Reader Response!
Artemis: Glad I'm being slightly original and I agree about too many stories lacking long chapters. I think the longest chapter I've ever written was about 16,000 words for BBTF.
W K W I A: Thanks for the positive feedback, always nice to hear. I figured Grimmjow would need at least one character that wouldn't be omgsofuckinghawt to add some balance.
Amaki-san: Grimmjow has a very animalistic philosophy on life that revolves solely around strength and preservation of ones self and all things dear to them. I like to incorporate it a little to keep him in character when some of the other things I have him do make him a little OOC. And thanks for being a loyal reviewer, it means a lot.
Notorious: Thanks for looking out for the grammar and having some laughs. As for the IchiHime pairing: it's not as prominent as you think it is, I mean they just left the story for the time being last chapter. I wouldn't do that if they had a job to do in the plot…if I even have a plot. So don't worry, it'll be a very and I mean very minor pairing.
It was mid-morning in Seireitei and the summer heat had returned in full force after being kept at bay during the previous night. Streets that crossed into the sun were avoided at all costs by denizens of the massive city, losing in favor to the shady, more scenic routes. Out in front of the Captain and Vice-Captain of the second division's residence, several shinigami were loading pieces of discarded furniture into a large cart to be taken off and dumped into the nearest landfill.
Soifon stirred from her sleep, fluttering open her eyes and immediately regretting the action when an intrusive sunbeam burned into her cornea. She groaned as she rolled over one of her braids, cursing while she fished it out from under her and tossed it over her shoulder where it landed with an airy sound across the bed. Abandoning all hope of returning to a peaceful rest, she opened her eyes once more and stared at the ceiling, thankful that she hadn't drank enough sake the previous night to make her morning any worse. However, her sleep schedule had been thrown off; the sun was much higher in the sky than when she usually woke up.
As the grogginess wore off, her thoughts started running over the events that had taken place the day before, more specifically the ones concerning Grimmjow. It had surprised her to learn that he and Yoruichi were good friends. Truly the fact that he was an Arrancar did not bother her mentor one bit. On that thought, Soifon's face twisted into a pensive expression.
He and the other three certainly don't seem like a threat at all. I suppose Central Forty-Six knows what its doing after all.
The petite Captain frowned heavily when her musings made a more indirect turn to what she and Yoruichi had talked about in the bathroom. She had admitted that she found him attractive albeit being forcefully made to but the point was still there. It wasn't unnatural, she reasoned. He was a man and she was a woman, she had every right to judge his appearance in a positive comparison to other men, so then why did her face heat up slightly when her mind rolled over the compliments he had given her, serious or otherwise? And why the hell did she mind him calling her by her birth name less than she did with Yoruichi?
It was all very confusing and Soifon didn't have the time or the stamina to sort out her thoughts, opting instead to distract herself by getting out of bed, changing into her uniform complete with white haori, and exiting the bedroom into the office where the sight that greeted her instantly made her want to take a sick day.
"I told you that they wouldn't fit."
"Shut up and push, they're made out of very flexible material."
Grimmjow and Yoruichi paused in their activities to look up at Soifon who looked at the two with a weary glare and strode across the room where she maneuvered sluggishly behind her desk and flopped into a chair. "Do I even want to know?" She growled, watching as Yoruichi was attempting to slip a pair of black slippers with the head of a cat on top of the toe and a small tail extending from the heel onto Grimmjow's feet. "Well this is exactly what it looks like," the ex-Captain grunted in frustration, before tossing the stubborn footwear on the floor and heaving a sigh. "We stumbled across a closet filled with all your black cat stuff and decided to check it out, hope you're okay with it."
"Are you sure you two don't want to marry each other?"
"I've been trying, believe me but Cat Lady's harder to get into than those fucking slippers," Grimmjow answered, receiving a playful punch to his arm.
She was right…never a dull moment.
Soifon buried her face into the palms of her hands, letting out a slow breath while the others simply looked on with curious expressions. Her chagrin was only amplified when the first thing she saw was a heap of paperwork sitting on her desk. "Just what I fucking need," she hissed, resisting the temptation to go over to Grimmjow's new desk and grab one of the jugs of sake that her former subordinate had left behind.
"Something bothering you, Shaolin," Grimmjow asked the distressed woman as he moved over in front of her desk while Yoruichi headed for the exit to the barracks. "I'll see you later; I'm going to see how Nel's handling her promotion before spending some time with Matsumoto and a couple of friends. You two try not to have too much fun while I'm out unless you plan to tell me every juicy detail," she called with a wink over to the officers before heading out through the shoji doors and leaving them alone.
With the goddess out of the way, Grimmjow and Soifon slowly turned to meet each other's gazes. "The question still stands," the Arrancar stated with his usual smirk, sitting down on the edge of his Captain's desk and disregarding the cold stare that he received afterwards. "Nothing you need to concern yourself with," Soifon muttered while moving her stare from teal eyes to paperwork, pulling out a pen from a desk drawer and studying the top-most document.
