He'd been too late.
The minute Grimmjow had entered the wing, he'd known that. He'd still searched for the elusive scent underneath the strong pungent smell of herbs and blood but no matter how hard he searched, it felt like the boy had never even entered the area.
Unwilling to let his prey's trail go cold, Grimmjow had searched for the medics who'd escorted the boy out of the fighting hall but the all looked boringly alike and he couldn't quite remember anything other than the white-haired boy. And even if it was the most useful thing he could do at the moment, Grimmjow wouldn't actually stoop to ask the weak cowering medics about the boy.
He kept searching and sniffing every inch of space until the three brats entered the medical wing, took one look at him and slumped down in disappointment when they realized that the white-haired boy wasn't there.
Thankfully they didn't say a word.
Not even when they teacher looked at all them as though he wanted an explanation. "You three shouldn't be so glum! Not when it's time to celebrate!"
"We're celebrating something?" Fox-brat asked.
"Of course we are!" The teacher said, "You're the only complete team from Konoha who made it all the way to the finals!
"You don't sound very enthusiastic about it Kakashi-sensei," Pink-hair said with a slight smile.
"Ah! Is that so?"
The three brats shared exasperated looks.
"How about I treat you three to some nice food? Would that be… enthusiastic enough?"
"Only if Grimmjow gets to come with us," Fox-brat said immediately.
The teacher's only visible eye crinkled as though he were smiling. "Of course, he's coming to celebrate with us. What kind of sensei do you take me for?"
Pink-hair snorted. "Do you really need to ask?"
"You three have grown up and become so uncute." The grey-haired man turned nonchalantly and led them to one of the halls. Grimmjow only moved from his spot and followed after the three brats when he remembered that Bratty-black was his only real lead to Orochimaru now.
He didn't like it but he knew better than to lose his only chance at killing that insolent man.
Soon they were out of the forest and in an open grassland while Fox-brat kept on a steady stream of talking that made Grimmjow's ears throb. Who he was talking to, Grimmjow had no idea, but none of the other humans seemed to mind the noise. If that wasn't enough, his sense of smell felt overwhelmed with a multitude of unrecognizable scents all around him.
He knew there was nothing he could do. The last time he'd been in this form, he'd been in Hueco Mundo and Hollows were the only things that gave off scents there.
The finally stopped in a large clearing with an odd stone structure at the very centre. When they settled close to the stone, a copy of the brats' teacher walked towards them with a multitude of bags and boxes.
Grimmjow was sufficiently distracted when an open box, filled with fish, was placed in front of him.
"I know this may be a bit too early to discuss, but I wanted you to know that I've already thought about all three of your preparations during the month before the final exam!"
The three brats looked at the man in surprise.
Pink-hair swallowed her food hastily and said, "You did?"
The teacher nodded. "Naruto, you'll need to improve your basics. And Sakura, your endurance needs to grow. So I've contacted two people who are well-suited to dealing with your individual weaknesses."
The man looked at the two brats expectantly.
"Are you going to be training Sasuke?" Fox-brat asked.
"Yes, but there's no need to be..."
"Good!" Fox-brat said, "He needs a lot of help."
Pink-hair nodded as Grimmjow swallowed a pink coloured fish.
"What?" Their teacher seemed utterly surprised.
"You've got the Sharingan, so you need to make sure he can use his eyes properly," Pink-hair shrugged absently. Then she narrowed her eyes. "You are going to do that, right?"
The teacher blinked. "Of course!"
Bratty-black narrowed his eyes. "Don't talk about me like I'm the weakest one here."
"But Sasuke, Grimmjow says you're really weak," Fox-brat said, his voice so uncharacteristically serious, that Grimmjow actually sniffed to check if it really was Fox-brat.
Bratty-black turned to him.
Wondering when exactly he'd said that, Grimmjow just yawned and picked up another fish.
Fox-brat said, "See. You totally need Kakashi-sensei's help. And all of his attention."
Their teacher looked between all of them awkwardly. "That's not... err, anyway, here comes your first teacher. Thank you for coming here, Ebisu-san."
Fox-brat stared for a moment before he stood, pointed dramatically and yelled. "Closet pervert?"
Everyone stared at the newcomer.
The man laughed. "Naruto-kun, you and your jokes!"
"What jokes? You're the one who got defeated by my hare..." A hand clamped down on Fox-brat's mouth and the newly arrived man whispered frantically in the brat's ear.
Fox-brat rolled his eyes and nodded.
