A/N: So, this is a present for one of my waifu over on tumblr, fuckyeahhikari, who shares one of my guilt ships - GrimmKarin! (Actually, a surprising number of you share this ship with me, don't you)?
It's written after these recent chapters, meaning this meeting happens after the Quincy battle and after (what I hope will be) Grimmjow's return. I don't think there's a lot of spoilers though, but someone can correct me if I'm wrong.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.
"Ummm, Karin-san? I-I really don't think this is a good idea..."
Karin ignored Hanatarou's half-hearted suggestion, and instead she confidently strode past him, leading him towards the prison she'd heard so much about. She was curious to know what kind of cell was capable of holding someone as awesome as Rukia-nee, who could kick butt like nobody's business from what she'd seen.
"Why are you the one stuck with this job, anyway?" she asked as he stumbled after her, broomstick in hand. "Don't you guys in the Fourth Squad heal the others?"
"Th-this is part of our duties, too," he stuttered in reply, his voice getting progressively quieter. "It's a long story..."
She shrugged. "It was just a simple question. You don't have to answer if you don't want to."
He sighed in relief, flashing her a grateful smile.
She liked Hanatarou. He might have been a little too nervous about everyday things, but aside from those breakdowns, he was a good person. She'd loitered plenty around his work at the convenience store in the human world, and since finding him here, they'd ended up with the same routine. She felt these strong vibes whenever he was around that she needed to protect him, just like how she felt around her twin sister, and it made her stick to him.
As they neared their destination, Hanatarou shuffled in front of her and whispered anxiously over his shoulder, "Karin-san, when we reach the guards, please stay silent. Let me do the talking."
"Why, what's up?" she asked, peering past him curiously – which wasn't so hard, considering he was quite shorter than her. "I've handled plenty of bully high school teachers. I think I could take a few mean guards."
He shook his head. "It's not that. It's just that only certain people are allowed past a certain point. I don't know if they would let you through, so I'll have to convince them."
Sure enough, when they had crossed the bridge, they were met with two burly men standing at attention by the entrance, who eyed them both suspiciously as they approached. Hanatarou avoided their eyes and bowed low.
"I'm here to clean," he told them, refusing to lift his head.
"Who's she?" they snapped, leering at Karin, who had yet to bow. She was simply watching with interest.
"She's, uh..." Hanatarou stuttered, all thought gone from his mind. He had never been good under pressure.
"No unauthorized people allowed!" the guard bellowed, scaring the poor healer to the point that he jumped. "Get her out of here!"
"Hey!" Karin cried, completely forgetting everything her friend had told her about keeping quiet. "I'm Kurosaki Ichigo's little sister, you know. Let me through or I'll send him after you."
The guard smirked. "No can do, kid. Even your brother's not allowed past this point, so you sure as hell aren't. Now scram."
Hanatarou seemed to snap out of his nervous stutter and jumped up from his bow. "I, um, need her here!" he pleaded, squeaking when the two men glared at him but not backing down. "She's here to help me clean."
"We didn't hear anything about this," they grumbled.
"Isane-fukutaichou let me bring someone along," he made up, his face paling from the pressure. "She's here learning the duties of Fourth Division, I swear. You can send a butterfly to my superiors about it."
The two looked at him suspiciously (as did Karin), but seemed to take the mention of a fukutaichou seriously. At the very least, if the boy was willing to risk getting in trouble with a higher up for possibly lying, he couldn't have been making it up. Punishments were a big deal in Seireitei.
"We'll be sending a butterfly to the Fourth," they warned him. "And if we hear that you've been lying to us..."
Karin thought it was a bit overdramatic to crack their knuckles menacingly like in the old mobster movies, but Hanatarou almost fainted, so it seemed to have the desired effect. Not on her, though, but there was something bothering her.
"Won't those guys find out you were lying?" she murmured as they were allowed entry. Even as they spoke, she could see the two shinigami calling a butterfly.
"I get bullied by the guards here a lot, so Isane-fukutaichou goes along with anything I make up to put a stop to it," he explained softly. "She would never let them know I was lying. If I get in trouble, it would only be with her. Or taichou."
Either one didn't seem like a better option, considering the way he trembled as he mentioned them, but she figured the gentle healers she had met were bound to be more forgiving. If worst came to worst, she wouldn't mind taking the blame for her friend.
"So..." she said as they finally passed through the gates, "this is the Senzaikyu, huh?"
