"You're going where?"

"Around," Grimmjow repeated, his hands stuffed deep into the pockets of his bone-white hakama as he surveyed the line leading into the Senkaimon that was laid open next to him.

"And where exactly is around? I won't have you causing trouble in the Living World the day before you're officially sworn in as my Fukutaicho," Soifon admonished coldly, her eyes steeled in an attempt to appear taller than her lover: a man who was easily a full head above her.

He had been playing this game non-stop for ten minutes now and it had grown irritating within the first sixty seconds. Allegedly, he and the other Arrancar were tagging along with Yoruichi to parade around Karakura with no ulterior motive. And it would have been easy to believe that had he not proven to be an avatar of mischief that left emotional and physical destruction behind him time and time again.

"Well," the hybrid began, pausing to wave off Kyouraku who still hadn't adjusted to wearing his pink poncho and sombrero yet much to Nanao's infinite amusement. "First I gotta take that barrier back to Kisuke and I'll probably have a drink or two over there." Soifon frowned. The last thing she wanted was for the two of them to spend time together. There was no telling what kind of ideas the depraved shop owner would give her subordinate. "Then I was thinkin' about checking up on some friends of mine that I haven't seen in a while."

"Friends?"

Grimmjow narrowed his eyes. "What?! You think I'm meeting up with some trash to fuck behind your back or something?" He interrogated, earning a smack for his volume that was returned with a playful nip at the petite officer's neck that forced a giggle to escape from her lips.

"No, I have enough faith in you to avoid those sorts of thoughts unless my faith happens to be misguided…" Soifon left the sentence hanging, dripping with a venom that made her Shikai look tame.

Her bedmate wasn't fazed in the slightest. "You're overestimating humans if you think one of them can live through a round with me," He stated arrogantly, observing the end of the line disappear into the portal. "You'd better hurry, beautiful. My date might think I ain't coming." His superior merely rolled her eyes and said a chaste goodbye, motioning to leave before Grimmjow caught her hand and lifted her up to his face where he crushed his mouth against hers. He heard her take a sharp intake of breath through her nose upon impact and felt her lips part in surprise: an opportunity he seized by sliding his tongue through the opening and roughly mingling with hers.

Eventually, Soifon relaxed into the kiss, meeting the Vice-Captain's rhythmic movements eagerly and draping her arms around him to grasp a fistful of the azure silk that was his hair. A full minute passed and they parted, eyes half-lidded and still joined by a gossamer strand of pink saliva that the female assassin hazily identified as blood drawn from a puncture wound on her lip.

"Now you weren't really thinking about going before showing me exactly why you don't have to worry about me chasing after human girls, were you?" Grimmjow breathed huskily against the sensitive flesh of her neck.

"Must have slipped my mind, Arrancar." Soifon responded sultrily, stealing back a dab of crimson fluid from the edge of her Second in Command's mouth.

"Don't let it happen again, Shinigami." Grimmjow warned half-heartedly as he set his woman back down just in time for her to blush furiously at Yoruichi's cat calls coupled with a snapshot from the camera that Nel had found inside the Surf Shack earlier in the morning. "Better get going, Shaolin. Looks like the sun's getting to ya."

He watched her go with a laugh at how she indignantly stuck her chin up and strolled regally through the Senkai Gate.

"Gotta love her."

"You about ready to go," Starrk called over from his position in the shade of a tall palm that swayed lazily in the late morning breeze. Getting a nod of confirmation from his friend, he uncrossed his arms and kicked against the trunk to put himself upright. "Alright then, you three go ahead and do whatever it is you're going to do. It's too damn hot to walk all around town today. Lilynette and I are going to see Rose and the others so try to meet up with us before we drink too much and can't play anymore." Pulling his other half along, he started along the path leading from the beach to civilization.

"Bye Coyote~. Bye Lily-Chan!" Yoruichi yelled unnecessarily loud, causing the two objects of her farewell to spin around and gaze at her in disdain.

"See you in a bit." Nel waved.

"Later, Wolf Boy. You too, Gingerbitch."

"Don't call me that!"

One abnormally painful kick to the shin later: a trio of odd hair colors entered the front door of a candy store and immediately shifted into a state of confusion upon being greeted by the sounds of panting and what sounded like two animals fighting each other in a cage. Making their way past the counter, they entered the adjacent living room that doubled as an impromptu meeting chamber and openly displayed their reactions toward the source of the aforementioned disturbance.

"You started it without me!"

"How the hell did you film this?"

"I'm having difficulty figuring out whether I'm disgusted or entertained by this. Either way, I'm finding myself unable to look away."

