So, I'm officially in love with Eureka Seven Ao ending 2. You should youtube it. Just type Eureka Seven Ao ED 2. It's like, a magical minute and thirty seconds of your life.

And back to the story. It progresses! Major event next chapter by the way. Also, sorry about the chapter title. For some reason, you're limited to the characters you can put in the chapter title field :/

An Important Man with an Important Purpose

Things are not always as they appear. What seems like simple friendship could truly be the deepest love.

Friday evening. Yuzu bounced about the kitchen as she prepared her signature curry for dinner. Karin quietly snuck up to the counter and picked up a few carrots then attempted to sneak away but Yuzu turned around and caught her.

"Karin-chan! Those are for the curry!"

Ichigo looked over to the two girls and smiled. He then turned his attention to Grimmjow, who was seated on the couch with a textbook on his lap. Of course, it was his doing that Grimmjow was studying in the first place.

"Kurosaki, I can't take another minute of this!" the bluenette exclaimed, tossing the book to the floor.

"Grimmjow, you have to keep your grades up. I want you to graduate in our year."

"Fuck this…"

"Grimmjow, not around my sisters..."

Karin walked over and leaned over Grimmjow's shoulder, "Looks boring." She said.

"Tell me about it! It's your brother making me read this!"

"Onii-chan, don't be a bully!" Yuzu called, waving a cooking spoon in the air.

"I-I'm not-"

"Yeah, Kurosaki. You're such a bad person."

"For helping you pass your classes?!"

"A bad person..." Grimmjow said again with a smug look on his face.

When Ichigo squinted, Grimmjow immediately straightened up and averted his eyes. He knew better than to play games when he was testy like this.

Quickly, he picked his book up off the floor and opened it to the page he was reading from. Even if he wasn't going to read it, he would at least pretend to. Then again, Ichigo had probably read the chapter and assessment and would likely quiz him on it later.

The house had become silent as everyone busied themselves for quite some time until…

DING DONG

All four sets of eyes turned to the door. Ichigo made to get up, but Karin beat him to the punch. She opened the door and smiled, "Hi, Ginjo."

"Ginjo…?" Ichigo asked.

After seeing the boy get temporarily distracted, Grimmjow laid back on the couch and carelessly tossed his book to the floor.

"Ginjo, hi. I'm making curry tonight! You can join us if you're not busy." Yuzu said when he entered the house.

Ichigo looked at the man and waved. In his head, however, he was wondering what the man was doing at their clinic. Actually, he had visited two days in a row. It wasn't like they were forcing him to come back or have follow up checkups.

Blue eyes followed Ginjo with each step he took. The world was upside down right now because of the way he was reclined but he got a good feel of Ginjo's aura. It appeared normal at first, but then it felt like there was something hidden away buried deep.

Ginjo sat down to the table and began conversation with the double pigtail haired girl.

"Grimmjow."

"Yeah?" said man asked lazily.

"Why is your textbook on the floor?"

Grimmjow jumped at the question and the tone Ichigo threw at him.

"Uh…well…"

"Onii-chan! Dinner's ready." Yuzu said.

Ginjo smiled and sat down to the table. He glanced over to Ichigo and waved with happily closed eyes.

Then he turned his attention to Grimmjow. His presence was most unwelcome and his lethargic demeanor made it all the worse. He had unkempt blue hair that flowed forward and backward at the same time. His clothes were very different from Ichigo's as well. Ichigo dressed nicely. This new character was dressed in a shirt-turned muscle shirt with the sleeves cut off and what looked like running pants.

It made him wonder why he was even here at the clinic. Then he noticed the books on the couch.

He smiled upon realizing that Ichigo was tutoring him. Wasn't that sweet? It just made him think more of Masaki and Ishiin's son.

Yuzu placed a plate in front of Ginjo and smiled warmly, "I hope you enjoy it!" she said.

Karin sat down to the table and looked to Ginjo. He seemed to be enjoying his time at the clinic.

Yuzu bounced when Ichigo and Grimmjow sat down at the table next to each other. Everyone was now seated. Karin across from Grimmjow, and Ichigo across from Ginjo. Yuzu placed their plates down in front of them and then sat down herself at the end of the table.

