17 Months

Chapter 19: Two Sides of the Same Coin


Week 25

Oh yeah, he was caught. He was caught good. Sittin' at a table inside the coffee shop near the window, watchin' a building across the street in the wee hours of the morning, sippin' his chai latte in that ridiculous trapper hat and aviators. Grimmjow sits right down next to him and the Tricky Berry almost spits his drink out all over.

"Watcha doin'?" Grimmjow pounds his elbow on the table and cups his hand around his chin and stares inquisitively.

He did choke a bit as he tried to speak, "G- Grimm! Whha? I- I- I'm-"

"Think of a good one..."

"Uhhhhh, I like the Chai here?"

"That is a good one." The blue-haired man takes the cup from his nervous orangette and takes a sip, "It's good, but you make better."

"How did you-"

"Yer father called me. There was an emergency, he had to get up early and noticed you were gone. Called me and told me to check up on ya. He knew the vicinity...Your phone has GPS. Did ya know? Did ya think that anyone wouldn't be concerned with you? Now tell me what you're doin' here."

Ichigo breathes a heavy sigh and starts his explanation, "I know-" a dark sedan pulls in front of the building across the street and Ichigo turns his attention to it, "Shit! Well, there goes that!"

"What the hell are you talkin' about?" Grimmjow is pretty agitated at this point.

Ichigo gets up from the table, grabs Grimmjow's hand, leads him out of the coffee shop in the opposite direction the car left, and ducks down the alleyway. His sister's BMX bike is there. The front of it dressed in a large basket holding newspapers and a bag of newspapers that slings around the body is propped up against the wall.

"What the hell is going on here?! Did you get a job? Are you delivering newspapers? ...Wait..." Grimmjow rummages through some of the basket, "these are all different. They have different dates and pictures. You'd better start spillin'..."

"I know who the stalker guy is, Grimm." Grimmjow is taken aback. "His name is Orochi Tsuji. His father is a lawyer in that building. I've been trying to figure out where the dad lives and I came up with this plan to follow his car without looking suspicious. I thought if I could find out, I could stake out that place to see if the son visits him there, because he hasn't shown his face here in almost two weeks."

Grimmjow still stares at the secretive boy. Damn. He knew. He knew and he didn't say a word. Sure, Grimmjow tried to find the man, too. When Ichigo didn't stay over, he scoped out clubs and bars for the disguised douche every chance he got. He wasn't about to tell Ichigo that now, though. He got caught first, so he should face the music... Well, at least that's the logic Grimmjow is sticking to.

"I'm sorry, Grimm." The younger man can't even look Grimmjow in the eye. "I just didn't want to get you involved. This is all my fault."

"How in the hell is this your fault?"

"Because it was me who got this lunatic fixated. I stopped him from doing who-knows-what to your old boss in that alleyway, now he's determined to ruin my life. I'm not getting anyone else involved in this."

"It's THAT guy?! I let you beat him up, so it's as much my fault as it is yours! I cannot believe you! You and your damned sense of justice! It's fucked up! You know that?! You're supposed to tell us these things! Tell me! How are we ever gonna last if you think it's ok to keep secrets from me?

"I... I don't know." The sullen ginger still can't look up.

Grimmjow heaves a deep sigh, "Well, I gotta go back and get ready for work. You gotta go to school. We'll talk more about this when we get home tonight. You are to be outside, at the gate, ready for me to pick you up after practice." Grimmjow demands like an angry parent and digs in his pocket for his phone, pulls it out and dials. "Hi, Pops. Can you watch your son as he's getting home? I can't escort him, gotta test today...ok...yeah...everything's fine, we'll work it out tonight...sure, I can come for dinner...yep, see you later."

Grimmjow watches his silent partner through the whole phone conversation; he hasn't so much as shifted his feet from his stoic position. There's a slight trepidation in the air. The bluenette wonders what the hell he's supposed to do in this situation- should he hug him? Should he give some comforting words? But, as there's no one here to intermediate, all he can do is say, "See you later, Ichi." He turns and walks down the long way of the alley and turns right towards his home. He peers out of the corner of his eye. Ichigo is still standing there, not a muscle moved.


