Ichigo spent the next few days going to school, doing his homework and trying to find some way to get Grimmjow out of his head.

Unfortunately, it wasn't working out. According to Kisuke, what was left of the arrancar's spirit had definitely bonded to his power. And even if he hadn't, the shopkeeper thought that Grimmjow was too weak to exist as a separate entity anymore. Apparently, having his body torn apart and devoured had completely devastated his powers. It made Ichigo feel sick, although he knew that Akiyo had only done it to save the arrancar's life.

Ichigo had made several visits to his inner world to speak to Zangetsu and he'd learned many interesting things about his hollow and Grimmjow. A lot of it he'd learned directly from the ex-Espada, since he was more than willing to run his mouth. Hearing about how absolutely hot his hollow was and how he made a pretty girl had been cringe worthy. Ichigo had never considered himself a prude, but he'd never been interested in gay sex, either.

You do realize that you're bisexual, right? Grimmjow said and Ichigo stiffened before trying to devote his attention to his work. Akiyo likes girls, he had a crush on fucking Princess Jasmine.

"What?!" Ichigo hissed before looking hard at his page. "You're bullshitting me." He muttered under his breath. That simply couldn't be true.

Am not. He's gonna take your body and go to Disney World as soon as he gets control. Ichigo managed to control himself, although it was hard. He'd expected his hollow to immediately go on a rampage if he got control. Disney World? That was wrong on so many levels. How far away is it, anyway?

"It's over the ocean." He said quietly, hoping no one was noticing his conversation. But they shouldn't, he'd gotten pretty good at this. And Grimmjow could hear him even if he whispered.

So we would have to swim? The naiveté of that comment made Ichigo snicker to himself. Hey! What the fuck are you laughing at? The arrancar sounded pissed and Ichigo took pity on him.

"It's too far to swim. You'd have to take a plane." He explained and felt Grimmjow's absolute incomprehension. "You don't know what a plane is, do you." This was even worse than his hollow. Akiyo had been quite ignorant at first, but he'd largely kept to himself. Zangetsu said he'd figured most things out from observation and reading books, as well as speaking to the zanpakuto. Grimmjow hadn't had much time in his inner world, though, and from what Zangetsu had said reading wasn't his thing. "Ask Akiyo to take you to the airport." Ichigo had done some air travel and Karakura town was big enough to warrant a small airport. That made Grimmjow's thoughts go in another direction.

When the hell is he getting back? I miss the fucker. Grimmjow complained and Ichigo frowned. Zangetsu claimed the two hollows were genuinely fond of each other, but it was hard to believe.

"What about Nel?" Ichigo asked, keeping his tone neutral. Nel had explained why Grimmjow meant so much to her in her child lisp, which had been pretty hilarious when she was talking about secret trysts and love bites. There was a long pause before Grimmjow replied.

What about her? Ichigo scowled at that callous reply, but then Grimmjow went on. She's a little kid, Kurosaki. I can't tap that. And even if I could, I can't hang around her fraccion all the time. I'd kill the bastards, never could stand them. Then Grimmjow laughed. She hated my fraccion too, back in Los Noches. Incompatible fraccions, it sounds like we belonged on Dr. Phil or some shit.

"Oh." Ichigo blinked at the thought but privately admitted Grimmjow had a point. He tried to imagine the arrancar dealing with Nel and her excitable brothers and winced a little. There would likely be a cero involved. "Well, we should at least go see her, let her know you're okay." For a given value of okay. Grimmjow mulled that over for a moment.

Okay, that might be – Then Ichigo cringed as the arrancar was interrupted by real life.

"Kurosaki Ichigo! Since you don't seem to be paying attention, you can demonstrate the next problem." The instructor said sharply and he stood up, faking confidence as he walked up to the blackboard. His heart sank as he looked at the math problem. It was pretty complicated, he wasn't sure he could –

The answer is 265. A very familiar voice piped up and Ichigo quickly wrote in the number, ignoring Grimmjow's yelp.

AKIYO! All the sounds from his inner world abruptly cut off, to his relief. Ichigo really didn't want to hear what they were up to. He'd found out from Zangetsu that those wails he sometimes heard from his inner world weren't pain. Not even remotely.

There were some things he just didn't need to know about his hollow and his mate.

"Grimm!" Akiyo gasped as blunt teeth sunk into his neck, giving him a delicious pain. "Nnng… not alone!" He squirmed underneath his lover, trying to point to the third person in the area. He was watching them both curiously.

