Reality and Rationality Lost

Like bullets, quick tempers fire from the chamber and the consequences are severe...

Two weeks after Renji's victory match. Tuesday evening.

"I don't know what I can do Giri-hyu-ko. Ichi-Ichigo won't firkin give me a chance over that delin-linquent." Ginjo said.

He slumped forward and rested his face on his hand looking down into his emptying glass. While sitting at the bar, he wondered why he had come to this dimly lit place to discuss an already saddening matter with such a stodgy person as the one currently cleaning glasses. He was the only other one here, since it was his private bar, therefore he had no choice in the matter.

Giriko, the tall bar keeper with an eye patch, kept his back to him trying to tune out his complaints. He was not a sight to see when he was inebriated and it was certainly futile to listen to his incessant babbling. This Ichigo could have been a mere figment of his imagination and nothing more.

"Did you hear me?"

"I did. I'm just not very interested in your personal affairs, Ginjo. Pardon me for wanting you to keep your private life private."

"Hey! Don't you sass me! I need somebody to talk to about all of this…"

"Perhaps Jackie, or even Riruka?"

"No and definitely no."

"Well then I don't know-"

"Fill 'er up!" Ginjo exclaimed, harshly putting his glass on the bar and sliding it towards the older man.

"I think you may have had enough for one evening."

"N-no! I haven't!"

"Ginjo, look. Drinking your problems away won't solve anything. If you want the boy so desperately, then take him. I don't understand what's going on in your mind right now. You normally don't have any trouble getting what you want. That's how you've kept Riruka here without hiring her, it's how you got Jackie to start working here, and it's also the reason I'm here serving you for such a ghastly pay rate."

After blinking a few times, and then blinking a few more, Ginjo sighed. It was true. He knew how to get people to do what he wanted them to, even without blackmail or forceful extremes. But Ichigo was one tough cookie. He was also smart and he seemed to be resourceful. It would take a lot to get him to want to marry him.

Then he hatched an idea; a malicious, spiteful idea.

Hadn't Ichigo let it slip that Grimmjow had a few anger issues? He did. It was back when they first met.

Smiling wickedly, he knew just what to do to get Ichigo to be with him.

When he picked up his cup to take a drink, he noticed it was empty apart from the melting ice.

"Giriko, you forgot to fill me up!"

"I did not."

"Che! I don't need to take this."

"That's where you're wrong. You got me to come and work here. I'm the one who decides what you take and what you don't when you're in my neck of the woods."

"Damnit. What was I thinking all those years ago…?"

Staring down at his empty glass, Ginjo decided he'd had enough to drink anyway. Now he needed to get some sleep and then get to arranging every detail and every minute of his plan.

Ichigo would be his by the end of the week. That was for sure.

"Kurosaki-kun!" Inoue called gleefully from the driveway.

Ichigo turned down his speakers and paused the song that was playing. He could have sworn he heard Inoue calling from outside. When he heard her call his name, he stood from his desk and walked over to the window to look out to her.

"Inoue, what are you doing?" he asked with a smile.

Holding up a basket of leftover bread, she grinned, "I thought I'd bring you some treats!"

The orange-head sighed and made his way downstairs to let the girl in.

Inoue greeted Yuzu and Karin when she saw them as she and Ichigo made their way from the front door up to his room.

"Inoue, you realize those are old don't you?" Ichigo asked when they took a seat on his bed.

"They're not! They're just what was left from today and I told my boss it would be wasteful to throw them away!"

"Yeah, leftovers."

"No, Kurosaki-kun!"

"Yes, Inoue."

"Well then," the girl started before stuffing a piece of the bread into her mouth, "You don't have to eat any! I'll bring some to Sado-kun instead."

Ichigo sighed and then took a piece of garlic bread from the basket. He wasn't about to argue with her any longer. Besides, arguing didn't fit them at all.

"So what brings you here? I know the bread must have been a last-minute thing." He asked.

"I thought we could spend a little while together. It's been so long since we spent time together like this."

"Oh. Well, okay."

"I can't really tell why, but I feel like something bad is coming your way, Kurosaki-kun." She thought anxiously.

"You okay Inoue? You're spacing out."

"Oh! Yes! I was just thinking…"

"About?"

"Uhm… that manga I borrowed from you! I really enjoyed reading it! I'll have to keep going since the series is so long."

"It is but it's not dull in the least. It's the top-selling series in Japan's history."

"I never guessed I'd be so interested in a shounen manga about pirates." Inoue giggled.

"Yeah."

