What if…

Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo, I only own this fanfiction.

Chapter 10: Arrancars in Karakura Town…. Again!

"You want us to go to Karakura town…?", asked Ulquiorra surprised.

"We will all go.", said Harribel.

Gin then pressed a button and the screen behind him lit up to reveal Urahara Kisuke and Orihime waiting for them. Urahara was waving at them with his fan and Orihime looked a little uncomfortable next to the shop owner. "Hello, everyone! I already told Harribel and Gin, but little Orihime here needs your assistance. You see something is going on with Ichigo and she needs your help to figure out what."

Ulquiorra raised an eyebrow. "Don't you, Urahara Kisuke know anything about that? I find it hard to believe that you are unable to assist Orihime in any way."

Urahara laughed. "Ain't that the truth now? Truth is, I do know stuff about the whole thing but I can't be involved in that way. So, it is up to you guys to do so!"

Ulquiorra still didn't buy the whole thing, but he did want to help Orihime. It was then that Grimmjow asked something actually logical for the first time in… well, a while. "And aren't we a reason to have the Soul Society on alert if we go to Karakura town? I mean, we are arrancar and if we go to Karakura town it is bound to cause some issues."

They all stared at Grimmjow shocked. "What?! I'm not that stupid!"

"Say the person that just went to Karakura town to beat a guy he had heard that was strong.", mumbled Stark.

"I heard that!", growled Grimmjow.

"Now, now, now guys. Calm down. I've got that covered.", said Urahara while grinning. "He suddenly grabbed a body of what looked like a human but was looking dead and that body looked a lot like Grimmjow.

"What the actual-"

"Language, Grimmjow!", shouted Harribel.

"Crap…", finished Grimmjow a little disappointed with his final declaration.

Orihime sweatdropped and looked awkwardly at the body. "This is a gigai…", she tried to explain.

"You can wear these in the human world and it suppresses your spiritual pressure, so no issue is going to occur with the Soul Society. I have made one for each and every one of you, even your fraccion! Ain't that wonderful?"

Nel suddenly turned red and it was obvious she was furious. "You had time to do this, yet you couldn't find a solution with Nel's issue?!"

Urahara sweatdropped at that and started laughing nervously. Orihime sighed. "That's what I asked as well…"

"Well…", started Urahara. "I've worked on your issue as well and I'm almost done if I have to be honest, but…"

"It's still not ready.", finished Nnoitra, obviously annoyed as well.

"There's a lot of stuff going on…", Urahara tried to say. "I had to do some other things first…"

"Bullshit!", shouted Nnoitra and Nel nodded.

"Language!", shouted Harribel, looking more annoyed than before.

"Oh, come on now! You heard him! We all are thinking that it's-", started Nnoitra.

"Don't say it!", said Harribel.

Nnoitra frowned at her. "This whole thing with the language is getting ridiculous. Nel isn't affected at all. She already knows those words!"

Harribel glared at him. "Maybe, but I still prefer for you not to swear." She then turned to look at Urahara. "Ignore the whole ruckus. We will prepare to come to Karakura as soon as this call is over."

"Of course.", said Urahara grinning. "See you soon then. Orihime will be waiting here to welcome you properly."

Orihime nodded and for a moment her eyes locked with Ulquiorra's. Then the screen was turned off and silence filled the room. "Interesting…", mumbled Ulquiorra, referring to the whole ordeal.

Harribel sighed. "We should start preparations. Not all of us are leaving, obviously. My girls have agreed to stay back and so has Gin."

"I suppose you can also stay back, huh Tesla?", asked Nnoitra, much to the fraccion's surprise.

Tesla blinked. "Yeah… No problem.", he said.

Nnoitra grinned at him and came close to his fraccion to whisper. "Harribel's bitch is going to stay as well and without Harribel. It's time you make your move."

Tesla turned red but didn't say anything. Nnoitra grinned harder at him. Tesla then looked at Nel. "Maybe you should also consider making your move, master Nnoitra."

Nnoitra frowned and looked away annoyed. Nel seemed oblivious to the whole conversation and she seemed to be considering something as well. "Pesche and Dondochaka will also stay in Hueco Mundo.", she said with as much of a serious expression she could master at her child form.

Pesche and Dondochaka immediately tried to convince her that she needed them, but Nel grinned at them. "Nel will be fine! Nel will have Nnoitra and Orihime to take care of her if anything happens."

Her two fraccion stared at each other before they both glared at Nnoitra. Pesche suddenly approached him with a serious expression. "I want to have a word with you, master Nnoitra."

