tampered | Log; Complete

Grimmjow didn't return the bow, he just stared down at her with stony eyes.

"So," he said, right to the point, "you know the places here. Start walking."

He honestly didn't know how dates went, either. He supposed it was the man's job to do the leading, but that obviously wasn't an option -- he'd just arrived, after all. Hinamori had mentioned restaurants and a café, but he wasn't too interested in that kind of thing. Too tame. But if he was going to carry out his little scheme, he might as well follow her.

It occurred to her that her knowledge of the man in front of her was incredibly limited, but she nodded in response. Juliet seemed like the safest place to go, with it's wide range of food. He'd be able to find something, right? It also helped that it was normally busy which, she hoped, would mean he felt less inclined to blow something up again.

That was always a plus.

Hinamori found it easier to stare at the ground as she lead him across the square to the cafe, and even easier to keep her mouth closed. Small talk would probably irritate him, her questions about the Arrancar would probably irritate him, and she didn't really know what else to talk about with Grimmjow. Easier by far to just say nothing.

She was quiet, as expected. Timid, shy, painfully naive... He'd just have to fix that, won't he?

"Too amazed by my civility, little Momo-chan? Or are you always this quiet?" Grimmjow asked, the tone he used for her name as mocking as could be, yet he wouldn't be surprised if she couldn't catch it. He watched for her reaction. She'd proved herself mildly entertaining so far, so if she was boring in person... well. If Aizen could manipulate her for valid goals, why couldn't the arrancar, for fun?

She frowned in response, lifting her head slightly but keeping her gaze down. "...I don't know what you'd like to talk about. I thought it would be better if you decided the topic."

Her hand came up to fidget with the adjunct badge on her arm, somewhat nervous around him. And for good reason, to be sure, although Hinamori wasn't entirely clear if they were the reasons she was telling herself as opposed to the reasons she actually had in mind. But she pushed all those thoughts aside as she paused outside the cafe, glancing up at him questioningly. "Will this do?"

Definitely timid.

"Tell me about the city. Like besides eating and blowin' up shit, what's there to do?" He saw her pull at her vice-captain badge and couldn't stop a sneer. Was she so attached to Aizen that she still wore that? Her division was captain-less. She was captain-less.

Then they stopped in front of the café, and Grimmjow could feel his eye twitch with annoyance. It was kind of small and way too cheery-looking, but whatever. He was hungry, he hadn't eaten in two days. This was better than nothing.

"Yeah, it's fine," he answered, striding through the door. "You comin', or what?"

Hinamori followed meekly, glancing back across the square before giving into her fate - a date with the Arrancar. She had no doubt that if word got out someone would be rather vocal in their opposition to her.

So the dark haired girl was glad when she didn't recognize anyone, and waited for him to chose a place to sit. "Most of what the City offers, it probably isn't the sort of thing you'd want to do," she mentioned softly, choosing her words carefully.

Grimmjow chose a table by a window, because if the shinigami proved to be less entertaining than he'd thought, at least he could watch people outside. "Just talk about it, and I'll decide if it sounds fun or not," he said, keeping his eyes on her.

She was nervous, maybe even scared, and he could tell. There were far more reasons for her to be wary of this date, since in his case, Aizen told him he could do anything and Ulquiorra was in no position to stop him. But she had friends and superiors who would probably give her hell if they found out. But was he going to keep quiet about this? Of course not.

He had to admit, she was pretty brave in that respect. Brave and foolish.

It wasn't going well, not to her. Hinamori sat down opposite, gaze now trained on the table. It was a small improvement from the ground, since she was no longer staring at his feet, but still.

She frowned slightly, thinking about what she knew in regards to the City. "There's a circus run by angels. And a karaoke bar. Um, the library, but you can only find things you don't want to find. Lots of shops and places to eat and a few clubs -" she snuck a glance to see if he was utterly bored at this point and quickly returned her attention to the table "- The forest has a beach beyond it, although it's kind of cold for that now. And there are gardens, I think they've been replanted by now after the explosion there." She wondered briefly if anyone had told Grimmjow about the curses already, deciding she should probably bring that up just in case.

It felt odd, helping someone she knew should be her worst enemy, but she still felt willing to give him the information he wanted. She didn't even feel bad for having left Tobiume behind, although the comforting weight was certainly missing, the blade itself having suggested that going unarmed would be better. Not that Hinamori wasn't able to defend herself without her, of course, just that having the added support could have been nice.

"The underground and the forest have monsters," she added as an afterthought. Hinamori at least knew he liked fighting.

As she talked, Grimmjow took his time observing her. He'd never really cared to pay special attention to shinigami -- except, of course, for that bastard -- but if he was going to be spending time in the City with them around, especially this one, he'd have to start. But of course, she wasn't particularly special to look at. Small, short, unarmed...

