Sanity and In Between

A/N: Edited 5-28-14

Chapter Thirteen

Presents and Presentation

Grimmjow sat and stared out the window. It was a little after dawn on Friday morning, and Ichigo and a few people from the club were doing the presentation at that school, despite Grimmjow's misgivings of the very open and public event without real security. On the small tray table in front of him were records he was pretty sure Ichigo didn't realize he had. They were records of the texts, emails and phone calls he had been getting over the last few days. The blue haired bounty hunter had been getting the silent treatment ever since their fight in the kitchen and unintentional flashing session. He honestly didn't think the feisty organette had said one word since then. He couldn't help wanting to keep him safe. It didn't help that some of the messages he had received were the exact ones that he'd seen Hana receive.

"Aren't you such a pretty little bitch."

"You enjoy getting all the attention, don't you? You are nothing but an attention whore."

"I'm going to make sure you get all sorts of special attention."

"You really deserve to suffer."

It went on and on. And every time Shiro brought him a stack from the INTERPOL office, he felt his heart ache even worse. He had known they used the same tactics, but he had expected a lot of it to have evolved over the last few years. He supposed that if it worked once, they expected it to work again. And sadly, it usually did. There had to be a way to stop them. His eyes fell on a gruesome picture that had been in Ichigo's email of one of their victims painted with clownish looking makeup and tiny cuts all over his face.

Ichigo's words came back to haunt him, and though he knew he was angry when he said them, it still stung. "You think you're going to swoop in and save the fucking day or something, some sort of revenge after these people killed your first love. Great, wonderful. But don't use me to get that revenge. I'm not some piece of fucking bait for you to catch these people."

Was he doing that? Was he trying to use him as bait? No, he wasn't, he knew he wasn't. He'd never put someone in that kind of danger. He would never do that, he wanted to save him, he really did just want to save him. He knew they'd torture him in the worst ways and then kill him slowly and he didn't want him to go through that. "Don't use me as some replacement for your boyfriend you couldn't fucking save. I'm not him."

No, Ichigo wasn't Hana. Grimmjow leaned forward and rubbed his forehead. He wasn't defenseless. He could take care of himself, but maybe that's why Grimmjow wanted to keep him safe even more. He really was convinced that Ichigo was far too confident in his own abilities. It was true, protective custody didn't help, but he had to try to keep him safe! He wasn't trying to keep him "under his thumb" as Ichigo said. He really wasn't. He always protected the ones he loved. Wait. Loved?

"Blue baby," came a voice from the doorway of the room. Ichigo was sleeping on the futon while Grimmjow sat at the window and looked over the paperwork.

"What is it, Shiro?" he asked, not looking up.

"Sugar, you gotta stop pushing so damned hard, you're gonna break him," he said, coming up behind him quietly.

Grimmjow sighed. "What do you care? I keep pushing him, he'll just jump in bed with you. That's what you want isn't it?"

Shiro shook his head and put both hands on his shoulders. "Blueberry, I don't want that at all. I want you to see what you're doing. He's not Hanataro."

"I fucking know that," Grimmjow said, but there was no real venom to his voice. "I know he isn't Hana. I just…I don't want to lose him like I lost Hana. What they did to him, Shiro, you can't imagine…"

"I know what they've done to every single victim, Blue. Every one of them. I want to stop them, too, you know. For Ichigo, for Rin, for Ggio…and everyone else they've victimized," Shiro said softly. "Look I know I'm a fucking vulgar ass pervert. That's just me. I grew up bullied and shoved around and called names by my own damned parents. I got out as soon as I could, and I went fucking wild because I could. Then, it happened. I was drugged out of my mind, and this old fart named Zangetsu pulled my ass out of that hell hole I'd crawled into. And you want to know the first case after I got out of training was? This fucked up bitch and her asshole partner who had butchered a young drag queen in France where I grew up. Want to know who he was?" he said, and Grimmjow heard the tightness in his voice.

Grimmjow nodded slowly. "My fuckin' brother. My little brother. He was sixteen, and literally came out two weeks before he was kidnapped. My mom killed herself, but that didn't bother me, she was a bitch and considered my brother her only child, but still. These fuckers have fucked up a lot of people. No one knows the fact that he was my little brother. Not even Zangetsu knows that it was my family. I'd changed my name after I left. I was Shiro, that was it, there was nothing else, I wasn't that person anymore. And then the fuckers killed the only person in my old life I gave a damn about."

