Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. All rights belong to the creator Tite Kubo. This is an AU story with some OOC.
Chapter 26: Counting Down The Days: Lily
-X-
-Day 1-
This was the hospitality she was expecting from the Shinigami. The nice prisoner outfit they gave her was rather itchy—ESPECIALLY THE COLLAR!—and provided no warmth inside the cold cells; ops, she means 'guest room'. Their food is some of the most delicious dishes she'll get to eat or so she heard from Mashiro, but since they haven't bothered to give her anything to eat, she'll put it on her pending list; she actually wouldn't mind eating anything right now. The entertainment in the meantime is giving her a bit of a... headache. So far, the 'entertainment' has left her with a bruised eye—her only good eye, a bust lip and a few more bruises around her face.
...
Did she say hospitality? Hostility was the word she wanted to use.
Can you blame her for mixing up the words? The punching got her head spinning.
This was the sort of thing she was expecting the Shinigami to treat a Hollow—a dangerous Arrancar-class Hollow like herself to be exact. The beating should have been obvious the moment the silver-haired shrimp and his captain took her towards an interrogation room with white walls, a table, chairs, and handcuffs. Oh wait, they're 'special' Kidō handcuffs; the Shinigami have quite the numbers of locks ready for her.
So when they strap her up and started their interrogation, the first thing she saw was the upcoming fist from Captain Suì-Fēng and that beating has gone for the next ten minutes before the petite captain stop, asked a question but when she said nothing then the beating would start over again and that has been going on for the last two hours.
"I want answers." Suì-Fēng pulls the girl up by the hair. "Zangetsu's locations. Where is it?"
"Let me see." Lily wonders if the captain can tell that she's glaring at her, probably not because of how swollen her right eye is. "He's in Hueco Mundo." Her answer wasn't exactly what the woman wanted.
Suì-Fēng gave the patch of Lily's hair a hard yank. "No sarcasm, Arrancar. I want actual details." She roughly let go of the girl's hair and walked towards the other side of the table to sit down. "Fine, let's forget about Zangetsu and let's talk about something more important; The Hollow army."
"Hollow army? Sorry, I've seen no army." Lily acted oblivious to the anger that's slowly waving off from the Shinigami captain and looked over to her small size companion instead. "So, 'Lieutenant' Hitsugaya, is there a story to why it seems they stripped you from your rank?"
Tōshirō was leaning against the wall behind his captain with his arms crossed before he unfolded them and walked towards her with a more tranquil attitude. "You can blame Zangetsu for it."
He stated the fact so calmly that Lily almost believed him, "Ichigo?" Almost believe him. "You're blaming Ichigo for losing your job? What sort of half-baked story is that!" Still not lashing at her, she looked at Suì-Fēng and smirked at her. "I find it hilarious how your lieutenant is acting like a better captain than you." Suì-Fēng looked like she wanted to lash out or mutilate her... or kill her... whichever she gets to do first.
"My failed attempts at killing Zangetsu began showing and ended up costing the lives of thousands of humans. Central 46 then decided that I should receive a punishment; they stripped my rank and made me into Suì-Fēng's lieutenant."
"Oh?" The lime-haired girl smirked and looked at the 2nd Division captain. "They gave you a lieutenant? Ha! What? Did the last one quit on you?" Her smirk dropped as she saw the glare on the captain intensify while Hitsugaya looked at the ground.
Suì-Fēng spoke through clenched teeth. "No. Zangetsu killed my previous lieutenant."
Ichigo had never told her that. "What?" She knew Ichigo had unintentionally killed many people about 2 years ago in the park incident, but he never had killed a Shinigami before, as far as she knew or he had revealed to her. "You're lying, he would have never done something like that!"
"What's so hard to believe?" Suì-Fēng leans back. "Have you never expected the day our factions would cross paths? You should have seen it happen. It's only natural because where there are Hollows, they'll be Shinigami and conflict will soon follow; and no matter how 'human' you may look, you're still nothing but a Hollow—a monster that does nothing but eat souls." She waited for some sassy replies from the girl before continuing, but her lieutenant opened his mouth first.
"What do you think of us?"
The lime-haired teen doesn't know if Tōshirō's tired of seeing her getting beat up or if Suì-Fēng's tired of beating her up... Or maybe they're trying a new method to get her talking. She cocks one of her eyebrows up and smirks slightly. "What's going on here? Weren't you beating the answers out of me? No, wait, first came the beating, then you asked your questions." When both Shinigami's expressions haven't changed from her comment, she shows them a more somber mood and expression. "You want my honest opinion on what? On the Shinigami? I don't have any biased opinions on any of you, believe it or not, I learned that not every Shinigami is the same. They're all different, just like us. You all see us as monsters, but some of us are actually different."
"Oh yeah, for sure." Suì-Fēng commented, and her lieutenant ignored it.
"Maybe that's true, but it doesn't change the fact that we need to do our job. Do you know why we have to purify Hollows?" When Tōshirō saw a nod, it surprised him at the fact that she knew. "How?"
Feeling tired, Lily sighed and sank into her chair. "I'm not saying anything anymore. You're trying to get answers out of me and I won't talk. I'd rather have you guys do your bad cop and good cop routine or the beating instead."
Like she said, the green-haired Hollow never opened her mouth again, but the Shinigami never raised their hands on her. They asked questions; Suì-Fēng tried threatening her; they tried the good-cop-bad-cop routine, but she kept her lips zip. So by the end of the day, as they kept her there for almost five hours with no food, the Shinigami took her back to her cell.
As Suì-Fēng and Tōshirō walked back to the 2nd Division, a rare moment of civil conversation bloomed between the two.
"She wasn't what I expected." Suì-Fēng said honestly. "I still remember Zangetsu and the other Arrancar from that day still. I expected she would be the same as them." She looked at her 2nd seat and said, "I'm surprised you tried nothing on her. I know you're desperate to find him, so I thought how now that we have none other than his lieutenant, you would try anything to know his whereabouts."
"Because now is all a matter of patience." Tōshirō glared ahead of him. "He's coming for her."
Brought back to her cell, Lily found herself half-bored to death.
'This place's all dark and creepy... Ha! I bet you that Ulquiorra would love this place!'
Lily sighed and sat down. Should she try to talk to her..?
'Hey, so what the hell are you going to do now?'
'You're... rather talkative. Can I ask why?' Lily 'felt' the pale-version of herself shrugging her shoulders.
'What can I tell you? Seeing them make your face into smashed potatoes pisses me off. Because that face is also my face, and guess what, if it was me who they were dealing with, I would have kicked their asses.'
She rolled her swollen eye. 'Okay, let's go down the list; One, both of them are Captains so they're no joke. Two, our powers got sealed, so how the hell can we beat them?'
'… Fair point. Ugh, so, what's the plan? How are we getting out of here?'
She could choose to ignore her, but won't that cause more harm than good? Her head's full of headaches because of the beatings, but having her inner-Hollow whining would just add more fuel to the fire. 'Honestly? I have nothing. My powers got locked away, so I can't open a Garganta or fight out of here. What do you think I should do?'
The paled-skinned Lily answers without missing a beat. 'Wait for Ichigo.' When Lily raised an eyebrow, she sighed before yelling in frustration. 'Oh, come on! As if you're not thinking about it; Your knight in white shining armor battling through a literal army to come rescue you! That's literally one of your fantasy dreams! Besides, there's nothing else for us to do but wait for him because you were such an idiot for following that stupid Hollow. Seriously, who would? Now look at us, we're prisoners with no idea how to get out.'
