Chapter 1

El Príncipe Llega ("The Prince Arrives")

A round light punctured the darkness eclipsing his vision before parting the clouds that fogged his sight. A hand came forward to block the light. His eyes tried to focus on something, anything. Disoriented but gradually regaining composure, he realized he was in a different place all together. The emptiness was gone. Slowly, the sounds of the night emerged from the warm air, crickets and night animals greeting him into this new yet familiar world. As his eyes adjusted, the source of the light became clear to him; he was looking at a full moon.

His mind was still grasping his surroundings, but a frost clouded the edges of his thoughts. Still, he knew it was nighttime and the full moon was shining down on him.

A dark-haired girl stood in Orihime's entranceway, purple eyes on her best friend. Although she was normally abrasive, Orihime knew Tatsuki always wore her heart on her sleeve.

"Are you going to be OK?" Tatsuki asked. Her eyebrows furrowed down.

Orihime smiled. "I'll be fine!" Orihime, however, knew that Tatsuki didn't believe her. In spite of being happy and warm, Tatsuki never took her words at face value. Every time her best friend came to her apartment, it was always the same question whenever she left. Like a worried older sister, Tatsuki persisted in getting Orihime to admit her true feelings. Tatsuki stared at Orihime with a stern expression, quickly shifting back to her tough-girl persona.

"All right, I'm going," Tatsuki said as she slipped into her worn sneakers, "but if anything happens to you, you'd better give me a call."

Orihime stuck her tongue out at her. "OK!" Tatsuki opened the door and lifted a hand to wave goodbye. Orihime's smile widened before she ushered Tatsuki into the apartment corridor. Someone had to push her out, or Tatsuki would worry forever at her doorstep. "See you tomorrow! And be careful!"

The dark-haired girl returned her smile as she shooed Orihime's hands away. "See you tomorrow." Tatsuki whirled around to glare at Orihime, one hand on her hip and the other hand pointing at her friend. Inwardly, Orihime groaned. "And you'd better not be late to school tomorrow! You don't want to get another yellow card*!"

Orihime wanted to laugh. What was another yellow card compared to the many she already had? Hopefully, she could just smile and get away with another punishment.

"And don't think those thoughts! If I know you get another yellow card, I'll…I'll…" Orihime quickly lost interest in her friend's lecture. She hoped that the neighbors weren't listening to their conversation. It was pretty late already.

"Like I said, you'd better be at school tomorrow! On time, too!"

Again, Orihime grinned with an innocent shrug of her shoulders. "And if the alarm doesn't go off—"

A hand came forward and flicked Orihime's forehead. Orihime cried out in surprise, her hands flying to the red spot on her forehead. "That's why you shouldn't be staying up, watching NHK** all night long!" Tatsuki pointed at the big-breasted girl again.

"OK!"

For a moment, neither friend moved. Orihime continued to smile as Tatsuki glared at her. They were good enough friends to fill the empty pauses between them, embracing those moments as cherished memories.

Tatsuki straightened her posture and smiled. "OK, I'm going. See you tomorrow." Tatsuki disappeared down the stairs before reappearing on the street below. Orihime watched her friend's back. Even if Tatsuki was worried about her, Orihime was more worried about her. Although Tatsuki was strong and she had a little bit of spiritual energy, the dark-haired girl was still a human with no supernatural powers. If a Hollow decided to attack her, Orihime knew that she would have to step in and save her.

Once Tatsuki disappeared down the street, Orihime re-entered her apartment. There were a few things to do before bedtime—including her marathon of NHK night programming. Orihime figured it would be best to set her alarm early. Just as she placed her shoes at the entranceway, something rippled through the air. Like an earthquake that carried a dark intent, Orihime knew that there was a Hollow somewhere nearby.

"Tatsuki!"

Orihime pushed her feet into her tennis shoes and ran outside, trying to sense in which direction the spiritual energy was coming from. To her surprise, the spiritual energy wasn't coming from Tatsuki's direction. It came from the direction of the plaza close to Orihime's home.

