Hey folks, had this plot bunny running round in my head for a while, not sure what will come of it, it won't be a long one, two or three chapters probably. Yes it will be a romance, no definite pairing yet - Ichigo centered obviously. Renichi, Grimmichi, something like that.

Anyway anything you recognise doesn't belong to me, it's probably misspelled anyway.

Chapter 1

"Who invented the queue?"

Ichigo huffed as he waited for his phone to bring him an answer to the pretty ridiculous question he'd asked. A perfectly acceptable question he felt after waiting 35 minutes in line and he still had two turns of the black twisted cord ropes till he was first. He leaned on the chrome pillars when they were close and had knocked one of the rope things off with a clatter at one point but he just shuffled on, staying behind the tall dark haired male and in front of the young female with the pram. He'd given the infant an approving smile as was expected when he first noticed it and the mother shyly smiled back, ducking her head. Ichigo pulled his hat further over his eyebrows, keeping it down at the back as well to not show off too much of his orange hair but it was a bit of a catch-22 – show the face people recognised so well or the hair that was a beacon.

He cursed his reputation daily, wishing he'd kept his head down at the end of high school instead of getting in with the wrong crowd and ending up behind bars more than once. His goofy father was always there for him but his grandfather was always disappointed, saying he was dragging the family name down with him. Having the Shiba name was more hassle than it was worth so he'd started using his mother's maiden name, Kurosaki when he left for university but he couldn't separate himself enough. He was still a Shiba and no amount of bits of paper with his other name could get him away.

He'd done a lot to redeem himself, and mostly people now recognised him in the local area for good reasons but he still didn't like it. He'd gone into medicine as expected but decided to go against every recommendation of specialism, going where his heart led him. Well after petrifying his family by dabbling in plastics for a while. He was now a fourth year resident in paediatrics and foetal surgery, something his mother would have been proud of.

"Derived from the Latin 'coda' meaning tail end."

Ichigo huffed, he didn't bother reading the rest of the results, too much of his time was already taken up with Latin words. Even anus was a Latin word. And that was what Ichigo was calling the guy three in front when he backed into the queue, causing a ripple effect that led to the tall man in front of Ichigo stepping back onto Ichigo's polished shoes. Ichigo wasn't a vain man, his feet were already hurting in the expensive leather traps, swelling up from external punishment wasn't going to help matters. He switched tunes on his phone with a swipe of his thumb; the plodding base line of the one that started seemed to keep time with his throbbing feet.

It had to be that day that he'd decided to take his lunch outside of the hospital. He'd not wanted to be seen in the suit from his interview that morning in the cafeteria and he just had to nip to the bank to sort out a payment, at this rate he'd have to walk out; either that or just tell the three year old with the colon blockage that she'd have to wait another day for solid food.

The line moved nine people in six minutes, a record so far and it gave Ichigo hope that finally, he might get somewhere and be able to cancel the payments to the shit hole of an apartment he was due to move out of the next day. He wasn't given his asshole landlord another penny.

Another six people and Ichigo was on the final turn, the end of the black rope in sight. He flexed his feet a bit, wincing at the throb on his big toe. He couldn't wait to put on his white trainers and his scrubs. The grey suit fit like a second skin, it had been tailored to do so at his grandfather's orders. The jacket was nipped right in at his narrow waist but because of the expensive tailoring, it didn't pull as it widened at his shoulders. He was wearing an off the rack white shirt and red tie, something his grandfather would probably shudder at. The old git had probably never wrestled a folded shirt out of a cellophane pouch, dealing with all the little plastic clips that held it neat. He always found it amusing that those shirts that looked so pristine in their packets or boxes always looked like shit when you had them out, all fold lines and crushed under the arms. At least the jacket had space inside for his phone, when he put it away and his ear phones passed up under his collar with little trouble.

The anus bank customer got called forward, stumbling a bit and having to catch himself at the window, leaning forward a bit too much. The female teller leaned back, the sneeze glass between them obviously not doing enough to keep the inebriated person away from her.

Ichigo sniggered, he knew exactly how she felt, he hated taking a graveyard shift in the emergency room, the smell of alcohol fuelled vomit did not leave easily.

"French word originally used to describe lines of animals moving in turn."

Ichigo nodded his head over the next line of information on his screen. He'd only gone to check the time but he decided he had a little time to kill. He glanced up to see the tall guy in front of him was next when a little bump to the back of his heels made him turn around, the girl behind him mortified at hitting him.

"Oh I'm so sorry!"

