Forbidden Love

Chapter 20 - Good Luck

The albino's body plummeted to the floor with a loud thud, the sound echoing throughout the silent room. Everyone stared at the twitching body, eyes wide and mouths gaping as the seizing, writhing body finally stilled, limbs twisted in unnatural positions and golden eyes hollow, open wide to stare blankly at the shadowy ceiling. Aizen began to chuckle as he reseated himself at the head of the table, turning the chair to face the all too still body. All the Espada turned to look at Aizen as he laughed. The man's eyes were shining with glee as he stared at Shiro. Or at least what used to be Shiro.

"I think a demonstration is in order." Aizen unsheathed his sword and made a small movement with it, dragging the tip through the air to point at the albino. "Stand." His voice became hollow, sounding a lot like how the golden-eyed boy's used to sound. Immediately, the albino stood, his arms locking in place on either side. Aizen turned to look at the other Espada. "Meet the Cero Espada. Would anyone like to volunteer to fight him?" No one said a word. Aizen sighed. "Fine then. Starrk, you will fight him." The grey-eyed Espada sighed deeply before standing up obediently and walking quietly over to the albino. Starrk turned to Aizen for a command. "You two will fight. The fight is over when one is pinned. Now start."

As Starrk began to step forward, Aizen make a slight movement with his sword. Shiro turned to face Starrk, his limbs loosening from their stiff position at his side as he took an offensive stance. The brunette sighed again before leaping forward, right palm opened wide in an attack. There was a light pressure as he pushed against Shiro's chest, trying to throw him backward. Then, he blinked and Shiro was gone. Grey eyes flew open wide and he stopped, skidding to a halt right where Shiro had been. Everyone was silent as the brunette swiveled, eyes narrowed as he looked for the for kid.

Suddenly, he felt a presence behind him and he spun around quickly, blocking an attack from the hypnotized teen. A punch was thrown towards him and he blocked it with his left arm just as another was thrown at him from the other side. This was halted by his right. Starrk threw out his leg, pressing the heel of his boot into the dead center of the kid's chest. Shiro was propelled backward and the golden-eyed teen skidded to a stop twenty feet away. Starrk didn't even pause before he used sonido to move forward. Just as he reached Shiro, the tips of his fingers brushing against the kid's bloody chest, the teen had disappeared once again. Starrk mumbled under his breath as an arm landed on his shoulder. Without even turning, he snatched up the arm with both hands and tugged, Shiro's nearly limp body soaring over his head. The albino tumbled through the air, stretching out his hand to press against the floor. Blood splattered out of his hand as the skin was torn away by the friction from tiled floor, still flying backward. Finally he came to a screeching halt, his body pressing against the wall.

Starrk's lips pursed in thought. The kid could still bleed. Which meant he wasn't invincible, like Aizen's previous actions had made him believe. So, why was Aizen making Starrk fight Shiro?

Shiro brushed his hand against his side, not even flinching as it caused the fabric of his shirt to press into his wound. Starrk watched the action curiously. The kid definitely could not feel pain or else he'd pay closer attention to his cuts and wounds. Starrk watched curiously as the albino began to walk forward again. Starrk summoned up a cero, the blast being sent straight at the all to quiet teen. Starrk didn't know if this was allowed but he wanted to test how fast Shiro was.

The cero exploded, the blast throwing Starrk back a little. The explosion tore apart parts of the room and rock flew up, basking the floor and other Espada in dust. Coughing erupted but Starrk was silent, eyes trained on the place where Shiro had just been standing. The dust slowly settled and Starrk's eyes narrowed, focusing on the point. When he noticed that there was no body, no ash, nothing at all to determine that the kid had actually, in fact, been there, his eyes widened and he whirled around. Aizen chuckled from his seat at the table.

"Too late." Light weight pressed down on him but he was caught off guard and stumbled under the surprising impact. He fell to the ground, his arms trapped beneath his body. Starrk groaned at the impact, dust flying up and making him clench his eyes shut. Aizen laughed again and he blinked his clenched eyes open, wrestling his arms out from beneath him. Behind him, he could hear the shocked voices of the other Espada. He sighed once again.

"I'm just not the type to do this sort of thing." The grey-eyed Espada mumbled under his breath, crossing his arms and laying his head down on top of them.

"Get up." The hollow, spine-tingling voice spilled from Aizen's mouth again and then the weight on his back lifted, the albino moving to stand up beside Aizen. "He isn't very powerful yet, but as you can see he is fairly quick. All of you will be training with him the next few days. Do you all understand?" The usual 'Yes, Aizen-sama' came back and he grinned, very pleased. "Grimmjow, escort Shiro-san to his room." The blunette nodded dazedly, eyes still wide from what had just occurred. "All of you are dismissed." Everyone slowly made their way out, heading back to their previous engagements. "You will follow Grimmjow."

The Sexta stood up and began to exit the room, pausing to wait for the albino to catch up. He was somewhat nervous and anxious so he shoved his hands into his pockets, eyes falling downcast as he led the kid to his room.

