So maybe I was crazy, maybe I was imagining the whole thing. But the excruciating minute, during which I held that envelope, I could only think: This could be it. This could be my out. It wasn't a particularly fancy envelope, there was no return address and in bold script it simply stated "Kurosaki Ichigo". That, and there was a big, fat, blue was seal on the backside. This was the key to my future. After I got over the initial shock, I carefully popped the seal and looked at the two things that fateful parcel held. I simple piece of paper and what looked like some sort of credit card. The letter definitely came first. As I scanned the letter only a few words registered.

"..honor you in your successes..."

"…proudly present…"

"..upcoming music festival…"

There was a date too, June 17th. The date of my supposed debut as a public artist. All I had known was the stuffy clinic where I helped out with my dad and my apartment a little outside of town filled to the brim with things I loved. This was big; I never wanted to become a doctor. I had never wanted to follow my dad's footsteps and take over the clinic. I wanted to create, I wanted to feel what I created, and I wanted people to feel it with me. Music was what I lived for, not blood, gauze and sickness. Never the suffocating chemical smell of the building I so often frequented. My soul wanted to revolve around the thousands of dollars of equipment that was stacked in my guest bedroom. Not that you could call it that really, I slept there more often than I did in my official one.

Maybe it was because I was introverted or whatever you call it, but I never got out much, and I never told anybody but my closest friends about my secret obsession. I never put my tapes in the industry; I made them by myself and played them by myself. Well, me and two other people; Rukia Kuchiki and Renji Abarai. They always wanted to come over and listen to whatever new track I had just finished. They get to know first about my exciting news, and of course listen to the tracks I had sent up to the recording agency. After I examined the other object, a type of key card supposedly to get into the building downtown, I whipped out my phone and sent a quick message to both of them.

Got news, you busy tonight?

Renji got back first, Rukia's reply coming in just seconds later. After deciding a time to meet at my apartment I set the envelope on the coffee table then turned on my stereo to whatever the thing felt like playing. It never listened to the buttons I pressed anyway. Renji had even gone so far as to name it, the stubborn thing was dubbed Kon. As Kon pounded out some track, I thought it was a remix of some sorts; I set myself up to get some work done.

Online computer programming was fun, but it could be a bitch sometimes. Hunkering down on my computer I had sorted out some kinks in the website, and managed the steady flow of customers that needed their software mended before the front door opened.

Both of my best friends walked in at the same time, Rukia at a sprinting pace while Renji just strolled in, cocky as ever.

"Ohmygodyou'regoingtotellmethatnewsorI'llliveinyourclosetuntilIfigu reitout." Rukia said in a rush, jumping on the couch to my left.

"You better tell me too, faggot, or I'll rip all your precious orange hair out, one strand at a time." Renji walked right up to Kon, ear turned for a second before his fingers worked at the volume control. I moved my laptop to a place where it wouldn't be ambushed my Rukia's small feet and sighed.

"Well, first things first, I need to get everything set up." I stood and stretched, my back and shoulders cracking in multiple places. Renji got comfy in my spot, while I strolled into the guest bedroom and fiddled with some of the equipment stored there. This big machine was the only thing Kon would listen too, but it took so much time to get him to respond; I usually didn't bother unless Renji and Rukia were over. My whole system was connected, and while my landlord had screamed at me for tearing most of the ceiling out and still hated me with a passion, it was totally worth it. Any room in the house I could play whatever I wanted, or at least, whatever Kon felt like playing. Stupid stubborn stereo.

When I had finally gotten the thing to play the tape that I had sent in, I went back into the living room to see both Rukia and Renji leaning over the letter acting like it was radioactive or something, staring at it but not touching it. Setting myself down next to Renji, I startled both of them with my presence causing them to move back to their original positions.

Rukia spoke first, "Ca- can I touch it?" she stuttered softly. I laughed.

"Oh course you can touch it, dummy. It's just a letter. No stealing the key card though, I need that for tomorrow."

"You have a meeting tomorrow?" Renji asked, starting to ramble about how my life was exciting and perfect and just how absolutely jealous he was. I wish. He was actually just talking about the soccer match he had that weekend. How that one goal was just so spectacular, and how I just had to make the next game. I gave the same excuse I usually did: I was busy. My personal work took a lot of time, plus the extra hours at the clinic and now my meeting tomorrow, I was really busy. Really, I needed to take a day off, and tomorrow was the perfect day to do just that.

