Lions' Pride

This is my first fanfic, so no flaming please, constructive criticism is welcome. If you've already read my fic in it's earlier stages, you'll notice that I have made some changes. I might come back and make some more later but for now enjoy this. Basically this takes place after the battle with Aizen, Soul Society won, blah, blah, blah, a treaty was formed with the remaining Arrancar, any characters who were deemed dead in the manga were revived by Inoue's powers of rejection. For those who don't watch fansubs or read the manga, I've readied an explanation of certain terms.

Reiatsu-"Spiritual Pressure" the physical force/pressure that a person’s Reiryoku(spiritual power) creates when released.

Zanpakuto-"Soul Slayer"the swords that Shinigami(Soul Reaper) and Arrancar weald.

Shunpo-"Flash step".

Sonído-Spanish for sound.

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It had been fourteen years since Aizen’s defeat, and things were settling down. However some were not enjoying the peace between Hueco Mundo and Soul Society. “Tch, why do we have to go on patrol? Aren’t there any Números that we can send out?!” shouted a very annoyed Apache. “It can’t be helped, most of the Números were killed two years ago, not enough people to spare, and with the Hōgyoku destroyed, making new Arrancar is very difficult. So quit your whining!” Mila-Rose snapped. Apache clinched her teeth, “I know that, but we’re Harribel-sama’s Fracción, we should be by her side!” Mila-Rose snapped back angrily at Apache, “It can’t be helped, so cork it!” Sun-Sun sighed, “Would you two stop arguing, it makes you look weak.” Apache and Mila-Rose both glared at Sun-Sun, “WHO’RE YOU CALLING WEAK?! SUN-SUN, YOU BITCH!” they both yelled in unison.

Their argument was cut short by a strong presence of reiatsu. It was definitely a Shinigami, but what was a Shinigami doing in Hueco Mundo. The treaty between the Gotei 13 and the Espada, or Neo Espada as they were now called, stated that as long as the Neo Espada keep the Hollow under control in Hueco Mundo, the Shinigami would not go there to hunt down Hollows. The presence wasn’t very far, in fact the Shinigami was right in front of them. A Shinigami had snuck this far into Las Noches, the headquarters of the Neo Espada?! “Who are you?!” Mila-Rose shouted out to the intruder.

The shinigami was a young man, early twenties, with short dark reddish brown hair, and crimson eyes with slit shaped pupils, like a cat. He wore a black hakama like that of most shinigami, but he doesn’t wear the usual kimono slip, instead he wore what looked like an open shirt, that exposed his hairy torso, with the sleeves cut off at the elbows and red fur lining the shoulder seams. He wears a wakizashi-like zanpakuto on his back, at the waist, with the hilt aimed to his right side. The hilt of his zanpakuto is blood red, and the tsuba resembles an open mouth with a set of fangs.

He smiled, revealing fangs like that of a vampire, “Sheesh, talk about a warm welcome,” he joked, shrugging his shoulders, “My name is of no importance, as I cannot truly remember the name my parents gave me, but you may call me Souga, if it helps.” Mila-Rose calmed herself, “Why are you here, the treaty states that if we keep the hollows under control then Soul Society would leave us be.” Kiba smirked, “First off, I am not part of Soul Society, I got my Shinigami powers by accident and I am not bound by that treaty,” upon hearing this Mila-Rose clutched the hilt of her sword and clinched her teeth, “but, I also don’t want to start an all out war. To answer your question, I merely came to test my skills, to surpass my limits,” he smiles, “if you’ll oblige me, my Amazon Princess.”

Apache laughs, “Hey, Mila-Rose, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say this guy is flirting with you!” Mila-Rose smirked, “It seems he’s just looking for kicks, or to get kicked. Fine, I’ll oblige.” she says drawing her blade from its sheath. Souga draws his wakizashi, and jumps forward with Shunpo, clashing swords with the female Arrancar. “Bastard, just attacking when ever you please,” Apache yelled as she was about to intervene. “Hold it, Apache, this is my fight,” she said, grunting as she tried to push the Shinigami back, “don’t interfere, either of you.” With that, the two continued the fight as normal, both seemingly enjoying themselves.

Apache and Sun-Sun simply sat and watched with boredom, for what seemed like ages. Mila-Rose and Souga seemed evenly matched, their swords clashing again and again. However, the fight was about to get a lot more interesting. The two were forehead to forehead, their swords causing sparks from friction. Souga smirked, quickly pushed his head forward, and locked his lips with those of the surprised Arrancar. Using Shunpo he quickly got behind her and gave her a swift kick the center of her back, sending her flying into a nearby wall.

Mila-Rose picked herself up, gently rubbing her lips with her fingertips, with an obvious look of confusion on her face. She turned around to look at the man who had just stolen a kiss from her. Souga was licking his lips, “Wow, I didn’t think you’d taste that good.” Mila-Rose was still confused as to what just happened. She couldn’t wrap her mind around it, then it hit her, it was just to catch her off guard. She stood up and faced her opponent, readying her sword again. “You stole that lip time from me, now I'll make you pay it back, with interest. Devour, Leona!” she yelled with bestial vigor. Souga smiled when Mila-Rose released her Resurrección.

