...

Painful Pleasures

...

He was such an idiot.

If Ichigo could've gone back in time a single minute, he might've thought twice on his trade for one moment of bliss in exchange for such a horrific maelstrom of his own emotions and the actual physical pandemonium. Dear lord, why couldn't his visions have shown him the outcome of this?

Once he met those two pairs of shocked eyes, Ichigo tried to shove an oblivious Grimmjow away yet never got the chance as the next moment he was watching, absolutely stunned, as the blunette literally flew backwards across the barn and crashed against the opposite wall. Wood splintered and broke at the collision, the male sliding to the ground in a crouch and snarling, already prepared for a fight with the redhead whose hand was outstretched.

Those tattooed brows were fiercely knitted together, Renji appearing angrier than Ichigo had ever seen. Had he been the cause of the attack on Grimmjow? If so, how had he done it? Yet there was not only Renji to think of, a flash of white and black dashing through the barn to materialize over the blue-haired male, Shiro clenching the other's collar and wrenching him up and back against the wall.

Grimmjow growled lowly, grabbing hold of the albino's wrist and elbow in some sort of grappling move because the next second Shiro had been flipped onto his back on the hay pile there. They both snarled at each other like rabid beasts, baring their sharpened incisors and for a moment Ichigo believed they would rip each other's throats out before he could do anything. However, then they both moved - Grimmjow thrusting back against the wall like he was pinned there and Shiro sliding over the ground to lay completely still save for his savage expression.

"Stop!" Ichigo cried out desperately to Renji, knowing for certain he was the one controlling the other two's bodies by force - his ability. "Just stop it right now! Please, don't fight anymore..." he trailed off, staring at the redhead with wide, pleading eyes.

Suddenly both Shiro and Grimmjow inhaled greedily, as if they hadn't been able to breathe, and they all three moved to stand about five feet away from each other in a triangle. "Ya fuckin' liar," the white-haired vampire hissed at Grimmjow. "Ya said ya 'ad no feelin's fer tha kid. Why? Was it so ya could use an' abuse 'im 'fore we got ta Seireitei where ya'd leave 'im high an' dry jus' like tha rest 'a yer whores?"

"Why do ya care so much, ya sick bastard? Is he who ya were moanin' 'bout during your 'private time'?" Grimmjow accused harshly, his teeth gnashing together as he spoke. "That's right, I heard you, ya freak."

...

"Wha' did ya jus' call me?"

Shiro's tone was deadly, his unique eyes narrowing into slits and his ebony fingernails grazing the handle of his pistol.

"Shut yer damn trap, the both of ya!" Renji shouted. "The two of you both broke our one god forsaken rule and now ya've compromised our entire operation!"

"Oh, I wouldn't be so quick ta talk, ya little maggot!" Grimmjow barked, striding forward one step to point accusingly at the redheaded vampire. "I've seen the way ya look at him, the way you touch his hair and wouldn't even let us cut it to protect his identity! And let's not forget your oh so romantic interlude back at Kuchiki Manor!" He stepped back, opening his arms out to the side for dramatic effect. "Explain that, bastard!"

"'ey, we mighta slipped up a lil'," Shiro snapped, moving in between the two infuriated vampires. "But you, Grimmjow, were jus' caught fuckin' kissin' 'im!"

"Spare me that shit, Shirosaki. The two of ya are jealous that he picked me," Grimmjow gloated smugly, smirking as he gave a bark of laughter. "Ha! That's right, gentlemen - me."

"I swear I'll-"

"If ya don'-"

"Everybody, shut the bloody hell up!" Ichigo yelled over the commotion, interrupting whatever insult or promise of bodily harm Renji and Shiro had been about to say. "Are you three seriously fighting... over me? I-I'm your hostage, your ticket to a large fortune and a luxurious retirement - the person you stole from their own bedroom and have been holding against their will ever since! What in the world is wrong with you people!" He was panting quite heavily by the end of his rant and still not one of the three dominants said a word. They just started at him intently like always and he found it a complete and utter outrage.

