Pale Blossom

A/N: Sorry if you were subscribed to the previous version of this. I'm doing a full rewrite, so the first chapter as well as been redone. Thanks.

Chapter Two

Blue and Green

Nel knew that when her godfather's mobile came across her caller ID that something very interesting had to be happening. Her godfather rarely called during this time of the day, mostly because he was at work more than anything. She smiled to herself as she tapped the button to connect the call. Her uncle was eccentric, and he often surprised her with the strangest things.

"Nel, my dear, are you well?" he asked, and she could tell he was trying to sound like he was his normal, happy self.

Dr. Kisuke Urahara always appeared to be a happy person, smiling even in the most dire of circumstances. Kisuke had become Nel and Grimmjow's godfather when they were both small, a close friend of their father. When their parents both were killed in a terrible house fire when they were in their early teens, Kisuke had taken them in and put them through high school and college. The think was, he was never their father. He never tried to be. He treated them like he always had, and he helped them when they asked. They were allowed their own mistakes of course, and between the two of them, her brother had made more than enough for both of them, and not in the tattoos and piercings he'd gotten over the years. Those were actually the least of her brother's past.

"Well, Kissy," she said, using her nickname for her godfather. He would only tolerate it from her, of course. "What's wrong?"

"You aren't easily fooled, are you?" he asked, his voice dropping in volume and in a way that she knew there was indeed something wrong. It was strange, the man's whole demeanor changed when faced with something that really bothered him.

She snorted. "Your brother brought in an interesting patient, one I thought you would be very interested in."

Her interest was piqued now. "What is it? Is it one of my kids?"

"He was, until he turned eighteen last year," he answered. "The Kurosaki boy."

Nel gasped. She had tried so hard to uncover that kid's abuser. It had been clear as day to her and the school staff that had called her in on the case. Nel was a social worker for the state, and child abuse cases were her area. The boy had been fourteen when she'd been called by a dear friend at his high school, a woman named Yoruichi Shihōin. They'd met in grad school, Nel getting her social work degree, and Yoruichi her school counseling degree. She'd told her that he often came to school bruised and a couple times with a split lip. He showed no other signs, though. He was vibrant and charismatic. But she was worried because he had started to recede from his friends in the months before she was called and spent all his free time with his girlfriend, a girl named Arisawa Tatsuki.

She remembered watching them, and seeing nothing strange in the boy's behavior. She met with his sisters who were very pleasant and gleefully talked about their dad, and when asked if they ever fought, they said, all the time! Worried, she asked why they fought, and the twin girls informed her that their dad play fought with him, and dad usually got the short end of their fights, whining and crying on the floor after being thrown by his son. She found that his dad was a doctor, and one that her godfather knew very well. After a long discussion with the father, she could find no reason to suspect him, as he was just as worried as the teachers.

For the next four years, she watched as he was repeatedly caught with various injuries. One or two had sent him to the hospital claiming clumsiness and getting into fights with other students, but no one remembered him fighting at all. The whole thing was strange, and as she checked in, his friends had all become very distant. When he turned seventeen he moved out from his dad's house, with his permission, and got an apartment with his girlfriend. After that, he was never out without her, it seemed. At eighteen, of course, the case was off her desk, and she wondered if she could have done something more for the kid. That had been the end summer before last, but she still caught herself thinking about him. She always dwelled on the kids she couldn't help more than anything.

"What happened?" she asked, concerned. It was not unusual for victims of long term abuse to be hospitalized for serious injuries suddenly when the abuser lost control.

"Well, Grimmjow came in, saying he found him outside bleeding, and he passed out in the waiting room. I recognized him from your description, the bright orange hair was a dead giveaway, and then took his information. He had a concussion on the back of his head that he claimed came from falling into the coffee table. But when I asked about his bruised ribs and split lip he shrugged saying he must have got it while falling down. Of course, we both know that's impossible to hit all three points on the body at the same time. He refused to call his dad or his girlfriend, saying he wanted to go home alone. I convinced him if he did that I'd make him stay overnight, so I offered that he could stay overnight with you and Grimm to watch for his concussion."

She smiled, rolling her yes. "A little unorthodox, eh Kissy? And you realize illegal?" she said.

"Yeah, well, I can't let him go after the conversation I heard on the phone. When I told him it was that or the hospital, he called his girlfriend. I think I'm pretty sure it is a domestic violence issue, Nelly. I'm actually inclined to believe it always has been."

She paused hearing that. "His girlfriend?" she said, despite her field. She should have seen it. She had been as blind as everyone else.

It was quite unusual to have something like this come up. It did happen, and she knew it happened, but she herself hadn't had a case of a girl abusing her boyfriend. The horror stories of the situations that went around the offices were bad enough, however. Males rarely reported abuse at all, and were even more unlikely to report being abused by a female partner.

