Soi-fon sipped her tea as she patiently listened to the meeting.
She was listening to Barragan receiving his fraccion's reports. Aizen had resurrected the casualties for him, after Barragan had humbly begged kami for the favor. It was probably the only humble thing he had ever done in his life.
She kept her gaze on the table, trying not to betray how much she despised him. She really did loathe the arrogant Espada. Soi-fon had always inclined towards other women, and being raped by this creature was infuriating. The way he often had his pretty boys prepare him first was even worse. It was beyond degrading.
She also hated his arrogance. In his mind, Aizen was a god and he was a King. She'd asked him, once, why he thought so highly of himself. She'd expected him to punish her for such an impudent question but Barragan had just laughed and told her he'd been a King among men, too. At first she'd been inclined to think that was more of his arrogance but he'd expanded on it once, after sex. The way he'd said it had stuck with her and had seemed genuine.
"I was a King to them, and the instrument of the Gods. Many times I went to war, and my enemies were put to death on the altars of the great pyramids, their blood dripping down the stones. Great games were held in my honor and the winners were sent to the gods as honorable sacrifices. Ah, those were great days, when I was young and strong and alive."
Soi-fon completely forgot about that, though, as her keen senses detected something. She managed to keep from stiffening with an effort of will, and sipped her tea casually. If she only acted as normally as possible there was a slight chance that Barragan wouldn't –
"Soi-fon. Take care of that little problem for me." The King of Hueco Mundo rumbled and the collar forced her to obey. Standing up from the table she suddenly moved in a burst of shunpo and plucked a cat out of an air vent. The little cat yowled piteously as she held it by the scruff of its neck. There was a laugh from Barragan's fraccion as they saw what she held. The Espada just rested his cheek against his fist.
"Ooo, something for me to play with!" Ggio said with a wicked grin and Soi-fon hid her disgust. Ggio was very catlike and while that was pleasant in many ways, he liked to toy with his prey. It was truly appalling to watch, even to a hardened member of the Onmitsukido. Then she frowned, looking at the cat in her hand. It almost looked like a… kitten?
"Assume your human form." She ordered the cat and a golden mist sprang up. When it cleared, she was holding a little boy, perhaps seven years old. There was a silence around the table until Ggio crossed his arms and pouted.
"I can't play with that!" He said unhappily as the rest of the fraccion laughed. Soi-fon blessed the stars that he at least considered children to be off limits. She gently set the boy down but kept a hand on his shoulder, feeling the child tremble. He glanced up at her and she noticed his eyes were a rather familiar gold. His hair, though, was a bright orange that reminded her of Kurosaki. Barragan finally lifted his head with a low grumble.
"Soi-fon, remove that child's memories of anything he might have heard with your kido, but make certain he remembers being caught. Then return him to his parents and warn them I will not tolerate such foolishness a second time." He ordered and she bowed slightly before dragging the boy away.
"Why did you do something so stupid? You could have been killed." She demanded of the child as soon as they were out of earshot. He was very close to tears but she didn't feel the least sympathetic. Experienced spies had met their end trying to listen in on Barragan's meetings.
"M-My sister said I could never get past the wards but I said I could… I'm sorry!" He said tearfully and Soi-fon sighed to herself. She would have to check the wards again. The last execution had been grotesque; she really didn't want to witness that again. "I won't do it again."
"After your parents get done tanning your bottom, you certainly won't." Soi-fon said drily and the boy's eyes widened as he realized how his parents were likely to react to this.
Soi-fon took care of that duty quickly and made her way back to the meeting. She had just settled in again when a fearful servant came into the room and knelt beside Barragan. She saw his eye twitch in irritation at the interruption but the ancient hollow was too levelheaded to take out his annoyance on a messenger.
"What is it?" He rumbled, glaring down at the man. He gave his message without lifting his gaze from the floor. It was well known that Barragan wanted mere lackeys to keep their eyes down in his presence, and he enforced that rule sternly.
"Forgive me, Barragan-sama, but there is a visitor – " That was as a far as the man got before the door was shoved open. Soi-fon stared as the blue haired Sexta Espada entered the room. She'd heard 'he' was pregnant, but she hadn't expected such a complete change in appearance. In addition to the wild blue hair, blue furred ears and crown-like piece of bone, he was wearing a very comfortable looking blue and white yukata. The bright red sash on his waist looked like a splash of blood.
"Yeah, I can take it from here. Hi Barragan! How's the YMCA doing?" Grimmjow eyed the Seguna Espada's fraccion, grinning wickedly. Soi-fon winced to herself. That comment was unkind but accurate.