They were silent as they walked down the hallway, the only sound being the incessant clicking of their heels on the tiles. Strangely enough, none of the lower-class hollow were roaming around the halls like they usually were. Grimmjow found this intriguing but didn't pursue the idea of searching for the answer later. The blunette knew to leave well enough alone.

When they finally reached Shiro's room, Grimmjow nodded his head towards the albino before making his leave. He didn't even get three paces away before he turned, curious as to way the door hadn't opened yet. He stared at the blank-eyed albino, who hadn't made any movement to go inside. Grimmjow scrunched up his nose, a crease forming between his brows. Was the kid suddenly helpless? He sighed, plowing his hand through his hair, ruffling it a bit before he walked over to the new Espada. Gently, he pushed the albino aside, throwing open the door before shoving the kid inside. The door slammed shut behind them but Grimmjow didn't pay any mind, as he had just noticed the blood dripping on Shiro. Grimmjow grunted in disbelief, wondering how he could have gotten into such a situation.

"Oi, kid, go sit down." The new Espada didn't make any movement and Grimmjow snarled under his breath, pushing Shiro towards the bed and making him sit on the edge. After he was certain the officially helpless boy wouldn't get into any harm, Grimmjow headed into the bathroom, rummaging around in the cabinets. The blue-haired Espada gathered up a handful of bandages, a bottle of something that contained alcohol, and some sort of antibiotic topical cream with a strange name written across the container.

The Sexta headed back into the bedroom, barely noticing his sigh of relief when he saw the albino hadn't moved from the spot. Unceremoniously, he lifted up the albino's arms over his head, tugging off the blood splattered shirt and tossing it to the floor for one of the servants to pick up later. Then, he unscrewed the cap of the bottle and snatched up Shiro's hands, forming the limp hands into a bowl. The Sexta winced when he brushed his calloused fingers over one of the open wounds but when he looked up, Shiro hadn't even blinked.

"Might sting a little..." He mumbled under his breath even though he knew the new Shiro wouldn't care. He poured some of the liquid in and it bubbled over the wounds, the blood mixing in and turning it red. Grimmjow snatched up the shirt off the floor again once the bubbles had disappeared and wiped off the blood and strange liquid before throwing it back to the floor. After he heard it swish to the floor, he rubbed some of the oily cream on the grayish-pink parts of Shiro's sliced open palms before quickly bandaging them.

Grimmjow joined Shiro on the bed, sitting beside him and watched as Shiro's hands slowly fell to his lap. Blue eyes narrowed. How could someone so exciting and intriguing be broken so quickly? He wasn't even sure how it had happened. One minute Shiro had been half-scowling, half-smirking like usual and then the light in the golden eyes had faded, sucked away into the air along with every other exciting part of his personality. It almost pissed Grimmjow off, if he didn't already know he didn't care for the kid.

The blunette ignored the twinge that formed in his chest at that thought and the voice in his head mumbling 'if you didn't care for the kid, why haven't you left yet?'. Grimmjow scratched at his bone jaw habitually before grumbling under his breath. What was he going to do with the kid now? It seemed almost cruel to just leave him sitting there... but it wasn't like he could just sit here all day watching him. Grimmjow sighed and fell back onto the bed, at a loss.

Suddenly, he heard the click of heels from outside the door and the blue-eyed Espada sat up, his gears working in his head. He had an idea. The blunette promptly jumped off the bed, the sudden change of weight making it creak and thump against the wall. Briskly, he crossed the room and threw open the door, startling the servant who had been walking down the hall. Immediately, the young man bowed, his back tense and fists clenched, pressing against his sides. Grimmjow leaned against the doorframe and rose an eyebrow, practically tasting the fear that was seemingly rolling off the young servent in waves. The blunette gripped the door tightly, anxious.

"G-good evening, G-grimmjow-sama." Grimmjow snorted and the servant shivered at the sound, hands trembling. The young man's lips twitched as he stopped talking and he spread his hands to press against his hips as he tried to get them to stop moving.

"Whatever. Jus' come 'ere." The servant stood, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion and his strawberry-blonde curls bouncing at the movement. Bangs slid over his forehead, shrouding his dark eyes with shadows. His high cheeks were covered in freckles and a dark blush smeared over his upturned nose. Nervously, he fiddled with his thumbs, coming over to stand in front of Grimmjow, who easily towered over him. "Got any orders?" The lower-class hollow shook his head anxiously. "Good, then ya can help me out." Grimmjow jabbed his thumb over his shoulder and the kid leaned to the side, noticing the too-still Shiro.

"Shiro-sama..." A strange expression came over his face but Grimmjow ignored it and nodded.

"Look, 'e can't really take care of 'imself an' 'm really busy lately so ya think you can stay 'ere an' make sure 'e sleeps and eats and..." Grimmjow trailed off but the kid understood and nodded, a little half-smile popping up onto his lips as he bowed.

