Hi all! So, I've decided to update this story for no particular reason other than remembering it exists and trying to finish incomplete projects. No promises on more updates, so sorry in advance! I am, however, semi-regularly updating my other story, Line which is a sequel to an MCU/Bleach crossover starring our relatable memelord Keigo, so if that's a genre that interests you, then, by all means, check it out here and on ao3.

In the meantime, enjoy!

Words:

Fortunately for the siblings, the arrancars stayed unconscious all of Saturday, giving them the chance to regain their bearings and coming up with (another) new plan.

"More food in the fridge, that's for sure," Mizuho huffed as she made breakfast, "You need to get yourself a job if you don't want us to starve within the week. I'm too busy with uni-work to deal with this."

"I don't think they eat human food," Keigo mumbled around his toast, "Madarame would have said something otherwise."

"Madarame asked you to - and I quote - 'improvise' if the hollow regained consciousness. Well, one of them just might in a few days, and he doesn't fill me with much confidence. I don't wanna find out the hard way that we could have avoided dying by feeding him. So you're going job hunting today," she pointed a spatula at him.

Keigo groaned, "Fine. You don't have to be so rational all the time."

"And leave it to you instead? You'd adopt an entire hoard of monster Bratz by the end of the day!"

"That is not what happened! They just- you know what, never mind," he sniffed when he couldn't come up with a proper excuse.

His sister snorted into her orange juice. She decided to change the subject instead.

"Any plans for today?"

"Tatsuki and Mizuiro are trying to lure me into an ambush at the cat cafe," Keigo said, "Don't know how much longer I can put them off."

"Then don't, dummy. You'll only draw more suspicion if you constantly refuse to meet them. Tell them you've got guests over or something. That way you're not lying and I can vouch for it."

Keigo finished his breakfast in contemplation before going to his room and texting them an affirmative on meeting at noon. His gaze drew to the two sleeping figures wrapped up in white sheets, breaths shallow and hair fanning both their faces like actual halos. Keigo would almost think them dead had he not first-hand experienced angry claw marks on his now, severely bandaged wrist, only hours before.

The fear and dread of hosting two hostiles wore off pretty quickly last night, when Keigo plonked the blue spitfire on his futon like a sack of rice and threw the couch covers in the trash. Mizuho suggested he sleep in their parents' room for the time being but he declined, claiming guard duty until one of the arrancars woke up and had a decent conversation with him.

Needless to say, Keigo hadn't slept in over 20 hours now.

After quickly checking the reiatsu meters and changing the IV bag next to Harribel's bed as quietly as he could, Keigo showered and dressed for the day. He placed two glasses of water next to both Espadas in case they could ingest corporeal material, grabbed his Journal and items from Urahara's and headed back to the dining area.

"Right so, we need airtight alibis for everything we plan to do from now on," Keigo dropped the bag on the table, "-so. IDs for our guests. The gigai are supposed to be body-morphing and portable and you're supposed to blow them up I think," he said sifting through the instruction manual that came with the products, ignoring Mizuho's baffled expression entirely. "I'll need a corporeal thumb-print of the hollows on the IDs to put them on the database, according to this. Oh and I also bought them fake passports in case we need to get out of the country, and some weapons-"

"Whoa, slow down Carleone!" his sister interjected, "As much as I appreciate you taking initiative, I think we can put 'Fleeing the Country' on standby. Also, how did no one find it suspicious that you were buying readily-available fake identities?"

"Urahara wasn't actually around his shop. It was just these two humanoid brats who could give less of a fuck about me. They didn't ask, I didn't say," Keigo shrugged.

Mizuho stared some more.

"Right, those were words that just came out of your mouth. So, you need real fingerprints from Wonder Twins in there?"

"Yep, the sooner the better. I'd like to keep their documents ready ASAP."

"Harribel's out, clearly. You will have to wake up the other guy though," Mizuho frowned. "He's going to flip his shit, he seems... feisty."

