Here we are chapter four!
Let's get right into it!
Disclaimer: I own none of these characters.
The sounds of construction being done could be heard throughout the large building. One noise that stuck out in particular though was the voice of someone singing along to a blaring stereo system.
'I'm the man in the box
Buried in my shit
Won't you come and save me, save me'
"FEEEEEED MY EYES! Can you sew them shut? JEEEEESUS CHRIIIIST! Deny your maker!" Grimmjow sang loudly while tearing the siding off a wall.
"HEEEEEE WHO TRIIIIIES! Will be wasted! FEEEEEEED my eyes! Now you've sewn them shut!" Grimmjow sang out before busting out an air-guitar and making the electric noises.
Grimmjow was snapped out of his solo when he heard the stereo shut off followed by a loud cackling.
"You know Grimm if construction doesn't work out for you you've got a great career as a retarded street performer." His friend Nnoitra bantered.
"Fuck you Nnoi" Grimmjow said; embarrassment evident on his paint smeared face.
"I'd love to honey but I'm fucking starving right now. Let's take a lunch break and head down to that burger joint down the street." Nnoitra said as he tried to scratch some of the drywall out of his hair.
"Alright I need a break anyway." Grimmjow said as he too tried to shake the bits of drywall dust out of his messy hair.
"Do you have any plans for tonight?" Nnoitra asked as he squirted some ketchup onto his cheeseburger.
"Uhh not really. I was gonna see if Ichigo…"
"Ugh can't you take 5 minutes out of your stalking schedule to help out a friend?" Nnoitra asked with a roll of his eye.
"I'm not stalking him! And what do you want anyway?" I asked as I took a big bite out of my double bacon burger.
"There's this girl I've been wanting to take out for a while now. Well I finally got her to go out on a date with me but she wants it to be a double date with her friend. I told her I could bring one of my buds to go out with her friend so…" Nnoitra trailed off while waiting for a response.
"No way. You know I'm trying to get Ichigo to go out with me. How can I do that if I'm going out with other people? He'll think I don't take our relationship seriously!"
"But you two aren't in a relationship."
"Yet!"
Nnoitra gave out an exasperated sigh before he continued.
"Look it's just one date and it's not like you two will be left alone. Just think of it as a friendly get together. And if you do come along I'll give you these." Nnoitra said as he pulled two tickets out of his back pocket.
"What are those?"
"These are two private balcony seats for next week's Skillet concert." Nnoitra said with a grin.
That would be a perfect date for me and Ich! Not to mention Skillet was one of my favorite bands and I would love to see them again in concert.
"How did you get these anyway?"
"I won them at the bar the other night. I'm not that much of a Skillet fan myself so if you come to the double date with me I'll give you them free of charge." Nnoitra said with that same grin as before.
I was very tempted, but I didn't want Ich to find out I had gone a date with someone else.
But Skillet tickets!
"Alright I'll go with you on this double date."
"Right on. Meet me at Saint Bistros at 6:30 p.m. sharp. And please don't bring up any of your cat stories." Nnoitra said with an annoyed groan.
I glared at Nnoitra while mumbling under my breath, 'Ichigo likes my cat stories…'
"Yeah I bet he does." Nnoitra said sarcastically before stealing one of my fries.
I shouldn't have to take this class!
It was my last class for the day and I was itching to get out of there as soon as possible so I could make it to the grocery store before the rush.
But no I'm stuck taking this pointless General's class. I mean come on! I'm a graphic design major! Why should I have to take a fucking science class!
I mentally groaned as I waited for the teacher to arrive so class could start.
At least I was able to take a simple science class. Not like Renji who registered too late and got stuck in bimolecular physics.
I was seated at a table near the back by myself. Almost no one it seems is gonna show up for class today. I thought as I looked around the near empty classroom. Maybe the professor will let the few of us who did show up out early as a reward. But I highly doubt that.
I was about to rest my head on the table when I heard the chair next to me move.
"Mind if I sit here?" A guy I didn't recognize asked quietly.
"Yeah go ahead."
