Title : 79. Scarlet
Theme : Colors
Characters : Grimmjow x Ichigo
Rating : PG13 (omg naked boys in showerz)
Disclaimer : Sadly, I'm not making money off this story.
AN : Eh. This turned into crack. I'm also going with old-skool ratings. You know, back when shit used to be rated G, PG, etc. I like that rating system so much better than the ones that are up now. This probably also proves how long I've been around, because I don't think they've used that system in almost four years. I could be wrong though.
Ichigo streaked across the rooftops toward the all too familiar reitsu that was flaring up on the other side of the city. His legs would never be able to carry him fast enough as the pressure sky rocketed and then tumbled back down to nearly unrecognizable levels.
He came to a stop on the edge of a cloud of haze and dust.
"You here to help me?" Renji asked the strawberry hopefully.
Ichigo held back the scream building in his throat as the dust settled and the teal haired Espada collapsed against the weight of his new set of injuries.
"Yeah. I'm actually here to take over, Renji."
"What do you mean? I've almost killed him!"
Ichigo walked across the pale dirt, carefully moving around the puddles of crimson that were shining in the moonlight. "Of course you have almost killed him, he's had a good five hours to recover since the last time someone tried to kill him."
Renji blinked stupidly, "Wait, what?"
"Go help Hitsugaya and the other's, Renji. And for God's sake, stop picking on the ones that are near death to begin with, it makes you look like a huge fucking pansy," Ichigo snapped at him as he crouched down to the fallen Arrancar.
The pineapple cocked his head to the side and watched the interaction carefully. Renji watched as Ichigo's face scrunched up in pain and disgust. "Shit, you are all messed up," he muttered.
Grimmjow laughed, "Yeah, well. You did most of it, didn't you?"
Sighing, Ichigo wrapped the man's arm around his neck and pulled him to his feet. "I'm not saying that I didn't do it, but why the hell did you come back so soon?"
"What can I say, I just love seeing your ugly face."
"Hey, fuck you, Arrancar."
"Whatever, get me out of here. Your stupid shinigami friend is staring daggers into my brain and it's so annoying I might kill him."
The Vizard sighed as he crouched down on his haunches. "Yeah, sorry about him."
Grimmjow winced as Ichigo released the built tension in his legs like a spring, rocketing them both into the night sky. "Yeah, I'm over it."
Renji stared after the two with confusion in his eyes.
Inoue sighed as the pounding came at her front door once again. Throwing the blankets off her bed and stumbling out into the hallway, she muttered groggily as she flipped lights on, "I'm coming, hold on a moment please."
"Oh thank God you are home, Inoue!"
Inoue blinked several times at the sight before her, "Uh, good evening, Kurosaki-kun."
"I hate to rush this, but do you mind if I leave him here while I run home and get back into my body?" Ichigo laughed as he nodded his head at the man draped over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Um, sure, that is okay, but... wait! He's bleeding all over the place. Put him on the couch and I'll try to clean him up a bit," Inoue muttered with hesitation as Ichigo pushed past her and threw the body down onto the couch.
"I promise that whatever he bleeds on, I'll replace," the strawberry said with exasperation in his voice, "Just don't tell anyone he's here, don't let anyone else in your apartment, and if he wakes up, tell him I'll be right back."
"But, wait! Kurosaki-kun! He's gone," she murmured in disbelief as the shinigami turned heel and vanished out her door.
Turning her attention back to the man draped over the couch rather uncomfortably, she nearly fainted when she realized just what she had gotten herself into. She gathered up towels and hot water before sitting down next to the wildly colored man and putting herself to work.
Slowly, she ran a hesitant finger down the jaw plastered to his face. Peering around the edge, she poked and prodded, trying her hardest to see just exactly what kept it in place so well.
"Woman, it's five dollars to stare in public," he said smoothly, nearly scaring Inoue out of her skin. "Where is the Berry?"
