"Well, that's good." Ichigo remarked breathlessly as he arrived at his house, seeing that it was still standing. Bending over and putting his hands on his knees, Ichigo also noticed the remnants of the battle Solomon had spoken of.

"I guess he really wasn't lying. That car's completely destroyed and these skid-marks don't look anything like something a car would make." He noted, looking around. The collateral damage was definitely Grimmjow's calling card, when they'd fought before it was almost as if he'd made a point of ruining the environment around them.

"But what's he doing here? There obviously weren't anymore Espadas with him, or at least from what I can tell. And I doubt they'd send just one Arrancar to attack us."

Luckily it didn't seem Grimmjow had gotten to use a Cero, because that probably would have annihilated at least a few blocks worth of buildings.

"Did he really come here just to fight me? The last time we fought he acted like I'd be no problem to beat, and then he comes here alone to battle with me? It doesn't make any sense."

Ichigo continued thinking about it for several minutes before deciding to just head in. Karin and Yuzu were usually back before he even got here, since their school let them out earlier, and their dad would probably be in their house now as well. The teenager walked past all the damages towards his house and entered, noticing that not even a piece of dirt had gotten onto their house as a result of the battle.

"Hey, I'm home-"

"Welcome back Ichiiii- blagh!"

The fist came away from the charging man's face, leaving him to hold his nose as Ichigo walked into the house, greeting Karin and Yuzu. They greeted him back as he sat down at the table they ate their food at; it was not really a dining room.

"Hey, Ichigo, you're home awfully early. You usually stay out for a few hours hanging out with your friends."

He set his book bag down next to his chair.

"Yeah, well, had to make sure the house was still standing, ya know?"

"That's true. Who knows what condition it'll be in when you leave dad alone here?"

"What?! I keep this house ship-shape! Not an ounce of dirt makes it into this immaculate construct due to my constant watch of-"

"Yeah, never know."

"Hey! Are you two talking like I'm not even here?!"

"Did you see what happened out front by the way? Though I guess it's pretty hard to miss." Karin mentioned as their father became increasingly isolated in the conversation.

"Yeah, there must have been some kind of serious accident for all of that to happen. I only saw one car though. Seems like it'd be hard to ruin it on its own."

"Wasn't that that blond guy's car too? I hope dad didn't destroy it or anything."

"Of course not!"

"Hey, dad, what were you two talking about anyway?" Karin asked him, finally seeming to give him the luxury of being part of the conversation. Ichigo looked at him as well, having forgotten to mention it. Their father's silly demeanor ceased and he sat down in the last chair.

"Oh, he just wanted my help with something."

He had to work hard to keep his expression from changing at that. All of what Solomon had said so far seemed true.

"Help, you mean he was hurt or something?"

"No, his family's been in a bit of a bind for a while I guess. He was asking me if I would be willing to talk to some people I used to work with; policemen, medics, the like, about helping them."

Ichigo's eyes narrowed as he thought about the situation.

"Why talk to my father first? Had he been trying to gather information on me? See if I would be willing to help?"

"But enough about that, I'm sure it'll work out. I actually wanted to tell everyone that we're going to have to have dinner early tonight since one of my regular patients couldn't come earlier and is going to be arriving at the clinic in about an hour. I recommended that he go to the hospital but he's adamant about seeing me instead. I hope it's not too big of a problem."

"Not at all." Ichigo said, guessing it'd be a little while before he could go upstairs and really think this over. His sisters shared the feeling and Isshin thanked them for understanding before going with Yuzu to make dinner.

Ichigo glanced down at his book bag, guessing he should get some homework done before dinner. It would help him try and get his mind off the other stuff for a while too. He reached down for his books as a loud knock sounded at the door. It was just barely on the line of aggressive in fact.

"Who could that be?" Karin asked, not sounding all that concerned.

"I don't know." Ichigo responded while walking towards the door.

"Hey, Ichigo, don't worry, I'll get it." His father told him, walking towards the door as well.

"I can get it dad." He responded; it was not really a big deal.

"It's fine, just get working on your homework."

He shrugged and sat back down, pulling his books out and setting them on the table as his father opened the door.

"Good afternoon, what can I do for you?" His father greeted the person kindly.

Ichigo opened his book to the section on Africa during the industrial revolution.

"I'm looking for Ichigo Kurosaki. He here?"

The book flipped to a page on a white panther killing workers in the jungle and Ichigo froze.

"Sure. Ichigo, someone is here to see you."

He breathed out and closed his book, making sure his combat pass was still in his pocket, then he got out of his chair and walked over to the doorway. His father stepped out of the way and he saw a familiar blue-haired man with the remnants of a hollow mask on his right cheek; the piece looking like oversized jaws that had degenerated into bone. The man was dressed like a modern-day human, contrary to how he'd looked before and Ichigo wondered how many people he'd hurt since arriving here. Somehow he doubted Grimmjow was the type to work hard to make some money and then pay for clothes when he could just beat up whoever had them and take them for free.

