Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

Warning: Mentions of rape, violence, and language. I changed the rating to M for a reason. Be prepared for what happens in this chapter...

Enjoy!

"Aargh!!"Ichigo cried out in pain. About ten minutes had gone by and he was still crunched up the cold hard pavement, clutching his foot that still surged in horrid pain. Just mere moments ago, Grimmjow had stolen Ichigo's car and when the strawberry blonde tried to stop him, he could see Grimmjow smirk sadistically as he drove past Ichigo and run over his foot, twisting his ankle out of place and possibly even fracturing the bones underneath.

Ichigo could barely keep his tear-filled eyes open, let alone form any words articulate enough to call for help. Then again, his shrieks and screams should have been enough to get somebody's attention by now. He felt his face burning red and several small veins throbbing on his forehead, giving away just how much in pain he was.

"Oh my goodness!"

Ichigo thought he was hearing things, but he still partially opened his eyes. To his surprise and relief, he to a tall man standing on the curb. He had messy curly brown hair that reached down to his shoulders. He was wearing a yellow and orange striped polo shirt with a pair of khaki pants that were ripped from the knees down.

Ichigo breathed a small breath of relief when he saw the man rushing to his side.

"Wow, we need to get you to a hospital." The man stated, examining Ichigo's injury. The man very lightly brushed on his ankle, but Ichigo still winced in pain. "This looks bad. Really bad."

"My... car..." Ichigo mumbled slowly, trying to talk through the pain.

The curly haired man quickly looked around to see what cars in sight he was talking about. "Which car?"

"...He stole it..."

"Who? Look, just forget about the car. I'm calling 911." The curly haired man tried to carry Ichigo off the ground, but Ichigo batted his hands away.

"No! My car! Grimmjow stole it! He's after my family!" Ichigo shouted. Ichigo opened his eyes to se that the curly haired man's eyes grew wide in shock and slight fear as Grimmjow's name was called.

"D-Did you say Grimmjow? As in Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez?"

Ichigo slowly readjusted himself in a slightly more comfortable position on the ground; he turned to lay completely on his back and slowly sat up partially, wincing from the pain of his leg the whole time. "Do you know him?"

"Knowhim? Are you kidding?" the man replied in an incredoulous voice. "Grimmjow Jaegerjaques has been in and out of jail for child molestation for the past 2 years!"

Ichigo's eyes widened in shock as he hear the words that escaped from the man's mouth. "What... did... you just say?"

Ken'Ichi sat on the couch of the living room with his hands clasped together. He stared at the floor trying to understand what was really going on. He didn't understand the change in his father. Almost 2 hours ago, he had destroyed half the living room and ran off in a frustrated rage when all he, Tetsuya, and Rukia were trying to do was help him. Were things truly that bad with Ichigo? Had they all had been that insensitive towards Ichigo? But then again, what else were they supposed to do? Stand by and let their father destroy himself with drugs? Everything they had done, they did it for Ichigo. If being caring and concerned for his father was wrong, they damn sure didn't want to be right.

"Ken, don't blame yourself." Ken'Ichi looked up to see Rukia standing in front of him, half-smiling. "You guys didn't do anything wrong."

"You mean put pressure on him? Not taking into consideration how he felt? We never even tried to understand what he was going through. We put Grimmjow down the moment we met him."

"For pretty good reasons, Ken'Ichi! That guy's nothing but slime!"

"Still, I just wish..." Ken'Ichi shook his head slowly, giving up what he was about to say.

Rukia sat down next to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Wish what?"

"A part of me wished that... I never told Ichigo what happened... in the first. If I never opened my big mouth, none of this would have ever happened. Things went pretty much downhill from that day. Chad left,... we were miserable for months,... then we meet a guy who fools us into thinking he's good, but then gets my father hooked on cocaine and tries to turn him against us--"

"Ken, stop it." Rukia ordered, slightly nudging the boy's arm. Just the fact that he would blame himself for everything was too painful to watch and hear. "Everything you did, you did for your family. You can't blame yourself for your fathers' actions. Chad choseto cheat on Ichigo, and Ichigo chose to use cocaine. It was their choice. You and your brothers had nothing to with that."