"Ah, come on. Don't shut me out, Shaolin," Grimmjow whined in mock hurt. "I just want to know what's got my normally vibrant and sexy Captain so down," he concluded, pushing away the stack of stationary which in turn forced Soifon to look up at him with an exasperated expression. "If you must know why I'm so upset, it's because I overslept, thanks to your little series of toasts last night, on a day where I have so much work. And on top of that, I have to deal with you and Yoruichi first thing in the morning," she admitted in defeat, pulling the stack of paperwork back in front of her.
"How 'bout a massage?"
"Somehow, I'm finding myself able to resist you enough to decline," Soifon said in a tone that dripped with sarcasm. "It was worth a shot. I know what would put you in a good mood," Grimmjow declared, hopping off the edge of the desk and facing the tired glare his Captain was giving him with enthusiasm. "Let me guess…something sexual?"
"Well yes, if you'd let me but somehow I don't see it happening…at least for now," the Vice-Captain began, earning a ghost of a smile from Soifon when he shifted into a combat stance and danced around an imaginary target, dodging nonexistent punches and striking the air. "I was thinking something more along the lines of a sparring match," he suggested, returning to the front of the desk.
"Don't you have any work to do?" The petite officer countered exhaustingly, pointing over to a heap of papers with a quantity that rivaled her own, sitting on Grimmjow's desk.
"Already did it all."
Soifon blinked at the statement in disbelief, immediately getting out of her chair and striding over to the bulk of controversial paperwork. Sure enough, every form had been completed perfectly which absolutely astounded her. How the hell could someone like her Vice-Captain complete all his work in the morning when someone as competent and focused as her would be working well into the afternoon? "You must've stayed up all night," she reasoned, looking in shock at the blue-haired Arrancar. "How the hell did you manage this?"
"It's a secret," Grimmjow said playfully. "Now will you spar with me? Come on, I'll do half your work," he announced in finality, gesturing towards the door.
Well…he does offer two very nice incentives. I get to punch that smirk of his face and he ends up with half my work.
"Alright, fine but only one round and then we head straight back," Soifon asserted, leaving no room for objections as she walked to the exit of the compound and slipped into her traditional Chinese shoes. "Sounds good, I was just planning on going around back anyway," informed Grimmjow, foregoing any footwear as he opened the door and waited for Soifon to head through before closing it behind them.
Walking in comfortable silence, the two made their way behind the structure, passing several subordinates who gave them a low bow until they had passed.
"Damn, it's hot," Grimmjow mumbled, grimacing at the harshness of the summer sun while Soifon shot him a puzzled look. "This coming from a man who lived the majority of his life until now in a desert," she inquired skeptically, shaking her head with a small laugh. "Deserts are cold at night, Shaolin…plus Hueco Mundo doesn't have a sun."
Well that made Soifon feel incredibly stupid but it was just one more event she could pound away in her upcoming match.
"Hey, Shaolin?"
"What is it, Grimmjow?" The raven-haired Captain answered blandly as the pair rounded a corner into the final stretch before their intended training ground. "Are you better hand-to-hand or with your zanpakuto?"
"In a straight fight where stealth isn't an option, I prefer to use my hands if my opponent is without a weapon…why do you ask?" Soifon inquired, curious as to why her Vice-Captain would care about such a thing. "Well I figured if this was going to be a stress relieving match on your part then I might as well make you fight the way you want," Grimmjow explained matter-of-factly. "I'm glad you like hand-to-hand because it would've been a pain in the ass to go back and get our weapons."
Soifon looked over to her subordinate with her mouth slightly open as he continued to stare straight ahead. It amazed her that in between his streaks of definably perverse behavior, he found room to be so down to earth and considerate. Yes, Grimmjow Jeagerjaques was quickly proving to be quite the enigma.
Within moments, the two officers reached their destination: a small open grassland surrounded and shaded by several dozen large trees that only allowed a few persistent rays of sunlight to penetrate their branches as dappled streaks. The ground was firm from the little rain it had received, providing excellent footing while the thick grass was just enough cushion to make a difference if someone were to be knocked down.
"Ah, it's perfect!" Grimmjow exclaimed, jogging with a smirk into the center of the field. "Get those sexy legs moving, Shaolin! We've got a match to fight!" He called over from where he stood with his hands in his pockets, letting the shadows drift over his spiky azure hair.
Try as she might to suppress it, a barely noticeable smile played across Soifon's lips. Slowly but surely, she was becoming accustomed to every action she did and every part of her body being deemed "sexy".
It irritates me to admit it but Yoruichi was right, his personality is kind of refreshing around here.
