A/N: My sincere apology for the late update. Sometimes I really hate real life for getting in a way of a hobby. Once again, thank you for supporting this story by reviewing, putting it in your alert and/or favorite list. Now I'm going to let you read the chapter, which I hope doesn't come out as a disappointment.
IV
While he had to admit that he had failed to notice several things about Grimmjow until he started observing the Sexta Espada more closely, one of the things that never escaped Ulquiorra's knowledge before was the fact that the Sexta Espada never paid much attention to anything that was discussed in any Espada meetings. Having been seated across to the blue-haired Espada during those occasions was enough for the Cuarta Espada to know Grimmjow's bad habits by heart, and as far as he was concerned, the Sexta Espada would either let his mind drifted off elsewhere or start kicking at Ulquiorra's chair out of boredom.
Therefore, Ulquiorra was very impressed when Grimmjow managed to behave himself in the meeting that was currently taking place and kept his cerulean eyes focused on Aizen during the whole time and not even glanced to his direction once. Although he didn't know what brought about the change, he couldn't care less, as he was pleased that for once he could listen to all Aizen had to say without being distracted by Grimmjow's childish behavior, so he turned his emerald eyes back to his master.
"...we still have some edges over Soul Society in the upcoming war, but even so, it will give us more advantages if we can find a few strong warriors to join our side in the place of our fallen comrades," Aizen stated in his soft, gentle tone, from his seat at the head of the meeting table. "Now since you were responsible for their demises in one way or another, I believe you should be in charge of this mission, Grimmjow."
Ulquiorra glanced toward Grimmjow, expecting to see a disgruntled look from said Espada. If there were anything he learned from all the time he had spent observing the Sexta Espada, it was that Grimmjow didn't like to be reminded of his failure and that the man was still very much obsessed with killing the hybrid human, Kurosaki Ichigo.
Much to Ulquiorra and all other Espada's surprises, Grimmjow didn't show any sign that he was displeased. In fact, he almost looked grateful to be given the task.
"Okay," the Sexta replied. "I'll go out right away."
Grimmjow would have left his seat right after he said the line if Aizen didn't raise his hand as a gesture for him to stop first.
"There is no need to rush," the master of Las Noches stated in a kind tone. "Take some time to prepare yourself and you can start this mission tomorrow."
The Sexta Espada responded with a soft "tsk" and a pout, but he remained in his seat anyway.
Nobody could guess why Grimmjow should act in that way. Searching for Hollows in an Adjucas class or higher was supposed to be difficult and boring – difficult because they were small in number, and boring because they could prove to be unworthy of being in Aizen's army. Even Nnoitra, who had at one time eagerly volunteered for the mission, as it meant more battles for him to participate in, became bored with it after a while and never thought about doing so again.
Tōsen, however, appeared to have a theory.
"If I may have a word about this, Aizen-sama," said the purple-haired Shinigami, "I don't believe you should send Grimmjow out to the desert by himself. He might become reckless and compromise his own mission, or worse, he might think about using it as an opportunity to cross over to the human realm to challenge the Substitute Shinigami, Kurosaki Ichigo, again."
"What the fuck?" Grimmjow uttered, glaring sharply at Tōsen even though there was no way for the Shinigami to see that look, let alone be fazed by it, for the man was fully blind. "I haven't even thought about that fucking bastard until you brought him up."
"Enough, Grimmjow," Aizen said. His voice became a little sterner than normal. "There is no need for such a language in this meeting."
The Sexta Espada was about to open his mouth and complain, but a look from Aizen managed to shut him up for a moment.
"Although I trust that you will not disappoint me again, Kaname still has his point. The war between us and Soul Society may not begin yet, but we cannot afford to risk anything at this stage of the game," the leader of all Arrancar remarked patiently. "So why don't you see it this way – having another person with you will help you complete the job quicker?"
Since the supreme ruler of Las Noches said so himself, there was no way for the Sexta Espada to protest no matter how much he wanted to, so all he could do was huffing in annoyance.
"Alright, but I ain't going with any weakling."
"Of course, you're not," Aizen assured. "The point of giving you a partner is so that the mission will be accomplished in the most efficient way, so why would I choose someone that would slow you down?"
Having said that, the brown-haired Shinigami put a serious expression on his face as if he was contemplating on who would be most suitable as Grimmjow's partner in the job.