Nnoitra's frown deepened, but he nodded nevertheless. Maybe it was finally time to apologize to the two idiots as well.

Harribel sighed once again. "All right! The rest of us are all going. So let's go get ready and let's all meet up here in around two hours."

Ulquiorra immediately left the room at the highest speed he could master, the moment those words left Harribel's mouth. Grimmjow chuckled. "Look at lover boy. He can't wait to go see his girl."

Nnoitra snickered as well. "Maybe he'll finally take the next step to their relationship."

Tesla raised an eyebrow. "Look who's talking master Nnoitra…"

Nnoitra glared at his fraccion. "Don't you have someone you want to talk to as well, my dear Tesla? And don't annoy me. I might have become soft with you, but don't push your luck."

Tesla sighed, knowing far too well that this was an empty threat after all the things that happened after the war, made mainly so that Grimmjow didn't make fun of his master. "Yes, master Nnoitra."

Dondochaka grabbed Nel and they headed to her quarters, while Pesche approached Nnoitra with a serious look in his eyes. Nnoitra sighed and he and Pesche went outside of the room. "So, spit it out.", said Nnoitra, looking straight ahead and not at Pesche.

Pesche sighed as he collected his thoughts. "Master Nnoitra, I want to ask you to actually take care of master Nelliel and to not hurt her in any way. I also want you to protect her if it's needed."

Nnoitra stared at the fraccion with a serious expression. "I've regretted what I did back then. To both you and her."

Pesche looked away. "I know that… you've changed. You treat her much better and you don't actually try to cause any harm-"

"Not having her as my opponent was something I still blame myself for. I want her to return to who she was and I want her to… Stay with me."

Pesche's eyes widened. He remained speechless for a little while and Nnoitra glared at him. "Don't you dare tell her that I said that!", he threatened.

Pesche nodded hesitantly. "You have changed for the better indeed. I can never fully forgive you for what you did to her… to me and Dondochaka. But I accept that you aren't the same person that did all of those terrible things."

Nnoitra huffed annoyed. "I'll protect her. The only thing I want in return is for her to never hear of this conversation."

Pesche nodded. "Thank you, master Nnoitra." With that, he left to go and help Nel with the preparations.

Nnoita sighed. He hated being so vulnerable to the idiotic fraccion, but he did owe it to the guy after breaking his mask completely and forcing him to turn back into an adjuchas state. He started heading to his quarters to prepare for the trip to the world of the living. Suddenly a thought that hadn't crossed his mind when he told Tesla to stay back hit him. What would happen with his dreams? What if he had one with Nel in the same room? He facepalmed and growled. "Shit!"

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Ulquiorra was the first to arrive in the Garganta room, having with him both his book and his plushy. He wanted to give the book to Orihime so that she could read it herself and as for the plushy, he guessed he wanted his "cute companion" with him. He hid both of them in a small sack he had in his room, not really wanting to have the other Espada's attention on his items. He was excited. That he was certain of.

He really wanted to see Orihime again and the fact that he would finally see all the things she talked about up close was making him feel warm.

"You sure came here quickly."

Ulquiorra turned around to see Grimmjow leaning on the entrance with his hands crossed and a teasing smirk on his face. "Are you excited to see your girlfriend? Oooh, how adorable!"

Ulquiorra glared at Grimmjow. "You are the second to arrive. I can only guess you are too excited to see Kurosaki again, huh trash?"

Grimmjow immediately took the bait and sonidoed next to Ulquiorra. He lifted him from his shirt and growled at him enraged. "Why you-"

"Grimmjow, put him down." That was Harribel, who had crossed her arms and was scowling at the other two Espada. Stark was right behind her, not looking amused either.

Grimmjow obeyed, mumbling profanities under his breath. Ulquiorra simply glared at him. Harribel sighed. "Why must you always fight? You are acting like children."

"Speaking of which…", growled Grimmjow as Nnoitra with Nel on his shoulder made their appearance as well.

Harribel went to the center of the room. "Now we are only waiting for Gin to open the Garganta from the control room."

"On it.", was heard from the megaphones applied to the room. Soon enough, an artificial Garganta opened in the center of the room. "Have a nice trip you guys! Don't forget to bring me souvenirs!"

Harribel nodded and entered the Garganta first, followed by Stark. Nnoitra looked at Nel, who nodded at him with determination and so he followed after the others. Grimmjow and Ulquiorra stared at each other. "Been a while since we last visited, huh?"

