Chapter Twenty Five

After that, Grimmjow and I settled into a routine of sorts. He was always gone when I woke up in the morning, off doing something that I had never actually questioned. He always came back with a tray of food, though, which completely negated the need for me to ask any questions because, hello, food.

Once I had been properly stuffed, we would venture out into the desert to do—well, I wasn't entirely sure what it was we were doing, but it definitely involved a good number of Gillans, as Hideki had called them. I had seen so many of them fall under Grimmjow's blade that I had gotten to the point where I only paid enough attention to my surroundings in the desert to be aware for when I would need to run.

Thankfully, I had only had to run a couple of times since we had started venturing out into the desert again. Slowly but surely, my muscles were getting used to having traverse across the sand; they weren't quite as sore when I woke up in the mornings as they had been the first time I had woken up after being out in the desert, and traveling across the sand was beginning to feel easier on my body than it had before.

I hadn't heard or seen Hideki since I had punched through his face and into the wall; the wounds were still wide open on my knuckles, almost as fresh as they were the day I had injured myself. I hadn't really had the guts to look at them, knowing how I had opened them; knowing why I had opened them up.

As it was, my busted knuckles were tucked firmly beneath fresh bindings, something Grimmjow and I had done only minutes before we left the rooms for the day. They still ached, and it was still hard to move my fingers properly without antagonizing them too much.

It was blissfully quiet in my head while Hideki was gone—I could think for myself, and I hadn't seen any sign of any sort of hallucination since he had disappeared beneath my fist. There was no voice making snide comments about anything I said or did, no voice egging me on-

Of course, he wasn't there to give me any sort of semi useful advice, either, which I supposed was the only downside. Because, whether I liked to admit it or not, he had given me some good advice on very rare occasions:

Like when to run away from the Gillans. It was a hard thing to judge on my own—I still hadn't gotten down how fast they could move, or what their range of attack was, or anything. It was hard enough for me to wrap my head around their existence, but I had let it slide based on all of the other crazy things I had seen since my arrival in Las Noches—like Las Noches itself.

Really, no amount of therapy was going to be able to help me by the time I got home. I was pretty sure of that fact.

I flinched as I watched Grimmjow get thrown by something that was, decidedly, not a Gillan. I couldn't see it clearly, but it was definitely much smaller. He seemed to be having a much harder time fighting the smaller ones, the ones that all looked different, whereas the Gillans had all looked the same.

As he had explained to me in passing, he was still trying to get used to the whole 'I only have one arm' thing. He was adapting fairly well in my opinion, seeing as I had to help him with less and less every day. The one area he seemed to be excelling in at an uncanny rate was fighting.

Which was pretty much while we were in the desert for hours upon hours every day—Grimmjow was figuring out how to fight with only one arm. When I had asked him why, all I had got as an answer was a muttered, "Kurosaki."

He hadn't tried to kiss me again.

We shared the bed at night, the mattress still pushed up against the wall—that was the side I slept on, wedged in between Grimmjow and the cool, white wall. Honestly the bed was massive, but it was like he wanted to sleep as close to the possible wall he could without squashing me.

Most nights I woke up with his arm across my neck or my waist, his face pressed into my shoulder, skin too hot for the blanket. Once I had pushed said blanket off of me, I fell back asleep quickly and woke up hours later when Grimmjow was gone.

I hadn't bothered to complain to him about his sleeping habits—who knew what I did when I was sound asleep. Chances were, it probably would have been the other way around if his own sleeping habits were different.

Hideki came back.

The first instance I had known he was back, it was a simple brush of something I couldn't name, an uncomfortable feeling that made my spine tingle and my head almost pound. I had been walking down the hall behind Grimmjow, small smile on my face, mouth open because I was about to say something.

And then:

Gosh, Ka-chan. I can't believe you tried to hit me!

I had fought to smother a noise that could only have been described as something between a scream and a laugh had it been released. My hands clamped over my mouth as fast as I could have managed to move them, teeth clenched together, eyes screwing themselves shut for just a moment before I opened them again and tried my hardest not to look like I was rattled—chin held up, shoulders squared, back straight, hands loose at my sides.

Like I told you, Kaori. You can't get rid of me.

Grimmjow didn't notice; if he had, he didn't say anything.

Hideki stayed quieter than he normally did; there was no telling me to kill other people, no suggestions of things I should do, no snide remarks about the things other people (or myself) said or did. He would rear his head on occasion, mostly when we were out in the desert, telling me to run, run, run.

