Hey guys, you know me and I'm not much for talking. I just don't want to bother the people from the future with my problems from the present. Anyway I've started this story since I wanted to try and get better with my writing. I'm pretty good at coming up with elaborate stories, but I feel like my writing style is trash so I decided to try some knew techniques. Tell me how you like it and enjoy chapter 4.
Chapter 4
Aizen tended to not bother Ichigo when he was with his friends. Even before Ichigo knew that he was a vampire that struck him as suspicious. If he was alone that guy always appeared out nowhere Christian Grey style, but instead of finding that romantic and making him fall for the guy he just found it disturbing like any other levelheaded and logical person that wasn't in a book that was a copy paste from a Twilight fanfiction.
Seriously, a predator doesn't chase after a girl at a party when she is with her friends. He goes after her when she is on the side and drunk, he would be surveying the party from a far, ready to swoop in and help the drunken girl find her way home or the way back to his place to take advantage of her.
Ichigo wasn't planning to be that drunk girl any time soon. He also needed to stop thinking of himself as some damsel in distress. Whatever the case, he knew Aizen's identity so as long as he traveled in groups he should be fine. Hopefully he won't hold it against him if he gets coffee with his friends instead of him…and Grimmjow.
After dinner the night before Orihime said that she wanted to hang out more and sent a group message to everyone who was at that table last night asking to get coffee with her and Uryu. Ichigo had no more class that day and it didn't conflict with his very open schedule so he agreed.
As soon as Ichigo got up to leave the room Grimmjow got up from his bed and followed him without exchanging any words. The compromise was that Grimmjow can follow him as long as he kept a safe distance from him and his friends.
So there they all were, a group of friends just getting coffee, and a creepy muscular guy with electric blue hair that watched their every move. Well, that was the plan, but Grimmjow wasn't exactly subtle. His eyes bored a hole through Ichigo's back and he looked like he was itching to join him. Of course he was going to get recognized at some point.
"Hey, isn't that Ichigo's roommate?" Renji asked looking over his shoulder as they were returning to the table with their coffee. Ichigo's elbow suddenly found its way into his best friend's side, but it was too late. Renji's innocent question grabbed hold of Orihime's overly social and ditzy manner as she pranced over to where Grimmjow was quietly sitting. Uryu followed her promptly like if he gets too far away from her his life would end.
Ichigo placed his forehead face down on the table knowing that he was going to have no say in whether Grimmjow was allowed to join or not while Orihime had a small conversation with him like she didn't realize how potentially dangerous he was. What was in danger was how Ichigo was going to spend his afternoon.
Grimmjow gave her a gleaming smile, nodded, stood up, and started walking towards them. Ichigo didn't need to look up to hear the sound of Grimmjow coming over and he could tell that the guy had a stupidly cocky expression on his face. The chair next to him scooted over and Ichigo could see blue jeans instead of black.
The guy sitting next to Ichigo wasn't exactly Renji like he would have wanted. Ichigo turned his head to the side to glare at his coldhearted roommate. He didn't seem to care instead he gave Ichigo a smug look like he won some kind of contest. He seriously would have liked it if his best friend were to sit next to him instead. At least if Renji were next to him he'd have some sort of safety blanket and it would be easier to ignore the new horror that has walked into his life.
He couldn't tell him what was going on with his new found way of life, this being the first big secret that he had to keep from him, but he still wanted the comfort of having his best friend stay with him as he is shoved down the path of no return.
The café was a small place to hang out for a group of seven people and the tables weren't very accommodating, but they made it work by squeezing in. Grimmjow didn't seem to mind being practically crammed into Ichigo's side. In fact he seemed like he even enjoyed it. It gave him more options to torment him. He even jokingly wrapped his arm around Ichigo's shoulders, making Ichigo have to slap his hand away in a non-joking manner to show that he was clearly not enjoying how the asshole acted around him.
Orihime didn't seem to fully understand the situation though since she just giggled and commented about how close they were. Before today Ichigo would have argued saying that he knew nothing about his roommate, but he was honestly too exhausted to even give any effort to try to defend himself. Not only that, but in the span of a few hours the two of them were closer than Ichigo could have imagined, and it was all against his will.
