A/N So I'm doing something new here. This is just for your information, but I'm going back through my old chapters and working with em. Nothing major will change, but A/N's will be shortened, even possibly cut out completely for future readers so that they don't confused. After that, I'll go through them with a fine comb and get those tangles and knots out. Again, nothing will change, but it's just to let you know. It's all an effort to improve the quality of the story and all that good stuff. Thank ya for yer cooperation! (This up above will be deleted in time)
** So far chapters 1-10's A/N are fixed to a degree, and for chapters 1-5 the revamps are in progress and underway.
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Alright, so for chapter, I think it was, 19, where I had the important notice, I'm contemplating writing over it with just a filler chapter with just some nonsense blah, but ideas escape me so if you have a comical idea for something feel more than free to PM me or leave it in your review :) If I find one that interests me, I'll give full credit to your idea and post it!
OR, as fellow writers such as myself I may just hold a small completion so if you want to write a short chapter (over 2K, but less than 5K), just for fun that fits into the story with your permission I'll include it and give you full credit! Just lemme know if you wanna and I'll see how that works.
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Here is just a general view where we stand on the time stamp, since I know a lot of you may be getting confused or lost. Actually, the only really time related incident would be the group song project that was, if you remember correctly, in the first 6 weeks. Well, let's just say that was on day 0:1 (Week/Day). It is now 4:1 so two weeks remain for the project.
Eventually, shorter period over time incidents will be introduced so I'll most likely make an effort to keep a time stamp going near the bottom of ever chapter from now on. Tell me your opinions on the idea, yeah?
Proper disclaimers and warnings should be inserted here.
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Monday / Approximately two weeks before song due date
Normal POV
"Yo, where's Shiro?" Ichigo mutters as he yawns, head lying on his crossed arms over his desk. "Haven't seen him for a bit."
"Maybe Shinji managed to scare him off?" Renji suggests while propping himself up against the edge of the orangette's desk. "From what I've heard, he lost his temper and really went at it a few days ago."
Ichigo sighs, while covering his head with his arms. "That's what I was afraid of."
"What? Isn't it a good thing that he's leaving you alone now?"
"No, not necessarily. Just wait until Grimmjow finds out that Shiro isn't hanging around me anymore," the door is slammed open, Grimmjow walking in with his shoulders slumped and his head down as he always does in the mornings. "Speak of the devil, and he shall appear," Ichigo mutters under his breathe while shooting a glare the blunette's way.
Renji laughs and pats Ichigo once on the head as the bell to begin class starts, all the students taking their seats before Aizen marks them as tardy. The bell shuts off, the chattering of a chorus of voices is heard talking about a variety of subjects. Ichigo merely gazes at the wall, noticing that Shiro is missing yet another day of school. Ever since Wednesday of the week before, Shiro has been missing school and Ichigo hadn't of heard from him since that day either.
At that moment, Aizen walks in with a stack of papers in his arms. Almost instantly, the slight ruckus in the room is silenced as they all fear the punishments that are handed down mercilessly from their teacher.
"Good morning, class. I take it you had a safe, and legal, weekend," he smiles almost knowingly before setting the papers down on the desk of the kid that sits up front. "Today is the mark of the two week countdown until your song presentations are due for a major portion of your grade, so be aware of that. Also, as a result, we will be having a voice tryout in order for you to be aware of your partners' potential."
The whole class groans, save a very few who have absolutely horrified expressions stuck to their face, and a certain blue-haired hellion intent on showing off.
"Well then, shall we begin?" Aizen smirks as he begins passing out the sheets of paper that were clearly short sections from a wide range of songs.
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Ichigo's POV
Sighing, I lean back in my chair and pinch the bridge of my nose, scowling at the ceiling. After trying so hard to make sure that my voice wouldn't be heard by one Grimmjow Jeagerjaques and a Shirosaki Ogichi, all my efforts were about to be thrown out the window at the idiocy of my teacher. Great. Should have expected it. When does life ever go the way I want it to? Oh, that's right. Never.
