Author's Note: Sorry for the wait, but I had writer's block like nobody's business. Anyway, here's the next chapter...obviously.

Disclaimer: Not mine, don't own it.

Chapter 3: Curiosity

Louis Lycaeon and Geoffrey Alder sat on the roof of their top-floor apartment, sitting on the simple lawn chairs they'd set up beside a space heater and sharing a twelve-pack of some Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. It was hard to come by in these parts of the world, but it was worth every yen spent for them to have a taste of their homeland.

"So, whatever happened to that lovely little bartender you sic'ed on me the other night?" Jeff asked casually, squinting up at the mid-afternoon sun.

"Turns out she thought I was defective somehow," Lou replied with a bit of a chuckle.

"Not too far from the truth, eh?" Jeff said. Lou was quiet for a moment, seemingly lost in thought.

Finally, he said, "There's something weird about her, that's for sure. She's a bombshell, no doubt, but my instincts are just screaming at me to stay away from her, that she's more dangerous than anything I've ever met."

Jeff glanced incredulously at his friend. "I highly doubt that, Lou. I mean, not to sound arrogant or anything, but we've come up against some pretty dangerous shit in our day. Hell, you're the most dangerous sumbitch I know of. If she's something that you can't handle, then I'm getting the hell out of Japan."

Lou snorted and took a drink from the aluminum can in his grip. "No matter how bad you think you are, there's always something badder, a scarier monster, if you'll forgive the pun."

Jeff simply gave him an ironic smirk.

They sat in an easy silence that could be shared only by lifelong friends for a few more minutes, then they heard the slam of a door below them and the patter of stockinged feet on carpet. A scant few seconds later, the door that led up to the roof from the apartment burst open, revealing Florence and Phillip Lycaeon, Lou's younger siblings.

They were twelve years old, Lou's juniors by nearly half. Both had the same pale blue eyes as he did, and the same basic facial structure, but that was where the similarities to their brother ended. Phillip, though still taking his first shaky steps into adolescence, was already tall, barely a head shorter than Lou's five foot-eleven frame, while Florence was roughly shorter than her twin by the same degree, and both had hair the color of platinum, so blonde that it was almost white.

Florence was first through the door, a veritable ball of energy, while her twin ambled up the stairs at a more sedate pace, both of them grinning the same grin that was so frequently on Lou's, dimples and all.

Lou had only a second to react when Florence flung herself at him, but he was off his chair, beer set down carefully, and arms out within that single second to catch her. He swung her around in the air, eliciting a delighted giggle from his sister before setting her down and wrapping an arm around Phillip.

"Hey, guys," he said. "How was school?"

"Great!" gushed Florence. "Me and Karin kicked so much ass at soccer today, it was almost sad."

"Almost?"

"It's the other team's fault for not being nearly as badass as we were," Florence scoffed. Phillip rolled his eyes.

"And by badass, you mean tripping over your own feet and getting the ball into the net by pure luck?" he asked innocently, to which Florence responded by punching him in the shoulder.

"Still went in," she grumbled.

"And that's all that counts," finished Lou. "Got any homework today?"

Florence didn't answer, but Phillip offered up, "We need to do a few pages in our math workbook, and then do some translations, but that shouldn't be too much trouble," he paused, glanced at his sister, then added, "at least for one of us."

Lou chuckled and cuffed his brother lightly on the head. "Now don't be mean, Flip. Help your sister with her homework, would ya? I'm gonna make us a good old-fashioned meatloaf dinner tonight, sound good?"

The prospect of a home-cooked American-style dinner was enough for both twins' eyes to light up in anticipation.

"Go on, then, and finish up whatever you gotta do while I go pick up some stuff. Jeff, you cool to watch 'em for a bit?"

Jeff, who'd been watching the by-play between the siblings with humor in his eyes, drained his beer and nodded.

"Cool." The twins had already scurried down the stairs, and as he watched them go, a somewhat sad smile curved his lips.

"What's wrong?" Jeff asked.

"You know what," was his friend's reply. "However much I wish that they don't end up like me, the Lycaeon blood is too strong for it not to manifest itself. Maybe with the change in locale, it'll show up later in life, but they're gonna find out sooner or later."

"It's already four years late," Jeff countered argumentatively. "You manifested when you were eight. They might not even have the gene."

