Oh, man. Teachers really know how to wear students down when the holidays start rolling around. Not to mention my curse kicks in... (My family has a curse--I have never once had a normal holiday season--either someone dies, gets in a car-crash, gets really sick, put in jail, etc.) This year, it was the dog having to go to the emergency vet... we lost about $400 right there. And there was a car crash. And just general financial troubles.

Not the best night of my life, but let's just hope this season doesn't get any worse. (Last year, there was a death, fire, and broken arm... all within the span of 2 weeks. Ending on Christmas day. Needless to say, I don't exactly enjoy the holiday season too much.)

So... enough with my complaints about bad luck... or karma. (Who knows--maybe my family was a band of serial killers in a past life.) And on to the story!

Started December 13th.

Completed December 21st.

Authoress: Desperatembrace

Disclaimer(s): I do not own Bleach. Shame.

Warning:

Yaoi

Violence

Language

Sexual Content

Chapter 3

So Suspicious


On second thought, Ichigo contemplated, this apartment is actually pretty big.

Today, nearly 5 days after having arrived and settling down, the dreaded days of unpacking were finally completed, never to be seen or heard from again. As he glanced about his house, sans the multitude of boxes, he came to realize that his initial assumption of having an average to small apartment was mistaken. The rooms were quite spacious, even with all of the furniture set up and laid out.

His brow furrowed, however, when he glanced into the living room from the indoor kitchen window. There, sitting on his brand-new, beige, four-thousand dollar corner couch, were 5 people. Grimmjow lounged in the corner seat, feet kicked up on the coffee table. Beside him, Nel bounced excitedly in her seat, animatedly re-enacting a story for Inoue's sole pleasure. On the other side of the blue haired man, Keigo and Mizuiro spoke to each other in hushed tones, glancing back at Grimmjow every once in a while with fearful expressions (on Keigo's part, of course).

On the loveseat across the room, Szayel sat calmly, eyes roving over the group on the corner couch in that quiet way of his. Beside him sat Ulquiorra, doing nothing in particular save for staring blankly at the wall.

To be perfectly honest, when Ichigo and Ulquiorra had been introduced the day prior, he was fucking weirded out. The man had a very strange appearance, enough to make anyone uncomfortable--sickly pale skin, night-black hair and eye-popping jade-green eyes. The man's personality was just the icing on the cake--he had only heard the man say two words ('dumb-ass'--directed at Keigo, of course), and he had the strangest tendency to just stare.

Ichigo still felt rather uncomfortable around him, but, by now, he had realized that this was the norm for him. So he just relaxed and decided to ignore the weird behavior and continue on with his life.

Tatsuki and Rukia were also present, at least, physically. As soon as they had arrived at his apartment they had claimed they needed a good dose of sleep and taken off down the hall, Tatsuki disappearing into Ichigo's room, and Rukia into the spare. Chad, of course, was in the kitchen helping him out with the food.

When he had called Chad to come over for dinner, he had expected only him to come. How it had multiplied from one to ten, he honestly had no idea. (Though, if he were to honestly try to think about it, he would immediately know how it happened--it slipped to Tatsuki.)

Startled out of his thoughts from a tap on the shoulder, he swerved around to Chad, blinking when the man held up the glass pan and jerked a head in the direction of the table. "It's ready," was all the man said before stepping over to the table and waiting. Ichigo picked up a few pot holders and set them down side-by-side on the table, allowing his long-time-friend to put the pan on top. Releasing a weary sigh, Ichigo grabbed the pot of rice and sauce, setting them down on individual pot holders on the table before running a hand through his hair.

"Sorry about this," Chad murmured lowly, fixing him with eyes of concern. The orange haired man furrowed his brows and rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. Grabbing some plates and setting them out on the table, he muttered distractedly, "About what?" Chad grabbed some silverware, setting them out next to the plates that Ichigo had procured. He jabbed a thumb in the direction of the livingroom, replying, "Tatsuki spreading the message of 'dinner' around."

He shook his head. "No, it's fine. Really." Chad watched him for a moment, having just finished laying out the silverware. "You just seem frustrated," he stated quietly after a minute. Ichigo gave him a curious look. "Frustrated?" he asked. Chad gave a pointed look to Ichigo's hand. Realizing what he was doing, the red head dropped his hand from his head, wondering how long he had been rubbing at his temples.