"Go ahead and read it. It doesn't have a disease, Rukia, it won't kill you." Rukia immediately snatched it up and started adamantly reading the thing while a grabbed my computer to quickly send a notice to Ilforte and anybody who went on the site tomorrow. That being done, they asked me a crap load of questions, and I tried to answer as quickly as I could.

We took a dinner break, and slid into our usual routine of naming tracks and sampling stuff to our hearts desires. Both of them were staying over, and both of them were going to sleep on the pull out couch. Together. I snickered at their arrangements for the evening, but at the glare they both sent me I stopped and went to bed, warning them that if they woke me up anytime that night, I'd kick them out butt-naked or not.

I had to say, the building was huge. Macho. The start white sides seemed to slip up into the gray sky like some sort of snake, or a cat, if cats did that sort of thing. This morning I had kicked the pair out of the house so I could get ready and call Isshin to tell him that he wouldn't be coming in today. Showering and dressing in black slacks and a white dress shirt with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows, I grabbed my keys, a couple of my favorite tracks, wallet, letter, keycard, and jacket I headed out to the meeting.

Walking inside revolving doors, I stared at the interior of the lobby before walking up to the elevator and pressing the up button.

As I waited another man came up to wait beside me. He was super tall and lanky, tricked out to the max with everything that screamed 'badass'. I stared at all seven feet of him, clad in black skinny jeans riding low on thin hips five chains looping down and disappearing into his back pocket. His shoulders were covered by a white jacket sporting some band that I've never heard of on the back, and a little blue flaming skull on the front. It was half unzipped which showed a simple gray v-neck underneath. The large hood of his sweatshirt was pulled up half way and long black hair tumbled down over his shoulders. He had an eyepatch that had the same design as the sweatshirt, two piercings in his ear, and black low top converse covering his feet.

When the elevator doors opened up we both walked in, the man pressing for floor 5, while I tried to make the 60 light up. I scowled when it didn't work.

"Ya need a card to go up an' see Blue. The man has freaky security." I looked at the giant and mumbled "oh, forgot about that…" while I got my card out and slipped it in the slot, then sighed when the 60 finally lit up.

"It's Nnoitra, if you were wondering." He stated, and I looked at him with surprise. I hadn't expected him to give a name.

"Uh…Ichigo Kurosaki, nice to meet you…?" I held out my hand for him to shake and stuck my other one in my pocket.

"Nice to meet ya too, Berry." He winked at me and took my hand. No matter how thin his body looked, damn he had a strong grip. I just tried not to wince and nodded my head before the doors chimed, slipped open again and he stepped out.

The rest of the elevator I rode in silence, the occasional person stepping in and out but never said anything. A couple raised eyebrows when they saw what floor was lit up, but I just ignored them.

When I finally got to the 60th floor, which was a long way up so it did take some time in that impossibly slow elevator, I stepped out to be greeted by an energetic secretary.

"Oh! You must be Kurosaki! Come, come! I'll show you to Mr. Jeagerjaques office in just a moment. You can sit right over there." She continued to direct me over to a couple small couches where I sat down. "Would you like some tea? Or coffee?"

I shook my head, "Water is fine, thank you." She just giggled and skipped out of the room. She was very…eccentric. It made me nervous. From her sea foam green hair all the way down to the black heels she was wearing, she gave off the impression of being very nice, but I could never handle someone with too much energy. I could barely handle my own friends. When she came back she sat opposite to me, handing me a glass of water before taking a sip of her own coffee.

"So, Mr. Kurosaki, my name's Neliel, but you can just call me Nel, like everyone else does. Have you met anyone else yet?" Nel asked, cocking her head to the side. I could tell that she was a big talker so I graced her with a quiet voice of my own.

"Uh, there was a guy named Nnoitra in the elevator…" I looked away, not being able to hold those big grey eyes for very long.

"Nnoi? Oh, don't be intimidated by him. He's tall, but he can be kind of friendly, sometimes." She frowned and continued, "Don't call him Spoon-head, unless you're looking for a fight, though." I just nodded, although I was so nervous my palms were sweating and I was itching to do something physical. A fight sounded good right about now. We sontinued talking for a couple more minutes, me getting gradually more comfortable as time passed, before she started to talk into the earpiece she was wearing.

