Summary: Kurosaki Ichigo's life had always been much less then perfect. First he loses his whole family, beginning with his mother and ending with his twin sisters, then he finds the first love of his life cheating on him. Naturally, he broke. That is until he meets the one person who managed to turn his life around and point it towards the better line...
Disclaimer: I dun own Either of the songs mentioned in this fic or Bleach.
A/N: Nothing here...just enjoy.
"You come to me with scars on your wrists,
You tell me this will be the last night feeling like this,"
The lyrics being belted out by the beast of a man on the stage ran through him, striking deep to his very core. When the woman jumped in, something sparked in the back of the young man's mind and he chewed on his lower lip.
"I just came to say goodbye,
Didn't want you to see me cry,
I'm fine..."
To the young orangette in the crowd, it felt as if the song had been written about his life. His blond companion glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and sighed a bit as the male on stage went into his next part for the song being played by the rest of the band.
"But I know it's a lie!
This is the last night you'll spend alone
Look me in the eyes so I know you know
I'm everywhere you want me to be.
The last night you'll spend alone,
I'll wrap you in my arms and I won't let go,
I'm everything you need me to be.
Your parents say everything is your fault
But they don't know you like I know you they don't know you at all,"
Oh how the orangette wished he had someone like that again. The last one he was able to run to turned him away for someone better, someone who wasn't broken beyond repair. The young man heaved a sigh and looked towards the sky as the female sang her next part, seemingly reading the feelings from the orangette's very soul.
"I'm so sick of when they say
It's just a phase, you'll be o.k. you're fine
But I know it's a lie."
The blond beside him put a hand in his pocket, feeling for the backstage passes he knew to be there. For as long as he could remember, his younger friend had followed this group, using their music to pull him from depression that had been to deep for anyone else to dig him free. He always said that the lead singer had something that made his heart soar and his life seem so much brighter. Tonight, the boy would meet his idol.
"This is the last night you'll spend alone
Look me in the eyes so I know you know
I'm everywhere you want me to be.
The last night you'll spend alone,
I'll wrap you in my arms and I won't let go,
I'm everything you need me to be.
The last night away from me..."
The orangette sighed once again as he let the lyrics drown his depression of losing the last thing he had actually put his heart into. He let the man's voice lift his beaten spirit from the dark oblivion that it had fallen into. If only...if only he could meet this man in person...if only...
"The night is so long when everything's wrong
If you give me your hand I will help you hold on
Tonight,
Tonight.
This is the last night you'll spend alone
Look me in the eyes so I know you know
I'm everywhere you want me to be.
The last night you'll spend alone,
I'll wrap you in my arms and I won't let go,
I'm everything you need me to be.
I won't let you say goodbye,
I'll be your reason why.
The last night away from me,
Away from me..."
Slowly the last traces of music drifted away and the lights upon the stage dimmed, leaving the band in the dark. For a few seconds, silence reigned within the outside stadium, but then cheers erupted from the crowd.
With a flash, a spotlight shown down upon the lead singer of the group, illuminating his perfectly imperfect aqua locks, shining teal eyes, feral grin that bared impeccably white and inhumanly sharp teeth, and his sweat drenched pale, yet still tan skin. He lifted one hand skyward and almost instantly the crowd silenced, allowing him to lift the mike to his mouth.
"I take it by th' noise that ya all were impressed? O' course ya were! Who am I kiddin! Anyways, tha' was our last song for th' night...th' rest o' th' crew's gettin sleepy...sleepy! Can ya believe tha'? It's so weird!" He stated before busting out laughing, his laughter sending shudders running up all the spines of the females and of quite a few of the males as well, "Well, those o' ya tha' got backstage passes, I'll see ya all in th' back...th' rest o' ya...GIT OUTTA HERE!" He laughed before the light went out again, drowning the stage in an inky blackness.
The orangette sighed a bit and turned to face his friend when the darkness that was only penetrated by light from the moon and stars surrounded them, "Guess we're head-when'd you get those?" He started, then changed what he was saying mid-sentence since his friend flashed the passes.
"Ha, same time I got the tickets...come on...lets go meet yer idol. Afta wha' ya been through...ya deserve it man." The blond stated before grabbing his friend's arm with a strength one wouldn't normally suspect of someone of his slim build and started to steer him towards where other with backstage passes were heading, "Ya ain't mad at me fer keepin this a secret...are ya Ichi?"
"N-no...I-I'm just surprised..." 'Ichi' stammered as he was pulled through the mass of bodies.
