Orihime trudged through the desert while Ichigo strode beside her. They'd walked for several minutes in silence, Yammy had never felt them come through and quickly disappeared in a Sodino across the sand. But now Ichigo stopped and, since they were still holding hands, Orihme was forced to stop too.
"Orhime, are we going to talk about what just happened?"
She just stared ahead at the endless sea of silver. They couldn't even see the palace so they had no idea if they were even headed in the right direction.
"Come on Orihime, look at me."
She did, and when she turned to face him he saw the tears that coursed their way down her cheeks. He didn't hesitate before folding her into his arms and kissing the top of her head.
"Oh Orihime..." She sobbed freely now that she was secure against his chest. "I love you."
"I know." she snuffed.
"And I'm not mad."
"I know."
"I'm just...surprised."
"I know." She pulled back to face him. "I should have told you that my powers went this far, but I just didn't know what to do. You had lost yours and I didn't want to make you feel bad and we'd agreed to try to move on with our lives. But people kept getting taken, so I didn't want to just leave it..."
"All those times you said you were going to the gym..."
"I was really training. I'm sorry."
He pulled her into him again.
"Don't be, I'm proud of you. And we're here now, so let's do what we came here to do."
"But we don't know the way."
Ichigo scanned the horizon. The palace was no where to be seen. They would just have to take their best guess.
"If we keep moving forward, we're bound to find something." he encouraged. Orhime, nodded, whipped away her tears and they started forward.
They only took two steps before the sand before them gave way and they disappeared from the night.
There was loud knocking at the door. Grimmjow had been sitting silently in the dark after Ichimaru had left. He had a lot to think about but now the lights switched on and Rangiku was rushing through the room, pulling her robe into place.
Yammy came in at her call, carrying his two comrades and cradling one arm himself.
"Yammy what happened?" She asked, looking first at the two unconscious forms on the floor then at Yammy himself.
"Doesn't matter, just patch us up." She nodded and he placed Ulquiorra on the table. His hand was broken, she wrapped it and mended it with spirit. While she worked Grimmjow got closer.
"All three of you went on a mission? What were you doing?"
Yammy said nothing but he caught a look in his eye that shocked him.
"All of you went, right? But Aaroniero didn't come back."
"Shut up."
"What the hell were you after and who could have done this to you?"
"I said shut up!"
"Ichigo doesn't even have powers, who was it?"
"I said SHUT UP!" He aimed a cero straight at Grimmjow. He tried to dodge but in his gigai he would never be fast enough. Somehow though, the pain didn't come. Instead the weight of another body struck him and he fell back, instinctively holding onto the person.
"Rangiku!" Yammy cried out and with shock Grimmjow realized what had happened: She'd jumped in front of him at the last second.
"Dammit." the woman hissed, the skin of her abdomen blacked and smoldering. She was swallowing back a lot of pain.
"I didn't mean to." Yammy said not knowing what to do.
"Just shut up and move Ulquiorra!" Grimmjow lifted the woman onto the table, unable to do so without causing her significant pain. He found some bandages and pressed them against the wound.
"I was just pissed off." Yammy continued, standing helplessly.
"At what? Its your own fault if you screwed up." Grimmjow growled ferociously.
"No, Aizen made us like this! He took away our power!" the anger boomed out and Grimmjow momentarily lost his temper. Rangiku watched the two through the haze of her pain.
"You didn't call him lord Aizen."
"So."
"Yammy, do you want to leave?"
"Shut up."
"Do you?"
"I said shut up."
"Because if you did, and you promised you'd take me and the two soul reapers with you, I'd make sure you got all set up for a nice life in the world of the living."
Yammy's good arm shot out and his fingers wrapped around Grimmjow's throat but he didn't squeeze quite yet. The two held each others gaze for a long moment.
"All I need from you is to open the Garganta. There's just three of you left, who will go next?"
"Four."
"What?"
"There's four of us, Stark's in prison with the other Soul Reapers."
"Then we get them too. We get them all and really stick it to Aizen."
A grin flashed across Yammy's face but then disappeared just as fast.
"No, you'd betray me as soon as you got what you wanted."
"I wouldn't. I swear."
"Grimmjow..." the voice was faint and both men turned back to the woman on the table. Her face was deathly pale and all negotiations came to an end.
"Get Ichigmaru now!" Grimmjow ordered. Yammy backed away and then bolted out the door.
"Rangiku, hang on, I'm sure he'll know how to fix this."
"Get Captain..."
"Rangiku, he can't do anything, just hang on."
"No...I need him..." her head lolled to the side and her eyes closed. "Rangiku!" He screamed but at that moment the door flew off its hinges and Ichimaru was there.
Grimmjow stumbled as he was shoved away from the table and watched Gin tear away the ragged bits of uniform that were plastered to her seared flesh. Then he pressed his bare palm against the wound and began healing.
Yammy came to retrieve the unconscious espadas and report to Aizen. Grimmjow just sat on the couch and waited, hour after hour, for Rangiku to wake. Toshiro had emerged from the room shortly after Ichimaru's arrival and came to sit and stare with those blank eyes at the exam table even though he looked like he still needed to be in bed. Ichimaru spent hours on the wound and sat next to her.
Sometime in the wait, the two on the couch fell asleep. Toshiro unconsciously slouched against Grimmjow and Grimmjow had tried but failed to stay awake after missing almost an entire's night rest conversing with Ichimaru. So it was only Gin who was awake when Rangiku's eyes finally parted.
"Hi there." His voice was soft, no hint of that obnoxious smile on his face.
Rangiku's eyes worked their way from the two in the shadows to the man above her. "Gin." Her fingers trailed to the tear in her clothing and she felt smooth flesh beneath her fingertips.
