Chapter Twelve – Conversations with Friends

Normal POV

Ichigo was sitting on the floor in Grimmjow's strong arms when he woke up. He wanted to stay there in that strong grasp and never leave it. He knew he couldn't have what he wanted though because of the fact that the competitions were beginning that day. He had to do his job. He hugged his arms around Grimmjow's waist in a tighter grip saying he never wanted to leave this place in silence.

Grimmjow felt Ichigo's arms tighten around his body and let his eyes flick open. He lifted his arm to place his hand on the back of Ichigo's head. He pulled his lover's head into the crook of his neck. Ichigo allowed Grimmjow to do so. Grimmjow kissed Ichigo's orange hair as he tightened his grip around the lithe body.

"Please," Ichigo whined. "Can we just stay like this for a little longer?"

"Sure…Ulquiorra can do the competition without us anyway."

"No…We should go. We're obligated."

"Shh," Grimmjow chided as he heard fear leak into Ichigo's words. "We don't have to go if you don't want to."

"I want to go," Ichigo declared, his voice shaking slightly. "I want to see you kick their butts in the competition."

Grimmjow smirked. As Ichigo had spoken, his voice had gained resolution and determination. Grimmjow looked down to look into determined brown eyes, framed by vivid orange hair. Ichigo was scared yes, it shined behind the determination, but he was still strong. Grimmjow had to admire that.

"That's my Strawberry," Grimmjow laughed. Ichigo smiled back, fear disappearing from his irises. Grimmjow kissed him passionately as if the night had never happened and they were still high after yesterday's sex escapade. Ichigo sucked Grimmjow's tongue into his mouth and Grimmjow ravaged the crevice.

"Thank you," Ichigo gasped when Grimmjow let up to get air.

"No problem," Grimmjow said happily. "Let's get dressed."

"Alright, I'll do that."

They separated to change but stayed within eyesight of each other. Grimmjow was more willing to keep Ichigo close but was willing to let him have space. Ichigo was not willing to be too far – out of eyesight – from Grimmjow at that moment. He wanted space but not if it was Grimmjow. As far as Ichigo was concerned, Grimmjow could be as touchy feely as he wanted just as long as he was close. Grimmjow did not have to be lovey-dovey about it if he didn't want to but Ichigo just wanted him close.

Grimmjow dressed in his show uniform: white riding pants with black padding on the inside of his legs and under his rear, white dress shirt that had been custom made to be easy to ride in – loose enough that he could move his arms freely and could move in time with a horse – and a black riding coat. The shirt had black trim on the collar, cuffs, and near the buttons.

He pulled his black riding boots on and glanced over to Ichigo. Ichigo was changing into black riding pants with white trim on the seams and white pinstripes, polished black boots – When did he get the time to polish his boots? – a white dress shirt with black trim on the cuffs and collar, and a black vest with a tie in the back. Grimmjow stood and hugged Ichigo around the waist from behind and kissed Ichigo's cheek.

"You look good," Grimmjow chuckled. "You sure it's wise to wear white around horses when you're a stable hand?"

"You sure it's wise to wear white around Pantera?"

Grimmjow laughed uproariously. Ichigo smiled unrepentantly. It was a good joke with a hint of truth. Grimmjow had to sort of agree that Ichigo had a point. He had not chosen the uniforms though; Ulquiorra had.

"Whatever," Grimmjow chuckled on. "Let's go. I parked down the street. We're taking the beach access to get to it too."

"Paranoid?"

"I did the same it yesterday when I saw Luppi's fucking car across the street." He stared down on Ichigo trying hard to gauge the orange haired man's reaction. Ichigo's jaw hardened into set tension. He was avoiding Grimmjow's eyes until he looked up to meet Grimmjow's blue irises. Grimmjow found murderous intent there.

Creepy, Grimmjow thought. He liked the fierce look in Ichigo's eyes but the fact that it was murderous made him worry. Ichigo was one of the guys who would not hurt people no matter what. At least, that's what Grimmjow had thought. Now Grimmjow was sort of terrified of the look Ichigo was giving him.