It was much bigger than she would have expected a prison to be, but the darkness was certainly fitting, as well as the gloominess. The doors shut behind them, almost completely burning out whatever minimal light source they had, and the shadows on the gray walls only made the place more eerie. It didn't scare her much, however, because she was with the biggest wimp in existence, and he was simply humming into the silence.
"This is where Rukia-nee was held?" she confirmed, peering at everything with interest. Her voice echoed back to her in the empty hall.
"Yes. I wasn't allowed here at the time, though."
Hanatarou had already gotten to work, sweeping at the corners of the building and gathering dust into a pile. It had been a week since his last clean-up visit, and no one had bothered to do it in that time.
"Why not?" she asked, inspecting the walls and ceiling for signs of kido spells. She sensed something ancient and powerful, something that had been confining prisoners for centuries. It sent a chill up her spine to think of how many criminals had probably stood in this very spot.
"Because Kuchiki-san's execution was a high profile case," he explained. "I think they were worried her friends in Seireitei would try and break her out." He chuckled fondly. "In the end, it was your brother they had to worry about."
"Hmm..." She wasn't quite paying attention anymore, since she had already heard this story from her brother before. Instead, she found her attention drawn by the door on the other side of the room.
"The prisoner in here now isn't as restricted," he carried on, unaware that he had lost his audience. "He's definitely still high profile, but more because of danger –"
"Oh, is this the room Rukia-nee was kept in?" Karin mused, and to Hanatarou's horror, she grabbed the door handles.
His eyes widened, and he reached out a hand. "No."
She swung the door open, and on the other side, she found a man.
Dressed in a white uniform of some sort, he was slumped back on his seat, arms dangling at his side, head leaned back against the wall as he stared at the ceiling. She stared at him from the doorway.
Half of his face had been devoured by a grinning mask, and both his eyes and hair were a shocking shade of electric blue.
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He had barely any visitors in this goddamn prison, aside from the shinigami who brought him food and information about his case, so it wasn't everyday that a girl wandered in.
He rolled his neck to face her and raised an eyebrow. "Who the hell are you?"
"Karin-san!" someone pathetically squeaked from behind her, and a kid with a pale face came barreling in. He stopped short at the sight of the Espada.
Grimmjow recognized him. He was that nervous pipsqueak who came in here every week to sweep and never met his eyes out of fear. He hated the kid.
The girl didn't seem phased. After getting her fill of staring at his most unorthodox features, she turned to the shorty. "Who's this?"
"The prisoner," he replied in a mortified whisper.
"I figured that out," she muttered dryly. "What's his name?"
"Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez," he boomed himself in a deep voice, cutting off the shinigami before he could speak. "Ask the person himself, woman." The girl looked back at him with a bored gaze, but he could see a hint of interest in her dark eyes.
"All right, then, prisoner," she said, folding her arms in a challenging way. He scoffed at the stance, not even slightly pressured by this tiny human, who didn't even seem to have any reiatsu worth mentioning. "What are you doing here?"
"He's awaiting his trial," the boy beside her whispered, his eyes shifting left and right in panic. The shinigami weren't allowed to engage in much contact with him, after all. "The cells in the divisions aren't strong enough to hold him."
"Oh?" she asked, finally letting her interest show blatantly on her face since she had walked in. "Is he really all that strong? All he's done since we came in is turn his head this way and tell me his name."
Grimmjow growled at her, looking her up and down in a menacing glare. She sure had guts to say things that could get her killed in a heartbeat.
"Yes, he's that strong," the healer whimpered, glancing at him anxiously. "Stronger than both of us. Stronger than both of us combined."
"How strong can he be if he's got that scar across his chest?" she asked, and it snapped something in him.
"Oi, woman," he barked. "Watch your mouth before I rip it off your face. You talk big for someone who has less reiatsu than that weakling standing beside you."
She glared at him, her lips scrunching together in an irritated pout, and huffed, "I'm plenty strong, I'll have you know. I just know how to suppress it, unlike some idiots around here."
He scoffed, turning his face back to look outside. Like hell he was going to believe someone he couldn't even sense from a foot away. She most likely wasn't even a shinigami, because rather than the typical uniform, she was wearing the type of clothing he had seen during his short visit to the human realm.
Karin, meanwhile, was more offended than she showed on her face about his dismissal. There were many things she hated, and while her troubling amount of reiatsu was one of them, being underestimated was another one. And she also didn't particularly care for how he was no longer looking at her, having lost interest.
