Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Negative Space ❯ Sneaky Bastards ( Chapter 22 )

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

The sound of my feet hitting the floor echoed down the hallway that lead to the main door. I didn't know Grimmjow's tower very well so I could have easily mistaken this hallway for something else if I hadn't felt the cool gush of the outside air blowing down the corridor. The long hallway was mostly straight, so I should have been able to see all the way outside, but the darkness from the missing moon kept me from actually seeing through.

But I could fix that.

"Depress," I murmured as I held back a grin. The butt of my zanpakuto smacked against the wall, making the metal ring to release my own darkness. Just before my my spiritual pressure was snuffed out, I launched myself forward with sonido. My speed was like a cannonball as my spirit energy left me rather than the steady fast pace that I normally had, but I didn't need it to be sustained. Whoever was outside might be able to see in the natural darkness, so I needed to see them.

Like a spotlight on stage, the Arrancar who had destroyed the door lit up. I couldn't see the surrounding area, but if I had to guess, they were past the broken door and working their way inside. It made me frown, but I couldn't linger on my anger.

Just as my own body came alight with the power of my Negative Space, I smacked the butt against the floor to call it back. I had been moving so quickly that there was no way they had seen more than a blur. I didn't bother with words as my power flowed back into me, and I pivoted as I touched the ground to lunge at them. My zanpakuto met flesh with my first strike, but I had the impression that it hadn't done much damage. Even without seeing clearly, I could tell by the resistance that my zanpakuto gave with my thrust.

I darted back from the intruder, and headed for where I was certain would lead outside. I was just in time to see the bright blast of a yellow cero as it shot across the ground below. Others were fighting. Either that was a good thing that they hadn't been caught by surprise, or bad because there were enough people here to require multiple engagements.

"You must be Isabellia," the person I had just struck said. Their footsteps signaled their location and I turned to face them. "I was told you were here, though it baffles me as to why you serve Aizen's former puppets."

That made my brow quirk.

"I don't serve them," I corrected her. Or, I was pretty sure it was a her. The body I had seen had been feminine, but I hadn't taken the time to actually look at them. "I serve Grimmjow. The other Espada can eat sand as far as I am concerned."

"Are you bound to him?" she asked. Their voice was feminine so I just decided that it was a woman.

"I serve him," I repeated, but I was done talking.

I didn't like using my Negative Space in open areas. Anyone could just waltz into its boundaries and I had absolutely no senses when I was within its power. But, I needed to put a stop to their power as soon as I could to allow Grimmjow to wake his people. Even now I could feel their spiritual pressure licking across my skin despite the moment they had been inside my Negative Space. Once Grimmjow's people were up and functional, this little battle would be over.

Hopefully… I still didn't know what the bunch of them could do. Maybe they'd be no better than a gaggle of bobo dolls, but I was hoping for they would be at least as helpful as little barking chihuahuas and distract my opponent.

I tapped my zanpakuto on the ground again and called my Negative Space to life. Darkness would have flooded the world if it wasn't already pitch black out, and I felt my own power fade as our bodies lit with light.

My eyes must have not been working before, because the person that stood in my Negative Space with me wasn't feminine at all. If I had to say something was feminine, it would have only been its voice because the man before me didn't look like anything even remotely womanly. Maybe the massive pectoral muscles would have tricked me, but not the bald head the brownish red beard that ran nearly down to their chest. He wasn't the largest man ever, but rather of a medium height with a very large build. His arms seemed longer than a properly proportioned Human's would have been, his knuckles dropping down to his knees. There was an odd almost ethreal glow to his body, like even in my Negative Space he was radiating power.

It was… odd.

Was he really the one forcing Grimmjow's people to sleep? He didn't look like the type of person who would have the power to force people to sleep. Then again, I didn't look like the type of person that could steal away peoples powers.

As my Negative Space grew, the fallen forms of Rudbornn's skulled puppets glowed with a dim light. They looked dead, but the fact that they had lit up at all said otherwise. Rudbornn wouldn't be able to control them while they were in my Negative Space, but it made me wonder if he was controlling them or if they functioned on their own? Would it hurt him if I used his puppets as meat shields? I shook my head and decided not to waste more thought on them as I focused my attention on the Arrancar that stood before me.

