Hitsugaya Toushirou
-Day 3 of Azumi's Capture (Present)-
Hueco Mundo looked just like the description. White sand, night sky, and desert as far as the eye could see. The only thing that wasn't in the description was Aizen's domain: Las Noches. It was incredibly huge, even from the distance we were from it.
Three hours had gone by, and we were closing in on the fortress ahead. We'd taken a few breaks to catch our breaths, and then immediately went right back at it.
Once we got to the massive wall guarding the fortress, Kurosaki decided that slashing through the wall was the better alternative than finding an entrance.
Abarai helped him, and in no time we had an entrance. I took the lead and ran down the dark hallway. After several twists and turns, we reached a room that had three different passages.
"What should we do, Taichou?" Matsumoto asked.
"We should split up!" Kurosaki answered for me.
I didn't like the idea, but it seemed as if we had no alternative. If we all went the wrong way, then the longer it would take to find Azumi. It had already been a few days, we couldn't waste anymore time.
"Okay, we'll split into groups of two. I'll take Matsumoto with me; the rest of you can decide who you would like to go with." I told them.
"I'll go with Renji," Kuchiki said.
"Yo! Looks like it's you and me, Ichigo!" Yoruichi smirked.
"Fine by me," he replied with a grin.
"If you find her, raise your spiritual pressure to a constant level and we'll all come to you. If you're fighting someone, try to either escape or finish it quickly rather than continuing engagement, and be careful with your spiritual pressure. Anyone else have anything to say?" I asked.
"I do, Taichou," Abarai stepped up.
"It's a tradition in the Soul Society to recite a chant before going into battle; since it's the 6 of us against all of Las Noches, I'd like to say it now before we separate. Everyone, put your hands in." He outstretched his hand in front of him.
"I didn't know you were so traditional," Matsumoto chuckled sarcastically.
"Yeah yeah, just put your hand in!" Abarai shot back with embarrassment.
After a hesitant delay, all of us put our hands in and Abarai began.
"We at this moment head into a decisive battle! Have faith that our blades will not shatter; have faith that our hearts will not waver! And even if our paths should diverge, we all share a heart of iron! Swear that even if the ground beneath us should be rent asunder, we will live and return to this place once again!" He pushed our hands down.
"Go!"
Immediately all of us flash-stepped off into the three different hallways. One could only hope that this really was the fastest way to find Azumi.
-[×]-
Takashita Azumi
-Day 1 of Azumi's Capture-
"Come on! Hurry up!" Tokiwa Sute yanked my arm.
"I'm already coming with you! Give it a rest, bitch!" I snarled at her.
She immediately vice-gripped my arm.
"Hey! Watch your fucking mouth, scum!" She shouted at me, with a fluid slap to my face.
"If you speak that way around Aizen-Sama, I'll personally slash your head clean off your shoulders!" She threatened.
I couldn't help myself—I laughed.
She looked at me in angry confusion.
"Great! It's settled, you'll be doing me a favor!" I cackled away like some psychopath.
She angrily sighed and tugged me along while I continued to my insane laughter.
We left the weird black void we were in through a gigantic rip in front of us, and were now above a Castle-looking building. I looked around and noticed it was night time, and the surrounding area was nothing but desert. Aizen sure picked a Hell-of-a place for a fortress—that's for sure.
Tokiwa plunged down toward the castle, still gripping my arm to make sure I didn't go anywhere. Honestly, at that point, where would I even go? Was it really necessary to keep a hold on me? I mean, I wouldn't know how to get back anyway—typical villain I guess.
We landed on a bridge connecting two towers, and she started dragging me toward one of them. I had finished laughing and kept up her pace as I trudged along.
She pushed the doors open, and we let them close themselves behind us. The best word that came to mind about the interior was: pristine. Aizen liked elegant things it would seem.
We kept walking right along; Tokiwa not missing a beat whatsoever. The more we walked however, the more I felt like she grew angrier with each step. But hey, what did it matter to me?