"Shiro, I had no idea, I'm sorry…I…" Grimmjow started.

"You're wallowing in your own grief and you don't see shit, Blueberry. Look, I know how it feels to be after these people. I know how it feels to lose someone you care about to their sadistic fucked up ways. I know what reading those fucking phone records and emails does to you. Because yes, they used the same goddamned methods on my little brother. If you want to save the Strawberry, you have got to step the fuck back from your own pain. And it is hard as fuck, man," Shiro said, squeezing his shoulders firmly.

Grimmjow was silent as Shiro massaged his shoulders for a few long minutes and he didn't realize he was crying. He bit his lip and shook his head. "How, Shiro? How do I forget all that and focus on now? I've worked on finding them for so long, and I've seen so many victims and families, and never, Shiro, never have I had this problem before. I don't know what to do. I…I just can't…what if I can't save him?"

"Then you move on, Blue. And you keep trying to catch the fuckers because when you've been as scarred by someone as we have been, that's what you fucking do. I don't know if we're going to save him, Blue. I don't know. I wish I could stand here and say don't worry, we'll save him, we'll do it this time. I can't. We've had three of them in protective custody and it didn't help. They were locked up tighter than we have the Strawberry-boy. So I can't say. He's got the advantage that fucking everyone who is around him knows what's going on. And there ain't no one as tight knit as a bunch of fucking drag queens," he said with a soft smile over Grimmjow's head. He didn't mention the fact that it hadn't helped any of the other victims.

Shiro started to leave then turned and put a hand on Grimmjow's shoulder again. Grimmjow looked up at him, eyes still damp. "Look, you love the fuck outta him, and you don't know what to do. I can tell, the way your eyes burn when someone else moves on him, the way your eyes follow the little things he does, the way you smile when he gets so mad that he turns red when he can't see you, you need to move on in another way. Your Hana, he wouldn't want you to be miserable forever. And I know it scares you to think that if you love him, you'll lose him like you lost Hana. But here's a question, Blue, what if you don't lose him, and you never say anything? Which is worse? Loving and losing it, or never loving? Would you give up the time you had with Hana if it meant you'd never suffer the pain when he died?"

Shiro nodded and then left, leaving Grimmjow to stare out the window. Grimmjow heard the door shut silently and then let a sob out he'd been holding in since Shiro had come in. He quickly got himself under control, though and took a long, deep breath. "Hana…I've got to move on," he whispered, leaning over and putting his head in his hands. "I can't live like this anymore."

Grimmjow didn't notice that a pair of brown eyes that should have been closed in sleep were not, and had not been ever since the door opened to admit Shiro.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"Settle down! Settle down, please!" Mrs. Chin said into the microphone over the excited chattering of the students in the assembly. It was actually filled past capacity, the top tier filled with the older students, second tier with the middle school students, and the elementary students were squished in on the floor around the stage area. The stage, which was rarely used, had been pulled out so the speakers could come out onto it. Mrs. Chin glanced around and saw the teachers from all the school levels and many parents had come to stand around the edges. The admittance was allowed as long as they had a child in the schools. Of course, no one was checking every single person. There were two outside levels here, so there was no way to know if someone was crashing the presentation. But what could a few extra people hurt?

A microphone had been set up on the top level and lower level as well as closer to the stage so that during the question and answer phases students could line up and ask their questions. Behind the curtain was one of the widest assortment of individuals that Mrs. Chin had ever seen in her life. She hadn't even realized there was this much diversity in Karakura.

"Alright, please listen, students!" she announced, and the ruckus quieted down. "Thank you. First we have Tōsen-Sensei. He is from the school for the visually impaired."

Tōsen came onto the stage, tapping his cane until he hit the microphone. He spoke for a while about having to grow up with a disability such as blindness, as well as being of mixed race heritage. There were a few questions, all quite polite about both. He explained he taught social studies and that he found the work very fulfilling. He thanked them for their attention, and headed back. Mrs. Chin came back out.

"Now to discuss a wider range of disabilities, some of you know her through various means, but I'd like to welcome Nelliel Tu Oderschvank. She works as a child therapist and often works with teachers here," she said, stepping back.