Lily could have challenged the other woman's frustration, but—and surprisingly—maybe kindly answering her would be a better route. 'Well, sorry. Next time I'll ask the hentai-neko to teach me how to escape these kinds of scenarios.' Doesn't mean she won't act any less sassy to her Zanpakutō's spirit.
'Fair point, Urahara-san or Yoruichi-sensei never taught us what to do if we got kidnapped.'
'Geta-bōshi? Pfft, yeah, no wonder why I don't rememb—Wait, hold on, why are you calling the hentai-neko by her name?'
'Because she's our teacher? Sheesh, dumbass, who taught you everything?' When Lily didn't respond, she let a smirk reach her lips. 'That's what I thought, so you better call her by her name the next time you mention he—'
'What's your name?' Lily waited for any kind of reaction. Anger was on top of her list while at the bottom was exactly what she 'sensed', waving off the Inner-Lily was surprised with a bit of sadness.
'Can we please not do this?.. Wait, no! Ugh! Why the hell are you asking such a stupid question for!?'Her anger quickly replaced her blue feelings. 'Why the hell do you finally care about it? Huh! You have been rejecting me this entire time, so why do you care now?'
'Because...' Lily seems to understand now. 'Because you want me to care. You're a part of me I've been avoiding, and that has been hurting both of us, hasn't it?' With no reply, she figured out that her Inner-Hollow had ended their entire conversation right there. 'For whatever it may mean now, I'm sorry for trying to ignore you for this long.'
"Why are you asking them for permission, Captain?" Ikkaku asked as he and Yumichika followed behind the 11th Division Captain.
"'Cause if I barge into the Arrancar's cell, the old man will finally have enough of my shit. If I do things the 'normal' way, then the old man can't get pissed." Zaraki looked at his 3rd seat, "I heard that apparently the Arrancar they captured is strong but it doesn't compare to Zangetsu. You have been asking to fight one, and as long as it's not Zangetsu, I'll get you your match-up."
-Day 2-
Day two of her imprisonment started off... in no way at what she expected.
She had fallen asleep sometime last night after trying to talk to her Zanpakutō's spirit and woke up with a startle when the door to the cell burst open. She tries to wipe the sleep before quietly hissing at touching her bruised eye. Though her eye was half-lidded, she saw a small Shinigami with chin-length black hair get tossed by a couple of other more well-fitted Shinigami before shutting the door on him.
"W-wait! I'm not supposed to heal any prisoners!" The Shinigami cried out in a surprising male voice despite his appearance and someone from the other side of the door yelled back.
"Actually, thanks to the approval Captain Zaraki has, he wants the Hollow to be at 100% before we take her. So do your job!"
Lily stared at the Shinigami's back for a few seconds before standing up and walking towards the cell. She could see the Shinigami's shoulders shaking and she wondered if it was because he's scared. She started tapping on the bar at a slow and haunting tempo. "Well," she only said one word, and his shoulders started shaking worse. "looks like your friends toss you into the lioness' den."
Slowly and still shaking, Hanatarō Yamada turns his head to look at the caged Arrancar. "They're, um, not my friends."
With a deadpan, Lily said, "Yeah, no shit. I saw how they toss you in here. So if they're not your friends, who are they?"
"Just some acquaintance." When the girl kept her look, Hanatarō looked away and rubbed his left arm. "They're just a bunch of good-for-nothing punks that only enjoy picking on me."
"Bullying?" She acted a bit more surprised. "Someone is bullying you? Why are you getting bullied? You're both Shini—" Lily closed her mouth. 'Just because they're Shinigami, doesn't mean they'll act nice to each other. We're having similar problems in Hueco Mundo too.' She looked at the Shinigami and figured that perhaps his appearance was the reason for the bullying. She leans against the bars of her cells. "Let me guess, you're a pushover?"
Hanatarō looked bashful as he explained the reasons for the bullying. "I-I don't think my looks are the reason for the bullying. It had become a sort of... tradition for the 11th Division to bully members from the 4th Division because we're the opposite. The 11th Division focuses on fighting and the 4th Division focuses on healing."
"Healing?.. Healing..." Lily smacks her forehead. "MEDICS! Ha! That's definitely something I'm going to install back at La Estrella after I get back there." Smiling, she extended a hand out to the Shinigami. "Thanks for the idea. The name's Gingerbuck Lilynette." The Shinigami only moves his eyes to look at her hand and then back at her. She rolls her eye and stretches her hand further towards him. "I'm not going to bite you or anything. Besides, at this moment you're stronger than me." Still hesitant, she jokes and says, "Come on now, don't tell me you're scared of the beaten-up, defenseless little girl now."
"... but you're taller than me." Feeling braver, he got close and shook the girl's hands. "Yamada Hanatarō." Then he jumped back as the two members of the 11th Division knocked hard on the door and yelled from the other side.
"ARE YOU DONE IN THERE OR WHAT?!"
Lily looked at the door. "That's right. You said something about healing me. Why?"
"Umm, well, you see Gingerbuck-san..."
"Shino-san, why are we ditching classes to go to the 11th Division?" Yuki Ryūnosuke; a black-haired boy with three circular hair clips on the left side and two on the right side of his hair with green eyes asks his friend Madarame Shino; a black-haired girl with a scarlet piece of fabric sitting on top of her head—she's also the younger sister of Madarame Ikkaku.
"Because I want to see the Arrancar that my loud-mouth brother was bragging about yesterday at the dining table." She replied with a bit of anger.
Ryūnosuke rushed forward and lifted his arms to show his friend the Academy's uniform. "They're not going to let us pass because of these, you know!"
Waving off his concern, Shino says. "Look, if we're lucky, then maybe everyone will be at the training field to see the match and we can sneak around or we can just tell them we're scouting our future division."
"Umm, I thought we're going to join the 13th Division?"
"For Kami's sake, Ryūnosuke, I'm telling you to lie."
Both students soon reached the 11th Division's barracks with no members walking around but could feel a strong tension in the air. Yuki gulped and nervously asked Shino if maybe they should do this next time, but the girl's determined to see what their future enemies were capable of. She was ready to go inside, with or without Yuki, and searched for where the fight would happen when she heard someone call out to them—more precisely, to her. She turned around to see one of the 11th Division members she had gotten familiar with.
Goteitaishi was another typical member of the 11th Division in which he looked more like a criminal than a Shinigami, what with his spiky black hair and mustache. He wasn't alone either. One of the three individuals he's with was another member of his division, someone she had never talked to, but the other two weren't from the 11th Division. One was a boy from the 4th Division—she recognized the bag he carried on his back as those ready-to-go medic bags the 4th Division uses. However, the other person she had never seen before and it would be hard to miss someone with such hair color, also the girl was taller than the boy by possibly 9 inches. 'She's wearing a Shinigami outfit. Who the hell is she?' When the girl looked forward, she saw the black mask fragment over her left eye. 'That's... the Arrancar?'
"Oi! Shino!"
Getting called out by Goteitaishi, Shino moved her sights from the green-haired girl to the Shinigami. "What you want, old man."
"You know just because your brother's our 3rd seat, doesn't mean you can talk to us in any manner you want." Goteitaishi came to a halt in front of the girl and crossed his arms. "Why the hell are you here and not at the Academy?"
Ryūnosuke nervously answered. "We're scouting divisions!"
At her friend's words, Shino pursed her lips to hold back an angry reply before she sighed and whispered. "Ryūnosuke, you're such a headache sometimes." She looked back at the 11th Division Shinigami and thundered. "We're here because my brother couldn't keep his mouth shut about her!"
