Hello readers! I know this took a while to get out, but I don't think that you will be disappointed. This is rated M for a reason. While this chapter is relatively harmless other than language, this will be getting gory and who knows what will happen in the future! I hope I made Grimmjow within the character expectations that y'all are hoping for. Yes, he does get sentimental, but I think I made up for it with the streaks of attitude and fighting. Please review. While I don't want flames, constructive criticism will always be taken into consideration and greatly appreciated. I will get part 2 of the fight out as soon as I can, I promise.

Also, I would like to thank Veira and Fuzzibunniez for their unending support and loyal reading. I should also take this time to thank PsychoKoolaid for adding me to their favorite stories list. If you, readers, have not checked out Fuzzibunniez or Veira's stories you are missing out, especially Fuzzibunniez's story Toshiro is Seventeen: Frozen Passion. It is a must read, but then again, so are all of her other stories. When I can stay connected to the internet, we are hoping to do a joint story that I hope everyone will check out. No hints yet, you have to be patient! ^_^

I do not own any rights to Bleach, nor do I own any rights to Smile Empty Soul or their song 'Bottom of the Bottle', but if you want to have decent soundscape to fit the mood of this chapter, I would recommend listening to some of their songs as you read. I love the occasional hate-the-world, Generation X, hard rock, and if you listen to some of the songs or have heard them before, you will understand why I had Mirella choose this CD to drown out inner turmoil and to yell along with. I am also getting no money for this. Trust me if I was, then you would be getting more frequent updates because I could afford internet, lol.

Chapter 18

Retribution (Part I)

Grimmjow

I don't get disturbed easily. That's understandable considering all the hollows, shinigami, and humans I have killed. Not only killed, but hacked to pieces on occasion. I never believed that any sight could take my breath away until the powerful garganta nearly sucked me into Mirella's room. The sight of her pale and weak where an inner light always shined was devastating. The freezing hand that reached out to gently cover mine locked in the sense of emptiness by lacking her normal warmth. The bruises on her face made me cringe.

They also made me angry. Very angry. No one was to lay their hands on my women ever, especially an annoying fucking swine like the man standing in front of me. I looked at Nnoitra, the smug smile gone from his face, especially after Starrk and Aizen dragged him off to a sparring room, apparently on her earlier wishes. I'm sure Aizen was glad that by fighting him in here he wouldn't have to give her more money to fix her room.

I thought back to my re-entry into Las Noches. She had been my focus. I remember half hearing Halibel's profuse apologies as I fell to my knees next to her bed. As strange as it was to hear Halibel apologize, it still did not distract me from the girl in the bed. She was still beautiful, but I winced at the blood spattering her bruised skin. I fought between tears and rage as I stared down at my once vibrant girl. The mangled beauty, cold and incomplete as she was, drew out a righteous anger in me. Anger to avenge what was mine.

As Aizen and Starrk dragged Nnoitra away, I finally looked up. "Where do you think he is going?"

Starrk replied softly, "She asked us not to touch him but to lock him in a sparring room. We are doing as she asked."

"I promised her retribution however she saw fit," Aizen added, "and I don't plan on breaking my agreement."

I growled under my breath but nodded and turned back to Mirella, running my fingers through her hair I would have touched her face, but I think it would have hurt her too much. Judging by the quickly deepening colors of the marks the blows, the pain that she had already suffered was enough. I could nearly feel a throbbing ache in my own face from looking at her wounds. I wished I did, just so that she didn't have to bear all of the pain on her own. Hell, I would bear all of it. I looked into her eyes, ready to plead with her as I said, "Let me fight him. You can't and he deserves it for beating you half to death."

Her eyes were half closed, but she gave a nearly imperceptible but definite nod. Halibel touched her shoulder, saying in a gentle voice, "You cannot go to sleep right now. We need to keep you awake a bit longer for evaluations, especially on your head injury."

She nodded again, wincing as she moved herself into a position sitting up slightly. She pulled a CD from the pile on her end table and tossed it to Halibel. "I can sing along with this, it will help keep me awake. Would you mine starting it for me?"

I refrained from grimacing as the group she called Smile Empty Soul began streaming through the speakers. Now was not the time to argue about music. No matter what infernal noise came from her CD player I would put up with it if it helped her. She began singing about the bottom of a bottle and I could see the effort she was putting out to stay awake. I was happy to see that she still had her usual determination.

Halibel pulled me to the side when she saw Mirella focus on the lyrics of the song. "I need to tell you something," she said seriously.

"What is it?" I asked calmly. This is not Halibel's fault. I know she likes Mirella, listen to what she says, do not take it out on her, I coached myself.

