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tampered2006-12-29 12:04 am
violentflutist.livejournal.com) wrote in tampered2006-12-29 12:04 am
Log; Complete
When; December 29th, late afternoon/early eve
Rating; R for blood, violence, language, etc.
Characters; Tayuya {![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
violentflutist} & Grimmjow Jaggerjack {6thsword}
Summary; Both angry about certain things, Grimmjow calls in Tayuya's offer of a rematch to try and vent some steam. Things get ugly. Both get hurt. A lot.
Log;
Tayuya was, to put it simply, thrilled. She hadn't had a fight since the shit had gone down with the Akatsuki, and she'd ended up siding, well, she liked to think it was with herself, but everyone else thought it was with the Yondaime. Which bugged her. Not to mention she'd been showing entirely too much weakness as of late. Sure, a little bit of a soft spot she could deal with. But this?
Deep inside her the Sound ninja knew it was true, that all these people, people who wanted to be nice just for the sake of it and people who wanted to help her without getting anything in return, were getting to her. But she refused to admit it, trying to force herself back to her old self, the Tayuya who killed without remorse, hurt without mercy. Because that was safe, that was comfortable. That was what she knew. So it was with half a scowl and half a smile that she awaited Grimmjow Jaggerjack.
He'd bested her the last time around, though, she liked to think, she'd done quite well, but Tayuya had a hell of a lot of confidence in her new curse seal. Plus... she supposed if she imagined he was Greed for a moment she'd fight even more viciously. The fucker had been running all over the goddamn place since she'd finally given in to him. Damn, she'd thought she could at least hold his attention longer than that. But run off gallivanting with pretty women and men he had, and boy, was Tayuya pissed. ... This fight would be a bloody one.
Grimmjow had given up on the Underground. Not that he couldn't make it to the bottom, of course, but the monsters there failed to challenge him in the way he wanted. His zanpakutou wanted to shed blood, but that of simple-minded monsters was worthless. Even if it was in a "friendly" spar with Tayuya, the Espada's blade would be satisfied. He'd refuse to admit that the reasons for his mood was his slump into angst.
They'd fought in the forest previously, and the Sound ninja had been perfectly at home flitting among the trees while Grimmjow had a bit more trouble in such a confined space. So it was his turn to pick the setting, and with a bit more speed to his shunpyo, he raced towards the desert. Now that was more like home.
Grimmjow stepped onto the sand, comforted by the sudden increase in heat. His lips twisted into a smirk at the sight of the redhaired ninja.
"Grimmjow Jaggerjack." Tayuya turned leisurely on her heel, arms crossed under her breasts and her scowl turning more into a smirk. The man was strong, very strong, and oh, but she hated fighting weaklings.
"Healthy as ever I see." She nodded towards him, one hand moving down to check and recheck her weapons as she spoke. Kunai on the thigh, shuriken in the holster, flute on the hip, backup instrument in her hip pouch. Curse seal on her neck that was beginning to pulse and burn at the very hints of coming violence.
"Any particular reason you took me up on that rematch or you just missed me?" She was joking, of course, but her mouth had never been a quiet one. She hardly considered the Arrancar a friend. They had... an understanding. Of the violent and loud cursing variety.
"Tayuya," he greeted her in the same manner. He pointed right at her, his other hand kept casually in his pocket. "Your blood will feed my sword today." Of course he was cocky. He'd beaten her once before, rather easily too, and this new curse seal of hers didn't scare him. "Other than that," he continued, "I don't have to tell you my reasons." Like he'd admit anything to her, of all people.
Grimmjow took up his relaxed stance again, the smirk still hovering on his face. It was perhaps the most self-control he'd ever displayed, because otherwise he'd have already charged her with sword drawn. But this was his battle strategy, and he'd keep to it: Let the opponent attack first.
Cocky bastard. But she expected no less. She was the same in that respect; always sure, even when she knew she couldn't back it up. A defense, whatever, it worked for her.
"Then I certainly hope it doesn't need much, cause it won't be gorging." Her lips twisted into a grin.
"And so gracious of you, letting a lady go first." Tayuya had to admit, she did not like this scenery, at all. The sand offered her no place to hide in a natural setting, without her illusions help, and she needed time to set those up. The man was fast, he'd proved that in their last fight, but as much as she knew she'd have to rely heavily on her seal, she didn't want to quite yet. Two kunai flew at the man, and while she knew they would be dodged easily, she merely used it as an extra moment to gain distance, her flute coming to her lips and fingers dancing over the familiar metal.
It was a simple illusion, nothing fancy, but it blurred the sight of her into the sand, putting her image in several other places, mimicking the same movements as the true body that would be that much more difficult to find among copies all blurred and blending into the landscape depending on what way the light hit.
He easily sidestepped the kunai and let them thud into the sand. The illusions weren't new, either. Grimmjow stood in the center of the flitting images, waiting patiently as he sensed for her particular spiritual energy. Technically, a human wouldn't have anything discernable, but her type of human, with their chakra, exuded a spiritual energy just slightly different than reiatsu. It was harder to feel, but it was --
There.