There in his chair was Urahara Kisuke with a saucer of warm sake, looking intently at the television set in front of him that displayed the intimate affairs of two Second Division officers that took place over the S.W.A. sponsored beach outing. "Ah." The flamboyant shopkeeper cried ecstatically, rising from his chair to greet the newcomers. "I felt you coming so I booted it up. I just didn't anticipate the lack of foreplay. Come, sit down and watch." He gestured to the chairs adorning the otherwise sparsely furnished area and sat back down only when the three seated themselves comfortably. "Congratulations on your success, Grimmjow. And by the way, I took the liberty of attaching a canister of microscopic airborne cameras to the Covert Ops barrier I lent you. You can watch from approximately eleven thousand eight hundred and twenty angles but I haven't tried that feature out yet; I was waiting for you to do the honors."

Grimmjow was impressed. "I'm not even going to ask how you knew that only the perverted part of our group was coming to visit today," he snickered, trading the cylindrical device he had borrowed for a special remote that enabled him to switch cameras. "This'd be a great present for the Old Man when I'm sworn in tomorrow."

"It would make great gifts, ne?" Urahara mused whimsically. "I think Kurosaki-san has a birthday next month. This might give him some initiative when it comes to Orihime-chan."

"Did you make my copy yet? I need it for the S.W.A. meeting tom-"

Grimmjow cut off Yoruichi with a finger pressed against her lips. "Watch this," he ordered, pointing to the television and breaking into howling laughter when he saw the expression on Soifon's face when he broke her Bakudou and sank his fangs into her neck. "Isn't that fucking great?"

"Who knew my little bee had so much blood," the anamorphic woman wondered aloud, stealing the remote from the man beside her and toying with the zoom buttons. "She looks so happy. No wonder she looked like she was floating the next day until you had to fight Byakuya-bo."

"Who won?" Urahara inquired off-handedly as he distributed cups of sake amongst his fellow deviants.

"Our dear Kitty-chan did thanks to…what does Central Forty-Six call it again…release AR-2?" pondered Yoruichi airily, drawing loose circles in the lining of her chair and ignoring the offended 'tch' she received from Grimmjow.

"Oh my, Segunda Etapa," the flamboyant blonde elaborated, overjoyed at the scientific possibilities that awaited him not to mention the priceless look Mayuri would give him when he found out that he got to a new subject first. "And you acquired it on vacation? How interesting! Now can I have just one teeny blood sample?" He chimed, holding his thumb and index finger a miniscule distance away from each other in front of his eye.

"Hell no and I'm surprised you didn't get any samples while you were taping this," Grimmjow answered in a tone lacking any flexibility on the matter whatsoever, readying his elbow if the scientist happened to persist which fortunately for him he didn't and instead resumed his earlier activity. "I need to get at least ten copies of this," he added, enjoying his performance with a glimmer of nostalgia in his eyes.

"That's fine; I have plenty in all formats."

"This is getting kind of gross…not to mention weird," Nel interrupted, shifting uncomfortably in her furniture but nevertheless keeping her vision glued to the screen.

"Now now, we're all friends here, Nel-chan."

"She's just saying that 'cause she's a virgin," the resident head of blue hair declared, eliciting a distinct sound of intrigue followed by a smile that was quickly hidden from view by a fan. This did not go unnoticed. "Don't get any ideas, Candyman. No way in hell am I going to let her spend a night with you." Urahara looked like he couldn't believe what he'd just been accused of, evident by his hand clasped to his chest and the hurt expression on his face.

"Why I would never think any impure thoughts about our darling Nel-chan," He gasped; flicking his fan back up so only his shaded pupils could be seen beneath his trademark hat. Grimmjow glared at him in scrutiny while Nel's mouth was formed into a tiny 'o', thanking the heavens that her Hollow marking covered up the blush dusting her cheeks.

"Good."

The ex-Captain let out a relieved breath and took a long sip from his saucer. He couldn't help but wonder what had sparked the surge of protectiveness he had fallen victim to.

Just then, the shoji doors at the front of the shop opened and the rest of the shop's staff filtered casually into the living room while the four established occupants observed their entrance impassively. They kicked off their shoes and hung up objects akin to sporting equipment in the closet embedded in the side of the room before the sounds from the television piqued the interest of the present children and they turned to see what all the on-screen commotion was about. "The baseball game ended earlier than expected, Manager." Tessai informed his boss, oblivious to the situation entirely.

"Hey, Grimmjow." Jinta accosted, plopping down with a tired sigh next to the man he had come to idolize during the time he had spent in the shop after the war was over. "The Manager didn't say anything about you comin' over today. I would've skipped that game if I'd known you'd be here watching horror movies." When all he got in return for his complaint was an incredibly wide smirk, he swiveled over to Ururu and raised his crimson eyebrows at the sight of her eyes wide open and gaping. "What's wrong with you?"

Nel and Yoruichi exchanged mirthful glances, both knowing that the top was ready to blow any second now. "This is just wrong," the former whispered, getting a final sip of sake in and readying herself for a sprint which was a good idea because Tessai finished his conversation with a rather nervous Urahara and laid eyes on the television just in time for the climax of the film.

"SHIELD YOUR EYES CHILDREN!"

"I am fucking out of here."

