Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Negative Space ❯ Come and Get It ( Chapter 2 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

My foot falls were more of a stomping slap rather than a pat as I descended the stairs that led into my rock. That stupid Numeros was going to ruin everything if I wasn't careful. Well, it would be the fake Espada he reported to that would ruin everything, but the statement was accurate enough.

My hand ran along the rough stone walls that lined either side of the stairs as I picked up pace, running down the steps I had carved over several months with my cero. The steps were the perfect height for my gait, the perfect width. This place was perfect. It was exactly what I had wanted and it was mine. Damn anyone who tried to take this from me.

Approaching the bottom steps I was greeted with the openness of a vast room I had carved from the rock. The walls were white around the entire area, allowing the very few lights I had to illuminate most of the room. I paused at the base of the stairs and slid my zanpakuto from where I had it sheathed at my upper back. I didn't even bother glancing at the blade as I tossed it clear across the room to land on the bed that sat against the far wall.

The area I had carved was one massive room, but I had left some pillars in the center to ensure the ceiling wouldn't cave in one day. The pillars had at one time been just a giant portion I hadn't touched, but I had gotten tired of walking around like it was a hole in the middle of my dough nut and eventually carved five pillars out of the center. They were far smoother than the stair's wall was, mostly because I had gotten better at carving things away with my cero after working the entire room. I had found some curtains that I had strung up between each pillar to cascade down in billowing sheets of white and gold. I liked my curtains a lot, but Raacharg thought they were gaudy.

Well, poo on him.

I had divided the area up in several ways, the far side of the room was adorned by a bed I had taken out of someone's storage unit a while back and a mattress I had gotten from the same unit. I loved the dark wood. I didn't know what wood it was, but it was a beautiful and deep shade of red. The bed set I had found were similar to the curtains, but only enough that clear across the room they appeared to match. The white wasn't the same, and the gold was more of a yellow than a gold. Oh well, I couldn't be too picky when I had taken the set from a vacation home.

I had tried my best to furnish the room like it was a real residence instead of just being the inside of a rock. It had taken me years to gather everything I had, and none of it matched. I liked everything enough to bother lugging it from the World of the Living to Hueco Mundo, so it worked for me.

Now, my clothes on the other hand...

I loved clothes. I really did. It only made it better that I could run with arm loads of clothes at one time instead of struggling with a lopsided couch one piece at a time. I had so many outfits it was like a fashion locker in the one room I had made. Clothes, shoes and accessories lined the walls on racks I had smuggled out of a warehouse. It was a glorious sight! I had them organized by color, style, dresses versus pants and shirts, shoes lined up in perfect harmony, socks organized by color and length, hats hanging from the ceiling on wire hooks, scarves of various colors and styles joining them along more towards the walls. It was a dream closet and I loved it.

Pausing for a moment I glanced around, searching the room for Raacharg. When I didn't see him, I walked into the closet and pulled my shirt over my head so I could inspect the damage. The fabric had been cut clean through. From the shoulder down to the bottom hem there was a massive slice in the once white perfection. I really should have left that piss stick alive so Raacharg could eat him...

Letting out a defeated sigh I tossed the ruined shirt out of the room and walked over to the full mirror that stood in the back of the closet. I turned to so I could look at my shoulder and frowned. Not even a scratch. My hirendo had kept that Adjuchas from piercing my skin, but it had still ruined my shirt. That was some B.S..

In frustrated and jerky movements I stripped, removing my entire outfit and leaving it in a heap of fabric on the floor. I snatched a silk robe I had pulled from the back of some girl's closet and slipped into it, tying the knot securely around my waist before I left the closet. The red, black and gold fabric was one of my favorites and just what I needed to relax. Unlike most of the robes I had found at the time, this one fell clear to the floor, covering me in a swath of deliciously soft fabric that was light enough that I wouldn't sweat wearing it.

"Have you thought about what we are going to do?" Raacharg's question had me turning to look at the couch where he had taken to his spot on the leather surface.

"No," I answered in a snappy voice as I walked over and found my own spot on the lounging couch across from the one he was on. "I'm still mad about my shirt."

"You have an entire closet of clothes. How can you be upset over one?"

"I just am," I grumbled.

"It wasn't even your favorite," he responded in an equally grumpy tone.

"No, it wasn't," I let out a long sigh and let my head rest on the soft material of the lounger. "I'm just irritated."

"What are you planning to do?"

I liked how he put his sentence. What was I going to do, not we. He knew better than to assume I would let him fight with me. My true form didn't care about defining between friend or foe, me or my opponent. Everyone was affected the same way, I just knew how to handle it whereas some people didn't know how to fight without their reiatsu to aid them.

