'Grimmjow, what are you reading?' Aizen queried as he ruffled his son's hair before making his way towards the pot of coffee on the kitchen counter. Grimmjow shuffled some papers together into one stack and placed them in his schoolbag situated next to his chair at the kitchen table.

'Nothing. Just some school stuff,' he answered nonchalantly. He picked up his cereal bowl and deposited it in the sink right next to where Aizen was standing with his cup of steaming black coffee.

'Speaking of school, I never asked about your first day!' Aizen exclaimed in realization and sipped his coffee. 'How was it?'

'It was alright,' Grimmjow answered shortly and grabbed his schoolbag. 'I'm off now.'

'So soon?'

'I'm running late.'

'Well, alright. But I'm only letting you off because I want a more detailed report of your second day of school. Are we clear?'

Grimmjow smiled reassuringly.

'Sure, Vater,' he said softly and made to turn when Aizen spoke again.

'Now come give Vater a hug.'

Grimmjow inhaled sharply, counted to five and turned around with a smile plastered on his face as he hugged his father.

Aizen had gotten clingier in Japan. Not that Grimmjow minded. His father's affection was much appreciated. Any parent's would be. But…there was a limit. Sure he would hug Grimmjow occasionally and kiss him lovingly on his head back home in Germany. Maybe it was because there was nobody else around that Grimmjow was noticing more.

Back home, Aizen would hug and kiss all of them. That is, until Stark got older and he would just say 'bye' before leaving and mother took it upon herself to take Nel to and from school. Grimmjow kept it up because he felt it was tradition. And it was a sign of affection. He never spent so much time with his father anyways. And those rare times should be treasured, shouldn't they?

But now, all of a sudden, being in an alien country and away from the rest of the family, it just seemed odd. Why did Aizen feel the need to shower Grimmjow with so much affection? And such physical affection? Wasn't a 'goodbye' sufficient? Wasn't ruffling his hair enough of an act of family love? Why did he feel the need to hug and touch and kiss Grimmjow whenever he had the chance? And why did they have to move? Grimmjow never asked because he respected his father's decision. But that didn't mean he didn't think about it and wonder why. And besides, he missed home.

He missed having friendly wrestling matches with Stark and talking about school stuff with him. He missed reading Nel a bedtime story and giving her piggyback rides to the candy store. And yes, he missed his mother too with her fussing over him if he didn't eat enough and taking him to the gaming store whenever he behaved himself. He'd been happy with his life and to an extent, so had his father. Why did he decide to leave out of the blue?

Grimmjow sighed and idly fiddled with fabric inside his jean pocket as he crossed the street. His father was such an enigma. Perhaps even more than the Ichigo kid.

The simply thought of the orange-haired kid caused images of said kid to flood Grimmjow's mind down to the very last detail.

'What the-?' Grimmjow thought in shock and hastily erased the images. Since when had he paid so much attention to how Ichigo looked? He never thought so much about him before. Maybe it was because of those papers. Those weird papers with the strange guidelines drawn all over them.

He had a feeling it was Ichigo. Who else knew where he lived and knew he was German? It had to be Ichigo. Only that boy would care that much that he would write this picture guide for Grimmjow. Not that Grimmjow didn't appreciate it. It was quite thoughtful of Ichigo. Nobody had done something this nice for him. So in all honesty, Grimmjow was quite touched. Maybe it was to thank him for treating his sisters like that. But Grimmjow just couldn't hack as to why.

Why did Ichigo feel the need to help him? Why did he feel the need to go the extra mile? And of all the people, why for Grimmjow? He barely knew him! And quite frankly, Grimmjow had been an asshole to him. Yet, he never gave up. He just wouldn't stop reaching out to him.

'He is such an idiot,' Grimmjow thought and rolled his eyes. The school was now looming in front of him. He'll have to meet up with Ichigo and go through that whole process of non-communication. Again. Ichigo just never accepted defeat.

'Well,' said that sly voice in his head. 'You never seem to give up in shunning him. Do you have a reason?'

'I-!' Grimmjow argued back and then stopped in realization. He didn't. He didn't know why he kept pushing Ichigo away. What was he afraid of? That Ichigo might learn something horrifying about him? That he might judge him? What was it? Well, he wasn't going to find out for sure if he kept avoiding Ichigo. So maybe…it was time…to finally let him in…

Grimmjow was pulled out of his thoughts as he heard loud scuffles near the side of the school. It was quite isolated from the building so anybody passing by would never have noticed and would possibly ignore it as well. Thing was, Grimmjow came from the back instead of the front of the school hence he saw and heard the whole thing. He also saw a flash of orange among the fighting group and a minute, his heartbeat sped up. Could it be?

He didn't waste a single second once he heard someone yell in pain. He scrambled forward, clenching his hands into tight, angry fists.

Did he like it? Did he hate it? Did he hate Ichigo even more?

God, Ichigo was going to go mad thinking like that all day! Hell, he spent the entire night thinking like that! He didn't even know if he had dinner let alone what it must have tasted like.