There was one thing that Ichigo couldn't help noticing though. Uryu was blatantly glaring at Grimmjow. Ichigo has never seen Uryu as the jealous type, but it must have been hard to see his crush talking so animatedly with a ruggedly handsome guy like Grimmjow. No, that wasn't it. Even though Orihime looked like she was having a good time talking to him, those looks had nothing to do with Orihime.
Uryu couldn't have known Grimmjow. Grimmjow is from Germany and Uryu is from Japan. Unless they met during the abroad program which is highly improbable considering he never leaves Orihime's side and she didn't seem to know him. They could have met in class or something though that wouldn't really make sense since they were different majors. Unless they had to attend a class that was required for both of their majors or they had to do something for their core credits they should have very different classes. Even with that Grimmjow had a very bad habit of skipping classes, calling school a waste of time and money.
Grimmjow seemed to be holding Orihime's attention though since she actively talked trying to find out more about him. Hopefully he won't try to have sex with her. He didn't really seem that interested in what she had to say and he could even see that he was even somewhat annoyed with her constant questions and introductions, but Ichigo still didn't trust him.
He knew about how Grimmjow's hormones worked and he knew that he just liked sex. Whether he liked the girl (and occasionally guys) or not didn't matter as long as she could get him off. Ichigo didn't need that kind of drama on top of everything else he tried to pile on top of him. He also secretly hoped that Uryu would actually get up the nerve to confess or something happens that makes them get together. He couldn't stand watching this friend zone stuff anymore. Seriously, why does childhood friend always have to equal friend zone?
Izuru and Shuuhei made it apparent that they only needed themselves to have fun as they chatted happily with each other not paying any mind to anyone at the table. The oblivious Orihime eventually noticed and reacted to Uryu's dirty looks to their new 'friend' and 'accidentally' elbow him in the side.
Ichigo tried to hold a conversation with Renji, but having to talk around the human (vampire) barrier that was Grimmjow made it really hard for him to do that. Renji was talking about the conversation he had with Rukia over Skype. Renji may have acted like a bit of a horn dog, the evidence of that being the big purple hickey that was on his neck that he didn't bother to hide, but the one girl he has ever even considered settling down with was her. They have had a history as friends that Ichigo didn't know about until a few years ago. She became hard to approach after she was adopted into a family of people who had some rich or noble standing.
Ichigo didn't understand how someone's family made it so much harder to be with someone you considered your best friend. Ichigo being in the same class as Rukia and becoming friends with her was what let her back into Renji's life. After a bit of an awkward beginning they eventually acted as if they were never apart. In fact it was now hotter than ever. It seemed that getting older and the time apart made them more into each other even though no one ever believes the entire 'distance makes the heart grow fonder' thing. Renji's rekindled friendship was the thing that made Renji want to ask Rukia out.
Though Renji is brimming with confidence around every other girl he flirts with, Rukia is the only one that gives him cold feet when he even considers confessing to her which was a little depressing considering they were childhood friends and that their friendship seemed like it could become something potentially more from a spectators point of view, namely Ichigo.
Ichigo egged him to do it a million times because after hanging around both Renji and Rukia it was apparent that she would be willing to go for it. Heck she would totally be into it too! Their sexual tension is through the roof! Many times Ichigo expected Rukia to decide to wear the pants and confess to him first, but it looks like she decided to wait as if she had all the time in the world and that Renji wasn't going anywhere.
During all of their respected conversations Grimmjow kept on looking over to the right where a lone person sat at another table sipping his coffee. He kept on facing towards their party, probably because he was nervous as all hell that an intimidating, tall and muscular man with sharp canines, tattoos under his eyes, and fucking blue hair kept on looking over and giving him a death glare ignoring the large chested girl that was sitting in front of him as she talked away. He looked as if he was considering whether to attack or mug the poor guy.
