AizenxIchigo : 29 votes

GrimmjowxIchigo: 28 votes

Author's Note: …Wow… That's close… Too close… What to do… If only one of them pulled up by at least three… Eh… Tha' means 1 more voting chance for all ya'lls. Sorry the chappie's a bit late… School…urgg… (Due to an overload of Reviews (Thank you btw... for all of them...) and votes... One person pulled ahead and voting is now done... sorry if you didn't make the deadline...)

At Las Noches

Ichigo stirred dreamily on his large white bed. Something shoke his arm lightly and he groaned in response. "Yuzu?" Ichigo opened his hazel eyes and stared straight into the green eyes of Nel. "Whaaa!!!"

The small arrancar fell back onto the bed as Ichigo shot up into a sitting position, one hand flying to his forehead and through his hair. She took in the orange haired boy's disheveled topless sight for a moment before crawling up again. "Itsygo…" The boy looked at her.

"Riiiight… Tha's what happened…" He slurred. After their interrupted meal, Grimmjow had practically forced Ichigo to sleep and had retreated to his own quarters. Ichigo dressed in a new uniform (He'd found several pairs in a stack when he came back due to the lack of a lock on his door…) and picked up Nel, who was wearing the same she'd worn before.

"Itsygo…" Ichigo looked at Nel again but before he could ask what was wrong the building shook slightly. Ichigo dashed out of his bedroom, leaving the girl behind.

Ichigo pulled his door open only to slam it shut again as an arrancar came flying at him. He opened the door after a few seconds as saw that the arrancar had missed the door and was slumped to the ground on the side. Another arrancar on the other side of his door had made the previous shudder. Grimmjow stepped out of his own door, topless and looking very peeved and annoyed. "An' who the fuck told ya ya could come in my fuckin' room?!" His hand rubbed the back of his head slowly. "Fuckin' weaklings…"

"Uliquorra-sama s-s-sent us." One arrancar managed to stammer.

"To inform the Shinigami of his lessons in an hour" The other finished. Grimmjow scoffed and the arrancar winced.

"Get me breakfast then." His teal eyes flickered to Ichigo's half naked form in the doorway. "An' get him what he got last time." His eyes then flickered to Ichigo's feet for a brief second before looking back at the arrancar. "N' while ya at it, get the tiny thing somethin' too." The arrancar bowed quickly and fled amist Nel's small protests. Grimmjow turned to go back into his rooms.

"Ano… Grimmjow?" The man turned his upper torso slightly.

"Yeah?" Ichigo blushed. The other man's voice was scratchy and deep. "Wha' is it berry?"

"It's not strawberry!" Ichigo retorted reflexively, and then shrank back slightly. "Eh… Aizen… he wanted you to be at the lesson thing too." Grimmjow threw up his hands and Ichigo watched his shoulders ripple slightly. He blushed some more. Why was he doing that….

"Wha, ever…" Grimmjow looked at Ichigo's bright red face and grinned broadly. Oh yeah, the boy was flaming gay alright… wait …why didhe care? "See ya in a bit. Afta' the morons come back with food."

All three retreated to their rooms and the doors slammed shut. After just a few short minutes, an arrancar brought Ichigo and Nel their food, bowing jerkily while doing so. The two finished their meal uneventfully and looked at each other.

"Well, you want to come with me Nel?" Ichigo asked. Truthfully, he felt he shouldn't leave the little arrancar behind but staying with him was sure to get her killed. Nel crawled in his lap as an answer and began fiddling aimlessly as Ichigo's arm wrapped instinctively around her.

A few uneventful minutes passed and Ichigo became impatient. Where was that teal haired Espada anyway? A few more minutes of silence was enough to make Ichigo pick up Nel and his sword and stomp toward Grimmjow's door.

The door was open. Ichigo was both curious and slightly worried that Grimmjow would have a fit if he went in. Curiosity won and Ichigo stepped in.

Grimmjow's rooms were larger than his. Platforms dotted the walls and bridges connected some of them. The more stations hung off the walls and everything looked like an ornate three dimensional maze. The center hosted a few couches and bean bags scattered in a random pattern. Everything was stark white and the only color was from the shadows under the structures. Ichigo barely noticed that there was a large door somewhere on a high platform to the left, Grimmjow distracted him completely.

The teal haired arrancar was sprawled sideways on a low platform covered with white fur and looking pointedly at him. "Ya came in my rooms…" Ichigo's hand slid to his sword slowly. Grimmjow shook his shaggy head. "Nah. Can't hurt ya anyway. Aizen'll have my arm…" The 'again' part was left unsaid and Grimmjow scowled angrily.

