Hi, I'm not ready to go back to posting weekly. I still have some stuff that I want to set up...starting with going back to writing in advance. I'm a little rusty and I'm not sure if this chapter feels different or not, but I hope you enjoy it either way.

Chapter 18

Grimmjow was stunned silent. He looked at Ichigo's father who was only just acting incredibly goofy and embarrassing earlier that day, but now he made a completely different impression. He was intimidating and had a dangerous expression that seemed somewhat dark, like he was looking at the Grim Reaper himself.

"I thought it would be a good thing for Ichigo to see the world a bit. Karakura is too silent and hardly anything supernatural happens here. I knew that letting him go on the abroad program may awaken his powers and I felt it was safe since Urahara was running it." Isshin said.

"Wait, you knew about all of this?" Grimmjow asked, speaking for the first time since he sat down. "You knew about the vampire program and you still let him go." He couldn't help get a little angry. If he knew about this he should have stopped him instead of letting him pay to go to a program that nearly killed him. Yes, he would have never met him, but at least he would have been safe. He put Ichigo's safety above all else and that included whether or not being in a school full of vampires was actually safe. Obviously it wasn't since he was nearly turned into a vampire and killed by Aizen who was gaining a pretty bad reputation and was on the watch list for the hunters in charge of the program.

"I know what you are thinking. That you were the one that had to protect him, but you forgot one crucial detail. My son is a shinigami, he can defend himself. He lasted this long by himself, though he still has a lot to learn." He said. Suddenly the room started to smelled unearthly good. Grimmjow's nostrils flared and his eyes dilated at the new invading scent. It felt like he was a starved shark in a tank and a bucket of fish blood was dumped into the water. It teased him since he couldn't eat it and it only made him hunger more despite his stomach being relatively full.

"Shinigami blood is very special, but by hiding our presence we can also hide the smell so that we can appear normal to vampires." Isshin said. As soon as he said that the smell disappeared without leaving a trace of a lingering smell. It was like the heavenly smell didn't even exist in the first place and it was all in his head. "That is something he has still yet to learn."

"You're a shinigami too." Grimmjow said slowly as he put the pieces together. Of course he was. He didn't fully understand how shinigami worked since this was the first time he has ever heard of them existing, but now it looked like Ichigo got his powers from genetics. It was crazy that for as long as he lived he never knew that shinigami were real, but here he was sitting in front of another one.

"Yeah, so you better not do anything that would harm my son." He said coldly.

Then everything clicked in place for Grimmjow. Ichigo's dad didn't hate him. He was just being a protective father and he was threatening him not to stick a toe out of line and do anything that hurt him.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't dream of hurting him. I'm serious about him." He said, but he decided that he had to be honest. "I don't think I can promise not to turn him though."

Isshin downed the rest of his drink and got up to put the bottle and glass away. "I don't care about that. He is a shinigami so he has the same longevity as vampires and he will stop aging eventually. If he doesn't end up getting himself killed then he can live forever. Just don't take him away from his family. Rukia is a vampire too, but I still treat her like family and it seems that now Renji is going to be turned too. If you decide to keep Ichigo all to yourself then you aren't really thinking about what is best for him."

Grimmjow nodded. "I wouldn't want to take him away from his family. I wouldn't be here if I had that intention. I didn't know that shinigami had the same lifespans as vampires. I'm glad; He won't admit it, but I'm pretty sure that he would be upset if he had to cut his ties. Now he doesn't have to so I guess I better get used to seeing you."

"Look forward to it." He said with a large grin on his face. He sounded like he did when he first met him. The intimidating air around him was now gone and he sounded just like a dad that his kids would be embarrassed to have.

"Oh yeah, and can you do me a favor? Don't tell Ichigo that I'm a shinigami. He has to figure out how to control his powers without me holding his hand. Every shinigami is different so I wouldn't be much help anyway."

Grimmjow was hesitant since it seemed like a pretty big detail to hide, but he agreed. He didn't want to get on his dad's bad side and keeping the secret was in Ichigo's best interest then he had no choice. He seriously didn't want to keep anymore secrets from him, but it looked like this one was unavoidable. Wait, he still had that one, but they'll get there when the time comes.

