Shadow Girl

by Chocolatecatfish

"Won't they notice you gone?" "Nah, they don't notice me nowadays. I'm in the shadows," Tatsuki seems mildly amused by that fact, especially since it is true. "I was weak last time. If there's a next time, they'd be surprised. But there isn't gonna be a next time. Not since he defeated me five years ago." She smiles sadly, cos once again, she states the truth. Future fic

3. Chapter 3: Happy Realization Day!

Go Screw Yourself (GSY)

Avery

I know I've been holding it in

The way I feel about you

Something I've been dying to say

But I don't know how you'd take it

Oh, please don't go

You should know~

These three words

I've been holding back

Trying to fight

Imma let 'em out

These three words

Gotta let ya know

Here I go

Go Screw Yourself

I've had enough yeah

Now we're done

Go Screw Yourself

Not gonna lie yeah

It was fun

But Go Screw Yourself~

Feels good just to get it all out

It's so not overrated

You can't keep putting me down

And getting away with it

Oh, now I know

A way to say~

These three words

I've been holding back

Trying to fight

Imma let 'em out

These three words

Gotta let ya know

Here I go

Go Screw Yourself

I've had enough yeah

Now we're done

Go Screw Yourself

Not gonna lie yeah

It was fun

But go screw yourself~

Guess I thought I knew you

Now I know I couldn't have been more wrong

I had a feeling it would go this way

And I've waited, waited

Waited too long to say

To say these three words

To say these three words

To say these three words

To say

Go Screw Yourself

I've had enough yeah

Now we're done

Go screw yourself

Not gonna lie yeah

It was fun

But go screw yourself

I've had enough yeah

Now we're done

Go screw yourself

Not gonna lie yeah

It was fun

But go screw yourself

XXX

A/N: Erm Erm does anybody want to guess who and in what situation my songs apply to? There should be some situations in the chapter in which my songs apply :D for example, in chapter 1, Like I Would applied to Tatsuki's feelings (sort of) in the chapter, like she knows Inuoe fits Ichigo, but she thinks that she would love Ichigo better :3 any guesses for chapter 2 and this chapter? :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, or Tatsuki would come out a LOT more :D

Pairings: Grimmjow/Tatsuki, Rukia/Renji, Inuoe/Ichigo

XXX

Last chapter: "Tatsuki-chan?" "Rukia-san?"

Tatsuki blinked at the three people staring down at her and a sleeping Grimmjow. "What the-?" Rukia's exclamation was muffled by Shinji clamping his hand over her lips. The blanket fell away as Tatsuki sat up, groaning and massaging her head. "Oi, Grimmjow, get up," Tatsuki poked the taller man in the stomach. "Why am I here? Not at home? Oi!" Tatsuki poked him again savagely in the ribs and this time, he sat up, muttering vulgarities under his breath. "You said you'd send me home yesterday night!" Her words went unheeded by Grimmjow as his eyes tracked around the three extra people in his room. "Don't get the wrong impression," he warned them before swinging his legs out of bed. At least he's wearing his shorts, Rukia noted. And Tatsuki is fully clothed. So what the hell did they do yesterday night? The final question echoed around in Hiyori, Shinji and Rukia's heads. And why the hell is Tatsuki here? She had gotten up too, and was tossing Grimmjow a small vial of some liquid, which he drank without reservation. Tatsuki drank hers too, and she immediately felt her head clearing, the potion cleaning away any alcohol she had in her system. The three other people in the room stared at Grimmjow and Tatsuki, long and hard. Nothing had transpired between them, apparently, other than the fact that they were sleeping on the same bed and might have had some alcohol yesterday night.

