Chapter 92 - The Pains of Solitude

"It is foolish to fear what we have yet to see and know." — Itachi Uchiha.

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[Soul Society, 2nd Division]

Soi Fon signed off the last of the documents Marenochin brought, which also included the ones regarding the new intakes for the Division. Now it would be her job to divide those who she thinks will be passable additions to either the Onmistukidō or the Executive Militia.

Normally there was no reason to go and evaluate them herself as such a job was up to Itachi and Marenochin, but she remembered that Itachi's protégé was among them and he'd asked her to evaluate them.

"Of course you would. It's not as if I have my own duties to take care of." She singled out Junpei's application and glared at the borderline average results the boy had made to be able to join the Division.

"I know he said he wasn't talented but this is abysmal for someone being taught by Itachi." She shrugged and dropped it on the small pile of other applications. "Well, it's not my business. Protégé or not, I'm not letting him join if he's below my standards."

She marched on to one of the training fields where the newly graduated students were nervously waiting.

'At least six of them won't die in their first year.' She criticized when she saw that only six of them were quick to notice her presence when she arrived.

"Hakuda, Kidō, Hoho, Zanjutsu; these four are the cornerstone of the 2nd Division, which means you must be fluent in all of them to be considered a member of the 2nd Division or any of its subdivisions. Line. Now!"

The nervous student immediately shuffled themselves into two straight lines and awaited her instructions.

"You, Hadō. You, Hoho. You, Hakuda. You, Zanjutsu." She picked four of them and beckoned them forward to attack in the category she singled them out in. And coincidentally or not, Junpei was among the initial four and he was picked for Zanjutsu.

"We don't have all day. If you won't attack then I will."

She moved against the group of terrified graduates who had never expected a test like this upon their admission.

"At least one of you isn't plain stupid." She snorted at Junpei who had his sword against her armguard while sweating bricks.

The others slowly jumped into action but Soi Fon already had her sights on her target.

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[POV: With Itachi, Hueco Mundo]

"You are rather strange for a Shinigami, Itachi." Starkk said while they, he and Lilynette, followed Itachi from behind.

"Likewise you and the girl." The Shinigami responded curtly.

As for why they were following him, Itachi had outright refused the moment Lilynette suggested it – dragged Starkk along as she suggested it – but it turned out that Starkk had a habit of letting her get away with almost everything, every time.

Itachi was still wary of the both of them, Starkk mostly, and if possible wouldn't want to engage in battle against the both of them for various reasons; first and foremost being the disadvantages that came with the location. They would be swarmed by Hollows if the battle took too long, which it would if Itachi's gut feeling about them was on point.

Obviously as Hollows, his bias as a Shinigami factored in too, Itachi still didn't fully trust them but one thing he was mostly sure of was that they wouldn't attack him if he didn't give them a reason to. If he couldn't judge concealed hostility after watching them for the short time he stayed with them then his judgment on anything else would come into question.

… Not to mention that they were gravely ignorant of anything concerning Hueco Mundo.

"The both of you following me, a Shinigami who is your natural enemy, is a strange logical decision, is it not?" He asked back.

The both of them shrugged while Lilynette skipped towards Itachi who was a few steps ahead.

His eyes twitched, not from her coming closer but from what they were bringing with them on what was supposedly his stealth mission.

"Can you rein in your Reiatsu?" He asked. The two of them gave him confused head tilts which made him massage his forehead. Oh how simpler it would've been had they been normal hostile Hollows. Even at this point, Itachi still was unsure what his overall thoughts on them were.

"I take it that you can't." He sighed.

It wasn't exactly something like simply keeping it under a lid, had it been so Kenpachi wouldn't have needed a special eyepatch to seal his Reiatsu. The man could rein in his Reiatsu, but not all of it due to how immense it was. So obviously, trying to teach them how was out of it, and it wasn't like they had a Zanpakutō that could have acted as a conduit.

"Hold on for a moment."

He had seen Tessai do it a few times in the Soul Society back when he was looking for an illusion imprint. It also wasn't among the numbered Kidō spells so he had made sure to copy it when Tessai, and even Kisuke, had used it.

