(A/N) sorry for the long wait guys but shit has been legitimately crazy fucked up. Waking up every morning to play 'plague or pollen' is not a good look for me. anyways, I know it's late, but i made this one extra long to make up for it. Stay safe out there.
Chapter 21
Hisagi was making his way to Mara's room, as he had done every morning for the past 6 days, with a new scroll for her. They had been working on reading characters and today he was taking it up to writing. Her body seemed to have improved but she had made no move to leave the room, as if she was used to the stagnation of sitting around, but her keen mind had begun to rebel very quickly to the nothing that surrounded her.
When Hisagi had checked in on Mara the next afternoon after their session with the guitar, Kira had immediately said that she needed something to entertain her because she had been peppering the studious shinigami with questions and explanations all morning. Hisagi had looked to Mara who wore an apologetic face but kept fingering her medical tattoo. That was when he decided that she needed to learn how to read, at least the basics. How was she to function outside this room if she couldn't even read the signs for the shops, eateries, and locations around her?
So, every day, Hisagi had brought her materials and sat to teach her. He had been pleased with how vigorously she had thrown herself into the study and he admired how quickly she learned. Already she had moved from children's primers to basic literature and poems. She was like a sponge, absorbing not only the lessons but the content. She also engaged Hisagi's mind as well with thoughtful questions about Soul Society and the various positions and roles, trying to understand this new world around her.
Honestly, he had been surprised by how much had just enjoyed being around the girl. Hisagi was aware that he needed to win Mara over, but he didn't think it would actually be enjoyable. He found her wit impulsive and irresistible, dragging smiles from him unbidden. Her intellect impressed him and intrigued him. In her withdrawn moments he wanted nothing more than to comfort her even as her introspection resonated with his own nature.
Hisagi couldn't fight the smile that grew across his face as he approached Mara's room, but it was stricken away as a teal haired figure emerged from the shadows.
"Cap," Grimmjow drawled, irritation skirting the edge of his tone, "what the hell are you doing?"
Rolling his eyes, Hisagi didn't break his stride as he replied, "What do you think I am doing? I'm going to check on Mara."
"No," Grimmjow drew the word out into a long, leading sound of annoyance. "I mean what the fucking hell do you think that you are doing?"
Hisagi paused his steps and glared over his shoulder at the espada, who leaned against the wall behind him with a feigned ease. "I am going to Mara, as I have been everyday. You said I had to build a relationship with her," he answered lowly, setting off again.
Using sonido, Grimmjow appeared in front of Hisagi in a flash, stopping him in his tracks. "I did no such thing, Cap!" he said with near disgust, "I said woo her. Make her like you, fuck her, get her attached, and call it a day. You are the one choosing to play like this is something real."
"What the hell kind of woman would go for that? You are a pig."
"Roughly half the women in the 13 squads, if my math is right," Grimmjow said with a smirk.
Hisagi rolled his eyes again in a now practiced motion. He couldn't argue that Grimmjow never seemed to be short of bed partners. It consistently amazed him how many women seemed to flock to the dangerous creature that he called a Combat Instructor, all leaving on an early morning walk of shame in various stages of tousled and dress as they scurried back. As a matter of fact, he didn't remember ever seeing the same face twice. But those women weren't Mara. That wouldn't work on her, he was sure. "That's not who she is," he stated with certainty, "She would see through your version of romance in a heartbeat. Besides, I am betrothed to her. What is wrong with trying to establish a relationship with someone whom I am going to be spending a long life with?"
Grimmjow's eyes narrowed at the captain. Hisagi's attentions on the girl worried him. He needed Hisagi to win her over so that she stayed, sure, but she couldn't be reliant on him. She had to be able to withdraw from him for Grimmjow to win her over, without her heart and weak feelings like regret or betrayal to get in the way. "Tall me, Cap," he said slowly, "does your astute little fiancée know about her position yet?"
Face set in stone, Hisagi remained silent, giving Grimmjow all the answer he needed.
