I DO NOT OWN THESE CHARACTERS

THEY BELONG TO TITE KUBO

Chapter 9:- Have a Little Gratitude.

Don't be mad when someone else starts to appreciate the person you took for granted. What you won't do, someone else will.

Nikhil Saluja.

Grimmjow stared up at the ceiling of his cell. He traced all the cracks and holes trying to busy himself but nothing was working. He felt like he was choking. The feeling of anger boiled and churned inside of his chest.

Since that day on the training ground Grimmjow had been furious with Isane and Ulquiorra. They're little dance had monumentally pissed him off not to mention that Renji had knocked him down on his ass more often than he liked. All this did not bode well for Grimmjow and had just soured his mood.

He had become increasingly terse with Isane. She of course didn't know why Grimmjow had been acting this way. The Grimmjow Isane had come to know was full of snarky comments and crude statements. He was a horrible flirt and a brutish oaf at times but she never expected he was one to brood and slip childish mood swings. Isane had just chalked it up to Grimmjow getting sick maybe with the flu or something along those lines but it never crossed her mind that he was mad at her. Isane had no reason to suspect Grimmjow was mad with her. She had done nothing wrong, directly that is.

Grimmjow woke up extremely groggy that morning. He had had a horrible night's sleep filled with a lot of tossing and turning. It did not sit well with him when a loud voice echoed through his cell just when he had finally found a comfortable spot to sleep. Grimmjow grumbled out that the guard should shut his mouth and then buried his head under his pillow so only the tips of his teal looks peeked out.

Grimmjow tried to ignore the guards yelling and he had almost succeeded in drowning him out when Isane spoke out.

"Grimmjow can you please get up? We need to hurry this morning. I have somewhere to be today."

I bet you have to go meet your darling Ulquiorra!

Grimmjow didn't know why that was the first thing to pop into his head but he was still mad about that day at Squad Twelve's training field. Since when did Ulquiorra enjoy other people's company? Was Ulquiorra interested in Isane? Where the hell had Isane and Ulquiorra gone after the training session?What had Ulquiorra told Isane to make her blush so furiously? He was the only person that was supposed to make her blush. Isane was his caretaker and Ulquiorra needed to know his place.

All these questions and thoughts raced through Grimmjow's head in that instance. He was lost in in thoughts. The only thing that brought him back to reality was the damn guard yelling at him again.

"Hey meathead! Didn't you hear the Lieutenant? She has somewhere important to be so get a move on!" Kiba had yelled.

Grimmjow sprung up from his position on the bed. He grabbed the bars of the cell and snarled at the guard.

"What did you just call me?" Grimmjow glared daggers at the guard, "Do you want to get your teeth knocked out you piece of trash!?"

"Why you little assh…." However Kiba never got to finish his sentence because Isane had got in between the two of them.

"That is enough." she had said flatly, "Grimmjow let's go."

Grimmjow just huffed. He shot death glares at Kiba as the guard opened the door of the cell. The two men locked gazes as Grimmjow walked out of the cell. They would have come to blows if Isane hadn't urged Grimmjow out of the room.

On the way to the bath house Grimmjow didn't say much. He stayed a few feet behind Isane and trudged along lazily. Usually Grimmjow would walk in stride with Isane making inappropriate comments that would cause her to blush madly. Today not a single comment was made inappropriate or otherwise.

When they had arrived at the bath house Grimmjow just stormed into one of the cubicle and slammed the door behind him. Isane found this behavior rather odd. Usually Grimmjow would make some cheesy remark and ask her if she wanted to help him bathe. This time around, he didn't say a word.

As usual Isane got Grimmjow his towel, which she draped over the top of the bathroom door, and set out his uniform for the day. Isane waited outside the shower cubicle for a while before she went to Squad Four to do a little check up on some of her patients. She expected that by the time she returned Grimmjow would be ready and waiting.

Grimmjow in the meantime had been quietly enjoying his shower. The hot water cascaded down his shoulders and soothed his tense muscles. He felt the knot in his shoulder slightly loosen under the warm water. Grimmjow took this little moment of peace to think about what was going through his mind the past few days.

He didn't know why it bothered him so much that Isane and Ulquiorra actually seemed to get along so well. He needed to know what Ulquiorra had said to Isane on the day of the switch to make her blush that way. Grimmjow had secretly deemed that he was the only that could make Isane blush. It was a right he solely bestowed upon himself and here was Ulquiorra trying to encroach on his territory.

