Chapter 3 - Sea Usted Generoso, No Piense Solamente En Sus Defectos. [Be Generous; Don't Think Only Of His Faults.]
Wherein ones patience is tested.
A favor is asked.
And a father shows grace.
-o-
Ichigo glanced frantically around the room, brown eyes searching for the stuffed lion that had hidden himself away for fear of his recent mood and Yuzu's crafty grasp. When the figure at his window started to laugh softly. Ichigo cringed away because, even now, he hated the sound. It brought back memories of blood and horrible death in Hueco Mundo. It made him remember the broken promises and all the lives that were lost as a result. It ground on his nerve endings sending an unreachable fear into his belly.
The orange haired teen cursed; in his human state he would be most vulnerable. He pat at his clothing, coming up empty handed as he searched for the substitute badge he used sometimes as a replacement for the modsoul.
"What are ya looking for, shinigami?" He heard the voice practically purr from the corner. The sound flared on his nerves and the teen quickly sent a glare to the intruder.
"Shut up," he growled. Fuck...
Warily keeping an eye on the shadow, Ichigo continued searching for his badge but the device wasn't anywhere on his person; Ichigo couldn't remember where he last left it at that moment either. His heart stilled completely when his visitor lifted his hand and held his prize stiffly between his fingers. Kon trembled visibly, his little toy eyes pleading for Ichigo to rescue him; he dared not speak, for fear that the small action would cause the male to do something brash, like rip him to pieces, for example. Ichigo licked his lips, looking up from Kon's shaking little stuffed toy form to the man that held him in his grasp.
"Let him go." He demanded and the fingers around the flat lion head tightened. Kon blubbered incoherently and Ichigo vaguely heard the words 'help', 'please' and 'don't let him kill me'. Kon had every right to be frightened, though he would never admit to himself that he could very well empathize with stuffed lion at that moment. Ichigo thought the man in front of him to be dead, following the same fate as his Arrancar brothers. His, though Ichigo had been the one to defeat the male, had been one of the many bodies that hadn't been accounted for. Sereitei questioned him, their voices doubtful, but he was sure that the man was surely dead or dying - He had stopped Nnoitorra from killing him but after Kenpachi showed up, it all turned into a blur. For all he know, the espada could have been caught in the backlash of the fight. Never, in a million years did he think he would be staring at the sixth once again.
The former - former because there was no arrancar, Aizen or Las Noches left - espada laughed again and Ichigo took a step back as he stood and walked out of the shadows. "Scared, shinigami? Not so tough without yer little toy." Ichigo's eyes narrowed and he hated the fact that he was so weak right now.
"Shut up," He spat out vehemently again and his glare deepened as Grimmjow looked down his nose at him. "Why the hell are you here? Why the fuck are you still alive?" The reflexive grin served to do nothing more than irritate him as the blue haired arrancar provided no further answer. "Answer me, damn it!" Grimmjow just continued to stare at the boy in amusement, laughter behind his blue eyes.
"Ya've grown up quite a bit since the last time I saw ya, eh shinigami? Big and bad, thinking you can scare anybody you like." Ichigo's glare intensified but it did little - if anything at all - to ruffle the man. His greater horror, however, came when Grimmjow began to toss Kon up and down in the air like a ball.
The teen's hands balled into tight fists and his body tensed, waiting to react if need be. All the other times he had been faced with the espada, he had attacked immediately, Ichigo had been, sorry to say, caught of guard... twice. Before he had underestimated Grimmjow Jeaggerjaques, not this time.
"If you hurt him," he began tersely. "... I swear I'll finish what I started in Hueco Mundo."
After a moment, he snorted and said, "Calm down, boy, I'm not going to hurt you or you stuffed thing." Grimmjow flung Kon around in the air haphazardly, causing the mod soul to whimper and tears to stain the brown material of his cheeks.