"Kurosaki-kun told me to tell you that if you asked, he would be right back. He's going to fetch his body," Inoue muttered as she summoned her Rikka from their hairpins.
"Is that so?" Grimmjow winced as Inoue went to work at healing the huge gash in his forehead, "What are you doing to me, woman?"
"I'm healing your wounds, now stop moving!" she snapped as he tried to swat Ayame away from his eye.
"I don't want these damned fairies swarming all over my head, they make me look like I need a woman to take care of me!" he yelled at her.
"Well, you needed Kurosaki-kun to keep you from dying, so you sit down and you be quiet!" she uttered through clenched teeth.
"I think you just made a joke about him being a woman, didn't you?" Grimmjow laughed.
"Hey, stop fighting," a voice came from behind both of them. "Seriously, I can't leave you kids alone for more than ten minutes and look at what happens."
"He started it."
"Like fuck I did."
"Don't curse at me!"
"Woman, I swear I'll kill you! And your stupid fairies!"
Ichigo landed a swift kick directly in Grimmjow's face before he could manage to yell out another insult.
"Crap. Kurosaki-kun, I just finished closing his facial wounds, try not to kick him anymore!" Inoue pouted.
"Theriouthly, man. That hurths. Thop kicking me in the faith all the time. You're gonna give me a concuthion."
Ichigo laughed at the Espada, "Your lisp is funny."
"Tho's yer faith."
"My what?"
"Faith."
"Face?"
"That's what I thaid!"
"Oh, I thought you were saying 'faith!'"
"I'll kill you, fucker."
Inoue sighed, "Please stop fighting, you are lucky I let you in here to begin with. Now, Ichigo, you can start explaining yourself by telling me why I am harboring an Arrancar in my apartment! Are you trying to get me killed?"
Ichigo laughed again, "Oh hardly. Grimmjow is harmless."
The busty red head blinked.
"No, really, he won't hurt us. He hates Aizen more than we do, and he's been leaking information to me for about the last month."
Grimmjow smirked, "If that is what you call it."
A blush crept across the strawberries face suddenly and he began laughing super loud, "Haha, Grimmjow! I have no idea what you are talking about! Stop speaking gibberish, maybe you DO have a concussion!"
"I bet you were the one that gave it to me, retard!"
"Stop fighting right now!" Inoue screamed, hitting both of them with a rolled up newspaper. "Now, Ichigo. If you don't mind, I need you to go get clean towels out of the bathroom, unless you feel like filling up the bath and washing this big lunk-head."
"How many towels do I need?"
"Probably all of them. Actually, probably more towels than I have, it would be easier to just make him take a shower, but I can't get his wounds healed well enough because he's so caked in dirt and blood that I can't even see where he is hurt to begin with!"
"Yeah, that's probably a problem," Ichigo muttered. "Come on, retard. With as filthy as you are, a bath would be gross. I'll just toss you into the shower for now."
"Why can't I have the pretty girl wash me down?" Grimmjow whined as Ichigo scooped him off the couch.
Inoue blushed suddenly and ran to the kitchen to wash out the dirty rags she had used.
"Probably because she doesn't want to see your bony ass, now come on, stop making this so difficult!" Ichigo half yelled as he drug the Hollow's broken body toward the shower.
The Shinigami sighed as he propped the Espada up against the wall and turned the shower on. "I'll have to use hot water to kind of clean out your wounds a little better, but it will sting like hell."
"Whatever, I'm over it."
"Shit man, you are bleeding everywhere."
Grimmjow winced as Ichigo grabbed at his collar and began peeling the tattered jacket away from his skin. Pieces of the fabric had already fused with some of the shallower wounds, which re-opened as the cloth was ripped away. "Yeah, well, if you hadn't decided to show up and kick my ass this afternoon, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now!"
"It's not my fault that Rukia picked today of all days to tag along. If I didn't kick your ass, she would have figured out that SOMETHING was off!"
"Don't get me wrong, I love it when you are rough, but you turned into some weird killing zombie! How am I supposed to respond to that?"
