"El Directo!" Chad had fired an energy blast that came from his upgraded right arm and he had sent it off to Uryu at a certain distance away. Except Uryu had managed to dodge it by using Hirenkyaku to get away. Uryu had his energy bow pointed at Chad and began to fire arrows at him. Chad had started to run away from the arrows as he was trying to dodge them as much as he could.

'I'm not exactly trying to do a battle here, even if it's just sparring. I need to get used to the Reishi in the air that's coming from this place, if I do that then I should be able to utilize my powers much better than what I'm capable of in the Living World or even better than the Soul Society.' Uryu thought to himself. He had then sensed Ichigo coming in from behind, who had leaped towards him in an attempt to slash his back. Uryu had avoided it by going to another side.

Ichigo had landed on the sand before he turned around to look at Uryu in the air. "Hey, what gives! It looks to me that you're not trying to fight here!" he exclaimed.

"I have my own reasons to do what I want."

"The hell is that supposed to mean?"

Ichigo then felt his Spider-Sense tingle, so he had turned his head from behind to see Chad charging at him with his right arm raised to hit him from behind. Ichigo turned around in time to use his cleaver sword to block the incoming attack. He had managed to block it with his sword in time as once again he hadn't managed to move from his spot. "Chad… come on! You have more power than this, don't you?!" Ichigo exclaimed. 'There's no way this is all he can do if he came here to Hueco Mundo. There's gotta be more to him if he's not even able to make me move.' he thought.

Ichigo had pushed his sword further from Chad. Chad had backed off before he went on the offense again, but this time instead of using his right arm, he used his right leg to attack Ichigo again. Ichigo had raised his left wrist in order to block it, to which he had did. Ichigo then pushed Chad a little before he leaped at him as he had hovered slightly above the dark skinned giant. The teenager had launched a spin kick at Chad's head, but Chad had managed to block his kick with his right arm. Ichigo had backflipped away, and before he could go back to attacking again, he felt danger as he turned around to see Uryu's arrows coming at him from behind. "Shit!" he cursed as he had jumped away to another side to avoid the arrows.

However, unknown to the three of them, they were being watched by a few individuals who all had appeared to be Hollow-like in appearance.

"Wow… who the heck are these guys supposed to be?! And what do they look like they're doing?" an Arrancar who was known as Pesche had asked as he seemed to try hiding behind the Quartz tree. Pesche was a seemingly harmless, humanoid Arrancar whose mask resembles an insectoid head with a large pair of mandibles. He wears an eye patch and a loincloth. His Hollow hole is slightly lower than normal, positioned near his stomach instead of his chest.

Another Arrancar known as Dondochakka had agreed with this. "Yeah, who even are these guys in the first place?! They were interrupting our eternal game of tag dont'cha know?!" he had complained. is a large, spotted, humanoid Arrancar with a tiki mask and compound eyes and is fairly tame in comparison to other Hollows. "Hey, Nelliel, you think we should introduce ourselves to them?"

Bawabawa had said seemed to say something but his words seemed like they couldn't be understandable. This type of Hollow is a giant, eel-like Hollow whose mask consists of a simple plate on his head with a pair of horns.

And finally, Nelliel herself had been shown. Nelliel is a female Arrancar who has hazel eyes and green turquoise hair. Her form is that of a fully-grown curvaceous and well-endowed adult with long waving turquoise hair, and her skull mask also differs; its features appearing sharp with a pair of curved horns, but looked as though it was missing some of its teeth. What was unusual was her clothing was torn into a skirt and a top that clearly showed the lower curves of Nelliel's breasts.

However Nelliel herself was frowning slightly. She had come here to see what kind of battle was going on from several Spiritual Pressures she had been sensing from a distance. She thought there was something very strange about what she was sensing, and it was no wonder why this was the case. What she was seeing was a fight with a Soul Reaper, and along with some other two that she couldn't remember right what the names were. Well the one on the dark skin had to be some sort of human but one shouldn't be here unless they were dead. And the last man in white… erm… wait, he was using some now. Weren't there names for those? What were they called again?

"I'm not really sure if we should do that, guys…" Nelliel said, with some worry etched to her tone. "These people don't seem like the type we should approach with."

"Huh? Why not?" Pesche asked.

Back in the sparring match, Ichigo had been getting pushed back by the amount of arrows that were heading for him but he had been slicing every one of that were heading for him. However some had managed to cut into his flesh. "Nngh!" Ichigo had hissed out before he took the arrows out of his shoulder. "Man these things hurt. It's like getting sliced by a knife again." he complained.

He had then sensed the danger of Chad coming in from above, as Ichigo looked up to see Chad's right arm using the energy blast coming at him. Ichigo had used the Flash Step to get away from this as the blast missed him completely and it only hit the sand instead. Chad had landed on the sandy ground and he looked up to see Ichigo about to swing his sword down in the air. "Alright, Chad! Let's see how tough that right arm of yours is!" Ichigo exclaimed. "Getsuga... Tenshou!"

