CHAPTER 7
An Erupting Enemy
The sun glared brightly against her coloured skin as she idly gazed upon the glistening scorching sphere against the chromatic skies.
She refused to peel her eyes away from the burning star as it really intrigued her. It wasn't something she usually saw prior to when she had been recruited here so looking at it now, captivated her entirely. She had seen it every now and then, but she never really took her time to lool at it intently.
She couldn't squarely face it as the light clashed with her eyes which stung her irises.
The girl, layed on the sands thought on how something as such a worldly object was sent to Hueco Mundo. It consisted of unearthly beings with meaningless stark lives. The deadly desolate area which was rarely frequented, eternally lacking any semblance of life was the habitat of those lost empty souls. How is it that something as odd and human utilized as a sun was brought to the other realm? Her mind had been pondering over the illogical matter she chose to preoccupy herself with which was surprisingly, distracting.
Then to top it off, the glazing light ceased to a point in the desert which made her question herself if the sun was actually real or not. The light that she thought would travel miles away to lit up the whole world only dispersed to a certain section. She was certain Ulquiorra would have some insight to this but was admittedly too afraid to ask him such a minor inquiry. He never answered anything that didn't have an important meaning behind it or something too trivial to waste his time explaining on. He ignored her on most occasions so why would he ever make a conversation with her?
She chose to keep the question for a much more suitable day if she could in order to avoid his dismissive replies.
She still hadn't forgotten of the awkward situation that happened some days ago or so. The memory was still fairly vivid and she couldn't help but feel herself warm up at the silly thought. She had offered him something absolutely ridiculous and she regretted her actions strongly. It was completely embarassing and she found herself thinking why she had even brought upon such a thing - making him blush. Like that was even possible. How would she ever be able to do something like that? That's like a shinigami trying to fight without a zanpakuto. Yes, that impossible.
Within the last few days, the two hollows hadn't really seen eachother or conversed since that time. She didn't mind cause she didn't really miss him in that manner, so his presence being absent wouldn't bother her much. He wasn't fond of her in the least so why would she?
Huffing to herself, she got up from the ground, dusting her outfit before looking upwards once more.
She didn't understand the nature or existence of that burning spheroid in the sky, but was certain she had become infatuated with it entirely. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever set her eyes upon throughout her existence as a hollow.
Though she had visited the human world before and had come across it, she was not exactly in her complete state of mind and her cognitive abilities had not been bestowed on her yet at the time so she wasn't distracted by the flaming star as much as she was now.
Scrutinizing it for the last time, she turned on her heel, walking to the dome before being slammed against a hard surface, scrunching her face in pain.
She looked to the apparent 'wall' before widening her cognac eyes in suprise.
"H-how long were you here for?" she nervily questioned as she came across the enigma that was Ulquiorra.
He blankly stared before replying.
"Don't delude yourself, I just arrived to inform you of a general meeting Lord Aizen has called forth." he elaborated earning a slow nod from the woman in understanding. She sounded silly before, to think he'd actually stand and watch her like there was nothing to do. How ludicrous.
"Okay then..." her words halted as she noticed his eyes drift downwards to the earlier proximity she failed to abolish before looking upwards back to her face in evident slight irritation.
"Move." he ordered. She immediately did so as she collected herself, all the while flushing as she did so before looking downwards.
"My apologies...what I wished to say was, why the sudden need for my presence in this meeting?" she said.
He frowned slightly at her inquiry.
"Are you questioning Lord Aizen's orders?" he sharply retorted in which the woman began paling in apprehension to his words.
She shaked her head in denial.
"N-no my lord, you know I never fail to perform my duties to both you and him. I simply asked because I'm never with you on your occasional gatherings with the other Espadas so I thought it seemed unusual I was supposed to be present now." she explained to him in which he merely blinked as he considered her response.
"True, but this time it involves every arrancar excluding the servants of course, to be around during this meeting. It's what Aizen sama wishes to do."
"Números included?"
Ulquiorra gave her an obvious look he wasn't going to reply to her foolish insistent questioning so he stared stoically.
The woman, taken by his silence, understood that it meant a positive response to her question, but he intentionally chose not to answer as he wasn't one to state the obvious.
"Has anything to do with a mission?" she pressed.
"I am not aware of the purpose of this meeting, but I know it should be important for him to call the attention of every arrancar here." he verbalized.
His words made sense and she found herself understanding the situation, though her curiousity peeked at what Aizen could've exactly wanted to call such a meeting.
"Has it begun?" she asked tensely.
"If you were present in his throne room, you would've known." he replied as he turned his back towards her with both hands in his pockets.
"Oh! Then I better get ready then." she said to herself in embarrassment. He said nothing as he began speaking.
"Also..." he started, gaining the attention of the lady.
"I don't wish to have to call you every time we hold meetings. You should know this already." he told her as her expression bordered on confusion.
"With due respect my lord, how am I supposed to be aware of this?" she questioned slightly accusingly, a bit annoyed he was reprimanding her for something she wasn't aware of.
