Sidi Bou Said

She glanced over her shoulder one last time, quickly.

It was a do-or-die kind of moment and she knew that risking one look, wasting even half of a second, could ruin everything. But she couldn't help herself. She never could. Fortunately, it paid off for her this time; she was going to succeed and, because of that single glance, now she knew it. She paddled forward even harder, her anticipation for success helping her thin arms push her small body through the water. The wave stopped sucking back on her and began to propel her instead, aquatic fingers gripping the surfboard and carrying it forward. She stopped paddling, the water now doing the work for her as it picked her up, and she reached both of her small hands down to grip the rails of the board. She pushed herself up to her feet.

With a stomach-knotting plunge, Lilynette Gingerback dropped down onto the face of the wave.

She grinned wide and immediately cut to her left, the board beneath her small feet moving as she shifted her hips. She rode goofy-foot, so she had a penchant for going to the left despite being right-handed. This particular break usually only allowed a ride to the right, so whenever a set came in that allowed her to pull left, it made her day. Hell, it made her week.

She reached out with her left hand and trailed it along the face of the wave, her fingertips slicing deftly through the water's surface. She was crouched down on her haunches, picking up speed. Her hand sticking into the wall of water helped her keep her balance. She would need all the equilibrium she could keep, especially for this next part of the ride.

Her world suddenly got dark and very loud. The wave was folding over on itself and she was dead in the middle of it. She was inside of a tunnel of water that was collapsing right behind her, her skin tinged blue by the aquamarine walls that surrounded her. She crouched down even more, her butt all but touching the wax-covered board below her. The crashing sound of the water was all around her, the wave was falling apart. She couldn't go any faster – the water was both her adversary and her savior.

She exploded out of the tube, her ears still ringing as the sunlight washed over her body once more. She could feel her heart racing in her chest, the gigai perfectly mimicking the rush of adrenaline that a normal body would feel after such an extreme activity. She stood up, the burning in her thighs vanishing slightly as she straightened her knees. She twisted her hips and carved a small path up and then down the side of the diminishing wave. She couldn't see it, but she knew she was wearing a goofy grin. Shuuhei always teased her about it – he said she always got it after a good ride.

She finally lost momentum and her board began to slow. She wouldn't be able to stand up on it for too much longer. She looked over her shoulder at Shuuhei. He was at least two-hundred yards out, but she could see his thumb sticking up in the air. She fell backwards into the sea, the warm waters of the Mediterranean enveloping her small body. She listened to the dampened echoes of another wave passing over her. She felt a tug on her ankle from the leash – the board was being pulled towards the beach, reminding her that she wasn't a fish.

She surfaced and crawled back onto her board and slowly paddled to the shore. She didn't want to leave, but they had a long drive ahead of them. If they wanted to get back to their house before nightfall, they had to leave as soon as possible. They probably should have left thirty minutes ago.

She got to the beach and stuck her board into the sand, the white and green slab sticking almost six feet into the air. She reached down and took off her leash, the Velcro tearing apart loudly. She sat down on beach and looked out towards the break. Shuuhei had told her "only one more wave" – now she had to hope that he followed his own advice and rode this next one in. He usually paddled back out to catch another "last wave". She had a niggling suspicion that he did it just to piss her off.

Lilynette saw him start to paddle as a blue mountain began to take shape behind him. He leapt up to his feet and sped down the face of the wave, cutting to his right as the wall of water continued to grow at his back. Lilynette stood up to get a better view; this wave was easily nine feet tall. She didn't want to miss a second of his ride, despite the pangs of jealousy she felt while watching him.

Suddenly, the wave collapsed as just a tube was beginning to form around him. She breathed in sharply as that colossal cave of water fell on top of his body. He vanished beneath the surface as the wall of blue turned into a violent and churning surge of white. She took a step forward, her hand swiftly coming up to her mouth as she saw the front half of his board fly up out of the sea and into the air. The second half, the back half that was connected to Shuuhei's leg, was missing, there being nothing below the jagged break in the board.

