I appreciate those who are still reading the story, even though it's taken so long for updates recently. I won't be able to keep this pace up for long, as I'm running out of stored-up chapters and I haven't been writing it for a while, but hopefully my proofreading the chapters, one by one, will help get me back into the mood of writing this curious story.

"I told you no!" He growled at her as the girl wrapped herself sensually around him.

"You want to." She stated, causing him to snarl at her.

"Oh yeah? And what the hell gave you that impression?"

She smiled deeper as her eyes glowed blue.

"You haven't stopped me."

His eyes went wide and she leaned in towards his face, one of her hands on his chest, the other on his cheek. The man's body began to tremble, and she noted with some satisfaction the he finally seemed to be giving in. Then hands flew up and grabbed her throat, instantly choking the air from it as she was pushed back and landed hard on the floor behind.

"You just don't listen do you?" He yelled at her as the girl struggled for breath, holding onto his hands as if asking him to take them from her throat.

"I act anything less than a bastard for a second and you're all over me! I do act like a bastard and you can't get enough of me! What the hell will it take for you to get a clue?"

She might have told him, except that her vision was fading. His hands were wrapped around her neck like two crab claws and most likely would have broken it had she not been a chiropteran. It was her turn to tremble, but it was more like a spasm of her nervous system than anger boiling beneath her skin.

One of her hands came away from his and reached up. He began to push it away when it touched his cheek, softly. Once again his eyes widened, as she smiled again; it held no foreshadowing of anger.

Grimmjow released her throat and backed away, soon turning to look at the wall as she gasped for breath.

"I… didn't mean to do that. Sorry." He apologized.

She smiled again, even though it couldn't be seen since she was still coughing out her breaths.

The man sighed before walking back over to her, lifting the girl up into a standing position and holding her arms out. It took a second or two, but her coughs went away just like that. Just as she was about to thank him, however, he let her go and walked back over to his place.

"Look, I don't deal with this kind of stuff very often. At all actually. I meant it when I said I didn't want you to do that, but I didn't mean to try and kill you either."

She didn't know whether to be glad at what he'd said or feel bad. At least he regretted trying to kill her.

"I forgive you." She stated, smiling.

He sighed again.

"How do you do stuff like that?" He asked her, looking at nothing in particular.

She tilted her head, the "question gesture" seeming to register with him.

"How do you almost get killed or badly wounded, and then act like you don't care?" He explained the question.

"I don't really care if I live or not." She stated, still smiling.

He looked up at her, something actually in his eyes resembling empathy.

"I guess with the way you've lived that makes sense."

Her smile faltered and she looked at him more deeply. Had he just… said he felt sorry for her?

"You mean you-"

"I guess I'm the same way, though it's not because of how I grew up or anything. It's just that when you live a life where the only way to survive is to constantly be ready to fight, regardless of the time or what shape you're in, the world seems to lose its importance; you're too busy trying to survive to even think about what it's like to live."

Diva smiled again.

"He's here; the real man." She thought, walking over and sitting down next to him, her back against the wall as well.

He gave her a look that showed some suspicion, but she shook her head.

"I'm not here to kiss your or anything like that." She assured him.

Grimmjow seemed to relax a bit at that.

"Why did you live that way?" She asked him.

"Didn't have much of a choice. I was in a certain state that if I didn't kill others of my kind I would return to being weak, and I wouldn't be myself anymore either. Everyone else felt the same way, and 'cause of that they were always trying to kill anything else like them that they could."

"You had no one to defend you?" She questioned further.

He sighed and looked over to his left, at a wall.

"I can't trust anyone. You never know if the person you trust will just tear your throat out while you're not paying attention. Even if you think they're your friend, they could just be faking it."

"Is that why you won't let me be nice to you?" She asked him.

Another sigh came from him, the man closing his eyes.

"Pretty much. Plus, even if you do like me, with what you told me about before you might try and kill me anyway."

She looked away from him, at the floor, thinking. After a few seconds he looked at her with a somewhat curious expression.

"I've got it. A promise."

"Huh?"

Diva looked at him again, directly into his eyes.

"Humans make promises, it means you'll definitely do what you say you'll do."

"Yeah, I know what a promise is, what's your point?"

"I'll promise to be stay with you and protect you, if you'll promise to stay with me and protect me."

Grimmjow looked away.

"I told you, I'm going to help you show your sister what an idiot she is, and then I'm going to fight my own battle."

"But if you make the promise then I'll come with you and help you when you play- fight."

He shook his head, and her smile faded.

"I've got to take care of things myself-"

"No, you don't."

The man looked at her, a bit apprehensive.

"You don't have to do things that way. You're just afraid to trust me."

Grimmjow looked away from her again, some of the irritation returning to his expression.

"You don't want to have anyone to rely on do you? You would rather do everything on your own."

He closed his eyes.

"So? What's wrong with that?"

"You'll run out of that strength eventually, it won't last forever."

"Yeah, well even with those guys protecting you, you're still just as alone as me." He retorted.

"What do you mean?"

"Those guys don't give half a crap about you. It's their blood. Didn't you say that chevalier thing turns them into your bodyguards? That means that their body is telling them to defend you. They don't really care about you."

Diva's expression became saddened. He'd spoken the things she'd feared were true for many years now.

"Then, why not make the promise?"

"You've never committed yourself to anything before, have you?"

"Well, no I haven't."

"Then why should I believe that you'll make a decision now that you'll stand by for the rest of your life?"

"If I promise to do that, I will. I've never promised anything before, but if I did I would do what I said."

It felt like they say there in silence for minutes.

"I'll think about it."

A brief smile flashed across her face. It was better than "no".

"Thank you, Grimmjow."

"Don't mention it."

"So that's how it is." David summarized.

Saya sighed.

"I guess we've got no real choice then." Kai spoke, obviously as unhappy about it as everyone else.

"I mean, the guy let David live when he could have just have killed him. If he had we wouldn't know where they were so it's not like he did it 'cause he was afraid of us finding out."

"At the very least, this guy seems smart. Though he doesn't sound like the animal you mentioned him being." Okamura remarked, not meaning anything bad by it.

Saya gripped her sword and stood up.

"David, please take me to where you saw them." She requested of him.

"What?" Kai asked.

"Saya, the guy let David live. At the very least we can give him a day to get better. Who knows, he might even just leave Diva there."

She shook her head.

"Diva is evil, we can't just give her a break because she's not feeling well. If we're going to do this we must seize this chance now."

"Saya…"

"Remember, Kai, no one good is ever around her. We have no idea why he let David live, all we know is that they're both weakened right now."

No one argued against her point of view, even though it sounded more like the order of a general who didn't have to go and fight the enemy; it was computer-like in its objectivity.

"Haji."

"If that is your wish." He spoke while walking up beside her.

"David, please."

He looked into Saya's eyes for a moment and then looked down.

"Alright."