Notes:
3 people for Bazz-B, so here we go, we doin Bazz-B. If he's a little OOC, know I just couldn't be bothered to suffer the end of Bleach for the 5th time. I'm being real here, I couldn't do it.
This chapter is a bit Ishida-centric, but the next one is Grimmjow centric, if that's your thing. Spoilers?
All my styling keeps going away and it's making me angry. I had that bold or italic for a reason , stooooooooop. Also I may have been spelling Baraggan's name wrong all this time. Whatever, I guess, he dead, he's not allowed to care.
Dot: Thanks for the catch!
Cheat Sheet:
Reiryoku → reiatsu → reishi
Die Königin (The Queen)
Aspect: Vengence, Life
Location: Geisterwelt (Spirit World aka: Soul Society)
Physical medium: Die Augen der Königin (The eyes of the Queen)
Ability: Das licht (the light)
Kinder: Quincy (Manipulate reishi)
Quincy host: das Herz der Königin (The heart of the Queen)
Current Host: Adaliz (F)
- xxx -
Alteza (High King)
Aspect: Regret, death
Location: Hueco Mundo (Hollow world)
Physical medium: Las manos de Alteza (the hands of the High King)
Ability: La sangre (the blood)
Niños: Hollows (feed off of reishi)
Hollow host: El corazón de Alteza (The heart of Alteza)
Current Host: Kurosaki Ichigo (M)
Previous Hosts: Aizen Sousuke - Mictlāntēcutli
Ganbari masu!
Kreuzung
It happens at night
- xxx -
Uryuu Ishida
Living world
Ishida didn't think he was being unreasonable when he declined to point a weapon Inoue. She could raise an impressive shield, but if she put on a Kevlar vest he still wouldn't point a gun at her. Maybe this made him weak, or a terrible friend that he couldn't trust her, but she was the one ray of light in his life and he wasn't about to put it at risk.
He wanted to help her train, but this simple fact made it almost impossible. He'd debating simply not relaying the information Kurosaki had given him about Hachi, then decided that was petty. Who was he to filter the information she was given?
He'd gone with her to meet these visoreds, and they were just as weird as he'd expected. He'd come to equate shinigami with weird. Just when he thought one of them was normal, he was proven wrong.
They'd been surprisingly accommodating. He didn't know exactly what it was Ichigo had done for Shinji, but it must have been good enough that they trusted Ichigo's judgement. Almost unwaveringly. Like Ichigo, they seemed about as trusting as an alleycat, but they seemed willing enough to take his word at face value.
Because of this, he'd been relatively okay leaving her to go see them on her own. He could be a little over protective, but he knew that for all his faults, Ichigo would never send Orihime to someone dangerous. Dangerous to her anyway.
He stepped into the house and kicked the door closed with his heel, setting the groceries down on the counter. The house was still, dark, like usual. The answering machine light blinked, but he ignored it. He had a cell phone, his father had no reason to call the home he thought he called it just so he could see the proof that he'd ignored him.
Something in the bag he set down shifted, the plastic crinkling, at odds with the ringing in his ears. He turned around and left, not wanting to be in an empty house, not right then. He locked the door behind him and wandered aimlessly, the sun sinking low enough that the sky had darkened to a deep indigo. Streetlights flickered on, and his feet carried him farther and farther from home.
He passed by a baseball game, the floodlights from the field polluting the sky, the distant cheer of a crowd rising up from behind a stretch of houses.
It was a Saturday night, he thought he should be out with friends. That was almost funny. What friends? The only person he spoke to anymore was Orihime, it wasn't like he'd ever been very sociable.
Weeks had passed since he'd spoken to Kurosaki, and he couldn't shake the anger. Orihime asked him what happened, what was wrong, and he couldn't tell her, his voice died in his throat. He didn't want her to worry.
Outside Karakura, he walked a well known path to a path of woods he use to frequent. He stepped over the chain that warned the public the park was closed, and set off the trail into the underbrush. There was a game trail that led to a waterfall, and now that it was winter, the path was clear and easy to follow.
Dead plants crunched under the soles of his shoes, this breath clouding in front of his face as the night grew colder. He heard the roar of the waterfall before he saw it, the waxing moon just enough light to see by.
He stopped at the edge of the pool, his chest tight. They died for nothing. Nothing.