"S'all healed up, not even a scar, but ya lost a lot of blood so don't be tryin' to move around too much."
"Th-thank-you." she felt weak and her lips trembled as she spoke but she knew he must have poured an enormous amount of his energy into her to have healed her so extensively and so quickly.
"O' course, what are friends for?" He cooed, and bent down to scoop her up in his arms. Her muscles were still sore and she winced but when he set her back down in her bed she was much more comfortable than on the exam table. Her eyes were already starting to fall closed.
"Gin..." she whispered.
"Yeah?"
But she was already asleep.
Grimmjow woke on the couch late the next morning. He was exhausted. At some point in the night he'd woken and carried the kid back to his bed. He'd also seen that Rangiku's wound was well healed and he'd felt relief. But now his conversation with Ichimaru and later with Yammy came back.
Ichimaru had practically admitted that if there was a way, he would overthrow Aizen. And Yammy had let his true feelings for his master slip, and he finally knew who at least one of the prisoners were in the cells below. Stark, he would be a powerful ally. But who else was there and would it be worth the risk to try to free them in the escape? Surely Rangiku wouldn't go without them.
"Dammit." he swore out loud. He rolled off the couch and went to the sleeping quarters. Rangiku was still asleep but the boy was sitting up on his bed, watching her.
"Why don't you go eat or something kid, I'm sure she's fine." Grimmjow forgot the boy only operated on orders now so he got up and left the room immediately. He felt kind of bad but then it was the best thing for him anyway. He didn't know what else to do so he just sat down stared at the sleeping woman for some time.
"If I figure out how to get out of here, I'll take you both with me." he said to the ceiling but then jumped when he saw the boy in the doorway. "Shit!" he exclaimed. The kid was creepy. The boy ignored his reaction and sat back on the bed, and began to once again stare at his lieutenant.
"There's something she's keeping secret, don't suppose you could tell me what it is? I'm sure its about you anyway." He looked at the boy but he ignored him. "Don't even talk huh? Can't imagine letting myself snap like that." He sighed and stood up, leaving them alone.
The next few days were slow. Meetings, some sparing, and waiting for the next visit from Aizen. Rangiku recovered fully, Toshiro did as well and returned to whatever it was they had him doing in the palace.
Then the third visit came. Grimmjow fought as he always did but to no avail. It was the longest session yet and he hardly remembered the thrashing, the screaming, even the crying in the aftermath was a blur of Rangiku's warm arms and long hair trailing over his face. He'd woken in her bed again, this time nearly six hours later. Rangiku said later that Aizen had stayed for quite a while to make sure he was alright.
Grimmjow refused to get up for a long time after. He could feel the rage boiling just beneath the surface and asked Rangiku to leave him alone so nothing would happen. Ichimaru came in to watch him struggle, to see if he could win. He knew the Soul Reaper would only ally himself with Grimmjow if he thought there was a chance of success. But as Grimmjow lay there with his eyes closed trying to block everything else out, Ichimaru passed on a little information to help get him through.
"Somethin' happened, a few days ago. Those wounds Ulquiorra and Yammy had, remember?"
Grimmjow nodded, of course he did, that was the night that– well he didn't like thinking about that night.
"The person who did that, an' who killed Aaroniero is in Heuco Mundo now."
His eyes flashed open and he locked on the fox-like grin.
"Who?"
"It's a bit of a surprise actually, but it seems she's advanced more than we thought in these last years. Orihime Inoue."
"What?" He pushed himself up by his palms and swung his legs over the bed.
"I thought tha' might catch your interest."
"Orihime is here?"
"Last trace of her was in the desert, but she's disappeared for now. However, she was not alone."
"Kurosaki."
"Who else?"
"What are they planning?" Gin raised his palms in the air and shrugged. "Probably nothin', they'll probably be captured or killed. But..."
"What?"
"If ya had any plans, perhaps they could be timed with this in mind."
"Yammy sounded like he might be interested. But who are the other prisoners in the cells?"
"Forget 'em, its too difficult to get to them, only a Soul Reaper Captain would stand a chance of settin' em free."
"Ichimaru, why aren't we discussing this with Rangiku. You're going to let her go right?"
"O' course I am! I'm trustin' you ta get her outta here and make sure she keeps running."
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly what we were just talking about. Rangiku wants to protect those prisoners. Aizen promised her that if she ran, he'd kill 'em all. He won't, but he will make life even more unpleasant for 'em. An' I can't be associated with you when this happens, I can't make any move against Aizen til I know Rangiku is outta Hueco Mundo."
"So we don't tell her, until its time."
"Precisely."
Grimmjow nodded. Ichimaru left.
He spent the rest of that day wandering the halls, trying to exercise out some of his stress and the anger that wouldn't quite wash away. His feelings for Rangiku had gotten stronger, he didn't know how to describe them, but Ichimaru had told him that holding on to them would help keep the darkness away, so he clung to them for dear life. He was attracted to her, it would be hard not to be, but he'd never really been attracted to someone he also respected and cared for. It was all new to him.
It was late when he came in and the door to the private quarters was closed. He was just passing them on his way to the couch when he heard something that made him pause. Someone was gasping for air, like they were struggling to breath. He stopped and listened. It wasn't Rangiku, it was definitely the boy.
"Its okay Captain." she whispered but his keen ears caught the words even from behind the door. "Just a little more."
There were more sharp breaths and a few sobs, but Rangiku kept encouraging him. Then there was quiet.
"Was it enough Captain?" No answer. "You should rest now."
There was nothing more to be heard and Grimmjow continued over to the couch. It was very strange, and the he played the words through his head over and over but could not find their meaning so he let sleep take him.
