Story: The Beasts In Porcelain Masks

Prelude: Judgment Rendered

Summary: The war is over, the tyranny of Aizen has fallen, and the last of the arrancar will have to carry out their rehabilitation if they are to ever regain their freedom... Whoever said chains were the only way to restrain a beast?

Ichigo X Tier Harribel, Nelliel Tu Odelschwank & Rangiku Matsumoto

Grimmjow X Tatsuki

Starrk X YOU'LL FIND THE FUCK OUT IF YOU READ LONG ENOUGH

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach... clearly -_- This is for anyone too stupid to realize I wouldn't be posting a damned thing here if I owned anything.

Prelude: Judgment Rendered

Shinigami... his life was now in the hands of his mortal enemy, arrogant vermin he would gleefully skewer as soon as the opportunity presented itself. Shimmering balefully in the low light of his current environment, the electric eyes of Grimmjow Jeagerjaquez scanned the cloth barriers that hid the members of the Chuo Shijuroku with unrestrained enmity. Complimenting this hostile gaze was the promise of violence painted across his twisted lips and semi-exposed fangs, a visual clue of an internal dialogue marching ever deeper into familiar malevolence.

His rising temper wasn't exactly helped by the fact that he had been standing before this group of shadowed strangers for the better part of two hours.

"The fucking cowards don't even have the balls to show their faces."

Grimmjow found himself glaring at the numbered strips of cloth, quickly growing to hate the simple barriers preventing him from knowing who to gut as soon as he got the chance. The soft murmurings of their dissenting voices was a constant hum around him, a whispered chorus undoubtedly stemming from a desire to avoid inciting disruption from the captive arrancar. However, this was a useless act given just how sharp the panther's hearing was. Every secretive word only fueled the venomous cocktail brewing in his very core, a potent mixture of hate and violence dancing on the precipice of reckless action. Only the barest hint of a wish to preserves his life prevented him from acting out on his desire for bloodshed and screams.

But as soon as he could find a way... the faux deities that dared to judge a King would find out their authority rested on a throne of glass.

Snorting in disgust, he angrily flicked his gaze from the decrepit fools deciding his fate to the Taichou standing guard at his side... which immediately stoked his smoldering anger into brilliant embers of equal parts dislike and disbelief. The billowing pink kimono the man wore wasn't befitting of any warrior, but the bluenette Espada could clearly sense the surface of the enormous reservoir of spiritual energy resting behind his lazy facade.

"So this is the one that almost offed Starrk eh?"

Grimmjow couldn't help but find it hard to believe that the strongest of his order had very nearly been slain by such a foolish looking man; but he wasn't stupid enough to ever underestimate a shinigami again. That was doubly true for his enemies draped in white haori, a rank for which he held a begrudging modicum of respect after witnessing the brutal deaths of the wafer thin jack ass that was Nnoitra and the titanic idiot formerly known as Yammy.

Such thoughts were banished as Grimmjow shifted slightly on the balls of his feet and tried to stretch his arms, discretely testing the strength of the spirit energy absorbing cuffs they had wisely locked his wrists in. "There's no way I could break these without some outside assistance..."

Grimmjow was indeed, very, very annoyed right now.

At the very top of the list of the seemingly permanently agitated Arrancar was the calm indifference his fellow arrancar seemed to display. Starrk actually seemed to be bored, Harribel was being her typical unreadable self, and the four female fraccion behind them were all bitching and talking tough. Insults ranging the gamut from inspired to crude came in sporadic bursts from the foursome, threatening the Shinigami that surrounded the seven hollows in human guise. While he was generally against taunting an enemy while he was powerless... he couldn't help but be slightly impressed by some of the profanities strung together in ways so creatively it'd probably earn one of them a Nobel.

"They could at least have the sense to know that we can't actually do anything right now... even if we were to somehow break out of these Stupid shackles we'd all be dead before we could even THINK the word garganta. While i'm all for spilling the organs of these royal dicks over every inch of this fucking pile of-"

Grimmjow's internal tirade came to a halt as a several loud bangs sounded throughout the wooden chambers.

Off to the right of Grimmjow, an unidentified baritone voice made itself known.

"For those in our presence, debate is over. Our will has been reached, and shall now be dictated. Though under normal protocol it would not be permitted for anyone to speak on our behalf, an exception shall be made on this day for reasons you need not know. Due to... unforeseen circumstances, your sentence shall be dictated to you by Lady Akane Shihoin. Lady Shihoin, the floor is now yours."

