Shiro's Rescue
(part 2 of the mini story between Arc 1 and arc 2)
"How about you tell us about the boyfriend of yours?" the hulking man asked.
"Well, since that's a question, no," Shiro said with a wide smile. The man backhanded him across the mouth, splitting his lower lip and causing blood to dribbled down his chin.
"What gang is he working for?" the man asked.
Gang? Shiro wondered to himself. Well, I guess that means that they know less than Gin feared at least. After finding that they had raided that counter-intelligence warehouse he had been scared that the low level thugs had found out something. Guess they're too stupid to know what they found, Shiro thought to himself with a smirk. It also means that I probably didn't need to do this. I shoulda just had Nnoitra come and shoot their damn heads off.
Assuming that Nnoitra will even ever talk to me again, Shiro thought uneasily.
"Are you even listening to me?" the man asked.
"Er, not really," Shiro admitted.
The man gestured to his partner who took out a gun. Shiro's eyes widened slightly but he didn't say anything. The smaller man turned the gun around and hit Shiro with it.
Oh well, Shiro thought, that's not that bad. Ichigo can beat me up more than this, and it ain't like Gin doesn't know where I am at this point...hopefully...
"So what the hell is that plastic thing?" Nnoitra asked as they drove, closely monitoring Shiro's homing signal on a small device. "Left here," he told Grimmjow, who turned at the next street.
"Ever hear of the First Earth Battalion?" Ichigo asked.
"Actually, yeah," Nnoitra replied.
Ichigo was surprised.
"What?" Nnoitra said. "It looked cool, all this warrior monk and samurai crap. Plus I dug the whole idea of Jedi Warriors. Turns out it's a buncha hugging. What bullshit."
"It is not about hugging," Ichigo rolled his eyes.
"It involves hugging," Nnoitra pointed out.
"Well...yeah. Anyways, this was inspired from that group. It's a non-lethal weapon that focuses on chakra points," Ichigo stated.
"Chakra pointed are also bullshit," Nnoitra said.
"Fine, call them pressure points, whatever."
"What's the difference between your little thingie and a sharp stick?" Grimmjow asked.
"My device is created to easily fit in my hand and has different edges to do different things," Ichigo explained.
"So what, yer just gonna make them a little sore?" Nnoitra questioned.
"Of course not. Non-lethal doesn't mean that it's non-destructive. The United States 82th airborne uses this in Iraq, so it's not just weird new age mumbo jumbo," Ichigo said.
"Ya know, out of all the non-gun people I know, ya've shot the most people. So why not just give in and carry regular-like?" Nnoitra asked.
"Don't want to."
"Leave him alone, Nnoi," Grimmjow chided his friend.
"Should be coming up soon," Nnoitra said. "Gin said he wasn't sure if it was just thugs or actually people that we need to worry about, so be careful goin' in."
"Asshole," Shiro said. "I like that tattoo." The big man has started tracing his knife over the inked design, leaving bloody lines that Shiro really hoped wouldn't scar too badly.
"Someone's coming," a goon from the hall said.
"Hm, maybe it's the big bad boyfriend of yours," the big man said.
"Ya really better hope it's not, 'cuz he gets really angry," Shiro grinned.
Outside there was gunfire. The two men in the room stiffened and then positioned themselves at either end of the door, looking down the long hallway.
"What the hell!" Nnoitra yelled at Ichigo. "Ya fucking jabbed that guy's eyes out!"
"What? He's not dead," Ichigo shrugged. A man charged at him with a knife and he hooked his hand with part of his weapon, twisting his arm in a painful position before sharply hitting the back of his shoulder with the palm of his hand. The man's arm went limp as his shoulder was dislocated.
He still had a little fight in him though and turned to attack Ichigo again. Ichigo sighed and used the rivet on the back of the defender to catch and rip off part of the man's ear.
"Yeah, I'm thinking guns are more civilized," Nnoitra said, shooting the man laying in front of him in the leg again. He wanted some of them alive for questioning at least. Or to torture later for taking his Shiro. Either way.
The three men burst into the building, kicking in the door to each room and clearing it before moving on. They eventually came to an open door and found Shiro standing with one man holding a gun to his head, another standing on the other side of him, his hand on Shiro's shoulder.
"Don't move or I'll shoot," the big man said. "Hell, I might shoot anyways," he said with an unpleasant grin.
"Put your guns down," the smaller man ordered.
Well, I guess that's an advantage of that stupid piece of crap Ichigo is carryin', Nnoitra thought. They don't view it as a threat. He carefully edged away from Ichigo to give him room to move if he needed t as both he and Grimmjow placed their weapons on the floor slowly.
"Hands up," the large man said.
Ichigo paused. The small man trained his weapon on him, and Ichigo gently raised his hands, the defender still in it.
"Drop whatever the hell that is," the small man said.