Nobody said anything for a while as Grimmjow tossed the empty vial into the bin and Tatsuki packed all of her things into her bag, the tension thick in the air, nobody daring to break the silence that was hovering in the room. "So... What the hell were you two doing yesterday night?" Rukia asked hesitantly. "We drank," Tatsuki shrugged, shooting Grimmjow a look that obviously asked him to shut up about something. "Did you...?" Shinji looked between the two of them and the two shared a horrified glance before shouting "NO!" Hiyori scowled as the five of them faced each other awkwardly, with various scowls, frowns and furrowed brows. "Whatever," she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. "It's 7am, and Ichigo is coming over at ten, so get out by that time," she warned Tatsuki before dragging Shinji out by the ear despite his repeated yelps of pain. "Erm..." Rukia was the last one left, and she was only able to stutter a good luck to Grimmjow before she ran out of that room, away from the glares that obviously said, "Get the hell out."

XXX

The two of them stood awkwardly in the room, facing each other before Grimmjow scowled and turned to find a shirt to put on, while Tatsuki jumped back onto his bed and hid her head back underneath the covers, thinking over what had happened yesterday night and this morning. It wasn't like she would never want to bed him, granted he was pretty sexy, but no, she'd never have sex with someone she had only known well for, what, two days? And he was fun to train with, much better than training by herself, that's for sure.

Tatsuki grinned as she remembered the three shinigami's reactions, extremely amused. Her emotions, she realized, had been returning to her, in a way that she hadn't exactly expected. She was laughing for real, coming out from living in the past and in the shadows, into the light, all because of hanging out with a certain blue-haired arrancar that she had only known for about two days. So many things had been happening to her because of him, and it was both enthralling and interesting, like a powerful adrenaline rush to the head. Smiling absentmindedly, she thought over what had happened in the past two days; snapping at Inuoe thanks to his influence, drinking and sleeping over at his place (something she had not done in what seemed to be a million years), training with him and learning new things about herself as well as him, opening up old emotions she couldn't remember having... Now she could even fight Ichigo again, all thanks to him. She honestly couldn't wait to show them how much she had improved by, and also wanted to know how much Ichigo himself had improved by, and there was an added bonus in the fact that she would be able to watch Grimmjow go all out too, and she could too. "It's been a long time since I've gone all out," she thought aloud, pushing the heavy quilt away off herself and Grimmjow paused in putting on his jacket. "Fighting with me didn't make you go all out?" he raised an eyebrow at her. "No, and you didn't either," she replied simply, fingering a lock of her long black hair. He laughed again, and it make her smirk and sit up. "True that," he conceded, and extended his hand like a gentleman to help her up. "Let's go to your place already," he pulled her off his bed. Tatsuki somehow liked the feeling of her hand in his, and his hand felt warm, solid, holding on to her tightly. Her eyes were met with his turquoise blue ones, and she smiled softly, allowing him to lead her out of the room.

XXX

When the two of them stepped into the Vizard's living room, all activity ceased and everybody's eyes and heads turned to watch them. Still holding Tatsuki's hand, Grimmjow smirked down at her, and she bit her lip to keep herself from laughing as the Vizard's eyes tracked them from one end of the living room to the other. Rukia and Renji were there too, and everybody seemed to have paused anything they were doing such that the only sound anybody could hear in the room was their footsteps. Tatsuki's lips twitched into a smile at the comical sight of all eyes following them, and Grimmjow opened the door for her, the two of them making sure the door was shut solidly behind them before bursting out in peals of laughter. "That-was-just-too-epic!" Tatsuki exclaimed between her bouts of laughter. It really was amusing, she recalled their faces, which just set off another string of laughter. The two of them laughed for a while before she straightened up and shunpoed off, Grimmjow right beside her using sonido.

