"Chapter Two;
Procedure"
Ulquiorra leaned up against the wall outside the wardrobe room as soon as Valencia entered. He honestly couldn't believe that his subordinate had relatives, at all. And to the fact that she was here, he could only imagine what kind of trouble she'd be. He believed this because it was most likely she was a sibling with how much she looked like the Sexta Espada.
He took in a deep breath, and calmed his mind before standing straight and getting his same neutral look back on his face. So what if she was related to him? She wasn't a problem he couldn't handle on his own, that much he knew. Granted, he did notice her strength, but that was it; she was still trash.
Putting that as a fact, he pushed aside anymore thoughts about the woman, and waited patiently for her to come out so that he could return to the library and read more Nero Wolfe. It was the only calming thought he could think of, at the time.
While Ulquiorra stood waiting, Valencia Jeagerjaques went through the section of tops that she felt were plain unflattering. She wanted something with some cover, but still would allow her to show some skin, at the same time. The bluenette didn't like the idea of appearing average; something she was certain her brother passed onto her.
She smiled at the thought. Okay, she had heard a few rumors of him being there, and thought it'd be nice to see the other feline again. She knew that the last time she saw her brother he was a force to be reckoned with, so at the least, if he had gotten stronger, she expected to be a strong fraccion. If not that, than an Espada; which judging by the looks of the other Espada's face when she said her name, it was very likely he was, knowing how well his temper goes.
Finally, she found good pieces to put together for her uniform, and put on the clothing; looking at herself in the mirror once finished. She had decided to wear a tight pair of white pants, which outlined her long, slender legs greatly, being held with a thin, black sash. She decided to wear the shoes as a pair of boots with a one-inch wedge, and went up to just before the knees. She also wore a black torso, which simply acted as a strapless bra, since it only covered up her breasts. Finally, she put on a white coat, similar to Ulquiorra's, only the length got thinner as it went down, and hers didn't have sleeves. She finished the transformation by strapping her zanpakuto to her waist.
She drew the blade, analyzing its characteristics. It wasn't an average katana, but this weapon was straight instead of curved, and the handle wasn't colored, but covered in a purple, leather-like material, as well as a dual extended, green guard, with two vertical, teeth-like shapes at each end. She sheathed the sword into her gray sheath, and began to head out the door.
Just as the woman exited, Ulquiorra turned to give her further instruction, but more or less, found himself staring at her; more specifically her body. Not had he ever found himself entranced by feminine beauty; not even by Hallibel, but here he was, staring at a woman he had only just met, and more than likely, would soon regret knowing. Still, even with all the mental notes he gave himself about other women, he couldn't draw his eyes away...
Until he heard her laughing, that is...
"See something you like, Ulquiorra-sama?" She questioned him, her smooth voice hinting a tease at him. She knew she made the right choice if she got a self-composed male to stare at her, at least for a few moments. Especially considering how dully he was looking at her. Getting noticed was one thing she knew she could accomplish, but she knew full well she had to be careful, considering the Cuatro didn't seem like one to be staring at women, easily.
He blinked at this before closing his eyes; shaking his head slightly. "No." He lied, plainly. In truth, he had just started to trail her body with his eyes until she spoke up. He didn't know why he was finding her attractive when there were women who were far more enticing than she was and he never set his eyes towards them like he had just did; he put it on the annoyance she caused him, earlier.
After pushing it aside, not even wanting to go into detail, he lead the young woman through western corridors; ready to see if she could prove herself worthy...
As big as Las Noches was, just like your regular day human school, word spreads fast to those with open ears. And if there was someone with better ears than Gin, it was Nnoitra Gilga, and what he had now was a riot; just thinking about it made him want to go out laughing his ass off, and he nearly did when he first heard it.
The Quinto entered the Espada lounge where just about everyone else had spent their day, if they ever got bored of similar routine. Today was simply one of those days, and you could tell that it was since Szayel was out of his lab, drinking a few shots, Aaroniero hadn't consumed anyone (surprisingly), and Starrk was awake without Lilynette pestering him. Those days, you just know it's time to kick back and relax, however, he knew full well that this relaxation wasn't going to last, so, with a whistle, he caught their attention.
Szayelapporo chuckled when he saw Nnoitra's expression. "Only time you have that look on your face is when you gossip or when there's some interesting news; which is it?" The pink-haired man asked his superior. Either way the other put it, it was going to be good. Whenever Nnoitra's tales were passed around, they were normally moments to laugh at, and the certain hint in his features was enough to tell them.
