Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Bleach. Tite Kubo does. I make no money from this.
Warnings: Language. Sexual situations (later). There will be some character bashing (also later). I think that's about it.
Learning To Let Go
Chapter 1
Grimmjow was woken from his slumber by the sound of pitiful mewling.
For a minute, it didn't register that it was coming from the little basin next to his bed, but when it did, he scrambled over to check on the kitten he had rescued from the rain yesterday.
She was a tiny little thing, malnourished and frail, but Grimmjow could tell she was a fighter. She had white fur that was missing in some places, and baby blue eyes that were a little too big for her face. But she was absolutely adorable.
Grimmjow had a soft spot for baby animals. They called out to the protective instinct in him.
Making sure that she was alright, he picked her up and carried her to the kitchen with him. The little kitten squirmed in his careful hold, and he raised her up to his face to nuzzle her nose. She licked his cheek, and he laughed.
Setting her down on his dining table, he warmed some milk and poured it in a saucer for her to drink. He waited a moment to see if she was able to drink it directly from the bowl, and let her lap contently at the liquid when he found that she could. Quickly finishing his morning routine, he pulled on a pair of faded gray jeans and a black t-shirt, and entered the kitchen with a small basket lined with clean rags and a small, warm blanket.
He had no idea how he even had the basket, but he wasn't complaining at the moment. Who would have thought his pack-rat tendencies would actually pay off?
The kitten was dozing beside her saucer, so Grimmjow guessed she was still tired. He gently picked her up and placed her in the basket, placing an old, folded t-shirt on her so she wouldn't feel cold. He put on his black leather jacket, retrieved his phone, keys and wallet from his coffee table before taking the basket and stepping out of the warmth of his modest one story house.
Making sure the door was locked properly, he pocketed his keys and began his brisk walk to the pet store.
Starrk had told him about the place, which was a block further from the auto shop he co-owned and worked at.
Auto 61 was Grimmjow's second home, considering he spent almost all his waking hours there. It was his heart and soul, and had taken plenty of hard work and saved up money to make it the popular workshop it was today. He had started it with Starrk, who was somewhat akin to his best friend, and his room mate since his college days. They had worked night and day to build the little shop into a decent sized garage, one of the best in Karakura now.
They had quite a lot of female clients, and it quite frankly pissed everyone off when they came there and spent their time ogling the workers under the pretense of watching them work on the car. Not that anyone could blame them, really. They were a bunch of hot motherfuckers, with the exception of Nnoitra, who was just a motherfucker. A really tall, really annoying one.
Before he knew it, he was standing in front of the pet store/ clinic Starrk had told him about. Apparently the vet was a kind and experienced man, and they had a large variety of pet food and other paraphernalia.
The store front was pretty average, what you'd expect from any pet shop. The display window had a huge fish tank filled with gold fish at the bottom, a large hamster cage with a couple of fluffy hamsters rolling around on the shelf above, and two medium sized bird cages, one with a couple of blue and yellow lovebirds and the other with a brilliantly coloured macaw stacked above the hamster cage. The cages were all clean and the feeders were full. The macaw squawked at him, interrupting his scrutiny.
His kitten poked her nose out of the basket, looking up at him with her large blue eyes. "Mew," She said.
Grimmjow chuckled at that, hefting the basket so he could tuck it against his side, before he pushed the door and it opened with a jangling of bells.
Hm, how old fashioned.
The whole shop had a nice, welcoming feel to it. The floor was a dark wood, and the walls were painted a light green. The cashier's counter was almost right at the entrance, though no one was sitting there now. Along the opposite wall was a bench about seven feet long. Next to the bench was a plain door with a bronze plaque bearing the doctor's name, and a poster of 3 frolicking golden retriever puppies neatly taped below it. On the wall above the bench was a large, colourful poster that listed all the vaccines that were to be administered, and another poster about some basic pet-care regimens. When to feed them, when to bathe them, grooming them and the like. Grimmjow surmised this was the waiting room for the in house clinic Starrk deemed worthy enough to treat his two dogs. There was a cacophony of animal noises coming from further inside, so the blue haired man decided to go inside instead of simply standing around in the entrance.
Above the eager barking and whining of the dogs and the slightly quieter mewing of the kittens, Grimmjow heard a soft male voice laughing.
Now he was no romantic, and neither did he believe in love at first sight, but Grimmjow was pretty fucking sure something weird was happening right then.
