Chapter Ten: Reunion

"yes Emilou it's me, I finally made it back to you all."

Emilou was stunned in place. She didn't know what to say. She could hardly believe her eyes. After so long, after almost giving up hope it had finally happened. Yoshiro had returned to her and the others but then came another realization upon looking upon her once lost lover. She took in everything that had changed about him. 'what has hueco mundo done to him?' she thought to herself. A sentiment shared by the others.

Halibel looked at her son and couldn't think to bring any words to her mouth. She took in all his new features. Nine fox like tails, a full hollow mask in the visage of a fox, claws and bone like clothing/slash armor adorning his body. He only seemed to lack a visible hollow hole. She couldn't help to think had he somehow become a hollow during his separation from them. No, atleast not fully anyway. Despite his appearance she could still sense some amount of his human self. Though it wasn't much and hard to detect being buried under so much hollow like energy that flowed off him.

That was another startling thing, not only had he developed so many hollow feature's, but it was the sheer amount of energy that came off him. She reached out with pesquisa briefly to judge the magnitude of the hollow energy flowing within her son. Her eyes went wide when she felt it. 'how? How is this possible?' she thought to herself. 'He feels like a vasto lord!' indeed his energy matched just that, not as strong as her own but stronger than Emilou, Mila and Sung-sun. 'how could he have grown to be like this?' she wondered inside her mind. She had answers of her own already form, they left a sickening feeling in her gut. She finally spoke up.

"Yoshiro" she said with a caring tone. The hollow fox like human turned to his mother and replied.

"hey mom, I'm sure you want to hear everything about why I'm like this. It's quite a story. I know this isn't how you had hoped to find me I imagine? Sorry to disappoint." He said a bit sadly.

"You have nothing to be sorry for." The shark woman replied. "what happened wasn't your fault. You were forced into an unimaginably hard situation. Whatever it is you had to do, to survive. To make it back to us safely, don't feel sorry for it. You did what you had to do, just like anyone does to survive and however that changed you is not your fault either."

Then before anyone could say or do anything she walked over to her son and with her non-sword arm. Took him into a gentle hug. Yoshiro said nothing and merely hugged gently in return as well. This lasted a few moments before they separated.

"we have much to discuss but let us return home first." Halibel spoke. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, Emilou happily walked over to Yoshiro and placed a hand in his as they walked.

They traveled for a while until they reached the entrance of the familiar home. Once they reached the main living area inside, Yoshiro saw something he hadn't expected to see. All the music equipment he bought the day he had been taken prisoner was all there. With visible signs of use as well.

"no way! You guys brought this stuff here." He asked in surprise.

"well you did buy it all for us to use." Spoke Mila. "it was little risky, to get it all out but we managed without trouble."

"Also thank you for the microphone, it's perfect." Sung-sun said politely.

"I see you guys have been putting it all too good use. Can't wait to see how much you've all improved. Sadly I can't play guitar anymore since these claws I now have, I'd wreck my strings the moment I start playing." he paused for a moment before continuing. "anyways, I am sure you all want to hear my story."

"definitely" piped Mila "if I didn't know better, I'd say you were a full on hollow, but I can sense that's not quite the case. What gives?"

"Well, I'll need to start the story the night before I was captured." He began to tell all that happened.

He told of how unintentionally awoke his powers, about his inner hollow. His capture by the soul reapers, his interrogation, his escape to hueco mundo. How he survived in the realm, how his changes occurred and how they felt. His running into and joining Grimmjows' crew and how wound up finding his way back to them.

Everyone stayed silent for a moment, with the others trying to process it all and understand. Surprisingly, Mila was the one to speak first. "that's completely fucking nuts." She chimed.

"Quite so but there's no denying the truth of it all." Interjected Sung-sun

Emilou knew he had been truthful, but it was all so hard to take in. An inner hollow, gaining the usage of hollow powers steadily transforming more and more into a hollow despite still being living. Not to mention he wasn't shy about how he hunted, killed or ate hollows. In order to survive and grow just like any actual hollow would. The fact he managed to befriend a group of hollows even after killing one of their pack. It was all so amazing especially for it being completely true.

Plus she noticed that how his changes effected being around him. Even if he did have some of his humanity and the mortality that went with it still. He had become more hollow than human at this point. She was surprisingly enough perfectly okay with that. She had always found Yoshiro attractive back when his was still human. His kindness, thoughtfulness and such. Not to mention when he was still fully human, he was undeniably gorgeous of the first degree for a human. he was still all these she could tell but he had also changed. changed in a way that connected with Emilou on a more instinctual level being the hollow woman that she was. Something that couldn't have happened back when he was just human.

It was quite simple, him now possessing hollow features and presence touched her at her instinctual core. By hollow standards Yoshiro was still incredibly handsome as he had been as a human. His mask especially, it conformed eloquently to his face, the black wave like swirls almost making a painting of sorts on it. The little details from the ears to the whisker marks that adorned it. Precise and clean in their appearance. While his other features, like his tails only added to his sense of beauty in how they were perfectly shaped and spaced.

