Grimmjow shifted in his seat as he pondered over his last opponent's strange power. 'Ichigo Kurosaki,' Grimmjow thought menacingly, 'I guess there's more to you than I thought.'
He looked at his singular arm, thinking about his next chance to fight this foe of his. He seemed to have grown accustomed to fighting with Ichigo, the rush he got as they exchanged blows, Ichigo had so much potential. If he were to master that power, Grimmjow assumed he would finally have a worthy opponent. 'That mask is so familiar,' he thought.
He tried to remember the battle as he traced the scar on his chest with his index finger. He scratched his stomach, 'I truly thought he had done something terrible, making it impossible for him to be my equal, but maybe it was for the better. Whatever held him back in our first fight seems to have passed. He may have an evil inside of him that couldn't be harnessed through will power alone.'
Grimmjow brought his hand to his forehead, shaking his head as he did so. 'Maybe I'm thinking too much, no, I'm sure that I'm thinking too much. Why else would my head be in so much pain?'
"Hi Grimm," Szayel entered the room with his usual sinister smirk, carrying some kind of glass bottle.
"I told you not to call me that," Grimmjow rubbed his temples.
"Harsh… Hm? Have a headache? I have the perfect cure for that," Grimmjow rubbed his temples harder.
Szayel held up the bottle, "People in the World of the Living call it sake, or just alcohol."
Grimmjow was now rubbing his temples as hard as he possibly could, "I don't want anything from there, let alone the fact that you're the one carrying it."
"Tsk, tsk Grimmjow, I'm better than that. I just don't want to try it out myself, it could be potentially harmful to someone. I had to choose somebody who was strong enough to overcome whatever harmful substances are in this thing," He shook the bottle a little, holding it up by his seemingly sincere face.
Grimmjow looked slightly happy to hear from anyone he was thought to be the strongest, and the most capable of all the espada, "Okay," he smirked, "I'll assist you in your research on this drink, but how did you even get a hold of something like this?"
"Never mind how I came to get it, just drink," Szayel handed him the bottle.
"Alright," He looked accusingly at the bottle before squeezing his eyes shut and taking a swig.
Szayel smiled evilly and nodded at his success, "How's it taste?"
Grimmjow scrunched his nose and thought on it for a minute before answering, "It tastes okay, I guess… What's this strange feeling though?"
"I don't know!" Szayel said in a taunting manner, "I guess you just can't hold your liquor if you already feel funny!" Szayel laughed.
"Whaddya' mean?" Grimmjow was honestly confused, but he scrunched his face up in a scowl at the comment, it sounded offending enough.
"I mean that I already knew what effects this drink has on people. I just wanted to prove that you were as utterly weak as I thought you were!" He chuckled and said, "Go ahead and have that bottle, I have plenty more! Just be sure to tell me if you remember anything when you wake up tomorrow!"
Szayel ducked out of the room quickly at Grimmjow's angry expression. 'What did I ever do to him?' Grimmjow scowled, 'Whatever, it tastes fine enough not to let it go to waste.'
He took another swig and returned to his thoughts to Ichigo.
OOOoooOOO
Keigo yelled as loudly as he possibly could, "Come on Ichigo! You haven't even been at school for such a long time, I just want you to go to this party with us!"
Ichigo scowled, why had Shinji told him to go to school today? He needed more training.
"Please, please, please, please, please~?" Keigo persisted.
"Alright already, just shut up!" Ichigo's annoyance cheered as Ichigo realized what he had agreed to, "W-wait! I take it back!"
"Uh, uh, uh… You can't take back a promise," Keigo stated as if it were the only truth in the world.
"I never promised you anything!"
"Come on, don't be like that buddy! You already agreed to it so why not?"
"Yes, why not go Ichi-Berry?" Shinji rested his elbow on Ichigo's head.
"Gah! Shinji?" Ichigo jumped up, forcing Shinji's arm away. He had obviously not heard the insulting nickname.
"You don't need to act so surprised every time you see me, I go to school here too, ya' know," Shinji scratched his temple and sighed, "But I don't even see the point in attending class if Orihime isn't even here with us."
Ichigo glanced around, Shinji was right, in fact Chad, Orihime, Rukia, and Uryuu were all absent. Ichigo grabbed the back of shinji's shirt and dragged him out of the classroom, "I need to talk to you… Privately."
They eventually reached a quiet place and Shinji was roughly thrown on the ground.
"Well ouch, you brute!" Shinji feigned innocence, his obvious grin giving his true feelings away.
"Why did you bring me here? I could be training!" Ichigo's trademark scowl deepened.
"I just had a feeling that something interesting would happen today, and look, you actually agreed to go to a party with that annoying leech."
"Keigo is a leech, but he's also my friend."
"Yeah, yeah… Anyways, go have fun at the party tonight! I heard they're having it at a club, there'll be plenty of alcohol!"
"You know that you're going to be the only one actually old enough to drink it though… Right?"
"Please… Cut a few thousand years off and I'm your age."
"It doesn't matter!" Ichigo grabbed Shinji's shoulders, "I just need you to take me back!"
There was a small squeal from around the corner, along with a muttering of "Forbidden love~!"
Ichigo harrumphed and stormed back to the classroom, scowl ever present on his face. After school had ended, Ichigo attempted an escape back to the warehouse, but was abruptly stopped by two arms around his shoulders and two equally annoying voices yelling, "Party, party!"
One arm was much stronger than the other, practically strangling his arm, he assumed it was Shinji stopping him from bailing. Ikkaku and Yumichika could be seen in the distance, standing by the club's entrance. When Ichigo was spotted, Ikkaku waved enthusiastically. Keigo let go and hid quickly behind Ichigo, a puzzled look replaced the scowl.
"Have a problem?" He asked.
"Not only do they live with and torture me every single day, but they have to follow me when I go to drinking parties too?"
"I think that's just because they love drinking. Hey Ikkaku… Yumichika," a bright smile adorned all of their faces, except for Keigo's frightened and confused face.
"You're friends?" he asked, letting a tiny squeak out.
"Yep, I guess you could say that! A little sparring usually leads to good friends," Ikkaku mused.
"Wait. Sparring? Who won?" Keigo looked hopeful.
"Well our first 'spar', if you could call it that, I did. We were interrupted when we tried to duel again," Ichigo's face scrunched up at the thought of Kenpachi chasing him all around the seretei.
"Haha, well Captain Zaraki still won't stop talking about how much he wants another fight with you… You'd almost think he wanted a full on battle…" Yumichika stopped in thought, "Scratch that… he does want a full on battle."
"Who's 'Captain Zaraki'?" Keigo questioned, already prepared to ask if Ichigo won the first fight against him.
"He's our boss," Ikkaku stated casually.
"Did Ichigo-"
"Yes," the three of them stated, while Keigo let out a sigh of relief. He was definitely glad Mizuiro talked him into befriending the orange haired teen.
All of this time, Shinji had been wrapped around Ichigo, preventing escape, he cleared his throat.
Ichigo let out an exasperated sigh, "This is Shinji Hirako."
"Hello all~!" Shinji excitedly pushed Ichigo down as he waved his free arm in half of a giant circle.
"I was sort of wondering why there was a yellow thing attached to you… Oh wait! It's wearing red and black, and a creepy smile… Hey Yumichika…." Ikkaku nervously glanced at his life-long friend.
"No, it isn't exactly like Gin's smile… He's showing too many teeth," Yumichika patted Ikkaku's shiny head.
"Let's just go inside," Ichigo pushed Shinji off.