"Oh! I want to tell you me and Moe-kun are going to the movies this Friday. It's been two weeks since he asked me out but neither of us have had a free enough schedule to actually go out."

"That's good. I hope you have fun. And let him know if he hurts you in any way. He'll definitely have hell to pay."

"I don't think he will. He's too sweet."

"What?! Him 'sweet'? Are you sure we're talking about the same person?"

"Mhmm! He texts me all the time and visits me at work too!"

"That's…really unexpected."

"Stop being a silly goose, Kurosaki-kun." Inoue smiled.

Though unusual, it was nice to see Inoue like this. Happy and not fretting over him. For as long as he could remember, she had held an unyielding love for him. Looking at her and the way she was gazing at him now, it seemed that may never change. But at least she had something to care about now besides the friends around her.

"Honsho is okay with you dating?"

"Hm? Why wouldn't she be?"

"…N-nevermind…"

"Tell me!"

"It's nothing…"

"Kurosaki-kun!"

Ichigo eyed Inoue. She was acting just like Neliel right now. Girls were weird sometimes…or maybe just nosy.

"So, have you made any trips to XCUTION lately? I heard they're working on this new game that has graphics out of this world…"

Unfortunately, Ichigo had unknowingly tuned her out when he heard that name. It had been a while since he last even thought about that place, or that man.

Ginjo hadn't even visited the clinic. It was weird. But it was also good.

Maybe this meant that he had given up on trying to get with him. That would surely make things go back to normal. And right now, that's exactly what he was getting a taste of.

Inoue visiting was rare, but normal. Seeing Grimmjow over the weekends was normal, and wanted. Horsing around at school with Renji because Shuehei didn't want to was normal. Being forced to go to the mall with Senna was normal. Spending late nights at Rukia's was normal. Studying with Ishida and sometimes stealing his notes was normal. Going for a morning run halfway across the city with Chad was normal. Soccer practice after school with Tatsuki was normal. Listening to Keigo and Mizuiro's game banter was normal.

Everything had somehow gone back to normal with Ginjo out of the picture. And normal was okay. It was more than okay really. It was great!

Life was considerably better without the awkwardness or occasional sexual advances Ginjo brought to the table.

"Kurosaki-kun? Did you hear me? I think you're the one spacing out now." Inoue spoke with raised eyebrows and a smile.

"Oh, uh, sorry. I kinda got distracted…"

"Happens to me all the time."

"Heh, I won't disagree there."

"Hey!"

Friday after school.

Ichigo was sprawled out on the couch in the living room. Grimmjow wouldn't be over to visit for a while and Yuzu and Karin were over at Ururu's place.

Television was pretty terrible until late, so right now there was nothing to do.

He was all alone at home since Ishiin was still gone. When was he gonna come back anyway?

What to do with the free time he had?

No homework, surprisingly. No one was free for the evening. There was nothing on television at the moment. And he wasn't really in the mood for video games.

Then it hit him. The perfect thing to do right now was to nap. That'd pass the time until four o'clock.

"I guess there's no point in moving from here." He said to himself.

Looking over to the door, he saw that it was still unlocked.

Perfect.

Pulling out his phone, he texted flipped through his contacts and found Grimmjow's number. He sent him a message telling him it would be okay for him to just come in when he arrived.

Then he rolled onto his stomach and turned his head away from the kitchen where the light was pouring in from.

Why the blinds were open in the first place was beyond him. Must have been Yuzu.

It hadn't taken him long to fall asleep. He realized that he had been craving a nap all day. The main thing he not notice was the car pulling into the driveway and the person stepping out of it. Sleep was too important right now; or perhaps too unavoidable.

The Kurosaki clinic was dark and it was raining heavily outside. A storm like no other really. One of the ones that makes a person glad they're inside in a nice warm bed.

Ichigo lay comfortably under his sheets and didn't even notice the pair of strong arms holding him in place until he tried to move.

It had to have been Grimmjow. After being together for as long as they had, he had began leaving his window unlocked now to let him in, especially on rainy nights. Those held the most significance to their relationship since it was a night like this that they established that they were dating.

One of the hands slid its way across his stomach then downwards into his boxer shorts. He welcomed it and even guided it to where it needed to be.

It was never a question of his wanting for the larger man. From the moment he saw Grimmjow he had wanted him… Although at the time, he didn't want him to know it.

The fingers roamed around as though they had never journeyed through the flamed forest before which was strange. Grimm always made a point that it all belonged to him and he had visited it many, many times before.

Then he felt a grip on his member before Grimmjow began stroking him.

What was weird was that Grimmjow never did something like this with clothes on. He was usually too eager for something like that.