"Do you mind if I make a suggestion, Aizen-taichō?"
The question brought all attentions to the silver-haired Shinigami who was standing a couple of steps behind the seat Aizen was taking.
"No, of course not. By all means, go ahead and say it, Gin."
"Well then, since Grimmjow said he didn't want to be partnered off with someone weak, I think it'd be best if you send Ulquiorra with him," the ever-so smiling Shinigami suggested. "I mean, Ulquiorra is obviously not weak. Besides, I heard he and Grimmjow have just been friends recently, so it'd be nice for the two of them to spend more time together – you know, to create a tighter bond."
The suggestion brought about many different kinds of reactions: Starrk paused his yawning midway to raise an eyebrow; Baraggan, Harribel, Ulquiorra and Zommari remained expressionless; Nnoitra put on a wide, leering grin; Szayelaporro looked like he was about to burst out laughing; Aaroneiro smirked from inside the red liquid of the tube that was supposed to be his head, while Yammy chuckled aloud.
The look on Grimmjow's face, however, was indescribable, but no matter what his expression meant, he didn't wait to hear what Aizen or Ulquiorra had to say about that idea at all when he quickly interjected, "Doesn't Ulquiorra have to take care of that woman?"
This time, Szayelaporro had to cover his mouth with his hand to hide his laughter. Meanwhile, Nnoitra grinned even broader as he volunteered, "Oh, I can take care of Pet-sama when Ulquiorra's not around, so no need to worry 'bout her when you two go out 'bonding'."
"And how exactly do you plan to 'take care' of her, Nnoitra?" the sole female presented in the meeting asked, suspicious.
"Ah... if you really must know—"
Seeing a perverse gleam in the Quinta Espada's slate eye, Aizen decided it would be best to cut him off before he could explain in detail. Therefore, the Las Noches's ruler raised his hand in a gesture to stop everyone from speaking.
"Thank you for your offer, Nnoitra, but I'll leave the task of taking care of Inoue Orihime to Harribel," Aizen noted before he turned to Ulquiorra, who had quietly observed the whole exchange as if it did not concern him, "which means, I will send you out with Grimmjow on this mission, Ulquiorra. Do you have any objection?"
"No, Aizen-sama," Ulquiorra replied obediently without looking Grimmjow's way to see the Sexta Espada's reaction.
"Very well, then, I'll let you two discuss your plan and decide how much time you need to complete this task," said Aizen, smiling. "Just report to me at the throne room before you go out tomorrow. Now that should conclude today's meeting unless anyone has a question."
Seeing that no one came up with any question, Aizen pushed his chair back slightly.
"In that case, this meeting is adjourned," said the Lord of Las Noches. "You all may return to your quarters now."
With that, Aizen and other two Shinigami left the table. Once the Shinigami were gone; Starrk, who no longer appeared to be half asleep since Ichimaru made his suggestion, stood up, stretched himself and asked, "Alright, I know it's my own fault for sleeping in my quarters all the time and missing out on everything that happens in the palace, but seriously, can anyone tell me when Ulquiorra and Grimmjow become friends?"
To answer the Primera Espada's question, the attempt to build a friendship between Ulquiorra and Grimmjow dated a couple of weeks back, but it wasn't until three days ago that Grimmjow had finally accepted Ulquiorra as his friend...
After he found out that the assumption he (and a few other Las Noches residents) had made about Grimmjow's preferences was completely wrong, the wielder of Murciélago decided to do as the Sexta Espada himself had suggested – watching the man's behaviors to figure out his true interests.
The task was not too difficult, as Grimmjow was the type to express himself freely and clearly without much care about what other people's opinions might be, and so far, Ulquiorra had gathered a rather long list that he had to be surprised by the number of things he had failed to notice about the other man when they had lived under the same roof for such a long time – like how the man hated to be associated with cats even though he was a panther, or how blue was not his favorite color even though he had blue hair and eyes.
The list went on, and Ulquiorra had it all recorded in his notebook, and now he was reviewing them to see if he could find anything that he and Grimmjow had in common aside from the fact that they were both Arrancars in Aizen's army. As Inoue Orihime had suggested, he could use whatever he found to start a conversation with Grimmjow, so insults would no longer be the only thing that they could exchange.
So far, he still couldn't find anything, but at the very least, he got to know about Grimmjow's preferences a little better and he had to admit that if he put the prejudice he had about the blue-eyed Espada aside, Grimmjow was really not such a bad person.
