AUTHOR: Gabby0214

TITLESurprise! Chapter 27
RATING: M/ NC 17
PAIRING: RenIchi and other pairings

WARNING: Language, Sexual Innuendo, Boy Sex, Yaoi, OOC
SUMMARY: Ichigo's 20th Surprise Birthday, Opening Old Wounds

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach, wish I did! All persons written in my stories are above the age of 18. This is a fan fiction based on fictional characters that have grown older, and are of legal age. Ichigo in this story is 20.
ADDITIONALINFORMATIION: Karin in this story is 18, I know she would not be 18, but please understand I added her to the story after already coming up with Ichigo's age. What can I say Writer's Liberties, I guess.

BETA BY: Vindictivefreak

Surprise

Chapter Twenty-seven

"Anyone?" Questioned Renji out loud with a quivering voice.

Ichigo let out an enraged scream upon hearing the red head's response, and ferociously spun around to face him. Slashing Zangetsu through the air as he abruptly turned, Ichigo pointed the tip of his blade at the now completely frozen shinigami in front of him. "God damn it, Ren! You have no right to sound hurt, ya know. Especially, when I'm stating the fuckin truth. I do trust, well did, hell I don't know what to think right now, but I trusted GrimmJow more than anyone cause he was here for me! He stood by my side in the war, but more than that he was there for me after IT. Where the fuck were you, huh?!" Ichigo spat at his boyfriend in anger and hurt. "Fuckin A, I didn't want to do this, Ren." he said under his breath and looked away.

Ichigo lowered his zanpakutou, resting the edge of the blade on the ground. He followed the movement of his blade with his eyes and stared blankly down at Zangetsu while everyone else around him gaped at him in shock at what he just said to Renji. Ichigo had practically accused Renji of abandoning him. They all rotated their heads in observation to the wide eyed Shinigami Taichou, who was standing there in just as much shock as them, if not more. The silence that hung in the air was deafening.

The group waited for Renji to say something, anything that would ease the tension, but before they heard from the Taichou, Ichigo in a muffled voice broke the all consuming quiet. Pain, hurt, resentment, anger, and sorrow raced through Ichigo's mind. He tried taking long, deep breaths to get control over his chaotic emotions, but he knew that it was of little use. The door had been opened, and now he had he had no way of closing it. He had to step through, or he couldn't move on; move on with his relationship with Renji, his friendship with GrimmJow, move on with his life. Everything was gonna come out, and he didn't want to fight it anymore. "Ya left me… ya, left me with your tail stuck between your legs!" He yelled the last part at the man in front of him as he lifted his head to met Renji's eyes. Anguish was written all over his face.

It all began to pour out of him. "You all did! Ya used me, and left me to deal with all of it on my own." He stopped focusing on just Renji as he swung his head to the other two Shinigami and continued, "I was what?! Sixteen, and fought a god damn bloody fuckin war. The things I did, the things I saw, the people I lost…I couldn't protect. The…," His voice cracked, as he finished the rest of the sentence, "people I killed." Ichigo's head hung low to the ground in sorrowful contemplation. "Killed," he reemphasized softly saying just that one word again as he looked back to them. "And then when it was all over, I got a slap on the back and praise, 'Ya did good, boy.' Boy, that was ironic, huh? I was just a boy after all, but did you guys care? Did you give a shit that you had completely stolen what innocence I had left?! No, ya just wanted to win, ya didn't care who you used. Who ya hurt!" Ichigo's body was literally shaking with the pent up emotions flowing out of him causing Zangetsu to slightly vibrate with his quivering motions even though it rested partially on the ground. "The memories will never go away, they're always right there. Right below the surface every time I close my eyes, I see them!" He shouted as his eyes slammed shut, his face was squelched in torment. "The blood, the screams, the smell of burnt flesh, and … and …his damn eyes."

GrimmJow unexpectedly stepped forward and rested his hand on top of the Ichigo's shaking grasp, startling the substitute shinigami. Ichigo turned his head facing the vaizard. "Grimm," was all that came out in a dishearten whisper. GrimmJow didn't say anything back, but gave him a small grin in encouragement. As he was about to step away from Ichigo, he saw a sudden movement out of the corner of his eye. Then the next thing he knew he was on thrown onto the ground while Renji lashed, "Don't cha funkin touch him!"

GrimmJow's Point of View

GrimmJow listened on as Ichigo finally began to reveal all that he had held back from everyone, but him. He knew that this needed to come out into the open, even though he realized he wouldn't be the only one Ichigo would rely upon from now on. It hurt a little knowing that he would have to share Ichigo, but Ichigo wasn't the only one who had to let go of things. So did he, he had to let go of this thing that was between him and Ichigo. He didn't know what to call it, but it was still there. It had initially brought them both closer together, but now it was tearing them apart. He would do anything he could to be with Ichigo, to be by his side. Ichigo had changed him, Ichigo gave him a second chance, and if that meant he had to set Ichigo free from this nameless bond that had been formed, so be it.

It reminded him of that night he had to lie to his best friend about his sexuality. Actually he never really lied to him, but omitted the truth. GrimmJow had misled Ichigo because he didn't want to lose his friendship with Ichigo. It was just that plain and simple. Yes, he was attracted to the male sex, but also to the female sex too. It wasn't what was on the outside that mattered to him, but what was on the inside. Maybe it was from him being a hollow, but he thought it was stupid how humans classified their sexual orientations. Who really gave a fuck, who and what ya favored as long as both were them were adult, consensual parties. GrimmJow started to recall that night silently to himself.

