A/N: Hello, my dear readers. It's been a while. I wonder if you miss me at all. Anyway, if you're still reading this, thank you for your continuous support. I'd ask for some reviews, but then it's up to you to decide if it's worth your time. In any case, I hope you enjoy the chapter. Until next time ~ Amaratta
VI
Three weeks. That was the length of time he would have to spend on that mission that Aizen randomly threw at him. At the very first, he didn't really mind the mission much even though he would rather be doing something more productive like invading Soul Society and killing all Shinigami when they were least expected, for he believed that at the very least the boring mission would give him some time away from Ulquiorra and his pathetic attempt at friendship. However, no thanks to the resident prankster, Ichimaru Gin, the Cuarta Espada was dispatched to that mission with him.
It was true that they had been in the same mission before when their relationship was in a much worse term, but in that mission, they had their own parts to play, so he didn't get to interact with Ulquiorra at all until the moment the Cuarta Espada appeared out of nowhere to stop him from releasing Pantera and led everyone back to Hueco Mundo. However, in the current mission, they would have to spend three whole weeks together; and to be completely honest, even though they were friends in name, Grimmjow didn't think their relationship had improved enough for them to spend that amount of time together without trying to kill one another or at least driving each other insane.
The idea of a potential battle against Ulquiorra made Grimmjow blink. Normally he would rejoice in the thought of fighting and killing the apathetic wielder of Murciélago. They had been at odds for so long that he couldn't keep track of how many times he deliberately did things to provoke that man to fight him. However, not even once in those weeks the Cuarta Espada had come to harass him with his strange ideas of building a friendship had Grimmjow actually considered killing Ulquiorra so he would no longer have to suffer the man's experiment. He hadn't even tried to provoke that slender man into a fight as he usually did even though doing so would send a very clear message to the Cuarta Espada that he had no intention of being friends with him. All he had ever done during the whole episode was bitching about Ulquiorra's weird attempts before he eventually dropped some clues for the guy to work with.
"Oh, shit!" Grimmjow cursed as a realization hit him. There was no wonder why Ulquiorra kept coming up with new ideas to befriend him. After all, he had unconsciously egged the man on. "Shit! Shit! Shit!"
"What's the matter, Grimmjow?"
Ulquiorra's question jerked the Sexta Espada out of his reverie, and Grimmjow once again realized that they were in Hueco Mundo's endless desert and that his focus should be spent on the task of finding strong Hollows to enlist, not pondering on his relationship or lack thereof with Ulquiorra.
"Nothing," was his prompt reply, but when he saw the way Ulquiorra furrowed his thick brows, he realized he should give more explanation. After all, as foul as his mouth was, it was still considered abnormal for him to curse four times in a role without any reason at all. "I... just forgot to bring a clock with me from Las Noches, that's all."
It was after he mentioned it that Grimmjow realized that it was not a complete lie. He had spent the big part of the previous night psyching over the fact that he would have to spend three whole weeks with Ulquiorra so he barely prepared for the mission itself and forgot to bring many things that he should have brought with him to the desert.
"If that is the case, you don't have to worry," said Ulquiorra. "I brought one with me."
With that remark, Ulquiorra shifted the picnic basket and the sleeping bag he had been carrying since before they left Las Noches to his left hand so he could dig his right hand into his hakama pocket and bring out a silver pocket watch to prove his word.
"Always prepared, aren't ya?"
"I'll take that as a compliment."
Grimmjow chuckled. He wasn't too sure if he should be grateful that he was partnered with Ulquiorra or continue to be frustrated. After all, if he were with someone else, they might have forgotten about that little detail and ended up not returning to Las Noches as scheduled and got punished by Aizen for that; but then again, if someone else was his partner, he wouldn't have been so agitated that he would forget to bring a clock in the first place.
But whichever was the case, the wielder of Pantera decided it was not worth pondering over. After all, they were already out in that dry, cold desert; and there was no turning back to Las Noches until they completed their task.
"You can take it whichever way you like," said the blue-haired male. "Anyway, since you already brought that thing out, what time is it?"
Glancing at the watch, Ulquiorra replied, "Around two in the afternoon, or so it is in Las Noches."
It was not difficult to understand why the Cuarta Espada bothered to add the second part of his sentence, since it was also difficult for Grimmjow to actually think of that time as an afternoon when there was that dark sky and crescent moon right above his head.
"Already?"
Hearing the time reminded him that he had walked the desert with Ulquiorra for about five hours and that they had yet to fight. He wondered if it was because he had spent most part of that time cursing his fate while Ulquiorra was not a type to start random conversations. Come to think about it again, ninety-nine percent of their disputes were started by him, so that shouldn't have been so much of a surprise.
