Chapter 23: Dog on a Leash
"How much longer until we're there?" Lilynette whined.
Starrk sighed, "You know we'll be there soon. The top of the dome is visible."
Lilynette looked back to the group of chittering Hollows slowly following behind. After that weird release of power the weaker creatures started flocking to the Arrancar pair seeking protection. Even after killing a few of them, many still insisted on pledging their loyalty in exchange for protection. It was exhausting trying to chase them away so Coyote suggested they go to Las Noches. They had been dodging Nelliel and other various Arrancars sent by Tier in search of them to avoid the hassle of getting involved with the new regime. But now, the Hollows that once feared the pair won't stop trying to use them as bodyguards and it's persistently annoying.
The short Arrancar stumbled and her vision blurred for a moment, her head throbbed before fading.
Starrk was standing over her, offering a hand. "Thanks…" she groaned as she reached for it.
"Want a piggy-back?"
Lilynette scoffed and batted his hand away. "Sure, let's just tire you out too."
"We're almost there," he reiterated tiredly.
They survived the battle with the Shinigami. Barely… And not without consequence.
She stood and patted the sand off her knees. "See? I'm fine."
Starrk's eyes narrowed and he looked around. "Do you hear that?"
Lilynette looked around and it took a moment to realize that she didn't hear anything. Not even the previously constant noise of the other Hollows. The two looked back and saw that the lesser Hollows were dissolving away into nothing, revealing a small group of armed people standing like a small wall. "Who the fuck are you?" the female questioned.
Two of the five men pulled back on long bows and an arrow was fired at Starrk, who easily avoided it but a second was shot at him after he moved. Lilynette pulled her broken sword out of her horn and blocked it. A third appeared in front of her with the tell-tale sound of Shunpo and punched her abdomen. There was something about the strike that ricocheted throughout her body. She couldn't breath and her vision was spotted and blurred again. Her ears were ringing and all she could feel was a cry stuck in her throat and the all encompassing pain of the punch. She struggled to breath and vaguely recognized brown blur that was likely Starrk's cloak as it moved in front of her eye took over her sight.
She felt the hard smack on her back and managed to finally suck in a pained breath. After a few inhales she realized Starrk was carrying her further away from the attackers. "You okay?" he asked.
"Don't get hit by that guy," she heaved out.
The Arrancar looked back to the strangers and the two in the middle were each holding a hand out to the sides, something between their fingers, and there was a light of Rieatsu engulfing them until they floated and the energy expanded into solid shapes. The lights became a ghostly-white fox and a large black bird. The two animals jetted towards the Arrancar, crashing down on the ground that they had been standing on and chasing after them relentlessly as they attempted to zoom around with Sonido. Between their steps, arrows were released after them.
"Screw this?" Lilynette shouted and turned to shoot the fox with her Cero, burning away its leg. The animal didn't seem to flinch but it did crash without both legs to help redirect it. Similarly, Starrk shot a Cero from his back directly into the bird's face, leading to it disintegrating like a Hollow, leaving a burning paper doll behind. When Starrk looked back to observe the result of his attack the man that punched Lilynette used Shunpo to attempt to strike the Arrancar, but Starrk was far too quick and caught him by the neck. "Nice try," he said and attempted to released a Cero from his chest. However the energy was unstable and exploded without actually firing. "Starrk!" Lilynette screamed for her other half.
While she was distracted the fox that was chasing her recovered and lunged for her again. She flinched and put her hands up to guard herself but it was unneeded as Starrk blasted it with a Cero before the smoke around himself even cleared. Lilynette nodded and appreciation and focused on the other attackers again before another arrow almost struck her.
"Lilynette!" Starrk called, and she understood immediately. She ran towards him so they can go into Resurreccion and clear these humans out before they exhaust themselves. Starrk was still holding the charred human despite the Cero blowing up in his face and used him as a meat shield from another pair of arrows. It was as she stepped towards him that she saw the human pull some kind of twine in his clothes and a short bolt erupted from his side and directly into Starrks. "Got him!" he shouted just before the Arrancar completely crushed his throat.
Lilynette crashed into her partner and reached for the bolt to remove it but an intensely painful crackle of energy made her pull her hand away the moment she touched it. They looked down at the bolt then over to the men at the sound of some type of chanting. A wave of blue Reiatsu from the bolt rolled over Starrk and his body went rigid. "Run…" he strained out.
"You're not serious?! Let's kill these bastards!" She squeezed his arm and reached her Reiryoku out to his. "Kick About!"
Rather than receive her Reiryoku with his and complete the Resurreccion, Starrk shot a small Bala at her feet throwing her back. "GO!"
She landed on her butt and looked on as the four remaining humans approached Starrk but he didn't move or say anything more. One kneeled down to inspect the corpse then stood and punched Starrk clear across the face, yet he still did not react. "What about the female?" another asked.
"Our orders were clear, take possession of Coyote Starrk. Let's not waste our energy capturing it." The only teenager of the group appeared to be in charge for some reason.
"Best to just kill it then," another said, drawing back another arrow. She intercepted the arrow by throwing her broken sword and used Sonido to escape the scene; moving towards Las Noches as fast as possible. Looking back just in time to see them walk through some kind of ring shaped portal, with Starrk docilely following.
()
Mashiro led the group through the halls of the Ametsuchi compound. "Take Taigen to the back room and send word to his wife of his fate."
"Yes sir," Yori responded and diverged from their path.
Mashiro, Kono, Manzo and the newly acquired Hollow continued on to Rin's lounge room. He took a deep breath and spoke out, "We've returned."
"Enter," the voice of his mother responded from the other side.
They filed in and kneeled, awaiting her words. She looked them over without getting up from her ornate daybed. "I recall sending five of you."
"Yes Mother. Taigen sacrificed himself to place the anchor. Goro is taking care of his remains."
Rin rose to her feet and approached, the three men shuffled out of her way without so much as raising their heads. "Mashiro dear, have the Hollow transform."
He rose to his feet before speaking. "Yes Mother. You, Hollow, change into your true form," he commanded.
"I cannot," it answered apathetically.
"I gave you an order. Now draw your sword and transform," Mashiro said firmer.
"This sword is a regular piece of metal. Lilynette holds the rest of my power."
"Lilynette?" Rin questioned.
"There was a second humanoid Hollow that he called that. Lord Mashiro instructed to leave it, believing it would be a waste of effort," Kono offered.
