CHAPTER 29:

One month later...

A knock brought the two women around the white table out of their debate. A low ranking Arrancar stepped into the room and bowed to the two in the throne room, now also converted to the conference room. "Excuse me, High Council. The Ambassador of Seireitei has arrived."

"He may enter."

The Arrancar bowed and opened the doors to the ambassador. Before he was even one step in, a green and white blur went flying across the room and launched herself at her target. "ITSYGOOOOOO!"

Peeling her off of him, Ichigo turned a little red as the green haired woman draped herself over him again. "Isn't it kind of unnecessary for us to go through this every time?"

The orange-head blushed and stiffened when he felt she pressed closer against him. He remembered how surprised he was when Nel took this form in his battle with Nnoitra. Who knew that the kid with a lisp and scar was actually a regressed adult? It was cute when the little Nel had a crush on him, but now that she was in this form, curves and all, her affection made him blush. Nonetheless, Ichigo was glad that Kurotsuchi and the rest of his division was able to cure whatever damage Syazel and Nnoitra had done to her.

Harribel smiled faintly. "Good morning, Ambassador."

He nodded at the council member. "Good morning, Harribel-san. And can't you both just call me Ichigo by now?"

Yet another Arrancar he was grateful to have alive. After Harribel had been cured by Unohana-san at Grimmjow's request, she proved herself to be a valuable ally to Seireitei. Unfortunately, her Fraccion could not be saved but meeting Nel again, her predecessor, gave her the friend and company she needed.

"Itsygooooo, I missed you! Why do you never visit us anymore?" Neliel pouted at the orange-haired boy.

Though how on earth the two former-Treceros could possibly get along when they were so different was a complete mystery to Ichigo. It was a wonder that the two made such an accomplished High Council of Hueco Mundo.

The shinigami scowled. "I was here only two days ago. And don't give me any of that! I've got ambassador stuff to do, Shinigami duties, school... I should be stressing about college and shit like that!"

Neliel giggled. "You said duties."

Her other council member sighed. "Grimmjow is out. Again," she said with a roll of her bright green eyes. Honestly, she couldn't blame him. Paperwork was boring and tedious. "Do you wish to wait for him here?"

"No, it's fine. I know where he'll be." Ichigo detached himself from Neliel once more and shunpo-ed it out of there before she came after him.

"Oh, poo. He never hangs out with me anymore!" The green-haired woman crossed her arms over her voluptuous chest. "Grimmy's hogging Itsygo all to himself."

"I'd hardly call it hogging if Kurosaki is as willing to spend time with that blue-haired brat of a king, as the brat himself is."

"'Brat' this, 'brat' that," the gray-eyed Council member chuckled. "Aw, look at you, trying to act like you don't already him love like the brother you never wanted."

"And I still do not wish for brothers, or anything of the sort. He is my liege, and I owe my life to him. That is all," the blonde said stoicly as she shuffled a stack of documents. "King or not, I still remember how he used to throw Ceroes into Aaroniero's room just to make the cieling crack."

"Oh, I remember that! Aaroniero got so scared when the light got into his room!" Neliel grinned, nudging her friend at the side. "You know you thought that was funny."

"Hmph," Harribel replied, poker face undisturbed.


Speeding past the expanses of white sand, Ichigo slowed down when he spotted a familiar mop of blue hair and grinned. He stopped on the top of the tallest red pillar, exactly where he had expected to.

"Hey," the bluenette said without looking up.

"'Hey' yourself," Ichigo said as he plopped down next to the former-Espada. Grimmjow didn't respond, still deep in thought, so Ichigo didn't either. The two sat in silence, staring out into the horizon, blue artificial skies sinking into white powdery sand. A gentle current of reiatsu brushed past them like a breeze.

"Hey. Berry?"

"What, Kitty?"

Grimmjow rolled his eyes. "How come you always know where I am?"

"Because you only have one spot," he replied matter-of-factly. "Speaking of which," Ichigo quirked an eyebrow at him, "why do you always come here anyway? The view here is the same as it is from just about anywhere in Las Noches, and it's all dilapidated from the battles from last month."

Grimmjow hummed. "This place holds some special memories for me."

"Memories, huh?" Ichigo couldn't imagine what kind of memories could have happened here that could be so important to the bluenette. All he could remember was beating the crap out of each other here a month ago. "What kind of memories?"

Grimmjow grinned. "The special kind."

The orange-head scowled. "Asshole. You know that wasn't what I meant."

Leaning back do that he was lying on his back, Grimmjow sighed. "Fine, fine. Sheesh, such a pissy little bitch you are. Alright, kiddo, gather 'round. It's storytime."

