The last note from the piano hung in the air for a long moment before fading into the silence. Ichigo sighed, taking his hands away from the keys. As much as the song meant to him, it was also a stark reminder that Grimmjow would never be coming back. So this would be the one and only time he'd ever play it.

"That was pretty good… I didn't know you could sing." Ichigo jumped, whirling around as his hand went for his blade at the sound of another voice. He stilled when he saw it was Grimmjow who smiled weakly. "What, don't I get a kiss hello?"

Ichigo dropped Zangetsu, rushing forward to catch Grimmjow as he fell. "What the hell happened?!" Ichigo asked, his hands moving to try and stem the steady flow of blood coming from everywhere.

It was worse up close. Much, much worse.

Grimmjow was missing an arm, but that wound looked old and wasn't bleeding thankfully. No the blood was coming from the man's chest and stomach, the deep lacerations almost cutting him in half. How Grimmjow has even managed to get here was beyond Ichigo. He was too afraid to move as he held the Espada in his school's music room. He was too afraid to leave and get help because he was sure the man would die if he left.

The sudden sound of his phone ringing made Ichigo jump. He managed to wriggle it free of its pocket, relief flooding his system when he saw it was Orihime. "Orihime, I need your help."

"Are you ok?" She sounded really worried, hell even afraid. It made Ichigo chuckle.

"I'm fine. It's not me who's hurt but I need you to come down to the school."

"The Espada?" His silence was answer enough. "I can feel his Reitasu but it's fading fast."

"Please hurry."

"I'm on my way. I'll be there in five minutes."

Ichigo has never been so thankful that Orihime lived by the school. True to her word it was seven minutes later she came hurrying through the doors. Ichigo knew it had been seven minutes because he was counting every second as the blood pooling from Grimmjow grew larger. It was reaching the point where Ichigo knew it would be too late.

She didn't ask any questions, just knelt next to them both to look at Grimmjow. "He's pretty bad, but think I can fix it. You'll have to move out of the way, Ichigo." He did as asked, gently lying the half dead Espada on the floor before scooting backwards to give Orihime room to work. The orange glow of her shield filled the room, encasing Grimmjow as it began to heal him. They sat in silence for a while, both looking at the unconscious man. "What happened?" Orihime finally asked.

"I don't know. He turned up like that."

She sighed, turning to face him. Her hands twisted in her lap as her expression turned worrisome. "His arm was completely destroyed."

"Can you… heal it?" Ichigo asked hesitantly. He wasn't sure how to feel about Grimmjow losing an arm, or even how the man himself would react when waking up.

She nodded and Ichigo let out a sigh of relief. "Yes he'll be fine. But these wounds… he wasn't supposed to survive this. Another minute or two and I don't think I would have been able to save him." Orihime looked up and met his gaze. "You want to save him."

It was a question but he answered anyway. "Yes. He's not like Aizen, he doesn't care about plans. Grimmjow's agreed to help us."

"I don't think he has." Orihime sighed and cast a glance towards Grimmjow. "I think he's agreed to help you. But if you trust him, I'll trust him too. It wasn't that long ago we were fighting the Soul Reapers. Why should the Espada be any different?"

Ichigo was surprised by this, but it was true. They had been fighting with the Soul Society and now they were allies. Why should that make Grimmjow or any of the Espada's any different? Hollow or not, they were part Shinigami, part human too. The fact that Orihime could see passed the Espada's initial introduction gave Ichigo hope that maybe the others would too. The last thing he wanted was to cause another fight over keeping Grimmjow alive but if it came to it, he knew he would.

Losing Grimmjow was out of the question.

They lapsed into silence again, both watching the motionless Espada. The sun had started rising when they finally saw movement. It started as a groan, making Ichigo jump and hurry over to kneel next to Grimmjow as he started sitting up. Slowly, the man pressed a hand to his head and groaned again. "What the hell?" He finally said, lowering his hand to look at Ichigo. "What happened?"

"What happened?" Ichigo asked, feeling a sudden urge to grab Grimmjow and shake him violently, thankfully Orihime's shield still lay between them. "You turn up almost cut in half, missing a goddamn arm." His voice was dangerously low, letting Grimmjow know he was not impressed. "You tell me what happened."

"Aizen." He replied simply, moving to sit up properly. He flexed his newly regained arm and grinned. "Didn't think I'd ever get this back, thanks." He nodded at Orihime who actually smiled back. "Aizen found out what I've been doing, where I've been going. I didn't cover my tracks. Bastard had me chained up weeks before just setting me loose in the Human World. Probably thought I'd die. Shit I should've."

