Exposed!

Exposed

Chapter VI

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Rukia sighed.

She had been waiting for Ichigo to get back for an hour now; she sincerely hoped that that Espada hadn’t beat him up again. Or worse, killed him. She drummed her fingers on her leg as she, Renji, and Urahara waited (rather impatiently) for the teenager to get back.

Just as she was about to utter another sigh and get up to make coffee, the door to the Shoten burst open and two silhouettes appeared in the doorway. Ichigo walked in first, followed by the Espada he had been fighting with, both of them bloody and tired-looking.

Instantly Rukia and Renji were on their feet, their zanpakutos drawn. Ichigo walked to stand in front of the Espada and ignored the two Shinigami completely, turning to face Urahara.

“We need a gigai for him,” Ichigo muttered, looking Urahara in the eye as he spoke. Whatever message Ichigo was trying to send, the blonde man seemed to understand it as he nodded and left to his basement to start making the gigai. The carrot-top tried to ignore Rukia and Renji’s blatant stares.

Ichigo turned back tiredly to face his two friends, asking, “Did you send Tatsuki, Keigo and Mizuiro home already?” Rukia nodded and Ichigo sighed, sitting down heavily on the couch. He was aware that the two Shinigami in the room had followed his every movement and watched tiredly as their eyes shifted to the Espada still bleeding profusely on the wood flooring.

“Listen, Rukia, Renji… I know I have some explaining but do you mind if we,” here he gestured toward Grimmjow and himself, “go take a shower? We’re bloody, we’re tired, we’re sweaty…”

Rukia and Renji nodded, still obviously confused and a little guarded as to why an enemy was in the house with them, but they couldn’t refuse this request, especially since it came from Ichigo and especially since they wanted answers and he was willing to give them later. They sheathed their zanpakutos and sat down on the couch. Ichigo gave them a shaky smile in thanks and reached for the blue-haired Espada to take him with.

The two Shinigami glanced at each other, wondering what that was all about, but decided to refrain from asking since Ichigo had said he would explain later. They heard the shower start up and settled down, not really bothering to wonder why the two men, who were supposed to be enemies, were showering together.

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Ichigo sighed as he turned the water on hot in the tub and turned away to start undressing. He winced as he pulled off clothes that were stuck to his skin where the blood had dried. Once he was done, he looked up at himself in the mirror to view his numerous injuries and his eyes connected with Grimmjow, who was standing behind him. Grimmjow was smiling rather uncharacteristically at him and Ichigo couldn’t help but smile softly back. He turned around and suddenly Grimmjow was hugging him, running the long, pale fingers of one hand through his hair and gripping Ichigo’s hip with the other. Ichigo sighed and wrapped his arms softly around Grimmjow’s waist, nuzzling into the crook of the Espada’s neck.

The pair stood like that for awhile before Ichigo broke away to turn the shower on. They both kicked away their peeled-off clothing while ignoring their groaning muscles, and stepped in, the hot water stinging their wounds and turning the bottom of the tub red with their blood.

‘This is so weird. Grimm’s not trying to dry hump me or something,’ Ichigo thought as he rinsed his hair of shampoo and winced as it stung the wounds on his back as the suds ran down his body.

They took turns washing and twenty minutes later they had ended up just standing together under the hot spray, arms draped around each other’s hips. Grimmjow could tell Ichigo was nervous about telling his friends, but there really was no excuse he could come up with that would explain why Grimmjow wanted a gigai. He knew Ichigo could just tell them that Grimmjow had escaped and wanted to become an informant, but this wouldn’t gain their trust and they would still be suspicious of him. Grimmjow had to admire the kid’s bravery.

“Grimm,” Ichigo said, interrupting Grimmjow’s thoughts, “we need to get out sooner or later and face Rukia and Renji. Might as well do it sooner rather than later.”

Grimmjow nodded and untangled himself from the teenager to step out of the shower. They helped each other towel dry, still sore, and tried not to think dirty thoughts about one another (lol). It had been two months and they were both sexually charged and needing to relieve the tension, but they both realized it would not be tonight; they were exhausted mentally and physically.

Silently they opened the bathroom door, now fully dressed, and went out into Urahara’s living room to face their judgment. The two men stood in front of Renji and Rukia, who were looking expectantly up at Ichigo. Grimmjow almost felt bad for the younger man because he had to do all the explaining, but it wasn’t his fault Ichigo had such uptight friends. The Espada had to resist the urge to snort.

“Well, you see… Um…” Ichigo began, running a hand nervously through his wet hair.

“Cut to the point already, idiot!” The raven-haired girl smirked. Grimmjow shot her a look, wondering why the hell she was speaking to his strawberry like that. She glared right back at him and turned to look at Ichigo expectantly.