Ken'Ichi stopped his speech, he'd already gained a slightly hysteric tone and buried his hands into the locks of his light brown hair. Rukia made him feel a little bit better, but he still couldn't accept what she was telling him. He still felt like all of this was because of him.

"I know it's tough right now, but if you--" Rukia was interrupted by the ringing of the telephone on the coffee table. "Hold that thought" Rukia said. She got up and walked over to the coffee table and answered the phone.

"Hello?" Although Ken'Ichi couldn't hear the voice of the person on the other end of the line, he became concerned when he saw Rukia's expression gradually turn become more shocked. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped, which she covered with her mouth. "...Oh my god! Okay, I'll tell him right now!" Rukia ran back to Ken'Ichi, who had gotten up from off the couch when he saw how her mood had changed for the worst.

"What is it?" Ken'Ichi asked.

"Minoru! Where's Minoru?"

"H-He called a while ago and told me that was walking back home." Rukia whispered a faint "oh god" under her breath, much to Ken'Ichi's confusion.

"Ken'Ichi, wake up Tetsuya. You have to find Minoru, now!"

"Wh-Why? what's going on?!"

Rukia and Ken'Ichi flew off down the stairs of the apartment, with Ken'Ichi holding Tetsuya in a baby carrier on his back, and his cell phone in his hand. "Hello, police? My brother's in danger. I don't know where he is. All I know is a man named Grimmjow Jaegerjaques is after him. Please hurry."

Brushing past the front entrance, Rukia, Ken'Ichi, and Tetsuya hopped into Rukia's grey-colored Toyota, pausing only to put and secure Tetsuya in the back seat in his baby seat. After adjusting the toddler, Ken'Ichi flipped open his cell phone once again and quickly dialed a number. After one ring, the person on the other end picked up and said "Hello?"

"Dad!"

"Ken'Ichi? Is everything okay?"

"Dad, where's Minoru?"

"He left a while ago. He said he was going back home. He hasn't come back yet?"

"No! Dad, Minoru's in danger!"

"What?!"

"I can't explain right now, but daddy's on his way to the hospital and Grimmjow is after Minoru!"

Not wasting another second, Rukia sped out of the parking lot and onto the highway. They had to rescue Minoru at all costs.

Minoru walked the dark streets of Boverne with his arms across his chest, shivering as he looked around. The sun had set a few minutes ago, being replaced with a dark sky devoid of the moon and the stars. The creepy looking scenery was also equipped with police sirens in the background. His thoughts wandered around his confrontation with Chad almost an hour back as well as his problems with the rest of his family. Although he was upset for how things were handled and how the family was torn apart in front of him, he didn't realize just how much of a toll it took on him. He never purposely tried to screw around in school and get in trouble, but after Chad left and they were all miserable, Minoru didn't know how to deal with it. He felt that school was a way to forget about his issues and even alleviate them a little bit.

Things had never looked grimmer than now. His connections with Ichigo, Chad, and Ken'Ichi had been weaker. Minoru had been fighting so hard to bring his family back together, he wasn't sure if it was even worth it anymore.

Minoeu looked around at the dark and barren streets of Boverne and sighed. Whenever coming from Chad's apartment, he always took the bus through Boverne. However, he missed the last bus and was forced to walk all the way back home. Minoru had only gone through here during the daytime and the place looked completely different at night. Most of the shops had already closed, and the street signs would only point to more vast stretches of dark and empty stores.

'Am I even going in the right direction?' Minoru thought as he stopped to look around. Each direction looked the same; a long line of dark streets with a string of closed stores. Tears threatened to spill from the young boy's eyes, but he deny them to fall. All he wanted was to go home and try and sleep on his warm bed in his comfortable room. He was tired of fighting, he was tired of always been caught in the middle of something. He was just fed up. All he wanted now was just to sleep.

Eventually, Minoru found himself across the street from the Boverne community park.

