Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Negative Space ❯ Jiminy Cricket ( Chapter 18 )

"You're doing it wrong," I half yelled at Raacharg from my perch on one of the destroyed remnants of a watch tower outside Los Noches.

"How am I doing it wrong?" He asked as he turned to look back at me. Flames licked across his body with the movement, emphasizing the sheen of his flaming orange fur.

I tilted my head to the side in a gesture that was meant to say, really?

"I need to draw out more power, I get it, but how? This is all I've got," he said as he shook his fur out making more flames shimmer around him.

"You're bound to me for a reason. You need to use the power I'm offering or you'll never make the jump to Vasto Lorde."

"I'm not going to weaken you-"

"Raacharg," I snapped as my once easygoing words became hard. "Your power is like a bathtub compared of my sea. Stop worrying about my strength and focus on your own."

"I can't help but to feel like we shouldn't be out here right now," he whined as he turned his body away from me but kept his face toward me.

"We're fine, now quit worrying about things I've got handled and focus. Draw on my power." I met his yellow-gold eyes for a long moment as he tried to convince me with his gaze that we should do what he wanted. I would have called it a pout if his eyes hadn't been so serious. "I'm serious, Raacharg. How long have you been able to do this transformation?"

"A few months now," he answered. His voice was deeper than his usual tenor in his hellhound form. At first I had thought he was growling, but it really just was his natural tone when he was like this.

"I know I was just too dumb to notice, but now that I do know I'm not going to let you just waste the power," I chided him. I shifted forward on my perch until I was able to take to my feet and jumped down to the sand. "When I bound you, I had done it out of appreciation for what you had done for me. I wanted to protect you, to claim you as mine so I could repay you for what you did for me. Before I drowned myself in memories, I would have only sought out someone who clearly showed potential to become more than they were. I didn't even know you were capable of becoming more until after I put myself in my right mind."

"Even knowing you could grow, I didn't make you mine for power. I made you mine so you could keep me sane and support me. That was, until I knew you had come so far without any influence from me. I won't let you waste your potential, especially now that I know we are going to be targeted."

"I'm not wasting it," he argued back. "You won't let me fight beside you, so I've been staying out of your way and supporting you the way you want me to."

"You're right, I won't let you fight with me, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to defend yourself." I stalked across the sand to where he stood. The flames that surrounded his body dimmed until he saw my scowl and he let them return to normal. He had excellent control over himself for only having had this form for such a short time.

"You're close to becoming a Vasto Lordes," I stated as I stopped beside him and knelt. The heat of his flames made my eyes water and my skin feel like it was slowly cooking with my closeness, but I didn't shy away. This was my Adjuchas.

"You said it took you-"

"I'm a slow learner, you're not. What took me years to do will take you months, or less. You know more than anyone your age should. You've seen through my eyes how the world works, how power is gained and lost. You know what it means to be an Arrancar and how to get there with the power that I am offering you. You just need to take it."

"I'm not strong enough to be a Vasto Lordes in this state," he said, shaking his head.

"Who have you actually fought when you were like this?" I asked as I propped a fist on my hip.

"A few menos, but that's about it," he said with a small shrug. It was pretty menacing looking coming from his flaming doggy form, like he was flexing, but I knew it was just a gesture.

"You could easily defeat another Adjuchas like this, maybe even a Vasto Lordes who is without a master to fuel them. But, you need to quit being such a pansy about drawing power from me. I'll shut you off if you try to pull too much."

"This isn't something we should be doing with you still injured and Arnau out there looking for you," Raacharg continued to protest.

He did have a point.

Raacharg and Loly had come out onto the balcony that extended off of Grimmjow's rooms shortly after Grimmjow and I had parted. It had only taken a few moments for Grimmjow to stomp off back inside with Loly at his heels as some urgent matter was brought to his attention, leaving me with Raacharg. Feeling Grimmjow move away had felt like a blanket being pulled off my shoulders. Deep down where I didn't want to admit that I felt it, I had wanted to follow him. It wasn't just the bond that was calling to me with its elastic newness, it had been something else entirely and I didn't understand it.

I had decided in that moment that I needed space to clear my head, and one of the two things that would have kept me here was with me, and the other nearby. After a quick walk about the large bedroom I found Amechania resting beside the bed I had been sleeping on for days, and with it in hand I had left with Raacharg for my rock. I didn't want to be stuck there in his stupid tower. I wanted to go back to being just me for a little while.

