Izuru had thought that when Gin had said they were going to his old friend Grimmjow's "place", he was insinuating that it was a little bungalow on the outskirts of Yokohama, or maybe a cramped apartment. But oh, no.

It was an estate.

Three stories tall with a view of the bay and a giant Ferris wheel in the distance, lights dancing on the surface of the water at night, and in the day time, a beautiful view of the grey city. The rooms were spacious, the downstairs kitchen was industrial size, and there was a balcony on each of the top two levels. No, two balconies on each of the top two levels. The bathrooms were equipped with jet tubs and many flavors of bath salts and body lotions, and the bed rooms won't even start to be described.

When Izuru and Gin tumbled out of their taxi in front of the wrought-iron twenty foot-tall gate before the house, both of their jaws hit the ground. And maybe even dug their way to the Atlantic ocean. Gin pressed the buzzer, and when prompted to say who he was, said he was an old friend of Grimmjow's. The big black gates slowly swung open on their own accord. They wandered up the long gravel path, and when they at last reached the door (After they passed the porch, which was indeed adorned with Corinthian columns) , Izuru reached up to knock the brass knocker, which was ornately cast in the shape of some sort of jungle cat's head, the knocker's ring held in fiercely bared teeth. The navy blue door creaked open, and a small girl with her front teeth missing, green hair and sunburn-like blush peeked out.

"DAD!" She cried. "GRIMMY! There're some weird guyth here!"

Izuru and Gin exchanged nervous glances, and Izuru could tell Gin's eyes were flicking all over the place behind his squinted lids.

"Don't scream, Nel." A baritone voice scolded. A man with shock-blue hair and teal eyes hefted the small girl called Nel up from the floor, and balanced her on one hip. He looked at Gin and his lips spanned into a wide smile. "Ichimaru!" He laughed. "Long time no see! Welcome to the Estate!"

Gin gave the blue haired man a brisk man-hug. "The Estate, huh? You're so much more well off than I 'spected you ta be!"

"Well, it ain't all mine, but I do take some credit. Come in, come in!" Gin and Izuru were somewhat forcefully ushered inside, and the girl called Nel was set on her feet. "Go tell your Dad the guests are here. And see if Nnoitora tidied up the living room like he said he would."

"Okay!" Nel said with a toothless grin. "DAAAAAD!" She ran with bare feet down a pristine hall.

The man straightened up and ran long fingers through cornflower hair, turning to Izuru. "Hi. I'm Grimmjow Jaeggerjaques." He held out a square hand. "You must be Ichimaru's new significant. Pleasure to meet you."

"Kira Izuru." Izuru introduced himself with a smile, shaking Grimmjow's firm hand. "Pleasure to meet you too."

"Here, let me show you two to your room. We figured you wouldn't mind sharing, so we went ahead an' set up a king size bed for you." Grimmjow played the gentleman and took Izuru's suitcase in one hand, and Gin's in the other, and went and chivalrously tromped up the flight of stairs to the left. "It's in the bedroom at the end of the hall that we don't use. There's a bathroom attached, too, it has a both a tub and a shower, and his and hers sinks. Or rather, his and his sinks." Grimmjow laughed dryly at his own joke. He pushed open the white door to the bed room, and both Gin and Izuru gaped. The room must have at least been a thousand square feet, and the bed filled most of that. Grimmjow set their bags at the foot of the bed, and motioned for them to follow him. He showed them the crystalline bathroom with a sweeping hand gesture, then pushed them out the door for a grand tour of the Estate.

"…And here is the kitchen." Grimmjow said with a somewhat manic grin. He's kind of forceful, Izuru thought, his eyes glazing over at the sight of the stainless steel kitchen.

It was where the rest of the "family" was gathered. There was a tall island in the middle of the floor, surrounded by spindly barstools and a wide variety of people.

"They're here, everybody!" Grimmjow boomed, holding his arms open wide.

"Ichimaru!" The tallest of them crooned, his silk black hair falling in a sheet around his face, covering a white leather eye patch. He rose from his barstool, and Izuru craned his neck backward in order to continue to study his toothy, sneering face. "Long time no see, bro." He folded Gin up in a lanky, brief embrace. The man seemed to be easily seven feet tall.

"Ya haven't changed a bit, Nnoitora." Gin said with a laugh, patting Nnoitora's midsection, right on the edge of his ribcage.