"Liar!" Ichigo hissed, raising his guard a couple more notches. Grimmjow sighed, dropping Kon to the floor with an unsympathetic thump. The little animal jumped up as soon as he hit the carpet and dived for Ichigo's arms, wailing out the shinigami's name in terrified woe. Ichigo caught the body of the toy in mid leap and shoved his fingers into the small opening of the mouth, retrieving the small pill lodged there and popped it into his mouth. His body fell backwards and he stood his full height in his Shinigami form, hand already reaching behind him to grab the hilt of Zangetsu. Kon looked up at the scene with Ichigo's eyes and surveyed the dynamic of expressions on the two male's face. While Ichigo seemed utterly enraged, Grimmjow couldn't have looked calmer. The mod soul frowned again, close to tears and hid away within a corner in Ichigo's room.
Ichigo positioned his feet into his stance and swung Zangetsu from behind his shoulder, angrily calling out his bankai. As he transformed, Gimmjow stared at him with only half interest and took a step back towards the window. Shit... he's getting serious. "Look, Kurosaki, I didn't come here for a fight." He warned.
Ichigo snorted. "You sneak into my room and threaten Kon without expecting a fight. Pfft, give me a break, asshole." Grimmjow tried to open his mouth to explain some more but Ichigo heaved his sword, causing him to lose his balance and stumble backwards out of the window. The substitute Shinigami walked over to the opening in the wall and peeked down at the espada. If he wasn't so pissed, he could have laughed. Grimmjow Jeaggerjaques was trapped, struggling to wedge himself from the grasp of two very overgrown bushes that Ichigo had promised to trim a few weeks ago.
"God damn it, Kurosaki!" He shouted up into the window, face red with anger. After finally pulling himself free, he stood and walked into the light of the street lamp, waiting and picking leaves and twigs from his clothes. Ichigo took that as bait and called forth his hollow mask, sweeping down into the street and swinging his blade down across the chest of the former sexta. Grimmjow slapped the blade away from his body, causing the orange haired soul reaper to stumble to the side.
Ichigo growled and lifted his sword upwards, simultaneously screaming, "Getsuga Tenshou!" The attack was dodged easily and the action caused Ichigo to vaguely remember that the last time he had met the hollow in battle, it was no walk in the park. He was fighting for his life. But somehow he thought, since defeating Aizen - or even Ulquiorra-, this would be a piece of cake. Perhaps he was out of practice? Lazing around for a good part of the past three years may have taken it's toll, but he wouldn't let Grimmjow know that. The arrancar glared at him, a familiar frown on his face, but he did nothing more. Ichigo paused suddenly, directing a strange look at the male behind his mask. "Oi!" he shouted. "Why aren't you attacking me?"
Grimmjow shrugged airily and leaned back against the lamppost.
Ichigo narrowed his eyes and lifted his sword to point straight into the chest of the espada. "Take out your sword, transform into your release form, fight me properly, damn it!"
The teal haired hollow shifted his weight casually from one foot to the other and pretend to study his nails. Ichigo made another low grumbling sound in his chest and he cursed the man in front of him for his mockery. He prepared for another attack when Grimmjow spoke.
"I told you, I didn't come to fight you, Shinigami." He muttered lazily, placing his hands in the pockets of his jeans and- Jeans? Ichigo let his anger subside a fraction and really looked at the former espada and noticed what he had failed to upon seeing the male in his room. There was no bone jaw covering his face, he didn't wear the hakama and half haori that he was use to seeing the sixth espada in, but now he wore faded blue jeans that looked like they belonged to someone else, a dark colored t-shirt underneath a jacket that looked nearly black. If Ichigo wasn't in his right mind, he would have assumed that the man was human. He lowered his sword and stepped back, allowing his hollow mask to break off in pieces from his face.
"What the hell is this?" He asked suspiciously. "That's a gigai! Where did you get it from?" Though it was quite redundant to ask the question because there was only one person in Karakura that could make the false bodies and would willingly - and probably with his own personal goals - give one to the former espada. He could see the irritating shop owner now, giving him a weird look and snickering at him from behind his stupid fan. Ichigo silently vowed to cleave Urahahra in two with Zangetsu the next time he saw the blonde male, right after he gave him a reason for helping the hollow in front of him. .