Grimmjow flash-stepped at his target, ducking low and drawing his sword in the same motion, then slicing upwards at the ninja's midsection.
Tayuya should have known he'd find her. Ah, but it had been amusing nonetheless, watching his brow knit as he'd watched the images, waiting. Patient enough. The flash of metal in the harsh light was apparent and she had enough time to lightly bite into her mouthpiece, holding the flute in place as she grabbed the blade's blunt side and flipped over it and the Arrancar's head, raining down shuriken in mid-air. The girl wasn't a ninja in name only. Her feet skid when she hit the sand, another reason against her liking of this terrain, and she hopped back a few more lengths, preparing another melody.
A sonido pushed Grimmjow backwards, the shuriken dropping harmlessly into the ground where he'd once stood. He twisted around as he moved, stopping right in front of Tayuya with his sword resting lightly on her flute.
"Stop underestimating my speed," he said with a grin. She wanted a rematch to test her new curse seal, right? Then what was she doing with petty illusions? He certainly wasn't going to fight her at 50%. "And stop going easy on me. It's fucking depressing."
She frowned lightly, not moving however at the sudden closeness of his blade. She didn't like that thing. Tayuya had never pretended to have any sort of extra senses, but she could almost feel its hunger. Creepy. A sneer crossed her face.
"I just wanted to play a bit; the curse seal takes a bit of my personal enjoyment away." But she shrugged, calmly tying the flute back to her waist transferring her movements from calm to frenetic in a whirl of her long hair as she twisted behind and away, beginning to let the curse out. The familiar black lines raced across her skin and began taking over, turning the light tone dark and browned. Horns erupting from her skull and now even neck and shoulders, eyes swiftly spiraling into black and gold, nails twisting into caricatures of long talons, and her very face changing as a snarl erupted from her feral mouth, a shudder running through her body as the golden pupils dilated, watching him carefully, predatory, as a rush in her power escaped her.
Finally. "Looking sharp, Tayuya," Grimmjow commented blithely, taking a few steps backwards as if to size up her new form. "I'm even tempted to show you my zanpakutou's release, but no, that's reserved for only the strongest." Now he could unleash his frustrations without worrying too much about killing her. Though he'd kept his reiatsu in check, he flared it then to its full and unbridled capacity. Though he knew it did not match Aizen's strength, it was certainly formidable.
Grimmjow tightened his grip on his sword's hilt, then pushed forward with amazing speed. At arm's length from her, he zipped to the side and then behind her, twisting around, his zanpakutou slicing through the air at her unguarded back.
The only sign the cursed figure displayed at the flare of reiatsu was a push back with her own chakra, and a slight bend in her spine accompanied by a growl deep in the throat. Tayuya seemed to be trying to speak but was unable, settling for shifting into a stance as he kicked off, turning about as he disappeared from frontal view and she heard his approached from the back, a whirl of her lengthened fire red hair and then both hands curled around the blade, blood beginning to whet it's length, claws clicking on the steel. All she could manage was a grin before lunging forward wildly, claws leaving the blade and body going over, the talons seeking the Arrancar's flesh now, not his weapon.
Well now, this was new. She was actually fighting back against his reiatsu. She had gotten stronger. She was also faster, and for a moment he stood shocked as she turned and grabbed his blade
"Better!" the Espada then acknowledged, ducking underneath her lunge and using brute strength to push her up and backwards from below. Her own momentum would aid in her fall.
Her momentum did just that, muscles tensing around impact with the Arrancar as he shoved her, shifting from tensing to moving, claws clambering against fabric and skin, digging into his back and tightening, so that when Tayuya's feet hit the ground, she was twisted, feet facing away and upper body facing the same direction as the Espada. Her claws were embedded in hard muscle and her hands spasmed, partly in excitement and partly due to the slashes in either palm. With no other thought to anything but the curse seal, tear, rip, maim, kill, the ninja threw herself forward once more, righting her body, sharpened fangs seeking muscle.
Grimmjow grit his teeth against the surge of pain in his back, cursing himself for his carelessness but also grinning widely at the prospect of bloodlust. As she lunged, claws still digging into his skin, he twisted around and grabbed her throat. The sword in his other hand bit into her shoulder, digging into a niche between two horns.
"Now, ideally," he told her, not caring if she understood or not, "I would fire a cero right into your throat." His grip on her neck tightened. "It'd be game over." He unstuck his zanpakutou and thrust it into her side, just beneath her ribcage. "But that's no fun."
Her snarl was choked off at the hand on her throat, tightening against windpipe and grinding her motion to a halt. As she dangled in the air suspended she managed to stretch her arms, one hand scrabbling bloodied talons at his face and the other at his left shoulder, seeking slippery purchase as she tried to relax her neck in the grip, straightening the windpipe to ease her wheezing breath. Tayuya, or the cursed girl who was normally Tayuya, was still grinning however. The blood in shoulder caused no pain, and the rib thrust barely registered in a brain so consumed by the seal that it blocked pain. She vaguely knew she'd feel it the moment the seal released, but until then the mark blocked the pain from entering her brain, blocked her from feeling.