"Of course, Grimmjow-sama." The blue-eyed Espada smirked, pleased, and allowed the kid inside. He turned to leave but stopped just before the door closed and wheeled around, pushing it back open.

"What's yer name, kid?" The kid jumped a little from where he was studying Shiro, thinking that the Sexta had already left. He turned to look up at Grimmjow, fumbling with a loose string on his shirt.

"Sa-satoshi, sir." Grimmjow pursed his lips and nodded, ducking back out silently.

"Good luck, Satoshi." Satoshi smiled his thanks as Grimmjow left. The Sexta allowed the door to slide shut behind him as he headed back to his quarters. Considering Shiro's condition, Satoshi really would need some good luck.

The blue-eyed Espada sighed as he walked, staring at his feet. Grimmjow hoped he had made the right decision.

Five individuals broke through a rift in space, wind swishing by their faces until they landed on a tiled floor. The weight of Zangetsu on Ichigo's back caused him to land first and he nearly stumbled, his feet sliding across the floor. He felt air rush behind him as the rest of them landed beside him. A hand rested on his shoulder and he turned to see Renji holding out a hand to him. He took it and stood up, brushing dust off his clothes and helping Rukia up before looking around.

"I was expecting Hueco Mundo to look... I'unno, shittier." He could practically feel Rukia rolling her eyes but ignored it. Ishida stepped in front of him when he began to walk away.

"Kurosaki, keep your voice down! You don't want them to hear us, do you?" Ichigo just walked around him, heading down the hallway. "Kurosaki! Did you hear me?"

"Yeah, your voice is pretty loud, too." Renji snorted and headed after Ichigo. Ishida sighed and nodded apologetically before following as well, Chad and Rukia pulling up the rear. They walked for what felt like a long time before Ishida jogged up to Ichigo's side.

"Got a plan, Kurosaki?" Ichigo nodded. Ishida rose a brow in disbelief. "Already?"

"Yeah, how about we capture the first person we see and force them to tell us where Shiro and Inoue are." Ishida scoffed.

"You really think that will actually work?" Ichigo shrugged.

"Why not?" Ishida sighed, shaking his head and mumbling under his breath. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a light. Ishida tapped Ichigo on the shoulder and pointed, using his other hand to push his glasses up his nose. "Oh... perfect." They all picked up the pace, running down the hall and into the portal of light. As they broke through, they clenched their eyes shut, pupils fluctuating at the sudden change of lighting. Ichigo squinted his eyes, hooding them with his hand. He looked around the huge room, sizing up the large columns and tall ceiling. He whistled low under his breath. "Damn." The others nodded, agreeing.

"Oh... Ichigo, look." Rukia came up beside him, pointing across the huge room to a staircase. They began to cross the room quickly when a huge explosion behind them made them flinch. A huge gust of air threw them to the ground and large chunks of rocks flew out from the door they had just come from. Ichigo groaned, rolling onto his back to look at what had caused the outburst.

A huge hollow towered over them, his arms covered in thick, corded muscles that rippled beneath his tight shirt. Mahogany colored hair cascaded over his shoulders, curling around a mask he had donned that shrouded his eyes and forehead. A large grin split across his face when he saw the group moving to sit up on the rubble covered floor. The dust began to settle and all of them turned when they heard the distinct sound of clicking heels. From behind the huge monster, a more slender hollow erupted, a long beak-like mask poking out from his face. One part of his face was uncovered, revealing silver locks that was slicked back beneath the white veil and a blue eye that regarded them icily. His cloak ruffled as he stepped forward, moving closer and closer to them. Ichigo, feeling threatened with battle, began to sit up more, pulling Zangetsu from it's sheath. A small hand rested on his arm, stopping him.

"Kurosaki." Ichigo looked at Ishida who had a strange expression on his face. "Sado and I will handle this. You, Kuchiki, and Abarai will go on." Ichigo was about to argue but Ishida shook his head. "Inoue and your brother are most important thing right now. Go." Ichigo nodded and stood quickly, rushing towards the door. He could hear Rukia and Renji follow him as they headed up the staircase. Ichigo trusted Chad and Ishida to handle this. He wouldn't doubt their abilities, no matter how much he hated leaving them behind.

They would meet up soon. He just knew it.

They had to.

A/N:

Another late chapter? D: Gosh Sevvy, you really need to get your gears workin' soon! BUT OH MY GOD! I finally made it to TWENTY chapters! Are any of you as excited as me?

I'm SOOOO sorry for the late update. I promised myself last time that I wouldn't wait a month to update and I did it anyway! At this rate, it'll take years to finish this T_T

Also, about Aizen's voice... I dunno if I should explain this but I might as well. The reason it is hollow is because he has complete control over Shiro's body. He controls the Hogyoku inside of Shiro's poor body with his zanpoktou and by speaking in the hollow voice Shiro used to have, Shiro's body thinks it's his own and does what it tells him to do.

Anyway, I look forward to your thoughts on everything so gar. Please review! It gets me going~

Love,

Sevvy