Starting my second year of college Wednesday! I'm pretty excited. This also means I'll be working and going to school (the summer's over) so I won't be able to write and update the story as frequently anymore. But, the story will continue! Enjoy the chapter...and creepiness too lol.

Nights

Let the mind soar and admire the distant stars from this familiar place…but make sure to be aware of what happens here on the ground…

Sunday night. The unfortunate end to a beautiful first weekend for Grimmjow and Ichigo. The two had said their bitter goodbyes and prepared for the coming week just a little earlier. Ichigo was now currently sitting alone at his window, phone in hand, looking up at the stars.

They were so interesting. Each one was like a little portal to a different world. People who claim the world is a terrible, evil place must be on something. Then again, the world is what you make of it. If you see the beauty that outweighs the faults, then you're sure to live a better life. After all, the world isn't the problem. It's the people who inhabit it.

"Onii-chan! It's getting late! I'm putting the food up for the night!" Yuzu called, interrupting his thoughts.

"I'll make sure to eat in the morning!" he responded.

His phone vibrated. Rukia had responded to his question.

"I haven't played that one yet. Ask Senna."

They had been texting about Final Fantasy games. He asked her the plot for the thirteenth, but she apparently barely got to ten.

He made sure to tell her that the final boss music was killer before texting her good night.

Right after his phone told him his message was sent, Yuzu ran into his room with a horrified look on her face.

"Onii-chan! Come quick!" she cried.

Ichigo knew not to waste any time following her out of his room. Yuzu and Karin never cried without good reason.

Fllowing her downstairs, brown eyes went wide at the sight of a beaten and bloody man barely standing in the front door. Karin ran over to him and grabbed him under his arm to provide support. As soon as she did, they both nearly fell to the floor.

Ichigo had dashed over and supported his other side. After a moment, it was easy to tell this man was heavy set under his jacket.

The two made brief eye contact, and then Ichigo looked away. The guy was pretty good looking…despite his bruised face.

"Onii-chan, let's take him to the treatment room." Karin spoke.

"Right." He had forgotten that their father was out of town.

Things were now up to him. He couldn't screw this up. It was his chance to prove that he was competent.

After hauling the man into the room, they stripped him of his outermost layers to inspect the damage. There were signs of a blunt object being used to attack his torso. His face seemed okay apart from a few bruises and the bleeding nose and mouth dripping with blood.

Ichigo glanced at the clock. It was now nine o'clock. He should have been getting ready for tomorrow, but for him, patients had to come first when his father wasn't home.

When they got into the room, Ichigo and Karin led the black haired man to the bed and laid him down on it.

"Thanks for…helping…" he uttered.

"Don't talk. You need to save your energy. We're gonna take care of you so just take it easy for now."

Karin turned and looked at her older brother. A smile graced her lips. He sure could be comforting when he wanted to be. He was usually this way with Grimmjow when he came to the clinic with signs of a fight all over him.

When she noticed the time, however, she apologized and began retreating from the room. She had a history report to do that she had yet to even start.

"Good night, Karin." Ichigo smiled.

"My brother'll take good care of you mister. You're okay now." She said before exiting the room and closing the door.

Brown eyes turned and looked the battered man over. Something about him was off.

"Sir, have you been drinking tonight?" he asked.

"Gehahahaha! I always-always drink! This is noth-nothing." The man stumbled over his words.

"I'll do what I can for you tonight, and then I'll wake up early and talk with you once you come around."

"Yeah…"

"Oh, can I have your name? I'll be collecting your information in the morning."

"Kugo. Ginjo Kugo."

Ichigo paused for a moment. That name sounded somewhat familiar to him. It was as if he had heard it a long time ago.

"Okay, Ginjo. Can you turn over for me? I need to observe your backside."

Ginjo flipped over onto his stomach and slowly started to lift his shirt.

Seeing the difficulty the man was having with this task, Ichigo got closer and lifted the shirt. He scanned his backside and only noticed a few red areas from where Ginjo had been struck.

"Must have been some attacker."

"Caught me off guard. He'd better hope I never find out who he is because if I do he'll never see the light of day again."

Placing his hand gently on Ginjo's back, Ichigo rubbed and asked if he was feeling any pain.

"Only in the areas I was hit. Everywhere else is okay." The man replied.

Pulling out a handful of cloths, Ichigo wet one with water and the other with peroxide. He first cleaned the man's face of all traces of blood, then went over his bodily wounds with the peroxide. He was sure to be as gentle as possible. For some reason, he really enjoyed this. It reminded him of all the times he helped Grimmjow.

