17 Months
Chapter 17: Pieces of the Puzzle
Week 25
Watching Grimmjow's breakdown was the worst. It was scary how overly calm his demeanor became. Ichigo took pride in knowing how his blue-haired lover was feeling since he wore his heart on his sleeve, but at that moment he was unthinkably unreadable. Anger or sadness or madness even Ichigo was prepared to handle, but nothingness was a level he was entirely ill-equipped for. He wasn't sure if taking an angered response like he wanted to would trigger rejection of Grimmjow's gigai so all he could do is stand stunned and echo the silence. And then, he decided to try a gentle approach. He took it back, his touch being shrugged off was the most unbearable.
It's a good thing Urahara sensed the trepidation in the air. His analytical approach was effective enough to get the ex-Espada to open up and hearing what his blue-haired lover was keeping inside was shocking. As Grimmjow replayed all the times the sly stalker was near, Ichigo relived it too- the running trip dog-walker, the onsen smoker, and he also remembered one time Grimmjow didn't, the man Ichigo interrupted assaulting Grimmjow's old boss in the alleyway over two months ago.
So, this was all his own fault to begin with. That was the incident that triggered the anger against him, the act that begat threats to his friends and family and lover, and the act that caused a poor unsuspecting woman to lose her life for which Grimmjow is being framed.
He was prepared to open the door to divulge the extra information he possessed, but the next utterance made him stop. Damn. Ichigo wasn't prepared to have Grimmjow's confession hit him so hard. Salty water welled in his eyes uncontrollably. Grimmjow's choice in attire made it no easier to keep the tears at bay.
In that moment, Ichigo realized how deeply Grimmjow's...everything affected him. Always in the back of his mind, was the possibility of Grimmjow's departure from the human world, he just didn't comprehend the level of own feelings. He thought he could accept it, because if we really got down to the grit of it all, Ichigo wanted the same thing- he wanted to be more than human. The desire was ingrained in his soul and to be less than his desire was a harsh fate. But...Grimmjow made it easier. And if he wasn't going to have even that...
After he shut the bedroom door on his embittered lover, Ichigo resolved to take the task of confronting the angry stalker upon himself alone. He got everyone into this, he'll get everyone out. He just needed a bit of information to start off with and that came in the form of records he may be able to look up on the internet.
He wanted to leave quickly. He didn't want to be around Grimmjow when he transformed back into his Arrancar form. He couldn't be witness to that. Ichigo ran to the laundry room. Too bad it was only the kids' clothes in there, but he'd make due. He looked through the baskets, throwing on what he thought he could get away with as he ran home. Tessai interrupted him and tried to get him to wait for clothes that would be oversized instead of too small, but he didn't care, he wanted to be as far away from his problems as soon as possible.
Ichigo slipped on his running shoes without his socks, not bothering to even tie them, and ran out the door. He'd only gotten about half way home when he turned a corner and stopped in his tracks at the man standing at the end of a long corridor blocking the path.
"Hey, Ichigo! Long time no seeeeeeee! Gah! What the hell are you wearing?!" The absent red-haired Shinigami closed his eyes and threw his head to the side and questioned the scantily clad young man, "When you go gay, you go all the way, huh?"
"Fuck off asshole! I'm not wearing my own clothes! I just grabbed something quickly... Fuck! Why am I explaining myself to you! Get the hell out of my way, I have nothing to say to you!" Ichigo resumed his sprint and his old friend, Renji effortlessly sidestepped to block him.
"Dude, chill. I'm here to say...I didn't have a choice before; I wanted to see you. Soooooo, how ya been? Why you in such a hurry?"
"Ugh, mind your own business."
"Hmm, that means it's got something to do with the blue dude, doesn't it? What? You got into a tiff and ran off?"
"Fuck! Uh, something like that. Don't you have more important things to do than to fuckin' stick your nose in my affairs? You show your face after how many months and think you have the right to help me with my relationship issues?"
"What are friends for? C'mon. You can tell me. What has that big bad Arrancar done to you?" Renji sickly patronizes Ichigo with a terrible baby talk voice.
"Dick head. I'm not involving you in my situation. Kiss my ass."
