Chapter Seven: A Game of Jealousy

Seventy-two hours after my meeting with my father, I attended dinner downstairs. And so around the table, five individuals were shrieking with laughter, helping themselves with second servings, all the while refusing to give a single fuck to the fact that Ichigo and I were being engulfed by an unusual silence. Presently my gaze met his. It lasted for a second, and by the time he presided over his meal I had lent my attention back to the document I had just printed. It was a nearly complete team and players technical data of the Juujika Gakuen Bullets, exactly the useless shit coach and manager liked to send me to perhaps induce me into some nervous breakdown. I read through it from top to bottom, and instilled in my mind two threats, namely said team's ace and captain. Juujika Gakuen was house to the strongest Linebacker in Kanto, Renji Abarai, and to the most intelligent Quarterback in the league, Kajoumaru Hidetomo, who I had heard had an IQ of 155. My nerves were wracking. But then my mother was also exactly the type who liked to do useless shit, to rattle my nerves in particular.

"You should've invited your girlfriend." She told Ichigo.

For my part, my genius throat went on to choke on something that had not existed until it almost killed me. To add on that, the printed pages I was holding slipped outta my hands to scatter on the floor. As the fits of coughing that followed were as violent as a frickin' roar of thunder, the doctor asked,

"You alright, Grimmjow?"

"I'm—*cough*—fine."

"So when are you having her for dinner?" Mother pursued after ignoring her choking-to-death son, and I could just buzz out right here right now.

"Anytime, I suppose." Ichigo answered unwillingly.

Yuzu and mother squealed in delight. But Ichigo stole a furtive glance in my direction, leading me to believe he didn't like this conversation any more than I did. As if that wasn't enough, everyone else's ignorance of the tension between me and my stepbrother grew more marked, and they lost no opportunity to prove it by proposing ridiculous garbage such as,

"What about you, Grimmjow? What happened to the girl you used to date?"

"Fine." I lied. Mother was clearly referring to Ulquiorra's older sister, Nel, who was four years my senior and was a lesbian through and through, and therefore would sooner allow her ovaries to expire before she granted me access to her vagina.

"I just hope you're not neglecting her for football, son."

Again, Ichigo stole another furtive glance.

—next evening—

There was again a lot of hustle and bustle in the kitchen and in the dining room where some grand shit dinner for nine people was going to be served in honor of the attendance of my and Ichigo's girlfriends. My girlfriend, should I be permitted a fucking simile, was exactly like my sports car; it didn't exist. Having found myself in a goddamn pinch, I enlisted the help of Ulquiorra's big sister for some grand act of pretense. Because she was consenting, you might be interested to hear what she asked for in return. Well, she required that I procure a date for his equally homosexual little brother. I protested vehemently for reasons quite obvious; his li'l bro was, if anything, a fucking passive prick whose deadpan reaction to anything would soon reach the count of infinity before anything remotely cool happened to his love life. But Nel wouldn't hear any of it. I had to find Ulqui a date soon or I was done for. Hence, for the meantime, Nel happened to be my girlfriend. As I formally introduced her to the family, the Kurosaki twins were looking at her with unrestrained interest, as she was almost as tall as me and was pretty by any known standards.

Inoue, Ichigo's girlfriend, on the other hand, didn't pale too much in comparison. Whatever. As if I gave one horseshit. None of this planned train of events, however, was working to my advantage. Because Nel and I had nothing in common, my cover was liable to blow itself off if anyone so much as asked me anything more challenging than her age and name.

"So you're a university student, I believe. What course are you taking up?" went Dr. Kurosaki's interview. Beside him, mother couldn't quite take her eyes off Nel, while Szayel decided to show off to her by flashing random Pokemon cards at her.

"Paleoanthropology, sir."

"Ho! A very interesting choice indeed. So what's the most baffling specimen you have so far encountered?"

"Easily it's this Homo Floresiensis we dug up in Java, largely due…"

Blah blah blah. Obviously the discussion had taken a turn to which I couldn't follow. As such, I took no further trouble to pretend listening to any of that garbage and delegated my attention instead to what was happening on the other side of the table. And, surprise, his fucking GF and Ichigo were holding hands under the table.

