Hey guys, I understand it's been a long week. I won't keep you here for too long so enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 8

Ichigo woke up shirtless, in sweat soaked sheets and the general feeling of grossness. He lifted his head to look around before placing it back down slowly feeling pain shoot through his entire body. He didn't know where he was or what was going on, but it seemed that moving was not an option.

He looked at what he could see around him with minimal movements, white sheets, white curtains, and from what he could tell he was laying on a soft full sized bed that he was able to recognize as not his own twin-extra-long bed that was lent to him by the school. He was definitely not in his room.

He took a deep breath and gathered the will to try moving again. His head throbbed in disagreement and he ignored it so he could focus on his goal. He tried to sit up, but he was suddenly pulled back down onto the mattress that he was trying to leave, his back hitting against something hard. He turned his stiff head to meet cobalt eyes and a Cheshire grin.

"Welcome back to Earth, Ichi," was whispered to him as if trying not to startle him. He was then pulled into his roommate's naked chest, Ichigo hissed in pain, but didn't say anything to deny his roommate any further from the sudden and uncharacteristic form of affection.

He's never been so happy to hear his roommate's voice before. Correction, he's never been so happy to hear anyone's voice before period. He thought he was a goner. The pain and the warmth he was feeling resonating from Grimmjow was enough proof that he was alive.

He smiled lightly before a realization hit Ichigo like a cold gust of wind and he quickly grabbed his neck. Memories started to flow back to him like the tide as he remembered the reason why he passed out.

There were bandages where he was bitten this time. Did they not heal instantaneously like when Grimmjow bit him? Was he-?

"I know what you are thinking, no you weren't turned. We were able to save you in time." Grimmjow said shifting his body so that he was more comfortable against his bedmate's back.

"Ho-how long have I been out?" Ichigo said, his voice cracking as he tried to speak for the first time since he woke up, it came out quietly and hoarse like the sound coming out of him wasn't his own.

"Three days." Grimmjow said burying his head into Ichigo's hair which was probably greasy and gross. Ichigo's eyes widened as reality crashed into him as he tried to pull himself up in vain as Grimmjow's inhumanly strong arm kept him pinned down with barely any effort.

"I knew you were going to freak out. Don't move too much." Grimmjow hissed as Ichigo tried to squirm his way out of Grimmjow's grip.

"I haven't gone to class in three days?" Ichigo said voice miraculously recovered as he shouted in response, Grimmjow tried to contain his laughter as he wrestled with the awoken and still very much injured boy.

"Where the hell is this energy coming from? You were barely able to move before." Grimmjow howled as he tried to pin down Ichigo without touching his bruised shoulder that he received from struggling with Aizen. A smile plastered across his face as he watched Ichigo try to get the upper hand on him despite his overwhelming disadvantage.

The curtains were thrown open putting Ichigo's and Grimmjow's grappling on hold. Ichigo was pinned in front of Grimmjow, but he was able to see the petite figure dressed fully in white that now stood in front of him.

"Uryu?" Ichigo asked. His mouth nearly hung open in shock. Uryu examined the position of his patient, being held by a vampire who had his legs wrapped around his waist and holding both of his wrists in his own hands. He sighed and put his hands on his waist. He looked sternly at the two who were just rough housing.

"Why am I not surprised?" Uryu asked no one in particular, probably himself. "You are way too rowdy for someone who just woke up."

Grimmjow laughed. "Sorry Ichigo, they didn't have any hotter nurses, but at least I'm here." Ichigo didn't need to turn around to know that Grimmjow had a stupid grin on his face.

"Shut up, I just came here to check to see if everything is okay. I'll come back with food." Uryu said. "Oh yeah, and try not to break my patient, vampire." Uryu disappeared behind the curtain again leaving the two of them alone again.

"You're recovery is miraculous." Grimmjow said approvingly. "You wake up earlier than predicted and now you are tussling with me because you want to get back into your everyday life."

Ichigo sighed letting his head fall back onto the pillow already exhausted from the few minutes he was awake, his chest rising and falling slowly. Grimmjow loosened his grip on him, but still kept an arm around him to keep him from trying to get up again, finding a more comfortable position against Ichigo's back.

"Can I ask where I am and more importantly why you are in bed with me?" Ichigo asked looking back at the now closed curtains, unable to turn around with his roommate's arm pinning him down.

"You're in the infirmary, the part that's hidden in the back which is focused on reviving victims attacked by vampires." Grimmjow said. "As for me lying with you, I needed to bring your body temperature up, so I stayed with you."

