A/N:
I'm delving into some little Nigou adventures that may seem insignificant but will become important later on. Well, I can't really say this is a small adventure seeing how this mini story is nearly 5,000 words, but I couldn't help myself.
I introduced a few characters you'll probably never see except for maybe a group mention in Hollow Miracles, so this is their time to shine. I was kind of hesitant about writing a transformation story for Nigou, but I just thought, eh, why not? So here it is.
"Hey, little doggie. Come here, I have something good for you."
Hanamiya enticed Nigou temptingly with some of his favorite dog treats. Rarely did Nigou ever receive them from Dai-chan because he could only import them from the Human World every so often. The treats placed precariously before Nigou's eyes were like the secrets to the universe for any other.
"Yes, little one, follow the treats. I'll need you to be my guinea pig for this new hypothesis I've thought up," Hanamiya sweetly cooed. He held the treats by the tips of his fingers and Nigou unconsciously followed them with his eyes and body all the way inside Hanamiya's chambers. "Okay, we're taking a small trip to that room. I hope that man doesn't mind if I use it for this one experiment."
One of Hanamiya's Fraccion scooped Nigou up into their arms just as he was about to bite into the treat thrown carelessly on the floor by Hanamiya. Nigou growled but didn't struggle, finding displeasure at being handled so roughly but knowing it was no use causing harm to someone stronger than Nigou was.
They brought Nigou to a large dark room. The light from the hallway shined upon a glowing ball encased in glass on top of a pedestal. Nigou could feel the power pulsing from it and throughout the room. Nigou felt scared like he did with the scary man. He wanted to run away.
"Here, we are!" Hanamiya announced. He looked to Nigou and the Fraccion. "You, bring him over to the glass. I've seen the way that man has placed soon-to-be Arrancars near but not touching the hyogyoku, so do it like that."
The Fraccion obeyed and stepped closer to the pedestal, but hesitated once it got within arm's length.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Hanamiya asked.
Their master's question prompted them forward and Nigou was placed close enough to see the various colors swirling wildly within the glassy ball. Nearer still, and Nigou touched the glass surrounding it. A bright light shot out from a crack on its surface and it cast its beam onto Nigou's defenseless form and he glowed as if the light itself was absorbed into his body.
Hanamiya's Fraccion had released Nigou once he saw he was lighting up the room, and Nigou stayed suspended as a translucent barrier formed around him and his glowing form.
"Amazing!" Hanamiya mumbled in awe. He was quickly writing his observations within a journal he had brought with him. "Why did only this regular Hollow's body glow? The glass encasing is expected but the glow is abnormal, and - huh?" He stopped taking notes abruptly to stare.
Nigou's brightly lit dog form was changing inside the glass. His short stubby limbs elongated and his paws grew fingers and opposable thumbs. Nigou's torso was no longer furry and transformed into a pale thin torso and bony shoulders. The fur had retracted and seemed to resurface onto his now humanoid head, the hair a messy mass of black, white, and still present ears. The tail was more or less the same but was situated to cover some suddenly obvious parts while he was suspended in a fetal position. Nigou's Hollow mask was placed to cover his entire face. For some inexplicable reason, Nigou could hazily see himself outside his new body.
Hanamiya whistled low. "Now, this is a sure surprise. Why didn't that man inform us that animals could transform into humanoid forms like Adjuchas and Vasto Lorde?" he asked to no one in particular. He wrote what he saw within his observational notebook as he took in different views of Nigou's human body inside the glass casing, not taking his eyes off of him.
Hanamiya received an answer anyway.
"No, you just got to witness something very peculiar, Hanamiya."
The Espada froze, recognizing the speaker. He glared at the man wearing a white modified Arrancar uniform and a wry grin behind a pair of thick square glasses, leaning against the doorway as if he had been there for a while. A sword peeked out from the opening of his robes, a reminder he was capable of defending himself.
"Imayoshi," Hanamiya grumbled, stiffly. "How long have you been there?"
"Just long enough to see what you did to the Cero's little pet. Fascinating isn't it?" Imayoshi asked, tilting his head to Nigou. "I would have been surprised too, if I didn't already know a wolf guy back in Soul Society."
