Chapter Three

"All right all you wanna be strippers, get in line." Yumichika called out to a small crowd of young dancers. He was currently the manager of Wank as well as Solid Gold and he took his jobs now as seriously as he had in the past.

Ichigo spared the man a glance and a nod as he walked passed and into the office he shared with Shinji. Ichigo shut the door behind him and leaned against it with his arms crossed over his chest as he looked down at Shinji sitting behind the desk. Shinji looked up and gave Ichigo a weak smile before he sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"What's up?" Ichigo asked, frowning a little.

Shinji had called him that morning and asked him to meet him at Wank when he was on his lunch break at the clinic he worked at. Ichigo didn't understand why this couldn't be done over the phone but Shinji had absolutely insisted that what he had to say must be done in person.

"I've been thinkin'. About what happened to Taichi." Shinji started, leaning against the only desk in the small office. He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a business card, handing it across the short distance to Ichigo.

Ichigo took it and frowned as he read the small printed words. He shook his head. "Shin, he doesn't need therapy."

"Do ya have any idea what it does to a person, somethin' like that?" Shinji asked, furrowing his brow and frowning hard at his friend.

Ichigo hadn't told Shinji the part about what the men had done to Taichi so he assumed that the blond was talking about the beating. Ichigo shook his head again and set the card on the desk.

"Shinji, he got beat up. It's no big–"

"Ichigo, I know a rape victim when I see one." Shinji said flatly and watched the shock crawl across Ichigo's features. "And I know what it does to someone no matter how strong they are. He may not be showin' anythin' right now but eventually he's gonna need someone ta talk to. He's just like you were back then, when you got raped. Tryin' ta pretend that it don't matter. That it's no big deal until later it hits him what happened and he's a fuckin' mess. Unlike you I doubt he's in love with the person who did it and who knows what he'll turn to when his shit falls apart. You and I both know what the possibilities are and, frankly Ichi, it scares me thinkin' about Tai gettin' into stuff like that."

Ichigo pinched the bridge of his nose –choosing to ignore that little bit of his own past Shinji brought up– and closed his eyes before he dropped his arms to his sides and reached for the card again.

"Fine. I'll talk to him about it. But I'm going to leave it up to Tai, alright?"

Shinji smiled tightly and nodded. "Perfect. Now, before ya go I got business!"

Ichigo groaned and his entire body sagged. "Shin, it's my lunch break."

"Quit whinin'." Shinji smiled and handed Ichigo a sheaf of papers. "Sign those and ya can leave, doctor man."

Ichigo groaned again and took a seat before flipping through the papers he had been handed. He had a feeling he was going to be back late to work.

"Tomoe!"

Tomoe stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned when she heard her name, scowling because she was already late to get herself lunch. When she saw who it was approaching her –fake blond hair and a wide fake smile– she rolled her eyes and made no attempt to hide her contemp.

"What?" she snapped as soon as the girl was close to her and the girl smiled tightly.

"Is your brother any better now? He's been sick quite a while."

The story that had been feed to the teachers and therefore the entire student body about Taichi's absence was that he currently had the flu. Every day since the school week had started this girl had approached Tomoe to ask how Taichi was doing. Every day Tomoe's irrational hatred grew.

"Yeah, so? He's sick."

"Well can he at least talk?" the girl asked and Tomoe's eye narrowed.

"If he could don't you think he would have called you or somethin'?" Tomoe asked through her teeth.

Haru Saitou, one of the most popular girls in the school as well as one of the smartest, was Taichi's current girlfriend. Tomoe had no idea what her brother saw in this girl though and from day one she had decided to hate her.

"I just figured…." Haru started, frowning at the floor.

"Maybe he's sick of ya already. Tai does that sometimes. He likes to play with pretty things until they aren't pretty anymore." Tomoe smirked evilly and cocked her head to the side.

"I guess you aren't pretty anymore. Sad for you."

On that note Tomoe walked quickly away, leaving the girl standing shocked in the middle of an empty hallway. Tomoe, quite proud of herself at the moment, decided to forgo lunch and hunt Yayoi and Ishida down to see what they were up to. Yayoi liked to spend her lunches one of two ways: sitting in the classroom with Tomoe, talking about boys and other girly things, or retreating to the south building's roof to eat in the sun. Sure enough Yayoi and Ishida both were sitting comfortably, eating their lunch while Yayoi chatted on and on about a proposal of changes she was going to make to present to her father in regards to Solid Gold. Shinji had told Yayoi that he would sign it completely over to her the day she graduated from college and she had been doing her part to ensure that she would be worthy.