"I'm an exception," Lou muttered, an uncharacteristic scowl twisted his visage. "I was the pride and joy of the Lycaeon clan. The culmination of a thousand years of good breeding." At the last word, his scowl turned fierce and angry.

"Then hope that the twins aren't like you," Jeff said softly. "Pray that they have good enough luck that they didn't get it passed onto them."

At Jeff's words, the scowl slowly melted off Lou's face, to be replaced by the sad smile. "You know hope's a four-letter word."

And with that, he leapt off the six-story apartment roof to the pavement below.

Jeff walk slowly to the edge of the building and found that his friend had vanished. "Poor guy," he whispered to the wind.

Usually, Apacci, Mila Rose, or Sung-Sun did the shopping for the quartet of displaced Arrancar who lived in the house next to the bookstore. Usually.

Harribel scowled at the shelves upon shelves of foodstuffs, pushing a shopping cart around the market and occasionally glaring at the list of supplies she needed to procure. Her fracciones were all engaged in their occupations, leaving her to forage for food. She knew she shouldn't blame them for this, but she did anyway.

Eventually, she had gathered all the items on said list and headed up to the check-out. When the cashier told her the amount of currency it would cost, she nodded and reached into her jacket pocket, only to find that she had left her wallet at the house.

Shit, she cursed silently while offering the girl behind the counter an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, I must have left my money at home."

"I got this one," said a familiar voice behind her. Harribel whirled around, instincts overwhelming common sense as she aimed a knife-hand at the person behind her.

While not as powerful as she had been in her spiritual body, not by far, this gigai was certainly beyond human capabilities, so when she found her strike gently deflected upwards, she was rather surprised. When her eyes met nearly colorless ones a few inches above her, her surprise grew even more.

"I did not know you studied martial arts, Louis Lycaeon," she said, withdrawing her hand warily.

"I just have good reflexes, I guess," Lou said with a smile that, though Harribel couldn't be certain, seemed to be just a bit forced.

Good reflexes indeed, she thought to herself.

"Anyways, like I said, I'll cover you this time," Lou continued. The cashier gave him a smile that was a little too friendly for Harribel's tastes as she rang up his items. He handed over some money, and the two of them left the store together carrying plastic bags.

"I do not see your car anywhere," Harribel noted.

"Store's not too far from where I live," he explained. "I could use a bit of exercise every now and again. Can't get too fat or you'd stop hanging out with me."

"Appearance is not the reason I associate with you, Louis Lycaeon," Harribel answered matter-of-factly. Then she thought of that gargantuan fraccion of the Segunda Espada and amended, "Although, there is a certain point where I would draw the line."

Lou's laugh was delighted. "I didn't know you knew how to make jokes, Tia."

"Despite what you might think, I do possess a sense of humor," Harribel said, a bit of chagrin coloring her tone.

"Alright, alright," Lou conceded. "Hey, would you like to come have dinner with my family? I'm making meatloaf," he added tantalizingly, as if it would help sweeten the deal.

Harribel considered it. While she had just gotten sustenance for her gigai to maintain itself regularly, it would be foolish to simply pass up an opportunity to conserve her own food and eat Louis' offered meal.

"Very well," she finally agreed, "although I'm not quite certain what 'meatloaf' is, exactly."

Lou only laughed at her as he led her back to his home. It was placed, much to Harribel's surprise (and growing suspicion), only a scant two blocks away from Urahara Kisuke's shoten, and just about the same distance away from the Kurosaki family clinic, where she had been forced to go when her gigai had caught the influenza virus (and what a horrid week that had been; she had faced Hollow and shinigami taicho that would annihilate lesser beings, yet a microscopic creature had brought her low as simply as it took for her to breathe. Insidious didn't even begin to describe it).

"Do you, by chance, know Kurosaki Ichigo?" Harribel asked curiously as they made their way up the stairs to his apartment.

"Scowly kid, bright orange hair?" Lou shot back, and when his guest nodded, he grinned. "My sister and his sister play soccer together. Don't know him on a personal level, but we've met. Seems like an alright guy, a lot more mature than most kids his age." He sighed, and his eyes got a faraway look to them. "He must've had to grow up quickly for him to have eyes like those."

Harribel noticed the melancholy tone in his voice. "You sound as though you have experience with such matters," she prompted softly.

"Well," he said after a moment, "sometimes great power comes with great responsibility. I've seen strong men taken down by their own lust for power overwhelming their better judgement, and it's not pretty. Those who manage to keep their wits always have the same eyes, and that kid's got 'em, just like I do."