I didn't wait for him to become accustomed to my Negative Space. One of the biggest advantages I had was the initial confusion that my opponents suffered when they had no power. Letting this opportunity slip away because I wanted to look around would have been stupid, so I sprinted toward him.

As soon as I started running he moved, drawing those long arms of his up to guard himself. He wasn't even trying to conjure up his power, which was odd. People normally tried to call their power before any other actions, and the lack of being able to do so made them hesitate. He wasn't acting like anything was wrong, like he knew exactly how my Negative Space would affect him.

Just as I got close enough to strike at him, I pivoted on my right foot as my instincts screamed at me, danger. I saw his swing as it passed through the air that had just been my body and reacted, lashing out with the butt of my zanpakuto. I struck him, but it wasn't his thigh like I had been aiming for but rather his forearm as he deflected my strike and guided my momentum askew. I planted my foot as I spun my zanpakuto in my hand, his gaze flicked to the metal just like I wanted it to. While my zanpakuto was turning my foot came up and connected with his chest.

Like I had kicked an immovable object, the recoil of the force I had used shocked up my leg like a tine. I snarled silently as I drew back, narrowly avoiding his long reach as his open palm came at my chest. Jesus cow pies, he was fast for being powerless. And strong. Stronger than he should have been inside my domain. Something wasn't right with this guy. It was like he was prepared to be in my Negative Space, and he shouldn't have been.

He kept coming even as I worked my way back from him. His bare hands seemed to be strong enough to not be pierced by my zanpakuto's blade, which made doing any damage to him nearly impossible. He was way too fast for me while I had no power, and after several close calls I called back my Negative Space so I could keep up with him. Thankfully, the rising moon had just started to give the world light so I was able to see the world around me.

The blade of my zanpakuto sparked as it connected with the concrete and I used the force to fling myself over the edge of the wall. Calling reishi to my feet I stood in the air several feet off the edge and finally stopped. I needed a different strategy because my Negative Space wasn't the answer. It was at first, but I could figure something else out. I just needed a moment to think.

"Tell me, are you part of Arnau's little army, or are you someone else entirely?" I asked. When you don't know what to do, stall.

"I am Morbetor," he answered. "Who I serve is of little consequence. You will die here and now."

I placed my hand on my hip and let it cock out to one side. This guy was something else. His name wasn't familiar to me, so I knew he wasn't part of the group of Arrancar I had killed so long ago. He was new, which meant he had never experienced my powers.

And yet he seemed completely resistant to my Negative Space…

"I thought your boss wanted to take me alive?" I said suggestively as I twirled my zanpakuto in my right hand.

"He would like that, but I don't much care for taking prisoners."

Good to know.

"I don't intend on being anyone's victim today," I stated. If I couldn't use my Negative Space then I needed to get distance between him and the tower. Heaving an overly dramatic sigh I slumped to one side and let out a mocking groan of disappointment. "You know, I was really expecting one of the Arrancar I killed years ago. You're boring. Let's end this quickly please."

His body flexed, the muscles under his skin growing as they strained. Had I hit a nerve? I was hoping I had.

"Come then, use your all consuming power. Let's see how it pairs against my nullifying armor."

I narrowed my eyes at him. Nullifying armor, huh? That was an odd phrase. Was that the name of his resurreccion, or something else?

He pounded his fists together, drawing my attention to them as the sound of metal clashing rang through the air. I hadn't noticed the metal that covered his knuckles until then. It was odd that I was just now noticing it, especially when considering that I had already exchanged blows with him. I watched as the metal shifted, flowing over his skin like it was liquid lining his body.

Was he flexing his power? I wasn't sure, but I didn't give away the fact that I was observing him. Instead I pretended to look down and stuck my finger in my ear like I was cleaning it. "I'm sorry, did you say nubile arms? Trust me on this one, if you really think your arms are nubile, then you've got a really fucked up opinion of yourself."

A muscle in his cheek twitched. Oh yeah. Remember my little speal about a tsunami versus a volcano? This guy was a tsunami. His rage showed on his skin with the heated glow of anger and his eyes seemed to spark with his rising spiritual pressure. All the while that same liquid metal slid along his skin, pulsating with his own growing anger.

"I will not stand for your taunting any longer," he snarled from between bared teeth.