XXX

At 11.50 am, Tatsuki and Grimmjow clambered into Grimmjow's room via the window, landing in his room softly and stealthily. They could hear the scuffle of human (or gigai) feet outside the room, and Tatsuki grinned and darted into the closet, adhering to the agreed plan. Grimmjow opened the door to reveal a whole crowd of people in the narrow corridor outside his room, all waiting anxiously for him to show himself. "Oi, Kurosaki, where do you want the battle to be held?" Grimmjow ignored the others and adressed the man at the head of the crowd, his arm around Inuoe's waist. "Vizard Training ground, downstairs," he said immediately. Grimmjow smirked, the gears turning in his brain about how he could use the situation to his advantage. "You can go along and decide the rules too," he added casually, pushing through the crowd of people and going down to the warehouse. "I wonder who his battle partner is if it's a 2-on-2?" Rukia wondered as all eyes watched Grimmjow thunder down the stairs. The crowd dispersed immediately after that, all moving to the Vizard living room to help Ichigo decide the rules. They comprised of the Vizards, the Urahara shop people and Ichigo's friends. There was another nagging feeling at the back of Ichigo's mind that someone was missing, but he pushed that thought away and concentrated on the problem at hand, trying to plan a situation with rules that would be in his advantage. Nobody noticed an invisible Tatsuki creep down the stairs and slip out the half-ajar door to the Vizard training room downstairs.

XXX

12pm sharp, Ichigo and the entire crowd of people entered the large training house downstairs to find Grimmjow waiting for them there. As they seated themselves, Tatsuki joined them, melding into the crowd despite being dressed in her karate uniform. All of Ichigo's gang, the Urahara shop, the Vizards and even most of the arrancar had turned up. Over the years, the arrancar had slowly gathered at Karakura town due to the "fun" it brought, and most were living either outside of town, in the mountains, in the forest or in the town itself, miraculously pulling off living as normal humans. There were retired shinigami or shinigami with nowhere else to go as well (Gin) and the amount of shinigami protecting the town increased, resulting in Rukia, Renji and Rangiku, three high-ranking shinigami staying in the town. Tatsuki thought through all these facts in the space of less than a minute, and thanked God that Grimmjow came too, if not to provide her with new companionship.

Miscellaneous chairs and pillows were brought from all over the house, and Tatsuki ended up sitting against the wall, next to Rukia. "Hi," Rukia greeted as normally as she could, trying to ignore the awkwardness regarding the incident earlier in the morning. "Hey," Tatsuki greeted back, and if she was surprised that Rukia actually greeted her, she didn't show it. "Why are you wearing your karate uniform?" Rukia noticed, and it was rather odd, as most of the others were in normal clothes. "Oi! Grimmjow! Where's your partner?" Ichigo shouted over before Tatsuki could reply, cutting into their conversation. "Sorry, my call, talk to ya later, Rukia-san!" Tatsuki smiled casually at Rukia and got up to Rukia's amazed stare, attracting everybody else's attention. "Wait, you don't mean-" Rukia blinked, shocked, as Tatsuki walked over to stand beside Grimmjow. Everybody was staring at her incredulously now, but she didn't falter and stood next to Grimmjow, rocking on the balls of her bare feet. She smiled confidently, and under everybody else's bewildered stares, bowed to Ichigo and Orihime formally. "Good morning, I am Tatsuki Arisawa, please take care of me!" she said loudly, brightly, the only sound in the shocked silence of the Vizard Warehouse Training Ground, Grimmjow smirking next to her.

XXX

Tatsuki wanted to laugh at the shocked, bewildered, surprised and overall extremely amusing collection of faces facing her, the edges of her lips quirking into a smile as she saw Ichigo and Inuoe's startled faces in front of her. "Kurosaki-kun, can you please read the rules?" She was so formal and polite, she was surprised even by herself. Ichigo blinked, shocked that one of his good friends, Tatsuki, would address him like that and fight him. "Tatsuki-chan?" Inuoe asked softly, as though terrified of breaking the silence. "Yes?" Tatsuki turned to face her friend. "Why are you fighting with Grimmjow?" Ichigo interrupted, glaring at Grimmjow. "I'm fighting for a friend," she replied simply. "A friend who actually listens," she added as an afterthought. That was when everything clicked into place; why Tatsuki was sleeping in Grimmjow's bed, the mysterious intruder, and Ichigo finally remembered the missing factor among his friends; Tatsuki Arisawa. She stood in front of him, a smirk plastered on her face, ramrod straight in her karate uniform. "You were the mysterious intruder?" Lisa got up suddenly. Tatsuki grinned and disappeared, and Grimmjow was the only one who could see her, with Ichigo only able to see a blurry spot. She appeared again, grinning from ear to ear, and the whole time, there was only a dead silence in the warehouse. "You picked the losing side," Ichigo warned as a final word. "Wrong. I'm the one who's going to make the losing side the winning one," Tatsuki grinned confidently, shaking up Ichigo's confidence quite a bit. How the hell is she so confident? She can't even go into spirit form! Rukia's brows furrowed into

