A/N: Chapter three :) So sorry about the shortness, I'll have chapter 4 up shortly to make up for it ^^,

I dedicate this chapter to Walter Dash, the first (and thus far, only) reviewer of this fanfic :)

Chapter 3

In school Dawn sat bored in a class she didn't really like. Buffy had returned late, and she had been asleep, while Spike had returned just before sunrise. She had gotten a report from Buffy. Neither of them had come across anything of interest as far as Xander was concerned, though they had come across the occasional vampire, and Spike had apparently ran into some blue haired guy; which, while weird, wasn't what they really considered anything special. Buffy had seen something odd though, she had told Dawn how she had seen an orange haired teenager jump around in weird Japanese clothes. He had carried a gigantic sword, according to Buffy, and she found this odd. Dawn wondered... The orange hair immediately made her think of her classmate, Ichigo, however that wasn't possible... Buffy had said the guy in question seemingly floated on air, and moved faster than a human could. Still...

"Hi, Dawn-chan," Orihime Inoue said as lunch time came. Dawn smiled at the red-head.
"Hi," she greeted them. She was quickly introduced to the ones she had missed the last time, taking note of the different members of the group. She and Orihime began chattering about different subjects they liked and disliked, before somehow entering the subject of food.
"I once made peanut-butter and banana quesadillas, but it was no good," Dawn admitted with a grimace at the memory. Inoue smiled.
"It sounds tasty though. You should try pancakes with avocado and chili, it's yummy," she suggested with a wide smile. Dawn blinked in confusion. This girl apparently liked to experiment with food too. The others looked at them strangely before shaking their heads. They knew how odd Orihime's tastes in food were, but didn't interfere.

"Ah, Inoue, do you have time to stop by my place a bit after school?" Ichigo asked. He had almost forgotten to ask her. He sent her a look, hoping she'd understand that he needed her help, and that this wasn't just a casual visit he wanted. She seemed to get the message and nodded.
"Sure, Kurosaki-kun,"

Nothing more exciting seemed to happen during the rest of the school day, so soon Dawn found herself saying goodbye to her new-found friends and heading home.

Orihime was walking home with Ichigo.
"What did you need my help with, Kurosaki-kun?" she asked after a while of awkward silence.
"An arrancar arrived yesterday... His arm is missing, I was wondering if you could try healing it..." he explained hesitantly. He trusted her not to blurt it out to anyone, but he wasn't sure how she'd take the fact that he was, essentially, helping an enemy.
"A-arrancar?" she said, surprised at his admission. She hesitated for a while but finally her eyes lit up with determination.
"If Kurosaki-kun trusts him, I will help him," she said. Ichigo looked relieved and they continued walking.

Grimmjow had been sitting all by himself all day, walking outside every now and then to get some air, wondering what the hell he was doing here anyway... Currently he was watching TV again. The door suddenly opened, revealing Ichigo and a girl with long red hair, and a nice figure. They took off their shoes and entered.
"Yo, Grimmjow. This is Inoue Orihime," Ichigo introduced his friend.
"Hello, Grimmjow-san," she said with a somewhat hesitant smile.
"Yo," he answered, before turning his gaze towards Ichigo.
"She the one who's supposed to heal my arm?" he asked skeptically. Ichigo nodded and signaled for Orihime to begin. She raised her hands to her hairpins, saying something Grimmjow didn't quite catch. Something about rejecting or something. Suddenly a glowing shield appeared where his left arm had previously been. Grimmjow watched in amazement as his arm began to reappear, piece by piece. His eyes were wide in wonder as he flexed the newly returned muscles. Grinning widely as he noticed it felt as though the arm had never been gone. There wasn't even a hint of a scar to suggest it had ever been missing.
"Nice work girl," he smirked. She seemed a bit jumpy around him, and Grimmjow guessed she'd only helped him because Ichigo had asked her to.