'Why do I care so much?' Ichigo groaned to himself as he looked both ways before crossing the street. 'I should kick myself, like literally kick myself and forget about him.'

Which was a fail really. Only this morning he was contemplating on waiting for the German and walking to school with him. It was only after he stood outside the German's apartment for ten minutes that he realized what he was doing and then ran for it in case Grimmjow happened to come out. God knows how he'd react if he saw Ichigo waiting for him. And after he found those weird papers that night. He might think that Ichigo's a stalker or something.

Ichigo groaned again and blushed furiously at that thought. He was not a stalker! He just wanted to help Grimmjow. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. Was that so hard to comprehend?

Well, Grimmjow had certainly found it hard to understand. Why else did he act like he was allergic to Ichigo? And if he was like that already, imagine his reaction if he found out that Ichigo was the one to stick that envelope under his door. He would probably pretend that Ichigo didn't even exist. That hug they had shared would become a mere memory. It would mean nothing. And Ichigo would be back to square one.

Great. Way to go, Ichigo.

'Oye, Strawberry!'

Ichigo gritted his teeth as he recognized that voice. He balled his hands into fists and turned around to glare warily at a broadly grinning Nnoitra. Every time that damn beanpole grinned like that it always meant trouble. And Ichigo wasn't liking how he and his gang were approaching him. They were right next to the school so Nnoitra might not try anything. But then again, it was Nnoitra. Since when did he care about the rules?

'What the fuck do you want, Nnoitra?' Ichigo growled. He was now facing Nnoitra while his gang stood behind him, waiting for their leader to give a command.

'Eh, nothing much, Strawberry,' the freakishly tall bully purred and crossed his arms arrogantly across his chest. 'Just wanted to let you know you cheated me out of a good kiss that day.'

'You mean I stopped you from molesting your next victim,' Ichigo snapped and narrowed his eyes. Having Nnoitra mention how he almost kissed Grimmjow made his blood boil. He hated how Nnoitra thought he could get away with everything.

'Call it whatever you want, Strawberry,' the beanpole yawned and inspected his nails. Ichigo ground his teeth in frustration. He didn't know what was more annoying: Nnoitra calling him that fuck pissing off nickname or just the sight of Nnoitra's face. It was a difficult choice to decide between.

'C'mon, Nnoitra!' Yammy whined. 'Are we gonna throw some punches or not?'

'You are such an obnoxious lug, Yammy!' Syazel snapped and pushed his, Ichigo was glad to see, taped glasses further up his nose. The pink-haired bully gave Ichigo a beady eye. 'The one who gets to throw the first punch should be me.'

'Che, yer all just a bunch of bitches who heel every time I say so,' Nnoitra jeered and turned back to eye Ichigo mischievously. 'But I do say it's about time we had some fun 'round here.'

'Kiss my ass, bastard,' Ichigo snarled and hunched on his haunches, ready to spring at their slightest movement to beat him up. Nnoitra scratched his chin in thought as he leered at Ichigo.

'That's not such a bad idea, Strawberry,' he mused and guffawed as Ichigo's face went white with rage. 'C'mon, bitches! High time we showed this berry who's the boss in Karakura!'

Ichigo had been so busy covering his front he didn't notice Tesla sneak up behind him and nail him in the back. The teen cried out in pain and staggered forward, trying not to fall as pain laced up his back. The others didn't wait for him to recover.

Syazel rammed his knee in Ichigo's gut, knocking the wind out of him, before delivering a well-aimed kick at his skull that sent him flipping away from the gang.

Ichigo groggily got up, the sound of maniacal laughter flooding his ears. He forced him to rise quickly, blood rushing painfully to his head and pounding erratically against his temple. He couldn't lose consciousness now. He might as well give up if he did. He had to stay up. He had to keep fighting. He couldn't give up. He couldn't.

'Hey, Nnoitra! I think he's already losing it!' yelped one of the gang members. Ichigo pinpointed the asshole's voice and scowling, drove his fist right into the guy's face. He could have sworn he heard something break when his fist made contact and he hoped he broke the bastard's nose. He noticed, with satisfaction, there was a stain of blood on his knuckles when he retracted his hand, readying for the next bout.

'He's still got some fight in him,' Syazel said gleefully and cracked his knuckles. Good. He wasn't done getting his revenge yet. Ichigo had practically dislocated his face with that punch during their previous fight. He just wanted to return the favor.

'Big fucking deal,' Nnoitra sneered and suddenly grabbed Ichigo's hair from behind, wrenching it harshly. Not expecting that, Ichigo yelped in shock and tried to swing his fists at Nnoitra but the beanpole kept his distance.

'Hey, berry, your insult kinda gave me an idea!' the gang leader continued gleefully as Ichigo struggled to escape. 'See, you don't seem to respect me enough and practically everyone around here kiss's my ass! High time you did to!'

