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Prize of Victory 2
By : NovaAlexandria
Category: Bleach > General
Views: 56251 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 5
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach nor make a profit from this story
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Father and Daughter

Something had his daughter�s nose out of joint. When something was bothering his daughter, it made Grimmjow a very unhappy father. With everything that had been going on, and his daughter�s inconvenient ability to avoid detection if she so chose, coupled with her tendency to sneak around to avoid talking if she didn�t want to talk, made cornering her damn near impossible. He was just about as proud of her as he was frustrated with her for her skills. Presently, frustration trumped pride.

His first concern was that some fucktard had finally tried to corner and Claim her, but he was positive that Ajuga would have told him about such an incident, as well as how she had dealt with any such unfortunate moron in full, gory detail. Whatever it was that had her tail in a knot had nothing to do with an unwanted Claim attempt. It also had nothing to do with the whole Starrk-killing-Hana�s-father thing either, as Ajuga had been acting peculiar since before that little bit of information came crawling out of the weeds.

As it was, he was running out of likely causes. Therefore, when he�d gotten up that morning, he�d decided to take a more direct approach, even if he had to nail his daughter�s tail to a tree to get her to sit still long enough to tell him why she had been acting so strangely. His usually cocky, vibrant child was acting subdued and that simply would not do. No fucking way would he allow her to turn into a depressed, gloomy, apathetic wanna-be mime like the Fourth Espada.

�Maybe letting her train with Ulquiorra and his brat was a bad idea. Nihilistic fucker better not be rubbing off on her,� he thought viciously.

His target appeared shortly, exiting the library and closing the door quietly behind her. Then he caught sight of Hana, coming from the other direction. The two girls would miss each other by a minute or two, but that was less important than the fact that Nanao�s kid was finally home, hopefully for good. He breathed a sigh of relief as the young Shinigami rounded the corner and entered the library. Her absence would be one less thing for Karin to mope about. When Karin moped, Grimmjow�s sex life suffered, and that really put him in a foul mood. Thanks to the trouble that landed on Starrk�s doorstep, it had been a week, a whole bloody week, since they�d last had sex. While he couldn�t do much about the majority of it, getting Karin to leave off worrying about at least one kid was something he could handle.

In his mind, this kind of situation required an intervention. Then he could get back to shagging his mate, as was right and proper. First things first, however. Grimmjow kicked his mind out of the gutter before his libido could waylay him and called out to Ajuga before she could escape.

�Oi, brat!� he called and crooked a finger at her, indicating he wanted her to come to him.

�Papa,� she greeted him, her voice not nearly as happy as it should have been.

�C�mon. The larder is getting empty and we�ve got another mouth to feed.�

Ajuga nodded her head and fell into step beside him. Now he definitely knew something was wrong. Hunting had always elicited an enthusiastic response from her, but today she hardly seemed to care he was taking her out past the lines to pursue game for the table. When he found out who was behind Ajuga�s apathetic attitude, they would never find the body.

They were way out in the forest and in the middle of gutting the two deer they had taken down when he finally wrestled up the courage to broach the subject. Since tact was something he generally lacked, he didn�t even bother trying and went right for the kill.

�What�s been eating you?� he demanded.

�Huh?� Ajuga looked up from the deer she had eviscerated with her claws. He watched as she half-heartedly began pulling out and separating the internal organs into edible and inedible piles.

If she thought he was going to let her weasel her way out of this one, she had another thing coming.

�You�ve been moping around the Estate like someone stepped on your toes. Spill it, kid.�

Ajuga sighed and stared at the organ she currently held in her hand before taking a bite out of the heart. Settling down, Grimmjow copied his daughter, enjoying the taste of fresh blood on his lips as he tore into the heart from his own deer. He would give her a moment to collect her thoughts and answer before pressuring her again.

�You wouldn�t understand Papa,� Ajuga sighed dejectedly, her entire posture dropping in despair. She�d even tucker her tail between her legs and that sure as Hell would not do.

�Tell me anyway,� he ordered and threw a growl in for good measure.

�It�s just�� Ajuga paused and looked at the half-eaten heart in her hand while he finished his and licked his fingers, �I really don�t think you will understand,� Ajuga repeated, clearly not wanting to talk about whatever was bothering him.

�We ain�t leaving this forest until I know who I have to kill for putting you in such a bad mood,� he growled dangerously. If he had to, he�d pull rank.

Ajuga let out another, heavier sigh and finally turned blue eyes, so similar to his own and yet not, his way.

