"This isn't your shop."
Kisuke tilted his head.
"No, it isn't, I just thought we'd make a quick stop here first."
It was a giant, translucent barrier so bright when I blinked I saw orange. And it wasn't around the city, like Captain Kuchiki led me to believe. Five walls, plus a ceiling, around an empty area of ground.
I summoned a nervous breeze. "What… what's in there?"
Dumb question, his eyes said. "Take a look."
I stepped closer, and something hit me hard in the back. I stumbled forward, fell through the air, and hit the ground face-down.
"Oof!"
I got up and dusted myself off. Then I froze, and realized that I was now looking at the barrier from the inside.
"Kisuke," I said warily, unsure of where to look; the walls were thicker and more opaque from this perspective.
"Sorry about that," came his muffled voice, "I just want to see what happens. Think of this as an impromptu experiment!"
He wants to see how I react to being caged? I thought, and turned in a full circle.
Arashi, we're not alone.
My stomach flipped and something started to seep in my chest - panic.
"Kisuke," I repeated, higher, more desperate. "What are you doing?"
A flash of blue sent me flying against the barrier, sprawled vertically, suspended by a single hand on my neck.
Grimmjow didn't glare so much as he directed an expression of pure, unfiltered, unintelligent rage right at my face. Two ice blue, slit-pupiled eyes and a peeled, fanged mouth. I had only just noticed his change in appearance when he pulled me away from the wall and hurled me through the air. He did it easily, like he was tossing a tennis ball. Barely half a second passed before I flew into the other wall and fell to the ground.
"Kisuke!" I screamed. "Help me! Do something!"
"Sorry. Can't interfere; it'll taint to results!"
My body finally caught up to current events and dashed out of the way of Grimmjow's next assault. Asphalt and dust exploded. Tiny rocks stung my skin. I bent double to protect my head and shouted at the spot Kisuke's voice was coming from.
"This isn't exactly a balanced experiment! You aren't in control of the variables; how the fuck could you replicate the results of this?!" A small whirlwind accompanied these words.
Funny how the stress made me remember middle school science class, but not how to break a barrier - or placate a raging panther.
Grimmjow rose from his earthy crater, white plates turned brown with dirt, ears twitching. He swung around to face me, long hair whipping, and vanished.
A tickle at my chin, and then I was soaring up, blinded by pain - skull pulsing white-hot. Another wisp of wind, this time at my shoulder, and I went spinning back down, cracking into the street.
I saw black.
It took me a painful second to realize I hadn't passed out; I was just facing down.
Get up. Get up get up get up…
Coughing, shaking, I rolled over and stood. The second I did, a shockwave scream ripped through the air and blew my braid apart; I clapped my hands to my ears. Grimmjow quickly stopped. White hair fell lank around my face.
Arashi! Ren shouted, and the white noise in my mind cleared.
Ren?
Draw me, damn it!
I looked at it dumbly. Grimmjow roared again and gathered a cero in his hands.
NOW!
It suddenly became clear that Ren had the vague voice of my angry mother. My lips twitched, almost made a smile, before my sword started to yell at me again.
Ara, so help me-
I ripped Ren into the open air just in time to block Grimmjow's hand, catching in between his thumb and forefinger. A black talon grazed the tip of my nose.
"Ha-AH!" I screamed. I shoved my shoulders and he slid back, toes clawing ruts in the road. He hissed, tail snapping, and launched another blow. I caught Ren in one of his elbow blades. He pulled and the sword was wrenched from my hands; it flew away; I heard it clatter to the ground somewhere out of sight.
I dove wildly around him. A black paw slammed down on my back and I met the ground again.
He gave a harsh laugh of victory. I twisted face-up, and drove my fists into his leg.
"Get off of me!" I screamed with a burst of cold wind. Grimmjow was unimpressed. He lashed out with his other foot and I went tumbling away.
Then I saw it. My heart leapt - he'd kicked me right to it. The red diamonds in the hilt of the blade seared into my eyes - it was so close now. His shadow fell over me and I felt his reiatsu grow and concentrate. He was readying a cero. Desperately I reached; every inch like a hundred miles across a black desert. My fingers touched braided linen.
A screech tore itself from my mouth as I grabbed and swung. I felt Ren tear seamlessly through the air before the barest, slightest drop in velocity; it resumed speed before a sharp, crunching stop.
I'd slashed in almost a full circle and embedded it in the ground.
I was staring at Grimmjow, now, eyes as wide as his, mouth slightly ajar.
That small drop in velocity, I realized, had been Ren cutting through something.
And suddenly, I knew why his cero hadn't blasted me apart.
Blue eyes and silver eyes moved down in unison, first to the bleeding stump, and then to the ground, at the severed, black hand.
At the moment, Grimmjow was a complete animal - running purely on instinct. And right then, I saw an instinctual fear in his eyes; in his state, he couldn't have had a clear, decisive thought, much less spoken an intelligible sentence. But those eyes clearly said: "Please, don't hurt me."
His fear turned almost instantly to rage, and the moment of hesitation cost me my advantage. He roared and unleashed a barrage of kicks and punches that sent me in and out of consciousness more times than I dared to count. Over and over he bore down on me, throwing relentless and inhuman blows with the strength and feel of cannonballs. I didn't have the energy to block or make a sound.
The hits came slower and slower, more forced, before Grimmjow stopped, shoulders heaving as he panted. I couldn't see the barrier anymore; my vision had faded away and turned black at the edges. I could only see blue and white.
Why was I still standing?
Arashi. Ren's voice was dim, now, all but lifeless.
It was by sheer stupidity, or frozen fingers, that I hadn't yet dropped my sword.
Ren's reiatsu dripped like ice water from the hilt into my veins. My arm moved on its own and stabbed straight down. The sword stuck in the ground.
I couldn't bring myself to fight Ren's influence, but I was confused.
Ren?
My finger trailed down the blade and a bead of blood followed. Prickling cold snaked into my chest and lips; my mouth opened.
"Ascend: Loto."