"I thought so. You aren't doing this to be easier on her, you are trying to make this easier on you," he said with a disconcerting smile. "You just hide her in that room thinking you can keep her liking you? You want her to what- fucking love you?"
Hisagi didn't move, didn't even twitch as he glared at the espada with an unreadable look.
Grimmjow knew he had to tread carefully. He had to think like the person he hated even more than the science division captain. What would Aizen do? Grimmjow asked himself ironically. He let out a slow exhale, looking up at the ceiling, hands shoved in his pockets before he moved to look back at Hisagi, who gripped the scroll tight; all happiness gone from his features.
"Look," Grimmjow said with a low voice, an unfamiliar seriousness laid over his face, "I don't blame you for wanting something with her. She's hot, she's oddly perceptive, all that shit. But this will only blow up more the longer it goes. Unless you keep her locked in that room, she will figure it out. You cant expect every dumb fuck in this squad to keep their trap shut and she will catch on if she is never allowed out. Has she had another rietsu flare yet?"
Hiagi was caught off guard by the concern in Grimmjow's voice, so much so that he couldn't help but answer with an honest "No."
"Good… but she will. At some point she will, and all of Seireitei will hone in on it. It doesn't matter if you keep her in that room if they beat the door down," Grimmjow said earnestly, at least knowing that was the truth. "I get that she makes you happy, Cap, but that's not what this is about remember? You don't need her love, you need her trust. She needs to know she can trust us to keep her safe when whatever is holding back her spirit finally breaks under the pressure."
Finally lowering his head and looking to the side, Hisagi nodded in agreement.
"If her rietsu blows up, though, whats to stop them?" Grimmjow said, not letting up, "I get that you are Mr. Law-and-order, but those fuckers aren't. If you say 'By the way, they want to eat you alive and we are getting married' and she flips- because she will flip the fuck out- what will stop them? You have to make her trust you so that she turns to you."
"You can't just make someone trust you, Grimmjow," Hisagi said impatiently, "You have to build it, earn it… that takes time and care." And that's if I can even do it, Hisagi added mentally. What if she hated him if he revealed everything? What if she chose to rebuke his protection? What if she agreed but just hated him for so many long years that it changed her? What if-?
"Stop."
Hisagi glanced back up from his mental spiral to see teal eyes only a foot from his as Grimmjow leaned forward with a knowing look. A surprisingly astute glint was in those bright aqua eyes.
"Stop overthinking. And stop letting that fear you hold like a flag of pride ruin the future," Grimmjow growled out, "It doesn't take time or love or any of that shit. You help someone, you give them choices and a chance, and you will instantly get trust. It worked on me, Cap."
At Hisagi's questioning look, Grimmjow turned his back on the captain and took a couple steps away toward Mara's room. He didn't look at Hisagi, but his voice lost none of it's brevity as he continued, "When you came in that cell, I thought you were there to kill me. When you pulled me out of that cell and brought me to the light, I knew I would kill anyone that tried to touch you. And if all the squads and captains in this godforsaken place stormed those gates to get to her, I would take on every single fucking one of them to protect you. Because you gave me a choice. You helped me. Didn't take time, and I sure as shit don't love you, but I'd have your back and know you would have mine. You marched in with no fear and got trust in return. Don't be a coward, Hisagi."
Hisagi shook his head, disbelief in what he had just heard. But here Grimmjow still stood, back to him and ramrod straight, as if he had to brace himself to make that confession. "What if she doesn't want to leave though? She has made no motion or request to get out of the room," Hisagi mused, "What if she doesn't like her choices?"
"Then we fucking ask her and find out!" Grimmjow replied, revealing his trademark grin over his shoulder. He was quite proud of himself for winning this little battle without the captain knowing any better.
"OI!" Hisagi yelled after the espada as Grimmjow sonido'd to Mara's room and he flash stepped to catch up.
Mara sat on the bed looking out the window when her door crashed open, jolting her from her reverie. She had been expecting Shuuhei and so couldn't help her small yelp as she turned to see her door frame filled by Grimmjow's muscular frame. Her eyes widened as she fought the fear that hit her deep in her gut every time she saw him. She minutely edged herself up against the head of the bed and drew the sheet more tightly around her.