That aside he couldn't figure out what was worse. Ichigo finding out that he was hiding something or how his father was going to react if he told him. Heck, how would Ichigo react if he were to find out that his father was just like him?

Grimmjow got up and left the room climbing back upstairs to Ichigo's room. He saw the orange-haired shinigami asleep on his bed peacefully. He climbed on top of him once again, waking a reluctant Ichigo

"What now?" He groaned lightly opening one of his eyes.

"You know I love you and I don't want to hurt you right?" Grimmjow said huskily in Ichigo's ear. He felt Ichigo's body heat up underneath him.

"Wha-what are you saying?" Ichigo stuttered.

"Just reminding you that I love you," Grimmjow said. "Now can you move over?" He asked.

Ichigo inched over a bit even with Grimmjow's giant body on top of him he was able to manage.

"There is a futon in the closet with a bunch of spare sheets if you want that instead. There's not a lot of space."

Grimmjow gripped onto Ichigo and rolled over making Ichigo flip on top of him. "Nah, this works." He said with a large grin on his face.

Ichigo sighed. "There is seriously a better method then this you know? Why are you always so difficult?"

Grimmjow relaxed despite having Ichigo on top of him. He was so light and it wasn't because of his monstrous strength. It actually bugged him.

"Hey Ichigo, how much do you weigh? You don't need to tell me if you are uncomfortable saying it." Grimmjow said looking up at Ichigo.

"Ummm, I haven't checked in a while, but the last time actually cared I was about 145 pounds." Ichigo said immediately self-conscious and somewhat expecting what was going to come out of his boyfriend's mouth.

"You're so light." Grimmjow said in a husky voice. "Is that healthy?"

"Hey, my BMI is normal. Mind your own business. If you are so upset with my weight then I can take the futon." He said.

He began to try and get up, but before he can roll off Grimmjow wrapped his arms around him and prevented him from moving. "No, it's fine. This is your bed after all."

Ichigo sighed and slumped his body against him. "I'm not even on the bed." He mumbled deciding that it was best to just give up. "Fine, just don't do anything perverted."

Grimmjow leaned upwards and kissed him on the forehead. Despite his exhausted state he blushed, but he was too tired to act flustered.

"Okay, fine that's all you get." Ichigo warned, fitting his head in-between Grimmjow's neck and shoulder. "You're so muscular, but I'm too tired to be picky."

Grimmjow eventually felt Ichigo's body go limp against his signing that he's fallen asleep again and Grimmjow immediately felt a warmth flow through his body that resonated from Ichigo's body heat and him lightly rising and falling from his breath.

It was so peaceful, so peaceful that he was able to fall asleep without a problem despite having a weight laid across his body that smelled unearthly amazing. It would usually spike his appetite, but somehow he was finding it easier to resist the temptation. It was a lot harder to sleep in the same room as him when they first met. He was worried that he would attack him in his sleep. He improved a lot, probably because he didn't want any harm to fall upon the one that was now sleeping soundly on top of him.

Ichigo was surrounded by an ambiance that originally seemed weird, but now he was completely used to. All he saw was a blue sky and sideways buildings; he wanted to make a habit of visiting his inner world when he was asleep. He officially figured out how to come and go and he found it productive to fit in both sleeping and shinigami training at the same time even though he discovered that it made him wake up not as well rested.

Can he even call it training though? He fought with Shiro for a while and figured out more about his powers. They talked throughout the entire fight as well, the clone of him teaching him more about his powers and himself. He didn't know if what he learned would transfer to the outer world though. He didn't exactly have time to put it into practice. He didn't even know where he could try it. His new found powers seemed a bit over the top and it wasn't like he could practice them in a public place like a park or in front of his family. He loved his family, but he didn't want to dump his supernatural discoveries on them, not yet.

"So you're saying every shinigami is unique?" Ichigo asked dodging one of his attacks.