"Oh--no. Just a headache," he responded, giving a small, pained smile. The headache was starting to worsen... maybe it was a migraine? Chad watched him for a few seconds more before moving into the living room. He tapped on Szayel's shoulder and gained his attention, likely telling him that dinner was ready. The pink haired man nodded and called out to the rest of the group. "Dinner's ready," was his simple statement before he moved into the kitchen and began fixing himself a plate.

Nel and Inoue immediately shut up and made their way to the table, followed by Keigo and Mizuiro. Chad glanced over to Ichigo and asked, "Should I wake up Rukia and Tatsuki?" punctuated by a look toward the hallway. Ichigo shook his head. "No. I'll do it. Go ahead and get you some food." He waved off the concerned look that the dark-skinned man gave him and made his way down the hallway, going to his bedroom at the far end first. He quickly woke Tatsuki and told her that the food was ready. Tatsuki only gave a sleepy nod before saying she'd go wake up Rukia.

Standing in the doorway, he watched as she woke up the shorter woman. He waited until the two girls passed by him before he followed after them. He paused and lingered, however, when he made it to the living room only to notice that Grimmjow was still on the couch. The red head watched him for a moment, about to forget about him and just get himself a plate when he heard a very quiet, low groan. Blinking and turning back around, he stared at the man silently, noticing that the man had reached up and clutched at his head.

A headache, he realized. Grimmjow has a headache, too.

Blowing out a small sigh, Ichigo made his way back to the table and picked up a plate, loading it up with a bit of food before heading back to the kitchen and popping open a cupboard. Setting down the plate, he rummaged through the cupboard and grabbed a bottle, shaking a few pills out. He quickly grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and then took the water, pills and plate back to the living room, oblivious to the nine sets of eyes watching him from the table.

He set the plate down and slumped down onto the couch next to Grimmjow. He nudged the man's leg with his knee and frowned at the growled, "What?!" Rolling his eyes, he prodded the man once more. "Here, jackass." Grimmjow pulled his hand off of his face, locking his eyes onto the water being held out to him and pausing as his eyes dilated, trying to adjust to the light in the room. After darting a suspicious glance at the red head, he sat forward slightly and took the pills and water bottle, tossing the pills back and gulping water to chase after.

Wiping his mouth, he moved to sit back but was stopped by Ichigo who said, "You need to eat, dipshit. Isn't that what you came for in the first place?" He watched as the man jabbed a thumb at the plate, indicating the plate full of chicken and rice. Rolling his eyes, Grimmjow snatched the plate up and took a hefty spoonful of rice, popping it in his mouth before chewing and swallowing. Ignoring the curious look Ichigo gave him, Grimmjow paused and blinked, staring at the food before shrugging it off and going at the chicken.

Ichigo blinked when he felt a small bubble of contentment, frowning at how out-of-place the feeling seemed. Pushing the feeling aside, he went back to the kitchen and grabbed his own plate of food, going back to the couch and plopping back down to begin eating--all the while ignoring the looks from all of the people around the table.

After a few moments of silent eating, Rukia finally pushed back from her chair and carried her china and cutlery off to the kitchen before reappearing and stopping before Ichigo, hands on her hips. "You have a headache, too, right?" She thrust a hand out at him, uncurling her fingers to reveal two pills. Ichigo abruptly dropped his hand from where it had been unconsciously kneading at his head. He let out a sigh. So she had noticed? He gave her a winning smile and said, "No. It's fine." She merely shook her head in return, stubbornly raising an eyebrow. "Take some medicine." Again, he shook his head and raised his hands, waving them for support. "Really, there's no need."

She said nothing, but continued to hold out her hand. From where they were in the kitchen, Chad and Tatsuki both glanced at each other and stood up simultaneously to help him out. Ichigo furrowed his brows in frustration. He didn't really want to say this, but...

"Honestly, they don't even work," he finally said, glancing down so that he wouldn't have to see her or anybody else's reactions. As predicted, he got a few sets of raised eyebrows and questioning glances. Chad stepped up to Ichigo while Tatsuki put a hand on her shoulder. "They really don't, Rukia. They haven't worked on him since he was a kid. He just makes it a habit to keep some around for friends or something like that." She shot a sideways glance in his direction, meeting his thankful gaze with a quick nod.

Rukia glanced between the two for a moment, shifting her gaze to Chad before blowing out a sigh. It didn't sound probable, but... she decided to leave it be. Belting out a sigh, she turned around and headed off to the kitchen to return the pills to their proper place. Tatsuki released her own sigh, watching Ichigo as she rubbed a hand at the back of his head. Casting a casual glance at the group at the table behind her (and finding everyone in their seats, along with Rukia once more), she gave a quick glance in Grimmjow's direction, meeting his curious gaze for half a second before resting her eyes back on her close friend.

