Arrancar House Guest
TW A/N: I own nothing. This is a x-mas gift for Henka. I got to work with Spunky0ne for the first time doing this. She was amazing of course and I'm very glad she agreed to help as I was quite lost. Thanks.
S A/N: Lovely working with you, Time! Happy holidays and a wonderful new year to Henka.
XXX
Perhaps it was that it had been almost a year since the shinigami, Rukia Kuchiki had literally dropped into his life. Or maybe it was the frequent need for him to step in upon the arrival of one of the masked creatures that routinely crept in from Hueco Mundo to feed on recently deceased human souls. Whatever the reason, Ichigo Kurosaki wore a less than surprised, and more simply annoyed expression as a dark colored tear opened up in the sky overhead, and a slim, tattered body dressed in white and splashed with blood, tumbled down in a long fall before impacting unforgivingly with the hard ground near him.
"Th'fuck?" he muttered, moving closer.
Ichigo approached the body carefully and the wounded creature twitched. He knelt down, tensed and ready to react, but the white clad mess just groaned and shifted a little, giving him a better look at the familiar looking uniform it wore. Ichigo stiffened and scowled.
"You're an Arrancar?" he asked in a low, warning voice.
"No shit!" creature grated, raising itself on one arm.
The other was missing at the shoulder.
"You trying to piss me...off or ya… always this...dumb?" the creature panted, struggling to rise.
Its snarling voice was tight with pain. Blood dripped from its mouth as it breathed shallowly and, Arrancar or not Ichigo recognized the fire alight in the fallen warrior's eyes. Determination, ferocious will and righteous anger that he could have seen in a mirror.
"No shinigami did this" Ichigo said, confused by the strange reiatsu.
The creature hissed its rage before leaning back against the wall of the building, exhausted. For a moment Ichigo thought it was unconscious, then it hissed.
"Superior, blind bastard..." he gasped, choking a little on blood, "Gon...Kill'im"
He spat blood on the sidewalk. Arching an eyebrow, Ichigo fished around in his backpack, then handed the half-dead hollow a half drunk bottle of water. The blue-haired Arrancar knocked it out of his hand so that it clunked to the ground.
"Ain't thirsty," the panting hollow rasped, immediately coughing.
He glared at Ichigo, who gave him an off-handed look.
"Just drink it," he said gruffly, "I'll be back with a healer,"
"H-h-healer? Th'hell? A-aren't we en'mies?" the hollow asked, half-choking, half-laughing.
"I'm not fighting an opponent who's almost dead, and anyway it sounds like we may share an enemy."
Ichigo smiled a little and saw that the Arrancar's glazed eyes were not looking at him but staring longingly at the water.
"What? Are you so fucked up that you can't drink?" Ichigo asked, crossing his arms and cocking his head.
"Screw you!" the Arrancar spat, glaring up at him.
Ichigo huffed out a sarcastic laugh and he flash stepped away to find Orihime. He returned a short time later, and though his friend exclaimed over the Arrancar's poor state, she healed him in short order. The blue-haired hollow watched through aggressive ice blue eyes as the human girl worked, his expression moving from skepticism to curiosity to outright shock as his missing arm began to regenerate.
"Damn, what the hell are you?" he asked the girl, who blushed brightly at his rudeness.
"Hey!" Ichigo snapped, "don't you be rude to Orihime. She's giving you back an arm, so the least you can do is be a little polite and, I don't know, maybe say thank you when she's done?"
"You don't order me around, asshole!" Grimmjow snarled, pulling away from the girl as she finished the healing, and turning on Ichigo with blazing eyes, "I don't know who you think you are, but I'm gonna beat the living daylights outta you!"
He started to employ his sonido, only to feel a sort of interior fizzle as he fell forward unceremoniously onto his face, causing additional damage that Orihime hastily healed.
"You didn't give me time to tell you to take it easy for a while," the human girl chided him.
"Who are you? My mommy?"
"Hell no!" Ichigo answered saucily, "She'd never have a kid as rude and foul-mouthed as you. Now, why don't you do what she says and let us take you to a friend's house to eat and rest? Then, you can shove off and go back to Hueco Mundo, where you belong."
