Crimson and Ebony Chapter 6: Tired Red, Angry Blue
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Morning proved to be just as dreary as night, nothing but white and endless corridors. It was so easy to get lost, but since everything looked the same you couldn't tell when you were lost anyway. Grimmjow and Tatsu managed to navigate only through past experience. When they arrived at their destination a little tension lifted off of their shoulders. There were times when it could take hours to get to where you were going.
“Grimmjow-kun...” Gin said, smiling in his vaguely menacing way towards the Sexta Espada. “What brings you to the surveillance room?” he asked cheerfully.
Grimmjow just scowled at him, glaring a bit and stepping up. “I wanna keep an eye on that damn Kurosaki kid...” he muttered. Tatsu followed behind him closely, gazing up at him adoringly, her long, falsely red hair swaying behind her as she bowed to Gin.
Gin shrugged. “Feel free. I was getting kind of lonely in here all by myself.”
He chuckled as he watched “Crimson” settle herself at Grimmjow's side, her hands resting on his arm, like she needed support. Grimmjow didn't even look at her. Aizen would be pleased to hear about her dependence on the Arrancar. Her very posture screamed subservience, she was a slave to her traumas, devoted to the person that served as her escape as well as the personality. Upon conversing with her, Gin also found that she seemed to be losing her memories of being a shinigami, the past blacking out in favour of a more bearable fantasy. She'd been born as an Arrancar, she belonged here. The more she convinced herself of that, the easier it would be to use and discard her like all the rest.
Eyes scanned silently over the floating surveillance screens, watching as the would-be invaders rushed to and fro. Grimmjow focused on Ichigo, seeing him rushing through the halls with his sword drawn in his hand. His eyes narrowed as he watched him, feeling the pull in his gut, demanding that he go after him. But he couldn't. At least... not yet.
After a few minutes of gazing enraptured at Grimmjow, Crimson's eyes trailed to the screens as well. She didn't seem at all interested in the people running about Las Noches, looking bored and impatient, like a petulant child. She prodded Grimmjow's arm lightly, wanting to leave but he just tugged her back so that she stayed put. She pouted but didn't move, after all, she'd do anything he wanted her to, even if he didn't say a word. Gin continued to smirk, watching Crimson's eyes lazily scanning the screens, looking a little glazed as she slipped into a daydream.
It took a lot of focus and a good awareness of one's body and face to be able to pull this off, to look completely uninterested to the point of zoning out when in reality she was memorizing the locations of all the various humans and shinigami scattered about Las Noches. Grimmjow continued to watch Ichigo. He knew the plan, he knew what she was doing. And he also knew that when it got down to it she would probably try to stop him from getting into a fight with Ichigo. But despite the tenuous friendship they'd built he would not let her stop him. They had a score to settle, him and Kurosaki, nothing and nobody was going to get in the way of that.
When she prodded his arm a second time he knew it was time to go. “What do you want, woman?! I'm doin' somethin'!” he said, shaking her off his arm roughly. They'd practised this, his irritable indifference towards her, the scorn and the casual abuse. She took it all because she was supposed to enjoy it, because this version of her needed him more than anything.
“I'm bored...” She said, blinking up at him with ever-adoring eyes. Whenever they were outside their room she acted this way, every movement geared towards her subservient act towards him. He almost regretted when the mask came off in their room.
He scoffed and shook his head at her, turning away from the screen and stomping out in his usual fashion. She followed after him, eager as a puppy, following her master in the never ending hope for approval. Grimmjow, for his part, did a good job of being cold towards her, despite his obvious preference for when they were pressed in some dark corner, pretending to have an illicit tryst every time people walked by. Like now, when they pretended to be heading back to their rooms for sex, with her clinging to his waist, and him palming her curvy, tight ass. He walked slowly, ignoring her signals to go faster. He knew as soon as they walked back into their room she would pull away from him, that her face would grow cold and she would refuse to let him touch her. These moments where she showed a little interest in him, even if it was pretended and even if it was just a tease, it was better than her indifference. He was not used to anyone ignoring him, particularly women, and to have her just not care was a strike to his pride that he just couldn't bide with. He knew it was an act, just like most things she did, and he was determined to break through it.