When the pair reached their destination, the blond showed the passes to the security. Once they were approved, the two headed into the back, a rare smile gracing the orangette's face. It was rare things of this nature were done for him, and it made him glad that the blond had stuck with him, even through his major depression attacks.
"Shinji...thanks for this man...ya didn't have ta go this far." He murmured, giving the blond a small, brotherly hug.
"Course I did, Ich. Count it as yer birthday present." Shinji laughed as they waited to meet with the band, "Sides...I wanted ta meet that sexy drummer of there's anyway...with how tall he is, I bet he's got a nice package~"
"Shinji! Keep that to yourself!" The orangette yelped, smacking his friend on the arm, which only made Shinji laugh.
The pair ignored the weird looks they were getting for their antics as they continued on their conversation. This had been the main reason Shinji had stayed with the orangette throughout everything that seemed to go wrong in his life, he always knew just the things to say and do to take his mind off of his depression.
When their turn came to meet the band, Shinji could taste the excitement and nervousness rolling off his friend. He chuckled a bit to himself as they headed into the room that the meet and greet was being held. Luckily the pair were the last in line so that they might get a bit longer with the band. When they got into the room, the orangette froze as he stared at the blue haired adonis of a lead singer as he laughed at something the tall, black haired drummer said. Both men's heads were thrown back and the room was echoing with their rough laughter. Sitting back, away from the two laughing men was the rest of the band. The sea-foam green haired lead female vocalist and guitar player was sitting in one chair with a small smile while the stoic, black haired bassist and keyboardist was shaking his head at the other two men.
Shinji looked back at the orangette and tugged his arm to pull him forward and closer to the group while sporting a huge, piano tooth grin. Once his friend stumbled after him, the blond headed towards the cackling pair and stood straight at his full height of five foot ten and cleared his throat. When the pair looked at him, his grin grew even wider, if possible.
"Hi there! My name is Hirako Shinji and this is my good buddy Kurosaki Ichigo. Ichi here has been a big fan of yours for longer then I can remember and he just recently had a really bad break-up so I figured that I'd bring him here to meet you guys!" The blond stated, still grinning as he pushed a stammering and stuttering Ichigo towards the blue haired singer before sidling up to the drummer.
The singer looked down to the orangette who was pushed into him and raised a brow as he grinned ferally, "Bad break-up huh?"
Ichigo's eyes widened, "N-no...i-ignore him...Shinji's an idiot." He stammered, waving his hands in front of his face while thinking, 'An idiot that I will brutally maim and murder when we leave here...'
"Oh? Too bad...if it was true then I'd definatly have to make a cutey like you feel better...too bad though." The singer hummed as he moved to sit down.
Ichigo's eyes widened at hearing that and he stammered wordlessly as he glanced towards Shinji, who had somehow found his way into the lanky drummer's lap. He scowled a bit at seeing that before looking back at the singer who was now lounging on a couch, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. At seeing that look, the orangette blushed deeply before looking at the floor and shuffling his feet a little. With his eyes trained on the floor, he didn't notice the female vocalist come over to him until she grabbed his arm and lifted it to look at his wrist.
"I thought so..." She murmured as he jerked his arm free and narrowed his eyes. The woman ignored him though and walked over to the other singer, leaning down to whisper in his ear, "Our last song really touches base with him." After giving her message to the man, she resumed her perch on the chair.
The male vocalist frowned a bit and stood, he looked back at the others before shrugging then stalking towards Ichigo who had his eyes downcast and off to the side. He put a hand on the younger man's shoulder and gently steered him through a door opposite the one they had come in. Ichigo blinked as he was taken into what seemed to be a personal dressing room and looked at the man who moved to sit.
"Nel told me about your scars...mind sharin?" He asked, his tone soft and his voice gentle.
Ichigo frowned deeply and rubbed his one arm, "I'd rather not..." He grumbled.
"Does it have somethin ta do with what blondie said? Ya c'n trust me kid. I wun say nuhin ta anyone." The man said calmly as he pulled out another chair.
Ichigo sighed, but moved to accept the chair, "That's part of it..." He murmured before taking a deep breath and starting to tell the man everything. He told him things he had only spilled to two people before, Shinji and his ex.
At the end of his story, the singer sat there quietly as he processed everything he was told before shifting to lean towards the orangette, "That's quite the tale kid. Realize now that I wun pity ya and I wun tell ya if yer doin anything wrong. What I will do is try ta find a way ta make ya see things better. Tell ya what, why dun ya come here," He pulled out a piece of paper and wrote an address on it, "Tamorra evenin an we'll talk a bit more...kay?"