Once Soifon hung her haori on a nearby tree branch, they met together in the middle of the patch of grassy terrain, placing their right hands up with the wrists touching in proper sparring form. "Ready when you are," Grimmjow said, his voice low and his mouth stretched into a predatory grin. "Here I come, try not to blink," Soifon retaliated half a moment before sending a lightning fast kick aiming at her opponent's head only to have him lean his body out of the way and come back with a flurry of punches that landed several glancing blows on her ribs and shoulders.
Damn it, he's fast even without his release.
Now on the defensive, Soifon was using shunpo unsparingly, weaving between Grimmjow's attacks but every time she had seen an opening, it was quickly covered by either an arm or a knee. Still, she was unfazed by his outmaneuvering. The second division's Captain was not one to let the first attacks of a battle decide the final outcome, she was an assassin and Grimmjow was the enemy.
Jumping over a low kick, she made finally saw a clear line of attack and landed a hard strike on the top of the other combatant's head with her elbow. The now stunned Grimmjow became an easy target for a few follow-up attacks which included a hard knee to his stomach and a left hook to his jaw, sending him stumbling back several steps. But Soifon wasn't done yet, she launched into a high kick which landed squarely in the center of his chest which made him fall backwards onto the ground.
Alright well that should've gotten some stress out. Sorry Shaolin, you're punches are hard but my hierro is harder. You're going to have to do a lot better if you want to see me bleed.
He watched from nearly closed eyes as Soifon approached the prone body of her Vice-Captain cautiously, inching towards him to see what was keeping him down. "Grimmjow…are you alri-"
Her sentence was cut short when a sweeping kick knocked her feet out from under her, causing Soifon to fall flatly onto Grimmjow with her face only an inch or two away from his smirking visage. "Gotcha," he said playfully, grabbing his Captain's shoulders firmly and pulling her under him, reversing the locations of their bodies.
"That was such a novice mistake," he chided, his pale blue eyes burning into her own brown orbs as he held their position despite the lack of a struggle. All Soifon could manage to do was stare at the Arrancar with wide eyes. "It was a dirty trick," she muttered back, her breath nearly hitching by the end of the small statement. "I know something dirtier," Grimmjow countered, not missing a beat.
Soifon couldn't help it after that last statement. Her cold exterior completely shattered and a deep crimson blush slowly flushed over her cheeks much to Grimmjow's amusement. "There it is," he whispered huskily. "Took long enough but I knew that you weren't all fire and ice deep down, Shaolin." As he said this, the Vice-Captain looked into his superior's nearly half-lidded eyes, his mouth stretching into a feral smirk when he saw that as usual, something was burning behind them but amidst the anger and embarrassment, there were a few cinders of something else that took him by surprise.
Getting to his feet, Grimmjow looked down at his mortified Captain and offered her a hand up which she promptly ignored by getting to her own feet and dusting the grass from her robes. She shook away her blush angrily and refused to meet the pair of teal eyes that had subdued her so completely.
What the hell was that just now? I've never lost myself like that, ever.
"Feeling better now that you've smacked me around a little," Grimmjow asked while he watched his superior hook her arms through her haori and nod absent-mindedly. For the second day in a row, Soifon found herself incredibly confused due to the antics of her new officer.
Was that all just a joke; did he plan the whole thing? If so then I just walked right into it.. And then his eyes…did he use some sort of Arrancar ability to paralyze me? Or…was it all just me, melting like an idiot and staring at him while he fucking pushed himself on top of me. I wonder if Yoruichi would be able to give me a little insight without telling all of Seireitei that my Fukutaicho made me blush.
Meanwhile at the immediate right of Soifon, Grimmjow was having similar albeit much more coherent thoughts about what had just transpired as he motioned for the woman next to him to follow him back to the main entrance to the office compound.
Looks like Shaolin isn't as reserved as she puts on; Cat Lady is going to roll circles around the floor when she hears about this.
Back in the office after an uncomfortably silent walk back, Grimmjow kept his word much to the gratitude and surprise of Soifon and cut her stack of paperwork neatly in half. He sat at his as his desk wordlessly with his usual smirk and looked over the mass of documents before shrugging and pulling a pen over from the edge of his desk.
Soifon was eternally thankful that her subordinate had yet to tease her any further about what had happened during the match. While it was true that the fight against Grimmjow, however short, had relieved her morning stress and let her work a little anger out, she now had a much greater kind of stress running through each corner of her mind. She was grateful for the match but she wished for the first time ever that she had more paperwork to do so that she could focus on something other than a certain blue-haired Arrancar.
The task itself was hard enough until several minutes later; she had been torn from her thoughts by the sounds of paper sliding through the air and the clicking of a pen reaching her ears with only a few seconds pause between them. Now it was extremely difficult to ignore since the source of said disturbance just so happened to be her Vice-Captain who was wearing a concentrated expression as he clicked his pen and slid form after form into a 'completed' pile near the work he had done earlier in the day.