Again, the dark spiritual energy called out to Orihime. A Hollow! Orihime thought, panting. She had to get there before it hurt anyone. She hoped it wasn't a strong one, or she would get another yellow card.

The streets seemed foreign to him. It wasn't his first time seeing them. In a distant memory, he remembered that there were many of them that stretched in various directions, but these streets were different. Unlike his faint recollection, these streets represented a world apart from where he was before landing in the park. After commanding his body to stand with some effort, he had staggered out of the empty park and stumbled into the streets. He knew they lead somewhere, but he didn't have the slightest idea of what that place held. Instead, he followed the streets to wherever it led.

As he walked, his gait became straighter, more natural, until he was fully composed to his usual self. From within the recesses of his mind, information came to him in waves, unraveling itself into a silent haven of understanding. He needed to sort out everything in his mind.

Though the shops lining the streets were closed, he knew he was in a marketplace of sorts. Some of the windows weren't covered by metal shields, and the shops' merchandise called out to him. He peered into a window that held a few slick devices, each one with a bright-colored paper and note attached to its edges. Small lights colored the edges of the window, washing his face with a warm, orange light. Although the brightness was something he used to disdain, something inside of him reacted. Maybe it was his curiosity, but before he could stop himself, a hand reached forward and touched the window pane. It was cool and smooth, like an frozen, uncovered bone.

He stared at the reflection in the glass cast by the moonlight. This is me. His hand slipping away from the glass surface. His skin wasn't as white as he remembered, but his hair was still short and black. The only immediate differences in his face now were the missing tell-tale Hollow mask and markings from his time in Hueco Mundo. His green eyes weren't outlined by the former black markings, making his eyes appear smaller and less intense. Though the changes weren't great, he found his reflection barely recognizable in this new form.

He was human now. His reflection only confirmed it, but he knew when he woke up, deep down, his body was different. His bones seemed to ring out with a cry of existence, one that he acknowledged only as being human.

His hand went to his bare chest. There was no gaping hole to be reflected in the glass. Only his chest. Only his skin. Gingerly, he touched his chest, feeling the skin react to his fingers. Do I have a heart? Every human had one, and the natural conclusion was that he retained a heart in his human body.

Something dark and sickly rippled through the air, tearing him away from his thoughts. In the reflection, a white arm lifted into the air. For a moment, he could feel a deep-seated fear immobilize him, frighten him. As a human, things like Hollows scared his bones, scattering any concept of retaliation. For the first time, he could hear the heart that the woman and the humans spoke so fondly of. It beat loudly in his ears, fast and hard, as if counting the seconds before the white arm would strike him.

Beneath the fear, he could remember his time as an Espada. A split second could cost one their life. It was only the Espada, with their great reactive skills and brute force, who could turn a split second into a whole minute. Now, as a human, he had to push out the fear, make his body move, and save his life before the Hollow took it. He turned in time to dodge the arm before it smashed into the window, shattering the reflective glass and devices.

He fell against the wall of the shop, pain registering from the wall's impact as he faced his new enemy. The Hollow's big white arms hung down to his sides, its knuckles scraping the surface of the street. Its elongated mask hid its bulky neck. The Hollow hole stood out like an undeniable marker in the center of the Hollow's chest. The rest of its beastly body was the grey color of the streets. The ghastly creature was an Arrancar-level Hollow, his spiritual energy emitting waves of hunger towards him.

The Hollow let out a high-pitched cry that pierced the night air. Everything shook under its spiritual energy. Before he could move, the Hollow pulled back its arm and swung it towards him. He wanted to move, move faster than what his human body could do, but he couldn't quite remember how to move. Fear gripped his mind, and he tried to push it away again, hoping to dissolve the spell over his paralyzed body.

Next chapter: La Princesa Llega, Tambien

Orihime discovers a new character.

* These asterisks are cultural points in this story. I currently live in Japan and I work at a senior high school, which has helped me to understand the cultural gaps between watching the anime series and coming from the United States.

*A yellow card is similar to getting a write-up, but it normally includes a punishment in Japan.

**NHK is a well-known Japanese channel that airs many of today's favorite Japanese and translated English TV shows.