I have been long, long out of the Bleach fandom. I just wrote the last section of this tonight to finish it up because it was bugging me to leave it lying around unfinished, but this really is a oneshot. I'm not going anywhere else with it - I wouldn't even know where to go with it. If anyone else likes the idea enough, have at it (just please let me know; I'd be interested to see what you do with it). Otherwise... enjoy.

This is set during the first couple episodes/chapters, though it has a slightly AU premise. Also, both Ichigo and Grimmjow use a ton of foul language.

Kurosaki Ichigo had long ago gotten used to the idea of seeing ghosts. To him, they looked like any other person, with the minor exceptions of sometimes having chains sticking out of their chests, occasionally walking through things, and the fact that they tended to prefer floating to walking. Actually, the last one was a godsend, as it was the quickest and most reliable way for Ichigo to tell ghosts apart from normal people and thereby avoid looking totally crazy by talking to them in public. They certainly were never surprising, though. The last time Ichigo had been surprised by a ghost was when he was twelve and that clown ghost had hidden inside his closet.

So no, ghosts with chains were certainly nothing new. But otherwise-normal kids with pieces of a skull sticking to their face? Ichigo looked twice.

"Class, this is Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, a new transfer from Germany. Maybe you punks can actually be welcoming for once. Grimmjow-kun, why don't you take the empty seat over next to Ichigo?" Rattling off the introduction without waiting for any sort of answer, Ochi-sensei turned back to her roll-call.

Up at the front of the classroom, Grimmjow scanned the class, apparently searching for empty seats next to girls. Ichigo sighed and raised a lazy hand, waving it to catch the odd transfer's attention. He kept one eye on the half of a jawbone clinging to Grimmjow's right cheek. No one else seemed to have noticed it, so clearly something supernatural was going on, and not just some weird German fashion trend. As if he'd really needed the confirmation.

Grimmjow saw Ichigo's hand first, then his hair, and finally his very male face. The muffled snort that followed as he put two and two together was completely expected, but annoying nonetheless.

Ochi-sensei started actually trying to teach something, but Ichigo wasn't paying attention, and apparently neither was Grimmjow. He sat down in his desk, snickering towards Ichigo the whole time, the jawbone bouncing with each chuckle. It was a bit disconcerting, to say the least. Ichigo suddenly found himself grateful for his 'cool' reputation which allowed him to get away with blatantly yawning and turning to gaze out the window.

The supernatural new kid didn't seem to care about Ichigo's reputation though, as his response to being ignored was to reach out and yank hard on Ichigo's sleeve. But he didn't seem really annoyed; at least, he was grinning broadly when Ichigo turned to look at him.

"So, ichigo, huh?" Grimmjow spoke in a way that made it clear he meant the fruit, not the name. "Now ain't that cute?"

"Fuck off," Ichigo responded, and surprisingly he didn't even mean it any more than usual. Maybe it was because the jawbone was throwing him off, or maybe he was just giving the new kid some slack. Either way, Ichigo actually didn't feel like punching him yet. Tatsuki would be proud.

Grimmjow ignored him. "Now, I know I'm not one to be talking about unusual hair colors," he chuckled, and Ichigo noticed for the first time that his hair was bright blue. The sort of blue that really caught the eye, unless of course one had bones stuck to their face. That sort of trumped it. "But really, with that name what on earth possessed you to think orange was a good idea?"

"I didn't. It's natural," Ichigo emphasized this statement by turning most of his upper body away from Grimmjow and towards the window once more. Body language even an idiot could read: this conversation is over, so leave me alone.

And at least this time Grimmjow took the hint, and he didn't even make the usual skeptical noises. The last person who hadn't made the usual skeptical noises had been that friend of Tatsuki's, Orihime something. Then again, she had bright hair herself – maybe it was a thing, that people with vivid hair didn't question the genuineness of the color of the hair of other people with vivid hair… or something.

Ichigo sighed, resting his chin in his hand. As if it mattered. It might be a bit more productive to spend his time trying to figure out what was going on with that jawbone – or even paying attention to Ochi-sensei.