The pointlessness of it all was infuriating, but Kurosaki was right...what could he do on his own?
Nothing.
"'Bout time you left town."
He spun, clamping down on the urge to draw his bow on reflex. "What do you want?" His tone was icy, there was no one who would follow him this far with pure intentions.
The man had his hands stuffed into the pockets of a white jacket, a bright red mohawk fanning proudly from his head. He was about to write him off as a street punk when the man spoke again. "Place has been crawling with shinigami for months."
Ishida's eyes widened, his fingers twitching in the need for a weapon.
The stranger started to pull his hands from his pockets and Ishida tensed, sinking into a ready stance.
The man stopped. "Chill." He slowly revealed empty, gloved hands. He held them up, his hands twitching in a pointed gesture. "See? Unarmed."
If he could casually mention shinigami, that didn't mean much. Ishida gathered reishi, more than willing to accept this man was a threat and an enemy. He formed his bow, but left it angled towards the ground. "So am I."
The man's mouth tilted into a grin. "That's the spirit I like to see."
Ishida repeated. "What do you want?"
"What you want."
Ishida wasn't in the mood for games. "Answer me!"
The strangers expression darkened. "I want the shinigami to rot for what they did."
For what they did? There was only one kind of person who would talk about shinigami like that. His brows furrowed in distress. "You're a Quincy? But…" The bastard had to be lying. He was a liar.
That grin hadn't faded from the stranger's face, the fingers on his right hand glowing as he drew in reishi. The pale light cast dark shadows across his face, dancing wickedly in his eyes. He answered in German. "Ja, bin ich."
There was no mistaking that kind of reiatsu, the casual ability to draw in reishi. Ishida's concentration faltered, his eyes wide in shock. "But that's-"
"Impossible?" His grin only grew. "Did you really think those rats killed all of us?"
Ishida's reiatsu spiked, his bow's shape warping at the sudden surge. The man took a small step closer. "Easy. There's a whole lot of shinigami in this town and I went to a lot of trouble to see that we wouldn't be interrupted."
Clamping down on his reiatsu so he couldn't be traced, Ishida raised his bow, still uncertain if this man was a threat. Kurosaki had warned him about them, but he hadn't actually believed him. How could he? He'd been led to believe all the Quincy were dead. It was hard enough to accept Kurosaki was gemischt, but to see the proof standing before him...
"Ishida, isn't it? I'm Bazz-B. There, now we ain't strangers." If he was bothered by the metaphorical loaded gun Ishida had leveled at his heart, he didn't show it.
Ishida asked again. "How?"
Bazz made a disgusted sound. "How are we alive? You've seen how fuckin' incompetent they are. They lay claim to everything: plus souls, the afterlife, eradicating hollows; and they fail miserably at all of it."
He started to raise his voice, working himself up, and dropped his hands to stalk into the light cast by Ishida's bow. "You went to Geisterwelt, didn't you? You saw it. Their perfect white streets, their glittering rooftops, and what about everyone else? They lock them outside the safety of their walls to die in the mud, to be preyed on by hollows."
Ishida's aim wavered, the tip of a reishi arrow pointed off into the woods past Bazz-B's shoulder. He said, "You intend to do something about that? No one is so altruistic."
"I didn't come all this way and go through all this trouble for no reason. Die Konigin is as strong as she's ever been, we can crush the Soul King, we can have our vengeance." He squeezed his hand into a fist, the leather creaking in protest. "The Sternritter are extending an invitation. Will you join us?"
Ishida swallowed thickly, his mouth suddenly dry. This was the opportunity he'd wanted, wasn't it? Kurosaki must have warned him about these people for a reason...he didn't know what to think. "Do I need to decide now?"
Bazz smiled like Ishida had just agreed, reaching into his pocket to remove something small and metallic. He tossed it at him and Ishida let his grip on his bow falter and fade. He snapped his hand up and caught it, surprised by the weight of it. It fit in his palm, a sharp, five pointed pinwheel made of something white, nearly luminescent. He turned it over in his hand while Bazz explained, "When we need you, we'll come to you. Hang on to that."
Ishida tightened his grip, the edges cutting into his palm. He smoothed his thumb over the smooth plane of a savage looking prong, feeling the hum of energy, but he was unsure what kind. He asked, "What is this?"
