Hellou everyone! Time for the next chapter :)

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The stranger that I never forgot

Chapter 2:

Homecoming

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The afternoon sun was up and dominating the cloudless sky, raising the temperature and making people seek shelter from the cafés and restaurants where they could cool down with a drink or two.

One particular very tall man with a wavy dark brown hair was not so lucky as he was standing in front of the train station, seeming to be waiting at someone. At least he had been smart enough to bring a bottle of water with him.

He stood out from the crowd so well that he caught eyes of people in the station. He was so tall and muscular that many wondered if he played some kind of sport for living. His dark skin had a faint glow on it because of sweat but he didn't seem to be troubled by the weather at all even if he had been standing directly in the sun for more than half an hour.

Finally his face changed a little as an announcement from a next coming train could be heard and a very shortly the busy station became even more growled by people who got off and on in the arriving train. He lifted his head just so that his other brown eye came visible from under his hair and scanned the scenario, looking for a very unique color that he knew that he couldn't possible miss.

"Yo, Chado!"

As the familiar voice reached the ears of tall brunet he couldn't help but to smile a little and waved even if he knew he didn't have to. There was a really clear reason why he was the one who came to fetch his friend from the station.

"You are as easy to spot as always." The boy said as they finally came face to face, smiling for each other's and ignoring the looks that other passengers gave them. While the other stood out because of his tall and muscular body, the other stood out because of his hair colour that happened to be bright orange.

"Glad to see you again Ichigo. How was the trip?" The taller male asked, taking the heavier and bigger bag that the other was carrying as they started to make their way out to find a car that was parked nearby. Ichigo decided not take the help, rolling his shoulder to easy some of the stiffness before he sighed and shook his head, making his bright colored orange hair look so soft to touch.

"She has changed Chado. Rukia is not like she used to be, she has become worse!" The man shouted, almost dramatically as he throw his hands up in the air and groaned. It was a miracle that he didn't hit himself on the head with the smaller bag.

"How?" Chado just asked, his voice calm but his eyes a little bit bigger and slightly confused as he stared the gingerhead.

Rukia was a long time range friend for them both and while she was really loyal friend who would always help anyway she could, she could also be very demanding and

"Well what do you think? Getting a new gorgeous boyfriends and a new cool job in a new even more gorgeous place to live? She was practically rubbing it on my face the whole time I was there like there was no tomorrow. I will show her…" Ichigo said, murmuring the last words angrily as he stared the pavement like he expected it to grumble under his feel with command.

"New boyfriend eh… I take it then that you weren't his escort in the wedding like you assumed?" A voice interrupted their conversation and Ichigo raised his eyes to see a very slim man in a white coat leaning on shining new white Porsche Cayman with a small smirk.

"Ishida what's with the new car!?" Ichigo yelled in shock as he stared at the vehicle with wide open eyes and he could swear he saw a faint blush on those pale cheeks just them.

"His dad gave it to him." Chado said with 'as a matter of fact' voice, making Ichigo blink and sigh in defeat.

"Should have known. So I take it that he didn't come to see you after all like he promised?" Ichigo said and his shocked face softened as the other just nodded, touching his glasses with his index finger.

There was a small moment of silence, no one sure how to broke it as the subject about Ishidas father was known to be delicate and usually unpleasant for the raven haired man to still talk about. Both Chado and Ichigo knew to respect the other's privacy, like he respected theirs and that was probably one of the biggest reasons why they were managed to stay friends even after high school.

"Are we going to just stand here like idiots or get you home Kurosaki?" Ishida finally said, broking the silence and going around the car in order to get on the driver's seat. The other two quickly closed the distance and jumped inside the car, after putting Ichigos bags on the trunk.

"You sure you know how to drive this thing?" Ichigo joked as he sat on the front seat but only got a snort for an answer as the car's motor came to life and all Ichigo could do was listen.

The way the engine roared caused chills running up and down his body, making him close his eyes in order to enjoy it better. His whole body rested comfortably in the soft leather seat and he could smell the new scent in this car, it wouldn't surprise to him to hear that this was a custom made. He almost drifted to sleep because of his long train ride that was miles away from this heaven he was in now and his mind only came to focus when he felt the car slow down and lazily opened one eye to see red light ahead.