�It�s Bya-san, Papa. Yammy broke him,� she replied.

It took him a moment to comprehend what she had said and to recall who the Hell �Bya-san� was.

�I mean, I understand that Yammy has a right to him since he won and Claimed him, but I don�t see the point in hurting someone so much weaker than you. Not even Nnoitra treats Rangiku like that. Hell, Barragan,� she spat the repellent codger�s name in the same way she would describe an open sewer, �treats Yumi-san better. He�s a close second though.�

Grimmjow was well aware of how some of his fellow Arrancar treated their pets, and it disgusted him too. He would never stoop that low. Even if he had managed to get Kurosaki in such a position, he would have never treat Karin�s brother the way Yammy handled Byakuya or the way that Barragan behaved towards Ggio, if the rumour mill had the story right. Grimmjow was a creature that prided himself on having some standards and he wouldn�t have put his rival through such things, even when their enmity had burned furnace-hot. The two higher-ranked Espada were utterly revolting in how they dealt with their underlings. Only a weak and pathetic creature continually beat down a defeated opponent, not to mention used their Claims to force them to have sex since they couldn�t get any tail on their own merits.

If Yammy and Barragan had any such �merits�, it was news to him. He had no idea why the little Arrancar had thrown his lot in with the old fuck in the first place, but power had a tendency to trump common sense in some cases.

�Pot, kettle,� his conscience scoffed at him, forcing him to recall that he had originally procured sex from Karin in exchange for keeping her sister safe. He told his conscience to shut up, and reminded it that Karin had approached him of her own free will. If she had ever wanted to break their deal he would have let her, and probably not even gone after her sister again. Who would want a girl like Yuzu after tasting someone like Karin? It was like comparing a lone cream puff to a hearty steak dinner, grilled rare and with plenty of dessert.

Grimmjow put those thoughts aside for the moment because right now, Ajuga needed his attention. Her tricky human heritage was rearing its head and confusing the Hell out of her. He didn�t begrudge his daughter�s human side. If anything, he admitted that it probably made Ajuga more powerful in many ways, such as her creativity and her sneakiness. In other ways, it made her want to seek things like justice and fairness where those concepts just didn�t apply, causing a lot of unnecessary inner drama.

�The strong do what they will to the weak,� Grimmjow started, and then held up one finger. �But only a craven weakling would perpetually stomp on something that can�t fight back.� He added the last part before Ajuga could protest.

�I know that Papa, but it doesn�t make it any easier.�

She had unshed tears sparkling in her eyes now, and she wasn�t even looking at her meal anymore.

�Before, there was at least a bit of life in Bya-san's eyes, and I know he enjoyed hanging out with me and teaching me things. We had lots of fun together, but now he doesn�t even want to see me anymore. He won�t even acknowledge me.�

Ajuga had never lost a friend before, not even to battle. Of course, her list of friends was relatively small, in no small part due to her hybrid nature. The need to belong was a very human emotion, something she had gained from her mother. Then again, he�d probably contributed a little as well. Grimmjow had seen how much more powerful a pack was, compared to an individual and that realization made him almost regret the loss of his fraccion all those years ago. Well, not all of them maybe, as Di Roy had been a few key ingredients short of a yakisoba plate, but there were definitely times he missed having some of �the boys� at his back.

�Bloody woman has corrupted me,� he groused inwardly, but it didn�t upset him that much. The changes, he reluctantly acknowledged, had been for the better.

�I just wish there was something I could do,� Ajuga scowled, tossing the half-eaten heart away. Grimmjow reached out and snagged it before it could hit the ground and finished the delicacy. His child got to her feet and paced furiously, her tail lashing back and forth in her frustration, her kill completely forgotten.

Now she was wasting food. This had to stop, he decided.

�Even if I was strong enough to take on Yammy, Aizen�� she spat the name, �would step in anyway, since �any interference would be considered interfering with a Claim,� and you know what he does to those that do that. Chaos and all that other bullshit he spouts out his ass��

She half snarled, half-sneered this last bit and Grimmjow looked at her sharply.

This was new.

�Ajuga, where did all this hatred for Aizen come from?� he asked cautiously.

He loathed Aizen. Oh, how he loathed the lying, masochistic motherfucker, but he had never taught his girl to mimic his disdain for the guy. In addition, while he suspected that Ajuga had noticed her parents� abhorrence for their ruler, the venom he heard in her words was far too strong to be something she�d merely obtained from listening to them speaking privately.