Sighing in defeat and figuring that her curiosity wouldn't be satiated until she got to the bottom of his odd behavior, Soifon stood up from her chair and made her way over to Grimmjow's desk.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Working," the former sexta espada answered bluntly, pulling a document in front of him and clicking his pen which resulted in a squirt of ink erupting from the ballpoint, smiling when a sound of half surprise and half outrage came from his Captain. "Just watch," he said calmly, holding up the paper for her to see as the blotch of ink broke apart and moved along the stationary, forming signatures and perfectly worded reports. "Don't know how I'd get by without it?"
Grimmjow swiveled his chair over to look at the petite assassin who was clearly impressed by the effects of the pen. "Let me guess," she began coolly, "There's only one person that you would know who's lazy and genius enough to invent something like that." Soifon shook her head and let out a slow breath, Urahara Kisuke always found a way to leave a piece of his legacy with every person he met.
"I have another one if you want it," the Vice-Captain offered, pulling an identical pen out from a drawer near the top of his desk and holding it out to Soifon who looked at the object questionably, debating whether or not to accept it. On one hand, it was made by the man that vexed her to no end and it seemed like an easy way out which she wasn't very fond of. On the other hand…it was paperwork. Making her decision, she plucked the pen from Grimmjow's hand and stared at it with a scrutinizing stare.
"So how does it work?"
"Well," Grimmjow began, moving back to his desk and resuming filling out his half of the workload with god-like speed. "He didn't tell me the details but I know that it turns the writer's spirit particles into ink which uses your thoughts to determine how you would best fill out whatever you're doing," he concluded.
Satisfied with that answer, Soifon moved back to her desk and tested the pen on a form that confirmed her knowledge of over two dozen of her men being kept in the fourth division's medical ward. Her face softened slightly when everything was signed and dotted in the correct areas. She put the completed document off to the side and tried to emulate Grimmjow's routine of clicking and passing, letting a grin overtake her lips at the sight of her rapidly shrinking workload.
The office was then engulfed by clicks and the rustling of forms as piles of paperwork rose and fell.
"Done!" Grimmjow shouted, banging his hands down on the surface of his desk in finality. "We should race next time, Shaolin. Loser gets to be the submissive one when we go to bed tonight." Soifon chuckled as she neared the end of her workload; she was in the best mood she had been in for well over a decade.
"Later, Shaolin. I'm due for some sake down at eighth division."
Soifon stopped what she was doing the instant her second in command had finished speaking, looking down at a clock on the edge of her desk and back up to Grimmjow with an incredulous stare. "It's barely past noon," She muttered flatly. "Damn, that means I'm late," the Arrancar grumbled, disappearing into his room while his Captain rolled her eyes and resumed her work but slowed her pace almost to a halt when her mind went over the time again.
It was only twelve and she was approaching the end of the day's work hours earlier than usual so what was she supposed to do? She didn't know very many people well enough to get together and do something. There was Yoruichi but she was with Matsumoto Rangiku and several others who would most likely spend the afternoon sharing gossip and talking about men. Soifon didn't really care to join a group like that; she had become more social in the last year but not enough to put up with hours of giggling and teasing. Other than that, she was left only to entertain herself, the thought of which made her a little depressed.
I guess I could train…
The sound of Grimmjow re-entering the room with a pair of black boots and his Vice-Captain band brought her away from her growing melancholy. "Hey," he grunted as he tugged a boot onto his left foot. "Wanna come with me?"
When he received no response, he looked up from tackling his other piece of footwear to see his Captain looking at him with an unidentifiable expression. "Drinking in the afternoon with you and some strangers…I couldn't," she ended with a whisper, her eyes moving down towards the desk only to shoot back up when Grimmjow appeared before her in a flash of static. "What'd I say about looking like that?" He growled, his usual smirk unbending into a thin line. "I can't stand sad eyes like that, they remind me too much of that bastard Cuarta. Plus they don't suit you a strong woman like you at all so either get pissed or cheer the fuck up because I hate sad eyes."
"Look," he said tiredly, seeing that something was obviously troubling his Captain. "Come with me and have a drink or two. If you don't like it then nobody's going to stop you from leaving but believe it or not, I can read people pretty well and you look like you need some company."
A moment passed in the office, the only sound to suspend it from silence being the movement of trees that could be heard out past an open window. "Grimmjow…" Soifon started, her voice cold and unreadable.
"Huh?"
"Thank you," she said sincerely as her eyes became hard once again, earning a smile from her Vice-Captain. "Thank you for the match and helping me with my work as well."
"Don't mention it, Shaolin. I just think your eyes are more attractive when you're not looking sad like that."