Ulquiorra had not failed noticed the mild annoyance she tried hiding as not to disrespect him, but refused to comment on it.
"Some servants were sent to your quarters in order to inform you of this. You can't deny that." he accused as Serelah's expression only turned more mystified.
"I didn't receive such information or see anyone my lord. I can assure you I'm telling the truth." she tried convincing. In honesty, her eyes held a strong sincerity in them, but the stoic male was unable to behold them due to his turned posture.
"Impossible. I myself had ordered them."
"I'm not really sure my lord, all I know is that I didn't receive any message like that." she said as she looked down, deep in thought.
Silence ensued before the male decided to speak.
"I will see to this. Meantime prepare ahead for the gathering, Aizen sama doesn't need any of his workers appearing uncared for in his presence." he said, his eyes quickly trailing her uniform as he looked to her from the side. It was dabbed with the sands she had rolled herself in from before and obviously wrinkled and disheveled in the wrong places.
In abash, she dusted her clothing, afterwards curiously looking ahead as she saw him walking away.
"Wait!" she called to the man. He stopped in his tracks although he didn't turn to her.
"How did you know I wasn't aware of the meeting?" the woman asked with pure interest.
"It was obvious, your arrival was getting too late and I don't need lord Aizen chastising me for my inability to call your attention to his clearly informed gathering due to your ignorance." he explained.
"Oh." she said in reply.
Silence was rewarded, the quiet male about to move when she spoke again.
"How'd you know I was here?" she questioned again irritating the ashen man.
"I am not obligated to answer your pointless questions, quit being annoying." he blatantly retorted, the girl biting her lip to retain any more words he didn't wish to hear. She hated making him angry or annoyed with her so she would have to obey and respect his rules.
The hollows said nothing with Ulquiorra immediately stalking off out of the area.
She stares at his retreating figure as he disappeared into the palace leaving her to herself once more. She sighed into the space, wind fanning her cool skin.
She wondered just how long she'd keep this up. Their interactions were mostly awkward and they barely communicated. She didn't want any type of friendship with him knowing he'd never in his right mind invite such, but she wanted to make their relationship less formal if she could. Somewhat like the third's co-workers to her. She could tell they were free around eachother and often communicated how they felt to their master which was normal. Whereby, she felt like an obstacle in her superior's path. Like she was in the way of everything.
With all this thought out, she still didn't know how to approach him more or less speak to him. If he'd react to her prying for knowledge about him, she wouldn't know what he was capable of doing...
But he wouldn't kill her would he? To what she had come to know, Ulquiorra wasn't the type to act irrationally, but she was still skeptical about the whole idea of talking to him about something other than training and duties!
If she impressed him, she wondered if he'd treat her differently. Maybe a couple more vague compliments and that would be all. It wouldn't change the fact he didn't want her as his fraccion. Her incompetent abilites only aided him further in getting rid of her, but that was something she didn't know. How long would he tolerate her for? Indeed, she had made progress the past few weeks, but was it really enough? In her perception, for his caliber, she thought a subordinate with standard criteria will be fit to serve someone as acute and strong as Ulquiorra.
She figured he knew there could be no one as sufficient and perceptive as him, meaning he most likely decided he didn't require an associate which actually made sense on her part as well. She was very sure he didn't need anyone help complete his duties.
She wished she was just as lucky as her fellow Números who didn't have a superior to serve like she. Stuck with a rude unfeeling wall was terrible. Not to mention, he didn't give a damn about her well being which would make her future deaths sooner.
"This is frustrating." she muttered to herself before turning around to enter the dreadful building.
Walking the halls of Las Noches could be as easy as counting when the space was free of arrancars to spoil her stable mood. If one didn't know better, they would conclude the lady had mood swings due to the sudden change in her aura occasionally which wasn't the case. Often times, the arrancars would intentionally infuriate the girl in order call unneeded battles which she chose not to indulge herself in to avoid unnecessary chaos. Most hollows surrounding the dome were jobless freaks who found joy in taunting themselves. She enjoyed provoking hollows sometime during her evolution but that was only when she needed someone to entertain herself with when she was most lonely, but she had far grew from that stage.
It was too troublesome and she figured it would cost her dearly if she angered the wrong hollow at some time.
In a hurry, the reserved woman barged into her chambers, briefly allowing herself feel the welcoming chilled air oozing from her mini window a moment before shutting the doors unceremoniously. Walking to her mirror, she adjusted her unkept hair into a high though rough bun, ready to present herself responsibly enough for Aizen's meeting. She hoped it wasn't anything too serious or pressurable that would include the loss of many lives. She didn't want to engage in any fights she didn't pick herself.
Adjusting her uniform, she gave herself a last firm look in her reflection before leaving her quarters to head to the mysterious meeting.
She was very familiar with her ways around the palace now and this time she didn't need anyone help direct her to the throne room.
As the woman advanced further, the heavy pressure that had suddenly encompassed itself around the hall suddenly suffocated her as the feeling was frighteningly engulfing. This time, it seemed the arrancars were not near trying to conceal their energy and with how many she could distinguish, the whole party was already present. She wasn't late was she? As soon as Ulquiorra had told her of the meeting, she was ready to go.