The time had come for their fate to be revealed.

And even for a proud self-styled king, trepidation was inescapable.

A long silence weighed heavily upon the shoulders of the captive arrancar before the suddenly silent room was filled with the sound of foot steps, a soft padding that drew steadily closer and rang with ominous significance.

Grimmjow swore their rhythm matched his pulse, the thrumming of which he was uncomfortably sensitive to.

It wasn't long before the heavy cloth spanning a doorway adjacent to the platform on which the Espada stood parted to reveal a stunningly beautiful woman, of unusual height for her gender; with dusky skin and iridescent hair. The woman's robes of crimson, white, and gold glowed richly in the candlelight of the chamber, the soft rustling of its friction broken only by the intermittent metallic 'clink' of her undoubtedly staggeringly expensive jewelry. This woman of presumable nobility smiled benignly at the Taichous standing guard before turning a decidedly less friendly gaze upon those she was prepared to sentence. A single hand drifted from beneath her ornate robes clasping a scroll as it made its way past her sizable bust to within viewing distance of her molten honey-gold eyes.

"Grimmjow Jeagerjaquez, Tier Harribel, Coyote Starrk, Lilynette Gingerback, Emilou Apacci, Cyan Sung-Sun & Franceska Mila Rose. The seven of you are without question guilty of crimes of the highest order. All of you were willing participants in former Taichou Sosuke Aizen's plot to overthrow the Reio and rule in his place. In your quest to do so you have attacked and killed or grievously injured multiple members of the Gotei Thirteen, violated the long standing non-aggression pact passed between our ancestors and the Vasto Lorde's of Hueco Mundo, destroyed hundreds of souls, caused hundreds of millions of dollars of property damage in the human world, and killed an elderly woman's cat with a volleyball."

Grimmjow could just feel the deadpan expressions Starrk and all the fraccion were leveling at him. "I'm a goddamn panther, it's not my fault the stupid cat didn't understand the concept of rank. Had the nerve to scratch me..."

"While the severity of your crimes and the catastrophic results of your plan had it succeed cannot be understated... It is also true that your collective combat prowess cannot be ignored. During a time where Soul Society is greatly weakened by the the defection and death of three of its Taichous, the recent inability of certain allies to aid us in our time of need, and the potentially crippling injuries bestowed upon the Soutaichou and Soifon Taichou, we cannot pass up the opportunity to... shore up our assets as it were. With all of that taken into consideration, we've come up with a potential compromise. A way for you to repent for your misdeeds and simultaneously bolster our own weakened forces. It is the decision of this court to lend the seven of you the opportunity to be paroled into the Gotei Thirteen wherein you will serve the soul society in exchange for your lives. Upon the completion of this period you may be instated into the ranks of the Gotei Thirteen depending on your own skills & success at integrating into our sacred army if you are deemed to be valuable. Do you accept this proposal?"

And in that moment, a mouse in a room full of owls could not have possibly been more quiet than the chambers of the Chuo Shijuroku.

Shock faded, shoulders began to shake, fangs sprang from their normal resting place and muscles flexed as once barely repressed rage began to overflow inside the man who heralded destruction. However; before the volatile blue haired barbarian could loose his rage upon the court at their audacious attempt to corral his kind and control the mighty "King" of beasts himself, he was beaten to the punch.

Starrk swiftly stepped past the suicidal move his fellow former Espada was about to make and sank to a single knee; bowing his head in the process.

"Speaking on behalf of the remaining Espada, I the former Primera Coyote Starrk humbly accept this offer."

Grimmjow's jaw immediately found itself intimately acquainted with the floor.

"Wait, are fucking you serious Starrk? You're just going to bow to these ancient pieces of shit like that? Hell no, we do not acce-"

All the training Grimmjow had undergone in a thousand lifetimes could not have possibly prepared him for the speed at which Apacci's foot made contact with his the left side of his head.

"Then it is decided. Kuchiki Taichou, Ukitake Taichou, Kyoraku Taichou & Hitsugaya Taichou, please escort them to the twelfth squadron's labs. They will be fitted with the... necessary accouterments before you bring them to the Soutaichou."

And just like that, six uneasy Arrancar and one unconscious jungle cat were ushered out of the gloomy building and avoided certain death at the hands of their mortal enemies... Only to serve by their side instead.

Prelude End

Redone! I like this far more than its previous version, especially since I had a bit more time to... class up the joint a little bit.

As always, your reviews are more than welcome :)