"So…" Ichigo started. Grimmjow stared at the boy intensely. Ichigo blushed again. He then noticed something. "Are the Fraccion protected by the Espada?" Grimmjow snorted in amusement.

"Most of'em. See, higher ranking Espada can kill any lower Espada's Fraccion as long as the 'all mighty'…" Grimmjow stressed the sarcasm, "… don't show no favoritism. Lower Espada can kill higher Espada's Fraccion only if they fall out of favor or sum'ut."

Ichigo pondered as he leaned on a couch. Nel waved her hand in his face but Ichigo brushed it away. He was frowning again. The little arrancar squirmed out of his grasp after the futile gesture and began running toward a staircase leading to the maze of platforms. Grimmjow sat up and made to grab the kid but Ichigo shunpoed in front of him.

Grimmjow looked down at the boy. His hair just tickled Grimmjow's chin and the boy's warm breath expelled on his bare chest. The taller man stepped back. Ichigo didn't seem aware that he'd moved at all. "Hey, Grimmj… whoa!" Now it was Ichigo's turn to fall back. "When'd you..."

"What is it?" Grimmjow snapped, shifting on his feet.

"If Nel's your Fraccion, will she be protected from Noitora?" Grimmjow scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Nah." Ichigo frowned again. That would be a problem. What to do…

Then Grimmjow whirled around, one hand on the hilt of his sword. "Uliquorra…" Ichigo turned, surprise clearly on his face.

"We will begin the lessons now. Kurosaki Ichigo, follow me." Uliquorra turned to leave.

"Wait!" Uliquorra turned again. "What about Nel?" His emotionless gaze flickered toward the happily playing girl.

"She is not of my concern." Ichigo scowled.

"Where can she be safe?"

"From whom?"

"The spoon guy, Noi-something."

"Noitora does as he pleases."

Ichigo scowled deeper, if that was even possible. This guy was insanely unable to communicate. "How can I protect Nel from Noitora?!"

"Become an Espada, defeat Noitora, and make her your Fraccion." Ichigo stepped back, mortified. Become an Espada? No way!

"Now come; and leave the Privaron." Grimmjow practically dragged Ichigo after Uliquorra by the collar of his coat. Nel watched them leave but didn't say anything. She had her own agenda.

Outskirts of Las Noches

"This is one of the training grounds." Uliquorra waved a hand leisurely at the wide expanse of sand and white buildings under the artificial sun. "We will begin training now. The first lesson will be reiatsu control now…"

The "morning" passed ever so slowly. Several arrancar passed through one time or another. Uliquorra and Grimmjow were with the new shinigami kid? Gotta be something interesting happening with that combination. Maybe they'd blow up Las Noches or something. Those who dared to chance Grimmjow's wrath approached cautiously.

That wasweird… Uliquorra was speaking to a very frustrated orange haired boy with crazy fluctuating reiatsu. Grimmjow was not arguing with Uliquorra and appeared to be shouting insults at the boy. Every few minute the boy would stop whatever he was doing and yell at both of the Espada. The dangerous trio didn't fight though. Only Uliquorra's hand strayed to the hilt of his Zanpactou, and that was thrice at the most. The group dispersed some time in the afternoon after the boy collapsed into the sand.

Later that evening

Ichigo stepped into Aizen's room again. The man was sitting on a wide white chair and seemed to be waiting for him. "Have a good day Kurosaki-kun?" Ichigo grimaced slightly.

"Sure… I had a lot of fun…" Aizen's smile grew wider at the boy's sarcastic comment.

"Tell me about your day…" Ichigo hesitated to spill everything but Aizen's cajoling voice broke his barriers. Aizen listened attentively and interjected comments at regular intervals. When it was time for Ichigo to leave, Aizen repeated his behavior from before and wrapped his arms around Ichigo. The boy didn't respond outside the tensing of his shoulders.

For the next few days, Ichigo's life became routine. Every morning he'd awaken to breakfast with Nel. Then the young Privaron would stay in Ichigo or Grimmjow's rooms as the two Espada and Ichigo left. During training, Ichigo would argue with Grimmjow and Uliquorra. At times, the three would exchange views on life. Those peaceful moments would never last long and arguments would always erupt.

In the evening, Ichigo would chat with Aizen about anything at all excluding the war. The conversations would often last for quite some time and always ended with a brief gesture of intimacy of some kind. All in all, Ichigo wasn't unhappy. Here, no one tried to kill him regularly and he had much less stress than before. His dreams were sometimes filled with memories of his friends but waking up with Nel's smiling face usually displaced all that. He wasn't happy, but he wasn't going to dwell on it. He had to stay and so he was going to make the most of it.

Urahara Shoten

"What?! Kurosaki is a Vaizard?!" Matsumoto, Ikkaku, and Yumichika stared at the shop keeper. Chad, Ishida, and Inoue seemed slightly surprised but not overwhelmed like the shinigami.

"Ano… Perhaps we should contact Soul Society for the rescue mission?" Inoue asked shyly after a slight pause. People hesitated and looked at each other nervously.

"Soul Society believes Kurosaki is a shinigami right? So they have to send someone for him." Ishida interjected thoughtfully. Chad nodded beside him.

"Kurosaki-kun saved us so m-many times. We should go save him now!" Inoue declared with a smile. The others looked at her pointedly.

"We can't risk having you go to Las Noches Inoue." Matsumoto replied sadly. "Or else everything Kurosaki did would be undone." Inoue's fake smile dropped and she nodded sadly, gaze pointed at her bent knees.

"Well now…" Urahara declared with a big smile. "You should be going now!! Orihime-chan will stay with me for the present!" Ishida barely resisted whacking the pervert on the head. The shinigami rose as one.

"Let's go see what Soul Society is planning then."

6th day in Las Noches, Training Grounds

"As I said before, trash goes in the trash can and souls go to Soul Society! Soul Society is not a trash can!"
"Of course not."
"Huh?"
"Weaklings return to the void between worlds."
"That too!"
"Oy! Ya two done playin'?! It's damn hot here!"
"Then go sit in the shade or something!"
"… Assuming that you are able to find such."
"…" Ichigo slammed his reiatsu against a nearby pillar and caused part of it to fall.
"There! Shade!"
"… tha' ain't fuckin' shade. Tha's a pile o' rubble n' …"
"I believe you've crushed one of Szayel's Fraccion Kurosaki…"
"… Those things are slow…"
"Wha's that? The tenth you've fuckin' bombarded wit stuff this week?"
" … I think it was the eighth…"
"Why would you waste brainpower to remember such?"
"I was bored alright! Bored! Back to the lesson already!"

Ichigo closed his eyes to signify his unwillingness to continue the conversation. Grimmjow was still perched on a nearby rock, eyes scanning the surroundings restlessly. Uliquorra stood further from Grimmjow than Ichigo and waited. Ichigo breathed deeply and slowly began pulling his seeping reiatsu in.

"There, happy?" Ichigo asked grumpily. Controlling reiatsu was hard for him even after practice.

"I feel no emotion." Uliquorra replied, stonefaced.

"E' means are ya satisfied dumbass! Even I know tha'!" Grimmjow shot out. Ichigo sighed as the two began shooting responses back at each other. He was surprised the two weren't coming to blows but noticed that they'd toned down the insults. Instead of saying one of them was weak, they taunted a specific ability. But then, he supposed spending five full days with each other might've done that.

"You? Defeat me? Perhaps you should defeat this unkempt vaizard first." Ichigo's head shot up and his control eroded a bit.

"Who're you calling unkempt?!"
"You."

"…" The two hot headed men stared at Uliquorra and, for the briefest second, the black haired man's lips seemed to curl up.

"It's really hard to argue with you…"
"Ya… Too fuckin' onesided of an argument. Hell! Even berry here is funnier to yell at."
"Funnier is not a proper word."
"Yell at me? Well pardon me! I…"

"Ya Pardoned." "You are pardoned." Ichigo glared at the two. They were having far too much fun toying with him.

"Emergency Espada meeting taking place now." An arrancar sped past with the message, not bothering to stop. Grimmjow reached out a hand and lazily grabbed the arrancar's arm.

"Say it properly wimp."

"Ehh… Grimmjow-sama, Uliquorra-sama, ehh… guest-sama? There is an emergency Espada meeting beginning in a few minutes…" The three exchanged glances. Huh. Weird. "Something about hybrids desu(1)"

"Hybrids?! ...Szayel?" Shot through their heads. Grimmjow allowed the arrancar to leave with a small gesture and the three exchanged glances before shooting off toward the Espada meeting grounds...

"Control your Reiatsu Kurosaki."
"I am, I am!"
"No ya ain't I kin feel it fuckin' practically writhin' around 'ere."
"Shut up already!"
"Ya shut it Berry!"
"It would be best for both of you to refrain from speaking."
"…"
"Polite speech just drains the mood doesn't it Grimmjow…"
"Totally fuckin' agree…"


Author's Note:

… Boo…

Vote people!… Before I write the action parts preferably…… And review!

(Don't Vote!... it just ended...)

(1)Polite crap to say… writing Grimmjow's personality is twisting my vocabulary…Sorry…