A/N: YO! How's everyone doing? Are you guys all ready for Christmas? Damn, I love this time of season but it sucks having to be in college and worrying about studying instead of just goofing off, decorating, baking, making memories. Hope you guys are having a great Winter!

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or anime that I write about in my stories. I do however own the ideas and work very hard on each chapter. If I did own Bleach then... Grimmjow, our beloved psychopathic hellcat, wouldn't have been missing in action for so long! Hell no, he wouldn't have disappeared at all and make us all mourn his death! -gets teary and tries not to start bawling at the heartwrenching memories-

Chapter 2

Bright…

A loud groan escaped Grimmjow's parted, sleep chapped lips as his closed eyes scrunched up tighter against the onslaught of light filtering through the room's window shades that landed right on his eyes. It took a moment after he tried turning on his side for his mind to register that there was a weight on his chest. His pillows didn't weigh that much nor were they loosely shaped like circles.

His mind was drifting further from sleep as the weight caused his thoughts to whirl in his head. Grimmjow didn't remember going out the night before or picking up any chicks, though he wouldn't have really minded waking up to the sight of a beautiful face…

He slowly opened a cerulean blue eye, seeing nothing at first as sleep blurred his vision but after blinking a few times all he saw was a bright wall of neon orange. Adrenaline shot through him as he bolted to sit straight up and a rather loud, surprised shout left him, both eyes now firmly open and comically wide.

"Ah!"

An equally loud yowl assaulted his ears as the ball of orange was thrown off of him and flew over the end of his bed, tumbling to the floor and landing with a loud, disgruntled, thud. Grimmjow's breathing came in quick, shallow pants as the sound of his rapidly beating heart pounded in his ears. He swallowed, trying to clear the lump from his throat, and took a breath before he moved the blanket covering him aside.

Crawling on hands and knees to the edge of his bed before stopping, hesitating to look over the edge and see what had caused all the commotion. His sleep addled, and adrenaline filled, mind reprimanded him for being afraid of something that, from what he could recall, was small and the color of his last girlfriend's hair. Lifting his head a bit he decided to bite the bullet and looked over the edge before anything else could dissuade him.

On the floor was an orange cat, looking around in annoyance until it looked up at Grimmjow. His countenance immediately changed from annoyed to pissed off as he stood on all fours, back arched, tail in the air, ears back flattened to his head, his neon orange fur puffed up menacingly, and his small white fangs were bared as he hissed at Grimmjow.

Blinking in confusion a few times, the memories of the day before came rushing back to Grimmjow; the weird man wearing a stripped green and white hat along with clogs as he hid the majority of his face behind a paper fan before forcing a box into his hands and disappearing.

The box contained the neon orange cat that he had named Ichigo, the same one that was now on the floor, angrily hissing and glaring up at him.

Grimmjow quickly realized that the cat had been sleeping on his chest and he had freaked out over nothing. Rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly he offered Ichigo an apologetic smile. "Sorry 'bout that…"

Any feelings of guilt he had however, vanished when Ichigo lifted his nose in the air acting arrogant and haughty as his still fluffed up tail wrapped around his body as he sat back on his haunches. Grimmjow's eyes narrowed as he sat back onto his knees, annoyance and anger boiling unpleasantly in the pit of his stomach. His arms crossed over his bare chest and a scowl marred his face as he gave a derogatory snort.

"Well if you hadn't invaded my room and used me as a pillow this wouldn't have happened." His words sounded tight and feral even to his own ears. He gave a low growl of annoyance at the oddly colored cat's moodiness.

Ichigo's tea colored eyes widened in shock at Grimmjow's callous turn of reactions before narrowing and turning his head. His body following as he stood and walked from the room, fur smoothed down and long elegant tail waving in the air with every sway of his hips as he walked away from the stunned man. The cat disappeared past the edge of the door into the living room while Grimmjow gawked at the now empty doorway.

The temperamental little neon fur ball had the nerve to give him the cold shoulder?