"Great job, Blue. Ya put that pallet down on target scary perfect." Isao Toshusai approved as he bumped fists with the ex-Espada.

Grimmjow's boss is a stocky, militaristic older man. Though only in his late forties, his hair is pure silvery white and spiked tall upon his head when he isn't wearing his hardhat. He usually wears a black crew with his business logo on the pocket, dark jeans, steel-toed work boots and a pair of worn, leather work gloves with the fingers cut off. He knows everything about construction the way Grimmjow knows about fighting and survival and he teaches by experience and practice.

Grimmjow passes his crane operation signal exam with flying colors. He walks back across the yellow line and unclips his safety harness. The apprenticeship class of eight stands to the side as the test is reset for the next student to perform the skills. They are at the job site of the newest high rise in downtown Karakura, not too far from this morning's scene. After practicing for several hours a day on ground level, today was the day they put their knowledge to the test and perform in a real life scenario seven stories high on an uncompleted building.

This corner of the site is exposed on two sides, unwalled, girders framing the box structure and open to the slightly chill wind. The two unfinished floors below and the perimeter of the floor they are on has temporary safety bars installed just above the waist except for the section they are in at the moment because it has to be free of obstructions for the crane. His boss goes above normal safety requirements, which means he pays employees a little less to cover the cost, but the cost of having your life saved was worth the slight pay cut. The only thing catching you from the accidental plummet to the construction yard below in this section is the safety rope attached to a steel beam above. Each employee and student wears a harness and attaches oneself to the rope with a carabiner before crossing the yellow line denoting the dangerous lack of fence.

Grimmjow stood with his hands in his pockets as he watched, with a displeased frown, his classmate Tsubasa Orio clip himself to the safety rope and tentatively walk to the starting position precariously close to the edge. Guiding the payload from the ground to the target meant you had to lean over and diligently watch and guide the crane constantly. When the cargo gets to the top, the crane operator puts his trust in the signalman to ensure proper placement because the operator on the ground cannot see.

It's not like Grimmjow didn't like Tsubasa Orio. As a person he was kind, a bit nerdy, and a lot uncoordinated. Knowledge wise, this kid was top notch. He could recite his workbooks verbatim and annoyingly always had his hand up first to answer any question the boss slung at them. But his practical skills were something far less desirable and he constantly made the blue-haired man cringe at his lack of common sense. The young, lanky man's reasons for wanting to become a construction worker were somewhat understandable. He came from a large somewhat poor family, poor because it was large. He had four younger siblings, the two youngest being twins. His mother died while birthing them and he had taken on the motherly role. Though he was smart, he missed out on a scholarship to university. Since school was out of the question, he wanted to help his father out the best way he could, not to mention his friends constantly teased him for his skinny, clumsy nature. He wanted to become stronger and wanted to put his excellent math skills to good use. Grimmjow told him to go be a cashier at a fancy department store instead, but that just made the kid even more determined. Over the past several weeks, the clumsy kid got a bit more muscular and a little less accident-prone. Grimmjow's thoughts made him smirk; the kid maybe could make it a few hundred years in Hueco Mundo...if he was part of a fracción. Maybe.

Grimmjow sighed and watched the nervous boy peer over the edge, take a deep breath and quiet his shaking. He mustered his wits and started his signals to the ground operator. Steadily, Orio brought the bundle up. The load came up over head and Orio signaled with a thumbs down for the crane operator to lower the boom which made the heavy, towering package of drywall, metal studs, and other supplies swing towards the platform where the drop zone was marked off for visual references.

The cargo was set slightly askew but passable and Tsubasa Orio was glad his test was over. Standing at the precipice of the platform with his back to the crane operator, the clumsy kid swiped his forehead of sweat and unclipped himself from his safety harness. At the end of his dramatic, "Whew," the young boy extended his arm to the side and gave a weary yet wide toothed, thumbs up. Unfortunately for Tsubasa Orio, "Thumbs up" was the signal for raising the boom of the crane. The cargo lifted from the platform and slid towards Tsubasa, the corner clipping his right leg, knocking him off the edge to start his free fall several stories to the ground.