"Oh and by the way, I can kiss whomever I please, understand that? It's very likely that if either Renji or Shiro would've been the one to corner me, I would've kissed them just the same because I don't know what's going on inside my own head most of the time!" Ichigo clutched fistfuls of his hair, pulling at the strands in pure frustration.

"Ichigo-..." they all three started at the same time.

"No, don't you dare say my name!" he hissed, upper lip curling back to reveal his own set of fatally sharp fangs and his fearsome look was so much so that the three dominants were immediately silenced. "I don't know what kind of games you're playing, but you're all evil bastards for it. One second you're nice and sweet and then the next you're back to being my cold, distant captors and yes, maybe if the world was different and you weren't criminals I would actually like you. But this... it's driving me mad! ...I-I just can't bear it any longer."

And with that Ichigo huffed heavily and stormed out of the barn, arms crossed in front of him protectively as he pushed through the barn doors and out onto the city street. He didn't know where he was going, only that it was away from those three men he thought he might love.

Ichigo just walked away, going down street after street, block after block. The buildings and landmarks all looked the same and therefore he was utterly lost. He didn't care, though. He was already lost within his own mind so why not be actually physically lost as well? No sense of direction or time or anything...

Several shady characters asked him if he needed some assistance to which he'd all replied with a furious scowl. He may be sheltered and definitely naive but he knew how to read those kinds of people. Now if only he knew how to read beautiful men with heads full of brilliantly colored hair and eyes so intense he could feel the wound they left when they pierced through him.

A few hours after the traumatic scene at the stable barn it began raining. First just a weak drizzle, then steady sheets of water, and then an outright thunderstorm. Ichigo was soaked to the bone within seconds, his new clothes completely ruined and clinging to his body uncomfortably.

He searched for shelter where he would have no interaction with anyone, which took about twenty minutes until he spotted an open air stand completely empty save for the wooden kiosk and a small but sufficient green overhang above that. He sat behind the stand on the dirty cobblestone street under the overhang, huddling together in order to conserve the warmth he was rapidly losing in the bitterly cold autumn thunderstorm.

Lightning cracked through the sky overhead, illuminating the empty street and Ichigo was grateful that it looked to be in a neighborhood where the well-to-do lived in townhouses during the season (not that he'd ever been able to attend, technically not being of noble blood or from a wealthy family.) He'd heard how awful it was from Rukia, though, how anyone in such select circles would backstab their own mother if it meant climbing another rung on the social ladder.

God, he missed her, his best friend, his sister. He missed Rangiku, too, the sole woman who ever came close to fulfilling a maternal role for him. He even missed Byakuya, so much so that if he were to see the dark-haired nobleman right there on the street he'd run up and give the man a giant hug.

He wanted to go home and see his friends, so why was there such a miserable, torturous pang in his heart at the thought of leaving his captors behind?

Half an hour passed and the rain still did not let up the tiniest bit, the heavens pouring sheer waterfalls of water that flooded the streets and soaked through Ichigo's shoes. He didn't see a single soul in those thirty minutes, either, but that was until a luxe carriage drawn by two blonde Arabian horses nearly screeched to a halt in front of his hiding place.

The door opened, a figure hard to make out through the curtain of rain stepping out and onto the street, an umbrella held aloft in one hand. They continued to make their way toward the place where Ichigo was curled into a ball on the ground and they were almost directly in front of him when he recognized them.

"Ichigo," they greeted. "We have been quite worried about you."

"You didn't have to come and look for me in this storm, Miss Halibel," Ichigo insisted, rising to his feet and wringing out his overcoat. "I just... needed some time alone."

"Mmm," the blonde woman, donning a dark green dress embroidered with silver and a matching hat with peacock feathers fastened along a spot on the brim, even her umbrella the same deep olive shade. The shade brought out the color of her eyes, they appearing so sedate and even still somehow animated. "I think you have had enough time alone. Come with me, I wish to speak with you."

Halibel placed a gloved hand on his shoulder and Ichigo knew going with the woman was not optional so he allowed her to guide him into the carriage parked on the street. "We'll be headed back to the hotel now, thank you," she told the driver while gracefully ascending into the carriage car. After a deep breath, Ichigo followed in her footsteps, closing the windowed door behind him.

