So it took a bit to get up since I got stuck halfway through and was just like…Uh what now? My brother told me to make it fluffy because I hadn't had much fluff lately since it's been a bit heavy with the whole thing of them attacking and the meeting and all that. So this is a fun chap. This picks up right at the end of the last chapter, enjoy.
()()()()
Chapter 24: Grimmjow's second release? Roller coasters, Magic and Clowns.
()()()()
The dust cleared and everyone looked on in confusion. Grimmjow was standing in front of Clair yes, and he still had his cat ears and bone tail. But instead of bone covering his whole body he was back in his espada uniform and his hair was much shorter though not as short as normal reaching the just between his shoulder baldes. The bone tiara that had been on his forehead was now a full mask resembling a feline baring it's fangs the teal markings were on the mask as well. In his hands he now held tonfa like weapons. The long part was a blade and it wrapped the whole way around to the front of his hand. The portions over each knuckle looked like pointy brass knuckles. The part in his hand came out past his grip and connected to where the blade stopped to help give support so it wouldn't collapse into his fingers. His forearms still had the bone armor to protect it from the side of the blade for when he needed to block. "What...? This isn't...?"
"Your hollow hole is gone..." Clair breathed out as she fell to her knees completely drained. "You...you did what we were hoping for way back when...you switched over to a visord."
"I what? Seriously!? But how?! And what's with these blades?! What happened to Pantera?"
"I think those are Pantera." Urahara said coming of to get a better look, "Apparently along with changing from arrancar to visord your release switched to a shikai...how very curious..."
"So...how's the mask work?" Grimmjow asked confused. Ichigo chuckled and explained enough that Grimmjow was able to remove it. When he did so his ears changed back to normal the bone tail disappeared as well and his hair shortened the rest of the way. "This bone didn't go away." he pointed to his arms.
"Perhaps its part of the shikai...you are still holeless and you don't have any mask left on your face, I think it's safe to assume that you've really made the switch. Completely amazing, though if you don't mind I would like to run some tests." Grimmjow nodded the blades going back to just being his katana as he let himself slump to the ground breathing heavily. "Though we can do that later after all of you rest up and eat something I'm sure you are all very tired."
"A nap and food sounds lovely right now." Grimmjow agreed.
"Well we need to get you all upstairs then come on." they all went up and tended their wounds while Tessai made dinner for them all.
"Ow..." Clair remarked calmly looking at her arm. "That's going to take a bit to heal."
"It's clear to the bone...how are you not screaming in pain?" Phoenix asked before shooting Urahara a fierce glare who hid behind his fan.
"It did hurt but now it doesn't I think my brain turned off the pain switch since it hurt too much." she shrugged her uninjured arm.
"That makes sense I guess. Looks like we pushed Grimmjow a bit to hard though he's already out of it." Phoenix chuckled. Grimmjow was using Clair's lap as a pillow as she healed his back and side but had fallen asleep as she did so.
"Well we went for more then an hour and a half, and we weren't being very kind. Less kind then usual anyway." Ryu said as Yue finished healing his chest. "You need healed too Phoenix."
"I'll get there I want to fix Clair's arm up it's her dominate arm after all. She kinda needs to be able to draw."
"You look like you are about to fall over let Tora finish up and get some rest." Ryu ordered. Phoenix sighed and backed off letting Tora take his place healing Clair's arm. Ryu started to heal him as he grumbled about his stubbornness.
"Not my fault it runs in the family." Phoenix countered.
"I realize that, she's just as bad. You are one of the only ones she ever backs down from." Yoruichi came in and saw how beat up everyone was and asked if a bomb had gone off or something.
"Or something. Clair woke up as the Center and joined in, and we went for longer then our usual hour, then we tried to push Grimmjow's want to protect Clair by my going after her and the rest keeping him away. But it wasn't quite enough so Urahara took my place and went after Clair since I would never seriously injure her and when he did that to her arm and went to stab her chest Grimmjow broke free from us and stopped him by becoming a visord." Phoenix explained as she sat next to him to help heal him, while Clair hadn't done much, everything she had managed to do was right on its mark and did some nice damage.
"I look like a burnt marshmallow..." Clair complained looking at all her burns that Yue was working on.
"Sorry." Phoenix apologized before yawning. "A~h~ tired... I think Grimmjow has the right idea." he let himself 'fall' on to Yoruichi's lap and closed his eyes "Comfy." he mumbled. She chuckled and just kept healing him. Eventually everyone was healed and napping till Tessai brought the food out then they ate and went back to napping for a bit since they were still too exhausted to drive safely. After letting them be for awhile Urahara woke them up and asked Grimmjow to come with him to run some tests.
"So?"
"It'll take me a day or so to figure everything out. I'll let you know, for now you and the others should head home for some more rest."
"Sounds good to me." he went back out to find Ichigo and Tora already gone. "Yo we can leave now."
"Good." Clair said getting up and stretching. Everyone said their goodbyes and headed home. "Night." Clair went straight to her room and collapsed on the bed falling asleep. The boys chuckled and followed suit heading for their own rooms.
()()()()
A few days later Urahara called them to the shop when they got there they found Shinji and the other visords there. "Um hello?"
"Hi there Urahara told us what happened we decided we wanted to see it for ourselves." Shinji said cheerfully told them. Grimmjow stared at him blankly. "Well aren't you just a little ray if sunshine."
