Chapter 3: What ifs and Finding out

Warning: Yaoi

Previously: Hichigo's all alone and Ichigo has a great time.

Grimmjaw's apartment

A blue hair male sat down, cross-legged on the floor thinking hard. "That can't be Ichigo right? Okay so he probably has a head that can be a freaking lighthouse light but it could be someone else right! Unless… my eye sight has gone so bad that I can't differentiate a guy from a girl…" The blue hair male growled in frustration when a gentle tap on his shoulder broke him out from his reverie and he finds himself face to face with grey green eyes. "Oh Ulquorria…" "What's going on?" Grimmjow sighs. "It's nothing…" Ulquorria calmly folded his arms and gave his lover a 'Yeah I believe you and I'm the president of the United States, tell me the problem now or I will force it out of you by squeezing you like a stuff toy' look that cause Grimmjow to growl in frustration. "K, fine but you promise not to get mad alright it's not confirmed yet it's…"

Somewhere out there (The next day)

An orange head stirred sleepily and tries to sit up only to find himself trapped by a pair of strong muscular arms. "Where the hell…" Ichigo started and as the memories swiftly returned to the previous night; he sigh as he realised that it was just another round of passionate sex with Renji when it hit him hard when he noticed the sunlight behind the closed curtains. "Oh shit!" Swiftly, he leaped out of bed, ignoring the fact that he had nearly pulled Renji onto the floor and rummaged through the strewn clothes and pulled out his phone. Flipping it open, he cursed when he saw the numerous phone calls and messages. "Wha… Ichigo…?" "Wake up Renji! Byakuya is going to castrate us!" At mention of said name, the red head immediately leaped out of bed and started searching for his clothes. "He's gonna kill us!" "Just wash up quickly!" The two males flustered about as they hurried to get prepared properly to prevent facing the wrath of their manager.

Apartment building

Hichigo stirs and sits up slowly, stretching to relieve muscles and joints from stiffness due falling asleep on the couch. He turns and looks at the clock. "Oh it's 9… Ack I'm late!" The albino leaps up and flusters into getting ready when his phone rang. "Oi it's me." "Grimmjow I'm so sorry! I'm coming right away!" "Chill, I told Ukitake that you are taking the day off." The albino immediately stops his panicking. "Eh…?" "I figured it's for the best anyway, you have major panda eyes and you look like you need the sleep." "But…" "I can handle the brats Hichigo; even if the boss wants to castrate me alive if I scold them. Just get some rest." "…Thanks Grimmjow…" "Tch… I'm fine; Ulquiorra will be dropping by with food. By the way is Ichigo home?" The albino immediately looked at the doorway before running to the bedroom with the cordless phone in hand only to find the room empty.

"Oi, Hichigo?" "No…he's not back yet. Something's wrong?" "Nothing much…he owes me a DVD he borrowed but it ain't gonna kill me if it stays there for a few more days. No need to run by and return it, he's the one that borrowed it. Just rest, see you on Monday." "Yeah, ja ne."

Art shop

The blue hair male said nothing, growling in frustration as he hangs up the phone. "Grimmjow, is everything alright?" "Yeah, everything's fine… Where are the br/kids…?" "I'm so touched Grimmjow, you're finally making an effort to love children!" "Yeah…if they don't kill me first…" Grimmjow thinks to himself, sweat-dropping at his boss who was all sparkly-eyed. Grimmjow sighs as his mind went back to the issue at hand. "Guess there's no choice… I'm talking to Ichigo after this…" With that thought, the blue hair male focused at the task at hand, praying to every god he knew that the brats will not aggravate him today and make him get a hell of a scolding from his children-loving boss.

Modeling Agency

Long fingers drummed on the table as a very good looking male with raven hair and dark grey eyes gazed at the clock above the door. "They're late." "They probably went wild again." Dark grey eyes landed on the male sitting beside him with dark wavy hair, unshaven chin and glasses. The male would be considered normal if it wasn't for the infant he was carrying. Zangetsu was this very man's name and is also Renji and Ichigo's modeling instructor. Zangetsu was famous due to his past modeling experiences and now retired as a modeling instructor he had founded and taught many famous models. At the same time he was feared because of his strictness and too calm attitude. So, it shocked many people when he started coming to work with an infant in his arms 6 months ago.

