0. arrancars are a mob. espada are the 10 highest ranking members, those with code names. soul reapers are an off-moraled task force. the vizored play the role of the police, which are biased towards the arrancars due to aizen's connections. quincies are an intelligence association that refuse to have anything to do with either side, but gather as much intelligence as they can in order to defend themselves. they have dirt on both soul reapers and arrancars, and will use it if necessary.

1. arrancars are based in mexico, soul reapers are based in japan. soul reapers start sending people over to mexico to figure the situation out. this has been going on for 3 years now.

2. rukia is a soul reaper, ichigo is her flatmate. rukia tells ichigo she has to go to mexico and ichigo insists on going with her to keep her company. unable to tell ichigo why he can't go, and knowing how stubborn he is, she accepts.

2b. the reason they started staying together is because ichigo told her as the two were finishing up college about how he was getting an apartment so he could live separately from his family. rukia comments on how she should get one too, soon, as she loved her brother, but his presence was almost always suffocating. ichigo suggested that they share an apartment for a while, and they just never saw the need to stop living together.

3. rukia tries her hardest to keep ichigo from finding out about the arrancars, similarly deciding to not explain soul reapers until she feels she absolutely has to.

4. ichigo meets grimmjow by chance, finds him Incredibly Attractive. they end up hanging out together and losing track of time.

5. grimmjow casually tells ichigo a bit about the arrancars, not mentioning he's one of them, and ichigo feels unsafe walking home at night. he stays the night with grimmjow.

5b. "What's it like there? Anything interesting?"
"Not really. There's some freak who comes around sometimes to film his show where he apparently interacts with spirits, but that's about it."
"Nothin' like that here. We've just got the mob and all to worry about." If Ichigo had a drink, he absolutely would have began choking on it at how casually Grimmjow mentioned such a subject.
"Mob? What do you mean by mob?" Blue eyes seemed to slowly drag towards him in an entrancing manner.
"I mean exactly what I said. Did your friends not tell you? It's basically impossible to live here without knowing about the Arrancars," Grimmjow explained, his voice low regardless.

6. ichigo returns to renji's apartment, where he and rukia are staying, the next day. tells her and renji about how good of a time he had, and they tease him about his boyfriend. ichigo insists grimmjow isn't his boyfriend.

7. rukia tells ichigo she's going out to shop the next day, while renji is away. ichigo innocently warns her to be careful, that he heard there's a mob around. rukia stops in her tracks and has to decide whether to spill everything to ichigo. her brother's cold eyes flashing in her mind, she allowed ichigo to remain ignorant, thanking him for the warning.

8. ichigo is invited to go out with grimmjow and his friends to a bar, meeting starrk and lilynette and getting along with them immediately. he mutters to grimmjow that starrk must be pretty stressed out, having to worry that his little sister could get hurt with the mob around. grimmjow seems to mull something over in his head.

8b. "mozzarella sticks and a 7-up for me, please!"

9. grimmjow starts telling ichigo about how the arrancars aren't all bad on the ride to drop him off at renji's place, and mentions that soul reapers, the task force who have been showing up recently, are arguably worse.

9b. "some guy in a weird getup and a straw hat suspected starrk of being an arrancar once, and because he was half-asleep, as usual, he couldn't defend himself against the drunken accusations the guy was throwing at him. fucker pulled out a gun and nearly shot him, right in front of lilynette. she had to scream at the guy to cut that shit out. lucky she wasn't traumatized, she was even younger back then."

10. ichigo's thoughts keep him awake that night, thinking about how odd it is that the people who were supposed to be bad weren't ruling the streets like he always imagined mobs would. how the soul reapers, who were supposed to be protecting the people, nearly shot an innocent man.

11. renji asks ichigo what's up the next morning, and ichigo decides it would lessen the stress on him if he told renji about what grimmjow has been telling him. his face darkens, and he admits that both he and rukia are soul reapers.

11b. "it's impossible for everyone in a group to be saints, and it's definitely possible the soul reaper had reason to suspect whatever guy you're talking about." "i met the guy! not only is he a good guy, but he'd be too lazy to be involved with that mob crap anyway! his little sister almost had to watch him get shot for no reason, renji!" "but she didn't." "you don't think a drunk stranger waving a gun in such a little kid's only guardian's face is a traumatizing experience, whether he got shot or not?!"

12. ichigo storms out of the apartment, texting grimmjow on his way down the stairs and asking to stay with him for a night or two. not feeling like sharing the details, he simply says he got into an argument with the guy he's staying with and needs time away from his stubborn ass to get over it. grimmjow texts back "stubborn ass, huh? sounds like someone i know. i'll come pick you up."

13. ichigo contemplates telling grimmjow he doesn't have to come all this way for him, but decides against it as subtle payback. no way in hell is he walking all the way to the fucker's house after an underhanded insult like that.