Now matching her subordinate's smile, Soifon raced through the last of her paperwork with renewed vigor while Grimmjow sat patiently on her desk. She soon finished within two minutes and sounded off her work's completion with a pleasant sigh before getting up from her chair, stretching her body, and sliding Suzumebachi into place behind her back. "So where is this taking place again," she asked as she and the former espada proceeded towards the exit into the barracks.
"I don't know exactly…some tea house outside of the military zone by eighth division's barracks," Grimmjow replied unsurely, gritting his teeth at the harshness of the afternoon heat as he stepped outside once again. "I know the place," Soifon stated knowingly.
"You do?"
"Everyone does," the petite woman scoffed. "It's where Kyouraku-Taicho and Ukitake-Taicho drink. Are those two the company you referred to?" Her voice dropped an octave as she asked the question, narrowing her eyes slightly. "You have some bad blood with them or something?" Grimmjow asked with mild concern, hoping that his Captain wouldn't give up on going out before she even spent five minutes out of her quarters. "Well…" she began, "not necessarily a grudge or anything of the sort. Ukitake is fine, he's respectful and not very bothersome but Kyouraku is different. His flamboyance and womanizing don't exactly fall in line with my style of social interaction."
"Yeah, I guess it wouldn't," Grimmjow snickered, turning over to Soifon and motioning for them to stop at the edge of a busy street. "Don't worry though, I wouldn't have asked you to come if it were only those two we'd be with. Can't say who else is there exactly but there should be enough people to keep that straw hat away from you," Grimmjow explained with a reassuring smile.
"Fair enough, follow me then."
Soifon leapt with refined grace onto a nearby roof with Grimmjow right behind her. "Try to keep up," she said challengingly before taking off in a gust of shunpo quickly followed by a sound of static as the officers bounded across the dry summer air at lightning fast speeds.
The Captain frowned when she looked to her right to see her subordinate effortlessly keeping up with her, his hands in his pockets and a smirk on his face which prompted Soifon to stretch her speed close to its limits in annoyance. However, this only served to anger her more when Grimmjow matched her pace with ease, gliding across Seireitei's skyline without a care in the world. "Look, Shaolin. If you want a race then I can give you one but I have to know where I'm going first," he chided, earning himself a stiff glare.
Damn it, if he's this fast then he wasn't taking that sparring match seriously. We'll have to fight again for real some other time.
After thinking this, Soifon felt a blush threatening to creep up on her face as thoughts of another situation like what had happened when she had her legs taken out from under her danced across her mind's eye. She still hadn't exactly come to terms with what she felt during that interaction. It wasn't as if she'd never been intimate with a man before, she wasn't a virgin after all. The only difference she could spot between past circumstances and what Grimmjow had done is that he had been in total control. Soifon had pride and her past partners had been submissive, this coupled with the fact that she hadn't even come close to a man in a suggestive fashion for several decades made a potent combination that pointed out that something was indeed very off with what had transpired between her and the blue-haired Vice-Captain.
As much as I hate to do it, I think I'm going to need to have a talk with Yoruichi.
She could only hope that the goddess would stay tight-lipped about what she would tell her. Either way, Soifon needed a female's interpretation of the recent events. Closing her eyes with a defeated sigh, the Captain sped alongside Grimmjow in silence for several more minutes until touching down in front of a large structure in the more commercial areas of Seireitei. "This is the place," she announced dispassionately, trudging through the open shoji doors and immediately being greeted by the loud but lively sounds of slurred speech and drunken laughter.
While Soifon parted through the tables and stepped past the open doors of private rooms, she couldn't tell if it was her or Grimmjow that caused the most people to stop in mid-conversation and stare blankly. Both of them were growing more agitated by the second as they approached the larger rooms in the back. Soon enough though, Soifon's thoughts were turned into Grimmjow's actions.
"What the fuck are all you people looking at!" He growled loudly, causing several patrons in his close proximity to fall backwards from their chairs while nearly everyone else flinched before quickly returning to where they had left off with the others at their table, immersing the room once again in a jovial ambience.
Seeing as how nobody had drawn their swords and attacked the Vice-Captain, the officers figured that everyone had been informed of the integration of Arrancar forces but it seemed that acceptance of the fact was a long ways off. They both rubbed their foreheads in perfect synch, looking at each other with an amused expression after doing so and proceeded to the very back of the tea house and into the private lounge where familiar faces were all around the room.
As expected, Kyouraku Shunsui and Ukitake Juushirou were both present as well as Abarai-Taicho, his second in command Hisagi Shuuhei, and Starrk who was the only one already with a slightly pink tinge to his cheeks. But what Soifon didn't expect to see was Yoruichi, Rangiku Matsumoto, and Nel waving her over to the small circle of furniture they shared. So while Grimmjow closed the shoji doors behind him and went to talk with the men, she watched him go and moved hesitantly over to her gender's portion of the room.
