"Anyway… That was how I regained my body," said Kaien, sitting back on his cushion. Rukia sat across from him, still looking warily at her apparently revived Lieutenant before him. "And then, I replaced an Espada, so that I could find a chance to strike at Aizen."
Rukia sighed looking down at the ground. Her heart was racing again. Back then, when she had been fighting together with Kaien, and now when she was facing him again. Her feelings still hadn't changed…
"Outside… There's a blue sky, right? Aizen made that blue sky inside the dome of Las Noches. Everything that the sky's light shines on is under Aizen's surveillance."
"Wha…" started Rukia, leaning forward.
"I'm glad that it was you, Kuchiki, who came to me," said Kaien, standing and turning away. "You're probably the only one who can carry out the plan I'm gonna tell you now. Come here, Kuchiki. We're gonna change places."
"Yes!" said Rukia, standing and running toward him. He had hardly reached him though, when she saw the flash of steel. The tip of a katana was coming right for her face. She managed to roll out of the way just in time, avoiding death but receiving a nasty slash across her cheek. She rolled back to her feet and stared in horror at what she had thought was Kaien Shiba.
"So…" said the man, grinning evilly. "You've become stronger, huh…" He suddenly spoke with two sinister voices in unison. "…Kuchiki?"
(b)
Shuuichi finally crested what seemed like the thousandth sand dune, to see that he was indeed behind the team that had come to rescue Orihime Inoue. His way into Las Noches was clear from where he stood.
Shuuichi thought his first step into Hueco Mundo would be a monumental journey, but instead he had emerged onto a barren, desert landscape. It was always nighttime, and all he could see was sand and dead trees. And it wasn't even glittering golden sand; this sand was grey and as dead as the plant life here.
Almost as soon as he had emerged, though, he saw the stronghold of Sousuke Aizen. Las Noches was enormous, the size of the one building perhaps as big as all of Soul Society put together. It didn't look too impressive though; it was square and white, with a few domes and turrets sticking out of it.
Shuuichi had run full out toward Las Noches, but soon became tired as he saw just how big the building was. Judging distance and size was difficult here, because there was no other landscape to judge the size of the building on. For the first ten minutes, he felt like he might as well be trying to run to the moon. After an hour or two, though, the wall of Las Noches finally loomed up to him.
Cresting the final sand dune into the valley before the wall, he saw a gaping hole in the wall leading to Las Noches, though it seemed to be relatively old. The rescue group must have gone in a long time ago.
Shuuichi began to run down the sand dune, but he quickly looked around to see some minor Hollows coming in from many directions to block him.
"Bare your fangs," Shuuichi said, grinning, "Kirunami."
He snapped his zanpakutou out, and leapt forward, killing four Hollows before even landing. He leapt forward again, stabbing a Hollow in the stomach and using it as a launchpad toward the next Hollow, taking that one down too. Five more dead Hollows later, Shuuichi landed in front of the hole into Las Noches.
He darted inside quickly, then turned to attack any that flew in after him. But Shuuichi lowered his blade instead. None of the Hollows followed him.
The Hollows seemed to look at each other, and Shuuichi got the feeling that "I'm not goin' in there," was the general consensus among their group. The Hollows turned and went on their way.
Shuuichi sighed and turned back into the halls. Inside, it seemed very bland as well. The halls were quite square, with only plain support beams and arches lining them. At first, Shuuichi scoffed, but then his face grew darker. If all the halls looked the same, it would be nearly impossible to navigate in this monolith of a fortress.
Shuuichi scanned as wide as he could for spirit force. Mostly, he just picked up some signs of minor Arrancar that were flitting around, but hardly anything worthwhile. Then, he started, for he suddenly picked up a distant sign of what seemed to be Ichigo.
Or maybe not… Shuuichi had just begun to focus on it when the spirit force suddenly faded. Instead, he felt a different spirit force in the same place, that of a powerful Arrancar. It felt familiar; it reminded him of the Arrancar who had come to retrieve Grimmjow before…
The spirit force moved away from Shuuichi and out of his reach. The Vizard shrugged to himself, then began to run down the hallways.
Seconds turned into minutes as Shuuichi just ran as fast as he could, flash stepping as much as he could without becoming too fatigued. Amazingly, he encountered nothing to block his way; it unnerved him, considering he had just entered the stronghold of the traitor Aizen.
(b)
Aaroniero laughed as he held Rukia up in the air on the end of the trident in his hand. The middle blade of the trident was sticking out of her back through her stomach, and the entire pole was soaked in her blood. The zanpakutou in her limp hand was broken.
But suddenly, Rukia's other hand shuddered, then grabbed onto the pole of the weapon impaling her.
"You're still conscious?" sneered Aaroniero, still wearing the face of Kaien. "Amazing… But pointless. Even if you survived, the fact remains that you can't kill me, much less strike me down."