"That's right. Ya don' exactly have a lotta others ta compare ta though, but all shinigami have a soul inside of them that is the source of their powers." He said thrusting another attack at Ichigo who quickly side stepped and delivered his own attack. "Yur a bit different from other shinigami though, starting from the fact that yur half human. So ya better be prepared."

Ichigo let out a blast from his voice blowing the other soul backwards. "Prepared for what? I'm out of immediate danger now that I left America and Aizen disappeared. I'm back at Karakura, nothing ever happens here."

Shiro flipped in the air landing on his feet and slid back with one hand touching the ground. "Yur too naïve if ya think that it's over just yet. I don' know what's going to come next either, but ya can kiss yur normal life goodbye."

Ichigo wasn't surprised to hear that. He said goodbye to his normal life a long time ago. He fought to keep his life as normal as possible for a while, but after discovering that his best friend was a vampire and his other best friend wanted to get turned into one he knew that it wasn't that normal to begin with. Grimmjow biting him and claiming him wasn't exactly the starting point of his weird life, it was when he discovered that it was weird. Then he started to freaking date the freaking guy because he may as well as start embracing the path his life went down and also he was surprisingly attracted to his vampire roommate. Then there was the matter of discovering that he is a shinigami there was no way he could go back to hoping that somehow things will return to the somewhat normal life he had. His normal life never existed in the first place, it was only and illusion. There was no reason to harp on it and he had to move on with life even if it took a complete turn for the weird.

"There're secrets that ya don' know yet, but stay tuned. They'll be revealed soon, dontcha worry." He said. "And with that let's end fer today."

Ichigo stilled in his place. "Wait, I still have questions. You were saying that you are the source of my power?"

"Yeah, but we can talk 'bout that later." He said before he disappeared and Ichigo's vision faded to black.

Ichigo woke up on top of Grimmjow, his neck sore from having it hang off his shoulder in an awkward position. It was still dark and he could hear no movement in his house. It's official; his sleep schedule is completely fucked. The guy beneath him seemed completely comfortable though. For someone so cocky he looked incredibly peaceful when he was asleep. It sort of ticked Ichigo off for some unknown reason.

Ichigo calculated how to get off of his boyfriend without stirring him. There was no way he could just roll off of him without Grimmjow waking up too. Dammit, why did this guy insist on sharing a bed with him when there was a perfectly good futon? It wasn't possible to escape without waking the beast so he just accepted the fact and attempted to just roll off of him despite knowing that it wouldn't work. Ichigo was right, as soon as he tried to leave arms clutched onto Ichigo's body tightly. Freaking monster strength, Ichigo had no choice, but to wake up the sleeping figure underneath him.

"Hey, Grimmjow," Ichigo whispered. "Let me go."

Grimmjow's eyelids twitched before he opened them halfway, looking up at the guy on top of him. He looked over to Ichigo's digital alarm clock on his desk.

"It's four in the morning." He stated. "What's the point?"

Ichigo shrugged. There was some truth in that statement. There was no purpose since he didn't need to do anything productive. He may as well be on an early vacation since he was let out early and he still had a while until the next semester started at Karakura University. Seriously, vacation didn't even start here yet.

"I don't know; we can do something a bit more fun…" Ichigo said letting his voice trail and his face turned bright red.

Grimmjow's face turned blank and his eyes were now completely open. His lips were twitching in anticipation that turned into a smirk. If he wasn't so tired or shocked that Ichigo suggested such a thing then he would be grinning from ear to ear. Ichigo could feel something start to poke at his abdomen causing Ichigo's skin to turn into a dark rose color that made his skin almost glow pink when he recognized what it was.

This was the first time he suggested doing something in that area. He didn't expect such a response, but Grimmjow was the first to act as always. He never passed up an opportunity to touch Ichigo. His blank face immediately turned lecherous and he hugged Ichigo tight before rolling over so that they flipped positions.

