Went on vaca myself this past weekend. Got a new idea for a fic but I won't start that till this one is finished.

17 Months

Chapter 11: Are Ya Feelin' It?

Week 20

After a quick wash, Grimmjow finds the minibar and raids it for himself and his famished ginger. They munch as they put away their belongings from their luggage and have time to sit on the couch and relax for a bit. Ichigo leans into his older man's chest, his thick arm draped around his neck. He's finishing his chips and pop, as they absently watch a news program. There's a story about a string of murders in Karakura over the past several months.

"I don't understand how they can't catch this guy, I thought the Human World was safer than this." Grimmjow wonders.

"The cops only just recently figured out it's all been the same guy, they think he's been doing this for years but covers his tracks so well. He's had no M.O. up till now."

"What's an M.O.?" Grimmjow inquires with his mouth full of chips.

"Modus Operandai, a method of how a person kills. All his victims are women, but all different ages and social backgrounds; he never kills exactly the same way twice and doesn't leave any evidence. They think he's been doing this for years but he hasn't been as prolific as he is now. There were three victims last month and already 2 this month." Ichigo shakes his head in disgust.

There's a knock at the door and exploring time begins. The teens are all wearing shorts with light sweaters or jackets and hiking shoes. It's sunny with a light, nipping spring breeze in the air. The Sakura are in the last stages of blooming, shedding their pink petals everywhere, and the river is chilled and raging. They start their trek around the mountainside to visit the natural spring pools and find a beautiful waterfall to take pictures near. The first pool they come across is called The Phoenix Flame; its water is a blood red from the iron rich clay lining the deep crescent shaped basin. Next is the Onyx Tortoise. This pool is large and oval. Deep black water bubbles and their ripples lazily lap against dark granite boulders covered in moss surrounding the spring. The water is high in charcoal, making it ideal for curing stomach and intestinal ailments, or so the sign reads. The third pool on their little journey is strange to Grimmjow because he doesn't quite understand why Ichigo is acting so weirded out by it - it's called The White Tiger. This pool holds a clay of the purest white supposedly richly sought after by women and apparently vain, 'idol like' looking men. Grimmjow, lagging back and talking with The Big Guy about motorcycles, notices how Ichigo catches the eye of a tall lean muscular man with obscenely long platinum blonde hair. He's covered practically every visible inch of his body with the zinc white clay, standing waist deep in the milky water. He's blatantly admiring his younger man as he smooths the wet clay from the pool over the spot he missed on his right shoulder.

Grimmjow folds his arms in quiet fury as the bold sexy male confidently wades towards his ginger. "Excuse me, young man, that is a bold hair color you have."

This cocksucker is as slick as they get, Grimmjow thinks to himself, you're in for a world of hurt, not-my-friend.

Ichigo, standing with Shorty, immersed in the words on the plaque in front of the spring, raises his eyebrows, "Huh? Oh, yeah." He looks more like he's reliving a nightmare rather than some wide-eyed uke, but the cocksucker doesn't see what Grimmjow sees.

"Mm, I'd love to find out if it's natural. What is your name?" As the bold innuendo is spoken, Shorty speechlessly looks around to see if anybody else is getting this. He lands on Grimmjow, staring down the whitewashed man with murder flashing in his eyes, and silently can't wait to see what the blue haired beast will do to this guy.

"Uh, Kurosaki Ichigo." His orangette shrugs as he replies.

The brazen bastard laughs like he knows his shit smells like roses, "Ichigo? I would have guessed Mikan or Kaki, but I'm sure you taste just as sweet as your name.

Can you help me for a moment, Kurosaki Ichigo? I just can't seem to reach this spot on my back." He turns around and looks over his shoulder seductively.

"Uhhhhh, sorry sir. I'm with my friends and we're only taking a hike around the onsen, not going in them right now, have a good soak." Ichigo turns to leave much to the smug satisfaction of his blue haired boyfriend, but as he turns the brazen bastard reaches out and tries to snatch Ichigo's wrist. Grimmjow is livid and starts his death march to the asshole trying to touch what's his. In that same instant, Ichigo turns the tables and grabs the man by his wrist with his thumb and fingers on either side, twisting his arm and pressing into the sensitive ligaments between the bones.

