The topic of today's episode of 'Fun in The Sanctuary~!' was submitted by SerbiaTakesCntrl. ^.^ May cookies rain down on you as an expression of my gratitude!
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.
Ichigo trudged through the desert, scowling a bit more than usual. Crossing the sands was harder than he remembered…
Then again, the way to Las Noches had been flat and the sand far more packed from all of the activity of lesser Hollows and freak sandstorms.
Out where things were less inhabited and ruled by the Vasto Lordes, the dunes were plentiful and the grains loose, making Ichigo sink down to his knees in some areas.
"How," He panted, glaring at the person ahead of him as he trudged on, "In the hell… can you stay up?"
Yumichika rolled his eyes, tossing his hair slightly and sighing, "Oh, please. As if I would let myself sink into the sand and get itchy; then I'd end up scratching red lines into my legs, and that would be most unbecoming." The (still secretive) kido practitioner sashayed on, sending out minute pulses of reiryoku through his feet to keep himself from sinking like his fellows.
Ichigo twitched and drew his lips into a fine line, glaring at his fellow Eleventh Division member, "You bastard…"
"Quit your bitching!" Ikkaku snapped, trudging on with fervor, "That burn in your ass means you're actually getting a workout! Relish it and stop being a damned woman!"
Ichigo was tempted to growl something about sexism, but knew what kind of a reaction that would incite from the man and said nothing.
Fortunately, he observed with a grin, there were certain members of the party that it didn't slip past.
Halibel stopped and turned back partway, narrowing her eyes at Ikkaku and asking in her low but clear voice, "What did you say?"
Ikkaku twitched, grinning nervously and rubbing the back of his head. The Arrancar woman was one scary bitch! "N-Nothing, Miss Halibel! I just meant the whiney women, which you're definitely not!"
Halibel's already narrowed eyes slitted further.
"In fact, I didn't even think of grouping you in with women at all!" Ikkaku went on, twitching again when he realized he was only digging himself in deeper.
Halibel was glaring at him flatly though heavily lidded eyes, her reiatsu flickering in irritation.
"N-Not that I can't tell that you're a woman; it's very obvious that you are! …Not that I was looking!"
"Ikkaku," Yumichika sighed, smirking, "Stop. Just… stop."
Ikkaku shut his mouth.
Ichigo grinned.
Tesla sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
After glaring at the third seat for a few more moments, Halibel faced ahead again and continued leading the group, walking easily over the sands and not sinking in.
To her left, Tesla was finding walking on the sands just as easy, and ahead a little and to the right Grimmjow was, as well.
As Ichigo observed this, he frowned and asked, "So, why can you guys walk so easily?"
A loud snort made him glance at Grimmjow and glare when he saw the taunting smirk the former Sexta was giving him.
"We're fucking Arrancar, Kurosaki. These sands were once ours. You think we haven't long since mastered subconsciously putting out enough reiryoku to keep ourselves level?" Grimmjow barked, shaking his head and laughing.
Ichigo scowled deeply and glared, about to snap at Grimmjow and initiate another one of their famous fights when he noticed the blue-haired Arrancar glance off to the side with a scowl of his own.
As Grimmjow's eyes scanned the sands, Ichigo realized something; Grimmjow was putting on a front.
He hadn't come for no reason, after all; it was his mate that was missing.
And while Ichigo didn't understand the whole 'life-mate' business, he could guess well enough from how he'd seen the woman, Aporro, act. It seemed to be a pretty binding thing…
Sighing, Ichigo let the barb go unchallenged and looked around, Zangetsu seeming to weigh down heavily on his back despite the fact that they had long since gotten over such trivialities.
"So, how do we get down to the Forest of Menos?" Ichigo asked when the silence started to become oppressive, "I mean, the last time I was there it was only because Runuganga's sinkhole swallowed us…"
"I'll take care of that." Halibel said, her voice carrying without her having to turn back or speak louder, "Just stay vigilant."
Ichigo sighed, twitching slightly. He had no idea how Arrancar could stand being so quiet in such a large group… Honestly, he found the silence unnerving, especially considering they could very well be being watched.
He knew wanting to talk when he should be focused was some remnant of human sentiment towards talking in an unnerving situation being comforting, but he couldn't bring himself to shake it.
The silence was just too oppressive…
"Kurosaki, control yourself." Byakuya remarked icily, glaring at the young shinigami when he looked at him incredulously, "Your constant fluctuations will bring unwanted attention."
Ichigo wanted to, but refrained from saying anything to his superior. Ass…
Suddenly, the Arrancar stopped and the shinigami followed suit, watching them expectantly.
Tesla took a few steps back from Halibel as she turned to the shinigami, nodding to them slightly, "Brace yourselves."
Ichigo tensed, then blinked when she lifted her leg and stomped her heel once into the sand.
Halibel then crossed her arms and bowed her head slightly, closing her eyes.