As the paper reaches my deck, I glance down and notice that most of the song selections by me are indeed taken and I can't hide a small smile. Picking a random song, I write my name next to it and pass to Shinji, not before noticing that Grimmjow had selected a song from none other than himself. Shaking my head in exasperation, I look to see Shinji chewing on the end of his pencil before writing his name next to one of my songs. The paper finally reaches back to the front and Aizen nods as he looks at the list, frowning at different ones.
"Jeagerjaques," he calls distinctly and Grimmjow pulls out an earphone.
"Eh? Wha' ya want teach?" Aizen's left eye twitches, but he quickly recovers from the disrespect shown to him and smiles coldly.
"I know that you are quite familiar with your own song, but doesn't it seem unfair if you choose a song you are already very comfortable with?"
"Uh… No?" Grimmjow yawns and leans farther back in his seat.
"Yes, it is," Aizen corrects and marks out two names, replacing them with one another. "There, that seems much more satisfactory. Kurosaki, your song selection was switched with his. Is that alright?" He looks at me and I am given the impression that disagreeing is not really an option.
"Yes, sir. It's fine," I notice that Grimmjow grumbles under his breathe, but doesn't speak a word.
"Excellent," as soon as the word leaves his mouth the bell for lunch rings. "You are all dismissed. Tomorrow you will sing your chosen song, so I suggest you memorize what you need. When you return from lunch we shall learn a new lesson in math," groans sound throughout the room, but everyone quickly evacuates at this cold glare of disapproval at their noises.
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Roof
"Betcha missed me!" Grimmjow exclaims as he practically falls to the floor beside me despite my warning growl.
"You wish," Renji scoffs as he takes a giant bite out of his sandwich.
"Hey now Red, don't go an' get an attitude wit' me," the two share hate-filled looks as everyone else watches with mild interest.
"I'll get an attitude if I want to," he retorts as Rukia shakes her head with a small smile spread across her lips.
"Ok, ok! That's enough," I interrupt as the blunette attempts to stand up to most likely go and try to beat up Renji.
"Whatever," he mutters as he calms down and zones out in less than a second.
"Why am I the one subjected to this?" Forcing that train of thought away, I eat my lunch in silence as nobody dares to start a conversation.
The rest of the day continues on in a somewhat normal fashion, although I am now dreading tomorrow more than ever, due to the stupid assignment that we are doing in class. Resisting the urge to exhale quite loudly, I rest my cheek on my right hand and gaze out the window, the sky beginning to cry as rain falls to the ground as if in sorrow. I wonder if it's an omen of what is to come in the next few days, but mentally slap myself at the dreary thought.
I vaguely hear the teacher giving out our instructions as I let my mind drift to some faraway place, back to a time a while back, back when my mom was alive. She was the first to ever recognize my raw talent, recording my early years dealing with music. As a young kid, I didn't realize exactly what it meant, only that it made my mom proud. It was times like today that made me wish my talent would have been left undiscovered, as it only brought hassles and unwanted trouble wherever I went, and it was still only the beginning.
Finally noticing just where my train of thought is heading, I force myself to actually pay attention to at least the end of the lesson. It would do me no good to fall even further behind on my school work. Looking around the classroom, I can tell the majority is not paying attention by the blank looks painted on their faces, while Orihime, diligent as ever, is taking notes while Shinji follows her example since he was informed that he is recently failing. Renji is most definitely asleep, his eyes closed and his head tilted downwards and I can't help but notice Grimmjow in front of me with his earphones in.
Aizen writes down our homework on the board, a few problems out of the book which I had thought ahead and brought. The rest of the class is silent as everyone, or mostly everyone, works on the problems assigned so that they wouldn't have to waste as much of their free time at home. The lesson was simple enough, and I'm able to finish up within a few minutes, luckily before the bell rings, but after about two or three minutes the chime signals and everyone quickly scurries out of the door. My group hangs back and looks at me, waiting for me to hurry up and get my crap together. Grimmjow snorts and shoves past Renji, who sends one final glare.