"She probably won't want to talk about this, at least not right now, but he didn't just beat her…" she trailed off and I got more apprehensive about what she was going to say when tears actually filled her eyes. "He… he raped her, Grimmjow. All of the marks he left on her were to try to break her. We got back to the room and we heard him yelling at her to scream for him. He was about to kill her. She was lying naked on the floor, nearly frozen to death." Halibel's voice caught in her throat as the rare tears spilled over to disappear behind her collar as she remembered the sight, seeming to almost relive it."I would have killed him before you ever came back if she had let us."

"There is nothing wrong with honoring her wishes, but I will take care of him now. Trust me."

I began stalking toward the door when I heard a faint voice call my name from the bed.

"Grimmjow," Mirella whispered, "don't get hurt. I'll join you when I can."

"I'll be fine," I growled back to her, "But I can't guarantee that he will still be alive when you can join in."

She gave a small smile as she stated surely, "That's fine with me, Kitty cat."

I snorted at the nickname with a faint smile and went to the sparring room.

Now I was here, and I had already stripped off my jacket in preparation. I let the anger that I had swallowed around Mirella take hold. I could feel my rieatsu building as my imagination began to run wild with everything he could have done to her, and everything that I wanted to do to him.

I pulled Pantera from the sheath at my hip and assumed a fighting stance. I though once again of her cold touch and bruised face, her violated body and her unending strength.

"Nnoitra, I have always hated you, but now I finally get to kill you."

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Mirella

Szayel came running into my room a minute after Grimmjow had left. He held two pills in his hand. I looked at him, distrusting the man for the first time since he passed my initial test in the hallway on my first morning in Las Noches.

"I promise they won't hurt you. It is an antidote for what you took earlier," he said softly.

I couldn't ignore the sincerity in his voice and in his eyes. Halibel rested her hand, seemingly nonchalantly, on the hilt of Tiburon, but the unsaid threat hung in the air.

Szayel's eyes widened slightly, but he didn't back down from handing me the pills. I nodded and took the pills. I was surprised to see Szayel drop to his knees beside the bed after making sure I took the medicine.

"I am sorry for what happened. I made the separation pills, but they were only as a precaution for while you were learning to control your powers. I did not know that they would do this to you. I understand if you want to exact retribution on me as well, even though I was unaware of what was going on. I still made the pills and should bear some of the blame if that is what you want."

His sorrow and honesty touched me. I reached a hand out from under the covers and laid it on his shoulder. "It is not your fault. I don't hold it against you, but I would like for those pills to be destroyed. If you do that, then all is forgiven."

He looked up at me and stated seriously, "I will go do that now. I will be right back to keep an eye in your condition. If the antidote works correctly then I should be able to bandage your wounds and properly evaluate your condition in the same amount of time it took for the first medication to show it's symptoms."

He bolted to the door but looked back over his shoulder. "Thank you," he stated softly. The simplicity of the apology made it ring of pure truth.

I nodded my ascent as a 'you're welcome' and he sonido'd out the door.

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Grimmjow

I noticed out of the corner of my eye that we had an audience. Starrk and Aizen had pulled chairs to one of the far walls to observe the fight, and Gin stood next to Aizen, his creepy grin finally seeming to fit the situation.

I assumed a grin of my own and charged at Nnoitra. He blocked and parried my strike, swinging a counter attack that I easily dodged. I swung at his head while his weapon was low. He barely got the block up in time, but he did block it, only to be put on a permanent defensive as I rained blows down anywhere I thought there could be an opening.

I noticed that he had begun breathing hard at the effort of blocking me, and couldn't resist rubbing that fact in. "You think this is tough, Nnoitra? I'm still getting started."

His eyes widened a fraction as I let more of my rieatsu out. I thought Mirella was joking when she said I was getting more powerful, but knowing that I had just reached my previous limit and still had power to spare made me believe her. Nnoitra snapped from his stupor in a split-second, in time to block my next blow, though it made his entire body reverberate with the force.

"Fine Sexta, if that's how ya wanna play it, then no holdin' back. Let's go, boy!" He released his rieatsu in a flame of power that surrounded him with a black and red glow. "Inore (pray), Santa Teresa!"

Nnoitra's body shifted as he bonded with his zanpakuto forming his released state. He looked fierce for an overgrown bug. He was probably downright scary to some, I'm sure, but there was no fear in me. You pitiful excuse of a hollow, you are nothing. I have a released state too, ass hole!

"Kishire (grind), Pantera!" I roared into the room. The power consumed my body as I transformed into a truer version of myself. My skin hardened with my advanced Hierro giving me an indestructible feeling. I smirked at the other espada whose rieatsu had shriveled somewhat after encountering mine. "Fine, if that's how you want it, you got it!"

I charged him again with outstretched claws. He managed to block my hand but I felt the satisfying feeling of flesh tearing under my hand as I immediately followed up by swiping my other hand across his midsection.

He stepped back; a look of awe on his features over the fact that I had managed to hurt him on my first attack.

