Dawn alighted on the steaming city. A fresh rain left tendrils of mist rising from the blacktop. It was warm, and the sun hadn't even risen yet. In the mist that rose up, several people began to emerge, heading this way and that on their way to work. They never noticed the figure high above run a hand along steel, clearing it of black blood.
Grimmjow Jaggerjaques sheathed his sword. The city was coming to life but he was ready for bed. He stepped off the lip of the sky rise and sonidoed through smog-choked air to the red brick building he knew so well by now. He dropped down on the balcony and slid back the door that was always open to him.
Ichigo looked up from the couch, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. It was clear he hadn't expected Grimmjow back just yet and he hastily tried to cover the evidence of his tears. Grimmjow looked from the photograph on the table to the public transit pass id that pictured a red haired girl smiling.
"So she's gone." He stepped all the way inside and shut the door behind him.
"Five am flight," Ichigo confirmed, trying to keep his voice even.
"It's just an exchange right? She'll be back."
"Yeah…in a year…"
Ichigo swallowed hard. Grimmjow unhooked Pantera from his side and placed him gently on the coffee table before taking a seat next to Ichigo.
"She said she'd come visit."
"She went to England. Visiting will be expensive."
"You're a soul reaper, fly there yourself."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because she left for a reason."
Grimmjow went quiet at this. He eased off, leaning back against the couch and letting out a long breath. "I know. I'm sorry."
"No, Grimmjow, it's not you."
"Of course it is. How couldn't it be?"
"She loves you too."
"She's kind to me, Ichigo. But I'm what's standing between her and her boyfriend. I'm the reason she hasn't gotten laid in weeks, maybe even months."
He watched Ichigo's face blanch. His own turned a bit shocked.
"Wait, you mean—"
"Shut up." Ichigo stood up. "It just…"
"She stayed over all the time."
"Yeah, well we just…we just slept."
Grimmjow eyed him, saw the depth of pain in him, and stopped talking. Instead he rose too and placed a hand on Ichigo's shoulder, mimicking an action he'd learned from the young man in the last two years they'd been living together.
"I think I'm going to go back to bed," Ichigo said quietly.
"Yeah, me too." Grimmjow lifted his hand and turned back to his room. Ichigo stopped only to get a glass of water. When he pulled the cup free of the drying dishes a fork slid out from the pile and clattered loudly against the metal surface of the sink.
"Shit." He turned at once, seeing Grimmjow freeze up. His hand had come up against the wall, fingers white where they clutched plaster. His eyes were vacant, forced from the present into another time and place.
"Grimmjow!" He snapped back before Ichigo could reach him. Like normal, he tried to pass it off. As Grimmjow had improved over the months, he'd also gotten better at hiding his true feelings, which was not helpful. Now he was attempting to do just that, but failing as his breath became fast and shallow.
"Grimmjow…"
"It's nothing…" the espada tried to wave him away but he ended up clutching the shoulder he'd just squeezed in comfort.
"Just sit." Ichigo prompted when he saw the panic was winning and the attack wouldn't pass. Grimmjow had little choice but to comply as his body gave in against his will to the clenching pain in his chest and short, rapid breaths.
It wasn't the worst they'd gone through, that was for sure, but it had been a while since Grimmjow had experienced one so bad. Like always, it caught him off guard. And like always, it left him in painful exhaustion. He panted where he sat, one hand clenched in the front of his shirt and the other over Ichigo's forearm which steadied his shoulder. As his breathing slowly calmed, he brought his eyes back up to the young man.
It pained Ichigo to see the shame in them, the anger. These were the new emotions they'd had to deal with. Grimmjow kept thinking he should be better now. He was physically strong. He fought hollows all week and even travelled back to Hueco Mundo from time to time. But then something like this would happen and he'd be reduced to a shaking mess on the floor and when it passed he was left with a familiar rage from long ago.
But a rage for someone dead and gone and there was no place to pin it now but back on himself.
"Dammit," he swore when he finally let go of Ichigo. He was pale and covered in sweat. His chest still heaved from the attack.
Ichigo didn't know what to say. Any words of comfort or reassurance he'd already given had been in vain. He just waited for Grimmjow to give him his hand again. After a few more moments, in which Grimmjow squeezed his eyes shut trying to calm his roiling emotions, he reached out again and Ichigo took his arm to help him stand up.
"Fuck," he swore again, feeling how unsteady he was. Ichigo walked him down the hall and to his bedroom.
When he was seated on the side of the bed, his shoulders were slumped in defeat. Ichigo let out a sigh and sat next to him. He felt equally distraught this morning.
"Do you think I should have asked her not to go?"
Grimmjow said nothing for a moment. It was unclear whether he was up to conversing but then he too let out a breath and shook his head.