Her eyes darted around, looking for any sign of life in the churning waters. There! She saw the back half of his board pop up to the surface. He soon floated up next to it as another wave pushed him closer to the shore. She darted off the beach and into the surf, her feet trampling over the sharp rocks and coral below the surface. She could feel the flesh of her toes open up but she didn't care. This beach was notorious for casualties; back before the Hollow plague had begun, people from all over the world found their final resting places among the corals of La Droite du Fort beach. Memorial markers still littered the edge of the sand. She hoped that someone wouldn't be adding a new one today.

After what felt like a century, she finally reached his body. Panic settled in as she saw him face down in the water, floating still. He had several bloodied spots in the flesh of his back. The wave had slammed him down into the reef below the break. She reached him and turned his body over quickly.

Hisagi Shuuhei smiled and spit a mouthful of water up into her face.

"You fucker!" she yelled, letting go of him and standing up with a snort.

He laughed and stood up, grabbing the broken half of his board that was still attached to his ankle. He undid the leash and looked at her.

"Were you worried about me?" he asked with a smirk.

"Of course I was worried about you," she groaned, marching back towards the beach.

"Well, you shouldn't have been," he said, matter-of-factly, following behind her. "It's gonna take a lot more than some rocks to take me out."

"Oh, Shuuhei," she said sardonically, rolling her eyes. "You're so awesome."

"Dammit baby, I know it."

"I hate you," she snarled as they got to the shoreline.

"No you don't," he said, tossing the back half of his board down into the sand. He looked back out at the surf. "Any sign of the rest of my board?"

Lilynette didn't respond. She plucked her own board out of the sand and headed towards their jeep. Hisagi took another second to scan the surf with his eyes before he turned around and followed her, dragging half of a surfboard behind him by its leash. They made it to the jeep they'd parked at the edge of the beach that morning. Lilynette slid her board into the open back and Hisagi tossed his half-board in behind hers. She hopped up onto the hood of the car and looked off into the desert to the south.

"Were you really worried about me?" Hisagi asked, leaning an elbow against the vehicle.

"I already told you I was," she huffed.

He placed a hand on her leg and she turned to look at him, the wind blowing her still wet bangs down into her face. Hisagi reached up and brushed the blonde hair aside, before leaning forward and kissing her.

"Well," he said with a smirk as he pulled back, "I think that's absolutely precious."

"I'm glad your board's broken," she grumbled as she hopped down from the hood of the jeep. "Let me drive."

Hisagi bent down and grabbed the keys from under the rock that he always hid them under.

"Nope," he said as he walked around her slid into the driver's seat. "You know your feet don't reach the pedals."

"I hate you," she hissed as she sat down next to him.

"No you don't."

***

Hisagi Shuuhei yawned as he merged left off of the P5 and onto the 9. The distance from their surf-spot in Tabarka to their home in Carthago was probably only about ninety kilometers. Unfortunately, the road he had to take, the P7, wasn't exactly the straightest of highways; it twisted and turned through the mountains of the northern Sahara. Not to mention that the Tunisian government wasn't exactly rushing to fix the numerous potholes that he was forced to dodge at least once a minute.

He reached his right hand over and rubbed the top of Lilynette's head, his fingers gently tousling her short blonde hair as she slept in the passenger seat. It wasn't her natural color, but Urahara Kisuke had thought that giving her a gigai that actually had green hair would draw far too much attention. Which was a reasonable thought.

Hisagi placed both hands back on the wheel again as he merged onto the Trans-African Highway and then quickly back onto the P9. He yawned again, rubbing his eyes as he steered with his left knee. He knew they were almost home.

Home.

It was a funny word to him now. After leaving Urahara's place in Siberia, he and Lilynette had immediately headed for Africa. Back then, he was still worried about them being followed by Aizen or the other Espada. He'd figured that one of the most remote places on the planet would also be one of the safest, so the Sahara it was. He knew better now of course, but he didn't really regret picking Tunisia as a place of residency. The government wasn't ideal – in fact, most of the countries in this area of the world were downright horrendous nowadays – but they were so worried about the Hollow that they didn't spend much time on xenophobia anymore.

