Forgive me, I'm not the best with fighting scenes, but hopefully I will get better.
Since it is going to be Thursday July 15 when this is updated, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ICHIGO!(:
'thinking'
-writing on the paper-
*~Graceful Melody~*
My sword fully materialized but I decided not to show my shinigami powers, not yet anyway. Since it's training, I'll just be using the sword to work on my defense and a little of my offense. Albeit my biggest concern is my elemental powers, I never really use them so why not train with Grimmjow using only those?
Smirking, Grimmjow released his sword, "grind."
Grimmjow quickly sonído'd towards me and swung his sword down, blocking it, I transported behind him and quickly sent a fire ball shooting towards him. Even though it was a bit of a cheap shot, attacking from behind that is; he managed to dodge and tried his attack again. Swinging straight down, I countered his blade with my own. I put more pressure into the block, and onto my blade, which forced Grimmjow to retreat because of the unexpected counter.
"So yer-" I interrupted him, now in 'fighting mode' as Ry likes to call it.
"Shut up and fight," I said placidly.
'Fighting mode' is why I don't normally spar with any one other than Ry, Ella or Celest in my inner world. I still don't know why this happens myself, but when I start to get into a fight, which is basically when I turn on the offense even just a little; I become hexed. It's not really a killing neurosis, it's simply a frame of mind I end up in. On the plus side of it I can still think clearly it's just that my actions become centered around the fight until one of two things happens.
Grimmjow came at me again, but his attack wasn't as strong as the other ones. My suspicions proved accountable as soon as I dodged the cero that he aimed at my head; so much for cheap tricks. Each time he has attacked so far it was powerful, with his light attack I assumed something else was coming. I landed on my feet after back flipping away from his brightly colored cero.
My body tends to move on it's own when in this 'mode', more specifically it happens once fight or flight reflexes kick in. I don't even need to think to be able to dodge certain attacks; it just happens. A theory I have for this is that when in this 'mode' memories from other fights converge and when an attack is recognized; so basically, it's jsut muscle memory.
I blocked another attack form Grimmjow, aimed at my ribs.
He tch'd, "this is boring. Do something."
"Here's something," I managed to say through clenched teeth.
I transported behind him, then back in front of him a few times in hopes of confusing him slightly. Apparently he isn't that much of an imbecile. Bringing my blade across his chest horizontally, at the last second possible; he blocked it. I took advantage of the awkward position he managed to end up in. Forcing my blade harder onto his, he had no choice but to sonído away. Instead of falling on the ground like what would have happened, he fell right into my trap.
When he landed on the ground a few feet away, it collapsed under him. I quickly transported to the edge of the hole to see if my earth restraints held him in place, but he was gone by the time I got to it.
'Earth based attacks still need work..'
Hearing something to my right I threw my sword in front of me and blocked the attack Grimmjow aimed at my mid riff. I transported back a yard or two, giving me space and more time to think of what combinations to use.
Grimmjow sonído'd to me, bringing his sword back to attack. I countered, but with no intent of staying in that position for too long; I jumped away shortly after the contact was made.
With the edge of my sword I traced a circle in the air, and aimed it at Grimmjow. I traced another circle to give it more power and when Grimmjow sprinted to attack I released the blast of spiraling air I stored up for him. Unsuspecting of the method of attack I used, Grimmjow didn't dodge or block it. Also taking into consideration that he couldn't see it for it was air, it hit him and spun into his chest, leaving a ripped vest and a giant red circle that bled a little in, in its wake.
He let out a low, threatening, feral growl then jumped up and attacked me again. I used the same attack again, but this time added fire within the spiraling wind vortex. Grimmjow dodged the first, but I quickly made another one and sent it at him at greater speeds. He escaped the attack with only his right forearm slightly burnt. Although it may sting a little now, I knew that it wouldn't be serious because Inoue can always heal it.
"Lucky shot," he said when our blades met again.
It was my turn to 'tch' at him. Another fact about being in 'fight mode' I tend to end things as quickly as possible with no fooling around; much like Grimmjow likes to do. I get bored with fights quickly if things don't happen, and when in this mode the result isn't always merciful.
