Maddening [Yuki Arisawa, Closed]

Yuki along with Shadow who was by her side walked silently through the great dune of Hueco Mundo. Her slitted eyes shows no emotion as she made her way to Las Noches. 

Las Noches.

The last time she was here, it was some 30 years ago that she step into that place. She remembers clearly how barren and abandoned the proud city once stood among the empty desert. How pitiful for a kingdom to fall so easily. She had not know how the state of the city now. Are they still in ruins or are they been rebuild, but now even better than ever? Tch, not her problem. As she was walking, a spiritual pressure hit her and it seems it's originated from Las Noches.

"Shadow, what did you feel?" She asked, stopping her track. Shadow looked at Yuki and spoke, "A Hollow." 

"Our brethren..." She whispered. "Come, let us continue our journey."

Both Yuki and Shadow keep on walking, until they arrived at Las Noches. The dome stood proudly among the vast desert and at this point she knew Las Noches has once again risen from it's ashes. 

Her slit crimson eyes stray to the door and she was meet with a sight of a tall, scaly Hollow killing an Arrancar that stationed there. She is sure that unlucky Arrancar would be the Hollow's meal for the day. Her mouth twitched, almost as if she wanted to give a sadistic smirk. Nothing is more delicious than Arrancar's soul. Not even Vasto Lorde could trump their heavenly taste. The door came to her sight and she rose one of her eyebrows. She could see a few cracks on the door and made an assumption that this tall Hollow had been kicking and punching it in order to gain an entrance to the elusive dome. The Arrancar could see that this Hollow possessed intelligence from his speech pattern.

She approached him and softly greeted, "Hello."

Word Count: 324

GP: 6

TGP: 6

Picking up the corpse and dangling it for a bit in his hand, Iko proceeded to bounce the corpse up in down to make sure that the Arrancar was well and truly dead. Like a toy the body hit the ground and bounced back up into his hand as each time the sound of bones cracking and limbs snapping satisfied the Hollow beyond anything else. Each time the body bounced tiny fractures of the corpse’s spirit drifted into the Hollow’s maw and fed his continued growth. He really shouldn’t have broken the Arrancar’s neck, maybe it would have been more entertaining to let him live and scream as he played with the body and broke each bone systematically. Lately eating didn’t have the same . . . satisfaction that it had used to. It was almost as if there was more to life than a Hollow desire to hunger.

When he heard the voice his first reaction was to stop bouncing the corpse and secondly to slowly to place it on the ground. Spinning Iko’s eyes fixed on a woman, judging by the sword at her waist he assumed that meant she was also like the man he just killed. His mind ticking over the information came to the conclusion that, she would be angry that he’d killed on of her friends, yet . . . She did not seem aggressive? Curiously enough she seemed almost open to the fact and this interested the predator.

What was even more interesting about the girl was the shadowy mass in the shape of a . . . a . . . rolling the image in his brain a multitude of voices gave him an answer – lion. The rolling shadowy mass that was following the girl was a lion. But it was not a separate entity, his mouth cracked slightly and he tasted the air and the scents of the two in front of him, they were one and the same. The lioness tasted more malevolent somehow? The monster shrugging the feeling away didn’t really care, the girl seemed like she didn’t want to harm him and that was a welcome change from most of these Arrancar with their sword swinging and their hapless challenging.

“Iko is my name. My name is Iko” the hunter replied. His joints cracking he flexed up onto his haunches, perching like a simian on his hands and legs and staring at the girl. He could eat her, but that seemed boring and a waste of time especially since it seemed like he could learn a lot from her. Tilting his head to one side his mouth once again cracked open “Iko is Iko, ___ is ___?”  His mouth did not complete the phrases, nor did he even try. To the primordial and almost infantile Hollow mind of the just-evolved Adjuchas to him that made linguistically logical sense. Instead the blanks were bolstered by the gesturing from the predator as it set to establish who this newcomer was and why it had not tried to stab him yet.

Tilting his head to the other side it looked at the shadowy lion. It seemed to be . . . existing? Off the presence of the female Arrancar. Which was fascinating in itself, that would mean they lived an almost symbiotic relationship. Iko understood what living with something meant, he had to live with so many annoying voices rambling in his head.

