This was going to be absolutely no fun. Ichigo still pulled against Rukia's and Renji's grip as they dragged him into the alley. "C'mon, Ichigoooo~! You stay cooped up his your apartment all the time! Can't you have a little fun at least once in a while?" Rukia begged using her best puppy-dog face.

"Hey, unlike some of you, I have to work and pay for shit! So, quite honestly, no I can't have fun 'once in a while'," Ichigo answered with his usual angry voice. "Why of all times, are you dragging me out today?"

"Well, of course, it's your birthday! Didn't know realize that?" Renji answered. "And as your gift, we're giving you a time to unwind."

Ichigo began to start arguing again, but he realized that the conversation had distracted him long enough for his friends to get him inside the club. Why this club was a complete and total secret made him even more suspicious. Of course, once he got inside, Ichigo thought of nothing but the intense bass flooding his body. People were crowded everywhere; just a big massive dance orgy. Ichigo began to back peddle out of the club; he was definitely not made for these kinds of places.

Catching this, Renji and Rukia grabbed Ichigo's arms and drag him inside. "You're gonna have fun, whether you like it or not!" they yelled back simultaneously ( even though Ichigo had to strain to hear them over the noise ). That promise seemed more than highly doubtful in his mind, but as the bass caused him to be deaf to his own thoughts.

"About time you got here!" Ishida called to them, waving his arms as they approached. The group made their way to a much quieter part of the club. "What took you so long?"

"Ichigo over here had cold feet, so we had to literally drag him here. Sorry that took so long, but Renji and I are going off to dance. Explain the club to Ichigo – Oh! And make sure he doesn't run off~!" Rukia chirped as Renji took her arm and fled into the swarm of bodies in the middle of the floor.

Ichigo looked after their forms, wishing he could also run off… to his apartment of course. How was he supposed to relax when he couldn't find anyone familiar? Ichigo turned as Ishida patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, Kurosaki. You don't really have to dance, but if you're going to, make sure to avoid the centre of the crowd."

"What's in the centre?"

"It's not 'what', it's 'who'. The best dancers dance there. And I must say, they are intensely good dancers. Let's just say they run this place. Insult them, and you'll never be let back in here again."

"Well, who are the best then? Do you have names?"

Ishida sighed. 'This was going to be a long night…' "Well, I know there are at least ten of them. The group calls themselves the 'Espada', whatever that means. And each one of them has a tattoo, 1-10. Even though they are all 'elite' dancers, some of them don't actually dance. Since there's quite a few clubs in this building, I'd say each one of them has their own abilities. This one guy who's really pale and has green eyes is the best at poker. His face never changes! There's another guy who always sleeps! And there's an old guy who's part of the group, too! But, guess what? He's the DJ!" Ishida seemed content on informing him of all these people who seemed more like Gods than just dancers.

But Ichigo just had to see if the DJ was the old guy Ishida was talking about, and sure enough, there was quite the aged man behind the DJ stand, playing the heavy bass. Ichigo felt somewhat awkward about listening to music played by a man who seemed to be 200 years old; he wasn't 'grossed-out', just… confused.

"Kurosaki-kun, you made it! Well, let's go then!" Orihime emerged from the highly active crowd. Without Ichigo thinking, Orihime clutched his hand and they disappeared into the mass of sweaty, moving bodies. Much farther into the crowd, Ichigo, Inoue, and Ishida found Rukia and Renji dancing… quite intimately. They beckoned for Ichigo and the rest to join them, which Orihime and Ishida did; however, Ichigo was much more reluctant.

After a big of coaxing, Ichigo finally got into the grove of things and began to dance with Orihime. And just as he was comfortable dancing, he and the others were pushed back, and the music was interrupted by a loud message: "Dancers! It's time for the usual 'Espada' showdown! And the one's competing tonight will be 6 and 3! Please, give enough space for them to move!" The announcer was either a really girly man, or a rather butch woman, Ichigo thought.

