Adult-FanFiction.org : Bleach

Prize of Victory 1.5
By : NovaAlexandria
Category: Bleach > General
Views: 14934 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach nor profit from my works.
Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
The Sixth

Grimmjow wasn�t happy.

Not by a long shot.

His battle with Ichigo had been going great before that fucktard Nnoitra had cut in and ruined his chance at skinning the boy. It was a pity the ridiculously tall and obviously deranged Shinigami with the bells hadn�t finished off the Fifth. Once the Aspect of Despair was face-first in the sand, the one-eyed madman and his chirpy little brat had wandered off in search of another scrap, neglecting to put either of the downed Espada out of their misery. Worse, Kurosaki hadn�t done him the honour of killing him either. Starrk had snatched Inoue Orihime and the infuriating human had given chase, hauling Nel with him.

Such disregard really pissed him off, but the terrible thing, in Grimmjow�s opinion, was that Kuro-fucking-saki had had the nerve to save his ass from Nnoitra�s scythes. That unasked-for rescue had made him look like weak sauce and had put him in the teenager�s debt.

Kami, he hated being in debt.

The Sixth had briefly lost consciousness, only to come around to yet another Shinigami hovering over him. She introduced herself as Unohana Retsu, Taichou of the 4th Division, which meant jack-all to him. Nnoitra and his sniveling shadow, Tesra, were nowhere to be seen. At first he thought she�d purified them and expected her to do the same. Then she�d placed her hands on him and began the process of knitting his wounds together, confusing him to no end. Healing his perforated hide had struck him as bad tactics, considering they were on opposite sides of the conflict. Then again, he liked not being in pain. Grimmjow let her do her thing and tried to figure out if and when he ought to repay her by severing her spine with Pantera.

A quick probe of her reiatsu had sent that notion packing. He might be reckless, but he wasn�t stupid. Shortly after she finished getting him back on his feet, the call came informing both sides that Aizen had won. The survivors were to be rounded up and brought to a central location in the Seireitei. He�d caught a glimpse of resignation on her face, but she didn�t try to make a break for it. Grimmjow didn�t understand that either. Instead of at least trying to escape, she calmly accompanied him through the Garganta he�d opened. Threats and wheedling proved unnecessary, which was fortunate. The woman was far too powerful for him to budge in his weakened state, had she not wanted to go.

He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to rid it of sand and grimaced as it snarled in drying blood clots.

�Let�s be real. She�d could have cut me open and used my intestines as a jump rope.�

Admitting that was easier than he expected. There was steel beneath that placid exterior and something told him that he�d be better off not trying to find out how he stacked up against it.

Once in the Soul Society, she immediately left him to deal with the injured. Interestingly, she handled the Arrancar and the Shinigami with equal skill. The worst of the bunch was the white-haired man Starrk and Lilinette dropped off. He had a wound in his chest that put some Arrancars� Hollow holes to shame and he was covered in blood. Grimmjow would have figured him for a goner; it was a miracle he was alive at all. What Starrk and Lilinette saw in the poor bastard was as big a mystery to him as Unohana�s submissiveness.

The biggest surprise was when Ulquiorra arrived with Orihime. The girl sparkled with a newly-minted Claim, wearing clothing that someone had partially shredded. That Cifer had gotten laid shocked him only a little less than knowing the bat had taken the girl he�d been ordered to protect as a pet without asking permission. Aizen probably wasn�t going to like that, Grimmjow figured, before he shrugged and wrote it off as �not my problem.�

His hope that someone would drag Kurosaki�s beaten body through a Garganta so that he could continue where they�d left off eventually fizzled out when the remaining Espada and their captives congregated in the ruins of Karakura town. The Seventh and the Ninth Espada failed to appear and the Sixth spent exactly zero seconds mourning them. Instead, he perused what was left of the tottering, blown-out buildings, the heaps of randomly strewn debris and shards of broken glass, and whistled appreciatively. The devastation was extraordinary in scope and Grimmjow was impressed that Harribel and her fraccion had found any human survivors in the wreckage. There were only three of them, all female, and at first he dismissed them as unimportant. That proved to be a premature assessment. He was busy daydreaming about flaying Ichigo alive when a name cut through his reverie, forcing him to pay attention to what was going on around him.

