BLEACH: Behind a Friendly Face
Disclaimer: I do not own BLEACH or its characters, all rights belong to Tite Kubo
A/N: A bit of Neliel lovin here, you fanboys (and fangirls *cough cough*) no complaining. I did enough work while I had no access to the internet so I could do two chapters. So yeah, not rushed.
Chapter 2: Las Noches
A searing pain rushed through my body as the second shinigami's attack coursed through my body. I roared and punched at the orange haired shinigami. The pain extinguished my consciousness, allowing the Hollow to push over and go all out.
"Wait, Ichigo!" I faintly heard Renji. So the shinigami's name was Ichigo.
"What!" Ichigo said.
"This Hollow's reiatsu seems familiar, don't kill it yet," Renji cried out.
"Fine then," Ichigo said as he put his sword away, and pulled his hand over his face, forming a mask similar to my own, except that it wasn't split at the top, there were no large teeth, and the markings were curved rather than squarish. He then punched me in the chest, and all consciousness slipped away. I saw a certain blue-haired Arrancar jump in through bleary eyes.
-–
As I awoke, I saw that I was in a peculiar barrier, and a large man with a green suit was apparently holding it up. I saw several figures, including Grimmjow, Renji, and Ichigo. I saw them conversing, but I couldn't hear anything. I saw Grimmjow talking to the man in the suit, and he came in through.
"Yo!" He said as he approached. The scent of an arrancar seemed to kick my Hollow metabolism into overdrive, and I roared in hunger. I noticed that he had his sword unsheathed, and was in a fighting pose. I heard him singing quietlybefore he jumped and sliced at me. I successfully parried his hit with my arm, and I grabbed his and ripped it off, hungry for Vasto Lorde flesh. I hungrily ate it up, and felt my power skyrocket. I easily broke through the barrier with a flaming fist, screaming,
"KA!"
and then I punched at Ichigo with an earthy fist, screaming,
"CHI!"
He was knocked back into the wall, and fell unconscious. I broke into a run and darted up the stairs. I broke through another barrier and cried out.
The sky broke apart, and several menos poked their heads out. I saw a crescent of light, and all the people, besides the unconscious Ichigo, ran out, and all summoned a Hollow mask except Grimmjow, Renji, and 3 other people. They drew their zanpakutou, and the three seemed to have alternate weapons, and geared to attack me. Grimmjow released his zanpakuto and charged at me. I punched him back, using his own strength against him, and he quickly reverted to his original form. I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder blade as a beam of light came down around me.
"This is familiar," Renji said.
"Of course, the menos help their allies this way," Grimmjow uttered painfully.
-–
I found myself on a vast sand plain, and I suddenly fell through the ground. I landed painfully several kilometers underneath. I looked around, and saw that I was in some sort of graveyard. I looked at a gravestone, and saw that it belonged to a shinigami, as did all the other graves. I felt the presence of several Hollows nearby, and rushed over, roaring in hunger.
I arrived, and saw a large crowd of Hollows fighting off a shinigami squad. I grinned, inconceivable under the mask, but I grinned anyways. I saw several Hollows falling, but I ignored them. Those who fall in battle are worthless. I rush at the shinigami, being of the highest reiatsu, easily knocking back all Hollows. I saw a young shinigami, and the others told him to stay back, addressing him as "Rikichi-kun." I easily gobbled up several shinigami before they started to fight back. I blasted through their formation with a powerful metal punch.
"KIN!"
One of them recognized me as an onmyouji*, and warned them to use kidou that would counteract my onmyouji powers. I then noticed a large whip-like zanpakuto resembling Renji's Zabimaru rushing at me from above. I easily blasted it away using water.
"SUI!"
As the other shinigami were distracted, I devoured them. Finally, only little Rikichi-kun was left, but I hesitated as I noticed that he had similar tattoos to Renji. I grabbed him, and threw him at the sand above. I saw him break the surface.
The other Hollows were complaining that I took all the shinigami, and that I didn't finish the last one off. With my powerful reiatsu, I easily destroyed them all, and ate those that had a high reiatsu.
–-
Trudge along... Trudge along... trudge along...
I looked around, coming out of my vegetative state. I was surrounded by Menos. I had grown in size, I had become a Menos Grande. I recalled that Grimmjow had said they led very boring lives, just standing around. I then thought about Victoria, and felt my heart consumed by rage, and desire. I felt my face melting as the standard Menos mask melted away, and returned to my own. I quickly devoured those near me, and I clawed my way up a stone pillar and above the ground.
I felt me return to a smaller form as I returned above the surface. I was at least an adjuchas level Hollow, and I was forced to travel to the castle of Las Noches that Grimmjow was prattling on about. As I trudged along, I remembered that Grimmjow had never told me what A-Hollows were. He also mentioned K-Hollows and I-Hollows. I wondered what the letters stood for.
I then stopped, coming to a halt in front of a large ant-lion pit. A large sand Hollow materialized, and I quickly blew past him with a blast.
"SUI!"
I came across a ragtag bunch of Hollows, who challenged me. I quickly beat them and devoured them. It would take a long time to arrive at Hueco Mundo.
-–
Several months had passed, and I had become a vasto lorde for sure by now. I could feel it. I was only a few days from the great citadel, and I could hardly wait. For what? I wasn't sure. But I had a feeling of satisfaction that grew the closer I got to Las Noches. I felt a strange presence following me, but I could see no-one. I dismissed the thought and continued my march across the sandy frontier, devouring whatever unlucky soul crossed my path.
