Grimmjow would still make frequent trips back to Hueco Mundo.
Being in the world of the living too long would ail him with an intense hunger that could only be abated with the consumption of souls. The air in Hueco Mundo had an abundance of reishi that could replenish his systems within just a few days. Every time he came back, no one would ask where he went or what he was up to and he wasn't sure why it annoyed him.
Watching the way Himari cared for her cubs was bemusing to him; they didn't need all that coddling. They need to learn to survive on their own! Despite his disapproval of her methods, he could concede she was rather impressive for a human being with no spiritual power. He had spent the past few hours exploring, having found a few patrolling Shinigami which he interrogated. Turns out, being strangled by an arrancar made it hard to think straight and they just passed out. Akito was at school, meaning the only person he could truly be a nuisance to was unavailable. He had pulled him out a few times before out of spite but that just resulted in him being ignored even more.
Slipping in through the window like usual, he planned to take one of his 9-hour cat naps but decided to spit in the face of his promise to Akito even more. There's nothing like breaking rules. Peeking around the house, he found his new subject sitting on the couch, watching a movie. Upon closer inspection, it looked like a sappy romance with the two love-struck protagonists professing their love for each other. He scoffed. Why on earth would she watch this? Akito had shown him videos of her demonstrating her "karate" skills which were far more interesting than whatever this crap was. Where was the fighting? The violence? The honour!? Overcome with a feeling of vengeance, he accidentally slammed his fist into the wall, causing a framed picture to fall down with a crash.
Himari yelped, turning to the destruction with wide eyes.
"Hello?"
The burst of adrenaline made her ask a rather nonsensical question out of fear. It was just her and Yui, who was in her room. Sighing, she got up to clean up the mess. Picking up the photo, she ran her finger across the shattered frame with a wistful sigh. It was Akito when he was a very young boy looking innocent and happy. Grimmjow watched the scene with curiosity, wondering if this was normal for humans.
She swept up the glass, emptying it into the trash can before turning to go back to the living room. "GRIM". Right on the refrigerator where she had definitely left the word GRIN. Now she was starting to doubt her sanity; she had just walked past the fridge and seen the word GRIN. Anxiously, she moved the letters around to how they were before. Waiting, she simply watched the magnetic letters remain static on the white surface. Realising how silly she was being, she shook her head with a tut. Whatever scepticism she clung onto was discarded at the sound of the letters moving along the fridge, except this time, she was there to witness it. GRIM.
"G-grim? What does that mean- hello?"
She was on high alert now, whipping her head to and fro.
There it was. There was the terrified expression he had been waiting for. He couldn't stop himself from laughing as she backed up into the living room like a cornered deer. He was in too deep, may as well keep going. Tearing a piece of paper from one of Yui's colouring books, he practically engraved letters on it with a dark blue crayon. Himari looked down, seeing the piece of paper on the coffee table. Hello. Next to the clear writing was that familiar smiley face.
Pausing for a moment, Himari simply put her hands on her hips, mouth twisted to the side. Grimmjow watched for her reaction, eager to see how she processed things. Darting her eyes to the stairs for a moment, she listened out for Yui. Hearing nothing, she slowly approached the table and picked up a crayon.
"I must not tell Aki about this." She whispered to herself.
Using the red crayon, she wrote out a word of her own, except this one had punctuation after it. "Grim?" The ex-espada barked out a laugh, proud he had already convinced this woman of his existence. He wasn't sure if that meant she was smart or gullible. Either way, he could definitely have fun with this.
For the next hour or so, they communicated like this. Due to writing so much, they eventually moved to a proper notebook with pens to make it easier. Grimmjow started by being an asshole, calling her son a loser and what not. Expectedly, Himari asked him questions about himself that even he didn't know the answer of. He would just not answer or reflect the question back at her. As they spoke, or rather wrote, he noticed how happy she looked and it irked him. Why was talking to what she assumed was an apparition making her so happy? Was this woman that starved for attention? He pitied her.
"Can you... Hear me?" She said aloud, feeling rather silly for indulging in such a crazy fantasy.
