Disclaimer: Various concepts and characters have been retrieved from Dragonball Z and Bleach for this story; they belong to Akira Toriyama and Tite Kubo. Please note, however, that the plot, which is an original plot, is unrelated to the events that take place in DBZ and Bleach, meaning this is an AU fic. The OC's and plot belong to myself, and KRenee.

III

Late November, 2011

Juritsu rubbed her eyes tiredly as she shut off her alarm. It had been two and a half weeks since that awful night out with Grimmjow. Rather than inviting him out again the weekends following her ill-fated night – Grimmjow could find some other chick to ditch – she'd continued going out with Kaisuki, who had been more than willing to accompany her and keep her mind off of him.

Throughout this time period of avoidance, there were several instances out on the town when she thought she saw Grimmjow, but she refused to go looking for him, and didn't even try to make herself known. In class, at first, he'd tried to pass notes with her, but she completely ignored him. Now, he didn't even bother. Figured that he didn't really think of them as friends in the first place. Jerk.

Kaisuki seemed to be a nice girl, though Juritsu couldn't shake off what she'd seen that first night they'd went clubbing. She was positive that she hadn't been seeing things, but since then, she hadn't seen any eye colors aside from the normal yellow. Had it been a fluke after all?

Abruptly, Juritsu's cell phone went off; it was a message, from Chris:

Did you want to meet up and study before the exam today?

She smiled slightly. Chris had been comforting in his own way, keeping her distracted by keeping her productive. She had to admit, it was a pretty effective method. And she couldn't thank him enough. He'd gone out with her too, though not as many times as Kaisuki had, but he still had become someone she could fall back to, even if she maintained a certain elusiveness around him. She still had to keep her bloodline secret, after all. And he didn't seem to mind at any rate.

Sure thing! I'll meet you at the library!

…

Juritsu was having a hard time focusing on the lecture. It was far away, but she could hear it echoing in the depths of her mind; a deep, thunderous roar that occasionally sent chills up her spine with how… malevolent it sounded. She had no clue as to where the noise was coming from. A few times she surreptitiously glanced around the room in the hopes that she'd locate the source, but without any luck.

There was a light ache beginning behind her eyes, and she rubbed her temples, closing her eyes shut briefly to will away the pain. This must be what a headache feels like. It was something she'd never felt before, never being ill in her entire life. She felt Grimmjow's eyes on her, and she pointedly ignored him. I'm being way too over-dramatic about this, she chided herself. And yet, she refused to do anything about it.

"Friday, we're going to start the thermotherapy unit. Make sure you get your competencies checked off before tomorrow morning, if you haven't already done so," the professor concluded his lecture, and the students began the process of gathering their things. Juritsu closed her eyes, pausing for a moment as her headache surged in pain briefly before fading. The roaring in her head was slowly, yet gradually, increasing in volume, without any kind of explanation as to why.

"Hey," Chris' voice startled her, and she turned to glance over at him. He had a slightly worried look on his face. "Are you alright? You don't look well."

"I'm fine," she reassured him, still sensing Grimmjow's eyes on her, and made sure to make it obvious that she wasn't quite in the mood to talk or hang out. She and Chris had been spending a good deal of time together the past few weeks, but with the headache and the strange voice in her head, she wanted to be alone more than anything. Hastily, she pushed through the lingering students and out the classroom door. For Grimmjow to not immediately leave like he'd been doing after she'd made it clear that she didn't want to talk to him meant that he wanted to talk to her. And, while inwardly she felt a flutter of happiness that he seemed to still want her forgiveness, another part of her still couldn't get past him and Lily…

Why are you still so bent out of shape about this?! She mentally screamed at herself, he's not your boyfriend, and sure he ditched, but really, this is absolutely ridiculous!

His voice behind her startled her, and she glanced over her shoulder to find Grimmjow following her. Shit…

Without even thinking, she took off into a run, bursting out into the sunlight, before turning and running down a little walkway to the side of the building. Not many people walked through here; surely he wouldn't think to look for her here. She rounded another corner, now behind the building they had just been in.

"Oi, why the hell are you running away from me?!" It was Grimmjow?! Couldn't he take a hint?! Juritsu glanced over her shoulder, completely taken aback at the sight of him chasing her down, and gaining. He's fast… Dude, just leave me alone! It's obvious I don't want to talk to you!

Not looking where she was going, Juritsu stumbled a bit, but managed to catch herself. Before she could take off again, she felt him grab her arm, wrenching her backwards. The next thing she knew, her back was to a wall, and Grimmjow's arms were on either side of her. His cheeks were slightly flushed and his breathing had deepened. Beads of sweat were scattered across his forehead. She wasn't particularly tired herself, though at the moment it was hard to remember that she had to pretend like she was anyway.

