As all was quiet in the world of the living, the forest of hollows was being disturbed as the silence was being ripped apart by the hissing of an adjucha in pain. The fox-like creature was in agony as the pain within its soul increased. It was so painful that all the adjucha could do was hiss and roar in pain, and nothing more. The pain within itself increased within seconds; there was no longer a voice, but an existence. This existence was filled with anger, hatred, resentment and most of all, as it now noticed, sadness… Then a human shaped figure appeared before it. The figure had short, spikey, light-blue hair, dark blue eyes that were cold and filled with aggressiveness. It wore a white hakkuma with an undone white, jacket, leaving a broad muscular chest exposed. It had a hollow hole located at its abdomen, and remains of a hollow mast looking like a right jawbone. The figure that stood before the fox-like adjucha was Grimmjow Jaegerjakquez, the arrancar that was ranked espada number six before Aizen's defeat. He was looking at the adjucha with a cold, thoughtful gaze. The adjucha roared again as the pain increased yet another level, the more the pain increased, the more its own spiritual pressure changed. It was becoming more unstable as a calm, controlled spiritual pressure was colliding with the adjucha's own uncontrolled raging spirit energy. Grimmjow had his eyes closed as he focused on the spiritual pressure, he opened them again and looked at the adjucha. Within a moment both of them were gone, without leaving a sound, and without a trace. Grimmjow was carrying the writhing adjucha over his shoulder while using sonido to quickly make his way toward Las noches. The entire trip only took ten minutes. The adjucha was large and Grimmjow almost looked like a fool carrying an adjucha that way, but it was the only way to transport the adjucha in a moment's notice. They were inside the vast palace of Las noches now, he was making his way toward the hogyoku's former holding cell. The room consisted of high walls, a few stone benches that were carved from the wall and a long, thin cylinder protruding from the center of the room that was originally used to hold Aizen's precious hogyoku. The moment he got there he dumped the now writhing adjucha on the floor right in front of the cylinder. Grimmjow silently made his way to the cylinder before his attention was caught by a shrill voice that he found annoying "Hey! What are you doing?", he turned around and saw a female arrancar. The arrancar had long, black hair that was tied in two pigtails, she looked like a young teenager, she had light pink eyes and a slender build. She was wearing a white school-themed miniskirt, with a black stripe over the waist line, a sleeveless white shirt and black, thigh length boots with a white outlining. The lowly ranked arrancar was Loly Aivirrne a loyal subordinate of Aizen. Her face was a little red with rage as she repeated her question. Grimmjow responded in an annoyed voice " I'm going to use what's left of the Hogyoku's power to turn this adjucha into a full-fledged arrancar."
Loly was infuriated by the answer "Aizen-sama saved that power so that we could create arrancar from Vasto lordes, not adjucha!"
Grimmjow just grunted "Well too bad! Aizen isn't here, and your nothing more than a lowly foot soldier. I'm the one that's in charge now, so you might as well and try to get on my good side." Loly took a step back, surprised by the viscous reply, she then asked in a rude tone "Why do you want to turn that lowly adjucha into an arrancar anyway?"
Grimmjow's tone was somewhat ominous "A human soul that becomes corrupt with sadness or hatred becomes a hollow; a soul reaper that dies becomes reiatsu in the air. If a soul reaper was being corrupted with those feeling of hate or sadness gets devoured by a hollow, will its existence disappear completely?...I believe the answer to that is no, it's spirit will be too strong too disappear. If this hollow somehow pulls a trigger to this soul reaper's consciousness what would happen?" he now looked at the writhing adjucha as it howled in pain again. Loly was looking wide-eyed at the adjucha not knowing what to comprehend.