"We aren't leaving, but beyond that I don't know," I said slowly.

"Are you strong enough to take one of them on?" He asked. I frowned at him.

"You know I'm not on their level," I pointed out. "There's a reason I'm number 100."

"You chose to survive instead of chasing strength." His eyes met mine in a steady, confident stare.

"I did."

"And because of that, you survived when anyone else would have perished."

"Yeah, well that isn't going to help us now. We need make preparations." I rolled forward and rested my chin atop my folded arms. I glanced around the room, my eyes finding slots I had carved into the walls at each corner. Their shapes were roughly square and deep enough to fit a small cylinder, the perfect size to fit the segments of my mask's spine. This place was my home. I hadn't built it so it would be defenseless. I had intended for it to be used to hide myself, but it would work for defense. I'd have to tweak it, but it would work.

"This is our home. We made it, we filled it with our things. Everything here has a story, a tale behind how it got here and why. I refuse to leave just because some pushy ass hat wants it."

Two days of boring and uneventful bliss went by. I couldn't leave my house without becoming jittery at the thought of it being destroyed while I was away, so I had stayed put. I could think of worse ways to pass the time than sleeping all day, though there were only a few things. I didn't like sitting still like this, waiting. Raacharg had been right the other day when he had said that my healing abilities were what had kept me alive for so long, but the thought made me nervous. The aspect of rapid healing had been discarded by most Arrancar when they evolved in order to gain more power, but once it was gone there was no getting it back. I could discard it at anytime to gain a huge leap in power, but I wasn't willing to do that. I just knew as soon as I discarded it I would die. Call it a feeling, but I was just that lucky.

Despite how boring the last two days had been, I was eager for something to happen. I knew that 'something' would be a fight, but if it was inevitable then I wanted to get it over with. Though if this fake Espada's response time was this long, did he really care about my little rock? Probably not. If I was strong enough I would have picked my rock up out of the sand and moved it away. Clearly, that wasn't happening.

"Isa," Raacharg called. I glanced over to him to see his boney ears turned like satellite dishes in the direction that I knew Las Noches was in. "I feel someone."

"Do you know how far out?" I asked as I lifted my own stare toward the same direction despute knowing I would see nothing. My senses weren't even close to as sharp as his.

"A minute or two away," he replied as his eyes narrowed. "There's two of them. The one from before and another."

"Great," I said with a huff as I got up from my spot on the surface of my rock. I stretched briefly before I glanced back at Raacharg, giving him my best stink eye. "Go hide somewhere. I can't get between both of them and you at the same time while fighting."

"Are you sure it's going to be a fight? You don't exactly have a silver tongue," he pointed out.

"If I slap you, will you be offended?" I asked as I shot daggers at him with my glare.

The flat stare he gave me back said everything I already knew. I was nervous, and being nervous only made me that more unpleasant to deal with. The words that came out of my mouth when I was jittery weren't exactly pleasant…

Was I scared? Not exactly, but I sure wasn't a bundle of confidence. I knew that this fake Espada would be stronger than me. There was no question about it, but where he was stronger I was hoping I could out smart him or at least bluff my way out of a real fight. That may have been a stupid notion, but I had never met this guy. Grim-garb Jagermeister was a completely unknown element to me. Maybe my complete avoidance of those fakes hadn't been the smartest thing ever, but it had saved me from their influence for the last decade. If I hadn't separated myself so thoroughly from their attentions I surely would have been dragged back in well before now.

I set my stance as I barely felt them on the edge of my senses and double checked where my zanpakuto's hilt was resting. I had decided to go for a far more combat friendly outfit than what I had been wearing during my last encounter with the Numeros. With the entire ensemble, I probably looked like I started dressing for a late night outing and got distracted.

Somehow in my many plunders I hadn't found any black leather pants, but I had found red. I didn't really like the look of the nearly maroon colored pants, but they were well worn, moved with my body, durable and would hide blood well enough. They were perfect for getting into a fight. I had accompanied them with some black combat boots that I also wasn't worried about destroying. My zanpakuto was strapped to a belt that hung low on my waist, acting more as a fashion accessory than an actual belt. I hadn't been so lucky when it had come to picking a shirt. I liked all the shirts that were good for fighting in. To compensate I had donned a plain tank top that I could easily replace and a short jacket to hide the number that was engraved into my shoulder. They may have already known who and what I was, but that didn't mean I would flaunt it. I didn't like the brand, so I tried to hide it as much as possible.

