A/N: Sorry this chapter is so incredibly late. I thought it would be the last one so I was trying to conclude things here, but I have to go against the overview and add another one haha. Though, I really don't like odd numbers.

Anyway, R & R!

A True Love

With his phone sitting on the coffee table in front of him, Ichigo waited patiently for Grimmjow to respond to his text message. He'd sent him one as soon as he left XCUTION, which was about an hour ago. It usually didn't take him this long to respond to his texts, so he had gotten worried.

As he stared down at his phone nervously, the television turned on suddenly.

Looking around, he wondered what had made it come on. Nobody usually set a time for it to automatically turn on, after all.

"You look worried, Ichigo." Ishiin said as he came over from the dining room with the remote in his hand. "Are you having trouble in the romance department?! Don't let it get you down! Your mother and I had problems when we first got together, too! But they were nothing we couldn't overcome! And whatever you're going through is nothing you cannot overcome!" he continued enthusiastically, taking a seat on the couch next to his son.

"Eh, I'm fine, dad." The boy responded.

"Good! Good!"

"What are you about to watch?" Ichigo asked.

"The weather! Things will be warming up soon, and there's going to be a fireworks display to celebrate the coming spring!"

"Really…?"

"Of course, Kurosaki."

Ichigo jumped when he heard Ishida's voice sound from the foyer. Leaning back on the couch, his eyes went wide when his friends all came in through the front door.

"Hi Kurosaki-kuuun! Hello Kurosaki-san and Yuzu-chan!" Inoue sang happily as she took her shoes off.

"Mm." Chad acknowledged.

Renji kicked off his shoes and hurried past everyone. "Ichigo, I hope you have some food!" he said, taking a seat on the couch beside the boy.

"Rude as always." Senna commented.

"Nobody asked you!" the redhead retorted.

Rukia came over to Ichigo with a smile. "You seem worried, Ichigo. Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm… wait! Nevermind me! What are you guys doing here? How'd you get in?"

"I let them in." Karin answered, peeking out from behind Chad in the doorway.

"Karin? What are you doing outside?" Ichigo asked.

"Brushing up on my kick." The girl responded, holding up a soccer ball. "I want to impress Toshiro and show him I'm better than he is at... well, everything soccer related."

"Karin-chan has a crush on Toshiro!" Yuzu called from the kitchen.

She was in the middle of cooking her famous curry and had a cake backing at the same time.

"I do not! He and that Hinamori girl are going out. I only want to prove I can beat him at this move he showed me. And since I think Grimmjow will be visiting again, I have to show him a thing or two as well."

"Everyone, what are you doing here?" Ichigo asked once more when Yuzu and Karin started a banter about Karin's love interests.

"We can't visit you anymore?" Ishida asked, walking into the kitchen and picking up a plate of minced veggies. "I'll help you." He told Yuzu.

"Me too!" Inoue smiled, shedding her leather coat and hurrying into the kitchen as well.

"Thank you!" Yuzu said eagerly, ignoring Karin who was still saying she didn't have a crush on Toshiro.

"No, I don't mind you guys coming… I just wasn't expecting to see any of you this evening." Ichigo answered, looking over to Ishida.

Senna and Chad took seats on the couch, followed by Rukia.

"Ichigo, where's Grimmjow?" the violet-eyed girl asked.

Looking back down to his cell phone, Ichigo shrugged. "I don't know. I texted him and told him to come over a little while ago. I also called twice when I was on my way home."

"I'm sure it's nothing!" Renji smiled, taking Ichigo under his arm affectionately.

"Where's Shuhei?" the orange-haired boy asked, not particularly enjoying being under Renji's arm.

"He's sleeping back at my place."

"Urahara's place." Senna corrected.

"Hey, back off!"

Pulling himself out of Renji's grasp, Ichigo glanced around the room as his friends and family started conversing with each other. It made him happy that they were here for him. And they always had been, even if he'd kept his struggle a secret from them for as long as he did.

Taking his phone from the coffee table, he stood up and excused himself from the living room.

"So many mouths to feed tonight." He heard Yuzu say as he exited the house.

After unlocking his phone and finding Grimmjow in his call log, he called him again, hoping for an answer this time.

"Grimmjow…" he muttered.

Looking up at the sky as the call dropped, he couldn't help but worry even more than he had been.

Had Ginjo really crossed the line? Did his recording of their conversation mean nothing to him?

Just as he was about to go inside to tell his father, he heard someone running down the sidewalk in front of his house.

When Riruka sped by, he was surprised, but called out to her regardless.

"Ichigo!" the girl shouted, coming to an abrupt stop and nearly falling over in the process.

"Riruka?! What are you doing running around here?"

Falling forward and bracing her hands on her knees to take a moment to catch her breath, Riruka shook her head. When she had managed to regulate her breathing to a calmer level, she spoke. "I've been looking for you!"

"What is it? Did you really come all the way across town to see me? I thought, from the way you turned down my offer at XCUTION-"

"That's not why I'm here! …But, I guess I am glad to know where this place is now."

