Disclaimer-I don't own Bleach
Chapter Six
Aizen walked into his lab, where Tosen and Gin were waiting. "How soon can we use the Hōgyoku?"
"We can't use it." Tosen said simply, adjusting the some of the dials on a machine.
"Excuse me?" Aizen demanded. Gin hastily stepped in.
"What he means, Kisuke-san destroyed his notes too thoroughly. Our Hōgyoku is incomplete, and we can't finish it. We'll have to find a way to get his before you can bond with one."
"But can we use it to power up a Hollow?" Aizen asked. Gin stared at him, then his smile widened.
"Las Riquezas proved tougher than you thought?" He asked. Aizen glared at him.
"Just answer the question."
"Probably." Gin said. "I can't say what side effects there'll be though."
"It'll be worth it." Aizen said, grabbing the Hōgyoku and walking out.
"Wow. This Queen sure is making Aizen-sama upset." Gin remarked casually as he and Tosen returned to doing their work. "I hope he doesn't do something foolish."
"Everything we do is in the name of justice. So long as we stay true to that, we will never be foolish." Tosen said calmly. Gin stared at him for a moment.
"Right. How silly of me." He said. The hardest part about being undercover wasn't patience; it was dealing with Tosen's fanaticism.
Hueco Mundo-Five minutes later
Like Barragan, Aizen kept a straight, calm face despite the fact that inside, he was seething. Unlike Barragan however, Aizen knew how to keep it hidden, so nobody could tell just how furious he was. They all knew that the recent battle had been a huge upset, and that Aizen was angered by the utterly humiliating ease with which five of his Espada and a hundred of his Arrancar had been dispatched. It had taken all of his restraint not to kill Nnoitra for delivering the news of the defeat, but practicality had prevailed. He couldn't afford to lose an Espada this close to the endgame. He had, however, demoted the Arrancar to 10th Espada.
Now though, he knew what to do. He had wanted to avoid this. The Hōgyoku wasn't complete yet, and he'd hoped to keep Las Riquezas for himself. He sighed. Oh well, if a Hollow could create something like Las Riquezas, there was no doubt in his mind that he could do the same just as easily. In the meantime, he needed to take care of the threat Haruhi and her inner circle represented. And he had just the tool to do that with. Not long after he'd discovered Barragan and his power, he'd built a machine to amplify those powers using the Hōgyoku. However, that plan had been scrapped when they realized that Barragan's powers rendered the entire area it effected unusable. He saw no benefit in destroying part of the world he wished to rule. Now however, he needed to use it. Haruhi needed to be put down, and he wasn't going to risk more Espada, even if he probably could wear her down with enough time. She was merely a minor roadblock after all, not part of the endgame like the destruction of the Gotei 13 would be.
"What do you want Aizen?" Barragan growled as he walked into the room with the device where the old Arrancar had been waiting.
"How would you like to destroy Haruhi without putting yourself in any danger?" Aizen asked pleasantly, placing the Hōgyoku in the device, which was a large box with two handlebars on it and a satellite dish on the front.
"Do you even have to ask?"
"I suppose not." He admitted with a slight smile, stepping away from the machine. "The purpose of this machine is very simple. It will amplify your powers, allowing you to work from a distance. It has been calibrated to start your aging attack just on the border of Las Riquezas, and it'll be tall enough to completely tower over the palace itself. Barragan gave a predatory smile and stepped forward, placing his hands on the handlebars and closing his eyes.
Las Riquezas-At the same time
Haruhi woke up with a start, feeling a burst of dark reiatsu coming closer and closer. "What is it?" Cirucci said sleepily, blinking up at Haruhi.
"Grab your zanpakuto." She told her, getting out of bed and changing out of her pajamas and into her regular clothes. Cirucci watched her, not sure what was going on. Then she felt the reiatsu, and her eyes widened in shock. She hadn't felt that reiatsu since the war.
Nelliel threw the door open just as Cirucci and Haruhi were about to come out. She blinked in surprise. "Oh good, you're already awake."
"What, did you think I was just going to sleep through the pressure of Barragan's Respira?" Haruhi asked, putting on her hat as she walked out of the bedroom.
"I wouldn't put it past you." Starrk said dryly, running up with the rest of the group.
"I'll admit it; I didn't expect Barragan to show up himself after only one failed attack." Grimmjow said, sounding a little puzzled. Haruhi stopped and concentrated, feeling to see how many soldiers Barragan had brought with him.
"He's not here."
"What do you mean he's not here?" Grimmjow demanded. "That's Respira!"
"She's right." Ulquiorra said after a moment's pause. "The reiatsu of Respira is here, but not the reiatsu of Barragan. He appears to have discovered a way to project Respira hundreds of miles away from his actual location."
"At the very least." Haruhi said in agreement, running for the stairs that led to the observation tower. The others followed behind her, Grimmjow turning to grin at Cirucci as they ran.
"Hey, did you and Haruhi…?"
"Really? Just…really?" Cirucci demanded.
"What do you want me to do?" Grimmjow demanded. "Panic? I can't do anything about Respira, that's Haruhi's territory. There's no point in worrying about shit like this, so why not ask about something like that?" Cirucci sighed, though she really couldn't his logic too much. It made a certain twisted kind of sense.
"No." She said shortly. Grimmjow nodded, deciding not to push her anymore for the moment. They reached the top of the tower, and Haruhi stared at the black wave in shock. The others all looked at her in concern. They had never seen Haruhi look…worried before, not even during the war. But now, there was denying it. She looked worried.