"I was up most of the night chasing hollows. So sorry for not seeming happy to see you..." he huffed as he sat "I guess this means you got the results and they said I am a visord now?"
"Sorta."
"Sorta?" Grimmjow and the others repeated.
"You're an odd case much like Kurosaki. You see Ichigo is three things rolled into one as we know but his hollow is different from the hollow selves of these guys here." he motioned to the visords, "However we aren't talking about him we are here about you. You were a hollow who became an arrancar meaning you gained a bit of shinigami and a bit of your humanity back along with it. However you were still very much hollow in actions and thought. I think your shift actually started back when Kurosaki-san saved you from Nnoitora. Then when you met Clair you were introduced to many other things quite rapidly. You suddenly found yourself attached to her and found a want to protect her."
"Are you going somewhere with this?" Hyori interrupted.
"Yes when she called for you, you reacted in a defensive way. You saved her at risk to yourself which is very unhollow like then you found a strength you hadn't had before to continue protecting her. That is when I first got the idea that you might be able to make the switch. Your power was much more shinigami in that moment, of course it nearly went completely back to what it has been after you passed out but it still stayed slightly altered. I've been keeping tabs on it through your gigai and it seems that every time you needed to defend it would start to switch more and go back less. Till just a few days ago where it switched completely and yet it ...in a way didn't switch at all."
"That makes no sense." Ichigo complained.
"He isn't a visord as they or even you are Ichigo. Though like you he is something we haven't seem before. Grimmjow you are still technically hollow, but you have rediscovered your heart, your soul. Basically you cleansed yourself." Urahara said cheerfully. Everyone stared at him wide eyed.
"Wait if he cleansed himself then how is he still a hollow?" Shinji asked. "That doesn't make sense."
"He cleansed his main soul, the one that makes him Grimmjow, and a few of the other more powerful ones, the rest of the souls that make him up are still in a hollow state which is why he still has the hollow powers."
"Huh? What do you mean the rest of the souls?" Hyori asked dumbly.
"Do you even know how hollows get to the different stages of power, monkey brains?" Clair asked exasperatedly.
"You little-!"
"At first a hollow feeds on normal souls then sometimes they will begin to hunger for their own kind and after roughly...I think it was one hundred other hollows have been eaten and their power absorb they become menos or gillion whatever you want to call them, you know this at least right?"
"...of course I know that..."
"You hesitated." Tora teased but before Hyori could retort Shinji spoke up.
"I thought menos where just a bunch of hollows all stacked on top of each other and melded together? That's what we were told anyway."
"Yes but, think Shinji, how much does soul society actually care about the finer details of what a hollow is?" he flinched a bit, "To them its all 'they are all corrupt and must be dealt with' they don't really care past that from what I've seen. Continuing from there, if their main personality, or rather the main soul, is strong enough they will maintain themselves and not become, well for lack of a better term zombies, and will continue to feed off of other menos, there by gaining hundreds and hundreds more souls. If they are lucky they move on to the adhuches stage where they have to continue to feed or risk regression to the menos stage where they will get stuck. You with me so far?" Hyori ground her teeth, "In other words minimum souls within Grimm here is somewhere in the thousands. And if I'm understanding correctly his main soul which like you said makes him Grimmjow, and the mains which would have been the most powerful in some of the ones he ate, are all cleansed and purified?" she asked Urahara.
"Yes, but the rest are not. From what I can tell those hundreds of others are still very hollow in nature but as they are not of their own mind anymore and the have in a way merged with Grimmjow they merely make it so he continues to have hollow powers, but not have an inner hollow."
"I'm just as confusing as you are." Grimmjow joked poking Ichigo.
"Welcome to the club of weirdness." he grinned.
"So in other words...Grimmjow's just achieved what Aizen was trying to do by becoming a true hybrid." Clair said.
"In a way I guess you could say that, yes."
"Joy." Grimmjow muttered.
"Just be glad this didn't happen when he was still around imagine what he would have done." Phoenix offered and Grimmjow shivered at the horror that thought presented.
"Wait! How is it that you know how all that works then!?" Hyori asked "All that hollow stuff?"
"Grimmjow's flash back in the anime to how he got up to the adhuches level and met his fraccion. And how they put the stupid idea of him being the king of Huecho Mundo into his head." Clair shrugged off.
"Very stupid." Ichigo agreed and Grimmjow growled at him but Ichigo just smirked.
"So is he more powerful now or is he still at the same level he was?" Phoenix asked bringing them back to the topic at hand.
"I'd say he's more powerful yes, but as he seemed to only have gone into a shikai state, I think it's safe to assume he'd be able to get stronger. Which of course just means more training not that that bothers you I'm sure."
"No it doesn't. I'll need to figure out how to use those...what ever they are anyway."
"So shall we head down?" Tora suggested.
"Not me it's Saturday I'm heading to the theater, later." Phoenix said getting up.
"What about Yoruichi?" Clair asked looking around.
"She just texted me saying she was there already. Bye." he left.
"So we are doing important stuff and he's going in a date..." Yue complained. "That's hardly fair."
"Well he did ask her out at practice there really isn't anything we can do about it now." Ryu said standing as well. "Let's go." they went down, Ichigo and Grimmjow leaving their bodies in the room before going down.
"It's still weird..." Grimmjow said running a hand over his holeless stomach, "To know I'm not in my gigai and that it's not there."