573 11 GP

Yuki watched the Hollow bounce the Arrancar's dead body. She give no care of the dead Arrancar since it was his fault in the first place for trying to attack the tall Hollow. However, the sound of the bones breaking give her satisfaction and a sadistic smirk form on her pale lips. It's too a shame he had died. If he had been alive, she would enjoy his scream of torment as she break his bones one by one. She could see the tiny bits of the dead spirit went to the tall Hollow. She knew at this point that the Hollow had been eating and she had interrupted it's meal time.

The Hollow spun around when he heard her voice. He looked at both of them and cracked his mouth as if tasting the air. The tall Hollow then said, “Iko is my name. My name is Iko” 

Ah, so the Hollow name is Iko. She listen to him more, as if she was curious of the Hollow infront of her, “Iko is Iko, ___ is ___?” The speech broke from there as if he was trying to form words but couldn't. The only evolution capable of speeches are those of adjuchas. And judging from the broken speeches, she reckon the Hollow had just reach his evolution of those from Gillian. She could still remember those years she stays as adjuchas. She shook her head thinking, 'Now it is not the time to think about it.'

"Iko." She whispered, trying to get used to her tongue roll the name. It was quite a nice name for an Adjuchas level. "You have quite a nice name."

"I have no desired to hurt you nor would I want to eat you." She said again. Shadow glance at Iko and give a low grumbled as if complaining something under his breath. She raised her eyebrows at Shadow, "What seems to be the problem, Shadow?"

"He is too tall." He whined and Yuki just shake her head at the lion's antics. 

Word count: 336

GP: 6 

TGP: 12

The woman told Iko that had a nice name, to which Iko ate it up. Literally, now he was practically bouncing on his heels as much as the corpse had been when he had been treating it like a yo-yo. This was great fun, finally an Arrancar that didn’t make him want to kill them right off the bat, finally somebody to have vaguely intelligent conversation with. He missed speaking, or rather the almost alien human portion of him missed being able to speak. Perhaps that was why he spoke so much yet had no idea how? A tiny portion of him liked and had missed it.

The lion next to her however seemed to be a separate entity to the woman, despite them being basically the same thing from what Iko could tell. The creature was interesting because technically if Iko remembered correctly it had no real body, which meant it shouldn’t be living, correct? Yes, correct, of course he was correct, he knew what a living being was like. This seemed to be some sort of creation from the girls will, which meant she was much stronger than she seemed. Appearances apparently could be very deceiving especially with these Arrancar.

“Iko wantses to know if you liveses here?” he asked gesturing back at Las Noches. Even though she hadn’t come from within it but rather from Hueco Mundo, he wondered if she’d been patrolling like the Shinigami did in the human world. She was full of surprises after all, maybe she’d just returned from a garganta that had opened in Hueco Mundo. So many options and so little time to choose. “If so, what is Las Noches? Why is it here” he had so many questions about the building, mainly because he’d never seen it before and only knew the name from the voices in his head were telling him. Personally he couldn’t care less about the building, he could after all just go inside and kill everyone because that was currently fun for him. However, he felt he should atleast try to speak to this Arrancar and work out who she was.

Tilting his head back to the girl, he began speaking once again “And what is that?” he said gesturing to the shadow lion that she seemed to acknowledge as “Shadow” that was a silly name, it was like if Iko acknowledged the voices in his head as “voices” and said it openly. The name "shadow" didn't suit, but he had no time or patience to bother naming it anything.

424 8 GP

Yuki watched amused of the Hollow who bounce around like a hyper child who just eaten a whole bag of candies. She had a feeling this Hollow is different than others. Then again, most Hollows haven't regain their intelligence so it is understandable that they are stupid and followed their base instincts. She herself had experience that during her early years as Hollow. It's not the proudest moment of her afterlife. After all, now that she regain her intelligence, it was reckless of her to just blindly followed up with her instinct. Ah it doesn't matter, those are in the past. For now, she focused in the present and keep keep on her journey for revenge as well as creating havoc to those Shinigami.

