Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo, meaning it does not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Bleach storyline (such as Aporro [in character, not name] and Vicenta Acere) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.
Vicenta looked up from her workstation, quirking a brow at the doorway when a ranting and raving Aporro (in an oversized shinigami shihakusho) stormed by, her face purple and her arms waving as she used them to emphasize whatever she was screaming (again, she had gotten herself so angry she wasn't speaking in any discernable language).
Vicenta's brow went up even higher when, not long after, Mayuri stormed after the woman, his teeth bared (as always) in a sneer and his eyes half-lidded in his annoyance as he demanded the return of his shihakusho.
Though their arguing remained, the two were quickly gone, headed for the exit, and the young Arrancar turned back to her experiment and continued working, not even wanting to know.
No matter how bad the situation would have looked to an outsider, Vicenta knew her parents and the members of the Twelfth Division were… odd…
So whatever was going on, as long as no one was trying to kill anyone they were fine.
When the yelling ended soon after with a loud slam of a door, Vicenta was able to focus on her work. She had to finish early today so she could go to the Eleventh Division and make sure Grimmjow and Ichigo hadn't killed each other… or anyone else.
Before she was even close to wrapping up, though, a shadow fell over the papers she was writing on, a white painted hand invading her vision and offering her handheld.
Glancing up, Vicenta quirked a brow and took her handheld slowly, "Why was my mother here?"
"I was doing what you couldn't." Mayuri answered smugly, "My network is now patched in with yours."
Vicenta stared up at him, then turned to her handheld and turned it on, grinning widely when it booted and she saw the signal strength bars were filled, "You actually did it…"
"Of course I did!" Mayuri snapped, smacking the top of her head, "Now, find out why your parents didn't want you accessing your computers!"
Snorting and rolling her eyes, Vicenta turned back to her handheld and turned the screen on, tapping around and chewing at her lip excitedly. She hadn't been able to look at her computer for the last few days and it felt like a piece of her was slowly but surely dyi—
"Let's go."
Mayuri blinked when the girl was standing in a flash, her hand clamped around his wrist until the bones inside ground against one another and her feet moving so quickly she was nearly using sonido.
Still, the scientist was more interested in what she had found than how rude she was being, and was extremely curious about her distress, so he allowed her to drag him along, not even having to throw a glance at Nemu when they passed her for his daughter to get the idea that she needed to follow.
"Where are we going, Spawn?" Mayuri asked smoothly when she dragged him into the back laboratories, an area where no immediate experiments were in the process of being analyzed and thus was less populated.
"You have one of the older pseudo-garganta here, right?" Vicenta asked, her voice several octaves higher than usual and breaking slightly, "We need to use one to get back to my labs. Right now."
"Oh…?" Mayuri couldn't help smirking.
The girl's shoulders were tense and trembling, her strides were short, her words were clipped and her handheld was shaking so intensely in her grasp he could no longer read the lettering.
She was displaying all of the classic signs of stress, and the Captain was having to restrain himself from poking and prodding at her until she cried, from mentally torturing her until she collapsed, from giving her such a good and thorough mind-fuck that her spirit broke and she—
Forcing himself to stop the thoughts there, the Captain stood aside impassively and watched as she, when she'd finally found one of the pseudo-garganta, started to charge it. If he kept thinking about it, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from abducting her for a bit of healthy, stress-relieving torture…
"Tell me, Spawn, why is it that I need to come with you?"
"Because," Vicenta glanced at him as the pseudo-garganta tore open, the black and grey void swirling behind her ominously, "Vasto Lorde's are fucking with one of my projects, and this is your chance to gather a few for experimentation."
Nothing more needed to be said.
Dual serpentine tails flicked through the air, thick scales doing nothing to belie the long, sinewy muscles underneath as they stretched, relaxed and rippled. The individual plate scales glistened in the perpetual moonlight, some white, some red (with the latter being localized into perfectly straight, dual patterns down the centers of both tails), and all of them endlessly slick and cool.