"Aw," I said as I made a pouty face. "Did I hurt someone's ego? It's alright, I'm sure there's a gorilla out there somewhere that would find your gangly arms attractive. You just might have to get a bit more hair growing."

Muscles bulged and I would have sworn that I heard his joints popping with the pressure. Oh yeah, he was a sensitive fart snogger. He didn't even fire off some angry reply. He was too busy grinding the hell out of his teeth.

"Have you ever seen some of the living's TV shows? Either way, I think Grodd would like you. The question is if you're good at bending over or not, because out of the two of you, he'd totally be the man in the relationship."

Finally, he snapped. I saw the moment in his rage took over and I darted down to the wall before I gave him my back and slipped into my sonido. He was hot on my heels as I moved, but it only made me smile. He was doing exactly what I wanted him to do and moving away from the tower.

As he caught up with me I dropped from my sonido for only a moment to take a stab at him. My zanpakuto struck, but faster than my blade was moving that metal that had been circling his body slid under his shirt. My blade met it at his abdomen and sparked as metal clashes against metal, but my blade never penetrated. I narrowed my eyes to focus on the hole I'd put in his shirt, missing the swing of his right arm.

His fist collided with my arm and I heard the bone crack as I was flung over the side of the wall. I didn't let a sound slip from my lips as I called reishi to my feet and took a quick glance down at the damage. My arm was still straight, but if the intense pain was any indication, he had indeed broken something. I healed it without a second thought, pushing power into my body as I worked for speed, and I dodge another blow as he came at me swinging. I'd have to be more careful of those fists of his and figure out what the hell that metal was. It withstood my zanpakuto like I was attacking a solid wall instead of a man.

Huh… was the metal what was stopping me or was it his heiro? Was that thing his zanpakuto, or was his zanpakuto something else? Where there more than two patches of metal, or was it all one that was stretching? I needed to test it.

Lurching back from another swing I shrank my zanpakuto so I could easily hold it in one hand and called two ceros: one to my open palm and the other to the tip of my zanpakuto's blade. I fired off the cero in my palm and immediately called another and another to fire them off in rapid succession.

I was so close to him that he didn't bother trying to dodge. The ceros hit him in the chest and just like I thought, he didn't even flinch. He powered forward and kept the onslaught of his fists on overly long arms coming. I didn't mind though. The ceros had done their job. His shirt had two large holes in the fabric, allowing me to see the metal as it flowed across his skin. My zanpakuto expanded with a flash of power and sparks and again I struck at his middle. He didn't even try to dodge my blow and I watched as my blade was met by swirling steel that coalesced like true armor across his abdomen.

Holy hell...

I darted back, my feet sliding on invisible reishi with the force as I pivoted to avoid his reach. I struck again and watching as the metal again came together to take the force of my blow. I narrowed my eyes, but had to pull away when he swung at me again. I wasn't fast enough to completely avoid it this time and his fist grazed my shoulder. It wasn't a blow that would break anything, but I felt the muscles in my arm cry out as they were damn near crushed by the force of his hit.

I snarled as I forced myself to heal again and dipped back and out of his range. Those damn arms of his were freaking Gumby arms and that metal - what the hell was that shit? It moved across his skin like it was alive and defended him from my blows. It was like I wasn't even hitting him. It made no damn sense.

A chuckle that was pretty damn comparable to a witch's cackle came from Morbetor. He paused in the air and straightened his posture as his eyes seemed to merrily glimmer. Clearly, he was amused. One of his big hands lifted and he tore away what remained of his shirt to expose his entire upper body.

"You wanted a look at this?" He asked as his muscles flexed and bunched like he was trying to make himself more appetizing. It just made him look more like a giant monkey. The metal covering him swirled around his waist until it settled over his chest in patches of scaled armor.

Huh…

"No, you're really not my type. I prefer my men to be less gorilla and more-" destructive, power hungry, filled with a damn God complex, and able to set my damn loins on fire like they were soaked in lighter fluid and he was a blow torch- "handsome."

Yeah, that didn't have the punch I was going for. Oh well.

I saw his body tense only a moment before he moved. It was all the warning I needed though. I had never let the cero drop that heated the edge of my blade, and I used it like weapon it was as I dipped right and spun. I thrust my zanpakuto like the spear it was and the blade collided with that damned metal armor over his ribs. I pushed power into the cero, willing the energy to grow hotter.

