Tia Halibel was agitated. Very agitated. She just knew that Grimmjow was going to screw things up- he seemed to have a passion for what he called "fucking things up." And she just knew that he was going to do it again.
She also knew how fragile her situation with shinigami was. If they knew most of the arrancar were alive and well, they very might attack. Ichigo Kurosaki and his nakama were on the very balance between allies and enemies, and Grimmjow had a way of pushing people over to the side against his.
She should have sent Orihime. The girl surely was faster as an arrancar, and powerful. She was nice, peaceful, and not quick to anger- a perfect ambassador. She almost had, but first thing she had looked at the girl, Ulquiorra had sent her a look that screamed it all- Don't even thing about it. Do it and I'll make sure you suffer a slow death.
She didn't need Ulquiorra cross with her. She really needed him to defend Los Noches. And she knew sending out his woman would do a number on her plans along with removing him from the palace so long as the female was gone.
On top of all, Stark Coyote was out fighting. Stark never seemed to fight, but Lillinet had grown restless, and he had gone out to lazily shoot at the enemy from a point well out of the way.
She hated it when he was gone- he was one of the only sane people in the whole palace who didn't always go around blowing things up. Sure, Ulquiorra was sane, but… he was also a little creepy, though she would never admit it out loud. The man was… well, it was like ice and stone had gotten together with a little bit of deadly passed between the two, and then had a child name Ulquiorra.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Halibel had a bad habit of tapping her foot on the floor whenever she was unrestful. She didn't like being the leader, in all honesty. She was used to following orders, not giving them. She wanted to be out doing something, not sitting up in her castle like some pompous, coward queen.
"That fool had better not mess things up." She muttered again, deciding to place all of her agitation squarely on the shoulders of the sexta espada. The blue-haired idiot could handle it; he seemed to enjoy people being mad at him.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
She had to move. She needed to do something useful. But what?
"I heard she can reverse time." Mila Rose's comment suddenly caught Tia's hearing, and suddenly she found herself listening into her three most trusted subordinates as they talked.
"Oh, come on!" Apache yelled. "Like anyone believes that!"
"It's true." Sun Sun whispered lightly, hand held before her face. "Aizen had her here because of her god-like powers. She can reverse time without any effort. Have you not seen Grimmjow-sama's arm?"
"I don't really care about Grimmjow." Apache drawled, not caring to add a suffix to his name. "But I guess I did notice his arm was gone for a day or two and then back once she got here…"
"It's her time-abilities, stupid." Mila Rose said, tucking her arms under her breasts as she rolled her eyes. She had painted the eyelids gold that day, making her brown skin look more alluring than usual.
Apparantly, Apache had noticed. "Will you stop rolling your eyes!? You don't have to rub it in! Just because you somehow got new makeup and I didn't!" She rolled her own eyes, before an idea seemed to hit her. She smirked. "I still have different colored eyes! That's way more attractive!"
Sun Sun broke in. "Your eyes don't make up for that ugly horn on your head. It looks simply awful. And everyone knows that olive eyes are more attractive. Along with that fact, gold kohl is simply outdated. Purple is the most beautiful."
"SAY WHAT?" Apache and Mila Rose both turned, roaring at their friend.
"You're the one with out legs!" Apache yelled.
"Please," Sun Sun lightly said, a smile barely visible behind her sleeve. "I am as beautiful as a snake- unlike a loin and a goat, I am captivating no matter what form I take on."
"Loins are magnetic!" Mila Rose quipped.
"And I'm a ram! There is a difference!"
Tia knew when they stopped talking about useful things and went on to pointless arguing, and they had hit that point long ago. "Enough." She said, her voice clear despite the coat that covered her mouth.
"Yes, Halibel-sama." Three voices coursed.
"The girl, Orihime Inoue, can control time?" She asked herself, brows furrowed.
"Yes, Halibel-sama."
She hadn't needed the answer to decide her next course of action. "Stay here. I am going to see if the girl-" realizing how much she sounded like Aizen when she called her 'the girl' she stopped, and revised. "-I mean, Inoue. I'm going to see if Inoue is able to use her time-abilities as a destructive power."
