A/N: Well, this chapter actually came out faster than I thought. Well, here is chapter seven. I would also like to thank, cheeky half-demon, Thierry Mist, I'llxBexUrxEnigma2010 for reviewing most of the time. I would like to thank everyone else for reviewing. Oh, and for the record, I had rewritten the first chapter for this story. I just added some stuff to it, nothing drastic.
Chapter 7
She stumbled down the stairs with a groan, rubbing her forehead as though it could rub away the dream.
Teeth gleaming… claws reaching over her head… cold cerulean eyes staring blankly at her…
Midori had dreamed it all in peculiar detail for every sleeping moment, the temporary awaking being the only solitary she had of peace. That is until he had showed up, comforting and torturing her.
By all the laws of life, he should have killed her already. She should be buried deep under the sand dunes, pushing yellow daisies up onto the surface only to have them stomped on by him. It should've been a happily ever dead after.
But, with reality being the cruel and evil ass it was, she was still alive, everyday a living torture.
"Morning," a voice called out
Looking towards the voice, she scowled at the male panther that was finishing up a bowl of food. What it was, she did not know, and decided to keep it at that.
"You look like something the cat dragged in." a new deep voice piped up
She looked around, spotting the orange haired afro bobbing across the room, and smiled lightly. At least one of the Privaron was still alive.
"Haven't touched her," Grimmjow started his eyes drifting from his food to her, "I figured that since you woke me up four times, I'd just stay awake. So I took a shower." Well, that explained why he was walking around shirtless, his hair tousled and damp.
"Well, how do you explain me ending up on the floor?" she asked him, making her way to the pantry in hopes to find something edible
"I don't know. Like I said, you fit perfectly with the floor. You were made for it." He said, the insult rolling from his tongue as though it were a simple shrug of the shoulders
"And your sword was made perfectly to fit up your-"
"Hey!" Gantenbainne yelled out, fitting his massive body between her and Grimmjow, blocking the incoming glare that was meant for her. "We don't need a massacre in this place right now."
"Gaten, do you have anything to eat here that is enough for two?" she asked sticking her tongue out at Grimmjow
"Hmm, we do have soup. That's it probably." He shrugged
Midori huffed, turning away from the two males. She then heard a faint smack, followed by a hushed whispered yell, "Don't piss her off!"
"Why not?" Grimmjow spoke up loudly, making sure she would hear
"I don't know how to cook and I doubt you do either. Unless you want to starve, I suggest you don't piss her off until after she's done cooking." Gaten explained
"And he's right. Piss me off and I'll hide all the non cook food here." She said slamming a cabinet close, "Then I can laugh as one of you kills yourself with a kitchen appliance."
"Eh, not like that will happen. I probably don't even know how to use them, more or less the names of them." Grimmjow said, standing with an empty bowl in his hand
She raised her hand, waving her fingers towards the bowl signaling that she would take it. Grimmjow tossed it carelessly at her, only her quick reflexes saving her from having a bruised toe.
"Okay then, this is a spoon," she said lifting a spoon from the counter, waving it in front of his face, "Do you know what it's used for?"
"Hitting you." He replied bluntly, grabbing the spoon from her hands and smacking her lightly on the forehead
Midori growled lightly, her eyes narrowing as she snatched the spoon back from him, placing both that and the bowl into the sink. Walking back to Grimmjow, she examined the bandages that were tightly constricting his upper torso, a thin line of blood forming from the gash.
"It's time to change." She said, placing a hand on his chest lightly
She saw him wince painfully, and out of instinct, withdrew her hand quickly. Tossing him an apologetic look, he nodded and walked back to the room, placing a hand over his chest to soothe the pain.
"Gaten," she started, but he beat her to her question, "The bandages are in the bathroom, in the cabinet above the sink." He replied
She nodded her thanks, retreating to the room where Grimmjow waited for her…impatiently. As she entered the room, she was welcomed by Grimmjow yelling profanities at his wounds and her, all the while removing his bandages.
"You should wait for me you know." She said sitting next to him on the bed, "Now look, you made your wound bleed more." She said, carefully removing the rest of the bandages
"Just bandage it woman," Ah, there it was, the oh so infamous nickname for every girl and woman he made contact with, "It hurts like hell." He mumbled
"Well, you wouldn't have this wound if you would have just walked away," she started heading into the bathroom that was connected to their room, "But no, you just had to fight until you were almost dead."
