Chapter 3. the story still hasn't gone anywhere, sorry to disappoint. This chapter is kinda mindless drabble. Hope it's acceptable. Disclaimer: I do not own bleach!
First Light
Grimmjow sensed the reiatsu of the orange haired shinigami and rushed off in that direction without hesitation. However, by the time he got there, the power surge was gone and Ichigo was nowhere in sight. He sighed. What a disappointment. Then his thoughts were brought back to the mission at hand. Was this really important, or did Aizen want him out of Heuco Mundo so much that he made it up? Well, fuck him. I needed a break from that place, and if this mission is of no importance to him, then that's great! I'll make this an adventure...if I can.
Grimmjow wanted to make the most of his mission, but could he? Everytime he thought of it, his stomach churned. Hey, wait a minute; Grimmjow Jaggerjaques never backs down from a mission. So what if he did have to go undercover as a student? Of course he could do it.
With renewed hopes, Grimmjow made his way to school. People stared and ,Grimmjow couldn't believe it, he was actually feeling a bit self conscious! He ran his hand across the side of his face where his hollow mask usually was. Of course it wasn't there; he was in a gigai. Where the hell did Aizen get a gigai from? So why was everyone staring, was it just because he was new?
Just then some kid just walked up to him and held out a hand. What the...? Who does this guy think he is? Grimmjow was using every ounce of his self control not to fling the scrawny little punk into the depths of soul society; he thought that if he failed this early in the mission [even if it really was a fake mission], he might actually see Ulquiorra flash his first smirk! Okay, maybe not, but he would definitely wax infinitely on what a failure, even for a piece of trash, he was. Hell no, he wasn't going back this early, to give Ulquiorra that satisfaction; he'd have to avoid unnecessary hostility.
Grimmjow refrained from any acts of violence, except for cracking his knuckles. He lifted his head in acknowledgement of the boy, grunted and continued forward. Damn it! The idiot was following after him. "Hey, Bluey, wait up." What? That was it. Grimmjow about faced and knocked his lights out. Bluey?! He did resolve to avoid unnecessary hostility.
Grimmjow walked on, silently fuming at the audacity of the boy and at how difficult these humans made things. As he trudged through the crowd, now absorbed in his thoughts, he was oblivious to the stares that followed him, however, now, no one dared to approach him. He found his way to the principal's office on his own. The office was a typical, boring administrator's office, but as Grimmjow was stepping in, he saw what looked like the back of a spiky orange head leaving through the other door. Was that who he thought it was?
Grimmjow was given his time table and a student was assigned to show him around. He did not, however, lose his temper with this one, for, though this boy showed no sign of fear, Grimmjow could tell he was intimidated. He kept a fair distance away, only addressed Grimmjow when necessary and scampered off as soon as he was able. So some humans do have a sense of self-preservation. Grimmjow chuckled to himself.
Grimmjow had no recollection of ever being to school before, and he unconsciously found himself waiting in anticipation. Of course, when he realized this, he instantly righted his disposition and went back to his former train of thought; this would be hell. Suddenly, the school bell distracted him from his thoughts. So here I go.
Grimmjow's hunch was proven right on entering the classroom. There, in the second column from the window, in the second-to-last row sat the substitute shinigami, surrounded by his friends. A grin plastered on Grimmjow's face, things would be interesting after all. It pleased Grimmjow to think that his mere presence would have Ichigo on edge. This was going to be fun!
Grimmjow took his eyes off Ichigo and tried to hide his grin as the teacher addressed him. He introduced himself to the class, trying, but failing to keep his composure owing to Ichigo's expression and those of his friends. He could almost see the cogs in the shinigami's mind going into hyper drive. It pleased him to no end. As he took his seat, he winked at Ichigo, and his grin returned fully as he turned to face front. Unfortunately, the fun stopped there, as class commenced and his seat was as far as possible from Ichigo's.
Grimmjow was at a loss for words after Math class. Actually, no, there were lots of words swimming around in his mind; annoying, infuriating, a waste of time and energy, useless, and lastly, damn hard! He actually commended himself for not storming out or killing that blasted teacher on the spot. Who cared what the integral of cos23x + sinx was? Wait a minute, did I just remember that? Get a grip Grimmjow! He hoped that the next class involved no pi, unless it was the type to eat, he was getting kind of hungry.
