A/N : My apologies for the errors unintentionally made in this chapter, will be corrected soon. I don't and will never own Bleach.

*Characters mentioned in this story are quite OOC, you've been warned.

Nonetheless, enjoy!

Chapter Five : A Very Good Person - Part Two

Skipping his after school activities for the day, Grimmjow had planned that he wanted to go back home for a good, long late afternoon sleep. Shutting his shoe locker closed, he finally received a text from Ichigo - saying that he couldn't meet up for a walk home. The blue-haired had already anticipated that his childhood friend couldn't meet with him since the start of the afternoon's class. He breathed out in somehow, a relief as he slipped his phone back into his front pocket.

That lessened most of his worries, although some problems still disturbed him as much.

And that his sore back, from previous : sudden, 'prodding activity' in the storage room still pained him - he thought he should avoid from brawling at the moment... If he can, that is.

Sauntering past and out through the school's front gates, he slung his pack freely on his shoulder as his eyes stared blankly on the clear, stony pavement - he'd recalled on how much Ichigo had changed. His hands slid inside his pant's front pockets, mumbling to himself, "...I missed the old Ichigo."

Then, a strong arm wrapped around his neck - caught him by surprise - as it head-locked the blue-haired on his place. A voice snorted at him, "Aww, are you crying, Grimmy?"

Renji.

He felt his eyebrow twitching, shoved his elbow straight to the grinning red-haired as he yelled, "Wanna die, asshole?!"

"Oof!"

Renji groaned in pain although that elbow punch was just plain playful, but he chuckled seconds after, "You know, i thought you're gonna cry any-time soon!"

Facing his red-haired friend with a frown, he should have just kept his mouth shut - or else, people would notice his façade. Raising an eyebrow, Grimmjow feigned clueless, "Me? Cry? You're talking nonsense..."

"You wouldn't know, right?" the red-haired curved a grin, reaching his hand to ruffle and mess on Grimmjow's spiked hair.

Expecting either a punch on the face or a kick straight to his groin, nothing painful came flinging out onto him. The blue-haired would usually slapped his hand away, and retort back with a harsh mock - now, his blue-haired buddy didn't bother to do nor say anything brash.

Renji noted on his friend's sudden change, it was rare to see him like this - or perhaps, he'd never seen Grimmjow gotten so quiet. He paused as he faltered his hand, feeling a bit guilty and worried. What the hell's wrong with Grimmjow lately?

He asked, scooting to face his friend with a worried frown on his face, "I did notice something different about you during Byakuya's class... You okay?"

Placing a hand on Grimmjow's forehead, his temperature's normal. He's not sick or anything... So, what's the problem?

"Huh? Yeah, i'm fine," Grimmjow replied, replacing his dazing expression into a heedless one. Turning his heels back to the route of his home, the tall friend widened his eyes when he spotted something shocking on the back of Grimmjow's neck.

Unconsciously brushing the mark with his finger, he spurted out what he thought loudly, "...Love bite?"

Abruptly covering the marked area with his hand, Grimmjow halted - face running flustered. Damn, how could he not notice about this bite-thingy?! Is that why people kept staring at him all afternoon? All because of a bruised, red spot on his neck made people think he was sleeping with a hooker.

"D-Damn..." Grimmjow muttered, hiding his face away from Renji.

Although the situation tempted Renji to squeeze the information out from Grimmjow's brain, the red-haired thought it might be best if he's to know when his friend's ready to tell him.

Smacking on Grimmjow's back lightly, missing the slight grimace on the smaller friend's face, he assured, "...Nah, forget i didn't see it. I'll know about it eventually, right?"

"Y-Yeah, sure..."

"Well, i gotta go home early. Call me if you need anything, Grimm," he walked past the blue-haired as he headed home, waving his hand in the mean time.

"...See ya tomorrow," Grimmjow mumbled, rubbing the mark on his neck.

He gritted his teeth at the thought that Ichigo had left a mark on him on purpose. For what? Even the call that morning didn't make any sense to him.

Grimmjow reached home unexpectedly early, he'd probably have to climb up to his bedroom again - now that he remembered he had left his bedroom window unlocked. Though throughout his journey home, he thought he'd sensed that somebody was following him, along with the shuffling sound of footsteps. And then : when he turned, scanned and searched - he couldn't find anything nor anyone suspicious.

