Good evening all :) A long aggresive chat to keep y'all busy till the next long chat - predictably, poor Tesla does not get a line in this one. Because I said he would, and he got very, very shy and hid under the bed, refusing to speak to me. Could it be because he sees himself as the hero of a very M story, featuring Szayel Aporro and Nnoitra, shamelessly inspired off Blue SystemA's doujinshi? Hm?

In any event, aside for my warm encouragement to read Blue SystemA (READ HER AND BUY HER STUFF, SZAYEL FANGIRLS - she's talented, inspired and hot, and sadly, speaks no word of English...), I'd like to thank you for your reads and reviews, and especially for your patience. Just as previously stated, I will draw the chapters out a little, and see where the manga goes. Since, however, I do not only go shamelessly plugging other folks, but can shamelessly plug myself too - do not think I am letting the kids out of my sight. If I am admitting to being unable to write the future, I'm sticking to writing the past. If you're enjoying Understanding, and you are an M person (which you should be since this is an M story!), check out Just Before Dawn. It be a small incursion in things that happened before Understanding itself, and the proof that I am not procrastinating :)  

(...and the anime is back! (yay!))

Thank y'all for being here :D

Chapter 54 - Where Grimmjow speaks his mind.

...uhm, yes, that means LANGUAGE. Beware tha language, dudes (and ladies)....


'Ishida!' Renji called.

The silence on the other end of the receiver was too long for his liking; he clenched his teeth, and jolted Zabimaru's tip an inch up. Much to the Shinigami's lieutenant's horror, though the blade was almost at his throat, Szayel Aporro continued to smile.

'I am innocent of whatever it is you're thinking right now, vice-captain Abarai,' Szayel purred, defensively raising his palms as Byakuya approached from behind, gazing at him with tense attention.

'Scum,' Renji hissed, between his teeth. 'Ishida!' he repeated, in such a loud voice that the Octava unwillingly cringed. 'Bloody hell…'

'Yes, Abarai,' Ishida finally responded, and though Renji sighed with audible relief, his scowl did not fade. 'I have you on speakers, so I do not appreciate the yelling. What happened?'

'Why are you not watching the bloody panels?' the Shinigami snapped.

'Maybe he popped out for a cigarette,' Szayel innocently put in.

'I do not smoke,' the Quincy protested, with the tone of one who'd just been accused of axe murder.

'Ah, so you simply have a pack as a fashion accessory,' the Octava remarked softly.

'It's my father's backpack…'

'Dude, you've got cigarettes?' Grimmjow's voice resounded clearly in the background. '…the fuck, if you ain't using 'em, pass them along.'

'Grimmjow, is there any bad habit you don't have?' Ichigo had muttered.

'You oughta see me drink, Kurosaki!'

'That's the last thing I wanna see,' the substitute Shinigami responded. 'Though I'm not sure that I'd be able to tell the difference.' A female, probably Neliel, giggled lightly in the background.

'How in God's name do you know what's in my backpack, Szayel Aporro?' Ishida asked, trying to ignore the two behind him.

'He's got fucking X-ray vision,' Grimmjow commented, in good humor. 'Uses it to check out other people's bits, before he decides if they're worth a go or not…'

'For the love of God, Grimmjow…'

Ishida sighed deeply.

'Yes, so,' he said, coughing to adjust his voice, 'as you can probably hear, Kurosaki is back, and he's got Inoue. I was away from the panels for a second when they came in.'

'Is everyone alright?' Unohana inquired.

'Yes,' Isane responded. 'We just couldn't get, eh…captain Kenpachi to come back,' she apologetically added. 'He said he's having too much fun…with…'

'Cutting shit apart,' Grimmjow completed for her. 'A man after my own heart,' he added, with obvious admiration.

Unohana and Kuchiki exchanged a glance; the woman shrugged, then shifted her glance to Szayel Aporro, as if reminding Byakuya of other matters on hand.

'What's going on at your end?' Ishida asked. 'Haven't heard anything for the past half an hour. Did you make it past whatever made Szayel curse?'

'You shouldn't have stood away from the panels,' Renji said, pushing Szayel Aporro another step back.

'What is it?' Ishida asked again; the background noise died down.

