Sakura lays in bed impatient. She wanted to rip off the blankets and start experimenting with her new powers but the arrancar nurses kept insisting she rest more. Reluctantly, she does just that and waits until her wounds healed.
Now, she was able to stand steadily on her feet. After some test steps, she was now walking like she was never hurt at all. Before she could exit the infirmary, the tres Espada, Tier Harribel enters along with the man responsible for bringing her into this new world, Sosuke Aizen.
"I see you recovered nicely Sakura" the brunette greeted.
"Thank the healing factor," she replied. "I swear this new body is riot"
"Just wait until you train more with it" Aizen said inciting her excitement. "But before all that, you need a new change of clothes. Harribel... help her. Afterward, I want the both of you to meet me and the others in the conference room" he commanded. Harribel bows as he leaves and turns to Sakura.
"Come, I have some clothes that you can use" she said simply.
"Are you sure? You're a bit bigger than me" Sakura states.
"Well find something" and the two head off for Harribel's personal palace within Las Noches. After plenty of sonidos, they arrive and are greeted with an amusing sight in the form of a bickering trio.
All were girls but differed greatly in appearance. One had a tomboyish look to her with different colored eyes; her right eye blue and the left red. Her hair was Jaw-length and black with her hollow fragment on the top of her head and a horn in the middle.
The next girl was the biggest out of all of them. She was a dark-skinned buxom woman with a white amazonian outfit. Her hollow fragment took the form a crown around her head that was topped with brown hair and a thick necklace.
The third and final girl was a slender and pale girl with long olive-green hair. Her mask fragment took the form of hair clip-like extensions on the right side of her bangs. Her eyes were lavender with three pink dots underneath her right eye.
"I'm telling you, This suits her much better than that!" the horned girl said holding up a hooded Arrancar jacket with a black interior with no sleeves along with some tight looking white pants against the dark-skinned woman who was holding a outfit like her own with a few differences. The chest piece was replaced with a black sleeveless crop top that showed off the mid drift with a white trim and a slightly longer skirt.
"This offers more mobility than that simple jacket. A woman of her power deserves more respect than that!" she argues.
"You're both wrong," the slim girl said to the arguing girls. "This outfit is perfect for Sakura" she then said before showing a simple Arrancar outfit with a slight modification to the sleeves, them being slightly bigger.
"That's TOO simple!" the two others exclaimed.
"I highly doubt Sakura is a woman that cares so much about appearances" the slim girl retorts.
"Wrong" Sakura said capturing the trio's attention. "I believe a good appearance is apart of making a good first impression"
"Master Harribel!" the trio then bowed as soon as they saw their Espada with the Sakura.
"Raise your heads girls. Sakura, these are my fraccions; Mila Rose, Apacci, and Sung-Sun"
"A pleasure to meet you girls. Now, on the matter of my attire, all of these are terrific choices but...," Sakura then took the jacket from Apacci, the crop-top from Mila Rose, and the hakama pants from Sung-Sun. "I prefer to stylize my own fashion. This will do Harribel. Thanks" and she went behind some cover to change.
It didn't take long for Sakura to change into her new duds. She walks out to the four awaiting women dressed in an amalgamation of their clothe choices. She wore the black crop-top under the sleeveless hoodie, showing off her hollow hole.. Her forearms were covered with Mila Rose's outfit's arm bracers. She wore hakama pants with a black sash and standard arrancar boots. One unique trait she put however was her doll heads, having them hooked on her waist.
"You look badass!" complimented Apacci.
Sakura chuckles in response. "Thank you but we're on a schedule here. Harribel, lead the way" the shark woman nods and bids her subordinates goodbye. The two sonido out to the conference room in time to see one other person heading to the room; Nnoitra Gilga with his weapon perched on his shoulder.
He smirks arrogantly as soon as he sees the tres espada and the new girl in her fetching outfit. "Well, it seems like the bitches finally arrive huh?"
Harribel glares at him before turning on her heel and heading inside. Over the years, she has learned to avoid the man's vulgar presence to save her a few headaches.
He continues to smirk until it falls when he sees Sakura staring up at him. Her eyes were shadowed, preventing him from seeing her eyes but he could tell she was scrutinizing him. "Got a problem?".
"No. But can you show me a good place to spar. I want to fight you" the woman said simply.
The quinto's temper flares at her words. She assumes she's stronger than him, Nnoitra Gilga. Ha, he thought. Just because he was able to take Grimmjow on in his unreleased state meant jack shit. Though the promise of a good fight fires up in him, and he smirks, imagining her crushing defeat at his hands.
His sinister grin told Sakura her answer and she and Nnoitra head on inside. Nnoitra takes his respective seat. She sees all the Espada present, all sitting at their respective chairs with Aizen at the end of the table.
