She stepped into the dark room, dimly lit by the soft glow of candles placed on top of the numerous round tables around the room. It looked like the place was pretty full of people, chatting away quietly, as if not to break the initial silence of the room. The woman huffed slightly and proceeded to follow the taller woman in front of her, letting her guide her to a table, right in front of the stage that was placed at the very front of the room. She rolled her eyes as she saw the sign for the reason they were there. She settled into her seat and took off her coat, placing it on the back of her chair.
"I still don't see why you're making me do this," the short black haired woman said, obviously annoyed with the woman with blonde hair and large breasts next to her. "I told you, I'm not interested in the damn competition, Rangiku! I know we'll beat anyone hands down."
"Oh Rukia, you never know. Plus, it's good to check out the opposition first!" Rangiku put her hands on her hips as she glared at Rukia.
"Whatever. These 'Death God' guys sound like they're nothing." She scoffed and turned away from her friend. Rangiku blew over the comment and continued to argue silently.
"I told you, the only way we can have a sure way of winning is staking out the competition." Rangiku inquired as Rukia continued to roll her eyes as she set her elbow on the table only to rest her chin in the palm of her hand.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," a low male voice came from the large speakers just behind Rukia, making her jump slightly. "We here at the Sereite is proud to present the Death Gods."
"This is it," Rangiku leaned in to whisper into Rukia's ear, only to have scoff sent her way.
Just then, the curtains opened to the sound of trumpets, to a mambo sounding melody. The stage revealed a tall man, much taller than Rukia herself. He looked about the same age as she was, about 23 or 24. As she continued to study him, she noticed how nice he looked. He had on black pants with black dress shoes, a nice long sleeved black button down shirt, accompanied by a dark grey vest. All in all, he looked handsomely dressed. She continued to look up and she noticed that he had possibly the brightest hair color that she had seen. A pure orange color. It had to be dyed.
Then he began to sing. Her heart nearly stopped. His voice was entrancing, enticing, and beautiful.
When marimba rhythms start to play
Dance with me, make me sway
Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore
Hold me close, sway me more
Rukia held her breath as she listened closely. The tall man had his eyes closed from the beginning, but now was just opening. She saw the most magnificent amber colored eyes she had seen. As she continued to stare, she realized that he was now smiling and in fact, making eye contact with her. She instantly turned away, blushing madly.
Like a flower bending in the breeze
Bend with me, sway with ease
When we dance you have a way with me
Stay with me, sway with me
She looked to Rangiku who was smirking in her direction, which had obviously seen the look on Rukia's face when she had seen the singer for the first time. Rukia nearly growled at Rangiku, but was cut off when the next verse reached her ears, instantly making her forget everything, her full attention to the man on stage who was making her swoon for him.
Other dancers may be on the floor
Dear, but my eyes will see only you
Only you have the magic technique
When we sway I go weak
As the man continued to sing, Rukia felt as if she was the only one in the room and he was singing for her. She imagined him stepping off the stage, smiling warmly as he took her hand, looking into her eyes with his own amber ones, singing for her. She continued to fantasize until she was poked rather roughly in the shoulder by Rangiku. She turned, annoyed at her for ruining her moment, but soon realized that Rangiku was staring up at the singer, who was staring straight at Rukia, the sexiest, most seductive smile that she had ever experienced in her life. She instantly felt like her heart would burst any second if he continued, but she didn't show on her face, in fear of ruining her reputation of being rock solid.
I can hear the sounds of violins
Long before it begins
Make me thrill as only you know how
Sway me smooth, sway me now
It seemed like every woman was instantly in love with the man that was singing like an angel. Rukia was one of them, not that she was disappointed at all for falling for such a man. When He had finished his song, everyone in the crowd burst into mad applause, all except Rukia, not wanted to show Rangiku that she was amazed at the performance. She sat in her seat and clapped normally as he waved and smiled, brushing a lock of orange hair out of his eyes. Then Rukia was caught off guard when the tall man had looked at her. She swore she saw him look at her for a fraction of a second, winked and turned to exit the stage. She felt wonderfully happy. She never knew she would ever feel like that of a singer. She turned to Rangiku as the crowd was clearing out of the club, and sighed slightly, trying her best to keep an annoyed and angry look on her face. She made a mental note to thank her brother for the acting lessons.
"Well? What did you think?" smiled Rangiku, obviously just as entranced as Rukia was.
"I thought he was alright. We should wait here to congratulate him on a good performance and try to get some information on him." Rukia said this in a very businesslike tone, keeping her composure together.
"Or is it that you just want to give him your phone number, Rukia?" Rangiku narrowed her eyes slightly, letting her lips curl. Rukia nearly lost her senses and would have lashed out at Rangiku if it weren't the fact if she did that, she would have been given away.
"No, I'm doing like you said, staking out the competition. The more information that we have on these guys, the better off we are at figuring out a strategy to beat them." Rukia whispered to Rangiku as if to keep it all a secret from any wondering ears.
"Oi Ichigo, did you grab my keyboard stand?" a voice came from behind the stage.
"Yeah, I'll grab it for you, Toshiro!" came the voice of what sounded like the singer from earlier. Rukia and Rangiku both looked at each other, not daring to make a noise in case they screamed in excitement.