-xxx-

Lunchtime came before Ichigo knew it. He of course had opted to ponder the mystery that was Grimmjow (or the right half of Grimmjow's face, anyway) rather than pay attention to math class. Unfortunately, he was no closer to understanding what was going on, and even worse, he had no idea what to do. There was no one he could go to with the knowledge – Karin was the only other person he knew who could see ghosts, and she wouldn't be any help. She was still in a permanent state of denial, pretending they didn't exist no matter what anyone said or even what she saw on a daily basis. Ichigo's dad would likewise be useless. He couldn't even see ghosts in the first place, let alone tell Ichigo anything about strange new occurrences. And while Yuzu could sense ghosts more than their father, it wasn't by much, and she was somehow the family member least involved in anything ghostly.

There was, of course, always the possibility that Ichigo was going crazy. He sort of wished he could feel the jawbone. If his fingers went through it and just hit normal skin, he'd have to seek psychiatric help, but if he felt real bone then he would know something was going on. The only problem with that plan was that he couldn't exactly just walk up and starting feeling Grimmjow's face. That probably would not go over well.

Ichigo had been so distracted with his thoughts that even as he stood, he forgot to watch out for Keigo. When he finally shook the thoughts out of his head and looked up, his friend was rapidly bearing down on him with a loud cry of "ICHIGOOOO!"

This was nothing unusual. Certainly, no one jumped in surprise or even blinked. It had been trained out of them all after years of this occurring multiple times a week.

Well, no one was blinking until Keigo found himself neatly intercepted right before he reached Ichigo, his arms locked behind his back by the new transfer student. Then some eyelids definitely fluttered. During the collective moment of shock at the unexpected interference, Grimmjow took the chance to raise an eyebrow and say, "Assassins, berry? You just get more and more interesting, don't you."

This roused Keigo and while everyone else was still busy staring, he began to struggle and yell loudly about how he wasn't an assassin, he was Ichigo's best friend, and who was Grimmjow anyway, and why wasn't Ichigo saving him already, Ichigooooo?

Ichigo sighed. As amusing as it was to see Keigo flailing around in a panic, the guy was really loud. It would be much easier on everyone's eardrums if he did just save the idiot already. So he stepped forward reluctantly, took hold of the front of Keigo's shirt, and tugged.

It was a little more difficult than Ichigo had expected, and for a moment he and Grimmjow locked eyes over Keigo's shoulder, trapped in a battle of strength. Then Grimmjow shrugged, grinned, and let go, and Keigo collapsed forward onto Ichigo.

Ignoring him for the moment, Ichigo kept his eyes on Grimmjow's. "Leave him alone," he said, voice firm, "And don't call me berry."

Grimmjow may have opened his mouth to respond, but he never got the chance, as that was when Keigo began his repetitive litany of such encouragements as: "Beat him up, Ichigo, avenge me, your best friend ever, Ichigo!"

The moment broken, Ichigo rolled his eyes and peeled Keigo off him. After dropping the idiot on the ground, he made his way over to Chad, asking, "You hungry?"

Chad nodded, and the two made their way out of the room and to the roof without a word. They left Keigo and Grimmjow firmly in their dust, as if that would ever last.

-xxx-

Now, when Ichigo said 'as if that would ever last' he actually meant it more in reference to Keigo (who, true to his character, had arrived on the roof mere minutes later with Mizuiro in tow, babbling on about something involving girls and rollerblading) than Grimmjow. However, the strange new arrival turned out to be unexpectedly persistent. It seemed that he had taken some sort of interest in Ichigo somewhere between learning his name and 'saving' him from Keigo.

It wasn't malicious or anything, at least Ichigo didn't think so; but at the same time something didn't seem quite right about Grimmjow's friendly manner. Maybe it was the fact that he was less traditionally friendly than he was insulting, presumptuous, and (Ichigo could already tell) persistent to the end. Perhaps that was why Ichigo was so very suspicious of Grimmjow's motives.

Or maybe it was just the jawbone. Handy excuse, that.

In any case – Grimmjow proved oddly stubborn, and Ichigo only finally lost him with difficulty that day when it was proved that they had to go entirely opposite directions home after school. And even then, he smirked and waved and said that he'd "See you next time, berry-chan!"