"Ah Sakura. You look stunning. Come, take a seat and this meeting will start" the brunette said. Sakura takes her seat at the opposite end of the table in near Aaroniero and Yammy. "Now, for the matter of your place among the Espada-"
"What!?" yelled an outraged Grimmjow. He snaps up from his chair. "The hell you mean 'place among the Espada'?! What kinda bullshit is that?!"
"Grimmjow," Tosen growls. "Another outburst like that and I will cut off an arm" he threatens.
Knowing of what the blind man is capable of, Grimmjow sits back down, albeit reluctantly and muttering curses.
"Grimmjow, I mean exactly what I say. Sakura may have lost to you but that does not change many major facts that I assume you know about" Aizen explains. "Perhaps I will make her the new sexta. Or perhaps quinto. Making her any higher would be unwise considering we don't even know what her ressurecion is but still..." he then said, making both Grimmjow and Nnoitra exceptionally angry.
Before another outburst could be voiced, Sakura speaks up. "May I speak freely?" she asks nicely.
"Of course"
"I don't care" she said simply.
All look at her in surprise. Even Aizen quirked an eyebrow at her. She elaborates, seeing the confusion on their faces. "I don't care that much about rankings or status. Just give me a place to train and sleep, and opponents to fight and I'll fight for you and your lot. Deal?"
"Are you sure about that? Being an Espada has its benefits" Gin questions her. Sakura nods, her stance already clear.
"If those are your wishes, I will grant them but making you apart of the common rabble of arrancars would do you an injustice. How about this; we will make you the diez espada"
Yammy then shifts, his anger rising but was quelled by Aizen's next words. "Yammy; you are to remove your number in place for your original number zero"
Yammy and Sakura nods. Gin then retrieves the tattoo brands and approaches Sakura. "Where to?"
The masked woman contemplates for a few seconds. She then goes for the most simplest area. "My right arm"
The ever smiling man nods and places the number ten brand on her right bicep. A stinging sensation attacks her but it was left for the most part ignored. Her transformation was more jarring than this.
With the ten on her skin, Aizen smiles and nods. He then dismisses the party of people, to which all leave going their separate ways. Sakura follows Nnoitra and the two leave the confines of Las Noches into the never ending dessert of Hueco Mundo.
In all her years, never has Sakura seen something so bleak and dreary. Battlefields, ironically, had more life than this.
"You ready? Just so you know, I'm not gonna hold back" Nnoitra exclaims as he stands several feet away from the masked woman. Sakura beckons him, to which he frowns and rushes her. He swings his large weapon in a humongous arch before it is stopped by Sakura's sword. He looks down at her stunned. She did it so effortlessly. She simply took her sword out with one hand in a reverse grip and blocked his strike. There was some tension, as her arm recoiled but by just a little. Even Nel-
...Even someone he knew would've blocked with two hands on their weapon.
"Think you're hot shit huh? Think because you turned into an Espada in just a few days you're the strongest? Forget it! The only one stronger here is me!-" Nnoitra was then pushed away before Sakura started her offense. She kicks him but notes how hard it was compared to Grimmjow's skin. It was like she was kicking a hunk of metal.
She does stop though as her own hierro protected her. Nnoitra tries to counter attack but Sakura grabs his weapon by the blade and extracts it out his hands, throwing it in a random direction, before slugging him across the face with multiple punches and kicks. His hierro protected him well but the blows were too great for him to ignore.
He fires off a cero out his mouth but Sakura uppercuts his jaw, making him fire off into the endless night, a yellow stream escaping his mouth for a second before his head was grabbed and kneed by the woman. She stops suddenly and Nnoitra stumbled back more dazed than he has ever been.
"Where is this 'great strength' you seem so proud of?" Sakura mockingly asks. The angered quinto rushes her again, his fist above him. She stops his punch by grabbing his hand. He attempts to punch with the other hand but that was stopped as well. "Because all I see is a mad dog"
"You're the dog here bitch!" he yells. "I'm the strongest! You're nothing but a asthmatic cunt!"
She then headbutts him. Over and over again until he stumbles to his knees and even then she doesn't stop. She squeezes his hands hard, her strength outmatching his hierro skin on his hands. He thought she was going to break his hands but she lets go before a crack could sound off. He falls down face first into the sand, more beaten than he has ever been.
Sakura sits by him, still looking him over with her steely gaze. She sighs, "How disappointing. It would seem I have my work cut out for me"
The still conscious Nnoitra hears this and demands, "W... What the hell are you talking about?"
"You are not the strongest Nnoitra" she said simply. Those six words echo in Nnoitra mind.
His anger rises despite his beaten self. "Fuck you! I AM the strongest!-"
"Then why are you ranked fifth? Why aren't you first if you are so strong?" she retorts. He quiets, trying to find an answer. "I'm going. We will continue this everyday at this spot. Understood?" Sakura said before leaving.