'What I thought was going to happen from the very beginning,' Renji said, with no small amount of satisfaction. 'And it turns out I was right to watch him…'

'To cut the suspense, vice-captain Abarai thinks he has caught me with my hand in the cookie jar, my dear Quincy,' Szayel lightly responded. 'And I fear he is hell-bent on conducting a full body search, which I am scarcely in the position to refuse. Though,' he added, in a coy tone, 'if I may make a request, if we absolutely must go through with it, I'd much more prefer for it to be done by captain Kuchiki. At least then, aside from being pointless, the exercise will be mildly pleasurable.'

Byakuya's upper lip tensed in disgust, but the Octava's alluring smile did not falter.

'Szayel Aporro's been spying on us, Quincy,' Renji put in, between clenched teeth. 'He's practically wearing his entire bloody lab, and waiting for one of us to release a Bankai in his presence, so he can feed it back into his machines.'

'The clothes change,' Ishida breathed.

'It is really mostly for aesthetic purposes,' Szayel whispered, biting his lower lip. 'All of my uniforms are similarly fitted…'

'Scum,' Renji spat, with such hatred that Szayel finally swallowed dry.

The pace of his breathing hadn't changed, but his heart was racing madly, a little vein pulsing on the side of his throat, under the Zanpakutoh's tip.

'Er,' Ichigo said. By the tone of his voice, Renji imagined the human had been scratching his head. 'I understand this is bad, since everyone has suddenly become silent and tense, but…what happens if he feeds the stuff into the machines?'

'He learns how to repress the Bankai,' Neliel Tu said, softly. 'He learns how to take away your reiatsu. That's what he did to me.'

'And myself and Ishida,' Abarai completed. 'And I find it very strange, I must say, that he is still looking for ways in which to defeat us, although we are, supposedly, working together.'

'This warrants a very detailed explanation,' Byakuya said, dryly – he placed his hand on Renji's shoulder, gently pushing his aside, and glancing at the Arrancar with the cold, hard leer that always made Renji want to melt into the ground. 'Not a very wordy one.' He warned.

'I am very bad at expressing myself briefly under pressure,' Szayel pouted.

'Try,' Byakuya answered.

'Yes, yes, of course, but could we do away with…' he graciously pointed at Renji's blade. Abarai's scowl grew even more menacing. 'All right, then, I assume not,' the Octava merrily said. 'I just hope your hand won't tremble with excitement or righteous indignation,' he concluded, with a winning smile.

'That was neither brief, nor an explanation,' Byakuya said, his hand resting on Senbonzakura's hilt.

'There is nothing to explain,' Szayel sighed. 'The fact that the sensors happen to be here does not imply that they were in use, dear captain Kuchiki. In fact, if they denote anything, they show that I was somewhat in a hurry to reach this chamber and did not have time to remove them…'

'Bollocks,' Renji interrupted.

'I am being sincere,' the Octava continued, golden eyes filled with sweet innocence and fingers splayed over his heart. 'There is nothing to worry about.'

'Whenever he says that, you know that there is something to worry about,' Neliel Tu's voice hissed from the receiver. It had been so cold and hate filled that, back at the lab, Ichigo had given her a small, questioning glance.

She hadn't been looking his way, her grey gaze directed at the screens, so the human's eyes drifted to Grimmjow; unlike Neliel, Grimmjow briefly met his glance and sustained for a few seconds. The expression in his electric blue eyes had been different from anything Ichigo had learned to expect from Grimmjow – neither furious nor rebellious, but sheer, concentrated and tense attention. There was, however, no trace of surprise.

'Did you know about this?' Ichigo asked, in such a low hiss that Grimmjow could certainly have the excuse of not having heard it. He certainly acted as if he hadn't. He simply turned away from Ichigo's leer and faced the panels.

'It is in fact, quite easy to clear my name,' Szayel Aporro purred. 'If you recall, I removed some of the functionality from the panels before I left. Do you have a vague memory of that, Quincy?'

'I do,' Ishida responded, in an unconvinced tone. 'But I do not know what functionality your panels were meant to have in the first place.'

'Ask Nemu-chan,' Szayel light-heartedly suggested. 'She should more than able to explain.'

There was a brief pause, and some faint, shuffling noise, as those gathered in front of the laboratory panels turned towards the back of the chamber.