I was pretty surprised at my demeanor about this whole thing. Maybe it was because I had completely given up on everything when I was back in confinement. I felt numb again, but it was almost like being a kid at the dentist that got the laughing gas instead of being put to sleep. I was in serious trouble, but somehow I accepted it.
I knew that no matter which way this went down; I wasn't going to be walking out of here scotch-free. There were only two things that honestly kept me going at this point.
One: Toushirou and Rangiku are safe and out of harm's way for the time being.
Two: I'd finally get to have a crack at killing that Aizen bastard.
If I could at least kill him, I could officially die in peace. He's the one causing all this mayhem. The one who's threatening the lives of all humans and souls alike; the one who completely destroyed any chance I had at a normal life. The one who killed my parents, the one who threatens the life of my best friend Rangiku, and the one who threatens the life of the person I love the most: Toushirou.
The first chance I got, I was going after Aizen's head. If it meant dying in the process, then so be it. Better that than letting him have his way with me.
After many twists and turns, we came upon a large set of doors. Tokiwa opened them and pushed me inside.
"Get changed! I'll be back for you later!" She commanded with an added angry-umph laced in her tone.
She slammed the door shut, and I could hear it locking like an industrial deadbolt. The room was a rectangular shape, and only had one window high up on the wall; barred of course. At this hour, the crescent moon could be spotted perfectly in the center of the window. It's glow illuminated the center of the room, where there was one comfortable looking couch with a dark chocolate colored coffee table and rug.
I walked up to the seating area and saw white fabric folded neatly on the coffee table. I picked it up and unfolded it; it was a dress-like outfit in all white. They expected me to change into this?
The dress was far too long for my short body, and the turtle neck looked uncomfortable. I wasn't gonna put that stupid outfit on. I'd trip and fall if I wore it anyway. I looked down at my current outfit and saw that it was torn in a lot of different spots. I contemplated actually changing, but decided I looked better in black anyway.
I put it back on the coffee table and sat on the couch. It was definitely nicer than the bed in my confinement cell in the Soul Society, but somehow, I preferred the Soul Society's cell rather than this one. This one was definitely nicer, and more comfortable, but being here in Hueco Mundo just didn't feel right. I'd rather be confined in the Soul Society than here.
At least there they had a good reason to confine me; here they just wanted to use and abuse me for the purpose of hurting others.
I started thinking about the whole purpose Aizen created me and immediately regretted it. The only thing it brought was sadness and more pain and thought-process than I needed. What was I going to do when…I didn't want to think about it.
Avoiding thinking about it seemed logical. If I didn't think about it, then the easier it would be. I wasn't going to actually let them go through with it at any cost.
The bottom line is, I saved Toushirou and Rangiku. They are safe—that's all that matters. I just hope that they understand what I've done. I hope they can put themselves in my shoes and ask themselves what they would've done in my situation.
Toushirou was so injured…but the physical pain wasn't what etched his facial expression; it was emotional.
That look he had...hurt my heart like no other.
I couldn't help but let out a few tears.
This was all really happening. I was really Aizen's prisoner now. No more waking up next to Toushirou, no more seeing Rangiku's smiling face every morning. Granted, I hadn't had any of that in the last week, but for some reason, everything decided to hit me now. Maybe it was because I could very well be tortured here rather than left alone like before. Whatever the reason, I couldn't help but start bawling.
Some time went by, and the door unlocked. I sat up from my slouched position and looked at who was coming in.
The door opened to a face I knew I'd see eventually.
Ulquiorra.
He looked me directly in my eyes as he walked to the middle of the room.
"You were told to change your garments, were you not?" He asked.
I tried hard not to fidget.
Every fiber of my being was telling me to jump him on the spot. But I knew that if I did, I wouldn't get a chance at getting to the real mastermind. So I grit my teeth and looked away from him.
"The dress was too long for me." I responded.
Ulquiorra walked over to it, and put two fingers on it. His fingers glowed for an instant, and then he took his hand away.
"It is now the proper size; change." He ordered.
