The peace was disturbed. In the distance there was a muffed shriek and Toshiro sat bolt upright, hastily rubbing sleep from his tired eyes. His first thoughts were for his Gran but then he felt a weight shift on his bed and he froze. He forgot to set a vibrating alarm on his watch and he removed his hands from his eyes keeping them closed as realization dawned on him.

'Toshiro! Your hair!'

He took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose before exhaling loudly and opening his eyes to turn them to her.

'Don't freak out, please be quiet.' He mumbled, worried his Gran may have heard her shriek and she gasped at his eyes.

'Oh my god Shiro,' she moved across the bed and into his personal space, taking his face in her hands and he cringed at the closeness. 'Oh. My. God.'Her face conveyed her obvious shock as her baby blue eyes danced across him hungrily taking in all of the new details presented to her. He left her to do so, meeting her baby blue eyes with wide and slightly panicking teal eyes.

'Please don't freak out.' He mumbled, from here he could see the slightly smudged eye makeup around the corner of her eyes and her slightly ruffled hair. Other than these little differences she woke up almost as beautiful as she'd gone to sleep, except the scuffle at the side of her right eye that looked like it was beginning to bruise.

'Freak out? Why would I freak out? I only wake up to find my friend has white hair. White.And then your eyes… they're turquoise?'

'Teal.'

'Right…. Oh my gosh Toshiro why would you hide this?' She reached up and brushed a strand of white hair that had fallen into his eye. He leaned into the caring touch and he felt shame wash over him.

'Because, I-' he felt his throat close up and he looked away from her.

'This has something to do with why you transferred Colleges doesn't it?' She offered and he nodded his head slowly.

'People think I'm a freak.' He whispered and she had to lean in to hear him. 'I attract so much unwanted attention, no one needs to be exposed to such an ugly sight.'

'Ugly? Ugly?Shiro you're many things, a bit cold and distant a bit of a puzzle and a mystery but also kind and caring. You're many things but ugly is not one of them.' His eyes snapped back to her full of confusion. How could she say that? No one that looked this different could be called anything else other than ugly surely? 'Shiro you're…' she sat back and took everything in, letting his face go from her hands now and he sat clutching at the covers under her gaze. 'You're really fucking adorable is what you are, those big teal eyes and that soft snowy white hair!' She sat shaking her head and a smile perched upon her perfect lips.

'No one who looks this different can be called adorable.' He muttered and he looked down at his bed covers.

'Who told you that?' she snorted.

'My ex, Gin Ichimaru.' He wasn't sure why he was giving her all this information and he shut his mouth with a tight snap. He wasn't going to say anything more than this. She seemed to have noticed and they sat in silence for a few moments. The silence was comfortable but he could feel the air prickling with unanswered questions.

'Do you want to talk about it?'

'No.'

'Okay.'
More silence and she lay back down into the bed covers for a moment. He felt like he couldn't meet her eyes because she'd already bore witness to his teal gaze enough. She clearly didn't think so and reached up to try and tug him down with her. He yelped in surprise when he was pulled down to her side and tried to squirm to get free. A gentle hand wove its way into his hair and he closed his eyes, his whole body tensing waiting for her to pull it, to yank it until he bled at the roots but she did none of it. Instead she ran her fingers through it and soon his tensed body began to relax.

'Mmmm,' he muttered not even aware the fact he'd made a noise of content at the strange sensations coursing through him from the woman's touch. It was soothing and he felt himself nearly drift back off to sleep as her slender fingers massaged his head and combed through his hair. All too soon though Rangiku stirred and turned to him, her hands stopping their delicious assault on his scalp and planted a soft kiss right on the middle of his forehead, filling him with warmth.

'Well,' she rubbed the side of her face and chuckled. 'I suppose I should get changed and head home.'

He sighed he didn't want her to go. He was actually enjoying having here but he knew he couldn't keep her here forever. It was a Saturday after all and she probably had much better people to spend her time with other than the white haired freak.

'I'll give you a lift, I need to collect my car from the pub anyway.' He blinked at her and she smiled, she stood up and went about changing back into her dress. She scrunched her face up as she picked the outfit up off the flood.

'I hate wearing second day clothes.' She huffed and he chuckled at her.