"Have fun." Mila Rose said, twirling her coffee colored curls around a finger. "We'll be on the look out for cute boys."
Of course, Tia didn't care. She had no time for 'cute boys' and could really not force herself to want to have time for them ether. Leave that to her subordinates- she would let her gaze wander to an attractive man if she really had to.
She quickly flashed to the training room, shoving unnecessary thoughts from her mind. Really, she needed to stay focused. It was one of the things she was known for, and she wasn't about to let that change.
"Inoue-san, I was-" Tia stopped in the middle of her sentence, cheeks lightly turning red at the sight before her.
There on the floor of the training grounds, laying in the snow, was Ulquiorra. On top of him, Orihime. Their lips were locked together in apparent passion, the girl's fingers deeply twisted in his raven locks while his hands held her on top of him by her hips.
A slight gasp, and then Orihime was looking up at Halibel in apparent embarrassment. Her whole face went so red that Tia had to wonder if she was choking.
Ulquiorra looked back at Tia the same moment Orihime did, and then Halibel found the biggest surprise of all.
It was barely there, almost un-noticeable to any eye, and non-existent to the untrained one.
Ulquiorra Cifer, the incarnation of ice itself, was…
Blushing?!
Obvoisly, Tia was hasty in her retreat. Ulquiorra was blushing, and that was unknown territory. Unknown grounds to tread lightly on. One wrong move and he might snap, coming after her with a cero intended to take off her head. Never mind that she was the tresse espada and he was the one below her; everyone knew that his power was well beyond that of the primivarion.
"So sorry, lost way, excuse me, carry on." Halibel had never uttered such a jumbled sentence in her life, nor blushed so apparently, or even made such a hasty retreat.
As she entered the main hall, she managed to breath again. "That was-" But before she could even mutter anything about the situation she had just been in, a new one that needed her attention opened up before her.
She felt their spiritual pressure just before they reached her. And when they did…
BAM!
The door to the great meeting hall flew open, and in flew two forms.
"I FUCKING WIN!" A blue-haired espada crowed, pointing an accusing finger at the shinigami woman who was defiantly standing before him with her hands on her hips.
"Are you an idiot?! I came into the room first! I opened the door! I'm the winner here, moron! Now do us all a favor and take your slow little self off to an execution ground and have your head loped off!" She shot off right away, her braids trembling in anger.
"What the fuck do you know, bitch?! You must have been blind to not see me open the door first! I got in here first, dumb ass! You're not nearly fast enough to beat me!"
Tia could feel a migraine coming on, and it was the kind that you couldn't stop not matter what. That really just added to her agitation. But she couldn't really break up the fight until she knew what was going on. Just what was going on? Wasn't that the woman who had single-handedly destroyed Barigon, the former king of Los Noches? Was she a captain?
"I am more powerful than you! I easily bounded past you into this room, and I easily defeated you. Why don't you take your loss like a man and back down before you get hurt?"
"You know, you're pretty stupid, Soi-pansy- Fon. I mean, your name may mean 'the wind' and all, but it's not very suited to you. They should have named you Kame- the turtle!"
She visibly bristled. "How dare you insult my name! You're one to talk- you're name makes no sense!"
"Panther King!" He roared right back. "Perfect sense!"
"Wait." The woman seemed to falter for a moment, and suddenly her hardened exterior was gone for a moment, replaced by a barely noticeable blush. "Did you say panther?"
Grimmjow looked as confused as Tia. "Uh… yeah?"
Halibel decided that would be a good time to break in. "What is it you are doing, Grimmjow?" She had taken notice that both looked like they had engaged in battle, and Grimmjow's open jacket revealed a flower-like tattoo just over his hollow hole, at the center of his scar. "Did you go against orders and attack this shinigami?"
She knew she had him pinned. It really ticked her off to see him so aloof about it, too.
"Yeah. So what?"
"Grimmjow." She hissed his name, venom in her voice. He could have royally screwed things over. She just knew sending him out was a bad idea. "You are the most impulsive, temperamental, idiotic-"
"Are you Tia Halibel?" The shinigami woman, apparently Soi Fon, interrupted.
Tia decided she hated being interrupted. She also knew she didn't want to piss the Soul Reaper captain off. "Yes." She answered simply.
