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When Soul Society deemed a good idea
putting Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez
into the temporary custody of the substitute Shinigami, Kurosaki Ichigo, the substitute Shinigami himself had many
objections. Of course, each of them was carefully discarded by Rukia. Her head barely reached Grimmjow’s
chest, but she had a sword in hand, and he was stuffed into a gigai, so, Grimmjow didn’t have
the sword from the handle side, and had no means to go against her without
harsh retaliations – even if, Ichigo was sure, he
definitely got into an argument with Rukia, or else
he couldn’t explain the black bruise on his right cheek.
They burst into his room early in
the morning, when Ichigo was still floating deep into
the dreams’ world. Rukia kicked him out of bed,
scolded him because he didn’t get up with the sun, and announced his task; all
without leaving Ichigo any room to say anything.
“But why me?!”
“It should be an honour! My brother
immediately thought of you!”
Ichigo
didn’t know how that could have
been an honour and he was sure Byakuya (and most of
the Captains) just didn’t like the idea of having an Arrancar
into a human body walking freely around Seireitei. In
the end, Rukia didn’t tell him the reason why Grimmjow was in a gigai, why some
Captain decided to put him in his custody and why she smashed a punch on his
head before leaving. Grimmjow didn’t look like he
wanted to spill any tea as well.
The gist of the whole situation was
that Ichigo, the very first day of his Christmas
holidays, not only didn’t manage to sleep to his heart’s content as he had
planned to, but was left with the perspective of
babysitting a very dangerous Arrancar in a not so
very dangerous human body.
“If you don’t want, then just don’t
do it.”
Karin was pragmatic and had a sharp
tongue. Ichigo being his older brother wasn’t enough
to save him from her stingy verve, nor from her glance which clearly conveyed
the message: as long as he doesn’t bother me, it’s not my business.
“It’s not that easy, Karin.”
“If you cannot impose yourself, then
suffer in silence.”
There was somewhere between primary
and middle school when Karin’s sassy behaviour bloomed in all its glory, but Ichigo didn’t pay enough attention to realize when it
happened. She kept eating her breakfast, ignoring the spirit knocking outside
the window. Ichigo hadn’t her same attitude and, from
time to time, he glanced outside at the poor man who was trembling.
“They shouldn’t feel cold, shouldn’t
they?”
“I don’t know. I’m not the
substitute Shinigami here.”
“Am I wrong or you are more biting
lately?”
“I’ve always been like that.”
The sudden arrival of Yuki, the
Shinigami who took Kurumadani’s place, distracted both of them. The boy didn’t perform konso
immediately: the man jumped at him, looking for some warmth in a clumsy hug
which almost strangled the young Shinigami. As he tried to free himself, the zanpakuto slipped from his hand and the hilt fell on the
man’s forehead. He was enshrined in a cocoon of light before disappearing,
headed to Soul Society. Yuki fell on the ground and, for a while, Ichigo and Karin stared at the empty window. A trembling
hand appeared from below, with the thumb up.
“At least he’s doing his best.” Ichigo commented.
“At least he’s not complaining.”
“Hey!”
Both heard a stumble of fretting
steps. Yuzu appeared in the kitchen, both hands on her hips and the chin
fiercely raised.
“Ichi-nii!
You finished all the dark chocolate I bought!”
“Wasn’t it there to be eaten?”
“No!” Even if in anger, she didn’t
manage to be as threatening as Karin. “Now you go out and buy some more! I want
to bake a cake today!” She slammed a piece of paper on the table. “And go do
the groceries as well!”
Ichigo
raised his eyebrows. “You just
don’t want to go out because it’s cold, right?”
“If you hadn’t eaten the chocolate,
you could have stayed at home!” That last spurt of irritation bloated her
cheeks, giving her a cute scowling expression. As her face relaxed, the reddish
colour on her face dimmed; she looked concerned. “Why don’t you bring your
friend as well?”
“My friend?”
“Grimmjow.”
The good thing about Yuzu was that
she accepted whoever entered that house as Ichigo’s
friend (even and especially when they weren’t) and they gained her unquestioning
trust. She didn’t question the sudden presence of a man in Ichigo’s
room early in the first morning of Christmas holidays; she only worried if
there was enough food to treat the guest and if anyone had already prepared a
comfortable bed for him in Ichigo’s room. Ichigo wondered if she wanted to bake a cake because they
had a guest.