"It's too big." She said softly.
"What?" Lilynette demanded. "What do you mean it's too big?"
"I meant that it's too big!" Haruhi yelled. "I can't stop it! Everything we've built and fought for these past six years is going to be destroyed, and I can't do anything about it!" The others all looked at her silently, letting her vent her emotions. For them, Las Riquezas was a home and a safe haven, true, but it meant more to Haruhi. She was the only one of them to remember her previous life, and she'd been a small child when she died. For her, Hueco Mundo hadn't seemed to be a natural place like it had for them, it had been a hostile desert where everything wanted to eat her. She'd been strong enough that nothing had really been a threat to her, but the fact remained that the main reason she'd built Las Riquezas was so she'd have a piece of stability in her life. As close as she was to her inner circle of friends, living beings weren't the same as walls and a roof.
"Don't worry." Nelliel said soothingly, placing her hands on Haruhi's shoulders and looking her in the eye.
"Yeah, we'll come back and kick Barragan's ass for this." Grimmjow reassured her. "See how much he likes his palace getting ripped to pieces." Haruhi looked at her friends, then nodded.
"Right. Mental breakdown later." She said, clapping her hands and looking at the steadily approaching wave that was Respira. "Okay, on the plus side, that thing is slow. How long do you think we have Ulquiorra?" The pale Espada looked at the wave, then at the ground, calculating.
"A minute and a half." He said after a second.
"Alright, plenty of time with sonido." Haruhi said confidently. "Guys, pack up anything you want to take with you, don't forget the hammock Starrk, I'm going to get some bananas, and then we'll be on our way." The others looked at her, confused.
"Where are we going?" Cirucci asked.
"Why the world of the living of course! Karakura Town to be specific." Haruhi said as if it were obvious. "Now stop asking silly questions and go, we don't have much time!" The others rushed back downstairs, using sonido to grab everything important and Haruhi grabbing anything they'd missed that she felt was important. "Now then, let's go!" Haruhi said, opening a garganta with her bare feet, her arms occupied with holding a literal bunch of bananas, a backpack full of clothes, and a rubber duck.
Karakura Town-One minute later
Urahara blinked in surprise as seven hollows utterly ignored his wards and teleported right into his shop. He stood up, then relaxed as he realized that one of the Hollows was Haruhi. "What would your parents say if they knew that you were using your powers to break into shops Haruhi-chan?" He asked jokingly.
"From what I remember, Dad would be melodramatic for a while then congratulate me and Mom would scold me for a little while then move on, especially once she got to know you." Haruhi said brightly. "Now, where can I find a house big enough for seven people?"
"Well that depends on whether or not you want to be comfortable. If you do, then I know just the place. If you don't, then I'm afraid I can't help you."
"Why would we want a place that wasn't comfortable?" Cirucci demanded. Urahara shrugged and opened his fan, hiding his face behind it.
"Well, I've never met you. For all I know, all of you could be masochists." Despite the fan, they could hear his smile.
"What's a masochist?" Haruhi asked.
"Don't worry about it." Nelliel, Starrk, and Cirucci said simultaneously before Urahara or Grimmjow could 'enlighten' her.
"I happen to own a currently abandoned warehouse that is perfect for you. It'll be easy to do a few quick renovations and make it perfect within the week." Urahara said, deciding to cut the jokes before one of the Arrancar in front of him decided to hurt him. He'd bought the warehouses on either side of the one the Visoreds currently called home just to be on the safe side, though there wasn't any need to mention that to them. He'd probably need to mention it to Shinji though, just to be on the safe side.
"Excellent. We'll need gigais too." Haruhi said happily. Urahara blinked.
"Okay, what exactly happened?" He asked.
"Aizen somehow modified Barragan's power Respira to completely destroy my home of Las Riquezas." Haruhi said matter of factly.
"You seem rather calm about it." Urahara remarked. Haruhi shrugged.
"Whenever I start to get upset, I just picture myself eating Barragan and ripping Aizen to pieces. Cheers me right up." She said.
"…Oddly enough, I'm totally okay with that plan." Urahara said after a moment's thought. "I'll have Tessai get to work on that warehouse, and the gigais will be ready by Monday."
Los Noches-Five minutes later
Aizen removed the Hōgyoku from the machine, satisfied. He'd seen the power of Barragan's Respira. With the increase in power given by his Hōgyoku, there was no chance that Haruhi had survived. He smiled, glad to be rid of another thorn in his side. Soon his plans would be ready to put into effect, and now the only one with enough power to have any chance at all of stopping him was Yamamoto. His grin widened and he walked out of the room.
Author's Notes
On the note of the members of Haruhi's inner circle's Fraccion. They don't have them. On Nelliel's Fraccion, Pesche and Dondochakka, I figured that Haruhi was enough extra comic relief, and that Nelliel just met Haruhi before she met them. (I'll admit that I don't read the extra data books, just the wiki and the manga itself, so sorry if that deviates from the actual story and Nelliel met them immediately upon arriving in Hueco Mundo.) On Grimmjow's Fraccion, let's assume that he did eat them back when they were all Adjuchas, and as for Cirucci…I frankly had no idea that she ever had Fraccions, at least that we saw. I can't find anything on Google either, so I'm rather at a loss here.
Thanks for reading guys! See you next time!