"I've… remembered…" groaned Rukia, holding up the broken Sode no Shirayuki and pointing it at Aaroniero's face, the broken end hovering just in front of his eye.
"What? You're going to keep fighting with a broken sword? How irritating. Drop it."
"Third… Song…" gasped Rukia. Aaroniero gasped, but that was all he could do. "Shirafune."
Behind his head, the tip of Sode no Shirayuki reappeared, made of ice. The blade reformed backwards, until it rejoined at the broken metal edge. The sword was complete, and was right through Aaroniero's head.
"What… the…" gasped the Espada as the face of Kaien melted away to reveal his true face. On top of his neck was a tall glass tank filled with fluid. Inside floated two spherical Hollow-like heads, and Sode no Shirayuki impaled the top one, and the glass was cracked.
"I've remembered…" said Rukia, her voice weak, "where the heart truly lies. Kaien-dono's spirit body is inside of you, but he isn't there anymore. Kaien-dono's heart… was given to me. Goodbye… Espada."
The glass tank shattered, and the dead Aaroniero fell to the ground. As he did, the trident was pulled out of Rukia's abdomen. She screamed in pain, then collapsed to the ground as well, remaining still.
(b)
"Yo."
Shuuichi skidded to a stop. He had grown careless… Once he refocused, he felt the presence of a powerful Arrancar just in front of him and around the corner. Shuuichi held his released zanpakutou up before him as his opponent turned the corner.
A man in a long white kimono—though still similar to the robes that the other Arrancar had worn—marched around the corner, long white hair covering one side of his face.
"I guess, maybe we let you get too far inside, huh?" said the Arrancar, brushing the hair out of his face. At that time, Shuuichi caught a glimpse of half of a snake-like Hollow mask under the hair. "What's your name, boy?"
"I don't need to tell you anything," said Shuuichi in a grunt, starting forward.
"That's bad manners you know. Two opponents should always know each other's names. For my part, I am Arrancar 104, Selaterio Cervantes."
Shuuichi stopped. "Number 104? That seems like a pretty high number." He chuckled. "Guess this will be a lot easier than against number six… Alright, I'll tell you my name: Shuuichi Ito. So you know who killed you."
Shuuichi casually leapt forward and sliced across toward Selaterio's chest. The Arrancar calmly lifted his hand to block the blade. At the same time, his spirit power spiked; he had been holding all of it in.
"What?!" exclaimed Shuuichi, jumping back.
"Ah, so uneducated," sighed Selaterio, brushing back his hair again. "Just because I am number 106, doesn't mean I'm 106th in order of strength. Just so you know, three-digit numbers correspond to something called Privaron Espada."
Shuuichi grinded his teeth. He didn't know what that phrase literally meant, but the word "Espada" in it did not comfort him.
The Arrancar laughed. "It means 'Former Espada.' Arturo Plateado was officially number 106."
Shuuichi's eyes widened. Former Espada… That must have meant that Selaterio used to be ranked number 4 in the Espada. He would be on a whole different level than Arturo.
"I see that you finally understand," said Selaterio, grinning. "You didn't even need to tell me your name… Ichimaru has already told us about his fight with you. As well, the word came in that you only barely managed to defeat Arturo using all of your strength. This won't be too hard for me."
The Arrancar quickly jumped forward into a Sonido, and before Shuuichi could react, his opponent's iron-like hand sliced across his thigh and left a deep gash. The Vizard grunted and spun around.
"Shibarikomu Kawa!" The water ropes barely missed Selaterio, and the Arrancar laughed jovially and ran up to counter.
"Destruction spell number 54: Haien!"
The Arrancar, surprised, barely managed to dodge the shot; the kidou smacked against the wall and exploded. Selaterio grunted, then gasped as he realized that Shuuichi had disappeared.
"Suuiki o Wakareru!" Selaterio couldn't turn fast enough, and got hit by the blue wave from behind, launching him headlong into the wall. He growled and turned, drawing his sword.
"Binding spell number 9: Geki!"
The Arrancar was held fast by a strong red force field around his body, and could only stare at the Vizard in front of him, who was grinning confidently.
"H-How could you…?"
"Ah, so uneducated," replied Shuuichi. "There's something you failed to realize about me. I was really rather foolish at first, not realizing why my full strength hadn't returned even so long after my battle with Ichimaru. I used the gigai to recharge my power to full, but at the same time, it was my ultimate restriction."
Selaterio's eyes widened.
"Yes," said Shuuichi, holding his sword in front of him. "I couldn't use my full power while still inside a gigai, so I was still limited in my fight against Arturo. But now, I'm in my spirit form. My full potential can be used."
Shuuichi grinned and tossed his sword into the air. Selaterio's eyes followed it. The Arrancar didn't recognize exactly what Shuuichi was doing, but he had a horrible feeling about it anyway.
"Bankai!"