The whole floor shifted into a circle-type formation, leaving only two people in the centre ( although the "space" didn't offer much of a radius, A/N: Not that they need that much space of course~ ;D ): one woman with a very gifted bust, bright blonde hair, and dark skin, the other a man with exceptional height, bright teal hair, and a very broad grin. Ichigo just stared at the two. '3 and 6? What the heck does that mean?' Then Ichigo remembered what Ishida said earlier. 'These two must be in that 'Espada' crew or whatever. Alright, let's see their skills then if Ishida praised them so much,' Ichigo thought, trying not to be the least bit interested.

Then the music started. ( A/N: You can really substitute any fast-paced dance-type song for this part, but I wrote this with 'Turn Me Up' by the Benassi Bros. playing~…which really isn't dance, but it's more than close enough ;)). Ichigo really regretted doubting Ishida's account of their skills. In fact, Ishida didn't describe their abilities well enough. They way the couple were able to move in sync yet completely apart from each other was amazing. Their bodies grinded against each other, but the sweet friction didn't hinder them from going perfectly along with the beat of the song itself.

Ichigo pushed his way to the front of the crowd, not bothering to join the off-centre dance with everyone else. The sight in front of him made him feel oddly strange inside, however: the man had his chest to the woman's front. Her arms were snaked around his neck, his arms were holding onto her hips. Their grinding hips were the sight that Ichigo kept coming back to.

--

Halibel arched her head up, speaking into Grimmjow's ear at a level that only they could hear through the bass, "Hey, who's that guy just standing there? He's kinda cute, but he's either stupid or plain out refusing to have any fun."

Grimmjow shifted his position, his feet naturally moving with the beat, to look at the person Halibel was talking about. Sure enough, there was a teenager, with what looked like orange hair, almost motionless except for his breathing. "Dunno, but maybe we should show him how to dance, ne?"

Halibel nodded and the intense pair broke up, now surrounded again by the other dancers. Halibel stayed where she was, but Grimmjow made his way over to Ichigo, who was snaking his way to the back of the crowd. Grimmjow caught up with the teen easily ( of course the crowd parted like the Red Sea for Moses ) and caught his hand as he breached the swarm of people. "Hey, why aren't you dancing if you're in a dance club? Seems pretty stupid to me," he said in his arrogantly attractive voice.

Ichigo turned, his face slightly flushed in the dark light. "Let go of me," he said hurriedly. Ichigo couldn't believe his luck: the one who had enticed him so much without trying was talking to him while holding his hand! There was no way this could be real. Ichigo needed to be in his safe, quiet apartment to think. Why had he only been turned on by 6 and not 3? 3 was the woman, a very gifted woman, so by all means, shouldn't he have gotten lured in by her? "I'm going home."

"Well, you're no fun. How come out of all the people in the crowd, you were the only one not dancing? C'mon, let's go, we'll dance."

"I said no!" Ichigo shouted as he withdrew his hand. A few people nearby stopped dancing and turned, but with a flick of Grimmjow's hand, they went back to dancing. "Look, just go back to that woman! I don't need any special attention from you!"

Grimmjow stared at this man dumbfounded; no one had ever talked to him like this… well, Ulquiorra and Aizen had, but that was because he wasn't complying with orders. "Now, look here—" Grimmjow started but was interrupted.

"Kurosaki-kun, there you went! We couldn't find you. Where are you going? You can't leave yet! …Oh," Orihime was in the front of the herd that was Ichigo's friends. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bother you."

Grimmjow looked back to Ichigo with a very large grin plastered on his face. "No, don't worry about it, we were just about to go dancing in fact," he said, his large grin turning into a sly smirk.

Before Ichigo could say anything, Grimmjow grasped his hand again and he led the way back to the centre of the floor. Halibel gave him a quizzical look, but he just gave her a small nod in return. His attention shifted back to Ichigo who had the 'deer-in-the-headlights" look on his face. Grimmjow smirked evilly as his grin quickly returned. "So what're you gonna do now? You've been brought to the big leagues, and if you leave now, there's a chance you and your friends won't be let back in here," Grimmjow threatened.