They reached their room eventually though, and once the door was closed the act was dropped and Tatsu was back, and she was pissed. “What the hell is your problem, Grimmjow?! We were supposed to come back quickly and make a plan based on their locations, we don't have a lot of time to do this if we don't want to get caught!” she hissed, poking his chest and glaring at him in a condescending way. He looked at her, her vivid eyes glaring into his and he had to marvel at her unusual height. Most women came up to his chest at most, but here she was, looking him straight in the eyes, trying to intimidate him with her anger. She couldn't be more than an inch shorter than him.
“You're pretty tall for a chick.” he commented, looking back at her without a trace of care for her anger.
“Augh! Fucking idiot! I had to get stuck with the Espada with mush for brains!” She growled, shoving his shoulders roughly and turning away from him.
That got a rise out of him. “Well, excuse me if I ain't exactly enjoyin' this li'l game of pretend much. This plan benefits you the most, I don't get anythin' out of it except the possibility that I might be able to get out of here. The benefits aren't out weighin' the difficulties, if you catch my fuckin' drift.” He growled back at her, stomping after her.
She whirled to face him, their faces mere inches apart as she bared her teeth at him, the two of them looking like feral cats about to fight. “Well you're not getting more than that!” she said to him, her voice low and harsh, “We both know what you want from me, and I'm sorry if that just doesn't fucking work for me.” she said.
He glared at her, “Why? Because you're still too busy feelin' sorry for yourself? Oh, woe is me, Aizen did bad things to me, wah, wah. Fuck off! You're tougher than that, and if you weren't so lost in your self pity you'd notice that what he did to you is actually what's going to save your ass and your friends. I would think, being stupid and self-sacrificing as you are, that would make it worth it!”
She stared at him, her mouth agape, blinking rapidly a few times before turning away from him again. “Yeah, w-well that doesn't make it any more likely that you'll get what you want.” she said, attempting to keep her voice harsh but really only succeeding in sounding stunned and confused. His words had struck a nerve somewhere, making her think of her ordeal as something more than a trauma. He was right, what she'd been through had given her the opportunity to create this ruse, to work with Grimmjow, to save her friends. If it hadn't happened she probably would have just been a slave to Aizen's demands until she outlived her usefulness and was killed. To think that it was a good thing... well she couldn't think that, it wasn't good. But that it could be useful...
She sighed a bit as she thought about it, she hated it when he did that. When he said these insightful things that made her remember that he was more than the animal she pretended he was. He had thoughts and, barbaric as they often were, he had feelings too. He was no less human than she was, and that thought scared her sometimes, because it was always accompanied by a little voice in her mind saying that she should give in to his demands, that she could use the chance to work out her stress and her troubles. He was attractive, and the more she thought about him as a man rather than an Arrancar the more trouble she had denying him. It wasn't like it would mean anything. Not between them, not in this place of blood and marble where sins were just accepted without care.
Still, she couldn't let go of self control like that, it went against her training, against what she knew. And she had to cling to that even more now.
“Did it ever occur to you that I'm just not interested?” she asked coldly, her gaze icy as she looked back at him. He'd thrown her for a moment, but he recognized when the mask was up again. They both knew she was lying. She had to be. The moments they'd spent together, the adrenaline and the danger around them had brought them together as unlikely partners which bordered on friends. But fragile as their relationship was, there was no way to deny the sexual tension between them, or the awkward silences that stretched between them, at night when neither of them slept across from each other in the same bed, wondering if the other person was asleep yet.
“You won't always be able to deny it you know.” he said roughly, his temper deflating in the wake of exasperation. “It's inevitable.”
“So's death.” Tatsu said, still trying to be cold, but it was harder now. It was always harder with him. He brought out the passion in her. “But I'm going to try and avoid that too.”
“Fine. Let's make this plan then and get it over with.” He said gruffly, shrugging his shoulders and sitting down on the bed with a huff.
