Chapter Seventeen
"Wait a minute, I thought Ichigo was futsu." Hanataro wondered aloud after Yumi had finished a very detailed report of what he had just witnessed. Twice.
Yumi smirked. "Looks like you're the only nonke one now."
Shuuhei opened his mouth before closing it with a nearly audible snap, glad that everyone seemed to be too distracted to notice him at the moment.
"But that doesn't make any sense." Ikkaku chimed in, able to leave his post because he had set up the mixer to play Ichigo's song without him needing to be present for the moment.
"It doesn't have to make sense, Ikkaku. Are you calling me a liar?" Yumi cocked a thin eyebrow at him and he shook his head.
"Tch." He said as a reply before walking back to his post. He neither had the time nor the inclination to answer that one at the moment.
"His 'O' face is rather cute though." Yumi mused, wondering if he would be able to mimic it well enough to show it off to everyone. He shook his head. There was no way he would be able to pull it off. "Look, I saw what I saw. Straight men don't get blow jobs from other men in back alleys in gay districts. Just doesn't happen."
"He's straight!" Shinji said, a little louder than he had intended to and grabbed everyone's attention. "M-maybe he was just hard up and needed to get off."
Hanataro giggled and immediately blushed while Yumi smiled pityingly at Shinji.
"Poor, poor Shin-chan. If he is just a hard up straight guy that must make you feel horrible." His lips pursed in a purely evil fashion. "I mean to turn to some random guy over you, his best friend." He ended the sentence with a sad shake of his head.
Shinji glared at him and grit his teeth, telling himself to never again call that man to help him relieve the tension from his unrequited love. Shinji plopped in the chair in front of his dressing mirror and began to sulk rather than try and think of a comeback for that. Yumi let out a small derisive chuckle before walking away to his own dressing chair. Shinji suppressed his urge to lash out at the man and only managed to do so for fear of pissing off an already irritable Z.
When he thought about it he wasn't sure if he should be proud of his friend for getting such a brute of a man on his knees for him, or pissed off because it had been his idea to send Ichigo outside in the first place. If he hadn't said anything Ichigo probably would have stayed where he was and watched his routine and then watched Shuuhei with him after he was finished. All talk backstage ceased when Ichigo stepped behind the curtain and five pairs of eyes turned to him. Ichigo's frown at the attention could be seen throughout his entire body. Shinji sighed and did the only thing he could think of to ease the tension.
"Yer up, Peacock." He shouted as he stood and pulled his pants on.
Yumi shifted wide eyes to him at the hated name but Shinji stood his ground, his gaze now level with the black haired man's. Shuuhei poorly hid a chuckle behind his hand and Hanataro, who was usually gone by this time, gave a nervous laugh of his own as he too dressed in street clothes. Finally Yumi turned away from those honey eyes and walked to the stage, the announcer already halfway done calling his name. Shinji shifted his eyes to Ichigo.
"Get dressed, okaachan said she'd have food waiting for us."
"What the hell was that all about?" Ichigo asked as he did what he was told.
"Don't worry about it. I'm hungry, hurry up."
They were silent for the first half of the walk, Ichigo still wondering why the air had been so thick backstage and why everyone had been looking at him with a mixture of curiosity and humor. Shinji was trying not to picture what exactly Ichigo looked like during an orgasm. Finally Ichigo couldn't stand it and asked again what had happened. Shinji frowned and looked at the asphalt.
"They were laughing at me."
"No, not really." Shinji said cautiously.
"Then just tell me." Frustrated Ichigo stopped and refused to budge until Shinji told him.
"Well, Yumi saw you and…," At Ichigo's blush Shinji stopped and took a deep breath. Well that confirmed whether or not he was lying.
"I knew it." Ichigo groaned and closed his eyes. "He said no, but I fuckin' knew it."
"You couldn't even hold back for one whole day?" Shinji asked, the words not able to stay back any longer.
"It wasn't my fault!" Ichigo defended, forgetting that he had instigated the entire thing.
"What, you don't know how to say no any more?"
"Damn it Shinji, I don't know why you're so upset about this." Ichigo resumed walking and Shinji stared after him.
"Oh my God. Yer stupid!" He hissed through his teeth as he trotted to catch up. "I'm lookin' out fer ya and ya aren't even…."
"I told you not to worry about this. I have my reasons, I told you my reasons even."
