Chapter Seven

Three days later…

"This is such bullshit…"Grimmjow groaned insufferably to his red-haired companion as he leaned against a cream-colored wall inside the squad six offices with his arms crossed over his black-clad chest, "…where the hell did you say Byakuya was again?"

Renji rolled his eyes at the espada's question as he stopped filling out the document he had been working on, the tattooed soul reaper currently sitting at his wooden desk that was rather cluttered with disorganized paperwork, before looking up at the brooding Jeagerjaques.

"Like I told you earlier, Captain Kuchiki is in a meeting with the head captain to report in the information you gave him. He should be back in a little while," Renji explained with a frown, emphasizing the noble's impressive rank to the nonchalant espada who seemed to call everyone by their first name or worse.

"And like I said…bullshit," Grimmjow replied back stubbornly, simply disliking the fact that the raven-haired male was away from him and had been for some time that day in order to fulfill such duties with Head Captain Yamamoto and a few others.

"So, it's bullshit to report in to the head captain?!" Renji roared suddenly, slamming his paintbrush down onto his messy desk at once as the lieutenant gleaned quite the underhanded disgrace made by the espada about the aged, esteemed soul reaper.

"Ha! You catch on quick, Red," Grimmjow taunted the red-head with a wide, rude smile; purposefully using his designated nickname for the crimson-maned lieutenant whom he knew detested it with every fiber of his being.

"Shut up…Blueberry," Renji had started to shout back to the leering, blue-haired male standing in front of him, the soul reaper watching in great satisfaction as Grimmjow's intimidating smile immediately dropped from his face upon hearing how Renji practically purred out his new nickname.

"Oh…oh ho ho…it is on…IT IS ON!" Grimmjow hollered with a face-splitting grin as he thumped his palms flat on top of Renji's desk, providing enough force to knock several of the loose forms over so that they spilled onto the floor below, as he glared menacingly across the desk towards the equally enraged Abarai.

In truth, the red-haired soul reaper and the blue-haired espada had actually become relatively good friends over the passed few days where Grimmjow had had to spend large amounts of time in the squad six offices, each finding a similar love for battle and loudly-voiced comments present within the other, which they drew upon in a mutually understood and good-natured fashion.

"YOU'RE DAMNED RIGHT IT'S ON!!" Renji taunted vivaciously back to the pseudo-infuriated espada as he quickly stood up from his desk chair and also slammed his hands down upon his desk, bringing their challenging stares closer.

Suddenly, before another bat of an eyelash could be made, Renji had one knee settled on top of the desk as both men's arms were outstretched and struggling to gain the upper hand of their squabble as they pulled and yanked, swatted and punched at the other.

Grimmjow was able to maintain a solid grip on the front of Renji's robes, bringing the red-head in close as he wrestled them both to the floor, ignoring how the Abarai male had punched him squarely in his jaw on the way down.

"…you hit like a girl," Grimmjow growled out in good humor as he threw a punch at Renji's stomach, trying to maneuver around the soul reaper's leg that was attempting to kick him down flat.

"You look like a girl, you ass!" Renji spat back as he recovered from the blow to his abdomen and made to shove Grimmjow hard in the chest, each man's blows purposefully administered at only a fraction of their true, fighting strength as they tussled about on the floor and rough-housed in good spirits.

"Red!" Grimmjow huffed childishly as he pushed Renji off of him and tried to swing a leg out towards the red-haired male's ankles to trip him.

"Blue!" Renji retaliated with an evil grin, admittedly enjoying their mock battles as he avoided Grimmjow's sweep of his legs and swiftly maneuvered behind the espada and tackled him down.

"Hey, did you hear…"Renji began as he tried to secure Grimmjow's massive arms around his back but failed as the espada knowingly freed his hands and squirmed away from Renji's pinning position at the last minute.

"…did I hear what?" Grimmjow asked calmly as he easily caught one of Renji's punches aimed for his cheek and made to bring up a knee to catch the soul reaper in his lower abdomen.

Renji twisted away from the espada's maneuver and lifted his hands up, ready for the next wave of attacks from Jeagerjaques whilst the continued their rather casual conversation amidst their sociable match.

"Ichigo is in the Soul Society. He arrived this morning and has been…"Renji began rather indifferently but was forced to hush up upon being quickly seized by his shoulders in an iron grip by the wide-eyed, deathly serious espada.