It was meant for fighting, after all, meant for allowing her to go and go and go until she stopped. She hung limply for a moment, it seemed almost that's she'd given up, eyes rolled upwards, until she snapped forward, hips lifting and legs kicking powerfully into the joint at each shoulder to move his arms. Finally, she'd been trying all the while to speak; she managed to grit out a single word.
"Better!"
She managed to scratch his forehead and shred the shoulder and sleeve of his jacket, but those were minor annoyances and easily fixed. He instead matched her insane grin with his own, and Grimmjow fought the urge to carve her stomach out. He didn't want to get in trouble with her boss -- and consequently with Aizen -- if he could help it.
As Tayuya lifted her legs to kick, Grimmjow released his grip and pulled his zanpakutou out of her body. A quick shunpyo brought him a couple of feet from where she fell.
She landed in a whirl of gathering legs and bracing arms, accompanied by the sudden sloshing of blood on sand, staining the grains into a sticky, tacky texture that clung to the bottoms of her feet and allowed more purchase in the shifting ground. Tayuya took a moment, head cocking to the side as she regarded him.
"Better." She repeated, and then again, as if she's never said words before. The curse seal was more powerful than she could contain on her own yet, she'd needed training with it, and she'd thought to use this match as part of that. And each word seemed to bring her slowly back to more herself, to a more cognitive state, not feral so much. Her hands never strayed to her wounds, she knew they were there, felt the blood sticking, but didn't feel the pain. That would slow, that would distract, and the seal didn't want that. The ninja did, however, move hands in flashes of movement, concealing a true nature and purpose before she lunged again, switching abruptly from a straight run to a dive and roll, claws aiming for the Arrancar's leg tendons.
A drop of blood trickled down Grimmjow's nose. His blood. He was getting careless.
She was doing better, he had to admit. She didn't even seem to notice her wounds, though he knew they were deep enough to do more than sting. The ninja's speed had increased considerably since their last match, too. She was right at his feet, claws outstretched, before he reacted in a swift kick to her chin, using his sword at the same time to push one of her hands out of the way.
Tayuya didn't bother dodging the kick, she'd already looped three stakes and two knots. A strong, taut wire now encircled his right leg tightly, and she used the snapping back of her head to look him in the eye and grin before her hands, quick, nimble hands used to jotting out quick flute melodies and picking pockets had the wire tightened about his sword hand, binding hilt to closed fist, which was also bound to the right leg. Just to make even surer of the hold, Tayuya let the wire burn into her abused palm as she flung herself around the Arrancar's side, letting enough slack to loop under the arm pit of the left and down back to the starting leg. Preparations complete, Tayuya snarled and dug in her feet, tightening the grip of bloody hands and pulling. Hard.
Grimmjow felt the burn of the wire. If he was weaker, or human, his left arm would've been sliced clean off his shoulder and his hand would have been mangled, but thanks to their hierro, the natural toughness of their skin, the wire could only leave lacerations.
"Not bad," the Arrancar growled, pitching forward slightly to give in to Tayuya's pull but keeping his heels firmly in the sand. She had made one grave mistake, however: His other hand was still free. The smirk still not leaving his face, Grimmjow raised that hand with palm facing Tayuya. Then, about twenty times faster than a cero could charge and fire; he hardened a portion of his reiatsu and shot it point-blank at her chest.
To her credit, Tayuya managed to hang on to the wire with one hand. It was not so much to her credit when it disconnected her shoulder as she was hurled backwards by the force of the blast. Gritting her teeth and biting her bottom lip when she heard rather than felt the pop, the next motion was a slam into the ground. She lay still, breathing shallow and blood still slowly pooling, palm tightening in sporadic bursts around the wire loop still in one hand, and shoulder twitching as it tried to realign itself in socket, making sickening noises in the process. But her face lay directly in the sand, wild hair and horns covering view.
He watched as she continued to lay still. "That it, human?" he taunted as he disentangled the wire from his body. "Come on, get up. I thought your new form could do better than that." But he had to admit, she was faster and stronger now than previously. He couldn't believe that a single bala was all it took to defeat her this time around. He was itching to spill more blood.
"Get up!" he roared. "This match ain't over yet!"
Slowly, with a creak, her shoulder rotated, giving a final shudder of a noise before it fell back into place. One finger moved then two, three, four, and five. Testing, testing. The cut hand released the wire loop, she could hear over the almost deafening roar in her mind, getupgetupgetupandkillkillkillkill the wires being disengaged. And the other arm moved, pulled a kunai from the holster at her thigh, moving slowly, almost weakly. But it was revealed a feint when the woman abruptly flung the kunai dead set towards the Arrancar from her position on the ground, not even needing to look, not wanting to rise to be hit by her own attack, the kunai speeding towards him. But it was not the kunai to be wary off, but the smoking tag already eating its way towards an explosion.