Everything happened so fast, yet it all seemed to go in slow motion as Grimmjow's eyes went wide. He realized as soon as the boy brought his hand up to pre-maturely unclip himself from the safety harness, no good would come from this grave error. Even before the clumsy kid's thumb went up, Grimmjow instinctively started sprinting toward the boy as he exclaimed, "Damned Kid!" He said it so much, it sounded like his nickname. Other students tried to start calling him that as well, but Grimmjow's quick death stare and flash of his pearly white snarl stopped anyone else from picking on the boy.

Tsubasa Orio's shoes left the platform as Grimmjow was half way to him. The ex-Espada's mind briefly touched on the way he wasn't nearly as fast as he used to be. He almost feared he wouldn't make it to the kid on time and that got him wondering why he was sticking his neck out in the first place. He would not have given two shits if anyone were dumb enough to get themselves killed in front of him before. Even if his fracción were stupid enough to do something dangerous, like challenge a higher being without his consent, they were on their own. This human form was really doing a number on him, the blue-haired man thought exasperatedly, as his mind smartly blinked through ways to save this dumb-ass boy.

Grimmjow grabbed the safety chord just above the carabiner and whipped it once around his right wrist and forearm as he dove off the edge of the building toward the free falling boy. He reached out and grabbed on to the boy's wrist just as the safety rope was at the end of its slack. The rope had an elastic quality and bungeed a few more feet to take the load of impact from the two heavy bodies dangling from it. Grimmjow felt a snap of pain from his right shoulder at the end of the ropes downward motion. The chord started to lift back up and acted like a pendulum swinging the two young men back towards the building. When the Damned Kid's body got in a good position, he used the motion of the rope along with his own strength to swing them both through the opening between the floor below and it's safety fence. Grimmjow let go of the rope and both bodies hit the floor with a thud and a grunt. He looked over to the clumsy kid, who was passed out from the shock. He tried to lift himself up from the floor with both arms, but his right gave out from underneath him, shooting enormous pain down from his shoulder. He flipped himself onto his back and cupped his elbow to his stomach and stared up to the unfinished steel ceiling above him, wondering what in the living hell made him do what he just did. He heard people yelling and rushing toward him and the kid, yet Grimmjow was too caught up in his thoughts to respond to them.

"Holy shit. Ichi is gonna kick my ass." Was Grimmjow's response to 'are you okay?'. It made Grimm laugh out a little dementedly and his co-worker proclaimed to the others that he was alive now, but maybe not later after his fiancé finds out what happened.

"I told you I'm fine. Just wrap me up and send me home. I don't need to be observed." Grimmjow stated to the second doctor who came into his room at the Karakura Hospital.

The white haired man narrowed his blue eyes at Grimmjow and spoke to him very formally, "Mr.," he looked at his clipboard, "Jagerjaques. Are you saying that you are refusing further treatment from my facility? Let me remind you that if you sign this refusal form and you go home and fall into a coma from a concussion, my hospital is not liable for any injury sustained."

"Yes, yes. Not gonna blame ya fer anythin', now can I go?" The older authoritarian tsked the younger blue-haired male's response and set his clipboard down at the foot of the bed. He grabbed Grimmjow's wrist and his eyes opened as his fingers touched the dark metal bracelet on his left wrist.

"Seems you already are being observed." The man cut under his breath as he flipped Grimmjow's wrist over to take his pulse, "Why anyone should think you important enough to keep you around, hollow, is appalling."

Grimmjow gnarled his lips and snapped his good wrist away from the rude human being before him, wondering how this jerk of a man knows what he is.

"Have this...man sign the refusal of treatment papers and send him on his way." The asshole in the white coat turns without another glance toward the ex-Espada or his subordinate and walks out the door.

"Yes, Director Ishida." The other doctor complies.

"Ishida." Grimmjow comprehends. "Must run in the family."

