Hollow King chapter ten

I no own bleach.

Calm before the storm.

Gondra awoke with yet another bad hangover in the late afternoon. He tried to move but felt something heavy on his chest. Blinking his eyes open he saw what it was. There was Isane, straddling him in her bra and panties, completely passed out. Gondra looked down at himself and noticed he was only wearing a pair of boxers. All he could think to himself was,

"I am Jack's raging hard on.....god, I hope she can't feel that."

Isane shifted in her sleep mumbling something incoherent.

"Oh, shit! She'll freak out if she wakes up now!" Gondra thought to himself, trying his best not to move but it was inevitable. Isane's eyes slowly fluttered open, looking directly at Gondra.

"Morning." Gondra said with a nervous smile. The sleepy eyed angel stared at Gondra with a drowsy and hung over look on her face. It took her several seconds and several more blinks before she realized her compromising position. With a half scream, half yelp Isane leaped off Gondra, hiding herself at the foot of the bed. As she peeked over the edge, she had to ask,

"What......did we......do?"

Gondra sat up on the bed, cross legged. Isane grabbed one of the pillows lying on the floor to try and cover herself as Gondra scratched the back of his head.

"That's what happens when you black out. Well, I don't think we did anything too extreme. I mean we're still wearing our underwear." he said practically.

"Oh...okay..... I stink, I'm going to shower." Isane stated as she tossed Gondra the pillow and walked out of the room slowly, purposely giving him a great view of her backside. Gondra couldn't help but chuckle at the girl's mixed signals. He supposed that was one of the many things that he liked about her.

XXXXX

Isane exited the shower and threw on a robe. As she exited the bathroom, she heard a strange beeping sound coming from the Gondra's duffel bag. Isane unzipped the bag to find the sound coming from the bizarre device given to Gondra by Captain Kurotsuchi. Isane gasped and stepped back as the claw-like device crawled out of the bag, knocking the eerie black scroll over and causing it to roll underneath the couch. The claw scuttled to the flat screen TV, leaping up and attaching itself to the edge. With a sudden blast of static and white noise, the TV turned itself on as the claw's lone organic eye fixed on Isane. Isane sat down on the couch as a few familiar faces came into focus on the flat screen.

"Is this damn thing on?" Kenpachi asked as he glared at the screen. He was at the other end of the signal with her captain and her sister.

"I think it's working. Hello, Isane. It's good to see you well." stated Unohana in her calm and loving tone.

"Hey, sis! We just wanted to check up on you guys. How are you two doing?" Kiyone chimed as she waved to her older sister.

"We're all fine here. I just woke up, that's all."

"Just woke up, huh? So, what have the two of you been up to?" Zaraki asked with a grin.

"Captain Zaraki, that's a little personal." Captain Unohana interjected.

"More importantly, has Gondra gotten into some good fights or what?" Zaraki continued, ignoring the other captain.

Isane nodded once as she spoke,

"Yes sir. As a matter of fact, he teamed up with Ichigo in defeating some powerful hollows the other day."

"Sounds like him. So where is he?"

"Well, I think he's still asleep." she offered. Just as Isane finished her sentence Gondra walked across the room to make coffee, wearing nothing but a towel. He was completely oblivious to what was happening. He must have taken a shower right after her, she thought. Kiyone looked shocked as she tried to speak,

"D...di...did you two shower together?"

Isane waved her arms and shook her head franticly as she tried to explain,

"No! It's nothing like that."

Holding two fresh cups of coffee, Gondra walked over to Isane and finally noticing the others.

"Captain Zaraki?" he spoke in surprise.

"Hey, Gondra. Good to see the two of ya getting along so well." Zaraki chuckled.

Unohana taped Zaraki on the shoulder gesturing for them to leave the room.

"Come on, Captain Zaraki. This conversation is not for us."

"I can't believe you two!" Kiyone shouted as she terminated the link, turning the TV back to static. Isane cupped her face in her hands, saying to herself how awful the situation was. Gondra handed her a cup of coffee, as he tried to console her,

"It could be worse, Isane."

"How could it be any worse?" she argued.

"Captain Kurotsuchi could have been there."

Isane shuddered at the thought and took a sip of coffee and spat it out in a bitter spray.

