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.

XII

July 2012

Movement from the living room caught Juritsu's eye. She was ready to launch into battle mode, pan held at the ready along with the spatula, when the ki signature finally registered as one Ulquiorra Schiffer.

"Oh!" she flitted about the kitchen, trying to be as quiet as possible, "Sorry for waking you. I can go out and get breakfast if you want to go back to sleep."

The pale man shook his head, swinging his feet off the couch, "You didn't wake me. I wasn't sleeping." He calmly stated, precariously getting to his feet and stepping into the kitchen. As he was getting a glass of water, Juritsu couldn't help but notice the way he swayed, the way his eyes occasionally dilated... he must've been well on his way to malnourished by now. He looked about ready to faint at any given moment.

She had half a mind to walk over and hold his weight for him, as he looked barely able to do it himself. "Hey... are you..." it was hard to figure out what was wrong with him. Was he sick? Starving himself? "Um... are you hungry?"

He looked over at her, contemplating, "I think there's a certain threshold of hunger that can be crossed in which one stops feeling the pain of hunger." Well, that was certainly the most roundabout way of answering her question. He could've just said "I'm so hungry I can't even feel how hungry I am anymore." That would've worked just fine.

Of course that still didn't reassure her. "So... you're starving."

"Yes, I believe so." He replied calmly, as if he hadn't just proclaimed himself dying of starvation.

"Jesus... okay hold on. I'll whip you up something light," And with that, Juritsu began bustling around the kitchen and starting breakfast, determined to help out her friend, if they could even be called that. She didn't really know him all that well, aside from the few times they'd spoken, and that wasn't even all that often. Since high school, she'd learned that people defined 'friends' differently; unfortunately, it'd resulted in a few humiliating moments, but at least she grew from it. Her twin seemed a little less socially adept, but she supposed that it was just a male Saiyan thing.

She glanced over at Ulquiorra, who was watching her movements intently, though it wasn't clear to her if he was actually in the present moment. He seemed to be rather deep in thought.

Finally, in the middle of toasting the third loaf of toast, Ulquiorra abruptly spoke, his voice betraying the slightest hint of what may have been pride, or awe, or simple amusement.

"You're pretty far along the road to falling for Grimmjow, aren't you?"

The phrase had been so sudden, it'd actually startled her. She jumped, yelped "Wha..?!" as she all but launched the plate of toast into the air. It'd taken all her willpower to not reel back in shock while simultaneously working on saving the pieces of buttered bread.

Twenty seconds later, and she was carefully, albeit shakily, placing the plate down in front of the pale man. Internally, her brain was whirling in circles at what felt like the speed of light. Falling? In... in love? With Grimmjow? She'd grown aware of her crush on him, a while ago. But... it couldn't have been more than that... right?

She didn't know. What did it even feel like, being in love? She'd never had the experience - always being rejected by her crushes before her feelings could grow any more intense. How could Ulquiorra tell? Why couldn't she tell?

Ulquiorra seemed to be waiting for a response. Juritsu felt a rush of heat to her cheeks, and she averted her gaze in embarrassment. "I... I don't know..." she hated how meek her voice sounded, and she hated the way she felt almost... ashamed? Ashamed that she was going on 23 and she yet to get a boyfriend, while meanwhile her perfect twin was not only turning into the scholar their mother had always wanted them to be, but even had a wife and a baby on the way. Yea, sure, she was super strong now, and could probably curb-stomp Gohan with her eyes closed. But in other aspects of life, the supposed 'normal' aspects of life, she had fallen eons behind, not knowing just what trick Gohan had used. She'd started to wonder if she'd ever get to experience the kind of normalcy that Gohan now had in his life.

"It's alright to feel that way," Ulquiorra's voice had a gentler tone to it, and when she looked over, she saw a strange glint of happiness in his incredibly green eyes. They seemed like they were glowing brighter than normal, it was almost hypnotizing, "Not everyone gets to love and be loved. Grimmjow loves you, and you should know he's not the type to give up until there's a real barrier stopping him. That is, until you're dead, he'll continue to pursue you; even if you run away, he'll chase you. That's just the kind of man he is."

At those words, Juritsu's heart sank. That was usually how it went; she'd start to like a guy, who would eventually reciprocate her feelings. But then... once he would find out about her bloodline...

"Dude, what are you? Some kind of freak?"