He sighed a breath of relief. "Not too far now." He then crossed the streets to cut through the park and head home. He had just barely gotten to the front of the entrance when he saw a pair of bright yet faint lights shine on him. Although he shielded his eyes from the near blinding light, he still saw spots. When the spots disappeared, Minoru's eyes took notice of the blue Toyota Camry that drove up slowly against the curb.

Minoru smiled as he sighed another breath of relief. "Daddy!" he started waving his hands to catch the car's attention. It apparently worked, as the Camry came to a stop and its parking lights turned off. Minoru slowly began to walk up to the car, completely oblivious as to who was really the driver.

"Daddy," Minoru shouted, slowly walking up to the car as he talked, "Look, I just wanna say I'm sorry. I'm sorry about everything I put you through. I've been really selfish and I never stopped to think how you felt about... well, what had happened. I know that I haven't been the most understanding or compassionate, but now all I wanna do is just try and sort things out. Even without dad. I love you daddy, and I'm sorry. Really, really sorry."

Minoru was just a few meters away from the car now. He peered his head to see inside, but even up close it was still too dark to see inside the car.

"Dad?" Minoru took a step forward and proceeded almost cautiously. The window car then lowered down a little bit, just enough for Minoru too see the silhouette of somebody's head, although it was still too dark to see actual face.

"Dad?" Minoru called out again. He didn't get a response.

Minoru groaned irritatedly and walked over to the other side of the car. "Dad, come on. Please say something." He was already at the driver's side when he saw another silhoutte. Only now that he got a slightly better look, it didn't look like Ichigo's profile. Despite this, he put it off as the dark playing tricks on him and got into the car and shut the car door behind him.

"Dad, let's go home." Minoru said with a smile.

"Bitch, we're not going home."

The hairs on Minoru's neck all stood up at once when her heard that cold and maniacal voice. It wasn't, it couldn't have been.

"Hello there." The shadow turned his around to reveal himself as Grimmjow, much to Minoru's horror. "What? Were you expecting your orange-haired mommy?"

Minoru sat literally frozen in fear at the teal-haired man sitting in front of him, grinning like a maniac. The young boy was too scared to even process any thoughts. Without a word or a thought, Minoru frantically unlocked the car door, swung it back open, and ran off into back into distance, much to Grimmjow's amusement. The teal-haired man simply smirked at the boy's futile attempt to escape and stepped out of the car.

Minoru ran as fast as he could. He he ran back to the intrance of the park and quickly scrambled up the fence. When he reached the top, however, he slipped at the top of the railing and fell into the shallow mud below. Not even registering the brown mud stains that partially covered him, Minoru resumed his getaway, not even looking back to see if the teal-haired man was following him. He could feel his stamina giving way and his breaths becoming short and jagged, but he didn't stop, although he may have slowed down.

Eventually Minoru's decreasing stamina couldn't be ignored any longer and he nearly collapsed at a tree. He cletched his chest with one hand and covered his mouth with the other, not wanting his loud breathing to be heard. He looked behind him only to see a dark stretchs of an empty park. No footseps, no shadows, nothing but him.

Minoru's thoughts began to process back into his head now that he was catching his breath. It didn't seem real. He felt like he was in a horror movie and he didn't know how it was going to end. How did Grimmjow steal Ichigo's car? Where was Ichigo? Did something happen to him? Did anybody even know where he was or if Grimmjow stole his father's car? So many questions and anxiety running through his head, he failed to notice the large figure from behind him. But by the time he did feel another presence hovering in front of him, it was already too late. Grimmjow threw himself at Minoru and pinned him to the ground by almost crushing both of Minoru's wrists. Minoru opened his mouth to scream, but a cold, strong hand covering his mouth took the opportunity away from him

"No..." Minoru shouted under Grimmjow's hand. "Please don't...!"

"I don't care what you want, faggot!" Grimmjow screamed, sitting up on Minoru's lap to take off his jacket. "Do you know what I want? Huh?"

Minoru could feel tears brimming in the corner of his eyes when he watched the insane green eyes of the man sat was on top of him; he already knew what was about to happen to him, the bulge in the man's dark jeans was proof.

