PLEASE READ: THIS CHAPTER WAS POSTED BEFORE IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN. IF YOU READ THIS ONE BUT NOT THE ONE BEFORE, PLEASE GO BACK AND READ CHAPTER 16. IT'S CHANGED! AS A RESULT, THIS ONE HAS ALSO SLIGHTLY CHANGED! SORRY FOR SCREWING UP, MY READERS!

Discovery of a Familiar

Familiar faces often return to familiar places.

Monday morning. Third period.

"Renji's been so overbearing lately… It's been sex day in and day out." Shuhuei commented quietly as he and Ichigo conversed while their classmates talked amongst themselves.

"Wow, that was not what I was expecting to hear." Ichigo laughed.

"Sorry, but that's been a big part of our relationship lately. It's just sex, sex, sex."

"Well, you should have known it would be that way. He's been like that since middle school…always jerking off when he thought he was alone…"

"I know, don't remind me. But the sex isn't really the problem… It's actually out of this world amazing. The problem is how many times he wants to go at it when we get the chance. I'm out of…you know…by the time he wants to go a fourth round… We even did some oral on that tour at XCUTION."

Ichigo paused before laughing hysterically. Take that Ginjo! For a moment, he was highly entertained by the thought.

Then he remembered the first part, "Wait, four times!?"

"Yeah…well, not all at once, but we do it four times in a day when given the chance."

"Sheesh. Even me and Grimmjow never did it- Uh, I mean, tell him when you're tired or spent. Even ukes have some power in the relationship. Besides, trying to force an ejaculation is far from healthy so use that excuse if you have to."

"Hm, I never thought about that. It's just…he just gets me with that look and the boxers practically come off on their own." Shuhei said while holding his chin between his index finger and thumb.

"Hey, we should probably finish this group work." Ichigo advised, changing the subject.

That was what they were originally supposed to be doing this period. The teacher had stepped out to take a call but before she did, she had assigned them some work to complete by the end of the hour.

Ichigo hadn't really wanted to talk about Renji. Or rather, Renji's sexual tendencies. He was suddenly reminded of that time in the showers and it kind of unsettled him a bit. More importantly, it reminded him of Grimmjow and that was a painful subject right now.

He had even mentioned him in their conversation. Luckily Shuhei didn't seem to notice.

Just as they were getting back into the packet, the bell rang signaling the end of third period.

"Damnit."

"Yeah, I know." Ichigo sighed. Another assignment he'd have to go home and take care of.

When he made to take the packet, Shuhei grabbed it and blushed a bit, "Heh, it's one hundred percent my fault we didn't finish with my talk about my sex life. I'll take care of it and have it done by tomorrow morning."

"You don't have to do that, Shuhei. If I didn't wanna hear, not that I did, no offense, I would have told you."

"Nah, it's fine. Besides, I'll have an excuse not to have Renji over tonight. I think it'll do my sperm count a major favor."

After shaking his head, Ichigo agreed, "Okay, just call if you need help then."

"Alright."

The boys went their separate ways in the hallway and Ichigo headed upstairs to his French class.

Before he reached it, Inoue saw him, ran up to him and began digging in her booksack.

"Here! It's the latest One Piece manga! It just came out so I know you don't have it!" she said accomplishedly.

"Wow, thanks Inoue! I was going to go get it next week. Didn't know it would come out this early."

"Mhm! I saw it on my way to school this morning."

"Oh," Ichigo said before leaning against the window, "So I've been meaning to ask… How are things going with you and Shishigawara?" he asked. It had been a while since she last spoke about him.

"We're doing fine. We had our first date and we both decided we were just going to date and not get into anything serious."

"Hm… That means no…you know…right?"

"No what, Kurosaki-kun?"

"S-sex, Inoue."

"Oh! Oh no! Well, he said only when I was ready and only when I wanted to. I think you and Abarai-kun intimidate him to the point where he doesn't want to think he's out of line."

"Let's hope that's not the only reason."

"I don't think so. He's a good guy, just a little hard to understand." Inoue giggled.

The two were talking so much they completely neglected the time and the fact that they had classes to get to. When the one minute warning bell rang, they quickly agreed to speak later at lunch and parted ways.

Ichigo watched Inoue until she was all the way down the hallway before walking into his seemingly empty French class.

