AN: Yeah, there is no 14th squad. :P

Summary: In which Grimmjow is not an Arrancar. He is a Shinigami captain.

…

Generally, residents of Soul Society were used to the many eccentrities of the Gotei squads. It was a given that Captain Mayuri would try to dissect you if you showed anything out of the ordinary, and the best way of dealing with Captain Kenpachi was to run. Division Four was a safe haven for just about everyone, and it was common knowledge that rose petals usually signalled Captain Shunsui's path (and Nanao's ire.)

But for all their quirks, the Gotei Thirteen were traditional. Thirteen squads, followed by thirteen captains and thirteen lieutenants. It was expected; Soul Society was inhabited by, essentially, the dead. Tradition wasn't upheld for tradition's sake – it was upheld by the lack of any need for change.

And yet, that somehow wasn't enough.

…Grimmjow Jaggerjaques wanted his own division.

…

Usually, he would have challenged a captain to a fight. He could have beaten any one of the Gotei Thirteen Captains but he needed witnesses, and if Grimmjow was going to kill anyone, he would do it on his own terms – and not for gawking division members lucky enough to be present. And he sure as hell wasn't getting any recommendations from the rest of the captains – he wouldn't get them even if he wanted them.

So that left the bankai exam.

He had originally wanted Division Six (there was just something he liked about that number) but everyone knew that Abarai Renji could perform a bankai, and yet, he still wasn't a captain. (Which wasn't surprising, actually. Even Grimmjow could admit that Kuchiki Byakuya wasn't someone to be messed with.)

And therefore, Grimmjow Jaggerjaques wanted his own division.

…

Zaraki approved his request immediately. More divisions, more rivalry. That translated into more battles, and Grimmjow agreed wholeheartedly. What was the point of having a division if you couldn't fight all day?

But like the other captains, the old geezer Yamamoto didn't agree. The mere thought of giving a loose canon like Jaggerjaques division power…it made most people shiver. Grimmjow had been one of the strongest and most ruthless Shinigami in the academy (even for the short time he had been there; he had been expelled after the first month) and was obviously capable of producing a bankai – as with many other people in Soul Society. Yamamoto could think of another; Kurosaki Ichigo was also capable of bankai power, another loose canon (even worse, outside of Soul Society) that needed to be controlled.

…The captain of Division One paused in his thought.

…

Grimmjow got his own division, but on one condition.

tbc