Break and Bind
Warning: this content contains severe spousal abuse (from both parties), extreme coarse language, and a some mild lemons
"The king gallops / Shaking free from the shadow, / Beating the armour, / Kicking about the bones, / Slurping the flesh and blood, / The creaking increases. / Smashing the heart / He walks in alone / Toward the faraway other side"
Chapter 10: The King Against His Queen
Anza and Grimmjow, to their dismay, did not get their fight that evening, as the training room in Urahara's basement was still under reconstruction. Once completed, however, Kisuke wanted to test Rukia's newest dance (Yon no mai: Kōri no Yari) in assistance to her training.
After that, Chad and Ishida woke up. Everyone crowded around them, and Anza and Grimmjow thought they could sneak off to the training room, but they only found Szayel there, wanting to experiment using some of Urahara's inventions to create some of his own; he locked himself down there for almost two weeks.
"How long are these bastards gonna hog the fuckin' room?" exclaimed Grimmjow at dinner about a month after the initial proposition to fight.
"I hope you have realized it was intentional," Ulquiorra answered him monotonously.
Anza looked up from her meal to stare at him.
"Urahara Kisuke does not want his entire store demolished, which would undoubtedly occur if you two should fight using your full power."
"But how does he expect us to train if we can't use our full strength?" she protested.
"I thought you wanted to fight Les Railles using fuckin' logic," sneered Grimmjow.
She folded her arms over her chest and looked at him. "I said we'd need to use logic, but we still have to train! So what d'you suggest we do, Ulquiorra?" she added to the pale Espada. "We've got another month until they get here — assuming, of course, we don't get any more surprise visits."
"That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you all about," came Urahara's voice brightly from the doorway. "I see you've almost finished eating — good. When you're done, I want you to see my basement."
Grimmjow and Anza exchanged puzzled looks while Ulquiorra and Harribel remained stoic; Szayel had recently been taking his meals in the underground training room.
About ten minutes later, Grimmjow and Anza (closely followed by Ulquiorra and Harribel) slipped out of their gigais and descended to the basement.
"So whaddaya wanna show us?" demanded Grimmjow immediately once his boots touched the ground.
The smirking face of Szayel Aporro Granz greeted the Espada and Anza. Urahara appeared from behind a rock and grinned at them.
"Welcome!" the blond storekeeper beamed. "Szayel Aporro and I have been working for the past few weeks on designing new technology for this room, which is why it couldn't be used for so long. But I'm happy to say it's fixed and more durable than ever, so… who wants to test it out?"
"Anza owes me a fight," answered Grimmjow immediately. "So all you bastards better get the fuck outta our way or you're gonna get killed 'cuz I don't give a shit what I destroy."
An awkward silence fell between the group.
"Well, I'm gonna stay here and watch — Granz-san?"
Szayel nodded and pulled a pocket notebook and pen from the pocket of his hakama. The two of them leapt into the air and seated themselves in the "sky", close to the hatch door.
Ulquiorra and Harribel followed suit.
Grimmjow turned to Anza, an animalistic grin spreading across his lips.
She put a hand on the hilt of her zanpakuto.
He drew out Pantera and lunged at her.
She flung up her right arm and blocked the attack, then quickly drove her blade down to cut at his leg. He slid out of the way and disappeared behind her.
Anza spun around and blocked him again, pushing against Pantera vigorously. Grimmjow grinned and applied more pressure.
She gritted her teeth, her hand shaking on the zanpakuto she gripped and struggled to propel him backwards.
"Ya gonna fight me seriously or what?" he roughly demanded to know. "I don't remember you being this weak — BE FUCKIN' SERIOUS WHEN YA FIGHT ME, BITCH!"
He threw her back with a jerk of his hand.
Anza thrust her sword in the ground and skidded to a halt.
She vanished and swung at his head.
He effortlessly blocked it and kicked her in the stomach. She tumbled backwards.
Up in the "sky", Ulquiorra slipped his hands into his pockets.
She's toying with him, he thought, watching Anza repeatedly attack Grimmjow, only to be easily blocked and thrown off. But why? She only toys with her opponents if she enjoys the fight… yet she did not want to fight Grimmjow. Why should she draw this one out?
