Sanity and In Between
Edited: 5-28
Chapter Fourteen
Turning Corners
After Sajin left, Ichigo collapsed into the chair and promptly fell asleep in front of the TV with the small brown dog in his lap. It was barely after four, and both Nel and Grimmjow took notice of the fact that he seemed exhausted most of the time these days. He was supposed to head into Las Noches tonight around six, Grimmjow knew, so he left him in the chair and headed into the kitchen to help Nel with dinner. He wondered if Ichigo would wake up to eat. He had also noted that he was eating less, and getting sick more often. He was seriously debating just letting him sleep and calling Shinji to say he wouldn't be in tonight.
Shiro swaggered in and flopped onto the stool with Edrad beside him looking rather serious.
"What's up?" he asked in the middle of chopping green onions as Nel cooked beef strips behind him.
"I'm worried," Edrad said. "I'm not seeing much chatter, at least not as much as I'd like."
Grimmjow shook his head. "Still got Shawlong on that other kid, Rin? And Di Roy on Ggio?" he asked, handing the bowl of chopped onion to his sister.
"Yeah, but there's some rumors going around that the Yakuza might be involved," Shiro said with a sigh. "The INTERPOL office has been hopping with news that several people on the watch list are moving lately. They wouldn't really mess with the Yakuzu, would they?"
Grimmjow shook his head and sighed. "Why not? These assholes have used every gang, mob and mafia from here to Germany, why would the Yakuza be left out?"
Nel came over. "I don't understand what you mean, they use gangs? How do they do that?"
Shiro sighed. "They help these gangs, mobsters, crooks, whatever, for free. Then they need 'small' favors which include stalking their victims. Somewhere along the way, they've done favors for Yakuza people. And now they're calling them back in. Like the break in at his dad's place. That wasn't them; that was someone else, which is why we can't connect them to it."
Nel nodded. "Wow, they're organized…" she began, but was interrupted by a volley of barking and a thump from the living room. Grimmjow put up a hand and went in quietly to see what the issue was.
Ichigo had apparently fallen out of the chair when the dog barked. Chairo was on his hind legs at the nearby window barking at something. Ichigo was sitting on the floor blinking sleepily. Grimmjow moved in quietly and looked behind the curtains and Chairo moved to sit by his foot and looked up at him and panted.
"What'd ya see, boy?" he asked. Chairo just looked at him.
Grimmjow straightened up after a few minutes, having seen nothing outside and jumped because Wonderweiss was standing behind him. He reached down and picked up Chairo and disappeared back up the stairs with him. The sounds of his music came back down the stairs again. Grimmjow looked at Ichigo who was still sitting where he fell.
"You okay?" Grimmjow asked.
Ichigo shook his head and blinked at Grimmjow. Okay, he had to have been half asleep. There was obviously no one out there, but he swore he saw someone looking through the curtain. What was the dog barking at, though? He stood up and sighed.
"I'm going to lay down upstairs for a while before I have to get ready," he said, heading up the stairs.
"You aren't going to eat?" Grimmjow asked him.
Ichigo didn't answer, just disappeared into the bedroom. Less than five minutes later he came running down the stairs after slamming the bedroom door. Grimmjow looked up as he stopped in the doorway to the kitchen with eyes wide as saucers.
"Ichigo?" Grimmjow asked, frowning and standing up.
"Either I've completely lost it, or there's a fucking tarantula in the bedroom on my futon," he said quietly.
Grimmjow glanced at Shiro and both took off up the stairs. Shiro opened the door carefully, looked in and shut it. Grimmjow looked at him with a questioning look. He shook his head and took off back downstairs. Grimmjow rolled his eyes and opened the door to see a huge bright blue spider sitting right in the middle of the futon. He blinked and closed the door before opening it again and seeing that said spider had not disappeared. He went down the stairs and looked at his sister.
"Do you have a box?" he asked.
She looked at him. "Are you telling me there is a tarantula in my house?"
"Yup. Gimme a box. It's a cobalt," he said as she came back with a mid-sized box.
Grimmjow headed up the stairs again to find it was still in the same spot. He knew a thing or two about tarantulas. Hanataro had a couple when they were in high school together. He also knew that this one was one that was often a bit more aggressive, so he wasn't going to take a chance. He quickly dumped the box over the top of him and scooped him up with the lid. He didn't take off, so obviously he came from a pet shop. He took the box downstairs and noted that Shiro took a large step back away from it. He looked at the albino.
"Don't like spiders?" he asked.
Shiro shook his head. "No, keep that fuckin' thing away from me, man, I'll squish it."