The man yelps as Ichigo nonchalantly points out, "You're lucky I can take care of myself, because I just saved you from a severe beating from my man standing over there." Ichigo gestures with his eyes and the weary man follows, then balks at the tense, muscular bluenette shooting daggers at him. "Next time, keep your hands to yourself before you understand the situation, now have a good day, sir." The man just nods and Ichigo flings away his wrist, sets his hands in his pockets and starts to stroll away, "Grimm, be good," is all that's heard from the retreating orange haired warrior.

Grimmjow curls his lip in a defiant snarl behind Ichigo's back, but relents as he unclenches his fists and walks to catch up to Ichigo, mumbling under his breath just loud enough for the man to catch him say, "Stupid fuckin' pompous asshole's lucky he didn't get his teeth knocked down his fuckin' throat. You and yer, 'I can take care of myself.' I'll take care of ya t'night, ya just wait 'n' see how I do it."

They travel along the rest of the path as it eventually winds back to the inn. After a short while the passage forks and there's a sign for the last onsen. The fourth pool's path is unfortunately blocked off with a wooden road horse with a danger sign attached to it. It winds up the east side of the mountain to The Azure Dragon, a pristine spring of deep blue. Ichigo is silently disappointed he won't be able to experience what it would be like to submerge himself in a pool the same shade as the eyes of his sexy companion.

Grimmjow notices his boyfriend's longing gaze and puts an arm around his shoulder and whispers in his ear, "How 'bout we come back when they fix the bridge? Ya can never have too many vacations, right?" Ichigo smiles at the thought and nods as Grimmjow kisses him on the temple affectionately.

The rest of the evening is pleasant and comfortable. They wash up and get back in the yukata resort wear and take a stroll around the hotel. There's a game room with Ping-Pong tables, video games, and tables for board games. There's also a gift shop with kitschy shirts and mugs advertising the onsen along with other more expensive gifts. The Girly buys a shirt that looks way too tight for her massive jugs and then they start heading back, stopping in the atrium for a traditional folk music concert. The musicians wear brightly colored kimono and play vintage instruments. When it's nearing eight, the gang heads back to Ichigo and Grimmjow's shared room for the evening's feast. Extra waiters are brought in to help serve the large bunch and bowls of beautifully well-prepared dishes are laid out before each guest, including complementary warm sake and plum wine.

Everyone drinks, some more than others, and after the meal, all take a soak in the private onsen. The boys go in first and politely turned their heads when the girls join in. They reminisce about how they met one another and Grimmjow is all ears to know a little bit more about the people he's now banded with. He learns about the missing Shinigami comrades and wonders why, if they were so close to the humans, they reacted so negatively to the Arrancar's presence without letting them explain. None has answers to that and don't try to speculate. Around ten, they all decide they should get some sleep for the big day they have planned. They say their good nights and Grimmjow and Ichigo are alone once more. Each keeps their yukata on and climbs into the big comfortable king sized bed.

Neither wanting the evening to end and Ichigo trying to fulfill his vow of getting to know the other better, asks many questions. He learns how Grimm realized consciousness and developed into the gorgeous man lying next to him, how he became an Espada and how he despised but helped Aizen anyway. He also learns that the reason they got the room with the private onsen is because of the tattoo, society is still too traditional when it comes to onsen and ink and if he got kicked out then he'd ruin the festivities for the rest of the gang. Grimm finds out how Ichi received his Shinigami powers and got a small recap of events including some battles, how he received and honed his hollow powers (ah that's why he reacts that way to The White Tiger), and how eventually he lost his reiatsu learning the final Getsuga.

"We'll find a way to get it back someday," Grimmjow resolves as he strokes the solemn teen's cheek, "there's gotta be a way."

The boy shrugs and smiles weakly, "S'not so bad. If it wasn't meant to be..."

Grimmjow kisses his orangette fervently, "Let's not talk about it anymore now. We're on vacation ya know. We should be doing vacation activities."

