A Kiss

Mila Rose smiled, her face glowing with pure joy. "Tell me. This is fun, isn't it?"

Cangya stared at her, his face expressionless. "What do you want to do here?"

"This is a good place to sit down and relax." She sat at the edge of the cliff, her legs dangling over the side.

She patted the empty spot beside her. "Come sit down, Skull."

Mila Rose had gone to great lengths to keep the others from hearing this conversation, especially Sun-Sun. If she found out, she would surely embarrass her.

Though Mila Rose was highly skilled in combat, she was no match for Sun-Sun, Cangya, or even Apache in a battle of words.

The only one she might have been able to outtalk was the gentle, quiet Tier Harribel, but nothing like that had happened between them so far.

Cangya sat down quietly beside her.

Something was clearly on her mind, but instead of saying it outright, she began to whistle, swinging her legs like a carefree child.

"La la la la la~"

"Can you get to the point before I die of old age?"

Mila Rose cleared her throat and looked at Cangya, his menacing skull mask reflected in her green eyes. "Skull..."

"What, if you're going to confess your love for me, I love you too. Let's fly to a church and put rings on each other's fingers."

"Please be serious for once. This is about my transformation." Mila Rose spoke slowly, her voice a little husky, her heart beating faster.

"When I was transforming, everyone's Reiatsu fluctuated wildly... but yours didn't change at all... Why?"

His indifference during her life-or-death struggle had left her feeling hurt.

Despite their recent conflict, she had hoped he would show some concern once the misunderstanding was cleared up.

She was willing to risk her life to protect him and Tier Harribel. In return, it would have been nice if he had shown even a little concern.

Cangya tipped his head back, his gaze settling on the silver moon overhead. "I firmly believed you would succeed."

Mila Rose didn't know that Cangya had already known her before they first met in Hueco Mundo, and that he had seen her potential to become an Arrancar from the very beginning.

For some reason, she felt her cheeks grow hot. "Where does that kind of trust come from?"

Cangya chuckled, a playful light flickering in his eyes.

"Can you explain every emotion and thought that flashes through your mind? No, right? Some things just exist for no reason, or their reasons are beyond our understanding."

"Oh... I—"

He leaned forward and gently cupped her chin.

In an instant, his mask vanished, revealing his human form.

He could make that instantaneous transformation whenever he pleased.

After experiencing the long transformation the first time, he could switch freely between the two forms without even opening the Race Editing Interface.

"Rose."

"Y-yes?"

They were so close that his gentle whisper muddled her thoughts and made her stammer.

"Stop questioning me. Shouldn't you reward me for helping you?"

"Yes, you're right."

"Then let me..." he whispered, leaning closer until their lips were a hair's breadth apart. "Hug you."

Mila Rose closed her eyes and let herself sink into the tense moment.

Their breaths mingled, and then their lips met in a sweet, innocent kiss.

Crackle. A powerful fluctuation of Reiatsu brought the kiss to an early end.

Mila Rose came to her senses and pushed Cangya's face away. "What am I doing?"

She had kissed Cangya, a licentious act she had never imagined herself doing with anyone, much less a man.

Cangya didn't dwell on Mila Rose's distress.

Instead, he scanned the area with his Reiatsu, searching for the intimidating yet familiar presence that had interrupted their intimate moment.

He found the source of the familiar Reiatsu. The other party was well hidden; without a careful search, he would never have detected them.

He glanced back. "Tier Harribel, you can come out."

"Lady Tier Harribel is here?!"

Tier Harribel emerged from behind a boulder and walked toward them.

She squeezed in between Mila Rose and Cangya, pushing Mila Rose away from him.

"You called me?"

She pretended she hadn't been listening in or watching them from her hiding place. Her calm, composed manner helped her this time.

Mila Rose stared blankly at Tier Harribel. "Lady Tier Harribel..."

Though she was unhappy with Tier Harribel's interference, she respected her leader too much to question her suspicious behavior.

Tier Harribel sighed. "Sorry, Mila Rose. I had to check on him... I didn't want you two to fight."

Cangya wasn't naive enough to believe Tier Harribel. Heaven knew whether she had been spying on her "son."

"I'm not going to fight Rose. Oh, we were just about to enter a new stage of being all lovey-dovey."

Tier Harribel looked shocked. "I see... I wasn't watching you two."

"Hey, Skull. Don't talk nonsense! Who would want to—"

Cangya leaned back and winked at Mila Rose. "You let me kiss you—that's a fact you can't deny."

"You're twisting the facts." Mila Rose jumped up and pointed her sword at him.

"I didn't stop you because you said it was your reward. That's right, that's all it was. Don't read too much into it. It was just a reward."

She was too embarrassed to admit that she was attracted to Cangya, because she knew the teasing Sun-Sun would make fun of her mercilessly.

Tier Harribel closed her eyes and chuckled softly, pleased to see her "children" messing around instead of fighting.

This was one of the rare moments when she was so lively.

"Cangya, I'd like to ask you a favor."

Cangya paused and looked straight into her eyes.

Though he knew her personality well, he couldn't guess what she was thinking at all.

"Of course."

Tier Harribel lowered her head, her eyes full of seriousness. "Could you—"

All three suddenly turned to look in one direction. In the distance, a familiar Reiatsu was fluctuating violently, seemingly preparing for battle.

Cangya immediately changed back into his Hollow form.

He stood and spread his wings, his expression grim.

"Apache's in trouble. I'm going on ahead."

With a burst of Sonído, he accelerated into the distance, leaving Mila Rose and Tier Harribel where they were as he raced toward the source of the disturbance.

Cangya arrived at the eerie battlefield where he had previously shut Dordoni up for good.

A group of fearsome Gillians, the lowest class of Menos Grande, fired fierce beams of Cero, staining the desolate land a vivid crimson.

Covered in blood, Apache nimbly dodged every deadly beam, her agility and determination plain to see as she charged at a giant Menos Grande with all her might.

Yet the giant didn't react at all to her full-force headbutt.

The Menos Grande reached a massive hand out from its shadow-shrouded cloak and struck Apache hard.

She was sent flying into a nearby mountain, rubble tumbling down around her curled-up body.

Apache was exhausted and badly injured, her Reiatsu depleted. She couldn't even block an attack from a Gillian.

Her legs trembling, she struggled to her feet, only to fall again. "No—not yet... Damn it, where is everyone?"

"I'm here." Cangya came to her side, held her face, and transferred some Reiatsu to her.

"Get some rest. I'll take care of them."

She looked at him, her eyes full of mixed emotions. "You're too late."

Cangya nodded gravely and turned his attention to the menacing Gillians.

His Reiatsu bore down on them, its immense power making them tremble all over.

With a quick wave of his hand, he activated his Pressure ability, turning the Gillians into twisted chunks of flesh.

"Did they come for Dordoni's corpse?"

"I didn't let them touch it."