Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Bleach. Yup, still don't.
Thank you, following peoples, who sent me the Arrancars that I have chosen! If you sent me an Arrancar that I didn't choose for Naruto's Fraccion, then I will integrate them into the story one way or another, just not as the guys who will be following Naruto as his underling people! AND I'M NOT DONE CHOOSING YET!111!11!ONEELEVEN!
Winged Wolfe Chibi – The Mastermind behind Riko Darklay Thank you so much for the Arrancar! She will definitely be used as Naruto's Fraccion, and I hope that I can portray her the way you thought her as!
kyuubi-shinigami – The Genious who made Toba Irani Thanks for this Arrancar-dude! I only had to read his appearance and I already fell in love with him! He's going to be a PERFECT fit with Naruto, and I pray that I can satisfy you with the way I write him.
Torishi Satori – The Friend I forced into doing this and making Tigre Garras …dude XD I TOTALLY made you do this.
Uber Ghidora – The Brilliance that created Senzakou "Senza" Yoroi I loved this guy right away! Thanks for creating this Arrancar for me, and I hope that I can use his character to the way you dreamed! And don't worry, I'll be using everything that you told me about him! If I can help it, not a thing will be changed. :D
HikariNoTenshi-San – The Awesomeness that thought up Lacrima Furor Thanks for making this Arrancar! I needed another female, and you gave me just that! I must say that I absolutely LOVE her Resurrection XD I'm obsessed with human-avian hybrids! I'll do my best to make this character as awesome as you described her!
Bios of so-far revealed information for each of these Arrancars will be at the end!
EDIT(AUGUST 22, 2011): Dear Winged Wolfie Chibi - ...I have absoluetly NO idea what I had tried to write when I wrote 'hunk', so I just changed what she was saying. But hey, I fixed it! :3
Chapter 12
Amissa Animus
:::Las Noches, Outside the Throne Room:::
As Naruto swept out of the throne room, mumbling quietly to himself as he tried to remember where his new room was, someone leapt up, smashing into his back full-force. "Naru-nii!" Cried Lilynette, her voice loud and shrill as she buried her nose in between Naruto's shoulder blades. The orange-haired Arrancar rolled his eyes, sighing heavily.
"Hi, Lilynette." He was silent for a few seconds, before looking over his shoulder to where he could hardly glimpse the Hollow mask fragment that almost covered her entire face. "Can you get off? I'm still a little sore from my mission to the World of the Living." Lilynette quickly bounced off, and then kept pace with the taller, older teen as he walked slowly and calmly through the halls, his hands in his pockets.
"Naru-nii, tell me about your mission! C'mon! Tell me tell me tell me!"
"Why don't you go bug Coyote? I'm too tired, and I still need to find my new room." Naruto cursed mentally. Stupid Yammy…going and destroying his old room because Naruto had beaten him in a spar when Aizen wanted to see if Naruto had the potential to become an Espada.
"Starrk's asleep!" Lilynette complained. "And he didn't get to go to the World of the Living for too long! Only to get you!" Naruto sighed.
"Fine…Aizen-sama wanted to test my abilities a final time before I became an Espada, so he sent me to attack a Soul Reaper that he foresees being a threat. I didn't even find the man before I was jumped by a few captains and a few lower-ranking Soul Reapers." Naruto bared his fangs. "I was nearly killed by the amount of Soul Reapers that were there…I hate them…" Lilynette looked down, a frown on her face.
I didn't even know the kid before…but this is so different…how did Aizen-sama do it? I…I don't feel right…pretending his entire life before was a lie, and this is the life that he's always had…he may be my enemy, but it still doesn't feel right. We Arrancars have to stick together, no matter what side we're on… "Naruto...?" Lilynette began slowly.
"Uh oh." Naruto sarcastically snorted. "The only time you ever call me that is when you want something or when you're going to say something that will not make me happy."
"Well…not you, but Aizen-sama won't be pleased."
"Whoa whoa." Naruto said, spinning around to block the shorter girl's path. He slowly got on his knees so he was slightly shorter than her, and put his hands on her shoulders, looking straight into her eyes. "Lily-chan…" Naruto began. "…do not cross Aizen-sama. No matter what you do, you never cross our Master. That will get you killed, and I don't want my first act as an Espada to be watching your execution, carrying it out myself, or having to take your body into the Hueco Desert for the Hollows to eat it. Whatever you want to tell me, forget it. No amount of knowledge or gossip is worth the life of my little sister." Tears gathered in Lilynette's eyes, but while Naruto took them as tears of happiness that Naruto cared for her as much as he did, Lilynette really knew that they were tears of guilt.
:::Las Noches, Naruto's Room:::
Naruto looked around his room, which was more like its own individual building in the protective dome that was his home(A/N: Oh sweet baby Jesus I just rhymed!). It was massive – way bigger than his old room, when he used to be just a low-ranking Arrancar – but it was plane. The walls, ceiling, and floor were slate gray and smooth, and a single bed and dresser sat in the room, the dressing of the bed a dull white and the dresser was – surprise – gray. Long, tall, thin windows decorated the room, the windows only being about as wide as his shoulders were.
