I do believe it's time for a fanfic from my idea board. Here ya go.
Full Metal Alchemist/Fushigi Yuugi
Sailor Moon/Shaman King/Mai-Hime
Naruto/Bleach/Karas/InuYasha
"The Pitter-Patter of Little Paws"
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Chapter 1:
"The Kid, pt 1"
Having something heavy sitting on one's chest made things a bit uncomfortable to breathe when one is trying to take a nap but it was ignorable. Having little fingers pinch one's nose shut has the same results, since one can breathe through one's mouth. However, having a hand keeping one's mouth closed deprives one of much needed oxygen and tends to wake one up…in a very pissed off mood.
And Grimmjow didn't care that Wonderweiss was Tousen's little shadow in white—he was going to kill the little bastard for…interrupting…his…nap…
Grimmjow looked at the small Arrancar he had by the shirt front, blinking dumbfoundedly at the surprised little Hollow with the broken mask. "You're…not Wonderweiss."
"Uh, nope." The little Arrancar replied. "Sorry."
Grimmjow's surprise turned to a scowl. "You woke me up from my nap and snuck into my room. What the hell gives you the right to just come in here and try to suffocate me? You wanna be an Espada that badly? Go after Yammy. He's a damn pushover. I'm Number 6, kid."
"Why would I wanna be an Espada when I'm the equivalint to 8 years old?" The boy asked cluelessly, mildly surprising Grimmjow. "An' I tried knocking and shakin' you awake but neither worked so I had to think of something else…an' that's as far as I got in the planning stages."
Grimmjow sighed and released the kid to lay back on his bed again, this kid sitting on his stomach above his hole. "What are you doin' in here, Kid? Why sneak into my room?"
"Uh, 'cuz you're here." He answered honestly. "An' my name's not 'Kid'. It's 'Riddick'."
"Riddick, huh?" Grimmjow repeated, putting his arms behind his head. He noted the stylized hilt just passed the kid's shoulder. "That your zanpakuto, Riddick?"
"Yup! Tha's my Negro Gato!" Riddick grinned, giving Grimmjow the perfect view of his sharp kitty cat fangs. "It means 'Black Cat'! It's kinda dangerous so I gotta keep the straps buckled or it attacks people when they get too close to me, whether I move to them or they to me. Learned that when I was next to that Arrancar with the floating heads in that tank on his shoulders." Riddick blinked for a minute then looked at Grimmjow innocently. "Is that one Yammy?"
"Wait one goddamn minute." Grimmjow propped himself up to get about eye level to the smaller Arrancar. "You're tellin' me that you don't know the hell which Espada is which?"
"No! I know who's who!" Riddick responded indignantly with a bit of a blush. "You're Grimmjow Jaggerjaques, the Sexta Espada! An' Halibel-san is the Tercera Espada an' Stark-san is the Primera Espada!"
Grimmjow just looked at the kid Arracar with a slight unimpressed look. "That's all the ones you know, isn't it?"
Riddick blushed indignately but darker this time, crossing his arms as he closed his eyes and jerked his head to the side. "Tha's none of your goddamn business!" Grimmjow flicked him in the temple. "Ow! What was that for?"
"Watch your mouth. You swear again an' the next one will really hurt, got it?" The elder Arrancar scolded as Riddick rubbed his temple.
"Yeah, I got it." Riddick muttered. "Man, you're a goddamn hypocrite—ow!"
Grimmjow's filck had been a little harder this time and at the dead center of Riddick's forehead. "I don't care. You said it yourself, Kid—you're 8 and kids your age shouldn't swear. If you're stickin' yourself to me as my Fraccion, you swear and you get hit."
"Who the hell said I was a weak ass Fraccion?!" Riddick spat, sounding a lot like the Espada who he was still sitting on. "I'm a goddamn Espada-level! I could take on anyone of you and beat the shit outta you!"
This time, Grimmjow sat up which tossed Riddick back, grabbed the front of Riddick's shirt, jerked the kid forward and planted his fist hard into the kid's skull. Riddick knocked for a loop for a second before his senses returned and a different reaction kicked in. Much to Grimmjow's surprise, Riddick started crying like a human little kid.
"You're mean!" Riddick half wailed, still mostly hanging from Grimmjow's grip on his shirt front.
Those crocodile tears sure as hell ain't fake. Neither is his fluxing reiatsu. Grimmjow thought, looking at this kid Arrancar before him. The Kid wasn't kidding. His reiatsu's up there with Wonderweiss'. If he's so strong, why doesn't he just make himself an Espada? He could easily hold the seat and kill his competition.
