What if…
Chapter 8
A/N: Disclaimer: Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo, I only own this fanfiction. Last chapter before the timeskip.
Chapter 8: Mayuri's problematic creation
Orihime came out of the Garganta accompanied by Rukia and Rangiku. Rangiku waved at Gin and Rukia glanced at Grimmjow a little warily. Grimmjow stared at her confused. But after a minute, he realized why. "Oh right! You're that soul reaper that I almost ceroed to the head."
"And you also created a hole in my stomach.", said Rukia while crossing her arms.
"Oh yeah, that too." Grimmjow sweatdropped. "I ain't good at apologies about this kinda stuff, you know."
"I don't really care for an apology. I want to make sure that I won't get a cero to the head today. Can you do that?"
Grimmjow grinned. "I'll try my hardest, but I can't really promise anything."
"Yeah, that idiot, ceroes anything he sees at random times.",said Noitora, while smirking at Grimmjow.
"Hey! I only ceroed Luppi!"
"And Menoly…", added Orihime sweatdropping.
"She doesn't count! You brought her back to life!", shouted Grimmjow while pointing at her.
"Oh, quiet, Grimmjow. You're acting like a child.", said Nel. Suddenly, her device started ringing and pink smoke engulfed her and after a moment she was a child again. "Dammit!", she mumbled. Harribel's eye twitched and Nel put her hands in front of her mouth, while Nnoitra sweatdropped.
Rukia's eyes widened. "Right! Before I forget… This is from Mayuri." She presented Nel with another bracelet that had some weird buttons on it. "He said that it supposedly will try to rearrange your spiritual pressure so that you don't turn into a child. It will take some time for it to do so though. He told me that you will alternate between the two stages more often until it can become stabilized."
Nel's eyes widened in surprise. "Nel will alternate between the two stages?"
"It will take some time for it to be able to maintain one of the two stages. There is also a chance this thing will have to reset its settings again and there is a chance, though not a big one that your child form will be the dominant stage. It's up to you to try it until he has a more permanent solution."
Nel frowned as she considered her options. There was a risk and it definitely would annoy her at first, but it was a sort of solution. She sighed. "Give it to Nel."
Rukia nodded and bent down to wrap it around her small wrist. Nel stared at it in awe and suddenly Urahara's device started beeping and in a moment's notice she was an adult again. Nel grinned widely. "It worked!" Right after she said it, the device started beeping again and Nel was a child once more. "That was fast…" Not a second after that, the device was beeping again. "Not again!" After that she was once again an adult with a horrified expression. "How long is it going to take to be more permanent?" Another beep was heard and she was a child again.
"It depends was what Mayuri said. If your spiritual pressure is in complete disarray then a lot of time, but if not, far sooner. You shouldn't take it off though. It will start from zero again." All the while Rukia was talking, Nel had been alternating between her two forms, while the device wouldn't stop beeping.
"Ok, this is getting annoying to say the least.", said Noitora.
Rukia sighed. "Well, I've nothing better. That's what Mayuri created and I'm actually surprised he even bothered at all."
"He sounds like a prick.", said Noitora.
"Knowing him, I can confirm he is.", said Rangiku.
"He definitely is.", agreed Rukia.
"Well, he did try to kill me once I entered Soul Society. In a very brutal way, I might add.", said Orihime.
"He sounds like Szayel.", said Noitora.
"If I remember correctly, he was the one that killed him.", said Rukia.
"Sounds fitting.", said Noitora.
"I hate this!", shouted Nel suddenly as she was alternating between the two forms and the beeping of the other device wouldn't stop.
"Can't we help her somehow?", asked Orihime.
"I don't think you can do anything.", said Ulquiorra, who had been watching the transformations with a renewed interest.
"Well, it seems annoying.", said Grimmjow.
"It is annoying!", grumbled an adult Nel that was soon replaced by her younger self. "Can't we give that Mayuri guy a call?"
Rukia sighed. "We can try, but I don't really think he is going to bother that much."
"I mean, he explained the issue with the device, so in his eyes there are no errors and he will consider you responsible since you knew the risks.", explained Rangiku with a frown.
"We can always try.", said Orihime with an uneasy smile.
"We should.", said Harribel, who had grown tired of the noise and seeing the pink smoke appear and disappear all the time.
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They went to a room with a lot of screens that Gin knew how to operate. "I used to come here whenever I was bored and I would mess around with the rooms and stuff."
The arrancar in the room sweatdropped or glared at him in the case of Grimmjow and Nnoitra. "So you are the reason I would run around the west hallways in circles, you ass!", shouted Grimmjow.
