After that day, I never saw another person for weeks. It could have been days, but the moon in the sky never moved, making it impossible to tell how much time had passed. One day though, when I was well enough to leave the bed, I was given some new clothes. A white jacket with a large white bandolier over the front, with long sleeves ending in soft black gloves and kimono like pants as my old clothes were disposed of.
I was allowed to keep my spike however, and given a sheath for it to rest on my back. As I opened the door I was greeted by another woman with blonde hair in a long skirt.
"This one isn't it either Loly!" she shouted to her friend, a black haired woman with a decidedly shorter skirt
"Damnit! When are we going to find her?!" she shouted in frustration
"Um, who are you?" I asked the blonde woman
"My name is Menoly Mallia." She replied coldly "What's yours, human?"
I was about to open my mouth to answer, but I faltered. I wracked my brain to try and find the answer, but nothing appeared.
"Great." I sighed
"Your name is Great?" the black haired one deadpanned
"What? No!" I said "I can't remember my name."
"I have one for ya. Stupid!" she laughed "Come on Menoly. We've gotta find our 'princess'."
"Well good luck with that. I guess." I said as the two left. I looked down both ends of the corridor and realised that I had no idea where I was supposed to go. So I started wandering around.
I was walking for quite some time before I finally saw anything. Eventually, I ran into a really pale man with some kind of half stag beetle helmet.
"Uh, excuse me." I said, walking up to him
"What is it you want trash?" he said without any emotion. Real polite one this guy.
"Do you know where I can find Mistress Harribel?" I asked politely
"Find her yourself. I have more important things to do than to be wasting my time talking to trash like you, human." He said before disappearing
"What the..? How did he do that?!" I asked aloud, scratching my head "He really could use to work on his manners some more too, that jerk."
Shrugging, I continued down the hallway, not noticing the figure in the shadows snickering silently.
"This guy's got some balls to be talking about Ulqi-kun like that."
After hours of fruitless searching I finally came to a conclusion.
"This place needs signs. At least a 'you are here' map!" I mumbled, kicking a loose stone on the ground.
As I continued down the hallway I suddenly felt really compressed, like the weight of an ocean was bearing down on me! Just as I felt I couldn't take it anymore all the weight just disappeared. Sitting up, I looked around for what might have caused it, but I saw nothing.
"The fuck was that?!" I said to myself. As I warily continued down the hallway, the person in the shadows could barely keep himself from laughing his head off.
"I think it's time for the Coup de Grace." He smiled, disappearing and reappearing right in front of my face "BOO!"
"GAH!" I screamed, falling on my ass from shock. The strange man only laughed harder at this, clawing at his chest for air
"BWAHAHAHAHA! Oh, you are so fun!" he laughed. The crazy man had silver hair, a pointed face and his eyes were screwed up so tightly, his eyes could have burst.
"Who-Who are you?!" I shouted, more than a little unnerved
The man finally stopped laughing as he straightened up to address me.
"I am Gin Ichimaru. And you'd better start being polite, 'less you wanna be made an example of." He said cheerfully, really freaking me out
"Uh… Yes Mr Ichimaru. Cou- Could you please direct me to wherever Mistress Harribel is?" I asked in a small voice
"It was right next to the medical ward. I don't know why you didn't go there first." He grinned
"I… You…" I tried to begin but I had to hang my head in defeat "Thank you."
"Don't mention it!" he called as I shuffled off, head still hanging in depression.
As I reached the medical ward after yet more hours of searching, I opened the door only to find a dark skinned man with strange glasses and dreadlocks sitting at a desk shuffling papers.
"Can I help you?" he asked looking up from his paperwork
"Um, yes. I'm looking for Mistress Harribel?" I asked
"The third Espada is on the other side of Las Noches, as are all the other living areas." He said, eyes returning to his paperwork.
"But… I… Mr Ichimaru said…"
I heard someone cough and in the corner of the room was sitting the same silver haired man.
"I lied."
After wandering around for what felt like days, I finally found my way to the living quarters. Looking around, I saw exactly the same thing. Lots of doors, but no signs.
"Who built this place?! Did they want people to get lost?!" I grumbled, sick of how the day was turning out "I wish I was still injured. That way, I wouldn't have Mr Ichimaru sending me on wild goose chases in a freaking maze!"
I heard a door get kicked open as muscular blue haired man ran out. "Who said they wanted to be injured?!"
I had decided that I had had enough meeting new people for one day. Diving into a room and quickly closing the door, I was relived to find that the door wasn't being tried to open. Sighing with relief, I slid down the door and took in my surroundings.
I was again in a pure white room, with the exception of the cold grey stone floor with a single bed in the corner. On said bed, was the freaky tall man, still clutching his giant weapon! Every single muscle in my body screamed for me to run, but I knew I had to take it slowly. I didn't want to wake him. Or be anywhere in a fifty kilometre radius of him, and even then, not without enough armour to make me look like a human tank.
Slowly, I creaked the door open and tiptoed out of the room. Closing the door as quietly as I could, I walked silently away from the door, making a mental note to never EVER open or pass that door again.
Trying several other doors, I soon found what I was looking for. As I opened the door three women stopped their conversation and looked at me with annoyance.
"Who the hell are you? Can't you see we're busy?" shouted one with a horn and blue hair
"I'm-"
"We don't care who you are. Get lost, human." Said another one with long greenish hair
"No, you see I-"
"Didn't you hear us? Get outta here kid." Growled a darker skinned woman
I was about to leave when Mistress Harribel stepped out from another room.
"There you are. I was wondering when you'd get here." She said
"I uh… I had a run in with Mr Ichimaru." I said sheepishly
"Suddenly your lateness makes sense." She said in an exasperated tone
"Mistress Harribell, you know this human?" asked the darker skinned woman
"He is the one who fell into our lair, heavily wounded not too long ago."
A look of understanding and refreshed memories crossed the faces of the three women
"I thought the kid looked familiar." The horned one said
"A room has been set up for you down there." Mistress Harribel said, jerking her thumb towards a trapdoor "Everything you might need has been given to you. Do not make us regret our decision to keep you."
"Keep me? What will I be doing?" I asked
"We… We don't quite know yet. For the time being though, you can just be a house keeper of sorts."
"Thank you Miss Harribel." I said nodding
I opened the trapdoor and closed it again as I climbed down the short ladder. It was a fairly small room with a bookshelf, a cupboard full of the same clothes I was given and one pair of recognisably normal clothes and a small bed.
"Well, I suppose it's a good idea to get some sleep. I'm tired of running around like an idiot all day." I yawned, crashing onto my new bed with a dull thud.