Hey minna! Before you read the chapter, I'd just like to express my love for you guys who reviewed the last chapter: The. Most. Reviews. A. Chapter. Of. This. Story. Has. EVER. Gotten. \(/w/)/ My eternal appreciation and thanks for you all...
ADDITIONALLY, two updates ago, DTR/CTF reached it's double didgit chapter! YAAAY! -cues baloons and streamers- I don't know about you guys, but I like celebrating those little review milestones...
Anywho, I hope that you enjoy reading the chapter!
Disclaimer: Yes. Yes I do own bleach. In an alternate universe where dragons are considered common and everyone has a pokemon as a companion.
CHAPTER 12
Grimmjow lights down on the ground, his arm charred and smoking from the cero he had countered earlier.
"What was that?" Orihime asks in amazement her eyes lit back and forth between the place where Ulquiorra had vanished and the Sexta Espada.
"Aizen gave us Espada these 'Caja Negacion' so that we could punish our subordinates. That's what I used. They're little boxes that can eternally imprison weaker Arrancar in a separate dimension." Grimmjow's eyes narrow and seem to become darker. "But it's not designed for use on Espada. Given his power, it'll probably hold him for around two or three hours max. So hurry, alright hime?"
Orihime blinks the offers him a small smile. "Right!" She turns around and raises her rieatsu level, causing the healing process to go faster. She glances at Ichigo shyly, but quickly averts her gaze when she sees the shocked and accusing look on his face. When the last of the wounds close up she sighs in satisfaction. With a wave of her hand, she sends Ayame and Lily off to heal Grimmjow's arm and offers a hand to Ichigo. "I hope you're ready Kurosaki-kun, Nii-san's gotten stronger since you last met him!" She chirps, while giving him the best smile that she can.
He stares at her with wide eyes before grabing her wrist and yanking her behind him, before he throws himself with Zangetsu carving an arc in the air at Grimmjow with an animalistic yell.
"Santen Kishun!"
The Shinigami freezes as the golden shield erects itself between him and the Espada with a stunned look on his face. Slowly Ichigo lowers his zanpakuto and turns to face Orihime, his eyes hidden behind his hair. "What are you doing?" He asks quietly, not looking up at her. Orihime lets the shield dissolve and rubs her arm self-consiously. Biting her lip, she feels unexplainable guilt well up in her chest.
"Eto…I'm protecting my nii-san…is there something wrong with that?" She adds on at the end, somewhat defensively. Ichigo slowly walks towards her, and grabs her shoulders roughly. "Itai! Kurosaki-kun, wha-?"
"Stop it."
"Eh?"
"Just…Stop it Inoue!" Ichigo yells finally lifting his eyes and Orihime freezes when she sees the emotion in them. Fear. "Stop talking about him like you're brother! Stop acting so, so casual about me an him fighting each other! Killing! Stop acting like you're not worried I might get hurt! Stop acting like you're fascinated about us fighting! STOP ACTING LIKE SOMONE I DON'T KNOW!" Ichigo's grip tightens around Orihime shoulders, and he shakes her violently.
"Ku-Kurosaki-kun, stop! Calm down! That hurts!" Orihime protests, trying to pull Ichigo's hands off, but finds she's unable to.
"What were they talking about? Something about being in a lab? About you getting hurt? Why was he saying that he had a fight with you?! Why did Ulquiorra say you two were in love?!" Ichigo gives Orihime another violent shake and she cries out in pain as his fingers dig into her arm.
"TEME!"
Orihime flinches as Grimmjow punches Ichigo away from her, sending him rocketing backwards several feet. Ichigo stumbles and falls on his back, Zangetsu falling from his grasp. Grimmjow sonido's in front of him, kicking away the zanpakuto just before Ichigo can make a grab at it. Ichigo's eyes flick around nervously for a few moments as the Sexta glares down at him. Awkwardly, he looks up and meets Grimmjow's eyes, and Orihime can see him subtly flinch. The two stare each other down and they seem to have a silent conversation…Or, (Orihime thinks deadpanning slightly) a silent threat match.