"Yeah well, Aizen's never seen Orihime in action before." Ichigo gave his friend a warm smile which she returned. He looked at Grimmjow again, surprised to see the momentary anger in his eyes, but then he blinked and it was gone. "You would be dead otherwise." Then it hit Ichigo, just how close he'd come to losing Grimmjow. "Don't you ever do this again." He told the Espada in a quiet, pained voice and the man's expression softened.

"Don't worry about me Ichi, I don't have any plans to return to Las Noches anyway. I think I'll stay here for a while." He reached out, hissing and redrawing his hand when the shield zapped him. "Uh, can this thing go away now?"

"Sorry." Orihime lowered the shield and stood up. "I'm going home now, I need some sleep. Let me know if you need me again. Goodnight Ichigo… Grimmjow."

"Night Orihime and thank you, really." Ichigo smiled at her as she left before turning to Grimmjow again and this time he recognised the expression. "You're jealous." Ichigo laughed. "Honestly you're so stupid sometimes."

"Excuse me?" He replied incredulously. "I'm not stu-"

Ichigo cut him off with a firm kiss. "I'm serious though." He continued when they broke apart. "I don't think I can handle seeing you like that again." Looking down, Ichigo was surprised to see how much blood caked his clothes, he hadn't noticed before. "Just don't die on me ok?"

"I can't promise that, you know that. But I'll promise to try my best to stay alive." It was both the words and the arm that went around his shoulders that comforted Ichigo.

It was strange really, how warm Grimmjow felt compared to earlier, and a lot less wet thankfully. He was alive, and whole again, that was what Ichigo kept telling himself to try and remain calm. The next time he saw Aizen would be the time to let loose but for now, Ichigo was content to grab Grimmjow and hold him tightly.

"So what are you gunna tell the Shinigami?"

"That if they touch you I'll kill them." Grimmjow laughed at his reply. Ichigo was serious though, but he doubted it would come to that. The Espada has vital information which would help them turn the tides against Aizen. It was in their best interest to keep him alive and cooperative. But just in case, Ichigo has his threats, and he knew how much the Soul Society needed him to fight against Aizen.

"It won't come to that."

"Says who?"

"Me." Grimmjow said with an air of confidence Ichigo didn't understand. "Because once they realise I'm sleeping with you, they wouldn't dare touch me."

"Don't you dare tell anyone that."

"I'm your secret huh?"

"You damn well know you are. At least until Aizen's gone." Somehow the whole thing seemed like it would cause too much of a distraction. The last thing Ichigo wanted was to start internal conflicts as well. "Then we'll deal with the aftermath."

"Until then?"

"Until then I'm going to lock you away somewhere safe." Ichigo kissed him again, pulling on his ruined jacket to get him closer. "Somewhere Aizen can't hurt you."

"He only managed this because he caught me by surprise. I'm not letting my guard down again so don't worry." Grimmjow's trademark smirk was back in place and for once Ichigo was glad to see it. "Now shut up and let me kiss you some more."

"Wait wait not here!" Ichigo laughed and stood up, hauling the other to his feet as well. "Let's go back to mine it's more comfortable."

"And there's a bed." He rolled his eyes, yes Grimmjow was definitely back to normal. "Hey," He tugged Ichigo's Hans making him stop. "Aizen kept asking me about your weaknesses. He wanted to know how to get inside your head."

"So what did you tell him?"

"Told him to go fuck himself didn't I." The fact that he sounded so proud, just made Ichigo laugh. "What he didn't realise was he had exactly what he needed to stop you."

"I know." Ichigo replied quietly. All Aizen has to do was hold a blade to Grimmjow's throat and he knew he'd surrender to try and save him. He met Grimmjow's questioning gaze and smiled. "Shame he handed you back to me. Now come on, I'm tired."

They started to leave but Grimmjow paused as they passed the piano, playing a few keys. "That song you played. That's how I found you. You have a really good voice."

Ichigo has all but forgotten about the song and felt his cheeks flush at the compliment. "Thanks." Grimmjow just laughed, leaning down to kiss him before they left back to the Kurosaki household.

Later that morning after finally getting some sleep, Ichigo woke up to find Grimmjow still asleep. How they both fit in his bed was still a mystery but somehow they managed. Ichigo made a mental note to try and get a bigger bed since Grimmjow was staying now. He sighed, leaning forward to kiss Grimmjow gently to not wake him.

"Welcome home Grimmjow."