"The fuck ya mean, Aizen's dead, ya fuckin' light bulb?" shouted Nnoitra, straight into the glowing red tank that contained Aaroniero's twin heads. The soft red glow given off suffused Nnoitra's face and tinted the the white walls of Las Noches the color of blood.
"Aizen-sama has fallen." chanted the two heads simaltaniously, the resulting voice irritating because of the clashing tones, and Nnoitra had to control himself to keep from breaking the Noveno's faces.
"Don't call him sama no more, he don't deserve it. He finally started pushin' daisies, and don't give me any bullshit sayin' he was a good guy an' shit, he was a royal fuckin' douchebag." yelled Nnoitra, loud enough that the guest at the end of the hall could hear him. There was a grunt as the hulking form of Yammy stomped towards them, and a corpse was flung at Nnoitra's feet. There was so much blood it was impossible to tell who it had been.
"The fuck is this, ya giant fucktard? A damn morgue?" asked Nnoitra, kicking the corpse away, blood staining his pointed shoes. It landed with a dull thud ten meters back the way Yammy had come.
"That was some unlucky dumbass I found on the way here. Some Ichigo Kurosaki...I beat the living crap outta him. Wasn't too hard, he was half dead already." said the giant, grinning like an idiot. Nnoitra really hated him, he was such a damn retard that he couldn't brush his damn teeth without Ulquiorra there to tell him how.
"I don't fuckin' care who ya fight when yer free, fucktard. What I want to know is where the fuck everyone else is!" howled Nnoitra, throwing Santa Teresa through the wall, then dragging it back by its chain.
"Starrk, Harribel and myself helped defeat Aizen. Barragan, Ulquiorra, and Grimmjow are dead. I consumed Zommari and gained his power." stated Aaroniero, speaking in tandem, and stepping between the Diaz and Quinta.
"Ya fuckin' serious? We're all that's left? And the hell'd ya eat Zommari for, anyway?" asked Nnoitra, not really caring about the answer. He was more concerned with the fact the the shinigami might return...but wait. Starrk, Harribel, and Aaroniero had helped them, so that wasn't so likely.
"The fool was almost dead. I don't see why I shouldn't have." said Aaroniero's voices, and pulling the glove covering Glotoeria, his Zanpakuto, tighter.
"Tch. The fuck do I care anyway. He was a dumbass. So the fuck we do now?" asked Nnoitra as he turned from the Diaz and Noveno.
"That is technically Yammy's to decide, but he doesn't care to, and Starrk is too lazy, so Harribel is left among us." pointed out Aaroniero. Nnoitra turned.
"What?" asked Nnoitra dumbly.
"But since she is currantly being treated for her injuries, we will defer to you for the time being." explained Aaroniero. Nnoitra took a moment to take that in. It wasn't every day you took command without a fight. Nnoitra had no idea what to say, so he just said something.
"Everyone go do somethin' fer a couple hours...meet in the old meetin' place. If ya can, keep a tab on any arrancars still hangin' around. Now get the hell outta here..." he said as he turned on his heel and walked away, passing by the corpse of Kurosaki.
Aaroniero left Yammy in the hall, using sonido to flash back to his room, leaving the Diaz to wonder what he was in such a hurry for, then deciding that he didn't care, left for his own room.
Aaroniero appeared outside his door, surprized to find it slightly ajar. He stepped inside quickly, eager to get out of the sunlight. He closed the door, cutting off the beam of sun that leaked through the portal. The darkness settled thickly all around Aaroniero. A normal man would have been blinded by the oppressive gloom, but his twin heads had spent their whole afterlife in such heavy blackness, making it seem like the sun shone brightly within his palace.
Aaroniero stepped further into his home, each footfall ringing off of the high ceiling, making a resounding echo, which, besides the swishing of his clothes and the sound of air bubbles in his tank, was the only sound.