"And you're in charge of this place?"
"Respectfully." She crossed her arms, suddenly feeling like she was being challenged. This woman walked around with a lot of authority. If she didn't know any better, she would say that based off of the look in Grimmjow's eyes, he liked it, too.
She would be having a long talk with him later.
"I require you to release Orihime Inoue and Ulquiorra Cifer to me."
Now, Tia didn't know Orihime very well. And she wasn't exactly buddies. But Halibel had figured out long, long ago that she was very protective of her family. And, well, Los Noches was a family of sorts.
She was not going to just hand over her family.
She would play the Aizen card- piss them off while remaining clam and pretending to give out information when, in fact, you give nothing up. "And who might they be?"
The woman's mouth set in a hard line. "You know very well, Halibel-sama."
At least she was addressing Tia with respect. That gave her a little bit of headway.
"And what about them?"
"I need you," The woman seethed. "To release them to me."
"You speak as if they are imprisoned here." Tia leaned back on the meeting table, sitting down, studying her guest. Grimmjow hadn't moved an inch away from her, so she knew she had an attack dog if the occasion called for it. That made her feel a little better.
"Well they are here." Soi Fon answered, her teeth clenched together.
"And how can you be so sure of that?"
"Soul Society," She hissed. "Has located them and given their location to me. I know they are here, Tia Halibel."
"And what makes you think that I know where they are? As far as I know, they could have just left for the human realm. Aizen is dead- we are free to roam now."
It was clear the woman was about ready to snap and attack. Halibel knew how to properly play the Aizen card, that was for certain.
"You do not know-"
"Oh, calm down." Grimmjow suddenly interrupted. "She's just fucking with your mind, idiot."
Tia was beyond stunned, to say the least. Behind her robes, her mouth fell open. Had Grimmjow- Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez- just been nice?! What was next, Ulquiorra strutting in smiling and laughing?!
Soi Fon was just as confused. "…Oh?"
"They're in the training room. Ya' need to talk to bat shit and princess, then you're gonna have to go down there. Dumbass." He crossed his arms, glaring off to the side.
Tia was fighting off the urge to faint.
"Thank you." Soi Fon stiffly said. She turned, like she knew where she was goin, and then stopped. She turned back to Grimmjow. "You will escort me there."
He grinned, and suddenly it was the Grimmjow that Halibel knew. The mask of bone on his jaw arched up with his manic grin, stretching up to his eyes as they glinted with challenge. "Like hell I will. I think that you're gonna follow me!"
Tia really wasn't collected enough to point out there was no difference in ether task.
"As if you could keep up with me." Soi Fon huffed, turning to walk.
"Ha! You think you're so fast? Why don't we have a little race then, so I can beat you again?" He was staring to speed up his walk even as he said it.
Soi Fon's eyes narrowed dangerously. "The winner of this race will be the winner of the last- myself."
Grimmjow roared with laughter. "Try to keep up, weakling!" He snarled, and then was racing away.
She was hot on his trail, her own cry barely reaching Halibel's ears. "You're the one who will be lagging behind, you pathetic weakling!"
Tia wanted to point out how similar their insults were.
She was still a little too stunned by Grimmjow's actions, though.
Yes. As soon as she could, she was going to sit the panther down and have a nice, long, most likely violent chat.
"Why did I ever volunteer to lead these insane hollows?" She moaned to herself.
She just couldn't wait until Stark got back. At least he was able to sit in one spot for more than two breaths, and he could listen, too. She really just needed a solid mind like her own to talk to…
.
I'm still here! Ha! Oh, Happy Valentines day! Yeah. Anywho, I just had to write from Tia's POV. It was fun, I won't lie. Anyway, I pretty much just put up another chapter of NOTHING! Yep. I'm as bad as Tite Kubo, posting all this filler… ah, but it works. Anyway, you all know how I do love those reviews. :D Thanks for everything so far, everyone! Oh, and pairing suggestions as usual, please!
By the way... I'm thinking about making Stark and Halibel a couple, in case no one noticed. Yes, no, hell yes, hell no? Tell me what you want before it's official! Thanks again.