"First of all I'd move the restaurant part back a little, I like the idea of moving the hosting part upstairs but we're still not sure if we'll be able to buy or lease the area for that. Anyway–"

"I think I made someone cry!" Tomoe said in greeting, cutting Yayoi off and bringing all the attention on herself.

Yayoi shook her head. "Who this time?"

"Haru Whatever. Taichi's slut of the month." Tomoe plopped down next to Ishida and stole a piece of fruit from his bento.

"Tomo, that's so mean. Maybe he likes these girls." Yayoi commented and handed Tomoe her leftover bento.

Tomoe took it and started eating as she spoke. "Yeah. And I'm a triple F."

"Did they break up?" Ishida asked, keeping his face blank and looking off in the distance.

"Fuck if I know." Tomoe said around a mouth full of rice before swallowing. "Who cares?"

Ishida shrugged and Yayoi bit her lip. "So are we going straight home after school today?" she asked to change the subject.

"Hell no. Daddy and Chichi are gonna be taking to Tai and I'd rather take advantage of that and stay the hell away."

Yayoi frowned sadly and looked down into her lap. "I hope they aren't too hard on him." she said quietly and Tomoe snorted.

"Yeah, good luck there." Tomoe sighed and handed Yayoi back her bento. "Anyway, I was thinkin' we should hit that thrift store we always avoid."

Ishida sighed and Yayoi giggled. "Why do we avoid that one anyway?"

Tomoe shrugged and stood when she heard the bells chime the end of lunch period.

"Because it looks like creepy, dirty people work inside it." Ishida said and began to gather his things.

Tomoe slung her arm around Ishida's shoulders and ignored the look he gave her. "It's okay. I brought extra hand sanitizer for you."

Ishida shrugged her arm off and sighed. "Fine. But we stop at the bookstore too."

Tomoe laughed and slapped Yayoi lightly on the shoulder. "See, he's learning so well."

Yayoi laughed and they each made their way back to their classrooms.

Taichi looked down at his sister's cell phone and waited for Daisuke to call him back. He'd managed to talk Tomoe into leaving her phone with him that morning as his own had been confiscated as soon as he had gotten home. He needed to let Daisuke know what had happened before he heard anything different from someone else. Taichi knew how quickly stories could be blown far out of proportion and Daisuke, God love him, would believe just about anything. When the phone finally rang he jumped and winced when it hurt, his ribs aching and his ass throbbing.

"Hey." Taichi answered with slightly gritted teeth before blowing out a quiet breath.

"Got caught?" Daisuke asked and Taichi sighed.

"In a way. I got some guys to get me a room but things went bad and I kinda got the crap beat out of me."

There was a long silence before Daisuke breathed out hard against the receiver, the crackling rush of air making Taichi smirk for some reason.

"Holy shit. What… what happened?"

"Long story short, I offered blow jobs to two guys if they signed up a room for me. They wanted more than I was willing to offer. So they knocked me out and when I came to…. Anyway, I jumped out the window and ended up in the hospital."

"God, how can you say all that without bursting into tears?" Daisuke asked loudly, his voice sounding a little weaker than normal.

Taichi shrugged and closed his eyes. "Nothing I can do about it now." he muttered with a frown.

"I'm so sorry. I should have just stayed with you. I'm a horrible friend." Daisuke sniffled loudly.

"No, I'm an idiot for doing things the way I did. This is what I get when I act impulsively." Taichi took a deep breath and cleared his throat before continuing.

"Look, I need you to get ahold of someone for me." he started and he could almost hear the frown in Daisuke's voice when he replied.

"Who?"

"Yammy."

"Taichi! You told me you stopped doing that!" Daisuke yelled into the phone and Taichi held his own away from his ear. He sighed.

"I did. Mostly. Look, we hadn't finished making the deal to get me out and I don't want him thinking I've changed my mind, okay? Just let him know I got messed up and I can't get anywhere right now." Taichi frowned down at his ankle and sighed. Only two people out of the ones that knew him personally knew about some of his more dangerous extracurricular activities and Daisuke was one of them. While the other young man didn't approve, they had both started out doing exactly what Taichi was trying to get out of now.

"At least not until my ankle heals a bit more."

"Oh you know what? I am going to kick your ass for making me do this. I hate that guy!" Daisuke complained.

"I know. And you're the best friend in the entire world for doing this for me."

