All For the Money, Honey: [Chapter 9: Pay Up]

Pairing: Grimmjow Jeagerjaques x Ichigo Kurosaki

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I do NOT own any Bleach characters (as much as I wish I did)


While Ichigo was running down the hallways and cursing himself for giving his bodyguard such a head-start, further up ahead, Grimmjow was on a mission. Like a wolf hunting a scent, he rushed along the corridors in search of a way to get down to the lowest level of the building. He had the luck of passing a floor plan on his left and skidded to a halt. The floor plan showed the layout of every level in the building, including lines for the walls, doors, emergency exits and even labelling the different rooms. Grimmjow couldn't help but smirk. Whoever had authorised this floor plan obviously hadn't factored in that such details would easily lead even the most incompetent thief to their destination. Luckily for the theatre employees, Grimmjow wasn't here to steal.

His eyes quickly scanned over the plan and the lowest level shown was a large open space labelled at the storage room. It was directly under the main stage. This was where Grimmjow knew he was certain to find Ulquiorra. Knowing exactly where to find him, Grimmjow continued on his path as quickly as possible, wondering what Ulquiorra was up to. The slithery bastard was always very precise in choosing his locations and by being directly under the stage, he would be able to know exactly when to start wrecking havoc – or when not to, especially if he didn't want to interfere with a certain singer's award presentation.

Grimmjow still found himself unable to wrap his head around the idea of Ulquiorra showing some kind of positive emotions towards anyone, least of all a pretty, young girl. If the situation turned out well, he was tempted to investigate just what this Orihime Inoue had done to change such a cold character. But even with this new influence, Ulquiorra was still acting a bit too out of character. This thought stuck out in Grimmjow's mind for one reason; Ulquiorra was using explosive materials.

Ulquiorra had never been the ostentatious type to blow a hole in a building – something like that was actually more Grimmjow's style. The cerulean paused and suddenly, everything seemed just a little clearer. What better way to challenge your adversary than to use his favourite means of pandemonium? He couldn't help but feel a little flattered by the copy-cat style, but he knew that this time, Ulquiorra was only using him to get to Ichigo. But as if Grimmjow was going to let him do that.

Grimmjow continued down another flight of stairs and into another hallway, getting closer and closer to the room under the stage. Even without knowing where he was, it was plainly obvious that he was getting further and further away from the main halls of the theatre complex. His surroundings were slowly beginning to change from the pristine white and gold walls to a dusty grey texture that rarely ever saw the light of day. Down here, Grimmjow's formal attire suddenly looked out of place.

Suddenly, quick paced footfalls of someone on the floor above reverberated overhead. Grimmjow reflexively looked up. He had no doubt that it was Ichigo hot on his tail. Grimmjow hadn't actually known if Ichigo had run after him or not, so he frowned at the confirmation. There was a small part of him that hoped that Ichigo hadn't followed him, but he knew Ichigo enough to know that he would've wanted to be a part of this fight no matter what.

Grimmjow kicked up the speed to a light run, the layout of the building running through his mind as he passed deeper and deeper into the foundations of the building. A small part of him wondered if he'd taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way; it would've been easy, and the terrible lighting made navigating his way through this concrete maze all the more difficult. As if answering his doubts, he turned a corner and noticed a slit of strong light shining out from the bottom of one of the doors. Grimmjow inhaled slowly as he opened the door, almost sensing that Ulquiorra was on the other side.

Behind the door was a large storage room, filled with boxes and stage equipment gathered in tall piles. He quickly hid himself behind one of these piles, hoping that Ulquiorra hadn't noticed his entrance. Staying low, Grimmjow moved through the maze until he paused before a small clearing. Plastic explosives attached to various foundations immediately caught his eye; they were small square mounds of C4 with basic detonation pads pressed into the plastic. He could see a few foundations that already had some serious chunks blown out of them, obviously the cause of the earlier tremors. The explosives were too small to cause anything worse than a bit of floor-shaking on their own, but if they were all detonated at once, Grimmjow had no doubt that it would bring the roof down around them, and the stage above it.