Suddenly, he felt a bulge against his backside and blushed.

Without warning, his bottoms were pulled down and he could feel the appendage poking at his rear.

When he tried to look back, his head was turned and held in place by the free hand keeping him from looking.

"Grimm-"

"Shh."

Ichigo moaned when the man slid himself into his hole. The pleasure was too great and all his doubts and troubles seemed to fade away.

The man slid further and further until he was back to stomach with the smaller boy below.

Then he pulled himself out to the tip and slammed himself forward again. He did this multiple times without concern for the one he was pounding.

Though painful, if this was what Grimmjow wanted, it would be what he would get.

"Grimmjow…"

The man whispered something into his neck and kept going with his pace.

"Grimmjow…" Ichigo moaned again.

Again, the man whispered something into his neck.

"Grimmjow…!"

"…"

"Grimmjo-"

"G…"

"Grimmjow!" he moaned audibly, grabbing his own member and stroking it.

"G…jo"

"Grimm-"

"Ginjo."

Brown eyes went wide.

Ichigo whipped his head around and found Ginjo grinning behind him.

He tried to get away, but Ginjo grabbed his arm and whispered into his ear, "You're all mine now."

Ichigo's eyes went wide and he shot up from his place on the couch. He looked around nervously but didn't see anyone else in the house with him.

He sighed a heavy breath of relief.

"Bad dream, Ichigo?"

Grimmjow sped down the highway in anticipation of a weekend with Ichigo.

For some reason, three of his teachers decided to give pop quizzes and another gave a test.

He had studied for the test with Ichigo but those quizzes kicked his ass.

However, school related matters were irrelevant to him right now. All that mattered was that the week was over and he could finally see his mate.

Luckily, there was no traffic this week so he would arrive just a little earlier than he was expecting to.

The one thing he was looking forward to was making love. It had been a long week and his hand just wasn't doing it for him.

He also needed to tell Ichigo about the new branch opening in Karakura in just a little while. He was glad things had fallen through the cracks and now all he needed to do was get the recommendation to be transferred.

Things were finally looking up.

"Kurosaki can finally pull whatever crawled up his ass and died out and fucking smile again." He said with a smirk.

"Ginjo, how the hell did you get in here?" Ichigo asked. The room was a little hazy since he had just come out of his slumbering state but Ginjo was clear as day.

"Your front door was open. I came to check up on you and your sisters."

Ichigo sighed, "I wasn't able to tell you this before, but since I'm the only one here, I'm telling you now. You're no longer welcome here. There's no need for you to keep hanging around all the time since you recovered weeks ago from little more than a street fight. So leave now."

Ginjo grinned and stood.

He walked past Ichigo, but when the boy stood to guide him out the door, he grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him to the floor.

Falling over on top of him, he looked up to the clock then back down to his captive.

"Ginjo! Get off!" Ichigo shouted, thrashing his legs about in trying to kick the man in either his stomach or his groin.

Unfortunately, Ginjo spread his legs with his own and held him in place.

"I said-"

"This is when I make you mine."

"Gin-"

Ginjo silenced Ichigo with his lips. He quickly grabbed the boy's neck and held it tightly to hold him steady as he used his other freed hand to pull down the zipper and open the boy's pants.

He also knew better than to attempt using his tongue in this embrace because it was sure to be bitten.

Freeing the boy's neck, he brought his large hands to his forearms and held him in place as he began thrusting himself against Ichigo.

Said boy tried harder than he ever had to free himself, but it was seemingly impossible. Ginjo wasn't just kissing him, he was using his own head to hold him in this position. But why?

Looking around the room, brown eyes landed on the clock on the wall and the light seemingly disappeared from them he was so horrified. It was after four o'clock.

"This is your plan, Ginjo!? Sabatoge!? Is this how you're going to drive me and Grimmjow apart!?" he thought as his vision became blurred.

When the door opened, Ichigo could feel the man's smirk against his own lips while his own heart wrenched and felt as though it would come out from his throat.

Suddenly, the hands holding him left him and he was free. But this was not to his advantage. His release distracted him for just the right amount of time so it seemed as though he wasn't being pinned.

"What the fuck is this?" Grimmjow asked with a baffled expression as he made his way into the house.

Ichigo pushed Ginjo, who was surprisingly easy to budge now, off and sat up full of shock and dismay.

He could hear Grimmjow ask again, but this time more audibly. When it got to the point of a shout, he could barely hear anything as the room became muffled and things became hazy.

Ignoring Ichigo's completely frozen form, Grimmjow looked to Ginjo who was sitting on his posterior and smirking to no end.