The Arrancar pulled back his lips in a snarl but nodded looking miserable. Ichigo reached to put the Arrancar's arm over his should for assistance but he weakly slapped him away and stumbled forward under his own power.
"keep ya' fucking shinigami paws off o' me!" he snapped. Ichigo tried to count to ten and begged the universe for restraint.
The Arrancar was an ungrateful idiot, but he had to respect that kind of pride, so he walked with them until he literally couldn't, collapsing unconscious. Ichigo was quite happy about that, as he might have killed the bastard if he'd kept talking and scooped him up to carry the rest of the way.
XXX
They reached Urahara's ten minutes later.
"Ah Ichigo what brings you here? Also is that an Arrancar?"
Urahara's eyebrow raised.
"I have been wanting to study one, so thank you."
Ichigo snorted, not particularly caring why he wanted to study it.
"Jeez sometimes you're as creepy as that clown-faced freak, Kurotsuchi."
"How dare you!" Urahara gasped in mock offense flapping his fan.
"We just healed him."
Orihime gave a little huff and he smiled apologetically.
"Well she just healed him. Also I didn't recognize the reiatsu around the wound, it's not shinigami."
Urahara looked at the unconscious Arrancar on his floor with a new curiosity.
XXX
Grimmjow opened his eyes slowly, ready for an attack, prepared to defend himself. He saw no one in the direction he was facing and was surprised to find himself on a soft couch rather than pavement. He turned over to look around, biting back a moan of pain. Everything ached, down to the bone, and his head pounded.
"Ah you're up," said a torturously chipper voice.
"Who the fuck are you?"
"Not important. What is important is how you came to be wounded by a visored?"
The man was slim, didn't appear to have much muscle and wasn't particularly tall. There was a time when he would have attacked then and there. He'd since met number four and Nel. He no longer judged strength on appearance.
Grimmjow thought for a moment. He didn't really want to talk about his defeat and he really didn't want these assholes' self-righteous help.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" he snapped.
What the hell was a viz-red anyway?
"Whatever attacked you was a strange creature. A shinigami with hollow powers. I would very much like to know who it was,"
"And why should I tell you shit?"
"Because we may have a shared interest in defeating this being,"
"Don't need help," he growled bitterly.
The other man was undeterred.
"What do you gain by dying in an attempt to take revenge?"
Grimmjow hissed at the truth in the statement.
"Pride, honor, and he wants to win fair and square," the orange-haired shinigami said from the doorway. The blond one cocked his head with that calculating look that their lord so often wore. In this case, though, it appeared the man gave value to the lives he was weighing.
"Hmm interesting in an Arrancar, but then given the visored, it does make sense…" to Grimmjow he said, "Fair enough. Consider the information repayment for healing you."
"Never asked for healing," he growled but the man was right he didn't want to owe anyone, least of all shinigami, anything and he sure's hell didn't owe Tousen any loyalty. "Tousen-sa…Tousen's his name, the blind bastard."
XXX
A week passed and the Arrancar, Grimmjow, slowly regained his strength. He was rude, brash and antagonistic but was actually relatively respectful to Tessai, Yoruichi and Kisuke, himself, presumably respecting their reiatsu. He actually reminded Urahara of Renji a bit and Jinta even called him 'Freeloader: blue'.
"Grimmy we're going on an errand," he called cheerfully one morning.
"Fuck you."
"Aw come on. It'll be fun."
"Fuck. You." Grimmjow repeated slowly.
Urahara shook his head in mock sorrow.
"And here I thought you wanted revenge."
Grimmjow perked up instantly.
"We're gettin' a weapon or somethin'?"
"Something like that," Urahara said and walked out smiling as he felt the Arrancar follow.
Half an hour later they crashed Ichigo's visored training session.
"You brought him?!" Ichigo yelled.
"It would appear so."
He poked Grimmjow as though proving his realness. Grimmjow swiped at him and he dodged easily.
"I meant why?" Ichigo snapped. "He could…"
"What?" Urahara cut him off, "Spy? He's not going to leave any more than you will."
He nodded at the visored.