My interactions with Grimmjow last night had given me a sense of unease in his presence. Well, it wasn't so much unease as I was drawn to him and didn't know how to deal with it. It was probably all the time I had spent with him while unconscious, but I had this dumb ass urge to touch him whenever he got close to me, or to follow him when he went away. So, to remedy my discomfort I had slipped away with Raacharg while Grimmjow was busy with whatever problem Loly had brought to his attention. I knew he had wanted me to stay in his presence while I was still healing, but I couldn't leave myself in such a position in my state. Yes, he was safety, but he was also a temptation that I didn't want to give into. Being so far away that I couldn't feel the draw of his power was the only way to not feel him.

Grimmjow certainly knew I was gone by now, but he hadn't come looking for me. He did call me through the bond only twenty minutes or so after we had left, but I had ignored it. I may have been his subordinate, but I wasn't his obedient slave. If he wanted me to come back, he'd have to come get me. The fact that he hadn't come to order me back meant that either he was busy or didn't care enough to punish my disobedience. Or maybe he actually was respecting my decision to leave? Or was he in a fight?

Nah, I was betting he was busy. If he had been calling me for aide in battle it would have sounded more urgent than just a 'come home' sort of vibe. If he was actually calling for me because he needed me… well, I was almost positive that wasn't what he had been calling for.

We were so far away from Los Noches that I couldn't feel anything from the bond aside from the call he had put out. But, that was his doing. Not mine. Raacharg could have probably felt for him through me, but I wouldn't ask him to. I had my own agenda, and I was intending to see it through.

"Arnau is patient, he's not going to go looking for me especially when he knows I'm bound to Grimmjow," I said with a casual shrug as I pulled my thoughts back to the present.

"He doesn't want you teaching the current Espada about the bond. He knows you're bound, which means he knows you're teaching at least Grimmjow, and he could be teaching the other Espada."

"It's fine, Raacharg. Arnau knows my power-"

"He knows your weaknesses too," he pointed out.

"The only reason I left myself exposed was because I thought no one was left from that time who knew. I just need to be more mindful and keep my shield on my back when I release my true form." I shrugged dismissively.

"Your shield isn't enough," he said firmly.

"For now it is."

"Where's the rest of your armor?" He asked, showing just how much about me knew that I didn't think he did. I hadn't told him about it, but he'd seen my memories where I was wearing my full suit.

"Hidden." In the same dungeon that I had been trapped in for years, but I didn't say that part.

"You need to get it."

"I took it off for a reason," I said, shaking my head. "It's heavy, and I'm not built for that kind of armor any more."

Yep, that was a lie. I could have worn it and been just fine, but it did slow me down in exchange for the protection. It wasn't how I fought in my Negative Space now and I was slow to adapt to change, but I could do it.

"You look the same as you did a thousand years ago," he pointed out. Observant little shit…

"Going back to full armor will hamper me more than help," I argued back.

"Then partial."

"No," I said sharply. I didn't want to go back to that dungeon, not when I knew it was a trigger and I was already having so much trouble just staying me. "Today is about you and your power, not mine. You-" I jabbed my finger in his direction- "draw on my power or I'll force feed it to you like a baby."

"I won't."

The flames that had been licking around his body vanished and like I had blinked, he was abruptly back to his normal form. I slowly let my hand drop as my hard stare turned into a scowl. He was blatantly defying me. It was one thing for him to disagree, but to flat out disobey? He'd never done that before.

"Raacharg," I said his name in warning.

"You're weak."

My eye twitched.

"My mask is damaged. I'm not weak."

"Fine. You're weakened, and we are standing out in the middle of Hueco Mundo where we can be picked off."

"I don't get picked off."

"Can you even use your true form?"

My eye twitched again. I didn't know if I could, and he of course would know that I hadn't released my true form since Grimmjow had brought me back to Hueco Mundo.

"If you disagreed so much, why the hell did you wait until now to say something?"

"You didn't tell me what we were doing," he snapped, sounding every bit as frustrated with me as I was getting with him. "I thought you were just going to sleep in your rock. When all you did was change out of Grimmjow's shirt and into your own stuff, I thought we were going back. Then you stopped in the middle of Hueco Mundo and decided that you wanted me to increase my power? I don't understand anything you're doing and you haven't bothered to explain a damn thing."