She only hoped Aizen wouldn't be too annoyed for her late entry if she was.
Without much time wasted, she pushed open the tall doors as the brief breeze of the two long opening shut themselves in accord. Indeed the whole arrancars surrounding Las noches was present at the seemingly extra broad table. Sharp eyes boring into her while some blatantly glared. Unwelcome embarrassment creeped in as she walked shyly to occupy a seat for herself not knowing where she could stay. As she gazed at the group of hollows, she could discern that the lower class arrancars like herself were seated next to their master but wasn't sure whether it was out of basic compliance or personal closeness to their superior.
At last, she found an awkard seat next to none other than Ulquiorra as he stared straight forward not acknowledging her presence. It was the only vacant seat so she'd be stupid not to go there out of minor fear of sitting next to him.
Pulling out the chair for herself, she awkwardly sat as the screeching sound of the chair echoed through the room, only inviting more attention, her teeth shut together in annoyance. After adjusting to the seat, she risked a brief glance at her side to peek at Ulquiorra who had still acted void of her presence, only looking at her for a moment before looking straight ahead again.
That was highly expected. Staring down at her folded hands on her lap intently, she awaited the arrival of Aizen and his subordinates who had yet to come. She wasn't late which was a relief. A postponed reprimanding from Ulquiorra was the last thing she needed.
The feeling of someone's particular eyes on her was still in duration but the honey eyed woman didn't dare look up to come in strange contact with anyone. Though out of curiousity, she had finally poked her head up to peek at whose jewels were unsettling her before her breath hitched in surprise.
To her dismay, it was those same dark orbs that dared to haunt her for days now. The slimness of his keen eyes, his wide mouth, long jet black hair, his covered eye and sinister grin was what she had tried to avoid most for some time now.
Nnoitra Gilga. The only hollow she could gruesomely decapitate without regrets and guilt for her actions.
Her parted lips dryed instantly as she wordlessly stared. The aroused attention brewing further only worsening her situation. She refused to make herself known to be once acquainted with the vulgar male as she stopped eye contact with the man entirely returning to her earlier gaze at her folded hands, not able to withstand the intensity.
The rigid girl sat opposite to the insane male as his malicious stare persisted as she had refused to return his intent gaze. Looking at him short enough creeped her out to a whole other level, she could never be able face the countless lewd looks he shot at her. She felt uneasy mainly because the damn bloody man was an Espada and she was far weaker in strength compared to him even if she wanted to for once retaliate to his misconducts.
And from the looks of it, Ulquiorra didn't seem like he'd be rescuing her any next time from her perils. She wasn't dull enough not to understand that he didn't voluntarily save her last time.
She found herself lightly tapping the floor with her right foot, awaiting the shinigami who had called forth the sudden gathering. Her patience was growing short and she had a sketched out routine she had to complete for today. Sitting on chairs for hours while sipping tea wasn't exactly her thing so the female hollow could only hope he didn't extend the meeting longer than it should be.
As if her silent complaints were harkened, the said man and his associates entered the mildly lit space causing the earlier silent whispers from the Espadas settle down to nothing as they all acknowledged his presence by standing from their seats to give a bow in respect. All did so and she immediately complied as she saw Ulquiorra do the same.
The brown haired shinigami elegantly sat on the purposefully unoccupied seat located at the far end of the table with his fellow comrades protectively standing beside him. His keen orbs studied all the hollows around and the shaken lady had already returned to the earlier stare at her fingers, not ready to face the perverted delinquent before her.
"What a pleasure to see all your faces...my Espadas." he said ignoring the fact any Números were present here at all. Though this did not bother Serelah, she couldn't help but roll her eyes at his words. It looked like the Espadas seemed to be the only hollows he actually cared about to acknowledge if she was correct. "You'd be curious on the reason for this sudden gathering that I had summoned if I'm correct." he predicted. The hollows only stared blankly, most of them not entirely going to deny the fact they were indeed anxious to what could've brought about the urgent call for a meeting. They were normally told before hand so the rise for one out of no where caught their attention.
"Well then, shall we begin?" the smooth voice sounded. He looked to Tosen, his co-worker who had seemingly taken the hint to do a task he was assigned to as he brought out a simple digital gadget and tapped a specific button on the device before it exhibited a large diagram that was broad enough to accomodate half of the room.
All attention was now totally submitted as the curious hollows stared at the blank blue rectangular hologram, anticipating for the next action. Serelah, on the other hand had found a reason not to look at the fifth who was unfortunately sitting opposite to her. Although, there wasn't any pictorial images displayed on the screen yet, she still intently stared at it as some sort of reprieve from the unending stare of the Quinto.
The gaze went on like that forever which surprisingly were only mere seconds which still ensued. His dark irises intentionally used to frighten her as he bored deeper to her form with intensity before his eyes finally blinked and looked to the open diagram. A strange smug but thoughtful look on his face as he faced forward. The obnoxious grin plastered on his face.
