Seeing Grimmjow eat his food gave Nnoitra an unusual blend of indignation and satisfaction. The sexta's doubt in his cooking skills irritated him greatly but the face he made after eating his mapo tofu was just too priceless.
It still surprised Nnoitra he even knew how to cook and knew how to cook really well at that. He never once headed to the kitchen before Sakura came, always claiming that where women rightfully belonged and that it would have been a waste of time. Perhaps his knowledge was linked to his past life as a human? That was what Sakura proposed. There was no faults in her theory so he just accepted it.
Nether the less, he knew how to cook and actually enjoyed it, which was entirely foreign to the quinto. Other than fighting, he never really had a hobby before. He was sure glad he one now, especially one he can share with his dear nee-chan.
For today, the teacher and student decided on doing a bit of cooking before training. How fortunate, Nnoitra thought. He was feeling creative after researching various recipes and wanted to implement what he just learned. And so, he settled on stroganoff with curry-stuffed meatballs.
As he was forming his meatballs, Nelliel came to mind. He'd been doing that a lot since his talk with Sakura. He had trained extensively to the point of breaking every session he had with Sakura, but would it be enough? There was not a doubt in his mind that he had gotten stronger over the years after Nelliel's departure and even more so after meeting Sakura, but Nelliel was skilled with raw power to match. Should Sakura be right, and Nelliel came back through whatever upper power, will he even enough power to face her? Or will he lick dirt the moment she steps up to him.
"Hey," Sakura called out. "You're crushing your meatball".
"Heh?". He looks down at his hand and true to Sakura's words, he was balling his hand around a meatball, crushing it in between his palm and fingers. Cursing himself for the mishap and mess, he washes his hand, scowling all the while.
He had been doing that for a while now, Sakura noted. Zoning out that is. Not just in the kitchen, but in training as well. And she knew exactly who was on his mind. "You're worrying over nothing. Your power is great and ever increasing. If Nelliel is really as powerful as you made her out to be, you'll be a match for her by the time she walks into Las Noches".
Nnoitra wasn't surprised she knew. He appreciated the thought, but doubt still plagued him. "You never went up against her, nee-chan. With how easy she was able to take me out before, I'll need more than a few weeks to catch up her level. More like a century" he sighed.
There it was again; despair. It was a familiar sting he felt long ago, but never knew to label it. The despair that he won't ever be seen as an equal in the eyes the green-haired arrancar. That he'll forever be just a beast in her eyes. Maybe she was right. Maybe no matter how much he trained, no matter how much he self-reflected, he will always be Nnoitra Gilga - the unchangeable beast.
Without an warning, Sakura jumped and chopped the top of his head. When she landed, she simply said, "No one has ever moved up in the world while looking down" and she returned back to her dish.
Wincing as he rubs his head from the rather hard blow, Nnoitra then chuckles. "You can be oddly uplifting at times, ya know?"
"I'm your nee-chan. It's my job to lift you up when you're feeling down" she chuckled.
As the two continued on with their own dishes, new company showed up in the form of a little girl with short light-green hair. Her state of dress was quite revealing to say the least, consisting of white briefs with a black line in the middle, arm-warmers, a revealing vest, white thigh-highs, and black fur-lined boots. Her hollow hole was at the center of her stomach and her hollow mask fragment was helmet. The helmet covered her left eye with a flame design over the socket. It was asymmetrical in that the left horn appeared to be cut off while the right wasn't.
Sakura immediately took notice of her but said nothing, interested in what she was about to do. She had been frequently coming over since they started filling the halls with delectable scents and she always made fun whenever she came.
So focused on his cooking, the quinto failed to take note of the creeping girl until she pounced on his back, catching him off balance and causing him to bump his hip into the bowl of curry-filled meatballs and making it fall the ground, spilling its contents on the kitchen floor.
His anger was immeasurable and his day was ruined. "Lilynette! What the fuck?!"
"I just wanted to see what you were making! It's your fault you lost your balls!" she snapped back.
"You little brat..." Nnoitra seethed. "I'm gonna-"
"Let it go you two" sighed a lazy-sounding voice. Nnoitra grumbled in displeasure, immediately recognizing the owner.
Pushing pass the kitchen doors, Coyote Starrk entered the kitchen with his regular lazy disposition, his back slightly slouching and hands casually pocketed.
