Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo, meaning it does not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Bleach storyline (such as Aporro[in character, not name]) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.
I hate the desert.
I abso-fuckin'-lutely hate the desert.
The desert can kiss my ass.
You wanna know why? Because every thing in the desert LOOKS. THE. SAME!!
FUCK!!
I thought where the complex was was a pretty special area; a semi-spherical hollow in the sand. Fairly shallow in comparison to the size of some dunes, but still deep enough that if you stood in the bottom you couldn't see over the edge.
But fuck no, it wasn't distinct enough!! As soon as I stepped out of the bowl and walked over a few dunes, I got lost!!
Goddamn me and my bad sense of direction… And fuck this desert!
Ugh… well, at least this time I wasn't pregnant and I remembered to grab my practice blade…
Sighing, I stopped walking and looked around, trying to reorient myself.
Way, way, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to my right was what was left of Las Noches… and I say 'what was left' because even from where I was I could see someone had torn it to shit. And while I could have used Las Noches before to guide myself back to where I needed to be… this time I didn't remember where in relation to Las Noches that place was.
I was completely and totally lost…
"Well, fuck."
Goddamn it, I was starving.
I have no idea how long I'd been lost, but it was long enough to make me absolutely ravenous.
A few times I entertained the thought of taking a nibble out of one of the Hollows, but they just flat out avoided me now. I think all of the mess with the war had them pretty fucked up.
And I couldn't sense my way back, either… Where once before my circle of sense was only about five to ten feet large, now it was a good thirty to forty feet, something I was very proud of.
Unfortunately, that was where it ended; of course, I could sense others waaaaaaaay outside of my bubble if they were powerful enough, but I couldn't tell who they were. I could only identify them if they were in my bubble.
I could sense huge energies everywhere; most of them where by Las Noches, a fair-sized group was right in front of me, and another fair-sized group was at my five o'clock. And, of course, I wouldn't be able to sense Szayel and the others anyway; the complex was underground and had a shield around it that blocked others from sensing it.
Son of a bitch…
I went to turn back to follow my footsteps as far back as I could, only to stop and blink when I saw that they were gone.
…Double son of a bitch.
…Well, there was always one thing I could do.
Sighing, I untied my blade from my side and sat, laying it across my lap and waiting.
Eventually, someone would come looking for me, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if either Szayel or Stark found me. And if I wanted to help them out, then not moving any more than I had would be a good idea.
I stared off into the distance, waiting…
Waiting…
Waiting…
Waiting…
Waiting…
Waiting…
Waiting…
……fuck this……
I took a leaf out of Stark's book and fell over, falling asleep.
I was woken up both by mutterings and the fact that my arms and legs were stinging. Frowning and coming back to consciousness a bit, I realized that my wrists and ankles were bound and bent behind my back, tied together.
…WHAT THE FUCK?!
"Is she actually Szayel Aporro Grantz? Pretty weak spiritual pressure… And wasn't he male?"
"Yeah… but… this one has… uh… you know… boobs…"
"Who the fuck cares if it has tits or not?! Can we kill it?! It's an Arrancar!"
"It certainly looks like one, but I have my doubts… Can you not feel it's spiritual pressure?"
"I say we tell General-Captain Yamamoto…"
"And I say somethin' this fuckin' small would be a waste of the old man's time."
…Aww, fuck. These weren't Arrancar… They were the damned shinigami.
"Please calm yourselves." A soft-spoken woman began, "She is awake…"
Then I was jerked up by rough hands, wincing and yelping, "Hey!" I blinked my eyes open as I was forced to kneel painfully on my knees and legs, staring at the people in front of me.
…Fuck… a shitload of captains, if those white jackets they had on were any indication.
A huge one with spiky hair and a eye patch smirked widely, looking me up and down before throwing a familiar redhead a look, "You're tellin' me you thought this bitch was a man?"
"He was a man." Renji grumbled, glaring at me with crossed arms, "I saw him without his jacket. He was flat chested." He then narrowed his eyes and addressed me, "You Szayel Aporro Grantz?"
"Yep, that'd be me." I replied listlessly, glaring at him flatly, "And you're still Renji Abarai, right? Where's Uryu?"
"You actually remembered our names?" Renji frowned.
"Naww." I twitched, "Because unlike you, I'm a complete and total dumbfuck who can't remember a single person's name." I winced when the people who had hauled me up tightened their grips on my shoulders, "FUCK!! LAY OFF!! THAT HURTS!!"
The others glanced at Renji, who stared at me in shock, "You're… nothing like the person I fought…"
"Ya don't say?" I hissed, wincing, "Well I don't feel much like staying in character… I'm too pissed at that pink-headed bastard right now."
"…So…" I turned towards the voice of the soft-spoken woman, lowering my head slightly to yet another captain with her hair braided down the front. "You are saying you are not this Szayel Aporro Grantz?"
I shrugged, "Close as you'll ever get without actually meeting the bastard. I'm one of his experiments." And that was all they were getting out of me about that. My actual position was none of their damned business.
The woman nodded, "I see… And where is Szayel Aporro Grantz now?"
I scoffed, rolling my eyes, "Excellent question. Bastard leaves me at one of his labs and tells me to wait, goes to fight some intruder shinigami and a Quincy, then never comes back." It's bad when lying comes this easy, isn't it?
