Otherworld

by ShadowThorne

A BIRTHDAY GIFT FOR STORM! After ship troubles, a family is forced to land on an abandoned planet. Their young son goes missing in hostile territory and is found by something dangerous and intelligent but not quite human. Little Grimmjow is taken in by the native creature and taught how to survive in the wild. Fluff, Eventual GrimmShiro, Alien themes. Rated for future events.

3. Chapter 3

Finally, I know... X'D Forgive me. To make up for how long updates for this story took, this chapter is exceptionally long.

Hopefully you enjoy!

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"Ya don't really r'member much 'bout it, do ya?"

They sat in a patch of sun, resting after hiking for hours, since the sun's rise much earlier that morning. The air was cool around them, still clinging to the tail end of winter in the region they'd been traveling through. It was strange that they were starting their seasonal migration so early, but Shiro had insisted. Their destination was the little cave that nestled in the side of an inland cliff, very near where the native had originally found the human boy.

Grimmjow shook his head, a chill working up his spine as the cool breeze pushed through the trees and wrapped around them. The chill didn't seem to really register to Shiro, but he did notice the young man's shiver. He nudged a folded up fur towards Grimmjow, but the young human shook his head, determined to act like he didn't need it, since his older companion didn't.

Shiro smirked a bit, and scooted closer so that they sat hip to hip. He leaned against the human, slinging an arm around his back as he huffed a hot, affectionate breath against Grimmjow's bare shoulder. His tail slowly resettled to wrap around behind the human, further enveloping him in the native's natural body heat.

Grimmjow hummed his appreciation and relief, "You're warm." He earned a lilting chuckle from the older creature, before he continued, "Why did we leave so early this time? It's still cold here... And we haven't even made it as far as the cave yet."

It had been more than a week since Grimmjow had returned. Just as he'd promised the sleeping young man, that next morning, Shiro had come clean about the day he'd found and kept a little, human boy. He'd told Grimmjow everything, recalling fondly how, even as a foreign, nameless child, Grimmjow had been fearless and walked right up to him, pulling on his hair and trying to mimic his snarling growls. Then in sullen tones, he'd told Grimmjow what he could remember of his real parents. It wasn't much, Shiro had never seen them, only heard them. He told the young man how, when he'd clung to Shiro as his parents had called for him, the native had been unable to leave him alone in the woods for his real parents to find. So instead, he'd picked him up and taken him back to his lonely, empty home, leaving the older humans to wander and search.

Shiro had no loyalty towards the human race. He had no reason to be fair or just with the human couple, even if they hadn't even been alive when the invaders had destroyed Shiro's clan. The thought of leaving such a fragile, innocent child in the hands of what Shiro had viewed as dangerous, monstrous creatures... Shiro didn't regret what he'd done, and he let Grimmjow know that too. He didn't regret the pain and anguish he'd probably inflicted upon the lad's human parents, and he certainly didn't regret having Grimmjow around.

After the retelling was done, Grimmjow had been quiet for a long time. He'd wondered if he should have been angry again, angry about what Shiro had done. When put into words, the whole thing sounded selfish and wrong, cruel almost, but Grimmjow didn't feel like he'd been wronged. He didn't feel like he'd been taken away from his family. Shiro felt like family.

After a long and trying ordeal, they'd spent the entirety of that day resting, cuddled close and in the comfort of each other. When the sun had marked midday and hunger had interrupted their napping, Shiro had sat up, straightening into a languid stretch and groaning as his body adjusted to the movement. Grimmjow had been able to see that the native hadn't done well in taking care of himself while he'd been gone. Those few months showed in the creature's already lean body.

Frowning and feeling responsible, Grimmjow had insisted upon doing the hunting that time around.

Of course Shiro had protested, 'It's fine, Grimm, I can-'

But Grimmjow had given him a surprisingly stern look, 'I know you can, but you're not,' and framed pale features in big hands, 'You're going to sit and rest while I take care of you this time.'

A little taken aback by the unexpected stubbornness and determination, Shiro had fallen quiet for a moment, before he relaxed and nodded. He curled back up in the comfort of their nest of furs, and bid his young charge to be careful and smart while he was hunting. As he had watched Grimmjow walk away, skin tan and smooth in the sunlight and shoulders broad from an active life, he couldn't help but again marvel at how much his companion had grown up. Right before his eyes, Grimmjow had turned into a man.

That had been more than a week ago, now.

Shiro smirked against smooth skin. "It'll start warmin' up soon 'nough."

"That still doesn't answer why." Grimmjow pointed out.

The native snorted an amused sound, "A couple reasons." He answered, "For one, we needed ta leave and let the forest and the animal population recover from what I did ta it..." In his depression and worry over Grimmjow's leaving, he'd depleted the immediate hunting grounds of game. Tipping the balance like that was detrimental to not only himself and Grimmjow, but the rest of the living ecosystem in the area. "But also b'cause... I wanna show ya where it happened. It's real close ta the cave, and there's human made things, left from the first time they landed here..." His strange gaze remained lowered, "I thought...maybe ya'd be interested, since..."

Grimmjow smiled, and rested his cheekbone against the top of Shiro's head as he nodded.

"I dunno what most of it is." Shiro continued, his distorted voice quiet in the stillness of their surroundings. He shrugged a bit, not moving from where he'd half curled against Grimmjow's side to lend his warmth to the boy. The blue haired young man was nearly his size - still weighed less, less tightly muscled from the lack of years of honing his body - but he stood nearly as tall as Shiro himself. "Some of it still works...dunno what it does, but it still..." He paused, trying to figure out how to say what he was trying to tell the younger, "it lights up, like the sun-" He brought his hands in front of them, cupping them like he held something in his palms "-but much smaller and in different colors. And it's all made outta somethin' hard and shiny. It's like wood, I guess, or rock, but it don't rot or smell natural and it's real hard. Almost impossible ta break or bend."

Grimmjow listened on in mixed fascination. He couldn't really remember anything like what Shiro was describing, as far back as he could remember, he had always been surrounded by green forests and dark soil, but for some reason, he didn't find the thought of what the native said hard to believe. That didn't make it any less intriguing, any less fascinating, though.

Against him, he felt Shiro shrug a small motion again, and felt as hot air crested across his shoulder in a long, drawn out sigh. In a comforting gesture, he turned his face and nuzzled against colorless hair in a way that mimicked the motion of fondness Shiro always did. He felt more than saw as the creature's dour expression alleviated and a small smile took it's place.

"You don't really like it there, do you?" The younger asked, still pressed close to ward off the chill in the air. He spoke against white hair, his voice quiet.

Shiro hummed a short, low sound. It vibrated in his chest, against his companion's arm. "Nah, not really." He admitted, "...too much ta think 'bout. The smell lingers."

A slight frown creased Grimmjow's brows. He wasn't naive enough to not understand Shiro's meaning, but then, "Why do we always go back to the cave? We don't have to, we could find somewhere else, couldn't we?"

The native grunted out the smallest of chuckles, nearly soundless, more of a motion and an exhale. "We could...but I can't. And I don't wanna."

Grimmjow's frown deepened as he lifted his head slightly, just enough to look down at the head resting on his shoulder still. Shiro didn't wait for him to inquire though, and smiled a bit as he started to pull away. He climbed to his feet in an easy, fluid motion, his long tail swishing out behind him, and turned to look back at his charge as the human followed his lead.

Only once Grimmjow was on his feet and the two were moving through the trees again, did he speak, "Not all a the memories 're bad ones."

They spent hours hiking through the old forest, surrounded by the earthy smells of decay and the fresh scent of new growth, brought about by early spring. For the most part, as they moved between enormous trees bigger around than Grimmjow, silence settled between them. It was a comfortable quiet though, one born of habit. It wasn't entirely necessary anymore, but when he'd been little, Shiro had taught Grimmjow the importance of keeping quiet and watchful while out and about. There were things dangerous to a child or an inexperienced young man out there.

At one point, they crossed a small stream, crisp, clear water flowing in gentle currents. Shiro had simply stepped through it and Grimmjow, not putting much thought into it, followed only to be quickly reminded that his elder didn't hold the same sensitivity to temperature that he did. Flowing from higher ground where snow still covered the peaks of mountains and rain was still mixed with ice, the water in the stream was so cold it nearly hurt. From then on, Grimmjow was careful to leap the streams and pools they came across that couldn't simply be walked around.

Later, as darkness fell, Shiro found them a place to rest, silently letting Grimmjow know they hadn't quite neared their destination just yet. Had they been close, Shiro would have led them on through the night.

Nearing the base of a truly massive tree, Shiro cocked his head and looked up it's trunk for a few moments, before he turned to Grimmjow.

"We stay offa the ground tanight." He told his companion, nostrils flaring slightly in a way that Grimmjow had long ago recognized as Shiro taking in various scents around them. They were things that the human couldn't pick up, so he had to trust Shiro's judgement.

Looking up the length of the tree, blue eyes coasted over the crisscross maze of thick, sturdy branches and frowned. Redirecting his gaze to the native, he tilted his head in a silent, curious gesture.

"Might be nothin', but…" When he trailed off, Grimmjow finished the thought for him.

"If you want to survive, you play safe." Nodding, the blue haired young man circled the tree, before finding a good handhold in the thick, gnarled bark of the tree and began working his way upward.

Shiro waited for him to climb a man's length up, before he refocused his attention on the base of the trunk. Old marks scarred areas, scoring the bark in pale, weathered slashes. He pressed his fingertips to the beginnings of the trails, before flexing the digits so that his black claws dug into the bark. His claws shredded through the overgrown markings, refreshing them once more, as he'd done countless times in the past and as other members of his tribe had done before him. The trees around them showed similar marks, but those were mostly grown over, like faded scars, only visible if one knew what they were looking for.

After he'd visually marked the tree, he scent marked it as well. From already high above, Grimmjow peered down with something like fascination, because if Shiro was going to such lengths to unmistakably claim his presence and show his dominance, whatever he thought was in the area must have been potentially very dangerous. Grimmjow hadn't seen him mark so thoroughly anything other then their seasonal dens since he was just a child, when Shiro had to leave him behind to go hunting.