"Good afternoon to you, Starrk. Just got up from bed?" Sakura asked.
The primera scratched his scalp and yawned. "Forcibly, yeah. Lilynette wanted me to try out your cooking for a while but I just told her another time. She didn't take that today" He grimaced when he remembered how his younger self woke him up today. He was just lounging in his pile of pillows when Lilynette suddenly cannon-balled into his gut and forcing him to come with her to the kitchen.
Without another word, Sakura pulled out a mug and filled it with coffee. "Want some cream?". Starrk quirked an eyebrow but lightly nodded as he never had coffee before. She pours a teaspoon of white cream into the hot drink and hands it to Starrk.
He takes a few sips, enjoying the soothing and energizing feel it gave off. He raises his hand with his thumb up. "I feel energized" he said, though his tone did not change one bit.
"Starrk!" Nnoitra suddenly yelled. "Discipline your Fraccione right now! She ruined my meatballs!". The quinto then pointed to arrancar in question, who was sticking her tongue out to the lanky Espada with as much disrespect she could muster.
"Really? Lilynette, stop bugging Nnoitra and apologize"
"Hell no!" Lilynette replied.
"Eh... I tried" and Starrk went back to his coffee.
Nnoitra fumed at the primera's laissez-faire style of handling his subordinate.
"Hey, are either of you done yet? I'm starting to get hungry here" Lilynette asked as she sat on the counter.
"Does it look like we're anywhere near done?! Especially after you messed up my meatballs, you vomit-colored-haired little brat?!" Nnoitra growled.
"The hell did you say to me?!" Lilynette yelled in indignation. "Starrk! let's wreck this idiot!'
"Ehh... that sounds like too much work-OOF!" He did not get to finish as his other half head-butted him, hitting him in the gut and causing him to drop his drink.
"You're not getting any food! Period!" Nnoitra yelled to the anger of the little arrancar girl.
her anger did not last long however. "Here you go" Sakura said as she handed Lilynette a cinnamon roll. "Eat up"
"Sakuranee-chan!?"
"What?" she replied innocently. "I can't resist alright? She's so cute! She reminds me a bit of my old otouto, Arata" she said as she proceeded to pinch the cheeks of the helmeted girl.
"Hey! Hands off the merchandise!" Lilynette said in response to the pinching.
Nnoitra wasn't so surprised to hear that she had a student before him. He wasn't so full of himself to assume he was the first and only. Still, it left him curious as to who this Arata character was. For sure he would be a warrior, what with having been taught by Sakura, but what was he like? Was he like Sakura, him, or someone else entirely. Then came the thought of strength. Sakura trained him as a human so his strength would be pitiful compared to his, but what if he was here, powered like Sakura? Those thought made him want to see this man even more.
The little arrancar took a big bite out her new treat and gushed at how good it was. "So sweet! Hey Lanky! Why can't you make stuff this good?"
Before another bout of shouting could be made from the anger Nnoitra, he stopped, noticing the small brown bits in the dough of the cinnamon roll. "You put chocolate chips?" he growled, trying his best not to pounce the fraccione of the primera.
Sakura nodded. "Seeing you stuff those meatballs with curry inspired me. You still planning to make them?" she mentioned.
Remembering his dish, he went back to work, despite the audience watching him and Sakura. It a good thing Las Noches seemingly had an unlimited supply of food, otherwise Nnoitra's flames of anger would've skyrocketed. After he grabbed some more ground beef, he started forming his meatballs again. As he placed his gelatin-infused curry inside one of the meatballs, he stopped, just looking down his work.
'The curry is the main peace of the meatballs. And the meat shell acts as a sort of protection or layer. Hmmm...'
Later...
It occurred to Sakura that Nnoitra did not bring Santa Teresa with him to the kitchen today, which was strange - he always brought his weapon around with him.
As she waited on the sand of their training spot, she meditated, looking into her soul. She had yet too achieved her resurreccion, the most needed technique of an arrancar. She had been informed by Gin at one point that an arrancar's release was equivalent to a soul reaper's bankai but that was only in power. Arrancars did not have inner spirits inside their swords. An arrancar's zanpakuto contains their full power and released form. All but Sakura knew their powers because it was in their nature, in their souls, yet Sakura was not a hollow prior to transforming. She was a regular human so she had to search extra harder to find her true powers.