Hanatarou started wringing his hands when he noticed a determined gleam pass through her eyes. He was already fearing for his safety.
Grimmjow looked back when he felt it.
The girl was staring at him intently, smugness written all over her face as her reiatsu continued to climb up and up. It was Rukia who had taught her how to put such a strong lid over her spiritual pressure, and it was Ichigo who had taught her how to let it all loose.
"Who has no reiatsu now?" she asked, challenging him with the glint in her eyes.
He clicked his tongue. "Well, it's higher than the shorty next to you, but it's still nothing, woman."
"But admit it," she goaded him. "You're a little impressed. It's higher than you expected, isn't it?" She knew it had to be so, because even quite a few shinigami had been impressed by her reiatsu, especially considering she was only human.
A maniacal grin crossed over his face in response. What a cheeky girl. Maybe he was surprised, but she was still nothing compared to his own power. It wouldn't do for her to think he would be impressed by something like her fractional reiatsu.
"It may be high for a human," he stated, grinning even wider, "but nothing that could be put to use. If you really wanna impress me, then how about dodging this?"
He raised one of his limp arms, palm facing towards her, and suddenly, his own reiatsu started to rise.
Karin's eyebrows puckered, wondering just what he was trying to do. Was she supposed to be scared of this? Beside her, however, Hanatarou gasped in mortification as he realized what the Espada was about to do, and his eyes widened in horror.
"Watch out!" he wailed, and without explanation, he grabbed Karin by the arm and pulled her to the ground. "He's about to shoot a Cero!"
.. ღ ..
When nothing happened, Hanatarou slowly opened the eyes he had screwed shut and found that Karin was staring at him in confusion.
"What's a Cero?" she asked. There was silence in the room for a single beat.
Grimmjow dropped his hand and erupted into laughter. "Are you an idiot!" he exclaimed, showing all his teeth in his signature smile. "Of course I can't shoot a Cero. This is a prison, shorty. My powers don't work in here. There's a bunch of spells keeping them in check."
Hanatarou blushed furiously, realizing how foolish he seemed, especially since they were both crouching on the ground. He scrambled up, bringing Karin along with him and profusely apologizing as he batted imaginary dust off her clothes. Grimmjow watched them with humor on his face, but Karin was deep in thought.
"I don't really get it, but you just tried to save me from something, right?" she asked, batting his hand away. "You thought he was going to attack me? Don't apologize for that." She swung around to face Grimmjow and glared at him hard. "And you. What the hell is the matter with you? You're pulling stunts like this while you're in prison? How do you ever expect to get out, then?"
He looked her up and down. "Not your problem, is it?" he shot back.
"You just made it my problem, idiot," she sneered. "Who were you just about to attack, huh?"
He rolled his eyes, lolling his head back against the wall again. "I wasn't really gonna shoot you, so don't get your frilly pink panties all in a twist, woman."
Karin jaw slackened, but her eyes blazed furiously. "Frilly pink pan –"
She didn't get to erupt in outrage properly, however, because the three of them suddenly heard footsteps getting louder from outside, clearly heading towards them, and then there was a thud as the doors flew open. The two guards from the entrance burst in, their swords unsheathed and ready for battle.
"We felt the prisoner's reiatsu rise," they growled, peering at everything in the room. "And another one we didn't recognize. Just what is going on in here?"
Hanatarou immediately jumped in, his eyes bugging out like usually when he panicked. "Um, we were cleaning up in here and Karin-san just got in a little argument with the prisoner! Sorry for the disturbance."
Grimmjow clicked his tongue and looked away as the healer bowed low, but the guards simply narrowed their eyes. "No one's scheduled to be cleaning up in here today."
"Well, someone has to pick up his food tray," he reasoned. "That's what I sent Karin-san in here for." His movements were wooden as he turned to her and stuttered, "Why don't you get it now? You just have to pick it up and we can leave."
Her eyes narrowed considerably, landing on the said tray right in front of Grimmjow. He looked down at it too, and there was a smugness in his eyes when their gazes met.
"Yeah, do as he says," he goaded, and they could only watch as he stretched out a leg and kicked the tray by his bench. It skidded across the floor, jerked against the rough ground, and the contents fell over; leftover food splattered all around the plate and the cup of water, completely full before, tipped over. The entire contents splashed against the concrete floor as they pooled over the tray and made a small puddle by the prisoner.
