Tiger's Wish Upon the Moon
Chapter 14: The Soil Bleeds for Redemption
Warning: May be sadness ahead.
"Do you know where you are?" A voice spoke quietly in Hichigo's ear.
The juvenile lion opened an eye and jumped up startled by what he saw.
"Do you know who I am?" The voice spoke as a confident calm hand stroked through the beginning of Hichigo's mane. "I have been waiting a long time for you to receive me..."
The lion rolled over and came face to face with a red headed man wearing a golden kimono decorated with a striped design. Beside the man there was an elder white lioness with glowing golden eyes. She stood beside the man looking at Hichigo.
Hichigo moved away a few feet not trusting the human before him. He bore his fangs in fear as he moved across the smooth tiled floor. He did not understand where he was. Just a minute before he had been asleep next to his mother's bed in the family den. How had he come to this place... He did not know.
"Do not bare your fangs..." Came a soothing familiar voice.
Hichigo looked up and paused... It was impossible she had died... He shook his head not trusting his eyes.
Before Hichigo was an elderly woman with shoulder lenght white hair and bright golden eyes. She walked from beside the man and reached out to him. "My grandson... Do you know why you are here?"
Hichigo shook his head.
"Your brother is in danger..." Ichiko spoke quietly. "It is only now that you've opened enough for us to reach you..." She spoke in a whisper as a bit of the world around them changed.
Hichigo looked over and shook his head disapprovingly. What he saw was impossible. Ulquiorra on the ground before Kuroda in a clearing. The puma was fighting to stand up but was being held down by four wolves. He growled and hissed trying to stand.
Hichigo could hear Ulquiorra's rather panicked words very clearly.
"You can't! You can't take him from me!" The raven haired male screamed as whatever he was looking at began to distress him.
Kuroda smiled down at Ulquiorra. "But of course I can... Grimshaw will kill him."
Ulquiorra's eyes opened wider than Hichigo had ever seen them as tears began to fall silently from the puma.
"I warned you... Didn't I puma..." Kuroda's voice was gleeful as if he took joy in the other's pain. " Take refuge in my sister and I will bring you suffering..."
Ulquiorra's eyes were dead set ahead of him.
The sound of cracking bone reached Hichigo's sensitive ears.
Ulquiorra seemed to lose control of himself as he began screaming.
This frightened Hichigo as an onlooker. Of the three of them Ulquorra had always been the quiet reserved partner who only spoke when spoken to or if it was something important. He had always been the level headed opposite of Grimmjow.
Ichiko went over to Hichigo and gently touched his face. "You must go now hurry!" She encouraged him as a sharp pain emitted from his chest.
Hichigo's heart clenched in his chest as he bolted awake knocking into his mother's bed waking her as he jumped to his feet. He walked around wide eyed in a circle for a moment disorientated.
"Hi... Hichigo?" His mother asked as she sat up in bed.
Hichigo turned to look at her and noticed his father was also awake and quietly watching him.
The fact that it was daytime meant Hichigo could not communicate with his parents and instead let out a distressed sound and then hurried out of the den. He had a feeling he needed to find Ulquiorra and Grimmjow or something was going to go terribly wrong.
Hichigo ran down the path he had walked down not even an hour before. He made it to where he and Grimmjow had parted ways when the air became heavy with the scent of blood. Hichigo opened his mouth slightly and as he began to register the scent there his eyes opened wider and he took off towards the origins.
The young white lion ran further up the path and right into the clearing were Grimmjow's body lay in a puddle of blood. The white lion stood motionless and still on the path eyes wide and unblinking. His nostrils flared for a moment as if he was trying to sense something other then the scene before him.
Grimmjow's was on his side back facing Hichigo still and motionless at the distance Hichigo stood from it.
Hichigo continued to stand there frozen in place even as his father and Ichigo ran past him to see to Grimmjow.
The black maned lion leaned near Grimmjow's neck and saw the deep gashes there.. He looked down and noticed Ichigo was staring at Grimmjow's abdomen. His oldest son's entrails were visible through a single wound in his abdomen.
Isshin slowly bent down and nuzzled Grimmjow's head being extremely gentle with the maltese.
Hichigo twitched when his older brother walked slowly up to him and gently nuzzled him. Inside he was numb and cold. Grimmjow was dead. Hichigo pushed past his older brother and made his way over to the maltese.
He was as still and motionless as Hichigo perceived him to be. He slowly laid himself down beside the older feline and tried to let himself go. He could not perceive a life without his older brother. Grimmjow had always been there since the moment he was born. The concept of existing without him was unimaginable.
Ichigo tried hard to get his little brother to rise but he only remained on his side as his breathing began to slow.
Isshin looked to his son and almost as if it was understood he hurried back to the den to get Masaki then he'd go and fetch Urahara and Renji.
In another part of the forest, two maltese tigers walked slowly back towards Kuroda's new base. The female had a slight limp from where she'd been attacked by Grimmjow in retaliation before the male had brought him down.
The two tigers entered the camp and were greeted by the wolves that had at one point pursued them. They did not regard the wolves in the slightest as they headed to Kuroda's tent surprised to find it empty.
The male maltese growled low in his throat and made the female wait there while he went to locate Kuroda.
It did not take long for the maltese tiger to find his Lord in a clearing speaking to an all black puma. The puma's alabaster skin shined in the sunlight highlighting his black ears and tear marks down his face. His dignified face was smeared with tears and dirt as the thin chest heaved from obvious distress.
"Ulquiorra... You have suffered because you insisted on following Lady Kaguya... I as your God forgive you..." Kuroda spoke quietly as he placed a hand forward and gently pat puma's head. "If only you'd listened to me in the beginning and done your job."
Ulquiorra shook his head free of Kuroda's hand and received an uppercut for his troubles.
"Lord Kuroda he's always been as useless as a wet log. We should just do away with him now..." Akuron commented walking into the clearing. His dark eyes lingered longer than necessary on the younger male's body.
Kuroda looked to Akuron then turned to the Maltese. " Come forward..."
The tiger stepped into the clearing and changed forms. He stood tall with short cut electric blue hair and strong azure blue eyes. He was covered in old and new battle scars from years of living beyond the divide of the world.
"Ulquiorra, this is Grimshaw..." Kuroda began forcing the puma to look at the Maltese.
Ulquiorra tried to look away he looked a lot like Grimmjow.
" He will be yours to do with as you please. Consider him spoils since he was that rouge's mate." Kuroda said tossing the puma to the maltese's feet.
Akuron looked upset by Kuroda's decision but said nothing.
Grimshaw nodded and dragged Ulquiorra from the clearing where they both returned to their animal forms.
Ulquiorra cursed himself. He knew trying to leave Kuroda would cause something like this and yet... The years he'd spent under Kaguya were the happiest he'd ever lived. He let his mind drift to those times as he obediently submitted to this new alpha even if it was only in body. He was a beta and he knew how to survive as one.
Once the two felines were gone Kuroda turned to Akuron, "Now Aku-kun... how are we to dispose of that human?"
The Soil Bleeds For Redemption ends
No Bonus Materials but I have released a new fanfiction. It's a Byakuya X Ichigo fanfiction titled Science & Faith.
Please Read & Review.
Grimmjow could live or die based upon what you guys think :D