Ichigo did as he was told, silently cursing.
Shiro was aware that the two men were watching the device fall to the ground, all of their attention on the front of the room. He could clearly feel the cold barrel of the gun pressed against his temple, but he trusted his reflexes. With a small breath his quickly moved backward, forcing his shoulder out of the small man's arm and using his hand to grab the gun in the larger man's hand. Not even trying to fight for the weapon, he simply pointed it at the small man and pressed the larger man's finger, firing the weapon into the man's head. He felt the larger man's hand go slack as he watched his partner's head splatter on the wall behind him and forced the weapon fully from his hand, kicking the man in the knee hard. He leveled the weapon at the man who was now on the ground. The man looked up at him, completely unarmed, but what the hell, Shiro was still a little mad. He decided to shoot off the man's left foot.
"Holy shit, Shiro," Ichigo said breathlessly.
Nnoitra didn't say anything just grabbed Shiro into a fierce embrace once Shiro had lowered the weapon. "Ya ok?" he asked.
"Banged up, bleeding, but nothing too major I don't think," Shiro said, his arms around Nnoitra's back.
"Call it in to Gin, I'm taking Shiro to a hospital," Nnoitra told Grimmjow.
"Wait a minute," Grimmjow said. "How the hell does Shiro know how to shoot so well?"
"Well the truth is..." Ichigo began.
"Well...it's my dad, ye see," Shiro said. "Kinda a crazy coot."
Shiro was in a hospital bed, getting fluids to make up for his lost blood and getting various stitches and bandages. They had gotten a private room and were waiting for Gin. For some reason he wanted to meet with them in person.
Nnoitra was holding onto Shiro's hand that didn't have an IV drip in it.
Neither of them had spoken about the break up yet.
"I love ya," Nnotira said suddenly.
Grimmjow and Ichigo bolted upright in their seats.
"Um..." Ichigo mumbled something incoherent and dragged Grimmjow out of the room to give the couple some privacy.
"I'm sorry," Shiro said. "I didn't know if ya even really cared or not, ya know? Didn't want ta get in too deep and then be left alone."
The two didn't say anything for awhile.
"Who would have thought that Nnoitra and Shiro would get there before us?" Ichigo said with a wan grin.
"What?" Grimmjow looked at Ichigo.
Ichigo's phone rang. He looked at it with concern. "Be right back," he said, leaving the hall.
Damn it, Nnoi, showing me up, Grimmjow groaned. But...I do, right? I mean, I do...love...Ichigo. So I should probably say it right? Before he does something stupid like Shiro and runs off or whatever. Grimmjow sighed and ran his fingers through his hair nervously. Fuck you, Nnoitra, he thought with a scowl.
Nnoitra was actually laughing at the moment, because a nurse had wandered in and his hand was definitely in a compromising position under Shiro's covers. The nurse had made an embarrassed squeak and hurried out of the room.
"Asshole, she was probably gonna give me more drugs," Shiro complained.
"Don't worry, I'll make ya feel good," Nnoitra promised.
Ichigo was gone for almost twenty minutes. Grimmjow was beginning to wonder if he should be worried.
"Sorry about that," Ichigo said, his face serious.
I should say this now, before I lose the courage.
"I was thinking you should move in with me," Grimmjow said.
"What?" Ichigo asked.
"I...like you being around all the time and...you know..."
Ichigo was just looking at him.
"Er...I love you and all so...it makes sense..." Grimmjow wondered exactly how big of an idiot he sounded right then.
"I'm sorry, but no," Ichigo replied.
Grimmjow's heart stopped for a moment. "What? Wait a minute! Why not? You do...I mean...care about me, right?"
Ichigo smiled. "Sorry, maybe I shouldn't have been so blunt without explaining. I do care about you Grimmjow."
"Do you love me?" Grimmjow asked, his arms now encircling Ichigo, holding him close so that he could look into Ichigo's eyes.
Ichigo paused. "Yes...I love you," he said quietly.
Grimmjow grinned. "Well then, what's the problem? I don't do the dishes enough or something?"
"That was Yoruichi. We've found Hallibel. I'm going after her."
"Why can't you be with me while doing that?"
"We still don't have enough information on her to bring her in. I'll be going undercover. It will be too obvious if I live with you. Besides, she's operating in a different part of Japan so I'll be moving," Ichigo explained.
"How far away?" Grimmjow asked, wondering when he'd become such a pussy that the thought of Ichigo moving away even for a couple of months hit him like a fist into his stomach.
"Why hello!" came a cheerful voice.
"Busy," Grimmjow told his boss.
"Oh, are you finally telling him about your promotion?" Gin asked.
"Promotion?" Ichigo queried.
"Uh...yeah...Starrk is just too damn lazy and Nnoitra is unreliable. Ulquiorra is missing and also was on Aizen's payroll so...I'm the new vice-director," Grimmjow explained.