When I reached Las Noches, I encountered a group of spirits, three appeared to be Arrancar, but three seemed to have a different reiatsu. The one in the center had to be Aizen Sousuke. He had such an air of authority, he couldn't have been anyone else. I then looked at the man next to him. He had pale hair and slanted eyes. He had a disturbing smile; hungry, lustful. The man on his other side had dark skin, glasses, and long black hair. I assumed that they were Ichimaru Gin and Kaname Tousen.
"Welcome. We have been expecting you," Aizen said proudly. "It has come to our attention that your reiatsu is exceptionally high, and that your battle skills are incredible."
"Our Espada have dwindled to little, and we have decided to draft you," Ichimaru Gin added, gesturing to the 3 figures behind them. They said their names as they approached, as if I was of their kind.
"Ulquiorra Schiffer," a small Espada with green tear marks said.
"Yammy," a huge Espada breathed.
"Neliel tu Oderschvank," a large breasted Espada with green hair said calmly.
"There is one Espada who has deserted us, deciding to aid those on the opposing force," Kaname Tousen said. "Grimmjow Jeagerjaque."
"Come inside, and you shall gain much power," Aizen said, turning to Hueco Mundo fortress.
-–
I was wrapped in bandages, from head to toe. I wondered if I would perish in them, to be preserved as a test case. Suddenly, the bandaged fell apart, and my body felt like it was being compressed. Suddenly, my face felt free and aired, and I looked at my hands. They were of a human's again, as was... the rest of my body. I saw that my metal platings were gone, and there was a lone gauntlet on the ground. I picked it up, and saw that a pentagram was emblazoned into the top of it.
The onmyouji's mark.
I fingered the spikes on the knuckles of the gauntlets, and counted 5 of them, despite only having 4 striking knuckles. I realized I was naked, but cared not. I looked around and noticed that all six of the group were standing around me. I saw Neliel's stares, and she looked away, embarrassed. I wondered if I felt anything in response.
Nothing... I care not for any other woman.
My Arrancar body was still forming, and the inner turmoil calmed. As it did, I heard a clanking behind me. I looked around, and saw that it was Grimmjow's Zanpakutou. I looked at it, and thought back to how I got it. Then I realized that this was the pain in my shoulder as I left the real world. Grimmjow had given me Pantera.
I looked around and saw that they were all staring in disbelief. How had he come across his Zanpakutou? Is he in league with him? I heard them mumble such things. I decided to cease their incessant muttering.
"He stabbed me as I left the real world, as a Hollow," I declared. Their faces seemed relieved, as if this was keeping in check with all their knowledge of Grimmjow. I picked up the gauntlet, and slid my left hand neatly into it. I then picked up Grimmjow's sword, and a scabbard materialized on its blade as I claimed it as its new owner.
"What shall we call you, Arrancar numero tercero? Aizen inquired, the other Espada looked at him, surprised, not out of anger, but of awe. "The third Espada?" Gin muttered.
"Akaitto. Akaitto Tentouken," I said.
"Very well. Fetch some clothes for Tentouken," Aizen said to a numeros standing at the door. "One of you, show Tentouken to his new quarters." Aizen was clearly addressing one of the 3 Espada. Neliel blushed and came forward to guide me to my room. She was just a little shorter than me, and she was very beatiful, even with her scar. I watched the wings and corridors of Las Noches carefully and observantly as Neliel led me to my quarters.
Finally, the silence was broken as I arrived at my quarters, "Here we are, Tentouken-san," she said, blushing, although it was a little hard to tell because of her birthmark.
"Please, don't be so stiff. Just call me Ken," I said cooly as I walked into my room. I turned and said, "Thank you, Neliel."
"You're very welcome," she said with a big smile on her face. As I turned, I thought I saw her staring at my body out of the corner of my eye.
A few minutes later, the same numeros came to my room with the standard Arrancar jacket, hakama, and shoes. He stood there as I put them on. The numeros stood as I put them on. The shoes and hakama fit well, but the jacket was rather long, and caught on my gauntlet and tore. I took the jacket off and used Pantera to slice off the white sleeves, while leaving the black sleeves elbow-length. I put it back on, and popped the collar, and then decided to close it, so that it went around my head, over my mouth.
I took a look in the mirror, and saw that 2 black lines ran side-to-side under each eye. Each was about 1 cm thick and 3 cm long. I saw that my hair was rather messy, so I neatened it. After many futile attempts at returning my hair to its former style due to two white, short, wide spikes sticking out, I decided to adopt a new style. I combed the parted hair on the left of my head back, and the styled the hair on the right side of my head to resemble Grimmjow's hair. I could then see my hollow mask clearly. It was the upper part of the mask, except that it was raised a few centimeters up, causing the split top spiked up through my hair, and the bridge of the nose was perfectly preserved. Everything from above my eyebrows to my hair line was covered.
I talked to the numeros, he had brown hair that spiked back, and the remnants of his hollow mask was the area between the upper jaw and eye holes, with only the side teeth intact, the front teeth had been knocked out. His name was Balutoi Furederu, and he was assigned to me to guide me through becoming accustomed to Las Noches.
"Heh. I like you, Balutoi," I said, "You could be a good friend.
END
Soooo... what do you think? Kudos to those who can identify who Balutoi's Name was derived from.
*Onmyouji are ancient Japanese specialists that specialists in magic and divination. Their court responsibilities ranged from tasks such as keeping track of the calendar, to mystical duties such as divination and protection of the capital from evil spirits. They could divine auspicious or harmful influences in the earth, and were instrumental in the moving of capitals. It is said that an onmyōji could also summon and control shikigami.
Directly from Wikipedia. =P
Also, the Onmyouji are associated with the Wu Xing Star of Elements.
