"Chapter Six;
Questions"
~ Ulquiorra
The arrancar glared at the albino, not releasing the firm grip he had on her wrist as it started to turn red from the pressure he was forcing on her. What was she doing here? This was his world; the only thing that should be able to bother him was his zanpakuto. Even then, the two ignored the others' existence unless they found it necessary to negotiate something, and that was rare on its own. So why was this girl here? "Answer me, Onna!" He demanded, his voice still strong and cold.
Akuma, caught off guard by the reaction she had gotten after healing the male, slowly tried to calm down; not easy, considering the man was also bruising her wrist. She was trying to figure out why her instincts told her to help him, and it continued to become frustrating as she questioned how she'd be able to explain the urge she had to get close to him. She got what the urges had wanted of her, but now, found herself in such tenseness and discomfort, she had begun to regret her actions, and it was getting hard to hide it.
He took notice of her behavior slowly changing as she tried to calm, but only soon struggling to hold in painful expressions from appearing. Ulquiorra looked down at her wrist, noticing that he had bruised her hand, blocked off the blood circulation to her hand due to her hand turning swollen and red, and just noticing that he was putting far more pressure on her bone than need be.
Simply noticing she couldn't answer with what little he could have easily done, he released her, letting her take a few steps back to mend to her wounded wrist, so that he could make his way off the slab he had been resting on. There was a huge head rush coming up his spine, but he forced himself not to stumble; the last thing he was gonna do was look as pathetic.
"So sorry for helping your fucking ass!" The girl yelled at him. Ulquiorra looked up at the girl, and noticed that now that she wasn't concentrating on pain, she was more focused on letting her anger be known. "Be happy you're even alive; if not for me, we would have either killed you on spot, or left you there to die!" She threw in, her voice calming some but her pitch barely changing.
His brow only rose, next to that, Ulquiorra's expression didn't change. "And what did you mean by that, Onna?" He questioned her, his monotone voice not changing. He was not one to take such things, however, he needed answers on what was going on around him, and at the moment, the albino was the only person he could ask, for he knew his zanpakuto would leave him to discover on his own accord, for they barely interacted.
Akuma fell silent for a few moments. She didn't know whether telling the enemy or not was a good idea, nor did she know what else he may ask. But, as the way she was, the girl smirked, giving the pale-skinned man a gaze of utter confidence. "You do have rights to know answers, arrancar, as I have rights to ask questions; one reason for my being here." She began. Ulquiorra's brow stayed where it was, wondering where she would go with it. "Question for question; each question the other must answer with honesty; and I can tell when people are lying, so don't try it." She explained.
The brow relaxed. The former Cuatro saw the girl's game simply meant that she'd answer his questions in exchange he'd answer hers. Even though he obviously held strength over her, Ulquiorra didn't have the energy, nor the will to battle for long. Of course, Murciélago could help, but he preferred to battle on his own, or when it was truly necessary; besides, nothing said that he couldn't hold back on whatever detail he had.
With a simple nod, the female started. "Well, I like introductions. I'm Nadari Akuma! What's your name, arrancar?" She questioned. She needed names, otherwise talking to someone would be very awkward, and torturing them out of revenge would be less fun; something she needed to do at some point with her new 'friend.'
The raven-head simply gazed at her with melancholy eyes, the shimmer of emerald glistening as the dim moon shined over them. "I was known as Cuatro Espada; Cifer Ulquiorra." He replied, his voice just as dull, and seemingly smooth; so much, Akuma found herself surprised that he was even like this when he could pass as an angel, if he wanted to. Ulquiorra wanted to ask her what she meant by the previous statement, but he found himself more curious as to what she was. And so, he asked her. "Just what are you? You're obviously not human, and not a shinigami." He stated.
Akuma found herself caught in a pickle, and began to think it over. Now, she didn't have a choice but to explain her kind, but she didn't particularly like explaining, because she knew she'd be there for a little while before she was done explaining. With a sigh, she gathered the energy around her, and sat in mid-air, cross-legged. "You and Murciélago may wanna get comfy; this isn't exactly the easiest to explain, and it will take a bit of time."
The bat made his way to face her, while Ulquiorra relaxed against the stone slab, again, waiting patiently for her reply but still on guard, in case she tried anything. With a sigh, she began. "My kind call ourselves Koumori." She started. Ulquiorra looked up; the voice he heard that spoke about looking like a bat was now starting to fit into the puzzle. "We were around before the shinigami, and were even the ones who developed the zanpakuto. Like you, when we release our zanpakuto, we have a released form; said form that looks like a humanoid bat, only a bit more ferocious." She explained further.