It was weird that his father hadn't mentioned the "mask" on the side of Grimmjow's jaw, but he may have just been acting polite. One way or another, it didn't matter.

"Thanks dad." He spoke, his father nodding and walking back into the kitchen.

Grimmjow was frowning, not seeming to be in "attack mode" yet.

"What are you here for, Grimmjow?" He asked, already knowing why but feeling like he should ask anyway.

"You know what I'm here for."

Ichigo sighed.

"Yeah, I guess I do. Somewhere else."

The man didn't blink, as if he were a cat waiting for a mouse to let its guard down.

"Sure."

"Dad, Karin, Yuzu, I'll be back in a while." He said while closing the door behind him and noticing a tiny smirk flash across Grimmjow's face.

Ichigo glanced at Grimmjow and then started walking down the street, heading for the bridge and the land around it that was a few miles off.

"Hey, why're you walking? I don't feel like taking a stroll with you." Grimmjow told him from behind.

"Just shut up. I'm not going to just leave my body here for anyone to see. And I can't use the flash step to get me anywhere quickly like this either. If your battle is so important then it can wait."

The man scoffed.

"Fine, whatever. Just don't run away."

Ichigo thought of all the questions he'd come up with before as he walked down the street towards the bridge, having chosen that location for more than just its seclusion. After all, a lot of the questions he had involved people who had interacted with this guy that followed behind him and if he knew anything about what was going on then Ichigo could use all the pieces of the puzzle that Grimmjow could provide.

"So tell me, Grimmjow, what are you doing here?"

"The hell are you talking about? I'm here to beat the hell out of you."

"Was it an order from Aizen?"

"I don't follow his orders anymore."

"So you're not an Espada?"

"What does it matter, Kurosaki?"

"Because I want to know if I'm fighting Grimmjow Jeagerjaques or the sexta Espada."

"…I'm not."

Ichigo nodded to himself, his hold on the combat pass loosening just slightly.

"I also heard you're the guy to thank for the redecoration outside our house." He spoke, the rhythm of their footsteps sounding like a tick-tocks of a clock.

"You've certainly been asking a lot of questions, what is this, an interrogation?"

"Don't forget, Grimmjow. You're the one who wants to fight, I'm just answering your call. The least you could do is answer some questions."

"I don't owe you anything. If I get tired of waiting I can always start fighting right now. What would you do if I did? Not fight back?"

Ichigo sighed.

"Just answer the question."

Grimmjow scoffed and they walked for several seconds in silence. Then he spoke up.

"I fought a guy outside your house. Thought you were in the back seat or something but the guy turned out to be some super-human."

His expression tightened, though Grimmjow wouldn't have been able to see it.

"Super-human?"

"I couldn't kill the guy." He responded.

"That should tell you more than enough."

He looked down at the ground in thought.

"Yeah, it does."

"Even more messed up than that, after I found out who the bastard was and chased after him I ran into him on accident when I attacked someone else with orange hair who I thought was you."

"You don't seem to be very good at finding people." Ichigo remarked with a normal expression, though he gave a bit of a chuckle on the inside.

"Shut up. I found you eventually. But it was strange… there was some chick with that guy and she was like some kind of little demon or something."

"Little demon? What are you talking about?"

"I couldn't kill her either! That's what I'm talking about! And I think she was even stronger than that guy Solomon."

"We're definitely talking about the same guy. But I wonder who that girl is. Girls can be just as strong as guys. Yoruichi is the best evidence anyone could ever use. But I wonder what makes those two so special that Grimmjow couldn't even manage to kill one of them."

"It doesn't matter though." The blue-haired Arrancar spoke from behind, pulling Ichigo out of his thoughts.

"After I take you out I'm going after them and I'll kill them this time."

Ichigo sighed again and looked over at a house nearby, noticing that it was Chad's. He didn't have time for this. Grimmjow could lose patience any second and his own human body wouldn't be able to stand up to his attacks.

"Sorry, but that's not happening. I won't let you kill anyone."

"Whatever. You won't be able to do anything to stop me."

He made it in front of Chad's house and looked at it. From what he could tell his friend wasn't home, but this was as good a place as any to leave his body. Ichigo walked over to the front of his house and sat down on the steps.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?"

He didn't answer. All Ichigo did was pull his combat pass out of his pocket and use it to free his soul- reaper body from his human one.

"I told you; I can't let you kill anyone. And I've got to find out what I can about this Solomon guy and what's going on with him. I don't have time to mess around with you all day."

Grimmjow scoffed.

"Then lead the way, Kurosaki."

His eyes narrowed.

"You got it."