19. Circus.
He'd never been to the circus before, he friends couldn't believe that. Almost all of them had been to the circus at least twice in their childhood and probably half a dozen times as an adult, mainly drunk. Grimmjow actually had no interest in the circus but apparently one of the performers in the Shinigami circus was absolutely amazing to watch. Nnoitra had said one performer was a total fire cracker, apparently the only performer worth seeing. Also Nnoitra had a shorter attention span than a gold fish did, it must have been really good to make the lanky man go back five times. His friends pulled him along, stopping at almost every food stall they could find, the show starting in half an hour. The circus itself was made up of various tents which was weird, apparently the one they were dragging him to was the only one worth seeing. Grimmjow would have preferred to see a few more of the small tents than food venders but he wasn't the one in charge.
"15 minutes till the show, we need to go now if we want to get seats," Ulquiorra said, leaving the line for the current food stall they were storming. The others also giving up on it, racing down the path like mad men. The tent they stopped in front of was small, no more then three meters wide. Grimmjow circled it slowly, eventually finding the opening, a small tag attached to the flap saying enter. He slipped through the others already inside, there was two rows of chairs and a small podium. Grimmjow took the only empty chair left, his friends on the other side of the tent, an old couple to his left and on his right a young man with bright orange hair. He was stunning, dressed in black jeans with a white dress shirt and black jacket and tie. He turned to face him, a smile gracing his lips and winked. The lights cut out, one lady squeaking in shock. When they came back on a man stood in the centre wearing a plain white mask that covered his entire face. Grimmjow recognised him as the man that was sitting was sitting next to him seconds ago but only because of his bright hair. He bowed slightly, but when he straightened out his mask was completely different. The crowd clapped, easily amused by this. Grimmjow just smirked. He reached into his jacket pocket pulling out a part of a white cloth strip and Grimm instantly thought of that lame clown trick with the hankies but as he kept pulling a handle appeared, he gripped that and slowly revealed a blade wider then his pocket. And it kept going. The blade was almost as long as him. He held the blade out straight and shook it, when he held the blade out again it was a different sword, still just as long but it was thinner and black with a hilt and instead of cloth it had a chain. Once again the crowd clapped, even Grimmjow was impressed. What he did next shocked everyone, somebody even screamed. He held the blade by the tip and tilted his head back before shoving the blade through the mask, he looked like those people who swallow swords but then blood started pouring out from under his mask. What amazed him was that he didn't stop pushing the blade in until the hilt hit his mask and then he curled his hand into a fist and pounded it in further. By now his clothes were drenched, his white shirt blood red, all that could be seen of the sword was the chain but that soon disappeared as well. After a few seconds he straightened his neck, his mask undamaged. He clicked his fingers, setting fire to the blood, within a few seconds he was encased in fire. Another click sounded through the tent and the fire went out, all the blood was gone and he was completely untouched. He bowed again, body bending easily despite the fact that he had swallowed a sword. Next he borrowed a scarf from the old lady sitting next to Grimm, a bright blue silk scarf that looked expensive. He ran it through his fingers but as it passed through it changed colours turning purple, he did this a couple of times. Till he threaded it through his fingers and pulled out a boa constrictor not a scarf, the old woman gasped almost fainting when he tried to return her scarf turned snake. He dropped it in her lap and the snake wrapped itself around her neck loosely changing back into her scarf. Grimmjow had to clap for that one. He'd seen few magicians in my life time but none as good as this guy. He brought Grimmjow onto his podium next, He grinned wondering what exactly he was going to do. Before Grimm could even blink he grabbed his tee and ripped it off him, Grimmjow frowned almost tackling him. His shirt was still intact, not a tear in sight. He handed it back to him, Grimm pulled it back on quickly not liking the lusty stares he got from the women in the room. The graphic design on his tee was missing, Grimmjow grabbed his tie about to hit him when he tossed something at his shirt. It was a paint ball or something. He let him go in favour for brushing it off, it just spread all over his shirt not staining his hands. After a few seconds Grimmjow saw it was the design off his shirt. It finished spreading out to the edges on its own. Grimm just stared at him amazed. He lead him off stage before bowing once more, clapped twice and disappeared into thin air. The lights came on and the entrance opened up fully. Grimmjow stepped outside completely fascinated by what he had just seen. He walked away from the tent ignoring the calls of his friends. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to have come here after all.
"Sorry about the shirt." He jumped at the sudden voice, turning to face the source. It was the magician, he was dressed in jeans, tee and a hoodie. He looked like another circus goer.
"This is my favourite shirt, I drew the design on it. 'M Grimmjow Jeagerjaques, pleasure to metcha," He said, holding out a hand, he gripped it firmly.
"Ichigo Kurosaki."