Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, or any of its characters. Tite Kubo does.
Torn
Chapter 16: Float Like an Alleycat, Sting Like a Bee
As they traded blows back and forth, Grimmjow noticed that his opponent was favoring one leg over the other and he smirked wickedly.
"I guess that kick of yours took more outta ya than you thought it would, woman," he taunted. "This hierro ain't just for show; you should know better, being a Captain and all."
"You're a talkative little bastard, ain'tcha?" Yoruichi shot back. She nailed the Espada with a hard punch to the gut, only to have him stand perfectly still, smile widely, and spit a stream of blood right at her face. As she recoiled for a brief moment, Jaegerjaques used the Captain's lapse in concentration to his advantage and delivered a harsh uppercut to her abdomen. Yoruichi was thrown backwards, and Grimmjow's blue eyes gleamed.
"That's how you do it," he said. "I woulda gone for a proper uppercut, but it would have been a crime to scar a face as nice as yours."
"Flattery will get you nowhere, kid," Shihoin replied as she regained her footing. That last punch had hit her like a right hook from Tessai, but there was something about it that bothered the Captain, something about his style that she couldn't quite place. Yoruichi twisted her body to the side just in time to avoid a quick jab, and just watching the Espada gave her that nagging feeling again.
Well, there was only one way to find out what it was, and that was to keep this cocky little brat fighting. So, for now, she would keep her ace in its hole. The slugfest wore on, but the golden-eyed Shihoin noticed that with each blow she landed, the blue-haired warrior's smile only got wider.
"What's so funny?" Yoruichi half-growled as she trapped Grimmjow in a chokehold, only to have him twist out of it like an eel and sling her over his shoulders. As she skidded along the ground before easing into a backflip to kill the rest of her momentum, the dark-skinned Captain finally realized what had been nagging at her about the Espada's fighting style.
He fought like Soi Fon. His style was more animalistic and more instinctive than hers, but the core mechanics were the same. If she were to have stripped away those years and years of disciplined training from her old protégé, Yoruichi could swear she would fight just like this scrappy Espada. It was too big of a coincidence to leave unanswered, and the golden-eyed Shihoin had always hated loose ends. But if she was going to interrogate this ingrate, she needed to do it somewhere away from prying eyes. And before she committed to anything that serious, she had to be sure.
"You fight like someone I know," she said, as a respite came following the most recent exchange of blows. Grimmjow got that smile on his face again, wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Who, the one who should be wearing that haori right now?" he quipped. "Makes sense, seeing as how I was the one who taught Shaolin to throw a punch in the first place."
Okay, that was just bizarre. Something was going on here, and Yoruichi felt a burning need to know what it was. Scowling, she cursed the fact that Kisuke seemed to be rubbing off on her more than she would have liked to admit. Brushing the images of that self-satisfied smile and ridiculous striped hat out of her mind, Yoruichi focused and tapped into the hidden well of power that she kept locked away in the corner of her soul for special occasions like this one.
Grimmjow's smug smile faded as he felt the Captain's reiatsu spike massively in an instant, white energy coalescing all around her like some kind of barely-controlled lightning storm. Yoruichi vanished from sight in a heartbeat, only to reappear right in front of the now wide-eyed Espada and slam a haymaker of a hook into his jaw. As Jaegerjaques flew through the air and his eyes fluttered shut, he had time to be grateful for one thing.
I'm glad Ichigo wasn't here to see that, he thought to himself as the world went hazy. Little fucker would never let me hear the end of it.
The blue-eyed warrior slipped into oblivion's loving embrace a heartbeat before he hit the ground with a thud. Yoruichi eased up on the shunko and looked down at the unconscious Arrancar, her eyes widening in surprise when she saw his eyelids twitching lightly, but staying closed.
He was dreaming. About what, the Captain didn't know, but she would be sure to ask him when he woke up.
"C'mon, Espada," Yoruichi said with a grunt as she hoisted the Espada up over her shoulder in a fireman's carry, "let's you and me have a little heart-to-heart."
The Goddess of Flash disappeared in a burst of reiatsu, taking her captive with her.
"Grimmjow! Grimmjow, are you okay?"
The blue-eyed boy opened his eyes and groaned, his vision slowly ceasing to swim and revealing a pair of dark eyes looking down at him concernedly, framed by equally dark, short hair.
"I'm fine," he forced out, rubbing the bruise on his jaw where Shaolin's fist had connected with surprising strength and speed. "Damn, Shaolin," the boy said with an undercurrent of admiration, "your hook's getting meaner by the day. Why exactly did you want me to train you, again? You're a natural at this."
The dark-eyed girl sighed, helping her sparring partner and teacher to his feet.
"Because ever since that little stunt you pulled a while back, that thug and his boys have been sizing me up like a piece of meat. It creeps me out, and if those bastards make a move I wanna be ready for it."
