Bleached: Ep. 12
Disclaimer: We don't own Bleach. Airi and Zezuri are our characters.
Note: I just read chapter 100 of Turn Back the Pendulm (part of Bleach)... wow... things are happening like I thought they would, I won't say anything about what happens, but geez... I thought I was making random stuff up for my predictions! Anyhow, this chapter contains some odd uses of an item that might not work that way, but hey, it's fanfiction. We tweak things to fit our plot! -Airi
Aizen walked slowly forwards the girl being supported by his fellow ex-captains. Each step seemed deliberate and painstakingly long. If Airi could have moved, she would have been trembling in fear, instead, she found herself completely immobile. Finally he stood a foot away from her, Airi glared fiercely up at him intently, but Aizen was focused on what he was about to do. Slowly he lowered his hand, the fire grew in magnitude and turned from blue to purple. Without a warning, he slammed it into Airi.
After Aishda defeated the hollow he heard Zezuri shriek his name. He went to the location he left her to see that Grimmjow had Zezuri by the arm.
"Ngh…" Zezuri tried to squirm away but Grimmjow's grip was tightly secure.
"You're coming back with me, woman!" Grimmjow scowled.
Aishda, sword still drawn, stood thinking of what to do. "Let her go or I can't guarantee that I'll let you live…" warned Aishda.
"Don't lecture me on the guarantee to live, soul reaper…" said Grimmjow, glaring back at Aishda.
Zezuri stared frightfully at Aishda, feeling the tension of the battle about to commence.
Pain shot through every part of Airi's body. Something formed on her chest and broke before she saw what it was, resulting in even more pain. She cried out in agony, eyes filling over with tears.
Aizen had stepped back, but was unfazed by the scene in front of him.
Gin and Tosen still held fast to the wailing girl.
Airi's tears started to become milky in color and flowed across her face, covering it briefly, then shattering into solid bits. Most of the shards left her and disintegrated save for a few pieces in her hair. The pain was now receding; Airi felt very drained and passed out from exhaustion. Gin and Tosen carefully set her on the floor.
"Enter," commanded Aizen, sensing a strong presence outside the door.
It opened and Ulquiorra entered.
"Did you give Grimmjow his orders?" inquired Aizen as if nothing had been happening.
"Yes, Aizen-sama."
"Good. Take this girl back to her room," he ordered indicating Airi's unconscious form on the floor.
"Understood," Ulquiorra picked Airi up and left the room.
"What do you want with her?! You throw her out here just to get her power? I can't let you monsters harm that innocent girl anymore!" Aishda gripped his sword tightly.
"Heh, I'll rip that mouth out of you if you keep talking… get ready to fight so I don't kill you that easily," Grimmjow let go of Zezuri.
Zezuri looked back and forth between the two, "Please, stop! Don't fight!" Zezuri pleaded.
"Quiet! Watch the show, I'll be done with this quickly so I can take you back," Grimmjow said.
"I won't allow you to leave her alive, and I won't allow you to take Zezuri!" protested Aishda.
"Shut up already and fight!" Grimmjow charged in with his fists. Aishda dodged the incoming blow with a flash step, but Grimmjow, knowing the same technique followed quickly with a series of punches but Aishda dodged them all. Grimmjow came in close with a blow, but Aishda blocked it with his sword. Grimmjow grabbed hold of Aishda's sword by the blade and ripped it from his opponent's hands, throwing it to the ground. "Should have held that sword a little tighter!" Before Aishda could blink, Grimmjow kicked him in the face, sending him flying backward. "Phe, you're so boring! No match for an espada at all! And here I came thinking I would get some action… Get up, weakling!" shouted Grimmjow. He walked over to Aishda as he was looking for his sword. Grimmjow was about to fire a cero blast when Zezuri grabbed his hand. "What do you think you're doing!?"
"Please, don't hurt him!" Zezuri held onto his hand tightly as Grimmow struggled.