She charged at the shinigami. Souga readied himself but was not able to withstand the strength of her attack. He was sent sliding backwards on the balls of his feet. After he finally came to a stop he smiled, he crossed his arms in front of his chest. His sword was in his right hand, facing outward, while his right hand was open with his fingers making a claw shape, “Roar, Akashishimaru!” as soon as he yelled this, his sword began glowing a bright red color. It then split apart into four separate glowing spheres, each sphere then wrapped around each hand and foot, the four lights began to take on a new shape. The lights on his hands dissipated, revealing a pair of gauntlets, with clawed fingers and a stripe of long red fur that ran from the wrist down to the elbow. The lights on his feet also dissipated, showing a pair of metal boots, with clawed toes and stripes of red fur that ran up from the outer ankles to the tops of the boots.

“A Shinigami and an Arrancar, and both are lions. This’ll be interesting don’t you think!” he laughed, crouching down a little, hands open, like a cat ready to pounce. Mila-Rose readied herself, smiling, “Yes, this will be interesting.” Souga sprinted forward with blinding speed, swinging his open hand like a cat. His claws clash with Mila-Rose’s sword, causing sparks to fly off in every direction from the point of impact. For the next minute it seemed as if watching nothing but a couple of blurs, if you didn’t have a well trained eye.

Souga’s claws connect with Mira-Rose’s sword again, but this time she pushes him back with one strong swing, sending him flying. He back flips in midair a few times before landing on all fours, positioning himself like a big cat, ready to pounce. He stands up and smiles, “Okay, time to stop fooling around.” He raised his right hand into the air, red reiatsu began forming around the claws on his fingers, "Shishiga!" he yelled as he swung his hand forward. As he swung his hand, two red blades made of red reiatsu shot forth from his glowing claws. Using Sonído, Mila-Rose quickly got out of the blades' path before they got to her. However, Souga anticipated this and was already sending out a relentless barrage of reiatsu blades, towards his opponent.

Souga's barrage kept Mila-Rose pinned down, the Arrancar was doing all she could just to avoid the blades. She couldn't get within range for a sword attack and Cero would need time to charge, she tried attacking with Bala but the Shinigami was just too agile. He would dodge each Bala just by mere centimeters and then immediately counter attack with another Shishiga. It seemed Mila-Rose was on the verge of losing, when Souga suddenly halted his attack. Souga sighed, popped the joints in his neck, "This is gettin' us nowhere," he grumbled, "Hey! What do you say we finish this up, one last move, winner take all?" he called out. Mila-Rose was confused, why would he suddenly stop his attack just to ask for permission to attack with something stronger? Mila-Rose stared at her opponent, "What do you mean "One last move, winner take all?" she asked. Souaga smiled, "It just what I said, I use my strongest attack and you you use your strongest attack and we see who survives the clash." Mila-Rose smiled she liked the idea of a duel of techniques, "Alright, why not!" she shouted. Souga smiled back, "Okay, let's rock!" He placed is left hand to his forehead and reiatsu was beginning to form around his face. He pulled his hand down, revealing a Hollow Mask.

The mask mostly looked like a human skull, except it had two long horns that protruded from the forehead of the mask and arched backwards, each horn had four vertically patterned spikes, each spike was smaller than the one below it. The mask also had three markings under each eye hole, right below the eye hole was a short black horizontal stripe, shaped like a comma, below it was another horizontal comma shaped stripe that was about half the size of the mark above it, the third marking was a black vertical stripe that started right below the second mark and ran down to the chin of the mask.

Mila-Rose's eyes widened, she had heard of Hollowfication and Vizards, but had never seen it in action, aside from the fight between Grimmjow and Kurosaki Ichigo fourteen years before. She readied herself for Souga's attack, but it was no use. He disappeared, not with shunpo, but with Sonído, an Arrancar technique. When he reappeared he was “mask to face” with the surprised Arrancar, his black and yellow eyes meeting with her green eyes. Her surprise didn’t last long, as Souga used Sonído to go back to where he was earlier. Mila-Rose realized that a Vizard’s mask wasn’t simply for decoration; it gave him all the powers of a Hollow and was rather impressed and annoyed at Souga, "Talk about being a show off," she said. Souga said nothing, instead he leaned forward and forming a Cero in between the tips of the lowest spikes on his mask’s horns.

Mila-Rose opened her left hand and began charging her Cero. Mila-Rose's Cero was orange in color, while Souga’s was a traditional red Cero. They both fire at the same time. Their attacks scream through the air and clash directly halfway between the two combatants. The two seem evenly matched at first, but his combined Hollow and Shinigami powers made Souga far stronger than Mila-Rose. His Cero begins to push hers back before completely consuming it. Mila-Rose uses Sonído to just barely dodge the enormous red wave of spiritual energy. She begins breathing heavily as the masked Shinigami begins walking slowly in her, his left hand in what looks to be a pocket in his hakama, while his right hand hung freely by his side. He stopped about one meter from the exhausted lioness, his mask then disintegrated. “Twenty-Five seconds,” he stated. Mila-Rose looked confused, “That’s the longest I can wear my mask,” he smiled, before falling unconscious.

YAY!!! No to get to work on chapter 2.