It did nothing.

Nothing!

Even with the power of a cero edging my blade, I didn't pierce through that morphing shit. I mentally swore as I pushed more power into my zanpakuto. I had to get through this shit somehow. I didn't know how else I could beat him if I couldn't even injure him.

A spark lit in the bond just before flaming claws clamped down on Morbetor's shoulders. I tried to not let my surprise at Raacharg's appearance distract me, but I couldn't help myself when a white hot blade popped out the center of Morbetor's chest like damn whack-a-mole. The metal under my blade spasmed and rippled as Morbetor's eyes widened in shock. His mouth opened and closed like a fish as his head turned down to stare in horror at the blade. At that same time the metal under my blade pulled back and surrounded Raacharg's tail like it was trying to reject it from his body. Clearly he had forgotten about me in his panic because my zanpakuto slid into his flesh as soon as the metal left and he gasped.

I couldn't help it. I grinned.

Meeting Rascharg's yellow-gold eyes over Morbetor's shoulder I let him see how pleased I was with him before I jerked my head to tell him to move. He bared his teeth at me and molten fire spilled from his jowls before his scythe like tail slid out of Morbetor's chest and he vanished in his sonido.

I twisted the blade of my zanpakuto in his gut before I pulled it free and in one quick movement I tapped my zanpakuto with my gauntlet and called out the release of my Negative Space. Darkness enveloped the world around me, highlighting our bodies as we plummeted to the ground. Just as I felt my power fading, I called reishi under my feet one last time and stopped my fall mid motion.

Morbetor, well, he wasn't so lucky.

I watched as he fell the rest of the way and crashed into the sand just before the reishi under my feet dissolved as my own spiritual pressure vanished. I fell the twenty feet that separated me from the ground and landed hard on the sand. The shock of the landing zinged up my legs, momentarily freezing me in place as my body adjusted to the pain. I should have rolled, damn it.

Finally getting over the shock, I straightened and let my eyes find Morbetor where he laid on the sand. Even from here I could see the gleaming white of exposed bones sticking out from his legs. Just like I had known would happen, the force of his fall had broken the bones in his legs. I'd done this to myself before when I was still learning how to use my resurreccion.

Life as a Human must have really sucked.

Wasting little time I walked over to his fallen form. He was letting out small grunts of pain that grew louder as I loomed closer to him. He knew what was coming. Death.

Stopping beside him, I lifted my foot and tapped the exposed bone of his leg with my toe. He writhed on the ground, trying to move his leg away from my touch but failing. I felt the adrenaline drain from me and the expression of battle fade from my face until all that remained was the cold, emotionless woman that I normally was.

I poked his bone again before I set my foot back on the ground. "I'll give you one chance. If you want to live, you'll answer my questions. If you want to die, refuse. I'm not going to bother playing with you."

"Fuck you," he bit out as his enraged gaze tried to set me on fire.

"So be it," I murmured as I lifted my zanpakuto and reversed my grip.

"He'll find your weakness, Isabellia," he said quickly. "He's good as exploiting our demons, and he will figure out yours. Just wait-"

I slammed the blade of my zanpakuto into his face, breaking through the bone of his mask and skull with the single strike. Did he really think that I didn't know that? I knew exactly what Arnau was capable of, but I also knew that just like everyone else he could die. I just had to figure out how to keep him dead.

Pulling my zanpakuto free from his flesh, I stabbed through his mask again to ensure it was well and truly broken before I gave his corpse my back. I'd eat his body later, once all of this was over. I had at least one more person to deal with before I could relax and his corpse would be a nice boost to restore the energy I'd used while fighting.

A flash of color caught my attention and my gaze flicked up in time to see someone step outside of my Negative Space. I frowned, but my expression was wiped away when a chain shot into the darkness of my power toward me. Without my spiritual power to boost my speed I dodged Human slow, which to say the least was nowhere near fast enough. The end of chain hit my thigh and what I thought was just going to be a whip was actually a barbed blade that caught in my flesh.

What the hell? Had I really just been harpooned like a damn fish?

Apparently, yes. I was a freaking whale. The chain pulled taught and hauled me forward by my thigh. The pain of the wound was nothing compared to the searing pain of my broken mask. In comparison it was just an annoyance which was a welcome change. I fell to my other knee and drove my zanpakuto down into the sand to use it like an anchor. It wasn't enough though. I wasn't strong enough to resist the strength of whomever was outside without my own spiritual pressure.