Nothing else filled his new room, giving it a cold and empty feeling. "Well, that'll have to change." Naruto though out loud, before yawning. He brought a hand up to rub his neck, and winced as his fingers brushed against the new tattoo he had acquired. "…tomorrow." He flopped down on his bed without another word.
:::Old Karakura, Abandoned Warehouse, Vizard Hideout:::
"How long has he been training?" Shinji asked with a sigh. Hachi looked up from the book that he was currently pouring over.
"A few weeks." Shinji snorted, rolling his eyes.
"He said when he came that he had to train so that he could rescue his friend. How's he going to do that if he can only hold his mask for twelve seconds? And he's been training a few weeks?"
"Yeah he's gonna die." Kensei said, rolling his eyes.
:::Karakura, Urahara Shoten:::
Gaara just stared at the black creature before him. And stared. And stared. And stared. Blinked. Stared some more. "You have a talking cat." Urahara face-palmed.
:::Las Noches:::
Naruto literally flipped out of his bed the next day, crying in surprise as a cold bucket of water passed within a few inches of his head. Not the water, but the bucket itself, filled with water. Naruto wasn't even going to ask why he was able to wake up and dodge the bucket in the first place. "Do you have any idea how much that would have hurt, Grimmjow?" Naruto roared, pointing a finger at the cackling blue-haired Arrancar. "I was sleeping you jackass!"
"Yeah, whatever. I'm bored. Spar with me!"
"No!" Naruto barked. "I just become an Espada yesterday, Grimmjow. I'm still resting from my mission to the Land of the Living too, so leave me the hell alone, will you? Why don't you go spar with one of your Fraccion?"
"They all died." Naruto just stared at Grimmjow, who just stared back, the same insane smile spread across his face.
"You don't seem too sad."
"They're the ones that were too weak to survive against the Soul Reapers." Grimmjow shrugged.
"You're such a bastard to your subordinates." Naruto sighed, sitting down on his bed with a thump.
"If you're so compassionate for them, then why don't you get a few yourself?" Grimmjow snorted.
"Ah hell no. I don't want a responsibility like that. I can't even keep track of my own shoes; how would I keep an eye on my own Fraccion?"
"Oh please. I'm sure you can keep track of your stupid sandals." Naruto's eyes flickered down to his bare feet, and then around his bare room. Grimmjow looked around. Not a shoe in sight. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Scary thing is, I went to sleep with them on." Naruto snickered, before throwing himself to his feet. "Is the only reason you woke me up to spar, or is there something that is more important of my time that I should be tending to?"
"Yeah. Aporro needs you in his lab." Naruto shook his head, quickly and frantically.
"No way! Last time I went down there, I got a needle filled with ink jammed in my neck! Without warning!" Grimmjow grabbed Naruto's arm, and began to drag him towards the wide door to the building that housed the orange-haired Arrancar.
"Oh shut up you pansy. All of the Espada had to go through the same things you did and do." Well, almost. "Aporro just needs to change the bandages around your neck, and check on your seal jewel." Naruto frowned, but let himself be dragged along by the taller man. If it had only been because of his need for his bandages being changed, Naruto would have used Sonido to escape to some corner of Las Noches where the cat-like man would never find him. But he knew the importance of the jewel implanted in his forehead, and knew the damage that it could cause if it was to stop working, or being dislodged.
Last time that had happened, well…they had been out of two Espada, half of Las Noches, and entire section of the Menos Forest. How that happened, nobody knew, but that forest section had been flattened.
Within minutes, Naruto was in Aporro's lab, his seal jewel having been checked and given a clean bill of health, and the bandages around his throat removed. Aporro crouched near the side of Naruto's throat, staring with a critical eye at the mark on Naruto's throat. Suddenly, he delivered a powerful chop to the Arrancar's tattoo, making the young boy gag and fall over. "How about that? Any pain?"
"Yes! For the last time, yes! THROAT-CHOPPING WOULD HURT WITHOUT THE FRESH TATTOO YOU BASTARD!" Naruto roared, Grimmjow having to hold him back from shredding the pink-haired man's face.
"Well, I was just checking." Aporro muttered.
"Seven times? That's not checking, that's trying to break my neck!"
"He has a point, Aporro."
"He has no point!"
"I have a point, Szayel!" SMACK! "GAH!" Aporro dashed out of the room after throat-chopping Naruto again, tossing a roll of bandages over his shoulder as Naruto writhed on the floor. Grimmjow snatched the bandages out of the air, an eyebrow raised.
"Rewrap his neck for me, will you?" Aporro called over his shoulder as he fled before Naruto could disembowel him; he had seen what Naruto had done to Gin. In fact, the silver-haired man was in the other room, still in critical condition. But he had to stay hidden, because if Naruto saw, then he would raise to many unanswerable questions.
Naruto slowly picked himself up off the floor, clutching the tattoo on his throat that was now inflamed and throbbing painfully. "I swear…next time I see him…" Naruto chuckled evilly, his ears twisting backwards in his hair. "…Aizen-sama will need to start looking for a new Espada…"
"To replace who? You or him?" Grimmjow asked as he handed Naruto the bandages.