No. He couldn't let this happen. It was in him to give up. He began a new and violent attempt of struggling but Grimmjow responded by his fist slamming into Minoru's stomach, causing him to spit up blood.

"Get-get off me..." Minoru could barely mumble the words out of his blood-filled mouth. His whole body was quivering and shaking; it wasn't because of the cold night-air that hit his body or the wet and cold grass that harassed his skin or the thought at what was going to happen to him and how weak he actually was under his father's hold. It just Grimmjow: the green, insane eyes that were full of lust and insanity, mercilessly staring him down into the wet and dirty ground.

Minoru tried to once again wiggle out of Grimmjow's grasp, whose pants were now unbuttoned. When he noticed Grimmjow's legs spread to climb back on top of him again, Minoru saw the opening and kicked the man hard in his crotch. Grimmjow grunted in pain as he let go of Minoru to grab onto his private area. Frantically and quickly scrambling up to his wobbling feet, Minoru tried to run away from Grimmjow who was still clenching his crotch. But the man quickly recovered when he noticed Minoru scrambling away from him and took chase. He pushed his body forward just in time to grab Minoru's ankle, sending the boy flying into the cold, wet grass. Grimmjow crawled on top of Minoru's back, grabbing the boy's shirt by the collar before riping it into two.

"You are pretty, aren't you?" Grimmjow lustfully smirked. "Almost girl pretty."

Sirens were wailing as three police cars raced through the streets of Boverne, trying to find any suspicious behavior that may have had something to do with the attack of an 11-year old boy. They soon took notice of a certain blue car that had been abandoned in front of the local park with the lower driver's side door wide open.

"Blue Toyota Camry!" A police officer shouted. "That's the car. They're here!"

"I'll cut them off from this end!" Another officer shouted. "You two get them from the other side!"

The other officers nodded in response. While the other two cars drove on to get to the other side, the other cop car stopped in next to the abandoned car and two police officers made their way into the park.

Minoru was dragged by his hair back onto his feet, only for Grimmjow to slam his face back unto the ground. The boy was now naked and badly bruised all over with with his pants and boxers being the only barrier left. Grimmjow climbed back on top of the boy and then threw a series of slaps and punches on the boy's face. Minoru tried to fight back, but to no avail. He had already been beaten and sexually assualted and was far too weak now to even try. Grimmjow was just too strong.

"Please..." Minoru hoarsely whispered, but Grimmjow wouldn't listen.

"Hello! Is anyone there?!" A faint voice replied.

Using all the strength he could gather, Minoru screamed at the very top of his lungs. "HEEEEEEEELP!" Minoru screamed so loudly his voice cracked.

"Minoru!! Where are you?!!"

"DAAAA--" Grimmjow's hand covered his mouth, but he finally managed to lay a punch to the teal haired man in the eye, making him see a flood of stars. Using this opportunity, Minoru scrambled onto his feet and limped to where he heard the voices calling out to him.

"DAD!!"

"Minoru!" the boy's heart wept when he saw Chad and jumped onto him, grabbing and hugging him tightly as the 11-year old sobbed onto his father's shoulder.

"Hold it! Stay right there!" A police officer screamed as he ran up to catch Grimmjow. Grimmjow tried to run, but the officer grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him to against a tree with his hand on Grimmjow's neck. "You make a move, I'm gonna break your neck. Clear?"

Minoru sobbed hysterically as he held onto his father even tighter. Chad looked on in disbelief as he looked at his son's naked, battered and bloodied body.

"It's okay. It's okay. It's alright. You're gonna be just fine. It's alright. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere, okay? You're alright. You're gonna be okay." Chad whispered comfortingly. Chad could feel his son nodded into his shoulder as he began to cry even harder.

Chad sat in a chair at a nearby waiting room, holding his jaw with his hand. His head was hung low so that his soft brown hair hid his red and puffy eyes from view.

"Sado-san?" A police officer walked up to him.

Chad stood up and wiped his eyes. "So, where is he?"

"We found the creep that did this to your son. He's being held without bond until his trial begins in a couple of months. He's a repeat offender of child molestation. This time they think they can finally nail him for good." The police officer replied, tipping his hat to Chad before he left. Chad small elated breath when he felt a small dainty hand on his arm. He looked around to see that it was Rukia standing next to him.

