"Chapter Two;
The Squadron Leader"

He awoke with the hugest migraine he's ever had in his life. Not only was his whole being throbbing from immense pain, he also found himself getting frustrated, rather quickly due to the sound of constant muttering, sudden shouts that he was certain made him cringe from the pain in his ears and head, but also to the slow and steady beep that he kept hearing every few moments. Never had he felt so pissed off!

However, this was unusual. He could feel it; bandages. All over his body, he could feel he was covered with them. Not only that, but he also felt something on top of him; a soft, plush, and comforting blanket. He felt a similar comfort beneath his head, and it was as comfy it felt welcoming; almost immediately, it was registered as a pillow, probably two. Although it was nice, combined with the noise, he did not feel any closer to calm than when he first heard them.

But, then he questioned it. A blanket with pillows? Bandages covering his body? Mutters and shouts coming from people around him, and a constant, electronic beep? Where was he? What happened? He continued to gather this into his mind, getting frustrated as the murmurs got louder, and as the migraine that felt like it were splitting his head open becoming more and more enraged, practically burning holes into his skull. He 'd had enough of this!

Nnoitora shot his eye open, and jolted up to notice several people around him, trying to hold him down. His body argued, but as soon as he felt the hands, he knocked them off him, and when it came to his legs, he gave them similar treatment, as he kicked them into the opposing wall. More crowded him, pushing him back down, and trying to restrain him, only to find themselves practically flying across the room, in any direction he could figure; some were as unlucky as to be shot out the door as it opened, as someone else attempted to walk in; having to dodge an assault of flying people being thrown at him in many angles.

When it stopped, the man walked in just as the fifth Espada turned his body to get a look, and tried as much to stand, soon finding that such strength did not exist. He collapsed on the floor, coughing up blood from his wracked up body, his chest burning immensely, and his breath running short of nothing but pure gasps as the sputum continued to rush up his throat, leaving him painfully sore. He could barely stay on his knees, and his arms were so heightened in shock that he was barely supporting himself on an elbow.

The man who had just walked in got the others to back off with a mere wave of his hand, clearly seeing that he was in complete surprise, and his reactions to it was simply out of his daze of confusion, and shock to the new setting he was in. He simply stepped forward, slowly, then crouched in front of the Espada on the balls of his feet, giving him a slightly concerned, but mainly cocky stare, as his grin came into view. "You're pretty strong from just waking up from nearly dying." He said, teasingly.

The coughs coming out still, but not as abrupt, Nnoitora lifted his head to get a look at the man with his only eye. The man was in his early twenties, for what he could tell, he was stronger than he was making himself appear. His skin was pale, his eyes a soft mint while his short, messy hair flared out with dark violet locks. The man wore black boots, with a pair of night blue pants over them, and a dark crimson trench coat with buckles sealing its torso and sleeves, while its belt was being used to hold a sword in its sheath. The man's eyes seemed kind, and his smile appeared similar to Aizen's, but instead of the sadistic pleasure that he'd normally seen, the smile was compassionate and in some way, relieved.

He struggled to catch his breath, finding it getting more difficult where he was, however, the man continued to speak. "I should be surprised you can move with all those injuries, but for Quinto Espada, I shouldn't find it that hard to believe, no matter how cruel the battle was; or more rather in your case, beating." Nnoitora looked at him as if questioning what he meant, seeing as how it was still hard for him to breathe. "One of the Vizards from my Elite Squad stumbled upon you as they finished, but knew full well he couldn't fight them off due to them leaving. Said that the minute they left, he called for the medical team, although with the unit he's in, I'm not surprised it took over an hour." He explained.

He only just remembered what had happened. His three subordinates had attacked both he and Tesla, trying to kill the both of them. He put pressure back onto one of his hands, forcing himself up, and glaring at the man. "Who are you...why did you; a shinigami; help us?" He questioned, the words barely coming out as a whisper as they rasped from his mouth. The Quinto would have rather died than to be saved by the enemy.

The man gave him a quick glance of surprise before jolting his head out and sputtering in pure laughter. Nnoitora's glare hardened as the man's bubbling guffaw continued without end for what seemed like ever. He calmed himself, wiping his eye before looking back at Nnoitora, trying to return to the calmness he had. "Although you are correct when you claim I trained as shinigami, but my act ended years ago when they charged me with treason." He explained, briefly. Now, it was the Quinto's turn to be shocked. "But if you must know," he began, standing back up, "I'm ex-captain of the tenth division, and the Shogun, here; my name is Hayashi Nazo." He introduced, smiling happily.

