Hueco Mundo.
A black garganta suddenly split open in space.
From it stepped Natsuro, clad in his shihakushō, with a small, cute creature perched on his shoulder.
He looked out at the familiar desert. Even after being away for days, he still disliked coming here. Hueco Mundo had no scenery to speak of—only an endless sky of eternal night, and barren, lifeless land.
But he wasn't here to sightsee. Without delay, his spiritual pressure flared, and he began to chant:
"Heart of the south, eye of the north, finger of the west, foot of the east, arrive with the wind and depart with the rain! Bakudō #58: Kakushitsuijaku!"
As his incantation ended, a white pillar of reiryoku shot into the sky and streaked off in a direction.
At once, Stark's location appeared clearly in Natsuro's mind.
Bakudō #58: Kakushitsuijaku was a spell that tracked and captured an opponent's location based on their spiritual pressure.
Of course, this only worked if the target didn't suppress their reiatsu. That was why, before leaving Soul Society, he had specifically told Starrk not to conceal his spiritual pressure.
Every individual's reiatsu was unique, Shinigami or Hollow alike.
So as long as he keyed in Stark's reiatsu, the result would never be mistaken.
"Hm? Looks like he's still pretty far…" Natsuro murmured, sensing the distance.
Not surprising, he'd been gone for more than a month.
Without other distractions, Stark could move quickly. And with the motivation Natsuro had stirred in him to seek out companions, he wouldn't have slowed his pace.
"How are you holding up?" Natsuro asked, rubbing the little creature's head.
"Gu-la~" Umbreon squinted its eyes and answered softly.
"Yeah? That's better than last time we came here, then. Good." Natsuro nodded with satisfaction, though he had no intention of using Umbreon's teleportation now.
This short trip wasn't worth troubling it over. Better to let it rest, soon enough, it might be needed to take him back to the Human World.
With that, he set off toward Stark's location.
Across the sea of sand, his figure seemed to flicker in and out, as though he were merely strolling leisurely. Yet every step carried him impossibly far, like a divine art of "shrinking the ground to inches."
In truth, it was only shunpo. His body never truly disappeared, but his speed was so great that the transitions were invisible.
For most Shinigami, using shunpo at this level in spirit-saturated Hueco Mundo would be a massive drain. But for Natsuro, the reiatsu he "wasted" was replenished faster than he could spend it.
After some time, he arrived before a strange forest of trees. They weren't made of wood, but of quartz seeming like pale, petrified trunks like a dead forest.
"This should be the outer circle of Hueco Mundo?" Natsuro wasn't entirely sure.
Stark, however, was deeper inside.
Without hesitation, he stepped into the quartz forest.
Eventually, he stopped before an odd grove of white trees. His senses told him Stark was here.
And Stark wasn't alone, another presence radiated enormous spiritual pressure nearby.
"So Stark actually found another companion while I was gone? And it's another Vasto Lorde level Hollow?" Natsuro was surprised. Without delay, he walked into the grove.
Soon, he saw Stark and opposite him, a Hollow in a humanoid form.
This one looked utterly different from ordinary Hollows. His entire body was white. On his face sat a Hollow mask with only two plain, humanlike holes... beneath it no glowing eyes, no mouth.
At that moment, Stark seemed to be facing off against this strange Hollow.
"Hm? Natsuro, you're back?" Stark brightened at the sight of him.
The white Hollow also noticed Natsuro, wariness flashing in his eyes.
"Yeah, just got here. And this is…?" Natsuro asked, turning to him.
"Ulquiorra Cifer. I just found him, he could become one of our companions," Stark explained.
"But judging by that reiatsu, he doesn't seem too receptive," Natsuro noted.
"Companions?" Ulquiorra spoke at last, his voice flat, devoid of emotion.
Since he had no mouth, it was impossible to tell where the sound came from.
"Yes. Companions. You must be lonely too, Ulquiorra. With reiatsu of this level, any Hollow that approached you would be crushed to death beneath it, right?" Stark asked.
"Lonely? Companions? What do you mean? And if one's reiatsu is too strong, isn't it enough to simply control it?" Ulquiorra's detached voice rang out again.
Stark froze, stunned. He hadn't expected Ulquiorra to be capable of suppressing his reiatsu at will…
"You thought every Hollow with immense reiatsu was like you, powerful but unable to control it?" Natsuro said with a faint laugh.
Stark looked a bit embarrassed at that.
Still, what was embarrassment compared to gaining another comrade? He quickly began to explain:
"Loneliness is… like what you were experiencing before I arrived. Living here all alone, with no one by your side. That feeling is hard to bear."
"As for companions, they're friends, fellow travelers. Someone to talk with when you're lonely… more or less."
Even Stark himself didn't fully understand, but he spoke from his own heart.
"Is that so?" Ulquiorra seemed to ponder.
"You've never felt pain from being alone?" Stark asked, suddenly uncertain.
"No. I once had 'companions' of sorts nearby, but because I looked different from them, they rejected me. So I left, and came here to live alone. I don't feel what you describe," Ulquiorra answered plainly.
Stark scratched his head and turned to Natsuro, clearly looking for help.
In his mind, Natsuro surely understood these things better than he did.