Then there was his aura of power he was giving off. She had been taken aback when she felt his power was as great as a vasto lords. Not as strong as his mother's but still higher than her, Mila and sung-sun. It was this great aura he gave off that made Emilou on instinct recognize him for what he now was. A powerful alpha male who's presence commanded respect from those of lower status and for her specifically. A strong sense of attraction she felt recognizing him for the alpha that he was. She felt closer to Yoshiro now as an actual being, then she did when he was his old self. As selfish as it certainly was of her, she didn't want him to change back. She liked what he was now far too much.

Yoshiro then piped up. "So what's been happening with all of you since I've been gone?" The hollow women stood silent for a moment, then Emilou spoke up.

"well we've haven't been as busy as you. We've had a fair amount go on in the last ten months. We've spent a good portion of our time looking for you. There have been a few other major things going on. Like when we went to go meet with Barraggan."

"who the hell is that?" Yoshiro said questioningly.

"he's a very old vasto lord." Spoke Sung-sun "he calls himself king of hueco mundo. He commands a large band of hollows. He called us to him wanting us to bend the knee to him in a matter of speaking."

"I imagine you told him that you had no interest in serving him?" the fox replied.

"Very much so" said the snake like vasto.

"I can't imagine he took that to well? Someone who fancies himself a king doesn't come across as the type who takes no, all that well?"

"you can say that." Spoke up Mila. "he more or less said that defying him would mean an eventual death sentence of sorts. Then one of his mooks tried to intimidate us."

"what happened then?" Yoshiro said with a sudden seriousness to his voice.

"Lady Halibel totally wrecked him like the dumbass he was!" said the lion vasto. Stopped his attack in place like it was nothing and slashed him across the chest, sending him to the ground like a bitch! Should've seen him all pissed off and defeated. It was great. Then we just walked out of the place like complete bosses."

"So this so called king did nothing in response to beating the shit out of his subordinate, in front of kami and everyone else too see?" Yoshiro asked in wonder.

"nah he just let us walk out." Mila continued. "guess he figured he would get us at a later date. We weren't important enough for him to dirty his hands and deal with at the moment."

"anything kind of retaliation since?" Yoshiro asked.

"Yes." spoke Halibel "about a month ago the same hollow I had slashed in barragans court found and came after us. He had acquired new power. A new form of hollow called an arrancar. He overpowered us all and would have killed us for sure despite our best efforts."

"How did you survive then?" Yoshiro spoke with some anger. The anger more at him self for not being around for everyone when they could have used his help.

"We were rescued." His mother continued "By a soul reaper by the name of Sosuke Aizen."

"why the hell would a soul reaper stick his neck out to save hollows? I think that goes against the whole point of them existing?" He questioned.

"He's not like any of the other soul reapers." Halibel spoke. "he aspires to fix the problems of the soul society by wiping away the regime in place and replacing it with something better. He understands the value of sacrifice and has the drive, means and power to achieve his goals. In turn he can help all of us achieve our goals as well. Plus he can help us reach the same level as the arrancar who attacked us but a more perfected form of it. He offered this to us in return for serving him" She finished.

Yoshiro sat there in deep thought about it all before speaking. "what did you all say to his offer?" though he already had a good idea what the answer was.

There was a brief pause before all the hollow women in the room simply stated.

"We agreed."

He sat there thinking on all this in an almost deathly silence. He didn't like this that much. He had grown to have a great distrust and disliking of soul reapers after all that had happened. Now, there was one that roped his mother, girlfriend and close friends into his plans. Ultimately, he knew what he had to do; it was the only course of action in his mind all things considered.

Finally he spoke up. "if that's the case then I don't any real choice but to go with you. I don't really like this situation, nor do I trust this Aizen guy in the slightest. If you all have decided to go though and throw hats into the ring of this. Then so will I. Presides you said he'd help us achieve our goals right. Now that I think about it, there is one thing I really want to do."

"what's that?" asked Emilou

In truth this was something on Yoshiro's mind for a while but only now did he ever actually speak about it.

"you see" he began "when I think about it all, there's only one real thing I want that maybe I won't be able to do without help. You see, I want to find who was the soul reaper that spotted me that night in the park, when I unintentionally awoke my powers." as he thought about it his anger steadily grew, he bared his claws and brought his mouth back into a vicious snarl and let loose a venom laced growl and he continued to speak. "I want to know who the soul reapers, so I can find and confront them for setting off the chain of events that led to me losing almost everything I had, for shattering the good life I had in Karakura with Emilou. For forcing me onto a path where I've had to let myself sacrifice my very humanity piece by piece essentially against my will just so I can survive. For making so I can't go back to the way things were, to how I can't go back to how I once was. I want to find them and show them just how I feel about all of it!" He finished while practically roaring in malicious fury.

In Karakura, Rukia Kuchiki suddenly had a terrible shiver run down her spine and she had no idea why.

