Ichigo smiled as he looked at himself in a mirror. It was a crude mirror, made out of polished bronze, but it worked. He could see himself and he liked what he saw.
Grimmjow had needed to ask Szayel, but the Power had let them buy some clothes on his expense account. The city had some half-decent shops that catered to the Queen's court, so they were able to get clothing. The translations took long enough that they could even have it personally tailored.
So Ichigo was wearing a very fine pair of black pants. Because of his wings, he'd dispensed with a shirt altogether, but his pants were tightly tailored and embroidered with light green thread. The colors were chosen because they were the cheapest. Black dye was made from tree bark, and green came from something equally cheap. Some colors, like purple, were insanely expensive. It was all rather odd to Ichigo, who was used to a plentiful color palette, but civilization had some advantages. And even the cities of the Inuziri were not civilized.
"Hey, Ichigo, what do you think?" Ichigo turned to look at Grimmjow and smiled. Instead of tightly tailored, he'd gone for billowing black pants with a dark green sash holding them in place. He wasn't wearing a shirt either, or even a coat, and his scar was quite visible. But he'd sprung for black leather cuffs, fastened around his wrist with iron chains. Ichigo had considered getting those, but he'd wanted the embroidery more.
"You look wonderful." He said with a smile, although he thought the white and black outfit Grimmjow had worn in the Lazare had suited him better. But that was simply not possible, here. White clothing was simply unavailable. No one would have bought it, even if the bleaching process hadn't been prohibitively expensive. The Inuziri knew their clothing would get dirty, and cleaning it was expensive. "I only wish the pants were a bit tighter, so I could admire you a bit more." He said, stepping closer and resting a hand on Grimmjow's shoulder. The land guard smiled, but it was strange and crooked.
"Yeah, well… I have a feeling it might last longer this way." Ichigo blinked at that, confused. But then Grimmjow kissed him, driving any thought of clothing out of his mind. "Let's change back and release, I feel naked, figuratively speaking."
"Oh, right." Ichigo nodded, going into the changing room. He understood exactly what Grimmjow meant. This shop was pretty safe – none of these specialty stores could afford to alienate the Queen's court – but it still felt wrong, both of them being sealed in public. But they couldn't try on clothing in their released forms. The bones would be too much in the way. Ichigo took off his new clothes, carefully folding them before closing his eyes and releasing his powers.
As he left the changing room, he paused to take a look at his released form in the mirror. He'd seen it before, after a fashion, in pools of water and the flat of a knife. But this was better, and he smiled as he realized he looked just as feral and dangerous as Grimmjow. Even his eyes were different, full of a quiet power that wasn't the same as Grimmjow's feral intensity, but was just as dangerous. He knew he could kill, and would, and it showed.
"Admiring yourself?" Ichigo smiled as Grimmjow's arms went around him from behind, and he regarded them both in the mirror. He leaned back into those arms, giving Grimmjow a kiss on the cheek.
"Yes. You know, I love how I look here." He said softly, smiling. "I love this place. I feel so… full." He couldn't explain it better than that. It was like his heart and soul had found their true home. Grimmjow's arms tightened around him for a moment.
"Y'know, that makes me so happy. I was afraid you'd hate the Inuziri. I liked being in the Lazare, and you seemed to be so happy there." Grimmjow said and Ichigo laughed.
"I was only happy because you were there." He said warmly and Grimmjow's arms tightened around him for a moment before he let go.
"That's so sweet, but we better get going. There's a bar around here that sells some really good smoked salmon, I hear." Grimmjow licked his lips and Ichigo smiled. He knew the other land guard had a real passion for smoked salmon, and if it was smoked properly it was available year round.
"Let's go see." Ichigo said agreeably. They put their purchases in their bags before leaving the store. Ichigo noticed that Grimmjow was still wearing his cuffs, over his armor, and smiled. They really did look good on him.
The bar was quite pleasant, the first place Ichigo had seen in the Inuziri that could actually be called a restaurant. There were good wooden tables, polished and mostly unscarred. But they didn't bother with that, just taking seats at the bar. A barmaid came over to take their order, and for the first time they actually had a selection.