"Are you kidding? I'd trump his ass, and you know it." Naruto muttered as he twisted the bandages around his throat to keep the gauze in place over the tribal-number tattoo. "I'll rip his throat out…"
"Let go of me!" A cry came from the hall outside of Aporro's lab, followed by a loud crash and hollow thump. "Aha! Freedom!" Another thump, followed by a thud. "Gah! Dammit!"
"You're bleeding!" Panted a second voice, this one more strained as the sounds of a struggle drifted through the cracked-open door. "You need medical attention!"
"I don't care if I'm bleeding, I don't want to go see that insane jerk! I'd bleed to death first!" The door was thrown open with a clang, revealing two young individuals.
The closest to Naruto was a young man; a young tall man. Standing at 6'1", he was of average build, with tanned skin and compact muscles. His white hair was spiky and fell to his shoulders, red streaks running through his hair. His eyes were a deep-red color, but the sclera of his eyes were strange. They were sea-green in color, something Naruto had never seen before. He wore a hakama, like most other Arrancars, but what he wore on his torso was strange to the orange-haired Vulpes. It was a pure-white hoodie, zipped up to a few inches below his collarbone, with a white wife beater showing through underneath. On the left side of his chest, Naruto could just glimpse some type of tribal tattoo over the top of the wife beater, the image looking like part some type of creature with large, almost plate-like scales. The rest of this tattoo was hidden by his wife beater and hoodie. He wore fingerless gloves on his hands, and white headphones over his ears; Naruto realized with a start that the headphones were actually this Arrancar's mask fragment. That's new. Naruto thought.
The other young man was a well-muscled one, standing tall, with an intimidating aura. His hair was long, longer than any hair that he remembered seeing on a man, and was such a dark brown, that at some angles, it looked pure black, and was held back in a ponytail. His jacket-like top with black around his wrists was left open, his Hollow hole showing as a gaping hole going through the center of his chest. The man's hakama went down to just below his knees, almost like a pair of shorts, and wrapped around his neck was a black scarf. His mask fragment was a simple piece on his cheek, the bone-like substance spiking out around his right eye, his mouth, and his nose, with the bottom edge being smoothed and rounded. In the center was a small gap in the shape of a rough triangle.
While the man with the headphones struggled, trying to pull from the grasp of the other man, blood splashed slowly to the floor from a gaping injury in his upper left arm, his left sleeve of his hoodie smeared with the crimson liquid. The man stopped wiggling, though, when he and the other man noticed the two Espada standing in the room, staring at them with surprised eyes. "…oops." He leaned down to whisper in the other man's ear, but Naruto's fox ears caught ever word. "I told you we took a wrong turn onto Oh Shit Street!" Naruto snorted in laughter, surprising the man who had spoken, raising an uneasy smile. "Um…sorry, we didn't know Granz-san was busy." The man turned to start dragging the younger-looking man out – the being-dragged Arrancar didn't look to disappointed to be leaving – but Naruto spoke up, loudly and clearly.
"No, it's fine. You don't have to go." The two lower-classed Arrancars looked upon him with surprise. Most Espada were rude to the lower-classes, opting to kick them around everywhere than understand what the others needed. "I don't think Szayel is going to be coming back in here anytime soon anyway." Now it was Grimmjow's turn to snort.
"I don't think he has a death wish." He paused. "I'm leaving." In a clap of sound, the blue-haired Arrancar flashed out of the room, leaving Naruto and the two lower-classed alone. Naruto beckoned the two further into the room, and the reluctantly but obediently did so. They had heard that a new Espada had been chosen, but nothing was known about him. They had heard that he had come from the World of the Living, having been forced from one side of the war to the other by Aizen. To tell Naruto about anything that happened before he had been marked as an Espada was classified as treason, punishable by death. And these two did not want to die yet. Because nothing was known about the orange-haired, fox-eared Arrancar, they had no idea what his temper was like, or how he'd treat his underlings.
Naruto quickly began to shuffle around the room, digging through the random objects Aporro had thrown about the room, more than once kicking over something filled with different objects or liquids, snickering as he did so. "What're your names?"
"I'm Irani Toba, sir." The scarf-wearing Arrancar responded quickly with a bow, the other man quickly following his movements.
"And I'm Yoroi Senzakou, sir." The headphone-bearing Arrancar said as he came up from his own bow.
"I'm Vulpes Naruto." Naruto grunted as he kicked a rather large filing cabinet that had to weigh a few tons out of his way, the metal structure collapsing on one side and sliding a good dozen feet before hitting a wall. Try getting your research now, bastard. Naruto thought, then paused. What if the stuff I needed was in there? "…damn. It." Naruto sighed, picking his way through the room to the filing cabinet. "How'd you get hurt, Yoroi-san?"
"Please, call me Senza, Vulpes-san." It wasn't fit for an Espada to be referring to a lower-classed Arrancar with such respect. "And…uh…I was…" Toba sighed, slapping a hand over Senza's mouth.