Nel came out with the tall Sajin at her side who was leading a small brown dog on a leash. There were murmurs all through the audience at this.

"I'm Miss Nel, if any of you have ever met me. And this is my friend Sajin and a pup named Chairo. Chairo is an Autism Therapy dog, and Sajin trains therapy dogs at his farm. I work every day with all sorts of kids. I'm also Wonderweiss's caretaker. There are a lot of different things that I do," she said with a smile.

She went on to explain what a disability was, what kinds of disabilities made it difficult for other kids to understand, and what kinds of things she helped with. She took a lot of questions from the middle school students, and quite a few from the others. Most were polite, but there were a few that were rude out of sheer ignorance. Nel was unperturbed and continued on to correct them and explain why such derisive terminology was incorrect. She waved and left and Sajin took questions about the dogs he trained and why he did it. He explained how various dogs could help people with disabilities.

"I know that a lot of you here are young and don't know about the kind of prejudice that comes with certain stigma. My father was a Hiroshima survivor, and because of that, he faced a lot of prejudice. What people didn't understand when he was alive made them fear him, much the same as those who are different scare us today," he said with a soft smile.

He went on to explain that he was friends with Tōsen-Sensei, and that he was also familiar with the people that would be talking to them next. He exited and took Chairo with him to applause.

Nel stepped up again. "Finally, the last subject I'm going to discuss is actually the same for me and Sajin-san. Both of us share the fact that we are asexual individuals."

There was a burst of sound and a volley of questions about what it meant. Nel explained it to the best of her ability, explaining that it was simply a difference, and that while some asexuals were considered a demi-sexual, or a person that could become intimate with someone they become emotionally attached to, and then the issue of gray asexuality. There were a few clarification questions, and then she bowed and left the stage.

Mrs. Chin once more returned.

"Now, students, we've had some severe bullying incidents on all of our schools lately, as well as in the community at large. Some of this has been centered on gender and sexuality. For this reason, I've invited Karin and Yuzu Kurosaki's brother to come speak with us and he's kindly brought several people from the cabaret that he works at, Las Noches. Please keep your questions respectful, and remember that you are representing our school," she said with a smile, stepping back.

Ichigo came out linked arm in arm with Shinji. Shinji, of course, was wearing black slacks and a white button down shirt, his hair pulled back in a ponytail. Ichigo was wearing his typical attire for his life these days, a blouse with a slightly ruffled collar and a pair of embroidered jeans. His hair was styled back in a couple barrettes and he'd worn light make-up. He had, however, gone full on with a set of black stiletto boots. He had to give them something to talk about, he figured. As soon as they got to the mic, Grimmjow slipped out from behind the curtain and stood over to the side with his arms crossed over his chest so he could see everything on the right side of the room, and Shiro had come out and stood on the other side. More than one glance went to both of them.

Ichigo smiled and nodded. "I see not much has changed since I graduated, these presentations are still done in this assembly room and it is still far too hot in here when they shove you all in here at once," he said, glancing at Shinji. "I could start, but I'm going to let Shinji start things off. Shinji Hirako is the person that runs the drag troupe out at Las Noches, called the Dangai."

There were murmurs at this seeming male looking figure. "So, I'm gonna try and keep this clean. Normally when I'm MCing on stage I cuss like a sailor on coke." Ichigo smacked him and Shinji frowned. "Oh, I guess that's not appropriate, huh, well, sh-shoot."

Ichigo groaned. "Okay, so I'm gonna try, but yeah, I lead the Dangai."

"You don't look like a drag queen!" someone yelled.

Shinji smiled. "Yeah, well, I'm not performing, now am I? Here, I brought some pictures from the club to show you. Promise, moms and dads, all clean."

He turned and against the drapes a white screen descended. He clicked a remote in his hand and a picture of Las Noches on the inside came up. "This is our cabaret. Nice huh? Well, you don't think I'm a drag queen, huh. Well, this is me on most stage nights," he said, clicking and showing a picture of him all decked out for a drag night. He was wearing a black evening gown and silver stilettos and had his hair done in a beautiful updo thanks to Yumichika. His make-up was extravagant and expressive in the picture. There were murmured comments in the audience. He turned back to them with his drag picture on the screen behind him.