No, that bala couldn't have hurt her that badly, Grimmjow mused as he watched her attempt to fight back. He adjusted his grip on the sword hilt, tense and waiting.
Her sudden movement caught him off guard, and before he could even lift his zanpakutou to deflect the kunai, the knife bit into his shoulder. The arrancar grimaced at the pain first, then noticed the burning tag. He snatched at the kunai and yanked it out, snarling at the blood that spilled, and swung his arm to throw the weapon back at Tayuya.
The explosion detonated, and Grimmjow found himself kneeling in the sand, skin and muscle along the entire left side of his body burned. Snarling in pain and at the blood that was dripping onto the sand, Grimmjow tossed aside the kunai and staggered to his feet. "Well, fuck," he remarked for no real reason in particular.
Tayuya used the smoke screen to her advantage, rising to her feet and bringing flute to lips once more, though the dislocated arm trailed slightly behind the speed of the other. Now she could use that. The technique hadn't worked on Aizen Sousuke, but she had the feeling it would work on this one. The melody was soft, almost soothing even as the notes and sounds pried into the brain, seeking out fears and bringing them to life. She didn't know how powerful the illusion would be with this new seal, but she supposed it depended on this one's fears.
The notes were eerie, and for some reason or another...
Grimmjow staggered backwards suddenly as unpleasant thoughts plagued his mind. He could feel the souls pressed around him, other souls just like him, fresh from death. But they... something was wrong. They were all getting stronger and faster and -- but he was still weak and pitiful. A simple Hollow.
And what was Tousen doing there? And Gin, and Aizen, and -- Luppi. That bastard, what was...? There was a number six on him. They'd replaced him again? How dare they! He was the Sexta Espada, not some girly, childish, immature punk! And he was laughing, and Aizen and the other ex-shinigami looked so triumphant.
Grimmjow saw the ground slick with blood. It was running from the bundle at Aizen's feet. And then it hit the arrancar like a cero blast: Hinamori. They'd killed her, all four of them.
"No!" he roared then, rage mingling with unimagined fear, unaware that he'd voiced his own thoughts.
Tayuya couldn't help the expression spreading on her face, a sadistic one at best. She idly inspected her fingers as she played. As ironic as it was, the melody she knew by heart. It came from her heart, her emotions and chakra. And she could feel it twining tighter, tighter, around the Arrancar, his roar punctuating the click of the illusion into full synchronization with her flute. She walked closer, soft and slow and from behind as the illusion continued. As she walked the melody grew softer and softer, winding to a close, a grand finale. And when the song finally ended she was licking the blood from her fingers, one hand and a kunai at bare to the Arrancar's exposed throat, drawing a bead of blood, close in warning.
"Lovely, no?" She managed two words this time; mind almost fully in control once more. Judging by their injuries, this would be no one's win. She couldn't feel the wounds but she knew they hurt all the same, her breath slowly growing more and more raspy, blood rising in her throat from the two major wounds. But Tayuya knew he was just as bad off, could smell the burnt flesh of him. She just didn't know if this was the end or if it almost was.
And then the images in his head were gone. He blinked and only saw sand. Then the ninja spoke from behind him. Even if they had all been fake, thought up in his mind, it was all her doing.
Grimmjow whirled around, the beginnings of a cero collecting in the palm of his hand. "You," he snarled, swiftly closing the distance between them and grabbing her jaw. "You motherfucking bitch. The fuck was that all about, eh?!"
It took all of his self-control to not blast her into ashes right then.
She was rather shocked at his quick recovery, and it showed, but at the same time, Tayuya was eerily calm, though she could feel the power collecting under her jaw, knew that if it released she would be gone. But dying once made it easier to do again, plus she'd come back anyway, and the seal didn't help, blocking pain impulse, blocking fear, leaving only a heady sense of power that made her strangely able to deal with the possibility of dying.
"I can't help your fears, Jaggerjack." She spat around his grip on her jaw bone, irises dilated against the blackened eyes.
"That's your problem to master, not mine." The Sound ninja didn't made another move however to attack, the dislocated arm hanging limp at her side while the other hand, heavily bloodstained, traced swirls of red against the back of his hand as he spoke, light, feathery traces of claw.
"What the hell would you know about my fears," he growled. But he released his grip on her and instead fired the cero behind him. She was right. He'd have to deal with it by himself, master it... or just prevent it from happening. Right then, however, he needed to find a healer or medic, and fast. He was losing more blood than he wanted to.
Grimmjow turned away stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Consider it a draw. If we fought anymore I'd just incinerate you." He'd started this fight hoping it would alleviate his anger and put him in a better mood, but it only ended in the opposite way.
"Sure thing, Jaggerjack." Tayuya shook herself, hair flying in all directions as she slowly began tightening the lid on her seal, horns shortening, claws dulling, and skin lightening. She couldn't just push it all back, that would bring all the pain to hit her at once, but as long as she was drawing on its power... Well, she just had to make it to a healer. She knew several.