"The rules are as follows:

All battlers must be in spiritual form.

Any weapons are allowed.

Any items are allowed to be used.

To win, knock out your opponent by making him or her lie on the floor, either face down or on their back, for ten seconds.

That is all," Ichigo finished.

Tatsuki grinned up at Grimmjow. Putting people down was her specialty, and it was only now that Ichigo realized it, his face turning pale suddenly. "Spirit form, eh? Piece of cake," Tatsuki laughed and went into spirit form. Her spirit form was different, however, because she didn't leave a body behind. It was almost as if her body and her soul were one thing, and she could interchange between both in the same "vessel". Grimmjow got out of his body and kicked his gigai to the side, while Ichigo and Inuoe exited their bodies more gracefully and normally. "Ready? Go!" Rukia shouted, she, Renji, Hiyori and Shinji acting as impromptu judges. "Grimmjow and Tatsuki split up immediately, and Tatsuki grabbed Inuoe by the scruff, pulling her away from Ichigo and simply slamming her, face down, to the ground. Inuoe didn't make it too easy, using her weapons to try to repel Tatsuki. Tatsuki, however, grinned, and cast up a shield around herself and Grimmjow, blocking off all of Inuoe's attempts to tear them apart from the inside. "That girl is smart," Lisa noted as Tatsuki spun, avoiding Inuoe's weapons, still holding her by her collar. "Inuoe's weapons work to tear from the inside using millions of tiny shields. A shield to repel Tsubaki is almost impossible to replicate, so how did she figure out all this by herself? She found a way to counter Inuoe's only way of attacking," Hachi's face showed their worry, and realization dawned on all of them; Tatsuki and Grimmjow might actually stand a chance of winning.

This is too easy, Tatsuki thought as the shield that covered her and Grimmjow like a second skin repelled all of Inuoe's attacks. Smiling slightly, she got under Inuoe's guard and repelled Inuoe's personal shield with a blow of magical energy, and jammed two fingers into her temple, making her crumble and fall like a rag doll. Inuoe fell, face first, onto the ground, and Tatsuki stood for ten seconds above her, pressing the heel of her foot into Inuoe's neck to make sure she couldn't get up. "Inuoe, out!" Rukia shouted, resetting the stopwatch. Tatsuki kicked the girl out of the arena quickly, hard, and the unconscious girl rolled along before Hachi and Lisa went to get her.

On the other end, Grimmjow wasn't having such an easy time with Ichigo. He had already pulled several ceros and his zanpaktou was already in shikai, but Ichigo was still able to land blows on him. "Oi, not doing so well there, are you?" Tatsuki shunpoed over, flashing in between the two men who had their swords locked, struggling to force it down each other's throats. "Suckers," Tatsuki noted as she pulled out her own zanpaktou, earning a gasp from everyone present. She grinned and plunged her zanpaktou into Ichigo's stomach, and started to absorb reiatsu from him. "A lil for me won't hurt ya, right?" Tatsuki looked up at a stunned Ichigo, who lost his balance and stumbled backwards, with Tatsuki's zanpaktou still embedded in his stomach. No blood was coming out, but everybody could feel the reiatsu being sucked out from Ichigo, a massive amount enough to destroy just about anything. Tatsuki leaped over lightly and attacked him, but years of Karate experience kicked in, and Ichigo suddenly found himself blocking an array of blows, almost too fast for his eyes to follow. Tatsuki, however, suddenly appeared in front of his face, and with a punch to his face, Ichigo fell backwards, landing on his back. As a last resort, he used his Bankai and Tatsuki had to leap back to avoid his blade, releasing a dagger instead that lodged itself in his shoulder as she pulled out her zanpaktou, Ichigo's reiatsu fully charging up her zanpaktou.