As Grimmjow entered his next class, he realized that there were some different faces in the room. Also, Ichigo wasn't in this class. It was English, and they were given an essay to write. It took Grimmjow four pages to realize he quite enjoyed this and that he knew English pretty well. How 'bout that. That was fun; he got to kill Aizen, even if it were only fiction. As he walked out of class, intermingled with his grin was an actual smile.
* * *
At lunch time, Grimmjow was accosted by Ichigo, who took him to the roof of the school. Oh yeah, Ichigo definitely looked agitated. Thoughts like, 'is my calendar cookoo, or is it winter already? Damn it, I've been a bit lax about my training lately. I wonder what's happening. I could use a good fight.' all flooded his brain.
Why was Grimmjow there, it couldn't just be for a fight, something big was going on, or else he wouldn't be posing as a student. When those thoughts struck Ichigo, it only then occurred to him that he would have never thought that Grimmjow would be able to pull this off, even if it were for the sake of a mission. Hey, it's halfday already, and there've been no brutal murders. Wow! It must really be an important mission if he was trying this hard to keep his cool.
"So, why are you here, I don't really have time for this."
"Isn't it obvious, I was missin' you, Strawberry."
A vein in Ichigo's temple twitched at the nickname the other had given him. "Cut the crap, Jaggerjaques, I told you, I'm busy!"
"Well then, I won't keep you too long...from your deathbed!" At these words, he discarded his gigai, using something similar to Ichigo's Shinigami Representative Badge. Ichigo took this as his cue to do the same. Both swords were drawn, and without a moment's notice, Grimmjow was thrown backwards by a Getsuga Tenshou.
"You really are in a hurry, huh? But you've gotta do better than that, Berry!" he said, as he made a dive for Ichigo. His aim proved true, as he landed a hit on his right shoulder. He thought that the shock of the nickname left Ichigo a little disoriented. Well, no matter if it did or it didn't, it was definitely pissing him off, and it was just something he thought of at the spur of the moment. Today was his day! He was going to unload some of his frustration at last. He sped up and aimed for the face, Ichigo countered.
"Time to bring out that mask!" he said, thoroughly exhilarated, as their swords clashed once again in mid air.
"Getsuga Tenshou!" Ichigo yelled as their swords met. Grimmjow was flung backward with such force this time, that he went off the roof and slammed into a nearby tree with a deafening 'Bang!' The tree shook, leaves fell and Grimmjow rushed toward Ichigo. Damn that brat, he was looking at his watch at a time like this! What could he possibly be in such a hurry for?
"Not bad. You can pack that much power without the mask! You're a regular pikachu now, aren't ya?" Eh, what's a pikachu? Why the hell did I say that?
Ichigo raised his brows. "I don't know what you're – ", Ichigo stopped, puzzled. Grimmjow had frozen after he spoke and was now in deep thought. What the hell? Was Grimmjow messing with him? He cleared his throat to attract Grimmjow's attention and charged forward. Grimmjow swore as Ichigo cut him across the face.
"So, you still haven't told me, what's up? Why'd you decide to pursue academics?" Ichigo was still worried about the so called plan. Grimmjow grinned, showing his marvellous white fangs.
"Well, my supreme ass of an overlord wouldn't want me revealing important details to the enemy, now would he? But I'm sure you can figure it out." A sly smile passed his lips. The more turmoil he threw Ichigo's mind in, the better he felt. As he was about to attack, the bell rang, and for some reason, Grimmjow stopped. What the hell am I doin'? He walked toward his gigai and resumed human form. Ichigo stared dumbfounded. He once again cleared his throat and searched for his voice.
"What the hell are you doin'?"
I don't know! "The bell rang," Grimmjow replied matter of factly. Ichigo gaped. What the hell am I saying?!
"The Grimmjow Jaggerjaques is walking away from a fight?"
"Well, I wouldn't want to be late for class, now would I? I can't do anything that might complicate my mission," he winked. Ichigo blanched. Grimmjow felt a rush of contentment and amusement wash over him. Oh, so that's what I was doin', I'm so good, sometimes I can't even keep up with myself. Look at how worried he is.
Grimmjow left the stupefied Ichigo on the roof and made his way to class, thoroughly proud of himself.