"I've never seen you like this before. I like it." Grimmjow hummed. He kissed Ichigo on the neck, sticking his tongue out and leaving a long line on the side making Ichigo's breath hitch. His hand trailed southwards towards Ichigo's pajama pants-

"Oh God, please don't." Grimmjow's head whipped around with astonishment and aggression that was animalistic to face the intruder that he didn't realize was there.

Someone seemed to float outside of Ichigo's bedroom window, no not float he was straight up standing, but he was upside-down. He looked around Ichigo's age, but rather than wearing a scowl like Ichigo did, his mouth was turned into a mischievous smile. He had blond shoulder length hair that seemed to defy gravity since it hung by his neck rather than falling down to face the earth. "As tempted as I am to just sit back and watch my conscience knows better."

"Who the fuck are you?" Grimmjow said jumping off of Ichigo to stand territorially in front of him in a battle stance with his fists clenched. He just landed in Japan, but it seemed that he had to already start worrying about protecting Ichigo even though this place was supposedly meant to be safe. He didn't sense this guy at all, there was no smell coming off of him and he didn't make any noise until he made himself known.

"Whoa, cool it Fang. I'm not here to pick a fight." He said raising his hands in defense before jumping off of the nothingness and landing on well…more nothingness, but this time the air stayed still below his feet, turning himself right-side up. "Kisuke sent me. He wanted me to make sure this one didn't go mad." He said gesturing to Ichigo who was now sitting up in his bed.

Grimmjow growled and stepped closer to the window intimidatingly. "You still didn't answer my question, Blondie. Who the fuck are you?"

Ichigo had some red tinted on his face, but he looked between the two of them. He didn't know whether he should try to calm his boyfriend down or get the fuck out of there. He decided to stay put and see what happened though.

"I'm not going to give you my name since I'm an escapee. All you need to know is that I don't mean harm." The blond man said scratching the side of his head.

"You have until the count of three." Grimmjow snarled, baring his teeth like a wild animal. He didn't give a shit about what this guy was saying as long as he gave him answers.

"Geez," The blond man sighed. He realized that the only way he could actually make progress is to get past the blue-haired guard dog. Sadly this guy wasn't looking to hear him out or settle things peacefully as long as he withheld information from him. "You know you're really contributing to the stereotype about vampires being incredibly violent. Fine, if it's the only way you'll let me talk I'll tell you. My name is Shinji Hirako. I'm a shinigami that escaped the institution."

Ichigo blinked and reached over and grabbed hold of the window and slid it open, allowing the stranger to come into his room.

"You have got to be kidding me." Grimmjow groaned when Ichigo performed the action. "You have no idea who this guy is or whether he is telling the truth or not. Your survival skills are shit."

"Fine, then I trust you to protect me if the time comes, but my instincts are telling me that he comes in peace. Besides, he feels familiar." Ichigo said to Grimmjow, but his head sort of seemed lost in the clouds as he tried to figure out why he felt like he can trust the stranger and why he felt so familiar despite this being the first time they've met. The blue-haired vampire clicked his tongue and sat next to his boyfriend wrapping an arm protectively around him and bringing him closer to his body.

"Thank you." Shinji said as he stepped through the window and jumped over the bed to land on the wooden floor of Ichigo's room. "I did come here for a reason, you know?"

"At four in the morning?" Grimmjow growled. "I'm sure." He snaked his arms further around Ichigo's waist and locked his fingers together. Ichigo tried to ignore Grimmjow's over reaction, but it was hard to ignore him when he could feel Grimmjow's hair brush against his cheek and his breath tickle his skin.

Shinji just shrugged, raising his hands over his shoulders in an exaggerated show of saying 'I don't know.' "He assumed you guys would be awake now for some reason. I have no idea how he got that right, but his instincts have always been good."

Shinji put his arms down and grabbed the chair in front of Ichigo desk, pulling it to him and then straddling it. "Now, let's get down to business. It seems you haven't gone mad yet so that's a good sign, especially since you're an unregistered shinigami. The institution doesn't know about you just yet, but that doesn't mean they won't discover your existence eventually. You are terrible at hiding you know. Your spiritual energy is flowing out of you like an exploded fire hydrant. If you keep that up they'll find you and take you away."