"Go ahead and sit down, Loly. You might want to watch this…" Grimmjow motioned to a stone bench on the left side of the room. Loly obliged and sat down at the far corner of the room, her legs together off on one side, she was watching intently now. Grimmjow then stretched his hand and twisted the top of the cylinder, the cylinder then began to twist in the same direction until nearly half of the cylinder was taken off. Inside was white energy that was pure and powerful. The energy was slightly flowing out of its cylinder container. Grimmjow's hand was then put into the container and when he pulled it out, all of the energy was concentrated into one dance sphere. The fox-like adjucha then howled, much more loudly than it did before, it sounded like it was dying. Then all was silent, Grimmjow didn't take his eyes off the energy sphere he was now holding, he was waiting. The adjucha shuddered once, and it opened its eyes. The eyes that were once black were now brown. Grimmjow looked at the adjucha, amused "Well look at that, the soul reapers consciousness took over…." He then waked over to the adjucha and lowered himself down to where he could look at it closely in the eye. The adjucha silently looked back in silence. Grimmjow then took the sphere and placed it in between him and it. In less than an instant the entire room was glowing from the white spirit energy, and just as fast as it appeared, it disappeared. Where the adjucha once lay, was now occupied by a new form. This newly made arrancar had taken the form of a young girl, with small breast that were hidden in dark shadows, along with most of her uncovered body. She had dark, long hair, white skin and brown eyes that didn't reveal any emotion other than anger that merely glazed the surface. She was on her knees, her hands supporting her balance. She had the remains of a hollow mask the left of her mouth. The mask remains looked like a lower jawbone, much similar too Grimmjow's, but the teeth were more pointed and there was what looked like, a smooth, white collar around her neck. Her zanpoktou had a light red hilt, with a four pointed five-petal flower designs stamped on the rectangular cross-guard, The sheath was a black color.
Grimmjow then asked with a strict voice "What is your name, arrancar?"
She responded with a soft yet cold voice "My name is…Momo…..Momo Hinamori" her arms were shaking now. Grimmjow then threw a black cloak in her direction "Cover yourself, and go with Loly over there to our clothing storage to pick out some proper cloths for you"
Momo clutched the cloak that was now around her body as she stood up and walked in the direction Loly was walking. She then looked back at Grimmjow in the doorway with her tired eyes and asked "Who are you….?"
Grimmjow did "hmf" sound as he irritably replied with a cruel tone "I'm the ex-number six espada, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, now get out of my sight and go with the brat!"
Momo did as she was told without a word; she didn't even blink or shudder from his cruel tone. Loly was muttering how idiotic he was and how insolent he was the whole way over to the storage unit. She spit out the words "he didn't even answer my question, damn bastard" with disgust. Momo just followed silently behind. Apparently she was getting angry at Loly for saying such thing about the person who she practically owed.
As Momo walked away, Grimmjow decided to go to his own quarters. All the hallways he walked through were white, the tiles were slightly a turquoise color. The hallways mostly ran straight, but they did twist and turn to make a complicated maze. He was already in his barracks now and he was making his way toward the center of them. It took him about 20 minutes worth of walking, but he finally reached a broad white door with a silver hinge. He grabbed the hinge and pushed the door open, revealing a really large, nicely kept room. Like most of the building the room was white. The room had no windows, large benches carved from the stone in the walls all along the left and right side of the room, and what looks like a large pallet of pillows in the back, center of the room, which had only one source of light that was found right above the door way. The pallet was mostly made of a large amount of giant teal pillows; there was a large folded blanket off to one side of the pallet. There was a bed at the other corner of the room, but he didn't use it as much as the floor pallet, so it now, no longer had sheets. He then dropped himself down on the comfortable pallet, bored. He lay there in a relaxed position, lounging around, waiting for himself to fall asleep. The room was getting darker, as the day was ending in Las noches now. He then heard a loud knock at his door and he relied in a somewhat sleepy tone "Whoever it is, come in….."
The door was pushed open roughly as Loly came in steaming "What the hell Grimmjow! I take the girl and take her to get some cloths, come back, and you're not there! I'm already irritated enough that you didn't answer my question and then I had to look for you in this god damn empty palace!"