"What?" Grimmjow asked.

"Luppi was parked outside?"

"Yes…"

"Fine. We'll do this the paranoid way." Ichigo turned back to his things. Grimmjow watched as Ichigo went through his tack bag and found his helmet. Something must have clicked in Ichigo's head because he suddenly turned, curiosity filling his eyes.

"How did my father find out I was back?" As the words left Ichigo's mouth, Grimmjow felt his heart sink to the floor.

"I might have let your name slip when I was talking to him," Grimmjow sighed, rubbing the back of his head somewhat bemused.

"Oh," Ichigo sighed.

"Look, Ichigo, I thought he was already aware that you were around the farm. I was proven wrong when he freaked out on me before running off to find you."

"I know…I should have warned you that Yoruichi was keeping them in the dark. I should have told you they were doing that. I'm sorry I didn't."

Grimmjow pulled Ichigo into a hug. Ichigo's head was under Grimmjow's chin, arms at his sides as Grimmjow held him close. Ichigo saw what Grimmjow was doing and smiled at the protectiveness Grimmjow showed around him and him alone. Grimmjow could hear the tremor of more tears in Ichigo's voice and was keeping Ichigo together.

"Thank you Grimmjow," Ichigo whispered.

"Stay here for a second Berry," Grimmjow whispered. "You're not whole yet."

What an understatement, Ichigo thought. Yet, no matter how much of an understatement it was, Ichigo felt whole with Grimmjow.

"Come on," Grimmjow said after a minute or two. "We can't be late."

Ichigo nodded and grabbed his things. He slung his bag over his shoulders and picked up his helmet. He thought for a moment and remembered that something was bothering him.

"Grimmjow?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"Can I…Do you think it would be possible…" Ichigo trailed off thinking desperately of how to put the words together.

"What is it?"

"Do you think I could…maybe…ride my horses at Las Noches?"

"You mean bring the horses to Las Noches and let everyone else know about you?"

Ichigo nodded shakily. Grimmjow sighed.

"We'll see," Grimmjow murmured. "I can understand why you want to do that though. I'd feel the same way about Pantera."

"Thanks Grimm."

"Sure," Grimmjow whispered, leaning down for a chaste kiss to Ichigo's lips. "Let's go okay? I don't want Ulquiorra eating us alive for being late."

"Alright."

They left through the beach entrance and walked up a steep hill to get to Grimmjow's car. They drove in relative silence, occasionally throwing ideas around on how to play it cool around the others. Ichigo was a bit uneasy about being around Luppi for a day but he could see that he could not avoid it. Grimmjow promised to have Annwyl and her friends around the tacking area if he could pull he could pull it off. Guards were to be expected.

When they arrived at Seireitei, Ichigo sank into his seat. Grimmjow leaned over to give him a chaste kiss before getting out of the car. Grimmjow had made an effort to park between the rental cars he recognized as Starrk's and Ulquiorra's. Ichigo followed and looked around to find Garth and Brainy sitting together under a tree, Brainy sitting between Garth's legs and Garth's arms around Brainy's body.

"Go talk to them," Grimmjow commanded. "I'll tell your family you're gonna be busy with the competition and all."

Ichigo nodded and went to do so. Garth smiled and waved him over. Brainy smiled at Ichigo friendly. Ichigo nearly sat down with them but he decided it was best that he did not want to get the uniform too dirty before he had any real contact with horses. Ichigo settled for standing.

"Hi," I said.

"Hey." Garth spoke calmly and confidently. Brainy looked amazingly small in Garth's presence let alone Garth's arms. Brainy, who had always made Annwyl look too cute for words and extremely vulnerable, looked small. Garth, made Annwyl look stronger than she probably was but she did have a spine. Garth…Ichigo had no idea what to make of him yet.

"Don't I look adorable around him?" Brainy asked.