"I'm jealous," Rangiku started with a tipsy giggle as the petite assassin sat down on a plush couch on the opposite end of Yoruichi. "I would kill to have that in my division…I mean he doesn't even cover his chest," she concluded, gesturing over to Grimmjow whose hand was now clasping a dish while Kyouraku poured him chilled sake.
So the majority of the women like him and all the men either drink with him or are afraid of him. Okay, I think I have this figured out.
"I honestly don't know why you all think he's so great," Nel scoffed with a superior look on her face, earning three pairs of raised eyebrows. "Yes I agree in that he has looks so don't call me insane but I absolutely can not tolerate him."
Soifon groaned as this argument was quickly turning into exactly what she had expected would happen if she shared company with her mentor earlier in the morning: women giggling and talking about men but still…at least they were talking about the familiar subject of Grimmjow. This reasoning was doing very little to keep herself from mentally slapping her forehead for thinking that she was interested in the topic just because it was 'familiar'. No, the enigma that was Grimmjow Jeagerjaques certainly interested her no matter what situation she was in. It pained her to admit it but her pride refused to allow her to lie to herself. Sighing deeply, she tilted her head up towards the ceiling before looking back down to see the other three women looking at her intently.
"Uh…can I help you?"
"We asked you how you've been getting along with Grimm," Yoruichi stated blandly, a thin smirk forming on her lips when her protégé paused and her expression shifted into an uncharacteristic mix of different emotions. "Well he doesn't piss me off as much today as he did yesterday," Soifon admitted airily, not really caring when three grins were forming in her field of vision. "I think we've reached an understanding of-"
"Each other's anatomy," Yoruichi finished, causing the third seat and seafoam-haired Taicho to erupt into laughter much to the expense of the raven-haired assassin who looked as if she was about to reach for her sword. "But seriously, I'm glad to see that you're warming up to him a little. Something must've happened when I left this morning," the goddess stated with happy sincerity, chuckling in disbelief when Soifon's eyes briefly widened and fell to the floor.
"Shaolin, you tell me what happened this instant!"
"Later," Soifon muttered in embarrassment, quickly regaining enough courage to shoot a fiery glare up at the trio of pouting women, warning them what would happen if anyone continued the current discussion.
"And here I thought that I was the only one who got sexy looks like that."
Soifon whipped her head to the side and watched in mortification as Grimmjow walked into the circle of furniture and sat down with a bottle of sake in between her and Yoruichi.
Please tell me that he didn't see what happened.
"You're a heartbreaker, Shaolin," the Vice-Captain whimpered in mock hurt as he stretched his arms over the back of the couch and around the seats of both women next to him, never actually coming in contact with either of them but still managing to catch a heated frown from his superior. "You'll always be my first love though," he stated with a deadpan look on his face which would've made Soifon's heart skip a beat had she not hazily recognized that routine from someone she hadn't seen in at least a century.
"Now I'm really jealous, Soifon-Taicho," Rangiku grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest in a huff. "You had sex with him and he loves you," she wailed, causing the male officers to spit out their sake and look across the lounge while she took a long drink from a nearby ceramic flask which quickly flushed her cheeks a deep rosy color. Meanwhile, Grimmjow simply turned his head over to the petite woman next to him with a curious gaze. "We had sex?" He asked innocently while Yoruichi leaned to the front of the couch to get a better look at the situation unfolding in front of her.
"We had no such thing," Soifon seethed, baring her teeth slightly at those around her and then glaring daggers at the others on the far side of the room who promptly returned to their previous activities. Her rage shortly diffused when she felt an arm fall on her shoulder and someone move in to the side of her head. "I can make it so that the next time you answer that question the way you did…it would be a lie," Grimmjow breathed huskily into his Captain's ear.
With a mix of sheer anger, embarrassment, and something else, Soifon shrugged her subordinate's arm away from her and rudely pushed his head away with her elbow before snatching the jug of sake from his hand and drowning her humiliation with massive gulps of alcohol.
I knew coming here was a bad idea.
"Give me that," Grimmjow growled, reclaiming the decanter from his superior. "If a woman like you drinks like that then she is going to die and the world has no use for a lesser population of beautiful women, Shaolin," he concluded with a humorous glint in his eyes that melted all emotion out of Soifon until she was in a neutral state, waiting for the next event to decide whether she stayed or tore out of the tea house in cold fury.
"I thought spending time with me would get you used to that kind of humor but I guess it's different with a guy, huh?" Yoruichi began with a mildly apologetic tone. "Sorry Soifon, we were just teasing…didn't mean to piss you off that much."
The tension in the room slowly deflated when Soifon let out a slow breath and thawed the icy glaze over her eyes. "Its alright…just don't do it again," she muttered and then turned to Grimmjow with a tired expression. "Can I have some fucking sake now?"
