Seven Reasons We're Together

Part 1: Carnival!

Disclaimer: Tite Kubo is the author of Bleach.

One way or another, Grimmjow and Halibel found themselves stuck in the world of the living after the Garganta system mysteriously malfunctioned, so they basically have to make do until a week passes and the rift to Hueco Mundo can be restored. But then again, a whole week here could give the two Espadas enough time to spend with each other... exactly seven days.

**

Day: Sunday

"Man, this is a bummer," Grimmjow complained as he slid his powerful hands into his jean's pockets, the blue denim feeling much different than the soft white-and-black Arrancar uniform he was used to. The red polo he wore felt rather awkward, too, and it was the only one at the clothing store he could find that fit him, and he thought it looked ridiculous with his sky-blue hair. Ugh, he looked so ridiculous!

"Don't be like that, Grimmjow," Halibel reprimanded him lightly, waving a finger as though he were a child. The two of them were wandering around the outskirts of Karakura town, looking for something to do. The house they rented didn't have much to offer for entertainment, and it would have been a waste of money to put stuff in it if they were only going to be there for a week. "Why not be more positive? There are much worse things that could happen."

"Well, I guess..." Grimmjow shrugged, trying not to think of how the others would laugh at him for being stuck here, as he had insisted on bringing Halibel with him to do some scouting but forgot that the Gargantas were about to break down. Now he had dragged Halibel into this? Great. "But seriously, how could I forget? Aizen told us the Gargantas would break down temporarily, but it totally slipped my mind. What, are they down for maintenance? I haven't seen any Arrancars with overalls and tool boxes roaming around yet..."

Halibel held back a giggle. Today, she wore casual human clothes she had found in the clothing store that she and Grimmjow had visited, since going in their uniforms would make them stand out, and the Garganta breakdown had stripped them of some of their spirit power: they could be seen and heard by humans, such a pain. "Now you're just being silly," Halibel said presently. Her Hollow mask remains had been vaporized by the power loss, as had been Grimmjow's, revealing her soft lips that were prone to smiling, and her gentle chin.

"Silly? I'm never silly. I'm totally serious, all the time," Grimmjow insisted, lifting his chin and looking away as though he were high and mighty. "This is no fun at all, no good Soul Reapers to kill! I bet Ichigo Kurosaki's off training or something like that, along with his friends. I guess it's just you and me, Hallie."

He referred to her by the nickname Nel Tu had thought up, and only used it when no one else was around; no way would he be caught calling her that!

Halibel smiled and gave him a sideways look, the warm sunlight streaming on their faces. "Yes, it's just us, but that doesn't make today boring," she said kindly, tugging on Grimmjow's sleeve. "What's with the attitude? Are you upset?"

"Course not," Grimmjow said defensively, trying to avoid eye contact; he knew that they both had nurtured an on-off relationship for a few weeks now, but he wasn't sure what quite kept them together, or where they would end up. They ended up stuck in the crummy human world, he could say that much! "Look, it's just because... um..."

"Yes?" Halibel prompted, hearing a distant commotion growing louder. What was that?

"It's, um... I can't stand this shirt. It looks funny on me," Grimmjow invented wildly. "Imagine what the others would think. We never wear human clothes! Humans have no taste."

"Oh, I'm sure," Halibel teased him, and Grimmjow only looked even more distraught, but she knew that he took it well. Grimmjow was something else, all right.

"Look, I dunno why we're out here walking by ourselves," Grimmjow changed the subject, stretching his arms over his head and yawning widely, rather like a panther. "I just want to head back and – huh?"

Both he and Halibel stopped in place when they saw the Karakura town summer festival in progress, the mini-town of tents and activity booths sprawling far and wide, and with hundreds of people talking, laughing, and enjoying themselves here. Grimmjow could only stare.

"What the heck –? What's all this?" he sputtered, eyes wide. An idea popped into Halibel's head and she took her friend by the arm, dragging him to the entrance. "Come on!" she urged him. "You were looking for something to do, weren't you? Why not spend the day here?"

"At a human carnival?!" Grimmjow retorted, waving a hand rapidly in dismissal as they neared the entrance he dreaded. "This isn't what I meant!"

Halibel could tell when Grimmjow meant otherwise, however, and she wouldn't let this good opportunity go to waste. "Come on, it'll be fun!" she cajoled him, dragging a squirming Grimmjow to the ticket booth at the front, which was manned by none other than Don Kanonji! "Please? Just for today?"