The carriage car was as luxe as he'd expected of the wealthy vampiress, plush seats and curtained windows trinkets compared to the table set for afternoon tea between the two benches. "Here, this should warm you until we arrive back at the hotel and you may change," Halibel said, handing Ichigo a thick winter cloak that he promptly wrapped around his shivering body. "I've been informed you have not had your fill today, so please drink up."

She gestured lightly toward the tea set, Ichigo now realizing the steaming pot was filled with not Earl Grey or Oolong but fresh blood. The intoxicating scent of it called to him and he eagerly tilted the porcelain spout over his teacup, filling it with the blood he now realized his body craved dearly.

Ichigo sipped deeply, sighing silently at the delicacy that was the exquisitely clean blood he drank. He'd developed that acquired taste all vampires do, the ability to tell what kind of person had donated the life liquid they consumed. The blood he was now savoring had definitely been supplied by someone young, healthy, and vital and he could feel the energy being restored to his very bones.

"Thank you," he whispered to the other passenger who merely nodded her head once.

"You are welcome, Ichigo. I admit I was quite worried I wouldn't find you first so that you might enjoy some of my finest selection," Halibel said, tone smooth as glass. "Though I must admit, all I was informed of was that you had run away from your protectors. May I ask why?"

"They are not my protectors," Ichigo muttered roughly, setting his now empty teacup back upon its saucer.

"If you say it is so," Halibel conceded. "Nevertheless, you have yet to answer my question."

The orangette flushed he assumed bright red, avoiding eye contact with the blonde across from him. He knew that Halibel would be able to decipher a lie if he told one and on the other hand he really did not wish to convey the events of that morning. "It's rather... complicated," he said, scratching the back of his head.

"I am sure I can keep up."

"Haha, yeah," Ichigo laughed nervously and then swallowed harshly, taking a deep breath as he prepared to face judgement for his actions. "You see, when I woke this morning Shiro took me to the stables. He found it quite hilarious that my stallion, Zangetsu, had mated several times with Grimmjow's mare, Pantera, of whom he's quite fond. Zan actually managed to swipe the mare's reins from him and I had to step in and retrieve them. Admittedly, I too thought it was... ahem, humorous. I even teased Grimmjow a little bit before I went inside the barn for some sugar cubes to feed to Zangetsu, to thank him for that brief form of entertainment when everything has just been so... so manic since I was taken from my home.

"I was in the barn when Grimmjow came out of nowhere and cornered me. Um, he said... some things and well, he wasn't exactly wrong. I don't know if it's these crazy submissive hormones or my own mess of a conscience but I did want him as he said I did, and I admitted to it."

"How very exciting for a first kiss," Halibel commented, her cool green orbs beaming behind her facade of composure.

"Yes, it was. And then Shiro and Renji walked in on us," Ichigo confessed, slumping forward miserably as he recalled the following events. "Renji used his power to pull Grimmjow away from me and then Shiro attacked him and then they were all shouting at each other - something about them breaking their one single rule, whatever that might be. I couldn't bear listening to them argue so I shouted over them that they'd all lost their minds to be fighting over someone they plan on selling to the highest bidder. That's when I ran for it... " Ichigo trailed off, the hot prickling behind his eyes embarrassing and unwelcome.

"I cannot imagine how you must feel. I am so sorry, Ichigo. I have only ever heard stories of vampire women and submissive men with this particular predicament so I am afraid I will not be of much help," Halibel sighed, reaching over to wipe away a stray tear from the orangette's cheek in a motherly fashion.

It simply made Ichigo wonder what in the world his own mother would think of him. It's difficult enough to love one mate.

But to love three...

To love three men whom had kidnapped him to hold him for ransom and practically ruined his entire life? How does one deal with that, let alone live with it? He couldn't be with any of them, or all three, and this poisoned him from the inside out, bitterness coursing in his veins. He wanted to be angry, to scream and yell and break things, but he couldn't. He couldn't do anything, yet he had to.

So what was that going to be...?

By the time the carriage arrived at the entrance of the La Lavande Royale, the rain had stopped and night had fallen which meant Ichigo had been aimlessly wandering the city for almost the entire day. He felt it, too. He was so tired all he wished for in the world was to collapse onto a soft surface and sleep, if merely to escape from his life a few hours.

