Second Chance

A/N: I actually wasn't expecting many readers, considering the strange pairing in this story. So I'm glad that people read and liked the fic ^^ Thank you for the reviews. In this chapter, Ichigo finds out about the new lovers.


Chapter Two


Even when Ichigo was asleep, he was aware of what was going on around him. He guessed that it was just something he had picked up out of necessity, given the dangerous situations he had lived through. So he was perfectly aware that Grimmjow, for whatever reason, felt the need to sneak out of the room for a few hours a night - odd, but given that Grimmjow was innately strange, not that surprising. And, right now, he was very much aware that Grimmjow was sleeping on the floor next to him. And he was vaguely becoming aware of something else, small noises in the periphery of his senses. . .

"Ouch! What the fuck!"

And that woke him up completely. Ichigo jumped up to a seated position, spinning around to look at what had caused Grimmjow's exclamation. Only to see that Renji, apparently in the process of sneaking into his room, had stumbled over Grimmjow's sleeping form to land on the floor.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Renji asked, eyes large as he stared at Grimmjow.

"I could ask the same thing about you," Grimmjow sneered.

Ichigo was about to interrupt when his door came slamming open, revealing the surprised faces of Isshin, Yuzu, and Karin.

"What's going on?" Isshin asked, flipping on the light switch.

"Apparently," Grimmjow said, pointing over at Renji, "loverboy here is sneaking into your son's room in the middle of the night."

Ichigo wanted to punch that grin off of Grimmjow's face right now.

"Who is he talking about?" Yuzu asked, only to have Karin shoo her away.

"No one's there. Let's just go back to sleep before their craziness infects us."

Isshin scratched his head, at a loss for words. "Well. . . it's true I've used a kind of hands off approach when it comes to parenting you, but. . . I think as a father, I should draw the line at men coming into your room late at night."

Renji looked beyond embarrassed. "Umm, yeah. This was a big mistake. I won't do it again, sorry."

"Wait, Renji," Ichigo started, tearing the sheets off of himself as he got out of bed, But Renji was already dashing out the window, red hair trailing behind him. Ichigo fell back into his bed, face in his hands. "Shit."

"Yeah," Isshin continued, "I'm just going to go now."

The light was switched off and the door closed.

Grimmjow snickered in the darkness. "Didn't know that you were screwing the ginger."

"Unfortunately," Ichigo replied, "I'm not. Crap, Grimmjow, why'd you have to go and make so much noise over it?"

"Not my fault. He's the one that stepped on me first."

Ichigo threw a pillow at Grimmjow before burying his head in another one. Crap. He should have told Renji that Grimmjow was staying with them, but it's not like he had seen him recently, and besides, what exactly was Renji doing sneaking into his room? Ichigo blushed as he remembered their last meeting, celebrating after the whole Aizen fiasco, Yoruichi letting it slip who Ichigo harbored a previously secret crush on. And Renji had just turned bright red, stuttered something, and left the barracks. Just left. Without really saying anything. It had been mortifying, especially with Inoue, Uryuu, and Chad blinking at him in surprise and sympathetic embarrassment.

And now Renji was sneaking into his room, and maybe that meant he actually stood a chance with the redhead, but then Grimmjow had to mess everything up. Ichigo was pretty sure that Renji wouldn't be trying to sneak in anymore.

Coming to a decision, Ichigo got out of bed and threw some pants on. There was only one place Renji would be, so he might as well head there and see what was up.

"I'm leaving," Ichigo said, making sure to accidentally kick Grimmjow on the way out.

It didn't take him long to get to Urahara's place, and the light in the window told him that Renji had probably just gotten back. He crept around the storefront to the back door and knocked. Renji answered almost instantly, as though he was expecting him.

"Grimmjow's in the human world and he's staying with my family," Ichigo explained in a rush, before he could even decide what to say next. He felt so stupid. Like a high school kid with his first crush. Which is what he was, really, but that notion hadn't crossed his mind.

"Yeah, I saw that." Awkward silence stretched between them. "What's he doing here?"

"I dunno, some crisis of existentialism. He wants to figure out who was before he was ever a hollow. What were you doing coming into my room?"

Renji opened his mouth, then closed it again. He stepped completely out of Urahara's place and closed the door behind him, obviously contemplating what to say next. "It doesn't matter. Has he been having any luck?"

"What do you mean it doesn't matter? And forget about Grimmjow for now."

"I mean I shouldn't have come over in the first place."

They were both glaring at each other now, and Ichigo wondered if this conversation was even going to go anywhere.

"Look," he said, crossing his arms over his chest, "let's just say what we have to say and move past it. Maybe Yoruichi was telling the truth, maybe I do like you. I have no idea why, given what an idiot you can be."