"Ichigo is…here?! Why didn't you tell me this sooner! I've got to find him; do you know where he is?" Grimmjow blurted out at once, catching the lieutenant completely off-guard as the latter simply let the blue-haired man shake him whence he had been rambling and asking him questions.

"Uh…I think by now he should probably be around the squad ten barracks to meet with Captain Hitsugaya, but I don't think that…"Abarai had attempted to complete another thought but was cut off once again.

"That's close to here! I've got to go!" Grimmjow exclaimed enthusiastically in the red-head's face before abruptly letting go of Renji's shoulders and rushing passed him towards the foyer area, the espada making sure to snatch a traditional, black katana that had been displayed on the wall for decoration before promptly stepping out of the facility.

Renji had one, tattooed brow quirked up at Grimmjow's sudden change in behavior as he had watched the espada positively storm out of the office like he had just remembered he was late for a date, the soul reaper more than perplexed about what had just happened.

"I feel like I've told him something that I shouldn't have…"Renji mused aloud, still facing the direction Grimmjow had just exited with a puzzled expression on his face.

X

Meanwhile, at the squad one meeting room…

"He has informed me that Sosuke Aizen only sees his espada as mere 'tools,' meaning that any intricate ideas and plans are typically not disclosed to those of his rank, but we can definitely begin to understand how Aizen thinks by looking at the missions he does have the espada perform," Byakuya Kuchiki reasoned soundly to the head captain who was flanked by his white-haired second, with several other captains standing behind the noble male at attention.

"I see," Head Captain Yamamoto grunted more than clearly spoke as per his advanced age, "…and what of these missions have you been able to learn, Captain Kuchiki?"

"More often than not, they are used as diversionary tactics so someone else may accomplish separate objectives without hindrance," Byakuya answered in an extremely prepared manner, causing several of the captains behind him to 'hmm' thoughtfully and begin to add up some of their own knowledge concerning the crafty enemy.

"This is interesting, Captain Kuchiki;" the head captain continued, his grizzly voice ceasing all side-conversations going on around the room as he continued, "to think that an espada himself would tell us how Aizen's mind works…"

"Indeed, sir," the raven agreed, a smirk desperately wanting to form the noble's luscious lips as he listened to his head captain sound pleased with his developments with Jeagerjaques.

"What else has the sexta espada said? Has he told you any specifics yet?" came Captain Hitsugaya's pleasant but raspy, young voice as the captain of the tenth squad was obviously not back at his office to receive any visitors since he had had to attend said meeting.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, he has," Byakuya answered coolly, now noticing how nearly everyone in the room was hesitating in referring to Girmmjow by his first name as they still insisted on referring to him by his rank as an espada.

"From what Grimmjow has told members of my squad regarding the capture of the human Orihime Inoue, the palace, Las Noches, is subject to complete surveillance and reports directly to Aizen himself should anything raise a flag to their systems. This will make any advances more difficult which we shall need to reconsider," the Kuchiki heir finished dutifully, quite proud of the fact that he had been able to learn as much as he had over his short time with the charmingly cooperative espada whom he honestly could not wait to see once his business was finished.

"I have brought my personal notes of my meetings with the espada to give to you, Head Captain Yamamoto," Byakuya added for good measure, deftly retrieving a few sheets of paper from the inside of his robes and extending them out to the aged soul reaper.

Everyone watched as the bearded, old man accepted the paperwork from Captain Kuchiki and opened up a single eye to look at the determined and rather successful raven subordinate.

"This is most impressive, Captain Kuchiki. I shall have my squad look through these at once," Head Captain Yamamoto informed the relieved noble as he held the papers out to his lieutenant who accepted them with both hands and a respectful bow of his head.

Byakuya Kuchiki bowed his head as well, the mere act of expressing his verbal gratitude over recognition simply not being in his character, as he remained loyally silent should the head captain have anything else to say to him.

"Continue to gather as much information from the espada as you can, Captain Kuchiki, and I shall expect another report in four days' time. Keep in mind that we still need to learn more about the traitor, Sosuke Aizen, and his plans…and that Grimmjow Jeagerjaques' life is at stake should he refuse. This meeting is adjourned!" Head Captain Yamamoto announced in his grumbled timbre, his booming words sending small shivers to run up the Kuchiki's spine as Byakuya was forced to recall their prior agreement regarding the blue-haired male.

