Trial of Fire

Chapter 9
Dance of Blades

Kinomi twirled her kimono around, nodding in satisfaction as Rangiku cheered her on. Leon had headed over to her house and Rukia was getting the boys ready for the dance while the girls had all met up here on the Kuchiki estate.

Kinomi wasn’t sure what her Otousan had done to annoy Byakuya-ji this time, but she for one was not going to complain or question as to why her Otouji got her a black kimono with white panthers on it. She was of course wearing her bell, feathers and sash. No formal occasion would remove those from her.

Taka’s had brown falcons. Reina’s was covered in red sakura petals as usual. Matsumoto’s was bright yellow with furry gray cats. It took them several hours to get dressed and makeup ready before heading to the front of the Kuchiki grounds where their ‘dates’ were awaiting them.

As usual Barbo would be escorting Reina, the teenager dressed in a deep blue kimono decorated with various cat fish. Riena and Barbo offered each other a short bow before heading out, almost as if they were a married noble couple.

This was one of the few events the prisoners bothered to attend, at least for the first hour or so during all the formal crap before the more refined shinigami headed out for other parties and events and left the stage for the younger generation.

As such Ggio stood ready to escort Matsumoto, dressed in a dark green outfit with twin tigers hiding in the grass. Matsumoto cood softly at him and they took the lead, heading out towards the 1st where the dance was held each year in the large court yard.

Yumi-taichou offered Kinomi a wide smile and a soft bow that she returned as he took his place beside her as her escort. The base color of his outfit might have been white, but it was so covered in peacocks that very little white remained except up by the collar.

Hisagi and Renji were both rather nervous and Kinomi just chuckled. Two men intimidated by two teenage girls. Would the world ever cease throwing out ironies?

There was the usual boring speech by Yamamoto. The official dinner followed after. And then the official dancing. There would be about an hour of that before those of noble, higher birth, or those invited by such would head out to private parties.

“Hmm strange.” Taka frowned.

“What is it Taka-chan?” Kinomi asked.

“I haven’t seen Akata at all tonight. He usually sits next to his Okaasan, but he wasn’t there during the dinner.” Taka answered.

“Maybe he didn’t bother to waste his time or is watching ‘tsuki-chan.” Kinomi just shrugged. “The only real reason we came was because Okaasan made me and Yachiru-chan asked us.” She pointed out.

“True.” Taka admitted.

Kinomi and the others only stayed long enough for Zan and Leon to realize how much of a bore it was when no one wanted to have anything to do with them before thanking their partners and heading out, leaving the three men to pursue either other parties or woman actually old enough to date.

“So where to now?” Zan asked.

It was still early and the only two who hadn’t left with them were Reina and Barbo. The two of them would remain for another hour before heading back to the estate for the event that the Kuchiki household put on every year.

“We could go you know where.” Leon suggested.

“I am going home to catch up on some sleep.” Galgo interjected.

“Figures.” Taka muttered.

“There they are.” A voice called out halting them.

The five of them looked up to see three, annoyingly, familiar faces leering down at them, as well as noting the many what could only be hired mercs now surrounding them with drawn blades.

“Great.” Galgo muttered in annoyance.

“Just what we needed.” Taka sighed.

“Byakuya-ji must have spent a fortune on this Kimono, I really have no desire to ruin it.” Kinomi sighed.

“I just don’t want to suffer another month of stupid house arrest.” Zan groaned.

“Yeah.” Leon agreed.

“You are going to pay for bringing shame to our names, pathetic beast.” Lesser Noble Brat 1 snarled at them.

“Might I remind you that YOU were the ones who attacked US and got your asses beat.” Taka snarled.

“And do you really think we got weaker in the time since?” Leon added.

“You do comprehend another failed attempt to kill us would weaken your standing.” Galgo pointed out in a board tone. “I am sure any punishment your sponsors would have for ruining their case would be far more harsh then another beating from us.”

“This time you will not live.” Older Higher Noble Prick commented coldly.

“As much as I want to put these brats into the dirt again, I really do not want to spend another month, or more, in detention again.” Zan sighed.

Without a word Kinomi released her Reiatsu, letting it flare brightly and sending the nobles and their mercs to their knees under its pressure. Her friends gasped, and Leon and Zan were about to raise theirs to match when she shot them a quick glare that stopped them.