Ulquiorra found himself intrigued, already. Did that mean that the Koumori knew more than any shinigami? Would they know more than Aizen? He found it hard to believe, of course, but he was still interested with the new subject the girl had brought to him. "We were one of the many demons that lived in the human world, and even though they had many beliefs, and still do, most demons had went to exterminate humans in both body and soul, while we were just working to get their souls reincarnated. It got so bad, we couldn't continue to reincarnate the souls; so our leader, Le Premier, created Soul Society, and left a kind emperor who had passed on to run it while we continued to bring souls." She continued.
"However, this only worked for about a good half a millenium; that's when the other demons got enraged. They joined forces, and had begun battling us." They continued to stare, mostly wondering why she was bothering with the history lesson, but still interested in what she was gonna say next. "Now, don't get me wrong; because of the zanpakutos, and our development of Voix de Volonté, we pretty much kicked their asses straight to extinction with how disorganized they were. But one of the leaders had escaped to a castle where an old king was dying; his name was Luisenbarn, I think, but I don't always get it right. In any case, he was transformed into the first breed of hallows, and had everyone in his castle and kingdom follow him; he created Hueco Mundo shortly after realizing that even with his new power, he was nowhere near strong enough to fight our armies." She explained.
Ulquiorra just realized what she was telling him; the reason why hallows and arrancars were the enemies of her kind was because a demon leader had devoured a human's body and soul at a state of dying, and caused the hugest mess of all times. With Aizen being in charge, it didn't change anything; just the leader. "Now, by this time, we were down to limited numbers; we asked the king currently in charge to find someone to start teaching the souls how to fight, and in exchange, we'd allow them to receive a zanpakuto. He found Yamamoto, and he began to train shinigami while we recuperated in our ways of incognito." She told, giving them a face that read for more information.
Now, Ulquiorra had learned how shinigami had become the enemy of his kind. Still didn't answer his question, fully, but he was interested in what the girl would tell about the history. "Almost two thousand years later, humans started catching onto our game and began killing us off. While the strongest ten, or so, made a new world for hiding and to set things in order, most everyone revolted them, and went under new leadership, who declared that humans deserved to die, and that the shinigami were the enemy. This caused an all out war that got everybody fighting except the ones hiding, who did not know what they could do. Soon came time that Yama-jii called up Le Premier and asked for help. In the end, the ten left killed off their own kind, deciding it best to live in scarce numbers, and instead of killing the crack-head leader, they took away his powers so he would live as a human for the rest of his days. He was left with a glowing wing that barely stood, which he tore off, and utilized his spiritual powers as to make bow and arrow; calling himself a Quincy, and began heading out to recruit more." She told them.
And that explained why the Quincies were against both shinigami and hallows. "All of this lead to we Koumori who take the form of humans. Our code states that we take the form of humans, and don't use our powers unless it's necessary. Those times are indicated by instinct, which we don't ignore, because of the fact that should we, it normally leads to catastrophe." She explained, further. "Does that fill in the blanks for you?" She questioned.
Ulquiorra presumed it was another way of asking if he understood, and so, he simply nodded at her. She smiled. "And just so you don't ask, I gave you the information so you wouldn't ask about it, later; I hate it when people bother to!" She told him. That simply answered another question within the arrancar's mind. "You said you were known as Cuatro Espada; known, meaning past tense. What happened between you and Aizen that made the fact ancient history?" She questioned.
The two bats beneath her view knew that she was going to ask at some point, seeing as how she wasn't as dumb as she was making herself appear to them. And so, Ulquiorra stood straight just as the girl lowered herself enough to be at his level, and to make eye contact; she had to make sure he wouldn't lie. "One of the Espada's recent orders were to go on missions outside of Hueco Mundo; ones that were to be explained in detail should they be useful in his plans. We stayed on task and returned to Hueco Mundo twelve hours later, with our reports. Shortly after, Aizen-sama declared orders that were to be carried out, immediately. He promoted two of the Espada, and sentenced me to death; claiming I had outlived my usefulness." He explained.
Akuma was a bit surprised. "Were you disloyal? Did you go out of place?" She questioned. The arrancar simply shook his head once. "So you were loyal and you're very powerful, but Aizen claimed you useless and told the others to kill you?" She received a nod. "Normally, I don't care about arrancars this much, but in your case, I can easily tell you that Aizen doesn't do something like this without there being a reason, and considering you were Espada in Vosto Lorde class, he probably has a greater reason than 'useless.'" She told him.