"The stunt I pulled?" Grimmjow spat back, indignant. "You were the one who kicked that bastard in the junk. Four times, I might add. What did you think was going to happen?"
Fon's dark eyes narrowed and Jaegerjaques felt his pulse beginning to speed up, but he held his ground even as the fierce girl in front of him tightened her grip on his hand and moved closer to him.
"I didn't need your help," she growled. "I was handling the situation just fine."
This time it was Grimmjow who moved closer, his eyes blazing.
"You were handling it?" he repeated, incredulous. "They had you up against the wall and were pounding you to a pulp! If I hadn't come along, they would've… they would've…"
The blue-haired boy's voice stuck in his throat as Shaolin moved even closer, so close that he could see his reflection in her onyx orbs. His heart started to beat uncharacteristically fast, and he wasn't naïve enough to think that it was just from the workout.
"They would have what?" she half-hissed, her voice coiling itself around his lungs and squeezing every drop of breath from them. She was close, so close it was painful. If he wanted to, he could just move an inch closer and…
"Nothing," he grunted, turning away and yanking his hand out of the girl's deceptively strong grip. "Forget about it."
If he had been looking at his friend in that moment, Jaegerjaques would have seen a thick shadow of disappointment pass over Shaolin's face before she forced it away, willing her breathing to return to normal. She had been so close… why hadn't she done anything? Better yet, why had he pulled away?
"What the hell's your problem, Grimmjow?" she half-snarled, unable to keep all of the hurt from her voice. The blue-haired boy shrugged roughly, turning back around and regarding her with atypical detachment.
"Forget about it," he repeated. "And stop standing there like a statue; you're here to learn how ta fight, not just look pretty."
The Freudian slip and the look in those sharp blue eyes when Grimmjow realized what he'd just said turned Shaolin's anger into something else entirely. Advancing with liquid, feline grace to match his own and a predatory smile on her face, the dark-haired girl moved towards her teacher with a decidedly wicked glint in her eyes. Her smile widened in satisfaction as she saw she had Grimmjow effectively paralyzed, like a snake at the mercy of its charmer. Lashing out, she landed a sharp blow on the other side of Jaegerjaques' jaw.
"It isn't always a good idea to never take your eyes off of your opponent, sensei," Shaolin said in a tone that was as edged as it was tempting. She was dangerous, very dangerous.
And Grimmjow couldn't care less. He loved a bit of danger in his life; it kept things interesting.
"And it isn't a good idea to start fighting no-holds-barred if you aren't ready to take as good as you can give, student," the blue-eyed boy growled back in a way that made Shaolin's knees go unexpectedly weak. Jaegerjaques saw the effect his words had produced and pounced, cutting the dark-haired girl's legs out from under her with a flawless sweep kick. Her fall was cushioned by the layers of rugs they had set up as an impromptu mat, but before she could get up Shaolin found herself pinned down by a decidedly hungry gaze from the two blue eyes no more than six inches away from her. Grimmjow's hands had come down right next to each of Fon's shoulders: suddenly, it was the muscular, compact spitfire of a girl who couldn't breathe.
"Gotcha," Jaegerjaques said with a teasing lilt to his voice. "You wonderin' why I didn't make a move back there, Shaolin?"
The girl tried to speak, but her tongue refused to function. When the blue-haired teenager continued, his voice turned oddly serious even though the fire continued to smolder behind his eyes.
"It's cause if there's one thing I promised myself I'd never do, it's force myself on a girl. I had'ta be sure you were okay with this. Are you?"
Expecting some kind of silent nod, insistent remark or even, his ego chimed in, a breathless moan of anticipation, Grimmjow was caught completely off-guard when Shaolin got her second wind, sprung upwards, and reversed their positions with the speed and precision of a striking viper.
"Who said you could be on top, Grimmjow?" she said, her voice holding a slightly husky edge to it that stilled the blue-eyed teen's pride-fueled comeback on the tip of his tongue. He would let her win this one, he decided. Just this once. Besides, he thought before those fierce lips descended and captured his own, obliterating all rational thought, it's not like he wasn't getting anything out of it.
Next time, though, he promised himself. Next time, he was going to show this minx what was what.
Grimmjow snapped out of the vision with a growl; these freaking hallucinations were getting more and more real by the incident, and that almost scared him. Blinking a few times to clear his vision, the Espada was surprised to find himself not in a dank cell somewhere, but in a rather well-lit and comfortable-feeling office. Pushing himself off of the bed he had been lying on, Jaegerjaques got up with a small groan and shuffled over to a shelf near the window with a slight limp, eyes drawn to the array of photographs sitting on it.