�Kurosaki Karin.�

The name belonged to a black-haired cub brave enough to glare openly at Aizen. Had he heard that right? Could she be a relative, maybe a daughter? No, that didn�t seem right� Kurosaki was still too young to have cubs, especially not cubs as old as the girl appeared. No one had said anything about a mate during briefings. The most likely one to fill that role had been the black-haired Shinigami shrimp he�d impaled, but neither had smelled like sex and there was no Claim between them.

�You are no doubt the younger sister of Kurosaki Ichigo. Who is the other girl?�

Aizen eyed the unconscious blond cub lying in heap next to her while Karin seethed and the wheels in Grimmjow�s head began to turn. This put a new spin on things. The Sixth hadn�t considered the possibility of siblings and decided to test that theory. He brushed his reiatsu against hers. She was still a youngster, so there wasn�t a lot there yet, but it definitely had the �Kurosaki� tang to it, so he didn�t think she�d fibbed about the family link. Only a complete idiot would claim to be related to Ichigo in this setting.

�She�s my sister, Yuzu.�

�Two sisters� how intriguing�� Aizen murmured and regarded the two as a cat might contemplate a nest of baby mice.

Fuck intriguing. Grimmjow narrowed his eyes as he studied the children in earnest, taking in everything about them. Their coloring was different from that of their brother, but that didn�t mean much � there were few people in the Living World with hair that shade of orange. Both appeared to be roughly the same age, height and weight, which could only mean one thing: they were twins. Ichigo�s sire and dam must have been thrilled to produce two viable offspring at the same time. That they�d made it to their current ages spoke well of their health and their strength. Then he kicked himself; they were human and he was over thinking things. Unlike Hollows or Shinigami, humans bred like rats. For all he knew, twins were a regular occurrence among the living, not a novelty.

Once the injured were mobile, if not completely healed, Aizen put a stop to Unohana�s work and ordered everyone to march to the 1st Division. Again, that meant fuck all to Grimmjow, but the blistering wave of reiatsu his leader used as a goad to get the defeated moving was enough to motivate him as well. The Sixth stuffed his hands in his pockets and followed the crowd to a very imposing meeting hall with the kanji for �1� written everywhere. His creator strode to the head of the room, turned and made a familiar gesture, indicating that he wanted reports from his Espada and he wanted them now. When it came time for Grimmjow to speak, he recounted his battle, paying Nnoitra back for interfering by describing how badly the Fifth had done against his opponent. The mantis sneered at him and put his hand on the hilt of Santa Theresa, but couldn�t do anything officially to Grimmjow in Aizen�s presence.

�I�ll just let him take the fall for allowing Kurosaki and that monster Kenpachi to escape.�

Then it was Szayel�s turn and Grimmjow tuned out. His mind kept wandering to the two girls, one propping up the other, on the other side of the room, rather than listening to whatever the pink freak had to say about the destruction of his precious laboratory. Once Yammy had finished his short and badly-worded report, Aizen addressed the entire room.

�I do believe Victory has been achieved, and so I let you Claim your right to it.�

The conqueror smiled pleasantly at them, as if he was bestowing some sort of great gift. �But please, try not to be too greedy and keep it to no more than two apiece.�

So, they could Claim two pets. He had no interest in anyone else in the room. Hell he didn�t even know who any of them were, nor did he care, and while he most certainly would never cast a Claim on a cub, he could still take them on as fraccion. That way, none of the others could gainsay him if he officially decided to Claim them when they were older, assuming Ichigo didn�t come looking for them first.

He moved over to stand before them, and to his amusement, the one called Karin immediately stood up, glaring at him in an imitation of her older brother. Now he saw the resemblance. Her eyes were grey instead of brown and her hair was black instead of that irritating orange, but the scowl was a carbon copy.

�You got a problem with me?� she demanded, hands clenched into fists at her sides.

He couldn�t help it. Grimmjow grinned at the spunk she displayed and then laughed aloud. �Just thinking on how I can use you to bring that bastard brother of yours in.�

�So what, I look like bait?�

Her angry comeback was quick and for a kid who had just seen her world destroyed, it was surprisingly astute. He laughed louder this time, tickled at how resilient she seemed, compared to her twin.