Their odd ethnicities had certainly caused some strange looks at first, but once they'd saved their little neighborhood from a Hollow or two, they were very much welcomed into the community. Their lack of the Islamic faith still got them a stink-eye every Friday morning or so, but nothing more than that. He'd been told by the owner of their favorite restaurant that they were lucky, that places like Libya and Algeria wouldn't have tolerated Lilynette not wearing a burqa, much less their non-Muslim lifestyles.

Which is good, Hisagi thought as he passed by the ancient ruins of Carthage, despite what I'd heard, a lot of these Muslim people are absolutely wonderful to get along with.

The car slowed as he reached their parking lot. They lived in the blue and white painted town of Sidi Bou Said and, despite how much he loved it, there wasn't much space – certainly not enough room for each home to have a garage or a personal parking place. Not like it was a long walk, anyway.

He parked and turned the car off.

"Hey," he said to Lilynette, shaking her lightly. "We made it."

"Oh," she said groggily. "Okay."

She stretched and yawned and stepped out of the jeep. He walked around to the back and grabbed their boards. He handed hers over and picked up what remained of his. He looked at it and frowned.

"Ah, dammit," he said. "I can't believe that happened."

"Aww, poor Shuuhei," Lilynette said, sneaking him a kiss. "We'll get you a new one. I promise."

"But did you see that wave?" he asked with a chuckle. "Thing was huge."

"I saw you eat some reef," she said, teasing. "That's all I saw."

He chuckled and kissed her again, immediately looking out into the dark. Nobody was around. Despite the general tolerance in the community, their neighbors still weren't much on public displays of affection. Especially from the little blonde woman that spent most of her time running around in a bathing suit.

Still, it was a pleasant little ocean-front community. It would be downright perfect if there was better surf nearby. And better parking.

He couldn't really remember whose idea it was to first pick up surfing. He wanted to say it was simultaneous, but he figured it was probably Lilynette's. They'd watched some documentary on the sport and the next day they'd been out shopping for boards. It hadn't taken them long to find the good spots, either – La Droite and Ras Rajel where their favorites, even if they were both a two hour drive.

They walked up to their front door, the blue paint shining out from the white walls around it. Hisagi reached forward, struggled with the lock, and turned the key within the knob. The door cracked open slightly.

"Hey, Lil," he said, holding the keys out to her. "You go down and grab the mail and I'll wash off the boards?"

"You mean the board?" she snickered, grabbing the key ring and leaning her surfboard up against the wall. "I don't think yours counts anymore."

She skipped away jovially and he watched her go, smiling. He reached down and grabbed a green hose, twisting the knob that was attached to the wall. He sprayed the fresh water over her surfboard, rinsing the salt and sand off of it as quickly as he could. Despite the tropical beach feel that the town of Sidi Bou Said had, he always had to be mindful of their water usage. They were at the edge of the world's largest desert, after all.

Speaking of water conservation, he figured he'd take a quick "surfer's shower" with the hose. Lilynette insisted on taking a real one most of the time, but he didn't mind skipping the shampoo every now and again. As long as he didn't have sand in his pants and salt on his face, he was fine. Besides, he was just going to do it all again tomorrow. Or whenever he got a new board.

He steeled himself before turning the hose around and holding it over his head.

"Hoo!" he exhaled as the cold water poured down over his hair and shoulders. He pulled the hose back, and shook his head. He gritted his teeth before repeating the process, only this time sticking the end of the hose into the waistband of his shorts. Every muscle in his body tightened into rocks as he groaned his way through the rinse-down.

After he was sure that most of the sand was off of him, he turned the water off and coiled the hose back up against the wall. He walked into the small house that he and Lilynette shared, quickly grabbing for one of the numerous towels that were draped over any given chair within the room. He began to dry himself off, gently patting his wet skin where he'd gotten a bit too much sun during the day. He dropped his shorts and wrapped the towel around his waist. He grabbed the wet clothing and tossed it into a hamper in an adjoining room.