Nnoitora was too busy contemplating the introduction to notice the man beginning to help him back to his feet. A former shinigami captain. True, he had his share of meeting three, and that was it. Truthfully, he never thought he'd be coming across anymore, but here he was, staring at one, by claim, and also by those same words, proclaiming to be a general. He soon accepted the concept, considering the fact not only ex-shinigami were in the room, but vizards and arrancar as well. It was only when he was plopped back on the bed did he notice that the guy; Hayashi; had helped back to where he was.

Hayashi only chuckled as Nnoitora began to glare at him, once more. "Now you know who I am, Quinto Espada. Now, just what is your name; and the name of our blond patient, a few floors down?" He asked, his finger pointing downward as his eyes grew a hint of seriousness. He thought it only right to know names, whether they be friend, foe, or the people who remain in neutrality. To him, every person he came across was significant, and he did not exclude those part of Aizen's army.

The fifth espada drew in a few deep breaths, a hand at his throat as to message the muscles that were sore, but thankfully, ones that Szayelaporro left alone. He looked up at Hayashi, eyes cold, but holding seriousness as well as the Espada tried to repress another glare. "I, as you already know, am Quinto Espada; Nnoitora Jiruga. My fraccion is Tesla Lindocruz." He replied, looking away at the thought of the other suffering, questioning if he was going to be alright.

"You know, when you feel very depressed, you think aloud." Nnoitora looked up at Nazo with slight shock at being brought out of the daze he was in. He saw the man's finger was pointed at him with a smirk plastered on his face as he just registered his statement. Had he been thinking aloud? "Yes, yes you were!" This caused the Espada to glare. "In the case of your fraccion, Tesla, he's fine. I don't know the full details of his condition, but he's stable, and he wakes up every few hours or so, asking us about 'Nnoitora-sama.' No doubt he really cares about you."

This caused the Espada to sigh in relief. Of course, he did want to know about Tesla's full condition, but the man had already stated he didn't know everything, but he was relieved all the same to know that the blond was still breathing. Even still, that didn't mean that there wasn't anything else wrong, which brought his fears back to him; what if there was something else wrong; what if Tesla got affected from the battle, and be left disabled, or ill; what if he was slowly dying?

While Nnoitora tried to rid these things from his brain, trying to bring back the confidence he always had whenever Tesla was injured, Nazo spoke up. "If you want," he started. Nnoitora looked up at him in shock, once more, being brought out of his dazed thoughts that separated him from reality. "I could bring in Tesla's doctor, so that she could fill the blanks; it's pretty obvious he's precious to you, so I see no point in not letting you know." He explained.

This made the Espada fill slightly joyed, but he glared instead. "And why would you consider it? So you could pity us? No matter how much I'd wanna know, I won't accept pity, especially if it's the reason for this charity." He barked at the man, pointing at his bandages. No way would he allow that; pity meant weakness, and that weakness is not accepted in his book.

Hayashi blinked at him, before his smile returned, and he shook his head. Another wave of his hand told everyone else to leave the room, which they did, shutting the door behind them. "Pity, true, is a great cause that can lead one to helping a stranger. And you have every right for thinking it's weak, for most of the time, the term itself is misguided and blind." He told the Quinto. He received a confused stare in return.

He sighed. "Pity is unstoppable, no matter how much you push it away. Through this, pity is often misguided and blind, as stated before. For example, and we'll make it in Hueco Mundo, so you understand," he started, taking a seat in a nearby chair, "Say that Gin had died in battle, and one of the lower arrancar was mourning his death, when he or she barely ever spoke with him, let alone, saw him. The mourning of a superior you barely know shows misguided pity, which shows the weakness firm; for this reason, I try to get to know everybody within the facility so that should something happen, their mourning and pity is true, for that kind is strong." He explained.

Nnoitora understood the situation, although he highly doubted that pity could be strong. "And another example, with you and Tesla," he continued, placing a foot on the cushion of his seat, and letting his arm and head rest on it, "after you were assaulted, I'd wager that you pitied yourself for not being able to help Tesla while you were being ambushed, and just hoping that you could become stronger to protect him; the pity towards yourself and another, in this case, is strong, because it makes you care more, and make you want and get stronger." He pointed out.

Now, the Quinto didn't know if it were out of the frustration of just being wrong, or if it was just him being pissed at Hayashi; what did he know about him, anyway? He didn't get time to think it over. "Now, I'm not offering you to know about Tesla's condition because I pity you; that would leave me feeling pretty blind for helping you feel free of worry of someone else whom I barely know. However, I offered it as a favor; in exchange, you will stay in bed and cooperate with the doctors we have, here. Can a warrior like yourself agree to this?" He asked, holding out his hand.