"…Tell me," The woman smiled, "What was your purpose within Szayel Aporro Grantz's laboratories?"
"I was a breeder specimen, ma'am." I smiled back. Damn it if she wasn't the nicest person I'd met in a long time, and I wasn't about to be mean to her.
"You're not an Arrancar, are you?"
I blinked, balking slightly.
She smiled again, "Your reiatsu has no Hollow in it, and what Arrancar there is is… muddled. It is more human than anything."
I blinked again, frowning, "Master Szayel made me what I am, ma'am. I wouldn't know if I was or wasn't Arrancar… I'd always just assumed it."
"I see…"
I shifted, looking around.
The two who were holding me were a bald man with small, squarish red streaks at the top corners of his eyes and an effeminate man with jaw-length purple hair and what looked like feathers coming out of the eyelids of one of his eyes.
Then there was spiky, the pink-haired girl who had popped up on his shoulder, Renji, and now the braided woman… And I could still feel others nearby…
"Why are there so many captains in the desert?" I asked, tilting my head.
"Weedin' out your brothers, Arrancar." The bald one sneered, glaring at me.
I glared back, then turned to the woman, "Can I sleep? I've been wandering the desert for who knows how long and I haven't been doing too well…"
The woman nodded, smiling, "Yumichika, please cut the rope that connects her hands to her feet."
Feather-face nodded, reaching down and snipping the rope quickly. My wrists and ankles were still bound, but they weren't connected and I was able to stretch out.
"Thank you…" I nodded to the woman, then paused, "Can I ask one more question?"
"Of course…"
"What's going to happen to me?"
Her smile faltered. "…I cannot answer that question at this moment…"
I sighed. "Of course not…" Nodding, I laid down on my side and curled up.
"…Tell me, dear, what do they call you?" The woman, Unohana, asked.
"Aporro…" I muttered between mouthfuls of hakata-men, curry, uni, and sake. Yes, a wide variety of food, I know. But, damn it, I was hungry…
"…As in, Grantz's middle name?" Renji quirked a brow.
"Yeah…" I paused, downing another saucer-cup of sake before going on, "He already knows how to spell it, it's easy to say, and he doesn't have to worry about being original. Besides, I like it."
"What can you tell us about the palace Las Noches?" A newcomer since before my nap, some pretty boy captain with long black hair and a silky off-white scarf, Kuchiki, began. "How many structures are there and where are they located?"
I shrugged, downing the last of the broth in the bowl of hakata-men before speaking, "Other than the main palace and Szayel's labs, I don't know of many… And all of Szayel's labs are gone. You guys hear that explosion a few months ago?"
"There were a bunch of them at one time." Spiky, Zaraki, grunted, "Which one?"
"All of them." I nodded, downing more sake, "Szayel had quite a few labs. He blew them all up when you all took Las Noches… I barely got out of the one I was in in time."
"How did you survive out there for so long?" Renji frowned. "I mean, you're starving…"
I looked up at him flatly, pouring more sake, "I did things I am not proud of. Just know that to Arrancar, Hollows are edible…" I downed the sake.
Thank god this wasn't an interrogation, because I wasn't sure if I could lie consistently without stopping to give this story more thought…
As I tore into the uni, Renji made a face, "Do you know what that is?!"
I paused, staring at him, "…Uni. Sea urchin…"
"How can you stand it?!"
I shrugged, "I like it." I ate some more.
"…Dear, there's something you should know…"
I looked up at Unohana, blinking and wiping my mouth, "Ma'am?"
She sighed, "The Octava… Szayel Aporro is dead."
Even though I knew she was wrong, I froze, my blood running cold. I hated hearing that… Hated how sure she was. Hated that brief flash of doubt that he was alive… What if they'd been found? What if…
"A-… Are you sure?" I choked.
She nodded, "Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi killed him several months ago…"
Ah. And now the doubt and fear was gone. The others hadn't been found; clearly Kurotsuchi just wasn't telling his comrades the truth…
"I-I see…" I looked down at my lap, "…I am going to be killed, aren't I?"
"What were you expecting?!" Renji shouted, standing, "You're an Arrancar! Even if it is muddled like Captain Unohana said, you're a monster!"
"What did I ever do to you?!" I shouted back, standing and glaring, "Nothing! I've never done anything, you stupid fuck! And I've never, ever killed even a single human! I'm a victim of circumstance, damn it! You think I wanted to be like this?!" When he drew Zabimaru, I balked and glared, hissing, "I am not a monster…"
"Renji." Kuchiki narrowed his eyes at the redhead, "That is enough."
Renji sheathed his sword immediately, looking down at his feet guiltily, "Forgive me, Captain Kuchiki…"
"Arrancar…" Kuchiki turned to me next, "Sit. We will have our commander decide what to do with you when we are finished with our mission."
I sighed but nodded, flopping down.
There really was no reason to disobey, and I had no way to escape. Not while I was surrounded by all of these captains… I'd just have to wait until someone came to save me.
The thought of dying never really crossed my mind… I knew I wouldn't die.
Szayel wouldn't let me die; like he'd said so many times, my life was his.
He was probably already looking for me… hell, he might have already pinpointed me. For all I knew, he could be nearby, concealing his presence and biding his time.
As pissed off as I was at Szayel, I trusted him to save me… or to at least come up with a plan.
Of course… go figure the plan would be…
"Hey, Mom! I'm here to save you!"
……Fuck……