"It's fuckin' stupid! He treats ya like fuckin' toy and all ya can say in yer defense is, it's fer Yuzu. Bullshit. Yer fuckin' enjoying it too."
"So what if I am?!" Ichigo roared, stopping again and whirling around to face Shinji.
Shinji stopped as well, barely reining in before he crashed into Ichigo. Ichigo's face was flushed with anger and embarrassment but Shinji pressed on.
"I bet that cut above yer eye came from him too."
"I already told you about the damn bar fight, baka."
"Maybe yer just coverin' fer him."
Ichigo's eyes narrowed. "I don't think I like what yer implying."
"He ain't good fer ya, Ichigo!"
"Ha!" Ichigo stuck his finger in Shinji's face. "You are not gonna go there."
Shinji cocked a hip and pursed his lips. "So what if I am."
"Really? After all the times I told you the same. Fuckin'. Thing. No way, Shinji. How many times did those exact fuckin' words come out of my mouth about all the guys you've been with? Grimmjow's a million times better than the last guy you were with. Do you not remember why yer in the fucking studio apartment? Well let me refresh your goddamned memory. He. Stole. Every. Thing. From. You. Everything. And what was that? The guy before him who used to think it was great fun to tie you up in public bathrooms and leave you there for the police to find? And let's not forget the big fuckin' winner you chose as yer first boyfriend." Shinji looked away and bit his lip, wishing desperately that no one was within earshot of this conversation. "Fuck you Shinji. Don't you dare get in my face about Grimmjow when you have no fuckin' room to talk."
Ichigo stalked off down the sidewalk still fuming over the entire situation. Granted what he was doing wasn't the greatest idea he had ever come up with, but it could have turned out a lot worse than things were. As it was he was quite pleased with things. He was helping his family and he was able to meet a man who, while irritatingly possessive, made him feel… wanted. Needed even, though that one not so much. As Shinji watched Ichigo walk away he frowned and racked his brain for something to say and found it unhelpfully blank. Ichigo was right, he didn't have much room to talk as far as men went, but he hadn't needed to shout it out like that.
"At least I never did anything like that fer money." He muttered, thinking that Ichigo couldn't hear him. That was until Ichigo paused in his steps and turned around, a murderous glint in his eyes.
"You really did forget, didn't you? First year of high school when you started hanging out in Nicho. You really don't remember how you met so many people?" Ichigo remembered vividly the time he had had to come pick Shinji up in the middle of the night because one of the guys he had been with had drugged him and taken all the money he had earned his first night "playing" with the local men.
"I don't know what yer talkin' 'bout." Shinji had apparently blocked the whole event.
Ichigo sighed and shook his head. This was so stupid, fighting like this in the middle of the street at nearly three in the morning. Someone was going to call the police on them for sure.
"Can we not do this? Just drop it, Shin. Please?"
Shinji opened his mouth to comment when Ichigo stiffened and slammed his open palm against it, pulling him into an alley and pushing him against the wall. Shinji managed to push the hand aside.
"Wha…!"
"Shh!" Ichigo hissed. "I think we're being followed."
Shinji frowned. "What? How do ya know?"
"I don't know, I can…." Ichigo searched his mind for the right words and settled on, "I can just feel it. Shut up."
It was one thing to have someone walking down the same street as they were, it was another thing entirely to feel eyes staring at you without being able to see the body. Something wasn't right about this street and he had been too distracted with the damn fight before to notice. Shinji frowned and looked down the alley and then back on to the street, seeing nothing.
"I don't…."
In a blink of an eye their view of the street was blocked by three rather large men, each one grinning maliciously. Ichigo pulled back from Shinji and fisted his hands.
"You need something?" He asked.
One of the men laughed and shook his head. "Not really."
"Uh, Ichi." Shinji tapped Ichigo's shoulder. "We have a slightly bigger problem than just those guys."
Ichigo turned his head to the side just enough to glance behind him and notice the five other men approaching. He grinned.
"Good. I was just starting to think I wasn't going to be able to get all this pent up anger out for a while."
"You sound pretty fuckin' cocky carrot top. You really think yer boyfriend and you can stand up against this many of us?"
Disregarding the boyfriend comment Ichigo continued to grin and leaned back to speak so that only Shinji could hear. "You still pissed at me?"
"A little."
"Can you picture my head on any of these guys?"
