Do You Remember Me?

Chapter 11

Chapter 11:
It had been two weeks since their meeting with Aizen, since Ichigo was killed and with each day, Grimmjow grew worse, more distant. Nel looked up as her brother came downstairs and sighed at his tired expression. "Did you sleep at all?" He just shook his head, moving to the kitchen to make some food. "Please Grimmjow, talk to me." She pleaded, following after him and Grimmjow sighed, leaning against the counter before turning to look at her.
"What's there to talk about?" He asked bluntly, shaking his head. "Ichigo's gone and it's my fault, I should've tried harder. And now Amy's in danger too and Nnoitra's not answering my calls."
When remembering all his memories, Grimmjow also remembered his original plan to save Amy. His high school friends, Nnoitra Gilga and Ulquiorra Cifer where now part of a special government task force and Aizen was one of their targets so they'd put a plan together. But when he didn't contact them, obviously they thought he was compromised and now weren't answering his calls or messages.
"Have you tried calling them again?"
"Yes and it makes no difference, they're not going to answer!" He snapped back, sighing when Nel glared at him. "Sorry." He murmured quietly, running a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry Nel, I just..."
"I know." She replied just as quietly, hesitating for a moment before touching his shoulder and squeezing softly. "I know its hard Grimmjow, but we've got to try. Do it for Amy... and Ichigo." Grimmjow sighed heavily before nodding and Nel smiled. "Good, now are you going to call again?"
"Yeah, I'll go try now." Grimmjow left the kitchen to find his phone and once he had, he called Nnoitra again. After ringing for several moment, he was about to end the call when it connected. "Hello?"
"Alright whoever the hell this is, we don't want no trouble so shove off."
Grimmjow chuckled at that. "Nnoitra stop being an idiot. I've not been killer or anything dumbass."
There was a short pause before, "Oh, well ok then."
"So, we still good for the plan?"
Nnoitra snorted. "Really? You disappeared without a word two weeks before we were going to do this. No word, nothing. We thought you'd been compromised so what the hell have you been doing?"
"I was shot, not by Aizen." Grimmjow added quickly to the end of his sentence. "Long story short, Ichigo's jealous ex, shot at Ichigo and hit me. I lost my memories and remembered two weeks ago, which is when I started trying to contact you. So we still on or what?"
"I dunno, I'll have to talk to Ulquiorra, speaking of here he is."
There was a pause, Grimmjow presuming they were talking before Ulquiorra spoke on the phone. "I see you're still alive then."
"Yes so we doing this or not?"
"Impatient aren't we? Yes but it will have to wait a few days. No arguing." He added at the end as Grimmjow opened his mouth to do just that. "Stubborn fool, we thought you were compromised so we called it off, everything needs rearranging. I'll call you in a couple of days to let you know." And with that, he ended the call.
Grimmjow sighed, putting the phone down before scrubbing his face. "Great, now we play the damn waiting game." Hearing someone behind him he turned to see it was Nel. "Nnoitra finally answered, they're getting things ready. Now I have to wait until they call me back."
Nel nodded and smiled. "See, all it took was a little persistence. We'll save Amy, I know it."
"You're not coming Nel." She opened her mouth to object but Grimmjow held up a hand. "Don't push this with me Nel, I don't want you getting hurt either. Losing Ichigo was one too far, if either you or Amy is hurt, I could never forgive myself." He chuckled softly before continuing. "Not that I can anyway, not after Ichigo."
"Grimmjow you can't beat yourself up over it, there was nothing you could do."
"I could've tried harder to save him."
Nel just sighed and shook her head, knowing there was no way to talk her stubborn headed brother round. "Fine, I won't come, but you better come back safely too."
Grimmjow snorted and turned to look at her. "No promises, I swore to kill Aizen and I will, even if I die doing it."
...
Amy paced inside her room nervously, running a hand through her hair with a sigh. She'd been back two weeks now and yet, she knew Aizen's obsession with Ichigo grew each day. She not only feared for what Aizen wanted with him, but for her own life too at this point as Aizen seemed to have lost all interest in her. She sighed again, sitting down on the bed, thinking back to what happened two weeks ago.
"I-ichigo?" She asked in surprise, looking at the expressionless orange head with wide eyes before turning to Aizen. "No... you killed him. I saw you, you shot him in the head..."
Aizen chuckled and walked over to the man, gently patting his shoulder before sitting down next to him at the head of the table. "My dear Amy, why would I kill someone like Ichigo here? He is far too interesting for that."