Chad saw the blue glowing energy fang coming at him. He had decided to stand his ground and try to tank the fang that was coming at him. So with that, Chad raised his right arm in front of him so he could block the Getsuga that headed for him. But the moment the attack collided with his arm, Chad had almost been blown away by it. "Nnnngh…!" Chad gritted his teeth as he was struggling hard with the Getsuga. This wasn't enough. He needed more power in order to block this attack.

Not to mention he was feeling some sort of rustling in himself. Actually maybe not so in himself, but more so with his strange powers. 'I need more power…' Chad had thought. "Hyaaaaaagh!" suddenly Chad had started to gain a form of new strength within. His right arm that had been pushed back before had started to push back the Getsuga away. His right arm had started to glow as Chad could feel more energy dwelving within him. His right arm had started to grow more longer, and he could feel it take into a different shape. But it was enough for Chad to deflect the Getsuga away onto a different direction.

Ichigo saw his attack get deflected, and he looked back at his friend from below as he was just stunned by the performance. There was some smoke covering over before it got cleared and Chad was revealed once more, except his right arm looked as though it transformed as it looked much more bigger with the shape of a shield on it with magenta-like hollow markings on it. "Holy crap, Chad! That was awesome!" Ichigo exclaimed in excitement. "Since when did you learn to do that?!"

Chad had looked down at his newly upgraded arm with a look of interest, even though his face didn't really show anything like that. "To be honest, I'm surprised myself. I didn't know I could do this until now."

"Wait, for real?" Ichigo heard him as he had landed down.

However back with Nelliel and the other Arrancars, they were still watching from a distance where they couldn't really be seen or sensed by others. "Say what?! You mean one of those guys are a Soul Reaper?!" Pesche exclaimed with bulging wide eyes, as he was comically shaking.

"A Soul Reaper?! That means that there must be bad guys in there! Oh, this is so not good dont'cha know!" Dondochakka said, as he was shaking up.

Nelliel had sweatdropped of the antics of her brother's were doing. ''Wait… what's that blue thing? It looks like it's heading straight for us." Pesche pointed with his finger. This had Nelliel turn around and saw that the Getsuga was heading straight for them. ''Wait, holy crap! It is heading for us!"

Nelliel had widened her eyes slightly when she saw the Getsuga heading. On instinct she had stepped in front and held out her hand to block the incoming attack. The blue fang clashed with her hand but Nelliel had managed to stop its tracks with simple ease. However her face turned into some curiosity as she had smelled the fang. 'Huh… it smells a bit like a Cero. I wonder…' she had used her second hand to draw the sword that rested on her hip. She had pulled it out and had cut the Getsuga in half, and she quickly used the first half to breathe it in her before she ate it. She had then used her Cero Doble to fire the attack back where it was send. Nelliel had placed her fingers on her lips to taste the attack. "Hmmm... Not bad. It barely tasted like a Cero at all, but not really bad. Kinda want mkre though..." she missed to herself

Back with the others, they had continued their sparring match with one another. But that wasn't until that they had seen a Cero launch at them. "Holy shit!" Ichigo shouted in surprise as he had leaped in the air to avoid the energy beam that headed for him. "Where did that come from?!" he had asked as he looked back as to where it came from.

"Must have been from some Hollow, or maybe an Arrancar must have spotted us." Uryu said.

"Well, whatever it was, guess our sparring must have gained attention. Should we go after it?" Chad asked as he was on the ground.

"Well the plan was to cut down as many Arrancars as we can to make it easier for Soul Society to fight later." Ichigo said. "So I don't see why we shouldn't. Let's go after it!"

"I probably shouldn't have sent it back…" Nelliel murmured to herself. "I think that they're coming after us now."

"Say what?! They are?! Ah crap, we're dead aren't we?!" Pesche had comically exaggerated as he seemed panic.

"Guys, calm down... I'm sure I should be able to take the others heading for us." Nelliel tried to reassure the others. "Maybe I can just try to clear up I didn't mean to attack. Maybe it could be some nice Soul Reaper?"

And that was when Ichigo, Chad, and Uryu had come in with all their weapons readied at hand. Ichigo himself seemed surprised when he had looked at the female Arrancar in front to him. "Well, guess our hunch was correct. It was Arrancars that sent that Cero." Uryu had said, as he seemed ready to strike his arrows any moment now.

Nelliel tried to put her hands in front of her. She had to clear this up so that a fight wouldn't happen. She didn't like to fight at all. "Wait, hold on! I think there's some misunderstanding here! I didn't really mean to attack any of you!"

'Is that really an Arrancar?' Ichigo tried to look at where this woman had her mask, and he managed to spot it on top of her head. 'She looks kinda different from the others I met. And what's with the clothes she's wearing?' he looked at her again, with some slight blush on his face when he looked at the chest. 'No, seriously, what's with the outfit?'

"So, can we just settle this down?" Nelliel asked with a smile.