Grimmjow signs the dismissal papers sloppily with his wrong hand and walks out of the hospital room with his arm in a sling, his shoulder joint relocated and supported for better healing. He reaches the waiting room and a hail of, "Hey!"-s and, "There he is!", come from a group of massive guys standing up from their chairs to pat him on the back and shake his good hand.

"You're a hero, Blue!"

"How the hell did you do that?! Are you a superhero or something?"

"Craziest thing I'll ever see in my lifetime!"

"Will you save me too, handsome?"

"Shut-up, assholes! Wasn't a big deal." Grimmjow snorts yet puffs his chest out a bit cockily as his classmates fawn. He flashes his bright smile to the crowd.

"Think you're hot shit, huh?!" Grimmjow's eyes snap up beyond the crowd and land on his boss with his arms folded across his chest and a none-too-pleased look on his face. But, the husky voice with the dark edge to it didn't come from him. It came from the person standing next to him, the man with the black boots, black acid washed jeans and black jacket with the hood pulled over his eyes and his fists clenched to the sides.

"Ichigo!" Grimmjow's voice rang a little higher pitched than he thought it should be.

"Oh snap!" Someone in the crowd whispers and another whistles like a bomb is dropping. Ichigo's head pops up and he flips his hood off his head, revealing his icy warriors glare.

"Nice knowin' ya, Blue." That came from a guy on his left, as he patted the bluenette sympathetically on the back.

"I thought the boss was scary. Until I met, 'The Boss.'" One of his classmates muttered loudly to another. The group of comrades backs away from the blue-haired man, leaving him utterly defenseless.

"Ichigo. Boss. Ichigo. I can explain. Ya see, it wasn't my fault. It was that Damned Kid! Oh, c'mon! You would have done the same thing in my place!"

Ichigo was a cold stone statue. Unflinching. Unwavering in his stare and stance. Grimmjow thought he had lost all ability to blink, too. It was reminiscent of the same way he acted this morning, but his aura was completely different. He wasn't sure if he should get ready to defend himself right then and there or not. The threat and craze shown in Ichigo's deep brown eyes spoke of insurmountable pain, yet they hinted that it wouldn't necessarily be physical, maybe emotional, maybe both. All he was sure of was that some line had been crossed and Ichigo was a millimeter from unleashing some beast from within.

Then, a piercing, "Bluuuuuue-sama!" Cut the tension and Grimmjow winced as he watched Ichigo's eyes cut to the hospital gowned kid bursting through the emergency room doors. The tall, lanky kid barreled into the back of his big blue savior. He hugged Grimmjow about the neck and rubbed his cheek against the back of his head, "You can't leave! You didn't even come to see how I was doing! Awhhhhhnnnn, Blue-sama: my hero. I'm indebted to you. My whole family wants to thank you! Please come to my room and meet with us for a while, uhhhhnnnnn!"

The long, black-haired boy clung to Grimmjow's back with red-faced fervor. Even though his head and cheek were bandaged, he certainly didn't seem to mind the extremely close contact. Grimmjow rolled his eyes and looked back at Ichigo. The orange-haired man's eyes squinted ever so slightly and his jaw went slightly slack and crooked in incredulity. Grimmjow's eyes crinkled and his face mimicked the look of a man who was completely bewildered and he shook his head as if to say 'I have no idea what is going on here right now!', the words just didn't seem to form coherently.

Ichigo's expression suddenly changed. He was smiling, but he wasn't smiling. His eyes closed and formed half-mooned lines and he sounded almost giddy as he cracked his knuckles and crooned in high-pitched mirth, "Time to go home Bluey-tan!"

The Damned Kid peeled himself from Grimmjow's back to look over at Ichigo. "I didn't know carrots could talk." He looked Ichigo up and down, scoffing haughtily under his breath.

Ichigo's full-toothed smile grew even wider, if you could believe that, as he made one pronounced, "tee hee," fall from his lips. The crazed young man took one step forward which made the bluenette side step to leave the Damned Kid defenseless. He for shit sure wasn't about to defend this dumb kid any further seeing as how he conveniently took the heat off of him for the time being. Before Ichigo could take another step, the emergency room doors burst open once again.