"We only caused destruction last time.", replied Ulquiorra.

"Let's go then!", said Grimmjow while running to the Garganta.

Ulquiorra shook his head. "And let's not cause any more destruction." I'm coming to help you, Orihime, he thought. And with that he entered as well.

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Orihime and Urahara were both in a special room Urahara had prepared for such an occasion. It was the one she used to visit Hueco Mundo herself. She would meet her Shinigami guides on the way and together they would all go to Las Noches. A dark void opened in the center of the room and Harribel accompanied by Stark were the first ones to appear. Not long after, Nnoitra with Nel on his back and a running Grimmjow on his tail appeared. And last but not least… "Ulquiorra!", shouted the girl excited and ran to hug her friend. Grimmjow and Nnoitra snickered. "I'm so glad you're here."

Ulquiorra awkwardly returned the hug. "Glad to see you too…"

Urahara waved at them. "Hello to all the Espada in the room. Welcome to Karakura town! Some of you have visited before though…." Urahara chuckled awkwardly.

Grimmjow grinned while Ulquiorra sighed. "I apologize for our past actions. It was due to orders of lord Aizen.", said Ulquiorra.

"Well, I acted alone.", said Grimmjow in a challenging manner.

"And you lost an arm for that.", said Stark.

"Well, Aizen was a douchebag!", growled Grimmjow.

"Language!", shouted Harribel.

Urahara chuckled and then sweatdropped as he noticed the combined glares of both Nel and Nnoitra. "I take it you're still mad about the whole transformation thing, huh?"

"Nel believes you could have easily fixed it!", she yelled.

Urahara sighed. "Truth to be told, I didn't really put my heart into it…. But, I will try to fix the issue while you are here."

Nel looked at him with a skeptical look before she sighed. "Nel doesn't really have a choice…"

Nnoitra thoug approached Urahara pissed off. "You promised that you would be done by now. How can we know that you're telling the truth now, huh?!"

Urahara sighed and looked down. "I promise that if I am not done by the time you are to depart for Las Noches, you can personally choose any punishment you want for me."

Nnoita huffed satisfied. "Good. Now you better start working. I want to be able to fight her with no issue."

Nel nodded her thanks to Nnoitra and he nodded back. Urahara scratched his cheek before he lifted his fan up to his face. "Well, well! Let me give you your gigai then!"

A big muscular man brought what looked like six bodies with him and tossed them at Urahara's feet. Upon closer inspection, the bodies resembled the six Espada in the room. The one that was for Nel was of her adult form. "Now then, you will have to enter these bodies as though you are trying to possess them!"

Harribel sweatdropped. "That's one way to describe it…"

"Will it be okay for Nel to enter her adult body while being small?", asked Nel concerned.

Urahara grinned. "You see these bodies are hollow so even if you are in this form you will be able to enter it. If, during your stay here, turn back to your adult form, there will be no change in the physical body of the gigai, only in your personality."

Nel blinked surprised, but nodded in understanding. Nnoitra eyed Nel's gigai feeling a little uncomfortable. It was exactly like Nel without the mark he had left her and obviously without her mask. How on earth would he be able to tame his dreams? At least Urahara had chosen modest clothing for the gigai, a simple purple blouse and a long blue skirt. That was something at least… He then checked at his own gigai. Just like Nel's, the scars had been removed and to his surprise, Urahara had put a normal eye where his Hollow hole and mask was supposed to be.

"Since you have no eye there, it won't really work. I mean you won't be able to see by it, but it will copy the movements of your other eye, so it will give the illusion of a real one.", explained Urahara.

"I see.", said Nnoitra. His gigai was wearing a black hoodie and jeans with some sneakers. He supposed it suited him.

Harribel looked at her own gigai interested. Her gigai obviously had no mask and it was weird seeing her face bare without the blue markings she has in her resurrection or with her hair in her normal hairstyle. She was wearing an orange low cut blouse with a brown leather jacket and jeans with cowboy boots. She couldn't really tell if she liked it.

Stark was certain that he didn't like his clothing. A white shirt with a black tie, black slacks and black shoes made him look too serious for his liking. "I need to get other clothes…", he mumbled. "More comfy ones…"

Grimmjow picked up his gigai by the collar of its blue blouse. His gigai was also wearing some light brown slacks and white shoes. "I look like a nerd…", he growled. "Where are my facial markings?"

"You see, humans don't really have blue facial markings, unless you want to use makeup.", said Urahara.