"Language!", shouted Harribel exasperated, while Grimmjow kept on mumbling curses.
"He found it hilarious to do it while I was drunk and in search for a toilet.", growled Nnoitra.
Gin chuckled. "Good times."
"That sounds kind of funny actually…", whispered adult Nel that turned into a child after a minute.
Nnoitra glared at her and frowned. "Weren't you lucky to not be here while Gin was at his prime?", he said sarcastically.
Adult Nel again glared at him. "Yeah, thank you very much for breaking my mask and eventually leading me to this situation we are facing right now." She had changed forms twice while she spoke.
Nnoitra sighed. "I would laugh at you, but this whole situation is annoying as hell."
Nel pouted, but didn't comment any farther as she kept changing forms over and over again.
Gin smirked at them. "Let's try and talk to Mayuri, though that is going to be quite interesting…"
Gin started writing on the keyboard and everybody watched him with interest for a while. Gin smirked again. "I've reached Soul Society, now I'm waiting to be connected to the 12th squad's headquarters."
It didn't take long before somebody answered. "Ichimaru Gin.", said a woman with a monotonous voice.
"Hello, Nemu", said Gin cheerfully. "I'm here with Rukia, Orihime, Rangiku and the arrancars and we would like to talk to Mayuri about his new invention.
"I'm going to call for Master Mayuri.", said Nemu while remaining expressionless as always.
Nemu disappeared for a few moments and reappeared after a while with Mayuri on her tail. The arrancar that had barely seen the crazy scientist during the peace making dinner felt a shiver run down their spines, mainly because this eccentric man had been the one to kill Szayel, their crazy scientist.
"What is the matter?", asked Mayuri with apparent irritation in his voice. "I'm pretty sure I made it quite clear to the girls that the device isn't really finished and I did give you the choice of wearing it or not."
Nel stepped forward while changing back and forth. "I want to ask you how long will this thing be happening?! It's annoying to say the least!"
"I'm pretty sure I explained that it depends on yours spiritual pressure's condition.", he said exasperated. "The only assistance I can offer is to suggest you take off Urahara's lousy device so you can get rid of this annoying noise. You can always take off my device as well, but know that if you decide to put it on again, you'll start from the very beginning and it will be as annoying as it is now. You see, my device technically is a seal that will help the spiritual pressure to remain in all the right parts and not leak from your mask."
"Ok…", said Nel while still changing forms. "But can't you even take a guess?! I mean, you created this thing and you've fought against the Espada before, so you must have an idea!"
Mayuri frowned. "I fought against the eighth Espada and when it came to spiritual pressure, believe me when I say he was nothing special." That sent another shiver to the present Espada's spines. After all they were all slightly disturbed when it came to Szayel. "Nevertheless, I did study the rest of the Espada and the spiritual pressures I deemed too powerful were the ones that belonged to Espadas number one, two, three and four, with a huge difference when it came to numbers one and four when it came to the others."
"What about Yammy Llargo?", asked Harribel suddenly. "The number ten or zero from what we figured."
Mayuri frowned. "He was pathetic. I don't know who considered it a good idea to give him the title of zero Espada, but that person was probably doing it as a joke."
Harribel sweardropped. "Aizen had quite a peculiar sense of humor if he considered this a joke."
"He considered many ridiculous things a joke.", said Grimmjow and Nnoitra nodded while frowning. "Like cutting off my arm and then allowing me to have it back with Orihime's abilities without saying a word and allowing me to cero Luppi."
"We are back to ceroing people again…", mumbled Rukia.
Mayuri glared at them. "Are you quite done yet? I'm a busy man and I am wasting my time explaining what should already be considered obvious from what I told to those two girls. Nevertheless, if I had to take a guess, I'd say that for your spiritual pressure to kind of stabilize, I would give it around three hours from the time you put the device on-"
"Three whole hours like this?!", yelled a still changing Nel.
"Yes.", said Mayuri exasperated. "You are actually pretty lucky, considering it could take days. If I were you, I'd remove Kisuke's device for some peace and quiet. Now, I'll be leaving you, because as I said, I'm a busy man."
"Wait!", shouted Nel, but Mayuri had already disconnected. "Oh boy…", she mumbled as a child.
"Well… At least he gave a hypothetical time limit…", said Rukia.
"Still, she will change even after that time limit, right?", asked Ulquiorra.
"From what he said, I suppose yes.", said Orihime.
"How long has she been wearing it? Also, he was right about one thing, take the other device off! The noise is killing me…", grumbled Nnoitra.