And the warmth, his warmth, enveloped her, and her cheeks suddenly flushed. He was too close, too close, too close!

"What the hell, man," Grimmjow breathed, and Juritsu's blush deepened at the husky sound, skin tingling at the sound of his voice, "You're like an Olympic sprinter."

Whoops… she must've been running faster than she thought; apparently, skirting the superhuman line. And yet, he still managed to catch her. What the hell? How?

She averted her glance, her blush unrelenting. "Well… what, did you expect me to stop or something?" she mumbled, moving to duck under one of his arms, "Let me go."

"I don't think so," his body was suddenly pressed up against hers, pinning her to the wall, and she froze. Her heart was thundering in her chest; she was positive he could feel it. Too close! Her ears began to heat up at this point, and she kept her eyes on his chest, inches from her face. She was almost afraid to breathe.

"Juritsu," he was no longer out of breath, his voice quiet. She felt a hand carefully grasp her chin, tilting her head up towards his. She kept her gaze averted, her heart in her throat. She was so nervous, she could feel herself trembling.

"Look at me."

Slowly, hesitantly, her eyes drifted upward, tentatively meeting his gaze. It was weird, seeing him without a grin or smirk on his face. It was even weirder that he had a solemn look in his eyes. It wasn't a look she liked on him at all. That small hint of sadness… where had that come from? Her heart panged for him. It suddenly became clear to her that he was quietly shouldering a burden.

He took a step back; he apparently saw that she wouldn't run away at this point. He let out a sigh, rubbing the back of his head briefly. "Look… I know that you're really pissed at me. I ditched you that night," his bright blue eyes met and held hers, "I'm sorry."

Defensively, almost, Juritsu huffed, crossing her arms and tearing her gaze away from his. "Who does that," she muttered, not willing to forgive him so easily, "I… didn't care… that you wanted to hook up with… with her," she was unwilling to say that tra… her name, "You could've at least said something to me. Something even as simple as 'I'm going off with her, I'll text you when I get home'… instead of just walking away like I wasn't even there… And don't even get me started on the 'classmates' crap…" Juritsu was regretting each word as it came out. Really, she was sounding awfully petty. She was being completely absurd.

"I was being a huge ass that night, I know." Grimmjow didn't seem to think of her small rant as petty. "Let me make it up to you. You're done for the day, right? I'll take you out to a diner or something, and you can laugh at me after I tell you how that night turned out to suck balls. Okay?"

Juritsu's eyes drifted to the ground in front of her, unsure of what to think or do. One part of her had stopped being angry with him a while ago, and actually missed his company. Another part of her still didn't want to let it go, why, she couldn't understand. How could he choose Lily over her, anyway? What did Lily have that she haven't, besides the flawless skin, the perfect proportions, the seductive everything…

"Look… I don't know if this means much to you but… I really do consider you a friend," Grimmjow's voice once again reached her ears, and the tone of his words caused her to look up at him. There was a loneliness there that she'd never seen before, and it darkened the color of his normally bright blue eyes. He almost looked desperate for forgiveness, in a subtle, less-frantic sort of way. Was he… alone? The urge to comfort him was overwhelming.

I can't stay mad at you…

"F… fine," her cheeks flushed slightly, and she averted her gaze, slightly embarrassed, "It's fine."

Why she couldn't bring herself to look at him, she didn't quite know. Maybe she didn't want him to see what she realized, looking into his eyes. Was it pity that she felt for him? No…

The image of her father's proud smile appeared in the forefront of her mind, and she couldn't help but smile fondly. She was pretty sure Grimmjow thought she was a freak for it, but she didn't care. She couldn't really call herself 'normal' anyway. But she understood the loneliness, at least a little.

A hand suddenly appeared in her vision, and she glanced up to find that he'd been offering it to her. He had a grin on his face, softer than what she was used to, but she felt a small wave of relief that at least his smile was back, regardless of how shallow it was.

"Ready to go then?" he asked. Smirking and shaking her head in reply, she took his hand and allowed herself to be led back towards the quad.

…

Juritsu took a tentative sip from her chocolate milkshake, her gaze focused on watching the people walk by the window outside the diner. For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to glance over at Grimmjow, suddenly feeling self-conscious about her looks and appearance. Was her fringe messier than usual? She knew she should've worn a cuter blouse to class… The nagging voice in the back of her head had very suddenly decided to remind her that this little outing very much resembled a date. Like hell it was, she mentally countered, this is Grimmjow apologizing for the one weekend. She was blowing absolutely everything out of proportion, wasn't she?