Just. What. The. Fuck. For? So what was this, some sort of a sick fad that was supposed to make dinner more difficult? I mean, if you were using one hand to hold a utensil and the other to hold yer girlfriend's hand, eating would be more challenging, right? Jeez. The tabletop was fucking pure glass, and if they so imagined their slightness unobserved, well, maybe I could shove his face on his pudding and expect no one else to fucking notice. To hell with this. Why they chose to exhibit their affection in full view of me was beyond my understanding. Since there was no foreseeable end to this fiasco, and because I was so fucking mature, I might as well play my part here and now. And be some kind of a moron. Sure enough, I grabbed Nel's hand, in fucking full view of Ichigo.

Surprisingly, he shot me a perturbed glance. Well, well, I only hoped I obtained the desired effect. But Nel dug her nails in my palm, the sharpness stinging me, as a signal that I must end this monkey business now or she would punch me in the nose as soon as all this role-playing shit was over. Hell, I didn't let go because the imagined discomfort I was giving this fucking Berry was all too satisfying. And to amplify my success, he let go of his girl's hand. Why, if that didn't mean a shit I'd dip my head in the nearest water closet.

Soon, the female visitors called it a night, speaking soft and courteous farewells to the master and mistress of the house and hugging the young ones with extraordinary affection. However, my tolerance for anything would soon disappear, for here now was Ichigo proposing to drive his fucking girlfriend home. That idiot. If they were planning to check-in into some love motel they ought to fucking exercise subtlety. If they had what you might call shame, the least they could do was to barricade people's imagination from some lewd conclusion. Jesus. What a moron.

"I'll only be gone for twenty-five minutes, tops." He told mom and Dr. Kurosaki, to which I snorted audibly for everyone to look at me as though I had said something offensive.

We were all outside, showing the two girls to the gate when this shitty proposal had unleashed itself from Ichigo's mouth. At that, a certain impulse wended its way to me, prompting my arm to pull Nel toward me and to kiss her on the fucking lips, in front of fucking everyone. Before we disengaged our mouths, however, she speared me in the nuts with her knee, out of everyone's notice of course, leaving me grunting to myself in pain. I would've had struck her head with my fist if only all this shitty charade hadn't been my own doing.

"I didn't bargain for this, asshole. But I forgive you for tonight because this sixteen-year old hot chick is very much my type. So watch this." She whispered venomously in my ear and before I knew it she had glided over Ichigo and his girl, wearing her honest-to-god gentle smile, saying, "Where does Orihime-chan live? I can drop her off myself. See, that green Toyota over there is my ride."

"Down Kanzhu block, miss." Inoue answered, blushing profusely, for some reason known only to herself.

"Excellent! I live eight blocks from there. Shall we? I hope you don't mind, Ichigo-chan." She winked at me. Well, she could rape that chick for all I cared.

Ichigo nodded in assent, leaving the fate of her girlfriend at Nel's hands. Not soon after the last exchanges of cordialities, the Toyota bounded off to wherever. I traipsed past him before he could say a word to me.

In my room, my used garments were strewn all over the goddamn floor. Hence in my honest desire to dispel thoughts of Ichigo and his perfectly sweet girlfriend, I went about scooping all the trash in sight and collecting my sweaty clothes. Once that was done, I sped down the stairs into the laundry in the basement. And look who was there to fucking greet me.

Kurosaki Ichigo.

The expression on my face perhaps insinuated as much annoyance as someone who was enduring a very bad case of menstrual cramps. As a result, he made it a point to walk past me without further ado, as if he would rather not cross paths with me ever again. Why he chose this minute as the perfect time to be in the fucking basement was perhaps life's way of saying there was a need to drive me crazy as much as possible. And then to make matters worse, he spoke,

"Good luck on your match against Juujika. I do hope Nagano turns out to be the champion of Kanto."

"Hn." I scoffed. For his information, Nagano and Jujiika were not the only strong teams Kanto had. In fact—

"She's stunning."

It took me several seconds to realize he was talking about Nel. I answered,

"Of course. But yours has the boobs."

"Nel-san's pair is bigger though." He reflected, as though no derision was meant, and it was plain nothing like sarcasm had ever issued from his mouth for a very long time until now. As it was, I could only stare at him, wondering what other manner of cockiness he was fantasizing about,

"…"

"I hope she makes you happy, Grimmjow."