Mashiro tried to keep his face stoic but knows he failed as his eyes narrowed. Rin stepped in front of him and backhanded him across the face. "What do you have to say?"
Mashiro returned to his knee, trying to ignore the sting in his cheek. "I apologize for my foolishness Mother."
"Can you return to retrieve it?"
He hesitated a few seconds to answer, not certain how she'll handle it. Her unwavering stare awaiting the response. "Unlikely. We found them in view of the Hollow stronghold and it was in that direction that it escaped towards."
Mashiro waited for the punishment to come but instead he received a gentle stroke of finger through his hair. "I understand. I'd rather keep you safe than attempt to retrieve a Hollow," his mother said softly.
She then returned to her resting position on the daybed and reached into her sleeve, retrieving a paper doll to summon her observation shikigami , a spotted owl. The creature flew to the Hollow and landed on its shoulder. "We will proceed as planned. I trust you won't let me down."
The swell of relief Mashiro felt almost made him giddy. "Of course, Mother. I won't let anything stop us from retrieving Sister."
()
"Again!" Grimmjow instructed and Yukiko threw five tape-wrapped punches into the training mitt in his hand.
Her strikes had little power.
"Harder!" he yelled.
Yukiko breathed out something that sounded like it wanted to be a growl but punched again, marginally harder. After her third punch connected to the mitt he swung it at her face and she blocked it but wasn't steady and toppled. She sat up, leaning on a hand panting and not looking like she intended to stand back up, so he squatted down. "You started strong but wear out way too fast. We need to get you out of the apartment more often."
They started the training about ten minutes prior and she was already covered in sweat and looked ready to tap out. So, she was doing about as well as he expected. He removed the mitts and retrieved the water they brought. He took a sip, poured a little on her head and back of her neck before handing it to her. Yukiko held it for a few deep breaths before taking a gulp of her own.
"How's it going?" Kentaro asked as he approached.
"Other than Yuki having the stamina of a 90 year old hag, fine."
It looked like she scowled at him for the answer but the tiredness of her face made it laughable.
The gym owner did indeed chuckle too, "Don't worry sweetheart. It takes work but you'll get there eventually."
Yukiko jolted a little and her eyes darted around at nothing at the words.
"Hey, don't call her that! Just use her name," Grimmjow growled.
The old man seemed a bit taken back the angry response, but perhaps he was able to read the room enough to know it wasn't a matter of preference. "No problem. My apologies Ametsuchi-san."
She still seemed a little tense to Grimmjow but nodded to the man none the less.
"You've got 30 seconds before we start back up," he told her.
This time she definitely scowled. *"You promised to go easy on me."*
Grimmjow scoffed, "I am. You want to know how I usually train someone, ask the kid how many times he's walked himself back into his room." At the beginning at least. The Arrancar child had been proving to be much more capable these days; soon Grimmjow might even start using his Resurreccion in their sparring.
As she took another gulp he pulled the bottle up and away. "Break over, back on your feet," he ordered and started putting his mitts back on.
"You know, maybe I should start having you help train the boxers? Once you are able to keep rules in mind that is," Kentaro mused.
Yukiko pushed up to her feet and resumed punching his mitts. "Don't get your hopes up. I'm doing this because it's Yuki."
She paused between punches and smiled, so he swatted her with a mitt. "Hands up stupid!"
In retaliation she pulled a mitt off his hand and batted him in the face with it like a pillow. He stepped into her and wrapped his arm around her to restrain her, incidentally making her shove the mitt in her own face. "Cute. Don't forget who the actual fighter here is."
She stomped on his foot, making him curse and hop back, immediately she raised the mitt defensively. {"Truce?"}
Grimmjow growled and took it from her but just put it back on. "Good call on the foot. Now," he began as he raised his hands, "…again."
"Try not to flirt too much in my gym," Kentaro laughed as he walked away.
Grimmjow rolled his eyes but otherwise ignored that human to focus on his. Yukiko and her punches with all of the power of a kitten. She really does run out of steam fast. At least she had perfect form without his help. As far as he can tell, her only problems in combat are: getting tired too fast, not wanting to fight, and being a weak little human. He can't do much about her interest in fighting, or anything about her human status, but the first one he can fix.
Can he do enough to improve her chances of evading Starrk? Fuck no. But they can better prepare for whatever comes next down the road of bullshit. So that's how they continued. Grimmjow making Yukiko punch his hands as hard as she could for as long as she could. After another break, the Arrancar eventually allowed her to call it quits after about 30 minutes of punching. Her skin was flushed, she was drenched in sweat and panting so hard she wasn't even attempting to speak or finish the water. She looked damn sexy and all Grimmjow could think about was getting her home and ripping the skin tight leggings off of her. He licked his lips in hunger and her breathing caught, looking like she might have laughed.
"One last thing then we are going home."
Copper eyes looked at him, narrowed suspiciously.
"You are going to do push-ups."
*"Evil,"* she signed with her face scrunched in disgust.
"I'll do it with you."
She heaved a sigh and got into position but with her head hung low. "Hey. Eyes up here," he instructed. "Don't look at the floor. Face forward."
Grimmjow went into position directly in front of her and held her gaze. He followed her down, then up, then down and… waited. She did not get back up. "Is that seriously all you got?" He knew he shouldn't be surprised, but still was.
She collapsed on the ground. Yes, one was all she had.
He huffed a sigh and decided to do push-ups for himself at that point, going at his own pace, which meant a rapid number getting done in a short time frame. He didn't keep count of them, preferring to just go until his muscles exhausted into giving up since it happened much more rapidly in his gigai. In his Arrancar form he could do these longer than his attention span could commit to the activity so he doesn't actually have a number to keep track of or attempt to improve on. When he finished, prodded the woman splayed on the floor looking miserable. "Okay, get up. You're actually done now."
Yukiko forced herself to sit up and looked at him. Grimmjow stood then took her hand and pulled her to her feet. He glanced at the clock, 4:28. He was supposed to start his shift now basically, but that would mean sending Yukiko home alone at a time when they are basically waiting for Starrk to show up and try to kill her.
Yukiko put her hand on his cheek and rubbed her thumb a bit. {"Weatherman said snow is expected tomorrow. I'll be fine alone today."}
"Who said I'm worried?" he scoffed.
