Hello, another chapter, and its a biggy. Hint of a cliff hanger at the end but we're on the final stretch, so things should be getting angsty.
Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 12
Waking slowly, Ichigo stretched gently, feeling the person behind him move with him. He could clearly feel the other was 'happy to see him' but the pain he felt in his stretch told him that he shouldn't indulge at the moment. He rolled onto his back, shimmying his body over and looked at his lover's sleepy face. "Morning."
"Is it? Don't care, I'm comfy." Grimmjow slung his arm across the slim torso in front of him and snuggled onto the man's shoulder. Ichigo just smirked and laid his face in the brown strands, holding the other close.
Ichigo was brought back to the situation when his arm twinged when he stretched the wound in his bicep. He glanced down and saw his bandage slowly turning red. Or redder as it was clearly not the first time he'd opened the cut. He hated sewing up his own body, but this one was clearly not clotting properly on its own. It could wait for a bit though, as he closed his eyes to enjoy the moment.
It was not to be though, as the room door was swung open and the light seared in and stung the two men's eyes. Grimmjow growled and buried his face in Ichigo's neck trying to escape. Ichigo squinted, making out the hat first of all, and the smug grin quickly second.
"Morning all, well it won't be morning for long if you two lazy boys don't get up. What made you so tired?" Kisuke brought his fan up to attempt to hide his smirk but it was useless.
"Get out of here you old pervert. We'll get up in a minute. There better be some hot water left."
"Don't worry my dear boy, there is plenty left to help you wash off your lustful deeds. Can I ask if there is going to be a repeat at some point before lunch? I might want to put in some ear plugs."
Grimmjow sat up, pissed off look on his face. "Look, we could do without your comments thanks."
Unfortunately for Grimmjow, as he sat up, the sheets covering them slid down, off of both of them, leaving them bare to the viewer.
"My, at least I can see what all the fuss was about earlier. Are you going to need a wheel chair Ichigo, or do you think you can walk after that?"
Kisuke managed to get the door closed before the boot thrown by an aggravated red head hit the space he had been in. It fell to the floor with a loud thump and both men let out groans of exasperation.
"He really is a pervert isn't he?"
"You think I would joke about stuff like that?" Ichigo sat up and stretched some more, trying to work his body past its complaints. He grimaced at the feeling of the dried fluids on his abdomen and between his legs but as it was a left over from an amazing time, he didn't make a fuss. Standing up, he grabbed his towel off the hook on the door and wrapped it round his waist to cover himself when he went into the bathroom. "I'll be a couple of minutes."
"Can I join you?"
"Eh, not this time, kinda out of practise and three times might be a bit over the top."
Grimmjow just smirked and sat back on the bed, pride at having shagged the younger man to his limit, for the moment. As Ichigo had said, he was just out of practise.
Dozing for a couple of minutes, he cracked an eye as the door opened to reveal a slightly damp Ichigo with beads of water trailing from his hair. Grimmjow stared at him as he followed one drop of water as it cascaded down the long neck, across the proud collar bones, speeding up slightly till it hit the swell of his chest, curving slightly to avoid the dusky nipple before tracing the lightly rippled abs and disappearing into the blue towel at his waist. Swallowing lightly, Grimm realised he had worked himself hard and would have to turn the temperature of the shower right down, just to calm himself.
Ichigo pulled on his boxers and used to towel to rub at his hair, sending droplets flying around him. He stopped suddenly as he felt a hot and hard body pressing against his, immediately feeling the other's problem. "Cold shower Grimm." Ichigo pushed the other man off him and walked further into the room. Grimmjow just smirked and left the room, his soiled towel around his waist, just to get him to the bathroom.
He returned to see Ichigo sitting on the bed with a box open before him, needle in his teeth and his left hand holding the skin of his right arm as he stitched up his arm. Grimmjow blanched at the sight to begin with, Ichigo straining his neck to pull the stitch tight before removing the needle from his mouth and hooking another stitch next to it.
"Fuck, eh, do you need a hand or anything?" Grimmjow walked over and crouched in front of his lover, trying to see how the man was managing to keep the stitches neat and small.