The younger man moans a laugh into Grimmjow's mouth, "You're such a horny bastard. What do- Oh!"

The bluenette climbs on top of Ichigo, spreading his legs with his knees and settling himself between them, rubbing their half hard erections together. "So gotta 'nother taste of guys flirting with ya! You can take care of yourself, huh? If it was me, I woulda shut that guy up way before you did."

"Unh! What did you want me to do Grimm? We were in public, I didn't wanna cause a commotion."

"Punishment time!"

"What?! You're just makin' shit up cuz you wanna be a dominating asshole."

"So smart. Glad I gotta smart one." He snickers as he lifts himself up and unties his younger man's yukata, opening it slowly, exposing luscious tanned skin and a perfect stiff cock, "Unh, look at you. I've hardly touched ya and you're already this hard."

"Sh- shut-up," Ichigo admonishes as his body covers in a light red blush, "so dirty."

He glides his hand over his Tricky Berry's body, "Who was the dirty one this afternoon? Such a dirty boy I have, touchin' yerself like that and using that dirty mouth of yers, telling me what ta do. Be lucky I don't put ya over my knee and-" Ichigo's dick twitches and he lets out an aroused gasp, "Oh ya like that idea huh? My, my, aren't I a lucky man. Tell me what ya want, I wanna know what ya want."

"Unh, Grimm!"

"Come on, ya need to tell me with that dirty mouth of yours. What do ya want, Ichi?"

"I wanna touch you. I want your dick... Your dick in my hands and mouth."

"Mm, okay. Come and get it. Ya have ta do all the work though, dirty boy." Grimmjow slides off his young man and lays back beside him in wait, arms behind his head like he's saying, "let's see what ya got."

Ichigo kneels up and leans over Grimmjow, sliding his tongue between parted lips as he unknots the robe and glides his hand down Grimmjow's hard chest and abs to his erect and waiting member. The ex-Espada groans his pleasure into the boy's mouth at the firm touch. Ichigo slides his mouth from the blunette's and trails along over his chin, down his neck, over his chest and rounds his tight stomach with his probing wet tongue while stroking Grimmjow's throbbing hard cock.

Ichigo presses his tongue into Grimmjow's perfect belly button, flicking his tongue as his hand lightly twists around the tip of his man's pulsing penis, "Ahh! You are a dirty boy! Where'd you learn that?! You haven't done this before, h-have you?"

"Haha, no. You're not the only one with a computer. I... wanted to make sure this was good for you too, ya know?"

Grimmjow runs his hands through sunset orange. "Oh, so tricky, tricky, tricky. Mm, so what else have you learned my dirty, tricky boy?"

Ichigo looks up and gives Grimmjow full, amber infused sex eyes. Grimmjow gasps a stunned moan and Ichigo inches his body further down towards his man's lower half. Never breaking eye contact, the younger teen leans down, darts his tongue out and licks the tip of the stiff penis before him, smiling and groaning in his hot, deep tenor, "Mm, I've wanted this cock... To feel it, to taste it, to..." Ichigo dips down and runs his nose along his bluenette's thick shaft, breathing in his manly musky scent all the while never breaking eye contact.

"Oh my fuck." Grimmjow can't believe the pure sex rolling off his blushing berry. He's glad he's sitting up and able to take in the erotic view fully. Ichigo rises up and shrugs out of his clothing, exposing his naked flesh. He's beside Grimmjow, angled so that he can look at the younger man's body and watch every move the young man makes with his hands and mouth, perfect.

Ichigo grasps the huge member once again, looking into Grimmjow's eyes and grinning like this is the only place he ever wants to be and lowers his mouth, taking as much of the shaft as he can into it. He comes up, still staring into Grimmjow's eyes, sticks his tongue out touching the tip and slowly drips all the saliva he's accumulated in his mouth all over the dick in his hand and strokes it all over. He does this again, slicking the cock with a healthy wet coating, driving Grimmjow insane with the extremely sexual act. Ichigo takes the cock in and out of his hot wet mouth, bobbing and twisting his head and tongue around while firmly stroking what he can't swallow in his saliva wet hand and not removing his naughty gaze once from deep cerulean eyes.