Grimmjow shook his head. Wonderweiss came in with the dog in his arms to see what the fuss was about. Grimmjow grinned at him.
"Want another pet?" he asked.
Nel's eyes went wide. "No, no way, Grimmy!"
Grimmjow smirked. "Hush, now, Nel, these things cost a fuckin' arm and a leg in the pet store, we're not just dumping it out the front door. Here, bud, look," he said, opening the box. Wonderweiss stared into the box and looked up at Grimmjow.
"The cobalt blue tarantula, Haplopelma lividum. Native to Myanmar and Thailand. Often kept as pets. Where did this come from?" he asked, looking up at Grimmjow.
Grimmjow shrugged. "Dunno, found it in the bedroom. Want him?"
Wonderweiss nodded. "Sure. I would need appropriate housing."
"Keep him in the box tonight, I'll take you after school tomorrow to pick up an aquarium set up," Grimmjow said with a grin.
Nel glared at him as Wonderweiss disappeared with the box in one arm and the dog in the other. Grimmjow shrugged. "What?"
Ichigo shivered and went back upstairs and was ready to leave in moments. Slightly freaked out, he wanted out of the house. The night passed in a blur and before long he was back sitting in his room on the futon and waiting to get sleepy. It was a long time before he fell asleep. It didn't help that the automatic sensor light outside his window kept flipping on after it got dark. Every time he went to look, there wasn't anyone or anything there.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
Isshin was getting ready for his first real date with Rangiku. Sure, they'd been on a double date, but tonight they were going to an Italian film festival featuring Roberto Begnini's films together. They'd opted to have dinner at a small, out of the way diner that served a variety of foods. He thought it would be fun, and unlike most the women he'd asked to go to one of these film festivals with, she seemed excited. He hated that most the women he'd dated in his time thought they were boring and hard to follow. They weren't at all. He adjusted his jacket and headed for the door.
"Oi, goat face, going out?" Karin yelled from the sofa.
"Yes, I am going on a date with Matsumoto, dutiful daughter," he said with a smile at her.
"Whatever, don't come home drunk. I'm not helping your dumb ass to bed," she said, going back to her game on the TV.
Isshin smiled and headed out the door to meet Rangiku when his phone rang in his pocket. He blinked and stared at it for a while. It was someone he hadn't been expecting to call him.
"Kurosaki," he answered tentatively.
"Yo, hey, so I got some information or you," came the rough voice on the other end.
Isshin's breath caught. Tetsuzaemon Iba was a man Isshin had grown up with, and a man he'd fixed up under the radar on more than one occasion. He was also one of the few people he knew to ever successfully leave the Yakuza and live.
"So, there's this rumor that these two sadistic fuckers showed up in town and are calling in favors left and right. Found out one of those favors was breaking into your house and the clinic," he said.
Isshin had expected as much. "Yeah, no surprise there," he said solemnly. The person that had done it had been professional, he knew that much. "They're after my son, some sort of serial killers."
There was a pause. "I heard they only went after fairy boys who dress like girls…oh…oh. Sorry about that man, I didn't know…"
"Yeah, well, it doesn't matter to me if he's gay. But the point is I need you to give me a heads up when they're in motion if you can. I've seen what they've done to their other victims. I don't want my son dead. And you owe me," Isshin said as the cab pulled up and he handed a slip with Rangiku's address over to the driver.
"You got it man. This a hot number for you?" Iba asked.
"It is. Leave a message, or text me if you want, this is my mobile," Isshin said.
"Got it, Isshin. I'll do what I can," Iba said and the line went dead.
Isshin rubbed his forehead. This day couldn't get any more complicated. He looked up as they stopped outside Rangiku's place. She came out wearing a nice red dress. He smiled. Maybe he could forget about his son being stalked for a few hours. She slid in the other side of the car and smiled.
"Isshin, I'm looking forward to this!" she said with a grin. "No one ever wants to go to the foreign films with me."
He smiled. "Well, I have a soft spot for them myself," Isshin said as they headed to the festival.
Several hours later, they entered a moderately sized restaurant and sat down and talked for hours it seemed like over the festival. They each had a good meal and both felt very glad they had taken the time off to spend together.
"You know, I haven't had this much fun with a woman in years," Isshin said as he sipped his wine. They'd shared a desert of fried ice cream, a treat that he rarely indulged in. He leaned back and smiled at her.
"Yeah, you've got to be the first man I've gone out with that hasn't tried to get me in bed after the first date," she said with a smile.
Isshin shook his head. "I'm too old for that."
She quirked an eyebrow and grinned. "Too old for the one night stand or too old for getting in bed with me?"