"That's right. You asked for it." I rained more blows toward him, yelling at him in between swipes with my claws and sonido-ing in a blur around him. "Don't you ever… ever… touch my… woman. My… Mirella. You… will… die for… what you've... done."

"Well," he purred sickeningly, obviously trying to distract me, "at least I got to fuck her. Tell me, Sexta, have you ever gotten her to let you put it in her ass?"

I couldn't help but pause for a second as horrible images filled my mind, the severity and extent of what he had done to her sinking in. "Shut up, you piece of shit. You're already going to die; don't you at least want it to be fast?"

"The only way you're gonna be able to rip me apart is if they help you," he said cockily as he motioned his arm toward the wall. I noticed that Tousen, Ulquiorra, and Barragon, as well as their fraccions, had joined the viewing party.

Tousen said in a neutral voice from the sidelines, "He can win, Nnoitra, but if you do somehow manage to beat him, rest assured that justice will be done. You will not be leaving this room alive."

I smirked at the belligerent espada in front of me, still not wanting to admit defeat even though it was inevitable. "Don't worry, jack ass, they won't be interfering. I'll kill you before they ever get the chance."

I snarled and leapt at him again, but he sidestepped at the last minute, finally using the speed I knew he had. He landed a hard hit across my back, but my changed form and steady rieatsu kept him from breaking the skin.

I looked at him and scoffed, "You're gonna have to do a lot better than that if you think you stand a chance."

He gritted his teeth and finally took an offensive position. Good! Prey is always more fun when it fights back.

The thought was a catalyst as Halibel's words flashed through my head. "All of the marks he left on her were to try to break her. We got back to the room and we heard him yelling at her to scream for him." He had turned my woman… my love… into prey. I felt my rieatsu grow stronger at the thought.

Nnoitra's eyes widened but he continued to try to attack me, never coming close to landing even a light hit. He smiled sickeningly again and said near my ear, "No amount of vengeance on me will get rid of the fact that you, Sexta, weren't there for your precious ward."

I shoved him off and yelled, more so roared, as I put him on defense again. I felt a sticky liquid begin to coat my hand. I could feel my animalistic instincts kick in. My senses became sharper as I used all the powers of my released form. I could smell the blood oozing out of my opponent. I could hear the slight whimpers of pain that were undetectable to others ears. I could hear his heart thumping in his chest, fast with exertion and worry.

I swung at him blindly, silently exulting when I heard the intake of breath from a landed punch. Swordsmanship was gone as I let the inner Panther King take over. I fought like the animal I was. Unfortunately, I could see that I was not doing enough damage. While Nnoitra was beaten a bit, and bleeding, he was still standing. I had to share a similar trait of the advanced Hierro with this piece of shit, didn't I?

"You might as well get on your knees where you belong," I said in my most derogatory tone.

Catching his breath quickly, Nnoitra replied, "You're just pissed 'cause you're scared that that bitch enjoyed me more than she enjoys you. She's a tight little thing, ain't she?" I narrowed my eyes in warning, but he persisted in his torment. "Wait, I can't remember if it was the first hole or the second that my dick was in that was so tight."

That was it. No holds barred was about to be taken to a new level. I let the power that had been building in me flow freely through me and around me. I could feel my skin growing even harder as my rieatsu flames changed from black and red to be filled with blue. This had never happened before.

Ulquiorra called to me from the wall, "Embrace it or it will kill you. You will never be stronger than when you let your shinigami form take the reins. It is like the Vizard transformation, just customized to you and your hollow form. You have to let it take over."

"Gladly," I stated, forceful but droll.

I caught the reflection of my eyes in my katana, gasping to see that the colors were reversed from what I had been told of Visards. My black pupils stood out from yellow and I glared at my enemy, whose own eyes widened in shock. I let my rieatsu flow completely free now, happy to see that Nnoitra was struggling to simply stand under the weight of it. Time for you to learn your lesson.

"I do not have the patience to kill you slowly," I told him seriously, "so get ready to die now."

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Sorry it took so long to get the update out, but you can check out my profile for details on why it has been so slow from me. As for the changes to Grimmjow's character: I am aware that Grimmjow doesn't have a shinigami form in the manga or show, but I had to get across that he was more powerful and I figured that would be a good way to show it. Plus, it's just plain bad ass. Also, I know that I have some of the characters act a bit out of their normal molds such as Halibel crying and Szayel begging forgiveness, but I would like to think that, in Halibel's case at least, that she does care about Mirella and really is distraught over the events that have happened. I simply allowed Szayel to show his self-preservation in realizing that coming forward would have better results than making her find out. I don't think they did anything that they aren't capable of doing, they simply acted on their thoughts for once. Please R&R, I need the love, and since I can't check my e-mail as regularly, I have found it to be a wonderful surprise to find reviews. Please give me love. Hope you enjoy!

~Echo