Second Chance

A/N: I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for your reviews! I really appreciate it. This is the last chapter. . . it's possible that there will be a sequel in the future, involving Ryuuken stirring up some jealousy and someone from Grimmjow's past life showing up. But I have other projects that I want to do first. . . namely, a GrimmIchi and a KenBya, both of which will be mostly smut. I think I will also write an Isshin PWP or two, thanks to FrostieSoul's comment. . . he really doesn't have enough ficcage on this site. Though I'm thinking they will be pretty pervy, so I'm not sure if people will actually like them.

At any rate, thank you for reading and reviewing! Sorry if the ending isn't so great, I had a hard time with it.


Chapter Five


Renji handed Ichigo a can of soda. Their fingers intertwined on the cool aluminum, only to remain there as their eyes met.

"Thanks," Ichigo said, a small smile on his lips.

"No problem," Renji replied, still not moving his fingers off the soda can.

"You two make me want to throw up," came Grimmjow's disgusted voice. "What's with this sappy mood? We're fighters, not lovers."

Ichigo shrugged as he finally moved the soda can away from their combined grips. Ichigo couldn't be more pleased that his relationship with Renji was pretty much on the track he wanted it, despite Renji's freak out the morning after their first time together.

"No one asked you," he snapped back to Grimmjow.

The three men walked across Irokawa campus, Ichigo and Renji side by side and Grimmjow a few steps behind them, until they reached the manhole near the dorm. Of course, Ichigo had thought to bring a crow bar in advance (although it had been somewhat of a trick to keep it hidden all the way here). He slid the curved end of it into the hole in the middle of the manhole and lifted it up, sliding it back just enough that they would be able to get in.

"I'll go first," Grimmjow said, already moving into position at the ladder that was revealed. He climbed down, almost falling on the last rung onto a slippery stone surface. Once he got down there he turned on his flashlight to look around as he waited for the other two to join him.

They were pretty much on a platform that was built along the side of the tunnel, though it didn't really lead anywhere. To get anywhere else they'd have to get into the waste water that flowed beside them.

"Fucking disgusting," Grimmjow said, looking at the murky liquid.

"Do you feel that?" Ichigo said, turning his own flashlight on.

"Yeah," Renji replied. "That spiritual energy. . ."

They shared a look between them. It pissed Grimmjow off, that and the fact that he couldn't see or feel spiritual energy anymore. If it's one thing he hated it was feeling helpless, especially since he had been so strong before.

"It's this way," Renji said, leading them into the water and through the tunnel.

Grimmjow listened to the water move and flow around them as they walked through it, the noise amplified by the tunnel's shape and relative quiet. Somewhere in the distance he could hear water rushing down some incline, and every now and then he would hear footsteps of some small animal patter across a platform.

It wasn't long before Renji climbed out of the water and onto another platform, the other two following him. The men were never more relieved to be out the murky water, though the feeling of heavy, wet clothes against their skin wasn't the most pleasant thing either.

"Do you think it's a plus?" Renji asked, feeling out that light spiritual energy.

Ichigo shrugged. He was about to say something when suddenly there was a loud clatter from the side, and almost in unison three flashlights turned to focus on the noise. Their lights met nothing, just the wall of the tunnel.

"That definitely wasn't a rat."

"We should look around," Renji said. They seemed to be in an irregularly shaped part of the tunnel, with short pieces broken off from the main "room."

Grimmjow was shining his light down one tunnel when he swore he felt something brush against him. He turned, startled, but saw nothing there. He turned back to the area he had been exploring, when a small whisper filled the air directly next to his ear.

"Hisao."

Grimmjow spun around at the voice, flashlight illuminated as many areas he could. Nothing. He walked forward, steps maybe a little too quick, searching for whoever had said that.

"Who the fuck-"

But then he was knocked off his feet, his head hitting the hard stone behind him.

"Hisao," came the eerie whisper, growing more excited and menacing with every word, "is it really you?"

