The Pet Series
Kittens
Author: Shadow Arashi
Fandom: Bleach
Pairing: implied Aizen x Grimmjow
Rating: PG-13 for swearing and the f!word
Word Count: 1261
Summary: In which Aizen need a babysitter and find one in an unexpected person.
Warnings: Silly attempt at humor, hinted BL (boy love), swearing, jerk!Nnoitra, and overprotective!Pantera mode Grimmjow. This was inspired by my recent discovery that yes, male cats can and will take care of kittens, even letting then nurse from them. Cute isn’t it?
Disclaimer: Bleach and all its characters belong to Tite Kubo, this fic is written for entertainment only and I don’t make any profit of it.
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The last thing Grimmjow expected when he walked into the meeting room was to see the rest of the Espada cowering behind Aizen’s chair, while the man himself sat with his head in his hands, vaguely supported by Gin and Tousen.
Grimmjow stared, his feline ears flickering as he took in the strange sight (he had just finished training and had yet to change back to his sealed form).
"What the fuck are you doing?"
He demanded, feeling quite confused. Aizen blinked, finally registering his presence, and smiled tiredly at his Espada.
"Oh Grimmjow, you are back." The master of Las Noches rubbed his forehead once again as if in pain "We are just facing some… difficulties right now, you see. I wanted to try something different with the Hogyoku and… this is the result."
Aizen gestured toward the other side of the room with a swipe of his hand.
Grimmjow raised an eyebrow, before he turned his head to look what could have bothered the rest of the Espada and Aizen that much.
His jaw nearly hit the floor when he saw what appeared to be three little children, looking no older than five, sitting down onto the floor and hugging each others as they shiver with cold and fright.
The Sexta’s sharp feline eyes quickly noticed that they were arrancars indeed, complete with little remnants of masks and the facial markings. He couldn’t see where their hollow hole were under the white clothes they were wearing but he didn’t need to at this point.
As he observed them, he noticed that one of the children was a pale blond, grey-eyed boy with black marking around his eyes and a crown like mask on his forehead. He was holding onto another boy with reddish hair and dark eyes, who somehow reminded Grimmjow of that damn shinigami brat, Kurosaki. Even the mask was slightly similar, and two red little strips decorated his right cheek. The last child was a little girl with long black hair and violet eyes, who was clinging tightly to the two boys. Her markings made a star above her left eye with a single red trail running down her cheek, reminiscent of Ulquiorra’s own markings.
Immediately Grimmjow felt the situation was all wrong, and his instincts kicked in.
"What the hell Aizen?"
The panther turned back toward his leader abruptly and almost snarled (because he had more sense than actually growling at his ‘master’), tail twitching violently behind him. He failed to notice the children’s wide eyes as they watched him, too busy as he was glaring at the shinigami before him.
Aizen rubbed his forehead again with a sigh.
"As I just said, they were a new experiment. The result was not what I was expecting though, since they are merely children as you can clearly see. They have potential however, and I do not wish to kill them needlessly. The problem is that I do not know what to do with them."
"Then get someone to play babysitter for a while."
The whole thing was rubbing Grimmjow the wrong way. That was no way to deal with cubs damnit! He thought as he saw the kittens trembling from being in the same room as stronger predators from the corner of his eyes.
"I would if I could. But we were just going over this issue and none of the Espada can or wants to take that job."
"Oh, really? You mean those morons they can’t even deal with kittens!?"
The feline hollow dead-panned, glaring harder than ever at the arrancars still cowering behind Aizen’s chair.
His words hit the mark, and Nnoitra came out from his hiding spot, growling at the smaller Espada.
"Watch yer mouth, pussycat! It’s just that I have better things to do with my life than babysitting those brats! They will just get in the way, anyway!"
Then, unable to contain his anger at the situation anymore, Nnoitra fired a cero at the children.
"NNOITRA!"
Aizen yelled, already lashing out his reiatsu at the fifth Espada to get him under control even as the wall exploded and smoke filled the corner of the room.
"I thought I said that none of you were to harm those children."
The shinigami spoke in a deceptively soft voice, icy cold eyes glaring at Nnoitra who was panting on the floor under the weight of Aizen’s reiatsu.
"God, I hope the children are alright." Aizen murmured.
The master of Las Noches turned toward the spot where the children had been, and feared the worst as he and the rest of the Espada waited for the smoke to clear.
When the last of the smoke was gone, it was their turn to find their jaw hanging onto the floor, as they could hardly believe what they were seeing.
Grimmjow was standing protectively in front of the little hollows children, an arm raised above their heads as he held them against his chest with the other. His tail was lashing angrily as he rose from his crouching position, the children curled up into his arms.
Nobody had seen him move.
"WHAT THE FUCK NNOITRA?! YOU JUST DON’T ATTACK KITTENS LIKE THAT, YOU FREAK!"
The feline was utterly pissed, and the former shinigami and members of the Espada could only watch in shock as Grimmjow give Nnoitra the verbal trashing of his life while still holding onto the children and covering their ears.
Finally the Sexta stopped screaming, and with a last glare and a kick at the still prone form of the fifth Espada, he walked toward the other end of the marble table and sat the children down on it.
He then proceeded to fuss over them, to the joy of the children who, no longer shaking in fear of the taller and stronger arrancar, were clinging to the feline hollow and begging for attention as they would their mother.
Grimmjow accepted all the attention and grabby little hands without so much as a twitch, not even complaining when the blond boy captured a strand of his long hair and refused to let go. When he was sure they were ok, he gathered his new litter in his arms and left the meeting room, unaware that he was being followed.
Nine arrancars and three shinigami discreetly followed the Sexta until the feline had reached his room, where they watched him drop the children onto his bed before he joined them and curled up with them on top of the sheets. Soon the children were sleeping contently, pressed against the warm body of the panther.
The Espada watched the whole thing in mute awe from the doorway, the only sound to break the silence being Grimmjow’s quiet purring. Ulquiorra was the first to recover, as he shook his head and accurately summarized the situation.
"As unbelievable as it seems, the Sexta apparently possesses some mothering instincts toward the youth. Maybe we should let Grimmjow take care of the children, Aizen-sama."
Aizen nodded after a few seconds, ignoring the faint whisper of ‘Thank god they are past nursing age then’ from Szayel as a smile slowly spread across his face.
"That is an excellent idea. I guess even male cats have strong parental instincts after all."
The brown haired former captain looked fondly at the newly made make-shift family, and made a mental note to himself to reward his favourite Espada accordingly for his quick thinking and a job well done later that night.
As soon as the children were asleep and out of the way of course.