The guy placed his bag on the table and sat down next to me. He was young, probably the same age as me. The man was good-looking too. Long, wavy brown hair that touched his shoulders, forest green eyes and a nice tan complexion. He seemed to have a bit of an accent too but I couldn't place where it was from.
The mystery man tucked some of his dark hair behind his left ear before he turned to face me.
"Hello. I'm an exchange student from Greece. My name is Hercules." The man said in a laid-back fashion.
"Cool. The names Ichigo. Nice to meet you." I said as I held out my hand.
The guy, Hercules, looked at my hand with an unreadable expression before he slowly started to raise his own.
I swear it took the guy like 5 years to reach up and shake my hand!
"So you're from Greece huh? What's it like over there?" I asked trying to break the ice.
"It's ok...there are like...lots of structures from the olden days." Hercules said slowly.
I feel like this guy is gonna fall asleep in the middle of his own sentence!
'meow!'
...
"Did you here that?"
"Yes..."
"..."
"Do you know where it came from?" I asked impatiently.
"My bag."
Suddenly I noticed his bag had a small lump in it. A small lump that was moving.
"Is that a cat in your bag!" I whispered closely.
"Yes." Hercules said nonchalantly as he opened his bag to show me.
Sure enough there in his back pack was an orange and white tabby looking back at me and purring contently.
"Dude! You can't bring a cat to class!" I said while trying to keep my voice down.
"Why not?" Hercules asked in a bored manner.
"Why not! The hell do you mean why not? Because..."
Before I could finish my sentence professor Ukitake finally showed up.
"Sorry I'm late class. Traffic was a pain trying to go through downtown." Ukitake apologized while setting his papers on his desk.
"Now let's get started with today's assignment." He said while passing out the papers.
When he reached our table, it was just my luck that the cat decided to let out another loud 'meow!'
Ukitake stopped and looked around.
"Is that a cat?" He asked.
"Uhh no! Sorry Ukitake that was my cellphone. It meows whenever I get a txt." I said, hoping he'd buy it.
"Ohh ok. Well just turn your cell off for now Ichigo. You know there's no cell phone use allowed in class." Ukitake said as he handed us our papers and walked back to his own desk.
As soon as he left Hercules leaned over and whispered quietly in my ear.
"Does your cellphone really do that?"
"What? No of course not!"
"Mr. Kurosaki. Mr. Karpusi. Is there something you'd like to share with the rest of the class?" Ukitake asked us irritably.
"No professor Ukitake. Sorry for interrupting you." I apologized quickly while turning to glare at Hercules for him to shut up.
"Good. See that you two keep quiet." Ukitake said to us before he continued on with his lecture.
I took out a piece of notebook paper to show to Hercules and wrote down:
Make sure the professor doesn't find out about your freakin cat!
Hercules read it slowly before he raised his head and made the closing zipper motion over his mouth before giving me a thumbs up.
I felt my eye twitch as I tried to concentrate on Ukitake's lecture and not the insistent purring coming from Hercules's bag.
"Meow?" Pantera asked as she sat on the bathroom counter.
"I know Pantera. But if I do go I'll get two free Skillet tickets! Plus they are the private balcony seats WITH backstage passes! Those would be perfect for me and Ich!" I yelled from the shower.
"Meow…"
"Ich won't know because I'm not going to tell him. He doesn't need to know anyways since it's more like a friendly get together on my part. Just think of me as Nnoi's wingman." I said while trying to scrub the drywall out of my hair.
"Purr purr"
I turned off the shower and wrapped a towel around my waist before pulling back the paw-print shower curtain.
"It's at Saint Bistros at 6:30 p.m. And the girl's name is Nel"
"Meow meow?
"Nnoi didn't tell me much about her but I guess she's kinda like me in the sense that we both talk a lot."
"Meow…"
"I'm sure it'll be fine. It's just one friendly get together at a nice restaurant. And I'll make it clear to this Nel chick that I'm only there as a friend and not a potential date." I said as I tried to dry off and find a decent outfit for tonight.
"Meow?" Pantera gestured towards my only silk shirt.
"No, that's too fancy. I was thinking of dressing more casual so I come off as more of friend. I don't want her to think I'm trying to pick her up or anything."
