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Before You Forget About Me
Chapter 2: That's What You Said The Last Time

There was a growing shadow approaching the front doorway. The silhouette looked familiar to both Renji and Hitsugaya as they stood across from each other in Byakuya's lounge.
Renji stood looking naively down at Hitsugaya for only a second longer before he remembered they were trespassing. Panic gripped him."Oh, wait a minute. Crap!"
He rushed off to hide in the nearest room that wasn't going to be in Byakuya's immediate view. Hitsugaya stood in brave disregard for Byakuya 's finding them. Wasn't his Captain.
Byakuya gained admittance into his house through the front door and stared at the unexpected sight of the tenth squad Captain.
He didn't look welcoming about the invasion of his home. "Hitsuga…"
"I knew it," Hitsugaya said accusingly.
There was a distinct crash as someone broke something in a room beyond the lounge, and Byakuya frowned pitifully in Renji's general direction. "You know, if this is a break in, you're supposed to leave…before I get back here."
"I know how to break in, thank you."
Disinterest consumed Byakuya's gaze for a lasting moment. "Right." He preoccupied himself with moving towards the kitchen. Probably hoping they'd disappear if he ignored them; that usually worked.
"Didn't you learn anything the first time round, Byakuya?"
Byakuya disappeared into the kitchen midway through Hitsugaya's sentence. He rearranged some things noisily before reemerging with the same blank expression. "Oh. Still here."
"Do you know where Ichigo is," Hitsugaya proceeded with determinedly. "Right now? Well, do you?"
"No," Byakuya admitted, sounding tired as he leant against the kitchen doorframe. "Not really."
"Strange. Cos he was in here just before he left."
"Hm hm."
"He just, came in here for something. And now he's disappeared. What an interesting development."
"And, what makes you think I helped him in his endeavors?"
"Gee, I don't know. Couldn't possibly be the fact that, oh yeah, you helped him the last time."
"Okay, what is going on?" Byakuya resigned himself to getting involved, facing the agitated Captain slowly. "Has Ichigo done something?"
"Ichigo's found Grimmjow again."
An exasperation entered Byakuya's tenor. "Again?"
"Before he died, you thought it would be okay to let this happen. Cos you understood love or whatever."
The clear image of Rukia's sister, his deceased wife, crossed through Byakuya's mind. He pushed it away without revealing he'd ever thought of it.
"Would have been great and all," Hitsugaya raved on, "but it got him killed! Do you understand love now?"
Byakuya said nothing. There was the faint but distracting sound of Renji picking up fallen objects like no one had ever noticed him in the next room.
"We can stop him this time," Byakuya decided.
"Well we couldn't. Maybe you can."
Byakuya nodded in supposed agreement. He thought about the information they did have. "So, how long has he been gone for?"
"About six hours."
"That is one unlucky number."
"I'll say."

*

"That one," Grimmjow was saying, with a definite point at a thin, loner guy in glasses. "Weak link. Right there."
Ichigo wore his most unimpressed expression as he faced Grimmjow. "No."
"What?"
"You can't hunt people!"
Grimmjow frowned as though Ichigo were misunderstanding the situation. "But I'm starving!"
"I already fed you!"
"No you didn't. You gave me…bread." At the smoldering expression Ichigo issued him, he mindfully added, "That doesn't count."
His body leant in towards his victim again.
Ichigo realized how close he was to being serious. "Okay, fine! I'll help you find real food or something. Just please, get that guy out of your target sights."
"I don't think I can wait much longer, I…"
"Just…stay here a second," Ichigo said, noting Grimmjow's predator eyes tracking the guy as he walked through the market lane.
Grimmjow nodded in unconvincing agreement, on a distant planet. "Aha."
"In fact, just come with me."
"Come with you?"
"We're going to feed you…And you're not eating people in the meantime."
"How are you going to take me into the city when I look like this?"
"I'm not. I'll sneak you into my house."
A quick thought entered Grimmjow's mind. "Um…your dad might remember me. Yeah, he doesn't like me so much…" Vague recollections tugged at Grimmjow when he remembered the episode. "Really wasn't my fault though. He should control his son better…"
"What? Just, come on."
"I really…don't think it's such a great idea…" Ichigo stared at him with those familiar bright eyes for so long that it eventually began to make sense against reason, and he just said, "But okay."