"You're going against your own advice you know," he said, flinching as she came back into the room, holding antibiotics in one hand
"What are you talking about?" she asked, unscrewing the cap slowly, watching as his eyes looked warily at it
"You said I should face it. Face the fact that I have lost and face the consequences. Well, with you keeping me here, I can't exactly do that can I?" he asked smirking
"You have a point there. But would you rather face Aizen on the brink of death? Or would you rather do it where you have at least some chance of getting out alive?" she asked him
He sneered at her, averting his gaze as she placed the cap on the bed. Kneeling before him, she gently grabbed the towel she had dropped previously on the floor and poured alcohol on it.
"Now, this will sting." She warned him, placing the bottle on the ground
"Just do it. I've been in worse-" he hissed in sharply as she pressed the cloth over his wound, applying little pressure
She stood up, still keeping the cloth over his wound, as blood continued to drip from the wound, staining it red. Sitting on the bed next to him, she placed a warm hand on his back gently.
"I told you it would sting." She whispered, as though talking loudly would make the pain worsen
Grimmjow was bent over in pain, his eyes closed shut tightly in attempts to block out the physical torture that was being inflicted on him. Lifting the cloth, Midori dabbed the wound a couple more times before letting it drop to the floor.
After a few cuss words and a warning smack to the arm to keep still, Grimmjow was bandaged nicely once again, the wound lightly bleeding.
"Was that so bad?" she asked him as she cleaned up
"Hn, it's not like it hurt or anything." he said. She turned to look at him and saw his eyes brimming with tears, but nonetheless, his face was as hard and cold as always. She let the soon to be tears slide however.
"You'll have such a lovely scar after it heals." She told him, patting him lightly on the shoulder
He was mostly in one piece by now. It had been a couple of days since he was almost killed and sent to hell, but at least he was alive. He had been able to walk after the first two days, but, he was still weak, she knew that much. She knew he was in a lot of pain – more than he wanted to admit.
Grimmjow looked up at her and frowned, his eyes searching her face. Confused, she asked him what was wrong.
"Come." He said, patting to the space beside him
She nodded, obliging to his rather strange command. Sitting next to him, he raised his hand and pressed it against her cheek. Eyes widening, her breath hitched in her throat. His face was impassive, as it always was, but she had come to notice the little details the spoke clearly to her. The way his eyes were glazed as he intensely focused on her, the little flicker of emotion that came to his eyes.
"You should be careful what you do to yourself." He spoke finally
His voice broke her from her concentration, broke her from reading the careful language of his body.
"What are you talking about?" she asked quietly so that her voice wouldn't crack
"I'm talking about the cut on your cheek. What did you do?" he asked, releasing his hold on her cheek
Raising her hand, she ran her fingertips along her skin, feeling the breaking of skin right below her right eye.
"Oh, I don't know. I didn't realize I had that." She pointed out
Grimmjow reached over and grabbed the towel from her hand, bringing it up to her face. However, as the smell of the alcohol reached her sensitive nose, her body pounced up. Covering her cut with her hand, she shook her head.
"You are not putting that on my cut." She protested
"C'mon, you're cut is ten times less painful as mine and I could handle it." He said as he stood up carefully, wincing slightly at his actions
"Well, I don't care. I will not let you near me with that." She said pointing at the towel, her mouth turned into a disgusted frown
Much to her surprise, Grimmjow had moved quickly. His forearm pinned her neck to the wall, his body close to hers to which her struggles were no avail in such small areas. She had to admit, Grimmjow was still stronger than her even though he was close to being dead.
"I'm starting to like this position." He muttered, a smirk dancing in his eyes
"Well I'm not." She muttered back, trying to grab for the towel
Before she could stop him, Grimmjow had placed the towel firmly on her cheek, making sure to apply an even amount of pressure that would assure that the cut was clean. Even though it was such a small cut, Midori's pain sensors were highly sensitive. So, she did the only thing she could do at the time.
She screamed.
"Stop screaming Midori." He ordered sharply, pressing the towel harder into her cut
She breathed in sharply. There it was again, her name. It was twice already that he had called her by her actual name. Not "woman" or "bitch", which, for reasons she would love to murder, was actually true. She was a female dog, nothing to deny about there.
Nonetheless, she had stopped screaming. She had forced herself to. The penetrating eyes of Grimmjow, the endless ocean orbs that swept away any emotion. The sharp gleam of his mask, each fang flawless of any damage, the tips showing a past of blood and hate.
"That's better." He spoke, his voice gentle and quieter.
Tenderly, he lifted the towel from her cheek. He leaned in, his mouth grazing her cheek as softly as air. He blew on her cut, the cool air relieving the pain. She let out a shaky breath, her eyes fluttering close.
This was nothing like Grimmjow.