A thought occurred to him and he suddenly felt a cold knot in his stomach, making the one-and-a-half hearts he�d just eaten sit uneasily.

If he found out Aizen did anything to his daughter that he didn�t know about�

�He hurt Szay, several times!� she snapped, seething now.

�How, and what, do you know about that?�

They, meaning him, Karin, Nemu and of late, the surly redhead Szayel had somehow turned into a nanny, had always made sure Ajuga, and the other children, were scarce after one of Aizen�s little �play� sessions with Szayel. If Aizen had forced Ajuga to witness any of the atrocities he�d committed with the scientist the Seventh would have informed them about it. Unless, of course, Szayel hadn�t known she�d been there. Aizen�s illusions were powerful and Ajuga herself could remain hidden in ways only Karin had been able to perceive.

Thankfully, when he heard his daughter�s next words, he deduced that that was not the case. Just thinking about such a thing gave Grimmjow the heaves and he�d worked too hard to bring down their meal to lose his lunch now.

�I can smell his blood on Mama,� she reluctantly told him, then hesitantly added, �as well as� other things.�

Of course, Ajuga would recognize the scent of cum. He hardly led a celibate life with Karin. When Aizen usually finished with Szayel, he left the Espada caked with both substances. Grimmjow ought not to have been surprised that some of the filth would attach itself to Karin when she tended to her pet�s wounds. It also explained Ajuga�s hatred. Ajuga was close to Szayel; if she knew about and understood what Aizen inflicted on the other Espada it would also explain her complete lack of respect for their �ruler.� He considered how ticked she was at Yammy for doing the same thing, far more frequently and perhaps even more violently, to the Kuchiki heir.

�Fair enough,� he conceded and stuffed down the urge to lecture her. Instead, he sat back and waited for her to go on.

�And he hurts others too, even though they never did anything wrong!� she exclaimed.

�Like whom?� he grilled her, wanting some solid details now. He had his suspicions, but he wanted to hear what evidence she had.

Ajuga hesitated, and he knew right then and there that she had been doing things that would upset her mother. She was still walking back and forth across the forest floor, wearing a path though the leaf litter to the bare earth below it.

�Ajuga�� he said warningly.

�It was a while ago.�

�How long ago is �a while ago?�� he pressed.

�Five years.�

Ajuga let out a sigh and stopped moving, sitting down on a log and staring down at her bloodstained hands before bringing her fingers to her mouth to lick them clean. Grimmjow gave her a moment to gather her thoughts. He had a feeling this was going to be good, and another, stronger feeling that he was going to have to either a) discipline his daughter for the indiscretion she had committed and/or b) make certain Karin never learned about it while c) being proud of whatever cunning thing his child had done. He hoped it would be the second option and would deal with the first if it were an issue. The third was a given.

�After I got to see Unohana-san�s gardens when Aizen summoned us, I, sort of, kept going back to see them, and to visit Gin-san. I startled Gin-san one day while he was on the ladder in Unohana-san�s bathroom and he accidentally dropped the watering can he was using and it broke. Then he fell into the bath.�

�Wait a second,� he interrupted his daughter�s confession, gaping at her, �you have been visiting Gin, at Aizen�s Palace?�

Now she looked a little nervous, eyes darting back and forth and not meeting his.

�Yeah, I have been sneaking in for years now, smuggling him food on occasion and sometimes helping him with his chores.�

Grimmjow�s brain actually froze for a second, stuck in �astonished� mode with the wheels spinning.

�Holy goat shit on a flaming stick!� was the first thing that ran through his head when his brain got some traction and started up again.

He held back a laugh, but just barely. A snort did manage to get past his lips, though. His little girl had been snooping around behind Aizen�s back and �His Nibs� hadn�t even noticed! His daughter was pulling a fast one on �Kami-sama� himself and getting away with it! Aizen �I see everything under the sun� Sousuke had absolutely no clue about it either. This was priceless, an act of defiance that made his heart swell to near bursting with delight.

This, most definitely, was on the �do not let Karin find out� list.

Ajuga looked at him for a moment before finishing her story, and finishing cleaning her fingers.

