I absolutely had to get this chapter up so I could get to work on the next one. Hope you all enjoy!

Super Badass!

Monday afternoon.

As he walked down the hall bustling with students eager for lunch, Ichigo kept his eyes peeled for a sign of blue hair. After that surprising score he had seen this morning, he had to say something to Grimmjow. He deserved some praise for his accomplishment. For as much as everyone thought he was a no good, incompetent, simpleton, he had proved them wrong.

The boy stood on his tiptoes when a blue-haired person exited the building a ways down the hall. Quickly, he pushed through the crowds and busted through the doors to catch them. To his dismay, with less people around, he could see that it was just a girl who had dyed her hair a color that was strikingly close to Grimmjow's.

"Damn it…" he said disappointedly.

"Looking for someone?" came Grimmjow's familiar raspy voice from behind him.

"Grimmjow!" Turning, Ichigo smiled warmly up at the man.

"I know you're blown away at my skills. If you want my autograph, I might be willing to give it to you." The bluenette said and then flashed a toothy grin.

Ichigo blushed at those white teeth that stood firmly behind that confident smile of his, but then shook his head. "I'm proud of you, Grimm. You really showed your stripes to everyone here."

Grimmjow stuffed his hands in his pockets nonchalantly, "I had a lot of time to brush up on my studies over my vacation. My mom wouldn't leave me alone until I did. I've never met a more persistent woman in my life…"

"Like mother like son, huh?"

"No, we're nothing alike! Don't you say that, too! … Frikin' Neliel…" the larger man fumed.

"Heh. So how was your vacation? I haven't really been around you enough to ask."

"It was okay. I missed this place, though. My favorite thing is here, after all."

"Favorite- I can only imagine what that might be..."

"I'm serious. I really just wanted to come home."

"Yeah, being all the way out in Dubai with your mother who acts just like you must have been torture." Ichigo teased.

"You have no idea… How was your vacation? Did you go anywhere or did you stay here?"

"I'd actually rather not talk about it…" the boy responded, and then looked away.

"'Kay, we don't have to."

"So how are you doing, Grimmjow? I heard about your accident…"

"I figured you would have. Neliel just can't leave you alone when it comes to me."

"Is that such a bad thing? Maybe it's because she knows I'm one of the most responsible people in your life."

"You could be more than that-"

"IIIII-CHIIIIII-GOOOOOOOO!"

Said boy and Grimmjow turned when they heard Keigo shouting obnoxiously. He was tearing through the hall in their direction with Mizuiro hot on on his tail.

"Ichigo! Come eat lunch with us!" the boisterous boy said happily, "Did you see my score?!"

Ichigo rolled his eyes and puffed out his cheeks. He was finally getting some time to talk to Grimmjow, but now it would be ruined. Not that he didn't care about his friends or Keigo's exam score, but Grimmjow was a friend too. And the two of them really needed to talk, even if it wasn't about Ginjo.

"Kurosaki, aren't you gonna go eat with them?"

"No, I wanted to talk to you. C'mon, I know a good place to talk where we won't be bothered." Ichigo said, and then took off walking hurriedly.

Grimmjow shrugged his shoulders indifferently and followed him.

…

"I should've known you were going to bring me here." The bluenette said as he stepped into the familiar garden in the center of the school.

Something about it seemed so… symbolic. Every time the two of them had a moment in here and then came back, it seemed to have gotten greener and filled with more radiant flowers. Not to mention, as Kurosaki had pointed out, it had nearly doubled in size since last year.

When Ichigo took a seat on one of the stone benches, Grimmjow did the same right beside him. "What did you want to talk about?" he asked curiously.

"Grimmjow, I wanted to ask you about your accident. It made me very worried about you. Your mother and Neliel are too. Did you tell one of them about it, at least?"

"Nope, because they don't need to know. They'd prolly just overreact anyway. But check this out." The man said, and then lifted his uniform shirt and undershirt.

Underneath them was a large scar, tearing its way from his broad chest to his navel. It wasn't too deep, but it was pretty wide. Ichigo leaned over and touched it gently, earning a grin from the larger man.

"Who did this to you?! How did this happen?"

"You remember those idiots from the park who crowded me that night? The ones you helped me beat?"

"Yeah…"

"One of them did this to me. I'll admit me being a little wasted while driving wasn't my best idea… That's how he knew I was vulnerable. That night, he must've waited for me to get in my car, and then when I was alone on the road he, ran me off of it into a building. My car was fucking totaled, Kurosaki! My baby is gone now…"

"Grimm…" Ichigo said, feeling even guiltier than before.

If only he had said something different to him that night, Grimmjow never would've stormed out in search of a drink.