The only person that barely battered an eyelid at the infant was Kuchiki Byakuya. Head of the Kuchiki modeling company; said male had previously been a model but had retired extremely early as he wanted to have a more stable job as he didn't want to stick to modeling permanently. He had also founded and raised numerous professional models and of course now he was manager to current Abarai Renji and Kurosaki Ichigo. Byakuya was feared as well due to his very high discipline that he expects and his extremely uncaring attitude that cause many to shy away from him except for his previous mentor Zangetsu. Of course he had another personal reason for the career change but we shall leave that for now. "How's Tensa?" Zangetsu smile fondly at the sleeping infant in his arms. "He's fine…but knowing the two fruit heads, he will probably wail his lungs off at them since they will wake him up when they come running in."

Tensa Hiko was sound asleep as he dozed in his father's arms. 6 months ago, Zangetsu was awakened by the ringing of his doorbell in the wee hours of the morning. Opening the door, he was about to curse at the person instead he found no one but a basket containing at that time Tensa who was just a new-born baby and a note stating apologetically that the family/single mother more like it in Zangetsu's mind was unable to provide for the baby anymore and had to leave him somewhere. Initially Zangetsu had been quite pissed off at the fact that somebody will randomly dropped off some un-needed responsibility at his door-step and had reluctantly scooped up the baby from his basket and looked around in hopes of finding the baby's mother and had plans to actually send the baby to an Orphanage or somewhere. It was then that Tensa woke up and stared at Zangetsu with sleepy, big eyes. It may sound corny but Zangetsu was entrapped by those eyes and couldn't bear to give the child up to some association that may not look after him well enough. Which led to him doing the one thing he never expected to do; he took in the baby, named him Tensa and loved him like his own.

Of course this led to more issues such as how the hell was he going to look after a baby while balancing his work-life. He didn't trust people much to come into the house and the very first baby sitter ignored Tensa when he cried and he came home to find her making out with some random guy on the couch. So, he turned to his previous student Byakuya for help and the two males brain-stormed and came up with only one solution since every solution seemed very inconvenient: 'Bring the baby to work'. Zangetsu was expecting the very worst case scenario when he brought the baby to work but to his surprise, little Tensa caught everyone's heart and all the crew would use their break time to play with the little infant. This of course led to help with offers from the various crews to look after the infant but eventually Zangetsu rejected all offers since he got too use to little Tensa with him when he goes to work. Of course, the little baby brought out the gentle side of Zangetsu and made him more bearable to work with.

"It's 11 now, they're extremely late." "I hope they have a logical explanation for this…" "Tensa does the detecting, you do the interrogation and I do the execution." Byakuya let lose a rare smile at his friend/mentor before adjusting back to his impassive look as the loud footsteps close in and the door slammed open. "We're sorry for being…!" "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Tensa's loud cry cut the duo short and both males cursed when they abruptly remember about the rule of not slamming the door since Tensa could be sleeping. "Sorry!" Zangetsu calmly rocks the infant, and the wails dramatically reduced until they were sniffles to hiccups and stopped completely. "There…everything's fine now…" Zangetsu drawled softly as the infant stopped crying and looked at him before gurgling happily. The two models sigh in relief but it was cut short when they sensed the murderous aura of their manager.

"Where were the two of you…?" Byakuya stated, anger calmly hidden in his voice while the two models gulped nervously. "Erm…" "You were supposed to be at a shoot at 9am this morning, the crew was panicking and the director was pissed off and he said that he didn't want to waste time with quoting 'models that can even offer him the basic respect of being punctual!' and wanted to fire both of you off his set." The two models in front of him paled and Byakuya continued. "Thankfully, we intervened and the shoot was pushed to another day but the director now has a bad impression of both of you and may not want to form a contract with the company! Now, both of you have better give me a good explanation of where both of you have been!" The two models winced at the cold tone. "We were erm…out…" Byakuya's dark grey eyes sharpened and Renji wanted to do nothing but hide himself in a hole due to the sharp tone that his manager was depicting.