 She gazed at Iko's hand which seems to be gesturing the door of Las Noches, asking if she lived there. Yuki shook her head and answered, "I'm sorry, Iko. I did not lived in there. In fact, I haven't visit this place for more than 30 years." Her eyes went to the door of Las Noches and it softened as she reminisce her memories of Leo before he died. She has always been attract to the dragon arrancar but she never told him. Now she regret not telling him of her feelings. She snapped out of her straying as Iko shoot another question, “If so, what is Las Noches? Why is it here”

She chuckled, what a curious being. She answered the Hollow to her best abilities. She explained to him that Las Noches housed the Espada, the strongest Arrancars in Hueco Mundo as well as the King of Hueco Mundo, Erasmus. She had not yet meet him but from what she heard of him, he is a sadist and terrifying. She never know what happened beyond the wall after his ascension. Las Noches as she explained to Iko also function as the centre point of the King's ruling. She didn't know if the tall Hollow comprehend what she's been explaining. She hoped she provided sufficient info for the scaly Hollow to think about it.

She looked at Iko who tilted his head before gesturing at Shadow asking, “And what is that?”

"That, Iko is my partner, Shadow. He is part of me as I am part of him." She said, a hint of affection creep in her voice. Shadow just grunted at being call 'that' by Iko. He is not happy that this Hollow seems to be questioning his existence. "You could say that he." The female Arrancar hand petted the lion's mane, "is my power."

Word Count: 431

GP: 8 

TGP: 20

Tilting his head to the side Iko eagerly listened to the girl’s responses, apparently she hadn’t been to Las Noches in thirty years much to his disappointment. Would he grow bored of her now because of it? Probably not, the Lion in its own right provided enough interest to the Hollow to not go wandering away from the girl. He wanted to learn more about her and her pet, was that degrading? Pet, but it was, wasn’t it. Following her around for no reason, providing guidance? Something deep within Iko recognised that as being the traits of a pet.  He would ask her later why she hadn’t been to Las Noches in a while, there were probably reasons why and for some reason he desired to know.

Listening to her explanation of the hierarchy of Las Noches was fascinating. There was apparently a King who was feared by most of the populace of Las Noches, he must be a fearsome Vasto Lorde if he terrified so many Arrancar, his ascension must’ve obviously been him evolving into the terrible final evolution of the Hollow-breed. As Iko’s aspirations in his head went on the ideas of what the female Arrancar told him grew. She probably left because of the fearsome Vasto Lorde Erasmus, yes that made sense! She had fled from his terrifying power and apparently he had Swords that served him, the strongest Arrancar and Hollow in the land. The Espada, how exciting, they must be mainly Hollow as well obviously. These Arrancar he’d come across were so weak but it made sense that some of them would be strong enough to lead the Hollow-kind.

From he was quickly coming to understand, however was the King and sat on the Throne of Las Noches had complete rule over all of Hueco Mundo absolutely. Slowly an idea began to grow in his head, he wanted to be one of these Espada and rule with the Vasto Lorde. But, if the King was a Vasto Lorde that would mean he wasn’t strong enough yet . . . he’d have to become much stronger if he wished to serve the King or even meet him, otherwise he’d feel inferior and he hated feeling inferior. He’d need to master something to impress the King . . . yes he himself liked that so of course a Vasto Lorde would.

She then went on to explain about her partner (apparently not pet but to the Hollow’s disdain) he noted the affection and somewhere in his head he wondered if the “Lion” was a pet and the girl just didn’t want to say it. Yes, that also made sense. She then explained how the Lion was her power, which Iko found ridiculously but also at the same time there was a sense of cohesiveness to her story. It would make sense if the power that the girl had was the Lion, after all they basically felt like the same thing.

“Ok, ok, first things Iko wants to knowses first” his mind whirring with all the new data that the woman had given him, Iko suddenly realised that he didn’t actually know what to call her yet. He hadn’t been told, he just knew her as “the woman” and since she was friendly Iko assumed he could not associate her with being his friend? “Iko still wants to know what your ___ is” once more the break in his speech, once more a flaw in his knowledge of speech. “Then Iko wants to know how strong Iko has to getses before he can be an Espada” Yes, it made sense to Iko to ask how strong the Espada were so that he could impress the woman.

