A/N: Hooray for another chapter! ...I think.

Gah, I know that him being romantic is OOC-ish, but please note that in the previous chapter, he was EXHAUSTED. He was just being...all, crack-tired-ish. Meh, I hate it when I type and sound so whiny and weird. *sigh* Oh well.

Here we go...

Sick Little Games

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("Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;

Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes;

Being vex'd a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears:

What is it else? A madness most discreet,

A choking gall and a preserving sweet.")

Romeo and Juliet, Act I, Scene i

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Arinori wasn't much of a believer. She wasn't like Ulquiorra (nor, could she ever be capable of such a thing) who was able to hear one word from Aizen's mouth and praise it as if it was the word of God himself. She had no such faith in anyone. As an Espada, it was a rare personality trait to have, but most of Aizen's subordinates pretending to posess it.

Arinori wasn't going to play pretend ever again.

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Crushing a grain of sand between two nimble fingers, a sigh escaped from the Novena Espada's lips. She rested her weary head on two thin knees and sunk deep into her own skin. This was a sad, sad existence she was living...never had she asked to be reborn like this. She never wanted to be this way. If only she could remember just who she used to be...(she was undoubtedly sure that she wasn't going to like it when she could remember...)

If there was anything at all she could vaguely call upon, it was that of a snow globe.

A snow globe similar to the landscape of Hueco Mundo: pure white nothingness, beings hidden by visages in a backdrop no one actually saw.

Arinori had nearly forgotten the feeling of something cool or frozen. It had been so long since she had been away from the ghastly place in which she was forced to live. In the World of the Living, things were different. Things were colorful and bright and vivid. Things were alive. Now, why did such crushable, puny, insignifigant creatures get to live in such a wonderland of a place, while beings such as herself were forced to live in this barren plane of existence?

I want to be inside of that snow globe. I want someone to trap me there, shake my furiously, leave me without air to breathe. Maybe then, something will actually matter to me more than anything does now...

Tourou rested in the warm sand next to Arinori, discarded and unsheathed. It gleamed in the artificial light of the moon, seeming more deadly than intended. Somehow, Arinori felt the deepest connection with her Zanpakuto whenever the hilt was in her hands. When she had been become an Espada, her aspect of death assigned had been Hatred. Arinori always believed that Tourou was the embodiment of Hatred. That was why she felt so connected and impowered while holding it. She was so filled with hatred...it was consuming.

"What the hell are you doing out here by yourself?" The Novena swiftly glanced over her shoulder to see the frozen figure of Grimmjow Jeagerjaquez, the same look set dead on his face. His eyes were laced with rage, but Arinori saw past the facade and saw the deep set worry in the blue irises.

"Just...thinking. Away from all that stupidity..." Arinori now faced the West, feeling a slight desert breeze against her flush skin.

"Tch. Tell me about it," The sand had silenced Grimmjow's steps as he came up next to the dark haired girl. Quietly, he sat down opposite of Tourou. He gave her sword a glance before looking out into the same nothingness that Arinori saw.

"We're being used. We're just slaves; pawns in a game. Soon enough, Aizen's gonna get bored with us, and we'll be useless." The Sexta stated quiet plainly. He was uneffected by the idea that had now resinated with him in his head. This was merely fact.

"I know..." Arinori whispered, removing a dark strand of hair from her face, "...what are we doing to do when that does happen?" An innocent child was now looking at Grimmjow, green eyes filled with questioning and fear. A child starred at the Sexta, believing in him because there was nothing else to hold onto but him.

A look of nobility crossed his features for a moment. He felt that it was his duty to comfort Arinori. It was his duty to let her know the truth, without shattering her world forever. It was his duty to keep her safe now.

With an ragged sigh, the teal-haired man said:

"We'll stick together until that happens. When it does...when it does...he'll kill us. All of us. And he'll never think twice."

For the first time in Arinori's life, she was a believer.

Isn't that a horrible way to start?

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