He watched the couple frantically thrust, parry, strike, and block each other's swords for a few minutes straight. Grimmjow was as energetic as usual, but his movements were even more forceful than they usually would be at this point in the fight. He seemed almost desperate, impatient.
So, thought Ulquiorra, he notices too. She's holding back significantly, even in this state. Will he force her to attack with full strength?
What the fuck's her problem? Grimmjow thought furiously and kicked Anza in the ribs. She didn't even try to block it. She cried out and flew back several yards.
He advanced on her. He felt the rage boil inside him the way she looked up at him pathetically. She didn't even fuckin' get up; she just lay there, as if she was a fuckin' weak human!
He gripped Pantera tighter. She flinched.
"Get up," he growled. His reiatsu started to escalate. He was losing it 'cuz of the dumb bitch.
She didn't move.
"Now!"
He slid his foot under her battered form and kicked her into the air. He leapt after her and swung Pantera at her unprotected stomach.
Anza let out a cry as blood spurted freely from the wound. She crumpled to the ground and curled up in a ball, her zanpakuto falling from her hands. Her breath came in short, hitched gasps. He thought of the last time he fucked her, pounding and thrusting his length into her, not giving her a second to rest; she struggled to draw a breath, barely managing to gasp out his name —
"Get the fuck up," he ordered coldly.
She didn't move.
Stubborn whore.
He held his zanpakuto out and with his left hand, raked his fingers across the blade. It glowed blue and the ground began to sink under his feet with the force of his spiritual pressure.
"Kishire, Pantera!"
He flung his left arm into the air as a hurricane gathered around him. He could feel his hair lengthening, armor encircling his body. Claws and paws grew on his hands and feet. His tail whipped out from behind him.
The smoke cleared.
His eyes narrowed. The bitch hadn't even gotten her ass up yet, though he noticed she hadn't been blown away, which was something. She'd used a bit of her power at least to ground herself.
He let out a low growl and bounded at her, charging at full speed. His claws were pulled back, ready to slash her —
Where the hell'd she go?
Grimmjow spun around. Anza was gone.
"Behind you," she panted.
He turned around. She was hunched over, barely able to stand, with blood dripping from her torso. Her face was bruised and her hair had started to come out of her updo. The wind from his release pulled the white and blue cherry blossom pin out of her hair. He watched, with narrowed eyes, as it fell towards the ground…
Anza's hand suddenly shot out and grabbed it. Fixing him with an unreadable stare, she tucked it one-handedly inside her kimono before picking up her zanpakuto.
Her blue-green eyes narrowed as she glared at him. She slid into a back stance and pointed the blade at him. She raised her shaking left hand and ran the surface of her palm down the metal. It glowed teal, almost the same color of her eyes.
A cyclone gathered around her. Her reiatsu flared up, escalating higher and higher.
"Saku, Tigresa!" she screamed as a blue-green light erupted from her zanpakuto.
The ground shook like an earthquake and fierce winds whipped against him. Grimmjow gritted his teeth together and channeled some of his reiatsu into the ground as he struggled not to be blown away.
Anza's reiatsu was still climbing higher — Was she always this powerful? he wondered.
Then the smoke started to clear.
A tail whipped out from the dust. It was long, ropy, and striped light turquoise and a very pale shade of peach.
Two padded paws tore through the air. Three-inch long claws spiked out. A low growl ripped from her throat, warning him, and threatening him of the consequences of approaching her.
Grimmjow took a step forward and let out a roar that shook the entire training room. Wind whipped Anza's unbound, lengthened red-violet hair, but she didn't flinch, or even move.
She barred her teeth. Her extended fangs glinted in the light.
Her eyes narrowed dangerously, seductively. "Ready to play, Grimmjow?" she taunted.
He grinned. "Fuck yeah, bitch."
Urahara Kisuke stared at Anza, completely appalled. There was a small cap/headgear thing on her upper forehead with a jagged crack down the middle that divided it in two. But it had two dark holes in it like missing eyes in a skull. The bottom edges, which fell around her eyebrows, were crooked like the teeth of a predatory animal.
A Hollow mask.
She was an Arrancar! Now that she'd gone into her resurrección there was no mistaking that reiatsu. And considering how high it was…
She must be an Espada! She's on par with Grimmjow… or maybe even stronger…
Urahara gaped at the woman. And to think he'd been lusting after her for about a month. And regardless of how repulsed he was at her brutal reiatsu, the murderous aura she gave off… he couldn't help being a bit turned on by her resurrección.
