The early evening was fresh, the air motionless and the young autumn slowly painted the leaves, giving the park a colourful blanket of yellow, red and brown. Leisurely the sun made its way over the horizon, colouring the sky in a pictorial touch. And soon it would disappear as the ball of fire would vanish behind the skyline of Karakura.
Over the hours the park had emptied. The only inhabitants were some lonely hobos who were searching for proper night quarters. One had made himself at home on a bench located between a few trees, his golden retriever sniffing around. Lazily he sat down and spread a newspaper over the wooden rods. Then he turned to his card digging inside before he pulled out a tattered, torn jacket. He laid down, covering himself with it, to have just a little protection against the rather cool nights these days. His dog, always present, jumped onto the bench, laid down at his food end and offered additional heat. The old man was fast asleep, as his slow, steady snoring filled the air. Drifted away like that he didn't notice the presence behind him in the tree.
Exhausted icy blue eyes observed from their heightened position every single movement the poor homeless guy did, until they couldn't keep open itself any longer. He was trained to always look out for any danger. In Hueco Mundo every time an attack could happen. But now the only danger here was to get seen by a lowly human. So with that calming his mind Grimmjow looked a last time emotionless to the still busy streets next to, till he let his body finally relax as sleep overcame him.
The Arrancar was so weak he didn't even notice the many high spirit pressures being on patrol guard in town. And luckily they didn't notice his low one either. Time was hard for the Soul society. Since the incident with Aizen much more Hollows broke into the real world. And with the month passing, they seemed to become wilder and more aggressive, devouring human souls with great hunger. So was it, that Head captain Yamamoto had to send new backups every two days, replacing the previous shift. The old man was stressed and looked very pale since the events of the last month were gnawing on his nerves. But he didn't take a rest. In contrary – he kept holding meetings with each team that came back. Today was no exception. He took the detailed report the captain of team twelve wrote about their operation and flew once again over it, before he looked up to captain Kurotsuchi sitting in front of him on the other side of the Hibachi table. The old man laid the paper to his left and took a deep breath, eyes still on the sheets. Then he turned to his subordinate.
"It gets worse and worse every day. I wonder how long we can hold our defending wall against them.", Yamamoto brought out calmly, his voice low and raspy.
"It's true. They are coming in hordes, they are aggressive and do everything to get their hands on human souls.", captain Kurotsuchi noted. "But I made a very important discovery the other day." Now he bend slightly forward, his characteristical smirk widening. That got Yamamotos very attention. Curious he waited for his subordinate to continue.
"Although they are more frustrated and fight with all they have," he began quietly, " they're getting weaker." Yamamoto eyes widened a little. "The last Adjuchas I saw was last month. Since then neither Arrancars nor Adjuchas broke into the real world. The highest beings who are passing the barrier are Gillians and even they seem to become seldom." He raised his index finger "The problem here is they are coming into the other dimension because food is scarce in Hueco Mundo. They are so desperate for it even the weakest hollows trying to get trough our barrier to not to regress. And exactly here lies our problem."
After Kurotsuchi finished the old man looked thoughtfully down onto the table. He had no solution for this. His area of responsibility only restricted on the Soul Society and the human world. Problems regarding Hueco Mundo laid not in his hands. – So, what to do?
After a long moment of silence Yamamoto finally cut the quietness
"Our duty is to protect the human world from danger and to guide the souls into our dimension." He took a raspy breath.
"… So that should be our destiny."
Sleepy, steel blue eyes opened itself to the bright sunlight shining through the thick crown treetop. Here and there some birds where chirping their morning songs and the streets seemed to become busier by the minute. But Grimmjow didn't notice all that. His whole body was still in a bad shape. The lack of food took its toll on him. The only motor making him move was hunger. Great hunger! And so he slit of the branch and rather crashed than landed with his shaky legs on the dry earth. There he stood for a few moments, taking in his surroundings, which he could now see more clearly than the night before. And just in that moment and for a ting of a second he lost his hungry feeling, as his eyes marvelled the wonderful play of light and colours this world consisted of.
His hungry eyes roamed a little more, till he saw the hobo next to him on the bench still sleeping. He took in his whole appearance. The rags he had on, the card with all his dingy belongings in it and the face scarred by life, but showing of a peaceful expression. The man was rather old – maybe in his 60's, was black and had short, curly hair. Grimmjows stare was intensive and cold and not just because the old guy reminded him of Tousen, his former commanding officer. He was one of the people whose face showed of always all inmost feelings. And now someone could read just how much the hollow wished to end this miserable existence just for the sake of it. His stare felt to the food end, where the dog laid. Surprisingly the Arrancar met dark brown, affectionate eyes. The dog looked right back to him and for a few seconds, there was an awkward silence between them, until Grimmjow turned away. He had to focus back on more important things. So he broke eye contact and a last time he took in his surroundings before he shuffled aimlessly away. Back on the bench the retriever watched the Arrancar disappear and turned to sleep again.
Over the hours Grimmjows shaking got worse. His whole body was preparing for the upcoming regression in this last state of transformation. The Arrancars mind was consumed by just one drive:
Eating!
And with no space anymore for rational thoughts or complex considerations the animal inside him took control. His strides got faster, and faster, till he was running and jumping over the roofs of Karakura town like a blood thirsty zombie. Wheezing he searched around, sniffed the air and listened to the wind, like a beast on hunt. Using all his senses he found fast what he'd been looking for: the spirit of another Hollow a few blocks away. Almost flying he immediately attacked it by crashing right into the being who was as much haggard as himself. Blown away the Hollow recovered quickly and changed into attack. Its huge, man-sized paws hammering down on Grimmjow, who had trouble to dodge. Nothing was left of his earlier strength and speed, though the animal inside him consumed every bit of reserves he had. As time passed and nothing got better during the fight, he became more desperate and changed into in-fight – a big mistake! Without thinking he drew Panthera and was about to make his overhasty move – hadn't there been these large hands reaching for him. A blast to the side made his precious sword flying to the left and him crashing to the ground – unconscious.