I felt my tall frame lift off of the hard wooden floor, my tattered shoes soaring as coiled muscles pushed off resistant boards. My bright orange hair flopped into my vibrant brown eyes but I was too close to my goal to even care. Just a few more inches and I'd have soared my way to the hoop before me; I could already hear the coveted sound of the ball swishing through the net and feel the victorious satisfaction.

A rough body slammed into my side, ruining my flight and dropping me back to the gym floor, the basketball torn asunder from my grip. As I slammed into the ground all of the air in my body whooshed out in a single sharp gasp, leaving me gaping and silent. When I finally did regain my breath, I remained on the floor in a sweaty heap, glaring at the bright, fluorescent ceiling lights over my head and growing more and more pissed off with every passing second. My clenched fist slammed into the ground with enough force for bruising, but I barely registered the pain.

Damn it!

"What's the matter street rat? Weary of being pathetic?" Nnoitra's haughty sneer appeared in my line of vision, doing nothing to stop the flow of my anger.

"Fuck off!" A snarl ripped out of my mouth to accompany the words.

Nnoitra's eyes grew dark but his sneer only widened as he reared his foot back to kick me, and I felt my muscles tense in preparation.

"Nnoitra, don't waste your time on such trash." Ulquiorra's monotone reached my ears even though I couldn't see him from my position.

"Tch." Nnoitra continued to glare at me but retreated, leaving the near-empty gym in a haze of anger with Ulquiorra close behind.

I finally allowed my sore body to raise into a sitting position, attempting to ignore the ache in my side. That was going to bruise. A bright patch of blue passed through my peripheral vision as I rose, and I narrowed my eyes, already knowing who it was. I turned sharply just to glare at the bluenette's back as it passed through the swinging doors of the gym, a heated rage seeping into my veins at his nonchalance. I just know it was him that rammed me. It's always him. Damn prick had it out for me. I mean, I guess everyone at this stupid prissy school did, but that jerk had taken it upon himself to be the worst of the pack.

Maybe I should explain. I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, and I'm dirt poor. Now normally that wouldn't matter to me much, but lately it's been shoved into my face every five seconds, as though the amount of money my family has in the bank is directly related to my abilities. You see, back at Karakura High School it was so much easier. A small, modest public school that was located in the wrong side of town, Karakura held many kids that were in the same general condition as me. It was a family-a poor, struggling family, but still a family. There's Renji, whose family consisted of his single mom (who happened to make the best homemade spaghetti and meatballs ever), Ikkaku and Yumichika, two orphans who stuck together and were suspiciously close, Kenpachi, who struggled to support both himself and his sweet cousin Yachiru, and so many other people who'd slipped through the cracks and stuck together.

I used to be part of that family. I guess I still am in a way. I still live in my cheery but wilted house with my father and two sisters, Karin and Yuzu, we still serve as a clinic to those who can't afford one, I still slip over to Renji's for his mom's cooking (although as of late Yuzu's could rival it), but after being plucked off of the street and given a scholarship to Los Noches Academy, things changed. Los Noches was a school that prided itself on having the best young people they could possibly acquire, the vast majority of whom were there because of their rich parents, and that included in athletics. While admittedly I may not be the brightest of the bunch, I am a damn fine athlete. It's just something that comes naturally to me, from running the last few yards the hardest to kicking that final goal. And natural talent like that is not something that Los Noches was willing to let slip by. Who was I to reject that? My pride was reluctant to take the offer, but the academy was my only ticket to something that had been a dream before: college. To someone like me, poor, only average in the brains department, and with a family to help support, college was unrealistic. But with Los Noches… It was no secret that colleges were drooling over those who graduated from that school. And if I went to college, got a job, and played my cards right, then possibly I could help get Karin and Yuzu to a better future.

So I accepted. But it hurt like hell to slowly drift farther and farther apart from the people I considered family. They never left me officially of course, but I was gone most of the day commuting across the city to get to the academy and had less and less time to spend with them.

One would think I would be able to make new friends, but oh hell no. The minute I arrived at Los Noches I was seen as scum of the street that had somehow come into the lives of the refined, probably tracked in on the bottom of a shoe. And boy did that grate on me. To be seen as pathetic by people who'd been born into wealth and knew nothing of what it meant to sweat and bleed not just for yourself, but for your friends and family, that started the rage. And with that rage came competitiveness. I had to prove myself. I just had to. Not to those snots, but I had to prove to myself that they were wrong. Doing so academically was out of the question, I was simply average and these people had been raised with tutors. However, athletically was a whole different story.

Slowly I rose to my sore feet as the now empty gym's lights started to dim before shutting off altogether, leaving me shrouded in darkness. I quickly grabbed my gym bag and exited the expensive building to begin my long trek home through the deserted city streets. As I walked with an air of failure still surrounding me, I felt my resolve only strengthening from the recent defeat.

