Title: Pose for me
Author's notes: This is a 'shorter' chapter. But I tease. Sometimes I like to use some sort of medical disaster to rile up the story and bind it all together. Face it, we need to stick Ichigo in terrible situations; not because we're sadists. Hopefully.
Disclaimer: I still don't own Bleach
Thanks to Demonic black magic, TheoneConstant, ShirosakiKagura, ToTallyPerfect55, naughtykittyme0, TigerdemonzOwnz, YAOI FANZ, Patd06, crown zero, Couldbecrazy, Princessnausica, Trici light , Purp-lex16754, Fawn4ever, Voluptuous , TigerDemonz, Inralak. xXSatsujinXx, Chloe, Everywherebut, Firedragonmaiden, Narutopokefan, Tuck woo, Silver wolf, Acchann, Daiki027, Kira1525, , Mountain tenshi, NaminazeMia, Ogichi24, and everyone mentioned in the previous chapter For being super awesome!
My life was a mess, a terrible, horrible, fucked up mess. But, first thing was first, I had to call my dad and Yuzu. I picked up the phone and dialed the number. The phone started ringing but I was still biting my fingers anxiously. After all, the last phone call I'd received wasn't good news at all. It's only natural to be anxious while waiting for this one.
I heard one ring... two rings... three rings... Then someone picked up. It was an unfamiliar voice.
"Hello, hello, is Kurosaki Yuzu there?"
"Yes, this is her nurse speaking, I'll see if she's well enough to talk. Who is this by the way?"
"Tell her it's her brother." Yuzu's sweet voice was something I hadn't heard in so long. On the other side of the line, I could hear the nurse talking to Yuzu and then handing her the phone.
"Onii-chan...?" Yuzu said. She sounded weak and barely breathing. But that one word kept echoing through my mind. Onii-chan... Onii-chan...
"Onii-chan?" She repeated once more because I hadn't answered her the first time.
Quickly, I choked back the emotion and answer her, "Hey kiddo, how are you doing?"
"I-I'm fine... How are you doing? Are you... eating? How's your job...?"
Fuck. Shit. Ichigo, don't cry. Don't cry, don't cry. You can't ruin this for yourself.
When she started bombarding me with all of these questions, I felt terrible. I felt like a piece of shit. She sounded just like my mother. There's a saying that you'll never know how good something is until it's gone. I didn't want this to be the case. Yuzu cared about me so much and I don't even know what to say back to her because I feel so irresponsible.
"I'm good, Yuzu, I'm alright!" I assured her. I wanted to mention her pregnancy complications but I got scared that I might distraught her.
There was a long pause on the phone before she said, "Y-You're worried, aren't you, Onii-chan?"
My eyes started stinging. I wanted to say something but I felt choked, AGAIN. Anytime I feel emotion, it clogs up my inner arteries and plugs up my throat. That's why I don't really love emotion.
"Don't worry... Onii-chan, it's alright. I'll be alright."
"Yuzu..."
"I have to go, Onii-chan. Keep calling me..."
"I-I will."
Phone line cut, and I'm left debating whether or not I should call my dad. At the moment, it seems like the most sensible thing to but I didn't. Sending the cash anonymously might be the best thing to do or making direct deposits into his bank account. Last phone call is to Ishida. Fucking nervous is the best way to describe my emotions right now. Really fucking nervous as hell.
"Hello?"
Here goes nothing.
"Ishida... it's me, Ichigo."
"Oh, Kurosaki-san!"
"I-I..." I'm breaking down. Come on, Ichigo. Talk! Fucking talk!
"It's ok, you want your job back. I know. I arranged for you to have a re-shoot of your photo shoot tomorrow. Can you bring your own clothes though?"
... Oh yeah ... I took their clothes with me, you know, just a random model walking down the street, crying in their car, having strange meetings. I took the clothes off earlier but I still had them with me.
"Yeah... Shit, sorry, I just-"
"Ichigo, I really wanted to say thank you. I believe your going to save our company. You know our situation right now and I think if we had a model like you, we could easily get back on top."