"But I bet it's a nice weird." Clair said with a smile, "to know the reason is you're whole again."
"Yeah." he smiled as well.
"Sappy~" Hyori yelled at them from a bit away.
"Shut it, we have every right to be sappy since we are dating. Your just jelly since you don't have a boyfriend you ill tempered monkey!" Clair yelled back but it was playful not that Hyori cared. Love had to hold her back so she wouldn't go after Clair.
"That was smart." Grimmjow scoffed.
"No but it was funny. Let's get training." she changed to her battle form.
"...hmm..."
"What's wrong?"
"Well...I mean..." he drew Pantera and just kind stared at her confused "is the command still the same?"
"I'd assume so yes. Just try it see what happens."
"Hm... Grind Pantera!" the sword glowed and shifted changing to the tonfa like weapons again. "Alright...now...how do these work? I've never seen weapons like these before."
"Use them like you would the blades you had on your arms, the front part would be for punching then you follow up with the rest of the blade." Clair said looking them over closer now that she wasn't tired and hurt. "You can also probably spin them around and stab with them." she shifted her bow to match his weapons so that she could show him what she meant.
"You really can change it at will." He commented as he let his own blades spin in his grip they only spun halfway because the part that went in front of his fingers would stop it but it still allow the long part of the blade to point forward and to be used that way.
"You should bring your mask out too Grimmjow, get used to having it again you know?" Ichigo said.
"How...?"
"The reverse of what you did to take it off." he nodded and did so pulling the feline like mask on his other features changing as well, his hair got a bit longer his ears changed and the bone tail showed up again. "Alright, let's get started." Ichigo brought his own mask out already having gone into bankai. They split off into pairs, Grimmjow with Ichigo, Tora and Yue matched up and Clair went with Ryu.
"It is a good bit different isn't it, our features don't change even Ichigo's don't." Shinji observed.
"He was in his released form when it happened I'm assuming it has to do with that but there's no way to test it." Urahara explained. "They have all gotten stronger though over the past few days, training as hard as they have been its not really that much of a surprise considering what they know they're up against."
"You said they spoke of their home?" Kensei asked.
"Yes but they didn't elaborate Grimmjow was talking to Ichigo about it, but I was to far away to hear them and I was more concerned with what that meant for the rest of us. If you want to know you'll have to ask."
"You make it sound like you aren't planning on asking."
"Oh I plan too but not right now I'm more interested in what's going on with Grimmjow." they continued to watch for awhile before the visords took their leave. By the end of the day Grimmjow had gotten fairly good at using his altered powers. They called it quits around nine and headed home.
"That went well."
"Yeah." Grimmjow agreed with a yawn "Do you think Phoenix will be back?"
"Who knows maybe, maybe not regardless do you want to watch the second half of the seventh Harry Potter?"
"Yes... Does Snape die? Please tell me he dies?!"
"...You don't want to know the answer to that." Clair muttered as they went inside.
"Damn so he lives is that it?"
"I never said that."
"So he does die?!"
"Never said that either. I said you don't want to know. Rather you won't." she made some quick dinner for them to eat on the couch as they watched.
"...Wha...wha...but, but...wha..." he mumbled at the scene with Snape's memories.
"I told you." they finished the movie. "So...still hate Snape?"
"...No...but, but, but... It's not fair! The, they and them and why did all those...why?"
"It was a war Grimmjow people die in wars, even magical ones."
"But Lupin~~~ and Tonks~~~" he whined.
"I told you it would tug at your heart strings. But that's the end no more we'll have to find something else to watch now. Maybe PotC."
"PotC?"
"Pirates of the Caribbean."
"Pirates? Sounds...boring."
"You said that about wizards." she smirked.
"Ah...guess I did."
"We won't start it tonight though, I'm sleepy." she said before yawning, "Night Grimm." she gave him a kiss and headed down the hall.
"Night." just then he heard the door open and close and looked over the back of the couch. "Bout time you got back."
"haha yeah well we saw a movie walked around town till we got hungry ate some diner walked some more then decided it was late and that we should head home. How was training?"
"Not bad. We finished the movie."
"And~"
"I hate you."
"Why?" Phoenix smirked.
"You could have told me about Snape!"
"Nope would have ruined the movie! Night!" Phoenix waved off as he headed down the hall.
"Come on you could have at least given me a hint!" Grimmjow said following.
"Don't see why it matters now as you've already watched it and now know yes?" Phoenix shrugged and went into his room closing the door.
"jerk." he shook his head and went to his own room to go to sleep.
()()()()
Grimmjow woke to Clair poking him in the face "Huh what?"
"Get dressed we're going somewhere." she said cheerfully then nearly skipped from his room. "And don't go back to sleep!" she called from the hallway.
"Mm..." he rolled out of bed and got dressed wondering how she was so cheerful even thought it was morning as he headed to the kitchen yawning "Why am I awake?"
"Because we are going out!"
"Random."
"Triple date, us, Tora and Ichigo, Yue and Ryu. It was Phoenix's idea, you know to give us all a chance to relax and have some fun since we've been so focused on the fight ahead. He had his fun day yesterday so today the rest of us get to have fun!" Clair explained setting two plates on the table. "Come on eat up."
"Why can't they go on their own dates?"
"We aren't all going to be together the entire day." she laughed eating her breakfast. After finishing they headed to the car.
"So where exactly are we going?"
"Somewhere."
"Come on." he whined playfully.
