Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo.

Life in Las Noches

Situation One: Boredom Sucks

written by Kurosu

Rukia, sprawled across the tatami mats, sighed and propped her chin upon her palms, elbows situated on both sides of the sketchpad in front of her. She stared at the blank page, lazily, and then after a moment, she leaned her weight on her right arm so her left hand could reach to the back of her thigh and scratch the annoying itch permeating through the black fabric of her shihakusho.

Normally, she would have no problem with her artistic hobby, but that day in particular, her mind was completely blank. So, another sigh escaped her lips.

The shoji door to her white, sterile-like room slid open, but she didn't bother to acknowledge the intruder. She crossed her arms over each other, on top of her sketchpad, and then dropped her head on them, groaning loudly to let her visitor know that she didn't want to be bothered at the moment - or ever, if she had a choice. She listened to the footsteps treading across the marble, white floor, slow and long strides. They became softer upon the tatami mats and stopped right next to her. She could see the pair of footwear, in her line of vision, and turned her head away to bury it within her arms, because she hated dealing with him.

But he didn't give up so easily.

He squatted down beside her, resting his arms on his knees, as he leaned slightly over her petite figure. With an annoyed growl, he poked his index finger to the back of her head and did that three more times before Rukia swatted his hand away. She immediately sat up and glared at him.

"What the hell do you want, Grimmjow?!" she gritted out.

"I'm bored."

His expression said it all, emphasizing the obvious dull effect. He continued to stare at her, without his usual menacing scowl, and it felt more like he was waiting for her to entertain him than anything else. She scrunched her nose and challenged him with her own furious eyes glaring back at him.

"Oh c'mon, you're fuckin' bored too."

She scoffed, "There's not much to do here, in Las Noches, ya know." Then she returned all his finger prodding by poking him on the forehead, right in between the spot where his eyebrows always furrowed at and said, "I blame you for it."

As if he cared that he had been ordered to abduct her, not his problem, but he had the stupid boredom to kill, so he grabbed her hand. When he stood up again, he pulled her up with him, so easily because she was so tiny in comparison to everyone and everything else and she wasn't even resisting either. It made him grin that maybe she was accustomed to it already, or at least used to him by now.

Initially, she was always on guard whenever any of the arrancar were around, and there was always a mixture of loathing and fear in her eyes. She kept quiet and preferred to keep her distance, as if plotting to escape which was futile to begin with, but all the while, she had a regal air about her. She kept a confident posture and a cold, haughty demeanor when in the presence of others, despite being outnumbered and being in a currently weak state.

He pulled her towards the door, but she went along with it because she was also bored - which she would never admit to him - and curious too.

"Where are we going?"

"To the human world."

"Oh." She was quiet as they walked, but now, he had stopped dragging her along and allowed her to walk next to him. She then inquired, eyeing him carefully, "You can do that? I mean, you don't think I'll escape?"

"Tch, It's fine." He glanced down at her, meeting her gaze head on, and he wore a confident smirk, as if daring her to escape because that sure as hell would cure his boredom.

Now she was pissed for whatever he was assuming with that hateful but sort of sexy grin and stopped him by shoving him aside, in the middle of the long, white hallway. She had her fists clenched tightly, out rightly glaring him down in all her four-feet-nine-inches glory.

"What?" was all he said, standing aloof before her raging eyes. He was used to her sudden mood swings, but she made things interesting, which explained why that orange-haired kid was always around her.

Rukia was about to give him some heated words, but unfortunately for her, Ulquiorra took this moment to appear and question their suspicious activities. He spared her a two-second glance before turning his attention to the most likely guilty party.

"Hn, felt like letting her out," Grimmjow said casually, "for a walk."

Her left eye started to twitch, and she lashed her hands out towards him, but Ulquiorra held her back as she screamed at him, "I'm not your pet, Grimm-baka! Let me at him! I'll kill him! Quio!"

Ulquiorra had an arm around her waist and looked down at her, observing her features. She did seem a bit paler than before, so maybe Grimmjow had the right idea to let her out in the sun a bit. They couldn't have a 'dead' shinigami on their hands, since they were told to take care of her after all.

"You can't kill him," the fourth Espada stated matter-of-factly. Whether trying to say that she was not allowed to kill him or that she wasn't able to kill him, period, it didn't matter at this point.

Now it was his turn to be glared at it, and she told him, "I'll just die trying then."

Grimmjow laughed loudly and took her from his fellow Espada's hold and threw her over his shoulder, like a sack of rice. He didn't even let Ulquiorra get another word in, waving him off nonchalantly, and the latter just watched the two depart from him, with Rukia pounding her small fists against Grimmjow's back.

"Don't wait up for us!"