14. nnoitra is waiting in grimmjow's house when he returns, casually greeting him as if he belonged there and asking who the redhead with him was. grimmjow mumbles something about how he had to reinforce his locks to keep the asshole from picking them all the time, while ichigo introduces himself. grimmjow prays to a god he doesn't believe in that maybe nnoitra is in a good mood today and won't act like a complete pile of garbage for once. said god smiles upon him as nnoitra behaves himself relatively well. relatively well meaning that he only occasionally said a few dirty things in spanish directed at grimmjow.
14b. "nnoitra's a locksmith, he could probably break into anyone's place. i don't know why the fuck he only does it to me." "you've got the best couch."

14c. "wait, what's that on your tongue? ... why a five?" "honestly? no fuckin' clue. got it while i was drunk and it hurt like a bitch the next day."

15. the next day, ichigo wakes up late and sticks around with grimmjow for a while, then walks home in the evening, deciding he should go see renji and rukia again before they get too worried about him. grimmjow waves him off and offers for ichigo to come back whenever he feels like it. "maybe i'll get a spare key for you or somethin, huh?"

16. ichigo spots a man in a strange black outfit following him. he turns a corner, and an oddly familiar looking stranger dressed in all white stares him down through a white mask with accentuated teeth on the sides. he pulls a gun out and appears to aim it at ichigo. ichigo closes his eyes and barely has time to brace himself as he hears a shot get fired, which he eventually realizes went past him, along with the stranger's casually slow footsteps. he watches the stranger plant a small card on the now dead man who had been following him, then passes ichigo again without a word. ichigo, who had been too stunned to speak, tentatively approaches the body and reads the card from afar, squinting due to how small the text is. "pantera," it read. "regards from the arrancars," at the bottom right corner.

17. ichigo, still in shock from what he had witnessed, increased the pace of his walk to renji's place, desperately wishing he had thought to ask grimmjow for a ride home. if his paranoia that kept him from walking home alone the other night had faded, it was back in full force now. he finds it odd that the arrancars would have apparently had a hit out on the stranger who was following him, and grimmjow's words echoed in his mind. "when you really think about it, it's the soul reapers who are pieces of shit. the arrancars barely even bother people who don't stick their noses where they don't belong. hell, they even seem to get on with the police. the soul reapers don't even get any protection from 'em."

18. ichigo tells renji and rukia about what had happened, and rukia solemnly admits that she should have told ichigo about soul reapers and how she was one. renji says he already explained much of that to ichigo, and adds how ichigo defended the arrancars to a degree. he jokes that maybe that's why one decided not to kill him while he was carrying out a hit. ichigo says they're missing the point. a soul reaper was stalking him, absolutely following him. he had turned a few corners before the masked man appeared in one of them, and he could tell the soul reaper was following him. renji and rukia both have nothing to say. ichigo mutters "i can't believe this is happening."

18b. "i'm sorry i couldn't tell you..." "last time she told someone about soul reapers she almost got executed." "renji!" "what?!" "shit... probably shouldn't have said that." "what do you mean, you almost got executed?! execution?!" "well, i didn't, did i?" "are you gonna be in trouble like that again now?!" "no. with the way you found out, it couldn't be helped. i won't be punished. or, i shouldn't be..." "wait, you don't even know? how is all this supposed to bias me TOWARDS soul reapers and not even more AGAINST them?!"

19. ichigo once again can't sleep, texting grimmjow that he was on the fence about the whole situation, but now agrees with him a little more on his views. he then realizes after hitting send that it's nearly 2:30 am, and feels awful that he probably woke grimmjow up. a few minutes later, he receives a text saying "told ya so." ichigo immediately feels less bad.

20. later on in the morning, grimmjow texts ichigo, "what made you text me that at 2:30 am, anyway?" renji notices the text flash across the phone's screen before ichigo does, jokingly asking if he sent any pictures to his new boyfriend. ichigo huffs and snatches the phone off the table, denying both accusations. he sits on the couch and texts grimmjow about the situation from the previous night, to which grimmjow responds with, "holy shit." and then, about a minute later, "i can see how that made you change your mind, though. fucker was stalking you and an arrancar saves your ass, only makes sense that you'd see them in a better light." ichigo silently agrees but forgets to text back, joining renji and rukia for breakfast instead.

21. ichigo texts grimmjow, "can i come over again today?" he notices he forgot to text back after the last exchange and guiltily goes back and adds a "yeah..." to the beginning of it.

22. ???

some time in the near future:
[5/29/2015 4:03:25 PM] lil nez: so, theoretically, if there were a situation with three people, where one shoots, the second is aimed at, and the third person shields the second, would the second person, assuming they’re fast enough, be able to pull out a gun and press it right up against the bullet wound from the first shot and shoot through it to get to the first person before they can move, to minimize time spent getting the third person out of the way

it's been decided i don't have to cut this scene as long as i don't attempt to describe the gun the shooter used, which should be easy, telling the story from ichigo's perspective. the readers should assume the gun was enough to make a hole through the third person's side, grazing their kidney and not hitting any bones, and left enough room in the wound to let a bullet from a 9mm through. the way ichigo finds out grimmjow (the second person in question) has a 9mm is that he questions whether it's legal for grimmjow to have it. grimmjow explains that a 9mm is an appropriate caliber to own under mexican law, conveniently leaving out the fact that the law only covers keeping one at home for protection, and he is still technically breaking it.