Now she was pumped up. Completely confused with his recent actions, she found herself instinctively glancing at the suspicious man to see he had not looked to her at all.
Relief washed over, her earlier tense muscles now at ease. Being under his disturbing gaze seemed to have more of an effect on her than she thought.
"Without much time wasted, I'd like to show you all a part of a plan I've been working on. It's quite time consuming trying to ensure all our safety at this part of Hueco Mundo...as you know the Soul Society are not yet aware of our hideout which I plan to keep a secret for now. Infiltrating our abode and ruining our plan would be highly devasting for us as we wouldn't want any casualties..." he spoke as the arrancars listened attentively, not knowing where he was going with the blabbering.
Fairly interested, the dark haired woman flinched slightly at the mention of Soul Reapers and the Soul Society. They didn't mix well with hollows so it was obvious this wasn't going to be good.
Then on cue, the hologram showed a graphical representation of what seemed to resemble a neighborhood with humans walking along the side. A few tall infrastructures sectioned around the jovial area with tree shrubs complimenting the expanse. The whole zone was so vivacious, it made the empty female almost tear her eyes away from the scene.
Too human of a sight to gaze at, she inwardly groaned. She was never fond of humans in the first place for unknown reasons she didn't want to think about personally. Though the lady didn't harbor any strong dislike or hatred for the creatures, a part of her had simply always found them irritating.
With self control, she forced herself to concentrate on the essence of the presentation as not to distract herself with such trivial thoughts. Out of slight interest, her eyes trailed over the arrancars surrounded by her to study their expressions as they stared boredly while some appeared interested in the demonstrations presented by the shinigami.
The brown haired man further continued explaining.
"Such a peaceful town don't you think?" he remarked, the hollows not saying a thing as they just stared at the diagram. "A part of the human world as you know." he added, the hollows confused on where this was going.
"According to my findings, we've got a potential threat situated there, though the human is not in his fullest power yet, I assume he may have some hidden abilities not yet discovered. In the next one or too months, I'll be able to clarify or not if the human is indeed a hinderance to our plans. Meanwhile we wait, on no account should anyone travel to the human world and attempt trying to discover the person till I declare so. I'll be personally studying the human myself till I deem it suitable for anyone here to eliminate them or not." he elaborated as the hollows became more engaged in the situation.
It was quite strange. For someone posing a threat to the 'All Great Aizen' was truly intriguing. She'd actually be quite interested to meet such a human, and what power did he possess? Humans were such powerless creatures with no super natural abilities to protect themselves at all. She refused to beleive mediocre beings categorized as humans could attain spectacular powers to such extent. Until she beheld it with her two eyes, would she subdue to the fact humans were not as useless as she found them to be.
"That's a new rival I hear." the feline arrancar commented, flexing his arm with pride. "It's been quite some ages since I've broken a head." he said, excitement lacing his words.
Nnoitra, who had hissed at the sixth gave more of a deadly view to his blade as he extended the staff looking knife.
"Like you've ever even won against anyone strong." he voiced out as the sexta glared at the fifth.
"Why don't you say that a little more louder." he growled, flaring his spiritual pressure. The two Espadas having a hard stare down as they cursed eachother through their eyes.
"My my, that's not quite necessary don'cha think?" The silver haired ex-captain stepped in.
"I agree." Aizen said, his tone giving off that warning signal, gaining the attention of the two arrancars as the hollows grudgingly ended their stare down with Grimmjow gradually sustaining his spiritual pressure to it's original state.
Aizen, who was now satisfied, slowly drifted his eyes away from the troublesome hollows with his arm supported by his cheek.
"Perfect. Now to disclose this meeting, I'd like everyone to be aware that it won't be long till we begin taking action and matters into our own hands anytime soon. The goal I had set for us all is yet to be abolished which means, not too long we shall conquer." he encouraged.
His words almost convinced the Amber eyed female with his sugar coated words which continued to astound her. How he was capable of misleading and manipulating so many hollows while having the most powerful of them wrapped around his finger like a toy always frightened Serelah to some degree when she pondered over it. It was also irking at the same time. She understood why so many arrancars mistook his cunning character for 'kindness' as they perceived it. The immediate reprieve from their aimless existence and hollow lives triggered the inner need to serve somone above them who would also in exchange give them more power.
Serelah was no different, she was grateful to Aizen for delivering her from the long suffering she had endured for years without alleviation. She knew she would be disposed of as soon as he was done using her or the other arrancars for his executions which obviously won't be too long. It was quite pathetic on her part.
The girl also found herself wishing Ulquiorra wouldn't always turn a blind eye to his misdeeds and lies Aizen covered. She could tell he held complete admiration for him in most aspects and it was practically impossible trying to convince Ulquiorra to think otherwise.
Out of pure appeal, the lady looked to her dark haired superior for a minute before staring to the table in thought before he could catch her gaze. Having the hollows witness the strange look she gave him would be embarrassing enough.
"I put an end to this meeting. Go on with your activities." he concluded as the whole of them sighed to themselves with Aizen, Tosen and Gin leaving the throne room.
