"Ow! What the fuck?!" Ichigo snapped, his body thrown on the ground as he held the offending object in his hands. Waving the green-hued disc, the orange-haired teen shouted, "Nnoitra you bastard! That's the fifth fucking time you've hit me!"

"Hey, 's not my fault ya can't catch properly…" the onyx-haired teen replied with a shrug, a sneer on his lips.

"I can catch properly, jackass! I'm just tired, we've been playing under the midday heat for god knows how long now…" As if to emphasize, the brown-eyed teen wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"Well, you may be right, Ichigo… What does everyone else think?" Il Forte decided to cut in as to avoid having the first two teens banter. Truthfully, the blonde himself was already feeling quite queasy since he wasn't exactly the physical type.

"Il Forte, I'll out myself for now…" A heavily sweating Chinese teen called, one hand raised up as if to excuse himself.

"Heh, I'm still in!" D-Roy called, pumping a fist in the air just to show his readiness.

Soft panting sounds caught the tallest teen's ears, slanted coal black eyes turned to his right where he found his roommate with his hands on his knees, breathing hard. "Yo. You still alright there, Tesla?"

Hearing his name called out, mocha eyes lifted and the smaller teen straightened his posture. "I am alright." Tesla replied, a soft smile gracing his lips. Nnoitra asked him if he was alright… Nnoitra had actually asked him… Nnoitra was concerned about him. Oh joy…

"Che…" Seeing the dirty-blond-haired teen go into his 'fantasizing-mode' (as he'd chose to call it), Nnoitra averted his gaze and planted his hands on his hips. "So, does any other sissy want to chicken out?" He received a pointed glare from the retreating Shawlong but he paid it no mind.

"Alrighty then!" Jumping up, Ichigo got to his feet dusting off the dirt from his clothes.

"Just throw the disc, you stupid berry, before I bash your head into the field." Luppi hollered from his place right beside a snickering Szayel.

"What did you say?!"

"Well, you do seem to blend in perfectly with the poppies." The pink-haired genius explained gleefully, referring to the orange-gold hue that the field of flowers was emitting.

"Why you little bitch…" Orange brows furrowed and a pulsing vein was quite visible on the teen's forehead. "I oughta-"

"GRIMMJAW? GRIMMJAW?! SHIT! STARK WAKE UP! COME OVER HERE AND HELP ME!"

It was undoubtedly Shawlong's voice, a couple of eyes blinked as the usually reserved teen now sounded albeit hysteric. Seven heads turned towards the source of the unexpected exclamation. Confusion was the main expression on their faces as all on-going conversations came to a dead-silent halt.

"Stop being so loud Shawlong…"

They heard the voice of the dorm's head boy float about with underlying tones of exasperation, surprise and intrigue. A few seconds passed before another sound was heard again, this time it was nothing but serious. "Shawlong call everyone together. We have an emergency."

The word 'emergency' flew across each teen's mind; a split second after the word was heard, Szayel was already running back to the clearing. The rest of the guys seemed to have snapped out of their initial shock once the dorm's resident prodigy moved, each of them going at their fastest pace.

"What happened?!" Szayel Aporro asked, not even bothering to note that, in his panic, his tone was nothing below a shriek.

"G-Grimmjaw…" Shawlong shakily replied, his voice low as he seemed to be out of breath from his earlier outcry.

The golden-eyed teen quickly rushed past the Chinese, kneeling beside Stark who was squatting beside the ice blue-haired teen.

"Stark, what's going on?" Nnoitra found himself asking, going past the apparently sorta-traumatized Shawlong who was being attended to by Il Forte; the tall and bony teen now loomed over the three people who were situated right smack in the middle of the forest clearing.

"Grimmjaw's not breathing…" Stark answered shortly as the bespectacled teen beside him conducted quick first aid check ups.

"Grimmjaw's… not…" Disbelief was neatly scrawled all-over the features of Tesla, who stood beside his roommate.

"We need to get him to a hospital. Quick." It was rare that Szayel abandoned his coquettish front for a thoroughly grave expression, and right now might possibly be the first ever time that the teen did it on a large scale. The coy smile and playful glimmer in the golden eyes were replaced with severity. "What are you waiting for, his life might be endangered if we don't move!"

"Everyone, quick! Ichigo, prepare your car."

"On it!"

"D-Roy, Luppi, fix up our picnic materials."

There was a reply of "Gotcha", and a nod from the other.

"Shawlong, come on…" The tanned blonde finished directing the others and was now escorting the worn down Chinese teen back into the van.

"Careful!" Szayel noted as the combined forces of Nnoitra, Tesla and Stark carried the unconscious form of one Grimmjaw Jeagerjacques.

