I do not, and will never, own bleach.
I can't promise a regular updating schedule, sorry about that, but I'll try my best.
Hope you like it. I couldn't find enough of these so I figured I'd add to the selection.
The first notes rang through the building, and timed perfectly with the first drum hit, the stage was ignited in brilliant lights. A streak of white and a velvety voice joined as Shiro turned on his heel to face the crowd, his gold irises glinting with mischief. To his left Ulquiorra was emotionless as ever, strumming away on his bass, his head bent, so his black hair fell into his thickly kohl rimmed piercing green eyes. To the albino singer's right Szayel was lost in his own world headbanging, almost as animatedly as Shiro. Pounding away on the drums at the back of the stage was Grimmjaw, his brilliant blue hair sticking up in every direction as always, with a huge grin on his face.
Ichigo dropped down onto the navy blue sofa beside Rukia, who was laying with her legs on the back and her head hanging off the seat, while she worked through the pile of books beside her. The black haired girl had shown up at Ichigo's door early that morning, a large stack of books in one arm and another book in her other hand that she'd been reading while she waited for him to answer. He'd opened the door and she's walked right in and situated herself on his living room couch, which is where she'd spent the remainder of the day. When he'd inquired about her visit he'd received only two words, 'my brother'.
Rukia and her brother Byakuya were like any other pair of siblings, constantly fighting, only they missed that closeness other siblings had. Byakuya twenty-three, and her legal guardian since he turned eighteen, was a relatively stressed man, with a relatively stressful life. Rukia didn't understand this, and even if she had, there would be no difference. More often than not Rukia was found in her current position on Ichigo's couch. On the rare occasion that the two were getting along she chose to spend her free time laying on her own living room couch, but that didn't happen too often, and when it did it only lasted a few days at the most before she was back at Ichigo's with no explanation of what had happened. Ichigo had long ago gotten used to it, as had the rest of his family.
"Hey remember that band I showed you a few weeks ago?" Ichigo rested his arm across the back of the couch his gaze fixed on the cover of the book the girl was currently reading, her face hidden from his view.
"What about it?"
"They're having a concert tonight at the Candy Shop. You wanna go?" The orange haired teen was quite familiar with Rukia's way of operating, so her next question was no shock for him.
"Who's going?" She uncrossed her ankles, still not lowering the book as she continued to read.
"Orihime and Ishida, Chad had something to do so he can't go." Ichigo had spent almost the entire day trying to get answers about the concert from his friends. Orihime had gladly agreed, Chad had turned him down as expected, and Ishida had eventually, reluctantly, agreed to go, but only after much convincing on Ichigo's part.
Rukia recrossed her ankles, and continued reading, giving no sign that she'd actually heard what he'd said.
"So, you goin' or not?" After a few minutes had passed Ichigo was beginning to lose his patience, and had started drumming his fingers along the arm of the couch.
"I'll be in the car in fifteen minutes, if you're late you're walking." With that Ichigo quickly stood up, taking the stairs two at a time knowing that she wasn't kidding. If he was so much as five seconds late she'd already be gone. It had happened before. He kicked the door to his room closed behind him and stripped.
Black skinny jeans, black and white checkered belt, chains, shredded black tank top, padlock necklace, black wristband, leather wristband, and black fingerless gloves. After running his hand through his tousled hair, and double checking his eyeliner Ichigo grabbed his leather jacket, wallet, phone, and keys and headed downstairs. He left a quick note for his sisters, then pulled on his combat boots and ran out to the car just as Rukia was starting the engine up.
"Almost missed it." She murmured as she backed down the driveway and took off down the street.
The drive to their favorite venue in town was a short one, and they'd hardly made it through four full songs when they were pulling into the parking lot, granted Rukia drove much faster than the average driver. She cut the engine, and they got out of the car, the lock sounding behind them. A few cars down Ichigo could see Orihime laughing at something Renji, Rukia's boyfriend, had said while Ishida just studied the cars around him disinterested. They two didn't get along well, and it wasn't likely they ever would.
Rukia skipped up to Renji and threw her arms around his neck crashing her lips against his in a greeting, the others turned and greeted Ichigo. Orihime pulled him into a hug, and Ishida simply nodded before returning to studying the cars.
"Wanna go inside?" Ichigo asked knowing they would stand there forever if he didn't say something. In reality he was the only one who actually had listened to the band and liked them. Orihime had agreed to go because she was in concert withdrawal, Ishida had been bribed, and Rukia...well Ichigo wasn't really sure why she'd agreed to go. She hadn't commented on what she thought of the band, which usually meant she didn't love it, but didn't hate it either. He suspected it had something to do with Renji, since the red head worked at the Candy Shop as security and was guaranteed to be there.
The five walked up to the doors to the ticket counter where Jinta was seated clicking away on his phone ignoring them. Ichigo cleared his throat and the red haired boy looked up before reaching under the counter with one hand and pulling out four green wristbands, still typing with his other hand all the while.
"Thirty-two total, eight a piece." They each handed over eight dollars before taking their wristbands and putting them on while walking inside. Renji and Rukia disappeared almost instantly, as was expected. The remaining three headed towards the bar finding a small high-table with a good view. It wasn't long before Ururu appeared ready to take their drink order. They all ordered a cola and she disappeared only to reappear minutes later with three glass bottles and a greeting from Urahara Kisuke the bartender, and owner of the place.