"Nee-chan, daijobu ka?" The little green haired girl asks, hesitantly tugging on the hem of Orihime's hakama. Smiling sweetly, Orihime bends down and brushes the top of her mask fragment-which is shaped like a chibi-fied skull-comfortingly.
"Don't worry! Nee-chan is super strong!" She says happily, flexing one arm, and poking at her bicep...well, what muscle is there at least. "So don't worry, eto, Nel-chan." Orihime claps her hands together as she remembers the little girl's name.
"Orihime…"
Turning around, Orihime looks up in surprise at Ichigo, who for some reason, has found an interest in the ground a couple of feet away. "Gomen. Are you hurt badly?" he asks softly, Zangetsu handing limply at his side.
Standing up without saying a word, Orihime plants a hand on her hip, and justs it out, just like how another arrancar she knows would. Ichigo looks up at her and his eyes widen when he sees the disapproving expression on her face. Snapping forwards like a viper, Orihime throws a quick punch and Ichigo jumps, even though it's no where near close to landing on him. He looks at her in confusion, but smiles hesitantly when he sees the playful smirk on her face.
"Silly Kurosaki-kun, didn't you hear me telling Nel-chan that I was fine?" She scolds him playfully, wiggling her fist at him. Rolling his eyes, he lightly bumps his own fist against her's. Looking over her shoulder, she sticks her tongue out at Grimmjow's back. "Same goes for Nii-san."
"Baka…" Is all the response that she gets from the cat-like Espada. "Oi, Hime. Get these things off me. I don't need it." He snaps, shaking his arms, causing Ayame and Lily to titter in annoyance.
Orihime smirks to herself, then puts an innocent expression on her face. "Demo, nii-san, I though you wanted to fight Kurosaki-kun on even grounds." She says in a light and childish voice, giving Ichigo a hidden wink.
"Relax Inoue. He just wants to use it as an excuse when he loses." Ichigo says, as Orihime slides out of the way. Just in time too, as Grimmjow pounces on Ichigo, Zangetsu and Pantera appearing out of thin air in their respective owner's hands.
"This is awesome…" Grimmjow hisses as his mouth breaks out into a predatory grin that Orihime hasn't seen on his face for some time. "We're going to have ourselves a good, clean deathmatch."
Seeing Grimmjow's arm returning to its previous unscarred state, Orihime calls her fairies back, and they quickly return to her hair pin.
Behind them Nel starts sniffling, and instead of Orihime, it's the Strawberry who goes over to comfort the little girl. He rubs the top of her head reassuringly. "Come on, don't make that face Nel." He says, "You either Ino-" Ichigo promptly cuts his sentence off when he sees the soft smile on Orihime face. Instead, he gives her a confident smile. " I'm definitely going to win. So don't worry." Turning to glare at Grimmjow, he grabs Zangetsu's hilt. "Let's go elsewhere."
Grimmjow doesn't respond, but simply smirks. The two of them sonido and shunpo off, the wind whipping around in their wake.
As Ichigo lands on the ground, his rieatsu surrounds him for a split second, before it transforms itself into his bankai. Grimmjow stations himself on on of the towers that are still standing, and Orihime remembers that lesson when he told her about the advantage that a higher position had in a fight. There's a moment of tense silence…and then they attack.
Beside Orihime, Nel wimpers, as the sound of ringing swords reach their ears. Initially, she takes no notice. Instead she watches in fascination as Grimmjow fights, not quite at full strength, but as close to full strength as she's ever seen him. However, she notes, Ichigo doesn't seem to be quite at full strength either, so she knows that there'll be plenty of twists in this fight.
"Don't worry. Kurosaki-kun will win." She comments absently to Nel, as she continues to observe the two fighting.
"H-how do you know?"
"He told you, didn't he? A little bit of faith goes a long way Nel-chan."