"And what is your great power?" she asked, already knowing Kurosaki Ichigo's power, witnessing it first-hand, seeing him deliver the final blow to the man she had followed for so long.

A smirk played at Lou's features. "If I told you, you'd run away screaming."

Harribel took that as a challenge to her courage. "I doubt anything you could tell me would scare me, Louis Lycaeon, for I am not so easily frightened."

For a moment, Lou seemed to consider it, but then they stopped outside a door marked with a 'ten'. "Maybe I'll tell you some other time, Tia. For now, you'll want to prepare yourself to meet the whirling dervishes I call my siblings."

And he opened the door, only to be immediately bombarded by two small, silvery missiles. When Harribel realized that they were small human children, she relaxed and inspected them more closely. While one was female and the other male, they seemed remarkably similar in appearance, having the same hair and eye coloration as the other, and their features also bore a strong resemblance to their older brother.

"Lou, Flip isn't helping me with my translations," whined the female, shooting her counterpart an accusatory glare.

"Lou, Flo isn't letting me concentrate on my translations," retorted the male, making a face at his sister.

"Hey, can it or I'll just let Jeff whip up some sukiyaki for dinner," threatened Lou, and both of them instantly paled and started stammering apologies, to which Lou laughed heartily. "Okay, now get over there and let our guest come inside, rather than stand outside our doorway."

His comment finally turned the attention of the twins toward Tia, who suddenly felt rather awkward. She had never had to associate with a being so young before; the closest thing she would be able to compare it to would be Lillinette Gingerback, the tiny fragment of the Primera Espada which usually resided in the body of a prepubescent female, but that was entirely different.

So instead, she mustered her charm and spoke. "Greetings. My name is Tia Harribel. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

For a moment, the two of them just stared at her, both scrutinizing her just as closely as she had done to them moments before. Finally, the girl said, "Are you gonna have sex with my brother?"

Lou made a strangled noise that, to Harribel, sounded not dissimilar to the death shriek of her prey in Hueco Mundo, and he quickly clapped a hand over the girl's mouth. "Haha!" he said with a fake smile and a red face. "Don't kids say the stupidest shit sometimes? Come in, make yourself at home."

As Harribel entered, she glanced around at her new surroundings. The apartment was large enough for the Lycaeon siblings and Jeff to live in comfortably, but it was...she didn't quite know what the proper term was for what she would describe the place as. Snug? No, that didn't sound right. The walls were hung with many picture frames with various combinations of the four tenants, as well as other people Harribel didn't recognize, while the furniture was tasteful and colorful without being too much of an eyesore (very much unlike the drab, pale rooms of Las Noches).

In the living room, the television was tuned to one of the reality shows that Apacci was so fond of, with Lou's friend Jeff planted on the sofa with a beer can clutched in his hand. When they entered, he stood up and offered his hand to Harribel. Upon closer inspection, she found that Jeff's hands were immaculately clean, and the skin there was smoother than even hers.

"Hello, it's nice to properly meet you," he said. "My name is Geoffrey Alder, and the twin terrors over there are Phillip and Florence Lycaeon respectively."

"Tia Harribel," she replied evenly as she took a seat on one of the two chairs in the room. Phillip and Florence took the remaining space on the couch and simply stared at her, something that unnerved her to no end. This in itself was cause for suspicion, as she had faced down much more terrifying creatures than children, and yet these two...she suppressed a shudder. It was as though she were being eyed by a pair of young predators.

Phillip was the first to address her after they had taken their seats. "I apologize for my sister's word vomit. She's never been as sophisticated and charming as myself."

Before Harribel could respond, Florence smacked her brother in the back of the head. "Who wants to be a weird little loser like you anyway?" Then she turned to Harribel wearing an almost shy expression. "I am sorry, though, for that. It's just that you're really pretty, and I've never actually seen my brother with a girl before."

Harribel took a moment to compose a proper answer. "That's quite alright...Florence, right?"

The girl gave her a dazzling smile as she nodded. "Yeah, that's me, but you can call me Flo for short if you want. So how did you and Lou meet?"

"We met at my place of work, a bar called Dankee Panchuru," Harribel replied. "He prevented a man from groping me, then proceeded to ask me to cheer up Geoffrey."

"Isn't a donkey punch when you-" began Phillip, but Lou rushed out from the kitchen and kicked the boy in the shin.

