In Training

"Come on Ichigo, we have to go now," Gin urged Ichigo. Ichigo nodded and released Starrk. "Grab anything you want to take with you, I doubt we'll be coming back any time soon," Gin told him.

Ichigo tossed a photo album into his back pack. He hesitated as he looked over his clothing.

"Anything that can be provided for you will be," Gin told him. "Bring only what is irreplaceable."

Ichigo sighed and grabbed the stupid stuffed lion that his sister Yuzu had bought for him and made him take when he had moved out. He didn't really want to cart it around, but he knew it always reminded him of home when he looked at it. At least, it reminded him of the good parts of home.

"I guess that's it," Ichigo said. Pretty sad really, he thought to himself.

"Light packer," Gin noted.

Ichigo realized he had been petting Starrk and wondered if that offended him or not.

"Starrk can't talk when he's in that form, and if he changed back now he'd be…er…well naked," Gin mentioned to Ichigo, when he saw his gaze.

"Oh," Ichigo said. Starrk nuzzled Ichigo's hand and Ichigo smiled.

"Let's get going."

Ichigo followed Gin out the door, followed by Starrk.

"How…irritating," Aizen said simply when they got back.

"Do you suppose we have a spy amongst us?" Gin wondered.

"Could be," Aizen replied as if it wasn't that important.

Gin shrugged.

"Are you alright?" Aizen asked Ichigo.

"I'm fine…but I did feel kind of helpless. What am I supposed to do when people have swords and weird magic helping them out?" Ichigo answered.

"Ulquiorra," Aizen said.

Ichigo hadn't even noticed the other vampire's presence.

"Yes, my lord?" Ulquiorra responded.

"Please train Ichigo. I will as well of course, but why don't you show him some of the basics first," Aizen instructed him, leaving the room with Gin trailing close behind him.

Ichigo was left alone with Ulquiorra.

"Um, hi," he said, putting out his hand.

"Refer to me as sensei," Ulquiorra replied.

"What?" Ichigo laughed. He felt himself being folded over, finding himself bent almost facing the floor. "What the fuck…" Ichigo grunted.

"There will be no cussing," Ulquiorra ordered. "No outbursts of anger. And you will refer to me as sensei."

Ichigo struggled against Ulquiorra hold briefly. "Damn it…" he breathed. He felt himself being pushed even farther. He groaned.

"I said no cursing," Ulquiorra reiterated.

"Fine…sensei…" Ichigo reluctantly agreed.

"I will show you how to defend yourself as a vampire," Ulquiorra said. "Have you any training in combat?"

"Yeah, I'm a black belt in Karate," Ichigo said.

"And?" Ulquiorra replied.

"And what? I've been beat up a lot and so I have some street fighting experience, but that's about it," Ichigo said.

"Hm," Ulquiorra said while eyeballing him. He threw a fast kick, hitting Ichigo in the side of head.

"What the fuck!" Ichigo moaned from the ground. He received another kick.

"Language!" Ulquiorra repeated. "You move as slowly as a human and you obviously have a learning disability of some sort."

"A WHAT?" Ichigo jumped up.

"This will take a lot of work," Ulquiorra intoned.

Ichigo looked into those unperturbed green eyes and began to get worried about what his training would entail.

"I can't remember the last time I saw you so upset," Grimmjow said to Ulquiorra.

"Why are you here?" Ulquiorra asked evenly.

Ichigo leaned against the wall, catching his breath.

"I'm jealous," Grimmjow replied with a grin, although he seemed serious. "It used to be only I could annoy you."

"Hm," Ulquiorra said, not even looking up at Grimmjow, instead looking out the nearby window.

"I remember when you used to feel something. When I could make you feel something," Grimmjow continued.

Ulquiorra still didn't reply.

"Damn it, Ulquiorra! I'm talking to you!" Grimmjow yelled at him.

"Ichigo, I expect you to be here tomorrow after breakfast," Ulquiorra addressed the boy leaning against the wall.

"Uh, sure," Ichigo said, looking over at the steaming Grimmjow.

"Ulquiorra, aren't you at least going to…" Grimmjow started, but Ulquiorra walked out of the room.

"DAMN IT!" Grimmjow yelled at Ulquiorra's retreating back. He turned to Ichigo. "Bite me," he said.

"W-what?" Ichigo stuttered. Grimmjow was near him suddenly, his arms on either side of his head to prevent him from moving.

"I said, bite me."

"I'm not going to…"

"You're supposed to get stronger. So, drink," Grimmjow said, his voice holding more of a threat than an offer.

Ichigo was going to argue but something seemed off about the other vampire. It's not that he knew Grimmjow well, or at all, but he didn't want to push him any farther.

Ichigo's fangs began to elongate and he leaned forward.

"Just bite," Grimmjow said. He wanted the pain.

Ichigo felt it was better to not argue and bit Grimmjow deeply. Grimmjow threw his head back in a howl. Ichigo's venom began to work and Grimmjow felt himself come alive. He growled and pressed Ichigo against the wall, his body flush against the younger vampire's. Ichigo began to pull away.