Ichigo took a closer look at the guy. He had to admit that the guy looked mega odd though. He looked really dark in the light of the café and probably outside the shop too. He had a black knit cap which basically pulled over his eyes. To be 100% sure that no one could see his eyes he wore silver sunglasses even though he was indoors in a dimly lit café, shit he probably couldn't see anything clearly inside. On top of that to make him look even more ridiculous, he wore this orange scarf.
In Ichigo's opinion it was pretty warm outside, absolutely not the kind of weather to wear knit hats or scarves, but it wasn't exactly sunglasses season yet either. It was May and there was no need to wear sunglasses indoors, even if it is always sunny in doucheville.
Grimmjow noticed Ichigo following his gaze and took that as an opportunity to take Ichigo's wrist and drag him out of the café using the good old fashioned Irish goodbye that wasn't exactly subtle.
"Wait, Grimmjow" was all his friends heard as the taller and insistent man dragged him out of the glass doors of the café leaving behind the coffee that they have been drinking like they didn't have time to throw out their own trash.
"What the hell?" Ichigo asked now outside the café, the sun directly pointing at him making his spiky orange hair even more vibrant then it already was. "We were only there for like twenty minutes, just because you want to glare at everyone that so much as looks at me for more than a second doesn't mean that I should leave."
Grimmjow continued to pull Ichigo away from the café as Ichigo tried to pry his arm out of Grimmjow's vice grip. "You are in a deeper hole then I thought you were in. How long has that guy been following you before I started to watch over you?"
"Huh?" Ichigo gave up fighting and started to walk besides Grimmjow.
"That guy is Kaname Tosen, one of Aizen's most loyal clan members. How long has he been following you? Grimmjow repeated.
"I've never seen that guy before in my life." Ichigo responded. He thought back, never has he seen a guy dressed like that before. He reminded him of some stupid celebrity his sister and his dad loved, Don Kanonji the spirit medium. He's never seen anyone like that in America though.
Hipsters may be the fad in this part of the world, but he goes beyond anything he has seen during the abroad program. He really did hope that was the first time that guy was watching him. He thought that he would be safe from Aizen if he traveled in groups, but that won't mean anything if he decided to send spies to watch him in his place. If that wasn't the first time he was being followed then it was official that he was never safe when he went outside.
The grip on Ichigo's wrist got tighter causing him to yelp a little. Grimmjow paid him no mind as he struggled harder which caused a few people to look over. Grimmjow seemed to be hiding something again this time it seemed to hurt him more than it did before.
"I'm not gonna let Aizen have you." Grimmjow muttered, hardly audible as if he didn't want Ichigo to hear him. When they were far enough from the coffee shop he slowed down his pace so that instead of dragging the smaller guy, Ichigo was able to walk alongside him. He didn't let go of his wrist as if he expected Ichigo to run away if he let him go or that Ichigo was the only thing that was letting him have a grip on reality.
"Awww, you found someone you like Grimmy?" Someone said from behind them. Ichigo's breath caught in his throat willing himself to turn around to face whoever was behind them. Grimmjow looked over his shoulder since he would have to let go of Ichigo's wrist if he wanted to fully turn around. He rolled his eyes and walked around Ichigo so that he can also face the person who dared to insult his pride, turning Ichigo around as well.
The perpetrator was a beautiful girl with sea foam green hair and an especially large bust that must have been as big as or even bigger than Orihime's. Despite her teasing words her eyes looked dopey and childish like she was the spirit of a mischievous child that possessed the body of a grown woman.
Ichigo immediately recognized her as the girl that sat next to him during his bio class, the one that he had earlier that day. She always watched Aizen's advances on him and even watched when Grimmjow showed off the hickey that was on Ichigo's neck and embarrassing the hell out of him. Well it seemed like she was a friend of his roommates, joy.
"What the fuck, Nelliel? I told you to stop popping out of nowhere." Grimmjow shouted.
"Ohhhh, so you do like Ichigo." She said. "You did seem excited to have someone of his blood type sharing a room with you."
Grimmjow looked at her furiously like he was about to punch her or at least fantasizing about how much he wanted to hurt her. Even the grasp he had on Ichigo's wrist faltered a little bit.