Content that the three ex-captains were absent, the arrancars begun their quiet to noisy bickering with Grimmjow and Nnoitra having continued their argument, one would conclude they wanted to physically battle eachother except Shawlong and Edorad appearing to be Grimmjow's fracciones tried calming the pissed off panther as he scowled at the scrawny male.
Mila and Sung Sung had apparently found a new captivating topic to engage themselves in while the most quiet of the Espadas which was Harribel, Zommari, Stark, Barragan and Ulquiorra just watched silently.
After a few moments, she heard shifting beside her chair to see Ulquiorra had gotten up from his seat. A little bit confused but afterwards deciding her choice, she chose to stand and leave the noisy area before hearing a baritone voice.
"Follow." Ulquiorra ordered and she immediately obeyed as she followed him to the entrance keeping a reasonable amount of decent space between the two of them.
As they left the throne room, she was left to watch his back and jet black hair as they strolled quietly, no words spoken.
Serelah, not needing a reminder knew he was taking them to the training grounds to work up her skills since it was approximately every five days or so.
Finally, the reserved ashen man decided to speak.
"I beleive you have improved dominance over your sword compared to before." he voiced out, clearly pointing the fact that if she hadn't, the woman was a complete mess of an arrancar with no extraordinary characteristics whatsoever.
Fortunately enough, she truly had more restraint over the metal object than her very first introduction. Maybe not complete mastery, but she had made evident progress.
Uneloquently, the alerted female replied.
"Uh, um yeah I've gotten the hang of it." she responded, looking off to the side.
Emerald orbs blinked almost sugesting an eye roll to her response, her words clearly stating she wasn't at the best stage with her sword.
Arriving at the training grounds, the woman walked to her usual spot before about to withdraw her sword from it's scabbard to begin their activities.
A pale hand haltered her movement as he placed a hand over her's to prevent her from retracting her zanpakuto.
"We won't be doing that today." he told her before placing his fingers back in his pocket.
Her brows furrowed in confusion.
"Then why're we here?" she questioned.
"Can you skillfully fight without a sword?" he asked her. Her partially closed lips clamped together as she went deep in thought.
For a standard hollow, she could stand a chance in battle fairly well without the use of a sword considering her first evolutionary form made her attack only through her fists and legs. She didn't know he'd finally result to teaching her such aspects of fighting though she didn't see a problem with it. Serelah was not a complete expert, but it wouldn't hurt to learn a few more cool moves.
"To an extent, yes. I know some tricks and could battle an opponent quite well with what I've learnt through the years. I...don't think I'm that skilled, but I could manage. If you want, I can show you a few moves I've done." she verbalized as the man listened.
"I see." he muttered in understanding. "But there will be no need for that. Fighting you now will help me see them anyways. Like I said before, we won't be doing sword mastering for now. Lord Aizen has ensured I make you skillful in every aspect possible, even when it came to how you physically battle." he told her with lack of emotion.
"So how long will we do this for?" she asked.
"I plan to focus on your martial arts for about a month before switching to your zanpakuto training for two months or so considering it's more crucial." he explained expressionlessy. She needed to master her zanpakuto powers faster than anything if possible. It was very important for an arrancar to gain it's main ability which was acquiring it's hollowfied state. Without that, she'd be as useless as those arrancar servants who hopelessly sauntered around Las Noches.
After a moment, he stepped towards her in which she took two steps backwards out of fear of interrupting his personal space.
Once again, he came forward and she made a careful step backwards, anxious about his actions, but this time Ulquiorra wasn't having any of that. In a second, he grabbed her arm as if pulling her to him before stopping midway to swiftly kick her feet off the ground as she ungracefully fell flat on the sands.
Annoyed and confused, she slowly lifted herself to get up before being brought back down by his foot.
Looking down at her, he commented.
"You're weak." he remarked, gaining an involuntary growl from the lady on the floor. He watched as she strangely struggled under his effortless hold with his right foot, then seemingly giving up, she ended her wigggling. "Hn." he scoffed before lifting his pressure off her and watching her. Tiredly, she got up and faced him once again as she awaited his comments before questioning his actions. She almost opened her mouth to speak when she noticed his unusual stare.
He continued to look at her without saying a word, though his expression was as stoic as ever, it communicated something she was still yet to understand. Awkwardly, she looked to her shoes as she awaited his response. The silence was oddly too loud and ensuing. Was he waiting for something?
Then finally, the breeze that swept by against her skin signalled her senses as she flinched. She felt more bare than usual. Looking downwards, the lady was shocked to see her already short top was dangerously high and it almost revealed the private upper part of her body.
Seriously? This was like the second time it was happening today but way worse.
Quickly, she adjusted her clothing to their original state, all the while ignoring a set of green eyes as she did so. After doing the needful, she bravely albeit shyly looked to him.
The dark haired male blinked before walking past her. It seemed his prolonged stare was a way of telling her to adjust her clothing like a baby which was quite embarrassing on her part.
With boiling but constrained anger, she questioned the man.