Or some facsimile of. The relationships never lasted long after her disclosures. Even with the ones who shared the same martial arts interests she did. One guy even knew a little ki manipulation, and she managed to scare him off by just showing him her tail. Another guy had attempted to drug her and sell her to a circus - luckily the dosage used didn't have any effect on her.

Grimmjow... was different. Even if that was what she told herself about plenty of guys, Grimmjow was still different. He had a ki signature that felt different, and the few times she'd seen his outbursts, it came across to her as her was some kind of fighter. One whom she'd never met before, but still a fighter nonetheless. It was that little nagging thought in the back of her mind that continued to instill the painful hope she'd been grappling for months now. Sure, he seemed to have some special abilities, but sometimes that didn't matter when you learn that your friend and/or female crush was half-alien.

"Thank you, Ulquiorra," she couldn't hold his gaze, glancing at the butter-knife she clutched onto, "But... it's not that simple. I'm too... weird for love I think," she ended with an awkward chuckle, and almost cringed. She sounded pathetic.

Ulquiorra let out a breathy, almost disbelieving chuckle, "It's not nearly as complicated as you've led yourself to believe, Juritsu," He spoke so confidently, with so much reassurance that it only made the painful bubbles of hope in her heart swell to a suffocating size, "This thing with you and Grimmjow... it's actually one of the simplest things you'll encounter in your lifetime. It's just a matter of whether or not you love him." She looked up, somehow finding his eyes and discovering brimming wells of promise.

"The rest of who either of you are is irrelevant," he continued, picking up one of the pieces of toast she'd prepared and turning it in his fingers, "Because you're both just weird enough to match."

Juritsu chuckled a little at that. Weird enough, huh? She glanced up at the pale man, smiling a smile that finally felt like it belonged on her face. She sprinkled some ginger powder on his toast before he could take a bite out of it, and deftly sprinkled ginger on the other pieces of toast as well. "Thanks, Ulquiorra."

He smiled slightly in acknowledgment, "Thank you, Juritsu."

Weird indeed. Well, one thing was sure; there was never a dull day with Grimmjow. And, deep down, she hoped there would be many, many more to come.

...

She really needed to work on her tendency to cook everything in the kitchen within a day or two.

Juritsu couldn't help it though; what could she say? She had a big appetite. She assumed Khrai (or Kaisuki, or whoever happened to be running point) had adjusted and helped buy more groceries, though it seemed that everyone underestimated just how much food she could consume in a sitting. She supposed she couldn't blame them - half the time, Juritsu found herself underestimating her hunger too.

That was how Juritsu found herself absentmindedly walking through the city district, to pick up some more groceries at the supermarket in town.

Even though she occasionally found her shopping adventures a little embarrassing - she always got the strangest looks from people as she pushed her cart through the line - Juritsu was in too good of a mood to really care. She continuously replayed her conversation with Ulquiorra, his reassurance lifting her spirits. Maybe things would work out in the end, after all? It would be a nice change.

Her thoughts had begun to drift towards her blue-haired friend - wondering what he was up to, where he was, the usual - when she felt a miniscule jolt against her shoulder. Blinking, she took in her surroundings. What'd just happened? She happened to glance down, finding a familiar, black-haired young, albeit slightly creepy, man at her feet. What was his name again?

She blinked. "Thad." She abruptly spoke aloud. He furrowed his brows at her, frowning slightly as he moved to start picking up the trinkets and groceries he'd dropped.

"Yes, that would be my name." He replied, sounding weary, "And you're Juritsu, if memory serves."

It took a moment for her to connect the dots, but when she finally did, her eyes widened in horror. "Oh my... I'm so sorry!" she sputtered, immediately crouching down and grabbing items off the sidewalk, "Here, I'll help you with these, and... oh my god did I spill your spices?!"

Thad looked over to where she was and seeing the spilled greens, "Ah, well... it's fine, I can get more. There's a sale, so it won't cost much."

"Ah... I'm... I'm sorry," Juritsu's ears and cheeks felt like they were on fire. She handed Thad what she could, standing up and offering a hand, "I wasn't paying attention..."

He shrugged, eyes glinting somewhat mysteriously as he took her hand and stood up, "It's really no big deal."

She was intrigued by the expression in his eyes, too vague to identify. It was slightly unnerving, and a little disturbing, and she couldn't figure out why her instincts were goings haywire. Thad was usually sickly, not coming across as a threat though Khrai was always eying him with contempt, so what did it mean...?