"Really? That's what you're going with?" Keigo scoffed, "Shortest Fuse Known To Man, Ishida told me," Mizuho snorted at that, "I'd rather keep my limbs intact and wait for him to wake up today. If he doesn't... well, we can always leave Scared For Our Lives on tomorrow's agenda."

"Of course you're an ad-hoc guy. Should have guessed, the Journal doesn't fool me," Mizuho teased.

Keigo fake-gasped, putting his hands to his chest dramatically, "It's like you don't know me anymore! I'm out of here, I have people to see and excuses to give."

"Have you decided on said excuses then?"

"Uh..."

"I've just had these annoying guests over this past week man," Keigo slurped his milkshake as obnoxiously as he could without getting smacked by Tatsuki.

His friends visibly grimaced at the action, choosing to sip their own drinks like human-beings. Mizuiro's phone would not stop buzzing, but he ignored the notifications in favour of actually talking to Keigo face-to-face like he did every once a year, when he remembered.

"You could have just told us instead of running off every time we asked," The cat currently brushing past Tatsuki was a Russian Blue by the name of Nuki who absolutely hated Keigo's guts. Asshole literally scratched him when he went to pet her! "Which you didn't, so obviously I don't believe you."

Keigo gaped, trying to act as innocent as possible. It wasn't his forte really, and having spent the past months being brutally candid did little good in this situation. He was out of practice.

"I had to leave early because they're jerks and can't be trusted with our stuff! Why wouldn't you believe me? What other thing could I be doing instead, huh?"

"I don't know, Keigo, we've learned you aren't as transparent as you make yourself out to be," Mizuiro challenged - mouth pulling into a slight smirk, giving Keigo the indication that it was in good jest.

Still, Keigo had to play his cards right if this excuse was to stick for the foreseeable future. "You're one to talk about transparency Mr No-One-Knows-Where-I-Live," he shot back.

Mizuiro snorted, "You know where I live, consider yourself lucky."

Tatsuki rolled her eyes at that, grabbing Nuki and placing her on her lap, "So who are these people at your place?"

"Second-cousins from my dad's side. Only talked to them via phone and email like, twice before," he replied easily, "But never met them. And for good reason too! Fucking menaces." It was technically true, they were a goddamn nuisance simply by existing in his vicinity - though Keigo was overplaying their role. He held up his bandaged wrist to illustrate his point, stating "pretend-wrestling is a farce," before shovelling into his crepes and his friends only looked at him with mild-amusement and very little pity. Mission successful.

Keigo stifled a yawn as a ginger Persian cat decided that his shoulders were its new home and began kneading them with its claws. He yelped and tried to distract it with a feather teaser to get it off. His back wasn't free real estate damn it.

"I'd love to meet anyone who annoys the shit out of you. Are any older and female? I can't believe I'm saying this, but Kojima could use a distraction from that stupid game he's been playing," Mizuiro shot Tatsuki a dirty look but looked at Keigo questioningly anyway.

Well. Technically, yes, but like hell was he going to introduce his best friend to an unstable hollow corpse. Or vice versa, he didn't trust Kojima to not sweep anyone off their feet if he put his mind to it.

"I would rather eat my own hand, thanks."

They finished up a short while after that, exiting the cafe with extra bon-bons and pictures of Nuki and Odin, the Persian demon who sat upon Keigo like it was his throne, and headed to book and gaming stores after Keigo backed out of the arcade to look for a part-time job.

There weren't many openings, but Keigo tried his best to play nice with the store clerks without coming off as too annoying, while his friends browsed the shelves. One particular Gamers needed a part-time archivist - whatever the hell that meant - so Keigo emailed them the CV he built up over 17 months and got their number in return.

"We will have a look at your profile call you by next week, tops," Keigo gave a blinding smile, bought a Zelda keychain in good faith and left.