*

"How angry are you?" Hitsugaya looked for empathy as he turned conversation on Byakuya for the twelfth time since they'd started walking. "Cos I'm like, gonna-kill-him angry!"
"Yes. It's all very enraging," Byakuya admitted, more referring to Hitsugaya's incessant conversations. "Look, I have an idea to make it go faster. Let's split up."
"Really? You think that's such a good idea? What if we find them? What if Grimmjow's still angry…about what we…"
"You mean what you…"
"I didn't do anything!"
"Well then what are you so worried about?"
"Uh…" Flashing recalls of slicing his Bankai at Grimmjow when he was already down and out sprung to mind before he could ward them off. "Um…Okay, maybe I did do something…"
"Do you think it'll make a difference this time?"
"What, that we find them?"
"Well even if we do find them. That we talk to them. Really think he'll listen? He didn't the last time."
"You mean Ichigo?"
"I mean both of them."

*

"So…about this other life I used to have…" Ichigo was asking, back propped up against his bedroom wall while Grimmjow ate random combinations of food off his pillow.
"Ah-hm."
"What were you doing in it?"
"Excuse me?" Grimmjow sounded insulted, even going so far as to stop eating for a moment to look up at Ichigo.
Ichigo managed not to falter, pressing onwards with, "What I mean is…"
"Ichigo." Grimmjow pushed up off the bed and abandoned his food to close the gap between them. He leant his hand alongside Ichigo's head, half caging him against the wall.
"Yeah?" Ichigo said with a wondering frown, maintaining eye level with his forward guest.
Grimmjow bared a fanged smile before speaking. "Ichigo, I was your life before this."
Lost fragments of a story began to interweave in Ichigo's mind. His thoughts staggered. "Wait, you mean you…"
"Do me a favor. Touch my hair."
"What? Why would I do that?"
"Just touch it."
"I'm not gonna touch your hair," Ichigo said with finality, regardless of where the suggestion was going. "Forget about it."
"Ichigo," Grimmjow said with suppressed laughter. "Just touch it. What's the big deal?"
"Um, it is the big deal."
"You've done it before."
Ichigo's eyes stung him. There was something he wouldn't ask out loud even though he wondered intensely. Had he done…more than that before?
"Grimmjow, what kind of life was I living?' Ichigo had to muster the words, flashing an imploring gaze into Grimmjow's eyes. He stood just a foot under the Arrancar.
Grimmjow smiled as the opportunity to explain matters presented itself. "Okay, crazy story. But let's start with the first time you met me on the battlefield during the whole war thing, wanna know the story?"
"I don't know, do I wanna know the story?"
"We said some stuff about stuff and then you did this…"
"What're you…"
Grimmjow pushed a brief kiss onto Ichigo's mouth to silence him, pulling back almost instantly.
"Why did you do that?" Ichigo was through with being surprised, instead facing Grimmjow with a blatantly unimpressed stare.
"To shut you up. Same reason you did it to me when we met on the battlefield."
Ichigo's voice came out sarcastic. "Sure…Then what happened?" He realized that might be a dangerous question to raise, especially if Grimmjow demonstrated. "Wait, why's this story come with demonstrations!"
"Just in case you were wondering. Ichigo, do you at least remember why you died yet?"
"No! And just tell me." Ichigo's eyes narrowed. "Why you always gotta be so cryptic?"
"I don't want to tell you. I want you to remember."
"Well that's helpful." Ichigo grew exasperated and tried slipping round Grimmjow. Before he could, Grimmjow's second arm came up and barred him in completely.
Ichigo stared at him, bordering on anger. He sucked in a breath before coming out with, "I can't remember, Grimmjow. It's how death works."
Grimmjow searched for something in his eyes as he stood before him. Honesty, maybe. "You sure?"
"I'm sure," Ichigo watched Grimmjow remove both hands from the wall, freeing him. Grimmjow took himself over to the bed again and sat down sulkily.
Ichigo felt sympathetic for a moment and decided to join the troubled Arrancar. He sat lightly down beside him, unthinkingly moving a hand to brush at Grimmjow's streaks of blue hair like a comfort gesture. "Grimmjow…"
It was like lightening had charged Grimmjow's gaze. "That's it. That's what you used to do. You can remember."
"I…" Ichigo paused without retracting his hand, trying to gain ground before Grimmjow dominated the conversation with his 'I-didn't-die-so-I-know-you-better-than-you-do' manner of talking. "I don't know what you're talking about…"
"Remember something else," Grimmjow pleaded quickly, sure they were on the brink of something. "Anything! What you used to say, what you used to do…"
"Ichigo!" His father's voice came trilling pleasantly down the hall between the sounds of a slamming front door. "I'm back, son."
Grimmjow rolled his eyes, making for the window in a single bound."Well I have to go. Ichigo, at least remember me until I get back to your room later."
It was just a jab at the fact that he was so forgetful now. "Of course I'll remember you."
Grimmjow looked back with poignant doubt set in his dark blue eyes. "That's what you said before you died."