"I was excited to have him in my class so I could see him for myself." Nelliel said touching her chin and looked at the boy in question from top to bottom like she was examining a science experiment. "You seem to be picking fights with the wrong people though. Aizen really wants this one, and you made a really big scene this morning."
Grimmjow's glare never left her dopey eyes trying to contain his anger. His blood was heating up the more they talked and was heating up to a point where it would turn into molten lava. "That's none of your business." He exclaimed.
"It is my business." She said. "If you pick a fight with Aizen then I'm going to be involved in it too."
Ichigo, tired of being treated like some sort of accessory or museum display decided to speak for the first time during this entire exchange. "I'm sorry, but what the hell is going on?"
A huge grin spread across the girl in question's face as if she had forgotten that he was a living and human thing that she could talk to. "Hi Ichigo, I'm Nelliel Tu Oderschvank, you can call me Nel. I sit next to you in class, remember? I'm Grimmjow's sister."
Grimmjow looked at her exasperated and then looked at Ichigo. Ichigo cocked his head and looked at her like she had grown a second head. Before he could freak out about the new knowledge that he had gained about the roommate he had for five month the first thought that came to his head was "you two don't look anything alike." He internally groaned as he realized that he has said that embarrassing line outloud.
Nel giggled profusely and all Grimmjow could do in response was hold his temples and clutch his eyes shut.
"I keep telling you not to say stuff that will confuse other people." He yelled at the girl in front of him who only shrugged. "We aren't related by blood. She's just in the same clan as me. She isn't really my sister. She just calls herself that." Grimmjow explained as if Ichigo being a noob to this entire vampire life style was a huge burden on him.
Nel nodded, "You know, the clan Grimmjow is trying to recruit you in?"
Ichigo backpedaled to keep himself from falling over, Grimmjow's grasp didn't let him go far though. "Wait what?" Now that he was backtracking a bit he could remember her saying something about Grimmjow liking him, but he didn't know what to take from that.
Nel looked Ichigo in the eyes like she was trying to read him before looking at Grimmjow.
"You didn't tell him?" She asked flatly, knowing the answer as she said it.
"I wasn't exactly planning to." Grimmjow scowled. He turned his head to the side and pouted, letting go of Ichigo so he could cross his arms over his chest.
Nel walked over, raised her hand above her head and slapped Grimmjow across the face. Hard, hard enough to leave an imprint, and it looked like it burned as much as an intense sunburn. Ichigo could almost feel the head radiating off of it and he was only standing next to him. Heck, bellow him since he was shorter then him.
"So you planned to wait till the end of the program, drag him home with you, and make him join our clan without him knowing?" She asked angrily. "I don't see your thought process in this, especially the part where you forgot to mention you having to turn him."
Ichigo looked at Grimmjow and then Nel in shock as they started to fight. Even though it was about Ichigo he had no idea what the hell was going on. What was this about him joining the clan and him being turned? He didn't think he needed an explanation on how he was getting fucked. He thought he only had two options, to just close his eyes and let it happen or to try to escape kicking and screaming.
"What the fuck?" He asked in an effort to get the quarreling siblings to bring their attention back on him. It didn't exactly work though.
"Yeah, that was basically the plan. You're in the same class as him where you get to see from a front row seat of how Aizen treats him. You should see how oblivious this guy is." A comment that surely hurt Ichigo considering he was the kind of person that liked to believe that he had a firm grasp on how the world works, his instincts hardly ever let him down, but now that he was thrown into an element that was entirely new to him he didn't feel at fault for being clueless every now and then. It's his first day, dammit.
Ichigo didn't think it was possible, but she looked at Grimmjow with even more fury in her eyes.
"Tell him everything, right now." She hissed through gritted teeth, an action that didn't seem to suit her since she always seemed so happy go lucky.
He could no longer recognize the bubbly girl he used to sit next to in class. Now she seemed to have eyes of a demon and was deciding whether or not the guy who was holding on to him was going to be on the other end of her wrath. "If you don't I will."
Ichigo was about ready to go back to Japan. There was no way he was staying here after hearing everything he's just heard. This place was crawling with vampires? Yeah, it sort of made sense since he just learned about a few in the span of one day, but an entire convention?
