Love.

What was so great about it anyways?

He had studied and dissected the subject to death. He had studied the way people seemed to worship this feeling. Curious, he had gotten himself involved with solving matters of the heart. He was a very observant and intelligent person and was able to solve the problems in a heartbeat.

What he could not understand was why people seemed so hell bent on obtaining this feeling. It had no use. It was not going to help a person in his or her studies. Or to further their career. Or make them stronger. Therefore, love is worthless.

Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez was just like any other teenage boy. He went to school, and had a couple of friends, an annoying younger brother, and doting parents. The only thing that was odd about him was his hair colour, which was a most curious shade of blue. While his grades were not outstanding, he did quite well in school. Though he was brash and loud, he was well-liked amongst the students there. So, other than his hair colour, he was a perfectly normal teenage boy. Well, there was also the fact that he was bisexual, but that does not really matter.

"Oh, fuck! I'm sorry! Are you okay, dude?"

Grimmjow was lying sprawled on the ground, the textbooks that he was carrying in his arms a moment ago scattered all over the ground. He was walking past the soccer field when the ball came his way and had knocked him to the ground. The teal haired young man just looked up at the orange haired person standing above him. He opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish, his face red with embarrassment, blinking up at the person stupidly. His mouth went dry.

"I, er, ah…"

"Ichigo! Get back here! Or else Byakuya is going to have your head for being late for his class!"

Ichigo groaned. Byakuya did not like him very much and Ichigo knew that his raven haired teacher would just love the opportunity to land him in detention. Shaking his head, Ichigo looked at Grimmjow apologetically. "I gotta go! I'm sorry man." Then he turned on his heels and tore back to the school building, not wanting to give Byakuya a reason to punish him. Grimmjow just watched the orange haired teen run off into the distance until Ichigo was merely a speck, a feeling of emptiness settling over him.

"Smooth, Jaegerjaquez. Real smooth," said a voice behind Grimmjow.

Grimmjow growled. He knew that voice all too well.

"Shut up, Nnoitra." He got up and brushed himself. His clothes were lightly coated with dirt. Great. Just great. "It was nothing."

The lanky man tilted his head, a smile playing on his lips. He had picked up Grimmjow's books for him and now held them out for Grimmjow. He and Grimmjow had been best friends for as long as he could remember. They stuck up and supported each other whenever the other was in a time of need. He knew Grimmjow well enough that that was not "nothing". Grimmjow's infatuation for Ichigo Kurosaki was obvious, no matter how much he denied it. The man acted like a total goofball whenever that orange haired Sex God was around, for crying out loud.

"Grimmjow, why don't you just talk to him?" He tilted his head, looking at Grimmjow questioningly.

"None of your fucking business." Grimmjow snatched his textbooks out of Nnoitra's hands.

Nnoitra rolled his eyes. "Whatever, man." Stubborn git.

Grimmjow did not know what was wrong with him. It had started out as an innocent little crush, and over time - try a few years. That was how long he had been crushing on the orange haired teen – it turned into a fully fledged crush. He loved everything to do with Ichigo Kurosaki. He loved Ichigo's warm brown eyes, his gentle smile, his unruly spiky orange hair, his laugh, his toned body… Yes, Ichigo Kurosaki, in Grimmjow's eyes, was a Sex God. He had found himself looking at Kurosaki one day and thought that the Berry looked incredibly attractive. That was when this whole mess started. The whole mess where Grimmjow started acting like a fool.

Whenever Kurosaki was around, Grimmjow's natural grace would always fail him. Always. He would trip, fall, knock, bump, drop things or walk into walls whenever the Berry was in the vicinity, embarrassing himself immensely.

Ichigo was his classmate, not that the orange haired teen noticed him anyways. It was like Grimmjow did not exist. Not that Ichigo was unpleasant to him. No. He was nice enough. It was just that he did not seem to notice Jaegerjaquez's presence.

I guess he has better things to do than to notice me, Grimmjow thought glumly.

What he would do to get Kurosaki's attention.

He gazed out of the window while Byakuya wrote on the blackboard in front of the class, explaining to them about Logarithms. He was in class right now, his form slouching in his seat. He snuck a glance to look at the person that sat two seats in front to his right. Ichigo Kurosaki was paying rapt attention to Byakuya, writing down notes now and then.

Grimmjow sighed, passing a hand over his face. He was a fool. A total, and utter fool.