"So... who was that, at the docks?" She asked cautiously, walking over as well to join them. Looking at Ichigo close up, she was surprised to see no flicker of reaction when he looked at her. As far as she knew, he thought Grimmjow had an affair with her, so wouldn't he be at least a bit angry with her? "What's wrong with him?" Amy thought back to what the doctor had said earlier that day, about the drugs. "You've drugged him with something, haven't you?"
"Very observant of you. Yes he's been sedated with a suppressant to help control his emotions. Did you know he has a nasty temper? Best to keep these things under control." Aizen replied cheerfully, starting to eat his food that had been laid out for them. "It doesn't matter who it was I killed, just an inconvenience."
"So why keep Ichigo, why not give him back to Grimmjow?" Amy pushed, ignoring her food to watch Aizen intently. If she had learnt anything from him, it was to never let her guard down around him. "What possible purpose could he serve?"
Aizen paused and looked up at her then at Ichigo and Amy was surprised to see his expression soften before he reached out to cradle Ichigo's cheek. Ichigo's eyes flickered to him, his blank expression never wavering. "Ichigo is quite unique, don't you think? I'd like to keep him around, maybe one day lower the dug dosage to see some of his fire again." He sighed, pulling Ichigo's bandaged hand up. "It's a shame really, about his hand. Harming something so beautiful was unnecessary."
"Beautiful?" Amy asked in disbelief. "You haven't... done anything to him, have you?"
Aizen turned to look at her slowly, removing his hand from Ichigo's face. "Of course not, in his current condition there would be no fun to it." Amy opened her mouth again, but when his eyes narrowed, she stopped herself at the warning sign. "That's enough about Ichigo, now eat your food please." She sighed and did as she asked, watching as Aizen looked at Ichigo again, handing him a fork. "You need to eat too Ichigo, keep up your strength." With a nod the orange head picked up his fork and started eating. "See Amy, this is how you should behave, obedient to my every word."
...
Amy looked up as someone knocked on her door and sighed, getting up to answer it. She opened the door to find it was Aizen and raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"
"Come walk with me." She nodded and followed Aizen from the room, surprised to see Ichigo wasn't with them and they didn't stop at his room to get him. "What about Ichigo?"
"He doesn't need to join us for now." Amy just nodded and they walked in silence outside, reaching the fencing, Aizen sighed and stopped, turning to look at her. "You know Amy, over the past few weeks, I've come to realise you are not all I want."
"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked quietly, watching him warily.
"That I've found Ichigo to be quite unique and plan to keep him around. You will have to get used to his presence of course." Amy almost scoffed, catching herself at the last moment. "I expect you to take care of him from now on, I have important matters to attend to and I can't keep an eye on him."
"Of course, not that he needs taking care of since he's so drugged up he barely functions." She replied sarcastically. "I thought you were going to lower his dosage?"
"Not just yet, Ichigo would still fight and that would lead to him being hurt, something I'm keen to avoid at this point. For now, he remains in his current state for his own safety." Aizen started walking back to the house, Amy following reluctantly after him. "I hope you will take care of him, or else you will have to suffer the consequences." He didn't elaborate on the threat, but he didn't need to, Amy was keen to avoid that. "Now if you would go fetch Ichigo, we will share lunch together."
"Sure thing." She turned to walk the opposite way down the corridor, coming to a stop when they heard yelling and shots fired. "What's that?"
Aizen frowned and with a jolt, she realised he didn't know, which meant something was wrong. "Forget about Ichigo, he's safe where he is, let's go." He grabbed her arm firmly and marched down the corridor. "We're going to my study, it's the safest place here."
...
It was exactly two days later that Ulquiorra called Grimmjow back, true to his word as he'd said. Grimmjow had been half asleep on the sofa, not having anything to do as he waited for Ulquiorra or Nnoitra to return his call and when his phone rang, he almost fell off the sofa in his haste to grab it. "Yeah?" He asked upon seeing the ID and answering the call.
"Everything is ready, we will begin the assault in two hours. Nnoitra is on his way to pick you up as we speak so be ready." And with that, Ulquiorra ended the call, making Grimmjow short. The man was known for his bluntness and lack of conversational skills.
Just as Ulquiorra had said, a few minutes later there was a knock at the door and when he answered it, Nnoitra grinned at him. "Long time no see man. Ready to go kick some ass?"
"You know it." Grimmjow grinned back, following his old friend out to his car. Nnoitra tossed him a pistol as they got it, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Still know how to use that thing?"