I shot a sneer to Grimmjow when I backed up. Tracing circles, five to be exact, with my blade; I prepared for the final attack in this training session. Grimmjow took on a more cocky pose, he must think that he knows what's about to be coming at him.
Curious I tapped into his mind, 'is that the only trick the brat has?' So he calls me brat in his mind? Is that supposed to be some sort of a pet name?
I'll show him and his ignorance. I let the attack off my blade, adding water to the mix as well. With five different water vortexes, surely he couldn't block nor dodge them all. After a short attempt, two of the water vortexes combined to trap Grimmjow inside.
'What are you doing!' Celest called.
I ignored her and released what will end this, I extended my arm and pointed right at the water vortex Grimmjow is still struggling within. Slowly, I let an electrical charge build up. I felt it from my shoulder to my fingertip. The charge jumped excitedly, I could even hear it crackling in my ear drums. To put it clearly, it felt marvelous. With the yellow charge clearly visible on my left pointer, I took aim for a final time.
*~Frozen Harmony~*
I waited patiently in the living room at Urahara's for this 'meeting' to finally commence. All hope was nearly lost after having been sitting here for an hour already. Ichigo and Uryu have been arguing, giving me a pounding headache even though I have done my best to try and ignore it.
Finally, Tessai brought in a peachy ginseng tea, which will at least calm me down the slightest bit. Even so, the headache isn't fully Ichigo and Uryu's fault. For the past two days I have been worrying constantly about Gracie. Even though I know that she can handle herself, it's more about the situation she's in and the turmoil that is our friendship; if it could even be called that anymore.
At least Rukia and Matsumoto were enjoying themselves seeing as they have been engrossed in a conversation over some magazine for a while now.
"Mr. Hat-n-clogs! Finally you show your face!" Ichigo yelled mercilessly when Urahara walked in.
"Calm down Ichigo. I called you all here to tell you about the development of the garganta to get you to Hueco Mundo," relieved about him finally showing up I let out an almost inaudible sigh.
"So how's it going?" I asked, trying to push this conversation along as fast as it can go.
"It's going along better than I thought. The garganta should be ready within the week," Kisuke said in an aloof manner. Like he completely dismissed the way we would all feel about this taking even longer.
"Then that's good news! We can go rescue Orihime earlier!" as an after thought Ichigo added, "and Gracie…"
"Wishful thinking Ichigo, it's still going to take the two weeks."
"What!" nearly every person in the room screamed out. Jinta and Ururu, who were just walking in, jumped and scurried back out into the hall.
I for one just stood up, shaking my head and retreated back to my room and my previous thoughts. I just can't get Gracie out of my mind, every thought ends up leading back to her. I couldn't even tell you how many hours I have just replayed the last few times I saw her over and over and reanalyzed them in my head.
Little did Hitsugaya Toshiro know but Urahara Kisuke had an eloquent disposition behind the ever present shield that is his fan.
*~Graceful Melody~*
'Gracie no!'
'Control yourself!'
'Next time, don't train!' all three called.
One of the options to pull me out of 'fight mode' is for the three of them to manifest themselves. The other is the defeat of my opponent, which in this case would have left Grimmjow seriously wounded. Lightning and water really don't mix well…
Snapping out of it, I blushed; sheepishly. Grimmjow fell to the ground on the verge of unconsciousness since he was in the water for too long.
I quickly rushed over to him while Celest, Ry and Ella went back to our inner world. I kneeled down in front of him and shook his shoulder.
"Hey you awake?"
Growling, he pushed my hand away and spit out some water, "get off me brat."
I rolled my eyes at him, typical Grimmjow.
"Who said the fight was over?" he asked, miffed.
"I did considering I nearly electrocuted you beyond recognition."
He raised an eye brow at me and I just shook my head, "don't worry about it."
He growled again and I looked up and used the easiest way, that I know, of how to get him to drop this conversation. I tapped his nose.
