Ichigo woke up in the morning wondering if it was all a dream.
Unfortunately, the person on the floor of his room was all too real. Ichigo stared down at the comforter on the floor, wishing he'd just kicked it off the bed. He couldn't see Grimmjow at all, the panther was hidden under it completely.
Biting his lip, Ichigo rested his face in his hands. The conversation he'd had with his hollow the previous night had been short and to the point.
"Hello King. I've had my fun while you've been oblivious, but Zangetsu will be coming back to you soon. So here's my pet. Take good care of him, feed him every day. He's going to be littering before too long."
"What?! Grimmjow would never lie down for you willingly!"
"Hahaha… did I say anything about it being willing?"
Ichigo sighed and stood up. He didn't bother looking through his own closet. He carefully stepped over Grimmjow and went to see if his dad was gone. He was, so Ichigo stole into his room and rummaged through his closet, looking for something, anything the arrancar could wear. He found an old sweatshirt and jeans that would probably fit him pretty well. He brought them back to his room, setting them on the bed before carefully tugging on the edge of the comforter.
"Grimmjow? Are you awake?" He said softly, then the blanket moved a little and wary blue eyes peered out at him. "I've gotten some clothes for you. Do you need a shower?" He was trying to be polite, but the truth was, the arrancar smelled. It wasn't necessarily a bad smell – Ichigo didn't think hollows needed to bathe – but it was distinctive and very musky.
"Yeah." Grimmjow muttered, sliding out of the blankets but refusing to look at him. Ichigo swallowed as he saw all the marks on Grimmjow's body. They were all healed, but it looked like someone had been whittling on him regularly.
"I need to go beat the shit out of him." Ichigo muttered, remembering his inner hollow. Now that he was aware of his spiritual pressure again, he'd erected barriers to prevent him from escaping. "Shit." He couldn't believe his hollow had just appeared and dropped this complete shit cake in his lap. What in hell was he supposed to do? Ichigo sighed as he heard the water running. How was he going to explain this to his family?
Well, first he needed to understand it himself. How in hell was Grimmjow pregnant? He was clearly male. At least, Ichigo thought he was, and he wasn't going to try to check. Grimmjow would punch him in the face. Or even worse, he might not, after what his hollow had done to him. Just the thought made him feel sick.
Grimmjow came back into the room, a towel wrapped firmly around his waist. Emotion flickered over those blue eyes as he looked at Ichigo, but the teen couldn't identify it before it was gone. Ichigo handed him the clothes and he began to get dressed, turning away. Ichigo swallowed and looked away. Then he glanced back as the rustling of fabric stopped.
"Okay. Um… I think everyone else has already left. Are you hungry?" Ichigo asked and was surprised as the arrancar gave him a strange look. There was something ugly in his eyes, yet a strangely torn look on his face.
"I… could use some more." Grimmjow said reluctantly. "For the cubs." He rested a hand on his abdomen, which had no hollow hole. It had migrated to almost the same position as Ulquiorra's, dead in the centre of his chest. Ichigo nodded.
"Okay. C'mon." Ichigo jumped up from his bed, completely missing the confusion on Grimmjow's face. "I'll make you some breakfast." He left the room, oblivious to the hollow's hesitation. Grimmjow finally followed him, unable to make sense of what Ichigo was doing.
"Um…" Ichigo looked up as he began cracking eggs into a pan. Grimmjow was sitting at the table and watching him with a mildly pained expression. "You know I don't eat that kind of food, right?" He said and Ichigo stopped, immediately feeling like a complete moron. He glanced down at the eggs in his pan, wincing before he turned back to Grimmjow.
"You can't eat it at all?" He questioned and Grimmjow shrugged.
"Well, I can eat it. Hollow's will eat anything. But it ain't gonna do me and the cubs much good, Kurosaki." Ichigo frowned as Grimmjow refused to meet his eyes. His gaze was wandering around the table as if he was trying to find something to settle on. "I'm not that hungry right now though. I can wait a bit."
