Obligatory Disclaimer – I do not own Bleach. That particular gem belongs to Tite Kubo. This will be a series of one-shots I'll (hopefully) do regularly to help boost my creativity. The name of said one-shot challenge is Shuuji Chousenjou, and you can find it in the Bleach forums.

Week 1 – Challenge 1 – Part 3

Wednesday's child is full of woe

Normally, one would consider one's birthday to be a happy time, a day of celebration and friends. This wasn't the case for either half of the Primera. To them, January 19th was nothing but a reminder of the solitude and loneliness that they suffered through before joining Aizen's ranks.

The others that resided in Las Noches understood this and allowed whatever moods either were in to simply slide, knowing that it would be over the next day. Well, most understood that, anyway.

The Quinto never cared for the 'depressing air' or the 'emo attitude' (as he himself has called it) that resided from them during this day. It annoyed him how every year, like a broken record, either one of them would be quieter than the Cuatro, and twice as depressing. This year, he's decided he'd had enough.

"Hey!" He called to the shorter Espada, immediately after yet another one of the obligatory meetings, before stomping up to him with a rather angry attitude. "Now you listen here!" He exclaimed, jabbing a finger into the Primera's chest. "I've got a bone to pick with you, pooch!"

The Espada in question did nothing but look up to the taller man, his eyes conveying his annoyance to the lower ranked Espada.

"You have got to learn to man up, Primera!" He continued. "Every year, it's the same! You're all down and sad, it makes me sick! You're the top Espada, so either start acting like it, or step aside!"

Starrk stayed silent for a moment, processing what the Quinto said to him. "Start acting like it?" He repeated, more to himself, than to Nnoitra. He simply shook his head before turning around. "Do you mean, start acting like a leader?" He questioned. He almost smirked before he continued, deciding to hit home with his follow-up question. "Or do you mean, start acting like a mindless beast such as yourself?" Without waiting for an answer, he walked away, back to his own room. He allowed the smirk as he heard an enraged scream behind him.

When he approached his room, he wasn't surprised to find Lilinette already there, asleep (or at least laying down) on a small pile of pillows. He looked at her for a moment, just thinking to himself. While the two may be one originally, they are still separate now. She doesn't deserve to feel lonely, especially since, whether she admits it or not, she's still a child. That's when an idea popped into his head, a genuine smile appearing on his face for the first time that day.


The second time he went into that room, he immediately went back to his own pillow pile to rest on. If Lilinette was asleep, she didn't act like he woke her up when she spoke up.

"Where did you go this time?" She asked in a quiet voice.

"I decided to speak to Aizen-sama about something." He responded. This prompted a slight chuckle from the girl, though it sounded empty.

"Since when do you initiate anything?" She responded in an almost teasing manner. Starrk resisted to sigh at what she said.

"I realized that while our wish of companionship may have come true, we need to do something ourselves to make it work." He explained.

"So?" The weaker half responded. "The Espada going to go on pub crawls now, or something?" This time, the Primera did sigh.

"No." He responded, sterner than a moment ago. "I knew that getting myself to regularly do something with the others may be close to impossible. But not for you." This prompted the younger half to look up at the man, confusion on her face. "Hanging out with the other Fracción from time to time may be helpful, but it can also cause problems, it's not the best solution." He said, remembering her last bad encounter with a certain Fracción. "I spoke to Aizen-sama, and he, in fact, has agreed to help."

"What's he going to do?" Lilinette asked, curiosity written all over her face. Starrk smirked at her.

"Lessons." He spoke simply. Lilinette's face gave a blank look. Thinking it to be confusion, he continued. "Regular interaction with others, in the form of lessons. Both combat and intellectual."

"I got it." She spoke quietly, but with obvious annoyance. "So your plan, is to send me to school?" The Primera shook his head in response.

"Nope." He answered. "Aizen-sama wouldn't agree to that. He also wouldn't agree to just you, either. So, a majority of the Números will now be part of these lessons which are taught by some of the Espada."

"Let me get this straight." Lilinette sat up, annoyance and disbelief evident on her face. "You try to help me out, so you speak to Aizen-sama, and now we have an 'Arrancar Academy' here in Las Noches?!"

Starrk didn't seemed fazed. "No. We agreed not to give it a name, especially not that." Though he left out how Gin seemed to like that one. "And it's more of a tutoring thing." He continued. "I think you'll like it. You go to some room, spar for an hour, read for another half, and leave."

Lilinette sighed to herself. It wasn't that long, so maybe she could suffer through it. "Fine." She said after a moment. "You did go through all this effort. I'll at least check it out." She gave him a glare. "Don't expect me to work very hard, though."

"I don't." He easily responded.

"By the way." She spoke back up. "Who're the 'tutors', anyway?"

"Grimmjow should be the one teaching you how to fight, whilst Ulquiorra will be teaching you mostly history. Szayelaporro will tutor in science, though I doubt many will take his class." He unintentionally shivered, certain that any students would immediately become test subjects for the Octava.

Lilinette thought for a moment about the three Espada that would become her tutors. "On second thought..." She spoke back up. "Maybe I should work hard." She ignored the odd look Starrk sent her.


However it might look, this is just a one-shot fic. The one-shots are just able to work go with each other. Not all of these will follow a linear story path. Some will go to the past, while others may be AU's. So, sorry in advance if some of these seem way to linear, but don't worry, after the first week, it should be a bit more random.

Also, I'd assume Starrk's been there for a long time, which means, he'd know Nelliel, which means, he'd know about that mindless beast thing.