"Hey," her blue-haired classmate's voice startled her from her thoughts, and she blinked, impulsively glancing over at him. He seemed to be watching her intently, and she furiously fought back the blush that wanted to color her cheeks for what felt like the thousandth time that day.

"Is it good?" he continued. She had to ponder what he meant for a brief pause before she realized he was referring to her milkshake. He'd ordered a simple cola.

"Oh… yea, it is. Wanna try some?" she pushed it across the table as an offer. He stared at the drink, surprised for a moment, before he took a sip.

"You're surprisingly laid back about that kind of thing," he remarked after agreeing about the tastiness.

"What kind of thing?"

"I figured only couples shared drinks like that."

She couldn't fight the blush that crept up this time. Was that really a couple's thing? She always shared her food and drink with Gohan and Goten, and Trunks when he came over – Vegeta never seemed to be one for friendly interactions, at least, not without being friendly in his warped way. She never thought of it as ridiculously intimate. So, the only thing she could say in response was "…Oh."

Grimmjow smirked. "What, you're saying you've never had a guy share his drink with you?"

Juritsu gave him an affronted glare before switching her gaze to out the window, once again. "That's none of your business," she muttered, the flush on her cheeks relentless, "What's it to you anyway?"

Grimmjow chuckled. "Hai, hai. Then, here," he pushed his drink across the table towards her, "Have some. Fair's fair, after all."

Juritsu eyed the glass of cola for a long moment. It wasn't like she'd never had cola before. Really, this was all turning into an unnecessary, embarrassing mess! But still, she found herself hesitantly taking hold of the straw and sampling the soda.

She pushed the cup back over to Grimmjow, gaze averted in embarrassment. "It's good," she mumbled, "Thanks."

"No prob." That response came easily enough. Obviously he didn't take anything seriously, did he? Before she could think much else of it, the waitress arrived, bringing their meals with them. Sticking to the American-style theme of the restaurant, they'd ordered burgers and fries – cheap, yet filling enough. To Juritsu, this was more of an ultra-light snack, but she wasn't about to reveal that to her blue-haired companion anytime soon.

"So, anyway, I said I'd let you laugh at me by telling you how my night went down the shitter," Grimmjow spoke up after popping a fry in his mouth, "To start, let me say that it was more uneventful than you probably thought it was."

"I didn't think conquests were really eventful," Juritsu coolly shot back, making it clear that she didn't like the change of subject. Lily was the last thing she wanted on her mind. "Unless of course, you're more of a foreplay kind of guy."

"Ouch…" Grimmjow replied, making a show of wincing at her comment before he continued, "We didn't hook up, if that's what you mean."

This caught Juritsu's attention almost immediately. "Ho? Really?" So you ditched me even when you probably would've had a better time staying, huh?

"Firstly, I don't particularly like one-night-stands in public places," Grimmjow went on to explain, "I usually bring a girl back to my place, where it's more private. That way, she can scream as loud as she wants, and I don't have to worry about someone finding us-…"

"Like I want to hear that, Grimmjow," Juritsu cut in, rubbing her temples. The headache was coming back, with a bit more vigor than before. The roaring voice in her head was beginning to crescendo.

Grimmjow snickered at that. "I figured I'd provide some background info. That way, the story will make more sense. Anyway, I wanted to go get something to eat before I took Lily back to my place, but she was like, dead set on doing shit right there in the club. It was kind of weird," he added thoughtfully, "She acted all cute at first and stuff, but when I started trying to get her to leave and go home with me, she changed. Like, she started acting like a freakin' Dom. So I gave up and ditched."

The roaring was incessant. Juritsu attempted to ignore it. "You know, you came across as the kind of guy who'd do it anywhere, at any time of day," she replied jokingly, though her voice came out a tad strained.

Grimmjow scoffed, rolling his eyes. "I have some standards…" he made to shoot back, but his voice trailed off. She felt his eyes on her, studying her intensely. "Hey… you feeling okay?"

She hadn't realized that her posture had completely changed in the span of seconds – she was too focused on trying to hear Grimmjow's voice through the screaming in her head coupled with her throbbing temples. She found herself hunched over, cradling her head in a hand that simultaneously rubbed her eyes, which were shut in pain – she saw flashing colors on the inside of her lids.

"Juritsu?" she jumped, startled when she suddenly felt Grimmjow's hand gently press against her forehead. She looked up at him, and instantly regretted it. The lights in the diner were positively blinding, and she whimpered, cringing slightly at the sudden spike in ache. As he gently pressed his hand to her forehand, she unwittingly leaned into his touch, wishing the contact could just will it away. He had a look of concentration on his face.

