SO SORRY! Agh, this is so late! I am such a scater-brained idiot; I had this all writen out last night and even uploaded into the Doc Manager. And then, out of sheer stupidity, I forgot to put it in Color. On top of that, it's another really short chapter. D: Forgive me!
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Back in Soul Society, the message sent by Hinumori was received. Head Captain Yammamoto scowled, looking down at the hell butterfly that had carried the information to him from the communications center.
Things were not going as he had planned.
He wanted to flush the espada out of their hiding place, and sending more shinigami there should have done the trick. But no; his subordinates had screwed it up even further and help the freaks defend themselves. How was he supposed to return the balance if his side kept messing it up? Additionally, Ichigo Kurosaki was there. But really, when wasn't the hot-headed youth at the center of things? It seemed like no one could get into a bar fight without the kid being there!
He was going to have to fix things. He had been able to send Miyu Kurotsuchi to be the brains behind what would have been a feeble attack made on the palace by Nnoitora Jiruga. He had given their army skin like that of their leader, and had devised good plans. So why weren't those stinking epsada out of their fortress yet?
The plan had been to restore balance. An army would scare them out of Los Noches, they would be homeless, and then he would send someone over asking for them to join the shinigami. Sure, they were freaks. But did it ever really hurt to have a dangerously freaky weapon in store for if problems ever did arise? Kurosaki was a loose cannon; he wanted something more stable.
His first experiment had failed. He had scouts observing Orihime Inoue and Ulquiorra Cifer in hopes hat maybe the young woman alone could get the hollows to defect. But then the girl had gone and gotten herself killed off, brought back to life, and then moved to Los Noches, were she stayed for almost a month.
Plan A- failure.
Then came plan B, to flush them out and recruit them.
Plan B, too, was a failure.
He was going to have to put his faith in plan C, a measure that he didn't know if he really wanted to take. But the captain of squad twelve had been dying to see if he could pull the stunt off, and Yammamoto was running out of options.
It would take a little while. A couple weeks.
But once the soldiers planted the 'plan' under the pretense of attack, there would be no stopping it.
"Well?" Miyu's voice carried through the orb on the captains desk. "Shall I give the order or not, sir?"
He sighed. He really didn't want to do it.
"My soldiers-" An indignant shout interrupted the scientist. "Oh, forgive me. Nnoitorra's soldiers-" Mockery thick in his voice, "-have already begun their attack today. But from the looks of things, nothing is going to go any different. We're waiting time, here. Once the plan is put into action it very well may still take a while. And it's so much better than destroying the whole palace! Just think, if this works-"
Yammamoto had heard enough. "Silence! You speak with boldness, Miyu Kurotsuchi, but in my presence you should have none!" A pause. He scowled, eyes barely opening as he gave the order. "You may proceed with the plan. Do not disappoint me, Miyu, or you may find yourself as part of an experiment that you will not survive!"
The painted man grinned, his yellow teeth flashing in the fake light of orb before him. "Excellent, commander! We shall proceed immediately. I assure you, this will not fail."
"Good."
The transmission blinked out of existence, and for a moment the head commander took a moment to let out a sigh. He pushed all thoughts of himself away, and for a second relaxed in his tall chair as if he were simply an old man.
He looked forward to seeing the espada on his side, but at what cost? Just how many of them would actually survive the ordeal? It had never been performed before, it was supposed to be impossible…
He would just have to wait and see, as he always had, all those painfully long years.
~)o0o(~
Soi Fon watched as Grimmjow leapt from the sands, chasing after retreating troops. "Cowards!" He snarled. "Get back here so I can kick your ass!"
He was amusing, she supposed, and voicing her thoughts exactly.
As quickly as they had come, the enemy had disappeared again. Cowards- every last one of them. They were doing fine, until a couple had been killed. It had looked at first like maybe they knew what they were doing, no one ever flinched as the person beside them was beheaded or stabbed through the chest. But then a new wave of even weirder looking arrancar had scuttled to the front lines, and for almost an hour they had danced around, not even really fighting.
Then, just as they had yesterday, everyone suddenly retreated.
She watched as Grimmjow finally stopped his chase, satisfied that he had threatened and cursed the retreating figures before him enough. He turned and started back towards her, looking severely pissed off.
And damn, that was hot.
Soi Fon hadn't at first really known what to make of the blue haired espada. He was cocky, for cure, and had a bit of an ego to go with that. He was arrogant, rude, and had a flaring temper. And he stood up to her. He knew who she was, or, rather, he had figured it out along the way. And when he had he had been startled for all of one second before he had launched right back into their fight. He wasn't even trying to really kill her the whole time- it had been more of a bloody sparing match.
He had paired for every thrust of her sword, roaring with laughter as she did the same for him. She couldn't remember the last time she had a fight like that- it had been to long since anyone stood on equal footing with her.
The only person she could recall having such a great fight with was Lady Yoruichi- but the woman had surpassed her, much to her disgrace, and no matter how hard she tried she had a feeling that she would never really reach the Shihoin princess's level.
She really did love Lady Yoruichi. But she had seen the way that the woman had looked at Kisuke Urahara, and the way he had looked right back at her. As much as she disliked the man, and knew he didn't deserve Yoruichi in any way, she really didn't have much of a choice in the matter.
She had been so, so lonely for so, so long.
But this man…
She watched as his eyes flicked to the side, his arm lifting to spear through an arrancar who had leapt to his feet, barely alive, in an attempt to wound Grimmjow. His hand passed through the other arrancar's stomach, and then retracted, the dead body dropping to the ground.
He was so fiery- full of live for a dead man.
As he stalked back to his side he cursed, flinging blood from his finger tips with a scowl. "Damn. What a bunch of wimpy-ass cowards." He muttered.
She smirked lightly, her eyes drinking in his exposed chest. "Agreed."
He looked up into her eyes suddenly, grinning wider. "Almost as pathetic looking as Ulquiorra." He added, eyes dancing with flames and humor.
She knew that Ulquiorra was more powerful than Grimmjow. But she had also seen him in a couple of rare moments were Orihime wasn't at his side, and she had no taste for someone who looked like they were nothing but a walking body without any emotion. When the girl was with him he looked alive and… happy, if just barely so. But whenever she wasn't in his presence it was like the man was seeping waves of despair that he himself didn't feel. It was scary, she would be the first to admit so, but she got where Grimmjow was coming from.
No care for authority.
Damn he was hot.
Without a second thought as to the consequences of her actions, Soi Fon sprung forward and fisted her hands in his collar, pulling him forward to her and slamming their mouths together.
His eyes went wide for a moment. Despite what it may have looked like, up until that moment they had been doing nothing but sparing. She had taken his shirt and put it on just to get on his nerves- wearing the coat around like some sort of trophy to show she was winning. Grimmjow had, of course, resolved to take her own shirt off after that, but he hadn't thought she was going to pounce on him first.
His mouth stretched up into the grin that had disappeared for a single moment. He grabbed her waist, yanking her closer to her.
I'm going to fucking devour her. He promised in his mind.
Of course, she was thinking along the same lines as their tongues dueled. I am going to dominate him.
Who knew that a simple kiss could turn into a rough battle?