Knowing Your Place [Nnoitra Gilga]

"What took you so long, Alisha? Lord Aizen gave you a rather simple mission. It should not have taken you more than three hours." The monotone voice that belonged the Cuarta Espada was one that Alisha heard quite often. Being Ulquiorra's fraccion, that was to be expected. She had held that position long enough to know Ulquiorra's question stemmed from the simple fact that he expected his fraccion to be of more use to Aizen than any other.

"I've eliminated the disgusting soul reapers, just as I was ordered, sir. As you said, it was a simple mission. It seems that Lord Aizen still underestimates me." However, unlike Ulquiorra, Alisha lacked such a huge amount of respect for the brunette who had come and changed all of their lives. If anything, she even disliked Aizen. Even after proving herself time after time, the shinigami continued to downgrade her abilities.

"He does not underestimate you. He knows exactly how strong you are." Ulquiorra's blatant tone made it appear as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Now, go. I haven't the time to spend with you anymore. I must go to Lord Aizen right now." The green eyed espada walked past Alisha, glancing over his shoulder after a few steps to say, "Do not doubt his judgement."

Alisha watched her master leave with as little interest in her pale blue eyes as usual. Ulquiorra didn't understand at all how she felt on the matter, nor would he ever. After all, he was essentially Aizen's lap dog, and everyone in Hueco Mundo acknowledged his skills in some form or another. Ulquiorra couldn't even begin to imagine how it felt to have your skills completely ignored and overlooked, how it felt to have others treat you as though your talents were non-existent.

Alisha shook her head, dismissing the matter. It wouldn't do her any good at all to get her thoughts tangled up on something that wouldn't change. Aizen had disliked her since day one, and he probably always would.

As usual, Alisha decided on going off on her own. She had never been one to wish for the company of others, a feeling that had only intensified after becoming an arrancar. There were only select things that she enjoyed more than being by herself. Alisha walked outside of the Las Noches palace, making her way out into the sandy area of Hueco Mundo. As she sat down on her knees, her head tilted upwards. Her eyes locked on the moon above as she gave a small, almost content, sigh, allowing herself to relax at last.

Yes, it was an almost perfect scene for Alisha. She was by herself, looking up at the moon. After another day of doing Aizen's unappreciated work, it actually felt nice for the arrancar to relax. Alisha closed her eyes, enjoying a nice, quiet moment.

She had little more than opened her eyes after deciding to head back inside when she heard a loud thud coming from the wall back towards her right. Alisha blinked, staring at the cloud of smoke that surrounded crumbled bits of rubble. A figure raised itself from under a pile of sand beside of her, and Alisha raised an eyebrow as Grimmjow stood up. The blue haired Sexta had an even more ticked off expression than usual, and his lips had pulled back in a snarl.

"What was that about, Nnoitra?!" Grimmjow growled, gripping tightly to his zanpakuto. Blood ran down his chest from a cut that seemed to parallel the one given to him not too long ago by that Ichigo Kurosaki.

As if on cue, the raven haired espada walked out of the new exit of Las Noches, one hand casually holding on to his scythe of a weapon. He had an uninterested gleam in his eye which seemed to shine in the moonlight.

"You know exactly what that was about." Nnoitra scoffed, walking closer to the raging male. "You've been walking around like you're some big shot for a week! You've had a stupid and obnoxious attitude, and I'm sick of it!" Nnotira swung towards Grimmjow, who blocked. "Your even worse than usual!"

"I haven't done a damn thing!" Grimmjow yelled as tried to counter attack the higher ranked espada. "You're getting all pissed off over something that hasn't happened!"

"I am not! You know exactly what you've done!"

Watching the two esapada fighting one another, Alisha found herself unable to draw her attention elsewhere. It mattered not to her what happened to either of them, and from the looks of it, they'd both have pretty solid injuries afterwards. It wasn't that she particularly hated either of them. She just didn't exactly care much for whatever happened to others. She and Grimmjow had had their arguments, but they could stand one another. Nnoitra? She did dislike him to some degree. How couldn't she? He was about as obnoxious as he claimed Grimmjow to be.

