Fall From The Heavens [Meili/Yuki]

Two months.

Two months ago, it was October, and the seasons were just starting to turn. Not a drop of snow on the ground. Two months ago, Meili Yan Baozhai, head of the Baozhai clan, had sat pretty on her pedestal, one that she had so rightfully earned. And now, here in the World of the Living, where the first snowfall had started just a few days ago, Meili lived in exile.

But at least she wasn't alone. No, far from it. Thirty retainers, all from the Bingwen family had followed, along with a few medics from the Yan family, along with Meili's one true friend, Yuki. Though, Yuki had more come out of their own free will, as they had been unconscious at the time.

However, even in exile, Meili was still a Shinigami. Despite the pleading of her retainers, Meili did what she could to help clear out the Hollow population in the area. Each time she got close to capture, she would return to their safehouse, and order a full move to a new one. Not that the Baozhai were lacking safe houses, but each time their supplies dwindled. What had been thirty retainers, was now only down to ten.

The biggest insult, was that Meili was cut off from her vast fortune, so she'd had to get a job in the Human world. Retail they called it. Well, really she worked at a convenience store during the day, then at night she would fight the Hollows.

Though, more recently she'd started disappearing for days on end. One of her retainers had been studying something, and Meili had been overseeing it. If it proved successful, it would be a way for her, and Yuki, to reattain their places in the Gotei, clear their name, and even the playing field with Watari and Reika. Today was one such day that she was returning from overseeing the experiment. Stepping into the safehouse that her and Yuki shared, as her retainers had their own places to avoid all of them being captured at once, she called out for Yuki.

"Yuki! You awake yet?"

Meili gave a yawn as she tiredly walked over to Yuki, wrapping her arms around the small pup. Emphasis on small. In the two months since they'd ran from the Soul Society, Meili seemed to have hit a bit of a growth spurt. Even with Yuki's ears, she was now a whole head taller than the wolf. Meili had gone through a few Gigai in the process, each one getting used up in a matter of days.

"No trouble at all, this time."

She would gently rub at Yuki's back, taking in the wolf's scent with every fiber of her being. Something else had changed in Meili recently, though this happened before the exile. She'd started to notice Yuki more, see her as more than a friend. However, with all the chaos, she was afraid to make any moves, as not only did she not want to ruin their friendship, but she didn't want to do anything that could jeopardize either of them.

"Chang has been doing his normal research, and I've been watching over him, making sure he doesn't both give our position away, and that he's not blowing anything up."

She told a half truth to Yuki in this instance. She didn't want Yuki to know just exactly what the research was, on the off chance that Yuki would shun Meili for it. In truth, Meili didn't truly know what the research was, just that if successful, it could make both of them stronger than Watari could ever dream.

Meili gave a gentle chuckle at Yuki, before pulling away and walking over to the fridge. Their safe house wasn't very big, as is the nature of safe houses, and despite it being two stories, the ground floor was barely nothing more than a living room with a kitchen attachment, while the top floor was just a bedroom with a bathroom. With this safe house, Meili had opted to sleep on the couch and give Yuki the bedroom, as Yuki needed a comfortable sleeping space much more than Meili did. Plus Meili hadn't been doing a whole lot of sleeping these past couple of months, what with her work, as well as her hunting, then the research, sleep just couldn't be added to the schedule as often as she'd like. There were days when she'd just crash wherever she was.

"Yeah, the research is doing just fine. No explosions this time, though he was pretty close to one."

She casually opened the fridge as she spoke, pulling out one of the bottles of orange juice, grabbing a glass from the cupboard, and pouring the OJ into it. She casually smiled towards Yuki before taking a swig of the drink, setting the glass onto the counter and returning the bottle to the fridge.

"I can feel that he's close to a breakthrough. He can too. There's just...something that we're missing, but neither of us know what it is..."

At this point, Meili's spirit decided to manifest in a much smaller form. For a couple of weeks now, Raimei had been choosing to manifest in the physical world, rather than in a form that only Meili could see. However, each and every time, Meili could only giggle at the dragon, as whenever they did manifest, instead of their truly regal and majestic draconic form, they would manifest as a small, black and yellow lizard that was barely bigger than Meili's palm.

"I know what you're missing child, however I refuse to say it, as its nature is taboo."

The lizard was perched against the glass that Meili had just set down, and flicked it's tongue out like a true lizard. She would turn her head, offering a long blink towards Yuki.

"And hello little Wolf Pup. I hope you are doing well."

Raimei scurried off of the glass of orange juice, deciding to perch themselves on the sink faucet, so that they could be somewhat eye level with the two girls. The 'dragon' gave a long stare towards Yuki, before casually flicking her tongue.