“Finally, finally, Iko wants to know. . . . what does Iko wants to know? Iko wantses to know what you are doing here” Yes, that made perfect sense. He would keep asking and learning from her, he needed all the advantages he could get after all.

665 words 13 GP

Did she spark his interest? It must be since Iko had been rapt listening to her explanation particularly in regards of the hierarchy of Hueco Mundo. She could feel the excitement vibrating in Iko and knew in some way, he wanted to join the Espada. She herself wanted to join as well, to give her loyalty to the King and to serve him to her best of ability... But there are times, she doubt her dream would come true. After all, who want a soft spoken girl like her as a servant? She shook her head, eliminating that dark thought. Iko's words made her realized she haven't introduced herself first. Ah how rude of her... Iko had given his name but she did not return his courtesy. With a small bow, she introduced herself, "Forgive me for not introducing myself earlier. I am Yuki Arisawa."

She almost lost her cool at that moment when Iko said he wanted to know if he is strong enough to be an Espada. Truthfully, she did not know how strong they had to be if they want to become an Espada but she did know the Espada are mostly consist of Arrancars, those Arrancars that have been chosen specifically by the King, Erasmus. She spoke quietly, "Sorry to say, Iko but I did not know how strong you have to be to become an Espada. I'm sorry..." 

She did not know of his motive to become an Espada. Perhaps to impress her? .... No, it's impossible. Maybe the Hollow had different agenda other than impressing her. She is not important and there are far more people the Hollow could impress. "Is there a reason Iko wanted to become an Espada?" She asked. Although she did raised her eyebrows when the gigantic Hollow seems somewhat disappointed when she explain of Shadow's existence to him. 

“Finally, finally, Iko wants to know. . . . what does Iko wants to know? Iko wantses to know what you are doing here?" His speech pattern still broke in the middle of the sentence. That and the fact he seems to have forgotten things he want to say before. "I merely wander thorough the desert, with no purpose and thought. I...I stumbled upon you when you killed that Arrancar..." She said, her eyes looked at the white sand below her feet.

Word Count: 386

GP: 7

TGP: 27

OOC: Sorry for the late reply >.<

Ah, at last she introduced herself. What an exciting turn of events, well, not really. But at the very least Iko now had a name for the female Arrancar, her name was Yuki Arisawa and her lion was named Shadow. For a moment Iko stopped moving, his mind whirring as he processed both the names and appearances of the two entities in front of him. He engrained them in his head as being friend, primarily for the reason that they hadn’t attacked him yet and honestly that was something to be really positive about considering nearly everything up to this moment had tried to kill. She seemed quite insightful so making her an ally would be a good decision, especially since she was so soft-spoken Iko didn’t think she’d try and attack him anytime soon.

She however did not know how strong the Espada were, that was disappointing but he could live with that. After all she hadn’t been to Las Noches in a long time, so it made sense that she’d either forget or rather never met the current Espada to be able to estimate their power. Shrugging he accepted the news, in his head anyway he’d already put them as being much stronger than he was now, he would need to train hard and work hard to earn a spot among them. Tilting his head, he listened to her question and rolled it round in his head whilst she continued speaking. She was wandering in the desert? So close to Las Noches? That didn’t quite add up, there had to be a reason there was always a reason.

“Hollow are mindless. Iko thinks they need better leaders. Iko thinks the Espada could do better, but Iko doesn’t blame them, they don’t have Iko yet” yes that made sense? That was why he wanted to be an Espada right? Secretly he also wanted to become strong but he wouldn’t tell her that. Even he knew that was a pipe dream that was a long way off. He had much to learn and see before he reached close to their power but the goal was definitely in sight. “Iko thinkses and readses stone, on stone Iko wanted to be great Hollow” gesturing in the direction of the horizon where the great stone monument he’d read of two great Vasto Lorde was.

 He knew about them, it was written near the top, apparently the two strongest Vasto Lorde that had ever walked Hueco Mundo. One had died and the other had apparently vanished without a trace, considering somebody had taken the time to make an account of their strength Iko figured that they were great Espada who had made a good name for Hollow kind.