The sucking and caressing go on for a good while, then Ichigo kneels, shifting his weight from the one hand he was propping himself up with and releases his mouth to grasp the member with both hands, "Unh, so fucking big, I can't even wrap both my hands around it. This is my cock. My man's big, huge cock. Mine." He leans back over and sucks the tip into his mouth, twisting both his hands in counter and vibrating his moan around the head.

"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck!" is all Grimmjow can muster at the incomprehensible pleasure he's receiving at the moment. He bucks up and Ichigo lets one hand drop to his bluenette's hip stilling him, then slides his hand back to lightly caress his sensitive sack. The ginger sends a delighted groaning chuckle through Grimmjow's engorged flesh, takes the dick all the way back in open mouthed and vibrating an ahhhhhhhh sound through the thick meat, then tightening his lips and sucking hard back up the length releasing the tip with a pop and a hard stroke of the shaft. As he starts the motion for the fourth time, through all the grunting and moaning Grimmjow sets a look in his eyes and stays his hair-caressing hands, and Ichigo somehow knows he's almost over the edge.

At the last pop, Ichigo pumps his whole length up over the tip vigorously and licks his lips, "Oh yeah, cum for me, my big man," then he slaps the tip onto his awaiting tongue and moans, stroking it perfectly. That is all Grimmjow needs to put him over the edge.

With one last long loud groaning, "Fffuuuuuuuuccccckkk," Grimmjow first cums onto Ichigo's tongue then down his throat as his man encases the spurting shaft in his mouth. After he's drained, Grimmjow sits up finally getting to shrug off his own robe from his shoulders. He cups his ginger's face and pulls him up into a deep searing kiss, mixing the sticky taste together with their tongues. Grimmjow softly speaks into their kiss, "Yer amazing. Everything ya do is so fucking amazing. I want ya. I wanna please ya, now. Lemme... lemme use my fingers, 'kay? I wanna make ya feel so good." Ichigo looks a little apprehensive, but nods his agreement and Grimmjow kisses him back with a blissful and sinful smile plastered across his face. "Mm, 'kay babe. Ya come across here like this," Grimmjow sits up as straight as he can against the soft headboard and positions Ichigo on all fours across his lap. He leans to the side and grabs a bottle he put away there earlier in the day in his nightstand, "Ah, you look so good 'cross my lap like this my dirty, Tricky Berry." He nuzzles into his young man's ear and squeezes his firm, round backside. Grimmjow can sense nervousness dripping off his man. He brings up his right hand and caresses Ichigo's face, turning it towards his own, "Not gonna hurt ya. Promise. We'll work up ta the, ahem, big stuff 'kay? Ya trust me right?" The teen nods. "Ichigo, I love you." That's the last reassurance the young man needs before he releases his tensed muscles and lets out a moaning sigh."

"Love you, too, Grimm."

They keep kissing as Grimmjow caresses his orange haired warrior's accessible body, running his fingers over his back and down his arms, up and down his legs and between them, ghosting over his hardening length and the soft, sensitive round flesh underneath as he encircles and tweaks pert nipples. When he thinks Ichigo is aroused enough he reaches over for the bottle of clear liquid and adds a generous amount to both sets of fingers. One hand glides up the bottom of his orangette's backside and the other touches the tip of his erect member. Ichigo moans at the double touch as Grimmjow encircles his twitching entrance and his pulsing tip. He penetrates the tight ring with his slick index and the younger man across him gasps and clenches up. Grimmjow kisses and nips at his man's shoulder as he keeps softly stroking his cock and waits for Ichigo to relax again. It doesn't take long and Grimmjow resumes his penetration, taking his finger deeper and pulling back out, massaging the virgin entrance with slow deliberate movement.

Ichigo picks up his soft moaning to a louder, longer level and Grimmjow picks up his stroking pace as he adds the next bigger finger, which provokes a deep groan. The bluenette tones back, "Oh yeah, that's what I like ta hear. Moan fer me more, Love."

