rosie: this is going to be fun. see if you can guess the names of the mentioned espada negra members. here's a hint: they've all been seen in our other stories, in some form or another, even if only in flashbacks or passing mentions. oh, and there's a bit of advertisement of other people's fics that we enjoy, most of which are in the favorites list on our profile.

~Two days later~

Aizen is waiting in his throne room with Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tousen for the arrival of their "guests", Rai Kit and his Espada Negra. When Rai's portal opens up near the door, Gin and Tousen are slightly startled. Rai soon emerges from the portal, then turns and reaches a hand back in, the hand coming back out holding a more feminine one, which is soon revealed to be attached to a young woman dressed nearly identically to Rai himself.

Rai sees Aizen's expression of confusion and smirks a bit before saying, "I told you that I would bring my counterpart with me. This is Rosie Isis. She'll be helping me keep the Espada Negra from killing their counterparts, though Creator-chama didn't say anything about not letting them spar while we're here."

Upon closer inspection, besides the obvious difference of gender, Rosie has a couple of details that differ from her male counterpart. For one, she doesn't have fox ears, but slightly pointed human ones. Her hair is a slightly lighter shade of blond, and most definitely longer. (For style, it's sailor moon's with the buns at the base of her skull instead of on top of her head.)

While the three Hueco Mundo leaders are speaking with the two leaders of the Espada Negra, said Espada and their Fraccion are piling into the throne room and lining up behind them as the portal closes. Rai looks over his shoulder when he hears hissing and growling from two of his Espada, rolling his eyes when he sees who it is, though he barely restrains himself from face palming when he sees the duffle bag labeled 'reading materials' his Sexta is carrying. After growling out a low command for them to quiet down, he turns back to Aizen and the other two, "Perhaps we should save the introductions until your Espada and any Fraccion they wish to attend have arrived, to save time. If you would like, Creator-chama has allowed me the power to create solid objects from shadows, so seating won't be a problem."

Aizen nods, then motions for Rai to follow him to the meeting room. Gin watches them go, then turns back to look at Rosie and the Espada Negra after the door closes, his grin widening slightly when the apparent Quinta and Sexta of the group immediately resume their argument when their main leader has left the room. The Fraccion standing behind the Negra Sexta gives a long-suffering sigh before turning to start a conversation with the apparent Quatra. He also notices that these particular three have almost completely imitated their corresponding Espada's style in their clothing, almost as if they have a running joke with each other. Rosie seems to be twitching slightly as she eyes the duffle bag her Sexta has looped over her shoulder, so Gin walks closer and asks her, "What's got you upset?"

Rosie groans a little before answering, "Creator-chama has a fondness for bad jokes and unusual pranks. She's also an avid fan fiction reader and writer. Where she lives, this world is portrayed as a manga and television series, as well as several of her favorite fan fiction works. Our Sexta having a bag labeled 'reading materials' most likely means she sent copies of some of her favorites here with us. I personally don't mind reading them myself, but considering Creator-chama's taste, what she sent along will most likely cause a few awkward situations if they're shown to anyone outside our group."

Before Gin can respond, the apparent seventh comes out of line and tugs on Rosie's pant leg, causing her to bend down to the height of the seemingly twelve year old girl. The girl whispers into Rosie's ear, just loud enough for Gin to hear, "I saw Creator-chama put in Fallen Hero."

Rosie's face turns beet red at this and she starts muttering several very unladylike things, many of which are directed towards their exalted 'Creator-chama'. After finishing the small tirade, she turns back to the younger girl, "Did you see any of the others she put in?"

Gin is confused by her reaction to such a seemingly innocent title, interrupting their conversation to ask about it. Rosie sighs a bit before explaining, "It's one of the post-war fictions. Set three years after the war, with Seireitei winning, leaving only three Arrancar alive at the end. It's in the romance genre, and it's basically x-rated, involving Kurosaki-san and your Sexta, as well as your Quatra, and Kurosaki-san's inner hollow. I won't go into anymore detail because of the younger members of my group, so you should ask our Sexta about it later if you want to read it."

She turns back to her seventh then and repeats her earlier question. The little girl thinks for a moment before saying, "I think I saw 'adventures in brat sitting', 'sugar sweet life', and, oh yeah, 'the Espada guide to parenting.'"

Rosie face palms at the last one, looks at Gin's confused expression, and says, "Just…don't ask. Let's just say that the last one will very much piss off Grimmjow and Ulquiorra, as will 'sugar sweet life'. 'adventures and brat sitting' will most likely cause Nnoitra to go into seizures from rage, though there is some dialog in the last one that will make him want to kill someone as well."

Rai comes back before anything else can be said, announcing to the Espada Negra, "We'll be introducing ourselves to the resident Espada shortly. Anything you've put on and then glamoured to hide, you should take the glamours off now, so as to show the true you to your counterparts. Also, you'll be sitting in the black chairs at the table, to the right of you counterpart, and your personal symbol will appear under the kanji when you sit down."

All ten Espada Negra nod, most reaching up towards their faces and swiping the air just in front of them as if wiping something off, revealing their glamoured accessories. Gin has to suppress a laugh when he sees that both the Negra Quatra and Sexta have copied their counterpart's markings, only in different colors. After all the glamours have been removed, the Espada Negra and their two leaders, as well as Gin and Tousen, head into the meeting room to wait for the original Espada to arrive.

rai: as you may have already guessed, we're not posting another chapter until this one gets at least one review. even then, you may still have to wait a day or two, since this is the last of our pre-written chapters for this fic.

both: ja ne!