Ichigo grinned round the needle in his mouth and shook his head, moving in for another stitch. He didn't even wince as the needle pierced his skin twice and the thread pulled, pulling the edges of the wound together. He twisted the needle, pushing it through the previous stitch and round again, securing the thread and making it so he could snip the end and pull the thread out in one go. He lifted a wipe out of the packet and ran it over the wound before slapping a large sticky bandage over the whole thing.
He disposed of the rubbish and bound the used needle in a cardboard package that was sealed at the top. He'd get rid of the sharp properly later.
Grimmjow put his hands on his lover's thighs, stroking them for mutual comfort; he couldn't imagine sticking himself so many times without reacting.
"It's not the first time I've stitched myself up." Ichigo gestured to the large scar that cut diagonally across his thigh, just near to where Grimm was stroking. "The arm is tricky cause it means you are down to one hand. But I don't have a dominant hand so either works the same for me." Grimmjow ran his hand along the thick scar, feeling the silky texture of scar tissue and the edges of the skin where the stitches had been making a rougher sensation. He leaned down and ran his tongue over the patch, closing his eyes as the sensitive muscle traced each imperfection and curve.
Ichigo sank his hand into Grimmjow's hair and gripped the strands tightly. "I'm sure I mentioned I wasn't up for round three at this moment?"
Grimmjow sat up, smirk in place and leaned in to steal a kiss. "I didn't agree to anything." He grinned as Ichigo shook his head in amusement.
Standing up, he pulled his lover up by his uninjured arm and clasped the hand. The pair went out to face the music, knowing Kisuke's little visits were just the start of it.
Ichigo borrowed a pair of sweats, his work trousers he'd been wearing looking the worse for wear. It wasn't till he sat down in the living area to get something to eat that he found out it was Yoruichi's sweats he'd borrowed. Apparently Kisuke had known his own clothes would have been too wide for the slim man and had made an executive decision. The pale grey trousers were a bit short, but as he was barefoot it wasn't as apparent. Grimmjow wore his clothes from the day before, jeans and a t-shirt that could probably do with a wash but there was no way he was borrowing. Ichigo sat cross legged, absently chewing on his rice ball, but not really bothering with his food. The only reason he'd even taken a bite was because his lover had gruffly poked him out of his thoughts for a moment and thrust the plate closer. He'd taken a bite dipped in soy sauce and had been chewing it was a while now.
"Penny for your thoughts Ichi?" Shinji sat on his other side, the blond still in his oversized shirt as he munched on his own food. He'd always had a big appetite; thankfully it didn't show in his figure.
"Hmm? Just considering."
Shinji rolled his eyes, and exchanged a glance with Grimmjow, clearly seeing his exasperation as well. "And would you consider telling us what you are considering? As I believe it involves us, or if it doesn't, you better consider changing your mind."
Ichigo snapped his gaze to the blond in front of him, who just raised an eye brow at him in return. "Options in my mind are to get lost, literally; we've done it before and even with one other person, it wouldn't be hard, or to fight back once and for all. Negatives for option one is that we've both got things we don't want to give up in our lives but it's still on the table. Option two clearly hold more direct danger, but would be a more permanent solution."
The four around the table listened to the man speak, knowing he'd not finished. Grimmjow didn't love the fight or flight options, but he couldn't come up with door number three.
"If we can topple the top of the company, it will fraction off and dissipate gradually. That would lean towards taking Aizen and Gin down. If what we've found out is true, and Gin has a medical condition he'd trying to hide we could cause some dissention in the ranks by making that information public. At least in the company."
"Ichigo, this is all heading to us having to go there, against the espada, nine highly trained bad guys and god knows how many visards and fraccion. It sounds a bit like a suicide mission."
"There are currently seven vizards, most of whom I know personally and trained. There is only two I have had no contact with, one who was too low to be around me and the other is new. The fraccion would be an issue if they were on base at all times and informed properly, which they are not. They are a bunch of bully boys who are called when needed and at most there will be ten on duty at one time. The espada could cause an issue but I believe we could come up with something. Grimm, do you think Halibel would come with you? If we got in there I mean."