"It's no problem," Really it's not.
"Oh, and, um... I'm sorry about what Grimmjow did."
"..." How the fuck did he find out what Grimmjow did.
"Oh, shit, I almost forgot about those. Don't worry I'll bring them with me."
"Thanks."
"No problem." I was about to hit the end call button before Ishida kept talking.
"Oh, and Kurosaki-san, I really mean that thank you."
"Huh? Oh, yeah, don't worry, I'll com-"
"You don't understand, if you come back, these models won't be laid off. Our company is barely floating. I'm really grateful..." there was a beep, "Sorry, Kurosaki-san, I have another call coming in."
He cut me off there. What did I just sign up for? I guess I'd better be ready for whatever life was going to throw at me: maybe a few tomatoes and an anchors.
From the time that I woke up the next morning to my obnoxiously loud alarm, I knew that day was going to be a long, long day. I hadn't seen or heard from the blue-haired monster since yesterday's 'incident'. Fortunately for me, I didn't want to see his ugly pretty face. That douchebag. I tried really hard to avert my thoughts that morning. My resolve would not be broken that easily.
Before I left to get ready, Ishida caught me and gave me a little badge thing that looked like a face of a skull in a blue fire.
"It's a charm," he explained, "You'll do fine as long as you have this."
"Er... I don't want to burden you or anything-"
"You can just give it back to me when you finish." With that, he left. I looked at the badge and back at Ishida. Then I went back to 'work'.
I found myself at the scene of yesterday's ordeal. I also found myself whispering, "Shit, shit, shit..." My heart raced as I stared into our dressing room. Because of yesterday, I made sure to double check so that I didn't walk in on a porno show.
Lucky for me, my perverted modeling partner was no where in sight. This time, he probably had the decency of having hot sex elsewhere. I got ready for the photoshoot and went to the set. One problem, I froze up. It wasn't because I didn't want to.
Paralysis was a good way to describe. I couldn't move nor did I have any idea as to what to do. Models shouldn't have photo-phobia: a word to the wise. For some reason, I thought the world was staring at me without blinking. In reality, Ishida, the cameraman, and a few models who gathered around the set were the only ones who were watching.
That was enough to scare the shit out of me; not good. Most of the people, or should I say all the people, were confused as why I wasn't striking slutty poses. After a good five minutes Ishida asked, "Kurosaki-san... Are you afraid of the camera?"
Oh fuck, anything but this. Still, despite him asking, I didn't respond. Ishida seemed to get the hint. and just beckoned me over into a dark room. He shut the door and turned on the line.
"It's just a private photo shoot," Ishida's eyes didn't show any anger, only contentment, "Don't be worried, it's OK to be a little bit frightened when you first start. That's why arranged this."
Once the lights came on, I could see the real beauty of a private room, no windows, no outdoor outlet other than the door. And the upholstered seating was really comfortable unlike the ones outside.
The camera man stood there and waved his hand at me. Ishida started directing me to stand in the middle of the set and just like before, I was left to my own resources for the rest. It was disastrous at first and the 'deer-in-the-headlights' happened again.
Just to make sure no one was around, his eyes darted back and forth. His confidence sky rocketed as his vision almost went really blurry. It was so nice to not be able to see anything around him. Ignorance gave him incredible amounts of bliss; made him feel like the universe centered around him. Maybe being in the spotlight wouldn't be too bad.
"Just strike a pose, act natural!" Ishida advised.
I still didn't want to, at all. My shoulders tensed up and I could feel my abs getting really hard. Then, sadly, remembering what GRIMMJOW had said about how models should wear their clothes. My trembling fingers reached for the white buttons on my shirt and unbuttoned them with my eyes shut. It just felt so immoral and dirty! Face reality: If I was going to survive this type of work, I had to get used to this feeling.
For the first photo, I only unbuttoned the first two buttons so you could see my collar bone and the top of my chest. Chest puffed, head tilted back, and hands in my pockets was how I struck my first pose.
My eyes usually had a hardened stare plastered them to try to hide as much emotion as I could. A little emotion couldn't hurt so I softened them up to a playful look. At that moment, when I was still figuring out how to look right after the first photo, something hit me really hard with a sledge hammer. A wave of realization washed me up on the shore of reality.
I had to look like I didn't CARE! That's a little hard to do with stress but it's the only way to actually get the results you want. I shouldn't be "trying", I don't want to be there, and I'm better than everybody.
As soon as that became my mindset, the camera became my best friend and the flashes didn't stop coming. One after another as I kept, subconciously posing. I walked off the set with my thumbs still in my pockets, my shirt completely unbuttoned, and fedora hanging over my face.
Pulling the fedora off my hair, I asked nervously, "So how did I do?"
Ishida didn't answer, at the least, he didn't even make eye contact with me but his eyes looked enormous like he'd just seen something utterly shocking. Speechless, he just stared at me as if he was waiting for me to say something.
The only word in my mouth was SHIT.
"...Did I do something wrong?" I asked with a trembling voice.
Still, not a word came out of his mouth while my question awkwardly floated around in the air. Pushing up his glasses that looked like they were about to fall off, he shook his head slowly. Something that I noticed- I didn't know if I should've noticed this or not- Ishida's cheeks had a slight dusting of pink on them. Could it be that he was... blushing? Because of me? No, no, no! That's just really awkward.
I can't think that self-centeredly or gay: My photoshoot was over for today. That attitude is reserved for work only. While we still stared at each other, Ishida ran away. And I mean, he literally ran away. Dammit, I probably fucked up big time to earn a reaction like that.
The cameraman didn't say anything to me, instead, he just patted my on the back as he headed out of the room. Do you know how racehorse's hearts can explode during a race? That was my situation.
I went back into the dressing room and luckily, no blue-haired bastard. I sat down on one of the clothes trunks in the room. My head started hurting out of pure aphrehension. What the hell did I do back there to get those type of reactions? I was sweating like a pig because I was in the photoshoot for so long so it was best I took a shower.
After my shower I remembered the little charm that Ishida had given me.
"Oh yeah, I need to return this," I told myself. I dried off my hair and hung up the towel. When I came back out, the only thing in the air was dead silence. And maybe a few murmurs here and there that I forced myself to ignore. One thing still bothered me even after toning out the background noise, I could've swore I heard someone say my name. Even though my ears perked up, I still passed it over. It's to be expected of some primetime company with a shit ton of hotshot.
Looking around, I spotted Ishida's office and assured that it was where he inspected everything. I knocked on the door. No answer. I knocked a little bit harder. Still no answer. Getting impatient, I twisted the door knob and snooped in. Sure enough, Ishida was sitting right there looking at some photos. What the hell? Why didn't he open the door?
I tried to catch a peak of what photo's Ishida was looking at. God, I was so nosey. But, damn, those were my photos!
Gently I tapped him on his shoulders. He jumped out of his seat.
"O-Oh, Kurosaki-san!" I saw the pink brush up on his cheeks as he frantically tried to gather up all of the photos.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you."
"No, no! It's nothing like that... actually," he picked up my photos, "Do you mind if I get these printed?"
Get the printed? The hell? "I thought it was just a trial."
"Oh, yeah. Ahaha, that's what it was supposed to be but these came out jaw-droppingly well."
"...If you say it like that, then sure, why not?"
"I'm glad you agree," he let on a small smile but it quickly faded away and he held his hand really close to his lips and looked full of thought, "Do you... Do you think I could keep a copy of these?"
A copy of my photos: I don't know if this was just me but wouldn't it be a little bit creepy?
"You know... Like for your profile! So if you had an interviews or anything."
I just nodded my head and said, "Sure." It seemed like a good idea. They would be there if I ever needed them, I guess.
"Well, I guess that's your day for today! Really nice to have such short hours, right?" Ishida went back to gathering pictures up at his desk and organizing.