The red head looks at me with a pointed look and I just laugh and shrug.
"Hey, it's not my fault if he's an asshole, nor is it my fault he seems determine to cling to me for the rest of this year," patting Renji's shoulder good naturedly, he scoffs, but drops it none-the-less.
"I have to wonder, though, why all the jackasses and assholes gather around you Ichi," Shinji laughs at my dramatic exhale. "What? You know it's true."
"Didn't say it wasn't, but I wish you wouldn't keep bringing that up. Like I said not two seconds ago, it's not my fault. It just… happens."
"Yeah, yeah. We get it," Rukia sneaks up behind us, surprising everyone. "Hi guys."
"Dammit Rukia!" Renji yells at he turns on his heels and throws his hands up in exasperation. "You scared the shit outta me! I thought you were a ghost or something like that."
"Oh, please," she waves him off with a flick of her wrist. "Nobody really believes in ghosts or anything remotely similar."
"What do you mean by that?!" Renji retorts. "Of course ghosts are real!"
"Yeah, and I'm a shinigami," she rolls her eyes sarcastically, crossing her dainty arms over her chest. "Seriously. What are you, an idiot?"
"I'm not an idiot, you are not a shinigami, and all of that exists!"
"Keep telling yourself that."
Renji growls, but shuts up when he hears the rest of us laughing at their usual daily bickering. He storms off, the usual reaction he shows whenever we laugh at him or at his sake. Rukia merely gives us all a look like 'What can you do?'. As we reach the gate, we all say our goodbyes and head our separate ways, dreading the next day.
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Shiro's POV
Agency
"Ya must be kiddin'! There has got ta be something on Ichigo Kurosaki!" I slam my fists down on the receptionist's desk, frustrated that nothing is going as planned.
Right after Shinji had dropped a hint, clearly unintentionally, it wasn't difficult for me to put two and two together: King was hiding something, something big… and I am determined to find out just what it is. I had first thought it was going to be a piece of cake. I mean, what, with the tapes I saw earlier at his house it was blaringly obvious that he was born to be a singer.
What I did not expect was no matter where I went, who I talked to, or what I asked I got a negative response. Nobody knew in the slightest who Ichigo was, and no matter how long and hard I argued with them it seemed that it was true. He wasn't famous, hell, he wasn't even known.
I storm outside and practically fall onto the bench outside, resting my chin in my palm, my elbow propped up on my knee in the famous 'thinker' pose. While calming down, I examined all the evidence I had at my disposal. First, I knew that Ichigo, if it really was true that he was working somewhere or had a job, would be into the musical industry, most likely a singer. Second, his name meant zip anywhere so that either meant that he wasn't recognized, which I find very hard to believe, or just wasn't sharing his true talent yet. Yes, that was a very good possibility.
Taking a deep breath and exhaling, I look up at the sky right as it begins to rain. The drops of water fall fast and show no sign of relenting their assault so I pull up my hood over my snow-white hair and walk into the rain, letting it cool my over-heated nerves. The past few days I had no shown my face at school in fear of accidently spilling anything about my secret investigation about King, but that would have to end soon. Actually, it would most likely be wise to show up tomorrow and search for any more information.
It's then that I notice my pocket feels rather light and I realize that my phone, along with my wallet, has gone missing. I curse under my breath, and immediately look down in search of the missing items. It's about five minutes later that I come to the conclusion I must have dropped, or left, them in the lobby of the agency I had just visited. Jogging back and walking in, ignoring the disapproving glances thrown my way at the fact I'm making quite a muddy mess of the floor, I stroll up the receptionist who rolls her eyes before speaking.
"For the last and final time, I've never heard of Ichigo Kurosaki nor is he on our records."
"I know, ya said it 'bout five times now. I'm stubborn, not stupid or deaf. Now if yer actually gonna listen, I was gonna ask if ya've seen mah wallet or cell phone," she clears her throat in annoyance before shaking her head.
"No, you did not leave them here, and if you did someone must have picked them up before I had the chance to notice. Now, if you'll please, leave," finally shutting me out, she looks back to her computer and begins typing at a furious rate.
