AN: Thank you to everyone that favorited and the rare person or two that reviewed. Again, this is slow moving and more personally driven but I hope you enjoy!

Beta: Again, the lovely (and speedy) Confusion no Hime

Chapter Two: Crude and Edible

Either they were going to follow him, do something about it, or they were going to die. Being an arrancar didn't stop their growth as hollows but it made them weak in the head and weak in their drive. They had, as Aizen bullshitted to them 'The perfected powers of hollow and shinigami.' and that was enough to most of the things laying around Las Noches, all trying to build something back up that they could believe in again.

It used to be that if you weren't strong enough to make it on your own and stay an adjuchas, you went with a pack and you gave it up for security. Now that Aizen went about getting the strongest around under one roof and told them not to consume their 'brothers and sisters' they got weak. Weak hollows that wouldn't ever grow and wouldn't be able to fucking fight him. The size and apparent age of some of the numeros running around had enough to say about that.

That was also the reason why Grimmjow hated one of the Espada in front of him. Ulquiorra thought that the fancy number put on him made him stronger than himself and acted it, always kissed ass even when it did nothing for him. All that service given and the only prize he got was to watch a certain woman who only cared for the person he couldn't stand. He found it hilarious and felt proud of Kurosaki for a minute there. Sure, he was lying on a mat not too far away, but in a few hours he was going to be up and walking around while Ulquiorra wasn't even positively alive.

He had talked about Kurosaki the same way he talked about him; that they were uncouth men and they should be put down as soon as possible. And Kurosaki took the one thing he'd wanted away from him without even trying and then killed him. That little number on his chest and Aizen's favor couldn't save him. He was pitied in the same way the woman pitied the two girls that beat her. Wouldn't he love to know that?

"Kurosaki, get up. I'm not waiting here for you any longer. Kurosaki!" He watched Kurosaki woke up underneath the blanket Neliel had insisted on piling on him for the few hours he'd been knocked out. "I said wake up."

The other seemed to get the point and rolled over onto his side so he could easily get up. The burn and damage to his waist and chest probably still stung, but Grimmjow was actually going to help with that one. He was eager, or anything like that, but he did sonido over to the shinigami's side with a plate of food for him. It was to throw him off balance and nothing else.

"Ah! What is the matter with you?!" Clearly neither of them cared about the other healing person in the room. Grimmjow wasn't having of Neliel's false hope of that crappy nurturing side and threw the dead out of the window. Admittedly, Yammy was still in the corner and Ulquiorra was unmoved (he wasn't afraid to move him, just didn't care to).

"You've been lazy enough. The sooner you get yourself together; I'll get those fights you promised." Kurosaki groaned and tried to get back under the sheets but Grimmjow grabbed his collar. "I brought you lunch so eat it before I shove it down your throat."

The shinigami just stared at him, wide eyed like he was confused about something. Grimmjow didn't know what he think about this kind of crap. Kurosaki had a talent for annoying him slightly more than even Ulqiourra had, mostly because he would actually do things to get him riled up. But Kurosaki was also one of the few people that gave into a fight whenever they ran into each other- a real fight, none of the nonsense about cleverness or long thought strategy. It was something like a companion.

"What is it?" He was sitting up properly now and felt his hand get shaken off of the other's neck and shirt. Grimmjow looked at the plate he brought and didn't see anything wrong with it. Sure it was mostly rice and that didn't taste good at all when you ate it for too long but he had added some of his own kill to it to help Kurosaki. He really wasn't complaining about that right?

"You think I'm going to hurt you with food? After all the crap I've put up with to get a decent fight out of you and kick those mothering women aside, you think I'm going to kill you with a plate of food." At least he was embarrassed enough to get a red face about it and just started eating.

"It's really salty. This wasn't in the cafeteria yesterday." He was still treating the food with suspicion and Grimmjow had about enough of it. So few people razzing his nerves in such a short time. He wasn't normally this irritable but something was itching at him and he couldn't get it off. It had to be their unresolved battle. They'd fight and one of them would be dead- or as close to death as they'd ever get- and everything would go back to normal.

"I told you already that it's mine." He had a moment of clarity and thought for a minute that maybe giving Kurosaki pieces of a strong adjuchas he'd killed wasn't a good idea. What he didn't know wouldn't kill him though.

"Thanks. I am actually feeling better. What's with the sudden turn around?" Grimmjow was getting more and more agitated with the questions. He wasn't supposed to be questioned for the things he did and it was probably the only thing he liked Tousan for.

Kursoaki's wounds were already healing. He was probably more like Ulquiorra or Syazel as a hollow with regeneration- it would make sense for why any heirro he might have had was so weak. Grimmjow looked over the pale body behind him and wondered if the bastard was going to wake up any time soon. He just didn't want to leave the only person who'd challenge him with a mothering fool. It would ruin him.

Speak of the devil.

"Ichigo when did you get up?" Neliel was walking through the room, alternating between grinning at her little play thing and glaring at him. He was still closer to Kurosaki which meant if she wanted to 'help', she had to get closer to him as well.