Well, of course, he figured that much, by now, but he hadn't begun to further contemplate it due to the recent happenings. He went over the events. The twelve hours that they had went through seemed to have left most, if not all, the Espada annoyed, including himself. Things seemed to have only tensed when they gave their report to Aizen, and then the former shinigami started handing promotions to two of the lower-ranked Espada, once called his subordinates. This caused for a bit of congratulations before he was sentenced to death. In his mind, Ulquiorra figured the sequence of events were to make them even more ambitious to kill him, and probably more successful at it; Aizen had nearly succeeded, if not for the young Koumori finding him.
Not like he'd ever say 'thank you,' though...
Drawing his attention away from his thoughts, Ulquiorra spoke again. "You said if not for you, the other Koumori would have left me to die; can you explain this, Onna?" He questioned.
She put up a finger. "First off; stop calling me Onna! If your going to call me by anything, it's either by my name or not at all." She told him, aggravatingly, sending out a glare at him; ineffective, of course, especially considering he completely brushed off the complaint. Akuma let out a short sigh before standing back on her own two feet. "And although I could attempt to explain the answer to that question, I'm not the best person to ask." She told him, bluntly.
"But, you are also the only person I can ask." He pointed out. Ulquiorra figured well enough on his own that the other Koumori wouldn't take too kindly to him questioning them, and seeing as how she was willing, he didn't have much of a choice. If he did, he'd find someone more intelligent.
The red-eyed female put a hand to her chin, tapping her foot against the ground. She truly had no clue how to explain it so he'd understand; her kind's ways were so obscured that only very few of the captains in Soul Society knew of their existence. "So, how could I get him understand?" She pondered. After a few more moments, she snapped her fingers, bringing back the attention of the other two, and giving them a smile. "In truth, Cifer, their is somebody who can answer that one better than I. And I can bring you straight to her." She guaranteed him.
Ulquiorra, true, did want to know the answer in the most logical sense, however, he was no fool. If she was leading him straight to one of her allies, how did he know that they wouldn't try any of their own tricks. Sure, he was obviously stronger, but he wasn't going to be humiliated in such a simpleton way. He'd rather die at Aizen's hand...
Akuma gave him but a smile. "I get it! Ya don't trust me because you figure that you're going to get knocked around by her as soon as we get there. True, she would love to have the pleasure, but, she only attacks if she or I are attacked first." She explained, looking at him directly in the eyes so he could see she wasn't lying. True, he knew that, but it didn't get rid of other criteria that could have just as easily walk him into a trap. "And, if you can dare trust me," she started, re-grabbing his attention. "I'll even show you how I got here." She told him.
Ulquiorra eyed her for a few moments before nodding. He could handle her, easily, so if it were a trap, he was certain that he'd be able to take this other person if there was one. That much he was positive about, and he was one to stay true to his threats. "We're here!" The female told him.
The former Cuatro looked up to notice that she was pointing at a cave that had formed within one of the mountains of his inner world. He looked at her with an arched brow, wondering how the hell it had gotten there. Akuma only shrugged grabbing the black-haired arrancar, and leading him into the the cave, the copper energy surrounding them as they entered the cave.
Ulquiorra stepped in with her, however, his eyes averted to his zanpakuto, who was somehow unable to enter with them. "I knew that was a two way street!" Akuma proclaimed, proud of herself. The former Cuatro glared at her as if to ask what she meant, and to explain, soon. "When I went through a different passage in my inner world, my zanpakuto couldn't follow me; same rules apply to you. This is because as soon as we step into the cave, we exit our inner worlds." She explained, tersely, walking deeper into the mouth of the dark tunnel.
The Cuatro walked forward, as well, understanding the concept. True, he knew fairly well where she was leading him, and that was where she belonged; her inner world. Which meant that this person who she was leading him to was more than likely her zanpakuto. Granted, these facts were true, he had no doubts about taking them both.
There was something that puzzled him, though. As soon as they entered, Ulquiorra had noticed that her reiatsu had spiked an enormous amount, simply by stepping through the entrance to the cave. It didn't alarm him, much, but what did set him off guard was when he felt his own spiritual pressure depleting, making him feel slightly weaker than before. He had already begun to ponder on why such an occurrence happened. That is, until he nearly tripped over his own footing...