"What's wrong?"

"There's some guy down at XCUTION who says he wants to fight Ginjo for you!"

Running as fast as his feet could carry him, Ichigo tore through Karakura Town trying to reach XCUTION.

"Grimmjow you stubborn BAKA! I didn't want you to get involved with Ginjo any more than you already were!" he thought through gritted teeth as he ran.

"Hey, wait for me! Your legs are longer than mine!" Riruka shouted, quite a ways behind him.

Ichigo looked over his shoulder and grew angry, yet remorseful. Riruka was slow, but there was no way he would leave her behind. "Pick up the pace!" he said, slowing down his own in the process.

"What the hell is that guy thinking!? Who is he to you anyway?" the magenta-haired girl asked.

"He's… my ex-boyfriend." Ichigo responded.

With a blush running across her face, Riruka shook her head to focus on the situation at hand. "Why does he want to fight Ginjo if he's your ex?!" she asked.

"Because… I didn't want to break up with him, and I told him it was Ginjo who made me do it. That was so stupid of me! I should have handled this on my own and then told him when I had solved everything!"

"… No."

Ichigo's eyes went wide and he turned to the girl running beside him. "What?"

"I said no. That wouldn't have done any good. If you like him, you should be with him. Tell him what is hurting you because if he can help you, he will. Doing everything in his power to make sure you're happy and safe… that's a true love."

"Riruka…"

"Besides, you should never hide something from a lover. You'd only end up making a mess of your relationship. Considering he's still around after finding something like that out, you have a good guy… no matter how amazingly dimwitted he seems… And I'm sorry… that Ginjo made you break up with him, by the way. I didn't realize he'd go that far to get something he wanted. He's definitely an influential person."

Focusing on getting to XCUTION, Ichigo did not respond. After all, none of this was her fault. There was no need for her to apologize.

It was nice, though… hearing her support for him. He'd judged her correctly in assuming she was a good person under her standoffish exterior. And hopefully she would be a nice addition to his group of friends.

"What's that!?" Riruka shouted.

Ichigo's heart stopped when he saw ambulance lights flashing near his destination.

"Come on, Riruka!"

"Right!"

"Jackie!" Riruka exclaimed when she saw her colleague standing in the parking lot of XCUTION.

"Riruka? You… brought Ichigo?" said woman asked.

"Yea! What's going on here!? Why's there an ambulance in the parking lot!?" the girl replied.

Ichigo didn't even wait to hear the woman's response. He hurried on past the two to the stairs, and was about to enter the building when a hand quickly grabbed hold of his arm.

"Kurosaki!"

With wide eyes, Ichigo stared at Grimmjow, who was holding on to him firmly.

"Gri-Grimmjow!"

"Kurosaki, what are you-"

"Don't you dare ask me that! What are you doing here?!" Ichigo interrupted, ripping his arm free from the man's hold.

"I…"

"You were going to fight Ginjo, weren't you?!"

"Kurosaki-"

Grimmjow was cut short when the smaller boy grabbed him into a tight hug.

"I was so mad, but didn't know what to think when I saw that ambulance. If you got hurt again…"

Bringing his hands up to hold onto Ichigo, Grimmjow smiled. "I'm disappointed in you. You don't have faith in me after all this time?"

Ichigo moved back so he could look Grimmjow in the eyes. "That's not it… You never know what someone is capable of, and you would only make it worse by charging into their domain to fight them. Don't do something this stupid ever again!"

"I don't know exactly what happened…"

"What?" Ichigo asked with a confused expression, stepping back from Grimmjow completely.

"Well, I was at the front desk and I had the secretary call that bastard so I could go up and take him down, but we got no response. She kept calling and calling until finally she sent someone up. I was told to step outside when she got a call from back from the office. And then an ambulance came."

Ichigo stared into the building through the glass doors, wondering just what Ginjo had done. "I… I want to go and see for myself." He said quietly, so that only Grimmjow could hear him.

"Don't tell me you actually care about that guy."

"In a way, I do. He… he was only trying to repay my mom for the kindness she showed him by trying to make me happy. The keyword there being 'make'. I know he went about it the wrong way, but his intentions were good. So I… I want to help him."

"Open the doors and make way!" a paramedic called as he ran into the lobby inside the building.

Both Ichigo and Grimmjow watched in shock as Ginjo was pulled out of the building on a gurney.

As he passed, Ichigo couldn't help but see there was a pale tint to his skin.

"What the hell happened to him…?" he asked.

"He overdosed himself." Grimmjow answered.

Turning to the taller man beside him, Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that?"

"I've seen my share of situations like this."

"He's correct, you know."

Ichigo's eyes went wide and he turned around at the sound of that voice.

"You!"

Grimmjow also turned around, and when he saw the man he met on his vacation approaching, he gulped. That guy was creepy back then, and he looked just as creepy now. "What the hell are you doing here?" he asked.

Looking at Grimmjow, Ichigo's expression turned from a surprised one to confusion. "You know him?!"