"Oh Grimmy-kitten, we're doing great! How kind of you to ask!" Charlotte blew him a kiss and the Espada's lip curled, exposing one sharp canine as the rest of the fraccion laughed.
"What do you want?" Barragan rumbled, breaking up the incipient fight. Grimmjow turned his attention back to his fellow Espada, reaching up and scratching behind one feline ear. Soi-fon found her gaze drawn to those ears and wondered if the fur was as soft as it looked. Then she noticed he also had a tail. It was hard to see, mostly hidden by the yukata.
"I want your woman." He pointed right at her with one clawed finger and Soi-fon blinked, shocked. What could the pregnant Espada want with her? "I'm the, the…" He paused a moment with a frown then snapped his fingers. "…The Vice-President of the Shinigami Women's Association and I'm in charge of putting this shit back together. So it's time for a goddamn meeting. The President wants it on Tuesday at three so we can have tea time with crumpets. And you can't come Charlotte, don't even ask." He added as the fraccion opened his mouth.
"But I love crumpets! If you're feminine enough, aren't I feminine enough? You don't even try!" He protested and Grimmjow sneered.
"Yeah, see, having girly bits means I don't have to try." He said as Soi-fon wondered what the hell was going on. The President? Did that mean that Yachiru had survived Kenpachi's death? And what was her connection to the Espada? But Barragan was frowning.
"What organization is this? I have not heard of it." He growled, looking at Grimmjow with narrowed eyes. "Explain, Sexta." He ordered, as he had a right to do given that he was much higher in rank. Fortunately, Grimmjow was more than willing to talk.
"It's just a bunch of girls who get together and try to make things better for everyone. Well, mostly. I'm honestly not sure how much helping people goes on compared to tea and sweets." He carefully inserted a clawed pinkie into his ear, working out a bit of earwax and fur. "And the girls left some really nice magazines in their digs. I've been reading 'em. You guys should get some, you'd really like 'em." Soi-fon hid behind her teacup. She was well aware of the magazines he was referring to and the worst part was that Barragan's fraccion probably would enjoy them.
"Oh, very well. I will expect a report when you return." Barragan said to Soi-fon who bent her head submissively. Inwardly, she was almost looking forward to it. Even with an Espada at the meeting it would feel like a return to normality. And she badly wanted to see Yachiru again. "Now get out of here before I destroy you."
"Yar, yar. Later douchebags." Grimmjow gave the fraccion a lackluster wave before exiting the room. Abirama was muttering about his lack of respect, but most of the room didn't care. It was what they expected from the Sexta. As her turn came Soi-fon gave her report, hating every moment of it. When she was done Barragan would give her orders, and they would be aimed towards crushing any resistance in Soul Society.
More than anything about him, she hated his competence.
"This was really nice of Byakuya." Grimmjow looked at the spread in front of him approvingly. "I'll have to give him a special thank you tonight." He purred a little at the thought. Having cubs inside him was kicking his libido into high gear for some reason.
The food was more attractive at the moment, though. With official blessing to be there, the Shinigami Women's Society meeting was being catered by Byakuya's servants. They had put together a fruit platter, a sashimi platter and an assortment of sweet rice cakes. The platters were artistically arranged and decorated with flowers. Grimmjow admired them for a moment before moving the sashimi one closer to him, and ensuring that at least one rice cake was near Yachiru's spot. She'd be needing that, sure as anything.
"Erm, hello?" A very tentative voice said and Grimmjow turned to see a shinigami woman with silver hair. She was looking at him with wide grey eyes and seemed to be scared of him. It was sort of funny, considering how far his power was dipping lately. He'd have a tough time fighting her off. "Is… Is this where the meeting is being held?"
"Yep. We got tea and nibbles, just waiting for everyone else to show up." Unable to restrain himself any longer, Grimmjow took a piece of the sashimi and munched the raw fish. He was putting away a ridiculous amount of food in addition to his reishi pills, but Szayel said it was normal and good for the babies.
"Grimmy-chan!" Yachiru sprinted into the room and leapt onto his shoulder, settling in easily. "Are we – wow! This looks nice!" She grabbed a flower and ate it, to his mild shock. "I love these!"
"Those are edible?" Grimmjow wondered aloud before taking one and biting into it. "…Huh." It was very… vegetative. He wasn't much of a leaf eater, no surprise given his hollow nature. He did love leek soup though. "Not my thing." He took a seat at the table and Yachiru scrambled off his shoulder to grab the rice cake he'd set out for her.