Halibel didn't leave his side the entirety of their trip through the lobby, up the elevator, and into the suite he shared with the three males who owed him his sanity back. "You should change and try to sleep a while. I will keep the others out of this room as long as I can," she said, turning away and inside the lift once again. "Until then, perhaps you should listen to something aside from your mind. It may speak to you louder than you even know, Ichigo."

Then she was gone, disappearing down the elevator shaft, and the teen was on his own once more. One would believe that being alone would help one clear their mind and figure things out, come to a conclusion. But all Ichigo felt was alone.

Taking Halibel's advice, he shed his wet clothes and donned just a pair of sleeping pants, falling into the cushiony bed like it was his grave.

The sole shred of fortune Lady Luck blessed him with was the sleep he so wanted and within a moment of lying there his eyes fell shut and slumber took him under.

For the second time in a row, Ichigo was back at Kuchiki Manor, the comfort of home washing over him welcomingly. This time, however, he was in the rose gardens near the stables on a warm, sunny spring morning, the droplets of dew still precariously dripping from the delicate petals of red, white, and pink.

He knew in his very soul that at this particular point in his life everything was perfection. He couldn't ask for anything more than what he had right then and there.

"Mom! Mom, look what I found!" a young girl's voice called out to him and Ichigo eagerly turned toward the origin, laying loving eyes on the diminutive figure of the same redheaded girl from his other vision. This time her radiant scarlet hair hung loose in soft ringlets, appearing even brighter against her pale as snow skin and vibrant, ocean blue eyes with thick, dark lashes. And now Ichigo noticed that there was an ever so slight dusting of freckles across her cheekbones and the bridge of her nose, exactly like his.

"What did you find?" he questioned, the adoration he had for this little girl pouring through, and bent down to her level. She held a large volume in her hands detailing the various flora of the world, the book open to the page about blood roses that only grew in Hueco Mundo, yet this was not what the girl was so excited over.

Stuck by someone in between the pages was a black and white photograph, a treasured keepsake taken during Yuletide and depicted Ichigo standing in front of the decorated fireplace in the main parlor cradling a small bundle wrapped entirely in swaddling clothes save for her beatifically peaceful face overwhelmed by big blue eyes. There were three other men in the picture, standing in a line directly behind Ichigo and their various physical features - ivory skin, blue eyes, and red hair all represented in the tiny little thing they all stared at in utter devotion.

"This was right after you had me, right, Mom?"

Ichigo tried to say he didn't know, that he loved her for finding this photograph, that he loved her already more than life itself. But he couldn't speak, the same nightmarish paralysis consuming him.

"Mom?" the little girl questioned, sounding frightened by his sudden condition. "Mom!"

The vision around Ichigo burned away like a match had been set to paper, darkening everything and he was left in total blackness. He couldn't speak still but he stood upright, glaring at the darkness for whoever waited for him there. He could feel another's presence.

"Don't worry, 'Mom'," a voice cackled. "She's not real, and she never will be. Want to know why?"

Howling wind blew throughout the emptiness and Ichigo raised his arms to protect his face, the wind shrieking like tortured spirits and the sudden frozen air chilling him to the bone. Then out of nowhere, everything stopped and he slowly lowered his arms back down.

A face.

It came out of thin air and rattled Ichigo right to the core, even though to the naked eye it was a normal male's face and figure. His dark hair was pushed back and his dark, beady orbs surveyed the teenager hungrily, licking his lips and salivating like a dog in the window of a butcher shop.

"You and me, Ichigo. We will soon be together forever..."

The rushing wind again, the cold, the horrific screaming, and a girl's voice calling out for her mother, for him.

The torture of not being able to reach her was so great Ichigo woke up shrieking like a banshee.

When his eyes flew open and he shot straight up in his bed, Ichigo never thought he would actually be glad to see his three captors ever again yet he at that point he'd never desired their presence.

"Shiro, help him for Christ's sakes!"

That was Grimmjow but the fingers that combed through his hair were Shirosaki's, his hands guiding the youth's head to the albino's firm chest. "There now, Ichi, yer okay, yer safe. Was jus' a dream an' ya feel calm an' relaxed..."