"Oh yeah, you think I'd forget? It was only because of Ichigo I didn't follow you guy on into the task force. He would've killed me." Grimmjow had, for all purposes trained with his two friends to join them, but when he started dating Ichigo, the orange head persuaded him to pursue their relationship instead of the task force life.
"I'm only making sure I don't want you shooting my ass instead of Aizen's, that's all." They fell into silence as Nnoitra drove and after about ten minutes, he spoke up cautiously. "So... can I ask how did you persuaded Ichigo to let you do this? Have you told him 'bout your sister yet?"
"He's dead." Grimmjow replied calmly, checking the gun over and replacing the mag. "Aizen killed him. He first kidnapped him in exchange for Amy, before shooting Ichigo in the head in front of me. I promised the bastard I would kill him, and I intend to keep that promise."
The black haired man sighed. "Just... don't lose your head in there ok? Revenge and grief aren't the best things to combine and I've seen a lot of people lose their heads because of it. Try to be at least a little bit cautious." Grimmjow snorted but said nothing and they remained silent for the rest of the journey before pulling up near a large mansion, Grimmjow presuming this was where Aizen lived, and was keeping Amy.
Spotting Ulquiorra, they walked over to the man who was talking to another dressed in combat, dismissing him as they walked over. "We're ready." He commented, looking at them both before noticing the gun in Grimmjow's hand. "You sure that is wise?"
"Why wouldn't it be?" Grimmjow asked, frowning back. "I'm not going in unarmed and I know how to use one so I won't be shooting yours or Nnoitra's ass off." He commented, jerking his head at the mansion. "So what's the plan?"
"Same as always, run in guns blazin' and pray you don't get shot." Nnoitra replied, pulling out his own gun and jerked his head and the gates. "So we going in or what?"
Ulquiorra sighed and nodded, following after him as he strode towards the gates, Grimmjow following after him. "Let's get this over with then." They hung back as Nnoitra took the first group in, breaking down the gate before storming the front entrance.
"It's clear, come on in!" The lanky man's voice sounded through their walkie talkies.
"Copy that, move to second phase." Ulquiorra replied before turning to Grimmjow. "If you want Aizen, he'll be in his office. It's in the third wing, fourth door on the left, I'll take you there. Be warned he's most likely got security all over the wing so we need to be careful, understand?"
"Yeah yeah, I know don't lose my head, I get it already." Grimmjow sighed before replying and followed Ulquiorra inside. Nnoitra nodded at them as they passed to go through the left wing of the building, following the empty corridor's for several minutes. "So... where is everyone?" He asked the silent man next to him and he sighed.
"No idea, either dead or busy defending other areas. Since we're not making noise, they probably don't know we're here." They reached a pair of large, oak wooden doors and pushed inside to find themselves in a large ballroom. "If I remember correctly, as I always do, Aizen's office if through those doors." He indicated at the other end of the room and set off, Grimmjow following after him.
They got halfway across the room before the doors on the other side of the room opened and Grimmjow's eyes widened as Amy stumbled through, smiling when she saw him. "Grimmjow!" She cried his name ad ran over, almost jumping into his arms when she reached them. "Oh thank god it's you!"
"Amy? How did you escape?"
"Aizen was distracted watching the door, he forgot about me and I took my chance." She glanced back at the doors she came through. "I only knocked him out so he's still in there."
"Perfect." Grimmjow replied, moving towards the doors but Amy grabbed his arm.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to kill him, like I promised." Amy pulled him back and he sighed. "What? He killed Ichigo, I need to do this."
He went to move again but Amy dragged him back. "He didn't kill Ichigo!"
Grimmjow froze, turning to look at her slowly with a disbelieving expression. "What? He can't be... Aizen killed him. He killed him in front of me!"
"I-it was a trick, Ichigo's alive he's here, in the building." She pulled on his arm and Grimmjow started following towards the doors they came through. "Leave Aizen, come on." They reached the door but Grimmjow hesitated, turning to look at Ulquiorra who just nodded, walking towards the study so he let Amy lead him back to the main entrance.
Nnoitra frowned as the two walked in. "I take it you killed him? So where's Ulquiorra?"
"Not now Nnoitra." Grimmjow told him as Amy stopped at another door and opened it. "There's something we've got to do, is it safe?"
"Yeah we got the whole place on lockdown. What's going on?" Grimmjow just shook his head, following after Amy and Nnoitra snorted. "Well I'm glad I could help!"
"Amy." Grimmjow said her name and she glanced back at him questioningly. "Are you sure it's Ichigo?"