Grimmjow's arms dropped to his sides as he ran a hand through his sky blue hair, a heavy sigh leaving his parted lips. It irked him to admit it, but he hadn't handled that in the best manner. He had snapped at a cat for Hell's sake, a pet that didn't know how to act other than like an animal.

Another growl rumbled in Grimmjow's throat but this time it was aimed at him. Leave it to his mind to turn the situation around and make him feel guilty. He thought crossly. He realized going back to sleep would be next to impossible for him now given all the excitement and the thoughts running through his head. Grimmjow swung his legs from the bed and gathered clothes from his closet along with a new pair of boxers.

Heading into the bathroom attached to his room he flipped on the lights. Turning the handle to turn on the water in the shower and closing the door, looking back for a moment but decided that it would be best if they both had space to cool off. It wasn't until steam was drifting off the water pulsing from the showerhead that Grimmjow got in, already stripped of his boxers. He stood beneath the spray, sighing in content as the water ran down his body.

Running fingers through his hair as the water weighed his spikes down, flattening it all to his head as some hung over his eyes. His eyes slid closed, enjoying the sensation of the hot water beating down on him and calming his buzzing mind. It was as he was running a bar of soap across one of his arms that he began to consider the situation the weird man that had hidden his face behind a paper fan of all things like he was some kind of girl in England, wearing a green and white stripped hat, matching jacket, and wooden clogs, had left him in.

Grimmjow wasn't cruel enough to send the cat away, or that closed hearted to take him to a shelter. Nor did he ever want to see the betrayal and heartbreak held in Ichigo's all too human tea brown eyes that he knew would be there if he tried to get rid of him in any way. But he still had his reservations. He didn't even know if his new housemate was housebroken.

With a loud snort at the thought, thankfully not getting any water up his nose, Grimmjow washed off the soap suds accumulating across his skin. Even though he wanted to stay under the shower head and in its hot, relaxing spray, he reluctantly turned the water off. Without much fuss or preamble he smoothed a towel over his skin to dry off before pulling on his boxers and a pair of dark blue, almost black, jeans, tugging his clean white sleeveless shirt over his head. When he opened the bathroom door a large cloud of steam billowed into his bedroom, the room seeming too cold now as he stepped into it. Shivers tore up his spine, making the hair on the back of his neck stand up, cringing as it bristled uncomfortably.

An incessant ringing saved him from his thoughts, making him turn and glare over towards his nightstand to see his phone going spastic. The phone vibrated violently as it rang, jumping around, just begging for his attention. With a low growl he stomped over, snatching the annoying thing from the stand and answering it with a gruff but loud, "What!"

The voice on the other side of the phone laughed loudly, annoying Grimmjow further. "Hahaha! Is that how you answer a call from your oldest friend, with a bark? Ha! All of us always thought you were more like a cat but hey, we could be wrong~" It didn't take more than a second for him to recognize whose irritating voice it was. Heaving a sigh, he ran a hand through his still wet blue locks.

Of course, it just had to be Nnoitra. "What do you want Nnoitra?" At hearing Grimmjow's resignation Nnoitra snickered before answering. "Well, all of us know that you have absolutely no plans…" He was just about to interrupt and snap at the lanky beanpole through the phone till his ears bled but his voice raised and Nnoitra continued talking. Nnoitra knew that his words would get on the blue hair man's nerve but it was just too much fun to resist. "Soooo, we're hanging out at Starrk's and expect you to be here. Later, Grimm~"

With a final lilt of his obnoxious voice Nnoitra hung up and Grimmjow was, to his shock, met with a click that signaled that the bastard had hung up on him. His jaw dropped a bit before clenching almost painfully while his hand tightened around his phone till you could almost hear the creaking of the plastic begging for mercy. Grimmjow slammed it down, back to where it had been on his nightstand before taking a deep breath and pocketing the thing. His eyes were still sparking with murderous desire but he didn't feel like he was going to put a hole in the wall anymore.