He said good morning to the instructor before taking his normal seat in the middle of the class next to the windows. For some reason, the sun was shining bright today.

The teacher got up in front of the class when the tardy bell rang and smiled exuberantly.

"Class, we have a lot of work to get through and I know you'll give it your best! But also, we have a new student today! Monsieur Jaegerjaques, please stand and introduce yourself to the rest of the class please."

"Renji, why are you always, always pestering me?" Senna asked as quietly as she could.

The two sat side by side on stools in their biochemistry class. Somehow, the teacher had made them lab partners. Of ALL the people in the class, they had to be forced to spend an entire year together. All they did was disagree and the teacher said no partner changes while spouting something along the lines of being an adult means compromising and doing things we'd rather not do.

Said man smirked and shrugged, "'Cause you make it so easy for me."

"Oh my god. If I knew you were taking this class this hour, I never would've even thought about scheduling it."

"You need it to graduate. Don't forget to think, professor." Renji smugly remarked.

"Ugh!"

Giving up on even thinking about the immature guy sitting next to her in their lab class, Senna fell face down on her desk and shut her eyes tightly.

"WHY ME!?" she inwardly lamented.

"Onto serious matters, Ichigo's been acting weird lately. Have you noticed?"

"Nope."

"Really, guess you're not as good a friend as I am then."

"Give it up, Renji. Even if he's been acting stranger than usual, whatever he's going through is probably something he doesn't want to involve us in. Ever heard of privacy before? Thought not."

"Say whatever you want. But a true friend gets involved and is there to help even if they're told not to. I guess in Ichigo's case, it'd be more like being ignored than him actually telling us to stay out of it..."

Senna offered no response to that. Though she hated to admit it, Renji was absolutely right. A good friend was actively involved in their friends' lives. And with what she had seen that night, maybe getting involved was exactly what was necessary. She should have called him on it the moment she saw him get in that car.

What was he doing with Ginjo so late at night anyway? Was he cheating on Grimmjow? Not that she particularly cared about Grimmjow on any deep level, but he had inevitably become a part of her life so she thought it was unfair to him.

That was why she had been a little withdrawn lately apart from Saturday. He must have noticed how quiet she was being when it was just the two of them, but that didn't matter. Even Grimmjow didn't deserve to be cheated on.

Despite her own feelings, she would stay in her place and not spill the beans to anyone. It was something she may be able to discuss with Neliel, but what would she know that she herself didn't?

"Ichigo, are you cheating on Grimmjow with Ginjo?" she thought.

Ichigo quickly whipped his head around the classroom when he heard Grimmjow's name called. They landed on the familiar head topped with a mess of blue spikes.

He couldn't believe it. It was Grimmjow, live and in the flesh.

"Gr-grimmjow…? What the hell are you still doing here?" he whispered to himself.

"The name's Grimmjow. That's pretty much all you people need to know about me. Stay on my good side and we'll all get along swimmingly." Grimmjow said without interest.

When his blue eyes landed on Ichigo, he looked away and sat back down.

Some of the students started whispering about his introduction. Girls squealing and commenting how hot the new guy (though he wasn't so new) was and guys asking who the hell he thought he was. The teacher silenced them with the introduction of the day's assignment.

However, Ichigo was too focused on Grimmjow to be paying attention to it.

As he observed the man, the thing he noticed to stand out the most was the trim job Grimmjow had around the sides and, out of complete presumption, on the back of his head. Had he gotten a trim after their little tag team battle?

It made him looked so…so nice and neat. Well, his hair did anyway. His uniform jacket was unzipped, his shirt buttoned to the top revealing his undershirt, and he had foregone wearing his tie. Typical Grimmjow and his I don't give a fuck attitude.

When his observation was detected, he quickly turned his attention to his textbook. The last thing he wanted was for Grimm to know he was how much he was still interested in him. Those feelings had to buried away, deep.

"I wonder if he got fired… Wouldn't that be just freakin' perfect? Me breaking up with him to ensure he had a chance at a future and he go and lose his job." Ichigo thought, noting how the universe sometimes had it out for him like that.

"Class, please turn to page two thirty two in your books. We have some reading and responding to get to. I'd like you to fill an entire page en francais s'il vous plait." The teacher instructed.

"Ugh…" Ichigo sighed.