"I don't know.", said Nel, while she did take off the other device. It was indeed much nicer without the constant beeping. "I guess about an hour?", she said.
Stark yawned loudly. "Finally. Some peace and quiet."
"What a pity the smoke doesn't stop too…", mumbled Harribel.
"If it makes you feel any better, I think it's taking a little longer between the changing in forms.", said Orihime with an encouraging smile.
"Yeah, from one second till the change to two seconds. Progress.", said Nnoitra while rolling his eye.
"If it doesn't get any better in two hours, I suggest you take it off.", said Rukia. "After all, both Urahara and Mayuri are working on more permanent solutions and you might get something better soon."
"Especially from Urahara…", mumbled Orihime and Ulquiorra glanced at her curiously. Orihime noticed and smiled at him. "He is far more into creating stuff from what I can tell. Korosutchi Mayuri is…"
"Nuts.", said Rangiku. "He is insane."
"He looks the part.", added Grimmjow.
Everyone sighed as Nel kept on changing again and again and again… "Let's check her in an hour.", said Rukia.
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~An hour later~
Orihime and Ulquiorra had been walking around las Noches for that hour, mainly because Orihime had asked Ulquiorra to show her around, something that should have been done in her first visits, thought Ulquiorra. "I think we should check on Nel. I know that Pesche and Dondochaka said they would inform us if something major happened, but I would like to check on her.", said Orihime.
Ulquiorra glanced at her from the corner of his eye and slightly nodded. "As you wish." Truth be told, he was curious about the whole thing as well.
As they arrived at her quarters, they were surprised to see Nnoitra exiting them. He stared at them for a moment, before he frowned.
"Is there any progress with Nel?", asked Orihime.
"Well… It takes a full minute for her to change now. Those two idiots even timed it. It still isn't enough."
Orihime frowned as well. "At least the changes aren't painful or so it seems…"
"They aren't.", agreed Nnoitra. "That doesn't mean they ain't annoying as fuck."
"If Harribel heard that-", said Ulquiorra.
"What would she do, huh? Child Nel isn't here to hear me, so I can say whatever the hell I want. Harribel just doesn't like swearing and is usimg Nel as an excuse to stop it!"
"Yes.", said Harribel suddenly. She had walked quietly behind Nnoitra as he was raging on his own and she had hidden her reiatsu. "I won't deny it. And I expect you to speak in a better manner wheter I'm around or not."
Nnoitra frowned but turned around and left while mumbling how annoying their queen was.
Harribel rolled her eyes. "I came to check on Nelliel. I assume you are here for the same reason."
"Yes.", said Orihime. "Also, do you know where Rukia is? I haven't seen her at all this one hour."
"She is with Grimmjow.", said Harribel.
Orihime blinked. "Really? Why?"
"I must admit that sounds peculiar to me as well.", said Ulquiorra.
Harribel shrugged. "I really don't understand what Grimmjow would have to offer in any kind of conversation, but the other Shinigami woman is with Ichimaru, you are with Ulquiorra and she really doesn't know anyone else here, so I don't really blame her for hanging out with the only person she knows. I mean she could hang out with me or Stark… On second thought, just me, but my as a previously said, she doesn't know us at all. So maybe Grimmjow decided to show her around as a way of apologizing as well for you know, almost killing her twice."
"Now that you elaborated and still ended up with how Grimmjow almost killed her twice, it sounds even weirder to me that she is hanging out with him.", said Ulquiorra and Harribel shrugged once again.
Orihime sweatdropped. "Yeah… Shall we go and check on Nel?"
They entered the room and sighed. Nel as a child was sprawled on her bed looking at the ceiling. It didn't take long after they closed the door to her room, before she turned into an adult. She growled in frustration. "I'll give it one more hour and if this thing doesn't become less frequent, I'm taking it off permanently."
"I don't blame you.", said Orihime sympathetically. "Do you at least feel any better?"
Nel turned at her with a pout. "It's still as annoying as ever! At least it takes a whole minute for me to transform."
"And thirty-two seconds!", shouted Pesche out of nowhere.
"Right…", said Nel while rolling her eyes. "Ain't that progress?"
Orihime sighed and sat next to her. "Patience is the only thing you can really do. I mean, if it doesn't work, you can discard it."
Nel turned into a child again. "Nel is honestly considering discarding it before that one hour… Nel doesn't believe it is going to fix Nel's problem."
"Oh, don't give up Nel. You never know…", said Orihime with a sad smile.
Nel nodded with a sad expression on her face. "Where is Rukia? Is it ok for her to be alone?"
