I had a lot of fun writing this particular chapter, so enjoy!
Chapter 7 – The Boy
It wasn't easy to get into the under-eighteen's nightclub without some form of invitation and as the two bouncers stared down at me, questioning who I was, a part of me desperately wanted to shy away from the unpleasant glares that seemed to burn straight through to my soul. Ulquiorra simply explained that Renji had given each of his guests the right to invite a 'plus one' guest, and as soon as this information, which was no more than a blatant lie, was out in the open, the two bouncers who stood at easily six and a half feet stepped aside with no more than a shrug of the shoulders. The sound of music blared through the walls of the nightclub, almost at a decibel that made me feel a little nauseous, and whether or not that was because of the fact that, appearance-wise, I had changed, I wasn't sure. I felt unbelievably apprehensive as I walked into the nightclub, and that much for me, was enough for the nauseating feeling to return to the pit of my stomach. The more I walked into the nightclub, even with the hood of my jacket pressed tight against my face and head, I still felt unwelcomed in amongst the large crowd of teenagers. Many teenagers were either drinking at the bar that sat towards the entrance and seemed to stretch for at least a good third of the small under-eighteen's nightclub, whilst others were on the dance floor and the occasional group or two shouted to their friends as if it were the only way of holding a decent conversation with them over the blaring music.
I slipped unnoticed through the masses of teenagers, both male and female, in the attempt to bump into the girl that had placed this 'curse' on me. I knew that part of me would have easily turned on my heel and walked away, and hopefully, live on my own for the rest of my life, but the stubborn streak in me refused to turn back and run for what might only be a couple of months maximum. I felt myself being pushed further into the small nightclub by the many teenagers that seemed to be blissfully ignorant of the fact that all I wanted to do was shy away from any attention. A feeling of irony suddenly overcame me at that point and as I pushed myself through the crowd, I felt myself reminisce of what it felt like to be popular, to be wanted and admired by so many people, known or unknown. No matter how much I wanted to scoff at myself for reminiscing at such an ironic thought, and no matter how many times the people around me bumped into me or tried to pull the hood away from my face, I refused to hurt them physically. Time and time again, I had thought about just leaving the nightclub and living on my own for the rest of my life, and right there and then, as I somehow managed to push past the happy teenagers that surrounded me, it seemed to be a tempting idea.
It was only when I felt someone come into contact with me that my mind froze, mainly in fear. When I slowly glanced over my shoulder, I felt my eyes widen. The person that had collided into me was none other than the person that I was looking for, the girl that Ulquiorra had referred to as Rukia Kuchiki. My blue eyes met her bright purple ones, and I noticed that she wore tight black jeans, a pair of four-inch pale pink heels and a revealing pink shirt. Her purple eyes, black hair and pale complexion reminded me immediately of what she had done to me.
"You..." I breathed, not having a clue as to how to approach her without making her think that I was some sort of stalker. I rolled up my jacket sleeve, just enough for the crimson carnation tattoo to on show. "I need you to get rid of this curse" I slowly began. The girl shook her head and I could tell that she wanted to get the hell away from me. She started to head slowly into the crowd, and I didn't blame her. If I was in her position and if some delusional nutcase had come up to me, asking for help, I would have turned my back on them as well. On impulse, if nothing else, I grabbed her wrist, preventing her from moving anywhere away from me. She turned to look back at me; her eyes were filled with confusion. "Please. Just make it stop already. I can't take any more of it" I pleaded. I had hoped that both my voice and look on my face was convincing enough to make the girl that stood before me.
"You've learnt nothing" the girl stated and at that point, I let go of her wrist after she had said that. She slowly moved away from me. I watched her as she took a few steps away from me. "Find someone who can overlook what you look like. Find someone who knows you better than you know yourself" the girl said, almost cryptically as she soon disappeared from my sight. Her cryptic words had me stunned, not to mention uncertain of where I would go now, or even what I would do. Great, now what do I do? It won't be a good idea to stick around and draw any attention to me, but how the hell am I supposed to 'find someone' that could overlook what I looked like before graduation? No girl would even want to give me a chance now, and no guy in their right mind would even want to hang out with me, and there is absolutely no way in hell that Ulquiorra's gonna be 'the one', I thought to myself as I turned on my heel and headed for the bar. I stopped at the bar, only to collect my thoughts and plan what would be the smartest thing for me to do at this moment in time.