�Bait� was a great description; there was no way Ichigo wouldn�t come looking for his sisters if he knew they were alive. When the freakish hybrid came to liberate them, Grimmjow would be ready. He really only needed one of them, and he briefly considered leaving the unconscious blonde girl, but Karin didn�t seem the type to abandon her sister without putting up a fight. The lack of a Claim on her meant that he couldn�t force her to obey him without resorting to physical force. The Espada did not want to drag a screaming, kicking, biting, clawing cub around, nor did he want to keep her caged, mostly because he owed Ichigo. Keeping one and discarding the other didn�t sit right with that nagging part of his brain that acted as a crude conscience.

Justifying his actions was easy. Taking the girls would be a way of paying Kurosaki back for the double-edged act of saving him. If Karin was anything like her brother (and from the way she held onto her sister, he suspected she might be) keeping Yuzu safe would ensure Karin�s good behaviour. Anything to get that masked jerk to show himself. He just had to bide his time.

Grimmjow let out a slow breath and made up his mind.

�Grab your dead weight sister and follow me,� he ordered in a curt voice and put both of his hands in his pockets. The stance was meant to convey a message: �Don�t think of doing anything else.� For a moment it looked as if she wanted to argue, but then she took a look around the room. Nnoitra chose that moment to glance their way and Grimmjow was actually gratified to see a shiver of revulsion shake her small, wiry frame. Her correct assessment of the Fifth�s character meant she had some common sense. It was a point in her favor that she evidently thought he was the better option when it came to her sister�s well-being, because she gathered up her dazed sibling and did her best to stumble after him.

Aizen had made his top-ranked Arrancar memorize the city�s layout, just for this day, so he had a general idea of which of the many areas radiating outward from the walls had the best dens. Grimmjow didn�t bother turning around, though he occasionally listened to make certain that the footsteps behind him were still there. She kept up with him for a while, but eventually the extra baggage she carried started to cause her to fall behind. The girl also started panting. The sound was quiet at first but grew louder as they approached one of the gates out of the city. Just before that situation got on his last nerve, Yuzu stirred and mumbled something.

Grimmjow allowed a short pause while Karin put her sister back on shaky feet and checked her again for any signs of injury. Once the blonde could walk, he snarled at the two to �pick up the pace.� The hair on the back of his neck felt itchy, which wasn�t a good sign. They needed to get out of the walled fortress before things got serious. Cubs didn�t need to witness, let alone be a part of, the massacre he knew was coming.

The Sixth all but shoved the twins through the huge gate with Sonido. They came to a stop on the other side in the middle of what he assumed was some sort of shopping district. Yuzu looked sick to her stomach and Karin�s face had paled in a reaction to the short, too-fast dash, but neither puked, so he kept going. It was nothing short of a forced march, but he had his reasons. When the sky above the Seireitei ripped open like a great black maw, sooner than he had planned, Grimmjow hissed and growled a few profane words. He also considered grabbing both girls and making a run for it. They were well out of the fortified portion of the Soul Society, but he didn�t trust his fellow Hollows not to extend their marauding into the inner Districts.

�Where are we going?� Karin asked in a hesitant, cranky voice.

�To find a den,� he replied. �We need a place to hole up and we need to find it before things get ugly. If you want to stay alive, I suggest you stick close and do what I tell you.�

Karin�s mouth opened, probably to tell him what she thought of that, but this time he had a plan. Instead of saying anything, he pointed in the direction from which they�d come. When she turned around and saw the smoke rising from behind the walls and the darkening sky lit up from a multitude of fires, her eyes got much bigger. Grimmjow was glad she was intelligent enough not to press the issue. He�d give her this much: she was smarter than her brother. In fact, she grabbed her twin by the arm and did her best to stay in step with him as they hurried away from the invasion.

�Who are you?� she asked. The question was little more than an agonized pant. Her hand was on her side and he guessed that the muscle there was cramping from exertion.

�Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, Sexta Espada.�

Finally, he spotted a den that looked appropriate. It was getting late and sleep was sounding good. Unohana may have healed him, but it was going to take some time to get back to full strength. Yuzu looked as if she was ready to collapse and Karin was little better. Still, neither complained. Making him think that his decision to take them was a good one.

