The Plan

It took a couple of hours for Shuuhei to even begin to start thinking again. All he really wanted to do was just stay in bed with Ichigo for about a week. Even just holding him and being near to him when he was sleeping was better than he remembered it. Ichigo's smell and body heat just seemed to make him sleep better. For the first time in months he slept without a single nightmare, without waking up covered in sweat, trying to stop something unseen from happening.

I won't allow myself to get used to this, he told himself. I want this to always be precious to me. This time we spend together, when it's just the two of us, I never knew before what I was missing in a relationship but this is it: intimacy. Far beyond just sex, just existing with you is something that I can't live without anymore, Ichigo.

Shuuhei almost had to laugh at himself because he knew if he had said those thing to himself two years ago, he would've called himself a sap. More than that he would have assumed that whoever was speaking was lying. Everyone in a long term relationship always said crap like that, and he had never believed it. He had never believed that romantic relationships could be as lasting and as meaningful as friendships, he just assumed that every person he was dating had an expiration date. That might sound cynical, and all his friends called him on it, but it was how he had lived his life up until he had decided to finally give in to Ichigo. That was one of the many reasons he hadn't wanted to get involved with Ichigo. He had considered their friendship more important that what he had assumed would be sex and games for a few months and then flaming carnage afterward, like all of his relationships. To him, deep lasting friendship had been sacred, and the romantic relationships always intruded on that. To be dating his best friend has opened his mind and changed him as a person. He was no longer that cynical person who would see his friends find love, buy them some sake, and joke "I give it three months, max."

Obviously, some people beat the odds. Yumichika and Ikkaku were proof of that at least. But he had always assumed them to just be special. Honestly, they were. He had just assumed that he would never find something as special, which he had been wrong about.

He no longer worried about getting tired of Ichigo, and whether they could still remain friends after the fact. He wouldn't let that happen. Shuuhei had changed from someone who would casually let a relationship end to a fighter. Ichigo wasn't someone he was prepared to ever allow to walk out of his life. He had always wondered when seeing people in bad relationships why they stayed. Although he wouldn't admit it to anyone, he now knew. Shuuhei would forgive Ichigo anything. He wondered if that made him a doormat, but at this point he was too ecstatic to give it much thought.

Soul mates. It was a phrase that Shuuhei had always scoffed at, but he knew what those people were talking about now, the deep connection between two living beings that somehow underscored their entire existence. He no longer considered being with Ichigo as something that was a bonus, but something that was required for the rest of his life to have meaning to him.

Which is why, despite his personal feelings, he crawled out of bed and went back to Squad 4. If anything was going to happen to Grimmjow, he needed to know about it. Ichigo needed rest, needed to sleep and relax. He could take care of things while Ichigo was out of it.

I'll make sure nothing happens to him for you Ichigo, Shuuhei thought to himself.

"What?" Shuuhei asked Isane.

"I don't know. Captain Kurotsuchi came by and was going to take him away, but then your captain and Captain Zaraki wouldn't allow him and now I'm not sure what's happening," she responded.

Squad 12 was not going to be someplace that Ichigo would want Grimmjow to go.

"Can I see him?" Shuuhei asked.

Grimmjow was pacing. He looked up eagerly but looked disappointed to see it was only Shuuhei.

"You should just be happy I'm not Captain Kurotsuchi," Shuuhei joked, seeing the look on Grimmjow's face.

"I just wanted to see Ichigo again before…whatever…you know?" Grimmjow asked, seeming non-combative for the first time that Shuuhei had seen him. "Hey," he continued, "You take care of the kid, ok? I mean, he's strong and all, but he doesn't really know how everything works yet."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, as much as I'd love to get the hell out of here, I doubt we'd ever just be free to…well, be free. I didn't get him out of that hellhole just to have him thrown into a shinigami prison," Grimmjow stated.

"You wouldn't want him to risk his life and freedom for you?" Shuuhei asked.

"Of course not. You wouldn't, would you?" Grimmjow replied, looking into Shuuhei's eyes.

Shuuhei sighed. It was easier on him when he could straight up hate Grimmjow, but he could never fully hate someone who honestly cared about Ichigo the way Grimmjow seemed to.

"I didn't think hollows could feel happy emotions," Shuuhei pried.