"Blue Onii-samaaaaaa!" A gaggle of children streamed through the air and latched on to Grimmjow. He jolted at the strange display and foreign contact.

"Thank you for saving our brother, Onii-sama!" One of the children cried, blurring his head against Grimmjow's thigh.

"We love you, Blue Onii-sama!" Another child exclaimed. Tears ran down his face as he hugged the man.

An older man with greying hair then came from the door. He prostrated himself in front of the ex-Espada, "Thank you so very much for saving my dim-witted boy, Mr. Jagerjaques-sama. My dearly departed wife thanks you too, I'm sure. May she rest in peace now knowing that my son won't be joining her. If there is anything that we could ever do for you, sir, please. Let us help you in any way that we can."

Grimmjow blushed slightly as he looked to the side, not knowing how to respond to any of this affection and praise. He just wanted to go home and face the beating-slash-scolding from his fiery fiancé. Now he was bombarded with way more attention than he was used to.

But, The Berry was proving trickier to read than he usually was as he knelt down on one knee by the older man and patted his back, "Sir, my friend here isn't used to all this attention. Knowing him so well, I'm sure your thanks is enough. A truly good man wouldn't need more than that, and you're in front of the best man I know, so..."

"Oh, yes. I see what you mean, young man." The thankful father got up and bowed long and deep to Grimmjow once again, "Ok, kids. Let's get back to the room. Your brother needs his rest. Tsubasa, get back in bed and let this kind gentleman be on his way." The father pushed open the emergency room doors and the young children all begrudgingly left Grimmjow with a unison "Hai" and followed their father.

Tsubasa Orio sighed longingly at Grimmjow, "Goodbye, my dear Blue-sama. If you ever get tired of eating carrots..." The tall young man turned his back to languidly stroll back to the emergency door, revealing the open-backed hospital gown with a full, bare ass swishing behind him. He glanced knowingly over his shoulder to Grimmjow, giving him a wink and looked to give Ichigo a smirk, but Ichigo already had his back turned, heading in the direction to leave the waiting room through the large emergency doors, his hood pulled back over his head and his hands in his hoodie pockets.

"No thanks, ya Damned Kid. I'm totally happy with what I got. Never gonna change." Grimmjow saluted to the kid and trailed after his Tricky Berry.

"Blue," a call from the side alerted him his boss was still there. He walked up to the militaristic man and stood silently, "what you did today was reckless. I'm glad you and the kid are ok, but I'm at a loss for how I should handle this."

The bluenette shrugged, "I understand. Do what ya need to do. If I could go back and make a different choice," the young man looked away and shrugged again, "...eh, who am I kiddin'. I do what I want and that's what I wanted to do."

The silver-haired man clasped Grimmjow's good shoulder and nodded, "Fair enough. Come by the trailer after you've rested a few days. See ya later, Blue." Grimmjow nodded, then, his boss marched to the emergency room doors, probably to chew out that Damned Kid.

Grimmjow looked back to the exit to find Ichigo waiting. His back still turned but his head dipped to the side, listening to the conversation covertly through his raised hood. He whipped his head back around and proceeded through the automatic doors into the early evening light.

The bluenette caught up to him as he turned to the left, "So... I'm the best man you know?" Grimmjow bumped his good shoulder with the slightly shorter male.

Ichigo stopped in his tracks, "Don't flatter yourself too much, you're also the stupidest man I know. It cancels out."

"Aw, Ichi. You say the nicest things."

"Grimm! I mean it! Don't you fuckin' push me right now! I'm so angry! And thankful! And hurt! And p- proud! And I was so worried! You! You make me a mess, you know!?

"Yep, I know. Just as much as you mess me up. Are we even now?"