The black-head didn't feel as pissed, but if there was one thing he hated, it was doctors; in Las Noches, he always told Szayelapporo to make the patch and surgeries quick so that he'd be able to fight, and if Nnoitora was in the infirmary for more than two days, he'd threaten the Octova with his neck being snapped by the Quinto's hand. Now that he thought about it, it may have been one of the reasons the pink-head wanted him to suffer; because of how impatient he was, even when dying.

One thing to get over so he could shove it in the Octova's face when he got the chance. "Fine!" Was all he said before lying back down, letting his numb body plop against the matting, and resting his head on the pillows. He felt tired, simply by letting the man speak to him. Even so, he highly doubted that Hayashi was done talking to him. But, at the moment, the Espada just closed his eye, and went back to sleep, thankful in knowing that his blond companion was alive.

As soon as Hayashi saw that Nnoitora had fallen asleep, he left the room, ordering the doctor outside not to restrain him, and had the nurses make sure there was ice water at his bedside when he woke up. After that, he walked through the white-walled hallways, and white-tiled floors until he made it to the stairs. He went down three floors, before heading out to the lobby, and across the hall.

He opened the door to a different room numbered 497. He walked into a dimly lit room with several machines running, and several tubes leading over to the blond patient in the bed. Here, Tesla laid sleeping, a heart monitor beeping while the machines ran several fluids into his wrists, ankles, chest and head. It wasn't hard to tell that it was a severe; and if not, critical; condition that would have left the patient for dead if it wasn't helped. Hayashi was surprised that he woke up two days before Nnoitora, especially considering his condition was beyond worse than his master's.

Said man walked over to a female doctor, whom which was writing on a clipboard. Next to the blue scrubs, lab coat, and white shoes, the girl had long, smooth, and thick, lavender hair that she held in a ponytail, eyes of serene jade, and skin tone that matched the Shogun's. The girl looked up from her clipboard and stared at Hayashi before sighing soon after, placing the clipboard under her arm and speaking. "If you plan on talking to him, Nii-san, don't; he's sedated." She simply stated, placing a hand on her hip.

Nazo only laughed. "Now, Imouto-chan, I only came down here to talk to you. I had no intention of deriving Tesla from his rest." He told her. The woman identified as his little sister arched a brow. He simply put a hand on his head. 'Oh, right; I only just found out his name from our other patient." He replied to her.

Now, she was surprised. "The Espada's awake?" She questioned him. The fact they were caring for one, alone, was weird enough. If he was awake, no doubt her patients and about half her staff would be shaking in there skin. It was bad enough he was there, and left unrestrained only made it worse for the doctors assigned to his room.

Her brother gave her a few tuts while waving his index finger. "His name is Nnoitora, Sayomi-chan. And, he was awake, but went back to sleep a few moments ago; man was shocked when he woke up, and it only got worse when your doctors ordered him restrained." She couldn't blame them for wanting to. "For what it seems, he's beginning to trust me, and I got him to cooperate the doctors, but-"

"What did you do?" Was the immediate question she shot at him with a glare and her voice cold and dark. Whenever her brother did something stupid, it would normally piss her off, and she would kill him; restraining herself in rooms with patients who could die from the damage, such as the one they were currently standing near.

He sighed. "You know you're pretty scary when you talk like that." Sayomi crossed her arms, tapping her foot as she waited for the other Hayashi to answer her. "He's very worried about our blond, here. He's cooperating in exchange so that he can know the full status of his condition; that's it, that's all. And I know that you, as his doctor, can explain it to him." He answered, calmly.

The female blinked at him, a bit dumbfounded. "How the hell did you manage to pull that off with an adjuchas; I mean no offense to my arrancar workers who are, but they don't typically start out so calm." She pointed out, staring at Tesla. He was one of the first of few who was calm, and once she set the worry aside and heard him talk, she found that he was a great person. She admired him for it, but she was still unsure if she should have seen the other. She felt like she shouldn't have.

Her brother chuckled, lightly. "Oh, he wasn't, when he woke up! The man was flinging people all over the room; I had to duck, jump and swerve before I even entered the door with how many people were flying out." He admitted, trying to resist the snickers that were rising in his throat. It had been awhile since he had been caught off guard, and even longer since he found someone that vulnerable glare directly into his eyes, let alone argue with him. Those moments were both rare, and intriguing at the same time.

She sighed. "I suppose I should tell him in the case of cooperation so as he does not harm my staff, further." She stated, bluntly, annoyance being well pitched in. Sayomi was only allowed to reveal this type of information to family and fleet leaders, but if it meant this arrancar; an Espada, no less; was going to cooperate, how could she ignore the terms.

"Thanks, sis!" Nazo said, leaving the room with a cheerful grin on his face.

Sayomi sighed. What was she gonna do with him?...


finished. hope u enjoyed!
~ K. Fang-sama