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"Faster!"

"Dammit, I'm going as fast as the speed limit would fucking allow!" This was definitely not Kurosaki Ichigo's ideal 'relaxing day out' but he didn't exactly have much time to dwell on that, what, with seven people breathing down his neck, thinking wasn't really the biggest help.

"That's not fast enough!" He may not be exactly close to the teen in peril but the idea of losing a friend wasn't exactly Tesla's cup of tea.

"Drive more carefully you imbecile!" Szayel screeched, holding the un-breathing teen in place as they drove across a particularly bumpy road.

"Everybody calm down!" Il Forte called out in earnest. His head was hurting as dozens of thoughts continued to buzz inside him. Grimmjaw… What happened to him? Food poisoning? Cardiac arrest? So many things to consider… Not to mention that his other friend, Shawlong, was also having his own share of casualties.

"How can you order me to calm down when not one of you can tell me what the fuck happened!" Nnoitra snapped, crossing his arms with a scowl on his face. Everyone kept screaming nonsense, and that alone irritated him to no end. Aside from that, the fact that they had no fucking clue in what happened to the muscled teen, who now lay across the seat in front of him, only served to befuddle their group even more.

"Grimmjaw, you motherfucker, don't you fucking dare die on us!" Luppi spoke through gritted teeth, effeminate hands clutching albeit more than necessary on his seat. Despite the harsh words, delicate black brows were creased and lilac eyes showed utter perplexity.

Shawlong was clutching his head, eyes downcast and had not spoken a word ever since the ride began. D-Roy looked like he'd swallowed some particularly bad-tasting medicine, both his hands gripping on to the hem of his t-shirt, not really caring if the once well-pressed shirt was now creased.

"Right there!" Il Forte pointed out the large white structure that was just up ahead. "Go straight to the Emergency Area."

"Okay." Maneuvering the van was a trivial task for an experienced driver, and in no time at all, the vehicle was parked directly in front of the doorways leading into the Emergency Area's lobby.

Sliding open the van door, Stark headed the way out where a stretcher was already awaiting them. Four hospital nurses therein took over, lifting Grimmjaw's unconscious body onto the thin mattress of the stretcher. Stark and Szayel ran along with the nurses, deeming that they would be needed there for information and the likes. Meanwhile, the others got out of the van before Ichigo headed off to park the car. Shawlong was escorted by another nurse to have his blood pressure checked, Il Forte and D-Roy stayed with the teen whilst Luppi led the others to catch up with the bespectacled genius and the head boy.

The effeminate newcomer's group soon located their dorm mates, having spotted the goatee-ed teen sitting down on one of the plastic chairs that aligned the hallway as Szayel appeared to be conversing with a hospital staff who held up a clipboard and scribbled notes.

"I'd have to request that you stay close by Mr. Granz," the plump little nurse said, holding her clipboard tightly by her side. "Doctors and nurses are now doing their best to recognize the cause and most likely fix Mr. Jeagerjacques' predicament."

The pink-haired teen nodded and the nurse went away.

"Szayel Aporro, I demand to know what happened." A lilac-eyed guy immediately stated as he walked up to the aforementioned man.

"Luppi…" the golden-eyed teenager adjusted his glasses, his tone becoming considerably much calmer than before. "Grimmjaw's been sent to the Emergency Room, there are doctors and nurses with him now, that desk nurse just now had confirmed that. S-She said that there had been a few cases like this before and that there was a fifty-fifty chance…"

"Fifty-fifty?!" The scowl on Nnoitra's lips magnified upon hearing the prodigy's words.

"Calm down, Nnoitra…" Stark finally spoke up, his voice carrying the same bored tone as always but at the moment it was laced with apprehension and forced calm. "Blowing our tops off with an unknown situation at hand won't do any of us any good."

"Err, sirs?" A polite voice cut in between the conversing teens, automatically getting their attention turn to a male nurse that stood before them. "We understand that you're all worried for your friend but I must ask some of you to leave, you're causing quite a blockade in the halls. We do have a policy of, at most, two visitors per patient, sirs."

The five teens looked at each other, wordlessly asking which one of them should stay or not.

"I'll stay right here." Szayel said confidently, eyes now flicking back and forth amongst the other dorm members to see who'd be willing to wait the whole ordeal out with him.

Seeing Tesla's distressed face, Nnoitra shook his head. How could he forget? The brown-eyed boy had quite an absurd fear of hospitals, something about the smell of medicine and chemicals mixed together and whatnot. A pale bony hand scratched his nape, "Tes and I won't exactly be of much help here, so I s'pose it's either Luppi or Stark who'd accompany ya…" the raven-haired teen spoke, blatantly ignoring the honoring looks that he received from his dirty-blonde haired roommate.