"My apologies Yuki. And I am doing well, thank you. Now, as for you child Meili..."

The 'dragon' turned her attention back to her actual partner.

"I know exactly what it is you are missing for your...highly dangerous experiments, however I cannot and will not tell you what it is until you can either fully manifest my true power that lies hidden within you...or until you are on death's doorstep, in which case it will be too late for you anyways and would do no harm in telling you."

Meili grew a bit of a pout at Raimei's stubbornness, but took another sip of the orange juice before setting it back down.

"I've been doing a lot of training Raimei, we both know that. But the Hollow around here are all small fry, so I never even have to use my Shikai to stop them."

Raimei gave a bit of a hiss at that, hopping off of the faucet before scurrying over to crawl along Meili's arm and perch onto her shoulder. She would gently bite at Meili's earlobe, causing Meili to give a bit of a squeak in pain, before the lizard started to evaporate and disappear back to Meili's inner world.

"Damn lizard...sorry about that Yuki."

Meili would rub at her earlobe a little before finishing her glass of juice and setting the glass in the sink.

"Speaking of Hollow..."

She would toss something towards Yuki, a small cellphone. "I got you one of the Soul Phones that I've been using to keep track of the Hollow's movements, in case you ever want to go hunting again. Just..."

Meili would move to scratch at the back of her neck, a soft blush forming on her face.

"Be careful...I don't want you coming back even more hurt than you already were."

Yuki's gaze followed the little reptile while it relocated to a more appropriate perch. Her head tilted forward slightly in acceptance of the apology. Not that it was really required, of course, but Raimei was making such an effort that it felt disrespectful not to follow in kind. Besides, it was just good manners.

It is very cute.

No, it is food.

Could one even eat a Zanpakuto? She shook the thought from her mind, attention snapping between the two. Highly dangerous experiments? An explosion was dangerous, sure, but this gave her the feeling that something more was going on. It was bad enough that Raimei wouldn't even give her information unless she was nearly dead! A hint of concern leaked into her expression.

She is hiding something very important from you.

Katsumi was right for once. How strange was that? Agreeing with that monster! But it was the truth. Still, would bringing it up be helpful? Or would it hurt what they had now?

Ask her. She'll understand.

Kokoro? It's good to hear your voice.

It was admittedly a little amusing when Raimei scampered forth and nipped at her friend's ear. She couldn't imagine Katsumi being that gentle if she got out. "It is fine" she replied, lifting her hands to catch the device which was tossed her way. A moment was taken to look the phone over. She had forgotten that others typically used these things. Still, it was a useful backup.

"Thank you."

Meili was right. Most of the Hollows here were pretty weak. She didn't mind leaving those to the Humans, or to trainee Shinigami when they made their way down. Hunting with Meili might be fun too, even weaker Hollows. She smiled, tail wagging softly behind her at both the thought and Meili's flustered, slightly worried expression.

"I won't. You too. If I had known these experiments were highly dangerous then I would have asked to tag along sooner. Am I allowed to know what they are yet?"

Moving closer, Yuki reached out to grasp one of Meili's hands in her own, squeezing softly. "If you want to keep it a secret then that is fine. I trust you. But it does worry me. I have lost enough as it is. Losing you would be too much."

Meili's face turned a bright shade of crimson when Yuki grasped at her hand. Meili was young, so she'd never had any experiences with love. However, in her heart, she knew that this feeling that welled up inside of her whenever she saw Yuki, felt her, or was close to her...it was a form of love. She just didn't know what kind it was just yet. It didn't help that Yuki's words made Meili's heart flutter, and her words to catch in her throat.

She would turn her head a little, offering a gentle cough to attempt to clear her throat and find the words she needed to say, but could only manage a simple, "I know...", that sounded much higher pitched than Meili's normal voice, and seemed to have trouble coming out. She would slowly pull her hand out from Yuki's grip, the blush still present upon her face as she stared at Yuki, smiling a stupid grin before being brought back to reality by a loud beeping alarm coming from their Soul Phones.

"Oh...well then, it seems that a Hollow has been spotted..."

She casually cleared her throat as she spoke, offering a gentle smile towards Yuki as she pulled her phone out. While the Soul Phones of the past had been older flip phones, the newer models were generic looking smart phones, with Meili's being housed in a blue case with a lotus flower design.

"Wanna go kill it with me? See if your injuries are all healed up?"

Meili gave a smile towards Yuki, setting her soul phone down before walking over to a drawer near the fridge. Pulling the drawer open, Meili would rummage around inside of it for a few seconds, before pulling out what she needed. A soul candy dispenser. She'd been in her Gigai all night, mostly to avoid detection as she was well aware that the Soul Society was most likely looking for them, but also because it was easier to move around in this form. While in the house, they didn't have to worry, because the house's walls were layered with Sekkiseki stone, making detection all but impossible.