The opening band was ok in Ichigo's opinion. Orihime hated them, and Ishida wasn't too keen on them either, but the second band catered to everyone's taste, and the guitarist was pretty cute so that was always a bonus.
"So what about this band we're here to see? What do you know about them?" Ishida had just finished his second cola and was, though he would never admit it, actually enjoying himself a little.
Ichigo simply shrugged, his gaze shifting to the stage as there was movement in the darkness. "Nothing actually, I've only heard their music online. I don't even know what they look like." Fortunately, it wasn't long before the venue went black and everyone started cheering.
The first notes rang through the building and timed perfectly with the first drum hit, the stage was ignited in brilliant lights. The stark whiteness of the singer caught Ichigo's attention and he completely forgot about the rest of the band, his attention fixed solely on the albino singer as he jumped around the stage like a maniac.
As the first song came to an end the drummer kept a quiet beat going while the singer spoke.
"How's everybody doin' tonight?" The crowd cheered loudly. "Damn straight, and it's only gonna get better since the band you've all been waiting to see has finally arrived!" His grin was like a maniac too, Ichigo was caught like a fly in a web. "For those poor souls out there who dunno who we are, me, Shiro, Ulqui, Grimm, and Szayel are Hollow Soul!" The crowd went wild, and Ichigo couldn't help the smirk that twisted his lips as he continued to watch, fixated by Shiro. "Now how about we cut the chatter and get back to it?" Shiro glanced over his shoulder at Szayel and clicked his tongue.
Forty-five minutes later the band had left the stage. Ichigo had been sucked in even more as the show progressed to the point that he HAD to see this guy Shiro up closer. Orihime had her eye on the bassist, and Ishida had agreed that Hollow Soul wasn't too bad. As the venue steadily emptied it occurred to Ichigo that Rukia and Renji were probably already gone, which meant he'd have to find his own way home. Great.
"Did you enjoy the show?" Urahara's voice snapped Ichigo back to the present and he looked up at the blonde man.
"It was fantastic." As he answered, Ichigo's gaze strayed past the man to where he could see a sliver of the backstage area through the cracked door. Urahara smiled knowingly.
"Oh, Ichigo I have to go I'm already late and I have to be home!" Orihime stuffed her phone back into her pocket and stood up, Ishida joining her as the two had come together. "Do you need a ride?"
Ichigo shook his head. "I think I'll hang around here for while longer." She shrugged then waved before scurrying off out the door with Ishida in tow. Urahara smiled before disappearing backstage, and Ichigo slowly stood up pulling out his phone to see how late it was. Thankfully it was a friday night so he didn't hate to worry about school the next day, but he did have to worry about a potential surprise attack way too early in the morning from his father. He slipped his phone back into his pocket and headed over to the merch tables at the back casually looking them over.
Once he reached Hollow Soul's table he was so focused on which T-shirt design he liked better, that he completely missed the white figure leaning against the end of the table watching him with a grin. "Ya' come alone?"
It took him a few moments to realize the question had been aimed at him, and Ichigo slowly looked up meeting black and gold eyes. "No, my friends had to take off." He tried to keep himself under control and not show how nervous he had suddenly become in the singer's presence.
"Too bad, they missed the meet and greet." Shiro shrugged, his arms crossed loosely over his chest
"There's a meet and greet?" Ichigo couldn't remember reading that on the venue's website...
"Not officially, but I thought I'd make an appearance." His eyes flashed mischievously, and Ichigo quickly looked away to hide the light blush coloring his face. "Which one's your favorite?" Shiro jerked his chin towards the T-shirts.
"This one, I think." Ichigo pointed to a black t-shirt with a white mask decorated with three red slash lines above the right eye, and two beneath it. The mask seemed to break off and decay on the right side so only two thirds of the mask was really there and whole.
Shiro smirked. "Yeah mine too. What size are ya?" He moved behind the table and opened one of the brown paper boxes stacked against the wall.
"Medium." Pulling out his wallet Ichigo held out a twenty to the singer, but the albino man ignored it and hung the shirt on the boy's arm before crossing his arms over his chest and smirking.
"Keep it, on me."
Ichigo paused before putting his money away and hanging the shirt over his shoulder. "Thanks." though he was surprised by the action, he wasn't one to turn down free band merch, he'd have to be crazy to do that.
"You got somewhere to be, or can you hang around for a bit?" Shiro knew he'd be in deep shit if he didn't get his ass backstage soon and help with equipment, but he wasn't quite ready to let his new curiosity walk away so easily.
Ichigo nervously scratched the back of his neck glancing down slightly, seeming to think it over before shaking his head. "No, I can hang out for a while."
"Cool. I'll be right back, gotta help with equipment." With one last smirk he disappeared into the backstage area.
"And where have you been?" Ulquiorra looked at him expectantly, his eyes emotionless, as he continued packing up his guitar.
"Sayin' hi to a fan, calm down I ain't abandonin' you after last time." While he answered, Shiro started rolling up cords and putting them into the large equipment boxes.
"Fan's still hangin out this long after the show?" Grimmjaw asked zipping shut one of his drum's cases.
"Only one left." Shiro glanced at Grimmjaw rolling his eyes. "He's a guy, don't get your hopes up. 'Sides I'm more his type anyway." He smirked and pulled the lid closed on the box of cords and cables.