"Hold on, first you try to kill us and now you want some peace with us?" Uryu asked in suspicion. "What's your game here?"

Ichigo tightened the grip on his sword. There was a part that told him what this woman was saying might be the truth, but what if she was just lying to lure them here before she attacked them again? Or what if that happened when they turned their backs on her? But with all of the Arrancars that he had met, all of them were created by Aizen…

But there was a raging part of him, the aggressive instinct within that told him not to listen as to what she was saying. It demanded him not to be naive and to just finish the job he was supposed to do. He couldn't risk any chances. "We're not… taking any chances with the Arrancars that were created by Aizen. We have to finish the job here!" Ichigo declared his decision.

"What?! No wait, just listen to me—"

They didn't listen. Instead, Uryu bad fired the arrows at Nelliel and the other Arrancars behind her. Needless to say that Nelliel was not pleased by this at all. She lowered her head down slightly as her eyes turned to a form of glare at all three of them. "Fine then… so we'll play it like this then…" she said before she drew her sword and striked multiple times to deflect the arrows. Nelliel had then used Sonido to phase away.

"What the—" Uryu widened his eyes at the sheer speed he had seen. But before he could say anything else, Nelliel had appeared behind him and within a single blow, she had completely knocked down the Quincy on the ground by hitting his head from behind with the back of her sword.

Chad had turned around when he had heard the "thud" hit the sand, and he was surprised to see his friend already down for the count. "Uryu!" Chad yelled out. He was about to charge a far more powerful El Directo at the Arrancar woman, but she had used her Sonido as she had lowered her form before she used her left elbow to hit Chad's stomach. This had Chad gasp out in pain before his whole world went black as he had passed down.

Ichigo looked at both sides as they had already passed down. 'This woman just took down Chad and Uryu with just one blow! What the hell?!' he was just utterly stunned at the monstrous strength this Arrancar possessed.

Nelliel had gotten up before she turned her head to look at Ichigo with a blank look. "And now… you're next." she simply told him.

Ichigo widened his eyes before he grit his teeth as he set his sword horizontally before Nelliel had came in front of him and kicked the sword, which in turn had launched Ichigo backwards. "Gah!" he grunted out as even though he blocked it with a sword, he could still feel a lot of power behind it.

"Oh, so I see you're able to react a lot faster than these two are…" Nelliel said with a dry tone, sounding as though she wasn't very impressed with this. "But combat reaction isn't gonna be enough to save you here."

With that said, Nelliel had used Sonido to get behind Ichigo as she seemed to have been floating. Ichigo's body was tensing up as he had turned around to slash Nelliel, but she used Sonido again to get away before getting behind the boy again. This was where the Arrancar had slashed Ichigo's back with simple ease, and Ichigo had stumbled his steps from the slash he felt. He hissed for a few seconds before he had turned around and tried to make a counter attack by making a Flash Step as he had gotten in front Nelliel and crouched down. He had also swung his sword horizontally so he could aim to strike her head.

Nelliel on the other hand had merely taken a step backward while she had also bended down her back to avoid the fatal strike that came at her. She then proceeded to spin her fingers as it also spinned the sword before she had cut Ichigo's left wrist. "Nngh!" Ichigo hissed again before he backed off. He felt the pain that came from the slash but the good news was that it wasn't disabled and he could still move his hand.

Nelliel had then charged straight at Ichigo the moment she saw him getting ready to fight again. Ichigo had prepared his basic stance again for any defense he could measure with to block against this woman. However, Nelliel had used Sonido again and already got in front of Ichigo as he couldn't react in time when she had punched his cheek. Ichigo was utterly stunned at the amount of pain he had felt within that, but Nelliel wasn't done with him as she pulled him back by grabbing his shihakusho before she kicked his stomach, sending him flying in the air. Nelliel watched the boy's form getting launched by her kick. Ichigo's eyes went as wide as they could get from the pain he felt in his stomach that felt as though it was burning. 'Oh man… it hurts so much. It feels as though she knocked the wind out of me! I can't breathe. And my stomach feels like it's burning!' he thought to himself as his eyes kept on trying to look at the Arrancar that he was fighting. 'Who the hell is she?!'

Ichigo had then landed down on his back on the sand. He had let go of his sword as he held out his stomach from the pain. He kept on trying to take his air back, which he slowly was. Nelliel didn't really do anything but just look at the boy with a narrow look. "Tell me… why is it exactly you're here for?" she had asked him.

Ichigo had managed to gain his wind back eventually as he had also picked up his sword. "What…?" was practically more or less of an answer. But this was more so something that he didn't get. What exactly did she mean by that? Did she mean she knew that he came here to rescue Orihime? Or was it more so his plan?

"Wait, I'll be a little more accurate. What I meant was what exactly are you doing here? What's your reason for coming in a place like this? You're a Soul Reaper, so there's gotta be some reason for you to be here isn't it?" Nelliel asked.