"Don't care. Zangetsu! Bugger off!" Grimmjow snarled before rubbing his palm against Akiyo's crotch. The hollow arched at the friction but gripped blue curls and gave a yank.

"Muramasa." He gasped out and that finally got Grimmjow's attention. The man on him froze, his blue eyes going wide before he turned his head to look. The rogue zanpakuto was standing not too far away, looking at them both intently.

"You BASTARD!" Grimmjow tried to leap off his lover but was foiled as Akiyo grabbed his arm, yanking him down. "Let go! I'm going to fucking kill him!"

"Calm down! You can't kill him and he's got a bribe." Grimmjow just snarled and Akiyo reached into his pocket. "Grimmjow! Want a cookie?"

"What? No, I don't fucking want a… wait, you have a cookie?" Grimmjow dared to take his eyes off his enemy for one brief moment to see what his mate was babbling about. To his astonishment, Akiyo was holding what looked like a genuine, chocolate chip cookie. "What the fuck?! Where did you get that?" Akiyo grinned and broke the cookie in half, offering him part. Grimmjow hesitated before taking it and taking a nibble. It tasted like a real cookie, and a good one too, full of nuts and chocolate.

"Muramasa made it. Look, let me explain." He said in a soothing tone as Grimmjow tensed again, shooting the zanpakuto a glare. "When Muramasa died with me inside him, he bonded to Ichigo's power like you did when you merged with Zangetsu. So Ichigo has a dual zanpakuto now. Even if you killed him he'd come back so there's no point in fighting, right?"

"I'd enjoy it." Grimmjow muttered but glanced down at the cookie in his hand. "How did he make food in here?"

"My powers involve the manipulation of other zanpakuto and inner worlds." Muramasa was the one that answered this time. The zanpakuto was smiling slightly. "I cannot do anything that would truly violate the 'rules' of this world, but I can manipulate it within those rules. And there is no reason for the lack of food in this place." He shrugged slightly. "If you wish, I can create any type of food Ichigo has ever eaten for you." There was a long pause as Grimmjow digested that and Akiyo just sat back, grinning. He and Muramasa had materialized in a completely different location, and he'd hashed it all out with the zanpakuto before going to find Grimmjow.

"…What about getting out of this place? I thought you wanted to be the one in charge?" He finally asked and Muramasa shrugged again.

"I acted out of my need to survive. That is no longer an issue." Muramasa regarded his fingernails for a moment before looking up. "Since I am bonded to Ichigo's power, I am now part of his reiatsu. I no longer need to scavenge crumbs of power from his mind. Furthermore, I am a zanpakuto. Having a wielder is a natural thing for a sword spirit. I do not expect Kurosaki Ichigo to accept me as he does Zangetsu, but given what my relationship with Kouga turned into I still cannot help but regard this as an improvement." Akiyo nodded. He knew all about what Muramasa had gone through, trying to free his owner. And he'd seen the way he'd been repaid. It had been a bit shocking, even for the hollow.

"You can hang out with us." He offered, ignoring Grimmjow's outraged glance. "Just make cute and surly here some coffee and apple pie." He smiled, cuddling up against his mate. Grimmjow growled, still tense, but then relaxed a bit and put an arm around his shoulders.

"Oh, fine. You can hang out with us if you want to." He conceded with ill grace and Muramasa's smile widened. Grimmjow eyed him warily. That smile looked strangely like Akiyo's.

"It would be a pleasure. I do like strategy games, and it's been so long since I had someone to play chess with. Kouga used to play it with me all the time." The zanpakuto said with a trace of sadness. Then Muramasa blinked as Grimmjow groaned and Akiyo laughed.

"Another chess weenie! You two can play while I eat my fuckin' pie." The arrancar said firmly and Akiyo grinned.

"Works for me. C'mon, let's show you our hangout." Akiyo led the way, swimming through the air of the underwater world. He was actually much happier about this outcome than Grimmjow. He'd had fun fighting his King, and he'd gotten a feel for Muramasa while he'd been inside the other's mind. They really had a lot in common. And for the first time in his short life, the inner hollow had tasted chocolate. He was willing to forgive a lot for that.

Ichigo's future epic freak out when he discovered he had a second zanpakuto would be good, too.

For Ichigo, the next few weeks went very smoothly. He didn't hear so much as a peep from his hollow or Grimmjow. Well, he did hear a few mating calls from his hollow, but that was it. Apparently they were making up for lost time.

Finally though, Ichigo entered his inner world. He wanted to spar with Zangetsu and while he could do it in the real world, there were far too many spiritually aware people in Karakura town. It was much easier just to spar in here. To his surprise, though, he couldn't find the zanpakuto.

