Chapter Two: Confusion
A month has passed since I've seen Grimmjow and all I've been wanting to do is slaughter him with all my might. When I was able to feel his spirit energy from where I was training with the other visoreds, Kensei and Love were trying to hold me back, but Shinji told them to let me go. I'd have to remember to thank him later. As I flashed out of there I went after Grimmjow's energy, but as soon as I saw him, his missing arm and the scare that decorated his nicely toned chest I lost thought of why I was here. For some reason all my resolve to kill him vanished and all I wanted was to aid him and his missing arm. But a more logical and not effect part of my soul told me to stand and fight. To give into the desire to slaughter him without hesitation."Hey! I've been looking for you. Soul reaper~" Grimmjow said and I had to stop myself from wanting to cower submissively to him. I grabbed hold of Zangetsu and look at him with a glare."And I've been waiting for you." I say brimming with newly found confidence, as I remembered what I came here to do. "It's taken some time, but I've come here to show you what I've learned since the last time we met!" I said and he grunts in approval. I then go right into bankai, already knowing that using Shikai was useless. He grunts unamused by this but I have yet to show him everything.
"Bankai huh? Maybe you forgot it, but that bankai of yours couldn't even stop, let alone even slow me down the first time we met!" He said looking angry as though everything he'd been through had been for nothing.
"Well maybe it's you who's forgotten, that it was my bankai attack that gave you that scar." I retorted and we just looked at each other. His eyes showing nothing but anger and dominance, that made my resolve start to waver. I kept up my angered face and again reminded myself that I wanted nothing more than to slaughter him. I had eleven seconds to finish this. That has been the longest time I've kept my mask on. I had to hit him as much as I could with in eleven seconds or else I'll be fucked and won't be able to do anything for a couple of minutes, and be at his mercy. "May I ask you something... Grimmjow?" I ask. I liked his name, but I didn't like the fact in order to hide my border-lining submissiveness, I had to spit his name out like vomit. "What happen to that arm of yours?" I finished and he just smiled a bit.
"Oh I got rid of it... Cause I'm only gonna need one arm...to kill you!" Grimmjow said. But the way he said kill, I couldn't help but think that he didn't mean physically. I feel like he meant it in some other way.
I stiffened in my stance as I got read to hollowfy. "Is that right?" I ask getting ready. My grip tightening on Tensa Zangetsu and the instinct of wanting to slaughter him came back. "The that means I shouldn't hold back now should I?!" I asked and Grimmjow smirks obviously pleased.
"If you do you'll only just die faster!" He yelled and his energy surrounded him. I could see the blue reiatsu surround him and his beautiful cyan eyes glazed at me with mischief and... something I couldn't quite understand. He got ready and I hollowfied sending out a blast of my own spiritual pressure.
At first he didn't seem fazed by it, well not until he saw my mask and then his eyes widened in shock. "What... What the hell was that?" He asked as I looked at him. I don't know why but I stayed planted in my steps for a few seconds before going at him telling him I didn't have time to explain. I instantly charged at him and he drew his Zanpakuto to counter my attack. He still seemed shocked which was to my advantage as I released my getsuga tensho on him. It seemed take it's toll on his body from what I've seen so far but I didn't get my hopes up. The still dominant look in his eyes still made me wary. "This... This power of yours... it's not that of a soul reaper." He said and his eyes narrowed looking at me menacingly as the fire inside those dominant cyan eyes grew bigger. "Damn you. It's only been a month! What the hell did you do to yourself?!" He demanded and I responded by firing my getsuga tensho at him. What surprised me was how the hell my time was now increasing. It had been well over eleven seconds, not that I'm complaining. When my getsuga tensho hit him I flashed behind him and gave him the same answer I did when he asked the first time, before throwing another getsuga tensho at him. He went flying at this and I had let a smirk run over my face as the mask stayed in place and I went after him. Not long after he went flying and me trailing behind him I saw him form a cero! I put my sword up defensively as I watch him fire it at him and then I blocked it's power. Grimmjow used this as an opening and I had to quickly counter. Jumping back we both caught our a little bit of our breath before lunging at each other again. He continued to swing his sword at me with brute force causing me to grip Tensa Zangetsu even tighter. I was amazed me that he could even still fight like he was with only one arm. I held up with all his attacks and now I was about make my own. "It's over Grimmjow." I say and raise my zanpakuto to bring down my attack but as soon as I was halfway through my blow, my mask broke and I was stunned. So was Grimmjow, but he recovered faster knowing that I was now weaker than before and used this to his advantage.
"Your luck's run out Strawberry." He said and my eyes widened surprise. I was in deep shit now. I could just tell. The way his face contorted after my mask broke and he knew I was through, it made me feel vulnerable. No! I must not feel that way! I came here to slaughter him. To take back what was mine. My chest was bleeding pretty bad and before I knew it Grimmjow was right beside me slinging another attack which I almost fell victim to. I had been able to move my arm enough so I could counter his move. "It seems like whatever that power you just used right there, you might have overdone it. Cause you started panting like a dog the second that mask fell apart! It's over Strawberry. I'll have to admit you gave me quite a bit of damage here today, but there was never any doubt in the outcome! YOU WERE NO MATCH FOR ME!" Grimmjow yelled and I couldn't help but feel the least bit frightened when he used his energy to force me to the ground. I tumbled quite a bit before landing to a complete stop. I still had my Tensa Zangetsu in my hand and I tried to hollowfy again but wound up failing in the process. As soon as Grimmjow realized this he appeared in front of me and kicked me up into the air, knocking the wind out of me in the process. I flew on for about a mile but it all went so fast. He again appeared in front of me and chuckled. "Well it seems you've got a problem. It seems that once you broke that mask of yours you just can't seem to get it back!" He said but I paid no mind to him. I had to bring it back! I was going to defeat and slaughter him! "Wait. You're not going to try again. That's crazy!" He said and I looked at him through one eye since my other was covered in blood. "It seems I was wrong. But you've either taken too much damage or you've spent all of your spiritual pressure. Maybe you have a limit as to how many time you can use it? It doesn't matter what the reason is now, because the mask isn't here now, is it?" He mocked as he appeared in front of me and stabbed my wrist with his zanpakuto and sealed it so I wouldn't be able to move.
