darkmachines: There was good action in it, alright. Yeah, that's Nnoitra for you. And I put only one Fracción with Grimmjow for a reason. That battle was it.
QueenPersephoneofHades: Wait and see, my friend. Wait and see.
Chapter 7: Outcome
XII.
Rey was in front of him. He moved to put a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you, Rey," he told him. He had always been there for him, loyal in every sense of the word, always at his back. Always supportive. "Thank you. Goodbye."
In a splash of hot blood, the tip of Pantera emerged from his back as the Fracción looked up in horror. He glanced down. His hand was on the hilt and it twisted the blade as whatever the Fracción was going to say was choked off by the blood flooding his throat.
"No!" Grimmjow growled and bolted upright. There was a popping noise and when he turned to the left, he saw one of the medical devices had died, spitting electrical sparks. Must have released a wave of spiritual pressure after that nightmare.
Wait a minute. Why were there medical machines here? Wasn't he still at Central Forty Six? He looked down at himself. Huh. Why was he wearing infirmary clothes? Why-
"Welcome back to Hueco Mundo, retard," a voice spoke from his right. He turned. Huh, Nnoitra.
In a flash, he remembered what had happened. Central Forty Six, Ōtoribashi, everything.
"Rey?" He practically pleaded at Nnoitra for information.
The Sexta Espada tilted his head and stared calculatingly at Grimmjow with narrow eyes. Finally, he relented. "Still unconscious and in a grave condition, but no longer in any danger."
Grimmjow's eyes widened unnoticeably and the corner of his top lip twitched. Was that the first time the Sexta hadn't spoken harshly to anyone? If it was, it was a change he approved of. He nodded and released the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "Good to see you made a quick recovery," he responded, changing the subject. Didn't feel like thinking about Rey right now. "While I was spending time on the floor after getting hit by the reflected attack, I saw you and Szayel taking some bad hits. And after Ōtoribashi took us out of the fight, I expect it got harder."
"Szayel and I were in better condition than you, Gin or Rangiku, since we barely got the chance to fight. Gin, however, was essentially taking the attacks full force. They barely felt any of our attempts."
"I always knew they were powerful, but I wasn't expecting them to be that strong," Grimmjow considered. "Took on three Espada and three Fracción. Regarding victims, how is dear Tōshirō?"
"His wounds were far less critical than yours, Quinto. I'm assuming his ice armour softened the blows he received that he wasn't outright killed. He's just over there," Nnoitra motioned with Santa Teresa, since he was back in his normal Arrancar body. "He doesn't remember anything. None of them do."
"Eh? Them?" Who? His back started hurting, so he lowered himself back to the bed.
The Sexta returned his gaze to his superior fellow and grinned in twisted delight. "We gained a number of allies. Tōshirō, Ulquiorra, Lisa and Ggio. Three taichou-class, one fuku-taichou class."
Wait a minute. "Three taichou-class?" Grimmjow was astonished.
"Amazing, I know," Nnoitra muttered sarcastically. "Ichigo overwhelmed Ulquiorra in minutes; had him out cold for hours."
"Hmm." Interesting indeed. "Did he stay in Segunda for long after the battle was over?"
"No. In any case, we're one step closer to getting Soul Society's Soul Reapers back and restoring ourselves."
Grimmjow closed his eyes and let his head sink into the pillow. He heard Nnoitra leaving the room. "We should thank the Primera and his friends."
"Hmm?" The Quinto opened his eyes again.
"Espada are not doctors, Grimmjow. Even if you weren't exhausted and half unconscious from blood loss, you, Rey, Szayel and I and possibly Hitsugaya would have died on that floor. I'd bet that a full Division of the 4th's medical Shinigami would have only slowed our deaths, not stopped them.
The powered ryoka girl — Orihime Inoue they called her — has some unusual abilities. She managed to heal us from the brink of death. The strain was clearly too much for her, since she passed out before much of our injuries were closed but, as it stands, she stabilized us and gave the medics the time needed to get us out of danger. You and Rey owe your lives to that girl."
Grimmjow nodded in contemplation. He did owe a lot to the Primera's friends who'd sided with them once they learned it was a mission to save Rukia. His life. Rey's life. And judging by how the ryoka disrupted Rōjūrō's plans, the Espada-Vizard alliance owed them a hell of a lot as well.
"I'll talk to them when I have a chance. Definitely."
"Good," he heard Nnoitra say. "I'll leave you to rest. Get well, moron."
He smiled faintly as the Sexta left his room.
...
Something soft was squishing against the left side of Gin's face. Warm and something about how they felt was vaguely... familiar. Also, the sound of snoring. And he could see wavy hair. Wait a moment.
His eyes shot open. He took a look and, yes, he was right in guessing what was smooshing on his face. He opened his mouth and bit lightly into the object pressing down on his face.
There was a loud shriek and Rangiku tumbled off the hospital bed, onto the floor. He burst out laughing. His lover spluttered incoherently for a few moments, before shrilly accusing: "Gin, you bit my breast!"
"Self defence," he responded with a smirk.
"What?!"
"You were suffocating me!"
"I was keeping you company while you recovered and I fell asleep!"
"You were suffocating me!"
"You could have said something!"
"Except your exceptional bosom was pressed into my face. It would have been muffled!"
"You could have poked me in the ribs or tugged my hair or something. No portion of my body below my neck may be nibbled, even by you, except when I'm in the mood."
"Next time, completely close up your hakama before you take a snooze next to me so we don't have this problem again!"