I really hadn't explained anything to him? I supposed I had been lost in thought while I had been running around, and I might have changed my mind several times…

"I'm ensuring that you can take care of yourself."

"Why?"

"If I am incapacitated like I was again, you need to be able to keep yourself safe. Power means safety, therefore you need more power. The only way to get more power is to draw on me so you can push yourself over the line that you need to cross to have more on your own."

"Why are you so worried about my safety now? You left me with Grimmjow's Fracciones. That was enough for you before you came back from the World of the Living. What's changed?"

"You're my humanity," I answered almost automatically. I blinked as I realized just what had come out of my mouth. I had told as much to Grimmjow, but I had never so blatantly admitted it to Raacharg. I'd called him my Jiminy Cricket among other things, but my humanity? I dropped his gaze to stare at the sand, but when I didn't find some sort of enlightenment there I let my gaze wander across the peaks and valleys of the dunes around us.

I didn't know when this sense of realization had crept up and backhanded me, but it was suddenly there. I was scared of losing Raacharg. If I lost him, I would lose myself. If he wasn't there to hold me together, there would be nothing to keep me, to keep Isa, in one piece. Even if my bond with Grimmjow would allow me to slip back into the person I had been, I liked myself and the way I was now. Isabellia was nothing more than an instinct driven, logical thinking being with little to no emotions. I liked the subtle feelings Raacharg had given me. I liked the way I had changed over the last ten years. I liked how things were right now. And, above all, I owed Raacharg my life.

I took a step back then.

Then another.

My hand rested over the right side of my chest as I felt for the power of the feathers that resided within my chest. I swallowed down the lump that was forming in my throat and sucked my bottom lip between my teeth so I could gnaw on it. I bit down hard enough that I drew blood and turned away from Raacharg as I fought my way through my thoughts.

Fur brushed the side of my bare leg and I looked down to watch as Raacharg sat on the sand, his side pressing to my leg. He wasn't looking up at me, but rather gazing out across the sand like I had been. I stared at the top of his head, amusing myself as I watched his boney ears turn like satellite dishes with his alertness. He normally didn't touch me if there wasn't a practical reason, even if it was just leaning against me. But, that had been more my doing than anything. I was the one who had put the space between us. Sure, he didn't like being treated like a dog, but he probably wanted to be treated like what he was.

My companion.

I let out a short sigh and knelt before I rolled back onto my butt and sat on the sand. I stayed in roughly the same spot so that as I settled, my hip and arm were pressed against him. The sand under me was hot like I had sat on a skillet, but I ignored it as I pulled my shorts down just enough to keep my skin off the sand. I had changed into a pair of skin tight biking shorts, a tank top and joggers jacket when I'd gone back to my rock. I'd acquired the clothes from a closet full of items that clearly didn't fit their owner any more. The living were famous for making commitments that they never intended to keep, like working out and staying away from fast food.

"My bond with Grimmjow is changing me," I answered. "If I lose you while I am still bound to him, I don't know what will happen to my mind. I need you to be stronger so you can stay alive, and I can stay sane."

"You can't force it."

"I can, actually. I just choose not to. " I lifted my hand and ran my fingers through his fur. I didn't mean for it to be like petting him, which he clearly thought it was as his ears slowly fell back on his head. I continued the motion until I looped my arm over his body and half hugged him to my side. His ears relaxed once I stopped moving and his gaze turned back to watching the dunes.

"Do you really think I can be an Arrancar?" He asked. His question made an easy smile turn my lips.

"Yeah, you'll get there faster than I did too. You just have to live long enough to get there." Which was normally a pretty big hurdle to overcome. Vasto Lordes tended to be cocky and stupid...

"Arnau doesn't know I'm bound to you," he pointed out. "I'm not a target, so why are you so worried?"

"If you really aren't on his radar, you will be as soon as he sees us together, and I have no intention of leaving you alone. I only left you with Grimmjow's Fracciones because he needed me, and it's my responsibility to serve him as he sees fit."

"If that's a true statement, then why didn't you go when he called?"

Oh… I didn't know he had felt that. Great.

