DISCLAIMER TIME: I do not own Bleach nor do I own it's characters, Tite Kubo does.
Author's Note: It's been awhile since I last added something to this fic x3 but I hope that the wait was well worth it, this was co-written by my beloved Vetis as well
Chapter 10:
Paging Dr. Grantz! There's a bug on the loose!
The world returned to normal a few days after Starrk and Lilynette's eventful encounter with Nnoitra. Starrk slept through most of his suspension, enjoying the rare chance to catch up on his rest. As promised, Tia stopped by to take Lilynette to school and, when dropping the petite girl off, delivered Starrk's missed assignments for the day. Now the sleepy eyed student found himself back on campus and Nnoitra was nowhere to be seen since being placed into the 'care' of Szayel Apporo Grantz. But Starrk didn't care about that anymore, for he knew Lilynette was now safe and that the lanky, perverse student would think twice before attempting such a horrid act a second time.
Now the sleepy eyed student found himself on the school parking lot, ready to return to his normal routine. Not too far ahead he found Grimmjow walking towards the entrance of the building. Something was slightly off, though, for the normally active and healthy Grimmjow was walking at a much slower pace than usual.
"Yo, Grimm!" Starrk said loud enough to catch the blue haired student's attention.
"Holy shit!" Grimmjow said, slightly surprised by Starrk's sudden appearance, "Where the hell did you come from?"
"I just got here..." Starrk replied lazily, glancing at Grimmjow's face. Grimmjow's eyes looked rather bloodshot and tired compared to their normally wild and active shine.
"Yeeeesh man, you look like hell Grimm." Starrk said, taking note of his friend's condition, "Did you have a late night last night or something?"
"Nah..." Grimmjow replied, sounding nasally and with a hint of a cough, "It's more like I couldn't get to sleep."
"Maybe you should have taken a day to just chill out and sleep... Part of me wants to do that right now to be honest." Starrk said, feeling slightly more tired than usual.
"Heh" Grimmjow replied, coughing slightly, "You're one to talk about feeling beat or having a late night."
Starrk just remained silent, quite familiar with Grimmjow's sense of humor. The lazy student also figured that his friend probably had a touch of allergies or had caught a minor cold. After all, the weather had turned slightly cooler as of recent and it was allergy season.
Feeling as run down as they did, both Starrk and Grimmjow failed to notice a lanky, albeit disheveled watcher hiding behind one of the parked cars. Muttering to himself and twitching nervously at the same time, Nnoitra gazed at the pair with an odd mix of hatred and fear, wanting to spring out and knock them out, but at the same time hesitant, having amazingly learned something from his time as a lab specimen.
The ailing pair of friends failed to notice Nnoitra's head occasionaly peeking out from behind the cars, but one sharp pair of eyes noticed and, with a beckoning wave followed by an O.K gesture, stepped out from his own hiding space just behind Nnoitra.
"Why, hello there my favorite subject!", Szayel whispered into Nnoitra's ear as he leaned forward, as if trying to pin Nnoitra against the car. Instantly Nnoitra twitched and pushed Szayel back as he jumped over the car and hit the pavement, breathing hard with his eyes wide with fear.
"What the fuck is wrong with you, you freak?", Nnoitra screamed in a panicky voice, instantly attracting Grimmjow and Starrk's attention.
"Dude, did you even notice he was there? I didn't, damn, I must be off my game today.", Grimmjow asked his friend.
Starrk merely shook his head as they both stared at the still-scrambling, panic-stricken figure in the parking lot when, suddenly, a strange car peeled into the parking lot. It was an older model, almost like Ulquiorra's, but heavily modified and made into a convertible with an almost canopy-like top, and was heavily decorated in a very gothic manner, with a gleaming chrome skull stick-shift and very odd looking fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror.
The unusual vehicle was being driven by a fairly normal looking girl with long dark hair that seemed strangely familiar to all the watchers, and riding shotgun was a strange looking man with short, spiky brown hair, no eyebrows, and four small spikes sticking out of his forehead. The sight was enough to make even the freaked-out Nnoitra pause when, right next to him, the car slowed down long enough for the strange man to reach out and grab the lanky student, pulling him into the car. Before anyone could react, the car and it's strange occupants did a quick u-turn and sped out of the parking lot with a screech of burning rubber and a few fading screams from Nnoitra.