Punching the Arrancar lightly on his shoulder, Ichigo lied down on his stomach, propping his head up with his arms. He couldn't help but be a bit excited. He and Grimmjow had gotten to be pretty close friends since last month, hanging out, sparring, or simply talking like this frequently. Yet even though they talked about stuff as random from how the sand here never stuck to clothes like it did in the human world, to things as serious as what determines the moral value of a soul, they rarely spoke of Grimmjow's past.

'No, scratch that. Grimmjow never talks about his past. Stupid turd, pretending to be all cool and mysterious.' Ichigo huffed.

'i'D saY iT's wORKinG, jUdGiNG bY yoUr... iNtEReSt iN ThE gUY.'

'Shut it.'

The cackle of his hollow faded away, but not before the pale hollow singsongingly called out, 'YoU knOw i'M rIghT!'

Rolling his eyes, Ichigo's focus returned to Grimmjow.

"Alright, so once upon a time, there was this hollow. This hollow was strong as hell. Fast. Clever. Really powerful. Like really, really-"

"I get it. Keep talking."

Grimmjow scowled. "No interrupting. Anyway, this freakin' awesome Hollow got tired of the same thing all the time. It was obvious to him that he was different from the rest of the Hollows in the Menos Forest. He could be their king. That idea stuck with him and that was all he thought about: getting stronger, more powerful, better. Unfortunately, he was stuck at Adjucha level because devouring Hollows one by one takes a shitload of time. Then, a group of other Adjuchas ran into this Hollow and decided to work together."

He paused and Ichigo knew he was talking about his Fraccion.

Clearing his throat, the bluenette continued. "So, this Hollow and his... companions devoured souls together but they got stuck after reaching a thousand. The other ones wanted to give up but not this hollow. He didn't know if there was something better out there, but if there was, he was going to find it. If he gave up... who knows what could have happened?"

"Well, it's a good thing he didn't," Ichigo said quietly.

Grimmjow looked at him and smiled. Not one of his usual wide, predatory grins that were all teeth and menace. This smile was more gentle. 'It suits him...' Ichigo swallowed. He could feel it, this weird floaty feeling inside him, like someone injected helium into his chest and every breath he took was pulling his soul from his body, even though technically, his soul was already out of his body. Every time Grimmjow smiled like that, or laughed a certain way, or looked at him, or said something, or the light hit him a certain way, it happened.

Ichigo didn't know what the feeling was. He had never felt it before and never with anyone else. Just Grimmjow. It was always Grimmjow.

It made him want to look away but he couldn't. It felt... nice.

"Anyhow, this place right here was where that hollow went from Adjucha to Espada. And the rest is history," he grinned as he laid on his back with his arms folded under his head. A hand extended towards him and the bluenette raised an eyebrow.

"Congratulations," Ichigo said with a teasing grin. He gestured at his hand, "You've finally become king."

Grimmjow laughed as he shook Ichigo's hand. The former Sexta's grip was just as strong as Ichigo imagined it would be. His hand was calloused from wielding Pantera but it was warm.

"'King' my ass," the Espada said rolling his eyes. "This shit's way more complicated than I thought it would be."

Ichigo scoffed. "How complicated can it be when you've dumped all the work on Nel and Harribel? You sure made a good choice when you appointed the two of them as High Council. With the two of them taking care of all internal and external affairs, Gin and the Vizards as stand-in generals," he said as he counted off the jobs with his fingers, "and me being the middle man between Hueco Mundo and Seireitei, you get to just do whatever the hell you want."

"Hey, now. You can't blame me for being brilliant on top of good looking and powerful." Grimmjow grinned smugly, "Some people just have it all."

"Yeah, don't forget humble too," said the Shinigami with a roll of his eyes. "But it was a great thing you did back then. If it wasn't for you, Nel and Harribel wouldn't have been healed by the Fourth Squad."

"Hmph," the bluenette cleared his throat. "Well, I needed some council members and they were all that was left of the Espadas except for Yammy and Syazel. Yammy offed himself before I found his fat ass but good fucking riddance 'cause I wouldn't want him anyway. Syazel was basically dead already, only he was wasting away in slow-mo. His ugly mug was just plain pititable so I put him out of his damn misery. That's the only reason!"

"Oh, really?" Ichigo smirked. Grimmjow had no problem with expressing his thoughts (though maybe he might have a problem of having no filter) but when it came to expressing genuine concern or care, the former Sexta would get shy. It was kind of cute. "Then what about Gin and the Vizards?"

Grimmjow rubbed the back of his neck embarrassedly. "My initial offer was for them to be generals of Hueco Mundo permanently but I knew they wouldn't take it. Even after all Seireitei's done to them, they are still Shinigami. They were and even though they're on their own now, they always will be. It's something that will never be forgotten."

