The Wondering Soul Reaper

Sitting down on one of the Stone chairs in Ashido's hideout, Layla looked at the soul reaper as she scratched at the blood that stained her left pant leg. "You have been here for hundreds of years, right? Has the soul society ever sent a rescue team?" Frowning as she looked at the red spot on her snow-white pant legs she looked back up at the Soul Reaper.

Ashido paused as he looked at the Arrancar "No but I felt the need to complete the mission. Slaying Hollow in Hueco Mundo, there is no need to send a rescue squad." Ashido sheathed his Zanpakuto and took a seat across from Layla.

"You didn't answer both of my questions but no matter, but I do know that you have been here for as long as I have. While it's true you were most likely low-level squad members it's highly unlikely that no one noticed your absence. Even here in Hueco Mundo, there are thousands of Arrancar and there are only 10 Espada, yet we and ultimately I am responsible for all of them."

"Yes I have recently come to understand how Las Noches is set up and I admire your chain of Command."

"Thank you, but the fact of the matter is at the end of the day I receive reports from my Espada that tell me the gains and losses of that day. Either positive or negative, the positive reports are their merit, the Negative reports are my mistakes." When that last line was said Ashido tilted his head to the left clearly in confusion. "If My Arrancar fail, it is due to the lack of resources, or leadership. There is no Arrancar that would willfully disobey as no Hollow wants to be in the state they are in forever.

This means that if Arrancar go missing, ultimately it makes me look bad. This leads to people losing confidence in their leaders, while leading through fear is an option that's not something I wish to do as that causes too much friction in the long run. However, this is my leadership philosophy, the 13 court guard squads may think differently." Layla said this as her eyes wandered around the hideout as she was quite impressed by his set up. 'Lacks a modern touch but is passable.'

However nonchalant the Arrancar made those words sound, it was like a bomb was set off in Ashido's head. 'She's right, morale of the troops would decrease if such a large number of them vanished and there was nothing done about it. Sure you could write it off as mission casualties but a 100% casualty rate on a mission is unheard of. The fact that this Arrancar, who in fact was originally one of the creatures I was ordered to hunt, is more morally upright than the 13 court guard squads is hard to swallow.'

"Now let's talk about the reason why you decided to say," Taking a long pause Layla looked at the Soul Reaper with eyes of pity. "The rationale behind it is incomplete, sure Hueco Mundo is home to all of the Hollow. However, this place gives birth to Hollow from ambient reishi along with the negative emotions of the souls that collected in Hueco Mundo somehow. Correct?"

"That is what we are taught in the Academy."

"Keeping that in mind, the Hollows that actually cross over into the soul society or the World of the Living are few and far between. Therefore your haphazard slaughter of Hollow actually accomplishes nothing, sure the cleansed souls return to the cycle of reincarnation but are you really saving lives?" Layla narrowed her eyes as they pierced through the gap in the mask to look at the eyes of the soul reaper. "If you think about the numbers you are only one man, there are hundreds of millions of Hollow and Billions of people in the land of the Living. Even with the most conservative of estimates, there are still at least 10,000 Hollows born every day."

Hearing the numbers laid bare before him Ashido removed his mask, the strands of his red hair fell down onto the bridge of his nose as his grey eyes looked defeated.

"Keeping that in mind, you probably killed what? 1,000? Maybe slightly more? You aren't actually making a dent in the grand scheme of things! Let's put this into perspective, in certain parts of the world of the living 1,000 people dying is a horrific thing, but in fact, more than that die every day due to the sheer number of humans." Layla folded her arms across her chest as she looked at the soul reaper. Her eyes analyzed his breathing and other signs on his body which showed he was flustered, he had no answers to the Arrancar's targeted questions.

Silence permeated the area for what seemed like hours as Ashido tried to find an answer, "The death of my squadmates hit me hard. It was difficult to accept the fact that I was the only one left alive, I felt cursed as if this was a divine punishment of sorts. My judgment was clouded, my mind muddled, and convection shook, it was the only thing that I could come up with at the time that made me feel better." The soul reaper's eyes drifted down towards the stone floor as Layla looked at him with interest.

"So instead of trying to survive and return to the 13 Court Guard squads where you could have nurtured the next generation of Soul Reaper by moving up in the ranks and passing down your knowledge you choose such an inefficient measure. It's admirable, you have courage and talent, I believe if you achieved Bankai you would be next in line to be promoted to Captain. Sadly after 100+ years you are most likely labeled deceased, you can no longer go back. However, I have a proposition for you. We Arrancar, will expand the area of operation to a different section of the world of the Living that the 13 Court Guard squads have not expanded to due to various reasons. I want you to join us."

The bomb dropped on Ashido made his eyes go wide as saucers as he looked at the Petite woman across from him.

'A Soul Reaper balances the cycle of transmigration, the 13 Court Guard Squads handle some of the souls but not all of them. Their Organization is large enough to handle it all yet they seem to have a history of focusing more on tradition rather than practice. When the Quincy came to be there was a large amount of separation between the Soul Reapers and the Quincy, and I doubt the Quincy were destroying so many Hollow that it would largely impact the Cycle of Transmigration in the short term. However, their long-term effects were spot on, yet back then the Head Captain chose violence over reason. History is written by the victors so how much do we know is actually true?' Layla mused over these points as she waited for Ashido to react, The Soul Reaper felt a moral conflict as he looked at the Arrancar.

"What would my role be in your Arrancar Army? Based on the fact that you are here it is clear that the degree of freedom you have far outclasses the Other Arrancar and you have the confidence to deal with any and all disturbances.' Ashido says as he looks at Layla.

"We will hash that out at a later date but I can assure you that I will not restrict your movements. In the meantime, I want you to assist me with something. In a few days, there will be a group of Soul Reapers, a Quincy, and a Human that will fall into the Menos forest. Ensure that they make it safely out of the Forest." Layla stood up and walked towards the entrance to the Hideout. "No need to worry, I won't have them killed, you have my word."

Ashido looked at the departing back of the Arrancar and felt a lot of complex emotions that he could not yet understand, "I just sided with the very things I was sent to destroy."