Grimm blinked at the man for a moment, still processing the information. "Eh, I think so. She would have come that night if I'd asked her, I'm sure of it. She'd just as fed up with it."
"What about Ulquiorra?"
Grimmjow looked at the table in front of him. "No, he'd going to be against us. He'll be on their side and we'll have to watch for his shit in the computer systems."
Shinji smirked widely, grabbing Grimmjow's attention. "I wouldn't worry too much about little Ulquiorra. He's good, I'm better."
Grimmjow raised an eyebrow at the boast but at Ichigo's smirk, he guessed he'd have wait and see. "So, the three of us are going to hit bad guy HQ and take them all out? Just us?"
Kisuke chose that moment to laugh, drawing all the attention. "My dear boy, did you really think we would let you boys go off to your doom? My beautiful wife and I will be joining you."
Grimmjow felt his dyed eyebrows hit his hair line at the thought of this goofy blond and his hot wife coming along, messing up every attempt at stealth and sneakiness. He caught Ichigo shaking his head, smirk plastered on his face as Kisuke tilted his hat back to look at them properly. Grimmjow felt his blood cool as the man looked into him and he could sense this man could take him down in that minute. Both Kisuke and his wife had threatened him if he'd hurt Ichigo, and at those times he had felt the threat real but the pair looking back at him were dangerous.
"Grim, Yoruichi was a member of the Japanese Stealth Force, and Kisuke might act dumb, but he's from a SWAT back ground. They will be useful."
"And even that isn't all. I was thinking of calling in a few favours, Abari and Hitsugaya would love to join in. And they can be such fun."
Ichigo grimaced at the thought of the SWAT lieutenant and the prodigy boy coming along, but he also could see the point in them joining. Renji and Ichigo had cultivated a friendship based on rivalry, the larger red head not willing to admit Ichigo was a superior fighter, but even without involving Shiro, Ichigo had never lost one of their spars. Toshiro was a young man working in the Special Forces Unit with the military, he was the youngest high ranking officer, and got a lot of stick for it giving him an attitude that beat his diminutive stature.
Ichigo needed to return to his apartment but knew it would be under watch. At least the new recruits could make themselves useful as gophers. He went quiet for a while, his meal totally forgotten about as he ran over various aspects, bouncing ideas off himself. He listened to the Shiro part of himself at time, the presence having a different view that he considered important most of the time. He tended to keep the fact that he could essentially talk to himself and get answers to himself. It wouldn't do for people to get creeped out around him.
Grimmjow watched his lover's face go blank and stare of into the distance. He noticed one of the caramel brown eyes catching a hint of gold, and that snapped his gaze away. If Ichigo had to resort to that to get them out of this mess then they'd need to have a conversation about what it meant, and how the two were different. Noticing the other had barely touched his food, Grimmjow frowned, prodding the younger man in the ribs again. Ichigo snapped his gaze to Grimmjow, full scowl in place, one eye bright gold, the other warm caramel but Grimmjow just pointed at the full plate. The two tones eyes rolled and Ichigo took another bite, just to satisfy his lover.
Later that night they were joined by the two men they had mentioned previously, as well as two others they had decided to bring along for the ride. One was a serious faced young man with dark hair and the other was a loud buxom strawberry blond who seemed to delight in embarrassing her superior. Hitsugaya just sighed and slumped in his seat as his lieutenant squashed him into her ample chest. The young man was introduced as Shuuhei Hisagi, one of Renji's peers and the girl was Rangiku Matsumoto. Both were exemplary in their own fields and would bolster their numbers.
Grimmjow grimaced at that thought. Seven was still a very small number against twenty six but Ichigo seemed to dismiss his worries. Even if he could get Halibel to change sides they would have their hands full.
Renji and Shuuhei had taken a list from Ichigo, as well as his keys and alarm code and had headed to retrieve the former vizard's belongings. The list was a long one, from clothes to weaponry and a couple of personal items Ichigo wanted retrieved. Nothing was irreplaceable and the two men had been ordered to abandon the apartment if there was any sign of trouble. It turned out that Ichigo had a small amount of things stored at Kisuke's, mainly personal weapons and his training gear including some nifty sneaky stuff. Ichigo was currently laying out long black cargo trousers and a long sleeved top. He was stuffing the pockets with various things out of a box at the side. A coil of metal caught Grimmjow's eye and made him ask a question he wished he hadn't. His lover having a steel garrotte made him queasy. It turned out he also had a nylon one, the steel sometimes made a mess but was good for making a statement. Grimmjow had been through training in the years he'd worked for Aizen and he's been involved in multiple deaths due to things not going according to plan but he'd never directly murdered anyone.