"I don't dress like that all the time, as you can see. Honestly, I only wear it on stage. And I'm not gay, for your information, I am bisexual, but usually prefer women. I like soccer with a passion and my bane is shopping for stage clothes and make-up. I let the divas do that for me," he said with a grin.

"What's the difference between you and a diva?" came a called question from the top row.

Shinji grinned. "See, Ichi-baby here is what we call a diva."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "See, the divas are more…ah…girly, I guess. But that doesn't make them gay, you gotta understand that. Girly doesn't equal gay in our world. You know, everyone seems to equate being girly or feminine to being weak. That's not the case, I wanna tell you. Ichi-baby here could kick my a….rear in a fight. And I know it. And there's others in the club with the same philosophy. But next, I'm gonna call out a couple, they're getting married soon, but this is Findorr and Apacci."

Findorr came out dressed in a purple plaid pleated skirt and a light pink blouse. He'd pulled his blonde hair up into pigtails and wore a pair of Mary Janes with socks. Emilou was wearing low rise jeans and a black band t-shirt with a backwards ball cap and sneakers. Again, their entrance was met with murmured thoughts. Findorr stepped up beside Ichigo and Shinji.

"Hi, I've never spoken to kids before, but there's a first time for everything, and a stage's a stage, darlings. I'm one of the Dangai's drag queens, and I, unlike Shinji, dress as a woman on a daily basis. My soon to be wife, however, dresses as a man." He clicked the button and a picture of him done up for stage hugging Emilou who was wearing the black shirt with SECURITY across the front of it beside him. "Emilou works security at Las Noches, and I suppose I'm in the diva category. However, I am one hundred percent straight, and so is my lovely fiancée. Here's a picture of us being fitted for our wedding clothes," he said, and shifted to a picture of them in their wedding clothing. "As you can see, I'm wearing the traditionally female wedding dress, and Emilou will wear the suit. We are quite happy with each other. Now, we'll take questions, if you have any," he said.

"How'd you know you wanted to wear women's clothes?" a young girl asked in the middle level.

Findorr smiled. "I grew up in a gender neutral home, and I preferred girls' clothing from an early age."

"Do you want to be a woman? Like, are you transgendered?" a high school boy asked.

Findorr shook his head. "Nope, I'm perfectly happy being a man."

"And I'm happy being a woman. We're both just more comfortable in these clothes," Emilou added with a smile at Findorr.

There were a few more questions and they thanked everyone and stepped to the side. Ichigo leaned forward. "Next we have a couple from the burlesque group, the Hainekos, Loly and Menoly."

Loly and Menoly came out arm in arm and waved at everyone and replaced Ichigo. "I'm Loly, and this is my sister Menoly. We're both members of the burlesque show, which is not a strip show, though we often do strip teases for the crowd."

Menoly leaned forward, "Loly is perfectly straight, and I'm actually intersexed and have no particular preference. And before you ask, if you don't know, intersexed means that I was born with ambiguous genitalia. That means I was actually born with both sets. I identify as generally female when I have to, but I still possess some male traits."

"You have a penis!" came a yell from the audience followed by the teachers shushing the giggling crowd.

"I suppose, yes, if you must know that. However, I can carry children as a woman can," she said with a good natured smile, guessing that question would come from somewhere.

They took questions for a little while longer and then left the stage after showing some of the tamer pictures of the two of them in the Burlesque show. Findorr and Emilou had already slipped backstage again.

Shinji came forward. "Now, don't get the impression that all my drag troupe is a bunch of boys. That's not the case at all. So here we have one of my drag kings, Arisawa, and one of my faux queens, Mila Rose," he said as the two women came out.

Arisawa took the mic first. "Hi there everyone, I'm sure you remember me. I was in Ichigo's grade, and graduated with him. I'm a drag king."

"What's that?" came a call.

She smiled. "I go on stage dressed as a man and like the drag queens typically exaggerate female traits, I usually exaggerate male traits."

She clicked the pictures across showing her in a couple preformances with some of the drag queens. "I'm also a lesbian, but I'm generally considered the more…masculine of us." She clicked to a picture of her and Orihime together smiling at the camera. "Orihime is my girlfriend, and we're making plans to make a family together in the future."

"You're the butch dyke?" came a call. Arisawa closed her eyes.