But she could feel it, like it was calling to her. A voice, just like her, was whispering something. The hitokiri focused more on the faint whisper. It was... it was...
"Nee-chan!"
Sakura jolted back to reality, though to Nnoitra and Tesra, it just looked like she awoke from a peaceful slumber, stretching like a lazy cat. She gets up and turn to the two, only to pause at Nnoitra. More specifically, his weapon.
His once mighty, axe-like weapon was no longer the imposing piece of weaponry it once was. Its size was drastically different, now the size of a nodachi, though with Nnoitra's size, it was more like a larger-than-average katana. The hilt was in the shape of a crescent moon with a yellow hilt. The blade was silver but was sheathed in a yellow guard at the right side of his hip. The large chain was also reduced in size, smaller but still attached to the pommel of the sword and connecting to his waist.
Nnoitra followed his master's eyes to his weapon and he shrugged, saying, "What? Just wanted to try something different, okay?".
Sakura only chuckled at him in response. Whether she bought what he said or not, Nnoitra did not know.
Tesra knew better though. As his master's loyal servant, he prided himself on knowing Nnoitra thoroughly. He recalled many moments between him and Nelliel, and about how she used to comment about the way he carried his weapon. He... did not know how to feel. His master was changing because of the woman in front of them, and even though he was getting stronger because of her, the way he carried himself was vastly different than the Nnoitra of yesteryear.
"I hope you know how to use that blade" Sakura comments.
"You'd be surprised" Nnoitra replied back.
"Oh, I hope so" Sakura said as she drew her sword.
"Wait" Nnoitra stopped her. "Can we do something different first?". Sakura nodded, encouraging him to go on. "I want to make new techniques".
The big sister of the three looked upon him in admiration. He's growing up, she thought proudly. "I would delighted. May I ask why though?"
"I don't want to just rely on my hierro. I want to be ready for every threat I might face, and I don't think my hieroo is fully capable for all I'm asking"
"Master Nnoitra!" Tesra gasped. He couldn't believe his ears. How could his master lose faith in his powerful hierro? It was the hardest of all the Espada!
"You and me both know my skin ain't all great Tesra. Nelliel proved that long ago" Nnoitra said with a solemn expression, shutting down any more protest from his fraccione.
"Do you have anything in mind?" Sakura inquired.
Nnoitra looked down in contemplation. There were quite a few moves he wanted to emulate before trying to make something unique to him. And so, he settled on, "Cero Doble"
"But master, that's-"
"I know Tesra. I just-... wanna see if I could do it alright. Besides, Sakura already proved she could preform Cero Doble".
Sakura quickly picked up that the cero technique was Nelliel's. That would explain the surprise on his face when she took his cero and mixed it with hers the first time she performed the move - he thought it was a Nelliel exclusive.
"Very well. Let's begin" and she fired a hot energy beam at him.
It was so quick he reverted to instincts, firing his own cero to repel hers. It was for not as Sakura's power was too much and easily overpowered him. He sonidoed before the blast touched him.
"Again" and fired at Nnoitra once again.
This time, he was ready. He braced himself for impact, putting up his arms and sword up and hardening his skin to its limit. As soon as the destructive red pillar of energy collided with his arms and weapon, the sheer heat only burned away his sleeves as well as burning his forearms in the process.
The pain was intense, probably the most powerful attack Sakura ever hit him with. Still, even with the torrid of heat beating down on him, he recalled back to his time with Nelliel, "The Bitch" he used to dub her as. With her nickname resurfaced, his anger boiled, and he gritted his teeth. He immediately stomped his emotions down, focusing his attention to the times the green-haired Espada used Cero Doble.
Sakura watched on Nnoitra tried his hardest to battle the hot energy. He really has come far since taking him in. If she used a cero of this power in the beginning, for sure he would be on mandatory bed rest for god-knows how long.
The potential she saw in him exceeded her expectations, but it was no way near her little Arata's level.
She arched an eyebrow upon seeing him open his mouth and inhale her cero. Only, when he did, he lost concentration as soon as the red energy touched his tongue. He coughs and fumbles, the tension in his arms loosening until the cero broke through his defenses and exploded.
"Master Nnoitra!" Tesra shouted in fear. He runs to the smoking spot in the sand to assist his master, but when the smoke dispersed, he stopped in awe, as there was his master, standing proud. His shirt was torn to high heavens and his skin was slightly charred, but he still stood strong.