Glancing out of his window, he saw that the artificial sun had already risen far above the horizon, so he closed the notebook and placed it in his hakama pocket before he headed out to the kitchen. If his calculation was correct, he would reach there a few minutes before Grimmjow did, which would give him just enough time to direct someone to bring food to Inoue Orihime so he could stay and have his own breakfast while observing the Sexta Espada's behavior as well. However, Ulquiorra had to be surprised when he entered the kitchen and saw that his blueheaded target was already half way done with his breakfast.
If it had been before the experiment in making friends, Ulquiorra would simply ignore Grimmjow and choose to sit on a stool that was farthest away from said bluehead. However, since the human girl said that some closeness was required in order to make friends and that simple greeting was an absolute must, Ulquiorra walked up to Grimmjow.
"Good morning, Grimmjow," the Cuarta Espada greeted as he took a seat on a stool next to the one Grimmjow was sitting at the kitchen counter.
A sigh was the sadistic blue-haired man's first reaction, and instead of returning Ulquiorra's greeting, he stated, "You know, Ulquiorra, before taking a seat next to someone, you should ask them if it's taken first."
Furrowing his brows Ulquiorra inquired, "What's the point? It's obviously empty."
Once again, Grimmjow sighed. Annoyance could be detected in his voice when he replied, "The point is I might be keeping that seat for someone."
"Are you?"
"Yeah," the Sexta Espada replied quickly.
"For whom?"
As he obviously lied when he said that he was keeping a seat for someone, Grimmjow had a hard time looking for a name. After all, the only group of people he was close enough to keep a seat for was his five Fraccións, and they were all already dead.
After he couldn't find any name, he decided to say the name of the person he had already met earlier in the kitchen, and it was, "Ichimaru Gin?"
Ulquiorra blinked once.
"This is unexpected," Ulquiorra commented as he pulled the notebook out of his pocket, adding Ichimaru's name in Grimmjow's 'like' list. "I didn't know you are close to Ichimaru-sama."
"That's because I'm not. I just don't want you to sit next to me. Got that?" The Sexta Espada snarled. Then he turned and snatched the notebook from Ulquiorra's hand. "And what the fuck is this?" Grimmjow opened the book and scanned it with his azure eyes, and the content he saw made him unsure if he should feel impressed or violated. "You actually make a list of what I like or don't like?"
"Yes," the Cuarta Espada replied, unfazed by the other man's anger. "Now give me back my notebook."
Not only did he demand, Ulquiorra also reached out to get his notebook back, but Grimmjow was quicker to hide the book behind his back, out of the shorter man's reach.
"Not a chance in hell," he said. "This is an invasion of privacy."
Frowning deeper, Ulquiorra replied, "How? You suggested it yourself that I should observe you more closely to see what you actually prefer instead of getting random ideas from everyone else, and that's exactly what I've been doing."
Although Ulquiorra was right, Grimmjow wasn't about to admit defeat.
"Yeah, I said that, but you don't have to be this creepy and write every fucking detail down."
"How else am I supposed to remember everything if I don't have a reminder?" Ulquiorra returned before he bared his right hand in front of Grimmjow in a gesture for the blue-haired man to give him back his belonging.
Green met blue as they both stared at one another, neither willing to lose the staring contest. After a couple of minutes and a few weird looks from the chef and some other Arrancars that snuck past them to sit away from the war zone, Grimmjow sighed.
"Alright, fine, I'll give it back, but not until I see what the hell you've written in it first."
Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes slightly, but he nodded his agreement anyway. Still taking a seat right next to Grimmjow, the wielder of Murciélago beckoned the chef so he could place his meal order and ask the man if anyone brought food to Inoue yet. Meanwhile, Grimmjow glanced sideways to Ulquiorra to see if the other man was watching him, and once he saw that Ulquiorra paid him no heed, he opened the first page of the notebook and began reading it.
No other words were spoken while Ulquiorra waited for his breakfast. And since all other Arrancars in the kitchen were trying to be as invisible as they could lest they would anger the two Espadas, the only sound that could be heard was a sizzle and a hiss from the kitchen stove and the sound of Grimmjow flipping through the notebook's pages.
After a while, Grimmjow frowned and turned to Ulquiorra.