"Nel, he was afraid to call her. Said that she'd be mad if he was in the ER again. Something is wrong, and I think you could try and uncover it. His records show his last visit was almost a year ago, with a broken collar bone, three broken ribs and broken elbow. The record indicated the doctor was suspicious and reported it, but he claimed he'd been jumped in an alley on his way home from work, and got his wallet stolen. You know as well as I do how common this is. I see a lot of them, and they walk out of here with their abuser, and if I'm lucky I don't see them, if I am unlucky, they come in when it's already too late and I can't save them."

Nel nodded, sighing. "Yeah, Kissy, I guess if I couldn't help him before, I can do what I can now, but I can't promise anything. I don't have power to stop him from going back, even if it is domestic violence. You know this. If he leaves here, we have to let him go. It is quite bad enough that you're forcing him to come here under duress and could very well be reported for that alone, but if we try and make him stay, we could be charged with imprisoning him."

"Just try your best, they should be almost home by now," he said, as though the fact that he'd done something illegal didn't bother him at all. Of course, it didn't. Her godfather saw it as a matter of the greater good. "Bye, Nelly dear!"

She smiled, hearing the key in the lock. "Yeah, bye Kissy."

She looked up to see her younger brother, leading a bedraggled looking orange headed boy she recognized behind him. He was wearing a hospital gown with a pair of dark jeans, and looking around thoughtfully. Nel recognized him; after all, it hadn't been that long ago that his picture was in her files. She had never actually met him herself, though, so that would make this less awkward. What did surprise her is that he didn't look any different at all; he still looked like a kid.

"Grimmjow, who are you dragging home today?" she exclaimed, catching her brother in a tight hug, whispering into his ear "Kissy called," before she pushed back.

Ichigo stared at the woman, tall and busty with sea foam green hair. What was this, the weird hair club? He thought oddly. Of course, he had his doubts that either of them had hair naturally that color, that was too weird. Before he could react he was in a tight hug that seemed to press directly on his bruised ribs. Despite himself, he let out a groan of discomfort. She couldn't act like she knew. So she pushed him back with a frown.

"Whatever is wrong, love?" she said, and yanked the gown open in a swift move, letting it lay open. Nel was quite good at using the shock factor on someone like this.

Ichigo gasped, not sure how to react to this aggressive woman, cringing slightly away as she examined his torso. There were two bright purple bruises decorating his ribcage, and several other older bruises here and there. She arched a brow, and looked up at the sheepish look on his face. She knew that look. It was the look of someone who was abused and someone had uncovered it, and now they had to figure out how to explain it and stop the questions.

"Ah, I got…in a fight?" he said, his tone almost questioning whether this woman would believe his story.

"Nel, this is Ichigo, our god-pop wants us to keep an eye on him for his concussion tonight. Needs to be woken up every two hours all night," Grimmjow said, eyeing his sister suspiciously.

Nel gave him a knowing wink and he got the clue. His elder sister's job; he assumed that was why Kisuke had went this decidedly odd route and sent the kid home with him. Their godfather was a meddler, as they called him. He never seemed to know when to leave well enough alone, and it often got him in trouble. It was a good thing that both Nel and Grimmjow knew local cops as well as they did, otherwise, Kisuke would have been in trouble so often.

Nel fixed him with a look. "Itsygo, what happened, poor thing?" she asked softly.

She was still holding him by the front of the gown, his chest exposed. "Ah, fell into a coffee table…"

"Hum, did the coffee table also spin and smack you in the lip and the back of your head at the same time, love?" she asked thoughtfully, glancing up at his wide brown eyes.

Without thinking he muttered, "Um, sure…"

She let him go, as though he hadn't answered the question and headed to the kitchen. "I'll see if I've got enough to make some dinner, Grimm. Get our guest set up on the pull out sofa, okay?"

Nel stopped in the kitchen to breathe more than anything. She'd known, but how could she have speculated the kid had been abused by another kid his age? Seriously, this didn't happen often, and even less often did it get reported for just this reason. No way was he going to tell her he let his girlfriend beat on him. That just wasn't a thing guys did. It was hard enough to get women and girls to report domestic violence. Child abuse she could take action with or without permission if she had proof, but this… She sighed. This was going to get sticky if she was going to help him. She pulled out her phone and ran through the numbers until she found the one she was looking for. It had been a while since she'd called them up for help with something like this.

"Hey, Byakuya, you and Renny busy tonight?" she asked gently.

"We had intended a quiet dinner at home," came the stoic, and expected response.

"Hey, that Nelly?" came the hyper voice in the background. "Lemme talk to her!"