He bade goodbye to his friends at around 4, who seemed satisfied enough with meeting him to hold out for at least another week. He looked around more shops on his way home, checking for openings and briefly browsed through more book stores. On a whim, Keigo went to the Self-Help section - not entirely sure what he was looking for. It had been over two months since he last talked to his therapist, which was progress, but Keigo wondered if he might have to contact the man again, for a different kind of problem this time.

The shinigami had said Harribel was captured by Quincies, which technically made her a prisoner-of-war. As for Grimmjow Jaeger-something, Keigo had no idea what state he could have been in before he entered the human realm, but it looked bad either way. He needed to be prepared for the onslaught of possible nightmares and their consequences on superpowered individuals that were his current moochers. Harribel had already illustrated the kind of attention she could attract with even the slightest spike in her reiatsu, not to mention whatever caused her seizure earlier this week had a decent chance of being nightmare related.

So Keigo needed an appointment and ask a whole lot of invasive questions about soldiers and their kind of post-traumatic stress. He might know a decent amount, but he could not operate under the notion that these ancient beings were going through the same shit.

Keigo picked up two books he found decent reviews on, one specializing in women with PTSD while the other gave him a general overview, and continued to his apartment.

By the time he reached home, Mizuho was making dinner, humming and swaying as if there weren't two nuclear weapons hiding in his bedroom.

"I don't know what got you in a mood, but good evening to you too," Keigo said in the way of greeting. Mizuho chucked an apple at him that he caught and took a large bite of, "No seriously, what's gotten you so... cheery?"

"Well, if you must know, I finally got to talk to my roommate from University and we've made the funnest plans," she said, "It's going to be like a Bachelorette party but without the weight of marriage and commitment."

"Never mind that you might not live to see tomorrow huh?"

"I laugh in the face of anything that's going to prevent me from getting my degree," she retorted, then suddenly looked apologetic, "-speaking of... I'll be leaving the day after your birthday..."

Keigo's smile dimmed. Of course, he knew Mizuho was supposed to leave for Uni in early April, but recent events had put that thought in the back seat until it just... slipped his mind. It hadn't been long since they developed this new dynamic between them, where he stopped thinking her a pain in the ass and she showed that she cared. But now she will be gone in less than a month and Keigo will be left alone to deal with this supernatural bullshit all over again. And their parents. God, that was almost worse.

"Well... let's hope this whole thing blows over before you go then," his joke fell flat, but she didn't say anything and they spent the rest of dinner in silence.

By Sunday morning, Keigo made it very obvious that he was avoiding waking Grimmjow up. He cited that there was no particular need to wake up the Espada just this instant, claiming that "Fake IDs take, what, five minutes to be made? It's actually not as big a priority as I made it be," before laughing uncomfortably and offering to take the trash out.

Which, you know, was the last straw really. Mizuho dragged Keigo into his room and pushed him to sit right beside Baby Blue with the bag of weapons spread on the floor. Looking at the contents, Mizuho turned to him questioningly.

"And these are... weapons... and nothing more?" she held up a pair of soul-binding cuffs and raised an eyebrow.

Keigo made a strangled noise, "The hell do you take me for? Get you're head out of the gutter!" His sister also grabbed a giant taser that could put down a horse while handing him a baton with a spear on its end.

"You sure these will work?"

"Absolutely not. Which is why I think we should go bac-" Mizuho tackled him back in place and glared at him until he caved. "Okay! Geez, if we die, I'm blaming you." She stood back and guarded the door, weapons and phone in hand.

"I'm tired of feeling scared, Keigo. Just get on with it already!"

"Alright, alright!" he turned to Grimmjow, who slept on his back. His hair was a brighter blue than before, and the scars on his face Keigo had noticed last night had all but gone. He looked like a god, a very very attracti-

No. Bad Keigo.