Grimmjow felt a weight settle on top of him, felt something close around. He looked up, searching for his friends, only to see Ichigo and Renji's bodies collapse onto the tunnel floor. Shit. His eyes widened, but then his head was lifted up and knocked against the hard, stone floor. He blacked out.

When Grimmjow woke up, he was walking. Or, it would be more correct to say, the body he was currently occupying was walking. He had absolutely no control of it; it was as though he was a spectator in his own dream. The body stopped in front of a glass door, and the reflection peered out at him for just a moment: Asakura Hisao. It was unmistakably him, only with black hair and wearing a doctor's coat.

Hisao opened and stepped through the door, into what looked like some kind of laboratory. There was a man there. Older and well built, his tall body was leaned over a desk as he looked through some papers.

"Still looking through those test results?" Hisao asked. He walked over to lean against the desk, directly next to the other man. The man looked up, eyes glinting even beneath his glasses. There was some stubble on his face, as though he hadn't shaved in a few days, and his light brown hair was disheveled. "You need a haircut. You're really looking like the absent-minded professor these days, aren't you?"

"Can't be helped," the professor said, leaning back in his chair. One of his hands came up to rest on Hisao's thigh as he smiled. "I have exams to grade, and I think I'm getting somewhere with this experiment. It doesn't leave me much time for me."

"Or for me?" Hisao asked, smirking at the older man.

"There's always time for you." The professor kneaded the flesh of Hisao's inner thigh, moving higher and higher, bit by bit. His fingers had only brushed against Hisao's groin when Hisao hit it with a ruler he had picked up from the desk. The professor yanked his head away, making a small noise as he did so.

What the hell, though Grimmjow, it was just getting good. His former self was an idiot. But Hisao's smirk had only grown wider. "I have a class to go to. If you want to finish this, come by my dorm later tonight."

"Is that okay?" The professor said, frowning. "What if people find out about us?"

"We'll say that you're trying to recruit me to the neuroscience division. It's not a lie, is it? I've still got that book you gave me."

"And I'm sure you haven't even touched it," the professor said, disappointment clear in every syllable.

"Hey, not my fault your field of research doesn't appeal to me." Hisao grinned as he half-straddled the professor's chair, one leg on the ground while the other went up to rest between the professor's thighs. "A little preview of tonight."

His knee ground lightly into the other man's groin, and his lips came down to capture the other man's mouth. As they kissed the professor's hands came to wrap around his waist, pull him closer. Grimmjow reveled at the feeling of a strong chest against his, but all too soon Hisao was pulling back. The professor sighed as he found his arms empty.

"Is eight good for you?" the professor asked. "I do think we should go to a hotel though. It's too risky having sex in your dormitory."

"Fine," Hisao conceded, shrugging. He didn't seem to particularly care. "I'll meet you in the parking lot in the back of the dorms at eight."

"I'll see you then. Really, kid, I don't know what I'd do without you."

Hisao bent down for one more kiss, their tongues intertwining with the promise of a later meeting. As Hisao left the lab he was surprised to find another student there, waiting for him.

"Akira?" Hisao asked. "What are you doing here?"

The man named Akira frowned. "I just came to pick you up for our next class. I don't know why you spend so much time with Professor Tsukigata, the guy creeps me out."

"How?" Hisai asked. "He's just a normal professor."

"His experiments are really on the boundaries of what's ethical," Akira replied. "Besides, are you okay with being 'the other woman'? He has a wife and kids, doesn't he? You don't think he'd ever leave them for you, do you?"

Hisao scowled. "I'm not asking him to leave them. What I do is my business, and I've got my reasons for it. Childhood friend or not, you've just got to butt out sometimes."