Realizing what she meant to do, they kept their own levels down and thus fell to their knees, as did the rest. Not a minute had passed when several of the Fukutaichou and even a few of the taichou showed up with flashes of Shunpo to determine what the disturbance was.

The moment they arrived she dropped her reiatsu, letting everyone back onto their feet and the noble brats to shake in a mixture of rage and terror as they spluttered their indignation.

“You animal. How dare you?” The younger noble snarled, having as of yet noticed the arrival of the others.

“Would you care to repeat that little threat of yours, or will you let us return home without any further interference?” Kinomi asked coldly.

“Bitch. I will make sure there is nothing left of you to even identify.” He raged.

The two higher noble brats stared at him in outrage, having notice the arrival of the others.
Kinomi merely raised an eyebrow.

“That sounded like a threat to me. What about you, Taka-chan?” Kinomi asked.

“A clear threat, Pantera-chan.” She agreed.

Leon and Zan grinned evilly while Galgo sighed in annoyance.

“Indeed.” Came the voice of Soi Fon as she emerged from the shadows with a less then pleased expression on her face.

The lesser noble visibly paled. The other two looked very uncertain and even a bit worried.

“Kurosaki Pantera Kinomi. Why am I not surprised to find you in the centre of this?” Yamamoto asked in clear annoyance.

“My apologies, Sotaichou.” She bowed to him. “It would appear as if these Nobles were not done attempting to rid Soul Society of our existence. You will be pleased to note that the only blades drawn this time were theirs.” She grinned, looking up at the nobles and their cohorts.

“So I see.” He commented, looking around at the mercs who were quick to sheath their blades.

“Soi Fon-taichou, Kira-fukutaichou, Ise-fukutaichou, please see these gentlemen to the detention facility until they can be dealt with in the morning.” Yamamoto ordered firmly.

No amount of arguing swayed him as the merc and three nobles were gathered up and statements were quickly taken from them before they were permitted to continue on with their evening.

It was getting late now and if they didn’t get home soon Kinomi knew their parents would come looking for them, especially after that flare of Reiatsu. Kinomi was just happy that her parents were likely to still be at the Kuchiki estate and hopefully her and Zan could crash before the interrogations began.

They parted ways, Leon using his Sonpo to get home just to be on the safe side to avoid anymore annoyances. Kinomi and the others followed his example, using either Shunpo or Sonido to get home and avoid any further interruptions.

To her relief their parents were not home yet and Kinomi was quick to change, wash up, and hit bed before they returned, which knowing her Otousan and formal occasions would not take long.



The rest of the year went by without any further interferences, although they saw less and less of Akata with the exception of Azucena who would see him working with her in the 4th practicing their healing Kidou as they had for years.

The graduation ceremonies came and with great glee Kinomi and Taka helped Kenpachi-sensei break in the new recruits. Despite their young age Zan and Leon were able to pass all their courses and it appeared that both of them were good at Kidou with Leon jumping in leaps and bounds to the point he could fire off every spell ever taught at full strength without the incantations.

“Only two years left.” Kinomi smiled to herself. “Two years and then we can join the 11th. I know Kenpachi-sensei will take us. Yachiru-chan would kill him if he doesn’t.” She thought chuckling.

She was packing for their typical summer trip to the living world. Taka would be joining them again and with a large amount of begging Rangiku had permitted Leon to go as well. Kinomi wasn’t sure who had been more excited about that; Leon or Zan?

She hopped Grimm-ji would show up to bring them to Hueco Mundo for a few days of real combat training again. She was so close to Bankai she could almost taste it. If only she knew what she was missing. If only she could find that missing key that was required to open that door. She knew it was obvious she just couldn’t see it.

“I have faith in you, Pantera-chan.” Kyattsuai’s comforting voice filled her mind.

She sighed but did let her mind brush against her Zanpakuto’s to let her know she appreciated the support. It wasn’t Kyattsuai’s fault she couldn’t figure it out. She shouldn’t be so worked up about it.

Toshiro was the youngest to have ever achieved Bankai, other then her Otousan but he sort of cheated and was far stronger then the young taichou. It took most Shinigami who had the potential to reach Bankai just about 10 years of rigorous training to achieve it, and she had only really been at it for three years.