"Um, okay." Ichigo hesitated. He knew how hollows fed, of course. But surely… "My inner hollow wasn't hunting other hollows for you, was he?" He asked apprehensively. Bringing live hollows to Grimmjow to be devoured would be a nuisance, and it would eat up a lot of time he was supposed to be sleeping. Even worse, Ichigo wasn't sure the hollows in the living world would be strong enough for an Espada. But Grimmjow snorted.
"On the weak shit around here? Please, don't make me laugh." Grimmjow stared down at the table for a moment. "He made me feed on your power." He finally said, very reluctantly. Ichigo frowned.
"How did he do that?" Ichigo had no idea how to pull reiatsu from himself and put it into Grimmjow without hurting him. The furious glare that suddenly stabbed at him rooted him to the spot.
"He made me blow him off every night!" Grimmjow suddenly exploded. "Are you happy? Does it make you feel good, Kurosaki, seeing what a fucking bitch I've turned into? You've always looked down on me you motherfuck-" Grimmjow stopped dead, rocking back and gripping his collar. Ichigo stared, more alarmed by the sudden stop than by the rant. That rant had been pure Grimmjow. "F-Forgive me. King." Grimmjow said, his voice rasping painfully as he set his forehead down on the table. Ichigo's eyes widened in horror as he turned his attention to his inner world.
"What in hell did you just do to him?" Ichigo snarled as he manifested. To his slight distress, his inner world still looked like Karakura town, rather than the skyscrapers it had once been. His inner hollow was sitting on a roof and grinning at him. It was wearing a white silk jacket with black fur cuffs, and the usual obi and hakama.
"I just reminded him of his place… King." He said with a smirk and Ichigo wanted to strangle him. Instead, he drew his sword, pointing it at his white double.
"I am going to end you." He said, his tone deadly. The hollow laughed, pulling out his sword.
"Try it, King!" Of course, it was futile. Ichigo couldn't kill his hollow, any more than his hollow could kill him. They were the same person. But he could beat the living shit out of him, and their fight was absolutely vicious. By the time they were done, they were both hurt and panting. "Hehe. You look just as torn up as I am, King. Not much of a point." Ichigo snarled then spat on the ground in front of him. The hollow actually looked surprised. "You picking up bad habits from our pet already?"
"You disgust me! Don't you dare touch him again!" He snarled. "As soon as Zangetsu gets back, we'll put a stop to that!" Zangetsu could keep his hollow from reaching out, if the zanpakuto complied. The hollow frowned for a moment, then shrugged.
"Whine whine, bitch bitch. You better go help yer pet, he's managed to burn himself." Ichigo blinked and immediately turned his attention outward –
To find the kitchen full of smoke and Grimmjow swearing and holding his hand out and away from him, gripping his arm with his other hand. It only took him a moment to figure out what had happened. The eggs had burned while he'd been zoned out, and Grimmjow hadn't realized he needed to use a potholder to grip the pan. Now the cast iron frying pan was on the floor and charred eggs were everywhere. Ichigo bit his lip, gripping Grimmjow's elbow.
"Sorry. I just had a fight with my hollow. Let's put this under water." He turned on the kitchen sink, running cold water and guiding Grimmjow's hand under the flow. The Espada watched nervously, then winced as the cold water hit his palm. "Haven't you ever had a burn before?" Ichigo asked, a little puzzled. Grimmjow just looked away.
"Not like this. Just really bad shit, the kind of burns you go to the medic for. If my hierro were working worth shit that wouldn't have hurt." Grimmjow said and Ichigo frowned.
"Your hierro doesn't work?" That was strange. Grimmjow scowled, glancing up and meeting his eyes for a moment.
"You think I'm wearing this fucking collar for a fashion statement, Kurosaki?" Grimmjow said sullenly. "It drains my power. I don't have much hierro, I can hardly fly and I sure as fuck can't use a cero." For a moment it looked like he would say more, but then he clamped his lips shut and looked down at his feet.