The woman rolled her eyes in response and walked away with a turn so he could see her speak. {"Get to work. I'll see you tonight."}
"Wait, hold up," Grimmjow grabbed her wrist as he spoke. "You planning on going back home wrapped up?"
She smiled widely and offered her hands. As he unwrapped them the Arrrancar noticed the open blisters on her fingers that weren't there when they started. He had to give it her, the woman tolerated pain much better than the kid. Maybe it wasn't entirely fair seeing as the kid was getting his ass handed to him and not some blisters but an Arrancar still shouldn't complain as much as he used to. "Alright. You're set."
She dove in for a quick peck before waving goodbye as she made her way out of the gym for real this time. As he picked the mitts back up to clean and put away Grimmjow heard soft chuckle off to his left. "You know… I gotta say, when you told me you had a girlfriend I imagined someone with a bit more of an edge. Ametsuchi is far softer than I thought possible for you to get along with," the old man laughed.
"Oh don't let her fool you. You already saw her deck someone for being rude, and I've seen her intimidate a cop; who also arrested her before for stabbing another cop." While in a hysterical state of mind after being attacked, but he didn't need to add that part.
Kentaro's face fell a bit and he glanced back to the exit a few times. "You shouldn't start rumors about someone just because you think associating with a nice girl makes you look bad," he reprimanded.
"Is it a rumor if it's true?" Grimmjow taunted as he walked to the bin where the mitts were kept when not in use.
"Take it from your elder," Kentaro started and Grimmjow couldn't contain his mocking laugh. To his credit the man ignored it and continued on, "When you find a lady, you treat her right. Don't talk about the bad behind her back. I didn't take it seriously when my father said it to me and now, I live alone and my daughter won't even answer my calls."
It wasn't thick, but there was obvious sorrow in his voice. Grimmjow brushed passed the tone as quickly as he picked up on it. "That's your life, not mine."
Kentaro shook is head with a sigh. "The folly of the young. Never realizing that the old know what we are talking about because we were young ourselves once."
"Look old man; you got anything specific you want me to do or can I just get on with my job?" the Arrancar pushed, not wanting to let the conversation continue.
"Yes, of course. I got a few new heavy bags in the storage room that need to be unpackaged and chained. When they are ready go ahead and rotate them out the most worn bags, get them cleaned and put away."
Grimmjow got to work, doing as he was told. This job ranged from being tolerable to infuriatingly beneath him. Today was feeling like one of the infuriating days and it was solely because of the old man souring his mood. Cleaning was always annoying but it was the major part of his job and it's not like he didn't clean up after himself in Las Noches or the apartment. Cleaning some amount was a fact of life if you weren't living the Hueco Mundo desert. So that's about where it topped out on the anger scale. Annoying.
Unfortunately, it did mean he was left to his own mind and coming immediately after getting, what might as well have been, lectured for how he talked about Yukiko meant he spent the entire two hours it took to complete the task fuming. Fuming over the man, then remembering how Nelliel expressed a similar sentiment, then just being angry at how filthy the old heavy bags were that they required that level of scrubbing. "Why the fuck aren't these dumbasses wiping these off after using them?!" he grumbled to no one.
After he set the last one up to dry and put away later he walked out to the main room, drying his hands on a towel and looking around for whatever else needed to be immediately done. There was a light out, some of training pads left abandoned by someone, and Sado was sparring someone in one of the rings which meant he would have to clean off the blood when they are done. The pads were in the way so he took care of them first then retrieved a ladder to replace the light. While he was up there a boy, the one he knocked out the previous week, bumped the ladder and almost made it topple. Grimmjow's hand was raised, ready to throw the dead light bulb but before he did the old man approached the boy. "What was that?" he questioned harshly.
"What was what?" the brat tried to act dumb; and was slapped across the face for it, attracting the attention of everyone in the building.
"Get out of my gym now. You want to try and hurt someone doing their job because you are too petty to accept losing then get out. Now!" he ordered.
The kid was backing up but looked angry, like a wounded dog that thought he could scare away his attacker despite already retreating. "You can't do that old man! I pay to come here!"
"Yeah well we don't want you here so get lost!" one of the members yelled back. Another was shoving a towel and phone into a pristine duffle bag then threw it at the boy. "Here's your garbage. Now leave!"
"Go on!" a third yelled.
The kid clutched his bag and stormed out. Grimmjow laughed and grinned from his perch as he got back to screwing in the new bulb, "Gotta love an angry mob."
When the light came on he got down from ladder and leaned on it slightly while looking at Kentaro. "Well that was entertaining."
He was rubbing his face. "Yeah. Don't ever do what I just did."
"Why not? Got the little bitch out of here didn't ya?"
The old man sighed heavily, "Yes, but now I have to wait and see if he or his family decide to press charges and get this place shut down."
"For what? A little smack? He's lucky you did that; I was about to crack this bulb on his head," Grimmjow spoke as he tossed and caught the light bulb a few times.
"You cleaned the old heavy bags right?"
"What the hell do you think I've been doing all morning?"
"Good. I was hoping to keep them as emergency backups but I think I'll have to sell them to make up for the loss."
Grimmjow hummed, bored by the conversation, as he closed the ladder to take it back to storage.
"Sado, Koji continue on your own for a few moments," the man ordered and followed the Arrancar. Once in the privacy of the back room he spoke again. "I was serious earlier-"
"Yeah, yeah. Don't say 'bad' stuff about Yuki, I got it," Grimmjow interrupted.
"No. Good but no. About you training the fighters. I don't have the energy I used too; age is catching up to me faster than I expected," there was a strain in his voice as he sat on the stack of floor mats. "I need to get a trainer in here to help me but I don't think I have the money for it. Especially now. I give you a crash course on teaching boxing, and at least half of your shifts will be training the fighters. I'll still need you to clean when possible though. I'll even raise your pay."
Grimmjow turned to the man with arms crossed and leaned into the wall. "You want me to do more work for less pay than you'd give someone else?"
"You've no experience training fighters."
"Say's you," he quickly spat out.
"You've no formal experience training boxers," Kentaro amended. "A trainer earns money according to their experience and reputation. You have neither in this field. But you can. Once I get a bit more cash flow going again I'll hire someone to completely replace your maintenance work and you will exclusively train the boxers. Or, are you happy just doing this?"
"Of course I'm not! You want to pay me for fighting? Fine."
"Training, not fighting."
"Same thing."
