I Hate That I Love You – CH 2: The Game

A regret in life: beating Orihime Inoue. Don't think I've gone soft. That's the wrong idea completely. I should've realized that Aizen or Ulquiorra would find out soon enough. Or maybe I could have done it more quietly or threatened her so she would shut up about the whole thing and say she fell down some stairs to prove the bruises. I regret this only because I was confronted by Ulquiorra that night. He told me to apologize to her. I fucking hate apologizing. She brought it to herself in the first place. It was my only option at the moment. The world was not fair. Life wasn't fair. Beating the chick was fun, but if I had to say sorry afterwards, it wasn't worth it.

"Apologize to her," Ulquiorra repeated.

"No way," I said, smirking and taking the harsh tone in his voice lightly. Did he really think I was going to?

"Or do you want me to involve Aizen-sama in this? If I were you, I'd just do what I'm told."

I gritted my teeth. "Alright, alright! Sheesh." The last thing I wanted was to get Aizen involved in harassing his favourite. The guy had some leg-shaking reiatsu. I mean that literally. I didn't consider myself scared of Aizen; I was simply… forced to receive a cruel punishment, and I want to avoid that. I want to live to see how Aizen would come about in his plan; failure or not.

"Do it now," he commanded.

I raised an eyebrow. "Even if you have a higher ranking than me, doesn't mean you can order me around," I explained to him.

"Do not change the subject, Grimmjow. Do it now. She's in her room. The door is locked from the outside."

I thought she had the freedom to wonder off on her own. I'm guessing he locked her himself. Or did she finally attempt to escape this place?

"I'm going." I did an eye roll in addition. It was so fucking fun to mess with this guy, even though his face was impassive and I missed the real reactions. I passed him on my way to the hallway, even bumped by shoulder against his.

I walked with my usual stance. No rush. I didn't want the others to know what I was about to do. Ulqiorra wasn't following me, so he couldn't hassle me. Number four always had a way of doing that. Still, I felt daggers shooting at my back.

Finally, I reached her room. That beating heart was a give-away. He was right; the door was locked from the outside. I could hear her crying inside like the baby she was. I knew it was because of Ulquiorra this time. I slapped and kicked her hours ago, she can't be crying for this long. I removed the metal bar that went through both handles of the door. It dropped with a clang! If you knew me, you know I won't really apologize. Just comin' for a visit, and somehow make the girl tell her bodyguard I did apologize to her. When I threw the door open, she was on the floor with her face covered by her hands as she cried on it. Orihime's body shook with her sobs. That damn girl was always on the floor during my visits.

"Hey," I said.

Orihime looked up at me in surprise, not noticing my entrance until I said something. Her eyes had terror in them again. Ahh… she finally got the message that I wasn't made to be friends with. "Gri-Grimmjow-san! Please don't…! I'm s-sorry about Ulquiorra knowing!"

I frowned. "What the hell do you mean by that? And stop your crying! It's pissing me off, woman!"

It took a few seconds before she quieted down and spoke again. "He found out that you threw me into the hall. He was watching me the whole time. He said he was going to do something to you and then he left!" she explained.

What did she think Ulquiorra did to me? "Do something? He only told me to apologize." It bothered me, knowing the fact that she was really crying for me.

The grimace in her face lessened. "H-He said that? You don't have to… to apologize. Pl-Please… don't beat me again just because you're forced to say sorry."

Maybe she was crying because of her safety. "Nah, not right now at least. Some other time you piss me off. I promise you that." I bared my teeth in a mischievous smile.

Orihime exhaled the air she was holding in. I wasn't going to bail on my plan. He was probably listening to me right now. I still had to order Orihime to lie in my behalf. I walked over to her and she was terrified again, her big doe eyes staring at me. As if I was a lion and I had cornered her.

"Get up, woman," I said.

She took too long to stand, so I hauled her to her feet. I kept a frown on, deepening her terror. With a quick pull toward me, she slammed into my chest. Her body was like a rag doll, truly physically weak. Her arms felt so thin, that it was like a fragile twig. Just one snap and... I'd keep that in mind for next time. There was tight tension between us as she awkwardly put a hand on my chest and turned her head away. "Tell Ulquiorra that I apologized then," I whispered in her ear.