At the other side of the space was Ulquiorra. He was turned at an angle where Grimmjow was just out of vision, which wasn't helped by the mobile phone pressed to his ear. His lips were moving rapidly but he was speaking too low for Grimmjow to understand what he was saying from that distance away.

If Grimmjow could manage to get closer and remain unseen, it would a perfect opportunity to attack while Ulquiorra's guard was down, but the cerulean didn't think it was right to sneak around. This fight was a personal one and Grimmjow wanted the pleasure of staring Ulquiorra down face-to-face. And besides, even if Ulquiorra's guard was down, it didn't mean that his reflexes wouldn't be just as fast.

Eager to make his presence known, Grimmjow stepped out from the clusters of equipment and walked slowly towards Ulquiorra, "Couldn't you have waited another hour to start causing trouble? I was just beginning to enjoy myself."

As he predicted, Ulquiorra instantly turned around to the source of the noise. His snake-like eyes sent unwelcomed chills down Grimmjow's spine as they found and focused on him. He didn't show any signs of being surprised - not that Grimmjow had expected there to be any – but he abruptly terminated his phone call, giving the cerulean his full attention. "I didn't know you were attending this event."

"Bullshit. You knew Ichigo had been invited, so I highly doubt you would've neglected to think that I would be arriving too."

Ulquiorra looked around to the sides of him, obviously expecting Ichigo to be somewhere behind him. When he didn't see the redhead appear, he turned his eyes back to Grimmjow, "Speaking of Ichigo, where is he?"

"He's on his way." Grimmjow smirked, "I think he wants to get back at you for being locked in the boot of your car. But he'll have to wait, because I'm first in line to take a hit at you." He stared Ulquiorra down with eyes that promised to make him bleed. With no Aizen around to interrupt an impending fray, this, Grimmjow thought, is going to be fun.

There was a tense silence as Ulquiorra was quietly deciding whether or not to accept the challenge. Unlike the man standing before him, he wasn't especially violent or easy to provoke so he saw nothing wrong with walking away from a fight. So when Ulquiorra's feet shifted into a fighting stance, Grimmjow couldn't help but clench his fist with satisfaction.

There was almost an unspoken formality that both had agreed on as they all-too calmly walked towards each other; it was a showdown minus the guns. When the enemies were within a reasonable distance of each other, Grimmjow made the first move with a basic but sturdy punch aimed for Ulquiorra's face with the intent to break it.

While in the close proximity, Ulquiorra struck out with the back of his fist, which Grimmjow blocked by grabbing onto his forearm and twisting it in the attempt to throw him off balance. The material of Ulquiorra's jacket was deliberately low-frictional and he skilfully pulled himself out of Grimmjow's grip by moving with the twist and side-flipping back just out of arms reach.

Cursing the sleek material, Grimmjow paused to examine any other possible tricks that the slithery opponent could have weaved into his attire. Ulquiorra was wearing a single-breasted black jacket, a white pinstriped shirt and a dark green cross-stripe tie. The stipes blended well with the tear-like tattoos that stretched down his cheeks. Grimmjow raised a half-interested eyebrow, "Despite that revolting personality of yours, I must admit you do have nice taste in clothing."

Ulquiorra took the chance to quickly scan the cerulean over, "I could say the same thing about you."

Grimmjow dipped his head briefly in mock gratitude. He then quickly stepped in and swung a lower punch at Ulquiorra's gut.

Ulquiorra swerved out of the way and aimed an open-handed hit at the bundle of nerves at the base of the cerulean's neck. Connecting a strong enough hit there would almost definitely ensure a win for the slithery bodyguard.