The man removed his hand and pushed his sunglasses up with a twitch. "I'll do my best to make him excel in the basics, Kakashi-san."
"I have no doubt you will. Also, I hope you don't mind a slight change of plans." The grey-haired man turned to Pink-hair and said, "Sakura, my other clone just found out your teacher's busy this week. But you can train alongside Naruto with Ebisu and hone your basics till your teacher comes."
Pink-hair stared at Fox-brat for a moment before she shook her head. "No! Naruto will train better if Ebisu-san concentrates on him. I can practise the basics just fine on my own."
"Sakura..."
"Kakashi-sensei, I can handle basic training on my own for a week."
The grey-haired teacher stared at her for a moment but sighed. "Don't overdo it."
Pink-hair scoffed as she looked at her team-mates. "I'm not like these two."
Finding his box completely empty, Grimmjow stood, turned and moved away from the humans. He'd been walking for a few minutes when he finally growled in annoyance. "Why the fuck are you following me?"
Pink-hair stared at him. "What else am I supposed to do?"
"Stop following me."
"But," the brat huffed, "do you even know where you're going?"
"I'm going to search for that snake-bastard."
Pink-hair frowned at him. "How? I think even our elite Anbu had trouble trying to find him."
Grimmjow scoffed. "I'm not some useless human. I'll find him just fine on my own."
"But shouldn't you wait for a while? For a month, at least?
"A month?" Grimmjow growled. "What the fuck am I going to do for a whole month?"
Pink-hair stared at him and said, "Well, er, you could also train up for your fight against Orochimaru. I mean, you're not completely healed, right?"
Grimmjow stared at her.
Pink-hair fumbled nervously. "I mean… if you were completely strong, you'd have attacked Sensei. I don't know if he's as strong as Orochimaru, but I know he's stronger than the three of us."
"I attacked you little shits when I was injured," He reminded her even though he was slightly miffed she'd put together all that. Grimmjow turned away with an annoyed huff, suddenly even more eager to leave the brat's presence. "Don't worry, I'll kill your teacher after I deal with Orochimaru."
But Pink-hair's words were true. He needed to practice. It had been a while since he'd been in this form and he needed to work out the kinks of how to fight on four legs again. He needed to remember how to use his body as the weapon in his fight, especially when there was something wrong with his spiritual energy. "I am the strongest! That's all I need to know," Grimmjow said to himself.
Forgetting that he wasn't completely alone yet, he twitched when Pink-hair said, "How do you know that you are the strongest? Or well, just if you are strong and..."
"If I wasn't strong, I'd be dead already." He grimaced at his unconsciously given reply, knowing that he'd unwittingly encouraged the brat to keep talking.
"That..." Pink-hair looked up to the blue sky. "That actually makes sense."
Grimmjow snorted. "Obviously, stupid."
"How did you get strong Grimmjow?"
Grimmjow watched her from the corner of his eye. Ignoring her would make her shut up. But then she'd think he wasn't actually strong. "I fought. I kept fighting and winning."
"I see." Pink-hair clenched her fists tightly. Then she sighed and slumped down. "Where exactly am I going to fight here?"
Grimmjow ignored the girl's musings and walked away, already knowing where he'd be starting his search.
"Wait!"
"You.. just who do you think you're trying to boss around?" Grimmjow said in irritation and raised his tail spikes.
"That…I'm not bossing you around. I just want to come with you."
"Fuck no!" Grimmjow said and jumped away from her.
There was a thump of running footsteps. Grimmjow looked a little to the side and noticed a flash of red just behind him.
He sped up.
The flash of red disappeared but the thumps and thuds behind him didn't stop.
Grimmjow reached the Forest, the one that he'd fought Orochimaru in. He scoffed at the locked gates around the forested area. With a slight tug on his spiritual energy, he jumped up high, cleared the tall fence and landed smoothly on a tree branch. He jumped down on to the forest floor easily, sneezed in annoyance at the dust cloud that surrounded him but ran ahead, smug when no sounds followed after him.
He'd just come across a lair of large sleeping tigers in the distance, when a solid thump above him brought an all too familiar scent.
"So you managed to keep up?" Grimmjow looked up at the girl, noting her laboured breathing and the strain in her limbs. "But it looks like you're going to faint, weakling."
"Shut up," she mumbled and jumped down. "I'm not that weak. This is nothing."
"And you're finally showing some backbone, huh? You're full of surprises, brat. But your…team-mates," Grimmjow snorted at the word and continued. "Aren't here right now. Stop pretending to be strong."