After he'd finished and was satisfied, long legs coiled before Shiro leapt nearly a man's height. His dark claws sank into the bark, finding purchase for him. Then he pulled himself up, effortlessly scaling the rest of the giant trunk until he reached the lower branches, where sat his companion. Together, they wound their way up a few more levels, the branches thick and sturdy below their weight, until Shiro decided they were high enough. The last rays of vibrant light sank below the distant horizon as they settled down for the night, perched dangerously far from the ground.

Hours later, as Grimmjow hovered in a state just before sleep, a warm, solid weight slowly, gently settled across his lap and curled around his side with a protective but not harsh strength. He grunted a sleepy but amused sound and cracked blue eyes open to look over at Shiro. The long, slim tail below his hands held a surprisingly high body temperature. It was rare that Shiro let him anywhere near the appendage, especially since he'd accidentally stepped upon it a few times now… It was smoother toward the base, like the rest of the creature's skin. Closer to the tip was almost scaly, and dark markings wound clear down its length, a match to the marks that marred the pale skin of the native's chest and shoulders. Having nothing to compare to, Grimmjow had never really put much thought into it, but like the various fetishes tied through pale hair, they had once been a symbol of Shiro's status in his tribe.

Perched upon the branch nearest him, a quiet hint of a rumbling purr escaped upon Shiro's steady exhales, letting the human know that his companion was indeed asleep where he half curled against the trunk of the tree, those wicked claws sank into the branch below him. Grimmjow smiled in the dark, realizing that the need to protect him had become so second nature for Shiro that the native did it even in his sleep.

Stretching a bit, and wiggling enough to get comfortable again, Grimmjow settled back and prepared to return to his resting when a deep, baritone sound weaved hauntingly through the air. His blue eyes snapped wide, brows furrowing a bit, as he leaned to the side enough to scan the ground below them. The tail draped across his front tightened with his shift in weight.

Below him, a large, furred shape nosed around the ground. Its long, flexible snout dug through the earth, shoveling it away in order to crunch down on whatever it had found. Another of the same creature plodding about nearby reared up, standing on its sturdy hind legs and planting its forepaws against a tree. Its raised head nearly reached the lowest of the branches. Around them, as his eyes adjusted to the dark, several dozen, massive shadows moved in near silence through the forest, between trees and rooting up the soil.

As the one closest to them wandered closer to the base of the tree they rested in, Grimmjow watched its head come up almost sharply. Large, yellowed tusks jutted from its bottom jaw and three sets of beady eyes scanned the area. The snout wiggled back and forth as it sniffed, cautiously nearing the trunk of the tree. When it got within a meter, it groaned a low, unhappy sound, massive shoulders heaving as it turned away so sharply in nearly skidded in the dirt. It let out another low, haunting sound and those around it looked over, before mimicking the sound. The call traveled outward through the herd, passing on for miles, warning the other members of the possible danger.

Grimmjow jolted in surprise as a quiet voice whispered behind him. He hadn't even felt as Shiro woke up and crept onto the same branch he'd been crouched upon.

"They ain't real mean unless ya piss 'em off. Just real big." The native said quietly. In the dark, his golden eyes flashed, reflecting what little moonlight reached between the canopy of branches above.

"I've never seen them before…" Grimmjow told his companion, almost in awe as he watched the massive, mammalian beasts roam.

At his back, Shiro smirked a fond expression, "They migrate, followin' the cold the way we follow the warm." He pointed north east, "They're headed toward the higher ground, where they'll hide up in the mountains till winter returns ta this area."

Grimmjow glanced at him, before turning back to the one still nearest them, as it began rooting around in the dirt at the base of a different tree. "What are they doing?"

"Eatin'. They're so big, they eat constantly." Shiro explained, keeping his voice low. "They'll eat just 'bout anythin'. Mostly roots and tubers and insects, but they scavenge half rotted carcasses when they come across 'em and I've seen 'em kill things bigger than us when threatened. They'll eat what they kill too."

Grimmjow was in awe as he watched the massive creatures wander past them below. Their silence was incredible for how big they were, but it came with the natural grace of such an enormous thing.

By morning, the animals were long gone. Grimmjow was woken up by Shiro as the native shifted and stood, stretching out the lean lines of his body. He wasted little time in making his way down from the tree, landing on solid earth with the soft sound of his weight hitting the ground. Grimmjow followed, but climbed further down the trunk before dropping. The differences in their physiology was more and more pronounced the older Grimmjow got, and the less he relied on Shiro for simple things, but they made due.

As Shiro had done since Grimmjow had been but a child, the pale creature paused once they were both on the ground, and let silence settle around them as he attuned himself to their surroundings. It was a skill that Grimmjow was developing, but his senses weren't as strong as the inhuman native's. Once Shiro was satisfied that all was well enough in the area, they set off for another several hours of mostly quiet journeying.

Before the sun was even at its highest point in the sky, the area they traveled through began looking vaguely familiar. Because of the extensive territory the native controlled, still his from long ago times when he'd had an entire clan backing his strength, and the way seasons worked on their planet, their migration patterns were wide and extensive. The pattern Shiro seemed to follow instinctively didn't overlap often, and it'd been nearly ten years since they'd been through this corner of Shiro's territory.

Soon enough, the trees began thinning here and there, and the ground grew rougher. Rocky outcroppings dotted the forest floor and the soil was uneven and corse with rock and clay. With the way they'd stopped and rested for the entirety of the night, Grimmjow had guessed they still had at least an entire day's worth of travel in front of them, but as midday approached, the inland cliff that the cave was nestled in loomed over them through the trees.

Grimmjow looked up at the sheer face of jagged, uninviting rock as they approached its base. Shiro smirked over at him fondly.

"D'ya remember this place?" He asked as he lifted his features skyward and sniffed the air. He was confident nothing had attempted to claim his grounds, though, since this particular den was always a well fortified one. This was the place most of his tribe had taken to when heavy with child for that very same reason. Looking back, it had been the perfect place to raise a young child in the closest thing to safety this world would allow for.

Grimmjow smiled a bit, and nodded, "Kind of. I remember picking out toys and playing with bugs mostly." He laughed, even as the very slightest hint of a flush colored his features with the childish memories. His voice was a rich sound now, but no less joyful than the childish giggles that used to mark his amusement.

It was a pleasant sound and Shiro's smile widened to a truly happy expression. Good memories indeed.

They took a few minutes to scale the rock face and poke around the cave for a while, clearing out the evidence of their absence and refresh the various markings that proved it was Shiro's territory and home. They relaxed in the company of each other while they ate, but Shiro didn't put the inevitable off for long. He'd decided they would set off early for a reason, and now they'd made it to their destination.

Without a word, he made his way to the edge of the cave and began working his way down again. Grimmjow only watched for half a second, feeling how heavy the air seemed to grow in the short moment it took his companion to cross the expanse of their home, before he followed and began climbing back to ground level too.

Shiro waited for him to catch up, then set off into the forest.

Grimmjow sent him a sidelong glance and frowned a bit. He didn't need to ask where they were headed, he could easily recognize the native's mood. Despite the somber tone that had settled to the air around his elder, Grimmjow couldn't help a bubble of excitement and curiosity. He was finally going to get to see something of his past, something of who he was supposed to have been. Shiro had raised him. Shiro had taken care of him, fed him, protected him. He loved Shiro, but now that he finally understood what he was, he couldn't help but want to know more.

The trek through the forest was a quiet one, surrounded by nothing but the smell of old rot and the sounds of leaves crunching softly underfoot. Birds chirped in the distance, high above in tree tops. The chill from the early season clung between the trees, making the earth cool below bare feet.

When they neared the area Shiro had been leading them to, the change to the surroundings was obvious, even before the structures came into view. The trees weren't as old, twisted and thick and strong, but not as old and wise as the rest of the forest. Their roots twisted and snaked out across the ground in a maze; natural order trying to reclaim its damaged land.

Then they left the trees and stepped onto cleared ground and yellowed, winter-stunted grasses and Grimmjow froze as he took it all in with a sort of childish wonder. He thought maybe, somewhere in the very back of his mind, he could remember something like this from when he was much, much younger. But only just. More like deja vu than an actual memory.

Not twenty paces before them, concrete and metal the likes of which Shiro had only ever seen right there, broke the healthy, living forest. It crumbled here and there, weathered by age and the fury of nature. Moss and vines crept across other sections. Still others bled a reddish, muddy orange as the exposed metal succumbed to rust.

The structure itself was flat, though built high enough off the ground that one would have to step up a good two or so feet to be upon it. Lining both sides of what the airmen would have known to be the runway and landing strip, every ten paces or so a small, rounded light blinked at regular intervals. One row of lights was a bright, obvious blue, the other an equally bright orange. Some had of course long since been broken, the colored glass lost to the forest floor.

After taking it all in for a moment, Grimmjow glanced over at his companion and when he received the barest of nods, he had to refrain from rushing by his elder to closer inspect the runway. His eagerness was still obvious though, and Shiro smirked as he followed at a much more sedate pace.

"This is where my real parents came from?" The young man asked, hoisting himself up the few feet onto the flattened runway. The texture was rough against his skin, unlike the softness of the rich soil he was used to. It was hard like rock, and held the sun's warmth nearly as well, but it lacked the smoothness of being shaped by water or wind.

"Hmm…not exactly." Shiro easily hopped up to stand upon the platform at the younger's side. He stayed close, keeping an eye on the young human, but gave Grimmjow his space and didn't impede with his exploring, "They came from-" With something of a thoughtful sound, he motioned straight up, through the parting in the canopy and towards the sky, "-somewhere else. They didn't have anythin' ta do with buildin' this either, but others like them did, many seasons b'fore they came. I found you- or I guess you found me -just on the other side of the tree line over there." He again pointed.

Grimmjow let his gaze follow the direction, then looked back to his guardian, "Were you hiding from them?" Then he paused, tilting his head fractionally, "Or hunting them?"

Shiro chuckled, "Neither. I was sleepin' and didn't even know they'd come until you woke me. Their, mm…" Struggling with what to call the thing they'd landed in, he trailed off in thought, using one hand laid flat in the air as if to show the object descending. But the answer came to Grimmjow and the young man provided the foreign word for him, in a language Shiro didn't understand.

