Almost halfway, thank you for your reviews so far. They really make me happy, there's nothing I love more than waking up the next morning to see what reviews I have (I'm in a different time zone so most reviews usually come while I'm asleep). This chapter was harder than the previous since I felt pressured that I had to do Grimmjow justice since it seems like you have high expectations for him and he is the most popular after all…

Grimmjow Jeagerjaquez

'Grimmjow huh? I get the feeling this is going to be a difficult one'. Halibel thought while lying on one of the couches in her quarters. Her fraccion were out, subtly gaining information from Grimmjow's fraccion since he had five and they have big mouths.

All she knew so far was that he always seemed to be brooding over something and constantly had a frown on his face. He's also more brash and aggressive, having earned the aspect of destruction from Aizen.

He was also similar to Nnoitra in enjoying battles but they apparently have a slightly different agenda as their reason for fighting. The best way to get his attention is probably…

"Halibel-sama! We're back." Her three fraccion entered the room and Halibel was surprised that she didn't hear them coming sooner since they were anything but quiet.

"You're back already? Did you gather anything useful?" Halibel asked them.

"I'm not sure if this information will be useful to Halibel-sama but the one mutual fact that we gathered from all of Grimmjow's fraccion was that he wants to be the king. This supports his dedication to fighting since he's constantly aiming to become stronger, rather than being happy where he is." Sunsun informed her mistress and Apache continued.

"This is probably why he is more honest than the other espada. It goes against his pride to cheat others out of their position. He wants to kill others fair and square so that he never doubts his strength." Apache suggested afterwards.

"I see. I suppose the best way to get his attention would be a direct challenge then, even though I don't like fighting for fun." Halibel mused.

"We could challenge him for you Halibel-sama" Mila-Rose stated and the other two nodded their agreement.

"No, it's best if I do this personally. Grimmjow is not to be underestimated." The blonde stood up and left the room while her fraccion looked at each other.

Near the quarters of the Sexta espada, Halibel found herself in front of two fraccion. The first had most of his head and half of his face covered in a strange hat and mask structure, he also had a grim expression and dark hair. The second man's face looked slightly familiar and he had long blonde hair with a horn helmet on top of his head.

"You are the Tercera espada I believe? "My name is Shawlong Qufang and this is-" The dark haired man started but was interrupted by Halibel.

"Ylforte Grantz right? I thought the face looked familiar."

"You know me? Was my mad little brother gossiping again or something?" Ylforte asked in confusion.

"…He mentioned you when I talked to him the other day. You two are part of Grimmjow's fraccion then?" Halibel asked.

The two men looked at each other then nodded at her. "Yes, Sexta espada, Grimmjow Jeagerjaquez is our King."

'Seems like they are also slightly fanatical in following their master… I suppose I can't judge since my ladies are very similar.' The shark empress thought to herself then looked at Shawlong. "Where is the Sexta now? I'd like to speak to him."

"Grimmjow-sama is in the battle arena fighting some foolish numeros that challenged him. I should warn you though; he's not the friendliest person to have a chat with." Shawlong informed the Tercera.

"I see, thank you for your input. I'll be going now." Halibel nodded her greeting to the fraccion and disappeared with a sonido.

"…It's rare for the other espada to be this civil to the fraccion of others…" Shawlong murmured.

Ylforte nodded, "Yeah, she's a lot like Neliel-sama isn't she? Just more reserved though. I wonder what Grimmjow-sama will think of another woman, he was pretty upset after Neliel-sama's disappearance-"

"Hush now, Ylforte! We agreed not to speak of her anymore."

At one of Las Noches' battle arenas

A large cloud of dust towered over the arena, concealing all the contestants from sight. All that could be heard was the furious clashing of zanpakuto, or rather, one zanpakuto battering the other ruthlessly.

As Halibel stepped closer, she could sense the reiatsu of Grimmjow and another weaker arrancar inside the dust cloud. When the dust cleared it was obvious that Grimmjow had the clear advantage. He could finish the battle at any given moment and was obviously just playing around with his opponent.

'Almost like a cat playing with a mouse…' Halibel mused.

It seemed that Grimmjow noticed her because he suddenly gave one shattering blow that smashed through the numeros' zanpakuto and hierro. A spray of blood was seen as the arrancar collapsed but Halibel noticed that it wasn't fatal. Grimmjow was just teaching the guy a lesson, not trying to kill him.

"Tch, go play with your other buddies now! Just because your resurreccion is some pussy tiger doesn't make you stronger than a panther. If I hear you claiming shit like this again, I WILL kill you without a second thought." Grimmjow barked at the other arrancar who nodded with a frightened expression.

"Grimmjow right? That was a good battle."

"It was a crap fight. I wasn't even close to releasing. The only espada that actually wants to fight me is Nnoitra but he pisses me off with his bragging." Grimmjow said gruffly.

"He really doesn't seem well liked here…" Halibel said.

"'Course not! He's a backstabbing son of a bitch, that's what! Nobody will ever trust him near them. After what he did to Nelie- Why are you even here anyway?" Grimmjow stopped mid sentence.

"I just wanted to talk, to get to know the other espada better." Halibel explained. 'Another mention of Neliel? This one seems more personal though…'

"You're wasting your time. I don't care about stupid crap like being buddies or anything. I'm going to become stronger than all of you anyway. And you'll also be wasting your time with the damn Quinta." Grimmjow stated and turned around to leave.