Ichigo had started to get back up as he was supporting himself with his sword at his grasp. "As if... I'd tell you." Nelliel quirked her eyebrows by this. "An Arrancar doesn't have any business to know why I'm doing here. But even if you did, it wouldn't matter either way when I beat you." Ichigo had gotten back up as he readied himself for the fight to happen again.

Needless to say, Nelliel wasn't really pleased by this as she had taken a heavy sigh. "I see then. So that's your answer? That's quite the bold arrogance coming out of you." she bluntly said. "And quite sad as well."

Ichigo quirked his eyebrows by this. "Say what?"

"Your answer…" Nelliel had continued. "You just basically told me that your reason for coming here is to fight Arrancars and Hollows just because we're natural enemies. One who possesses reason should require a reason to fight. You're just no better than a brainless brute of an animal as you are if that's all the reason you have, and the one who assumes all Hollows are evil. I thought that you Soul Reapers were mostly evil as well, but maybe there were some good ones out there as well. Guess I was wrong…"

Nelliel had charged again with her sword raised. Ichigo then leaped at her so he could start to gain some blows. Ichigo had swung his sword downwards, but Nelliel had blocked it by placing her sword horizontally above her head. Ichigo had struggled to press through her defense, but Nelliel didn't really seem to have any trouble with this. Instead she had smoothly let go of her sword and had stepped sideways, which had Ichigo clumsily step forward as the force had been released. "Oh and not to mention that your fighting skills, if you can even call them that, are really dull."

Ichigo had quickly turned around to make a horizontal slash at her neck, but Nelliel had simply leaped in the air and twisted her body as she got behind Ichigo again. "I mean, what are you even doing? You're just aiming at me randomly." Ichigo had tried to thrust his sword from behind but Nelliel had grabbed her handle with both hands as she had placed it vertically as Zangetsu had slided against Nelliel's sword as it caused sparks to come by. Nelliel had then pushed her sword a little further and it had captured the back of the curved moon part of the blade. "What?!" Ichigo exclaimed in surprise before he got pulled by the woman and Nelliel had used her bicep to push Ichigo down on the sand and had him hit his back.

Ichigo had groaned on the ground as he had opened his eyes again to see the Arrancar woman standing above him. "Like I said, your skills are just awful to even look at." she had bluntly told him. "Along that, it's kind of sad that you're just here to kill me. It's quite childish to be honest. And kinda petty as well."

Ichigo had looked at the sword she had for a few seconds. He proceeded to roll around the sandy ground before he got back up by his hand making jump. Nelliel looked at him with an unamused look. "You just don't get it do you… when will you suck on that pride of yours already?!" Ichigo didn't listen. Instead he was only more frustrated with her as he launched a silent Getsuga Tenshou at her. Nelliel had cut it in half with ease and began to charge at him again.

Ichigo had completely tensed up as he had to get ready for this again. Nelliel had jumped at him as she charged a kick to land on his face. Ichigo had managed to leap sideway out of the way but Nelliel was still charging at him. 'Shit, here we go again! Let me predict her moves this time!' Ichigo thought to himself. Their sword duel had begun again. Their two swords had clashed with one another for brief moments as Ichigo was already getting pushed backwards and Nelliel was stepping further ahead of him. Nelliel had pushed her sword forward to cut open Ichigo's chest but he had blocked it by placing his blade vertically. Ichigo had tried to counter by slashing upwards but Nelliel had leaped behind him except she didn't perform any strike. Ichigo quickly turned around and tried to slash her but she had simply twisted her body again as she got behind Ichigo.

The Substitute turned around again to block Nelliel's strike that went at his chest. Nelliel had turned her sword so she could cut Ichigo's shoulder. But Ichigo had managed to leap away this time as he had gotten behind her. But when he did, his eyes had widened when he had seen a tattooed number "3" on her back. 'No way… she's number 3? But that means that… she's an Espada! What the hell?! No wonder why I've been getting my ass kicked this whole time! I can't believe I haven't used my Bankai before that was an Espada this whole time! Ok, screw this! I'm not playing around anymore!'

Nelliel had turned around to see Ichigo performing his stance to use his Bankai. "You know, I just remembered something… don't you Soul Reapers have this thing that's called a Bankai? Where your power increase over 5 or 10 times that depends on the user or something like that? I've been wondering why you weren't using it. I thought that you didn't have it or something."

Ichigo had a sweat from his forehead. "I didn't want to use it against Arrancars that weren't any Espadas. I wasn't going to waste my energy just to battle some that weren't going to give me trouble. But now that you're an Espada, I have all the reason I need to fight you at full strength!" he declared it to her.

Nelliel still had a narrow look. "So that's the reason? You know that high and mighty attitude of yours is gonna be your downfall if you keep that up."

"Say what?"

"Don't get me wrong, I can understand restricting your strength and saving it against a stronger opponent, and it's good that so that you don't carelessly waste your energy for nothing and get burnt up so quick. However, by doing this against the likes of myself then you are underestimating me and that will be your downfall. And against the likes of other Arrancars that may be much stronger than you think."