"Okay... Well if we make an approximate map of our area..." Tatsu said, going into work mode, grabbing paper and ink and drawing out a vague map of Las Noches, made vague because of how the passages were always changing. "These are the locations, as near as I can tell." Tatsu said, marking places. "They may move of course, but it's a place to start. Gin's only in the surveillance room a couple hours a day before he gets bored, so if we avoid those hours it should be fine. Except..."
Grimmjow watched her work, listening. "Szayel's always watching..." he finished for her.
"Right..." she sighed. "We'll have to distract him somehow... But what would catch his interest?"
Grimmjow looked thoughtful, an expression that was entirely unfamiliar to Tatsu and which surprised her a bit.
"Well the word from the Fraccion is that Szayel's latest obsession is your redheaded shinigami friend." he said. "Guess he's been watching him a lot. Maybe he has a thing for redheads?" He suggested, tugging on a lock of Tatsu's hair.
She frowned. "You want me to try and seduce him? But how would that help us?" she said, scowling a bit. "I hear he doesn't even like women."
"Yeah, I doubt he does... But if ya get him to like ya, maybe he'll be willin' to look away when you and I are up to mischief, ne? He doesn't have to know what it is. If he asks you can stick to the story about how we're luring in Ichigo."
Tatsu rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "Hm, that is plausible. Won't be easy though. I'll see what I can do." she said, nodding decisively. "With him out of the way there's nothing stopping us from collecting them, we'll most likely have to knock them out to stop them from fighting, though we'll try to keep the injuries minimal. And once they're all gathered here we can reveal our plan."
Grimmjow nodded. "Not much we can do now then, Szayel's out doing his research thing. We can't make a move 'til he's back and you've got him on our side."
Tatsu sighed, she wasn't fond of waiting. "I guess we'll wait here then. Let everyone think we're wasting the day having crazed angry sex." she said, rolling her eyes at her own words. "I'll take a bath and freshen myself up for 'Szayel-sama'." She scoffed, getting up and heading towards the bathroom. Grimmjow watched her for a moment.
"Wait a sec." he said, causing her to look back at him. Although impatient to get on with it, her mood seemed better now that they had a solid plan.
"What? You want to go over something again?" she asked, blinking her eyes behind her white mask. That mask irritated him sometimes. When he wanted to examine her expressions more thoroughly and couldn't because of the damn thing.
"Nah. Just... C'mere for a second." he said, gesturing her towards where he was sitting on the bed.
In this position his head was about level with her chest, but she didn't overtly object and just stepped forward, wondering what was going through his mind now. She jumped a bit when Grimmjow reached forward quickly, between her breasts where her 'hollow hole' supposedly was, his hand wrapping around the necklace that disguised her so thoroughly. Before she could react he'd pulled the invisible chain up over her head, causing her entire persona to dissolve around her.
She blinked, glancing at herself, examining her blonde locks and looking at him with confusion. "What did you do that for?" she asked, looking at him suspiciously. He took in her expression, all of it, with her creasing eyebrows and her wrinkled up nose as she looked at him distastefully. Her eyes, which weren't as shadowed and all the more vibrant for it, revealed her mixed confusion and curiousity at his strange actions. This was real, this was who she really was, underneath the glamour and facade, she was just a woman.
"Makes it easier for me to do this." He said, pulling her down and crushing their lips together, ripping a startled gasp from her throat.
This was not one of their showy,sloppy, fake kisses for when their were others around, nor was it a slow seductive kiss that one might expect from the situation. This kiss was all fire, all gut wrenching hunger and bottled up desire, both of them a little shocked at the intensity, at the explosiveness such a simple action created. When they pulled back they were gasping for air, looking at each other with stunned expressions, shocked at what had just passed between them. But Tatsu's expression as she looked at him was completely open for once, and he could see her resolve breaking down underneath the pressure of her emotions. He looked back at her, his gaze intense, waiting.
