16. Home Alone

The rest of the trip home was uneventful. Grimmjow walked with Orihime and Ulquiorra to her apartment building's manager desk, and then told them he was heading back to Tsukiji.

The staircase passage to Orihime's floor was hot, the warm air trapped in the hall, seemingly magnified by the children running and laughing along the floors ( Read more... )

10. Pillow Talk

There was no sleep to be had by anyone that night, and not for the reasons Grimmjow would have liked to imagine. An hour after the soup was finished, the first glimpse of dawn was breaking through the kitchen window, the rain having poured itself out. Despite looking less than her usual sparkly self, Orihime dressed for the day in a ( Read more... )

9. What the Cat didn't Drag In

Grimmjow wasn't ready for Orihime's new ideas for his bachelor pad. Instead of going straight back to her apartment, she convinced him to begin his shopping for house wares. She didn't know if it was such a good idea exposing the mall-goers at large to the former Espada, but if it meant helping Grimmjow into his new ( Read more... )

It was a sunny afternoon as Gin made his way over to where Ulquiorra was standing as they watched Tousen throw peanuts into the pen at the zoo. They'd been there for ten minutes already, and the smell of the pen was getting ripe.

"What ya reading?" he asked, standing closer to the Espada.

Ulquiorra leaned away, turning the paper so Gin couldn't see.

" ( Read more... )

20. Revisit

Renji accompanied Rangiku down the Karakura Town street sidewalk under skies threatening rain in the warm, humid late afternoon among the other shoppers, each of them garnering attention for different reasons -- he because his very appearance suggested he wanted to pick a fight, she because she offered a magnetic quality that most males ( Read more... )