Still, she technically had about 13 years of training having been trained by Grimm-ji since she was old enough to hold a blade. It was an advantage that only the children of Shinigami, and there were very few of those, or Nobles got.
She was hard pressed to think of anyone in the current generation other then Byakuya-ji who had Shinigami/Noble parents that gave them an edge to their training. And then none of them were anywhere near to as powerful as Grimm-ji or any of the other former Espada.

She may have only been training with Kyattsuai for four, going on five, years now but she had been training her mind and body for far longer. She was also lucky that her and Kyattsuai got along so great.

She knew others spent years arguing with their spirits, Yumi-taichou was a good example of one. She loved Kyattsuai though and worked with her so easily. During combat she always kept a part of her mind open to the white panther and was able to materialize her for several hours at a time to observe their combat training.

She knew materialization was one of the last steps and she had been able to materialize Kyattsaui for quite a while now. So what was she missing? Argg she was giving herself a migraine.

She would think on it later, right now she had to get ready for returning to the living world and hopefully meeting up with Grimm-ji and Nel-chan, as well as the rest of her actual Biological family. Heck Yuzu should have giving birth by now, so that was another thing to be looking forward to.

All packed she headed down the stairs, noticing that Leon and Taka were both just arriving. With one last check to make sure she still had the shopping list on her from the others she joined them.

She couldn’t help but to grin when she noticed Toshiro would be the one to escort them as usual. No doubt he couldn’t wait to meet up with Karin yet again. Kinomi held back a chuckle and followed her family and friends to the gate that would lead them back to the living world.

It was hard to believe they had already spent four years here. Her training had gone rather well. Okaasan had been right, there was a lot they had learned at Shinoreijutsuin and they had definitely benefited from going there.

Kinomi paused as a thought crossed her mind. She had been having so much fun training and playing with the 11th and desiring to join it that she hadn’t stopped to think about what that might entitle.

Her Otousan was technically still human and might decide to return to the living world once their training was done. And if they didn’t and remained here how often would she be able to return once she joined a division? Would she get to see Grimm-ji and Nel-chan even once a year?

It was something she had never considered before and it made her worry. And of course that was all depending on rather or not that stupid little cabal of nobles and their shinigami lap dogs didn’t get their way with the slowly reforming Central 46 and get them all sealed and caged, or exiled, or executed in the worse case scenario.

Well if it was one thing she knew it was that her Otousan would not stand for them being sealed, let alone caged or executed. But it was still a threat that they had to think about.

In one way she hated being older. When she was younger she never would have even been considering any of this stuff. She was caught in a loop. She needed to become stronger so if, or more likely lately it felt more like when, the day came she would be able to defend herself and her friends. The stronger she became, the bigger of a threat the Noble Cabal was able to make her out to be and the chances of a ruling against her raised.

It was true, ignorance was bliss and she missed those old days. Still, she would not back down to any foe, it was not how she was raised. Her Otousan never did, Grimm-ji never did, Kenpachi-sensei never did. Hell would freeze over before she did.

Her thoughts were broken as the gate between worlds opened and she followed the others through to the other side. They were greeted in the usual manner. At least while she was here the Noble Cabal couldn’t reach her and she could pretend for just a little while that things were as they had always been before things got complicated.

It was twenty minutes later when she felt the familiar feel of Grimm-ji and Nel-chans reiatsu flare up briefly before dropping so as not to alert Soul Society to their arrival. She rushed to meet them, blinking past Grimmjow and clutching Pantera to her in joy while Zan tackled his father, preventing the blue haired espada from going after her to reclaim his Zanpakuto. Exactly as planned.

Nel just laughed as Taka and Leon joined them quickly with bangs of Sonido. Zan was talking to Grimm a mile a minute, telling him everything in a rush of words that had happened in the year he had been attending Shinoreijutsuin, Leon occasionally interjecting to add things Zan had forgotten and staring at Grimmjow in awe.

Kinomoi and Taka stood off to the side, chuckling in amusement. Nel joined them after a moment.

“Who is the young boy?” Nel asked curiously.

“You mean Leon-kun?” Kinomi asked.

“Yes. I have never met him before.”

“That’s Ggio-san and Rangiku-fukutaichou son. Hmm. He would have been about 2 months old when we were rescued.” Kinomi realized.

“I see. He doesn’t have near the reiatsu as the rest of you.” Nel noted.

“No. But he is super fast and has control over his reiatsu that makes me envious.” Kinomi answered.

