Disclaimer : I do not own Bleach or any of its character's, I am doing this merely for the sake of wanting to better my writing.
A/N: So this is something I've been working on for the past three weeks or so and finally got around to posting it here for all to read. R&R would make me happy.
Oh and also to anyone who read my Pills story, I scrapped that due to lack of plot, and here's to hoping that that does not happen to this one.
One other thing, the title of this story I felt had to be in French, and well I know every little of the language so if there is something incorrect about it please let me know.
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The morning was brisk and bright. The redheaded teen strolled languidly toward his high school or at least that was where he was supposed to be going. The truth was that Ichigo didn't really care for the place. Junior year had been no fun since he had moved to Tokyo. The kids here didn't seem to like him, and many people even the teachers talked behind his back about his orange hair. He'd been to the principal's office twice already about it, and was told the same thing both times; that he was going to have to dye his hair or face punishment for violating the dress code.
He missed his old friends back in Kurakara town, and now here in this big city full of people he had none. The redhead came to a four way intersection and took the right hand turn nearest him that he knew would take him quite far from the school. Walking along he received stares and sideways glances from passersby, but he'd grown used to it by now. Ichigo walked a good three and half blocks to a small café and comic shop, they were mostly empty during the day so there was no one to bug him about being there.
Striding into the café the delightful peal of a small bell sounded throughout the shop, the redhead took his school bag from his shoulder and settled it into onto the back of one of the high back armchairs that populated the small space before taking a seat.
The teen could hear movement coming from the backroom behind the highly decorated counter.
"Be with you in a minute" called a voice from the room. Ichigo didn't say anything just sat, staring out into space; he was turning over the idea of whether or not to pick up some black hair dye on his way home.
A few moments later a young woman, in her early twenties came out from the backroom, dusting off her clothing. "Sorry about that, just got in some new stock and I had to get it put away." The young woman said, looking around the small shop for the person who had come in. The woman's voice shook Ichigo from his reverie, turning around to look at the barista.
"Oh hey, no big deal" said the redhead lazily, looking over the chair at the counter. The young woman's expression changed at the sight of the clump of orange hair.
"What the hell are you doing here?" the woman said as she tied her hair up and walked over to where Ichigo sat. "Don't you have school?"
"Yeah, but what's it to you huh?"
"Nothing, it's just that you've been coming here an awful lot lately. Is there something going on at school? Is that why you keep ditching?" asked the barista.
Ichigo didn't say anything for a long while. "Well?"
"You're not going to call the school or whatever are you?" the redhead said, giving the young woman his most charming smile. At the sight of the teen's changed expression, a slight blush came to her cheeks and burned ever so slightly. Ichigo just chuckled.
"No I won't call anyone, but I better not get into any kind of trouble because of you." The woman said rather sternly with her hands on her hips.
Ichigo just gave her a dismissive wave of his hand before retreating back to the comfort of his armchair. The barista threw a cross look to the back of the teen's head before walking back behind the counter. "Hey do you want anything, like a coffee or something?"
"Nah, but thanks for the off"
"What you don't like coffee? If so I've got tea too"
"Is it free?"
"Is what free?"
"The coffee, is it free?"
The barista stared at the back of armchair that the teen inhabited.
"You don't have any money do you."
Ichigo shook his head.
"Nope" he said throwing the young woman yet another one of his charming smiles before going back to reading a large and rather old looking manga.
"Manga huh?" said the barista who caught sight of the old looking book.
"Yeah" Ichigo said simply.
"You know there's a comic shop next door; you should go over there, give you something to do other than sit around here and not pay for anything." The young woman said.
The redhead didn't say anything in reply for quite some time before picking himself up from the high backed armchair, shouldering his school bag he headed over to the door that connected the two shops.
Stepping inside Ichigo was greeted not by a blissful sounding little bell that he associated with a tiny café, but rather he was met with the low and spastic bass beats of driving dance music. The comic shop was a bit larger compared to the hole in the wall café next door but only just. But despite this the small space managed to fit within it a vast collection of Japanese manga, new and old, and even a wide array of American comics.
