Love At First Word

Chapter 16

~ Ichigo ~

I watched Grimmjow from the sidelines, sitting on a railing as I sipped a raspberry lemonade.

"Ichigo, dear." I heard a teasing voice call and I felt my lips curve up in a mischievous grin.

"Is that....Kenpachi's little sister I hear?"

A light laugh filled the air and Yoruichi slinked around in front of me with a grin matching mine.

"Why, yes, my dearest Strawberry. I do believe so." Yoruichi responded, leaning forward to hug me.
I tightened my hold on her for a second before I let her go.
"Now tell me, Ichigo - who is this handsome stranger you've brought to us and why?"

"His name is Grimmjow Jeagerjaques. He was my first friend at my new school. We're working together on a psychology project, but it's more like he's helping me survive without my family...in fact I think he's more protective. Anyways, his best friend Nnoitra doesn't have his left eye. It's kinda why I ended up trusting him."

Yoruichi was silent for a few moments, contemplating what I said. Eventually, a slow grin spread across her face.
"Does he like boys?"

"Yoruichi!" I whisper-yelled, a furious blush on my face.

"Whaaaat?" she dragged out innocently, "I'm just wondering if I should expect a wedding-"

I smacked a hand over her mouth when I saw Grimmjow not three feet away out the corner of my eye.
"Shut. Up."
The dark skinned woman cackled behind my hand and clutched her stomach. I gave up and let her go, to which she laughed harder.
"Crazy woman.." I mumbled.

~ Yoruichi ~

I calmed myself when Ichigo was finally immersed in conversation with the newbie and backed away a bit so as to be able to study him.

Tall, strong, rough...maybe a little arrogant and definitely not shy. I thought, watching my nephew speak animatedly to him. He's been living with Ichigo for more than a week now and Kisuke says Ichigo's more than happy, and nothing but.

"Ichigo? Can I borrow Hefty Smurf, here? Thanks." I wrapped a hand around the boy's upper arm in a vice grip and dragged him away, ignoring Ichigo's protests.

I sat him down at a picnic table and stood over him, knowing full well I was intimidating.
"Listen, Blue's Clues. That kid's worth going to jail for. I mean murder, kid. Now, I'd like you to answer some questions."
He nodded.
"What do you know about Ichigo?"

"For starters, he's blind as a bat and tough as a badger. Likes chocolate and Shakespeare and his favorite actor is Bumblefrum Crumblesnore, but his favorite show is actually Supernatural." The kid replied with no hesitation. Inwardly, I smirked.

"Tell be about him, though. Personality, attitude. What's he let you get away with? What's he been like while you've been living together?"

"He let's me get away with nothing. He's a geek, smart and snarky, and loves to play coy when he wants something from me that he knows I don't wanna do. He's actually pretty clingy, though, and trusts me with everything...everything except cooking. I don't let him take things out of the oven often, but he's got bad moments when I'm not allowed to touch the food. I've recently learned he can practically read minds, considering how he predicts frikin' everything-"

"That's your Psych teacher's fault." I told him, to which he scoffed.

"Yeah, well he's real touchy-feely on the subject of home before Karakura, but I let it slide since I know he's gonna tell me."

"How do you know he's gonna tell you?" I asked suspiciously, frowning at him deeply.

"Because he ends up telling me everything sooner or later. His hands shake when he has anxiety attacks; worse the attack, worse his hands shake. He has blind spells where he wakes up blind; probably usually cries himself back to sleep. He doesn't completely trust anyone around him, except me, Coach Zaraki and the Renji kid I've met. I haven't seen him interact with many people here, but it's not the way he acts with me or the red-head."

I took a deep breath before I leaned forward, planting my hands on either side of his shoulders on the table. I didn't care that I was at his height and he looked indifferent - his eyes spelled fear.
"Listen, Sully. I don't care what you do in this world. You can be a billionaire, you can run a tat shop; hell, I wouldn't care if you were a world-wide-wanted serial killer. You can do anything, but for the love of God, do not leave Ichigo. You got me?"

"Um...yes ma'am."
So, apparently he was expecting something, and it wasn't that.

"Alright, hit the road, Squirtle." He warily walked away, glancing back every now and then at me.

Good. He's afraid. He knows what'll happen if he hurts the traffic cone.

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I hope you guys liked the nicknames. Yoruichi is my favorite person to make protective and murderess. ;P