Pale brows arched ever so slightly -he hadn't heard the young human speak like that in years, and only usually when he was asleep and dreaming- before furrowing in an equally slight manner as the creature shook his head a bit.

"Ship." Grimmjow repeated in the human tongue. Truthfully, he hadn't even realized he wasn't speaking Shiro's language at first. When Shiro had gestured, he hadn't put thought into it, he'd just…known. "That's what it's called, it's a ship."

Shiro scrunched up his features like the word felt strange on his tongue, but carefully pronounced the foreign sounds, "Ship…" The young man smiled at his effort, and laughed at how strange the simple word sounded in his odd voice, "When it landed, it was under the cover of a storm. I didn't hear it until you came splashin' through the puddles."

As Shiro explained, they followed the length of the runway, Grimmjow in the lead and setting their pace. He paused at everything that caught his eye; cracks in the cement where the rebar structure below showed through, faded, nearly invisible lines and markings of different colored paint, a few of the lights that still worked and even some of the ones that didn't.

Once they made it to the end, they paused and Grimmjow took his time in curiously and wondrously looking around the outside of the small, abandoned control station. When he made it clear around the little brick and concrete structure and to the door, he pushed it further open with a painful creak of rusted hinges. Behind him, Shiro winced with the sharp sound, but said nothing and patiently stood outside.

Inside the single room building was much the same as it was outside; in a state of disrepair and mild ruin. Vines and dried leaves crept through a broken window as the natural world around them tried to reclaim the ground it had lost. Broken glass littered the floor in one corner. An old chair on wheels sat over turned against one wall where it had been thrown. The once shining metal was corroded and the supple leather was torn and half rotted.

Wires of different colors hung from the bottom of the control board that formed a desk like area, taking up the entirety of the wall facing the runway. The large double pane windows there were grime smeared and green tinted, but still mostly intact.

What really held Grimmjow's attention, though, was all the moving parts and colored lights of the control board. Dirty and rusted and weathered as it was, it still had power. Grimmjow nor Shiro understood it, but the sun fed it through solar panels that had been mounted upon the roof of the building. They would continue to run as long as there was still sunlight to power them.

Shiro poked his head through the open doorway, peeking around the corner. His inverted eyes trailed the room in a slow sweep, than landed on the young human. He watched for a few moments, as Grimmjow ran long fingers across the keys. "Like I said… I dunno what any of it does, I never really tried ta figure it out."

Grimmjow glanced at him, still standing before the controls and noted the way the native seemed reluctant to actually cross the threshold. He couldn't blame Shiro for his wariness, though, not after the stories he'd been told. He smiled at his companion, then went back to his curious study. "Thank you for bringing me here."

"You deserve ta know." Shiro told him, his odd voice a soft and quiet sound. Then he turned and left his young charge in peace, and moved to sit on a wide set of concrete stairs that led up to the building, his tail curled around his side to coil at his feet.

Still inside, Grimmjow tapped at the fiberglass dome of a little red light that began blinking with renewed life. He frowned at it in curiosity, unknowing of what it meant, or what the faded, printed word was that labeled it as the distress signal.

When he was done exploring for the time being, it was well into the evening. The sun was beginning its decent, lengthening the shadows and casting the concrete runway in a pool of darkness. The heat it had held earlier, while in the sun, evaporated as it took on the coolness of night.

The two returned to their cave, bedding down for the night. After the long journey and the obvious stress of returning to the landing strip, Shiro was worn out. When they arrived, he scaled the cliff and wasted no time in curling up in a corner, asleep before Grimmjow had even joined him for the night.

It was a rare thing, and the young man took his time in nesting down at the native's side, careful not to disturb him. He too fell asleep, curled against the curve of Shiro's spine, one arm thrown carelessly across the creature's ribcage.

That next morning was a calm, lazy one. Grimmjow hadn't quite been old enough when Shiro had found him, but for the native, it was a nostalgic one too.

He woke up to the movement of the warm body pressed against him and rolled over to watch as Grimmjow yawned and began climbing to his feet. He was pleased to see that the young man seemed to be in higher spirits after his months of discontent.

A cool breeze fluttered through the cave and the human shivered as he stretched, but the air smelled of warmer weather to come. He half glanced over at his older companion as he wandered toward the opening in the cave.

Shiro pushed his arms under himself, lifting his upper half in an arching stretch. He half nodded as he met startlingly blue eyes, "Careful, there's still some of the winter beasts late inta their migration."

"I will be." Grimmjow assured as he started easing himself over the ledge.

"If ya run inta trouble, just yell." Shiro called after him, "I'll hear ya."

He received a vague wave from a hand that shot back up over the ledge and grunted a laugh. Grimmjow had been a fearless child, and he was growing into a fearless adult. He couldn't blame the lad for his curiosity though. This cave, the surrounding forest, and the unnatural structures built within were all he had left of his real kin, of who he was supposed to have been.

So Shiro let him explore, trusting that -after everything that had happened- Grimmjow would be more straightforward with his questions and his thoughts. There was really only one way to insure that a child could and would grow into a strong and successful adult, and that was to let them venture and learn -sometimes through trial and error- on their own after they'd been taught what could be. So while Shiro didn't completely cease his affectionate and almost parental nurturing, he did take a step back still, though not to the extreme that he had during their months of estrangement, and mostly only when Grimmjow seemed to want his space.

He wasn't a vulnerable little runt anymore, after all.

Soon enough, the warmer weather arrived and the last of the cold storm fronts blew over. With the change in season came rain, as was characteristic of this particular area. The tropical climate meant plenty of low hanging fog and hot, misty days.

Grimmjow and Shiro hunted together at least weekly. Most of the prey to be found was smaller, evolved and specialized to live in a region with less open land and more rocky outcroppings, but the two didn't go hungry. Food in the area was plentiful, and the trees budded with healthy, green life and fruits ripened.

They spent their days mostly amongst the forest, outside of the cliffside cave, stalking through the underbrush after prey, or lounging in the cool shade when the rain let up. Unlike when he'd been a child, Grimmjow had no reservations about eating his fruits and veggies.

On one particularly relaxed afternoon, with the sun hot and high overhead, a medium sized troop of creatures passed by through the trees overhead. They mostly ignored the two larger creatures lounging below, hooting and chattering and squeaking amongst themselves like social animals tend to do. One younger, curious member stopped though, peering down at them through the leafy branches.

Grimmjow looked back up at it, a bit of a frown furrowing his brow, only vaguely remembering his previous encounter with this kind of animal. Shiro remembered in detail, though, and he curled his lip, but his brief anger didn't last. The event that had caused it had been years and years ago now. The culprit was no doubt long dead, and Grimmjow wasn't so little and fragile any longer. This animal posed no threat to either of them.

After a moment of watching the juvenile, Shiro glanced over at Grimmjow and handed him a large, bright red globe of fruit, the hard coating that normally protected it already peeled away to make eating it easier. When the young man glanced at him in curiosity, Shiro motioned toward the ape-like animal and backed up a few steps, before lowering himself to sit crosslegged, hunched over slightly. His tail coiled slowly around his side, crossing over his legs so that the tip settled on his other side. The way he sat made him look about as small and unthreatening as he could look, and Grimmjow arched blue brows as he turned back to the curious little animal watching them.

He held out the ripe fruit, squeezing a little so that the soft skin split and sweet smelling juices dripped down his fingers. The animal's chin lifted as it sniffed the air and crept a little lower through the tree.

Shiro watched through a curtain of long, damp white hair, a small smile curling his lips. He remained motionless, making himself seem as harmless as possible.

Grimmjow motioned the fruit a little, staying quiet and still otherwise. He watched with a bit of awe as the animal, younger and smaller than himself, cautiously made its way yet lower, until it dropped from the tree and stood on level ground. It dropped its upper half, so that its weight rested on sturdy fingers and eyed the human carefully, big grey eyes darting over to Shiro every so often.

After several long seconds and tiny, skittish hops, the animal was close enough to reach out and grab the fruit from Grimmjow's hand. The human let it, smiling as he very slowly lowered his empty hand.

The animal sat in front of him just long enough to move the fruit to its mouth, where it held it there between large canine teeth. Then it hopped back to its feet and sprang for the nearest, low hanging branch it could reach. It paused once off the ground, though, and glanced back down at the human that had given it such a tasty treat, before turning and rushing off to catch up to its troop.

Grimmjow watched it go, before turning back to see Shiro straighten to a less submissive position. Climbing to his feet, he crossed the few steps between them and lowered himself again, seated at the pale creature's side. Leaning to the side enough to half nuzzle against long, white hair, Grimmjow pushed an affectionate breath through his nose.

Nothing needed to be said. Grimmjow understood; not everything was afraid of him, just because he was human.

Grimmjow licked the juices from his fingers and they went back to eating in peace, lounging and resting and generally being lazy as the sun beat down from high above the canopy.

Later in the evening, as it began cooling off a bit, they wandered through the forest and the rocky outcroppings that dotted the landscape here and there, patrolling Shiro's territory. With full bellies, they padded through lush underbrush and around thick tree trunks and it began to dawn on Grimmjow, and on Shiro also; this was no longer Shiro's territory. It was theirs, both of theirs.

Days passed, weeks, months. The seasons were longer on the planet Shiro had been born to than the one Grimmjow had been. Whole earth years could pass in the span of a season on Shiro's planet, and so another birthday came and went unnoticed, pushing Grimmjow further into his teens.

He grew by the day; always hungry like a growing young man should be. Luckily he could do much of his own hunting, but Shiro didn't mind helping, despite that his metabolism was much slower and he ate barely a third of what his growing human companion needed. And at night, the human would curl up and pass out at Shiro's side, and sleep like a dead man until morning.

Shiro would bask in the lad's warmth, comfortable and pleased and a lot less lonely than he used to be. On more than one occasion, when he would wake before his companion, he would find an increasingly strong arm wrapped tight around his middle and a body that was growing solid pressed close.

The first early morning it happened, he woke up slowly and a tired smile seeped across his features. Content to stay where he was, he rolled over carefully, his long tail coiled around and looping tight about the legs tangled with his. He hummed a short, low, pleased sound and started to tuck his head under his companion's chin, until he realized the long hair tangled around broad shoulders wasn't weighted with beads and fetishes, there was no tail to lock with his, and the smell of warm, smooth skin was all wrong.