Ichigo nodded trying in vain to stifle his chuckles.

"It's the whole Marine thing," Garth said nonchalantly shrugging the statement off. Well that explained it. Marines were usually well built.

"You're a Marine?" Ichigo gaped.

"Was," Garth said. "Honorable discharge and all that shit. I didn't really agree with some of the shit that was going on in war zones so I opted out…after taking a few bullets getting some of my guys out of harm's way. Saved a JAG officer too."

"JAG?" Ichigo asked.

"Army Lawyer," Brainy explained.

"So you stopped?" Ichigo asked after nodding in understanding to Brainy.

"I opted out. My brother was something of a pull factor though what with the fact that he's an ex-con…My little sister? She's getting him to turn over a new leaf due to the fact that she helped the cops get him." Garth spoke easily as he spewed his family's secrets. It surprised Ichigo.

"Great guy you found," Ichigo snickered. Brainy's eyes widened and his brows rose as he nodded a tad bit too enthusiastically. It was if he was trying to communicate that Ichigo was understating it.

"You have no fucking clue," Garth muttered, emotion – besides confidence and ease – finally entering his voice. Was that…anger? Fury? Seeing red?

"How so?" Ichigo asked.

"You know how Ann got a restraining order?" Brainy asked. Ichigo nodded. Grimmjow had told him. "Well…He sort of…didn't observe it."

Ichigo watched as Garth's hands clenched into fists. He also noticed that Garth had made sure to not have his hands on Brainy as Brainy spoke. Something had happened to cause Garth, a man with Marine discipline, to show rage. Shit.

"What happened?" Ichigo snarled. Brainy's eyes widened at Ichigo's tone but he couldn't blame him. Garth heard the tone but when he looked at Ichigo all he saw was the protectiveness of a friend or maybe a surrogate brother. Garth liked that.

"The fuck decided to stalk Brainy and decided to make a 'scene' in a public place," Garth said, his voice becoming calm again. Brainy nestled further into Garth's chest, uncomfortable with the topic but resigned to letting Ichigo know. "The bastard showed up at the mall, grabbed Brainy by the arm, told him to shut up and come with him, shoved Annie away roughly causing her to fall into a fountain, and tried to pull Brainy away.

"I was alerted when Brainy cried out from him grabbing his arm. Ann's falling into the fountain spurred me into charging down the stairs and the fuck trying to drag Brainy away made me move faster. I got to the two of them in time for the fuck to try to back hand Brainy.

"I caught his hand, and used all of my training to pull him into a choke hold. Brainy ran to get Annie out of the fountain – she's funny when she's flustered, how id didn't laugh still escapes me. The cops showed up, took the prick off of my hands and read him his rights.

"Next time I saw Annie was two days later and she had a scheme brewing. She won out and hooked Brainy and I up within two weeks," Garth explained.

I had to agree with him that Annwyl did become entertaining when flustered but I had known better than to laugh at her. Her parents were wicked scary and Brainy – nerdy as he is – was very protective of his baby sister.

"Annie?" I asked, chuckling. "Does she know you call her that?"

"Yes…she does." Garth's voice was tinged with penitence. He smiled as if remembering something painful.

"He doesn't call her that in her presence," Brainy smiled ruefully.

"Not since I taught her how to grapple, shoot, and manipulate people verbally. I thought for the longest time she wanted to date me understand? I'm not ungrateful about her hooking me up with Brainy at all but I can't say I don't regret teaching her what I did."

"He taught her for a week and a half when she was free from anything," Brainy explained. "She, as always, was a very apt learner. I warned him not to call her Annie multiple times…"

"All of which I ignored during training sessions."

"And one day, she flipped him onto his back and sat on his chest, pinning his arms with her knees." Brainy smiled at the memory.

"Her exact words were: 'Call me Annie one more time…I fucking dare you.'"

Ichigo laughed. He had learned that lesson the hard way too when Annwyl challenged him to a race – of which she won. She won, leapt off her horse and stood in his path. He'd barely stopped and she was smirking. She gave the same exact words to him.