"We don't usually use that terminology. But if you must separate us, some lesbians who are more masculine are considered butch, while the more feminine are sometimes called lipsticks. But to be honest, we're just who we are and that's all," she said with a shrug.

Mila Rose stepped up. "I'm Mila Rose, and I'm a faux queen. That means, before you ask, I go on stage dressed like the drag queens do, but I'm already a female. I'm bisexual, myself, but I'm in a relationship currently with a member of the Hainekos, Harribel." She pulled up a couple pictures of her in faux queen make up and then a picture of her and Harribel. She took a few questions about what it was like to go on stage as a faux queen, then she and Arisawa stepped back.

"We have two more people from the club, Rose and Luppi. Both are members of my troupe," Shinji said as the two stepped out. Rose stepped forward first wearing a simple polo shirt and slacks.

"I'm Rose, and I'm transgender. I was born a woman and have been through the sex change operation to transition to a man. I dress as a drag queen for the show, however," he said with a toss of his long brown hair over his shoulder. He was soon barraged with various questions about what it was like to go through the surgeries and how hard it was for him to make the transitions. He showed pictures pre surgery and post-surgery as well as some of his drag photos. When he was done, Luppi stepped up with a grin, lowering the mic.

"I'm Luppi, and I'm a drag queen too," she said, showing pictures. "I actually am an omnisexual, meaning pretty much a person's gender, gender identity, gender expression, that doesn't matter to me at all. Mainly I wanted to talk about the fact that sexuality is a spectrum. There's heterosexuality, where you like the opposite gender. Then there's homosexuality, where you like the same gender. Then they're bisexual, where you like both. That, however, doesn't really cover everyone like transgendered or intersexed individuals. Omnisexuality is often called pansexuality, though I prefer the term omnisexual. To me, I'm attracted to all aspects of biological sex as well as gender expressions. Sexuality and gender are so much more than X and Y chromosomes," he said with a smile.

"On another note, as far as nationality goes, I'm a Roma. Which, if you've never heard of the term, the more derogatory term is gypsy. I grew up in a circus and spent my youth training as an acrobat," he said, putting up a few images from his time in the circus. "During my time there, I was friends with the people in our side show. It was a different world when you live and work with people who swallow swords, manipulate dry ice with their hands, and channel electricity."

There were some more questions for Luppi and then he headed back. Shinji clapped Ichigo on the back and followed him and Rose and he took the microphone again.

"All the people you've heard speak are great. Some of us look different, but that's because we're being ourselves. During school, I never outward expressed my preferences. I wanted to be like everyone else. That shouldn't have to happen. After I left school, I got the courage to be who I was always below the surface. Now, do you have any last questions?" he asked, looking around.

"Who's the white guy?" someone yelled. Ichigo leaned back and realized they were talking about Shiro. He grinned. Time to get back at him for the karaoke night.

"Shiro, come here!" he said.

Shiro rolled his eyes and walked out, getting more than a few murmured comments at his strange appearance. As if him being pure white wasn't enough, he'd work a bright pink polo shirt and a black kilt with a set of goth chunky boots.

"This is a friend, Shiro," Ichigo said with a half grin.

Shiro rolled his eyes and leaned forward. "Yo. What's up? As ya can see, I'm one white mofo." There were giggles as Ichigo smacked him on the shoulder. "What, Strawberry? It's true. Ain't nothing to hide it. I was born in France and treated like shi—crap until I left home because of the way I look. Sucked. But you know. Mom was a…a…not nice woman," he said, cutting his eyes at Ichigo who was daring him to say something else. "But yeah. I help out with security there at Las Noches now and then with Blueberry across the way. I'm bisexual, well, more omnisexual, don't really matter to me, didn't know that's what you called it until now, but hey, even one of us can learn something, huh?"

There was a laugh across the room. "Obviously I'm an albino, but I got these funky eyes instead of the red ones. I happen to like mine better. Those red eyes are freaky, man." There was an almost shocked silence. "Hey, dudes and dudettes, let me tell you one thing I've learned, you can't take yourself too seriously. Bullying is bad, sucks major…um…major. Anyway, yeah, so you gotta stand up for people. If you don't, that's so not freaking cool. Don't be uptight, but don't let people walk on ya either.