I called to the boundaries of my Negative Space, pulling the power back to me as I loosened my grip on my zanpakuto so I could hit the metal with my gauntlet. I felt my Negative Space react to me, but it wasn't quick enough. Another tug and my grip slipped from the shaft of my zanpakuto and I was hauled ten feet forward. I snarled as I turned my efforts to ripping the barbed blade from my flesh, but just as I got my grip set on the chain I was hauled forward again and this time it took me onto my backside with my efforts to resist it's pull.

As the darkness of my Negative Space fully vanished, I was left to stare at the man who held the other end of the chain. He smiled when he caught sight of my glare, baring teeth that belonged in the mouth of an alligator rather than on a Human face. His mask was a warped thing that looked more like someone had splashed it on than an actual skull, but I didn't bother taking much of his appearance. He was about to die.

I held my hand out as I called to my zanpakuto and lifted my other to point at Mr. Harpoon as I formed a cero in my palm and fired it. The cero was meant to be a distraction until I could get my hands back on my zanpakuto and break this stupid chain, but when the cool metal of my spear never hit my hand I glanced back at it to find that some lovely ass wipe had taken hold of it was fighting with its pull to keep it from me. I frowned harder and put more power into my call, knowing that in my true form it was damn near impossible to keep me separated from it for long. I couldn't summon it into existence like I could my armor, but it was damn close.

The blade in my leg was tugged on again, breaking my concentration on my zanpakuto as I was forced to face off against the strength of the man pulling me around. I struggled to get to my feet as he continued to tug on the chain to keep me from catching my balance, but I dug my feet into the sand and took hold of the chain and pulled back. He was ready for it and didn't move, but for the moment I wasn't being yanked around. My leg was shaking from the effort of resisting him with the damage it had taken, but I ignored it and locked my knee back.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" I growled out as I put my body weight into resisting his pull.

He didn't answer me with words, but instead with actions. He dropped one hand from the chain and he grunted with the effort of holding me in place with only one arm as his hand went behind him. I wanted to watch whatever he was going to do so I could react, but I could feel the presence of the other person on the edge of my crappy senses. I glanced over my shoulder for a moment to check on them only to find that they were still fighting to keep hold of my zanpakuto. Sand really didn't give anyone good traction which was evident as they were slowly dragged across the granules of rock toward me as my zanpakuto moved them. They must not have been as strong as the one who had me tethered by his chain. At the very least, my zanpakuto would keep them busy and unable to attack me unless they wanted me to get my hands back on it.

I turned my attention back to Mr. Harpoon just in time to watch as he brought a short zanpakuto down on the chain. A cero erupted where he struck and shot down the chain. I didn't even have time to consider just ripping the stupid barbed blade from my body before the power of the cero hit my gauntlets then channeled into my thigh.

My muscles seized like I had been struck with lightning. Luckily for me, it was nothing compared to the pain of my broken mask. The comparison allowed me the strength and clarity that I needed to keep my feet, and after a moment my body flexed as I raised my own spiritual pressure like a shield.

The power cut off abruptly leaving me standing there, my body and armor smoking with the heat his cero had made.

"Did you get her?" The person behind me asked in a cautious tone.

"I think so."

This was normal? Interesting. I had closed my eyes while I had been dealing with his cero so I couldn't see them, but for the moment that worked just fine for me. Instead of using my eyes I listened as the sand moved with their steps and tracked them as they came closer.

"Her zanpakuto is still resisting me."

The man was moving closer, reeling in the chain slowly. I could feel it moving in my grasp, tugging slightly as he moved. I kept my body completely still as they continued to move. They thought I had been subdued, and I had no intention of breaking that illusion until I wanted too.

"He didn't mention her ability to call it to her. It might be something she developed over the last thousand years. Arnau didn't know she was still alive until recently and hadn't been keeping tabs on her."

"Oh, great," the one wrestling with my zanpakuto snapped. I decided then that it was a woman by the attitude they were giving off. They had one of those voices that was hard to determine gender by. "What else can she do that we don't know about?"