At the front of the store was a rack arranged in neat rows, a sign above informing people that they were all the new releases in both Katakana and English. Farther up front of the shop, sat a small, old counter that was littered with knick-knacks and local show bills.
That's when he saw him, a tall looking, and somewhat wiry muscled man sat leaned back in a tattered office chair, his feet thrown up and crossed on top of the counter, a battered up old pair of Doc Martins on his feet. The newest issue of The Amazing Spiderman draped over the man's face, hiding it from view, well toned arms hung limply at his sides.
Ichigo took in all this before carrying on to the back of the store, picking up a large tankōbon of a series he'd been neglecting. Walking farther down the aisle while ideally flipping through the pages of the manga he'd picked up.
All the while Ichigo was unaware of the pair of newly uncovered and lethargic azure eyes that were watching him from the security mirror in the front of the store that reflected the back of the man's establishment, it came in handy when he had to keep an eye on the local delinquent thieves. The blue eyes took note of stock of orange hair that the teen possessed.
"Hey Funny Head, you go back any further you're gonna run into the dōjinshi and seijin, and that American stuff" said the man from the front as he righted himself in his seat and completely removed the comic from his face, setting it on the counter.
Ichigo heard the man and his face instantly began to burn with blush.
"Yeah that's what's usually back here in these places" the redhead said, trying his best to playoff his momentary embarrassment he'd felt for getting caught.
Ichigo went back up the aisle the way he'd come and found the man from earlier sitting with his arms crossed over his toned chest that Ichigo could make out from beneath the loose fitting black tank top. The man was staring at him with lethargic azure eyes and Ichigo couldn't help but notice the man's mess of hair that was the color of a cloudless summer sky.
Ichigo figured the man had to be in his early to mid twenties, and that he wasn't like any comic store owner or employee he'd ever met or seen before. Those people were usually all overweight and overzealous mama's boys or college dropouts trying to make ends meet. But this blue haired man was nothing like that, or at least not at first glance.
"Ya buyin' that Funny Head?" Said the blue haired man, his voice was gruff yet calm all at the same time; it sent a shiver up the teen's spine. Ichigo snapped out of his musings and shook his head,
"No, don't have the money" the teen said.
"Oh, well you can just read it then…" the man took notice of the redhead's school uniform. "That's to say if you have the time. Aren't you supposed to be in school kid?"
"Yeah but there's nothing really there for me" Ichigo answered, thumbing through the manga in hand.
The blue eyed man leaned forward in his seat, crossing his arms on the counter in front of him and resting his chin on top of them, all while watching the teen.
"Ya new 'round here? I've never seen ya before, what's yer name?"
The redhead looked up from his manga at the mention of the question, chocolate eyes meeting azure ones. Ichigo looked away quickly.
"My name's Kurosaki Ichigo, and no I'm not from here, I just moved here a week ago" the teen answered.
"Nice to meet ya Berry-tan, name's Grimmjow" the blue eyed man said holding out his hand to the redhead.
Ichigo didn't respond that quickly, instead he regarded the man's strange name and lack of last name, and also the fact that Grimmjow felt that it was okay to address him by his given name so quickly, and also in slang. Reaching out the redhead grasped the older man's hand and shook, Ichigo took note of Grimmjow's strong grip, and somewhat rough hands.
"That's a strange name you have, don't you have a family name?" Ichigo asked as he let go of Grimmjow's hand and let his fall to his side. The blue haired man sat up and stared into Ichigo's eyes once again, blue orbs burning holes. The teen averted his gaze once again; there was something about the man's stare that bugged him.
"It's French" informed Grimmjow.
"French?" Ichigo repeated in question.
"Yeah, French" Grimmjow said.
"You speak really good Japanese for not being a native."