Soon the rest of the girls filed in and Grimmjow frowned a little as he saw the marks of abuse on Nanao. Barragan at least left Soi Fon free of damage, from what he could tell. Isane paled slightly at the obvious bruises and immediately went to heal them.
"Fucking Yammy." Grimmjow breathed. He'd thought the asshole had agreed to let her come too easily. This was probably some kind of sick message to him. Yammy was as clever as a boulder but he knew how to leave messages. "You got any cuts? I can give you some healing." He offered but they she shook her head. He glanced at Yachiru but she seemed to be taking this calmly. But then, she wasn't really a child even if she acted like one. When the woman had gotten all the healing she could take he called the meeting to order.
"So yeah, the first order of business – " That was as far as he got before the President interrupted.
"You know, no one ever finished the Hanataichi essay! The first one who does will win an… apple!" She pulled one out of her sleeve and Grimmjow opened his mouth to ask what she was talking about. He got an apple in his mouth and there were a few giggles around the table as he blinked. "And the Vice-President gets an apple for the babies!" She beamed at him and Grimmjow pulled the apple out of his mouth before taking a large bite.
"Thanks Yachiru. Someone'll have to explain this essay thing to me. So anyway. First order of business is funding." He said and the women all looked at him curiously. "Or rather, lack thereof. I went to see Tosen and he used a lot of big words, but the gist was that I'm worthless, this whole club is worthless and we'll never see two copper out of him."
"What! The Shinigami Women's Association used to have the biggest budget of all the clubs." Matsumoto protested and Grimmjow shrugged.
"Yeah, well, used to is the way to put it. Maybe someone else should have gone to talk to Tosen, but Yachiru says he hates her too." The girls all nodded, unsurprised. Apparently Tosen thought that little girls shouldn't be fukutaichou's. Grimmjow couldn't really disagree but it meant that it probably hadn't mattered who had approached the shinigami. "So I've got some ideas for how we can make money. I think we should do a calendar."
"A calendar?" Nemu asked softly and he nodded.
"Yeah, like this." He pulled out something he'd picked up in the Living World and opened it to his favorite page. It immediately caught the girl's attention. "This is a fireman calendar; apparently they make 'em in the Living World to raise funds for the fire department. So I was thinking we could make an arrancar and shinigami version – hey!" Matsumoto had snatched the calendar out of his hand and Grimmjow mentally cursed his weakened powers. If he'd been at full strength she'd never have gotten close.
"Oh, this is wonderful!" She began flipping through it, grinning wickedly. "Look Isane, look!" Poor Isane was turning pink and covering her eyes. Grimmjow wasn't sure why. They weren't even naked.
"Yes, and we're going to do one!" Yachiru took over, speaking enthusiastically. "Soi Fon! You need to get, um…" She consulted a paper. Grimmjow had needed to write the names down for her. "Findorr, Ggio and maybe Abirama." Grimmjow grinned at the look on the woman's face. Shocked was an understatement.
"If they give you trouble just tell Barragan what it's for and ask him to order 'em. He'll love it." Grimmjow advised. He and Barragan weren't best buddies, but he knew the Espada would find the whole notion of a naughty calendar hilarious. He'd probably want a few copies, too. "And for fuck's sake, don't let Charlotte pose. Or if you do, burn the pictures afterwards." There were some things he did not want to see. Soi Fon swallowed, then nodded.
"I will not fail you Yachiru-san." She said and Yachiru happily continued, giving out her assignments. Grimmjow just settled back and listened. Nemu was in charge of getting Ishida in a compromising position, and Szayel if he was interested. Any Espada involved were going to be purely voluntary. It was safer that way.
Matsumoto was assigned to Dordoni and Isane was assigned to Gantenbainne, so those were pretty obvious. Isane was highly embarrassed but Matsumoto grinned wickedly. Grimmjow was sure she had Dordoni wrapped around her little finger by now. He'd always fancied himself a ladies man so it wouldn't be difficult. The only one left out in the assignments was Nanao and Grimmjow felt bad for her. But they all knew she wouldn't get away from her duties enough for it, and the thought of a picture of Yammy was puke worthy. Then the conversation went to shinigami they could include. The names didn't mean much to him, they were mostly new promotions anyway.
"Why would shinigami buy a calendar full of pictures of arrancar?" Soi fon asked and Grimmjow grinned. Yachiru hadn't mentioned his part in this, since they'd already discussed it.