Daisuke made a sound of disgust and breathed loudly into the receiver. "Fine. But only because I don't want you getting in even more trouble over this mess you got yourself in."

"We got into. You left early, remember?" Taichi commented almost bitterly before sighing softly.

Taichi waited through the silence, a slow smile finally pulling at his lips. "I love you."

"One of these days saying that won't make me forgive you." Daisuke sighed again. "I love you too, you stupid bitch."

Taichi chuckled and shook his head. "Thank you, Dai."

Tomoe pulled a dress from the rack in front of her and frowned at it, taking the skirt in hand and spreading the pleats as far as they would go.

"That's pretty." Yayoi said to her left and Tomoe grunted.

"Yeah but will it look good with my hair?"

Ishida shook his head and continued to card through the endless line of used dresses. "No. Purple and your hair do not go."

Yayoi frowned and nodded as well. "He's right. I don't know how Ichi-chan does it but…."

"You didn't inherit that trait from your dad." Ishida said bluntly and looked up into Tomoe's eyes. Tomoe was a good four inches above Ishida but she rarely, if ever, intimidated him.

Tomoe scowled, pushing a bit of her long, dark orange hair behind her ear and biting her lip before shoving the dress back on the rack. "Fine."

"We've been here a while." Ishida said irritably and Tomoe rolled her eyes.

"Quit bitching." she snapped and reached for another dress.

Yayoi looked at Ishida and watched a thin, straight eyebrow raise and an angular head tilt to the side. She sighed and tried to stop a fight before one started by quickly asking Ishida a question.

"Have you decided whether or not you're going to drop that baking class yet?" She leaned forward and looked up at Ishida, willing him to forget that he was irritated with Tomoe at the moment.

"No." he said curtly. "And you promised we could stop by the book store." he returned his attention to Tomoe.

"Oh my God. What are you, five?" Tomoe gave the younger man an indignant look and pushed passed him so she could continue her search for the perfect summer dress.

"What if they run out of the book I want? It's very popular in many circles and if I don't get a new copy of it…."

Yayoi sighed.

"What? Are you just gonna die?"

Dark eyes narrowed and Ishida's thin lips pulled into a straight line. "Have you gained weight recently?"

Tomoe's mouth dropped open and Yayoi's shoulders sagged.

"Ishida…."

"You little asshole!" Tomoe screeched and the shop owner turned disapproving eyes on her. "Just get if you want yer little freak book so bad!"

"It's not a freak book!" Ishida shouted back and Yayoi held up her hands in front of her.

"Okay, okay. Tomoe hasn't gained weight and Ishida doesn't read… freak stuff. Okay?"

"Shut up Yo." Tomoe scowled before turning back to the rack in front of her, hands trembling has she tried her best to hold in her anger. It may not have looked like it to many around her but she had been trying really hard lately to be a tad more in control of things. Didn't always work out, but it was the thought that counted, right?

Yayoi sighed again and leaned closer to Ishida. "Just go. We'll be here a while and you hate it when she talks to you while you read anyway."

"I… don't like going in there by myself. You know that." he whispered back before pulling a pale yellow strapless dress from the rack. He cocked his head to the side as he looked it over before he turned to Tomoe and thrust it at her.

"Try that. The color compliments your skin and hair."

Tomoe turned her scowl on him before looking down at the dress and scowling even harder. She snatched it out of his hands and walked over to the tall mirror near a makeshift dressing room, holding it up to her body and smoothing it against her.

"It's… pretty." she hedged, not wanting Ishida to feel too superior for having picked it out of a section she had already searched through.

Yayoi and Ishida both came up behind her and stood on either side. Before anything more could be said between the three someone spoke from behind them, startling them.

"Well if it ain't the little Kitty Cat."

Tomoe froze, eyes going wide as she searched in the mirror for the speaker. There was no way it could be who she thought it was though; it'd been weeks since that incident. When she couldn't see the man who had spoken that way she turned slowly and came face to face with someone she never expected to see again. Narrowed icy blue eyes stared at her from behind overlong black bangs and the smile she had been greeted with the first time they had meet was long gone. She let out a breathy laugh and gave the man a half smile. His frown seemed to deepen.

"Excuse me, but I need ta borrow yer friend a moment." he said and Tomoe stuck her nose up in the air, tossing her hair back over her shoulder and dropping the dress to hang over her arm.

"Like hell. I'm not goin' anywhere with you." she said with a snort and a roll of her eyes.