"Yeah, well I try" the blue haired man said, getting up from his seat, exposing his true height. Ichigo figured that Grimmjow has to be around six feet tall, a whole five inches taller
than him. Grimmjow walked out from behind the counter and over to a cardboard box sitting on the ground, stooping over the box Grimmjow produced a box cutter from the back pocket of his tattered jeans, slicing open the tape he began to extract the boxes contents onto the new release rack.
"Well aren't you going to tell me your family name?" The redhead asked.
Grimmjow just ignored Ichigo's question and standing up he went back to glancing over the covers of the books in his hand. Grimmjow's usual lethargic expression changed suddenly to a scowl. He heaved a sigh, before turning around and showing Ichigo what it was that had rubbed him the wrong way. It was the latest issue of Shōnen Jump.
"You'd think that after killing off the main character that he would've ended the series" Grimmjow said, changing the subject that the teen had brought up quite well, "it's all about money now."
Ichigo figured the blue haired man must have been talking about the longest running series that had been published in Jump, if he remembered correctly it must have been around for six years or so until it ended only three weeks ago, or at least that's what everyone thought since the creator had killed off the main character.
Grimmjow slapped the remaining volumes in his hand onto the new release rack and removing the ones from last week.
"Were you a fan of the series?" Ichigo asked Grimmjow, who had disappeared behind the counter. The older man reappeared with another box and set it atop the counter, cutting it open with his box cutter.
"Yeah I was until very recently, killin' off a character like that and still lettin' the series keep goin', like nothin' ever happened. I mean what was he thinkin'? Sure it does take some balls to do something like that and I respect him for that, but it was just way too American for my taste" said the blue hair man. "Hey Berry-tan, ya mind lendin' me a hand since yer just standin' 'round?" Grimmjow asked.
"Oh yeah sure no problem" Ichigo said walking behind the counter and grabbing one of the other boxes that were stacked there.
Grimmjow handed the box cutter to the teen who took it and slashed open the box that was full of tankōbon volumes, one of which looked to be the new issue of the same series that he'd picked up earlier.
"Damn I'm behind" Ichigo murmured.
Hearing this Grimmjow craned his neck around to look at the manga that the redhead was holding.
"Oh yeah, that was a good series, great endin' too, well at least I think so." The blue haired man mused.
"Ending? You mean it's over?" Ichigo said looking at Grimmjow with a stunned look on his face.
"Yeah sure, the adventure ended, and Subaru lost Sasaki in the final battle."
The redhead just stared at Grimmjow with a deeper than usual scowl on his face. "What, don't look at me like that. I mean did ya really think it was goin' to keep goin'? That series wasn't any Shōnen shit; it had to end at some point" Grimmjow gutted opened open another box, "I mean, come on think about it, at least now Yamazaki-sama can start working on new stuff now." . The sapphire eyed man said.
"Yeah I guess" the redhead said a little disappointed in the fact that Grimmjow spoiled the ending for him. The blue haired man noticed the somewhat sad expression on his face.
"Hey if ya haven't finished it I own all the tankōbon, I can lend 'em to ya if ya want."
Ichigo through about it for a bit for answering,
"Yeah sure, if you don't mind."
"Sure I don't mind that's why I'm lendin' them to ya" Grimmjow said as he sorted through another box, that was full of seijin manga, and all their outlandish covers.
The two worked at putting out new manga and reordering older ones, for a good two and a half hours. By the time they had finished they had talked a great deal about manga and video games, which was something that Ichigo didn't really play much of but apparently Grimmjow did. The two also talked about small personal things, like how Ichigo got stuck with the name he had. But one question that Grimmjow kept beating around the bush was about his last name.
"Oh come on just tell me already, it can't be that bad. If anything I bet it sounds cool." Ichigo said looking at the blue eyed man with longing in his eyes. Grimmjow said nothing; he just looked away from the teen's gaze. "If it's stupid or something I promise not to laugh" the redhead reassured the older man. Grimmjow heaved sigh and ran a hand through his hair, he figured that it couldn't be that bad.
"Jaegerjaquez" Grimmjow muttered. The teen didn't know what to say at first, the name seemed more like a foreign word than a name.