I had pulled my hair back into a high pony tail, allowing the bone of my mask to be exposed more than I normally permitted. Even pulled back like this my butterscotch locks were still long enough to fall to fall down to the base of my shoulder blades and hide my mask, but the jacket also hid everything well enough that only the bone over my ears and at my hair line was exposed. Most of us Privaron Espada naturally had very little mask to actually over our faces. Why? I couldn't tell you, but outside of Tank Head we all appeared extremely Human. Once it had meant we were all that much more powerful than those around us, but now it meant nothing. Just like everything else from back then…

I felt their approach just before they appeared from their sonido, stopping a few yards away from where I stood. The Numeros was the first that my eyes caught, his fiery presence only amplified when he began to speak before I had even gotten a chance to look at the man who stood behind him.

"I am surprised that you are still here," he boasted as he took a step towards me. "We gave you the courtesy of time so you could vacate the area without interruption."

"Courtesy my ass," I replied hotly as I propped my knuckles on my hips with attitude. "I flat out told you I wasn't leaving. This is my home, and I won't let you take it from me. I've been waiting two damn days just to tell you to bugger off or it was going to be a fight. What the hell took you so long?"

"I was hoping that was just your temper speaking, Miss Vaccio."

"Temper?" A muscle in my cheek twitched in unison with my brow. "You haven't even begun to see my temper. This is me defending what is mine. Just because one of you fakes tries to wave around some made up authority doesn't mean I will listen."

Raacharg had been right about my lack of a silver tongue. I had tried to plan out how I was going to tell these guys off, but more and more words just seemed to spill from my mouth like vomit. So much for the polite rejection I had been planning.

A hand rested on the Numeros' shoulder just as the other person stepped forward. This had to be the Espada that Luien reported to. He was taller than the Numeros beside him by almost half of a foot. Much like his domineering height, his presence was far more demanding than the man beside him. Once my eyes found him I couldn't help as my gaze traveled up his unquestionably male physique.

From his feet up he was dressed in black. His boots were adorned with silver accents that lined the durable leather and the edges of the rubber soles in a decorative but also fierce presentation. With his side aimed slightly in my direction, the spoke like points at the back of each heel were clearly visible and spoke to the violent nature that I was starting to guess he had. The boots stopped about mid-calf, transitioning into black and slightly baggy pants that didn't give his body much definition. Two belts hung from his hips, one appeared to be more for decoration while the other had his zanpakuto fastened to it. I took note of the white jacket he loosely wore and how it so clearly resembled the outfits that Aizen had made us wear.

It was the black low cut- no, barely zipped up shirt that left most of his midriff exposed that caught my attention like a laser pointer to a cat. That gaping neckline of his clearly showed a nasty scar that ran up his chest, but also the incredibly toned abdominal muscles and chest that he sported.

I would never admit out loud that my eyes were stuck in the bared expanse of his chest for some time before I mentally slapped myself. If his body was this good looking, it almost scared me to even think of looking higher. It almost embarrassed me that I was noticing him like I was, but I was a woman. Sometimes I just couldn't help but to stare. Whoever this guy was he was going to be a hand full, I could already feel it. Ugh.

Reluctantly lifting my gaze just a tad higher, the bone of his mask drew my attention. The white of it gleamed in the sunlight that beat down on us from above, accenting the smoothness of jaw bone versus the slick sharpness of the teeth. Clearly he had been some sort of a predator as a younger hollow. What variety I didn't know, but as I observed the definition of the bone and how freaking big those teeth were, I had the distinct impression of something big. Big and… dominating.

Azure eyes like an exotic bird's plumage were watching me in a half lidded gaze as I finally faced off against that stare of his. Blue markings traced the bottom of each eye adding a vicious but also precariously attractive edge to his already high cheekbones and defined features. His hair was like almost like a mane atop his head, the thick blue spikes appearing almost styled while still moving in the slight breeze that ran across my rock. He had an almost rugged look to him with those sharply cut features and surprisingly clean shaven physique. I had expected to be faced against a fierce glare with an almost scary ugly façade, but instead I was met with calm, strikingly handsome arrogance.

"Luien here tells me you claim to be a Privaron Espada," he said as he put himself directly in front of Luien. The way he did it was odd though, like he was completely overshadowing the other man instead of actually putting himself between us to protect him like I often did for Raacharg.

"I am," I replied coolly.

"See, I thought that was an odd concept," he said as he took a few steps closer to me until only a yard or so separated us. I had to tilt my head back to look up at him even with the distance. He wasn't quite a foot taller than me, but it was close. His shoulders were broad and well built, making his overall size seem just that much more overbearing. I would need to be careful with him. His superior size was more than enough to overpower me, even if our skill was at the same level. His arm's reach had to be a good six inches over mine, not to mention how much longer his legs were.