Ichigo sighed feeling his forehead to check to see if he still had a fever. He couldn't really tell which means that if he did have one, it was very slight. "I figured that we were in an infirmary, but why is the bed so big?" He said referring to the full sized bed that they were laying on which was bigger than the beds they provided in the dorms and much bigger than any bed that you'd find in a hospital.

Grimmjow shifted his arm so that it wrapped around Ichigo's head covering his mouth rather than his chest. "Shhhh, don't question the set up. We didn't have a lot of fan service so we are putting some in. Just don't ruin the magic." Grimmjow whispered in his ear.

Ichigo grabbed the arm that was wrapped around him so he can pry it off his face until he felt something on the other's arm that didn't feel right. Ichigo forced himself to turn around so he could finally look at his roommate properly.

There were burns all over his body, at least that's what they looked like. His skin was covered in bandages and angry red marks that was spotted all over his arms, chest, neck, and cheek. The appearance of all the marks immediately made Ichigo's face turn pale.

"What happened?" Ichigo asked holding the side of his roommate's face so he could frantically examine the burns that weren't covered up by bandages, specifically the one that was right under his left eye. The visible burns looked ugly so he was scared to know about the ones that were covered.

Grimmjow scratched his head and sighed. "That was from when I saved you. You see, when a vampire enters a place that he isn't invited inside he gets burned. That includes dorm rooms."

Ichigo let go of his cheek and looked away from Grimmjow, his face full of remorse. Grimmjow took Ichigo's own cheek in his own hand, directing his gaze back to his dangerously stern eyes.

"Hey, quit looking like that. I knew what I was up against when I claimed you." Ichigo looked away avoiding his eye contact again his face looking just as guilty as before. "I'm recovering fine; I was in way worse shape before." Ichigo still didn't look up.

Grimmjow rolled his eyes and leaned in capturing Ichigo's lips with his own. Ichigo's eyes grew as he tried pulling away out of instinct, but Grimmjow was still holding his face.

When Grimmjow released Ichigo he looked at him incredibly smugly as the other looked at him in shock, trying to work out several different emotions, mostly confusion and the more visible, anger.

"What the fuck, Grimmjow?" Ichigo asked in astonishment, deciding to go with that emotion, his originally pale skin quickly took on a red color broadcasting his embarrassment.

Grimmjow laughed at Ichigo's reaction. "You see, that's the Ichigo I prefer." He said pulling Ichigo into another hug ignoring the fiery orange-haired human's struggles.

"Listen" He said seriously. "It's not your job to worry about me; it's mine to worry about you. So, don't go showing that face around me."

Ichigo sighed and relaxed into his hug, now realizing why his roommate pulled that stunt. There were less humiliating ways to catch him off guard then kissing him though. Well it got the job done, but he really hoped that he wouldn't resort to that method whenever he wanted him to pay attention.

"That reminds me." Grimmjow said snapping his fingers at the sudden realization.

"What's u-?" Ichigo started before Grimmjow cut him off by placing his lips on Ichigo's neck and started sucking.

His breath hitched at the unexpected contact. It seemed that his roommate was really into physical contact today, but he would have appreciated a warning before Grimmjow decided to make any more decisions on his own, especially when they involved actions that were a bit more on the nose.

Seriously, what was up with him today? From the moment he woke up Grimmjow has been really touchy-feely with him, more than usual and that was saying something. Ichigo was never a really touchy person even with Renji and Rukia. He usually only touched or hugged them when he felt the need to and it mostly involved him elbowing or shoving them for doing or saying something stupid.

He shivered once his neck was released from his roommates mouth, now wet, a blotch of purple replacing Ichigo's tan skin. Grimmjow sat back and admired his handiwork.

"I decided to make it more noticeable this time." Grimmjow said critiquing his own work. "So this way everyone will know to back off."

"Geez, can't you do that some other time?" Ichigo ranted before he felt a glare focused on his back. He tensed and turned around to see Uryu standing next to the bed, curtains drawn back, carrying a tray of food, and the look of displeasure apparent on his face. Ichigo blushed and took the tray that was offered to him.

"It's not what you think." Ichigo said before mentally slapping himself in the face for realizing too late that Uryu already knew how the entire contract thing worked. He probably knew for way longer than Ichigo did.

"No need to be shy." Grimmjow said wiggling his eyebrows obnoxiously.

Uryu rightfully ignored him as he looked at a clipboard that was tucked under his arm while his hands were full.

Ichigo stared at the food not really sure how he felt about it. He didn't exactly have an appetite although he knew that he should be in starvation mode for being asleep for three days and therefore not getting a single bite of food.

