Tastes Like Strawberries- 11

Grimmjow stood looking out the window of the penthouse, not really paying attention to the conversation going on behind him. "Mr. Jaegerjaques?" He nearly jumped. "Are we boring you?" The silky tones of Sosuke Aizen's voice purred across the room. Grimmjow turned slowly, refusing to show how much he'd been startled. He ended up covering his reaction with his smart mouth. Not the best idea, but it was all he had patience for.

"Actually, yeah."

The others in the room tensed a little. There were few who dared use that tone with Aizen. And fewer still that were around to talk about it. Grimmjow ignored them all. "I know what I'm supposed to be doing, and I'm doing it. These constant meetings are a pain in the ass." He was hired to do recruiting in the schools for Aizen's little enterprise. There were several potential subjects he was already working on. Decent fighters with a hint of deviousness. Ichigo had been right up there on the list. His moral code might be a problem, but his reputation as a fighter had drawn his attention. He smirked. But there was no way he was going to bring him in now. Kurosaki truly would have been a great find, but he had other plans for him. Aizen's reply broke into his thoughts.

"Then by all means, go and continue your assignment." Grimmjow snorted and strode out of the room, not looking back behind him. Apparently, the meeting had come to a close anyway since everyone else came out a few moments later. He caught Nnoitra's gaze and motioned him over.

"Jeez Grimmjow. You got a death wish, or just a burning desire to go back to prison?"

"If he was going to do that, he would have by now. I need another favor."

The taller man glared. "You're kidding right? I thought we already took care of that. We're even now." Grimmjow's eyes narrowed. "Hardly. You didn't even bring him back with you."

"Yeah, but I see you came back empty handed too." Grimmjow fought the urge to rub the splint on his broken nose and continued to glare. Nnoitra shifted impatiently. "Look, the kid's going to be on high alert now that you tried to grab him once. And he's a nasty little shit. I've never seen Yammi go down with one blow before. It'd be easy if all we were doing is dropping his ass, but you want him in one piece which takes a lot more freaking effort. There's no way I'm dealing with that crap again. Especially not just because you feel all sad because he dumped you way back when."

Grimmjow sneered. "I still have one copy left you know."

Nnoitra paled a little. One time. He'd only tried to embezzle that one time, and had been stupid enough to get caught on tape. By Grimmjow of all people. Aizen didn't deal well with his subordinates trying to go into business on their own. Nnoitra liked breathing and he wanted to continue doing so if he could help it.

"Fine. But I want it when this is over. No copies, no substitutions. I want the real deal. Then we're done."

"Deal. I've got to go out of town for a couple days, but when I get back, we're going to do things a little differently."

. . . . . . .

Ichigo yawned and stretched, wiggling his toes a little. Snuggling with someone else was nice, but you ended up in one position for way too long. He blinked over at Shiro who was watching him.

"Morning. How do you feel?"

There was a harsh snort of irritation. "Like I've been stepped on repeatedly." The albino yawned as well, unable to help himself now that he'd seen Ichigo do it. Raising his brows as his shirt was pulled up, he let a smirk tug at his lips. "You just haven't been able to keep your hands off me lately."

Ichigo poked him in the side making him flinch and glared from under his lashes. But it wasn't an angry look. It was more amused than anything else. "Just checking to see if you're still in one piece." The bruising had darkened overnight, but there was no real swelling that he could see. Leaning over Shiro's body, he looked him in the eyes. "You're lucky it wasn't worse, you know."

Shiro looked away. "Doesn't matter. I'm fine now." A hand on his chin turned his face back.

"No, I don't think you are. We still haven't talked about it yet."

"Can't it wait?" Shiro winced as he sat up, his sore muscles protesting loudly. He shifted and tried to get out of the bed, but Ichigo refused to move from where he loomed over him.

"I've already waited." Ichigo forced himself to be calm as some of his anger returned. But he wasn't going to let him put this off again. "What does Grimmjow want from you?" Shiro was suddenly still. It seemed that even the name was enough to rattle him. Ichigo watched his reaction carefully and sat back a little. There had been more than a little fear in the look on his face. He needed to be cautious here. "So you do know him."

The albino looked down at his hands. "Yeah. I. . .he. . ." He started and stopped a couple times before he could get it out. Shiro found that he didn't want to tell Ichigo, but if they were going to continue on, he deserved to know. "We used to date. Sort of." He gripped the edge of the blanket as he considered how to get through the rest. To say they'd dated was an understatement. It had been an incredibly rough time in his life, and the blue haired boy had been the one constant that he'd been able to hold onto. It had been intense and a little needy on his part. Grimmjow had been all too happy to take advantage of it. And what happened after that. . . He shuddered a little. They'd get to that. Just keep it simple. He could deal if it was simple. "But it's been over for a long time. There were things that happened. He ended up going to jail." Frowning, he looked up and caught Ichigo's gaze. "Wait. How do you know him?"

"He transferred to our class a couple days ago." Shiro's look darkened and he was suddenly pissed. "Stupid bastard. He's been here that long, and he sent his damn lackeys to pick me up? Apparently he didn't even have to balls to come get me himself."

"He was too busy getting his ass handed to him by me."

"What? You fought him?"

Ichigo ignored that and narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean, 'pick you up?'" Shiro had explained the attack from the day before, but he hadn't mentioned that they'd tried to take him anywhere. "What, is he having separation anxiety or something?"

"Listen. Be careful. He's. . . He won't ever take it easy on you, and he'll never take no for an answer." Shiro paused to take a shaky breath. "And if he came after you once, he'll do it again." His last words were so quiet as to be nearly inaudible. "I'm sorry."