I stood up and walked over toward him and the coffee table. I picked it up and unfolded it.
"Why does it matter that I change? Does Aizen prefer his test subjects to look more presentable?" I scoffed while looking at the new dress.
Ulquiorra stuck his hands in his pockets and closed his eyes.
"Aizen-Sama prefers all of his subjects to dress in this style of attire." He said, turning to gaze at me with those intense eyes of his.
"From now on, you will address him as Aizen-Sama. He is your Lord, as he is mine. You are alive for the purpose of serving him only; your past life along with who you once were is now nothing more than dust in the wind." He said.
He turned completely toward me.
I didn't respond; just looked directly back at him. It was silent for a few long moments. Our eye contact was completely uncomfortable; it was like his eyes penetrated into my thoughts.
"This is the last time I will say it: change." He said.
He turned toward the door.
"I will step out for a moment. If you are not changed by the time I get back; then I will change you by force. Whether it takes knocking you unconscious or breaking your limbs, you will be dressed from here forward in that attire." He walked toward the door, and shut it behind him.
Well then.
I shook my head and started to change.
The fact he thought I'd just immediately give in and start acting like I was his ally was pretentious as Hell. Yeah, like I'd really just want to serve the guy who completely ruined everything in my life—sounded like the right thing to do.
The dress was all white with black fabric as an under layer. It fit with my shape, and went all the way down to my mid-shin area. There were two slits on either side if the dress, and under it was the black fabric to cover the bare parts of lower thigh. It was a sleeveless, turtleneck fashion on the upper part of the dress. Directly dead center on my chest was a hole in the outfit; made purposely with it I suppose. The white fabric on the top was a larger hole than the black fabric underneath it. The black fabric was a bit smaller, but no matter what, the whole purpose was to see my bare chest in the center.
Right as I finished getting the dress on, Ulquiorra came back in.
He looked at me briefly, and then turned back toward the door.
"Come with me." He ordered.
I walked over to him by the door, and exited out with him behind me. The door closed and locked, and immediately Ulquiorra began walking.
I followed suit—even though I was in front of him—and faced forward.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
He took a moment before answering.
"Aizen-Sama wishes to see you." He said.
-[×]-
Hitsugaya Toushirou
-Day 3 of Azumi's Capture (Present)-
Matsumoto and I had long since separated from the others.
The hallway was fairly long, and I was surprised that we hadn't encountered anyone in the first hour of our entry. The Soul Society would've already been on emergency alert. Did we really sneak in undetected?
As if on cue with my thoughts, an Arrancar appeared mid-flash-step. The two of us stopped and stared at her, taking defensive positions.
She had purple hair, separated and tied up in two pig-tails at the top sides of her head. Her Hollow mask almost resembled some type of hair pin; it was affixed on the roots of her side-swept bangs. She wore an all white dress with boots and wings on her back. She held what looked like some child's yo-yo toy that was completely golden; I assumed that was her weapon.
"Oh, well would you look at this? A Chibi-Taichou and Fukutaichou did sneak in! How unfortunate for you!" she said, taking a few steps closer.
Matsumoto and I didn't budge an inch.
"I'll bet you're here for that Bounto, aren't you?" She asked with a smirk.
"Where is she?" I asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know!" she laughed.
"Well, as much as I feel like playing,"
She released her weapon and transformed into a moth-like creature.
"I've got orders to kill any of the intruders I come into contact with, so I guess this is where our conversation ends, Chibi-Taichou," she said.
"Good; I don't have the time to drag out a fight with you," I replied, unsheathing Hyourinmaru.
She immediately plunged one of her bladed wings at us, and we both flash-stepped out of the way.
"Bankai!" I shouted.
Immediately Hyourinmaru's ice wings developed and spread across my shoulders.
Hopefully I could end this quickly.
-[×]-
Takashita Azumi
-Day 1 of Azumi's Capture-
Ulquiorra and I approached a set of huge, closed double doors. They opened slowly—with no one actually opening them—and we walked past them, Ulquiorra still directly behind me.