Byakuya sighed silently through his nose as he turned around on his heel, preparing to leave at his own pace like everyone else, but suddenly heard a masculine, nonchalant voice to his left.

"So…how's Grimmjow really doing these days?" Captain Kyoraku asked with his usual, lazy grin as he posed his light-hearted but meaningful question to the man of noble birth.

"He has cooperated plenty with my squad and seems to be adhering to protocol quite well," Byakuya Kuchiki answered the conversational inquiry with as much dignity and, admittedly, intimidation as he could manage in his quiet voice.

"What I mean is…is he happy?" the pink-wearing captain of squad eight rephrased patiently to the infamously stoic captain of squad six, watching with hidden interest as Byakuya's schooled features hesitated over such a personal question.

"Perhaps he is," Byakuya replied honestly, noticing straight away how Captain Kyoraku's grin widened on his stubbly face upon hearing the positive answer.

"That's great news, you know, because I have to tell you…"the brown-haired captain continued in his cheerful manner as he and Byakuya began casually walking out of the squad one room and towards the main corridor, "...there's been some talk about letting him in one of the squads."

"Excuse me?" Byakuya blurted out before he could stop himself, his feet automatically coming to a halt in their steps as he demanded to speak more about such a startling matter without continuing their stroll.

"Now, now…there's no need to get all bent out of shape; it's just talk that's been floating around between some of the captains," Captain Kyoraku clarified as he raised his burly hands up in a classic, surrendering gesture to the bewildered Kuchiki.

Truth be told, Byakuya's brief outburst had been out of nothing but pure, unhindered jealousy, and the noble was not entirely certain that that fact had been lost on the secretly perceptive, hat-wearing captain, before he had carefully replaced his indifferent mask and made to hear the rest of the details.

"I see;" Byakuya said in his regained, icy mannerisms as he cast his chilly, half-lidded gaze on the laid-back captain by his side and chatting with him, "thank you for informing me of this news, Captain Kyoraku."

"Not a problem…say…" the brown-haired captain began neutrally before hardening his features a bit as he and Captain Kuchiki turned towards the western end of the district, widening their senses as they had already noticed something was off within the atmosphere, "…did you feel that spike of spiritual pressure just now, or was that just me…?"

"Let's move" the raven-haired captain confirmed sternly as he and the pink-wearing soul reaper abruptly flash-stepped out of view and towards the direction where they could feel massive amounts of unrestrained spirit energy clashing and shifting, as if two, powerful entities were engaged in reckless battle.

X

Eleven minutes earlier…

Grimmjow Jeagerjaques dashed across the wheat-colored rooftops with excitement burning in his eyes, the rogue espada sprinting amidst the towering buildings of the Soul Society in a vanishing blur of midnight black, as he kept his sensing abilities sharp and honed in on the sole source of spiritual pressure that he had weeded out from amongst the others.

The blue-haired male was approaching the main courtyard area that lie before the squad ten facilities at a blinding, impossible speed, his lips shaping a wide, feral smile as he could feel the presence of the one he sought intensify, letting the epsada know exactly where his unsuspecting prey was standing.

With a mighty leap down from the roof that he had been running across, Grimmjow could see Ichigo Kurosaki walking rather aimlessly by himself as he had, no doubt, just been informed that Captain Hitsugaya was not in his office at the time and could not see him.

Blue eyes widened in malicious glee as the substitute soul reaper whipped his orange head up just in time to see Grimmjow land about thirty feet away from him in the courtyard, a look completely unbecoming of the vizard twisting his features as he received, quite possibly, the shock of his life in seeing the sexta espada in the Soul Society and before him now.

"You!" Grimmjow hollered, still smiling crudely at the Kurosaki male as he stood up to his full height from his landing position, immediately sliding into a fighting stance as he eyed the gaping, hesitating substitute.

"You!" Ichigo repeated back at the espada, hurriedly forcing away his surprise and assuming a defensive stance of his own as his right hand reared back and latched onto the wrapped hilt of his heavy zanpakuto.

No other words were currently needed between the two, natural fighters as Grimmjow expertly unsheathed his katana from his left hip and dashed towards the orange-haired male, Ichigo narrowing his chocolate-brown eyes as he drew Zangetsu to meet the espada's first attack that had been aimed to slice his chest open.