Shinji snorted. "Not really, but I can try."
Ichigo chuckled. "Good 'cause I'll be picturing yer head too."
Shinji laughed and the man that had spoken the most interrupted them. "You two just gonna stand there and piss yerselves."
"You up for this?" Ichigo continued to whisper to Shinji as if the man hadn't spoken.
Shinji let a grin that rivaled Nnoitra's split his face. "Perfect timing I say."
"Stop fuckin' whisperin' to each other and fight, assholes."
"Sorry, I never make the first move." Ichigo said, widening his stance and readying himself.
"Me either. Yer gonna hafta come ta us, douche bag." Shinji added.
The men descended upon them all at once, nearly overwhelming them. Ichigo struck out, ducking a blow aimed for his head as his fist rammed into the gut of the talker. He grunted and stumbled away to catch his breath as the other two came at him. Shinji on the other hand had his hands quite full as five men looked at him with murderous intent.
"Oh my, how will I ever protect myself." He said in a sickly sweet voice as the first man came at him.
He wasted no time in kicking him in the chin, his head snapping back and consciousness leaving him entirely.
"C'mon Ichi! I already got one!"
"Fuck you." Ichigo said as he dodged another blow to his head. "You got all the small ones."
"Ha!" Shinji shot back as two came at him at once.
Nothing but the sound of fists hitting flesh and grunts of pain were heard for some time after that, Ichigo finally downing two of the three he had started with but not without damage. The last one he was fighting had a knife and had already cut him pretty good twice; once in the shoulder and once on the face, though that one was shallow and had only barely grazed him. Shinji was suffering a bit more, a pair of brass knuckles had caught him in the stomach and he was still half doubled over and trying to catch his breath as he tried to fight back. Eight against two really was unfair. Just after Shinji managed to get down the second of the five one of the men cried out in shock as he was lifted off the ground and thrown backwards down the alley. Shinji looked up, barely able to stand fully upright, and tried to focus on the image in front of him.
Ichigo was distracted enough to take another cut to the face, this one over his right eye and far deeper than the first.
"Fuck!" He yelled, closing his eye before any of the blood got into it.
"Grimm will fuckin' kill me if they cut any more of that face of yers fruit boy."
Ichigo knocked the knife out of the man's hand and punched him as hard as he could in the face, his head snapping to the side and his body falling limp.
"Were the hell did you come from?"
Shinji ignored the exchange as he was tackled by a man twice his size. Nnoitra grabbed the man and pulled him off, lifting him off his feet and ramming his fist hard into his gut. The man gasped for breath as he was dropped back to the ground. The last man weighed his options and took off before the three still standing could follow. Ichigo tried to catch his breath and assess his bodily damage as he weaved his way over to Shinji.
"You okay?" He asked, seeing Shinji out of breath and splattered with blood was one thing. Noticing the cradled arm in his lap was another.
"I think that fat fuck broke my arm when he landed on me." He said through gritted teeth. He looked up at Ichigo. "Holy fuck, Ichi. Yer face. Why'd ya let them do that?"
"Shut up."
Ichigo's knees gave as the adrenaline drained from his body and the vision he had left in his left eye began to blur. Perhaps some of the cuts had been a bit deeper that he had realized.
"Shit. If ya die he really will kill me. Then I won't get paid fer my job." Nnoitra half whined as he bent down and lifted Ichigo up off the ground. He reached for Shinji but his hand was pushed away.
"It's a broken arm. I can fuckin' walk."
Nnoitra grinned at the thin blond and his obvious pain. "Whatever."
"Okaachan is gonna kill me Ichi." Shinji said as he led the way out of the alley and down the street to his mother's house. "We walk in there all bloody she's gonna flip the fuck out and I'm blaming you. This has something to do with him I bet."
"Shut up." Ichigo mumbled, his head feeling fuzzy.
Shinji looked back at him in concern and then up to Nnoitra. "We better hurry."
"Seventeen stitches." Shinji's mother said as she entered Shinji's room. "He had seventeen stitches."
"On his face?" Shinji asked incredulously.
His arm had already been set and put in a pink cast that he was sure would make Ichigo laugh and shake his head at.
"Don't be silly, Shin-chan. He had seven on his face and ten on his shoulder. They have him on an IV right now 'cause of all the blood loss." She smiled and giggled. "He wasn't too happy 'bout that."
Shinji snorted. "I bet."