Ichigo waved her off, plodding up the line to take first place, Mr Tall heading to the third teller from the left. Ichigo surveyed the tellers, judging who was due to move on. He gambled internally, losing when the second from the left came free, he'd been betting on the one on the right. He moved up, pausing his music while giving a half smile to the young man behind the desk as he passed his bank card over as ID. He pulled his paper work out, starting to explain what he was there to do when the man held a hand up, gesturing for Ichigo to wait for a moment. He got up, Ichigo biting back a loud huff, leaning forward and looking where the male had gone. Ichigo saw that most of the other tellers had got up as well, except the one serving the drunk and the one serving the guy before him. Of course, they got the good service. The other tellers stood in a huddle further back in the room, talking to each other.

Ichigo rolled his eyes, a buzzing in his ears telling him a call was coming through. He pressed the connect button on his ear phones, speaking into the little mic with his phone in his trouser pocket. "Yo," It was his personal phone so he didn't have to worry about it being work related.

iiiiiiii

Renji Abarai loved his job, he really did but judging from the look on his face no one could tell. His face was pulled into a scowl, made all the more ferocious by the vivid tattoos on his face. He'd thought it was a good idea when he was younger to paint his skin, the vivid black lines starting on his forehead and going down his torso, all the way to his groin and onto his thighs. Hurt like a bitch and it was hardly cheap but he was stuck with them now. He didn't have much of an issue with them but it did make him look a bit intimidating which was sometimes useful but occasionally annoying. He'd joined the police to try and get his life back on track and it had only been the support of one of the officers that had got a kid with his look and reputation the job. There weren't many other officers with long blood red hair and facial ink. Well none actually. Blue hair, no hair, long ass spiky, girl's hair on a guy; he may have stood out but he wasn't the only one. He got on well with his team who accepted him, and his previous record with little complaints. Kenpachi Zaraki had a habit of adopting strays into his team but each person was grateful to him.

He'd met the scary ass cop as a detainee, him and his best friend had taken a short cut over a building – over security fences and up and down using the fire escapes – and had been caught by the CCTV cameras. They had thankfully ditched the joint they'd been sharing and it had been the last of their stash so even though they smelled of it they only go in trouble for trespassing, that time. Ichigo had been bailed out by his father earlier, the red head kicking up a stink when Renji was left but he'd been removed. Renji settled himself in for the night knowing there wasn't anyone to come for him and had started talking to the cop who'd brought him in. It was actually Ichigo's last night of freedom anyway, his university career kidnapping him for the next eight years so Renji would probably settle down, or die in the street not having back up. Kenpachi asked him what his life plans were and Renji's only answer was to live, until he died. It might have been the negligent way he'd put that last part that pissed off the older man but whatever it was Renji found himself being pinned to the wall by his hoodie. He looked into Kenpachi's eye, avoiding the scar going behind the patch on the other side.

"You know the hard man attitude doesn't work with me kid. You're scared, why can't you admit it?"

"I'm not afraid," Renji was bullshitting when he answered; he was terrified about what was going to happen to him with Ichigo being forced into the city for school.

"If that is true then do something with your courage."

Renji had tutted, the older man dropping him and Renji had shrugged his clothes back into order. "Who the hell is going to want me? I'm just a tatted up punk with a record, you know that better than most."

"I'll take you, get though basic training, clean your drug habit up and I'll take you. You're not the weirdest recruit I've got."

Renji had denied the drug habit but the look Kenpachi had levelled him with had him gulping, just nodding along. He filled out the form for the academy using the computer in the detention area – the staff computer – and he turned up to the academy on the first day with one bag holding everything he gave a shit about.

Yes he got looks from the pretty boys, the clean cut perfect ones who looked at him like he was lower than dirt but he shrugged it off. They were told a lot that they'd have no choice in their initial roles, that they'd stuck where ever was needed for a couple of years but Renji knew where he was going. They made him cut his hair, he asked for the longest he could get away with and ended up with a shaggy cut that didn't quite hit his collar but was still a lot longer than most of the buzz cuts the boys had and he'd barely had a haircut since so it was longer now than what it was twelve years ago.

Renji actually chuckled, thinking it had been twelve years since him and Ichigo had been the troubled teens, smoking, getting tattoos and generally being delinquents but Renji did have a bit of time for those boys he picked up now he was an adult. He didn't take any snash from them but he didn't rule them out just because of their circumstances. He'd probably be in prison for real if someone hadn't looked past his scowl and tattoos.