While Yuki headed upstairs, dropping her robe and, hopefully unintentionally, giving Meili a view of her rear, Meili would pop the soul candy into her mouth, her spiritual form separating from her Gigai, with the Gigai taking on an entirely new persona, that of a stoic young woman. After fleeing the Soul Society, Meili had forgone the standard Shihakusho that was expected for Shinigami, and instead she wore a form-fitting blue Qipao, the skirt ending just above her knees, so that she had ease of access to her Zanpakuto which was strapped to her left thigh.

When Yuki returned, Meili gave a gentle smile as she pulled her soul phone back out. She pulled up an app on the phone, the app being called 'Hollow Tracker', not a very creative name but who was Meili to complain to at this point, and started looking at the map through the app. Several dots were scattered throughout the map, all of them of varying intensities, but none of the dots indicated that the Hollows were above their base evolution, with a few of them even being Demi Hollows, fresh Hollow that had just formed.

"OK Yuki, so it appears that there are about 5 Hollow nearby. Unfortunately, we can't take all of them, as that would just be too suspicious. However, we can take two of them."

As she spoke, she had started to show the app to Yuki, so that she could follow along and see exactly what she was talking about.

Meili gave a smirk to her wolfen friend. "Of course we're going to hunt the strongest. We may be exiles, but we're still going to be training to be able to return and retake our places in the Gotei." She spoke a half truth there. In reality, Meili had little intention of retaking their place. She sought reform. The treachery of Watari and Reika opened her eyes to the corruption of the other Nobles. The Gotei had to be rebuilt from the ground up, with little influence from the Nobles, Meili included. Hence why part of her goal was to end the Baozhai family's Nobility.

Walking over to the door, Meili would open the door, revealing the outside world to the two young women. Stepping out into the cold, winter air. Snow lined the ground, and a cold breeze came in from the North. Meili knew she was very poorly dressed for this kind of weather, but at the same time, she didn't care. She'd warm up in the heat of combat.

Pulling her Soul Phone out again, she would pull up the map, trying to pinpoint which of the Hollows were the strongest. According to the data provided, the strongest of them was on the far side of the city, with the second strongest being just a couple blocks away.

"OK Yuki, I'll let you pick which one we take first. Strongest one is further away, but would easily provide a little more of a challenge."

With a smirk, Meili would put her Soul Phone into the pouch strapped to her thigh, while at the same time she started walking up into the air, forming small, invisible reishi platforms as she was taught at the Academy.

"OK Yuki, let's go on a hunt then."

Holding her smirk, she would start running towards the last known location of the closest Hollow. It only took them about 15 minutes to get there, before coming face to face with an octopus-like Hollow, which had been getting ready to devour some pluses. Without hesitation, Meili would shunpo towards the Hollow, readying a punch as well, moving in a way that would knock the pluses out of the Hollow's grip.

"You know Mr Tako, if you're looking for something to eat, I hear there's a good Vegan restaurant down the street."

"Quips...really child?"

Raimei had decided to critique Meili's introduction, which caused the young girl to grow a small scowl. However, she had no time to counter as the Hollow gave off a roar, before swinging a few tentacles down towards Meili.

Meili gave a smile towards Yuki, and in her battle-hazed mind, said a truth that she hadn't yet wanted to reveal that she hoped wouldn't end up biting her later. "Thanks Yuki! I could kiss you for that!" Meili didn't even realize she'd said it, and leapt right back into battle. She started to run circles around the Hollow, literally and figuratively, as punch after kick after punch landed upon the foe.

Whenever a tentacle would swing towards Meili, she would leap out of the way. The battle raged for about 10 minutes or so, mostly because Meili's melee attacks weren't doing nearly enough damage to actually kill the Hollow, which wasn't really her goal to begin with. She was toying with the Hollow, trying to find the weak points in its motions. Finally, however, she'd had enough.

Holding her hand out in front of her, Meili would start a chant as yellow energy gathered into her palm. "Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle! Hado #63, Raikoho!" Finishing the chant, the energy formed in her hand would burst forth, as a spear of lightning would pierce through the Hollow's mask, killing it and causing it to dissolve. With a smile, Meili would jump back down to where Yuki was, and still in the middle of her battle-haze, pick the small wolf girl up in a tight bear hug, spinning her around for a couple seconds before realizing what she was doing, and releasing her grip, her face a bright crimson, contrasting her blue dress.

Three things happened in quick succession. Meili gave a gentle nuzzle towards Yuki's warm hand against her cheek, she felt her heart start to flutter uncontrollably at her statement, and her knees nearly gave out as her entire body seemed to blush with happiness, embarrassment, and a deep feeling of love. Despite it being the middle of the day, Meili swore she saw and heard fireworks going off somewhere, but knew that there wasn't any.