"It was warm in this room! I didn't feel like getting bitten."
Gin made a thoughtful expression cross his face. "You didn't mind three months ago, with the gold bandana and you pretending your na-"
"We never did that!"
"Yet." Rangiku made an exasperated noise. Gin grinned wider. "You're able to fake being unconscious, you know. It helped that my eyes were almost swollen shut. No, I was not purposely doing the squinting thing, so you have no reason to hit me." His fellow Fracción hit him. "Ow. Would it be too much to ask you to hit a shoulder that isn't bandaged?" He waited for the second punch. Never came.
Instead, Rangiku sat down on the bed and hugged him, hard. "You could have died in that place, Gin," he heard his lover whisper.
"I'm perfectly fine, really. Besides, you and I had them right where we wanted them." This time, Rangiku would punch him for sure. Right? Any second now?
The busty Fracción just sat back, looking out the window of the hospital room. Well, okay, this wasn't going the way he wanted it to. "If there was one thing I could say I hate about you, Gin, it's that." Hmm? Ran's voice had gone dead serious. For one of the few times in his life, he didn't have anything clever to say. So he just waited. "You've left me behind before so many times, Gin. The time before this, I thought it was for good. And if things had gone badly a week ago... it would have been for good."
That he had. After he'd saved the pretty strawberry-blonde girl named Rangiku Matsumoto all those years ago, life had become... different. He had become used to living on his own, getting by. With someone else living with him after, well... He felt his usual grin leave his face. There were times he'd had to leave for days on end to get what they needed. Food, shelter, money, clothing, everything. Usually, he would deal shrewdly. Other times, he'd just outright steal. A couple of times, he had had to kill.
He had never told Rangiku. He'd been worried that the girl would just up and leave him. He'd probably been wrong about that, but that was water under the bridge. What mattered was that there had been just that many times where he would vanish with no signs that he had any intention of returning... and the day he'd left all the money, food and goods to Rangiku and entered Seireitei, he'd intended to leave the young woman forever.
But Rangiku had found him again. They'd reunited. Of course, for a while she was furious with him, but they reconciled. Sort of. Whenever Ran brought up the question of why he had left, he always side-stepped it with that obfuscating way of speaking he was good with. He was pretty sure Rangiku was used enough to his personality by then that the girl could have pressed the issue, but it had never happened. But now, after that little incident last week, it was coming up again.
Well.
"I'm sorry," he replied. Again, for one of the few times in his life, he meant every word of it. Rangiku stared back at him. His lover still looked hurt. "Ran, I'm not a nice person. Never was, never will be. The less you were around me, the better off you'd be."
"I grew up with you. Pretty sure I turned out fine." He watched Rangiku give a soft, gentle smile, something that was surprisingly rare. "And you could have just told me that, you know, when you started leaving."
"Yeah," he agreed. "I'm sorry about that, too."
He watched his lover nod. "Just to let you know, you're not a nice person. But I think you're a good enough one."
Gin nodded at that. Hold on, this shouldn't be happening. Had to change the subject before he started feeling warm and fuzzy inside. Or nice. "Just so you know, I'm not sorry about that nibble." He watched his lover raise an eyebrow before she lifted one of the pillows lying on his bed. He put on a wounded expression. "We were having such a nice conversation and now you want to end it?"
"You know, we understand each other well enough to know when a conversation is resolved and done," was the reply. "In that little conversation, I know you're still a decent person and that you're sorry, but I think we should get back to the subject of you biting me. And pretending to still be in a coma when I've been worried sick about you!"
"About that second one. You know I have this thing with watching people and what better way to observe them when they think I'm unconscious? Besides, you wouldn't hit an injured man, would you? I mean, I'm covered in bandages. And the burns! Have you any idea how large the burn was on my-"
Rangiku whacked him with the pillow.
...
The Tercera Espada stood at the balcony, a sky of eternal night hanging over her head. A faint breeze blew over the desert sands, rising up along the walls of the imposing, gargantuan Las Noches fortress and disturbing her purple hair, which she no longer kept in a ponytail.
Yoruichi Shihōin, former taichou of the 2nd Division but now the third strongest Espada, turned from the desolate sight of the Hueco Mundo sands as she heard a distinct noise, the burst of static, behind her.
Another woman had appeared: younger and more muscular, with long raven-coloured hair and what looked like a hair clip-like extension adorning the right side of her bangs. The newcomer fell to one knee and dipped her head in respect.
"Good evening, Cyan," Yoruichi greeted amiably. "Please rise."
"Lady Shihōin," the Septima answered respectfully, inclining her head briefly before getting back to her feet.
"Is there anything to report?" The Tercera inquired.
"Yes, my lady. The Noveno and I finished filling in our allies about the situation. Ulquiorra was the most reluctant due to his memories being tampered with, but gave confirmation after a short silence."
Yoruichi raised an eyebrow at that. "You're sure he isn't going to double cross us?"
She saw the Septima give a small smirk. "I think not, my lady. Apparently, he never wanted to be part of Aizen's takeover bid in the first place."
The general of the Stealth Force smiled inwardly. "Then thank you, Cyan. You should get some rest. I'll send Avirama over to continue monitoring them tomorrow."
"Very well. Shall I take my leave?"
"Yes, you are dismissed." She watched Cyan give a respectful bow and, in a rush of spiritual energy and crackle of static, the Septima Espada was gone. Yoruichi turned to stare out over the desert sands. Soon, all preparations would be complete. As much as it pained her, the next part of their assault on Soul Society would begin before long.