"But Gin's not on his own. He's back in Seireitei with Matsumoto." He had never seen the silver haired captain and the tenth division lieutenant look so blissful and at peace. He could see in the way they interacted that they were grateful just to have each other again, and that was enough for them. It was as though all their troubles had been washed away, which Ichigo figured was probably the case. The orange-head was happy for the two of them.

The bluenette shook his head. "I mean, sure, he's happy and all, but to many, he's still the traitor that turned on the Gotei Thirteen. Even if they eventually accept him back in the Gotei Thirteen, and Gin's given his captaincy back, how many would willingly follow him without a single trace of doubt in their minds? It doesn't matter that he's been proven innocent. Once an enemy, always an enemy, right?"

Ichigo frowned. "Grimmjow, you can't honestly believe that, can you?"

"Why not?" Grimmjow shrugged his broad shoulders. "It's the truth."

"Fine." Ichigo huffed and crossed his arms. "But just to make it clear, I think people can redeem themselves and make up for past mistakes with actions."

"Like you said, you think. You, and only you, think that."

The Sexta's matter-of-fact tone bothered him but the bluenette was just as stubborn as he was so Ichigo knew that nothing could be said to change his mind. But that did remind him of something. "Grimmjow?"

"That's my name, don't wear it out."

The orange-head fiddled his fingers. "I've always wanted to know... why?"

"'Why'?" Grimmjow raised an eyebrow. "You're going to have to be a little more specific than that."

"Look who's talking," Ichigo scoffed. "'Someone helped me. Now it's my turn. The end'," he said in a dramatically low voice. "I asked you back then too why you switched sides and you sure as hell were not specific!" The orange head scowled. "And what the crap does that even mean? Who's the someone?"

He watched as Grimmjow became progressively paler. The bluenette looked away and laughed nervously, "I'll tell you some other time."

"That's what you said last time!" Ichigo's eyes narrowed as he leaned closer to Grimmjow. They were only inches away from one another and Ichigo stared at him intensely in scrutiny. "Come to think of it, this is the same face you made when I asked you that last time."

Grimmjow frowned as those brown eyes focused in on him a mere breath's away from his. He could count the light freckles splattered across Ichigo's nose and locate the golden specks within his eyes. He could smell the trademark strawberry shampoo and feel Ichigo's warmth radiating onto him. Clearly the warmth was contagious because heat was starting to flush at his face and he focused on not letting it show.

"Well? You plan on answering anytime soon?"

Grimmjow stepped back. "Jeez, calm the fuck down. It's not even that great of a story. Actually, I have a better story. See, one time, there was this chicken, and it-"

"Specify. Now."

"Uh, well," the bluenette shifted and averted his gaze. He cleared his throat, "Someone changed my mind about Aizen and the war. I guess a random act of kindness saved me. It showed me the right thing to do. When I was completely vulnerable and at my lowest, that someone, someone I would have never expected to, helped me. So, uh, my decision was how I decided to repay him."

Ichigo tilted his head to one side, deep in contemplation with his gaze lowered and brow furrowed. His eyes flickered up at the bluenette. "I'm getting the feeling that I know this guy."

"I'm sure you do."


"Someone unexpected, huh?" Ichigo mumbled to himself with his eyes downcast. Grimmjow refused to give him anymore details after that but now that Ichigo knew it was someone they both knew, he couldn't stop thinking about it.

'If this someone was able to change his mind about the war, it's definitely got to be a Shinigami. Wait, no, it could have been one of the Vizards. Or it could just be a human... but there aren't that many humans in Karakura that have the spiritual power to see him. Unless the human isn't from Karakura. Oh my god, what if the human isn't from Karakura? It could be anyone!' Ichigo groaned and buried his face in his arms.

'KiNG, whY eXaCTly aRe yoU So cAUGhT uP aBouT whO tHiS gUY iS?'

The orange-head stopped. Shiro was right. Why was he so caught up about this? 'Because, Grimmjow's a friend now and if someone was able to get him on our side, we should get to meet him.'

Shiro snorted. 'oH ReAllY? aND dO TeLL, whAt eXaCTlY woULd yoU dO iF YoU meT hIM?'

'I would...' Ichigo's mind was blank. Damn, he really did not think that far. '...thank him.'

'YeAh. SuRE. adMiT iT, kInG. You'Re jEaLoUs.'

'Jealous? Me?' Ichigo scoffed. 'Why would I be jealous of this guy?'