"Shush," Byakuya said. "I'm speaking now, brat. You called for a reason?"

Nel smiled because she could hear Renji complaining in the background. "Yeah, got a kid, domestic violence victim, and well…I could use you and Renny on it."

There was a scoff. "Wouldn't one of your female acquaintances better suit the situation?"

"It would, if the victim were female," she said quietly.

There was a long pause, punctuated by a swatting sound and a yelp from Renji. "Dammit!" came the voice in the background. "Yes, we will be there shortly. If this brat can behave long enough to put clothes on."

Nel giggled and smiled. "Of course." She put the phone back in her pocket and stepped out into the front, watching first.

Ichigo was stammering about how he could take care of himself. It was quite easy to set an alarm, and his girlfriend was going to worry. He had to do so many things… Grimmjow was having none of it though and the boy sighed and sat down on the couch to wait as Grimmjow sat some sheets and pillows on the side table.

"Grimmy, 'Kuya and Renny are coming by, would you go get some pizza and beer?" Nel asked cheerfully as she came out into the room. She glanced at Ichigo. "Um, and some soda."

Ichigo frowned and crossed his arms. "You don't have to get me anything, I'm fine. And I'm not a kid; I'll be twenty later this summer."

Nel's face only betrayed the annoyance briefly. "Love, you come here, you eat and drink with us, and that's final!"

Ichigo felt that brief tightening in his stomach and nodded quickly, his eyes casting downward immediately. "Yeah, okay."

Nel turned and looked at Grimmjow with a frown. He knew that look. He knew what she saw just then. The kid just completely relented without a second thought when Nel had gotten forceful with him. It was very much like it was something he did all the time. He had a simple instinct to protect himself from someone else's anger. He sighed and though damned if she wasn't right about this stuff. He leaned over and kissed his elder sister on the head.

"Sure, sweet, you wanna see if you can find him a shirt that might fit, or sort of fit?" he said shrugging.

She turned to him, and sighed. "Honey, Grimmjow's clothes are gonna fall right off. I'll get you one of my shirts."

He started to protest, but she was gone. Great, now he'd be stuck in a chick shirt. Surprisingly it didn't really bother him that much, though. She came back with a t-shirt that was definitely made for a woman, but looked about the right size for him. He shrugged out of the tacky gown and slipped it on. It was tight around his midsection and hugged tight to every one of his defined muscles. He arched a brow, surprised that it fit him well. It was otherwise plain black with a picture of a ram's head on the chest. He'd thought it would be baggy in the chest considering how big her boobs were.

"Heh, yeah, it doesn't fit me too well, not enough stretch for the boobs in it," she said with a chuckle, pushing her boobs up with her hands. She smiled and looked him up and down again. "Looks hot on you, sweetie."

He blushed madly at the compliment and looked up. "Don't worry love, I don't swing that direction," she said with a wink. He caught his breath than caught on. Oh… "Man, love, you have seriously got a body of a performer," she said, humming as she looked him over. Again he blushed.

She smiled. "I know how to keep you awake; we'll go visit my friend's place. He runs a microbrewery and coffeehouse and tonight, my dear, is the night they have the band in. We can keep you up and dancing all night. I'm sure Grimmjow, and more than one of the pretty boys down there, would spin you around the floor."

"But I'm not…I mean, I have a girlfriend…and…" he stammered.

She arched a brow. "Hrm, couldn't have guessed the way you were eyeballing Grimmjow's ass when he left," she muttered with a grin.

He gasped and tried to stammer out of it but clamped his mouth shut again as the doorbell rang. Okay, so the guy had a nice ass. A really nice ass. Much better than Tatsuki's ass. What was he thinking? He wasn't that way…he had a nice girlfriend. Well, most the time she was nice. Domineering, and she was good in bed. Well, actually she wasn't that good; she just laid there after all. And he never left satisfied. He looked up, his face bright red as a tall dark haired man and a man with vivid red hair came in without knocking.

"Nel, what did you do to the poor boy before we got here?" the man with the bright red hair and tattoos yelled as he shut the door behind him. He was dressed in a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, while the dark haired man wore a suit jacket and pants with a white button up shirt. He had an air of authority or nobility almost about him.

Nel came in. "I think I gave him a sexuality complex."

The dark haired man snorted. "Leave it to you Nel, finding all the closet cases."

Ichigo's face burned so much he wondered if you could bleed from a blush. He tried to stammer something, and covered his face with both hands. He jumped as he felt someone put an arm over his shoulder. He looked up into the dark eyes of the red-head.

"Hey, don't worry, babe, my name is Renji Abarai, and this prim and proper bastard is my boyfriend. What's your name, babe?" he asked, pulling him toward the living room.

"I-Ichigo Kurosaki," he said softly.