Hanatarou paled considerably more than before, which was a miraculous feat, and looked between the two of them. As he had suspected, Karin's face had wrinkled into a dangerous scowl; she didn't even one glance at the tray, but rather kept her glare fixated on Grimmjow.
He grinned down at it, then up at her, and ordered, "Pick it up."
There was a pause. "Fine," Karin answered coolly, but her hands were on her hips as she marched over. "I'll pick it up."
And she swung back one leg and kicked at the puddle on the ground, spraying the Espada's face with the spilled water.
There was a stunned silence in the room. Even the guards had nothing to say, their jaws slack in disbelief, while the healer almost fainted.
Grimmjow took a second to react. Eyes wide, he touched his cheek lightly with his fingers, looking at them after as if he couldn't believe there was water there. In a predatory move, he slowly raised his neck to look at Karin.
"Oops?" she replied, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes down at him.
A growl started at the back of Grimmjow's throat, but to everyone's surprise, what left his mouth was a bark of a laugh. His lips widened into a crazed smile as he wiped at his jaw with the back of his hand. "You shouldn't have done that."
He was out of his seat in less than a second.
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She didn't even have time to react.
One second she had her arms crossed, gazing down at him smugly like the victor, and the next, he had her pinned to the wall, hands on either side of her head, face only inches from hers. He was no longer smiling, but rather, there was danger radiating from every inch of him. He snarled, low and menacing, and she felt her breath hitch.
"Watch what you say, woman," he growled against her neck. "I could snap your neck like it's nothing."
Her heart was pounding hard against her ribs, and she was frozen, staring straight over his shoulder because her head refused to turn and look him straight in the eyes. The blood all rushed to her head – she could hear it in her ears – and the usual adrenaline rush never kicked in. Her body simply knew she was no match for him.
The moment lasted for only a second of dead silence.
The guards, who'd been watching with wide eyes, suddenly came to their senses and gasped. "Okay, break it up," they ordered, and using the hilt of their sword, they pushed Grimmjow away from her. He did so gladly, with a smirk on his face, because he knew he'd won their stand-off.
Hanatarou, tears in the corners of his eyes, rushed forward and grabbed Karin's arm. "Are you all right?"
"I..." She swallowed thickly. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Let's get you out of here," he suggested, tugging her away. "This is too much for one day. I can come back some other day to clean up alone."
She let him drag her by the arm, slowly coming back to her senses with each step. It wasn't the first time she'd been caught in a tense situation, since gang members liked to come at her quite often on her way home from school for being Ichigo's sister, but it was the first time the danger had felt so real. She could tell how powerful he was even without him standing so close, or without that menacing edge to his voice.
She cupped her neck, still feeling his breath on it as he had threatened her.
On the way out the doors, however, she couldn't resist looking back one last time. He was watching her leave with a feral smirk still on his lips, even as the guards threatened him for acting out, and it only grew wider as their eyes met, just before the gate shut.
The anger bubbled up almost immediately.
I can't believe him! Suddenly she was the one leading Hanatarou away, because she'd picked up her pace with his hand still clutching her arm. Who the hell just smiles like that after threatening to break someone's neck!
"What his problem?" she fumed, stomping away from the prison furiously.
"A-Are you all right now?" the shinigami asked, watching her nervously.
She just scoffed. "What a jerk."
"That was so dangerous, Karin-san!" Hanatarou wailed, taking her answer to mean she was fine and fussing over her as he followed. "You shouldn't have provoked him like that! What if you had gotten hurt?"
"You heard him," she snapped. "He can't use his powers in there. And I don't think he's going to waste all that time in prison by killing me." Even so, she rubbed at her arms as she walked, still feeling a chill down her spine at the tense moment that had passed between them.
"What did he do, anyway?" she finally asked. "He's not in there for killing people, is he?"
Hanatarou shook his head. "No. Well, sort of." At her sharp look, he hurried on to explain, "When Aizen-san betrayed us, he was a part of his army. That mask on his face was a Hollow mask; he's an Espada."
"Espada..." she tried out on her tongue. The word sounded familiar, from the time Rukia-nee had attempted to explain the evolution of a Hollow to her. It had been a confusing jumble of words she couldn't understand or even pronounce, only made worse by the rabbit illustrations that accompanied them. From what she did remember, the Espada were extremely powerful, and had given even Ichi-nii a run for his money.
"Mm-hm," Hanatarou nodded along. "He was the enemy once, but he took our side with the war against the Quincy. Soul Society still doesn't quite trust him, though, so he was to be jailed or executed for stepping foot here, but your brother made an argument for him."