"An amusement park."
"Isn't that for like little kids?" he asked confused he had seen commercials for it.
"Adults go too, and the rides are fun and there are games and different stuff to go see. It's been awhile since I went to one a year or two maybe. I was still in college when I went." she told him. "It'll bit a nice reprieve from all the training and seriousness."
"Hmm~ I guess how long till we get there?"
"Thirty minutes give or take." Clair said turning the radio on. They talked about random stuff as they made their way to the park. It took awhile to find a parking place but found one relatively close to the entrance. "Here we are!" Clair cheered as they got out of the car.
"Wow...what are all those?" Grimmjow asked pointing to the tall rides that you could see over the wall.
"Those are the different rides some are fast some are slow others are a mix and some spin some flip in circles. Lots of things to choose from, come on." they headed for the gate to find or wait for the other four. "Tora!" Clair waved, "Ichigo!"
"Hey you made it! Ryu and Yue still aren't here."
"Yue probably didn't want to wake up." Clair chuckled, she hadn't been too keen when Phoenix had woken her up at first either till he mentioned the amusement park. "Guess we wait, you look awake." she said to Ichigo who had just given a big yawn.
"I was studying last night."
"Oh. This was kind of a spur of the moment sorry."
"It's fine, hey Grimmjow."
"Yo."
"The circus is here too!" Tora cheered. "We are definitely going to one of the shows yes?!"
"Definitely!" Clair agreed.
"Isn't the circus for little kids? Isn't it just stupid clowns and balloon animals?"
"Some but not this one! There are acrobats of all kinds. They have some trained animals and fire!"
"Fire? You are happy about fire?" Grimmjow asked confused.
"Fire jugglers fire hoops fire this fire that it'll be awesome!"
"You're weird."
"Yep!"
"Yo sorry for taking awhile, someone didn't want to get out of bed." Ryu said walking up to them with a sleepy looking Yue trailing after him. "Shall we get to it? I have the coupons here for half price entry and all day passes to the rides."
"Sweetness! Let's go! Yay!" Tora and Clair yelled like little kids running the rest of the way to the entrance and bounced up and down while they waited for the others to get there.
"How are they so energetic?" Grimmjow chuckled as he and the others got to them. They got their passes which were just a plastic blue wristbands and headed in. "So now what?"
"I think we should stick together for a bit, split up till lunch then go to the circus performance at one." Ryu suggested looking at the schedule for the attractions.
"Sounds good to me." the rest agreed. "We should start on a smaller coaster so Grimmjow can get used to what will happen." Yue offered.
"Whatever." he shrugged he had no idea what was going on so he was just going to go with what they said. Ryu led them to a smallish ride that was medium speed. Clair and Grimmjow took the second seat, Ryu and Yue behind them then Ichigo and Tora.
"There's no loop-de-loops on this one is there?" Clair asked curiously.
"No but there are sharp turns and such." Ryu answered as the ride started.
"slow~" Grimmjow complained leaning forward on the hand rail that was keeping them in their seats.
"Just wait." he heard the others chuckle. Then the first drop happened startling him.
"Whoa!"
"Ha-ha!" Clair laughed and cheered as they went. The ride came to a stop and they got off. "So what did ya think?"
"It was fun."
"Onto a looper!" Yue cheered now fully awake.
"Looper?"
"She means one of those." Ichigo pointed at one of the taller rides as the cars on it did a few loops on the track.
"Oh, ok why not."
"There was this one time Phoenix was on a ride with a friend and it had like a breakdown and they got stuck upside down for like fifteen minutes." Clair said remembering their teen years.
"Wow that would suck." Tora cringed at the thought of getting stuck.
"Yeah me and the friend's sister hadn't gotten on we were too dizzy from the last one so we just sat and stared at them. They were only about twenty feet up so we were talking to them. It was pretty funny actually. From my perspective anyway." Clair explained as they got in line.
"What's all that stuff?" Grimmjow asked pointing at the games.
"Places you can win prizes, most are rigged if you ask me. But if you know what you are doing you can win stuff. Normally the prizes are like stuffed animals and the like but some have cooler stuff." Ichigo said.
"Stuffed animals are awesome!" Clair defended.
"Seriously you're like what? 20 something?"
"You haven't seen her room obviously." Grimmjow laughed. "They are on the bed, in a box, on the book shelf, she has just a few."
"Wow~"
"They're memories! I can tell you where and when I got each and everyone of them!"
"Panicy's smurf doll?"
"Claw game at a carnival when I was twelve. Phoenix won it for me."
"The elephant on the dresser?"
"Valentines gift from my mom."
"An elephant?" Ichigo asked.
"He's cute I'll show you next time you're over."
"What about the mouse with that red and white striped thing?"
"The candy cane mouse was a stocking stuffer from my grandma on Christmas. Almost our turn!"
"How many would you say you have?" Ryu asked curiously.
"Well over twenty less then sixty."
"That's way too damn many! Even Yuzu doesn't have that many!"
"Well its not like I've stopped collecting them just because I'm an adult! I plan on getting more today as well to add yet another memory to the group!"
"Good grief."
"Hey just think if she ever has kids then she won't have to worry about buying toys." Yue snickered when Clair and Grimmjow blushed and started to stutter.
"Y-Yue!"
"What it's true, our turn, get on get on!" she pushed them to the cars.
"We haven't even been dating three weeks and she talking about us having kids..." Clair mumbled as she strapped herself in.