'It's just until you can get home then you'll change.' He smiled at the thought, he sometimes wore the same thing a couple of times before washing it especially t-shirts or jeans, and it seemed Rangiku was not that kind of lady. She began unbuttoning the shirt he'd given her and he quickly looked away.

'You're such a prude,' he heard her voice mocking from somewhere to his right but he just ignored her, focusing all his attention to the bottom of his bed. 'There I'm dressed you can look now,' she laughed and he turned sheepishly towards her, it was true she was dressed and put the shirt he'd given her onto the back of his desk chair. He slipped out of the covers and opened his drawers pulling out a fresh pair of boxers and socks and hastily picked up a pair of jeans and a plain black t-shirt. She watched as he walked about picking up all the clothing as she sat on his chair. He hesitated and turned to her.

'Do you mind?'

'Nope.'

He sighed and shuffled uncomfortable, 'I mean could you look away while I get changed.'

'You've not got anything I've not seen before.' She laughed and he glared at her, he was very much sure he did have something she hadn't seen before and it was very personal. She met his gaze and just rolled her eyes before turning away from him. Despite this he didn't trust her so he quickly changed into the new boxers and put the jeans on, keeping his back turned away and facing her as he changed out of the brown shirt and quickly into the t-shirt. Once the delicate fabric had covered his back he sighed with relief, tossing a thick black hoodie on over it.

'Okay thanks,' he mumbled as he picked up the dirty clothing and stuffed it in a wash basket in his wardrobe.

Opening his bedroom door with extreme caution he slipped out to check the coast was clear. It was just after 7am and it seemed his Gran wasn't awake yet, after a late night playing bingo on a Friday night she usually slept until about 8am the next day so he led Rangiku carefully out the front door. He had his hood up and a pair of sunglasses on his eyes despite the weather being cloudy, he wasn't running the risk of anyone seeing him. He'd pulled the cords on the hoodie so that it hid his white hair completely from view and ignored Rangiku as she laughed at him and told him he was being silly.

'Please don't tell anyone,' he asked as they made their way towards the bar.

'That goes without saying but are we going to keep Yukio in the dark about his too?' She asked and he hesitated, he knew they two were close but he just wasn't ready to reveal himself to anyone quite yet.

'Yes please, I just I'm not ready yet.' He sighed and tugged at the already tight cords of the hoodie.

'Alright then you have my word I won't breathe a word of this to anyone.'

'Thank you.' He could hear in her voice she was genuine and from what he knew of her she didn't seem the kind of person to so easily break her word to someone she considered worthy enough to call a friend.

Eventually she started babbling as she always did and Toshiro only half listened as he always did. It didn't take them long to get the car and he was soon dropping her off a couple of miles North from the College.

'Thanks Shiro I'll see you on Monday!' She called slamming the door loudly as he once again tried to shout his rejection to the silly little nick name.

XxXxX

Monday was hell. Everyone, that was, everyone was talking about the bar fight that happened on the Friday evening. Somewhere along the lines as the day went on Renji went from getting his ass kicked to taking down all 20 in one go single handed. The stories that were forming were ludicrous but no matter where Toshiro went he couldn't get away from his class mates who were questioning the prodigy on his fighting style.

Pulling his scarf back up around his neck and his fake brown eyes darting around at all the towering mass of bodies that encircled him, he bit back the urge to scream for help. He'd just come out of his Atmospheric Thermodynamics class and been cornered by Shuhei, Uryu and Ikkaku.

'You moved so fast have you ever thought about trying out for the basket ball team?'

'Basket ball? Look at him he's tiny no you should go for the football team?'

'He'd be crushed.'

'Not if they couldn't catch him.'

He wasn't even sure who was saying what as he scowled and kept trying to get away hoping that Rangiku or Yukio would come around the corner and save him. He'd agreed to meet them in the library over ten minutes ago and couldn't get to them because these three men weren't letting him passed.

'Leave him alone.' The commanding voice sounded and the three men broke apart turning towards the end of the corridor. Toshiro glanced around at his savoir and felt his heart jump into his throat. Kurosaki. The tall strawberry walked gracefully towards them and stepped between some of the men and Toshiro.

'If you make him snap you could be like those guys back at the bar so I'd stop pressing his buttons.' Kurosaki commented and the boys just chuckled walking away.