"An invitation to join the ranks of the Sternritter." He spoke, and this time there was a gravity to his words. "We've been watching you, and we approve."
His words fell like a double edged sword. It was both a compliment, and a threat. Ishida asked, "If you've been watching, then you know my relationship with Kurosaki."
Bazz chuckled, but it was far from innocent humor. "Of course. El corazón de Alteza is no stranger to der Königin.
Ishida asked, "How can I contact you?"
"You don't." He took a sharp step back, then spun on his heel and left, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"That's it?"
"Be seein' you, Ishida." He disappeared in a blur, his hirenkyaku too quick to track. Ishida stared at the place he'd just been standing with wide eyes, then looked back down at the crest. He could abandon it, leave it here and forget about it.
He scanned the trees, his breath puffing in front of his face. They were watching...when, for how long? He was usually better at sensing reiatsu, yet he'd barely sensed Bazz at all. These Sternritter were dangerous, but he'd known as much from Ichigo.
He ran his thumb over the medallion, the surface damp from the heat of his palm.
Ishida abruptly left, his eyes lingering on the shadows in paranoia. He put his hands in his pockets, trying to think with his head and not his heart, but it was difficult. Of all the things he'd ever prided himself on, it was his ability to remain level-headed. That wasn't working much anymore, he was too invested, involved.
Kurosaki, by pure virtue of having Quincy blood, was a distant relative. He'd fought not to be consumed by the foolish hope they might ever be...family. The concept of it still left a bitter taste in his mouth. For better or for worse, his father was distant, nearly nonexistent. The only person he'd ever been close to was dead and gone, and he'd seen the afterlife. There was nothing waiting for him there.
No, he was being dramatic. For some reason, Inoue was there, she didn't let him put up walls to lock her out, and when he tried, she knocked them down with as little as a smile.
Even Kurosaki, in his strange way, cared. He'd been nothing but abrasive and resistant, and still, somehow, he hadn't completely pushed the visored away.
He found himself in the lobby of the hospital, blinking at the elevator. He watched people come and go, and he felt like a coward. A coward for being there, for not having the courage to continue.
Move.
MOVE.
He stepped in and pressed the button, the doors shuttering closed and trapping him with his decision. He watched the numbers with growing apprehension, stepping out onto the floor. Most of the lights were out, the receptionist had long since gone home, he could hear the whirring of vacuum some distance down the hall.
His father would have sensed him by now, there was no point turning back. He paced down the hall, his footsteps padded by thick carpet. He thought about knocking, then in a last act of defiance, he just barged in. His father leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs. "I was wondering how long you were going to stand there."
Ishida felt his stomach hollow out in shame, but not for the jab. He crossed the office, taking his hand from his jacket, and dropped the white medallion on the desk without a single word. It hit the wood with a thud, too heavy to bounce, and scratched the perfect polished surface.
Ryūken's eyes widened, looking from Ishida, to the medallion on his desk. He stood, slowly, his tone guarded. "Who gave you this?"
"A Sternritter who called himself Bazz-B."
His father made a disapproving sound. "Bazzard Black." He took off his glasses, dropping them on the desktop with a carelessness Ishida had never seen from him before. He rubbed his eyes, staring down at the medallion in grief. "You couldn't leave well enough alone, could you? "
Ishida took it as a rhetorical question. He wasn't sure why he was here. Help, advice?
"You're involved with Masaki's boy, aren't you?" The look on Ishida's face confirmed what he already knew. "He's treading dangerous waters, and so are you." He grabbed his glasses and his coat from the back of his chair. "Forget the dead, concern yourself with the living."
Ishida picked it up and pocketed it again, asking, "Why me?"
Ryūken shrugged into his coat, replacing his glasses and heading for the door. "Because you're young, powerful."
Ishida followed him from the room, watching his father lock his office and wrap a scarf around his neck. He couldn't help but notice the Quincy cross embroidered near the end. He asked, "Why didn't they approach you?"
Ryūken headed to the elevator and pressed the button, his voice guarded. "Because they took my wife away from me." He added, "Your mother."
Ishida stared at him, his blood running cold. The elevator pinged and the doors opened, Ryūken stepping inside. He held his arm in front of the sensor and waited for him. His father watched without weighing and judging his actions, for once. "Why didn't you tell me?"