"This," I growled as I commanded my zanpakuto to shrink into a dagger. She screeched as she lost her grip on it, and I moved. With a power yell that disguised the pain, I ripped the blade from my leg and yanked on the chain. The man who was on the other end stumbled forward as I snatched my zanpakuto out of the air and found his throat with the blade.

Blood sprayed from the open artery, coating my skin and armor in red as I turned on the woman. I had just started to flip my zanpakuto in my hand when a streak of red shot down and crashed into her. Claws flashed, teeth gleamed in the light of viscous flames as Raacharg's fangs sank into her exposed neck. A gurgle escaped her lips as she tried to scream, but Raacharg was vicious in his assault. He took her to the ground with his weight and his teeth gnashed into her flesh. Flesh ripped, blood sprayed, bones crunched and the putrid stench of burning flesh filled the air.

It was glorious.

But, only because it was Raacharg.

Golden eyes flicked up to meet mine as his teeth sank deeper into her neck. Flames were licking at her skin, turning her once porcelain complexion red then back and bubbled as her flesh cooked and blostered. I gave him a feral grin. "Do it."

His eyes seemed to glow with a grin and he his jerked. The woman had been at least struggling in some way against his death grip on her throat until that moment, but with the crack her body went limp. Lifeless. Unlike how I had waited to consume the body of Morbetor, he didn't wait. Her body dissipated into tiny bits of reishi as he took her power into himself. My bond with him flared in the back of my mind ad I felt him pulse like a beacon.

He was well on his way to becoming a Vasto Lordes. The urge to push him over that edge was almost too much to resist, but I managed to hold myself back. He would want to do it on his own, and I wouldn't take that achievement from him by forcing it. Though, consuming half a dozen more Arrancar would do it. Maybe we would be fortunate to have Arnau waste enough lives.

I glanced over my shoulder to gaze down at the Arrancar whose throat I had slit. It was on the ground, his hands scrabbling weakly at his throat as he tried to staunch the blood flow. I stepped back to ensure that Raacharg could see him around me.

"Do you want him?" I asked.

"Yes," he growled without hesitation as a grin lifted his jowls.

Pleased as punch, I grinned back and watched as he lunged forward and his fangs sank into the man's arm. He shook his head, tearing flesh as the flames that coated his body flared and scorched across the helpless Arrancar. I watched them until the moment when the Arrancar faded with death, then turned my attention down to myself. As Raacharg consumed his body I flexed my own spiritual pressure, saturating the blood that slicked my body with my own power. Normally the blood would have vanished as Raacharg consumed him, but I didn't want to be clean. I wanted to be coated in the blood of the fallen when the next idiot decided to attack.

Even though I had donned my armor, being mostly nude beneath didn't instill as much fear in my opponents as being covered in the blood of a fallen comrade. But nude and mostly covered in blood? Oh yeah. That usually got them going.

"I take it Grimmjow has moved on?" I asked as I tapped my zanpakuto against my shoulder pauldron and released my resurreccion.

"Yes," he answered as he came up to me. We both turned to look across the interior of Los Noches. There were no sparks of light from ceros being fired or other spiritual pressures rising, but the tension in the air was palpable like more violence was just waiting to break out.

"Is that injury bad?" Raacharg asked, drawing my attention back to him. I followed his gaze to my thigh where I had ripped the barbed blade from my flesh. I shrugged and with one hand pushed my flesh back together. It hurt, but even as I thought it I knew it wasn't the worst pain ever.

"Not really," I murmured before I made quick work of healing it as I held the flesh together. It took only a moment, but I was pushing for speed which made it hurt more and took more energy. I was willing to sacrifice some power for the speed though. We were vulnerable out in the open, and I didn't like feeling that way.

"Can you tell who is still fighting?" I asked him as I wiped my blood covered hand across my stomach. Being covered in blood was good, but having slick hands? Not so much.

He turned away from me and cast his gaze across the interior of Los Noches. "There are still several raised spiritual pressures, but none of them feel foreign. If I had to guess, whoever attacked was defeated or fled."

"He's right," Grimmjow piped up just as I heard a soft shift of sand come from beside me. He must have just descended from the wall, because I hadn't felt him before a moment ago. I turned to watch him as his gaze drifted from Morbetor's corpse then turned to me. "They were targeting my people. The others were merely sent to be a distraction for Nel and Halibel."