Keigo pulled down the blankets covering his wound and stared at it for a good few seconds, trying to think past the rock-hard abs that stood prominent despite the bandages and the mess that was his torso. Keigo slowly undid the wraps, finding no traces of blood anywhere. Impressive as it was, he needed to see the gash himself. When all bandages were off, he was presented with a long line of healed stitches on the right side of his hollow-hole.

"They seemed to have healed pretty well overnight," he commented while checking if arrancars had pulses. They didn't, apparently. Keigo let go of his wrist.

"Wasn't as hard to patch him up, honestly," Mizuho replied with furrowed brows, "The gash seemed- it felt almost... surgical, right?"

Keigo gulped. If that was the case... then the weird goo coming out of Grimmjow made a bit more sense, but it also made things complicated. Worse than an injured warrior was an injured experiment. Keigo had seen enough conspiracy documentaries to figure out the extent of what this guy, and Harribel, may have gone through.

"Okay," Keigo exhaled, "-okay I'm going to... How do I do this?" He didn't want to poke him awake - might as well put his head inside a crocodile's jaw and dare it to stay still. Fat chance, that. Keigo stalled further by looking for any more bruises on the guy's chest and shoulders (definitely not copping a feel, shut up) when he realised that Grimmjow wasn't really... breathing, "Wait," he didn't think hollows needed to breathe necessarily, but this particular Espada had made a habit of it, if their interactions yesterday on the way home were any indication, "I think he's... Is he- are you awake?" Keigo asked incredulously.

It should not have been possible, but the arracar's body went from still to absolutely rigid. The bastard was actually awake and scoping the place.

"Oh my God, you are!" Keigo exclaimed, "Stop pretending, I know you are!"

"Keigo! What the hell are you doing?" Mizuho hissed, switching the taser on.

"Don't look at me like that, he is!" Keigo retorted, "He's stock-still, see? Come on man, get up. We need to have a chat."

In the split second Keigo turned to Grimmjow, the guy's eyes snapped open revealing - holy shit - the Mediterranean fucking ocean instantly followed by his claws aiming right at Keigo's throat-

Keigo yelped and backed away just in time, thanking his stars for the guy's injuries and his own above-average reflexes. Mizuho shouted and launched herself at the arrancar with the crackling taser but before she could reach him, Keigo grabbed her by the waist and drew her aside, dodging her elbows and ignoring her yells. He backed her to the other corner before swiftly turning, and looked at the half-sitting, raging figure in front of him. Keigo would have let his sister loose at the fallen hollow if it wasn't for his therapist's advice ringing in his ears since the day Harribel wad dropped on his doorstep.

Compassion goes a long way, Keigo. Angry people are often hurt and are tired of constantly hiding it. Don't buy into their anger, but into the part that still wants to be healed.

It had stopped him from lashing out and acting rash far too many times to discount it, so Keigo would do anything in his power to make sure this doesn't escalate more than it already has. Even if it meant playing hookie with a spirit bomb on a warpath.

If he died, well. He always told his therapist he'd come back to haunt him.

Besides, Mizuho's life was at stake here, and despite her proverbial nerves of steel, Keigo wasn't going to let Tall, Dark and Murderous anywhere near her before establishing some boundaries.

He raised his hands in surrender, allowing the hollow to take a good look at his weak, weaponless body before speaking, "Right, I'm sorry. That- should not have happened. But to be fair you were just pretending to sleep,"

The arrancar let out a low, threatening growl. Okay, Keigo needed to back up, he could do that. Everything was fine, everything was chill.

"Remember Keigo from yesterday? Guy who helped you from the dingy warehouse to the nice, comfortable couch? That's me," he pointed to himself, "Asano Keigo, the non-alpha of the home. Ring a bell?" When he didn't say anything Keigo sighed, "You said 'Fuck you' and I said 'I don't put out on the first date,' which is mostly true, but untested, seeing as I haven't ever been on a real date before."

Grimmjow stopped growling, instead assessed him with hooded eyes and Keigo tried not to blush at the attention.