"Purr"
I looked through my closet till I finally settled for wearing one of my plain black shirts with my dark blue jeans.
There we go. Nice and casual.
I slipped into some sweat-pants and an old wife-beater since the date wasn't for another 2 hours. I plopped onto the couch with Pantera sitting on my lab as I turned the channel to Animal Planet to relax for a while.
I wonder what Ichigo's up to?
"Mam I'm so sorry!"
"He ripped out my fucking feather clip!"
"Well what kind of stupid fashion accessory was that anyway? It looked like a damn bird ran into your head!" I said angrily as Hercules stood off to the side holding his cat.
The young woman turned away with a 'humpf!' and stomped her way back down the parking lot and into her car.
"I'm sorry Ichigo." Hercules said as he came up beside me.
My response was to turn and give him a rage filled glare.
Hercules looked a bit taken back and put his cat back in his back pack.
"Look you can't come into the grocery store with me if you have a cat in your bag." I ground out crossly.
"He won't jump out again, I promise." Hercules said quietly with a pleading look in his big green eyes.
I sighed and looked back towards the grocery store. If that cat pulls that shit in the store we'll get thrown out. And then I'd have to go to the store across town to buy my groceries.
"Keep that cat in your bag. GOT IT?" I told Hercules with forceful conviction.
Hercules just nodded his head while giving me another thumbs up.
I felt my eye twitch again.
It's going to be one of those days isn't it?
"Ok this should be enough food to get me through the week." I said to myself as I looked through my basket.
I was about to walk over to the checkout aisle when I felt someone tap my shoulder.
It was Hercules, no surprise, with a neutral expression on his face.
"Cronus is missing." He said casually as he showed me his empty back pack.
"WHAT!" I yelled a little too loudly as everyone around us turned to look.
"Where the hell did he go!" I said trying to use my indoor voice.
"I set my backpack down to read the back of this cereal box...and when I picked it back up...he was gone." He said as slow as ever.
"Dammit! Where the hell could he have gone?" I said while looking around the aisle frantically.
'meow!'
Hercules and I both looked down the end of the aisle to see that damn cat rolling around on the floor.
"There he is."
"No shit Sherlock!"
We both made our way down the aisle to catch that insufferable cat when it suddenly rolled onto its feet and took off down the store.
"Oh shit!" We said in unison.
"AAAAHHH!" A middle-aged woman yelled.
"What was that?"
"Eww! Was that a rat?"
"A rat!
"Quick somebody kill it!"
"Somebody call the police!"
My day had officially gone from shitty to full on fucking catastrophe.
"And did you know that a cat's brain is biologically more similar to a human brain than it is to a dog's? Both humans and cats have identical regions in their brains that are responsible for emotions." Hercules said as we walked up the street.
I had not said a word to Hercules on our trip downtown. After the cat incident in the store the owner had thrown us both out, meaning I ended up having to go downtown to do my shopping.
So yeah, I was pissed.
We were now walking back to my apartment with Hercules spilling out random feline facts to me while his cat sat perched on his head.
"And unlike dogs, cats do not have a sweet tooth. Scientists believe this is due to a mutation in a key taste receptor." Hercules continued, clearly not bothered by my silence.
"Herc!" I said loudly as I turned around to face Hercules.
"Yes?"
"Don't you think it's time for you to go home?"
...
"Oh yes...it is getting rather late isn't it?" Hercules said while looking around.
I would have seriously done a face palm if my hands weren't full of grocery bags.
"Well...I'll see you around Ichigo."
'meow!'
Hercules waved and slowly made his way back down the street.
A shitty end to a shitty day I suppose.
I was walking up to the apartment building when I saw Grimmjow run out the doors and into his car. He peeled out of the parking lot like a mad man and drove down the street at an alarming rate.
I wonder where he's off to in such a hurry?
To those of you who know where Hercules is from, brownie points for you!
Herc will make a few other appearances in this story but nothing too big.
If there were any spelling mistakes, I apologize. It's super-hot where I'm at and I just don't feel like proofreading today.
Review and let me know what you thought of this chapter!
Until we meet again
mcpidy