Like how maybe if he had a little faith in me, he wouldn't turn back into an 'emo frigging rock'…
:-:-:-:-:
Orihime surpresses the urge to roll her eyes as Grimmjow laughes his head off. As much as you know it's in his character to provoke his enemy, having to listen to Grimmjow antagonize his enemy can get a little annoying when it goes on for five minutes…and counting. "Would you stop playing with your food nii-san?" she mutters to herself, making sure it's not loud enough for Nel to hear.
As of now, the two are still locked together by their swords, but this time, instead of being far away, they're actually within earshot.
"…To rescue Inoue!"
Orihime starts when she hears Ichigo's shout, as the two fighters blades ring off one another again. Warmth wells up in her chest when she hears the declaration, but for some reason, her heart beats no faster than it did before. She blinks in confusion, but before Orihime can question it further, Grimmjow's laugh cuts her off.
"Ha! If that's true, why didn't you just grab her and run the moment you saw her?!" He demands, swinging Pantera in a deadly arc towards Ichigo's head. "Were you relieved to find her physically unharmed?! Even though, she might be a little fucked up on the inside?!"
The warm feeling is quickly replaced by the feeling of your gut twisting inside of you, as you see Ichigo falter for a split second.
"Kisama! What did you do to Inoue!?" Ichigo demands, and even from far away, you can see the raw anger that is in his eyes.
Orihime inhales deeply, "It's not his fault Kurosaki-kun!" She shouts, willing her voice to reach their ears. The two of them stop for a split second and stare up at her from where they're standing in astonishment. "So don't blame Nii-san. And Nii-san," Orihime plants her hands on her hips, and glares down at Grimmjow disapprovingly. "don't even think of involving that into your fight. Sheesh!"
The two males share a look. Ichigo seems to ask Grimmjow something, but the arrancar just responds with a traditional smirk and the flip of the finger.
Which, of course, causes Ichigo to go flying at him in a rage.
:-:-:-:-:
Orihime's mouth drops open as she watches Grimmjow cut his finger on the base of Pantera's blade. He wouldn't. He WOULDN'T! I know that Halibel-neechan said that Grimmjow-nii can be rash, but he WOULDN'T!
"THE STRONGEST CERO, WHICH ONLY ESPADAS ARE ALLOWED TO DO!"
THAT SUPER BAKA, HE WOULD!
Ichigo, who's falling directly across from Orihime a kilometer away looks over his shoulder at her and his eyes widen in fear.
"Wait! Grimmjow!" he yells frantically.
"Saten Kishun!"
"GRAN RAY CERO!"
There's a huge explosion, and Orihime covers her head with her arms. When the dust dies down, she looks up to see Ichigo standing in front of her, and it seems like he had easily deflected the blast.
Meanwhile Grimmjow smiles to himself. That is, until a piece of rubble conks him on the head.
"WHAT THE HELL HIME?!"
"YOU BAKA! You KNOW that Gran Ray Cero isn't allowed under Las Noche's canopy!"
"STAY OUT OF THIS, GOD DAMNIT HIME!"
Orihime's about to yell a retort back at him, when Ichigo turns around towards her and despite herself, she freezes. His face is covered by a hollow's mask. And his chocolate brown eyes are now a cold yellow colour that stands out against the black sclarea. Ichigo seems to notice her uneasiness, and the yellow eye's gaze seems to soften. Not by much, but it softens.
"Wari. Are you scared?" He asks, and Orihime barely manages to mask her surprise when she hears her voice. Drowning…it sounds like he's drowning under water, she thinks. "Since I look like this, you'd probably have a hard time listening to me if I told you to relax. But let me say it anyways…Relax. 'Cause I'm gonna wrap this up real soon." He says turning around. "But first…" he growls, pointing at Grimmjow with his sword. "Talk. I don't give a damn whether or not Inoue thinks that you shouldn't involve it into the fight. What. Did. You. Do. To. Her?!" He snarls viciously, the strange distortion in his voice making it sound even more threatening.