"Just don't overdue it, Shaolin. We can't race home if I have to carry you back," the blue-haired Arrancar jabbed, earning a small smile from his Captain while he handed her a saucer and poured her a moderate amount of alcohol from the recently abused flask. The smile didn't go unnoticed however and while the two officers from the second division were preoccupied, Yoruichi and Rangiku met each other's gazes with completely sober eyes and nodded knowingly while Nel watched their interaction in confusion.
From then on, the experiences happening within the lounge were nothing but pleasant and spirited especially after the two parties merged in the center of the room and the officers erupted into a frenzy as Starrk and Kyouraku tried to drink one another under the table, spawning nonstop entertainment for several hours until the group relocated to the roof of the eighth division's Captain's quarters just in time to watch the sunset.
Umbrellas suspended by kido littered the eaves of the large structure, shading everyone from the dwindling summer heat as Seireitei reached the cusp of nightfall. Lilynette had joined the group soon after they had arrived, immediately kicking the former primera in the shin for leaving her with their conjoined stacks of paperwork and then striking up a conversation with Nel near the top of the roof. Since then, Starrk and Kyouraku sat with their haori and straw hat pulled over their faces respectably, dozing in an alcohol induced slumber. Renji and Hisagi were sitting along with Grimmjow and Rangiku, clearly amused at the latter's many failed attempts at the inebriated seduction of the former who turned her down under the grounds of the sake choosing her words for her.
While all this was going on, Yoruichi and Soifon had moved far away from the rest of the group, standing at the edge of the building with pale orange sunlight streaming across their faces.
"I can't believe it," the dark-skinned woman said with wide eyes, staring incredulously at her protégé with a wide smirk. "He actually made you blush? I knew he was good but not that good and he even did it with such an overused trick too," she snickered as she shook her head slowly. "What do you mean?" Soifon asked coolly, finally feeling a little better now that she had been able to talk to her mentor in private. "I mean the whole taking a dive and then causing you to fall on top of him so you get close and comfy," the goddess explained. "I have a whole new level of respect for him now."
Soifon gave a weary glare before delving into the heart of the matter. "So what does it mean?" She asked in a low voice, looking over her shoulder and turning back when she saw that no one was near her. "Simple," Yoruichi began in a tone devoid of her usual playfulness. "It means you're starting to like him."
"Don't fuck with me," the Captain snarled, receiving only a set of crossed arms and a pair of narrowed eyes in response. "Honestly, Soifon. You can be so childish some times," the former assassin sighed, moving closer to her friend and shooting her a soft smile. "You can also be a little hard-headed as well," she continued, ignoring the inevitable glare. "I've been watching you around him ever since this afternoon and its painfully obvious to someone like me that you have a little something for him. Its nothing to be ashamed of especially considering how sweet he's been with helping you out around the office and saying those nice things you told me about."
Yoruichi paused and registered her old student's complex expression; she was obviously having a hard time dealing with the truth. "Two days is plenty of time to form feelings for someone even for people as reserved as you," she stated comfortingly, relieving a small portion of the distress from Soifon's face. "You're like me, you know. You don't become attracted to someone easily and now that you have, you're afraid of getting hurt again…which is my fault. Let me guess, you've never really had a relationship?" Soifon nodded slowly, letting her eyes fall to the ground. "You know…he'd be mad at you for looking like that."
The Captain's eyes immediately bolted upright and a small smirk tugged at her lips. "And I'll tell you a little something else," Yoruichi whispered, looking over to Grimmjow who was bordering between annoyance and pity while he lifted Rangiku's fawning body away from his chest. "He really isn't a womanizer at all, he just likes to tease but I think I've seen a little bit of sincerity in some of the things he says to you so maybe you two have a shot if you're willing to give it a chance because I think all signs are green on his end."
Upon hearing this, Soifon looked over to Grimmjow as well, her mouth and eyes unreadable. "Do I really have some kind of hidden feelings for that man?" She whispered to herself, her mind running through all the events that had happened in the last two days. "I don't know if I can be in a relationship…"
"I've never met anyone who needed one more," Yoruichi commented seriously, joining her protégé at her side and looking into the sunset for several moments, pondering the possibilities together. "I still don't know," Soifon muttered after a while, turning to meet a pair of golden eyes. "Just promise me that you'll seriously consider it," Yoruichi pleaded hopefully.
"…Yeah…okay," Soifon conceded, putting determination into the second word. The next thing she knew, she was pulled into a tight hug and found herself slowly returning the gesture. "Thank you, Yoruichi. You always somehow know how to help."
"It's the least I can do and I promise I won't tell anyone. Now let's get back, looks like something's happening."
Breaking their embrace, the two women walked over to where everyone was forming a tight circle around a small table suspended on the roof in the same manner as the umbrellas. Upon closer inspection, the stray piece of furniture held a single decanter of sake and several stacks of saucers.