Pink-hair huffed and brushed her clothes as she moved beside Grimmjow and looked around curiously.
Grimmjow growled loudly, issuing an animalistic challenge, easily waking the large tigers who rose, came out of their lair and ran at him with vicious snarls. "Come on fuckers, I'll show you just how strong I am."
A whoosh of metal sliced through the air.
Grimmjow looked a little to the side and saw a sharp metal knife slam in to a large insect's body.
"I'm not weak!" Pink-hair huffed as more insects came out from the undergrowth and surrounded them alongside the large tigers.
Grimmjow laughed as he lunged forward and tore through the throat muscles of an impudent tiger that had come too close to him. He left the creature for dead and moved on to the next tiger, which seemed bigger than the one he'd downed.
A massive paw clawed at his side, but the tiger's claw slid down harmlessly against his plated skin armour. Grimmjow used the tiger's momentary distraction to pounce up at the tiger's throat as well.
"Shannaro!"
Grimmjow snorted at the nonsensical yell but ripped out the tiger's blood coated windpipe. He crushed whatever he had in his mouth, spit it out callously and jumped at a large centipede that had been trying to attack his legs.
He twitched when a metal weapon whizzed past him and a large something fell down beside him. Grimmjow looked from the corner of his eye at the tiger carcass that had a weapon sticking out of it's eye. In his haste to deal with the centipedes, he'd forgotten about the remaining tiger.
Angry at his inattention, Grimmjow viciously bit the next centipede and continued fighting for a long time until there was nothing left alive in the clearing.
Pink-hair huffed and pulled out her knives from a chunk of smashed flesh. She flicked the blood and flesh off her weapons and stuffed them into her pouch, wincing as the scabbed gashes on her arms and legs cracked and bled. "I told you…I wasn't weak."
And then she fell face forward on to a dead centipede.
Grimmjow stared at the unconscious body of the girl and turned away eager to get on with his search for Orochimaru.
He took a few steps forward, stared at the tiger carcass that Pink-hair had downed and groaned. "Fucking pain in the ass brat. Just how many debts do I have to owe you."
Grimmjow reluctantly grabbed the back of her red shirt in his jaws and lifted her off the forest floor easily. Grimmjow ran in the direction they had come in from, jumped up on to the trees and deftly jumped over the large metal fence on to the other side.
He sniffed around and ran in the direction he could smell humans close by. Within minutes, he was on a dusty street and immediately one of the men there turned to him and gaped stupidly.
"Woah! What the heck happened to her?"
Grimmjow stared at the unknown man, utterly convinced that all weak humans were annoyingly stupid.
"She's probably a little heavy for you to carry, right? Here, why don't I hold her for you and..."
Grimmjow narrowed his eyes at the man and growled, outraged at the man's implication of being too weak to even hold on to the tiny brat.
The man backed up nervously and raised his hands placatingly. "Okay then, I won't touch her. Let's just get her to the hospital, okay? Just follow me."
Grimmjow snorted and easily kept pace with the man until the reached a large building that seemed close to a large imposing mountain. As soon as they entered the building, one of the people dressed in white rushed to him and took a hold of Pink-hair carefully.
He followed after them curiously, wondering what kind of healing techniques the humans used here.
"Another one that's overexerted herself!" The medic lady who examined Pink-hair tutted. "What's with all these kids today? Training to the point of exhaustion can't possible help them at all."
Grimmjow snorted but kept silent when the woman's hands suddenly glowed green. Grimmjow noted the tiny amount of spiritual energy overwhelmed by something else, most probably physical energy if that grey-haired man's explanation was true, within the green glow as she tapped on one of the brat's open gashes. The wounds closed completely, leaving no scars or traces of the wound's existence.
As the medic moved on to another open wound, Pink-hair opened her eyes groggily. She watched the green-glowing hands close the wound with a slightly hypnotized expression on her face.
"That's really…cool."
The medic yelped. "Oh my! You woke up."
Pink-hair blinked stupidly at the lady. "I was sleeping?"
The medic laughed indulgently. "You were unconscious, young lady. I wasn't expecting you to wake up for a long while." Her hands glowed green once more and she held it over another cut.
"Can I learn that?" Pink-hair whispered.
The medic looked surprised. "You want to learn this?"
Pink-hair tilted her head and nodded. "It'll be useful when I train."
"This isn't something you can just learn. You need to have perfect chakra control and years of practice."
Pink-hair frowned as her final wound closed up. "I see."
