Forbidden Love

Chapter 21 - Not Hard To Miss

Ichigo saw the top of the staircase appear and upped his pace, beginning to take the rest of the steps two at a time. The remaining steps were easily cleared at his fast pace and the teen jumped off the last steps, straight into pure, white sand. The brown-eyed substitute Shinigami walked forward slowly, staring up with squinted eyes at the sun glaring overhead. He felt sand pelt at his back when Rukia and Renji finally caught up with him and stepped into the sand, their feet sinking in a few feet as the powdery soil protested beneath their feet and shot up in a huge wave. They trudged through, tugging up their pants to avoid the sand seeping inside their clothing, and moved stand beside him as he gazed at the huge world around them. It was barren of life save for the occasional dead tree that sprouted from the powdery sand. The sand was all they could see, stretching on for miles in front of them. Mounds of the soil formed all sizes of hills and as he stepped forward and slipped into a pocket of air beneath him, being dragged down to mid-calf, he lost some of the hope he had. How was he supposed to find his brother if every step took huge bites out of his energy. Ichigo sighed, plopping down in the sand.

"Ichigo? What are you doing?" Ichigo looked up to see Rukia struggling through inches of sand to move beside him. Handfuls of fabric were in her hands, and her violet eyes were clenched to block out flying gusts of sand. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Renji messing around with a nearby tree, breaking off the branches like they were nothing. The red-haired Shinigami curiously studied the pieces in his hands as if they were gems, his calloused fingers running over the damaged, grey twigs.

"This is impossible, Rukia. How in the fuck am I supposed to find my brother? Just look at this place. It's bigger then a city!" Rukia rose a brow curiously at his words and sighed, grabbing at his sleve and tugging incessantly.

"Ichigo, get up." A crease formed between the orangette's eyes as he furrowed his brows. Slowly he stood up and Rukia wrapped her arm around his waist, wheeling him around to face the opposite direction. The violet-eyed Shinigami pointed straight ahead. "Look, you dumbass." Right in front of their eyes was a huge castle, the building prominent in the dusty background. Ichigo was silent for a moment before he blushed in embarrassment.

"Oh." Rukia rolled her eyes and began to walk, using flashstep every few paces to speed up the process. Renji came up behind the still shocked Ichigo and gave him a teasing punch on the shoulder.

"It's okay, kid. Yer just stressed. 'M sure it's not hard to miss it." Renji's voice began to take on a sarcastic tone and Ichigo rolled his eyes, landing a punch on Renji's arm.

"Shut up, dumbass, and let's go." He chased after the retreating Rukia and ignored the chuckles from Renji.

Grimmjow awoke with a groan, rolling over onto his side and clenching his eyes shut to the world. His arm wrapped around a pillow as he felt sleep begin to take over. Just as he relaxed into the mattress, a knock on his door made him jump awake. A growl ripped from his throat and quick as a flash, he throw back the covers and crossed the room to the door. Grimmjow's eyebrows furrowed in frustration and he just barely restrained his anger, enough to keep himself from ripping the door off it's hinges. The wood creaked in protest beneath the Sexta's fist as he tugged it open. Fury swirled in the depths of his blue eyes as he looked down into a short servant's eyes and snarled ferociously. The sound ripped out of his mouth past his clenched teeth as the servant hastily bowed.

"What the fuck do ya want?" The servant straightened up and stepped back with a shudder, sending a wide-eyed glance up at the larger male.

"Er, uhh..." The shorter male stuttered and Grimmjow growled again, leaning down to level out their faces.

"Spit. It. Out." There was a moment of silence before the shorter man nodded and stood up a little straighter. Grimmjow stood up as well, staring down at the Arrancar.

"T-there's a m-meeting in a half hour." Grimmjow sighed and nodded, spinning around and shutting the door, not caring if it happened to be slammed in the smaller Arrancar's face. The anger from being awoken so early was already starting to slowly fade away, but he didn't care for the pathetic minion so he didn't regret it anyway.