“Oh, yes… why should I bring him?”
Yuzu made sign with her right hand
to follow her. Both Ichigo and Karin followed her to hers
and Karin’s room.
Grimmjow
wasn’t any longer in Ichigo’s room, where Ichigo was
sure he left him brooding on his current pitiful condition. He changed
location, bringing with him Ichigo’s fluffy blanket,
and settling his cocoon nest in front of the radiator in the girls’ bedroom.
Wrapped in a thick layer of warmth, he glared at them all.
“What now?”
Yuzu slightly elbowed Ichigo and tiptoed to whisper near his ear. “I think he
came here because in your room there’s only the air conditioner and you hardly
turn it on.”
Karin shook her head. “Well, looks
like you are in care of a big cat, brother.” She patted on Ichigo’s
shoulder before leaving. “Good luck.”
Ichigo
would have had at least one single
argument to go against Karin. But as Grimmjow
shivered and pushed himself more against the radiator, all without diverting
his eyes from them, he felt like he couldn’t deny her words.
Grimmjow
should have sensed the danger
behind Urahara’s request. But even in his wildest
nightmares he couldn’t have seen come what run over him like a herd of berserk Menos. The whole matter resulted in him being forced into a
fake human body to restore his own damaged powers.
Human bodies sucked. Their skin was
fragile, their resistance to temperatures didn’t exist. To give a sudden slay
to his already shattered pride, he had no means to defend himself in that
condition, so he had to be under Ichigo’s custody,
otherwise he would have been in danger.
And the weather was fucking cold.
“Are you done?”
“No. I still have something to buy.”
Grimmjow
missed the warmth of the radiator
as well as the less satisfying but cozy warmth of the
supermarket.
“You’re slow!”
Ichigo
turned to him. Under the endless
layers of sweatshirts, coat, gloves, scarf and hat, only his blue eyes remained
uncovered, glimmering of a burning irritation. Opposed to his scorching state
of mind, his whole body trembled, incapable of bearing that climate; this
brought to zero any chance of him being an actual threat, and Ichigo only was grateful.
“I’m almost done, geez. You’re like
a kid.”
Grimmjow’s
irritation exploded inside his
chest, but he had his arms crossed, and his only way of conveying his feeling
was a deep scowl softened by the fluffy wool shielding his face.
“Kurosaki-kun?”
Among the countless people walking
in the street, Orihime popped out with a radiant
smile, like a ray of sun in that dull winter day. Ishida, the incarnation of
her opposite feelings, was following her.
“Kurosaki-kun,
hello! What are you doing here?” It looked like that the simple presence of Ichigo boasted up her mood, bringing it to a further level
over her usual cheerful attitude.
“Inoue, Ishida. Just doing some
groceries.”
“Me and Ishida are looking for some
material for the upcoming sewing competition!” She chuckled. “Who’s your
friend?”
Orihime
didn’t associated immediately the
murdering glare with Grimmjow. Ishida was faster than
her.
“What’s an Arrancar
doing here?” He wasn’t alarmed, only surprised.
“Ah, it’s a long story, actually–”
Orihime
gasped. “Is that Grimmjow? Did something happen in Hueco
Mundo again?”
Grimmjow
growled. “Kurosaki, you’re only
losing time, let’s go back home!”
“I told you we must buy that
chocolate before we go home!”
“Then go buy it! I didn’t even want
to come!”
Orihime
looked at Ichigo,
then at Grimmjow. “Uh… if you are cold, why don’t you
put your hands inside the coat’s pockets?”
Ishida shook his head. “Inoue, I
don’t think that–”
Nobody expected what Grimmjow did. He put both hands in the coat’s pockets. But
not his own. He approached Ichigo from behind and
shoved both hands inside his. As Ichigo felt his body
pressing against his back, he jolted.
“Not my pockets!”
“I have candies in mine!”
“Why do you have candies in your
pockets?!”
“Your sister gave them to me.”
“Wait, the tangerine candies?”
“Yup.”
“Those are mine, Grimmjow!”
“Not anymore.”
Orihime
and Ishida glanced at each other.