"Well, you shinigami have a pretty skewed view on things anyways," Grimmjow said with a dry laugh. "I bet you don't even consider me to be a person."

Shuuhei paused. It was true; at least it would have been a couple of days ago. "Look, I admit I view hollows just as…trash. But you guys are different, right? The mask coming off makes you more shinigami-like."

"So I only matter because I'm kind of like a shinigami to you now?" Grimmjow asked with a grin.

Shuuhei had to admit that was the case, but he didn't agree out loud. "I…I know enough to know that Ichigo considers you a person, more than that…"

"Yeah?"

"He views you are someone he's indebted to," Shuuhei continued.

Grimmjow sighed.

"So…that means I view you as someone I'm indebted to," Shuuhei finished.

"What?"

"I won't let Captain Kurotsuchi take you to his lab. You freed Ichigo from that type of existence and I know he wouldn't let you linger in some experimental limbo."

"What are you planning on doing about it?" Grimmjow asked.

"Now is our best chance," Shuuhei said. "Everyone still thinks I hate you so they won't be suspicious."

"You're…busting me out?"

"Yes, let's go," Shuuhei said moving towards the door.

"Hold up," Grimmjow said. "Where's Ichigo? Isn't he gonna have a problem with this?"

"He's at home," saying that still made Shuuhei happy, that home was where both of them lived. Well, not both of them for long, not after this. "He's at home and he doesn't have a clue of what's going on. That's fine though, this way he can't get in trouble for anything we do."

Shuuhei opened the door and called Isane.

"Did you need something Shu…" Isane fell quiet as Shuuhei wrapped his hands around her mouth and dragged her in the room.

"I need the keys to Grimmjow's spiritual repression cuffs," Shuuhei whispered in her ears, ignoring her wide eyed stare. "I'm going to let you go and I need you to not make any noise. I don't want to have to hurt you, but I'll knock you out if I have to," he said.

"Shit," Grimmjow said as he watched the scene. "Guess you weren't kidding, huh?"

Isane reached into her Shihakusho and pulled out a key, a small rectangular device that would release the cuffs around Grimmjow's wrists.

"Ok, Grimmjow, when I release you everyone is going to feel it so I need you to be ready to bolt. We'll go out the Western Gate and lose ourselves in the wilds just past it."

"What about Ichigo?" Grimmjow asked. "You just gonna leave him?"

"Didn't you just say you'd never want him to give up his freedom for you?" Shuuhei asked. "What makes you think I'm any different?" He reached for Grimmjow's wrists.

He was surprised to find Grimmjow withholding them.

"As much as I don't wanna die," Grimmjow said. "I'm pretty sure Ichigo would hate me for this."

"If they put you in a more secure cell we might have to fight our way through people, this is the only way were we can get the least amount of other people involved, the least amount of damage done," Shuuhei explained.

"I can't believe you're doing this," Grimmjow said, holding out his wrists this time. "Ichigo painted you as a much more…er…I dunno…responsible person?"

"I'd do anything for him. He's promised to help you and you saved him, that's all I need," Shuuhei replied. "He's safe again and that's what's most important."

"Liar," came a voice from behind him.

Shuuhei turned in shock to find his captain. "C-Captain!" he said, paling. He wondered if there was any way to even maybe get away with Grimmjow now.

"You're lying," Kisuke repeated. "Because the most important thing is for him to be happy, and he's definitely not going to be if you do this." He looked over at Isane. "Did he hurt you?"

"No," Isane said.

"Then I guess you're very lucky I came when I did, before you did something really stupid," Kisuke said lowly. Shuuhei hated when his captain was serious; he was much more intimidating when he wasn't all smiles and pranks.

"I refuse to let Captain Kurotsuchi have him," Shuuhei declared.

"Then it's a good thing that he's not going to get him," Kisuke replied.

"What?" Both Isane and Shuuhei asked.

"Keep an eye on him," Kisuke said as he deposited a tightly bound Shuuhei into Ichigo's arms.

"What...what happened?" Ichigo was still yawning from being woken up.

"Oh, he was just busting Grimmjow out of jail and about ready to sprint for the border," Kisuke said casually. Shuuhei winced because he just knew that Ichigo was going to…

"WHAT?" Ichigo yelled, dropping him.