The two men walked into a classroom together, but thankfully Grimmjow's vision blurred away and segued into a different scene, so he wouldn't have to sit through a stupid biology lecture or whatever they were doing. When his vision cleared he was in his dormitory, which looked almost identical to the way it looked in present time. The clock on his desk, sitting in between a rugby ball and a stack of books, read 7:45. Hisao grabbed one of the books and placed it in a large pocket on the inside of his jacket, and Grimmjow realized it was that neuroscience book. He was probably returning it to the professor.

Akira showed up in his doorframe then, a pack of cigarettes in his hand. "I'm going to have a cigarette outside. Want to come?"

"Yeah, sure," Hisao said. "I've got some time to kill."

The two men walked out of the building, complaining about their organic chemistry professor the whole time. Most of what they were saying went above Grimmjow's head, and he was relieved when they came to the side of the building and stopped. They leaned against the wall, and Akira handed Hisao a cigarette before lighting it for him. Grimmjow felt smoke and nicotine fill up Hisao's lungs, felt it leave as Hisao breathed out. They started talking about classes again, but at least Grimmjow could enjoy the feel of smoking while they did it.

After a little bit, though, Grimmjow started to feel lightheaded. He felt Hisao stumble, his knees weakening as he fell to the floor. The cigarette dropped to the floor beside him, and Grimmjow noticed that it was burning a strange shade of purple.

"Sorry, Hisao," Akira said, "but I'm doing this for your own good."

"What? Akira?" Speaking sent a shaft of pain through his throat, and he cringed as he shut his mouth. Arms wrapped themselves under his armpits, and he felt himself being dragged across the floor. Akira was opening something. . . the manhole to the sewer, Grimmjow realized. A few moments later his body was dropped into a hole, the pain of hitting the hard stone floor making him scream.

"Akira," Hisao tried again, "let me go."

"This is for your own good," Akira repeated. He dragged Hisao into the water, and Grimmjow could feel the cold water lap up around his body, touching his chin. "You shouldn't be with that man. He doesn't really care about you; if he did, he wouldn't be stay with his wife and children. I've been with you almost our whole lives, Hisao. I've always cared about you. Why can't you see that?"

"You're crazy," Hisao said.

"You won't be saying that for long. You'll see, I'm just doing what's best for you."

"Fucking nuts."

Eventually Hisao was pulled out of the water, and Akira was dragging him through a large space. Grimmjow recognized it as the room he had been in before, when he had been attacked by the unseen presence. Akira dragged him into a small nook and laid him against the wall.

"Now," Akira said, "let's get you out of these wet clothes."

Akira slowly stripped Grimmjow, leaving the other man shivering against the wall. He put the clothes to the side for now, then picked up something from the side. A baseball bat. He must have had it ready for this, Grimmjow realized. He pulled it into the air, and a second later Hisao and Grimmjow were both creaming as it came crashing down on Hisao's leg. The sound of multiple breaking bones filled the air. The pain was still radiating outwards as the bat was brought down on Hisao's other leg, bringing another scream and a fresh wave of pain. As Hisao's body tried to convulse into itself, Akira grabbed his arms and tied them behind him, to some small pipes that came out of the wall.

"I just need to make sure you're not going anywhere," Akira said. "But don't worry, I'll come down to see you all the time. I'll never leave you, Hisao."

Akira bent forward to claim Hisao's lips in his, and Hisao bit into them harshly. Akira pulled away and slapped him, the pain of the slap barely anything compared to the feeling coursing from his legs. Blood was dripping from Akira's lips, and Hisao couldn't help but smirk in satisfaction, despite the situation he was in.

"That wasn't nice, Hisao," Akira said. "Well, it doesn't matter. Soon you won't be strong enough to fight back."

Akira went to pick up Hisao's clothes, and turned to leave. "I'll be back, Hisao, so don't worry. I'll come back to see you tomorrow."

Grimmjow could hear the sound of Akira getting back into the water and wading away. Pain filled his every nerve ending, and apparently it was too much for Hisao, as blackness took over his consciousness.

"Grimmjow. Grimmjow."