Grimmjow shook his head before he turned to the door of his room, remembering the other creature to inhabit the house. Nnoitra would throw an absolute fit if he didn't show up at Starrk's. If anything the obnoxious beanpole would rope the others into coming to Grimmjow's place and either bugging the fuck out of him here or drag him off to wherever they felt like. So the option of ignoring the bastard and not showing up was completely out. But now… He had to worry about leaving Ichigo alone for the rest of the day and probably long into the night.

You could never know how long you could be kept when around his friends. They always seemed to find some way to distract you and make you forget how much time had passed. It was something Grimmjow liked about them when he truly had nothing to do and was bored. Yet this time he felt hesitant, because of the neon orange ball of fur that was in his living room and still mad at him. This news wouldn't please Ichigo one bit and Grimmjow knew it.

After drying his hair off a bit more with a towel he was ready to go out and face his new housemate. He found Ichigo lying curled up on the couch, back towards the direction of Grimmjow's bedroom and he could just tell from his posture that he was sulking. Grimmjow watched as one of Ichigo's drooped ears twitched and his curled up body became tense, most likely hearing Grimmjow's approach. The cat's all too human reaction made Grimmjow internally wince, feeling bad now that his rage and self-righteous thoughts were gone. His steps became slower, careful as he got closer to the couch.

Crouching down on a knee on the floor in front of the opposite end of the couch from where Ichigo was curled up, he searched for the right words to help assuage Ichigo's hurt feelings. He leaned forward and tilted his head before he spoke, trying to get his attention. "Hey, Ichigo?" His tone was soft, voice quiet so as to not startle him or make things worse. Grimmjow's eyes widened hopefully when he saw Ichigo's ear twitch, knowing that he was listening and he had Ichigo's attention.

Clearing his throat softly before continuing, "I know that I overreacted this morning. I-I shouldn't have been cruel to you and I am sorry. Will you forgive me?" He watched Ichigo's body for any reactions that could help him figure out what the cat was thinking. Holding his breath waiting, not wanting to jinx anything, he saw Ichigo's tail slowly uncurl from his body.

Ichigo's head perked up as he repositioned himself to sit up, facing Grimmjow even though his head was hanging. Grimmjow's hand twitched, waiting so badly to reach out and pet him but not knowing whether that would be welcomed yet. He placed the hand flat against the couch and in clear view. "You know I didn't mean it Ichigo. I won't be that cold with you again." His heart stuttered as Ichigo lifted his head, his tea brown eyes looking directly into Grimmjow's.

It truly did hurt him to see the pain and distrust in those eyes, though he couldn't quite understand why. He had only been around Ichigo for less than a day yet he had become this attached. Not being able to stop himself any longer he reached out with a soft smile and rubbed Ichigo's head, between his ears. Ichigo's eyes widened a bit before closing, almost reluctant in the way he leaned his head into Grimmjow's palm. Slowly moving so that he sat on the couch, and tugging Ichigo onto his lap with careful movements.

Ichigo let him, his body going limp in Grimmjow's hands until he was placed in his lap, his back being stroked by one hand while his chin was scratched with the other. He looked up at Grimmjow's bottomless blue eyes searchingly, what he was searching for though, Grimmjow couldn't quite tell. He supposed that Ichigo found whatever it was that he was looking for though as he gave a soft sigh before rubbing his head against Grimmjow's chest while letting out a loud rumbling purr. The sudden show of trust and affection had Grimmjow freezing in shock. It lasted only a moment though before a wide grin split his face, unable to help the laughter that escaped his lips.

The thought of Nnoitra and the others waiting for him at Starrk's place was almost enough to ruin his good mood but he pushed them aside. He would tell Ichigo about having to leave later. Not now, not when he had finally gotten the temperamental, all too human, ball of fur to not only forgive him but trust him. He just didn't have the heart for that. So there he sat on the couch, smiling down at the strange orange cat purring in his arms, enjoying the moment of peace and affection from his unexpected but welcome housemate.