Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, or any of its characters. I do, however, own this story.

Torn

Chapter 7: Resolve

"Welcome back, Grimmjow," Aizen said smoothly, his chin resting on his knuckles almost lazily as he sat up in his throne. "I see you've brought a guest," he continued, his eyes drifting over to the Hollow currently holding Ichigo's limp form in its arms. "To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure, Neliel Tu Oderschvank?"

"You owe me nothing, nor I anything to you," the Vasto Lorde replied evenly, stepping forward with a soft click as its hooves moved over the cool marble floor. "This boy saved my life, and I merely intend to return the favor. If you wish me to become one of your so-called Espada, Soul Reaper," Neliel finished, yellow eyes narrowing,

"I require your word."

Aizen's eyes widened at the brazen display of audacity, but it was more out of amusement than shock or anger.

"Oh, really?" he parried. "What word would you have me give?"

"The promise that you will allow Dondochakka and Pesche to become Arrancar as well and serve under me," the Vasto Lorde answered. "And, if I am to fall in battle, I desire the guarantee that they will be provided for; not thrown away like so many others you have disposed of one their usefulness has run its course."

The corner of Sosuke's mouth twitched up into the barest of smirks.

"Very well," he assented. "That price is a light one to pay for such a valuable commodity as yourself. Come," the Soul Reaper said, flash-stepping down from his throne, "let us see your true face. Grimmjow," Aizen added, looking over his shoulder as he walked away, "get Ichigo to the infirmary, now; I won't have one of my most prized soldiers dying on account of such a foolish act of self-sacrifice."

Jaegerjaques nodded and accepted the still-unconscious body of his comrade from Neliel, disappearing with a buzz. As the Vasto Lorde followed calmly in the wake of the man soon to become its master, a single thought was running through the Hollow's mind.

I am not swearing loyalty to you, Sosuke Aizen, but to the one who saved my life. If the day comes when he needs my aid, I will help him: even if it means crossing you.

Gin Ichimaru stood across from the deceptively durable Adjuchas who called himself Nnoitra Jiruga, a rare frown on his face as a thin trickle of blood ran down his cheek from a cut that had opened up right along his cheekbone.

"Whatsa matter, Soul Reaper?" Nnoitra crowed. "did I hurt your delicate little feelings when I slashed your face up?"

The former Captain's frown quickly flowed back into a wide smile, the oddly menacing gesture sending a shiver down Jiruga's spine.

"Not at all, Jiruga-kun," Ichimaru replied, his tongue leaving its resting place briefly to catch a drop of blood on its tip. "I was just feeling bad about lettin' ya get your hopes up before I crush you. Although I will give ya some credit," the Soul Reaper finished, his voice turning deadly serious,

"It's been a long, long time since I last tasted my own blood."

Nnoitra barely had enough time to raise his arms in defense before Gin was upon him, Shinso moving so furiously that it seemed as though Ichimaru was fighting with twenty blades instead of one. Dodging frantically as he skittered back on his heels, Jiruga cursed bitterly as three of his six arms were cut off without Gin even calling out his shikai.

"Whatsa matter, Hollow-kun?" Ichimaru taunted, his red eyes flashing as he shoved Nnoitra's insult back in his face. "If you're dodging me, that means I might be able ta kill you if I put enough holes inta this body a your's. And that would make you a liar, now wouldn't it, Hollow-kun?"

"Damn you," the Adjuchas hissed. "Like I said, your puny wakizashi can't kill me!"

Gin laughed, severing Jiruga's other three arms before stabbing Shinso through his chest once again and putting his free hand at Nnoitra's throat, barely holding a full-power soukatsui in check.

"I gotta say, I thought someone like you would'a been better at choosing their words, Nnoitra-kun," Ichimaru said slyly. "It ain't that my zanpakuto here can't kill ya, it's simply that it won't, because I'm not here to do that. I'm here ta show you just how weak you are, and how much power you stand ta gain by joining us. So what's it gonna be, Jiruga-kun?"

Spitting blood down on the ground at the Soul Reaper's feet, Nnoitra narrowed his yellow eyes and replied.

"I'm in," he growled, adding in his head, and one day I'm gonna rip your heart out, you bastard.

Tosen and Gin arrived in time to see Neliel's transformation into the newest Espada, alongside Aizen, Dordonii, Thunderwitch, Mosqueda and Grimmjow, who had left Ichigo in the care of Las Noches' medical staff before arriving. Nnoitra waited in the shadows for his turn with the Hougyoku, murder still shining in his eyes as he nursed his wounded ego.