"But if you're really interested, I can talk with one of the doctors about you shadowing them as they work. That way you'll get a glimpse of how this works."
"Yes, please do that." Pink-hair hopped off the bed clumsily and steadied herself as she bowed.
"No need be so formal. I'm just glad that someone is showing interest in this job even though it isn't so glamorous." The medic said, "Now you need to get some rest and..."
-x-x-x-x-x-
Three weeks passed by in the haze of a tentative routine. Grimmjow searched around the village, happily scaring any humans he came across, for any trace of Orochimaru. Every time he failed to find something he headed towards, what Pink-hair called, the Forest of Death in a murderous rage.
Pink-hair always found him in the forest by evening and joined him in the eradication of some large forest creature after her daily training.
Grimmjow learnt a lot of things during those three weeks. First of all, his spiritual energy replenished itself way too slowly in this human world and it only did so when he slept. Of course, that never stopped him from using his spiritual energy when fighting in the forest. He'd destroyed a good amount of trees trying to re-train his cero casting abilities.
Second of all, Pink-hair was annoyingly persistent for a human. She never failed to follow or find him. And with each passing day, he noticed that she stopped gasping for breath after running continuously. It made him think of Kurosaki's quick growth, and for a few crazed moments, Grimmjow almost wished he was human so that he could grow stronger quickly. Then he'd see the weak villagers who stared at him stupidly, notice their lack of strength and he'd firmly push those thoughts away.
As Grimmjow looked around at the carnage he'd created that day, he was distracted by a slight buzz of spiritual energy coming from Pink-hair. He turned and stared at the girl's green glowing hand as it hovered over her arm.
The large gash underneath her fingers closed up sluggishly but surely.
"You learnt that healing thing."
Pink-haired grinned at him, her teeth mildly disturbing in the green glow. "All by myself. The people at the hospital don't know that I've been trying this. No one knows I can use this."
Grimmjow moved closer and stared at the green glow, measuring the amount of spiritual energy in it. "Looks pretty useful."
"It's my trump card for the finals."
"Doesn't seem like much for that."
Pink-hair snorted. "Not yet obviously. I can make it better in a week."
Grimmjow just stood up and walked forward in search of another fight.
When it was finally too dark, he turned around and they both made their way out of the forest easily bypassing the tall locked gates. After a few minutes, they were in the centre of the village surrounded by weak humans, civilians as Pink-hair called them, who gave Grimmjow a wide berth. He growled menacingly at the curious ones who stared and revelled in the increased fear of the people around him.
Pink-hair just sighed as she walked beside him until they reached a modest house. She pulled out a key from her pouch and opened the door, keeping it wide open for Grimmjow.
"Sakura, there's another package on the counter there for you," a female voice, from one of the more annoying civilians Grimmjow had to deal with daily, came from the back of the house as Pink-hair closed the door.
Pink-hair grabbed a large box and yelled back. "Thanks mom, I got it." She climbed up the stairs and Grimmjow followed her absently, trying his best to stifle a yawn.
The minute they entered Pink-hair's small room, Grimmjow jumped on to the soft bed and shuffled down in to the sheets.
Pink-hair opened the box and pulled out a fat fish. "Here you go, Grimmjow. Looks like Naruto got you another ocean fish."
Grimmjow just huffed. "Keep the window open, stupid."
"Yes, yes, I know." Pink-hair rolled her eyes and threw the fish at him. "But I still think it's ridiculous that you'll be able to smell Orochimaru if his scent shows up anywhere in the village."
"Just because you're weak and talentless, doesn't mean I am too." Grimmjow grabbed the fish absently and watched Pink-hair unroll her futon on the ground. "I told you, my senses are only attuned to catching my prey's scent now, so it ignores everything else automatically." Grimmjow didn't feel inclined to mention that he'd only just developed the skill recently and he didn't know if it actually worked like that. In Heco Mundo, he'd never dealt with prey who played such annoyingly elaborate hide and seek games, and he'd never had to track something with scent alone.
"Fine," she huffed.
He munched on the fish sleepily, watching Pink-hair open a text-filled scroll.
Just as he was about to give in to sleep, a faint tickle of a scent that forced him wide awake.
Grimmjow sat up and analysed the scent. It was faint, but it was a snake-like scent. Not enough to be Orochimaru, but definitely enough to be that white-haired escape artist.
Pink-hair startled at his movement, dropping her scroll in surprise. "Grimmjow?"
He jumped out of her room's window, landed gently on the quiet street below and ran, irritated that he couldn't use a sonido since he'd used up all his spirit energy while fighting in the forest earlier.