Grimmjow knew he shouldn't be feeling this way. Isane was weak. She was petty. She was sickeningly sweet. She was always nervous and easily embarrassed. She was everything Grimmjow should hate. She was the enemy. Isane was just a weak Soul Reaper. Soul Reapers killed hollows. They were supposed to be enemies. Yet why couldn't Grimmjow see it like that anymore.

He knew what he had first thought about Isane had been wrong. She wasn't weak after all she hadn't been afraid to use the band on him and she had held her own against Ulquiorra on the battle field. Sure she was sickeningly sweet but Grimmjow knew he was secretly grateful for that. Grimmjow had to admit that her nervousness and timid nature were endearing.

He knew all the things he first hated about Isane are the things that he now appreciated. He still couldn't admit that he may even like them because Grimmjow doesn't like anybody. But he now knew he appreciated Isane. The day of the switch had been horrible for him and he couldn't count how many times he wished it was Isane picking him up that morning.

Grimmjow still didn't understand why he was feeling this way. He was angry, angry at Isane for treating Ulquiorra so nicely, angry at Ulquiorra for making Isane blush, angry at Renji for claiming that he was jealous of Isane and Ulquiorra, he was just angry in general.

Grimmjow's introspection was brought to a halt when Isane called out from outside.

"Grimmjow are you done yet? I have somewh…."

"If you want me to move faster why don't you come inside here and bathe me yourself!" Grimmjow said flatly.

Isane didn't say another word. Grimmjow didn't need to be outside the cubicle to know that Isane was blushing prettily. It unconsciously brought a smile to his face to think he could make her face turn that rosy color.

A moment later Grimmjow heard a scoff and then Isane said, "Fine can you just meet me in the cafeteria."

He grunted in response and heard Isane's retreating footsteps against the titled floor of the bath house.

When Grimmjow finished his bath he donned his uniform and made his way to the cafeteria. One his way there he received some suspicious stares from passing Soul Reapers. This set him off again. He hated the way the Soul Reapers would look at him.

In the cafeteria he found Isane sitting alone at one of the tables in the corner of the room. She had two trays of food set out in front of her. Grimmjow sat down directly opposite Isane. He looked down at the food on the tray. There was a bowl of sweet rice along with three dough balls. A warm cup of tea sat next to the tray and a glass of water stood on the other side.

Isane already had her chop sticks in her hand and was poised to eat. She waited for Grimmjow to do the same but Grimmjow didn't move a muscle.

Why is she in such a hurry to eat? Probably wants to go meet her beloved Ulquiorra!

The though made Grimmjow clench his fists in frustration.

"Grimmjow?" asked Isane softly, "Aren't you going to eat?"

Grimmjow hadn't said much that morning but something in him snapped just then. Isane sounded so timid and sweet. He should be disgusted but he could only bring himself to think that she sounded cute and Grimmjow hated himself for that. He hated Isane for making him soft like this.

"I hope you don't expect me to eat this slop!" he roared disturbing the peacefully atmosphere of the cafeteria. "Dogs wouldn't even eat this!"

Isane was startled. Usually Grimmjow would be the first to start shoveling food into his mouth.

"Grimmjow please keep your voice down and eat!" Isane whispered hastily.

"Why should I keep my voice down when you expect me to eat this rubbish?" Grimmjow snapped again.

"Please stop making a scene!" Isane said a little louder.

"A scene? I'm not making a scene. I just refuse to eat something that I wouldn't even feed the lowliest hollow!" Grimmjow shoved the tray of food towards Isane roughly and stared at her defiantly. His eyes radiated defiance. Isane knew that trying to reason with him would be of no use so she did the only thing she could. She went to Captain Unohana.

When Isane returned with Captain Unohana Grimmjow was still sitting at the table. He glared at the two approaching figures but more so at Isane.

"Grimmjow," said Captain Unohana in her calming motherly voice, "Why are you refusing to eat?"

"You've never had a problem guzzling it down before." Isane said to herself.

"What did you say Kotetsu?" snarled Grimmjow.

Isane's eyes grew a little wider but she just shook her head from side to side. Grimmjow smirked at her demure response.

"Grimmjow you still haven't answered my question." interjected Captain Unohana

"You want to know why? Because you're trying to feed me slop!" he exclaimed.

"Grimmjow my division does not serve slop." Captain Unohana said calmly but everyone around could hear the steel in her voice.

Her sweet smile was still plastered on her face but her eyes lost their motherly twinkle and instead were replaced by a silent warning.

Grimmjow knew better than to test Captain Unohana. She frightened him more than he cared to admit.

"I think you will find that whatever we serve is not only highly nutritious but tasty as well. Why don't you see for yourself?" Grimmjow knew this wasn't just a statement or a request this was a demand and he would be damned if he didn't follow.