"Senza went and tried flirting with Mila-Rose. Again." Naruto furrowed his brow, his step faltering slightly as he tried to remember who that was. When her face popped up in his memory, Naruto smiled and nodded.
"I remember her." That woman actually scares me. Naruto thought with a mental chuckle. "You were flirting with her, so she stabbed you?" Human ways would forever confuse him. Why would a woman stab a man that thought that she was beautiful? When he was still alive and living in Vulpes Forest – before humans had slaughtered him – a female Vulpes would be flattered by even the simplest compliment or flirt, such as her paws look clean.
"Senza flirts with her all the time." Toba snickered. "And it usually doesn't end well. Especially when he starts following her and won't leave her alone."
"Hey, she's hot." Senza defended with a heated glare. His glare was suddenly replaced by a dreamy, loving look. "And one day she and I will be together." Naruto snorted right along with Toba, already foreseeing Senza's next injury.
"Oh, here they are." Naruto muttered, pulling a roll of bandages out from the destroyed filing cabinet. Flashing back over to Senza and Toba, Naruto unrolled the bandages, taking care that his claws didn't shred the material. "Hold out your arm." The Vulpes commanded, receiving immediate obedience. As he began to wrap the slash in Senza's arm, he looked over to the two, his brow furrowing. "Whose Fraccion are you, anyway? Shouldn't they be the ones treating any injury you have, instead of sending you to Szayel?"
"We're not Fraccion of an Espada." Toba said, sighing heavily. "Either they already have the Fraccion they liked, or they don't want any to begin with. And even if we were Fraccion, we would still be sent to Granz-san for any injuries. None of the Espada really care about us lower-classes, and Granz-san is sort of the unofficial doctor."
"So I've noticed." Naruto nodded. He stepped back, tilting his head to inspect his handiwork. "Well, that should hold for a while, but you should get Szayel to check it out within the next few days." Senza shuddered.
"Oh joy. Willingly coming to see him."
"You don't like him?"
"Not many people do."
"True." Naruto nodded in agreement with the white-haired man. "Well, the stand-in doctor's orders is to take it easy with that arm until it heals. Bye." Naruto called as he waved over his shoulder, before using Sonido to flash out of the room, and appear in a blank hall in Las Noches. He looked around, frowning, before dropping his head in defeat. "I'm lost…"
:::Karakura, Urahara Shoten:::
Urahara sighed in relief as he sat down on his bed, his back cracking as he yawned. Finally, after a few days of straight training, time to sleep. Hopefully the Vizards that were training Ichigo were letting him sleep. Then again, Hiyori probably won't let him. She was a slave driver, and years of living in the World of the Living had made her even more of one. He laid down in his bed, his lower body under the covers, and his head rested on the soft pillow. He winced as the door to his room was thrown open with a clang, Gaara standing in the doorway, his eyes wide. Urahara moaned.
"What is it Gaara?"
"Yoruichi isn't a demon, right?"
"It took you three days to become convinced that she wasn't one. Please tell me you're not going back on that now."
"No. So then she isn't one?"
"No!"
"Then why in the hell can she transform into a human?"
"…is she sitting in your room right now?"
"Yes."
"…naked?"
"Yes."
"Nice."
"Go get her off my bed."
:::Old Karakura, Abandoned Warehouse, Vizard Hideout:::
Naruto…we'll be coming for you soon…please be okay… Ichigo thought as he stared at the ceiling of the underground training field. The ceiling never ceased to amaze Ichigo. No matter how high he jumped, no matter how far he was thrown, the ceiling never seemed to stop. And it changed with the hour; dawn, morning, afternoon…the sun always moved, and the moon even replaced the sun for the nightly hours. It was an amazing thing…and Ichigo hoped that he could show Naruto if the Vulpes was still alive. No, not still alive. He couldn't think like that. He would show Naruto, when he brought him back.
"ALRIGHT, UP AND AT 'EM! IT'S BEEN TWO HOURS, WAKE UP DUMBASS!" Ichigo sighed. Scratch all of that. Hopefully he'd still be alive to go and rescue Naruto.
:::Kami's Observatory:::
The beautiful woman frowned, leaning forward in her large plush armchair that she had materialized to stare at the screens of the humans, demons, Soul Reapers, Hollows, and anything in between that were her favorites. Uryuu, Orihime, and Chad were all training long and hard so they could go save the Vulpes that had quickly become their friend. Renji and Rukia were biding their time, training and restoring their energy, and planning how they would get out of Soul Society undetected, and planning how they were going to meet up with Ichigo.
Ichigo's own screen, the boy that Kami had burdened with keeping the world safe and half of the Chosen team, interested him. She had let the boy have free choice over his Hollow, instead of influencing his thoughts, and honestly, she had been sure that Ichigo would go and choose to ignore Hichigo. But the orange-haired teen had surprised her by going to train in his Hollow abilities to get them under control.
But the screen that worried her the most was the screen that belonged to Naruto. It was flashing in and out of focus, showing mostly black, but then showing brief glimpses of images of some unknown but white location. She's sometimes see third-person views; Naruto walking down a hall, or Naruto talking to a tall man with bright-blue hair, but more often than not, she had a first-person view, seeing what Naruto saw, feeling what he felt, hearing what he thought. And that's what frightened her.