Ichigo blinked a bit, but nodded dumbly and took the paper, "O-ok...thank you...Jaegerjaquez-san."
"Just call me Grimmjow."
Ichigo gazed down at the written address in his hands before looking up at the hotel with a sigh, "This is the place..." He murmured to himself before heading inside and to the room Grimmjow had told him.
The night before, after leaving the meet and greet, Ichigo had told Shinji about what happened in the personal dressing room of the lead vocalist. The blond had been completely floored that the orangette had told the singer so much but had told him that if he felt comfortable telling him all of that, then it obviously meant something so he had pretty much pushed the orangette from their shared apartment about an hour ago, explaining that he needed to get there as soon as he could, after a day of Shinji dolling him up of course. Personally the orangette felt rather stupid in the ensemble that the blond had forced him in, but in the end he would always trust Shinji's fashion skills over his own.
So, here he stood, outside the bluenette's room while wearing a white wife beater covered by a navy blue button up shirt that showcased an enormous serpentine dragon curling all over it with it's head resting on his right breast. Encasing his, as Shinji dubbed them, endless legs were a pair of dark-wash skinny jeans and on his feet rested a pair of navy and black converse. Ending his look was a pair of wrist bands, black on the left and navy on the right, strategically placed to hide the scars the orangette used to inflict upon himself. After a few moments of standing there doing nothing, the young man sighed and lifted a hand to knock on the door. He listened as a thud followed by footsteps sounded before the door was opened a bit and a set of slightly sleep glazed blue eyes peered through the opening. Upon seeing who was there, the eyes brightened considerably and the door closed again, the sound of a lock sliding out of place rang through the silence before the door swung open again, giving sight the blue haired singer, standing in just a pair of black sleep pants.
"Lil earlier then I expected." The singer drawled, stepping to the side to let the younger man enter, "Ya c'n come in and make yerself comfy. I wanna go grab a shower." He said before walking away.
Ichigo blinked a bit, but stepped inside and closed the door before moving over to the sofa that sat in the large hotel suite. He didn't think he'd ever been in a room this extravagant. The room almost looked like a small apartment complete with sitting area, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and dining. The orangette wanted nothing more then to explore the hotel room/apartment, but he didn't want to seem nosey to this man, the man he had been idolizing for years. So instead, he simply sat quietly while looking around subtly as he waited for the singer to finish his shower.
He didn't have long to wait since about five minutes later, the blue haired singer came out of his bedroom, now dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a white wife beater. The male headed towards the kitchen, his voice carrying out to the younger male.
"Ya want anything?" He asked, to which Ichigo simply answered no.
And that's how things went. For the next week or so, whenever the singer had a free evening he would invite the orangette over, they would have some pizza or take-out, they would talk about anything and everything, then Ichigo would return home, feeling a bit better then before. In the time of seeing that singer and getting to know worthless little things about him, such as humorous childhood stories, or likes and dislikes, Ichigo seemed to find a light within himself. He was able to truly smile and laugh more often, the scars started to fade, everything seemed as if it was turning up in life for the young orangette.
Though, of course, all good things must come to an end sometime...
"Shinji...I am not getting that for you...you want it so bad then...Shinji shut up! I am so not doing th...Shut up!...yeah...no you ass...yeah yeah...I'll get some sugar...yeah and coffee...ok you can get those yourself...no...ye..." Ichigo froze as he stared ahead towards a pair of expressive russet eyes that he hoped he'd never see again. He didn't even register Shinji calling his name as the blond tried to get his attention.
"Hey Ichi...ya shouldn't stand there gapin like that...people might start to wonder." The red-head stated before walking off towards the black haired man who stood a few feet away. Upon reaching him, the two men walked off.
Once they were out of sight, Ichigo managed to unfreeze himself and snap his phone shut before running off, his cart of groceries forgotten in the middle of the isle.
"He won't open the door! Please...you have to come help...he ran in with his eyes looking like they used to again...I'm scared Nnoitra...please..." Shinji sobbed into his phone as he kept uselessly twisting the handle of the bathroom door, "Ok...ok...just hurry..." The blond whimpered before hanging up his phone and pounding on the door, "Ichi! Open up!" He yelled, tears streaming down his face, "P-please...Ichi...you can't do this..."
"What's goin on Nnoi? I just got a weird call from Ichigo..." Grimmjow demanded as he followed the drummer to their cars.
"I'm not sure...Shinji called me beggin me ta come help him. Apparently th' Berry locked himself in th' bathroom." The lanky man responded as he climbed into the driver's side of his SUV, "Ya comin, Blue?"