Before Orihime could come up with some idea, like
trying to help Ichigo staying by his side, he grabbed
her arm. “We really need to go now, goodbye, Kurosaki.”
“Ah, yes, we’re busy. Bye bye, Kurosaki-kun!”
Ichigo
tried to stop them. “Wait!” But he
felt a pointy weight pressing on the top of his head. “Grimmjow,
don’t lean on my like that!”
Grimmjow
ignored his complaint and kept
using Ichigo’s head as a pillow for his chin. He had
no idea that human bodies could be that warm, and Ichigo’s,
for how it pissed him off, was emitting a pleasant warmth.
“How am I supposed to walk if you
don’t move?”
“Do your best.”
Ichigo
was warm. Grimmjow
hated his attitude, his eyes, he still wanted to slash his body to shreds with
his own hands. But he couldn’t deny that he was a radiator on legs. The
blankets were soft and warm as well, but there was something about the heat
coming from Ichigo’s body which soothed him. It was
pleasant.
“Grimmjow…”
“What?”
Ichigo
, sitting at the desk, bended
forward more than necessary because Grimmjow leaned
on him with his whole weight.
“Get off.”
“No.”
“I can’t study like this.”
“Don’t study then.”
“I must study!”
Ichigo
rolled his chair away from the
desk, forcing Grimmjow to break the contact and shift
aside. It had been only two days since Rukia put him
into his care, and Grimmjow, instead of lurking in
the further spot of their house, as Ichigo believed
he would have done for all the time, kept following his steps. Whenever he had
the chance, he approached him so fast, that Ichigo
couldn’t avoid the contact, and he ended up having Grimmjow
grinding against his body. He was degraded from his mortal enemy to his
personal radiator, quite a slash to his pride.
“Grimmjow…”
“You’re not studying, you’re in the
kitchen now.”
“I want to drink some water! Let me
alone!”
Ichigo
took the bottle and expected
another assault, as Grimmjow couldn’t stay far from a
heat source for long time, may it be a blanket, a radiator or Ichigo himself. In fact, Grimmjow
approached him again from behind and leant the forehead against his shoulder.
However, what he wasn’t expecting, were his hands slipping under his sweater.
Cold, strong, firm. Grimmjow clamped on his chest and froze the breath inside Ichigo’s lungs. Because his fingers were as cold as ice;
because he was touching his skin and rubbing his own body against his. Ichigo made a bizarre verse, as if someone was strangling
him and he had not enough voice to say anything.
“What’s wrong?”
When he sensed Grimmjow’s
breath tingling his ear and his voice so sincerely ignorant on what was
happening, Ichigo lost it.
“Hands off me!”
“No way! My hands are dead cold!”
Ichigo
grabbed his wrists, but before he
could do anything to free himself, Karin and Yuzu appeared on the kitchen
doorstep. Yuzu’s face turned as red as her beanie, while Karin didn’t look so
impressed.
“We’re going to the mall.” Karin
announced with a bored voice. “You have all the house for yourself, but don’t
do it in the kitchen, please.”
“Do what?! Karin! Yuzu! It’s not how
it seems!”
He tended his whole body towards
them, but Grimmjow kept him firmly pressed against
his chest.
“Where do you think you’re going?!
Stay here and do your job!”
The only thing that could have made
things worse, happened. Isshin, still wearing his
white coat, appeared behind his daughters; his puzzled look shifted into a mask
of shock in a blink of an eye, and he pressed his hands on the faces of Yuzu
and Karin, in a poor attempt of protecting them from what they had already seen.
“Yuzu! Karin! You’re too young for
this!”
Karin bit his hand and freed her and
her sister. “We’re not children, old man!”
Ichigo
was about to explode. “It’s not
what you think! Grimmjow is– Grimmjow?”
Without saying a word, without
making the slightest noise, Grimmjow let him go and
marched towards his father. Isshin tried to defend
himself using his arms as a barrier. For an instant, it seemed like it worked;
however, Grimmjow, after a moment of what seemed
hesitation, slipped between them from under, standing up enough to hug him and
hide his face on the curve of his neck. Isshin turned
into a statue of shock and disbelief, his mouth opened, but his voice stuck
into his throat.
A dead silence fell on the Kurosaki
family.
“…warmer.”
Karin was the first who recovered
from the shock. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot his cattitude.”