Grimmjow stared at her in silent fury; he would've killed her earlier if it hadn't been for her usefulness at cooking, cleaning and other lowly duties that she could perform. But she was about to pass the line of sanity if she kept this complaining up. "just send the girl in here already, and leave!" he slammed his hand on the ground next to him just to make sure the message got through. Loly flinched at first, then left the room, which is when Momo walked in with a straight posture. She was now wearing white hakkuma trousers with a black belt slanted at her waist line, which was holding her zanpoktou in standard form. Her feet were now covered in white sandals with black tabi (socks). Her torso was covered in a sleeveless Singaporean-themed shirt with black fabric lining from the left shoulder by the neck to the far right bottom of the shirt, this torso left some of here mid drift exposed. She was also wearing a long half glove on her left hand, leaving three fourths of her fingers exposed and covering all of her wrist. On her right arm, an arm guard made of black fabric, covered most of her arm. Her hair was still below shoulder length and she made no attempt to tie it up, she let it fall loose over her shoulders behind her. Some of her bangs were covering her left eye and the rest were pulled off to one side.
Grimmjow looked at her for a while then motioned for her to sit down at one of the stone benches. She then went over to a spot not too far away from Grimmjow and sat down quietly. Grimmjow was lying down again, he really wanted to fall asleep. "Well? Say something, so I can get this over with."
Momo was somewhat confused "I don't really know what you mean, Jaguerjaquez-sama…"
Grimmjow's attention was caught when she said "-sama", and he silently looked at her as he started thinking again. Whether it be from just wanting to fall asleep, or some clever scheme he had, he said "Three doors down is an unoccupied room with a bed, which has a full set of sheets. You should sleep there. The girl's bedroom is on the other side of Las noches, so don't bother looking for her. If you need anything just go across the hall and ask one of the arrancar for help, knowing that girl she must've told everyone about you already…..In the morning, report in the room 15 doors down from here."
Momo responded silently, "yes sir", and left the room silently, leaving Grimmjow to his own thoughts as he finally went to sleep.
Grimmjow was thinking of Momo the whole night, or rather what purpose she may be to him. He also wondered why he turned her into an arrancar, normally he didn't give a rats ass if an adjucha lived or died, and yet he brought that adjucha here then turned her into a full-fledged arrancar. He thought about that question and many more as he was asleep.
Grimmjow was awake a few hours after dawn. His hair was messy and his cloths were somewhat matted. He ran his hand through his hair as he remembered what happened yesterday, everything from the howling andjucha to the orders he gave right before his sleep. He yawned as he got up and made his way to the door. The moment he got outside the room he felt somewhat more refreshed, only by a little. He quickly made his way to the 15th door down from his and found the large doorway with two doors the opened outwards that lead toward the "living room" of the barracks. He pushed open one of the doors with one of his rough hands and proceeded into the room. The room had one long coffee table with two black sofas on both sided of it and both sides of sofas was a white side table. Both sofas had at least three small pillows on each one, most organized on one side. Most times, the room was unoccupied, but today he found Hinamori silently standing by the couch, with a serving tray in one hand. On the serving tray was a large cup of tea (the only drink they seemed to have). On the other side of the room he saw Loly sitting at one of the black sofas with a small teacup of earl grey tea. Loly glared at Grimmjow as he came in, and Hinamori walked over and handed him his cup of green tea, which he took eagerly since he hadn't drank or eaten since the day before yesterday. Grimmjow then took a seat on the opposite side of Loly, glaring back at her. He was irritated that she was here. He then looked at Momo without turning his head as she stood a respectful distance away from both of them.
Loly laughed somewhat "Heh! At least she has manners, and to top it off she's thoughtful! I think I'm starting to like her."
Grimmjow slightly winced at that statement, "Why on earth are you here? I only wanted to see Hinamori in this room" he glanced at Hinamori for a moment after he said it.
Loly grinned "Sorry, but this is the most interesting thing that's happened for a long time! I can't help it if I'm curious about her, you went through some trouble just bringing her here after all!...and you also didn't answer my question yesterday and I hate not being answered…." She was looking at Grimmjow with an irritated face once she said it.
Grimmjow spoke in a deep tone "The question as to why I made her an arrancar? You know, I thought about that a lot last night, and the answer to that question is simply this: I was bored and…I wanted a fraccion member again…."
