Room 606. Ichigo stood before the door nervous, it had been three years since she'd seen him. Ushio looked up at her, pulling at her bangs.
"Let's knock shall we," Ichigo suggested. She'd been through everything, had even been shot a couple of times while she was giving birth to Ushio. None of that was a daunting as this. She readied her fist, her hand hovering before the door. Ushio knocked for her, noticing her mothers hesitation. Panic threatened to take over, eyes wide at what her daughter had done but she shoved it down. He wouldn't recognise her. For a moment she thought he wasn't in but the door opened slow, inch by inch revealing the man she was looking for. He hadn't changed in three years, his grin just as feral if not more.
"Ya must be the chick Nnoi was yapping on about, don't seem dangerous. Come in," he said opening the door all the way, standing aside to let her in. Ichigo set Ushio on her feet the second they exited the hall. The girl running straight for the couch.
"She ain't gonna touch anything right?" He asked, eyeing her. It seemed he was no longer a painter, weapons adorned the walls of his new place.
"She knows not to touch anything she shouldn't. I thought you were a painter," she mused, plucking a switchblade of the wall, flipping out the blade.
"Impressive. My lover died a few years back, lost the will to paint. Gang boss now," he replied moving to the couch Ushio was perched on, stealing glances at the girl.
"Yer must be fucking nuts to bring her child to work with ya. So what are ya? Police, FBI, CIA, government agent, assassin, rival gang member?" He asked curious. She looked like a secretary or an office worker, he wouldn't have though her capable of anything till she played with the blade.
"Freelance. I do a bit of this and that, I'm not tied to anything but my daughter." She left it at that knowing it would fascinate him. He was about to ask her name when he noticed the girl staring at him intently.
"You have blue hair," she whispered eyes wide in awe. He smirked laughing, patting her on the head.
"Yep, just like you kiddo," he said. Ichigo watched the pair her heart in her mouth, she didn't know if he even liked kids or if Ushio would take to him.
"I'm Ushio-chan, mama's name is Suna. Today a birdie got stuck in my hair and I ran away from granny Yoruichi. She's not really my granny, she asked me to call her that. Sado-chan is her friend and he looks after me when mama's at work. But granny takes me lots of places and I've never seen someone with blue hair before. Mama held a lady at gun point today but she had green hair not blue and I meet a lady with white hair who was pregnant," she said, his hand in hers, shaking it to make sure he was listening. Ichigo stood there hand over her mouth to stop herself from giggling, Grimmjow cocked a brow staring at her.
"I'm Grimmjow but ya can call me Grimm." Ushio frowned, shaking her head madly before trying to pronounce his name. It took her a few tries but eventually she got it right. Spying a pen and paper on the desk ichigo snatched it up, passing it to her daughter.
"Mama has to talk about work now, why don't you show Grimmjow how beautiful your drawings are?" Ichigo asked, Ushio jumped down from the couch and took off running towards the dinning table. Ichigo perched herself on the coffee table, directly across from Grimmjow.
"Sorry about that, I'm Sunako Ichihara," she said, grinning at his expression. He largely resembled a fish, gasping, eyes wide. In the past three years the name Sunako Ichihara had become legendary, if you owned a gun you knew her name. Ichigo couldn't fathom why, she was only doing her job and all this was just to gain connections in order to take down Aizen. The rumours surrounding her were more interesting. Apparently she was almost 8ft tall and built like the hulk, one rumour said she was an alien, another a super human made in a lab. The only true rumour was that she had given birth to her daughter in Iraq in the middle of gun fire. She couldn't wait to rid herself of the name Sunako Ichihara and return to being Ichigo Shihōin. All she wanted was her family back and peace of mind. In order for that fantasy to become a reality Aizen had to die.
Grimmjow could not speak, his mind blank the only thing he could grasp was that the woman in front of him was the Sunako Ichihara. He had once told Nnoitra he'd give his right nut to meet her and there she was sitting on his coffee table.
"What is that ya want from me?" He asked, trying to keep calm, if he acted like a fan crazed school girl she would probably leave without a word. He could not wait to tell Nnoitra who this woman was.
"I need information on a man called Sōsuke Aizen."
Grimmjow stared at the woman across from him, why would anyone in their right mind want to know about that slime bucket.
"No, telling you about him would be like pulling the trigger myself." Ichigo scowled, pissed that he believed she couldn't take care of herself.
"Do not piss me off. I intend to kill that man but in order to do that I need to get close to him, so tell me how to do that or I will destroy you," she hissed. He leaned away from her, floored by the amount of anger in her voice. It made him wonder what Aizen had done to anger this woman. In truth she scared even him, he knew that if he denied her again she would make good on that threat. He sighed, letting his head fall onto the couch. There wasn't much he could tell, he hadn't seen Aizen in over two years. After Ichigo had died he wanted nothing to do with the asshat.
"I'm going to a charity auction this Friday night and my date bailed, come with me as my date. Aizen should be there, he has a thing for strong willed women with long red hair," he said, gritting his teeth, already regretting it. She grinned, writing down the date on her phone.
"Pick me up at 7, I'm sure you know where Chad's bar is?" She asked standing, patting down her pockets in search of a cigarette.
"Of course, best place in town to get a drink." He stood holding up a lighter, much to her surprise.
"You smoke?" She asked, three years ago he wasn't a smoker and she had figured it wouldn't have changed. He shook his head smiling, "I just know people who do." Ichigo managed to get through half the cigarette before she remembered she was meant to be quitting, dashing out the butt in a pot plant.
"Come on Ushio, mama got the information she needed," she called, the little girl bounding up to Grimmjow to give him her drawing before she grabbed her mothers hand. The drawing was of a sparrow, and for a two year olds work it was amazing. He snorted at himself, trying to remember the last time he had held a paint brush.
"It's really good kiddo, couldn't have done better myself," he remarked. Ruffling her hair, she pouted swatting his hand away.
"Next time it's your turn to draw, can you draw the cat bus from Totoro?" She asked, swinging on her mothers arm not willing to leave till she got her answer. Grimm looked up at Sunako confused, what the hell was a cat bus.
"Of course I can, I can draw anything," he boasted wondering what he was getting himself into. Ushio's face lit up at the answer, squirming in happiness. Ichigo picked her up, hand on her other hip.
"Better have that drawing done by the time you pick me up or you're dead Grimmy boy. No one disappoints my daughter."