"Ichi-nii did?" she exclaimed. He hadn't even mentioned it.
"Apparently Grimmjow-san saved him and his friends quite a lot in this war, so I think he wanted to return the favor," he mused. "He made an appeal to have him put on trial first, to hear his reasons for joining our side. If they decide he's not a threat, he might be set free, but on probation first. If he's not, however, then the punishment would be prison, like Aizen-san, or execution."
Well on the other side of the bridge and far away from the prison now, Karin turned back to Senzaikyu and glared heatedly in its direction.
"Kami, I hope he gets executed."
.. ღ ..
"I cannot believe I let you talk me into this," Rukia groaned even as she stood on the very tips of her toes to peek in through the window.
Karin rolled her eyes. "Oh, please, Rukia-nee. You didn't need much convincing."
"Not true!" the shinigami argued, but her eyes were sparkling from excitement, and she eagerly returned to trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening inside the meeting hall.
"Why aren't we allowed inside, anyway?" Karin asked, trying to find the perfect spot with the perfect angle. She wanted a good view of what was about to take place, but some of these taichou were humongous, and she was worried about obstruction. And Rukia-nee must have been suffering twice as much with her height. "Or at the very least, you? Aren't you a part of this?"
"A few of the taichou decided it would be best to keep as many people out of this as possible," Rukia explained. "Since Ichigo was the main protester, it was decided he would speak on Grimmjow's behalf. It's just unfortunate that your brother is not the best public speaker."
There was a pause before Rukia turned to her curiously and asked, 'Why are you suddenly so interested in this?"
She averted her gaze. "Oh, no reason. I just thought since Ichi-nii is putting so much time into this, I wanted to know what's going to happen."
"But do you even know who –"
"Oh, look! It's starting!' Karin shushed her, glad to both change the topic and finally get the show on the road. They'd been crouching against the window sill for much too long. Rukia looked unsure for a moment, but finally turned her gaze back into the hall.
The taichou quietly lined up into two rows on either side of the room, facing each other in what seemed to be squad order. Kyouraku-soutaichou took his rightful place at the front of the room, and his loyal fukutaichou stood ready behind him, glasses poised and notebook in hand.
"Well, then," the soutaichou's laid back voice echoed through the hall, "should we call them in? I don't think either of them are really the patient type."
After a moment of general agreement between all those present, the doors to the meeting hall swung open, and both Karin and Rukia, their faces plastered to the window, unconsciously leaned forward. A handful of guards entered the room, and in the middle of the circle stood Ichigo and Grimmjow.
Both of them looked surprisingly relaxed, despite the tense situation. At the very least, Ichigo's eyebrows were crossed in thought, perhaps about what he would say to help his unexpected enemy-turned-ally. But Grimmjow, who's fate would be decided in this very hearing, looked downright bored, with a mix of irritation at the shackles around his wrists.
"Those fools," Rukia hissed, narrowing her eyes on both of them. "I knew leaving this to them was a bad idea. They're both completely unreliable! Look at all that lack of respect, and look at how unprepared they look."
"Maybe they just have everything sorted out in their head?" Karin suggested, but they both shook their heads at that. There was no way Ichigo had sat himself down and thought things through. He was more of an act-on-impulse type of man – the kind who jumped into unfair fights without thinking to help a helpless victim.
The said victim didn't look all that prepared, either, however.
"Ichi-nii has a way of making miracles," Karin tried to reassure them both. Even so, she bit her lip in anticipation, carefully following their steps across the large hall. They came to a halt before the soutaichou, where the guards left them to be judged.
"Now, then," Kyouraku-taichou drawled, laid-back as always as he grinned out at his fellow taichou, "I assume we all know why we're here? Ichigo-kun here" – he gestured towards the substitute shinigami – "has asked us to review Grimmjow's criminal records and possibly pardon him in return for his services to our side in the war."
"Why can't Central 46 handle this?" Soi-Fon spat out, folding her arms and flashing a glare at the prisoner. Said Espada just looked about the room, bored.
"Well, they have much on their plate to handle already," the soutaichou chuckled back good-naturedly. "Now that the war is over, they have dozens of other enemies to pass judgment over. And, as Nanao-san so kindly corrected me with that book she loves so much, we taichou don't just have these meetings to stand around and look pretty. It's certainly within our capabilities to handle this problem ourselves."
"Thanks for doing this, everyone," Ichigo spoke up, cupping his neck sheepishly.