His fingers traced a red symbol midair which he gently pushed into their bodies – which they only made curious reactions to – and watched as it glowed a glyph on their body before fading away.

"I can feel something… prickly. And flimsy too." Starkk muttered.

'Of course he would. With how huge their Reiatsu is, no doubt they would feel it if anything tried constraining it.'

"Yeah, me too. It's annoying." Lilynette complained.

"Bear with it. It's a spell to seal your Reiatsu, or at least it should've been. It keeps your Reiatsu from running around rampantly, so try not to destroy it out of annoyance."

Itachi could tell exactly what was going through her head with how they looked at each other with wide eyes before turning back to look at him.

"Now then," he unsheathed his sword much to Starkk and Lilynette's confusion, that was until they felt the small wisps of Reiatsu making their way towards them.

"Sorry for bothering you with our problems." Starkk apologized, finally understanding why Itachi had told asked them if they could rein in their Reiatsu.

"Wait, are you going to kill them? What if—"

"Lilynette." Starkk grabbed her shoulders, silencing her with a soft stare. "Like most of the others, these ones are trying to kill us. And don't forget, Itachi is still a Shinigami."

The young girl looked like she wanted to protest even further. Maybe they could talk to these Hollows just like they talked with Itachi, especially now that their Reiatsu wasn't a burden to bear, she thought but kept quiet due to Starkk's reminder.

"I got them! You can't hide your Reiatsu from me even if you tried!"

Three Adjuchas appeared with five other Hollows behind them and surrounded Itachi's group.

"Is that a Shinigami? Ohhhh, double meal for us today!" One of the Adjuchas exclaimed, exciting the other Hollows behind them.

"What is your stance against killing other Hollows?" Itachi asked the two Hollows following him, deciding to use this moment as a litmus test to gauge their sympathy towards other Hollows.

"I'd prefer if you didn't kill them, it's such a tasteless endeavor. It only helps to make you narrow-minded when you come across other Hollows." Starkk replied, looking to see Itachi's reaction, but like always – ever since they met him – staring at Itachi felt like when he'd stare at the moon in Hueco Mundo's dead sky.

"… but I'm not so blind, naïve maybe, to judge wrongly an apparent enemy." Starkk finished, and all his words got from Itachi was a simple nod.

He could easily kill these Hollows, even Lilynette could, but he left it to Itachi because unlike his childish companion, he understood the nuances in Itachi's actions. Expressionless as the man may be, his actions revealed a lot of his unspoken thoughts.

"No problems then."

Lightning exploded in his hands and coursed through his blade and with the soft sound of a thunderclap, Itachi was no longer where he was but instead in the midst of the weaker Hollows, cutting his way through them.

Starkk's calm eyes followed Itachi's movement as he laid waste to the weaker Hollows before moving to the dumbstruck Adjuchas.

The battle, though short, was surprising and educating to Starkk who saw Itachi's Reiatsu flare for a moment and suddenly the Adjuchas became unable to make accurate attacks.

It was painful to watch from a third person point of view.

Itachi didn't tell either of them about anything remotely concerning the Shinigami but Starkk had to think. Maybe it was because of this ability to fluently utilize their Reiatsu that Shinigami were able to suppress Hollows since both came into existence.

"So where are you going from here?" Starrk couldn't help but ask after Itachi was done with the Hollows.

"I should be the one asking you that. My time here is extremely limited so what will you do after I'm gone? Go back to staring at the moon?"

"Who knows?" Lilynette replied looking downcast at the reminder of Itachi's return to the Soul Society.

"A piece of advice; stay away from Las Noches. From what I know, the king is a very powerful Vasto Lorde with a Vasto Lorde or two under his command."

Lilynette's eyes lit up at the information that there might be others like them gathered in one place. Wasn't this exactly what she and Starkk had been looking for since the beginning? A place where they wouldn't be alone anymore?

"Wait, why shouldn't we go there? There are Hollows like us there right, so why shouldn't we go there?" She asked frowning, looking at Starkk who was looking at Itachi.

Only Itachi didn't say anything anymore about it even until he left them.

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