"Getsuga Tensho!" Ichigo called out heatedly, drawing out a huge amount of energy into the curve of his blade to be surged outwards at his devious opponent.

However, the sheer instant that Grimmjow had felt Kurosaki's blade buzz with the building pressure of his attack, the espada sonido-ed out of the way and out of Ichigo's line of sight, causing the arc-shaped burst of power to fly out in the empty space where Grimmjow had just been.

"Tch," Ichigo voiced in an irritated manner as he quickly turned his head towards the right as soon as Grimmjow Jeagerjaques appeared there, the espada laughing hysterically at Ichigo's failed attack which had torn up quite a bit off the surrounding, stone courtyard.

"Nice one; I'm sure that tiny captain is just going to love that! And they call me a menace…HA!" Grimmjow jeered before using another sonido to hasten his rush-attack to the glaring substitute soul reaper, their swords clashing in an ear-splitting clang that seemed to reverberate all throughout the area as the two fighters peered closely at one another but for entirely different reasons.

"What the hell…are you doing here, Grimmjow…?" Ichigo managed to ask in one try as he struggled to resist the brute force of the espada's strength, all of it pressing down by the length of his slender blade that scraped and gnashed angrily against the much thicker Zangetsu.

"…like I'm going to tell you, moron! Now just shut up and fight, Ichigo Kurosaki!" Grimmjow voiced heartily as he deftly forced Ichigo back a few feet with a violent shove against his blade, making the orange-haired soul reaper slide back against the stone on his feet.

"I'm going to end this now, you bastard! Bankai!!" Ichigo growled out, gritting his teeth together as he extended out his large blade towards the blue-haired espada who looked as if he could not care less about what the Kurosaki male was doing at the moment.

In a short gust of wind that ruffled Grimmjow's black robes and pushed against his short locks of sky-blue hair, Ichigo stood before him with his long, thin black blade that sported an equally black chain to dangle from the end of the hilt, the tiny metal loops jangling a bit amidst the small breeze before either man moved.

In a purposefully smug gesture not unlike the one he performed whence battling Lieutenant Abarai, Grimmjow Jeagerjaques' only response to witnessing Ichigo's bankai was a swift crack of his neck to a side, a single, blue eyebrow quirked up uncaringly at the substitute even though the latter was glaring hard at him.

"Tensa Zangetsu…"Ichigo said quietly, almost solemnly, before he and his espada opponent abruptly vanished into thin air but only to reappear mere inches away the other with their swords banging heavily against each other, the vizard able to handle more of Grimmjow's awesome power in this form.

"Grr…you look even…dumber than I remember, Kurosaki," Grimmjow voiced in his rough timbre, slightly strained from their intense struggle as he managed to knock Ichigo's zanpakuto to a side and bring up a fist in a classic upper-cut to the soul reaper's chin.

"…gyah…ugh…!"Ichigo groaned in horrendous pain as his orange head was suddenly forced backwards with the fierce blow that rocked his jaw, before the vizard instantly felt Grimmjow follow up with such a defense-breaking move with a simultaneous kick to his stomach.

"He's always been better at close-range fighting…damn…but I can match his speed," Ichigo mentally told himself as his back collided solidly with the unforgiving stone surface, the brown-eyed male able to see through the haze of his pain that the espada was already on the move again to continue his onslaught.

"Getsuga Tensho!" Ichigo yelled out, swinging his long, inky blade and casting a huge burst of power to come hurdling towards the advancing espada, Grimmjow still smirking at he leapt high into the air to narrowly avoid such a powerful attack that he knew would harm him at such a close proximity.

Grimmjow's high leap into the clear, afternoon sky bought Ichigo some time to hurriedly get to his feet, the vizard admittedly, but not without a hefty amount of lamentation coursing through him, considering forming his Hollow mask and becoming exponentially more powerful so that he could properly exceed the advanced sexta espada.

"No, I won't…not here…"Ichigo internally feuded with himself, unfortunately distracting himself with such a personal burden as the blue-haired enemy suddenly appeared right behind him, the latter having used a sonido to arrive at a such a place from his airborne position, and Kurosaki barely had enough time to begin turning his head around to see sharp fangs bared his way before he was swiftly knocked down to the ground.