"Of course," Ukitake replied from his post, nothing but gentle smiles. "I owe Grimmjow-san very much for saving my fukutaichou during this war, and I'm sure Kuchiki-taichou agrees with me, hm?"
Byakuya remained stone-faced but still gave the barest of nods, and beside Karin, Rukia flushed prettily in happiness.
"I want to thank him for saving Rukia, too," Ichigo spoke up, nodding towards the Espada seriously. "Not only that, but Rangiku-san and Renji were part of that group, too." He shared a look with Hitsugaya, who had remained silent until then, but didn't seem hostile towards the prisoner at all. In fact, he seemed even less so after the mention of his fukutaichou's rescue.
"We all owe him quite a lot, don't we?" Kyouraku mused, accepting a file from Nanao and flipping through it. "He took down quite a number of the enemy's men with his... flashy entrance, and I do remember it was his cero that deflected an attack heading straight for the Fourth Division. We certainly would have been lost without any healers around."
"He just did it for the fight," Soi-Fon spat out. "The Fourth Division never crossed his mind."
"Now, now, Soi-Fon-taichou," Ukitake interjected. "Even if that may be true, a few of your men were getting treated at the time, too. The Second Division owes him gratitude as well."
"After the Winter War, he didn't cause any trouble, either," Shinji added, but he looked just as bored as Grimmjow himself over the whole matter. "He was in Hueco Mundo, quiet like the rest of them."
"I'm sure we all agree, no matter how little or how much some of us don't want to, that Grimmjow-san was a valuable ally in this war," Kyouraku concluded. "According to Ichigo-kun, he's promised that he'll continue to be an ally in the future also, as long as we can grant him his freedom." There was a murmur among the group, but it died down as quickly as it had rippled across. Kyouraku held up a hand for attention. "I think the only thing left to review is his time in prison. Nanao-chan?"
His trusty fukutaichou, poised behind him with a file in her hand, cleared her throat and stepped forward dutifully. As her glasses glinted against the lighting in the room, she flipped open the folder and reported, "The guards claim there have been no outbursts from the prisoner since day one. From patrolling through the prison, they've seen that he was subdued and quiet in his cell, and even those shinigami who went in for food delivery or clean up reported that they sensed no hostility."
Grimmjow clicked his tongue not so quietly, obviously unimpressed with having to stay on his best behavior throughout his time in jail. Ichigo had warned him mercilessly, though, that it was a necessary evil, lest he wanted to spend the rest of his existence behind bars. He'd been tempted one too many times to thrust a hole in the shinigami they sent his way, but he'd resisted all of his instincts.
All of that seemed to be in vain, however, because Nanao flipped to the last page of her report and sniffed haughtily.
"However," she continued sternly, "it seems the prisoner caused a bit of a disturbance a few days ago. The guards on duty claim that he raised his reiatsu, tried to almost fire a cero, and was particularly hostile towards the two shinigami on cleaning duty, even going as far as to threaten one of them."
Karin's heart thudded a heavy beat in her chest.
An even louder murmur than before broke out, and during the outrage, Ichigo turned to Grimmjow in a panic. The Espada simply clicked his tongue again and glared hard at the ground, seemingly irritated that the incident had been found out.
"Is it true?" Karin heard her brother ask, running a hand roughly through his hair.
"Yeah," Grimmjow replied easily, and it seemed everyone stared at him in disbelief. At the very least, Rukia clapped a hand over her forehead, and Ichigo's eyes blazed up in fury. All that work down the drain!
Kyouraku held up a hand once again, calling for silence in the room. Karin's heartbeat was strumming in her ears by this point. "Well, Grimmjow-san," he said, pursing his lips grimly, "I'm sorry to say that this doesn't bode well for you, then. I'd hoped you would show us how well you can keep yourself under control, but if you're prone to outbursts, even after a long period of silence..."
If he had still been a taichou, Kyouraku would probably have been on the Espada's side, chuckling as he defended that anyone could lose control slightly, that he hadn't actually hurt anyone, and that second chances were a good thing. However, he was soutaichou now, which meant he needed to show more command of the situation, needed to approach things more seriously for the sake of Seireitei. Also, Nanao was glaring furiously at the back of his head.
"So," he continued, heaving a heavy sigh, "perhaps we need to reevaluate the benefits of –"
"That's not it!"