Ichigo growled under his breath at the new nickname, turned, and stalked away. There was a certain young girl he needed to visit on his way back home. She was the first ghost he'd met in recent times that did not pass on almost immediately, although Ichigo was of the opinion that she just needed some time to adjust. In the meantime, she was certainly nice enough, and he'd made it a point to take a route to and from school that led him by the scene of her death, so that he could check up on her and replace the flowers he'd left for her every day.

Though he was angry for her sake, Ichigo couldn't deny the prickle of pleasure he felt upon first seeing the group of rowdy boys next to the toppled little vase. Some violence would do him good.

If it hadn't been for Grimmjow, Ichigo would have perhaps later said that there was where it went all wrong.

-xxx-

As it was, the events of the following day were accepted with more-than-usual tolerance. And as Ichigo generally had a rather high tolerance level considering everything, this was saying something.

After all, being chased by gigantic shadowy worm creatures with skull masks (causing Ichigo to ponder on the significance of the skull motif that Grimmjow shared with them and their coincidental timing in arrival) only to be saved by a mysterious young woman dressed up in a black hakama and wielding a sword of all things – well, this was certainly startling. But hadn't Ichigo greeted a boy with a quarter of a skull on his face just the day before?

And of course, when the same woman appeared in his bedroom only to kick him around (if he weren't used to getting his ass handed to him by Tatsuki, Ichigo would have been humiliated to have been beaten so easily by a girl even if she was so clearly not normal), shove horrible drawings in his face, and then bind him up in some weird 'kido' that didn't let him move a muscle – well, yes, that was tough. But, on the other hand, Grimmjow had smirked on and off at him all day long in a way that was quite frankly disturbing, as well as completely confusing.

However, even Ichigo's new perspective could not prepare him to face his family's endangerment, the ensuing battle, and the sudden acquisition of his own black hakama and truly gigantic sword (like a big meat cleaver) without being just a bit flustered.

Especially when he woke up the next morning to find that no one remembered a thing.

This was more than disturbing enough, and Ichigo was really cursing his complicated life around the point when he arrived in school that morning. And really, was it too much to ask for one person he could trust to tell him what the hell was going on?!

Of course it was.

Ichigo sighed his way into class, sitting down in his seat with a wearied expulsion of breath. He was tired and confused and really just wanted to sleep through class and think things over. However, it seemed this was not to be.

Grimmjow sauntered in just shy of late, as he always did – or at least, as he had so far. Two days was probably too short a time to be assigning him to a routine. In any case, he smirked lazily at the room and started towards his desk next to Ichigo as usual. Grimmjow too appeared to be very tired, as he sat down heavily and dropped his head on the desk with nary a greeting.

Ichigo observed with interest how the jawbone hit the desk without a sound, yet still propped the cheek it hung upon off the desk slightly. Did this mean that to everyone else, Grimmjow's head appeared to be hovering slightly? Or did they just see it resting fully on the desk like anyone else's would?

"Hm," Ichigo said thoughtfully.

Grimmjow rolled his head in Ichigo's direction, raised an eyebrow, and yawned. He blinked rapidly several times as he seemed to wake up, and then opened his mouth to say something.

Ichigo, watching in lazy anticipation, wondered if that Rukia person could have seen the skull and what she would have made of it. He frowned slightly.

Grimmjow froze. His entire body was suddenly tense and totally focused on Ichigo. His eyes were wide and completely still, and Ichigo doubted if he was breathing. Just staring, though his eyes seemed almost vacant, gazing unfocused at Ichigo. Yet Ichigo knew they were looking at something. Something around him.

Okay. So clearly Grimmjow was not only mysteriously paranormal himself, but he was aware of it in others too. He was clearly somehow sensing something related to the night before, which was…

"Interesting," Ichigo murmured very quietly, yet Grimmjow heard it and it broke the spell. Sweeping his eyes over Ichigo's form one last time, the German transfer snorted derisively and turned his head to the front of the classroom to where Ochi-sensei was just beginning to talk. He made no attempt to speak to or communicate with Ichigo in any way, but his brow creased as he apparently thought heavily about something.

Very interesting.

And completely unhelpful, but Ichigo was beginning to expect that much.

