Obligatory Disclaimer – I do not own Bleach. That particular gem belongs to Tite Kubo. This will be a series of one-shots I'll (hopefully) do regularly to help boost my creativity. The name of said one-shot challenge is Shuuji Chousenjou, by Yemi Hikari, and you can find it in the Bleach forums.

Week 1 – Challenge 1 – Part 1

Monday's child is fair of face

If there were two things Lilinette Gingerbuck prided herself on, it was both her amazing (as she likes to think) confidence, and the other would be her being much more outgoing than her partner, Starrk. However, as she walked through the halls of Los Noches, she felt both of those sap away very quickly, one conversation with one of the other Fracción that also resided under Aizen's rule, and now she felt mildly depressed and insecure, all of her usual vigor now gone.

It started with one of the many 'play dates' she has with the other Fracción. She enjoyed hanging out with them. Tesra, when he wasn't being Nnoitra's whipping boy (as she likes to call him) was a very nice guy. She viewed him in an almost 'big brother' kind of light. Similarly, Apacci, Sung-sun, and Mila Rose were her 'big sisters', and to Lilinette's surprise, they enjoyed her company as much as she did theirs. To her even bigger surprise, she found some of Barragan's Fracción to be of decent company as well. However, that is where her current upset state has originated from.

While she didn't particularly find Charlotte Chuhlhourne to be the most entertaining company, she found his knowledge of beauty surprisingly accurate, and has actually been a tad influenced on his advice every so often. In fact, with minor deviation of her part, he was the one who designed her current, and favorite, outfit. Despite how some may talk about it being 'inappropriate', she didn't care, and she considered it, with a lack of a better term, 'awesome'.

This time, however, she wasn't going for advice or a new outfit. She wanted an opinion, as she considered his word to be truth, in regards to beauty. It was a simple question. "Am I beautiful?" Three little words. She simply wanted to be the best that she could, and saw appearance as a large portion of that goal. How shocked she felt when her response to said question was laughter.

"Beautiful?" The flamboyant Arrancar exclaimed, laughter still escaping his throat. "My, my." He spoke once again, after his chuckling ceased. "I'm sorry to say, my dear, but no. You are not beautiful. To be frank, you are cute at best." A small smile still crept onto his face, however, his words were deathly serious.

Lilinette just stood there, wide eyed, pure shock and devastation evident onto her face. Her mind was racing, trying to find a way to understand this. She understood that she wasn't the best looking of the Arrancar, but she always considered herself to be attractive, despite her small size. And as if that wasn't enough, Charlotte continued, as though his statement needed further explanation.

"For one." He spoke up, lifting a single finger to the small girl. "Your hollow mask is simply atrocious." He almost sneered. "You could look so much better if it was less bulky and in the way. Second." He held up his second finger. "Your hair. As nice of a color it is, I can tell without even touching it, that very little work has been done to improve it. It's okay..." He allowed. "...but it could be much, much better." He put a smirk back onto his face. "And finally, no matter how much you may deny it, you are still simply a child. It doesn't matter if us Arrancar age or not, a child has no hope to being as beautiful as an adult."

After that, he said nothing else. Lilinette took the silence as her cue to leave, and she did so, but moved slowly, all of what Charlotte said to her still playing through her ears. She was devastated, and barely understood why. Was she really that bad? It would've been fine if he had just given her a few pointers to help her out, but no. He practically ranted on why she wasn't beautiful, and in such detail...was it obvious? Did the others see her this way as well?

She didn't know why she found herself walking to Gin-sama's room, but she stood there for what felt like hours, which was probably just a minute or two. With agonizing slowness, she raised her fist before lightly knocking. Once. Twice. Three times, before lowing her arm and waiting. There's was a rustling on the other side, before the silver haired man spoke through the door.

"Not very often I get visitors." The man spoke in a jovial tone. "Although I must ask to make this quick, I'm quite hungry." As the last few words left his mouth, the door to his room opened slightly, revealing his face. Seeing the ever present grin was almost enough to cheer the Arrancar girl up. Seeing her, the man's smile seemed to widen a tad. "Ah, Lili-chan." He spoke in a tone of cheery surprise. However, seeing the downcast look that the small Arrancar held, he invited her in. "Something you need to talk about?" He spoke in a sincere tone, one rarely heard from the man.

She couldn't help it. She spilled everything. Not stopping after explaining the discussion from ten minutes ago, but also rambling about her insecurities that had been bubbling to the surface, even including how almost betrayed she felt when someone she saw in a rather high regard would just laugh at her. Explaining all of this with tears in her eyes that stubbornly refused to come out.

To Gin's credit, he sat there, next to her, listening to everything she said, with nothing but a sad smile and an occasional noise to indicate he was, in fact, listening. While he listened to her story, he made a mental note to find some way to punish the Fracción, and possibly the Segunda as well, if possible. He thought for a moment after she finished, his sad smile dropping when seeing the miserable look on her face, staring back at him, a desperate and expectantly.

He sighed. "I won't pretend I know a thing about beauty..." The silver haired man begin, uncertain of exactly what to say to her. "But one thing I do know about, is not caring what others think of me." He gave the small Arrancar a humorous grin. "Both here, and in the Seireitei, I was looked at like I was just some creep. I don't let it get to me, because I know who and what I am." He looked directly at her. "I'm good at reading people, myself included. And, Lili-chan..." He paused, before flashing a bright smile. "You're the second most beautiful person I've had the pleasure to meet."

She knew he was exaggerating, at least a little, but she didn't care about that at all. She gave him a wide smile in return. "Thank you, Gin-sama."

The man just chuckled. "If it's just us, Lili-chan, Gin's just fine."

Please note that this is not a Gin/Lili thing, it's more of a friendship thing than anything else.

I figured 'fair of face' translated into some form of beauty, that's why it was such a big deal in this one-shot. Also, just in case anyone seems OoC, I have an explanation for them.

Lilinette: she's pretty much a little girl, and as tomboyish as she may be, she still finds her appearance important. That said, having a younger mentality, she probably wouldn't respond well to detailed constructive criticism.

Charlotte: Despite whatever he may say to Yumichika, it was obvious he views appearance as a very important thing, flipping out over his hair. He'd also probably compare others to himself, so it's not too unbelievable he'd be so thorough in his analysis.

Gin: Hitsugaya's probably the only kid he'd be anything close to a jerk to, and even with him, it'd be more like the relentless teasing he'd do with anyone else. I can easily see Gin playing the 'Favorite Uncle/Big Brother' role.