This was his temple. A tribute to the dark and secretive nature he had become known for. This was also his ideal battleground, there was no light here, no way to see through his greatest technique. It was here that he was at full power, when the rest of Las Noches was enshrouded in vile sunlight, his palace was inviolate.
Finally, Aaroniero came to where he kept his personal effects. And the source of a conundrum he had been facing since his consumption of Zommari.
That being Brujeria, the former septima's zanpakuto. Aaroniero lifted it from it's place on his bed, examining it for the tenth time since gaining it from that fool. It stayed with him, even when he was in the sun, he had tested it. It stayed when even Kaien Shiba's Nejibana would disappear. It also disturbed Aaroniero that he could not transform into Zommari, yet he could feel the septima's power boiling beneath the surface, again even in the sun.
Brujeria's blade and grip had changed as well, the blade growing an additional foot, with the tip flattening out, and the grip losing all color, becoming a pure white. Aaroniero, in fact, felt the blade had been made for him alone, instead of that idiot Zommari.
Aaroniero stood straighter, feeling a small riatsu nearing the door of his palace, he used sonido to reach the door, standing to the side. The door opened, and a female serving arrancar stepped in, at first looking the opposite direction from Aaroniero.
"How can I help you?" his child voice asked the newcomer. The woman must have lept nine feet in the air.
"A-Aaroniero-sama! Nnoitra-sama requests your presence in the meeting room." she said, pointedly looking away from Aaroniero's twin heads, fixing her eyes on the floor.
"Why? Nnoitra gave me leave to do as I wished for an hour or so. What does he want?" asked Aaroniero, grabbing the woman and using sonido to bring her to his bedroom. He searched around for the sheath that went with Brujeria. The woman was quite ruffled by the sudden change in surroundings.
"Wh-what? Where am I, Aaroniero-sama?" she gasped as she fell over, nearly gagging from the high speeds at which the Noveno had trasported her.
"In my palace. Now what does Nnoitra want?" he repeated, finding the sheath on the top of the bed and buckling it on, then placing Brujeria within. He then turned to the woman.
"Ah, yes, forgive me. Nnoitra-sama said that it was a problem that only you could fix, something to do with an intruder in the meeting room." she said, looking around almost blindly, only able to see Aaroniero by the soft red glow from his tank.
"I see. Come with me then." he said as he used sonido to return to the entrace to his palace, seeing as she could most likely never be able to find her way out without him. She fell over again, clutching her stomach and groaning. It took her a few moments to get back up, and when she did, she stumbled a few steps and promtly vomited before stumbling away.
"Ha ha, I always knew you had a way with women, Aaroniero." said a feminine voice from behind him. He didn't have to turn around to know who it was. Aaroniero began what would be a very long walk.
"Greetings, Cirucci."
Di Roy stalked the halls of Las Noches, noticing the lack of other arrancars. Most others were dead, some of the Espada among them. Only that bat-shit crazy Szayelapporo Granz, that hottie Harribel and her Fraccion, the freak Aaroniero, that creep Nnoitra, the idiot Yammy, and the lazy ass Starrk were left of them.
That suited Rinker just fine. He was sick of all of them anyway, they had all looked down on him, called him a weakling. Especially that jackass Grimmjow. His grip tightened on the sheath of his zanpakuto, Serpentra. He was nearing the site where Kurosaki had killed the bastard. It might be worth his time to go waste it a little.
The sixteenth arrancar turned and leapt out a window, suspending himself in the air with his rietsu. The remaining arrancars had not gotten around to rebuilding the area, and Rinker doubted that the clean up crews would mind if he reduced some of the larger chunks of rubble to dust.
Di Roy took a moment to admire the scene. The spires of Las Noches were in ruins from where Grimmjow and Kurosaki had went at it, and after the fight and now they lay in ruins where they had toppled. Grimmjow's ashes were in there somewhere.
Rinker hoped he got some of them.