That distorted voice was music to Ichigo's ears, the older vampire's empathic ability working wonders on his panic and fear, the one thing it was unable to rid the boy of was the need to go back for the redheaded little girl, his little girl.

He didn't know what it was about the women the three dominants were friends with, but somehow they always turned out to be right about everything. There was something calling to him louder than his mind and that was his destiny.

"Better now?" Shiro asked softly and Ichigo nodded, drawing away from the other no matter how much he didn't want to. Letting his gaze wander alongside his bed, he saw that Shiro was at his right, Grimm was at the foot of the bed, and Renji took the remaining spot at his left. "Good, 'cause..."

"'Cause we have something to tell you," Renji finished strongly, his arms folded in front of him with the sleeves of his shirt rolled up so his tribal tattoos were visible. Oh, how Ichigo adored those inked lines. And to think, Grimmjow had a tattoo, as well. Then if Shiro had one, or ten, that would be perfection.

"Well, I have something to tell you, too. All of you," Ichigo said, slipping off the bed onto his. "And you may not like it, so maybe I should go first... and you all could sit down."

Not saying a word, the three dominants exited the bedroom and strolled into the main parlor, reluctantly taking seats in all different points of the room so Ichigo would have to stand and spin around to talk to all of them.

Okay, this was it, no turning back now.

"All right, um... where to start, where to start..." he mumbled, wringing his hands as nerves built up within him.

"Say the hardest part first, then the rest'll be easy," Grimmjow suggested, leaning back on the loveseat with his arms spread over the line of the edge behind him.

"Yeah, just spit it out, Ichigo," Renji agreed from where he sat on one of the armchairs, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

"Okay, okay, I... I just don't know if I should outright say it because... well, I'll likely sound insane," Ichigo confessed, a peal of nervous laughter escaping past his lips. He cleared his throat with a fist at his mouth and stared at the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world. "Um, okay, you know how there's that stereotype about submissives, male or female, that they know on pure instinct who their mate should be?"

Silence.

"So it turns out this isn't just some old wive's tale; it's really true. I know because it's apparently happened... to me." Ichigo glanced around at the others, finding their expressions all blank and giving away nothing. "Okay, here's the thing; it's happened to me but three times. I was destined to have three mates, and I know it sounds crazy but there have been cases ages ago where it's happened but what really convinced me that it'd truly happened to me of all people was I saw it, in my visions. I-... I've seen my own daughter and I think she's biologically all of yours, which would mean..."

God, Ichigo hoped they believed him and his wild accusations of what their destiny was.

"Ya mean tha' girl from yer dream?" Shirosaki clarified and received an eager head nod in return. "I mean, I knew she 'ad ta be yers but..."

"She had your skin coloring, Shiro, I swear," Ichigo hastened to explain how he knew that the four of them were all connected by fate. "And Renji's hair, that precise shade of red. And she had your eyes, Grimm, your same exact shade of blue. She's... she's beautiful."

They were all quiet for a few moments, then Renji spoke, getting up to his feet and crossing over to stand directly in front of the orangette. "So you say you see our daughter in the future, but what does that mean about you and us? What does 'mate' mean to you?"

"It means... " Ichigo paused to lock eyes with all three men and smiled softly, knowing for the first time since he'd been taken from his room that fateful he would at last be free. "It means I love you, all of you. My ability in itself is Destiny manifesting herself in my subconscious. I was meant to love you, Shiro, and love you, Renji, and love you, Grimmjow. I could never choose between the three of you, it would destroy me. Do you understand, now? And, is it possible that one day you could learn to feel the same for me?"

"Ichigo, I think we have all loved you for much longer than you know," Renji professed, grasping the submissive's hands in his own. "And I'll be taking that kiss you owe me now."

The teenager hadn't processed what the redheaded vampire had said when soft, full lips caught his own in steady yet chaste kiss, Ichigo whimpering into the liplock and almost breaking his hands free to explore the male's body but Renji pulled away, a half-smile on his face. It should've been awkward, to kiss one man in front of two others he loved, but it wasn't and it was bliss.