Rukia immediately ducked when her partner in crime cried out, hoping to avoid detection by both her superior and her bother. Even so, she gaped at Karin in panic and furiously shook her head. The Kurosaki, however, was already hopping over the ledge, much to the surprise of everyone in the room.
Grimmjow seemed to recognize her. "Oi, brat. You were here?"
"You're not allowed in here," Soi-Fon hissed, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. "Have you been listening in all this time?"
"I'm surprised you didn't feel their presence," Byakuya of all people spoke up, his eyes closed coolly. "I sensed them long before the meeting started. Rukia is here, too." His sister sheepishly poked her head over the window to general astonishment.
"Anyway," Karin persisted, trying her best to ignore all the stares in her direction, "I think you need to know that the disturbance in his cell was actually me."
Ichigo's eyes widened. "You? Karin, what are you saying?"
"Yes, woman, what are you saying?" Grimmjow repeated, looking her up and down. She refused to meet his gaze, giving all her attention to the man at the front of the room.
Truthfully, she'd had no plans to stick her nose into this business. Her curiousity had simply won out when Ichigo had nervously left for the trial that evening, and knowing Rukia-nee had been just as anxious if not more so, she'd dragged the Kuchiki along to peek into the meeting.
It didn't matter to her whether the prisoner was put on death toll. Rather, she would have celebrated it, still not over their confrontation a week prior when he'd chilled her to the bone with no guilt over the matter. However, she would never forgive herself if he'd been ordered to be executed because of her, because she'd lost her temper and goaded him, especially if he'd actually kept up his best behavior before she'd wandered into his cell. Not only would she destroy his hard work, but Ichi-nii's and Rukia-nee's, too.
"I got into an argument with him," she explained with a scowl. "The guards weren't there to see it, so they must have assumed he acted out on his own. This cero you mentioned – he never fired one."
"What were you doing in his cell?" Nanao demanded, pushing her glasses up her nose.
"I, um, was helping the shinigami on duty with his cleaning." She didn't want to use Hanatarou's name, lest she get him in trouble, even though she knew it would be simple for them to look it up in the records.
"But he did threaten you?" Kyouraku prompted.
"Sort of," she answered awkwardly. "He didn't say that he would do something to me, just that he could."
"What was the argument about?" Ukitake asked, looking intrigued despite himself.
"We called each other weak," she replied, flushing slightly at how childish that sounded.
Kyouraku chuckled from his seat at the front. "I see. So that's what happened." At her nod, he smiled down at her warmly. "Thank you for your input, young lady. We'll ask Grimmjow-san to give us a detailed account if we need one." He raised his voice, turning to the window where Rukia was still torn between hiding and looking in. "Kuchiki-fukutaichou, if you could please escort Kurosaki-san out? And both of you, if you're going to peek into meetings, at least make sure you hide yourselves better and don't reveal yourselves so easily by barging in."
His eyes twinkled mischievously as Rukia nodded and hopped inside herself, even though his fukutaichou clicked her tongue behind him in disapproval. She didn't seem to mind the lack of punishment, though, because she said nothing as the Kuchiki took Karin by the arm.
On her way out, Karin's gaze met Ichigo's, and she grinned sheepishly. "Sorry about that, Ichi-nii."
It took him a split second before he grinned back and shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Tell me everything later."
And she in no way wanted to, but much to her displeasure, it seemed inevitable that her eyes made contact with Grimmjow's.
"What?" she snapped, scowling at him darkly.
He looked at her as if he'd never seen her before, and didn't seem to spare any thoughts as to what his last words to her should be. Not a sign of gratitude, or even an apology, but rather, "You're Kurosaki's sister?"
.. ღ ..
Karin raced through the streets of her neighborhood, ignoring the way her bag thumped against her hip from the motion. She was breathing hard and sweating even more so, but home was only a few steps away, so she paid no mind to the discomfort.
"I'm home!" she called at the front door, tossing her keys into a nearby basket and kicking off her shoes. Her throat was parched both from the heat of practice and the rush home, and she hurried into the kitchen for a glass of water before making her way upstairs. "Yuzu, what are you making for –"
She had only stepped one foot into the kitchen before she stumbled to a halt, shocked into silence at the familiar visitor at their table.
"Yo," Grimmjow grunted over to her, perfectly relaxed in her usual chair as he grinned his signature smile that flashed all his dangerous teeth. "Karin, was it?"
"What are you doing here?" she demanded, ignoring his question. They hadn't seen each other again since the trial, since she'd left Soul Society soon after and had not returned since. It had been two months already.