"Wouldn't know; it came from Gin." He proclaimed. This only got him a few perked brows, as well as a few smirks; yeah, this should be good. News heard from their fox-faced commanders led to interesting subjects, as well as a good few laughs; something most everyone there looked forward to. "You remember the crash we heard about an hour ago?" Now, he received a good few nods from almost all of the other eight present, which meant he didn't need to explain much on what had happened; either it was an arrancar, or another Hollow from the outside. "It was a new recruit; female." He told them.
He got a grunt. "What exactly is so good about a female recruit, and who cares for that matter?" Grimmjow questioned, not at all impressed with the facts that Nnoitra had obtained from their freakishly-smiling superior. It was normally better than what the Quinto just brought, but if it wasn't, he normally didn't give two shits about it.
He simply chuckled. "That's not the interesting part." He informed the Sexta, who more or less, didn't seem amused. "According to Gin, this girl goes by the name: Valencia Jeagerjaques." He exclaimed, hinting his remark towards his subordinate, wondering if the disturbingly happy man was speaking truly of the girl he heard of.
And, as he expected of the man's words, as well as just waiting for a good spit take to occur, Grimmjow had reluctantly hacked out his drink, shock taking hold of his features. The reaction did make the taller man's smirk grow, just as the blunette's eyes had widened, staring at the floor while trying to catch his breath. "What the hell is she doing here?"
"Oh, so you do know this girl? How's she related to you; tell us, right now!" The taller man demanded, crossing his arms, and leering downward at the other.
The others stared at Grimmjow, expectantly; wanting to know more about this Valencia person, as well as the Quinto. "Damn!" He thought. He knew that they weren't going to drop the subject, meaning he'd be forced to spill; something he knew he'd hear of, later, from said girl. "She's my younger sister." He claimed, trying to remain calm about the idea; he hated bringing up his sister, simply because several times she was used against him. It's why they separated.
Eyes widened at the final two words from the Sexta's statement. Who could blame them? Imagining Grimmjow with a sibling was like imagining Nnoitra to be more civil than he was; and everyone knew full well that he barely was, if not at all; even Nnoitra did-how else would he be good at it? So when Starrk asked: "You're kidding, right?" It kind of fit...
The panther sighed, glancing at the wolf. "No, I'm not; but I never expected to meet up with her here, nor did I ever think I'd hear of her again." He admitted, grabbing the bottle of scotch from Szayel, and pouring himself another shot of alcohol.
Of course, Szayel's curiosity didn't want to cease, despite his superior's mood, so he had to ask. "What do you mean by that?" He asked, ignoring the glare he was receiving from him; he was simply too used to it, but he knew the threat was real. Even then, everybody else wanted to know the answer to the question, so he was stuck answering, anyways.
After taking another shot of the scotch, he did. "I haven't seen her for the better part of seven decades. The last time we saw each other, she wanted to split so she could get stronger on her own, and I haven't seen her since that split. She even stated that she wasn't planning on finding me again for at least a century, so I haven't brought it up since." He explained, briefly.
Nnoitora only chuckled. "Well your imouto decided to cut the time short thirty years, 'cause according to Gin, Aizen's got her in the testing facility, right now." He stated, obtaining the wide expression he expected.
"She's with those three, alone?" He questioned, former instincts beginning to rise in his blood; if she was, he was gonna freak and begin to bolt it.
He shook his head. "Nope! Definitely not alone with them," he told him, smoothly. Instincts began to calm as Grimmjow began to feel relief. Tousen- he wouldn't know how he treated her; Gin would be messing around with her purposely; and he didn't even want to begin to imagine what Aizen would try.
His nerves were sooned riled again since his Quinto wasn't finished talking. "Ulquiorra's with them, but other than that, yeah, they're alone." Instantly, without warning and quicker than they could register, Grimmjow was sprinting down the halls, knocking the table on top of Szayel, splashing alcohol on the six behind him, and knocking down Nnoitora so fast, the ebony could only yell: "Watch it, asshole!" Before he was out of reach and out of sight.
Szayel, just getting back up and dusting himself off asked one simple question before deciding to leave. "Shall we go meet Valencia-san?"
Valencia evaded the hollows' attacks with ease. She was being tested by going up against countless Menos class hollows. If she survived, she was part of the army; if she could still stand, she'd get the chance to become a fraccion; but if she became unable to continue in the process of fighting, she'd be left to die.
She smirked when Gin told her this; if there was one thing she had in common with Grimmjow, it was that she didn't back down easily; especially when it came to a fight. Hell would freeze over before then! The way she grew up; if you didn't know how to fight, you'd be viewed as weak. Her brother may have never said it to her face, but the way he treated her was all she needed to get the idea of what was expected of her.