Lily had ignored mostly everything until now because, believe it or not, she was having a rather pleasant time talking with Hanatarō. He's rather timid and hard to get him to talk, but asking simple questions about his division, which is probably his comfort zone, had him slowly opening up but had to stop once the other two Shinigami yelled at him for talking to the prisoner. She ignores the look the girl sent and focuses her gaze on the 11th Division Barracks. She can't believe what's about to happen. There was another conversation that happened between the girl and Shinigami before rudely pushed by the other member of the 11th Division.
As they led her out to the back of the building and into an enormous field, she felt on edge as hundreds of eyes followed her and was getting led towards the middle of the training field. 'Kami! Hanatarō wasn't joking!' In the middle of the field, she could see Captain Suì-Fēng arguing with another fellow captain.
"You cannot and I mean CANNOT just bust out the prisoner to give your lieutenant a fight!" Suì-Fēng barked, glaring up at Captain Zaraki, who looked down at her with a smug grin.
"Actually," He pulls out the exact written permission from Central 46 and waves it in front of the short captain; irritating her even more. "Thanks to this, Central 46 says I can."
From over his shoulders, Yachiru happily added, "Yeah! Ken-chan got permission!"
"WHAT!" She snatched the papers from his hands, read it and couldn't believe it. She won't believe that Central 46's allowing Captain Zaraki to use the Hollow as some kind of sparring partner for his 3rd seat. "How the hell did you get them to approve of this!" Even the stamp of approval was by the bottom left corner too. "Who the hell did you threaten for this?"
"Threaten?" Kenpachi grinned at the woman's assumption. "Didn't threaten anyone. I just walked into their fancy meeting and told them I wanted to test the Hollow out."
'What the hell has Central 46 been doing lately?' Suì-Fēng's eyes found the Arrancar that was slowly being guided towards them. 'First, they want to hold off the execution of the Arrancar and now they're allowing her out. They're not treating her like a threat to Soul Society!' When she looked back at Kenpachi, she saw a scowl on his face.
From the sidelines, most lieutenants came to watch.
Yumichika looked at Ikkaku doing his 'pre-battle dance' with a slightly disgusting look on his face. 'Ugh, what an ugly thing to do.'
"I'm still having a hard time believing Ikkaku's going to fight the Arrancar that Captain Ichimaru and Kaname capture." Shūhei said to the rest of the usual drinking group, but once he saw the Hollow, he nodded in the Hollow's direction. "Or maybe he won't." The rest of the group—which had the usual drinking group plus Rukia, Momo and Tōshirō—looked over to where the man pointed at.
Renji and Iba didn't know what that 9th Division lieutenant meant until they saw her and both of them froze. Kira noticed their reaction but ignored them to ask Ikkaku a question, "Did you know your opponent was a girl?" Just like his captain, the 3rd seat had a scowl on his face before he started marching towards his captain, arriving as they brought the Hollow in front of both captains.
"Oi, Renji, isn't that—" Iba started and Renji finished for him, his eyes wide as saucers as he recognized the Hollow.
"Yeah, that's his Lieutenant." Renji clenched his jaw as he realized what this meant. 'If we have her, then that means he'll be coming for her.' He looked at Tōshirō from the corner of his eyes. 'It's all a matter of time for you, right, Captain Hitsugaya?'
Lily looked at Suì-Fēng, who was looking at Kenpachi, who was also scowling in her direction and then looked at the bald Shinigami. "So," she broke the silence. "I'm apparently given a recess and allowed to stretch my legs because one of you wanted to fight me?" Her eye landed on her Zanpakutōn that Captain Zaraki held over his left shoulder.
"Captain." If his opponent was a woman, then Ikkaku wouldn't mind taking the spar, but for a man to fight a girl?
Kenpachi ignored his 3rd seat and walked up to the girl. Looking down at her with a frown, he says, "That's right." He points a thumb to his 3rd seat, "You're going to fight him, how do you feel about that?"
Lily snorted, and she wished the Kido did not chain her arms so that she could cross her arms over her chest. "Looks like nothing special." She looked at the man in front of her, and with the little information that Yoruichi and Ichigo had told her, she figured this was the infamous Kenpachi. "Why don't you take your chance with me, Captain Zaraki?"
The 11th Division Captain lifted one of his eyebrows before grinning. "Oh, ya know my name? Does that make me as infamous as Zangetsu in Hueco Mundo?"
Again, she snorted before replying coolly. "Oh please, don't flatter yourself. You're just on our 'Don't fight him because he's an idiot' list."
Suì-Fēng wanted to smack the back of the Arrancar head to see if that would fix her. Even she knows the monster Kenpachi is and wouldn't treat him any less than a threat. She watched as Kenpachi lost his grin and swung the Hollow's Rapier with the point of the blade set inches away from the girl's last remaining eye. The action should have scared her, maybe even gotten her to jump back a little, but the girl held her ground and kept her cool demeanor. He moved the tip of the blade a little closer to the girl's eye and she was ready to intervene in an assault from Captain Zaraki to the Arrancar, but before she could, the green-haired girl broke her cold act.
"As if you'll hurt me." Lily smacks her Zanpakutōn out of her face to scowl at Kenpachi. "You won't fight an unarmed opponent. Because if you did, then you would have killed my captain instead of giving him a chance."
"Captain?" Kenpachi asked back, feeling a bit lost until he realized how there's been only one person who has fought him and still lives. "Ha! As if I'll find pleasure in killing Zangetsu while he's defenseless." Looking at the Hollow with more energetic vigor, he said, "So Zangetsu's your captain, eh? How's the brat doing? Did he get any stronger?"
"My captain's fine, and don't worry about that last part. He's going to repay the favor for the scar."
Kenpachi smirked and rested the girl's Zanpakutōn over his shoulders again. "The brat's mad about that little scar?" He opens up his uniform to show the girl the gift Ichigo had left him with. "He gave me a pretty badass scar and I'm not complaining about it."
Lily looked at Kenpachi's 'X' shape scar. From his left shoulder to his right hip ran one scar while the other one was much smaller and started on his right chest and ended just above his right hip. She couldn't stop the small smirk that reached her lips. "Looks like he got you better."
"That he did and I can't wait to return the favor, but that's between him and I." Skillfully, he flipped the Arrancar's Rapier and held it by the tip.
She dropped her smile and took a deep breath. "What's the point of this? Why do you want me to fight so badly?"
"My 3rd seat is feeling left out that a few of his buddies have already had a round with you guys."
"I'm sorry, what?" She narrowed her only eye in disbelief. "This isn't for you, but for your whiny 3rd seat? You pulled me out of prison for this!?" She looked at Captain Suì-Fēng. "So you get to beat me for answers and he can get me out to fight some whiny baby?!" She looked back at Kenpachi and pointed a finger at him. "Isn't that abusing your powers? How the hell are you even a captain!"
"I killed the last one."
"What?" She lowers her finger and takes in the captain's expression; the man clearly stated how he killed the last captain as if he was explaining the weather with a bored look. "How can you just say that?"
"Listen Hollow, I don't know how your kind runs your place, but the Shinigami clearly do it differently. There's three options on how someone can become a captain; either take the Captain Proficiency Test, get a Personal Recommendation or Trial by Combat." Suì-Fēng crosses her arms and scowls. "Most of us aren't a fan of the last one, but it's been there since the establishment of the Gotei 13 and that's part of our history that we won't get rid of."