Reminiscing at his desk was great for procrastinating but not good for paper work, Renji realising he'd wasted the last ten minutes before lunch day dreaming but what he was working on could wait. He locked his desktop with a quick keystroke and he stood, catching Ikkaku's eye. The bald man gave him a nod before elbowing his desk mate, Yumichika glaring at him slightly. Knowing Yumi would need a couple of minutes to gather himself before they'd leave Renji took the opportunity to call Ichigo, all the reminiscing made him miss the red head. He'd not hung out for a couple of weeks due to Ichigo's hectic fourth year schedule but hopefully they'd manage to get together soon.

"Yo."

Ichigo always answered the phone the same way, had done since high school and no MD letters after his name was changing him.

"Hey dude, whatcha up to tonight?"

"Hey Renji, packing I guess. Gonna be gone from that shit hole after tomorrow."

Renji had actually forgotten Ichigo was changing apartments. He'd bought himself a sweet two bedroom place closer to the hospital but the land lord was being a dick about releasing Ichigo's deposit. "Aw I totally forgot man, you need a hand tonight? I could bring some beer and some box tape?"

"If you're that strapped for shit to do you can come along. Means if the land lord shows up I'll have a bit of back up. He was threatening to turn up."

Renji frowned. He didn't like the sound of that. Ichigo was a tough guy, had to be with the way they'd behaved in high school but he got into NO fights now, too worried about damage to his hands. His legs were still fairly lethal, long and strong and were usually enough to subdue an assailant before those same legs could get Ichigo as far away as fast as they could go. "I can bring round Ikkaku and Grimm if you like, the more the merrier yeah?"

"Renji, it's a studio, I don't need that much help to pack it. Look, come round later and we can sit on boxes and play cards alright?"

"You mean you actually plan to leave that hospital in the daylight today?" Renji sniggered as he spoke but it was completely true that Ichigo worked too hard like every other resident.

"For your information, I'm not even in the hospital at the moment; I'm standing in the bank getting ignored. A bunch of the tellers decided to go and have a chat, right when I got to the top of a 45 minute queue."

Renji frowned, "are any of them still working? Is there any official thing happening?"

"One of them is still helping the guy next to me, and one further down but I think it's pissed so the girl probably can't get away. I can see them all from here; they're just standing looking around."

Renji recognised the signs, turning his head to look at his boss' door, just in time for the guy to walk out with a stern look on his face. "Hang on Ichigo, I think something's going down." Renji held the phone to his shoulder for a second as Kenpachi came into the centre of the room.

"Sorry folks, lunch is cancelled. There is an incident at Karakura bank. We need to head down and help out. Grimm's already there with the first response team."

The room started to move, men grabbing at their belongings, throwing on uniform jackets before heading for the door. Renji headed over to the captain, gripping his shoulder before he entered his office. "What's up Abarai?"

"I'm on the phone to my friend; he's in the bank right now."

Kenpachi's eyes widened before he nodded. "Did he hear any of that? No matter, see if he can discretely stay on the phone, a pair of eyes won't go wrong. Who is it?"

Renji scrunched his face up for a second, seeing the problem that was about to arise. Ichigo may call himself Kurosaki but he was a Shiba and a Shiba caught up in a hold up situation was a bad thing. The family owned more than the hospital, most of the public buildings belonged to them and their money was seeded everywhere else. "Ichigo Kurosaki." Zaraki knew who he was; he'd arrested them both after all.

"Shit, right tell him to get down when the guy makes himself known. To get out of sight and keep that traffic cone hair covered. The last thing I want is for a Shiba to be a fucking hostage."

Renji nodded, heading back to his desk to pick up his badge and his jacket. He took a breath before lifting his phone. "You still there?" There wasn't an answer except a loud bang.

iiiiiiiiiii

Ichigo ducked under the counter, holding his hat on the best he could as he tried to make himself as small as possible. The tall man at the counter in front of him had produced a gun after Renji had asked him to hold on, pointing it at the girl behind the counter. She was holding her hands up, tears flowing down her face. The other customers had hit the deck as well, Ichigo clocking the young mother crouching next to her pram with the baby in her arms. The baby wasn't happy and she was trying to keep it as calm while looking round for help. Her terrified eyes met Ichigo's and he gestured for her to take a deep breath and stay down. She nodded briefly to him before cuddling the baby to her neck and closing her eyes, breathing evenly, sliding silently to her back side. Shot ringing out made every one jump, a few people screamed and some plaster fell to the ground, the shot fired into the ceiling. It was an old bank with a large foyer area that had marble flooring and wood panelling but nowhere to hide, nowhere to escape view. Two people approached the gun man, Ichigo wanting to tell them to stay the fuck down but the small blonde on just raised another weapon, pointing it into the bank and keeping people down. The third was a massive creature with no hair on top of his head but a thin black beard outlined his chin. The first gun man was very tall and slim, standing with a wide grin on his face.

