AN: 3rd Chapter is up. I'm wondering what to do with Starrk and Harribel in the future. They'll either go to the Soul Society or stay in the living world most the time. As for Grimmjow, they won't meet for a while.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.

Xxx0o0xxX

Starrk rarely had uninterrupted naps. When Lilynette was around, she would always pound his face in while tickling him to death until he got off his lazy ass.

Now that he could sleep for as long as he wanted, he felt uncomfortable about it.

He rarely got nightmares, which was good for someone like him, but that night he dreamed of his death. With one stab, right in his Hollow hole, he heard Lilynette scream out, and then be silenced so suddenly.

Starrk moved one hand to his eyes upon waking up, rubbing them. Through one lazy eye, he saw Tia sitting on a stool above him. "…Tia?"

Her expression was sad. "You were mumbling in your sleep."

"Was I?" Starrk took Tia's offered hand and pulled himself up. "I can still hear Lilynette calling out to me. It's like some horrible nightmare. I can see her, but it's just a blur. Even when I try and call out, she doesn't respond. I hear her whispering my name, but I can't raise my voice to call back."

Tia gave a sorrowful look, helping Starrk to his feet. "Keep trying. I'm sure she'll hear you eventually." There was a moment of silence, with the only sound heard being the slow ticking of the clock. "You must be hungry. Let's go and find somewhere to eat."

"Going out is a pain… isn't there anything in the shop?" Starrk yawned as he stretched.

He was surprised to see a disgusted expression on Tia's face. "Um… there is, but everything prepared is covered with red bean paste. That Tessai-san has a very bad taste in food."

Starrk frowned. He didn't feel like walking out into the sunlight, but he remembered trying to eat red bean paste once. The taste stayed in his mouth for a week.

He groaned, and picked up a jacket nearby. "If we're going out to eat, won't we need gigais?"

Tia walked over to a cupboard, sliding the door open. "Kisuke-san prepared gigais for us last night. And…" she reached in her pocket for a tiny tube with the end shaped like a rabbit. "He said that we needed these if we wanted to get out of the bodies afterwards. I'm a little suspicious about it though…"

Starrk shrugged, putting on a top and the jacket. "It should be fine. Let's just get going."

Xxx0o0xxX

Grimmjow gave another look at the chain, tightly bound to his leg. It hurt his ankle at first, but the pain had lasted so long he learned to ignore it.

He looked at his hands. At first, desperation caused him to frantically claw at the walls, destroying his originally sharp nails. Dry blood still covered the tips of his fingers. The stinging sensation was more bearable, but still noticeable.

It was a miserable existence in this cage, worse than anything he had ever experienced. Grimmjow saw himself as a wild spirit, and confinement for a wild beast was the worst condition he could be in.

The only way to tell time was through that pathetic little window. The shape of the cell reminded him of the one that human girl was in, but her living conditions then were infinitely better.

For Grimmjow, it was as if nobody cared whether he lived or died.

He hated the Soul Society, the shinigami in it, the souls inhabiting it. He wanted to destroy. The power to destroy all of it if he could.

But he wasn't sure if he truly wanted to. It hurt. It was almost as if having a taste of what pain he has inflicted upon others was returned to him. He thought it was a fate that nobody deserved.

Grimmjow wanted to be free. Whether that meant leaving this cell alive or dead, he didn't care. The only thing he cared about was that he could escape this imprisonment.

He wouldn't kill himself. He still had some pride. It was all he had left. But he believed, that if he could hold on for just a little longer, the way to freedom would appear before his eyes.

As impatient as he was, Grimmjow still decided to wait.

Xxx0o0xxX

Starrk and Tia were sitting at a table outside of a café, drinking tea and watching the puffy white clouds overhead pass by.

The clouds in Hueco Mundo never seemed to move. It was as if even those clouds were dead. They were still uncomfortable in being in somewhere so colorful, so much chatter, so alive.

"The tea here isn't nearly as good as what we drank at Los Noches." Starrk mumbled, shaking the cup slightly.