Surprised by the attention, Nemu blinked twice before mechanically responding.

'Four types of reiatsu are required the device to be fully enabled,' she said. 'How many are presently there?'

'Erm,' Ishida said, hesitantly, 'two.'

'Then the main controls have basic arithmetic functionality and the reiatsu synthesis machine is enabled,' she declared, no trace of doubt in her voice.

Byakuya's eyes shot to his vice-captain, making him frown in stubborn disbelief, and Szayel offered an innocent, forgiving shrug.

'You'd need the third type of reiatsu for any reiatsu processing to occur,' he said, softly. 'I am sorry, vice-captain Abarai, but you are barking up an entirely wrong tree…'

'I'm not so sure,' Renji spat.

'I don't know, Abarai,' Ishida said, questioningly. 'I'm looking at the panels, and they are still very much under my control. Nothing has changed – the screen hasn't flicked, there has been no sign of anything recording or incoming.'

'Thank you, Ishida,' Szayel rushed to concur. 'I knew your intelligence could be counted on…'

'You stood away, Quincy,' Byakuya said.

'Yes, but not out of eyeshot,' Ishida protested, his voice suddenly cold. His lower jaw had suddenly tensed, Ichigo noted.

'Nonetheless, Quincy, you stood away.' The captain of the sixth repeated.

'Byakuya, really,' Ichigo began; his reaction was entirely too late.

'Are you saying you cannot trust me?' Ishida exploded.

'That's not what he said,' Renji answered, in a shaky tone – his sword arm trembled too, as he questioningly glanced at his captain.

'No,' Unohana intervened, kindly. 'That is not what he meant, Ishida.'

The Quincy drew a deep breath.

'I only stood away for half a second,' he muttered. The anger in his voice had no truly subsided, but it was better kept in check. 'I am sure taking a reading of your Bankai would take marginally longer than that, Kuchiki.'

'Marginally,' Szayel agreed, in a small chuckle. 'So, vice-captain Abarai,' he reiterated, in a honey sweet voice, sensuously running his fingers along Zabimaru's edge, 'let's do a small revision of the facts. The panels do not have reiatsu analytic capacity at the moment and no change was recorded in the machines – thus, might it be correct to logically conclude that nothing happened?'

'No,' Abarai grunted.

'Can we return to pretending we're friends?' Szayel Aporro whispered.

'No,' the Shinigami responded. Nonetheless, his sword wavered, giving Szayel the opportunity of pushing it an inch away from his throat.

'Lumina's not here.'

Renji's arm stiffened – for a second, a single second, Szayel Aporro's glance was no longer sweet. In fact, Renji thought, grinning wide, and resolutely pressing the blade up, he had never seen such desperate panic concentrated in such a short lapse of time as Neliel Tu's remark seemed to have cause in Szayel.

Abarai's eyes narrowed.

'I cannot be held accountable for Lumina's whereabouts,' Szayel answered, and though he had fought it, his voice had trembled, ever so slightly. 'She is prone to highly unexpected naps or perhaps she had previously scheduled duties. The fact that she is not there proves nothing.'

'If nothing has changed on these panels,' the former Tercera had continued, her voice growing louder as she leaned in, closer to the microphone, 'it's not because he's not doing anything. It's because he's got a secondary set of panels somewhere, and Lumina is in control of them.'

It was not her quick thinking that surprised Ichigo; it wasn't even the tremendous satisfaction with which she had uttered the phrase, nor the fact that Ishida's eyes had suddenly darkened, as if the Quincy had instinctively realized she must have been right. Nor was it, Ichigo thought, the fact that behind them, Verona had emitted a small, high pitched squeal and ducked behind an instrument rack. He noted all of those things, but none was of the nature to inspire as much surprise and concern as he suddenly felt.

What made Ichigo's heart sink was the fact that, at the very last moment, Grimmjow had inched towards Neliel Tu, grabbing her wrist as if preparing to stop her from speaking. She didn't seem to have noticed or cared, but the Sexta's glance had become furious and cold – reproachful, Ichigo realized. As if Neliel had just said something she should not have.