"We have smoked salmon, jerked bison, baked larva and rabbit on a stick. Also a hatchling that tried to steal some rabbit." Ichigo went pale at that and Grimmjow grimaced. "It's cheap."
"Yeah, thanks but no thanks. We'll have the salmon." He said firmly as Ichigo considered being sick. It appeared the Inuziri could still shock him. The barmaid shrugged. "And we'll have a pair of shots." That made her smile and she poured them the drinks first, before fetching them the food. Grimmjow tossed back the alcohol and Ichigo followed suit, blinking at the taste. It was the same stuff as always, but this time it was peppered with something hot that made his tongue tingle. He considered it a moment before he decided he liked it. The barmaid brought out their salmon on wooden plates, and then pushed a mug in front of them. Ichigo blinked before realizing the little scorpions on the sticks were bar snacks. Grimmjow took one of the sticks and quickly bit off a few scorpions. "Try them, they're crunchy." He said and Ichigo decided to have a go at it. He found they were surprisingly good. They had been toasted over an open flame until they had a good crunch and an almost nutty flavor.
"This is good." He said, trying his salmon. It was luscious, smooth and pleasant on his tongue. "Mmmm." He murmured appreciatively. The Inuziri did have much, much better fish than the Lazare.
"Another round, gents?" The barmaid asked and Ichigo nodded. He really did want a bit more of that peppery alcohol. She poured it for them, and Ichigo blinked as he realized she hadn't asked for their money up front. But then, this was the good part of town, if you could say that the city had a good part of town.
In the end, their meal came to almost three silvers, pretty expensive. But Grimmjow put it on Szayel's expense account without much concern. The barmaid accepted the little chit they'd been given, making an impression of it without comment. Apparently, this was the usual thing for fraccion living in the city.
"Should we be putting food on his account?" Ichigo asked as they left, concerned. They didn't need to eat, it was just an amusement for them. Grimmjow shrugged.
"Szayel won't mind, he recommended I try that place. And he damn well knows I don't have much money." He said and that eased Ichigo's concern. "So when are we meeting the Queen again?"
"Tonight, at six." Ichigo said, smiling faintly in amusement. Grimmjow had asked him that before. "Are you going to get beaten again?" He asked with some concern. He suspected Grimmjow was going to get hurt, and he really didn't want it to happen. Grimmjow flashed him a wicked grin.
"Oh yeah." He said and Ichigo sighed to himself. He knew where this was going to go.
"I'm going to get beaten right beside you, you know." He said. There was simply no way he was going to watch the Queen having Grimmjow whipped or beaten without trying to intervene. Grimmjow scowled then, less than amused.
"Why the hell would you get beaten? Just let me do my thing, it'll be fine." Grimmjow said as Ichigo gave him a skeptical look. "They know if they want to punish part of a mated pair, they have to pin the other down. That's just how it goes."
"Well, what if I don't want to see you beaten?" Ichigo scowled. "Grimmjow, can't you hold it in just this once?" They were having a mild fight now. It had happened before, when they really disagreed on something, but not very often. Grimmjow did him the favor of really thinking about it for a moment.
"No. I'd look like a sissy to the other land guards. It's different for you, you're more of a contemplative type, but I have a reputation to uphold." He said firmly and Ichigo shook his head, giving up.
"You're insane." He let his affection come out in the words, though, and smiled as Grimmjow flashed him a grin. "Do what you have to do, but don't come crying to me when she dunks you in a fountain." That made his lover scowl.
"Fuck! We're Inuziri. We don't even have fountains. I'm looking forward to a good whipping, just you wait and see." Grimmjow sounded like he really was looking forward to it, and Ichigo shook his head again. Despite being an Inuziri now, and a land guard, there were some things he just didn't understand. Did the Destroyer understand it?
Of course I do. Where do you think he gets it from? Ichigo grinned as Grimmjow laughed. The blue haired land guard could guess what he was thinking about.