But Grimmjow predicted the move and blocked it just in time with his forearm. The pair continued to exchange blows and it wasn't before long that both were sporting their own little aches and bruises. As the two stood still for a moment to catch their breath, something suddenly occurred to Grimmjow, "... You really hate Ichigo don't you?"

"What?"

Grimmjow smirked like it was Ulquiorra's dirty little secret, "You're usually so content to attack from the shadows, but not this time; Ichigo's done something to make you hate him. Something to do with Miss Orihime Inoue perhaps?"

Ulquiorra narrowed his cold green eyes, "My reasons have nothing to do with you. And you're giving me too much credit for all this; our employer can suggest very creative ideas when he's in the right mood."

Grimmjow's eye's widened, "... Aizen," he growled. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up instinctively. He should've known that Aizen was somehow involved in this. Once Aizen was interested in something, he almost always got what he wanted in the end, though Ichigo was one thing that Grimmjow wasn't exactly fond on giving up. Maybe his efforts thus far to dissuade Aizen's interests needed to be stepped up a notch.

"Aizen is wondering about you, Grimmjow." Ulquiorra's eyes were as dead-pan as usual. "He's curious about your attachment to Ichigo."

"Well I'd rather Aizen get off his golden throne and ask me himself." Grimmjow growled and struck out his elbow to hit him in the chin, but Ulquiorra moved back just in time. He continued the movement and used the momentum to push his other arm forwards with a punch. Ulquiorra moved back again.

'Punch' –miss,' punch' –miss, 'punch' –miss, Ulquiorra was slowly being pushed backwards towards a sturdy pile of wooden stage props. And instead of punching out for the fourth consecutive time, Grimmjow kicked out, planting the heel of his foot into Ulquiorra's abdomen.

The hit sent Ulquiorra into the wooden prop pile. He braced himself for the impact to lessen the damage, but he was still moderately winded. However, it was a fleeting sensation and Ulquiorra was stable within moments.

Grimmjow was readying himself to throw another hit at Ulquiorra, but paused. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he thought he saw a quick flare of orange in the corner of his eye. When he spotted the orange flash again, he realized that Ichigo had finally caught up with him. Ichigo, looking mighty fine in his suit, suddenly appeared out of the background and into the fray.

Grimmjow had to give it to him, the kid was fast. Before Ulquiorra had time to react to the sudden change of events, Ichigo powered forwards and dealt him with a solid punch to the jaw.

Ulquiorra's head rolled with the hit, sending a mixture of blood and spittle onto the floor. He clutched at his jaw and was relieved when he could tell that nothing was broken. Glaring at Ichigo, Ulquiorra swung the back of his fist out at him, but Grimmjow grabbed the redhead by the arm and tugged him out of the way.

Ichigo looked over his shoulder at Grimmjow, "... Thanks."

Grimmjow's grip tightened on his arm, "I want you out of here."

Ichigo blinked at the sudden aggression before moving his expression into a frown. "No way. This guy has given me nothing but trouble for the past few weeks and I'm here to give him the beating he deserves."

"Good Evening, Ichigo," Ulquiorra greeted the redhead with the usual lack of emotion. "Nice of you to join us."

Ichigo's eyes narrowed upon the pale bodyguard. He looked just the way he remembered him; tear-like tattoos, black hair, and those poisonous-green eyes. "I hope I broke the boot of your car, you emo asshole."

It struck Grimmjow that this was probably the first time that Ichigo had seen Ulquiorra since he'd been drugged.

Ulquiorra didn't even blink at Ichigo's hostility. "Only minor external damage. I was going to let you out eventually, you know. I was planning on introducing you to my employer."

Ichigo tried to lunge forwards, but Grimmjow held fast to his arm. "Let me go!" Ichigo hissed.

"You're not fighting, you're leaving." Grimmjow hissed back. He didn't like where the conversation was going.

"And I never got to congratulate you on your big win, Ichigo. So much money; you could buy a car, go on holiday, invest in stock, pay off debts even." His gaze flicked over to Grimmjow.