More hollows began to surround her, and with how many there were, she was slowly losing her patience. She spread her feet apart and bent her knees forward before tilting her torso, slightly; one hand opened and nearly touching the ground whilst the other was set along the side, with both sets of fingers outstretched; ready to claw out practically anything they could. The appearance made her look very much like a cat.
She scowled at the creatures as they began to approach. Fighting was fun, but she hated being pestered by weaklings for too long.
Ulquiorra watched alongside his three superiors as she got into the formation. He still found the girl very curious, and despite the recent remarks on her (their) part(s), he was accustomed in wanting to see more. Considering she was Grimmjow's relative, he was hoping that she could hold up to her family's reputation of being decent fighters, at the least.
As she continued, the Cuatro began to think over her character. Even though she was related to the Sexta, she seemed to have quite the personality difference. It was obvious that she enjoyed fighting, as well as showing off her muscle as said relative did, and next to toying around with others for fun, she was more mannered and respectable. To add to it, as far as Ulquiorra could tell, she was much smarter than Grimmjow; both intellectually and intuitively. She could carry herself pretty far in a discussion, which Ulquiorra could only help but feel comforting.
Abruptly, the door slammed open then shut in the same manner. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Grimmjow had just made it to the observation deck, and most likely he was both worried about Valencia, and plenty frustrated with his superiors observing her. Seeing as how Ulquiorra didn't bother to inform him, nor did Aizen want to, it was rather obvious that the lower ranking Espada present was as pissed as he's normally been. "Who the hell decided not to tell me this was going on?" The Sexta asked, far more enraged than either of them expected.
"Watch your mouth against your superiors!" Tousen yelled.
"Make me!"
"That's enough." Aizen said before any of the drama could continue. He didn't need either men fighting while they were testing a new arrancar, and this one particularly caught his interest. So, when he turned to the Sexta, he gave an explanation of his own. "Do forgive me for not informing you sooner, but I thought it a better idea for you to come see Valencia after she went through procedure; as she is your family, I'm sure there's plenty for you to catch up on." He stated politely so as to try and prevent his subordinate from doing any damage.
Grimmjow glared at him. There was no way that was the reason Aizen had kept this to himself, but at the moment, his sister was his main priority, so he'd dig up answers a different time. He looked out onto the battlefield beneath the observation deck, watching her continue to fight with but only her bare hands; mirroring the image of a jungle cat as she gracefully killed more of the hollows around her.
Smirking at his sister's infamous battle style, he turned to Ulquiorra, a curious brow perked. "How many more does she need to kill off?" He questioned his superior; wondering just how many of the hollows she would have to kill out of the three-hundred total.
Ulquiorra looked at his subordinate through the corner of his eye. "Less than twenty." He replied, bluntly before continuing to watch the fight, staring back in time to see her draw her blade.
As she drew her zanpakuto, Valencia got into another stance; looking as if she were about to start a race. She was almost done; she had counted that there were only seventeen Menos left in the room. This made her smirk; she was more than ready to end this and prove that she indeed had a great amount of strength; enough to make her brother proud of her, she was certain.
She raced forward using sonido, cutting to cut through each and every one of them. Once done, she stopped in order to see how many she had killed. Nine hollows rose from their lying position. Single digits...good, but not enough for her taste.
Racing forward, Valencia sliced through five more with ease. Her next target, having noticed her, tried to stop her using its tentacles. Using the paths provided to a good level, she sped from one outstretched limb to another before leaping up and slashing the pathetic creature right down the middle.
Turning her head, she noticed two more attacks sent her way. Evading them, she began to run up the closest wall; jumping to gain some height over her opponents. She tore her sword through one and then-with gravity's help-tore through the second one.
Valencia stopped to take a head count. "Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen...where's the last one?" She wondered, looking around the room. This wasn't good; this thing was masking its reiatsu so she couldn't scope out where it is, meaning that she was left using her other senses.
Three seconds later, she was knocked into a wall; her zanpakuto flying to the other end of the room in the process. Getting up from the crevice she was smacked into, Valencia gave the thing a look that seemed to rid itself of emotion. "Okay...now I'm mad." She simply stated, receiving a high pitched roar in response.
The Menos charged at her, ready to sink its teeth into her. Bluntly, Valencia looked up, extending her right hand towards it as blue light began to form in her hand. "See ya in hell." She told it as it screeched once more. Valencia fired her cero into the being's mouth; making it bloat up like a hot air balloon before it exploded; its blood drenching Valencia.