“I would say so.” Taka grumbled, drawing Nel’s attention. “He can cast the lower level Kidou spells at full power without using an incantation, and cast several of them at a time to boot.” She pouted.

“I hate Kidou.” Kinomi muttered.

Nel chuckled lightly.

“So, are you gong to bring us to Hueco Mundo to hunt again, Grimm-ji?” Kinomi shouted over, grabbing the blue haired Espada’s attentions and shutting Zan up mid sentence.

“Maybe.” He smirked at her.

“Please.” Zan begged.

“Yeah please. Last time only Pantera-chan got to fight an adjucas. I want to fight one to.” Taka added.

“Me too.” Zan was quick to interject.

Grimmjow and Nel shared a chuckled, then turned their attentions to the two Shingami who had been watching in amusement as the children accosted the two ex-espada.

“What say you, Shinigami?” Grimmjow asked, looking at Ichigo.

“Maybe if you can actually beat me.” He smirked.

“Duel, duel, duel, duel, duel.” Kinomi, Zan and Taka chanted, Leon joining in after the third word.

The four adults chuckled before heading towards Shinji’s warehouse.

“I’ll go fetch Orihime-chan.” Rukia sighed, disappearing in a flash.

“Woot.” The kids cheered, following the adults.

Grimmjow and Ichigo waited until Orihime and Rukia arrived before starting their duel. It was the first time Leon had gotten to watch the two men fight and Kinomi noted that he could do nothing but gap in amazement as the fight went on and blood began to flow in typical Grimm-ji/Otousan style.

Kinomi studied their every movement as she always did, now able to follow their every movement, to which she was pleased with. Leon gapped when both men released their full power, Grimmjow into his Resurrección form and Ichigo summoning his mask.

The fight went on for about half an hour before both men blew through their reiatsu and collapsed in exhaustion at the same time. With a chuckled Orihime declared it another draw and summoned her shield around the two burnt out, soaked in blood, clothing destroyed men.

“My turn.” Zan, Taka and Kinomi shouted together.

With a chuckle Ichigo suggested they use ro-shan-bo to figure out who would get to spar first with who. The four kids gathered in a square and slammed their hands down. Taka and Kinomi won.

With a shared look and not a word of argument, Taka choose to spar with Ichigo, leaving Kinomi Grimmjow. The two boys pouted, but watched as the two pairs gave each other some space before beginning their matched.

“Are you with me, Kyatssuai?” Kinomi linked her mind with her Zanpakuto.

“Here, Pantera-chan.” Came the white panthers response in her mind.

“Hitonomi, Kyattuai.” Kinomi declared.

“Kishire, Pantera.” Grimmjow also declared, taking her by surprise.

In all her time sparing with him he had never unleashed his Resurrección on her. His reiatsu washed over her in a viscous wave that almost sent her to her knees, but she locked her legs and did everything in her power to make sure she stood steady.

He grinned at her with one hell of a feral look on his face that caused her to shudder, having never felt that much killing intent sent towards her before, not even from Kenpachi.

Her eyes could follow his movements, but her body could not. Still she did not give up, even when she was sure she heard her arm snap. She winced and cried out in pain, quickly exchanging Kyattsuai to her other hand and being able to parry the next strike.

She did not call for him to stop, or even cry foul. She just went at him the best she could, even resorting to tossing Kidou spells, the ones she knew anyway, at him just to try and get an edge in, but he just plowed through them.

“Is this how Otousan felt the first time he fought Grimm-ji?” She wondered.

It was like nailing against a reinforced steel wall with the palms of your hands. In this form his hierro was considerably stronger and even before her main arm had been broken a full swing couldn’t even do more than scratch him.
She needed more power. Power she knew was there but was still unable to access and it frustrated her to the seven hells and back again. What was worse was that Kyattsuai was starting to fight against her, or more accurately telling her to surrender or submit, to bare their throat in submission to the far stronger force.

She would never surrender. It was not how she was raised. Her mind was willing but her body was not as it gave out quickly under his assault.

Blackness claimed her, but only briefly before she found herself in her inner world, the moon reflecting off of white sand and the leaves of the trees rustling softly.



Grimmjow stopped the moment her eyes went blank. It astonished him to admit he wasn’t proud of what he had done, but the stupid Shinigami were being too soft on her. For her to reach the next level she needed this.