Flashback

It was the one year anniversary of Renji and Rukia's returning to Soul Society. He had already been out drinking, getting an early start waiting for his friend to get out of his college classes for the evening. GrimmJow already had a really good buzz going when he realized that he had lost track of the time, and that Ichigo had been out of class for a few hours. He decided in his inebriated state that he better go and see how his friend was handling everything.

He smirked to himself as he recalled his thought at the time, (His Friend! How fuckin funny was that, huh, him and Ichigo being friends? Not only friends, but best friends at that! Who would have predicted that a few years ago?!) He remembered chuckling to himself at the time he thought that, making him smile once again. His smile quickly disappeared from his face when he began to recall the next part of the eventful evening.

GrimmJow had realized that Ichigo was probably not dealing well with the anniversary since after the war they had become a lot closer to each other an opened up to each other. They both were dealing with a lot of the same issues. They had discovered their similarities together in their long talks about how they felt about the war, and about how they felt about the one's who went away. GrimmJow was very thankful for Ichigo being there for him since he was just learning how to handle these newborn feelings that he had since he had changed from being an Arrancar to a Vaizard.

When Grimm had arrived at Ichigo's new apartment above the bar he had recently started working at, he didn't bother to knock at the closed door. He just walked into the apartment, and was literally frozen in place. He was transfixed by the sight he had walked in on. He knew that Ichigo wasn't gonna be in a bad way, but nothing had prepared him for what he saw in front of him. Ichigo was sitting in the middle of the floor with an empty sake bottle lying off to his side while he watched Ichigo slug back another one at the moment.

That wasn't all that surprising since he just had been doing the same before he had made his way over. What shocked him was Ichigo's appearance. Ichigo was sitting crossed legged shirtless with his zanpakutou resting over his lap. The blood coated blade was still dripping onto Ichigo's drenched jean covered lap and onto the floor joining the huge pool of blood that Ichigo was surrounded by. He sprinted over to his friend screaming, 'Ichigo!' and pulled him up off the ground. He ran his hands over the his friend's crimson covered body exploring it for the hidden wound or wounds that had caused the horrific scene in front of him.

Ichigo jerked out of his dazed state, drunkenly laughed at his friend, 'Oh, Grimm, I didn't know ya felt that way.' Grimm tried to ignore him and continued his search for the undiscovered injuries by ripping off Ichigo's jeans seeking desperately to find the source of the grisly spectacle. Ichigo didn't help by making suggestive and perverted comments and impassioned sounds as GrimmJow's hands roamed over his body. It also didn't help matters that he noticed Ichigo was defiantly enjoying the examination causing his own body to become aroused. After a rather exhaustive and thorough exploration of the Ichigo's ensanguined form, he didn't find a single cut, slash, or mark that would account for the blood that was spilled around them.

He stepped back from Ichigo's stimulated figure, 'Damn it, Ichi, what the hell happened here?'

Ichigo didn't answer him. Instead Ichigo grabbed him yanking his body flush against him, and savagely kissed him. Then all he could remember was the touch of heated skin, the moisture of impassioned lips, and the sounds of lustful cries. Until he felt a hand on his harden erection. Pulling himself out of the passionate haze, he realized what was happening. This was wrong, wrong for so many reasons. Ichigo didn't love him like that. Ichigo loved Renji, and he loved Rukia. They were lonely and depressed, not to mention really wasted. Also there was the fact of what the hell had happened with Ichigo before he arrived. He couldn't let this go any farther. GrimmJow yanked himself from Ichigo's grasp. 'Ichigo, we gotta stop. This isn't right.'

'Nani, but why?' Ichigo stumbled still caught in the overly stimulated sensations swirling through his body.

'Cause, Ichi, I, uhh, this is wrong.' GrimmJow murmured as he ran his hand through his hair looking away from the naked man.

Ichigo stared at GrimmJow blinking his eyes rapidly as if he was trying to get his mind to restart, suddenly expelled, 'Oh, I get it! That's right, you're not into men.'

'Well, I…' GrimmJow was suddenly cut off by Ichigo.

'Huh, don't sweat it' Laughed a nervous Ichigo. 'I understand,' Ichigo continued while he waved his arm haphazardly in the air, staggering his way over to get his clothes. He knelt down, picking up his torn pants. 'Huh,' he sputtered looking at them in confusion.

'Here , let me get you some pants.' GrimmJow stated crossing over to Ichigo closet and grabbing a pair.

Ichigo glanced over at his half naked friend, 'Gomen, Grimm.'

Grimm throw them at Ichigo who didn't catch them in time, pants hitting his face. 'Gahh, Grimm! What the hell?' He snapped.

GrimmJow laughed at him in response, causing the earlier tension to fade away.

Ichigo bent over to retrieve the pants off of the floor in front of him almost falling on his face in the process. While standing back up looked at GrimmJow and slurred, 'It's a damn shame, though.'

'Nani?' Grimm responded watching Ichigo make his way to the bathroom.

Ichigo looked back over his shoulder opening the door and smirked, 'Oh, nuttin just that you're really damn sexy!" With a wink and left a gaping GrimmJow in his wake, and closed the door behind him as he sniggered at the vaizard flabbergasted expression.

GrimmJow stood there in stupefaction, stilling trying to gather his jumbled thoughts. Too much had happened in the short amount of time to grasp it all, especially when he was wasted. Besides the obvious interaction between the two of them, he had to figure out what had happened with Ichigo. But how should he go about it…

When he was torn out of his memory by Ichigo shouting, "The blood, the screams, the smell of burnt flesh, and … and …his damn eyes." He moved instinctively, without thinking, he had to help his friend.