"Geez," Renji said sarcastically, "don't go getting all girly and romantic on me there."

"So?" Ichigo lifted his chin up a little bit, tone defiant. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Nothing, I think."

Ichigo wasn't expecting that answer, and he certainly wasn't expecting it to come out of Renji's mouth so fast. "What?"

"Yeah, I mean, don't get me wrong. You're hot and everything, but you're a kid. And you're not just a kid by Shinigami standards, you're a kid by human standards even. I dunno, it just feels like it'd be wrong."

Ichigo flushed at that. Of all the excuses. . . "You guys didn't seem to mind that I was just a kid when I was kicking Aizen's ass for you."

"Come on, Ichigo. I mean, I'm in my mid 300s, and you're sixteen. That has to be against the law."

"Don't tell me there are statutory rape laws in Soul Society."

"Well, no, but. . ."

"It's a bullshit excuse and you know it," Ichigo said. "I've been through a lot more than other people my age."

"Yeah, I'm not arguing that. It's just weird, is all. For God sake's, Ichigo, you're sixteen years old."

This was going nowhere. Ichigo breathed through his frustration before deciding to drop the topic for now. "How long are you here for this time?"

"I told Byakuya a week."

"Maybe we should just drop this for now, and talk about this later."

"Or, you know, never."

They were still glaring at each other.

"Screw you," Ichigo finally said, before turning and striding away.

"Unfortunately not," Renji muttered under his breath, before turning to go into the house.

The next day Ichigo was still somewhat annoyed at the turn of events. He knew that whatever Renji had been planning to say to him when he snuck through that window, it wasn't what he had ended up saying at the end of the night. Renji didn't take a week long trip to the human world and sneak into Ichigo's room as soon as he got there to tell him he was too young. So whatever Renji was going to say or do, he had changed his mind about it, and Ichigo was going to change it back.

He sat down at the receptionist's desk in the clinic, where Grimmjow was currently sitting and looking over newspaper clippings. For whatever reason, Grimmjow had decided to actually work a little bit for his keep, and had taken to helping around the clinic. Today was Sunday, so it was fairly busy, but during the downtime they were taking notes on Grimmjow's previous life.

To be honest, it still seemed pretty hopeless. They had managed to find a few other articles in the same newspaper, which was a local paper from Irokawa city, about two hours away. But really, all they had was a name and a story. Asakura Hisao. A twenty-one year old university student studying, of all things, medicine. He disappeared one day without a word to anyone, wallet and belongings still in his dorm room. The only thing missing was a textbook on neural networks. His family was despondent and the police were clueless. A mystery that was almost a century old. . . if the police hadn't solved it then, Ichigo didn't think they'd be able to solve it now.

"It didn't seem like I was a bad person before I died," Grimmjow said, a quality to his voice that Ichigo couldn't recognize. "They wouldn't have looked for me so hard if I was, huh?"

Ichigo tried to search Grimmjow's expression for clues, but came up empty. His thoughts drifted to Inoue's brother, to how even the most noble of emotions could twist and bend to the point of perversion. "You probably weren't a bad person. I don't think most hollows were."

"Yeah, well, you're kind of an optimist when it comes to stupid things like seein' the good in people."

Ichigo shrugged. "I don't know if that's it, exactly."

"Hey. You don't happen to have your driver's license, do you?"

"No, why?"

"Can we take a train to this place? A university's gotta have records, right? I mean, the article talks about family, but they don't give details. A university would have those kind of details, right?"

"From the Taisho era?" Ichigo doubted it, but he guessed there was no harm in going to find out. "I've got a day off tomorrow if you want to go."

"Yeah. . . yeah, let's do that."

Grimmjow seemed almost. . . excited. It threw Ichigo off a little, seeing Grimmjow get worked up over something that wasn't a fight to the death, but he guessed the man had mellowed out since their fight.

After that Ichigo left to spend the afternoon playing video games with Keigo. It was pretty boring to be doing something so mundane, but it's not like there was much going on in Soul Society now. Plus, Keigo was one the friends he had neglected since becoming a shinigami, and he had always felt bad about that.

When he came back home he was surprised to find the house empty. He knew that Karin was off playing softball all day, and Yuzu was probably out buying groceries. The clinic was closed, so the last patient of the day must have cancelled. He made his way upstairs, stopping when he heard something that sounded like a moan coming from his dad's bedroom.

"Dad?" he asked, stepping forward. "Are you okay?"

No answer. Ichigo stepped forward to open the door to his dad's bedroom. Only to see Grimmjow straddling Isshin's hips and lowering himself down onto his dad's cock.