"Oh... yeah," it was weird that he made no eye contact with me what so ever. He was talking as if he was in a rush.
I left the room and shut the door behind me. There I saw Grimmjow walking towards the door and crossed paths with me. I tried not to make eye contact but I did glare for a split second. And I scowled at him. His expression didn't change at all. As I walked past him, I felt his blue hair swish to the side to catch a quick glimpse of me.
It hadn't even been a good fifteen seconds since Grimmjow went inside and I came outside but I heard something fall and shatter from the room. Like a person with some decency, I ran back to see if he was alright. I opened the door very slowly, and they didn't notice.
They were so caught up in GRINDING EACH OTHER that they failed to hear the door open. I didn't disturb them, quietly as before, I closed the door almost all the way and went to the window to see what was going on.
"G-Grimmjow...stop..." I heard Ishida whisper rather sensually.
"Hey, boss, I see you with him. What the fuck gives? I thought we had a deal," Grimmjow responded by pressing him even more into the wall and breathing right in his face. No personal space whatsoever.
"What are you talking about?!" Ishida finally yelled at him. "We didn't have-"
Before he could finish, Grimmjow put a hand over his mouth and looked around like he knew someone was being a fly on the wall and just listening to them. Shuffling over, I started breathing really rapidly. Who knows what would happen if I got caught at the hands of someone like Grimmjow.
His eyes darted my way, or where I was standing, and then he let go of Ishida. The black-haired man coughed and tried to catch his breath and lunged forward as soon as the other let go of him. Grimmjow just got his coat, threw it over his shoulder and left the room.
He saw me on the way out. Leaning over to my ear before he left, he whispered, "I saw you."
My insides were freaking out. I covered up my mouth even my eyes didn't fail to show my emotions. I thought I was going to explode. This guy was making me go insane from the inside out. As soon as he left, I ran away out of the building too.
Thanks for reading~ I got good feedback on chapter one so I think this deserves a continue. Review, favorite, and follow!
Onto Review Replies:
Sa-shii-mi: And this was quite possibly the world's slowest update. Watching my plot's evolution is like watching a koala eating: You'll love it.
Kleny-Gingerhead: I've gotten a nosebleed from Ichigo. My nose started actually bleeding. And I had to explain the blood on my covers to my parents. I'm putting my bets on Rangiku because I was going to integrate Orihime a little bit differently into the story.
Hollowshirosaki413: I don't live in a fairy tail world. But I was actually thinking about that but I needed the feels as a binding agents. If it's more you want to read, it's more you shall get.
ShirosakiKagura: My type of formula: Arrogant ass = 3 immensely
ToTallyPerfect55: I will post more for you my love.
TigerDemonOwnz: Funny you should ask, I saw a picture the other day of Grimmjow and Ichigo having sex and Urahara watching intently from the window. But I can't seem to find it. And you'll get your sweet GrimmIchi~ The longer you wait, the sweeter the fruit will taste. Fuck it, I suck at idioms.
Patd06: Yeah, it's funny because when I went back to read it, that's what I said too. My focus is usually on childish humor. But you know... i suck at it. Hahaha.
Trici Light: He's not torturing Ichigo. Grimmjow likes to refer to it as sexual therapy...
Rawr: I think we're going to be friends for a long, long time. Throws water at you. Now stop jumping on the sofa before your mom gets home.
Voluptuous: Your comment made me laugh how you were all, "SMUT WOMAN SMUT!" Well, "Smut smut smut smut."
Chloe: Thanks for all the compliments, you're gonna make me blush. Just kidding. But really, thank you. It's ok, my first language was not english either! I didn't learn english till I was 6 years old.
Tuckwoo: When I first saw your name I was like... WHAT THE FUCK IS A TUCKWOO THAT'S SO FUCKING AMAZING! Don't cry tuckwoo. You'll get to read more.
Silver Wolf: I think I'm going to end up shattering your heart even more. Wink, wink. Wink wink. WINKEDY WINK WONK.
Ogichi24: PF I WILL CONTINUE YOU LEAD ME ON.