'That's funny, isn't it? They're supposed to be the better beings. Never gone through what the Hollows went through. They call our actions animalistic and think we're savages, but that's what WE have to go through to get where we are today. But their excuse? Apparently it is part of their history.' She was about to open her mouth and asked Captain Suì-Fēng to take her back to her cell when the bald man opened his mouth.
"Just admit you're scared and stop looking for excuses." Ikkaku said, looking rather annoyed.
"Excuse me?" Lily glares at the man. "I'm not making excuses for anything! I'm just using my head! I know when there's a reason to fight!"
"Tell me one then."
"When—"
"That's a tricky question. You don't need a reason to fight. Sometimes you need to feel a little selfish and fight to enjoy yourself." When Ikkaku remembers what the Arrancar said about the 2nd Division Captain's kind hospitality, he said, "How about you use our spar to get rid of some steam. I'm sure Captain Suì-Fēng built plenty of it."
Lily clenches her hands. Hanatarō tried his best to heal her, but the most he could do seemed to speed up her natural recovery. She could barely keep her one eye open and her lips were now good, but she could feel a bruise forming. So it's safe to say that the Shinigami's right about all the steam Captain Suì-Fēng has caused, but that's not a genuine reason to fight anyone. She took a deep breath, looked at the petite captain and tried to once again ask to be taken back to her cell before Ikkaku opened his mouth.
"Forget it. I will not waste my time in convincing someone like you." He turned around and started walking away, but not before throwing one last comment at the Arrancar. "You should start counting down your days since no one's going to come save you. I know that for sure."
"How do you know that?" She took a step forward, her hand itching to snatch her Zanpakutōn and put a hole between the bald man's eyes.
"Because why would anyone come to save you? You really think the rest of the Arrancar will waste their time saving you? I wouldn't throw my life away for someone like you."
Ignoring her eye as it stung when she narrowed it, Lily took a few more steps towards Ikkaku. "And by that, what do you mean?" If he says that one word, she'll shove her Zanpakutōn up where the sun doesn't shine.
"Why would they risk their lives or put any effort into saving someone like you? If we captured you once, then you'll end up getting caught by us again and all that effort went to waste rescuing someone weak like you." He started walking again. "I also bet that whoever trained you, feels disappointed in wasting their time on you."
Two things just piss her off. The first one was that word.
Weak.
Why that word?
WHY is it always that word that bothers her?
Was it because of what Baraggan had said to her all those years ago? Or is it because everyone in her little family had mentioned her weak status? Barragan's words left behind a mental reminder that she was the weakest of the group, but she could always ignore that.
But what she couldn't ignore was everyone's comment.
Lily looked at Starrk once the Hollow left their office after giving them the most recent incident. "Maybe I should help Menos Park?"
"Did Yoruichi finally say you're strong enough to go off on your own?" Starrk didn't look at her as he said that, his eyes were more engrossed in the report he was reading so he didn't see the scowl on her face that his words caused.
"I won't know if I got any stronger if I don't test myself out." She saw him hesitate for a second and thought he'd let her go, but he said nothing. Which meant he had ended their conversation by retreating into silence, but before it could settle in, she said. "I'm not weak."
She notices him so easily; his orange hair stuck out amongst the Hollows. "So, station near me again, Lieutenant Kurosaki?" He took her comment as an invitation to walk closer to her.
"Some of Baraggan's men had snuck through our front lines and apparently found the part of Menos Park that we're standing on top of."
"Are they planning on attacking us from below?" When she saw an affirmative nod, she looked at him with a slight shock expression on her face. "Then what are you doing here instead of going down there and stopping them?"
A bit embarrassed, Ichigo looks away and says, "Rose and Love are guiding a small platoon of Hollows to take care of them, but in case one of them sneak past them and reach the city, I'll be here to protect you."
Touching, but, "I can protect myself just fine."
"You say that, but I don't know if you're powerful enough."
She presses her lips together before taking a page from Starrk's book and retreating into silence. Not wanting to argue with Ichigo.
"What are you sulking about now, child?" Ulquiorra's impassive voice reaches her ears, and she looks up from another report to greet the man.
"Here to turn in your report?" She asked and seconds later he was pulling out his eye before destroying it, allowing her to see his most recent memories. When that seemed done, she was expecting Ulquiorra to leave, but he stood there for a few more seconds.
"Are you feeling caged?" He asked, probably assuming why she was moping.
"Something like that." She answered back but found that Ulquiorra wouldn't leave until he got an actual explanation. She sighed before confessing. "I feel like no one believes me when I tell them I'm strong enough to defend myself. I wanna be a bit out there by myself, you know? I wanna go to Menos Park without Starrk worrying about me or walk alone in the city without your lieutenant acting as a bodyguard who doesn't want to leave my side because he doesn't know if I can defend myself."
"Then prove to them you're strong. Maybe that way they'll stop seeing you as weak."
"Okay, first off, I was being subtle as to not use that word; sorry if you couldn't catch-up with that and second off, I am strong," she frowns before continuing, "I just need to get stronger."
He nodded before leaving without saying another word.
Rage fuels her as she walks through the halls of Szayel's Division before she slams open the door to Szayel's main laboratory. "SZAYEL!" She has called out the man's name with so much fury that any dangerous Hollow would turn into a coward, but the man in question slumps his shoulders and lowers down the scalpel.
He turns around and offers a smile. "Do you need something, Lily-chan? If not, please leave. I'm in the middle of a possible scientific breakthrough. Unless you're here to watch?"
"That's not going to make me turn away."
Szayel drops his smile before rolling his eyes and turning back to the strap Hollow on his operating table. "Oh please, are we doing that again?"
"You know damn well that you need to stop with all of this." She gestures to the entire room that looks to better belong to some madman. She could see the organs of an unlucky Hollow in jars that she couldn't save in time.
With a sigh, Szayel lays down the scalpel and turns around. "Lily, how many times must we go over this? They gave me full authorization to continue my research on Hollows. You should be glad that I don't use any of our Hollows."
"I get that! But, look at yourself! You have blood all over your clothes! You didn't even bother to wear a scrub!"
"I will not waste my time changing clothes. Dissecting a Hollow gets me better results when they're still fresh!"
That last word gave her a pause. "Fresh?" She rushed over to the operating table and shoved Szayel out of the way to see that his most recent victim was still alive. "Szayel… why the hell is he alive! Don't put him through such misery!"
"How else am I going to see the organ's reactions if he's dead? I need to understand Hollows' anatomy better and when they're alive, I get better results." Sighing, he continues, "But, if you want him dead so he won't suffer, then please, do him the honor."
She turns around to see him handle the scalpel to her. In her rage, she forgot to grab her Zanpakutōn. Maybe then she could kill the Hollow a little more painlessly. When she didn't make a move to grab the tool from Szayel's hand, he offered to do it for her before she shook herself up and grabbed the medical knife and positioned the scalpel over the Hollow's mask.
Seeing her hesitation, Szayel leers over her shoulder at the strap Hollow. "He won't feel a thing, Lily-chan. I put him under the effects of a heavy anesthesia that I have made. He probably won't even feel his death."
When her hand started shaking slightly, Szayel grabbed it.
"We can do this together." He started slowly raising her hand. "And we'll make it quick."
Before he could do anything else, she dropped the scalpel and started walking away.
"There's that weak reaction I was expecting from you."
That was his last comment to her before she heard the scalpel cutting the Hollow open and she soon started rushing out of the room.
