Characters: Ishida, Mayuri
Pairings: None
Warnings/Spoilers: Spoilers for Hueco Mundo arc.
Timeline: Hueco Mundo arc
Author's Note: Let me just say that when you discover that someone has planted extremely invasive surveillance devices on you, there is absolutely no good way to react.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
"I'm not through with you yet."
The words, offhand and tossed negligently in his direction, are ill-received and continue to burn on his ears long after he has left the other's presence. His gorge rises just to think of it, or anything concerning that detestable man.
As much as it pains Ishida to admit it, for the present, he will have to defer his grudge against Kurotsuchi Mayuri until later.
They—all of them—still need the man, because even Ishida can see that Kurotsuchi's presence in battle is an asset, not a detriment; Kurotsuchi is intelligent enough that he may well devise a way to defeat Aizen, get rid of the Arrancar and find a way off of Hueco Mundo now that Aizen has seen fit to seal the passageway against them. Ishida has no objection to any of that.
And Hueco Mundo is not the place to start in-fighting. Even with his inability to look at Kurotsuchi without seeing his grandfather's blood and his inability to think of him without seeing that mangled face, Ishida knows he has bigger things to worry about. That and the fact that his reiatsu isn't fully healed and he's still faintly lightheaded from having his stomach exploded; when fighting Kurotsuchi, it's probably best not to be half-dead.
Ishida stops running, still at the base of the tower, and fingers the small landmine in his hands. It's deactivated for the moment, but Ishida knows how to fix that, a faint gleam coming into his eyes to replace the dull-eyed shock and half-consciousness that overtook him after being attacked by Szayel-Apporo.
When raiding the laboratory that Szayel-Apporo has left behind, Kurotsuchi treats the landmine with minimal interest and doesn't even ask Ishida why he wants it, just tosses it over his shoulder in Ishida's general direction. Ishida's tersely muttered, "I have an idea," is met with some absent mutter about expectantly waiting to hear him blow himself up.
Ishida smirks grimly. That's not exactly what he has in mind.
As Ishida sits down and starts to put his plan into effect, he thinks of blood and bacteria. There is no good way to react to these things, he thinks, but there is another day waiting when he can take back what has been stolen. Ishida thinks that he's being quite reasonable, considering the circumstances.
For the moment, the old grudge has been put aside, but not forever, and it has not been forgotten.
Ishida will work with Kurotsuchi for the time being.
But he has a newsflash for the deranged scientist.
He's not through with him, either.