She dropped her bag on the spot, in case it would slow her down if she needed to defend herself against him. There was only pride keeping her from putting her fists up in front of her, because she refused to admit he had unnerved her.
"Parole," he replied, slowly scraping back the chair so he could stand. "The shinigami decided I've earned trips to the human realm."
He advanced towards her, and it was an animal instinct that forced Karin to step back. It made his eyes flit to her feet for a split second, before he looked her right back in the eyes and smirked. He advanced forward again.
"It might be because of you, you know," he carried on, stepping forward as she stepped back. It was a slow dance they were keeping up, and she was eerily aware that she was caging herself farther and farther into a corner.
"Me?" she scoffed, her eyes fixed on his. Damn that pretty shade of blue, for it made him look almost innocent when she knew he was anything but. "I didn't do anything. I didn't even know why you were here, remember?"
"It was that way you stuck up for me at the meeting. That's what made them decide I should be allowed to go free."
His smirk widened when her back hit the refrigerator door, unable to back up any farther while he still had a ways to go. She didn't care for how he seemed to enjoy her discomfort so much, and it made her glare through her narrowed eyes.
"I didn't do it for you," she refuted. "I could have cared less if you got executed otherwise, jerk. I just did it because it was the right thing to do, since it was my fault. I like having a clear conscience."
He scoffed, coming to a halt right before her, so there was no space between their feet and she had to crane her neck up to look him in the eyes. "You should try having a dirty one," he growled. "It's more fun."
She could only grit her teeth and glare as his mouth found her neck again, like in the cell before the guards had pushed them away. His shoulders caged her in, too broad and heavy for her to move more than a wiggle, and she couldn't even turn her head because of his mask. A push on his chest with both hands proved useless, for he was much bigger and sturdier than her in a spiritual way that no human could ever achieve. At least she sensed no hostility from his actions, no actual threat in his words, but it still made her uncomfortable to have him standing so close, especially now that they were not surrounded by enchanted walls that limited his powers.
Not to mention, she was covered in both dirt and sweat under her school uniform, proof of a long afternoon of practice, and on top of that, she was panting heavily because for some reason she had thought it was a good idea to run all the way home rather than take a shower at the school.
Grimmjow seemed to notice. He growled against her neck, not menacingly like the time he'd threatened her, but it was still a predatory sound that made her stomach flip.
"Were you training?" he grunted, his nose grazing against her skin. "You have the smell of a warrior on you."
"It was soccer practice, you idiot," she managed to say, squeezing her eyes shut and trying to merge herself with the refrigerator, where Yuzu had taped a note that she had gone grocery shopping. "Now get away from me."
"I don't think I will," he breathed smugly against her neck. "I think I might just try that clear conscience thing you love so much. How about I start with paying you back for your help at my trial?"
She gasped when she felt his tongue flit across her pulse for half a second.
"This is sexual harassment, you know," she hissed, narrowing her eyes at the wall across the room and hoping he could somehow hear it in her voice.
"We don't have laws for that where I come from," he chuckled darkly. His hands ghosted across her hips, and she scowled against his ear, aware that he was teasing her.
It was just then, when they were locked in that position with a heated battle between his smugness and her outrage, that they suddenly felt her brother's reiatsu spike.
"Oi, Grimmjow, I talked to Urahara!" they heard him call from the top of the stairs. "He'll let you stay in his basement!"
The surprise from the interruption worked in her advantage. Resting her hand over the back of the other, she pushed him heavily on the chest once again, aware that he stumbled back simply because he'd been caught off guard rather than her own strength. She hated it.
"Stay away from me, prisoner," she snapped, hitching her bag over her shoulder and running for the stairs before he could react. There was no missing his grin full of teeth, however.
Ichigo blinked rapidly in surprise when she bounded past him, almost knocking him over as he made his way down.
"Karin, you were home?" he cried, turning back to watch her speed past, heading to the bathroom for her shower. "Listen, Grimmjow's on parole here for a while, and since not that many people know about him, you mind helping us keep him in check? You would just have to –"
"No way in hell am I going anywhere near that guy!" she snarled in response, not caring in the least when he gaped at her in shock. She didn't want to find out anyway whether it was for her reaction, or for the deep flush on her face.
She could hear the Espada's bark of laughter in the kitchen long after she had shut the bathroom door.
A/N: Not romantic, but this is a first meeting, and it's Grimmjow we're talking about.
Hope you enjoyed it! And especially you, my waifu~