“Yeah, why the fuck did you bring that here?” Renji asked, his voice contorting slightly into anger. Ichigo snarled and Renji backed away, his eyebrows raised. “What, being protective of the enemy now, Ichigo? What the hell is your problem?”

“What’s my problem? I don’t have a problem!” Ichigo seethed back. “If you would just fucking listen to me instead of being a shithead, I could explain why this bastard’s here!” He said, gesturing wildly at Grimmjow, who raised an eyebrow at him.

“Oh, do go on. I would love to hear this,” Renji said, not bothering to hide his sarcasm. Ichigo growled at him and turned away.

“Listen, he’s here because I asked him to be here.” Ichigo stopped here, knowing that he had his friends’ attention. “We’ve been… involved… for a while now. Since the second time we fought each other, actually. It was kind of an accident at first, but… Well, we were both attracted to each other and at first it was just physical stuff. Grimm would come once in a while and hide his reiatsu and we’d have a little fun. But then it grew into something more… A kind of backwards, twisted relationship.”

“Wait,” Renji interrupted, staring incredulously at Ichigo. “You’re saying you and that are involved? You’ve been involved all this time? What the hell does ‘involved’ even mean?”

Before Ichigo could open his mouth, Grimmjow answered the last question for him. “Fucking, Shinigami.”

Ichigo’s mouth fell open, as did Rukia and Renji’s, and he turned to glare at his lover. Grimmjow just shrugged, smirking faintly and gestured for Ichigo to take over. Ichigo sighedand replied, “Well, yeah. Anyway, Aizen found out about him sneaking off to see me and caught him and detained him for two months. He finally escaped and came to me for help.”

“So what, you just want us to accept this?” Rukia asked, her voice an octave higher than normal as she stood up from her position on the couch. “I can’t believe you! I thought this whole time, we had grown closer!”

“We have Rukia!” Ichigo exclaimed, sounding a little desperate now. “You’re my best friend! I wasn’t faking that!” He watched as Rukia sighed and sat back down on the couch. Renji had remained silent, but Ichigo could tell he was having troubles believing that Ichigo of all people had been involved with the enemy.

Ichigo sighed and Grimmjow had to admire his calm. Poor kid had to be worked up on the inside, probably all nervous and shit, but he was barely showing it on the outside. Ichigo glanced at him then, and he knew that his lover was beginning to give up hope that his friends would understand.

“Look guys, Grimm has asked to stay with us and help us out. How can we pass this up?”

Renji shook his head. “Listen man, I don’t know if what you’re saying is true. Why should we listen to you about anything concerning him?”

“Yeah, I don’t know about this Ichigo. I trust you, but why should I believe this?” Rukia added.

“Why should you trust him? Because I trust him! I hate Aizen just as much as everyone else does! I want this war to be won just as much as the Gotei 13, so why can’t you just trust that I know what I’m doing?”

“I know that you trust him, you’ve said so already! How do you trust him! I don’t understand it!” Rukia screamed back at him, needing to understand.

“Because I love him!” Ichigo shouted back in Rukia’s face.

Everything became deadly silent in the Shoten as Renji stared up at the strawberry, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. Rukia sat back down on the couch, unaware that she had even stood up in the first place, and Grimmjow stared in surprise at his lover.

Renji was the first to speak up. “There’s no way that what’s going on between you is love. How do you intend to prove this, Ichigo?”

Ichigo looked down at the ground, trying to avoid making eye contact with any of them. “I really do. It doesn’t really matter what you think. But if you’re so intent on getting proof that I love Grimm, then I’ll prove it by taking full responsibility for his actions if he slips up.”

Everyone in the room stared at Ichigo again (Ichigo was beginning to get annoyed with all this staring by now) and he swallowed audibly. “Look, I’m serious. If he slips up or whatever, I’ll go to Soul Society and face whatever punishment. I’ll do what it takes to prove this to you, even though I don’t really have to since it’s none of your business.”

The two Shinigami eyed the Substitute before nodding, albeit reluctantly, in acceptance. Ichigo sighed and sat down on the floor, too exhausted, emotionally and physically, to bother walking a foot to the couch. Grimmjow crouched next to his lover and wrapped Ichigo in his arms, rubbing the kid’s back soothingly. Ichigo leaned into him and sighed. Rukia got up suddenly and stomped out of the room, angry, and Renji followed her, throwing back a look of half-apology.

Ichigo groaned, tired, and let his head fall back completely against Grimmjow’s shoulder. Grimmjow just leaned forward and nibbled on Ichigo’s earlobe before whispering, “You’ll okay, I promise. I can’t believe you offered yourself like that, though. You’re fucking amazing.” Grimmjow licked the outer shell of his lover’s ear and blew on it, grinning as the kid shivered.

Ichigo groaned again, but for a different reason.


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