oo7. The Masked Man

The small group of pirates sat at the end of the bar in a rundown tavern lit by flickering candle light. The windows had been left open to allow the smell of too many people and vomit to filter out and with the storm closing in from the east the fire light could barely stay lit with the force of wind passing through. Half the candles had been blown out except the ones in glass lamps and the fire place but with the way they flickered several patrons believed they'd be drinking in the dark very soon.

The three that sat furthest away from everyone, facing the door from their barstools just incase any unwanted company should arrive, went silent as their own lamp blew out. With a sigh, Nel picked up the small match box and lit another splinter of wood to light the wick. Grimmjow grumbled and shifted the pitcher they shared to block the wind. He had already tried to convinced the barkeep to just shut the damn windows but the man refused, claiming if he had to deal with the stench that was left over from earlier that night it wouldn't be only ale that Grimmjow was drinking. Even after threatening to cut out his tongue for the smart comment the man couldn't get him to close the windows. He had to admit that it would have been sweltering hot from all the fire if there was no breeze. However, it was still annoying to keep lighting the lamp every ten minutes or so.

"We should have just done this on the ship," Yylfordt muttered into his mug before taking a swig. His blonde hair was pulled back and braided, the top half of his head hidden by a bandana that kept the hair out of his face. The thick layer of sweat that had coated his skin all day brought a smell with the wind and Nel moved her seat to the opposite of Grimmjow. She couldn't stand that smell any longer.

"God, Yylfordt, go bathe." She scrunched up her nose before placing her head on the dirty bar. She was tired and worn out from a long day of repairs and didn't care if her hair was collecting ale.

The blond looked offended before he lifted up his arm and took a sniff. His own face scrunched up and he muttered an apology before taking the last of his drink and walking out of the bar without saying where he was going. Grimmjow could only hope he was taking Nel's advice. He could even smell him down wind.

Nel picked her head up slowly, watching Yylfordt as he pushed open the door and left. Their candle flickered threateningly with the burst of wind and she quickly covered it up just in time to save it. Hazel eyes turned from the flame towards the blue haired man who had gone back to looking into his quarter full mug as if it held an answer to whatever plagued him.

"He can't know," she said softly. As he looked at her, she turned her gaze downward towards her own drink. The amber liquid shown like gold with the fire behind it. She leaned forward when he didn't say anything. He didn't even ask what she meant. Nel had figured that was what had been on his mind. It was so clearly written on his face even though he tried to hide it with the familiar scowl. "Not yet at least."

"Don't you think I know that?" Grimmjow's face smoothed out.

Nel glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes, trying to read his new expression but it was much more guarded than his scowl. She pressed her lips to the glass of her drink and blew, causing a bubble to form and foam over. That earned a nasty look from her cousin and she couldn't help but smirk slightly. It was just so easy to annoy him. But quickly, the smirk fell and she took a deep breath and sat up straighter.

"You told him he was the heir to an entire empire with no thought on what it would do to him mentally and without preparing him. I figured you'd need to be reminded of this itty bitty fact."

Azure eyes narrowed slightly at her words. Grimmjow knew Nel had a problem with spying on others. She seemed to know everything that everyone was doing or saying and no matter how many times he tried to make sure she didn't hear certain conversations, had seen no trace of her within the area for hours, she just knew. In the last week they had been sailing with a broken and damaged vessel, she had become closer with Ichigo but the boy didn't seem like the type to give a play-by-play of their conversation. How she knew what he basically just came out and said was a mystery and he almost questioned her but he knew the answer before she said it. A huff left his lips as he leaned further back on the stool. There was no point in asking just how much she knew of what happened. The cuts and bruises both men had afterwards were evidence enough when she finally saw them. It hadn't been because of Gin's attack that he had a damaged nose.

"I'm not here to babysit him. He handled it decently."

Nel gave him a look. "He locked himself in the pantry for several days and only came out after we were attacked. He has yet to say anything but one word responses to you. He wouldn't even look at you! You call that handling it fine?"

Grimmjow crossed his arms over his chest. "I said decently, not fine. He hasn't tried running off or beatin' up anyone has he? I say it's helped."

"You are insufferable," she remarked before taking a sip of her mug. Usually Grimmjow would have come up with a retort on how he was proud to be difficult but at that moment he didn't feel up to it. It was an entire week of silent treatment from the kid that made it difficult to be proud of what he had done or to even put up much of an argument with her. In the beginning, the boy's silence had been welcomed. What he wouldn't have given to gag the kid the first week he had been on his ship. But now, he was wondering if Nel was right and he had gone about it the wrong way. He scowled. What other way could he have gone about it though? Should he have held his hand, broke it to him gently maybe? He was a damn pirate, not the kid's keeper. He was old enough to deal with it.

