Disclaimer: Bleach and its characters in the manga and anime belong to Tite Kubo. I do not, in any way, claim rights to any of the characters, movies, songs, or other franchises that may appear in this work of fan fiction.

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Reflections
Chapter Five - Cognition and Consciousness

He had not relished his time as a Gillian. A Big, lumbering Thing. Slow and dull, he had moved with the rest of them in the Forest of Menos as if they were one, stupid entity.

It had taken him a while to beat back and suppress the other Hollows now living in his body. But awareness had come with a new burst of energy and he had not wasted any time ripping into the closest Menos as soon as he could think for himself for just a second.

So intense was his hatred for the Gillian that he had not stopped until he had devoured every last one in the herd he had found himself in. It had made him feel content for a while, but of course, the night had not ended there.

Drawn by the rapid release of new reiatsu, there had been more than a few Adjuchas foolhardy enough to try and conquer him. He had eagerly accepted their challenge, filled with glee at fighting once more, and maybe having the chance to stop the hunger.

The fighting had eventually ended, but as always, he had been left with his hunger.

It seemed to be growing, still, even as he had shrunk down again. With a tugging and squeezing sensation, he had been compressed into a size smaller than his last form before changing into a Gillian. But now he stood upright, no longer hunched forward, at least, not too much- the instinct to protect his belly still stubbornly lingered from his days as a small, pathetic thing, he thought with disgust.

A redundant instinct, now that he had an Adjuchas' thick hide and condensed reiryoku. That would protect him from most things. Everything else, his new, sharper claws; his spiked tail; or his new-found ability to manipulate Ceros, would take care of.

Still, there had to be something said about the wonders of evolution. Though his mind was not clear, still filled with a thousand voices or more, each of which he had defeated, he had developed enough restraint to put the fight second on his list of priorities.

Before, he had never lacked in smarts, fully capable of forming tactics and little tricks to surprise his prey with; he had enjoyed the momentary spark of realisation and fear that had flashed in their eyes before his teeth had sunk into them, but he always lost himself in the moment. When fighting, he had become a mindless thing- wild and uncontainable, he would fight and devour and destroy until there was nothing left. It had been distracting, but he had not cared at the time.

It was important now- the ability to focus on other things, to focus on a long-term goal.

That was another change; goals. Once upon a time, he had thought he could fight and eat and not need anything else in the world. Evolution had disabused him of that ridiculous notion, too.

This was the foolishness of a young Hollow. Of a stupid Hollow.

He would always be hungry, that was a fact of life for him, so why pursue the task of appeasing it with such determination?

He lived to battle, but it would be a boring life if he had no challengers, no one that could take him to the edge of death, to make him feel pain, to make him work for his victory, so why seek out unfulfilling battles when the true challengers would find him eventually?

He had risen above such things. He needed something more compelling to occupy his time.

In life, he had been Kurosaki Ichigo. A Hollow had murdered him, and stolen something that was his.

He did not know who the Hollow was, but he would find them, and kill them.

He did not remember what the Hollow had stolen, but he would take it back, and he would never lose it again.

End Note: Gillian: Lowest Great Hollow in Japanese, or Menos Grande: Big Minus in Spanish. They are the lowest class of Menos type Hollows, which are much stronger than regular Hollows by a considerable margin. They are possibly bigger than any other Hollow, but they can easily lose their dominant personality, resulting in a Hollow made only of instinct. Once lost, a dominant personality can never again assert itself and the Gillian can no longer evolve.

Forest of Menos: the area underneath the main desert of Hueco Mundo that is occupied by Menos type Hollows only.

Reiatsu (霊圧): Spiritual Pressure, the physical feeling/force of released reiryoku. Reiryoku (霊力): Spiritual Power.

Adjuchas: Intermediate Great Hollow in Japanese- the next class of Menos after Gillian/Menos Grande. They are much smaller than regular Hollows, but still bigger than humans. They are very smart and much stronger than Gillian, however, they still suffer from some of the same problems. They must constantly assert themselves as the dominant personality lest they lose themselves and become unable to evolve past Adjuchas class. Unlike Gillian, they are mostly solitary, and if any part of them gets eaten, they will be permanently barred from evolving.

Cero: literally, Zero in Spanish, or Hollow Flash (虚閃) in Japanese. It is a Menos/Arrancar/Visored specific move, and it is simply a blast of highly concentrated spiritual power, usually fired from the mouth. Depending on the user, they can vary in strength, speed, and body part they can be fired from. It is a long range attack, but is much more destructive/effective at short range.