"Thanks for the reiatsu," Tatsuki grinned, stepping back and fingering the sash of her zanpaktou, which had extended into a long, trailing sash that fell in pools of velvety blood red fabric at her feet, making her look as though she was standing in a puddle of blood. Grimmjow stood at the other end of the arena, his hand around the healing pendant Tatsuki had given him. It was hung around his neck, and he counted himself lucky for the fact that Tatsuki was still up and kicking such that he could take a break. He and Ichigo were even at full power, but he stepped down to give Tatsuki the chance she wanted to fight Ichigo. Smirking rather painfully at the numerous wounds inflicted by Ichigo on him, he felt himself start to heal, and let out a long, shuddering breath, waiting to catch his breath, and started to watch Tatsuki and Ichigo's fight, snickering to himself. "That bastard's going to get his ass whipped," he chuckled softly, which made Shinji lift his head sharply near him. "What makes you say that?" Shinji glanced at the man, surprised that he'd say that about one of the most powerful shinigami he knew. Grimmjow jerked his head towards the ongoing fight, smirking. "Watch." His eyes were confident, overly so, and Shinji's brows furrowed. How could be so confident? Especially because Tatsuki was a mere human, granted that she had surprised them with her abilities, but she should still be no match for Ichigo, who had overwhelming reiatsu, Bankai, some form of fullbringer ability and karate training. "I know what you're thinking. She's a human, ain't she? But she took Ichigo's reiatsu, and while it might not put a dent in Ichigo's crazy as hell reiatsu, she could use it for herself, see?" Grimmjow and Shinji watched as Tatsuki tied the long trailing sash around her right arm then went in to attack Ichigo again. This time, her right arm increased greatly in speed, and her blows were faster then ever. Grimmjow grinned savagely before straightening up to his full height and pulling out a dagger from his pocket, then slouching again, flipping the dagger around in his hand. "And I haven't used this lil baby yet..." he murmured, making Shinji eye the dagger uncertainly. It was a plain, undecorated dagger, and certainly didn't show any inclination towards being extremely powerful or rare.

On the other end, Ichigo was almost overwhelmed by Tatsuki's speed, not being able to keep up even with his bankai. Hey, king, in a spot of trouble against one of your best friends in the past? His inner hollow chose the most annoying time to perk up, which didn't help his mood. If you lose this round, I guarantee you that I will come out and take over you and smash her to bits for you, his hollow growled. "Shut up!" Ichigo yelled, donning his Hollow mask at last. "Inner hollow giving you hell?" Tatsuki smirked at him, taking a step back to admire her work. The dagger was still lodged into his right shoulder, she had pummeled him with blows, half of which had hit him, resulting in a very bruised left side. The poison hasn't started work yet... Twenty seconds left, Tatsuki rewrapped the long red sash around her neck and breathed a sigh of relief as the sword charged her reiatsu up again. She didn't have a fantastic amount of reiatsu, and she needed quite a bit to maintain her zanpaktou already, which is why this was one of her zanpaktou's abilities. 10, she counted and changed her style of fighting again, from barehand combat to using her zanpaktou as a real weapon. Ichigo was staring at her zanpaktou with fear, apparently worrying about what other abilities it could have. 9. Her lips twitched into a smile as she started explaining. "Normally, I wouldn't do this, but since you are a friend... My zanpaktou has two edges. One form of its shikai is to absorb someone else's reiatsu and convert it to any form that I wish, like a catalyzer. The other edge is used to cut; and in this form, it can extend to any length as long as it is pierced into something. So let's say..." she held up the end of the long sash and ran her sword through it. Surprisingly, the fabric didn't rip apart, but held there like soft glue. "The first medium won't be harmed, but..." The katana extended suddenly, and cut through Ichigo's zanpaktou like it was made of butter. 8. Ichigo's eyes widened in shock and fear. Tatsuki smirked and extended the zanpaktou until it was tickling at Ichigo's neck. "Stay where you are, hmm?" she smiled sweetly at him and continued charging herself up. 7. It felt so good to be able to torture him like this, Tatsuki chuckled. 6. "Oi! Grimmjow! You okay?" she shouted over. When she turned her head, Ichigo leaped at her, but she stabbed her zanpaktou into his midsection, and there was a sickening sound of her blade sliding into his flesh, and she stopped short of stabbing any of his vital organs before sliding her zanpaktou out of his body, and stepped back as he fell, blood gushing out of his wound. 4 seconds had passed. 2. She pressed the heel of her foot into his neck. 1. Ichigo was knocked out by the poison now travelling in his blood, the same blood that was flowing out of him now. Before he passed out, Ichigo could only think of one thing: when did Tatsuki Arisawa get so powerful? Happy realization day, King, his inner hollow growled before fighting him for control.