He smacked my hand away when standing up, and when I gazed into his eyes, there was a slight hint to a challenge.
His hand shot out to jab at my stomach. Remembering a self defense trick Kenpachi taught me, I grabbed his left wrist with my right hand. Quickly putting my left hand over my other, I twisted his arm and put as much pressure upon it as I could muster. Pointing and his naval, (a trick for accuracy), he slightly buckled his knees from the pressure. Recovering quickly, he used his free hand to smack me upside the head.*
"You left yourself open."
"Wait, was that…advice? Training advice from Grimmjow!" I said sarcastically as a rebuttal to what Grimmjow expected me to do.
"If training is what you want, training is what you'll get," he said gruffly while shrugging.
I eyed him suspiciously for a few seconds, reading his face to see if he has any ulterior motives. Finding none I shrugged as well and walked with him towards a smaller area at the back of the training room. No need to get in the way of Nnoitra sparring with Tesla.
He took and offensive stance and I gulped, imagining how I'm going to come out of this part of the training session.
Swiftly, but most likely lightly (for him), he swung his arm out towards my stomach. Flailing a little, I managed to jump backwards and out of the way. Giving me a strange look, he continued swinging.
The next few punches I managed to avoid them, but I never blocked or took offense. Grimmjow seemed to become more and more annoyed with each punch he threw since I spazzed away from each of them.
He landed a few punches on me, my upper right arm and my stomach especially. Each swing of his arms he gained a more suspicious look than annoyed. After a kick to the side of my ribs he spoke what must have been on his mind through my pathetic excuse of hand-to-hand combat.
"Have you ever fought like this before?"
"Ma~ybe…" I replied sheepishly while rocking back and forth on the balls of my feet.
"Idiot brat," he said under his breath.
"What was that?" I asked, my want to make him mad kicking in again.
"It was nothing, let's just go," he said.
Shrugging, I walked next to him on our way out of the training room. Replaying the events, I decided that I did not like today whatsoever.* I nearly killed Grimmjow, which reminds me…
'Thank you guys!' I screamed to them; mentally of course.
I giggled at the responses I got back, 'shaddup,' 'quiet down,' 'completely unnecessary.'
"So Grimmjow, how bad was I with the hand to hand stuff?" I'm actually afraid of the answer because in my mind, I picture myself just jumping around and flailing my limbs; as if I was trying to stop myself from falling over. Not training.
He cracked a satirical smile, with that one look I knew it really was as bad as I had imagined.
Feeling slightly sick form embarrassment I disavowed my previous statement. Grimmjow started to laugh and I blushed an even darker shade of crimson and hid my face behind my hair.
*~Narrators Verse~*
"Oh look, it's Sunday," Urahara said while pointing at a random calendar that just so happened to pop up onto the table. Using the other hand he absentmindedly pushed his hat down slightly to cover his eyes even more. As if he doesn't need to think about hiding his intentions, it just automatically happens.
"What's so great about Sunday?" Kurosaki asked, aloof as always.
The residents of the house, along with the visiting soul reapers and high school students, all sat at a round table. On said table, items, such as the remnants of a light meal, started to be removed by Tsukabishi Tessai.
"Considering the fact you are no longer in Soul Society and over a week is still necessary before you all can leave, that means school. Since tomorrow is monday, you will all be going."
Multiple groans and sighs mixed together and echoed around the room, finally exiting when Tsukabishi opened the sliding door to bring more tea to the individuals sitting around the table.
"Do we really have to?" Matsumoto whined, speaking the minds of all the present soul reapers. Even Hitsugaya detests the idea of having to go to that school; thanks to the girls who borderline stalk him while he's there. Normally, if it was a longer mission; no objections would be made. But for a mere week it seemed pointless to go.
"We would only be there for a week and then disappear again, so why bother raising suspicions," Rukia argued cunningly.
Urahara seemed to be considering letting the soul reapers stay behind. They would mostly stay in their respective rooms and they wouldn't get in the way of his research and they most definitely wouldn't hinder any of his plans. Surely they would be eating his food but he can always send one of them to the store for more.