To her, it almost feels like the world doesn't want her to forget just how weak she was and it has to remind her. She also can't stop damaging her own self-esteem when comparing herself with Starrk who has such a tremendous amount of power, amazing regenerating abilities like Ulquiorra, the cleverness of Szayel or being born as the perfect being like Ichigo… but she wasn't weak!
However, the one who said otherwise was her.
"Please stop joking with me." She took a huge gulp of air into her lungs but started having a coughing fit when the sharp pain on her left side started acting up. Today was Menoly and Loly turned to train with Mashiro, which left her to train with Yoruichi, and unlike her sister-figure, she didn't hold her punches!
Mashiro had trained her already in everything she knew, but she wanted to learn more from someone who was far better than her sister but she didn't ask for her new teacher to lie about her growth either.
Yoruichi didn't look too out of breath as her but the woman had a few sweat dripping down her forehead. "Trust me kid, I'm not."
She groans softly and lays back on the sand to look at the moon. "Thanks for the 'encouragement' but I prefer honesty."
"It seems like you can't tell when someone's been honest with you." Yoruichi moves her head to block the view of the moon and smiles down at her. "Believe me when I'm telling you how you have potential."
"In what?" She asked before barraging her with dispiriting answers. "I'm not too skillful with my Zanpakutōn. I'm a complete novice in the arts of Hakuda. Not the fastest, strongest or the smartest… See? I have no potential."
Yoruichi didn't look so convincing and put a finger under her chin before a smile came forth. "Show me that neat trick you can do."
She snorts a bit at how excited a full-grown woman looks at seeing her cheap magic trick. "Sure." She smiles back and raises her hands before decorating them with Espinas.
"You got better at that."
"Thanks, your Reiatsu training help." She stops focusing on her Espinas and goes back to looking at the moon… If Yoruichi wasn't in front of her sight.
"That's really amazing, you know."
"What is? My party trick?"
"That party trick is part of your Spiritual Pressure and by the looks of it, I think you got blessed and were born with an elemental representative." When Yoruichi saw her widened eye, she led her head a little lower. "I only know of two people in ALL of Soul Society that are just like you; although they represent fire and ice, you're probably the first Arrancar to be born like this."
She raised her hand and created a tiny Espinas which only caused the Shinigami woman to smirk.
"You have a gift, Lily. Not everyone has the potential for having almost perfect control over their own Reiatsu and it's only going to get better with my training. First, we're gonna go over to Urahara and have him help you figure out your element and then I'm going to train you to the bone. Got it? So you better not quit on me, because I'm going to make sure you change, transform and find some self realization in you," Yoruichi reached out to her. "My little dragonfly."
Yoruichi helped her out… really helped her out. For two years she had to mix her training with helping Starrk around his division and creating law and order in La Estrella. She wasn't walking alone in her path, either. Yoruichi was with her every step of the way and each day she could see how Yoruichi was proud of her.
Which is the second thing that pisses her off.
She would never disappoint Yoruichi, but she would be if she didn't take this chance to test herself out.
"You running away, Shinigami?"
"No, I'm just not going to waste my time hurting a girl."
"Oh? Now you're making excuses? Scared that a girl might just kick your ass?"
That stopped Ikkaku and made him turn around to look at the confident look on the girl's face. "So you grew a backbone, huh?" He started tapping his Zanpakutōn over his shoulder, walking back towards the girl. "If we do this, I will not enjoy hurting you." He stops in front of her and smirks, "So I'm going to be holding back against you since you won't be worth taking seriously."
Lily looks back at the man with a smirk. "You'll regret not taking me seriously."
Watching the scene in front of him, Zaraki laughed, "Looks like you're going to get your fight!" He was about to hand over Lily's Zanpakutōn before he remembered the only condition that Central 46 wanted him to follow. "Hey! Put the seal on her and get rid of those cuffs and collar too!"
Two members of the Kidō Corps nodded before walking towards her and when Lily saw the two men approach, her body tensed and was ready to defend herself before Kenpachi stopped her.
"Sorry brat, but you're going to get a seal on you. Central 46 can't leave you loose with full power. The seal these two will put on you will be the same as what Captains and lieutenants need to use when traveling to the World of Living. Don't worry about my 3rd seat either, he'll get the same seal as you. So both of you will only be able to use 30% of your Reiatsu."
Before the Shinigami would take her cuffs and collar off, they placed a skull-shaped seal over her left forearm. Once that got placed, they removed her cuffs before finally moving over to her collar and once that came off she sighed in relief; feeling slightly free before Kenpachi made a gesture to grab her Zanpakutōn from him and her short sweet moment got ruined.
"That's right, I'm supposed to kick your baldy's ass."
"Don't take my man so lightly, girl. He's tougher than you think."
Lily could hear a somewhat tone of respect in the captain's voice. "Fine, but if I win, I want a reward."
"And what would that be? More meals a day?"
"I was wearing a shirt when y'all 'captured' me. I want that shirt back."
Raising an eyebrow in disbelief, Kenpachi says, "You can ask for something more than just clothing." The girl said nothing besides giving him a stern look. "Fine, I'll get your shirt back."
Suì-Fēng wanted to take the girl back to her cell by force, but a look from Captain Kenpachi challenged her to do so, and she knew that was impossible by this point. Not only because the 11th Division Captain would interfere; but also because it looks like the Arrancar wanted to let loose, too. She looked around the gathered Shinigami and realized besides them two, there was also Captain Kyōraku, Unohana and Ukitake here too. 'With five captains here, the Arrancar won't have time to escape.'
Handing Lily her Rapier, Kenpachi looked at both fighters before smirking. "Alright, the rules will be simple. No killing." That was all he said before walking and taking his place over to where the 11th Division was standing with his men cheering for their 3rd seat's easy victory.
Suì-Fēng took her leave and went over to where the other 3 captains stood watching.
Left alone now, Lily and Ikkaku share a few seconds of silence.
"No killing?" Lily said as she took a few practice swings. "So I can break a few of your bones then?" With one last swing, she took a stance with her back straight and left arm behind her back, her right hand close to her chest while the tip of her rapier pointed to the sky.
Showing a slight interest in the Arrancar's unique stance, Ikkaku took his. "As if you could."
Lily studies the man's strange way of holding his sword in his left hand on a normal grip and the sheath in his right held in a reverse grip. 'A rather strange stance for a dual wielder.' She put one foot back and was ready to make a quick thrust towards her opponent to test the water before the residence in her head spoke.
'What the hell are you doing?'
'About to kick a Shinigami's ass?'
Rolling her eye, the albino Lily said, 'I know that, I've been watching this entire time, but what I want to know is why the hell are you using your Zanpakutōn for.'
'What?' Feeling somewhat confused, she frowned softly. 'What are y—' She couldn't finish her thought before taking a side step from Ikkaku's sudden attack; his right arm had come down in a fast downward swing. Knowing the dangers of a dual wielder, she blocks his left attack, but the man skillfully wins over and parries her sword away.
Seeing an opening, Ikkaku swings back his right arm and hits Lily over the side of her ribs before using the opening to swing back his Zanpakutōn.
Lily recovered from the first attack and took a leap back to dodge the man's sword before retaking her stance. "Sheesh, some people say go before the match starts, you know?"
"You must be blind to have missed the obvious sign that the fight started."
Lily didn't waste her time to berate the Shinigami before she moved into the defensive from the Shinigami's relentless strikes. She thought moving her leading right foot back to put more space between them was the right move, but he wasn't allowing any gap between them and each step she took back he had moved two more forwards.