An old black cat suddenly leapt up into the open window near the far wall, staring at him and mewling.

"Hey there, Yamamoto," he said, reaching across and scratching the feline's cheeks. The small animal had started hanging around their place after Lilynette'd decided to feed it one day. Hisagi had named it after his old Captain-Commander and, for some reason, had taken a liking to the old thing over the past couple of years.

The cat purred and meowed at him again.

"I know," Hisagi said at the cat, reaching down to grab a small bag at the base of the window.

Yamamoto meowed again.

"Just gimme a damn second and I'll feed you. You act like you're starved or something."

He poured some of the dry nuggets into a little ceramic dish on the windowsill. The old feline descended upon the small pile feverously.

Hisagi Shuuhei sat down on the right half of the small sofa that was up against the wall, picking up the guitar that was stretched across the left. He leaned his head back and listened to the sounds of the Mediterranean that drifted over from the open window, his fingers lazily plucking the worn nylon strings.

"Shuuhei," Lilynette said as she opened their door, appearing from around the corner. "I don't think you're gonna need to buy a new board."

"Oh?" he said with a smirk, standing, placing his guitar back onto the sofa. "You gonna let me ride that little thing of yours?"

She got closer and he saw that she was holding a torn envelope in one hand and an unfolded letter in the other. His smirk fell slightly as she got close to him.

"That what we've been waiting for?" He didn't need to ask.

"Yep."

"When does she want us to move out?"

"It doesn't say," Lilynette said, handing him the letter as she took off her bikini top and headed for the shower. "But knowing Harribel, yesterday would have been perfect."

"Oh," Starrk said with a yawn, "so that's why Barragan isn't here."

Under her tall collar, Harribel almost smiled. After almost fifteen minutes of spouting trivial information, Ichimaru Gin had finally gotten to his point: Aizen Sousuke wanted them to prepare for another siege on the Royal Guard. Considering that the last attack had almost claimed the Segunda Espada's life, it was kind of humorous that Gin had decided to leave Barragan Luisenbarn out of the meeting. Starrk's delivery of the statement had only made it funnier.

She smiled anyway.

"Ain't like the two a' you can't tell him later," Gin said, switching topics almost immediately. "Aizen wants y'all ready by the end of the week."

"End of the week?" Harribel asked, incredulously. "We've only just sent out search parties to look for Hollow strong enough to be made into Arrancar. Surely he can't expect another army to be created in less than six months?"

"Of course he doesn't, Harribel," Gin said, turning his smile upon her. "He expects his Espada to be able to handle this mission."

Harribel bit back a curse, remaining silent as the Shinigami smugly grinned.

"Unless you aren't up to the task?"

"No," she said, cutting her teal eyes away from him. "We will double our efforts."

"I'd hope so, for your sake," Gin said, walking towards the door. "Be ready by the week's end."

The silver-haired man walked out of the room, leaving the two Espada alone in the top of the tower. Starrk looked at her and shrugged as he rose from his chair.

"I guess that's that," he said, holding a hand out to her. She took it and he helped her rise from her seat. They both walked out into the main hall, Ichimaru Gin nowhere to be found. They took a left and headed towards the staircase that would bring them down to their rooms.

This could pose some serious trouble, she thought as she walked next to her silent companion. If Aizen is seriously prepared to attack the King again – right now – my plans are going to fall apart completely.

Over the past six months, Aizen had requested that the Espada spend their time searching out replacements for the Arrancar they'd lost against the King's forces. After Barragan's humiliating defeat, they'd all but given up on confronting the Royal Guard, especially on their home turf. For Aizen to suddenly repeat his former mistakes was an infuriating notion.

Especially because this new strategy of his would ruin what she'd just set into motion.