Sighing, the Sexta's younger sibling went to pick up her zanpakuto before heading to see Aizen; curious on how she did.
As Valencia made her way through, Grimmjow put on his best smile. He was impressed with how strong his sister got, plus, he was just damn happy to see her again. So, once she entered, he made his presence known. "Could have told me you were coming, ya know?" He said; a kind smile on his face.
Turning her head, her eyes lit up at seeing a certain blue-head. "Nii-san!" She called, racing to him before embracing him in a tight hug.
Grimmjow let out a light laugh before hold his sister. "Good to see you too, Imouto." He told her gingerly. The perks of being an older brother had its pros and cons. Especially if you're around your peers...
"Aw, ain't that cute?" He heard a crude voice behind him. Deciding against starting a fight after his sister had only just finished hers, he flashed Nnoitra his middle finger; making his sister laugh in response.
"I'm gonna take it these are the others?" She questioned Ulquiorra, seeing as her brother was a bit distracted at the moment. She received one curt nod. Moving out of her brother's grip, she began to walk towards them. "Well then, it's an honor to meet you. My name is Valencia Jeagerjaques. Sorry about the mess; I didn't exactly expect to be meeting you so soon." She introduced, a bit embarrassed from having been covered in hollow guts.
Nnoitra chuckled. "Don't worry about it, it looks good on ya!" He stated walking towards her. "Quinto Espada: Nnoitra Gilga." He introduced with his hand out and winking at her. She was definitely pretty, as he only expected from Grimmjow's family, he supposed. Oh, the fun he could have with her...
"Pleasure." She stated, shaking the taller ebony's hand whilst repressing the urge to roll her eyes. If she had a penny for each time a guy's looked at her that way...
The pink head came through next. "Octova Espada: Szayel Aporro Granz." He greeted her kindly, she shook his hand kindly. "If you'd like, I could show you where the showers and infirmary are so you can get cleaned up." He offered her; she was something else, that was expected.
Grimmjow pulled her away from them. "Hell no!" He stated.
Valencia gave him a weird look. "What's wrong, Nii-san?" She asked him confused. Honestly, she did want to clean up a bit before doing anything else.
"Szayel's trying to use you as a lab rat." He simply stated.
She blinked twice before looking at him. "You perform science experiments?" She questioned. He nodded. "Like what?" She asked, motioning the question to Szayel.
Everyone was a bit surprised she asked, having not expected her to be anymore interested than disturbed. Szayel, feeling a strange sense of pride since Valencia was curious, he continued speaking. "Well, just yesterday I tested out a serum on a poor subordinate; turned him into a her." He informed her, smirking at the memory.
A couple of the male Espada stepped back while Valencia gave him a courteous look. "Progesterone?" She questioned. His eyes lit up with surprised. "What can I say, I'm a science geek; and even if I wasn't, I like knowing what's flowing through my system." She stated shrugging. It wasn't a big deal to her.
Szayel smiled at this. "Well, I'm impressed; your brother doesn't share that intellect." He informed her.
Gaping, Valencia giggled. "Well one: we're related, it doesn't mean we're the same. Two: I don't think you know Nii-san all that well, so you don't know what he knows. And three," she started, looking her brother's way, "even though I know you'd never lie about something like this, I believe you're over exaggerating." She informed him.
Grimmjow gave her a look. "You're insane." He told her.
She shook her head. "No, I just tend to get to know people on different standards than you." She countered simply. This earned her a few snickers and a glaring older brother. She through her arms up, defensively. "Hey, you're the one who said: 'Your mouth has to be just as strong as your body.' I'm just living up to what you expected of me." She stated, giving him a sweet smile. This only earned more snickers and a shocked Grimmjow.
Ulquiorra, expressionless, found the sight amusing. It's not everyday you got to see Grimmjow look stupider than he normally did, and the fact his younger sister was putting him there was indeed interesting to him. He couldn't show it though; not wanting the younger Jeagerjaques to gain another way to humiliate him using emotion. Of all putrid things...
Valencia turned back to Szayel. "After I'm done with intros, I'd be more than happy to accept your offer." She stated, gaining a smile from the Octova in response. Ulquiorra could only find her a bit bold, having even known that Szayel could easily turn her into a science fair project, she was willing to trust him. Either she was very bold or very stupid, the latter, though, he doubted.
So, as she finished learning the others' names and walk off with Szayel, Ulquiorra couldn't help but wonder what it would be like with Valencia around.