"Is this normal?" The Espada waved his journal toward the glowing form of Nigou. "You said the dog turning into a human was peculiar."
The Shinigami adjusted his glasses in thought. "Hm, it certainly is the first case we've had. Although, maybe it's just this particular Hollow that's making this phenomenon special? You've seen how easily it can survive within its master's presence at his best." He was referring to Master's raging fits.
Hanamiya narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "You mean, he's learned to adjust around the Cero? That doesn't seem plausible," he reasoned, flipping through the data in his notebook.
"It's not because of being near Kagami," Imayoshi explained after a moment of silent thinking, "it's the makeup of the dog itself. Can you see the color of the reiatsu within it, Hanamiya?"
The Espada took a moment to squint hard into Nigou's body and replied, confused, "There's two colors. Why?"
"Here's what I think," Imayoshi surmised as he walked up to the glass. "You see these parts around the ears and the tail?" He pointed to the parts of Nigou that weren't all human. "They're grey, probably the bits of the little guy that's originally his. Now, the blue parts," Imayoshi gestured to the rest of Nigou's human body "is probably someone else's reiatsu from some past infusion."
"But -" Hanamiya interrupted, brows drawn, "all of us higher level Arrancars are infused with many various Hollows from the past. That's how we became so powerful and why we took the forms we have now. So why is this dog so special?"
"Haven't you noticed yet?" Imayoshi grinned. "Does the blue reiatsu feel normal to you? I noted you had to squint to find it. You should be on a level where you can detect the power it emanates below its almost invisible presence."
Hanamiya widened in eyes in understanding. "You mean to say this small Hollow dog infused with a high class Hollow and still retained its personality and form?" he asked in shock.
"Who knows?" Imayoshi shrugged his shoulders, appearing bored with the whole speculation. "As I said before, the dog itself is a phenomenon. Let miracles be."
He stretched out a hand to gently tap the surface of the glass. The contact sprung a series of cracks and Nigou saw himself twitch within the hazy tunnel vision. The next time he blinked he was among broken shards and looking up into Hanamiya's still unlikable face with the funny eyebrows, asking for his name. His memory faded out with the Espada's sneer and him attempting to catch Nigou before he collapsed and blacked out to nothing.
xXx
Nigou awoke to the sound of Master's voice rumbling nearby. Blinking open his eyes tiredly, Nigou saw he was not in his dog bed but tucked inside a large one with white comfy sheets. Nigou recognized it as Master's.
Master had finally let him sleep with him!
When he yawned, Nigou found something strange missing. He could not find his snout within view.
Nigou remembered the other day's events; Hanamiya taking him away into an eerie room and feeling a sharp burning light spread throughout his body, and the out of body experience he had seeing his own newly human self.
He didn't mind the new limbs and sensations. Maybe this new form would be more likable for Master?
Untangling himself from the sheets, he stood on all fours and found it difficult to keep the position for too long. Nigou now understood why human shaped creatures stood on their hind legs. Remembering how Master got out of bed each morning, Nigou sat on his behind on the edge and scooted forward with his hairless arms to the floor. Immediately, Nigou reverted into a crouch, shifting his weight to his legs and placing his pale arms in between his bent legs for upper body movement. His curled tail helped to balance him from behind. It wasn't what Master and the Arrancars usually stood like, but the position was comfortable for him and his new body. Being human was easier than Nigou thought.
All Nigou had to do was look for Master. Nigou had heard Master's voice, so he was presumably in the kitchen Master had installed for meal times. Nigou trot to the light of the room, smelling the scent of fried meat. Nigou felt his canines dig into his human lips and drool forming in his smaller human mouth behind his dog skull mask.
Inside, Nigou saw Master's backside as he was frying his food. Now that Nigou was bigger in size, he could see Master from a human's point of view.