She abruptly lost her train of thought when she realized Thad was watching her expectantly. Rubbing the back of her head, Juritsu felt her ears heat up. "Yea... um, anyway, I gotta go. I'll buy you like, another bag of spices for another day."

Suddenly, she just wanted to get away from him, again inexplicably as to why. But her instincts hadn't let her down yet, even if they did confuse her on occasion. Just get the groceries and go home. Maybe Khrai will finally tell you why Thad is so creepy instead of dodging around the subject...

He smiled slightly, though it didn't reach his eyes at all, instead looking positively sinister with his dull gaze, "It's really no problem, Juritsu. Thank you, though."

Her heart abruptly kicked into overdrive as chills went down her spine. Something's not right something's wrong get away. She let out a chuckle, inwardly cringing at how nervous it sounding coming out. "For what? I crashed in to you." Play dumb he did something I know he did.

His smile widened, but it still didn't reach his eyes. The expression made Juritsu's stomach twist into a knot as she distinctly recalled the way Lily had interacted with him, and the way Khrai had looked at him with nothing but hate. He wasn't someone she wanted to spend a prolonged amount of time with, "It's only natural to thank someone who offers to help you out, right?"

Something's wrong.

"Yea, sure..." her response was absentminded, as was her goodbye. Something was off, and she had no idea what it was and it wasn't anything like she'd ever felt before but something was off with Thad and she needed to leave and figure things out.

Something's wrong.

"I'll see you around, then," He said it as though he was promising they would re-encounter one another at some point in the not-too-distant future. He turned away from her, picking his bags up where they'd been sitting at his feet, and started on his way down the road, whistling something to himself.

Something's wrong something's wrong something's wrong something's wrong something's wrong something's wrong something's wrong...

Never in her life had she felt so strongly that someone was bad news without having physical evidence to prove their guilt.

The demi-Saiyan made it in and out of the store without any further casualties, despite the strange vertigo-esque sense that she wasn't in complete control of her body. It was only slight at first, and she initially attributed it to her racing thoughts about Thad, but as she was exiting the store and greeted the bright sunlight it became increasingly obvious to her that the sense wasn't psychological - it was physical.

SOMETHING'S WRONG.

Her head gradually felt like it was full of water, and it made her entire body feel unstable and hard to direct. A lightly pulsing headache was forming at the base of her skull. Steadily, it began to grow into a powerful, thunderous migraine that circled around the top of her head, shooting down into the orbits of her eyes and filling her ears with a piercing ringing. It was like the afternoon she'd nearly passed out in front of Grimmjow in that diner, but much, much worse.

The pain became crippling, peaking at a point where the brunette couldn't see anything beyond the impossibly bright light that reflected off seemingly everything. Her legs felt like jelly, and she was certain she must've been swaying like a drunkard. The pain shot down her spine, ricocheted through every nerve in her body. She couldn't imagine how she was even still moving. Maybe she wasn't. Maybe she was writhing on the sidewalk and it just felt like she was somehow standing.

Hide get somewhere safe you're exposed wide open a sitting duck hurry up and get out of the open before someone finds you and you gotta figure out what's wrong with you oh god why does it hurt so bad I don't understand what's going on but the pain GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD!

Her shoulder slammed into something, slammed through something, and the next thing she knew, she was curled up on the ground, a scream ripping from the depths of her throat. A voice, distantly familiar, speaking words to hear that she couldn't hear through all of the chaos and she couldn't figure out how to fight it off could this person help give me an edge something just-!

"MAKE IT STOP!"

...

It hadn't really meant anything to Grimmjow, that Juritsu's reiatsu was slowly and steadily growing closer to his abode. She occasionally walked past his place to go shopping or run errands or train her super powers in secret locations (he knew she did it, he just knew); sometimes she'd even stopped in to say "Hi!"

So when she came crashing through his door, shrieking in agony, to say that he was taken aback was slightly of an understatement.

"Oi... what the hell happened?!" He crouched down next to Juritsu as she curled into fetal position, her palms pressing against her temples, her eyes screwed shut.

"MAKE IT STOP!"

Ten minutes later, and no change in her condition. Not good. Trying to rouse her or calm her down was pointless. Something had happened, something was seriously wrong, and at the moment there was only one person he could think of that might have an idea of what to do about it.