"Zangetsu?" Ichigo wandered the streets of the underwater town. "Zangetsu!" This really was a first. Zangetsu was usually just hanging around on the roofs, and detected his presence instantly. Scowling, Ichigo tried to pinpoint his hollow. The hollow reiatsu was a little easier to sense, and maybe he would know where Zangetsu had gotten to.

To his surprise, his hollow was at the skating rink. Ichigo had never been interested in skating, and his family wasn't much into it, so he'd visited the rink for the first time last week. Skating was Orihime's main hobby, and she'd invited him to a special 'dancing on ice' presentation they were putting on. Apparently, that visit had created a skating rink in his mind and the occupants of his inner world were exploiting it to the fullest. Ichigo slipped inside, trying to stay hidden. He wanted to see what Akiyo was up to.

What he was up to was figure skating. Ichigo watched, slightly amazed by how graceful his hollow was on the ice. But then, he was perfectly coordinated and very athletic. It was no surprise that he would catch on quickly to something new.

"Hey, watch this! I'm gonna do a triple toe loop!" The hollow called to Grimmjow and Ichigo frowned. The arrancar was standing beside someone that Ichigo couldn't see clearly. It had to be Zangetsu, yet… somehow, it didn't feel like Zangetsu.

"Bullshit! You're gonna land on your face!" Grimmjow called back and Akiyo scowled before working on gaining some speed. He gave it a very good try, but his landing was absolutely awful and Ichigo winced as his hollow's head impacted the ice with a brutal crack. "Hah! Ya fuckin' failure!"

"Owwww…" There was a pained whine from the ice but Ichigo ignored it. That other person beside Grimmjow was… strange. He was wearing a big, fluffy purple and white sweater as well as blue jeans. He was holding a mug of something steaming – hadn't Grimmjow complained there was no food here? – and sipping it occasionally. Then Ichigo got close enough to see his face clearly and he froze up in shock.

"Muramasa!" He yelped before reaching behind him and grasping his sword. Everyone looked at him in surprise except for Akiyo, who was mumbling something about agonizing pain and no one caring. Muramasa looked at him for a moment before taking another sip of his drink.

"Woo hoo, epic freak out time! Hey Akiyo, you're missing some good shit!" Grimmjow called to the hollow, who just gripped his head and groaned. "Wanker."

"Shut up! Even my sinuses hurt… argh." The hollow finally pushed himself up, wavering a bit on his skates. "Don't you dare start a fight in here King, we like this place." And a fight between Ichigo and Muramasa could easily end up completely trashing the skating rink.

"What the hell is going on?" Ichigo demanded, scowling at the white hollow. "And where is Zangetsu? …Oh." His zanpakuto had just entered the rink and was looking a little sheepish. Ichigo could see why, he was wearing figure skates and clearly ready for his turn on the ice.

"Look, King, it's simple." Akiyo said and Ichigo's attention snapped back to him. "He bonded to my power the way Grimm bonded to Zangetsu. So Muramasa belongs here now and you've got a second zanpakuto. Congratulations, you're more powerful and shit. Now can we get back to skating? Although I'm gonna take a break." The hollow added, rubbing the back of his head and wincing. Ichigo dropped the tip of his sword, looking at Grimmjow with a wondering look. The arrancar just shrugged.

"You're all okay with this? And why doesn't anyone tell me anything that's going on in here?" That was starting to get on his last nerve. It was his soul, shouldn't he know what was going on inside it? Grimmjow laughed, Muramasa chuckled and Akiyo gave him a shit eating grin.

"Hey, no one asks the Earth if she wants factories and pollution, do they? This is our world and you don't get a say." The hollow said mockingly and Ichigo gave him an outraged look. "And it took a while to talk Grimmy around, but Muramasa can make food in here. We're all so grateful we can overlook his personality flaws."

"I have no personality flaws. You are merely jealous of my perfection." The zanpakuto said, completely unruffled. The two hollows laughed as Zangetsu skated up to the boards near them.

"Would you like to join us, Ichigo?" He asked and the teen paused, blinking. Now that he'd seen they were all busy he'd been planning to leave. But there was no reason he had to, and he hadn't actually gotten a chance to try skating. And there might be another benefit. He had two strangers in his mind, now… three if he counted Akiyo, who he honestly didn't know at all. Maybe it would be good to stick around and get to know them a little. Especially if they couldn't leave.

"Sure. Where'd you get the skates?" He asked and his hollow volunteered to show him. Ichigo followed Akiyo, who was recovering rapidly from his impact with the ice. A human would probably have been going to the emergency room with a concussion, but his hollow was not at all human.