"I hope you like my curry too, Grimmjow!" she said.

Grimmjow looked to her, then back to the plate in front of him. Without any hesitation, he picked up his fork and began eating. After the first bite, he began scarfing down the curry.

Ichigo looked over to him and shook his head. Then he remembered what he and Shuhei discussed. He forgot to ask Yuzu tonight, but he would remember tomorrow to help make Grimmjow a home cooked meal.

"This shi- I mean, this food's pretty damned good."

Ichigo threw a look at him which he did not miss.

"Sorry! I tried to catch it but it slipped out."

Karin grinned and Yuzu told Grimmjow not to worry about Ichigo then thanked him for the compliment. Everyone at the table watched as the two men interacted but there was one who was not as interested in Grimmjow's actions as the rest of the group.

A foot that brushed against Ichigo's under the table drew his attention away from the seemingly nutrition deprived man next to him.

It was Ginjo. He was making a face about Grimmjow's table manners.

Although he knew Grimmjow could be a little out of control, the last thing Ichigo wanted was for Ginjo to look down on him. So he turned his attention away from both men and back to his food.

He wasn't meaning to be rude to the man who just invited himself to eating dinner with them, but he sure as hell wasn't about to have someone belittling Grimmjow and acting like it was okay.

Thanks to Ginjo, dinner had become increasingly uncomfortable for him. Luckily no one else seemed to notice.

"Why are we up here in your room?" Grimmjow asked.

After finishing dinner, Ichigo decided to move the party upstairs to his room in order to avoid all contact with Ginjo. The two were now seated on his bed, Grimmjow at the foot leaning against the wall and Ichigo sitting Indian style near the head.

"You have a problem with being in my room?" Ichigo asked.

"Don't answer my question with another question, Kurosaki. You've just been acting weird ever since that guy showed up."

"How do you figure?"

"Well, as soon as you saw him, you ignored me and allowed me the slim chance to take a break from this infernal hell you call studying."

Ichigo rolled his eyes.

"Let's just finish this last chapter so we can go out and do something."

Grimmjow smirked, "Why go out? We can have more fun in here."

"Well, I kind of wanted to go and see this movie. It's been out for a while, but I don't know how much longer it'll be in theaters. And I wanna go with you."

"Why?"

"I-is it a crime to want to see a movie with you now?!"

Although the two were confined to Ichigo's room with the door shut, there was still an outsider who had just begun listening in on their conversation.

Ginjo stood mere inches away from the door in the hallway. He told Yuzu and Karin he was going to the bathroom, but when he heard Ichigo and Grimmjow talking behind the door, he paused.

Right now he was just overhearing them talk about whatever it was they had been studying.

"Why would he take someone like him into his room?" he thought to himself.

After a few more moments more of listening to the two chat about their topic, Ginjo continued on his way to the bathroom. He decided he would leave in a while because who he really came to see was now locked away from him with the street thug looking bluenette.

It puzzled him greatly as to how and why Ichigo was friends with someone like that. He was too good for the manner-less, obnoxious, ingrate.

"But soon I'll have you right where I want you." He grinned.

Brown eyes looked over to the clock on his desk in the now silent room. Ichigo looked over to the pile of textbooks on his bed then sighed. It was after twelve now and Grimmjow was knocked out on his bed. His snoring was sure proof of that.

It was unlike him to be asleep this early, but he forced him to study so it made sense.

"What a dunce." He smiled.

Ichigo decided he would go downstairs and watch something on their media streaming provider.

He left his room and then went immediately to Yuzu and Karin's room to make sure they were all right. After all, he had left them downstairs with Ginjo. It wasn't his best decision at the time, but he needed to get away from him. Besides, Ginjo's interest didn't seem to be focused on either of them…

When he saw their sleeping forms, he was able to put his concerns to rest.

With that out of the way, he made his way down to the dark living room and sat down on the couch. Too bad Grimmjow was asleep. They could have watched a movie or started a new anime together.

Then again, that wasn't a good idea. Grimmjow's interests were so obscure. He didn't want to watch any anime but mecha or action types and he usually watched horror movies with an occasional comedy.

That was something he would change in due time though.