"It better not be. I'll start instructing you on training boxers tomorrow."
"Not tomorrow. I'm expecting someone."
Kentaro straightened and looked at him curious. "An old friend?"
"Never. A dead man."
"Please don't do anything to get yourself in trouble. I need help around more than ever right now."
"I'm not going to kill him, those bitches would never shut up if I do. He's supposed to be dead but got out of it somehow anyways," Grimmjow explained as they left the back room. Only to stop a couple of steps past the doorway. He felt a Hollow enter the world, quickly identifying it as Nelliel. But also another. This one he was vaguely familiar with but not sure who it was exactly. It didn't entirely matter. They were fast approaching Grimmjow's direction; while at the same time Kurosaki's Reiatsu expanded, meaning he took his Shinigami form. Sado was also on alert and excused himself out of the sparring ring. When the door opened he saw that it now was overcast outside.
"I'll be right back old man," he said and exited the gym as well. He dipped behind the building and out of sight where Nelliel was waiting for him with Lilynette Gingerbuck.
"You and Starrk finally showed yourselves huh?" Grimmjow could feel his grin growing at the sight of the short Arrancar.
"Is there something wrong Nel-san?" Sado asked concerned.
"Unfortunately but this isn't something that you need to involve yourself in. I'm just here to speak to Grimmjow."
"Sure but maybe we can help," Kurosaki offered as he arrived. "Who's this?"
"I'm Lilynette Gingerbuck. I'm Starrks partner."
When the humans' faces didn't show any recognition Nelliel answered their unspoken question, "Coyote Starrk was the Primo Espada."
"And he's been kidnapped by humans! So let's stop standing around talking to some and go save him!" Lilynette shouted, apparently tired of the pleasantries.
"Grimmjow we need you back in Las Noches immediately to prepare for an attack."
"The humans did something to him to make him obey them! We have to get him back now!" the girl continued to yell.
"No. But I do need to pick something up from there. Kurosaki you can exit your body whenever with a tool right. Hand it over."
"Grimmjow I'm being serious. We don't have time to play around so you can get off on some unneeded fight."
"What the fuck do you think I'm doing? Starrk ain't attacking Las Noches so I'm securing my territory here!"
"You don't know that," Nelliel pushed, holding his gaze.
Grimmjow didn't flinch or respond; he just continued his stare for a few moments. Until Nelliel's expression loosed and she blinked, eyes darting in thought. "Right…"
She shifted her commanding stare to Kurosaki. "Ichigo, release him from the gigai."
"You sure about this?"
"Yes. And I will fill you in on the situation."
Kurosaki pulled out a badge from his robe. "Just press it against your chest."
He did and was freed from his false body. Immediately he Sonido'd into Nelliel's personal space, his hand gripping her collar.
"Grimmjow!" Kurosaki yelled as he gripped his sword, without pulling it, and Sado activated his Fullbring.
He ignored them and spoke low into the woman's ear, "Watch what you say. They hear a word about what I told you and I kill your little pets back in Las Noches."
Nelliel turned her head slightly to address the others, "I need to return to Hueco Mundo to report to Harribel-sama that Starrk is most likely coming here."
"What makes you two so sure?" Lilynette asked.
"Several months ago humans sent a horde of Gillian to this town, using some sort of ability to control them," Nelliel answered without hesitation.
The little Arrancar sucked in a breath and breathed out a word, "What?"
"Alright. We'll head to Urahara's shop. Meet us there," Kurosaki said.
Grimmjow released her and opened a Garganta while he slung his gigai over his shoulder since he couldn't leave it there. "Just give us a few minutes," Nelliel said as she hopped through the opening with Lilynette following close behind.
Just as he stood to enter as well a white flake fell in front of his eyes. He looked up and saw the beginnings of snow fall. "Shitty-ass weatherman can't even do his job," he cursed.
"Weather isn't an exact science," Sado supplied.
As the Garganta was closing a thought occurred to him. "Hey, tell the old man the dead guy showed up already."
"Are you going to carry that doll around forever?" Lilynette asked in an scathing tone as they traveled through the corridor.
"Great another annoying one," Grimmjow grumbled. "I'm going to dump it at the Shinigami's shop later."
When they arrived to Las Noches they were in the central hall area. Nelliel immediately left in the direction of Harribel's throne while Grimmjow used Presquia to search for Achiim's location. He was in the dining hall with Riverra and several other Hollows. The man used Sonido to get there as fast as possible. Yukiko was unprotected and he needed to rectify that immediately. "Kid! Let's go, I've got a job for you," he announced as soon as he was in the same room.
Achiim jump from his seat immediately and sprinted in his direction in full excitement. "YES! Let's go!"
"Shall I come on this urgent job of yours?" Riverra offered.
It wasn't a terrible idea. The man was strong in fight and would make a good line of defense; but… How would Yukiko react? If she starts to panic or get's stun locked, like she still does every now and then with strangers, she'd become more vulnerable. "No. Nelliel is going to be there and then some. It's already going to be overkill."
"Then why am I coming?" Achiim asked.
"Because I have a job for you that's why! Now let's go," he ordered and opened another Garganta. The realization that the job was in the World of the Living further excited the boy and he darted in without hesitation.
"Good luck!" the friendly man offered as Grimmjow made is exit as well.
"So what's my job?" The boy's voice was dripping with giddy energy.
"You are going to set up a defense around Yukiko."
"That's it?" he whined.
"The fuck you mean 'that's it?' You don't even like fighting and Starrk is way out of your league."
Achiim skidded to a halt. "Wait! Coyote Starrk?!"
"Yeah. You are setting up a defense and the second he or anyone with Reiatsu you don't know shows up you are gong to shoot a Cero in the air to signal me and stall if you can't kill," he instructed.
"What are you going to do?"
"Try and make sure no one makes it that far."
The determined look came back to the kid's face. "Understood!"
When they exited the Garganta they were just outside the apartment's neighborhood and the light dusting of flakes has turned into a proper snowfall. Grimmjow knew Yukiko should be at work but he hoped that she would have made some excuse to go home when the snow started. She didn't. He led the boy to the grocery store. "Set up around her then keep close."
"Got it!" he declared as he drew his sword and tossed it upwards a little, catching it with both hands by his fingertips. He pulled them away and the sword remained suspended by threads. "Weave," he commanded. "Arana."