"I think we can stop running now," Nel panted, coming to a halt and crouching in fatigue on the sidewalk. "I hope Yoru-chan is okay back there."

"She'll be alright," Grimmjow remarked calmly, throwing the copies of his sex tape he had seized on his way out the shop into his guitar case. "Kisuke's gonna be the one taking the blame, you can trust me on that. Besides, Cat Lady can outrun that guy with one leg." He wiped the sweat from his forehead, cursing the heat as a man with a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth bumped into what he thought was an invisible object next to a floating case and let the burning cylinder fall from his lips before walking briskly away. "You alright down there, Nelliel?"

"He kicked my horn!"

"I can shoot him with a bala," the elder Arrancar offered to the pouting woman, inspecting the cigarette as she picked herself up and dusted herself off. "I keep seeing Humans with these things but I don't know what they are," he admitted gruffly, tapping his boot against the smoking end.

"Smells gross," Nel commented dismissively, bringing her finger to her chin. "Want to go see Ichigo?"

"Sure."

Meanwhile, Kurosaki Ichigo was the epitome of a modern teenager; sitting on his bed, studiously engaged in schoolwork with his headphones blasting enough bass to nearly shake the foundation of his house. All was well. He finished his current paper, signed it, and dated it June Seventeenth before opting to take a well-deserved break by resting his arm on the nearby windowsill and turning to meet an ivory jaw next to a cartoonish skull right beside his head, poking through the window and gleaming in the hot afternoon sun.

"You really suck at sensing reiatsu."

"Gah! What the hell is wrong with you?!" He shouted, flailing about to try and keep himself atop his mattress.

"Hey~" Nel said in mock hurt, sticking out her bottom lip cutely. "We haven't seen you for almost three weeks so we decided to see what you were up to and this is how we're greeted? What a rude boy you are." She swung her legs gracefully into the bedroom and hopped down onto the bed while Grimmjow, avoiding the bed altogether, took a less graceful approach and dived into the house. Ichigo just sighed and said his 'hello' before returning to his homework which he now had to do with the added bonus of Nel peering over his book. "What are you doing?"

"Work," the carrot top informed the two Arrancar dispassionately, earning a pair of sour faces at the mention of any sort of paper that needed filling out. "So…how are you getting along with Soul Society?"

"It's great! Me an Kira-kun have been having been having lots of fun and I joined a club that took me to the beach. You should've come, Ichigo. We made sandcastles and played music and we ate watermelons…but most of them were either burned or frozen because we had to kill them first," the Third Division's Acting Captain blurted, causing a small smile to appear on the Substitute's face.

"Sounds like you're not running into any problems. That's good," Ichigo said sincerely, shifting attention to the real concern which happened to be currently charging a cero at the stuffed lion that had insulted his hair. "What about you? I'll tell you right now, I won't believe you if you say you haven't had some trouble."

Grimmjow diffused the red energy gathering at the center of his palm and tossed Kon back into his drawer. "Nothin' too bad. Fought a bunch of people, only one Taicho though, been fucking my Commanding Officer, getting drunk, you know?"

It took a while for that information to sink in.

"I don't think Soifon-Taicho would appreciate you telling him that."

"Who's he gonna tell besides people who already know?"

"Shut up!" Ichigo hollered, burying his blush in the confines of his textbook. "Talk about that stuff somewhere else."

"While we're on the subject," Grimmjow started, not missing a beat. He walked with a wide gait over to his friendly rival and gazed down at him with a wicked grin. "How're you and your woman? Show her around yet?" The Arrancar's smile widened when Ichigo put down his schoolwork and glared at him intensely despite Nel's attempts to calm him down by dragging the panther away from him.

"Orihime isn't that kind of girl," he snarled.

"Oh? No wonder you're so uptight. You've had to suffer through half a year of chastity with her bouncing around you." Grimmjow broke into a carnal smirk, resting one hand on his sword at the notion of conflict. "C'mon Kurosaki, I want to fight your Resurreccion. I want to show you what a real Vasto Lorde looks like." He unsheathed Pantera and never saw what hit him as a mask-covered head of seafoam hair bashed his skull. "Ugh…"

Nel stood above him triumphantly, her hand on her hip as she wagged her finger in front of his face and sat back down on the bed to share Ichigo's amusement. "Don't listen to him. He's just trying to get a rise out of you because he's been itching to fight everything he sees ever since he achieved Segunda Etapa." The Strawberry's face paled at that revelation. Grimmjow was bad enough with one release; he didn't want to think about him with a second especially if all his stories about how his true power was suppressed were true.

"Maybe some other time, I have a date in half an hour."

The Vice-Captain swore under his breath while he got to his feet. "Figures, that's the only reason I came over here. Well…that and to see if you've heard anything from your imaginary friend yet," He grumbled, pointing to his head.