The sweet, deep tenor belonged to an angel that sat on his haunches next to an open puppy's cage, laughing in amusement as a puppy barked and licked at him. The angel's hair was bright orange, short and sticking up defiantly, swaying along with the movement of his head. Grimmjow could only see a profile of a youthful, kind face with a sharp nose and defined cheek bones as the angel indulged the puppy with belly scratches.
The almost surreal moment shattered when his kitten let out a loud meow, the angel now regarding him with a wary, somewhat irritated expression.
Grimmjow, fearless, brash, outspoken Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez was lost for words.
Brown, such gorgeous, beautiful, deep coffee- brown eyes the angel had...
"May I help you?" The angel asked, effectively snapping him out of his momentary meltdown.
"Uhm. Yeah." Grimmjow held out his cat-basket dumbly. "I need stuff for her."
Wow, Grimmjow. Just, wow.
Grimmjow internally head-desked. Because a face palm couldn't capture and express how absolutely DUMB he felt right now.
The angel's face softened at the sight of the fuzzy kitten, and he nodded. "Why don't you wait in the front, I'll be right there."
"Sure."
The blue haired man walked back to the waiting area, and set the basket down on the counter top, which was also hard wood and bare except for a computer and a small printer on one corner. Behind the desk, the shelves were filled with bottles and boxes, all of them bearing pictures of the animals they were intended for. Dogs, kittens, birds, fish, even horses.
His kitten had managed to tumble out of the basket as he'd looked at all the things in the shelves, and he quickly scooped her away before she managed to reach the keyboard.
"Hey now, don't go wandering off like that!" He chided her, tapping lightly on her pink nose.
The macaw screeched suddenly, and both man and cat almost jumped out of their skin at the unexpected noise.
"Bostov! Don't screech at the customers!" The angel's voice sounded before he was seen, wiping his hands on a small towel which he tucked into his back pocket with a half smile on his face. "Don't mind the bird, he does that all the time. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, though. How old is your kitten?"
Grimmjow was able to get a good look now, and he was mentally arguing how one person could be so perfect. At around five feet eight inches, the man had a lithe build and excellent posture. His neck was slender and his collar bones were well defined, peeking out from his t-shirt's large, round neck. He was wearing a dark green apron that reached a few inches above his knees, "Katen's Pet Emporium" embroidered onto the left breast with white thread.
The angel cleared his throat, looking at him pointedly from behind the counter.
Grimmjow mentally head-desked again.
"Uh- I- I don't really know, actually. I was walking home yesterday night when I found her in the alley next to my house. She was wet and dirty and was a little bloodied so I wiped her down her with a damp wash cloth and put some antiseptic lotion on her. Then I fed her some milk and she fell asleep."
Ichigo 'hmm'ed, stroking the little furball behind her ears. "She looks to be around two weeks old, and from what I can say, she looks pretty healthy though she's a bit on the thin side. Just feed her regularly and she'll be fine. You should get her vaccinated at eight weeks, and dewormed when she's about six weeks old. You should bring her to the vet anyway, and get her checked up. A two week old kitten is a lot of work."
Grimmjow nodded attentively, noting the way the man carefully looked over the kitten, how the concern on his face melted to relief when he was sure everything was fine. "When can I come see the vet, then?"
"Dr. Ukitake will be here from six to nine every day except Thursdays. You can just walk in, but you'll be saved some hassle if you call ahead to make an appointment."
"In that case, can I make an appointment for today? I work at the auto shop on 42nd street, so it shouldn't be a problem to come here again." Not that it would ever be a problem to come see the angel, of course.
The angel blinked for a moment. "You mean you work at Auto 61?"
Grimmjow beamed, unable to help himself. "Yup. I co-own the place, actually."
The angel nodded but didn't say anything else on the topic. He opened a drawer and pulled out a clipboard and a pen, and a small notebook that had a picture of a fluffy Persian kitten on its cover.
He uncapped the pen and opened the small notebook before he looked at Grimmjow again to ask his name.
"Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez." Grimmjow smirked at the disbelieving face the angel made. " That's G-R-I-M-M-J-O-W J-A-E-G-E-R-J-A-Q-U-E-Z"
The angel made a 'whew' sound and acted like he was wiping sweat off his forehead. The blunette outright laughed at that, and was rewarded with a smirk.
"So what's her name?"