Grimmjow leaned down and bit the side of my neck before he whispered into my ear something that cause my resolve to waver. To melt away like it was only a piece of ice that was meant to burned by the dominance the bigger male had in his voice. 'You're mine. Your body belongs to me. Your mind belongs to me. Your soul belongs to me. Ichigo give into me. You already bare my mark.' Were the words he whispered to me. He poked the back on my neck where he had bit me the last time we saw each other and I moaned under the contact. "I'm gonna kill that little black hair soul reaper girl who was with you the last time and you're going to watch." He said and I-unable to deny him- agreed. I shook with fear as he formed a cero that I know was not meant for me, but for me to watch as Grimmjow was about to blow Rukia to pieces. And if I'm being completely honest with you. The reason why I was shaken was not because Rukia was about to be blasted with his cero, but moreover that fact I didn't care that she was about to be blow to pieces by said cero. Just as he was about to turn and fire it Rukia froze his hand and I just watched still stunned but the event. Grimmjow looked more surprised at that fact his cero was turned to ice than her being here.
"Tsugi no Mai... Hakuren!" Rukia called out and he was frozen over by a descent barrier of ice. However right after she did that I don't know why, but I had lost it. I felt more like my hollow yet I know I was still in control. I didn't realize it until after it happened but I had screamed more hollow like than I wanted to and I spiked my spirit energy as well. I couldn't understand why my sanity had just snapped like it were a twig getting stepped on. I hadn't gotten Grimmjow's Zanpakuto out of my hand as he had sealed it into my and hand and I just stayed seated where I was.
Rukia came over to me and tried to tug his zanpakuto out of my hands which failed. I screamed and snarled at her but she didn't seem to notice and I was tempted to lunge at her. And after a few minutes I couldn't take it and moved around to kick her into her ice wall.
"Grimmjow!" I screamed. When I heard it I thought it was my hollow that had formed over but I couldn't feel my mask and knew it had to be me, even if there was a hollow echo to it. Rukia just watched me as I looked at her like she just been betray me. She was now sitting back against her wall of ice were Grimmjow still waited silently for me to kill her. If I could have formed a cero at will then it would have there and Rukia would have been no more, but I couldn't and Grimmjow seemed to have noticed this since I could feel him look at me. He broke the ice surround himself and grabbed her head. He started to form a cero and smirked. "Do you honestly think that you can kill me by covering me in a thin sheet of ice?" He asked and Rukia just looked shocked. Grimmjow just continued to laugh as the cero continued to form. "You're an idiot!" He yelled and then right before he could fire it a large bout of energy flashed before us. My eyes widened in shock as I saw Shinji. Grimmjow just looked angered by it all and glared at him. "It's Shinji..." I whispered in shock. Grimmjow spared a glance at me and then looked at him again.
"I really do detest butting into soul reapers fights, but it seems like Ichigo's in need of my assistance. Plus I can't really ignore you either." He said and a low growl appeared in my throat. I didn't want him to help I wanted him to leave.
"Who are you? Are you a friend of theirs?" Grimmjow asks and I could feel the back of my neck sting. I hung my head low and it was then Rukia looked shocked. She nearly touched the new mark on my neck, but I growled and she backed away.
"Does it matter?" Shinji asked unamused by the situation. After that Grimmjow just smirked and grabbed the blade out of my wrist and charged at him.
"I guess not, because I'm gonna rip you to shreds!" He yelled as he started to fight with Shinji. I stood up but didn't leave, I simply just watched the fight that was going on between the him and Shinji. Rukia pulled on my sleeve and I just grunted not wanting her to even be close to me. Yet I could understand why she didn't want to leave me either. So I bared with it and just stood there. She pulled on my sleeve again in a gesture to make me come with her but I just grunted again hoping she would get the point that I wanted to stay to see who would win. She seemed to have noticed this and stood alongside me while I watched. I laughed internally as I watched the fight go on between Shinji and Grimmjow. I already know who would win without even having to guess. The thing was, the fight never got far enough for me to prove it.
I could see from the corner of my eye that a tear in the sky had appeared and out stepped that same Arrancar that was with that big guy from last time, Yammy. He appeared in front of Grimmjow as he was about release his zanpakuto. Grimmjow seemed surprised but the other didn't. "Ul...quiorra.." He said and then backed down."Our mission is complete. We're leaving now." He said and I looked over at Grimmjow confused. What did he mean by mission. I didn't get to asked because the went through the tear in the sky first. I thought I could still see -even if it was faint- the smirk and gleam in his eyes as if he knew he was going to see me again. When they were gone I couldn't understand what had just happened. Without my realization, I started panting and after a few minutes passed out. The only thing on my mind was the fact I knew something horrible was about to happen.