The zanpakutou morphed into a large blue dragon, which unfurled itself down the hallway, and settled down on its large clawed legs, staring Selaterio down.
"Mugoi Kaiyou no Kirunami."
Selaterio grunted. "You've already seen one Arrancar release, Shuuichi. I trust you won't be too surprised by another! Slice, Verdad!"
The blade glowed a bright green, then the hilt sunk backwards right into Selaterio's hand, the blade sprouting from his wrist. More blades appeared, sliding out from his other wrist, his elbows, along his legs. Each blade hummed and glowed green as the transformation completed.
He was covered in blades from head to toe, the ultimate attack and defense at the same time. The red force field around him wavered and disappeared.
"I've been told of the way you fight, Shuuichi Ito. Your bankai does all the fighting for you, and you just stand there. I'm not going to lose to you!"
Selaterio dove forward toward Shuuichi, all but ignoring the dragon, until it dove down to intercept. Then the Arrancar landed on its head, evading its jaws, and flipped over, going for the Vizard once again. The dragon's tail swatted him away.
Selaterio landed squarely. "Just like I thought," he said, grinning savagely. "You can't fight independently because you're controlling your bankai with your full concentration."
Shuuichi grimaced, and the Arrancar just laughed and came in again, dodging another bite by Mugoi Kaiyou no Kirunami. Shuuichi had to temporarily sever his connection with his bankai to dodge a horrible slice. The dragon temporarily froze when he did, then regained movement to counter-attack Selaterio.
"Hahaha!" laughed Selaterio. "All I have to do is concentrate my attacks on you, and your bankai is useless! I know your weak point now!"
The Arrancar dove in again to slice, and once again, Shuuichi disconnected with the dragon to dodge. His opponent didn't let up, dogging the unarmed Vizard while the dragon remained frozen around them.
Shuuichi had to take his one chance. He reconnected with Kirunami, which dove down to take a bite at the Arrancar. As it did though, his arm was cut open by one of the many blades around Selaterio's body, before he was blown away by the bankai.
"Nice move," said Selaterio, offering a short bow. "But you can't afford to take that chance any m—… Hey, what are you doing…?"
Shuuichi raised a hand to his face, and his eyes turned black and yellow. He was able to form the dragon-like Hollow mask in a few seconds, and he lowered his hand to glare at Selaterio.
Then he and his bankai darted off in opposite directions to Selaterio's flanks.
"N-No way!" remarked the former Espada, and he turned toward the dragon, raising two arms to hold its gaping maw open before it crunched down on him. As he did, Shuuichi kicked him right in the back, and he had to Sonido out of the way to avoid getting crushed by the bankai.
"Binding Spell number 61: Rikujoukourou!"
Six rods of golden light slammed into Selaterio's torso, pinning him in place, and he could only watch in horror as the dragon roared in and clamped down on his body with its powerful jaws.
Both the Arrancar and the dragon roared in pain, the latter of which released Selaterio and backed up, blood dripping from its mouth. The Arrancar laughed, though his body had many holes in it from the bite.
"Don't like how these blades feel in your mouth, dragon?" rasped Selaterio. "As long as these blades are here, it doesn't look like you'll be wanting to feast on me any time soon, huh?!"
"Well," came a voice directly behind him. "I should take care of that then."
He didn't even get a chance to turn before Shuuichi's Cero went off, enveloping his body. He cried out in pain as the energy wracked his body, and he didn't need eyes or ears to know the blades covering him were crumbling away under the force of the attack.
As the blast died out, Selaterio found himself barely able to remain standing. His body was smoking, and only a few blades remained of his Verdad.
Mugoi Kaiyou no Kirunami roared in and crunched down on the Arrancar's body. Selaterio grunted, his eyes going wide and his body shaking, and blood spilled from his mouth.
"You were right, Selaterio Cervantes," said Shuuichi, walking up to him, his mask dissolving.
"Damn it, boy…" sighed Selaterio through the blood. "I won't forgive you for this… Just you wait… The Hougyoku might be weak now, but… once its restored, you will have to fight even more of us…"
He began coughing as more of his blood spilled onto the ground from within the growling dragon's jaws.
"You'll be the last one to die, I guess… Pity that those other two have lasted this long already."
"What do you mean?" grunted Shuuichi, narrowing his eyes.
Selaterio laughed. "What do you mean, what do I mean? Out of the five people that came here besides you… Only two of them are left; that Quincy boy, and that useless Shinigami."
Shuuichi's heart leaped into his throat. The Quincy boy must be Uryuu Ishida… But only Renji and Rukia were the Shinigami that came. "Which one is it?! Which Shinigami got beaten?!"
Selaterio grinned, and the light faded from his eyes. "The girl did…" he croaked before his heart stopped.
His body dropped to the ground as the dragon holding him floated away as smoke, and Shuuichi dropped his zanpakutou as soon as it reformed in his hand. Tears began to flow from his eyes.
"R-Rukia…"