AN: I have Bios for all my OCs on my profile and I will be updating it when I can.
All I own are my OCs nothing else so please don't sue me okay
The Cost of Kindness
It burned…
The feeling of so much power being un-caged from within him caused his very soul to quake. He heard a million shrill voices calling out to him all at once, many of the same person but each word unique. He saw images flash past his eyes like a torrent of fire, lingering enough to burn his mind but not long enough to truly see. He could make out brief images of an orange haired male who he felt oddly familiar with and of a short, dark haired female that his mind screamed he should know. The images kept growing faster and faster the voices higher and higher as he closed his eyes and clasped his hands over his ears to block out the pain. After a moment he noticed the silence and stood back up removing his hands from his head to look around him.
The blinding images and screeching voices were gone and instead replaced by nothing but white silence as far as his eyes could gaze, nothing but silent black emptiness.
He wondered if he was dead, if he had bitten off more that he should have with that hollow he slew.
He tried to walk and found that he was somewhat suspended in the air, or perhaps there wasn't any ground beneath him to touch, he wasn't sure. As he tried to move he began comically dog paddling which, while futile, caused him to see what had become of his arms.
Where there had once been hard, strong bone-skin was now nothing but soft, squishy flesh like that of those pitiful soul reapers. Panicking he brought his hand up to his face he was alarmed to feel more flesh where his mask should have been. And he was wearing something like the clothing of the soul reapers only instead of a robe it was more form fitting. Something in the back of his mind called the garments pants a shirt and a jacket but he paid that nagging voice no mind as he was still too alarmed by the sudden change in his appearance.
So caught up was he in his panicking that he failed to notice the world around him change again this time solidifying into a dense mass of bone white pine trees surrounding him on all sides and enveloping him in a bleach white prison.
He lowered himself into a combat stance as a thick white cloud began to drift out from the forest and collect in front of him taking the form of a vaporous horned figure with an unrecognizable face.
xxx000xxx
Kanashimi Oheina walked through the halls of the central tower of Las Noches with barley contained excitement.
The chief of their advanced scouts had just reported in and said he found the likely location of the Tres and Sexta Espada's tribe and he said that both Espada were conveniently absent from their den. Naturally captain Sui-feng had ordered all of Alpha Battalion to prepare for a strike, and as the commander Kanashimi would be receiving her briefing from the Captain herself once the chief scout returned.
As she made her way to the Captain's chambers she stopped outside the door to take one last look at herself in the reflective blade of her Zanpakuto, Fukushu. Despite knowing how little it mattered and how little any one probably cared, Kanashimi still tried to look her best when she wasn't knee deep in hollow blood or covered in sand.
She ran her fingers through her velvet red hair, making sure to get the tangles out of it, before letting it fall gently onto her shoulders and moving on to the rest of her face. Her eyes looked like deep pools of crystal blue water which helped to make her hair stand out more. All in all she felt like she looked great except for the fucking scar that ran down between her eyes. The very thought of that scar made her blood boil and her blade scream but she reigned in her emotions enough to be presentable for the captain.
Kanashimi opened the door to the small study and found the captain sitting behind a large mahogany desk which had been brought over from soul society, like everything else in the room, in order to make it a perfect replica of the squad two captain's chamber in soul society except for a large window overlooking the desert of Hueco Mundo. In one of the two chairs opposite the desk sat the chief scout Shizukana Heiwashugi who appeared to be sleeping with his head leaned back over the seat far enough to let her see his face. His black hair stayed in place despite his head being almost upside down and underneath his face wrap one could see him lightly snoring with each breath he took.
Relishing the opportunity Kanashimi walked up to him and cocked her fist back to deliver a wake-up blow to his face, but just when it was about to hit he opened his light brown eyes and looked at her as the fist stopped millimeters from his nose.
"So nice of you to show up Kanashimi" he said sarcastically as he pulled himself went back to a normal sitting position "We were beginning to think you weren't going to come and I would get to lead this op without you. But then you had to go and ruin my fun by showing up." He said with what looked like a mock pout underneath his wrap.
Kanashimi took her seat next to him "Well now that would be a change of pace for you wouldn't it. The great Shizukana actually getting his hand dirty and doing work, why I've never heard of anything so insane in my entire afterlife." She teased jokingly.
He merely chuckled and waved her off "Ya ya. You know it's my boys and I who tell yall where to kill stuff. Just try and tell me that sitting in that godforsaken desert for hours on end aint work."
"Ehem if you two are done, may we move onto business" Captain Sui-Feng said before pushing a button on her desk and bringing up a holographic map of the western mountains of Hueco Mundo with a small cave highlighted. "Mister Heiwashugi's report indicated that there is a camp here that has been frequented by several hollows in the past few weeks some being known Espada Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez and Neliel tu Odelschwank and Intel suggests that they may be planning to pack up shop soon and rendezvous with Schifer and Inoue's tribe. A strike against them here would bring down one of the three largest groups left standing in Hueco Mundo and guarantee us a better chance against Schifer and Inoue when we launch our next attack. Because of how valuable this mission is to our goals you will be receiving a captain escort from soul society. Both of you are to report to the base of this tower and ready your troops while Kurotsuchi brings down the senkaimon gateway and readies it for our guest." She finished putting her hand behind her and turned to look out the window ignoring Kanashimi's slacked jaw.