He turned to the wide room, smiling and gesturing widely with the gun as he spoke. "Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. I offer my apologies at the further wait in the bank today. They were given the opportunity to hand over what I asked but they refused, meaning I have to ask again this time a little more strongly." He fired over his head once more, the plaster falling a foot and a half from Ichigo's shoes. The group had squealed again, Ichigo just tucking himself smaller. It wasn't his nature to cower but he couldn't afford to be recognised and he really didn't want to get shot.

"Right Ladies and Gentlemen, if you could just move yourselves over to the wall and take a seat I'd appreciate it, I would like to keep any unpleasantries between me and the staff." The people didn't move right away, it took the little blonde criminal grabbing a man's arm and shoving him towards the back wall to get them moving. Ichigo didn't know what to do, he'd have to walk straight passed the gun man and he didn't really want to give the guy a fright. The larger male spotted him hiding under the counter and gestured with his own gun, the tall skinny gun man turning and bending down, glancing at him with a smile. "Aw, I'm sorry to give you a fright my dear. Come on, out you come." He smiled almost sweetly at Ichigo, using his hand to try and coax him out. Ichigo was frozen for a second making the gunman roll his eyes and crawl over to him, the gun clattering on the marble floor with every impact. He gripped Ichigo's arm tightly and pulled him out. He stood up and pulled Ichigo with him. "On you go cutie, over to the wall with the others. Man your ass should be illegal." The guy swatted Ichigo as he left, Ichigo glaring over his shoulder before taking a seat, ending up next to the mother and her baby.

"Ichigo, for fuck's sake Ichigo answer me!"

Ichigo's pulse had been pounding in his ears and blocking out his friend's frantic voice until then and Ichigo used the gunman's distraction to turn to the baby, speaking into the microphone very quietly but making it look like he was cooing the baby. The mother looked at him extremely strangely but he continued. "I'm here; there are three guys with guns in here. Get help here now."

"On our way, the captain was just calling us out when I gave you a ring. Look are you safe on the phone, the captain wants to know if you can keep the line open. DO NOT risk yourself for fuck's sake."

"I'm on hands free. Just looks like I'm wearing earphones. I'll keep it on as long as my battery holds out."

"Look Grimm's in charge of the situation and will be talking to the guys; he wants to talk to you so I'll be handing you over. Get out safe, promise me."

"I'll do my best."

iiiiiiiiii

Grimmjow had been the one everyone had volunteered for negotiator training. He hadn't even been there but Yumi had hacked his password and had filled in the form, Zaraki telling him exactly what to write. Grimm wasn't left with any way out except to go on the three month training – that sucked because it was a hundred miles away and he had a dog. Yumi had been laughing on the other side of his face when he was made to keep the dog one of the months. Yuki was a big white Alsatian who shed over everything and while Grimmjow wasn't that fussed at a big of dog hair on clothes, Yumi was a bit of a queen so he cried over crumbs. Yumichika still had a lint roller in his desk even though it had been over a year since he'd had the dog and if he saw any hair on Grimmjow he'd instantly be checking himself like it was contagious.

The training wasn't so bad, the distance from home was the only down side. But afterwards he was now expected to actually do it; his first call had been an attempted suicide that he talked down. Thankfully it was still down as an attempted suicide as he'd been successful. He knew he'd have quit the force if his first talk down had failed. He wasn't exactly called on it very often; he was the newest at it and had assisted in a domestic violence incident where the guy was threatening his wife. They'd managed to arrest the guy but the wife was in critical care and probably still with a therapist after everything the guy did to her.

When he was asked to take point at a bank robbery he almost through someone was joking. If it hadn't been the dead face of the captain he'd have brushed it off but it wasn't his captain so he just jumped in the van as told and was briefed on the way.

Karakura bank had been robbed twice successfully in eighty years but Grimmjow wasn't alive for the first. The second was before he gave a shit about stuff like that but bank robberies weren't exactly common. Most banks had so much security that it was impossible to get more than a few thousand unless it was an inside job.

Grimmjow was set up with a head set, a brief in front of him and a list of known employees. The CCTV footage was still incoming so they didn't know how many civilians they were dealing with, or how many bad guys. He didn't have a line in before the rest of his squad arrived, Kenpachi giving his shoulder a squeeze before pushing Renji at him. Grimmjow ended up with Renji's face square in his groin which made him grin, spreading his legs a bit as an invitation.

"I don't know Red, your timing could be better."

"Fuck off; you know you don't stand a chance. Look I'm on the phone to my friend."