Panting, he looked at his nee-chan, more determined than ever. "Again".
"Are you sure about that?" she questioned as she noticed him slightly wobbling. While she never babied her otoutos, she knew when to stop when they were really battered. Dislocating Arata's shoulder for instance came to mind.
"Yes... again". Sakura taught him Cero Curacion the day after their first cooking session. He used the techniques lightly, only to wipe the wounds on his torso but the fatigue still lingered. "We ain't stopping until I get this right".
Tesra did not dare to voice his dissent to his master's approach. What good would it do anyhow?
Sakura regards him carefully for a time until she answered his determined spirit with laughter full of mirth. "Very well otouto!". As cero began forming in her right palm, she said one last thing before firing. "I hope you can bear the pain"
Nnoitra's notorious grin grew in response. "I wouldn't be your student if I couldn't deal with a few burns"
Later...
Harribel was on route to the kitchen to visit Sakura and Nnoitra. It was usually around this time of the day (Or night considering it was Hueco Mundo) that the two would begin their cooking time. She did not know they cooked prior to training and so, wanted to see what wonderful creations the two have created.
It was surprise to everyone that Sakura pulled the bullheaded quinto into a hobby. She might have been there to see its conception but it was still unbelievable to comprehend.
However, her nose did not pick any scent of food preparation and her ears did not pick up the familiar clink and clank of pans. She also sensed just one presence in the room, causing her become confused? Perhaps they skipped today?
She pushes the kitchen doors open, only for Tesra to greet her. The fraccione though looked worse for wear to say the least. He pulled five big bottles of hard alcohol and was drinking them at the island table.
The tres Espada prided herself on remaining stoic and brave, even in the face of the unknown and terrifying. The look on Tesra's face though was haunting. As his lips and throat gulped down more bitter drink, his eyes bulged out of his skull with never-ending fear, as if he had seen his dreams burn down in front of him.
And everyone in Las Noches knew what Tesra's dreams were. "Tesra..." she softly called out as she approached him carefully as if he was a frightened kitten. "What happened?"
One of hands was grasping a bottle of whiskey, and it was shaking. He registered the woman's company before she even entered the kitchen, but he ignored her. When she called out to him again, the whiskey-wielding hand crushed the bottle into smithereens.
Harribel did not jump - she was experienced enough to not let actions like that startle her.
"Master Nnoitra and-... S-S-S-Sakura trained today" he stammered lowly.
Harribel immediately knew where this conversation was heading. Every time Sakura and Nnoitra trained, it always lead to the stubborn man getting injured severely or, at the very least, earning a new scar. The more she saw the effects of their training, the more respect she lost for Sakura. If she didn't know any better, she would say she was trying to kill the man. It was utterly repulsive to Harribel to see someone treat their subordinate - their 'otouto' as Sakura calls Nnoitra - so poorly and so painfully too.
She and Nnoitra may not be the greatest of friends, but she pitied him greatly. The worst thing about it all was that he saw all what Sakura was doing to him as gifts. Maybe it is, maybe it's not, but either way, its saddening.
"Let me guess, she pushed too far, didn't she?" she said with an edge of disgust.
Tesra did not confirm nor deny her. "She-... She-..." he stuttered before breaking down in a depressful sob. The images in his mind were to much, and the only way to quell them was a trip with liquid spirits.
"Tesra, whatever Sakura did, I'm sure Nnoitra will bounce back to normal with some rest-" she tried to comfort, but he snapped at her before she could finish.
"TAKE A LOOK INTO MASTER NNOITRA'S ROOM AND SAY THAT AGAIN!"
The tres Espada flinched, but it was small, almost nonexistent. She had never heard the formal fraccione raise his voice before. Tesra shrunk down as soon as he realized his mistake. "Apologies, Tier Harribel". Even when loosened by alcohol, the fraccione knew not to mess with the blonde Espada.
"It's fine. I'm gonna check on Nnoitra. Don't drink too hard alright?". When he gently nodded, she turned to leave, but before exiting the kitchen, Tesra spoke again.
"That woman, Sakura... she's so strong. So, so strong" he said blankly. "She could kill us all if she so desired" he then chuckled hollowly. "She can kill us all". Tears began to fall like rain as he continued to chuckle humorlessly. Other than the arrancar's fanatic devotion to his master, he was a formal and composed type of individual. She had never seen or even heard him say anything lightly which meant he was serious in his claim about Sakura.