Damn, but that had been fun.
Rating; R for blood, violence, language, etc.
Characters; Tayuya {
violentflutist} & Grimmjow Jaggerjack {6thsword}Summary; Both angry about certain things, Grimmjow calls in Tayuya's offer of a rematch to try and vent some steam. Things get ugly. Both get hurt. A lot.
Log;
Tayuya was, to put it simply, thrilled. She hadn't had a fight since the shit had gone down with the Akatsuki, and she'd ended up siding, well, she liked to think it was with herself, but everyone else thought it was with the Yondaime. Which bugged her. Not to mention she'd been showing entirely too much weakness as of late. Sure, a little bit of a soft spot she could deal with. But this?
Deep inside her the Sound ninja knew it was true, that all these people, people who wanted to be nice just for the sake of it and people who wanted to help her without getting anything in return, were getting to her. But she refused to admit it, trying to force herself back to her old self, the Tayuya who killed without remorse, hurt without mercy. Because that was safe, that was comfortable. That was what she knew. So it was with half a scowl and half a smile that she awaited Grimmjow Jaggerjack.
He'd bested her the last time around, though, she liked to think, she'd done quite well, but Tayuya had a hell of a lot of confidence in her new curse seal. Plus... she supposed if she imagined he was Greed for a moment she'd fight even more viciously. The fucker had been running all over the goddamn place since she'd finally given in to him. Damn, she'd thought she could at least hold his attention longer than that. But run off gallivanting with pretty women and men he had, and boy, was Tayuya pissed. ... This fight would be a bloody one.
Grimmjow had given up on the Underground. Not that he couldn't make it to the bottom, of course, but the monsters there failed to challenge him in the way he wanted. His zanpakutou wanted to shed blood, but that of simple-minded monsters was worthless. Even if it was in a "friendly" spar with Tayuya, the Espada's blade would be satisfied. He'd refuse to admit that the reasons for his mood was his slump into angst.
They'd fought in the forest previously, and the Sound ninja had been perfectly at home flitting among the trees while Grimmjow had a bit more trouble in such a confined space. So it was his turn to pick the setting, and with a bit more speed to his shunpyo, he raced towards the desert. Now that was more like home.
Grimmjow stepped onto the sand, comforted by the sudden increase in heat. His lips twisted into a smirk at the sight of the redhaired ninja.
"Grimmjow Jaggerjack." Tayuya turned leisurely on her heel, arms crossed under her breasts and her scowl turning more into a smirk. The man was strong, very strong, and oh, but she hated fighting weaklings.
"Healthy as ever I see." She nodded towards him, one hand moving down to check and recheck her weapons as she spoke. Kunai on the thigh, shuriken in the holster, flute on the hip, backup instrument in her hip pouch. Curse seal on her neck that was beginning to pulse and burn at the very hints of coming violence.
"Any particular reason you took me up on that rematch or you just missed me?" She was joking, of course, but her mouth had never been a quiet one. She hardly considered the Arrancar a friend. They had... an understanding. Of the violent and loud cursing variety.
"Tayuya," he greeted her in the same manner. He pointed right at her, his other hand kept casually in his pocket. "Your blood will feed my sword today." Of course he was cocky. He'd beaten her once before, rather easily too, and this new curse seal of hers didn't scare him. "Other than that," he continued, "I don't have to tell you my reasons." Like he'd admit anything to her, of all people.
Grimmjow took up his relaxed stance again, the smirk still hovering on his face. It was perhaps the most self-control he'd ever displayed, because otherwise he'd have already charged her with sword drawn. But this was his battle strategy, and he'd keep to it: Let the opponent attack first.
Cocky bastard. But she expected no less. She was the same in that respect; always sure, even when she knew she couldn't back it up. A defense, whatever, it worked for her.
"Then I certainly hope it doesn't need much, cause it won't be gorging." Her lips twisted into a grin.
"And so gracious of you, letting a lady go first." Tayuya had to admit, she did not like this scenery, at all. The sand offered her no place to hide in a natural setting, without her illusions help, and she needed time to set those up. The man was fast, he'd proved that in their last fight, but as much as she knew she'd have to rely heavily on her seal, she didn't want to quite yet. Two kunai flew at the man, and while she knew they would be dodged easily, she merely used it as an extra moment to gain distance, her flute coming to her lips and fingers dancing over the familiar metal.
It was a simple illusion, nothing fancy, but it blurred the sight of her into the sand, putting her image in several other places, mimicking the same movements as the true body that would be that much more difficult to find among copies all blurred and blending into the landscape depending on what way the light hit.
He easily sidestepped the kunai and let them thud into the sand. The illusions weren't new, either. Grimmjow stood in the center of the flitting images, waiting patiently as he sensed for her particular spiritual energy. Technically, a human wouldn't have anything discernable, but her type of human, with their chakra, exuded a spiritual energy just slightly different than reiatsu. It was harder to feel, but it was --
There.