"I don't even know if that would be possible..." Grimmjow whispered in a mix of embarrassment and sadness.
"Well having kids at the moment is so not high on my list of things to do so don't worry about." she smiled and patted his arm. He smiled back as the ride started then growled at the comment of 'so fluffy and cute' coming from behind them, though he couldn't tell if it was Yue or Tora. Two rides later they decided it was time to split up. Tora and Ichigo headed to watch one of the shows while Ryu and Yue went to get something small to snack on since they hadn't had a chance to eat. Clair and Grimmjow just wandered around looking at stuff. "It's so huge and fluffy!" she squealed suddenly pointing at one of the prizes for the game they were walking past. It was a giant stuffed cat.
"If you win it now though you'll have to carry it all day though." Grimmjow reminded her, though smiled at the fact that said stuffed cat was a panther. "We can come back before we leave, right?"
"Ok hold on," she spun looking around the area. "Ok I know where it is now, onward!" he laughed and started waking again. "Hey wanna race?" she asked pointing to the rock wall.
"Huh?"
"You use the colorful things to scale your way to the top and hit the little button first one up wins."
"Wins what?" he smirked.
"Depends." she said giving a similar smirk in return. "So you game?"
"Yeah." they got strapped in their harnesses and started to climb. It took Grimmjow a bit to get the hang of it but eventually stayed even with Clair. They hit their button at the same time and. Went back to the ground. "So~ we tied."
"Yes we did...hmm..." she kissed him on the cheek, "complimentary prize." she smiled and went to start walking but he grabbed her and kissed her cheek as well making her giggle.
"You get one too."
"Thank you." she laughed as what was probably the little brother of the person running the rock wall made a gagging sound at their fluffiness. "Trust me kid one day you won't think it's gross."
"No I won't!" he shot back making the adults laugh again. The two went on a few more rides and played a few other games that didn't give prizes then headed for the larger food area to meet with the others.
"Having fun?"
"Yes actually."
"Even though amusement parks are for kids?"
"Shut up, it's amazing though how many adults are here."
"It's the weekend most people are off work so they came to unwind. Hey guys over here!" she waved to the others. They ate and shared about what had happened during their time apart. Yue had convinced Ryu to go on a water ride with her so both were a good bit wet. Tora had dragged Ichigo onto the tunnel of love ride which he said wasn't as bad as he thought it would have been. "You were probably making out the whole time so I can imagine why you'd say it wasn't bad."
"We were not!" he blushed.
"Yeah it was only half the time." Tora laughed and Ichigo's blush got darker.
"Isn't it normally the girls that are supposed to get embarrassed over that sort of thing?" Ryu laughed.
"Yes but Ichi is a prude remember Yoru-san proved that." tora laughed as ichigo hid his face in his arms with a groan. Grimmjow patted his head telling him it was ok. "Oh?"
"What?"
"How do you know it's ok?"
"Because he's shy." Clair smirked.
"Clair!" he whined blushing a bit.
"Seriously?!"
"Yep the first time he kissed my hand was so funny his face got so red and he kept tripping on himself trying to get out of my room once he realized what he did. It was sooooo cute!" it was now Grimmjow's turn to hide his face and groan.
"I don't have any funny stories like that." Yue pouted. "Ryu isn't a prude and he isn't shy."
"Yeah and she doesn't give two shits about who knows we're together." Ryu added still chuckling at the other two boys.
"Though it's amazing to think that Grimmjow is shy when it comes to stuff like that."
"Phoenix mentioned that too." Grimmjow muttered his face still buried in his arms.
"He told you about how in fan fictions you are the 'sex-ta'?" Tora asked chuckling, he nodded.
"Wait what?" Ichigo looked up confused.
"Because he's such a cocky bastard in the show and handsome to boot, in almost every fiction you find he's this player who's more often then not a sex fiend. There are those that don't do that though but some take it too far and turn him into this stuttering little...Hanataro..."
"Wow..."
"Yeah."
"Can we please move on to a different subject?" Grimmjow whined.
"Fine, fine. How long till the show starts?"
"Fifteen minutes we should get moving if we want to at least try and get good seats." they headed to the huge red and gold tent that the circus took place in, most of the good seats were taken but people recognized Yue and Ryu from the band and scooted closer within their groups to make room for them. "You didn't have to do that." Ryu said smiling kindly.
"No we wanted to, we love your music! Ooo can you sign this for me too!" one of the girls asked and the two laughed nodding as they sat. Ichigo got caught by some kids from his school, him and Tora sitting nearer to them but they were still good seats. Clair and Grimmjow stayed with Yue and Ryu though since they were pretty much right in front.
"What's that stuff up there?" Grimmjow pointed at the ropes.
"For the acrobats to swing on and walk across and stuff." Clair explained. A few minutes later the Ringmaster entered bidding them all a grand welcome and began his own act but got 'interrupted' by some clowns that came running out making everyone laugh. He sent them away after some chasing and Tom foolery and went back to his presentation of the first act which was a group of three jugglers and two assistants. They started simple off on their own then started working together and using different things. Grimmjow was very impressed when they all got on top of giant balls in the middle of their juggling and stayed balanced.