"And he uses it to punish you." Ichigo said quietly. Grimmjow looked up then nodded shortly. "Grimmjow, I'm sorry. I'll take you to Urahara and see if he can remove it."
"He said if I just yanked it off, my neck would go with it." Grimmjow said darkly. Ichigo winced. "And it damned well hurts, if I pull on it."
"I see." Ichigo sighed and got some paper towels, cleaning up the mess on the floor and washing off the pan. Grimmjow retreated to the table as Ichigo began preparing another meal. He still made extra eggs, reasoning that Grimmjow might want to try them. "Here." He put the eggs on a plate for the Espada, seasoning them with a little salt and passing them over. "You can have some, anyway."
"Sure." Grimmjow muttered before trying the eggs. Then he shrugged. "They're okay." He didn't seem very enthusiastic, and Ichigo sighed to himself. Maybe Urahara could find some other way to feed Grimmjow, too. Otherwise, things would be getting rather embarrassing.
What, you don't want him to suck you off? I can tell you he's VERY good at it –
Shut. Up! Ichigo snarled at his inner hollow, cheeks going red as the creature replied by sending him a few memories. Memories of Grimmjow on his knees and – I said stop! Stop that right the fuck now! There was an echoing titter, but the hollow stopped sending him those memories, to Ichigo's relief.
As he ate he kept glancing at the man across from him. Grimmjow had a sullen, pissed off look on his face but he was keeping one arm over his abdomen, even when he ate. It made Ichigo ache to see because he was sure that Grimmjow was trying, subconsciously, to protect his cubs. From what? Everything.
It seemed so strange, to see the Espada so focused on something besides himself. Ichigo had thought of him as an egotistical maniac with an unquenchable lust for blood. He'd never imagined Grimmjow could have parental instincts.
That's because you don't know shit about hollows, King. The type a hollow is has a lot to do with the parenting style. If he were an insect or a reptile, those cubs could just go fuck themselves. But he's a feline and they'll protect their cubs to the death.
"I see." Ichigo said out loud and Grimmjow looked at him warily. "Grimmjow, um… I don't know much about how hollows reproduce. Could you tell me about it?"
"Sure, I guess." Grimmjow said indifferently. "Do you know anything about it?" Ichigo shook his head. "Okay. Until we reach Adjuchas, hollows have no sexual identity. In Adjuchas, we become… I think the word is hermaphrodites." Ichigo goggled a little at that. "We have both sexual parts, and can become pregnant or impregnate someone else. The reason for it is because the soul in charge can still switch at that stage, so the gender can change. When we reach Vasto Lorde, though, we fix into a permanent gender." Grimmjow paused and shrugged. "It's still pretty meaningless though. A female Vasto Lorde can impregnate a partner by shoving her reiatsu and genetic material through –"
"Okay." Ichigo said hurriedly. "I don't think I need to know any more about that." He was sure Grimmjow was going to tell him something really appalling, and the female variants didn't really matter to him at the moment. "How will you deliver the cubs?" He asked, then something occurred to him. "And you always say cubs… you think there will be more than one?" He asked apprehensively. He would end up helping to raise these children, since his hollow had all the parental instincts of a rabid hyena. That was a daunting thought, and more than one made it worse.
"Of course, Kurosaki. I'm a feline, we have litters. I don't know what the hell your hollow is." Grimmjow said and Ichigo frowned. He'd never thought about it before.
Lizard, of course. And we're even worse for littering than cats. You'll be lucky if he only has three. Ichigo winced at the cheerful malice in his hollow's tone. He should have guessed, from the tail he got when he fully hollowfied.
"As for delivering the cubs, my sex will change." Grimmjow said and Ichigo went a bit bug eyed at the thought. Change? "Stuff will move around and vanish to make room for the birth canal. We're spiritual so it's hardly a big deal."