XXX

Grimmjow looked on as Tatsuki pummeled Ichigo mercilessly, and counted down the seconds until Ichigo collapsed, sending the entire room into a frenzy. Rukia was shouting out the seconds frantically, and when Ichigo didn't get up at "TEN", declared hurriedly that the match was over and Tatsuki and Grimmjow had won. Shinji would have sat in his seat, not noticing anything going on for the next three hours wondering and replaying how Ichigo lost to Tatsuki, a wonderstruck expression on his face, if Hiyori had not shaken him out of his stupor and told him to go heal Ichigo and Inuoe. "Wait." Tatsuki's terse, sharp voice cut through the incoherent babble of noise, making everyone stop in their tracks. "His inner hollow is rioting in there," she smirked down at the injured, unconscious shinigami at her feet before kneeling and tilting his head upwards, letting a single drop escape a pendant identical to Grimmjow's into Ichigo's mouth. She walked over and did the same for Inuoe while silence engulfed the room. The wounds were disppearing from the two of them, and they stirred from their positions. C'mon, let's go," Tatsuki pulled on Grimmjow's hand and the two of them disappeared from the scene using sonido and shunpo, leaving the rest of the shinigami, Vizards and other people to try figuring out how Tatsuki won Ichigo.

XXX

"That was epic!" Tatsuki grinned as she downed another gulp of sake. Grimmjow chuckled and did the same, finishing up the bottle. They were sitting on the roof of Tatsuki's house with four bottles of alcohol, drinking the night away. In the afternoon, they had gone on to train some more, and celebrated by eating a good meal of sushi and sashimi, talking over more training strategies and discussing their plans for the future. Grimmjow had none, other than working while studying in University. Tatsuki planned to take the no.1 title in Japan, and then work as a dojo instructor while in University. "Oh yeah, graduation night is coming in like two weeks, and I haven't found a partner yet," Grimmjow scowled suddenly after a few minutes of silence. "I haven't either," Tatsuki shrugged carelessly, taking another swig of alcohol. "Really? Then... Err..." Grimmjow trailed off, an awkward silence enveloping the two, unlike the comfortable one that they used to have. Finally, Grimmjow got the nerve to ask hurriedly, "Go with me? We could give them hell," he added mischievously, smirking suddenly. The idea of a prank got Tatsuki up immediately. "Sure! I'll dress up for the occasion, and boy are they gonna be shocked." Her brain whirled with ideas, having discovered a whole new thing she could make grad night into, and actually make it a positive point in her life. If she didn't go with Grimmjow, she would probably be jammed into a corner, again, while her two married friends danced and did whatever normal couples did and leave her out, as they had been doing for, what, five years? Snickering, Tatsuki leaned back, lying with her arms under her head on the roof, staring up at the starry night sky. "It's a clear night," she murmered softly, smiling to herself even as she traced the constellations that Grimmjow had just taught her in the dark, velvety night sky.