I looked over to where Ulquiorra had been the entire time, and I noticed that a faint smile had graced his faces, not to mention what looked to be a happy look on his face, as the orange-haired girl giggled at something which Ulquiorra must have said. He didn't notice me, and to be honest, I didn't expect him to. I had started to think that maybe Ulquiorra would turn his back on me, just like everyone else, but a small part of me refused to become depressed just because the situation looked dire. It was at that point when I felt someone watch me from a short distance away, and as I looked over my shoulder carefully, my eyes latched onto the figure that had been watching me for who knows how long. His orange hair remained vivid, even in the dark lighting, and from what I had just seen, his brown eyes looked warm, almost to the point where that warmth could have been interpreted as being understanding. I felt a small smile grace my face, and I had wanted to wave to the boy that looked at me, but he quickly looked away, as if the brief eye contact between the pair of us was awkward for him. I slowly turned around and refused to budge an inch as the people around me continued to indulge themselves in the music, the alcohol and anything else that may have been picked up from being here in the nightclub. I was surprised to see the look in the boy's eyes when he looked back at me, and I was even more surprised when he waved gently, almost sincerely. From the look of it, no-one else was nearby to where he was, and I watched, as if I was in some sort of hypnotic state, as the boy slowly walked towards me. He didn't say anything, but motioned to the bartender for two drinks before he looked back at me. I watched as the bartender, a tall, dark-haired girl with glasses who happened be scantily-clad dressed, set down two glasses filled with what looked to be a soft drink of some description. A part of me screamed at me to refuse the drink altogether, under the guise that it probably had some sort of alcohol in it, but another part of me, the confused, unsure part of me, wasn't sure what would be the best thing for me to do.
"You nervous?" the boy asked. "Don't be. It's not alcoholic" the boy reassured me with a small smile. I watched as the boy pulled out his wallet from his jacket pocket, as if to hand over a ten-pound note. The busty girl refused it, and said that Renji had covered the cost of drinks in the hire amount for the venue. The boy smiled simply, slipped the money back into his wallet and placed it back into his jacket pocket before he turned to look at me. "It's on me" the boy smiled reassuringly and picked up one of the glasses. I didn't say anything at first, and I had, at first, wanted to turn and bolt as soon as possible, but I remained in place for some strange, unexplainable reason.
"Thanks" I slowly said and picked up the glass. I stared down at the contents of the glass. Bright red, almost like blood, mixed with sunny yellows as a sprinkle of what looked to be crystallised sugar dusted the top of the drink. I took a hesitant sip of the drink, and almost gagged at how sweet it tasted. Despite being seventeen, I wasn't that much into sweets, so to have the taste of having such a sweet drink entering my system felt foreign for me.
"Are you a student? Who are you with? I haven't seen you around school before" the boy asked slowly. I looked over to the boy; the look in his eyes still had that same warmth in them now as when he had looked at me.
"Yeah. I'm a student" I slowly said. It wasn't a complete lie, but right there and then; it felt more like a lie than anything else. "I'm just not really a people person" I said, drank a little more of the drink and headed for the exit. I felt something latch onto me, as if to keep me in place, and as I looked over my shoulder, I saw that the boy had managed to grasp a hold of my wrist. He let go almost instantly afterwards.
"Sorry" I hadn't expected him to apologise, but at that point, the single word felt not so much as apologetic, but more compassionate.
"It's fine. I just... this scene...it's not for me" I stumbled on my words. I had expected the boy to say something but he didn't. He just smiled lightly, grabbed a hold of my wrist and pulled me as he left the nightclub. I had no option but to allow myself to be led out of the nightclub by the boy. For once since I had had this 'curse' placed on me, I felt something that resembled Reassurance, something that I could have easily been mistaken for as Happiness. I was surprised when the boy let go of my wrist as the sound of the music that had played loudly at the under-eighteen's nightclub became faint. The boy turned to look at me straight in the eye and smiled. Somehow, unlike the previous smiles that he had offered me, this one felt more sincere, compared to the others which were more than likely out of reassurance than anything else. It made me feel a little more accepting of the situation that I was in.
"I'm Ichigo. Ichigo Kurosaki" the boy said and held out his hand. I looked at it blankly at first, before I looked at the boy. What do I say? What can I say? What can I say my name is? I can't tell him who I really am, but using the letter 'G' is too ambiguous, I thought. I looked at the boy, who looked at me with a worried look plastered all over his face. Crap! Now I'm stalling. Think, dammit. Think! Panic instantly overcame me at that point. I sighed lightly.
"Sho. Just Sho" I replied and shook his hand. I had no idea at that point just how important Ichigo would be to me, and I also had no idea that I could have easily lost him forever due to the 'curse' that I now had to live with. I wasn't sure what was worse at that point; the fact that I was going to somehow come to trust, not to mention fall in love with, the boy that stood before me, or the fact that a faint burning sensation came from where the crimson carnation tattoo was situated on my body. I could have sworn that, when I looked in the bathroom mirror when I got home that night, the tattoo of the number six had gotten a little darker in colour, going from what was originally a dark pink-red colour to more of a vermillion red that seemed to have a few tints of mahogany brown in it.
I didn't really choose the name 'Sho' for any particular reason, aside from the fact that I needed an alibi for Grimmjow. I will say this though, Sho and Grimmjow are one of the same person, so please don't comment saying something like 'Why add an OC?' I am not against OC's but I just wanted to make that point crystal clear.