"Let's see." Uryu said writing on the clipboard. "You woke up five days ahead of schedule, especially since we discovered that you were allergic to Grade A holy water and had to switch to Grade C. You responded well to treatment so we only hooked you up to an IV for a few hours a day since we didn't want to overwhelm you." Uryu clicked his pen and stuck it back into his clipboard. "Which begs the question, what the hell are you?"

Grimmjow laughed and ruffled Ichigo's hair. "I don't know either; my spell for memory wiping didn't work on him." Ichigo elbowed his roommate in the side signing that he was sharing information that should probably not be shared. "Oh and the effects from the contract are fading away faster than they should." Ichigo looked over at Grimmjow as he learned yet even more information he didn't know.

He wouldn't have thought that the mark was losing its effect. It made logical sense since none of the other spells that were used on him worked properly. Even if the spell didn't work properly it did do its job of being a freaking noticeable as hell hickey.

Uryu looked at Grimmjow in wonder. "Let me get this straight, you recruited Ichigo because of a mistake?" Uryu asked. "You would have fooled me considering you've had him written down for under consideration since this program started."

Ichigo sighed. Grimmjow was lucky that he told Ichigo that he was planning on recruiting him for a while. If he didn't then this would have been a huge shock and Grimmjow would have attacked Uryu for spilling his secret, guess Grimmjow telling him about that was a good action to take even though it did make Ichigo decide to spend the night at Renji's. He probably wouldn't have been abducted either, but that wasn't important at the moment.

"Well, twenty others had you signed under their name as well." Uryu said flipping a page on his clipboard not looking up at them anymore. "That was until Aizen signed you under his." Uryu turned the clipboard around which showed Ichigo's profile.

The clip board had Ichigo's student ID photo, which as per tradition, looked like a mug shot. Right next to it there was all his personal information, age, birthday, emergency contact, blood type, health insurance, the stuff you'd expect to see on a profile. Then there was a list of names, 'Jaegerjaquez' being the first one, but under that was a list of last names from all different origins and all crossed out until the last name that was signed, 'Aizen.'

Ichigo looked at the names in shock. The only ones he recognized were the two that were still there in the forest of scribbles. All guilt that he had of Grimmjow hurting himself for the purpose of saving him started to disappear as he realized what all these names meant. Uryu took the clipboard away, and gestured to the food on Ichigo's lap.

"Eat." He said and walked away pulling the curtains closed behind him.

Ichigo held the toast up and looked at it, before placing it back down. He cracked open the thermos and whiffed its contents, vegetable soup. It smelled better than any of the other foods you can find on campus even if it was basically hospital food, but it still didn't interest him.

"Do you want me to feed it to you?" Grimmjow asked jokingly.

"Don't be gross." Ichigo said shoving him on the side.

He opened the thermos and took a swig of it, ignoring the spoon that it came with. It wasn't hot, but it was warm and it was pretty good even though he still wasn't that interested in eating. Suddenly he heard the sound of running and then the curtains flew open. A panting redhead stepped through with a fiery look in his eyes. Ichigo swallowed hard and incorrectly making him cough harshly at the sudden surprise visit.

"Hey Renji," he said hoarsely in between coughs.

"Thank God you are awake." His best friend panted. He threw himself at Ichigo, wrapping him in a hug. "You have no idea how worried I was, dammit."

"You know I didn't shower in three day right?" Ichigo said trying to push his best friend off of him, suddenly aware of his body that was probably covered in both his and Grimmjow sweat; he had mega greasy hair, and horrid morning breath.

Renji just held on tighter, "I don't give a shit! I was worried about you, dammit." Ichigo gave up and accepted the hug, wrapping his own arms around his best friend.

Grimmjow watched sternly as Renji had a tight hold on his roommate. He was fuming, but he didn't say anything. His best friend was probably just acting that way because he was relieved that he was finally awake.

Uryu came jogging back into the room that he just left a little while ago. "Renji, I just said that we aren't seeing any visitors right now." Uryu pulled Renji off of him by the back of his collar and proceeded to drag him out of the room.

"That's not fair, why is Grimmjow here then? And if you aren't going to let me see him, why did you tell me that he was awake? I came running down here to see him, dammit." Renji complained as he was dragged out of the infirmary. Ichigo heard the sound of a closing door and suddenly he was alone again…well almost.

"I don't know what his big deal is. He kept on visiting while you were asleep too. It was kinda weird cuddling up to you while he sat there." Grimmjow said.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "People visit others in the hospital you know? It doesn't matter if I'm awake or not."