Unarmed? he mused, grinning suddenly and not caring how it would seem to her. How thoughtful. He, of course, still had his zanpakutou, which probably lessened the sincerity of his keeping to the truce. He didn't care.

Grimmjow's grin only widened when Hinamori mentioned the monsters. "Heh, finally! I was beginning to think the only monsters here were those goddamn slugs. How the fuck do you deal with them all the time, anyway?"

She could have mentioned something about monsters but honestly? Grimmjow wasn't all that bad. At least, not so far. Even if he was still armed - and not that she wasn't, because she did still have her kidou to fall back on if desperately needed - Hinamori had resolved to trust him until he proved her wrong.

"The slugs are part of a curse. They're not always around," she shrugged, reaching for one of the menus. "The other creatures are, um, they're more powerful, for starters. The ones in the forest are like woodland animals, for the most part, and the ones in the underground are just odd looking. You'd probably like the forest best." She turned her attention to the menu in her hands, falling back into silence.

"Curses? Wait, what the hell are you talking about?" He totally ignored his own menu, leaning towards her with his elbows on the table. "No one's mentioned fucking curses. But," he added, "if they're just something like slugs, that's not fun."

Grimmjow also quieted for a minute, putting away the information on the monsters for a later date. He'd have to check those places out when all the chaos died down. Maybe he'd let her come along.

His gaze traveled to the menu in her hands. "What're you getting?" Was he really that curious? No. ...Maybe.

Maybe he just liked talking to her.

...No. Of course not.

If he hadn't been told about the curses, chances were he was missing a lot of information on the City and she held back the urge to sigh before she launched into another quiet and careful explanation. "Every three days or so there are curses. They vary, so it's hard to say exactly... There was a day when people were forced to tell the truth, a day wishes came true, a day when people started rotting, they're all different. But they normally only last the one day."

Hinamori let her gaze fall back onto the menu. She wasn't really hungry, but Juliet had, as Rangiku was quick to point out, the best in terms of comfort food, and Hinamori couldn't help but entertain the idea of getting cake as she flipped through it. "I haven't really decided yet," she responded before glancing up, noticing that he'd ignored his own menu. She smiled slightly, more to set herself at ease than anything, before asking, "I take it you don't know either?"

Now that sounded entertaining. "Good," he said, smirking. "Should be fun to watch all of you suffer."

And then Hinamori smiled, and Grimmjow couldn't help but wonder if she really did mean what she'd said about not hating him. But why wouldn't she? The others certainly had no qualms, to different degrees.

He noticed how, in her perusal of the menu, her gaze had lingered somewhat on the cake. Fine, he admitted to himself, I'll be civil.

"Nah," he replied at last, sitting back in his chair. "I was gonna get what you were getting, but if you don't know..." He beckoned for a waiter, then snatched Hinamori's menu from her hands and showed him the cake. "This."

The waiter nodded, gathered the menus, and disappeared into the kitchen. Grimmjow turned back to his date, his smirk returning, and watched for her reaction.

She glanced in surprise at Grimmjow, before realizing she was blushing. Hinamori once again found great interest in the table at that point, aware he was watching her reaction.

...Which only made it worse, the small shinigami concluded, so in a rather feeble attempt to return to the original topic at hand she mumbled, "the curses affect everyone. Even you'll get hit."

He burst into laughter at her embarrassment. He was having way too much fun watching her stumble over her own words and actions. And of course he'd make it worse.

Grimmjow leaned in again, reaching out and grabbing her chin with one hand, forcing her to look right at him. "I don't think the table is that interesting, Momo-chan." He almost purred her name. "And it doesn't deserve your..." he paused, trying to think of the right word without sounding too sickeningly cheesy or romantic, since he was taunting her; but he only lamely finished with, "...face."

He released his grip on her chin and sat back again, just as the waiter returned with two slices of cake.

She resisted the urge to push his hand away, staring at him evenly despite the colour in her cheeks, all too glad for the arrival of the food. She may have been able to stare down Hitsugaya, but Grimmjow was different and - if she wasnt mistaken - playing with her.

She thanked the waiter, keeping her voice calm, even managing to smile slightly again for his benefit before turning back to the arrancar.

"I don't think my face should concern you much," she managed, picking up her fork. "In fact, I'm quite surprised you can stand to look at it. I'm a shinigami, after all."

"And I'm surprised you haven't run away from mine," Grimmjow responded, not bothering to use his fork and instead breaking off a piece with his fingers. "I'm not exactly the best-looking guy," he grinned, "especially considering your precious Aizen-taichou."

Grimmjow chewed absently on the cake, mentally admitting to himself that it was pretty good. "Besides," he continued after swallowing, "yours isn't the face a guy would run away from. If he does, he's a fucking pussy."

He began to lick the icing off his fingers.