"I...uh...m-maybe...yeah...I'd like that..."

Her voice came out a stuttering, whispering mess. She honestly didn't know what to make of the situation, and almost wanted to take Yuki back home right then and there. However, it was Raimei, giving the girl an unconscious tug into her inner world, that broke her out of everything.

"I can only hold you here for a short time...congratulations are in order..."

The great dragon spoke softly. Meili's inner world looked different. What was normally a sea of thunderclouds and rain, was instead a bright and sunny sky, not a raindrop in the sky.

"Perhaps...now that you have something worth fighting for...you can know this..."

The dragon coiled around Meili, shrinking as she did so, so that she could whisper something into Meili's ear.

"Call this out...when you seek true power..."

The dragon's eyes glowed, and Meili was cast back into the real world, as if no time had passed at all. With a renewed vigor, Meili gave a smile towards Yuki, clasping the wolf girl's hand with her own, before giving a nod.

"Yes, we do still have another to hunt, don't we? But before that..."

The young Baozhai released her grasp on Yuki's hand, walking over to the pluses and drawing her Zanpakuto.

"May you find peace in the Soul Society."

She would quickly perform the Konso on the pluses, before walking back over to Yuki, giving another gentle nod.

"Let's go."

Without another word, the girl leapt upwards and started heading towards the next Hollow.

Meili would playfully roll her eyes as Yuki gave her critiques for the battle. She silently listed to all that the wolf girl said, while also going over what Raimei had told her. Was Meili truly ready for this? Raimei thought so, but did Meili? She didn't really know.

Unlike the first Hollow, which had been relatively close by, the other was much father away. Even at their speeds, it took them nearly 30 minutes to travel across the city. This Hollow, a small cat-like Hollow about the size of Meili herself, hadn't yet found any prey. However...something was off about the Hollow. To Meili, it seemed like it was stalking something. Waiting for someone. However, Meili wouldn't wait around.

Pushing off the ground, Meili leapt towards the Hollow, readying a fist...a fist that was blocked by the Hollow's tail, flicking back Meili as if she were paper, causing Meili to fly back a little, landing back over by Yuki. She didn't know if it was the block, or the flick, but Meili's arm had gone numb. She grasped at her arm as she looked up at the Hollow, and Meili's suspicions were proven correct, as the Hollow turned towards them, and started to speak.

"Ah...purrfect...two young Shinigami, come to die. Perhaps feeding on you two will be enough to advance me to Vasto Lorde."

Meili felt a sense of dread wash over her. Vasto Lorde? She'd read about them in the Academy. Apparently they were the strongest form a Hollow could become, that a single Vasto Lorde was equal to two Captains. Before the Vasto Lorde, were the Adjuchas-class, Hollows that had consumed so many souls, that they had regained a sense of self, and so much more. Meili's mind raced to that night at the Estates. Fear coursed through her, as she remembered seeing Yuki's bloodied body, and could only imagine what this Hollow, now established as an Adjuchas-class, could do to them.

Time seemed to stand still for Meili. Hundreds of thoughts ran through her brain. But the most prominent ones involved running away. She knew in her head that they couldn't fight this foe, not if they were talking about becoming a Vasto Lorde. However, time sped up for a brief second as she heard a voice. "Are you alright, Meili?" Her unfocused eyes regained their luster, the green emeralds shining once again as she briefly shook her head.

"Yeah...yeah...I'm OK Yuki."

Meili reached towards her thigh, unsheathing her blade, before holding it in front of her in a defensive posture. While she knew that the chances of them beating this opponent were small, she also knew that they couldn't leave it alone. Taking a deep breath, Meili focused her eyes onto the Hollow.

"We may have to go all out on this one." She would look over to her wolfen friend, an extremely serious look upon her face. "And I do mean all out. Everything we have." She took another deep breath as she stared back towards the Hollow, moving from the defensive posture, and holding her Zanpakuto parallel to her body. With a gentle smile, she spoke one simple phrase.

"Boom, Raimei!"

Electrical energy burst from her body. Her short hair burst from its ponytails, lengthening to her ankles as two silver gauntlets, covered in yellow gems now clad her arms. An electrical aura surrounded her body, giving off the occasional crackle of energy. Her eyes took on a much more serious look, as without a word, she kicked off from the ground with a burst of speed that she hadn't previously had, her gauntlet-clad fist making contact with the Hollow, causing them to fly backwards a little, before spinning in the air, and landing back on their feet.

"Hmm...impressive little girl...you'll make a fine meal."

The Hollow would open their mouth, and start charging up a sphere of purple energy.