"Come on, come on, pick up already..." Grimmjow held his cell phone to his ear, his free hand supporting Juritsu as he hastily ushered her into his room and on to his bed.

There was a soft click as the phone was answered, "What the fuck did you do now?" Khrai's voice snapped irritably, "I have a life outside of baby-..."

"Shut the fuck up and get down here!" he snarled, not caring that he cut her off, "Something's wrong with Juritsu!"

There was the briefest of pauses, and then, "Two minutes." Click.

Grimmjow shoved his phone in his pocket and turned his attention toward Juritsu, who was now writhing in response to some kind of invisible torture. Jesus, what the hell happened?

Even for all the pain she was in - she seemed almost unconscious from it - she was biting back her screams, as if she were trying to hide her presence. As if she were hiding from an enemy... Had someone come after her?

"Oi, hey..." Grimmjow grasped her shoulders, trying to get a better look at her face. Was it some kind of injury? A demonic attack, and an extremely powerful one at that? Fucking Chris? He wouldn't be able to tell unless he saw her face, which she now was trying to cover up. Still, he had a nagging feeling what was going on, and he couldn't help but feel that the King was, somehow, involved once again.

"Juritsu, can you hear me?" He had the hunch the main source of pain was in her head. It was frustrating - clearly she couldn't hear him, but yelling would only make the pain worse. Khrai if you aren't walking through that door within the next ten seconds, so help me god...

"Tell me what happened," Khrai, as if she'd heard him thinking, appeared next to him out of nowhere. If she'd been intending to scare the hell out of him for fun, she'd succeeded. As he was catching his racing heart, she was looking Juritsu over, hands held a few inches away from actual contact.

"Wish I could," he conceded, "I was working on homework when she crashed through my door and collapsed on the ground. She's been like that from the instant I saw her."

Khrai nodded silently, eyes narrowing into a dark, furious glare, "That little fuck," she growled lowly, her voice barely above a whisper, "I'll tear him to shreds."

He had no idea who she was talking about, and before he had the opportunity to ask, she was speaking again, "I dumped my bag right there, hand it to me," she commanded, pointing in the vague direction of his door. Sure enough, there was a pale green bag lying there, which he tossed to her with a quick "here."

Wordlessly, she rummaged through it, producing a candle and a small trinket that sort of resembled a dream catcher, but looked like it was made out of animal parts or something.

"Come over here," she said as she hung the dream catcher in midair to free up one of her hands, "I need you to hold her hands away from her face."

Grimmjow moved to a better leverage point, hovering over Juritsu, and glanced at Khrai, who nodded somewhat impatiently before he grabbed her wrists and leaned forward, pressing her hands into the mattress with all of his strength.

"Who... DON'T TOUCH ME!" the brunette began to thrash underneath him, nearly throwing him off with her strength. As it was, she'd managed to lift him off of her and into the air. Jesus, she doesn't have a limit to her strength, does she?! Unleashing his reiatsu, he used it to crush against her, inwardly feeling guilty for having to resort to such a tactic. But it was either that or get hurdled through his wall.

Back in the day, he used to enjoy pinning the more submissive women down. Of course they loved it, loved the way they were at his mercy; he made sure to please every time. At the moment though, he felt sick to his stomach. Women weren't supposed to resist him, weren't supposed to fear him. And he knew Juritsu wasn't in her right state of mind, but the position they were currently in made him feel disgusted. How the hell do rapists get a kick out of this?

He could feel the panic. She was blind and pinned, had no idea what was going on or who was holding her down, and likely thought she was about to get attacked or killed. Being out of control of yourself and your surroundings... it was terrifying. Yea, he'd admit he had a couple of those kinds of moments in his life - scared the piss out of him. You could have all of the power in the universe, it didn't matter. He'd certainly felt like a King around the time Aizen and his bastard flunkies had cornered him, trapped him, and made him feel as powerless as a newborn.

He hated that feeling. But he hated it even more when he was forcing it on other people. Namely Juritsu.

"Sorry, Juritsu... just a little bit more, k?" He doubted she could actually hear him. But it was the thought that counted, right?

Khrai started her ritual, speaking words in a language that Grimmjow had never heard - it was probably the language of the Elves, or something. She spoke rapidly, her words stringing together. The dream catcher-thing started to glow a soft green, tendrils of pale light swirling down from the white trinket and swirling around Juritsu's head. Khrai tilted the candle slightly, drops of hot wax landing on Juritsu's cheeks. The brunette froze, her chest heaving her eyes still squeezed shut and her head turning back and forth as if she was seeing something truly terrifying. Khrai pressed a hand to Juritsu's forehead, continuing her foreign sutra, her blue eyes lighting up with a vibrant, unnatural energy.