The cerulean was visibly disgruntled, but Ichigo didn't notice. "What I do with my money is none of your damn concern."

Luckily the redhead didn't realise it, but Ulquiorra was hinting to things that Ichigo didn't know about his bodyguard, things that Grimmjow hoped he would never know. The urgency for Grimmjow to get the kid the heck out of there was steadily getting a lot higher. But Ichigo wasn't going to leave without a good enough reason; he looked almost bent on making Ulquiorra pay for what he'd put him through. Although he'd probably get an earful about it later, Grimmjow decided that he had to get Ichigo as far away from Ulquiorra as possible.

Grimmjow tugged Ichigo closer so that he could whisper into his ear the first thing that came to mind, "Look, Orihime's in danger. There's another explosive in her handbag and it could go off at any moment." He watched the redhead's eyes widen at this new information. He felt a twinge of guilt for telling such a drastic lie, but the twinge was short lived. "That's why I need you to find her right now."

Ichigo didn't need any more incentive than that. As much as it pained him to leave Ulquiorra still standing, but keeping Orihime safe was a higher priority. He nodded, Grimmjow finally let go of his arm and he ran towards the door. Ulquiorra moved to stop him, but the cerulean swung a punch at him, forcing him to stop and block it. Grimmjow threw in a few more blows to keep him busy, making sure to keep himself positioned between Ulquiorra and the exit.

Ichigo reached the door but paused. A large part of him wanted to stay and fight Ulquiorra, but when he thought about Orihime being put into danger, she immediately took priority whether he liked it or not. He took one more look at Grimmjow and disappeared through the door.

Ulquiorra's brows furrowed momentarily after Ichigo disappeared from sight. "You lied to get Ichigo out of the way."

"I had to. He doesn't know anything and I plan to keep it that way. Besides, I still have a score to settle with you. And if I remember correctly, I promised myself that I would shoot you in the knees, but seeing as I don't have a gun I'll just have to improvise." Grimmjow grinned maliciously.

Scowling this time at Grimmjow, Ulquiorra shifted himself back into fighting stance, "Get out of my way."

"Where's the fun in that?" He sneered and balled his hands back into fists.

Ulquiorra took the offensive and came at Grimmjow with a roundhouse kick to the ribs. The cerulean blocked the kick and thrust the palm of his hand into the underside of Ulquiorra's leg joint. The hit was strong enough to potentially break the joint.

A quiet gasp of pain managed to escape the Ulquiorra's lips as he pulled back. He stumbled away a little as he tried to maintain stability. He attempted to fully straighten his leg but when he applied a fraction of his weight onto it, he recoiled from pain. He swung his leg back and forth, testing the joint. Ulquiorra looked up at Grimmjow, somehow managing to not look utterly ridiculous as he opted to balance on his remaining leg, "... Well, it didn't break my knee."

"Don't rush me," Grimmjow chuckled darkly, "Just changing the odds in my favour."

"This changes nothing."Instead of trying to throw in another hit, Grimmjow was surprised when Ulquiorra reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out what looked like a fancy car remote. He firmly pressed a button on the left.

It wasn't until Grimmjow heard a rapid beeping high above him that he realised what the remote was for. But it was too late by then. Ulquiorra quickly hopped behind the pile of wooden stage equipment but Grimmjow was basically a sitting duck when the C4 above him detonated.


KABOOOM! D': What happens next!

This... took waaaay too long to write. There was so much I was trying to fit in that I eventually had to split the content into two chapters. And I knooowww it's been ages since I last updated and I have multiple reasons believe me, but in the end, they're pretty much just excuses so I won't bother you with them. I tried to balance out the fighting and talking (something which I find very hard) and I hope my fight scenes aren't too ridiculous, haha.

ENJOY! And sorry for the lag!

Comments and reviews will be used to protect Grimmjow's scrumptious body from those nasty explosives!