"I, uh-" I licked my lips as I tried to think of words. I really wasn't good at this touchy feely stuff, nor was I any good at admitting to my own inner demons. Did I really want to tell him why? I could just make up an excuse. I mean, I didn't go to Raacharg for this sort of stuff. I just dealt with it on my own.

But Raacharg was asking. He hadn't actually asked me to explain myself since we had first met. That he was asking now meant there was a good reason, or that he knew something I didn't. Fucking gopher tits.

"His influence over me creeps me out. With the God Maker, I wanted to feel his power. With Grimmjow, I can't tell what I want to do. My body wants to do one thing, Isabellia wants to do the same, but I don't. He isn't the God Maker, he's Grimmjow the fake Espada. It would be easy if I felt the difference in his treatment, but after sleeping in his bed for however long that was-"

"Three nights," Raacharg added.

"Three nights, whatever, and him interacting with Isabellia so much, he treats me in a way that is far more familiar than it should be. He is goddamn destruction, and I am nothingness. He should be all violence and I should be completely unaffected by his presence. That's how it should be, but it's totally wrong and I don't know how to process it all. I'm not exactly trying to avoid him, I just… don't know how to deal with him."

A beckoning sensation crept through my chest and my entire body shivered with the need to move.

"He's calling again," Raacharg said.

"Thank you for pointing that out. I totally didn't feel the full body shiver followed by the unspoken command to heel at Grimmjow's side," I said in a flat tone.

"Are you going to go?" he asked.

"If I go, I doubt he will let me leave again until I'm healed."

"You can always sneak out again."

"He won't fall for it a second time."

"Do you think he'll order you?"

"He says he intends to only order me around when he absolutely has to, but he's not good at controlling his commands. He does it when he doesn't mean to, especially when he gets worked up. And if you haven't noticed, that's pretty easily."

"He's gotten better," Raacharg said.

"Are you actually defending him?" I asked, my surprise showing in my voice.

"Did he order you to do anything when you woke?"

"Well, yeah. He ordered me to come back to myself when I was lost."

"Did he order you otherwise?"

I had to think about that for a moment.

"... I suppose not."

"When was the last time he ordered you around on accident?"

Uh.

"I suppose the world of the living."

"Was that on accident, or just a poorly used order?"

I narrowed my eyes at the back of his head. "You've been talking to him, haven't you?"

He turned his head to show me a very doggy like grin. "You know you suck at explaining things sometimes. Things you know well you're good at, but putting yourself in someone else's shoes has never been your strong point. I've been with you long enough to understand how the bond works from both sides, so I've been talking with him a lot over the past few days. He's a fast learner."

"Too fast," I grumbled as I dropped my head in feigned sulking.

"It's even more reason to why we shouldn't be out here."

I lifted my head to meet his golden eye, and he continued.

"Grimmjow learns quickly. Arnau probably knows you haven't been working with him long, but if he realizes that Grimmjow has learned so much, Arnau may shift his priorities to stop Grimmjow and the other Espada from learning any more, which means he will go after you."

"Do you really think so?" I asked softly. "Arnau wasn't one to so openly engage in combat in the past, but you know that. You've seen what I've seen, but that's only a man from a thousand years ago. Up until Aizen and his stab happy goon, I was almost exactly the same as I had been since after the God Maker's death. Do you really think he has changed so much?"

"Do you think he's smarter than you?"

If that had come from anyone else, I would have been offended.

"Yes."

"Do you think he's stronger than you?"

That too might have pissed me off.

"It depends on how many Hollows he has bound to himself. With enough Arrancar and Vasto Lordes to fuel him, maybe. But if I can-"

"Get him into your Negative Space, you can beat him. But, he knows what you can and will do. He won't be caught inside your Negative Space unless he has no other choice. One thing I noticed in your memories was that he was a great tactician. He will have thought this assault through from start to finished with plans A, B, C all the way through Z. You have thrown a wrench in those plans, forcing him to rethink everything he's planned thus far. Your presence, your knowledge, is strengthening the Espada to a point that he may or may not be prepared for."

I stared at him for a long moment as I tried to process his words. "Without the proper training and time, whatever knowledge I pass onto Grimmjow will be useless. Having the bond is the first step, but learning to use it is a whole other matter. Manipulating the bond, pushing power where it is needed and taking from where it is not, using the abilities of those bound to you, that's where the true power lies. Like assembling a deck of cards, you have to know how to use what you've got to its fullest potential or you're just shit out of luck."