"I think she needs the change. I think she needs to get away from this."
"Grimmjow—"
"It's okay. You do too. You should visit her, in a while."
"Maybe…"
"And bang her."
"Grimmjow!"
The other shrugged. "It could solve things."
"Or just make them more complicated."
"I guess. But seriously, Ichigo. Maybe she does need this, but she'll come back, I guarantee it."
"How do you know?"
"Because I'll be gone."
Ichigo stiffened.
"What? Grimmjow—"
"No it's fine. She's away for one year, right? Well, in one year, I want to be able to be on my own. And you two can be together."
Ichigo considered. "But where would you go?"
"I don't know. I have a year to figure it out."
"I guess…but Grimmjow you know I'll never ask you to leave."
"I know you won't. That's why I'm going to have to do it on my own. A year is good. It gives me time, but it gives me a goal. I can do this."
Ichigo nodded. "Yeah I know you can. Alright, Grimmjow, a year."
Grimmjow seemed pleased to have Ichigo's agreement. They separated to rest in their own beds, but neither found sleep easily.
…..
"You have another one?" Grimmjow asked a few days later, seeing Ichigo pouring over barely legible notes—his hand writing wasn't great. The textbook next to him was full of colourful tabs and bits of paper with even more information on it. He clutched his head and leaned back.
"Last one." He sighed, ready for midterms to be done. "On Wednesday."
"Fun." Grimmjow shifted his belt so that Pantera was tucked at his side.
"You going out?"
"I felt something."
"You did?" Ichigo had been so absorbed he hadn't noticed.
"It was far. Soul Reapers probably already got it." But he would go anyway. He needed to get out a lot. He was a creature of the outdoors and though it had taken a while for him to remember that, now that he was closer to the being he'd been years ago, he craved wind and moonlight.
"Okay, see you later."
Grimmjow stepped onto the balcony and pushed off. He floated through air, planting a foot in empty space and shooting forward with grace and speed. The wind rushed through his hair, plastered his t-shirt to his chest. He scanned the city below, illuminated in electric light. He saw networking streets and the grid-like pattern of streetlights and cars. Ahead the road twisted and rose up in what Ichigo called a causeway. Grimmjow wasn't a big fan of cars. He didn't like being contained in something so small and so he and Ichigo avoided them. There was no reason for them to use one anyway, if it was just them. In spirit form they were free to go wherever they pleased, and go with more speed than anything of human invention.
He left the main city behind him for the faint flicker of spiritual energy he'd felt. He dropped his speed as he grew near, quickly realizing it wasn't so much a weak energy but one that was being concealed. He felt no sign that the Soul reapers on guard had come to investigate. Maybe they couldn't distinguish something so faint.
Faint, and yet, familiar.
He stepped down from the air, on the edge of a park. A faint gurgle of water kept silence at bay but other than that there was nothing. No one was around. Several lamp posts surrounded the perimeter but none were lit.
Grimmjow pulled out Pantera.
"Who's there?"
There was a sudden spike in the spiritual pressure. Had whomever he was tracking been startled? He spun around, trying to pinpoint the source, but whatever was masking it made it too hard for him to locate. He turned in a cautious circle, eyes sharp in the night. He should get higher, where he could see more.
He planted his foot. The moment he launched off he was hit full force with suffocating reatsu.
His back slammed into the earth and his breath was forced from his lungs. Worse, the weight of energy remained pressing down on him, crushing his body in the same way Aizen used to do to him to control him. It was captain level energy, but Grimmjow should be able to counter that and not be left a writhing mess on the ground like he was now.
"AH!" Something in his chest snapped. Blood lurched up his throat. He was actually going to be crushed to death by the unknown attacker.
"Enough," someone said. The pressure pulled back but not completely. "Now you've done it. There's no way Kurosaki hasn't felt that."
"Shit. Do we just take him then?"
"We aren't fuckin' ready for him. Dammit. How in the hell did he find us?"
"Well, it makes sense. He's probably the only one who can detect us."
"Shit, is he still conscious?"
They'd been jabbering back and forth but Grimmjow still couldn't see them. They were too muffled beyond the ringing in his ears for him to distinguish much about them.
"Someone put him out."
"He can't see us."
"Let me handle it."
Grimmjow fought against the power pinning him. His hand was pinned to the ground but he gripped Pantera tighter and tried to drag his hand up. He lifted it an inch before more power slammed him back. He sputtered, barely able to breathe, but he held on, desperate to see what powerful being could be doing this.
Then he saw black robes and a white hiori. He saw long fingernails and white flesh. And finally his terror rattled mind registered a wide, yellow smile set in a black and white face.
So I may come back to this one, I got a bit caught up on some of the plot ideas with this but I'd like to come back to it when I'm in the mood if there is still interest for it.