"Reminding me... how is that going? You know... that," she clarified her question, speaking in low tones so as not to be heard from the kitchen. Ichigo stiffened in response, looking up at her with wide, alarmed eyes before darting a glance in Grimmjow's direction. When he met the man's eyes, there was a brief staring contest before the blue haired man shrugged, returning to his meal. As he turned his attention back to Tatsuki, he never noticed that Grimmjow had refocused his ears on their conversation, interest peaking when Ichigo quietly said, "Yeah... it's been happening a little more often, but... other than that, it's fine."

She gave him a quick, sharp nod before stretching and easing out a yawn. Glancing back at the three men, she almost released a cheshire grin at finding electric blue eyes unconsciously glued to Ichigo. Clearing her throat (and snapping the three of them from their individual thoughts), she called over to Rukia, "Come on, Rukia! We'd better go... we have that huge test in Calculus tomorrow..." She gave a mock shake of the head accompanied by a shrug before making her way to the door, a curious Rukia following along behind her. Without further ado, she threw the door open with a dramatic cry and disappeared out the portal with a yell of, "Goodbye, Ichigo! Chad! 'Hime!", leaving the door to slam shut on its own.

The moments following the slam were spent in silence, the college students at the dining room table glancing at one another in a silent question of, 'should we leave, too?' After getting tired of the ridiculous silence, Nel let out a long moan, throwing her arms out sporadically and shouting, "Agh! These awkward silences are killing me!" Keigo bobbed his head, nodding in agreement while Mizuiro just rolled his eyes at their antics. The black haired young man stood up, taking Keigo by the arm. He waltzed over to the door and said, "Well, we have to go, too. We are in their class, so it seems we have a test tomorrow." As he stepped out the door with Keigo protesting, Orihime enthusiastically waved them goodbye before standing up and gathering the dirty dishes from the table, her green haired friend smiling and standing up to do the same.

While Orihime and Nel were off in the kitchen, Szayel and Ulquiorra left the table and made themselves comfortable on the loveseat across from where Ichigo, Chad, and Grimmjow were sitting. Propping his chin on an elegant hand, Szayel fixated his golden eyes on Ichigo, not even bothering to brush aside his pink hair when it fell in his face and obscured his vision through his glasses.

"So, Ichigo," he started off, with a simple, yet devious smile, eyes darting to Chad as the man decided to take a seat. Grimmjow, scooting off into the corner seat a little further, kept his rapt attention on his friend. That tone clearly meant the man was up to something.

Szayel paused for a moment, sending the sickly sweet smile in the direction of Grimmjow, ignoring the suspicious gaze it earned in favor of pulling Ichigo back into his sights. "How is it..." he eased it out casually, finger plucking at a loose thread in the loveseat. He stopped before starting and restating the beginning of his question once more. "How is it that you seem to know how to patch someone up so well?" He asked, finally having gotten the question out with a casual hand waved in Grimmjow's general direction. The blue haired man tensed in his seat, turning his suspicious gaze onto Ichigo now.

The die had been cast.

And quite strategically, too, Ulquiorra thought to himself, watching the situation's atmosphere to grow more intense by each passing second. He knew exactly what the pink haired man was going for, and quite honestly, it was a bit obvious if one knew how the man thought. Sitting back and shutting his eyes, he deigned it such a simple circumstance that he would only need to listen.

Ignoring how the silent, pale man beside him seemed to be bored with the situation, he continued to hold his gaze on the now speechless Ichigo. Apparently the man picked up subtle clues pretty quickly, because he had started darting glances to Grimmjow, doubtlessly wondering how to continue further.

He had one of two choices. He could either lie, and say that he just had experience of dressing wounds from fights--which, quite honestly, was more like a half-truth than anything else. Or he could tell the whole truth and say that he was born and raised in a clinic and was actually pursuing the career of becoming a doctor. Ichigo had always known what he'd wanted to become and had always stated it rather proudly. Who was he to back down now? Besides, if he only told half of the truth, there was little doubt that Grimmjow would find out later, and who knew what the man would do? That type of stuff would always come back to bite you in the ass--karma was just oh-so-kind like that.