"Phil, now's not the time to show off your vast, wildly inappropriate knowledge of sex acts," Lou muttered as his younger brother clutched his leg. "Seriously, how the hell you know that kind of crap is beyond me. I didn't know what a donkey punch was until I was twenty!"

"Well, I must have more experience than you," Phillip shot back cheekily, which resulted in a monumental noogie from his elder. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry!"

"That's right you are," Lou said smugly, releasing his wriggling brother. "C'mon, food's ready."

Dinner was surprisingly good to Harribel, especially since neither she nor any of her fracciones knew how to cook very well. Sung-Sun was slowly getting the hang of using the oven, but chances of her making a decent meal were about the same as her burning the food and leaving a horrid stench in their small home. Therefore, it was with much gusto that she ate the 'meatloaf', 'mashed potatoes', and 'green bean casserole', all of which were very agreeable to her taste buds.

The conversation was a bit similar as well. While only one of the participants was female, the squabbling between Phillip, Florence, and Louis bore a stark resemblance to the petty arguments of her own fracciones, albeit without any of the actual venom Mila Rose, Apacci, and Sung-Sun usually injected into their more scathing remarks. It was very...familiar to Harribel, and she found herself relaxing marginally in the new setting much more easily than she normally would.

While the siblings kept up their playful banter, Geoffrey provided some more embarrassing facts about Lou that the man himself seemed to have omitted from their talks over the bar. Apparently, during a fishing trip with Jeff's late father, the inexperienced Lou had gotten a hook stuck in his thumb and tried to pry it out with a second hook, only for that one to get caught in Lou's flesh as well.

"That must have left quite the scar," Harribel observed, making sure to remember that humans didn't heal nearly half as fast (or as efficient) as even normal Hollow did. But for some reason, Jeff glanced toward his friend wearing an unreadable expression.

"Nah, some people have all the luck," he replied, his lips curving downward marginally. Harribel was intrigued by the reaction, but chose not to press the obviously sensitive matter.

Once the meal was finished and the twins were set the task of washing the soiled dishes, Lou offered to drive Harribel home, which she readily agreed to, as it had begun to snow while they had been inside.

"Your siblings are quite..." Harribel paused, searching for the right term. "...energetic."

A smile appeared on Lou's face. "Yeah. Sometimes, they can be a handful, but I wouldn't trade 'em for anything in the world. Do you have any siblings?"

Harribel shook her head wistfully. "I have no family, at least not that I can remember," she said. It was one of the worst parts of being Hollow. "But I have my fracc...that is, my friends, which is my equivalent. They are like little sisters to me, and I would die to see them safe."

"Well, they say that friends are the family we choose," Lou responded after a moment. "I know that I consider Jeff as my blood, no matter what anyone says, and you obviously care for your friends very deeply." He pulled up to the curb of Harribel's house and turned his faded-jeans eyes to her. "I admire that."

"You are quite admirable yourself," Harribel admitted, locking eyes with him. "You are unlike anyone I have met before, Louis Lycaeon, and I can't help but become even more intrigued with each meeting. You are a very curious individual, and..." she leaned forward until their faces were just an inch apart, "...I find myself wanting to unravel this mystery."

She closed her eyes and pressed forward, but was confused when she heard a strangled, "Hwa?" from Lou. Opening her eyes, she saw that her fracciones had noticed her arrival, and upon seeing their compromising situation, Mila Rose had jumped to conclusions and hauled Lou right out of the car through the window in a full headlock.

"I knew we couldn't trust this guy!" Apacci snarled from the other side of the car, leaping forward. Harribel suddenly feared for Lou's life. The gigai which Urahara had supplied them with limited the Arrancars' fighting abilities somewhat, but they were still outclassed any human limitations by far.

She was surprised, therefore, when Lou redirected Apacci's initial punch with a gentle push while still being half-strangled by Mila Rose. Quick as a flash, he wriggled his way free from Mila Rose's hold and backed away from the angry women post-haste.

"Hey, now, let's all just be calm about this-" Lou started, but then ducked quickly and swept his arm to the side, narrowly missing Apacci's shin and waving away Mila Rose's fist.

"You were molesting Harribel-sama!" Mila Rose shot at him. "There's nothing to be calm about!"

Harribel considered stopping her fracciones before they seriously hurt Lou, but remembered when he had redirected her attack in the grocery store and decided that it might be prudent for her to see exactly what this human was capable of.