-xxx-

Ichigo didn't have too long to wonder about Grimmjow's behavior however, as the moment the lunch bell rang, Grimmjow had grabbed his elbow and was yanking him out of the room and down the hall. Ichigo resisted of course, but Grimmjow seemed to have an almost unearthly strength and when Ichigo's desperate tugging began to make itself felt, the other boy just growled and lifted Ichigo off the ground with one hand.

They were moving so fast that the ground blurred under Ichigo's eyes, making him dizzy. He blinked hard and tried to say something in protest, but too late – they were already zooming up a set of stairs and out a door, onto the roof. When Grimmjow released him, it was only for a second, and then he'd spun Ichigo around and slammed him hard into the wall. Ichigo winced as he felt the stone crack behind his back.

What. The. Hell?

Grimmjow had a hand on his throat, pressing just enough that Ichigo found it hard to breathe, as he leaned in and hissed, "The fuck did you do?"

Ichigo decided he resented this, and responded by way of a knee slamming up into Grimmjow's crotch. He did not expect it to be neatly blocked with Grimmjow's own knee. Nor did he expect for his vision to suddenly go spotty as all air drained from his system with a push of Grimmjow's hand.

Grimmjow shook Ichigo a little, almost as if he hadn't even noticed the attempted resistance. And who knew, maybe he hadn't. Ichigo wouldn't be surprised at this point. "You idiot! I just fucking got here, and – you're not dead, so what the fuck did you do? It's not possible for you to – this is no gigai…"

Ichigo growled as Grimmjow tugged painfully at his cheek as if to make sure of – well, whatever the guy was babbling about. He was not enjoying being beaten so easily, and the strangling was something he could really do without. Relaxing for a moment and then suddenly straining all his muscles as much as he could seemed to do the trick for an instant – but no.

Grimmjow bounced Ichigo's head off the wall. "Hey. Stop that. Tell me what you did, freak."

Ichigo, now turning blue, made a sort of "Grrchktch!" noise in reply, straining frantically.

It took Grimmjow a second, but he did eventually figure out the problem. "Oh," he said suddenly, significantly loosing his hold on Ichigo's throat: "Oh. Right. Forgot about that."

Ichigo gasped and panted heavily for several seconds. It almost occurred to him to ask how anyone could forget about breathing being necessary, but – no. There were more important things going on here. "What the fuck, you asshole? What the hell are you doing? Let me go!"

Grimmjow began to choke Ichigo again, more gently this time. "Maybe once you tell me how the hell you became a shinigami fucking overnight! Are you just trying to make my life difficult? Aizen's gonna – "

"Aizen?"

"Nevermind. How did you do it? 'S far as I knew, dying was sort of a requirement."

Ichigo's brain whirred for a few seconds, before it finally caught up with the conversation. "Oh!" he said, "You're talking about that girl."

Grimmjow blinked.

"Look, let me go and I'll tell you. It seems like you know more about what's going on than me anyway."

Grimmjow blinked again, frowned at his hand, and slowly let go, stepping back. Ichigo rubbed at his neck in annoyance. For a few seconds, they just stood there, but then Grimmjow shook himself back into interrogation mode.

"So? Tell me what you did, berry." he demanded.

Ichigo scowled. "Don't call me that, bastard. And I'll tell you already – if you tell me what the fuck is up with that jawbone on your face."

"Wh– you can see it?" Grimmjow asked, hand on the jawbone currently being discussed. He took another step back from Ichigo in surprise at the news, looking very perplexed.

"Well, yeah," Ichigo said. "I mean, it's kind of obvious, just hanging there and all."

"B-but this – is this damn gigai malfunctioning? Shit! Unless – did you only start seeing that this morning?"

Ichigo shrugged. "No. It's been there ever since I first saw you. But if it makes you feel better, I seem to be the only one who can actually see it."

Grimmjow frowned heavily, eying Ichigo with a wary look in his eye. "Well – well…" He seemed to have been completely thrown off his stride by this news, and it was a few moments before he could recover enough to demand that Ichigo explain about the shinigami thing first.

"Oi, don't tell me what to do!" Ichigo snapped. "The only reason I'm even talking to you right now is because you seem to know what's going on. Don't order me around, got it?!"