Grimmjow flash-stepped at his target, ducking low and drawing his sword in the same motion, then slicing upwards at the ninja's midsection.
Tayuya should have known he'd find her. Ah, but it had been amusing nonetheless, watching his brow knit as he'd watched the images, waiting. Patient enough. The flash of metal in the harsh light was apparent and she had enough time to lightly bite into her mouthpiece, holding the flute in place as she grabbed the blade's blunt side and flipped over it and the Arrancar's head, raining down shuriken in mid-air. The girl wasn't a ninja in name only. Her feet skid when she hit the sand, another reason against her liking of this terrain, and she hopped back a few more lengths, preparing another melody.
A sonido pushed Grimmjow backwards, the shuriken dropping harmlessly into the ground where he'd once stood. He twisted around as he moved, stopping right in front of Tayuya with his sword resting lightly on her flute.
"Stop underestimating my speed," he said with a grin. She wanted a rematch to test her new curse seal, right? Then what was she doing with petty illusions? He certainly wasn't going to fight her at 50%. "And stop going easy on me. It's fucking depressing."
She frowned lightly, not moving however at the sudden closeness of his blade. She didn't like that thing. Tayuya had never pretended to have any sort of extra senses, but she could almost feel its hunger. Creepy. A sneer crossed her face.
"I just wanted to play a bit; the curse seal takes a bit of my personal enjoyment away." But she shrugged, calmly tying the flute back to her waist transferring her movements from calm to frenetic in a whirl of her long hair as she twisted behind and away, beginning to let the curse out. The familiar black lines raced across her skin and began taking over, turning the light tone dark and browned. Horns erupting from her skull and now even neck and shoulders, eyes swiftly spiraling into black and gold, nails twisting into caricatures of long talons, and her very face changing as a snarl erupted from her feral mouth, a shudder running through her body as the golden pupils dilated, watching him carefully, predatory, as a rush in her power escaped her.
Finally. "Looking sharp, Tayuya," Grimmjow commented blithely, taking a few steps backwards as if to size up her new form. "I'm even tempted to show you my zanpakutou's release, but no, that's reserved for only the strongest." Now he could unleash his frustrations without worrying too much about killing her. Though he'd kept his reiatsu in check, he flared it then to its full and unbridled capacity. Though he knew it did not match Aizen's strength, it was certainly formidable.
Grimmjow tightened his grip on his sword's hilt, then pushed forward with amazing speed. At arm's length from her, he zipped to the side and then behind her, twisting around, his zanpakutou slicing through the air at her unguarded back.
The only sign the cursed figure displayed at the flare of reiatsu was a push back with her own chakra, and a slight bend in her spine accompanied by a growl deep in the throat. Tayuya seemed to be trying to speak but was unable, settling for shifting into a stance as he kicked off, turning about as he disappeared from frontal view and she heard his approached from the back, a whirl of her lengthened fire red hair and then both hands curled around the blade, blood beginning to whet it's length, claws clicking on the steel. All she could manage was a grin before lunging forward wildly, claws leaving the blade and body going over, the talons seeking the Arrancar's flesh now, not his weapon.
Well now, this was new. She was actually fighting back against his reiatsu. She had gotten stronger. She was also faster, and for a moment he stood shocked as she turned and grabbed his blade
"Better!" the Espada then acknowledged, ducking underneath her lunge and using brute strength to push her up and backwards from below. Her own momentum would aid in her fall.
Her momentum did just that, muscles tensing around impact with the Arrancar as he shoved her, shifting from tensing to moving, claws clambering against fabric and skin, digging into his back and tightening, so that when Tayuya's feet hit the ground, she was twisted, feet facing away and upper body facing the same direction as the Espada. Her claws were embedded in hard muscle and her hands spasmed, partly in excitement and partly due to the slashes in either palm. With no other thought to anything but the curse seal, tear, rip, maim, kill, the ninja threw herself forward once more, righting her body, sharpened fangs seeking muscle.
Grimmjow grit his teeth against the surge of pain in his back, cursing himself for his carelessness but also grinning widely at the prospect of bloodlust. As she lunged, claws still digging into his skin, he twisted around and grabbed her throat. The sword in his other hand bit into her shoulder, digging into a niche between two horns.
"Now, ideally," he told her, not caring if she understood or not, "I would fire a cero right into your throat." His grip on her neck tightened. "It'd be game over." He unstuck his zanpakutou and thrust it into her side, just beneath her ribcage. "But that's no fun."
Her snarl was choked off at the hand on her throat, tightening against windpipe and grinding her motion to a halt. As she dangled in the air suspended she managed to stretch her arms, one hand scrabbling bloodied talons at his face and the other at his left shoulder, seeking slippery purchase as she tried to relax her neck in the grip, straightening the windpipe to ease her wheezing breath. Tayuya, or the cursed girl who was normally Tayuya, was still grinning however. The blood in shoulder caused no pain, and the rib thrust barely registered in a brain so consumed by the seal that it blocked pain. She vaguely knew she'd feel it the moment the seal released, but until then the mark blocked the pain from entering her brain, blocked her from feeling.