"He's done with his other meeting, we can go in now." She said to me, standing up and taking my cup. I nodded and stood up too, rubbing my hands on my pants. Leading me into the big office, Nel sent me a smile that said "Good luck."

"Ichigo Kurosaki. Or should I just call you King?" A smooth deep voice said as the door clicked shut. I whipped my head around to see a man leaning back in his big black chair with his ankles crossed up on the black desk. My eyes traveled from the tips of his designer shoes, and then to the wacky robot socks he was wearing. The white slacks with a black belt hugged the man's legs in all the right places, all the way up to the top where a dark purple button up was neatly tucked in. Right in the middle though, there was a big, fluffy, white cat sleeping away on his lap. My eyes continued up to where the top buttons of his shirt were undone and a small silver chain hung around his thick neck. A square jaw, straight nose and then the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. I couldn't quite tell if they were contacts or not. The sheer blueness of them had me seriously considering. One of his eyebrows was raised with a questioning look, but all I could do was open and close my mouth like a fish.

Stuttering stupidly, this is what fell out of my mouth: "Your hair is blue."

And it was. It wasn't weirdly black-bluish, it was hardcore sky blue.

He snorted and said, "Like you're one to talk. Yours is orange." My hand immediately went straight to said locks of said color and I think I mumbled something like, "Yeah…I guess it is." He laughed again, but this time I was a little more aware.

"What are you laughing at? I've just never seen blue hair before." I scowled and crossed my arm. "It's just Ichigo, by the way." I sat myself down in one of the chairs on the opposite side of his desk.

He laughed again, and it was really starting to piss me off. He had no right. "Grimmjow Jaegerjaques. Did you bring samples of your work?"

I nodded and pulled out the handful of tapes to give to Grimmjow. He took them gratefully and moved his feet off the desk. The cat on his lap protested, digging its claws into his thigh while it stretched. After it bounded off, Grimmjow bent over and fiddled with something under the huge desk. I took the time to admire the exquisite back muscles that beautifully ran down his back. Wait, beautiful? I shook my head. He was my future boss. I couldn't…be attracted to him. Could I? That would be gross. I shook my head and scowled again.

The soft start to one of the songs started to play softly through invisible speakers, and I nodded to the smooth beat.

"So, Ichigo," He started, coming back up and leaning against his elbows on the desk. "I have to say, you're a very talented young man. You have a lot of…well let's just say that you have a wonderful ear." He nodded to himself, and then decided to busy himself with finding some papers in one of the many stacks of his desks.

"Ummm, thank you. I haven't really gotten much criticism on my taste…so, thanks."

Seeming to find the proper sheets he was searching for, his head popped up looking interested. "Really now? How many people listen to your music?"

I couldn't hold eye contact. I looked outside of a window, "Not many, I guess it would me two. Not including me."

"Two what. Hundred? Thousand?"

My eyes flicked back to the desk in front of me, but not the person there. "People. Two people."

"Yeah, I got that. So two hundred?" He scribbled something down, and glanced back up at me. I could feel his gaze, so I met it again.

"No, just two."

He looked confused, but I guess I could understand. Coming to a big producing company after only two people have listened to your stuff…that's not a lot, and it's a big step for a single person.

"Two…individuals. Just two." He cocked his head, focusing on the music flowing through the speakers. Then nodded his head again. For the first time in that meeting, he gave me a big predatory grin, like he was in on the funniest joke ever and I wasn't. "Well that certainly changes things. We will have to discuss what steps to take before the festival then. Personally, I think we should put out a sample to get more of a fan base…"

We continued discussing details, like salary, release dates. He asked me questions about Renji and Rukia, I answered as truthfully as I could. I wouldn't give him their contacts, so instead he gave me his to give to them. The conversation wasn't about strictly business. He asked about my family and what I did before music. I told him about Yuzu and Karin, about how my dad was asylum-worthy crazy. He laughed at that, and then offered some more information about his company. It was his, and I felt honored for heading straight to the top. It seemed the longer the meeting went on, the more comfortable I felt around him. Just like I had with his secretary, Nel. Maybe it was the crazy hair, but the feeling that I got from this workspace was really laid back. It was appealing.

I left the building feeling happier than I had felt in a while. There was a bounce to my step and I wasn't scowling. Not like I was smiling, but my face was happily relaxed.

I walked up to my apartment building and saw that the door to mine was cracked open. Huh, I remembered locking it…