"Yeah, I'm sure." She smiled reassuringly and they continued for another ten minutes, each step seeming like an eternity for Grimmjow before they came to a halt outside two doors. "He should be in here." Looking at her brother again to see his drawn expression, she pushed him towards the door. "Go on."
Grimmjow nodded and sighed heavily, pushing the door open slowly. Looking around the room, he didn't notice anything at first before another door opened and like Amy had promised, Ichigo walked out. He paused when seeing Grimmjow, no emotions playing on his face as he looked at him. "Grimmjow?"
"Oh god Ichigo." Grimmjow grinned, moving forward to pull Ichigo into his arms and held him tightly. "Shit I thought I'd lost you." Ichigo held still in his arms, not moving to embrace him back or anything else so Grimmjow pulled back to frown at him, noting the still blank expression. "What's wrong with you?" He asked carefully, cupping his face to look into his vacant brown eyes. "Has he... drugged you?"
"What are you doing here?" Ichigo ignored his questions and continued looking at him with his blank expression. "Aizen won't want you here, you should leave."
"Fuck Aizen Ichi, I'm getting you out of here, come on." He let go of the younger man's face and grabbed his hand, eyes narrowing when he look at the other bandaged one. "Ulquiorra better make that bastard suffer for what he's done to you. Come on, let's get you out of here." Ichigo followed after him out of the room and Grimmjow looked at Amy. "What's wrong with him?"
"Aizen used some sort of drug that represses his emotions. It will most likely wear off after a while if he doesn't get any more dosages." Amy looked at Ichigo and smiled. "You ok?"
"Of course, why wouldn't I be?"
"See?" She looked at Grimmjow again. "It's probably the best for him, he would only have been stressed otherwise. Aizen would have hurt him more."
"Aizen wouldn't hurt me, he cares about me." Grimmjow's eyes twitched at Ichigo's comment, but said nothing, keeping a firm grip on his hand as Amy lead them back to the entrance room again. "Where are we going?"
"We're going home Ichi."
"Finally." Nnoitra groaned, walking towards them. "What the hell is going on? Ulquiorra won't tell me nothin'. So you better get your ass over here and- oh shit Ichigo!" He came to abrupt halt upon seeing the orange head. "Uh, what?"
"Aizen faked his death, he wanted to keep Ichigo for himself." Amy explained, shaking her head. "It's better we don't know what he had planned for him."
Grimmjow growled, pulling Ichigo closer to him protectively. "Did he touch him in any way, hurt him or anything..."
"No, not that I know of. Aizen said he wanted Ichigo to be off the drug when he did. He said something about wanting to see his 'fire' again."
"Bastard, he won't be coming anywhere near Ichigo now. Ulquiorra dealt with him so I doubt there's much left." He looked at Ichigo and smiled softly, running a hand through his orange locks. "I'm not going to let you go again, understand?" Ichigo just nodded, allowing Grimmjow to lead him from the house. "He needs a doctor, somehow I doubt Ichigo will be in good shape when the drug wears off."
Nnoitra came up behind them and overtook to lead them towards a makeshift tent. "Don't worry about it, we got our Doc in on this and Aizen's has agreed to help. They'll have something for you little berry don't you worry."
Grimmjow rolled his eyes, leading Ichigo into the tent and sat him down in a military infirmary cot where they waiting a few minutes for both doctors to walk in. "Doc!" Nnoitra called, waving him over. "Check over Ichigo would ya?"
The man nodded and walked over, leaving what was presumably Aizen's doctor stood in the doorway. Grasping Ichigo's chin, he lifted his head gently and quickly observed him. "He's been drugged."
"Yeah, something that supresses his emotions." Amy told him and he nodded, letting go of Ichigo's face.
"How long has he been on it?"
"Uh, a couple of weeks or so I think."
The doctor sighed and shook his head. "By the looks of this man, he's completely dependent on the drug. Withdrawal will be difficult, I suggest we wean him off the drug instead of going cold turkey as a sudden influx of emotions could have dire consequences."
Grimmjow frowned, reaching out to grasp Ichigo's hand and the orange head turned to look at him. "What do you want Ichi?"
He just shrugged. "Whatever you think is best."
Grimmjow sighed, turning to look at the doctor. "So this weaning thing, how long will it take?"
"A couple of months I'd say to do this properly. We can't rush the process and I must warn you, as we lower the dosage, he could become hostile or have withdrawal symptoms. Will you be able to care for him?"
He looked at Grimmjow sternly who nodded, squeezing Ichigo' hand reassuringly before kissing his head. "I'll always look after Ichigo."