Growling low in my throat, I turn around only to jump slightly in surprise as a man with a… green and white striped hat stands grinning at me like a lunatic.
"You are Shirosaki Ogichi, yes?" He asks excitedly, and I can picture him easily jumping up and down like a little kid on Christmas morning.
"Uhh… Yeah, I am. Who are ya?" The feeling like I've seen this idiot before washes over me, but I am unable to put a name to his face.
"Ah, how rude of me," he sticks out a hand and I shake it hesitantly. "I am Urahara Kisuke, manager of Tensa," he laughs as my jaw drops. "Yes, yes. It's hard to believe someone as handsome and charming as me could be a mere manager, but, alas, it is the truth."
'More like insane and possibly mental' I correct in my head, but I shut my mouth and smile politely as I'm forced to do so much. "So, wha' do ya want wit' me?"
"Oh, I almost forgot!" He pulls something out of his coat pocket and it's then that I finally notice that his whole outfit is a bit… questionable to say the least. I mean, who wears sandals in the rain? Seriously. "I do believe these belong to you?" It's then when I see my cell phone and my wallet.
"Yes, I just left those here by mistake," I hold out my hand, but I narrow my eyes when his goofy grin only widens and an unfamiliar look passes through his eyes.
"Don't worry, I have every intention of returning these to the rightful owner…" he pauses, no doubt for emphasize and I brace myself the ungodly request he must want if he is holding my cell phone and wallet hostage, "but I want something from you first, Shirosaki~" He sings out.
"Wha' ya want, Hat N Clogs?" The name is said before I even register it and he seems shocked for a moment before laughing loudly.
"Ah, sorry, sorry. It's just that someone very familiar calls me that as well. Must be a coincidence. Back on topic though, all I want from you is a little bit of information," he walks over to the now empty couches in the corner of the lobby and sits down, oddly crossing his legs as I sit down in the empty single-person chair directly next to him.
"An' wha' information do ya want from me?"
"I'm simply curious, but as you may or may not know, I am quite a curious man and until my curiosity is sated I tend to be very single-minded," it didn't take a genius to figure out what he was telling me. 'Answer the question or you won't leave here without your stuff and you will most certainly see me again.'
"Just ask me tha' fuckin' question," I snap, tired of all this verbal tennis.
"I'm just curious as to who this Ichigo Kursoaki is that you were asking about," he leans back as I'm once again startled by the unfamiliar question and surprises this man seems to be full of in just the few short minutes I've been talking with him.
"Wait, do ya know 'im?" I question excitedly. Maybe he knows something about King.
"Sadly, I don't. But if you are looking for him here, he must be quite special," he smiles and leans forward once more. "Will you do this curious man a favor and tell me everything you know?"
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A/N Ok, ok! I know, it's not the best, but hey I literally forced myself to sit here and finish it up. I had about a thousand words done on it, so I thought "Hey, why not just finish it and get it over with so you can start the next one?" Besides, it's no doubt going to get exciting and I'm looking forward to it and I hope everyone else is, too~ And look at Urahara, being all sneaky and conniving~
Once again, sorry for the long wait. Got sick (Again. Jeesh, I know, I'm such a sickly teenager. Actually, I believe I'm getting sick again right now. The aches and pains, headaches, hot and cold flashes, runny nose, yup, the whole she-bang. Aren't you jealous? You totes should be!)
As always, read, review, and well… rave? Hell, I don't know! It was the only other 'r' word I could come up with spur of the moment that even made a bit of sense. Back on track, reviews are always greatly appreciated, even if it's a simple "OMG. Gurl, I totes loved the chapter. –Insert more here, since I'm not creative enough for that-" Every single damn review is much appreciated and keeps me motivated to actually finish this.
Also, quick question and feel free to leave your feels in your review or something, PM if you like, but has anyone reading this ever been into Yu-Gi-Oh? The anime, card game, any of it? Recently me and a small group of my friends at school got into it and I'm just curious how many others like us are out there that I know!