“Iko also doesn’t understand why Yuki is here. Why so close? Why so near? Iko doesn’t understandses. Why put Yuki so close to place she wandered awayses from? Has Yuki decided she wants to come back to Las Noches? Or is Yuki scared . . . maybe Iko is scaredses to. Maybe Iko doesn’t want to enter Las Noches just yet, smells of ‘rrancar. Most ‘rrancar are violent, Iko knowses this” nodding the primordial Hollow took a few steps away from the hole he had opened. Sitting down in front of it, he began pondering if the decisions he’d made recently were really the best ones.

559 11 gp

“Iko also doesn’t understand why Yuki is here. Why so close? Why so near? Iko doesn’t understandses. Why put Yuki so close to place she wandered awayses from? Has Yuki decided she wants to come back to Las Noches? Or is Yuki scared . . . maybe Iko is scaredses to. Maybe Iko doesn’t want to enter Las Noches just yet, smells of ‘rrancar. Most ‘rrancar are violent, Iko knowses this”

More questions.

This Hollow took the meaning of curiosity to another level. She chuckled, "Very curious of you, Iko." Shadow gave a low grumbled, obviously disliking the giant Hollow for his constant questions. He was taking all the attention from Yuki, damn it! The proud of lion just sulked, obviously he can't do anything to Iko while muttering several insults under his breath. Yuki looked at Iko and decided to just tell him the real reason she was here. There was no point of beating around the bushes.

"Iko truly want to know why I'm here?" She went silent for awhile before continuing, "I am here because I am drawn by the power that was emitted from Las Noches. From whose power, I'm not certain of that much. I could even feel the power tingle underneath my spine..." Her eyes shifted to the big dome. She didn't know whose power she was drawn to but the power that emitted from this place was enough to sent shiver down her spine. Is she scared of this power? Or is she scared of the Arrancars that reside in here? 

Perhaps. After all, there are those who are stronger than her. "Scared?" She whispered, "Maybe..."

Her eyes followed the hand that gestures to the horizon when Iko mentioned of his desire to have his name engrave on the stone. She knew which stone he was talking about... The Remembrance Stone. It is where the strongest Hollow's name were engraved. She could remember there was two name there but she couldn't recall the exact name. "I wish you luck, Iko. I am sure you will get your name on that stone." Yuki said, smiling slightly. She is sure Iko would be able to rise as one of the powerful Hollows in Hueco Mundo and perhaps improve his speech pattern. It's a little bit hard to speak with someone who had broken sentences in their speeches. 

Word Count: 389

GP: 7

TGP: 34

“The power? Yes Iko feels this power, Iko can feel it now. Is very strong, Iko however does not think Iko is worthy yet. Iko feels he must train and get stronger. Here Iko stands at a door to Las Noches yet Iko can feel his inexperience. Iko is a fool, Iko knows he must leave and return later. When Iko is more worthy for the King” Iko nodded, a strong Vasto Lorde would never take in somebody as weak as him. He’d need to get much stronger and learn the secrets of Hollow before he could come back, he was inexperienced as it was and he barely understood his own powers let alone himself. No he would train first and experience the world.

“One day Iko will show you stone and his name on it. Iko is sure of it, Yuki has done Iko a great favour by telling him these thinks and Iko is very thank you. So Iko sees you as friend now. But Iko must go, this world is small and but Iko is much smaller, so Iko must get bigger” shrugging the Hollow gesturing towards the hole in the wall began smiling at Yuki, as she had done so much to aid him in understanding this new world he’d found himself in. She was a great help for his adjuchas brain to understand the information necessary to survive in this world.

“You can use this door Iko opened, Iko doesn’t need it any more. Iko has bigger plans within the voids of this world. Iko shall travel to Earth . . . to Karakura. Iko remembers it as being a name of significance to him but Iko can’t recall how. Either way Iko will still go and feed and grow bigger on spirits. Thank you Yuki Arisawa and . . . Shadow” with a respectful nod the manifestation of Yuki’s power, Iko stepped away from the hole he’d opened and instead tore a hole in reality, a garganta manifested with the tear and widened into a gaping black maw. He stepped into the space and saluting once, a gesture which he recalled was symbolic to goodbyes, he was gone.

363 words 7 GP

Total GP: 65

//Exit