CHAPTER EIGHT

~Here I am, once again! Your one and only KIWI! *dodges thrown shoe* OK, OK, I know it's been awhile. I haven't updated this since January. A mixture of laziness, busyness, and working on my other stories has kept me from Gin's Games. Gosh, I'm really bad about updating regularly, aren't I? But I'm back now, so … whalla! Enjoy the show!~

~Plus, This chapter is over two thousand words in total: a new high!~

~*warning: general bad language in this one*~

~PS:~

There once was a gal with a disclaimer

Who wrote it so Tite Kubo couldn't blame her

You're reading it now-

'I disclaim and how'

So don't flag my story, flamer

~Yea, that was a limerick. Why? Cause we're studying poetry in English! :D~

"I hate her."

"I kinda like her."

"Shut up, you insufferable, overly-violent excuse for an espada. Why are you even in my laboratory?"

"Thanks for the compliment, but nobody pronounces laboratory 'lah-bor-a-tor-ee', pinky. And I'm here 'cause I got nothing else better to do. Deal with it."

Sayzel growled and considered ordering one of his newly developed, more malicious fraccion to devour his source of annoyance, but seriously doubted that it would work on Nnotira's absurdly thick hierro – and even if it did, he was aware just how pleased Aizen would be with him.

"If you wish to make yourself useful –" "I don't." "Then go sit in the corner." "Humph. Gee, thanks, I sure feel welcome." "You most certainly aren't." "You know what?" "Well, despite my genius mind, most certainly don't, as I'm sure I don't wish to…" "Pinky, you can go ahead and suck my –" "Lumino, kill him."

"~Now, now, you two~," Echoed the watery voice of the 9th espada. "~How unsightly to be fighting amongst comrades.~"

Two voices sounded out at the same time – "He is NOT my COMRADE!"

"Are ya done yet? 'Cause I'm kinda gettin' tired o' havin' ta sit in this lil' corner over here all by my lonesome and not move anythin'. So unless one o' ya has got something helpful to say…"

"My apologies, Ichimaru-sama," Sayzel said. "Hmph," Nnoitra grunted.

The eighth espada sighed and set down a small chip. "I've tried to reproduce the technology from the nanochip into my own mechanism so I can find a more … safe … method of disabling the chip's defenses. Unfortunately, no luck so far; the initial chip's design holds many complex layers of wires and chemicals. Eventually, though, I'll be able to sort through those to dissect the initial design … given enough time, that is." He sighed. "Working with electronics is not nearly as satisfying as working with live subjects…"

"Ha," Nnotria sneered. "You're just saying that 'cause you can't figure out Kai's design."

"This brings us back to the point; that I hate that gir… hey! I most certainly CAN– and WILL– figure out the design! It's just a matter of –"

"Time?" Gin suggested. "Well, can ya hurry it up a bit? If Aizen-taicho calls fer us – and by us I mean me – we are goin' to get in some pretty big trouble. And by we I mean you."

The three espada fell silent at that. It was no surprise that Gin was in a rather agitated mood – all the more reason to hurry and find a way to disable the chip. There was just one problem – that they … well … couldn't.

Not without getting zapped with about 90 volts of electricity, that is.

"I swear," muttered Szayel. "When I find whoever gave that wretched septima the idea for that feature, I am going to take such joy in showing them just how many chemicals I have in my laboratory that can cause massive –" "Would you PLEASE pronounce 'laboratory' normally!" "Silence, fool! Potatoe, potahtoe!" "What did you call me?" "Oh, you imbecile…" "DON'T YOU DARE LOOK DOWN ON ME!" "~Now, now, you two...~" "SHUT UP AARONIERO!"

Gin sighed.

XXX – in Kai's room

"Huz-uz-uz."

Kai looked over at her cousin. "What's up, Grimmjow?"

He snorted. "Nothing. I just got that creepy feeling up my spine." Kai nodded wisely. "There's an old wives' tale that if you sneeze, it means that a pretty lady is talking about you somewhere. Maybe this time, a pretty lady was threatening to kill you. That makes sense, right?" Rolling his eyes, Grimmjow responded, "Yea, sure. Whatever. I'm hardly worried about a pretty lady coming to get me. I'm the freakin' sixth espada."