Grimmjow cackles madly, but Orihime can hear a strain in his voice. "Why ever do you think I'd ever tell you? Besides, you claim that you're here to rescue her? Is that why you're fighting?! Eh, Kurosaki?! Well I'm fighting, to protect my and all the other Espada's imouto!"
A strangled sound of shock escapes from Ichigo's mouth, and when he turns around to look at her, the horror and shock in his eyes are clear as day. "W-what?"
"She doesn't want to be rescued! She doesn't need to be rescued by a pathetic human like you! She has the ten most powerful Arrancars to call kyodai! And you know what else, Kurosaki?" Grimmjow's grin widens as he throws the words at the shinigami like they are knives. "She. Doesn't. Want. You."
"Masaka…"
Orihime feels shame rear its ugly head, but pride forces her to look up right into Ichigo's face, taking in the shock, disbelief and the look of betrayal. "It's true…you mean well Kurosaki-kun, I know you do! Demo…my place is here. It's, it's all that I've known since…since I lost my memories…" the last part comes out barely audiable, but when Ichigo shunpo's in front of her, she knows that he heard everything.
"You…lost your memories?"
Orihime nods.
"Of…of me?"
"N-no! They're hazy…but Las Noches is all that I've known since…Gomenasai, Kurosa-!"
Orihime's sentence gets cut off when Ichigo suddenly wraps his arms around her and pulls her tightly into his chest.
"Don't worry. It's alright. We'll figure something out, with everyone back home too. Shh."He says softly into her ear as Orihime feels her body shake. He thinks I'm shaking because I'm scared, she realizes. But she's not…she's shaking because…because she isn't craving for his embrace.
She's shaking because she knows someone else's arms are ment to be around her.
Behind them, Orihime hears Grimmjow snarl with impatience. "Hurry it up. I've been waiting for far too long for this." Ichigo starts then leaps away, going over to stand across from Grimmjow. "I've waited so. Fucking. LONG to absolutely CRUSH you!" Orihime watches in horror and awe as Grimmjow places the palm of his left hand on Pantera's blade. His fingers curl into claws as the sand whips around him in response to the air that is swirling around because of his increasing rieatsu levels.
"Grind…PANTERA!"
:-:-:-:-:
Orihime gulps as she watches Ichigo get hurled into another tower, reducing the towering structure into pieces of rubble on impact. She watches them and involuntarily shivers as she recalls the day she watched the blue-haired Espada fight Anónimo. So this is why nii-san didn't want me to watch them fight full strength from up close…she thinks, as Ichigo's signeature Getsuga Tensho rips through the air towards Grimmjow.
The two fighers separate for an instant, and Grimmjow fires some sort of missile like thing from his elbow. Ichigo easily evades it, but they continue on their path straight towards her and Nel. Stepping in front of the smaller arrancar, Orihime holds her hands out, ready to fortify her shield's strength, when Ichigo appears out of nowhere, blocking all five attacks.
He stands there panting for a moment, then looks up at her, and Orihime's eyes widen as his face is replaced by another hollow's, this one with red eyes, and dark hair that seems too familiar to her liking.
Orihime pats her cheeks to get herself to refocus in time to see Grimmjow demonstrating on one of the few remaning towers exactly how powerful those missiles were. The two of them resume fighting shortly afterwards, and Orihime begins spacing out.
I…I loved Kurosaki-kun. He is my nakama. My best friend aside from Tatsuki-chan. But, but he's not the one I love right now…Orihime watches Grimmjow pummelling Ichigo with a pained expression in her eyes.
"The, the masked Itsygo…is losing?" Orihime glances at the small Arrancar girl out of the corner of her eyes. Nel watches Ichigo fearfully as she continues to talk more to herself than to anyone else. "The time with Dordonii-sama, and that time with Ulquiorra-sama," Here Orihime take in a soft, but sharp breath as her heart skips a beat, "when he wore that mask, he squished them with ease. The masked Ichigo was invincible…For that Ichigo, to get beat up like this…" Orihime catches the look Nel gives her, but doesn't make a note of it.