Probably just his imagination.

Quickly heading towards the side of his house, he caught a glimpse of a paper stuck out at the mail-box. It didn't look like it was mailed to him, as he took them and read silently, " 'Plant'."

Lowering his gaze down to the nearby plant beside the entrance, he saw a shiny key staring at him - veiled along with the dirt and the roots of the plant. His father just duplicated one for him! This was unexpected! Going inside his home, Grimmjow padded over to the fridge to get himself a good drink before heading upstairs.

Then, there was another paper stuck with a few magnets on the refrigerator door.

" 'Money on the counter, go buy some food'," the blue-haired mumbled, his lips arched into a smile.

It was near the oven that his father had left him probably a handful of thousand notes. Hell, it's quite a lot of money. Probably he should keep a bit, just in case something happens. This is rare, his father never did this before. The simple porridge that he had made this morning too, was eaten - the bowl and spoon was cleaned and left to dry on the rack.

It's nice, Grimmjow wondered if his father would ever continue this fatherly lovely.

But there was always a wall between them, lacking in proper communication that his father rarely call nor text him through phone. Through papers and scribbled handwritings? Even so, one would always wanted to talk with their parents face-to-face.

Picking up his fallen groceries and his pack, he limped out from the alley - wiping the thin trail of blood lining down from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve. He felt suffocated with the heat of his fight, breathing heavily for a fresher air as he spit out blood to his side.

A man groaned behind him, along with three of his mates - he raised up his head to the seemingly irritated blue as he spat, "You'll... pay for this, kid!"

He couldn't believe he had let himself be involved with such a trivial problem from just a bump on the shoulder, and that these men didn't look like your typical citizens with tattoos and smug grins on their faces. He remembered whistling out the neighbourhood store after buying his dinner, a man bumped on his shoulder and had thought why the hell should he be the one to apologise? Cornered into a nearby alley, he fought these strangers senseless.

"We'll kill you...!" threatened another.

Sniffing up a runny and bloody - grunting for a possibly broken nose, Grimmjow sighed. He halted his staggered steps, kicking the said man's face as he smirked, "Try me, asswipe..."

His snatched the lid of a trash and slammed them on the long-haired man's broad shoulder, who deliberately bumped his shoulder - the man screamed, he heard his bone snapping when the edge of the lid struck his shoulder.

With a slight humour in the current atmosphere, Grimmjow mocked, "Sorry for bumping onto you, dear good sir..."

And left the alley with bruises, small cuts and a maybe broken nose. Cursing to himself, it was just not his day to start a relaxing night - maybe it's his exterior that made people reeled to him for a brawl. Deciding that he'll just have to let it go, his mind shifted to what he's planning to eat for dinner. Stomach growling at the thought of steamy cup-noodles with mayonnaise, some light dinner won't harm his current state.

He was just a few metres away from his house that he heard a familiar voice nearby.

"Hey, hey, hey, i'm sorry... Okay? I got a friend over last night-"

Peeking, it was just Ichigo talking with someone on his phone. He was in his plain t-shirt and blue jeans, barefooted as he tread along the front, small lawn. He noticed that his orange-haired friend looked terribly devastated, and furious...

"He's probably the-... What? Hun, i don't swing that way!" his voice raised, face grew dread as he slapped his forehead.

He knew that it was just as bad to eavesdrop like this, but it wasn't the first time he'd witness Ichigo's angry self. The first was when they were still kids, back when Grimmjow was still 'Grimmjow'... He wondered what happened after Ichigo snapped those many years ago, the blue-haired never bothered to ask - or it seems that he just remembered about it. Though something like a very, dejected feeling popped and disturbed his mind once again.

Then, Ichigo's voice grew softer - as if he was calming the caller down, "Baby, i love you... You know i wouldn't cheat on you."

Grimmjow froze, unconsciously hugging his grocery pack closer to his chest. What did he just hear? Ichigo had a girlfriend all along and he never told his childhood buddy, it's understandable but... Getting intimate all of a sudden got him all confused.

Ichigo switched off his phone a while later, and released a loud, frustrated sigh. Grimmjow preferred that he'd better stand still for a moment until Ichigo went back to his house. When the sound of the door was shut closed, the blue-haired was too stunned to move. It was then when he heard footsteps walking towards him.