"As of how long ago?" Ichigo asked, slightly peeved.
"Er...not too long after you came back, actually," Grimmjow answered, wincing at the look that Ichigo gave him. "Guess I should've told you sooner.
"You guys can argue and then kiss and make up later, we need to confab," Gin said, gesturing for them to follow him as he walked towards Shiro's room.
"You might want to knock first," Grimmjow warned.
Gin peeked in, but then motioned for them to follow him. Two fairly innocent faces looked up at them. They were in the same tiny bed of course, but they seemed to be clothed.
"Good job," Gin said to Shiro. "Too bad they weren't actual players. However, we did find a large stash of drugs, so that's always nice."
"Why the holy fuckin' hell are you sending my boyfriend to mess with drug dealers anyways, you asshole!" Nnoitra said, his voice getting loud and his eyes violent.
"Well, he kind of volunteered, you see," Gin said. "So congratulations, Shiro. We have a lot of open numbers, so what's your favorite?"
"Let's go with...three..." Shiro said, his eyes glinting.
"Shiro!" Ichigo was aghast.
"You...you can't fucking make him an espada!" Nnoitra was full on yelling now.
"Besides, what the hell kind of training does he have? I know we have a lot of blank spots right now, but you can't just place a rookie in there," Grimmjow said, backing Nnoitra up.
"You might be surprised," Gin stated with a wide grin.
"Ichigo," Shiro said, looking over to his cousin. "Ya understand?"
Ichigo sighed and looked out the window. "Yeah."
Years ago – just after Masaki's death
Ichigo wasn't all that surprised to find someone already at the grave. His pale cousin sat in front of it, his hand on the cold stone, bawling his eyes out. Ichigo didn't say anything, just sat next to him.
"I...I'm sorry," Shiro said, gasping for air. "I'll leave you alone."
"It's ok," Ichigo told his cousin. "I know that you viewed her as your mother too."
Shiro had never known his own mom, who had died giving birth to him. His father had brought his son to his sister, knowing that her maternal instincts and good nature would be good for Shiro. In Shiro's mind Masaki was his mother, since he had no memory of anyone else. She had never been scared of the way he looked, and never gotten mad at him when he got into fights or got bad grades. She knew how to make his favorite cookies perfectly, and would watch TV with him while dinner was being cooked. As much as he respected his father, he always cherished their visits to the Kurosaki house. He played with the tiny Karin and Yuzu and rough housed with his cousin Ichigo.
"I'm gonna kill whoever did this to her," Shiro swore.
"My dad says that killing isn't justice. He said that bringing someone to the law is justice," Ichigo said.
"I don't really know what justice is, I just know what revenge is. I will kill her," Shiro replied. "Tell me what she looked like again."
"Darker skin, golden blonde hair, green eyes. She's tall for a woman...at least taller than mom," Ichigo described.
The boys sat at the grave until twilight, and then began to walk home.
"I'm going ta ask for a knife from dad for my birthday," Shiro told his cousin. "He said he'll train me if I wanna."
"Me too?" Ichigo asked.
Shiro nodded his head enthusiastically.
"Your dad was a navy seal?" Nnoitra said, his visible eyebrow raised.
"My mom and Shiro's dad were both Americans. Shiro's dad is living in the United States again," Ichigo explained.
"Ichigo, I always thought that your dad was the one that trained you, since he was a high level intelligence officer," Grimmjow said. "Or Director Yamamoto."
"They all trained us," Ichigo said. "But mostly it was Zangetsu."
"He would tie us up and throw us into the deep end of the pool, make us disassemble guns with blindfolds on, and train us until we collapsed," Shiro stated. "Then Ichigo's dad would patch us up and we'd do it all again."
"Shiro, I heard from Yoruichi. I'll be leaving to go after Hallibel soon," Ichigo told his cousin.
"Oh yay! I'm looking forward to this!" Gin said. He noticed the look Ichigo was giving him. "Didn't she tell you that this would be a joint operation?"
"No, she forgot to mention that," Ichigo said dryly.
"Well then," Grimmjow grinned, "as vice-director I'm going to go ahead and choose the team, headed by myself."
"I wanna go," Shiro said, looking at his new bosses.
Nnoitra was frowning. "What the hell? Ya just got yer ass handed to ya by wanna be gangsters. Yer not ready for a real rough crowd."
"Let him go," Ichigo asked Grimmjow.
"If Shiro is going, so am I," Nnoitra said.
"So, a team of four?" Gin said as he thought about it. "I think I have an idea of how to do this."
A/N #1: Hallibel arc up next!
A/N #2: Look up "Predator Defender" if you want to see the weapon that Ichigo used. You can buy it yourself and use it. It's not recognized as a weapon so you can take it to places that don't usually let you carry things like that, and you don't have to be strong to use it either.