He returned her smirk. "Too old for one night stands."
She nodded. "Glad to hear it. There's so much hate and hurt in the world, its nice to just enjoy someone for once without worrying about how long it takes for him to turn into a jerk."
Isshin smiled at her and shrugged. "I guess I'm just a gentleman."
The rest of the night passed with gentle smiles and subtle touches, and a gentle kiss at Rangiku's doorway. Isshin hadn't felt this alive since he lost Masaki.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
Tuesday was a bright day as the Kurosaki twins came into class. They glanced up to the front to see a substitute teacher was sitting there looking over notes and the big roll screen had been pulled down. They heard the distinct whir of the projector already being on. Movie day, they each though and smiled at each other. First, Monday was no school for a teacher work day, and now Tuesday was a movie day. That meant Wonderweiss would get to stay in class with them, Jinta and Lillinette. Karin would be sure to tease Yuzu later about being in the dark with her girlfriend.
"Yo," Jinta said, surprising Karin as he came up behind her.
"Teme!" she countered and smacked him on the shoulder. "Don't do that!"
"Damn, woman, don't hit me!" Jinta said with a frown, rubbing his shoulder. "I was just telling my favorite girl hi."
It took a minute but Karin blushed a bit. She had been flirting with him pretty shamelessly lately, so it was no wonder he was turning it around on her. They were dating, she guessed. "Yeah, well, look, movie day. Let's take up the back corner," she said, gesturing to the desks in the back. They looked up as Wonderweiss came in with Lillinette. He smiled at them as he sat down.
"I have two pets now," he said with a smile.
Karin frowned. "Wait, I knew about the dog, what else?"
He looked very pleased as he pulled out his phone and showed them a picture of the cobalt tarantula. "This is Azura. Ichigo found him on his bed Friday night."
Karin and Yuzu looked at him. "What? Ichi-nii found that on his bed? How'd it get there? He's on the second floor!"
Wonderweiss looked at the phone. "Yeah. I guess someone put it there."
Karin and Yuzu exchanged glances. The girls didn't quite know everything about what was happening with their brother, but they did know that this was not good if someone was putting giant damned spiders where he slept.
"Good morning, class! I'm Tai-sensei and today I'll be watching the class and putting in movies. Your regular teacher is sick. So, sit back, and after the first movie, we'll have a break before we start the next. First we have an old movie, but probably one of my favorites, Romeo and Juliet as the modern version. I know in your literature class you've been studying the story, so we'll watch this and then a slightly different adaptation after we break!" she said cheerily and played the first movie.
At break, they headed to grab cans of juice and returned to sit down to see that the movie coming up was Gnomeo and Juliet. That was when Karin and Yuzu noticed the wide eyed stare that Wonderweiss was giving the opening credits. His hands were shaking a bit and he'd gone a bit paler than normal.
Karin leaned over. "Hey, what's wrong?"
Wonderweiss swallowed. "I don't like gnomes. They're scary… When I was little, my birth parents used to tell me they came alive and ate bad kids, and since I was bad, they'd come eat me. I logically know that this is not possible, of course. However, it has not dissuaded my fear of them."
Yuzu came and pulled her desk a bit closer and took one of his hands and Karin did the same n the other side and took the other. "Hey, just watch this movie, and then you'll see a few things, and we'll stay here. Let us know if you have to leave though," Karin said softly to him.
Wonderweiss gulped and nodded. He felt incredibly brave and proud of himself as he watched the movie. At the end he looked at his two friends and smiled.
"There are good and bad of everything," he said.
Karin and Yuzu grinned at each other than gave the boy a big hug. It was lunchtime and they headed out to eat their boxed lunches. A few minutes later, one of their friendly neighborhood bullies came up to them. Karin raised a brow and looked at him. It was Ryu.
"Hey, look, I…um…I just wanted to say I'm sorry for all that stuff we said before. I thought what your brother did Friday was pretty cool. I guess I didn't realize how many different types of people there were, I just thought there were girls and boys, and anything else was weird. And I was wrong," he said with a sigh. "I…I can't change the way my brother and his friends treated you and your brother, but I guess I can change the way I treat everyone."
The group sat in stunned silence. Karin smiled. "Thanks, Ryu. You can't imagine how much that means to hear."
As he walked away the twins exchanged smiles. They were still getting rude gestures from Kenamaru and the rest of that group, but maybe they had changed one person's mind. Maybe, just maybe, that change would take, and the world would be a little bit better.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
Luppi wandered through his apartment getting stuff together for the night. He smiled at the lump still sleeping under the covers on his bed. Ever since the other night at Las Noches, when Rin had come in and tried so hard to be brave, Luppi had let him stay at his place. At first, he'd slept in the recliner, but after the first night when that odd explosion tore him to wakefulness, he'd found his rest beside Luppi.