I have one goal. To make it into the Espada, a group of the most athletically gifted Los Noches had to offer. To get on that team one had to be on the team of at least three different sports, which at this school meant hell. Competing against several athletes hand picked by the school's headmaster, a ruthless and intimidating man named Aizen, some of whom were hand picked just for a single sport, was like a starving wolves fighting over a single mouthful of meat.

So far I've managed with two sports: soccer, my favorite sport, and track, I've always been fast. The sports I've failed at so far include: baseball, football, tennis, golf (yes, golf), swimming, diving, water polo, wrestling, volleyball, cross country, and now basketball. All that failure, all because of one person. Well I guess to be fair, most of the players were gunning after me, especially the Espada, but it was always him that cost me my goal when I was so close.

I grimaced as our first encounter flashed through my head.

I grinned to myself as I spiked the ball and the pink haired pansy named Szayel dove to hit it only to fall short a few inches.

Hell yeah, just one more point and my team will win, giving me a place on the volleyball team. Probably as a benchwarmer seeing as a majority of the current team was Espada, but hey, I'll take it if it gave me my third sport!

My ferocious grin turned saccharine as the only other person trying out for the team, the aforementioned pansy Szayel, sent me daggers through his eyes. The way this was working was that Szayel and I were placed on two opposite teams and whoever's team won would get to join officially. Of course he was favored seeing as he was a rich prick and fit right in here, but not like I give a crap. The fact that this this was also the third sport he was aiming for to get onto the Espada only added fuel to our harsh rivalry.

I promptly returned to my spot directly in front of the net and directly opposite from Szayel, already knowing that Byakuya's serve would be flawless. For the heir of a company that specializes in dealing art, that guy sure is terrifying when it comes to sports. Or anything really.

My eyes were torn away from Szayel's and glued to the ball as it whizzed over the net with a startling speed. It flew to the back of the other team where, despite the momentum, a lazy upperclassman dubbed Starrk effortlessly pitched it back to our side. But he made a small error, the ball flew right into my path.

All of the earlier cockiness fled my expression, chased out by ultimate concentration. I pushed off of the ground with a single ripple of muscle and ascended into the air, my height rivaling the net. Just a few more inches-ah! Perfect! I hit the sweet spot of the ball and it took on a sharp change of direction and curved into the perfect spike. As soon as I completed my hit my face kindled into an expression of complete victory just as Szayel's expression crumpled into a mixture of anger and disappointment.

Then an unfamiliar hand shot up into my line of vision, slamming into the ball with an even more violent hit than mine, leaving me only an instant to realize that the course of the volleyball had changed before it rammed into my face.

I was thrown onto my back and I could hear my nose cracking before I felt the sharp pain.

"Ouch! Shit!" My voice was slightly muffled as I cradled my now bloody nose, but it couldn't veil the raw rage. "What the fuck?!"

I raised my heated gaze only for my brown eyes to lock onto bright blue ones. The owner of the vivid eyes wore a sadistic, slightly crazed grin and I could see his shoulders moving in a slight motion that indicated laughter.

My gaze remained locked onto his for only a short moment, but that was all it took for a new fire to alight in me as I realized that he was the bastard that had hit me in the face. Just as I rose to confront him Szayel blocked our staring contest as he leaned into my face.

"You lose"

From that moment on it was that blue-haired jerk who ruined it for me. He swam just a second faster than me. He threw a pitch that was just slightly too hard. He scored the final point. It was as though he was toying with me.

I opened the creaky screen door that served as the entrance to my families small apartment, attempting to be as quiet as possible when I noticed that my dad lay snoring on the couch that served as his bed. I slipped through the shadows of my home and into our small single bathroom, taking a very quick, very hot shower before padding into the room I shared with my sisters. They were both collapsed into their beds, Karin's messy with a foot hanging over the edge and the sheets balled up around her while Yuzu was curled up into a tiny ball with the comforter perfectly spread. I followed their examples and, after checking my alarm, flopped into my bed and stared at the ceiling. My blank stare hardened ever so slightly as I came upon a realization.

There's only one sport left that has an official team. I have one more chance to beat that prick, to beat Grimmjow.

I twirled the small racket in my grip, but rather than wearing my usual victorious grin as Nnoitra stomped away in a loser's rage, I glanced around. My eyes flitted over the other matches in courts, seeing Ulquiorra easily conquer Zommari as Starrk and the only female Espada Harribel remained locked in a companionable tie, but not landing on the one bluenette that I had prayed to avoid today.