There was a moment between the light that lit up behind Khrai's irises and the darkness that swallowed his vision. He hiccuped a gasp as it hit him like a ton of bricks; pain, unimaginable, blood-curdling pain that ripped through his skull and ricocheted through his nerves. He felt cold, frozen-water darkness wrap around him, suffocating, drowning, and he couldn't hear anything over a painfully sharp ringing in his ears, and he couldn't see past the dark water he was drowning in and dear god is this what Juritsu's going through oh god why who I'll kill them it hurts it hurts fuck make it stop make it stop...

He heard a laugh, and he barely recognized the voice as something familiar. He was too overcome by the vertigo, the pain, the numbing of that frozen lake he was sure he was drowning in, too overwhelmingly blind, and that ringing in his ears was too deafening.

"GET OUT!" Khrai's voice roared above everything, a light shining in on him that blinded him, burned his retinas, forced him to close his eyes. The ringing dulled down to a soft chime of funeral bells, and suddenly the world felt familiar, and he could breathe, the lake of frozen water was gone and he was cold.

God knows how long Juritsu was going through that. You barely made it through the past two minutes.

"Grimmjow? Hey, are you okay?" Khrai was kneeling in front of him, one hand on his shoulder while the other cupped his cheek. He could feel a strange kind of warmth coming from her hand, and his chilled bones began to thaw. He must've been approximately the color of paper, "Can you hear me? Are you okay?"

"... J-Jesus..." he managed to force out through his painfully tightened jaw as he dragged himself up into a seated position. His head was spinning from the sensory overload. "Was that...?"

Khrai's expression darkened, but she smiled nonetheless to show she was pleased that he wasn't a vegetable, "Thad," she answered his unfinished question. A pause settled over them for just a moment before she glanced away from the blue-haired Arrancar and towards Juritsu, "That hell you just experienced... that's what Juritsu was goin through, probably for 'bout half an hour. It's pretty badass that she got here at all. Shit woulda' knocked me on my ass in less than ten, that's for sure."

Hell, it knocked him on his ass in seconds, he currently felt like death, and he hadn't even realized what even actually happened. It was like he got sucked into the brunette's brain. Khrai turned her attention back to him, furrowing her brows thoughtfully.

"Grimmjow, I want to go and knock that little shit off a goddamn cliff of pain and agony," she spoke with a venomous undertone, her eyes showing exactly how furious she was, "But I gotta make sure you're up and at 'em to keep an eye on Juritsu. Can I leave her in your capable hands?"

Too bad he couldn't have gone instead. The things he would've loved to have done to that slimy bastard... "Yea, I'll take care of her, but only if you break his jaw for me." His smile came out a little strained, his whole body still relatively tense from the whole experience. Nothing a shot or five of whiskey won't cure.

Khrai nodded, grabbing his arm and hauling him to his feet entirely without his permission, "Juritsu won't be awake for a bit, but you're both gonna be pretty cold so ya' oughta cuddle. I won't force it, though. Here," she then dumped him on his bed, where he nearly careened right into Juritsu.

He shot her a glare. "Ha, ha, ha. I bet you think you're so hilarious," he grumbled as he sat up, checking to make sure he hadn't smashed into his unconscious friend.

"Nah, bro, I'm serious." Khrai smirked, her amusement uncontainable, "You're cold, I can see it in your eyes. And Juritsu's prob'ly freezing. So, yea. Cuddles are worth a thousand words, right?"

He threw a pillow at her. "Just go kick his ass already, geez!"

"Okay, but keep it in your pants 'til she wakes up." She winked, and dodged a second pillow on her way out of his room.

"Friggen pervert..." he listened to make sure she was gone before climbing back out of bed, ignoring the bone-deep chill. He'd had far worse things happen to him. He glanced back over at Juritsu. She was still relatively ashen, though he couldn't blame her for all the crap she'd just gone through, and god only knows how long she'd been going through that.

She was covered in a sheen layer of sweat, shivers rolling across her body. It took some adjusting, but Grimmjow managed to tuck the girl in with all the blankets he could possibly find in the house. He nodded in approval at his work before turning and strolling into the kitchen. There was a bottle of Jack with his name on it, among other things.