"He's no longer a captain, so don't address him as such." She hated that topic, could feel cold steel against skin every time it was brought up. Hinamori frowned, and in an attempt to focus on anything but that dangerous series of thoughts picked at the cake, adding sadly "the fifth doesn't need someone like that."

She either ignored or didn't catch the slight compliment Grimmjow offered and instead kept her eyes down while finally bringing herself to taste the cake. Despite the continued frown that graced her features, she enjoyed it, not bothering to ask if he had too before taking another bite. Anything to keep her from having to talk.

"Of course. He's a bastard, ain't he?" Grimmjow kept his eyes on Hinamori's, waiting and watching for any other expression to erase her frown.

But she didn't respond, she only ate her snack. The arrancar's sharp smile faded into his usual blank apathy, and he took the rest of his cake slice and downed it in two bites. They sat like that in silence, eating, and then finally he couldn't take it anymore.

"Well? How is it?"

Her mind had completely wandered and she'd almost forgotten she had company in front of her, so when he spoke Hinamori glanced up, slightly shocked. "Uh- It's good," she stammered, quickly returning her attention to the almost finished cake.

She took another bite and swallowed, glancing out the window. "I'm sorry. I suppose I'm kind of lousy company."

Grimmjow shrugged. "Company's company, like you said," he replied. "Rather it were you and not that blonde chick or the really solemn one. The first hates me -- like normal -- and the second's just... boring."

He saw her plate was almost empty. "Finish up and we're outta here. This place is kinda dull." Even if the food was excellent.

Well of course Rangiku hated him, she had been killed by an arrancar. As for Nemu, she didn't understand why Gimmjow found her boring - Hinamori had, throughout the course of her stay in the City, found Nemu to be of great help and capable of holding immensely insightful conversations. But then again, they were shinigami.

And the person in front of her was, most decidedly, not. Rather than dwell on the obvious differences between the two however, she turned her attention back to him. "You don't like it?"

"Eh, it's all right." Yes, he did like it, but he wasn't about to admit... oh, why not. "It's a good place. Good food. But too quiet."

Awfully quiet. Even the usual city noise was pushed back by the walls and the music. Hinamori had kept his attention so far, and he was impressed. He hadn't expected too much from this short, quiet girl.

"I'm still kinda surprised," he said, "you don't mind being around me. And don't give me any of that principles and second chance crap. You know what we've done."

The cake now finished, her hand came up to adjust the badge again, a force of habit. "...How can I give you a second chance? We've never met before, outside of the City. Whatever I've heard of your actions in the Living world has a certain bias, so I hope you'll forgive me for wanting to make up my own mind."

She didn't really know how to explain herself, but to Hinamori, each person was different. You couldn't account for them because of who they worked for or what they were. She took each person as a person, and dealt with them accordingly. It was probably why she'd been so easy to mislead before, but the dark haired shinigami wouldn't change a thing about her perspective.

"It's not that I don't think you're bad, for lack of a better word, but, um. I suppose I just feel that for the time being, there's no reason to act against you," she added softly, still choosing her words carefully.

This was reassuring. It meant that even though they were enemies, even though they had every reason to kill each other mercilessly, she would only raise her sword against him if he hurt her. Or one of his friends, of course. And did he want to? Well, yes... and no. He had no reason to hurt, let alone kill, her any time soon. She was amusing and -- dare he say it? -- cute when she stumbled over something stupid. And like he'd said earlier, she was better company than any of the other shinigami.

Since she had finished her cake, Grimmjow stood to leave. "I guess I should thank you for not cutting me to pieces." He grinned at her, not too kindly, and added, "Today wasn't bad, but next time'll be better. Ain't that right, Momo-chan?"

She glanced up, not really surprised at his hurry to leave, and followed suit. She was inclined to agree - after all, she was standing, in one piece, in front of one of the most powerful arrancar known to them - but Hinamori couldn't prevent confusion (and a small blush) from showing.

"Next time?" was her reply, watching for his reaction. There was no need for a next time, was there? Unless he was lonely. He had the other arrancar and Aizen here already - sure, he'd voiced his disinterest in actually being with them for any reason other than his goals - but quite why he'd rather spend his time in the company of a shinigami, least of all her, the betrayed fifth divisions vice captain, was far beyond her.

The creeping blush on Hinamori's cheeks only widened Grimmjow's smile. "Yeah, next time," he answered, "and if you run and hide I might have to steal you away."

He paused for a moment, wondering what he could do to leave her even more confused and troubled than she already was. Then, without warning, he grabbed her shoulders and leaned in so close to her face as if he was going to kiss her, but he stopped short, his lips twisting into a mad grin. "Just kidding," he hissed, straightening up and releasing his grip on her. With that, he turned on his heel and sauntered off towards the door. "Later, shinigami!"

Log; Complete

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject