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VI
"So Isshin, how did last night meeting with Grimmjow went?" Urahara enquired while fanning himself languidly.
They were back at the clearing in the forest again, collating their 'results' and hopefully, reaching a satisfiable conclusion.
"Too well. He would fit in with the human world just fine. Fitted right in with the rest of my family, in fact," Isshin said somewhat bitterly.
"High adaptability," Ryuuken observed, pushing his glasses up as he spoke, "Also, from our observations yesterday, he doesn't seemed to possess the bloodlust that usually come from one of their kind,"
"I guess Kurosaki-san managed to tame him then," Urahara said rather cheerfully.
Isshin and Ryuuken had to resist from snorting.
"In any case, he doesn't seemed to be causing harm to anyone," Ryuuken said evenly.
"Except to Ichigo," Isshin added harshly.
"You're being overly protective,"
"Let's see how you'll be if your Uryuu starts fraternising with the enemy," Isshin shot back.
Ryuuken didn't have an answer to that. In a sense, Isshin was right.
"So if it was anyone else - a normal human, that is - you'll be fine with Ichigo dating them?" Urahara asked.
"Yes," Isshin said tersely.
"Even if that guy do drugs, commit crimes and such?"
"Ichigo have better taste than that,"
"So why wouldn't you trust Ichigo's taste on this?"
Isshin was silent.
"Look at Aizen. He looked decent, doesn't he? Shinigami captain and all. But he still ended up betraying Soul Society," Urahara paused before continuing, "Grimmjow may be an Arrancar, but if he has no ill intentions, he should be trustworthy enough," Urahara reasoned.
Isshin visibly deflated, "So you're asking me to give him a chance?"
"Yes,"
"Fine. But only one chance. If he so much as hurt Ichigo, I swear, I'll make sure he won't die painlessly,"
"That's comforting,"
"Pay attention, damnit!" Hitsugaya's voice cut through the racket the rest of the Shinigamis were making.
"But Taichooooouuuuuu, Renji is being meaaaaannnnnnn," Rangiku made a face.
"Remind me why I agreed to lead this bunch of idiots again?" Hitsugaya muttered under his breath as he rubbed his temple.
"You're outta of your mind," Ikkaku said carelessly as his feet nudged the tentacles of the big screen in front of him, "And the hell? Why can't we find a more spacious place to discuss strategies?"
"Cause only Orihime's place have a direct connection to Soul Society, idiot Baldy," Rangiku supplied as she kicked Renji's shin.
"Who're you calling bald!"
Yumichika sighed, "Ikkaku is right though. I mean, no offense Orihime, but your place isn't exactly huge. And in the first place, why is this ugly machine taking up the majority of the space anyway?"
"I'm sor - "
Ichigo cut off Orihime's apology in mid-sentence, "Can we just get about to discussing whatever is needed? I don't exactly have the whole day,"
"Ooh, Ichigo! Where'd you get that?" Rukia pointed to the black chain Ichigo was mindlessly fingering.
"It's a ring!" Rangiku abandoned her assault on Renji and pounced onto Ichigo, easily slipping the ring and chain off Ichigo's neck.
"Hey! Return that!"
"Where'd you get that?" Renji asked after recovering from Rangiku's attack, "OH!" Renji grinned widely, "You got a girlfriend!"
"Wha - "
"How can you not tell us Ichigo! We're your friends right?" Rangiku wrapped her arm around Ichigo's neck at that, "So who's the lucky girl?" She whispered conspiratorially.
"Shove off," Ichigo grabbed the ring back, replacing it on his neck.
"Aww, don't be so shy," Rangiku cooed.
Renji snickered as Ichigo turned a light shade of red, "Toushiro! Can we just start this meeting!"
"It's Hitsugaya-Taichou," Hitsugaya muttered half-heartedly.
Hitsugaya sighed heavily when Rangiku, Renji and Rukia continued trying to pry information off Ichigo while Ikkaku, Yumichika, Orihime, Sado and Ishida looked on with interest. Just great.
Hitsugaya took a deep breath, "SILENCE!" His restrained reiatsu washed over them, causing the temperature of the room to drop by a few degrees.
The room was silenced immediately. Rangiku, recognising her Taichou's look of utter irritation, wisely decided to scoot back to her place near the table. Renji gave a look to Ichigo, hinting that their interrogation was snoot over, before turning his attention to Hitsugaya.
Finally. "News from Soul Society," Hitsugaya said quietly as he pushed a button on the screen, causing a playback of his meeting with Yamamoto-SouTaichou to appear.
"Amazing, I didn't know that Soul Society have devices that work like VCRs," A low voice that sounded vaguely like Ishida said.
"Shh," Orihime mimed a rude hand gesture.
At that, even Hitsugaya stopped and stared owlishly at her.
"What?"
Rangiku stretched across the table, giving Ikkaku a good view of her assets, and whispered wickedly into Orihime's ears. Orihime blushed and apologised profusely after Rangiku's explanation.
Hitsugaya cleared his throat, "Anyway," He gestured towards the screen where the image of Yamamoto-SouTaichou was still talking.
" - troops are ready and after discussion among the new Central 46 with the rest of the captains of the Gotei 13," Yamamoto sighed heavily at this part, "We're pushing forward the battle date with Aizen and his army,"
"What!" Ichigo's outburst shocked Yumichika out of his hair twirling, causing him to pull out a few precious strands.
Disregarding Yumichika's shrieking and pausing Yamamoto in mid-speech, Hitsugaya turned to Ichigo, "What's wrong Kurosaki?"
"N-nothing," Seriously, how could I be so stupid? Actually thinking that...that the time Grimm and I have will really be infinite...Ichigo gave a bitter smile at that.
"Are you alright?" Renji's concerned voice broke Ichigo out of his thoughts.
"Huh, I'm fine, I'm fine," Ichigo waved Renji away.
With a heavy heart, Ichigo settled himself back to listen to the strategies of the Gotei 13.
Glancing about, Hitsugaya gave a small noise of annoyance before switching off the large screen.
"Taichou?"
"I'll summarise," Hitsugaya sat down before continuing, "First, Third, Fifth, Nineth and Twelfth Division will remain in Soul Society. First and Twelfth to overlook all activities in Hueco Mundo and the real world. Third, Fifth and Nineth to oversee the rest of Soul Society," He paused, "Eighth and Thirteenth will be in Karakura, fending off any Hollows that Aizen decided to send as decoy. The rest, except for the Fourth Division, will be in Hueco Mundo. Fourth Division itself will be spilt into three groups but the details, I don't think you guys are particularly interested,"
"Alright! We're in the group going to Hueco Mundo," Renji made a victory sign as something close to bloodlust twinkled in Ikkaku's eyes.
"And as for Kurosaki, Sado, Ishida and Inoue...well, Yamamoto-SouTaichou would like Kurosaki to join us in Hueco Mundo naturally, but it's still up to you. For Sado and Ishida, you two are also invited to join us in Hueco Mundo, though for Ishida we understand that you might not want to since we're Shinigamis and all. Inoue...Yamamoto-SouTaichou still thinks that it's best for you to remain in Karakura but then again, we can't stop you if you decide not to,"
The four of them looked at each other. Immediately Sado, Ishida and Inoue made up their mind to join the fight in Hueco Mundo. Ichigo took a few more seconds before agreeing as well.
His hesitation was not missed by Rangiku, "Come on Ichigo, don't worry. You'll be back in Karakura in one piece to meet your girlfriend again,"
At that, the whole room except for Ichigo and Hitsugaya snickered.
"Hello, my dear Espadas, how have all of you been?" Aizen smiled warmly.
A scattered response met his ears and his smile widened.
"I have some great news to share with everyone, but first let's all enjoy our tea," He gestured to the cups in front of each of the Espadas.
Obediently, all the Espadas reached for their cups. Aizen smiled, satisfied.
Except one. "Why aren't you touching yours, Grimmjow?" Aizen's eyes were narrowed and his smile looked more dangerous than warm.
Aizen watched as Grimmjow glared at him before snatching up his cup and downing the contents in one mouth. Perfect.
"As I was saying, I have some great news. Soul Society is pushing forward their attack date, hoping to take us by surprise," He leaned casually onto an arm, "I'm sure most of you already can't wait for the battle to start, so I believe that this is very good news for all of you,"
"And as for the problem of Kurosaki Ichigo," Aizen watched as Grimmjow blinked groggily and shook his head a little, "We've already found his weakness,"
There was a loud crash as Grimmjow's head fell onto the table. Aizen watched calmly as Grimmjow struggled to move his body.
"You bastard! What did you do?" Grimmjow's voice came out weak and feeble.
Aizen smiled as Grimmjow's eyes closed, "Goodnight, Grimmjow,"