The man took a step closer to the three and reached out, curling very thin, long fingers around Tomoe's upper arm before bending his tall frame to look her straight in the eyes. Yayoi's eyes widened at the menace on his face –partially reminded of Nnoitra for a moment– and Ishida felt himself backing away a little.

"You will." the man said before turning and yanking Tomoe out of the store.

Yayoi blinked after them, her mouth dropping open a bit before she turned to Ishida with a look of worry.

"Sh… should we follow her? He might be a bad guy."

Ishida shrugged. "This is Tomoe we're talking about here. She can handle whatever that guy wants."

Yayoi frowned at his seeming unconcern and looked back towards the front door. "But…."

Ishida sighed. "We'll give them a couple minutes and then follow." he said and Yayoi smiled.

"Okay."

Meanwhile, the man pulled Tomoe into the alley next to the thrift shop and pushed her up against the building, his hand still tight around her arm. He leaned forward, once more shoving his face in hers, and his lips peeled back in a sneer before he spoke again.

"Alrigh', Kitty Cat. Where is it?"

"I have no idea what yer talkin' about. And let go 'a me asshole." Tomoe glared back.

The man snorted loudly and shook her hard. "Ya little thief! Ya stole ma wallet."

Tomoe's eyes went wide with mock innocence and she laughed harshly. "Ha! Prove it." she said before kicking out and trying to catch the man in the shin, all the while her mind taking her back to the first time she had met him.

It had been about two weeks before and she had been in one of her bad moods again. They happened often but this time she had ended up storming off and leaving both Yayoi and Ishida in the middle of a convenience store. Yayoi had been gushing about Sorin's latest fight, going on and on about how well he moved in the boxing ring, and Tomoe had just snapped, yelling at Yayoi that she need to just tell Sorin how she felt or shut the hell up, before stomping off in a huff. She'd made it four blocks away before she had run out of steam and plopped herself down on a bench. And there she sat, pouting and irritated that no one had come after her yet. She hadn't been paying much attention to her surroundings and didn't see the tall, thin man standing across the street from her, smoking a cigarette and eyeing her with a thoughtful look on his face. The man flicked his cigarette and stuck his hands in the pockets of his tight jeans before walking slowly, casually, across the street. Tomoe was grumbling to herself, arms crossed over her stomach and one leg bouncing with irritation.

"Stupid lovely-dovey idiots…. Ruin my day…. Just fuck 'em and get it over with…."

The man smirked and leaned a thin hip against the side of the back of the bench.

"Aw, whazza matta, Kitty Cat? Someone step on yer tail?" his voice purred and Tomoe snorted loudly.

"Fuck off." she sneered and didn't bother looking to the side to see the face of the person who had interrupted her monologue of hate.

The man chuckled softly and grinned. "Oh, Kitty has claws."

Tomoe rolled her eyes. "No, Kitty has a knife so get lost."

She heard the sound of cloth rustling with movement and looked the opposite way from where the voice had come from. She didn't want to be bothered right then and she had thought she was doing a rather good job of projecting that air. Apparently she was either not very good at it or the man getting ready to sit on the bench next to her was a fucking moron. He threw his arm across the back of the bench and turned towards Tomoe, grinning widely as he looked her over.

"Why ya all 'lone and grumblin' to yerself, Kitty Cat?" he asked and Tomoe sighed loudly.

"Are you stupid?" she asked, turning abruptly and looking up at him for the first time.

She blinked a few times, dazzled by the smile and the sheer size of the other man, before shaking herself and remembering that she was pissed off. The man just chuckled and settled into the bench, never taking his eyes off her.

"Mebe a little." he conceded and laughed at Tomoe's hard frown.

"I don't wanna talk to anyone so get lost." she said again and the man cocked his head to the side as he regarded her.

"Yer a pretty little ginger, Kitty Cat." he commented as if Tomoe hadn't spoken and she found herself struggling with the urge to blush and hit the man.

"Wha–"

"Hows 'bout ya let me getcha somethin' ta drink? Mebe some tea er somethin'?"

"Are… are you serious?" she asked incredulously and the man nodded.

He leaned forward, his eyes focusing on Tomoe's parted lips a moment before returning to dark blue eyes.

"Or mebe I c'n take ya somewheres we c'n… get some'a that 'gression outta ya?"

Tomoe's eyes widened and she leaned back a little. "You're a pervert!"

The man shrugged and didn't respond to her accusation.