'Your confidence in my abilities gives me a tremendous boost of morale, Neliel Tu,' Szayel Aporro said, his voice interrupting Ichigo's thoughts. 'Yet, sadly, for as much as I would have liked to, I was unable to create a mirrored set of machinery, due to time constraints…It is, indeed, planned, for later in the year, but for the moment, I assure you that…'

'You wouldn't have to replicate the entire hardware,' Ishida interrupted, softly. 'You'd just have to replicate the controls.'

His voice had had an odd ring too, Ichigo thought. There was a certain amount of well disguised disappointment, which, the Substitute Shinigami thought, was not unlike what he'd felt while catching a glimpse of Grimmjow's reaction to Neliel's words. Perhaps Ishida had wanted to trust Szayel Aporro just as much as Ichigo himself wanted to trust Grimmjow – if nagging doubts about their loyalties could be dismissed, everything would be so much simpler…Things could return to their normal state, the good guys against the bad guys, with Szayel Aporro, and Grimmjow, and especially Nel, finally and unequivocally placed in the good guys camp. It only made sense, Ichigo thought, looking at the Quincy. In the end, Szayel Aporro's temperament, as well as skills and knowledge, were far more similar to Ishida's own than the temperament and behavior of any of the others…give or take odd sexual vibes, cannibalism and undeath, Ichigo admitted, nodding to himself.

Yet, beside the disappointment, Ishida's voice had carried something else, as well. It had sounded distant, as if the Quincy's mind had drifted to another question than the one on hand. And, since Ichigo had already forgotten about the inconspicuous, blinking LED, he could not truly fathom what that question could have been.

'I think you're more than capable of replicating the controls,' Ishida said, softly. 'I think you're even capable of making them mobile.'

In the semi obscurity of Gin's control chamber, and under Byakuya's unrelenting stare, Szayel Aporro finally cringed.

Ishida adjusted his glasses, and took a deep breath; not an excited one, but one of a person who was preparing for a thoroughly unpleasant task.

'Spare yourself the humiliation of making me rummage through your lab trying to find them,' he said, softly. 'It's in nobody's interest.'

'Unnecessary.' Nemu said, dryly – all turned towards her once more, and just as Szayel's sigh drifted out of the speakers.

'What?' Ichigo asked, frowning.

'If the requirement is proving that Captain Kuchiki's reiatsu was recorded and is being analyzed,' Nemu continued, blankly staring at the substitute Shinigami, 'seeking the secondary panels is unnecessary.'

'No good deed goes unpunished, ey, Ishida?' Szayel Aporro said. His voice denoted amusement, but also surrender – he'd finally broken eye contact with Renji, and simply slinked back against one of the damaged panels, awaiting the end. The sight was not as gratifying as Renji had thought it would be. The obvious regret in the Quincy's voice, as well as the fact that the Arrancar's last remark had sounded oddly sincere rendered Renji's victory shallow.

Still, to everyone's surprise, Nemu stopped speaking. Her chin jolted mechanically to the side, and her gaze stuck to the floor.

She doesn't want to say it, Ishida thought, biting his lower lip. Because he helped her…he helped us, asking for nothing in return – the mere fact that Nemu was capable of processing the emotion and acted on it made the Quincy feel tremendous pain, but also tremendous joy.

'Nemu,' Isane whispered, 'if you know how…'

The vice-captain of the twelfth division looked up, not seeking Isane's glance, but Ishida's.

Against all logic, it was still Szayel Aporro who spoke next.

'That's alright, Nemu-chan,' he said, with kindness that made Renji shudder. 'You can tell them how to prove themselves right; it will take them another hour to figure it out on their own. You can show them that even though you have half a soul, you're the only one among them in possession of a complete brain.'

The Arrancar looked up, rebelliously meeting and sustaining Kuchiki's glance.

'Intelligence has no morality,' he said, softly. 'Bright things should never be afraid of being bright.'

Byakuya frowned; for some reason, it felt as if he'd just been slapped.

'Capacity,' Nemu said, her mechanically even voice breaking the silence – Szayel lowered his glance and shook his head, disguising a smile.

'Beautiful,' he whispered, almost to himself. 'Go on.'

'If Captain Kuchiki's reiatsu was recorded, the storage capacity of the machine will now be lower. Since we are lacking an initial reference point, however, the alternate would be checking the processing capacity.' Nemu continued. 'The analytics model is heavy; if it is running in the background…'

'The arithmetic processor will be working in overdrive,' Ishida completed for her; with but a few clicks, he brought up a screen which showed the machine's statistics – and not even Ichigo needed anyone to interpret the fact that the line which showed the workload of the primary processor ran red.