Stark's dark eyes bore into lilac ones. The eye contact lasted for a couple of seconds before the head boy stood up and declared that he'd missed his naptime.

"…I guess I'll be staying then…" Luppi said in an awkward fashion. Now he knew why all the other teens at the dorm practically revered the goatee-ed brunet.

Walking ahead of Nnoitra and Tesla, Stark casually waved a hand as a sign of 'see you later' at the other two who were left behind.

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"How's Shawlong?" Tesla asked at once when they managed to locate Il Forte, D-Roy, and Ichigo standing like guards outside a closed door.

"He's in there with a doctor, they're havin' some sort of a consultation." D-Roy replied, his forlorn look shared by Il Forte who seemed to have finally gotten exhausted from all the drama.

"And Grimmjaw…?" it was Ichigo's turn to inquire.

"E.R." was Nnoitra's simple reply and a cloud of gloom appeared to hang over the small group of students.

The soft creaking noise made by the opening door brought the teenagers out of their musings; Il Forte, being the quickest amongst the rest, instantly found his place beside the Chinese, already questioning the doctor. Thanking the man profusely, the blonde led Shawlong to where their other dorm mates were gathered.

"The doctor said it wasn't grave but Shawlong should acquire much rest as soon as possible." Dark irises seemed to dim as the tanned blonde spoke, his whole aura quite frankly saying that he had no intention to leave the hospital but he was torn since Shawlong also needed medical attention that greatly differed from Grimmjaw's situation.

"Don't worry, Szayel and Luppi are staying to watch over Grimmjaw." Stark stated nonchalantly, left hand covering up a yawn. "Our priority now is Shawlong."

Relief washed over Il Forte's face upon hearing the other's words. "Okay."

"Seriously, I gotta be gettin' some payment for driving you guys all around like this…" Ichigo murmured under his breath half-joking, as the group of high school students went out of the hospital.

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How long has it been? Seconds? Minutes? Hours? He didn't know and he surely could have cared less about the time but at the given situation, he knew that time was important. How long have those doctors and nurses worked in there? Trembling hands raked through cherry blossom pink locks of hair. He shouldn't be so negative; he had to believe in those trained people to save his friend. They can save him. Yes, they can. He had to believe in that… He had to…

"Hey."

The pink-haired teen looked up in time to find a can of cola thrown at his direction, catching the cold beverage with both hands he looked up with a small grateful smile at the smaller guy who sat beside him.

"Ya look like he's already dead in there…" Luppi commented casually as he opened his own can and took a short sip. "Toughen up, will ya? The way I knew Grimmjaw, that bastard ain't gonna die until he says he wants ta… And do ya think he had a say in the situation? No. So don't get all depressed and shit."

Understanding the context of the onyx-haired teen's words, Szayel allowed his smile to widen; somehow, Luppi and Grimmjaw were alike in more ways than one… "Thanks," the genius responded.

Lilac eyes gazed at him for a second or two before turning towards the opposite wall; a grunt was given as the only reply.

A sudden burst of air coupled with muffled sounds from within the emergency room behind them brought the two teens' attention up a notch. A minute or so later, the doors were pulled open and a number of nurses and doctors filed out of the room; all of them were clothed in the sickly color of white with rubber gloves on their hands and masks covering their faces from the bridge of their nose and below. Both students rose up from their seats, their anxiety from before seemed to double as the medical people passed them by with an unreadable look in their eyes.

"E-Excuse me, what happened?" Szayel immediately went to question a nurse that was passing by them, unable to stop the fearfulness in his voice.

"Are you a relative sir?" The nurse asked as jade green eyes looked up at him in query.

"I'm a friend, and I'm also the one who came with him here. Luppi here," he indicated the effeminate youth with a slightly shaking hand "is his cousin. Please tell us what happened to him…"

"I understand." The hospital staff nodded as he removed his facemask to communicate better. "Well sirs…"

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A/N: This has got to be the chap with the most scene changes that I've ever done… :P Not exactly a good cliffy, I know… And yes, Szayel has a lot of screen time in this one, basically since he's my current fave character in Bleach… ;D Gotta love the mad scientists…

On a more important note, I've made a start on the tenth chapter and from the way my plotline goes, this fic's ending will not 'fit' in one chapter... Maybe... five more? I'm just guessing here.. So, erm... I kinda need the German numbers from 11th to 15th, just to be sure.. chibi nazumi and Szayel-Chan, I'm on my virtual knees here, once again begging for your indulgence... :D

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who'd alerted/faved/(and most specially)reviewed this story.. Every little fanfiction message that I receive in my mail is great inspiration. So thank you very much. Cheers!