He asked, "Is that something you tell a child?"
"I'm not a child anymore!"
Ryūken let out a sigh. "No, you're not," he agreed. He stepped out of the elevator and back into the hallway. The doors slid shut, leaving them in relative darkness. "Which is why I'm giving you all the tools you need to make this decision on your own."
His father looked away, pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. Ishida was struck by how similar the mannerism was. Despite all his best efforts, he was still so much like him.
Ryūken said, "The Quincy aren't the just paladins Sōken preached to you. He would have preferred you live with colorful stories and the code of honor the Quincy have all but abandoned. Stories are for children, and you're no longer a child; the Quincy are not faultless, but neither are they without their victims. I was once taken by stories of grandeur and honor, but my loyalty bought me nothing but a broken heart."
His father pushed the button for the elevator again and said, "The Sternritter's true purpose is war, it always has been. I won't tell you what to do, but I will tell you that the Sternritter have no need for a Quincy with fickle resolve. Whatever you choose, there will be no going back without a cost."
"Is that a warning?"
Ryūken stepped into the elevator again, and this time, Ishida joined him. He replied, "Advice."
The floors seemed to pass by too quickly, the moment slipping through his fingers.
9
8
7
Ishida asked, "Why did…" His throat tightened and he couldn't speak the words. Why did his mother have to die? What had she done?
5
4
Ryūken's voice was flat. "Because she was expendable."
Ishida swallowed thickly, his hands tight around the medallion in his palm, now almost too hot against his skin. The doors pinged happily and shuffled apart. His father walked away, leaving him standing in the lobby alone.
He felt lost.
- xxx -
Kurosaki Ichigo
Hueco Mundo
It had been weeks since Ichigo had sensed Ulquiorra's reiatsu, maybe months, so when it flared in resurreccion, he was notably concerned. The Espada wouldn't take it upon himself to spar or help his fellow arrancar for anything, and even if he did, given his inclination to kill, Ichigo wouldn't have trusted him to anyway. This wasn't just resurreccion, it was the intent to kill.
He stepped into and through la sangre, and wasn't surprised to see the antagonizer was Grimmjow. The two had always butt heads, and it wasn't hard to see why. Grimmjow had passion, Ulquiorra was a nihilist, and neither understood the other.
What did surprise him was that Grimmjow's reiatsu was hovering at a level close to passive.
Both noted his presence, but neither looked in his direction. After a long, tense moment, Ichigo asked, "Is one of you going to tell me what's going on?"
Ulquiorra answered smoothly. "This doesn't concern you."
"You're within Las Noches," Ichigo answered stiffly. "It concerns me." He didn't intend to fight Grimmjow's battles for him, but for reasons he couldn't determine, his fraccion seemed hellbent on pacifism. That was more concerning than Ulquiorra releasing his sword, even if it was to prove some kind of point.
"Grimmjow." It was a silent demand for an answer, and while Grimmjow might dig in his heels and resist authority, he'd earned at least enough respect from the Espada that he could count on him to obey an order.
Grimmjow curled his lip in distaste. "He doesn't understand anything." That wasn't helpful at all, but thankfully Grimmjow wasn't done. His voice was low with what could have been pity. "He thinks he's different, better, because he doesn't understand a heart."
Ulquiorra's eyes narrowed. "We're hollows, we don't have a heart."
"Stupid fucker. You have your segunda etapa and you still don't understand."
Ulquiorra began to gather reiatsu to retaliate, and Ichigo had had enough. He stepped between them, grasping the Ulquiorra's forearm. Ichigo asked, "Itching for a fight? You'll fight me." Ulquiorra might be soft spoken and generally well mannered for an arrancar, but he had the same instincts as the rest, and he was a more violent creature than he seemed to be.
He let go of Ulquiorra's sword arm and took a step to the side. It wasn't a request, he expected Ulquiorra to follow. The Espada gave Grimmjow one last look, then followed after Ichigo when he stepped into sonido.
Ichigo brought Ulquiorra far away from Las Noches, both for privacy and as a buffer. He stopped and drew his khyber sword, and the Espada watched in curiosity. Ichigo explained, "You're the only one besides Starrk I haven't fought."
