The mask was the first thing he put on and it was for a good reason because seconds later a rough hand slammed against his neck, glowing with the bright blue light of a building cero. Shinji looked up and grinned his impossibly enigmatic grin.

"You're later than I expected, arrancar," he drawled, voice unaffected.

"You know what I'm here for. Where's Ichigo?" came the rough reply.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that."

The cero glowed brighter, "Oh? Well, I'm pretty sure this is a pretty good reason to let me do that."

Shinji laughed and the hand on Grimmjow's chest where his heart might be glowed to match, "Are you willing to sacrifice your life so needlessly?"

"You'd really die just to protect him?"

"I asked first."

Grimmjow scoffed, jerking his hand away from Shinji's face. The vizord tilted his mask up, surveying the much more muscularly built frame with some interest. "You got a new arm."

"One of the perks of the job."

"If I remember..."

An icy glare, "Don't say it."

The grin only grew larger. "Why Ichigo?"

"A good fight's a good fight."

"Give me another week or so and you'll get a better one."

A snort. "I'll kill him. Then, I'll come back and I'll kill you."

"Why? Looking for a good place to die?"

"Nah. Looking for a way to live. Sittin' around ain't my style. But when the first punch connects..."

"You're alive, huh?"

"Yeah. Somethin' like that." A step away and a turn. "Don't keep me waitin', no name."

"It'll be the fight of your life."

As the arrancar stepped through the rift between worlds, the moonlight flickered for a second before illuminating seven blades behind the vizord leader.

Shinji lowered his cap over his eyes. "Heh. You guys never let me have any fun."