The orange-haired was still barefooted, halting his steps near his blue friend, "What are you doing? What happened to your face? You okay?"

He noticed Ichigo's usual, worried expression was plastered on his face. Grimmjow had thought that the orange-haired probably meant of the swell on his face from the earlier fight, he quickly replied, "Y-Yeah, i'm okay..."

"You know you're bleeding, right?"

Wiping the trail of blood again with the back of his palm, he grunted, "Shut up... It's just a small injury."

"Small? Yeah, right..." Ichigo spoke as his eyebrows arched to frown. Shifting his attention to Grimmjow's grocery, he asked, "Dinner?"

"I was thinking of having cup-noodles for dinner tonight... You, uh... Wanna come? You look depressed," the blue-haired said as he faked a concern face, he was just as frustrated as Ichigo.

Fixing his gaze up to the pair of cyans, Ichigo morosely answered, "Yeah, i kinda am..."

The two entered the blue's household : Ichigo minding himself with the television while Grimmjow boiled water for the noodles, treat his nose with ice and cleaned away all of his blood. When they were eating, the air between them was as tense with only the cheering sound of television rang through the living room. Grimmjow couldn't help but mindlessly poking onto his share of noodles, he's hungry but he just lost his appetite. And it seems that Ichigo was too.

Then...

"You heard me, right?"

Knowing that Ichigo meant about his call earlier, the blue-haired shifted his eyes to the television as he rested his head on his hand, "...Don't know what you're talking about."

"Thanks for the food," Ichigo mumbled, standing up from his seat on the carpeted floor.

Reaching for the door handle, Grimmjow stopped him.

"...Before you go, can i ask you something?" the blue-haired asked, raising himself up to walk over to Ichigo.

"Sure..." he paused, eyes staring heedless on the door.

"About last night and... during lunch too. Why?"

It took the orange-haired a while to give an answer, he couldn't see Ichigo's face - he wouldn't know what his friend was thinking about.

"...I don't know. It's just me, probably... Always wanted more," Ichigo answered, there was a slight bitter in his tone.

"You don't even wonder how i feel about it?"

"Awkward. Tense. Slight confused," he listed monotonously, seemingly irritated of Grimmjow's questions.

Feeling quite austere that Ichigo knew what he was feeling, it was unbelievable how rude he sounded.

"...What happened to you?"

With a sigh, Ichigo turned to face the blue-haired - sauntering closer to his friend, as he reached up a hand to caress Grimmjow's cheek. The touch of Ichigo's fingers and palm to his cold skin stung him, he's gotten even more confused than this morning.

"Something popped inside my head yesterday, and i couldn't stop thinking about it," Ichigo admitted, returning his hand back to his side.

"About what?"

Curving a sad smile, Ichigo turned his heels. Swinging the front door open, he spoke, "You'll remember about it soon. See you tomorrow."

Cyan eyes watched as the door shut closed. Remember? About what? Did he forget something? It was not a few seconds later that he felt a tremendous headache banging in his head, probably because of his loss of blood, or maybe these confusions were too much for him... Perhaps, the gap in his memory urged him to remember what had actually happened.

He had spent his night thinking back what he had lost, but it was to no avail. Such early morning, the next schedule after their mini-break was Japanese History again. It wouldn't hurt to come early to class, right? He never liked the school's system for random schedule, fuck them. Spotting Ichigo sitting on his usual seat on the second row, surrounded by his friends and had a few good laughs and jokes - Grimmjow looked away from the cheering atmosphere to the cherry tree outside the building. This cherry tree, perhaps, was the start of all of his confusion.

Just sitting in the shadows, isolated by nearly all except for a few teachers, Rukia and Renji - dear, poor Grimmjow always wanted some good attention.

"I wonder why you would sacrifice something so heavy like that," Renji wondered to him, sitting on an empty seat in front of the blue.

Grimmjow knew his red-haired friend as a very sharp man, and he's right. He had his own reasons why.

"...Everybody has secrets, Renji. I had mine, so i intend to keep it a shut."

Sighing, he rested his head on his hand, "Well, i just hope you know what you're doing... Rukia even mentioned that you'll break soon."

"Rukia? Since when she's all worried about me?" Grimmjow snorted, shook his head in disbelief as he leaned back in his chair.

But by the look of Renji's face as his emerald eyes stared at Grimmjow's, he was dead serious as he expressed, "We're your friends. It's not that hard to notice."