Now that Grimmjow was really looking at Riddick and not just looking at some small Arrancar, he was actually surprised by Riddick'd appearance. Riddick had the same sky blue hair as he did and in a neater though similar style. The remnants of his mask were the right lower jaw bone and a curved ridge above his left eye, on his forehead but close to his temple. The teal markings by his eyes were actually more like accent lines on his upper lids with a tad of flair. He had two small gold hoops in his left ear lobe and one in his right. His clothes were a high collared Arrancar jacket with short sleeves and black hem and zipper with a black long sleeve undershirt and white long shorts. His boots went over his knees and his hands were half covered by his sleeves.
Without the thick strap and buckle over his chest that kept his zanpakuto to his back, Riddick could have passed as a normal kid in the human world. His actions were definitely that of a child and he seemed to idolize Grimmjow like all kids did their heroes, hence the cursing. And it was this tearful reaction that made Grimmjow realize that despite all that power inside him, despite being a Hollow, an Arrancar, Riddick was still just a child.
"Come on, time to stop the water works." Grimmjow said, lowering Riddick onto his bed instead of half in the air and half in his lap. "You're an Espada-level Arrancar. You've got heirro, iron skin. Those flicks and that punch should have felt like nothing."
"But we weren't fighting!" Riddick half sobbed with a sniff.
You mean…shit, this Kid doesn't have conscious control over his abilities. The Sexta Espada realized, rubbing his face with his hand. "So, you only get iron skin in a fight, huh?"
"Yeah, so?" Riddick was calming down now and he gave a big sniff before wiping his nose on the back of one sleeve while drying an eye with the other.
"So, that means you gotta be more careful. If I hadn't noticed who you were when you woke me up, you would've been dead." The elder Arrancar explained. "You need to learn that and fast if you're ever gonna be an Espada."
"It comes on its own whenever I'm in a fight." Riddick said, looking at Grimmjow with wet purple eyes. He sniffed again and dried his other eye as well as wiping the tears from his cheeks. "I dunno why. It just does. Figured that out when Apache attacked me for accidentally sneezing on her. She attacked me but nuthin' happened to me but she got the floor around me pretty good."
An automatic reaction with a subconsciously perceived threat. He doesn't have control because he doesn't need it. All of his powers have to be either naturally second-nature or subconscious. Grimmjow thought, absentmindedly running his hand through the kid's soft hair and lightly ruffling it. It made Riddick smile and close his eyes, leaning into Grimmjow's hand. It could explain why his zanpakuto is so powerful because it's self aware as a branch of his subconscious and then lashes out at anything it perceives as a danger to its master. It's an immature blade for an immature Arrancar…damn, it makes perfect sense.
And now that it made sense to Grimmjow, there was one person Grimmjow would have to take Riddick to see in order to be right. Hopefully, Aizen wouldn't mind Grimmjow paying a visit with a kid tagging along.
"You know who Aizen is, right?" Grimmjow asked, taking his hand from the kid's hair.
"Yeah, of course." Riddick responded with a bit of a pout. He had liked the absentminded affection. "Aizen-sama's a soul reaper an' the leader of the Arrancar. Los Noches was built for the purpose of a full functioning base and a secure location within the shifting dangers of Hueco Mundo."
Grimmjow had to admit that this kid was really smart. "Good. You up to helping me find him?"
"He's that way." Riddick said bluntly and without a moment's hesitation, pointing in the straight-lined direction of the brown haired soul reaper. It surprised Grimmjow that Riddick could do that but in case the kid was pulling his leg…
"Where's Halibel?" Grimmjow was rewarded with a shift of Riddick's hand, pointing towards the Tercera Espada's room. "And Stark?" Again, Riddick pointed towards the correct Espada's personal area. "And Aaroniero?"
"Who?" Riddick asked cluelessly.
"The Nueva Espada, the one with fish tank with 2 heads." Grimmjow answered, remembering that Riddick only knew three of the 10 Espada. "That's Aaroniero Arruruerio."
"Oh, he's thatta way." Riddick pointed with his thumb towards the 9th Espada's personal area.
That was impressive but if Riddick didn't know who was who, it would get him killed. Grimmjow had to get him to recognize the other 6 by their reiatsu at the very least.
"All right, there are 10 Espada and you know 4. Barragan Luisebarn is the Segunda Espada and he ranks between Halibel and Stark. Can you sense someone with power between theirs?" Grimmjow asked. Riddick closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side. His brow furrowed a little as he started to point one way then changed it to another direction. "Are you sure?"
"There's…6 Fraccion near this one and there's a soul reaper near the other. An Espada has Fraccion so this one's the Segunda Espada." Riddick answered, still pointing towards Barragan's location. He opened his eyes and straightened his head. "Wonderweiss sticks near someone named 'Tousen' and Halibel-san says that he's a soul reaper so that other one has to be Wonderweiss and Tousen."
"He ranks with the old man, huh?" Grimmjow earned a cute, clueless shrug. "All right, next one. After Halibel is the Cuatra Espada, Ulquiorra Schiffer. Locate him."
Riddick closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side again before point to the side. "That way."