Nnoitra let out a breath that he had been holding. He had noticed that Grimmjow was staring off into space and then looking at Kurosaki now and then, a look of longing in his eyes. It was a sight that was so pathetic that it made him want to barf. He was sick of watching his friend acting this way. It was time to put a stop to this. He did not understand why his best friend could not get his act together and just ask that Kurosaki boy out. A guy like Grimmjow should not be acting like this.

He almost felt sorry for Grimmjow.

Rubbing his forehead, he cursed himself. He hoped that he was doing the right thing. Nnoitra nudged Grimmjow, snapping the teen out of his daydream.

"What?" Grimmjow hissed, narrowing his cerulean eyes at Nnoitra.

"Look, Grimmjow. This has got to stop, alright? You know what you need? You need some help."

"Help? Help for what?" Grimmjow's voice was dangerously low.

Nnoitra rolled his eyes, unfazed by the threatening tone that Grimmjow's voice had taken on. Although he did not look it, he was stronger than Grimmjow, a fact that irritated the other to no end. How was it that someone as skinny as Nnoitra be much stronger than him, who worked out nearly every day? It was mind boggling.

"Look, stupid. I'm trying to help you here. I'm sick of watching you act like a total moron whenever that carrot top is around." Nnoitra held up a hand to signal Grimmjow to keep quiet when he started to open his mouth in protest. "You need help. To get to Kurosaki."

"Oh yeah?" he snarled. "And how are you gonna do that?"

"Jaegerjaquez, what is it that's so interesting that you are talking to Nnoitra while I am in front here teaching?" Byakuya was frowning, holding a book to his chest.

Err… Anything?

But of course, Grimmjow did not dare say that. Instead, he just mumbled, "I'm sorry" and pretended to look back at his book, scribbling down nonsense in it as though he was taking down notes.

"Good." Byakuya returned to writing on the board again.

"Well?" Nnoitra pressed, careful to keep his voice low so as not to attract Byakuya's attention.

Grimmjow thought about it. He wanted Ichigo, a fact that he could not deny. He had long stopped denying his feelings for Ichigo to himself when he found that he constantly kept thinking about the brown eyed man. But just because he had stopped denying this fact to himself did not mean that he could not deny it to anyone else. Of course, Nnoitra knew him all too well to know that he was lying. He looked at his friend, who wore a baseball cap on his head backwards. He could see the sincerity in his friend's eyes.

"Okay," Grimmjow said finally, giving in. "What do you want me to do?"

Nnoitra grinned. "Oh no. Not me. I'm not going to be the one helping you on this one."

"But you just said-"

"Bah! Do you really think that I am the right person to be helping you with this stuff?" Nnoitra scoffed.

Now that Grimmjow thought about it, Nnoitra was right. The lanky man had never been able to hold on to a relationship for even a month, breaking many women's hearts in the process. He was not the man to turn to for relationship advice. He was the man to turn to if you want to be despised by the female race and breaking someone's heart.

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Relax." Nnoitra thumped him on the shoulder. "I've got it all figured out. I know the perfect person to help you."

Grimmjow perked up at this. "Really? Who?" he asked eagerly.

Smiling, Nnoitra lowered his voice, "You know that there is a rumour about some kid in our school that is supposedly an expert in love?"

"Yeah. So?"

"So we should ask for his help!"

Grimmjow blinked slowly. "Why?"

Nnoitra badly wanted to give Grimmjow a critical hit in the nads. My God. Was the man really that dense?

Letting out a shuddering breath, trying to keep his irritation at bay, Nnoitra continued, "Well, this kid supposedly knows his stuff. Has helped tons of people out in situations like this. A miracle worker, he is. Loads of my friends were raving about him. We should ask him to help you to get your man. Word is out that it is Cifer. Cifer is the love expert."

"Who?"

Oh what Nnoitra would have given for a bat to whack Grimmjow's thick skull with.

He settled for using his hand to smack Grimmjow at the side of his head.

"Ow! Why did you do that for?"

Pulling back his hand, Nnoitra said calmly, "Cifer, as in Ulquiorra Cifer. Our classmate, you imbecile."

As he rubbed at the spot where Nnoitra had hit him, Grimmjow's eyes widened slightly. "You mean that depressed looking emo kid? The kid that hangs out with that dork with the pink hair, Szayel? He is the love expert? You have got to be kidding me," Grimmjow scoffed.