"Woman," he said in a disconcerting purr, that would be sexy if it weren't coming from him, "do you want to build a snowman?"
"What?!" she squeaked.
"Ugh, what good is all my pop culture knowledge if no one knows it?" Grimmjow sighed to himself over dramatically. Mara couldn't help but smile at his display. "I'm asking if you want to go outside, dumb ass."
"With you?" Mara asked incredulously, eyebrows raising high in shock.
Grimmjow leaned forward over her bed, smiling with sharp incisors on display. "Why not? Am I that terrible?" He asked teasing her, but happy to see that her eyes had narrowed and she had stopped shrinking back from him.
"Yes," she said in unison with Hisagi, who appeared in the doorway, hair disheveled from the chase.
Mara turned a wide, smile to the door and Hisagi smiled back so widely that his eyes crinkled in the corners. He approached the bed and handed her the new scroll as he bent to run his fingers gently through the front of her hair. Neither noticed how Grimmjow had gone silent.
As a matter of fact, it took everything that Grimmjow had to keep his jaw from hanging open. When Hisagi walked in the room, it was like the girl had transformed. That smile… that joy was like a breath of fresh spring air. It was warm like the nights in Las Noches. That smile wasn't even towards him and it still felt like home. What would it be like to be greeted like that every day? No wonder Hisagi was sunk… and if his plans went right, he may be too. "Fuck," Grimmjow growled out loud, drawing both sets of eyes to him.
"What?" Hisagi growled at him.
Mara looked questioningly at the man at the foot of the bed. His muscles were tense, but his face showed confusion and… was that sadness? Grimmjow quickly schooled his features back into his grin, but Mara still studied his face. She had seen something different in that look just now. Something that made the monster a lot more human and a lot less scary.
"What? I just realized you are gonna make me sit through a damn school lesson before we can let Rapunzel out of her tower," Grimmjow said with a smirk, rolling his eyes at the blank stares he received back. "You guys suck."
"I'm sure you can wait for a bit of reading, kitty, then we can go outside," Mara said jovially, for some reason wanting to ease the lingering sadness she had seen in Grimmjow.
He threw her a sharp look instead. "Don't call me that," he said grumpily.
Throwing up her hands in submission, Mara turned back to Hisagi. "Okay, okay," Mara conceded, "So, what are we reading today, Shuuhei?"
"Not reading," Hisagi said smiling down at her, grabbing an ink pot, brush and loose sheets from where Kira had been working that morning. "Writing."
Mara didn't know why, but the thought made her antsy. She couldn't write Japanese characters. She didn't know how she knew she couldn't but she knew that she couldn't.
Seeing her unsure look, Hisagi, set up the writing equipment in front of her. "Look," he said gently, this is just the basics. You know enough reading to handle whatever you need to that isn't legalese. This is just so you know the basics. Nothing hard. It doesn't have to be perfect."
Mara just nodded and picked up the brush, heaving out a sigh as she began to copy the characters from the scroll. Hisagi leaned over her giving tips as to when to vary the pressure of the brush to form the individual lines correctly. They worked in quiet murmurs like that for a little while while Grimmjow stood looking out the window toward the practice arena.
"Are we done yet?" He finally asked impatiently, bending over and snatching the paper from the make-shift writing desk over Mara's lap.
"Hey!" she squeaked, reaching for the paper as Hisagi turned an annoyed look Grimmjow's way.
Ignoring both of them, Grimmjow turned a critical eye on the writing practice in his hand. He grunted as he worked his way over the legible but sloppy strokes.
Mara crossed her arms across her chest and glared at Grimmjow silhouetted in the light. "Does the king have a comment he would like to share?" she asked with more snark than she intended. She was grumpy and defensive because she was trying desperately distract herself from the way the sunlight and shadows cast Grimmjow's exposed abs in painful relief. His moment of exposure had maybe opened her eyes to him too much.