Ulquiorra hadn't raised his sword. "You're more powerful, what's the point?"
"Humor me, Ulquiorra."
The Espada looked down at his sword, then back towards Las Noches. "You protected Grimmjow. He said that you would. Why?"
Ichigo asked a rhetorical question. "I'm king of you, should I just let you kill each other?"
Ulquiorra said, "Aizen did not interfere. He punished the transgressors, but he would never defend a weak arrancar."
Ichigo's eyes narrowed. "I'm not Aizen. I could go on and explain why it's practical, but the easiest answer is that I'd prefer no one have to die. Including you."
"You wish me to live, yet you have the capacity to kill me. Like Grimmjow, you have a lust for battle. This I cannot understand."
Ichigo shifted into a lazy stance. "Fight with me."
"Why?" Ulquiorra asked again.
"You might not understand me, but I would like to understand you."
If Ulquiorra even cared what he was asking, Ichigo couldn't be sure, but he lowered into a stance anyway and prepared for a fight.
Stepped into sonido, Ichigo moved at a speed he hoped Ulquiorra could keep up with. The Espada shifted and partied his attack with the ringing of steel, but only just.
Ichigo pressured Ulquiorra's defenses, hitting him hard and fast enough that he knew he would need to lean on his instincts. He didn't want this to escalate into using energy attacks, they weren't actually trying to kill each other for one, and for another, it lacked the intimacy of a duel.
Ichigo circled Ulquiorra, the hum of his heart in his sword reflecting what he'd already feared. It was a quiet thing, but one he remembered from a past no one else knew.
He stopped, sheathing his sword, and paced up to the the Espada. Ulquiorra lowered his sword and watched passively, but his eyes widened a fraction when Ichigo raised his hand to touch.
Ulquiorra took a step back, and Ichigo paused. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want a closer look." He reached out again, and this time Ulquiorra stayed still. Ichigo's fingers brushed his collarbone, his palm hovering over his hollow hole.
He tugged on la sangre, gently enough Ulquiorra wouldn't feel it, and found that as far as the foundations of his soul, he was a lot like Grimmjow. Given they both had achieved their segunda etapa, that wasn't anything new.
Ichigo let his awareness sink deeper, into the darkness that fought for life and dominance among hundreds of souls and made him unique. For a time, he felt nothing, but he knew he had a heart, he'd felt it. He reached deeper still. He sucked in a sharp breath, his eyes focusing back on Ulquiorra's.
To try to cut his own heart out, what must that have been like? Why would he do something like that?
"Why indeed."
He felt a familiar guilt clench inside him at the reminder; he did the same every time he let his hollow form push away his heart. The pain never left, but everything was blessedly muted, numb.
Ichigo said, "Like Starrk, you've done a lot of damage to your own soul."
"Damage?"
Ichigo's brows drew together in empathy. "You've tried to smother your own heart."
Ulquiorra argued, "If I cannot see it, then it doesn't exist."
Ichigo didn't take his eyes from Ulquiorra's. He let his hand press closer, his claws digging into pale skin, and he did something he wasn't entirely proud of. He wrapped his control around the shadow of his soul, reaching not for something physical, not in the way he might imagine a heart. He'd come to realize hollows were complicated creatures, no more or less than any other living thing.
Ichigo held his heart in his grasp, weak and fluttering, and squeezed it within la sangre.
Ulquiorra stiffened and fell to his knees, gasping. He reached for his chest, but didn't touch, confusion and pain shadowing his expression. Ichigo hadn't wanted to hurt him, not once he'd given his trust, but there was only one way to overcome denial so strong.
Once Ulquiorra had caught his breath, he demanded, "What did you do?"
Ichigo sank to his knees in front of him, preferring not to loom over him. Ulquiorra was angry because he was vulnerable, and he wouldn't abuse that any more than he already had. "I showed you that you can still feel pain. It's been a long time since you felt anything like that, hasn't it?"
Ulquiorra demanded, "Why would I willingly subject myself to pain?"
He could understand now why Grimmjow hadn't drawn his sword against him. He'd pitied the other Espada. He said, "Pain lets us know where we're vulnerable, so we can protect ourselves. It lets us know we're alive."
"If having a heart means to suffer, than why would a hollow desire such a thing?"