"He will want to remove you once he realizes your worth to the Espada. You beat him once, and even if you didn't kill him I'm sure you made him more than just wary of your power. He will avoid fighting you personally in any strategy that he develops, or will ensure that he doesn't fight you alone."

That stupid beckoning call rang through the bond again, making my teeth ache and spontaneous swearing spew from my mouth. That wasn't just a come hither call like it had been before; it was a get your ass moving call. Raacharg's hackles had even raisen with the sensation.

I let out an exasperated sigh and drew away from Raacharg. "Can you send him a nice little jolt back to tell him we heard his tantrum? I'd do it, but he's beyond the range of my senses."

"I can, but Isa," he didn't finish his sentence as his smile dropped into a puppy like pout. He was such a dog.

"Yeah yeah, we're going back. He's being such a needy ass that I'm sure he'll only get worse if we don't."

Raacharg's tail gave a quick wag before I felt him reach through our bond and down the one that belong to Grimmjow. I couldn't feel anything from my bond with Grimmjow outside knowing it was there, but following Raacharg's pulse it was like watching a flare shoot down a dark tunnel until I couldn't see it any more. I hadn't felt something like that in so long that it made my skin crawl, but I hide it behind my motions to roll into a kneeling position.

"Come on, let's go see what my almighty master wants."

Yeah, that was sarcasm right here.

Running back to Los Noches took about as much time as it took to get there from my rock. It was a lot slower than usual considering my sore back, but I still made decent time. The only difference from a normal trip, if you could call running to Los Noches normal, was that I was coming from a completely different direction. When I had taken Raacharg out after stopping by my rock for new clothes, I had purposely gone pretty far away from my rock to make sure that anyone who would be attracted to the fireworks we were setting off with our spiritual pressure would be attracted to somewhere we didn't frequent. I would keep my rock a mystery to them, no matter if we were being followed or not.

Darting up the walls that surrounded Los Noches I pointed myself towards Grimmjow's tower.

"He's not there," Raacharg said into my ear.

"He's not?" Oh yes, I sounded so smart.

"He's in that other one over there, Hallibel's."

I watched his snout point at one of other four towers that made up Los Noches' corners.

"Hallibel? Is that the name of a person or another one of his plants?"

"She's the Ruler of Hueco Mundo."

"Wait, what?" I dropped out of my sonido and stopped in mid air so I could crane my neck around to look at him better. "Grimmjow said he was the King, so he must have replaced Barragan as the King of Hueco Mundo. What do you mean by calling this Halibel the Ruler of Hueco Mundo?"

"She's the Ruler," Raacharg said again. When my expression didn't change, his claws flexed into my jacket and he let out a small sigh. "There are three Espada left, right?"

"That's what I'm told," I said suspiciously.

"You met them, although briefly. Those two women with Grimmjow when we went to Aizen's palace were the other two Espada. Tier Halibel and Nelliel Odelschwanck, they were the 3rd Espada."

"Together?"

"No, they're just both labeled with a 3. I don't know the story, but I do know that out of all the remaining Espada, Halibel is the strongest."

"But Grimmjow said he was the king," I argued back. Either Grimmjow was lying, or I had no clue how the power structure worked anymore.

"He technically is, but Halibel is stronger."

"So she's his queen?"

"No, she's just the Ruler."

I didn't understand at all. If she was the Ruler, she was Queen. Grimmjow was the King, so clearly they ruled in tandem. Were they not a couple though? Grimmjow had said he wanted me to be his queen, but if he already had one...

"The King owes me an explanation," I said darkly as I set my gaze on the tower.

"I don't think you understood a thing I said," Raacharg grumbled.

"Oh no, I understood it alright," I snapped.

He let out a sigh. "No, you didn't."

I ignored him as I took off in my sonido again, heading for that tower. Grimmjow was going to explain himself or I was going to tear his damn head off and eat it like a fucking twinkie.

Fueled by my own anger, I made it to the tower and up in record time. My back didn't like it, but I was too pissed to care. Even as I stopped on a battered balcony that was much like the one Grimmjow had on his tower, my back protested. I was pushing it, but oh well. My body could damn well deal with it.