"Up to you. You can either take a chance and believe me or continue watching Kurosaki like some love sick puppy. Your choice man." Nnoitra shrugged, returning his attention to Byakuya's lesson. He did not want to do badly in this class. Byakuya may be quiet and rarely showed any emotion, but the man was frightfully intimidating. It did not do to get on the raven haired man's bad side.

Cerulean eyes wondered around the classroom until they landed on a pale form that sat at the back of the class. Honestly, what did he have to lose? Nnoitra was right. He could either ask for help from Cifer or just carry on admiring Kurosaki from a distance. And he did not fancy watching Kurosaki like some sort of stalker. He had more pride than that. Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez simply did not lower himself to doing such ridiculous things. Taking a deep breath, he studied Cifer.

Ulquiorra was copying down all of the notes that Byakuya had written on the blackboard, giving Byakuya's lecture his full attention. He wore a huge green shirt, a pair of black baggy jeans, black army boots and a dark green beanie pulled over his head, covering his messy shoulder length raven hair. He looked rather attractive. Beautiful, in fact. How come he had never noticed the pale man's presence even though they were classmates?

Grimmjow frowned.

What the fuck, is that Ulquiorra crying or something?

Squinting, Grimmjow finally realized that it was merely a trail of green make up made to look like tear tracks on the pale man's face. Why on earth would he want to make himself look like he was crying all of the time?

Sensing Grimmjow's gaze on him, Ulquiorra looked up from his work and sent a frown in Grimmjow's direction.

"Yes, can I help you?" Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes.

But Grimmjow merely grinned and then turned back in his seat.

As soon as class was over, Ulquiorra gathered his books and placed them neatly into his backpack. He wanted to get to his next class quickly. He did not want to be late. Everyone else had already gotten out of class and were already making their way to Urahara's class. It had been a long day today. His teachers were really drilling all of them hard and giving them tons of homework every day. This resulted in Ulquiorra not getting enough sleep because he stayed up late every night completing his homework.

He rubbed at his eyes tiredly. He could not wait for the day to be over so that he could go back home and sleep for hours on end. Shouldering his backpack, he made his way to get out of the classroom when he accidentally bumped into someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Excuse me," Ulquiorra said apologetically, trying to walk around the person, but found that it was impossible. The person merely blocked whichever path he wanted to take. Getting angry, he looked up and found himself to be looking into a pair of cerulean eyes. "Would you kindly please step aside. I would like to-"

"No," said Grimmjow.

"No?" Ulquiorra frowned.

"No."

"No."

"Yes."

"What?"

"Oh, fuck it! Let me get right to the point! I need your help."

Ulquiorra raised an eyebrow. "Help?" he said suspiciously. "What for? I do not have the time for this. Look, I am going to be late for class if you do not move. So would you please-" He attempted to walk past the teal haired man.

Only to have Grimmjow reach out and grip his shoulder. Ulquiorra looked back and shot him a look that would have made anyone else falter and back away, but Grimmjow stood his ground.

"My name is Grimmjow."

"And I am late for class," Ulquiorra retorted, irritated. "I know who you are. So can you please-"

Grimmjow ignored him. "Look, I heard that you are an expert in-" Grimmjow could not bring himself to utter the words love expert. It sounded so… wrong. "- matters of the heart. And there is someone that I like and I, well, you know…" Grimmjow trailed off, looking slightly embarrassed to be asking help from a total stranger.

His scowl deepening, Ulquiorra pushed Grimmjow's hand off of his shoulder.

"I do not deal in matters like that anymore. So just leave me alone, trash," he said coldly.

Grimmjow stumbled a few steps backward, surprised at the menacing tone that Cifer's voice had taken. No one had ever called Grimmjow 'trash' or even dared to for fear of him punching their faces in. Although the pale man was shorter than him, the tone in his voice sent chills up and down Grimmjow's spine. Blinking slowly, he watched as Ulquiorra smoothed his shirt from wrinkles and then turn on his heel to leave.

That was when Grimmjow's senses returned to him.

He reached out, grabbing the smaller man and turned him around, gripping his shoulders with both of his hands. Ulquiorra's emerald orbs widened and a brief look of fear appeared in his eyes. He had not expected Jaegerjaquez to do that. Grimmjow leaned down till his face was inches away from Ulquiorra's, totally invading the pale man's personal space, making him squirm slightly at the close proximity. He was not used to being so close to anyone. At all. But Grimmjow ignored Ulquiorra's obvious discomfort and growled, "You, are not going anywhere till you help me."