'Fuck you, Nnoitra!' Ichigo swore and received a harsh kick, blinding him for a second. He wrapped his arms around his aching stomach, willing the pain to ebb away so he could escape before it was too late.

'Tch, what I tell ya? No respect,' Nnoitra tutted and grinned evilly as he pushed Ichigo on his knees. 'Though we're gonna change that in a bit.'

Ichigo was screaming in his head. This couldn't be happening. Fuck, Nnoitra. That guy had the worst fucking ego in the whole fucking world and more than anything Ichigo wanted to beat the fucking shitty life out of him. He hated this. He was being fucking humiliated by the one person he hated with all his guts. This was fucking unfair. If only…if only…

SMACK!

'What the fuck?' Nnoitra roared as he was thrown off balance, losing his grip in Ichigo's hair. Ichigo blinked in surprise. What had just happened?

'Hey, it's the girl from before!' Yammy exclaimed and pointed at someone now standing over Ichigo in a sort of protective stance.

'For the last fucking time, Yammy, that's not a fucking girl!' Syazel screamed and as he turned around to jeer at the new arrival he received a sharp punch which caused him to go sprawling into the ground along with his, once again, broken glasses.

'Well, she sure doesn't punch like a girl,' Yammy muttered in thought but didn't have time to come to a conclusion as to whether it was a girl or not because the 'girl' swept their leg under him, making him topple painfully on their ass.

As Ichigo got to his feet, he saw who was his savior and his eyes widened in disbelief.

'Grimmjow?' he uttered in shock. The German turned on him with an angry scowl and Ichigo almost cowered in fear. Was Grimmjow mad at him again? What did he do this time?

Then, he noticed how Grimmjow brought his fists in front of him and was staring determinedly at him. Like he was trying to convey some kind of message to him. Ichigo suddenly realized what Grimmjow was doing. It was the same sign he had drawn on the papers he had given Grimmjow. So Grimmjow knew Ichigo had given him those. And it didn't look like he was mad about it. In fact, it looked more like he was accepting them. Did that mean he was finally accepting Ichigo's friendship?

'What the fuck are you assholes waiting for!' Nnoitra screamed at his minions. 'For the love of fuck, can someone beat the shit out of them or do I have to do everything myself?'

Ichigo soon mirrored Grimmjow's scowl as they faced Nnoitra together. Those thoughts will have to wait to be answered. They had other things to deal with right now.

Ichigo had to admit, this was kinda fun. He never thought he'd enjoy himself fighting somebody. Or to be more specific, fighting a whole lot of somebodies. Maybe that's why Nnoitra was always picking fights. Though Nnoitra had the brain of a fruit fly and didn't know anything but how to fight.

Maybe he was having fun because he was fighting with Grimmjow instead of the German fighting him. It was a nice change. The way they were fighting together and covering each other's backs. They even paired up to deliver a double punch to Nnoitra's face once they had practically beaten everyone else to a pulp.

'Tatsuki is going to be so pissed off,' Ichigo thought. Not because he had fought Nnoitra for no reason but because he had managed to do it without her.

'Well, that was fun,' Ichigo chuckled as he smacked his hands together to get rid of some invisible dust. The two of them were now heading towards the school and up the steps. Class was about to start soon so they had made it in good time.

Grimmjow was silent. He didn't even look at Ichigo and seemed to be in deep thought. Ichigo bit his lip in worry. What he would give to know what the German was thinking. Though even if he did get that wish, he might be even more confused because Grimmjow's thought would be in German.

Suddenly, Grimmjow stopped at the school entrance. Ichigo stopped as well. He didn't know why but he felt that the German was probably going to do something that will shock him. And he did.

He turned to face Ichigo and stuck out his hand, his face contorted in that serious but determined look again. Ichigo stared him, then at his hand and then back, trying to piece together what Grimmjow was trying to say to him.

'You don't hate me anymore?' Ichigo murmured softly. Grimmjow didn't answer but raised his hand slightly higher, trying to get Ichigo to understand him. Ichigo did understand him. He was trying to let Ichigo know that he no longer had anything against him and was willing to try if Ichigo was willing to help. Thing was, Ichigo was in shock. He was so caught up in trying that he never thought it would be fruitful in anyway. But here was Grimmjow, willing to finally cross the distance to meet Ichigo halfway. So how was he going to react?

Ichigo slowly extended his hand and grasped Grimmjow's, shaking it firmly. His face broke out into a grin which he couldn't hold in any longer. Eventually, Grimmjow's face softened and he gave a sort of soft but shy smile back. Ichigo's heart leapt into his throat. He wondered if Grimmjow was going to continue to affect him like this. He hoped so. He kinda liked this feeling.

Oh you have NO idea how right you are, Ichigo XD

I hope you guys didn't find this chapter too boring. We've reached the first climax of the story! Yayyyyyyyy

And now, on to the rest of the story! See you guys next chapter!
P.S. click that little 'Review' button down there and leave me your nice little thoughts pwease ^_^