Releasing Raacharg's back feet, he jumped off my back and I turned to find the open doorway that led inside the tower, and my master that waited within. Well, it was more like he was lounging within. Grimmjow was sitting back on a couch, his arm draped across the back of it and his ankle propped on his knee. He was dressed like he usually was, mostly wearing black except for that stupid Espada jacket. Just seeing him made my anger tip toward the edge of irrational, but I did my best to hide it as my gaze crossed over the woman sitting across from him.

She was tall, blonde, and probably beautiful. I couldn't see her face behind the collar of the shirt she wore, but her ocean blue eyes were clearly visible as she turned her head to look at Raacharg then at me. Her gaze was slow to rise as she took me in from toe to head, finally meeting my gaze after a long moment. I held it in a stare that somehow felt defiant. The sensation was odd, but I didn't have to hold it long as her eyes shifted to Grimmjow.

"I suppose you were right, she is one of the old ones."

"You know her?" Grimmjow asked.

"Of her," the woman answered.

Were they really just going to talk about me now that I was here? Ugh.

"You called," I half snarled as I propped my hand on my hip and leveled my glare on Grimmjow.

Azure eyes sparked with my words before Grimmjow rolled off the couch and started toward me all in one fluid motion. It was a very feline sort of reaction, something I should have expected but was momentarily distracted by as he stalked toward me. His movements were languid while still being ripe with the potential violence that he was so capable of. Normally, he walked like anyone else. A sort of gait that was neutral while still wary. To see him stalking toward me was a clear sign that I'd pissed him off.

Good.

When he came up to me he stopped with only a foot of distance between us. His azure eyes were a light with an inner fire that I knew I had set by pissing him off. At least he was fully clothed now, otherwise I might have had a problem being angry too.

"Why did you leave?" He asked in a low, growly voice. We were both grumpy. Awesome.

"I'm your subordinate, not your slave. I'll come and go as I please," I answered him as my eyes half lidded into a bored sort of glare.

"I told you to stay."

"No, you told me I didn't need to go hunting. You never said I had to stay. Even if you did bother to say it, it wasn't an order."

"Do I need to order you around just to make you heed my will? I didn't think you would be so stubborn."

"You weren't in need of me, rather I was a distraction. There was no reason for me to stay."

"You're vulnerable. If you had run into any of Arnau's people, you would have been their victim."

"I can still fight like this," I snapped, though I did it softly with the knowledge that the woman in the room was most likely listening.

"Can you? You only just climbed out of bed for the first time in days a few hours ago." His gaze was far more angry than his voice gave away, and I could tell that he was struggling to hold his anger back. He didn't believe me, and I couldn't blame him. He was probably right, but my pride wouldn't allow me to admit it. He wasn't Raacharg.

So, I ignored his accusation.

"Do you want to explain why you've called me here? I was busy."

"Because I know you can't defend yourself."

He wasn't going to let it go. Stupid, stubborn man!

"You want another taste of my Negative Space? Bring it. I'll whoop your ass just like I did last time."

We glared at each other then. The tension between us was almost palpable, but I didn't care. I wasn't going to give into him unless he forced me to, and if he did he would be a damn cheater.

"You're letting your anger get away from you," Grimmjow growled. Like the words were some sort of soothing mantra, his face eased out of the glare he had been focusing on me and he stepped closer. I refused to take a step back as his mask brushed my cheek so he could bring his mouth to my ear. It left me gazing over his shoulder at the woman who waited inside as he murmured, "calm yourself or I'll do it for you."

"Fuck you and your goddamn high horse," I snarled back. My mouth wasn't visible to the woman due to the difference in our height, so I was pretty sure she hadn't understood what I'd said. "When were you planning on telling me that you-"

I cut myself off when the shadow of another person flitted by the edge of the door frame, drawing my attention completely away from my words, and to that oh so familiar presence that I was abruptly aware of. If it had been anyone else, I might not have been so acutely aware of the man that stood just on the inside of the room beside door, but I was. Gantenbainne.

Mother fucker…

"I'm not doing this here," I said as I stepped back and turned to Raacharg. "Whatever you want from me, we can do it elsewhere."