"Not really." The bluenette began. "I met him while I was in Dubai and he told me he was happy to have talked to me or something like that. I think he was watching someone on the beach 'cuz that's what he said he was doing."

Ichigo paused and came to the immediate conclusion that this was the person Ginjo had hired to keep tabs on Grimmjow and Vivienne.

It also happened to be the strange man he'd come into contact with a long time ago who had told him he was Ginjo's light in this world.

"Tsukishima." The boy uttered.

"You remembered my name?" said man asked.

"Of course. I was going to find you once I took care of Ginjo… though… I don't want to harm him as much as I used to. Seeing him in the condition he was just in, I really only feel sorry for him."

"Yes. I'd hate to tell you this, but the paramedics said Ginjo overdosed a little over an hour ago. I can't help but recall you leaving the premises around that time. Just what exactly did you do to him?"

"I told him we were finished and that I was… going to be with Grimmjow again." Ichigo answered. "I wanted him to move on from me, but not by killing himself!"

"Kurosaki," Grimmjow called.

"Yeah?"

"He's not dead. If he were, he would have most likely have been in a body bag instead of on a gurney."

"Correct again." Tsukishima said. "They're taking him to the hospital, where he'll be treated by the best doctors money can buy."

Remembering how strange this guy was, and finding it even weirder that he knew Kurosaki, Grimmjow decided to voice his confusion. "What the hell is someone like you doing here? The last time I saw you was when I was on vacation."

"I live here in Karakura. I follow Ginjo and do what he asks of me because he saved me a very long time ago."

"Wait. Then… could it be… that Ginjo guy was the person you were telling me about? The one you… uh…"

"Love unconditionally? Yes. I am in love with Ginjo." Tsukishima said, finishing the other man's sentence.

Ichigo was shocked to hear that. He was about to interject, but it seemed like Tsukishima had more to say, so he remained quiet.

"Ginjo saved me from a life on the streets many, many moons ago. It would be no lie to say he is the man made me who I am today. My love for books is only one of the many things he's given me to enjoy. And I will do whatever it takes to make sure he is happy."

Putting two and two together, Grimmjow squinted. "You're not planning on taking Kurosaki from me for that bastard, are you? Cuz I ain't gonna just sit back and let it happen!"

"Actually, when I found out what he'd done to himself, I had intended to take Ginjo away from Karakura for a while, thus taking him away from Kurosaki Ichigo. It seems that he is not interested in what Ginjo has to offer, so it will do him no good to stay here. And while we're away, I will tell him how I feel about him, just like you said I should. You seem like a somewhat sharp-minded individual, so I will take a chance with your advice. Understand that I am not usually one to take such a risk, but… you helped me see that I can make Ginjo happy. Or do what I can to try, anway. I will do everything I can to satisfy him the way Kurosaki did not want to."

As Tsukishima continued to talk about his desire to ensure Ginjo's happiness, Ichigo couldn't help but relish a bit in this unexpected turn of events. This is what he started wanting for Ginjo after he realized the man's decent, if somewhat misguided, intentions towards him: someone who was willing to try making him happy.

Tsukishima stopped talking for a moment to stare at Jackie and Riruka, and then he watched the ambulance pull out of the parking lot. "I think I've spoken enough with you two. I must get to the hospital so I can be there for Ginjo. Once he is released, I'll have him come along with me out of the country. I'm sure he can manage XCUTION from his laptop, as I've seen him do so on many occasions, so there should be no objections on his part. After all, he must have realized you were outside of his reach, Kurosaki."

"Tsukishima." The orange-haired boy called.

"Hm?"

"Tell… tell Ginjo that I said thank you for what he meant to do for me... you know, his intentions. And tell him my mother would be glad that he has someone like you in his life."

"All right. Is there anything else you two want to say? I really should be going." The man said.

"No. Please, take care of yourself. And please take care of Ginjo." Ichigo responded.

"Right then. This is goodbye for now, at least. Perhaps someday our paths will all cross again, but hopefully on more peaceful terms." The raven-haired man said, before nodding in dismissal and leaving.

When Tsukishima was gone, Grimmjow slammed his fist into the palm of his hand. "That asshole chickened out at the thought of fighting me! He must've known I was coming to fight for you when you left this place!"

"'Cuz everyone's afraid of you, Grimmjow. Your reputation needs its own zip code." Ichigo commented, rolling his eyes.

"Are you… are you mocking me, Kurosaki?"

"No, but you should have let me handle this… Don't just try to do things on your own like this anymore."

Taking Ichigo by the back of the head, Grimmjow brought him closer and bumped their foreheads together. "Look who's talking."

Blushing deeply, Ichigo averted his eyes. "It-it was completely different with me, obviously!"

"Whatever you say."

"Don't you try to turn this on me!"

With a calmer expression on his face, Grimmjow grinned with his forehead still pressed against Ichigo's. "Kurosaki." He breathed out in a low voice.

"Yeah?"

"Let's uh… let's get out of here and go back to your place."

"…Right."