"Anyway you want to rescue Orihime and he wants revenge on one of her kidnappers. It's a match made in heaven."
They both glared daggers as he waved goodbye and took his leave. Hachi replaced the kido barrier after him, smiling wryly and doubling its strength.
XXX
Three days later, the reluctant duo met back at Urahara's shop, where Tessai hastily healed the last remnant markings from their training, and he sent them down into the underground training room, where the blonde shopkeeper awaited them. Kisuke perched on a framed stone doorway, and with a touch, he caused a ripping sound, and the black doorway, known as the garganta, opened.
"Now, guys," Kisuke chided the two, "I hope I don't have to tell you to keep your focus on Tousen and save your own differences for after you trash him. I've set up a little diversion that should distract Aizen. Gin will, most likely, tag along with him. That will leave Tousen in the command room. He's a cocky bastard and he's not likely to think he needs protection, there in the heart of the fortress. He's never going to think you've got the balls to just…"
"Do you ever fuckin' stop talking?" Grimmjow roared, employing his sonido and disappearing into the garganta.
"Well, that was…" Kisuke began.
He blinked in surprise as Ichigo wordlessly followed the blue-haired Arrancar.
"…rude."
Arrancar and shinigami blazed through the underground cavern at flash step speed, exchanging aggressive looks and panting out intermittent insults and rejoinders.
"Hey, wait up!" Ichigo called out.
"Don't run like a fuckin' granny!" Grimmjow shot back.
"Jerk!"
Grimmjow snickered and ran faster, laying down a sloppy reiatsu trail underneath him.
"Man, you call this a trail?" Ichigo complained, nimbly leaping over parts of the lumpy surface, "You really suck at this."
"Yeah? Well, if you think you can do better, come up and do it for me!" Grimmjow scolded him, "Being a reiatsu monster like me, you'd do the same, idiot."
"Did you just compliment me?" Ichigo asked, looking amused.
"Hell no! You're a frickin' shame!"
"Then, I guess you are too."
Grimmjow ignored him and focused intently on the pathway. The two continued in uneasy silence as they sensed they were coming closer to the hollow fortress. As they closed in, Grimmjow glanced over his shoulder and scowled at his shinigami tagalong.
"Don't use any power but your flash step now. Not until we are inside. You light up out here and the guards will delay you long enough that the reiatsu monster, Aizen and his pet snake will come back and it's all over for you. Just…"
"I know what I'm doing, stupid," Ichigo said, rolling his eyes.
"Fine, Mr. Know-it-all!" Grimmjow snapped, "Just stay the fuck outta my way and don't blame me if you screw up and die here, okay?"
The two fighters tensed as they reached the exit point and Grimmjow opened a doorway into the fortress, dropping the two of them into a maze of white corridors.
"We need to separate to confuse'em."
"Wait, what?" Ichigo objected, "But I don't know the…!"
"Break off now!"
"Whoa! Wait, Grimmjow!" Ichigo yelled, watching in dismay as the hollow disappeared, "Shit!"
XXX
Ichigo raced through the halls of Las Noches seeking his target. When he finally found the former shinigami in a large round room, he roared a battlecry and leaped forward, his sword meeting the blind man's with a ring of steel on steel. Tousen spun with rebound, dropping low and lashed out. Ichigo just managed to deflect it and jumped away.
"Getsuga tenshou!" he cried.
Tousen dodged nimbly.
"Cry Suzumushi!" he called, unconcerned.
The ringing sound pierced Ichigo's ears and he fell to his knees with a scream of pain, but his reiatsu flared unconsciously, compensating.
Ichigo rose to one knee with a fierce grin as he met the decapitating strike.
"You should renounce the shinigami. I have no…"
Ichigo forced his blade away, rising to his feet and stabbed for his stomach as Tousen danced back.
"I have no argument with you. You are ignorant,"
Tousen continued calmly.
"I have a fucking argument!" Ichigo roared between slashes, sweat forming on his back.
How is this asshole matching me? He's not even in bankai!
"You hurt Orihime!"
"We have not harmed her. She's perfectly safe," Tousen replied calmly.
Ichigo redoubled his efforts.