"What was the point of that?" she said lowly.
Noticing her annoyance, he turned to face her with his hands in his pocket.
"Are you furious?" he asked, though he knew the answer.
She wanted to yell in his face at asking such a ridiculous question. Who wouldn't be pissed right after being tripped and stepped on? Did he think she was stupid?
"Do you hear yourself? Of course I'm angry! You suddenly fall me down, making me look like shit then you call me weak for no reason, and you have the nerve to even ask me such a stupidly obvious question. If you really wanna know if I'm 'furious', why don't you let me show you through my fists!" she yelled as his eyes widened in shock at her words.
But that was an all too impossible scenario she had imagined in her little mind. No way in the heavens she'd be able to say all that, especially to him. That was unless she was ordering a death wish. Sometimes there were just things that could never come to pass no matter how hard you pondered over them.
Smiling bitterly, she replied.
"Not at all...just confused by what you did." Satisfied that she responded quite civilly, she inwardly sighed to herself. She was surprised herself to see that she could be able to contain such anger she had felt before.
Ulquiorra could detect the barely hidden fury through her eyes and only found it somewhat amusing. He had purposely tripped her to see how fast she could stop herself or even lift herself off the ground when he had put his foot on her and the outcome was as he suspected. She was definitely too weak and wasn't as agile as he had wanted her to be.
It seemed he had more work on her than he thought.
"Woman..." he began. Her gilded eyes looked to him expectantly. "I must warn you that I won't be as lenient as the rest of the sessions we've been through during this training." he said with no emotion betraying his boyish features.
She had expected that. During mortal combat, she figured it would be almost impossible trying to hold back on your opponent. Again, she would have to tend to countless injuries afterwards in which would take forever to heal.
Nodding, she spoke.
"That won't be a problem. I'm kind of already used to not taking it easy on myself during my personal trainings sometimes. You can lash out as much as you want. Actually, I'd prefer it." she responded, with a stain of lie diluting her words.
He looked at her wordlessly a moment before saying.
"Is that so?" he asked in which she eagerly nodded. "Interesting, I was just considering restraining my abilities on you, but since you insist, I won't." he said, turning to walk to his post as she let out a light gasp at his words. He had got to be joking. She only said what she said in order not to look weak and feeble. Couldn't he have noticed?
It was obvious he was playing tricks on her, but the shocked lady had refused to notice this as she still thought over his words.
Hearing her voice, he half turned to her.
"Is there a problem woman?" he blankly asked as her eyes narrowed in frustration.
"N-no." she said lowly, the green eyed male internally scoffing at the woman.
If she just said she couldn't handle his harsh training from the beginning, it would've made things easier. She didn't need to lie that she 'preferred' it as he remembered the countless times she'd pass out during their intensive sessions they had from time to time.
Ulquiorra wasn't one to lie or say false statements as he always saw no point in hiding things unless necessarily needed to. He was telling the truth when he said he actually considered holding back a little, till she uttered those unbelievable words. Considering she said that was what she prefered, he would do as she pleased as he didn't really care whether she got severely injured or not.
As he turned and walked to a specific spot on the field, Serelah had taken it as her call to get ready for whatever he had planned for her which most of the time wasn't anything good.
A battle worthy distance between them, the woman who appeared completely prepared for his unsaid actions was silently praying he didn't go too far like the time she sparred with Grimmjow. During their trainings, Ulquiorra could be quite lenient on some occasions while on some days he'd decide to be plain ruthless to prove his point. Unfortunately, these were one of those days and she found herself dreading the intense session.
As the male surveyed her, he noticed her features showed determination and her stance was acceptable enough for a battle except she looked a bit shaken and she kept taking quiet breaths every few seconds which proved she was indeed scared at what he might pull off.
That didn't stop him from holding back on the innocent lady though. She would still need to feel the full effect of the training after they were fully concluded which would be in four hours approximately if she wasn't yet exhausted and unable to decently walk.
Then, like a flash he was nowhere to be seen. Gone before she could even realize it. As she became more anxious by the minute, she failed to notice quickly enough how close his energy had begun nearing to her. She looked around her to see the said male was absent in spite of the very distinct spiritual pressure that was known to him. Facing upwards seemed to be a bad idea with a second later a kick being thrown in on her gut, unaware of where he had appeared from.
She was able to dodge it fast enough not to hit her too deeply in her stomach considering that would be a bit fatal. Panting for air, she sonidoed before him aiming a punch at his gut which was vain as he held her hand, rewarding her with an elbow strike in return by her shoulder, sending her across the field as she gripped the area tightly.
Her eyes still shown that she wasn't giving up anytime soon, the slightly injured woman charged forward with more force this time to aim a smooth successful blow on his chest which unfortunately didn't really have the effect she searched for as he was only slightly pushed back with her disgraceful strength.
Once again, capturing her wrist, he thought on roughly flinging her off, but held back the tempting idea. Aloofly looking at her, he snapped her wrist, the carpal bone cracking as he did so earning an involuntary sharp cry she wished she had suppressed.