The sensation was so strong, the memory. All of it came crashing back in like a tidal wave. And like a wave, the illusion receded and Shiro caught up to where he was. When he was. He bolted upright with a startled, almost pained sound and looked for all the world lost and maybe even hurt.

His sudden actions woke Grimmjow up with a start, and he automatically began seeking out the threat that had so suddenly awoken his older companion. When he found nothing, confusion washed over him and he looked to Shiro with furrowed brows and a question on the tip of his tongue.

The native shook his head, cutting the inquiry short, and climbed unsteadily to his feet. "Stay." He uttered in a rough voice as he headed for the mouth of the cave. He was gone the entire day, mind and emotions racing and an ache in his chest he hadn't felt in years.

From then on, he was careful to keep in mind that his mate was dead and gone and had been for a long time.

A very long time.

But he couldn't deny how comforting it was to lay at Grimmjow's side, to share his warmth, feel his strength. The little human boy he'd found and protected and raised was now a strong, successful warrior and hunter. For all intents and purposes, he was an adult. In terms of nonhuman aging and hierarchy, Grimmjow was nearing maturity, breeding age even, and had they a pack like the one Shiro used to be a member of, Grimmjow would have been around the age where he -and the others his age- would have begun their courting.

Shiro was honestly torn on how he should feel, but to say that he didn't love Grimmjow was unthinkable. To say that the human wasn't attractive was equally so. To say that being close to someone again wasn't appealing was even more so.

By sundown, when he'd finally returned, he was no closer to finding his answer than when he'd fled in desperate need of space to think and breathe. They weren't even the same species, and compared to the native, the human was still so young. He would never catch up to Shiro's age. He would never even live to Shiro's age. Chances were high that he would die before Shiro, too, whether killed off by the harsh environment and threats it held, or because of age. Like the seasons on his planet, Shiro was of a long lived race. Grimmjow, like his own home world, was of a shorter lived one.

But Shiro had been so very lonely for so very long, and at the end of the day, his only conclusion was that, no matter what happened to them or between them, all they had was each other on this wide, lonely world.

When he returned and heaved himself wearily over the ledge of the cave, he was greeted with a worried human. Before he'd even stepped away from the edge, Grimmjow was in front of him, looking him over, asking questions.

Shiro answered none of them, but stepped up to the young man and pulled Grimmjow close. He nuzzled against Grimmjow's strong jaw and neck and sighed an affectionate breath in the small space between them.

Grimmjow was quiet, unsure what was going on, but after only a moment of hesitation, returned the sudden affection.

And that was how it started; so simple, so innocent, one creature offering comfort to another.

•••

Countless miles away, on a different planet in an entirely separate galaxy, a signal that had been dormant for years came to life with unexpected suddenness. A light on a very dim board flashed once, than twice, than again as a steady rhythm came to life. The man sitting behind the consul frowned as he leaned forward and tapped the little signal like he thought it might be defective. Then he spun in his chair, pressing a hand against his headset, and began looking over the digital display of charted launches and scheduled departures and routes. By all his accounts, nothing should have coasted near the little outlaying, hostile planet, let alone touched down and activated a panic signal from the one, tiny, unmanned outpost located there, an outpost that they honestly hadn't even known was still functioning.

He radioed his superiors, relaying the status change. An emergency team was put together; a medical professional, a guard unit outfitted with weaponry needed in case of contact with the known hostiles on said planet, an expert in the biology of otherworldly flora and fauna. A compact but powerful, military grade craft was readied and the team locked in as they prepared for the long, boring journey from earth, to a nameless, unoccupied little planet. After leaving earth's atmosphere, they would enter a medically induced state of sleep, where they would remain at rest for the long journey through the silence of space to investigate.

•••

The sun was sinking lower along the horizon, partially hidden behind big, puffy clouds that promised rain. Some of the humidity that came with a tropical climate had let up a bit, lending something of a cooler, lighter quality to the air.

Shiro lifted his features towards the sky, inhaling what the forest around him had to offer. When he heard quiet, graceful steps approach from behind, he spoke, "We're not gonna make it back before the storm rolls in."

Grimmjow paused and looked up at the sky, watching the swiftness with which the storm clouds moved. He nodded his agreement and finished crossing the few steps between them, pulling up at his companion's side. His fingers absently brushed across pale, bare skin. "Do you know someplace nearby we can take shelter?"

The native hummed a noncommittal sound, glancing about them as if in search. As he thought, the end of his long tail twitched and swayed. After a moment, he shook his head. "Nah, we'll probably have ta make something." But the forest would give them plenty to work with and he was mostly unconcerned, so long as the storm didn't get too bad. Setting off, he brushed close past Grimmjow, the knuckles of his hand coasting across the human's hand.

Grimmjow turned and followed after him, half a step behind as they began picking their way through the forest. Insects buzzed and hummed around them, frenzied with the approach of the storm and the cooler air surrounding it. They fell quiet as Grimmjow and Shiro passed, and picked up their songs again in their wake.

Shiro guided them deeper and deeper, constantly breathing deep the changing air. In the near distance, thunder rolled and lighting split the dark clouds. Grimmjow winded his way through the trees at his side, knowing without asking that his companion was seeking a place where the trees grew dense and close together, rather than the cleared area they'd spent the past few hours in.

Within minutes, the first of the rain began pattering against the canopy above them, caught by the broad leaves. They were just about out of the time, and the storm was upon them.

Grimmjow reached out to grab hold of Shiro's wrist, getting the creature's attention. Gold on black eyes -sharp and bright in the growing gloom- turned toward him and he pointed, knowing that if he could still see it, the native would have no trouble.

Where he indicated, a thick tree had bowed under its own weight and age. The once proud branches no longer lifted towards the sky, but instead swept the ground between the trunks of other, younger trees. The roots had pulled free of the rich soil, but there was still life in them, feeding the green and red and golden leaves.

Shiro nodded, an approving smirk lifting one corner of his pale lips. The two shifted directions and made a swift beeline for the old tree, but before they ducked below the cover it offered, they paused and Shiro crouched, his black claws brushing the ground as he lowered enough to study the area and the ground and search for tracks or other signs of occupation.

The soil was soft and alive, waiting for the rain like the rest of the forest. When the native was satisfied, he straightened and left behind a print were his weight had settled. Grimmjow ducked below the trunk with him and they went about clearing a space large enough for them to curl up and settle for the night, pushing branches aside, snapping others clean off and weaving others together to strengthen the makeshift tent of living vegetation.

While Grimmjow worked on digging a quick, shallow trench around the outside of the leafy shelter, Shiro clawed a quick but obvious marking across the bowed trunk, before hopping up onto to walk clear to the other end, where the roots reached toward the sky. Spiderwebs spanned between the twisted, knotted mass and insects crawled here and there; unoccupied by anything that would cause him and his partner worry.

Satisfied, and scurried back to where Grimmjow waited for him just as the rain began falling harder. It pelted against the tree trunk, slid between the grooves in the bark and further down the sloped trunk, channeled away from where the two huddled below the still living top. It was loud against the broad leaves, but ran in rivulets and down the domed shelter they'd made, trailing like miniature rivers to the ground, where it entered the shallow channel Grimmjow had edged out, and sloped away from them rather than under the branches and soaking the dry ground the two nested down against.

Overall, it wasn't a bad makeshift shelter at all, and Shiro smirked a little proudly at his companion. Grimmjow grunted a laugh, but smiled too. Together, they curled up comfortably in their little, dry shelter, and prepared to wait out the storm. Outside, thunder shook the tops of the trees.

Shiro coiled his long tail around the backs of Grimmjow's legs and the human draped a strong arm around the elder's trim waist. The difference in their size was becoming more pronounced by the day. His big hand, settled across the small of Shiro's back, made the native look so thin, but solid, hard earned muscle twisted below pale skin, stretching and bunching with the creature's ever subtle movement below Grimmjow's fingers.

When Shiro leaned forward a little further and pushed a long, hot, affectionate breath from his nose against Grimmjow's neck, the human tightened his hold and pulled the smaller all the closer. In the dark, golden eyes widened just a bit as Shiro felt something growing hard against his leg, but his surprise didn't last. Grimmjow was of that age and it was natural.

He chuckled a short laugh, most of the sound drowned out by the rain.

It earned him a slightly scowl, "Don't laugh at me…"

"It's nothin' ta be embarrassed about." Shiro assured, and because he wasn't human and didn't have the same ideals as one, and Grimmjow hadn't been raised to be one, it wasn't all that strange between them when Shiro slid his fingers low against Grimmjow's belly.

The human shuddered below the light, burning touches, bumping his forehead against Shiro's, before tipping his head a bit. Shiro's tongue was warm and soft against his lips, and that first kiss was like nothing he'd yet experienced in his short years.

The rain outside was cool, adding a chill to the air that didn't reach inside their little shelter. Lightening flashed and wind whipped at the tops of the trees. The sounds of the storm drowned out the quiet grunts and deep breaths from within.

Eventually, late into the night, the storm blew over and the insects returned, chirping and buzzing and creating a natural background chorus for a while.

Laying on his side, curled toward Grimmjow as he had grown used to since the man was just a boy, Shiro's ashen brows furrowed slightly before his oddly colored eyes snapped open. Laying motionless, his gaze fell upon his human companion's sleep peaceful features as he strained his considerable hearing for what had awoken him during what had turned into a seemingly quiet and peaceful night.

He and the human he had adopted years ago should have been the only predators in the area, the only creatures strong enough to frighten the forest into silence, yet they were inactive and the smaller critters had gone quiet again anyway. That abrupt, unnatural silence was what had awoken him.

The sound of insects that he should have been listening to was none existent as a tense hush fell over the area. Something heavy stepped upon a twig, breaking it under foot. The loose dirt shifted below the steps of multiple creatures, the volume of the quiet noises enough to tell Shiro whatever they were must have been at least his size, larger than most other bipedal creatures of his world. All the subtle sounds that shouldn't have disturbed the quiet night registered to Shiro's senses and his eyes narrowed as he slowly began sitting, carefully pulling himself from Grimmjow's strong embrace and tangled limbs.