Grimmjow laughed out loud, causing the jaw-like fragment of his Hollow mask to also cackle along with him, as he watched Ichigo flatten out on his stomach with a subtle 'oof' escaping him upon receiving the sharp, kick to the middle of the vizard's back.

However, it was just at this moment of Ichigo's hesitation and Grimmjow's tactical maneuver that several captains of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads arrived via flash step to the perimeter of the spacious but now partially demolished stone courtyard, all eyes directed onto the perplexing scenario playing out before them.

"Well, I must admit, he does look happy alright," Captain Kyoraku chimed in light-heartedly with a chuckle, his words being said specifically to Captain Kuchiki who had discretely widened his charcoal-colored eyes at how Grimmjow flipped a pained, cursing Ichigo over onto his back and crouched down above him in a taunting manner.

Byakuya narrowed his lovely eyes at how Grimmjow curled a fist into the front of Ichigo's fitted robes across his chest, the espada squatting over him and saying something to the infuriated vizard that the Kuchiki could not hear clearly.

"What does he think he's doing…they are too close…"the raven-haired noble mentally chewed he watched Ichigo shout something back to a still smiling Grimmjow who only laughed in the vizard's face in response, ravenous fury still present within both man's features as they exchanged a few more, rude words in the midst of their battle.

Suddenly, a terribly dark, suffocating presence made itself known right beside the secretly perturbed Kuchiki noble, making him tear his eyes away from the scene and look towards the source of such bloodthirsty power that had appeared.

Captain Zaraki was surrounded in a glowing, golden light, laughing maniacally as his one, visible eye was practically teeming with the need to slash and kill, as the eleventh squad captain only spared a moment to stay in that spot before dashing over towards Grimmjow and Ichigo on the courtyard.

"Now this…looks fun!!" Kenpachi roared ferociously, the meaning behind his words bordering on clinically insane as he raced towards the two, squabbling men, just as Grimmjow was letting a very agitated Ichigo up so they may begin battling properly once more.

Byakuya Kuchiki had heard the battle-obsessed captain's ominous words clear enough as the latter had made to progress even more towards the blue and orange-haired males who had locked blades once again, but only a single thought, as unmarred as crystal itself, occurred to the observing squad six captain.

"He might hurt Grimmjow," Byakuya internally surmised straight away, seeing as how the sexta espada was closest to the onlookers in spite of having his back to them all, including the rapidly approaching Zaraki male who was already drawing his jagged-edged zanpakuto from its sheath.

Byakuya flash-stepped in an instant, able to pinpoint precisely where Kenpachi Zaraki would be whence he appeared again from his highly-skilled, soul reaper maneuver.

All at once, the downward swing from Captain Zaraki's sword that had been meant for Grimmjow's unsuspecting and preoccupied form was met with the strong counter swing from Senbonsakura in a tingling clang of hardened steel.

"Huh?" Grimmjow murmured with another lift of a thin, blue eyebrow, Ichigo also muttering some kind of similar question from in front of him, as the espada looked over his shoulder and towards Byakuya Kuchiki who was currently crossing blades with another soul reaper captain, ultimately protecting him.

"Get out of my way," Kenpachi said in an overly-bored manner to the glaring, personally offended noble who struggled a bit under such staggering pressure from the squad eleven captain's massive strength.

"You are out of line, Captain Zaraki. Stand down!" Byakuya said heatedly, raising his pleasant voice at the last of his statement, which, frankly, caught the eye-patch-wearing captain a little off-guard to hear such anger from the typically serene and collected captain.

"Why should I? I was just going to join in on the fight, you know…"the unruly captain explained pseudo-innocently in his husky baritone which, by itself, bypassed all efforts of him trying to make his actions seem just, the two captains' zanpakutos still connected as they fought momentarily with their words instead.

"Grimmjow, step away from the substitute soul reaper, Ichigo Kurosaki, right now," Captain Kuchiki instead directed the no-nonsense order to his blue-haired charge behind him, steel-grey eyes still glued harshly onto the scarred captain before him, as his change in tactics had been completely deliberate.

Multiple gasps and quiet conversations could be heard as the observing captains Kyoraku, Hitsugaya, and Ukitake, along with a few respective lieutenants, watched in amazement as Jeagerjaques wordlessly obeyed Byakuya Kuchiki's order, the sexta espada seeming to have little to no qualms about turning his back to the stunned vizard and sliding his borrowed katana back inside its elegantly-designed sheath, effectively ending the fight and cause for Kenpachi's provocation.