Her curvy body was now covered in striped blue and pale peach fur and white, bone-like armor interchangeably, while her chest up until her knees was covered by a white sleeveless shirt, which complemented her curves nicely, and white wide-legged shorts. Pale turquoise stripes crossed her cheeks like a tiger's and her teeth were sharp and jagged with elongated canines like Grimmjow. Just like her husband, she had a tail (though hers was covered in the striped fur that covered the rest of her body) and claws and paws. Two striped, furry ears grew on top of her head, on either side of her broken mask.
All the injuries she'd had prior to transforming into her release state had been healed.
Urahara watched Grimmjow shoot out some kind of bullet thing from the spikes on his arms; Anza leapt into the air with the grace of a dancer and avoided each one. Then she spun around and shot back to the ground, claws out and aimed to slash at Grimmjow.
The blue-haired Espada jumped out of the way and sonido'd behind her. He let out another growling roar that made Urahara lose his footing for a moment, as he'd been staring at Anza the entire time.
Anza stumbled slightly at the ferocity of Grimmjow's reiatsu, but quickly regained her composure and slashed deeply into his armor.
Grimmjow let out a snarl of pain and retaliated with a kick to her leg to trip her, and then a deep gash across her left cheek.
That's for fuckin' seducing me and makin' me think you wanted me, he thought bitterly.
He grabbed her by the arm and forced her to kneel in front of him. The position made him smirk for a moment, imagining her giving him head.
Then the fantasy was up and he was pounding the shit outta her.
He stomped on her stomach, making her cough up blood, then he flipped over and started punching every bit of her he could find, sometimes raking his claws deep into her flesh. Her shouts of pain just goaded him on more. And he increased the force he exerted on her.
That's for however many other men you've fucked besides me. He tore open a large gash in her forearm. And that's for all the men you let stare at you the way they fuckin' do. He raked his claws against her throat and held them there for a few minutes, slowly squeezing the life out of her as she struggled to breathe.
And that's for takin' on my name and fuckin' marrying me!
That's for the night you fucked me and then disappeared when I woke up.
That's for Aizen revoking your status like you deserve, you fuckin' traitor.
That's for making me wander around Las Noches not knowing what to fuckin' do with myself, for a month after you fuckin' left.
That's for making me pace in front of your room for weeks after you were gone.
That's for showin' your face after daring to become a fuckin' Shinigami. Did you think you'd be welcomed with fuckin' open arms?
Grimmjow drew back, panting. He'd used up a lot of reiatsu, but it was worth it. Below him, a bruised and bloodied Anza stared up at him. But she wasn't as weak-looking as before.
And she was grinning.
In a flash, she'd vanished.
The next second, Grimmjow's face was pounded repeatedly into the ground with a force only an Espada could strike with. He felt the ground give way, and with each painful hammer into the rock-hard surface, a crater grew and grew around him.
"You think you could beat the shit outta me without me giving it straight back to ya, Grimmjow?" she taunted. There was that fuckin' spirit of hers — It's about time, he thought. Meanwhile, she punched and kicked and slashed through his armor. Grimmjow ground his teeth together against the searing pain ripping through his back, chest, and any place Anza found. He wasn't about to give her the satisfaction that her attacks hurt him, or caused him any discomfort.
He tried to reach out and grab her hand and, frustrated, found he couldn't — her small paws darted in between his outstretched claws with faster speed than he'd ever seen an Espada use, then pounded into his chest, knocking the wind out of him.
"Shit," he gasped, struggling to breathe. His chest felt like it had been squashed in the middle and his lungs felt crushed underneath.
Anza fixed him with a stare almost like she was looking down on him.
He let out a growl of frustration and struggled to get to his feet.
"You shouldn't move," she warned him with a tone that made it clear she was done fighting with him. What does she think she's doing? he wondered, watching her walk away.
"Get…back…here," he gasped, forcing himself to rise to a sitting position. Her back was facing him.
She turned around. "You shouldn't overexert yourself," she told him.
Grimmjow forced himself up. His legs swayed, but he managed to — barely — keep himself upright. He'd never admit it to her, but she'd really beaten the shit out of him, given back more than he'd attacked her with in the first place.
Fuck.