"How you know this incredibly brazen woman here?" Byakuya asked, sitting down on the couch rather properly and looking around with a rather sour face.

Nel came out and handed a beer to each of them, and tossed a can of coke to Ichigo. "Grimmy brought him home from Urahara's fix up. Got himself a conk to the head so we are gonna make sure he doesn't die overnight."

"Sucks man, how'd that happen?" Renji asked, popping the top on the beer and taking a sip.

Ichigo had suddenly found the can in his hands extremely interesting. "Um, you know, fell and hit my table," he stammered.

"Dude, that sucks, which one?" Renji continued, sitting down beside Byakuya and leaning into him. A moment later, Byakuya relaxed and leaned back into the sofa and draped an arm around Renji's shoulders.

For a second Ichigo couldn't think. Which one had he said before? "Um, living room, you know, coffee table," he said after a moment realizing he'd told the truth about what table he'd hit.

Ichigo was sitting beside Renji and he smirked and gave him a playful punch to the ribs. Ichigo winced and put his arms over his ribs protectively. "Your coffee table punch ya in the gut too?" Renji said, arching a brow.

Ichigo chewed on his lip for a moment. It was getting harder and harder to keep up with what he'd told the others. Shit, he was forgetting it as fast as he was telling it. "Th-the couch, I fell into it and into the table, you know, just clumsy all the time…happens all the time…"

Ichigo shifted uncomfortably, nervously sipping the drink. He hadn't felt this cornered since his dad had interrogated him last time he'd been over, and he didn't even know these people.

"Yeah, what else you done to yourself?" Renji said, sipping his beer and resting one hand on Byakuya's knee. "I drink a lot and I've broken a great many bones being shit faced. Couple months ago took a tumble out the front door of the bar broke my damn ankle," he said, picking up his foot and rolling his ankle a bit.

Ichigo visibly relaxed, smiling. He didn't notice that he let out a breath, however those present did immediately. Okay he could do this. Comparing breaks, that was easy. "Yeah, I was going upstairs one day and tripped up the stairs with a box, terrible, right? And I can't even drink yet. Broke one of my hands that time."

Renji snorted and Byakuya rolled his eyes as if this was common occurrence with his younger boyfriend. "That's the worst ya got, boy? Let's see, I had a compound fracture of the thigh bone once. Fucking hurt like a bitch that one did. Rolled my motorcycle in the middle of winter."

Ichigo smiled and thought. What had been the worst? "Oh I had this one time when I actually got my elbow broke, that took forever to heal up! I think…what happened with that one?" he thought. Shit. He remembered what really happened. Tatsuki had ran his elbow through the wall into a stud when she'd thrown him one night when she came home a little high from a friend's house, same incident where his collar bone got broken. Stupid nationals...

"Um, car accident…" he said finally. He grimaced. No, that wasn't right, he'd told the ER he got jumped in an alley and mugged. Well, what were the chances these people would check a police report?

He missed the look between Byakuya and Nel that said they knew that what he said was complete bullshit. Just then, though, the door opened, and the smell of fresh pizza wafted over the room, setting everyone's mouths to watering. Everyone dug in, Ichigo taking two small slices and curling up in the chair away from everyone else. He didn't want to sit by Renji anymore because he was afraid he'd know too much. He felt a presence over him and looked up to see a frowning Grimmjow.

"You're tellin' me you're skinny ass is going eat two pieces and that's all?" he said. "I mean, hell, you need some meat on them bones, kid." He punctuated the thought by prodding at Ichigo's exposed collarbone.

He started to stammer and then just blurted, "It's all I get to eat at home." Shit, did he just admit that to another guy? That sounded bad. "I…I mean that's all I choose to eat at home," he muttered shoving a piece into his mouth to stop the conversation. Grimmjow frowned but sat on the couch end closest to him.

Grimmjow looked up at Nel as she came and sat down across from Ichigo in the loveseat. "Damn, you put him in your clothes anytime, looks a fuckin' lot better than in that crappy t-shirt he had on when I ran into him."

"I told him that, he's hot in that shirt!" she said with a smile. "Told him we'd take him to Shinji's place tonight and he'd get spun around the floor a few times."

Ichigo had gone red once more just thinking of being around all those people and dancing. He couldn't imagine doing something so…so…crazy. But he couldn't hide the thrill it would give him. "I work nights already," he muttered under his breath, sipping his coke nervously.

"Well, isn't that perfect," Renji said brightly. "So quit. Come down and meet everyone tonight, and relax. I'll spin your perky little ass around the floor a time or two."

He gasped looking around. "I…I'm off tonight, I mean, I had to call in because of the whole…coffee table…I guess I could go see the place," he said blushing madly.