*

Description
Before You Forget About Me
Chapter 2: That's What You Said The Last Time

There was a growing shadow approaching the front doorway. The silhouette looked familiar to both Renji and Hitsugaya as they stood across from each other in Byakuya's lounge.
Renji stood looking naively down at Hitsugaya for only a second longer before he remembered they were trespassing. Panic gripped him."Oh, wait a minute. Crap!"
He rushed off to hide in the nearest room that wasn't going to be in Byakuya's immediate view. Hitsugaya stood in brave disregard for Byakuya 's finding them. Wasn't his Captain.
Byakuya gained admittance into his house through the front door and stared at the unexpected sight of the tenth squad Captain.
He didn't look welcoming about the invasion of his home. "Hitsuga…"
"I knew it," Hitsugaya said accusingly.
There was a distinct crash as someone broke something in a room beyond the lounge, and Byakuya frowned pitifully in Renji's general direction. "You know, if this is a break in, you're supposed to leave…before I get back here."
"I know how to break in, thank you."
Disinterest consumed Byakuya's gaze for a lasting moment. "Right." He preoccupied himself with moving towards the kitchen. Probably hoping they'd disappear if he ignored them; that usually worked.
"Didn't you learn anything the first time round, Byakuya?"
Byakuya disappeared into the kitchen midway through Hitsugaya's sentence. He rearranged some things noisily before reemerging with the same blank expression. "Oh. Still here."
"Do you know where Ichigo is," Hitsugaya proceeded with determinedly. "Right now? Well, do you?"
"No," Byakuya admitted, sounding tired as he leant against the kitchen doorframe. "Not really."
"Strange. Cos he was in here just before he left."
"Hm hm."
"He just, came in here for something. And now he's disappeared. What an interesting development."
"And, what makes you think I helped him in his endeavors?"
"Gee, I don't know. Couldn't possibly be the fact that, oh yeah, you helped him the last time."
"Okay, what is going on?" Byakuya resigned himself to getting involved, facing the agitated Captain slowly. "Has Ichigo done something?"
"Ichigo's found Grimmjow again."
An exasperation entered Byakuya's tenor. "Again?"
"Before he died, you thought it would be okay to let this happen. Cos you understood love or whatever."
The clear image of Rukia's sister, his deceased wife, crossed through Byakuya's mind. He pushed it away without revealing he'd ever thought of it.
"Would have been great and all," Hitsugaya raved on, "but it got him killed! Do you understand love now?"
Byakuya said nothing. There was the faint but distracting sound of Renji picking up fallen objects like no one had ever noticed him in the next room.
"We can stop him this time," Byakuya decided.
"Well we couldn't. Maybe you can."
Byakuya nodded in supposed agreement. He thought about the information they did have. "So, how long has he been gone for?"
"About six hours."
"That is one unlucky number."
"I'll say."

*

"That one," Grimmjow was saying, with a definite point at a thin, loner guy in glasses. "Weak link. Right there."
Ichigo wore his most unimpressed expression as he faced Grimmjow. "No."
"What?"
"You can't hunt people!"
Grimmjow frowned as though Ichigo were misunderstanding the situation. "But I'm starving!"
"I already fed you!"
"No you didn't. You gave me…bread." At the smoldering expression Ichigo issued him, he mindfully added, "That doesn't count."
His body leant in towards his victim again.
Ichigo realized how close he was to being serious. "Okay, fine! I'll help you find real food or something. Just please, get that guy out of your target sights."
"I don't think I can wait much longer, I…"
"Just…stay here a second," Ichigo said, noting Grimmjow's predator eyes tracking the guy as he walked through the market lane.
Grimmjow nodded in unconvincing agreement, on a distant planet. "Aha."
"In fact, just come with me."
"Come with you?"
"We're going to feed you…And you're not eating people in the meantime."
"How are you going to take me into the city when I look like this?"
"I'm not. I'll sneak you into my house."
A quick thought entered Grimmjow's mind. "Um…your dad might remember me. Yeah, he doesn't like me so much…" Vague recollections tugged at Grimmjow when he remembered the episode. "Really wasn't my fault though. He should control his son better…"
"What? Just, come on."
"I really…don't think it's such a great idea…" Ichigo stared at him with those familiar bright eyes for so long that it eventually began to make sense against reason, and he just said, "But okay."