After a week, Grimmjow
got used to his body and the weather enough to stop hugging him or his father.
Good thing for Ichigo, who was free to move around
without being cautious of a sudden attack, and even better for Isshin, who had troubles working with Grimmjow
leaning on his back like a lazy cat. Of course, he still walked around with a
blanked as a cape and the only interaction he had explored deeply until that
moment was the one with the radiator – but one day Yuzu found him asleep
against the hard disk of the computer she left turned on to download a movie.
Ichigo
asked Kisuke
why Grimmjow had such troubles and was always in
search of anything warm. He blabbered about problems of circulations due to the
incompatibility between a gigai made for Shinigami
and an Arrancar, but suddenly discarded the matter
and tried to show Ichigo a new thing he was working
on. Since the last time Ichigo ended with Grimmjow into his house, he followed his common sense (for
once) and escaped.
“Finally.”
He was tired. Ichigo
sank into his bed and experienced such a comforting sensation that he released
his tension with a long, satisfied sigh.
Under the blanket, he stared at the
ceiling. Everything was silent. He heard the voices of the television, whispers
to his ears, but nothing more. Kon stayed at Orihime’s, more than glad to be her model for the doll clothes
she had to design for the contest (but probably nobody told him that Ishida
would have been there for part of the evening as well), while Grimmjow clung into his father, as he always did when Isshin was around, and fell asleep on the sofa together
with him while watching a movie. Ichigo left Karin
sat next to them, more interested in her smartphone than in the events
unfolding on the screen.
It had been long since the last time
Ichigo could enjoy alone the peace of his room. Most
of the times, there was Kon eating or sleeping
somewhere, so Ichigo took the habit of checking all
his blind spots if he got no reply from him. Once he wanted to have a private
moment of his own and was brutally interrupted by Kon’s
shriek as he jumped out of his hideout, both scaring and angering Ichigo to the highest peaks he had ever touched in his life
– and thank to some god living somewhere he had just took off his jeans and
underwear without starting the action.
So, he had to catch every chance he
had to cut out an enjoyable moment for himself.
Under the comforting repair of his
cover, Ichigo took off his pyjama’s trousers and
boxers. One hand slid outside the warm shelter, opened the drawer of the table
bed, and rustled inside it. Ichigo didn’t find what
he was looking for at the first attempt, nor at the second or at the third; the
frustration made him turn around and sat to finally see and grab the small white
bottle. He also took a handful of tissues from the box and retreated under the
cover.
Alone, far from indiscreet eyes, Ichigo lied on his side. The top of the bottle went off
with a small pop. The dense cold liquid
run from the palm of the hand to the fingers. Ichigo
touched between his legs and jolted. The sudden fresh contact sent a slow
shiver along his warm body: he arched his back and licked his lips.
It all started with a hint of doubt
and a stronger desire of knowing his body beyond the boundaries of his physical
limits in battle. At first, Ichigo was embarrassed as
he tried to understand more his desires and needs. The pleasure driving him out
from the control over his sensations made him feel vulnerable, like growing and
cultivating a weak point. But under the hesitations and doubts, what he found was
more than he expected: a sweet ecstasy flowing inside him, nourishing on the
tension building inside and ready to explode in a delicious wave which dived
him into a deep state of relaxation, enclosing both his body and his mind.
Ichigo
touched deeper inside himself, sank
inside his own heat pushing stronger as the feeling grew duller. He munched on
the pillow and muffled his moan, the delicious reaction to his hands moving
faster, giving himself pleasure from the inside and the outside.
He was living in his own slow
moment, where he only existed to enjoy those sensations as much as he could.
Only him, protected by the blankets, curled into his comfortable bed, warm nest
and only witness of his secret.
But an arm hugged him from behind.
It was like hearing
the sound of a breaking glass in a completely silent and bare room. The
pleasure inside him froze in an unpleasant mingle of disappointment and fear;
the delicious purrs coming from within his stomach turned into nails scratching
against a blackboard; the protecting warmth turned into a cold alert.
Ichigo
wriggled away, the hand tried to
catch him back, but was too slow.
Grimmjow
was half awake, half sleeping, his
arm lazily bouncing around like an inflatable toy, looking for Ichigo. He made a visible huge effort to open his eyes.