He wrote out a simple yes, making her visibly brighten. Her expression soon fell, morphing into a sad smile.
"Does Akito know you exist?"
He hesitated before writing out his answer. No. Himari let out a sigh of relief placing a hand on her chest.
"Oh thank goodness. You're not going to reveal yourself to him and say his mother's been speaking to a ghost?"
He snickered as he wrote down Perhaps. Himari cupped her cheeks with a whine.
"You're so mean! If you had a physical form, I would have floored you by now."
'Oh, I don't doubt it.' He thought with a wolfish grin. The things he had seen her do were outright phenomenal. He had only learnt about karate recently but knew she could definitely hold her own in a fight against other humans. It made him respect her. His smile faded, remembering what he said about Aki not knowing about him. He wasn't entirely sure why he had done that. Not like it mattered though, Aki doesn't control him.
Impulsively, he slammed his hand on the table, making her flinch. Instead of being scared, she got an idea.
"Do you know how to play chess?"
He didn't. Not that Himari seemed to mind as she taught him by making him play a game with her. Hunched over at the table, he moved each piece with deliberation. Should he move it incorrectly, she would simply tell him where the correct place to put it was. Being a quick learner was a trait he never knew he had until coming to the world of the living. In Hueco Mundo, there was only one thing you needed to learn how to do: fight. In this plane of existence, fighting was just one of thousands of skills one could learn to master. This woman was both strong and strategic, a good pair in his book.
His king piece fell many times and he found himself growing annoyed. Even after taking out her queen, she still managed to best him. 'Oh, she is gonna get it-'. Feeling Akito's presence, he instinctively sonido'd the fuck outta there, leaving Himari to fix up the chess board.
"Hey, mum." Aki greeted, none the wiser to her cross dimensional shenanigans.
Smiling up at him, she quickly stuffed the stray pieces of paper into the notebook before shutting it.
"Aki! How was school?" She asked, feigning nonchalance.
'It's just a lil secret.'
During his talks with their mother, he had learnt a little bit about Yui. Namely that she was three and was a fan of shounen anime that involved fighting. Her preference was probably swayed by her mother's choice in career, not that he minded; fighting was awesome. He also learned she wasn't actually Himari's daughter but rather her niece she adopted following the tragic death of her parents. She didn't go into detail about the ordeal, merely saying Yui's mother was a great sister with a wonderful husband. Grimmjow felt another foreign feeling swell in him when she told him that. He had lost people close to him but never felt the need to mourn, simply keeping them in his memory was enough. However, seeing her visage change for a moment irked him. He didn't ask about Akito's father.
His promise to Aki continued to be kicked further into the dirt as he observed his younger sister meticulously stacking rectangular blocks in an odd fashion. Being the unchallenged asshole he was, he flicked his wrist, knocking her already unstable tower over. Frowning, the little girl let out a saddened whine at her creation being destroyed. Grimmjow snickered but felt a tiny pang of guilt for his crime. Picking up some of the blocks, he stacked them into the letter "T". Yui gasped, looking around as if she could see what caused this miraculous action. Using his brain, he moved the blocks to spell out his name.
"Grim?" She said, tilting her head.
Moving the blocks, he created an arrow pointing to where he was crouched. Yui looked up, seeing nothing but the wall with the chest of drawers ahead of her. Tentatively, she reached out her hand. A hand much bigger and warmer than her own placed itself flat against her palm, making her gasp. The pure elation that spread across her face had Grimmjow blinking in puzzlement. No one had ever had that reaction to him before. It was strange. Strangely nice. Lifting his hand, he prodded the girl's nose, making her giggle and swat at him.
'This cub will grow up to be strong. I can feel it.' He thought, ruffling her short hair.
_._._._
Black and blue and white was Akito's skin after Grimmjow's intense training session. Had he learnt anything? That was debateable. Was he going to be sore for the next three to four business days? Guaranteed. Lying flat on his back, the teen breathed in deeply, regaining his breath after pushing his body to the absolute limit. Hands firmly in his pockets, Grimmjow leaned over the tuckered out boy with a frown.
"I barely even grazed ya."