And I did run when he told me to because doing so had saved my life once before—and doing so had saved my life a couple more times since he had returned. It was like he had dealt with whatever the creatures had been before he had "fucked up."

Those were the only situations in which I trusted Hideki totally with my life—those were the only situations I let Hideki order me about in. Most of the other comments he had come up with since his resurface had been jumbled and subdued.

But run? Run was a word I could hear loud and clear.

Less than three days after Hideki returned, Usagi came out into the desert.

"Kaori!" she shouted, suddenly in front of me, green hair tucked behind her ears and toothy smile on her face.

I shrieked and jumped backward, feet sticking into the sand beneath me, and fell onto my butt, hands bracing my fall behind me. I hadn't seen Usagi since she and I had walked in the hall ages ago, when she had explained to me what all Grimmjow had lost that night. She looked somewhat healthier than she had that day, her skin darker and her eyes brighter.

"Usagi," I managed to gasp out, hands and butt stinging from the impact of my fall. "What are you doing out here?"

There should have been no way she could have snuck up on me—I had been looking around, watching my surroundings carefully just in case a Gillan or something took advantage of the fact that I had no clue as to how to defend myself against it.

Not that I would have necessarily needed to, since Hideki had been most talkative when there were monsters about—or Hollows, as he called them. He hadn't taken the time to properly explain to me what they were, just that they were dangerous and that I should not, by no means, mess with them.

Ever.

"I came looking for you," the green haired woman chirped, holding her hands out to me. I smiled at her shakily as I grabbed onto her hands. Her thumb ran over the bandages on my knuckles, eyes darting to my injuries and her smile faltering before she looked back to my face. "What happened to your hand?"

"Oh, you know," I said vaguely, removing my hands from her grip and hiding them behind my back, smiling at her brightly. "Things. Stuff. A wall, maybe."

She studied my face for a moment before looking over her shoulder at Grimmjow, who was fighting yet another Hollow. It looked like he was winning, but I could never be really sure. And then she looked back at me, frowning.

"Did you punch him?" she asked seriously. "Did you punch him because he fucking touched you, Kaori? I will destroy him, just wait right he-"

"Whoa there. Hold it Usagi," I said quickly; who knew my being vague could lead to such misunderstandings? Quickly, I grabbed one of her wrists to hold her place, though I knew it probably wouldn't do me much good if she was determined enough. "I did not have to hit him—this time. I really did punch a wall. You can calm down."

Her jaw hung open for a moment, looking first at my face and then down at the hand that held onto her wrist—my fingers couldn't wrap all the way around the joint, but they still held her flesh firmly; it hurt a bit, though, because I had used my injured hand like some kind of nitwit. And then she looked over her shoulder at the blue haired man who was-

No where in sight.

Where the hell did he get off to this time? I wondered as Usagi looked back at me.

"Oh," she said slowly, posture relaxing. "Uh. Well then. I guess I wont have to tear him limb from limb." Cautiously, I let go of Usagi's wrist, slight from on my face from her choice of words.

"Tear who limb from limb?"

I shrieked again, twisting to look behind me and nearly falling onto my side and back into the sand in the process. Grimmjow had taken up residence behind me in the few minutes I had lost track of him, a smirk on his face. He was bent forward slightly, and some of his hair had lost it's volume and had taken to falling into his face, joining the few chunks that typically hung down.

"Do I have to tie bells on you people or something! You're going to give me a heart attack from your stupid silent approaches! It's getting a little ridiculous!"

You're just angry because they got you to scream twice in less than five minutes.

I frowned at the duo, pointedly ignoring Hideki in favor of frowning fiercely at Usagi and Grimmjow.

"We don't move that quietly, Kaori," Usagi contended, stance shifting just slightly as if to tell me that this was not an argument she was going to let go without fighting about.

Grimmjow seemed to have the same idea.

"What even are you out here for?" he asked, effectively cutting off any sort of argument I was going to give in retaliation that, yes, she does move quietly—I didn't hear or see her coming at me from across the desert, and I had been alert.

A weird sort of look passed over Usagi's face, a combination of emotions that I couldn't name even if I tried. She glanced at Grimmjow before settling her gaze on me and opening her mouth.

"Aizen-sama wishes to see you, Kaori."

My stomach dropped.

Happy Monday!

You guys are some of the sweetest, loveliest people. I love you all so much ;-;. The next one will be up on Wednesday (at some point) because it's already written; and now, to work!