Standing there stunned, Grimmjow and Starrk stared at each other as if trying to understand what they just saw when Szayel suddenly vaulted over the car, gracefully landing with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. Seeing the pair of friends giving him identical confused looks, Szayel grinned and dusted his hands off.
"Ah yes, you seem to be somewhat perplexed by my role in what just happened." Szayel shrugged and began leisurely strolling towards the school, a bounce in his step. "Well, he was just such a perfect test subject, I felt that, in the interest of science of course, that a like-minded individual might appreciate the rare chance to experiment on a subject that has already endured an impressive amount of abuse and stayed relatively intact." An almost insane smirk crossed his face as he looked over at the still-stunned duo. "Besides, now that insipid Kurotsuchi owes me a great debt." Whistling now, Szayel sped up and practically skipped the rest of the way into the school as Grimmjow and Starrk finally prodded themselves into action.
"Dude, what the hell was that?", Grimmjow asked his friend, still confused.
"I'm not sure we want to really know.", Starrk replied as they continued their trek across the parking lot, both rapidly seeming to fall further under the weather with each step. "Man, think there might be a bug going around? I'm feeling more tired than usual.", he asked his friend.
"Nah dude, if there was something going around, we wouldn't be the only ones affected, would we?", Grimmjow muttered, trying to cheer both of them up and regain some of his normal swagger at the same time.
This assumption was soon thrown out the window when both students entered the building. Most of the other students were showing similar symptoms as Grimmjow, though the severity of the symptoms varied from student to student. Yylfordt found himself having a few bouts of coughing from time to time and Ggio was struggling with sneezing fits and a stuffy nose.
"Must be something going around..." Starrk said as he tried to stifle a sneezing fit of his own.
Before heading off to class, Grimmjow and Starrk ran into their respective girlfriends. Nelliel immediately took notice of Grimmjow's sluggish pace and her normally cheerful disposition was replaced by one of loving concern. Starrk's poor health, however, went largely unnoticed due to his perpetual look of fatigue.
"Grimm?" Nelliel asked, concern filling her voice, "Are you alright? You're moving awfully slow today."
"Yeah..." Grimmjow replied, coughing slightly, "I'm fine, just got a minor bug, I'll shake it off by the end of the day."
"I dunno..." Nelliel responded, "You're coughing an awful lot too... and a lot of other people are starting to show signs of sickness."
Starrk found himself nodding in and out during the conversation. This sort of behavior was not unusual for the laid back student, but his leaning against a locker was. Starrk might have been prone to sleeping, but he also liked to be comfortable when he napped.
"Starrk?" Tia asked, concern growing in her voice, "You're not coming down with something, are you?"
Starrk remained silent as he leaned against the lockers. Tia managed to sling the sleepy student's arm over her shoulder and hold him up, to prevent him from falling on the floor.
"It appears that even the mighty Grimmjow is no match for the flu bug." a familiar, monotone voice said.
Grimmjow looked towards the direction the voice came from, and saw Ulquiorra standing by the door. The blue haired student was surprised that Ulquiorra of all people showed up late, or late by Ulquiorra's standards anyway. Ulquiorra was always on the pale side, but something seemed off about him today. He looked unusually tired, despite his strict policy of getting plenty of sleep. Even with a full night's sleep, though, signs of fatigue were visible on the emerald eyed student's face.
"Never thought you of all people would show up late." Grimmjow said between coughs.
"I will ignore that remark" Ulquiorra replied in a voice that sounded stuffy, "I had difficulty sleeping last night, due to what I suspect is a seasonal flu bug."
"So, who's the plague monkey?" Grimmjow asked, just before sneezing loudly a few times.
"That, I'm afraid, I do not know." Ulquiorra replied, trying his best to hide his sudden illness. "But I do believe we have little time for idle chatter, for classes will begin any minute."
"Geez, even when you're sick, you try to act like a fucking hall monitor..." Grimmjow said between coughs and sneezes.