"What?" Ichigo questioned.
"Jaegerjaquez" Grimmjow said again.
"Jaegerjaquez" Ichigo said as if tasting the name. "That's a really cool name, why don't you like it?" The teen asked, not understanding Grimmjow's fear of the name.
Grimmjow shrugged,
"I don't know" he lied, "I guess it's because I was made fun of as a kid for it, so I just never got used to it. Eventually I just stop using it all together" the blue haired man explained. Ichigo didn't know what to say in response, so he said nothing, just stared at the older man who was now wearing a somewhat hurt expression on his face, as if recalling the old memories had opened old wounds. Ichigo hadn't meant for that.
"Sorry I asked" the teen said apologetically.
"Hmm…it's no big deal really" Grimmjow said standing up and looking at a large clock on the wall behind the counter. "Lunch time" the blue hair man stated, grabbing up some keys from a dish on the cluttered counter. "Ichigo-kun you wanna get something to eat?" Grimmjow asked. Ichigo considered the question for a few moments,
"Yeah sure, but I don't have any money for food or anything I'm saving it for something else" Ichigo explained as the two headed out of the comic shop and Grimmjow locked up the place.
"What is it that yer saving it for?" the older man asked.
"I have to buy some hair dye" the teen said."
"Hair dye? what for?"
"What do you think, I need to dye my hair black."
"Ya need to, what for?"
"For school, I keep getting in trouble because of the dress code and people keep talking shit about me at school 'cause of it." The teen explained.
"So that's yer natural hair color?"
"Yes"
"Then why dye it? It makes ya look cool." Grimmjow said reaching out and ruffling the teen's mess of red hair. Ichigo felt a sudden blush burn his face and his heart began to beat just a bit faster from the simple touch.
"I have to for school, I just told you that" Ichigo said lowering his gaze so that Grimmjow couldn't see his face.
"So what? It's just school what could they do to ya?"
Ichigo shrugged,
"I don't know, expel me maybe."
"Well whatever, do what ya gotta do I guess" Grimmjow said, not understanding why he was feeling this strange pang of loss in his heart over this little news that the redhead was telling him.
"Why does it matter to you anyways huh?" Ichigo asked, wanting to know why it was that the older man cared if he dyed his hair or not. Grimmjow shrugged,
"I don't care, like I said do what ya gotta do." Said the azure eyed man.
The two walked for about a block and a half before Grimmjow turned into a small noodle shop.
"Oi, Makami-san!" the blue haired man shouted into the empty shop before taking a seat at the bar area.
"Noodles?" Ichigo questioned.
Grimmjow looked over at the redhead,
"Yeah, and?"
"Nothing." Ichigo said.
A few moments later a man in what looked to be his mid-thirties entered from a backroom from behind the bar.
"Ah, damn I thought it was you, what do you want today, the usual?" Makami asked, busying himself with the washing and the locating of knives.
"Yeah that'll be fine."
"What about your friend?" the shopkeeper said nodding in Ichigo's direction.
Grimmjow looked over at the redhead,
"Well do ya want anythin', and it's on me." The azure eyed man said.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah I'm sure, now what do ya want?"
"Shin-soba." said Ichigo.
"Oh ya like the expensive stuff huh, and not to mention sweet too." Grimmjow said, nodding to Makami that that was the order.
The shopkeeper went to preparing the men's noodles.
The two at the bar weren't saying much of anything just sitting and lingering in each other's company. Ichigo sat toying with his chopsticks, a contemplative look on his face. Grimmjow noticed but decided not to say anything, he didn't want to pry. Five more minutes went by and Makami came and gave the men their noodles.
"Here you guys go, enjoy."
"Thanks Makami-san" the blue eyed man said pulling out his wallet and pulling out a couple of bills, handing them to the shopkeeper. "Keep the change" Grimmjow said. The azure eyed looked over at the teen who was already eating his noodle, he just smiled, he didn't understand why though.
"So when do ya have to go home?" Grimmjow asked, stirring up his noodles. The redhead shrugged.