Master wasn't as big as Nigou had thought when he was doggie sized, though he knew Master's Hollow form was formidable for dog and human. Nigou could concentrate on small details of Master, instead of seeing Master as one huge body of happiness. Master's small red braid at his nape swung when he moved and the muscles on his back bunched when he flipped a pan on the stove. Master hummed a tune to himself as he continued cooking the meat.
Nigou would engrave the image of the detailed Master into his memories for good. He was grateful to Hanamiya, just this once, for kidnapping Nigou and forcing him into an experiment.
Master hadn't noticed Nigou was present yet. Nigou wanted to show off his new body to Master. When Nigou planned to bark, only a huff of breath came out instead.
Nigou remembered humans could not bark like he could, and his body was no different.
Master. Master. Nigou could finally speak to Master.
"M…" Nigou began quietly, "m-ma…ster?"
Master turned his head in Nigou's general direction and, finding no one, looked down.
"Holy shit!" Master yelled and dropped his spatula. He violently fell to the floor in a defensive position. "Nigou?" he whispered cautiously as he scooted away.
"Master!" Nigou said breathlessly in reply. Why was Master running away?
"Why aren't you wearing any clothes?" Master exclaimed, then shook his head. "No, you wouldn't understand me, anyway."
Master wanted Nigou to speak! "Understand what, Master?" Nigou tilted his head in question.
"...So you do understand. Smart dog. Or, is it Arrancar, now?" Master wondered to himself. He glanced at Nigou warily. "You won't bite me in this form, will you?"
Master was acknowledging Nigou! Success. "Only if Master wanted Nigou to," he dutifully replied. Master was still Master.
"Right, I forget you're still part dog and you think I'm your master," Master said, wryly as he stood up and approached Nigou. "I was completely surprised when Hanamiya's Fraccion dropped you off by my door unconscious. I asked them why they were giving me a random Arrancar until I saw the mask and the tattoo on your back."
He crouched down to Nigou's level and scratched him behind the ears. Nigou leaned into the touch and his tail thumped in satisfaction. Master had never touched Nigou before. He hummed at the pleasantness.
"Ugh, I'll have to commission a uniform and a bigger bed for you later," Master mumbled more to himself than Nigou. "Guess Aomine won't be giving you any treats, huh, Nigou?" he grinned at him then looked away. "Uh, make that right away. I don't have any clothes that will fit you."
"Master!" Nigou exclaimed in happiness, not phased by his own nudity. "Food!"
Master chuckled. "Now this I can understand, but you stink," Master sniffed and scrunched his nose. "You'll need to take a bath before you even think about touching food."
"Yes, Master."
Nigou obediently followed Master to the bathroom in a crouch, much to Master's dismay ("Oi, why didn't you just walk?"), and waited as Master filled the tub with soap and water. Master rolled up his sleeves and took a peek at Nigou, in case he had to physically put him into the tub and almost glanced away immediately at the sight.
Nigou had turned his back on Master to gawk at himself in the mirror above the sink. Though Nigou had already seen his body before in the strange state outside it, he continued to be awestruck at the transformation. Pale flesh replaced his fur covered skin and his short wild hair had spots of white in the black. The size of his body was more fragile than Satsuki's, not yet fully grown into his height as a permanent non-living puppy. Nigou's black ears were kept evenly and he moved them up and down to test them. His face...Nigou had to see his face. It was important to see his face.
Nigou pushed his skull mask to the top of his head. What he saw took his breath away.
Nigou's face was as pale as the rest of him, and his canines bit into his bottom lip. He had a human nose, a mouth with lips, teeth too sharp to really call human, and a pair of large, startling blue eyes. The eyes were what captured Nigou's attention.
"They are just like Master's," Nigou whispered to his reflection.
No, he shook his head, his former master. Nigou knew the one piece of himself was the link connecting him to his former master. As Imayoshi, "glasses" Nigou knew him as, had said, most of himself was made of an almost invisible reiatsu. Nigou summed it up thinking maybe a part of his former master had died with him. It protected Nigou from disintegrating from the larger powerful Hollows with reiatsu like Master.
Even away and in death, his former master kept Nigou safe from harm. Nigou's need to be with him swelled.
"Nigou, have you always had that scar?" Nigou's current Master asked from behind him, voice muffled.