"I won't spend the rest of my life watching horror…"

Ichigo stopped himself in the middle of that sentence. Was he that committed to their relationship that he was already planning to spend the rest of his life with Grimmjow?

After careful consideration, he realized there weren't any issues with thinking in such a way. He loved Grimmjow. When he was with him, it felt like one of those songs that sounded galactic and out of this world. It was crazy how just thinking about Grimmjow made him content.

Soon the red screen came up and the options loaded. Just as he began flipping through the options, he heard someone approaching him from behind.

When he turned around, his eyes went wide.

"Hey, Ichigo."

"G-Ginjo? What are you doing here?"

Looking him up and down, he noticed Ginjo was wearing much more lax clothes.

"Your sisters made me stay the night. They think I'll get attacked again." He laughed.

"…"

The black haired man walked around the couch and sat down, leaving a pillow between himself and Ichigo.

"So whatcha watchin'?" he asked casually.

"Uh, I was about to watch an anime… Not sure which one though..."

"Anime huh? I have an acquaintance who can't get enough of shoujo anime."

"You don't say."

When the screen lit up, Ichigo took careful notice of Ginjo's physical form. He was pretty built. His muscles were more pronounced than Grimmjow's.

Ginjo caught him watching him and smiled, "I work out a lot."

"I could tell. Did you let yourself be beaten by those guys?"

"Nah. I told you there were too many of them and they came from multiple directions."

"You should be more careful then."

It wasn't the best distraction, but he had to make Ginjo forget how he was just checking him out.

Although he felt a bit guilty about it, mainly because Grimmjow was right up in his room, he remembered what Rangiku had told him: it was okay to look.

But if he was honest with himself, he felt a little disgusted for looking at Ginjo because he found him somewhat attractive.

Ichigo began searching through the shows in the awkwardly quiet room.

"I meant to tell you, it's nice of you to tutor people who need it." Ginjo said, breaking the silence.

"What? I don't mind tutoring Grimmjow. I can't let him flunk out of his classes."

"Like I said, that's nice of you."

Ginjo leaned over and ruffled the boy's hair while chuckling.

Ichigo drew away and angrily fixed his hair. This was the second person to do that to him. Honestly, what was the deal? Was he that childlike to everyone around him?

"You're an easygoing person, aren't you?" he asked.

Ginjo looked to him with big, clueless eyes, "Huh?"

"You're always laughing and smiling. Surely there must be something in your life that makes you feel…stressed."

"Why would you want to know that, doctor?"

"…I'm no doctor. I just took over the clinic in my father's stead."

Ginjo shook his head and then began thinking of all the things in his life that make him feel stressed. After all, Ichigo had been his doctor even if he didn't think so. Why not tell a doctor of what makes life difficult?

"Well, apart from Riruka, I'd say the one thing that stresses me out is managing my company."

"Company?"

"Oh! I never told you, but I'm the CEO of XCUTION Industries."

Brown eyes went wide with shock.

"Y-You're the CEO? Uso*!"

"Yeah. We're in major competition with the other major gaming companies in Japan, but for such a small town business, we're doing pretty well."

Even though Ginjo spoke of it like it was nothing, Ichigo was still in shock. He had bought multiple games that had been developed partly by XCUTION.

"I can't believe the CEO of XCUTION has been frequenting our clinic…"

"Heh."

"Oh, that reminds me… Why have you been coming as much as you have?"

"That's a long story, Ichigo. I've got someone I want to see, but like I just said, it's a long story."

"Well, I've got time."

"Don't worry, I'll tell you soon enough."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow then looked back at the television that had now dimmed from lack of attention.

"Uh…I guess I'll go up to my room and get some sleep. The tv's all yours." He said, tossing Ginjo the remote and joystick.

He wasn't one hundred percent sure about allowing Ginjo to stay and visit as much as he had, but he had the strangest feeling about him. He didn't think as terribly about him as he previously had...though he was still pretty creepy.

He would have to lock his door tonight and make sure to lock Yuzu and Karin's too.

Left all alone with just the imprint the boy had left on the couch, Ginjo's eyes travelled across the dark room. They stopped and stared at the poster of the smiling woman on the wall.

"Masaki, where are you…?" he asked quietly.