Bleached: Four Years Later
Chapter 2
We don't own Bleach, just Zezuri, Airi and Cyerra (Eyon too, but they've not shown up yet).
Note: Here's what was meant to be chapter 3, but a one of my coauthors is being slow and a perfectionist. shakes fist in her general direction Oh well, hopefully you'll have chapter 3 soon. -Airi
"Ah, there she is."
"Are you sure?"
"It's undeniable, feel that reaitsu?"
Two figures sat in a shadowy void atop a dark abandoned factory's roof watching movement on the ground. A blonde girl exited from behind another old building in silence, unaware of the two figures watching her.
"Yeah, you're right, there's no doubt in my mind, that's the traitor."
"D-Roy, I wouldn't exactly call her a traitor, after all, it's Ulquiorra's fault she's there," one of the two figures hit a button on a communication device. "Aizen-sama, the target is our sight."
"Think she'll remember us, Ilforte?"
The other arrancar nodded, "Even if she doesn't, this will be one night she'll never forget."
As they stepped out from the tear in the night sky, the girl looked up, immediately sensing their spiritual pressure. Two moments later the cold clash of steal rang out as Ilforte and D-Roy's swords met their victim's.
"It's been a while," coldly mused Ilforte, staring into a harsh glare the color of fading leaves.
"Four years, right? Why come after me now?" the defender's voice was as harsh as her glare as she parried first D-Roy's attack and then Ilforte's.
Ilforte swung again before responding, "Why else? It took us that long to find you."
The blonde girl ducked and shouted "Sonaratang!" Her sword extended a bit and sparks fell freely from the hilt. "So, our shield works after all. I thought it strange that you hadn't tried to come after us."
"You truly think that?" asked a new voice from behind.
"What do you mea-" the girl was cut off midsentence by a swift blow she wasn't able to dodge all of it. A large double crescent scythe grazed her left arm tearing through fabric and skin.
"Look how fragile you've become. By letting those Vizards poison your being with shinigami weakness," a black haired male arrancar, around ten feet tall (304cm) swung his enormous weapon at the Vizard girl again. She blocked this time, but the force of the blow sent her flying backwards into a window of another building. Before the defender could get up another volley of glass shards flew at her, cutting more of her unprotected arms and face. The third arrancar had jumped with abandon into the remaining part of the window, completely obliterating it upon entry. In one swift movement he had both feet on the ground and the outer crescent of his weapon pinning his opponent to the wall."Tch, weak. You're not worth Aizen-sama's concern."
"Nnoitora-sama! Remember that we weren't sent to kill the girl, only to retrieve her!" called D-Roy.
"I know that! Don't try to order me around or I'll kill you and shut that annoying mouth of yours forever," the fifth espada yelled over his shoulder. Turning back to the girl he had pinned to the wall, he spoke again, "What the others see in you I don't. If you aren't strong then what use are you? Huh?! You disgust me."
The girl stared back defiantly; blood oozed from the many cuts on her body from the glass. Two large gashed bled more freely on her face creating thin lines from under her left eye to her cheek, "I'm as lost as you are, why does he want me alive?" Only a centimeter or two separated her neck from the espada's blade which was up against the wall.
"You're about to find out," a fourth voice spoke from behind as the wall behind her opened into a portal of blackness.
The girl glanced up as she fell backwards into another white garbed man's arms. Her eyes went wide as she was just in time to see the pink haired espada, Szayel, inject a needle with fluid into her neck. "No…" she gasped knowing all too well what was coming next.
"It's been too long, Airi-chan," he teased as her vision faded out to black and her form went limp.
--
"Airi? Airi? Yoo hoo!" called a blonde man early the next morning.
A sandal soon flew into his face, "You're too loud, baldy!"
Shinji rubbed his face where Hiyori's sandal had hit him, "But I can't find Airi."
Hiyori raised an eyebrow, "What? She didn't come back? What did you say to her last night?" Hiyori was well aware that the two hadn't been on the best of terms and tension had oddly grown between them over the past few months. Last night something had sparked an argument which had caused Airi to leave in tears and frustration, that much the other Vizards had seen, but the conversation had been private. "You're such a jerk, why'd ya go and tick her off like that?" Hiyori picked up her sandal and bashed Shinji's face with it again.
This time he didn't flinch, he stood there silently dwelling in some inner sorrow.
"Well, if ya don't tell me, I'm not helping you look!"
No response came from the taller Vizard.
"Hmph, well maybe if you just stand around moping she'll come back on her own," Hiyori, as well as all the other Vizards were known to go off for a few days to a few weeks on their own when they needed a change of scenery. However, she thought, this was Airi's first time ever doing something like this, but she felt her new friend was capable of coming back on her own. She was confident about that.
Shinji sighed, "I guess you're right, we should give her some space, only I don't sense her reitsu either, did she go that far away?"
"With how upset ya made her, who wouldn't have?" Hiyori walked back inside the warehouse, leaving Shinji outside by himself, "She might be hiding it as well, just so you don't find her." When again Shinji didn't respond she shrugged and continued on her way, not wanting to retrieve her sandal again.
--
Cold gray stone met Airi's eyes as she came to. Her vision was still blurry from whatever the eighth espada had injected into her. Stone wall, check. Stone floor, check. Window overseeing the endless white desert, she struggled into a sitting position and realized her cuts hadn't been healed, but they had been cleaned out, Szayel's work, she bet. Gazing upwards she found the window she'd been looking for, although this one had bars on it. However, the night sky empty save for the moon was unmistakable. There was no scrap of doubt left in her mind, this was Hueco Mundo. A place she hated more than anything else she could think of. The pale moon that always shone in the sky lightly fell into the room leaving a single bright patch on the floor. Airi turned and looked around the room to see that all were the same bleak gray color from her worst memories. But, as she turned her gaze to the wall opposite of the window she found herself looking at a door, something else they'd added since she'd been here. Airi sat in silence, her mind playing flashbacks of the dark days that had changed her life forever, and not for the better she thought. Zezuri, a friend's name that Airi had banished to the back of her mind as it had been too hard for the two to see each other since they had gone to opposing groups, came unbidden into her thoughts. How was her friend doing? She wondered, staring blankly into space. The last time they'd seen each other was several years ago at a party. Grimmjow, another name from the past, he'd been there too. Was he still with Zezuri? Did they have kids? Was that even possible? Why did it matter? She let her mind go further, back to her arrancar days locked up in Soul Society, and before that, fighting for Aizen. Her thoughts stopped when they reached her human days before Hueco Mundo; things got too blurry here for her to delve much further.
Suddenly the door slid open and a white cloaked figure entered. "Aizen-sama wishes to see you."
The voice was familiar, but the name of her most hated foe sent a shudder down her spine, blotting out any chance of recognizing the voice. As she gazed down at the floor, Airi made no attempt to rise from her kneeling position on the floor.
Instead of the rough yank up she was expecting, the speaker entered and gently lifted her off her feet into his arms. "Why so glum? You're finally home after four years."
The new comment earned a glare from Airi as her angry green eyes met a pair of squinty eyes framed by silver hair, "Gin…" she hissed like a frightened cat, recognizing the ex-shinigami.
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