"Don't you stop until I'm weak at the knees," Grimmjow ordered him.

Ichigo complied until Grimmjow could feel himself begin to get light headed. Finally, Grimmjow pushed himself away from Ichigo, leaving the boy panting.

"Damn you, Aizen's pet," Grimmjow growled. Even he knew that he needed to keep his hands off of Ichigo, but he could feel the lust swirling through his body, begging for release. "I need the wolf. He owes me," he stated, stumbling down the hall.

Ichigo watched him. The wolf? Why was Grimmjow going to Starrk?

Ichigo wandered the hall for a while, before deciding to go and find Starrk. He was directed to Starrk's quarters and knocked on the door.

"Ichigo," Starrk was startled when he saw him. He opened the door wider to allow Ichigo in.

Grimmjow was collapsed on a couch near a roaring fire, asleep and bundled in a large blanket.

"Um," Ichigo said looking at the sleeping figure. "I'm not interrupting something, am I?" he asked.

"No."

"Are you and Grimmjow…?" Ichigo asked.

Starrk laughed. "If you're asking if we're together, the answer is no."

"What is up with him and Ulquiorra?" Ichigo asked.

"Ulquiorra was the one who turned him," Stark explained. "He was always an incubus, he only became a vampire because Ulquiorra was one."

"They were together then?"

"They were in love," Stark said. "Grimmjow actually lived as a woman for a long time so that they could live without reproach from others."

"He what? How is that possible?"

"He's an incubus. Technically they don't have a gender. They can be either sex depending on who it is they're trying to seduce. When he and Ulquiorra lived outside with the humans he lived as a woman and they lived as a married couple."

"That's…odd," Ichigo couldn't imagine Grimmjow as female. "So what happened?"

Starrk shrugged.

"You couldn't detect me again," Ulquiorra said, his hands across Ichigo's throat.

"You're too fast," Ichigo complained. Ulquiorra released him.

"And you're not even trying to smell me."

"Smell you?" Ichigo hadn't really thought about that. He could tell Ulquiorra was around by the smell of his blood, but not enough to actually know where he was.

"Enough for today," Ulquiorra told him.

They'd been training for about two weeks now. Since Ichigo couldn't go back to school he had lots of time on his hands. At first he was pretty upset to be missing this semester, but Aizen assured him that they could register him at another school in the future and that he could finish his college then if he wished. Aizen also pointed out that there was no reason to finish school, unless he really wanted to. Ichigo had worked so hard to save up to go that not going seemed like a failure to him. Ulquiorra straight out told him that he could no longer live among humans without being danger to himself and that he should give up any of his previous plans. Ichigo didn't really want to consider that he had to give up on everything. He'd always known that he was different and that he'd have to live carefully, but to not be able to live even a semblance of a normal life wasn't something he wanted to do.

"Oh come on," Ichigo said, slinging an arm over Ulquiorra's shoulder. "I'm not tired yet."

"We're done for the day," Ulquiorra insisted.

"Ah, are you really that irritated with me…sensei?"

"I don't get irritated."

"You're definitely something," Ichigo said with a laugh. For some reason he liked the stoic vampire. He was a harsh teacher but Ichigo really had been learning a lot.

Grimmjow entered the room, like he did almost every day. He froze a little seeing Ichigo's arm around Ulquiorra.

"Hey, Ulquiorra, getting a little chummy with your student, aren't you?" Grimmjow asked with a sneer.

Ulquiorra calmly lifted Ichigo's arm off him. "No, he is merely trying to be annoying."

"Ah, good Ichigo, come over to the dark side," Grimmjow joked.

"He's better at it than you are," Ulquiorra told him.

"I refuse to believe that," Grimmjow's eye narrowed. "In fact…"

Ichigo decided to leave.

"Starrk, you dream things, right?" Ichigo asked. "You can dream the future?"

"Sometimes," Starrk agreed. Ichigo was still sweating slightly from his training, giving him a slight glow. Starrk tried to focus on what Ichigo was saying, trying to ignore he very strong instincts to pounce on the boy and lick him clean.

"Can you dream the past too?"

"What?" It wasn't something that people normally asked.

"Can you?"

"Yes, sometimes I can dream the past as well," Starrk admitted.

"I need you to figure out a way for me to get Grimmjow and Ulquiorra back together."

"Why would you want to do that?"

"It's just something I think I should do," Ichigo shrugged. "They're both obviously hurting."

"They've been apart for longer than you've been born, much longer. What makes you think that they should be back together? It's isn't easy being together with an incubus, and for someone like Grimmjow, being with someone as dispassionate as Ulquiorra is would be infuriating."

"There's definitely still something between them," Ichigo insisted.

"I'll try. But if I do, you'll owe me," Starrk said. "It's hard to do directed dreaming this way."

"I'll owe you what?"

Starrk smiled to himself. "I'll let you know if we get them together."

There was small courtyard with a large fountain in it, a cobblestone walkway going around it and leading to a massive pair of doors. A woman with long blue hair was at a stone archway looking out onto the road. The sky went gray and it began to rain. The woman sighed and turned, then froze when there was a splash. She rushed over to the fountain, paused, and then climbed in, wet up to her waist. She picked up something in the center of the fountain and trudged back to the side.