My gaze slid across the sand to Morbetor's corpse where it stayed for a long moment. Raacharg's words from the day before ran through my mind as my head slowly tilted to the side. Had they been targeting Grimmjow's people, or me? Had I presented enough of a threat for them to want to take me out? I hadn't done much aside from being in the way lately, but that wouldn't have mattered if they were worried about what I could teach the Espada.

A frown turned my lips as I started towards the body. I had never figured out what that metal was even though I'd killed him. It bothered me that someone had a device that would work so well against my Negative Space. It shouldn't have been a thing that existed, but I still didn't know if it was his zanpakuto or something else entirely. If it was something else, I would need to destroy it so someone else couldn't use it against me.

Stopping beside the broken body, I stabbed it with my zanpakuto and called to the reishi that composed it. It gave into my silent demand and dispersed as I pulled the residual power into myself. My eyes closed as the pleasant fullness of my own power being restored filled me and I sucked in a long breath just so I could let it out in a pleased sigh. I hadn't had a good meal like that in years. My diet had mostly consisted of Gillians and other menos, and I usually didn't need to consume them very often. My spirit energy replenished on it's own given enough time and the ability to breathe in the residual reishi in the air. Assuming I wasn't burning through it faster than I gained it, obviously.

I opened my eyes and blinked down at where the body had been, only to spot a square of a metal like fabric lying on the sand. I had honestly expected all of him to vanish, including the metal that had been running over his skin. Apparently, I had been wrong.

Kneeling down I scooped the metal off the sand and held it up. It was like someone had taken a vest of scale armor and cut a twelve inch square out of it. I turned it over in my hands to examine the thin leather that the scales were attached to. It was such an odd thing. It was roughly twice the size of the metal patches that had been swirling over his skin. Had they combined into this one object?

I heard Grimmjow's footsteps as he came up beside me and knelt. I glanced over to see his gaze focused on the scales in my hand.

"That's a Soul Reaper relic," he murmured.

"You know what this is? It worked inside my Negative Space, like my power didn't even affect it."

"Not exactly, but I know the feeling. I have several similar objects that I took from the Soul Society when they were invaded thirty years ago."

"We invaded the Soul Society?" I asked as I gave him an incredulous look.

"No, we didn't. It's a long story, but a Quincy with an army and a hardon for the Soul King's death invaded the Soul Society. Nel and I paid back a favor we owed Kisuke by aiding him and Yoruichi."

He stopped talking as he reached for the scaled armor. For a moment I considered not letting him have it, but decided against it and watched as he plucked it from my grasp. The metal tinked lightly with the movement as he held it closer to his face to examine it.

As I watched, I couldn't help but to be distracted by the view of his profile. I almost couldn't see his mask with the angle and it reminded me so much of the time that he had been in the gigai that I couldn't help but to stare. His features were sharp, but the edges of his mask that I could see made them sharper. From the point of his jaw to the curves of his lips, the smooth angles of his nose to his devastatingly attractive high cheekbones, and those damned azure eyes of his. They were so fucking alluring that all I wanted to do was get lost in them.

"How did Arnau get his hands on something like this?" He asked.

I blinked a few times then shook my head. What had I just been thinking? Holy hell, there was something seriously wrong with me.

"Would a Soul Reaper have a reason to work with them?"

"No, they are on our side. Outside of Kisuke and Yoruichi, they have no idea what is happening here in Hueco Mundo. If they found out, it would be like pulling arms off a Hollow just to get them to stay out of our business."

"That still makes no sense to me," I mumbled to myself as I stood. I needed to get some distance from this man before I tried to do some of the things that my body wanted to do before I had decided to flinch.

This Human body was such a damn sinner.

An unfamiliar spiritual pressure brushed my senses just before a woman I had seen before dropped out of her sonido a few feet from us. Grimmjow stood, tucking away the scale armor in his jacket as he faced her.

"I've never seen anything like that before," she stated as her hazel eyes drifted over Grimmjow then me. After glancing me up and down, her gaze pausing on the blood that covered a good portion of my skin, before she turned back to Grimmjow. "How did they make the moon vanish from the sky?"

"They didn't," Grimmjow answered. I was keeping my gaze on her, but I could feel Grimmjow's attention on me.

He let out a small sigh.

"We need to talk. All of us."

Oh, goody.