Harribel's Birthday Cake(s)

(Bleach)

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Tier Harribel had never really given much consideration about what day she was 'born'. She was a Hollow, an otherworldly being that could live for hundreds if not thousands of years, so having something to keep track like a date of birth was completely unnecessary. She didn't even know how many years she'd existed as a spirit up until this point. However, her Fracción seemed to believe otherwise, or at least, they did when it came to the matter of Harribel's birthday. They discussed it and discussed it until they settled on the day that Harribel had first become a Vasto Lorde, the most powerful form of Hollow, to be an appropriate choice to deem her 'birth-date'. Yet, in spite of wanting to celebrate properly, the three Arrancar subordinates did not know much about how birthdays actually functioned. There was no information in regards to the proceedings within any of Las Noches' archives. They only knew one thing, which was that cake was typically involved. Lots and lots of cake. They definitely did not skimp on the cake.

"We went to the world of the living just to get these for you, Lady Harribel!"

"Do not fear for us breaking any laws of Las Noches. We made sure to obtain explicit permission from Lord Aizen beforehand. We even managed to kill several Shinigami on our way traveling between bakeries."

"Now come on! Eat up! It's your birthday isn't it, Lady Harribel? Don't hold back! I mean, hell, you deserve all of the cake that could ever exist and more, don't ya think?"

Tier Harribel lowered the fork away from her lips and stifled a belch behind her hand. She'd already eaten quite a lot and it was beginning to wear her out. Though she was fully capable of eating food like any human or Shinigami, a Hollow did not survive off of food, but rather off of other spirits. Human food did nothing to sate a Hollow's appetite. Even a glutton like Yammy, who constantly ate normal food alongside human souls, only did the former for show. So although this was the case with Hollow biology, the Tres Espada still attempted to devour the cakes to appease her three starry-eyed subordinates. Harribel had already eaten two entire cakes by herself but she'd yet to taste anything of them. In her mouth, it was like inhaling great forkfuls of dust. Flavorless and unsatisfactory in every possible way. She'd never eaten human food before and was not accustomed to it. However, despite this, the cakes settled like rocks in the pit of her stomach, making it begin to bulge from having to contain so much at one time. What were once flat, toned abs had bloated outwards into a thick and bulbous sphere of flesh. This bizarre display of gluttony she was exhibiting continued to make her tummy grow wider, tighter, and become wracked with aching pains.

"We tried to pick out how many candles we would need for your cake, but there was not enough room to fit more than about fifty." Sun-Sun pushed the next cake across the table so that their leader could properly eat it. It was, indeed, covered with so many wax candles that Harribel could barely make out the dark chocolate frosting underneath.

"Why did you - BWRAAAAP - bring me so many?" Harribel had to ask at least that much, even as a belch managed to slip out before she could stop it. Her stomach, the round bronze orb that splayed itself out onto her thighs, didn't feel like it could stand to take in much more. Her belly-button had already popped out and her thighs were inching their way over the chair's edge. Said thighs were as succulent and glistening as mounds of gooey maple syrup. Their consistency not being too different from one another either. Not a further word needed to be used to describe Harribel's breasts, for they had been large ever since she became a true Arrancar.

Anything and everything she ate piled inside her gut and accentuated her growth. She looked so severely out of shape that that fat bastard Yammy would probably be able to get away berating her. Even so, she continued to devour the cakes as they were placed in front of her. If she became as big as a beach-ball, or simply as just as rotund as one, then that was something she would need to deal with after the fact.

"Because we appreciate everything you do. You deserve every single one of them! I mean, come on, ain't it obvious? We've never been able to repay you properly for what you did for us, back when were just wandering the desert of Hueco Mundo and trying to stay alive," Apache said. "Cakes aren't much of a way to show gratitude, but it's something, I think."

"We would have gotten even more, but some of the Shinigami we fought were only mortally wounded rather than dead outright! Those bastards called reinforcements on us and they had the nerve to get in our way!" Mila Rose's blood boiled from thinking about that confrontation.

Harribel sank her teeth deep down into one of the red velvet cakes that Mila Rose had given her. It was moist, easy to chew, and there was even more vanilla-flavored frosting on the inside rather than just on the top. It was good. She took a quick glance upward; three sets of wide, anxious eyes stared back down at her with beaming smiles. Their intentions were well-meaning, no doubt about that, but their execution of said intentions made poor Harribel feel as if she were about to vomit from eating so much. Yet her desires to stop eating began to wane with each successive bite. There was one specific reason for this. As Harribel ate more, she discovered that her sense of taste actually existed. She had lived her existence as a Hollow for so long that she had never considered what food might actually taste like. Taste-buds that had remained dormant for centuries were stirred awake by an onslaught of sugar and sweetness. Harribel moaned out loud. Apache placed a party hat on top of Harribel's head, but Sun-Sun quickly batted it off and slapped Apache's wrist for it. Harribel tore off another piece of cake and sent a rainfall of crumbs and frosting down into the cavernous depths of her cleavage. What should have been a quickly and painless procedure for her 'birthday party' was now becoming a profoundly surprising discovery about herself.

Harribel could only hope that this would not end up affecting her combat abilities too much in the near future. If she had to face the Soul Society's greatest warriors with a fat paunch wobbling about everywhere, her mortification would be so great she might not even be able to fight. Hopefully Lord Aizen would not heavily reprimand her for it either. Harribel chewed apart a dark chocolate fudge cake, holding it with her bare hands while tearing into it with her teeth. The flavor was superbly decadent. If she kept eating like this, she really could become as large as that over-sized bastard Diez Espada. Once she was finally done, whenever that time would be, then Harribel could figure out how to transfer the calories into spiritual energy to power herself. If one of the Arrancar could do it, then surely others could as well.

Apache, Mila Rose and Sun-Sun looked on as their leader continued her ravenous rampage through the assortment of cakes they'd bought her. They cast puzzled glances that were equally shared between the three. They hadn't been quite sure on how many cakes to bring. At the same time, they'd never anticipated that Harribel would get as 'into it' as she did upon eating them. Nonetheless, they tried to remain happy for her all the same. It was her birthday after all.