"What happened, Grimmjow?" Ulquiorra said, coming out the front doors quickly.

Grimmjow held out a small wet thing, pure black with yellow eyes. "Meow!" the kitten howled, cold and terrified.

"What is that?"

"Oh come on, it's obviously a kitten," Grimmjow answered. She held the kitten to her chest, looking down at the kitten's big eyes, laughing slightly at how miserable its cries were. "We need to get him inside by the fire," she said.

"We're not keeping a cat."

"We are. I've already named him," Grimmjow laughed.

Ulquiorra's face softened for a second. "Fine, at least get out of the rain. We're looking for his mother tomorrow."

"He doesn't have a mother. What mother would let her child run away alone and fall into a fountain? He's abandoned."

Ulquiorra led them both inside with a sigh.

How odd, Stark thought. I wonder what I'm supposed to do with that? He nodded off to sleep again.

"Perfect!" Ichigo exclaimed when Starrk explained the dream to him.

Starrk nodded like he understood.

"Look, it might look like just a little thing, but you wouldn't have dreamt it unless it was important to the both of them, right?" Ichigo asked.

"I suppose," Starrk replied.

"Now I just need to go and find a kitten."

"How in the world do you suppose to do that?" Starrk said, bemused.

"Oh, animals always come to me," Ichigo shrugged.

It was two days later when Ichigo found the kitten in the garden. He was barely old enough to be away from his mother.

"I hope you didn't have to come far," Ichigo told the kitten, nuzzling it. The kitten lazily curled up in his hand and purred.

Starrk was more than a little surprised that somehow a black kitten manifested itself in Aizen's garden. Didn't Ichigo say that he'd always been good with animals? Stark wondered. Lilynette loved him at first sight. Is this what his power is? Is he a master of beasts? Is that why I'd do anything for him? Why I dreamed about him for almost as long as I've been dreaming?

Ichigo proudly took his prize to his training that day.

"Ulquiorra, will you do me a favor?" he asked before they started.

"Probably not," Ulquiorra told him dryly.

"You ought to be a comedian," Ichigo told him with a smile.

Ulquiorra could sense something odd in the boy's emotions. Elation? Why was the boy elated? At first all the boy felt was frustration, then finally some determination. He would get happy if he finally managed to get something right, but Ulquiorra hadn't felt this emotion from Ichigo before.

"You see," Ichigo drew out the kitten from his robe. "I found this cute little guy in the garden, he had fallen into the fountain and I rescued him," Ichigo stretched the truth. "I can't keep a pet since I don't have my own quarters and I doubt Aizen would want one. Can you find him a good home? You know the other vampires better than I do."

Ulquiorra stared at the cat for a while. "One moment," he said. "Do the exercises I showed you yesterday," he told Ichigo, taking the kitten and leaving.

"Ulquiorra?" Grimmjow was clearly surprised to find him at his door. "Out," he told his various fraccion and entourage. They cleared out of the room.

"Mew!"

Grimmjow's eyebrows shot up.

"I have something for you," Ulquiorra said, holding out the kitten.

"Pantera…" Grimmjow breathed, taking the small thing into his hands. He put his finger against the kitten and the kitten clawed at it playfully. "You got him for me?" Grimmjow asked.

"I…" Ulquiorra supposed it wasn't untruthful to say he had. He had taken him from Ichigo with every intention of giving him to Grimmjow. "Yes," he said.

"Thank you," Grimmjow said.

These feelings from Grimmjow, I can barely take them, Ulquiorra thought.

"Just because you have to feel everything doesn't mean you have to close every door," Grimmjow told him.

"What?"

"I know that it's hard on you having to feel what everyone is feeling, but just closing down completely isn't good," Grimmjow told him. "Feel something every once in a while. Sometimes I think even being sad would be good for you."

"I'm…sad now…" Ulquiorra admitted.

"You are?"

They stared at each other for a moment.

"I don't know that we should call him Pantera. We already had one Pantera. Why don't you name this one?" Grimmjow suggested.

"Murciélago," Ulquiorra said at once.

"A panther the first time and a bat the second, you're going down in the world, kitten," Grimmjow grinned.

Ulquiorra frowned. "I like bats."

"I know you do," Grimmjow replied. "Hey, why don't you help me find some stuff for him? If he's going to live with me he's going to need a couple of things."

"Ok, but I left Ichigo training alone. I can't leave him for too long."

"I'm sure it'll be ok."

"Well, it's not a complete thing, but at least they seem to be talking to each other again," Ichigo told Starrk.

"So, you count it as close enough?"

"Yeah. So what do I owe you?" Ichigo asked.

"I want to seduce you," Starrk told him.

"W-what?"

"It's not what you're thinking. I want to show you a vampire seduction. Consider it part of your training," Starrk told him.

"Aizen…"

"I…will won't touch you in the way you're thinking…" Starrk said, wondering if he'd hold himself to that. "It's not sex."

"I…if you're sure that…" Ichigo hesitated.

"It will be fine," Starrk assured him.