"Because I'm gonna get pictures of Ichigo, Ichigo's hollow, Renji and Byakuya." He said and Soi Fon blinked. "I'll have to get Byakuya's permission and it can't be anything like these – " He tapped the calendar. "He has his dignity. But I bet I can get something nice. Yachiru says that'll sell the deal." Apparently, Byakuya had a huge female fandom. Sure enough, all the girls looked excited.
"That would be perfect!" Matsumoto said enthusiastically. "If you can really get a picture of Byakuya, these will sell like hot cakes!" Grimmjow nodded.
"Now, that makes for eleven pictures if we include Szayel." He wasn't sure they should, but there was probably some random hot fukutaichou they could include. "I've got an idea for the last one, but I need to do some work on it." It was just a vague idea now. He needed to corner Nemu and Soi Fon to see if it would work. "For now, let's just try to get some extra pictures to cover it." That would be fine for now.
Shunsui Kyoraku had no reason to pose for him, but Grimmjow thought he might be able to come up with a very compelling bribe.
"Tch." Grimmjow grimaced as he walked through the private estate of a prominent clan. He wasn't sure which one this was and he didn't really care. Tosen clearly thought they were at least a minor threat, or they wouldn't have been hosting Halibel and her fraccion.
He honestly wasn't eager to be doing this. It made him look and feel like a bit of a wimp. But when Ichigo had taken his hands and given him that particular look, his brown eyes full of worry and fears… he'd wanted to do anything to make his mate happy again. And Ichigo wanted to know what was happening to his friends, wanted to know if they were alright.
Grimmjow had refused point blank to beard Ulquiorra about Inoue. He wasn't stupid and Ulquiorra didn't like him. From what he'd heard, the bat was getting dangerously territorial about his woman. It made Grimmjow wonder if she might already be pregnant. If so, she hadn't been taken to Szayel. Which was stupid but Ulquiorra's logical nature had always hidden some very powerful instincts, so it was possible.
Either way, taking a powerful shinigami to Ulquiorra's den would just be crazy. Byakuya and Renji would be bad, but Ichigo would be completely unacceptable. Seeing Orihime's old crush would probably cause an explosion of some kind and Grimmjow did not want to deal with that shit. He was actually kind of surprised the Quatro had spared Ichigo once. He didn't want to see if he would again.
But that left his other friends, Chad and Rukia. Chad was the one he was coming to see today. To his surprise and amusement, Halibel had been given Toshiro and the human boy. Grimmjow had a good idea that Halibel was supposed to be mating with Toshiro while the human was a toy for her fraccion. Although he'd defeated Gantenbaine, which made him fairly powerful. Even if one or two of the fraccion got knocked up, they would still have enough power to defend Halibel from up and coming arrancar.
"Grimmjow! You look like you swallowed a soccer ball." Was his greeting and he couldn't help but grin as he glanced down at his front. Mila Rose's comment was very accurate and he smoothed his yukata over the growing baby bump.
"Yeah, tell me about it. Doesn't it look good on me though?" Mila looked like she must have misheard and Apacci laughed, leaning against a wall. But he was serious. Grimmjow thought he looked great like this, pregnant with his offspring and dressed in a black and pink yukata. Pink wasn't usually his color, but the pattern was sakura blossoms. It would make his 'family' clear to the nobles Halibel was staying with.
The two fraccion took him and Ichigo to a sitting room where they were served tea by the servants. Grimmjow sipped it politely, wishing he could ask for some crappy wine. But he didn't want to sound completely insane. Ichigo drank his tea as though he liked it, and he probably did. He'd been raised on the stuff, most likely.
"So who owns this place anyway?" Grimmjow asked and Apacci just shrugged.
"Don't know, don't care." She said which made his opinion of her sink to new lows. He might not be any use at supervising the Kuchiki clan, but he was at least getting a handle on what they actually did. He'd spent some time with Saburo in the archives, carefully staying out of the way.
"They're the Hanashima clan. They specializing in weaving and textiles, and make all the finest kimonos and other formal wear in Soul Society." Mila Rose supplied and Grimmjow blinked as he realized he knew this clan. They'd taken his measurements for a single, formal kimono in a unisex style. He wasn't planning to wear it much, but Byakuya wanted him to have it for special occasions. "Why are you acting like such a brat?"
"I want to go home." Apacci said sullenly and Grimmjow could sympathize. He wasn't feeling homesick anymore, largely because he was nesting. His instincts wanted a safe place for the cubs and Kuchiki manor was about a million times better than Hueco Mundo for his twins.
"We cannot return." He looked up as Halibel entered the room. Then someone followed behind her and Ichigo erupted from his cushion with a glad cry.