Yet, there was some sort of justification in Nnoitra's actions. He was perhaps one of the only ones worth mentioning that knew exactly how it felt to be looking down upon, how it felt to be underestimated. To prove them wrong, Nnoitra would go to any length, even challenging those who were obviously superior to him, or using some sort of unfair advantage to beat them. While that wouldn't be Alisha's way of approaching things, she understood entirely where he came from. Unlike her, however, he actually managed to change other's opinions. Aside from that, he was also an espada, which alone proved his strength and skill.

Nnoitra and Grimmjow continued to fight for another hour or so, quitting only once Ulquiorra came outside and glared at them both. After telling them Lord Aizen was very displeased with their actions, the two wounded espada scoffed, reluctantly putting away their weapons. While Ulquiorra and Grimmjow returned outside, Nnoitra turned his gaze towards Alisha, who had remained outside and watched the fight the entire time.

"What are you staring at?" Nnoitra questioned as he wiped away blood from a single cut under his eye. "It's none of your business what I do, Alisha."

"Yeah, I know that." Alisha rolled her eyes. "But you're the one that barged in on my alone time, you know."

"Don't get smart with me." Nnoitra's eye narrowed in a glare. "Being Ulquiorra's little fraccion doesn't make you anything!"

Alisha wondered if Nnoitra's words stemmed from his irritation, or if he actually looked down upon her to such a high degree. Or even a bit of both.

"I'm not saying that I'm better than you, Nnoitra." Alisha's tone only added fuel to the fire of Nnoitra's anger. He quickly grabbed the front of her shirt, holding her in a tight grip.

"What was that?" There was a harsh edge in his voice.

"I said, 'I'm not saying I'm better than you, Nnoitra.'" Alisha wasn't in the least bit fazed by Nnoitra's actions, and actually found herself smirking a bit. Nnoitra seemed one step away from killing her, but that didn't matter to Alisha. After all, she was the type of person who would laugh in the face of death.

"Really?" Nnoitra's lips tugged upwards into a smirk. "I don't think you mean that."

"What would make you think that?" Alisha questioned in an almost challenging tone.

"You need to know your place."

"You need to know yours."

"You women are so stupid!" Nnoitra brought Alisha's face closer to his own. "You need to be taught a lesson." Without warning, Nnoitra slammed his lips against hers in a rough yet passionate kiss. Alisha first flinched at the unexpected action, taking a moment to register what exactly was going on. The action was typical for the impulsive Nnoitra. She inwardly sighed before relaxing under his lips, unable to deny the twinge that she felt as their lips came in contact with one another.

"Master... Nnoitra?" Tesla's awkward voice caused Nnoitra to pull away with obvious frustration.

"What?!" Nnoitra impatiently demanded.

"I-I..."

"You what?!"

"I-I'm not sure..." The shocked arrancar stuttered, utterly surprised to have seen his master lip-locked with Alisha.

"THEN GET OUT OF HERE!"

"... Yes, sir!"

As Tesla bowed and scurried off, Nnoitra turned back to Alisha. "You'd better know your place now."

"Too bad that I don't." Nnoitra gave a 'hmph' when he realized that she wasn't serious.

"Then I'll show you again." He once more kissed her, pulling away before she had a chance to even respond. "You're going to do as I say." Though it was an odd way of doing so, Alisha understood this to be Nnoitra's way of claiming her as his.

"Not exactly."

"You still haven't learned, have you?" Nnoitra gave a devious smirk before pulling Alisha closer once more.

Though their relationship would never be a perfect one, or close to it, for that matter, it was certainly unique. But most importantly, even when the rest of the world found themselves superior to the two, they would remind one another of exactly how wrong they were.