"Well... as long as this isn't too weird..." Grimmjow muttered, trying to regain his cool-guy countenance.

"Bwahahahahaha!" the ticket master boomed his laughter, crossing his arms in an X across his chest with claw-like fingers. His dark sunglasses caught the mid-day sunlight. "Welcome, welcome! Do you want to get yourselves a couple of tickets to Don Kanonji's carnival? Of course you do! Bwahahaha!"

"Time to go!" Grimmjow insisted, wrenching free of Halibel and starting off, trying not to explode. Why did he have to stuck here?!

Halibel caught up to her Espada friend, taking his shoulder and making him stop. "Won't you please go to the carnival with me?" she asked again. "Look, that guy was weird, but the rest of the people there are bound to be normal."

Her eyes said "please, of please?" so Grimmjow finally felt committed. "Okay, let's go," he grumbled, as he allowed Halibel to lead him back there and get the two tickets, and they were soon in the carnival with everyone else, all the chatter and bustle.

"Okay, what's with all the crowds and the noise?" Grimmjow grumbled in annoyance, scratching his head in wonder with a sullen expression. "I wanted to go somewhere quiet with you, Hallie... wait!"

Halibel had since moved away, hailing a gaggle of other people who rushed to greet them. With a jump in his stomach, Grimmjow recognized some of the others.

"Grimmjow!" orange-haired Orihime Inoue cheered, jumping up and hugging Grimmjow around his neck. "You're here, too?"

"Hey, let him breathe," Grimmjow's arch-enemy, Ichigo, admonished her but grinned all the same. "Glad you guys could come too. Renji's ruining things by hogging all the attention. Could you steal some of his thunder from him for a minute?" He jabbed his thumb in Renji Abarai's direction, and the lieutenant whirled.

"I'm not the one who beat up all the kids at the sword-fighting ring just to show off, you know!" he snapped back, roaring in Ichigo's face.

"That last one was an accident. I was trying to teach the kids some new moves," Ichigo defended himself coolly, folding his arms and turning away, but Renji's words did strike him after all. "You were the one showing off!"

"Yeah right you were," Renji retorted. "And I did not show off! What's wrong with using Shikai here?"

"Um, a lot?"

"Why don't we bring our new guests along for the ride?" Uryu recommended, pushing his squarish glasses up. "There's more than enough to do for all of us."

"Yeah, let's go!" Orihime cheered, and she led them off, Halibel making sure that Grimmjow followed along.

"But I..." he started to say, before Halibel silenced him with a finger to his lips. "Why not spar with Ichigo in the ring?" she offered. "Blow of some steam and fight your arch-rival while you're at it?"

Grimmjow couldn't help grinning. "Sounds like a plan!"

As soon as Grimmjow and Ichigo entered the sparring ring, a big crowd assembled to watch.

"Ichigo's gonna fight Grimmjow!"

"Who, the Arrancar?"

"I bet Ichigo will win!"

"Not today," Grimmjow growled to himself, but even so he could feel adrenaline going through him right before the fight, and it felt good. The first blow was the strongest, with Ichigo's wooden blade there to meet Grimmjow's. The two broke apart, quickly taking up defensive positions, looking for weaknesses in the other's stance.

"Not bad… Grimmjow," Ichigo complimented, before taking a large step forward and swinging at waist level to the right. Grimmjow's blade was there to meet it, the impact rattling his arm. The Soul Reaper boy had grown stronger since their last fight! It would not be enough to beat Grimmjow, though, and he could feel Halibel's eyes on him, cheering him on. Grimmjow lunged forth and swung rapidly this way and that, giving Ichigo a run for his money and raising cheers from the crowd. At last, Ichigo was beaten, and Grimmjow let go of the wooden sword.

"Argh… how'd you get so strong?" Ichigo muttered as he fell to his knees from exhaustion, until he accepted Grimmjow's helping hand and got back up.

"So, you had to lose again, huh?" Renji taunted Ichigo as they all regrouped. Ichigo scowled, then pointed out something else. "Look! Why don't we try target shooting?"

"I hear that," Uryu grinned, leading everyone there. Grimmjow rolled his eyes, but then remembered Halibel next to him; he felt a little better, and after all he won that spar against Ichigo. Maybe he could get something out of this after all?