Laying bare and sleeping heavily, thoroughly worn out from exploring something other than his surroundings, Grimmjow hardly moved as Shiro began to straighten. A slight smirk, fond and on the verge of loving, curled the inhuman creature's features as he glanced down at his companion. He bent low, resting his weight on his hands, and breathed an affectionate exhale against warm skin, before he cautiously but quickly slipped from the temporary nest.

Crouching low to the ground, he let his unnerving gaze flick passed the surrounding trees as he followed the sounds of trespassing footsteps. While humans were far from common, they weren't unheard of. Shirosaki had run across them before in his long life, even before he'd found and adopted Grimmjow. Nor were humans really something to worry about if unarmed with their heavy machinery, easily killed and weak when compared to Shiro's otherworldly strength, but humans had a way of always coming out on top and what he was creeping up on would be more than he had bargained for.

The trespassers came into view as Shiro rounded a cluster of thin, young trees on the edge of the clearing. A small group of humans, a half dozen or so, wandered about his territory, oblivious to his presence. A cruel smirk spread the creature's ashen lips as he silently stepped from his cover and bared his fanged teeth in threat. He didn't bother to wonder why they had come to his planet again, all he thought about was making them leave him and his companion in peace. Humans destroyed everything they touched, they conquered what they thought was theirs and killed whatever got in their way. Humans had been the reason Shiro was now alone on a planet that had once held a strong and mighty tribe of his kind. He didn't really need any other reason to want them out of his territory.

His lilting, aggressive snarl made a collective jolt run through the group as each spun around to stare at him, weapons held leveled. They paused however, as they stared at the creature before them. Still half hidden in the deeper shadows of the surrounding trees, he looked nearly human. The pale flesh of his naked body almost seemed to glow under the light of the moon but as he moved forward and a long tail twitched angrily out behind him, it became clear to the human invaders that the creature before them was not one of them. Spikes as white as the rest of it protruded in a vicious, defensive row along it's shoulder blades and it's fangs were bared. Golden irises glittered in the pale light of the moons and his stance whispered a tense readiness. Nothing about his demeanor spoke of friendliness or welcome.

One of the hostiles they'd been warned about.

As Shiro stalked forward, his stance whispering threat as well as slight curiosity, one of the weapons aimed at him gave off an almost soft clink as the human holding it cocked it, loading the chamber in preparation. Shiro, having never before encountered or even seen this kind of gun -something so small and unassuming- didn't understand what that small sound meant. When the humans had last come to his planet in number, their weapons had been mounted to their ships and had been large, bulky things that looked as formidable as they were. This was small, handheld, and deceiving.

Laying in the shelter he had chosen for them, Grimmjow jerked awake as a loud crack shattered the peaceful night. A pained, lilting yelp followed the echo and blue eyes widened as Grimmjow frantically turned toward where his companion should have laid beside him. To his dread, Shiro was gone. Half a startled heartbeat later, a strained, animalistic whimper reached his ears, echoing through the trees, and he knew it could have only been made by the pale creature that had raised him and loved him.

Panic flared through his system. Taken and immersed into the wilderness of the planet he lived on when he was very young, he had no idea what a gun was either and so didn't know what had made the loud, booming crack, but he knew whatever it was had been enough to hurt Shiro. He'd never heard the pale creature make such a sound before, not even the few occasions when he'd stepped on his tail or when the native had been injured in a fight with another creature.

Fleeing the shelter, he tore through the trees in the direction of desperate, distorted snarling, his bare feet nearly silent on the loose, wet earth. He covered the distance in a matter of seconds, accustomed to the land around him from growing up in it. The scene he came upon made anger flash through his panic.

Shiro half laid, half huddled upon the ground, his fangs bared up at the two legged human standing over him. His nostrils flared as he took in air and his intense eyes were wide and seething but glassy in a way Grimmjow had never seen. His long tail jerked and twitched unevenly behind him, a sure sign of his distress; fear, pain and threat all conveyed in those movements. One arm supported his upper body, keeping him from laying upon the ground but his other was wrapped around his abdomen, the thick blue-black of his blood smeared across the limb and dripping down his torso.

The other humans stood out of the way, back behind the one pinning Shiro in place with the way he trained his gun on him. All looked on, a bit of curiosity, a bit of fear in their expressions. Only one looked ready to intervene.

But all that was lost on Grimmjow as the human cocked his gun again and a soft click reached the blue haired young man's ears. Shiro bristled at the sound, learning from the first shot what it meant and his snarling redoubled as he writhed, clearly wanting nothing more than to put distance between himself and the human hovering over him.

Just as one of the humans jerked forward, reaching toward the man holding the gun in an effort to stay him, Grimmjow surged forward and out of his cover. He threw himself at Shiro, covering the injured creature with his own body as a second shot split the air. He flinched at the deafening noise, blue eyes squeezing shut. But nothing happened, and he looked down to see Shiro staring up at him, equally surprised and frightened. The pale creature that had raised him, now standing shorter and weighing in lighter than Grimmjow himself did, trembled slightly against him, looking smaller than Grimmjow had ever noticed before.

They both looked toward the group of humans to see the one holding the gun had been jerked away by another. The man with the weapon seethed at another with bright, orange hair as this one grabbed hold of the weapon and kept it from being turned back toward the injured creature. Both humans paused in their arguing as they turned to see Grimmjow crouching protectively over Shiro, holding him close and almost possessively. Their surprise mimicked that of the two natives'.

Before anyone else could react, Shiro's snarl started back up as he pushed Grimmjow away and tried to force his adopted human behind himself as he struggled to his feet. Grimmjow helped him up but shook his head as one of the invading humans pulled out a bundle of rope and the gun was swung back in their direction. "You're hurt, Shiro, go."

Shiro's snarl fell away as his ashen brows un-furrowed and rose slightly. He smeared some of his blood across Grimmjow's golden skin as he grabbed hold but neither noticed. "No, I wont flee without ya."

In a motion that was more forceful than he had ever been with Shiro, truly pointing out the size difference that had befallen them as Grimmjow grew into adulthood, the blue haired man grabbed hold of the creature and pushed him away as the human's began closing in around them, their intent clear. There was enough force in his nudge to make Shiro stumble.

"You have to!" He all but yelled, his vivid eyes intense and wide. "I look like them, they wont kill me but they've made it clear they'll hurt you."

To emphasize his point, Grimmjow let his fingers brush the fresh wound, wincing at the pained jolt that ran down the pale creature's spine. He nudged Shiro back again, glad when he took a few unsteady steps backward and away, his inverted eyes straying away from Grimmjow to glance at the approaching group of humans with something like a primal, animalistic fear.

"Please, Shiro..." Grimmjow pleaded as human hands grabbed at him. They were almost gentle, letting Grimmjow know he had been right in what he'd told Shiro; they wouldn't kill him because they thought he was one of them, but they were still foreign and unwelcome. He shrugged them off, snarling his dislike. One tried to push passed him toward Shiro and Grimmjow spun, lashing out to protect his companion. A seething, wicked growl rumbled deep in his chest as he bared his blunt, human teeth.

Shiro backed up another few steps, his eyes riveted on Grimmjow's form. An almost pathetic whine crawled up his throat as he hesitated but he knew the boy he'd raised into a man was right and so he backed up further before he paused, his arm still wrapped about his bleeding torso. "I won't leave ya, Grimm, I'll be back. I wont let them take ya..." He reassured over and over as he spun about and disappeared into the dark.

Grimmjow watched him go before he spun on his attackers, letting his anger at seeing them hurt the creature he'd grown to care about take over. In the end, he was out numbered and out matched by their weapons. He'd put up a good fight and wore just as much of the invaders' blood as his own, but he was eventually dragged back to their camp. Grimmjow was captured, bloodied but intact and with no life threatening injuries, and caged like an animal to keep him from escaping.

"Poor man, he's like a savage. I wonder how long he's been on this god forsaken planet."

Grimmjow regained consciousness as voices drew near the cage he'd been locked in. He jerked upright, ignoring the pounding in his skull, and backed into the furthest corner of the small cage. Used to being free, to being out in the open and without walls surrounding him, fear at suddenly being trapped and helpless tried to make him panic as he studied the men watching him.

"I'd say quite a while. I wonder if he can even understand us… You really think he could be the one that triggered the panic signal they got us chasing?"

Grimmjow's eyes narrowed as he listened. He bared his teeth and surged toward the men staring at him, throwing himself against the bars. The small cage rocked slightly but the bars didn't budge or shudder under his impressive strength. Designed to hold all manner of creatures, it was sturdy and reinforced. Angered, Grimmjow wrapped his hands around the bars and yanked with all his might, pulling and tugging until he panted with exertion.

When he finally settled back down, sitting cross-legged with his corded arms crossed over his muscled chest, he curled his lip at the humans, watching them with a careful eye and an unhappy sneer. He looked like them and he knew it. He and Shiro had talked about it years ago, that he was human while Shiro was not, but he could hardly bring himself to believe he was one of these people. The men before him were weak, pathetic and they had hurt Shiro with their foreign weapons. It was like cheating: unfair and wrong. If it hadn't been for their weapons, Shiro would have torn them apart with ease and he wouldn't be in a cage.

One of the men staring at him grimaced slightly, making a face of disgust as he shrugged in answer to the question. "Don't know, but go find him a pair of pants."

"I doubt he'd actually wear them." The other said. "Didn't you see the monster he was running around with? That thing was naked too."

Grimmjow, still able to understand at least bits and pieces of the human language he'd been born to, curled his lip, blue eyes frigid and unforgiving. His gaze swung away from the two before him though, as movement caught his attention.

Another human approached, this one quite a bit smaller than himself, closer to Shiro's size. Chaotic orange hair shown fiercely in the dancing light of the fire that had been lit not far from his cage. "Leave him alone, guys."

"Why? It's not like we're bothering him."

"Looks like you are to me." The orange haired one said, glancing over at Grimmjow and taking in the way he sat. Even without words, his body language screamed his anger, discomfort and unease.

"Whatever." One of the others said before his demeanor changed like he'd just thought of something. "Hey, wasn't there a story about a little boy that had gone missing on a hostile planet years ago? I think I remember seeing posters."

"Yeah!" The other agreed nodding and looking over at the orange haired one. "I remember that too. Didn't the kid have blue hair like this guy? That's a pretty rare trait."