After what felt like years, the Espada gave a huff that might have been dismissive and sat upright, wincing as the stitches pulled on his skin.

"I can help with that," Keigo offered quickly, "It's healed up quite well, and so have the rest of your scars. But you will need to rest for a full recovery, I don't know how your physiology works."

"Don't touch me," the Espada spat viciously. His voice was deep but strained and rough from disuse. He looked about as panicked as a cornered cat, if cat's had death beams coming out of their paws.

Compassioncompassioncompassioncom-

"No touching, promise. Can you get up though? We can take this into the living room and let our other guest sleep," Keigo nodded to the figure on the bed. Grimmjow cautiously turned to see Harribel's prone form. Keigo saw a flicker of something pass the Espada's face, something he couldn't decipher before it disappeared behind the stoic visage.

Grimmjow grunted, slowly trying to get himself up and Keigo turned his attention back to his sister in an attempt to give the guy some privacy - asking her quietly to set up a kettle of tea and bringing the medical supplies. She stared daggers at their lodger before turning to him in a huff and padded to the kitchen, still armed and vigilant. Leaving his baton in good(?) baton, Keigo followed suit, turning his back to Ichigo's enemy as casually as he could without breaking into a sweat and took the first-aid kit from her; then poured a glass of water and put it on the coffee table.

When he turned to see the Espada, Keigo's mouth nearly went dry. No one, dead or alive, injured or completely healthy should look as good as Grimmjow did in those moments of striding confidently, expression neutral but guarded. He was definitely posturing, Keigo had seen enough of Ichigo's bravado wafting through an entire room to recognise that this guy wasn't nearly as strong as he made himself to be at the moment.

That is not to say he couldn't blast Keigo's apartment to the ground with a flick of his wrist, just that he probably wasn't functioning at 100% efficiency. He was still easily the most dangerous thing within a kilometre's radius.

Keigo motioned the medical supplies in front of him, which Grimmjow scoffed at before picking at the stitches with his bare fingers. Ignoring his fingers trailing down his abdomen, Keigo let out a horrified sound at the first stitch breaking, trying not to gag at the blood beading the area and urgently shuffled towards the man with a pair of tweezers and scissors.

"No." Keigo stopped less than a foot away from the arrancar, handing him the instruments without making contact and looked him right in the eye. Grimmjow could crush him with his thumb but Keigo wasn't going to let the hollow become an unsanitary heathen only to prove a point. They just changed the fabric on the couch, "Under this roof, we respect standard medical procedures like the civilised people we are."

Grimmjow's eyes pierced through him for God knows how long and Keigo nerves oscillated from incredibly frightened to nervous to weirdly hot under his collar. God, they were so blue. Keigo had never seen anyone with that colour. Matsumoto had come close, and that white-haired kid who turned out to be her boss had grey-stormy eyes, but Grimmjow won the jackpot for the most capturing gaze by a landslide.

Just when he thought he was going to do something drastic, the arrancar swiped the supplies off his hands, rolled his eyes and sat on the couch. Keigo took that as a win and hid in the kitchen.

"That thing you did there? Really stupid. Well done," Mizuho said plainly. Keigo agreed wholeheartedly, where his flight-or-more-flight responses had disappeared off to in the past 48 hours.

Oh, wait, yeah.

"I don't think I've slept enough," he said.

"I don't think you will, anymore. Great fucking job, that. How are we gonna convince him to not kill us?"

Keigo gave it a thought, "Exchange of information? We tell him what we know, he tells us something in return. We're all on the same side."

"Are we?" Mizuho looked at him in concern, "Nothing we know about this guy says we can trust him. He tried to kill Ichigo."

"He tried to kill a lot of people, but you saw him right? He should have snapped me in half by now and he didn't. I think he's willing to listen to us, enemy of my enemy and all."