After a bit, the two tails slumped across the lap of a form with milky white legs, skin smooth and bare of hair, which were thicker towards the hips but tapered off delicately at the ankles, ending in average-sized but strong feet.
The torso all of these limbs were attached to had a slender but strong waist and a thick, supple chest, breasts concealed by thick, sharp and threatening slabs of bone, which were currently covered by to long, delicate-looking arms.
Marccia Bones reclined in a seat of stone, a rock that had had a grooved hollowed out for her by the Adjuchas that followed her, her legs crossed at the knees and her arms resting against her bone-covered breasts.
Despite the breeze, her red hair rested over one shoulder as solidly as the stone she sat on, far too thick and tangled to be disturbed by something so small as a breeze.
Her bored, dull golden gaze was settled off into the distance, observing nothing but aware of anything that was possibly of interest.
Absentmindedly, she uncrossed one of her arms and lowered her long-nailed finger to her stomach, tracing the rim of the Hollow hole that rested just below her navel and obliterated the area where her womb would have been.
"Sparrow, have there been any movements from the Broken One's compound?" The Vasto Lorde asked dully after a moment.
"No." Vaida answered in a low mumble from her place, knelt on one knee by Marccia's feet and not moving.
Because the only form of clothing she wore was the short piece of fabric she had tied around her waist like a skirt, the cuts, gashes, bruises and opens sores she'd earned during her time 'working' with Marccia were all the more obvious, and all the more open to the elements.
None of them were anywhere near healing, some weren't even scabbing over anymore, and quite a few of them were red and green at the edges from infection.
It wasn't possible anymore for her to make excuses every time she went back to Gillo, but fortunately she didn't need to; he no longer asked.
Though the first time she'd gone back to him injured (sporting a severe, hand-shaped bruise on her neck) his eyes had flashed and he'd nearly flashed off without an explanation, she'd gone to go after him and had ended up collapsing. Gillo, though still infuriated, had been distracted and hadn't gone to wherever he planned on going, staying with her instead as she passed out and even remaining until she'd woken again.
Things had been okay after that… Until she'd come back wearing her first gash, one that went across her back and had actually nicked her mask a bit. Gillo had disappeared after that, and when he came back he was covered in blood and still silently fuming. He'd refused to say where he'd gone, and after that it had gotten incredibly uncomfortable to be around him.
…Now that Vaida had nowhere safe to go anymore, she was spending more and more time around Marccia, slowly losing control of the situation she had originally handled on her own with the Arrancar and gradually becoming nothing more than a grunt and stress toy for Marccia.
She was breaking.
The little Vasto Lorde didn't want to admit it, but she knew she was breaking, and soon Marccia would have complete and total control over her.
Vaida was starting to fear she would even revert back to an Adjuchas, though she wasn't entirely sure if it was actually possible like it was from Adjuchas to Gillian…
She was scared. Scared and slowly, but surely, dying.
Even so, though, Marccia wasn't done with her yet…
"And you're sure you planted one of the balls directly in front of their little rat hole?" The stronger Vasto Lorde drawled, glancing down at Vaida with a sharp eye.
Vaida nodded, unable to contain a wince when the movement sent sharp pains through her swollen neck and face.
"Good, good…" Marccia reached out smoothly, her hand wrapping around the smaller and weaker Vasto Lorde's neck, fingers settling into the well-worn grooves in Vaida's skin, and pulled her up and close, smiling down at her sharply, "Because if you didn't, you know what happens, correct…?"
"O-Of course…" Vaida rasped, going limp and not even bothering to fight, "You've made that abundantly clear so many times over…"
A flash, nothing, and then pain and Vaida was flat on her back, staring at the moon listlessly as the flesh on her stomach, just below her Hollow hole, split in a new wound that bled fresh, clean but vital blood out of a body that was already nearly vacant of the substance.
She couldn't even muster the strength to hold back a whimper…
"I would watch your tongue, Sparrow." Marccia purred, leaning back in her seat, "I'd hate to have to deliver your ashes to Gillo…"
Vaida whimpered again, closing he eyes. She couldn't… she couldn't… she wouldn't let Gillo down like that. Not before proving she was more than a burden…
Suddenly, Marccia tensed and her reiatsu spiked, making Vaida choke on a groan.