Grimmjow pulled that tray back towards him and picked up the chop sticks. With Captain Unohana's eyes still on him Grimmjow took his first mouth full of food for the morning. Captain Unohana waited until Grimmjow had chewed and swallowed his first bite before she left.

Isane sat back down on the opposite side of the table. She didn't say anything and neither did Grimmjow. The two sat and ate in silence. Grimmjow didn't even make eye contact with Isane. His head was facing downwards while he ate.

When the two were finished eating they started to make their way back to the cell house. Grimmjow stayed a few steps behind Isane again. He seemed rather sulky but Isane didn't pay any attention to it. She knew he was too proud to admit that he was scared of Captain Unohana.

When they arrived at the guard cells Grimmjow merely walked past Isane and headed straight for the open cell. Isane watched silently as Grimmjow threw himself on his little bunk bed without saying a word. Kiba locked the cell door and turned to see Isane with a concerned look on her face.

"Lieutenant Kotetsu is everything all right?" Kiba asked.

Isane seemed to not have heard him. She was till staring at Grimmjow intently.

"Will you make sure he's okay?" she asked out of nowhere.

Kiba was confused for second then his expression softened. It always bewildered him why Isane cared so much for the obnoxious Espada but he had just summed it up as being part of her nature to care for others. Kiba agreed to watch over Grimmjow for Isane. If he was honest with himself, he would gladly do anything she asked of him.

Isane left but not before giving Grimmjow one last concerned look. The person in question hadn't move from his position on his bunk staring at the ceiling.

Grimmjow continued to stare at the ceiling. He was determined to ignore and suppress the choking feeling in his chest. He needed to get some peace. Grimmjow felt a wave of tiredness wash over him. He needed to catch up on the sleep he had been missing recently. He was fed and had just had a hot bath, now for the perfect time for a nap.

As Grimmjow settled down on his bunk and closed his eyes to try and fall asleep a soft humming drifted through the air. Grimmjow tried to ignore it but the humming was too irritating for him. Usually he could sleep through anything. Humming never really bothered him before so he wondered why was it a problem today. Then he realized why the humming irritated him. The tune was the same one Isane hummed while she worked.

Grimmjow had the same tune stuck in his head for days and now was the worst time for him to be hearing it. Grimmjow groaned and shouted out to Kiba, "Can't you stop the damn humming?"

Kiba looked up at Grimmjow from his seat behind his desk. He stared at the teal haired Espada with a confused look on his face.

"What's wrong with my humming?" asked Kiba, "It's supposed to be soothing."

"Well it's not!" snapped Grimmjow, "Kotetsu hums that damned tune every single God damn day!"

"That's where I heard the tune. Isane must have been humming it one day when she came to pick you up." Kiba said totally ignoring Grimmjow's outburst.

"She always hums while she's waiting for your lazy ass to wake up."

Grimmjow leaped off his bunk bed and was gripping the cell bars in an instance.

"What did you just call me?" he snarled.

"Oh you heard me!" exclaimed Kiba, "You can drop this tough guy act. No one's here to see it. It's just you and me."

"What act?" snapped Grimmjow, "This isn't an act and if you know what's good for you you'll keep your opinions to yourself and stop that damn humming!"

A look of anger flashed across Kiba's face but he quickly simmered down. "I don't understand why you dislike my humming so. You spend the entire day with Lieutenant Kotetsu hearing the same damn tune and you don't complain about her humming."

Grimmjow glared at the man seated behind the desk. Why did he have to bring Isane's name into this conversation? Grimmjow had to play his cards right here. If he slipped Kiba would suspect that something wasn't right between him and Isane and Grimmjow couldn't have that happening.

"Who says I don't have a problem with her humming huh?" snapped Grimmjow, "I just don't say anything because I don't want to make the baby cry."

"Watch your mouth when talking about Lieutenant Kotetsu!" Kiba warned.

"Why do you care?" asked Grimmjow.

Grimmjow turned and walked back to his bunk, "It doesn't matter anyway. Kotetsu is my caretaker and I can say what I want about her."

Kiba's fist clenched in frustration. "You should be grateful that you've got someone as nice as Lieutenant Kotetsu taking care of you. You ungrateful filth!"

Grimmjow's right eye twitched slightly in agitation but he managed to keep his cool. He played off the insult casually. "Grateful?" he scoffed, "Why would I be grateful to have a big push over for a caretaker?"

"Oh …I don't know?" began Kiba as he got up from behind his desk and walked towards the cell, "Maybe because any other person would have had you sent to the Maggot's nest by now?"