Scratching the back of his head, Grimmjow looked back over his shoulder only to grimace at the sight of Las Noches still right behind them.
"And yet we can still see Las Noches clearly from here. Hell, I'll never get what the fuck was in Aizen's head when he decided to build that place so freaking huge."
Not even bothering to turn around to check if Grimmjow was lying about still seeing the white palace from such a distance, Ulquiorra suggested, "I suppose he did so because it would not accommodate or facilitate everyone otherwise?"
"You don't sound so sure about that," the Sexta Espada commented. "And I always thought you might know what he's thinking better than any of us. After all, aren't you his favorite?"
Having said it, Grimmjow felt like banging his head against something hard. He almost sounded as if he was jealous of whatever kind of relationship Ulquiorra had with Aizen when he shouldn't have cared about it at all. After all, Ulquiorra's personal life was none of his business and he didn't care who Aizen's favorite was as long as everyone recognized his strength.
Fortunately enough for Grimmjow, his black-haired companion didn't seem to catch on when he explained, "Aizen-sama treats all of us Espadas in the same way. If he has any favoritism in any of his subordinates, it would be toward Ichimaru-sama."
The blue-haired Espada chuckled.
"Yeah, I guess you're right about that one. Ichimaru's gotta be his favorite or else there's no other reason for him to bring such an annoying guy with him from Soul Society. But anyway, talking about Ichimaru, let's take a break and eat something. I'm hungry."
Ulquiorra turned to give Grimmjow a strange look. "Talking about Ichimaru-sama makes you hungry?"
If anyone else asked him that question, Grimmjow would believe he was teased, but since it was Ulquiorra and the guy was too serious to make a joke, the Sexta Espada didn't really know what to make of it.
"What the fuck! Don't twist my words in a weird way," he yelled. "I was thinking of that picnic basket he insisted us to take."
Not only did he say so, Grimmjow also pointed at the basket in Ulquiorra's hand.
"Oh, this?" Ulquiorra turned his green eyes to that basket as if it had already slipped his mind that he had been carrying it since they left the throne room. "Let's see what's inside, then."
"Seriously, I feel like we're still being watched from Las Noches."
Grimmjow said after he dropped the baggage that was a backpacking tent and a sleeping bag onto the sand with a nice thud. Meanwhile, Ulquiorra bent down and carefully placed the picnic basket and his sleeping bag down to the ground near to where Grimmjow dropped his stuff.
"You are thinking too much, Grimmjow," the ebony-haired male commented as he opened the lid of the basket and pulled out a blanket with blue and green tartan pattern. "I doubt it is possible even for Aizen-sama to see us from such a distance."
With that said, Ulquiorra unfolded the blanket, laid it down on the ground then placed the picnic basket on top of it before he sat down himself.
"Yeah, guess you're right," Grimmjow said as he flopped down on the blanket Ulquiorra had just laid out and began digging inside the picnic basket to find what kind of food Gin had put in there. "Hmm... meal boxes. Okay, I gotta admit this is better than I expected. Maybe I didn't give Ichimaru enough credit."
Passing one box to Ulquiorra, Grimmjow then opened another one. However, his expression contorted into a grimace once he saw the food inside.
"Scratch that! I'm gonna kill that creep the next time I see his face. What the fuck was he trying to pull by packing us this kind of stuff?"
Ulquiorra blinked and decided to open his own meal box to see if there was anything inside that might have offended Grimmjow enough for the man to make that harsh comment. However, even after he took a look, he still couldn't understand why Grimmjow should be upset by the meal that Ichimaru had given to them, since they looked like normal rice balls to him, and if his memory served correctly, Grimmjow neither liked nor disliked Japanese cuisine. Therefore, he decided to lean over to take a look at Grimmjow's meal box just in case the content was different; however, it was pretty much the same with his own.
"What's wrong with the food?" Ulquiorra wondered.
Grimmjow probably had the same line of thought as Ulquiorra since he also took a look at Ulquiorra's meal box. Then as he saw that they were the same, he gave the Cuarta Espada an incredulous look before he uttered, "All of these bloody rice balls are in heart shape, dammit!"
Ulquiorra raised an eyebrow before he gingerly picked up one rice ball from his box so he could examine it more closely.
"So this is what a heart looks like?" he said, fascinated. "How strange. I've never seen any organ that looks anything like this in a human body. Perhaps I didn't look hard enough."
The Sexta Espada facepalmed at that comment.
"And why does it upset you, by the way?" asked the raven-haired man.