A hand whipped out and caught my arm, stopping me mid step. I slammed my foot down on the ground and pivoted back to Grimmjow. The fury in my eyes died when I saw his searching gaze. He may have still been angry with me, but it was hidden under the confusion in his gaze. I frowned and yanked at my arm. I hadn't expected him to actually release me, but he did. The surprise of it kept me from pulling away again as I gave him a speculative look. I rolled my shoulder as I considered him, assessing what it was that he wanted out of me. My change in attitude must have been more abrupt that I meant it to be...

"Why is Gantenbainne here?" I asked in a low voice.

The only hint to Grimmjow's thoughts was the slight twitch of his left eye.

"He serves Halibel," he answered.

...

"He what?"

An anger so old that other than in dreams I had forgotten it, ignited in my chest. It was deeper than the anger that I had been feeling moments before, and for good reason. Ganten had been mine for years. I had raised him from an Adjuchas, protected him, desired him. He had been my fracciones for years and survived the war games all to leave me because I was the reason that all the others had died. It had infuriated me that he had wanted to leave me, but it hadn't been so bad knowing that he left me to be his own master, not to serve someone else. But clearly that had been a lie if he was now serving Halibel.

It wasn't just that he was serving another master that pissed me off. It was also the knowledge coupled with the fact that he was here, that he hadn't died. Grimmjow had said he was still alive before, but it had been little more than a rumor to me. I hadn't seen him, so to me, he was still dead. But now he was here. He was alive all that time and he hadn't bothered to free me from my prison when he must have known where I was. He knew I had met Aizen, he'd been there and left when I had been ordered to stay. He knew I hadn't come back, and he didn't even bother to look for me. He may not have been my Fracciones at that time, but he had been my equal as another Espada. And yet, he'd just left me to rot...

A cool ease drifted through my chest and I slapped my hand against Grimmjow's chest. When my skin met his it was like the press of his influence doubled, but I couldn't seem to find the thought to remove my hand from him. Instead I said in a harsh whisper, "don't. This is my own anger, not yours. You have no right to take it from me."

"Then tell me why you're so damn angry. You told me Gantenbainne was your Fracciones at one time. I expected you to be happy or some shit, not pissed off."

"You have no idea about my past with him," I growled.

Despite my clear dislike of his dampening my anger, the soothing cool spread further through my chest. I cursed and flexed my fingers, pressing my nails into his skin even as the tension in my body eased. I wasn't going to let him just squash me under his power. It was stupid and I'd probably regret it later, but just like I had done last night I took hold of the mental door in my mind and slammed it closed for just a moment. Grimmjow physically flinched when the door slammed against its frame, momentarily slapping his power back at him before it flew open again to flow over me. His lips pulled back in a snarl as a low warning growl filled the air around us, making my skin rise with gooseflesh.

"You can be pissy later. Right now I need the first Privaron Espada, not a vengeful harpy."

Jesus shit tarts, just how much of my memories had I shown him? I had been very much like a harpy as Vasto Lordes. I had been all boney feathers and armor covering a very female body. My transition into an Arrancar had just made my body more Human, losing my talons and most of my feathers in exchange for my zanpakuto. Did he actually know what I had been, or was it a figure of speech?

"The bond isn't a one way street. You're just so damn powerful that you can do as you please, but that doesn't mean you should. Quit acting like a man child who's trying to control a new toy, and instead be a fucking master who will work on understanding that new toy."

"You're my toy?" He asked. That stupid grin of his turned his lips and I scoffed as I pulled away from him.

"You're treating me like one by manipulating me this way," I grumbled.

I could feel Grimmjow's response on the edge of his tongue, but he was cut off as that woman inside spoke loud enough that her voice overcame his. "When you two are done with your spat, I'd like to get this moving. I have better things to do than listen to you two argue."

I sucked in a long, slow breath. My anger was completely gone thanks to Mr. Ass Hat over there. Thankfully he hadn't tried to turn me into the boneless mess that I knew he had before. It was just like he'd put out the fire in my chest while leaving the rest of me completely unaffected. He was getting damn good at manipulating me, and that thought worried me.

"Why am I really here Grimmjow?" I asked.

"I need you to show Halibel how to make a bond with her fracciones, like you did for me."

"No," I answered. It came out rather quickly, but the single word had been firm.

"No?" He repeated slower, drawing out the single word like he couldn't believe I had said it. "What do you mean by, no?"