Ichigo looked back to his friends, who in turn looked to him with hopeful expressions on their faces. His friends went back into the crowd to dance, leaving Ichigo alone with this tough decision: to do what he really didn't want to with the person he really didn't want to do it with so his friends could party, or just leave this embarrassment and go home, causing his friends to be void of their night club. 'Shit,' Ichigo thought. "Fine, but on ONE condition: that you not laugh at me when I fail miserably."

Grimmjow seemed to think about this for a moment, then burst into laughter, "Fine, fine whatever you say." Almost as if on cue, the music started ( A/N: I was listening to 'Bass Beats Melody' by BROOKLYN BOUNCE~ ). Ichigo suddenly felt his stomach flip-flop. What was he doing? This was going to be humiliating. But then things began to slip by; Grimmjow had taken the lead, moving to the beat in such a way that Ichigo could keep up with good accuracy. Ichigo inwardly thanked him for that. Then, he heard a deep rumbling in his ear: "Hey, what's your name?"

It was Grimmjow's voice, a deep voice that sounded like he was either purring or growling, which Ichigo thought was slightly strange. Ichigo turned so his mouth was in front of Grimmjow's ear, "Ichigo, Kurosaki Ichigo. And what about you? Surely your name can't be '6'?"

Grimmjow chuckled, and there it was again: the rumbling. It sounded completely inhuman. "Guess you're right. Well, since we're really not supposed to exist, our names are a real secret, but since I've dragged you out here, I'm going to trust to keep quiet on who I am, but whatever; my name is Grimmjow, Grimmjow Jeagerjaques." Ichigo blinked a few times. What a weird name; it didn't sound real at all, but… what did he mean 'not supposed to exist'?

Then it happened – Grimmjow turned his head and kissed Ichigo right on the lips. Ichigo's eyes widened, though he managed to keep himself following Grimmjow. Grimmjow's tongue slid across Ichigo's lower lip, which involuntarily opened his mouth for Grimmjow to explore. How? How could this be happening? Ichigo tried to think of a way out, but instead got caught up in the moment and began to kiss him back. The blush on Ichigo's face only grew deeper. Wasn't this going a little too fast?

Ichigo's hopes of the kiss never stopping were crushed when someone pulled Grimmjow away from him: the dark-skinned woman from earlier. "What do you think you're doing? Aizen will kill you," she said in a calm voice.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm busy; Aizen can shut the fuck up," Grimmjow barked back. Ichigo's stomach twisted again.

"Grimmjow, what's going on?" Ichigo's voice was almost drowned out by the music, but Halibel heard him.

"He even knows your name?" this time, her voice seemed to fluctuate. "You really are stupid; Aizen really is going to kill you."

"Don't be so quick to point the finger. I can think of a few guys who know your name as well," Grimmjow retorted.

Halibel seemed to shut up at that. She tried again but was cut off by another announcement: "Pardon the interruption, but all Numbers are to go to the 'meeting place'. Thank you."

Without another word, Grimmjow, Halibel, and about five others started to leave the floor. Ichigo unconsciously ran up to Grimmjow. "Hey, where are you going?"

Grimmjow turned to him, his face screwed up in annoyance. "Ah, I'll see you later. It's… business," he answered. And with that, Grimmjow and the others disappeared. The music began again like nothing happened, though Ichigo suddenly felt… empty. He had never felt this way about anyone ever before, but in the span of about 15 minutes, he fell for a guy he knew absolutely nothing about, minus the fact that he wasn't supposed to exist and the fact he was a "Number", whatever that was.

Ichigo turned away from the direction Grimmjow took, almost breaking into a dead run back to his apartment. Not even the worried cries and yells of his friends stopped him. He knew coming here was a bad idea. But the words still echoed in his head: I'll see you later.

A/N: Sooo I just randomly decided to write this. I think I'll add just a few chapters, but I dunno about after that. PLUS, I want to write about Ggio. Aww, he's a kitty, just like Grimmy~! -ponderponder- ;D

Please leave Reviews for meee~