Grimmjow glared at him. "Then why does Nel get to keep her facial marking?"

"Because it looks like a birthmark and birthmarks exist in this world.", explained Urahara seeming tired with Grimmjow.

Grimmjow frowned, but did enter his gigai. "Great, I feel weaker already."

"That's completely normal.", said Urahara. "Your powers are going to decrease in order for you not to get unwanted attention."

Nnoitra sighed annoyed at that as he also entered his gigai. He looked at himself feeling very weird with this clothing. Urahara turned at him with a smirk. "I got you a hoodie so that you can have a hood! Since you enjoy this weird uniform of yours so much."

Nnoitra glared Urahara. "Nobody has any fashion sense apparently…" He then turned around and gasped in surprise as Nel, now in her own gigai had approached him and was staring at him with bid doe eyes. He almost fell back from the shock. "What the hell, Nel?! What is it?"

Nel stared at him a little more before she answered. "It's weird to Nel that you have two eyes. Nel thinks it doesn't suit you as much."

Nnoitra turned red at the way she was looking at him and looked away. "Gee, thanks I guess."

Harribel stared at her new body very curiously. "I think I like it."

Stark was pulling at his tie. "I'm 100% certain I don't."

Ulquiorra, the only one that wasn't taking part in the chaos was staring the others from afar. He then looked at his gigai curiously. His facial markings and his mask were gone and his skin complexion wasn't as white. He was wearing a black blouse and brown pants with sneakers. Orihime approached him with a smile. "I think it looks great. These colors suit you."

Ulquiorra nodded hesitantly and entered his gigai. He felt weaker indeed. It was a weird feeling and he hadn't been prepared at all. He stared at Orihime and she was looking at him in awe. "You look really good, Ulquiorra.", she said grinning at him.

He felt warmth in his chest and he started feeling more confident about this new appearance. "Thank you, Orihime.", he said and much to his surprise, he felt one corner of his mouth lifting up a little.

That didn't go unnoticed by the girl who gasped and smiled brightly. "I'm so happy! It seems that you are allowing your emotions to make their presence known if you almost smiled."

Ulquiorra nodded and looked away a little embarrassed. "I'm not sure I can do it right, though."

Orihime chuckled much to his surprise. "You'll do just fine.", she said smiling at him.

Urahara coughed loudly to get everyone's attention. "Now, the only thing that remains is for me to give you the gikon you will be able to use in order for you to exit the gigai and still have someone occupy your human body. They all came close and stared at Urahara's hand that had a weird device with a bunny at the top. Urahara chuckled at them. "You press the bunny head and an artificial soul pill will pop up, you eat it and you are out of the gigai, while an artificial soul takes over the body so that people around you don't find your gigais looking like dead bodies."

The Espada nodded unsure whether they fully understood what Urahara was talking about. Urahara grinned and opened his fan again. "Great! Now that everything is explained, off you go!"

"Off we go where?", asked Stark.

"To my house!", said Orihime cheerfully. "I've made space for everyone. It really helps that I live alone."

"So, we are all going to live together?", asked Nnoitra, while his eyes briefly glanced at Nel. He gulped uncomfortably.

"Well, yeah! But don't worry! Harribel and Nel can sleep in my room, while you guys will sleep on the living room! I was given plenty of sleeping bags by mister Urahara, so you don't have to worry about a thing!", said Orihime cheerfully.

Nnoitra felt cold sweat on him. "Great…", he mumbled, not very excited by the idea of sleeping next to Grimmjow. What if he had a dream and Grimmjow heard him? He would die of the embarrassment.

Ulquiorra looked at Orihime as she guided them to her house, all the while showing them around the areas they passed. It was night so there weren't many things they could see, but things sure were livelier than Hueco Mundo. Now that he wasn't there to cause destruction he was certain that he would enjoy Karakura town, especially with how Orihime's eyes lit with excitement as she showed them everything. This was going to be a very interesting trip.

End of Chapter 10

A/N: And it's done! The Espada are in Karakura town. Firstly, something that was brought to my attention by my friend CrazyCartoonFanGirl, I never gave credit to where I took inspiration for the scene with Nel and Harribel changing outfits. It was a reference to Honey Canon's Nnoinel doujinshi's that you can easily read on youtube and the fact that Nnoitra calls Nel's resurrection a cow was also inspired by that. Secondly, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I would love to see your comments on it. In the next one, the Espada will meet Ichigo, who won't be exactly excited to see them (especially Grimmjow). Till next time!