"I don't think you have a fever," he thought aloud, "What's wrong? Headache?"

She doubted that he'd believe her if she said "there's a voice roaring in my head," so she decided to keep that little detail out. She nodded mutely, the normally simple movement feeling to her like a Herculean effort.

He looked thoughtful for a moment before flagging down the waitress and handing her a wad of cash and telling her to keep the change. Juritsu didn't pay much attention, as her vision began swimming from the pain. What was this?

Her head hurt too much for her to jump when she felt his arm slide around her back, carefully pulling her to her feet. She leaned against him, clutching onto his shirt to keep herself upright.

"Come on, let's get you out of here," his voice reached her ears somehow, "It's weird how it came outta nowhere though. You get headaches like this often?"

"No… I'm sorry…" she mumbled as he helped her out the door.

"For what? Idiot, this isn't a big deal. Obviously your health is slightly more important than burgers and fries," he grinned reassuringly at her, "You just get to make it up to me another day."

She was glad that he wasn't angry with her over the sudden turn of events, but she was beginning to grow worried. Never before had she ever gotten a headache, let alone one of this severity, out of the blue. More importantly was the issue of the voice in her head. Who, or what, was it? Why was it there in the first place? She'd never heard that before in her entire life.

That's right… she suddenly remembered, the full moon's only a few days away. Was the roaring some sort of manifestation of that form? And if that was the case, why did it only start occurring now? Did it have something to do with her age? Somehow, however, she had the feeling that the strange voice in her head was foreboding of something much bigger than just her condition if she looked at the full moon.

She suddenly grew aware of her surroundings. Grimmjow was helping her lie down in bed, covering her with a warm blanket. Was she back…? Cracking her eyes open, she found herself staring at him. He had a slightly concerned expression, though to her, it looked more contemplative than anything else, as if he were trying to figure out the origin of her sudden affliction.

"My place was closer, so I brought you here. You're in my room," he informed her, his voice quiet to accommodate for her migraine, "Take a nap for now. I'll take you back to your place when you wake up. I might have Ralph look at you too."

"… Ralph…?" she breathed, eyes slipping closed once again.

A hand gently ruffled her hair. "He's my roommate. He's a resident at the nearby university hospital, studying abroad from America, I think. I'm sure he'll have a better idea of what's wrong with you."

The gesture soothed her, even through the pain and noise, which surprised her. For someone with such a rough exterior, he's pretty kind…

Although the shrieking in her head had started to frighten her, his presence helped to comfort her enough to slip into a dreamless sleep.

…

"I'm home," Juritsu called as she let herself into the apartment. Kaisuki looked up from her spot on the couch, looking pale, worn, and exhausted.

"Hey," she greeted, her voice sounding thick and tired, "You were gone for a while…"

"Yea, sorry… I'd gone out for lunch, but I ended up taking a nap at Grimmjow's. I… wasn't feeling very well," Juritsu crouched in front of Kaisuki, scrutinizing her condition, "You okay? You look awful. I can make some tea, if you want."

There was a strangely long pause, Kaisuki's yellow eyes glazing over for a moment, and Juritsu saw them flick to that bright blue, and then a following hot pink – she hadn't seen that since that night at the club… and there was no blaming the shift on alcohol this time. Kaisuki frowned, her eyes having settled back to yellow, a look of sudden realization passing her gaze.

"You weren't feeling well?" She looked genuinely worried (and seemed to have completely missed the question that had been directed at her), but the brunette couldn't help but notice the way her gaze seemed distracted. She would be looking at Juritsu one minute and then simply looking in her direction without seeing her a moment later. It was definitely not normal… did it have something to do with the changes in her eye color?

"Um... yea, just got a little sick," she replied slowly, still trying to figure out the explanation to the eye colors. She always managed to catch a sense of something, but it was so fleeting, it was impossible to tell if it had been a ki signature or not. "I feel fine now though."

Her roommate blinked, her jaw tightening. There it was again; another flicker of pink! Kaisuki lowered her gaze slightly, looking thoughtful for a long moment. This time, Juritsu clearly saw the way her eyes switched from yellow to blue to pink, back to blue, and then back to pink, before finally settling on yellow again. It was so much more obvious when she was actually looking for it, and the ki blips seemed more pronounced when she was searching for them. What the heck was going on?

Abruptly, her roommate bowed her head forward, pressing her fingers against her closed eyes, "I'm... glad you're-… feeling better..." she ground out past clenched teeth. A shudder ran through Kaisuki's shoulders, before she stilled again and pulled her hands away from her face, though she didn't lift her head back up.