Frankly, he was beginning to drive me nuts. Like, certified nutcase in-progress. If by now I still had yet to qualify for a slot in the fucking mental ward I'd love to know why. All this had started on the night of that kiss. From there, I had caught him several times watching me, as if in secret. But I wouldn't have known he had been furtively eyeing me if I hadn't been pulling the same creepy shit, right? So what would that make us? A couple of freaking stalkers? Since then, the backsliding of my wits had been catching speed due perhaps to the sudden appearance of my father and upcoming football matches. And now neurosis was lurking just around every corner. Why? because this dude had the nerve to imply he was frickin' jealous. The nerve of this jackass. Just who was he to complain when he had as much audacity as to hold hands with his chick and kiss her on the lips right in front of me?!

"Sure. She's lesbo." My genius mouth blurted aloud before I could stop myself. And, of course, things had to go downhill from here.

"What?"

"…" I spun around without answering.

"Is Nel-san even your girl, for real?" He was incredulous now.

"..." Moved toward the door, saying not a shit.

"That was all for show, bro?"

Fucking finally, I had had enough, and so went my mouth,

"Yeah. Fucking happy? Maybe ya wanna throw confetti in the air now, or something."

I tried to give him my blankest stare. Jesus. This was such a fucking fiasco, like some stupid irony carried to extremes. Seriously, had the word 'backfire' been invented years before this very day for it to faithfully wait for me to fucking exist?

"Maybe." he muttered.

Maybe? Just what did this fucking Berry mean by that? Was he happy because I was single or because I could not afford a genuine girlfriend? Wait, was he even happy in the first place?

"Oh, you wanna party over my baloney show? Be my fucking guest." I said for the hell of it. Frankly, I didn't know where this stupid conversation was going. With all the stupidities prevailing here and now I might as well dial Funhouse's landline and order the fucking confetti myself.

"Sounds cool. But this makes us equal now 'cos Inoue's just for show too. She probably only consented to come to get back at Chad."

"All this fucking time? Just what the fuck?!"

He shrugged his shoulders and looked lazily around like an uncaring cocky bastard. His whole conduct could not have attracted the attention of anyone, mine for instance, had it not been for the fact that I was never disposed to ignore cheek. But he spoke again, to declare his idea of fair play,

"What, you ask, Grimmjow? How about we discard this game of jealousy as it is a waste of time, particularly of yours and mine?"

So he was fucking jealous after all. Why, this berry has his cute side too, huh? If he ain't blushing now I'd stuff myself in a fucking coffin. But then my thoughts were suspended when I realized something. Hadn't he just implied I myself was also fucking jealous? The nerve of some people!

"Who the fuck is jealous? And it's not like I wouldn't sooner know you were pulling some baloney show." Said my lying self.

"Well, that straightens it. It's not like I didn't guess right away that Nel-san's out of your league."

"Is that a fucking challenge, Kurosaki?"

"Far from it. In fact—"

"—in fact, you're mooning around with that fucking fucker Ginjo Kugo—"

Well, angry as I was, my voice fell as soon as I had uttered the dude's name, as in a startled pause. 'Fucking fucker'—just what sort of amateurish attempt at insult was I pulling? More than that, just why did I have to bring up Kugo at a time like this when he had nothing to do with any of this shit? Anyhow, it was this defect that led me to believe I ought to stitch my lips together from time to time. Believe me, it had just slipped. Fucking honest. So now there was every reason to take back what I had just said but before I found one, he spoke,

"Oh. You're jealous of Kugo-sempai too?"

For the life of me, I could not answer one damned shit. Hell, did silence always mean 'yes'? If so, fuck this shit. With my tongue thus rendered useless, I walked the fuck out, wanting to salvage my sanity and to retire to my room, but...

...he started following me.

TBC

A/N: This note is probably gonna be a spoiler for Bleach chap 544, so STOP right here if ya haven't read it. So I keep thinking about the identity of the dude behind Chad on page 19. And there seems to be two of them. I do hope one of 'em is him, ya know, the protagonist of this fic lol. Thanks for reading by the way.