Ichigo on the other hand didn't really seem to listen. "Yeah, yeah, can we just get on with this already? This time I'm not going to hold back!" he had prepared to enter to the next level. "Ban—"

"Yeah, no." Nelliel had used Sonido again to get in front of Ichigo and headbutted him which had him fall down on the sand again. Nelliel had then stepped her foot down on his stomach. "Do you still not get it? How dense is that skull of yours anyways?" she asked in slight irritation as she had sheathed her sword.

Ichigo took the time to glare at her instead. "Let me give you one example…" she then went ahead to grab Ichigo by his hair and lifted him up. "I'm not saying there's anything wrong with holding back in a fight. I don't mind that, but my problem is how stubborn you're being here." Ichigo had then out of desperation tried to cut her head as he swung his sword, but Nelliel had grabbed the sword with her other hand with relative ease. "Hang on, I wasn't finished. This little method of the exercise you're doing is quite dumb. Do you not realize that I could have killed you so many times but I never dealt the final blow anyways."

Ichigo grunted from how tight this Arrancar was squeezing his hair. He felt like she should have been able to rip out his head like ripping a leaf. "Why didn't you then? I'm your enemy aren't I?"

Nelliel nodded her head. "By nature, yes. And you did attack me, so I do consider you an enemy. But personally, I just don't even like fighting in general. I only want to do it in case if the ones close to me are in danger. So now here's a question for you: What would have happened if your friends over there weren't just conscious? What would have happened if I took more lethal blows to them?" Ichigo had then widened his eyes as he had stopped struggling. "Do you finally get it know?" she asked him.

Nelliel had then let Ichigo go as she got him on his knees. "Yeah... I finally get it." he looked down with a small smile, as he had realized his foolishness. "All of what I did was just pointless. And kinda stupid as well. You were right. If my friends got hurt because I was being stubborn by my method, none of this right now has been worth it."

"Well, I'm really glad you realized this."

Ichigo had looked up at her and gave off a warm smile. "Thank you. I appreciate you snapped me out of that."

This had Nelliel look away a little. "I-It was no big deal! Really!" she had stammered slightly. 'W-What's with that smile on him?! What did I do just now?!' she had then looked back down at the teenager. "Hold on a second, why are you thanking me if you came here to cut down every Hollow you could find?" she asked, as she found the quick change of attitude a little odd.

"Oh, uhm…" Ichigo felt a little embarrassed as he had gotten up and scratched his cheek while still holding onto his sword. "That wasn't really the entire truth. The cutting down part was just a small mission to make it easier for a war that's coming up." he had managed to swallow his pride up. "What I really came here for was so that I could rescue someone that's really important to me. Sorry I made you upset."

"Wait… you mean you actually came to save someone?"

"Well… yeah."

Nelliel had then gasped as she held her arms over her head with wide eyes. "Aaaah! I shouldn't have done that! Now I was being the stupid one as well!" she had exclaimed with pure embarrassment coming over her.

"Uh… are you alright?"

Ichigo then saw Nelliel bow to him as she was on her knees with both her hands together in front of him. "I am so so so so sorry! I shouldn't have been so hypocritical to say that not all Hollows were bad when I was judging Soul Reapers to be the same! Please forgive me!"

"W-Wait, hold on! It's fine!"

Nelliel then looked up. "Though your sword skills are still terrible. I'm not taking anything back on that one."

Ichigo then had a tick mark on his cheek. "Yeah… fine then…"

"Oh please, you know I'm right."

Ichigo tried not to snap at that. "Yeah… got it then…" he had then sheathed his sword on his back. "Well, anyways, I'll have to go back where I was before this whole thing happened. So I'll see you." he said, before he started leaving.

Nelliel then got up with a confused look on her face. "Wait, you mean you're going to Las Noches itself?"

Ichigo looked back at her. "Well, yeah? That's where the others and I were gonna head head to before we met you."

"And you guys were going there on footing?"

"We don't have any transport so we'll have to resort to running. What's the problem?"

"You… do realize it will take at least around 3 days to get there, right?"

Ichigo then looked at her with a baffled look. "Wha — 3 days?! That's how long this place is?!"

"Well more so the distance to just get to one gate of it but yeah that's practically it."

"Ah well that's just fucking wonderful. Now how could I get there?"

"Hey, don't worry!" Nelliel then smiled. "I can get you there more faster with Bawabawa!"

"Balaga who?"

"Bawabawa. It's the giant worm Hollow you saw before the fight started. Consider this a debt for the misunderstanding that happened. Oh and also that you'll need a lot more firepower if you're planning on taking on the Espada."

"Uh… Right. Thank you then. I appreciate this."

Back within the large palace of Las Noches, Orihime was seen within her "room" that she had to be in. But instead of being in her school clothes like before, she was wearing a white and black outfit that resembled more that of an Espada outfit than anything else. It's already been several hours since she has gotten here and to be honest… she already wasn't liking it here.