"You see, I was the second Numeros to be changed by the Hogyoku. I knew all the Privaron Espada, but you I don't know. Isabellia Vaccio isn't the name of any Espada that ever served Aizen. In fact, that's not the name of anyone who was ever under his service." His eyes narrowed until a threatening gleam shown in those alluring azure eyes of his.

"You think I'm lying," I said in a flat tone.

"I know you are," he answered simply.

"You know nothing. You are merely a child in comparison-" I stopped my words when faster than I could track his hand came at me. Craptastic.

I dipped back as his fist flew past my cheek and I countered with a punch of my own to his gut. Just before I connected his hand caught mine, utterly nullifying the force behind my thrust. I didn't let that stop me though as I turned and swung at him again, this time aiming to catch him with the back of my fist. He was gone just as my fist would have collided with his temple, leaving my body to spin with the momentum I had built up. He reappeared just in front of me and with his fingers pointed straight like a pike and he thrust forward in one swift movement.

I was pretty sure I could have dodged it if I had wanted to, but with one quick decision I let him hit me. I let his hand pierce through my abdomen and puncture clear through me without any resistance. Blood rushed up my throat from my damaged innards and I coughed it up like any normal person would have as I grabbed in a pathetic manner at his sleeve.

"Worthless," he growled as he lifted slightly, taking me to the tips of my toes. It hurt, but pain really was nothing to me. Compared to the nothingness I had drowned in for twenty years, the pain was a damn blessing.

I grabbed onto his arm like any dying person might have done out of desperation. He didn't think anything of it as I secured my grip on him and he continued blathering on. "How someone like you could even think to call yourself an Espada is just disgusting. I shouldn't have bothered coming all the way out here for the likes of you."

I bowed my head to hide the laughter that was trying to bubble up. This guy was something else. He didn't even realize that I was pulling him closer until my nails dug into his skin and I really latched onto him. I felt his muscles tense under my grip as my spiritual pressure rose and I growled, "cero."

Light erupted from my palm as I held onto him, forcing my cero directly against his skin. The stench of burning flesh was ripe on my nose, but it only made me smile. He must have felt what I was smelling because his foot found purchase on my thigh and he kicked me away, my body slipping off his arm as I was forced to fly several yards back. I landed on my feet, but my momentum toppled me over and I ended up rolling even further until my body finally came to a stop.

I didn't let myself lay there like my protesting body wanted to, and instead rolled over onto my hands and knees. I found the two men, my vision completely unphased by the damage my body had taken as I flooded my flesh with power. I felt my body knitting back together and slowly stood, allowing the two men to watch as my body returned to how it had been before I had been struck, although the blood remained with the tattered tank top. I had intended for it to be a show of power for the two. I couldn't take damage like that more than a half-dozen times and still be able to heal it in record time, but they didn't need to know that. Healing was exhausting, but for these two I needed to ensure that it looked effortless.

"So you can take a beating," he mused. "That means nothing."

"I can do a lot more than that," I shot back at him as I wiped blood away from my mouth. It should have probably made me a bit happier to see his arm smoking slightly from my cero and bloody lines from my nails running down his arm, but I had hoped I would do a bit more damage than just that. I hadn't put enough umph into it my cero, apparently. "You've wounded my pride as an Espada by claiming that you think I'm a fake. I worked for far too long, worked far too hard just to have the truly fake piece of shit call me false."

"If you aren't lying, prove it," he said in challenge.

I frowned at him. There were only a few things that were exclusive abilities of an Espada. The Gran Rey Cero was one, but I wasn't willing to use that so close to my home. The other was the gifts that were bestowed by Aizen to us, but for me those items were long lost after my years of imprisonment. I had nothing but the number on my back to prove what I was. That, and if Gantenbainne Mosqueda was really still alive he could attest to my origins. Unfortunately, I wasn't willing to put myself in that sort of situation either. Ganten and I didn't really have the best of relationships anymore.

"I was once a god among hollows, a ruler on high who could not be challenged by anyone. I don't need to explain myself to you, some artificial shit stain living in my palace."

Oops, there was that lack of silver tongue again.

"Whatever you were, you aren't any better than the forgotten garbage you are now."

What? Did he really just call me garbage? I maybe have been a scavenger and crawled into a dumpster or two, but I wasn't garbage. This guy was a total ass.