At the release his skin changed to a patchwork of flesh and white plates of exoskeleton. He grew two more sets of arms down his sides, three pairs of smaller red eyes opened in a cluster beneath his normal ones and his mask shifted from a headband to a pair of thick protrusions with thin, hooked fangs pointed down on his cheeks similar to Grimmjow's.
With his transformation complete he jumped to the roof of the store and put all of the hands together. "Telarana," he called and started systematically releasing almost see-through threads of silk from each of his hands, connecting them to trees, the road, light posts and nearby buildings. As he was doing that Yukiko exited the building so Grimmjow went down to meet her just out of view of the windows so no one questions why there is a floating body. "Starrk was taken control of by some humans in Hueco Mundo. The kid's going to stay here with you so don't leave."
"Don't worry!" the boy yelled as he leaned over the building. "I'll keep you safe!"
"Get back to work!" Grimmjow yelled as Yukiko smiled.
The presence of Nelliel and Lilynette reappeared further in town. He started to leave but the woman pulled his face back towards hers and kissed him. As gently as he could, he cradled her head with his free hand until she pulled away. {"Be careful."}
"Ew, gross…" Achiim commented from the roof.
"KID!" the man roared.
"I'm getting to work!" he rushed to say.
Grimmjow growled but looked back to Yukiko. "I'll be fine. I could beat him when he's at full strength and he's not even going to be. Frankly I'm only bothering with this protection because you are a danger magnet."
As Yukiko nodded the brat who never learns spoke up again, "But I thought he was five ranks ahead of you?"
This time Grimmjow didn't even voice a threat. He just shot a weak bala at the boy, earning a cry of pain. "I'll take you home when everything is settled."
She nodded again, her smile looking a little less convinced. He used Sonido before Achiim could further annoy him and traveled to Urahara's shop. When he got there he could hear Nelliel explaining that she and Grimmjow had previously encountered humans in the Menos Forest and what occurred while they were there. He made his way into the room and dumped his gigai on the floor behind where he sat down. The tall muscular employee placed a cup of tea down for him almost immediately as if the Arrancar was a guest, come to relax. Orihime had joined the group before his arrival.
"We have been expecting some form of an attack for a while and hoped you and Starrk would be able to assist us with securing Las Noches. It's unfortunate that our enemy found you two first," Nelliel said to Lilynette.
"How did you even know we were alive?"
"A better question…" Urahara interjected, "How are you alive? The current Captain Commander cut you two down himself did he not?"
Lilynette hesitated with a glare before appearing to just give up the resistance with little effort. "We were in our Resurrecction in that fight. We thought for sure that we were going to die too. But instead, when our form returned to the two of us I took on some of his wound. It alleviated it from his body enough that it wasn't fatal anymore." She looked down at her hands, sad. "When we awoke alive, we decided to stay in hiding. Let everyone think we were dead. That way we can never lose comrades again…"
"Grimmjow?" Yoruichi spoke after a pause. "Who is that Hollow you brought back with you?"
"That's just Achiim," Nelliel answered quickly first and pointed to the man. "You know how he is. Every bit the territorial animal he acts. He probably wanted to leave protection for his girlfriend while we deal with Stark."
"Aw! That's adorable,~" Urahara cooed while the dark skinned woman smirked.
Grimmjow grabbed the closest thing within reach, his tea cup, and whipped it at his self-proclaimed friend's face. Whether it was because she didn't think he actually would or because she knew she deserved it, Nelliel took the attack. The ceramic shattered on her mask and hot tea exploded on her face. She pressed her hands over her eyes and cried in pain. "That didn't hurt so shut up," he barked.
"Not my face but you got the tea in my eyes," she whined. Tessai handed her a towel to wipe her face.
"Can you two be serious for a minute here?" Kurosaki asked. "A mind controlled Espada is on his way here for some reason."
"Why exactly is that I wonder? Could this be someone else trying to make a Oken?" Orihime questioned.
"Not important," Grimmjow answered.
"How exactly is the reason our home is being attacked again not important?" Kurosaki pushed.
"We have our theories but for now, they are for us to know," Nelliel answered, calming down from her earlier outburst.
"That's not good enough Nel-san! You know that's not."
"Hey dumbass, are you forgetting something?" Grimmjow said.
"What? That you live here too now for some reason?"
Grimmjow didn't like how close to the truth that was and his eyes sharpened, a true Hollow growl rumbling out of his throat.
"Hueco Mundo is an organized society, independent of the Soul Society and the World of the Living. We are being diplomatic and friendly because we have personal relationships with all of you but we still have our own interests separate from yours. While we will accommodate ourselves to your requests to peacefully coexist as much as possible that doesn't change that we have our own nation to prioritize," Nelliel explained.
"So what happens when Las Noches' needs conflict with ours?" Sado asked.
"Do you need to ask?" Grimmjow spoke with a grin more akin to a snarl.
"Which poses another interesting point," Urahara once again began speaking, spelling trouble. "Coyote Starrk refused to join your new society and pointedly avoided Las Noches. He is not protected under the treaty that we've been delicately maintaining. What's to stop the Soul Society from eliminating him for good? The basis of the trust between Teir Harribel and Captain Commander Kyoraku is in honor of Starrk's death. Starrk isn't dead, and now we are learning that Teir Harribel has known that for some time. The future of the treaty could be in jeopardy, especially if it comes to light that she was aware of the falsity when it was made."
Now this was something that left Grimmjow in a bind. If the treaty is trashed then the likelihood that he'd be able to continue living with Yukiko was almost zero. Drawing attention to her was something he's been explicitly going out of his way to avoid. But the more the Ametsuchi clan acted the harder it was to keep her in the shadows. Just the act of protecting her was drawing attention that he wished they would ignore. It kind of shocked him that Nelliel was helping wave away his behavior.
Speaking of which, the Arrancar woman was looking just as stumped at how to respond to the not so discreet threat.
Urahara snapped open his fan put it over his face, shifting to his fake happy tone. "Well, we'll deal with that when we get there. For now, let's focus on freeing Starrk from his mind control. Do we know how it's being done?"
"Well now I'm not sure I should tell you," Lilynette growled in obvious tension.
"Tell us," Nelliel encouraged, though she sat more rigidly and formal than before.
There was still hesitation but the young Hollow spoke, rubbing her injured palm as she did. "The weird power took over him after he was stabbed some kind of short arrow. It felt like my hand was going to burn off when I tried to pull it out."