Ichigo gave the new character a puzzled look. "Wait, what are you talking about? This is all new to me so you're gonna have to back up."

Shinji groaned. "Of course he left me to explain all of this stuff. That guy always has to be so secretive." Shinji resisted the urge to continue ranting and bring up stories about when he had to do shit that his supposed friend avoided, but for the sake of time and desire to go back to bed himself he started the explanation. "Alright listen up. You're an unregistered shinigami which means you aren't in the system. Congratulations, being in the system sucks."

Grimmjow groaned. "Get to the point already."

"Will you shut up?" He asked pointedly at Grimmjow. After a moment of silence he turned back to Ichigo. "Shinigami tend to be born in the afterlife, when they are found they get taken away from their homes and forced into an academy where they learn how to use their powers. After they master them they are forced to work, bringing souls who die in the human world to the afterlife. Yes, shinigami have an important job, but it shouldn't be forced on kids to leave their homes and work. It's like getting drafted into the army, but that's just my political view."

Ichigo looked at him, puzzled. "Okay being taken away from your home sucks, but what does that have to do with me? I was born in the human world and I'm only part shinigami, right? These guys have no reason to come to me."

Shinji clicked his tongue. "You see that's where you are wrong. The government in the afterlife is called the Central 46. They can send someone over here to kill you and bring you to the afterlife so that they can take you. It is very rare for a human to have shinigami powers, but it isn't impossible. Heck it happened twice recently, you and one other."

Grimmjow got up and stood in front of Ichigo protectively. "That gives me even more of a reason to distrust you. Get out; you're a shinigami aren't you?"

Shinji placed a hand on his forehead and shook his head, his mop of hair waving with every movement. "Okay, you need to go or something. I literally just said after you forced me to introduce myself that I escaped the institution. I'm off the radar and I follow no one's orders but my own."

"What about that Kisuke Urahara's." Grimmjow pointed out.

"Wow, low blow there. Low. Blow. Nah, I owe him so I promised to look after Ichigo until he can take care of himself. Once that time comes then I'm out. When I asked him why he wanted me to do all of this his explanation was that 'it was more fun this way.' That's nothing new though. Boring stuff never interested him so he would always find a way to make things more interesting either that or he's scheming something again, but the possibilities are around equal."

Ichigo shook his head. "I don't need to be watched over. I can take care of myself." Ichigo said.

The room went silent and cold. The tension was so thick that it could be cut with a knife. It seemed that Shinji had a bit more knowledge of everything that has happened, more than an outsider should have. It seemed that calling him an outsider though wasn't the best title for him now. Ichigo was starting to feel more like an outsider than ever as he considered how much about himself that he didn't know.

Grimmjow decided to speak up first. "Umm, Ichi… This past month doesn't exactly have a good record of you being able to take care of yourself. You got abducted twice." Grimmjow placed a hand on his shoulder. "You tried though."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. He wasn't wrong, but they had no idea what he has been up to. He has been training in silence under everyone's noses. He wasn't sure if he would be able to perform the same way he does in his inner world when in the real world, but there was a part of him that was completely alien to him that was itching to try. A new competitive part of him was awakened that he never expected to show and he always considered himself to be a competitive person to begin with.

"Right, but in the mean time I'll be the one to take care of you. I owe it to an old friend anyway." Shinji said scratching his head.

Grimmjow scoffed, "Yeah? Sorry, but that's my job. You weren't exactly there to protect him last month."

"Do as you please, but you aren't shoving me away so easily." He said. "Kisuke aside, I have an old friend who would hate to see him die."

Shinji looked at Grimmjow knowingly and Grimmjow clicked his tongue looking away, starting to see the bigger picture. Ichigo looked between the two of them and sighed noticing that he was missing some parts of the story…again. Was it really fair that people are keeping such important information secret in his life? Seriously, weren't those supposed secrets about him? He was stronger than they thought, dammit.

"Okay, what am I left out of this time? Can someone tell me what's up?"