The four hollow women were in a somewhat state of shock. They never believed that Yoshiro was capable of such apparent malicious anger and intent. Even the boys inner hollow was caught off guard by it. Only then did they truly understand the true depth of how much he had changed during his time in hueco mundo. Yoshiro than spoke up more calmly.

"I'm sorry about that outburst, I usually have more control of myself. it's just that I can't help but get so angry when think about it. I'm sorry for throwing it out in front of you all."

Emilou merely reached over and pulled him into her embrace and spoke softly. "Don't be, you have every right to be angry about all this. You never asked for any of this."

They stayed together like this for a few more moments before separating. Yoshiro spoke up.

"so how soon do we leave to join up with this guy?"

"The day after tomorrow." Haibel stated. A carrier will be sent to help transport what things we have to Las Noches, the place where we'll be going. For now it has been an eventful day. We should get some rest for now, I think."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement and after exchanging some briefs chants of good night. All headed to their respective rooms except Yoshiro who didn't have one. So naturally Emilou took him to hers.

He looked around his girlfriend's room, in truth it was the first time he had actually been in her room in hueco mundo. He noticed a sort of queen sized bed, a storage chest of sorts and a table with a few random things on it. He walked over to the table and noticed a familiar small box. Taking a closer look and noticed what was inside it. It was the pendant he had gifted Emilou on her Birthday.

"I know it's not much here in comparison to what you had back in Karakura, but it works enough." Emilou spoke.

"it's fine" he replied, "it's a hell of a lot better than what I've had for the last 10 months."

"no doubts to that." She chirped back and went to dig something out of the chest, bending over as she did.

Yoshiro watched his girlfriend as she was bent over the chest digging through it for whatever reason. He couldn't help but watch the slight swaying of her hips as she searched. This triggered something in Yoshiro. He had always found Emilou attractive whether she was in her vasto state or in her gigai. Now though watching her sway her hips around in her hollow form enticed a much deeper response than ever before. It was his now dominant hollow nature seeing her for the powerful and attractive female hollow who is his partner and mate. It was this and the fact it had been damn near a year since he had any sort of contact of sexual nature with a woman. The last time having been his first time ever with Emilou a few weeks before his capture. Plus, for whatever it was worth, he was also still technically a young teenage guy.

As Emilou was still bent over, he simply strode over and carefully wrapped his arms around her waist. Emilou stood up quickly not having expected the contact. Yoshiro gently pulled her against him, gently sliding his hands up and down the sides of her chest. Nestling his head on her shoulder and softly nuzzling against her neck. Letting out soft mumbles as he did making his intentions well known to his lover.

Emilou with her instincts taking control responded in kind. She playfully pressed her hips against his, sliding her arms behind her to gently hold onto Yoshiro's waist. She tilted her head towards his as he nuzzled against her neck playfully. Letting little coo's as the gentle sensations sent little jolts through her system. Suddenly Yoshiro lifted her up and carried her to the bed and carefully laying her on it. She did nothing stop this, after being separated for so long she wanted it just as badly as he did.

Compared to the last time they did such a thing this was much different. While it still had the passion and sense genuine care and love of last time. There was also a deep almost bestial instinct to it. It was gentle and rough, loving and forceful, genuine and primal all at once. Much sleep wasn't had that night by either of them.

Yoshiro awoke he wasn't sure how much later, only that he awoke to Emilou smiling and sleeping against him. She had her arms around him and some of his tails. He had used them as an improvised fluffy blanket of sorts once they finally went to sleep. Gently and silently he slipped out of bed and out of her room. He walked into the main living area. Mila and Sung-sun were already there, they immediately just stared at him unmoving.

"so, why the stares?" he eventually asked.

"what do you think?" retorted Mila. "we barely got any fucking sleep last night because of you and Emilou. I'm pretty sure half of hueco mundo could hear the intensity of you two fucking each other."

"That aside" spoke Sung-sun "I have to wonder just what it was you were doing to Emilou? I didn't think she could hit such high notes?"

"yeah, give us some details here!" Mila said a little mischievously.

Suddenly a purposeful coughing sound was heard. Everyone turned seeing Halibel standing there in the living area. Having a look even with her mask that clearly wrote 'I don't want hear about my son's sexual escapades for the love of kami.' They all just acted sheepishly in response.

The rest of the day was spent prepping for the move to las noches. That night they sleep was the only thing had that night. The next morning then a large hollow with a massive wagon of sorts arrived. They all loaded up their things and climbed in and began the travel to there soon to be home. They weren't sure how long they traveled but eventually the structure of a massive white fortress had begun to appear. After some more time they eventually reached a gate to the massive complex.

They had arrived at las noches at last.

A/N

Author: This chapter gave me some trouble, but I think I managed it well.

Emilou: I'm just glad to be back in the story in a real sense.

Author: Hey I made up to you I think in this one?

Yoshiro: I'll say *smirking*

Halibel: I don't really want to know anything further.

Yoshiro & Emilou: Sorry.

Mila & Sung-sun: Please Review!