"Look," he ran a hand over his face, trying to wipe the thoughts out of his head with the gesture. "I told him to get him off my case. He came in looking for a fight and there wasn't anything but to tell him if I didn't want to end up breaking his neck just to get him off my back. What other choice did I have?"

"Maybe if you checked that temper of yours earlier, he wouldn't have been so hostile about the entire thing." She sighed softly before turning to look at her cousin. "He can be really easy to talk to if you just give him some respect. Treating him like a prisoner and like he's nothing but some brat you can use as your punching bag is a sure way to make him become defensive and violent."

"Nelliel?"

"Hmm?"

"Shut the fuck up."

She slammed her drink down. "Now see? This is what I mean. We're having a civil conversation and you have to go and be a dick about it. Would it kill you to be just a little nicer? Maybe treat him like a person?"

Grimmjow slumped forward but the hard look on his features stayed. "Yeah, it would."

"Ugh!" She grabbed him by his arm, causing him to nearly knock over the ale he was reaching for and made him look at her. Her eyes held the flame from the lamp before him but the annoyance at his stubbornness burned brighter. The glower she gave him was worthy of one of his own and he quickly tried to match her look with his own. She dug her nails into his arm and he faltered. "Listen to me and listen to me very carefully. Acting like there is a stick constantly up your ass will only get Ichigo to hate you. He will only see you as a threat. I don't really give a damn about how you feel on the matter but we can not lose this boy. He is more important than your control issues. If he runs off because he couldn't deal with your constant callousness and falls back into Aizen's hands, I will never forgive you and this cause will be for nothing. We can not afford to lose this kid."

The blue haired captain blinked and tried to think of something to shoot back at her, some witty retort or snappy insult. He wanted to tell her that she was wrong, that they could do this without the kid. They had planned it all in the beginning before he showed up, having no plans of finding him and brining him in on it. Alright, so they didn't think about what would happen when they dethroned Aizen. That was someone else's job as to who was the heir afterwards. The letter written by the queen was a heavy weight in his pocket, reminding him of his goal. Ichigo's name was written in there and he could almost feel it as if it had burned through clothe and scorched his flesh. She was right. The kid was more important that his issues but he wasn't going to admit that out loud.

But Nel wasn't finished. Her nails left his flesh and where they had dug had left half-moon prints. "He's only seventeen, Grimm. We both had it tough at that age so we should be able to sympathize. However, we didn't live under Aizen's thumb like he had. You've witnessed first hand what kind of mind fuck Aizen and those loyal to him can be. Being cruel to him- the damn prince of the empire!- is not favorable."

He licked his lips. "What does this have to do with telling him he's meant to be king?"

For a moment, she looked output and she wondered if anything she had said had reached him on some level. The way he kept looking anywhere but her eyes made her really question if she had just wasted her breath or not.

"The music box, he's interested right?"

That got his attention, a look of hesitancy in his eyes. "Yeah… so?"

"Let him see it." The look darkened and she rolled her eyes. "Keep the letter hidden and you don't need to give the box to him. Just let him see it, listen to it. It's as much a part of his past as it is yours." She rubbed her face harshly, her nerves worked up. "Grimmjow, I understand this is difficult. I know you have problems with being civil to anyone, much less nice but we need him. Open up to him. Tell him the truth of what happened when he left the empire and what happened that night he thinks you tried to kill him. Stop letting him doubt you. Be honest and maybe he'll believe you're not the enemy. Right now, he'll just see us as using him to achieve our goal. Stop playing the bad guy or this journey will be short and pointless. Please, just think about it and stop being rash."

How could he argue that? He knew she was right in every way and it killed him to admit it. Her hand left his arm as he reached for his mug and took a long drink to finish it off. The warmth pooled in his stomach, weighing him down. She was right. She was right about everything. To say it out loud would just give her a reason to boast and he didn't need that. Instead, he just sighed and grabbed his hat he placed on the bar earlier. It was best to get it over with now then sit around and finish off the pitcher. By then, he definitely wouldn't be able to be civil.

Nel watched him as he got off his stool but didn't make to follow him. With a knowing look, she asked, "Where are you going?"

"To find Kurosaki. Gotta make sure he didn't run off now don't I?"

She didn't push him on the matter as he walked out.

Ichigo was getting more agitated by the minute as he stared out at the ocean. Here on land, it was peaceful in the night as the tide came in. The water lapped gently at his bare feet and the stars were brilliant. The problem was the blond sitting on the nearby rocks, picking his teeth with his dirty finger nails.