When the images of other Arrancars came up, he thought of family.
When he saw the cold fortress that Aizen had created, he thought of home.
When he thought of humans, he felt pure hatred.
And when he heard of Soul Reapers…he thought of only enemies.
:::Las Noches, Some Random Hallway That Naruto Now Hates:::
I swear I passed that door five times now. Naruto thought, glaring with annoyance at the giant mahogany door that almost felt like it was taunting him. He was an Espada now; shouldn't he know how to navigate the halls of Las Noches? The other Arrancars seemed to have no problems. Then again, none of the Arrancars were really vocal to one another as something as stupid as getting lost.
"Naru-nii!" A heavy weight slammed into him from behind, briefly throwing him off balance.
"Hi Lilynette." Naruto sighed, rolling his eyes. "There a reason you're trying to break my back?"
"Aizen-sama wants you." She said, resting her chin on his left shoulder. Naruto crossed his arms behind him and underneath Lilynette, holding her up on his back, as if he was giving her a piggyback ride.
"What would he need me for? I just saw him yesterday, and he said he wouldn't need me for awhile." Naruto thought out loud, causing Lilynette to shrug.
"He just wanted somebody to go find you. He sent Starrk. Starrk sent me. And I found you!"
"Of course Coyote sent you to find me instead of getting his lazy ass in gear and finding me himself." The Vulpes snorted.
"Yeah, but it's hard to find you! It took me three hours!"
"WHAT?" Naruto cried, and Sonido-ed right out from underneath Lilynette, causing the girl to fall to the girl with a grunt. Naruto reappeared with a wave of sound in Aizen's throne room, already on his knee with his head bowed. "Aizen-sama, I'm so sorry that it took so long!" Naruto said, out of breath; he had still been lost after all, and he had performed over a dozen rapid Sonido's to try and find the throne room from where he had been. "I got lost, and Lilynette couldn't find me…"
"It's quite alright, my dear Espada." Aizen said with a smile. Naruto stood up, and looked to the man with relieved eyes. Naruto had been sure that Aizen would have been angry, and he had witnessed what Aizen did to Arrancars that pissed him off. "I thought I sent Starrk, though."
"You did. He sent Lilynette." The lazy bastard…
"Of course he did…I didn't call you here for a social visit, Naruto. Something has come up that is in need of my upmost attention." Aizen paused, if only for dramatic effect. "The Soul Reapers are coming." This made Naruto's jaw drop in surprise.
"Soul Reapers? Coming? Here? Why?"
"They were not pleased with you on your mission to the World of the Living. One Soul Reaper in particular; the one that I sent you to watch." Aizen sighed. "He didn't like the fact that an Arrancar got into his town without him knowing, and he's going to be coming to finish off the threat before it can return."
"But I didn't do anything!" Naruto cried. "I hardly even got into the town before I was attacked, and I didn't kill anybody! They beat me! How would I be seen as a threat?" Aizen stood, and slowly made his way down the steps to stand before Naruto. He rested his hand that was wrapped in bandages – When did that happen? Better yet, what happened? Naruto thought – on Naruto's shoulder as the boy lowered his gaze, both out of respect for the man before him, and because of the anger and confusion that was running through his mind.
"I know, Naruto." Aizen said, his voice soft and comforting. "But they're Soul Reapers. They don't understand you, the pain that Arrancars and Hollows go through. They see you as a monster, as an animal that they have the right to put down." A small smile crept onto his face. "But I know different. You're not a monster, not an animal to put down. You're just a person whose better than the rest; a creature that has more power than they can imagine!" He paused. "But that doesn't mean that I want you to become too comfortable. The Soul Reapers have gained information on ways to help each other defeat Arrancars. I can't lose one of my comrades, Naruto…which is why I want you to take into serious consideration taking on a few Fraccion of your own. You'd train them, they'd do what you ask. No Arrancar is allowed to delegate what they do, other than you. They'd help defend you if you ever need it, especially with the Soul Reaper who is coming to kill you."
"…I…I didn't really want…" Naruto tried to say, but couldn't force it out.
"You don't have to get Fraccion." Aizen pat Naruto's shoulder, before turning and making his way slowly back up the stairs, and to his throne. "I just want you to think it over, okay?" Naruto nodded his head briskly.
"Of course, Aizen-sama." Naruto Sonido-ed out of the room with a flash, reappearing… "Okay, where the hell am I now?" Naruto grumbled, before yelping jumping out of the way of what looked like a human rolled into a ball that shot by, nearly crashing into him before I could react. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF RUTILUS?" Naruto screeched as he clung to a rock pillar, his claws on his hands and feet digging into the rock like a hot knife through butter.
The rolling object stopped, and uncurled, revealing the form of a human that turned around and looked to Naruto with wide, shocked eyes. Naruto furrowed his brow. "Senza?" Naruto called, and the man nodded. Naruto leapt off of the rock pillar, breathing a sigh of relief. "You scared the living shit out of me. I had no idea what you were, besides the fact that you were rolling and fast." Senza laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head.