Shinji looked at Grimmjow and then back at Ichigo. "Oh, this is what Kisuke meant when he said it'll be more fun this way. That bastard, you don't need to worry about it just yet and don't try to start digging at prince charming over there. He won't tell you either and there is no need to start conflict between the two of you because he barely knows shit either."

Shinji got up and hopped over the bed where Grimmjow and Ichigo sat onto the window sill and looked over his shoulder. "And with that, my purpose here is finished. Ichigo, don't let the other soul inside you drive you insane. If something happens that puts you in danger it may get irritated. Just a warning, that isn't exactly a good thing. I'll check in on you two later." As easily as he appeared he was gone.

Grimmjow's trained eyes was able to see him move at incredible speed into the distance, but for Ichigo it seemed that he just teleported and he could immediately feel a kick in his chest that probably came from Shiro. When did Shiro decide to be a fetus in its mother's stomach? Ichigo couldn't believe that that was the first comparison he came up with for Shiro being active, but it fit. Shiro was irritated by everything and after Ichigo discovered that he was a shinigami Shiro has been getting more and more active. He was starting to become a pain.

It has already been a day, but Ichigo could hear him calling out in his head and it's been getting louder and louder. He sounds a lot closer than he did before. Hirako said that he'll get irritated if he was put in danger, but he already started to get irritated, probably because he seemed to be attracting too much trouble. Whenever he sees someone stronger than him Shiro gets irritated and Ichigo could feel it too and it was starting to frustrate him.

It's like Shiro was the thing fueling his competitive spirit. Ichigo would usually get urges to compete with people, but Shiro took it to a whole new level and he infected his brain with thoughts and it made his body twitch for action. He wanted to get stronger. He wanted to get better. He wanted to be number one, and if Ichigo wasn't going to do his bidding then he was going to take over and do it himself and Ichigo knew that he was capable of doing just that. He proved as much by lending him powers that he didn't even know how to use.

Ichigo always thought that he was in control, but he thought back to the night where he got abducted by Yammy. In a situation like that he was surprisingly calm, and his fighting style was a lot different than it usually was when he fought delinquents in the street. It was wilder, more unpredictable; he couldn't even tell what he was going to do next.

He already started to take over. Shiro was his brute strength and his instincts while Ichigo used the resources around him to help him escape. Together they made a great team, but Ichigo could tell that Shiro felt like he was pulling most of the weight and Ichigo needed to step in more since it was his body. What will happen if he gets too strong though and is able to fight by himself and didn't need Ichigo's help? Shiro wasn't as nice as Ichigo would have liked. If he couldn't supply him what he wanted then he'll be devoured.

He needed to get stronger by himself. He didn't need Shinji to tell him that he may go mad with Shiro calling him and taunting him. For a guy who he had a relatively decent meeting with, he really was a selfish asshole. Though Shiro didn't act like it Ichigo could tell that he didn't truly want to be the one in charge. He was too laid back for that despite the way he talked and acted. He wouldn't be helping Ichigo out with training if he was determined to take over, but if it was for the benefit of the both of them he would take control and probably force Ichigo to take his place in his inner world. Ichigo wasn't sure how it worked, but that sounded about right.

"Sooo, do you want to resume?" Grimmjow asked pulling Ichigo's already close body on top of him and kissing his neck, hinting back to what they were doing before they were rudely interrupted.

"Sorry, the mood is kind of gone." Ichigo said wiggling out of his lap and lying back down on the bed, kicking his legs back on the bed so that he laid flat. "Also I kinda have a new fire lit inside of me so can you leave me alone for a bit?" He closed his eyes the thought I need to get stronger resonating in his head before he let himself fall back into his inner world.

A/N: Do me a favor and review. It will really help motivate me and motivation is something I really need right now. Thanks so much to everyone that reviewed. It really was helpful and believe it or not the reason why I continue posting is for you guys who read my stories and have made it this far...well that and me not wanting to leave a story unfinished. I know, it's mega corny too say that so I'll hopefully see you all next chapter.