'Sorry Toshiro,' it was Uryu and he glanced up at Kurosaki. 'I'll see you at the auditions?' The delicious strawberry nodded to his friend who walked away after the other two boys and suddenly it was just Toshiro and Kurosaki left in the corridor.

'Thank you.' Toshiro mumbled as he snuggled down into his scarf.

'No need to thank me, you helped me out on Friday those guys had come for me you didn't need to get involved.' He shrugged his large shoulders and Toshiro recalled a painful memory.

'They hit Rangiku.' His voice was hard and cold though it was not directed at the strawberry blond but at the stupid idiots who had hurt his friend. Kurosaki stiffened at the memory and his voice seemed to fill with the same cold hard edge.

'I know.' They stood in silence for a while as they both recalled the fight. 'I'll admit I find it strange,' Kurosaki soon spoke, 'that you could take those guys down with ease and yet you can't seem to stop people questioning you and cornering you to talk about something when you look like you're really uncomfortable.'

'It's different.' Toshiro shook his head, 'what you saw in the bar that was me protecting someone else.'

'So you don't stand up for yourself?' he asked.

'I-I, when it's raw aggression for the sake of causing physical pain… I try but if it's…' he recalled his relationship with Gin where he'd never stood up for himself for over a year.

'Mental?' Kurosaki finished as if reading the pain that Toshiro let slip through his stoic mask. Toshiro straightened up and quickly walked around the taller man.

'Sorry I'm late meeting my friends, it was nice to speak to you.' Toshiro quickly scampered off.

'Wait! Toshiro! Toshiro!' Even though he felt Kurosaki was hot on his tail he lost him with ease, the smaller boy slipping effortlessly into a wall of people who'd just come out a first year class.

'Where the hell have you been?' Came Rangikus worried and scolding voice when he finally made it to their usual spot in the Library.

'I got cornered and question about my fighting on Friday.' He scowled as he dropped into a seat beside his friends. Yukio was now back to his usual outfit and glanced up at Toshiro with a lazy green eye.

'Why didn't you just drop kick them?'

Toshiro scowled and huffed.

'Kurosaki asked me the same thing.'

'You ran into Ichigo?' Rangiku asked with interest, leaning across the table to invade his personal bubble but he didn't lean back like he normally would. After their exchange on the Saturday morning he kind of liked having her in his personal space.

'Yes, it was brief he asked me and I ran away.' He scowled and snuggled down into the white fabric that clung around his neck. They were silent for a little while as Toshiro continued to glare at the desk and then Rangiku and Yukio both chuckled. Clearly they had been exchanging looks when he was busy scowling at the desk.

'You like him,' she hissed as she jabbed his side with a delicate finger. He leapt away from her and towards Yukio with an indignant look on his face.

'What?' He snapped, feel heat rising into his cheeks. 'No I don't.'

'You said that a little too quickly Toshiro.' Yukio chuckled beside him and he quickly turned to his friend.

'But you-'

'It was a fuck Toshiro I don't have dibs and besides I don't like him.' Yukio offered a rare smile and shrugged his shoulders. 'If you like him I'd recommend going for it, he's very good in bed.'

'Oh are you ready to talk?' Rangiku asked leaning across the table towards Yukio and he just snorted at her.

'Don't be silly, if you want the juicy details of what Ichigo is like in bed then I highly recommend asking someone to write you some yaoi based Ichigo fan fiction because you're not getting the details from me.'

Toshiro chuckled at the mortified look that crossed Rangikus face as she pulled away from the other man and stuck a middle finger up at him.

'So you didn't have any feelings for him?' Toshiro asked shyly as he glanced at his friend. That playful smirk that he'd only seen once before crossed back over his face.

'No, I only did it because Rangiku placed a bet that Ichigo would win.'

'Thanks for that by the way!'

'No problem.' He waved a hand and stuffed his game consol into his bag, clearly enjoying the conversation now. Toshiro had noticed that since he'd met Yukio the boy was playing his consol less and less in their company. He was glad for it because he enjoyed the exchanges between Rangiku and him.

'Anyway to take your mind off the stuff that happened on Friday-' Yukio started,

'And to get you away from the assholes cornering you-' Rangiku continued.