"GAMBATTE, ITSYGO!" Nel suddenly shouts, causing Orihime to jump in surprise. The little girl then whirls towards her, "Hey! What's you doing?! You cheer too!"
"H-huh?"
"No, it's not 'huh'! Itsygo is fighting for you're sake! So why is you acting so afraid?! Itsygo is a good person, that's what you sayed isn't it?! You is right! Nel thinks so too! That Itsygo jumped into attack Ulquiorra-sama when he heard your name!" Again, Orihime feels her heart beat faster for an instant, but immediately after the feeling is gone, she feels guilt, because it isn't for the right reason.
At least, the reason that would be 'right' in Nel's mind.
"Itsygo is human! Even so, he becomes shinigami, puts his mask on and uses that crazy power! And its' not like it doesn't hurt him! It's obvious that he's being hurted! But he's doing it all for you! Using that power, fighting and getting all covered in blood," Nel shouts, tears threatening to overflow from her eyes, "what's the point of all that, if you don't cheer for him?!"
Orihime's eyes widen as the little girl's words register in her mind. She looks down just in time to see Ichigo crash into the base of the tower they're standing on. Grimmjow is several meters away, and seems to be waiting for the shinigami to get to his feet. Ichigo get's up slowly, and in that instant Orihime makes up her mind.
"Go get 'im, Kurosaki-kun!"
Ichigo looks up at her, and Orihime almost laughs when she sees the surprised expression on his face. "You can win Kurosaki-kun. You have to win! You have a lot of people waiting for you, right?" Orihime says lightly as she tilts her head to the side and smiles down encouragingly at him. "You have to win for their sakes, alright?"
The instant after she's finished talking, Grimmjow leaps at the wounded shinigami, who's back is turned towards him. But without turning around, Ichigo catches Grimmjow's hand before it makes contact. Orihime watches Ichigo say something to Grimmjow, just before Zangetsu rises up into the air, then slices back down. A second after, a red line is painted into the air….
:-:-:-:-:
Orihime's fists tighten as she watches Ichigo break through Grimmjow's Dessgaron. "See. I told you he'd win." She murmers absently as Ichigo hurls his words of resolve at the Sexta, similar to the way Grimmjow had hurled his own at shinigami not too long ago.
Zangetsu shatters the condensed blades of reiatsu as the shinigami barrels forwards. "I'll beat you! I'll beat Ulquiorra! I'll beat Aizen! And then I'll take Rukia, and Chad, and Renji back with me! And I will bring Inoue home, back to OUR family!" He yells, "I cannot allow myself to be defeated by the likes of you, GRIMMJOW!"
Orihime shuts her eyes as the black blade once again pierces through flesh and sinews. Hesitantly, she reopens them in time to see Ichigo slowly letting Grimmjow's limp body rest onto the ground before back rising up Nel and herself.
"Ku-Kuro-"
"You're…You're not hurt are you? Inoue…" he asks, as he stands in the air as naturally as he would stand on a side walk.
Orihime gives him a teasing grin, "Well, I'm mildly upset since you beat my Nii-san, but," She pauses as a green blurr appears in the corner over her vision. Eh?
"ITSYGO!"
"GYAAAHAA!"
Orihime claps her hands over her mouth as Nel's flying tackle hug sends the shinigami skidding back a good five or six meters.
"You, YOU IDIOT! What were you thinking?!" Ichigo shouts indigniantly as he holds the little girl up, "We're in mid-air! You'd die if you fell!"
Orihime smiles as she sees Ichigo's expression soften, no doubt because of something the adorable little arrancar had said.
"Thank you Nel." He says, rubbing her head, "I'm just glad that Inoue's alright." He looks up at Orihime, and she just smiles weakly back. There's still a look of betrayal in his eyes. And she doesn't like it.