"Did you not expect this, kid?"

"What did you just say to me?" the bluenette asked.

"I said, did you not expect this? Look at you and look at me. Who did you think Ichigo would end up with? A low life like-"

Grimmjow tackled Ginjo to the floor and grabbed him by his shirt.

"Shut your fucking mouth!"

"What are you gonna-"

Unwilling to hear anything more, Grimmjow sent his fist flying across Ginjo's face once to silence him. He turned to Ichigo who was motionless.

"He's frozen in guilt. Can you blame him?"

Blue eyes turned back to their target. Ginjo kept provoking him with his questions. It was as though he wanted to get his ass handed to him. He maintained his self control until Ginjo uttered his next sentence.

"Go back to Aizen where you belong, you retard."

A vein appeared on Grimmjow's forehead and he released Ginjo, who fell back onto his elbows.

The man wasn't surprised when Grimmjow sent both of his fists across his face repeatedly. But he wasn't expecting such vigorous blows from someone smaller than he was. This kid was packing some power.

"That's what the drug game does to ya!" he screamed at his attacker through the punches.

Ichigo was shaken from his frozen state when he heard Ginjo's shouts turn from ones of contempt to ones of pain.

"Grimm…stop…" he said in a near mute voice.

"Grimm…stop…" he said again.

When he saw the blood all over Ginjo's shirt, he panicked and shouted, "GRIMMJOW, STOP IT!"

Grimmjow sent his fist across Ginjo's face once more before turning to face Ichigo.

"Don't you fucking tell me what to do!" he shouted.

Ichigo got up and threw himself at Grimmjow, trying to pull him away from the beaten man beneath him.

"I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH!"

"Let me go, Kurosa-"

Ichigo angrily grabbed the sides of Grimmjow's face from behind with both hands and pulled as hard as he could, but to no avail. Grimmjow was intent on continuing his punishment.

They both flew backwards, however, when Ginjo pushed Grimmjow off of him and sat up.

Grimmjow made to jump at him, but Ichigo held him in place with his arms wrapped around his neck and feet braced on the floor on either side of him. It took everything he had to keep the man in place.

"This was nice." Ginjo said, wiping his nose of blood and examining his hand.

"Bastard!" Grimmjow yelled.

"Listen to me, Grimmjow! Stop what you're doing! It's not worth it!"

Said man turned angrily to the one holding him.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you!?" he exclaimed.

"What?"

Both boy's turned to Ginjo when he started laughing hysterically. Blue and brown eyes followed him as he stood and walked past them and to the door.

Before he left though, he turned around, pointed his finger and spoke, "You're already mine, Ichigo! It's now set in stone!"

The orange haired boy sat in place for a moment. Then he realized he was still holding Grimmjow tightly…too tightly.

"Let me go, Kurosaki."

"Grimm…"

"Just let me go."

Ichigo hesitated and shook in fear. He wondered if Grimmjow would leave if he did. Nonetheless, he did as he was told.

"Grimm, let me explain-"

"Explain what? Huh? That you've been fucking that prick behind my back? Were you trying to play me for a fool?"

"No! Grimmjow! It's not like that!"

"Then what the hell did I just see!?"

"For fucks sake, Grimmjow! Ginjo forced himself on me! You shouldn't have exploded like that!"

"Why should I believe that?"

Ichigo leaned forward and grabbed the man's face with both hands, "Because I love you, Grimm."

"And him saying you're already his? What the fuck is that about?"

"I…I don't know what that means. But doesn't that choice of words strike you as bizarre? If I was cheating on you, he wouldn't have said that."

"Kurosaki…"

"Grimm, I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

"What are you apologizing for?"

"You need to go home… Just go home…"

"Wh-"

"Please. I'll call you tomorrow. I just need some time alone to figure this mess out."

Without complaint yet full of uncertainty, Grimmjow rose off the floor and slowly made his way outside. He stopped and looked back at Ichigo, who averted his eyes when he caught him looking, then continued to his car.

"You really did it this time, fucktard!" He thought, biting his lower lip violently.

Ichigo stood from the floor and walked over to the door then shut it. Leaning heavily against it, he bit his thumbnail.

"What did you mean by what you said, Ginjo…?" Ichigo asked himself.

It would be a restless night for him. He had to try to figure out why Ginjo laughed the way he did. In this situation, his reaction was much less than expected. Wasn't his goal to break them up by setting him up in front of Grimmjow? If anything, he had accomplished nothing more than getting a broken nose.

Nothing was making sense anymore.

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