Yoruichi and Soifon made their way through the commotion and sat down next to Grimmjow who merely shrugged when they looked at him with questioning eyes. "Nice of you to join us," the Arrancar remarked with his usual smirk. "I was wondering if my charm had finally run dry and you two decided to hook up and leave me back here." He felt his mouth stretch slightly when he received a string of giggles and a pair of rolled eyes which settled on him after their revolution with a small smile hanging below them. Teal met brown with matching softness before breaking to see a remarkably sober-looking Kyouraku with an even more amazingly awake Starrk at his side presiding over the small table in the center of the circle.
"As I look around right now," the flamboyant Captain began in an unusually solemn voice, "I see many things that I thought I wouldn't live to witness. For one thing, I see Abarai Renji wearing a white haori; this is absolutely ridiculous and it cannot stand." Everyone in the group including the red-haired officer chuckled lightly. "I also see shinigami and hollow sitting next to each other with their swords sheathed and smiles on their faces. I see the seeds of friendship growing faster than I've ever seen before. I see a peace unlike any the world has ever seen. I see an ancient grudge that has existed since the creation of Soul Society finally being resolved and I see that there are truly no enemies that are beyond reconciliation."
"Everyone grab a dish."
All around the circle, people quietly reached for a saucer, even Lilynette gripped one firmly after Starrk had nodded his approval. Once everyone had a dish, they held it up to Kyouraku who poured them all a small amount of sake and then gave himself a hefty dose before setting the small decanter back on the levitating table. Motioning for everybody to brink their saucers together, he opened his mouth to speak once more.
"As the sun sets tonight, it not only brings the night but it finally brings an end to the Winter War. Everyone, I would like to make a toast," Kyouraku announced happily. "To the creation of new beginnings…the creation of new relationships…"
Soifon looked over to Yoruichi to see that she was staring back at her before she gave her a wink and turned back to the toast, leaving her to trail her eyes back until she found Grimmjow raising his cyan eyebrows suggestively with his trademark smirk. Chuckling softly, Soifon looked past his playful features and into his eyes where there resided a much more serious message which caused her to break away from the intensity of his gaze and back to her sake with a slight flush.
"…And the creation of new opportunities," Kyouraku finished, ushering forth a series of clacking sounds as a multitude of ceramic vessels tapped against one another and then split apart to have their contents downed.
A small round of applause permeated the stillness of the twilight once everyone had finished their drink. The umbrellas then came down and everyone laid down across the roof to watch as the sun slipped below the horizon, revealing the billions of stars that shined brilliantly over Soul Society.
Only light conversation and vagrant comments floated through the night air for several hours as the roof was immersed in a tranquil ambience.
Grimmjow was spread out on the roof tiles with his head tilted straight up, looking into the cosmos before he let it fall sideways to look at his Captain who immediately averted her eyes when she saw him looking towards her. "Too late," he goaded, causing Soifon to move her gaze steadily back towards him with a half-hearted glare. "Have a good time?" The Arrancar asked with a smile which he found to be quickly mirrored in the lips of his superior who nodded slowly. "Thank you for convincing me to come, being here is certainly better then being alone in the office," she said gratefully.
"Don't mention it," Grimmjow muttered, waving a hand dismissively in the air while the other rested below his head. "I've got fun to spare so any time you need some just ask."
"Thank you, Grimmjow," Soifon murmured tiredly, her eyes half-lidded with sake-induced fatigue.
"Aww, that's so sweet," Yoruichi quipped, effectively replacing her former student's weariness with cold aggravation. "Way to shatter the fucking mood, Cat Lady," Grimmjow growled, once again verbalizing his Captain's thoughts. "Sorry, sorry. I didn't know you two were about to jump each other on the roof," the goddess retorted, waving her arms in front of her body defensively. "Shut up," Soifon interjected sourly as she rubbed her eyes, yawned, and got to her feet. "I'm too tired to punch you so I'll just hit you twice in the morning. Anyway, I don't know about you two but I'm heading back"
"Yeah, I'm ready to turn in too," Yoruichi added, causing both women to turn to Grimmjow who simply nodded before letting a wide smirk stain his face. "Last one home does all of tomorrow's paperwork, readysetgo!" He shouted before disappearing into the sky in a sound of static.
"Wait…fuck! No fair!" Yoruichi called after him, looking to Soifon only to receive a windy gust of shunpo as her protégé took off behind the blue and white streak flying over Seireitei.
"Damn it all," the goddess cursed to herself, stomping a foot on the roof before flashing into the night.
Author's Note: So here's the first romance focused chapter, hope it's up to par with you all. It felt to me as if the beginning was a little lacking. I'm really going to try and progress into the relationship while keeping the two in character.
Ah well, I did damn well enough for writing this in two days (you all will see it a day after I've finished it).
REVIEW and don't ask questions unless it concerns my handsomeness. Or ask other questions anyway, I really don't care.