"Yeah, we land guards are like an echo of the Destroyer, the best ones anyway. Let's go show this bitch how awesome we are." Grimmjow said with a grin as they went back to the palace.
There was still time to kill, though, and they spent it in the scriptorium. Grimmjow was completely trusted and he vouched for Ichigo, so the land guard worked on his lessons, teaching him the old script. Even in this area, Grimmjow was a good teacher and Ichigo carefully worked out the translations. Of course, the fact that he was writing in Lazare was a bit of a problem.
"I need to teach you Inuziri. I'd forgotten about that, and we didn't have any books anyway." Grimmjow said as he looked at the alien characters. Ichigo frowned before nodding. This could easily give away his origins, if anyone happened to see.
"Why don't we start on that first?" He suggested quietly. "I'm supposed to be a new hatchling, you'd have to teach me anyway." Then something struck him. "Hey… how can I be a newly evolved hatchling when I look this old?" He looked much older than the young girl they'd seen. Grimmjow shrugged.
"Newly caught. Some hatchlings can evolve and stay wild for years, before they leave the Mundo or someone finally nails their feet to the floor. And bird types are damn hard to catch, it's why they're so rare." Ichigo blinked, but that made sense. He could easily outfly Grimmjow, and how could the land guard catch him? Grimmjow put the ancient books away. "If we're gonna do that, I'll go get some stuff from the dorms. They always have books for the youngsters."
So for the next several hours, Ichigo spent his time learning the Inuziri written language. It wasn't difficult, since he already spoke it, but learning a new alphabet took time. Ichigo practiced the letters, drawing them carefully on a blank sheet of paper. Then it was time to go see the Queen.
They had to go to their room first, and get changed. Then one of Szayel's minions showed them to the throne room. They walked through more twisting, ugly coridoors before finally reaching their destination.
Ichigo wasn't expecting the throne room to look anything like the Queen's throne in the Lazare, but he still got a bit of a shock. The vast hall was crowded with people. Powers, land guards and the common citizens of the Inuziri, the inhabitants of the castle made flowing patterns as they paused to talk to each other and engage in other activities. Ichigo blushed as he spotted what was going on in one corner of the room. A woman whose costume seemed to be nothing but golden jewelry was receiving oral sex from another woman, to the delight of several watching men. A lot of people where just ignoring it. Ichigo's eyes widened as he saw that compared to most of the people here, he and Grimmjow looked very plain and very… covered. It seemed that much of the Queen's court believed that less was more, when it came to clothing. One particular man caught his eye. He was tall, with dark hair, and his clothing consisted of a wolfskin loincloth and furry cuffs on his wrists and ankles. Ichigo could sense his energy, and he was clearly a Power.
But as fascinating as the people were, the room captured his attention just as much. The walls were grey stone, stained heavily by old soot and bodily fluids. It had been cleaned, Ichigo could tell, but nothing would remove all the stains. Shields and weapons were nailed to the walls, ancient weapons that were corroded and stained with age. Ichigo wondered if anyone had ever grabbed them off the wall to use them, and suspected they had. On both sides of the room were great fireplaces, currently unused. But he could picture them roaring in the winter as they struggled to heat this great room.
The carpet that led to the throne was actually animal skins. Ichigo could pick out bear and wolf and panther, the furs melding together into a beautiful surface that was warm and comfortable underfoot. The throne itself was carved wood, and Ichigo swallowed as he saw the strange, grinning faces that had been worked into the wood. Last, but assuredly not least, he looked at the woman who sat in that throne.
She was barbaric and exotically beautiful. Slender and willowy, she looked amazingly young, barely past her teenage years. Her face was thin and sharp, framed with flowing black hair. That hair was simply amazing, long and luxurious and decorated with several braids. Strands of garnet and jet had been worked into those braids, and more bloody garnet glittered from bangles in her hair. Her power was sealed, as much as any Power was ever sealed, and she wore clothing. Tightly tailored pants of black leather led down to leather boots, and instead of a shirt she wore a vest. The vest was black cloth, embellished with garnet and jet. Chains of black steel held it closed, but revealed tantalizing glimpses of the edges of bare breasts as she moved. On her wrists were cuffs of blood red fur, and she wore a similar cuff around her throat, set with a single cameo of more black jet. Bright red eyes that screamed of held back violence and intelligence locked into his, and Ichigo had to resist the urge to bow before her.