It had been weird; a sudden loud blast had woken both Luppi and Rin up with a start. Rin had fallen right out of the chair into the floor and promptly began to have a full blown panic attack. Luppi had rushed into the living room and calmed him down, wrapping him up tightly and rocking him as his heart raced. Rin had clung to him and eventually Luppi had managed to get him into the bedroom and he fell asleep against him and finally got the first decent rest he'd had in more than a week. The next morning on the news, it turned out there had been an explosion in a nearby all night café's restroom. Someone had put some sort of explosive down a toilet and it ignited some of the sewer gases. Luckily, no one was badly injured, but the reporter commented on extremely high incidence rate of petty arsons and random seeming explosions throughout Karakura Town.
Rin was a student so he didn't work, and was avoiding phone calls from his parents who wanted him to come to their ryokan and stay for a while. Rin knew himself best, though, and Luppi supported him in that. He knew that to heal he couldn't hide. But it helped a lot to have someone there beside him.
To be honest, Rin didn't feel safe alone at all. He knew that one of those bounty hunters was following him and making sure he was safe, but he was scared in the dark often. Now, though, he had Luppi to help him and that made the world of difference.
"Rin, honey, wake up, it's almost time to head to the club," Luppi said softly as he shook the other man awake. Rin sat up and stretched.
"Okay, Luppi, can I borrow some clothes again?" he said, looking over and realizing he'd emptied his suitcase already.
"Sure, honey, there's some girly stuff or some more manly stuff in there, take whatever you want," Luppi said, patting him on the back as he went into the bathroom to shower and change into his own outfit.
Luppi emerged from his bathroom wearing a pair of blue jeans and a Black Sabbath t-shirt with some combat boots. He saw that Rin had gotten out a pair of his old jeans and a plain t-shirt. He had his own boots, so he didn't need to borrow any of Luppi's massive selection of both male and female shoes. He smiled at the other man and reached out his hand.
"Come on, honey," he said with a smile.
Rin blushed and nodded, taking his hand. He felt the slight jolt through his body that touching someone he was really attracted to gave him. It was strange; he thought he would find it much harder to be attracted to someone after what had happened… He shook it away. Luppi hadn't made a move one on him since taking him to the back room at Las Noches. In hindsight, going in a backroom with a stranger wasn't the best idea. However, it had turned out for the best. Luppi had held his hand while he cried and told him about what that awful man had done to him, and he said he had come in thinking that maybe he could talk to the other guy he was after, just to warn him or something.
Rin sighed and felt Luppi squeeze his hand. "What's wrong, honey?" he asked as he looked over.
Rin shook his head. "I don't know, I'm just…thinking."
Luppi patted him on the hand. "We'll see about talking to Ichigo tonight. He's been really off the last few nights, so it might be a good idea. He's in the bathroom all the time throwing up and he looks like he's lost ten pounds. I heard Uryuu say he had to take in some of his clothes the other night. I'm thinking he definitely needs some support these days."
Rin nodded. "So, what exactly is it? Grimmjow just said he was being stalked by that guy that attacked me…"
Luppi nodded. "I don't think everyone's supposed to know everything that's happening, but you know how it is. We're a family, and Ichigo's problem is the worst kept secret around. Nah, these bastards are sadistic assholes that seemed to have decided that Ichigo is their target. He's been getting weird phone calls and strange texts, and threatened by random people. It is quite a mess…" he said as they headed back to get dressed. Rin sat beside the change room and waited until he came out in his outfit for the night. He was actually going on with Ichigo tonight, a skit where they were cheerleaders and a couple of the drag kings were playing jocks.
Luppi took Rin out front and waved at Grimmjow who was sitting near the stage with a permanently etched frown these days. He nodded. "Here, sit with Grimmy, and you'll get a good view. I'll come down when I'm done," Luppi said, giving him a wan smile. It was one of those times when he had a strange feeling in his gut. Something wasn't right.
He almost ran into Ichigo waiting at the back of the curtain. They were in matching cheerleader outfits along with Findorr and Szayel who were background characters for the skit. Tatsuki and Illfordt were playing the male characters.
"Hey Ichi, what's going on?" he asked with a smile.
Ichigo shook his head. "Not much, just a little tired."
"Not sleeping well?" Luppi asked, a bit concerned.