Orihine sweatdropped. "She isn't technically alone…"
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Rukia had no idea how she ended up spending her time in Hueco Mundo with Grimmjow of all people. It was pretty awkward, but she didn't want to be the third wheel to Gin and Rangiku and she didn't want to ruin whatever was going on between the stoic Espada and Orihime. Spending her time with Nel wouldn't result in much considering the girl was in distress and she didn't really like that tall Espada that was around her. Spending time with the other two Espada didn't seem that bad, but they didn't seem approachable. So… she ended up staying with Grimmjow who after a while offered awkwardly to show her around.
He glanced at her and Rukia stiffened a bit. "What is it?"
He frowned. "How did you defeat not only Di Roy, but Arroniero as well?"
Rukia blinked. "You don't consider me good enough to win against them…?"
Grimmjow huffed. "I don't know about Aarroniero, but Di Roy was my fraccion. He was a good warrior."
"With a big mouth.", said Rukia. Grimmjow raised an eyebrow. Rukia sighed. "In my opinion, he was more focused in bragging about his ability in battle. He didn't even want to hear my name when I tried to introduce myself. He wouldn't pay attention to me and in the end he got what he deserved for being too cocky…" She blinked and sweatdropped. "Eh… Sorry for killing your fraccion though…"
Grimmjow laughed. "I tried to kill you twice and you are the one apologizing for killing Di Roy? He was indeed too cocky. A good warrior yes, but too cocky. And if that was why he got killed, well so be it. Though, the main reason I said it isn't because I want an apology." He turned at her and smirked. "You were caught off guard by me twice, so I don't know about your fighting abilities. You can freeze shit and that seems cool, so how about a fight between the two of us? One on one with no surprises."
Rukia sighed. "I refuse. And not because I am scared, but because I don't see the point to a fight for no reason."
"Oh, come on don't be a-"
"Careful what you say there, Grimmjow. Harribel has ears everywhere.", said Stark suddenly. He had appeared from the corner of the corridor they were about to turn to, before the weird conversation about fighting each other had started.
"Tch! Like I care about that stupid rule!"
Stark yawned. "Maybe you should."
Rukia sighed in relief that Grimmjow's attention wasn't on her or more importantly, on fighting her. "Maybe we should check on Nel? To see if everything is ok. Besides the time limit for this thing to work is almost up and Orihime, Rangiku and I shall leave soon."
Grimmjow frowned at her, but Stark nodded in agreement. "Gin told me so as well.'
Rukia nodded and they all headed to Nel's quarters.
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Nel stared at everyone that had gathered to check on her with a pout. Apparently the device didn't work fast enough for her liking. The time between the changes had reached three minutes, but it obviously wasn't what she needed or wanted. "As you can tell, the whole experiment was a failure." Nel turned into a child again. "Nel will remove that device and only keep Urahara's."
Rukia sighed. "I'm so sorry Nel, I wish we could offer you a better alternative."
"Mayuri is going to be disappointe.", mumbled Rangiku.
"Well, I think that you should stay positive, Nel. Two great scientists are working on your case and sooner or later they will have a permanent solution to your problem.", said Orihime.
"We will try to take care of her while she is in her child form.", said Ulquiorra and Orihime smiled at him sweetly.
"It might be a pain in the-" Harribel coughed in a warning manner "… A pain… but we will manage.", said Nnoitra while glaring at Harribel.
"Rest assured, she is in good hands.", said Harribel.
Nel smiled at them. "Nel thanks you all. And Nel hopes that sooner or later Nel will be big again once and for all." She then turned into an adult. She took off the device and smiled at them again. "Have a nice trip back and sorry for wasting so much of your time visiting with this silly matter."
"Don't worry about it. Besides, we still have plenty of time to catch up. I'll see you all, next week.", said Orihime.
"Don't think I forgot about fighting you, Shinigami.", said Grimmjow.
Rukia sweatdropped. "I'll keep that in mind…"
Rangiku kissed Gin goodbye and the three girls went to the Garganta room to depart. Mayuri's device was thrown away and Nel put on Urahara's device again. What she didn't know was that it would take almost a year for her problem to be solved.
End of Chapter 8
A/N: I'm back! It took me a while to finish this chapter, but it's finally over. It's more of a filler chapter that is addressing Nel's issue and is bringing Mayuri into the picture. The next chapter will be taking place on the Fullbringer arc and we will be having a timeskip. Someone on commented about the lemons, I'm planning to show little on and more on archive of our own due to the guidelines of the first. There is also going to be a warning before any lemon scene takes place, so that anyone not interested in reading it can skip it. That's all for now, I will try to update as soon as possible. Till next time!