Tia said nothing. While she was not looking back, Starrk took a closer look at her. They didn't know each other well while they were Arrancar. He could read her face so much more clearly without her mask covering her face.

But, Starrk looked more carefully. That peaceful expression was never seen on her as an Arrancar. As an evolved Hollow, she was always silent, alert, tense. He had never seen her look relaxed like she did now.

Starrk almost fell backwards when Tia looked back and raised an eyebrow, catching him off guard. He soon realized that she wasn't looking at him.

A waitress was carrying a small tray. "Um… here are your ordered meals." Starrk turned his tired grey eyes to look at her. "Thanks," he replied, moving aside.

As the girl was leaving, she gave a slight blush and a giggle, resulting in a slight laugh from Tia.

"It looks like that girl's got her eye on you." She teased slightly, pulling the tray towards her.

Starrk casually leaned back on his chair. "Huh? That's just weird." He scratched the stubble on his chin. "I'm not really interested in stuff like that."

The morning passed slowly, until the sudden beep in his pocket.

"Huh?" Starrk reached for the beeping device, which turned out to be a cell phone. "What the hell is this? How did it get in my pocket?" Without reading the tiny letters closely, he pressed a flashing button, and raised the phone to his ear.

"HELLO, IS IT STARRK-SAN?" Urahara's voice boomed out.

At the first word that burst out from the phone, Starrk had flinched and almost dropped it. Annoyed, he held it close to his mouth. "Why are you shouting so loudly, Kisuke? Are you trying to make me deaf?"

"HUH? I'M SPEAKING… WAIT, HAVE YOU GOT IT ON SPEAKER, STARRK-SAN?" Urahara's voice replied.

Starrk, confused, scratched his head. "Eh? Speaker?"

"PRESS THE LITTLE GREEN BUTTON! THE GREEN ONE!"

Tia impatiently took the phone and pressed the button, turning the speaker off. "What do you want, Kisuke-san?"

"Well," Urahara chuckled for a bit. "I'd like Starrk-san and Harribel-san to come back to the Urahara Shop. I've got your surprise ready! And bring your gigais with you!"

A beep signaled the end of the call. The two looked at each other for a second.

"I've got a bad feeling about Kisuke's 'surprise'."

Tia nodded. "But we should at least go back and see what he's planning."

Xxx0o0xxX

"Tessai! You sure those are the right sizes?"

"Hai, Manager. I've double checked the sizes from the measurements taken from Starrk-dono and Harribel-dono last night."

"So, Ururu, remind me why we're making those two go to…"

"Shh! Don't say it so loudly, Jinta! They might be outside already!"

"They're here, Manager."

Starrk and Tia were standing outside the Urahara Shop, shuffling their feet nervously. Neither of them were very enthusiastic about Urahara's 'surprise'.

"Aah, you're here so quickly, Starrk-san, Harribel-san! Good thing we're all ready!" Urahara cheerfully strolled out of the shop, fanning himself.

Starrk yawned. "Well, what did you call us here for, Kisuke? I'm kind of tired and an afternoon nap would be nice."

Urahara waved his fan towards him this time. "Oh no, there'll be no time for naps, Starrk-san! You see, Yoruichi-san and I discussed the matter on you two staying in the living world, and we decided it would be a good learning experience to send you to High School!"

The two former Espada froze. "H-huh?"

"There's nothing to be worried about! I'm sure intelligent people like you would do great in school!" the shopkeeper added loudly, with the foolish grin on his face.

Tia looked like she was about to pass out. "We… we can't possibly go to high school!"

"Don't be silly!" Urahara rebutted, almost sticking his fan in Tia's face. "There's no better way to learn about the living world and its customs than to go to school and mingle with its students!"

Starrk scratched his head. "But it would be…"

Urahara looked at his watch, which suddenly began beeping an extremely obscene tune. "Oh no! It's nearly time to go! You don't have time to be standing around! Go on, get going!"

Before either of them had time to argue, they were picked up by the enormous Tessai and being carried on their way to the Karakura High School.