"Ah, just one of the outside lights keeps coming on. It's a motion sensor, and no one else seems to notice it. Well, except the dog. And he gets in trouble for barking at nothing," he said with a sigh as they got the signal to come out.
Luppi had to admit, as depressed as he seemed before he went on stage, he was a good actor on stage, falling into the part of the ditzy cheerleader with Luppi. They were actually having a good time until a glass exploded on the stage right beside Ichigo's foot, making him jump as several shards cut into his calf. They both looked up and despite the glare from the stage lights; it was obvious that there was a guy standing up that had thrown it. Luppi looked out.
"What the fuck?" he said, frowning at whomever it was. All they could see from the stage was a dim outline.
"The fuck is this shit?" came the slightly inebriated voice from the crowd. "Come here to see tits and ass, not some fucking faggot in a skirt."
Ichigo frowned and glanced at Luppi. It wasn't the first time that someone had done something like this at a drag show. More than one person didn't understand that there were two groups, and one was a drag troupe. "Fuckin' fairy ass bastard," he yelled, and Luppi saw figures approaching him, no doubt to eject him from the club. "What the fuck good are you, with your loud orange hair and slutty clothes? Fuckin' cock suckin' bitch that like ta take it up the ass instead of giving it like a fuckin' man. But he likes that, don't worry, little whore. Pansy ass wimp who watches his mother die…"
Luppi saw the stiffness overtake the man beside him and heard the intake of breath. He knew he hadn't misheard the drunk's last nearly muttered words. Did the guy know Ichigo? By now, Hiyori had come out and he was fighting her. It didn't take much to see that she gave him more than a little in return. They couldn't call the police when she was done with him, because he could have put her in jail. Instead, they tossed his ass out the door after searching him.
While Hiyori dealt with the heckler, Ichigo had run into the back and was in the process of hyperventilating. Findorr and Luppi were hot on his heels, unsure exactly what the hell had just happened. They found him sitting on the floor with his head buried in his knees sobbing, breaths heaving. Findorr and Luppi both were on either side of him in a moment, looking up as both Rin and Grimmjow had come to the back along with Shinji.
"Ichigo, don't let it get to you," Luppi said. "That fucker was just a drunk bastard."
Ichigo shook his head. "He knew about…about it…about her…no one…no one knows that I let her die…" he said, looking up at Luppi with tearful eyes.
Luppi shook her head. "What do you mean, you let her die? What do you mean?"
Ichigo swallowed and squeezed his eyes shut. "I'm losing my mind," he whispered.
"You aren't losing your mind, Ichi-baby, come on, what's going on? Did you know that guy?" Luppi said, rubbing his back as he spoke. Findorr likewise had taken to rubbing his shoulders.
"I watched my mom die," he said softly, lifting his head up and staring into space. "I should have saved her. I could have. I knew how to take down a man that size…but he shot her, and I…I ran, jumping into the river and screaming, and then they were pulling me out of the freezing water and she was dead already…I could have done something…"
Rin and Luppi exchanged a glance. "Ichi-babe, how old were you?"
"Nine," he said softly. "But he was right, I just let it happen! I'm useless!"
Luppi grabbed him in a bone-crushing hug, which considering he was a lot bigger than Luppi was an accomplishment. "Shut up, baka," he said softly. "You are letting this get to you; he's some stupid bastard with a problem telling the difference between a show with cocks and pussies."
Findorr stood up and left Luppi with him and went over to Grimmjow. "Grimm, what exactly is happening?"
Grimmjow shook his head. "Hiyori pulled this off the guy before she tossed him out on his ear," he said, handing Findorr a printed email. It gave a time, date, and the request to "berate", with a few facts listed, including that Ichigo had watched his mother die.
"So this is those stalkers?" he asked, looking at him. "The ones that have been messing with him?"
Grimmjow nodded. "He gets texts, emails, all kinds of shit. I try to intercept it, but they're damned disturbing. We can't track them at all."
"I might have someone that can put a crimp in their style," Findorr said with a grin at the blue haired bounty hunter. "At least temporarily, since they apparently use a computer. Do you think they have one or do you think they use internet cafes?" Findorr asked.
"No idea, but I can't imagine them loitering for long in internet cafes, too easy to get caught, I'd think," Grimmjow said with a shrug.
Findorr smiled and nodded, heading away from the back and pulling out his cell. He thumbed down the contacts and came to someone he hadn't talked to in a while. Choe Neng Poww was a dear friend, and one of the best hackers he'd ever met. Of course, Choe didn't want that fact advertised. Perhaps he could throw some of his technological know-how into helping Ichigo and his situation.