"What you described weren't companions," Natsuro said. "Or rather, they never considered you one. True companions are those who share a common goal."
"Oh." Ulquiorra nodded lightly, as if mulling it over. The concept seemed novel to him, but not unwelcome.
Natsuro continued, "Stark, on the other hand, is someone who lacks companions. From birth, his reiatsu was so overwhelming that no Hollow could approach him. So he has always been alone. That's why he longs so desperately for others at his side."
Ulquiorra nodded half in understanding, then turned his gaze back to Stark.
"So… he wants me to be his companion?"
"Yes," Stark confirmed.
Ulquiorra seemed to be deep in thought, and Stark and Natsuro didn't rush him.
As Natsuro studied him, the name "Ulquiorra" resonated in his mind. He knew it well, wasn't this the very Hollow who, in his memories, possessed a second release and one day fought a climactic battle against Ichigo Kurosaki?
He hadn't expected to encounter him here, of all places.
In the original story, he was certain Stark and Ulquiorra never met before joining Aizen. Clearly, his presence here had already shifted events.
Would Stark and Ulquiorra still choose to become Aizen's Espada in the future?
As for what that might mean for Aizen…
Well, honestly, he didn't think losing a couple of subordinates would affect Aizen much. Even if Stark and Ulquiorra were among the strongest Espada, Aizen's true strength in the original story didn't lie in his army. It was simply Aizen himself.
Kyōka Suigetsu wasn't inherently an overwhelmingly powerful Zanpakutō, its power was terrifying only because its wielder was Aizen.
And most importantly, Aizen had never once revealed his Bankai. Natsuro remembered this clearly; in the Soul Society, many speculated endlessly about what Aizen's Bankai could be, or why he never used it.
Some theorized that his Bankai was nothing more than an amplified version of his Shikai, that he had already been using it all along.
Others guessed that his Bankai would actually dispel Kyōka Suigetsu's illusions, which would be a loss too great for Aizen to accept. After all, nearly the entire Seireitei was already under his illusions. If he never chose to end it, they could remain trapped forever. Using Bankai just to cancel that would be pointless.
He himself had no idea what Aizen's Bankai truly was. For all anyone knew, the other captains still believed Aizen's Zanpakutō to be nothing more than a water-type blade…
But with Natsuro's current understanding of Zanpakutō...
The Shikai wasn't really the sword's power, but the power of the Shinigami themselves. Kyōka Suigetsu reflected Aizen's own mastery of illusions. Even without a Zanpakutō, he might well have manifested the same ability.
As for Aizen's Bankai, he had no desire to speculate. If Aizen chose never to use it, then so be it. Natsurp's own Meikyō Shisui Bankai, had only ever been used once in his duel with Unohana.
For him, true combat relied on his own strength. Bankai represented the Zanpakutō's evolution, born from absorbing enough of its wielder's spirit energy.
Yes, it usually aligned with the Shikai, but in the end it was the sword's ability, not the Shinigami's own.
Unless. those Shinigami could undergo Resurrección, merging their Zanpakutō's abilities with themselves.
That, clearly, was beyond them. But it was precisely the path Natsuro was pursuing.
"Would I have to become like you, if I joined you?" Ulquiorra asked suddenly, after a moment of silence.
"Of course not," Stark answered at once. From what he knew, becoming an Arrancar wasn't easy.
"I see. Not necessary, then." Ulquiorra nodded. He didn't particularly care either way.
After all, living alone in this pale forest hadn't troubled him in the slightest.
This was the key difference between Ulquiorra and Stark. Ulquiorra hardly even understood the concept of loneliness, let alone felt it.
But he was curious. Curious about the things Stark and Natsuro spoke of.
So he didn't mind following them, if it meant exploring these unknowns.
"Can you become like us?" Natsuro asked, fixing his gaze on Ulquiorra.
"I think so," Ulquiorra replied, then added, "When I first came here, the trees around me tore my mask. For a while, I became like you. But later, my mask repaired itself."
"I see… then you should try breaking your mask by your own strength. That way, your power might advance tremendously," Natsuro said.
He was excited. Ulquiorra was already on the verge of becoming an Arrancar on his own. Natsuro had thought Stark was the only exception but Ulquiorra, too, had nearly reached that threshold.
And since Ulquiorra had yet to complete the process, Natsuro might have the chance to witness it in full.
That would be invaluable: to observe a Hollow break its mask of its own will and gain Shinigami-like powers. For him, it was the perfect reference.
"Very well," Ulquiorra agreed without hesitation.
"So you're willing to come with us?" Stark asked, realization dawning on him.
"Yes. I want to know what it feels like to have companions. How it differs from the life I live now," Ulquiorra answered, calm but tinged with curiosity.
"Great!" Stark said with a broad smile.
Beside him, Natsuro nodded thoughtfully. Stark, the first Hollow to shatter his mask, had been driven by fear of loneliness.
Ulquiorra, who also had the potential to break his mask, resembled a child. Ignorant of the world, yet brimming with curiosity about everything unknown.
Originally, he had only intended to help Stark find a single companion before leaving.
But since fate had brought Ulquiorra here, another Hollow capable of self-arrancarization, it seemed worthwhile to stay and observe them both.
Natsuro made up his mind then and there.
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