The other hybrids perked up at that and Ichigo wrapped up his final paper. Setting his work aside, his features became pensive as he reflected on the memories of him and Nel overloading the Hougyoku which resulted in the total subjugation of his Inner Hollow and the repair of her mask. "No, I can't even feel him anymore and Zangetsu says that he's been completely separated from him so he doesn't know either." He cracked a smile and folded his arms behind his head. "It's nice to have some peace and quiet in my head for a change now that that bastard's gone." The room was struck by a contemplative silence after that.

"So that's it, huh?" Grimmjow spoke up after a while. "You're all better and spending your time dating and hanging around humans?"

"Stop it," Nel hissed, moving away from a stupefied Ichigo to the former Sexta who simply gazed at her with the tired, glossy sapphires he sometimes got that showed his age and then some.

"All I'm sayin' is that he should be with us instead of the humans. He's just gonna end up in a division once his body rots anyway so what the hell's the point of just staying here," elaborated Grimmjow, noticing that Ichigo finally understood what he was getting at. "You killed Aizen for fucks sake and now you're just wasting your damn time with a lesser species. How long are you going to keep this up, kid?" He asked in exasperation, his eyes closed solemnly.

Once again, the room was still.

"As long as I can," Ichigo replied in a hushed tone that showed that he recognized at least a semblance of what his had-been enemy was saying. "I have a life here and I've only known sixteen years of it. I might give it up when my body is old and dying and my soul is still young but not yet. I have things left to do here that I wouldn't be able to do if I joined up with the Gotei. For what it's worth…" He paused and looked out the window, scanning over the neighbors' children playing outside and the cars rolling down the block, wavy ripples emitting from the hoods due to the heat. "I think I deserve a chance at a normal life even if it's a small one."

Nel nodded sagely and patted her friend on the shoulder as a sign of agreement as Grimmjow, noting the boy's resolve, conceded and mumbled something about how it was all pointless but he probably deserved it for one reason or another.

"Sorry but I have to cut this short. Orihime and I are going to a movie with some friends and I have to get ready. She'll be here soon," Ichigo said after one last pregnant moment.

"You think tonight's the night?"

"Shut up...she just stopped calling me by last name a month ago."

"Sucks to be you. I had Shaolin calling me by my first name in three hours and screaming it in two weeks," Grimmjow announced proudly, finding abundant humor in the fact that Ichigo had ears more sensitive to anything sexual than a nun. "Well, see ya. I want a match soon and I'll give you a piece of advice, don't wait until I have to come here for one."

"Fine just don't mention anything about Soifon again," the embarrassed teenager clamored, waving the two Arrancar off. "And use the door, the windowsill is going to break if one more person steps on it."

"Whatever," Grimmjow muttered, waiting for Nel to say her farewell and take a picture of the three of them. He then proceeded down the stairs and out the front door but not before grabbing a pen and a pad of paper with an adhesive strip at the top.

Outside: he closed the door, set the paper against it, and got to work.

Hime-chan,

Lately I've been unable to sleep because even the thought of you arouses me to the point of insomnia. I can't stop thinking about your body and I'm afraid that I might lose my mind if I don't have you soon. I'm begging you, please come up to my room and let me make you mine. If you decide that you feel the same way and come up, I'd like you to undress beforehand and ignore me when I deny asking you to do so; that will just be my way of testing our everlasting love.

I'm eagerly awaiting your response.

-Ichigo

Ps. I've been feeling nostalgic lately so would you please do me a favor and start calling me Kurosaki-kun again?

"You are just the worst," Nel giggled, supporting herself on the doorframe to keep from doubling over as Grimmjow plastered his masterpiece to the wood. "He'll kill you when he finds out."

"Win-win situation; I get a fight and he hopefully gets some skin. He'll thank me for this a hundred years from now."

"Thank you for what?" A brusque voice asked curiously, causing the duo to spin around and come face-to-face with a ragged-looking man with spiky black hair who exhaled smoke through his nose and sauntered up to see what had been posted on his door. "Oh-ho! Why didn't think of this? This is very fine craftsmanship indeed!" Grimmjow and Nel glanced at one another, hoping to find the answer to who this man was.

His scent's similar to Ichigo's.

"Oi!" The unshaven man spun around, shocking the pair by having unshed tears welling up in his eyes. "You the kid's old man?"

"Kurosaki Isshin," the overly-dramatic figure stated warmly, extending his hand to Nel first who returned the gesture happily and then Grimmjow who left his hand nearly-fractured. "Ah, you must be part of the integrated Arrancar Kisuke was telling me about." That seemed to remove any doubts about who and what the doctor was, evident by the double set of raised eyebrows. "I think that's just great. It's about time something like this has happened. Well, I have to go inside. Your plan will be ruined if Hime-chan gets here while we're standing in the threshold. Bye~!"

"Wait a minute," Grimmjow ordered, pulling Isshin back outside. "I know that we gotta go soon but let me ask one thing. The hell is that ya got in your mouth there?"