A severe injury where life and death was on the line. To bang her head against an impossible wall until she either broke or the wall broke. He knew little about how a shinigami’s zanpakuto worked and during the last trip Rukia had taken to the living world during a mission he had cornered her and demanded to know how one achieved Bankai.

She herself had never achieved it, but her good friend Renji had and she spoke to him about it before passing the information on. First, learn the name. Done. Then be able to manifest the spirit. Done. Then beat the spirit into submission. Not done.

Kinomi had the amusing defect of being TOO close to her spirit. He was hoping this defeat would bring the two into conflict, or at least push Kinomi into a duel with her spirit and hopefully come out on top.

He could tell some sort of internal debate had been going on by the way here eyes would suddenly lose their focus. He hadn’t really meant to break her arm, but it was no big deal. He had suffered much worse in his time and Orihime would just fix it good as new anyway.

Kinomi’s reiatsu had not dropped yet, despite seemingly being unconscious, and was pulsing up and down. He was sure it was a sign he had been somewhat successful and now only time would tell.

“She is getting strong.” He admitted as he looked at the deep slashes in his heirro. True she hadn’t drawn blood, but she had come damn close and his hair was slightly singed from her kidou spells.

He made himself comfortable and sat down to wait and see what the fruit of his labors brought. If anything she would now have a better understanding of just how much further she had yet to grow and even if she failed to subdue Kyattsuai in this attempt at least she would, hopefully, finally understand the last few little steps she needed to take to achieve what she had been working so hard towards now.


Kinomi was furious. Not at Grimm-ji for beating the shit out of her, she always knew he was stronger then her and this just showed how much more work she had to go before being anywhere near him or Kenpachi-sensei, even if her arm felt like liquid fire right now.
No she was furious at Kyattsuai, for even daring they give up and surrender. She would sooner die then be a quitter.

“Kyattsuai.” She shouted, looking around for her absent spirit.

No answer, which was highly unusual.

“Come here.” She shouted.

Still no answer.

Snarling in annoyance she set out to look for her spirit. Such a task was rather fruitless she discovered quickly, for the white panther knew this realm the best and could easily hide where she willed.

Coming up with another idea Kinomi focused like she did in the real world and summoned Kyatssuai to manifest before her. With a snarl of rage the white panther appeared.

“What is wrong with you?” Kinomi demanded.

Kyattsuai didn’t answer, just snarled at her. Kinomi was starting to become less angry and more worried something was wrong with her. Kyattsuai had never acted like this before.

With another snarl Kyattsuai tried to flee again, but Kinomi just summoned her back. Four more times she was forced to do so before tackling her spirit on the fifth re-summon before she could attempt to flee again.

No sooner had she tackled the panther then she found those claws and fangs aimed her way. Kinomi held nothing back as they wrestled on the sand. Kyattsuai was far more powerful then her in this world. She quickly drew her blade from her hip and slashed at the panther, who leaped off of her to avoid the strike.

Kinomi was fluctuating between rage for the attack upon her and worry that something was wrong with her spirit.

“You will not tame me so easily.” Kyattsuai snarled at her.

Kinomi’s eyes narrowed. First she would subdue Kyattsuai, then she would try and get out of this world and talk to Unohana-taichou about what could possibly be wrong with her spirit.


Grimmjow grinned as he felt Kinomi’s reiatsu stop its fluctuating and began to rise. By now Rukia had realized something was wrong with her daughter reiatsu and had come to investigate.

Ichigo still sucked at really noticing reiatsu and was blissfully still sparing, now with Zan, a fair distance away.

“Kinomi-chan.” Rukia said worriedly, noting the odd angle of her arm.

“She’ll be fine.” He grunted, pausing to notice Leon had also come over to investigate the strange reiatsu.

A quick look found Taka watching Zan’s fight still. He turned his attention back to Leon.

“You have sure grown runt.” He commented.

“Ah, thank you, Grimmjow-san.” Leon smiled in slight embarrassment.

“Tell me the runts got more talent then his Otousan.”

“Same hierro, faster speed, lower reiatsu, but able to cast Kidou at full power without an incantation.” Rukia answered absently, her mind and worry clearly on her daughter.

“Faster speed eh?” Grimmjow turned his attention to the young boy.

There was nothing he could do for Kinomi at this point and watching her was getting boring. She would come out of it on her own whether he stood there and watched or took a month long vacation.