Let's go back a bit. This place was filled with humans and a ton of different clans of vampires all looking to turn some humans into vampires so they could increase the size of their clan. There was a bunch of other mumbo jumbo that was going on besides that like the fusion of other clans and treaties being formed, but the only part that really stood out to Ichigo was the entire recruiting process.
"You want me to be in your clan?" Ichigo asked angrily. He was angry at Grimmjow for a lot of things, but there was one thing that Grimmjow neglected to tell him and planning behind his back wasn't exactly a good way to treat someone that he was supposedly stuck with, but apparently that was a lie too.
"You were lying about having to watch over me?" Ichigo was part relieved about that part but that didn't change the fact that the guy was choosing to. He was angrier about the reason why he chose to. Grimmjow was secretly recruiting him into his clan without him knowing. It didn't seem possible, but apparently it was working until now.
"That's the entire reason for this stupid hickey?" Allegedly, Grimmjow lied about that too. It meant that he was on probation and he was still up for grabs for any vampire that can convince him to join their own respective clan. The entire purpose of the mark was just to show that a clan had specific interest in him and warned others to back off. In Ichigo's case though it may as well be a marker that he was totally aware of everything that was going on, but that would have been a lie.
If another clan wanted to fight for him then that was allowed he was only no longer on the market once he is turned. Aizen can follow him to the ends of the world until Ichigo decided to give up and become a vampire. Except he won't let that happen. He wanted to stay human. He was born one and he was planning to die as one too. He didn't like the option of how he wanted to spend his life being robbed from him.
Grimmjow didn't look in the least bit guilty. "Better than being in Aizen's clan." He disputed.
Smack, Ichigo slapped Grimmjow exactly where Nel did, but instead of making the imprint on his face turn back to the original color Nel left he instead felt his own hand turn hot and start throbbing instead while Grimmjow didn't seem moved by the slap at all.
It felt as if Ichigo slapped a steel wall as hard as he could and the hot and tingly feeling in his hand was now reminding Ichigo that his roommate is a fucking vampire and is apparently a lot stronger than him. How the fuck was he supposed to know that vampires are built like cheetahs and brick walls?
After feeling the pain in his hand he realized that he was lucky that he didn't punch him like he would usually. His instincts said that slapping him would have gotten his point across just fine. If he did punch him the bones in his hand probably wouldn't be intact.
"Don't pull this shit with me. All I wanted was a normal life, but you had to ruin any chance of me getting that." Ichigo yelled before taking off away from the two stunned siblings.
Grimmjow was about to chase after him, but Nel immediately held onto his shoulder preventing him from following.
"He just took in a ton of information that changed the course of his entire life. He's really angry at you so you should at least give him some space to cool down." Nel said.
Grimmjow looked at her angrily. "It's your fault I had to tell him everything."
Nel shrugged then locked her gaze back on Grimmjow. "If I didn't do it now he would be way angrier at you later on."
Grimmjow huffed looking away back towards where Ichigo was stomping off, but he was already out of sight. Sure, Grimmjow would be able to find him because the mark he left on him, but not seeing him still made him feel a bit uneasy. He sighed and put his hand gingerly on his cheek where the fiery human slapped him, excepting the fact that he was going to have to leave Ichigo alone for a little bit longer.
This was unfair for Ichigo, he didn't choose this and Grimmjow knew that. As much as he tried to push his nagging conscience to the side, he couldn't help feel bad for the kid that just wanted to be a doctor.
"It's better than me telling him why you wanted to recruit him in the first place."
Grimmjow huffed. "That is something I don't plan on telling him until way later in the game."
Ichigo was in his room packing. Ichigo felt stupid about planning to run away from his problems, but it was his fight or flight instinct kicking in and there was no way he was going to win a fight with a monster. Ichigo heard his phone buzz for the fifth time since he started, but he ignored it assuming that it was Grimmjow.
If he stayed any longer than he is going to find himself being dragged to Germany to be turned into a vampire, join a vampire clan where he has to spend the rest of his life with Grimmjow, in a country where he doesn't know the language and where he can't see his family or friends again.