"Both of you were out drinking and having a good time is that right?" Ichigo and Renji stared at Zangetsu in shock. "How did you!" "It doesn't matter how I know, the main point is the both of you disappointed me by showing me that you have no sense of time management and if this keep up in the long run, no modeling agency will want you even if you're good." The two models look down in embarrassment and Zangetsu sighs. "Get changed, at least try to remove the alcohol smell and meet Izuru and the others in the dressing room. Do this final shoot, than go home. I have no confidence in letting the other shoots be done since both of you are not in top form." The two models slunk out of the room and Byakuya raised a brow at his friend. "You could smell it?" "No Tensa did." Noticing the shocked look Zangetsu just shrugged. "Hell, Tensa could have slept through the whole entire fiasco or carnival but he hates the smell of cigarettes and alcohol; why do you think I had to stop drinking or going to pubs?" Byakuya blinked once then twice before staring at the infant who looked at his father before reaching out to grab his father's large finger with a tiny hand earning a fond smile returned in his direction.

Ichigo's apartment

"Erm… Ulquiorra…" "Yes?" Hichigo chuckles nervously as he stares at his dining table. "I don't think… I can finish this mountain of food…" "Grimmjaw just told me you look horrible and had little to eat." The male continued monotone while Hichigo just sweat-dropped as he took a look at the mountain of food dished before him. Ulquorria had just dropped in, pushed him in a chair and then pull out tons of dishes from a small carrier bag. "How on earth did he stuff everything in there…?" Hichigo wonders as he eyed at the small bag. "Maybe I should get one bag like that too…" Hichigo thinks to himself as he took a small bite and started inhaling the food when he realised how hungry he was. The male before him just stared at the albino who was busy inhaling his food. Hichigo couldn't help but feel nervous under the gaze but nevertheless continued to eat.

"Where's Ichigo?" Hichigo stiffens and nearly chokes but nevertheless swallows the food and pushes his plate back; the sudden loss of appetite evident as he realizes that his friend had another reason for dropping by. "Erm…he's busy…" "Did he call?" Hichigo wanted to lie but knowing that Ulquiorra could easily see through his lies made him shake his head. "Hichigo…" "I know Ulquorria…! But Ichi might really be busy! I mean being a model really is hard…" Ulquiorra folded his arms and raised a brow which effectively caused Hichigo to zip up automatically. Ulquiorra is Hichigo's long time friend and had help Hichigo through the tough times. The grey emerald eyed male was the only one that could see through the lies and truest emotions of his friend who hides his sadness behind smiles that can break a person's heart.

"Hichigo…you're too kind hearted; that's why people take advantage of your kindness like what a certain lighthouse headed idiot is doing. If I were you, I would have smack him upside down and drive him out onto the streets until he repents." Hichigo sweat-drops at the dangerous aura surrounding Ulquiorra and couldn't help but wonder if Grimmjow had ever aggravated him to the extent that he had unleashed the current threat that he had listed. "I can't do that Ulqui… You know how I'm like…" "Yes, you're a sweet-natured albino with a hot figure & make everyone regular customers at your shop come back because they want to see your face." Hichigo sweat-drops while Ulquiorra takes another sip on his cup of tea that he had made (without asking) before continuing. "Hichigo, Grimmjaw and I are worried about you. This relationship is not working; he's driving you like a slave horse; he's not home all the time and he doesn't even remember your birthday…" "He does! We had a party the last time remember?" "That was when we were still in high school! What about the years after? Was he even present at all?"

Hichigo couldn't help but flinched at his friend's straightforwardness and Ulquorria noticing his flinch sighs and leans back in his chair. "Look Hichigo…have you ever thought of the possibility that Ichigo…is cheating on you?" "Ichi would never do that!" Hichigo exclaims loudly; surprising his friend who nearly drops his tea. "Gome…" "I'm fine." Hichigo looks down at his lap while Ulquorria stares straight ahead at his best friend. Ulquorria knew that his words were harsh but he had to get his friend to wake up and face the possible truth that this was happening. "Even so…" Ulquorria's eyes softened as he sees the sad smile Hichigo had on his lips. "I will still love Ichigo…even if he is cheating on me. I love him so much that I can't hate him… I know you might say that I'm dumb for doing so but… Ichi was the very first person that noticed me and not…because of my brother…" "Hichi…"

Watery amber eyes looked in to worried green grey. "That's how important he is to me…" Ulquorria stands up and pulls his friend into a comforting hug. Hichigo buries his face into Ulquorria's stomach; as the first sob rocked his body. Ulquorria says nothing as he let his friend release the pent-up sorrow that he had been holding in.