Shinji's mother brushed his bangs out of his eyes and shook her head. "Just look atcha. Covered in bruises and scrapes. It's like lookin' back in time, ya know." She remembered almost fondly the times she'd bandaged up the two of them after fighting at the playground or with each other. "They're gonna keep him till mornin'."
"Well they just discharged me so I'm gonna go see him." Shinji said as he hopped out of bed and thanked the fact that he had talked the cute male nurse into giving him something for the pain.
Ichigo was on his back in the bed, staring at the ceiling with a scowl on his face. Shinji smiled and almost laughed because he knew that for all the big badass Ichigo was and claimed to be he still hated needless and tubes in his own body.
"Better get used to this shit, doctor boy."
Ichigo looked up and shook his head, immediately regretting it as the room tilted and became unfocused.
"Yer cast is pink."
"Really? Hadn't noticed."
"I have a concussion. I don't even remember getting hit in the head." Ichigo stated as he lay back on the bed. "I'm fuckin' tired."
"Stop whinin'. We're lucky to have gotten off as good as we did. Eight against two, remember that much?"
Ichigo smirked and was glad when Shinji came into his line of sight. "That was fun."
"Baka." Shinji shook his head before smiling. "It was, huh?"
They sat for a moment in silence as Shinji gathered his thoughts and Ichigo wished his head would stop spinning.
"Look, about earlier…."
"Forget it. Please."
"No, let me say this. I'm worried 'boutcha Ichi. I just… don't wanna see things go bad, or see ya hurt."
"I know."
There was another long stretch of silence before the nurse came in the room.
"I'm sorry young man, but you're going to have to leave now."
Shinji sighed and stood, looking down at Ichigo before he smiled widely. "You look like shit by the way."
Ichigo chuckled a bit and smiled back. "You too."
"Call me when they letcha out. 'Kay?"
"'Kay." Ichigo replied in a tired tone.
Shinji paused once more at the door and frowned at his friend in the bed. He didn't look good there, not that anyone looked good in a hospital bed, but this somehow felt foreboding. Trying to shake the feeling, Shinji shivered and left the room to find his mother.
"What the hell do you mean he's in the hospital?!" Grimmjow shouted at Nnoitra when he told him as he walked in to the living room that morning.
"Don't fuckin' yell at me. 'Snot like it was my fault."
"I paid you extra to keep a fuckin' eye on him last night."
Nnoitra shrugged. "'Snot like he's dead."
Grimmjow's eyes widened with rage as he barely resisted the urge to attack and not stop until one of them was left for dead, preferably Nnoitra.
"That's not the fucking point. Never mind. Which hospital."
As soon as Nnoitra told him which hospital he told him in no uncertain terms that he was on his own for money that day and had better come back with something or he'd find someone else to do his job, slamming the door behind him as he left the condo. His heart and stomach had switched places when Nnoitra had so casually told him that Ichigo was in the hospital and neither one of them had quite made it back to their rightful places. Shawlong was waiting for him in the underground garage and quickly noted that his boss was not in the best of moods that morning.
"Call the office and tell them I'm going to be late." Shawlong nodded and started the car.
"Are we going somewhere?" He guessed.
Grimmjow bit out the name of the hospital and debated on putting Shawlong back on tailing Ichigo. It was in everyone's best interests now that Ichigo have some sort of informal bodyguard, that was apparent, though the thought of him feeling the need to do so had him a bit conflicted. He pushed back the feelings and focused on what needed to be done as he pulled out his phone and called in some men that he knew were good at extracting information. Nnoitra had at least done one good thing, having tied the men up and dragged them into an empty building after he had dropped Ichigo and the blond off and at the blonde's mother's house. Now he just needed to find out who had sent them and why. It was a start at least.
The nurse at the front counter refused to give him any information about 'the patient' and asked him to please keep his voice down when he yelled at her that he didn't give a flying fuck about the damn regulations. Taking a deep breath and hoping that it was enough to control some of his anger he turned around and walked back out to his car.
"Shawlong. Find out when he's getting out. We have to get back to the office."
He glared at the hospital until it was out of view before sighing and pulling out a cigarette. If he hadn't had this stupid important meeting to attend he would have pushed his way inside and checked every goddamned room until he found the right one.
