Ichigo wasn't a very big fan of surprises since he honestly couldn't predict how he would react. So when he set down the roll of bandages and noticed a pair of eyes watching him, he nearly had a heart attack. Letting out a very manly yelp, he almost knocked the blue-haired delinquent out but managed to hold himself back just in time. Of course, in the process his hand jerked and banged against the bed post causing him to hiss in pain.

Rubbing the back of his hand, he muttered, "Damn, that hurt! Sorry, did I wake you up when I was bandaging something?"

Instead of responding, the guy just kept staring at him which made him feel extremely uncomfortable. He was relieved when the man slowly sat up but did not appreciate it when all of a sudden, he was tackled and pinned to the ground by a heavy weight with his hands held down by a vice-like grasp. Ichigo had been completely unprepared for that and he was about to angrily demand the rude jerk get off him before he kicked his ass when said jerk began speaking in a harsh snarl.

"Who the fuck are you?"

'That's my line you ass!' "I fail to see why it matters since I was going to call a hospital and have them pick you up so you could get professional help for your wounds and then we'd be out of each other's hair anyway. Now can you move?"

The man didn't budge an inch and Ichigo was sorely tempted to kick him when he heard the man murmur something. Straining his ears, he managed to catch the gist of it, "… the fuck does he look like him…?"

His face resembled someone a delinquent knew? Ah, now he understood why the guy must be confused. Letting his body relax marginally, Ichigo said, "If you're confusing me with someone else then you must have known… Shirosaki." Damn, it still hurt to just say something as simple as his name despite the fact it wasn't even the affectionate shortened version.

The person holding him down narrowed his eyes. "Why the fuck do you look like him?" The question confirmed Ichigo's suspicions and he sighed before replying, "Doesn't matter. If you knew him then you should know he's dead." A strange look flashed in the blue eyes and Ichigo swore that it looked like guilt before it was replaced by what he assumed was the usual hardened cold look.

"If you knew him then does that mean you knew his lover?"

Ichigo instinctively stiffened and his thoughts raced through his mind in a panic. 'Fuck, how did he know? Wait, calm down. He phrased it like a question so he doesn't know for sure. Of course, you gave yourself away with that obvious body reaction but maybe he won't notice…"

Calming down his jumpy nerves, he very tentatively said, "I… didn't know he had one." The man quirked a thin blue eyebrow and Ichigo just knew he didn't buy that. But he refused to say anymore so he stubbornly glared up, daring the him to push for more.

"Then at least tell me what your connection with him is." 'Bastard doesn't know when to give up does he?' Ichigo just immaturely stuck his tongue out, a rather childish challenge saying "Make me" which made a vein twitch above the other man's eye in irritation.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, glaring at each other on the floor and trying to make the other yield, but both jolted a bit in shock when they heard the sound of a bag dropping and a small gasp.

'Oh crap, he finished shopping faster than usual. I didn't even hear the door open! Why did he have to return early today of all days?'

If there was thing Ichigo really hated about his friend and roommate Hirako Shinji, it was that he had the most awful timing known to mankind. Not to mention he was the most flamboyant gay he'd ever met but that was beside the point. All in all, Shinji tended to cause him more problems than solve them, a spectacular example being now, but it was really hard to be angry with such an energetic and admittedly amusing person.

Like right now, he was starting to get the impression that the blonde should get a trophy for the most impressive imitation of a goldfish. Why he was opening and closing his mouth like that without saying anything, he hadn't a clue. Was it that strange for him to have someone over?

"… Ichigo, when did you get such a hunk? And how was I not aware of this? And more importantly, please continue. I haven't seen something this delicious in forever!"

Oh, that explained everything. Ichigo felt his face heat up since he realized that the current position he and the stranger were in was extremely compromising and would most certainly give the wrong impression. Like the one his friend had.

"Wait a second Shinji, it's not like that!"

