As always, I only own the plot. I don't own the series or characters so don't sue me.

Chapter Ten – Hungry Hungry Hollows

Grimmjow continuously used sonido to put a great deal of distance between Las Noches and themselves. The further away from the Shinigami the better. It took a bit of energy and time, but the blunet eventually stopped near the opening of a small cave. His breath came in light pants as he set the small child down in the sand, dropping to his knees to rest a bit. Grimmjow had used quite a bit of energy fighting off the invading Shinigami before Aizen ordered him to collect Ichigo.

Things weren't exactly going according to the former captain's plan. Anyone could see that much.

A tugging on his white hakama brought the Sexta out of his thoughts; forcing his attention onto the little boy.

"Kitty, hungry," Ichigo slightly whined.

"Gotta deal with it brat," he sighed back.

Grimmjow didn't have any food on hand and he didn't think to grab any on their way out as it was an impromptu escape. The only thing he could give the kid to eat would have been a hollow, but he wasn't a hollow. Maybe a half, but only full blown hollows had the stomach to eat another. Brat would probably starve to death rather than eat a soul. It was a pretty gruesome sight.

A small hollow appeared in the sand, approaching Ichigo. The boy crouched down and moved to touch it, but was stopped as Grimmjow grabbed his shoulder and pulled him roughly back. As a result Ichigo landed roughly on the sand, turning to glare at the blue haired jerk. Suddenly, the Espada unsheathed Pantera and stabbed the little creature. It gave a high pitched squeal before it stopped moving and eventually disappeared.

"Kitty mean!" Ichigo growled out as he moved over and punched Grimmjow behind his knee.

The blunet jerked a bit as he turned around to growl back at the toddler. "It was a parasite type hollow you idiot. Packs tend to send them out first to their prey in order to get a feel for their overall strength. The parasite relays the information back to its host before it can even be spotted."

He should really stop thinking and just do right now. If that hollow was any indication, they could face an attack at any second.

"Come on brat," Grimmjow ordered as he moved to grab the oranget. "We need to get before any more hollow show up."

Ichigo shook his head and moved away from the arrancar. "No!" he snapped back. "Tired Kitty."

"That sucks." Grimmjow reached for the small child again only for him to step back. He could feel himself about to snap. Ichigo was naturally stubborn, but as a child he usually seemed more compliant with his orders. Grimmjow promptly told his brain to shut it before turning his attention back to the Shinigami. "Look, if we stay here for too much longer the shit's going to hit the fan. I don't know about you, but I really don't want to be here when that happens."

"Stay," Ichigo replied, unmoving.

Did the boy know something he didn't? Grimmjow wasn't given much time to contemplate this as a hollow suddenly burst forth from the sand directly behind Ichigo. It's large mask parted in an attempt to devour the small boy. Chocolate brown orbs widened as he struggled to get out of the way of Pantera in time. The hollow gave a cry as it's mask was pierced before it vanished in a dazzling display.

"Dammit!" Grimmjow growled as he grabbed Ichigo by the wrist and pulled him close. More hollow had appeared now surrounding the unlikely pair. "This is exactly what I was trying to avoid!"

Grimmjow quickly began to dispatch the hollow, making sure to keep a close eye on Ichigo. The last thing he needed was for the brat to be devoured. Ichigo was his prey dammit and he planned to keep the oranget around until he could end his life in a fair fight.

It seemed that for every hollow Grimmjow killed, two more would take the previous one's place. And they were getting stronger. Grimmjow was already weakened a bit from fighting the shinigami that had invaded Las Noches. He had to get them away from all these hollow, but it was nigh impossible. He had his hands full trying to keep Ichigo and himself alive let alone find an escape route.

Wiping sweat from his chin, Grimmjow gave his trademark laugh as he finally addressed the hollow around them. "You all must have a death wish trying to best the sexta espada!"

The only adjucha of the group gave a throaty laugh of it's own in reply. "Maybe not individually, but together we could easily kill you and then kill each other for the shinigami you protect."