Listening intently to the exchange, Grimmjow frowned, his brows furrowing, and looped a lock of his long, blue hair around his finger as he cued in to parts of what was being said. A slight smile curved the orange haired man's features as he noticed, his brown eyes locking with blue.

The first man spoke again. "Yeah, you can look into that, can't you, Ichigo? You always have all your techie stuff with you. Maybe there will be something in store for us if we bring this guy back to Earth after all."

The one called Ichigo looked away from Grimmjow and sighed as he rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I should be able to do that."

The three left Grimmjow in peace as they wandered off back toward their camp. Brown eyes turned in his direction as the orange haired one looked over his shoulder quickly before redirecting his attention to those around him again.

Settling back down at camp, Ichigo pulled his tablet out of his bag and tapped the screen to wake it up. To his relief, the others of his expedition group were busy with other things; setting up a perimeter and reporting their situation. He was a little surprised their ship could pick up a fairly decent signal on this little, outlaying planet and the search didn't take him long. He quickly found the old news articles the other two men had been talking about. Nearly thirteen years ago, a family had landed on the planet he was now on for repairs to their craft. Their young son, barely four at the time, had wandered off and gone missing. The only thing the parents had found were the boy's rain soaked clothing and a few footprints in the mud. A tracking team had been sent but the child had vanished and it was presumed he had been killed by some carnivorous creature or another known to inhabit this planet.

Ichigo scrolled further down and found a picture of the missing child. His eyes widened as brilliant, nearly painfully blue eyes looked out at him from the screen, hair a few shades lighter crowning the child's head. He glanced back toward where they had left their captive and those same glacial eyes narrowed on him as the man studied him from behind the bars of the cage. His hair had been shorter as a child and he'd lost the rounded softness of youth in his features and body as well as growing several feet taller. His skin was more darkly tanned from living under an open sky but he was still unmistakably the same person.

"Hey, you find anything yet?" One of his partners asked as he walked up beside Ichigo.

Ichigo tore his gaze away from the blue haired man, the once missing boy, and shook his head, quickly swiping his hand across the tablet and putting it to sleep before the guy could get a look at the screen. "No, I don't have a signal right now. I'll try again later after some of the cloud cover thins. Looks like we just missed quite the storm."

"Oh, alright. Well damn." The man wandered back off, calling over his shoulder. "Let us know if you find anything."

"Will do." Ichigo stood from where he'd been sitting, his attention once more directed at the man they had found. He pushed his tablet back into his bag but brought the bag with him as he made his way toward the cage, so that no one from his crew could open it up and see what he'd found. As he moved, he was careful to keep his steps slow and unthreatening.

Once nearly within arm's reach of the small cage, he sat back down, resting his bag on the ground beside him. All the while, blue eyes never left him as the feral man watched his every move with suspicion and caution, his gaze looking more predatory than a person's should have. The man remained seated on the cage's floor and Ichigo frowned as he scooted a bit closer.

"We don't want to hurt you..." Ichigo told the man, taking in his stiff posture and the way the thick, honed muscle of his body tensed and remained ready.

The man's eyes narrowed for a moment before he snorted something close to a derisive laugh. He looked far from amused, though. "Hurt Shiro." He grunted, an odd accent coloring his words from not speaking the human tongue in so long. The 'r' almost held a 'w' sound to it.

"Ahh, so you can understand us. I thought you might be able to." Ichigo smiled as he waited for the man to say something. When nothing seemed forthcoming, the expression dropped slightly and he had to wonder just how much the man could actually understand. "Shiro...? Is that your name?"

Blue brows furrowed as the man tilted his head slightly, trying to work out the simple sentence and what the human was saying about Shiro. It didn't take him long to recognize the question for what it was and he shook his head. He tapped his chest and shook his head again. "Grimmjow." He rumbled before thinking for a moment. "Shiro...hmm" He made a face before smirking and bring his hands up to the sides of his face in a clawing motion he hadn't done since he was a child. "Grr. Shiro." He tried to explain who Shiro was with his limited vocabulary.

It was the orange haired man's turn to frown as he watched. The man before him thought a little longer, than clutched at his abdomen and motioned to some of the dried blue substance that marred his golden skin, an enraged expression crossing his features.

"Oh... Shiro is the...the other one." Ichigo said, than mimicked the motion's Grimmjow had done before, nodding as he did. "Shiro, grr."

The blue haired man nodded once in answer to tell the human he was correct.

"And your name is Grimmjow?" The man asked, pointing at the blue haired man seated in front of him.

Grimmjow's eyes followed the human's motions as he pointed before he nodded again and tapped his own chest, repeating his name.

The smaller man smiled and pointed himself. "I'm Ichigo."

Grimmjow nodded slightly and moved closer to the other man and the bars that separated them. He grasped hold of the bars and pulled, the thick muscle of his arms bulging with the strain. "Out."

Ichigo grimaced, reaching up to rub at the back of his neck. He shook his head in a slow, almost sad way. "I can't do that..."

"Tch." Grimmjow sneered and crossed his arms again, blue eyes glaring off to the side. He wasn't surprised though, he only hoped Shiro had gotten away and was safe and well enough.

"I bet your family still worries about you... Don't you miss them?"

Grimmjow sneered, his lip curling as his piercing gaze panned back to Ichigo, narrowing dangerously. "Shiro family. He worry, now he hurt and I worry."

"Oh... I see...he must have raised you..." Ichigo said quietly, mostly just thinking out loud. He watched the man before him carefully, realizing that while well built and sculpted to fit a harsh life in the wilderness, he couldn't have been much older than his late teens. Younger than Ichigo himself. It would have been impossible for a child to survive this long on an undeveloped planet like this one, so it only made sense that something had taken him in and taught him the ways of survival.

A light breeze filtered through the trees surrounding the clearing they had made their camp in and Ichigo glanced up toward the cloud filled night sky. He guessed it stayed too warm in this area to snow or anything so drastic, but the wind still held that lingering, bitter bite of winter, coming down from the mountains further to the north. His attention was drawn back to the man seated before him as Grimmjow shifted, turning slightly so that his back faced the chill breeze.

"Are you cold? I can get you some clothes or a blanket or something." Ichigo asked.

Grimmjow frowned at him, puzzling over what he was being told for a moment. It took a few seconds to figure out the longer phrases, having never fully mastered the human tongue before he had learned Shiro's.

Ichigo frowned also and hugged his arms around himself. "You know... Cold?" Grimmjow mimicked him for a moment, still frowning. "Yeah, cold." Ichigo continued. "I can get you some clothing to wear." Ichigo tugged at his pant-legs, then the sleeves of his shirt. "Clothing, pants..."

The bigger man watched for a moment longer before he understood and his brows un-furrowed. He shook his head. "No."

"Huh. Ok. I guess you're probably used to this kind of weather, aren't you?"

"What are you doing over here, Kurosaki?" Another man asked, his voice loud and booming as he walked up beside where Ichigo sat to stare down at the man.

Ichigo rolled his eyes and sighed before directing his attention up at the other man. "Talking to him, sir, something you didn't bother trying before you threw him in a cage."

"He can understand us?" The man questioned skeptically, looking over at Grimmjow.

The blue haired man sneered a vicious snarl, his full lips peeled back to bare his teeth in rage. He recognized the new human as the one that had hurt Shiro and he wasn't happy. A rumbling growl vibrated in his chest and left his throat to show that hatred.

"Yes, sir, mostly at least. He isn't an animal." Ichigo climbed to his feet to be on level with his superior.

"Could have fooled me. He's acting like an animal." The man said, still looking down at the captured man.

"You hurt his... Shiro and threw him in a cage, of course he's angry and aggressive."

"Shiro? Is that what he's calling that thing?" The man asked, raising a brow.

"He called that thing family and that's his name, so maybe you should be a bit more well mannered. He knows you're the one who shot him, you know?"

"Yeah, so? That thing wasn't human and it attacked." The man shrugged like it hardly mattered. "If you hadn't gotten in the way, I'd have killed it and we wouldn't have to worry about it sneaking up on us in our sleep tonight."

Grimmjow didn't understand all of what the man was saying, but he understood his tone well enough and that made his intentions clear. Anger flared through his system and, his motions almost too quick for a human, he reached through the bars of his little cage to grab hold of the man's ankle. Yanking as hard as he could, he pulled the man's feet from under him and he thudded to the ground as Ichigo gasped and jumped back in surprise.

The man hit the ground with a grunt as the air left his lungs and Grimmjow snarled. Reaching for the holster on his belt, the man pulled a hand gun and aimed it at the blue haired captive.

"No! Stop!" Ichigo jumped forward again, dropping to wrestle the gun away so that it was no longer aimed at Grimmjow. He pulled his boss away from the cage and helped him up off the ground but he refused to let the man train his weapon at the bigger man.

"You better watch him, Kurosaki, or we'll be bringing back a corpse for the authorities to try reintegrating into society." The man glared down at Grimmjow for a moment more before marching off, back the way he'd come. "Can't believe I slept for a damn year for this." He muttered as he crossed the clearing.

Grimmjow stared after him, teeth bared. Then his piercing blue gaze slid back over to look up at Ichigo. "Out." He demanded in a growl.

Ichigo's scowl took on a regretful edge as he shook his head slightly. He sat down once more, so that he was on the caged man's level. "I-I really don't think I can do that... I'm sorry..."

Grimmjow sneered at the orange haired man, sending a sharp pang of guilt through the human. He opened his mouth to speak in his broken understanding of the human tongue but his words froze as he tilted his head slightly before his piercing gaze slid off to the side, looking out into the forest that surrounded the camp, the forest that made up part of a dangerous native's territory.

Ichigo followed his gaze as a lilting, enraged snarl filtered through the air, carried on the slight breeze. His eyes slowly widened as a white form stepped from the trees not even a dozen feet away. The creature from before, the one the feral man had called Shiro, bared his fanged teeth at Ichigo, his fiery gaze ablaze. A long, white tail lashed the air behind the creature and though his hand still pressed against the gunshot wound in his torso and blue dripped from his fingers, he was rather steady on his feet and very unhappy at what was being done to his adopted child.