After taking a shower, he got dressed slowly, trying to burn off as much time as he could. Although he hated the meetings with a passion, it was better then sitting around doing nothing like he usually did. Aizen hadn't gotten the time to discover anything to amuse the Espada so they usually just wandered around for something to do. Finally, after burning off twenty minutes, the Espada left his room, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his uniform as he headed towards the meeting room.

Halfway there, Grimmjow passed Shiro's room. The Sexta hesitated as he passed the door, his booted foot stopping midstep. Nervously, he looked around for anyone who might be watching before heading over to the large set of doors, pushing one open slowly. As he entered the room, the first thing he noticed was the absence of the pale kid. The cerulean-eyed Espada began to panic when he noticed the servant -Satoshi, he remembered vaguely- from yesterday asleep on a couch in the corner of the room. The door swung shut with a bang behind him as he walked over, jerking the Arrancar's shoulders to wake him.

Dark eyes slowly blinked open and Satoshi yawned, stretching his arms high over his head. As he sat up, rubbing his eyes, Grimmjow growled and then Satoshi jumped, looking up with wide eyes. When he saw the Sexta, he startled again, jumping this time to his feet. The dark-eyed Arrancar began to stutter before finally choking out: "G-grimmjow-sama!" Grimmjow's teeth began to grind in anger and he repressed the urge to just wrap his hands around that thin neck and strangle the incompetent Arrancar.

"Where's Shiro?" Satoshi froze, his hands still in the air from where he had been trying to defend himself from the Sexta's anger.

"Oh, he's, uhh... Sleeping?" Grimmjow spun around and noticed the lump in the bed. He barely noticed the relieved sigh spilling from both his and Satoshi's lips. Slowly, Grimmjow walked over, pulling back the covers slightly to reveal Shiro's sleeping body. His once-golden eyes were closed shut to the world, and his breathing was slowed, so Grimmjow figured that the albino was sleeping, or at least a form of resting. Good. The albino really needed it after all that had happened the past few days.

Vaguely, he wondered how Ulquiorra was faring with that orange-haired chick, before pushing the thought away into the back of his mind. The Sexta replaced the covers and turned to Satoshi, thanking him before leaving again and heading to the meeting room again.

When he reached his destination, he noticed the doors were shut and cursed under his breath. He was late. Again. The cerulean-eyed Espada could tell that Aizen would not be happy. With a deep breath, he pushed open the doors, met with the sight of everyone turning to stare at him.

"Ah, Grimmjow, it's so nice of you to finally join us." Grimmjow let the doors slide shut behind him and headed over to the table, taking his place in the seat furthest from the man now staring at him from the head of the table. "Well, now that everyone is here, we can finally begin the meeting. Kaname, the projection please."

Out of the corner of his blue eyes, Grimmjow saw Kaname pull a lever, and a large column of blue-yellow light shone up from the center of the table. It burned brightly up towards the ceiling and the light begin to swirl, flowing into an image. The Espada sitting around the table leaned forward, gazing curiosuly at the image of three Shinigami running through the sand just outside the castle.

"These three are intruders, along with another two currently in a battle with two of our army. Rukia Kuchiki, Renji Abarai, and Ichigo Kurosaki." Grimmjow sat up straight, his back stiffening at the latter name. His eyes widened as he glared at the sight, missing the look Aizen sent towards him as the brunette took a sip of tea. A voice spoke up.

"These are our enemies?" Every turned to see Aaroniero speaking. Barragan grunted in agreement.

"They are just children. What are thinking trying to attack?" The others joined in, agreeing with him. Aizen chuckled, setting down the mug in his hand.

"Do not underestimate them. They humans were known as Ryoka in Soul Society when the four of them invaded and went up against the Gotei 13. They have come to save their friend, Inoue Orihime, and Ichigo's brother, our newest Espada number." Grimmjow froze at the words, just vaguely hearing a spat begin to break out between Nnoitra and Hallibel.