Grimmjow cocked an eyebrow at her belligerent tone and tossed the sheet back in her direction where Hisagi caught it deftly in the air. "Looks like an 8-year-old wrote it," he said dismissively, glaring at Mara and waiting for a comeback.
He watched in shock, however as Mara's eyes glazed over, her hands slowly reaching for her throat. Her mouth moved but no sound came out as her face twisted in pain.
"Do you have to be such an ass?" Hisagi said angrily, stepping toward Grimmjow who cut him off with a look.
"Do you feel it?" he asked quietly.
Hisagi froze and reached out with his senses, surprised to feel small flicks of rietsu at the edge of his consciousness. It was fresh and made him think of wading in the ocean. The rietsu seemed to puddle and pool around his ankles, hitting with gentle waves.
He followed Grimmjow's wide-eyed stare to see Mara in bed writhing. Her eyes were rolling back in her head as her hands weakly clawed at her throat. Was she breathing? What was happening?
She couldn't seem to fight the reflex to reach to her face and release herself from the apparatus that was strangling her. She couldn't breathe. Why couldn't she breathe? There was something in her throat.
Mara tried to cast desperate eyes at the tall man in a white coat next to her. Kind, blue eyes looked down at her from behind wire rimmed glasses. What was happening?
Hisagi began to shake Mara's shoulders, calling her name even as her rietsu rose to firmer waves hitting his knees in its sea-like swell. Grimmjow leapt from the foot of the bed to join him on the other side at the head.
"Grab her hands and hold them down!" he ordered Hisagi in a tone that brooked no argument, "I can't tell if she's breathing with her moving that much!"
Hisagi didn't hesitate, yanking both of Mara's hands down to her side and pinning her wrists in place. Grimmjow leaned with hands on her shoulders, holding her to lean over her mouth, trying to detect breath. She felt so fragile, so small, under his hands. Grimmjow would have marveled at the feeling of touching her, combined with that smile earlier but those thoughts had to take a back burner as he realized she wasn't breathing.
"I apologize for the restraints," the doctors voice came to her. She tried to move her arms but they were held fast. "You know how you are with your enemy the ventilator."
The ventilator. That's right. The hospital. The ventilator. She was sick. But she had questions, so many questions to ask but she couldn't talk, couldn't breathe. What were the questions? Dammit! She had to know… she needed to know….?
"She's not breathing?" Hisagi yelled at Grimmjow, "We don't have time to get the healers!"
Grimmjow's mouth tensed into a firm line and he looked at Hisagi, "I might... I think I remember that human thing. Where you breathe for someone…"
Hisagi remembered as Grimmjow did but he knew the espada has outlived him by hundreds of years and would have greater knowledge. He swallowed the bile in his throat at what he knew he would have to see in favor of saving her life. "Do it," he said eyes and tone hard.
Grimmjow nodded and lowered his head, covering Mara's warm lips with his own.
She.. she could breathe. She remembered the ventilator, you had to let it breathe for you. She realized now, she was in a memory.
She had questions. She needed to write it down!
"Your language skills may have improved but you and I both know that your characters are on par with an 8-year-old when you can see what you are doing. You want to try to write characters that I can read when you can't even see the sheet… again?" the doctor asked but he handed her a pad and paper from his pocket.
She had to know what was going on.
Grimmjow tried to focus on nothing but breathing for Mara. He tried not notice how soft her lips and skin were. He tried not to notice the bumps the skin of her chest under her high collared robe or what they were as his hand laid on her chest to feel for the rise and fall of the breathing and her fluttering heartbeat. He tried not to get distracted as her body stilled into calmness. In and out. In and out had to be the focus.
Hisagi tried not to notice the fluttering of jealousy in his chest as he watched the espada locked to Mara. It wasn't about him. It wasn't about feelings. This was about keeping Mara alive
He did notice that she had stopped pulling at his grasp on her, settling down. "What's happening?" he asked breathlessly.
