Shouts were coming from the living room.
"I'll kill you, Ichigo!" Funny, that was Abarai's voice. He must've gotten here earlier than I thought he would. Speaking of Ichigo, where was he?
"Not if you're dead yourself!" Ichigo snarled. Ah. They probably got into an argument about something trivial, like… waffles. Yeah, that'd make sense. Waffles. I poked my head around the corner.
Ichigo and Renji were bristling at each other, both angry as flutter-hornets. They were inches away. A part of me felt jealous.
Why won't he ever get that close to me? Even fighting, Ichigo never came within a foot of me. He always stayed an arm's length away, almost as if I'd have hurt him.
Oh. Right.
Well, not wanting for them both to turn on me, I slowly pulled my head back, and decided to eavesdrop instead. If things got serious, I figured I could probably distract the two shinigami long enough for them to calm down and stop killing each other.
"AIY-eep!" Ichigo squealed, and Abarai burst into laughter. I couldn't resist peeking- what had Ichigo done? The ginger was laying in a crumpled heap on the floor, with the redhead standing over him. Abarai's sides shook with laughter.
"Carrot-top! You're so clumsy! Imagine it! The mighty Ichigo Kurosaki, the ryoka who broke into the Seireitei, the shinnigami who defeated Zaraki Kenpachi, who fought Byakuya Kuchiki on equal terms, beat by a loose floor board!" At this, the Lieutenant burst into another fit of giggles. Ichigo glared at him.
"Get. Out." Renji sneered down at the teenager on the floor, his entire figure screaming, Make me! Ichigo smiled back, a wild, manic grin that looked almost exactly like mine. I've really been rubbing off on him.
"Ban…" Abarai screeched, and lept out a handily open window. I chose that moment to walk into the living room. "What's all the fuss?" I yawn, and stretch. Ichigo is trying not to stare at my well-muscled chest. Oh, the irony. All those times we were fighting and he only notices my abs when I'm not close…
I walked towards him. When the ginger flinched away, I sighed. "Ichigo, how many times do I have to tell you? I'm not going to kill you." It's his turn to sigh now.
"Nothing much. Abarai stopped by early, and I had to make sure he wouldn't find you." He rubbed his eyes. That's adorable! Part of me was going into full on cheek-pinching mode, but I suppressed the urge, because Ichigo would probably think I was trying to hurt him. "Go back to bed." He waved me off, striding into the kitchen. Eh. I could always eat later. Arrancars don't really get hungry., as I'd discovered in my time wandering the desert of Hueco Mundo. We're the same as hollows in the regard that we don't really need normal food, but we don't have to eat souls to survive, either. Really, food is just a comfort.
I can still remember when Ichigo found me. Though modified hollows don't have to eat, we still need water, and my wounds were really taking a toll on me. I'd managed for about a month, finding the tiny ponds and streams scattered about the desert. However, I'd been in a particularly dry part of the Hollow realm for about a week, and was on the brink of collapse.
My vision was blurry, and I was stumbling. A shock of bright orange hair and familiar shinigami robes surprised me. "I-Ichigo? Aw, now, I'm r-really hal- hallucinating. Haha, no way y- you're here! My mind just wants t-to motivate me with s-someone I l-lo- oh God." I collapsed, my last memory was strong arms catching me, and someone saying, "Grimmjow?"
"Grimmjow?" Ichigo walked in. "I looked in here and you were just standing there staring off into space… are you okay? You were just frozen, for like, 10 seconds." The teenager was worried. About me! He'd only ever done that once, with the little "I can't lose you" line back in Las Noches. I responed with my deranged smile.
"Oh, nothing, just thinking of new ways to overthrow the Soul Society." I threw back my head, and cackled. Out of the corner of my eye, Ichigo tensed, then braced for an attack. I lowered my head, a serious expression on my features.
"It was a joke." I walked cautiously towards the Shinigami, my hands raised. "I'm not going to hurt you." Ichigo relaxed an almost unnoticeable amount. He bowed his head, eyes closed. "I'm sorry, Grimm… it's just…" flash stepping over, I hugged him from behind. The boy in my arms gasped.
"It's okay," I whispered. "I understand." He made no move to throw me off.
"Grimm…" Ichigo frowned, "What…" I smiled, stepped away, and then replied, "Calming you down." The teenager was visibly less tense, and I wasn't dead, so I figured that my sneak-attack hug technique had worked to some extent. Ichigo breathed out slowly.
"Okay." He smiled at me uncertainly.