The beast was ready to sate its endless hunger as it struck forward like a viper at the prone form of Orihime, unfortunately rather than partake of the soul of the delicious looking teenage girl, it ended up partially impaling its head upon Tatsuki’s zanpakuto.
Tatsuki stood firm as the violently hungry beast’s head sunk further back, until the substitute shinigami gained enough leverage to free her blade while inflicting a deep, vertical slash across the left-side of the Hollow’s skull-like face.
As the beast recoiled in pain, Tatsuki readied herself to administer the death blow to this monster who had dared to attack her friend; however all of this changed when something that Tatsuki could never predict happened. The part of the Hollow’s mask from the cut outward shattered, and revealing that beneath the mask was the face of an oddly familiar human being.
As Rukia finally arrived crashing through the window to Orihime’s apartment, the Hollow escaped as it clutched its head in pain and Tatsuki watched in shock.
“Tatsuki, what’s the matter with you,” Rukia shouted at her substitute/apprentice, “How could you just let that Hollow get away like that?”
“Rukia, Hollows are just monsters right?” Tatsuki asked somewhat still in shock.
“Yes, why is that important?” Rukia asked not liking where this question might be leading to.”
“Then how come the face of Rukia’s dead brother Sora was under that Hollow’s mask?”
Through the sands of Hueco Mundo raced a figure clad in bone-white scales, an individual on a mission. She was Cuanva Ochua, Ochenta of the Números and the best messengers amongst the Arrancar. When it came to delivering orders from Las Noches to either Grand Fisher's court or Adjuntas Glade within the Menos Forest no one was faster or got better results, only Norseix Monturoil came close; however Monturoil had the bad habit of frequently attacking and trying to eat anyone nearby that wasn't the recipient who annoyed him.
Okay technically Renay Loren was faster but she was also so easily distracted that she often got side-tracked mid-delivery.
Still her reliability often put her in constant danger, as she was also the second eldest of the Números who was not a Fracción her appearance was not always appreciated. Syazel constantly tried to infect her with his spores so that she would be his unknowing spy, thankfully she could shed and regenerate her scales (which would immediately ignite in a white-hot explosion).
Aaroiero tried to eat her whenever she had to deliver a message inside his lair, fortunately she could easily hide and dig her way out. Yammy never did anything as long as she fed the stupid oaf's ego. The worst of the Espada by far was Nnoitra who tried to kill her every time she delivered a message to him that he was in a bad mood (which was every damn time that he saw her).
Still they weren't all bad, Zommari often had some new bit of insight or philosophy that he wanted to impart on any who came to him, even if most of it went over Cuanva's head. Grimmjow although gruff and sadistic did have a sense of honor, and admired her dedication. Halibel was always terse, but never harsh to her. Ulquiorra would never do anything to anyone who did not try to attack him, provided that he was not ordered to kill them.
Barragan refused to have anyone approach him directly, and as a result had Choe act as a filter for all of his messages. Stark was somewhat alright, and granted Cuanva did receive her orders through him; however she had no wish to become a Fracción to him or anyone of the other Espada. After all, the only one that she wished to suborn herself to was long gone, having been destroyed somehow by one of her fellow Espada.
Again Cuanva sighed to herself, there was no sense on wishing for dreams that can never be there was only the present and today just like any other her reputation as the greatest messenger in Hueco Mundo was on the line. She barreled forward rapidly through the sands towards the outcrop where Grand Fisher usually held court.
As she leapt from the sands to make a quick course correction, she collided with of all things a giant, slippery, purple eel-like Hollow that had been slithering across the surface right in her path, causing the two of them to crash into the other.
“Bawabawa, are you alright?”
“Waah…Bawabawa don’t worry, I’ll fix you up as good as new don’tcha know.”
“Ith Bawabawa going to be okay?” asked a strangely young voice.
“Ugh, what hit me?” Cuanva asked herself as she staggered to her feet, wondering about the voices she was hearing.
“Hey you,” that same small whiney voice yelled out, “Why did you hit Bawabawa you big meanie?”
Looking around her Cuanva Ochua quickly spotted with source of the voice, a tiny Arrancar about the size of a human child with a humorously shaped cracked skull for a mask that looked oddly familiar. Next to her were two Hollows that she honestly couldn’t say were threatening in the least, one looked like the cross between a human and a stick bug and the other looked like some kind of awkward Hollow version of a polka-dotted clown.