�Aizen came in shortly after he fell and punished him for something as stupid as a wet floor in a bathroom and a few shards he was in the middle of cleaning up anyway.�

Ajuga growled, the menace in it unmistakable. With blood still on her lips from the half-eaten heart, she looked positively feral. It was a good thing she was his daughter, because looking the way she did now would have half the male Arrancar population chasing after her tail. The other, probably smarter half would be running like frightened rabbits. He forced those thoughts aside and quickly placed this entire talk into a new category, one he mentally labelled as �never let Karin suspect even a hint of this, ever!�

Unfortunately, he could do little to assist his daughter with her dilemma. Things worked this way under Aizen�s rule and that was that. Even though Grimmjow in theory could kill Yammy, if he did so quickly and before the disgusting Espada could enter his Resurrección, Ajuga was right about Aizen�s rule regarding interference. With the war going on, Aizen would be incredibly displeased at any infighting, even though it hadn�t bothered him in the past. The incident involving Nnoitra and the then-Third Espada came to mind. Aizen hadn�t even batted and eyelash in that case. He�d just gone out and made himself a new Third.

He and Karin could realistically do nothing for Byakuya. Grimmjow was �technically� using his second Claim on Szayel. With Soi Fon removed from the Second�s household, the abused noble could even end up serving Barragan if Yammy died, and that was hardly an upgrade. The only way he could take Byakuya in would be if Szayel gave up his rank as Espada and chose to become a fraccion, as Ggio had once been. That would definitely not happen, considering Szayel�s pride and his need to remain an adult courtesy of Karin�s surreptitious Claim.

The entire tangled mess just gave him a headache at times.

�I�m whining�� Ajuga said suddenly and sighed unhappily. �There�s obviously only one solution to this problem.�

She stood up and stretched, not pleased, but no longer miserable.

�And that would be?� he prompted, even though he suspected he knew the answer she was going to give him. Ajuga was very much his daughter, and Grimmjow, had he been in her position, would have chosen a particular course of action over any others. She would probably come up with the same conclusion he already had.

�First, I need to get stronger,� she answered with a shrug and a frown, looking at her claws. �Stronger than Yammy. If I can kill him, then I gain possession of everything he owns, right?�

She looked up at him, as if asking for confirmation.

�That�s right,� he agreed. �But remember, with the war going on, Aizen is denying us the right to fight and kill each other.�

His daughter looked like she was chewing on that and then snorted.

�I know. I still need to get stronger too and fighting will help make me stronger. Until then, I will just have to keep pushing, to let Bya-san know he isn�t alone and he�s stronger than this. I will keep showing up and I will tie him down and make him spend time with me if it kills me,� she vowed.

Ajuga had calmed down and now that she�d devised a plan of action, he decided that he wasn�t going to poke more holes in it. As long as she didn�t do something stupid, he didn�t care what motivated her and pulled her out of her slump.

She turned back to the deer she had been gutting and finished the task of field dressing it for travel. Now that he�d managed to get her to talk about the problem, Grimmjow dealt with his own kill. They worked in silence but he could tell that her mind was elsewhere, whirling with plans. His brain, on the other hand, was mulling over the knowledge that his little girl had been making a monkey out of Aizen for the last half-decade, sneaking into and out of the Palace with only Aizen�s whipping boy being the wiser. He found it a pity that he couldn�t share that news with Karin because it was fucking hysterical.

Plus, he wanted to keep his skin intact. Grimmjow knew she�d use him for a throw rug in the sitting room if she ever found out about this� or if she ever found he�d known about it and didn�t tell her.

He decided to take a page from his daughter�s playbook and keep it a secret for now.

�That�s my girl,� he thought proudly. �Yammy won�t know what hit him.�

Relatively short because it was actually originally attached to the last Chapter. Huge hugs and loves for the reviews. Seems like the selection of Halloween movies is pretty narrow.

Kain/Darkstar: All of that will be brought up in future Chapters. I have 1042 prewritten pages now (this Chapter ended in the late 300�s), and am closing in on the finally story line week of the story. If you thought you hated Aizen now�..

Next Chapter: Hana returns to the estate and has a talk with Jushiro and Starrk.

This Weeks Question: What is your favourite Halloween candy? I am partial to the mini sweet tart things, not to mention the little squares of caramel. Well, I am off to clean up the house, defrost my meatloaf rat (I�ll try and take a picture of it tomorrow when it�s all done and put it up on my deviant art page), and make the worms in dirt for tomorrow�s Halloween party. Already made the frozen spider ice cubes for the punch. Ciao.
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Prize of Victory 2	By : NovaAlexandria Category: Bleach > General Views: 56251 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 5
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach nor make a profit from this story

Prize of Victory 2