"You seem tired." Ishida said, his voice new more gentle when they were inside the car and now out in the open where everyone's eyes and ears could hear and see them. It was always like this, out in the open they would act loudly and sometimes harshly around each other's but behind the closed door a hidden softer side would come out from the raven.

"Yeah, it was a long ride and there was rather loud family near me so I couldn't sleep. I am kinda hungry too." Ichigo murmured pack, making the other smile and choose a different lane when the light finally turned green and cars started to move forward.

"Then we got to get you something to eat."

"Huh? No, I am okay guys. I will just grab something from the fridge when I get home." The snicker that came after his words made him open his eyes this time and see the annoying "I know it all" smirk greeting him.

"Ichigo, you seriously think that after two weeks you have anything edible in your fridge?" It took couple of blurry moments for the information to sink in and then the gingerhead groaned loudly.

"Fine them. You think you can drop me off at that grocery store near my place?"

"Yeah, no problem. By the way Ichigo, how long is your vacation?" Ishida asked, keeping his eyes on the road as he turned left and parked the car in front of the store that Ichigo had just mentioned, making the other blink.

"We are here already? That went fast."

"Well you were practically sleeping the whole drive." Chado said, making himself noticed in the backseat. No one would think that a guy that big could actually sometimes become invisible.

"Yeah I guess I did snooze off but I couldn't help it. This car is just so comfortable. I have a few days off still so you guys wanna do something?"

"Sure. What do you have in mind?" Ishida asked and the devilish grin that appeared on Ichigos lips make him question their friends sanity.

"Clubbing." The man answered and the other two could only stare him like there was no tomorrow until Ishida broke it, trying not to let his voice rise or sound confused.

"Clubbing? Are you freaking serious Ichigo? Why?"

Going into nightclubs was not something that they had done in long time, not since the end of high school as their group of friends usually liked to hang out on someone's apartment rather than pay to get in some

"Because I made a bet with Rukia and I am planning to win it."

…

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Same time in Urahara's shop

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"I swear that I will kill that son of a bitch! Freaking asshole." Grimmjow Jaggerjack cursed under his breath, not caring in the moment if someone would hear him as he lay on his back under the bathroom sink.

That damn Urahara had the nerves to make him clean the plumbing around the place. It had started out with the kitchen sink and ended up in the downstairs toilet where he now was, he didn't even understood why this place needed to be done too when it was hardly ever used. It was not worth the effort in his mind.

Scraping the rest of the horrible smelling dirt out from the pipe he was finally able to put it back together and take stand up in order to take deep breath, just to end up gagging and trying to hold the little amount of food that still remained in his stomach to stay down.

He honestly doubted that there was nothing anymore thought as he had been puking his guts out for earlier when he had opened the upstairs bathroom floor drain. Dear god that had been so disgusting he almost felt like quitting the job there and then, he still did.

"I seriously should get a big bonus for doing this." Grimmjow breathed out when he finally calmed down and looked at his now dirty clothes. He had been given an apron to protect his clothes but it was full of pink hearts so de denied wearing it on the minute his eyes landed on it. He would just wash them in Nnoitras place and hope that they could be saved, well the blue jeans maybe but he figured that the white t-shirt was probably gone now with all the black spots on it.

"Guess I have to go shopping." Grimmjow murmured, taking the two bucket which other contained the toold he had needed to open and clean the piped and the other that contained all of the dirt that had been sealed inside. It would work as a nice surprise for the boss he thought as he walked upstairs.

"Ah Grimmjow! You are ready already?" Yelled happily just the man Grimmjow hoped he could find before going to take shower so with both the buckets still in hand and dirty clothes he closed the distance with his boss. There was an instant twist in the corner of the older man's eye and the fan opened to hide his face but it only made Grimmjow show him a satisfied grin.

"Yeah I am, from now on everything will smile like beaches after the rain." The blunette said and raised the bucket containing all the dirt up in the air and closer to the boss who visibly flinched a little.

"Marvelous. Now could you be so kind as to take that outside with the other garbage?" Urahara asked, trying to sound just as cheerful as always but Grimmjow could still hear him gulp and try to hold his breath. He almost couldn't resist the urge to snicker.

"Fine." It was better not to make a big scene out of this even if Grimmjow was enjoying every moment. He walked past his boss and onto the kitchen where he removed the full garbage back and made his way to the back of the store.

After that he decided even to clean the tools before putting them in their place, he didn't want to risk it that he would be next one in the need of using them again and they would be covered with… well whatever it is that they were now covered in.