After several minutes of watching the fight, Harribel frowned slightly. Despite the dozens of strikes sent his way, Lou had yet to actually attack the two women who were trying their hardest to take his head off. The style of martial art he used focused on energy redirection and blocks, and the only injury sustained during the fight was when Lou grabbed onto Apacci's arm and swung her around and accidentally rammed her into Mila Rose, who'd been trying to sneak up from behind.

"Oops," he mumbled, quickly releasing his grip as the other two fighters fell to the ground in a heap.

"Damn it, Mila Rose, you got in my way!" Apacci yelled as she extricated herself from the jumble of limbs.

"I got in your way?" Mila screeched back, and the two of them began going at it while Lou stood in the background, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

He glanced towards Harribel, who was rubbing her temples in irritation. "Ladies, please," she said, her tone of voice barely above her normal volume, yet the two other Arrancar ceased their fighting immediately, shooting each other a mild glare before turning back to Lou, intending to continue their assault on him.

As Mila Rose and Apacci stepped in for what they believed would be a finishing blow, Harribel suddenly appeared before them, arms crossed and a stern expression on her face.

"H-Harribel-sama," Apacci stammered. "What are you doing?"

"I have no intention of allowing you to harm him," Harribel stated calmly, though with steel in her voice that let her fracciones know she meant business.

"But he was trying to-" began Mila Rose, but Harribel cut in.

"He was trying to do nothing," she said. "I was the one who initiated the kiss, and I am rather upset about having it interrupted."

Apacci and Mila Rose looked at each other with a mix of embarrassment and shock before turning to look more closely at Lou, who waved awkwardly to them.

"Uh, hi," he said. "I'm Lou. Nice to meet you."

They stared at him blankly before turning to Harribel in askance.

"This is the person whom I have been occupying my free time with, girls," Harribel explained. "I met him at work, and after a bit of reconnaissance, I have found him to be an acceptable companion."

"I wouldn't call having Grimmjow 'follow' me around 'a bit of reconnaissance,' Tia," Lou said wryly, causing the two fracciones' heads to swivel back to him.

"You know Grimmjow?" Apache asked in astonishment.

"Yeah, well, he was hitching a ride on top of my car," he replied with a shrug. "Told me that your housemate paid him to follow me around and stuff."

"But," Mila Rose said, directing her statement to Harribel, "he's male, Harribel-sama. What are you thinking?"

Harribel paused to consider the question. What exactly was she thinking? Here she was, the third most powerful being in Hueco Mundo, and one of the strongest in all the dimensions, fraternizing with a lowly human without any sort of spiritual pressure whatsoever. And yet...

...and yet she knew that she wasn't thinking. She was a Hollow, a being of instinct and feeling, and her instinct and feelings were leading her directly to this lowly human, despite everything.

"I am thinking that Louis Lycaeon is the first male I've ever met that doesn't make me want to remove his spine through his stomach," Harribel said, a smile softening her features slightly.

"Wow," Lou said, amusement tinging his voice. "Coming from you, that's the best compliment I think I've ever gotten."

"And if you wouldn't mind, girls, I would like to continue my...conversation with Lou in a more private setting." And before her fracciones could even get in an word edgewise, Harribel grasped Lou's wrist and pulled him into the house behind her, closing the door with a snap and the sound of a deadbolt locking into place.

Mila Rose and Apacci gaped at each other in astonishment, then, after a quick pat of her pants, Apacci's face turned white. "I think Harribel-sama just locked us out."

The dark-skinned Arrancar had many thoughts running through her head, but she adequately and eloquently summed them all up in two words: "Well, shit."

A Plea: So, I'm not sure how many people are reading this thing for sure, but it's got at least five followers so I know you're out there. I have seven stories published, and two are completed. Every single one of them has at least twice the amount of reviews this one does.

Now, I know that since this story revolves around a relationship between a side-character and an OC, there won't be too many people who'll give this story a chance, but to you brave, beautiful few who have, I have one thing to say:

PLEASE REVIEW! I have absolutely no clue if I'm doing good on this thing, and I NEED your feedback so I can figure out if I've made any mistakes and, if so, how I can go about fixing them as quickly as possible.

Okay, now that that's out of the way, to everyone who's followed or favorited the story, thank you very much for your support. And to Black Cat Angel and Fullmetal Wetback: You are truly saints, and I love you with all my heart!

Until next time!