Grimmjow cursed.

'Bravo,' Szayel said, 'an outstanding demonstration. There is nothing I can possibly add to that. Or am I expected to add anything?' he asked, arching an eyebrow.

'You can further elaborate on how much Aizen knows of all of this,' Byakuya said, dryly. 'And, since it is probably the last thing you will tell us, I am willing to allow you to make it wordy.'

'Unfortunately, the answer to that one cannot possibly be wordy,' Szayel replied, with a smirk. 'Aizen has nothing to do with this.'

'If you expect us to believe that, after what we've just seen,' Neliel Tu hissed, 'you're deluding yourself. I should have known,' she laughed softly. 'The mere fact that you were so quick and happy to distract everyone with your hate filled speech against Stark…'

'Shut up,' Grimmjow snarled, yet none but Ichigo noticed the cutting glance exchanged between the two Espada.

'Whether you personally find the fact that I am not collaborating with Aizen believable or not is irrelevant,' Szayel responded, in a thoroughly tired voice. 'There is nothing left to discover; I am, sadly, quite literally fully exposed.'

'Until the next set of well kept secrets crawls out of the woodwork,' Neliel sneered.

Szayel ignored her.

'What are you going to do now, vice-captain Abarai?' he sweetly inquired, not drawing away, but inching closer to the sword. 'I congratulate you, though you are woefully unintelligent, you do seem to possess good instincts. I will admit to being caught. How shall we proceed? What can you possibly do?'

'Kill him,' Neliel Tu said.

Renji did not even get the time to process the short, snappy response before Ishida's panicked voice erupted in his ear.

'No!' the Quincy exclaimed. 'If you do, Nemu…'

Byakuya smirked.

'Ah, yes, indeed,' Szayel softly uttered. 'You'd forgotten about that little technical detail. Or, you are liable not to care, hm?'

'You cannot hold this over us forever, Octava Espada,' Kuchiki answered. 'Even if you do apply your resurrection ability, you will come back trapped in your own cell; it should then be simple…'

'Kuchiki,' Ishida breathed. 'How can you even consider such a thing!'

'There's no need to kill him to render him harmless,' Renji intervened, casting an uncertain, almost frightened glance at his captain's impossibly cold features. 'If we tie him up real tight with a Bakudo, gag him and toss him in a corner, we can deal with him after we've dealt with his master.'

'I am not collaborating with Aizen,' Szayel spat.

'No, of course not – you're just being diligent.' Renji smirked.

'If you will,' Szayel answered, dryly. 'Diligent is, in fact the exact term that I'd use…'

'We can deal with him after we've dealt with his master,' Abarai harshly interrupted. 'There has to be some sort of time limit or distance limit on that disgusting ability of his…'

'He cannot use it cross world,' Neliel Tu said. 'That's why he's never been to the human world – because he can only use Gabriel in Hueco Mundo.'

'That's enough, Neliel Tu,' Grimmjow growled, loudly and furiously enough for all to hear him; he'd reacted as if he'd been able to see the dimensions of the grin that had flourished on Renji's features. 'You're done talking,' he added, taking a step back from the panels only to circle behind Ishida's chair and lean in on top of Neliel Tu; he grabbed her wrists, pinning them to the board and keeping them still before the Tercera could even motion for her sword. Then, standing behind her, he lowered his head so that he spoke directly in her ear, his face so close to hers that the Hollow jaw drew blood from her cheek. 'You're done talkin'.'

'Grimmjow, what the fuck…'Ichigo began, unsheathing Zangetsu as all drew aside in surprise.

The hiss of the blade behind him did not impress Grimmjow in the least. His entire fury was concentrated on Neliel, whom he gripped so tightly that her hands had suddenly grown white.

'I dunno what you're trying to achieve,' he hissed, in such a low voice, that even Neliel could barely hear him, while all the others could only see his lips moving. 'but I can assure you that acting like a dumb, submissive cunt won't get you anywhere near Kurosaki's goodies.'

Neliel's eyes widened in shock.

