Heh... Sorry for not updating. I've been busy applying for Section Leader and whatnot. Forgive meh. x)

Disclaimer: See page one.

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It's not that the section leaders were stuck up or anything.

It's not as if they were difficult to look at, or smelly, or whatever.

But after spending twenty-five HOURS in a plane and one hour in Mister Cogdill's not-so-small-but-too-small-for-this-purpose car, Ichigo was ready to tear his eyes out with a nice, rusty spork. When he had woken up this-(tomorrow?)- morning, the clock read 5:30. His plane left at seven. He wanted to cry.

Why the hell did they have to leave so early?!

When he arrived at the airport (later than Rukia, of course, not with her) he glared at everybody, especially Mister C. It was his damn fault the damn plane was so damn early. Damn, damn, damn.

Ichigo wasn't a very happy camper.

When Rukia arrived, all bubbly and happy and sparkly-shimmery as usual, Ichigo wanted to kill something. He almost wished Kiego was here, so he wouldn't feel at all guilty about beating something that lacked the capacity to defend itself. But Kiego played clarinet, and there was no woodwind section in a drumcorp, so he and Mizuiro, and Ishida all stayed back. Ichigo told Ishida the day before he left to defend Karakura while he was away. Ishida had scoffed and said he would do better now that Ichigo was finally going- much to Ichigo's annoyance. If Ishida didn't have such a cool section leader, Ichigo would have killed him by now. But his section leader was cool, so Ichigo couldn't go around killing kids in her section. He'd let that damn Quincy live for a little while longer.

But thinking of Ishida did nothing to help Ichigo's temper. And when Mister Cogdill- excited, too awake, as usual- took the section leaders and seconds through the airport, Ichigo was told he couldn't bring his metalcore drum sticks. So he packed them in his bag with a glare at the smiling clerk at the desk. Then he boarded the plane, and was chagrined to find his seat right next to Rukia's. What was worse, she had the window seat.

If this kept up, somebody was going to die.

Then Ichigo fell asleep, and awoke ten hours later at the Honolulu airport, in Hawaii. The Americans in the group were ecstatic at being on the island. Ichigo just wanted more sleep.

After the plane refueled, they were off again, and this time Ichigo stole the window seat. He watched the island disappear in the endless blue until his eyes drifted shut of their own accord. He awoke when the plane jolted to a stop in California, and when the rest of the plane's occupants had exited, then Mister Cogdill let them go. They were allowed to change clothes (if they wanted) in the airport, get breakfast, and pick up souvenirs before their next plane left for Utah, then the East Coast. Ichigo found himself with Pickle, Mohawk Man, the Mellophone section leader, and Rukia.

Why God, why?

Because it was ridiculously bright, the first thing Ichigo did when he got to the plaza in the middle of the airport was buy sunglasses. Then a beanie hat, then breakfast. He really woke up when the ice cold milk he was drinking with his waffles hit the back of his throat, at which point he choked and gagged. He realized he was in the company of others when somebody pounded him on the back. He looked around the table for the first time, seeing everybody he was with, and scowled. When everyone saw this, they were sure he was fine, and went back to chatting and eating.

Later when they boarded the plane, Ichigo was feeling slightly better, if somewhat sick from jetlag. The band kids had almost-first class seats, and they were all in the same section of the plane, so they all talked and laughed and had a good ol' time while Ichigo observed. While he just scowled away and glared, he noticed several things that should have been obvious to him. Like the way the trombone/baritone section leader looked at the Mellophone section leader. And the way the trumpet section leader looked at the only girl in the pit crew. Band relationships. And for some odd reason, Ichigo wanted to laugh at that. Most band relationships were doomed to phailure, weren't they?

When he found himself fervently wishing against, he twitched.

The in-flight movie came on soon after that, and all the section leaders and seconds went quiet, with the help earphones. At some point during the movie, the main character shouted something akin to, "But love conquers all!" and everybody in the band sniggered. This brought on a round of discussion, and- too Ichigo's horror, I must add- a band-wide reflection of the halftime show from two season's past.