Nigou turned away from the mirror to see Master sitting on the edge of the tub with a hand to his mouth and staring intently at the wall. He peeked quickly at Nigou and glanced away again, cheeks flushed in embarrassment.
"Nigou has always had this. Remember, Master?" Nigou crawled across the tiled floor toward him. He stopped once he reached Master's soled feet. "It was an accident."
He made an indignant noise. "Don't look at me like that. Making me feel guilty with those puppy eyes of yours," Master said behind his hand. He narrowed his eyes to look closer at Nigou. "Hey, since when have you had eyes?"
"Since becoming human, Master. And these eyes are my former master's, so I can see how he sees."
"Your former master?"
Nigou nodded. "Yes, my former human master who has eyes like these, a face like mine, but amazing blue hair. He is a lighter blue than Dai-chan."
"Dai-chan…?"
"Primera, Master."
"Oh, you meant Aomine. Of course, you did."
Nigou whined, "Master, foooood."
Master brought both his hands up in defense. "Okay, okay. Just get in the tub and once you're clean, you can eat."
Nigou eagerly climbed in with a splash and resurfaced with his hair and ears matted down and bubbles clinging to his skin. A shake of his head and Nigou got Master wet, too.
"I'll have to scrub behind your ears, so you know how to do it yourself," Master instructed, not as irritated as Nigou thought. The water on his clothing sizzled and evaporated in an instant.
Master knelt down besides the tub and lathered shampoo from a bottle into his hands. He placed them gently onto Nigou's wet hair and slowly began scrubbing. It felt pleasant.
"Don't fall asleep."
Master's voice jolted Nigou from dozing off. He peered over his foam covered shoulder to see Master's face. Was Master angry with him? He was being unusually nice.
Master wore a content smile to himself, attention directed to the task at hand, which was a surprise. Master had not worn such a genuinely positive expression since Alex and Tatsuya.
"Master, may I ask you a question?" Nigou dared to ask.
He glanced up, split red eyebrows raised. "Sure, I'll listen. You must have lots for me since you can't talk as a dog. Shoot."
Contrary to Master's easy going attitude, Nigou only felt more nervous than before. He dug up the courage with a gulp and decided to just let it out.
"Are you happy?"
His hands stilled at the nape of Nigou's neck.
"That's not the right question," Master retorted, stiffly. "Ask me something else."
Master didn't say anything about asking a "right" question. Master had been very vague. Nigou moved away from him with a harrumph.
"Hey, I'm still washing your hair!"
Nigou drifted to the opposite side of the tub and let himself sink until only his eyes and nose were above the water. Master promised he would listen, but he did not. Nigou learned of something new which he did not know of as a simpler minded dog: irritation with a Master who did not carry out his promises. He threw a scrutinating frown at Master.
Nigou had always known what he was feeling once he felt it. Happiness at Master's smile. Joy in the taste of treats. Sorrow at the sight of Dai-chan's tears. Longing for the presence of his former master. Comfort in the warmth of Satsuki's (rarely gentle) embrace. Loathing at the deeds Hanamiya committed without consideration.
Now, he sensed a myriad of emotions spilling together. Nigou could not pick out each individual one and it was unpleasant to try. Humans, or beings resembling them, simply would feel too much. Perhaps it was the case with Master.
Having found his solution, Nigou doggie paddled back to Master who had been watching Nigou swim patiently. He sensed something was off with Master and hesitated from reaching the end closest to him.
Master widened his eyes at this and sighed. Master seemed disappointed.
"Master, I am sorry." Nigou looked down in shame. He had never intentionally disobeyed Master before.
"Don't apologize. I'm the one at fault," Master said with another sigh. He rubbed his soapy hands in the space between Nigou's ears and Nigou unconsciously let out a chirp at the newly discovered scratch spot. Master's hands were warm. "To answer your question; I don't know."
Nigou cracked open an eye he had closed, confused. "Why not?"
Master looked anywhere but Nigou. "Things like feelings and stuff. I never understood that, even when I was a human," he reluctantly confessed. "It's difficult for me to...verbally admit how I feel sometimes. I only know how to act."