She'd finally thought the time was right. Aizen and Gin and the Vizards were all distracted by the King's army; they wouldn't see Soul Society's attack coming until it was too late. Grimmjow and Ulquiorra had just sent Neliel out to get Soi Fon moving towards Japan, and she herself had just made contact with Lilynette and her Shinigami for the first time in over a year. She had simply sent a letter to the duo, telling them to go east, that she would contact them as soon as she knew more information.

If they were being sent out to fight the Zero Squad again, she had a sinking suspicion that she wouldn't be able to focus on the duo.

"So," Starrk said, breaking his self-imposed silence. "What do you think Aizen has up his sleeve?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't tell me that you bought that nonsense. Aizen is far too smart to just send us out to get slaughtered."

"Then why else would he send Ichimaru here to tell us that?"

"I dunno," he said as the exited the stairwell. "But I can tell from your eyes that you agree with me."

Her jaw clenched under her collar. He was still very good at reading her non-verbal cues.

Still, if he was assuming that she agreed with him out of fear of getting killed, that was a tremendous relief. She was already having to adjust her plans to dart around behind Aizen and Ichimaru. The last thing she needed was to have Starrk become an obstacle.

They rounded a corner and saw Grimmjow Jaggerjaquez walking towards them, his hands in his pockets as he headed down the hall to the stairs that they'd just left. Despite their alliance and newfound companionship, she didn't dare speak to him outside of an Espada meeting session. Stopping him in the halls and talking to him would be an absurd destruction of her character and only serve to cast suspicion upon her. She figured that she could probably speak with Ulquiorra in public without question, but Grimmjow was definitely not an option.

Ulquiorra Cifer and Grimmjow Jaggerjaquez were purposefully making the rest of the Espada wary of them, thus allowing Harribel to move in the shadows, free from scrutiny. While the two of them did occasionaly visit her in her quarters, it was such a rare occurrence that nobody really questioned it. After all, what would Tia Harribel, the woman that almost single-handedly rebuilt Aizen's army for him, want with those two wannabe Shinigami?

As she passed him, however, her teal eyes risked a glance past Starrk and at Grimmjow. She caught him with a quick glare, the urgency in her expression not at all lost in translation:

I need to talk to you.

He flicked his eyes away, albeit slowly, and continued walking. She knew that she would be seeing him soon, that he would return to this tower before the afternoon was over.

"I've been thinking," Starrk said, breaking their silence as they neared her room. "About calling Lilynette home."

"Oh?"

That's not good, Harribel thought. I need her now more than ever.

"Yeah," he replied, following her into her room. "Last I heard from her, she was still in Africa."

Not anymore.

"And how is her mission going?" Harribel asked, walking out to her balcony. "Has she gotten that Shinigami she's with to trust her yet?"

"She said that he doesn't see her as a threat anymore," he said, following her outside. "So she's basically exactly where we want her. But now with Aizen sending just us Espada to fight, we may need her to come back."

"Right."

This was bad. She needed Lilynette to stay her course. Starrk was still under the impression that the mission he'd sent the girl on was what she was doing, but Lilynette had long since been following her orders. Even back before they'd overtaken Las Noches, almost twenty five years ago, Starrk's other half had been working to further Harribel's own ambitions.

Back when Aizen had faked his death, she and Apache had been sought out by their hidden leader. The two of them had tried to abandon their lives as soldiers, but he'd demanded that Harribel still follow under him. Knowing how much stronger than her he was, she couldn't do much if she wanted to live. Or escape. She'd waited until the Shinigami had finished ransacking the palace before she'd returned. It was then that she had met up with Starrk and Lilynette.

The girl was all but dragging him towards the massive building, yelling and kicking at him to hurry up. Her eyes had lit up almost immediately upon seeing the other two women appear. Once Harribel had explained to the duo that Aizen was alive, alongside Barragan and Yammy as she'd found out later, Starrk had pretty much run away. Lilynette had assumed that he was going out into the desert to find Aizen and to make sure for himself, but nobody ever really knew what Starrk was thinking.