Ichigo thought about that, considering his words carefully before he spoke. "Because to have a heart is to feel more than just pain. Pain is just the price to pay." He paused, and decided there was no harm in revealing his own thoughts and fears. "I think I understand."
"Do you?"
Ulquiorra wasn't challenging his claim, his question was genuine. He pushed his hollowfication away, his hollow hole filling as the markings that slashed his skin faded away.
"King, what are you doing?"
Ulquiorra stared at him with wide eyes, his gaze lingering on his chest, like he could see straight through flesh and bone to his heart.
'He might be hard to read, but what you see is what you get, he won't use this against me.'
"How can you know that?"
'I think it's worth the risk.'
Ichigo said, "I might gain power for it, and a half decent disguise, but I'd be lying through my teeth if I said I didn't like that it numbs the pain."
Green eyes flicked up to amber. "What causes you pain?"
"Loss, guilt...unpleasant things. To bury your own heart away, you must have once felt something." Ulquiorra's hand snapped out, and Ichigo made the conscious decision to remain still. His hand clenched tight around his throat and his instincts rebelled. Ichigo resisted the urge to fight back, he knew the Espada couldn't hurt him, even outside of hollowfication, but it was still unpleasant. There was the flicker of a memory, of Aizen's fingers crushing his throat.
He felt Ulquiorra's fingers press into his skin, but it wasn't nearly enough to crush his hierro. He forced his panic aside, finding it to be unhelpful. He asked calmly, "Why do you want to kill me?"
"You see it too, how pointless it all is, but you keep going, and you drag us all along with you. You should have killed us all. You confuse me, visored."
Ichigo reached up for his wrist, but didn't push him away. He asked again, "Why do you want to kill me?"
Ulquiorra squeezed harder, "I need to know if your death matters."
Ichigo had left a whisper of control in the Espada's heart, and with that flutter of emotion, he suddenly understood. Maybe it was his own heart that led him to empathize, or his recent stint in the hearts of some very troubled arrancar, but Ulquiorra's words made sense.
Zangetsu traced his analysis and commented, "That's pretty fucked, King. Just put the bastard out of his misery."
'Was that a vote for suicide? We're not much better.'
Ichigo said, "You want to kill me because you want to feel something. You want to to take away the things that have gathered your attention; destroy them."
Ichigo pulled at a tangled thread in his heart, trying to loosen the knot. It was just one nudge too far. Ulquiorra threw himself forward, flattening Ichigo's back to the sand. Ulquiorra's pupils narrowed, and his hands trembled in exertion. The Espada knew how pointless this was, but it seemed he couldn't help but try. If he pushed any harder, he might try to hit him with a cero.
Tearing apart the wall the Espada had built wasn't smart, but he could weather it down a bit at a time. He pushed Ulquiorra's hands away from his throat, his limit for tolerating contact just about null. He sat up, and his his grip on Ulquiorra's wrists kept him almost uncomfortably close. His voice was soft, but dangerous. "If you insist on harming yourself like this, I'll ask you not to include my fraccion, or any other arrancar."
"The homicidal fuck wants to kill you and you classify that as self-harm? He's a risk, kill him."
'I can't.'
Ichigo let him go and stood, the Espada watching him with the wide eyes of a watchful predator. His expression betrayed nothing, but Ichigo could still feel his heart. Ichigo had sunk so far into his soul, pulling away was a delicate thing. "Test the barrier around your heart in any way you wish, but do so on me."
He offered the Espada a hand, and Ulquiorra stared at it, uncomprehending. The Espada asked, "Is that not a touch narcissistic?"
Ichigo answered, "It's practical. No one else will survive your experimenting." Not to mention the Espada's obsession with him seemed to carry over into this timeline as well.
Ulquiorra lifted his hand, but hesitated. Ichigo skipped the indecision and made the choice for him, grasping him by the forearm and hauling the arrancar to his feet. Ulquiorra asked, "What is the point of that?"
Figured the arrancar wouldn't understand something even as simple as that. "Think about it." He slipped back into his hollow form, the pain lifted from his shoulders.
Ulquiorra asked, "The irony is not lost on me."
Ulquiorra desperately wanted to understand a heart, and Ichigo desperately ran from his. "I imagine it wouldn't be." He faced him and asked, "Do we have an agreement, Ulquiorra?"