Actually why would she? Not only was she forced to be captured here and held against her will for as long as she had to stay, but she was also forced to heal these people for the upcoming war, and that's the part that worried her the most. This would give her enemies more of an advantage in the battle. Oh and did she mention the people here really didn't seem nice at all. It almost seemed like she wasn't exactly well liked here.

And then there was something that bothered her. Quite recently she had been summoned by Aizen himself so that he had something to show her. And oh boy did he have something for her alright. Of all the things she had thought he would show her, she couldn't have expected him to show the Hogyoku itself. Let's just say that meeting had her feel overwhelmed by that thing's presence.

And then there were her own powers to considering. She still had a hard time believing that what Aizen told her was the truth of her powers. How could it just be possible for her of all people to have some kind of power that's supposed to be even greater than some God. That shouldn't be possible… right?

"How long are you going to stare into space like that?" Ulquiorra had then spoken up as he had suddenly appeared behind the girl.

This had Orihime get spooked up, as she didn't expect him of all people to be here. "Aahhh! How long have you been here?!" she asked.

"Just now. And please don't fuss about every single thing. It can be annoying." Ulquiorra had simply told her without a care. "Though I must say, that outfit fits you surprisingly well." he had then… complimented her? "However, I came here to give you an announcement: Your friends have arrived into Hueco Mundo."

This was where Orihime had widened her eyes by this share of news. "They… they did?" she asked in surprise. Not from the fact that she was getting rescued, but more so that it was so soon that it was happening. If the rescue team was who she thought it was…

"Of course they did. They came in here to rescue you. To them, this is the only thing that matters to them." Ulquiorra had objectively told her. Honestly he didn't see the point of them trying to save someone that was supposed to be branded as a traitor, and top of that all of them would die in futile effort against higher class Espada. "However… that should be none of your concern. You already belong to us, both mind and body. That's what wearing that outfit means, Orihime Inoue."

However, instead of seeing her submissive like he had expected her to, she did the opposite by giving him a hard stare. "... No, you're wrong. That's not true at all. I only wear this because this is the only outfit you people had for me. This doesn't mean anything. My mind and my body only belong to myself, and I'm not giving it to any of you people here." she told him firmly. "And if my friends really came here to save me now, it gives me all the more reason not to give anything to you."

If Ulquiorra had any sort of surprise on his face for such resistance like this, he clearly didn't show it. But this was something he certainly didn't expect. "You are to know your place, girl. Until Lord Aizen says otherwise, you're free to be left alive for as long as you're allowed, if he wanted to he could dispose of you any time he pleases to do so. What can make you think your friends have any hope of rescuing you?"

Orihime pressed her hand on her chest. She wanted to say that Ichigo promised to save her but she stopped that coming out at the last second. "I just know it in my heart that they'll succeed. They managed to save someone before, if they could do that once then they can do it again."

…

"Heart?" Ulquiorra spoke the word that this girl before him just said. "What nonsense are you babbling on about? What do you mean by that?" he had asked her.

"Huh?"

Orihime wasn't sure if this was just her but she felt like that this Espada's gaze was staring at her… with a harder look? More cold? "I asked you a question."

Orihime was a little confused by this. "The heart? You know… like when you do have hope? And along with some other stuff?"

"...So that's it?"

"It's not really just that. It's more complicated than that."

"Regardless, this so called hope of yours is going to be crushed. The results will be inevitable." Ulquiorra had told her before he had made his exit.

Orihime had stared at the spot that the Espada had left from. 'What was that just now? That was weird…' she thought.

From within the halls of Las Noches, Ulquiorra had been seen walking around with his thoughts still contemplating on what just happened.

'What in the world is that girl even talking about? A heart she says? What utter nonsense… but… what is going on?' he thought. 'None of this should be happening. When she got here, there were supposed to be multiple psychological cages put on her. First we used to threaten the lives of her friends to put her in a position where she would be forced to surrender. Then a 12 hour period to say goodbye to one of her friends. In those 12 hours she was supposed to be freed of the thought of her friends not being in danger by then, and her heart would have become more sympathetic towards us. Therefore we have created an illusion where it seemed like she was doing this of her own free will even if it seemed like a coerced surrender. This illusion should have been planted in her mind, but it didn't… instead she still seems to be resisting as if she still has something to fight for…' Ulquiorra was thinking to himself.

Ulquiorra had looked up to see Tia Halibel standing in the hallway with her arms folded as she seemed to be leaning on a wall against her back. "So, I see that you're already finished with our prisoner. That went more quick than I expected." Halibel had remarked blanky as her own colorful emerald green eyes met Ulquiorra's dead ones.

"I don't see what you were expecting to happen. I was merely doing my job to announce her that we were being attacked, that is all. I do not see why this concerns you." Ulquiorra said.