Grimmjow's features displayed nothing but quiet indifference as he dutifully stepped closer to Byakuya's side and away from Ichigo who could not believe his wide, brown eyes, as the latter blinked and blinked again but the image of Grimmjow having immediately abided Captain Kuchiki's words was still present.

Captain Zaraki noticed that he had reached a moot point with all those involved; as he grouchily drew back his zanpakuto from the smaller raven's Senbonsakura and swept his battle-hardened gaze lazily over all three males standing before him.

"Tch…what a waste of time…and here I thought I was going to get in a little exercise," Zaraki complained with long, drawn-out words as he promptly turned his back on his fellow captain who had successfully defended the espada in front of many of his most trusted comrades in arms.

Byakuya could not help but briefly dart his sharp, onyx gaze from person to person in order to glean some kind of reaction from the people who had witnessed everything that had just happened; and, despite how the Kuchiki male did not show any sign of acknowledgment to any one of them, the noble was not entirely disappointed with the expressions he was able to see.

Captain Kyoraku had his straw hat tipped down a bit but only in a gesture of respectful modesty as he grinned in good faith and had his eyes comfortably closed.

Kyoraku's lieutenant, Nanao Ise, had her dark eyebrows quirked up as if trying to solve a math problem, as she kept a hand pressed to the side of her shining glasses so they remained in place.

Captain Ukitake smiled warmly at Byakuya, knowing that, in aspects of civility, what he had done had been the right thing to do by not allowing for Grimmjow to become some target practice or spectacle right there for all to judge.

Captain Hitsugaya was devastated that the once flawless span of concrete that made up the impressive courtyard outside of his squad was in ruins; Lieutenant Matsumoto trying to cheer him up as she insisted on hugging his head to her large bosom and telling him that it was not as bad as it looked.

Standing next to the fuming Hitsugaya, Renji looked absolutely pleased with how the situation had turned out, as the red-haired soul reaper had picked up on the growing attraction between his chilly captain and their blue-haired prisoner since the beginning.

Abarai was quite content that Byakuya Kuchiki had acted in the manner that he had and felt almost a little proud of his older, wiser superior officer whom he knew would not have taken such outgoing measures for just anyone.

Beside Renji, Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa were chatting amongst themselves, the pair having naturally followed their captain the moment he had sniffed a battle in the air, and were now discussing the peculiar outcome of Zaraki being turned down.

"Let's go, Grimmjow," Byakuya solemnly closed his eyes as he was able to take only a single step forward before a curt, shrill voice brought his venture to a halt from behind him.

"Wait a second, Byakuya…"Ichigo Kurosaki had demanded, the vizard still clutching tightly onto his long, jet-black zanpakuto, his words causing Byakuya to open his eyes again but not turn around while he finished, "…what the hell just happened? Why is an espada here in the Soul Society?!"

"Hmph," Grimmjow scowled at Ichigo's offending words, shoving his tanned hands into his hakama pockets as he only turned his frame around half of the way as he gave the outraged orange-haired male a crooked, sideways glare.

"I do not believe that it any of your concern, Ichigo Kurosaki," Kuchiki answered smoothly, but was immediately responded to since the vizard had apparently already figured that the stoic noble would have tried to merely shrug off any of his questions.

"Like hell it isn't any of my business!" Ichigo defended himself justly to the raven-haired male who still had his back turned to both Grimmjow and Ichigo who were looking at each other with daring contempt in their eyes, "I demand to know why he's here…and why the hell is he following your orders, Byakuya?! "

Byakuya sighed, knowing without having to look that the substitute soul reaper was getting too riled up for his own good, as he closed his eyes again before answering as straightforwardly as he could.

"If you must know, Grimmjow was captured and brought here shortly after your fight in Hueco Mundo," the Kuchiki heir explained calmly, feeling Jeagerjaques stir a little uncomfortably behind him before, ultimately, moving even closer to his side, "…and now he has been assigned as my charge."

"Your…charge…?" the orange-haired male asked dumbly which the Kuchiki could not help but instantly ignore in favor of directing his next sentence to the sexta espada beside him.

"Come now, Grimmjow; there's something we need to discuss," the soul reaper captain abruptly announced for especially Ichigo to hear so that he would know that Byakuya intended to answer no more of his questions.