Grabbing Ichigo by the chin, Grimmjow pulled the boy closer. "I know what you're thinking. But it's not your fault. I was planning to go out drinking anyway. It helps me relax. Besides, I'm no sellout, especially not of someone I love. Those assholes won't ever get me to give you away." Before Ichigo could respond, the bluenette stood up and scratched his head. "I gotta get going. But I'll see you around, Kurosaki."

The boy watched as the man left him alone in the garden. And for a few minutes, he sat there. He was glad that Grimmjow was okay, and glad that his mother had come home with him. Things really were looking up for him, weren't they?

When he stood and left the garden, he was fully intent on heading home for the day. He made to leave campus grounds, but when he heard Rukia calling, he stopped dead in his tracks.

Turning, he saw her coming up to him with an unusually serious look on her face.

"Rukia? What's up? Are you okay?"

"Why did you let Grimmjow leave just now?" the girl asked.

Ichigo was surprised at her words. He had no idea she had seen them together as he suspected she had eaten with their usual group today. "Well, he was going home so he could rest before he went to work. There was no need for me to keep him here."

With a disapproving shake of her head, Rukia folded her arms. Standing just a few inches away from him she spoke so only he could hear, "That's not what I mean, you know. What I mean is I know why you aren't with him anymore. It's so disappointing because you two were so happy together." Her words were shocking enough to leave Ichigo speechless, his eyes were open wide and his mouth was so agape they gave him away, so she continued, "I'm one of your closest friends. Did you think I didn't know? Because I've known for a long time. And so has everyone else…"

"Rukia-"

Before he could state a clear thought, said girl smacked him hard across the face. "Why did you think it was okay to hide something like that from us?! Don't you think we care?! We're your friends!"

"… It was… honestly none of you guys' business…" When he saw Rukia lifting her hand again, Ichigo processed a better answer for her, "I didn't want to trouble you all like that time with Aizen. You all tried to put yourselves in danger for my sake, when I was already too far gone for any of you to reach. I was trying to save Inoue… Both of us were in too deep. I didn't want to see something like that happen again-"

Again, Rukia sent her hand across his face. "We're your friends! That's what we do! If the Aizen incident was your reason, then think about it from Inoue's point of view! You think she was okay with you throwing yourself into the fire for her sake?! No, she wasn't! But that's what you did because that's what friends do! They're there for each other through thick and thin and reach out a hand when no one else will! That's what we'll always do for each other and you know it! And I that's why you've shouldered all of this pain and heartache on your own… isn't it...?"

Ichigo stood stock still. He'd never thought about it that way before. When he went foolishly after Inoue, he never imagined that maybe she didn't want him endangering himself for her sake. But at the time, nothing mattered but her safety. Now he was in her shoes and everyone was coming after him, in a sense.

He stared at the shorter girl standing in front of him who had offered a different perspective for him on the situation, "Rukia…"

"Grimmjow would be right here with us if he knew you were hiding what's been going on between you and Ginjo from him. He's a friend too, right?"

With wide brown eyes full of shock, Ichigo nearly dropped his schoolbag. "How did you-"

"Do you really think Renji is any good at keeping secrets from me? I got it out of him and then word just spread around our group. You can't keep secrets from us for too long. And you know what, you shouldn't keep it from Grimmjow any longer either."

"I-"

"Promise you won't keep anymore secrets from us, Ichigo."

"Rukia-"

"Promise me! You're not the kind of man who would break a promise, so I know you'd tell us if you needed help if you promise me!"

"… I… I promise I won't keep secrets from you all anymore. But… Rukia-"

"Go after him, Ichigo. Go after Grimmjow and tell him about this. It's not fair for you to keep it from him any longer."

"R- right!" the boy said.

He didn't know how or why, but knowing that everyone else knew sent him over the edge. If they knew, then Grimmjow should know too. Even if that meant he'd have to tranquilize him and tie him down forever. There would be no more secrets. No more fears, no more lies. It was time for all of that to melt away.

As fast as he could, Ichigo took off in the direction he had seen Grimmjow leave the school in. He had to find him, and fast.

When Rukia arrived at the usual spot during lunch, she took a seat and didn't say a word. She didn't need to.

"Did you tell him?" Senna asked.

"Yeah. It was about time someone did." The girl responded.

"Kurosaki-kun… Good luck! We'll all be here to help you when you need us." Inoue thought with a smile as she looked up at the blue sky.

Ishida adjusted his glasses knowingly. He had the hardest time keeping what was right in Ichigo's face from him.

"You know… I'm the one who he told first." Renji smirked in Senna's direction.

"'I'm the one who he told first!' I'm Renji and I'm a baka!" Senna mocked.

Shuhei shook his head and grabbed Renji by the arm, "I'm just glad we all know. I can't believe he thought he could hide it for the rest of his life… Or… for however long he planned to."

"That's right, Renji." Chad added, "It's a good thing you can't keep a secret from Rukia."

"Wait, so I'm the bad guy here?!" Renji asked.

"You're neither a bad guy or a hero in this situation." Rukia began, "You're a friend."