Loly was wide-eyed after he said it. Grimmjow then looked directly at Hinamori, and strictly told her "You hear that, Hinamori? I want you as a part of my fraccion. Normally I would order you to become a part of it, but seeing how you're unique to the situation I'll let you choose. Just know that if you say no then you are to leave Las noches and never come back. Should you say yes, I must warn you that I require complete submission from you and that all of my orders are to be carried out without question."
Hinamori didn't even have to think she replied instantly. "I understand Jaeqerjaquez-sama, please allow me to serve you to my fullest extent." Her eyes were full of resolve as she said, anger still glazing the surface, but what was it that was behind them? Grimmjow then made a hand motion toward the door, "Loly, get out of here, now. I have some things I want to discuss with my subordinate." Loly didn't have a comeback to spit back at him, she was too shocked that he just gained a new subordinate in less than a day. She left the room very quickly, wanting to tell every other arrancar, from lowly nurses to the even lower ranking savants, about the new fraccion member of their ex-sexta espada. Grimmjow was lazily lounging on the couch now, both of his arms hanging off of either side as he said "All right, what you really want from me. What's your goal? But before you answer that, explain to me why you want to achieve that goal?"
Momo's eyes then hardened as she grimly said "I trusted someone for as long as I could remember, I thought he betrayed me once but I was being manipulated by Aizen, and I felt horrible about it….and I wept for days feeling sorry for myself, I finally managed to talk to him, and he was exactly as I thought him to be…then in the fight against Aizen I came as the lieutenant of squad 5….only to be killed by the captain of squad 10, the only man I trusted more than Aizen Souske….I was murdered by Toushiro Hitsugaya. If you were me wouldn't you feel angry? Filled with hatred? And the only way you could get rid of that pain within your soul is if you get rid of the source of those feelings...my goal in life is to eliminate that man…."
Grimmjow closed his eyes and thought for a moment, carefully thinking through this scenario, "So you want…..power?"
Momo replied in a rather sly manner, "I suppose you could say that, but I really want training, I don't really know that much of hollow abilities. Fact of the matter is, if Hitsugaya could take down Tia Harribel, then I'm currently no match him…and…..truth be told you've given me a tone of power already, turning me into an arrancar. So I also want to return the favor by serving beneath you"
Grimmjow grinned slightly, he liked that answer, but not completely for whatever reason "Heh heh heh….very well, Hinamori….we start training tomorrow. But first…." He motioned Hinamori closer. "..I think you should tell an arrancar to carry this message all over Hueco Mundo…."
Hitsugaya was standing on a telephone pole in his shinigami form as he was sensing all the spirit energy in the town, trying to sense any sign of a hollow. Ever since the fox-like adjucha appeared, not a single alert has come up. He was irritated as to how Ikkaku and Yumichika were practically sleeping all day, since no hollow were occurring and how Rukia is the only one, other than himself, still doing patrols. Normally he would make sure Ikkaku and Yumichika do as they were told, but he would just end up not doing the patrols too. He then looked I the direction of the sun as it was reaching its highest point, he had been on patrol for hours now. Maybe he could convince Yumichika to do patrol for the rest of the day. He then nodded his head; Yumichika would just end up eating at some fancy restaurant as he asked the waiter which dish had the nutritional value for his skin and hair. He then sighed; it was going to be a long day.
A long beep snapped Hitsugaya out of his thoughts; a hollow had appeared around street #4 section #8 of the town. The indicator reported that the hollow was just an average small fry, but still, it was a threat to humans, and the hollow was in his area. He immediately flash stepped toward its location, he then received a message from Ikkaku. He apparently wanted the hollow to himself. Hitsugaya disregarded that though, if he wasn't willing to patrol, then he didn't deserve any fun he would've gotten from it. He then spotted the hollow; its hollow mask reminded him of a deformed old man's face. The thing was slow; it was walking at a 0.2 mph pace when Hitsugaya spotted it. He raised an eyebrow as he watched it dragging itself across the grass. He then flashed stepped right in front of it, 2 meters away, eyebrow still raised. He silently unsheathed his sword and at the same time he flashed stepped behind the hollow, as he stopped the hollow had a wide gash in its mask. It then dissipated within the next moment. The elimination only lasted a second the moment he unsheathed his sword. However Hitsugaya noticed that his phone hadn't ceased beeping, he took a second look at it. Apparently four other hollow had appeared, all of them just mere average hollow. Within the next minuet, three out of the four hollows were eliminated by the other three members of his group. Rukia was dealing with a second hollow, but it quickly started running away. Hitsugaya was already making his way towards it; he would encounter it, and finish it off. He spotted it soon enough, but it quickly changed direction. As he pursued the hollow, Rukia came beside him "The hollow started running once I eliminated its partner, it apparently can't open a portal back to hueco mundo or the dongai precipis world."