Grimmjow refrained from answering the question, making the judgment that Ichigo wasn't as stupid as he looked. After witnessing the change in facial expressions from the boy - the subtle realization within his eyes - he smirked carefully and considered praising him for his smarts. "I'm here to make peace with you, so to speak, Kurosaki." He offered instead with a small grin. "You owe me."
"I don't owe you a damn thing." Ichigo spat, guard rising once more. He knew he could not trust the man and wondered why Urahara would do him the favor of allowing him to use a gigai. Maybe he should have gone back with the rest of Soul Society...
In a move so quick, Ichigo barely saw it, the espada who was a few feet away from him now only inches separated them. The blue haired hollow glared down at him from his full height and Ichigo raised his zanpakuto once more, the anger in those blue eyes causing a thread of fear to wind around him.
"You owe me a hell of a lot, you piece of shit soul reaper. It was because of you I missed out on the best part of the war, because of you I was left alone in that stupid ass desert, not even able to hear what the fuck was going on outside. Do you know how much I wanted to see that bastard Aizen die? Do you?" He seethed, anger rolling off of him in waves and Ichigo felt crushed by it, it was almost as bad as the feeling of his reiatsu, he felt as if his body would snap under the pressure. Just what kind of an artificial body did Hat 'n Sandals lend him?
Ichigo nearly buckled to his knees but managed to stay upright for the most part and glare angrily up at Grimmjow in defiance. When the man was done with his miniature rant, he cocked his head to the side and said, "So?"
Grimmjow closed his eyes and turned away slightly as if to calm himself. Ichigo could almost see the rage building within his now human features. He wondered, however, how much of it would build until the male crumbled with fury. The sixth espada never was good with patience, he remembered bitterly.
"So what if I was the one to kill him? What fucking difference does it make?" Questioned the teen angrily. Grimmjow could feel the old bitterness from the fight, at him not being able to join it. He grabbed the orange haired male in front of him by the fabric of his black hakama and sneered in his face.
"It matters because I should have been the one who killed him. You don't even fucking know what the hell he put me through in that shithole of a place. You can't even fucking imagine what it was like knowing you could beat the shit out of someone but unable to do so because of some god damn hallucination given off by a fucking sword. Given the chance I could have murdered Aizen." Ichigo highly doubted the statement but was some how curious to what the man was saying. He remembered one of the captains mentioning Aizen's zanpakuto's released state and how he had never seen it before. They said it gave him the advantage in battle, but that didn't mean he was any less difficult to defeat. The man, as he later learned, had a plethora of tricks up his crafty little sleeve... his zanpakuto had just been the beginning.
Grimmjow released the boy with a hard sigh and stepped away from him. He ran his fingers through his unruly teal hair and sighed again. He looked worn and tired with heavy bags under his eyes. Ichigo eyed him through his scowl trying to understand the situation, hurting his brain from thinking so hard. As of now he had been in Grimmjow's presence for a little over twenty minutes, but neither of them was bleeding. Grimmjow wasn't laughing maniacally with Pantera unsheathed and Ichigo wasn't laying in a crater with his body broken to all hell. All of his previous encounters with the male had proven quite violent, now, however, it was different. He really couldn't understand it.
"What are you doing here?" He asked again, this time a fraction more calmly. It took Grimmjow a while to finally turn back to him and give the boy an answer. He looked hesitant, as if he had something to say but didn't know how to tell the teen. Finally he rubbed the side of his face and let out a heavy sigh.
"Forget it. " He sighed, already beginning to turn away from the redhead. "I should have know that guy with the stupid hat was wrong about this." He shook his head and started off in the direction of said man's shouten. Ichigo frowned curiously, wondering what he meant.
"Oi! What do you mean Urahara was wrong? He told you to come here?" It was highly probably and he couldn't put anything past the shop owner. The man would send an assassin to his door, thinking it was all in good fun. Meanwhile Grimmjow paused in his stride and turned to face the teenager once more, his scowl of frustration still on his face. Ichigo dared to step in front of the male, somehow sensing he wasn't as much of a threat as he thought at first, but he was still wary. It had been three years since he's seen the male and he didn't think anyone like him would forgive their enemy and quit being a bloodthirsty murderer cold turkey.