I drew my zanpakuto from its sheath in one slow movement, allowing the metal to grind just enough to make my actions obvious. The blade of my zanpakuto was no longer than my forearm and pointed like the tip of a spear instead of a one bladed katana like most. There was a reason for its somewhat odd shape, which I didn't bother trying to conceal as I jerked my zanpakuto out to the side. With the abrupt movement I flexed power through the metal and its hilt extended, sliding down in a cascade of sparks until it was an almost seven foot long spear made of cold hard steel. This was the natural state of my zanpakuto, but for convenience sake I had figured out how to turn it into a dagger after a few hundred years of annoyance.

"What do you want with my rock anyway? We left Las Noches and traveled out here where we would never have to deal with your kind."

His brow quirked with my question. "Everything in this direction from Las Noches is mine. That means that your rock here is mine, and you, if you refuse to leave."

"Excuse me?" I said indignantly. "I do not belong to anyone. I am an Espada, not some pathetic Numeros."

"You were an Espada," he said casually. "There's a difference."

Maybe there was a difference, but I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing that his words had me wondering what I had missed during my imprisonment and self-imposed isolation. He clearly didn't know my history and I wasn't about to tell him.

"Your kind has never before cared about what goes on all the way out here, so why do you now?"

"Boredom," he replied like it was nothing.

"Boredom?" I asked in disbelief. "Clearly Aizen never taught you all about my kind, the original Espada, or you wouldn't be looking for entertainment from one. That skeleton king, Barragan or whoever, never really ruled Hueco Mundo. We, the Espada before Aizen, ruled. I don't know what happened after I was locked away, but I do know that just disregarding us like that surely pissed off those who were after me."

"What do you mean by locked away?" His nose scrunched for a moment expressing his confusion, and I realized that I might have said a little too much.

"It doesn't matter. Let's get back on track," I said, quickly back tracking as I took my zanpakuto in both hands and turned the blade on him. "This is my rock and, as possessively childish as this sounds, you can't have it."

"Then you can keep it," he said calmly.

I blinked at him. "What?"

"You can keep it," he repeated. Slowly a grin turned those perfectly proportioned lips of his into something almost sinister. "Of course, that's if you are mine."

I think my mouth actually dropped open to gape at him. I was too busy trying to figure out if he was serious, or just stupid. Or both. Probably both.

"Are you an idiot or something?" I asked after a moment. "I'm pretty sure I just finished saying that I don't belong to anyone."

"Then you aren't tied to anyone and it shouldn't be a problem," he said smoothly.

"That's not what I am saying," I said, my voice darkening with irritation.

"I don't think you understand how things work here in Hueco Mundo anymore. Maybe in your time you were able to do as you pleased, but you aren't an Espada any more, if you really ever were one," he added that last part more as a comment to himself than me, but I knew what he was getting at. "That means you fall into one of two categories. Either you serve one of the Espada, or you are food."

What arrogance. This guy… This guy was just something else.

"I served Aizen because I didn't have any choice," I started as I gave my zanpakuto a quick twist with a flick of my wrist. "It was serve him or die, so I chose to live under his rule. I have lived hundreds of years, seen powers rise and fall and lived through it all. But he- he locked me away like a damn animal. It was damned humiliating that I, a god, was cast aside so easily. I understand that I am no longer what I was, but I won't let that happen again. I refuse!"

I lunged at him, using my zanpakuto like the spear it was and thrusted at him. His own zanpakuto was abruptly in his hand, the longer blade of his katana like sword parried my thrust and sparked along the ornate patterns that decorated the shaft of my zanpakuto. I swapped my grip, avoiding his blade and spinning my entire body to dodge his following kick that was aimed for my knee. I swung down on him again and again, but every time my swing was parried. He was faster than I was, but where his size gave him a longer reach my size gave him a smaller target to hit.

I dodged and blocked his blows just as he did mine, finding that he was testing me rather than really trying to kill me. That was fine though. The more we struck at each other, the more I became accustomed to his fighting style. He wielded his zanpakuto with one hand, leaving his other to strike like he had done earlier to impale me on his arm. It left him capable of using any limb to strike, which I unfortunately struggled to keep up with. It took both of my hands to wield my zanpakuto, which limited the variety of my attacks. Thankfully the length of my zanpakuto earned me back some of that distance that his reach encroached upon, allowing me to successfully avoid the blows that could have separated a limb from my body if they hit.

I darted back from him after a particularly hard blow from his zanpakuto shook the metal of mine like a tine. Gods, he hit hard. My hands were growing tired just from taking the hits by blocking. I would need to adjust my style and work to avoid him more if I wanted this fight to actually go my way.