"Uh, okay." That was incredibly creepy but there was nothing to do but go with it. Ichigo supposed it made sense, as much as any of this did. "Well, we had better go see Urahara. His store should be open by now. Are you ready?"
"Yeah, sure." Grimmjow seemed resigned to his fate. Ichigo noticed that he kept his arm firmly over his abdomen as he walked, though. It was really sort of sad and a little touching, seeing that kind of mothering instinct from a feral hollow.
He doubted anyone in Soul Society would agree, though, and for the first time in a long time Ichigo was glad that he'd been almost abandoned by the shinigami. He'd started seeing them again a week ago, but he'd thought his reiatsu would never fully recover so he hadn't bothered to make contact. And it seemed that his old friends were avoiding him. Not that it was a huge surprise, Ichigo supposed. Hanging around someone who couldn't see you would have to be a complete drag. And while they could have visited him in their gigai's, what was the point? He was supposed to be going back to being a normal teenager.
Now he knew his powers would come back completely. That was wonderful and Ichigo supposed he would have to tell them eventually, but hopefully long after Grimmjow had produced his cubs. Although, what would they do then? Ichigo bit his lip thinking about it, but then frowned. They would have to see what the cubs were like, first. Would they be more like arrancar or shinigami? Arrancar had very shinigami anatomy, from what Uryu had told him. And what would his hollow count as anyway? Shaking his head, he hoped that Urahara could give him some idea of what Grimmjow was carrying.
To say Urahara was surprised to see an arrancar in his shop would be an understatement, but he handled it well, smiling as he poured them tea. Grimmjow just looked it with disgust, then blinked as he was offered sugar.
"Sugar?" He questioned, looking at the white cubes. "What's that?" He took one and nibbled on it, before choking slightly. "Sweet!" He wrinkled his nose as Ichigo smiled and Urahara laughed.
"Yes, it's sweet, and it makes the tea much better. Try putting it in, you'll see." Grimmjow tilted his head to one side, looking like he'd had a minor revelation, and put the cube in the tea. After a bit of stirring he gave the liquid a cautious slip.
"That is better. Why the hell didn't Aizen give us some sugar? I couldn't figure out why he served us swamp water at our meetings." Grimmjow said and Urahara shrugged.
"Some tea purists feel that sugar ruins the flavor. I'm afraid I rather agree with you, though. Tea is a bit like rhubarb, it needs a bit of sweetness to get the best out of it." He said before giving Ichigo a searching look. "So, Ichigo, what is happening?" Ichigo sighed and gave the shopkeeper an abridged version of events. Urahara seemed very pleased, which was quite annoying. "Arrancar offspring! Absolutely fascinating. I've always wondered if it was possible, but I never expected to have a pregnant arrancar dropped in my lap, so to speak." Ichigo cringed to himself, glancing at Grimmjow. He was expecting some kind of outburst, but the Espada was just looking into his teacup, eyes vacant. "Can you please tell me about how hollows reproduce?" Grimmjow took a sip of his tea and Ichigo winced as he got to hear the explanation again, but this time in far more detail. Urahara wanted to hear all about the female variations, but Ichigo cringed a little inside. Shoving genetic material through their tongues? Really? "So a female Vasto Lorde could impregnate a male Vasto Lorde?"
"I guess. I've never heard of anyone doing it, though. And Vasto Lorde are fucking rare, so it'd normally be a Vasto Lorde and an Adjuchas." Grimmjow took another sip of his tea, then shrugged. "Or an arrancar now." He said, his face empty. Ichigo swallowed, almost wishing for the feral ball of aggressiveness that was Grimmjow. He hadn't liked being used as a punching bag, but it was still better than seeing his enemy so… broken.
Oh, he's not broken King. I didn't want a broken toy. He's just afraid for his cubs. His hollow snickered, and Ichigo thought longingly about punching the white bastard in the face. He'll go back to his usual self after he kits. In fact, he'll probably be worse, hehe.