Without much prompting, the group attacked simultaneously. Grimmjow grit his teeth at this, suddenly regretting his own words. Maybe he did need to think before doing. No no. That was stupid. He'd gotten by just fine by doing rather than thinking. He'd get through this too. Hopefully with Ichigo still intact of course.

Although, the more his mind yelled at him, the more he realized it was pretty stupid to have left Las Noches. Yeah, the shinigami would have killed him upon finding him inside the gigantic fortress, but finding him would have been the hard part. Not to mention as soon as they located Ichigo, they would have left in peace. Probably... Maybe the shinigami would be able to figure out how to fix Ichigo so he could finish his fight.

Grimmjow was suddenly violently pulled from his thoughts as a hollow managed to slash it's way past him to snag Ichigo. "Dammit!"

"The shinigami child is mine!" it screeched happily.

Just as the blunet was turning in order to snatch the oranget back, a hollow leapt forward slashing into his left bicep. Grimmjow gave a hiss of pain as his left arm was now disabled from that attack. Hell, the damn thing was barely hanging on.

"Kitty!" Ichigo cried out fearfully.

Giving a guttural growl, Grimmow quickly dispatched the hollow in front of him before killing the one preparing to eat Ichigo. With the shinigami now safely at his side once more, Grimmjow switched from offense to defense. He was running out of strength fast with the blood pouring from his left arm.

After killing a few more hollow, Grimmjow fell to his knees. He no longer had the energy left to stand. Another defeated hollow after that had him collapsing completely.

"Kitty!" Ichigo cried out as he hurried up to the injured espada's face to get a better look.

"Run brat," the blunet rasped weakly.

Unfortunately there was no time to run as all the hollow pounced at once. Ichigo gave a loud scream of terror as the hollow drew nearer to the pair. Suddenly, incredible amounts of reiatsu began to billow out around the pair, kicking up the sand in the process. Numerous hollow were killed as a result and more stepped forward for their chance.

Grimmjow's eyes opened again once the debris had settled down and the reiatsu seemed to level out. Cyan orbs widened slightly as his faltering vision was greeted with the sight of the normal Ichigo. He was topless and the white hakama was shredded, barely covering him. Tensa Zangetsu seemingly materialized in the teen's hand as he glared darkly at the hollow around them.

"Piss off," he growled giving a flick of his wrist.

A weak Getsuga erupted from the zanpakutou easily destroying a handful of the hollow in front of him. The ones behind moved in to attack, but Ichigo merely turned and flicked his wrist again quickly dispatching those hollow as well. The rest of the hollow attacked in unison, determined to kill the shinigami. Ichigo grasped his sword with both hands and pulled it above his head.

"Getsuga tenshou!" he called out. The black and red energy cut through the air, easily destroying the remaining hollow.

Now safe, Ichigo's arms dropped to his side wearily; breath coming in heavy pants, Tensa Zangetus disappeared as he looked off to the side. Grimmjow followed his gaze, fighting to stay conscious as he did so. He wasn't sure who stood there, but it was an odd looking man with a bucket hat and stupid looking sandals.

"Heal him," Ichigo suddenly said.

Grimmjow watched the oranget collapse forward into the sand as his body quickly reverted back to it's previous state of a small child. Damn, and here he was hoping it worked.

Not that it matters, Grimmjow thought as his world slowly dissolved into black. He was dying right there in the sand after all. He should have just hid out in Las Noches and let the shinigami collect the brat...

(A/N: I almost didn't get this chapter uploaded in time. i remember I decided a while ago Little Berry would be a Tuesday release. I have had a massive headache all day and even though I actually wrote this chapter back in September last year, I waited until I was certain when I would finish this fic before uploading it. This is a promise to all of you that I will update this fic every Tuesday until it is finished. The others will come shortly. Please continue to support me as you have until the very end.)

Thanks for all the reviews/favorites/follows! They mean the world to me!