What if…

Chapter 2

A/N: Hello! I'm back with Chapter 2. Noitora wakes up and of course he is grumpy.

Disclaimer: Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo, I only own this fanfiction.

Chapter 2: What the hell did I wake up to?

Noitora opened his lone eye and gazed at his surroundings. He was dead, right? So why did hell (because he knew there was no way he went to heaven) look like his room? Had he dreamt about his fight with Kenpachi Zaraki? He touched his chest and he immediately found his X-shaped scar from their battle and then he touched at his nose, finding the other scar Zaraki left him. Then what…

Tesla entered the room suddenly breaking his train of thought. Tesla gasped in surprise. "Master Noitora! You're awake!"

"No shit.", he replied. Nelliel…, he thought as he remembered her eyes staring at him as he fell. "Damn it! She saved me somehow, didn't she?", he hissed.

Tesla nodded reluctantly. Noitora punched the wall behind his bed making a small crack, next to other similar ones. Tesla was surprised the wall hadn't collapsed yet.

"Damn her!", shouted Noitora again. He looked down as if remembering something. "It's not the first time… She has healed my injuries in the past too. How on earth does she do that?!

Tesla looked away. Noitora turned slowly at him. "You saw her, didn't you?! Answer me Tesla! How the hell does she do it?!"

Tesla fidgeted. "Her saliva… has healing abilities…"

Noitora sat still for a moment processing the information. He stared at Tesla with a look of disbelief, praying that his fraccion was joking. Tesla's expression said otherwise. Noitora stared at his chest, knowing that Nel had spat at him, horrified. "She did WHAT?!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nel was happy that she had managed to return to her adult form, even if it wasn't permanent. She was more than grateful that Urahara Kisuke and Mayuri Kurosutchi had promised her to help her. Even though the two Shinigami saw it as a competition of intelligence.

She was with Harribel, Ulquiorra and Stark. Gin had gone to Aizen's quarters to claim them as his and Grimmjow had gone out to murder some Hollows or something along those lines. He had been too angry with the fact that he wouldn't be able to battle Ichigo again and he decided to go blow off some steam.

"So, your name is Stark, right?", asked Nel the Espada she didn't know.

The man nodded. "I became the primera Espada after you left. I had heard about you from Noitora though."

Nel felt heat rush to her cheeks. From what she had heard from Grimmjow and from the new guy that didn't even know her personally, Noitora had missed her in his own weird and twisted way. She felt weird about it.

Harribel, who seemed to notice the girl's embarrassment decided to change the subject. "We need to do something about your clothes. I mean they are ruined completely."

Nel stared at her tattered dress and felt a little self-conscious. She hadn't been embarrassed when she fought with Noitora or when Ichigo was around, but that was because she was a trained warrior. She knew that she had to be ready to give the fight of her life even if she was completely naked. But now that things had calmed down she realized she missed her old uniform. "Is there a chance you have some spare clothes?", she asked.

Harribel nodded. "You are very lucky actually. I have kept your old clothes. I mean I thought why should they go to waste? So I kept them, though I did not really wear them much. They weren't my style."

Nel stared at the revealing outfit Harribel was wearing and sweatdropped. Most of her clothing was covering her body completely, so if Harribel preferred revealing clothing it made sense she didn't wear hers. "Thanks for keeping them. Though if I keep alternating between my child form and this one, I don't know if there is a point. I mean, if I turn into a child, my clothes will be too big on me and if I turn into this form while wearing children's clothing, they will totally be ruined."

Harribel nodded. "Indeed. We need to find a solution about your transformations quickly."

"Didn't Urahara Kisuke say that he wanted to help?", asked Ulquiorra. "Also Mayuri Korosutchi said the same."

"Yes, but until they do find a solution, we need to do something temporary.", said Stark.

"Yes.", said Nel. "I guess I need to be careful of what I am doing as well. It would be terrifying if I was fighting and suddenly turned into a child."

"Was that what happened with Noitora?", asked Ulquiorra, not understanding why Nel flinched at the name or why Harribel glared at him. "That's what Grimmjow said."

"Yeah…", said Nel sighing. "I was about to deliver the finishing blow too…"

"You were about to kill him?", asked Stark, curious now about the whole situation.

"I never tried to kill him. I just wanted him to stop." Nel sighed again.

Harribel, even though she didn't really want to make the girl uncomfortable with whatever was going on between her and Noitora, decided to ask the question that was in everyone's head. "What are you going to do now? I mean with Noitora. Back in the day he would challenge you to battle all the time and in the end he almost killed you."

Nel's eyes widened. "He never tried to kill me.", she protested. "He… He just wanted to prove that he was better than me. I mean, he did have the chance to kill me more than once, yet he never did… I think he actually wants to be saved from his despair. I just had the wrong approach when it came to saving him."