Heat licked across my skin just before flames shot at me from the side. Caught in surprise, the flames washed over my upper body in a scalding wave of pain. I clenched my teeth to muffle the sound of my pained scream as I jerked back. The gush of fire coming at me stopped, but the pain of the flames still eating away at me didn't. On instinct, I clenched the collar of my jacket with my hand and in one overpowered movement I tore it from my body, shredding the fabric at the seams and tossing it away from me. The sleeves quickly followed, the whole thing ending up in one burning heap a few feet away.

Fucking gopher tits, that hurt. My skin was blackened and blistered from the heat, but at least I wasn't on fire anymore. If I had been better prepared I would have forced more of my reiatsu into my skin to protect myself, but he had caught me by surprise. And, he had ruined my jacket. That goddamned Numeros…

"... the fuck do you think you're doing, Luien?" Grimmjow barked, drawing my attention to the two men. Grimmjow had his Fracciones by the collar of his shirt and had hoisted him up like he weighed no more than a pillow.

"Aiding you, sir," he replied quickly.

"Listen here," Grimmjow started as he shook him slightly. "You are the one who urged for me to come all the way out here because of her. You weren't man enough to challenge her on your own, so don't go budding into my fight."

"But sir, I only intended to make this encounter end quickly. I had no-"

"She's my problem now. Got it?"

"Yes sir," the Numeros responded automatically. They remained like that for a long moment and I thought that Grimmjow would have put him down after the hard stare he gave his subordinate. Instead, his hand shifted and he released his shirt only to take hold of his neck.

"I don't think you do," he growled as his hand squeezed down. "She's mine now. You will do nothing to interfere with us again. If I kill her, you will stand idle. If I let her live, you will accept it. If she actually manages to wound me, you will do nothing. I don't need your pathetic help."

"I-I meant no offense," Luien struggled to say against the constraint around his throat.

Grimmjow sneered at the fiery man and tossed him away carelessly. "Get out of here. I'll deal with you when I get back."

Luien looked like he wanted to argue, but he held his tongue. Those ember orange eyes shifted to shoot a daggered glare in my direction before he vanished with his sonido. Unlike before, he didn't suppress himself as he moved and I was able to track him as he left until he passed beyond the edge of my senses. I watched the sky that I knew pointed in the direction of Las Noches for a long moment before my gaze returned to Grimmjow.

Azure eyes caught my own and I stared defiantly back.

"You're awfully oppressing to your subordinate," I commented in a joking tone. "That can't possibly be conducive to a positive relationship between you two. Is there trouble in paradise?"

Oh no, was that sarcasm coming out? Yes, yes it was.

"Are you done?" He asked sharply. Clearly he didn't find my joke very funny.

"No, I can do this all day," I mused, hoping it would annoy him.

"Heal yourself already, so we can continue where we left off."

Was he really trying to order me around? If I hadn't agreed with him, I would have fired off a few more remarks. As it was, I flushed my spirit energy through myself and forced my body to mend. Fresh, unblemished skin emerged from under the blackened flesh that had resulted from the flames and replaced the blisters that had scored the rest of my skin. It took only a few seconds to do, but even so I felt my energy waste away just that much more. I could probably only do that four or five more times before I wouldn't be able to use my resurreccion. I'd have to watch myself.

"Happy?" I asked as I held up my arms in show.

"Ecstatic," he replied dryly. Despite the apparent lack of interest that his voice gave off, I watched as his eyes took me in. He was damned observant. If I wasn't as weary of him as I was, I never would have noticed the way his eyes were looking for something, searching almost. What was he looking for?

I didn't have a chance to ask as he came at me, his zanpakuto cutting across in an arching swipe. I used my zanpakuto like a pole and spring boarded my self back, avoiding his strike by only inches as it swept through the empty space I had occupied. I landed, my boots scraping across the ground with my force of motion before I launched forward and thrust at him. Just like that, we were back into the motions we had been in before I had been lit on fire. I was able to avoid his strikes more often than before, but not as much as I would have liked. My zanpakuto was taking a beating from his blows, weakening my grip as my muscles strained to complete with his strength. I needed to do something that would catch him off guard. I needed to change things up, to put my money on harder hitting but less rapid strikes.

In one particularly swift swing I clipped his shoulder with the butt end of my spear, but my success was short lived as his blade scored across my forearm. I felt his steel bite deep as my hand lost strength and my grip slipped. I didn't drop my zanpakuto though, instead I swung it like a bat in an attempt to cleave him. I missed, of course I would miss, but it allowed me to put distance between us and to gave me a chance to focus on flushing power through my arm. He had sliced through the muscles and tendons, but it had only been one strike. I could repair this with minimal effort, I just needed a moment to focus.