"Watch your step!" The female Koumori told him, grinning smugly towards him. The ex-Espada glared. She knew about the stairs and didn't tell him. Who did she think she is, this mere trash, for tricking him? "Okay, one: you're not in Hueco Mundo, you're in Le Paradis Éternel, so don't expect me to treat you as a superior being where here, my kind is. And two: that's part of my payback for the lovely treatment, earlier." She told him, coldly, before continuing down the steps.
His brows furrowed but a fraction as he followed. The fact that she was a pain wasn't something he couldn't tolerate. Now, to the fact she was going to ensure some form of revenge, he now knew by some pit feeling in his stomach that he'd have to watch her, rather well. If not, he didn't know, nor wanted to know, what kind of things she'd try.
They entered a second entrance, stepping into Akuma's crystalized cavern, and once again, Ulquiorra had notice a spike in her reaiatsu, and a depletion in his. "I see; when one is in another's inner world, their strength is taken so that the person cannot be harmed by outsiders of any sort." He thought, sighing. What that also meant is that the girl's real strength is hard to depict because of this difference, and that while he was there, the female was ultimately stronger than he.
"Bonjour! Rayon! Je suis revenu,...et nous avons un invité!" She called out, happily, while searching the ceiling for her zanpakuto.
Ulquiorra found this to a form of interest. He knew fairly well that Barragan was a Spanish ruler, however, to the ways the albino described it, all the demons were from the Japanese Islands, and traveled around the world so that they could claim land. For this reason, he knew, was why all the hallows in Hueco Mundo knew Spanish, fluently, and essentially. Hearing the girl speak French, fluently, he figured that the Koumori had a similar background. This was something to look into.
To the sound of flapping wings, the Cuatro looked up just in time to notice the white bat landing on one of the large crystals near them. "Bonjour, Madamoiselle! Pourquoi avez-vous apporté un arracher, ici?" She questioned her mistress, staring at the former Espada, suspiciously. It was primal instinct for them to despise arrancar, but to the fact that Akuma brought one as a guest to her inner world was concerning.
The albino sighed. "His name is Cifer Ulquiorra, his inner world is at the end of the new path, for only les Dieux know why, and he has questions that I can't answer, so I brought him here so you could better explain." She told the other female, honestly, giving her a look that read just how much she needed the help with the male, and practically begged for her to take over.
Although she had her suspicions, Rayon nodded at her mistress, deciding it was best to get it out of the way, and see what she could find out, herself. She knew for fact there was far more than questions if Akuma had actually brought him there. True, the passageway made perfect sense, but she had a strange feeling by her wielder's behavior that told her that there was something else. And she somehow knew it was connected to what had been going on for the past few weeks...
Akuma smiled, flying up and hugging her zanpakuto. "Merci!" She said before soaring down a different passage, in a higher part of the cavern.
With a sigh, Rayon looked down at the arrancar, her large red eyes questioning him on what he had asked that needed answering. Noticing this quickly, Ulquiorra spoke. "Rayon, correct?" He questioned. The female bat nodded. "Your mistress told me that if not for her, the other Koumori would have left me to die. I asked her what she meant by it, but she had said you could answer better than she; the reason I'm standing here." He told her, truthfully.
Rayon frowned at this. "I can understand why she said so, for my mistress doesn't fully understand it, so it'd make it hard to explain to another person." She informed him. His eyebrow only arched, as his eyes gave off an expectant gaze. The bat cleared her throat. "Throughout that night, Ulquiorra-san, the only reason we found you was because of Mistress. Strange occurrences had taken place that not one of the Koumori could explain, without questioning what they all meant. Strange feelings, weakness, power failure, and visions of you lead her to finding you, and she did so because her instincts told her to; one thing Koumori are raised to follow." She explained, to him.
Now, it was a bit easier to understand, for Akuma had explained many things about the Koumori; history, some of their powers, along with their behavior; instinct being the one thing they all appeared to take, very seriously. If this was the case, then it was more than likely that the other Koumori's instincts had told them to allow him to live, if they wanted the girl to be alright.
Rayon gave him a curious eye. "Ulquiorra-san, she claimed to have been able to see your inner world. I know this is none of my business, but s'il-vous-plait, can you describe how my mistress was acting; some of her behavior, or some of her actions?" She asked the pale teen, giving him a bit of a pleading stare. The bat, like Akuma, hated arrancar, but they both knew it was probably best to deal with it as best they could, for they had to rely on him for some answers, as well.