"Maggot's nest? I don't even know what that is." Grimmjow replied from his bunk.

"Well you're lucky anyone else would have locked your sorry ass up in that jail from hell for your insolence and intolerable attitude!" snarled Kiba.

"Well lucky me." Grimmjow's voice was laced with sarcasm. He stared idly at the ceiling and tried to ignore Kiba.

"You disgust me!" Kiba spat as he turned to head back to his desk, "Lucky for me, my shift ends in the next fifteen minutes I don't have to see your ugly mug anymore."

Grimmjow huffed and settled back down on his bunk. Maybe he could finally get some sleep now.

"You know I feel sorry for Lieutenant Kotetsu. She has to deal with you for the entire day." Kiba said, "I can't even stand you for an hour."

Grimmjow practically leaped of his bunk bed and grabbed the bars of the cell. He had enough of this constant talk of Isane. It seemed that fate had damned him to hear her name all the time now. Why the hell did Kiba have to bring her name up every damn second?

"Will you please shut your ass?!" exclaimed Grimmjow, "I'm trying to sleep and your constant blabbering of that pathetic excuse for a Soul Reaper is disturbing me greatly!"

"You know what!?" Kiba jumped up knocking his chair backwards. He glared daggers at Grimmjow.

"What?" snarled Grimmjow.

"You don't know how lucky you are?" yelled Kiba.

"I think you've told me that already!" Grimmjow retorted, "I'm so lucky that I have Isane as my caretaker!"

"No," Kiba said but not as loudly, "You don't know how lucky you are to have someone as nice Isane take care of you. She is unofficially dubbed the nicest person in the Seiretei."

"So what? She's nice big deal!" snapped back Grimmjow.

"You still don't get it through your thick skull do you?" Kiba asked exasperated, "You have a person who only wants the very best for you, who is always looking out for you, who basically had to shift her whole life around to compensate you for God's sakes and yet you are so ungrateful!"

Grimmjow didn't say a word. He just looked at Kiba. The other man was breathing furiously and glared at Grimmjow with nothing but ill thoughts.

"You have someone as great as Lieutenant Kotetsu actually caring about you and you're just an ungrateful bastard." Kiba's expression softened as he stared at the Espada behind the bars.

Grimmjow couldn't meet the other man's eyes; instead he opted to say softly, "She doesn't care for me no one does."

Grimmjow though Kiba hadn't heard him but the other man had and what he heard mad him even more infuriated than before. "DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU!" roared Kiba, "How can you even say that? You will never say that again because that woman cares more about you than you even know!"

This time it was Grimmjow's turn to be angry. "Don't lie to me Soul Reaping trash! Isane doesn't genuinely care me! It's just her job!"

"Then why did she seem so concerned about your wellbeing before she left earlier today huh? Why did she ask me to make sure you okay? Why did her eyes emanate so much concern for a man that doesn't deserve half her time and attention?" yelled Kiba.

"How the hell should I know?" retorted Grimmjow.

"Maybe instead of being a monumental ass to her all the time you should show a little more gratitude and appreciation." exclaimed Kiba.

"Well if you think she's so great and in need of more appreciation why don't you go show her some?!" yelled Grimmjow. Immediately after uttering those words Grimmjow regretted it. Kiba who had already readied himself to make a remark instantly shut his mouth. Did Grimmjow really just say that?

"Hey man I'm here to relieve you."

Two pairs of eyes shot to the door where Kiba's replacement for the evening was standing looking back and forth between Soul Reaper and Espada.

"Uh….yea. Sorry." said Kiba after a couple of minutes. He scratched the back of his head and went to gathered his stuff from the desk. He slowly made his way to the door contemplating what Grimmjow had just said. "It's just this one for now. The others will be back later." Kiba said offhandedly.

The replacement nodded and stepped aside to let Kiba exit. As Kiba reached the door he turned around and looked at Grimmjow. "You're right Grimmjow." he said earnestly, "I think I will show her some."

Without another word Kiba left the room. Grimmjow just stood there in shock. His mouth hung open slightly. The words replayed in his mind.

I

Think

I

Will

Show

Her

Some.

Did he really hear Kiba say those words? Was that real? Did that just happen? Grimmjow walked back to his bunk and sat on the edge. He stared at the opposite wall for a while as he contemplated what had just played out between himself and Kiba. He groaned before burying his face in his hand.

What the fuck did he just do?

I know I promised this a while now but got caught up with school. I hope everyone enjoys the chapter, this will the last for a while because the story's going on Hiatus for a while.

Sorry but I won't have time to write with exams in a few days.

Read and leave a Review if you please.