"What do you mean?" He whispered as Urahara peppered Grimmjow with more questions.
He's a panther, King, not a lion. Panthers are solitary hunters and the male of the pair is nothing but a danger to the cubs. He'll probably try to drive you away, after they're born. His hollow supplied helpfully and Ichigo grimaced. He hoped Grimmjow would be able to control his instincts at least a bit. And why should he? You are his enemy, after all.
"Shut up. Just… shut up." Ichigo said in an undertone before looking up. "Urahara, can you take that collar off him? My hollow did something to fuse it with his reiatsu. It's draining him constantly." Urahara nodded cheerfully, standing up.
"We can see. Follow me, Grimmjow-kun." He said and Grimmjow grunted, pulling himself up and following the shopkeeper. Ichigo watched as Urahara sat him down on a cot, and began to run some undecipherable tests. Then he bit his lip as a small frown began to develop on Urahara's face. "I've never seen anything quite like this." He said softly, gently tugging on the collar. That small gesture made Grimmjow flinch. "It actually seems to be spun from your own power. Do you know how he made it?"
"No idea. He beat the living shit out of me and did it while I was unconscious." Grimmjow admitted, and Kisuke's frown grew.
"I have several ideas for how it could be removed, but they would all need more testing. And, to be honest, I'm loathe to try any of them at the moment. They could easily disrupt your reiatsu, which wouldn't kill you but could easily be fatal to the developing reiatsu inside you." He said and Grimmjow snarled, putting an arm protectively around himself.
"Then it will have to wait." Ichigo said firmly, gently putting a hand on Grimmjow's shoulder. The arrancar twitched at the contact but didn't pull away. He let his hand drop before bringing up the next problem. "Um, Urahara… do you think you can come up with a way to feed him? My hollow was… was…" Ichigo couldn't help the blush as Urahara gave him a very interested look. "Making him…"
"For fuck's sake, Kurosaki, just spit it out or let me tell him." Grimmjow growled and Ichigo found he just couldn't say it. "Fine. He was making me blow him off to feed on this dumbasses' reiatsu."
"Oh." Kisuke blinked, then laughed. The two other occupants of the room were not the least bit amused. "I'm sorry, Grimmjow-kun, that's just such a strange thought! Well… you should be able to transfer your reiatsu to him, Ichigo. However, the skill involved is very similar to kido and I seem to recall that's always been your weakest point. We'll have to work on it." Urahara said, then smiled. "In fact, let's begin right now."
At first, the lesson wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, when they got to the part that involved Grimmjow, things went bad in a hurry.
"FUCK!" The blue haired arrancar writhed away and Ichigo winced, letting his reiatsu dissipate. "Are you trying to kill me?!"
"At least it didn't explode." Urahara said helpfully as Grimmjow froze, looking furious. "I honestly thought it might. Oh, don't be so angry Grimmjow-kun, it would only have been surface burns." That only seemed to piss off the Espada more. "There is one thing I want to try. Hold still." Urahara used his own power then, forming a delicate ball and gently pressing it into the arrancar. Grimmjow went still, his head tilted to one side. Then he frowned, rubbing his chest.
"That helped, but only a little." He said and Urahara nodded, unsurprised.
"I could give you more, but not that often. Ichigo's reiatsu seems to have an amazingly renewable quality, even now." He said and Ichigo frowned, wondering if he'd just been complimented. "I think I could give you a full meal perhaps once a week, and you need to feed every day?"
"When I'm feeding like this, yeah." Grimmjow scowled. "It's like starvation rations, shinigami. I normally eat thousands of souls at once. A good Adjuchas could last me for weeks." Then the Espada shrugged. "This works and it feels okay, but it doesn't last." Urahara nodded, frowning slightly.
