Baishin looked at the card he had put forth and the ones the rest had. He was playing a game with Bau who had his face covered and the rest of the dark ones apart from Ganryu. The man in question was reading a shoujo manga with a serious face. This indeed caused Itsuki to raise his eyebrow while his gaze scanned the room. His eyes rested on Ichinose Make who was diligently looking doing his job. The only one missing seemed to be Jau, the arrogant one from the dark ones.Itsuki didn"t let his presence be known as he looked at the show that was starting to play out in front of him, everyone had disbelieving look in their eyes as they put their cards forward. Baishin"s voice was the first to be heard,
"How the h.e.l.l are there 1, 2, 3, 4…25 aces?!"
"Uhhh…"
Everyone looked at the cards in the middle and the ones that were shown on the table before they all looked at Ichinose. Ichinose seemed to feel their gazes as he looked back,
"What?"
"What have you done?"
"Nothing."
Ichinose went back to observing his targets while the rest looked at him. However, before they could question him further, the man started trembling. They didn"t know why but his trembling started creating a rather small yet annoying noise. It was to the point that it shook Ganryu"s enraptured attention and caused him to leave his manga, his hazy eyes getting clearer. Looking up, he happened to look towards the group playing poker and he garnered the same reaction.
Seeing Ganryu tremble, a possibility appeared in their minds as Ichinose moved to confirm it. Jumping up, he kneeled in their direction while Ganryu also got up. The rest also jumped up and back before looking in Itsuki"s direction. They also kneeled like Ichinose as they felt the pressure emanating from Itsuki.
"He has gotten stronger."
This thought occurred in all their heads as the pressure Itsuki emanated wasn"t forceful but heavy, down to their souls. They could tell that he wasn"t intentionally letting it out, but it was just there, leaking from him.
Itsuki felt this as he curbed it in, he was still not used to his newfound prowess. Suddenly the kitchen door opened and in walked a man, wearing simple clothes and a pink ap.r.o.n. It was Jau.
"Food"s ready!"
Walking a couple steps, he saw all of them kneeling in a direction and questioned,
"What are you doing?"
Ganryu tried indicating with his eyes, but the man seemed to have gotten slow as a frown plastered his face. It was only when he looked in the direction of where they were kneeling did it all add on and he quickly kneeled.
Itsuki didn"t say anything as displeasure masked his face. The first thing that left his mouth made them tremble,
"You guys have gotten weak"
Looking at Ichinose, he could tell that the man had been training rather diligently, as it seemed to be his character and he then looked at them. In all honesty, it was also partially his fault for just leaving them, hoping something will happen. Shaking his head, he said one thing,
"Well, there have been a slight change of plans, I was going to bring a couple beings here, but it seems I have to do the opposite."
Everyone was confused when a portal appeared behind him,
"Come follow me."
Itsuki walked in and they all complied.
- Hueco Mundo -
- Village of the elves -
The destroyed village seem to have been ever so slightly repaired while the battle scars were still there. The group had joined together to fix their homes when Itsuki appeared once more. This time with a group wearing nothing but casual dress from the human world. The Vasto Lordes looked at Itsuki then at the recently repaired homes they had just done. It wasn"t done to the best of their abilities but Itsuki could see the remorse in their eyes and the regret of repairing it so quickly. He couldn"t tell what these Vasto Lorde"s were thinking but he at least knew that they thought he was here to break their homes again. Coughing lightly, he indicated for the snake Vasto Lorde to come and pointed at the group behind him,
"Train them."
The snake like Vasto Lorde nodded before Itsuki continue,
"You will be in charge of the rest of the Vasto Lordes, what"s your name?"
"Naga."
An unlikely child like voice originated from the woman"s mouth when she replied. It was quite unsettling to see the two opposites but Itsuki didn"t pay heed. He just nodded,
"Like I said train them."
Turning to the group, he just said one word before disappearing,
"Survive."
The group looked confused before a chill went down their spine. Naga looked at them with a smile as she knew exactly what Itsuki meant.
- Las Noches -
Itsuki arrived when everyone was still in the middle of their fights, it wasn"t that it took him that long, it was just he was coming to terms with his strength. He had entered a sort of transformation or metamorphosis into something,
"If a caterpillar becomes a b.u.t.terfly, then what happens when a b.u.t.terfly enters metamorphosis?"
Thinking such idle things, he arrived only to see Ichigo and Ulquiorra battling it out. Ichigo was certainly stronger but it seems that the same could be said for Ulquiorra. Turning away, he looked at Tatsuki who was making her way towards Inoue with a small smile. Although he hadn"t seen it, he could tell that the girl had definitely matured, most likely she had taken a life.
Seikyo who was perched upon her shoulder felt her pap get closer and was about to go towards him when he intended her not to. The bird got the message as she quietened down and stayed next to Tatsuki. Tatsuki was confused at the bird acting up but paid no further heed.
Itsuki then disappeared from his spot and appeared within a certain balcony. However, what surprised him was his vision. It was the familiar, cracked visions he rarely used, something that he had found no need to utilise. Confused by what was happening, his attention was caught by a voice from behind him.
"It seems you have been having fun."
Itsuki slowly turned around and saw Aizen sitting there with a smile. What surprised Itsuki was the cracks on Aizen, they had decreased. Tuning his vision onto the hogyoku, he could see the tiny spherical ball but with no lines. There wasn"t a single one, but he could see a hazy one. Constantly, materialising and dematerialising.
Itsuki didn"t reply as he kept his stoic look and just looked around.
"And it seems that your bait has been bitten"
"Yeah, how nice of you to notice. Then…"
Getting up, Aizen walked towards Itsuki and stood right in front of him,
"…are we proceeding with our agreement."
Seeing the lack of response from the opposite party, Aizen shrugged his shoulder,
"It seems that we are."
Turning back, Aizen walked away a few steps.
"Well then, shall we play a game then?"
With a wave of his hand, he pointed at a game of chess sitting upon a table and two chairs. The two sat down on opposite ends and the game commenced.
Time pa.s.sed and the game continued even when the captain"s appeared to fight. Itsuki"s rook had taken out Aizen"s bishop when Itsuki suddenly shot up and disappeared. Not even a couple seconds had pa.s.sed, when he reappeared whilst holding a sleeping but battered Nel in his hands. He then proceeded to sit down and lay her on his laps earning a small laugh from Aizen before the game continued. The sound of explosions was hard both close and far from them which was then also drowned out by Nel"s cute snores.
The game once again finished as a tie with their being just the two kings left on the chessboard. Itsuki didn"t say anything but got up while holding Nel in his hands and disappeared. Aizen stared at the two kings standing proud on the chessboard before Gin and Tosen appeared behind him.
Knowing that it was time, Inoue was led to the place where Aizen told her that she was merely bait to draw the captains here. Leaving her there, the three left Hueco Mundo for what they thought was Karakura town. Itsuki was looking from a place out of Inoue"s vision as he also turned to leave. Holding the sleeping Nel in his arms, he could feel a nudge before she leaned back and rubbed her eyes. Looking dazed, she looked at Itsuki for a while before her eyes widened. Rubbing them again with her hands rolled into a ball, she looked carefully to make sure they weren"t deceiving her.
"Itshwuki-same!!"
With a wide grin, she hugged him as tears started pouring out,
"I misshed yoooouuwaaaaaaa…"
Itsuki pat her back to calm her down as it slowly but surely died down. Looking ahead, he saw a certain Arrancar look at him with a stoic gaze. Two stoic faces looked at each other in silence with one having a child looking at the two.