When Renji had returned he'd dropped a couple of bags in Ichigo's room before making himself scarce. Grimmjow could see the rest of the group were following Ichigo's leadership, the former vizard would be the one leading the aggressive anyway. Even Kisuke was standing at the side and taking his orders from the younger man. Grimmjow went over and put his arms around the man, drawing his attention for a minute. Ichigo dropped the things he'd had in his hands and clasped his lover's hands. He leaned back and felt Grimmjow press lips onto his neck.
"If I hadn't come along, would you have ever done this? If I hadn't brought you to his attention?"
"It doesn't matter. We would have eventually had a showdown, even if you hadn't land on my balcony he'd've still come after me. Remember it's Ichigo he's after, not you or Shiro. I don't know if it will take him long to realise who I was. He'll recognise me as soon as he sees me though." Ichigo pulled the hands apart, releasing him. "I need to go and get a few things with Shinji. Stay inside and see if the guys need any help. Renji and Shuuhei are good guys; they'll be interested in an insider's info about the compound. Toshiro takes himself too seriously though, don't let him put you down or ignore you; he's good at that. If he tries it Rangiku is a good one to wind him up. She'll flirt with you something awful but just go with it. She gets nasty easily and doesn't mean any harm with the flirting." Ichigo grabbed a black zip up hoodie, closing the zip all the way and flipping the hood over his signature hair. He turned to face his lover who was clearly feeling overwhelmed with it all.
Grimmjow didn't know what to say, and then it was too late s his lover made his way out of the room, clasping his hand for a second on the way past. He was gone by the time Grimm made it to the living area. He slumped down onto a cushion next to the tattooed man; Renji's patterned face being his most identifying feature. He'd asked Ichigo about it and found out Renji had his own darker past, having been absorbed into the police force after turning on his gang. Grimm had commented he'd never seen a police officer with long bright red hair and major ink work on his face, but the guy had come with that look and had got the job thanks to his skill set.
Shuuhei had started asking Grimmjow various questions about the location and surroundings, giving the former espada a distraction from his thoughts as he helped sketch out what he knew. He filled in what the routine had been when he'd been there but they all knew it was likely to have been changed due to the circumstances.
Ichigo jogged alongside his smaller companion, his long legs making him have to pull back his strides. They had to get to Shinji's place to get some of his more high tech gear. Renji and Shuuhei had offered but Shinji hadn't wanted two thugs stomping round his place; and that was how he'd said it to the men, causing a few raised eyebrows.
It took twenty seven minutes to get to the blonds place, and they found all of the security still in place, meaning no one had come here. Renji had reported that Ichigo's apartment had look secure but there was marks on the white front door showing that maybe someone had tried to force it, but not break it down. The broken window was still evident but other than that it looked untouched.
Ichigo followed the blond inside, watching him run through his alarm system, disarming all the motion sensors from the box on the wall. Ichigo pulled out one of the drawers in the side board and lifted a shallow tray out, dumping it to the side, not caring about the various stationary falling to the side. He pushed a button on the inside of the drawer front and the false bottom of the drawer opened revealing a series of small boxes and knives. The boxes were sets of ear pieces and microphones that Shinji had designed. Shinji had disappeared into his bedroom to collect the things from there as Ichigo loaded his bag. He slid one of the slip knives into his sock and another went round his neck to hang at the small of his back on a thin wire that sat under the neck of his shirt. He slung the small bag on his shoulder and waited for his friend to reappear. Shinji was hauling a larger duffle bag and they left without a word, one button push was all it took to arm the security systems and they allowed the door to slam behind them. They both took off at a run back towards the Shoten, anxious to be out of the open.