Orihime quickly excused herself, she had homework to do after all. Truth be told, so did Ichigo... He went to the refrigerator first, checking if his dad had left him any messages. He should have checked in the morning, but he forgot. Noticing a hastily scribbled note, he picked it up and read.
"My dear son, I won a lottery, winning three tickets for a month long vacation. Brought your sisters :) Hope you don't mind.
Food in the refrigerator. Money left in your wallet. Take care of yourself.
Signed
Your Fantastic Dad ;)" Ichigo curled the note and threw it in the trash with a sound of annoyance. Typical of his dad to take off with his sisters like that.

He sighed and picked up his bag, going up to his room to work. Grimmjow, having nothing better to do, followed, watching the teen struggle with pretty much the same he had when he was a teen. He could have offered to help, but he wasn't that good, and probably wouldn't be able to explain it any better than the books did anyway. The orange haired boy sighed and tapped the pencil against the paper in annoyance. Grimmjow peeked at the problem in question and blinked. It was one he actually knew the solution of. He hadn't been a brainiac like Willow, but this one had to do with something he had actually studied a lot after meeting Buffy, namely weapons. Ichigo's current task was finding three examples of medieval European weapons and list some pros and cons in using these.
"Crossbow, broadsword and battleaxe" Grimmjow suggested. Ichigo turned around and raised an eyebrow at the espada. Grimmjow rolled his eyes. He pointed to the book.
"Examples of medieval weapons. Crossbow, broadsword and battleaxe" he said. Ichigo took notes as Grimmjow explained the pros and cons of each of these (conveniently leaving out how efficient they were against vampires and demons).

When he was done explaining Ichigo was watching him nearly awed.
"I didn't realize you knew so much about European history," he stated. Grimmjow barked out a laugh.
"I don't. But I do know some things about European weapons," he explained.
"So I guess you can't help me out with history in the future then..." Ichigo sighed. Grimmjow smirked.
"Nah, sorry kid. You'd have to ask Willow for help there," he joked, before he realized the slip up.
"Who's Willow?" Ichigo asked with a frown. Grimmjow sighed heavily and pulled a hand through his blue locks. He was a bit torn, and debated whether or not to tell Ichigo...
"I guess it doesn't really matter," he muttered.
"She was a friend of mine back when I was alive," he eventually said.
"We used to be me, her, Buffy and Giles. We got into a lot of trouble together. And really, it wasn't too different from what I've gathered about you and your friends," he elaborated. Ichigo looked at him with questioning eyes, but eventually realized that was all he'd get for now.

"I'd almost forgotten," Ichigo muttered.
"What?" Grimmjow wondered.
"That even arrancar like you were once human..." he said. Secretly he was wondering how the blue haired espada had died and what had caused him to become what he was now, but he knew better than to ask. After all, Grimmjow was unpredictable, and it was better to let him tell him when, or rather if, he wanted to...

"How come you are still alive, Ichigo?" he didn't know when exactly they had begun to call each other by their first names, but it just seemed appropriate. Ichigo looked confused.
"All shinigami are humans who have died, become shinigami and use those gigai to move around in this realm, but you're different... why?" Grimmjow asked. Ichigo seemed to mull it over for a second before answering.
"I'm different because I was given the powers of a shinigami without being dead. Rukia shared hers with me to save my family..." he stated and proceeded to explain how exactly he'd become a substitute shinigami.

Willow sat with Tara working on a tracking spell to look for Xander. Giles was watching closely, while studying a book about the town. The spiritual powers here seemed strangely potent. It was a different type than the demon-vibes of the hellmouth back in Sunnydale, making it very interesting.
"Giles, look!" Willow exclaimed. The spell had shimmered and formed an image of Xander, along with the name of the town.
"He is definitely close. The spell named this town... If only it was a bit more precise..." she sighed.
"But at least we have an image of him to go by... kind of" the image which the spell showed was blurry and void of color, yet nevertheless it produced hope in the ones searching...