"Dunno," Grimmjow said, taking a few deep breaths, leaving his hand on her chest, "She's still not breathing on her own." Grimmjow lowered his mouth back to Mara's, breathing out into her lungs and using his hand to expel the air back out before breathing into her again. In, out, in, out.
Hisagi felt movement against his hand again and looked down to see Mara's hand moving like she was… writing! Loosening his hold, he slid a fresh sheet under her hand and dipped the brush, placing it in her hold. To his amazement, Mara began writing in a language that he couldn't read.
Mara scratched out another word on the paper, desperate for answers. Where was she? Who was he? But her hand seemed to move of its own free will.
"Yes, you were involved in an incident at your usual café. You were injured and came here," the doctor said slowly, hesitantly, suspiciously.
No! Mara screamed in her head. I don't care about a café! Wait—café. Her mind reeled as memories assaulted her in layers. Pictures of monsters with holes through their chests. Diving for a child. Mara's hand moved again unbidden. She focused her attention on the movement as she scratched out [Child?]
"What are you doing?!" Grimmjow roared at Hisagi, who had frozen and was looking at Mara's writing as it formed on the paper.
"She… I think she is remembering something," he answered slowly. "Her rietsu keeps rising and I think it is because the key to it is locked in her memory. But I can't read what she wrote. You've spent more time among the living, Grimmjow, maybe you can."
"You want me to fucking read right now or save her goddam life?" Grimmjow asked, catching his breath from his last round but carefully monitoring her chest still with his broad hand on her chest.
Hisagi turned tortured eyes to the espada. "I don't know what else to do right now but to try to solve this for her. Maybe if we can just keep her breathing through the memories, we can all get some answers."
Mara's body stiffened and Grimmjow brought his other hand up to cradle Mara's head up from the pillow. He gave a curt nod to Hisagi, understanding his distraction and feelings of helplessness as he focused back on the delicate face staring unseeing back at him. He lowered his mouth to hers once more. He breathed as deeply and evenly as possible, the new position feeling more intimate and making him feel protective. His muscles strained against every impulse he had to lock her to him and not let go. He didn't know where this feeling came from but he tried again to focus on nothing but breathing. In, out, in, out.
The doctor wouldn't shut up. Great. It was great to know she had saved a child, but something was missing. There was something else she needed to know. Her hand began moving again and she trusted it to give her answers. What was it that she needed to know. She scratched out letters [R-e-n] and suddenly the scene shifted.
Piercing eyes looked at her with doubt, with fear… with hope before her vision was clouded in a blur as those eyes closed and lips pressed hungrily against hers. Large strong hands gripped her body and she traced the lips against hers with her tongue before nibbled against his bottom lip.
His tongue delved in her mouth, body pressing hard against hers, like he was driven by something wild that had just been let loose. He smelled of heaven and cinnamon but he tasted… he tasted of hot summer breeze and darkness.
Something registered in Mara's mind that this wasn't right. But wasn't it? This taste was wrong, but it was so right. She stifled a moan at the heat crashing through her body to settle between her legs. This mouth was so hungry; as desperate as the other mouth had been. But this one seemed to both devour her and cling to her like a life raft in the middle of a midnight sea all at once. It was both terrifying and fucking beautiful.
Grimmjow's eyes widened as he felt the change in Mara. She drew a breath through him, but what robbed him of air was the feel of her small pink tongue tracing over the edge of his top lip.
The brush fell from her hand and Hisagi jumped up. "I feel Kira!" he announced, hoping his trusted friend would know something to do having spent time in the healing division. "I'm going to get him, I trust you have this," Hisagi said, flash stepping from the room with out looking over at the wide eyed espada, taking his silence as assent.
Just get her through the memory, Grimmjow thought to himself, trying to clear his head as Mara's mouth worked slowly and sensuously against his own. He should pull away. He should. He didn't. Instead, Mara's arms came up to wrap around his neck and she let out a small, sexy mewl against his lips. Grimmjow pressed tightly against her, pulling her flush against him as he cradled her.