Turning onto the street before the Shoten, Ichigo grabbed Shinji's arm, stopping them both in shadows. The blond quirked an eyebrow and Ichigo gestured to the air above the buildings opposite. There was a thin trail of smoke and a cloud of dust on the street behind them, the same street they were heading to.
Ichigo set off at a run, outpacing his friend quickly as he went straight through the gardens in front of him. He cleared the high fence, landing in the garden two down from the Shoten, slowing his momentum down, and creeping up to the fence. He slid his fingers through the fence, gripping the slats enough to raise himself up for a microsecond to make sure he was clear. He flopped over the bar, ensuring that there was minimum air time before he slunk through the garden, the shadows around him hiding himself from all viewers. He sensed Shinji crossing the fence behind him just as he pulled up to the other side of the garden, looking through the slats to see the traditional sliding doors lying on the front porch. There was some movement inside the building, but no sign of anyone outside. The smoke was coming from the roof and it looked like someone had thrown something on fire up there, maybe to cause a distraction. Shinji slid in next to him, taking in the sight before Ichigo scaled the double height fence with ease, dropping to the ground to land in a crouch a second later. Shinji sighed quietly, cursing his friend for making shit like that look easy.
He followed, taking a bit longer to make it over and traced Ichigo's footprints to the entrance to the Shoten. The outside of the building looked fairly intact but just inside the door the furniture was upended or broken, and the walls were damaged. It looked like a mob had gone through the building and there was still no sign of any life. The first they found was Rangiku and Toshiro, the former trapped under a pile of rubble that used to be a dividing wall. Rangiku had a gash to her forehead and was currently unconscious with her boss standing vigil. Ichigo darted over to the woman, taking a few quick stats, making sure she was not critical before he investigated the rest of the place.
"Toshiro, what happened? Are you ok?" Ichigo picked through her wound, before stripping his hoodie off to rest her head on.
"Aizen, well not him personally but they came for you. And they saw Grimmjow. It went bad from there. I don't know where Urahara is, or his wife but Renji and Shuuhei were looking for them. I didn't want to leave her alone. Ichigo noticed him favouring his left arm and he grabbed it pulling it towards him. Toshiro swore and yanked it back. Ichigo grasped at his shoulder and prodded at the joint, finding the dislocation easy.
"I'll take care of that in a bit, keep it in front of you and don't lift anything. Rangiku will be ok, shout if she wakes up though. Don't let her move. I've not fully checked her lower half."
The younger man just nodded, turning his gaze towards her again, worry evident in his posture.
Ichigo moved through the building that was his first home after he got out. He felt Shinji following him silently and they both were looking for their missing friends. Ichigo gestured for Shinji to check the bedrooms while he moved into the kitchen area and towards the back door. He found Renji sitting next to Urahara, the younger man holding a pad of cloth to the older's shoulder blade. Renji looked up as soon as Ichigo turned the corner, relief bright on his face.
"Thank fuck. I was worried they'd got you too. You ok?"
Ichigo nodded, crouching down to pull the pad away to check the wound on Kisuke's back. It had clearly been a blade and it had cut down from his shoulder, skimming the big bone and making a mess. Ichigo replaced the pad, clasping the older man on his good shoulder. Kisuke lifted his hand to grip the younger man's fingers. "Where are Yoruichi and Shuuhei? And Grimmjow? I didn't see him." Ichigo stopped, taking in exactly what Kisuke had said. "Who did they take?"
He knew, he didn't even hear Urahara reply. He stood slowly, feeling the monster in him rise to the surface. Those around him saw his eyes slowly lighten and his fists clench. Renji jumped up, shaking him. Those baleful eyes snapped to his face. "Keep it together, yes they took him but Shuu and Yoruichi are tracking them. We need you here right now, we need to regroup and plan this shit out so we can go get him back."
"The plan is simple. They are already dead. They just don't know it yet." Ichigo's usual baritone was replaced with a softer, more watery tone and Renji took a step back as a grin split the other's face. That coupled with the golden eyes gave the man an insane look. "We will get big Blue back; I can't stand it when Ichigo is unhappy. It makes it rain, and I hate the rain."
Please review, didn't get any for the last chapter and that makes it rain here too.