"Since the technique controls Hollows it's probably not something you guys can undo yourselves," Kurosaki suggested.
"Which limits our options on dealing with this," Yoruichi noted.
The spike in Achiim's Reiatsu seemed to catch everyone's attention, with all the soul being speeding outside in less than a second. Grimmjow jumped in the air and saw clear as day the red Cero being blasted straight into the air. "Fuck!" he yelled and took off as quickly as he could in its direction. Why couldn't he pick up on Starrk? Why the hell had he been wasting his time in a conversation? He should have been trying to find the Arrancar before the man got close to Yukiko. "You better do your fucking job."
()
While Achiim ran in circles trying to keep the Arrancar she could only assume to be Starrk distracted, Yukiko ran to her work locker and retrieved her sketch book. Tucked away in the pages were 2 sheets of parchment with the sigils painted on in her blood. Looking at them, she hesitated. But the rumble of another Cero being fired through the building and the screams of the other people inside who had no perception of what was happening gored her heart. It was one thing for people to get hurt incidentally, it was an entirely other for people to get hurt directly because she was in their vicinity. She wrapped each around her forearms and applied a little Reiatsu to them, activating them just enough to burn away the parchments and adhere the sigils to her skin.
She ran off to get into view of Achiim, who was busy firing Ceros from several arms at once, attempting to block Starrk's movement. She saw the bolt funneling someone's power into the Hollow. A Hollow as powerful as an Arrancar would require a short leash, meaning direct and specific orders. Any order too broad would give him an opening to exert his own will. {"Where are you?"} she questioned to herself as she looked around.
{"No. Don't be stupid. Follow the trail."}
She focused on Reiatsu tethered to the anchor and tried to find that same signature elsewhere. She found it, as it sped past her, slashing her leg. The Reiatsu was carried by a crow, which flew circles around Achiim's Ceros to get to Starrk's ear. "Capture her," an obviously male voice spoke through the bird she now realized was a Shikigami.
Yukiko poured more Reiatsu into her sigils and she felt the activation in the form of her arms burning. Before she could do anything though Starrk was in front of her, reaching for her. The moment she saw his hand in front of her face she froze. All she could see was a wooden ceiling with a lattice work of support beams casting encroaching shadows that shifted with the candle fire.
Her vision was dragged away as she felt a tug on her ankle. Achiim had shot a web at her and dragged her to him. The boy caught her with two sets of his arms and fired Ceros from his normal set. "Stay away from her!"
Starrk fired a Cero of his own that engulfed Achiim's and kept moving. Yukiko reached forward with her left hand and caught the Reiatsu blast, her sigil ensuring the only pain that came was from lines burning into her forearm. As quickly as she caught it, she threw it upwards and away from them. "That was cool!" Achiim shouted, impressed but still scared.
"You useless trash! Don't kill her!" the crow exclaimed from above the empty space between them.
Starrk looked up at it. "Understood," he said with no sign of emotions.
Yukiko took it as an opportunity and used Shunpo to get in close and reached for the anchor with her left. Before she could even registered what happened she found herself tumbling backwards with an intense pain in her shoulder. Achiim used Sonido to crouch over her and shield her while releasing webbing from two hands, "Huevo de Arana!"
The webbing circled around them, creating a protective casing.
"Get that Hollow out of the way and get Yukiko!" the voice from the bird called.
There was a glow of Reiatsu that followed along with a foot that appeared to rip through the spider silk and connected to Achiims chin and sent him soaring out and into a nearby building. As he fell his additional arms disintegrated and his mask returned to its previous form along with his sword. He was unconscious. Yukiko tried to Shunpo away but was still a little dizzy and was immediately caught. His tight grip on her waist sent her into a panic. The bird said something but she couldn't hear it over the sound of her own unstable breathing.
A Cero fired and as the dust cleared there was nothing of Achiim or the surrounding concrete left.
Just as suddenly Grimmjow was in front of them legs tucked up in a jump, bladed arms out with clawed fuzzy hand aimed at Starrk. Grimmjow stabbed his claws directly at Starrk who fired a Cero just as quickly. {"Grimmjow!"} she screamed in horror.
"Nice try bastard," the man said. He was injured but seemed unconcerned. "Yuki! What the hell are you doing? Do you want to get kidnapped?!"
Hearing Grimmjow shout at her gave her something to focus on and she realized that she was being held against Starrk's side with her hands free. She reached for the bolt in his stomach.
"Hollow move her!" the bird instructed and Yukiko was instantly flipped up and facing towards his back. Her arms were still free so she hammered her right fist into the back of his head, her sigil allowing her to strike the Reiatsu in his body directly. He staggered forward and dropped her. Before she hit the ground Grimmjow pounced into Starrk, slamming him hard into the concrete and bounced his tail into her stomach, sending her into the open arm of Nelliel. Achiim was tucked under her other arm and his sword in her hand.
Grimmjow sunk his claws into Starrk's head and stood on his calves, holding him up on his knees. "Alright Kurosaki! Make yourself useful!" he shouted.
The Shinigami rushed forward and it became clear he was reaching for the bolt. Yukiko uselessly shouted, {"That won't work!"}
It was obvious when Kurosaki touched it because he yelled out in pain and jumped back. A young looking Arrancar that Yukiko didn't know shouted in distress, "What the hell? Why didn't that work? Can't we save him?"
Then that damned bird spoke again, "Hollow take your true form."
Starrk shot a Cero from the back of his head, blowing away Grimmjow and used Sonido, reappearing holding the stranger Arrancar. "Starrk…" she said, sounding sad.
"Kick About, Los Lobos," he commanded and was engulfed in Reiatsu before showing his new form. His Resurreccion changed his form shockingly little. As far as Yukiko could tell it just gave him an eyepatch, new clothes and guns.
"Destroy everything and everyone insight except for Yukiko," the bird commanded just before Grimmjow took hold of it by the head.
"You're the one calling shots huh? Pretty fuckin pathetic of ya Starrk!"
The controlled Arrancar raised his hands. "Comillo." At his command two swords made of Reiatsu formed. He threw one at Grimmjow who jumped out of the way, still holding the Shikigami, and the other seemingly appeared in Nelliel's shoulder with the sound of Sonido echoing around them. Yukiko was once again snatched up and Starrk immediately used another Sonido to put some distance between them and the other Arrancar and Kurosaki. He raised the gun in his left hand and spoke, "Cero Metralleta."