"No. I don't swing that way. But, I do want to say, thank you!" The tall red headed Shinigami hugs Ichigo with such force, he feels his joints crack in his back, "Now that your batting for the other team, or is it catching? Hmm... Anyway, switching teams makes you a zero threat with Rukia. Thanks, buddy. I owe ya one."
Ichigo stands still, arms folded, stance rigid, scowling, "I never gave Rukia any impression I was interested in her and she certainly never gave me one. It takes, what, over 50 years for you to tell a girl how ya feel about her? You're an idiot."
"All part of my master plan. Now, tell your best buddy what's got ya so agitated? You can tell me, you can cry on my shoulder if ya have ta."
Renji rubbed Ichigo's middle back, letting his long gem colored hair fall over Ichigo's shoulder. What the hell?! Did Renji think because Ichigo was in a relationship with a man he all of a sudden wanted to be placated and touchy feely? Fuck him! Ichigo stayed with his arms folded across his chest, rolling his eyes at the stupidity this guy possessed. He couldn't say it wasn't unpleasant, having his fast friend back in the flesh and speaking to him, but there was a touch of hurt intermingled. Maybe he should lower his expectations of people in general.
Renji started a snickering, skeezy laugh, "Oh man! This is gonna be good. Just play along," Renji whispered the last part as he shifted one hand to the exposed part of Ichigo's back, drawing a small intake of breath from Ichigo. Oooh nooo! He wasn't gonna play his game, but it's kind of difficult to wiggle your way out of the grasp of a person immensely stronger than you. Yep, he was definitely using reiatsu to keep Ichigo still.
Ichigo was about to protest the grabbiness verbally but Renji spoke up first, acknowledging Grimmjow and his enraged state of being. Ichigo was let go, but he didn't want to turn around for fear of seeing, well, absolutely nothing. Renji very well could have been talking to Arrancar Grimmjow; it was not something Ichigo wanted to face.
Then, when he heard his lover's voice, all of his heart caught in his throat. He was angry and hurt still, so he wasn't ready to turn around, but he was secretly glad he was at least able to see his gorgeous companion, even if it was one last time. Yet, his stubbornness couldn't let up on the fact Grimmjow acted like a complete asshole, so he decided to give him exactly what he got, a cold shoulder.
It didn't last for long, though. At first, Ichigo tried to resist Grimmjow's pathetic attempt at explaining himself, but as soon as the proud man actually said the word "sorry" it took all the fight out of him. He listened to his honest apology and reasoning. He could empathize with experiencing the difficulty of limited strength. To Ichigo, not having Zangetsu was like loosing part of his limb, not having his reiatsu was akin to blindness and not being strong enough to protect the things he loves the way he used to feels like lying in a bed catatonic, hearing and seeing everything around you but unable to act. He decided the best thing for both of them was to let it all go and get back on the path they both obviously wanted to be on. That made Ichigo feel whole again.
As he accepted Grimmjow's deep and heated make-up kiss, Ichigo wanted nothing more than to express how much he needed to make the blue haired warrior his and his alone. He felt a sharp animalistic urge, one he hadn't felt since before his hollow left him, coursing through his skin. Ichigo wanted to throw his sexy beast of a man up against one of the walls of the usually deserted passthrough and show him exactly how the savior of soul society can reciprocate in the dominant role. Frankly, Ichigo has had a fantasy about ravishing his sexy lover on a loop in his brain for quite some time. Though, call it lack of experience or teenage jitters; he just hadn't gotten up enough courage to act upon his more assertive desires, he also wasn't sure how his beau would react. Rejection's a bitch at this age.
Just as he was about to throw caution to the wind, he remembered the one thing holding him back. Ichigo peeked one eye and was hit with an all too un-amusing sight. Renji was covering half his face, eyes dilated in morbid fascination as he absorbed the lust-filled reconciliation. Way to ruin a perfectly good opportunity. Thanks, Renji. Ichigo couldn't help his surfacing disappointment.
Ichigo had the urge to spill the beans about his eagerness to rule over his hot man's chiseled body when Grimmjow described what he wanted to do to him at the front door of the house. Man. He wished he could have been that bold, but he honestly didn't want to let Renji hear he hadn't 'had his turn' yet, so to speak. Not that he thought Renji was at all experienced in that way, considering his noble endeavor to agonizingly prolong the wooing of Rukia. He'd chalk his silence up to male pride.