Kai shrugged. "Okay, whatever. Now, did you get the floor plans for your wing?"

"The Hell I did. Whaddya want me to do, go up to Aizen and say, 'hey, just out of curiosity, can I have a map of my living space?' That's stupid. And I'm not drawing up one myself." Kai pouted. "Tia and Starrk both got one. Maybe Lilynette needs to give you some spying lessons. You could break into Aizen's office and –" "The Hell she does! And what makes you think he's got an office, anyway?" "Wow, you're overly agitated today." "Maybe it's because we're doing something stupid and useless when I could be –" "Training? Sleeping? Killing lesser hollows? Terrorizing the innocent civilians of Las Noches? Causing general mayhem?" "Only YOU cause general mayhem."

Kai sprung up and spun in a circle. "Wrong. I don't cause general mayhem. The only reason I'm doing this is for revenge. After all, my aspect of death is 'revenge'. Usually, I go around just minding my own business."

Grimmjow got up and rolled his shoulders. "Whatever. I can't picture you not being stupidly energetic and nosey. And anyway, wasn't Zommari's aspect of death intoxication? Shouldn't that be yours?" Kai spun around to face him. "Do I look like a drunk to you?" "Naw. You're too little and puny to drink." "I AM AN ARRANCAR! Age doesn't matter, dumbass!" "Who're you calling dumbass, bitch?" "I'm your cousin, don't call me a bitch!" "You hypocrite! And I'm a higher level espada than you, I'll call you whatever I want! Bitch!"

"Whatcha don'?"

The two cousins, now face-to-face and growling at eachother (Although Grimmjow had to bend way over to get into Kai's face) looked up. "Lilynette," they said at once.

"Have any of you guys seen Starrk? He's not in his room sleeping."

Kai nodded wisely. "Then the world must be ending."

Grimmjow (blatantly ignoring the small septima while pushing her aside) stepped forward. "Dunno. I'm not his keeper, go ask … someone else. Kai, I'm leaving." He processed to stride towards the door.

"Hey, wait! Remember the floor plan! I need it to make sure we have all areas covered for a possible counterattack by team SilverCreeps!" Grimmjow turned back slowly, with his eyebrow up. "SilverCreeps? Did you just make that up? Nevermind, I don't care. GOODBYE. And Hell to your floor plan! Get it yourself!" He left, making sure to slam the door.

Good thing I foresaw that and reinforced the hinges. Otherwise I'd need a new door. Actually, I could solve that altogether by installing sliding doors… I like that idea. But first things first. Kai spun in a dramatic fashion to face Lilynette once again.

"Lilynette! I have another mission for you!"

"Yesss!" she cried. "What is it? More spying?"

"Not quite. This time I need you to be … a cat burglar!"

XXX – the lab

"Okay. Alkyl sulfuric acid doesn't work. Neither does aluminum bromide or chlorine. Most flammable liquids don't have effect, and ammonia doesn't have any effect, either. Perhaps it is time to attempt a more specialized solution; unfortunately, I don't know the chemical composition of the chip, so countering the chemicals with an equal and opposite chemical formula is out. Corroding the metal would be next, except that it appears to have defense against that as well. And, as we have seen, attempting to short-circuit the wires would not result in the desired –"

"Can't you just take a hammer and smash the damn thing?"

"The required force to destroy the chip would likely kill the subject. Have you forgotten it is attached to his neck?"

"Oh yea."

"Imbecile."

Gin sighed. "I'm 'the subject' now?"

Finding nothing better to do, he looked back to the two espada arguing. You'd think that the noventa would be getting tired of their bickering too –

Actually, that may well have been the case. Realizing that Aaronierro was nowhere to be found, Gin attempted to stand up, only to have his arm connecting with the wall behind him remind him that his nerve system was still screwed up.

Meanwhile, his other two accomplices were busy trying to kill eachother. They both seemed to have forgotten about him and Aaronierro.