“Excuse me,” Cuanva inquired, “but just who are you, I know every Arrancar in Hueco Mundo, and I don’t recall ever meeting one quite as young as yourself?”
"Me?" the young, green-haired Arrancar asked pointing to herself, "I'm Nel-Tu, theth are my bwthth Dondochakka, Pethche and Bawabawa, and together we'wh..." Nel stretched it out as the four members of her group moved in to strike a pose.
| "The Three Brothers!" | The Great Desert Brothers!" | Mythtewious Neldonpe!" |
The moment that they realized what had happened, the three started to argue while the beast Bawabawa decided to stay out of the squabble.
| "I really want it to be The Three Brothers don'tcha know!" | "I said that I'd only agreed to The Great Desert Brothers!" | "Wh-when we talkeded we choosed the Mythtewious Neldonpe!" |
Cuanva Ochua however wasn't paying attention to any of this, from the moment the young arrancar revealed her name Ochua's mind drifted elsewhere. 'Nel Tu...I can't believe it’s really her, Nel-sama...Neliel Tu Oderschvank. But I can't deny it the resemblance, the hair, the eyes, the crimson mark, the placement of the mask remnant...it's just all too perfect.'
'But that broken mask and the scar that might explain what happened to her, and her companions their appearances and masks are different but their outlines are the same. They're Nel-sama's Fracción, her family, Dondochakka Bilstin and Pesche Guatiche, it all fits this is too perfect I might even be able to attain my dream here right now...'
All too sudden Cuanva's dream was shattered by reality, 'No I have a job to do and a duty to fulfill, maybe I can asked Stark-san about pursuing this later but for now I must keep my promises.'
"Well this has been...interesting but I have a job to complete and a message bound for Grand Fisher's court. I apologize for hurting your friend; maybe we can play later to make up for it when my time is my own for now Hastan luego señorita! y los niños" Cuanva finished as she dove underground leaving the trio wandering the sands of Hueco Mundo.
As Cuanva departed the three outcasts of Hueco Mundo took in what she said, and drew their own conclusions from them.
| 'Oh no, she knows, we're going to be found!" | 'Crap this means that Nel-sama will be in danger again when Nnoitra and Syazel find out we're still alive!' |
Suddenly Nel began to smile and cheer, "Huway thth meath Nel maded a new fwend to play Etewnal Tag with!" Immediately causing Dondochakka and Pensch to face-fault in exacerbation while a scream of primal agony echoed in the distance.
"What do you mean that Hollows are formerly human souls?" Tatsuki all but screamed at Rukia, "I thought that you told me that they were just monsters, evil spirits that needed to be defeated."
Rukia glared right back at her shinigami stand-in, "Yes they are monsters, evil spirits that must be defeated. The reason that I told you that the best way to dispatch a Hollow was a decapitation strike from above was for two reasons: It's the best way to take out a Hollow without injury, and it’s the best way to avoid revealing a Hollow's face on the off chance that you might recognize them."
"But I don't understand," Tatsuki growled as she tried to wrap her head around the facts, "Inoue and Sora were so close why would her brother try to kill her? I thought that Hollows attacked people and spirits when they were hungry indiscriminately."
"The Hollows that do that have already eaten their families." Rukia told Tatsuki firmly, "Also Hollows do not eat souls because they are hungry; they do it to ease their pain and suffering. A Hollow is a soul that has lost its heart and often its sense of self, souls that are not sent to the Soul Society by the Shinigami in time or souls that end up falling victim to Hollows degenerate until they themselves become Hollows."
"That is why we call them Hollows to acknowledge the void left behind in their soul; moreover soon after a soul becomes a Hollow to fill this void they will seek out their loved ones. Surely you've seen countless examples in the news of a husband or wife dying and then their spouse dies mysteriously a few years later, am I correct. This is because the spouse that died first became Hollow and returned to eat the soul of their beloved.
"That mark Orihime has on her leg," Rukia said pointed to Orihime's body which was still separated but attached to her soul, "That was the bite mark from a Hollow."
"Then when you asked about her family you knew this might happen?" the substitute Shinigami asked with anger creeping into her voice.
"Well I had my suspicions, but I needed to be sure." After Rukia said that Tatsuki couldn't resist any longer and smacked her partner on the head, "Ow, what did you do that for?"
"You knew that this might happen, and you didn't think it was a good idea to warn me." Tatsuki screamed, "If you were paying attention this afternoon you would have known that I was coming over here later, I could have been better prepared when Sora showed up."
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(Posted Sun, 24 May 2009 18:06)
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