"Because—" Grimmjow stopped himself. Although he could have explained why he had been upset by the heart shape rice balls, a part of him doubted Ulquiorra would get it. After all, as smart and skillful as the Cuarta Espada was in the battlefield, when it came to a matter of relationship, Ulquiorra was as innocent as a newborn child. And since telling Ulquiorra that Ichimaru meant to tease them by suggesting that their mission was a romantic getaway of some sort made Grimmjow feel as though he would be corrupting Ulquiorra, he decided that whatever the Cuarta Espada didn't know would not hurt him. Therefore, the blue-haired man sighed and said, "Never mind. It's just one of Ichimaru Gin's stupid jokes, so forget it."
With that said, Grimmjow picked up one rice ball and chomped it down as if he had held some grudges against the food, and eating it that way would at least make him feel better.
Although Ulquiorra should have followed Grimmjow's example and eaten the food, he kept staring at the shape of the rice ball in his hand. Now that he thought about it carefully, he recalled seeing that same shape before on the envelope of a New Year card that the human girl had written to Grimmjow in his behalf. He believed back when the Sexta Espada received that New Year card, the man had also behaved in the same manners; therefore, Ulquiorra couldn't help thinking that there might be some connections between the two events.
Glancing sideways and finding that the ebony-haired Espada still looked at the rice ball in awe, the Sexta Espada rolled his eyes.
"If you're not gonna eat, then just put the damn thing back in the box. Don't keep staring at it like it's one of the seven wonders – it's creepy," said Grimmjow. "What the hell is with you and your fixation on human-related topics anyway?"
The question managed to make Ulquiorra tear his eyes away from the rice ball and cast them to Grimmjow instead.
"I'm not interested in all human-related matters," Ulquiorra correct. "I'm merely interested in this thing that they dub as a heart."
Raising an eyebrow, the Sexta Espada questioned, "A heart? What's so interesting 'bout it?"
"It is something that Hollows do not possess," the green-eyed Arrancar explained. "Therefore, I wonder what it looks like and what is the use of it."
Upon hearing that explanation, many things began to make more sense to the wielder of Pantera.
"Is that the reason why you have a habit of plunging a hole into your enemies' chests? To find if a heart is hidden underneath?"
Ulquiorra turned to look at Grimmjow's face. If anything were to show that he was surprised by that question, it would be the way his green-eyed were slightly wider than usual.
"You notice?"
"It's impossible not to," the Sexta Espada replied. "Oh, well, at least now it makes a lot more sense, but I've gotta tell you, Ulquiorra, you won't find that 'heart' thing inside a human's body. As far as I know, that thing about isn't something you can see with your eyes."
Ulquiorra furrowed his brows. "If it cannot be seen, how can they be certain that it really exists and even give it this shape?"
The blue-haired Arrancar responded with a shrug.
"How the hell would I know? I ain't human," Grimmjow replied. "If you really wanna know, just ask that woman once we're back in Las Noches. Now eat up already, we still have a long way to go."
After having continued walking for several more hours, both Espada had finally left the last underground tunnel where Arrancars who were assigned as Las Noches's gatekeepers resided. Las Noches itself had also disappeared from their sights, and that fact made Grimmjow feel a little more at ease. However, the fact that they still couldn't feel any strong presences from other Hollows in the area also reminded him that what they were sent out to do wasn't exactly a walk in the park.
As they went deeper into the desert, the wind had become so much stronger that it made the Sexta Espada wonder if it would turn into a sandstorm at some point. While Grimmjow was quite proud of his fashion statement, he couldn't help feeling irritated when many grains of sand blew past his skin and occasionally went through the Hollow hole in his abdomen. For a moment there, the Sexta Espada contemplated zipping up his jacket, but he later decided against doing so as it was already too late for his chest was already covered in sand anyway. Therefore, all he did was lifting his hand up to block the sand from getting into his face and his eyes.
"Oi, Ulquiorra, let's call it a night," Grimmjow suggested. "I don't think we can get far in this kind of wind."
Not getting his answer right away, Grimmjow glanced to his left side where Ulquiorra had quietly walked since the beginning of the journey only to realize that the Cuarta Espada wasn't there. Followed his instinct, he turned back over his shoulder and saw that Ulquiorra had fallen a few steps behind. It seemed that while the raven-haired Arrancar had most part of his skin covered with his boring, old-fashioned uniform, his face and eyes were left vulnerable, and if his assumption was correct, a considerable amount of sand had to get into those emerald orbs.
He would have laughed at Ulquiorra's situation, but he realized that he wasn't that much better off, so Grimmjow growled and looked around to see if there were any place they could take as a shelter, since he didn't think they would be able to set up that tent he had been carrying on his back.