"What can I say? My anikitachi have made sure that I've gotten good and strong!" She chirps, striking a pose. To her relief and delight, Ichigo huffs in amusement. "Don't be suck a worry…wart?" Orihime's sentence ends in a question when Ichigo grabs her by the waist and props her up onto his shoulder. "W-wait, Kurosaki-kun, what are you doing?" She stammers, as her face heats up.
"What am I doing? We're going down. I'd be quicker for me to carry you tan to try and find stairs in all this rubble right?" He asks, completely oblivious to Orihime discomfort.
"O-oh…I see…"
"Don't worry, it's not like you're as heavy as I thought you'd be-GYAH!"
Orihime looks over her shoulder in surprise as Ichigo glares down at Nel.
"You little…"
"You can't talks to ladies that way…There's a special way to talk to ladies y'know." Nell says in a lecturing voice, and Orihime can't help but giggle at her tone. For some reason, it reminds her of Grimmjow's lecturing voice when he was teaching her how to sparr. "Even if they's heavy, you's s'pposed to tell them they're not! EVEN IF THEY'S HEAVY!"
"Don't worry too much Nel-chan, relax a little…" Orihime says as Ichigo leaps down from the tower, grumbling under his breath the whole way down.
"There we go…" He murmers to himself, "For now since I'm going to help Chad and Rukia-"
"Wha-What about us?! Are you just gonna leave us here?!" Nel protests, tears already welling up in her eyes.
"That's now what I meant, come with me. Staying here would probably be more dangerous." Ichigo explains as he sets Orihime down.
"Nii-san!"
Orihime dashes forwards as Grimmjow appears behind him, halting a couple steps away when the battered and bloody arrancar snarls angrily.
"Like I'd lose…there's no way…THAT I COULD LOSES TO YOU!"
Grimmjow tries to charge forwards, but stumbles. However, instead of falling flat onto his face, a pair of arms catches him, breaking his fall.
"Stop it nii-san. It's over and done with already." Orihime says softly, not bothering to use Soten Kissun to heal his wounds. She already knows that Grimmjow's pride won't let him allow her to heal his injuries.
"She's right Grimmjow." Ichigo says from behind them, walking up to the two of them. "I don't know if you're a king or what. But crushing everyone you dispise, and standing alone as the king, there's no fun in something like that. If you despise me, then I'll fight you as many times as you want. Knock it off already."
Orihime feels Grimmjow slump against him for a split second before he shoves her away roughly. "Go fuck yourself!" he roars, "You're-"
Orihime watches in horror as she lays down on the ground as a giant cresent shaped blade collides with Grimmjow. For a split second, time seems to freeze. "Nii…san?" the blade gets yanked out of the wounded Espada's body, and time returns to normal speeds as two figures appear behind them, and Grimmjow's body falls to the ground. Orihime mouth opens in horror as wild blue hair is replaced by brown locks that reach the owner's chin, and blue eyes are exchanged for the same shade of gray of her own eyes. No…nonononononononononoooo!
"ONII-SAAAN!"
GRIMMY-NEKO-CHAAANNN! TT_TT
I hope that this wasn't too boring, but it's kind of nessisary. Just as a fair warning, there's going to be two more chapters of re-written canon stuff for chapter-spacing reasons. Gomen ne. I'll try to make them as interesting as possible. -determined face-
So what did you think? Like it? Hated it? (I myself am leaning towards the latter option -harumphs-) PLEASE REVIEW!
p.s Bleach, Naruto, Nurarihyon no Mago, and Soul Eater got updated. Me is happy.
p.p.s During class I started obsessing about Vic Mingogna (aka Spirit (soul eater), Tamaki Souh (OHSHC) Edward Elric (FMA) and our fave cueball) and brough up Soul Eater. A teacher of mine was marking some social science homework her other class had and the person started talking about said anime. It's suffice to say I had a mini fangirl attack when she asked me to explain what it was to her/help her mark -evil grin-