There was a fairly long rug—similar to a red carpet but white—that began at the entryway we walked through and ended on the other side of the room.
I looked up, and saw three men at the rug's end.
The one on the left was tall and had grey hair that partially covered his face. He was dressed in the white garb Aizen deemed fit, with his hands behind his back. His eyes reminded me of a cunning fox; as if everything was a game he'd already won. It was intimidating, but what else would I expect?
The one on the right side was of a darker skin tone with long dreadlocks hanging about. He had interesting-looking glasses covering his eyes, and I wondered if this was the infamous blind Tousen I'd heard about. His face was aimed right at me and—even if he couldn't see—he left an unsettling feeling just by facing me.
Lastly—dead center—was a man sitting on what looked like a throne. I could only assume that he was Aizen.
He had brown hair that was pushed back with a few strands of hair hanging over his forehead. He leaned against his hand in such a casual way; as if everything going on wasn't a big deal. Like he was watching a show on television or something that he had already seen before.
It irritated me.
He was an attractive looking guy, but that aura he gave off was absolutely upsetting. It reminded me slightly of Tokiwa's personality when she was in control of Hinamori; super nice and sweet up front, but a psychopath underneath.
We approached the three of them and came to a stop. Ulquiorra stepped in front of me and slightly bowed to them.
"Allow me to introduce our Lords," Ulquiorra turned to me.
'To your left is Lord Ichimaru Gin. To your right is Lord Tousen Kaname. And between two of them is Lord Aizen Sousuke." He said.
I nodded and looked up at Aizen.
"So this is it, I finally get to meet the one who completely wrecked my existence from the get-go." I smirked.
Silence.
I suddenly became overwhelmed with anger and hate as soon as I made direct eye contact.
"Revert the soul to darkness, Yoru!" I shouted; taming my flaring, furious reiatsu at the same moment.
Immediately my mask formed and it was lights out.
Nobody seemed to even flinch. In the same second that the lights went out, I immediately lunged straight for Aizen.
Tousen intercepted me with his Zanpakuto, and pushed me off before I could even get to Aizen.
"Oh? Tousen, I think you have an admirer." Gin snickered, his grin ever present.
I went in with my spinning attack, and still Tousen was able to block it. He pushed me off again and came in with incredible speed.
He stabbed my left shoulder all the way through and pinned me to the ground.
I screamed like I never had before. The pain was so overwhelming that Yoru's mask receded and the darkness dissipated until the normal light in the room was restored.
"Welcome home, Takashita Azumi," I heard Aizen say.
I could feel my body yearning to vomit the all too familiar liquid Hierro.
Before anything could happen, I heard sets of footsteps coming toward me.
"Oh no, we just got that outfit for her; now it's all stained in red. Whatever are we to do with you, Takashita-san?" Gin said.
I didn't say anything; I winced and tried hard not to let the black take over my vision.
"I didn't want it to be this way upon first meeting you, Azumi-chan;" Aizen began, stopping to stand directly next to me.
"However, now is the perfect opportunity to see just how far my little test subject has developed. Tousen, if you wouldn't mind,"
Wait, what?
"Certainly, Aizen-Sama,"
Immediately—while the blade was still lodged in my shoulder—Tousen twisted it slowly, back and forth.
As I screamed bloody murder, Tousen took the blade out and in the blink of an eye, lopped my arm clean off from my bicep.
I couldn't even scream.
The black took over completely.
-[×]-
Hitsugaya Toushirou
-Day 3 of Azumi's Capture (Present)-
The fight with this Arrancar was taking longer than expected; she put up a decent fight. Although her bladed wings weighed her down, she was fairly quick.
She sent out another one of her vibrating blades and caught part of my right ice wing. She laughed victoriously as the ice skidded across the ground.
"You're not too bad, Chibi-Taichou! But I can see you're starting to slip up! But hey, you are fighting Sanderwicci Cirucci after all!" She laughed again.