"Will you talk if I fight you?"

The Sexta stopped in place, as if considering it, then he suddenly turned around drawing his zanpakuto in the process and charged at the Tercera without a warning. She was quick to grab the blade with her hand; her hierro was still strong enough for this.

"I'll take that as a yes." Halibel muttered and Grimmjow's insane grin widened. She reached back and drew her zanpakuto with a flourish.

"Eh? That blade is longer than the sheath?" Grimmjow noted in confusion.

"The sheath is a storage compartment on the inside. The blade is too broad to carry at my hip with comfort." The blonde explained.

"Whatever, that doesn't matter right now. Let's do this!" He wrenched his zanpakuto from Halibel's grip and swung again, meeting her blade in a clash that released sparks every time their blades made contact. This was a sign of the power in their swings.

Soon the ground under them started to crumble and Grimmjow realized that he was being pushed back while losing his footing at the same time. 'She's strong… and she's only fighting with one hand, easily switching her sword between her hands instead of using both. Then I'll just try…'

The blue-haired arrancar jumped backwards and started charging a cero in his hand. The blonde just looked at him as if she was waiting for him to make his move first. He noticed her reiatsu rising slightly but couldn't see any cero charging. Then he released the crimson beam of reiatsu from his hand.

Halibel looked at the beam coming her way and opened her mouth with the jaws of her hollow mask also opening a little, while she pulled down her collar with her left hand. Her own yellow cero shot out of her mouth in a much wider beam.

Grimmjow's eyes widened in shock, 'That's just like-'

When the two hit each other in a massive orange blast, the red was neutralized and the yellow split apart in a V pattern.

"Looks like our cero strength is equal even though yours was much wider…" 'If she concentrated her cero more, it would easily overpower mine.' Grimmjow started to feel fear for the first time in a while. Not even Nnoitra or Ulquiorra scared him, even though they were stronger.

Suddenly the blonde appeared right in front of him and put her blade against his neck before he could react, drawing a trickle of blood. 'Shit! She's fast.'

"You lose." Her voice came.

"Dammit… Is the power gap this big?" Grimmjow muttered.

"Why didn't you release? Surely you knew I was stronger?" Halibel asked him.

He just looked away with an irritated expression, "So what? Cuatro and up can't release here right? It's no fun if both opponents can't fight at full strength. But I'll take you on outside the dome any day and it won't end like this." Grimmjow stated.

"I see…" Halibel removed her blade and put it back in its sheathe. "And now your part of the deal, a fight for a talk."

"I don't remember agreeing to that-" Grimmjow started to protest but was quickly silenced by a cold glare from Halibel. "Fine then. What do you wanna know?"

"Just a bit of everything. I heard that you were the first espada Aizen recruited? Is that true?" She asked.

"Yup, arrancar number twelve, Grimmjow, at your service." He said with an exaggerated bow. Halibel just sighed at this.

"So what makes you so eager to fight everyone? I know everyone here's pretty battle hungry but you seem to have a more personal reason." She asked the Sexta.

He snorted at this, "Isn't it obvious? I want to be the king; I hate losing to other bastards. To be stronger than Nnoitra and Ulquiorra and Aizen-"

"I don't buy that for a second. It's obvious that this reply falls flat every time you use it. There's no drive behind it." Halibel interrupted him. "Isn't it just Nnoitra? I can taste your bloodlust when you say his name."

"Tch, so what if he's a son of a bitch. Of course I want to kick his ass more than others." Grimmjow just barked.

"And what about Neliel?" She asked and saw Grimmjow's face contort in surprise, then suspicion.

"What the hell do you know of Neliel?"

"Nothing, I was hoping you'd be able to tell me since you seem close."

Grimmjow frowned, "What gives you that idea?"

"Your reaction to her name." Halibel stated.

"All you need to know is that her name is Neliel Tu Oderschvank and that the fucking Quinta was the one who did her in, like the coward he is." Grimmjow finally said.

"Coward?"

"She was Tercera and he was Octava at the time. There's no way he was stronger than Nel…" The Sexta trailed off.

"I see… what about Szayel-Aporro?" Halibel asked carefully since the Octava seemed to have a connection to Neliel.

He just frowned in confusion, "Aporro? What about him?"

"Never mind." I'm sure he was involved but Grimmjow's not lying either so either he's telling the truth or he believes he is.'

"Are we done yet or are you going to scramble through my personality like Aporro does with his fraccion's innards?" Grimmjow asked impatiently.

"Oh, yes. I suppose that's it for now. Thank you for speaking with me." Halibel nodded her gratitude.

"No problem I guess, it was a fun fight. I'll acknowledge that you're a pretty strong one Tercera." He grinned at her and started walking with a quick wave.

"Was she your mate? Or is that 'girlfriend'…?" Halibel quickly asked before he was out of hearing distance.

Grimmjow paused for a moment, then without responding he just continued walking.

To be continued…

I hope I didn't disappoint here. I won't be at home for the next couple of days so I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out. Nnoitra is next; finally it's time to solve the little side mystery case of Neliel. I wasn't even planning on having Neliel's mystery involved in this story. It just happened and fit nicely haha. Until next time…

Ultrawolfie out!