The Espada looked from the hole in his chest to his eyes. "Yes."
- xxx -
Ichigo sat with his hands clasped between his knees, Grimmjow and Nel to his immediate right, with Harribel to his left. Ulquiorra leaned against the wall somewhere behind him, context as always to watch. Ever since their talk, Ulquiorra had spent more and more time around him, simply observing. That was fine by Ichigo, so long as he stopped trying to kill other arrancar.
The only loose ends among the arrancar was the Quinto Espada's death and Barragan's slighted Fracción. So far they had yet to wreck havoc, but according to just about every arrancar he'd spoken with, their behavior was beginning to border on homicidal.
While he didn't think it was reasonable to expect them all to be housetrained kittens, he didn't want them to be beating other arrancar within an inch of their life. Establishing territory was one thing, but marking entire sections of Las Noches as untraversable if you were below Espada rank fell into fear mongering.
Starrk wandered in last, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. That made all of them.
He stood, and didn't need to raise his voice, the group was small and as quiet as usual. "With Aaroniero dead, you all get bumped up in rank." That was immediately apparent upon his execution, no one was surprised, but it needed to be said. "That leaves décimo open. Any suggestions?"
The Espada traded looks, most having someone in mind, but waiting to see who would speak first.
Yylfordt shrugged. "Di Roy?"
Apacci scoffed. "Sure. Let's promote all of Grimmjow's fraccion while we're at it."
He shot back. "Like you can talk."
Ichigo cut them off before it could get out of hand. "I can do without the commentary. Any other suggestions?"
Zommari suggested. "Aisslinger."
Ichigo was surprised to hear from him, he hardly ever spoke or contributed, and while he couldn't pair a face with the name, he had no doubt the suggestion was valid.
There was a long pause, then Starrk spoke. "Pesche."
"Who?" asked Edrad. He sounded more than skeptical.
Starrk nodded towards Neliel. "Mija's old fraccion. White restored his mask, and he's quite powerful."
Neliel positively beamed. Ichigo made a note to follow up with Starrk. If he could give a recommendation like that, he must have fought Pesche, and if that was true, then maybe Nel and her fraccion warmed up to him more than he'd thought.
Szayel asked, "Is there a reason no one will name Baraggan's fraccion?"
The scientist spent his days locked in his own lab, and he couldn't care less for gossip, so it was no wonder he didn't know. Ichigo shared a look with Harribel. "I was getting to that. They've been playing a bit too rough, and depending on their response, they might not be alive to fill the position."
Harribel carried on. "Their loyalty to Baraggan, even in his death, is just barely outmatched by their fear of White."
Shawlong commented dismissively. "Troublemakers, but hardly a threat."
"To you," Ichigo said, "or any other Espada, hardly, but to a numeros? Apacci."
She floundered for a moment, not expecting to be thrown into the conversation. "I talk to the other arrancar-"
"Weaklings," Yylfordt interjected.
Apacci continued louder, as if he hadn't spoken. "And they've staked out most of the Southern end for themselves. Instead of cutting straight through to get from East to West, they have to go around."
Edrad snorted, "So what?"
"So, they don't all have sonido. It takes them literal days to get from one end to another. They can't even cut over or above. How is that practical?"
Harribel took over from there. "It's one thing to settle territorial disputes with force and another thing to band together in a gang as if they're residing within enemy territory."
It seemed that put things into perspective for the more fire blooded Espada. Grimmjow wasn't as dense as he pretended to be, he understood well enough why this wasn't acceptable, too well even. He'd even brought it up beforehand.
Ulquiorra asked, "Will you kill them?"
All eyes turned to him, even Harribel's. It seemed she was right, they did all expect the worst. "Not if they disband without a fight, but I'm not going to be the one who confronts them."
"Why not?" Mila asked.
Grimmjow cut in. "Cause he's the goddamned boogeyman. Would any arrancar in their right mind slip up with White standing on their proverbial grave?"
Ichigo had already spoken to Grimmjow about it, and it was no secret Ichigo sent the Espada in his place when he couldn't or didn't choose to act.
Yylfordt frowned. "That's a good point." He brightened and punched his fist into his palm. "So who gets to kick their face in?"