Shinji blinked. "Oh, I see. Leave it to me then." He then proceeded to lift a large metal bat from behind the door and with a sadistic gleam in his eyes, said "So he's a rapist? No worries Ichi! I'll save you!"

Ichigo's eyes widened comically as he exclaimed, "Shinji no-" when said person rushed forward with an impressive speed and swung the bat down. To both of their surprises, the man just turned his upper body a bit and effortlessly caught the bat with one hand, the other still holding one of Ichigo's wrists down.

There was a slightly awkward silence before Shinji suddenly had sparkles in his eyes. "Oh that was magnificent! Ichigo, if you two aren't together, can I have him?" Ichigo groaned at his friend's antics before saying to the blunette, "Hey, can you get off me now? Neither of us mean you any harm."

Seeing the slightly disbelieving look, he rolled his eyes and explained, "Shinji was only testing you. If you really were some rapist, Shin wouldn't have just used a bat. He's better at using sharp objects or some weird form of martial arts that he came up with. And if either of us wanted to hurt you then we wouldn't do it on the third floor of a dorm building with people living beneath us."

Searching the eyes of the body below him for lies and finding none, the man slowly pulled himself up into a standing position, warily watching Ichigo sit up.

Shinji twirled the bat in one of his hands expertly and asked, "So, who is this Ichigo?" Running a hand through his hair, Ichigo replied, "Just someone I found on the streets. He was injured and bleeding a lot and it would have taken too long for an ambulance to get where we were so I brought him here and did a quick bandaging of his injuries."

Shinji bobbed his head in understanding before scrutinizing the person they had yet to identify. He glanced down at the man's side since part of his shirt had ridden up, revealing skin and some lovely abs but then something else caught his eye. His cheerful smile instantly dropped and was replaced by a frown and a guarded expression while his body tensed ever so slightly. "What's your name?"

Ichigo blinked in mild confusion; Shinji wasn't usually so sharp or serious sounding even when he was facing an entire group of homophobic jerks that were itching to beat him up. Wondering what had happened to cause Shinji to do a complete 180 in personality and glancing between the two, he had a distinct feeling he was missing something if the sudden tension crackling in the air was anything to go by. He was snapped out of his thoughts when the man suddenly spoke.

"Grimmjow."

Mouth opened in surprise due to the fact he actually answered, it took Ichigo a few seconds to realize the person now known as Grimmjow was speaking to him, not the blonde. He wasn't even looking at Shinji even though he was the one who asked the question. He was so busy trying to figure out why that he failed to notice Shinji's eyes had narrowed into dangerous slits.

"Get out."

Ichigo whipped his head around and stared at his friend. He had never heard his friend use such a loathing tone towards anybody, even towards the people prejudiced against his sexual preferences. Stranger still was that he used it against someone who he would normally be ready to pounce on. "Shinji why are you…?"

"It doesn't matter. I don't want someone like him here any longer than necessary." Ichigo still looked utterly perplexed so Shinji placed a hand on his shoulder and said, "You don't wanna get involved in another gang-related mess do you?" Well, of course not but that didn't really explain Shinji's odd behavior.

Looking at Grimmjow and then back at his friend, he knew Shinji wasn't going to be complacent about letting the delinquent stay until his wounds healed so pulling away from the blonde, he walked towards a small closet and rummaged around in it. Making a small exclamation of triumph, he pulled something out and walked over to the blue-haired man. "Look, I don't know why Shinji doesn't like you and you didn't exactly give me a good impression either but still, I want you to have this."

Grabbing Grimmjow's hand and ignoring the small twitch it caused, he placed a scarf on it. It was a really dark blue color that almost seemed black and it felt nice and warm. It had been a present from his idiot father who couldn't seem to grasp the concept that blue really didn't match his hair in a very fashionable way no matter the shape or form. Unfortunately, he hadn't wanted to just throw it away since it was a present from family so it had been stuck sitting in the closet for a while. He was glad he hadn't thrown it away since it now had a use.