The Ringmaster came back out followed 'sneakingly' by the clowns. The one blew a horn in his ear and got chased while the other got up on the ring masters stand and started to mime only to get chased away. The last was messing around in the crowd, poking at people and trying to sit on people's laps and other such silliness. He noticed Grimmjow and came over looking at him and tilting his head then reached out and patted his hair. Clair had to keep a hand on his arm to make him stay put and not react badly to his space being invaded. The clown after patting his hair pulled his hand away and gave a surprised look at his hand and pointed to the bluebell flower that was now there then back at Grimmjow's hair. He looked around then at Clair and dramatically dropped to a knee holding the flower out which she accepted with a laugh. He made some bashful movements before getting pulled away blowing kisses as he was. Grimmjow was confused beyond belief at what had just happened and the others were just laughing. "Would you like me to explain?"
"No...I think I get it...he was acting like he got the out of my hair right?"
"Yeah then was being a silly flirt when he gave it to me." she finished as the next act started it was the high wire act.
"They are crazy..."
"This is the circus did you expect anything less?" Yue laughed "But it takes a lot of skill to do this stuff too and they practice in safe environments so they aren't that crazy." he nodded watching as one pretended to lose his balance but 'saved' himself getting a big applause. "He's the joker of the group."
"The joker?"
"The one that does the stuff he 'shouldn't' and gets everyone going then it turns out to be fine."
"Oh." after the act was done the clowns once more returned the one wearing the Ringmaster's hat. "What the?"
He started to talk about the next act when the Ringmaster came out and demanded his hat back but of course had to chase the clown for it. The others then went on to do 'magic tricks' if you could call them that. They were more just the silly things like 'oh I took my finger off', but really they just bent it.
The clowns didn't come out after the next act had finished and you could hear everyone asking where they were. A magician came out next and after several tricks asked for three volunteers. Yue raised her hand and grabbed Clair's arm raising it as well. Clair just let her do it not expecting to get picked but she did, her Yue and one other girl. "Yay!" Yue cheered, Clair just smiled as she followed her friend out into the ring. There were three tall boxes with chairs in them and he had each girl sit in one. He closed the lids. Inside Clair looked around as she waited for what ever was going to happen to happen, the lid opened again the magician going from 'presto!' to 'why are you still here' but it was part of it Clair could tell but couldn't help but wave and say,
"Still me." he scratched his head and closed the lid again, this time she got poked and looked to see one of the clowns in a secret compartment he put a figure on his lips and did a hand movement to say switch places she nodded. As quietly as possible they switched so now Clair was in the bottom of the box.
Grimmjow's leg was bouncing up and down as he waited making Ryu chuckle, "Chill out they'll be fine."
"I am chilled out." he snapped. Ryu shrugged as the magician waved his arms dramatically towards the boxes as all the sides fell down from each revealing the three clowns. "Huh?" Grimmjow asked dumbly.
"cool." Ryu smirked. The clowns ran around the one that had done the bit with the flower spotted Grimmjow again and came running over looking around moving him and Ryu out of the way. Then started to mimic what he had done with the flower and pointing to Clair's seat and pretending to cry that she wasn't there. As this was happening the boxes were being taken away. The other two clowns patted him on the back.
"Not sure why he's so upset she's my girlfriend." Grimmjow huffed crossing his arms. The clown looked at him mortified and pulled a plastic heart from his shirt and hugged it shaking his head at Grimmjow. "Mine not yours." he played along with what he thought was happening. The heart broke in two and the clown started crying again looking up and showing him the heart but did a double take to somewhere behind Grimmjow then climbed over the seats to take another girl's hand and kiss it and gave her the suddenly put back together heart. He was then pulled away by the other clowns again as he blew her kisses. Grimmjow and Ryu rolled their eyes. "I do wonder where she is though."
"Not a clue." to more tricks later another set piece was brought out for him it was a platform. He did some stuff said some words the some firecrackers and smoke went off on the platform covering the area around it, when the smoke dispersed Clair, Yue and the other girl were standing there. "Now we know." Ryu clapped along with everyone as the magician thanked the three and let them go back to their seats. "Howdy. So how'd it feel to be stuck in a box?"
"Cramped."
"What?"
"I'll explain later, the clowns are back!" Clair cheered.
"Yeah they came out after you disappeared, oh and your admirer now admires someone else."
"Oh how sad." she laughed. The rest of the show was just as fun going on for another thirty minutes. "That was great! I had fun."
"I loved the clowns! They were so cute and funny, the flirt was definitely the best of the three." Yue laughed.
"I like the prankster one better." Tora disagreed.
"Boo~"
"So did you guys hide in the bottom of those boxes?" Ichigo asked.
"Yeah the area was small and it was hard to switch places quietly but it was fun. And when they took us off to the back and got us out they explained what we needed to do for the second bit."
"So you just hid in a smaller box?" Grimmjow asked.
"Yeah, are you sad that that's all there is to the trick?"
"No not sad I just thought there would be more to it. So what now?"
"There's a water and lights show at the dolphin pool."
"Dolphins!" Yue and Tora squealed running off towards the pool.
"Guess that's where we are going."
"I am not sitting in the splash zone." Ryu grunted seeing where the girls had sat.
"Why not you're already wet?"
"But I'm almost dry!" he complained.
"Then sit up there we are sitting here." he huffed and sat behind them a few seats Clair joined the other two girls while Grimmjow and Ichigo sat with Ryu also not interested in getting wet. The show ended with the girls getting quite drenched along with the others in the splash zone. "That was fun, what next?"