Ichigo couldn't watch as the nurse pulled the clear plastic tube from his arm and placed a bandage over the hole in his skin. He shivered once and reached up with his left arm to probe his forehead, wincing when he realized that was the arm that had the stitches in it. He hadn't had stitches in forever.
"You're all set young man. Keep those bandages dry and the wounds clean and come back in two weeks to get the stitches pulled. I'd stay off your feet for a few days too. You lost quite a bit of blood from the one on your shoulder and those bruises will just make life harder if you push it."
"Yeah, thanks." Ichigo said as he took the paperwork and bottle of pain medication from her and walked slowly out of the room.
His guts hurt from whenever he had been hit there and he was sure there was going to be a bruise that rivaled the one Grimmjow had given him when he had been kneed a few weeks back. Once outside he blinked as his eyes adjusted to the natural light and almost jumped out of his skin when a warm firm hand gripped his right arm and began pulling him off towards the carport.
"Grimmjow?" He asked when it dawned on him who was there. His mind was still a bit fuzzy but this time due to the lack of sleep and the Codeine they had just given him.
Grimmjow kept his mouth shut and his teeth clenched as he walked to the car and nearly pushed Ichigo inside. Ichigo, for his part, accepted the rough treatment with only a grimace and a small groan as he sat in the plush seat. Grimmjow slammed the door and walked around the car, throwing himself in the drivers seat and gunning the engine. He was right about the men that had attacked both Ichigo and the blond, they had been sent by the man who was out to kill him which unfortunately meant that the man was a lot smarter and a lot more devious than he had looked. He sped through a yellow light in his rush to get home. Ichigo closed his eyes and leaned his head against the window, Grimmjow's erratic driving was starting to make him feel a little sick.
He must have fallen asleep because the next time he opened his eyes Grimmjow was looking down at him with the passenger door wide open with a very deep frown on his face. He helped him out of the car and up to the condo, shutting the door with his foot and taking Ichigo directly to the bedroom. Ichigo yawned as he sat on the bed and kicked his shoes off.
"Did I ever tell you how comfortable yer bed is?" He muttered as Grimmjow took the papers from his hands and began to read them
"No." He said shortly.
"M'kay. Night."
"What the…." Grimmjow started but Ichigo was already in a prone position and fast asleep.
With a grunt Grimmjow went back to reading the side effects of the medication. Drowsiness was one of them but he wondered at the intensity of it. With a deep sigh he set the papers on the night stand and sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at the back on Ichigo's head and frowning. He looked like shit, his forehead almost completely bandaged now, his last wound barely recovered, his face bruised and scraped. He didn't even want to think about what the rest of him looked like under his clothes. At least nothing was broken like the blond kid.
He leaned forward and let his fingers run through Ichigo's hair gently. It wasn't like anyone was going to catch him like this, gently stroking his hair. With another sigh he rolled Ichigo over as best he could without disturbing him or his wounds and unbuttoned his pants, pulling them off him with a quick yank before reaching for his shirt. Ichigo frowned and his eyes slit open.
"What're ya doin'?"
"Getting you more comfortable." Grimmjow growled unintentionally.
"Mhmm." Ichigo yawned and sat up. "'M comfy 'nuff."
"Get this shirt off, it's filthy."
"'Kay."
Ichigo fumbled with the hem, his sleep heavy fingers clumsy at best. Grimmjow pulled it up and bit back a curse at what he saw. Or rather what he didn't see as the majority of his torso was covered in bandages. As soon as the shirt was over his head Ichigo tried to lay back down but Grimmjow stopped him, a hand on his good shoulder.
"Wait just a sec."
"Mmm." Ichigo mumbled, reaching up with his good arm and grabbing Grimmjow by the back of the neck with a surprising amount of strength, pulling him forward. "'M okay." He said, his voice thick with sleep.
He leaned forward and let his lips brush over Grimmjow's before he kissed him, a slow undemanding pressing of lips with a slight hint of tongue. Ichigo smiled and closed his eyes as he lay back down and fell back to sleep. Grimmjow scowled at him as a wave of unfamiliar emotions washed over him. Not wanting to deal with them at the moment he covered Ichigo as best he could and left the room. He needed a cigarette.
A/N Whoa! No smex?! This plot is getting in the way of yer smexy time! lol Necessary though. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, as always I had a lot of fun writing it.
~Penny
**O yeah! Futsu means normal or straight and Nonke means basically "Not of that persuasion."**