“Let’s see this speed of yours.”

“Um. Alright.” Leon stood ready, waiting for him to tell him to start.

“Go.”

And with that he completely lost sight of the boy. He blinked and looked around for where the brat might have gone. He felt a sting on his arm, then another on his thigh. Clearly the brat was hitting him but lacked the power to get through his hierro. And clearly he was fast for Grimmjow could not follow his speed at all.

“Fast little rat ain’t he.” He grunted, then simply closed his eyes and felt for the boys reiatsu instead.

A pause, behind him. Sting, Now in front of him. Now off to his left. Another sting. Now to his right. Before he could lose the feel of the boy to his right he stepped to the side and kicked, smiling with satisfaction when the boy careened into his leg, clearly going too fast to stop himself.

He didn’t have long to smile though before a blast of lightning hit his face and the boy was gone again. This time Leon didn’t bother to nail him with physical hits, instead he was getting stung by everything from lightning bolts to fire balls.

The spells were not enough to do much more then singe him, but against a weaker opponent, well, Grimmjow could admit the brat had talent and was using what he had to its fullest potential.

Closing his eyes again he followed the brats streaking reitsu, waiting, waiting, waiting, got him. He moved with a bang of Sondio and held his arm out, catching the brat again and quickly using his far superior strength to pin the brat to the ground and restrain his hands above his head so he couldn’t nail him with another Kidou.

Leon didn’t bother to struggle. Instead the boy simply lay there. His reiatsu spiked slightly, but that was all. Then something plowed into him, sending him sprawling off the boy and he barely had time to blink before another bolt of lightning hit him and Leon was gone.

“Sorry, Otousan.” He heard Zan laugh as his son also disappeared in a bang of Sonido.

Rukia paused long enough in her worry over Kinomi to laugh. Standing up he found himself now sparing against both boys.

Leon continued to nail him with flashes of Kidou while Zan’s blades clashed against his heirro. They were not doing a lot of damage individually, but over time they would wear him down.

Since his fight with Zan was clearly over, Ichigo and Taka joined them. Taka sat beside Rukia, worry etched on her face as she watched Kinomi.

Grimmjow was so focused on following the two brats reiatsu to dodge their attacks and try and snag them as they flashed by that he turned just in time for Ichigo’s fist to collide with his face, sending him flying.

“What the fuck did you do to my daughter?” Ichigo roared.

“Ichigo, calm down.” Rukia rushed over and put a restraining hand on her husbands arm. “Kinomi is fine.”

“Fine. Her arm looks anything but fine and why the hell is she unconscious?”

“Orihime-chan can fix her arm and she is unconscious because she is battling with Kyattsuai at the moment.” Rukia explained firmly.

“What?” He demanded.

Grimmjow picked himself up off the ground and would have repaid Ichigo the favor if the two boys hadn’t been between him and the shinigmai with Rukia so close by. By now everyone was hovering over them.

“Chill, Ichigo.” Shinji snorted. “It’s normal.”

“What is so normal about that?” He shouted, pointing at his coma toast daughter.

“And we put you through worse at her age.” Shinji pointed out. “Stop being so over protective.”

“Shinji.” Rukia turned her attention to the vizard.

“Hmm?” He smiled at her.

“Are you a parent?”

“No.” He admitted.

“Then you have no idea how hard it is to see your child suffer, even when you know it is needed.” Rukia commented coldly before returning close by to Kinomi.

Ichigo’s grip was so tight on Zangetsu that his knuckles were white, but he silently joined his wife’s side, his eyes never leaving the still form of his daughter.

“Ano…. Should I heal her arm?” Orihime asked nervously in the tense silence.

“No.” Rukia answered. “Any outside interference may throw her off. In her current state she should be unaware of her physical body anyhow. All we can do is wait and watch.”

“Well then, until that’s over with, come on boys. Lets see what it takes for the two of you to bring me down.” Grimmjow grinned at the boys.

Zan looked worriedly at his sister for a moment, then shared a look with Leon before both boys quickly nodded their heads and the three of them moved further away to continue their sparing match.

He had to admit the two boys worked very well together, but he also wondered why neither one of them bothered with their own Resurreccións. As if to confuse him further both boys came together a distance away, shared a quick conversation, and then broke apart again.

“Subir, Luna Sangre Gemelo.” Zan declared.