Seeing nothing but sand dunes and quartz trees, the Sexta Espada sighed before he quickly approached his pale-skinned companion.
"That's it! Let's get underground."
Not only did he make that suggestion, Grimmjow also grabbed Ulquiorra's wrist. And before the wielder of Murciélago could say anything, his "friend" suddenly shot a red cero down on the ground, causing it to collapse from beneath their feet, then they both fell into the hole along with some sand.
Since too much sand had got into his system in a short while, Ulquiorra had no choice but to cough it up after he landed safely in the underground area that was known to some as the forest of Menos. Thanks to his quick reflex, the Cuarta Espada managed to get away from all the sand that were still falling down after him before he could be buried underneath it.
After he was done coughing up and brushing the sand off his face and body, Ulquiorra searched for his blue-haired friend with his eyes. Grimmjow was standing not very far from him, shaking sand off his electric blue hair.
"Man, this sucks! Why is there so much sand?" Grimmjow muttered to himself before he turned around and froze as he met Ulquiorra's eyes. "Hey, are you okay over there, Ulquiorra?"
"Yes," the raven-haired Espada replied as he started brushing the sand off his clothes. Then he looked around once again to find the picnic basket and the sleeping bag he had been carrying only to find that they were nowhere to be seen. "However, I have lost the sleeping bag and the picnic basket, so it looks like we are going to have to hunt for food from now on."
Hearing Ulquiorra's word, Grimmjow also looked around for the missing objects, but he also failed to locate them. It looked like those things were buried beneath the sand that had fallen down with them, and even if they somehow managed to dig them up from that huge pile of sand, they would probably be crushed by the weight of the sand that they wouldn't be of any use to them anyway.
He growled softly. The thought of having to hunt for food wasn't too bad in comparison to eating Gin's food, but with Ulquiorra's sleeping bag gone missing, he couldn't help wondering if the Cuarta Espada expected to share his.
A mental image of the two of them sitting side by side near a campfire sharing a blanket that was his sleeping bag, trying to get themselves warm popped up into Grimmjow's head, and he almost slapped himself for it. He was sure Ichimaru would get a kick out of their situation if he had ever found out, and would surely not let them live it down afterward.
That mission was getting worse and worse.
With another growl, Grimmjow decided that being angry wouldn't help, since part of it was his fault for not warning Ulquiorra before he dragged them down into the Menos forest.
"You know what? That's fine with me, as long as you don't expect me to share my sleeping bag with you," Grimmjow said.
"Why would I expect you to do that?"
The blue-eyed male blinked twice. Even though he always considered their friendship as something that existed only in name, that response from Ulquiorra still managed to make him feel like he was some kind of selfish jerk whose aim was to take everything he could from his friend and never give anything back in return. It was as if the concept of friendship in Ulquiorra's view was a one-way street where the man had to try to please Grimmjow in every possible way without expecting anything from him at all.
And perhaps it was because of how Ulquiorra really didn't want anything in return at all that Grimmjow found it impossible to really ignore the pale Espada.
"Because, like every other relationship, friendship ain't no one-way street. You've gotta both give and take," Grimmjow explained, exasperated. "You help them when they're in trouble, and you'd kinda expect them to do the same when you're in one."
Ulquiorra tilted his head slightly as he looked at Grimmjow and commented, "Now you sound like you want to share that sleeping bag with me, Grimmjow."
"Like hell I do!" Grimmjow yelled before he buried his face in his hands. "Shit, I'm digging my own grave just now, aren't I?"
The Sexta Espada didn't know if it was his imagination or Ulquiorra really did find his reaction amusing enough to allow the corners of his black and white lips to curve up into a small smile, since it faded away too soon for him to be certain.
"As I said, I have no intention of sharing your sleeping bag," said the green-eyed male. "In any case, there is one cave over there, perhaps we can stay there for the night?"
A small campfire was built in the middle of the dark cave to light the place and give some warmth at the same time. The only regret for Grimmjow was that they had lost the picnic basket so he didn't have any marshmallow to roast. It was not because he was hungry, as he didn't really spend that much of his spirit energy that day, but it was more because he didn't have anything to do to kill the time that all that was left for him to do was staring at his black-haired companion who was sitting right across to him.
Ulquiorra's pale skin glowed with the orange light of the campfire. If it wasn't for the fact that those emerald orbs were still open and staring blankly at the flickering flame, Grimmjow would have thought his companion had already turned in for the night. However, just because Ulquiorra had sat motionless there didn't mean that he paid any less attention to his surrounding, since the Cuarta Espada suddenly broke the silence by asking, "Why are you staring?"