Ichigo screamed internally before turning around and running out of the house. He was vaguely aware of some one calling out his name, but he just wanted to get out of there. What the hell had that been? He knew what it was. It was wrong, on so many different levels. First of all, it was his dad. . . that thought alone made him throw up in his mouth a little bit. And with Grimmjow? What the hell?

He found his way to Urahara's place, where he burst in on Urahara and Renji playing a game of shogi in the kitchen.

"What's wrong?" Renji asked. "You look like you're about to throw up."

"Grimmjow," Ichigo managed to mumble, "Grimmjow's screwing my dad."

Urahara and Renji were both snickering at him after he managed to explain what he had just seen.

"I know it's hard to accept," Urahara said, chuckling, "but parents have sex too. How do you think you got here?"

"I don't really see what the big deal is," Renji said, "I mean, they're both good looking guys-"

"That's not the problem, here, Renji." Ichigo sighed as he flopped down onto the ground. He didn't understand why Renji and Urahara weren't as grossed out about this as he was. "Man, why couldn't they have locked the door?"

Renji snickered some more at that comment.

"Renji, what are you doing tomorrow?" Ichigo asked. "I told Grimmjow I'd go with him on his little self-discovery mission, but it's just too embarrassing, being alone with him."

"I guess I can go," Renji said, still laughing a little under his breath. "Got nothing better to do."

"Argh. Is it cool if I stay here tonight? I just can't face them."

And that was how Ichigo found himself spending the night in the Urahara household, Jinta's feet digging into his side and Ururu holding onto his head like it was a teddy bear.

"You're looking pretty comfortable there," Renji teased, from the futon beside him. Ichigo would have turned to look at him, but he wasn't capable of moving his neck at the moment.

"He can build a huge underground training facility," Ichigo replied, "but he can't add another bedroom to this house."

"That's Urahara for you."

The next morning when Ichigo got back, Isshin and Grimmjow were sitting at the kitchen table finishing up breakfast. He couldn't even look at them, but at least Renji's presence made him feel marginally better.

"Son," his father said, putting on his 'grown up' tone of voice, "I think we need to talk."

"No," Ichigo replied, "we don't."

"I just want you to understand that Grimmjow's not taking the place of your mother."

"Huh?" Ichigo asked. The thought hadn't even crossed his mind until this very moment, but now his head was filled with visions of Grimmjow making him bento while wearing a frilly apron.

"Yeah," Grimmjow interjected, "it's just sex, you know?"

Ichigo's face scrunched up at that comment.

"I don't think you're making him feel better about things," Renji said. Isshin looked like he wanted to say something, but the phone in his clinic rang, and he rushed off to go answer it.

"What do you see in my dad anyway?" Ichigo asked, an expression of distaste written over his features.

"A pretty boy twink like you wouldn't understand," Grimmjow said, causing Ichigo to spit out the cereal he had just been eating.

"What did you just call me?" he asked, face a color slightly darker than his hair.

"You heard me. Your dad's hot. Deal with it. Plus, he has a huge-"

"Argh!" Ichigo exclaimed, covering his ears. "Never mind!"

"Look," Renji said, changing the subject, "are we going or what?"

The train ride itself passed in almost near silence. Ichigo didn't really want to say anything to Grimmjow, and Grimmjow was always more than happy to keep to himself. Renji would try to bring up a topic every now and then, but it always ended up having to do with Grimmjow's newly acquired love life, so Ichigo spent most of the time telling him to shut up about it.

After an hour and fifty minutes the three men found themselves standing in the administrative office of the medical school, listening to Grimmjow have a surprisingly civil conversation with a secretary.

"I'm doing a genealogy project," Grimmjow was saying, "and one of my great grand-uncles went to school here. I was hoping to be able to look up his records, you know, address, family, whatever else the school would normally keep tabs on."

Ichigo almost gaped at the plausible explanation. And here he had always thought Grimmjow was all brawn and no brains.

"From 1928?" the secretary asked. "Well, there's no way we would have put those records in our electronic database, but you might be able to find old paper records. There's no guarantee they weren't destroyed or lost, though."

"But you're saying I can look for them, yeah?"

The secretary shrugged. "I don't see the harm."

"And what about old yearbooks?"

"They're kept in a room in the library, but I'm not even sure that we had begun making yearbooks back that. If you want to look up old records, I can lead you there now."

"Hey," Grimmjow said, turning back to his friends, "I'll go look through the records. Can you guys go to the library and look for old yearbooks? Maybe newspaper clippings, if the school has its own paper."

"Great," Ichigo muttered, "more newspapers."

As Ichigo and Renji left they could hear Grimmjow asking the secretary if she had ever heard stories of a student who had gone missing in the 1920s, but it seemed as though she was clueless about it.