"What are you listening to?"

Ichigo looked up from his notebook to stare at the teal-haired arrancar that was standing next to him, looking rather deep in contemplation. Ichigo would have laughed at the serious frown that came on Grimmjow's face, but then last time when he mocked at Grimmjow for not being able to decipher the English words in his textbook, Ichigo nearly found himself sharing room with Yuzu and Karin as a result from their brawl.

"Eh, some song from this popular band," Ichigo muttered, going back to his homework as he did, knowing full well that with Grimmjow here, he needed every second he was going to get before the jerk pissed him off one way or another and his school works ended up undone. "Why?"

"It's loud." Grimmjow scratched at his ear. He clicked his tongue in annoyance when he didn't get a direct answer from the teen. "I can hear the words from those earpieces of yours and they're bothering me. Turn it down."

Ichigo's brows narrowed and he checked his music player; the volume was passed half. Somehow he didn't notice it that much.

Now that he could hear the song clearly without his focus on the blasted math scribbles in his notebook, Ichigo remembered.

"Velonica," Ichigo mumbled.

"What?"

"Velonica, that's the song," the teen said, spinning his chair around to face Grimmjow. He took one of the ear pieces out and tugged the wire behind his ear as if it was part of his messy hair, leaving it to hang. "Ever heard of it?"

"Does it look like I care about these stuffs?" Grimmjow scoffed. "Waste of time."

One of Ichigo's brows tipped in curiosity at that. "Well, other than the fact that you just asked me about it, I'll still answer yes, actually." He leaned back in his seat, the chair creaking when he did so. "I mean, really, I would expect that kind of attitude from Ulquiorra but not you…"

Grimmjow immediately scowled. "Don't compare me to the likes of that lap dog."

Ichigo raised his hands in mild apology, but couldn't hold back a snicker. As a result, Grimmjow kicked the bottom of the chair so it would tip over for the audacity of the shinigami, smirking when Ichigo's arm swung to grab a hold of something for balance but failed and went down.

Grimmjow had the capability to start a fight in any kind of situation like Ichigo had believed after all.

The teen cussed and scowled, and then, almost alarmingly, turned back to look at the object in his hand.

Ichigo's I-pod was dragged down with him when he fell, and the teen barely caught it before the object crashed onto the floor and caused him trouble for having to fix it. His fingers accidentally spun the volume to the highest limit, and the song blasted through the headphones, the music blaring even more than normal with the silence of the night.

…ikiteiru dake de kanashii to omou no wa watashi dake na no kiita ano ko…

Grimmjow's eyebrows rose as the lyrics hit his ears. ""Isn't life so sad when all you do is live?""

Ichigo stared at the man and blinked, processing the question.

…kono kemuri wa tachiyoinari…

"Oh, the song. Yeah," Ichigo uttered. He looked at his playlist, settling into a comfortable position on the floor instead of getting up—too lazy to…

Grimmjow seemed to have followed him down, crouching, while Ichigo pondered.

…utsuro ni kieru kitto mada…

He really liked it—this song. Now that he listened to it carefully, Ichigo noticed how he found a link, a connection. He looked up at Grimmjow, the espada staring at his music player. Ichigo never saw Grimmjow this attentive before and this action caught his interest.

…chikara naki osanai kimi…

Ichigo found a link, after all.

"Minakute ii kanashimi wo mitekita kimi wa ima…" Ichigo sung along—the part of the lyrics that he remembered, the one chorus he also liked the most. "…koraenakute ii namida wo koraete sugoshiteru."

…hontou no koto dake de ikite yukeru hodo…

"…bokura wa tsuyokunaisa tsuyokunakute ii ii…" He finished, and the instrumental beat continued on. Grimmjow had his cerulean eyes glued to the ground, as if in a trance, and though Ichigo never saw him this way before, it was still nice to watch the arrancar's peaceful state a while longer.

Ichigo grinned. "You know what I realized now when I heard that song with you here?" He shifted in his seat, his thumb moved over to the I-Pod to pause before it shuffled to the next song.

Grimmjow's eyes came up to look at the orange-haired teen beaming face, and he couldn't help but wonder what the idiot was so happy about now. "What?"

"You," Ichigo exclaimed. Grimmjow's eyebrows scrunched together in a confused manner. "You might not notice, but really, if you let another person comment on it, they'll probably say the same thing as me"

Grimmjow scoffed. "You a retard or something? How the hell am I like whatever it is you're thinking?" The sixth espada leaned back and used his hands to support his weight. "And what's with the "if you let another person comment" shit?"

"If they know you well enough, of course," Ichigo added hopefully. It really didn't help.

"You're sayin' ya know me now?"

"What? No, that's just—grr! Take the remark why don't you?! Is it that hard?" Ichigo stood with a huff, pulled back his chair, and slumped down before pulling himself towards the desk without another word or a glance back. Grimmjow just sat there staring at the kid's back, hearing some mumbled curses, no doubt directed at him, spoken under his breath.

A few minutes passed. Grimmjow expected Kurosaki to turn around to yell at him or do anything to get rid of the long ass silence, but he was wrong, and that pissed him off, so he threw something he found under the teen's bed at Ichigo, which incidentally turned out to be an alarm clock Kurosaki probably heaved under there in order to get rid of its noisy ass in the morning.

It connected dead-on to Ichigo's head.

A fight broke out not long after.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

The song stuck.

As Grimmjow ambled along the boring hallways that belonged to Las Noches, he noticed a figure passed him, and while he usually ignored the other arrancars' annoying presences, this time, he paused mid-step and turned around.

It was Ulquiorra, and the fourth espada still continued his walk, either not noticing Grimmjow's stopping, or regarding his being as something not worth his time. Grimmjow had no doubt it was the latter.

"Oi, Ulquiorra."

The green-eyed espada paused. He was paying attention after all, and Grimmjow grinned at the thought of that—Ulquiorra being bothered by his presence, nice.

"What is it, Grimmjow." The voice had a jaded tone to it, like whatever comment Grimmjow was going to say was trash, as they were always viewed as.

The teal-haired espada didn't let that get him down or riled up. Not today. He grinned and fired away. "Isn't life so sad when all you have to do is live?"

The expression on Ulquiorra's face was probably damn worth seeing if the fourth had bothered to turn around. The long pause was enough to confirm that.

"What?"

Grimmjow grinned. "That's what I thought."

And he turned and walked away, all the while thinking about his perfect day.

Or night…

…whatever.

Grimmjow thought about his rebellious personality and tendency to break rules. His overall attitude towards Aizen and the indifference towards the bastard's ambitions. The laws of Hueco Mundo that couldn't have been less important to him compared to Grimmjow's stubborn nature and the refusal to be bound down. He thought about it and frankly, with all the fighting and war, he couldn't ask for more because he relied on himself and only himself.

He was living life fully enough not to care.