A muffled curse and a soft thump beside him alerted him to the fact that Pink-hair had joined him even as the scent he'd been focused on disappeared abruptly. Even so, Grimmjow ran forward confidently to the place he knew his prey had been at and stopped in front of a dull ornate building.
Pink-hair stopped beside him with a slight huff. "This is… Kikyo castle?"
Grimmjow concentrated and used his pesquisa. A wave of his spiritual energy fanned out from him and he closed his eyes as the technique relayed a vague image of the closest spiritual signatures. To his aggravation, there was only one weakening spiritual energy at the top. "Someone's dying up there."
"What?" Pink-hair jumped up before he could say anything else and disappeared up on to one of the roofs.
Grimmjow jumped up after her, hoping he'd find a clue about the white-haired boy. Pink-hair sat hunched over a gasping man, her green glowing hands hovering close over a blood-soaked chest. Grimmjow walked past her, turned his senses completely on and sniffed at everything carefully.
The wall only held traces of sand.
The floor smelt like the dying man.
But he couldn't find a single tinge of snake anywhere.
"Grimmjow... are you staying here?"
Grimmjow huffed. "There's nothing useful here now. That little fucker removed all traces of his presence again. No smell, nothing."
Pink-hair just nodded and placed her hands underneath the man. With a deep breath and a slight flinch, she lifted the man who groaned painfully. "Then let's go."
Grimmjow stared at her for a full minute, noting her slightly trembling arms and her paleness, before he jumped.
He waited idly and shifted his senses back to it's normal mode, taking in every bit of information around him. Pink-hair joined him a minute later with a pained huff. "Stupid heavy examiner. He needs to go on a diet when he wakes up."
Grimmjow analyzed all the scents he could catch now that he wasn't in his hunting mode, and ran down deserted roads. He concentrated and used his pesquisa to track down humans with strong spiritual energy and adjusted his course accordingly.
As soon as Grimmjow reached one of the busier districts well ahead of Pink-hair, he growled loudly catching the attention of a group of humans wearing dark blue clothes and sporting dull green vests.
A bearded man, with a cigarette in his mouth, turned to him curiously but gasped with wide eyes as Pink-hair finally reached them. "You! You're one of Kakashi's students and that's…Hayate? "
"This..." Pink-hair gasped tiredly as one of the other men came forward, grabbed the unconscious body and ran hastily in another direction. "I tried..."
Grimmjow flinched when the girl slumped forward and fell across his back unconscious. "Stupid brat! You're getting that man's blood all over me."
The weight across his back disappeared immediately as someone lifted Pink-hair carefully. "I better get her to the hospital. One of you inform Kakashi. And someone better go find where the scene of the attack."
"Can you take us to the place of the attack?" One of the remaining men said, dragging each word out slowly as he stared at Grimmjow.
Grimmjow eyed the disappearing form of Pink-hair and scoffed. "I'm not a fucking dog, you retarded bastards. Go to Kikyo Castle yourselves." He turned and ran.
When he reached the hospital, no one stopped him from entering Pink-hair's room and claiming a spot on the only empty bed there. He watched idly as various medical personal came to check on Pink-hair until her breathing eased up and became normal.
Grimmjow had just closed his eyes in the darkened room, eager to back to sleep when the door slid open. He growled in response and opened an eye.
Silhouetted in the annoying bright light coming from the hall was the grey-haired teacher. Grimmjow raised his head and stared at the man, wondering if now would be considered the perfect time to kill the man and eat his powerful soul.
The teacher entered the room and thankfully closed the door getting rid of the light. He moved to Pink-hair, stared at her for a few minutes and then turned to him. "She'll be fine, you know."
Grimmjow just closed his eyes, wondering why the man thought he'd need to know something so obvious. He was just staying here, because it would take too long to go back to the brat's house. And Pink-hair's parents were annoying to deal with, they'd just whimper and delay him from sleeping.
No, it was in his best interest to stay here so he could sleep without unnecessary delays.
-x-x-x-x-x-
The day of the final tournament was considerably bright. So bright that Grimmjow growled in irritation when sunlight fell on his eyes and shuffled deeper under the covers.
Only for the covers to be pulled away viciously. "Grimmjow, wake up. You'll miss the tournament! And then Naruto will be annoying about it because he sent you all that fish."
Grimmjow opened one eye and stared at Pink-hair. She was completely dressed, and had multiple pouches on various parts of her body.
He promptly closed his eyes again.