"I say we wrap it up by going back to get whatever prizes we wanted to try for." Tora said as they walked down the path.
"Fluffy kitty here I come! Come on Grimmjow!" Clair grabbed his hand and dragged him off to the game she had seen the large stuffed animal. The others followed behind laughing. The game was called the frog hop. You get five rubber frogs and you put them on a catapult like thing that you hit with your hand to get them to try and fly into a bowl on a spinning table. "Alright here I go!" the first three almost made it but came short but the next two went in. "cool can I get that big one?"
"You need four for the big one, you can have one of these for getting two." he held up a bin of medium size stuffed animals she took a beagle puppy one.
"You try win the kitty for me!" she told Grimmjow.
"Fine. I just have to hit these into there right?" she nodded, the first one missed but only just, the next four went in. Well three and a half. "Does that count since it didn't fall out?" he asked pointing to the frog that was half in a bowl.
"Um...if it falls in when I poke it then yes." he poked it and it wobbled but didn't move so he poked it again and it fell in making Clair cheer. "Which one?" she pointed up at the panther which was almost as big as her.
"Yay!" she hugged it and kissed Grimmjow "Thank you!"
"Yep."
"My turn!" Tora led the way to one just down the path to a balloon and dart game. She quickly took out a bunch of balloons winning the toy she wanted. "Yue was there something you saw anywhere?"
"Um...not that I can remember. Huh?" she looked up at what Ryu had just put on her head it was a Cheshire cat hat complete with ears and a tail that hung down with her hair. "Oh! I forgot about seeing that! Thanks!"
"Of course." the girls were now satisfied with their winnings were ready to go so they all headed to the entrance to leave. "Today was fun."
"Yeah it was nice to relax for once." Ichigo agreed as he stretched holding a small cat toy he had won for Yuzu.
"Back into the fray tomorrow though." Yue sighed.
"We still have a good bit of the day left." Clair reminded as she looked at her watch. It was only four in the afternoon. "We can do something else."
"Yes but what?"
"I don't know I was just saying we could." she shrugged holding her cat around her shoulders. "Movie?"
"...Why not. See you at the theater." everyone went to their cars. They met at the theater and bickered over which movie to watch. After listening to ten minutes of arguing Grimmjow got bored and asked the attendant about all the movies since he didn't know what they were about and picked for everyone. "You what?"
"I picked, you all have to deal with my choice come on." they pouted as he wouldn't tell them what he chose, but once the movie started they were all fine.
"Nice choice Grimmjow. That was funny." Ryu said as they left the theater. "So now we head home I guess."
"Yep. Later all." Clair waved heading to her car. "Come one Grimm."
"I'm coming. Later." he told the others as they went to their cars as well. "That was fun."
"I'm glad you enjoyed it. What was your favorite part?"
"Of the movie or the day?"
"Either."
"The roller coasters were fun. But the movie was good too."
"You didn't like the clowns?" she chuckled.
"They were...interesting and had moments."
"Good enough I guess. I liked...the rock wall and getting the stuffed panther."
"I believe I was the one who actually got it."
"Exactly." she smiled at him "That's why it makes me happy." he blushed a bit and looked out the window. "I think I'll put him on my bed he can sleep next to me." Grimmjow choked on the air and started to cough making Clair laugh. "You are so easy to mess with."
"You're horrible!" he choked out.
"Oh would you rather I let you sleep there instead?" his eyes got huge and his face redder, "I guess it wouldn't be too much of a difference since you're a big kitty cat too. Just not as fluffy and soft. Well unless the mood calls for it I guess." Grimmjow groaned hiding his face while Clair smirked.
"Between you and your brother I'm not sure who is worse..."
"...depends on the time, place, and what the topic is. Cause sometimes I'm really bad and make him groan and others times it's him making me groan then sometimes we work together to make others groan."
"Others being me it seems."
"Yep!" he sighed at her cheerful reply. "Come on its not that bad."
"Says you! You're hardly ever on the receiving end!"
"Oh trust me it happens a lot more then you think. Its mainly Yue or Tora though that makes the comment." she shrugged. "Like that one about not needing to buy toys if I have children."
"Right..."
"I honestly don't see why you wouldn't be able to. I mean Isshin has kids he's not technically living."
"Yeah but he's not ...you know hollow..."
"You aren't exactly hollow anymore either. Besides I already told you having kids is not anywhere near the top of my 'things in life to do' list. So stop worrying about it, not to mention we've only been together for like two weeks or something. People don't normally have kids till after they are married. That isn't going to happen anytime soon either I'm sure."
"Married?"
"Ah...its the next step after dating. After being together as boyfriend/girlfriend for a good amount of time the guy will ask the girl to marry him. Which means they will makes vows to stay with each other always and not cheat and other stuff like that. You get rings and then you're married."
"Uh huh..."
"That wasn't a good explanation...alright um...it basically symbolizes the union of to people as one. Two souls coming together to form one heart between them. Does that make more sense?"
"Yeah."
"I think Ryu might be planning on asking Yue soon but he'll probably wait till all this shit is over to do it. They've been dating for almost two and a half years. They started dating pretty soon after meeting."
"So before me you seriously never had a boyfriend?"
"I seriously never had a boyfriend. I had friends that were male but none of them got that close to me."
"And Phoenix?"