"You mean this?" The physician held out his cigarette for a closer look. "It's a cigarette. I only smoke them on this day every year but I've had too many already. I'm lucky the girls are away or they'd let me have it…you want to take my pack? I don't want it." He produced a carton of smokes from his pocket and handed it to the ex-Espada. When all he got in return was a clueless expression, he took it upon himself to pass his knowledge along. "Here, I'll teach you." He stamped out his current roll of tobacco and brought a fresh one to his lips in addition to Grimmjow's.

Taking out a lighter, he set a spark and kindled a small flame that lit his cigarette. "What you do is take a couple small puffs after it starts burning to get it going. Then…" He inhaled sharply and held the smoke for a few seconds. "You breathe in and breathe out as much as you want. These things only hurt humans so you don't have to worry about getting sick from them. Just remember to hit the bottom of a new pack when you open them. So long~!" He tossed Grimmjow his lighter and promptly shut the door.

Two beads of sweat found the sun-scorched pavement.

The hell…I was just asking what they were.

"They're still gross," Nel said pointedly.

Grimmjow merely shrugged and figured he may as well find out what they were on his own by mimicking the Kurosaki patriarch's demonstration.

"Weird…kinda cool though," he decided after a series of exhalations, tucking the carton into his hakama and finding it mildly relaxing to cycle the warm sensation in and out of his lungs. "Alright, let's go meet up with Starrk." Nel nodded and the two ventured around the two-story clinic to retrieve the guitar case that had been deposited below Ichigo's window. "Damn…forgot to give him a copy." Opening up the newly-reacquired case, he pulled out a disk sealed in a plastic sleeve, attached a note to it telling the recipient to 'show his friends', and hurled it through the open window.

A yelp of surprise signaled a perfect throw which made Nel erupt once again into hysterics.

Some time later, they finally got around to heading to their final stop in Karakura Town.

Grimmjow roamed down the center of a narrow lane, his boots scraping against downtrodden sand and gravel as he looked around the abandoned industrial park surrounding the street. His cigarette hung loosely from his mouth and he carried his guitar case, invisible to the world at large as he meandered down the desolate path. He took in the rust and the decay and kept walking along, paying tribute to the destruction by blowing thin puffs of smoke into the dry wind of a rather languid summer.

"Hold still."

Flash!

Nel ran back to her companion excitedly and cycled back to the picture she had just taken on her camera. "Wow, you look so cool!" She exclaimed, oblivious to the weary stare boring into her exposed skull.

"Hey is that Kisuke's camera? I saw that you found that thing when we were shipping the shit we had delivered back to him this morning."

"Maybe."

"See if it has that one of me you took a couple months ago of me sitting on the throne of Las Noches."

"You mean the one we all wanted to be in but you blew it up after I took it."

"Yeah, that one."

The carefree hybrid looked back through the memory, past the photo of the passionate kiss she had captured earlier in the day that brought a smile to her face and sure enough, she found some of the pictures she had taken during her time spent under the extreme supervision of the Senior Captains when they were deciding whether or not it was safe to let her and her comrades join their ranks. "Ah, here it is. You should get it framed." Grimmjow smirked fondly at the thought of it.

"Yeah…maybe I should."

The pair walked side-by-side in a comfortable wordlessness that only comes through mutual respect and understanding.

"Hey."

"What is it, Nelliel?"

"Did we know each other before I lost my memory?"

Grimmjow slowed his stride and cast a glance at the darkening haze spreading from the horizon to the sun, staining the sky with a gradient of vibrant oranges and reds amongst a few shades of purple. His eyes were worn down as they trekked across the tenuous cirrus clouds overhead.

He took a long drag on his cigarette.

"Yeah…we did."

"Were we friends?"

"Yeah."

"Who else was I friends with? I only remember Pesche and Dondochakka," Nel inquired innocently, unnerved at the emotions she could discern on Grimmjow's face.

"Just me and Starrk."

No use telling her about Tia. What good would it do to tell her that she forgot a dead woman?

"Grimmjow?"

"What is it Nelliel?"

"How old are you?"

"Six hundred and fifty maybe, I'm not sure. Why d'ya ask?"

Nel seemed lost in thought as she padded down the empty street, passing a stray cat scrounging the dirt for food while she contemplated what she had just learned. "It's just," her sentence trailed off and she joined Grimmjow's eyes in the company of the setting sun. "You look even older than that right now. I was just wondering."

"Ah."

"And Grimmjow?"

"Huh?"

"Please just call me Nel."

The older of the two brought his vision back down to earth and closed his eyes, a long shadow obscuring the upturned corners of his mouth. "Sure thing, kid."

"It's about time," Starrk murmured, refusing to break the duet he and Rose were thoroughly engrossed in to meet Nel and Grimmjow who had entered the strikingly busy Vizard compound.

Boxes were lined up near the door, labeled with names and stacked in neat rows. Several vans had been backed up halfway through the garage door, partially loaded already. But currently, the occupants of the barren warehouse were gathered around a barbeque set up in the center of the room, listening to what sounded like a lively Flamenco.