"Mebe a little." he said after a long moment and licked his lips quickly. "Well?"

"No! Go away!"

He reached out, curling a finger under a shocked Tomoe's chin and leaned forward to place a tender but chaste kiss on her parted lips. Tomoe jerked back and reached blindly into her purse, pulling out the Taser Nnoitra had gotten her and ramming it into the man's gut, firing it quickly. His eyes went a little wide as his body went rigid as it jerked back and Tomoe jumped off the bench, breath coming out in heavy pants as she watched the tall, thin man slump and slip to the ground. She cleared her throat and looked around wildly, thankful that the street was empty, before stepping closer to the man and looking down at him.

"Asshole." she said after a short moment.

She reached down and pulled his wallet from his pocket, flipping it open and glaring at the picture on his ID before shoving it in her purse. She kicked him in the thigh and shook her hair out before walking confidentially away; back to her friends that were hopefully still waiting for her.

Until that day she had forgotten all about the incident but now that she was faced with the man that had stolen a kiss from her she wasn't quite sure how to react. He seemed a little too upset about it, at least in her opinion as she was already mostly over the event.

"I know ya god'it so giv'it back." he said and Tomoe rolled her eyes.

"Fine. But I don't exactly carry the fuckin' thing around with me." she cocked a hip and looked down at the hand still on her arm. "And you can let me the fuck go now. I still have that Taser on me."

The man twitched at that and finally let his hand drop from Tomoe's arm, eyeing her purse warily.

"I can bring it here tomorrow though. On my time, I ain't going outta my way for some grabby pervert."

He snorted and Tomoe jerked back when his hand shot out again and he pulled her purse from her shoulder, easily taking it from her grasp and stepping out of her reach.

"Hey!" Tomoe yelled and jumped at him to retrieve her stolen item.

He reached inside and pulled out a tiny pink wallet, grinning down at Tomoe as he shoved it in his shirt pocket and threw her purse in her face.

"Insurance." he said with a sneer before walking almost calmly away.

"Gimmie back my wallet!" Tomoe screamed and the man ignored her.

"Tomo, you okay?"

Tomoe turned and fixed wild, angry eyes on Yayoi who had appeared with Ishida behind her.

"No I'm not! That asshole stole my wallet."

Yayoi frowned and looked down the alley, seeing it empty save for over-piled garbage cans.

"That guy from before?"

"Where the hell were you two? Some guy drags me off an' you two just take yer sweet fuckin' time in helpin' me?"

Ishida shrugged. "You have multiple ways of protecting yourself. It didn't seem like a big issue."

Tomoe scowled hard at that, knowing that Ishida was right but not liking that one bit. Yayoi sighed and held out a plastic bag for Tomoe.

"Well then I guess it's a good thing we got the dress for you." she said in a quiet voice, looking up a bit apologetically at Tomoe.

Tomoe smiled, anger almost forgotten, and grabbed at the bag. "Really? Aww, thank you babe."

She hugged Yayoi tightly, lifting the smaller girl off the ground and twirling her around a few times before dropping her.

"I hope it fits."

"It will." Ishida said stiffly; it had been him that had bought it after all. "Now can we go to the bookstore?"

"Uhg, fine." Tomoe said with a small grin as she slung her arm over Yayoi's shoulders and led her out of the alley.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Yayoi asked and Tomoe nodded.

"Yeah. Ya know…." Tomoe paused and looked back over her shoulder a moment. "That guy was kinda cute."

Yayoi and Ishida both rolled their eyes and didn't bother commenting.

Taichi and Grimmjow were sitting uncomfortably in the living room, waiting for Ichigo to get home from work so that the three of them could talk. Taichi was refusing to look at Grimmjow and Grimmjow was desperately wishing he had a cigarette. He cleared his throat and sighed loudly.

"Did you take yer pill today with lunch?" Grimmjow asked and Taichi nodded.

"Yes. Thank you." he said quietly, still not looking at his father.

He couldn't believe that Grimmjow had asked for time off work so that he could stay home with him, but figured it was just another way to keep tabs on Taichi. It wasn't as if Taichi could go anywhere at that moment so he didn't understand why he needed to be watched so closely. And it was bugging the hell out of him how strange his father was acting towards him. It had been so long since they had exchanged pleasant words with each other in private that he had almost forgotten that he and Grimmjow used to sit up talking to each other about anything and everything all the time. Taichi frowned deeply at that thought and hugged his sore chest tighter, the stitches on his arm catching slightly and making him wince. Grimmjow scowled and jumped a little when the front door opened.