Grimmjow watched Shiro crouch into a telling stance. He surged forward as much as the small cage would let him, wrapping his hands around the bars and pressing his face to them. "No, Shiro!" He half shouted, half hissed, trying to keep his voice low as to not draw the other humans' attention but still halt his companion.

He was too late though and Shiro was already in motion. Before Ichigo could react, he was pinned to the ground, the pale fingers of one of the creature's hands wrapped about his throat, dark claws pricking his skin and drawing blood, but the creature didn't sink his bared fangs into the soft, exposed flesh. Wide eyed, Ichigo cautiously held his hands out to the sides in a sign of surrender and looked up at the beast hovering over him. Then he noticed what had stopped the creature from harming him.

Grimmjow reached through the bars and had a single hand laid on the white skin of the creature's arm. "He's not like the others, Shiro, he doesn't want to hurt us."

Gold on black eyes narrowed as they searched Ichigo's features. Still a little more than startled, Ichigo didn't dare move as his heart attempted to thud out of his chest. He barely even breathed. The only thing he had understood of what Grimmjow had said was the creature's name, but it was clear the pale native understood and Ichigo assumed the obvious: that they were speaking the creature's language.

"Why's he sittin' out here an' why're ya in that cage, Grimm?" Shiro slowly lessened the pressure he applied on the human before getting off him altogether. He didn't take his eyes off the man though, not yet, watching as Ichigo slowly sat back up, keeping his hands visible and watching the pale creature with a healthy mix of fascination and fear.

"He was talking to me. He didn't lock me in here." Grimmjow answered.

Shiro finally looked away from the human with orange hair and back to Grimmjow. He crept closer to the bars, reaching through to let the backs of his pale fingers trace the bigger man's angular jawline before his hand lowered and his fingers gently brushed over a deep gash in the man's muscled chest.

In return, a small smirk twitched the corners of Grimmjow's lips upward and he reached back through the bars to place his hand over Shiro's where the creature's palm still applied pressure to the bullet wound. He ignored the blue blood that smeared across his own hand, instead leaning his forehead against the bars as he looked out at the creature. Shiro leaned forward, nuzzling fondly against his blue hair through the bars.

Ichigo watched them interact, watched them speak and reassure each other without words. He could see how close they were and he realized there was a bit more than just a father/son relationship going on between them. As he watched, he couldn't help but feel it was wrong to pull Grimmjow off this planet and away from the one thing he clearly loved. It was also clear that the creature called Shiro cared deeply for the human that had fallen under his charge, more so than a simple beast would have felt.

Shiro huffed a breath, the exhale ruffling Grimmjow's hair, and pulled away again. He stayed against the bars of the cage but he turned to look back at Ichigo again. "Why won' ya let him out?"

Ichigo's brows rose again as he watched the creature's pale lips form words and heard that distorted, watery voice speak in a language he couldn't understand. When he didn't say anything and just continued to look at the creature, Shiro's upper lip curled away from fanged teeth in a snarl Ichigo could have lived without having aimed at him.

Once more, as Shiro's temper flared, targeted toward Ichigo, Grimmjow reached through the bars and settled a hand against the smooth, bare skin of Shiro's upper arm. The touch was gentle, not a grasp or a hold, but it stilled the creature and halted his aggression. Gold on black eyes cornered to peek at the blue haired young man.

"He doesn't understand us." Grimmjow told his adoptive parent and friend.

White brows furrowed. "How were ya talkin' ta 'im then?"

Grimmjow gave a sheepish shrug, almost managing to look a little shy before he replied. "I still understand a little of the human language. He said before that he couldn't let me out."

"Wha'? Why not?" Shiro's gaze swung back to pin Ichigo with his unnerving eyes. "Why not?"

Through out the whole exchange, Ichigo was lost, looking between the two as they spoke. He understood he was being asked a question from the inflection in the creature's lilting voice, but he didn't know what that question was. He shook his head in a slow, subtle motion, trying to show he didn't understand.

The caged man huffed a slightly exasperated breath, gaining Ichigo's attention. He pulled at the bars, not really putting any strength behind it, but enough so Ichigo would notice it. "Out." He said again, his deep voice a rumble even without the growling edge. "Why not let me out?"

"I-I'm supposed to bring you back with me..." Ichigo told him, hoping he'd understand what he was saying.

This time, it was Grimmjow's turn to curl his lip. "No, don't bring back. Out. Please."

Ichigo's orange brows arched, his eyes widening with the man's last word. His heart sank a little more with the pleading edge it took on and sincerity he saw in the man's fathomless blue eyes but still he didn't say anything and didn't give in.

After a moment of silence passed between them, Grimmjow turned his attention back to Shiro and began speaking in the language Ichigo couldn't understand. "He still says he can't. They want to take me away with them." As he spoke, he pointed over at the craft the foreigners had landed in the clearing.

Shiro bristled at the news, every lean muscle on his body going rigid. He bared his teeth at the orange haired human but turned away to face the cage once more. His tail swiping angrily at the air, he finally pulled his hand away from his still bleeding wound to grasp hold of the bars keeping Grimmjow locked away. Gritting his sharpened teeth, he pulled with all his inhuman strength, ignoring the fire that raced through his ribs and abdomen from the bullet still lodged in his flesh.

Ichigo stared, awestruck as the bars groaned in protest and actually began to bow under the creature's mighty strength. Physically, he was smaller than Grimmjow, closer to Ichigo's size and not even Grimmjow's hard earned strength had been able to budge the bars, but then, Shiro clearly wasn't a human. The bars began to bend as a strained grunt crawled from the creature's pale throat before Shiro's body seemed twitch slightly and his feature's twisted into a pained expression and halted his progress with freeing his companion.

Panting, the creature released the bars, his hand dropping back to the bullet wound as a fresh trickle of dark blood ran in rivulets down his torso. He bared his teeth, head down and shoulders hunched forward, almost curling around the injury. It was a wound he had no knowledge of how to treat from a weapon he'd never encountered before and the pain it caused was foreign to him as well.

"Shiro?" Grimmjow pressed himself against the now bent bars, reaching through to push the creature's long, ashen hair out of his face and tuck it behind one of his ears. "Shiro? Are you ok? Don't make it worse."

"I ain't leavin' ya here!" He all but snapped back, but there was no heat to his voice, only a desperate edge to it. Even Ichigo could recognize the creature's tone. "I won't let 'em take ya way an' if he's not gonna let ya out, than I will."

Finally, Ichigo had seen enough. Who were they, strangers to this world and to the two he sat beside, to take the young man away? He couldn't bring himself to believe that they had the right to pull Grimmjow from the creature he cared for. After watching them, listening to them talk, to the worry and fear he heard in their voices, he knew he couldn't let Grimmjow be locked up and taken back to Earth, even if Grimmjow was the one to send the distress signal. He couldn't separate them, they were family, they were important to one another and he had little doubt that to take one away would be worse than death for both.

Looking back toward the main encampment where the rest of his platoon gathered, he pulled the set of keys from his pocket that he'd carefully and secretly snagged from his superior when the man had come by and threatened Grimmjow with his gun. The jingle gained Grimmjow's attention, making his sever brows furrow in confusion. The sound had the opposite affect on Shiro and the creature stiffened with wariness.

"Ok..." Ichigo hesitated, taking a deep breath as he flipped through a couple of keys until he found the right one. He looked back up, matching the feral man's gaze. "I don't want to take you away...I want you to stay here with him..."

The human nodded toward Shiro as he spoke and Grimmjow glanced at the pale creature before looking back to Ichigo. "...out?" He hesitantly asked.

Ichigo smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'm going to let you out."

A grin that melted Ichigo's heart just a little more ripped across the bigger man's handsome features as he eagerly addressed his companion. Ichigo had no idea what he actually said, but he got the idea and he couldn't help but smile at how excited they seemed.

He worked the key into the lock, a bit of nervousness bubbling up in his gut at the creature's startling stare and the threatening, over protectiveness it held. The lock clicked open and Ichigo slowly swung the cage door open, careful to make sure the hinges didn't squeak.

Grimmjow hesitated for only a second before brushing passed Ichigo, through the open door, and straight to Shiro's side where the native was still crouched. Lowering himself at the creature's side, he looked back to Ichigo before the two attempted to stand. Shiro however didn't make it upright and he sucked in a sharp, pained breath, pressing his hands to his ribcage as his movements forced more of his dark, blueish blood to seep between his fingers. A small whimper escaped the injured creature as Grimmjow nudged against him, worry obvious in his angular features.

Ichigo crept closer to the two, a little fearful of how either of them would react to his presence while the creature was in pain and now that Grimmjow was freed. He couldn't just leave them, though. He knew how dangerous a bullet wound could be if left untreated and he doubted they had much to help them in the way of tending to it.

"Wait here..." Ichigo spoke quietly, holding his hands up and patting at the air in a staying motion. He nodded as he repeated himself. "Stay here, I can help, ok?"

Both looked at him but only Grimmjow nodded back, able to understand at least the general idea of what he was saying. It was good enough for Ichigo. He hurried away, back toward the center of camp. As carefully and quietly as possible, he dug through the medical gear they had brought for what he would need, looking up every few seconds to insure none of his comrades were about to catch him.

After acquiring what he would need, he hurried back to where Shiro still sat upon the ground, Grimmjow crouching beside him in a protective but worried way. By the look on his face, Ichigo guessed it wasn't often he'd seen his older companion so injured. There was that spark to blue eyes, the one that said a somewhat childish illusion of invincibility had been cracked, pushed aside at seeing the smaller creature so harmed. Ichigo settled the collected things on the ground, edging as close as he dared.

Shiro bared his teeth at Ichigo, though Ichigo wasn't surprised nor offended. It was base instinct for an injured creature to be wary when vulnerable.

"It's ok..." Ichigo soothed, careful with the inflection of his voice. The creature couldn't understand his words, but he wasn't an animal. He was clearly intelligent enough to understand his body language and his tone. "It's alright...I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to help..." He murmured, motioning toward Shiro's wound.

He glanced over at Grimmjow, hoping to get a bit of assistance. Luckily, the big man seemed to understand and he spoke to his companion, explaining what Ichigo was doing. After a few exchanged words, the pale native narrowed his eyes on the human but slowly removed his hands from over the wound and let Ichigo near him.