"I merely asked. And it wouldn't have been my concern if I hadn't asked for Lord Aizen to switch out places to watch over our prisoner." Halibel remarked back again calmly. "So it clearly is my concern."

"Do as you wish then. But I do not see as to why you would possibly ask such a thing as to why you would watch over that girl when I have everything taken care of under control. But if it is under Lord Aizen, then I suppose I do not have much to refute." Ulquiorra began to walk again as he had merely wanted to get past her.

Halibel didn't really say anything about this, but instead she stopped leaning and folding her arms and started to walk towards as to where her prisoner's room was… well not that she really wanted to think of her like that, even though she technically was in that position, she didn't like it either way.

Halibel had made it to Orihime's room as it was already left open completely for her. "I see that your meeting with Ulquiorra could have been a lot better." she said openly enough for the girl in front to hear her.

Orihime, who had her back turned had suddenly turned around to hear a new voice before she looked at who was talking to her. She was surprised to see the new person as she hadn't expected to see anyone else up until now.

"I apologize if he was being a miserable bastard. He's always like that. Try not to let his words get to you." Halibel told Orihime.

Orihime put her hand on her other arm. "Well... I'll try? But uh… who are you exactly?" she asked, as she was completely confused as to who and what this woman was doing here.

"My name is Tia Halibel. If you're confused as to why I'm here, I have asked Lord Aizen for me and Ulquiorra to switch places from time to time so that you could gain at least some company around here."

Orihime had looked down on the floor. "I guess… because I feel like no-one really likes me here. They don't really seem nice at all."

"That's putting it really lightly for these kind of people. They're animals that I mostly don't get along with."

"So… why exactly are you here though?"

"I already said that I thought you could get some company around here. Let's just say I'm more different than the others."

"Oh… well thank you. That's really nice of you."

"So, your name is Orihime Inoue, correct?"

"Uh… it is. Why do you ask?"

"It's just… well…" Halibel looked down on the ground, as she had scratched her cheek from some embarrassment from what she felt on the inside. "There was a meeting that was held upon us Espada where we received that 3 intruders are about to invade into the Las Noches canopy. The one that had my interest went by the name of Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Uh… what about him?" Orihime asked, not really getting what this was about.

"It's just... I sort of met him a while back when he came here before. And his presence… felt so different from the ones I felt before. I'm not sure if that's just because he was a Soul Reaper but it felt more… calm and relaxing."

"So… you wanted to talk about Ichigo? I don't know…" Orihime had hesitated, one out of being to share any information to an enemy, and the other being to share information to another woman.

"Rest assured, I am not here to gain information for my comrades about his techniques or his battle skills, I am just very curious about who he is as a person. This can only just be between two of us. There's only this certain feeling I had with him that really just can't get out of my mind at all. It's just something I never felt like before with anyone else." Halibel had tried to explain this to the captured girl. She didn't really want to sound like she was forcing this or anything, she was just really curious about this orange haired reaper. "If you don't want to explain it then—"

"No, wait. I think I can trust you with this." Orihime said, as she changed her mind. She wasn't sure if she could just trust her this soon already, but for some reason she just felt like she could. "I didn't mean to sound judging. But… you wanna know about Ichigo the most?" though then again, this woman was offering at least some kind of friendly company and really seemed promising to be with.

"If you don't mind that is."

"I don't think I do. Though… where could I begin with?" Orihime had smiled as she looked down before looking back at Halibel. "There's just a lot to say. Ichigo is the kind of person that does get to think about others before himself, especially when it comes to danger. I saw him lunging in to save people without really thinking what could happen to him, a lot of times actually. And he never asks for anything in return. He can also be kinda loud, and funny as well with that scowl that's supposed to make him look mean, but I think he looks so adorable when he has that face. And he also does get to injure himself a lot... So much so I get worried and try my best to heal him as much as I can. And when you're close to him, you feel safe around his presence, like a warm blanket that wraps around your body when you feel cold. He might honestly be the nicest person I ever met, even if he doesn't seem like one at first." she had told her.

Orihime could see Halibel's expression change up, looking as though she was pleased by this answer. "Is that really so?" the blond asked her.

"It is. You would know it much better if you were with him."

"I see then… thank you for the answer. I think my mind has become clear."

"So… is this all you wanted to talk to me about?" Orihime asked.

Halibel's pleased face had reverted back to the blank look she had before. "Not exactly. The last thing I wanted to talk to you about was something about your powers." Halibel answered her.

"My powers?"

"Yes. The others and I who didn't know about it had found out about the nature of your powers from Lord Aizen. And to be honest, they sound very frightening to have."

Orihime had then looked at her hands with some frown shown on her. "Yeah... I know my powers are very much different from the others but… to have power that's greater than Gods? I don't really know about that. That just sounds way too much to have…"

"The others felt mostly the same as well. Though I do very much respect Aizen for all his intelligence and power, with this one this is something I disagree with. I do not know why he would put your power on such a high pedestal and praise it, maybe there's something I'm missing but for now I disagree with him. I sort of had a personal theory of my own on your powers."