Aizen dropped the orb into its small glass housing cube and began to pour power into it, while Neliel's restrained form waited indifferently. There was a blinding flash of light as the Hougyoku was brought to full power for an instant, and in the aftermath the binding keeping Neliel immobile fell away to reveal her human, decidedly female form. Mist still wrapped most of her lower half in a shroud, but the fact remained that the transformation had left Neliel's upper half decidedly exposed. Only a few strategically placed waves of light green hair covered her bosom, and not much else above the waist was left to the imagination. Needless to say, chaos soon erupted amongst the men in the room.

Grimmjow's eyes all but popped out of his head as his jaw hit the floor, Mosqueda's nose bypassed bleeding and when right into full-on hemorrhage mode, Dordonii began rhapsodizing the "celestial senorita" and even Gin, who was normally unfazed by this sort of thing, had a substantial blush dusting his cheeks. Aizen and Tosen were the only males that seemed wholly unmoved; Tosen because he couldn't see the beauty before him and Aizen because his mind was full of, well, whatever twisted plot he was thinking up at the time. Neliel took a moment to get used to her new form before turning around and beginning to walk out of the room towards the clothing closets, using her exit as an opportunity to tease the blue-eyed, stunned Espada. Walking to right beside him, Neliel put her mouth right near Grimmjow's ear and spoke.

"You should close your mouth, cowboy," she whispered sultrily. "Something might fly in."

Jaegerjaques' pupils dilated as he fell over, drawing an amused chuckle from the female Arrancar as she strode from the room and left a trail of thunderstruck men in her wake.

Kaien Shiba was standing on a knoll, basking in the sunrise and looking meditatively at his own memorial gravestone, when he felt a familiar presence walk up behind him.

"What brings you here so early, Kuchiki?" the Lieutenant asked as casually as he could. "Usually you don't get up until at least a few hours from now, if I remember right."

"I can make exceptions, Kaien-dono," Rukia said, her voice tightly controlled. "I needed to ask a favor of you, and I wanted to catch you before the day got too busy."

"Shoot," Shiba said nonchalantly, even as his green eyes narrowed ever so slightly in suspicion: he knew this girl's moods like the back of his hand, and something wasn't right.

"I need you to train me," Kuchiki insisted, and Kaien realized what was going on in his protégé's head the moment a heartsick tone seeped through into her plea. Sighing, he turned his gaze back towards the sunrise.

"This is about that Kurosaki kid, isn't it?" he asked. "Ichigo. Am I right?"

Rukia tried to deny it, but the baffled look on her face combined with the searching gaze Kaien-dono was giving her soundly defeated that plan. Gritting her teeth, the violet-eyed Soul Reaper gave a scathing reply.

"He's irrelevant," she half-hissed, and was about to continue when she felt Kaien-dono's hand gently grip her shoulder in a way that was a thousand times more arresting than a command from her brother.

"Kuchiki, look at me," Shiba said, all of the normal warmth frozen from his voice. At first Rukia tried to look away petulantly, but found her eyes drawn inexorably back to the stoic face of her mentor.

"I know exactly what you're feeling right now, Rukia," he continued, softer this time, and the younger Soul Reaper's eyes widened in shock: that was the first time he had ever called her by her first name.

"When I saw Miyako the first time after she had been possessed by that Hollow," Kaien spoke, his voice more vulnerable than Rukia had ever heard it before, "I felt like my heart was being torn out of my chest. I knew that I was going to have to be the one to free her from that torment, and I also knew that I would have to harden my heart to be able to perform that fatal sword-blow without breaking down. It was excruciating, Rukia; being trapped in a Hollow's body for years doesn't even begin to compare to that agony."

"Kaien-dono…" Kuchiki couldn't keep from uttering softly, but the Lieutenant was having none of his subordinate's pity and pressed on.

"But you have something I never had, Rukia: hope. Ichigo isn't lost forever, and I could see the pain in his eyes when he left me his message for you."

"What did he say?" Rukia asked, her voice rising suddenly. Kaien would have smiled at the change in the girl's demeanor, but that gesture had no place here.

"He said that he was sorry," Shiba related, almost wincing at the way Rukia seemed to deflate in front of his eyes, "but I'd be willing to bet the entire fortune of your clan that he was about to say 'Tell her that I love her.'"