Modeling studio

"Alright, thanks for the hard work!" Ichigo sighs as he plops into a chair when a cup of water appeared in front of him. "You are in big trouble again?" "Don't remind me Rukia." Said girl sighs; Kuchiki Rukia was one of Ichigo's best friends from high school. She succeeded in becoming a fashion designer and Ichigo helps model her clothes which was 'hitting two birds with one stone' to Ichigo's anguish. Despite that, she is a good friend and often offers advice although sometimes she will apply violence if her thoughts are not heeded. "Told you and Renji to lay off the alcohol… Men… they never listen." "Come on Rukia, I have enough cut out for me…" "Fine, I'll back off but it's time you pick." "What?" "You know what I'm talking about." Ichigo looks at Rukia in shock. "You knew?" The black hair girl folded her arms. "It is damn obvious idiot. Look…I'm an outsider and I don't have a right to comment but you are hurting Shiro this way. He cares a lot about you and what you're doing now it's practically a road to no return…"

"Just stay out of my business Rukia!" The girl was momentarily taken aback but glared back levelly. "Ichigo, I'm serious here. Sooner or later, the cat will be out of the bag and he will be hurt. When that time comes, not even I can forgive you." Ichigo says nothing and rudely brushes past the girl and brushes past a male with yellow blond hair covering 1 side of his face. "Is there something wrong Rukia san?" "No it's nothing Kira." Said male nods and Rukia sighs; covering her eyes with her palm. "Why have you changed so much…Ichigo…?"

Said strawberry was stomping angrily out of the agency when a tanned arm wrapped around his waist. "Not in the mood pineapple." "Rukia pissed you off again?" Ichigo nods and Renji sighs inwardly as he pulls the orange head close. "Come on, she just can't get it anyway…" "I can't stand it that everyone seems to side Hichigo. I mean he's just…" "Weak?" "Not that…! I mean he's just…clingy you know…" Renji laughs and turns Ichigo so that he's staring into honey brown orbs. "You know Ichi; you really mean the whole world to me. I will do anything just to make you happy no matter what happens." Ichigo couldn't help but smile before punching Renji playfully. "Quit being a sap…" "Well, you know how to shut me up…" The orange head cut the male short by pulling him into a kiss. The couple eventually pulled apart and turns to leave only to come face to face with a fuming blue hair male that Ichigo knew so well. "Grimmjow." "Hello Kurosaki Ichigo, care to explain?"

To be continued

Meme12: That's all for now minna! (Waves once again from surrounding stacks of notes)

Creak… BAM!

Renji: MEME12!

Meme12: Sighs…what is wrong with you people! Must I spend my money on fixing doors when it can be saved for better use! (Pulls out bills for door fixing)

Renji: WHY AM I THE BAD GUY HERE! (Points Zabimaru in Meme12's face)

Meme12: Boy is this getting so mundane…look I'm gonna say it once more; it's ONLY for this fic. How many times must I repeat myself? (Face palms and shakes head)

Renji: OF all the things you have to do was to make me a boyfriend stealer…

Meme12: So? (Studies and ignores Renji)

Renji: OF all the things you had to write was to make me a boyfriend stealer of a crazy, blood thirsty albino! ARE YOU CRAZY!" (Waves sword in frantic)

Meme12: Oi watch it buddy, I have no insurance. (Dodging the sword while studying)

Hichigo: There you are you freaking pineapple head… (Grinning evilly and draws out a reversed coloured Zangetsu)

Renji: Oh look at the time. Kuchiki taicho is expecting me.

Hichigo: DIE ASSHOLE! (Starts firing black Getsuga Tensho)

Renji: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! (Running away)

Meme12: Be back before dinner! (Waves handkerchief)

Updates may be slower because idiotic exams are here again but then they are essential for graduation so what can I say? Pls read and review, this is Meme12 saying sayonara matta o!