'We've got a great place worth going to hang out.' Yukio stood up and shared a knowing look with Rangiku and Toshiro felt a weight sink in his stomach. They only ever finished each others sentences when they were ganging up on him.

'What?' He squeaked in fear as Rangikus hand slipped gently under his arm and pulled him up from his seat.

'Come on, don't worry we're not going to hurt you.' Yukio went to shove his back but Toshiro dove out the way scowling at his friends.

'Why do I get the feeling you've got something planned that I won't like.'

'You'll find it entertaining trust us, come on.' Rangiku smiled and he sighed in defeat following them out of the library.

His friends lead him down a new corridor he'd never been, the delicate walls gave way to larger hallways with painted white bricks instead of wall paper. Their shoes echoing on the cement clad flooring that inclined down towards a pair of large oak double doors. Opening them Toshiros gaze was met with a large Auditorium, the stage of which had clearly been set up for drama purposes instead of lecture purposes. The slanting room took the form of a crescent moon with hundreds and hundreds of comfortable self folding chairs curving around in rows and pointing directly towards the stage that was draped with large lush red hangings. There were the odd scattering of students sitting around in chairs holding paper in their hands and on the stage Toshiro recognised some of his classmates, including Uryu and Ichigo. Their voices echoed loudly in the room so even when they were just talking they could be clearly heard in the first few rows at least.

Rangiku marched the band down and they sat in the fifth row away from the stage, their movements basically going unnoticed by everyone who was on the stage at the time.

'Auditioning for the part of Tina we have…' Uryu spoke loudly tapping at a clipboard in his hands.

'Katilyn Stronach.' A timid girl piped up and already Toshiro could see Kurosaki sigh and exchange a look with Uryu and Rukia. The girl did her best to read out her lines and three times Kurosaki had to ask for her to make her voice louder. Even so Toshiro, Rangiku and Yukio had to lean forward to try and hear her and they were only in the fifth row away from the stage. There were easily another twenty rows behind them that wouldn't be able to hear the girl at all if the auditorium was full.

'Thanks.' Kurosaki mumbled and he walked over to Rukia and the two of them spoke in hushed voices before he walked back out and dismissed the girl with a kind smile.

'We still need a Sam.' Uryu sighed rubbing his head and Ichigo called out, 'Sam auditions please come up on stage.'

Toshiro watched as a couple of shy looking second years and a third year made their way up on stage.

At this moment Toshiro felt the side of his arm being slapped gently with paper and he turned to Rangiku with a quizzical look, he took the paper and looked at the front page.

'All Star Productions.' Was printed on the centre of the first page and he smiled to himself as he flipped it open and quickly began to skim through some of the script. The story was about an all star prodigy in basket ball called Denali whose father was obsessed with him going on to play professionally but the boy struggled with coming to terms with his sexuality and his love interest; Sam. Though the story was all about sexuality Sam only seemed to feature in a few scenes, Toshiro was part of the way through reading the end scene when someone shouted on stage.

'I THINK I AM FALLING FOR YOU.'

This third year boy was shouting at Kurosaki. He was shouting at him. Rangiku and Yukio were already laughing hysterically beside Toshiro at the sight. Kurosaki looked bewildered but the show went on and he continued trying to read lines with the boy for his audition. Kurosaki was a professional and his voice was smooth as he easily stepped into character only for the third year student to blast him out of it by shouting his own lines once again.

The entire scene was comical and even Toshiro had joined in with the laughing as he watched Rukia had to be lead off the stage because she was about to piss herself. Even Uryu was hiding his chuckles behind his clipboard.

'Alright thank you that will do.' Kurosaki growled at the younger boy who looked very confident with his skills and boldly walked off the stage with his chest puffed out. Toshiro realised he'd missed the second year students who'd auditioned and was just about to return to reading the script when Kurosaki called back out.

'Anyone else for Sam auditions?' There was almost a pleading desperation in his voice and Toshiro felt sorry for him. At that exact moment Rangiku jabbed him harshly in his side and he squealed and leaped up out his seat. The noise didn't go unnoticed in the auditorium and even though his standing wasn't much taller than his sitting he'd attracted the attention of the people on stage.

'Toshiro?' Kurosaki asked his voice confused and a little bemused.