"You haven't either," a low voice murmured. A man with ashen skin, raven hair and catty green eyes looked up from his sketchbook. Nel was seated in his lap, helping him draw whatever it is he was sketching with a fat, stubby, nubbin of a pencil. "You look exactly the same as you did in high school." Vertical teal lines ran down from his eyes like tears, but they appeared to be tattooed on. Emerald green eyes were turned on Izuru. "I'm Ulquiorra Schiffer, and welcome to our home." He said with a demure nod of his regal head. "I suppose I'll introduce everybody. This is my daughter Nelliel Tu Oderschvanck, but she prefers to be called Nel. This is Tia Hallibel," he gestured to a busty blond at his left elbow, whose hair was short for the most part, save the long tails hanging in sets of two on either side of her head. Her eyes were a piercing blue-green, and her skin was a gorgeous caramel bronze. "She's one of the boarders here, and is studying marine biology. Standing behind her is Nnoitora Gilga, another boarder. He's studying dentistry at the university." Nnoitora gave a dainty wave and a clinical grin. "And of course you've met my partner, Grimmjow."

"Of course." Izuru managed to choke out. It was certainly a very different crowd of people than Izuru was used to. Sure he hung out with interesting people on a daily basis, but… this was a different kind of interesting.

"I assume you've already eaten?" Ulquiorra said, glancing at the large, stylish mirror-faced clock on the eggshell white wall. It was approaching eight o'clock.

"Yeah. We stopped by a diner before we came ta find yer uh, house." Gin scratched the side of his head.

"Excellent. It's game night tonight, and Nel was wondering if you'd like to play a round of dominoes." Ulquiorra set his mechanical pencil down on the countertop, and Nel added some swirls to his drawing.

"The kind with lotsa dots." Nel interjected, swinging her legs back and forth and efficiently kicking Ulquiorra directly in the patellae. He vaguely winced.

"It's the only kind we have." He grumbled. The boarders began to drift away from the table, Tia towards the pantry and Nnoitora towards the living room, and what sounded like a fantasy video game.
"I'll go get 'em!" Nel giggled, slapping the sketchbook down on the table and pointing at the floor to demand to be let down. Ulquiorra hefted her to the floor, and Izuru snuck a glance at the open sketchbook. It was a drawing of a chic, modern couch, the back sloping to one side and the seats orbicular and modular. Right over the top of it were some scribbles that appeared to be a drawing of her family; she, Ulquiorra and Grimmjow.

"Are you a designer?" Izuru blurted, and followed Gin's example as he perched himself atop one of the spindly barstools. Izuru was forced to take the stool beside Grimmjow, and leaned ever so slightly away from him and his maniacal grin.

"Yes." Ulquiorra answered simply, and flipped his sketchbook shut. "I'm a furniture designer, and creator of the furniture company 'Las Noches'. All the sofas, ottomans and upholstered chairs here in the Estate are from my first line, 'Bala', and all the tables are from my line 'Gran Rey'. But the setup in the dining room and kitchen is from my exclusive line 'Oscuras'. All the storage in the bedrooms is from my line 'Mundo', and all the lights, mattresses, mirrors and rugs throughout the house are from IKEA."

"That's so cool." Izuru sighed.

"Hey Grimmjow, what do you do for a livin'?" Gin asked, propping his elbows up on the counter, and resting his chin in his hands.

"I'm an architect." He said, figuratively puffing out his chest. "Right now I'm working with the university to design a new art wing." Nel padded up and slammed the tin of dominoes on top of the counter, standing on her tiptoes in order to reach. Grimmjow flinched, as she'd caught his pinky finger under the edge of the dominoes tin. He made an odd face, and continued with what he was saying. "Of course, I don't think I'll ever be as accomplished as Ulquiorra. But I can strive. I mean, I designed this house. Ulq an' I bought the plot of land as soon as we got enough money to." Grimmjow stuck his throbbing extremity in his mouth. "Hey Tia, you gonna play dominoes?" He asked around a mouthful of finger as the blond shuffled out of the cavernous pantry with a box of shark shaped fruit snacks.

"No. I have to call Starrk to make sure he and Lillynette didn't get totally smashed after their gig this morning. They have a habit of drinking if they thought their sound wasn't good." She opened the new box, and took a foil wrapped package out, and put the box under one arm so she could open the snack with her teeth. "And it was sounding like they didn't think they were quite up to snuff."
"That's probably a good idea." Grimmjow nodded, and Ulquiorra opened the tin of dominoes.

"I'm going firthst!" Nel shouted, climbing up Ulquiorra's leg to sit in his lap. Ulquiorra rolled his eyes with a tiny smile for his daughter, and set out the first domino.

AN

stick-figure-jesus...

continues to timeskip.

sfj