"Hey I didn't interrupt."

"Shut up, look he's in the bank, right now."

Grimmjow's face paled, looking between the phone in Renji's hand and his face. "You've got a civilian link? Fucking yeah, aw man your chances just got better, gimme." Grimmjow reached for the phone, looking like a kid at Christmas. Renji didn't let go right away which made Grimmjow frown.

"It's Ichigo."

iiiiiiii

Ichigo sat on the floor with the rest, the young woman's child having fallen asleep once the noise had calmed down. She had moved slightly and was actually pressed against Ichigo's side. He allowed it as he knew how much human contact calmed people. The older man on his other side was sweating, blotting his forehead with a scrappy tissue. Ichigo pulled one of his cloth hankies out and offered it to the man, accepting his loud thanks with just a nod.

"Strawberry?"

The voice in his ear was unmistakable; it gave him shivers right down his back. He knew exactly why Grimmjow had been chosen for negotiator, that voice was absolutely lethal. The man himself was even worse, he moved like a wet dream and he could give a sly look that would give a corpse an erection. Too bad he wasn't interested; Ichigo would have ridden him happily, taking whatever role the larger man would give.

"Hey Grimm," Ichigo turned towards the baby again, threading his pinkie in the tiny fist. He glanced at the mother again but she just gave him a half smile.

"Right kid, run down on what's happened. I take it you can speak without getting in trouble? I need you to be marble, become part of the floor. I cannot work if they get their hands on you, do you understand? You sit on your ass and be the biggest coward, do not rile to them and do not come to anyone's defence."

Ichigo straightened his shoulders, not liking that one bit but knew he'd be a perfect hostage, worth billions. "Three guys, one tall and skinny, long black hair; one shorter than me, blond shaggy hair and young, like eighteen or something. Last guy makes Kenny look small, he's a beast Grimm. All three have got weapons, one hand gun each at least but Blondy has a black holdall that could have more. They've got us against the wall opposite the tellers."

"Good work kid, right what about staff, are they still behind the counter?"

Ichigo looked around, seeing some of the tellers in their navy uniforms huddled at the end of the line, not enough though. "I can see six out of eight of the staff that were there initially. Don't know where the other two are. No one else."

"Right kid I've got to go speak to the asshole so you stay nice and quiet okay? Best church mouse impression please."

"I got it, meek little mouse." Ichigo rolled his eyes, huffing under his breath. He didn't realise he was being watched, something coming to crack on his head, making it bounce off the wood panelling.

"Shut the fuck up, we didn't say anyone could speak, even if you are talking to your little mouse."

Ichigo glanced up at the huge guy, realising he thought Ichigo had called the baby a little mouse. It would do for cover but Ichigo would have to be more careful. A wet line ran from where the guy had hit him with the butt of his gun, Ichigo closing his eye instinctively when it neared his eye. He sat down, swearing under his breath. The man at Ichigo's side offered him the sweat soaked handkerchief back but Ichigo shook his head slightly, regretting the movement instantly as he drew a different handkerchief out of his jacket. His mother had always trained him to have a spare. He had three on him most times. He pressed the clean linen on his wound, hissing slightly at the nip.

The tall guy had looked over when the big guy had struck out, frowning at the violence but he blew kisses at Ichigo when their eyes met. The blonde pulled a laptop out of the bag, setting it up on the counter and reaching through to pull a few wires. He announced he was in the system a moment later making the tall guy go over to the screen.

"Well this is better, now we can all get to know each other. You can call me Quinta if you like, do we have a Mr Akimoto?" Quinto looked around, eyes lighting up when the man at Ichigo's side raised his hand shakily. "Hello Mr Akimoto! Mr Hirasi? Nice to meet you sir. Hikari Otomo?" The girl at Ichigo's side jumped when her name was called but she raised her hand obediently, just like the man further along had done before her. The tall guy paused, glancing down at the screen before his face lit up. Ichigo knew what name was next, they'd clearly pulled all the active accounts from the tellers and he was there, his name would be recognised as that damn account was in his father's name. He quickly pulled his phone out of his pocket, yanking the earphones from his ears by pulling them from behind his back. He pushed the phone behind the girl's back, whispering "police" to her before turning to see the tall guy sauntering over to him. He dropped his gaze, futily hoping but his fedora was ripped from his head, tossed down. The split on his temple was still bleeding and his head swam as he was lifted suddenly by his upper arm.

"Hello Ichigo Shiba."

Yep full of cliches and inaccuracies but written for shits and giggles. Not sure whether i'll continue, it was playing on my mind when i was on holiday last week. Cheers