Kuchiki's eyes flashed brighter than amethysts for a few heartbeats, and her mouth showed all the signs of almost breaking out into a preposterous grin before she reined herself back in.

"I'll train you, Kuchiki," Kaien resumed, the vulnerability in his voice gone as suddenly as it had come, "but you have to promise me that your resolve will not harden your heart beyond the point of forgiving him. Whatever he did, I'm convinced he did it out of concern for you; sever your ties with him now, and he has nothing left."

The green-eyed Lieutenant was almost knocked over by the force of Rukia's sudden hug, and felt the front of his uniform becoming slightly damp from the tears that the Kuchiki princess was shedding.

"Thank you, Kaien-dono," he heard, and this time Shiba did smile at the cutely-muffled voice.

"Don't mention it, Kuchiki. I'm on your side, remember? 'Until death and beyond', like I always said: that's what the Thirteenth Division is all about."

Rukia broke out of the embrace and blinked, the tears in her eyes vanishing instantly. They were replaced by an inner-glow, a light that spoke of the resolve to come to the aid of someone you cared about more than yourself.

The resolve to save a loved one from pain.

Smirking, Kaien drew his zanpakuto.

"Shall we get started, Kuchiki?"

The violet-eyed Soul Reaper smirked in kind, drawing her own sword.

"If you think you can handle it, Kaien-dono."

Shiba's laugh rang louder than their blades as the comrades sparred, their wounded hearts mending slightly with each clash of steel.

Neliel had changed into a white Espada uniform, and was now standing hesitantly at the threshold of the door to Ichigo's convalescing room. She didn't know how she would react upon seeing Ichigo wounded as badly as he probably was; the Espada could already feel some human emotions reemerging following her transformation into an Arrancar, and the last thing Nel wanted was to give that sexist, one-eyed lecher Nnoitra any more ammunition. It had been all of one hour since his induction into the Espada, and he had already slung at least twenty catcalls her way. And although Gin had been there to diffuse the tension before anything got serious, Jiruga still gave her the creeps, big time.

But Nel was an Espada now; she had to lead by example, and what kind of example would she be setting by refusing to confront her fear? Swallowing hard, Neliel stepped into the room and part of her newborn heart broke at the sight that awaited her.

Ichigo's body was covered in burns, scars and bruises, and he had a cloth patch over one of his eyes. The green-haired woman raised a hand to her slightly-open mouth and began to walk solicitously over to the orange-haired Soul Reaper's side, only to be cut off by a voice that sounded much more strained than it normally did.

"He'll be all right."

Neliel's gaze shifted over to the corner of the room, where Grimmjow sat hunched over in a chair. Judging by bags forming under his eyes, the Espada had been there for a while.

"He has to be," Jaegerjaques continued, getting up and tacitly offering his seat to Nel. "If he doesn't get better, I'm going to find his soul in the Human World and kill him myself. I need a sparring partner, you asshole," he finished, speaking to Ichigo now, before vanishing with a buzz.

Neliel thought she heard a soft, broken chuckle from the bedridden boy, but that might have just been hope playing a trick on her. Picking up the chair from the corner of the room, she moved it over to the head of Ichigo's bedside and sat down, prepared to stay there as long as she had to so that she could thank him for what he'd done when he woke up. Letting her newfound emotional instinct guide her, the Arrancar slipped her hand under Ichigo's and held it gently, trying to will him back to health.

"I'll never let you look this way again, Ichigo," she said softly. "I promise."

The hand in her grip tensed ever-so-slightly around her own, and Neliel smiled.

A/N: In case any of you were wondering, no, this story is not going to have a Grimm/Nel pairing in it, nor an Ichigo/Nel pairing. Neliel and Ichigo's relationship is still going to be deep, but also very platonic, in a mother/son kind of way.

And yes, Grimmjow will be paired with someone in this story, but not Neliel. If you really, really want to know ahead of time who it's going to be, read the AU story "The Lady Is A Tramp" by the incredibly talented Philyra, which also has this pairing in it. It's part of her amazingly fun-to-read "Strictly Ballroom" series and contains, hands-down, the best depiction of any Grimmjow pairing I have ever read. It's awesome, has the perfect balance of romance, drama, and humor, and also contains romantically-charged dancing for good measure. Seriously though, read it. I can't praise it enough (end surprise bump, because I've all but run out of superlatives).

Oh, and as always, please review!