thought, rising to her feet and making her comment before slipping into the kitchen to retrieve the tea.

"It would probably be because of Kurosaki-kun, because he works with the Shinigami now. It might be because I'm... a little bit of a healer, though."

Tsubaki's eyes rested on Orihime, her gaze hardening slightly as she studied her. She would do fine with that explanation.....for now.

I see...

she let her eyes follow the other girl as she went into the kitchen and then she studied the room she was in better. It wasn't really a big apartment but a really comfortable one. She had many questions that burned on her lips... questions about how it was like to live now, what kind of things people around Orihime's age were interested in and all sorts of other stuff.

But seeing that she wasn't that much of a talker, and had been taught not to be asking people questions then she kept it to herself. It would have to wait a better time. She wondered slightly what her captain was up to but shrugged that thought off and just sat there silent, waiting for Orihime to return with the tea.

"Oh, this tea smells delicious!"

Orihime came back out with a pair of bowls from which faint patterns of steam lazily drifted... Old-fashioned style tea-drinking? Orihime seemed to have, somehow, subconsciously read that her guest most likely might be more familiar with the style.

"You'll love it! And it's good for you, too. It's not entirely pure green tea - I find that's a little weird tasting for me - but I've mixed in flavouring with it and they usually turn out pretty good."

She smiled brightly as she said this, delicately placing the tea in front of Tsubaki before putting her own down beside it and taking a seat again. Almost instantaneously, the spicy-sweet scents of warm cinnamon and peaches assaulted their senses, and Orihime waited politely for her guest to begin.

"You're really quiet... Did I say something to offend you, Tsubaki-san?"

She asked this quietly, shyly... As if she actually believed it was the case. Then again, maybe her guest was just uncomfortable as she was with the strange reiatsu fluctuating in the area. It was a little... odd, really.

Tsubaki noticed the slightly old fashioned bowls that Orihime served the tea in, and somehow felt a little happy over this small thing that reminded her more of her life in the past.

Thank you very much, Orihime-san.

Tsubaki took the bowl in her hands, sipping slowly on her tea and was slightly surprised since it tasted really good.

Ah this has an excellent taste!

Taking another sip she then saw the slightly troubled look on Orihime. Letting out a small sigh she lowered her hands slightly and couldn't help but smile embarrassed

Not at all Orihime-san. You have been nothing but an extremely good host. It is just that, well I have almost too many questions that I want to ask and I am afraid that perhaps I would be a bother if I got started. It is also this reiatsu feeling that is lingering around, it is making me wonder what is going on.

"Why, thank you, Tsubaki-chan! It is rather nice, isn't it?"

Orihime clasped her hands together in front of her and bowed shortly after Tsubaki's commentary on the tea, giggling momentarily at Tsubaki's hesistance. Did this Shinigami think that she would bite her ear off, or something? Her eyes flashed with genuine amusement as she waved off Tsubaki's worries with a smile

"You don't have to worry about being a bother! Of course not. It's not very often that I get to have guests, Tsubaki-chan, and I doubt you could ask anything that would be that bad."

She began sipping at the tea herself, quietly and discretely so as not to interrupt Tsubaki more than was absolutely neccesary. As for Tsubaki's comment regarding the reiatsu, she nodded slightly in response, trying not to get her hair in the tea. That wouldn't be good. But the reiatsu... it -was- strange, and she was glad that she hadn't merely been imagining things. They would never have let her live 'that' down.

"It's almost sort of... cold, isn't it? Like the wind after the first frost of winter. I was hoping I wasn't the only one who felt that..."

Tsubaki gave her a smile of slight relief as she wondered to herself what she should perhaps ask first. She wanted to know many things about the human world.

Well for starters, are there any kendos here?

She was very curious to know if there was still someone that held onto that traditional fighting style. And if so then she was really interested in taking a look some day, if she'd ever get the chance.

At Orihime's description on the reiatsu, Tsubaki closed her eyes and focused deeply on this unfamiliar feeling. Opening her eyes again she nodded slightly.

Yes, this is a rather chilling feeling. I do hope all will be fine.

"Kendos?"

Orihime stopped to think for a moment... Kendo had never been a particular interest of hers, or any of her friends, as far as she could recall, but still... Hadn't she heard of a small dojo on the other side of the street where Tatsuki-chan practiced karate?

"Oh, I've heard of one. It isn't very big, though, and I think the Sensei is in the hospital from a car accident, so it isn't open, but I can show you the place tomorrow if you're still around."

Blushing, she made a tiny little shrugging gesture. It wasn't as if she could have done anything about it anyways... Right?

"We should be pretty safe here.. After some problems we've had in town all of the people with spiritual powers have been improving the security of their homes. Well, those that can anyways. The others don't get bothered too much anymore."

She corrected herself, nodding slowly to emphasize the point and forcing a nervous smile that felt pretty genuine-looking to her. In other words, Orihime was oblivious to how much her concern showed up on her face. No point worrying the guest, right? No such luck.

"Oh, you should finish your tea before it gets cold. This kind... It's not as good chilled, I find."