"Can we go back yet. This is boring." Di Roy said from his perch as he glanced at his fingers and rubbed off whatever he had removed from his teeth on his pants.

Scowling, Ichigo turned to the other man. "No one asked you to come out here with me. If you're so damn bored go back yourself."

Di Roy glanced at him as he bared his teeth in what could resemble a smile if one looked close enough. "Can't. Captain would be rather pissed if you just ran off. No one else wanted to watch your lame ass."

Fuming, Ichigo turned his back on him and glared at the ocean, telling himself to be damn tranquil and to enjoy his feet in the sand. A translucent crab scuttled near his feet, catching his attention for a brief moment before he heard Di Roy scream out and a loud groan. He looked over his shoulder, seeing the dirty pirate chase after the crab before it disappeared into a small hole. He watched with aggravated amusement as the other dug up sand like a dog. In the very short time of being around the smaller man, he had begun to question if he was all there. From the time he saw him ripping a ring off a dead person's finger, to the time he bit him, his sanity was low at best. How that faired with being alonewith him, Ichigo was uncertain. But he was better than Edrad. The larger man still wanted to bash his skull in for the last time they had him tied up.

His eyes were drawn towards the ship port along the shore. They hadn't ventured too far from the place, only enough to put the sound of the town at a distance. There was a log cabin on the cliff side a little way's to his left where fire light reflected from the windows. It was a nice, warm night, but Ichigo was sure they were just cooking dinner. Thunder rumbled in the sky in the distance and just as a ship docked, lightning stuck in the ocean. Several rain drops had already began to fall and even though Ichigo didn't want to go back to town to deal with the blue haired menace and the snappy brothel owner who he was bunking with while they were in town for repairs and supplies, he had no choice. He didn't want to get caught out in the storm. It helped that Di Roy had caught the crab and was trying to crack it open with his bare hands.

"Gotcha you little bastard!" he exclaimed. Ichigo shook his head and turned to make his way back along the wet sand to the ships. He had been out there for about an hour, enjoying the night and the mild silence. It had only been about thirty minutes ago that the barbarian had come out of hiding due to boredom and ruined the effect. He didn't call to Di Roy, thinking maybe if he could walk in quiet back to the port with only his thoughts to bother him, it would be a successful night.

Ichigo barely made it three steps before he heard Di Roy scream out again. With a sigh, his temper finally got the better of him. "Damn it, can you not be quiet for five minutes? I come out here to escape the insanity just for a tiny bit and it follows me. I'm not fucking running away so you can stop-" But when Ichigo turned around, ready to throttle the little shit for being so obnoxious, his words died in his throat.

Di Roy lay on the sand, still as the water lapped at his out stretched hand. If there hadn't been someone standing over him with a bloody sword, he would have thought he had just passed out. The crab he had been trying to break open scurried out of his bleeding fingers and into one of the tiny holes. The breeze tore at Ichigo's clothes as the storm got closer and he shivered, but not from the chill. No, it was something much different than that.

The man over the dead body of Di Roy was taller than him by almost a foot or two, but from the white coat that clung to his body and touched his knees, he was just as lithe. His sword was long and curved, glistening with fresh blood. Ichigo couldn't see his face though. It was covered in clean white bandages and what looked like a mask over the eyes. A hood was pulled over his head, hiding his hair. There was no way to tell what color his skin was- everything was covered from head to toe. The only color on the man was the dark spot that Ichigo thought was blood.

"W-why did you do that?" Ichigo stammered. Maybe Di Roy was still alive. He didn't like the menace but he didn't want him dead. Ichigo made a step as if he were going to see if Di Roy could be alive by some miracle. A dark stain had begun to form near his heart.

The man didn't speak. He stepped over the corpse and walked towards Ichigo. As the shock wore off, he reached for his own sword. This drew the man into quicker motion and he was barely able to get it out of the sheath before the man was on him. Ichigo blocked the blade mere inches from his throat but the force of the blow drove him to the sand. He sputtered and tried to get back up as the man moved out of his swing of his sword aimed at his knees. While on the ground, he was lucky to get in a decent gash near the man's ribs that made him hesitate.

When Ichigo managed to get back on his feet, he wiped his sand covered hands on his pants but it did no good. "What the hell is your-" he didn't get a chance to finish as the masked man came at him again. This time he moved too slow and the blade drove into his side. Ichigo screamed out as the pain hit and he lashed out with his own sword. The man parried it and dove for his legs. The younger man kicked out in just enough time to stop the blade from driving into his calf and hit the man in the chest with the handle of his sword. A raspy gasp was drawn through the bandages as the air was knocked out of him and Ichigo took that moment to drive him back with an attack. However, the man was quick to recover and when Ichigo moved in too closely, the bandaged man drove the curved sword forward, embedding the blade in Ichigo's right arm.