---

"Hey Nel. Grimmjow here was just passing me lunch. I couldn't have been out that long, though." The food really was overly salty as he told Grimmjow but part of it was also addicting, like really bad junk food he'd had whenever Yuzu wasn't looking. It filled him up quickly and made him feel much better. Between being lethargic and eating very little rice meat must have been doing him some good.

"Oh! Hello to you too, Grimmjow." It was startling to hear Neliel be so cold to a person. Hell she was a little friendlier with Nnoitra and he was being beaten by her. Ichigo started into his lunch again looking up to see Grimmjow giving him that wide grin that meant trouble. Neliel asked about the emptiness of the room before sitting on the mat with him.

"I shoved the dead ones out." Now that he thought about it the room was a lot emptier. Don Panini was one of the many gone from the room.

"You're sure they're all dead? I mean they could get better..." Grimmjow laughed.

"No he's not sure. But he just didn't want to have too many people in the same room as him because they might see what kind of a monster he is." Ichigo felt his stomach lurch again at the word. Neliel had a clear idea of what a monster was and of what he did.

It was horrifying that he lost all of his control like that. Just laying there on the roof of these buildings, feeling the pull of everything going through him; his hollow was so quiet but screaming too. Neither one of them was ready for this but Zangetsu just watched them both, waiting for a command or something to happen besides brute instinct. His instinct wasn't like what Kenpachi was trying to teach him. Ichigo didn't just want to fight everyone- he wanted to destroy everything that was a threat to him. He was worse than Grimmjow and Nnoitra.

Ichigo hadn't asked about his friends again because he was just getting worse and worse. He was a coward now, afraid to know what his closest friends and family thought of him, him as a monster that needed to be put down. He wasn't even able to fight to protect anybody anymore.

Grimmjow made everything so easy to block or to fight back. Ichigo didn't feel adrenaline going through him or that thrill of fighting with Zangetsu again. He was scared and now he was being pitied.

"Tch, you say that with your favorite sitting right next to you. I want you to fight me like you fought Ulquiorra so get over whatever's the matter with you. It was finally getting to be fun." Neliel stiffened and looked away from their spot, probably looking through the gaps in the wall and ceiling.

"I'm sorry Ichigo, I wasn't thinking of that." What he really wanted to do was crawl back into the blankets and into the corner of the room but that wouldn't help. He had to get up and get better. For once Grimmjow was saying the right thing. If he laid here defeated then he would really be unable to protect everybody. But to do so, he'd have to get through lunch first.

"It's okay." Grimmjow snorted next to him. Neliel was the only one standing and was starting to look uncomfortable.

"Better be. We're fighting after you're done eating." He wasn't ready for a fight but he was going to do it anyway. It always worked when Rukia tried to beat some sense into him; maybe Grimmjow would be the same.

"That lunch... Ichigo, I didn't think you'd actually eat a hollow." It was Grimmjow's turn to flinch and Ichigo felt his insides go cold. The slimy and salt consistency of the meat made sense now. Where would Grimmjow have gotten the meat from anyway? He was eating another being.

"What did you give me, Grimmjow?"

"Food." His stomach was starting to hurt now and the retching began. Neliel dragged him up by the shoulder and started pulling him out of the room.

"Here, there's a toilet next room over. Grimmjow you are impossible!" She couldn't seem to decide whether she wanted to help him or berate Grimmjow for what he did. He couldn't breathe through the mess that was coming out of his mouth but caught snippets of the conversation happening just in the hallway.

"Last time I'm helping somebody. You're on your own Kurosaki." Neliel was still out there muttering about how it was okay, he didn't do anything wrong, and that it was okay to be disgusted by people like Grimmjow. People like himself.

When he finally stopped puking into the toilet, he was dizzy from the lack of air and just let himself collapse on the floor for a minute. It was mostly the rice that came back up; whatever was left of that hollow he ate was already consumed inside of him. The shallow wounds that were left on him were already healed. Ichigo didn't think he could take much more news like this. How easy was it for Grimmjow to convince him that it was okay to eat whatever he wanted (worse yet, in the back of his mind, how filling and tasty the soul had been).

How easy it was to pretend that Neliel was normal and not another hollow with something like morals? He was led around by her without even some suspicion. He was too weak to make up his own mind about things.

He was wrong. He still wasn't ready for anything to happen.

---

Neliel ran through the hallways trying to find Ulquiorra or his body, whichever it was. The sheets he was laying in were moved and the body missing, so either he had finally gotten up and managed to leave the room or someone took his body and was...doing things to it. Grimmjow would be the first in mind for something like that. His room was a bit farther away than most of them but he was found easily enough.

"Grimmjow, did you do anything to Ulquiorra?" She opened the door without knocking and just burst right in almost out of breath. She was disappointed to see that he was just lying there in bed instead of causing trouble as usual. She could have blown off a lot of steam that had been working her for a few days now on him but he was being good. Everything around them was restless and waiting for something to happen but it never did. Just waiting and healing and repairing but nothing to really see how anything went. It had been weeks now since the Shinigami left, but still less than a month.

"Can't you even knock on the fucking door? And you call me a beast. Maybe you did want to see something." Neliel knew what he was implying. He had that cocky grin on his face whenever he insinuated something like that or finally riled Ichigo into hitting him back. She didn't want to think of any correlation between the two.