"Yeah, an incredibly annoying friend." Senna giggled.

Falling back into the grass and pulling Shuhei down with him, Renji sighed. Sometimes, it seemed he just couldn't win for losing.

It hadn't taken long.

Ichigo had found Grimmjow. He'd found him walking downtown, but he did not approach him. That's because after a few minutes of watching him, he'd seen that Grimmjow was currently tailing someone.

The guy he was following looked familiar. He couldn't tell, but it seemed like he was one of the punks who had tried to crowd Grimmjow that night in the park.

For a few minutes, he tailed Grimmjow as he tailed this fellow. The three of them eventually wound up in a less crowded part of the downtown area. There were a few students, who were probably skipping school, here and there, and a few other people just strolling about.

Ichigo came to a stop and quickly hid behind a building when the man noticed he was being followed.

He hastily turned and faced Grimmjow, who immediately threw his booksack to the ground and sprinted towards him.

From his safe place behind the building, Ichigo watched as Grimmjow roughly tackled the guy to the ground and the two of them tussled and flipped around. Somehow, the other guy ended up on top and then started laying mercilessly into Grimmjow. He punched him in his sides, all over his head, and tried to break the guard Grimmjow had set up to shield his face.

A few of the people watching the exchange got alarmed, and some of them fled the area.

When he heard Grimmjow cry out in pain, Ichigo dropped his booksack and made to help him, but what happened next stopped him.

The man pulled out a pocket knife. Before he could use it though, Grimmjow busted out through his guard and smashed his forehead against the other guy's. This caused him to struggle while holding his knife, and eventually he dropped it. When the guy fell backwards, Grimmjow shoved him off, intentionally throwing him against the building beside them, and stood up. After brushing himself off, he started walking off.

A crowd of schoolgirls who had witnessed the fight started squealing at the tops of their lungs about how epic that was. Apparently, their fear of the fight was drowned out when they saw Grimmjow's dashing good looks.

Ichigo watched as the five of them swarmed him and asked for his phone number.

"I've got shit to do, so I don't have time to pussy foot around downtown." He heard Grimmjow say.

When he left the girls, who were all near swooning, one of them called out to him. "Badass!"

After a few seconds, all five of them counted down from three and then called out, "Super badass!" in unison.

Admittedly, Ichigo was quite jealous about Grimmjow getting all of that attention from people who were interested in his physique and his looks.

The five girls ran by him and said they needed to find out where he lived so they could be his fanclub.

With a sigh, the orange-haired boy turned in the direction Grimmjow had headed. It was then that he noticed that Grimmjow had neglected to get his booksack. He walked over to it and picked it up.

"What kind of person throws their booksack on the ground and forgets it?!" he shouted.

Monday evening.

Sitting in his bedroom and finishing up some homework in a t-shirt and a pair of athletic shorts, Ichigo did his best to ignore Grimmjow's booksack that was lying over in the corner by his guitar. No matter how far he tried pushing it from his mind though, it kept resurfacing.

It didn't help that the math he was doing made him want to think about anything but the complex and confusing problems in the textbook.

Grimmjow.

He'd been called a badass by those girls. And if he was honest with himself, that's always what Grimmjow had always been. Selfless, fearless, stubborn, powerful… He had been willing to take on a bear for his sake! If that wasn't proof, he didn't know what was.

"At some point, he was my badass…" the boy thought solemnly.

Turning from the mind-numbing problem he'd been stuck on for the past twenty minutes, Ichigo looked directly at the undelivered booksack in the corner and sighed. In French class, they'd been given homework. There was no way Grimmjow would get it done without his book or without his notes. If he didn't take it to him now, it'd only add to the guilt of him not keeping his word to Vivienne about helping Grimmjow catch up on his schoolwork.

"I won't break anymore promises... And I won't continue to hurt Grimmjow." He said, and then stood up from his desk.

Everything that had happened up to now… Dealing with Aizen, dealing with a separation, Ginjo, their breakup, their seemingly unshakable and unbreakable friendship, all of the people who the universe had used to tell him they were meant to be together, everything had added up to them. Ichigo and Grimmjow, plus the many things they were: an unstoppable powerhouse, compliments, enemies, friends, lovers.

As he changed his clothes, the boy couldn't help but think of how close they'd become even while they were broken up. Their friendship was stronger than Ginjo or anything he could throw at them. The things they had gone through only proved to him that there was no one else for him but Grimmjow. And more than anything, they had so much fun when they were together.

He wanted it all back. Helping Grimmjow and at least enlightening him would be a start to that.

Picking up the booksack, Ichigo smiled when he smelled Grimmjow's familiar musky, arousing, overpowering scent on it.

"I… I don't want to be with anyone but him." He said.

Without wasting anymore time thinking about what to do, he left. He left his house and headed down the familiar path that led Grimmjow's house.

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