Month Four

Thursday

From the moment Grimmjow opened his eyes that morning, a strange, uneasy sensation stuck with him, even after he'd arrived to work that afternoon. He'd nearly struck a young boy on his way to work because he was so preoccupied with figuring out why exactly he was feeling so anxious. However, the answer never came to him no matter how long he racked his brain for even the most remote clue.

His coworkers repeatedly checked up on him to make sure that he was still capable of finishing his shift, to which he assured them that could do it. They remained skeptical as the night went on and Grimmjow continued to make bigger and more troublesome errors with placing orders and bringing them to customers.

'I really don't get it...' he thought to himself during his drive home. 'Ichigo was asleep when I left... I locked the door, I didn't run any lights, and I probably didn't mess up that badly at work. What the hell is it? I feel like I'm missing something... Shit, I've to get home..'

Pressing down firmly on the accelerator, Grimmjow flew down the roads as quickly as his car could possibly allow, hardly caring at all for traffic laws. The closer he came to his home, that much faster did his heart pound with such fear that he didn't even bother to lock his car door when her pulled into his parking spot and bolted inside, looking frantically for Ichigo.

"Ichigo? Ichigo, where are you?" he asked, searching around everywhere he could. When he rushed into the bedroom, his heart was suddenly gripped with a sinking, stinging pain. Ichigo sat in the middle of the bed, hugging his knees tightly and quietly sobbing. He seemed not to notice Grimmjow standing in the doorway as he went on crying silently. Grimmjow made his way over to Ichigo, wrapping his arms around the red-head's shoulders, holding him close and rocking him slowly.

"Shh, Ichi, shh, ok? Jesus, what happened while I was gone?"

Ichigo shook his head, refusing to answer his partner's question. The older male sighed and looked up at the ceiling as if it would somehow provide him with what he wanted to know.

"Tell me, please? I just want to help, so tell me what's wrong..." Hearing this, Ichigo turned toward Grimmjow with an expression so filled with anguish and despair that he could have sworn he felt his heart fade into non-existence.

"You want to know what happened? Okay, this is what happened. I got that thing taken out of me. I couldn't stand it living with something growing inside of me... I'm a guy, Grimmjow! That shit is not supposed to happen to guys! It's not right! So now it's gone. No, no- Don't you start the fucking water works, Grimmjow! I feel guilty enough right now, so don't push it. I knew you would react like this, but I had to do it. I would have killed myself if I would have kept it."

At that moment, words were all but a foreign concept to Grimmjow. He desired more than anything for this to be a grotesque nightmare that he was stuck in, but the weight of Ichigo's words felt too real.

"How could you?! How? You know how much I wanted to have a family with you, Ichigo! How did you even get money to get... Whatever you did done? How could you so blatantly slap me in the face with this?" Grimmjow's voice rumbled with the mix of anger and sadness that wreaked havoc inside him. He pushed Ichigo away and got off the bed, his blue eyes glinting with such heated emotion Ichigo had never seen before.

"Jesus fucking Christ, I can't believe that you had the audacity to do this! I thought you cared about me. I thought you understood how I felt! But I see now that you don't know. You never knew. For all I know, you could have lied about every single thing you've told me up until now! You know what? Fuck this, fuck you, fuck everything! I'm leaving."

Ichigo rose up onto his knees on the matress, wiping his face sloppily.

"Grimmjow, God no, please- Where the fuck are you going?! Get back here! Grimmjow!" he cried, following after Grimmjow until they reached the front door. Grimmjow glared at Ichigo for a few moments, then put his palm against Ichigo's chest and pushed him back so that he could shut the door and stormed away, hopping into his car and sped off.

Ichigo opened the door and looked on as Grimmjow's car grew smaller and smaller in the distance, helplessness slamming into him so forcefully that he fell to his knees and put his hands on both sides of his head, cursing himself over and over again at what he caused.

x

I took way too long updating this and I truly apologize to those who wanted me to update sooner. I went through a dry spell where I just didn't want to write anything... But I'm back now! I hope you liked Chapter 6 ~