"That doesn't mean that he is going to stop challenging you to battle.", said Ulquiorra.

Nel looked down for a moment, but then turned at them with determination. "Tesla said that he will not allow Noitora to bother me. And this time I am going to really try to save him. I just need to overcome my Hollow instincts. Also, if Orihime starts visiting, she can help me express my emotions correctly." They all seemed to agree with her last statement. "And who knows, maybe Noitora will also want to change for the better.", said Nel with a smile.

"Nelliel! You psychotic bitch! You spat at me!?". Right behind Nel, the door had opened with a loud bang to reveal a furious Noitora who definitely didn't seem like he wanted to change for the better.

Nel turned slowly at him with a confused look, while the other three stared at the scene dumbfounded. Or, in Ulquiorra's case, with a blank stare. "What…?", asked Nel confused.

"You. Spat. At. Me!", he shouted.

Tesla appeared slowly behind his Master with an apologetic look on his face. "Master… Master Noitora asked about… how you healed him, Miss Nelliel…"

"I see.", said Nel. She stared at Noitora with a bored expression and sighed. "Yes, I did spit at you. My saliva has healing abilities and in my child form, since I have a bigger mouth, I can produce much more so that I can spit it."

Noitora glared at her. "And did I ask you to save me?! This is disgusting!"

"Then go wash yourself. Besides, you've had other female arrancar's saliva on you in the past. I didn't see you complain then.", she said smirking.

Stark and Harribel stared at each other for a moment. "Maybe we should leave them alone.", said Harribel.

"No. I want to see what is going to happen.", said Ulquiorra and the other two stared at him even more dumbfounded.

Noitora's eye widened in shock and he gaped at Nel for a moment. "That's…. That's completely different!", he shouted. He looked away thinking of a good comeback. "And besides, why do you care? Are you jealous Nelliel? Is that why you did it?"

He was smirking confidently at her and Nel turned red in the face. Harribel could sense a lot of unresolved tension between them. "We should really leave them alone.", she said again.

To her surprise, it was Stark that replied this time. "Nah, it's getting good." Ulquiorra simply nodded with his usual stoic expression.

Harribel crossed her arms annoyed. "You two really need to learn to read the mood.", she said, but the two men ignored her.

Nel got furious. "I simply cared enough to save you! You are the one who is making this a big issue for no reason! And besides, I have done the same thing in the past! You didn't complain then!", suddenly she paled as realization hit her about the difference of how she had done it in the past and she started praying that Noitora wouldn't notice.

"I only learned about your fucked up methods now! And I didn't ask you to save me… Wait a minute…" Noitora stared at her now blushing face. "You said that as a child you have a bigger mouth and you can produce more saliva and that is why you spat at me. But back then you were an adult…" Realization hit him hard. "You licked me?!"

The other three stared at Nel, who was as red as her facial mark now, completely dumbfounded. Nel looked down. "I-I had to! There was no other way to heal your wounds, you- You idiot!"

Noitora stared at her in shock. Tesla, who had been behind his master for a while now, decided to join the other three spectators. "This isn't going to end well.", he mumbled and he saw Harribel nodding at him.

Noitora suddenly smirked, though Harribel noticed there was a little red on his face as well. "Well, who would have thought? Little Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck has a crush on me."

Nel turned at him enraged. "You wish, you jerk! Besides you were the one who was talking about me while I was gone!"

"Huh?! I was not!", shouted Noitora.

"You kinda were.", said Stark and Ulquiorra nodded in agreement.

"Who asked you?!", screamed Noitora at the other two male Espada.

"Ha! Stark and Ulquiorra both say you were! And so did Grimmjow.", said Nel triumphantly.

"Stark was asleep half the times I talked to him, Ulquiorra is making this up and Grimmjow isn't even here to back this up!"

"Actually I was awake, I just wanted you to leave me alone.", said Stark.

"And I never lie.", said Ulquiorra simply.

"Again, who asked you?!, shouted Noitora and then he turned to his only hope; Tesla. "Tesla, did I ever speak about Nelliel while she was gone? Speak the truth, Tesla.", that last part was accompanied by a smile that said that he would definitely kill Tesla if he said otherwise.

"I-I..", mumbled Tesla.

Nel approached him with an innocent smile. "Don't you owe me for saving your master? My sweet, dear Tesla…"

Tesla was sweating bullets as the two arrancar waited for his answer. "I-I-I…", suddenly he broke down crying.

Harribel hugged him. "Congratulations. You broke Tesla."

Nel and Noitora looked at him wide eyed. Then they turned to each other again. "It's your fault!", they shouted at the same time.

They continued bickering like children while Harribel and Stark tried to console Tesla. Ulquiorra's eyes where shining with interest at the fight that was taking place in front of him. It was at this moment that Grimmjow decided to return. "I'm back! I am much better now…", he stared for a moment at the scene unfolding before his eyes and turned around. "Never mind. Back to killing Hollows it is…" And with that he left. Not that the others ever noticed him.