'Grimmjow, get away from her,' Ichigo repeated.

'What's happening?' Szayel asked, with audible panic.

'Nothing, dude,' Grimmjow snarled, out loud. 'I'm giving Nellie girl a small talk 'bout the fucking facts of life.'

To Renji's surprise, Szayel grew pale; not only his cheeks, the Shinigami noticed. All blood seemed to have instantly drained from his chest as well – for the first time, the Octava attempted to move out of Zabimaru's reach, and not even Senbonsakura's half drawn blade could make him focus on his own predicament.

'Neleil Tu is simply imparting correct information. There is no need to…'

'Oh, yeah, there's a definite need to do exactly what I'm doing. An' ya should feel blessed that Stark's not here, woman, cuz he'd rip your face off for this.' Grimmjow continued.

'Leave her alone, Grimmjow,' Szayel repeated faintly.

'D'ya hear him?' he continued, addressing only Neliel. 'You were just out for his balls, but if I keep ya pinned for thirty seconds longer he's likely to admit to being Satan's whore, if it gets me off ya. Do you not even wonder why that is?'

'I don't care,' she snarled in response. 'I don't care for his mind games...'

'Grimmjow, I'm giving you a count of ten,' Ichigo warned.

The Sexta simply looked over his shoulder and cackled madly.

'Don't see you as one who can count that far, dude,' he answered.

'One,' Ichigo spat.

Manic fury still raging in his eyes, Grimmjow yet again leaned over Neliel's shoulder.

'Szayel Aporro's not workin' with Aizen, you dumb bitch' he whispered.

'How can you know?' she asked, in response; her reiatsu was rising menacingly, causing his fingers and his cheek to feel damp.

'Cuz I understand what he's doing, and I know what he's doing it for,' Grimmjow replied. 'An' if you could get your mind off getting even with him, you'd see it too.'

'Two,' Ichigo said on an increasingly menacing tone.

'I have no confidence that he has not turned to Aizen when the chance was offered,' Neliel replied. 'Regardless of what you think, Grimmjow…'

'Let me give you something to have confidence in, then,' the Sexta said. 'If we get defensive an' encourage them take him out for being on the lookout, they're gonna take me out right after for being a fucking menace. An' after they take him an' me out Nellie girl, who's gonna be next? Who d'ya think they're gonna mistrust and get rid of next? Huh?'

Her eyes widened and her lower jaw tensed; Ichigo's 'three' went unnoticed.

'When I look around, Nellie girl,' Grimmjow continued, in a deceivingly sweet voice, 'I only see one other that has a fucking hole in the middle of their chest and a fat ass tattoo with a number on their shoulder.'

She bit her lip and remained silent.

'An' no amount of bootlicking is gonna make them overlook that, you stupid woman. If they decide they ain't gonna trust us, they're just gonna keep finding reasons to keep us in leash.' he concluded, fiercely. 'If they truly bloody intended to trust us, they wouldn't have been watching Szayel with sixty eyes. So from now on, Nellie girl, you stay quiet and let me do the talkin'.'

'I refuse to trust Szayel Aporro,' she spat.

'I don't give a shit what you refuse to do,' he cuttingly returned. 'If you can't think, just keep your mouth shut before I shut it for you. An' I ain't joking,' he finished, pushing himself off her. 'There you go, Kurosaki,' he said, out loud, and in a merry tone, turning to face the human boy. 'All yours, dude. Did ya make it as high as five, in your count?'

'What are you playing at, Grimmjow?' Ichigo asked, protectively stretching Zangetsu in front of Orihime and Isane. 'What did you tell Nel?'

'That you've already got a pair of hands down your shorts and you don't need another,' Grimmjow grinned, looking straight at Orihime and making her blush fiercely. 'Ya still with the unrighteous dead, Szayel Aporro?' he asked, his attention abruptly shifting from Ichigo.

'Just barely,' the Octava answered, in a concerned voice.

'Can Kuchiki hear me?' Grimmjow asked, looking towards the ceiling.

'Of course' Szayel Aporro responded, sounding offended.

'Then listen up, pretty boy,' the Sexta sneered. 'Let me give you some facts before you dig yourself into a pile of shit. Let me, so to speak, enlighten you.'