"What is this stuff?" she snapped

"Its coffee. Drink some. It's good for hangovers. I can put some sugar in it if you want." he offered with a smile.

XXXXX

Later, Gondra leaped from skyscraper to skyscraper in his shinigami form, dispatching the hollows of Karakura town. Diving through the air, Gondra swung his blade downward. He cut a bat-like hollow in half. When he landed, Gondra spun around quickly, firing off a several blades of reiatsu from his sword and tearing a spider-like hollow apart. He heard someone applaud and turned around to see an arrancar approaching. Gondra raised his blade, ready for an attack but the arrancar raised his hand in truce.

"Greetings, shinigami. My name is Ghelid Morchavare, former Espada. I come here with a message from Aizen-sama to all shinigami."

Gondra sheathed his blade and studied the arrancar. He had gray, spiky hair with bloodshot eyes, a long white cloak with black trim and a mask fragment that resembled a gas mask with teeth covering his mouth. His voice had a cold mechanical tone to it with a sharp German accent.

"And what is your message, arrancar?"

"In 24 hours, my brethren and I will launch an attack on the shinigami in Karakura Town. Aizen-sama highly recommends that you call for more reinforcements, preferably Captain class. This will be a rather large attack. That is all. I look forward to seeing you on the battlefield, shinigami."

With his parting words, Ghelid turned around and with a wave of his hand, he opened the Garganta back to Heuco Mundo. As soon as the arrancar disappeared, Gondra was on his soul pager and giving his report of the upcoming attack.

"Shit. I have a bad feeling about this."

XXXXX

Gondra spent the rest of the day in his Soul Scape, sparring with Sunaryuu and Tyler, as the song, "My Assassin. By the bled", blasted throughout the ruins in the background.

"This is going be great fight, Jack! I cant wait! That Ghelid punk's gonna get it!" Tyler shouted with his usual insane enthusiasm as he and Gondra clashed blades.

"Your improving all the time Gondra, your going to kick ass out there."Sunaryuu chimed in as she fired off her magnum, causing Gondra to deflect the bullet.

"Glad you two are stoked about it. I'm just relived that Central 46 agreed to send a couple Captains over for the fight."

Gondra was excited about the upcoming battle. This would be his first fight with an arrancar, after all. But he couldn't help but worry about Isane. By the look of her, she didn't seem like much of a fighter. She specialized in healing as the lieutenant of the Fourth Division. When Gondra finished his meditation, Isane informed him that tomorrow morning that Captain's Zaraki and Kurotsuchi would arrive through the senkaimon. It was just her luck that they sent the two captains that freaked her out the most, she thought. They both insisted on going and Yamamoto thought it was wise because they both knew Gondra well.

"Gondra, I'm worried. I've never fought an arrancar before." she admitted quietly.

"Me, nether but it'll be okay, Isane. You're not a Lieutenant for nothing after all." Gondra hesitated before adding,

"And this may be bad for me to say since you outrank me but.....I'll protect you."

Gondra grasped her hand as he spoke, making her blush a little and look up at him. He looked into her eyes as he repeated.

"Everything will be okay."

"Do you promise?" she whispered.

"I promise." he assured her confidently.

XXXXX

That night Gondra lay awake in his bed alone as Isane slept on the couch in the other room. His mind was going into overdrive thinking about all the things that had happened since his death, at the brutal irony of sleeping in his death bed, about the SS looking arrancar that wanted to fight him but most of all about Isane and what she really meant to him. He liked her, but how much?

"Gondra.....Gondra wake up. The captains will be waiting for us." Isane called out.

Gondra opened his eyes to see Isane an inch away from his face, trying to wake him. They looked into each others eyes for a few moments before a timid blush colored Isane's cheeks from ear to ear as she pulled away.

As Gondra threw on his clothes he turned to Isane saying with a grin,

"Let's go. They shouldn't be that hard to find in a crowd considering what they dress like."

Okay, thats Chapter Ten. Yay! I would like to thank all my devoted readers who are kind enough to review my fic. You know who you are so, thank you! You guys give me the drive to keep writing so keep it up. I hope more people catch on to the fic and leave more reviews. If I get enough reviews from enough people I'll mention all of them at the end of a chapter. So spread the word.

Sandragon out!