Frowning, the blue-haired closed his eyes. There was a reason why he kept a false front all these years, it was after that day that he'd forgotten. Now that Renji and Rukia had nearly seen through his façade, he cursed silently, "...Well, fuck me."

The red-haired sighed again, maybe this was the reason why he stayed with the blue. So many unanswered questions. Grimmjow's a troubled delinquent, he wanted to be problematic not because he was influenced or anything. And that, was his façade. Inside, Renji wondered - how Grimmjow looked like. What would he be if his false front breaks apart?

Then, someone knocked on the back-door of the class. A beautiful girl with a large pair of brown eyes. When Grimmjow turned to look, she reminded him of a female version of Ichigo - with the exception of hair clippings and... big breasted. He described her as a beautiful young lady, and he wanted to whistle out but-

-His guts was screaming at him that something, wasn't right. And it all made sense when the cyan eyes spotted Ichigo standing up from his seat to greet her on the entrance.

"It's Orihime..." Renji whispered to him, stripping the blue's attention.

"Orihime...?"

Raising an eyebrow, "What? Don't tell me Ichigo never told you anything?"

His head ached so much though he yearned to know what secret Ichigo kept from him, it already seemed obvious - just to be sure, as he looked to Renji's pair of emerald eyes.

"Orihime's his girlfriend. She just got back from America, so i was told. Rukia even said Orihime went all haywire that Ichigo greeted her last during lunch yesterday. And they've been together since middle-school, didn't you know?"

"Sorry, hey... I don't have much time to spend with you today, just eat the lunch i made after this, okay?"

"...No, i didn't," he mumbled, lowering his gaze to the empty surface of his table.

Noting on the blue's pitiful isolation, the red-haired's mouth snapped shut and tight. Just how much secret Ichigo had kept from him? Leaned to his front to hide and rest his head between his arms - the one Ichigo was calling last night was Orihime then. It would be incredibly fine if he knew about Ichigo's girlfriend, before the orange-haired started making him all confused.

'...What am i to him?' Grimmjow thought to himself.

Time passes by to lunch as Grimmjow waited at the usual meeting place with Renji. It was the usual quiet atmosphere, but the red-haired couldn't stop glancing at his friend sitting beside him. He wanted to ask something, it bothered him that since yesterday - Ichigo might have done something to his blue buddy. But he hesitated, it's not the best of time yet.

The rooftop door creaked open, Ichigo had arrived - tired, with his usual deceiving bag of bento in his hand. He jogged to the two buddies and apologised, "Sorry... Thanks, Renji."

"...Enjoy," the red-haired simply replied with a wave of his hand, as he walked himself out.

His smile had wavered when Renji left. From the corner of his eye, he saw the blue-haired shrunk, awkward. Shutting his eyes closed, he sat down on the floor - placing their bento in front of them.

Ichigo then broke the silence, "...I'm sorry."

Implying of his secret about his girlfriend, only made the situation worse. Cyan eyes fixed to none-other than the cherry tree he admired since the start of early spring. Trailing the fallen pink shades of petals that had scattered all over their view of the school.

The blue-haired hugged his knees closer, and mumbled, "I guess you had your reasons..."

"Young and immature maybe, i never thought of telling you..." Ichigo admitted, stretching his legs to his front.

"-they've been together since middle-school, didn't you know?" Renji's voice echoed in his mind, how come he didn't notice her? He thought for sure that there wasn't any girl Ichigo was interested to. But what about him? Why would Ichigo be bothered about touching him?

Grimmjow took a glance to the quiet orange-haired, and down to their lunch. He's not hungry, though he didn't eat anything since dinner last night - he remembered throwing away his uneaten cup-noodles, and went straight to his bed for a sleepless night.

"Hey, Ichi... What am i to you?" the blue-haired mumbled, lowering his stare down to the floor.

"You're my childhood friend, what else?"

Gritting his teeth, he abruptly slammed his hand on the stoned rooftop floor. Raising his voice, he scowled, "...I don't think that's all. You practically raped me even-though you already have a girl?! I don't understand you!"

"Neither do i. You found it quite fun yourself, you should have been able to get away from me. So stop being so innocent," Ichigo muttered, piercing his scorching pair of brown eyes to the blue-haired.