"Yeah, you're definitely sick Grimm." Nelliel said, "Maybe you should head home early and get some bed rest."
"Nah..." Grimmjow said, sounding confident, "I can shake this bug, I tell you."
"I dunno..." Nelliel replied, "You, Starrk, and even Ulqui, look pretty rough. I mean Tia's got to pratically carry Starrk to keep him from falling face first onto the floor."
Like Nelliel had said, Tia was holding her boyfriend up, to keep him from falling. Of course she didn't mind doing so, for she loved him and she couldn't help but think to herself about how cute and content he looked while slumbering.
Slowly but surely, each student managed to head towards their respective classes. For Starrk, it was a good thing he and Tia shared their first and second classes. Looking around Mr. Kyoraku's class, Tia and Starrk noticed that almost all of the other students were showing similar signs of illness. Even Mr. Kyoraku himself felt rather under the weather, of course much like Starrk he had always had a bit of a tired, lazy look about him.
It would seem that students weren't the only ones being affected, for many of the teachers besides Mr. Kyoraku were starting to show signs of illness. Mr. Ayasegawa did not even bother coming to work, for he found sickness to be hideous, and he didn't want to appear in public looking anything but his best and most beautiful.
Grimmjow and Nelliel noticed similiar effects going around with their fellow students as well, but both were surprised when Yammy, the school's tank, was starting to look under the weather. Yammy had laid his head down as if he were sulking, when really he was coughing and contending with a nasal drip. Grimmjow spotted a large stained beach towel that, due to it being clenched in one large fist, he suspected might be Yammy's handkerchief. Grimmjow looked next to him and saw Yylfordt who, despite showing signs of illness himself, was more or less his usual laid-back self.
"Yo Yylfordt!" Grimmjow said catching the blonde student's attention, "Have you noticed even the Tank is getting hit by this bug?"
"Yeah, most of the school's caught it by now man." Yylfordt replied, "It's been going around since yesterday. First it was just a couple of students and now it's the whole school and some of the faculty. Hell, just for safety measures, Mr. Ukitake took some time off to not even risk it."
"Yeah" Nelliel added, "We've had a substitute for a couple of days now."
"We did?" Grimmjow asked, "I was not aware of this, and no one tells me shit."
"You should pay more attention to things Grimm" Nelliel replied, playfully poking the sick student.
"Yeah dude, she's a total babe man!" Yylfordt replied happily, despite his current state.
"Ok, by your standards of 'total hottie' she's got to have a big butt" Grimmjow replied, laughing slightly despite his wheezing.
"Well yeah dude!" Yylfordt replied, a little louder than necessary, "She's got the best ass I've ever seen man!"
"huh huh huh huh, he said ass." a familiar voice sounded,
"heh heh heh and Boobies! Heh heh heh" another familiar voice replied after hearing Yylfordt's comments.
During this conversation, a dark skinned, dark haired beauty snuck in and placed herself behind Yylfordt without anyone noticing, playfully smirking as she heard the comments the blonde haired student had made.
"I heard that, now what was that about my butt?" The rather beautiful figure standing behind Yylfordt said with a mischevious, cat like grin.
Shocked and surprised by the teacher's sudden appearance, Yylfordt was reduced to stammering, despite Grimmjow trying to come to his defense. Perking up at the commotion, Nakeem and Di-Roy decided that the presence of the hot teacher was worthy of their attention.
"Woah! huh huh huh huh, come to Nakeem" Nakeem said observing the beautiful teacher.
"Heh heh heh heh I'm pitching a tent heh heh heh" Di-roy replied.
"Shut up Fartknocker!" Nakeem replied, clearly annoyed at Di-Roy's comments.
"You'll have to excuse Yylfordt, the first thing he notices on a woman is her ass." Grimmjow said, defending the comments. "The other two are just morons."
"I'm curious, what do you mean the first thing he notices is a girl's butt?", the teacher replied to Grimmjow's comment.
"Um well, every guy has a thing about a girl that they notice. For a friend of me, it's eyes for some weird reason and for me it's boobs!" Grimmjow said, confidently as he coughed.
"Grimm!" Nelliel replied, trying her hardest not to giggle.