"Grimmjow!? Grimmjow you here!?" A voice shouted just when he was putting the last tool into its place in the small closet and stepped out, just to almost bump into a boy with red head.

"What the hell man… I have been loo… Yök! What is that smell!?" The boy yelled and immediately covered his face with both of his hand, stepping back several steps and making Grimmjow gross his arms on his chest with a teeth showing grin.

"I thought that your shift was on the evening Jinta, I doubt it's still so late." Grimmjow said, taking full pleasure out from the suffering of the smaller boy and laughed when he took a step forward and the redhead took three steps back.

"Urahara asked me to come earlier. Saying something about sending you home earlier and I can now understand why. You stink Grimmjow!" Jinta shouted and gagged but Grimmjow merely snickered and turned to leave.

"Whatever. I ain't leaving yet because I still have an hour or two until my time for today is up." He said but before he could leave Jinta quickly hurried in front of him, now holding his nose with other hand and using the other to shove something that looked like a good amount of cash on his face.

"Here, Urahara said that this is your whole day's pay with some extra also. Now go home!"

Grimmjow took the money and carefully counted them until he smiled in an approving manner.

"Thanks. See you tomorrow." With that said he retrieved his bag and was about to leave when an idea popped on his head. He was sure that Urahara had send Jinta to him as an order to leave through the backdoor where he usually left not this time when he finally had a change to tease the old man, pay him back for today and for the other shitty jobs he had given him.

Instead of walking toward the back door he made his way toward the front door and the shop area. He kept his face calm and only a small teasing smile showed a hint of his thoughts as he walked past Urahara and Ururu who were standing next to the counter and the look on that poor girls face when she smelled him was priceless.

"See ya all tomorrow." he said as cheerfully as he could without laughing and passed some unfortunate shopper who happened to be an elderly old lady and as he stopped out of the shop he could hear Urahara apologize for the socked woman.

"Serves you right." Grimmjow said quietly to himself but when he entered the streets he instantly felt his mood change.

The usual dreamy eyes that he usually got had now changed into looks of pure disgust. Some seemed to be wondering where the smell came from, some put their hand in front of their face as they walked past him and he could even hear whispers with his sharp ears.

"Look at that guy. That's just disgusting."

"You would think that people had the brains to wash up."

"Is he homeless or something?"

The comments made him bite his teeth together so hard that it was quickly becoming painful and he increased his speed, using it to his advance that no one wanted to touch him or get near him. He wanted to yell to all of them to shut their fucking mouth and hit everyone who dared to say that he was disgusting. This was the exact reason why he always kept himself as neat and clean as he could.

Grimmjow had come to hate those who judged people only from their appearance over the years and today was a good reminder of why. The harsh words and disapproving looks were not even meant to be hided from him, the source, and all he could do was try his damn hardest to ignore them. He didn't want to end up have to leave this town in a hurry because he sent some bastard in a hospital like he had done last year. He still needed to earn enough money and Urahara was actually paying him quite well and Nnoitra only took small share for him living there so he was not going to screw things up.

He cursed when he had to stop for the red lights and every second made him more and more anxious, he just wanted to throw his clothes off and scrub his body until he felt clean and enjoy the feeling of warm water running down his skin.

Finally the light switched and he found himself practically running to the rundown apartment house where Nnoitra lived. It was five layers high and had been a long time ago painted with light blue paint what was now cracking and falling off and he remembered how Nnoitra had joked that Grimmjow was just like this place, rough and in the need of some new paint but full of potential if you opened the door and saw the insides. He had just smirked for the comment, just like he was doing now when he reached to open the front door but then saw something on the corner of his eye that made him stop.

A shining white Porsche Cayman with 19-inch chrome wheels under it made Grimmjows eyes sparkle with jealousy as it drove past him, it's engine making him almost purr with delight as he hear it over the street noises but then a frown appeared on his face and he quickly disappear inside.

A beautiful piece of work like that made him even more aware just how dirty he was and feel even worse.

"I hope Nnoitra doesn't need a warm shower tonight."

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Thanks for reading and please make my day a little better by reviewing! I also have a little problem where I need all of your help as I can't seem to decide where Ichigo would work. Can you help me think of something good for him, pretty please? :3 Let your imagination flow because for now it can be practically anything! :D

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