Weakly smiling, Akito looked up at his supernatural mentor. His shadow loomed over him, shielding his eyes from the light of the sun. Looking past his shoulders, he saw the sky was a pleasant shade of blue, sparsely dotted with clouds. His bright hair almost blended in with the atmosphere.
"Should I beat people up?"
Ripples coursed through the water as flat stones were skimmed over it, disturbing the calm surface. Aki could only manage two or three skips whilst Grimmjow showed off by machine gunning them across the water. As they took part in the peaceful activity, the high school student recounted how a group of troublemakers constantly bothered him and his classmates. He wasn't sure how to address the issue as all the information he had received from adults never seemed to help. It was a dumb, human problem which a hollow would have no interest in, but he was desperate for someone else's point of view.
"If someone's fucking shit up on your territory, you give it to 'em."
"Give it to 'em?"
Pounding his fist into his palm, Grimmjow huffed steam out of his nose like an enraged bull. Akito was glad he was so invested in his problem.
"Fuck 'em up! They'll leave you alone if they know you mean business. Hit 'em hard. Then next time they try shit, they'll hesitate 'cuz they'll know you'll fight back."
Akito pondered over his words for a moment, eventually nodding in agreement. His mother had always told him to only fight if he absolutely had to, in the name of self-defence. But he wasn't just defending himself. Other students, who had been harassed, also needed defending. Sitting down on the soft grass, he rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish smile.
"I've never heard that advice before... Thanks." He said earnestly.
Plopping down beside him, Grimmjow forcefully put his hand on his head, causing him to bow forward.
"Good. Your knuckles better be red the next time I see you."
Grunting, the ex-espada watched as the boy's shoulders shook as he laughed.
This whole experience had been oddly refreshing. He had never had a relationship or bond like this before. Even though only few weeks has passed since his arrival, he found himself valuing Grimmjow's presence and cut throat advice. It was something his mother's gentle parenting couldn't compare to. Pushing his head up, he smiled at the other.
"I'll beat them to a pulp." He determinedly declared, mirroring the his teacher 's action of punching his palm.
Grimmjow felt that familiar feeling from when Yui had shown him a similar expression. Grinning, Grimmjow ruffled the boy's hair.
_._._._
It was not a little secret, as she had lightly put it.
Conversations between her and this apparition that called himself Grimmjow were rather frequent. They had opted to have them in her room away from everyone else as to not scar her children. Grimmjow had mastered masking his reiatsu so Aki would assume he had left when in reality he was literally down the hall.
"A guy from a rival dojo had a fake black belt. He challenged me." She recounted, adjusting the sleeves of her thick jumper. He hadn't forgotten about his peeping. He will see what's under there, even if it costs him his arm again. Okay, maybe he wouldn't go that far.
Did you kill him for being a fraud? He wrote.
Himari chuckled, brushing her hair behind her ear as she read his response.
"Murder's illegal here, Grim." She reminded him, already aware of his hyper violent personality. She didn't find him to be intimidating, mostly on the account she couldn't see him. The fact he wanted to speak to her and hadn't hurt her made her trust him somewhat.
That's dumb. He wrote with an unhappy face.
Himari giggled at his childish antics, Seeing them as endearing.
"He did end up having to go to the hospital for a shattered knee. I didn't feel bad one bit." She confessed with a proud grin whilst puffing up her chest.
Shattered knee? Should've shattered his spine.
Smiling, Himari looked down at the bed as she played with her hands. Despite how down right unnatural and crazy this was, talking to Grim like this was oddly therapeutic for her. He was surprisingly understanding for a ghost, though he did have a clear bias for topics about fighting (lucky for her).
A feeling of longing had resided inside her for a while now. A hole that ceased to be filled in no matter what she did. Nervousness grew inside her as she didn't want to admit the fact that talking to him made it feel like that hole was closing.
"You've been around for a long time, right?" She asked, pressing her palms down flat on the bed.
Yes.
Biting her lip, she tried to word her question in a way that didn't sound sappy, she learned he wasn't a fan of that.
"Have you ever felt like... There was a hole in you that you couldn't fill?"