"And with Yylfordt here, he likes asses." Grimmjow added.
"I like big butts and I can not lie bro." Yylfordt repied, sneezing slightly.
Elsewhere Apache, overhearing this conversation, placed her hand over her face.
"Ugh... this crap is giving me a headache... those guys are looking like fools and the teacher knows it..." Apache said, observing the conversation below.
"Chill out Apache, just because you don't have a nice ass or nice boobs to show off doesn't mean you have to be so frumpy." Mila Rose replied.
"Oh fuck you Mila Rose, fuck you!" Apache replied as she stuck her middle finger up.
"Girls.. stop it unless you want her to hear you..." Sunsun added in an attempt to break up yet another fight.
"You know boys, I was just playing around with you." The teacher said, laughing mischeviously, "I understand what you're talking about, I was quite flattered by the blonde's comments about my ass."
Yylfordt was at a complete loss for words as his brain tried to process what just happened, turning a shade of red that had nothing to do with his illness. Suddenly, in the back of the class, Yammy released a large sneeze reminiscent of a foghorn, which effectively broke the tension in the classroom. The dark skinned beauty looked towards the back and noticed the large student blowing his nose into his towel.
"Bless you big guy" The teacher said as she walked to the front of the classroom, "You need another towel back there?"
"Nah" Yammy replied, "I've still got some towel left unused."
Soon after, Yammy sneezed into what was left of the towel, which caused the towel to start dripping.
"Uhhhh, maybe now I do..." Yammy said holding his mucus covered towel-tissue.
As she headed back to the front of the class, she passed by Nakeem and Di-Roy and gave both students a swift smack on the back of the head with a smirk. As soon as she got to her desk, she found a clean towel hidden in a drawer, oddly enough, and handed it to a student up front who passed it back until it reached Yammy. Satisfied that Yammy was no longer in danger of sneezing someone or something out of the window, the teacher wrote her name on the whiteboard.
"Good morning class," The teacher spoke up, "My name is Yoruichi Shihoin and I'll be substituting for Mr. Ukitake whenever he is out. Since I'll likely be here rather often, I would like to learn each of your names, starting with my admirer and his friend."
Grimmjow's eyes widened slightly before he started laughing, wheezing slightly as Yylfordt's face reached a deeper shade of red.
Meanwhile, in Mr. Kyoraku's class, Starrk was fast asleep as usual, but he found himself rambling in his sleep. Starrk muttered what had sounded like 'hot for teacher' in his sleep, slurred only slightly by fatigue.
Despite the best intentions of teachers and students alike, it soon became clear that, due to the mysterious bug tearing through the school, classes would be pretty much pointless. Giving in to the now inevitable, and feeling a bit under the weather himself, Principal Luisenbarn decided to make it a half-day, releasing the students early so they could begin to recuperate. His announcement of such over the intercom was met with a mixture of cheers and coughs from those trying to cheer, with the odd moan mixed in.
Streaming out of the school as best as they could, the students all began to make their way home. Starrk and Grimmjow were being assisted to their cars by Tia and Nel, respectively.
"Heh, can't believe the old man actually did something halfway cool by letting us out early", Grimmjow said with a big grin on his face, contrasting with his now running nose.
Tia nodded in agreement as she held Starrk in place. "Yea, that was surprising, but really, it would have been pointless to continue."
Nel nodded in agreement as she resisted the urge to tickle her boyfriend just to see what would happen. "I think that the only ones not coming down with the bug are you, me, and Lillynette, Tia. Everyone else looks like death warmed over."
Starrk, more than half-asleep at this point, was barely able to walk in a nearly straight line, and kept humming "Hot for Teacher" under his breath as he leaned against Tia, who looked at her boyfriend with concern.
"I think I'm going to take Starrk to my place, he's in no condition to be by himself right now, since Lillynette's going home with Momo to keep her company.", Tia said.
"Poor little Momo, she got hit hard by whatever this is, didn't she?", Nel said. "I'm surprised that Lillynette is leaving her big brother alone when he feels so under the weather though."
Tia blushed slightly and looked at the ground for a second. "Well, she wasn't going to even though Momo really needed some help, but I kind of told her that I'd take care of her brother for her, and she smiled and hugged me."