Suddenly, the anxious female stopped at first to inspect her wrist to see it was almost completely immobile. Did he really exhibit such strength? The ashen man boredly watched her with no emotion taking over his features as he thought she appeared too weak for his own liking. Scared, she looked down at where the dislocation was done.
She was unable to dexterously land an appropriate punch or any action through the aid of her fingers with her currently limp hand, just because she was too damn weak. She really wished she could put to utilization her lost regeneration powers she no longer possessed due to probably the doing of the hogyoku. To her, the extra 'power' she had gained from the hogyoku being used on her was yet to be seen. In better words, it had only complicated things further along sealing away her resurrección form inside some sword she was still yet to even master. How messed up was that?
Walking to the lady, she found herself moving backwards as she stood up straight to probably block another one of his random attacks. His hands were cooly placed in his pockets as he did so, eyes fixated on her. This only made her cower further away from the mysterious man. Taking in her actions, he continued walking.
"Don't move." he ordered all the while coming further. As stiff as a statue, a wave of dread swarmed through her in apprehension for what he was going to do. Was he going to hurt her?
Finally close enough, he gently took her hand in which she swapped it away rather out of instinct immediately regretting what she did as he shot her a cold look sending shivers down her spine.
"You wish to heal it yourself?" He asked, sarcasm and mock dripping over his words. It was clearly a rhetorical question as he knew she didn't have regenerative abilites to undo the damage done to her wrist.
Shamefully, she looked down, slowly stretching out her hand to take. He stared at her for a moment before taking it in his hand inspecting the flesh as his thumb ran over it.
"You're tremendously weak for an arrancar, I must say." he commented, all the while gazing at the flesh before allowing his sharp judgemental emerald sparkles to drive to her. She gasped lightly at the effect of his eyes.
Do not get carried away with that. She noted to herself.
She found it hard to speak under his gaze for some reason.
"I-it's just me I guess. I don't remember...being this weak before I came here." she briefly explained, avoiding his eyes.
"You believe it's the work of the hogyoku." he predicted as cognac ones shot up to him.
"Kind of?" she said it like more of a question than a phrase.
"Hn, that's a very dull logic. You were most likely used to killing extremely wimp hollows in your previous life that you can't fathom the fact you were always weak yourself." he said as she looked at him thoughtfully. Basically, he was pointing out the fact she had always not been a powerful hollow before she arrived in Las Noches according to what he analyzed. As if he knew anything about her! But sadly, it was the plain truth. She had to simply accept the valid statement with complete acquiescence.
At that moment she felt livid. She wanted to just stomp off and shoot him a deathly glare but again, for the sake of herself, she controlled her temper. Strangely enough, over the short period of time she stayed in Las Noches, the woman couldn't disregard the fact that she excercised more restriction with her anger than before. Not that it was that serious, but she was very aware in her past life as a wandering hollow that she couldn't restrain her temper for too long and on most occasions, she normally made her opponents very cognizant she was furious.
Wearing a confident look on her face, she looked to him defiantly.
"That's...your theory, I guess." she said back in response to his accurate prediction. Annoyance flashing in her eyes.
"A very correct one at that." he retorted, as he stoically looked at her. He seemed so sure he wasn't wrong and that...that made her want to prove otherwise.
Not knowing what she was doing, she stepped further to him.
"Prove it." she simply said, trying not to get flustered over the minimal distance shared between them.
In his own Ulquiorra way, he looked at her like she just said birds can't fly.
"Prove what?"
"That I wasn't always strong, that I never had cool abilities or it wasn't the doing of the hogyoku!" she slightly raised her voice.
He stared blankly.
"I don't expect you to understand, I find it pointless trying to explain logical things to people who have a low IQ." he said as he turned around, looking sideways towards her. She had chosen to ignore the insult as she shut her teeth together in irritation. "Since you obviously have limited strength to endure the training for today, I postpone it till tomorrow."he said as her eyes immediately lit up in relief.
"Oh um, thanks." she expressed gratefully, as she spoke softly, all her annoyance seemingly faded in that moment. She was glad he wouldn't be ruthlessly persisting the session considering Ulquiorra was pretty 'hard of hearing' when it came to complaining.
He said nothing towards her gratitude and continued leaving the training grounds when she ran up to him suddenly. He looked at her emotionlessly though it communicated that message of 'what do you want?'
He stopped in his tracks while staring at the floor before him as he awaited her proposal. The amethyst haired female figdeting nervously didn't help her thinking he probably found what she was doing annoying.
Shyly, she rubbed her neck, not knowing how to phrase her words as he still waited.
"Will I assume you have nothing you seek from me." he spoke, impatience coating his words.
With one last try and gathered up courage, she inquired.
"I was thinking if you could...um...lead me to..." she sighed as she looked downwards, not being able to take his stare as he now faced her fully awaiting her response."Lead me to...the...clinic!" she finally uttered out, imputting more expression into the last word as she shot her head up to gaze at him."To you know, get my hand checked." she said.
The taller male stared blankly before glancing at her wrist and back to her face.