...

The cocoon was snug and warm, wrapped comfortably around her. Drifting towards consciousness, the first thing Juritsu realized was that, compared to before reality had drifted away into all that pain, she felt safe.

Opening her eyes, Juritsu quickly realized that she wasn't even outside anymore, and was, in fact, in someone's bed. Not her own though; it took her a moment to recognize the scent of the blankets as Grimmjow's. Even lying down, her head was spinning, and she could feel a light ache deep into her temples. But it was nowhere near as intense or as painful as the attack earlier, which led her to believe that, whatever it was, Grimmjow had somehow taken care of it. She was at his place, after all.

Speaking of her blue-haired friend... she quickly located his ki signature, likely kicking back in the living room. And aside from the two of them, she didn't sense anyone else in the apartment. I'm safe...

It took a little effort to dig her way out of the mass of blankets that Grimmjow seemed to have tucked her into - it was a wonder that she hadn't woken up completely drenched with sweat. Actually, as she thought about it, she kind of felt chilled, like she'd stood outside in the cold for a bit too long. A hot shower sounded like a heavenly idea, and with that in mind, she swung her legs around and climbed out of bed, only to begin uncontrollably shivering as the air from the room hit her skin. She was far more than chilled; she was freezing.

Just as she was contemplating crawling back into bed to try and warm up marginally, the door opened and Grimmjow stepped in, looking somewhat surprised to see her up and about.

"You're awake," He remarked, sounding somewhat dumbfounded as he scrutinized her appearance, and noted her shaking, "Cold?"

Her teeth were chattering too hard for her to speak any coherent words, and as she glanced at him helplessly, she recalled the handful of times she was in close proximity with him and realized that his body heat would be much warmer than crawling back under the covers. So she logically did what she figured anyone else in her situation would do, walking up to her friend and leaning up against him. She felt him stiffen, but she didn't really care. At the instant of contact, she felt like she could just sigh in contentment and sag into him. He was so very deliciously warm.

Once he seemed to realize that she wasn't in the process of collapsing, Juritsu felt his arms wrap around her into a snug hold, pulling her close. The body heat could've just caused her to melt right then and there. Much better.

They stood there in silence for a very long moment, Juritsu reveling in the warmth that her friend was providing, and she refused to think about the prolonged embrace or the way her heart was skipping a beat every several seconds. Slowly, her body began to relax as the chill was put at bay. She could feel his muscles flexing slightly… actually, was he shivering too?

Glancing up at him, the brunette was surprised to find Grimmjow staring down at her. There was a warm glow in his eye that she hadn't seen before. It looked happy, content… but at the same time, it looked somewhat different. She wondered if maybe this was what love looked like.

"Better?" he asked, voice quiet, almost gentle in a way. Juritsu could feel a small smile blossom on her lips.

"A little. Are you cold too?"

He smirked his trademark grin, although if she didn't know any better, the expression had more of a sensual feel to it, much like the smirk he gave Lily back at the bar. And while the memories of that night weren't the most ideal to have come to the front of her mind, knowing that the look this time was directed at her and only her caused an all-new wave of butterflies in her stomach.

"A little," he looked over at the pile of blankets, "Maybe we can conserve body heat in that mess."

Giggling, she nodded, and they made their way over to the bed. As Grimmjow sorted out the mountain of quilts, however, Juritsu began to grow nervous. She knew her blue-haired friend wasn't a saint. Was he going to try to come on to her? They were alone in his bedroom, after all. And he was interested in her. She wasn't naïve to the whole concept of sexual relations, but she was, after all these years, still a virgin. She didn't even really know what to expect.

Plus you have a tail.

Oh, right. There was that too.

She was pulled from her thoughts when Grimmjow gently grasped her hand and tugged on it to entice her to follow him into bed and lie down. Heart hammering, she obliged, inwardly dreading the odds of him discovering her furry brown tail.

It took a few minutes to get settled under the abundance of covers, but soon, Juritsu found herself curled up rather comfortably against Grimmjow. It didn't do much to quell her nerves any.

"Is this better?" Grimmjow's voice drifted to her ears and she looked at him, realizing too late that they were so absurdly close to each other, their noses were almost touching. All it would take for her to kiss him would be to simply lean forward…

She froze. If she shifted, or if he shifted, or if they both shifted, or if anything happened really, who knew if he would discover her tail? And what would happen then?