Grimmjow looked at him for a second without any expression on his face. Then, with no warning whatsoever, he burst out laughing. "Hahaha, I like that! No, really… It's hilarious. Now shut the fuck up and give me some answers, damn it."

Ichigo considered pointing out the inherent contradiction there, but eventually decided against it. He did want to know what was going on and as annoying as he was, Grimmjow seemed to have the answers he was looking for. Trading information seemed fair enough.

"Fine," he said shortly, then proceeded to regale Grimmjow with the entire sordid tale.

After it was done, Grimmjow stood still, frowning for a long moment. "Damn it," he muttered, "This was not how Aizen wanted things to go…"

"Who the fuck is Aizen?"

"No one!" Grimmjow snapped. Then he stopped and turned back to Ichigo. "This… shinigami chick, the girl – think she'll come back for ya?"

"No. She's weird, but she wanted nothing more than to get rid of me. Why?"

"It'd be… bad."

Ichigo snorted. "Oh yeah, that's specific."

Grimmjow snarled under his breath – really, snarled like an animal. "I know! Okay! This is – weird, you freak. This isn't supposed to happen."

Ichigo scratched at his head slightly for a moment. "Then, uh, what was supposed to happen…?"

Grimmjow frowned heavily, looked at Ichigo through narrowed eyes, and opened his mouth – just in time to be interrupted by all Ichigo's friends, at least the male ones, slamming their way onto the roof loudly.

Amid the confusion, accusations, and lunch that followed, Grimmjow slipped past Ichigo's ear. "Come with me after school," he muttered. "I'll tell you."

-xxx-

Ichigo refused to follow Grimmjow around after school without at least stopping home to drop off his stuff first, and letting Yuzu know he might miss dinner and all. So in the end it was Grimmjow who tailed him home. Figuring there was no need to hide, Ichigo took the most direct route possible, and once in the house, went straight up to his room. He didn't bother to wait for Grimmjow to catch up, figuring that if the guy really cared so much he wouldn't fall behind. And sure enough, Grimmjow stayed right on Ichigo's heels all the way from the classroom into Ichigo's bedroom.

Only to bang into Ichigo's back just inside the door, when Ichigo stopped short.

"What the hell–" Grimmjow started to snarl, but stopped when Ichigo spoke.

"What are you doing here?!"

Sitting on his bed, wearing his school's female uniform, munching on some chips, and apparently very into the horror manga she was holding, was the shinigami from the night before. She jumped and stuffed both the manga and snacks under Ichigo's pillow.

"Oh! H-hello," she chuckled awkwardly, still speaking that weird dialect. "I had to come here, your school doth have no openings for new transfers in your classroom and at lunchtime I was unable to locate thine presence before classes resumed."

"That's –" all Grimmjow's fault… "not what I meant! What are you even doing trying to find me in the first place?"

Rukia beamed. "Congratulations – you shall take over my shinigami duties for the time being!"

Ichigo reeled back in surprise. He was just about to loudly refuse the offer, when someone else did it for him.

"Oh hell no," Grimmjow snarled, shoving past Ichigo to glare at the girl on the bed. "Like fuck am I letting that happen. This shit is already out of control enough, thanks."

Rukia tensed immediately. She actually even reached for her side, as though to retrieve her sword, before seeming to remember that she didn't have it at the moment. When she spoke, her voice was cold and brittle. "…Who are you? Something seems – wrong."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, maybe it's the bone stuck to his face."

"…Not just that. His aura is –" Rukia blanched suddenly. "Ichigo. Get away from him."

The urgency was palpable in her voice, but she hadn't exactly brought great fortune to Ichigo so far, and at least he was somewhat familiar with Grimmjow. He didn't move from his spot by his classmate's side.

"No. This guy's promised to tell me what's going on."

Rukia shook her head. "I wouldn't listen to anything he tells you. This guy… he's a Hollow!"

Ichigo frowned. Sure, there was that skull thing going on, and the freakish strength, but otherwise Grimmjow didn't seem at all like the monster from last night. For one thing, other people could see him. Then again –

Grimmjow threw his head back and laughed. He didn't actually seem amused though, so much as irritated. "That was damn fast. Guess Syazel's shitty gigai really doesn't work after all. Not much point to it then…!"