"Chad!" He ran to his friend and hugged him tightly. "Are you alright?" His friend hugged him back, a small smile crossing his face.
"I am well." The big teen said stoically and Grimmjow nodded to himself. Halibel wouldn't let her fraccion get rough with the kid and he doubted they'd be inclined that way anyway. "And you?" From the concern on his face and the way Chad glanced at him, he was pretty worried. Not surprising, he had tried to kill Kurosaki on multiple occasions.
"I'm fine." Ichigo said, relieved, then blinked as Halibel softly cleared her throat. "Oh, sorry." The two parted, taking their seats at the table. Mila and Apacci left, probably figuring this would get boring.
"So Halibel, how's it hangin'?" Grimmjow asked, attempting to make conversation. She shrugged, taking a sip of the tea a servant poured for her.
"Well enough. Tosen is keeping us busy." She said and Grimmjow nodded. Byakuya kept him and Ichigo up on current events, so he knew the troubles in Soul Society were getting worse, not better. The disturbances were still centered in the Rukongai but there were issues in the Seireitei too. Arrancar and shinigami were both vanishing, and the blame was mostly being put on the arrancar, but not entirely. The prey would turn and hunt the predator when they could and the damned Numeros were desperate to advance. That could make them stupid.
"Tosen needs to start arranging leave to go to Hueco Mundo, anything to take the pressure off." He'd already said that to Byakuya and Tosen understood the problem. He just didn't want to weaken his forces by sending a bunch of arrancar off when things were still unstable. Halibel shrugged.
"Perhaps. But I doubt you came to speak to me about strategy." She observed and Grimmjow grinned. She was dead right about that, Tosen would never listen to him for a moment. "What do you want?" Grimmjow glanced at the two teenagers, who were deep in a quiet conversation and mostly ignoring them.
"I already got part of it. Ichigo wanted to see his buddy." He said bluntly and could almost feel Halibel smile behind her mask of bone. "I was wondering though. Did you want to join the Shinigami Women's Association?"
"What?" She asked, puzzled, and Grimmjow explained. "…I really don't have time for something like that." She said and he nodded, unsurprised. Unohana Retsu wasn't about to join up either. "And why would they admit arrancar?"
"No idea, but I'm the Vice President so we're clearly open to anything. Except Charlotte." He said in disgust and Halibel chuckled softly. "So did Szayel come up with something for your thing?" He asked and Halibel nodded.
"A cream. It's very effective." She glanced at Chad and Grimmjow had a feeling she hadn't told her two lovers about her problem. Well, it wouldn't be very sexy, telling someone they were potentially sticking their dick into a cheese grater. "What is it like, being pregnant?" There was more than minor interest there, so Grimmjow thought for a moment and did his best.
"Well, it started with me feeling really shitty. Super tired and hardly able to think. If you start feeling like that, make sure you release your zanpakuto. Szayel says that it looks like arrancar can't be sealed during pregnancy, it would kill them or abort the cubs." From the way he'd felt before he'd released Pantera, Grimmjow was inclined to agree. Halibel nodded. "Right now, I'm just really hungry. I'm having some weird cravings too. Last night I had a big bowl of strawberries with peanut butter." He normally wasn't that fond of peanut butter, so it was odd for him. Halibel blinked at the thought. "I'm getting kinda hot too. I think I'm gonna have to swim in the fountain." Grimmjow was sure someone would mind, but he didn't care. That fountain was looking better every day. "I was wondering though. Would you let me borrow your fraccion for something?" He asked with studied casualness. This was actually a huge part of the reason for his being here.
"What did you need them for?" Halibel asked with a touch of suspicion and Grimmjow laughed as he sipped his tea.
"I left behind some stuff in Hueco Mundo." That was absolutely true. He'd left behind his set of glass dildos. He didn't even really want them anymore – the real thing was way better – and it wasn't like he could resell them. People had standards. But they made a convenient excuse. "It's hidden in the corner of my room, under the floor. Not hard to find." It was just a sliding tile. "And I was wondering if the girls could check up on Zommari's girl while they're there, see if she's alright." The stuff he'd left behind would make a good excuse, and as fraccion Halibel's girls had more freedom to move around than most. Halibel considered it for a moment and Grimmjow didn't think he was fooling her at all. But she might be inclined to do him a favor anyway.
"Very well. But they have a demanding schedule and I will not spare them from it." She warned him and Grimmjow nodded. If that was the best she was offering, he would take it. It might be months but they would get some word of Rukia's fate.
That was all he could ask for.