Grimmjow's hands snatched and gripped onto the orange-haired's collar, as he roared, "The hell?! You started this whole mess and don't you fuck with me!"

"All right, i won't fuck with you. But in return... Can you do me a favour?"

His glare never wavered, shoving Ichigo away from his face as he stood up.

"You don't have to put up a front any more," the orange-haired requested, as he brushed the dirt off of his clothes.

"...What?"

"I know that my mom asked you to keep an eye on me, and i don't think that's fair to you. Considering you don't have a mother yourself," Ichigo spat, facing directly at the shocked Grimmjow. He noted on the blue's face turning pale, sweat dropping bullets and the slight gap of his mouth.

Grimmjow stuttered, but nothing came out through his lips. He never liked hearing the word 'mother' - scarring his poor soul that he never seen his real mother before. And that Ichigo's mom, Masaki - was the only woman he had seen as his mommy.

"Grimm, i won't forget what we have shared since childhood... including the 'confusion' you thought it was. I will take responsibility... Only after you've remembered what we've promised," the orange-haired arched a small smile, but it looked like a bluff to Grimmjow's eyes.

He didn't like this favour, Ichigo should've just help him remember! Who knows how long it'll take him to recall a long lost memory?

"We'll meet every lunch though, but i'll have Renji to eat together with us, okay? Just to prove to you that i won't lay my hand on you," Ichigo continued, stripping his gaze away from the pair of cyan to the view of the cherry tree and the sky.

Right at that moment, he had finally felt being completely isolated : be heart-broken, being used by none-other than his childhood friend. His long-time trust... faltered to zero.

"...Damn you, Kurosaki!" Grimmjow shouted, stomping his feet towards the door as he finally yearned to be taken out from Ichigo's life forever.

He had allowed himself to flee from both of his hiding place with Ichigo and the school exactly after he snapped. Hiding himself under the dark corner of Karakura's bridge, Grimmjow's mind pondered why he would always recoil back here. This place, was the last that he'd ever seen 'her' alive. Having spent the last few hours weeping, he leaned his back to the stoned wall - wiping away the trails of tears running down his cheeks, which was so unmanly of him.

But it wasn't that surprising... He's just being himself, out from his façade.

Then, a tap on his shoulder startled him. He was too caught up with Ichigo's favour that he didn't sense anybody - from school - walking towards him.

"O-Oh, sorry..." a familiar black-haired apologised, as he continued, "...I was just wondering if you're okay."

Just how much of a busybody can a typical citizen could be? More so that this black-haired was the school's president, the only tattooed face student at school.

Shit, he must've looked vulnerable... and horrible now. What should he do? What should he do?!

"...What do you want? Go 'head if you want to tell them, i don't care..." his voice running hoarse, tears are yet again threatening to fall from the corners of his eyes.

Shuuhei squatted down, near the weeping blue as he replied, "I'm not that shallow..."

Hiding his face beneath his arms, he just wished that he would disappear from this world. Away from all sadness that he's suffering right now. No more childhood friend, no more wonderful memories... no mother.

Noting the tremble on Grimmjow's hands, Shuuhei frowned, "Is there anything i could do to stop you from crying?"

"Are you screwing with me?!" the blue-haired snapped, raising his head up to face the president of the student council. He ignored how weak he looked right then, how blushes from his weep had tinted his cheeks.

Brave enough by the sudden retort, Shuuhei rummaged through his pocket as he answered calmly, "I can see it in your eyes. You've hid the real 'you' for quite a long time, haven't you?"

The blue froze on his place, he didn't expect Shuuhei of all people to say that all so suddenly to him - implying that he was the fourth person, after Renji, Rukia and Ichigo who had seen through his disguise. The black-haired took out his handkerchief, folded neatly as he offered for Grimmjow to take.

When he accepted them, he remembered the time when Ichigo would wipe away Grimmjow's tears with his own sleeve - making a joke that the blue was just as adorable like a little boy. He burst out crying, hiding his face with his hands while clutching onto Shuuhei's handkerchief.

Hesitantly, the black-haired reached out his hand to pat on Grimmjow's head. He spotted how the latter sobbed and how hard he tried to stop, the look at the blue who shut his eyes very tight to hold back his tears.

Shuuhei sighed, as he whispered, "...Everything that we've seen in you was a lie. Am i right, Grimmjow?"

Poor Grimmy... D:

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