"So, maybe now you should sit down for this, because we're dropping all of the lies because you deserve the truth."

"Come sit right 'ere," Grimmjow urged gently, Ichigo immediately obeying and sinking down onto the cushion beside the bluenette, whose heat he could feel radiating from the male's large body. Deciding to risk it, the orange-haired vamp leaned into that warmth and against Grimmjow's side, who did not draw himself or push Ichigo away but instead draped an arm around the latter's bare shoulders and it seemed entirely natural, like they'd always been together. "I gotta warn you, though. After we tell you the whole story, the real story, you might not still wanna be so cozy with any of us."

"A minute ago I told you three I loved you. Do you really think I'm going to shun you forever for whatever it is you've been hiding from me?"

"Maybe," Shiro said, frowning uncharacteristically and making Ichigo's stomach plummet with dread and anxiety. "I know yer father definitely wouldn' approve 'a ya shackin' up wit' three dominants."

"What? My father? He's been dead since I was a baby, I don't even remember him." Ichigo was certainly confused by that statement, Shiro saying that as if...

"We do," Grimmjow murmured. "We remember your father - he and your mother were the only two decent people we ever knew growing up as street orphans."

The marketplace... the three boys... the rain... the door opening... the dark-haired man inviting them in...

"That was my father?" Ichigo burst out, hand clasping over his mouth.

"Ichi?" Shiro questioned if the boy was still with them.

"The other night I had a vision. There were three boys who stole bread from a baker in a marketplace... they ate it but it started to rain and they ended up on someone's porch," Ichigo recalled one of his most vivid visions, tears again springing to his eyes at the thought that he was finally able to put a face to his real father. "The man who invited you in for cookies... that was my dad?"

"You Saw that?" Renji said, leaning forward even more. "Did you see a woman with him?"

"No. No, after that the vision became a nightmare like always," Ichigo said bitterly, scowling at his lap. "I suppose if I had I would've seen my mother after all these years of never knowing who she was..."

"She was tha' bes' woman I ever met in my whole damn life," Shiro spoke up, earning a grunt of agreement from Grimmjow. "Ya know, she was kinda almos' 'xactly like you. An' she was tha best cook in tha entire province."

That statement earned much more vigorous murmurs of concurrence from both Grimm and Renji. "Damn, d'ya remember those little gingerbread men she used to make for us?" the redhead reminisced and though Ichigo was experiencing all of his old emotions at never knowing his mother, his heart swelled up at the confirmation she had been everything a woman and a mother should be.

But there was one thing he had to know.

"Uhm, so you three all knew my parents when you were young," Ichigo restated, chewing on the inside of his cheek due to the nerves welling up inside him. "Do you-... do you know what happened to them? H-how did they... die?"

"Tha's kinda where tha story begins, Ichi," Shiro said, his butterfly knife suddenly back in his hand and twirling around almost as if it were dancing along his fingertips. "Yer parents didn' die 'a no disease 'er famine 'er any bullshit excuse they fed ta ya as a child. Yer mom an' dad... they were murdered."

"W-what?" Ichigo knew he sounded like a child, voice quivering in sync with his lower lip. He couldn't have heard what he thought Shiro had said, he just couldn't. "No, that... why would they... is this some kind of joke?" he demanded, growing angrier by the second and not knowing why. Grimmjow's arm tightened around him and he buried his face in his hands.

"It's rough to hear that, babe, we're not stupid. But you have to know everything," the blunette said, endearingly trying to console the submissive.

"Why? What if I don't know these awful things?" Ichigo spat back, his conscience chastising him for being unfairly aggressive toward the ones trying to explain things to him. "What'll happen if I don't know, really? And how do I know that you all are even telling me the truth when evidently all you've ever done is lie to me!"

"This ain't no joke, Kurosaki! And you'll be in even more danger than ya already are, ya brat," Grimmjow growled right back at him. "Do you want to be killed, or somethin' even worse? No? Then shut yer yap and let us tell ya the real story, got it?"

"Okay, I'll listen to you guys," Ichigo said, expression and tone steely. "But you will stop talking to me as if I'm off my rocker for having doubts about the men who kidnapped me, even if I have feelings for them and not by choice."