I felt her nod.

I turned back to the door to stroll away. My work here was done. I'll just head out to find some lunch, because I was starving.

Got the usual on my tray—stale bread, and salty soup. It was what everyone got actually. Aizen didn't put enough options on our menu. Only the ten Espadas sat on the round table in the lunch room. The others ate somewhere else. They weren't as valuable to Aizen. We sat in order too. To my right was Nnoitra and on my left was Zommari. I noticed Ulquiorra wasn't in his spot. I knew he would stay to listen to me and the girl. The ploy went out perfectly...

Nnoitra just kept laughing when I took the seat next to him—crazy mother fucker. I didn't know why he laughed. I decided to ignore him for a bit until he chuckled right into my friggin' ear.

I turned angrily at my chair to face him. "Dammit, Nnoitra! Shut the fuck up!" I told him.

"There is a reason for my laughing, Jaegerjaquez," he said.

"What might that be?" I asked, turning back to my food.

"I think everyone heard about you and… that girl."

The usual buzz of conversations lessened as some turned to eavesdrop, interested in the gossip. She and I were a topic of conversation?

"What?"

"She followed you in your room and came out crying," he explained.

"Well, that fucking bitch deserved it."

"Deserved you to rape her?"

"Rape her?" I asked, my brows knitting together. "I did no shit."

He chuckled again. "Right, right. What I'm saying is you did the right thing. I think all the guys here would've wanted the same thing."

"Hold on a sec, Nnoitra. I didn't rape the chick, got that? She was brought out crying with her clothes on, right? So then stop makin' conclusions," I explained to him and everyone else who was spying on our conversation.

He shrugged. "I have to admit, everyone who confirmed that you did, haven't actually seen it. But I'm sure as hell that everyone heard her cries." He started to chuckle again.

I bit through the bread and tore it with my teeth harshly.

"It doesn't matter anyway. What I hear is that that girl is in love with the Substitute Shinigami. Uhh, what's his name? Kuro…"

"Kurosaki Ichigo," I finished. I knew that the bitch was supposedly in love with an enemy we took her away from. It brought fire to our feud. Maybe they even had some sort of deep relationship together. I've only heard about him from Aizen's explanation about our main foes. He rescued another girl during her execution. He fought through captains and won to reach her. If he was coming to rescue the girl, he'd be saving girl after girl. I thought that the guy had some sort of Prince Syndrome and went everywhere rescuing damsels in distress.

I was puzzled at how Nnoitra formed his sentence. "What do you mean 'it doesn't matter anyway'?" I questioned him through a mouthful of dough.

"What I mean is that the girl won't allow herself to get laid because she loves him."

"Who the fuck said I wanted to in the first place?" I demanded.

"No one, so calm down. I'm just saying," he said, nudging him playfully.

I blinked twice at this and raised an eyebrow. I turned in my seat to face him again. "Do you doubt me or something? That chick can become my puppet in a few simple steps."

"Is that a deal your making?"

"Yes it is. I bet you I can sleep with that girl and live to tell the tale afterwards. She's soft; it'll be easy to manipulate her."

He grinned. "Alright then, it's a deal. Want anything in return when you win?"

"Nah. I don't want anything from you." Especially since he was so fucked up.

A game was created; a new sport to play that suited me—easy target too. In fact, she was on my side already. She called me her friend. I don't know how, but I set the trap before hand, and I was unaware of it. It snapped and caught her—just who I wanted to win for this deal. I don't even have to change much. She said "friend" just the way I am right? No need to act nice. I'll have to win her heart. Hmm… maybe I did have to be a little more "nice." At least I'll lessen the abusing instincts. Shit like that is what human girls like from a guy. It was a load of crap.

This'll truly be a game that I will enjoy with every moment. It gives me something to do around here too. I'll shrug to anyone who asks for a purpose and say, "Oh well, I'm bored as hell."

A/N: Voilà! Another chapter is born for my lovely readers. Thank you so much for reviews, favourite, story alerts... ect. I definitely try to make it more interesting in the next few chapters