Ichigo snaps out of his analyzing thoughts. Lifting his cowardly carcass from the door, Ichigo tramps his body up the stairs and into Karin's bedroom where she usually hoards the laptop, grabs it and slumps into his desk chair in his room. He plugs in the charger and flips open the lid, pushing the on button and waiting for it to boot. While he waits, he leans back and rocks on the squeaking hinges of his chair making an annoying repetitive sound.
"Geez, you just left the guy and you're already doing that? Have more respect for your body Ichigo. Boys and their hormones, bunch of morons..."
The deep alto wafts from his closet in a disgusted jab. Ichigo scrambles up from his chair and slams open the panel. The short, black-haired Shinigami is lounging on his extra futon wearing civilian attire, knees up with a pad of paper balancing on them and crayons strewn about the small space. Her violet eyes flick up for only half a moment at the stunned Ichigo before scoffing at his clothes and refocusing on her task in her lap. "You both are so loud, the way you two smack lips, like two freight trains bashing into each other over and over again. And all the squeaking noises coming from you! And my ears! My ears are bleeding from all of the filthy words slopping out of that cretin's mouth."
Ichigo shuts the sliding door with as much force as he opened it and flings himself onto his bed and covers his head with his pillow. Maybe she'll leave if he stays like this long enough, "Now I feel sorry for the guy. Poor sap and his fruitless endeavor to get with a frigid lunatic." Ichigo muffles in his pillow.
"Speak up, fool." Rukia grabs the fluffy covering and flings it to the foot of the bed, "I am here as a liaison for all of your friends back in Soul Society. Now, we would like to know just how far have you gone with that blue haired buffoon? Please respond by telling me to stop at the picture that best represents your level of intimacy so that I may assess how deeply you are involved."
She flips her pad of paper to the first page. It's got the letter A in the corner with a sad-eyed frowny face next to it. There's two crudely drawn cats kissing with their arms around each other, one blue and one orange. Oh, this was going to be amusing.
Ichigo sits up and folds his arms, scowling at the audacity but still humoring the girl even if it's just to get a rise out of her. He cocks his head and nods his chin to proceed onto the next grotesque doodle. B has an angry-eyebrow frowny followed by tongues and petting in the lower regions. Ichigo beckons with his hand to keep them coming, Rukia furiously flipping to C- surprised face hands on the cheeks, blue kitty going down on orange kitty (orange kitty looks strangely apprehensive). Ichigo can't help but snicker and motion for the next page turn. The openly incredulous violet eyed girl rips off the page to expose D- X-eyed tongue hanging out death emoji, maniacal blue kitty behind a bent over, crying in pain, orange one. Ichigo says, "Next!" Through hyperventilating tears of laughter.
"Next!? What the hell else is there, you damned idiot?"
Hahaha! Oh My God, this is so great! Ichigo inwardly comments. "You'd be surprised, I'm sure, Prudence. Are we done now? Have you established the fullest extent of our relationship? This is happening, you know, whether you like it or not. No. Fooling."
"Honestly, Ichigo. Your choice in men is appalling. Why can't you be with someone more respectable, like a Nii-sama type?"
"Um, your brother had a wife, your sister, I might add. You know what they say, 'The quiet ones are usually the freakiest-'"
"La la la la la la! I can't hear you! My brother would never be like that. Don't corrupt me with your perverted nonsense!"
"Rukia, I love him. He loves me. We are going to be together...forever hopefully...whether you all like it or not. Not you nor anyone else is going to change our minds or hearts. You all are just going to have to deal."
"Ichigo. This is serious. Do you know how much of an uproar you've caused?" Ichigo opens his mouth to rebut, but Rukia throws up her hand to stop him, "I know about the plans for transformation, Ukitake-taicho told me after the last meeting. But, what if it doesn't work? What if something happens to him and his soul is lost forever? Can you accept those consequences? You both seem to be trying to force something that wasn't meant to be."
Ichigo is very quiet. He never really thought about the process not working. But, it has to, right? Fate wasn't going to take away his happiness a second time. This was all going to work out, he needed to have faith and not deviate from the plan. The Shinigami were just scared of new ideas and change. Everything was going to be fine. There was one little snag left and he was going to take care of that.