He removed the bandages from around the left side of his face, revealing the scars in his mask. Scars that Grimmjow had given him, so long ago now. The bastard had taken a chunk out of his face when Rinker was still a Adjuchas, making him unable to progress to Vasto Lorde and halting his development as an arrancar early.
A blue light played in front of his left eye as he charged his cero, aiming for a sizable chunk of stone, flying closer for a better shot, seeing as he was still quite far away. A smile crossed his face, displaying his squarish teeth as he released his cero. The blue beam turned the rubble into rock dust, leaving a small crater. He floated down to the ground, charging another cero and blasting another crater.
Rinker drew his zanpakuto. He figured now was as good a time as any to try.
"Shed, Serpentra!" he yelled, feeling a rise in his spiritual power, and nothing else. Rinker cursed. Why wasn't it working? Why was he the only arrancar not able to acess his release? All he got was a sharp spike in his rietsu, nothing else. He knew he was using the right release word, it was instintive, and when he tried any other word, nothing happened.
Was he really that weak? Maybe that Szayel's older brother was right. Maybe he was only an arrancar in name. He resheathed Serpentra and shoved it in his belt. Normally he liked to carry it in his hands, but he had no desire to hold it after another failure.
The only conclution he had ever come to was that the bite Grimmjow took out of him must have done more damage than he thought. He had thought about asking Aizen about forcing his release using the hougyoku, but even the thought of being in the same room as Aizen gave Di Roy the creeps, even more so than Nnoitra. So he suffered in silence, managing to keep his secret from everyone, but he was still the weakling of the group.
Rinker hated the idea of being weak. Here he was, one of the only battle worthy arrancars left, unable to release his true power. It was total bullshit, he knew serving arrancars who had a release. Granted, his power was more than enough to beat them, but the fact remains.
He sighed, turning his head to the sky, seeing the result of Kurosaki's fight with that badass Ulquiorra. It turns out that Ulquiorra had the exact opposite situation than Rinker, having an extra release. Rinker wished he had that kind of power, he was in awe of the strength required to develop a second release, and he knew that Grimmjow must have hated Ulquiorra for that strength, not some supposed weakness.
In fact, Di Roy had never belived the sexta espada when he said that he was stronger than Ulquiorra, harboring a deep respect for the Cuatro espada. Not many people could stand to hang around Aizen for so long, not to mention Yammy. The lucky bastard even got the job of taking care of Orihime Inoue.
He had even scored with her.
If Ulquiorra had survived, Rinker would most likely have gravitated to him for answers, and for his strength. But Ulquiorra had died. So had Aizen. Now there were no answers.
Di Roy Rinker, the sixteenth arrancar, was doomed to death if the soul reapers ever decided to finish the arrancars off. There was no way he could beat any competant soul reaper, he would most likely be used as a meat shield, while the remaining espada tried to defend Las Noches.
Doomed. It was strangely comforting. It gave no shock of fear, no nervous twitch. Nothing. Di Roy couldn't stop it, so what was the point in worrying?
His hand on the hilt of Serpentra, Rinker began the walk back to his room.
Sun-sun, Apacci, and Mila Rose had all gathered in Harribel's room, along with Starrk's Fraccion Lilinette, and of course, Harribel, who had just finished her treatment by the nurses. At first, they were all talking girl shit, like who was the most attractive arrancar, the general vote being that Starrk was the best looking guy, while everyone present agreed that Tia was the hottest girl, with the exeption of Harribel herself, who passed that baton to Lilinette, who blushed bright red, before everyone else gathered around her began telling her how pretty she was.
It was now two hours later, and Lilinette was curled up on Harribel, the little girl's face buried in Tia's neck. Now Apacci and Mila Rose were arguing quietly about who would get Starrk first.
"I bet I could get him in bed in a few seconds, not even a problem!" whispered Mila. Apacci snorted.
"Yeah right, he wants a woman, not some crazy whore."
