Ch. #6

After counting all of the nicks in the table and all of the rips in the seats, Rukia realized that she was bored. One could only observe a booth in a bar for so long. Sure, it might be fun if they had cool signs on all of the walls, or if you were the kind of person that enjoyed counting how many ceiling tiles there are. Unfortunately, Rukia is not one of those people.

It didn't help that the music was decent and all of her friends appeared to be having a blast.

She continued to watch her friends party, all of them grouped together on the dance floor. Their young looks and chiseled figures from countless training caused many eyes to linger, but there seemed to be a bubble around them that no one dared to penetrate. Her eyes were drawn to who was dancing in the center-- Ichigo, his movements fluid and smooth. Man, could he move! It didn't matter who he was dancing with or how skilled they were, he could adjust to any beat, any tempo, every rhythm. She couldn't help but to admire him; his lean figure, graceful hips..

Rukia deeply flushed, growing embarrassed. She couldn't think of him like that! And besides, she was perfectly fine sitting here and there was no way she was going to get up and dance and-- oh, what the hell! She sprung up and walked quickly to her friends before she could change her mind.

Matsumoto squealed with delight when she say Rukia's approaching, promptly grabbing her arms and forcing her petite figure to follow along with Matsumoto's curvaceous one.

"Now we can finally PARTAYY!" She laughed, her body radiating excitement and energy. It was hard to not want to dance along with someone like her.

Ichigo noticed her attempts at dancing and grinned, still swaying to the music. "I knew you would come," he laughed into her ear, "and I definitely expected some mediocre dance moves." She thwacked his arm playfully, knowing that she must have paled in comparison to him.

"What would you have done if I sat there the whole night?" she teased, laughing at his bemused expression.

"I would have went over and dragged you onto the dance floor," he smiled, his hand grabbing Rukia's, leading her into the song.

--elsewhere--

Byakuya shunpoed down the abandoned streets, wondering why there were no signs of people. Even if this was the country there would be at least a cow or two, a few stray cars on the road. But so far, he hadn't seen any signs of life. Now that he thought about it, there was not a single bird in the sky. The night air that was usually crawling with cicadas and crickets and whatever the hell else lived and made annoying little noises in the dark. Nevertheless, the night was calm.

His grip tightened on Senbonzakura, and he warily checked around him, but nothing was there. He wisely figured that if everything were gone, something must have scared them away. He just had no idea what would be so menacing.

He ;promptly decided that this was creepier than a hundred hollows following him, because at least then Byakuya knew what to expect.

Wait-- was that a...

The silence of the calm night was broken as a dropped katana clattered against the empty road.

--elsewhere--

Rukia was dancing merrily, her black hair flowing out and cooling her neck as she thrashed around. She was really getting into it now, the song flooding her mind. Yumichika, one who kept up with all of the popular real world music, was singing along gleefully, his voice blending in with the pounding chords that was being blasted out of the various speakers.

Rukia smiled, happy just because her friends were happy. If it weren't for them, she would never be out doing this... never experiencing something so perfect...

All of a sudden the music cut off and the lights flickered out, leaving shocked guests standing around in the dark. Complaints and panic rose quickly, rumors spreading like a wild fire. Confusion broke out, and people struggled to find their friends, some yelling about a movie called "Prom Night." Rukia tensed automatically, and she could sense her fellow Shinigami do the same.

She looked throughout Karakura for reiatsu, nothing abnormal popping up.

But wait... was that a tremor on the corner? Rukia turned to face her comrades and when their eyes met hers she could tell they saw it too.

Turning her attention back to the reiatsus, she gasped in shock at what she saw.

Or rather, what she didn't see.