"But what about Dai-chan?" Nigou asked. Dai-chan, he knew, was a very important person to Master.
"Aomine?" Master gave a startled look. "How is he relevant to this?"
Oh. Nigou almost let Dai-chan's secret slip. The Primera had sworn him into secrecy, even though at the time Nigou couldn't have said anything anyway. He had to make something up to cover up the slip.
"Dai-chan is like you," Nigou quickly bluffed. "But he is not. You act your emotions loudly and clearly. Dai-chan keeps it in hiding."
Good job, Nigou, for letting Master know more than he should have. Good job.
"Is that so?" Master hummed, scratching his face in a contemplating pose. "Are these your questions, Nigou? I'm afraid there might be a limit to what I can say."
Dai-chan's secret was safe for now. Before he could say another word or sigh in relief, a sound rumbled deep from within Nigou's stomach.
"Was that you or a dying whale?" Master joked incredulously, amazed at the noise the small body could produce with the lack of food. Nigou pouted sheepishly down at his stomach in the water. "We should get you washed and dried before you catch a cold," Master laughed, grabbing a towel to dry his hands with.
A smile gradually crept on to Nigou's face. Master's laugh was infectious.
After cleaning the grime off Nigou and drying him with a natural power Nigou found useful for a cold day, Master allowed him into the kitchen to sit at the table in the new uniform that had arrived mysteriously while they were preoccupied. They both agreed the Cuatro was secretly attempting to redeem himself with the perfect fit clothing. Sometime while he had blacked out, Hanamiya must have taken Nigou's measurements. Nigou shivered.
"You almost put me and the Segunda to shame with the pace you're eating this," Master remarked after Nigou had gone through his ninth large serving in under five minutes. Small body, infinite black hole of a stomach, he thought.
"It is...very difficult...to keep this appearance...so I require adequate energy..." Nigou said hurriedly through bites.
Once he was done with his eleventh bowl, Nigou sat back full and satisfied. "Thanks for the food," Nigou offered out loud.
Master was gazing at him with a pondering expression and a hand propped under the jaw fragment of his Hollow mask. Nigou stared back, mesmerized. He never got tired of observing the details of his belovedMaster.
Spikey tips a fiery crimson, then lower shorter hairs and tiny braid a wooden burgundy; uniquely split eyebrows furrowed deep in thought hovering above a pair of warm, sometimes burning eyes a shade darker than his aura - Nigou admired the color Master pulled off so well. He was different from the vermilion and piercing amber tones of Akashi, who gave off searing light rather than Master's signature heat.
A moment of this and Master coughed uncomfortably to ask, "You may continue our conversation from before. The questions, I mean," he elaborated with another cough.
"Actually, Master, I only have two questions to ask of you," Nigou admitted, firmly. He had thought about his questions long and hard, and chose the most meaningful ones worth asking. "The second one I will not ask of Master until the time is right."
It would be saved until the time Master realized the significance of the one who rivaled him so evenly.
Master raised an eyebrow but did not comment. He waited for Nigou to speak. Nigou inhaled deeply, his frail fists clenched tightly within the material of his uniform, as he prepared his nerves for any leftover backlash Master might have had. It was all or nothing.
"Do you truly feel, Master Kagami Taiga, that life is worth living now as the strongest Hollow within Hueco Mundo?"
Master did not respond for a long time. Nigou watched him with sad eyes. If he did not answer, it would be fine. If he did, and said no, it would also be fine. Nigou would stay with Master always, through the rough and the terrible. Nigou would have liked to hope for a positive answer, but his experience in the afterlife had ingrained into him it was safer not to.
The light from the dome of Los Noches filtered in through the window of the room, exaggerating the shadows and planes across Master's sharply cut form, detailing features Nigou had not noticed before.
He had beautiful cherry light lashes, not as long or thick as "nanodayo" Midorima's, but noticeable enough to brush the top of his cheeks when he closed them.