"Nope he's never had a girlfriend. Of course for the longest time he wasn't even able to tell when a girl was flirting with him so that might have something to do with it." she giggled, "Course my problem was all my guy friends would say flirty stuff on a regular basis to me and my other friends so it was impossible to tell if they were being serious or not." she shrugged. "Not that it matters now though. Cause I have you."
"Yes you do." he smiled. The rest of the ride was random chatter about different stuff.
"Home sweet home." Clair said as they pulled into the garage. She got her stuffed toys and they headed inside. "Thanks for rolling out of bed and coming today."
"Of course." he smiled "Do I get a prize for coming though?" he smirked playfully. She tapped her chin as she hummed then pulled him down to her level by his shirt and kissed him. "Mm~"
*click flash*
"Phoenix!" Clair yelled looking to the side to see her brother with a huge grin and a camera in his hand. "Give me that!"
"No!" he ran away Clair shoved the stuffed animals at Grimmjow and chased him through the house till he jumped out the window and took off. "I'm going to print it!" he yelled back.
"Damn it!" she pouted falling onto the couch. Grimmjow dropped the dog toy on her head.
"Is it really that horrible?"
"Considering he'll probably show everyone and send it back home to our folks...yes, yes it is." she left the dog on her head, he sat next to her and held the panther up to her so it's face was at her cheek.
"He wants a kiss too~" he joked cheering in his head when she smiled. Sheet turned and kissed the stuffed animal. "Now me."
"You already got one." she smirked as he pouted.
"But it got interrupted..."
"So it did." she leaned over and kissed him again her hand going to his hair a his did the same. "That better?" she asked slightly out of breath it wasn't a full out kiss just their lips moving against each other but it was long.
"More?"
"Now don't get greedy. Kitty's already had some cream if he gets more he'll get fat."
"A cat analogy why did I expect anything less." he groaned pulling back. "I didn't actually taste you though..." he said with a sly smile trying to coax another kiss out of her.
"Lick your lips I'm sure I'll still be there." she gave an equally sly one back as she stood taking her toys to her room.
'Burn.' "Shut up..." he grumbled but smiled at the same time. Phoenix came back about an hour later and apparently Clair had been right as he had sent copies to friends and family. "She's going to kill you, you know?"
"mesh I'll just cook her favorite then she won't. Where is she by the way?"
"Art room. Who all did you send it to?"
"Parents, aunts and uncles, friends back in America, Atsuko, Ryu, Tora, Yue, and Yoruichi."
"So like everyone?"
"Yep."
"You really think cooking her favorite food will save you?"
"Um yes...?"
"That sound soo convincing."
"Whatever you going to help?"
"Sure. What's your family like you guys don't talk too much about them?"
"Just as strange as us...minus the powers of course. Our friends aren't that much different there then the ones we have here again minus the powers. There's not much to tell. Why?"
"Well its just sometimes things you say and then Clair's list of injuries that she told me about...I don't know."
"We lived in a rough neighborhood plenty of gangs that were always looking for some seemingly weak prey. They went after Clair a good bit since she's a girl but either she'd kick their butts or I'd show up and do it."
"So you had the same problem Ichigo does?"
"Pretty much. But some of the stuff we got hurt over was us being stupid plain and simple."
"You mean like when she said she jumped off a four story building for the heck of it?"
"Yeah like that. We free run."
"Free run?"
"Like in assassins creed where you climb up shit and jump from place to place only in real life you add acrobatic stuff to it. Speaking of how was your day at the amusement park?" Grimmjow told him about their day at the park as they got dinner ready. "Sounds like you had fun. That's good, go get Clair so she can eat."
"Alright. Clair foods done."
"Kay just a sec...there now I only have twenty more pages...joy...why did I become a manga artist again?" she asked herself out loud as she followed Grimmjow back to the kitchen.
"Because you like art and storytelling. And manga has both." Phoenix said setting the table. "Heard you were a part of a magic show."
"Yep it was fun. What did you do with that picture?"
"Oh you know just sent it to some people who didn't believe you were dating someone when I told them."
"So everyone back home?"
"Pretty much."
"I hate you."
"No you don't. I made your favorite food."
"I can see that I still don't like you right now, besides Grimmjow probably helped so you can't take all the credit." she said as she started to eat. Phoenix shrugged eating as well, "So what did you do all day?"
"Attempted writing a new song."
"Oh? Only attempting?"
"It's not going well...I'm stuck on the middle bit and can't get the cords to sound right."
"Guess you'll have to bring it up at the next band practice with Yue so she can help."
"Why can you help you write music too?"
"I'm not part of the band regardless of how often Yue tries to get me to be." Clair waved him off. "So plans for tomorrow?"
"You have work don't you?"
"No I'm just on call invade they need help for the contest showcase thing or if they really need something looked over they'll fax it to me. But other then that I'm off for the next few days."
"Training a bit I guess, but also making sure we get some time to relax. We don't need to overwork ourselves that could be bad."
"Right...well I'm going to watch Pirates." she cleaned her plate off and went to the living room to watch the movie Grimmjow and Phoenix following suite. "By the way I'm kicking your ass tomorrow in training for that picture Phoenix."
"Can't wait to see you try."
()()()()
Yay fluffies! Hope you like it. The thing about Phoenix getting stuck upside down in a roller coaster did actually happen to my brother. And like Clair I just sat and talked to him from the ground. Don't have a clue when the next chapter will be up, but your reviews will help me think, so do tell me things. Even if it's just 'nice chap' or something like that.