Haunting. That was all Harribel could think at the moment: Haunting
She quickly located the quinto's personal palace. Aizen made sure to gift each of the Espada their own places with the fortress spanning the size of mansions.
She enters and uses her pesquisa. She locates two reiatsu signatures but pauses. One of the flames was blazing yet the other was near cinders. She quickly head to the room the signatures were in but before she opened the door, she recoiled at the smell of burned flesh.
Swallowing down her spit and gathering up her spirit, she pushes the door open... only to wish she hadn't. On the bed was Nnoitra, but his body was burned to the highest degree. The smell of charred and peeling flesh and tissue intensified to the point Harribel gagged, feeling as if she was gonna hurl inside her mask. She looked at his still body - almost a corpse - in horror and morbid fascination, disregarding Sakura at his side who was currently healing him.
Body was, in a sense, in one piece. No blown-off limbs. His skin and the muscles underneath though? Most of it was burned, as if he was cooked by the fires of hell. Some of the muscles on his arms were burned so horridly, pieces of bone were exposed. The rise and fall of his chest was faint - so faint she thought he was actually dead - but Nnoitra still lived on. She could only guess his powerful hierro saved him from fully cooking to death.
The bottom half of his face was probably the most horrific, exposing not just burned muscle tissue but some bone, teeth, the inside of his mouth, and peeling skin. The burns almost made it to his eyes, but they were only inches away.
In the end, the damage was severe. So severe he SHOULD be dead, but it was only the power of Sakura keeping him from crossing to the other side with her healing cero.
Sakura would admit it - she might have pushed too much. It was almost a blur to her, the whole training session. She knew she fired cero after cero and Nnoitra healed and healed himself after each. But that all ended when she fired a cero so great, it nearly rivaled a gran rey cero in power. A power that Nnoitra couldn't get back from.
She always did this, she noticed. Pushing her little brothers too much to the point of breaking. It served them well in the end, making them stronger, but seeing them near death, grasping onto the strings that were their life was... was something else.
She regretted very, very little in her life. From the moment she was born, she went through all her actions with conviction, never looking back. Even when becoming a hitokiri did she feel no regret - she was happy actually. Her actions afterward never even made her recoil in quilt; she went through everything with conviction. Even things that any normal person who regret. There was one time a child tried to stop her from executing her father after he was revealed to be a serial rapist. Even when in light of his crimes, the child still tried to stop her. It was an admirable attempt as she tried to kick her off her beaten father but she was distracting her from her kill. And so, she cut her hands off, leaving only bloody stumps before beheading the scum that was her father.
She felt no guilt in that moment. But when it came to Arata and Nnoitra, there was... something. She never coddled them as she was preparing them for the harsh world, but when she did push too far, she felt something she never felt before. guilt maybe? She did not know what it was, but she did know that she needed to tend to her otoutos.
She knew Harribel entered Nnoitra's palace but paid it no mind, even when she entered the room and stared at both her and Nnoitra's scorched form.
"You're sick" Harribel spat, disgusted by Sakura's brutality.
Sakura did not answer back, but she did turn her head a little bit so that her ear was nearer to the Espada's voice.
"Why? He is your 'little brother' isn't he? Why do you do this? Why do constantly break him like this?"
"It's because I'm his big sister I need to be hard on him" Sakura replied. "If I don't, this cruel, ever-changing world will eat him raw"
"And bending him until he tears, doesn't?"
"He'll be fine. I've healed him enough at this point that his nerves started working again. Albeit, a bit more sensitive. Look". She then slapped's the quinto's bare chest, causing him to violently flinch in his unconscious state. "I'll be healing him until he gets back up. I won't be leaving this room until he's fully healed.
Disgusted, Harribel lightly flinched from the slap. What was with this woman? Even when things have gone too far, she still found a way to make things even worse.
The tan woman reflected on the moment Sakura was made into an Espada and how joyful she was. With the group comprised of muscle brain and/or sadistic men, having a fellow Espada that was calm and collected, and female was a refreshing change. It was one of the reasons she got along with Starrk actually. The primera was as cool as cucumber, which she respects; And she respected Sakura for that too, but with everything set and done, she was just like the rest of the Espada, only more sadistic and apathetic.