XXX

Tatsuki's friends, Grimmjow realized, had a strange talent at interrupting her whenever he was training with her. For the third time that morning, Tatsuki's cell phone had rung in the middle of one of their sparring sessions, and Tatsuki had to run over to pick it up again, destroying the flow of the entire session. The first time, it was Rukia, asking Tatsuki if she wanted to eat ice cream and go shopping with her, Inuoe and Rangiku later in the afternoon. Tatsuki had rejected, saying that she had things to do at the dojo. "They never remembered when I told them that my instructor had gone out of town," she had smirked as she snapped her phone shut. "Anyway, I'm not lying, I am at the dojo, training with you," she grinned mischievously up at the blue-haired arrancar, who had smirked right back and came at her in a blurry of blades again. The second time, it was Renji, asking her if she would like to train with him, Gin and Ichigo. She had declined politely, giving them the exact same excuse she had given Inuoe, Rukia and Rangiku. "The f*** is it this time?" he hissed at Tatsuki, keeping his volume low. Her brows furrowed and she put the phone to speaker. "-Meet me at the cafe?" The orange-haired bastard, Grimmjow recognized the voice of the shinigami. Tatsuki covered the speaker with her hand and whispered back, "Should I go? Grimmjow?" She stared at him worriedly, and he shrugged, sheathing his zanpaktou. "Tatsuki? Are you with someone else?" Ichigo sounded concerned, and Grimmjow could see the distrust clearly in Tatsuki's eyes while she stared at him pleadingly. Give me an excuse, her eyes were begging him, and suddenly he realized that she was still conflicted about Ichigo, especially after how he had unkowingly hurt her so badly all these years. "Go," he mouthed, and she uncovered the speaker and said to Ichigo, "Ok, now? Alone? Fine, bye, see you," she hung up, and Grimmjow could see the weariness and sadness etched in her features clearly, making her seem older than her twenty years. "Mind if I come along? I'll go away when you talk though," he offered, suddenly wondering why he was doing this. Tatsuki smiled at him, sadly, and sighed. "Sure, if you want to. I'll try not to cry or blow up at him... If only I could do what I did to Inuoe to him," she grinned suddenly before sighing again. Grimmjow snickered and pulled on his jacket. "Well, let's go, and figure out something for you to say on the way," he grinned down at her before giving her a hand and helping her up. Tatsuki grinned and accepted his hand, and Grimmjow hauled her up, a smirk on his face.

XXX

Tatsuki sat at the cafe table, tapping her foot impatiently on the floor. "This scene is weirdly repetitive," Grimmjow scowled, taking another swig of alcohol. "Like wife, like husband?" Tatsuki offered, chuckling as she snatched the bottle from him. Grimmjow grinned and called for a club sandwich, which he put on Ichigo's tab, just like they did to Inuoe. "I wonder what he wanted to talk about?" Tatsuki wondered absentmindedly, picking up her coffee and taking a sip. Coffee and wine actually tastes good if you drink them one after another, she noticed, amused. "God knows," Grimmjow shrugged, taking a bite out of his sandwich. "And here we go again," Tatsuki sighed, her lips twitching into a frown of annoyance. "What fantastic friends I have," she murmured to herself. Grimmjow picked up on the exasperation and sadness in her voice, but was prevented from saying anything as Ichigo started to move towards the cafe. "I'll be right around the corner, there, if you need me," he jerked his head in the direction of a bar just across the road and disappeared, taking his sandwich with him.