"Oi! Give me a pen. I know you've got one on you."
The Cuarta Espada raised an eyebrow as a response.
"What the hell is that look for?" Grimmjow asked, crossed. "You think I don't know how to write?"
Ulquiorra didn't bother to answer to Grimmjow's questions and simply handed a pen to Grimmjow before he turned his attention back to the empty counter in front of him.
Growling softly at Ulquiorra, Grimmjow took the pen and continued checking Ulquiorra's note. While he didn't really have any reason to help Ulquiorra with that list, Grimmjow told himself he only did so to prevent future headaches, for the Cuarta Espada had shown him so many times that he had a tendency to take things overly seriously and ridiculously literally. If he should allow any of the man's misunderstandings to continue, he would more than likely have to suffer Ulquiorra's new approach on the man's so-called friendship experiment.
"I'll give you an A for the effort, Ulquiorra," Grimmjow noted after he was done. He had to admit he was more than a little surprised by how many things Ulquiorra had taken notice about him. There were some mistakes, of course, but aside from that the list was very accurate.
"So can I have my note and my pen back now?"
The blue-haired Espada handed the book and the pen back to the raven-haired one, but before Ulquiorra could take them out of his hand, Grimmjow held them firmly back.
"Wait. Now that you've got your list. What're you planning to do with it?"
"The woman said I should to find if you and I have anything in common. If so, try to bring them to a conversation and then go from there."
Although his initial plan was to remain indifferent and ignore everything Ulquiorra did in his experiment so that the man would eventually give up, it was hard to stick with the plan when the things Ulquiorra did often threw him off his pace.
Now if he thought Ulquiorra making a dessert for him, showering him with cat-related gifts and then stalking him was already bad enough, he didn't want to imagine what it would be like to meet a chatty Ulquiorra. That would most likely be his doomsday, and if it was up to him, he would never let it happened.
With that thought in mind, Grimmjow decided that it was indeed up to him, and there was one way for him to prevent everything from getting more awry.
"You know what? Don't bother," said the Sexta Espada. Taking a deep breath, he continued, "Just for your effort alone, I'll agree to be your friend, so you can stop with whatever plan you have."
"Are you sure about this?"
"Yeah, I'm sure," Grimmjow replied, annoyance could be traced in his voice. "We can even shake on it."
Not only did he suggest it, the Sexta Espada also proffered Ulquiorra his right hand for a shake. However, when Ulquiorra only looked at it with curiosity, Grimmjow sighed and reached out to take Ulquiorra's hand in his then shook it once.
"This is called a hand shake," he said. "It's a thing humans do when they make a deal with someone. Don't ask me why coz I don't know either."
"I see. So how long does this shaking hands thing usually last?" Ulquiorra wondered, looking at their connected hands.
Realizing that he still held on to Ulquiorra's hand, Grimmjow quickly let go. It wasn't the first time that he thought that Ulquiorra's hand seemed to fit well with his, for he had that same line of thought once before when the slender man gently placed his hand above his to stop him from releasing Pantera against the guy with a pharaoh-like mask that came to Kurosaki Ichigo's rescue; but to actually held on to it after a hand shake was ridiculous.
"Just a few seconds would suffice," Grimmjow said, feeling a bit mad at himself. "Anyway, I'll get going now. Later, Ulquiorra."
With that, Grimmjow quickly left his seat and headed out of the door, not bothering to finish the rest of his meal. He was certain that once he agreed to be Ulquiorra's friend, the guy would lose interest in the subject and things would return to normal soon afterward. After all, all the Cuarta Espada wanted to know was if he could make a friend out of an enemy, so once Grimmjow accepted Ulquiorra's friendship proposal, it should put an end to everything. He wouldn't care if anyone called him a coward for taking an easy way out, as he believed they would do the same if they were in his situation.
Of course, the Sexta Espada might not have agreed to be his friend if he had known then that Ulquiorra was still very much interested in the subject of friendship and intended to continue experiencing it with Grimmjow, but whether he liked it or not, he had already signed himself up for it.
… And that was a full explanation on how they technically became friends.
Starrk didn't seem to care much for an answer, however, because after a few seconds had passed by without any clear explanation, the Primera Espada simply yawned and declared that he would rather be back to sleep in his room.