"...What would it be?" Orihime asked.

"Mine might be more simple. But I think it makes a little more sense. Do you know how a battle between Spiritual Pressures go by?"

Orihime blinked in confusion. "Uh… a little?"

"Simply put, when a battle of two Spiritual Pressures collide with one another, the weaker one gets more pushed back, essentially the stronger one overpowers it."

"What does that have to do with my powers though?"

"It's more that it revolves around the techniques against raw power."

"What do you mean?"

"For an example, you can have one of the strongest techniques known in history but if one's power is high enough they would be able to overpower through the strongest techniques. I'm saying that raw power is always able to bear through against techniques, even if some may come off as extremely powerful to begin with. What I'm saying is, I don't think it's your abilities that make you stand out, it might be the overall raw power of the techniques themselves."

Orihime had widened her eyes about by this. She never even thought about it like that. "You really think so?"

Halibel had merely shrugged. "Maybe, I'm not very sure. This is only just a personal theory I think works more. I could be completely wrong for all I know and your powers might be something completely different. But we won't really know unless it's actually revealed what they can really do."

"Oh... I see then."

"Which is why you're going to head with me to my place."

"Eh? Your place?"

"Well, of course. You're going to train your powers to utilize them better and understand how they work."

"You mean like right now?"

"I meant more so later." Just then there seems to be some kind of growl within the room, which had Halibel blink her eyes in surprise. "What was that just now?!"

Orihime's face had completely flushed red from the embarrassment. "Sorry! That was my stomach! I'm kinda feeling hungry again!" she had exclaimed while looking down, refusing to meet the Espada's eyes.

"Does… does it always do that?"

"...Sometimes? I think… I don't really keep track."

Halibel had a sweatdrop at the back of her blond hair. "Riiiight… good to know…"

Orihime then looked back up with bright eyes shown on her again. "Hey, I know! How about if we eat some lunch together?!"

This was where Halibel looked at the girl with a surprised look. "What?" she asked, as she hadn't expected this.

"Come on, please? It would be really good if I could have someone eat with me…" Orihime had pouted.

This was also where Halibel had a small blush on her cheeks. "N-No. I couldn't accept something like that. We Arrancars don't really need human food."

"I know that but I wish that there was at least someone to eat with me…"

"I-I just can't… I'm sorry."

"But why not?"

"I…" Halibel's blush had now increased more. "There's a reason, but i-it's really embarrassing."

"What could it be?"

"Well…" Halibel had reached the zipper that covered half her face and had started to unzip it, just enough where she stopped at her neck as her face, revealing the hollow mask she had. "It's because of this mask. I can't really eat properly at all when I'm like this. It's really embarrassing for me…"

Orihime had her eyes wide again before she looked down with some guilt. "I'm sorry… I didn't really mean to—"

"It's fine, you didn't really know about it." Halibel had zipped all the way up again. "But, anyways… I'll let you know when you can come by my place."

"Right… got it." Orihime nodded her head as Halibel had started to leave, and she looked up again as if she remembered something. "Wait, what's your name?"

Halibel had turned her head around. "It's Tia. Tia Halibel." she told her before she turned around again and walked away. 'Well… that girl is a very strange human I encountered. Very strange, but… oddly entertaining to be with... I like her.' she thought.

'Tia Halibel… that sounds like a very lovely name.' Orihime thought to herself with a smile. Maybe this place wouldn't be so bad with her around…

Ah geez this kinda took a while to do. So I'm sorry that this took a while for me to upload, for like a month or so I believe? Sorry but I got school again to do, and plus busy doing other stories and I'm trying to write each and every one as fast as I can. I just hope the wait was worth it…

Also something I should clear up in this for something that might mostly confuse you in this chapter, and that might be Adult Nel appearing straight early instead of Kid Nel. I have my reasons to explain this, and that being:

The cracked mask that Kid Nel had absolutely made NO FUCKING SENSE to begin with. Here's why. We were informed that the reason why Nelliel transformed back into a child was because Nnoitra and Szayel had cracked it.

Having amnesia and losing your energy quick? Alright, I can accept that.

Turning back into a child? That ia a whole other fucking topic that has literally never been explained at all by anyone, not even Kubo or Szayel, who's supposed to be the smartest fucking Espada out of all and even HE was surprised by this and didn't know how this happened nor did he expect it to.

You honestly expect me to believe this bullshit out of nowhere?

Oh and let's not forget when Byakuya and Kenpachi fought Yammy in his Released form and by the end Yammy's mask was clearly damaged yet NOTHING happened to him?

Nope, I love Bleach but this was fucking bullshit to accept.

Also because I had Nelliel because Kid Nel really gets on my damn nerves, especially the Fracciones group as well when they're being comical that lasted a little too long for my tastes…

I think I'll stop because you guys seem to get the point right now. If you have any further questions you can ask me on reviews or PM's. If you like this chapter please comment so I can know your thoughts on what you thought.