"I don't think so," he growled just as his feet kicked off the ground. I watched almost in awe as he flipped over me, his body soaring in a controlled arc until he came down behind me. I spun to counter the strike that I knew was coming, but without my hand to control the head of my zanpakuto I couldn't completely stop him. He had been aiming for my chest, but with my movement his blade ended up piercing through my side with such force that it took me to the ground. He rode me as I fell, his hand clamping down on the back of my neck and forcing my face to collided with the ground.

I snarled and thrusted my elbow back, connecting with some part of his body. He barely grunted with my hit and I moved to smack him again with the butt of my spear, but he caught my wrist and slammed my arm into the ground.

"Ah, there it is," he said in a pleased tone. "I half expected not to find it so easily."

"Find what?" I spat as I turned my face to the side. Blood ran down my face from a gash in my left brow that had been caused by my forced impact with the ground, but I barely noticed it.

"Your number." His voice was something pleased, like the smug pur a cat made after finishing a bowl of milk. "Tell me, does 100 mean you were number 1, or 10?"

"Take an educated guess, Sherlock." I tried to my make my words sound snarky in hopes that my piss poor attitude would get him riled up and distracted. It worked. He didn't appear to notice as I forced my body to heal. Then again, I couldn't be sure. My face was kinda smooshed against the ground making me unable to see where he was actually looking.

His grip around my neck intensified and his weight shifted as he leaned forward, putting his mouth far closer to my ear than was really necessary. "I think you've forgotten who's in the dominate position here, Watson."

Touché.

"I didn't forget anything," I snapped back. I turned my one free hand on him, finding my control over my hand restored after healing it, and gathered energy into my palm. "Eat cero!"

His hand left my neck to close over my palm, negating my cero, and I used that opportunity to thrust my head back. My skull collided with what I was assuming was his face when he let a pained sound slip out and leaned back, releasing both of my hands. I almost cheered in delight as my hands came together beneath me and I pushed myself forward, sliding mostly out from under him. I rose up on my hands and knees and kicked back like a donkey, connecting with his chest. He rocked backwards and I used that opportunity to scuttle away from him.

Once again separated by a decent enough distance we faced each other. It made me very happy to see the reddened trail of wiped away blood under his nose. Then I glanced down at myself and cringed as the tank top. It had been blue before I had gotten it all bloody, but now it was more of a black color than anything. And shredded. At least it was just a tank top.

"Tell me something," I started saying as I lifted my eyes to look at him again. "You're an Espada, and one thing that all Espada have in common is an aspect of death that we represent. What is yours?"

"Why do you ask?" He replied as he flipped his zanpakuto around and abruptly slid it into its sheath. Either that was a good thing, or a really bad thing…

"Curiosity mostly," I answered with a shrug as I turned my spear and rested it on my shoulder.

"If you were an Espada, then you have one too," he replied, clearly implying that he wanted to know the same of me.

"I asked first," I pointed out rather childishly.

He must have thought my words were funny because a grin lifted the corner of his mouth.

"Destruction," he said. "I represent destruction."

… That explained a lot…

"Loss," I said before he could ask. "The loss of power, a loved one, pride, your faculties, you choose."

"That's not-"

"Did you really think that there were only ten aspects of death?" I snapped, clearly offended. "Aizen wasn't the one who decided what we represented. Our aspects stem from something completely different."

His eyes narrowed again, but instead of anger I watched as those keen eyes ran through his thoughts as he watched me. "If there are more, then tell me what they are."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and tapped my zanpakuto against my shoulder in an irritated manner. "Death isn't so simple as to be categorized. There are a thousand ways to die, and a thousand things that can happen during that time. It can be almost anything, but the aspects that we represent are based off of who we are, or were."

I had added that last part more for my own satisfaction than anything. I wasn't entirely my aspect any more. Once, I had been. What I represented was far worse than just loss, but it was the least devastating way I could describe myself these days. I wasn't that me anymore. I had Raacharg, the companion who had given me the ability to feel again.

I realized that I had lost myself to thought for a moment and blinked at him. His brow lifted in an amuse expression, clearly mocking me. Perturbed, I shifted my zanpakuto and let the butt smack against the ground with a resounding ring.

"Why are you just standing there?" I snipped. "Aren't you supposed to be trying to kill me or something?"

"No, I think I'd rather have you serve me," he replied like it was the most casual concept ever.