As someone who loves and cares about her fraccione, Sakura's treatment of Nnoitra was despicable. It was worse than how the quinto treated Tesra. Nnoitra at least knew how to hold back while this masked woman knew little.
"You can't keep doing this Sakura" Harribel sternly said. "You'll kill him if the two of you continue this route. What do you think Aizen will do if he heard you killed an Espada?"
"If he really cared about his toy soldiers, why would he promote Nnoitra after Nelliel's disappearance?" she countered, halting Harribel in surprise. "Now, I hate to be rude, but can you go please? Unless you plan on helping me, you're wasting my time".
Harribeled scowled. "Hmph! Fine. I'll leave. But answer this Sakura: Do you even care about Nnoitra?"
Sakura laughed at her. "Duh! Of course I do. Why would I spend my time with him and train him if I didn't care a least a little bit. Honestly..."
Harribel regarded her for a moment before finally leaving the room. She may have said she cared, but did she really? With everything she has done to her 'little brother', she severely doubted her. But if she really cared, she sure did have a funny way of showing it.
Either way, one thing was for certain: Harribel did not like Sakura.
The next day...
24 hours. A full 24 hours went by since Harribel's leaving. True to her words, Sakura did not leave Nnoitra's side, nor did she take any breaks from healing his burned, corpse-like form.
It sure as hell was hard work, and that was putting it lightly. By the time she reached 24 hours, her entire body felt stiff, and her energy felt drained.
It all paid off in the end as Nnoitra finally awoke after a full day of slumber. His eyes fluttered open as feeling in his body picked up the soothing feel of Sakura's healing cero.
"Ah... you're awake. I'm glad" she smiled underneath her mask. From the tone of the voice, she was tired, which was new but not surprising to the rested man. She must have been staying by his side since he fell unconscious, healing him without rest. She was stubborn like that, Nnoitra amusingly thought. He was just like her; the two of them didn't know when to stop.
"Have you been healing me nonstop?"
"Yeah... I have. I recommend taking it easy for a while. At least until both of us are back to 100%" she yawned.
Nnoitra nodded in understanding. He wouldn't say it out loud, but after her last cero, a break was severely needed. Even after all the healing Sakura did, he still felt uncomfortably hot, and he wasn't even wearing a shirt.
"I think... I might've gone a tiny bit too far huh?" she lightly chuckled.
Nnoitra tossed his hand in dismissal. "Don't sweat it" he stated. "It's my fault anyways. I didn't stop when I should have and look where it got me"
"It was still my cero though..."
"Ugh! Fine!" he groaned. "It's both our faults then. Geez, just when I was trying to be nice, you had to insist on taking some of the blame. Greedy much?"
Sakura laughed at him, causing him to color in face. He was cute in some of his actions, she realized. That, and before her influence, Nnoitra was never this sociable. Granted, she was the exception; No other arrancar in the fortress could talk to Nnoitra on the same level as she and him. It made their bond all the more special, one she intended to keep.
"W-Whatever! Just go to sleep already! You're tired and I rather train with a less sleep deprived teacher"
"If you insist, scoot over then"
"Nah. I'm gonna stretch my legs. I've been bed-ridden too long"
The diez Espada merely shrugged and entered Nnoitra's bed after he got up. The entire bed smelled of him, down from the sheets, the pillows, and the mattress. She took a big whiff and sighed happily.
"Don't act creepy!" yelled Nnoitra, embarrassed at the fact she smelled his pillow.
"What?" she laughed. "It smelled like my otouto, and I love my otouto!"
The statement gave him pause, and stared in shock. Sakura paid him no mind as she quickly drifted into dreamland.
"Damn it nee-chan. Why do have to go saying embarrassing stuff?" Nnoitra huffed as he pulled a shirt on. The shirt was slightly different from his regular outfit however. It was sleeveless with a slightly smaller hood. The chest window and bracelets were still the same.
He looked himself in the mirror and smirked, admiring the view of his himself. His figure had slightly changed, being more muscular and toned. The scars and marking on his skin topped his skin, stopping a little bit under his chin. His once clean look turned unruly, but he liked it. He looked unruly and dangerous.
He licks his lips, but stops when the bottom of the number five tattoo appeared. His rolls his tongue out, and just looks at his rank.