"There's movement from the compound… Go, Sparrow, and watch them. Report what you see when you have enough information."
Vaida rolled onto her stomach, weakly pushing herself onto her hands and knees before disappearing, small bits of sand swirling in her wake.
Marccia stared after her, then glanced over as a new figure approached and smiled, quirking a brow, "Here for another 'talk', Gillo? You know what Daramos would have to say about that…"
Gillo's dark amber eyes narrowed and he walked over with heavy footsteps, "I know, Marccia, I know. For now, we'll just keep this brief and stick to talking…"
Marccia grinned and leaned against her hand. She just loved it when such a stubborn old dog was muzzled…
Vicenta was well beyond being infuriated even before she'd set foot back within the halls of El Sanctuario, but when she walked out onto the sands of Hueco Mundo, her anger reached entirely new heights and her reiatsu spiked sharply.
There, right in front of the entrance/exit, was the hulking black form of one of her observer pods.
Again, another one of her spheres had fallen from the sky.
But this was no accident; it was deliberate. An insult. And if the fact that it was laid out directly in front of their home wasn't any indication of that, the fact that it was rent clean in half was.
Vicenta stood on the edge of the tear in the metal, reaching out and grabbing the two halves with both hands and squeezing until the metal dented around her fingers. She stared off at the narrow view of the desert from between the two halves, her eyes narrowed and her jaw working back and forth.
Behind her, Mayuri made it a point of sighing loudly, "Well, it would appear as though the safety that came with the ambiguity of your undisclosed location has been breeched."
"Master Mayuri, Szayel Aporro and Aporro should be told about thi—"
SLAP.
"They already know, you stupid girl! Otherwise they wouldn't have been working so actively hard to keep us out of their network!"
Vicenta was hardly listening.
Out on the slice of the horizon the two halves of her camera pod had framed for her, a small form suddenly flickered into being. She couldn't made out any distinct features other than the presence of skeletal wings, but Vicenta knew this being was looking right at them…
Before Nemu could suggest going inside, Vicenta was rocketing forward. The two halves of her camera shot apart at the delayed sonic boom she created, and soon her form was nothing but a dot on the horizon, chasing the perpetrator.
Mayuri sighed in annoyance, then took off after her, Nemu following close behind.
At least the hot-blooded brat had remembered to grab her zanpakuto…
As they made their slow way back to The Sanctuary, too spent to use sonido/shunpo, Mayuri kept his intensely focused and livid gaze on Vicenta, too annoyed to care that it was scientifically impossible to burn holes into the side of her head with his eyes alone (though he did make a mental note to overcome that little speed bump when he was back in his own labs).
"Well?" He hissed, finally breaking the two-hour-long silence, "Are you satisfied, Spawn?"
"Hardly!" Vicenta spat back, glaring ahead, "The bitch got away!!"
"Of course it got away!" Mayuri snapped, "It had a mile and a half lead on us!"
"Us?!" Vicenta stopped and spin on her heel towards him, glaring, "You're pissed because you're stuck walking back with me?! Then you should have stayed the fuck behind!!"
"And how do you propose I get a decent Vasto Lorde subject if I just sit back and let you go gung-ho?!" Mayuri turned towards her, as well, marching over to her and waving his arms angrily, "You should have waited!! We could have formulated a plan of action!! But no!! You had to choose the most inopportune moment to emulate that moronic matriarch of yours!!"
"Leave my mother out of this, Kurotsuchi!" Vicenta snarled, narrowing her eyes at him angrily.
"Bah, why shouldn't I use her as an example?!" Mayuri turned his head away, scowling and flicking his wrist dismissively, "She's the epitome of single-minded, anger-prone stupidity, the bouts of which I have found you to be quite susceptible to! Clearly, you are her daughter!"