"Why are you here?" He asked for the third and hopefully the final time. The teal haired man inclined his head some before answering.
"Stupid hat guy won't let me stay at his shop. Says I'm bad luck, doesn't want me ta murder him in his sleep or some shit… Said you'd let me stay here." He smirked as he finished, loving the way the boy's brown eyes flashed from surprised to furious.
Ichigo tried to hold his anger in. What made Urahara think he could just volunteer him unwillingly for something like this? Did he have a large 'free hotel' sign hanging out of his window. He was glad to get rid of Rukia hanging around his closet and now….
"No." He murmured furiously. Ichigo changed his mind; he was going to cleave Urahara along with his stupid candy shop in two.
Grimmjow lifted a challenging eyebrow. "No?" He questioned, though he sounded just a little hurt. Just a little. He had - in a way - expected the male to turn him down. He had every reason to.
"Fuck no." Ichigo enunciated, shaking his head back and forth. "No… no… no no no, NO!" He shouted. "You have to be fucking kidding me. Fucking hell no!"
The blue haired hollow's eyebrow's shot up in surprise. "It's a simple request, shinigami." He explained, smirking a little, not so put off by the soul reaper's answer.
Ichigo cringed and flexed his fingers around the hilt of Zangetsu, contemplating on weather or not he wanted to chop the man in front of him into pieces as well. He decided against it, however, when the light from his porch turned on and out of his front door stepped his father… wearing full red footie pajamas with what looked like pink and green bears scattered all over them. Ichigo groaned as Isshin rubbed at his eyes mumbling then turned his attention towards the two standing in the street. His eyes widened a fraction before they narrowed and he placed his knuckles over his fleece clad hips. He looked very upset.
"Ichigo!" He yelled through the night, voice loud enough to wake the dead, Ichigo thought. The substitute soul reaper whimpered in embarrassment and hung his head as his father shouted at him, demanding to know what he was doing out at this time of night with 'some stranger'. Ichigo took a deep breath.
"Dad, go back in the house, I'm fine!" He screamed back, but the elder Kurosaki didn't budge from his place at the door. He stamped his foot and pointed at the ground in front of him.
"You get over here now, young man; you and you little friend." He wagged a finger at Grimmjow who sputtered a bit in shock.
This is Kurosaki Isshin? From what Urahara described of him, this was nothing close to what he imagined the ex -shinigami to be like. He held back a snort as Ichigo glared back at him and reluctantly dragged his feet over to where his father was standing. Grimmjow sauntered over as well, none to thrilled with the man's current mood but thinking that perhaps since he wasn't able to win over the son, he could get through to the father. Isshin crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at the two males, recognition flashed across his eyes briefly as he looked over Grimmjow, but that was about it.
"Now…" He started slowly, in a sugar sweet voice. "Ichigo, you know I am a very lenient parent. I even allowed you to stay here, rent free as you commute to school. So tell me, my beautiful boy, why must you cause so much noise just to greet a friend." He motioned to Grimmjow who snorted and mumbled under his breath. Ichigo threw a glare at him before turning back towards his father.
"Dad… you can't tell me you don't know who this man is." He gestured vaguely at Grimmjow and his father's eyes darted towards the espada for a split second before narrowing back at his son.
"Of course." Ichigo gritted his teeth and held back the curse that threatened to fall from his lips at his old man's idiotic behavior.
"Then you would know that he is not nor has ever been my friend." Isshin frowned at his son and then praised Grimmjow with a peculiar stare. Before either the ex-espada or the substitute shinigami knew what happened, Isshin violently head butted his son's forehead. After the orange haired male stumbled to the ground a few feet away, Isshin stood up and laughed heartily.
"No wonder you lost to this guy so many times! You won't get anywhere with reflexes like those!" He chirped happily, undeterred when said son raised a finger from his place on the ground. The older man threw an arm around Grimmjow's shoulders as the arrancar gapped at the scene, chuckling nervously.
"Sorry if my idiot, darling son hurt your feelings, mister. He can be awfully dense sometimes." He dragged the blue haired hollow into the house, leaving his own son sprawled out on the ground in the front of their home.