* * *
An internal battle was raging within Grimmjow as he sat in class the next period; which was worse, Math or Geography? That was the question. Math was hell, that was true. What was with all those hard equations, and just what was the point of figuring them out? But at least that gave you something to do, if you looked at it like a little mini battle with the equations. It was still sort of barely tolerable. He was just about to convince himself that he'd rather marry a parametric equation than listen to this lady say one more word about rural to urban migration, when Ichigo walked in. Grimmjow immediately shook himself out of his mental stupor. He had to see this; this lady looked really strict. He wasn't disappointed.
"Thank you for gracing us with your presence, Mr. Kurosaki."
Ichigo had the usual scowl plastered on his face, but instantly adjusted his expression to apologetic as she looked up.
"I'm sorry, something came up," he said, definite anxiety etched on his face. Grimmjow was amused. The Kurosaki Ichigo could have that look on his face. This was too good.
"I don't care what came up. The only excuse I'll take is if you had a case of chronic diarrhoea," she smiled, "so, Kurosaki, did you?"
Ichigo stared. He didn't dare tell her no, this was the teacher who could probably awaken fear on Ulquiorra's usually indifferent visage, but that didn't mean he was going to give her the satisfaction of toying with him. Hell no. He wasn't even going to acknowledge the question.
Grimmjow's patience was wearing thin. This was pure comedy, cut the suspense. He wished he had a camcorder. Just then, a text book came flying toward Ichigo's head. Wow, she's got good aim and timing, he barely dodged it. That was it, he was at his limit. He burst out in fits of barely audible laughter, everyone was too absorbed in the entertainment to notice.
"You know Kurosaki, I think you of all people should be as regular and attentive as possible in this class, to try and get something through that thick skull of yours," here she flicked him on his forehead, then reached for a piece of paper on her desk, "especially after having the honour of attaining the lowest mark on the last test." She held up the paper, Grimmjow had to cover his mouth with one hand and hold on to the desk for support with the other. He couldn't see the mark, due to the water in his eyes, but judging from the peals of laughter that burst out throughout the class, it was pretty bad.
So, okay, that particular Geography class was very much too his liking. That teacher was now one of his favourite people. He'd attend the rest of her boring classes just as thanks for this one day, and in the event that this little episode was to be continued and it was, that very class. By the end of the class, his stomach was hurting so much, but it was worth it.
* * *
Ichigo snatched his paper from the teacher's hand, shot Grimmjow one hateful glare, and made his way to his seat amidst all the laughter. That bastard's laughing at me. How dare he? Plus, this is so humiliating. He'll never take me seriously again. Ichigo sunk into his seat, and bent his head down low. The boring lesson continued as if it were never interrupted, with the exception of Grimmjow, still snickering, who was awake now. He kept glancing in Ichigo's direction to see the shattered pride of the shinigami. However, most of that pride was still intact, for Ichigo returned all of Grimmjow's glances with defiant glares, that said, 'you got a problem?!'.
"Kurosaki, stop making goo-goo eyes across the class."
Once again, there was laughter, Ichigo glared at the teacher instead but she ignored him. During the lesson, Rukia passed him a note.
Ichigo, what happened? I was so worried. I felt your and grimmjow's reiatsu lunch time and then he came to class and you didn't. Why were you late?
He got out a new piece of paper and replied.
Something big's happening. I don't know much, but I'll tell you what happened later.
As he was about to pass the note, the devil herself swiped it from him.
"What have we here, now you're passing notes? Kurosaki, haven't you had enough? I always suspected that you had ADD." The class roared again. "Let's see what was so important."
Grimmjow was already banging his fists on his desk, the amusement now overbearing, when she read the note. He sat up straight and ceased laughing, instead, his grin, and pride at his own ingenuity, returned, accompanied by a warm feeling of fulfilment. He hadn't only worried the shit out of Ichigo, he'd also contributed significantly to this whole scenario. Today is definitely my lucky day!
"Kurosaki, detention, this evening, two hours." Oh yes it is.
Ichigo banged his head on his desk. Today's just not my day.
"Kurosaki, three hours, don't damage the furniture!"
* * *
Wow, I couldn't have asked for a better first day of school, thought Grimmjow, as he headed back to...shit, I didn't find a place to stay, dammit!
So, how was it? Please review. I know there are no pairings yet, please bear with me. This story pretty much just goes wherever my fingers find themselves on the keyboard. Thanks for reading!