"They're all right in here. You must've glanced at it when you came here." Akiyo said as he opened a door to another room. There were all kinds of skates stored there. "By the way, don't you know there's a Disney World resort in Tokyo? Geez, King."

"There is?" Ichigo said, surprised. But then, he'd never been interested in going to Disney World. His hollow shot him an exasperated look when he said that.

"You must have been the most boring child ever…" Ichigo ignored the grumbling as he found some skates in his size and put them on. "Watch the toe picks, they're great for all kinds of stuff but they'll mess you up when you're just walking."

"Right. Uh, can you teach me how to use these?" He asked, a little apprehensively. His hollow grinned which only made the apprehension worse.

"Sure! Ah, don't look so freaked out King, Zangetsu will be right there." He said mockingly, but that did make Ichigo relax a little. Zangetsu wouldn't deliberately mess with him, although his hollow might. "And it's not hard. Just don't try a triple toe loop, it's a lot harder than it looks." His hollow rubbed his nose, clearly still feeling the effects.

"I wasn't planning on it, I'm not insane." He retorted, which made Akiyo grin. "And when did you get a name, anyway?" He asked and that grin suddenly turned into a scowl.

"Grimmjow said I should have one. You should have been the one to name me, but you never did." Ichigo frowned at the resentment in his hollow's tone. "Why didn't you give me a name, King?"

"…I was afraid it would make you more powerful, give you more control over me." He admitted. Akiyo blinked then scowled.

"Idiot. A name isn't anything special, it's just a bit of dignity… hmph." He shook his head as they went back out to the rink, Ichigo getting used to walking in skates. "It probably worked out for the best anyway. You'd have named me something stupid like Shiro or Hichigo, wouldn't you have?"

"I would have been more creative than that!" Ichigo said, nettled, and his hollow laughed.

"Yeah, sure you would have. My full name is Akiyo Izo Yukimura, by the way." He said and Ichigo was a bit surprised that they'd selected a full name for him. Izo? It seemed all his names had something to do with ice or snow. "Now, the way you skate is like this…" Ichigo watched intently as his hollow showed him the basic moves of figure skating. It really wasn't too hard, and soon Ichigo was managing to skate around the rink. He didn't try anything too creative, though.

He didn't want a headache of his own.

"Fucking zanpakuto. How do you guys always win?" Grimmjow complained as he watched the game of Risk. He'd already been beaten soundly and now it was Akiyo's turn to be torn apart. Zangetsu and Muramasa weren't working together, either. No, they were constantly attacking each other as well as Akiyo, but they'd captured the better part of Grimmjow's forces. Akiyo was going to be the next one down.

"You're both a bit too aggressive. In this game you have to build up your forces before launching your full attack." Muramasa said as he began moving some of his pieces against Zangetsu. The zanpakuto retaliated in kind, rolling the dice. He won, to Muramasa's disgruntlement, and captured several pieces. "Hmph."

"I'm so screwed." Akiyo muttered as he prepared to sell his life dearly. It took a while for his two opponents to crush him, but he finally lost his last piece and went to join Grimmjow. The arrancar was slowly savoring a piece of pie and sipping his nice, hot coffee. "Hey Muramasa, can you make me a lemon tart and some tea?"

"Certainly." The zanpakuto waved a hand and they appeared on the table. The lemon tart was the kind the tea shop sold, in fact, and it had an absolutely wonderful shortbread crust.

"Thanks." Akiyo picked up the tart and nibbled on it, enjoying the flavor. He'd discovered that lemon tarts were among his favorite sweets, he liked them even better than brownies and chocolates. "Tart but sweet… it reminds me of you." He said and Grimmjow stopped eating his pie for a moment before giving him a wicked grin.

"Oh yeah? Y'know, I just had an idea. Why don't we leave these two to the game, take that tart and go do something perverted?" He suggested. Akiyo didn't have to think twice about it.

"Okay. And you got knocked out of the game first, so I get to top." He said firmly and Grimmjow's eyes flashed.

"The hell you will!" He growled and the hollow grinned. They both left the shop and swam out onto one of the roofs. Akiyo carefully set the tart aside before they began to spar. The fight was fast and furious and culminated in Akiyo being pinned to the ground. "Ow, fucker, that was cheating!" Grimmjow had groped him at the worst possible time and used his distraction to put him on his back. The arrancar above him leered.