Behind her, Grimmjow stuffed his arms into his pockets and tossed his head back, baring his teeth in a scowl/grimace.
Tesla just crossed his arms behind his back.
The shinigami stared at them, confused.
"…What are we waiting for?" Hitsugaya finally asked, his patience wearing thin.
"Be patient." Was all Halibel said.
The Tenth Division Captain twitched and was about to snap when the ground beneath them started to shake, and violently.
Ichigo tense and followed Yumichika and Ikkaku's examples and spread his stance, looking around with wide eyes.
The moment the ground started sinking beneath their feet, Ichigo turned to jump out of the way, only to look over his shoulder in shock when someone grabbed his arm roughly.
Ichigo glared and snapped at Grimmjow, infuriated by the former Sexta's wide, crazed grin, "WHAT THE HELL, GRIMMJOW?"
"Just wait it out, pussy!" Grimmjow barked back, laughing as the ground opened up beneath them and they fell down into the black.
Vicenta woke with a start, shooting into a sitting position and staring off into space with wide, shocked eyes.
Groaning when she realized whatever dream she had been having had, indeed, been just a dream, she flopped back, cursing softly when her head smacked solid flooring and staring up at the night sky.
She couldn't remember what the dream had been about, but she had the sudden strengthening in her urge to see Grimmjow again…
Sudden movement to her left caused Vicenta to shoot up again and look, blinking.
A nearly impossibly tall male with nearly impossibly pitch-black skin striped with jagged red markings reclining and sleeping on the massive mask of some long dead Hollow…
Daramos.
Everything came flooding back and Vicenta's hand automatically flew to her side, and she cursed softly again when she realized that Gavilan Pintado still wasn't in her possession.
It was when the movement came again (Daramos' tail flicking as he slept, she realized) that Vicenta looked back over at the Vasto Lorde a second time and noticed it.
Gavilan Pintado was by him, its dull grey sheath propped upright and at an angle with the basket wire guard hooked in a cranny of Daramos' mask chair/bed.
Slowly, Vicenta looked between Daramos and her zanpakuto.
She wasn't stupid… She knew the odds were very high that if she tried to take her zanpakuto and flee, Daramos would be on her quicker than she could comprehend.
He probably wasn't even sleeping…
Still… she couldn't just bring herself to sit there and do nothing.
Vicenta felt she had to made some attempt to get away…
She supposed she could blame her mother, Vicenta thought as she stood slowly, taking a moment to work on her balance.
Still reeling from our initial meeting… Vicenta glanced at Daramos, still passively floored by how powerful he was.
Her head was swimming and her knees were weak, tinnitus making her pause and close her eyes until it passed.
When it had, Vicenta took a few experimental steps, bending and stretching her legs before she was finally confident that she was near enough to her usual stability to go on.
It was then she turned towards Daramos and started creeping over, her eyes quickly shifting between his face, lungs, hands, and then back again. She had to keep an eye on his vitals, make sure he didn't stir… Though she didn't have much of a grasp on how his reiatsu felt when he was awake, at rest it seemed average enough for her to think he wasn't faking.
Then again, her senses were still muddled by the sheer mass of his presence, so Vicenta didn't entirely trust her judgment.
Still, she continued to inch forward, some push, some itch in her not allowing her to stop.
As she got closer and closer, the air got thicker and harder to breathe.
Even while sleeping Daramos had an excellent hold on his reiryoku, but the range of his presence's reach was huge; she was still fifteen feet from him and her legs were already starting to shake again.
But she still didn't stop.
When Vicenta finally wrapped her fingers around her zanpakuto, she couldn't control the raggedness in her breathing and her eyes were locked on Daramos' face, checking his breathing and movements completely slipping her mind.
Checking his tail slipped her mind, too.
When it touched her back, Vicenta froze, her eyes widening.
Out of what she assumed to be instinct, the appendage wrapped around her waist, and though Daramos hadn't opened his eyes or showed any sign of being awake Vicenta was still terrified.
Time seemed to slow, and when his tail finally let her go Vicenta couldn't stop herself from using sonido and shooting back, her hands shaking and her lungs gasping air when it was finally back at a breathable level.
And still, Daramos didn't move.
He was taunting her, Vicenta realized as paranoia set in.
He was awake, he was aware, he knew she was making to escape.
And he was going to let her think she could escape.
Vicenta knew the psychology of it; better than he was giving her credit for.
And she was going to show him.
Not even her father got away with trying to fuck with her like this.
Suddenly and irrationally infuriated, Vicenta ground her teeth and spun around, not bothering to try to discern which direction she was facing as she crouched sonidoed off.
Though she had kept her presence as concealed as possible, the moment Vicenta stepped off of the solid flooring and onto the stiff and crunching sand, Daramos' presence behind her flared.
At that point, timing was everything.
Vicenta set her hand on the hilt of Gavilan Pintado and drew partway, grinding her teeth and doing her best to judge Daramos' distance without looking back. She continued to run, focusing on her breathing and his presence as the stiff sand crunched under her feet.