There was one in particular his sharp eyes settled on: Shaolin was standing next to the woman who had knocked Grimmjow out earlier… Yoruichi, she had said her name was. The young woman in the picture he knew to be Shaolin Fon couldn't have been more than 19, but then again, given the way souls 'aged', she could have just as easily been 119. There was a bright smile on her face that brought the ghost of one to Grimmjow's, which sharpened into a frown as he saw that the purple-haired woman had one hand on Shaolin's head and was ruffling her hair affectionately.
Something akin to primal possessiveness welled up in the Arrancar, almost driving him to put a hole in the nearby wall with his fist before he stopped himself long enough to wonder why he was feeling this way all of a sudden. What was this woman doing to him, and more importantly, why did he seem to dream about her every time he was either knocked out or went to sleep? What the hell was going on with those weird visions, and why the hell wouldn't they leave him in peace?
"Ah, I see you're awake," a calm, cool voice called out from behind him, and Grimmjow whirled around to find himself glaring at none other than Yoruichi Shihoin.
"What do you want, woman?" Jaegerjaques growled, but all the purple-haired Captain did in reply was smile, supremely confident in her strength.
"What I want, Arrancar, are answers. Answers to some very puzzling questions."
"I don't have time for this," the Espada snarled, reaching for his zanpakuto only to wind up grasping at air.
"Looking for this?" Shihoin asked as she held up a sword currently housed in a light blue sheath, faintly humming with energy. Grimmjow instinctively used sonido to cross the room, only to find nothing in front of him. Spinning around, Jaegerjaques had to bite back a frustrated roar as he saw that Yoruichi had flashed over to the spot that he had been occupying only a heartbeat earlier.
"I ain't called the 'Goddess of Flash' for nothing, kid," the golden-eyed Captain said with a smirk. "Start talking, and I might find it in my heart to give you your zanpakuto back."
"Why should I believe you, woman?" the Arrancar spat, and Yoruichi shrugged.
"Because you don't have a choice? That, and I know you didn't come here to kill me; you came here to rescue your friend. Like you said, you don't have time to waste trying to defeat me while I kick the shit out of you. So start talking, Espada," The Captain concluded as she sat down in a nearby chair, crossed her legs and waited. Grimmjow sighed, shrugged and spoke.
"What do you want to know, woman?"
"How do you know so much about Soi Fon?" Yoruichi asked sharply, and the blue-eyed warrior smirked.
"You mean Shaolin?"
"Stop calling her that!" the golden-eyed Soul Reaper snapped, exasperated.
"Why?" Jaegerjaques pressed, unable to resist needling the distraught Soul Reaper across from him.
"Because…" Yoruichi began, before exhaling sharply and throwing her arms up in the air in exasperation. "Because it freaks me out, okay!? No one outside of me ever calls her by that name, and I only do it when I want to get under her skin. How could you, an Arrancar, possibly know her name?"
Instead of uttering some grand, profound revelation like she expected, Shihoin felt her blood pressure spike as the blue-haired Espada just shrugged nonchalantly.
"I'm not so sure myself, to be honest," he said, seemingly about to say something else before he changed his mind, shooting a question at his interrogator as a theory took root in his mind.
"D'you ever remember anything from the time back before you became a soul, when you were still human?"
"No; that's impossible," Yoruichi answered, before she blinked and frowned. "Oi, I'm supposed to be asking the questions here, smartass!"
"Then ask 'em, woman," Grimmjow shot back, the cocky tenor in his tone making Yoruichi want to shift into her cat form and scratch his vocal chords out.
"You still haven't answered my first one, Espada," she growled. "How do you know so much about Soi Fon?"
"I told you I wasn't sure," the Arrancar snarled, his temper rising once again. "They started after her zanpakuto clashed with mine, that's all I know for sure."
Yoruichi raised a slender eyebrow.
"What started?" she asked, curiosity creeping into her voice.
"The visions," Grimmjow clarified. "They're usually of me and Shaolin, but they're so vivid it's almost like they could be memories. Of what, hell if I know, but that's what it feels like."
The golden-eyed Captain's brow furrowed in concentration as she thought about the odd situation. When she connected the dots between the dream the Espada had appeared to be having when he had been knocked out and these 'visions' he had described, a wicked smirk crossed her face that put Grimmjow decidedly on edge.
Clearly, some experimentation was in order.
Before Jaegerjaques could blink, Yoruichi was in front of him and had knocked him out with a hard sucker-punch to the head.
"Sorry, kid," the Captain apologized softly as she eased the Espada down onto the nearby bed, "but I'm sure you would have started a scuffle otherwise, and I'm tired of brawling. Okay," the purple-haired Shihoin said determinedly as she moved to the head of the bed and put her fingers on each of Grimmjow's temples, letting her eyes flutter closed,
"Let's see what you're dreaming about this time, shall we?"
A/N: Sorry about the lack of outright action in that chapter, but the next two fights will more than make up for it. And Yoruichi might have been a bit OoC during her talk with Grimmjow, but it was needed to have the scene unfold the way it had to. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and as always, please review!