"Awwww, how cute of her, wanting to give you two some quality alone time, even though our menfolk are little more than meat puppets at the moment.", Nel said.
"Hey, I'm no meat puppet, I'm a strapping young male in his prime woman!", Grimmjow half-snarled, half wheezed.
"Mm hmm, that would be a lot more convincing if your chin wasn't coated in snot.", Nel chirped mischeviously.
Grimmjow continued to grumble half-heartedly as Starrk, lost in a half-dream state, continued to hum and snore as the girls talked. Ulquiorra, somehow managing to walk on his own to his car, looked over at the group and nodded in sympathy, looking somewhat odd with his nose red from tissues.
Just as Nel was about to call out a greeting, a loud squealing noise was heard in the distance. As everyone turned their heads towards it, even Starrk who was in an awake moment, the same odd car from earlier in the morning peeled into the parking lot, barely even slowing down as two sacks, one large and one small, were casually thrown out of the car by the strange man with spikes sticking out of his forehead. Having made their odd delivery, the man and the dark-haired girl from before sped out of the parking lot without even a backwards glance.
"What the hell was that?", Nel inquired, even as Grimmjow was nudging Starrk lightly.
"Hey man, wasn't that the same car from this morning? And those were the freaks that kidnapped Nnoitra too, I think.", Grimmjow asked his drowsy friend.
"Hm, looked like it, I wonder what they threw out...", Starrk muttered, already going back into dreamy-mode.
"Wait, they were here earlier? And they kidnapped Nnoitra? Why didn't anyone say anything? Not that I really care what happens to him, but this should have been out there.", Nel asked her somewhat lucid boyfriend.
Just as Grimm was about to sheepishly answer, he looked around and saw the school's resident mad scientist, now rapidly approaching with a large grin on his face, and with no trace of illness visible.
Pointing, Grimmjow rallied to his defense. "Hey, he was there too, and I think he was the one who arranged it, and we just didn't want to get involved."
Tia, surprisingly, nodded and patted Grimmjow on the shoulder. "I think we can understand that."
"Indeed, my dears, don't be too harsh on them, for they did not know what to make of the events of this morning." Szayel, flashing a playful grin towards the group, and Ulquiorra who was still standing in confusion just to the side.
"Now, let's see what lovely presents Nemu and Akon left me!", Szayel exclaimed giddily as he began to tease the knot holding the larger bag shut, an unusually complex one from the looks of it.
"Nemu and Akon? You know those freaks? Although the girl did look kinda familiar... And why the hell aren't you sick?" Grimmjow asked, more than a little pissed that he felt like crap and the scientist was actually perky.
Ignoring the freak comment, Szayel continued to work on the massive knot on the large bag, agile fingers making rapid progress despite the bag starting to move and make strange muffled sounds. "Nemu and Akon are Mayuri's assistants. Hmm, he made some impressive progress to have returned the test subject this early. As for why I am not suffering as you are, quite simply put such a trivial thing as a minor sickness has long ceased to be a concern to me with my innovations in the field of pathogens."
Surprising all, Ulquiorra was the next to speak up. "Mayuri, as in Mayuri Kurotsuchi, your arch-rival?"
Grinning still, Szayel gave the squirming bag a couple good whacks as he neared completion on the knot. "Arch-rival, indeed, we did indulge in that petty rivalry for too long, didn't we? Once I established contact in a non-competitive fashion, we realized that letting such trivial human emotions and actions jeopardize the integrity of future co-operative scientific endeavors was rather pointless."
"Um, that's all well and good man, but that still doesn't explain what's in the bag.", Grimmjow said, eyeing the twitching bag warily.
"Oh, that! Well, during a recent series of experiments, I found that Test Subject 5 had a remarkable ability to absorb damage with little lasting effects, and had other more intangible qualities that make him quite an exemplary subject for, shall we say, more extreme experiments." Szayel, almost done with the large bag, decided to take a moment to examine the smaller bag.
"That... still doesn't answer the question.", Ulquiorra muttered, although dawning awareness started to show in his eyes.