"There's no such thing as fair in love and war. You give?" He asked and Akiyo squirmed for a moment before nodding. He could bottom tonight. "Great. Let me get that tart." As the arrancar did that, Akiyo got rid of his clothing. He was wearing artistically faded blue jeans and a really nice, bright red shirt. He didn't want them to be ruined. When he done he saw that Grimmjow was grinning and his fingers were coated with lemon curd.

The ex-Espada pounced him, and Akiyo moaned softly as that lemon curd was spread over his nipples then licked away with a hot, slightly sandpapery tongue. That tongue teased him mercilessly, circling those sensitive nubs of flesh until they were hard and perky. Then he made his way down, smearing more of the lemon on pure white skin before licking it away.

"Hey, you're eating my tart." Akiyo muttered, hardly able to concentrate through the desire pooling in his loins. Grimmjow chuckled harshly and the sound sent another surge of heat through his body.

"That's what you're thinking about? Dumbass. Here, try this." Then Grimmjow was moving up and wet fingers were on his lips, smearing them with sweet pastry. Akiyo gasped as Grimmjow's lips descended onto his, tasting the sweet tartness in the kiss. It filled him with lust and he whined softly, gripping the arrancar's shoulders tightly. "I… mph… was gonna blow you off. But now I just wanna fuck you. That okay?" He asked and Akiyo nodded.

"Fuck me so hard Grimm." He said, his voice heavy with desire. He shivered as the arrancar parted his legs then gasped as he thrust inside. It hurt in all the right ways and Akiyo couldn't help himself. He had to scream his pleasure, let the world know what he was feeling.

Hey! I was trying to take a nap. Ichigo complained and Akiyo gasped as Grimmjow bit his shoulder, bruising him even beneath the hierro.

"Soh-ree… oh…" The white hollow had to bite his hand to hold in another howl. He honestly didn't feel like bothering Ichigo today, and Zangetsu and Muramasa were still engrossed in their game. If they didn't keep it down, no one would be doing it for them. "Grimmjow, oh fuck!" He gasped as the arrancar growled and drove him into the hard stone of the roof. His dick was so hard and thick, pressing against the hollow in all the right places. "Sh-shit!" His muscles tightened involuntarily as Grimmjow gripped his cock and began to pump him. That made the arrancar give a short, sharp cry of his own and thrust in harder.

Oh, nevermind. I'm going to go read a book or something. Came his King's grouchy voice and Akiyo had to laugh. Ichigo was so cute when he was mad… then all his attention went back to Grimmjow as the ex-Espada kissed him again. This kiss was hard and relentless, and they dueled back and forth until Akiyo submitted. Then the arrancar nibbled his lower lip, drawing a bit of blood. The salty tasty filled both their mouths and Akiyo bucked, his body loving every moment of the pain and pleasure.

"Mine." Grimmjow breathed in his ear and Akiyo shuddered at the dark, passionate possessiveness in his voice. "Mine forever."

"Mine." He gasped back before biting Grimmjow's shoulder, leaving his own mark. The arrancar only increased his pace, making him cry out. "Mine!" His fingers scratched pale skin, leaving more gently bleeding marks behind. This was how hollows mated. This was the passion and frenzy they loved.

The mating went on until they were both panting, sweat slicking their bodies. Grimmjow grinned above him as Akiyo cried out, shoving back into the arrancar's thrusts. White hands gripped soft blue hair, pulling him down for another bruising kiss. They were both getting close, Grimmjow's thrusts becoming quick and erratic as Akiyo's body tighten, the heat in his loins demanding release.

"Yes!" The white hollow screamed just as he came, his cum splattering against his belly and chest. Grimmjow howled his passion and Akiyo gasped as warmth filled him, stinging his insides a little. Then the arrancar gave him a tender kiss and Akiyo returned it, savoring the afterglow.

"Y'know, we still have some tart left. Want me to feed it to you?" The ex-Espada asked with a grin as he pulled away from his lover. Akiyo laughed, pushing himself up with his hands.

"If you want to." He said with a grin. They had a lot of fun with that, Grimmjow putting a bit of the shortbread between his teeth so Akiyo had to kiss him again to take it. "Mmm, delicious." He murmured before leaning against the arrancar. "Grimmjow, are we in love?" He felt the other man stiffen for a moment. Love was not something hollows usually talked about. Love was a weakness, an emotion that could kill in the merciless cold of Hueco Mundo. But then Grimmjow's arm went around him and Akiyo nuzzled him, savoring the warmth.

"I think we are." Came the soft reply and Akiyo smiled. This was perfect. He had his lover, food, and enough friends to play a good game of bridge.

He couldn't ask for anything more.

~FIN~