"The hell is all this?"

"What? You thought we'd stay here forever?" Shinji piped up from his kabob.

The Vizards and the Arrancar had formed relations under strange circumstances. They were reintroduced to one another during the half year after the Winter War; the ex-Shinigami, having required an immense amount of pleading and compensation from Urahara Kisuke and Soul Society, were tasked with occasionally overseeing and running missions with the former Hollows when the Senior Captains were not available to do so. And through their time spent together, the groups had come to form a bond that only displaced ragtag individuals such as themselves could ever hope to recreate. In fact, it would be easy to say that the Vizards preferred dealing with the Arrancar more than anyone affiliated with the government that had labeled them as criminals…even if they now technically fell under that category.

Grimmjow unpacked his guitar and replaced his waning cigarette before blending seamlessly in with Starrk and Rose. "So you're leaving this dump?" He asked, taking a bite out of the skewer of raw meat Nel held in front of his mouth so he didn't have to disturb the ambience by forsaking his instrument for food.

"Sure are," Hiyori replied. "Soul Society's been giving us a lot of bank so we're getting the hell out of here."

"Where ya goin'?"

"Dickhead Shinji, Hachi, and I are staying in Karakura since someone has to be around here when Ichigo throws in the towel and joins up with the Squads. Kensei and Mashiro'll be floating around Japan for a while but they're probably gonna hang around here too after a couple of years since this place is slated to become a city soon by the looks of things. Rose is going to some island near Spain to study music, Love is touring Europe, and Lisa got a job as a manga writer in Tokyo so she'll be close by if anything goes down," the blonde girl explained through mouthfuls of pork.

"Damn, sounds like you got your shit straightened out."

"We're trying," Lisa uttered, streaking a pencil in precise movements atop the sketchbook on her lap. "We realize that we won't be able to assimilate completely with the humans but we're not going back to Soul Society no matter how much money they give us or how much they beg." She dragged her pencil hard against the paper for emphasis. "Here, take a look at this and tell me what you think." The bespectacled woman leaned over and shared a drawing that featured her choice genre of manga.

"You got talent," Grimmjow admitted lightly, evaluating the piece as a fellow connoisseur of the perverse. "Good expression…great detail…and fantastic angle of penetration. You sure know what you're doing Lisa-chan." Lisa was one of two people that earned the use of his honorifics, the other being the Captain-Commander.

"See, I knew someone would appreciate my skill," she huffed, planting a kiss on Grimmjow's cheek before beginning a new sketch.

"We never said you were a bad artist," Shinji groaned, eyes tilted up to the ceiling. "We just said you draw weird things."

Grimmjow couldn't help but let the grin that had been hiding at the corner of his mouth overtake his face as he played and ate amongst the closest thing he'd ever had to a family. If someone had told him during his time as an Espada that he would one day be playing in a guitar trio in a rundown warehouse in the Living World, he would've spat in their face and walked away. Before this, he hadn't known about all the things he could've had, he didn't know how much he needed these sorts of things in his life.

Now finished with their meal, the group relaxed and took in the harmonious Latin melody permeating the air. Nel had set the timer on her camera and a photo of the twelve all together had been taken with the guitar players strumming away, Shinji flying in a blur of motion clutching his head, Hiyori slipping her sandal back on, Nel, Lilynette, and Mashiro taunting Kensei to the point of Hollowizing, Hachi chatting away with Love as if nothing was happening, and Lisa looking up from her sketchbook with a Mona Lisa smile.

"So you're getting sworn in tomorrow, eh?" Love asked the present Arrancar, earning four nods. "Well I hope you end up better than we did," he added sourly.

"Don't say it like that," Mashiro interjected, waving her arms in an odd attempt to make Love go back on his word.

"They're already half-Hollow. What the hell else can happen to them?" Kensei questioned lowly, bringing the room into a consensus on that fact. "The only thing they have to worry about is what Soul Society already has against them and surpass it in any way that they can. They're already halfway there too, they have the senior Taicho on their side and that pays a lot. And the new Central Forty-Six isn't made up of a bunch of hardasses so that should allow them a few slip-ups before they pull the plug on the whole idea of integration."

Three pairs of eyes turned to Grimmjow.

"What?!"

Kensei laughed. "How many strikes has he put up for you already?"

"He fought Kuchiki-Taicho two days ago," Nel remarked blandly, soon falling victim to the contagious mirth that spread around the room.

"That boy's barely two hundred, what are you picking on him for?" Hachi chuckled, running through the memories of Kuchiki Ginrei's hotheaded grandson.

"He called me trash."