In Gin's control room, Byakuya frowned, the corners of his lips drawing dangerously outwards.

'Your paranoid attitude is starting to get on my nerves in a real bad way, dude. And I ain't gonna put up with it till the end of time; in fact, it's gonna end, right here, right now. To signal the beginning of the end, Kuchiki, you're gonna call pineapple kid off Szayel Aporro, effective an hour ago.'

The look of surprise and confusion on Ichigo's face perfectly reflected the look that instantly took hold of Renji and Szayel Aporro's features, though the three were miles away from each other.

'The line of communication must be damaged,' Byakuya responded, in a tone of voice that made Rukia and Renji's blood freeze. 'I thought I just heard you issuing an order, Grimmjow Jaggerjaques.'

'I ain't issuing orders,' Grimmjow snarled, 'I'm just telling you how the shit stands. And even if I was issuing orders, Kuchiki, I ain't aware of no directive which made me, or Szayel Aporro, or quick-draw Neliel Tu go to bed Espada and wake up under your command. We're collaborating with ya cuz we have a common goal, or more correctly, a common enemy; we're not your subordinates, and we aren't under any obligation to ask for permission every time we plan to sneeze.'

'Nor, dude,' the Sexta said, 'do we need to be called turncoats every time that we do sneeze without your permission.'

'I hardly think that Szayel Aporro wearing his intestines outside of his body and then lying about it is a case of mild sneezing,' Renji menacingly muttered.

'Ain't talking to ya, pineapple kid.' Grimmjow snapped. 'You don't have even the half of brain that I choose to use. Cuz if you did, you'd realize that Szayel Aporro doesn't need a reason to want to know half of the shit he wants to know. He just wants to know it, cuz he's fucking obsessive compulsive about it. If he'd been paired up with me, he'd be doing the exact same thing.'

'I kept trying to reiterate that point,' Szayel shrugged, his innocent grin returning. 'All my uniforms are similarly accessorized – and by now, vice captain Abarai, you should know that I am scarcely the type to renounce a clear opportunity when it presents itself.'

'Then why'd ya lie about it? And went to such lengths to…'

'What more reason does he need than your reaction?' Grimmjow answered, instead of Szayel Aporro. 'His guts are yellow as chicken shit, and he lies though his teeth as a hobby, but he ain't working with Aizen. Aizen doesn't need Szayel's machines to beat ya – he didn't need them when he crossed, and he won't need'em now. Szayel Aporro's collecting stuff for himself, because he's like a magpie and likes collecting shiny things; if you're gonna try to have his neck for that, you might as well have his neck for everything else that's in his off-pissing nature, like the bloody bubble gum hair an' the fact that he looks over other guys' asses.'

'The mere existence of the second set of panels…'Byakuya began, in an irritated tone that Ichigo might otherwise have found funny.

'Ya, and he has a second set of controls,' Grimmjow rudely interrupted. 'And? Castle Doom is his house; you're guests in it. If someone lets you chill in their living room, it don't mean he's gotta show you the box of vibrating goodies under his bed. Szayel Aporro has no reason to show you all of his toys. They're his toys, and none of your bloody business.'

'How can you be so sure he is not collaborating with Aizen?' Byakuya inquired, not sounding in the least convinced.

'Because if he'd picked Aizen, you'd be dead by now,' Grimmjow said, dryly. 'No one knows this mass grave better than Szayel Aporro – if he ain't led you down a three hundred foot hole, it's because he's helping you for real. You people in the control chamber?'

The reply tarried.

'Ya gone deaf?' Grimmjow repeated. 'Ya in the control chamber?'

'Yes,' Byakuya reluctantly responded.

'Then what the fuck more do you want?'

'Honesty,' Neliel Tu hissed, but the Sexta's furious stare was enough to render her quiet.

'He ain't signed a note that said he's not gonna take your stats. He's rather slash his wrists than do that; all he's signed up to is helping ya find the Hougyaku, and that's precisely what he's doin'. So lay the fuck off.'

'I am afraid that is not a likely course of action,' Byakuya answered; the anger in his voice had seeped though to Ichigo's bones, making him shudder.