"It might be February but it's still cold outside. You should walk around with warmer clothes than what you're wearing or you'll catch a cold. I wasn't ever going to wear this anyway and Shinji doesn't want it either so you take it."

Grimmjow just stared at the cloth in his hands with a slightly puzzled expression. Ichigo blinked and asked, "You do know what a scarf is right?" A vein twitched in irritation as Grimmjow snapped, "Of course I do! I was wondering why the fuck you're givin' it to me…"

Ichigo gave him a look that clearly asked if he was an idiot. "You're wearing short sleeves and jeans when it's only 23 degrees outside, of course I won't just let you walk out there without something to keep you warm! I would offer a coat too but neither Shinji nor I have the same body size you do so just take the damn scarf."

Shinji looked like he was going to argue against doing anything nice like that for the delinquent but a glare from Ichigo silenced any complaints. Huffing, Ichigo looked back at Grimmjow and said sternly, "One more thing: don't do any strenuous work or you'll reopen your wounds and if that happens, you'll be on your own. I don't make it a habit to get mixed up with people involved in suspicious activities so I don't want to ever see you again."

Blue orbs drilled into brown ones and Ichigo thought he heard Grimmjow grumble something like, "Pushy like him too" under his breath. A smirk abruptly appeared on Grimmjow's face as he casually replied, "Feelings are mutual brat. But we're gonna run into each other at least one more time since I have to return this to you at one point or another."

Furrowing his eyebrows, Ichigo objected, "No it's for you to keep-" But Grimmjow was already walking away and out the door, calling back, "I'm only keeping it for now since it looked like you were gonna fight me if I didn't accept and since I ain't supposed to do any 'strenuous work,' I'll compromise for now. See you later Berry."

Ichigo scowled and resisted the urge to chuck something at the retreating bastard's head, he really hated it when people called him that. He hated it even more that they were no longer nameless faces to each other. He hadn't wanted to tell his name or for that matter learn Grimmjow's since that meant they weren't strangers but acquaintances and he really didn't need to know any more gang members.

Sighing, he suddenly remembered his friend's odd behavior and looked at the blonde questioningly. Shinji had fallen into deep thought though, so Ichigo waved his hand in front of his face for a minute before snapping his fingers sharply.

Shinji jolted out of his reverie as Ichigo said dryly, "I take it you're not going to tell me anything even if I promised to hook you up with a hot guy, right?" The familiar grin that revealed piano-like teeth appeared again as Shinji replied, "Actually, I was plannin' on warning you about that guy once he left. What I'm gonna tell you requires a bit of privacy."

His face grew more somber as he said in an uncharacteristically gentle voice, "If I'm right about who that Grimmjow person is, then that means he's part of the Espada, the gang Shirosaki used to be a part of. Not only that, I think he has one of the higher positions too which means he either witnessed or was involved in that murder two years ago."

Brown eyes widened to the size of saucers as Ichigo numbly stepped away. "What…?" Shinji sighed and said, "This is why I didn't say this when that guy was here." Leveling a sympathetic look on his friend, he added quietly, "I didn't think you would appreciate someone like him seeing you so vulnerable."

Wrapping his arms around himself, Ichigo's lithe frame trembled slightly as he struggled to keep his emotions in check. Shinji didn't say anything else but he did walk over and wrapped his arms around the younger man comfortingly.

Ichigo didn't cry but the trembling increased a bit as Shinji rubbed soothing circles on his back. Shinji was the only one aside from family who knew about Ichigo and his lover, the only one who knew the true sinful nature of their relationship.

Squeezing Ichigo reassuringly, he was reminded of how the orange haired man was the day Shirosaki had died. It pained him to know that his friend couldn't even cry over the death of his love having lost that ability long ago along with his beloved mother. It was even worse that both had been murdered on the exact same day just in different years.

A/N: Oh geez I'm having too much fun writing these stories. I love forbidden romances 3. The one between Shiro and Ichi is different from the usual Romeo and Juliet relationship so look forward to it~ And as always, please review!