"We need to make her make a recording of that saying and program it to be her ringtone," Ichigo suggested. Brainy laughed. Garth winced but smiled as he did in complete understanding.

"We should," Garth murmured. Annwyl rolled up then. She didn't bother asking why the three men were laughing.

While the three were having heart to heart talks, Grimmjow was busy trying to calm Isshin down long enough that he could explain what had happened. Isshin was annoyed that Ichigo had not been in the arena when Isshin had gone there. Grimmjow explained that Ichigo had run when he saw his father terrified of what had happened. Isshin was supposed to not know his son was there but suddenly he did. Terror kicked reasoning out the window.

"So, Yoruichi and some of the others were keeping it quite for him?" Isshin asked.

"Yeah," Grimmjow explained. "Ichigo doesn't want anyone knowing who he is. I know because I had a stroke of dumb luck and Renji's an idiot. I'm sorry, but I thought you knew he was here…Then you're actions told me differently."

Isshin sighed and sank into a wooden chair in his private office. The man was one of the riders yes but he was also a doctor for the other riders. His girls were planning to do the same thing he did. Isshin rubbed his face in wonder. He had been kind in respecting Ichigo's wish to stay inconspicuous but he had wanted to see his son again.

Karin and Yuzu did too.

"Look," Isshin said. "Ichigo is a great kid. I wanted to make sure he was alright but he hadn't made much contact when he left. I'm surprised that he kept the same number he'd had here. He claimed he wanted out of the competition world but he never tried to make it so Karin, Yuzu, and I were the only ones who he wanted to stay in contact with. Everyone could call him but only Rukia and Renji were the only ones who called him and always around the time of competitions."

"And you didn't stop them?"

"He had to have some contact with someone from his past," Isshin explained. "I thought he'd changed his number but I never knew it was the same until yesterday when I asked to see their phones. I was, naturally, annoyed that they had not told me when they found out. Hence, my emotional reaction when I learned that yes he was here again and it wasn't just a rumor."

Grimmjow nodded and left somewhat more at ease. Isshin just wanted to see his son. He wanted an update. One that was tangible.

Grimmjow found Ichigo with Annwyl and the two boys he swore would flank her to the end of the world. Garth, yes, he had decided. He liked him. he would like to know how the hell he met Brainy and Annwyl but then again maybe he didn't. Ichigo was smiling when Grimmjow walked up. A single look called for Ichigo to wrap it up and come with him.

Competition was starting.

Ichigo said goodbye and went to fetch Pantera. Grimmjow waltzed up to the group of three. He asked if they could stay near Ichigo. Garth smirked and said he'd do it. He talked Annwyl into letting him borrow her Riding helmet that she still kept near her person. It was adjustable so he could wear it.

Grimmjow learned from Annwyl of Garth's history in the military while Garth went to get the helmet. When he came back, Grimmjow saw that the helmet was intact. Brainy whispered that it was a new one she had bought before coming to California. Either Annwyl was planning to ride again or she was clairvoyant. Grimmjow hoped for the first idea.

Garth put on the protective plastic and went after Ichigo when the orange haired rider reappeared with Pantera in tow. Garth was not unaware of horse etiquette but he was unpracticed. Annwyl may have filled him in with Brainy's help but he had never been given much of a chance to practice. He rushed over to Ichigo, barely pulling in his speed in time. Thank god Ichigo was in charge of Pantera.

A few apologies were given but Ichigo waved it off in complete understanding. The two left together.

"What's up?" Annwyl asked.

"Isshin seemed to be telling me the truth about how he had no idea Ichigo didn't change his number but…his reaction."

"He wants to see his son is okay," Brainy said. "You can't blame him. He might have only gotten letters but never actual calls."

"Yeah I know."

"Relax Grimm," Annwyl stated calmly. "Garth will keep Ichi safe."

"Thanks."

Let the competition begin, they thought.