Traveled Roads

For a few days, he was too feverish to go to school, or work. He spent his time contemplating the mashed piece of origami paper. He couldn't remember ever trying to make paper cranes, for that was what it resembled, if you titled your head to one side. A paper crane….

The voice kept returning to him, the one line. The closest. To what? What secret kept eluding him, buried in the fold of his memory. There was a lapse, he could feel it, because no matter how he tried to piece things together, it just didn't fit. There was something big he was missing, something he shouldn't have forgotten, and should feel deeply sorry for.

To who? Yuroichi? Grimmjow? The spirits in general? The spirits…. The prince! He'd done something, and now he couldn't remember. He slowly thought of a way to sneak away from Byakuya, the witch apponted with keeping a watchful eye on him, which he did very well.

It was the book he had to get his hands on. But he knew that was locked up in Grimmjow's apartment, far away. He could hope the prince would visit him again, but no apparition, not even Ulquiorra, could pass by his room without a very painful talisman thrown at his head. Though Ulquiorra did a good job of avoiding these.

There was a knock at his door. He quickly stuffed the already destroyed paper crane into his pocket. Grimmjow walked in, a strained smile on his face. He greeted him with a kiss, which was an improvement from the usual nips to the ear or neck. Should it be an improvement? Something told him that Grimmjow was not who was supposed to be greeting him with kisses, but he pushed that from his mind.

"what's wrong?" he asked the vampire cautiously, glancing at his blue locks that had strayed from the usual style. Did vampires always looks so tired, or was it just when they weren't eating, as Ichigo had been seeing Grimmjow do constantly. What was there to worry about? He was fine, the prince was silent, the book was locked up, everyone was alive and healthy.

"nothing's wrong." Grimmjow grunted, resting his head on his shoulder. He groaned softly in pain, and he pet the silky head of blue hair. "I was just stupid enough to drink one of Aizen's teas."

"you don't like this Aizen guy very much, do you." He hid the chuckle that wanted to break free as Grimmjow shivered violently.

"he's a horrible, cruel, sadistic tyrant, and I'm one of his favourite toys." Grimmjow released another piteous groan, and sank further into his arms. They stayed like that for a minute, before grimmjow looked up, and smirked. "ever wanted to become a vampire?" ichigo shook him off and snorted crossing his arms over his chest. "I'll take that as a no then." Grimmjow suddenly became quiet again, and he knew it wasn't because of the tea. Something else was on the blue haired vampire's mind. Having read his thoughts, Grimmjow pulled something out of the white satchel that he hadn't noticed before. He rested some more random stuff on his bed, which Grimmjow explained to be Aizen's grocery shopping, and finally pulled out a battered old book.

It's spine had long ago been ripped off, it's cover faded and bown and dirty. He could see no title and some of the frayed pages were moth eatened. some of the pages were stained and brown, and the front cover was hanging by threads to the other to stay on the book.

"What's this?" Ichigo asked curiously, watching Grimmjow carefully handle the book and put it in his hands. all at once, the book seemed to revive. the covers knit themselves back together, and cleaned themselves up. the page became less brittle, whiter. the gold writing displayed itself for him to see. 'The Ghost of Prince'. He dropped the book again, and in an instant, it was back to old and worthless. "what's wrong with it?"

Grimmjow snorted. "nothing's wrong. the demon prince is just throwing a tantrum. it's what he does." The vampire frowned. "he cast a spell on himself, and is making himself sick."

"is that bad?" he picked up the book again, and putting it down, watching the process it went through whenever he touched it. "what are we gonna do to fix it?"

Already regretting his words, Grimmjow took the book from him, hiding his shiver of disgust. "we're gonna see Aizen. i'm betting he foresaw this in that stupid crystal of his."

666777666

Aizen's shop, not at all hidden from normal humanity, stood on a front street, in desperate need of paint. the floor on the inside was covered with herbs and tea leaves and strange gaudy jeweled mugs, silver goblets and the customary black cauldren whose contains had been spilled in a sickening puddle that Ichigo desperately avoided.

Grimmjow was left at the door, unable to come into another person's house without permission. which was strange because Grimmjow always came into his house like he owned the place. even chatted with his father and verbally fought with Karin.

but in Aizen's presence, Grimmjow was quiet and reserved. he still bristled like a cat underneathe, and yelled in rage whenever Aizen touched him, but he was other wise very obediant.

Aizen made sure to press him self close to Grimmjow when looking over his shoulder at the book, and leaned right over him to inspect it. true, this could be considered sexual harassment, but Grimmjow's reactions were just too fun.

"i swear to the devil, if you stick your ass in my face one more time, i'll tear your fucking throat out!" Grimmjow hissed, an accent taking over his japanese as he became angrier.

"there there, Grimmjow-kun. now, go make us some tea." Grimmjow sighed, bowing his head and obeying. "use the blend in the blue tin."

"there are tons of blue tins!" Grimmjow shouted, but obediantly reached for the blue tin and boiled hot water.

while he was gone, Aizen turned on Ichigo with a gentle smirk. "i'm betting that you've forgotten about me, hmm?"

Ichigo shrugged, afraid the Aizen would suddenly treat him the way he treated Grimmjow. but it was pretty funny to watch. every touch of the wizard's hands made the vampire stiffen and hiss, careful eyes cast at the smiling brown haired man, who never stopped touching him for the entire half hour that they had been there.

"it is just as Grimmjow-kun says. and the prince has cast a spell connected directly to you. he is killing himself, very slowly, like an infection."

"How is this connected to me?" Ichigo asked, accepting the tea Grimmjow handed him and taking a sip. it was sweet. strange, but sweet. Grimmjow also took a sip carefully, sniffing the contents of the jeweled mug. he took another big gulp, and sputtered, coughing violently.

Aizen didn't answer, just watching as Grimmjow coughed and choked with a half smile. Grimmjow turned to him, his face gone slightly red.

"what the hell did you put in this?!" he yelled as best his could, his voice hoarse as his body tried to get the tea out of his system.

Aizen smiled. "Wolf's Bane and Cat Nip." he answered, carefully sipping his own mug of the poisonous concoction. Grimmjow's face went white. and a few moments of silence. the vampire gave a yell of rage.

"i'm allergic to that, you retard!" Aizen said nothing, and Grimmjow, finally unable to hold on any longer, fell unconcious.

"did you kill him?" Ichigo asked, taking another sip of the poison. Aizen laughed, and put his ear to his chest.

"unfortunately not. his corpse would have been an interesting thing to study. and now, back to our original topic." Aizen smiled again, placing his hand on Ichigo's shoulder in what was supposed to be a comforting way. Ichigo only flinched. "this is why i put Grimmjow to sleep for a little."

Ichigo wasn't quite sure he liked where the conversation was going, and took another sip of the warm liquid to calm himself. if Grimmjow would have objected, didn't that mean it was for his own safety?

"You'll need to do a ritual, in order to save the prince."

OWARI

nyomable! woot, lol. sigh. please point out mistakes to me! i went over this so many times, but i was doing it on word pad so yea...