Tatsuki grinned to herself and slid his empty plate underneath hers, and sat there waiting for Ichigo. He and Inuoe are just too similar, she thought with a sad smile. Not in the good way though, she grinned suddenly to herself at that amusing thought. It was kind of like something Grimmjow would say, and it made her crack a smile to herself. "What are you smiling about?" Tatsuki looked up to see the orange-haired shinigami looking down at her, a frown on his face. "Nothing," she shrugged, hiding her conflicted emotions behind a smiling façade. "What did you want to meet me here for?" she asked instead, taking a sip of her coffee, enjoying the bittersweet taste roll over her tongue and down her gullet. This time, it was his turn to shrug, and he ordered coffee too, seating himself down opposite her. "Why did you fight with him yesterday?" he asked her, curiosity in his brown eyes as her ordered a coffee himself. "I told you yesterday, he's a friend," she replied shortly, keeping her eyes on the salt and pepper on the table between the two of them. "Yeah, and you were found in his bed," he fired back, scowling at the calm, smirking young lady. "I knew it. What kind of thoughts were you having?" she grinned, amused at the blush painted on her past best friend's face. "You slept with him?" he got those words out behind a blushing face and gritted teeth, making her laugh, leaning back in her chair and chuckling to herself. "Sleep with Grimmjow? Huh, since when have you been interested in my bedroom matters, mmm?" Tatsuki's lips twitched with mirth, and leaned in close towards Ichigo. "No, I didn't. Anymore questions?" she grinned at his weird expression, a mixture between relief and embarrassment. "Well... Not like I wouldn't want to," she confided, tapping her chin thoughtfully, trying not to laugh at his scowling, suddenly angry expression.

"What about me?" That made Tatsuki stop, and think again, smiling sadly to herself. "What can I say? You just lost my respect there, Ichigo. You're married, and me? I'm nobody. Nobody in your life. A long time ago, you and Inuoe threw me out of your lives, and all this isn't my fault, my dear past best friend. You and Inuoe deserve each other. I have never been in your life anyway. And now you want to have sex with me? When you're married? Inuoe was my best friend too, you know. And no way in hell will I let you cheat on her, either of you. Too bad Ichigo, you lost your chance when you and Inuoe decided to kick me out of your lives. And now I'm wanted again by you... Too bad, I've found someone else," Tatsuki smiled weakly, biting her lip, struggling to hold back her tears. "It's Grimmjow, isn't it?" Ichigo asked after a few moments of silence, anger and disgust clear in his voice. Tatsuki, who had just gotten ahold of her feelings, suddenly started burning again at his unspoken contempt. Her lips twitching in annoyance and anger, Tatsuki stood up and slapped the stunned male, glaring down at him. "What would you know about us?" she spat at the shinigami before escaping the scene using shunpo. By the time Ichigo had jumped to his feet and yelled "Tatsuki!", she was already a few streets away, and even though she heard his shout, she didn't reply, and just swiped a hand over her eyes to clear away the flood threatening to escape her eyelids. Ichigo was ready to follow using shunpo as well, but was held back by some invisible force stopping him from releasing his power. Then he noticed the cut on his hand, and the blue-haired arrancar flipping a dagger as he exited the bar across the road. For a second, there was nobody around, on the streets, just the two of them, as if Ichigo was the performer and Grimmjow was the spectator, the spectator always cloaked in the shadows. Slowly, Grimmjow put his hands together and started to clap, his applause thundering in on Ichigo's ears. "Very well done at making her f***in' pissed, Ichigo," Grimmjow grinned ferally at the frozen young shinigami. "Now be a good boy and stay here until someone comes to get you and figure out the antidote, mmm?" He smirked and sonidoed away after Tatsuki (who was already on the other side of town), leaving a dumbfounded Ichigo and another $780 bill. What a repetitive scene, Grimmjow chuckled before Ichigo was out of sight.

XXX

A/N: OMG EPICCCC I LOVED WRITING THIS CHAPTER XD cos there was finally a fighting scene, plus I couldn't wait for Tatsuki to reveal herself as Ichigo's challenger :3 and credits to sarcasticgal68 for giving me the cafe scene idea! It was so fun writing this chappie :D and Tatsuki finally meets Ichigo head on~ Hope you enjoyed the chapter as much as I did writing it ^^ and please review :3 Thanks for reading!

Yukiiarooo: I hope this answers at least one of your questions, and Tatsuki's masters are not the Vizard, and they probably won't be making an appearance in this story :3