'I-No I'm not here to audition I just,' he glared at Rangiku who was smiling broadly at him with Yukio leaning over beside her a grin on his face too. They fluttered their eyes expectantly at him and he felt the colour drain from his face. That's why they'd brought him here.

'Toshiro?' Kurosaki called but his voice sounded different, confused and worried. Toshiro's head snapped over to the beautiful man and he realised that he was gazing at his arm. 'What's that on your arm, lift it up a second?'

Panicking that some form of his disguise had been uncovered he lifted his arm to glance at his elbow.

'Oh look a volunteer, come on up.' Kurosaki grinned ushering the boy onto the stage with his own scrip papers. Toshiro blinked, lowering his arm stupidly and listening to the roars of laughter from his comrades, if he could even still call them that after this betrayal.

Next to Rangiku and Yukio and Kurosaki he knew he was not escaping this one so he dragged his feet towards the stage feeling heat rise in his face.

'Seriously, this isn't a real audition I'm just doing this so you'll all leave me alone.' He breathed narrowing his eyes and tugging at his scarf uncomfortably; Kurosaki just chuckled at him and nodded at the script in his shaking hands.

'We'll do Act 5, Scene 8.' Toshiro flipped through the script and found the scene he'd just been finishing up. He could feel all eyes on him and he loathed it, he glanced at the script and sighed. He was to start, the scene took place at a graduation event and Sams character was confronting Denali for the first time after Denali had gotten out of hospital. He'd been in hospital because of the Florida shootings. Toshiro took a deep breath, glad they were all being patient with him. He tried to focus on Sam, how Sam would be feeling. Guilt and pain because the man he loved had been shot and somewhere deep down he blamed himself.

'How are you feeling?' Toshiro started, surprising himself with the genuine concern that he'd worked into his voice.

'Better than I look.' Came the amused reply and Toshiro resisted the urge to scowl. That was very much a Toshiro thing to do, instead he bit his lower lip softly and continued.

'I'm so sorry,' he whispered, his voice low but still audible, 'you wouldn't have been there if it hadn't been for me and when I-' he hesitated and tried to focus on the guilt, 'when I saw you in the hospital bed I didn't know what to do.' Toshiro felt his throat constrict. 'I thought you were going to leave me and I couldn't, I couldn't live with myself if you…' he trailed off. He'd not made eye contact with Kurosaki or anyone else while reading, his eyes focused only on the script since this was his first time reading this scene. He read ahead waiting for Kurosaki's line but his eyes fell onto the next line of the script. [Denali silences Sam with a kiss]. WHAT? Toshiros head snapped up and Kurosaki was already in front of him. His fake brown eyes went wide as Kurosaki leaned down and pressed his lips firmly against Toshiros.

At first the young boy stood there petrified not knowing what the hell to do. The entire hall felt like it was spinning as he felt the hot lips pressing firmly against his own. His eyes were closed tightly shut and just when Kurosaki was about to pull away Toshiro got over his shock and responded by pressing his lips back. At this a strong hand came up to cup his cheek and Toshiro felt his mouth open, Kurosakis warm breath entering and his body responded by slipping his arms around the taller boys neck. Toshiro wasn't sure how long they were like that, mouths moving against each others as he hungrily drank in every drop of breath that flowed from the older male, eventually a tongue entered his mouth tentatively and Toshiro greeted it with his own resisting the urge to moan into the kiss.
Surely the kiss in the play was not meant to last this long nor be this heated and somewhere around him he'd become aware of wolf whistles and chants. With a chuckle Kurosaki pulled away leaving Toshiro breathless and gasping for air. There was heat rising in his cheeks and he refused to make eye contact with his friends whose wolf whistles and cheering he could still hear. Kurosaki's eyes were full of mischief and he gazed at Toshiro with an emotion he hadn't seen before causing the younger man to take a few steps back and bury down into his scarf once again.

'Thank you for your audition.' Kurosaki said, his voice was low but Toshiro could clearly hear him. 'The results will be posted tomorrow on the notice board.'

Toshiro just wanted to get off the stage as the strawberry blond turned his back and walked over to a grinning Uryu and they spoke in low hushed tones. Toshiro scampered off the stage and made a beeline past his friends heading straight for the door. He couldn't even look at them right now he was so embarrassed.