Wait a minute. Forgotten? Gin's smile reappeared, as his mind started to work out the latest and greatest way to get back at Kai. This one is gonna be good.

XXX- the hot springs! Wait. What?

"You were right. We need to relax once and a while. It feels good to take a break from training and keeping up appearances."

"Yea, huh? And no Lilynette barging in you and shoving her fist down your throat…" "Hah, she actually did that?" "Tia, you wouldn't believe half the things that girl does…" "Try me. We've got all day, after all." "True. Thank goodness for that." "Indeed."

…

"Starrk?"

"Yea?"

"If Hueco Mundo is a desert with no water, the how come we have a hot spring?"

"Uhh, beats me. I figured you must've released your resurrection one or something, and created a lake somewhere." "I did no such thing." "Well, then …" "It is most likely better that we do not know." "Agreed."

…

"This water is really nice."

"Yea."

…

"Starrk."

"Yes?"

"You can stop staring at my chest now."

"Oh. Sorry."

XXX – the lab, again

"…Take this, you pathetic excuse for an arrancar!"

"Die, you science freak! Nobody speaks that way to the quinta espada!"

"Hey, you two. HEY! If any o' that stuff yer throwin' hits me … well, you do realize that I can't effectively move out o' the way, right?"

"You and your damn scientific mumbling! Trying to make me look dumb!" "As if you need my help with that! Lumino, attack!" "Coward! Fight me yourself!"

"Erm, guys?"

"Wazzawazzawazza! Sayzel-apparo-sama! Sayzel-apparo-sama! What should I do? What should I –" "Go beta command sequence three! Commence nuclear offense system two!"

Gin balked. Did he just say nuclear? Okay, Maybe Aaronierro was smart to get out while he still could. These espada are insane. A rack of test tubes flew across the room and shattered on a computer console. One of the liquids that had been inside the glass started smoking and eating the metal of the computer away. "My data! You wretched spoon! LUMINO!" "Wazzawazzawazza!" "WHADDYA CALL ME, PINKY?"

On second thought, I was the insane one for thinking the two of them could ever work together.

Nnoitra pushed his way through Lumino and grabbed hold of Sayzel. He then threw the mad scientist across the room, where he landed conveniently on the nanochip that had started the ruckus. (Perhaps fiasco was a better word.)

*zzZZAAPPpp!*

"Damn you, Nnoitra!"

~TO BE CONTINUED…~

~So, thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far, it really encourages me! 'Till next time, and hopefully it won't be so long of a wait!~

~Here's a teaser, though, in case my suspicions are correct and I WON'T be able to type the next chapter as soon as I want:~

Teaser one-

"Hey, you arrancar. Get out of my room!" Kai looked up at her cousin, puzzled. "What, Grimmjow? You too? Everyone's been acting really weird to me today." That said cousin grabbed Kai roughly by her arm. "Who said you could address me so casually, you little – the Hell? You have a seven tattooed on your arm!" "Uh, yea, that's 'cause I'm the seventh espada, dumbass. Now let go."

Grimmjow grinned wildly. "Ha, I've got it. You're an impersonator! Trying to sneak in amongst the ranks, eh? Well…"

"Whoa, whoa, wait. Grimmjow! You're acting like you've … wait a minute. GIN! No, he couldn't have… designed something so that everyone would…?"

"CERO!"

"WHAAAA!"

Teaser two –

Gin frowned. What did she mean, make us crack, one-by-one?

His thoughts were interrupted by something that was a fairly disturbing sight, even for Gin.

Nnoitra, skipping.

For a moment, Gin, Sayzel (who had looked up when Nnoitra had enterd) and Aaronierro just froze. Then Nnoitra opened his mouth, and, grinning –

"Sayzel! I love you!"

~Yup, that's it! Teaser two might not appear for a couple chapters, but it'll be good! *rubs hands together, giggling* Oh, and as you can see, I've been experimenting with a lot more dialogue lately. The entire scene with Tia and Starrk in the hot springs was all dialogue, in fact. It's just a phase. ;) ~

~Review, please! I'd like to know your thoughts so far!~