"Well, Ichigo will just have to keep trying to master the art of feeding you with his power. Until then, you'll have to do it the natural way." He said with an amused smile. Grimmjow looked away as Ichigo's jaw dropped.
"Wait… you really mean I'll have to…?" He said, appalled. He was still a virgin and Kisuke expected him to let Grimmjow…? The Espada turned his head to glare at him.
"Yeah, I'm fucking thrilled too Kurosaki! Just shut the hell up." He said grumpily and Ichigo winced, looking away. That made him feel like a jackass for protesting. Of course Grimmjow didn't want to suck him off. He could imagine what this was doing to the arrancar's pride. "Now, can you tell how many I'm carrying?" He asked Urahara, and Ichigo thought he was genuinely interested in the answer. Not a surprise, though, Grimmjow seemed heavily focused on his cubs.
It took a while, but Urahara finally established that Grimmjow was carrying three cubs. As far as he could determine, they were all healthy, but it was too early for him to tell much about them. He couldn't determine the genders or anything about their natures, to Ichigo's disappointment. Grimmjow didn't seem surprised, but then, he'd have had a better idea of how far along he was.
"I think it's time for lunch! I know its summer vacation, Ichigo, but will your family be expecting you home?" Ichigo shook his head. Karin and Yuzu were off playing with their friends and his dad was at the clinic. No one would miss him a bit. "Then please stay. There are a few more tests I would like to run on Grimmjow before you leave." The Espada didn't look very happy at that, but he didn't say anything as Urahara prepared a meal. Ichigo watched him from the corner of his eye and frowned as Grimmjow pulled the shoulder of his sweater down a bit so he could lick himself. That was odd. But his concern vanished as the food arrived. It was good, and he was pretty hungry. It had been a long time since breakfast. Grimmjow only picked at his food and Ichigo wondered if the arrancar even considered it edible.
The second set of tests was much quicker than the first, but Urahara was frowning more often. He had Grimmjow disrobe, and Ichigo winced to himself as he carefully probed the old marks on the arrancar's body.
"I'm going to give you some healing." Urahara said quietly and Grimmjow just nodded. Healing kido's filled his hands, gently caressing the abused flesh. Some of the scars visibly shrank, and some discolorations Ichigo had hardly noticed vanished or lessened. Urahara examined his work for a moment and nodded. "I think that will do. You can get dressed. Ichigo, can we speak privately for a moment?" Ichigo nodded as Grimmjow pulled his clothes back on.
"What's wrong?" Ichigo said softly as soon as they were out of the room. Urahara gave him a look like he was an idiot.
"Aside from the fact that he's been tortured?" Ichigo bit his lip and Urahara sighed. "There's no other way to describe it, Ichigo. Those wounds are all quite fresh, despite the superficial healed appearance." Ichigo blinked at that, surprised. He'd thought the wounds were all months old. "I expect they will eventually heal without scarring. For now, though, try to keep him from overexerting himself. Several of those wounds could reopen if he does."
"I…" Ichigo swallowed, then squared his shoulders. "I'll do my best. But this is Grimmjow we're talking about." He remembered the first time they'd met, and tried to imagine telling the Espada to calm down and not take it so rough. Yeah, that would have gone over well. Of course, right now things were different, but that was not a good thing.
"Remind him that he could endanger the cubs if he gets too energetic." Urahara advised him and Ichigo nodded. That would probably work without bruising the Espada's pride further. "Now, what are you going to tell your family?"
"Um…" Ichigo dearly wished he could lie. But… "The truth I guess. If the babies are more shinigami than anything, we'll have to get them gigai's and try to raise them here. Can you put a baby in a gigai?" He asked, a little apprehensively. But Kisuke nodded.
"It's been done before. You just have to change the gigai often, to match the child's rate of growth. Well, good luck Ichigo!" He smiled, glancing back at the room they had left Grimmjow in. "I think you're going to need it." Ichigo grimaced at that, shaking his head.
He honestly couldn't agree more.