His sister sighed heavily and took the tea and snacks outside, "I really hope you're right,"

"If I'm not you'll know- oh hey," Keigo said dumbly at the sight of Grimmjow sprawled on his couch, stitches gone and supplies thrown carelessly on the table. "That's- uh, that's good."

"Y'know Kurosaki?" Grimmjow asked gruffly, daring him to lie to his face. Oh right, super-hearing. Keigo decided to go the pacifist way.

"Err... yes? He's- um. He's not here though, so please don't... break anything?" it came out incredibly meek, but Keigo needed to be sure that Grimmjow wasn't going to destroy his property.

Grimmjow gave out a snort, "That's what he said about me? I break stuff?"

Keigo shrugged, mildly thrown off by how... not-mad Grimmjow was about the whole situation, "Well, he didn't exactly say anything- it was Ishida who did the talking,"

"Who?"

"I- never mind. So... are we gonna talk about the elephant in the room or?" Keigo trailed off. Mizuho looked at him like he was crazy as she poured herself a cup.

"He means to ask what happened to you," Mizuho interrupted, "What?" she said at Keigo's alarmed expression, "You said he's a no-bullshit guy, so why're we bullshitting?"

At that, Grimmjow gave out a loud bark of laughter, something cruel and guttural, from deep within his stomach that was bound to ache like a fucker. Keigo jumped at the noise, finally seeing the mania behind the Espada's eyes. That's what Ishida was talking about, shit.

"Who're you?" the arrancar suddenly asked, smile gone and his face thunderous, "And why the fuck do you have Tier Harribel's body in that room? Honest now... wouldn't wanna prove Kurosaki right wouldja?" He threatened.

Keigo bit back a whine, shuffling closer to his sister unconsciously. She had also tensed, looking at their guest with narrowed eyes.

"Two shinigami came to me a week ago, asking me to hide her," Grimmjow's eyes snapped to Keigo, body leaning forward - a not-so-hidden warning in his posture. Keigo swallowed heavily and continued, "They said that Quincies have taken over the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo and had captured her. She was rescued and brought here to heal - this place is apparently the safest one they could find."

"Bullshit," Grimmjow snarled, "Quincies're gone, don' exist no more."

"Well, that's what I was told, and I believe them because there's no other reason for Ichigo to leave Karakura. He was done with this shit, but then this... Captain of the Seireitei tells me and my friends that Ichigo's not coming back... and then a few weeks later I'm playing nurse to his apparent enemies that the shinigami now claim can help them, so. We're honestly just as clueless and rolling with the punches, dude." Keigo finished, then frowned, "Wait- where have you been? If you didn't know Quincies were back- what happened to you?"

Grimmjow closed off again, standing up and walking towards the balcony, "None of ya business!" he called back.

Keigo turned to him, "Um... I think it is! We're two defenceless humans with no idea what's going on, you're our best shot." The Espada raised an eyebrow.

"You call that defenceless?" he nodded at the taser still clutched in Mizuho hands.

"Hey man, if you wanted us dead, we'd be dead," Keigo reasoned.

That apparently seemed to have eased something in Grimmjow, who simply chuckled (chuckled! Ishida was a liar) and came back inside.

"I like you," he grinned sharply.

Keigo's heart-rate spiked, "Nope, you can't say shit like that. Rule number one of staying here, you can't say shit like that," he said, ignoring Mizuho's "unbelievable". What? He needed to lay ground-rules.

"I ain't stayin' here,"

"Yes you are, where else would you go?"

"There's a war innit? 'M going ta have some fun," he bared his teeth again, revealing pointed-as-fuck canines reaching his bottom lip. Yikes. He was just about to go back to the balcony when Keigo blocked his path, not quite thinking his plan through. The man growled at him, face turning sour and immediately backing Keigo into the corner, "Y'gonna stop me, kid?" he said in a low grumble.

Keigo stuttered, "I- I- I might. Yes," he squeaked. His body was very confused right now, and Keigo needed more brain power to muscle through this.