"Don't you dare leave! We're not finished yet bitch! And don't tell me what to do!" Nnoitra yells.
She ignores him and continues walking, much to Nnoitra's chagrin. He picks himself up and walks back to his palace to rest up.
"I am the strongest" he mutters as he limps to find his discarded weapon.
Two weeks later...
Over the next two weeks, the quinto and the new diez espada battled but the end result was always the same; with Nnoitra beaten on the ground. His fraccion had his work cut out for him, treating to his wound each and everyday. Tesra was just that loyal to his master.
In his mind, Nnoitra kept repeating four words, "I am the strongest" in his mind. He was convinced that he truly was the best no matter what people said. His head was just as strong as the hierro he proudly flaunts.
But in those two weeks, he has lost to this one woman more times than he could count. Even that certain someone from his past never beaten him as hard and so frequently too. He was sure he lost more to Sakura than that certain someone.
The more he kept repeating those four words to himself, the more the words became less meaningful for some reason. Like even his mind was against the fact that he was the strongest. And it only increased the more he was left beaten up.
It left him doubting. Was he ever strong in the first place? How strong was his? Was he... weak? Was he just a pathetic dog barking to the moon?
He sits on his bed and rethinks about all his defeats, against that certain someone and Sakura. Every time he thought about the looks on their faces, he anger rises but his self loathing increases.
He hated it. Why was this happening to him? Why wasn't he strong? Why did some bitches had to outclass him? Can other below him beat him now too? Can lower Espada like Zonmari or Aaroniero fucking beat him? Can basic hollows take him out too?!
Nnoitra has never felt this much despair. He felt so defeated. He lets out a low, shaky sigh. "I'm... not the strongest"
Later that day...
He and Sakura fight again but Sakura notices the down look on the quinto's face. Like he had just seen everything he knew and loved burn before him. His fighting was also off, his strikes and blocks lacked their previous enthusiasm and power.
She delivers a low blow, kicking his nuts hard. Even with his hierro, it still hurt like hell. But he didn't cry out. He just stumbles pathetically to the ground, holding his groin.
"What's wrong with you? This is out of character for you" she demanded.
In a weak voice, he said, "I'm weak,". Sakura looks at him confused. He slowly stands up on his knees and continues, "If I can't even beat a couple of soft females, then was I ever strong to begin with?!," He then yells out, outraged at himself. "I'm nothing but a pathetic worm-!"
He was silenced by a resounding slap that made him fall to the ground again. In a stern voice, she says, "Nnoitra, I never said you were weak. I simply said you aren't the strongest"
"Being strong or at least, feeling strong is all I've ever known! If I'm not that, what am I? What does that mean?!" he said. At this point, he didn't care how he sounded. He was to depressed at himself to care.
"It means you can improve" Sakura said simply. Nnoitra looks up at her and she continues, saying, "That is the beauty of living, sentient beings like ourselves. We can turn ourselves into something greater, something more. We are never stagnant and that's what makes us so strong. We have potential whether small or big and you, Nnoitra, have great potential. I know because I saw it"
His chest clenched and felt warm. She didn't sound deceitful or joking. She sounded sincere and hopeful. "I could've easily ignored you and your banter but when I looked into your eyes, into your soul... I saw a kindred spirit. A fighter like me with a desire to improve. But you are flawed and those flaws hold you back. It is like a warrior with a god-killing sword. They can have the most powerful weapon in the world but if their heart isn't in the right place or they believe certain views, they are holding themselves back and thus, making them weak"
"So... you wanted to fight me everyday because why?" Nnoitra asks.
"Because it was the first of your many lessons; to learn that you are not the strongest but not the weakest. Humility, I think it's called"
"Why? Why do you care?" he then demands. Her next words shook him harder than even her hardest punch.
"Because I respect you Nnoitra. And I simply want you to improve" she then offers her hand to him. "Will you let me teach you how to be strong?".
He looks to her out stretched hand in thought. To think he was considering this deal, from a woman no less. But yet, he couldn't deny the sincerity in her words, like she actually believes he can be better. He couldn't recall ever having someone like that in his life other than Tesla who believed there was something good about him worth investing time in.
He was tempted to slap her hand away, scoff, and proclaim to the heaven he doesn't need help. It was his first instinct actually. Yet, he couldn't ignore her strength and ferocity. He would never say it aloud but he wanted to be like that; a calm and sturdy warrior. He compared Sakura to that certain someone he knew but pushed that thought away. Sakura and that certain someone were two different entities.
With a shaky and unsure hand, he takes Sakura's hand. Sakura smiles slightly. "Terrific. Let us get started"
"Right" Nnoitra replied with some confidence leaking back in his voice.
"Oh! Before I forget there's one more thing"
"What 'thing'?"
"Call me Sakura-nee chan now that you are my student! Don't disappoint me otouto!"
"Like hell I will!"