She looked over at Matsumoto—who I told to stay out of it—and lunged straight for her. Matsumoto dodged, and sent Haineko's ash straight into the Arrancar's face.
The Arrancar was able to maneuver herself out of the ash, and proceeded to shoot out several of her blades at Matsumoto and myself. Matsumoto ended up getting her arm cut by one of them and winced as she continued to dodge.
I couldn't drag out this fight any longer. The more time I let pass, surely the stronger she would become.
"Sanderwicci Cirucci, was it?" I asked.
"Number 105, Ex-Espada; correct." She replied with a smirk.
"Is that so?" I held my blade over my head.
"Guncho Tsurara!"
I released the attack; several icicles flew directly toward her. While she was distracted with blocking them, I flash stepped behind the icicles and directly to her.
I slashed downward and sent a huge ice dragon her way. It connected, and broke within a few seconds.
She shrieked at the contact, and I immediately took a couple steps back.
"Hah! You think that attack really—" her sentence was cut off when she realized my ice started developing from the wound.
"W-What is this?" She shouted in a panic.
She tried to scrape the ice off, but it just kept spreading.
"What the Hell did you do?" She shrieked.
I sheathed Hyourinmaru while Matsumoto did the same with Haineko. She walked over to me, and inspected Sanderwicci.
"You were the unfortunate one to run into my Taichou," Matsumoto told her.
The Arrancar grunted, still trying to break free even though my ice was all the way up to her neck.
"Hitsugaya Toushirou, Taichou of Squad 10. It was nice knowing you," I said to her as the ice took over the rest of her face.
With one final grunt, the ice completely took over. I looked at her one more time and quickly slashed through the ice in one swing—shattering the ice along with her.
I looked at Matsumoto to see how bad her injury was. She immediately waved me off and I took her word for it.
"Let's go." I told her.
"Hai!" She replied.
-[×]-
Takashita Azumi
-Day 2 of Azumi's Capture-
A blinding white light woke me up. I quickly closed my eyes to keep the light out.
"I was…asleep?" I whispered aloud, a smile on my face.
My left arm felt non-existent from just under my shoulder area. I must've slept on it again; that's why it felt completely numb.
I'd had such a terrible dream.
"Thank God that was just a dream…" I sighed with a tiny yawn.
"Toushirou…I had a nightmare last night," I paused for reaction before continuing.
When he didn't say anything, I continued.
"I was kidnapped and taken to Las Noches by that weird Arrancar girl, and then I met Aizen and his crew, and then they stabbed me, and then I turned into a Hollow." I explained lowly, yawning afterward.
No response.
"Nightmares sure can be scary sometimes...it felt so real," I said, sweeping my bangs out of my face.
No response.
"Are you still asleep?" I asked.
No response again.
I reached behind me and felt around for him, eyes still closed.
A hand grabbed my searching one delicately.
I laid my head back down on the pillow and wrapped my fingers around his hand, a smile still on my face.
"What are you doing?" I paused to yawn again.
"Come here," I slightly tugged on his hand.
His hand gave in and he sat down on the bed next to me. I patted my back like I normally would—signaling for him to hold me. He laid down beside me and did just that; his arm went over mine as he pulled himself close to my body, and once he settled, he gently put his hand around my throat.
He never did that before…
Something wasn't right.
I put my hand over Toushirou's hand around my throat. He didn't normally feel this way…
This hand was slightly larger, and with rougher skin than Toushirou's. In fact, this guy was bigger than Toushirou…
My eyes shot open to that white light. I blinked a few times to adjust, and immediately my spine stiffened in a panic.
It wasn't a dream.
I really was in Las Noches.
I squirmed subconsciously, and the hand around my throat tightened and made me freeze.
"W-Who are you?" I whispered as I felt the gulp I took in fear slither down my throat.
The person nuzzled his head against the back of my neck. He inhaled deeply; the soft, cold movement of air from the inhale sending goosebumps to rampantly spread on my skin.
I heard a low chuckle, and the hand around my neck squeezed against me again.
"It's been a while…"
"…Kawaii-chan,"