Ichigo, stands up from his bed and slides back over to his desk chair and sits, pulling up to the now booted computer and starting his search, "If you don't mind, Rukia, I have a lot of work to do so if you could please excuse me."
"Ichigo... I'm saying these things because I care about you. Truly. I just don't want to see you get hurt. I don't care that you like men but, does it have to be an Arrancar?"
"Do you hear what you're saying? That's just as prejudice. You can't help who you love and I love him. Truly. So, thank you for your concern, but I'd much rather have your blessing and if you can't give me that, then we have nothing more to say to each other."
"You do! You do have my blessing, but you don't have very many others and you know I do not make the rules." Ichigo doesn't feel the need to comment. It's not like he heeded any rules when it came to rescuing Rukia. Whatever. He'll fight any negative decision to the end if need be. He starts typing in the local newspaper's website to start his search of the stalker. Maybe he can go back in the archives and check the police blotter for the day after and find out who got arrested. It was a start.
Ichigo doesn't turn around, "Thanks, Rukia. Now, if you don't mind, I have a lot of work to do. School just started up again and now that I'm helping out the baseball team, I hardly have time to do my homework."
"Hmm, suspicious. You weren't too concerned with homework before. What are you really doing?" She's already looking over his shoulder and reading the screen, "Who's Orochi Tsuji?"
"A bad guy. Um, I'm doing research for a paper, Rukia. Now that I'm just a human I have to concentrate on human things, don't I?" The guilt trip is uncalled for, but if it gets her to leave so he can finish his investigation, he'd risk it.
"Yeah, I get it." Rukia sounds a bit downtrodden, "I'll get out of your hair. Take care, friend."
"Yep, will do." He's just half listening as he peruses his google search of Orochi Tsuji- nothing other than the blotter. A Nori Tsuji, lawyer, comes up as top hits in Karakura, he may be linked. He turns around to make sure he is alone again, the coast seems clear. Ichigo writes down the address of the office where Nori Tsuji works and gets up to change his clothes into something more appropriate (the tight black shorts certainly chafed).
If that despicable man can blend in, then he can certainly try to be more covert. Too bad it's Sunday. He'll start his own stake out tomorrow, hopefully, after school and practice. The next biggest obstacle now is figuring out how to work around his friendly jailers, that's gonna be a tough one.
The next day, Ichigo went about setting up a series of convenient lies, telling each of his friends he would be going home with the other at various times of the day. He told each of them, he was leaving with the other to buy a present for Grimmjow and that it was top secret so if they blabbed it would spoil the surprise. Hopefully with a little luck, they wouldn't talk amongst themselves to keep the others from blabbing. Now, Grimmjow was the only one left to convince he was being looked after properly and not to bother coming after baseball practice to pick him up.
Thankfully, Ichigo got a call after classes as he was changing into his uniform. It was Grimmjow, telling him he would not be able to make it right after practice to pick him up.
"Don't worry, Grimm, my sisters and Dad want to go downtown for a bit of shopping. They're picking me up and we'll be out for a few hours, I'll have them drop me off at the shop after, okay?"
"Really? Man, I wish I could go out with you guys! I've only got a few more months of this apprenticeship. Since I'm doing so well, the boss wants me to stay late and learn more."
"That's great. I'm glad you're doing good and that you like it. Work hard, ok?"
"Thanks, babe. I love you. Hit them all out of the ballpark for me. See you tonight."
"Yep, love you too." Ichigo hangs up, feeling extra guilty about lying.
After practice, Ichigo showers quickly and puts on a pair of jeans, a dark blue t-shirt and blue slouchy hat. He doesn't have much in the form of covering up his hair so hats that cover his locks will have to do. He's going to stop off and buy more 'disguises' on the way back to Urahara's shop. He received his first payment from the team today, fifty-one thousand yen a week for six weeks of help, the first three weeks up front. The star player got injured their last game and if they still want a bid for this year's Summer Kōshein they would have to find someone equally as talented. Even though Ichigo helped out the kendo team, they weren't sure if Ichigo was the right man for the job of taking over pitcher and fourth at bat. After a little try out, he knocked five out of the first six pitches beyond the fence of their humble field and when they tried some fieldwork, they thought he would be most suited for the shortstop position since it's the most physically demanding. They all keenly decided he was worth the money and forked over the extra cash for Ichigo's time and effort.
