Just because he's dead doesn't mean he can't blush

Grimmjow strutted down one of the many corridors of Espada HQ in Hueco Mundo with his usual smug expression on his face, passing countless identical doors on his way to the main meeting room. He finally reached the end of the corridor and lightly pushed on the huge double doors which swung open into the dimly lit meeting room. All the other Espada were sat in their respective seats, eying Grimmjow as he approached his and sat down with a bored frown. The Espada were still staring at him, "What are you all staring at? Do I look like a freaking circus attraction?" He shouted, "I'm late, deal with it!"

The doors at the other side of the room opened, in the doorway appeared Sosuke Aizen, either side of him were Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tousen. Lord Aizen greeted the Espada then sat down on his chair at the head of the meeting table as Tousen went and stood by the other door that the Espada entered through. "Would any one like any tea?" Aizen asked politely as he poured himself a mug of green tea from the pre-prepared pot on the table. All refused out of courtesy. Aizen took a sip of tea from his mug, "very well, I shall get proceedings under way. I have only one item of business; there is an intruder at the edge of the southern plains; a low level shinigami, it shouldn't be a problem for any of you so Grimmjow," Grimmjow's ears pricked up. "I'm assigning you." "But, Lord Aizen, surely this is a menial task of vermin extermination better suited for a weaker arrancar" "Do you have trouble with your hearing, Grimmjow?" Aizen replied calmly "No my lord, I was simply-" "Then why are you finding it so difficult to obey a simple command?" "Very well Lord Aizen, I shall carry out this task." A grin spread across Aizen's face "Excellent! Meeting adjourned." The Espada all rose from their seats obediently and left the meeting room.

Grimmjow set off for the southern plains and within half an hour he could see his target. It was a male teenager on his hands and knees, coughing up blood into the sand. He had obviously been injured by his passage from the Seireitei as Grimmjow moved closer he also noticed that the shinigami was wearing what Aizen described as a Shinigami Academy uniform. "Pathetic." He said under his breath as he drew closer and closer until he was within five metres of the teen," Hey kid!" Grimmjow cried. The boy turned his head to look at the Espada, and just as he did a cero was fired directly at him. The result was a massive hole in the sand, Grimmjow walked to the edge to inspect inside it. He leaned over the edge and saw it was empty and he cackled, "Ha! The bastard must've disintegrated!" He turned away from the hole and opened his eyes from his laughing fit to reveal a shiny and sharp zanpakuto held millimetres away from his neck. On the end of that zanpakuto was the child Grimmjow fired a cero at, holding his collar bone with pain. "y-you tried to kill me!" "Not hard enough, it would seem!" he replied as he grabbed the boy's blade and flung him into the air "Dodge this!" Grimmjow screamed, launching a huge red cero in the direction of the kid. He watched as his cero went up and up and up and didn't seem to hit anything. "What?" Grimmjow look down only to see the teen he though he just threw standing in front of him. "Stop shooting those red things at me!" the shinigami cried. "Who are you?" "Me?" Grimmjow asked, "I am your demise and destruction. Espada number six! Grimmjow Jaggerjack!" he announced with great pride. "What's an Espada?" the boy gasped, "You have a hole, which means you're a hollow! Which means you must die!" "You're trying my patience. No more questions just die!" Grimmjow unsheathed his sword, "I've had enough of your shinigami bullshit! Stop trying to be noble, it won't amount to anything in Las Noches, now just accept it, you're..."all of a sudden Grimmjow felt a tickle of spiritual pressure, pulsating, slowly growing. Then he noticed the boy, in a trance of resolve, with a hazy white glow surrounding him. "You are a hollow; it is my duty to cleanse your soul!"And with that, the boy stood bolt upright, held his zanpakuto with both hands and screamed, "Persist Shuujaku!"