"My main man Wonderweiss gets crap, and that's not cool. Me and Wonderweiss, we are tight, man, sitting watching Digimon half the night and reading manga. If ya don't give people a chance, you never know when you'll pass up a good friend. The Strawberry gets crap, and I know his sisters do too, and that ain't good. He's a glitter fairy, I know," he said, winking at him, getting a huff and crossed arms. "But you know I love the boy like he is, glitter and priss and all. That's him. And you gotta take people as they are. Don't make 'em change just because you haven't seen someone like them before," Shiro said, shrugging.

"People love who they love, and you know, it ain't bothering you, so let 'em be. And just because Ichi-berry here likes to look like Tinkerbell puked on him, whatever, man. He's a cutie, and I'd date 'im. I'd also date anyone else who caught my attention, but hey, that's not everyone's cup 'o tea. So yeah, just be cool to each other. That's all ya gotta know. And when you see others being not cool to someone else, don't ignore it. You see someone messin' with someone else, stop it. Or go get someone who can. That shi…crud is not cool."

Shiro leaned over and kissed Ichigo on the cheek and went back to leaning against the curtain. Ichigo blushed and looked out. "So yeah, that's all of us from Dangai and Las Noches. I'll let Mrs. Chin have it back," he said and headed back stage. Overall, he thought it went well. He still couldn't shake the feeling of being watched, but that was silly. He was being watched by a whole room of people! He didn't see two people slip out before the teacher finished talking, one of which wore a white hat with a wheel symbol on it.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"Wasn't he so adorable?" Bambietta said, flopping into the ratty couch at the rat infested motel they were staying at. It was a lovely no-tell motel.

"I wanted to snatch him off that stage," Quilge muttered as he rummaged in the dank fridge for something to eat. "You got in touch with that Yakuza boy?"

Bambietta sighed. "Yeah, sure did. He's gonna do the house tomorrow night. Fuck some things around for us."

"Good. He's looking a little too…together…still," he muttered as he flopped into the moth eaten chair beside the nasty sofa.

She nodded. "Yeah, fuckin' blue haired bastard and that white one. They're messin' with shit. If they weren't around he'd be doubting his own goddamned name by now. Just gonna take more work, that's all, Quilge. You'll get your chance."

He glared at her, picking box of rice he'd retrieved. "Yeah, you promised I'd get my chance this time. I'm tired of putting myself on the line by finding something to fuck on my own."

She rolled her eyes. "Jeeze, you are such a high maintenance partner, really! You can't keep your cock under control for the life of you. I mean, you will literally fuck anything I think. And you say you're gay, so why do you fuck girls when you can't find a pansy boy you can wrangle by yourself?"

He glared at her. "It isn't like I fuck them in the cunt, honey."

She giggled. "Okay, I give ya that, you horny bastard. But you've already played once here, don't push your luck."

He glared at her and muttered under his breath as she picked up the phone again, dialing a familiar number. "Yeah, hey, Bambi here, remember that favor you owe me?" she asked.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Nel was excited as she headed into the house with Sajin on her heels and a certain little dog trailing behind them. Grimmjow was bringing Wonderweiss home because he, Shiro, and Ichigo were waiting to pick up Karin and Yuzu as well after the big presentation. It was a good thing they were skinny enough to fit four across the back. They were going to surprise Wonderweiss with his new pup. She was so glad she'd chosen this. Of course, she had more than one reason. She also felt like having a dog around might help with Ichigo's situation. She knew someone had been in her place. She'd realized things were moved around. She'd told Barragan, but definitely didn't tell Grimmjow. It wasn't like he could benefit from the knowledge and he'd probably use it to try and corral poor Ichigo again.

She knew he meant well, she really did, but she really just wanted to smack the great big idiot and hope to get some sense in his brain. Maybe soon, she hoped. She looked up and saw Sajin in the living room on the couch playing with Chairo. She headed into the room.

"Hey, um, just a head's up, I don't quite know how Wonderweiss is going to be today. I mean, it has been pretty rough lately with all the changes around here, and now with his school day messed up because of the assembly, and Grimmy brining him home, he's not going to be in the best frame of mind…" she said hesitantly.

Sajin nodded, not looking up for the dog. "It is fine, my dear. He is expected to be a bit out of sorts. After all, his uncle and a bunch of bounty hunters recently showed up out of nowhere and then Ichigo started staying here. I can't imagine him being very happy with all that."