He takes his fingers deeper and twists them slowly and methodically.

"Ah, ah, ah! S- soooo goooood Grimmm..." Ichigo is thoroughly relaxed and enjoying the new sensation his blue haired man is giving him.

"Hmm, yeah. See? It only gets better from here. Fuck! You're so hot. Turn so I can kiss that hot mouth." Ichigo eagerly complies and their lips crash together. Wet, wild tongues collide as Grimmjow picks up the pace, probing further with his strong pliant fingers.

As his digits graze over a certain spot, Ichigo flinches and gasps aloud, "Ungh! Hah ahhhhhhhh! Ssstop, ah, ah, ah!" Ichigo tries to crawl off Grimmjow's lap, but he manages to hook one of his legs over the back of the younger man's calves and restrains him, continuing his vigorous performance on the orangette's cock and prostate.

Grimmjow rubs against his ear and seductively spills, "No, no. Not gonna stop. Yer gonna cum so hard fer me right now. I can juuuust barely reach it with my fingers, imagine this being my long… hard… dick in ya... poundin' this fuckin' sweet hot ass, every inch of me… filling you up and hittin'-"

"Nnnnuhhhh... yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ...hnnn hnnn hnnn."

Grimmjow turns and looks under his orgasiming orangette's body, "Fuck yeah babe, so much! Such a good...dirty... Tricky Berry... God! I fuckin' love ya so much… we've only just begun."

Ichigo's legs start to quiver and he collapses to his side, eyes closed and panting. Grimmjow kisses his thigh and slides out from under him and goes to the bathroom to clean off and get a hot wet washrag to clean up the rest of their sex mess. When he's done with his dutiful chore, he turns down the sheets and coaxes his over-exerted partner to move under them. He gets in behind Ichigo and as soon as he's under and finding a position to sleep in, Ichigo turns around to hold Grimmjow. He nestles his body along his, head on his shoulder, leg over his leg and sighs deeply and comfortingly, "I love you."

Grimmjow reaches to turn off the side light, kisses Ichigo on top of his soft, spikey head, absently strokes the arm over his chest and thinks out loud, "This is the best I've ever felt in my entire life."

In the morning, Ichigo is startled awake by a knock at the door. Grimmjow is right there to calm his nerve, "Just a moment please," Grimmjow calls to the door as he's kissing his forehead and lifting the covers over his chest, "The girls are here to put down breakfast. Don't have ta get up. Just lay back down and pretend yer sleepin' so ya don't have ta interact with them, 'kay?" He agrees since he's still buck fucking naked under the covers. They efficiently set the table and leave the room. Right when the door closes, Ichigo makes to get up, but is quickly pounced upon and showered with kisses.

"Oi! Why didn't you wake me up so I could be dressed for when they showed up, too?" Ichigo semi-chastises through his laughter.

"Ya looked so good lyin' there, so sexy and thoroughly satisfied. Didn't have the heart ta wake ya. I'm damn proud, ya layin' in my bed like that." Ichigo blushes as he returns his kisses, "Fuck! Wish we weren't on a schedule! I just wanna, gah! Can't think about it," he smacks his berry on the ass and squeezes, "gotta meet them in an hour, let's eat quick so we got more time together in the shower, yeah?"

Ichigo gets up when Grimmjow slides off him, puts his robe on and goes to wash up and go to the bathroom. It's like, a race to see who can eat their food faster, then a race to see who can get in the shower quicker. They take their time in the shower, though, washing each other, kissing and playing and stroking the other off. Then they get dressed with 10 minutes left to head out to the meeting spot for the rafting.

Rafting was fun and great exercise. Only one girl on The Big Guy's side of the boat fell out on a particularly rough patch. He swiftly scooped her up with one of his massively strong arms before the instructor could help. The two hour trip was exhilarating and tiring so by the time it ended, all of them were ready for lunch and a relaxing soak. They all met in the dining room for lunch to eat, then took a trip back up to the outdoor onsen to take a dip in the pools. Ichigo helped Grimmjow hide his tattoo while he got in and out of the onsen, but there weren't many other people out at the time. With a hell of a lot of cajoling, they finally got Ichigo to go in The White Tiger pool but he refused to cover himself in the clay or look at any of the others. They all decide they want to eat dinner together again in Ichigo and Grimmjow's room and when they got back, Grimmjow called to make that request.