Her eye carefully followed each swing and step the man did before she found an opening in his attack. They lock blades but this time around she allows the man to continue to pressure down her rapier and let him power her cut. She relaxes her grip before rolling up her elbow, allowing his Zanpakutōn to slide down her sword while bringing hers up and then coming down just as fast across the man's chest.
The girl's agility was much faster than he expected, but didn't surprise him as much. He moves his sheath and stops the girl's rapier above his chest's peck and swings back his left arm.
Sensing the danger coming, Lily gathers Reiatsu at the tip of her Zanpakutōn. "Punta!"
Ikkaku knew the girl hadn't done a thrust motion, but still he felt as though the girl's sword had dug an inch into his body, but what he felt wasn't the normal pain of steel piercing his body. There was a burning sensation—a horrible burning sensation.
Abandoning his attack, Ikkaku jumps back and checks the wound on—no, scratch that, in… in his chest. There was a clear sign of a puncture in his chest. Rather lucky, it seems like the Arrancar's attack only dug half an inch into his chest.
He looks back at her to see her back to her stance. "You almost had me." At his words, the girl lifts a brow up before thrusting and calling out the same attack, only that this time he got to see just what hit him. He steps to the side to dodge the green light that started from the girl's Rapier and watches it go a few more meters past him before stopping.
"Correction, I didn't 'have' you. I chose not to kill you." Lily replied coolly, really showing her opponent that the gloves were off.
Ikkaku wanted to ask what she had just done but laughed it out instead. He calmed down before removing his katana hilt's pommel, dug two fingers into the vial of healing ointment before rubbing some across the cut and hole.
Lily started worrying about Ikkaku when he started laughing maniacally and kept getting worse as the man started doing a strange dance. Feeling a little of concern, she lowered her sword and took a cautious step forward. "Hey yo—"
"Ha! I take everything I said back, Arrancar! I thought you would have been a disappointment!" Pointing his sheath at her, he says, "But you show promise! So I'm not holding back now!"
Believing in the man's words, Lily took her stance.
'Drop your Zanpakutōn, right now!'
'What?'
Ikkaku rushed back to assault her faster than she could reply to her spirit. 'Crap!' She started defending herself more desperately. The Shinigami seemed to have figured out her Zanpakutōn's ability since every time she tries to align an attack by putting space between them, he closes their gaps instantly.
Forgetting to use Punta, she thought of a different strategy but couldn't figure out what to do. She never took her Zanpakutōn training any further than to defend herself, and that was her fault. All she could do was parry and take pivot steps to dodge.
Seeing a left swing coming, Lily blocks and slides her blade across his while closing in. Ikkaku grinned at her straight forward attack; he could see how she had become reckless and desperate. He swung his left hand and hit the girl across her ribs again.
Rolling across the floor, Lily clutched her ribs before looking up and blocking a double down swing strike from the Shinigami with both her hands on her sword, but while that attack was blocked, the low kick wasn't.
While the fight rages on, by the sides, the group of lieutenants chat among themselves.
Shūhei looked at the battle with his arms crossed and a gentle frown on his face. "Ikkaku's taking the girl seriously now and has her on the ropes. Actually, I think he can finish this fight any minute he wants now." He said as the battling lieutenant hit the Arrancar again with his sheath instead of his sword.
"He must want to see more from her." Yumichika said before adding with an unbiased tone in his voice. "The girl showed a beautiful attack; stance and everything."
"She can do more? Right?" Kira looked towards the group that had recently been to the Human World.
"Well, I'm not sure." Iba said, glancing at Renji to see him still shocked at the revelation of which Hollow they captured. So the answer to blonde's question came from a certain ex-captain.
"She had three years to grow, and after what happened to her, she had to grow." Tōshirō answered Kira, watching the duel with the same indifference as Yumichika.
"What happened to her, Captain Hitsugaya?" Rukia asked, forgetting that the boy genius hates having to correct others from his demotion.
"That's Lieutenant Hitsugaya, Kuchiki-san." Tōshirō mutters under his breath before saying, "Three years ago, on the first day we met the Arrancar, that Hollow sacrificed her life to protect Zangetsu from your brother." He turns to look at Rukia. "Your brother hit her with a powerful Kidō that left a hole in her stomach. So saying the least, she should have died, but miraculously she survived."
"A hole in her stomach?"
Certain memories of that day came rushing to Rukia's head. "Looks like I get to return the favor." Was it revenge that she heard from his tone of voice that day? "Don't take this the wrong way, I'm not trying to kill you but, this is my way of returning your brother's generosity for what he did towards Lily first." Or was it perhaps retribution? She didn't know, and that started giving her mixed feelings about them again. Was there something more? 'I need to find out.' She kept a mental note and promised herself that she'll try to learn a bit about this Arrancar before her execution.
"Where would you put her?" Captain Ukitake asked the assembled captains, each with a slightly different opinion.
"5th seat." Suì-Fēng said, listing everything she saw wrong. "She needs to polish her swordsman's skills; got a sloppy stance and needs to be more on the offense. Her one good attack seemed to be more of a one-hit-kill shot, so if her opponents can escape, they'll never let her do it again. However," Her eyes follow the girl as she dances around her opponent's swings before taking a huge leap back and launching herself before thrusting her sword, grazing the man's cheek and escaping with a pivot step before Ikkaku could close his weapons around her. "I'll admit that her footing skills are better than I expected."
Unohana couldn't add more to the criticism of the 2nd division Captain, so instead settled to praise the girl's foot work too. "She had definitely avoided the worst possible injuries and suffered slight bruises than she had from the start of the match, thanks to her footing. I would place her at 6th seat."
Kyōraku watched lazily, but his sights were eagle-eyed sharp. "She's not used to her Zanpakutōn. Hmm… no." He watched a messy attempt meant to cut Ikkaku across his chest, but the girl's sword is not made for deep slashing. "She doesn't know how to use her Zanpakutōn. Her sword's obviously not made for deep slashing and locking blades, it's more for thrusting and shallow cuts. 6th seat for me too." He watched the Arrancar's beautiful dance of avoiding strikes with her footwork and when they yet again entered another blade-lock, Ikkaku surprised the girl when he pinned Lily's Rapier with his sheath before swinging his Zanpakutōn. 'And the match ends.'
Lily couldn't pull her Zanpakutōn and couldn't help but watch as the Shinigami's blade closed in on her at almost slow motion. She thought perhaps time has slowed down for her to think about the good life she had and not to have a conversation with her spirit.
'Let go of your sword, dumbass!'
'But then how am I supposed to fight!'
'LILY!' The spirit called out her name in a rage. 'You don't know how to fight with your Zanpakutōn because you ignored us! Neglected us! You avoided us by learning a different way of fighting that didn't involve us! And that's… okay… we didn't ask to be born, and you didn't ask for us either.'She had quieted down towards the end before speaking back louder. 'Drop your Zanpakutōn and fight the way Yoruichi-sensei taught you!'
Feeling as time has returned to its normal pace, Lily glares at the approaching danger. 'I'm sorry.' She lets go and catches the Shinigami's swords; she ignores the sparks that her Hierro and the steel blade cause when they clash before hitting Ikkaku across his wounded chest with a right cross punch.
Ikkaku huffed as the air in his lungs gets knocked out of him but a hit like that didn't stun him enough, he gathers his bearings before looking back in time to see the Arrancar let go of his sword to closed in on him before thrusting her knee towards his chin and hitting him.