It all sounds so ridiculous, if you told him yesterday that this shit was going to happen if he went back to his room that night, he would have spent the night at Renji's and filled out a request for a roommate change even though he was sure it wouldn't go through with only one month left in the semester, if that was the case then he would have done what he was doing right now, getting ready to leave.
After last night his sense of reality was basically snapped in half like a dry twig, but after that last conversation with Grimmjow and his apparent sister it felt as if it was being grounded to powder.
Why the hell did Grimmjow tell him that being a vampire sucked if he was planning to turn him into one? For a guy who was apparently going into a business major he's a terrible salesman. Who would tell their client that their product sucks?
He seriously wished that he could have roomed with Renji, but the abroad program apparently didn't allow you to pick your own roommates in an effort to diversify the students. Fuck that, Shuuhei and Izuru were roommates even though they were from the same fucking country.
The door suddenly opened. Ichigo tensed up a bit before hardening his glare before looking at the person he assumed was going to be Grimmjow. He was wrong, it was Renji.
"Answer your damn phone." He said as he walked in before he examined what his best friend was doing. "Where are you going?"
"Learn how to knock asshole." Ichigo grumbled.
"Sure, you can give me lessons after you answer my question." Renji said.
"There is a flight to Japan tomorrow and I'm going to buy a ticket. I need to call my dad to tell him I'm coming home early. I can't stay here any longer. This school is crazy."
Renji sat down next to where Ichigo on the floor and started to unpack his stuff.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Ichigo said as he grabbed Renji's wrists to stop him.
"I'm not letting you leave. You paid for the program out of your own pockets just for me, you made friends, you took classes here and it would be a waste of money, time, and credits to not finish them." Renji said. "It was already uncool that you left us so early just because your roommate."
"This isn't about the credits, the money, or our friends anymore. I just can't stay in this school anymore. Everything is just falling apart." Ichigo said. He wished he could tell Renji everything about what happened, but he knew that if he did he would potentially be put in danger.
"I have a hard time believing you left us while we were hanging out to start packing because you are starting to break down. Whatever you are fighting against right now I'm sure you could take." Renji said. "I've known you since forever and I've never seen this side of you before."
Ichigo became silent after hearing Renji's words. It's true that he prefers to stand and fight then run. He even got into quite a few street fights because of that, but Ichigo logic doesn't stand here anymore. Part of him hated looking and feeling so weak and letting his stupid roommate see that side of him, it made him look like he needed to be protected. Part of him wanted to prove just how tough he was, but the more logical part of him knew he needed to ditch his pride and get out. The question is that if it really is the more logical side the smarter side.
Aizen will still be there when he gets back to Japan, maybe not immediately, but in a month he will be back there and back to his creepy ways without Grimmjow there to protect him. As much as he hated to admit it, he wasn't able to fight Aizen alone.
"Do whatever you want, but I'm sure I'll see you tonight for dinner and at dinner tomorrow too." Renji said before leaving Ichigo alone.
Ichigo sat there staring at his luggage not making a single move to pack or unpack. He just sat there lost in his thoughts not sure what to do. That was until the door opened again, he was expecting to see Renji again to say a few final words, Ichigo looked at the clock to see that an hour has passed since his talk with the redhead and it was already dark outside. The person at the door was not Renji, it was actually Grimmjow this time.
"What are you doing?" He asked pointing at the luggage on the floor with his foot. Ichigo looked away from him not meeting his arctic blue eyes. "You aren't running away." Grimmjow said sternly, as if he was ordering him not to move, but Ichigo was never really the one to follow orders so he got up and left leaving Grimmjow by himself again.
He didn't even glance at him as he left fearing that if he looked at him he would get angry all over again. It was Grimmjow's room too so he had no right to kick him out. If he wanted to be alone he would have to try somewhere else.
A/N: I'm going to try and keep an easier schedule then updating every five days. I kind of want to give myself more time to make new chapters so I have more traction so let's try updating every seven days and see how that works. So...new chapter every Sunday I guess if things work out okay. Remember to review and stuff since I like hearing from you guys.