Grimmjow's claw met his throat before he knew it, not attacking, but resting it gently against the skin there. For someone dead and not exactly tangible, Grimmjow sure was warm. Damn it, Keigo. Focus!

"I'm just saying..." he tried gathering as many coherent words as he could in the midst of dread clouding his mind, "That you may need some time to rest, and then maybe not leave for a while after that in case the party comes to us. A-Also help with Harribel, all very honourable things to if you ask me."

"The fuck d'ya know about honour?" he growled. The air felt heavy, Grimmjow exuding reiatsu like a goddamn avalanche. Or maybe that was just Keigo having stopped breathing altogether.

"He's right, Keigo," Mizuho said from... somewhere. Keigo tracked her with his eyes to find her on the other side of the room, almost shaking. "Let him go. We can- we can handle this, just. Let him go."

He belatedly realised that she was talking to Grimmjow there, who still had very pointy claws at Keigo's jugular. Mizuho looked at him with fear etched on her face. Her taser might only make things worse if she ever managed to reach him before the Espada decided to slash his throat out. Keigo gulped, then winced at the feeling of the claw pressing into his flesh.

The hand on his neck immediately let go and Grimmjow went back to the couch. Mizuho rushed towards Keigo, who slowly slunk to the floor, holding him up.

"Fuck," he breathed out.

"You're okay," Mizuho rested her hands on his shoulders, "You're fine, I'm here."

The thing is, he really was. He knew the panic would come later, it always caught up to him later. But for now...

"I think something's wrong with me," he whispered, eyes not leaving the figure on the sofa casually lounging and... not leaving.

"Nothing's wrong with you, Keigo." Mizuho was sweet. Really sweet.

"Pretty sure there is. I was scared, definitely. But also- not," he tried to convey it as eloquently as he could. Mizuho doted upon him some more before pausing and staring for a moment. Then, her face scrunched up the way it did when she experienced something particularly unpleasant (so, all the time, really).

"Oh my- are you serious?!" she screeched, "Fucking teenagers," with that she got up, threw a napkin at his face and went back to Grimmjow. What did he say wrong?

"You can leave," Mizuho told the hollow from a distance, "We won't- he won't stop you." Grimmjow barked again, throwing his head back like a psychopath.

"Ya couldn't if ya tried, an' ya don't tell me what to do," he replied.

"But you wanted to leave so..." his sister motioned to the window.

"An' now I don't. I'm stayin'" his words were laced with challenge, eyes unusually bright and Keigo knew Mizuho wanted to rise to it, judging by her expression of outrage, but she reigned it in, closing off and clenching her jaw.

"Fine, but you need to do a bunch of stuff to stay here longer, and Keigo has some rules that you need to follow, non-negotiable," she stated, eyes staring hard at him. Grimmjow's gaze flickered to Keigo, who was still on the floor, looking at the whole exchange almost curiously, the fear slowly leaching off his body. Their eyes met, and Keigo jumped, darting his gaze away, neck still hot from the before.

With a grin that could not mean anything good, Grimmjow agreed.

"Deal."

A/N: This chapter was unexpected and rather difficult to write. Apart from a sudden burst of inspiration to continue this story, I realised I had to change a lot of things I had initially imagined writing down, and this was the product. I'm not particularly mad at it, although I have made Grimmjow more pragmatic than in canon and the previous versions of this story, but to me, that is because not only did he escape a place where he might have been helpless and needed to have relied on other aspects than pure strength, but also because Keigo had initially established that he was not challenging Grimmjow, and did not show signs of having any chips on his shoulders, unlike the rest of Hueco Mundo's residents, such as Loly and Menoly. They seemed to have together established that Grimmjow is allowed to do whatever the fuck he wants as long as it does not expose Harribel - which - also a very common trait among cats and their relationships with humans, just sayin'.

That being said, a lot of his character is yet to be uncovered and I'm excited to see if I will ever be able to do so.