Just what in the world was going on with Kaisuki? "Y-yea... hey, you don't look well," she tried to be gentler about it; last time she'd asked about her condition, the yellow-eyed girl had snapped at her, although she'd apologized for it shortly after. Still, the half-Saiyan couldn't help but feel as if there was more going on underneath the surface.

"I don't feel so hot, either," she mumbled in reply. Kaisuki's shoulders were stiff as boards, her entire posture speaking of excruciating pain.

Juritsu felt slightly helpless. No signs of injury - a senzu bean would be useless in this situation. But clearly something was amiss for her roommate to be suffering as obviously as she was. The question was, just what was it? "Is there anything I can do?" she asked, wishing she knew the cause of the ailment.

Kaisuki shuddered again, lifting her head slightly. Her eyes were flickering again as she looked at the brunette; the expression she wore was helplessness and miserable, and Juritsu couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt that she couldn't do anything.

"No, there's..." she paused, blinking, and restarted her sentence, "A-actually, can I borrow your hand?"

It took her a minute to process the question. "Wh... oh, yea, here," slowly, Juritsu reached out her hand, holding it in front of Kaisuki and waiting to see what happened next.

Her roommate gingerly took her hand in a firm hold, bowing her head again and closing her eyes. There was a pause, silence passing between them. Suddenly, she felt a chilling, pulling kind of sensation in her chest, and she heard a voice that sounded much like Kaisuki echoing in her head.

"I pray to ye, my lady," it chanted, "By your powers of three times three, let him burn, let him freeze." It repeated itself several times, until the odd feeling in her chest disappeared entirely and Kaisuki let go of her hand. She was left with a sense of vertigo that lasted a good two minutes as she sat in front of her roommate and collected her spinning vision.

"Thank you," Kaisuki's skin was returning to its normal pallor, her yellow... blue? They weren't switching back this time. Bright blue eyes that were sincere, and foreign, and...

"Who's cooking tonight?" The blue flicked back to yellow again, and if Juritsu hadn't just seen the same thing happen a dozen times, she would've called the whole ordeal of eye color a hallucination.

Besides that, what the heck just happened? Let him burn, let him freeze? What did that even mean? Had that actually been from Kaisuki? She wasn't about to let this slide; it was too weird, and as she looked directly at her roommate, she could see that Kaisuki knew she was about to start asking questions. The gaze wasn't hostile or threatening… just expectant. Hopefully, this wouldn't turn out to be another episode of fighting to defend the planet/galaxy/universe.

"Why did I just hear your voice in my head," she deadpanned.

The girl paused, before chuckling, "Uh, how do I explain this..." she thought for a moment before continuing, "Physical contact can grant a person a lot of liberties, if they know how. For example, by touching your hand, I can invite you into my mind and slip into yours so that we share immediate experience with each other. You heard my thoughts as I was thinking them, just like I felt your discomfort as you were experiencing it." She spoke about it nonchalantly, as if she hadn't just admitted to busting into Juritsu's mind without permission. The brunette blinked as the implications of that suddenly hit her like a ton of bricks, and she found herself anxiously wondering if Kaisuki had seen (or heard, or whatever) her heritage - her secret.

The black-haired girl smiled reassuringly, obviously having noticed the alarm in her roommate's expression, "Like I said, if you weren't actively thinking about it, I didn't see it, feel it, hear it, or whatever. So, no, I still don't have a clue what you're talking about when you say 'medial linear muscle' thing or whatever."

She could've laughed at that. No, Kaisuki had no idea, thankfully. "Your eyes keep changing color," she decided to mention. Might as well bring it up now.

At that, Kaisuki started, eyes widening slightly in surprise, "Changing..." the girl muttered a soft curse that didn't escape Juritsu's hearing. Clearly, her roommate had some secrets that she was also keen on hiding. "Well, that isn't something that I have permission to tell you. You'll find out soon enough, probably."

"Right..." That definitely meant she was hiding something. Juritsu decided not to press. She was keeping her own secrets, and besides that, Kaisuki hadn't shown any real signs of suspicion. She'd keep an eye out, discreetly, and maybe she'd be able to figure things out from there. "Want some tea?"

"Uh, tea... yea, sure. Do we have peppermint?"

...

Hey, are you free this weekend? I need to talk to you.

Message Sent

New Message

Yea sure! If it's you, sis, it's not a big deal if you come over.

A/N: This is the re-write of me and my sister's collaboration. KRenee's OC was overhauled in the more recent chapters, so we re-wrote the older chapters to make sure everything works out. Enjoy!