All happening faster than Yukiko's eyes could perceive, a wall of Ceros being launched out appeared before her. The blasts overcame his opponents and Yukiko could only hope that they were okay; though everything in sight was getting wiped out. {"Stop it!"} she cried, horrified at the realization that people unaware of what was happening were probably dying in the wake of this fight.
The shots stopped and the first thing to emerge from the dust was the Shikigami. "That's it! Destroy as much as you can," it encouraged.
Starrk raised his gun again but before he could start firing Grimmjow and Kurosaki both appeared before him. The Shinigami's oversized blade was drawn and slashing down while Grimmjow thrusted his claws at his shoulder. Yukiko reached out as Starrk pulled himself back and out of the way. A glowing orange triangle formed directly behind the man, blocking him from further retreat.
Grimmjow successfully gouged his claws into Starrk's arm as he secured a grip on Yukiko. She clutched him tightly once he pulled her in and he used Sonido to back away from the engagement. He landed beside Orihime, a human man with weird arms, and an unconscious Achiim. The Arrancar detached her grip from his shoulder to get her face to face. "You okay?" Grimmjow spoke but sounded echoey and distant.
She nodded and started to stammer but even she had no idea what she was trying to say.
"Can we even undo this thing?"
She continued to nod without pause. Though she could still barely hear his voice, she tried to focus on it.
"Yuki, can we undo this?" he repeated.
"Ametsuchi-san, you need to take a deep breath," Orihime put her hands on her shoulders and instructed.
She stopped nodding and realized her whole body was shaking terribly. She started bashing her own temple with a fist, trying to knock the panic out of her.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Grimmjow yelled, almost sounding panicked himself, and holding her wrists away from her body, his tail hooked securely around her back. The sounds and blasts of Ceros around them continued.
Yukiko started nodding again.
"Yes what?"
She wiggled her arms; he released them but didn't pull his hand away.
*"Need a human,"* she signed.
"Seriously? A human has to pull the arrow out?"
"Got it," Sado said and ran towards the battle.
"Stay here!" Grimmjow ordered and returned to the fight.
The moment his tail released her Yukiko felt her panic ramp up again and losing her ability to breath. She looked around at the destruction that surrounded them and found a Reiatsu wall rising.
Orihime pulled her in close.
A tall, muscular man approached with his hands together. "Don't worry. Yoruichi-san and Boss have been working on clearing everyone out of here as far as possible. My job is to contain the damage from here on out."
It was solace and she latched onto the thought. That maybe there won't be dozens of deaths on her hands. She looked back to the battle she just wanted to be over.
()
First things first; kill the bird. That thing was directing Starrk so they had to get it out of the fight. Interestingly, it wasn't even watching it's puppet; it was watching Grimmjow. He didn't let that stop him though and leapt up to it and before it could flap away he cut it in half. Strangely it didn't bleed. It separated and dissolved leaving behind a paper, shaped vaguely like a person, cut in half.
With that out of the way the Arrancar landed on Nelliel's back as she was now in her own Resurreccion. "Bird's dealt with."
"Good. Do we have a plan?"
Grimmjow looked and saw that Sado was only now reaching them. "A human has to remove it," the Fullbringer said.
"You sure we can't just kill him? It'd be way easier."
"I know you don't care about having him join our forces at Las Noches so at least think about it like this; if we can release him we can get information about the people who are doing this."
"Yeah, it'd be good to know what their end game here is. I'm getting real sick of Yuki's family doing bullshit in Hueco Mundo."
Nel turned to look at him, shocked. "What?!"
A Cero was fired directly at them so Grimmjow jumped off of the centaur, giving her a good push out of the way. "Pay attention to the fight dumbass!"
"You lied! You said you didn't know anything about those humans!" she shouted angrily.
"I didn't then. You just haven't asked since I found out!" he argued.
Another Cero was shot at Nelliel and instead of avoiding it she opened her mouth and sucked it in. "Cero Doble!" she fired off her combined attack back to Starrk who used Sonido to go back down to the ground. The woman then went back to Grimmjow's side so he preemptively plugged his ears with his knuckles. "Are you being stupid on purpose?! We shouldn't have to check-in on if you've learned anything that you know we are looking into!"
"You know what? Fuck you, I'm killing him!"
She turned and donkey-kicked him into a wall with her back goat-deer-whatthefuckever legs. "Go babysit your girlfriend and stay out of the way!"
"Will you two stop fighting each other and help?!" Kurosaki shouted as he brought his dual shikai blades down on Starrk, who blocked with his guns. Sado ran up and reached for the arrow but the Arrancar stepped back and aimed his right gun at him and left at Kurosaki and fired. The human blocked with his wide shielding arm while Kurosaki jumped up into the air
Grimmjow leapt over Sado and with a flip hooked his hock blade into Starrk's shoulder then kicked to throw him. Nelliel joined the two men and ran past them. "We need to pin him!" she commanded.
Starrk wasn't moving from where he had been thrown but his power was seeping out. Just as Nelliel drove her lance into his arm to hold him in place his Reiatsu exploded sending her back a few meters, bloodied and burned. Starrk reached for the lance and removed it, throwing it at Grimmjow, who ducked it and came face to face with a flaming wolf. Just as it lunged to bite him he threw up his arm in defense to avoid his neck getting ripped open. However the wolf exploded in his face all the same.
He'd be lying, happily of course, if he said he barely felt it. His ears were ringing so bad he couldn't hear anything around him and the more it cleared to more obvious it was that he was deafened. His left eye was definitely fucked up too, most of the vision from there was gone. He wiped the wet feeling of blood from his face and off-handedly noted to himself that his left ear was mostly missing. It had been a long time since he felt pain like that.
It was exhilarating.
Grimmjow couldn't contain the grin on his face when he jumped back into Starrk's space and immediately sliced off his left hand. Starrk tried to fire a Cero from his chest but Grimmjow could already see the instability of it from the way it was charging so he Sonido'd back right before it exploded as well. Just as his feet touched the ground he launched forward again and punched the stunned Arrancar in the face. His Hierro was still standing strong but he definitely couldn't completely block all the damage. When he went for his third punch Grimmjow was yanked back by his tail, just as his body was pulled away a Cero shot came from the gun in the detached hand on the ground.