What did this number even mean? What did it represent? His spot among the Espada, yes, but also a symbol of hatred, weakness, and inferiority. With those cursed emotions, he caused Nelliel to suffer a degrading defeat. And now that he thought about it, it wasn't even a fun a fight. He caused all of that, just to get the number five tattooed on his person.
Then came Sakura. Was Aizen insulting her by giving her the lowest Espada rank? The more he thought about it, the more enraged he became at the suave leader of his.
He didn't deserve it. He gained this five Not through his strength, not through his own merits, but through deceit, dishonor, and hate.
And so, he charged a hot cero, and burned the title off his tongue.
He balled his hand tightly as he made sure not a single remnant of the tattoo remained. Once he say nothing but a large burn on his tongue, he used his healing cero to remedy the pain and scar.
He marched out the room at a quick but steady gate, not stopping once until he reached for the throne room door. He pushed the entrance open, but when he saw the people he desired not present, he walked to the back of the long room until he found a door. Without a single regard for manners, he pushes them open to find Aizen, Gin, and Tousen working.
They stopped when they saw an uninvited guest. "Nnoitra Gilga, care explain why you rudely disrupted our work?" the blind man practically growled.
Even though he and the rest of the Espada knew what the former captain of squad nine was capable of, Nnoitra disregarded him, his gaze trained solely on Aizen.
"Give Sakura the fifth rank" he simply stated.
Gin's eyes widened, although they were more like bigger slits than saucers. And if Tousen had working eyes, they would've gone blind at what he was seeing.
The brunette kept his calm demeanor strong. "My, my. Who would've thought I'd see the day your skin was finally pierced" he jested.
"Cut the crap, Lord Aizen. Will you make Sakura the new quinto or nor?"
"I hope you realize you won't revoke this action once it's been-"
"I don't give a shit!" he shouted. "Just give her my damn spot! I don't care if I become the diez, a fraccione, or whatever! You know she's stronger than me, so just do it!". It stung a little bit when he said that, but it was the truth. He knew he was below Sakura, and accepted it. It simply infuriated him to see she wasn't getting the recognition she deserved.
Tousen was still too stunned to deliver discipline to Nnoitra's disrespectful behavior. He did not need too as Aizen responded. "Very well Nnoitra. I will grant Sakura the fifth rank and you will be demoted to tenth. Gin, place the numbers"
The former quinto presented his tongue to the fox of an ex-captain, gaining his new rank of diez. It was annoying that he was below Espada like Szayel, Aaroniero, and Grimmjow, but if its for Sakura, he will live with it.
Unbeknownst to him and the ex-captains, except Aizen, a curious blue cat was eavesdropping.
In his undeterred walk, Nnoitra failed to register Grimmjow tailing him. With how dead-set he was, Pantera's owner couldn't help but to investigate. And boy was he mad he did.
Quickly sonidoing out, he went in search for the woman of the hour until he finally found her in Nnoitra's palace. He kicked open the door, storming inside until he reached Nnoitra's door to which he also kicked down.
Sakura did not stir from the rather loud thump the door made to the ground. "Get up" Grimmjow snarled. When she did not wake up, he tried again, louder. "Get the fuck up!". She did not stir.
His patience ran dry, and he stomped to her bedside, intent on dragging the woman out of bed, but when his hand neared her shaved head, one of her hands shot to life, grabbing the sexta's wrist in a bruising grip.
Sakura yawned. "Oh. Grimmjow. You startled me" she lazily said.
"Get up. Me and you have something to talk about" he sternly said as he wretched his arm back.
Shrugging, she sat herself against the wall the bed was against and looked up Grimmjow, noting how pissed he was. "What's wrong? Did someone steal your catnip?"
"Shut it! I'm the one with the questions here and it's YOUR job in answering them!"
"Alright. Shoot"
"Why did you train Nnoitra in the first place?" Grimmjow started off.
"I saw potential. And-"
"Don't give me that rehearsed bullshit! I want the real reason!"
"I'm telling the truth, Grimmjow. I saw potential in Nnoitra, and I wanted to see him grow. It's just that he was impeding on himself so much that I had stepped in" she answered him.
"I don't believe you. I bet you just wanted a personal punching bag, is that it? Someone to knock around to your hearts content?"
Sakura shrugged. "True, Nnoitra's presence did help me exercise my powers, and having a sparring partner is always fun, but I am entirely truthful when I say I was looking out for Nnoitra first and foremost. My advancements were only... benefits"
The fact she was so adamant about the fact she had Nnoitra as the main priority took Grimmjow back as he was still in disbelief.