"Settle down, Ichi," Shiro cooed gently, holding up a hand, and within a millisecond the orangette's anger dissipated.

"Not fair," he mumbled, folding his arms and definitely not pouting.

"Tha's good, love," Shiro said, flashing a sharp incisor with a quick grin and wink in the other's direction. "It ain't easy ta tell ya wha' we're up 'gainst, so give us a lil' slack, yea'? Thank ya. Now, let's start a' tha beginnin', when Isshin, yer pops, invited us in fer some cookies yer mom was practicin' bakin'. They were tha only people kind ta us since no one wants ta associate wit' three dirty orphans wit' strange colorin' yet they never seemed ta care 'bout tha' - treated us like we their own."

"We started going 'round their house five, maybe six times a week," Renji continued, adjusting his bandana. "They kept us alive, really. They fed us, put a roof over our heads when it was cold or raining, your mom even sewed us new clothes to wear. We loved them - Isshin and Masaki Kurosaki - like they were our real parents. During the entire time we spent with them, Masaki was pregnant, and the happiest woman I'd ever seen because of it."

"Everything went ta Hell in her ninth month," Grimmjow said, picking up the story and staring ahead instead of directly at Ichigo. "She changed. Everything about her was different, she was quiet, withdrawn, and most of the time just sat in this rocking chair in the nursery they'd just finished for the kid. Isshin tried to distract us from her behavior but even at eight years-old we knew something was wrong. Then one day we showed up and Isshin wasn't there and Masaki was sitting in that same rocking chair, crying but not making a sound."

"Ya see, we foun' out years later tha' yer dad was in tha special forces department in the small vampire exclusive militia tha' was supposed ta be kept secret from humans. But someone leaked the information an' tha goddamn Watchmen were created, Isshin Kurosaki one 'a tha vampires they managed ta kill, jus' like Shuuhei tha other day, 'cause somehow they've got a special weapon 'a sorts that'll do any 'a us in."

"That day we sat around Masaki while she silently cried for hours until she finally spoke," Renji said, finally looking up into Ichigo's dark amber orbs glistening with unshed tears. "His name will be Ichigo, she said as she'd seen you in a vision, and he's going to be a Seer like me. Then she made us promise we would always look after you, that the men who killed Isshin would never get to you. We failed her."

"What are you talking about?" Ichigo asked indignantly, voice thick from holding back sobs at the strength his mother had displayed in her final days. "Look at me, I'm safe and sound right here."

"Sheer dumb luck," Grimmjow scoffed. "We stood outside the house all night when she gave birth to you. We were boys who thought themselves men. After you were born, two men - one human, one vampire - snuck past us, killed your mother and took you. It wasn't sixteen more years until we found you again, in the same damn building where one of your mother's murderers were definitely daring to masquerade as one of your suitors."

Ichigo's lip dripped blood from him biting it so hard, shrinking in on himself as the terrible truth of his past weighed heavily upon him. "You weren't there to kidnap me," he said, not gaining any confirmation yet not needing it. "You were... saving me."

"We 'ad planned on pretendin' we were holdin' ya fer ransom 'till we got ta Seireitei an' set ya up in a convent up there so ya'd be safe but then... well, ya jus' 'ad ta be... you."

Ichigo wasn't listening, he was thinking, trying to remember the different puzzle pieces filed away in separate parts of his brain but were quickly coming together to form a full picture. The letter on his bed right before Shiro had grabbed him, the look in those dark, beady eyes earlier that evening, the face in his vision - the dark-haired vampire, the words together forever.

"I know who the vampire is, the one who killed my mother," he said eagerly, shooting upright and meeting three bemused yet intrigued gazes. "At least I know his name and what he looks like."

"And that would be...?" Grimmjow egged him on, left hand clenching into a fist.

"That would be Kugo Ginjou."

A/N: Two chapters in one night, hell yeah! And you guys finally know who one of the villains are in this fic. Not to mention, Ichigo finally admitted his love for them three boys. Yay!

And don't worry, we still have plenty more story to go. Relationships and plots take time and effort to develop, don't ya know. ;P

Until next time...