Despite her other half's self-imposed debt to Aizen Sousuke, Lilynette came out that she didn't really care much for the Shinigami or his plans. As the trio of women spent days ridding the halls and spires of Las Noches from unwanted Hollow, a plan slowly began to form against Aizen. Even though Starrk would undoubtedly remain loyal to him, Lilynette remained confident that she could somehow sway him if their plan worked. They would have to find a way to bring Aizen down from the inside, no matter what the cost.

When he'd reappeared and entrusted Harribel with the hougyoku, asking her to keep it safe while he remained in hiding, she'd finally seen her opening. He'd basically put her in charge of recreating his army. Every new Arrancar that she watched be created, she had a level of loyalty from. They all knew that Aizen was their leader, but Harribel was their commander. Most of the new Espada, with the exception of Apache and Lilynette, had to be kept in the dark – their loyalties to Aizen were too strong to turn.

Once the Vizards had joined up with them, for whatever reasons, Harribel had faced her first major setback. Rather, it was a schism. Apache had become so enraged at the thought of an allegiance between Arrancar and Shinigami that she'd almost left the organization altogether. Harribel had been able to sway her into staying, but the resentment for the soul reapers had made working with her almost impossible.

Lilynette, on the other hand, had been enthusiastic about their new allies, claiming that the Hollowfied Shinigami would prove to be a good distraction for Aizen. Unfortunately, this made the ever-loyal Apache extremely jealous of her fellow Espada; while the spitfire brunette was causing Harribel's life to become more difficult, Starrk's fracción was becoming more and more valued.

Harribel sighed, turning away from the view of her balcony. She knew that Lilynette and Apache would one day to come to blows, but she had hoped that they would be able to refrain from killing one another. Nevertheless, Apache's spite for Shinigami clouded her mind so much that, even at her Lady's behest, she couldn't learn to work alongside Lilynette. While she was saddened to hear of her fracción's death, she knew it was for the best.

It felt like betrayal.

But it was for the best.

Still, she thought as Starrk followed her into her white room. I can't even imagine how Lilynette feels.

"So," Starrk said. "I'm gonna go eat and take a nap. Would you care to join me?"

"Not today," Harribel said, unzipping her collar. "I need to start planning."

"Suit yourself," Starrk said with a lazy smirk as she took off her shirt, exposing her marred mask.

In her battle with Madarame Ikkaku, she had lost a quarter of the bone that had covered her mouth after his zanpakuto had sliced it away. Then, in a battle with Kurosaki Isshin, all but her chest pieces had been hacked away. She had decided to keep it this way – she'd always had a problem with her hideous mask, going to great lengths to keep it hidden from view. Now that most of it was gone, she still kept her face concealed, but it was out of fear that she would be ridiculed for her self-conscious doubts. Only Starrk, Grimmjow, and Ulquiorra had ever seen her without her collar up.

Starrk stepped closer to her, planting a soft kiss on her exposed lips. She leaned into it, returning the kiss with equal passion as he touched her. He pulled away, his steel-colored eyes regarding her with something that could only be read as happiness. He left his eyes on her for a moment longer before turning away completely.

Harribel watched him go before letting out a sigh. She sat down on the large white sofa that took up the center of her room, rubbing her temples in frustration.

I hope you're right about him, Lilynette, she thought as Grimmjow and Ulquiorra entered her room. I hope you're right.

author's note

my usual thanks to matsumama, jazzpha, and f1ymordecai for giving this beast a once over for me.

also, i think i love higagi/lilynette. at least in this chapter. also, i love surfing if you couldn't tell. the name of the chapter is the name of the town is also the name of a song. as jazzpha will attest to, it's a great song. give it a listen, if you can find it. i think it's on lastfm.

go ahead and drop me a review if you would be so kind; i love hearing what you think.

also, speaking of reviews, i just realized that grinja has been reading and reviewing - quite literally - from the very beginning of these stories. super huge thanks to you, kind reader!

i'll catch you guys on the flipside.

jta~!

sidi bou said - eyvind kang