"Sorry. I can't see where I'm going so well when I'm rollin'."
"No, it's completely my bad." Naruto shook his head. "I'm the one who has no idea where he's going. I shouldn't have been flashing around without knowing where anything really is." Senza looked honestly confused.
"You don't know where you're going? You don't know where you're standing?"
"No, why?"
"Because that means we should move."
"HEADSUP!" Senza latched onto Naruto's vest, and ripped him out of the way as something fast, silver, and flying smashed right into the ground where he had been standing, an insane cackle following the object like the whine of a missile.
"…hi Riko." Senza deadpanned. Out of the massive crater that had formed upon impact, crawled a young girl, around sixteen or seventeen, maybe even eighteen. Her shoulder-length silver hair fell in front of her face and her big, bright-green eyes. She wore a tank top that was cut off just above the bottom of her ribcage, making room for her Hollow hole that sat proudly in the center of her stomach. Over her tank top was a white jacket, and unlike other Arrancars, she didn't wear a hakama; she wore baggy white cargo pants, multiple pockets decorating the sides.
Around her right eye was the mask fragment that marked her as an Arrancar. It was a rounded piece of bone-like material, with the fragment branching off to the outside edge to form a type of arrowhead-like triangle. In all honesty, Naruto thought that it looked like half of some type of mask.
She suddenly looked up, her face blank, a thin line of blood trailing from her left nostril. "Ow." She deadpanned. Senza sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his index finger and thumb. The girl looked to Naruto, and instantly she grinned. "Whose this orange-haired-does he have fox ears?" Naruto brought a hand up to his fox ears, and slowly nodded. "Sweet. Wait a minute, who're you?"
"Isn't it customary to introduce yourself before asking somebody their name first?" Naruto teased with a light smirk.
"Touche. The name's Darklay Riko, the coolest Arrancar you'll find in this joint."
"Oh really?" Naruto asked, not sounding to convinced. "Well, I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Vulpes Naruto." Riko's jaw dropped, her eyes bulging.
"The new Espada?" She wanted to say 'the guy who is being controlled by Aizen', but to do so would mean certain death. She liked robbing people to much to die, so that was out. Naruto nodded.
"Yeah, as of yesterday. Just a little question…why in the hell were you in the sky?" Riko looked up, and then back to Naruto, her eyes innocent. She pointed up.
"That one?"
"Well, it's the only one I know of." Naruto chuckled.
"Again, the fox-eared boy makes a point!" Riko dramatically cried. "I was sparring with a friend of Senza's and my own. He threw me." She looked around, searching for any sign of the man she was searching for. "Considering I can't find him, he threw me pretty far…"
"Toba?" Naruto asked. "Is that the friend?"
"Oh, so you know him." Riko muttered with a pout. "Everybody knows Toba but nobody knows me…"
"Well, now I know you. That enough?" Naruto snickered.
"Of course, oh great Espada!" She performed a mock bow with a massive grin. "But if you don't mind me asking, oh great Espada…why're you all the way out here? Senza, Toba, and I come all the way out here to spar without anybody really watching, and we didn't think anybody knew we came out here."
"Oh, I sure as hell didn't know you were out here." Naruto looked around. "I don't even know where 'here' is. Which is the reason I'm out here." Riko snorted.
"You're…lost?" Naruto nodded. "…an Espada…lost?"
"Okay, ha ha, it's so funny. Yeah, I'm lost. I do that a lot." Naruto muttered, almost glaring at the girl, but keeping it soft enough to be a light scowl.
"Um, Riko…we should probably go find Toba…" Senza said slowly.
"Yeah, he won the spar. He threw both of us before we could throw him." Riko moaned. "In my defense, he's too big for a little girl like me to throw…"
"Right, 'little girl'." Snorted Toba as he appeared behind said 'little girl'. He looked to Naruto, surprise evident. "Oh..um, hi sir." Naruto just smiled in response, nodding his head once in reply. "…anyway, we've got a problem."
"What could possibly be wrong?" Riko asked, hands on her hips. With a clap of sound, a tall man appeared, his hair dark black, an eye-patch over one eye, and a massive hood on his white jacket that looked, in all honestly, a giant radar dish.
"You!" The man barked, pointing a long, bony finger at the three lower-classed Arrancars before him, making them jump, and Senza quietly groan. Two of his least favorite Espada in one week? Seriously? Well, technically, he didn't actually see Aporro, but he was close! To close for comfort, actually. This wasn't a good sign for his length of life…
"What's wrong, sir?" Toba asked, coming to the front of the trio and taking charge of the three, considering Senza would rather kill himself with a cero then talk to Nnoitra, and Riko was just staring at the Espada with a mixture of surprise and annoyance.
"Don't 'what's wrong, sir?' me!" Nnoitra barked, practically baring his teeth at the three. "You know what you did wrong!"
"Obviously we don't." Riko muttered under her breath, but Nnoitra caught it. With a resounding smack that rocked off of the sand dunes, the back of Nnoitra's hand was dragged across the silver-haired girl's face.