It reminded him of when he'd fought Kurosaki a few months back. He'd lost too, and that fuckin' Shinigami kid just gave him that same fuckin' look.
Pity.
For him.
He didn't need Kurosaki's pity any more than he needed his own wife's pity. No one had to pity him — he was the king! He didn't need anyone's fuckin' pity!
He spread his claws wide. The tips glowed blue. His reiatsu was close to the limit, but he estimated he still had enough for this —
He swiped his claws down in the air. Ten blue streaks crashed down in front of him. His hair billowed around him.
Anza's eyes grew wide. "Grimmjow, wait — don't —"
"I don't need you to tell me what to do, Anza," he replied angrily.
He let out a yell and thrashed out with one claw. Five blue bands of his reiatsu slammed down on her.
Anza cried out, more in shock than in pain, probably, and flung up her own clawed hands to stop his Desgarrón from shredding her to pieces.
She struggled against the spikes, the sound of her claws screeching against them as she tried to hold him off. She slid back and clenched her feet into the ground to stop herself, but his technique was too strong for her, or at least now that she'd used up a lot of reiatsu beating the shit out of him and resisting him when he did the same to her.
She gathered up her own turquoise reiatsu into her right hand, her left shaking as she tried to drive off his Desgarrón one-handed.
"I don't think so!" he roared, and threw another Desgarrón at her.
Anza leapt out of the way, still gathering reiatsu in her hand. The result was that she misjudged the expanse of his attack, and he caught her entire right side.
She gasped, but he was pleased to find she refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing how much pain he'd caused her. He knew she was in agony now that he'd torn deep into her internal organs and he was kinda turned on by how well she took it.
She snarled at him as she pushed herself up.
Damn, she's still gathering reiatsu!
With more of a grimace than a smirk, she thrust her palm out at him, and, supporting her right arm with her left, cried out,
"CORTANTE!"
Jagged spikes resembling fire bolts shot out of her outstretched palm and headed straight for him —
SHIT! FUCK!! FUCKIN' SHIT, ANZA!!
Fifteen spear-like bolts pierced through him and he could feel them sear his insides with the intensity of a lightning storm.
"FUCK!" he screamed, unable to take the pain anymore.
He heard a soft crunch, and suddenly the pain stopped.
He looked up. Anza had fallen to her knees. Her body glowed turquoise and her resurrección vanished. She slumped over. Her black Shinigami clothes were completely torn up, and huge patches of bruised and bloodied skin were visible to him, though nothing that compromised her modesty, he noted. Blood spurted in puddles from her beaten body.
His eyes dropped to her right hip, just below her midriff. Partly shielded by her hakama, a portion of a stylized black tattoo met his eyes.
The number 2.
She kept it all this time.
Her zanpakuto clattered to the ground. She reached a shaking hand out to it.
Grimmjow forced himself to get up. He felt his resurrección release as well; his hair shortened, the armor was gone, and Pantera returned to his hand.
He stumbled to his knees and looked into those hauntingly familiar catlike turquoise eyes, the eyes that had filled his dreams for months.
He coughed. Blood spurted from his mouth, staining the ground.
Shit. I'm almost out of reiatsu, and if I don't do something soon, I'm gonna black out.
He dragged his zanpakuto in front of him, and forced it into the ground. He raised his right hand and slid his first two fingers down the sharp edge. Blood flew from the fresh wound, but the pain was nothing compared to that of his ripped open chest.
He clawed his hand. A blue ball of reiatsu, crackling with lightning-like energy formed. He raised his left hand to support it.
"GRAN REY CERO!"
A huge, azure disc sped out from his hand and raced towards Anza. That's for the first time you fuckin' said our relationship's about more than just sex. And you slept in my room and when I held you in my arms… I felt — I fuckin' felt something for you!
"Shit!" he heard her exclaim.
She desperately shot out a red Cero, but it was puny compared to his, and the Gran Rey easily overpowered her.
Grimmjow felt the last grains of reiatsu drain out from him and his vision grew black at the corners of his eyes. Suddenly everything blurred before him and he closed his eyes and was enveloped by darkness.
Glossary of Japanese and Spanish terms used in this chapter:
Kishire = Grind
Saku = Shred, lacerate
Tigresa = Tigress
Cortante = Shear, cutting, biting, piercing