"Like fuck. You. Kidnapped. Her!" he snarled, punctuating the statement with cuts and landing a few shallow slashes, "You made… her…appear…a traitor!"
Tousen fell back under the onslaught giving ground, however incrementally.
"Suzumushi Tsuishiki: Enma Kōrogi," Tousen cried and black rings flew out as Ichigo tried to dodge them. To his surprise, they seemed to pass through him without harm. Tousen's blade caught his shoulder as he recovered and he rolled instinctively, coming up to slash at his opponent. His sword swept air and he stared around at the darkness.
Oh god! I can't see anything!
More importantly, he couldn't even sense the man's oppressive reiatsu. He backed away, terror suffusing him as he tried to look everywhere at once and yet saw nothing. A cut stung his arm and he lashed out at it. Again, he struck nothing but air. Another slash exposed a rib and he cried out in pain even as he tried and failed to retaliate. So it went, with him bleeding more with every moment that went by, until he began to feel exhaustion creeping in and he knew, without doubt, what would happen when, not if, he faltered.
Suddenly, the dome shattered. The light blinded him for a moment and when his vision cleared it was to see Tousen readying his bankai again. The blind man's hand was clutched to his bleeding stomach and Ichigo spotted Grimmjow's bloody body sprawled ten feet behind him. He didn't waste time taking in the view or wondering if his new comrade was alive.
His sword bit deep into Tousen's side and the man only just managed to bring his sword up in time to not be cut in half. Ichigo rolled away from a silent kido feeling the edge burn into his leg as he rose, stabbing. Tousen moved back and stumbled.
"Give up," Ichigo warned him, but Tousen was already trying to raise his bankai again.
"Getsuga Tenshou!" Ichigo called, and the black wave struck Tousen's zanpakuto and sent it spinning away.
"Give. Up," he grated as blood dripped from a dozen minor wounds on his body.
Tousen shook his head sadly.
"Soul society is evil. 'The only way for evil to exist is for good men to do nothing'," he quoted and threw himself back as he cast a kido. Ichigo dodged away. He could feel the reiatsu of more enemies coming.
"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Grimmjow snarled.
He stood, bleeding, beside the wounded man.
"No!" Ichigo yelled as Grimmjow…slammed the hilt of his blade into Tousen's head and fell to his knees next to the unconscious enemy.
"Such a pussy," the blue-haired hollow sneered at Ichigo.
"Shut up and come on! We gotta get out of here."
Ichigo reached down to help him up, but the Arrancar slapped his hand away.
"Ain't gonna out run 'em with me," he said.
"Then we'll fight our way through," Ichigo insisted, surprising himself with his protectiveness.
"No!"
"Come on!"
Grimmjow ignored him and forced himself to his feet. Ichigo grinned with relief, but the Arrancar shook his head, raising his sword.
"Go,"
"The hell?"
"Get the girl. Life for a life." Ichigo hesitated, but he saw the fire in his new comrade's eyes and knew he'd have to knock him out to bring him alone.
"We'll be back," he promised as he flash stepped away.
"Like I need ya' " Grimmjow replied through gritted teeth as Ichigo increased his speed and disappeared into the distance.
He found Orihime's room quickly and surprisingly unguarded. The two small Arrancar seemed almost happy to get rid of her and barely put up a fight. In short order, he was rushing back down the halls with Orihime in his arms so they could flash step, his senses pricked for powerful enemies. He was surprised to feel his concern for a comrade growing into genuine worry for a friend. He looked around the room when they arrived. There were three collapsed Arrancar bodies and Grimmjow was nowhere in sight. He felt panic rise as he walked around the room, then found a blood trail and followed it to where Grimmjow sat against the wall of an alcove partially obscured by a pillar. The Arrancar was semi-conscious and barely seemed to notice when Ichigo dropped down next to him.
"Hey hang on. Orihime's here," Ichigo said quietly enough to not arouse attention from anyone looking for them.
Grimmjow laughed a little and spat blood.
"Here we go again. Fuckin' asshole," he said, smirking, as Orihime began the healing and he slipped into the standard 'sleep' state.
"Back at you," Ichigo whispered with a sigh of relief.