"Shut the fuck up flat chest! You know you've went more rounds Edorad than I went with Ilfort!" seethed Mila Rose, poking Apacci between the eyes.
"Like hell!"
"Denial!"
Sun-sun could tell things were getting out of hand, soon there would be an all out brawl going on in their mistress' room. Luckily, Harribel was there to shut them up.
"Can't you two argue about this some other time? And one: neither of you went all the way more than twice, trust me, Grimmjow told me about both of you. Two: getting Starrk in bed is easy. It's getting him to the sex that would be hard." said Harribel. Both Fraccions stared at their mistress in shock. She knew? Sun-sun brought her overlarge sleeve to her mouth to cover her smile.
"What about Sun-sun?" said Apacci, causing Sun-sun's smile to fade.
"I don't care to say."
The room was quiet. For a moment. Peals of laughter came from the other fraccion, causing Lilinette to shift on Harribel's lap.
"What?" asked Sun-sun, frowning and crossing her arms.
"You must have had someone really embarrassing then, like...like..." Apacci couldn't even finish her sentance, she was laughing too hard. Sun-sun threw a pillow at her, using her other sleeve to hide her blush. She looked to Harribel for support, but couldn't get an expression because of the huge coller of Tia's jacket.
"No!"
Mila Rose managed to suppress her giggles.
"Don't listen to her, I actually think it's kind of nice Yammy gets some." she asked, and Sun-sun felt three pairs of eys on her, and she was sure Lilinette was awake and listening.
"Oooo, she wants someone like Szayel." said Mila.
"But isn't he gay?" asked Sun-sun, getting drawn in despite herself.
"Like hell. He was with Thunderwitch how long before they cut it off. Hasn't dated since." said Harribel. Someone knocked on the door, before the door opened, revealing Neliel and Orihime, the latter of which clutched her swollen belly. The subject at hand was immediatly dropped as the newcomers entered.
During the exchange of greetings, Sun-sun slipped out of the room. She knew that the subject would just be reiterated soon, and she really did not want it to go any farther right now. Harribel had seen her go, and nodded in understanding.
Sun-sun ghosted through the halls of Las Noches. Any other time she would have stayed, seeing that she enjoyed the company of the pregnant Orihime, but Apacci and Mila Rose had ruined her mood today. She had no doubt they were even now talking about her.
Sun-sun gritted her teeth, trying to resist the urge to go back to the door and listen.
Tried and failed.
Within seconds, she had her ear on the door.
"...the whole thing." came Nel's voice.
"Who's going to be the, you know, the guy?" asked Mila. Sun-sun clenched her fist, she just knew that they would be talking about this. She pressed her ear tighter against the door.
"I was thinking Szayelapporo. He's not as creepy when you get to know him, I think she'll like him." said Orihime. Sun-sun's jaw dropped. Even Orihime? Did she really have to get involved in her love life, or lack thereof?
Apacci gave a lewd description of how Sun-sun got her action. Of course none of it was true but it was still embarassing. Sun-sun wanted to wring that bitch's neck. She took her ear away from the door, and started walking away. She wanted to get away from them before she did something she would regret.
Sun-sun walked briskly down the hallway, away from the source of her frustration.
Harribel sighed, making everyone in the room look at her.
"I think you should really keep it down." she said, looking at the other women.
"Why? This is pretty fun." said Apacci, giggling with Mila Rose because of the images that were going through their heads from their latest joke about Sun-sun's sex life.
"Because next time you see Sun-sun, she won't be too happy with you." Mila and Apacci looked at each other.
"What?" they asked at the same time.
"She was standing outside the door until a couple seconds ago." said Tia, smiling behind her coller.
"AND YOU DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING? SHE'S GOING TO THROW A TOTAL BITCHFIT!" yelled Apacci, waking up Lilinette.
"Not my problem, you're going to have to deal with it." They looked at each other again.
"Shit." said Mila Rose. Nel and Orihime were falling over each other laughing.