"well then, that means we can't let it escape."
Hitsugaya finally manages to corner the hollow in a construction site, the hollow was standing still as it asked "Anyone but you…I can't fight you….let me fight someone else"
Hitsugaya responded "Unfortunately I can't do that, eliminating you is my job."
"L-let me fight someone else…if I fight you, you might get a scratch on you, and I might escape…. And if that happens she'll kill me…"
Hitsugaya was silent for a moment "Well you don't have to worry, either way, you're still going to die, whether it be by me or "her"." And with that, he eliminated the hollow with one slash as it didn't even try to defend itself.
Rukia was somewhat confused by its last statement as well as its fear, "What did it mean by that?"
"I don't know, but it doesn't matter. It was probable talking about the adjucha it was serving under, that's how the pecking order goes over in Hueco mundo, right?"
"Well, yes, that's true. But I'm talking about the way it wanted to fight anyone else but you…"
"Probably wanted a weaker opponent to escape, it's not the easiest thing in the world, escaping a captain"
Rukia sighed "Yeah, you're probably right. I was reading too much into that."
Hitsugaya was looking at his soul phone, making sure no other hollows were appearing. Nothing was out of the usual, so he slapped his cell phone shut as he walking back to his post.
Out of all the captains, Hitsugaya was the one most observant of small details, this is what allowed him to be the first one to suspect Gin of treason, although he understandably didn't suspect Aizen. Right now, he was trying to figure out a connection between the fox-like adjucha and the hollow he just encountered, if there was any connection at all. He was organizing the facts in his head: first, the fox-like adjucha waits for him in a sandlot, probably looking for a fight. Then after three seconds the adjucha starts attacking it all of a sudden writhes in pain, and then retreats back to Hueco mundo. Then the hollow he encountered today wanted to avoid fighting him at all cost, saying that someone will kill it if it does so much as put a scratch on him.
Hitsugaya didn't think there was a connection between them, but he did think that he should keep an eye out just in case there is. But nothing out of the ordinary happened for the next few days.
Days became weeks, and weeks became months. The soul society decided Hitsugaya had spent enough time in the world of the living and called him back Seireitei as soon as the month was up, along with the rest of his group. When he returned he figured out that the hollows were deliberately avoiding Karakura town.
"What's that supposed to mean!" Hitsugaya found it just as unusual as the rest of the captains that hollows would actually avoid a spirit rich area such as Karakura.
Kurosuchi responded "I don't know what that's supposed to mean! But I'm trying to figure that out."
"What exactly are you doing to "figure it out", Kurosuchi"
"I don't have enough information to do an actual investigation, but I'm doing an analysis of the surrounding spiritual pressures around Karakura to see if its influencing the hollows behavior."
Hitsugaya realized that there's not much else to do but leave it to Kurosuchi to investigate the matter, he then ran a hand through his hair. None of this was making any sense to him.
"You seem very stressed out lately Toushiro-kun" the laid-back tone was said Shunsui Kyouraku, who he heard was waiting for his return, so he can have a drinking party, with the 10th squad present.
"I'm just not looking forward to meeting Rangiku after such a long time, she bound to be either more "energetic"…..or she's bound to be more drunk that usual, either way I'm not too happy about it."
Despite how tired Hitsugaya was, Shunsui threw his "welcome back" party anyway. There was liquor, sake, beer, wine and more as everyone present drunk his or her fill. He even invited other captain's such as Ukitake and Kenpachi. Even captain Unohana came! With winter over, the cherry blossoms were starting to bloom, awakening from their long slumber.