"You remember our 'Video game Live' show?"

"Hah! That was so weird! And the monologue-"

"YES! THE MONOLOGUE AT THE BEGINNING!"

"How did it go again...?"

Silence for a few seconds. Ichigo thought they might actually let the discussion die. No such luck.

"...In a world where-"

"No, that's not it. It was, "In the year 2095...' "

All eyes got wide.

"Yeah! That's it!"

"In the year 2095-"

"Princess Ariana-"

"Fell in love with Prince Nicholas! But behind every happy ending there lies an untold story..."

The older members chorused, "This. Is their story."

"In an attempt to master the world, the Techtronics have kidnapped Princess Ariana and hidden her in one of their..."

"Intense video games...? No, that wasn't it..."

"Complex! It was complex! '...Complex video games. Now, Prince Nicholas must defeat the four levels of the video game and rescue Princess Ariana, or she will be lost to him. Forever."

The older members chorused, again. "Let the game begin!" Then they all burst into laughter, some making the noise that must have been played at the beginning of the show, like an old school sega booting up. Or a gameboy. The baritone section leader mock-conducted in seven-eight time, and they did an entire run through of the show using just their voices. It may have been the most strange yet amusing thing Ichigo had ever seen. One of the colorguard shouted at the end, "All your shako are belong to us!" and the band had another round of laughter. The people in the back of the plane glared and muttered, "Nerds...", but the band kids didn't seem to notice.

Or if they did notice, they were proud anyways.

For the rest of the flight, Ichigo couldn't bring himself to glare at anybody, but he still scowled. He even smiled, once. He told himself he couldn't remember why, but he had a suspicion that it was something Rukia had done. Totally unfounded, though. Eventually he fell asleep again, and by the time the plane touched down at Hartsfield International, Ichigo felt almost well rested. After they exited the plane, and went through security, and packed the instruments in the trailer attached to Mister Cogdill's truck, they stood in the parking garage, debating who would ride in the car and who would ride in the trailer. The truck, which had tiny interior space but a really good heater, could only fit Mister C in the driver's seat, two people in the front seat, and four in the back. Illegally.

The trailer had no heat, barely any light, and was packed with instruments. But it was spacious. So the section leaders debated who would get what, and the boy section leaders decided NOW of ALL TIMES was the time to be chivalrous, so the guys rode in the trailer and the girls rode in the car. Ichigo felt sick again. After an hour of riding in the dark, bumpy trailer, Mister Cogdill finally announced that they had arrived, and when all the guys looked through the cracks in the corners between the roof and the door, they saw the high school band building towering in front of them. Immediately the older members started yelling and shouting, and when they were let out, they ran around like idiots. Ichigo just scowled and took his bag from the back of Mister Cogdill's truck.

Which brings us back to Ichigo, after twenty-five HOURS of spending time with section leaders and seconds. They now inhabited the band building, with the girls sleeping in the practice rooms and the boys sleeping in the band hall out in the open. The only thing that separated them from any wandering thief or killer was a lobby and a pair of glass doors.

Lovely.

Ichigo closed his eyes and tried to count sheep. He could hear the girls in the practice room- which said something, because those things were damn near sound proof- and saw the light of a cell phone or laptop. It had to be at least three in the morning now, he thought suddenly. Damn jetlag.

The ground was hard. The orange light from the streetlights outside fell through the windows that reached the roof of the building. Ichigo rolled over, and hugged his pillow. They were going to practice insanely hard for the next week. Then go to Florida. For the Crusaders. If he made it... if Rukia made it...

And he fell asleep.

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Sorry for the abrupt ending. Gah. I think I'm gonna puke. But don't mind me. Review. ;)

Edit: Okay, so I didn't puke. Lucky me. :D And the monologue mentioned earlier was actually used in my marching band's show last year. x3
Don't diss the Video Game Live, man. x3