God, she tasted like warmth and sunshine and fresh sea air. He could breathe fully and feel everything lifting from his shoulders as she wove her fingers through his hair, scratching his scalp and the back of his neck in a playfully harsh grip. She moaned more deeply as she opened her mouth to him and he greedily took all she put on offer. He moved his free arm from her chest to wrap around her small body, pulling her to him completely, supporting her feather-light weight as he stood up with her clinging to him wantonly.
He tried to center himself. He really did. But she fit against him like a glove and every instinct in him wanted to claim her and keep her. Her rietsu itself seemed to be pulling her to him. It licked up his legs and over his back, leaving goosebumps where it touched. The waves of it seemed to pull him in.
He pulled away from her as he felt her stiffen against him but could not let her go. Her face had become a mask of terror, lips open in a silent scream as she gasped and panted. Grimmjow simply held her tighter and hoped this passed quickly. Either way, he wasn't letting her go.
Sharp canines nipped at her lip as her head spun, scene changing again to those dark piecing eyes. This time filled with worry and regret and pain. Deep red blood mixed with hair to plaster a macabre mask on one side of the eyes in front of her and form a shroud blood around them. From the corner of her eye, Mara could see an approaching aura of black and green and death.
Its coming.
Grimmjow just held Mara through the empty sobs that wracked her small body against his. He brought a large hand up to cradle her face, rubbing his thumb in soothing circles against her cheek.
A large, bloody hand reached up to cradle her jaw tenderly. A deep voice rumbled though she couldn't seem to hear it over her own harsh breaths. Mara knew she needed to pay attention. She tried to focus on the words being spoken even as she wanted to scream.
"Lock your vault, don't let anything in… promise me!"
Mara felt herself nod as she screamed internally about what vault he could mean. What vault? Who are you? She begged in her mind but knew that the bearer of the sad piercing eyes couldn't here her thoughts.
Just get her through the memory, just get her through the memory… Grimmjow chanted to himself in refrain, trying to ignore how Mara's tortured look tore at him. He wiped another silent tear away, not flinching a millimeter as her nails dug into his arm as if holding onto him for life itself. He knew that if it had been anyone but him standing here to hold her that her grip would have drawn blood.
"Shh," he cooed to her, rocking her gently. He was alarmed at how this was making her power rise. The guiding waves had become a tsunami that would have drowned a lesser man. The soft sea of her power was a raging tempest, spilling out everywhere. This would attract attention… but Grimmjow closed his eyes and braced against the power that slapped against him.
Let them come.
Mara gasped in fright as a sword raised in front of her eyes. What was going on. His grip spoke love, so why was he raising a sword at her? 'What are you doing?!' she wanted to scream, but she couldn't change the past, just watch it. Her pounding heart and sound of destruction headed towards them tried to drown the words out though she tried to focus.
"If you remember nothing else, remember that you are loved."
Mara's eyes bored into the piercing ones looking at her. Loved? I'm loved… by you?
So engrossed in trying to memorize the eyes in front of her, Mara was caught off guard as he leaned forward to kiss her on her forehead before quickly swinging his sword toward her.
"BANKAI!" Mara screamed, jolting back to the waking world.
She didn't expect to be cradled, warm and secure in a set of strong arms. She definitely didn't expect the bright teal eyes staring back at her, or for them to contain so much worry and care. "Grimmjow?" she whispered, choking on her emotion.
Making no move to put her down, Grimmjow simply pulled her to his chest, and rumbled out a purr that seemed to calm the shaking woman. "I've got you, woman," he rumbled lowly, continuing his steady purr as Mara broke down in tears, clinging to him.
Hisagi rounded the corner with Kira on his heels but stopped dead in his tracks as he saw Grimmjow holding a crying Mara against him. The intimacy of the embrace was only heightened by how gently Grimmjow cradled her and how peaceful the espada looked. He allowed his eyes to see where she had gripped his jacket in small fists. Hisagi met Grimmjow's eyes, face like stone. The jealousy reared it's head with the fear this time. She would reject him. This would never work.