The orange haired man came through the curtains, now in a casual white shirt and blue jeans, both ripped in several places, giving Rukia an excellent view of the chest that was under the shirt. She blushed when she thought of this, shaking the thought away.
He looked up and saw the two women still sitting in their seats despite the concert being over. He looked at the two, instantly seeing that one of them he recognized as the girl he saw in the crowd with the beautiful violet eyes.
"May I help you?" he asked, trying hard to keep his face questioning and keep him from blushing. Rukia saw him look up at her and suppressed a giggle.
"My name is Rukia Kuchiki. I am here with my friend, Rangiku Matsumoto. We would both like to say that you have a real talent for singing." She smiled in a friendly way, trying to not sound too cheesy. He smiled and looked at them both before answering them.
"I see. I have time to sign autographs, or take a picture with you," he said, picking up the stand, still looking at the two women. Rukia nearly did a double take when he said this, not expecting him to say anything so rash.
"Oh, that's not what we're here for," Rangiku said slowly, looking nervously to Rukia and the man who was folding the stand and tucking it under his arm.
"Gotcha. What do you need, ladies?" he asked, leaning against the wall casually, brushing more hair out of his eyes.
"We're two members from The Butterflies of Ice and will be competing at the Music Of the Souls against you." Said Rukia, trying to look into the amber eyes without her knees giving way.
"Ah, so you'll be competing against us?" said the man with a smirk, "Well I wish you luck, however I don't think that my friends and I will be easily beaten by a midget and her little band," he said this, laughing slightly.
"I'm sorry, but did you just call me a midget?" Rukia asked, her face flushed, her fists balled up to her sides in anger. Rangiku's eyes grew wide, knowing exactly where this was going but she knew she couldn't stop it from happening.
"Yeah, you're a small midget that doesn't stand a chance against the Death Gods," the man folded his arms and smirked smugly, waiting to see what the small woman would do.
"You listen here you… you…" she stumbled for a word that would insult him.
"It's Ichigo. Ichigo Kurosaki. Don't forget it." Ichigo said, making a triumphant smile.
"Oh, that explains why you dyed your hair then, Ichigo" retorted Rukia, putting her hands on her hips and inwardly smiling at her cleverness.
"This is my damn natural hair color!" he instantly deserted the cool and well-mannered act and fumed up in an instant.
"Keep telling yourself that, Strawberry." Rukia spat back, earning a laugh from Rangiku. "If you'll excuse us, we have better things to do than talk to an orange sky scraper."
"Oi! I swear, The Death Gods will beat you at the Music of the Souls, hands down. You'll see, Kuchiki!" he yelled to her back as the two women were leaving the room.
"Like hell, Kurosaki Strawberry!" she turned one last time, smiling, her eyes twinkling slightly, and with that, they left the club, leaving Ichigo stunned and amazed.
"Yo Ichigo, what was that all about?" a short man with white hair, a single strip of hair coming across his face.
"Hey Toshiro…" Ichigo said, his eyes still looking at the door where Rukia kuchiki had left.
"What the hell was that all about?" asked Toshiro, a vein appearing on his forehead.
"I have no idea… I just met our competition though." Said Ichigo breathlessly, turning his gaze to his short friend.
"Well? What did they look like…" Toshiro asked eagerly, grabbing his music from the ground.
"They didn't look like much, I don't know if they're any good or not." He wanted to say beautiful and gorgeous, but the words wouldn't form out of his mouth.
"What an ass! Calling me a god damn midget…" Rukia continued to rant to Rangiku the whole way back to their house.
"He's a cocky, ignorant jerk faced strawberry!" Rukia mumbled as Rangiku tried to calm her down with some music.
"I bet he's an angel if you get to know him, Rukia." Reasoned Rangiku, trying not to get on her bad side. If anyone knew not to get on Rukia's bad side, it was Rangiku.
"Like hell I'll get to know him! I already know enough to conclude that he's a conceited poser that has no talent!" the last part was a lie, but Rukia wouldn't let Rangiku know, or she would never live it down. "Besides, once we win, he won't be so damn arrogant."
"Rukia, you and I both know that Kurosaki has a good voice. Amazing, even." Inquired her friend. She looked like she had stared out into space, seeing some messed up fantasy of hers.
"A talentless strawberry. That's what he is. And there's no way in hell that his hair is naturally colored! That just proves that he wants some fucking attention!" growled Rukia, clenching the steering wheel tightly as she made a sharp turn, making Rangiku slam into the window.
"Oi Rukia, if your gunna be angry, don't be angry in the car. You nearly killed me!" complained Rangiku, rubbing her head slightly.
"Sorry Ran… It's just that he's such a…a…" Rukia stumbled abit, trying to find an appropriate word that she hadn't already used.
"A sexy beast with a voice like a god send?" joked Rangiku, blushing while she said this.
"No, a stupid strawberry!" Rukia was blushing as well, knowing full well that what Rangiku said was exactly right.
"You just keep telling yourself that, Rukia. Besides, I know that the Butterflies of Ice will win the competition, so you can rub it in his face for all eternity, aft you guys have a thing together and get married, have a few kids and live happily ever after." Rangiku counted the things off on her fingers, earning a slap from Rukia.