Grimmjow felt a twitch as his son appeared from the smoke in his red trench coat, black clad body with twin, three pronged katars. The boy looked WAY too much like Ichigo for his taste.

His distraction was paid for in kind when another lightning bolt slammed into his face, followed quickly by the blades of Zan’s Katars adding more scratches to his heirro.

Grimmjow noticed Zan was no longer as fast as he had been before releasing and he was correct in presuming the boys actually lost speed while going into their Resurreccións. He had to admit this tactic worked well as Zan was suddenly now a tank and unless he got a solid, full strength hit on the boy he might as well have been dueling Nnoitra for how strong Zan’s heirro had become.

With Leon staying completely out of range and pelting him with Kidou spells that both stung and restricted his movements, Zan was able to get in under his guard and use his superior strength to wail into him. When the brats fully matured they might even be a match for him, especially his son.

A deadly wave of reiatsu washed over them suddenly and Grimmjow barely heard Rukia call out before he felt blood gush down his arm as it was nearly severed. He managed to dodge the second attack, but just barely as Kinomi barreled after him, eyes blazing as her mind was still stuck in the battle she had been in before going unconscious.

He stared at her in shock and might have lost the use of his other arm if beams of light hadn’t suddenly come down upon her and pinned her to the ground, a panting Hachi coming into view.

Grimmjow stared at her in shock, before bawling over in laughter despite the fact his arm was nearly severed off with blood gushing out. A scowling Ichigo joined them shortly.

“I really, really hate you.” The shinigami snarled, slugging him in the face.

Grimmjow didn’t even feel it, he was too busy laughing, even after Orihime’s shield quickly enveloped him to heal his dangling arm.

“Oh god, this is too rich.” Grimmjow laughed.

Ichigo snarled.

Now that she was still all eyes turned to regard a now calmed down Kinomi as Hachi released her from the seal now that she had come back to her senses and out of her battle mind set.

Kyattsuai hadn’t change overly much other then becoming more curved at the tip and gaining a blue ribbon that flowed from the end, the charm Grimmjow had giving her was still there.

Kinomi’s robes were replaced by a pure white, tight fitting outfit. Her eyes were now a blue-green and cat like. All of that was fine, Ichigo could live with the eyes. It was the white cats ears and now pure white hair flowing to her waste that had Ichigo snarling and Grimmjow laughing.

“Whoa Neechan. You look awesome.” Zan cheered.

“Totally cool.” Leon agreed.

Taka was just laughing and couldn’t stop. Rukia was smiling at her with a wide smile that screamed pride. Grimmjow just couldn’t stop laughing, and safe behind Orihime’s shield, he couldn’t help but to taunt Ichigo about his daughters new form.

Kinomi smiled at the compliments, and then promptly collapsed in exhaustion, not quite ready to hold her new form for long. That would take even more training but for now the fact she had achieved what she had been fighting for was enough for a wide smile to light up her face as she hit the ground unconscious once again.

Grimmjow knew what pride was, he was full of it after all. Pride was definitely what was swelling in his chest now as he gazed down at the unconscious girl. One of his cubs was starting to grow up into a rather fine warrior.

“I wonder if Nel is capable of having children.” He pondered. “Or did that Aizen bastard do something to us we didn’t know about while being used for his experiment?”

Stay tuned for chapter 10: Shifting Winds

Kinomi begins her training with her new ability after another trip with Grimmjow and Nel. An unexpected source offers to take Zan and Leon in for special training.

Thank you everyone for the lovely reviews as always. Seriously, Animeangelsisters, I feel like I owe ya something for reviewing every chapter so if there is something you would really like to see let me know. Kazes, I would offer to but I got a feeling our projects are payment enough :)

On the note of those projects, I encourage people to check out Lab Hazards where we both took the same idea and wrote it out to see how different it turned out. The results were amazing and amusing. We are going to do another one with a different pairing.

Since we seem to be getting closer in the Manga to certain events, I want to declare that I predict Yachiru or Unohana will be the one to deal with Yammy. Ever since the SS ARC we always joked how funny it would be to find out that Yachiru was Kenapchi's Zanpakuto spirit and when they did the thing with Stark and Lilinette it was like, DAMN, now our theory actual has some back ground base. For the record that is not the case here, but I think what I choose for Yachiru's Zanpakuto is highly fitting (you wont see that for a very long time though) *evil author laugh