Weeks past as Grimmjow continued to work long days and Ichigo was confined to the penthouse. Ichigo leaned over the stone brick railing. His mind was replaying the events of the night before.

"I don't need to sleep with you!" Grimmjow yelled. The fights where become the new normal. "I'm happy just being with you."

Ichigo took a step forward in an accusing motion. "Then why do you keep talking about all of the great sex the we used to have!" He crossed his arms over his chest. "I can't do that since him." The fight drawled on for hours. Grimmjow accusing Ichigo of comparing him to Kenpachi and Ichigo accusing Grimmjow about being a sex addict.

Fresh air was all Ichigo really wanted. He wanted to go down to the city below and stretch his legs a bit. He took a drag from his cigarette and looked back threw the glass doors at the large clock on the wall. Quarter after twelve. Grimmjow wouldn't be home for hours still. Deciding to just go the corner store and back, Ichigo felt a ping of excitement that he hadn't in a long time.

Down on the streets below Ichigo walked timidly. Now that he was doing it, he wasn't sure leaving was such a good idea. He felt like everyone was watching him. As if the Shinigami's eyes where everywhere. He quickly moved around the corner to see the small store now in eyesight. He paused a moment as something caught his eye.

A crystal jaguar, looking as it was challenging an opponent, gleamed in a collectables store that Ichigo had never notice before. He thought it would be a good present for Grimmjow if it wasn't to be sure give away that he had gone out. Grimmjow would have a cow.

To mesmerised by the shinny object, Ichigo failed to notice a large black Range Rover suddenly stop on the opposite side of the street and three men flood out. It wasn't until they were halfway across the four-lane street that Ichigo noticed them in the reflection of the window.

Not taking the time to look back and confirm what he was seeing, Ichigo took off running. The men shouted at him to stop but he could feel them on his heels as he turned down an alley. Two corners later he came face to face with a chain linked fence. Ichigo frantically looked for a way out but he couldn't climb with the barb wire crowning the top and there were no fire escapes.

The loud beating of feet hitting pavement stopped behind him. "Ichigo." The said man turned slowly to his procures. He had recognised all three of the men as soon as he had seen them on the street.

The one closest to him was a tall black-haired man with a line and sixty-nine tattoo on his face. Ichigo knew him as Shuhei Hisagi. He was a nice enough guy, or at least he had been back in high school. The man next to him was Izuru Kira. He was a little shorter that Shuusie and had blond hair that covered his eyes. Both men were fiercely loyal to the Shinigami and Ichigo knew there was no way to get them to let him go.

Behind them was Renji. He looked the exact same as the last time he had seen him. Suit and all. "You can't run Ichigo." He said taking a few steps forward, passing the other two."We just want to talk." Said Renji. His voice was calm. To calm for Ichigo's liking. He was tense as he watched the other bodies fall in. He was cornered with no where to go. "Just come with me and nothing bad will happen." Renji starred into the shorter man's eyes. "I promise."

Ichigo didn't see what choice he had. He understood that without a doubt he could go willingly or not. The end would turn out the same.

He nodded hesitantly and followed Renji back to the opening of the alley to where the SUV was still sitting idle in the street. The taller man held the passenger door opened and Ichigo tucked down to get in. Hisagi and Kira both got in the back.

"Are we going to Yamamoto-Sama's manor?" Ichigo asked as Renji started the car. He knew it was a slim hope, but he was hoping the answer was a no.

"It's only about twenty minutes from here." Renji was cool and collective. Not at all like the spitfire he once was. "I promise nothing is going to happen.' Renji repeated himself.

Ichigo wasn't sure if he trusted that was the truth. He knew that Renji thought it was the truth. He wasn't a liar. Ichigo would know. He dated the man for nine years. But whatever was to come the smaller man knew that it wouldn't be good. He had destroyed the plans of a muli-billion-dollar organizations plans by not staying to marry Zaraki Kenpachi.

For that. He knew he would pay.

"I don't think that promise is yours to make." Ichigo stated. Feeling small in the leather seat.

"Everything will go smoothly if we just set back into place. Before you disappeared." Renji said as he looked at the road. "You didn't do anything that's unfixable."

"I can't go back." Ichigo said after a moment. He hadn't thought Renji's plan involved him just giving up. "I can't go back to the way things were."

"I know they wanted you to marry Zaraki-Sama." Renji looked at Ichigo. "I don't blame you for running."

"Did you know, before you…"Ichigo trailed off.

"Proposed?" Renji finished. "I found out right before. I was going to ask you after your graduation. I couldn't take it when I went back to the hall and you and Grimmjow where sitting together. I always knew about the two of you but knowing I was going to be cut from your life completely, I freaked out."

Ichigo stared at his hands. He didn't have a clue that Renji had ever known about his affair, but it would explain why he always had gotten so possessive when the other man was around. "It doesn't matter anymore. I'm married now. What's in the past stays in the past."

Ichigo was a little shocked. "You got married?"

"Yeah. To Rukia." Technically Renji was Rukia's adoptive bother. Ew. "Where's expecting our daughter any day now."

They pulled up a long, gated driveway to a old style mansion. Renji and the other men got out. Kira pulled the door open for Ichigo, who reluctantly got out. Every fiber of his body was telling him to run but he knew he wouldn't get far. He was surrounded in enemy territory.

One inside they were greeted by a white hair man that Ichgo knew to be Sasakibe. Yamamoto's right hand. "We've been expecting you." He bowed. He turned to Renji and his friends. "You man leave now." The men left as ordered and Ichigo almost wanted to beg Renji to stay.

He was guided to a room in the back of the house. Sasakibe knocked on the door and left before the answer "Enter" came from behind the door. The thought of running accrued to Ichigo again before he slid the door open and entered with a bow.

Yamamoto sat cross legged facing the gardens. "It has been a while, Ichigo" he said, sipping his tea. "The Fullbringers almost had you in Clear Water but Kugo said a blue haired man took you." He paused a moment. "I wonder who that could have been?"

Ichigo remained silent, not moving a muscle.

"You owe the Shinigami a great debt." Yamamato continued. Never looking at Ichigo. Instead he squinted eyes where on a koi pond in the distance. "Now that you are back, you will complete the task of marrying Zaraki Kenpachi.

"No!" Ichigo almost shouted. "You can't make me to that!"

"I can and I will." Yamamato stood and turned to look at the much younger man. "This is the life you were sworn into by blood. Unless your family no longer wants to be a Shinigami?"

Very suddenly the door slammed open. Ichigo jumped and turned around to see that the very man that he had just been ordered to marry was standing in the doorway.

He leered down at Ichigo with a menacing smile. "I've missed you."