"You are annoying as ever!", shouted Noitora.

"You are impossible!", Nel shouted back.

Suddenly Nel was engulfed in pink smoke with a pop and Noitora gasped at the sudden event. Before his eye was Nel in her child form. "No! Nel is small again!", wailed the girl.

"Wait… You haven't fixed that? I thought you were ok since you were back in your adult form…", he said not knowing whether Nel had any consciousness of their previous fight.

"Nel hasn't fixed this… But these two Shinigami promised to do it for Nel.", said the girl.

Noitora raised an eyebrow. "Wait… What Shinigami…? Wait, wait! What happened with the war?!"

Harribel looked at him annoyed. "So your first priority when you woke up was to bicker with Nelliel and now you're wondering what happened with the war?"

Noitora scratched his head and looked away. "Yeah…"

Harribel sighed and explained everything to Noitora. Noitora stared at everyone else surprised. "So Aizen is gone, we are working with the Shinigamis, that bastard Gin is here, Kurosaki lost his powers and our pet is going to visit us in order to discipline us? What the hell?!"

"Her name is Orihime Inoue.", said Ulquiorra in a threatening tone.

Noitora sighed. "Whatever! She is your girlfriend; you are the one that has to remember her name, not me. Keep that in mind when you fuc-"

"Noitora! Language!", shouted Harribel annoyed. Ulquiorra was also starting to get angry.

"What? It's not like you haven't heard that word from me before.", he said annoyed.

"We have a child with us.", explained Harribel.

"Huh?! That's Nelliel. The fact that she is a child now doesn't change the fact that technically she is an adult.", said Noitora pointing at Nel.

"Nel is thinking like a child, though.", said Nel with a playful smile. "You'll have to be careful of what you say in front of Nel."

"You gotta be kiddin me!" One glare from Harribel was enough to make him sigh. "Fine! I won't swear in front of Nel when she is in that form." He crossed his arms and looked away annoyed. He looked at Nel again a little confused. "How did your dress turn back to normal if it was ripped when you were an adult?"

They all stared at Nel's dress dumbfounded and even more shocked that Noitora had asked something logical for once. "Nel doesn't know", replied the girl confused.

"Did Szayel do something to you?", asked Noitora.

They all stayed silent for a moment. "Szayel is dead, Noitora. Zommari, Yammy, Barrangan and Aaroniero are dead too."

Noitora seemed shocked. "He is dead?!"

"Yes… I didn't know you two were close…", started Harribel, but Noitora suddenly grinned.

"Fuck yeah!", he shouted.

"Language!", shouted Harribel.

Noitora cringed. "Alright, alright!"

"Why are you happy?", asked Stark.

"That-", he was about to say bastard, but Harribel's glare reminded the no-swearing-in-front-of-child-Nel rule and he changed it. "-guy had me promise that I would let him experiment on me in exchange for his assistance in some personal matters."

"… What kind of matters?", asked Stark confused as to why someone would agree to be experimented on for personal matters as Noitora put it.

"They wouldn't be personal if I told you.", replied Noitora coldly, making Stark realize that maybe it was something important to the other arrancar.

"Maybe checking for how much brain is actually missing due to his Hollow hole.", said Ulquiorra with his usual stoic expression suddenly. He was obviously still mad at Noitora for what he said about Orihime.

"Why you-", Noitora tried to say, but…

"Anyway.", said Harribel, deciding to change the subject and stop the incoming argument. "You two", she said pointing at Nel and Noitora, "need to work things out between you. You are both hundreds of years old but you both act like five year olds at most. And at least Nel has an excuse since her child transformations could mess up her mentality. You on the other hand are acting ridiculous."

Noitora scoffed and Nel pouted. "Fine. I'll try to work it out with her. Only because I want to keep battling with her like the good ol' days.", he said the last part with a serious expression, reminding Nel that yes somehow he did miss her.

"Good.", said Harribel. "I have an idea. Why don't you try and take care of child Nel?"

"Huh?!", they both said at the same time. "Harribel are you fu-" "Language!" "-… nuts?!"

"You said that you want to fight with her "like the good ol' days" as you put it. So you will have to take care of her so that nobody actually hurts her. Besides from what I've heard, you are the reason she is in this condition now. You owe her at least that."

Noitora clenched his teeth and looked away annoyed. In the end his expression softened a little, indicating that maybe he regretted his previous actions even just a tiny bit. Nel stared at him, wondering if that was really the case or if he was really that scared of Harribel. The last thing actually confused her even more. If Noitora hated women as much as he said he did, why his relationship with Harribel was so much more different than the one the two of them had? Back in the day, Harribel was Espada number 2 and Barrangan was still number 1, yet Noitora never tried anything with Harribel like he did with her or Cirucci who was actually number 5 back then and from what she had picked, got along with her in a weird way that annoyed Nel for some reason. Maybe because Noitora challenged her when there were other female Espada in their army both weaker and stronger than her. She never understood why he did it and she never understood why she complied with him as much. Because I wanted to save him, she reminded to herself.