If it wasn't for his enhanced strength, then an attack like that would have knocked him out, but before his days as a Shinigami, he used to roam the streets of Rukongai as a brawler. However, back then, none of his opponents were Arrancar. So the girl's steel hard skin hit differently and caused him seconds to recollect himself—plenty of time for a follow-up attack. But once he recovered, he found Lily still standing from the spot she kicked him from.
"What's this? Not using the opening you made to get a few more hits?" Ikkaku asks her while massaging his jaw to see if it's shattered or dislocated. "You're not going to get any more lucky hits like those again."
Lily started tapping the ground with her tiptoes. "You're right, lucky hits won't happen again." She switched to her dominating right foot and kept tapping. "Because these next hits won't have any luck in them."
Ikkaku thought the girl's 'lucky' hits made her act arrogant, but once he saw the girl's focus stare, he realized now she was going to be fighting in her preferred method. He tightened his grips around his weapons and took a stance but Lily closed in before he could raise his hands and had spring up a left knee kick that hit him on the chin before bringing back her foot again to follow up with a nasty hook kick. Moving with her left leg's momentum, she kicks herself off the ground with her right foot and delivers a high side kick.
If her last kick didn't break his jaw, then the three-hit combo he just suffered started shattering parts of it. 'Shit!' Seeing the girl still following her right foot motion, Ikkaku realized she was coming back around with another kick. He swung his Zanpakutōn but Lily stopped her motion and kicked his sword away, so as that failed, he went with his sheath but the girl spun around with the ball of her left foot and raised her right foot high.
With her facing him, Ikkaku could see that the girl's set in tanking his attack so that she could go for an axe kick and if there was something those last kicks told him, it was that it wasn't worth sneaking a hit on her while receiving worst damage. He jumped back, abandoning his attacks and avoiding hers.
When the girl's axe kick hit, the ground shattered around her foot. "That would have been nasty."
Lily ignored his comment and would have Sonido to close their distance, but the man had opened his mouth.
"What's your name, Arrancar?" He asks without dropping his guard.
Was the Shinigami asking questions to buy himself some time to recover from a possible concussion? "Why do you care?"
Grinning, the bald Shinigami said, "Because there's a custom in the 11th Division about giving your opponent your name as a last courtesy so they know the name of the one who brought death to them."
"Is it also a custom to bully members from another division?" Lily glares at the Shinigami, who frowns back at her words.
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about the way the 11th Division mistreats the 4th Division."
Scowling deeper, Ikkaku says, "Why do you care about the conflict between our divisions when they don't concern you."
"They shouldn't, that's true, but from what I heard, it's rather stupid."
"And?"
"And I think you should all stop, and to make sure you do, I'll kick your ass for the promise that your division will leave the 4th alone!"
"An Arrancar fighting for the Shinigami, who would have guessed, but, fine! I, Ikkaku Madarame, 3rd seat of Zaraki's Division, will keep our promise if you give me a fight to always remember!" Ikkaku slams Hōzukimaru's hilts and its sheath. "Grow, Hōzukimaru!" Once released, his katana took the form of a Kikuchi Yari with a wax wood shaft.
Before she could introduce herself, she noticed how this was the perfect opportunity for a bluff that could delay her execution for a few more days or two. "Lilynette Starrk, Lieutenant to Captain Kurosaki and daughter of the King of Hueco Mundo, will give you the fight you're wishing for!" Her arms and legs glow a transparent light-green color before clashing with the man.
The sound of clashing blade and iron skin echoed through the silent field as every Shinigami heard her declaration.
-XX-
Omake
Set three days after the last Omake chapter.
A Bat's Diary: IV
"Let's go again!" Mashiro asks while sweating bullets, hunched over and out of breath.
Looking at her conditions, he turns his back and starts heading to his Gigai. "You're out of breath and I can sense that you're low on Reiatsu. Besides, we have spar for hours now." And that wasn't an understatement. Everyone else has left, and it seems like it's a little past curfew, most likely the kids were already asleep and the other two Visoreds have left while Mashiro had optioned to stay longer. "We trained enough for the day and we'll train another day, Kuna-san. So go home and rest."
"Come on! Don't be like that!"
He didn't need to turn around to see that she was flailing her arms over her head. With a quiet sigh, he looks over his shoulders. "Sparring while fatigue won't be good for you. You may damage your health." He pointed out her condition in hopes to make the woman realize that she had reached her limit for the day.
He seemed to forget who he was talking to.
"No, no, no! I can keep going! My best time with my mask on is fifteen hours! So a few spars shouldn't have worn me down so fast!"
"15 hours? That's quite extraordinary and very impressive." He told her dully.
"Why do you sound like you're not really impressed?"
"Because I'm not. For you, Visoreds, fifteen hours may sound like some achievement but I can see clearly that you don't train with your mask on."
"But we do!"
When he asked her about their training, he didn't have to listen much for him to realize what was wrong. "Kuna-san, leaving your mask on for the rest of the day while reading manga, running on an exercise bike and light sparring isn't training."
With a scowl, Mashiro said, "But those are great ways to stay focused on keeping our masks on."
"And yet in our spars, you don't last longer than five minutes." He pointed out, and she quickly responded by puffing her cheeks.
"You're literally taking the spars too seriously, ya know. If I took them seriously too, I w—"
"The results would still be the same." He interrupted her, his words creating another scowl. "The only thing different would be the speed your mask would shatter. Kuna-san, your mask will break if you ever go against an opponent of higher caliber who isn't holding back. Your restrained sparring matches will be a hindrance to you in future battles. So I will clap for your time achievement, but won't acknowledge that you have trained."
Seeing her frown, he figured how he must've soured her mood and with not knowing how to deal with a crabby person; he turned to leave but then he heard an exaggerated groan. He stops to look as she sat down on the ground cross-legged with an elbow on her leg and chin planted on her palm. "... Can you help me train?"
She asked him while not looking at him. 'Rather childish.' He thought. "Very well, but we'll do it some other time." He made a move to leave, but Mashiro seems to want him still around.
"Neh, you tired?"
"No."
"Sleepy?"
"No."
"But you're heading back to your room?"
"Ofcourse."
"To do what?"
"Meditate."
She turns to look at him, somewhat mystified. "You don't fall asleep while doing that?"
She asked him rather surprised and it took him a second to remember that most likely a super hyper person like Mashiro would either fall asleep or abandon the meditation to bother someone else. "Hardly, although you should try meditating while wearing your Hollow mask, maybe that would help."
Pondering his subjection, she pouted after agreeing and thought that perhaps now she'll let him leave but then, from her mouth, came a request he never expected to hear from her. "Hey, since we both don't have nothing else to do, wanna sit on the roof with me?" Her head rested on her forearm as she patiently waited for an answer he couldn't figure out how to reply.
He would not be making an excuse, but he's going to be stating a fact. "It's nighttime."
"I know that, that's why I'm asking."
"What are we planning on doing?"
At that she smiled but pressed her lips into her palm to hide it. "You gotta come with me to find out."
With a nod, Mashiro jumped up to her feet in a fluid motion and started heading upstairs while telling him how she'll wait for him at the roof. He had a running thought of making an excuse but as he walked and entered his Gigai, he couldn't help but remember how something similar happened the last time Mashiro played out one of her strange schemes; which led to interesting results. Before he knew it, his legs had climbed up the stairs and throughout the quiet household, he could hear the faint sounds of snoring. Looking down the hall and to the door of his room, he spared it a second glance before ultimately walking out the front door and looking up to see her waiting for him. He jumped on the rooftop with his superhuman strength.