He couldn't help but raise a brow. "Excuse me for asking, but why do you wish for this information?" Cifer questioned, confused. He understood that all of this was probably very odd for the female bat, but he knew for fact that the question was asking for far more, seeing as how she apparently, never acted like this with his kind, before, which struck concern into the white-furred mammal that closely resembled the one waiting for him, back in his inner world.
The winged female sighed, relaxing dome of her muscles before answering the man's question. "You already know that Koumori make large decisions based on instinct. Now, my mistress has been making strange decisions because of these instincts, and I ask for a bit of insight in order to learn a bit more of the situation; especially now, considering the fact you two can cross into the each others' inner world." She explained to him. This never happened to Koumori, unless for certain reasons, and those were at few.
Now, it was a bit more understandable. The zanpakuto was a piece of a person, however, from what Ulquiorra could gather, is that while the wielder was in another's inner world, it appeared that the spirit wouldn't have any contact with their master, meaning Rayon was separated from Nadari with every time she came through that first passage, before the stairs. What he also got from the bat's statement is that, because of this separation, it was harder for her to distinguish what was wrong, which meant she was fairly worried.
With these observations made, he answered her. "Very well." He told her. Rayon smiled, patiently awaiting the arrancar to begin. "I first felt her presence while she was healing me. From what I could tell, she was rather calm with what she was doing, until I saw her, grabbing her wrist out of the fact that someone else was where they didn't belong. After taking a few moments to calm down, and after she allowed her annoyance with me known, she had begun acting civil; promising honest answers to my questions as long as I answered hers in the same manner. In truth, the only thing that's abnormal about your mistress's behavior was to the fact that she had attempted to socialize with me; her enemy, according to Koumori history." He explained, fully and honestly.
Rayon's eyes narrowed. This was far beyond strange, when it came to her mistress; it was just plain abnormal! Something that she knew that Akuma more than likely won't be able to explain. The events were so very obscured to the Koumori, she couldn't even begin to describe them, and to explain their meaning was probably going to be just as difficult. Still, with the information, there was something the white bat was certain of; there was something big going on.
The zanpakuto female spread her wings, flapping them to gain some altitude, then gliding to the ceiling, where she perched herself upside down, staring at the arracar, intently. "Ulquiorra-san, tell me, before you left your inner world to come here, did you feel the strength necessary to leave, and become conscious?" She questioned. Said man shook his head. He had stopped the albino before she could heal his spiritual strength. Such a thing was necessary to enter and exit your inner world, along with returning to your body. This strength he hadn't allowed the girl to get near when she had completed healing his physical energy. "I see!" Was all the female said.
Afterwords, the female moved her head towards the nearest corner she was near, biting off a piece of the crystals that had all bunched up, there. The bat then flew her way back to Ulquiorra, landing on the same perch of red stone, and leaning forward, showing him what she had grabbed, and giving him an expectant look.
The former Cuatro held out his hand, receiving the small object from the bat's mouth, eyebrows furrowing a fraction, and his eyes showing the disgust of the saliva that had came out of the mammal's mouth. "Sorry, but I think you can understand I can't grab anything with these." She said, referring to the claws on her wings. Indeed, understandable about grabbing something so she could fly without difficulty, but that did not get rid of what was drooping from the pale man's hand.
The bat pointed a claw at him. "Koumori have some advantages in there inner world; with my mistress, the minerals in her cave help her regain spiritual strength, when she see fit to use them." The arrancar found himself caught off guard, now staring at the gem, intently, and realizing that it indeed had power. "You simply need to return to your inner world! Once done, simply crush it; you'll return to consciousness, and will be able to move your body with no difficulty." She explained to him.
His stoic expression returned, now understanding the meaning of the gem, and getting all the information he desired, for the time being. With this all in mind, he bowed the bat a thank you, then took his leave; not wanting to interact with the female Koumori anytime soon. Honestly, he never thought that he'd meet someone almost as bad as Grimmjow; his language, his violence, and his stupidity outranked hers, on a number of levels, thus making her a good third for the most annoying (Nnoitora beat Grimmjow due to perversion).
Finally, the ex-Espada made it back to his inner world, looking down at the gem Rayon had given him. What he saw that its power was draining, and was averting back to the albino's inner world, more than likely so more can form. Even still, he wasn't gonna waste what he was given, for he had no reason to believe that the zanpakuto female was lying to him.
Quickly, he crushed the rock, red light beginning to swerve around his body until suddenly, everything flashed white...