"Of course I am her daughter." Vicenta hissed venomously, clenching her hands tightly around the hilt of Gavilan Pintado, "And if you have a problem with that, then perhaps this partnership won't work as swimmingly as we originally thought."
"Perhaps it won't." Mayuri agreed smoothly, his face void of all emotions.
Nemu watched emotionlessly as the two scientists faced back in the direction of El Sanctuario and continued walking.
Ah, a lover's spat… or, at least, as close to one as her father would ever get. Well, at least some aspects of his life were perfectly normal, even if the situations they occurred in were more than slightly abnormal…
The three walked along in utter silence, not even the sounds of the world around them pervading their little bubble of anger and bitterness.
Vicenta was just stealing a covert glare at Mayuri when she noticed something…
Her eyes widened and panic instantly gripped her chest.
The sand on the other side of the Captain seemed to swirl in slow motion, a long, bony arm with green-grey skin stretched tightly over the bone reaching up towards the sky before turning and descending on him quickly.
Without thinking about it, Vicenta turned and threw herself at the shinigami, barreling into his waist and tossing him aside.
Mayuri stumbled, then stood straight and brushed himself off, turning to bellow at the young Arrancar before freezing and watching as a large hand grabbed onto her and dragged her down beneath the sand.
Nemu was saying something to him… he was sure…
But he couldn't hear her.
After spending a good ten minutes staring at where the young Arrancar had disappeared, Mayuri faced ahead again and continued walking back towards El Sanctuario, completely deadpanned and never breaking stride.
Fun in The Sanctuary~!
Popular Arrancar Calendar…
"Can I just say, once again, that I am simply sho—"
"No, Illforte, you can't say how fuckin' shocked you are to be included." Grimmjow grumbles, glaring at his former Fraccion heavily, "Honestly, you're nearly as fuckin' narcissistic as your brother sometimes…"
"Alright, gentlemen, alright, no fighting and off with your shirts!" Rangiku Matsumoto calls out to the Arrancar men in front of her, cutting off Illforte's angry comeback and clapping her hands loudly to get their attention, "This is the first time the Shinigami Women's Association has gotten such positive requests for a calendar and we want to get this done right!"
"That is quite right." Nanao Ise agrees, adjusting her glasses with her pen before tapping her clipboard impatiently, "The first group is with Mr. Jaegerjaquez and Mr. …Will someone please wake Mr. Stark?!"
"Hey! Coyote!! Wake up, ya fuckin' narcoleptic!" Grimmjow barks, kicking Stark in the head.
Stark grumbles and snorts, waking up slightly before dropping back down onto the table he's sprawled out across and going back to sleep.
"…Actually…" Rangiku mumbles, a sly grin forming on her face, "That pose is perfect!! Someone pull off his jacket partway, ruffle his hair and spread his legs a little more! Oh, and pull down his pants a bit to show off the tops of his hip bones!"
"Okay, I am so not being involved in that picture!" Grimmjow barks, jumping back.
"Fine by me!" Rangiku giggles, tiptoeing towards Stark and starting to 'sex him up'.
"I mean, I know I'm gorgeous and all, bu—"
"Illforte, shut the fuck up!"
"Hey, I found Pinky-Pink!" Yachiru giggles, skipping into the room with her faithful Nemu in tow, who is dragging along a loudly protesting Aporro.
"For the last time, Lieutenant, I am not Szayel!! Nemu, you can see that, right?!"
"I must follow orders." Nemu replies in monotone.
"Oooo, Ran is stripping Sleepy? Nemu, do that to Pinky-Pink, too!"
"Very well." Nemu turns on Aporro and grabs the collar of her double-breasted coat.
Aporro pales, "Nemu, plea—"
The sound of ripping fabric and popping buttons is quickly chased by whoops and hollers.
"NICE, Aporro, very nice!!"
"Go to hell, Jaegerjackass!"
"…Eh…? When in the hell did I get here…? And where did my pants go… …Aporro, why are you flashing everyone?"
"…When did Pinky-Pink turn into a girl…?"
"Not Szayel, damn it! Not Szayel!!"