"Hell yeah!" Grimmjow snarled, climbing in the passenger side right before Nnoitra peeled out of the lot.
The two quickly arrived at the home the blond and orangette lived at to find Shinji standing outside with tears streaming down his face and his usual grin missing. The two jumped out once Nnoitra had parked and Shinji ran over to them.
"Please...get him out of there..." He whimpered, looking at them.
Grimmjow quickly bolted into the house and to the bathroom, "Open up, Ichigo!" He bellowed before pulling back one leg and slamming his foot into the door. He repeated this a few times before the door snapped off it's hinges and slammed into the wall. The blue haired vocalist quickly ran into the bathroom and stared wide eyed at the orangette who lay inside the shower. Said orangette looked up at Grimmjow with dull eyes and smiled a bit.
"'M s'rry Gr'mm..." He slurred, slowly lifting one hand towards him, crimson life fluid dripping down his arm.
"Why, Ichi?" The bluenette whispered, kneeling down and tugging the younger to him. He looked up at Nnoitra who had followed him, "Call an ambulance!" He demanded before ripping his own shirt off and tearing it into strips to wrap around the orangette's bleeding wrists.
Nnoitra nodded and quickly went to do so, returning a few moments later to let him know they were on their way.
A few days passed and the band was at their last concert in Japan. Grimmjow stood at the mic, his eyes scouring the crowd, "Alrighty gang! We got one last song for the night! This song is for someone who couldn't be hear tonight because of a less then pleasant accident. I hope this song gets out to him, wherever he may be." He said before nodding back to Ulquiorra who started up the beat.
"Well I know the feeling
Of finding yourself stuck out on the ledge
And there ain't no healing
For cuttin yourself with the jagged edge
I'm tellin you now
That it's never that bad
Take it from someone who's been where you're at
Laid out on the floor
And you're not sure
You can take this anymore
So just give it one more try to a lullaby
And turn this up on the radio
If you can hear me now
I'm reaching out
To let you know
That you're not alone
And if you can't tell,
I'm scared as hell
'Cause I can't get you on the telephone
So just close your eyes
Oh, honey here comes a lullaby
Your very own lullaby
Please let me take you
Out of the darkness
And into the light
'Cause I have faith in you
That you're gonna make it through another night
Stop thinking about the easy way out
There's no need to go
And blow the candle out
Because you're not done
You're far too young
And the best is yet to come
So just give it one more try to a lullaby
And turn this up on the radio
If you can hear me now
I'm reaching out
To let you know
That you're not alone
And if you can't tell,
I'm scared as hell
'Cause I can't get you on the telephone
So just close your eyes
Oh, honey here comes a lullaby
Your very own lullaby
Well, everybody's hit the bottom
Everybody's been forgotten
When everybody's tired of being alone
Yeah, everybody's been abandoned
And left a little empty handed
So if you're out there barely hanging on...
Just give it one more try to a lullaby
And turn this up on the radio
If you can hear me now
I'm reaching out
To let you know
That you're not alone
And if you can't tell,
I'm scared as hell
'Cause I can't get you on the telephone
So just close your eyes
Oh, honey here comes a lullaby
Your very own lullaby
Oh, honey here comes a lullaby
Your very own lullaby..."
Slowly the music ended, once again leaving the crowd in silence. It lasted longer then the first concert because everyone was in awe at the deepness of the song. As the silence went on, the spotlight lit the center stage where Grimmjow stood, his eyes trained towards the back of the crowd where a familiar mop of orange hair stood out beside and equally bright mop of blond. A small smile formed on his lips as he lifted the mic to his mouth and broke the silence.
"That last song, I wrote it with one person in mind. That person has been through hell and back in his life. I had believed that he would not make it tonight, but I stand corrected. He's in this crowd, right now, I'm not gunna say his name, because he knows who he is. I just want him to know that whenever he just needs someone to call, just to talk about nothing, my phone will always be on, day and night, and I'll be waiting." After finishing his speech, Grimmjow turned and left the stage, leaving the crowd in yet another shocked silence.
One question floated over the crowd.
Who did he mean?
Ichigo knew. And with that knowledge, his heart soared and his eyes watered heavily.
He had finally found his angel and that angel was in the form of a blue haired bad boy singer of the band called the Espada.
A/N: Oh wow...I really didn't know where this would go. I had mainly started it only wanting to put The Last Night by Skillet in it, but then I heard Lullaby by Nickelback and was like 'I gotta add this song in...' I think it came out perfectly though. I'm only doing this as a oneshot but if someone wants to do a second part, feel free, just direct them back to this story to know the beginning. :)
Word count: 3,972 ,