"Why?"

Shiro looked up at Ichigo to see if he was kidding and was surprised to see the serious look on his face.

"If it weren't for me, he wouldn't bother you."

Ichigo snorted. "People have been bothering me my whole life. This isn't that different."

"But. . ." A finger pressed gently against his lips, cutting him off.

"If you say it would have been better if we'd never met, I'll kick your ass myself." Shiro just blinked. And when the finger was replaced by warm lips, he nearly melted into the bed. Where had this come from?

"Breakfast is. . .oh." They both froze and glanced at the door. Yuzu stood blushing in hall, looking at her feet. "Um, breakfast is ready." She peeked up an smiled at them shyly before heading back to the kitchen. Ichigo rested his forehead on Shiro's for a moment before getting up.

"This is going to be interesting." When Shiro didn't follow immediately, Ichigo paused. The albino looked a little worried, his apprehension creasing his brow. "What is it?"

Shiro sighed heavily before saying anything. "I don't. . I mean. . arrgh." He growled and slapped a hand to his face, shaking his head while he collected his thoughts. Ichigo watched him with a mildly amused expression. It wasn't worry about Grimmjow or his injuries that he seemed to be grappling with at the moment. There was a little aggravation and just a hint of embarrassment coloring his face which was surprising. Before now, he didn't seem to have a problem molesting Ichigo in public. Why would kissing in front of his sister be a big deal? Ichigo had never seen him so flustered before. It was kind of cute actually. "Is this okay? I mean, they don't really seem bothered by me. Or. . .us."

Ichigo chuckled. So that was it. Coming back over to the bed and taking his hand, he helped him get up. "It's alright. They really like you, so there's nothing to worry about. If nothing else, they'd like you because I do." Shiro looked up then. He really meant it. There was a frank honesty in Ichigo's gaze that settled something in him, and he sighed again. But instead of an irritated exhalation of breath, it was a long, soft whoosh of release that took some of his tension away with it.

"Okay." He laughed a little as his stomach gurgled in the silence. Food seemed like a really good idea. He followed Ichigo into the main part of the house, their fingers still linked. Everyone seemed genuinely pleased that Shiro was doing okay which made him a little uncomfortable, but it gave him a warm feeling at the same time. After they'd finished, Ichigo started to head up to his room.

"So what do we do now?" Shiro was at something of a loss at the moment.

Ichigo paused and looked back at him. "I'm getting ready for school and you're going back to bed."

A pale brow rose. "Is that an order?"

Isshin looked up from where he was shrugging into his white coat. "It could be." Shiro blinked over at the older man. "You really shouldn't move around too much yet."

When Shiro turned, Ichigo was right beside him. Putting his hands up, he got ready to fend him off if he had to. He wasn't a sick child that needed to be carried around. "Okay, okay." He really didn't want to spend the day in a hospital bed by himself. He'd been too tired to think about it the day before and last night, Ichigo had stayed with him. How could he tell them that he hated anything resembling hospitals without losing face? Fortunately, it turned out that he didn't have to. Ichigo seemed to notice his discomfort.

"Come up to my room. You don't have to sleep in the clinic if you don't want to."

Shiro let out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding and allowed himself to be ushered up the stairs to Ichigo's room. Snuggling down into the covers, he let his scent wash over him. He barely noticed Ichigo pulling out his uniform and heading to the bathroom. By the time he returned, Shiro was sound asleep. Ichigo watched him for a moment before grabbing his bag and heading out the door. Downstairs, he dad stopped him before he left.

"Is he okay?"

Ichigo looked up at his father, raising a brow at his unusually serious face. "Yeah, he'll be fine." Twiddling his fingers on the handle of his bag, he made a decision. "Can he stay here? For a while?"

Isshin looked at his son, trying to figure out why he was suddenly uncomfortable. "Since I'm his doctor at the moment, that's kind of a necessity. At least for now."

"But what about after that?"

"What do you mean?"

"I-" Ichigo wondered how much he could tell his dad when it wasn't strictly his secret to tell. He'd figured out a while ago that Shirosaki didn't live at home anymore. There were a dozen rumors roaming around about how he supported himself. Most involved breaking some sort of law, which Ichigo didn't believe for a moment. But everyone seemed to agree that not only was the abandoned building the meeting place for his gang, it was where he spent most of his nights. Ichigo didn't like the idea that he was virtually homeless, and while he still didn't know him as well as he liked, there was no way he was leaving things the way they were. Something had to change. He settled for telling his dad the simplest part of it. "I don't think he really has a place to live."

Isshin merely nodded. "He's welcome here as long as you want him to stay."

Ichigo took a breath. "Thanks. See you later." Isshin watched him leave and pulled out his phone. Now that some of his suspicions were confirmed, there were a few people he needed to talk to.

At school, Ichigo was glad that Grimmjow seemed to be absent that day. His desk was empty and no one had seen him come in. He wasn't sure he would have been able to control his anger if he saw him in person. Chad came into the room and headed in his direction.

"Hey Chad. Thanks. For yesterday." The larger boy just shrugged. "No, I mean it. He could have been really hurt if you didn't show up. I know you're not all that fond of him, but, well. . . Thank you."

"He's your friend. That's all I need to know." Sitting at his desk, he asked quietly. "How is he?"

"He's alright. Just needs some rest." They turned their attention to the front as the teacher came in and that's all the last they said of it. Ichigo wondered how much Chad knew about his relationship with Shiro, but he figured he could have guessed. He was glad that it didn't seem to bother him. In his place he wasn't sure he would have been that instantly understanding. The thought bothered him a little, but he pushed it away and tried to get through the rest of the day.