"Get off!" Grimmjow was finally released and threw Zezuri to the ground. Zezuri didn't know what to think as Aishda found his sword again and charged at Grimmjow. All she could do was watch and see what happened. But oddly, despite for her hatred towards the espada, she strangely felt happy to see Grimmjow, but she couldn't stand the fact of either him or Aishda hurt. She needed to do something, but what? Aishda and Grimmjow continued to battle and when Grimmjow got Aishda where he wanted him, he fired off a cero. Aishda dodged it and the cero broke a whole tree, which began to fall right at Zezuri.
"Zezuri!" both Aishda and Grimmjow rushed over to save her, but Aishda got her first. Aishda held onto Zezuri tightly as the clouds of sand from the crash began to settle. Suddenly Grimmjow charged out of the dust and punched Aishda in the face. Aishda lost his grip on Zezuri and as he was punched into the air, Grimmjow flashed upwards and repeatedly punched and kicked the shinigami. The espada grabbed Aishda by the arm and swung him with great force. As Grimmjow let go of Aishda, he flew into the ground with great impact. Aishda was beat up, bleeding and most likely unconscious, since he wasn't moving.
Zezuri coughed and tried to see through all the dust. Once it all cleared, she saw Aishda not moving. "Aishda!" Zezuri exclaimed. She was about to go over to him, but Grimmjow appeared suddenly in front of her. She wasn't about to let that stop her. Grimmjow was blocking her way as she tried to get past him to get to Aishda.
"Leave him and lets go…" said Grimmjow, trying to hold her in place.
"Leave me alone!" shouted Zezuri as her hand suddenly came in contact with his face.
Grimmjow stood there stunned as they both looked at each other surprised. He never thought that she would do something like that. The whole forest seemed silent.
"I-I…" Zezuri couldn't speak as tears began to flow like waterfalls.
Grimmjow looked away, mildly depressed.
Zezuri ran by the blue-haired espada to the fallen shinigami. Summoning her power blue light engulfed her hands and spread to Aishda, his wounds began to heal. Grimmjow recovered from shock, he walked over, grabbed Zezuri and threw her over his shoulder in a fireman's lift despite her protests. "Aishda!" she yelled, "I haven't finished healing him!"
"Quiet down, you've healed him enough that he'll live. Besides, I'm under orders to kill him, but I'll overlook that if you come quietly."
Zezuri stopped struggling.
"Good, lets go."
Zezuri cried silently on Grimmjow's back as he carried her back to Las Noches, leaving Aishda and the Menos' Forest behind.
They finally returned to Las Noches, Zezuri had stopped crying and had been silent for most of the trip. I'm back at this prison, she thought, I hope Airi is okay… I wonder what happened while I was gone. Grimmjow brought her to Aizen's throne room.
"You're back, welcome home," Aizen said as Grimmjow set Zezuri down. Zezuri didn't respond. "Sorry we had to throw you out like that, but it was the only thing we could do. I trust you took care of that soul reaper, Grimmjow."
"Yes, sir."
"We'll talk more tomorrow, Grimmjow, take her to her cell, I trust she is eager to see her friend," Aizen ordered.
And with that, Grimmjow led Zezuri down the long white hallways again. There was an awkward silence between the two, the entire time. They reached the cell and Zezuri peeked inside to see Airi lying on the bed, clearly unconscious.
"What happened?!" Zezuri gasped as she went over to her.
"I don't know… just leave her alone and she'll wake up in time… go to sleep or something…" Grimmjow took his post, sitting in the doorway.
Zezuri looked at him a moment then back to the floor. She didn't really know what to do. Time passed as she sat on her bed quietly.
Grimmjow fell asleep in the doorway.
Zezuri got up and grabbed an extra blanket that was folded on the windowsill. She quietly laid it over him before returning to her bed to sleep.
To be continued...
Thanks for reading! This part was written late Feburary, just in case anyone was wondering.