"No, as in I won't do it." I wanted to glance back at Raacharg as I spoke, but decided that it probably wasn't the best idea. Raacharg had been talking to Grimmjow more than I had. He'd known this moment was coming and he'd already told me what he thought of it. I hadn't really thought much of it at the time, but now… I knew Raacharg. He had been my companion for years and I had trusted him all that time to think for me. He was the strategist and I was the muscle. He hadn't told me what to do, but he had told me what he thought the consequences would be and I couldn't help but to agree.

Arnau coming after me was an event that would be unavoidable. I had killed him, or rather thought I had. He wouldn't be satisfied with me serving the Espada if he was trying to take them down. I was a threat on my own, but I was pretty sure he, Bartolome, Melandria and whoever else he had with him would have it out for me. I had to finish healing before I could take them on, and to do that I had to stay off their radar.

"There better be a damn good reason why you're telling me no," Grimmjow growled.

Tell Grimmjow that I trusted my Adjuchas more than I trusted him, or make up excuses? Oh yeah, like that was a hard choice.

"I need my true form to bond someone of your power, and I can't do much in that form yet," I lied. Well, it might not have been a lie, but he didn't need to know that.

"Have you even tried?" He asked.

"No, but I don't need to. I went from completely disabled in my true form to being able to pretend I wasn't hurt in this form. I am stiff and sore and slow right now. In my true form I'm probably not much better than I was. I don't know how long it took me to heal my mantel, but it was just broken, a clean break between one half and the other. I didn't see how bad my spine was damaged, but I'm sure as shit not done healing it."

"Your spine was almost gone."

…

Will shit.

My shoulders dropped and I felt myself pale. My spine had been that badly damaged? No wonder I had been so crippled. It had only been three days and I was magically moving? There was no way I should have healed this fast.

"My answer is still no. If you want her to learn, teach her yourself. "

I turned from him then and to Raacharg. My Adjuchas looked absolutely smitten with me as his golden yellow eyes gazed up at me from behind his boney mask. He liked it when I listened to him, and I guess my decision to tell Grimmjow no was what he would have wanted.

"We're rivals, Isa. Do you really think she'll let me bind her?" Grimmjow was still speaking softly enough that Raacharg and I were most likely the only ones who could hear him.

"I can only show someone how to make the bond through the bond. I'm not so good with explaining stuff like that, so its the only way that I can teach someone something so… driven by feeling. I taught my subordinates how to bind someone by making them feel me make a bond with something through our own. You didn't already have that connection with someone, so I had to make one with you to teach you." Licking my lips I glanced back at him, only to be distracted by the open doorway. Halibel's eyes were half lidded in a clear gesture of boredom, or irritation. Or both.

"Creating a bond with someone makes you vulnerable. If you had wanted to, you could have easily killed me when I had let my defenses down. But with you, when I was in your arms, I knew there was no reason for you to hurt me." My eyes finally drifted to Grimmjow, but even as I tried to meet his gaze I couldn't seem to hold it. It turned into a small, almost nervous gesture that I hid by pushing my hair behind my ear. "I have no such assurances with her, Grimmjow. I'll share my knowledge with you, I'll share with your Fracciones if you wish it, but I won't do the same for just anyone else."

He was quiet for a long moment, so I gestured to Raacharg and presented him my back. Just as he jumped onto my back and his claws gripped my shoulders, Grimmjow decided to speak up.

"I'll expect to see you at my home when I am done here," he said loud enough that I knew I wasn't the only one to hear. I'll bet he meant his damn tower. Ugh. This was his way of challenging me. He hadn't made it an order, but if I didn't do what he wanted, he wouldn't trust me to actually do as he asked. He'd believe everything needed to be an order to make me obey. Or was that just what I thought of him?

Whatever...

"If you leave me alone with your Fracciones for too long, you might come back to a room full of bodies," I warned him as I turned and walked over to a gap in the balcony's railing. It was in a lot worse shape than Grimmjow's balcony was with missing sections of railing and a few concerning cracks ran through the floor.

"Oh, I won't be long."

In my long life I'd learned a few things about men. One was that they had two types of anger. One was clear, like the rising wave a tsunami just before it crashed over the shore and obliterated everything in it's path. The other was like volcano, subtly growing in pressure under the surface until they couldn't keep it contained and it spewed over destroying not just everything around them, but a piece of themselves too. I had a feeling that I was working wonders on his volcano.