The twins hide under the mountain of pillows that Starrk sleeps on and curl up into balls, still worried about their father.
They hear Starrk walk back into his room because he had left to check on the Sexta.
"Ichigo. Shiro. Where are you two hiding?" Starrk calls out lazily.
"We'll only come out if you take us to Daddy!" The twins scowl.
They hear Starrk sigh.
"You know I'm not allowed to. Why don't you two play with Lilynette?" Starrk asks.
"No!"
Starrk sighs again.
"Very well. I'll just sleep then. Don't go causing trouble." Starrk says and plops on top of couch (He found out that the twins were in his favourite sleeping spot so he doesn't want to crush them).
The twins remain silent.
"Lilynette. Make sure the twins don't go outside." Starrk drawls as he's already half asleep.
"Haaai~" Lilynette pouts from the carpet, playing with sand.
Starrk falls asleep instantly and the twin's use this chance to find their Uncle Szayel. After all, wherever their Uncle Szayel is right now, their Daddy is sure to be there because their Daddy needs to be healed.
They make sure to find a way to trick Lilynette first though.
They both agree to give her some candy they had gotten from Yuzu-nee-chan to bribe her into letting them go.
They nod and crawl out of the mountain of pillows.
"Where do you two think you're going?" Lilynette asks.
"We'll give you these so just let us go." Ichigo says holding out the candy.
Lilynette lights up.
"Candy?! Where'd you get it?! Starrk never lets me eat candy! Okay deal!" She exclaims happily and takes the candy, pretending she never saw the twins.
The twins run out the door and high five each other.
"Now, let's go and find Daddy." Shiro says.
Ichigo nods and they both run some the hallway.
"Hm? Aren't you two suppose to be with your uncle Starrk?" Nnoitara asks as he stops the twins by grabbing the back of their Shihakushou.
The twins scowl.
"Let us go!" They yell.
"Where are you two going?" Nnoitara asks, lifting the twins up to his face.
"We're going to none-of-your-business!" Shiro glares.
"Yea! Let us go Uncle Nnoi!" Ichigo squirms.
"I see you've picked up your father's habit of bad mouthing." Nnoitara twitch's in annoyance.
The twins blew raspberry's at Nnoitara's face and he yelps as he drops the twins.
"Fine fine! Just go before I hurt you!" Nnoitara yells, rubbing his face.
The twins giggle and run off.
"Uncle Szayel! Uncle Szayel!" The twins pound on his door.
Inside the lab.
Szayel sighs as he drops a liquid on Grimmjow.
Grimmjow hisses before exhaling once more as his injury heals faster.
Szayel raises an eyebrow at the Sexta.
Normally he would be yelling about how he didn't need healing whatsoever.
"So. What are you moping about?" Szayel asks.
"Moping? Who says I'm moping?" Grimmjow asks in return.
"Well, you're not yelling. You're not being yourself. You have a sad look on your face and you aren't telling me to not heal you." Szayel says.
"Fine! I get it!... I was just wondering... What will happen when the twins return to their original age... Will they hate me? Will they forget me? What if they go back to normal and want to kill me? I don't think I'll be able to kill them..." Grimmjow barely whispers.
"... Grimmjow... I don't know. But I do know that you are getting really attached to them. And I won't lie and tell you that everyone hasn't gotten attached to them as well. But they don't belong here... This was only temporary. You know that... Soon they have to return to their own world, I even have a memory erasing potion ready." Szayel says, shaking a small beaker.
Grimmjow stays quiet.
"They'll hate me..." He decides.
"Of course they won't." Szayel sighs.
They suddenly hear a pounding noise from the door.
"Uncle Szayel! Uncle Szayel!" They hear the twins yell.
"Hey, aren't they suppose to be with their Uncle Starrk?" Grimmjow asks.
"Well if that ain't love, I don't know what is." Szayel chuckles and opens the door.
Twin lumps immediately leap forward and push Szayel onto the floor.
"Where is he? Where's daddy?!" They yell.
"Over... There!" Szayel points a shaky finger up behind him as he tried to not suffocate under the twins.
"Boys. Your uncle is dying." Grimmjow says.
The twins look down apologetically.
"Sorry Uncle Szayel." They say.
"Not a problem..." Szayel says, standing back up.
The twins latch onto their fathers arms and jump up and down.
"How did you two escape Starrk?" Grimmjow asks.
"We escaped from Uncle Starrk's room by giving Lilynette candy and we ran down the hallway when Uncle Nnoi stopped us but we were smart and didn't tell him where we were going! We spat in his face and ran to uncle Szayel's lab!" The twins excitedly tell Grimmjow their story.
"I have no words..." Grimmjow sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Aren't ya proud of us Daddy?" Shiro boasts.
"Yes Yes. Good job. But next time you have to listen to Aizen-sama." Grimmjow says ruffling the twin heads.
The twins pout but give reluctant nods.
"Now. Are you two going to go back to my room or start here?" Grimmjow asks.
"Start here!" They reply.
"Fine with me. Just don't get your Uncle Szayel too mad." He says.
"Does that mean we can get him a little bit mad?" Ichigo asks and Shiro gives Ichigo a mischievous grin, which the orange head returns with a grin of his own.
Szayel splutters while Grimmjow guffawed.
"Don't be a smartass like your father!" Szayel yells.
"What will I do without you two?" Grimmjow wipes away a tear since he laughed too hard.
"Probably being awesome and kicking asses! And getting stronger! And fighting more!" Shiro bounces around.
"Yea! I wanna be just like daddy when I grow up!" Ichigo agrees.
Grimmjow gives them both a genuine smile and hugs, wanting to get as much time with the twins as possible.
He knows that it won't be long before they leave.
The heartwarming moment was ruined however when Szayel decided to speak.
"Yes yes. We get it. Love love love. Now let's make sure you're fully healed."
"Way to ruin the moment." Grimmjow deadpans.
Szayel just waves a dismissive hand.
"Hey Uncle Szayel? What's this beaker for?" The twins asks as they pour the liquid from the beaker on each other.
"N-No!! Don't touch that!!" Szayel's eyes went huge in panic as a pink smoke filled the lab.
Oh god. Grimmjow was not going to be happy with him.
"S-Szayel... What does that do?... Oi! If anything happened to my boys, I swear to god!" Grimmjow shakes the scientist.
"Th-That beaker was to increase the rate of their growth. Meaning they return to their original states faster..." Szayel says as he tries to back away from the Sexta.
"No... I... It's too soon..." Grimmjow mumbles.
The smoke clears and on the floor were Kurosaki Ichigo and his hollow. Exactly how they were before they got turned into children. They were unconscious.
Grimmjow chokes out a small sob.
His boys were going to be gone. Forever. Never remembering the time they spent together.
"I'm... I'm sorry.... That liquid was in case of an emergency. If they hadn't poured it all over themselves, they would've had at least another 3 weeks before returning to their original form..." Szayel explains.
Grimmjow took long deep breaths.
He turns his face away from Szayel.
"It... It's fine... I'm okay... It was going to happen anyway... You take them to somewhere away from Las noches... I'll tell everyone... They should be waking up soon right?"
Szayel nods, not daring himself to disobey.
Grimmjow rubs his eyes before disappearing away.
Szayel felt something inside hurt when he saw the state Grimmjow was in and that the twins were not normal.
He thinks the feeling is sadness.