"Staring? Who? Me?" Grimmjow asked, surprised.
"There are only the two of us here, aren't there?" the green-eyed man retorted, his deep green eyes had yet to leave the fire.
"Ah, if you must know, I'm just wondering about something."
"About what?"
"Well, since you're a bat and all, does that mean you sleep with your head upside down?"
Ulquiorra blinked twice at the question before he responded dryly with, "Do you have to sleep in a tree?"
"No."
"Then I do not need to sleep in a cave, much less with my head upside down," said the Cuarta Espada.
And since he already allowed his curiosity to get better of him, Grimmjow decided that it wouldn't hurt to just ask everything he had been wondering.
"How do you normally sleep then? I mean, with that helmet mask of your, it's probably uncomfortable to lie down."
Ulquiorra raised an eyebrow as if to ask Grimmjow why the man was interested in his sleeping habit, but he didn't voice that question and simply replied, "I can always lie on my right side."
"That doesn't sound too convenient," Grimmjow noted, "But I guess it's better than sleeping with your head upside down anyway."
Ulquiorra made no comment to that remark and kept on staring at the flame as if it was the most interesting thing to do. Grimmjow was about to give up at conversation and turn in for the night, but as he prepared to lie down, another question crossed his mind and he decided that he would just ask.
"Say, Ulquiorra, why did you choose to follow Aizen?" He could see that the question had captured his companion's attention since those green eyes were now on him instead of on the campfire. Seeing a question in the Cuarta Espada's eyes, Grimmjow decided to explain a little further, "I mean, most of us, maybe with an exception of Starrk, joined because we wanted to be stronger for some reasons, but you're different, aren't you? I mean, you're the only one who chose to keep that regenerative power instead of trading it for greater strength, and it's not like you enjoy fighting in particular or have anything that you need to protect."
The Cuarta Espada didn't reply to that question right away. Instead, he took his time to consider his answer.
"To find purposes, I suppose," the black-haired man replied. "Before I met Aizen-sama, all I ever did to fill my day was going around eating other Hollows to stay alive. But then he came and offered me a chance to learn things I would not be able to learn as a Hollow. He gave me some purposes in a life that would otherwise be meaningless."
"Ah, now I kinda get why your aspect of death is emptiness."
Ulquiorra made no comment on that remarked, but instead, he asked, "And you, Grimmjow? What is your reason for joining Aizen-sama?"
"It's rather simple. I wanted to be stronger so I could destroy all beings that had ever looked down on me. That's all there is to it."
"Is that why you kept challenging me to a fight?" asked the apathetic Espada. "Because you thought I looked down on you?"
"Can you honestly say that you didn't? I mean, you always ignored my presence and even if I challenged you, you'd just brush me off as if I wasn't worth your time." The Sexta Espada paused for a moment as he realized how much he sounded as if he wanted Ulquiorra's undivided attention. "Not that I wanted to be the center of your attention or anything, but—" Grimmjow sighed as he couldn't find the right word to speak his mind. "You know what I'm trying to say."
Ulquiorra nodded, and to make his point in what he was going to say next, he tore his eyes from the campfire so he could meet with Grimmjow's gaze.
"Even if I said I didn't, you wouldn't believe me anyway," he stated. "But for what it's worth, I believe if Aizen-sama chooses someone as an Espada, the person has to have some useful qualities, and therefore, not complete trash. The reason I never accepted your challenge is not because you are unworthy of my time, but rather because I see no point in raising my sword against a fellow Espada when we are supposed to work together, not against one another."
"Is that so?" Grimmjow asked even though he could tell that Ulquiorra was quite honest with his explanation. Now that everything was said, he couldn't help wondering if the cause of the hostile feeling he had for the Cuarta Espada could be just a misunderstanding from his part. Of course, it wasn't as if Ulquiorra had done anything to clear it up either, but at least, he understood that apathetic man a little better, and the idea of being that man's friend didn't seem as farfetched as it had been before. "Well, then I'm glad we have this conversation."
Ulquiorra seemed to agree with him since the man replied, "So am I."
"Anyway, I'm going to sleep now," Grimmjow noted. "You'd better do the same as well, coz tomorrow is sure gonna be a long day."
"I know," was the Cuarta Espada reply. "Good night, Grimmjow."
"Yeah, good night."
With that said, Grimmjow turned away from Ulquiorra and tried to find the best position for him to sleep. And the last thought that he had before he drifted into a peaceful slumber was that perhaps the upcoming three weeks would not turn out to be a total disaster after all.
End of Chapter VI