A deaf silence followed the abrupt end of the laughter. "Yeesh, that'd do it." Shinji mumbled. "Still hung over that Ulqui-what's his name guy, huh?" Grimmjow snorted and twisted up his lip in a snarl. "I guess you are." He rose to his feet and took off his hat, garnering the attention of the entire room. "Hate to end this party early and on a sour note like this but I'm going to bed. Need to get up early tomorrow to drop Rose and Love off at the airport." The former Captain then pulled out a pen and paper and began scribbling a pattern of digits four times over on separate pieces. "Here's the number to my special phone. Any of you need something, just call me and I'll be there."

Following suit, the other Vizards wrote their numbers down and started passing them around the room.

"I'll send you guys a copy of my album once I get a deal worked out," Rose hummed drowsily, refusing to take back the guitar he had lent Starrk and disappearing up a nearby ladder that led to the bedrooms.

"Later."

"Farewell."

"Bye, see ya dickhead Grimm."

Love, Hachi, and Hiyori were on his heels, leaving eight in the moonlit floor level of the derelict building.

"Call me if you ever get into serious trouble or if Soul Society ever finds a reason to criminalize you," Kensei said to Grimmjow in a tone that lacked everything but the utmost sincerity. "You're the only guy who can keep up with my training methods for three days straight, it wouldn't be right for you to die a dog's death." The two clasped hands and traded a round of punches before parting ways and giving Lisa enough room to sidle in between them.

"You have to promise to visit, Grimm. I need someone to bounce ideas off of," she said somberly.

"Don't worry about it, Lisa-chan. I'll have to see you to buy copies of your art, won't I?"

"Idiot, like I'd let you pay for it. You can pick up issues for free…or maybe you can pay me in a way that's mutually satisfying."

Grimmjow was amused. "Sorry, I'm fucking my Taicho." It took him a while to register the knowing look he got after dropping that bit of news.

"I've been down that road. Its not as glamorous as I thought it'd be." She blinked and she found a disk in her hands. "What's this?"

"It's my film debut. Maybe you can use it as source material."

Lisa giggled and kissed her friend on his mask fragment. "That's as close to your lips as I can get without you cheating. Come find me if things don't work out." She started up the ladder and ignored the rebuke from below.

Six were left

Kensei came back down, leaving a string of curses behind him as he peeled Nel and Mashiro apart, doing his best not to explode from the lime-haired girl's wailing combined with the beating she was giving his back as he slung her over his shoulder and went up.

Shinji sighed and ran his hand through the dirty blonde locks of his hair, not bothering to put them back into place. "I know Kensei sort of touched on this already but most of us are staying close to Karakura so if something big happens and you guys get into a mess, I want you to contact us, we'll be here to help. You're our friends and Vizards do not abandon their friends when they need them the most." He rolled his eyes when Nel nearly tackled him into a bone-crushing hug when he finished. "No need to get so teary, you'll always be my first love," he managed to choke out, heaving a breath and a word of thanks after Grimmjow and Starrk pried the emotionally distraught Arrancar off of him.

"Tell Ichigo that he gets the same offer."

Four hybrids were left alone in the dark, muggy interior of the warehouse, listening to the nocturnal chorus of chirping crickets and howling dogs.

"Let's go home."

The quartet moved out into the humid street and tore three separate holes in reality to take them back to Seireitei.

"Tomorrow we're officially Shinigami," Starrk yawned. "Any of you having second thoughts?" No one answered and he let a smile grace his lips. "I didn't think so."

After all, no one wants to go back to being lonely.

"Yachiru, how long do I have to wait here? It's been almost five hours already."

"Don't worry Ken-chan, he'll be here soon."

"This guy better be worth it."

Three eyes darted to the ground-level of the Second Division barracks as a tearing sound reverberating across the vicinity signaled the presence of a Garganta. The owners of said eyes hopped down from the rooftops, kicked up a cloud of dust upon landing and eagerly made their way over to the portal where an unmistakable head of blue hair and set of white clothes appeared from the darkness.

"Yo, you must be the guy that killed Nnoitra," Grimmjow stated deceptively coolly, mirroring the psychotic grin of the behemoth in front of him. "The hell you doin' over here in my barracks?" Both men stared at one another, trying to discern any weakness in the other while keeping themselves composed.

"Just looking for a match that'll bleed me dry," Kenpachi answered casually as if he said the sentence multiple times in a day. "I know it's late but the Old Man said I can't disturb the peace tomorrow because of the ceremony and I didn't want to wait two days to fight you." His lone eye swiveled around the surrounding buildings, aware that he was in a courtyard much too small for what he had in mind. "Yachiru says you're strong. I want you to show me how strong."

Grimmjow's face was the image of bloodlust. "That's fine by me as long as we go someplace else. I don't want Shaolin running out here to break it up."

"We'll go to my barracks, they're built for fighting."

Without another word, the two halves of the apocalypse took to the skies.

They rejoined in a circular terrace adorned with white Yarrows: the flower of the Eleventh Division. Large tiles coated the ground, some cracked and some completely missing from previous battles. There was enough space to assemble all Thirteen Squads and space them four feet apart. It was perfect.