"Fine, you can stay," Urahara responded.
"Yes!" Kurosaki called while jumping onto his feet. For celebration he did a little dance, looking scarily similar to the cabbage patch.
"Not you guys…" Hitsugaya and Urahara pointed out with sweat drops.
Kurosaki stopped dead, arms extended, with a pitiful expression on his face. An expression that caused the female shinigami present in the room, not counting Shihouin Yoruichi for she is in her cat form, to start laughing hysterically. The discussion ended with that as multiple persons left the shop, and others returned back to their rooms.
A certain white haired captain took his cup of tea and retreated to the sliding glass door that led to the back porch. Walking further back to the small patch of green grass, he sat down then shifted his position to be more comfortable. Laying on his back, he gazed at the stars with longing, sadness and regret coloring his features.
His apathetic demeanor brakes when he is alone, for it is the only time he can go without being questioned about his emotions or the influence they have on his visage. Taking the final sip of his tea, he set it back down with a sneeze and a final thought, 'is she thinking of me?'
Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez lays on the couch, his claimed domain, in Miss Cordina's room. He watches her silently rummage through a box she found at the bottom of her small closet, one she is sure wasn't there before. His interest soared when a small sound flew from her lips.
"Aha!" she called. Hurriedly she backed out from the closet, still on her knees, so it was a bit of an awkward attempt. Shutting the door, she dusted herself and the 'everything else' outfit, off.
Grimmjow never really payed attention to the clothes female arrancar wore, for it is all skimpy and revealing. Albeit so is the top Graciela is wearing, but for some reason he still took note of it. Sometimes Grimmjow couldn't help but let his eyes wander. When he first saw her in her kimono, he wasn't expecting much. Of course she didn't have those same characteristic assets as Inoue but in his opinion, they were definitely something worth looking at.
Of course there is a reason to why he is paying attention to her clothes. For the other arrancar, they choose the clothes which they will always be wearing throughout the vast expanse of hallways and rooms that is Las Noches, but Graciela is a different case. Her clothes, specifically her top, were all previously picked before she arrived. With the character Grimmjow has already observed, it's obvious for him to tell that she isn't the least be comfortable with the chosen top. Grimmjow applauded her patience and state of mind to make do with what she's got, like all the other inhabitants in Las Noches. In some corner in Grimmjow's mind, he accepted her and her presence in Las Noches.
Giggling a little, she walked over lithely to Grimmjow. She placed the piece of paper, with words already scribbled on it, and a pen next to his leg on the couch. He didn't even bother to look at it and when she sat down he spoke his mind; as usual.
"What is it?"
"It's a piece of paper. Oh, there's a pen there too," she replied sarcastically with an eye roll. She talks with her hands as well, so she flipped her right hand and pointed during the last part of her sentence.
"Shut up ya brat. I mean what is it for?"
"Say what you mean and mean what you say, my grandpa always told me that. Anyway, we're going to write notes. Since we've been sitting here in silence for an unconceivable amount of minutes, I thought of something."
"We could just talk you know and it will still be quiet when we write," Grimmjow pointed out the obvious. Of course Graciela has another reason for wanting to do so.
At first glance Graciela seems shy and timid, also motherly and caring. When one gets to know her better, layers begin to break down based on her comfort with the person. When those layers decompose and her true nature is revealed, the quote 'looks can be deceiving' comes into mind.
It's not like she isn't shy or caring, she is, it's just there is so much more to her than meets the eye. Her personality tends to take on a palpable and three dimensional characteristic.
"But it would be a comfortable silence, not awkward like this," she began to explain her reasoning, "plus the sound of the scratching of the ink and graphite against paper isn't silence. It's subtle noise that although may seem irritating also stands for information being explained and thoughts written out."
Grimmjow gave her a simple, questioning look. Her spoken words were deep, and he couldn't find what she was trying to say underneath all of the pointless syllables.