Startled, Mashiro spun her head around. "You came."
"Didn't expect me?" Her head shook, and he said neutrally, "I had thoughts of turning in for the night." She frowns as he continues. "But I'll be honest and say I want to see what you have planned."
She smiles and eagerly pats the spot right next to her. "Sit, sit, sit!"
He obeyed before looking at her, now expecting to hear her plan, but she looks up and he follows suit to the dark sky with a few stars twinkling in the distance.
"Do you like it?" She asks after some time. "Lily told me how Hueco Mundo has nothing in their skies besides the moon. So when I showed her the stars for the first time she was very excited. How about you, do you like them?"
"Well, they're fascinating to look at." He said, now realizing that this was what she had planned. Not wanting to be rude and leave, he closed his eyes and listened off into the distance. He could hear the voices of humans who were out around this time, a few cars and the occasional dogs' bark too. No sound of a Hollow, and yet, he felt alarmed. Hearing the screams and roars of Hollows in Hueco Mundo was such a normal occurrence that not hearing them now felt out of place. He opens his eyes again to look at her, trying to figure out how she'll surprise him.
With her eyes glued to the stars, she pressed her knees to her chest. "Lily said how seeing just this star was the most beautiful thing but the lights in the Human World hides all the stars that you could see at night, that's why I like Soul Society better, because you could really see how pretty they look. I promise Lily that one of these days I'm going to take her there so she could see them." She turned and smiled at him. "I'll take you too and I won't take no for an answer!"
"If you insist."
Her smile brightened, but then she got a strange look in her eyes. She opened her mouth, a bit hesitant to do so but when she seemed to have found the courage, she said, "What was your life like in Hueco Mundo?"
"You've waited to ask me that, haven't you?" He asked, and she stared blankly at him. "My life was rather..." He frowned as he openly began telling his life without being forced to. "My life was different when compared to the other Hollows. I was born in the deepest pits of Hueco Mundo, with no knowledge of a past life and in that pit, I lived alone. Isolated because even I wasn't a normal Hollow. So I left."
"Why?"
"Would you stay in a place that made you feel like an outcast?" He asked her back, getting a shake from her head. "When I left, I traveled across Hueco Mundo alone, lamenting my existence. Feeling like an outcast, I found myself driven into social alienation. Then alone, I became more apathetic, I stopped caring for other beings; Hollows, Humans and Shinigami. With my life empty, I soon felt life was meaningless."
"What..." A frown was back on her face. "What made you feel life was meaningless?"
Looking deep into her eyes, he says, "Try to live a life like mine. Travel through a world where you live in an ocean of white sand and you're born to live as prey or predator. You aren't born with a free will since all you will do is eat. From the start to the end, all you will do is eat and only the strong will keep on living but the more you become strong, the more you see that your life will become empty to you because in the end, you'll be standing alone."
He looks up to the night sky and to the only stars shining through the eternal darkness. "When you live long enough in Hueco Mundo, you will start seeing how emptiness occupies so much space." He looks at the Living World's moon, "Like this world's moon, Hollow must go through phases of empty hunger to feel full again and when you reach the end, you'll live in an illusion that's needed to disguise the emptiness within. Humans and Shinigami live through the same thing. They hunger to feel their emptiness fill up. So they create law and order; pursue dreams and ambitions to feed their empty world."
He looks back at the woman, his words creating a strange look in her eyes. Was that pity or confusion he saw? He didn't know; the emotion didn't last long for him to decipher it since another emotion moved forward. "I think..." She looked deeply into his eyes. "I think you're wrong in the way you're perceiving the world, including your own existence in it and how things actually are. You lived your life empty, but then something changed."
"What makes you think that?"
"Because you're here. Starrk said you follow him back here. You didn't need to, you could have kept living empty. So why did you follow him?" When he didn't answer, she said, "Ichigo told me how you broke your mask. Why would you do that? You could have died."
Ichigo had told her that? No, Ichigo wouldn't tell her, she must've asked him. "Because he told me how I could trust him, and I wanted to tell him that I did."
"There's more."
"..." Of course there is more, but he doesn't need to talk about it. "I lived empty in my world." She's not forcing him to tell her. "But Ichigo started becoming a part of it, then he started adding these other... colorful individuals and before I knew it, these eyes of dogs started seeing colors." So why is he telling her this? "Each day since I got here, they have done anything to make me fit in. Even the Visoreds tolerated my existence. And that..." He moves a hand up to his chest and feels the beating of an organ against his chest. "Started filling up the void in my chest with some… emotion.."
"Do you know what you're feeling?" She said, smiling and laying her head on her knees.
"Should I know?"
She laughed softly and said, "You're a really weird Hollow, Ulquibaka. Oh! You said how you were born in a deep pit, super dark pit, right? And then you live across Hueco Mundo which is nothing but white sands, right? So you literally lived in a black and white world!"
"Where are you going with this?"
"When all is said and done, let's travel the human world together!"
"Parted me?"
"Yeah! And no cheating, so no using Garganta or Sonido! I want you to see everything life offers! Let it be good or bad!" Pumping a fist into the air in excitement, stars twinkle in her eyes. "I actually never seen the world either. I spent the last hundred years hiding under a worn out warehouse!"
"You're a strange woman, Kuna-san."
"Mashiro, I want you to call me Mashiro." She smiled, and he reflected a ghost of a smile.
"You're strange, Mashiro."
Silence, and then.
"Hey, since we're going to see the world, we should start with Karakura Town first! So next week, instead of training, we'll go into town!"
"Very well."
More silence before yet again Mashiro opens her mouth. "Hey, when you said you didn't care about other beings, you didn't mention Visoreds or Arrancar."
"That's because I didn't know your or mine kind existed."
"Fair enough."
"... But that doesn't mean that I wouldn't care about Visoreds or Arrancar."
"Hey?"
"Hmm?"
"Wanna spar again?"
"Please go home and rest, Mashiro." He stood up and jumped down, ignoring her childish attempts to rile him up. "Goodnight, Mashiro."
"I hope the bedbugs bite you, Ulquibaka!"
Sup folks, ya waited long enough? I'm sure you have since the last time I updated the story was about... eight months ago... ouch. Sorry for breaking that promise but what can I say besides life's not easy right now.
But enough about that.
So this chapter I wanted to add alot more but before I knew it, I started adding more and more into day two that I felt like I would need to push the update another month or two. So I cut it in half instead and gave y'all something to read. So sadly this chapter isn't lengthily compare to the last chapter.
Alright, so only got two things to talk about in this chapter. The first would be the Ikkaku's sister, Shino. In the manga she wasn't reveal to Ikkaku's sister but was in the light novels. So no, Ikkaku's sister isn't some made up OC.
Two would be Lily's elemental representative. Like I said before, I wanted to separate Lily and Starrk in a sense that they wouldn't be the same being by giving them similar or the same powers. I wanted them to be their own person but still care for each other as family. So I thought I would do something for Lily and came up with the idea of giving her an element. Now, having elements isn't unheard of in the Bleach verse. Toshiro and Yamamoto seemed to control elements (Ice and fire) with just their Reiatsu alone and Harribel can manipulate water once release. Lily's element(which I won't reveal until next chapter) can be used without entering her Resurrection (Which she doesn't have. YET) because of a certain redhead's influence. It took me awhile to think of a proper element for him and I think I found it.
Welp, that's all folks.
Till next time~! Which I PROMISE to be sooner.
-Ten Out.