For a moment, she felt a slight pressure across her entire body, shaking every inch of her. It died down after a couple seconds, leaving her a little shook. Perhaps that question hit too close to home for him.
Yes. I have a hole in me. Literally.
Grimmjow didn't understand where she was going with this but was caught off guard by her unintentional pun. His laughter caused him to lose control of his reiatsu for a moment. Luckily, it wasn't enough to cause her harm. Seeing her forlorn expression made him annoyed. The Himari he knew had a warrior's spirit and wasn't afraid to do what needed to be done.
If there's something you want, take it. He fiercely wrote it's okay to put yourself before others sometimes. Life is survival.
Carefully she read his words, taking them to heart. Her fingers ghosted over the dry ink, feeling their meaning and the emotion behind them.
"You make it sound so easy." She said with a breathy laugh.
Steeling herself with a deep breath, she carried on.
"I literally fight for a living."
Yeah. It's fucking hot.
She snorted, covering her face for a moment. He always managed to fluster her so easily. She wondered if he was a Casanova in his previous life. Shaking her head, she carried on.
"But- I've been fighting for my kids so they can have happy lives. Now I... Now I want to be selfish and have something for myself."
Getting that out felt good. Really good. But now she felt silly. Really silly. Divulging something deeply personal to a fricking ghost was definitely a sign she had a screw loose, or something similar to that effect. 'Maybe this is my mind's way of telling me to take what I want.' She thought, gripping the sheets.
Another image was being drawn in the notebook. This one was larger than the rest and looked far more detailed. Grimm had never said anything about being an artist, so it took her by surprise. It was an outstretched hand with a small scar on the knuckle of the pinkie. Recognising it, she looked down at her right hand, seeing the same scar.
Slowly, she lifted her hand with her palm facing down, not entirely sure what to expect. Gently, almost as though the tender action was difficult, another hand pressed against hers. Larger, calloused fingers slotted between hers in a way that lit a fire inside her. The heat spreading through her became visible on her face, rushing up to the tips of her ears.
"If I could see you, I'd punch you." She whispered, unprepared for the delicate action.
_._._._
"I did it!"
Grimmjow grumpily peeked out from his den, annoyed he had been awoken from his cat nap. His eyes immediately snapped open, body on high alert at the sight before him. Akito looked like he had been thrown down a flight of stairs as a warm up to being thrown down a mountain. That was a mild exaggeration but still- he looked like hell. Getting up, Grimmjow's left hand twitched as he used the other to move his head around.
"Was it a hollow? Did you kill it?" He asked, tone having a scary edge.
Akito shook his head, grinning like he had just won big at the arcade.
"It was the bullies! I beat them up. Look-"
He presented his hands: bruised, busted and most certainly red.
Grimmjow looked at his expression, proud yet nervous. Smiling widely, Grimmjow pulled him into a friendly headlock. He felt proud of him. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt pride for anyone other than himself.
"Now you're getting it." He teased, giving him a noogie.
"A-ah! I'm still in a lot of pain!"
Unsurprisingly, Yui wasn't fond of seeing her brother with a black eye and a split lip. Holding onto his thigh, she looked up at him with a saddened expression, on the verge of tears. He patted her head, reassuring her he was alright. Himari tried to get her to move away while she patched her son's wounds but the girl was stubborn. From the corner of her eye, she saw something move. With a cursory glance at her brother, she went to investigate.
"Mr. Lion!"
Collapsing on the floor beside him, she watched with a delighted smile as the toy bounced and moved around. This easily distracted her, giving her mother the space, she needed to more effectively dote on her eldest child.
After distracting Yui from her injured brother, he sat with Aki who told him exactly what happened in great detail. He could hear the elation in his tone as he retold exactly what happened with a few demonstrations.
"Your advice really worked! Thanks, Grimm!"
Subsequently, Himari needed some consoling after seeing her "poor baby" come home in a broken state for the first time. He was successful in his approach, managing to calm her down with his somewhat thought-out words. She thanked him too. It felt weird. Very weird. Normally, after he had completed something he had to do, he was left with someone begging for mercy, on the verge of death. The fact he was having such a positive effect on so many people felt like an affront to his very nature.