"Ah, hey…!" Ichigo attempted to halt the icy squad six captain once more, but his words had come too late, for the raven-haired male along with a evilly smirking Grimmjow by his side had hurriedly flash-stepped and sonido-ed out of his sight and away from so many watchful eyes.

X

Twenty-seven, excruciating, silent minutes later…

Byakuya and Grimmjow walked quickly through the extensive corridors of the Kuchiki manor, the blue-haired male admittedly trailing after the unreadable noble with a bit of jagged guilt weighing uncomfortably inside his stomach.

Jeagerjaques could sense that the Kuchiki male was furious with him for starting a scene with the substitute soul reaper which could have very-well compromised his measures of freedom and life whilst being in the Soul Society, as they approached the master bedroom which Byakuya entered just as swiftly as how he had been striding through the house.

Grimmjow pouted and silently sighed to himself before saying what had been burning on his tongue for nearly the past half-hour whilst being basically throttled by the Kuchiki's rampant spiritual pressure.

"Look, I'm sorry for what happened today…I shouldn't have gone after the twerp like I did, so I'm really sorry about…"Grimmjow had said in a purposefully drone-like voice as he padded inside the watercolor room after the raven, his words much like how an unrepentant child would beg forgiveness from a parent, but was suddenly cut off in the middle of his thought upon being forced backwards into the nearest wall.

Byakuya Kuchiki was glaring hard into Grimmjow's face, his forearms pressing firmly into the espada's collarbone to keep him pinned against the grey and white wall, as he waited for brilliant blue eyes to open and meet his own before speaking.

"You…have been behaving very badly, Grimmjow," Byakuya silken voiced poured over the immediately enraptured espada who could deduce straight away that this was not what he had been expecting from the captain, "…tell me again…how sorry you are…"

"I'm…sorry…"Grimmjow voiced even though his mind was currently blanking in the midst of being able to feel Byakuya's strong, lithe body press wholly against his own, Jeagerjaques able to smell the light plum scent of the noble's flesh that just seemed to make his every purred but vicious word that much more pleasurable to experience.

"Again," Byakuya ordered in smoothed, measured syllables as he began retracting his pale forearms from Grimmjow's chest, the noble taking careful steps backwards as he slowly brought his hands up to the overlapping folds of his robes, his actions seeming to only ensue from Grimmjow's obedience.

"…I'm sorry," Grimmjow said mindlessly, his teal-marked eyes absolutely glued to how the Kuchiki's delicate fingers were painstakingly inching down multiple layers of robes from the raven's pale chest and supple shoulders so that the garments could be easily discarded.

"Then get on your knees," Byakuya followed up his seemingly tyrannical demand for apologies in a noticeably saucy tone, his significant, white haori and soul reaper robes falling down his long, lean arms until all of the frivolous fabric simply piled onto the floor as if they meant nothing at all.

Grimmjow's lips parted in body-freezing astonishment, the espada registering the fact right away that he would never truly be ready to see the sight of such perfect skin, as he eyed with immense appreciation the huge contrast of Byakuya's slim, milky torso with that of his wide-legged, coal-black hakama that still hung down from his narrow hips.

However, aside from the Kuchiki's flawless body being effortlessly presented to him, what captivated the gaping espada the most…were Byakuya's fierce eyes – their power was held in their restraint, their soft questioning that was never voiced, as the raven kept his expectant, intoxicating stare on Grimmjow's handsome features.

Wordlessly, Grimmjow knelt down onto the carpeted floor, sinking his weight down onto one knee before distributing it evenly onto them both as he peered up at the pleased noble through the lovely haze of his lashes and growing infatuation with their impromptu 'bedroom' game, the espada's larger body beginning to almost tremble in anticipation, to fulfill even more of the beautiful man's orders of him.

"Good boy," Byakuya taunted sexily as he stepped even closer to the wondrously obedient enemy with the form and frame not unlike those of Greek gods, the Kuchiki already in love with the view of Grimmjow submissively on his knees before him, adhering to his every word.

Author's Note: More on the way!! Believe it! XD Btw, yep…it was super important that some of the captains were able to see Grimmjow obeying Byakuya and stuff…way important lol. Love this fic? Hate it with a passion? Leave a review and tell me your deal, yeah?