"Gross. Ulquiorra is missing." He seemed curious but otherwise not bothered.

"I didn't do it. Nice to know you're thinking about me, all rushing around and coming here out a breath. You sure it's that cold corpse you're after? Your little pet doesn't help you out at all, you know, even with you following him around like a little puppy. Can't say I blame him. You're about as subtle as a menos attack." He was just lounging there and making fun of her. She wanted to hurt him but that wouldn't be right and he was even distracting her from the problem at hand.

"Screw you." She turned around and tried to find where Ulquiorra had gone off too. It wouldn't end well if someone just started attacking again without knowing the certain circumstances of what was going on.

"You might in a few days. No one else around here is going to help you!" He was laughing again and it made her face all red. Just another reason to hate that type of person. Not like Ichigo, for all of his bluster, was an honestly sweet person. She had to go find him but he didn't have anything to do with the disappearance. He would have been relieved and happy to find out that he could make up for the mistake he made.

But none of the other arrancar running around would have a reason to go near him. Injured or not, his number was still high enough to inspire fear for those that hadn't even met him. She hadn't been around during his transformation, Nnoitra and Syazel had taken care of that, so Neliel didn't know what his real habits were. Ichigo wouldn't know them and she would be damned before asking Grimmjow for any kind of 'help'.

"Loly, Menoly, have either of you seen Ulquiorra?" The two girls were a few of the still normal arrancar around, capable of really fighting and growing more than the little kiddies running around. Everybody had noticed it but they didn't say anything and that was part of the reason there was desperation for the healing arrancar. It wasn't going so well.

"No ma'am, we haven't seen him. Is he alright?" Menoly was more subdued and stayed quiet, Neliel really liked her. If everything went well, she would be one of the few that actually went far and survived to see another day. Her friend most likely wouldn't.

"Have you tried the princess's old room?" Neliel was really getting bored with how bitter some people had become. It was hard enough to integrate herself back into her own home but there were few if no familiar faces. None of them had the power to do anything either, except Grimmjow. Her memories as a child were fragmented and hazy at best, but she could fondly remember Inoue as a genuinely nice person. Perhaps a little naive and weak willed, but a nice person nonetheless.

"I will check, thank you. You might want to smarten up your attitude as well. Making accusations like that are not well received, especially given the company we have." Ichigo wouldn't like to hear of his friend being talked about like that. It was worth noting that Grimmjow didn't even have a problem with her. Then again he wasn't as hateful as Nnoitra, but everything spoke volumes about what they did, considering how few actions any of them took.

Thinking about it made it somewhat believable. For someone so stoic, the only people Ulquiorra made an excess of actions for were to attack Ichigo and to recapture Inoue. It would be nice, then, to have another person around that could think and have some compassion for others. Neliel didn't know exactly where Inoue was kept during her stay but it wasn't hard to figure out that it was someplace close to where Aizen's location would normally be. He would, of course, have planned a head for any mishaps and to keep their guest safe.

There was only one reiatsu in the area and it wasn't moving around all that much. Most of this area was in great condition and well preserved. It didn't even look like there were battles fought there.

He was standing there in one of the rooms looking out of the window, barely inclining his head when she entered.

"Hello, I'm Neliel Tu Odershvank. You scared a lot of us when you disappeared out of the infirmary. Are you alright now?" He looked fine and well but he had also looked like that when he was on the ground and cut into pieces so there was no basis for comparison.

"Where is Aizen-sama?" Neliel felt herself shiver. So people weren't exaggerating when they said how cold and uncaring he was.

"We don't know but he's sure to return to us soon enough." She wanted to say more, something that would make him feel better or feel welcome. It was easier with other people because most hollows wanted someone to care about their specific needs and wants. He appeared to need or want nothing and that her company was an annoyance.

"The woman and the shinigami?" Or maybe not. Curiosity meant an interest and she thought she was right about him and Inoue. But then again, that would only make the next bits of news even harder to say.

"They're all gone. They left weeks ago...but Ichigo is here! He'll be thrilled to find out that you're better and I'm sure Grimmjow will too even if he doesn't say it." Ulquiorra was wearing the same clothes as he wore when she first saw him as a child. He seemed to like keeping himself clothed and properly covered. Without a word he brushed right by her and walked down the hallway, pausing only at the end of it.

"We are survived by only ourselves and Grimmjow. And Kurosaki is here? Maybe he can answer my question. The woman proved to be incapable of doing so. She is nothing but troubling; making messes and not being able to clean them up." He kept walking by and Neliel could only assume that he was going to look for Ichigo.

She hoped this would be enough to break him out of his shell. This confrontation (unlike any and all with Grimmjow) would be good for the both of them. They would be able to tone Grimmjow down too and then everything would work out perfectly.

Aizen would return any day now and would be glad that they were already rebuilding everything that had been ruined. Ichigo might have been a sore spot but no one could turn away such a great ally and dedicated friend, Aizen would see that. Neliel followed behind Ulquiorra for a bit before smiling at the empty spaces and broken rooms.

It was great to be home again.