He turned to see Kurosaki was the one that dragged him back and the man was talking to him. He caught a couple of words like: "warn" and "attention" but didn't care enough about what was being said to watch the shape of his mouth. "Keep wasting your breath if you want. I can't hear a damn thing," Grimmjow said or yelled. It's hard to know when you couldn't hear your own volume and are worked up on adrenaline.
The mouth flapping stopped and Kurosaki looked concerned for a moment but then focused behind them. Back towards the human women. Orihime was using her shield to block a wolf and cut one that went around it with her attack. Problem was the wolf just reformed and before Kurosaki had a chance to go save her Yukiko punched the animal and it disappeared. He'd hate to admit it, but her freakshow preparations were paying off and a thought crossed his mind that he wished hadn't.
Sado was too slow to keep up with the fight; he could take a hit sure but a walking fortress isn't going to get this done. Also, Grimmjow wasn't entirely convinced the Fullbringer power was human enough to allow him to actually touch the bolt. Yukiko could use Shunpo and she was small enough that he could carry her without slowing him down. "Damn it," he growled out as he ran over to them.
Kurosaki released his Getsuga Tensho, upon impact the wolf exploded. Good. That means a Cero should be able to destroy them all the same too. Grimmjow wasn't paying any mind to Starrk at this moment, he trusted Nelliel to keep him busy for a few seconds.
"That guy's too slow, you're going to have do it," he said.
She stammered and shook her head.
He grabbed her arms a bit firm and quickly adjusted his grip as well as dropped his Hierro. "Would I have you go if I was going to let you get hurt?"
Rather than indicate a yes or no she gestured to his face. He didn't know what he looked like at the moment but it probably was bad and not at all reassuring that he could keep her from getting killed. He could vaguely see shadows in his peripheral of the two red heads moving about, maybe talking to each other or him. Honestly he'd rather take Orihime; it wouldn't bother him much if she got hurt. But you never put your medic on the front and he didn't need to try to guess that Kurosaki would cut his head off before allowing that.
"It looked like he couldn't do that anymore! But I know that it's the last trick he's got, so he ain't surprising me anymore!" He started to yell for sure now. The previous silence was replaced by a whining in his ears that was growing louder by the millisecond.
He could see her take a shaky breath and the muscles in her neck and face tighten but she nodded. Grimmjow reactivated his Hierro and threw Yukiko onto his back as he darted towards Starrk. Nelliel was bloodier than he last saw her and it probably had something to do with the fact that she was back in her base form. From the looks of it, she did it because it's better suited for close quarters than her Resurreccion even though she was weaker like that. Sado was in close too but just as Grimmjow thought, every time the human reached for the arrow the Arrancar would shift just out of reach and ended up kicking him far out of the way.
Starrk actually looked ready to drop dead. He was covered in blood, his mask was cracked, and by their standards he was downright sluggish. The fight drags on any longer and he'd die, on purpose or not. Starrk even stopped firing Ceros, or at least at his previous rate.
A pair of wolves zoomed in to block Grimmjow's path and he blasted one away while the other was destroyed by Kurosaki. He didn't slow down, if he did he would miss this opening. "Yuki just focus on getting the arrow! Don't think about anything else!" he instructed her.
He felt the face tucked into his shoulder nod and zigzagged around the engagement to get behind Starrk kicked his toe claws into his back, using him as a step as he reached down from over his head and ripped his claws into his lower jaw to pull his face up. "Now!"
Yukiko used Shunpo, kicking off his back, and got in front of Starrk. She had her hand on the bolt and it didn't react. Out of the corner of his good eye, Grimmjow saw the gun move position and aim directly at his human and a Cero begin to charge from Starrk's chin. "Please die," Starrk said with the first hint of emotion he had shown that entire time. Desperation.
Grimmjow pulled himself out of his back and flipped, with the help of Nelliel's kick they threw Starrk as the Cero released to run a line across the ceiling of the barrier. Yukiko held tight to the arrow and it pulled away from the Arrancar's body. Grimmjow reached out and instead of grabbing her, pushed the woman backwards and just barely out of the way from the final Cero that was released by the gun. He howled as his arm took the blast. After the blast, Grimmjow fell into the destroyed ground with his Resurreccion fading and didn't even need to check to know the attack burned away his arm. This was becoming a thing and if he wasn't in so much pain, he be pissed off about it.
His eyes darted around until he saw Yukiko, out cold against some rubble he must have thrown her into. Damn fragile human.
He pushed himself up to stand but the world was spinning and he started to lose his orientation. Before he fell Nelliel was under his arm and pulling him up. Once he got his feet under him he was able to walk and tried to just go on without her but she was in better shape than him so she held him against her and walked them there; like he was some kind of invalid.
Once closer he could see that she was breathing and shook her a little. She didn't react and he tried to stamp down the obnoxious worry. "I'm just gonna sit here for a minute," he told Nelliel.
Maybe she said something back, maybe she didn't; the ringing in his ears would never let him know. Either way, she left him alone and disappeared from his world while he basically toppled over. From his side he looked her over. A bit of blood on her face, arms and legs looked like they were scraped somewhere along the way. There was a decent amount of blood on one of her legs so she must have something more serious happening there. The symbols on her arms were no longer glowing and instead looked like brands burned into her skin.
A warm glow covered over him and he looked up to see a familiar orange-gold wall. The ringing was starting to fade and his arm was reforming. He also noticed that Achiim, Starrk and Lilynette were placed behind him, unconscious and under Orihime's healing. He protectively put an arm over Yukiko and waited. Her burns were fading slowly and by the time the three Arrancar's were fully restored they were only reduced.
Grimmjow sat up. "Hey, woman. What's going on? Why isn't she healing right?"
"That's strange," the red fairy thing spoke instead. The two opened up to show their humanoid bodies and inspect her. "We should try again, just focused on her."
Orihime nodded and the healing wall appeared again.
"It's working but her Reiatsu is resisting us for some reason," the red one explained.
"It'll be okay," Orihime spoke up. "We just need a little extra time."
"That's fine. While she's doing that perhaps someone can explain what's happened here."
Everyone looked over towards Tessai to find Kyoraku Shunsui approach with his secretary looking Lieutenant, Urahara and Yoruichi behind him.
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JennadeDamaged: The power of procrastination compels you! I literally wrote this all upon the thought that my next school semester is starting.