Sooner or later, the pain would grab hold of her, never letting her go as it dragged her deeper into an abyss of nothing, where she would be alone…afraid…She would fall among the pathetic fallen, where their souls were nothing but wisps of air, a faint whisper of memories and emotions that once meant their whole life. She remained strong on the outside, but inside, her heart was empty, too many memories of useless and cruel words strung on a line of darkness that once surrounded her when alive.
"Midori," A voice called out
"Get off!" she shrieked, her eyes snapping in wide terror
Every time he had cut her with harsh words, sliced her with unemotional – worse – disapproving looks, every bruise that held the imprints of his hands – all the anger, injustice, sorrow had burrowed deep within her, cowering in fear. All in that one word, her name, it had ripped itself free of her, raging like a tidal wave.
"Hey, what the hell?"
"Go away! Leave me alone!" she sobbed out, grabbing her head in pain
Midori breathed in erratically, shocked at how strong her memories were. And another tumbled onto another, creating a pile of ache.
"What's wrong?"
She looked up, and through the blur of tears, she saw the face of Grimmjow. Even through the tears, she noticed the bright cerulean eyes that stared at her. Endless orbs seemed to see right through her, looking at her as though she was a thing piece of glass.
It was too much. She did what she had promised herself never to do.
Unthinking, she reached out a hand for help.
It hadn't taken Sophia long to figure that Midori was missing.
First, she storms out of the room claiming to see Grimmjow, which was always a sign of a catastrophe about to happen. Soon, she finds out that Grimmjow is missing after battling the Ryoka. Yet, Midori was no where to be seen either.
She traveled recklessly now. Her nerves were on nerves, her mind frying from the thoughts of possibilities of everything that could have happened. She moved from place to place, with high hopes of spotting Midori perfectly fine; living and breathing.
But, like Murphy's Law stated, what can go wrong, will go wrong. A twisted sense of meaning, but all the more true.
No matter, Sophia would find her.
And when she did, she was in for an earful.
One evening, days after her outburst, she finally felt sane enough to face Grimmjow.
To her intense relief, she had found him easily, sitting in one of the chairs in the dining area, clutching a cup of water. The dimly lit room softened his sharp features, making him look somewhat rational and sweet.
When he saw her, the panther sighed, his eyes filling with relief.
A long silence followed as Midori did not know what to do. She kept a safe distance from him, not knowing if he was going to walk away or rip her to shreds. If it had been her in his place, she would be holding a bat instead of a cup.
"Are you…okay?" he asked hesitant, his eyes searching her for lies, "Or am I going to have to throw you off this roof?"
She smiled timidly, "I'm okay but you shouldn't really tell me your death plan for me in case I'm lying."
"Might not be your death plan. Just a way to knock sense into you. If I was going to kill you, it would be classic and simple." He said smirking
Slowly, in case he did think she was lying, she slid into a chair next to him, hearing the thump of his finger against the glass.
"Umm, Grimmjow?"
He looked at her sideways, the slight glimpse of a guilty bruise coming forth. "Yeah?"
"I…uh…" Sorry I went medieval bitch on you? Sorry I threw every possible object at high velocity at you? She didn't know how to start. Hell, she barely knew what had happened.
Grimmjow raised an eyebrow at her, urging her to continue.
"I'm sorry." she said before she could stop herself, "I'm sorry for what I did to you." She finished
She gazed hopefully at Grimmjow, hoping that he would listen to her apology and not kill her for bludgeoning him with a lamp. She saw his eyes, noticing the dark bags that marred his pale skin.
"What you did," he said, looking away, "It…doesn't matter."
"It does." She said confused
"No. It doesn't. You…" he swallowed hard, looking back at her, "What you're going through, it's not just you. I know what you're going through. I know the pain. If I couldn't handle it, I know you wouldn't be able to."
He finished shakily, placing a hand on hers cautiously.
"Just remember, what you did, I don't blame you." He said standing
She watched him curiously. How could he possibly know what she was going through? How is it possible for him to feel the emotional pain she was feeling? He had no emotions.
He slid the cup of water towards her, releasing his hand from the top of her hand. He lifted his eyes to meet her and she gasped. In his eyes, she saw the broken pieces of a soul. She saw the years of attempts to fix it, the failing and trying again. His soul…it seemed as though barbed wire had wrapped around his body, leaving him still, vulnerable and weak.
"I'll be in the room. Feel free to join any time you want." He said softly
She watched his form retreat to the room, discerning the slowness of his steps, the way his head hung low.
Looking down at the glass of water, she noticed it was full, not once being put the lips of Grimmjow.
He's tired; just let him get some rest. He'll be fine in the morning. She told herself this, told herself this lie until she was satisfied.
Because she knew the truth hurt far too much.
A/N: And there you have it, the end of chapter 7.