"I don't know, when school's out, but I usually hang out around town for a couple of hours afterward why?"
"Well I still need to give ya those tankōbon, and I figured that we could just hang out a bit more." Grimmjow said before shoving his mouth full of noodles. This elected a small laugh from the teen. The older man looked over at Ichigo and smiled too after gulping down the mouthful of noodles.
"Yeah sure we can hang out a bit longer." Ichigo said sitting forward in his seat, elbows on the bar top. "You're a pretty cool guy you know that?" The teen said.
Grimmjow just smiled, and ruffled Ichigo's hair,
"Yer not bad yerself Ichigo-kun."
The two finished eating and Grimmjow wished Makami a good afternoon. Coming back to the comic shop the two were in a fit of laugher over a joke that Grimmjow had told as they came to the locked door. The azure eyed man fished through his pockets for his keys, but promptly dropped them as he pulled them out.
"Damn it" the older man said before stooping over to pick them up.
Ichigo who was still recovering from his fits of laugher was caught off guard at the sight of Grimmjow's ass. Ripping his gaze away quickly he felt yet again a blush burn his cheeks.
The blue haired man straightened out and unlocked the door the two stepped inside.
Grimmjow hurried behind the counter, producing a piece of paper from beside a rather old looking printer and hurriedly scrawled out in bother Japanese and English that he would be right back.
"Okay come on" Grimmjow said ushering the teen to a backroom with a sweeping arm gesture. Ichigo did as he was told and followed the azure eyed man. Ichigo was lead into a small living area, complete with a kitchen that looked like it saw a fair amount of uses. Moving right along, Grimmjow lead the teen up a narrow flight of steep stairs to a small hallway where two rooms resided. "This is the bathroom" Grimmjow said knocking on the nearest door to the top of the stairs to the right of him. "And this is…" the azure eyed man looked down at his feet where a small white cat stood, rubbing itself against his legs, Grimmjow smiled as he bent down and picked up the small cat. "And this is Gin-chan, oh you're not allergic to cats are you?" The older man asked.
Ichigo shook his head in answer. "Oh okay good" Grimmjow replied with a toothy grin. Still holding Gin the blue haired man pushed open the door to what looked like a mid-sized room that had shelves cluttered with kink-knacks, assorted manga, and tankōbon volumes, and walls plastered with various posters and wall scrolls of bands, anime, and video games. The floor was strewn with clothes both washed and unwashed unlike, a small futon lay in the darkest corner of the room. In the corner opposite the futon was a small flat screen television mounted to the wall, next to it were shelves also mounted to the wall, with various anime series as well many video games. Below the television sat an Xbox 360, a Wii, and two Playstation 2s. Across the room and next to what Ichigo believed to be a closet sat a small desk on which a rather impressive looking computer sat, and sitting next to the desk were three large boxes full of what looked like old vinyl records.
"I take it this is your room?" Ichigo asked as he picked his way through the small room.
"Yup" Grimmjow said looking at the teen with a modest smile. The older man set Gin down on his futon before going straight to a tall shelf that was stacked with manga and began pulling out volumes.
The redhead wondered about the room, stopping at the miniature entertainment center and looking over the many games and anime on the shelves.
"Why two Playstations?" Ichigo asked looking back at Grimmjow who was still going through his manga.
"'Cause I play imports so one of 'em is a 1st Region console" Grimmjow answered.
"Oh…" Ichigo didn't really know what that meant, "So how do you get all of this stuff anyways? I mean it all seems kind of expensive for a comic storekeeper to afford." The teen asked, as he was messing with a rubrics cube he found on one of the shelves.
Grimmjow walked over with several volumes of the manga he promised Ichigo in hand.
"Oh well, I do some barterin' here and there, some of this stuff is hand me down, and I also acquire some of it from doin' favors and the like." The azure eyed man said with a sly smile. "Well here you go all the ones that I own, sorry that some of them are in bad shape." Grimmjow said handing the books to the redhead.