"Don't talk back to me, bitch!" The Espada ordered. "You have no right! I'm an Espada! You're a Sin un Maestro(1)! There's nothing standing between your throat and my blade!" Naruto suddenly stepped in front of the trio, his eyes narrowed into slits, and his hands in his pockets, his fingers closed around the dual kunai that he had always carried around since he had been killed by humans. If Nnoitra was to attack…Naruto would just have to tell Aizen that it was all in self defense.
"I'm standing in your way." Naruto corrected Nnoitra. "Are you going to decapitate me, an Espada, to get to them?"
"You can't protect them, Naruto!" Nnoitra growled. "You have no right. They have no master; if I want to kill them, I have all the right to do so!"
"No, you don't." Naruto snarled back. "And I have the right to protect…my Fraccion!" Whoa, wait a minute, back it up. Had he really just said that? …uh, oops? Naruto thought.
"Your Fraccion? Yeah, right!" Nnoitra snorted. "Get out of my way!" As Nnoitra began to dash forward, his hand outstretched with a forming cero, everything around Naruto slowed down to a crawl. Moving at a speed that was just above the same crawl that time was moving at, Naruto ducked forward, shoving his hand up, his palm hitting his wrist, sending Nnoitra's arm into the air. Moving around behind the Arrancar, Naruto gripped his other arm, his claws sinking through flesh and hitting bone, and ripped his arm around behind him. Naruto jumped, planting his knee in between Nnoitra's shoulder blades, the force transferring to send both to the ground. With this movement, time sped back up to its normal pace, leaving Nnoitra laying on the ground, his cero long-since disrupted, with Naruto kneeling on his back with his arm twisted painfully behind his back.
Naruto bared his fangs, releasing an animalistic growl. He leaned down so his mouth was right next to Nnoitra's right ear. "Don't cross me, Gilga Nnoitra!" Naruto growled, allowing his true, demonic voice to mix with his own to make his words sound rasped, snarled, and deep at the same time. "Attack me or my Fraccion again, and I won't hesitate to rip your arms off!" Nnoitra nodded his head with a glare as Naruto stepped from his back. The black-haired Arrancar didn't wait for Naruto to prompt him anymore; he vanished via Sonido, sand rising briefly where he had stood previously. Naruto slowly looked to the trio of lesser Arrancars, a nervous smile on his face. He giggled uncertainly, nonchalantly saying; "Oh shit."
:::Hueco Mundo, Las Noches, Throne Room:::
Naruto quickly dropped to one knee, bowing his head in recognition to Aizen's supreme authority. I'm so in trouble for threatening Nnoitra. No, no, I have a defense. He attacked first! It was self defense! The threat was to get him to back off! Who am I kidding, my defense should be that somebody of lesser status shouldn't have the right to blow my head off! Naruto thought as he waited for Aizen to say something, anything, that would signal he could rise from his kneel.
"…well, Naruto-kun, Nnoitra has told me some…interesting things…" Aizen said slowly, causing Naruto to bow his head further.
I'm in trouble…ooooh shit, I pissed off one of the only guys that could actually whip my ass.
"He says that you threatened to rip his arms off…" Aizen continued. Naruto winced; Aizen didn't sound too pleased, but he didn't exactly sound pissed either. There was just no emotion levels for this man, was there? "…to protect your Fraccion." …shit. Naruto had honestly hoped that that little tidbit of information wouldn't be transferred to Aizen. Pleas to Kami fell on deaf ears, apparently. "I must say that I'm very happy that you decided to take my recommendation into consideration. And to find a Fraccion in such a short amount of time. Not just one, no, but three. However did you bring yourself to trust them so fast?" Aizen questioned. Naruto slowly raised his head, his eyes instantly being drawn to Aizen's warm smile as he rested his chin on his closed fist. Oooookaaaay…so the man didn't look pissed, and didn't sound pissed…hopefully that could be taken as a good thing. Naruto rose to his feet, holding his arms steady at his sides to keep them from nervously twitching.
"I…I liked them?" Naruto offered slowly. "I met two of them earlier, and heard a little bit about them and liked them…and the third…she reminded me of someone…" Naruto frowned. The girl had smelled of something akin to a raccoon; not exactly one, but one none the less. So why did she feel so familiar? "…someone I guess I knew awhile ago…"
"Ah." Aizen nodded. "Just make sure that your Fraccion understand why you're the Espada, and they're your underlings." Naruto nodded slowly; was there any way to wiggle out of this Fraccion thing? Seriously, he was a new Espada, and he didn't feel like having the responsibility of training and taking care of three young Arrancars! He hardly had enough responsibility to take care of himself! Which would explain why he was horrible at navigating the halls. If he had even an ounce of responsibility, he would have memorized the halls by now. "What're their names, might I ask?"
"Irani Toba, Yoroi Senzakou, and Darklay Riko." Naruto fell back into his professional tone of voice, straightening his back and making his expression impassive.
"Yes, I believe I know those three…always training together out in the deserted sections of Las Noches, correct?"
"Correct, Aizen-sama."