Currently, Ichigo was trying to shoot down the scrolling targets but was missing, the BBs pinging off the back wall instead.

"Haha, why don't I try?" Renji grinned and took over, until he proved himself to have even worse aim; he erratically fired the BB gun so widely that the projectile missed the target galley entirely and struck Hitsugaya on the head, who had been passing by.

"Watch it!" the young captain snapped, until Rangiku comforted him with cotton candy and he quieted down.

"I can do better," Chad insisted, until his aim proved as bad as Renji's. Frustrated, he took out a slingshot and put his Mexican medallion on it, launching the gold piece and making it hit the target worth the most points.

"Chad, that's cheating! That's not fair," Ichigo complained as everyone else laughed. In spite of himself, Grimmjow couldn't help but find it funny, and hearing Halibel's own light laugh made it seem that much better. Then, Uryu took over.

"Please watch carefully," he instructed the others, before whipping out his Quincy bow and firing 1,200 arrows at once, taking down every target with ease! Uryu then pushed up his glasses as he acknowledged his near-perfect score. "How was that?"

"That was even less fair!" Renji objected, whacking Uryu on the head with his fist, making the Quincy wince. "I needed target practice!" was his excuse.

"Like you need it!" Renji rolled his eyes.

"They have so much fun, don't they?" Halibel asked Grimmjow, watching the scene.

"They're just a bunch of goof-offs," Grimmjow said, but he had to admit that she had a point, and he could feel himself relaxing.

The group continued their antics for some time, from goldfish collecting (very challenging) to watching talent shows (very impressive), to watching the closing fireworks whistling into the sky and exploding into colorful blossoms. At last, the group split up as everybody went home, and Grimmjow joined Halibel as they departed, going down the darkening street by themselves. By now, the street lamps were on and various light-loving insects swarmed around them. Crickets chirped.

"Well. It's been a pretty good day, hasn't it?" Halibel asked happily as they neared the house they were renting. Now she stretched her arms over her head, yawning.

"We killed some time, yeah," Grimmjow said simply, looking away and hoping that he wasn't being too obvious. He got the feeling that his I-don't-care routine was getting very transparent, and Halibel knew him too well by now to be deceived.

"You had a good time, Grimmjow, I could tell," Halibel pressed him gently, squeezing Grimmjow's arm as she leaned on him, her head on his shoulder. "Why don't you admit it, hmmmm?"

"But I…" Grimmjow started, before he reflected on the day's events with Halibel and the others. He really had enjoyed himself today, but he valued being around Halibel most of all during that time. Grimmjow cleared his throat, grateful for the darkness that hid his blushing. "Yeah, I had a good time. Who knew that humans could have so much fun?"

"Oh, so you did have a good time," Halibel said, looking up at him. "See, that wasn't so hard to say, was it?"

"All these questions," Grimmjow muttered, but he grinned in spite of himself.

"I think we both learned something today," Halibel said after a few seconds.

"Did we?" Grimmjow repeated, racking his brains. The target shooting, cotton candy, Ferris Wheel, fireworks… "Did I learn how fireworks operate? I asked that one guy how they worked and he explained it…"

Grimmjow was skirting the edge of Halibel's meaning again, and it amused her. "No, Grimmjow," she shook her head. "Something else. Can you think of it?"

Grimmjow could see their rented house from here, and it struck him that he and Halibel were not only together because they were stranded in the human world, but other things kept them together as well. Why are we together? He wondered. True, being around Halibel gave him a warm and comforted feeling and he knew he wanted to be with her, but the reason… the reason… "The reason we were together today… is because we can have fun together, like friends would," he said at last, hoping he was right. "Today was great fun, and it was because I was with you. That's what I learned today."

Halibel stopped Grimmjow long enough to embrace him in a tight hug that he returned, wrapping his arms around her waist and feeling the warmth of her body. "Exactly," Halibel said into his shoulder. "Thank you for being with me today, Grimmjow, it meant a lot to me."

"Ahhh, nothin' to it," Grimmjow laughed it off, but knew that she was right. Man, and here I thought this was a total loss being stuck here. Guess there's something to gain out of any situation, huh? Grimmjow parted from her, and started off again, now taking Halibel's hand gently in his and leading her along. "Let's go home."