"So he's going to prison?" Rukia asked.

"Oh yeah." Chad sighed. Although this was good news to him, it was still completely overshadowed by the bigger situation at hand. Minoru, an 11-year old boy, had been sexually assualted by a man in his thirties. A man who had been let into his home. A man who had eaten from his refrigerator. A man who had slept in his bed, with his lover.

Ichigo sat upright in his hospital bed petting the hair on Minoru's head, whose head was lying on his father's stomach. Both were in hospital gowns and were injured. Ichigo's foot sat elevated with a pillow underneath it for support while Minoru had bandages covering the cuts and bruises in his face and hands. The 11-year old eyes were still red and puffy from earlier, but that didn't stop new tears from slowly filling his eyes.

"The first time it happened was when, um, when you, Ken and Tets had left the house one night, he came in through the spare key under the welcome mat." Minoru's voice was barely above a whisper as he stood completely still.

"I never told him about that." Ichigo whispered. Tears were slowly beginning to feel his eyes, but he nonetheless continued to listen attentively to his son.

"When I asked him what he wanted, he had said that it was more like... 'who' he wanted." Ichigo's jaw quivered as he sat frozen with comprehension as he began to recognize the truth about his relationship with Grimmjow. "He grabbed me, threw on the floor, and told me not to tell you. He even took a knife and-- and cut me."

Ichigo closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he gathered the strength to listen to his son, although he felt tears now dangling from his eyes.

"When he found me by the park, he chased me,... ripped my clothes off,.. pulled my pants down,... and he... made me--" Minoru had then completely broke down and sobbed, too horrified to continue to talk. Tears now fell freely from Ichigo's eyes and stained his disgusted and regretted face as he finally realized the truth about that man.

"Why didn't you tell me? I would've believed you, you must've known that."

"I--I guess a part of me really wanted you to be happy again, even if that meant Grimmjow still being in the picture. I just thought that we wouldn't talk about it anymore and that if he left, you would think it... was my fault..." Minoru broke down and sobbed once again, until he felt a pair of arms pull him up and embrace him in a warm hug.

"I would never think it was your fault." Ichigo sobbed, holding his son even tighter with each word he said. "I would never think that."

"I'm so sorry daddy. For everything I put you through."

"I'm sorry, son. I'm sorry."

Both men silently cried in each other's arms throughout that night not because they were said, but because they had found comfort in each other, their strained bond fully replenishing the entire time.

"To start, I want to appluad Minoru for being brave enough to share his story." therapist Retsu Unohona said as she looked over at Minoru and smiled. "The healing process isn't easy, but with all of you working together as a family, this is an important first step."

Minoru half smiled and nodded at Unohona's statement in agreement. He looked to his left and saw his fathers, Ichigo and Chad, sitting right next to him on the large black couch. He looked to his right and saw his brothers, Ken'Ichi and Tetsuya, on his right. Ken'Ichi stared off in silence, apparently trying to comprehend the entire situation. He then looked over to Minoru with regret in his eyes.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention to you and... I wouldn't let you tell me."

"...I thought that you were ashamed of me." Minoru replied softly.

"I didn't protect you."

Minoru smiled sympathetically. "We're just kids."

"Still..."

Ken'Ichi felt his younger brother's hand clasp into his. "You're here now. That's all that matters."

Ken'Ichi sniffled and let out an elated breath, tightening the grip on his brother's hand. "Yeah, you're right."

Minoru smiled at his older brother one more time before he turned his view back over to Unohona. "I think I'm ready now." Minoru looked over to Ichigo and clasped his hand as well. Ichigo smiled and tightened his grip as well. "We all are."

Alright, the story is still far from over! It's more like the end of the Grimmjow storyline, so Ken'Ichi's relationship with Toshiro and Loly will be the main focus for the remaining chapters. PLEASE PLEASE R&R and the next chapter will be up soon!

Hints at next week's chapter:

-One birthday,

-Two secrets,

-Three big surprises!