�Wait here. I�ll be right back. Don�t move.�

�Don�t kill them,� Karin whispered, just loud enough for him to hear.

He paused and looked over his shoulder at her. Her eyes rose to meet his and in them he could see a heartfelt plea for mercy. For the first time, he was staring into the eyes of a frightened cub, and not a defiant Kurosaki.

�I know you�re a Hollow, but please, there is no reason to kill these people for their house! I am sure you are strong enough to just chase them away.�

Grimmjow pinched the bridge of his nose, hating the way she looked just then. Kurosakis weren�t supposed to act like scared kittens. They were supposed to bite back, to claw and scratch and�

Irritated at himself, he grunted and stalked to the front porch. Raising one boot, he kicked in the door. A family of three, a father and two daughters, were almost done eating dinner, judging from the number of empty bowls and plates. All three gaped at him as he strutted into the house and barked a command.

�This den belongs to me. If you wanna live, I suggest you run, before the rest of the Arrancar start trying to find a place to bunk down. Get going!�

They stayed frozen for all of three seconds before fleeing through the back door. To make sure they left for good, he followed them as far as the threshold. In the time it had taken to cross the room, the family had disappeared through the back gate, leaving it wide open. Through it, Grimmjow saw a steadily growing stream of people trotting down the street, fleeing the trouble closer to the walls. For his part, he did his best not to think about why he had bothered to spare such insignificant creatures, other than the simple fact that he didn�t get off on swatting flies, and even less on slaughtering cubs. It certainly had nothing to do with Karin�s request. She did, at least, have the grace to acknowledge his restraint with a thankful look as she propelled Yuzu through the front door and into their new den.

�Whatever you do, stay in the house until I tell you.�

�Oh� okay,� Karin replied and let her eyes roam over the furnishings, the remains to the meal and still-warm cushions around the dinner table. Grimmjow shut and latched the door, locking it for good measure. It wasn�t fancy, but it was clean, solid and defendable. That done, he drew up a mental list of things he�d need to procure once things settled down .At the top was some new clothing, for both him and his new charges. His uniform, in particular, was a bloodstained mess. Without saying anything else, he located the bathroom. There was a tub with a set of taps and a faucet, a showerhead coming out of one tiled wall and a wooden bench. No sign of a toilet, but then he remembered that in the Seireitei, those were kept separate from bathing chambers.

�It was more efficient to put everything together in Hueco Mundo, since showers were the norm. Not enough water for a good soaking either. I�ll have to try that out at some point.�

His inner feline goaded him into shedding his uniform and turning on the left tap attached to the showerhead. A spray of cold water almost sent him scrambling away, but he endured it and a minute later the water warmed, eventually getting hot enough to turn his skin pink. Grabbing a bar of soap, he scrubbed his hair and as much of his body as he could reach, not stopping until he�d rinsed away as much dirt and sand and dried blood as possible. Steam quickly filled the room and he luxuriated in the sensation of humidity, something else that Hueco Mundo lacked. When he�d run out of places to wash, he turned off the water and grabbed a towel from the shelf.

�This place has everything� abundant water, soft things like this�� He buried his face in fluffy cotton, enjoying how the cheek not covered in bone felt against heat-sensitive flesh. Las Noches had had its merits, but well-appointed bathrooms weren�t one of those features.

A gray and black yukata hung from a hook on the back of the bathroom door and Grimmjow pulled it on, rather than wear his shredded uniform again. It was short on him, hitting just below the knee rather than the ankle, but it covered the important parts. He�d find something better once the dust settled. Once he was presentable, he decided to see if the cubs had gotten into any trouble while he was gone and padded down the hall in bare feet. From the sound of it, the girls hadn�t left the kitchen, so he felt fine making a quick inspection of the other bedrooms. The former owner�s children had a reasonable number of garments in their wardrobes, though the yukatas would be too large; the young women he�d chased away had been older than the Kurosaki twins and taller. Picking out two robes, he slung them over his arm and backtracked, following the banging of pots and pans.