His large hands were well crafted and calloused, the skin on them a light tan and the fingers well proportioned and used to wielding a sword or being swung bone against bone. Nigou knew they were warm.
Master was extremely well toned, his muscles obvious against the surface of his own uniform. He was so much stronger in appearance and power, compared to the small, immature Nigou who would never grow. Nigou wondered fleetingly if all humans were this observant to others of their kind. He never saw Master in such detail until his senses changed to a whole different being.
"...These blue parts," Imayoshi gestured to the rest of Nigou's human body, "is probably someone else's reiatsu from some past infusion."
The human part of Nigou was responsible for his new sight. He had said it himself to Master once before, that he was seeing the word anew with the eyes of his former master. Becoming closer to the form of his former master enhanced their connection, yet still allowed Nigou to be himself.
His former master really was too kind.
Master stirred when the sky had dimmed to orange. Nigou discovered Master had fallen asleep. He had mistakenly thought Master was taking his time to answer. Funny, how he had new eyes to see, yet he could not notice the one little thing. But, Nigou would remind him again if sleep had cursed him to forget their previous conversation.
"Master, what is your answer?" Nigou whispered, voice raspy from lack of use.
The Cero blinked open his eyes tiredly, sleep still holding him in its grasp. He shifted his gaze until they rested on Nigou, and he brightened into a disoriented smile.
"When did you dye your hair black? Finally trying to match your hair color to your name like the rest of your elite clique?" Master chuckled half asleep, apparently mistaking Nigou for someone else. He narrowed his eyes. "Did you shrink, too? Or am I just getting bigger?"
It was better to go along with Master's half-lucid dream. It would maybe get an answer out of him easier this way.
"Funny, Kagami," Nigou referred to Master with his name for the first time. "Please, your answer."
Master scratched the back of his head irritably. "Yeah, something about being strong? Nice try, but we both know how that goes." He stared directly into Nigou's eyes. "The breast-loving bastard who refused your fist bump is still the strongest."
Nigou slumped his shoulders, not expecting the refusal of strength. Denial was bad according to some instinct of his.
Master mumbled under his breath, "Me become number one? We're doing it together, you idiot."
Name calling was a majorly stern sign of anger. Nigou had to wake Master up.
Nigou stood up from the kitchen seat and planned to shake him awake when Master bolted up from his own, jolting the kitchen table ajar. His hands were spread on the table, his eyes staring at something far away and seemingly crackling with a power Nigou could not name.
"This is the life I want. I wouldn't change a thing," Master declared proudly in a tone different from the Master he knew. This man, surely, was the man Nigou could call "Kagami Taiga", the one who felt strongly and acted with a true passion in all he did.
These dreamy words were enough for Nigou.
Master had exhausted the power that had fueled him into the burst of humanly emotion, the crackling light in his eyes fading abruptly. He collapsed into his chair and his head fell with a heavy thunk onto the table, probably leaving a dent for later.
A good time after the light outside had disappeared and the ones within Master's room flipped on automatically, Master awoke groggy and uncomfortable after hours sleeping in a sitting position.
"Did Master have a good nap?" Nigou asked quietly with a smile.
He widened his eyes, seeing the time and Nigou's unmoving position next to him. "Oh, I slept even though I was supposed to answer your question," Master realized, apologetically. "You look exhausted."
"Please, do not worry about it, Master."
"Did I keep you up?"
"No..." Nigou said, quieter than before.
"Good, because I am starving for some food. Is there anything you want?" Master offered.
"Besides...treats...nothing."
"Okay, I'll get to it."
"Thank you...Master."
Kagami removed himself from the table and made his way into the kitchen to cook a meal large enough for two ravenous individuals with black holes for stomachs. He finished it under a record fifteen minutes and he scooped up two servings for himself and his companion in the next room.
"Oi, Nigou, the food's ready.
He saw no one sitting at the kitchen table. The Cero wandered into his larger living space, searching for the boy sized companion he had come to befriend earlier in the day. He ignored the discarded clothing on the floor of the dark room and called out for him.
"Where are you hiding?"
He was greeted with silence.
"Nigou?"
He receive a response this time: a simple bark.