He seemed to be going to slow…
Five.
He was forty meters back…
Four.
He was thirty-two meters back…
Three.
He was twenty-four meters back…
Two.
He was eleven meters back…
One…
Two meters and—
"Whip, Gavilan Pintado!"
Vicenta rocketed forward, Daramos quickly falling behind.
But she still didn't relax and continued fleeing, heading straight for a jutting rock on the horizon.
And as she knew he would, Daramos quickly began to catch up again.
Panic, which had previously been nothing more than a loose veil around her person, settled in and Vicenta started to hyperventilate, pushing herself harder than she ever had before and speeding straight on.
She could practically feel him breathing down her neck when her feet finally started slapping against the stone, and she continued running straight up the side to the highest point. There, she jumped.
Vicenta felt the stone crack and crumble underneath for only a second before she was airborne and shooting straight into the starless black sky.
As she started to lose momentum, Vicenta realized she still had no idea what she was doing.
Daramos was awake and right behind her, and she had no feasible way to escape.
But she still couldn't quit.
I'm too much like my mother to quit…
Vicenta held out her hand, her other still gripping her zanpakuto tightly.
Putting everything she hadn't put into running, Vicenta poured her heart into her hand…
And fired a single, strong blue beam off into the distance.
And not even the hand that wrapped itself around her ankle and jerked her back down towards the ground managed to stop it.
Vicenta stared up into Daramos' furious face groggily, her back throbbing in pain and her head uncomfortably light and fuzzy.
"You know…" Daramos hissed, the slices of his mask on top of his head laying flat against his scalp, drawing the skin tight and causing his eyes to narrow and his lips to draw back tautly over his teeth, "If you do something like this again, I just may abandon my plans of keeping you alive, using you to lure your family out and just skip to the part where I tear your half-bred body to pieces."
Vicenta couldn't say anything, just staring up at him blankly.
"And what a shame that would be…" Daramos sighed, setting his hand on her stomach and digging his nails in slightly, "Because then I wouldn't be able to break them by telling them about what's growing in here…"
Vicenta didn't even have time to think about what he meant before her eyes rolled back into her head and she passed out.
Fun in The Sanctuary~!
Rainy Day…
Sometimes, Aporro thinks that Szayel really does go too far with his experiments…
This latest night, Aporro was jerked awake when Szayel shot into a sitting position, his eyes wide and his hair plastered to his temples with cold sweat as he rasped, "Weather machine…"
Now, not ten hours later, Aporro is watching as Szayel adjusts several long, spindly wires coming out of a black ball, the whole thing very reminiscent of a sea urchin.
"Shouldn't you try this… outside?" Aporro asks with a quirked brow, glancing around the vastly spacious but still indoor and underground warehouse, one of many Szayel uses for large-scale experimentation.
"Of course not." Szayel grunts, wrestling with the wires that easily dwarf him as the charge running along them attracts his hair and clothes with static cling, "This machine isn't nearly large enough to affect the weather in Hueco Mundo. Besides," He tears himself away, panting and straightening himself back into perfection, "The emergency off switch is down here."
Aporro nods, barely holding back a laugh at how several strands of hair still stick straight up.
Szayel doesn't fail to notice and jerks off his gloves with a scowl, bending over and rubbing the ground with bare hands to destroy the charge in his skin before reaching up and flattening his hair. "You know when to hit the switch, when and if it is necessary."
Aporro nods again, still smirking as Szayel backs away from his giant 'weather urchin' and pulls a small cylindrical device with a button on the top out of his pocket.
When he presses it, the weather urchin twitches and crackles, its many spines starting to sway softly as volts of blue, snapping energy run along and between them.
Along the sides of the room, long and precisely organized troughs of water start to bubble and hiss, and in seconds the room is muggy. Aporro quirks a brow when broiling black clouds from along the ceiling. She had been so sure that such things were supposed to be physically impossible…
Then again, when Szayel was haunted by an idea, stranger things had happened…
When it starts pouring rain, Aporro grabs the umbrella she had brought out of impulse and opens it, staying dry and quirking a brow when Szayel ends up quickly doused.
She sighs when Szayel starts doing the 'mad scientist cackle' that he does whenever one of his experiments goes right, then chokes on a laugh when he jumps at a bolt of lightning hitting the weather machine.
Cold room plus hot air from an overheating machine equals everything they need for a thundershower…
Abandoning her umbrella, Aporro falls onto her side and rolls around, laughing madly as Szayel starts running away from several strikes of lightning. Hitting the emergency off switch slips her mind (quite a feat, considering it's right next to her, bright red, and the size of a basketball).
And as Szayel keeps running (and screaming at her to "HIT THE FUCKING SWITCH ALREADY!"), Aporro makes a mental note to take Szayel to the human world sometime and make him walk around in jeans during a storm…
…Preferably one without lightning.