"Yeah, but geez, it was like he was afraid I was going to do something." He said. "It's not like I would turn you in front of all these vampire hunters and it's a bit risky and difficult to turn you if you are passed out."

"That isn't funny." Ichigo said sternly.

"What?" Grimmjow laughed. "I feel like I deserve more credit than you are giving me. If I was going to change you against your will I would have done it when I first met you."

Ichigo sighed, he did have a point. Still, if he was planning to get Renji's approval he would need to leap some higher mountains then what he was doing.

Grimmjow clicked his tongue, "so nosy."

Renji walked out of the door that that leads to the back rooms at health services. No one ever wondered what was behind those doors, probably assuming that it was equipment or something, but truthfully it was a wing that held all the vampire attack victims, not that there were many.

He always knew about the secret wing since he was one of the few humans that knew about the vampires in the first place. He felt guilty, if he knew that Ichigo was going to get hurt then he wouldn't have asked him to come along. How was he supposed to know that he would attract so much attention? It's true that there was probably more humans then vampires on this campus, but very few of them are actually recruited.

Vampires tend to be picky when it comes to turning humans since they are basically going to be stuck with them if they do decide to turn them. Kicking vampires out of their clans is a shameful act since vampires preferred to live in packs.

He should have listened to Rukia's warnings. How was he supposed to know that Ichigo had some sort of weird blood that attracted vampires? It made him curious about how he was able to survive twenty years with no knowledge on them. He knew about them the day Rukia proved that they were real and after that everything seemed to make sense, as if the world had a plot hole, but knowing about the supernatural filled in those holes.

"Is your friend alright?" A much older looking man with long silky black hair said when he saw Renji leave the building.

"I wouldn't know. He looked fine, but I got kicked out before I could talk to him because it wasn't visiting hours." Renji pouted.

"That isn't surprising; hunters are known to uphold their rules." The man said. "I understand since I'm the same way."

"The Kuchiki clan is known for its strict rules." Renji mumbled walking past him so that they could head back to their dorm.

The man was Byakuya Kuchiki, the head of the Kuchiki clan and Rukia's older brother. For some reason he decided to see what Renji was all about by himself rather than send a proxy like everyone else. It was incredibly uncommon for a head of a clan to come here by himself. Usually if they would come here they would also bring subordinates, but Byakuya said that the crowd would be in the way.

It was incredibly warm out and it seemed a lot of students weren't planning to take it for granted so a lot of people were outside causing them to walk closer together to lessen the chances of bystanders eavesdropping on their conversation.

"I know you are well aware of the rules you just wish to forget them." Byakuya said, "Which is why I can't believe I am saying this, but I've decided to let you join the clan."

Renji looked up with an astonished expression on his face. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to smile and shake his hand or bow to the older and more intimidating man that basically agreed to become his brother in-law.

"Though I believe Rukia wants to be the one to turn you. I think she would want to turn you as quickly as possible. I assume that when I tell her she will start to look for a flight over here as soon as possible." Byakuya said in the same monotone voice he was holding throughout the entire conversation, ignoring Renji's stunned reactions.

Renji immediately felt a wave of uncertainty crash over him. He's been trying to give up his humanity ever since he decided that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Rukia so why was he so unsure now?

He was well aware that if he gained immortality then he would have to give up his human dreams, but he came to a realization that following his dreams wasn't the best route anyway. Did this happen to everyone when they are about to make a life changing decision? No way, deciding to quit your job to become a comedian feels the same way as actually deciding to follow through with giving up humanity.

Byakuya looked at the expensive looking watch that was on his left wrist. "I have a class to teach in about twenty minutes so I'm going to need you to figure out what you want to do until I decide to tell Rukia about the plans to turn you. Don't decide to tell her yourself." He said before turning around and walking in the opposite direction.

Renji turned around to watch his fiancé's brother walk off without even giving him a proper goodbye. He didn't expect to get his blessing in this manner, but oh well, mission complete. He started to head back to his room so he could start to work on the homework that Professor Kuchiki assigned to him. It would be a disaster if he forgot about the homework that he needed to do for a class where he shared a room with the professor.

There were a ton of apartments at the other end of the campus that was meant for professors to live in temporarily if the commute was too hard. Renji had no idea why Byakuya insisted on living in a tiny dorm room with a student.

It was mega intimidating for his every move to be watched by the guy evaluating him, deciding whether he was worthy of being let in the clan or not. Also wouldn't students find it weird to see a professor walk into a dorm building?