Sucking in a particularly nervous breath, he subtly scooted away from his blue haired acquaintance and locked eyes with Szayel. He licked his lips and said, "Well... I grew up in a clinic... and got into a lot of fights. So I treated myself and helped with some of my Dad's patients. Not to mention..." Here he trailed off, darting a glance at Grimmjow before he steeled himself. Why was he starting to get nervous? He knew the man could punch, but so could he! He knew how to fight and he could hold his own. He'd kick the man's ass if he made any odd moves. Not removing his eyes from Grimmjow, he finished, "I'm actually studying to become a doctor."

The blue haired man clenched a fist, eyes blazing and calculating for a moment. All of the others in the room seemed to be pushed outside of their little world, trapped in a spell, as Grimmjow growled out, "So you're in college to take care of a couple of cuts..? What a pathetic profession!" He spat, jerking his head to the side in a motion that clearly showed he was disgusted.

Ichigo abruptly stood up, chocolate brown eyes raging with a heated fire. Grimmjow almost forgot his anger at the look, a bit intrigued with the expression the younger man was wearing. The moment was lost however, when another bubble of anger, seeming to be foreign and out of nowhere coursed through him, pricking at his limbs and seizing his nerves, traveling down to his finger-tips. A small portion of Grimmjow was confused. He never felt this angry at the mention of doctors. He didn't like them, but it was more of a bitter dislike. Never was it this... heated. The angry part of him, however, argued otherwise. This part didn't much care and wanted nothing more than to hit something.

He was snapped from his internal raging when Ichigo sucked in a quick breath and quietly began speaking. It was a calm sort of quiet, but the kind that lingered just before a raging storm. Chad had stood from his seat to get his friend to calm down but was halted from a cleared throat across the room. Glancing over, he saw Szayel slowly shake his head, his lips falling into an amused smirk as he turned his gaze back on the quarreling duo.

"A doctor..." Ichigo said lowly, "is someone who saves lives. A doctor heals people from their physical injuries and insures that his or her patients are able to continue living healthily. A doctor is there to provide wisdom, health, advice, and sometimes, reassurance. I think a doctor is a pretty damned useful and repectful profession to be in." He paused, sucking in a shaky breath.

Seeing his chance to break into the feral atmosphere and get his friend to regain his bearings, Chad reached forward and brushed his hand against Ichigo's wrist.

And just like that, the spell was broken.

Ichigo seemed to deflate as he blew out some air. Letting out a quiet groan and brushing a hand through his hair, he turned his calm brown eyes onto Grimmjow with a small frown. Said man seemed to have lost all of his angry energy, having lost the will to fight and just stared at Ichigo quietly. Nobody noticed Orihime and Nel walk in, watching the scene with a vague curiosity as they toweled off their hands.

The orange haired man stated clearly, "I'm not really sure what you have against doctors or why..." He raised a hand and glanced down at it as he slowly clenched it into a fist. Looking back up at Grimmjow, he continued, "But no matter what shitty doctor you've met in the past, it was only one out of a million. There are hundreds of other kinds of doctors, each with their own personalities and methods. You shouldn't automatically judge everyone off of one past experience." He reached forward and grabbed the blue haired man's hand. Grimmjow was a bit too lost in his warring thoughts as Ichigo carefully unwrapped the bandages around his knuckles. "Not every doctor is the same. Not all doctors are shit-heads or assholes... Besides.." He trailed off, glancing down at the man's hand.

The knuckles were nearly healed, still bruised and a bit scabbed, but otherwise, the new, pink skin looked very healthy and promising. Brushing his fingers over the new skin, he slowly pulled away.

"True doctors want to heal people," Ichigo said, directing a small smile up at the taller man.

And that moment, that very image was seared into Grimmjow's memory.

-Chapter End-

So yeah. It seems the curse still hasn't ended. Not only was there the whole vet deal (as stated in the previous author's note) but one of my friends were put in jail. Granted, it was totally his own fault and due to his stupidity, but it's still a bit depressing.

Alright. Enough of my pity-potting... Or whatever the hell it is that my mother says. Anyways. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. This one was a bit confusing for me to write because I wanted a specific type of feeling to be induced in the reader--an anxious, awkward, and confused sort of feeling. I'm not sure if I achieved it, but... you know, whatever. Hurrah for chicken and rice! (One of my specialties!)

Um... there was something else I wanted to say, but... I don't remember. (Grrrr. I hate my memory. I inherited it from my mother, I swear.)

This chapter was a little bit shorter than the first two. Sorry. BUT! There was a bit of obvious progress on their relationship. So be happy. Or else. XD

So, yeah. Guess what?

Review,

Review,

Review!!