The scene was disturbingly domestic. Yuzu was busy with something on the stove while Karin sat at the table nursing a mug of tea. The dirty dishes from the previous inhabitants� not-quite-finished meal were gone, and the blonde child�s right arm moved as if she was stirring something. Whatever it was smelled� enticing? He hadn�t been gone long enough for her to marinate meat, but whatever it was had a savoury scent.

He cleared his throat, announcing his presence. Both of them jumped and Karin�s head shot up. Grimmjow jerked a thumb in the direction of the bathroom.

�There is a shower upstairs and two bedrooms. You two can have the smaller one with the two beds. I found these,� he said gruffly as he dropped the yukatas onto the table, �in one of the closets. Go ahead and wear �em after you shower. Pretty sure you can sleep in them too.�

�Oh excellent!� Yuzu smiled cheerily up at him as she moved away from the stove to pick one up, examining the pretty garment. �I�ll find a needle and some thread to hem them tomorrow. That was very thoughtful of you!�

He did a double-take at her reaction. What the hell happened to the glassy-eyed, meek little thing Karin had supported for the last couple of hours? Had someone swooped in and swapped her with another child? She gazed at him with the innocence of a newborn lamb, one that didn�t have the common sense to realize it was in the presence of a dangerous predator.

The effect was downright scary. No one made that kind of mental turnaround that quickly.

�Karin said you saved us, and that you�re going to take care of us for Ichi-nii until he can find us. Thank you, Jaegerjaquez-san!�

Then the brat actually bowed to him and giggled.

He shot a shocked look at Karin, who shrugged her shoulders and sipped her tea, as if there was nothing out of the ordinary about her sister�s reaction. Was the girl daft? He sure as hell hadn�t saved them� all right he would concede that in a very roundabout way, he had kept them from immediate harm. Neither girl would have survived what was going on behind those walls right now. Nevertheless, he was not the equivalent of a mother hen, nor did any of this come from any kind of altruism on his part.

A pair of big, brown trusting eyes that looked far too much like those of his nemesis blinked back at him, as if daring him to say anything to the contrary. Grimmjow groaned, shaking his still-damp hair and sending a few lingering water droplets flying.

�Aww� fuck it,� he swore inwardly, propping his elbow on one forearm. He then rested his forehead on his knuckles and closed his eyes. �If believing that keeps the cub obedient and behaved, then that�s fine. Anything is better than screaming and caterwauling, even if it�s kinda twisted.�

�Are you going to join us for dinner?�

Yuzu said this as she turned back to the stove, whisking whatever was in the saucepan until it frothed. The tantalizing scent made him want to say �yes,� but his body had other ideas. He was tired and unlike Kurosaki�s sisters, he�d taken significant damage during several fights.

�No. I�m going to get some rest. Make sure you two shower when you�re done eating. Then go to bed. Don�t open the door and don�t leave, no matter what you hear or see. It�s still dangerous out there and that won�t change for a few days. As long as you are with me, no one will try and fuck with you. Understand?�

�We won�t,� Karin assured him. Just then, a powerful wave of reiatsu washed over the neighborhood. Whatever appetite he might have had vanished when he identified the owner. Yammy had just done something and Grimmjow was just glad he wasn�t the target. Yuzu didn�t flinch or make any indication that she�d felt the malevolent energy. Either she was a very good actor or she was very good at ignoring things she didn�t want to notice. However, Karin shivered and wrapped her arms around her torso, blanching at the feel of the Tenth�s power. He hoped she would take it as a warning and a reminder that she needed to play by a new set of rules.

Grimmjow retreated to the room he had chosen, but slumber didn�t come until he was sure his newly-acquired bait had done as he�d ordered. He had no idea how long he�d be stuck with them, but as long as they didn�t cause him too much grief, he�d keep their hides intact.

�You had better give me one hell of a fight when you get here, Kurosaki. I ain�t your sisters� babysitter. After this shit, we�ll be even.�

Huge hugs for those of you that reviewed. Since the Seventh is dead, up next is the Eight.
- 5
- 6
- 7
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Prize of Victory 1.5	By : NovaAlexandria Category: Bleach > General Views: 14934 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach nor profit from my works.

Prize of Victory 1.5