While packing up his uniform, his messenger bag falls over, spilling the contents of papers and pencils inside. On top of his math quiz lay his substitute Shinigami badge. His highly prized talisman that performed powerful tasks now lay dormant atop an ordinary piece of paper. Yet, he could not part with the inert wooden carving. He still found himself absently carrying it with him almost everywhere he went. Grimmjow had commented on it once in passing when he groped his bottom and found it in his back pocket. He said he wished he had some reminder of who he was once, just to have something to prove that it actually happened. He picks up the badge and runs his thumb across the surface before he tucks it in his back pocket. He puts away his bags in his athletic locker and spins the lock shut.
It takes about 20 minutes to walk to the business district where Nori Tsuji's office resides. Ichigo was extra careful to make sure he was not watched or followed. Wouldn't that be a fantastic stroke of fate if the very man he was looking for was following him? He assumed Orochi was in the second stage of his master plan and did not have time to follow him around. It probably took a lot of effort to frame an innocent man.
Luckily, the office building Tsuji's office was in was across from a coffee shop. He could sit and stake out the place but he wasn't even sure if the man was there today or not. After a few minutes of standing around in the shop and watching the door, he overheard the end of a call behind the counter.
"Yes, Miss, that was four large mocha latés and one large vanilla, three blueberry scones and two lemon muffins...yes, room 525. Please give us fifteen minutes...thank you." The young man hung up the phone and called out the order to the barista.
So they delivered, perfect. Ichigo orders two large chai laté and two chocolate muffins to go and walks out of the door across the street. He walks in the building and reads the directory. The office is on the third floor of the small but expensive looking building. There's a security man at a podium guarding the elevators. The man looks more like a thug than a professional security guard. The gruff man looks Ichigo up and down before the handsome young ginger turns on that clumsy boyish charm of his.
He smiles brightly and scratches the back of his head. "Uh, third floor delivery?"
"Is that a question or fact?" The older, scary looking man with the scar over his left eye and long black slicked back hair messes with him.
"Oh! Fact, sir." Ichigo bounces on his heels waiting for a reply.
"You must be new. Where's your uniform apron?"
"Would you believe it? They ordered the wrong color! I just started tonight and I have to work without it!" Whew! Ichigo cringes internally, it's lucky he pulled that out of his ass without studdering.
"Move it along, no dawdling. I'm timing you, sonny."
"Sure thing, boss." Ichigo respectfully nods and strides quickly to the elevator, presses the third floor button and looks up like many do in an elevator. He's careful not to look like he's sweating, he noticed monitors behind the podium and is probably being watched.
The elevator opens on the third floor right across from the reception desk. The room is gleamingly bright and overly stark. A young brunette woman with a tight fitting but conservative, curve hugging pink dress with a peplum at the waist and black stiletto pumps sits behind a clear glass table. A large, expensive arrangement of flowers flanks her left and a large, expensive looking flat paneled computer is to her right. Her hair is done up in a tight long ponytail and she has an earpiece in that she answers calls with. Her eyes visibly widen and a dusting of pink that matches her dress covers the bridge of her nose and cheeks. If what Grimmjow says is true about how he'd have women eating out of his hands- ok, maybe he didn't put it quite that way- getting information out of this woman should be pretty easy.
Ichigo acts cool and walks over to the desk. He leans over slightly and smiles softly. He pretends he's flirting with Grimmjow and puts that teasing smolder in his eyes, "Delivery for your boss, Young Miss."
Her whole face flushes and the top of her breasts turns a shade to match. Is that what I look like when I blush?! Dammit! No wonder I'm the bottom! "Oh! That can't be. The boss doesn't come in till 9." So, he's a very late starter, hmm, who could his clients be? She clicks the earpiece, "Yoko-san, did anyone order," she looks up questioningly.
Ichigo leans in further and says in his hushed husky tenor, "Chai and muffins." The woman squirms- really?