Before the fiery warrior could protest the "evenness" of the situations, an ambulance came up from behind them quickly. It swerved and stopped meters in front of them. Nurses and doctors came out of the hospital's special ambulance entrance and the doors to the vehicle were opened by the driver and passenger scrambling to help. A gurney was pulled out by the people on the ground helped by paramedics in the ambulance. There was another paramedic on top of the gurney, straddling a lifeless body, giving heart compressions.

"Eighteen year old female, lacerations to her face and torso, left pneumothorax due to puncture, cardiac arrest in route. She's been down for 2 minutes. Conscious but incoherent on sight..." The crew wheeled the young girl into the building. Ichigo and Grimmjow stared at the spectacle. Both young men noticed the young girls hair was similar to Ichigo's sister, Yuzu, but neither admitted the observation aloud. When the path was clear, Ichigo continued the journey.

"I got the delivery van from Tessai to pick-"

Grimmjow interrupted Ichigo. "I don't know what the hell I was thinking. It was just... I knew I could save him, though, I don't know what possessed me to."

Ichigo didn't have a response. He got to the delivery van and pulled out the keys from his hoodie's pocket.

"Hey, I should drive home. Ya gotta couple more years 'til ya get yer license, don't ya?"

"Stop teasing, I know how to drive now. You know I know how to drive now." He unlocked the doors with the remote and they slid in.

"Yeah, but I'm surprised Tessai let ya have the keys. Why didn't he come?"

Ichigo shrugged, "I don't know, trust? He knew I wouldn't be a stupid, fuckin', daredevil idiot?"

"Ouch." Here comes the emotional scarring. "Let's talk about this at home. Ya need ta keep yer eyes and mind on tha road and not on me." Ichigo didn't respond, again. The silence was necessary, but a bit unnerving. He would wait for the rest of his verbal chew out until he got home.

Ten minutes later, the van was parked on the side of the store and both boys got out, Ichigo leading the way silently. Grimmjow walked through the door, watching all the eyes graze over the quiet redhead apprehensively then flashed over to Grimmjow with a muddle of concern and inquiry.

"Glad to see you still in one piece, my young ward." Urahara stated as he sipped his tea.

"Uhhh," The Big Guy turned to look at Ichigo but his back was turned, unable to discern his response, "good job." The oversized young man bumped fists with the ex-Espada.

"Grimmjow-san, it was wonderful of you to save that boy!" Hime got up from her spot at the table and stood closely in front of him, beaming brightly.

"Inoue, heal him." The girl's smile faltered. Surprised eyes looked over her shoulder to watch the back of the brooding ginger.

"But, umm..." She looked back to Grimmjow with apprehension. The girl usually never used her powers unless it was completely necessary or if the injured party directly asked her.

"I'm fine. It'll just heal in a few-"

"No. Heal him. I'll be waiting downstairs for you." The somber ex-Shinigami drifted out of the room towards the basement door that led to the training arena.

"I'm not going to heal him so you could just beat him up, Kurosaki-" she shouted after Ichigo.

"Nah, it's fine. We have scores to settle. Besides, he hasn't wanted to spar with me for a while now. I'm actually pretty happy," the blue-haired warrior's mouth spread into a fantastical smile, "I thought he'd never ask, well, demand. I like it when he's demanding." The girl blushed hotly at his innuendo as she started her healing process. Maybe she wasn't as naive as he thought.

"Firstly, I have not completed the research on that name you gave me this morning, Grimmjow. Seems to me like this man craves his anonymity. His father, on the other hand, is not someone one should take lightly. It is a good thing you prevented our dear boy downstairs from interacting with him further.

"Secondly, remember to mind the hot spring. If you fall in with your lack of reiatsu, your flesh will instantaneously melt from your bones," the older blonde states with a little too much enthusiasm. "And please, try to take it easy. If you damage each other too harshly, you will not be healed properly until Inoue-san arrives again tomorrow. That is, if she decides to not let you two suffer the consequences." The eccentric shop owner warns from behind his fan and the strawberry-blonde girl raises her chin and folds her arms proudly.

"Okay, okay. I got it. Now let's get this show on the road!" Grimmjow bounces once on the balls of his feet, rearing to get downstairs and face his pumped-up partner.