Ichigo breathed out a small sigh of relief and grabbed a water bottle. Unscrewing the cap, he held it up to Shiro, letting both he and Grimmjow look at it and even sniff at it before he began using the distilled water within to clear the blood from the creature's abdomen and clean out the wound. To his surprise, Shiro remained remarkably still, even refraining from fidgeting as Ichigo flushed the wound out and wiped at the torn flesh around it.

Pulling a pair of forceps from the supplies he'd gathered, Ichigo once more allowed the two to inspect them before he began attempting to extract the bullet. A breath hissed between Shiro's fangs and he jolted. Ichigo froze, swallowing nervously as he looked up at the creature. Grimmjow and Shiro both looked ready to rip into him.

"S-sorry..." He mumbled. "But I have to remove the bullet... uh, pull it out..." He tried to keep his words simple so that the feral man would be able to understand him. He'd been living on this planet since he was a small child, his vocabulary couldn't have been great even before he'd gone missing, let alone after years of not hearing or speaking a word of it.

A contemplative hum rumbled in Grimmjow's chest before he said a few words to Shiro, who made a face but nodded slightly and relaxed a bit, letting Ichigo try again. Digging around a little and apologizing under his breath, Ichigo finally felt the tip of the forceps grind against the flattened bullet. He guessed Shiro felt it too, if the small noise of discomfort he made was anything to go by.

He finally extracted the bullet, holding it up slightly for the other two to see. Grimmjow held out his hand and Ichigo grimaced but dropped the mangled, gore covered shell in the man's palm. While Grimmjow inspected the foreign bullet, amazed that something so small had caused such a painful wound, Ichigo began rewashing Shiro's wound and clearing the fresh blood away. After using up the last of the water in the bottle he'd brought over, he carefully patted it dry with a sterile pad and pulled out some gauze and tape. He repeated his afore mentioned actions, letting the two take a look before he carefully began to bandage the wound. When he'd finally finished, he held his hand over it, applying gentle pressure as he looked from Shiro to Grimmjow and back.

"This needs to stay on for a few days, ok?" He pressed at the gauze again, though not hard enough to hurt the creature, nodding as he spoke. "It needs to stay clean."

Grimmjow frowned slightly, searching his memories and his grasp of the human language. "Band-Aid?" He said quietly, tentatively as he let his fingertips brush the edge of the gauze.

"Yeah! Like a band-aid." Ichigo smiled and nodded, finding the young man's almost childish word use rather adorable in a way. He knew there was nothing wrong with Grimmjow mentally, he could tell the man was intelligent and healthy. It was just that he didn't understand much of the language Ichigo spoke, so watching him try was, well, endearing.

A small smirk crossed Grimmjow's lips as he nodded back and began helping Shiro to his feet slowly, lending the creature his strength. Pale features twisted in a wince, nostrils flared and ashen brows furrowed. Ichigo considered finding some form of painkiller: they had morphine with them, but he quickly dismissed the idea, having no way of knowing how a foreign drug would affect the injured creature.

Shiro's unease seemed to pass, or perhaps he merely compensated for it and so was able to ignore it after a few moments, and the two turned toward the forest in the direction Shiro had originally come. Before the two could disappear into the forest, Ichigo spoke up, reaching down to the buck knife that he kept strapped to his belt.

"Wait... uh, here..." Ichigo said, carefully holding the knife out toward Grimmjow in a non-threatening way.

The blue haired man glanced at Shiro before looking back to Ichigo and taking a step toward the human. He tilted his head as he looked down at the object presented to him. Knowing well enough what that particular weapon was, having hand carved bone and even obsidian knives of his own, Grimmjow frowned as he studied the blade. He glanced back up to meet Ichigo's eyes, finally gingerly taking the knife as Ichigo nodded and pushed the knife, handle first, toward him again.

The steel blade was unlike anything Grimmjow had ever seen, at least as far as he could remember, and he took a few seconds to look at it, twisting it in his hands to look at it from different angles. Shiro had not so long ago show him the few manmade structures that littered one edge of his territory, hidden deep in the forest. They were made of an unbreakable, gleaming material not unlike the knife he currently held. Still inspecting the blade, he carefully ran his fingertips over the sharp edge and curved tip, his features showing he was impressed. After those few seconds, he looked away from the blade and tried to hand it back to the human.

Ichigo smirked and shook his head, waving his hand slightly. "No no, you keep it. A gift."

"Keep..." Grimmjow repeated as he looked back down at the knife again. He thought for a moment, then placed the blade in his teeth to hold it as he carefully pulled a leather cord from around his neck. It fit snugly on him, but the human was smaller so he knew it would fit him. He lifted it over his head, wrapping his fingers around the smooth, curved teeth and the single bone that made up the necklace's pendant. Holding it for a moment, pulling it close to his chest, he looked at the human with his otherworldly gaze for a heartbeat's time before holding it out toward Ichigo, snagging the knife from his teeth with his other hand.

Easily seeing how important the necklace must have been by the way the man held it, Ichigo hesitated in taking it. He started to protest, to tell Grimmjow he couldn't possibly accept it, but paused at the look on both the blue haired man's and Shiro's features. To not accept something so important would have been an insult. Instead, he gratefully took it and pulled it close to his own chest before pulling it over his head to hang around his neck.

Grimmjow gave a single, firm nod before his strong features spread into a handsome grin. He turned to look back at his not quite human companion, smirk still in place, but his blue brows furrowed as he noticed Shiro picking curiously at the edge of the white gauze Ichigo had taped to over his wound. With startlingly swift but gentle movements, he lightly but firmly swatted Shiro's hand away from the bandage, frowning at the smaller creature.

Ichigo couldn't help but chuckle as the blue haired man reprimanded his companion in their tongue, his voice deep and rumbling but obviously soothing to the pale creature. Shiro's porcelain features pulled into a small, pouting frown as he said a few words back, earning a smile and a chuckle from his human companion.

Taking a quick look back towards camp, Ichigo light up as an idea came to him. When he saw that the rest of his team still seemed to be preoccupied, he bent and grabbed his bag. Once he'd removed the tablet, he looked back up to see that he had the attention of both natives and his fingers fumbled a bit in a thread of unease. But the two -including the inhuman creature with the obvious ability to do harm- had yet to show unnecessary aggression or outright hostility towards him, so he turned the tablet over and used one hand to wave the paler of the two closer.

A wide, somewhat mischievous smile spread across his boyish features and Shiro matched the look with one of curiosity as he took a few steps closer again. Even if they couldn't understand the words of one another, they could still communicate through body language.

"I've got something on here," Ichigo said, quiet in the darkening night but not quite whispering, as he tapped the screen, "that I think you'll like."

Waking up, the tablet glowed in the deep shadows and Ichigo looked up as the creature standing before him shifted in a slight but quick motion, and made an uncomfortable sound in the back of his throat. "Oh…sorry…" The human mumbled, turning the brightness down.

As soon as his eyes adjusted to the odd, backlit glow of the screen, what Shiro saw made a wide, pleased grin spread across his face. It took him no time at all to recognize what he was faced with, not even a moment of incomprehension. The image was of his companion, years ago when Grimmjow was just a boy. There was an obvious fondness to his smile, easy to see even for Ichigo.

Colorless hands reached out and, before Ichigo could decide whether he should actually hand the expensive equipment over, it was pulled away from him. He hesitated a bit, but let the creature be as he watched.

Shiro pulled the tablet close, flipped it over and looked under it, before turning it back right-side up to look down at the picture again. It was clear he knew who he was looking at, though the device confused him a bit. As he rotated it, one hand dropped to settle over the bleeding wound in his side and a strained expression crept over his features, yet still his smirk was genuine as he glanced in his companion's direction. His voice, foreign and unintelligible to Ichigo, was a pleased, if teasing, chime.

Ichigo couldn't help but smile as he watched a light, but healthy flush seep into Grimmjow's features, a little bit of that youth showing through.

After a few minutes of good fun and fondness, Ichigo was hard pressed to convince the creature to give him back the tablet, but managed to convince him that he wouldn't be able to see the picture for long. Shiro didn't understand the concept of a battery, but Ichigo turned the device off to show him it didn't last and he seemed to understand that, and reluctantly gave it back.

Ichigo watched them disappear into the dark night a few moments later, the shadows and trees swallowing them as they left the reach of the campfire's light. He couldn't help but smile, glad he'd chose to free the feral young man, but reality crashed back into him as he turned back toward camp to see the empty cage hanging open and the thick, blue blood that smeared the bent bars. Maybe he'd be able to convince his platoon the creature called Shiro had found the keys...

"No, Shiro," Grimmjow once more pushed the pale creature's hand away from the bandage obviously annoying him. "you have to leave it, so your wound will heal."

Shiro curled his lip slightly, a frustrated grumble leaving his parted lips. The foreign material the human had covered his injury with stuck strangely to his skin, tape being something the inhuman being had never before experienced. It itched and pulled with his movements, and it had an odd, chemical smell to it, not earthy and natural like most things he was used to. Grimmjow tried to explain it, telling him it was something called medicine: something that would keep the wound clean and help it heal faster.

The native huffed and consciously ignored the annoying thing as he pulled his human companion close and curled back up. His wound still burned and ached below the bandage that would keep it clean and his instincts said to sleep through the worst of it, let his body get plenty of rest so that it could heal faster. So that's what Shiro planned to do.

Grimmjow smirked and followed, curling up at his caretaker's side, turned to face the smaller. He'd been so worried that Shiro wouldn't be ok, or that he would be taken away and would never get to see his companion again. Torso stretching out as he shifted, Grimmjow brought his hands up, reaching for his companion's pale features. His big hands settled along the sides of Shiro's face, his long fingers running through colorless hair as brilliant blue eyes locked with swirling golden.

Shiro's hands moved to cover Grimmjow's, ever careful of the way his vicious claws settled against smooth, tan skin. The bigger human leaned forward to close the small gap between them, sealing his lips over Shirosaki's in a deep and loving kiss.

With the coming of morning, when the sun had reached high in the sky, they rose again and made their way back to the cave, where they went back to resting safely and peacefully.

A few days later, Grimmjow stood at the mouth of it and watched the foreign craft rise through the clouds as the invading humans left and he and Shiro were once again alone on their little planet.

---

Thoughts?