"You expect me to escort you?" he asked, making her words sound utterly ridiculous. She suddenly felt embarrassed when she realized how she sounded.
Her full lips opened in protest to his words as she shaked her head.
"That's not what I meant...well kind of, but only because I don't know my way around here...I just don't know my way to the clinic, that's all." she said lowly, not being able to speak confidently. She didn't know why she always seemed so scared when trying to explain something to him even if he wasn't going to harm her in any way. At least fear was the best word to describe how she was feeling right now if not nervousness.
But nervousness for what exactly?
That he might say no and brush her off? Definetly, his most likely rude refusal is what would make her clear away from requesting anything from him again.
Offering her a long look, he turned and began walking without saying a word.
The woman completely confused by his actions remained stagnant in her position, unaware of his intentions. She didn't know whether it was a silent snob and 'no' to her inquiry or otherwise.
The pale man stopped in his tracks to look back at her as slight annoyance traced his handsome features.
She was standing in the middle of the arena as she stared at the ground intently awaiting for nothing exactly as she still pondered over what happened.
"Are you not coming?" he questioned coldly as he stared at her, his voice immediately sending a shock through her as she jolted to look to him. Nervously, she jugged over to his side, finally in the same lane before muttering a "sorry" at her foolish actions.
By the time Ulquiorra had brought her to the medical room, he didn't not stay a minute with her. Immediately he helped navigate their way to the expected place, he watched her enter and didn't even reply when she had thanked him.
Not that she expected a reply, she could only inwardly curse at his hostility.
After the medical team had done a few replacing and fixture to her wrist, she quickly left the room as the arrancars clearly for some reason didn't like her too much. It was beginning to become a thing now, most arrancars surrounding the palace always treated her differently, and by differently, it was very negative, including her own master.
She had learned to get used to it though. It didnt affect her abilities or progress in her powers so she didn't see how she should let it get to her.
Upon arriving to her chambers, she couldn't help but feel the excessive feeling that she was being watched which wasn't quite the best experience. As her slim fingers hovered over the knob of her door to wander into her quarters, an unfamiliar voice called out, disrupting her thoughts.
Slowly, she turned her head to look to the source of the feminine voice, eyes clearly surprised at the sight.
There were two girls. Both was slim and their height didn't really vary from each other. One had lengthy ebony hair that was packed into two signature ponytails she couldn't miss while the other had rather short blonde hair with an eyepatch that made her look somewhat gothic like.
Instantly, she had recognized the two. Her confused features now contorted to one of coldness and apathy.
She had come to know them as Loly and Menoly. She noticed they usually glared at her whenever they saw her or their eyes coincidentally caught her's. Again, another pair of arrancars she had come to dislike. Ignoring them on a norm was a habit but she couldn't recall ever conversing with the two.
"Serelah right?" Loly asked. Stupid.
That was the only word she could use to classify her at that moment. Of course she knew what her name was. It was clearly a taunting way of just brewing an unwanted conversation between them. She chose to stay silent as she keenly watched the annoying pair.
Her lapdog, who already wore a scowl in place reacted.
"She's still quiet even when were trying to be polite." she sounded as a smirk found it's way to her face.
A feminine giggle erupted from the arrancars as Loly slowly took two steps forward.
"Having a bad day? Or...was your master being mean to you again?" she insulted while wearing an all but innocent smile as she crossed her arms in front of herself which expectedly earned a twitch from the already aggravated lady as she still used every little self control she had left to endure the bickering of the obnoxious females.
"Don't take it the wrong way, we just came to say hi since your pretty lonely around here. It's not easy being in the mist of so many hollows you aren't used to right?"
"Then being assigned a new caretaker to help you wield your little sword." menoly teased in a baby voice as they both laughed.
She closed her eyes as a bitter smile took over her face.
All this humiliation due to the lack of proper power. It irked her. About to reply when the skinny girl spoke again.
"I hope your not screwing around with that statue by the way since that's what most girls like you do." Loly added.
Like a wave of electricity swarmed through her for a second, her eyes shot open appearing more sharp than before, her demeanor darkening in anger as her spiritual pressure flared. Insinuating the fact she did such inappropriate acts with Ulquiorra angered her to no end. She wasn't that shameless and was sure rumors like that would wander around now.
She was tightly clenching the door knob, close to almost snapping it off when an arm to came to rest on her shoulder.
The purple haired girl immediately snapping her head to look at who had touched her.
To her suprise, it was the golden haired male she fought in the beginning of her arrival here.
"Tesra?"
I apologize sincerely for my lack of enthusiasm with this book. Not that I'm not motivated to write, but I'm having this huge exam coming up and I've been so time consumed. I get why anyone would quit reading this book since I post chapters pretty late, but i'm a person too...life just comes. Anyways, i'll try to publish a chapter by December to remind you this book is far from dead. I already have an epic scheme layed out for this book so i will not discontinue the story. Consistency is part of my lifestyle, so no matter the circumstances, I will find time to publish more chapters on 'The Undiscovered Heart'.Have a cute day!