This is my first story, so don't be too harsh~ I've begun roleplaying at a place called Charisma High. I play Hyourinmaru, and he's become attached to Grimmjow, so I've decided to make a story as a gift to her. I'll try to update as soon as I can~

[This is a 9 Chapter story centered in the Zanpakuto Tales arc using the pairing GrimmHyo. Enjoy~]]

He couldn't grasp the situation he was in. The pain was there, seemingly evident, but he couldn't quite feel it. Hyourinmaru sensed the hurt and ache in his own body, but he couldn't locate it, nor could he tell it to go away.

It was as if something had decided to play with him, letting him hurt for a moment and then stripping it away before he could actually feel the sharp stabs.

It was an admittedly odd sensation, one of helpless surrender and angry elusion. His mind just couldn't quite understand the turning of events before him. This was a pricking feeling, one that some person might feel if they allowed themselves to be over run by changes in emotions and the roiling tide of thoughts that liked to steal away your dreams.

He was a zanpakuto after all, so he should understand how this current dream, if it was one, worked and operated, much like how an engineer knows exactly where the problem in his new machine is without looking.

But he couldn't seem to grasp at the thin tendril of understanding, the frayed ends dancing and quivering just out of his fingers as he tried to catch them.

Only his body wasn't moving. He believed it to be but that was probably a trick of the hazy dreamland around him, sketching in scenes only for them to be crudely erased away.
This occurance was strange, his sudden sleep that wasn't induced on his own. Hyourinmaru didn't, couldn't, control what he was seeing, nor what he was feeling.

And what was that? A shivering, fearful pain, adrenaline stimulating his nerves even though no threat hovered anywhere in his dark realm of lacking control.

Even then, his normally clear mind couldn't remember a single thing about him. The tool he had once been, called Hyourinmaru and wielded so proudly, knew nothing more than that.

And then it shattered into light.

The pain that didn't exist seemed to thread its way out of him slowly, the small spider-thin threads retracting from his muscles. All at once, his body relaxed, breath coming in harsh pants as his mind hovered between sleep and wakefulness. Hyourinmaru didn't dare open his eyes; he wasn't sure he wanted to see what fate awaited him. "Hey, open your eyes!" A voice hissed, jabbing him in the side. Rather than the numbness he was so used to, dim spikes of pain shot through his side and Hyourinmaru forced his gaze to open.

A hazy outline, followed by dim light, met his silvery gaze. Everything seemed to shift in and out of focus, the zanpakuto staring blankly at the area above him. That outline shifted, revealing a splash of color and a wide smirk. "Seems like you pulled through alright. What a shame," the stranger said, Hyourinmaru blinking watery, pain-hazed eyes. He still couldn't feel it, but the prickling was there.

"Where am I?" He asked quietly, voice scratchy from disuse. "The World of the Living, snake," the stranger said. Hyourinmaru narrowed his eyes slightly. The World of the Living? How had he gotten there? And since when was he a snake? "I'm a dragon," the zanpakuto murmured, closing his eyes again.

Hyourinmaru's muscles twitched at his feeble attempt to sit up, but a hand stopped him. "I consider you an enemy, snake, so the only reason I'm helping you is so I can kill you later, got that?" The zanpakuto fell still, tilting his head to the side. His eyes took in blue hair, blue eyes, and a large smirk. "I'd rather kill you in battle, where you can show me your true strength, then murder you in your own bed."

Hyourinmaru figured that all Espada and Arrancar were heartless, but if that were true, then how was he still alive? "I don't understand," he said quietly, but he wasn't quite sure what he meant. Why he was alive or why he couldn't seem to remember anything. "What's to understand? I saved ya, you're gonna live, and then we're going to fight in battle."

"The pain. What happened to me?" He asked. The stranger vanished as he closed his eyes, his body shaking with strain. "Not sure. I found you on the edge of Seireitei, so I brought you here. Something was going on there," his supposed rescuer said, shrugging the thoughts off easily. "What's your name, snake?"

Name? But names weren't important; he was a tool, used to serve, wasn't he? He was a zanpakuto, wasn't he? His eyes slid open again, silvery eyes quivering as he turned his head to the side. "Hyourinmaru." A small laugh escaped the stranger, his smirk widening. "Hyourinmaru? That's a fucking mouth full."

Hyourinmaru looked back at the ceiling, his body falling completely still. "That is my name." Hands helped him sit up, the sudden motion sending his head whirling. His breath came in a shaky exhalation, his eyes roaming over the stranger.

A dark cloak was wrapped around him, only his arms poking out from the sides. They were strong and tan, Hyourinmaru raising his eyes to meet a blue gaze. The stranger had a splash of electric blue hair, that smirk completely gone from his face. Something about him was familiar, but he couldn't seem to drag up a memory as to who he may be. "The name's Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez."

"The Sexta Espada. I thought you were dead," Hyourinmaru said, raising a hand to clutch his head tightly. "Pfft. Dead? I ain't that easy to kill, snake," Grimmjow hissed, smirking again. "Muramasa," he whispered, images suddenly cascading through his mind. Someone was beckoning to him, his body moving forward without question. "Follow your instincts," and then the pain appeared.

"Lemme guess, this Muramasa guy is the one that did this." Hyourinmaru sighed, rubbing his chest gently as a dim pain sparked through him. "I'm guessing that you're no longer welcome in the ranks of Aizen's army." A laugh left Grimmjow. "No longer welcome? I fucking left; he had no say in what the fuck I did or I'm gonna do."

Reasonable answer. The zanpakuto closed his eyes again, clutching his side. It hurt, and that was probably the place that the fleeting pain kept coming from. "No one else knows your alive?" He asked passively, slipping back into his normal way of doing things. "Pfft, of course not. You think I just go around announcin' it?"

Hyourinmaru supposed not, but it was always better to know than not. "I still don't get why you saved me. I am your enemy, not your friend; leaving me there would have been the logical course of action," he said, his voice completely free of all emotion. His silvr eyes turned back to Grimmjow, taking in his stance.

"Like I said, I'll defeat you later, so be quiet and rest, snake." Hyourinmaru sighed; there would be no getting an answer from the former Espada. He allowed himself to lie back down, turning away from Grimmjow. Tomorrow he would leave, and that would be the end of it. Something was alling to him, and he was determined to find it.

Thanks for reading~ Feel free to review, but again, this is my first story~ -Sam