He tried not to scream but the pain of the sharp instrument cutting into muscle and tendon was too much. His legs tried to give out on him, but he bit his lip and attempted to ignore the searing pain in his arm. This close up, Ichigo could catch the faint glimpse of dark, red skin beneath the white bandages and the smell of rot and infection hit him hard. Nauseous, he watched as the man tensed to jerk the blade out of his arm. Instinctively, Ichigo grabbed his hand on the handle of the blade and held it where it was with gritted teeth. If the man removed the blade, it would only serve to kill him. While it was still in his body, he might be able to come up with some kind of plan. But the pain delayed his thoughts and as the man jerked backwards, the blade cut a new direction in his arm. His right arm went numb as blood coated his shirt sleeve, his shirt. The King's Sword fell to the sand with no sound.

"W-who are you?" Ichigo gasped out as the man twisted the blade. He cried out and his grip on the other lost hold. The masked man ripped the blade out of his arm and blood ran freely down his elbow. Ichigo stumbled. Cold water hit his bare feet, all the way to his calf. Desperately, he looked around for his fallen sword, hoping he could still fight decently with his left arm but the man rushed forward. The blade swung near his throat and if he hadn't of fallen into the water, he would be without a head. The man stood over him, a dark, emotionless figure who refused to answer his questions. For a brief moment, Ichigo wondered if the man was trying to kill him or just seriously main him. When the man reached down and grabbed his ankle, pulling him through the breaking waves and grabbed him around his shirt collar, he had a brief glimpse of yellow teeth showing through a crooked mouth before he was plunged underwater.

Panicked, he struggled against the iron grip. The man pressed him further under, shoving his head on sharp sea shells and through loose, wet sand. With his eye's closed, he could only feel for some kind of weapon. His pistol was on the ship, his sword somewhere on shore if the waves hadn't managed to wash it away yet. He had no extra weapons and no one knew he was out on the beach except a dead man. He kicked out but it seemed the man was out of reach of his legs. His nails dug at the white coat and he managed to get in one breath as the water was pulled back to the ocean, but only briefly before they returned and he was drowning.

His hands reached for the man's face and he managed to pull at the bandages covering his head. Though Ichigo could not see it, the gauze gave way to a hideous face that was mangled and misshapened. Patches of bone white could be seen on his elongated forehead and hollow cheek but the rest of his skin was red. Ichigo pressed his fingers into that red skin, looking blindly for an eye, but it seemed that the flesh was sore and the man wailed as Ichigo drove his nails in. He released him, giving Ichigo the time he needed to pick his head out of the water and gasp for air. He crawled out of the water and by a stroke of luck, a patch of clouds moved away from the moonlight and his sword reflected a few feet away. Tired and in pain from the salt water soaking into his wounds, he scrambled over the sand and barely got his fingers around the hilt before a boot kicked him in the face. He fell backwards in the sand, blood running down his face from the broken nose. Rain was beginning to fall as the moon vanished behind clouds and thunder rolled overhead. Through the darkness, Ichigo looked up and saw what he could only identify as a monster point a pistol at him.

"I take it this is Gin's handy work?" He chocked out, knowing the bastard would do something like this the moment he got out of the castle walls. He always liked to talk about how Ichigo should have been left to die in that village. It seemed he was going to make good at that warning he delivered to him the night before he ran away. "Was he too cowardly to finish me off himself?"

The monster cocked the pistol and said, "He didn't want to get his hands dirty." He pulled the trigger.

The sound of screaming was what drew his attention.

When Grimmjow had reached the ship, several men were still working on repairs by candle light to be able to leave as soon as the storm arrived. They had everything stored and ready to go, but by the sunset they knew the storm was going to be a bad one. The rain had already reached the coast and had halted their effort to finish in time. Grimmjow had asked if any of them had seen Ichigo and they all said he had just walked off along the beach with Di Roy tailing him. The captain had almost been tempted to just wait for their return but he knew how annoying Di Roy could be and thought that maybe saving Ichigo from the lunatic would earn him some good points. He took his time, however, in walking down the beach. When he heard the scream, he took off at a run.

What greeted him when he managed to climb over the rocks was the sound of a gunshot, loud in his ears as it echoed off the cliff. For a moment, he thought that the figure standing over the body was Ichigo, but he realized with sudden dread that the shock of orange hair was on the ground. As his body went limp, he watched in shock as the man went to put more gun powder in his pistol for a second shot. Can't he see he's dead, Grimmjow thought but as that sunk in, he found himself moving with a quickness that would have been alarming.