Grimmjow didn't let out a flicker of emotion as he met Hisagi's gaze. He had a feeling he would pay for this and lose access to all hope if he didn't act against his every instinct right the fuck now. Grimmjow's own mind screamed at him as he lowered Mara to her feet. He felt his breathing nearly stop as he turned her around and pointed to Hisagi who was stepping towards her.
But when she saw Hisagi and smiled, ran to him for comfort. When she sweetly whispered "Shuuhei?" with a crack in her voice. When Hisagi picked her up bridal style and swung her to lean supported against his chest. When her small hand reached out to cradle Hisagi's jaw before she grabbed him tight, crying starting anew against Hisagi's broad chest… Grimmjow felt nothing but pain. Pain like he hadn't known since he was locked under 12. Instead of an arm being removed or skin peeled off, this time it was what little bit of a heart he may have had left. He could feel it drop through his stomach to shatter on the floor.
Grimmjow set his face in stone as he waited for Kira to leave after checking on Mara. This is better, he thought to himself, emotions are for the weak. Break it now or it will only fuck you up later.
As Hisagi lowered her back into the bed again he finally looked at Grimmjow, face falling. He knew what was coming. Grimmjow didn't even look at the bed as he addressed Hisagi, "Half of Seireitei will have felt that."
"I know," Hisagi said, but he made no move.
"Cap," he drawled, eyes down. He couldn't look at her as he continued, "She has to know. You have to tell her."
"Tell me what?" Mara asked, running her fingers over her tingling lips, trying to figure something out as she half listened to the men's talk.
"Mara…" Hisagi began haltingly, "I- um... so, you know how you're under my protection. Well, the way…." Cutting himself off from his own sentence Hisagi turned to pace the room.
Grimmjow rolled his eyes and leaned his hands on the edge of the bed, fists clenched. He let a growl low in his chest, stopping Hisagi in his tracks as the shinigami glared at him. He clenched his teeth together to keep from shouting at the man who had seemed so strong but was showing himself as coward to this girl who had seemed so weak but had proved herself something that he could…
Grimmjow's eyes shot open as he felt a cool hand cover his tense fist. His eyes rose just in time to be sucked into the black and amber depths of Mara's own; he swore could she straight to his soul. She looked at him carefully, as if studying him for the first time as she licked her lips unconsciously. Grimmjow couldn't help that his gaze was drawn to her mouth. Could she still taste him? Did she even know it was him?
"Thank you," Mara said quietly in barely a whisper.
"You don't-" Grimmjow began but Mara cut him off.
"Yeah, I do," She said earnestly. Mara's face tensed up as she looked like she was searching for the right words for something, her finger grazing over her swollen lips again.
She got no chance to say more as Hisagi sat heavily in the chair next to the bed and Grimmjow sat up to lean against the windowsill. "Mara, I don't know how to say it but to say it," Hisagi told her, "There was a price for your protection, and while I would be happy to pay it, you may not be, and you deserve a choice."
Mara cast a curious and confused look between the two men, neither of whom would look at her. "And?" she coaxed gently.
"And," Hisagi continued, "unless you choose otherwise, the only way I had to protect you was to betroth you. We are, as far as Soul Society is concerned, engaged to be married."
Mara could do nothing more than stare stupidly at the handsome captain that had brought her so much comfort. One hour ago. Just one fucking hour before and she may have been okay with this. Hell, she may have been happy. But five minutes ago she was told in her memories about someone who loved her and swung a sword at her and now, she had to agree to marry Shuuhei when all she knew was that the amazing taste in her mouth and warm tingle in her stomach were from… Grimmjow.
Mara looked between Grimmjow's serene face, that did nothing to mask the pain in his eyes, to Hisagi's pained visage that couldn't quite cover up his hope.
"Mara," Hisagi whispered in a soft plead.
"Before I even try to figure this day out," she whispered, "I need some food. I don't know why, but for the first time since coming here, I'm starving."
Both men nodded and left the room to get the exhausted girl some food, leaving Mara alone with her tangled thoughts.