Now, with Ichigo in Grimmjow's arms, the two lovers are lying in bed, resting from the day's activities for a few hours while they wait for dinner. Grimmjow plugged his phone in the special jack on the tv and is playing chill electronic music through the surround sound.

Listening to the English words in the song playing Ichigo lazily asks, "Grimm? Can you understand this?"

"Yep, this, Portuguese, Spanish and German. Some French and of course Japanese. Don't look completely Japanese do I, huh? Guess maybe the more dominant souls or the ratio has something ta do with why I understand those languages? Since I'm the only Arrancar willin' ta talk about my experiences so far, they're just hypotheses. Never really questioned my existence, always too busy tryin' ta survive."

"I'm glad you exist. It's a little sad how that had to come to be, but everybody has some kind of tragedy in his or her life I suppose, some more than others. I guess it's all about how you deal with it? Not that you had any control over what happened. My mom was part German, ya know? That's how I got this orange-ass hair. She knew German too, but I never learned a lick. God! I was such a pussy ass momma's boy before she died," Ichigo chortles at his own put down and Grimmjow holds him tighter.

"I don't remember any of those kinda things from when I was alive. Maybe cuz there's too much mixed up bullshit goin' on in me. I'm fine with it though, I'm likin' the new memories I'm makin'." He gives Ichigo a kiss on the temple.

Ichigo laughs softly, "So sappy. I never woulda thought you'd be sentimental."

"Hey! I have many facets to my personality! Honestly, though, I never thought I'd be capable of this either. Maybe it's this gigai turnin' me in ta a blubbering mess. God, I fuckin' hope I don't lose my edge! Shit!"

"Maybe it's just a fight hard, love hard kinda thing. You sure were playing hard yesterday, still got the bruises to show it." Ichigo lifts his lightly black and blued cheek up to Grimmjow's lips for him to kiss it.

"Aw, that's nuthin' ya big baby. Why didn't ya have The Girly fix ya up? I'm sure she wouldn't gripe one bit."

"Cuz it's not a big deal, dummy! Didn't even feel it, so mleh," Ichigo sticks his tongue out at Grimmjow and the bluenette speedily captures it between his lips making the younger man yip, then hungrily attack his older man's mouth, starting another heated love session.

While eating the meal and deep in cheerful conversation, Grimmjow notices an odd lull. The Girly, Big Guy and Nerdy Jerk look between each other. The Nerdy Jerk, calmly rises from the table, adjusts his glasses and makes up a big fat lie, "If you would excuse me, seems I've a stomach ache. I'll be turning in for the night. Thank you for the lovely evening." The rest all say goodbye except for Grimmjow who watches Ichigo salute, down his cup of sake, then pour himself another. The silent young man finishes the bottle before him and walks through the garden and out of sight. Grimmjow follows after finishing his conversation at the dinner table with Handsy about music festivals and venues near them. He finds Ichigo leaning over the back fence, elbows on the wall, arms crossed, staring into the mid spring night. He comes up next to the thoughtful young man and emulates his pose.

"Ya know? Handsy's s'not so bad. Knows a lotta bout music. Ya wanna go to Summer Sonic in Tokyo during summer vaca? I wanna see Jay Z, Passion Pit, Nada Surf, and Sakanaction the most, but there's others I wanna check out too."

Ichigo leans his head against his larger man's shoulder and answers absently, "Sure, Grimm. That'd be nice."

"Tell me what yer thinkin'?" Grimmjow looks over to watch his Berry still looking off in the distance and after a few moments of silence he tries to coax the other into speaking up, "sucks they lie about what's goin' on around us. Why can't that Nerdy Jerk just get up and say 'off ta kill some hollows! See ya's later!' So fuckin' dumb."