He crashed into the tall man, throwing him away from Ichigo and into the waves. Surprised, the man got up, having lost his pistol in the sudden attack. Grimmjow wanted to check on Ichgio, praying he wasn't dead like he thought. Until he could make sure, he refused to allow the image of the boy collapsing, unmoving in the sand, linger. Right now, he had something else he needed to take care of.

Even without the bandages, Grimmjow recognized the monster as the masked man who had been with Gin when they had come aboard his ship. He had known they left them alone too easily. He grimaced at the sight of his face, wondering if there was any way he was human but his opponent didn't have to be human for him to kill him. The rain fell in sheets as he reached for his sword, soaking him to the bone but his fingers gripped the hilt tightly. The man had his sword in hand, having still possessed it from the fight earlier. Grimmjow didn't bother with words. There was no point in speaking to the dead.

An uncontrollable rage had formed in the time he had seen Ichigo shot. If Grimmjow had been a man to question his own emotions, he would wonder why he felt the need to maim this fucker before him for doing what he had. Grimmjow had never been one on avenging the death of comrades. He had never sought to murder the man who had killed his father. Why he wanted Aizen off the throne and dead was for his own personal vendetta. When he caught a glimpse of Di Roy, he didn't feel sorry he had lost one of his more trusted followers. Death did not affect him like it did others. But the sight of a still Ichigo on the sand left him with the need to kill anything that got in his way. That death he could not let go unpunished.

The man was fast, but in that moment, Grimmjow was faster. With a grace that few men his size could show, he attacked unmercifully. With each blow, the man was forced back. Grimmjow aimed for his chest and he barely managed to block it before Grimmjow went for his face. The blade tore open the sensitive, rotting skin on his face and the man screamed out, high and shrill. In his pain, Grimmjow cut him across the belly and lower on his thighs. The man's breath came hard and labored and with a kick to the cut he had delivered, the man collapsed backwards into the sand. He was only a few feet away from the body of Di Roy.

The point of Grimmjow's sword came to rest at the eye a little too far on his forehead. The man's eyes were wide and frantic, his hands without weapons. Grimmjow leaned forward, pressing the sword closer and the man pressed his head further into the sand. "Did Gin send you alone?" Even in his anger, he had to get that little information. Ichigo might be dead- his stomach clenched at the thought- but there were still priorities. If he wasn't dead, he needed to know.

The man shook his head, Grimmjow drove the blade into his eye and the man screamed out. "I asked you a fucking question. Did Gin send you to kill Ichigo alone?" he growled out.

"It hurts! Stop it, please! It hurts!" the man's voice was almost childlike in it's shrillness. Grimmjow pulled out the blade as the man began to weep.

"Tell me or I'll cut out your other eye."

The man only sobbed.

Grimmjow wished he could have said he was rational but he wasn't. As he watched the man clutch his bleeding eye, he glanced over at the prone figure of the boy still unmoving. His eye's narrowed and he wished for his pistol to do to the man what he had done to Ichigo but the rain was harsh and his gunpowder was soaked and useless. Water ran down his face, blurring his vision as he pulled back the sword and gazed down at the monster beneath him. He would feel no joy in killing the fucker, only a sense of justice he hadn't experienced in along time. With no words, he drove the blade through bone into the man's heart.

He went still beneath him. Grimmjow removed his blade and left him near the ocean as the tide came in.

ENDNOTE: I promised you guys two chapters and it seems I'll be going back on that promise a bit. I'm going to start writing chapter eight within the next hour after I let my brain calm down since I did half of this today and tried to edit today. The editing was rushed, so I apologize for that. I also apologize for the cliffhanger and taking so damn long to write this! My muse for this story took a serious nose dive after school ended and only recently has it resurfaced. I'm so sorry for it taking forever, only to give you this. It had to happen like this though cause this event will push along some stuff faster than not having it happen. Thank you all for wishing me luck on my exams (got all A's in all my classes so my GPA is still high. :] ) and for all the reviews. 3 I know it's taking a really long time for the relationship to develop between these two but after this, it's a sure track towards speeding things along. Also, another thing I realized when rereading all this is that Ichigo is a little OOC. It takes me seven chapters to know this, haha. But due to his history in this story, he's more selfish than his canon is. He's more like how he was in the first few manga chapters than recently. But oh well, that is the wonderfulness of fanfiction. I'll try and have chapter eight out by the end of this weekend.