“Come here…” His voice was dulled by
the sleep. “…cold.”
Instead of going into the futon, Grimmjow threw himself into Ichigo’s
bed. Silent like a cat, huge like an Arrancar, sleepy
like a child. He didn’t notice anything. The fear disappeared from Ichigo’s spirit, leaving behind only the huge
disappointment born from his unsatisfied physical need.
“Grimmjow!
You cannot enter my room without–”
Grimmjow
jumped on him like a huge lazy
feline. He pinned Ichigo on the bed only using the
weight of his body.
“Warm…”
Ichigo
was shocked. But the shock which
stopped every possibility of reaction from him struck his brain as Grimmjow slowly backed and stared between his legs. He
didn’t seem completely aware, nor completely awake. He tilted his head, as if
he was wondering if what he was looking at was truly a part of Ichigo’s body, or if he was staring at a fake erection put
there for the sake of show.
Without saying a word, Grimmjow opened his mouth.
Wet, warm, wonderful. Ichigo was thrown into a kaleidoscopic daze which mingled all of his perceptions. He knew that there could be more to
what he used to do on his own, but the idea he had was nowhere near the
astonishing reality. Grimmjow sucked and tasted him
on the outside, he raised his waist with a strength that didn’t belong to his
idle condition and savoured him on the inside as well.
Ichigo
saw the stars as close as he had
never done before. His common sense detached completely from him, leaving behind
only the basic instinct of reaching the peak of that tormenting pleasure. He
couldn’t control his body –his hands tugged the blanket– nor his voice – he
kept calling Grimmjow’s name until he came inside his
mouth.
Grimmjow
drank it. Every single spurt
falling on his tongue, he gulped it down under Ichigo’s
confused look. He didn’t look back. Grimmjow rubbed
his mouth with the sleeve and leaned down at Ichigo’s
side, hugging him with the same intensity Yuzu used to hug Kon
when she brought him to bed with her.
“…warm…” He muttered pressing the
forehead against Ichigo’s arm, his eyes already
closed.
Ichigo
was adjusting his breath, his eyes
pointed at the ceiling. Grimmjow was hugging him,
asleep. And heavy.
“…holy shit.”
That had been intense.
The weather got colder, and Grimmjow stopped working. Time didn’t change the situation,
and he kept having bonding moments with whatever or whoever emitted enough
warmth to be used as a heater. However, his angered and petty attitude dimmed
into a constant dazed state, always sleepy and without enough strength to do
anything else than dragging himself around the house with a blanket on the
shoulders.
Ichigo
was almost used to studying under
the kotatsu with him on the opposite side sleeping
with a blissful expression which showed how he appreciated that spot. What he
found difficult getting used to, was Grimmjow waking
up and slithering under the kotatsu to appear right
between his legs in search of his zip.
“Grimmjow!”
“What?”
“Stop!”
“You get warmer if I suck you.”
“You’re under a kotatsu!
That’s warmer than me!”
Grimmjow
didn’t listen to his complaints, he
grabbed the hem of his sweater and shoved his head under it. It was fluffy,
warm, but tight.
“Kurosaki, stop wearing such tight
clothes.”
He grumbled against his belly. Ichigo shivered at the ticklish sensation, but the
irritation kept his arousal level under control. He tried to push Grimmjow back, even if he knew there was no way to make him
retreat.
“I wear what I want! Get out from
there! I swear, Grimmjow!”
Outside, in front of his room, Yuzu
was holding a tray with two cups of hot chocolate, but she stopped the hand
right before knocking, and looked at the closed door. Her face slowly gained
all the possible shades of red.
“Yuzu, what’s wrong?” Karin noticed
her from the opposite side of the corridor, being still in front of their
brother’s room. As she got closer, she clearly heard Ichigo
bursting out. “Grimmjow! Let my trousers go!”
Opposite to Yuzu, she wasn’t much shocked; all she showed on her face was a
conceited bored look.
“Well, it’s not that surprising. Ichi-nii is a teenager after all.” From Yuzu came no reply,
so Karin put both hands on her shoulders and guided her towards their room.
“We’re going to drink that chocolate and watch a movie. Okay?” Ichigo yelled something incomprehensible which got lost in
suspicious muffles. “Volume at the highest.”