Chapter 14:
The infinite expanse of Hueco Mundo was quiet, and not even a gentle breeze flowed through the merciless sands of the desert. The perpetual moon hung over the world, its light and glory acting as a guiding light. Naruto thought it looked as beautiful as ever, but maybe the delirium was making it seem that way.
Naruto's bones ached every time he so much as took a single step, and several times he had to lean on one of the quartz trees for support. Too much walking, and bile and blood would rise up in his throat, and he would wheeze so strongly that he looked like a medical patient taking his last breaths at a hospital...
But, there were no hospitals in Hueco Mundo, nothing more than vast, untamed wild. An injured Hollow could be wiped out in seconds, as the Hollows who lived here never gave a damn what their condition was like.
The white sand crunched beneath his feet, and Naruto was looking down at his legs. He noticed that the deep crimson armor that covered his entire person had changed to little more than a dull red. The bony material looked blotchy as well, as if he had bled underneath the armor.
He heard the roar of a distant Hollow, and noted that Hueco Mundo had an exceptionally sparse population today. Maybe it was because he was around Las Noches, a place that most Hollows tended to avoid. He wasn't out of the woods yet, as around a vast circumference of Las Noches there stood several outposts and underground bunkers, their marble pieces looking like little more than ruins left on the landscape, instead of districts separate from the main body of Las Noches.
The east side of Las Noches, where the Adjuchas had left, was fortunately filled with little more than run-down and abandoned outposts that had few sentries that were stationed there. The old stone bricks had fallen off their structures, and the marble of the bunker looked old and cracked.
As Naruto limped through the distant reaches of Las Noches, he continuously looked over his right shoulder, cautiously checking whether anyone was following him. To both his relief and disappointment, the following never occurred whenever he was around the vicinity of Las Noches.
A few weak Hollows had attacked him during his trek, but even in his injured state he was able to fend them off easily. Feeding on such weak Hollows at this point in his evolutionary lifestyle would grant him nothing.
He found a small cave in a series of rock beds, and being a small Hollow, the Adjuchas was able to squeeze into the shelter to avoid the strong wind and allow his injuries to heal. The cave was mostly out of view, so he was mostly safe from attacks by other Hollows.
He found the softest section of dirt in the cave, and curled up into to go to sleep, despite knowing that there was no need to other than to make his wounds heal faster. Listening to the wind move the sand always did calm him, and numb the aching pain that he was currently feeling. He just lied there for over an hour, listening to it rise and fall in intensity, and never even budging from that spot, before finally drifting off into a light sleep.
"Hey, look at this guys! There was a small Adjuchas who thought it would just be fine to sleep out here in the middle of Hueco Mundo! I don't think it knows the dangers of resting in this place..." came an obnoxious Hollow, its voice tinted with disbelieving glee.
"... Especially since we're here..." it added arrogantly.
"This is our lucky break, then! The chances that we would ever get to eat someone like him is slim to none. Let's eat now, before he gets up! We could all take a huge step in our evolutionary line." came another voice, as eager and gleeful as the first.
"Four Hollows... going by the stupid laughter of all of them..." thought Naruto, who was easily roused from his sleep the instant they came within fifty feet of his cave.