Grimmjow, however, had no such trouble.
"Hey bitch. So whose idea was it to get a whore to put a poison pack up her ass, anyway? And who knew Baraggan was an ass man?" Grimmjow's voice rang out over the suddenly quiet court, except for the woman moaning in the back, and Ichigo cringed as the Queen grinned, revealing wicked white fangs. "Was it you that knew? And how'd you know? I bet you were his type."
"Grimmjow!" Ichigo squeaked as the guards behind the Queen came alive. He desperately tried to sense their power and cringed a little. Two of them were obviously the Queen's original fraccion, and not particularly powerful. But the other two were likely new picks, because they were both Grimmjow's match… and unlike the land guard, they were unsealed.
The two strong ones went for Grimmjow, while the other two went for him. Ichigo would have been offended, but Grimmjow fought like a mad creature before he was subdued, a foot planted firmly on the back of his neck. Ichigo was just held in place, watching helplessly as the Queen stood up from her throne. Her heels clicked on the floor, then sank into the furs as she walked over to Grimmjow.
"I do love it how you talk without engaging your brain, land guard." She said with a grin as Grimmjow sneered as best he could with his face pressed into the carpet. "Get him up. I want to have a look at him." Her land guards pulled Grimmjow into a kneeling position, holding him in place very firmly. The Queen circled him a moment, evaluating him, then laughed. Ichigo shivered at the sound. It was vicious and anticipatory. "Starrk. Get me the whip." She gestured to the man in wolf skins Ichigo had noticed earlier. He bowed slightly and went to the wall, pulling down a whip of black leather.
"You think a whipping will make me scream, bitch?" Grimmjow asked derisively, then blinked as she took the whip from Starrk. "What the hell?" He squirmed slightly then hissed as the guards tightened their hold. The Queen grabbed his hair, yanking his head back as she rested the coiled whip on his shoulder.
"Heh." She snickered as she ran the whip over his pale skin and Ichigo drew in a gasp as dark red light seemed to glitter over the black leather. "I prefer to do my own dirty work, land guard. It's a shame about the rugs, but we have ways to get blood out of fur. And yes." She dropped her voice, running the whip over Grimmjow's scar and eliciting a sound that made Ichigo's hair stand on end. "I do think you'll scream."
"Grimmjow!" Ichigo screamed and started to really fight his guards. But he couldn't get free fast enough, and Starrk walked over, setting a hand on his chest. He looked up into the man's grey-blue eyes, which seemed oddly sad. "Let me go – agh!" A shooting pain went through his chest, taking the breath out of him. He was helpless to act as he heard the first blow of the whip.
It took several blows for her to make Grimmjow scream, and there were tears in Ichigo's eyes as he saw what was happening. The red energy the Queen had infused the whip with was tormenting the land guard, disrupting his innate energy flows in a way that caused agony. She hadn't even drawn blood yet. But her next blow was stronger, and bit deeply into pale skin, causing blood to flow and drip onto the carpet. There was one more lash, then Ichigo blinked as the Queen suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. Her lip curled, revealing one sharp white fang as she sampled the air again.
"Hmm?" Transferring her whip to her other hand, the Queen of the Inuziri gripped Grimmjow's hair again and yanked his head back. The land guard was only semi-conscious and didn't resist at all as she sniffed his throat. "Hm." She let go, and ran a finger through the blood running down his back, bringing it to her lips and sampling it like it was a fine wine. Then she shook her head. "Starrk, have the whip cleaned and return it to its place." She ordered, and Ichigo could see the surprise on the face of the man across from him. Starrk hesitated a moment before going back to get the whip. "Let him go." The guards released Grimmjow, who growled and blinked before pushing himself up shakily. "It seems you will get out of your punishment, land guard. It is not right to whip a man who's carrying an egg."