"C-chai and muffins? No? Ok, thank you." She presses the button again, "I'm sorry, sir. You have the wrong floor maybe?"
"Awh, well I guess it was a happy accident." The woman smiles and nods slightly- geez! It feels weird flirting with anyone but Grimm. "So, when do you get off work? Wait? Do you have a boyfriend? You probably have a boyfriend. It's probably the boss, or the boss's son, am I right?" Gah! I'm gonna burn in hell!
"Who me? No. I don't have a boyfriend, " she lowers her silvery voice, "and I don't like the boss's, son. He's a bit scary to me. I-I don't get off till two am, though."
"Wow! Two? Your boss lets you leave at that ungodly hour? What if you get mugged or something? Do you work that late every night?"
"A service drops me off at home. The office is closed on weekends."
"Well, that's a relief. What kind of, uh, law firm is this?"
The woman shifts her eyes to the corner of the room, Ichigo follows, there's a camera pointed at both of them, "Um, for people who keep evening hours?" The girl looks clearly afraid to speak more on the matter.
"Hmm, Tsuji...Tsuji where have I heard that name before... Oh! Maybe it was my older brother, he went to school with a Tsuji. His first name was something, like, Ora... Ore...?" Ichigo scratches his chin in wondering.
"Orochi? That's the boss's son."
"Yeah! That's it! Wow! Small world, huh? Well, sorry to have inconvenienced you, take care. I have to figure out where I went wrong with this order." Ichigo bows apologetically and walks back to the elevator, waving flirtingly to the woman behind the desk. He presses the first floor button and the door shuts. Sheesh, glad that's over! Ichigo seriously wanted to go back and apologize for acting like a tease. Normally he wouldn't have stooped to dishonorable tactics, but he feels like he wouldn't have gotten anywhere otherwise. Too bad I couldn't figure out more to ask! This is not my forte. At least Ichigo knows the man is related to Orochi and he works very very late. He would have to figure out a way to follow any cars that picks up the man and that early in the am it would be almost impossible to remain hidden.
He gets back to the bottom floor and plays innocent with the security guard again, "Damn! Wrong building! Guess I'm not cut out to be a delivery boy." Ichigo shuffles quickly out of the building, heaving a big sigh around the corner and starts to walk back the way he came, giving an old man one of his latés and a couple of kids a muffin along the way.
He sips on the remaining chai and ponders to himself. Maybe he would have to wait for Orochi to visit his father, but he can't wait around tonight. He has to get back to Grimmjow before there's an all out search party for him. Ichigo thinks he has about a good hour and a half before his friends show up at Urahara's for training.
He walks a few blocks to the shopping district and starts to look for ways to hide himself that don't look glaringly obvious or weird. He finds a few hats that cover his hair and a few pairs of sunglasses. He looks in a shop that sells temporary hair dye and buys a bottle of dark brown, just in case. He doesn't want to resort to that if he doesn't have to. He inspects the wigs, but that just seems plain weird to him.
He strolls to the end of the street and in the window of a fashionable jewelry store, something catches his eye. He walks in the door to ask the sales person about the item. There's a feature that is so irresistible to Ichigo, he immediately purchases it and waits for it to be engraved. Writing what he wanted the inscription to say took a few back and forth moments and was so embarrassing, but there were was no laughing or poor remarks about what he chose. After twenty minutes, the salesman boxes the item smartly and Ichigo is on his way. It was a bit unnerving, making such an extravagant purchase, but the salesman was nice enough and didn't pry into why he was buying jewelry for a man, he even gave Ichigo a little wink as he said good bye, causing the young man to blush. Dammit! I gotta start controlling my emotions better! He hides the small box in one of the hats he bought.
As he walks towards the alleyway that leads to the front of Urahara's shop, Ichigo can't help but smile to himself. He thinks he did pretty good today, finding out the first piece of the puzzle on who Orochi Tsuji is and were he could potentially find him. He rounds the corner and looks up at the shop.
Immediately he hears a loud, "You!"
Grimmjow jumps off the porch and runs at Ichigo, tackling him and his full shopping bag to the ground with the force of a freight train, spilling the contents of said bag all over the place.
Guess the jig is up.
Ichigo would have said out loud if he didn't get the wind knocked out of him, that is.