"Whatever you say captain." Shizukana said casually before getting up and making his way towards the door "Cmon Kanashimi lets go get everyone else ready."
Kanashimi looked between her captain and the door for a moment before she decided that there wasn't any point in trying to convince her captain on this matter. "Yes of course Shizukana I'm right behind you." She spoke monotonously as she got up and left with him on their way down the tower.
After a few quiet moments Shizukana broke the silence "Look Kana I know exactly what's going through your head right now, but know that the captain aint sending us with this guy because she thinks we can't handle it. She probably just wants a little extra guarantee to make sure the job gets done." He said softly.
Kanashimi put her hands behind her head and looked up at the tiles of the white ceiling as they went past her "I know that Shizu, it's just so damn annoying to think that we'll have to be babysat by some high and mighty captain ass-wipe, you know?" she replied earning a quick nod from him before they made it to the double doors that opened out into the interior of Las Noches.
Despite seeing it hundreds of times it still made one pause to reflect on the sheer scope of the place that had until only a few years ago held that grand majority of all hollow kind. She had been part of the first teams that entered in the surprise attack and was blown away by the complete change that the place had undergone since Aizen's occupation. Instead of the old desert interior, the entire inside of the central dome of Las Noches had been transformed into a veritable garden paradise like something out of a story book. As far as the eye could see were rolling hills of green grass dotted with large oak trees and laced with small gentle streams all fed from a large lake filled by a massive waterfall coming out of the ceiling on the southern side. The once lone monolithic towers and palaces of the old espada were now enveloped in ivy and surrounded by tall trees giving the entire place an ancient mysterious aura which was only added to by the fact that roughly sixty percent of the place was still unexplored.
After the fighting subsided most people believed that the trees and grass were simply stuck in the old sand and that it would die soon. However after a year a test was done on the ground and it was found that instead of sand there was actual soil enriched with the reiatsu signatures of the Espada that was giving the plants life. Kurotsuchi had theorized that the undertaking must have taken round the clock effort for at least decades in order to propagate all the foliage and enrich the soil, however most people simply said that the hollows must have stolen all the plants and dirt from soul society.
Kanashimi had chosen to believe the latter if only to provide her conscience a reprieve as she remembered the arrancar holding a watering can that she had slaughtered in the first strike.
Back to reality however her attention was brought to the columns of soldiers standing at attention and the five soul reapers at the head of each who were waiting for her to give them their mission info.
Walking towards them she beckoned the five forward and began regaling them with the details of their plan as Shizukana walked over to a loose group of about twenty masked soldiers sitting on a large rock ,who she could only assume were his scout corps, and told them the plan as well. Once she had finished she told each of the five to tell their squads the same and be ready to move once their Captain arrived, which left her waiting for that freak Kurotsuchi to get down here.
Ever since they had put up that barrier field generator to keep the hollows from escaping no one had been able to enter without using some overly-complicated generator thingy that Kurotsuchi had whipped up. The only downside was that the damn thing was forty feet tall and it took him an ungodly amount of time to get it set up and ready which meant that Kanashimi would likely be waiting for about another hour.
Huffing in annoyance she plopped down on the grass and looked up at the artificial sky while she began to doze off waiting for the crazy scientist to get his crazy machine working.
xxx000xxx
As Neliel finnaly made it to her destination she came face to face with a glowing lizard-like hollow writhing on the ground in agony in front of a terrified soul reaper. She looked between the soul reaper and hollow for a moment wondering if the reaper was the cause of the hollows pain but soon realized that the hollow was probably just fighting off the souls it had just eaten.
Looking back to the soul reaper she could see the terror in his eyes at the sight of her and she decided to do the noble thing "Run along little one this land is no place for you." She declared sternly as the little soul reaper bowed nodding his head up and down repeatedly before he ran off leaving Neliel with the still evolving hollow.
As she was about to sit down to wait till it became a Gillian she noticed pieces of its body start chipping off and suddenly noticed its reiatsu changing and twisting from that of a sub menos into something dense and powerful, almost like hers or Grimmjow's.
So focused was she on its reiatsu that she almost failed to notice the blade swinging towards her neck and was just barely able duck under it and sonido away enough to look at her attacker.
Standing before Neliel was the mad dog of soul society himself, Kenpachi Zaraki, wearing his standard psychotic feral grin "oh this is too good. I get to fight Him and you. Must be my lucky day." He cackled as he rocketed towards her.
Neliel barley had time to draw Gamuza and block beforeZaraki's blade swung upwards and hit her sword with enough force to still send her flying up towards the ceiling. As she flew she managed to spin herself enough to gracefully land on the ceiling and kick off towards Zaraki with her blade ready to impale him only to hit thin air as he flash stepped above her and made to slice in half. Neliel quickly switched her hold on Gamuza and spun around to parry the blow only to again be overwhelmed by the force behind it and sent crashing into the ground forming a small crater.