She smiled a small smile, "the comforting sound of the pen and pencil on paper symbolize bonds being made and a friendship beginning." Sometimes she talks in riddles, sounding more like an analytic english teacher then a 17 year old girl. That is her way of speaking her mind when she is unsure of the other persons response.
Finally her opinion on what she regards them as is exposed. During the first few hours of knowing Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez she shied away form him, knowing that he is the enemy and that he can be very brutal and destructive. Of course her biggest flaw in the end plays through and though most of the time is good, the hurt that it also results in lasts forever in her mind. Worst of all she blames her self for it and in silence constantly thinks over what she could have done to prevent events from happening and bonds from being broken. Her most recent, 'if only I didn't transport ahead.' That's why she will do almost anything to stop the silence from making her go crazy.
Humoring her, Grimmjow picked up the paper and pen.
-You never told me your last name, what is it?- her handwriting, all the same height though very slim and not bubbly at all, a contrast to her personality but not to her figure; Grimmjow noted.
Getting up he moved across the room to the bed with one hand is his pocket the other with the pen and his answer on the paper.
"Come sit, it will make things easier," Graciela motioned to the end of her bed.
Grimmjow, a little surprised, sat down anyway. This new motion between them, the innocent girl and the destructive sinner, came as a shock. But isn't that the way it always goes?
With the way her bed is positioned, he leaned his back and head against the wall.
-Jaegerjaquez- She read in his messy half lower and upper case letters.
-That's interesting. Do you remember your life before coming to Hueco Mundo?- She passed the paper to him.
He marveled at her handwriting again, it seemed too perfect to be real and not the type face that he has seen only once before.
-No I don't.- He passed the paper to her, this time keeping the pen in the hand and not setting it down.
-Hm, is it a rarity to be able to remember?-
Little to his knowledge but Graciela is in the process of finding out some deeper information of her own. She was already explained by some of her acquaintances in seireitei that remembering the past before arriving in soul society is rare. Of course she isn't inquiring about the past as in the original universe, but as to why she was able to remember her past after being purified by Kusajishi's blade back when she first awakened her powers.
Maybe, she though, if it isn't rare among arrancar that the reason I remember is because of Ella.
-Yea.- His simple answer unsettled her even further.
Why was she truly able to remember? Even the memories from the original universe didn't contain anything about her human life, only of what happened when she was in seireitei. She always assumed that things went the same way they did when she was in a 'coma' for she doesn't remember anything of the academy the soul reapers all went to and graduated from.
She shrugged it off and scribbled another question.
Before the scribbling Grimmjow started to doze off, he -hell both of them- had a long day. Long referring to the activities not the hours they have been awake. When her pencil first made contact with the paper his eyes shot open and he actually listened to the comforting scribbling.
'Heh, seems she was right,' he wondered in amazement but failed to realize the severity these actions will play in the future. When it's finally time to complete his task, it will be all the more harder to do so as each day does by.
-So what's your favorite color?-
Things went on like that for most of the night.
Of course 'night' is just what Graciela's internal body clock says. 'Time' in Hueco Mundo doesn't pass with clocks or with the rising and falling of a bright star. Not with the spinning of the earth itself, or days and dates on calendars. Time is measured differently for each arrancar, for each espada, for each individual. To Grimmjow, time is measured in three ways: 'time to sleep', 'time to fight', and 'time to meet with Aizen'. A fourth sometimes appears when he gets his hands on any form of alcohol, 'time to drink.' Everything else is just a constant. Compared to the human way of defining time, his is simple. Other than survival, fighting and dealing with that bastard Aizen; life is simple too.
So when the hours fly by, it seems Grimmjow can add a new time to his clock, 'time with Gracie.' Honestly he hated to admit it, for he thought about his reasoning to attaching to the girl. It isn't love and it isn't for his personal gain, nor for any kind of sexual pleasure. Perhaps, it is just for him to have someone to actually talk to, someone for which he will actually listen.
It dawned upon him, this girl, his 'brat'; has become a friend.
* Like Gibbs does to Tony in NCIS
* I still can't believe that's all one word O.o
Completed, Thursday July 15th 5:18 am.