His eyes moved across the classroom and back to Grimmjow. He wondered how well he'd do on this assignment. After all, French was in his blood thanks to his mother. Though, that didn't mean he was fluent in it.

Grimmjow's genealogy consisted of Japanese and quite a few European lineages. It was why he looked more Caucasian than everyone else. The second in that particular line was Inoue. But since she didn't know her family, she didn't know what exactly she was.

Japanese definitely dominated though.

When the teacher caught him staring at Grimmjow, Ichigo hastily turned back to his work that he had yet to begin doing.

When class was over, he made his way over to the side of the classroom Grimm had sat on.

Astonishingly enough, his page was full. And that was no overstatement. His handwriting was kind of small so whatever he had said in that response, he hadn't held back.

"Need something, Kurosaki?" the man asked, knowing it was him without even turning around.

"Oh, no. Just going to turn in my paper."

With that, Ichigo walked to the front of the class and dropped his paper on the teacher's desk before leaving the classroom.

What the hell was Grimmjow doing here in Karakura at school? That question raced through his mind multiple times as he walked down the hallway.

Before he reached the staircase, his arm was grabbed causing him to come to a full stop.

"Kurosaki."

Turning, Ichigo acknowledged Grimmjow, "Yes, Grimmjow?"

"The teacher told me to give this to you." He said, holding up a notification about the French club.

"Wha…?"

Once reading it, he could see that it was merely an invitation to join.

"Are you gonna take it or not?"

"Sure."

That sly devil. Getting Grimmjow to talk to him from just catching him staring at him during class. He had gotten that notification at least five times in the past month.

"Well, I'm outta this place. Four classes baby." The bluenette excitedly stated.

"Grimmjow."

"Yes?"

"I don't know how else to ask this, and I don't want to be rude, but…what are you doing here? Did you lose your job?"

"Hehehehahaha!"

"What's-what's so funny?"

"I didn't lose my fucking job! You think I'm just a big screw up, huh Kurosaki?"

"No! It's just surprising to see you here…"

"Since we're not together anymore it's not really any of your business…" Grimmjow snidely remarked before getting suspicious, "Why do you care in the first place?"

"I'm just curious. Sheesh."

"'Just curious', huh? Ever heard of branching?"

"Yeah… So you got transferred?"

"Bingo."

"Well, at least you can save money on gas now."

Grimmjow didn't offer any response to the small talk. He merely stood in place and stared into Ichigo's eyes.

The moment was brief, slightly awkward, but lovely nonetheless. The sun beamed through the window and warmed them both. It was a nice feeling given how cold the weather had been lately.

"Well, I guess I'd better get going. Lunch is calling my name."

"Wait!" Grimmjow exclaimed.

Ichigo froze, "What?"

"Kurosaki, you said we could still be friends, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, do you wanna maybe go get lunch together later?"

Ichigo didn't respond right away. The offer was one in need of serious consideration. On one hand, he had indeed told Grimmjow they could still be friends. That much was true. But spending time with him wouldn't be the wisest decision on his part. Spending time together was likely to end up more harmful than helpful.

On the other, he did want to be with Grimmjow like they used to be. He wanted it more than anything.

Looking at his earnest expression, he knew he wouldn't be able to say no to the invitation. This man was his Achilles' heel. Though he would most likely argue it was Inoue.

But this was innocent. Lunch couldn't hurt so he gave his response.

"I'd actually like that."

When Grimmjow's pearly whites flashed, he felt butterflies fluttering about in his stomach. Despite that, this was simply platonic and could be nothing more.

"But just because we're eating lunch together doesn't mean we're getting back together."

"I know that!"

"Well, I have to go let everyone know I won't be joining them and I have some games to drop off to Renji."

"Let's meet up after that then."

"Okay, where'd you have in mind?"

"Hmm, how 'bout the garden?"

"The garden…?"

"Yeah man."

Ichigo took a moment to think about the choice in location.

Obviously Grimmjow was still holding on to the past and what used to be. After all, the garden was the place they had first bonded as friends. He could have been trying to recreate that bond, which was very clever on his part.

Although he was soon to be engaged and had broken up with Grimmjow like he was instructed, Ginjo never said anything about them being friends.

Against the intense feeling that his own feelings would arise again for the man standing before him, he agreed, "The garden it is then."