"Hm? Oh, it doesn't? Very well, then. I contacted Mayuri upon finding out that he was very interested in pushing the extremes of body modification, letting him know that there was a test subject that would fit his requirements. He must have been very eager to have finished this quickly.", Szayel exclaimed happily as he undid the last knot of the large bag, yanking it up to reveal a tangle of messy hair and limbs, moaning and twitching slightly.
"Shit man, is that Nnoitra?", Grimm exclaimed, his statement perking Starrk up and shocking the girls and Ulquiorra into stunned silence.
"Indeed it is, although I do prefer calling him TS-5, or just Five for short, it makes the notations so much clearer." Szayel grinned as he pulled Nnoitra up, gazing at his colleague's handiwork and whistling in appreciation.
Outwardly, Nnoitra didn't look too much different than before, albeit a lot more disheveled and broken. What caused everyone save Szayel to gasp in shock was the new eyepatch covering his left eye, and a strange tattoo of a gothic-style number 5 on his tongue, which was being forcibly protruded by a strange apparatus.
"Oh yes, I must admit he does rather impeccable work, so many subtle alterations worked in with only a couple being rather visible. " The look of fear in Nnoitra's eyes as he gazed up at Szayel was near absolute, almost too scared to try to break free.
Nodding in satisfaction, Szayel dropped Nnoitra rather unceremoniously and picked up the much smaller bag, opening this one easily and grinning wide at the contents. "Ah, it should be so much fun to see if I can use these, considering how they have been treated."
After making his statement, a very familiar blonde haired student slowly approached the frighteningly giddy Szayel.
"Yo, baby bro," the ailing student greeted Szayel, "Aren't you supposed to give me a ride home?"
"Ah yes, seeing how you've fallen prey to this little bug, you're unfit to operate the motor vehicle. Therefore I am to escort you back home, but before we enter the car, could you be a dear and hold this bag for me?" Szayel replied, still retaining his scarily giddy demenor.
"Um, sure I guess." Yylfordt replied as he caught the mysterious bag, " So, like what's in this bag anyway?"
"Oh, curious about the bag's contents are we?" Szayel asked in response, "Feel free to take a little look inside if you wish."
A little wary of his little brother's giddy demeanor, but morbidly curious nonetheless, Yylfordt opened the bag, and what he saw inside filled him with a mixture of horror and disgust. His face suddenly turned pale and after a couple of minutes of stunned silence, the shocked student spoke out.
"DUDE! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS AND WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Yylfordt shouted, his voice shaky from fear and trying not to vomit on the asphalt.
"What? You don't like the little contribution of TS-5?" Szayel asked in response to Yylfordt's question, "I plan to experiment on these nifty little gems once we return home. And need I remind you of what we talked about with that foul language?"
"You mean to tell me, that this... this is..?" Yylfordt said, afraid to even finish his sentence though the creepy grin on his younger brother's face answered the unasked question.
"Now I also happen to have a potential cure for your ailment dear brother, but if you want said antidote, you'll have to help me out with this little experiment I'm planning with the contents of that bag." Szayel stated as he started up the car.
Yyfordt simply remained silent as he was to horrified to reply.
"Damn man... Poor Yylfordt..." Grimmjow said as he watched the bizarre scene unfold before him as everyone simply nodded in agreement.
Nnoitra, having come somewhat to his senses, watched the departing scientist with a look of abject fear, giving the bag a longing side-glance. Turning his head back to the stunned audience, Nnoitra simply whimpered and scrambled up, managing to run away but with a very curious limp.
Standing stunned silent by what they had just witnessed, the group all looked at each other, shrugged, and resumed heading to their cars.
"Well, I guess we'll see you guys tomorrow, if they don't just cancel it outright.", Nel said to Tia and Starrk, waving playfully and patting Starrk on the head before unceremoniously shoving a mildly protesting Grimmjow into her car.
Tia smiled fondly as she watched Nel and Grimm leave the parking lot, and after nodding a farewell to Ulquiorra, who was getting ready to leave himself, she eased a now sleeping Starrk into her car. Looking at him fondly, she leaned over and gave him an affectionate kiss on the forehead before turning on her car and taking him home.