"Good, good…not many lower-level Arrancars take it upon themselves to hone their powers. Probably the reason so few of them are actually Fraccion. I will inform the Arrancar in charge of their barrack wing that those three have been chosen as Fraccion. But from now on, Naruto-kun, please inform me when you chose a Fraccion, hmm? I would very much like to know when one of my dear Espada has chosen a new underling so I may transfer them to your private wing." Aizen said with a warm smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Naruto began to nod his head, but then paused. Had Aizen's 'warm' smiles always been so…cold? He searched his memory, but any memory he had of Las Noches before he had been sent to the World of the Living was fuzzy, as if he was looking through a foggy window, like the memories were made by a simulator instead of being recorded through his own eyes. He mentally shook his head; why would he think like that? Las Noches had always been his home after death, and there was no reason to question it. Aizen was his master, and he shouldn't forget that just because he had taken one too many hits to the head by the Soul Reapers.
Naruto bowed his head in affirmation, the silent message playing across. "Yes, Aizen-sama." Naruto said. "Can I expect my new Fraccion to be moved to my wing by the end of the evening?" Naruto questioned. Aizen smiled.
"Of course. That was all I wished to speak to you for, Naruto-kun. Go welcome your Fraccion to their new home." Naruto nodded, and vanished with a crack of sound, leaving Aizen in the throne room, silent as death. Slowly, he began to giggle, the sound morphing into a chuckle that slowly but surely turned into an insane cackle. Gin's smirk widened from where he was cloaked in shadows.
"What's so funny?" Tosen asked from his own hidden corner.
"It's amazing." Gin said while Aizen continued to chuckle like a madman. "That shard…he has absolutely no idea who he was before."
"That's because there was no him before." Aizen said, reigning in his insane laughter. "He's lost it all! And as he slowly becomes more and more like an Espada…there will be no going back…he will never remember who he is now! And there's no chance that he can ever regain them!" Aizen interlocked his fingers before his mouth, his eyes flashing in the low light, a sinister look spread across his visage. "The wild animal is slowly becoming tamed…"
This. Chapter. SUCKED! 8D I ABSOLUTELY HATED IT! It just doesn't FEEL like some parts were…SATISFACTORY to me. And these chapters are to SHORT. Only 7,564 words of actual typing, and only 14 pages.
BULLSHIT.
Anyway, how'd you like the chapter? Tell me what you thought!
CHAPTER 12 TRANSLATION: Amissa Animus – Lost Soul
**1** Sin un Maestro – Without a Master(Spanish)
Name: Senzakou "Senza" Yoroi
Gender: Male
Age Appearance: 20 or 21
Hollow Hole Location: Middle of ribcage
Mask Fragment: Headphones that are usually covering his ears
Appearance: 6'1", average build, tan skin, spiky but to-the-shoulders white hair with red streaks. Red eyes, sea-green sclera. Some type of tattoo on his chest. Wears white hakama with a white wife beater and white hoodie that's zipped-up, and fingerless gloves.
Name: Toba Irani
Gender: Male
Age Appearance: 18
Hollow Hole Location: Center of chest
Mask Fragment: Piece on his right cheek, rounded at bottom with spikes branching off to go across his right eye, mouth, and nose, with a gap in the shape of a small, rough triangle in the center.
Appearance: Well-muscled, long dark-brown hair that could be mistaken for black that falls to his waist, held back in a ponytail. Wears an open white jacket with black around the wrists, with his hakama more in the style of shorts that fall a little past his knees.
Name: Riko Darklay
Gender: Female
Age Appearance: 16-18
Hollow Hole Location: Center of stomach
Mask Fragment: A piece around her eye, pointed on the outside edge and rounded on the inside edge.
Appearance: Shoulder-length silver hair, bright green eyes. Wears white cargo pants with multiple pockets, a white tank top cut just above her Hollow hole, and a jacket over the tank top that's left unzipped.
ATTENTION! FOR THE CREATORS OF SENZA, TOBA, AND RIKO, HOW DID I DO PORTRAYING YOUR CHARACTERS SO FAR? Did I do it right, or is there something I should improve on or fix or switch completely? FEEL FREE, CREATORS OF THESE THREE CHARACTERS, TO BE AS HARSH AS YOU NEED TO GET ME TO GET THESE CHARACTERS RIGHT! And tell me if I screwed something up on their description, 'cause I'm nearly running off of complete memory.
P.S: I have yet to check any Arrancar entries that came through a PM, so if you entered an Arrancar in a PM, there's still a chance that your character could be in here! I'll announce it either NEXT chapter, or whatever chapter that your Arrancar will be coming in. ANYWAY, if your Arrancar wasn't in here yet, they'll be coming soon! 8D And I still haven't chosen them all yet, so I'll keep the contest-thing open till next chapter.
Hope you think the chapter wasn't as crappy as I thought it was. This was one last hurrah, for I start my Freshman year in High School this Wednesday(August 21, 2011). DAMMIT. I'm NOT happy! 8D Don't let that stupid face fool you, it's the only one I can make! 8D
~ Kitsune-242