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In the Aftermath of Winter	By : Nakkinomiko Category: Bleach > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 5655 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or its characters, and make no money from this fic

Chapter List
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Grimmjow meets Karin
The first time Grimmjow ever lays eyes on Karin Kurosaki, she is fourteen years old and walking through the park with her older brother. It's cold, and both Karin and Ichigo are bundled up in winter coats, hats and scarves. Ichigo's hands are shoved deep into his pockets, and Karin's small hands are encased in wool mittens. Karin's cheeks have gone rosy with the winter chill, and Grimmjow can see their breath in the late fall air.
It's been nearly two years since Grimmjow has seen Ichigo. Two years since the orange haired hellion had ended Nnoitra to protect him. Two years since Ichigo had left him in the sands of Hueco Mundo. Grimmjow isn't angry at him for doing that--he had a war to fight, and Grimmjow would have been a burden that Ichigo could not have afforded at the time. But now...Grimmjow is better now, and he wants a good spar, and can think of no one better for that than Ichigo.
He watches them from where he leans against a tree trunk, the bare branches of which remind him far too much of Hueco Mundo. Grimmjow allows his reiatsu to flare, just to see what Ichigo's reaction will be. He is startled when it is Karin that suddenly turns her head in his direction and actually looks at him, rather than through him. She stops in her tracks and just stares at him for a moment, and Ichigo nearly runs into her.
Ichigo gives her a disgruntled look. "Karin?"
Grimmjow realizes, then, that Ichigo cannot see him. He frowns with the revelation, and finds himself taking a few steps towards them. He doesn't like that Ichigo cannot see him, that he cannot toss half serious taunts in the teenager's direction.
"You stay right there," Karin barks. "You just leave him alone!" Her scowl is fierce, but even that does not hide the fact that she is a pretty girl, and that in a few more years she will be a strong and exceptionally beautiful woman.
"Karin?" Ichigo's scowl puts Karin's to shame. "Who's there?"
Karin shakes her head. "I don't know. I've never seen him before, but he acts like he might know you." Grimmjow goes completely still as her dark eyes rake his form from top to bottom.
"He's an Espada, Ichigo. Blue hair, blue eyes...."
"Grimmjow." Ichigo breathes the name like he's whispering a prayer. It makes Grimmjow's hair stand on end. He can barely believe the joy that seems to fill Ichigo's expression.
It makes Grimmjow uncomfortable, and he covers it the only way he knows how--with aggression.
"What the Hell is his problem?" he barks.
Karin scowls again. "He can't hear you. He can't even sense you...he beat Aizen, but it cost him everything." She nearly chokes on the last word, and Ichigo places a hand on her shoulder and gives it a squeeze in silent comfort.
Her words give Grimmjow a sinking feeling in his gut, so much so that he thinks for a moment he might be sick. He does not allow himself to feel pity for the ex-shinigami, but at the same time, he feels something, something so strong that it nearly brings him to his knees. He thinks there might be regret, because Grimmjow knows that he will never again find someone to fight that can match him blow for blow as well as Ichigo did. And anger. Grimmjow finds himself angry that the kid had to sacrifice so fucking much for those stupid idiots in Soul Society.
And Hate. Always a never ending hate for that bastard Aizen and all the bullshit he put them through, Espada and Shinigami alike. Grimmjow finds himself adding the sad, lost look Karin is currently wearing to the long lists of Aizen's sins.
"What does he want?" Ichigo's demand brings Grimmjow out of his angry musings.
Karin arches a brow at him.
"I wanted a fight," Grimmjow says, and as the words leave his mouth, he realizes he might just be feeling a little grief, too. He is horrified to feel his eyes burning.
"He can't fight you," Karin says, and the gods help him, there is understanding in her eyes as she offers him a watery smile. "He's just a human now."
It's obvious speaking the words cause her a great deal of pain. The pain is echoed in Ichigo's eyes, and Grimmjow knows it is because Ichigo feels helpless now. Helpless against the things he can no longer see...and helpless to protect the people he loves from those invisible things. Grimmjow growls low in his throat and throws a frustrated punch into the tree. He channels all of his anger and frustration into that single motion. Karen and Ichigo jump as a good portion of the trunk splinters outward. Grimmjow leans forward and presses his head against the trunk, ignoring for the moment the blood now flowing from his knuckles.
Sympathy. It washes over Grimmjow in a violent riptide, and he nearly chokes at the intensity of it. I would hate it, he thinks. I would hate not being able to protect the things that are important to me.
"Grimmjow?"
He is startled by how close her voice is, and lifts his head to find she is standing right at his elbow and reaching for his injured hand. She carefully pulls it away from the tree, tsking slightly under her breath as she looks at his ruined knuckles. Her eyes are glassy, and when she blinks, twin tears wind down her cheeks.
"Hurting yourself won't bring his powers back." She is barely able to choke the words out.
Ichigo has moved closer, and is standing right behind her. "Karin?"
"I think he's angry for your sake," Karin says softly. She peels her mittens off and secures them under one arm before taking hold of his hand again. "Hold still...I'll heal this for you."
He is unsure if it is himself or Ichigo that is more astonished when she murmurs an incantation for a low level healing spell. Immediately the bleeding stops and while it is not completely healed, Grimmjow can tell it won't take much longer for his own system to heal it completely.
"Karin...." Ichigo's voice trails off.
"Hitsugaya taught me," she says quietly. "Grimmjow, does it feel better now?
And for the first time, Grimmjow really sees her, this girl who is almost a woman and seems to have the weight of the world on her shoulders. Her reiatsu is strong, and she looks up at him with eyes that are kind and strangely free of judgment. His breath hitches in his chest when she reaches up to brush away the tears that are falling from his eyes now. It is with great difficulty that he overrides the urge to slap her hand away, because a part of him needs her to touch him, and that part is more important than his base Hollow instincts.
Her gentle touch all but immobilizes him, and Grimmjow realizes in that moment she is dangerous to him, that this girl is capable of making him feel, that those feelings could be used against him.
And he suddenly understands why Ulquiorra feared Orihime.
"Grimmjow?"
"I..." He frowns down at her, and then glances up at Ichigo. He stares at the boy's face for several long moments before he meets Karin gaze again. "Tell him not to worry, kid. Tell him that until he gets his powers back, I'll watch over the things important to him."
He doesn't know where the words or the conviction are coming from, but Grimmjow knows he means it, and apparently his sincerity is in his expression because Karin suddenly smiles and relays the message to Ichigo.
Grimmjow finds himself swallowing a laugh at the almost comic expression of relief that crosses Ichigo's features.
"Thank you, Grimmjow," Ichigo says.
"Tell him it's gonna cost him, though," Grimmjow says, smirking and tired of how serious things have suddenly gotten. "The minute he gets his powers back, we're sparring."
Karin relays the message, still smiling, and Ichigo's face lights up with a predatory grin.
"Count on it."
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In the Aftermath of Winter