White Hibiscus~ホワイト・ハイビスカス
「三」 When Mars meets Venus ~Part I~
I guess it was Aizen's idea that he wanted the color of the skies in Las Noches to be blue – so that we get accustomed easily if we were to invade into Seireitei. Not that I have any objections with the color of such a bright sky; but it blurs my vision sometimes. After observing the Espada for a few seconds; I begin to find myself landing into a difficult situation – the report seemed incomplete.
Espadas that are ranked Cuarta and above have extremely high levels of reiatsus; so huge that Aizen forbade us to release our swords whenever we are in Las Noches. Tercera certainly has a strong reiatsu – but it did not seem aggressive, rather he seemed protective over something.
What was he protecting?
Tercera had long and wavy green hair; the longer strands reached the waist level There was a crimson line that stretched across the area below her grayish eyes. His Hollow Mask was of a menacing skull which seemed like it was chewing onto his head. Tercera had really large round eyes; they were larger than mine. He noticed my presence shortly; and he began to walk closer. It was then I realized he had larger eyes than I do. Was he analyzing my weaknesses too?
"Ano!!" He stopped and let out an exclamation.
"Tercera Espada," Is he planning on launching a close range attack? Why didn't he just use Sonido and finish me off in the first place? If he's No.3, his speed should be way faster than I am. Through his physical movements, there isn't a slightest hint of him wanting to kill me, yet. – What a weird fellow.
Quite unexpectedly, Tercera raised his left hand and waved.
"Ohaayoo! How are you? It's such a fine weather right? I know it is! Las Noches is usually sunny! Come, let's go for lunch! You must be my new Fracción member or something, even though I've never heard Pesche or Dondochakka mentioning about you... but anyhow! Welcome!" Tercera smiled at me.
"No. I'm..."
"Uwaa you have a lot of reiatsu with you! Wow and a zanpakutou! That's a good thing, especially when you are in this room – because the Arrancars just won't stop barging in... It's troubling... at this rate, this room will need some major repairs, and "Tercera frowned and crossed his hands..
"Ulquiorra Schiffer, " I tried to stopped him from digressing.
" Ara? What's that? Today's menu? "
" My name. Cuarta Espada. "
" Oooo! So you are that newbie Aizen talked about?! You look pretty small built for an Espada.. "
" It doesn't matter. "
" Un un!! You are swifter that way. Anyway, are we still going for lunch? I'm hungry... "
I thought Espadas don't even need to eat?
" I'm not hungry, Tercera... "
" Neliel. But Pesche always gets my name wrong, so we shortened it to just Nel~~ You can call me Nel yo, I'm fine with it. Okay, let's go!"
How many times has he ignored my sentences? Does the third Espada have problems in communicating with other Espadas? Which is why Aizen pointed out this Espada and showed particular interest in him?
He grabbed my hand.
Instinctively, I withdrew mine.
" Hmm? You belong to the shy type? Sokka... but ne ne, you know opposite complements? Who knows, we can make a perfect couple! Haha! "
A perfect... couple?
" That is not possible. "
"Why not? You are a guy, and I'm a lady... It's logical. "
" A lady? "
" Sou yo, a lady. Onna da yooo ~~– you mean you haven't seen a lady before?! " Neliel's eyes were bigger this time. She stared hard into my green irises, as if I was of a different species.
"No. What's the difference anyway? "
" Eheh~ what's the difference? Uru... " Neliel let out a sinister smile but her eyebrows quickly furrowed when she tried hard to pronounce my name.
"Ulquiorra. " I suppose she will frown even further if I gave her my full name.
" Ahh it's such a difficult name! Uru-san, don't you think we are different? In terms of this.... and this..? and my voice? And my looks? " Neliel tried to explain the differences to me by drawing two circles round her chest and kept grinning at me.
"There is a difference."
" Un! You learn things very quickly. My guess is that you were Hollow for too long – that you forgot the existence of genders. Or maybe you just tend to hang around more with the guys! But there are females around Hueco Mundo yo!! Remember, I'm a lady! "
" Ladies... talk more than guys. "
" You are so rude! If I were to talk in the same tone like you do, won't we all fall asleep sooner or later?" Neliel crossed her arms and nodded silently.
" Don't you use up more reiatsu speaking in this tone? "
" Not at all! Don't you think the area looks so much better when you talk like this? After all, there's nothing much we can do in Hueco Mundo, we need to liven this place up a little!"
" I prefer my way. "
Just as I was struggling to gather a proper report of Neliel, the lesser wounded Arrancars began to recover– there were three preparing to launch a Cero attack on us. Two were cursing Neliel for not taking the fight seriously.
"Mouu!! When will you guys ever stop? " She shouted across the room.
" What, now... You call another chibi Espada over to fight us? Stop fooling around! "One Arrancar growled at Neliel.
" I'm not related to her, at all. And, I'm not ordered to finish you, "
Even after I severed my relationships with Neliel, I was almost positive that they were not listening.
" As long as you are not with us, you are in cahoots with her!" The other snapped in.
Foolish.
Three Ceros were aimed at Neliel all at the same time – she's not going to be able to dodge all of them.
" Protect the room! You don't want to see it crashing down don't you? "
So that's what she's been protecting all along.
Neliel managed to stop two attacks bare handedly, where she began to swallow both of them at the same time. This was my first time observing how a real Espada fight – she was really strong. The last Cero, however, was directed at me, for no particular reason.
One Cero blast is not a huge problem. I swept the Cero onto the ground and fired another one, missing the target intentionally. Neliel, on the other hand, combined both Ceros together and launched a Cero Doble. She, too, missed both Arrancars, leaving the two of them trembling with fear.
" Stop being so childish! Now go back to where you belong until you provide me with solid reasons to fight you, "Neliel pointed to the door that separated Las Noches from Hueco Mundo.
Neliel has little killing intent when dealing with someone she deems unworthy to fight with; hence it becomes a weakness when she's facing a stronger opponent – for she will not attack on full force until she sees the need to; delaying her efficiency.
Her strengths are that she's is generally composed and performs quick and decisive actions. She needs a reason to fight and the nature of her reiatsu gets stronger when she's protecting something (in this case, the Las Noches room.)
" It's time that I make my departure. " My report seems slipshod though.
"No no no! I have yet to introduce you to Pesche and Dondochakka! And we promised to have lunch together! "
Neliel made another attempt to grab my arm, this time she used Sonido; knowing that I would have shunned it immediately.
Somehow, I allowed her to hold onto my right arm.
" I did not promise you, Neliel."
Neliel's speed is below that of mine, but she has increased flexibility as she moves with Sonido.
I added another line to the report.
Perhaps I would be able to gather a little more information about Neliel by spending more time with her.
"But you allowed me to grab your hand, it means you consented to it. heh heh ~~" Neliel flashed that sinister smile, again.
After all, she was right about something.
There is nothing much to do at Hueco Mundo.
yu-pon's note:
did another chapter while i still have the inspiration to complete this part on Neliel and Ulquiorra. (^o^)v
as i couldn't remember the finer details of Neliel, i did refer to a few manga shots of her. (I do understand that in the anime, her hair is a little bluish-green XDD)
While we don't get to see a lot of Nel now, I kinda missed her. So i thought " why not give her a past? " and tadaa -- i came up with this, hee.
This is only part one! I still have a part two coming up between the two Espadas XDDD!! You'll get to meet Pesche and Dondochakka - the Sentai team!
and!! i would like to thank those who reviewed the fanfic, thank you so much for reading!!! it encourages me to write on, seriously! ありがとう!
until the next chapter, ほなおつ~