So, most of us are in our rooms. That's good. Grimmjow thought to himself. The less Espada he had to come across, the easier it would be to get Riddick to see Aizen. "After Ulquiorra but before me is the Quinta Espada named Nnoitra Jigura. Locate him."
Riddick didn't open his eyes or correct his head. He just stayed like that, obviously using a type of radar that seemed to work in that position. He pointed behind him. "He's that way."
Also in his room. This was good. "After me is the Septima Espada, Zommari Leroux." After a few moments, Riddick pointed towards the Espada's room yet again. "Now, the Octava Espada, Szayel Aporro Grantz." Turned out the scientist was also in his personal area. "Good, now for the 10th. This one is Yammy, the Decima Espada."
"That's easy, he's not that strong." Riddick said after a half second as he opened his eyes and straightened his head. "He's that way…and beating up on some Gillians."
The dumbass. Grimmjow thought, mentally rolling hiss eyes. "That's good. Now that you know their reiatsu, you shouldn't have any problem avoiding them because 2, 5, 8, 9 and 10 would love to squish a kid like you. Ulquiorra wouldn't give you the time of day and Zommari would probably just ignore you as well."
"How come?" Riddick asked innocently.
"Just the way they are." Grimmjow answered as he got to his feet. "And speaking of which, normally, I'd have killed you for annoying me."
"Then why haven't you?" Riddick asked with that curious innocence yet again.
Yeah, why hadn't Grimmjow killed him yet? "I dunno. Don't feel like it, I guess."
"Maybe Aizen-sama can tell you. He's the one who broke your mask, right? Then he'd definitely be able to help." Riddick suggested with that childish air of his and a big smile.
"I was plannin' on seeing him anyway." The 6th Espada admitted.
Riddick crawled off Grimmjow's bed and hopped onto the floor. "Then let's go see him!" He took Grimmjow's hand and pulled the elder Arrancar towards the door. "Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!"
Damn, you'd think I told him we were going to the park. He thought, letting the kid half tow him out of his own room and down the hall. Being towed like this reminded Grimmjow of that little pink soul reaper and her giant battle-crazy captain. It made him wonder just how strong Riddick really was.
Riddick took Grimmjow down shortcuts and passage ways that the Sexta Espada hadn't realized that they had even been there. It was like Riddick had a whole map in his head. He probably did, knowing Aizen and his experiments. Though, it would be handy if this kid really did attach himself to the feline Espada. He could probably get the kid to spy on Ulquiorra for him.
"This way!" Riddick pulled Grimmjow into a niche and pressed his back against the wall, his eyes squeezed shut. Po, one of Barragan's Fraccion, lumbered by, not even noticing the 2 other males. Riddick cracked one eye open then opened both, now that Po had lumbered away.
Riddick looked up at Grimmjow. "He didn't see us, did he?"
"The idiot just went on by, didn't even glance our way." Grimmjow was wondering why Riddick had asked. Riddick looked relieved at the elder male's answer. "Why does it matter?"
"I never had someone with me before when I came this way. I wasn't sure that I could do it and keep ya from gettin' squished." Riddick answered honestly, surprisng Grimmjow. "I got a secret. You wanna know what it is?"
"Sure, Kid." Grimmjow nodded. "What is it?"
The little Arrancar looked around then motioned for Grimmjow to come closer. Curiosity got the better of the Feline Espada and Grimmjow crouched, letting Riddick cup his hands around his ear.
"I can disappear." Riddick whispered excitedly before pulling back. Grimmjow was about to tell the kid that it was sonido, a technique all Arrancar could use, but Riddick wasn't there.
"Kid?" Grimmjow called in low volume, standing up. He looked around. "Kid! Yo, Riddick!" A soft tug on his hakama made Grimmjow look at the smaller light blue haired Arrancar barely a foot from where he had been standing. "Where'd you go?"
Riddick gave Grimmjow the mini version of his own psycho grin. "I disappeared."
"Yeah, you sure did." Grimmjow scratched his head. This kid was really weird. He wasn't a typical Arrancar, even being so small and at the same level as an Espada. "How'd you do that?"
Riddick shrugged, his grin gone. "I dunno. I did the same thing to Stark-san for about 20 minutes before Halibel-san picked me up by the back of my clothes and told me to knock it off. Apparently, poking Stark-san to look at me when I disappear is a good way to give him a headache."
Yeah, apparently.
Grimmjow picked up Riddick and just tucked him under his arm. "Come on, kid. Let's go see Aizen about this 'disappearing' thing."
"Aw, come on!" Riddick half whined as Grimmjow followed the now recognized path to the "grand hall" of sorts. "I can walk! I'm a big boy!"
"I ain't Stark, Kid." Grimmjow responded, not missing a beat. "I don't tolerate headaches. I kick their asses and I'd end up putting you in a casket."
Riddick looked up at the bigger Arrancar. "What's a casket?"
"Never mind."
Oh, this is going to be interesting...