Hisashi rolled his eyes. "Sure, you look stunning Sung-Sun," he said.

It wasn't a lie. Aside from the snake lower body she did indeed look very good in her new form.

They all gathered back up by the entrance now that Sung-Sun had completed her transformation. Even Nelliel's Fracción came out of the cave entrance.

Nelliel hugged Hisashi again. "You should have let me handle it Hisashi," she said with a pout.

Hisashi shrugged. "I'm fine right... and at last you can say my name right," he said.

She blushed a little. "That's not fair. I was saying it just fine, I just had a lisp," she said indignantly.

He rolled his eyes then looked at Sung-Sun with some concern. "More importantly now that things have calmed down, how are you feeling Sung-Sun?" he said.

"Sexier than ever," she joked.

He gave her a deadpan stare. "And now seriously..." he said.

She put on a seductive pan. "Aww... come on Hisashi.... you're being no fun," she said.

Harribel sighed. "Just answer Sung-Sun," she said.

Sung-Sun nodded more seriously. "I'm feeling great," she finally said.

They were suddenly interrupted by a clapping sound.

They looked over to find a man with short slicked back brown hair wearing a black hakama, black kosode, and a long white coat over it.

Hisashi frowned. 'Aizen...' he thought. He had been worried he would be present given how the hammerhead shark Arrancar had finally shown up even if much delayed from when he thought it would. Given the butterfly effect though it was hard for him to gauge many events from the original timeline. Most of all things that didn't even have a very clear time of when they did originally happen.

There wasn't anything he could do about it now though.

"Don't mind me," he said as if that was reassuring in any way. All of them were on guard except Nelliel who looked shocked seeing Aizen there. She had never imagined meeting him here.

"I just wanted to offer my apologies. I gave him Arrancar powers, but it looks like I didn't give him the brain to control it," Aizen said.

He looked over at Nelliel. "Good work Nelliel," he told her.

Nelliel tilted her head in confusion since she hadn't done anything. "Ok?" she said unsurely.

It seemed he was going for a slightly different introduction since he couldn't swoop in like a saviour for Harribel and her little group this time.

Not only had they managed to resist the Arrancar by themselves which had greatly surprised Aizen, but Nelliel had been there too. One of his former underlings. Somehow she had managed to recover her strength, but despite this she hadn't even needed to interfere with the attack.

"Ah. How rude of me. I am Aizen. The current leader of Las Noches," Aizen said feigning embarrassment.

'He sure is good at playing meek when he is not entirely sure of himself or the situation,' Hisashi thought watching Aizen's performance as if he couldn't have stopped some bottom feeder Arrancar from coming to attack them or save them when it did attack.

Hisashi knew Aizen was just using the Arrancar like a disposable pawn to figure out their situation and strength. Then once he saw all he needed to see he would have swept in like their saviour and offered them a place in Las Noches afterwards, which they then would have happily accepted out of either gratitude or respect for the strength he would have shown off or both. Even just Harribel's potential alone dwarfed the hammerhead Arrancar. The only reason he could even beat her was that he had become an Arrancar while she was still a regular Hollow even if she was a Vasto Lorde.

He was sure Aizen saw the value in her and now after allowing the hammerhead Arrancar to attack them, probably in the rest of them too since he now knew they were all Vasto Lorde already. In his mind they were sure to be the best of potential pawns he could find in Hueco Mundo.

"I see you're already quite powerful, but if it is power you seek Nelliel can attest that I can give it to you..." Aizen said.

"Would you like to join me? We are stronger together after all." he asked them.

It seemed he was changing up the strategy and instead of leaning on their feelings of inferiority and fear he leaned on their sense of camaraderie instead. He might not be familiar with Hisashi, but he was with Nelliel and a little about Harribel from Barragan and his followers. It wasn't hard to guess that if both Nelliel and Harribel were outliers among Hollow that cared about their fellow Hollow that the ones that had joined them might be similar.

It probably would have worked even perfectly, if it hadn't been for Hisashi being very familiar with Aizen's modus operandi and motivations. There was no way he would ever trust Aizen. He didn't need to know that though.

Hisashi stepped forward surprising Aizen. He had assumed either Harribel or Nelliel would have been the leader, but it seemed he might have been wrong and needed to adjust his expectations.

Hisashi smiled softly. "We appreciate the offer. Do you mind giving us some time to talk it over and decide?" he asked.

Aizen gave them a 'benign' smile. "Of course, take all the time you need. Once you have made your decision feel free to come to Las Noches. Our doors will be open to you any time," he responded.

They all nodded.

"I hope to see you all soon though," he said before leaving.

Thankfully he left without bothering them any further after that, confident they would make the right decision soon enough.

After they got back to the depths of their hideout they gathered around a stone table.

"Don't trust what he says. He's a snake," Hisashi said surprising some of them who had a good impression of Aizen after their meeting.

He looked over at Sung-Sun before continuing: "No offence."

Sung-Sun rolled her eyes dramatically.

prognastat

♥ the chapter if you enjoyed and if you are looking for more check out my Patreon. Currently 18+ chapters ahead.

Writing Soundtrack: Bad Omen - Various Tracks