It was meant for fighting, after all, meant for allowing her to go and go and go until she stopped. She hung limply for a moment, it seemed almost that's she'd given up, eyes rolled upwards, until she snapped forward, hips lifting and legs kicking powerfully into the joint at each shoulder to move his arms. Finally, she'd been trying all the while to speak; she managed to grit out a single word.
"Better!"
She managed to scratch his forehead and shred the shoulder and sleeve of his jacket, but those were minor annoyances and easily fixed. He instead matched her insane grin with his own, and Grimmjow fought the urge to carve her stomach out. He didn't want to get in trouble with her boss -- and consequently with Aizen -- if he could help it.
As Tayuya lifted her legs to kick, Grimmjow released his grip and pulled his zanpakutou out of her body. A quick shunpyo brought him a couple of feet from where she fell.
She landed in a whirl of gathering legs and bracing arms, accompanied by the sudden sloshing of blood on sand, staining the grains into a sticky, tacky texture that clung to the bottoms of her feet and allowed more purchase in the shifting ground. Tayuya took a moment, head cocking to the side as she regarded him.
"Better." She repeated, and then again, as if she's never said words before. The curse seal was more powerful than she could contain on her own yet, she'd needed training with it, and she'd thought to use this match as part of that. And each word seemed to bring her slowly back to more herself, to a more cognitive state, not feral so much. Her hands never strayed to her wounds, she knew they were there, felt the blood sticking, but didn't feel the pain. That would slow, that would distract, and the seal didn't want that. The ninja did, however, move hands in flashes of movement, concealing a true nature and purpose before she lunged again, switching abruptly from a straight run to a dive and roll, claws aiming for the Arrancar's leg tendons.
A drop of blood trickled down Grimmjow's nose. His blood. He was getting careless.
She was doing better, he had to admit. She didn't even seem to notice her wounds, though he knew they were deep enough to do more than sting. The ninja's speed had increased considerably since their last match, too. She was right at his feet, claws outstretched, before he reacted in a swift kick to her chin, using his sword at the same time to push one of her hands out of the way.
Tayuya didn't bother dodging the kick, she'd already looped three stakes and two knots. A strong, taut wire now encircled his right leg tightly, and she used the snapping back of her head to look him in the eye and grin before her hands, quick, nimble hands used to jotting out quick flute melodies and picking pockets had the wire tightened about his sword hand, binding hilt to closed fist, which was also bound to the right leg. Just to make even surer of the hold, Tayuya let the wire burn into her abused palm as she flung herself around the Arrancar's side, letting enough slack to loop under the arm pit of the left and down back to the starting leg. Preparations complete, Tayuya snarled and dug in her feet, tightening the grip of bloody hands and pulling. Hard.
Grimmjow felt the burn of the wire. If he was weaker, or human, his left arm would've been sliced clean off his shoulder and his hand would have been mangled, but thanks to their hierro, the natural toughness of their skin, the wire could only leave lacerations.
"Not bad," the Arrancar growled, pitching forward slightly to give in to Tayuya's pull but keeping his heels firmly in the sand. She had made one grave mistake, however: His other hand was still free. The smirk still not leaving his face, Grimmjow raised that hand with palm facing Tayuya. Then, about twenty times faster than a cero could charge and fire; he hardened a portion of his reiatsu and shot it point-blank at her chest.
To her credit, Tayuya managed to hang on to the wire with one hand. It was not so much to her credit when it disconnected her shoulder as she was hurled backwards by the force of the blast. Gritting her teeth and biting her bottom lip when she heard rather than felt the pop, the next motion was a slam into the ground. She lay still, breathing shallow and blood still slowly pooling, palm tightening in sporadic bursts around the wire loop still in one hand, and shoulder twitching as it tried to realign itself in socket, making sickening noises in the process. But her face lay directly in the sand, wild hair and horns covering view.
He watched as she continued to lay still. "That it, human?" he taunted as he disentangled the wire from his body. "Come on, get up. I thought your new form could do better than that." But he had to admit, she was faster and stronger now than previously. He couldn't believe that a single bala was all it took to defeat her this time around. He was itching to spill more blood.
"Get up!" he roared. "This match ain't over yet!"
Slowly, with a creak, her shoulder rotated, giving a final shudder of a noise before it fell back into place. One finger moved then two, three, four, and five. Testing, testing. The cut hand released the wire loop, she could hear over the almost deafening roar in her mind, getupgetupgetupandkillkillkillkill the wires being disengaged. And the other arm moved, pulled a kunai from the holster at her thigh, moving slowly, almost weakly. But it was revealed a feint when the woman abruptly flung the kunai dead set towards the Arrancar from her position on the ground, not even needing to look, not wanting to rise to be hit by her own attack, the kunai speeding towards him. But it was not the kunai to be wary off, but the smoking tag already eating its way towards an explosion.