Ichigo resisted the urge to smack the older man across the face before he simply turned away and pulled off his own shirt.
"Wait, what are you doing?"
"You can't take a shower by yourself, now can you?"
"Of course I can, I'm not a woman!" Grimmjow shouted.
"Fine, if you can take your pants off, make it all the way across the bathroom, and get into the shower without my help, I'll let you take a shower alone."
The teal haired man managed to get out of his hakama and took about three steps before Ichigo ended up helping him.
"Fine, you win. Retard."
"Stop the name calling, seriously."
"No. Cunt."
Ignoring the comment completely, Ichigo continued, "I'm going to leave the shower running just long enough to get all the gross crap off of you, and then I'll just let you sit in some warm water. It will make your muscles feel a little better."
"I feel fine now."
"Bullshit."
"I've been worse."
"You are one of the most stubborn people I know, I hope you realize that."
"I'm secretly very proud of that."
"Whatever, get in the shower," Ichigo muttered as he yanked back the curtain and snaked an arm around the man's back. Hot water poured down over their bodies as Ichigo slowly eased the fallen Arrancar under the steam.
"Ow, shit shit shit, that does hurt like a motherfucker," Grimmjow hissed through his teeth as the hot water began washing the blood off his body.
"Well, that is because you have dirt and mud and blood and sweat caked into every single one of these gashes in your body. I couldn't imagine it NOT hurting,"Ichigo said with a laugh.
"Whatever, just get it off of me and maybe this won't hurt so fucking bad." Grimmjow leaned forward and planted both hands on the wall in front of him, letting the water rush down his face and over his chest.
Ichigo watched through pained eyes as the bottom of the bathtub filled with scarlet and sediment. The liquid was so red that he was convinced the pipes were filled with blood and there was no water to be found anywhere. The strawberry reached out and grabbed him around the waist as his legs failed and his body started to collapse. "I'm so sorry about all of this, Grimm."
"Not your fault, I've been through worse."
"I, just..."
"Seriously, don't beat yourself up about it," Grimmjow said as he glanced over his shoulder at the boy. Ichigo had his chest pressed firmly against the Espada's back and his arms wrapped around the other's torso, careful to avoid any deep wounds.
They stood still for twenty minutes after the water ran clear. Finally, the Espada shifted carefully, turning his body to face the boy, "Ichi, please don't think that I hate you because of this."
"You don't?"
Grimmjow smiled, "No. I hated you before this ever happened."
"Aw, gee. Thanks buddy!" Ichigo muttered sarcastically as he pushed the shower off and let the tub begin to fill.
Sometime later, as they sat in the warm water in complete silence, Ichigo sighed. "We had better get out, Inoue is going to start thinking that we drowned."
Ichigo had his back pressed up against the corner of the tub and Grimmjow rested carefully between his legs with his head bent back onto the teen's shoulder. "Naw, just a little while longer. The water hasn't gotten cold yet."
"Okay, just a bit longer."
"Hey, Ichi?"
"What's up?"
"You can kick my ass whenever you want if it means I get to spend this much time chilling out in a bathtub perched between your legs," Grimmjow muttered.
"Right back at ya."
"Are you being serious?"
"Hey man, an eye for an eye. I'll let you kick my ass next time, as long as you promise to save my life from impending doom and bathe me in one of your random girl friend's apartments," Ichigo laughed.
"I'm going to hold you to that."
"I really hope you do, Grimm."
AN : Who read 313? Aizenhime fans are going to cream over that one. I creamed over Stark. I want to see more of him.
Sorry it's taking so long for me to update. I've been one of the busiest people alive the past few weeks. Between work, school, my mom being in the hospital, and then my grandma going to the hospital, it's been hell. Not to mention my muse is sort of failing.
I'm in the middle of writing a lemon for you guys. It's just that. No story. No romance. No fluff. Just sex. Hopefully it will be to all your liking.