You're blowing this so far out of proportion it's ridiculous. Since you met him, life has been anything but normal. Do you really think he'll kick you to the curb over your tail?

She couldn't be absolutely sure, could she? Tails were weird…

"You two are just weird enough for each other."

Ulquiorra's words came to mind. Just weird enough, huh? Well, she thought to herself as her gaze focused once more on Grimmjow, who was giving her a slightly questioning looking as she gave him a warm smile, there was only one way to find out, was there?

It only took about two inches leaning forward to mesh her lips with his.

Her blue-haired friend stiffened. Guess she was full of surprises for him today?

Grimmjow returned the kiss, not in earnest like she'd expected, but slowly, carefully, almost like he was guiding her movements. It sent tingles all the way to her fingers and toes, and a bubbling heat swirled in her navel. What was this feeling? It was searing and delicious, whatever it was.

When Grimmjow's hand began to slide from her mid-back down towards her hips, however, she froze, realizing what that would entail, and abruptly pulled back with a breathless "Wait!"

Understandably, Grimmjow looked confused, maybe even somewhat wary as to why she'd suddenly backed away.

"Um… I have to tell you something…" He words came stumbling out over one another and jumbled together in a rapid mess, "I know I should've told you this way sooner, because I know I've liked you for a long time, and I started to see a while ago that you liked me too, but I was too scared to tell you because every time I tell someone they end up ditching me and I didn't want to end up losing you."

It kind of reminded her of the times she would go to Vegeta for whatever advice she was seeking. She would just vomit words until the Saiyan would, in some way or another, effectively get her to shut up, whether that be a flick to the head, a soda can thrown at her face, or a simple "Enough!" in his authoritative, no-nonsense tone. Amusingly, Grimmjow was giving her a similar look to the one Vegeta would typically give her, as if she'd grown a second head.

She couldn't imagine him hurling a soda at her however…

"So… what is it?" the blue-haired man asked slowly, looking increasingly bemused at the turn of events. Her voice died on her throat as her nerves began to get the best of her.

For the love of Kami, just spit it out!

"I, uh…" she began fiddling with her wild fringe, "I'm… different."

A long pause ensued, Grimmjow staring at her expectantly as she fidgeted.

She was able to continue only after taking several deep breaths. "I… well… there's no easy way to put this but… so I… have a…"

Another pause. "A-a tail."

Grimmjow didn't say anything for a long moment, and she could almost see the words sinking in. Each second that passed made the butterflies in her stomach fly about more frantically. So? Was he going to freak out? Surely he'd freak out, that was to be expected after all tails weren't normal I knew this was a bad idea…

"That's it?"

Juritsu blinked. Well, that was certainly unexpected. "Well, no, not really," she replied quietly, averting her eyes to stare into the darkness that was underneath the blanket. "I have a tail because… um, well… I'm not fully human."

At Grimmjow's raised eyebrow, she continued. "I'm half. Well, half-human. My mom's a human. My dad is… well, he's an alien warrior… that would be the best way to describe it honestly. He's really strong. I'm actually really strong too. I guess you could say it runs in the family."

"So… that's it?"

She glared at him. "What do you mean 'that's it'? I'm an alien super fighter! I have a tail! Are you trying to make fun of me-…!"

The brunette's voice trailed off in a squeak as Grimmjow wrapped his arms around her with a laugh. "I thought you were gonna say something like you were a lesbian," he had such a shit-eating grin on his face it wasn't even funny.

"Plus I knew like from the beginning. You're too obvious, Miss Olympic Sprinter."

That was why Juritsu found herself smiling anyway. "You are actually ridiculous!" she playfully (and lightly) punched his shoulder, giggling as he pulled her into another blissfully wonderful kiss.

She'd found her diamond in the rough, all right. And she had no intentions of ever letting go.

A/N: To be honest, this chapter was pretty much done save for the very last scene. Took me long enough.

So I'm starting a writing thing again, finally. I'm really sorry it's been forever since I've updated anything. At this point my goal is the finish Judgment Night before moving back to Left Behind to start that up. That way I'm not overwhelming myself like I would before.

In the meantime, expect another chapter soon, probably. And so long as I don't lose my writing roll, you should continue to expect chapters. Oh but also I'm moving to Mexico so there might be a hiccup around the time I fly out. Haha, plot twists.