"Care to explain what warranted this interrogation?" Sakura inqured.
Grimmjow scowled. "Your 'little brother' just went to Aizen to promote you to quinto"
He expected her to jump in excitement, puff her chest out proud, or anything for that matter, but she merely nodded. "I see...". It would seem her claim about not caring about rank really was true.
Though her claim about caring about Nnoitra still felt off. With how she had been treating him during training would tell about anybody she hated his guts, but she said she does them because she cares?
Her love was as strange as it was painful.
"You just had to ruin the surprise, didn't you Grimmjow" Nnoitra said as he entered the room, scowling at the fact he wasn't the one to tell Sakura the news.
Grimmjow grinned. "Huh. Guess you finally realized where you belong, don't you lanky?" Grimmjow poked fun.
Though his scowl deepened, he turned to Sakura, saying, "Aizen want you in the throne room for your new number". He then turned to the pissed off panther in the room. "And for your information, I gave her my spot because she deserves it. You and I both know that fully well". His finished garnered a growl from the sexta.
"I. AM. THE. KING!" the bluenette stubbornly insisted. He then pointed to Sakura. "I defeated her! And you saw it too! EVERYONE SAW THAT I DEFEATED HER! I'm stronger than her, and by proxy, I'm stronger than you! Don't go barking up the wrong trees Nnoitra, 'cause you'll get stabbed if you do!"
Nnoitra tossed the statement away as if it was the trash of trash. "Ha! Don't give me that shit. The only reason you won was because you released your sword! Sakura was pushing you hard, and if you had not used your resurreccion, you would have lost". He then smirked triumphantly. "If you really are a king, then Sakura is the goddamn empress".
Words could not describe the ire within Grimmjow. His hands clenched so much it hurt. But what hurt the most was that Nnoitra was right. She had a good chance of winning if he hadn't used his release state.
He would never admit it, but it scared him whenever he thought back the fight. It scared him how fast she was able to adapt within minutes of transforming. It scared him how fearless she was, even when she was against entirely new brand of enemy. It scared him how calm she was, so composed that the thought of death did not so much as tickle her. Hell, it even scared him how she was able to make Nnoitra her loyal "little brother"; The odds of that happening were severely and deathly low.
"Well then! Now that I had a good rest, time for my wake-up warm-ups!" Sakura suddenly said as she jumped out of bed and began doing jumping jacks.
"But you were only asleep for thirty minutes!" Nnoitra pointed out.
"That's called a power nap, and by god do I feel powerful. Hahahaha!'
Nnoitra and Grimmjow collectively sweatdrop. "Hey Nnoitra. Can you at least say she's as strange as a living tree in the middle of Hueco Mundo?".
"Yeah, I'll... I'll concede to that"
Omake: Honored Warriors Illustrated Picture Book
"I swear to god, I'm gonna rip your arms off!" Grimmjow groaned as his legs were pushed further apart.
Part of Sakura's stretches included splits, and she decided to rope in the two boys in the room. Nnoitra agreed without hesitation while it took some arguing to get Grimmjow on board. Since his training with Sakura, the former quinto's flexibility increased, and it certainly showed as Nnoitra's splits were flawless with his legs straight and far apart. Grimmjow, on the other hand, was not so.
Sakura stepped in against Grimmjow's consent and sat in between his legs. She then started using her legs to push his legs apart while she grabbed his wrist and leaned back, pulling his body forward. It was all to help the sexta improve his flexibility, but the cat himself was starting to think she was literally trying to break him.
When she saw how much the bluenette was struggling, she turned to Nnoitra and said, "Nnoitra's push his back"
"Lanky, I swear, if you lay as much as one grimy finger on me, I'm gonna-"
But the invitation to deliver sweet pain to the annoying sexta to too much. With a dark and happy lint in his eyes, Nnoitra pushed Grimmjow's back with his foot.
In tandem with all the pushing and pulling, something was bound to happen soon rather than later. After about five minutes, a loud crack echoed in the room, halting everyone and their actions.
"Ummmm..." Sakura started, chuckling. "Grimmjow, you alright?"
"I am so gonna rip your arms off" Grimmjow whined as the pain in his lower region was spreading.