Ulquiorra would have done the same as all other Espadas and returned to his private quarters if he had not noticed that Grimmjow had yet to leave his seat. Since the Sexta Espada was usually the first to leave the meeting room, Ulquiorra couldn't help wondering why the blue-haired man still lingered there. Therefore, he stepped back into the room and approached to Grimmjow's seat.
Once he took a good look at the wielder of Pantera, Ulquiorra couldn't help thinking that the man looked like a deflated blue balloon. Since Grimmjow was usually more energetic than an Energizer bunny, Ulquiorra could only frown at the rare sight of a dispirited panther.
"Are you unwell, Grimmjow?" Ulquiorra inquired. "If so, you should have informed Aizen-sama earlier so he could dispatch someone else for the mission."
The blue-haired Arrancar sighed. "The mission won't fail because of me if that's what you're worried about."
Ulquiorra furrowed his thick brows.
"Actually, I asked out of a concern for your well being."
Grimmjow blinked, obviously very confused.
"I mean, we are friends now, aren't we? And friends are supposed to care about one another."
Once again, the Sexta Espada sighed.
"You know, Ulquiorra, this is exactly what makes me sick."
It was Ulquiorra's turn to be confused. "And what is 'this' you were referring to?"
"You know, the 'friends are supposed to do this: friends are supposed to do that' shit," Grimmjow replied. "I've heard you say that far too many times than I care to count, and I've enough of it already. If you care, then you care. If you don't, then you don't. Don't pretend that you do just because you were told that it's how you're supposed to act. Jeez, at least before you were honest about hating me, but now? Now I don't know what the hell is really on your mind and I don't know how to act around you anymore."
Once Grimmjow finished his line, the room was filled with a complete silence that if someone dropped a needle, they would be able to hear it.
Ulquiorra's frown was deepened as he took his time to process what the Sexta Espada had said. After a careful consideration, he claimed, "But I really want to be your friend, Grimmjow."
Although the next thing he said would probably sound like he cared about the slim Espada and wanted the man to care about him in return (which in a way, he did, for it would be much easier for him to deal with Ulquiorra that way), Grimmjow knew he had to get it out of his chest or he would never escape from that trap that Ulquiorra called friendship.
"Why?" Grimmjow wondered. "If it's because you've no idea what friendship's really like and you want to try it out, there are others who will make a better choice – like that human woman or Ichimaru Gin. They seem friendly enough. It doesn't have to be me."
Again, Ulquiorra furrowed his brows that it looked like they would actually be knotted together permanently if he furrowed them any longer. He seemed to be thinking hard about what Grimmjow had said, but it didn't take long for his expression to return to normal.
"Yes, they are friendly enough," Ulquiorra agreed, "but they don't have anything that caught my interest. You, however, have plenty of things that I want to find out more about, so it still has to be you."
Grimmjow's jaw dropped. "You can't be serious."
"Actually, I am."
The Sexta Espada flopped to the top of the table. "Just kill me now."
Ulquiorra tilted his head and took another long, considerate look at Grimmjow, and after he saw that the blue-haired male would not change his position any time soon, he asked, "Is it really that bad to be friends with me, Grimmjow?"
"Hell, yeah," Grimmjow replied swiftly.
"I see."
Something in Ulquiorra's tone made Grimmjow look up from the table. He wasn't sure what that tone was, but it sounded as if his words had actually hurt the usually apathetic Espada's feeling. While a part of him believed that Ulquiorra deserved it after all the headaches he had given him in the past couple of weeks, another part – a softer part – made him regret having answered that way.
With a sigh, Grimmjow added, "but you know, it won't be that bad if you'd just act like normal people from time to time."
Those emerald eyes seemed to be a little brighter when Ulquiorra replied, "I shall try."
"Yeah, you do that," Grimmjow said tiredly. "Now leave me alone, will you? I need some time to clear my head."
"Alright. In that case, I will see you later, Grimmjow."
Grimmjow acknowledged Ulquiorra's words with a tired nod. He wasn't sure why he had to say all those things to make Ulquiorra feel better when he shouldn't have cared if he hurt Ulquiorra's feeling. In fact, it would be better for him if he just hurt that man's feeling. That way Ulquiorra might have left him alone at last, and things would be back to normal again. Yet somehow he had lost a heart to do so. And now all the Sexta Espada could think was that perhaps Ulquiorra's efforts had not been all in vain, for he had really begun to care about him.
End of Chapter IV