Setting down the toy where he had found it Ichigo reached out and took the books, his fingers brushed over Grimmjow's ever so slightly, causing a blush to instantly burn his cheeks.
"Yeah, thanks" Ichigo said, trying his best to hide his face from azure eyes as he shoved the books into his school bag. The teen's actions however were to no avail, because Grimmjow noticed the blush and the sudden averted gaze.
"Hey what's wrong?" The older man said trying to follow and met the redhead's eyes again.
"Nothing" Ichigo said somewhat sternly fearing that he had been caught.
"Oh come on look at me, what's the matter huh?" Grimmjow said, taking a step closer, closing the space between the two before reaching out and grabbing a hold of the hand that was gripping onto the school bag for dear life. As soon as the blue haired man touched him the teen couldn't help but look up, chocolate orbs meeting azure once more. Grimmjow saw the deep blush that burned Ichigo's cheeks, the older man's eyes widened but only just at the sight. Grimmjow took yet another step toward the teen closing the space between them that much more. Ichigo removed the hand that Grimmjow was holding from his bag and let his fingers intertwine with Grimmjow's before closing the remaining space between the couple and resting his forehead on the older man's shoulder.
"What is this Grimmjow?" muttered Ichigo into the blue haired man's shoulder.
"I'm not quite sure myself Ichigo-kun" said Grimmjow honestly, as he looked down at the redhead.
"I think I might like you Grimmjow" the teen confessed pulling away from Grimmjow so that he could look the older man in the eyes. The azure eyed man tilted his head to one side.
"Oh really?" Grimmjow said before leaning closer, the couple's lips brushing ever so slightly before the teen leaned up, completing the kiss. It was simple and over quickly, but for the both of them the moment seemed to last longer.
Ichigo lowered his gaze not wanting to look into Grimmjow's eyes.
Releasing the teen's hand and placing his own into his pant pocket.
"Ichigo-kun look at me" Grimmjow said in that gruff voice that sent shivers down the teen's spine. A moment or two passed before Ichigo looked back up into Grimmjow's azure gaze. "I think I like ya too." The older man said running his free hand through Ichigo's mess of orange hair, which was followed by a peck on the forehead. A smile broke out across the teen's thin lips. "I think it's about time you started heading home don't ya think?" Grimmjow said.
Ichigo shrugged,
"Yeah I guess so" said the redhead said listlessly, even though he was in no real hurry to be on his way just yet.
"Well then get goin' I don't want yer parents worrying 'bout where ya are." The older man said, playfully shoving the teen in the direction of the door. Ichigo took the hint that Grimmjow wanted to be left alone and decided that he would leave.
"I guess I'll see you around then?" The redhead said, looking back at the azure eyed man who was now sitting at his desk with his back to him, elbows on the desk, his slender fingers running through blue strands. He turned and left.
"Yeah I guess so." Grimmjow said to no one with a sigh. Grimmjow waited until he couldn't hear the retreating sounds of Ichigo's footsteps that he shouted, "Fuck!" slamming his fists onto the desktop. Lowering his head he could feel hot tears fighting their way out from behind tightly closed eye lids.
"I fucked up" Grimmjow said throwing his head back and wiping away angry tears. "What the hell am I gonna to do now?"
Down on the street Ichigo looked up at the window that he figured to be Grimmjow's room before starting on his way home. He still hadn't wrapped his head around what it was that had taken place in the azure eyed man's room, but he was pretty sure he knew what it was that he felt toward the older man, but he wasn't so sure if it was a good thing or not, but he felt it none the less. Walking home the redhead couldn't help but replay and relive the moment that had taken place in the small room, and to think that that's exactly what it had been, moments. Only a few brief seconds that the two had shared together, to Ichigo it had seemed so much longer than that. As the teen neared his house he remembered as he passed a local drug store that he needed to pick up some hair dye.
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A/N: Thanks for reading, and I hope you liked this, if I find that enough people enjoy this I'll post the next couple chapters. Please review, and thanks again.