"I know you train the dogs, but you know a lot about the autism spectrum, then?" she asked, sitting down across from him.

He nodded. "I do. I have eternal patience."

She smiled. "Yeah, most people think they do until faced with an autistic kid on a rampage," she said with a sigh. "His parents were so terrible to him, you know. It was just…they're the type that don't need to ever have children. They just mistreated him so much, and didn't understand. They thought if they smacked at him enough or yelled loud enough, it would 'fix' him. The poor thing was told so often he was just a bad child, and he didn't deserve to have anything.

"They used to lock him into his room for days with little to no contact, and tell him horrible things. The poor boy won't go in a garden with those silly gnomes in them. He was told that they came alive in the dark and ate bad children, and that was only one of the horrible things they'd tell him. I mean, I gave him his first birthday gift, isn't that sad? And that was before he had a diagnosis…not that it matter to his parents."

"That's terrible," Sajin said, looking up. "His parents didn't agree with the diagnosis?"

She shook her head sadly. "They said he was a bad kid, that autism didn't excuse it. It was so hard, then social services ended up stepping in, finally after a nasty incident where a store own called on them and had a security tape to prove it."

"What happened?" Sajin asked, holding Chair on his lap and petting him thoughtfully.

"He still dreams about it, but they were in a big department store near Christmas, and Wonderweiss was looking at a snowglobe. He had money to buy it, even. His mother just came up and slapped it out of his hands and it crashed at his feet, sending shards of glass everywhere, cutting him up in the process on hands and face. The horrid woman was screaming at the top of her lungs and cussing the poor boy out for wandering away. He was less than five feet away from where she was looking at jewelry. After that, there was an investigation, and a medical exam and interviews, the whole thing, that's how I met him. I did the evaluation, and documented the abuse," Nel said nodding at him.

"That's terrible," Sajin said, shaking his head. "Has he recovered from their abuse?"

Nel shook her head. "Somewhat. He still covers his ears when he hears children crying. When he first came to me, he'd hide when he heard children crying. I had to make him understand that not every child that cried did so because their parents were mean to them. And there are tons of…" she stopped and stood as she heard the door open.

"Wonderweiss!" she called as he came in followed by Ichigo and Grimmjow. Shiro and the girls were outside, messing around with the baseball from the glance she caught.

It was obvious he was stressed. She hoped Chairo helped the situation. "Wonderweiss, we have a surprise," she said, smiling at him.

He growled under his breath at her and narrowed his eyes. Oh boy, she thought. Okay, so no talking, she guessed. Instead, she picked up the small dog and held him aloft. "Look! You have a new pet! He's all yours, a service dog, so he can go everywhere with you, even to school!"

Wonderweiss stared at the dog then at everyone in the room and growled again and turned and headed up the stairs to his room and slammed the door. Grimmjow and Ichigo frowned and looked at Nel.

"He's a bit out of sorts today, don't worry, he'll be fine," she said and glanced at Sajin to find him unperturbed by the event. That was certainly a different reaction than she expected. Perhaps Sajin was more patient than she thought…

From upstairs there was a loud sound of Wonderweiss's speakers blaring Rush. She knew he needed to relax a bit. She turned to Sajin and smiled. "He really appreciates the pet. He's just…"

Sajin smiled and stood. "I know, my dear. It is fine. I must return to tend the animals though. My train leaves in half an hour." She leaned forward and kissed Nel on the forehead and then left quietly, waving to the others. Nel smiled and hugged the small dog against her chest. That was surprising.

Ichigo shook his head and smiled at her. "I've gotta change and get to the club. Busy night tonight! I've got a skit with Findorr and Rose, and then I'm doing the Burlesque show tonight, we're doing the second part of the Lord of the Rings set!" he said, dashing up to his room, leaving Grimmjow with Nel. Grimmjow stared after him looking somewhat pensive.

"Big bro, what's up?" Nel asked, seeing the thoughtful look.

"Huh?" he said, turning to her. "Nothing."

Nel smiled to herself as she took Chairo into the kitchen for some kibble. She estimated half an hour of Rush, Dio, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zepplin, and Wonderweiss would be back down to get to know Chairo better. And her brother…well, he still seemed to have his head up his ass, but perhaps he was starting to pull it out.