'It should be the only course of action, dude. Cuz I'm tellin' ya – Aizen ain't pushed you to your knees without even frowning, and he ain't never ordered you on a mission knowin' that you'd die. You got no clue of the chances we're taking with you fuckers…'

Grimmjow's voice broke, and, in the control chamber, Szayel Aporro took a deep breath and looked away, not only from Unohana's glance, but away from the world.

'You have no clue of what was offered and what both of us refused,' the Octava said, in a soft voice.

'Also,' Grimmjow picked up, 'it's not only that we need you, dude. I acknowledge we bleedin' need ya. I even already told ya as much. I reckon, however, that it's high time you acknowledge ya need us as well. Your crew in the human world…how many are they? Like, five? They ain't never seen anything like Halibel or Barragan, and they sure as hell ain't seen something like Stark. So unless y'all can find your way out to help them, they're toast. An' after that, you're toast, flower boy, unless ya can find a way outta here.'

'An' the only way outta here you've got, the only way outta here any of us got, is the gay dude with the pink hair. You'd better hope and pray that he can work them panels, cuz I can't do it and you can't do it. And while you're hoping and praying, you'd better cut him some slack.'

'I am not your servant,' Szayel whispered.

'Neither am I,' Grimmjow added, his fiery glance meeting Ichigo's. 'So lemme make this simple for ya, Kuchiki. D'ya doubt my word?'

Byakuya's response tarried again.

'Kurosaki,' the Sexta drawled. 'Do you doubt me, when I'm telling I'm not working with Aizen?'

Ichigo frowned, and, aware of all the glances that had suddenly trained on him, pinning him down, he said the first thing that came to his mind.

'No,' Ichigo said. 'I don't think you're working with Aizen.'

'So,' Grimmjow said, 'I'm gonna make a stand right here, right now; I'm telling you Szayel is not working with Aizen either. It goes the same for the both of us. Either you believe that we ain't working with Aizen, or ya don't. If ya do, you're gonna stop the shit body checking and act like partners, not bloody masters. If ya don't, you keep trying to push Szayel Aporro to the wall – but I gotta warn you, people, I gotta warn ya – if you as much as reach to take Fornicares away from him, I'm gonna do bloody murder. I'm gonna do bloody murder, and none of y'all is close enough to stop me. Because if you're determined to treat me like an animal, I might as well start acting like one,' Grimmjow snarled. 'From now on, when you accuse any of us, you accuse us all, an' you'd better think hard and fast before you draw; when you draw, you draw against all of us, too,' he added, the words forming in his chest, rather than in his throat. 'So, given that you need us to get your asses out…Kuchiki…'

He breathed deeply.

'Kurosaki…' he said, in a voice that was not his own.

'Leave Szayel Aporro the hell alone,' Grimmjow finished. 'Leave him alone.'

Byakuya did not hurry to react; he half turned, questioningly glancing at Unohana. In turn, the woman did not speak – she contented herself on glancing about the room, as if inviting Byakuya to do the same. The gesture was an answer in itself; if the machinery that controlled the Garganta was in the room, it was highly unlikely that anyone would be able to restore it.

'A while longer,' she said, softly; her words had been uttered too quietly for the sound receptors to pick up, but the veiled threat had not been lost on Szayel Aporro.

Kuchiki turned around completely and walked away; Renji's sword stayed to Szayel's throat for a few more seconds, until, with slow and frustrated gestures, Abarai sheathed it and moved away in his turn.

Szayel Aporro grinned.

'I'm watching you,' Byakuya shot over his shoulder; the Arrancar's grin grew even wider.

'I'm flattered,' he purred.

Still, when he turned towards the panels, attempting to regain focus, his smile subsided and he needed to lay his palms flat to stop them from shaking. This had been close. But it didn't matter, Szayel reminded himself. It didn't matter.

All's well that ends well.

'On the upside, Grimmjow, I can finally see what he saw in you,' Szayel Aporro said, merrily. On the other side of Las Noches Grimmjow's hollow teeth ground together, with a sickening sound.

'Who?' Ichigo asked, in confusion.

'Ilfordt,' Grimmjow replied curtly, and the still dumb folded Shinigami shook his head at the unknown name. 'Fucking hell, Szayel Aporro, a thank you would have worked fine.'


Up next - Hmm, how does this sound? GrimmIchi! (They talk, people, they talk :)) Like, philosophy an' stuff...Mostly stuff, though.