Some late summer nights, he would sneak in through Ichigo's window and silently go to sleep beside him. The next morning Ichigo would have a clear view, thanks to the sunlight, and notice bruises on his face and body.

When asking him about them, the only response he got was, "It's nothing."

Frowning, Ichigo wondered if Grimmjow had gotten involved in something else. Then he remembered the people his boyfriend usually hung out with. Nnoitora. Aaroniero. Ulqiorra. Szayel. Luckily he didn't seem to be involved with that Yammy anymore. Though it was most likely he was fighting with Nnoitora, that idea was pure speculation. He could have been fighting with random people from road rage or just lashing out on thugs. There was honestly no telling with Grimmjow.

He was like a cat. Let him out and he comes back beaten and bruised and all you can do is wonder how.

"Okay. If I leave you alone for the night, do you think you'll be okay?"

Turning over onto his backside, Ginjo smiled and spoke, "Yeah. But I'd prefer it if the doctor stayed here with me."

"I can't do that. It's unprofessional sir."

"I gotcha...Now worries. Just wa-wake me when you come in the morning."

"Okay."

Without another word, Ichigo stood and exited the room. He had given the most basic of checkups for now. In the morning when he had his energy, he would treat the man's injuries. He was in no immediate danger so leaving him as he was wouldn't be a problem.

He headed up to his room and plopped down as soon as he got to his bed. The night was calling his name and he was not about to ignore it.

Flipping off the lights, he looked out his window at the moon and stars once more before he fell into a deep sleep.

Monday morning.

Ichigo's alarm clock went off causing him to wake from his sleep. It was now time to begin another week without Grimmjow.

He turned the alarm off and got out of bed to go take a morning shower. Before entering the bathroom, he made his way to the room where Ginjo was staying. He was surprised to see the man was awake and sitting up in his bed.

Noting the time, he gathered the man's billing information and gave him a follow up check up.

"You seem to be doing okay. We're going to keep you here one more day just to make sure nothing's wrong. Is that okay with you?"

"That's fine. Do whatever you think is necessary, doctor." Ginjo replied.

"You know, you remind me of my boyfriend. He's always getting into fights and then he comes running right back to me as if this is a safe zone or something." Ichigo smiled as he spoke.

"Boyfriend?"

"Oh, sorry. Guess I shouldn't bother you with my personal life."

"No no no. It's fine. Tell me more about him."

"There isn't much to say really. Well, when I think about it, I guess there is… He was involved in this mess I had to help him out of. But he saved one of my closest friends in the ordeal from these two girls who were jealous of her."

"How'd he do that?"

"I'm not sure... He has a quick temper so I don't put it past him to have snapped or something. It's something I choose not to think about."

It was indeed something he avoided pondering. But Inoue had told him that one of the girls was about to kill her and that she had also shot Grimmjow. The fact that he stopped her without killing her was enough proof that he had some control over himself. And he had done a good job. Inoue is still alive now because of him.

"Can I get your name?" Ginjo asked, drawing Ichigo from his thoughts.

"I'm Kurosaki, Ichigo. But this is my father, Ishiin's clinic."

Suddenly, the man's eyes went wide and he sat in silence for a few moments.

"A-are you okay sir?" Ichigo asked.

"Oh... Yeah. I was just remembering something…"

"Remembering-"

"I think you might just be late to school if you don't hurry." he smiled.

"Right. I'd forgotten what time it was."

After ensuring the man would be okay on his own for a few hours, Ichigo hurried back to his room and grabbed his clothes.

He took a quick shower and ate breakfast with Yuzu and Karin before all three siblings headed off to school for the day leaving Ginjo all alone in their house.

Ginjo sat in his bed with a calm expression on his face. However, his thoughts were speeding about the boy who had just left him.

It was many years ago when he was still a teenager and Ichigo was but five years old. He had promised the boy that he would do anything to make him happy to repay the kindness his mother had shown him.

"Masaki…" he uttered quietly.

Shaking his head of the distant memory, Ginjo slowly got out of bed.

He exited his room and made his way to the hallway. The little boy he wanted to make his own was now a grown man. And what an attractive one he had grown up to be.

Sticking his head in one of the open doorways, he could tell this room was for the twin girls he had seen last night. He was not interested in going in, so he continued until he came to the door with the fifteen hanging from it.

The door was closed but not locked, he discovered, upon turning the knob.

As soon as he entered, he recognized the familiar scent it held. It was Ichigo's fair scent. One he was always happy to encounter.