*

"How angry are you?" Hitsugaya looked for empathy as he turned conversation on Byakuya for the twelfth time since they'd started walking. "Cos I'm like, gonna-kill-him angry!"
"Yes. It's all very enraging," Byakuya admitted, more referring to Hitsugaya's incessant conversations. "Look, I have an idea to make it go faster. Let's split up."
"Really? You think that's such a good idea? What if we find them? What if Grimmjow's still angry…about what we…"
"You mean what you…"
"I didn't do anything!"
"Well then what are you so worried about?"
"Uh…" Flashing recalls of slicing his Bankai at Grimmjow when he was already down and out sprung to mind before he could ward them off. "Um…Okay, maybe I did do something…"
"Do you think it'll make a difference this time?"
"What, that we find them?"
"Well even if we do find them. That we talk to them. Really think he'll listen? He didn't the last time."
"You mean Ichigo?"
"I mean both of them."

*

"So…about this other life I used to have…" Ichigo was asking, back propped up against his bedroom wall while Grimmjow ate random combinations of food off his pillow.
"Ah-hm."
"What were you doing in it?"
"Excuse me?" Grimmjow sounded insulted, even going so far as to stop eating for a moment to look up at Ichigo.
Ichigo managed not to falter, pressing onwards with, "What I mean is…"
"Ichigo." Grimmjow pushed up off the bed and abandoned his food to close the gap between them. He leant his hand alongside Ichigo's head, half caging him against the wall.
"Yeah?" Ichigo said with a wondering frown, maintaining eye level with his forward guest.
Grimmjow bared a fanged smile before speaking. "Ichigo, I was your life before this."
Lost fragments of a story began to interweave in Ichigo's mind. His thoughts staggered. "Wait, you mean you…"
"Do me a favor. Touch my hair."
"What? Why would I do that?"
"Just touch it."
"I'm not gonna touch your hair," Ichigo said with finality, regardless of where the suggestion was going. "Forget about it."
"Ichigo," Grimmjow said with suppressed laughter. "Just touch it. What's the big deal?"
"Um, it is the big deal."
"You've done it before."
Ichigo's eyes stung him. There was something he wouldn't ask out loud even though he wondered intensely. Had he done…more than that before?
"Grimmjow, what kind of life was I living?' Ichigo had to muster the words, flashing an imploring gaze into Grimmjow's eyes. He stood just a foot under the Arrancar.
Grimmjow smiled as the opportunity to explain matters presented itself. "Okay, crazy story. But let's start with the first time you met me on the battlefield during the whole war thing, wanna know the story?"
"I don't know, do I wanna know the story?"
"We said some stuff about stuff and then you did this…"
"What're you…"
Grimmjow pushed a brief kiss onto Ichigo's mouth to silence him, pulling back almost instantly.
"Why did you do that?" Ichigo was through with being surprised, instead facing Grimmjow with a blatantly unimpressed stare.
"To shut you up. Same reason you did it to me when we met on the battlefield."
Ichigo's voice came out sarcastic. "Sure…Then what happened?" He realized that might be a dangerous question to raise, especially if Grimmjow demonstrated. "Wait, why's this story come with demonstrations!"
"Just in case you were wondering. Ichigo, do you at least remember why you died yet?"
"No! And just tell me." Ichigo's eyes narrowed. "Why you always gotta be so cryptic?"
"I don't want to tell you. I want you to remember."
"Well that's helpful." Ichigo grew exasperated and tried slipping round Grimmjow. Before he could, Grimmjow's second arm came up and barred him in completely.
Ichigo stared at him, bordering on anger. He sucked in a breath before coming out with, "I can't remember, Grimmjow. It's how death works."
Grimmjow searched for something in his eyes as he stood before him. Honesty, maybe. "You sure?"
"I'm sure," Ichigo watched Grimmjow remove both hands from the wall, freeing him. Grimmjow took himself over to the bed again and sat down sulkily.
Ichigo felt sympathetic for a moment and decided to join the troubled Arrancar. He sat lightly down beside him, unthinkingly moving a hand to brush at Grimmjow's streaks of blue hair like a comfort gesture. "Grimmjow…"
It was like lightening had charged Grimmjow's gaze. "That's it. That's what you used to do. You can remember."
"I…" Ichigo paused without retracting his hand, trying to gain ground before Grimmjow dominated the conversation with his 'I-didn't-die-so-I-know-you-better-than-you-do' manner of talking. "I don't know what you're talking about…"
"Remember something else," Grimmjow pleaded quickly, sure they were on the brink of something. "Anything! What you used to say, what you used to do…"
"Ichigo!" His father's voice came trilling pleasantly down the hall between the sounds of a slamming front door. "I'm back, son."
Grimmjow rolled his eyes, making for the window in a single bound."Well I have to go. Ichigo, at least remember me until I get back to your room later."
It was just a jab at the fact that he was so forgetful now. "Of course I'll remember you."
Grimmjow looked back with poignant doubt set in his dark blue eyes. "That's what you said before you died."

*