Ichigo crossed his arms over his chest. "Cool off. We choose the décimo Espada first, then we'll address Baraggan's fraccion." He didn't hold too much stock in numbers or their rank, but he thought the structure helped ease some of their natural tendency for chaos, and it gave them a goal to strive for.
He looked back at Neliel and asked, "Who's in the cards?"
She hid a grin and rattled off. "Aisslinger, Pesche, and Di Roy."
Grimmjow scoffed. "Forgot already, asshole?"
Ichigo defended. "I'm bad with names, alright?" He looked back at the Espada and asked, "Who wants Aisslinger?"
The numeros got Zommari's vote, Szayel's, and surprisingly, Shawlong.
"Pesche." To Ichigo's surprise, he got Grimmjow's vote, Harribels, Starrk's, and Mila, Cyan's and Apacci's.
Yylfordt griped. "Their vote only counts for one...right?"
Ichigo shared a look of confirmation with Harribel and confirmed, "Their vote counts as one." He asked, "Di Roy?"
Unsurprisingly, Yylfordt went for Di Roy, as did Edrad, but Ulquiorra chose not to vote.
Ichigo said, "Unless anyone has a good argument for it, Pesche is the décimo Espada."
Edrad snorted in disapproval. "I've never even seen him."
"He's recommended by Starrk, that counts for much." Harribel reminded.
Grimmjow groaned, the sound bordering on a snarl. "Can we move on?"
Ichigo relented. "Yes, now we can talk about Baraggan's fraccion." He asked the room, "How many of them are there?"
"Six." Half the Espada provided that answer simultaneously.
Seemed like everyone knew but him. Ichigo hadn't ever fought Baraggan's fraccion, he knew next to nothing about them. He asked, "Would it be an overestimation to send 6 Espada to confront them?"
Szayel cut off Grimmjow before he could answer. "Three are quite weak, and if my data has aged well, the strongest would still be either Choe Neng Poww or Abirama. Alone, they aren't much, they rely on fighting in a group when possible."
"Fine," Ichigo said. He looked to Grimmjow. "Choose who to take, and deal with them. Talk first, and if-"
"When." Grimmjow interrupted.
Ichigo frowned. "If that fails, you can kill them." He added, "Neliel will be shadowing you."
Szayel goaded, "Don't trust your own fraccion?"
"Have you heard Grimmjow tell a story?" Ichigo snorted. "I'd like to know what happens. Neliel will be an observer, nothing more."
Ichigo raised his hand in half wave. "Have fun." He stepped into la sangre and left, trusting his Espada to work this out on their own.
Harribel was right, he needed to let them do their job, and that meant easing off. His propensity to micromanage meant a lot of arrancar still thought they could avoid punishment when his attention was diverted, and Adaliz was one hell of a diversion. He couldn't let that mentality flourish.
- xxx -
Bleached One: LOL Wow, that's what I get for grabbing a name so similar to Tatsuki's, shame on me. I like reading what you have to say, even if it's just your general thoughts on what happened. It's nice to see things from someone else's perspective. I'll wonder if I'm being blindingly vague or overly specific, and that sheds some light on that.
There are so many characters in Bleach, I wanna write for all of them, but I'm also worried about rambling off into bunny trails. When I pull in another character I'm trying to pull them into either the main plot or the character development of someone important. Who knows how that's going, but I'm making an effort.
In the middle of adding Ulquiorra back into the mix I got your review, I miss this edgy little shit, so he's back now. Recently read a few fics where he was blindingly OOC and it bugged me, so that probably helped prod me along.
A migraine on Sunday shut me down for the entire day, which sucked. I must have slept 18 hours. Also, no work thursday and friday, but there's also going to be holiday shenanigans, so either a chapter will happen sooner or later, but I've got my fingers crossed for sooner.
Thanks for reading!
Current Espada Ranking
King Strawberry
Fraccion: Grimmjow, Nelliel
0 - Harribel
1 - Ulquiorra
2 - Starrk & Lilynette
3 - Grimmjow
4 - Zommari
5 - Szayelaporro Granz
6 - Shawlong
7 - Cyan, Mila Rose, Apacci (Quimera Parca: Ayon)
8 - Yylfordt Granz
9 - Edrad Liones
10 - Pesche
Fallen Espada
Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck
Fraccion: Pesche Guatiche