Immediately after one glance over the room, he noticed a few things about the boy right away. One, Ichigo was studious. There were textbooks piled up on one end of his desk. Two, he was neat. His bed was made and there was nothing on the floor. Three, he was interested in music. There was a guitar in the corner near his television.

Once he turned, he saw the boy's closet door was slightly open. He walked over to it and opened it a little more to snoop around. He saw a bandanna neatly folded on top of the dresser that was inside it. But that was strange. Bandannas didn't seem like the boy's style. Then his eyes landed on the clothes hamper. It was half full.

Lifting the top, he saw the clothes Ichigo had changed out of just a little earlier: a sleeveless t-shirt, sweat pants, and a pair of boxer-briefs.

His eyes were glued to them. He reached out his hand and picked up the underwear then brought them to his nose.

With eyes closed, he inhaled deeply to get the scent. He took a few more deep whiffs then smiled. Ichigo's scent was a nice one indeed.

After feeling a pair of eyes on him, he glanced over at the stuffed animal leaning against the wall on one of the shelves.

"A lion? Ichigo, you're such a child…" he smirked.

A child to him that was. Ginjo was in his thirties while Ichigo would be nineteen soon. All the times he saw him as a child, he knew he'd have to wait for them to be together and so he did. Being so much older than the boy was something he liked though.

Giving the stuffed lion one last look, he put the underwear back in the hamper and pushed the door back to its previous position.

Deciding he had looked enough for now, he exited the room and closed the door behind him. After all, there would be no area of that room he wouldn't know in due time.

Ichigo sat next to Shuhei in his third period Language class. It had taken him a few days to even notice him over in the corner by the window. Shuhei was somewhat quiet after all. Up until this point, he assumed this and his fourth period classes were ones he would be taking solo. Now it was just his fourth.

"Hey, did you do the homework?" the other asked.

"Most of it. I'm okay with a few points off though." The orange head smiled.

"I got through half of it, then Renji came over. I guess you know why I didn't finish."

"He's quite the distraction isn't he?"

"Kira says he's a bad influence, but I don't think so. He's never purposely done the wrong thing. I know he means well."

"Agreed. Oh, you and Kira are roommates, right?"

"Mhm. And Hinamori. We all get along well. Rangiku sometimes invites herself to stay with Hinamori in her room…which is cool when she's not monopolizing the bathroom..."

Ichigo shook his head. Same old outer group of friends acting the same way they used to.

"Well, I'm sure they have their complaints about your house guest." He grinned.

"I try to keep him in my room as often as possible. But he has good manners when he stays over. His room at Urahara's is a mess though." Shuhei said with a smile.

Once he heard that, Ichigo was immediately reminded of how he and Grimmjow were. Grimmjow was a decent house guest, but back at his own house, he was a mess. His room was never organized. He threw his dirty clothes on the floor and seldom washed them. Out of the kindness of his heart, Ichigo had begun doing the man's laundry when he visited him. What he was doing in Tokyo was a different matter completely.

How someone lived in such a nice mansion but never wanted to clean house was strange indeed. But it's not like that was Grimmjow's own house. Mansions and all the high class home accents seemed to be his father's style.

"So how's Grimmjow? Is he doing okay out in Tokyo?" Shuhei asked.

"Yeah. His first week was good. He kept telling me how dirty he gets and how much he wants to… Uh, well nevermind. He's doing well. Just not eating any home cooked meals."

He forgot discussing Grimmjow's obscene fetishes was something he shouldn't do. If Shuhei accidentally slipped and said something, it'd be hell on earth. Of all the ears in the universe, Renji and Senna's were the ones those secrets should never reach.

"Why don't you cook for him then?"

"Me? Cook for him?" Ichigo almost chuckled at the thought, "I can't cook. Or, I've never tried to…"

"I think you'd make him feel like you really care about him if you did. It's the thought that counts. Besides, doesn't Yuzu know how to cook really well? I'm sure she'd help you."

What a good idea. Who would have guessed Shuhei was so cool to be around? Before actually hanging with him at his job, Ichigo never really thought twice about him. But they had a lot in common and could spend lots of time just chit chatting if nothing else.

"I'll make sure to try cooking this weekend when he comes and let him taste some."

It was going to be challenging, but if it meant giving Grimmjow a decent meal, he would give it his all.

After a second of thinking about what how eager doing this was making him, Ichigo realized he was acting a little housewife like…

By the way, thanks for the reviews my readers. Don't be shy giving the story more. I absolutely love them