Suddenly he stood up, the chair he sat in screeching across the tiles as it was pushed back. Something in him told him he needed to talk to that Kurosaki kid. Maybe warn him about his brother. He didn't know. All Grimmjow knew was that something was wrong with those twins and he wanted to find out what it was.

As he passed by Kaname, the darker man spoke up, not even turning to face him as he retreated.

"Where do you think you are going?" Grimmjow finally stopped a few paces away, glaring at the blind man out of the corner of his narrowed eyes. Without a pause, he replied, even if he knew it might not be true.

"I'm goin' ta fight 'em. Better to get rid of 'em before they cause too much trouble, right?" The words came out in a cocky tone and Grimmjow threw the still man a cocky sneer. Kaname still hadn't moved, staring straight forward to where the table was in the center of the room. Grimmjow could feel the stares on the back of his neck from the other Espada and he repressed a shiver.

"Aizen hasn't issued any orders for us. Sit." Grimmjow's smirk disappeared and he growled in anger, turning to glare at Kaname, his fingers curling into tight fists as he snarled through his clenched teeth.

"I'm doin' this fer Aizen's sake!" Kaname didn't reply, but his lips moved silently in thought as he tried to decide whether to reply or wait for Aizen to speak for himself. Finally, the brunette did speak, his voice cold and emotionless as he called out Grimmjow's name. A clang indicated that the man had gone back to sipping his tea, waiting for the man to reply. The cerulean-eyed Espada turned, glaring viciously at the back of the white throne at the head of the table. He wished he could just rip through the stone chair and strangle the brunette until he begged for mercy.

"Yes?" Grimmjow scowled, knowing very well the calm smile that was now twitching up over the brunette's thin lips.

"I'm very pleased that you want to act on my behalf but..." There was a pause here in the sentence as Aizen took another sip, indicated by the clang of the teacup being placed back on the plate. "I wasn't done speaking. Please return to your seat." The blue-eyed Espada didn't reply, still staring venomously at the back of the chair. Aizen had leaned to the side, revealing half of his face as he waited for Grimmjow to answer. The Sexta could see the twitch of the man's lips as he spoke again. "What's wrong?" Grimmjow still didn't reply, his face devoid of emotion. "I can't hear you, Jeagerjaques." Grimmjow blinked at the name, opening his mouth to finally speak when Aizen's reiatsu spiked and sent the Sexta to his knees. The cerulean-eyed man choked out screams as he gasped for air, the pressure pounding on his back. He was still, completely helpless to the other male as he slowly weakened, crouching low to the floor.

Then, as quickly as it came, it disappeared and Grimmjow turned away from the prying eyes to catch his breath. Everyone was silent and the only sounds were the pants escaping the Sexta's lips. "Ah, you seem to understand, Grimmjow." Aizen sent the kneeling Espada a glance that he couldn't see, but feel, and then turned to face the other Espada members. "As all of you can see, these are our enemies. They will not be underestimated, but do not worry about them either. All of you may return to your rooms and continue about your daily business." Grimmjow began to rise, glaring through narrowed eyes and panting through clenched teeth. "We will just wait for our enemies to arrive. Don't be afraid, for as long as you stand by me, nothing will stop us."

With that, Aizen dismissed the Espada and they left the room, mumbling to each other about the meeting's events. Grimmjow slowly stood, the world swimming in his eyes and limped over to the door, leaving before Aizen could talk to him, as he usually did.

One day. One day, he would kill that fucking bastard.

A/N: My chapters are so short now! Once I finish this story, I'll probably go back and edit it to make it longer like I did for the earlier chapters, but for now, you'll ust have to deal with this crappy version :P

I hope you guys enjoy this. Please review and tell me what you think! It makes me happy ^^

Love,

Sevvy