He understood how he did it. Byakuya was a purebred vampire and he looked a lot older and acted way more sophisticated than any of the students here. The one running the program, Urahara, agreed to let him into the program instead of sending in a proxy like most of the other clans if he filled in the spot as a professor. Even though Byakuya always wore the same stern and emotionless expression Renji could tell that he totally liked the position of authority that was given to him.

Seriously, the dorming part was a bit unexpected though. Every time he smelled marijuana through the walls of the dorm room he always got nervous even though he wasn't the one smoking it. It was instinctual to not want to let a teacher see the worst even though they are well aware of what college life was like.

Renji couldn't help, but compare him to Rukia. He thought living with her brother would be similar to living with her, but they were polar opposites. He was so stern and it's true that Rukia can be gloomy sometimes herself, but she always joked around and cheered him up.

She can be bossy sometimes like her brother, but that's what being in a relationship is like. They also had a completely different air around them. Maybe it had to do with the way they were raised.

Byakuya was raised to be the air of the Kuchiki clan, he was a purebred vampire. He strived for perfection and was raised under strict rules. His idea of fun was to read a nonfiction book or do crossword puzzles. He didn't have much free time since he was always so busy grading papers, making assignments, and managing his clan.

Rukia on the other hand lived her childhood in an orphanage that was in a bad part of town. It was close to Karakura town though so it wasn't too far away. He met her in the playground after she ran away for the who-knew-how-many timeth when they were children. He was a little scared to approach her, but he managed to gather up the courage to talk to the girl sitting on the swing set.

He listened to her cries with his childhood naivety and her talking about it and expressing her emotions that she had to keep suppressed helped her calm down. That was when he learned how hard the real world was.

She cried to him about how hard it was to live in an orphanage, having to act like a big sister to everyone younger than her even though she was new to living in an orphanage herself. It was hard thinking about being adopted because her father just died and she didn't want a new father just yet.

She still mourned her father's death and she didn't have any known family so she was left in an orphanage which didn't treat her the way she should be treated. She carried around a photo of her father that was the only family that she knew about. Renji saw the photo only once in his life and it was at that time.

She would sneak out every weekend to see Renji at the playground at the same time. She even listened to him play the guitar when he first started lessons, he had to sneak it out of the house since his parents didn't want him to get it dirty. They would play and talk for hours.

Ichigo knew about his 'secret friend,' but never had the chance to meet her since he was always taking karate lessons at the time of their meet up and eventually his mother's death made him not want to leave his home. Around middle school age she was adopted, it was amazing for her since it was so rare for someone who was thirteen years old to even be looked at.

Everyone always wants the babies or young children. Not only was she being adopted at such an old age, but she was being adopted into a noble family. At their last meeting in the playground she decided to tell her only friend that she was getting a new family and that they were a family of vampires.

She told him that she was going to be turned into one as well and that she was spending her last moments as a human with him. He didn't believe her and even broke his ties with her which probably shattered her at that moment. Teaching her right there what it would be like to become a vampire.

She went to the same high school as him starting their freshman year. She wasn't in the same class as him, but she was in the same class as Ichigo. They became fast friends and one day he invited her to hang out with him and his best friend. He had no idea that the two of them had history and they had to explain that they were friends when they were younger.

Renji simply said that she was that friend he used to meet up with in secret. It was awkward hanging out together at first, but since Ichigo was there it was a lot easier to get along. Ichigo went home early because he didn't want to be late for curfew since the punishment was getting attacked by his dad. As they said goodbye Renji brought up what Rukia told him when they last saw each other.

She laughed saying that she was somewhat hoping that he would forget about that. She didn't want to lie to her first friend though and demonstrated that she was telling the truth all those years ago. She crushed a rock in her hand as if it were a clot of dirt to demonstrate her superhuman strength. Her adoptive brother Byakuya turned her and now she was a vampire.

After being utterly stunned and his reality being turned upside-down Renji accepted the truth and said that he was sorry for not believing her before. He felt bad leaving her all alone again after all of those years of listening to her and telling her that he wouldn't let her be alone anymore.

Their friendship became as strong as it was before she was adopted if not stronger, Renji being the only human that knew her secret. It eventually developed into something stronger and well, here we are.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed. Please review and stuff like always. It'll be a huge help if you check out the new story I posted the other day. I'm not sure if I'm going to write it, but it would be great if you check it out and tell me how you guys feel about it. I have an idea of what I want to do, but it's up to you guys to decide whether I finish it or not.