"What?" Ichigo breathed as Grimmjow just scowled, sitting back on his knees. He was fully conscious now and avoiding Ichigo's eyes. "WHAT?! Grimmjow, you lunatic! Let me go!" He struggled against the guards, who both looked at the Queen. She flicked her wrist with a grin and they both let go of the eagle, letting him run to his mate. "How could you! You knew you were carrying and didn't tell me, and then you got yourself beaten! Are you stupid?" Ichigo grabbed Grimmjow's shoulders and would have shaken him, but the guttural hiss the land guard made stopped him. "What is WRONG with you?"
"Hey, I have a reputation to – mph!" Ichigo silenced his insane lover with a deep and passionate kiss. There were a few whistles from the crowd, but he didn't care. He was furious and elated and shocked, and he had to express all the feelings inside himself somehow. Shocked blue eyes met wild brown, and Ichigo hugged Grimmjow tightly.
"I think your reputation is safe, land guard." Ichigo blushed and Grimmjow snarled at the laughter in the Queen's voice. She walked past them, going back to her throne. "Now, try to contain yourself. The game's no fun when I can't hurt you." She settled back onto her wooden chair, and cocked one leg over one of the arms. A wicked grin split her face. "Since you two brought us that absolutely delightful tablet, you are going on a mission. You will be accompanying Szayel and Starrk as they meet with the Lazare in the Broken Lands." Ichigo felt Grimmjow stiffen and wondered what the Broken Lands could be. "They will have two other attendants, but for this consider yourselves their fraccion. You will be leaving in a week."
"What are we going to talk to the Lazare about?" Ichigo dared ask, and the Queen gave him a toothy grin.
"That is not for you to know, land guard." She said with a harsh growl and Ichigo had to accept that. He looked at her closely, trying for the first time to decide what type she was. He finally decided she was probably a wolf. Something about her ears suggested it. "Stay in the Court, and join us for dinner. You'll love it. We have excellent smoked salmon." Ichigo froze at the hint that they had been spied upon. Grimmjow snarled, easily catching the same thing. Her grin was chilling. "Now, stop bleeding on my furs."
"Right." Ichigo breathed out, taking that as the dismissal it was. He carefully helped Grimmjow up, who snorted and spat on the floor, making Ichigo wince. He dragged Grimmjow away as quickly as he could, and conversations came to life as the whole drama in front of the Queen was over. Ichigo blinked as, for the first time, he heard instrumental music in the Inuziri. Someone was playing a fiddle, and doing a very good job of it. "Grimmjow, can you please try not to piss someone off before dinner?" Ichigo asked, very anxious and doing a poor job of hiding it. Grimmjow growled and suddenly pulled away from him. Ichigo blinked in surprise as the land guard suddenly gripped his shoulders.
"Ichigo. I might be carrying an egg, but I am not a fucking cripple." Grimmjow snarled. Ichigo swallowed as he met furious blue eyes. "I knew you would get all protective on me. Stop it! I can still handle myself." Ichigo bit his lip, feeling a pain in his heart. Now that he knew about the egg, he could smell the difference in Grimmjow. His blood carried the scent of it more strongly, and it was bringing all his protective instincts to the fore. He wanted, needed to protect his mate and his egg. It hurt that Grimmjow was denying him that. "Just keep being my partner Ichigo. That's all I need from you." Grimmjow's voice was softer now and Ichigo sniffed before gently hugging him.
"Grimmjow…" Ichigo wasn't certain how long he stayed like that, just cuddling his mate. "I want to protect you. I need to protect you. But… I'll try not to do it too much." He said and Grimmjow sighed, his breath ruffling short orange hair.
"I guess it'll have to do. But I'm warning you, if you get all clingy I'm going to punch you in the face." Grimmjow warned and Ichigo couldn't help but smile, because he was sure Grimmjow would do it.
Even pregnant and in pain, the other land guard was nothing to take lightly.