"Yep. Dumb. Like they're sparing my feelings or something. Whatever."

He puts his arm around the teen, "So tell 'em ta stop. It's not like no one else here doesn't know what's goin on, either."

"Big fuckin' deal. If they wanna go on pretending... Not my place to-"

Grimmjow grabs his afflicted man's biceps and shifts his body to face him, "It is yer place! No one's gotta walk on eggshells 'round ya anymore! Next time tell 'em ta knock it the fuck off!"

Ichigo's eyes are hidden in the shadow of his long, spiky bangs, "I don't give a shit about what they do but… Don't you miss it Grimm? I mean, if not right now, then someday soon… you'll get tired of not being practically impervious. I know I do... but there's nothing I can do about it. You-," He casts a defeated huff, "You can leave any time you want."

"So that's what this is really all about?" The ex-Espada sighs deeply and snorts a laugh, "'Course I miss it! An' I know ya miss it too, but ya know what?" Ichigo shrugs and Grimmjow gently touches his young man's face with one hand and brushes his bangs out of the way with the other, "I'd miss ya more. Every time I think about goin' back to that, yer the one thing that tugs on my heart harder, way harder, than anything else I could ever want." Grimmjow picks up Ichigo's hands and presses them against his chest and holds them there, "I didn't even know I had a heart till I met you. If there was anything I could do ta make ya realize I'm never gonna leave yer side, I'd do it in a heartbeat."

Ichigo looks up with longing and Grimmjow looks back with utter devotion. Suddenly, everything around them is covered in a flash of brilliant white and the two try to blink out the residual ghosting stuck in their retinas.

"Now that's love. Wow, I think I could win The Pulitzer for this image!" Feisty stares amazed at the playback screen of her camera. "I think this could be a new career path for me."

"What?! Interruptin' a person's fuckin' private time?! You can get paid ta do that?! What the fuck is a Pulitzer?! It better not be some fuckin' gay blog thing!"

Feisty and Ichigo stare blankly at one another, then she slaps Grimmjow on the back and jumps to sit up on the low wall, "Calm down, I'm not showing it to anybody but us. After you see this pic, you'll be begging me for copies. You'll be plastering your damn room with it."

"Lemme see then." A curious Grimmjow goes to look over her shoulder but she snatches it away.

"No! It'll be a surprise for later. Now, are you two comin' back anytime soon or are you too wrapped up in your 'love' to bother with us peasants now?" She folds her arms and swings her legs, kicking her heels off the stone.

"Calm down Feisty, sheesh." Ichigo taunts with a knowing smirk.

"Don't you fucking start now! I'll kick your ass if you start calling me that!"

"Yeah, yeah. So tuff. Tuff stuff. I'm gonna piss." Ichigo says over his shoulder as he walks back to the room.

"Watch your fuckin' mouth when talking to ladies!" Feisty calls after him.

"Oh, I'll be very careful when I talk to Inoue, thanks for the advice."

"So fucking funny." She hollers back and Grimmjow laughs as he turns to follow but is halted with a hand on his arm and turns back to Feisty covered in a serious aura, "I heard what you said to Ichigo. I hope it's true. He's like a brother to me and I don't want to see him get hurt again. You're the first person he's completely opened his heart up to since his mom died. You know that? I'm not sure how he'd react if you just up and left, so you'd better be positive this is what you want."

"I haven't been able to ask him about her, yet. He's working up to it, I can tell. Didn't I sound sincere? Do I look like the kind a guy that says frivolous shit?"

She smiles widely and brightly, eyes squinting and claps, "Yes you did and no you don't! You got some smooth-ass talking my friend," then she instantly switches to dead serious, "but if you hurt him, mark my words- When I die, I'll make it my mission to become the greatest Shinigami that ever was, hunt you down and mount your head to my living room wall." she switches back to smiling and happy, "now let's get back to the party you sweet, sweet snuggly kitty."

"Yer one scary bitch, ya know this, right?" As he watches Feisty walk back to the festivities, Grimmjow wonders how he can reassure his younger lover he has no intention of going back to his former life, not without him.