"Shikai? Impossible!" The shocked showed on Grimmjow's face as a bright white light engulfed the area around him and the boy; it eventually dissipated revealing the change in the boy's blade. The boy's shikai had changed his zanpakuto into a medieval broadsword at least one and a half metres in length, the boy had also gained a medieval style golden armour helmet. "You're a mere child! How is that even possible?" "I'm older than I look." The boy ran at Grimmjow and swung his huge golden sword in his direction. Grimmjow dodged the attack with ease and countered with a jab of his, which the teen narrowly evaded by jumping high into the air Grimmjow followed and clashed swords with the youngster. The boy held Grimmjow back long enough to charge his attack and, with a sigh of relief, released his primary shikai offence. "With all your strength borrowed from my arms, soar noble blades, soar and seek, seek out your enemy, and cut him, cut him down where he stands!" the boy throws his blade into sand from the sky, as it falls strips of the sword fall away from the sword and fly around of their own accord until there was nothing left of the sword but the hilt and grip, which fell to the sand lifelessly. Grimmjow was stunned with awe at the boy's abilities which gave the child time to launch a kido "binding spell number one, restrain!" "What? No!" Grimmjow's arms locked behind his back "Ha ha I'm not going to be beaten that easily!" Grimmjow breaks the kido with minimal effort. "That magic trick didn't work and, by the looks of it, neither did your bullshit poem attack" Grimmjow boasted as he swung his zanpakuto at the teen which he dodged, barely. The teen was exhausted from releasing his attack. "n-no, If you look down, you will notice something" Grimmjow looks down and sees the fragments of sword spinning round in a circle. "So what, they're confused. They don't know where I am Ha!" "That's because I haven't told them yet." The boy was still out of breath. Grimmjow was startled by the teen's comment. "What?" "They've been circling, gathering speed, until I give the, smite, command!" "What did you just say" Grimmjow was very suspicious of what the boy said. "I said 'my blades won't attack until I give the command'" Grimmjow knew the word the boy said must have been the command, so he readied himself to defend, and sure enough the blades came racing through the sky towards him from all angles. He dodged some and managed to blast an escape hole with his cero which he was quick to use, but the blades he shot down just regrouped at the bottom again, gathered speed and were again pursuing him, he was outrunning them just fine. The boy stood there with a blank expression and emotionless trance on his face. The blades were getting faster by the second and Grimmjow was starting to get worn down by the constant dodging and weaving, until eventually, a shard clipped him, sending him off balance and subsequently sending several more shards into his back, which completely immobilised him and caused him to start falling. As he fell more shards penetrated his iron skin and sent him hurtling faster and faster to ground. Then with a mighty crash, he hit the sand, sending a shockwave along the surface of the southern plain. The remainder of the shards drove into Grimmjow's body as he lay there petrified and devastated at his defeat...

When the dust cleared the boy had gone, without a trace, and Grimmjow was laying face down in the sand. He was unconscious, and curiously, without as much as a graze or bruise on his body. In the distance two figures emerge from the sandy fog. They grew closer, and revealed themselves to be Tousen and Ichimaru. As they approached Grimmjow, their footsteps became lighter so they would not wake him. "How amusing" Gin remarked with a whisper. "Silence. Let's just get him back to the building first." Tousen replied as Ichimaru picked Grimmjow up, and they both swiftly made their way back to Espada HQ

They laid him down on the meeting room table and called all of the other Espada in for a meeting they all took their seats and gazed upon Grimmjow as he lay there, out cold. Aizen entered the room with a broad, friendly grin spread across his face, he did not even look at Grimmjow during the other items of business while the others couldn't take their eyes of him as he laid, uniformly positioned on the table, the look of terror and regret in his eyes. "And now for our final item of business, Grimmjow Jaggerjack." Just as Aizen finished saying his name he sat upright and screamed, "No! Impossible! I lost! I can't lose!" Then he realised, "H-how d-did I get here? I wasn't here!" "Relax Grimmjow you are safe within the walls of my sanctuary" "what became of that shinigami? The child," Grimmjow then noticed the eight pairs of eyes staring at him from around the table "oh great, freak show again am I? Go ahead laugh it up! Oh ha, ha 'poor little Grimmjow lost a battle' boo hoo I'm so devastated!" "Calm yourself, Grimmjow." Aizen said softly, "from the moment you began that battle, you could not have won." "Huh, what do you mean?" Grimmjow's face changed from anger to curiosity. "Who was that shinigami?" The smile disappeared from Aizen's face. "No one." Aizen stated resoundingly "garbage?" "No. Just no one, they didn't exist." A smirk grew in the corner of his mouth. "Impossible, I fought him; he was so strong he... he defeated me." Grimmjow was ashamed to admit his defeat. "I am aware." Aizen remarked, "I saw the battle. Yet isn't it curious how the battle, swift as it was, was a mere hour ago." "Yeah so..." "So the question I pose to you is how is it that one hour ago you were effectively impaled in the sand by thousands of metal shards, yet you lay before me without as much as a scratch on your body?" Grimmjow looked puzzled, "what are you talking about Lord Aizen?" Aizen sighed with boredom. "Your mind isn't one of the strongest either is it? You are aware of my zanpakuto's abilities, yes?" "Yes it's a form of hypno...sis. Lord Aizen are you telling me you fabricated this whole battle!?" Grimmjow sat up and became very distressed. "Yes. Yes I am." "And the purpose of this facade was to embarrass me!" "No, that part is not true." Grimmjow was surprised at his answer. "Then why?" "So that you could learn from it and become stronger. You did every single thing right in that battle, except one thing. You underestimated your opponent and thus adjusted your power accordingly. That is a sign of mercy. You saw that you were fighting a child and so you held back. You should have fought all out from the very beginning, without mercy. Do you understand? Grimmjow," "Yes Lord Aizen, I understand." "Good, you may all leave now." All the Espada got up from their chairs and left, closely followed by Grimmjow as he climbed off the table and followed them out.

Grimmjow was in his room, laying on the floor in silence then he suddenly burst into a fit of laughter "Ba ha ha! Stupid Aizen! I'll show him! I'll show all of them...