She made a helpless noise, pressing forward and pushing him onto the bed roughly, her lips attacking his and her fingers diving into that glorious blue mane. She was straddling his hips, body pulsing with heat, her mouth consuming as much of his as it could. Surprised as he was by the sudden action it didn't take him long to catch up, rolling her over so that he was on top, pressing their bodies together, kissing her back with the same tempered ferocity that was in everything he did. He was surprised when she countered with the same force, her thighs wrapping strongly around his and pulling him down against her, not allowing any room between their bodies. Her hands started ripping at his clothes, admiring the toned flesh and scars, her fingers tracing over his broad chest, flicking at his nipples and making him grunt against her mouth. He grabbed her wrists then, pinning them beside her head but she wouldn't submit, her knee shifting between his legs and rubbing him through his hakama. He hadn't expected it to be like this. He'd thought he'd be the rough one, the demanding on. He expected her to be a more focused, careful lover. But he certainly wasn't upset that he was wrong. She gave as good as she got, growling as he pulled away and starting removing her clothing with his teeth, doing a good job of shredding her top in the process of revealing more milky white flesh. She got impatient then, pushing him away and rolling them back to their previous position, one hand gripping his hair hard and tugging his head to the side to leave room for her teeth on his neck, biting and licking. Her other hand slipped between them, ripping his jacket off his shoulders, her nails leaving marks on his skin as she roughly undressed him. His hands went to her hips, not protesting the rough treatment, pulling her down against him and grinding up at the same time, earning him a muffled moan. She shot him a small, competitive glare before her lips went to his ear, nipping sharply at the shell of his ear, tugging lightly with her teeth and forcing him to moan in return. His ears were sensitive, always had been, and something about her hot mouth on him there drove him completely crazy.
"Enough." he growled, sitting them both up so that she was on his lap, legs around his waist, every part of their bodies pressed together, her soft, firm breasts crushed against the hardness of his chest, and their muscular stomachs sliding against each other. She tossed aside the tattered remnants of her shirt, reaching between their unconsciously writhing hips to tug at his hakama, sliding it down his hips until he helpfully lifted himself up and slid them off himself. With only her long, side-slitted skirt to separate them now they were both panting and desperate, not wanting to separate for fear of sanity returning. But she slid herself off of his lap, standing close to him, her long fingers slipping into her waistband and sliding the white fabric off of her hips and thighs. She looked up at him when she was done, her eyes glazing over with unashamed lust, admiring sculpted arms and hard pecs. But a sliver of misgiving invaded her mind as her eyes trailed over his stomach, the hollow hole there a blatant reminder of why they shouldn't be doing this. He saw her hesitation, unwilling to stop now, and he grabbed her, pulling their naked flesh together.
"Ride me." he demanded, tugging her long hair so that her head tipped back and she moaned, "I wanna feel ya slide against me while ya ride my cock." he murmured, voice low and predatorial, leaving no room for argument. She looked at him with challenging eyes, making sure he knew that he couldn't just order her around. If she didn't want it so badly herself she'd push him down and tease him more, but she did. So she rose up over him, biting her lip as she lowered herself over his thick erection, gasping and rocking her hips at the overwhelming sensation. Grimmjow didn't let her have a moments rest, groaning as her walls clenched around him, lifting her up by her hips and dropping her down on his cock, loving her high pitched moans. She ground against him, wanting it harder, pulling his hair demandingly as her hips rode him hard and fast, not giving either of them the chance to think or recover.
As their bodies moved together their mouths joined messily, teeth colliding and nipping, lips crashing and bruising, the rhythm matching their churning hips. He slipped a hand down to rub against her clit as they were bucking and grinding, making her cry out between her moans, the pitch going up an octave and her walls convulsing around him.
At that pace they couldn't last long, their bodies vibrating with pleasure, their movements so in sync that they yelled their release into each other's mouths at the same time. The high was all-consuming, leaving them breathless for several moments and boneless for several minutes. They collasped against the sweat soaked sheets, panting and clinging to each other. At that point all they could do was stare at each other, too absorbed in what had just gone on between them to fully grasp what had happened. So they didn't think about it, simply curling up together and closing their eyes, their glistening, exhausted bodies the only patches of colour in the white room.
They could sleep for awhile. The world could wait a few hours before they had to deal with it.
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