"You're late." he said loudly to cover how uncomfortable he was.

"Traffic. You two could have been talking without me, you know." Ichigo said as he slipped out of his shoes and walked into the living room.

"Yeah well Tai won't say more than two words to me without you around so how the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"I'm sitting right here." Taichi snapped and then smirked.

Ichigo sighed and sat on the couch near Taichi's propped up ankle. He looked at his son.

"I meant to tell you this yesterday, but we got the results for your HIV test back. Negative, but I want you to take one a month for the next three. Okay?"

Taichi grit his teeth and looked down into his lap, nodding stiffly. "Yeah."

Grimmjow's body tensed as Ichigo spoke and he reached up to rub a hand over his mouth so that he wouldn't say what he had been about to. He wasn't really that angry with Taichi in regards to what had put his son in the hospital. True, Taichi had been stupid and put himself in that situation but it didn't change that fact that someone had done horrible things to his first born son. No matter how upset he was with Taichi it didn't even come close to how badly he wanted to hurt the men that had done it to him.

"I want a description of those men." he said softly, looking up and meeting Taichi's soft brown eyes before the younger man looked away.

"I told you I don't really remember."

"Try harder."

"We'll talk about that later." Ichigo cut in, as eager as Grimmjow to find the people that hurt Taichi but wanting to move the conversation along before a fight broke out.

"Why did you do it Tai? Why did you leave? I understand that you were angry but that's no reason to run away."

Taichi rolled his eyes and sighed, looking away from both his fathers and letting the silence hang a moment before speaking softly.

"I'm tired of living in a house with a person who hates me and everything about me."

Grimmjow scoffed and shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back in his chair.

"Taichi, your father doesn't hate you." Ichigo said and Taichi looked at him directly.

"Then why doesn't he defend himself? How come you have to say that and he just sits there looking pissed off?"

"Listen to me you little shit." Grimmjow started, leaning forward again and resting his elbows on his knees. "If I hated you I wouldn't have spent three days looking for you. If I hated you I wouldn't be this fucking mad at you right now."

"That's the same kind of talk as 'I hit you because I love you.'"

"No it's not, Tai." Ichigo put in, irritated.

"Whatever." Taichi turned his torso towards Grimmjow and looked at him with a tight frown on his face.

"If you would have paid attention to anything about me you would have known exactly where I was."

This wasn't entirely true and he knew it. Taichi was a fairly secretive person when it came to his private life and he had only ever once told his parents about going to Nichome with Daisuke. And he had been promptly grounded for going without permission.

"What the fuck do you want me to do?" Grimmjow shouted and stood. "Follow you around asking questions and making sure I know every damn detail about you?"

"Grimmjow sit down."

"No, but it would be nice to know that you care about anything I did instead of focusing all your attention on Sorin."

"Oh here we go again." Grimmjow threw his hands up in the air and took a few steps away from his chair.

"Yes, tragic how I have to point out that you favor one of your children over the others." Taichi sneered and looked away from Grimmjow again.

Ichigo sighed loudly and hung his head. This was pointless. He reached for his wallet and opened it, pulling out the card that Shinji had handed him earlier that day and shook his head. Perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea to send the both of them into counseling.

"I… have something for the two of you to think about." he started, watching both Taichi and Grimmjow tense. He set the card on the table and stood.

"What is that?" Taichi asked, frowning at the card too far away to read.

"It's the number for a therapist–"

"Why do we need therapy?" Grimmjow asked incredulously and Ichigo clenched his teeth.

"We don't need therapy." Taichi rolled his eyes.

"You both are idiots and yes you do. I'm making an appointment and you both will go. Is that clear?" he raised his voice as he snapped the words out, silencing both men in the room.

"Now you," he continued, pointing at Taichi. "Go to your room and wait for dinner. And you!" Ichigo pointed a long finger at Grimmjow and scowled. "Go get me some chicken because we're out."

Grimmjow rolled his eyes and left the room and Taichi stood to struggle back to his own. Ichigo shook himself and sighed before stomping to the kitchen to start dinner, grumbling the entire time about the stubborn men in his life.

A/N YAY~! Another chapter :D And YAY more OCs~ *giggles* You'll find out more about this dark haired stranger soon, don't worry. And OMG what have you been up to Tai? Yeah, you'll find out more about that as well~ So productive lately, I'm loving this. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this update and I'll try to update as soon as I can~~

~Penny