"Fine!", said Noitora finally, not looking at her. "I will try to take care of her."

Nel gasped in surprise. Harribel nodded. "Tesla and her fraccion will be helping you out. I trust them more than you. And if anything happens to Nel, I'll personally see to your wish of a warrior's death." Her glare made them understand that she was dead serious. "We are trying to become civilized and independent without Aizen. Let's not ruin it for something as stupid as that."

"Yeah, whatever…", mumbled Noitora annoyed as Tesla picked up Nel.

"We should get her to her fraccion.", said Tesla.

"Yeah, sure… ", mumbled Noitora.

"Master Noitora, maybe it's a good idea that you change clothes before meeting with them. You might scare them like that…"

"Why, what's wrong with my…?", he realized then and only then how ruined his uniform actually was from his battle with Kenpachi. "Damn…"

"As I said before, priorities…", said Harribel and he shot her a glare.

"Damn, I liked that uniform.", mumbled Noitora.

Nel frowned at him. "Why? You looked like a spoon."

"What?! I did not!"

"You kind of did…", said Stark.

"You looked like trash.", added Ulquiorra.

"It was ridiculous.", said Harribel.

"Like you guys know anything about fashion!", shouted Noitora and then he turned at Tesla who immediately flinched. "What was your opinion about my uniform, Tesla?"

Tesla gulped. "It was an interesting choice of clothes…", he offered.

Noitora sighed annoyed. "Great! No one here has any taste. When the pet visits I'll ask her as well to prove you all wrong."

"Her name is Orihime Inoue.", said Ulquiorra once more. He was losing his patience with Noitora.

"Whatever!", shouted Noitora. "Anyway, let's get going to the two idiots that for some reason are fraccion."

"Wait a moment.", said Stark all of a sudden. They all looked at him surprised that he of all people had something new to add. "What are we going to do with our numbers?"

"What about our numbers?", asked Noitora.

"I mean, we have two Espadas numbered 3 and we've lost the other five Espada, so maybe we should fix that."

Harribel and Noitora paled at that. "No!", said Noitora "I ain't getting tattooed again! It hurts like shit!"

"Language!", said Harribel, but she also seemed to agree with Noitora. "He is right though. The pain of getting the tattoo in the first place was too much. Me, Noitora and Grimmjow have changed numbers through the years and it wasn't any more pleasant. You are the luckiest because you remain number 1 and you wouldn't go through this again."

"I do remember it hurting a lot.", admitted Stark. After all, the tattoos had been created by spiritual pressure and Aizen's to be precise.

"Well, we had to have our previous numbers completely deleted and have the tattoo redone as many times as we changed ranks.", explained Harribel.

"I changed ranks 3 times!", shouted Noitora. "I couldn't feel my tongue for days! If we could keep our ranks recorded without the tattoos, it would be great."

"Yes, we should do it like that. I think we should fix Hueco Mundo and Las Noches though, before we started changing ranks again.", said Harribel.

"I do not remember the pain.", mumbled Ulqiorra lost in his thoughts.

Harribel sighed. "You've been Espada number 4 from before even I became an Espada."

"Yes, you are right.", said Ulquiorra.

"Anyway, I'm going to drop off Nel to the two idiots.", said Noitora leaving the room, followed by Tesla.

"Well, Noitora is going to handle Nel. We should try to repair as much of Las Noches as we can. We also need to check the dead Espada's castles for anything useful. Stark, Ulquiorra.", the two men stared at her expectantly. "Go check Aaroniero's castle. I'll go and see what we have to repair."

The two male Espada left the room, leaving Harribel alone. She sighed. "This is goin to be interesting…" She then realized something. "Where on earth is Grimjow? He also has to help, damn it!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gin smirked to himself. He was glad that no one of the Espada had ever been to Aizen's private quarters before. Of course Aizen had had the biggest room, the perfect view and the best bed. And he was the only one who knew how great all of these were and thus the only one to dare claim them. His grin widened when he saw the bathroom the man had. He even had a Jacuzzi. Gin had definitely won the jackpot.

End of Chapter 2

A/N: A weird ending, but I really wanted to put Gin in this chapter as well. A huge thanks to Ellieness and Dixie Ulquiorra for reviewing and especially to Ellieness for pointing out I had portrayed Ulquiorra's speech wrong. I changed these parts in the first chapter and I am trying to be careful with Ulquiorra's way of talking. Hope you enjoyed chapter 2. I'd love to see your comments. Next chapter; Orihime visits. Till next time!