Neliel got up from the rubble and tried to catch her breath as she thought of some kind of plan. 'Dammit I'm too weak right now to be fighting someone like him I need to find a way to distract him long enough to escape' she thought as she looked up and saw the crystal trees holding the ceiling up.
She quickly sonidoed upwards at Zaraki, who had been standing there waiting for her, and brought her blade down diagonally as it caught Zaraki's. He pushed and sent her flying back into a tree that she landed on and kicked off of, destroying it, before she began firing a barrage of balas at him all of which he dodged easily.
"I heard you were supposed to be some great fighter Miss Espada. Yet you can't even hit someone like me?" he questioned scratching his head with the tip of his sword.
Neliel panted opposite him and smiled as she heard the first small pebbles of the roof give way "wasn't aiming for you, soul reaper." She answered as both of them looked up at the roof before it started falling towards them.
Neliel used the split second to sonido down to the ground and sling the hollow over her shoulder before she began sonidoing away. Zaraki however simply stayed where he was and raised his blade over his head collecting reiatsu in it before delivering a powerful swing that vaporized all of the falling debris in an instant.
Sighing Kenpachi decided to give chase still hopeful that he might get a real fight with someone and began flash stepping after the surprisingly slow Espada. 'This bites. I thought that the Espada were supposed to be strong as hell but here she is weaker than an unseated officer.' He thought irritated as he lazily leaped from branch to branch.
Neliel however was putting everything she had left into getting some distance between herself and Zaraki but was finding it harder and harder just to keep moving. As she was moving Neliel felt the hollow on her back start moving and thrashing around which caused he to lose her balance and crash into a branch sending her spiraling down. When she tried to regain her balance and land she saw her vision pulse and felt her limbs go numb as the last of her strength was used up leaving her pinned under the still thrashing hollow.
Zaraki sighed as he landed in front of her and looked at the almost laughable sight before him. One of the great Espada completely immobilized and trapped beneath a flailing hollow. "I hate to do this to someone who can't fight back but I have orders to kill all hollows I find" he stated blankly as he raised his Zanpakuto above his head ready to swing down.
xxx000xxx
"Who the fuck are you?" he growled at the billowing spirit.
The figure cocked its head to the side for a moment before shaking it in defeat "You don't remember do you?"
He was bewildered by the figures choice of words "Remember what? What the hell are you talking about?" he tried to question just as the figure appeared directly in front of him with its fist cocked back.
He quickly jumped out of the way of the oncoming punch as its fist lodged itself in the ground giving him time to make his escape into the forest. That was until his new foe sonidoed in front of him ready to punch him in the stomach. As the blow was approaching he did the only thing his weak unarmed body told him to, he dodged to the right of the fist and tackled his enemy to the ground before delivering a volley of punches to its blank face. However he could feel the pain in his hands welling up and soon had to end his barrage, leaping backwards and letting his bloodied and broken hands hang limply at his side.
The figure rose unharmed and looked at him for a moment before taking a step forward "You don't even remember yourself do you. That's why you can't see who I am" it stated in a resigned tone while it held out its arm and manifested a gaseous white blade in it. "It's your fault I'll never see her again. Your fault we're stuck here." It kept walking forward slowly until it was right before him, blade raised precariously above his head "I suggest you forget what you are and remember who you were, or this will be the last thing you ever feel."
Time froze as he looked up and saw the blade that his every instinct told him to avoid at all costs coming closer and closer every nanosecond. His instincts screamed at him to run dodge or do something to save himself but deep part his soul whispered that there was nothing to fear in the blade. He looked at it as images of a white mask flashed through his mind along with visions of a strange albino man. Try as he might he felt an overwhelming serenity as he closed his eyes and waited for the blade to dig into his shoulder. When it finally met his flesh he wasn't filled with the pain he had expected but instead felt a sense of clarity fill his mind as the figure before him began condensing into a solid form.
Just before he could make out its face the figure turned its back to him and walked away as it began to dissolve "It seems there may still be hope for you. That blade is my strength, use it well and know that we will meet again. So you know try not to die" It finished as the last bits of it faded into the fog.
He stood dumbstruck for a moment before his eyes were drawn back to the blade still stuck in his shoulder and still billowing like a cloud but now also growing larger. As he reached to pull it out of his shoulder his hand passed through it like a gas and it began to cover the entire left side of his body before moving on to the rest. As he was about to start panicking he saw that his arm was once again wrapped in the familiar armor of bone skin though it now looked much different than before. His new arm was nowhere near as large as his old one and was devoid of its red markings, though it now sported bright red tuffs of fur at the wrist. All of his musings over his new appearance were cut short when the vapor covered his face reforming his mask and he felt the colossal power that his new form held.
For a moment he felt the plane he was standing in warp and change until he finally felt himself being thrust back to consciousness
xxx000xxx
AN: I don't really have an excuse for why I'm late so I won't try to make up one sorry all
Anyway read and review please.