No, that bala couldn't have hurt her that badly, Grimmjow mused as he watched her attempt to fight back. He adjusted his grip on the sword hilt, tense and waiting.
Her sudden movement caught him off guard, and before he could even lift his zanpakutou to deflect the kunai, the knife bit into his shoulder. The arrancar grimaced at the pain first, then noticed the burning tag. He snatched at the kunai and yanked it out, snarling at the blood that spilled, and swung his arm to throw the weapon back at Tayuya.
The explosion detonated, and Grimmjow found himself kneeling in the sand, skin and muscle along the entire left side of his body burned. Snarling in pain and at the blood that was dripping onto the sand, Grimmjow tossed aside the kunai and staggered to his feet. "Well, fuck," he remarked for no real reason in particular.
Tayuya used the smoke screen to her advantage, rising to her feet and bringing flute to lips once more, though the dislocated arm trailed slightly behind the speed of the other. Now she could use that. The technique hadn't worked on Aizen Sousuke, but she had the feeling it would work on this one. The melody was soft, almost soothing even as the notes and sounds pried into the brain, seeking out fears and bringing them to life. She didn't know how powerful the illusion would be with this new seal, but she supposed it depended on this one's fears.
The notes were eerie, and for some reason or another...
Grimmjow staggered backwards suddenly as unpleasant thoughts plagued his mind. He could feel the souls pressed around him, other souls just like him, fresh from death. But they... something was wrong. They were all getting stronger and faster and -- but he was still weak and pitiful. A simple Hollow.
And what was Tousen doing there? And Gin, and Aizen, and -- Luppi. That bastard, what was...? There was a number six on him. They'd replaced him again? How dare they! He was the Sexta Espada, not some girly, childish, immature punk! And he was laughing, and Aizen and the other ex-shinigami looked so triumphant.
Grimmjow saw the ground slick with blood. It was running from the bundle at Aizen's feet. And then it hit the arrancar like a cero blast: Hinamori. They'd killed her, all four of them.
"No!" he roared then, rage mingling with unimagined fear, unaware that he'd voiced his own thoughts.
Tayuya couldn't help the expression spreading on her face, a sadistic one at best. She idly inspected her fingers as she played. As ironic as it was, the melody she knew by heart. It came from her heart, her emotions and chakra. And she could feel it twining tighter, tighter, around the Arrancar, his roar punctuating the click of the illusion into full synchronization with her flute. She walked closer, soft and slow and from behind as the illusion continued. As she walked the melody grew softer and softer, winding to a close, a grand finale. And when the song finally ended she was licking the blood from her fingers, one hand and a kunai at bare to the Arrancar's exposed throat, drawing a bead of blood, close in warning.
"Lovely, no?" She managed two words this time; mind almost fully in control once more. Judging by their injuries, this would be no one's win. She couldn't feel the wounds but she knew they hurt all the same, her breath slowly growing more and more raspy, blood rising in her throat from the two major wounds. But Tayuya knew he was just as bad off, could smell the burnt flesh of him. She just didn't know if this was the end or if it almost was.
And then the images in his head were gone. He blinked and only saw sand. Then the ninja spoke from behind him. Even if they had all been fake, thought up in his mind, it was all her doing.
Grimmjow whirled around, the beginnings of a cero collecting in the palm of his hand. "You," he snarled, swiftly closing the distance between them and grabbing her jaw. "You motherfucking bitch. The fuck was that all about, eh?!"
It took all of his self-control to not blast her into ashes right then.
She was rather shocked at his quick recovery, and it showed, but at the same time, Tayuya was eerily calm, though she could feel the power collecting under her jaw, knew that if it released she would be gone. But dying once made it easier to do again, plus she'd come back anyway, and the seal didn't help, blocking pain impulse, blocking fear, leaving only a heady sense of power that made her strangely able to deal with the possibility of dying.
"I can't help your fears, Jaggerjack." She spat around his grip on her jaw bone, irises dilated against the blackened eyes.
"That's your problem to master, not mine." The Sound ninja didn't made another move however to attack, the dislocated arm hanging limp at her side while the other hand, heavily bloodstained, traced swirls of red against the back of his hand as he spoke, light, feathery traces of claw.
"What the hell would you know about my fears," he growled. But he released his grip on her and instead fired the cero behind him. She was right. He'd have to deal with it by himself, master it... or just prevent it from happening. Right then, however, he needed to find a healer or medic, and fast. He was losing more blood than he wanted to.
Grimmjow turned away stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Consider it a draw. If we fought anymore I'd just incinerate you." He'd started this fight hoping it would alleviate his anger and put him in a better mood, but it only ended in the opposite way.
"Sure thing, Jaggerjack." Tayuya shook herself, hair flying in all directions as she slowly began tightening the lid on her seal, horns shortening, claws dulling, and skin lightening. She couldn't just push it all back, that would bring all the pain to hit her at once, but as long as she was drawing on its power... Well, she just had to make it to a healer. She knew several.
Damn, but that had been fun.