"You said we only got until the morning, right?" Grimmjow asked, sword unsheathed with his hand clawed at the guard. "How about we cut the foreplay and go all out right from the start then? If we work from the beginning then I'm guessing we could keep this up for at least a couple days."

Kenpachi's lips split apart, revealing his fangs. "Alright then." There was a pulse that disrupted the summer breeze and two pillars of yellow and blue reiatsu rocketed into the air.

"That's it?" They growled simultaneously.

"Oi, you're barely stronger than Nnoitra with that release. What the hell?"

"I ain't done yet, asshole and what about you? You couldn't kill a fly with that weak reiatsu."

"I ain't done yet either so shut up!"

The combatants went silent for a moment and then fell into mutual laughter. "So you can still go further than that?" Kenpachi cackled, setting down Yachiru and ripping off his eye patch. "That's good." His reiatsu ignited the air, forming a gaseous yellow skull around him. "Just don't disappoint me." Before he even finished his statement, a thick, billowing azure miasma coated the ground around him, placing the weight of an entire ocean on his shoulders.

"Now that's what I'm talking about."

A serrated blade cut through the smog and that was the first time he had met the white and black-striped panther skull that he would soon come to know very well.

"Unohana-Taicho!"

"What is it Iemura-san?" The Fourth Division Captain had just about to seal her paperwork and head into her quarters before her Third Seat had rushed in frantically with a look of horror on his face.

"I was visiting a patient in the Eleventh…" He panted, planting his hands on his superior's desk to steady himself. "Division and this thing with pale skin and black lines all over its body and…and blue hair attacked Zaraki-Taicho!"

"Oh dear, Kurotsuchi-Taicho has finally had enough it would seem." Unohana rose from her chair and set out into the night to put an end to the dispute.

Soifon was annoyed, she was agitated, she was vexed, and she couldn't remember the last time her futon felt so big and empty.

Where the hell is he?

As if on cue, her window shot open and a streak of white and blue scrambled into the sparsely furnished bedroom. "If anyone asks, I've been here for an hour," Grimmjow gasped, closing the window and pulling the curtains. "Mama's kind of pissed right now so I'm gonna hide out in here until morning."

"You live here," Soifon stated bluntly, sitting up in her bed with a concerned expression marring her features. "What did you do," she seethed.

"I met Kenpachi and I forgot that the other times I used my Segunda Etapa were under the power limiter so I accidentally ended up destroying a lot of things and then I felt Mama coming so I bailed," the Arrancar relayed hastily, eyeing his lover's futon with disdain. "You expect me to sleep on that?"

"I don't indulge myself with luxurious bed-" The Commander of the Onmitsukido was cut off as she was lifted into the air, sheets and all and carried by a pair of stone-carved arms all the way to the Vice-Captain's bedchamber. As much as she hated it, she couldn't voice her contempt over the matter. She simply reveled in the spontaneity and the way she was delicately handled.

Falling back into plush bedding, she quickly found her arms pinned over her head in an iron grip. "You kept your hair down," Grimmjow observed, trailing a path of fleeting kisses across Soifon's collarbone up to her lips. "I didn't realize that my opinions were valued so highly, Shaolin." He cut of her retort by holding her tongue down with his. "But then again…" The hybrid pulled down the sheets separating their bodies and discovered that he wasn't the only one who regularly slept without clothes. "You are…"

My Woman.

Author's Note:

Grimmjow and cigarettes plus a guitar in the sunset. That's one hell of a piece of fanart.

Well how was this for an update, eh? I've reverted back to my traditional writing style and I like it a lot better. I hope you all regard the changes I've made as for the best.

Sorry about last chapter, it was a little jumbled and it wasn't written as well as say chapter two which I think is my favorite. I think I suffer from some kind of condition where I only realize that something is fucked up when somebody tells me that it is. Weird, huh?

Anyway, one more chapter plus the epilogue and this story crosses the finish line.

Drop me a line and tell me what you'd think about an action-adventure/romance sequel to Los Pantera.

Reader Response!

Ulqyfangirl27: You know what, you're absolutely right and I hope this chapter was up to your standards. Thank you for pointing out my errors, I went back and edited the previous chapter a bit. As for the action, I've been storing it up for a sequel. If I have one, there will be BLUD!

:-) …or is it Ultravizardfan?: Yeah, I think the dialogue was the most redeeming factor. Thanks for reading.

Caramel: Grimmjow is a strange drunk. I modeled him after a buddy of mine who repeatedly yells Spanish phrases and random numbers when he drinks waaaaay too much.

Lovemydogs: That helped with me getting this chapter out as fast as I did, thanks. And what the hell are you doing reading this response? Go work on Mine! XD

Scotty's: Take off your shoes next time.

Detroit: thank you for reviewing

Soaha: I got about three feet and it saved my ass from work plus have me time for writing. Thank you for reviewing.

Blackheart: No reign lasts forever.