"Damn, I knew I was forgetting something." Grimmjow mumbled, and the angel rolled his eyes.
"So do I leave this space blank till later?"
The taller man smiled sheepishly and shrugged, absently raking a hand through his sky blue hair. "I suck at this kind of thing, and I don't think I'll come up with a nice name even if I think about it all day, so... Why don't you name her yourself?"
The angel looked surprised at that, going wide eyed and a little pink in the face. "But- But it's your cat, I couldn't-"
"No, you have to," Grimmjow grinned at him, "I'm the reason why the garage is called 'Auto 61'. Starrk lost a bet, so I got to name it myself. Do you know how pissed he was? So if you want to spare this innocent creature from having some dumbass name like, I dunno, Fluffy or some shit, I think you should name her yourself."
The angel chuckled. "Fine then. I'll choose a name, see if you like it." he picked up the kitten and held her out at arm's length, looking at her with one eye closed. Then he brought her close to his face so they were seeing eye to eye, warm chocolate brown to bright icy blue. After a while of contemplation, he put her down again, and looked at Grimmjow sagely.
"We should call her... Sora."
Grimmjow grinned. "Like the sky, eh? Its a great name. Thanks."
The angel went back to tickle and pet the kitten, smiling softly at the little thing. He placed her back in the basket before he went back to the book, filling everything else in with Grimmjow's help.
"When do you want the appointment, then?" he asked, copying some things from the book onto the form on the clipboard.
"Is six o'clock alright?"
"Sure," The angel said, handing the book over to the taller man. "Bring that book whenever you bring her to the vet. Have you had a cat before?" At Grimmjow's nod, he continued, "Well, in any case, you should read up on the pet care tips they have in the book, to make sure you haven't missed anything. I'll get all the other things you need for now. And also, don't give her milk, you need to give her kitten formula so she won't get an upset stomach. Feed her once every four to six hours, and keep her warm and clean. You'll have to rub her down to help her pee, and you'll have to burp her too."
As the angel looked through the shelves inside the shop, pulling out a large, shallow trough, a bag of cat litter, a box of kitten milk replacer and some toys, talking the whole while about cat behaviors and house training them, Grimmjow's mind wandered.
Grimmjow was on to something here; the man really did look like an angel when he smiled. The corners of his eyes would crinkle a little and his eyes would shine with affection as he looked at the animals he took care of. His lips curled just so, and damn if Grimmjow didn't feel like he'd been kicked in the chest by a horse.
He just stared at the back of the man's head, trying to comprehend what he'd seen in his chocolate hued eyes. Those eyes held a lot of pain behind them, Grimmjow could tell. He never claimed to be good at interacting with people, but he excelled at reading them, gauging what kind of person they were. And Grimmjow was pretty impressed already with what little he'd seen, which was quite a feat in itself since Grimmjow wasn't easily impressed by anything.
This man had a sense of determination in him, a hardened will, but he also had a jaded sense of resignation. Grimmjow found it curious, the presence of two completely opposite traits in one person. He wanted to know the man better. It wasn't just to sate his curiosity, no; He felt an inexplicable draw to this orange haired man, to his wary personality and his beautiful brown eyes.
The angel handed him the bag filled with cat things, and Grimmjow paid. As he tucked his change back into his wallet, Grimmjow hesitated before he decided he needed to know. "What's your name?"
The angel's eyes immediately narrowed in suspicion, his arms crossing over his chest. "Why do you want to know?"
Grimmjow filed away the defensive behaviour to ponder later. "Well, by the looks of it I'm going to be a regular customer from now on, so I thought it would be nice to know your name, you know. But by the way you're fussing about it, I suppose I don't need it after all." He smirked, knowing he was taking an unnecessary risk by mouthing off like an ass, but hoping the angel would take the bait.
The shop assistant went a little red in the face even as he scowled sourly. "It's Ichigo Kurosaki. And it's not fussing if you want to know why some random dude wants to know your name."
"But I'm not a random dude now, am I?" Grimmjow grinned, elated that he'd gotten the result he'd wanted. Ichigo Kurosaki.
The angel- Ichigo- rolled his eyes heavenward before giving him a flat look. "Good day to you, sir."
The blunette laughed. "It's Grimmjow, Ichigo. Call me Grimmjow."
Ichigo pointedly ignored him, waving goodbye at Sora with a small smile before he turned and walked back into the store.
Grimmjow smiled to himself.
**********continues...