"Ow," Shuuhei said as he hit the ground, unable to brace himself because his hands were tied behind his back.

"EXPLAIN YOURSELF RIGHT NOW!" Ichigo yelled at him.

"Er, well…I mean…Captain Kurotsuchi was given the right to hold Grimmjow prisoner and do tests on him. I assumed that was the farthest thing that you'd want for him so I thought the two of us would escape before he was transferred to Squad 12. I knew Isane had the key and she was right there so I just…made her give them to me…and we were going to…leave," Shuuhei got out, finding it increasingly hard to talk with Ichigo glaring at him.

"WHAT, AND LEAVE ME HERE?" Ichigo roared at him.

"Well…yes," Shuuhei admitted. "Both Grimmjow and I didn't want anything to happen to you so I thought…I thought it'd be best."

"IDIOT!"

"Anyways, I stopped it in time," Kisuke said with a wave of his hand.

"What about Isane? She knows what he tried to do, right?" Ichigo asked.

"Yes, but she was surprisingly sympathetic to your cause. I think she has a small crush on her ward, either that or she's a lot fonder of you than I thought," Kisuke explained.

"She's not going to tell?"

"No. Buuuuut, there's always the video feed. They were recording it so it pretty much depends on Captain Unohana."

"Well then go and sweep her off her feet and take her out to dinner or something," Ichigo ordered.

"What?" Kisuke was taken aback.

"Woo her. Now," Ichigo demanded.

"Um, that wasn't really what I had in mind to…"

"NOW!" Ichigo yelled at him.

Kisuke dodged Ichigo's angry flying fist. "Er, I suppose it's worth a shot," he said.

"AND YOU!" Ichigo turned to the prone body of Shuuhei, who was looking up at him helplessly. "I'm really angry with you but you look really cute all helpless so I'm going to forget this ever happened! OK?"

Shuuhei eagerly nodded.

"Now," Ichigo hoisted up Shuuhei, still tied. "I'm going to punish you."

It has to be said that Shuuhei didn't really mind being punished all that much. In fact, as much as he liked when Ichigo was lovely-dovey he always really enjoyed when Ichigo got mad and aggressive. The sex was mind blowing and he loved following the harsh orders his lover gave him when he was feeling pissed off. Not that Ichigo could remain pissed off after the row of orgasms Shuuhei gave him.

Both lay collapsed in the bed, not wanting to move for another couple of days.

"Thanks," Ichigo finally said.

"No problem," Shuuhei replied with a goofy grin.

"Not about that, you idiot!" Ichigo gave him a light hit in the arm. "I meant about Grimmjow. I know that you hate him."

"Oh," Shuuhei said. "I…I have to admit that I'm pretty jealous of him, and I resent him for being the one who saved you no matter how happy I am that you're home. I don't trust him because to me he's still a hollow. I don't like him at all because he's said he loves you and is going to take you from me. Despite all of that, I know he's telling the truth and I can't fault someone who risked their own life for you out of love."

"Really?"

"And I can't let someone die because they saved you. I know you couldn't live with that."

"No, I couldn't."

"I think this plan that Kisuke has is going to work though. I even got a text message from him saying that it's still going according to plan with Head Captain Yamamoto."

"It's going to be weird though," Ichigo replied.

"No kidding. But if anyone can do it, it'll be Kenpachi. No one will expect it from him, and he's strong enough to make it seem like it could work," Shuuhei said.

Ichigo started to giggle.

"Why are you laughing?" Shuuhei asked.

"I thought you said that we were going to try legal ways first, huh? And didn't you say that my ideas were all harebrained? Then you go and practically try to do a smash and grab less than an hour later!"

"Well…" Shuuhei really had no response to that.

"I love you," Ichigo said.

Shuuhei did have a response to that.

"I refuse to believe that this is legal," Captain Kurotsuchi said.

"He has filled out the correct paperwork," Head Captain Yamamoto replied.

"It needs to be approved by Central 46," Captain Kurotsuchi insisted.

"You well know that I speak for Central 46 now," Yamamoto stated.

"So, you've decided then?" Captain Zaraki asked with a wide smile.

"I want to see this prisoner for myself first," Yamamoto insisted.