"Why?" I asked. I wasn't sure why I was entertaining the notion, but the question slipped out anyway.

"You either serve an Espada, or you are food," he said, reiterating his earlier words. "You clearly aren't food, not unless I kill you myself. I haven't even experienced your resurreccion and I know you're far more skilled than any Numeros."

"Of course I am," I said hotly.

"Then I want your power for myself."

Those azure eyes of his were steadily focused on me, keen to hold my gaze in a vice. He was really serious. Like, really, really serious.

"I refuse."

He let out a short laugh. "I don't think I'm going to give you a choice."

This guy… what gave him the right to claim this sort of crap? I wouldn't become his damned servant. I would admit that it was a step up from dying, but that was about it. No, I wouldn't let myself even consider it. This would end in blood.

Taking my zanpakuto in both hands I launched at him. He didn't move in reaction to me, instead he stood calmly waiting. It just pissed me off even more and I pivoted mid step, adding speed and power to my swing. If he wasn't going to bother defending himself or moving, I'd cut him clean in half.

My zanpakuto lurched to a halt, and coincidentally so did I. He was just there, so close to me that his hand had caught my zanpakuto's shaft just above my grip and utterly stopped my momentum. My eyes went wide as I slowly drew my gaze up his chest that was at my eye level, continuing up as my head tilted back until I found his azure eyes looking down at me like a smug predator. I hadn't seen him move, he'd just been there, inside my guard without even trying…

He had been testing me this entire time. I knew that he had to be more powerful than me, but I hadn't been getting that sense of his overwhelming presence until now. This was just ridiculous. I couldn't afford to sit out here, I needed to get inside where I could use my resurreccion to its fullest potential or he really would overtake me.

Without any sort of command my zanpakuto's hilt returned to its smaller form, sliding out of my hands and his in a flurry of sparks. I pushed power into my legs, willing myself into the fastest sonido I could manage. I dipped around him, catching my zanpakuto mid fall and darted towards the stairs that led down into the heart of my rock. I couldn't actually hear him, but I felt the rush of his presence just behind me as he followed.

I started down the stairs, finding it all too easy to run effortlessly down without slowing my steps. I knew I was putting some distance between us with the way my stairs were carved, and I used that time to my advantage as I stopped at the bottom. I pivoted as I elongated my zanpakuto into a spear once more and raised it into the air with the blade pointed at the ground. I thrust down, impaling the rock beneath me as I called out, "Pacify, Amechania!"

Power washed outwards from my body, flooding everything near me in my reiatsu.

Then, a fist connected with my face. I had to wonder if something broke as my world did a summersault into bright shiny colors.

Hindsight being twenty/twenty, I really should have moved out of his direct path before I tried to call my resurreccion. Unfortunately, that thought didn't occur to me until my eyes blinked open to a see my floor standing on its end. I had a moment to wonder if his punch had been so hard that it had rolled my rock clean on its side before I realized that I was just sprawled across the floor. One doozie of a headache was pounding in time to my heart, telling me that I had been hit so hard that it likely would have kept me out for hours rather than… well, I didn't know how long. Thank goodness for super speedy healing.

Slowly I sat up, cringing with the movement. I rubbed at the swollen side of my head and wondered how the hell I was still alive. Oh, right. He didn't want me dead, he wanted me to 'serve' him. That jerk…

"Isa," Raacharg's concerned voice hit my ears. I glanced up to see him as he descended the last step and moved towards me. "What happened?"

I focused beyond his canine frame as my eyes took in the area at the base of the steps. There was clearly a slice in the ground where I had stabbed my zanpakuto into the rock, but that space was now empty. My brows knitted together as my gaze shifted to the ground around me.

Oh… oh, hell no.

"Where's my zanpakuto?" I asked, my voice rising to a panicked note.

"I'm sorry, Isa," Raacharg said, his ears dropping.

He couldn't have! A zanpakuto was sacred. Taking someone's zanpakuto was like stealing their ego, their soul. That he would actually take it… Fuck me, I was a damned idiot. Grim-garb Jeagerjouster was going to regret this.

I rolled up onto my feet, flushing my body with my reiatsu in the process. I felt the strain it put on my remaining reiatsu after healing myself so many times, but it mattered little as the pounding in my head eased and the swelling on the side of my face lessened. I spun around, searching the floor for my zanpakuto even though I knew it wouldn't be there. That was when I noticed Raacharg's couch, or what was left of it. Stuffing had fallen around the couch in a haphazard mess, telling me something was up. I slowly walked around the large piece of furniture and swore to myself as I read the message that had been carved into the back cushions.

'Come and get it'