'yOu'Re jEalOuS tHaT grImMy-pOO cAReS sO mUcH AbOUt thIs GuY. YoU'rE JealOUs thAt ThIs GuY iS sO imPoRTanT tO gRImmJoW. AnD iF yOU mEt hIM, yOu woUlD sOooooo nOT bE tHaNkiNg HiM.'

'Why wouldn't I? I mean, Grimmjow's a great ally to have. And he wouldn't be on our side if not for this guy. I wouldn't even have known that I was equal in reiatsu to Aizen if he hadn't told me.'

'sPEAkINg oF wHiCh, i StILL cAn'T beLiEVe yOU'rE sTiLL sUch ShiT wiTh rEiaTSu.'

'That's exactly what Grimmjow said! He was pretty obnoxious about it too! He was all, 'I forgot, you're total shit with reiatsu' and-'

Wait a second. Ichigo blinked. I forgot...?

'Shiro.'

'tHAt'S mY nAMe. Don'T wEaR iT oUt.'

'When did I ever tell Grimmjow that I suck at handling reiatsu?'


"Well, well, well. Look what dragged the cat in," Nel said as Grimmjow sauntered into the throne room.

The bluenette rolled his eyes as he leaned back on his seat in the front of the table. "I told you to stop saying that already." He scowled and propped his feet up on the long white table, "You'd think that as king of Hueco Mundo, I'd get some respect around here."

"And you would think, that as king of Hueco Mundo, that you would do some of your own work for once," Nel said as she dropped down a stack of documents in front of Grimmjow.

"Aw, come on. You guys are doing fine with the official paperwork crap. Back me up here, Hal."

"Actually, I agree with Neliel. When you assumed this position, you should have been aware of the responsibilities involved. Let's see, what is it that the humans say?" Halibel tapped her chin, "Oh yes, 'with great power comes great responsibility.'"

Grimmjow groaned. "I should not have let you two watch Spiderman."

"Oooh, speaking of, look what I can do!" Neliel shot a stream of reiatsu from her wrists, aimed towards the cieling, and sonidoed across the room. Giggling, she soared across the room. "Wheee, look! I'm Spiderman!"

"Anyway, back to the main topic," Halibel turned to Grimmjow, "if you really want to be treated like a king, you ought to act like one," she said crossing her arms. "Do your own work for once, instead of waiting around for Ichigo to visit so you have an excuse to slack off."

"Yeah," Nel acquisced as she settled back down. "Just tell him you like him so he'll come by more often."

"WHAT?" Grimmjow shrieked. "How did you- what the, WHAT?"

Harribel smirked. "You really thought we didn't know?"

"Awwww, look, Grimmy's turning red!"

"Argh, shaddup!" He knew he was turning red; he could feel the heat flushing into his cheeks, he didn't need them to tell him that! "You- how, how did you two find out about that?"

"You should see the way you treat him. The way you look at him?" Nel giggled as she watched her liege's face turn more and more horrified. "The way your whole face lights up when he's around. How happy you are when he visits-"

"How despondent you are when he doesn't. How you smile when he smiles. Point is, it's obvious."

"Like creepy on Syazel."

"And pirate on Nnoitra."

The bluenette groaned and slammed his head down the table. "Damn." He could even feel his ears turning red. "Damn, damn, damn."

"Don't worry, he likes you too."

"Why di- WHAT?" Grimmjow's head popped up. "He does? But how do you know?"

"The way he treats you, the way he looks at you, the way his whole face lights up when you're around- oh Kami, we are not repeating everything we just said."

"No way," he said shaking his head. "Absolutely no way. You must be seeing things wrong or something. If he did, how come I didn't know?"

"Because. You're a boy. Boys are stupid. Why do you think Ichigo didn't notice you feel the same way about him?"

"Yes. And we are women. Women have women's intuition."

The bluenette huffed. "I'm not stupid," he mumbled. Grimmjow sank back in his chair. "I can't believe it. He likes me? He really likes me? Me? Really?"

"Yes," Nel sighed exasperatedly. "Really."

Harribel smiled gently at him. "You should tell him."

"He'll feel the same way," Nel agreed.

Grimmjow looked at the two of them. Could it really be true? Did Ichigo really like him? He sighed and ran a hand through his crazy blue hair. "You know what? I am done being such a pansy."

"So this means...?" Nel and Harribel grinned.

"I'm going to tell him."


AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I can't Bleach is ending. When I found out, a little part of my soul died. What's going to become of Grimmjow? I'm hoping that Tite Kubo will pull a Masashi Kisimoto and launch a second Bleach series. Just put a little time skip in there and BAM, Bleach forever!

On a tangent, Ukitake should be Yachiru's godfather. On another tangent, that new Spiderman movie is just not right; Toby Maguire is the true Spiderman.