And then, with a cocky grin, Grimmjow stepped out of his uniform-clad body. It fell to the floor behind him, revealing a new outfit consisting of a white hakama, an open-shirted white jacket with a popped black collar, and a big freaking hole in his gut. It was like someone had taken one of the chains on a ghost and just yanked it out, together with a perfectly circular piece of the body it was attached to. The new Grimmjow also came with a huge pulse of spiritual pressure. Ichigo stumbled away towards the bed.

"W-what the fuck…"

Rukia jumped at him, shoving a gloved fist against his shoulder. The next thing Ichigo knew, he was out of his body as well, back in his black hakama and with his giant sword.

Grimmjow snorted at the sight. "Compensating?"

"Shut up, asshole!" Ichigo snapped back.

"Ichigo, get out of here!" Rukia snapped. "He's way beyond your level! I – I've never seen or even heard of something like this–!"

She was cut off, and for a moment, Ichigo didn't even understand why. He hadn't even seen it. But in an instant, Grimmjow had blurred forward and punched Rukia. She instantly crumpled, coughing up blood.

"H-hey!" Ichigo shouted. He awkwardly brought his sword around to bear, aiming it at Grimmjow. "Leave her alone!"

The apparent Hollow in question gave a long, frustrated sigh. "Fuck, nothing's going right. They're all gonna give me such shit over this." He flicked a disinterested glance over at Ichigo. "Dammit. I was going to be all buddy-buddy and do this right for once, I really was… Guess all I can do now is bring you back with me."

Ichigo really didn't think he liked the sound of that. He swung his sword forward, aiming for Grimmjow's exposed jawbone (breaking the skull last night had killed that Hollow), but never even got close.

Grimmjow caught the blade in his bare hand, then yanked it right out of Ichigo's grip. He bared his teeth at Ichigo in a mocking grin. "Don't think so. Not right now, anyway. Got to admit, you're impressive for a human… but that's still like saying you're the biggest worm in the dirt: it don't mean much. Aizen seems to think you'll be interesting later, but right now? You aren't even close to being my match. So don't be an idiot and just come with me."

With a gesture, he opened up what seemed to be a… rip in the air. It was clearly a gateway of some sort. Where that gateway led… Ichigo didn't have the slightest clue.

"Seriously, don't make me throw you in there. Or I guess I could always just go out and play for a while. I know who all your friends are, now." Grimmjow's grin promised very nasty things.

Ichigo's world seemed to be spinning around him. All he had wanted was answers! Fuck! His weapon was gone, the only other person who could even see this stuff was out cold from one punch, and his sisters were downstairs.

His sisters…

"What's gonna happen if I go with you?" Ichigo asked tensely.

"I don't have a fucking clue," was the grumpy reply.

"…And if I don't?"

Grimmjow lifted a foot and rested it on Rukia. He slowly lowered Ichigo's blade until the tip rested just above her throat. "Dunno. Wanna find out?"

Ichigo swallowed hard. He didn't even know Rukia. But that didn't mean he wanted to see her guillotined with his own blade… that he'd only gotten when she'd sacrificed her power to help save his family. He owed her.

And besides, who would be next if he refused? His sisters were right downstairs. Grimmjow knew who all his friends were. And no one would be able to defend themselves. Hell, now that he'd left his 'body', probably no one but Karin would even be able to see Grimmjow.

Ichigo really didn't want to do this – but what choice did he have?

"Alright," he said, through gritted teeth. He stepped forward, toward Grimmjow and the rip in the air. "Alright, I'll come. Leave her alone."

"So noble," Grimmjow snorted, but he tossed Ichigo's sword across the room with a clatter and stepped away from Rukia. He grabbed Ichigo's arm and yanked him closer. "Come on then, berry."

Together, they stepped through the rip into an entirely new world. Ichigo looked back at the three bodies lying scattered motionless across his room, and ached to return. But a moment later, the rip closed, and that view was gone, replaced by endless desert sands under a full moon.

Grimmjow tugged on his arm. "This way," he said, and started walking.

Ichigo had no choice.

He went.