Grimmjow slowly came back to reality, aware of Ichigo's hands wrapped around his arms as the boy shook him back and forth.

"For fuck's sake," Grimmjow said, swatting Ichigo's hands away. "Stop that. I'm fine. What happened?"

"This little hollow attacked you," Ichigo said. "So we went into our shinigami forms and got rid of him. Must have been a pretty bad guy while he was alive, cause he went straight to hell."

"He must have had quite an attachment to this place," Renji said. "If all he's been doing is hanging out in the sewers, no wonder the local shinigami never exterminated him."

"Yeah," Grimmjow muttered, "think I know who he was."

Renji raised an eyebrow. "Got some of your memories back?"

"Yeah," Grimmjow said. "Seems like I was killed by an obsessive stalker. What a crappy way to die."

At Ichigo and Renji's confused expressions, Grimmjow muttered a quick "I'll explain later." He wanted to get to his body, and he knew exactly where it was. The others followed him and he turned into a familiar nook, flashing a light into its depths. And there it was. A dull grey skeleton, propped against the wall of one of the side nooks. A baseball bat, wasted away from moisture and time, stood beside him.

Grimmjow leaned down, looking at the sad state of his skeleton. He wondered how long Akira had him imprisoned down here before he had died. At least now he could give his body the burial it deserved. Ichigo and Renji came to kneel beside him, and they made delicate work of placing each piece in Ichigo's backpack.

The funeral was only a few days later, just as soon as they were able to buy a coffin and space in the cemetery. It was really only Isshin, Ichigo, Renji, and Grimmjow, and no one said any eulogies, considering the person they were burying was still living among them. They only lit incense and placed flowers, but that was enough for Grimmjow. It was a nice feeling, to be able to lay his body to rest.

Afterwards Ichigo and Renji walked ahead of the other two, trying to find some private time together. It had been an eventful week, more so than Renji had expected. He and Ichigo hadn't had that much time together, really. But Renji was due back to Soul Society about two hours ago, so there wasn't any more time to delay.

"I can come back down next time I've got a break," Renji said.

"I can come up next weekend," Ichigo offered instead. "I can make Urahara open up a senkaimon for me."

"Yeah," Renji replied, perking up a little, "sounds good."

They smiled at each other before Renji leaned down to kiss Ichigo, only to have Grimmjow shout at them from several yards away.

"Get a room!" he called.

"Look who's talking!" Ichigo snapped back.

Renji was vaguely embarrassed over kissing Ichigo when Isshin was in eyesight, but the old man was pretending that he hadn't seen. Ichigo and Renji waited for the other two to catch up, and then Renji turned to Grimmjow.

"What are you going to do now?" he asked.

"The old man's going to help me study," Grimmjow said, "then I'm gonna go back to school."

"If he actually makes it in," Ichigo muttered under his breath.

"That's not nice, Ichigo," Isshin added. "For all you know, you two could end up at the same university."

Both men scowled at that thought.

"Medicine?" Renji asked, surprised when Grimmjow shook his head no.

"I'm thinking that I'm kinda interested in forensic science."

Renji chuckled at that. "Yeah, well, take care."

"Yeah," Grimmjow said, "you too. I'm sure I'll see you around."

Isshin waved to Renji before the two of them got into the car, leaving Ichigo and Renji alone outside of it. Renji's hell butterfly was fluttering around his arm, eager to get back home, but Renji ignored it for now.

"Be nice to Grimmjow," he said, not being able to help himself, "you might end up havin' to call him mommy one of these days."

"As if," Ichigo said, but worry flittered over his features for a second.

"I'll see you later."

They leaned towards each another for another kiss. Then Renji took out his zanpakuto and sliced the air to open a senkaimon, his butterfly flying in a frantic pace around. He stepped through it, turning back to wave one last time before the it closed behind him.

Ichigo sighed before getting into the car, ready for the drive home. Hopefully, the next time they got together, things wouldn't be so hectic.

.end.