Xxx0o0xxX

"Geez… what is wrong with that Kisuke?" Starrk pulled at the collar of his school uniform, having been forced to change into it while being guarded by a two meter tall man.

Tia looked at her top, having a feeling that the fact that it was not big enough to cover her cleavage was intentional. Freaking pervert… she thought, then scolded herself for cussing.

Starrk looked around at the corridors. Many eyes seemed to be looking at them, or more specifically, at Tia.

The school bell rang loudly. Students picked up their bags and entered their respective classrooms, leaving Tia and Starrk outside.

"Hey!" a female voice surprised them from the doorway of one of the classrooms. "You two… you're the new students, aren't you?" She took one look at her clipboard. "Coyote Starrk… and Tia Harribel, is that it?"

They nodded. "Uh… hai,"

The teacher grinned. "Great! I'm Misato Ochi, your sensei for the next year of school! A piece of advice, most of the boys in the class are hooligans and brats, and nice ladies like you-"she patted Tia on the head, "-should stay clear of them, got it?"

Tia stared for a moment in stunned shock. "Uh… I understand."

"Alright!" she slapped her clipboard down- coincidentally hitting Starrk on the head, knocking him from his daydream, and began to walk back into the classroom.

Xxx0o0xxX

Ichigo was lazily leaning on his arm. School was so boring without the occasional Hollow showing up, and coursework was just hard enough to be annoying, but not hard enough to be interesting.

He yawned, but cut himself off when he noticed two people outside. The brown-haired student looked a little older than him, but it might have just been the goatee. As for the shorter woman, he couldn't help be attracted to her appearance at first, but noticed some sort of mature charm from her appearance.

Mostly he was looking at the bored looking boy. There was something familiar about him, but he couldn't place the face and the time.

"Whatever…" he turned his eyes back to the textbook. "I must just be bored to death."

Ochi-sensei returned to the class. "Ok, class, please stop what you're doing for now." All eyes turned to look at the teacher. "We have two more students joining our class today, please welcome them!"

The two strange students followed Ochi-sensei into the classroom. "This is Coyote Starrk-san, and the lady here is Tia Harribel-san! Please make them feel welcome!"

Chatter spread amongst the students.

"Coyote Starrk? What kind of a name is Coyote?"

"Look at that dark-skinned babe! Her 'things' are as large as Orihime-chan's!"

"That boy looks like he's going to fall asleep any moment…"

"What's with that weird goatee?"

Ichigo blinked, mostly uninterested. Many of the boys were ogling Harribel, greatly annoying him. It seemed as though that part of their personalities haven't changed.

The mention of Orihime, though, alerted him. Ishida and Chad were around, but Orihime wasn't in school.

"Hey, Arisawa, what happened to Orihime-chan?" Keigo asked, behind Ichigo.

"Well…" Tatsuki scratched her head. "I called her last night, and she sounded like she was sick with the flu or something. She probably tried to eat one of her really sickening recipes again and got ill."

Ichigo let go of his breath. It sounded like Inoue was mostly fine.

Wait… Inoue…

Back in Hueco Mundo… that time…

Xxx0o0xxX

"Sorry. I really don't want to do this, but…"

The Arrancar grabbed Inoue, and not even Tensa Zangetsu's speed could catch up.

"I'm just going to borrow her."

Xxx0o0xxX

HIM!

Instinctively, he jumped from his seat, and violently leaped at Starrk, grabbing him by the collar and dragged him out of the classroom, slamming him against some lockers at the end of the corridor.

"You! I remember you! Why the hell are you here?"

Starrk simply looked back lazily.

Xxx0o0xxX

AN: That flashback was from the only time Ichigo ever saw Starrk. He's pretty annoyed that an Arrancar just suddenly appears in class. I hope that was good enough of a cliffy.

Grimmjow's starting to get less destructive, now that he knows what it's like. I hope nobody was too OOC in this chapter, but like I said, people change in two years.

I hoped you enjoyed, and please review!