'Shiro hold up!' Rangiku sang, her voice causing him to scowl and flushing at the thought of what his friends were going to say to him and how much they were going to tease him for what just happened.

'Good audition.' Yukio smirked and he looked down at Toshiro trying to meet his eyes but Toshiro had taken at looking at his feet. When they were a good distance away from the auditorium Rangiku rounded on him and drew him to halt. He scowled up at her and took a few steps back. She had a look on her face that was like a cat that'd gotten all the milk.

'Did you have fun?' She teased and he felt the colour creep back up into his face, tugging at his scarf.

'You two did that to me on purpose! I didn't know…' he tried to block the mental images of being kissed by Kurosaki back, 'that it was a kissing scene we were auditioning.'

'It wasn't meant to be, he choose that scene specifically for you.' Rangiku retorted and Toshiro watched Yukio wriggle a blond eyebrow at him.

'Why?'

'Because he wanted to kiss you silly.' Rangiku chuckled and waved a finger dangerously in front of his face. 'I told you, you were adorable.'

'You are.' Yukio chimed in and Toshiro flushed at the compliments. Knowing in his head that Yukio wasn't aware exactly what they were talking about.

'See even Yukio says so, that must mean it's true.'

'It's true, if we weren't friends I'd totally be trying it on with you too.' Rangiku laughed at his comment and she turned on the boy.

'You two would be cute together, maybe you should try it sometime.'

'Maybe when I'm drunk,' he shrugged his shoulders and Toshiro just walked passed them, there wasn't even any point in being embarrassed or offended by their chit chat because it was like this most of the time. He knew they were just teasing him.

'What will you do if you get the part?' Rangiku finally asked as she caught up to him again, this had been the exact same question he was asking himself over and over in his head right now.

'Which looks probable just now due to that Oscar winning performance,' Yukio offered and he joined them in walking on Toshiros other side.

'I don't know…' he sighed. The thought of doing anything in front of other people made him completely uncomfortable and yet… would it be so bad? It was 3 rather short scenes, he had no issues reading and retaining information so he'd learn the lines with ease. He'd get to work close with Kurosaki and he'd even get to kiss him again. If it weren't for the large part of him that hated the idea of being up in front of other people then he'd have agreed right then and there but as it were he hated being the centre of any kind of attention. Toshiro had fallen into one of those thoughtful silences of his that his friends knew and they walked in silence as he thoughtfully went over the pros and cons in his mind. If he didn't go for the part then that'd also mean letting Kurosaki down and for some reason that seemed to weigh rather heavily on the young mans small shoulders. He didn't like the idea of letting the strawberry down despite not knowing him. Then there was the fact that he was unbelievable gorgeous and that kiss. That kiss. It had been perfect and Toshiro could still feel a tingle in his lips as they walked, a tingle from the warmth that the other boys mouth had provided him. He hadn't been kissed like that in his life. Never. He knew that, that kiss would be lingering in his mind as he tried to get to sleep that night.

'I will take tonight to think about it.' He finally announced and his two friends nodded beside him. Feeling it was time for a change of topic Rangiku turned to Yukio.

'So Yukio when is the Mansion Madness party happening?' This spiked Toshiros interest and he listened intently to their conversation.

'Well, I was thinking… same date as last year so a month away, except we'll go with Saturday the 29th this time.'

'Do you want me to start putting the word out? You know I'm good at that and I've already had a bunch of people asking me since you're always on that damn consol.'

'The what?' Toshiro asked finally seeking clarification for his own knowledge.

'Oh it's a party that Yukio held last year when he first started here and we decided to make it a yearly thing. It was where Yukio had his run in with you know who during the 7 minutes in heaven.' Rangikus voice was teasing as she grinned over at her blond haired friend.

'People just look for an excuse to get plastered with alcohol and try and shag their classmates. It's a lot of fun.' Yukio muttered as he reminisced about the event.

'You're already going to be going with me Toshiro, no ducking out early and you will be drinking.' She smiled down at him and Toshiro just sighed. He didn't have the energy to argue back with her at the moment.

'Fine.'

XxXxX

PLEASE REVIEW THIS CHAPTER NOW =D