"Very good Ichigo. One more win and you'll have made it onto the team." I merely grunted in response to Gin's sickly-sweet remark. Guy gave me the creeps, coach or no.

I brushed past him and up to the next empty court, clutching onto my racket and slightly wondering how I'd been pushed to the point where I'd try to get on the badminton team… I was pulled out of my self-shame as Gin spoke up again.

"You'll have to wait until someone wins for your final opponent-ah, never mind. You can just play Grimmjow." I'd only been half-listening to the man with the fox's grin as my eyes remained scouting the courts, but with those words my head whipped around to face him in a whiplash-beckoning motion.

My eyes narrowed as they fell upon the muscled man wearing his signature grin and standing casually next to Gin. Where the hell had he come from?!

Crap. Crap, crap, crap.

The word kept flying through my head as Grimmjow picked up the racket and the birdie before moving into position. No words were exchanged but a thick tension permeated the air surrounding our court and through my peripheral sight I knew most of the other courts had stopped playing in favor of watching our match.

"Okay, first to two points will win. Good luck Ichigo, all you have to do is get the birdie past Grimmjow." As the words rose with an upbeat cheer from Gin's mouth, I felt my heart plummet as two words entered my mind.

Oh shit.

And then I was playing. I was forced to go as fast as I possibly could to keep up with Grimmjow and before even a full minute had passed I was already sweating and breathing hard. Grimmjow had scored a point in an instant and it took several minutes of going back and forth for me to gain one, and even then I'm pretty sure it had something to do with Grimmjow pausing to yawn.

I glared through the hair plastered to my face even as I bent over and gasped. However I hastily straightened when Grimmjow served, taking little notice of my need for a moment of rest. I was slowly growing more and more sluggish and my energy continued to deplete from the several passes over the net. Meanwhile the sadistic bluenette was still grinning and hardly breaking a sweat as he flicked his wrist in smooth motions. Realization hit me with brute force.

He's holding back.

With that thought I was filled with a new emotion, and despite it just appearing it was one I was quite familiar with. A fierce competitiveness filled my veins. There is no way that rich bastard is so far ahead of me that he has to hold back for me to even clutch at a chance of winning. I used that primal strength to push my speed up a notch and put far more force into the next hit, ignoring the burning of my lungs and the black spots at the corner of my eyes.

I was rewarded with the small, abused little birdie hitting the ground with a small clack in the midst of silence. As my vision returned from red and the blood stopped pounding in my ears, I realized that the only sounds in the air were that of my harsh breathing and the rolling of the shuttlecock across Grimmjow's side of the court.

I did it?

Abruptly the sound of a single pair of hands clapping broke the near-silence with sharp pops.

"You did it Ichigo." Gin's voice startled me and suddenly I became aware of the burn that fired up every part of my body.

All of the sudden it became near impossible to remain upright and I bent over with a small groan, resting my hands on my knees and closing my eyes. I began to bask in the final victory I needed despite barely being able to remain conscious. I was so caught up in the win and attempting to breathe that I didn't notice the swift footsteps approaching me until I was pulled upright again by my shoulders and my eyes snapped open.

Brown locked with smoldering blue and despite my need for air my breath hitched in my throat. Grimmjow was gazing at me with a different sort of heat than the one he'd shown on the court, a kind I hadn't faced before and that caused my heart to pulse even faster than it's already raised rate. All thoughts of the stunned onlookers and the fact Grimmjow wasn't even breathing hard fled my mind as Grimmjow's face grew to be the only thing in my vision.

He continued to lean forward while I was frozen in shock, and I think even if I hadn't been the weariness that took hold of my body after the match wouldn't have allowed me to escape. If I even wanted to. I wasn't quite sure of that either. The clean scent of soap filled my nostrils as my eyes slid shut, and instinctually I shivered. I felt the barest pressure of lips sliding over mine, inciting a sharp inhalation through my nose, before the pressure skimmed over my cheekbone and to my ear.

"You'll make a worthy mate. You're mine now." The smooth, deep voice whispered into my ears and I gasped before suddenly the hands that gripped my shoulders were released and the heat disappeared.

My eyes slowly flickered open and I was given a small glimpse of blue hair slipping through the double doors of the gym. As soon as what just happened actually hit me a raging blush spread heat across my face and I began to sputter out incoherent words.

"Wha- how, huh?" My eyes were locked on the door until I heard laughter break out along the side of the court I still stood on.

My wide eyes curved over to see a snickering Nnoitra, along with other amused Espada.

"Welcome to the Espada street trash. Looks like you're off the market." Nnoitra's sneer grew as he caught sight of my dazed and shocked face.

"What the hell?!"

A/N: Yeahhh this plot bunny hit me and it had to be made. Please review and enjoy! (:

Word Count: 3,159