Woot! Early chapter!!! XD Happy Halloween everyone!
cheeky half-demon: Lol you'll see! And yes, I love arcades. Specially DDR and those claw machines...
Grinja: Lol yeah he is XD or is he? Maybe he's just in a tolerant mood...
Tenshi No Ashi: Ah arigatou! XD and yeah, I believe that about Grimm too, (my onee-chan doesnt think so, but she hates him cuz he beat up ichi XD) You have a story where an arrancar changes sides? EEEPP! *runs to go read*
***Chapter 33
"What the hell is an arcade?" growled Grimmjow as he walked beside Hara.
"It has video games and things in it, you'll see… I wonder if it has a DDR…" she drifted off into thought. Grimmjow was about to growl how he didn't know what any of those things were when,
"Hey blue head!" yelled a voice, "Wanna rematch?"
Grimmjow looked up sharply, "What the hell did you call me?!" he roared.
Renji laughed, "Catch me and I'll tell you, or are you too worn out?!"
"Bastard!" he snarled, shooting off towards him and knocking Ichigo out of the way in the process.
"Oi!" yelled the strawberry, "Watch where you're going!"
Grimmjow grinned and looked back, "Dumbass, you couldn't catch us even if you wanted to!"
Ichigo scowled, "That so?!" he suddenly began running, passing Grimmjow in a second, "Eat my dust, bastard!"
Hara laughed and shook her head at them, putting her hands behind her head. Suddenly a hand was on her shoulder,
"S' good to have you back," said Ikkaku.
Hara glanced back at him, a grin on her face, "It's good to be back…and on better terms." Ikkaku nodded and let out a long draw of breath, letting go of her shoulder and walking beside her, his wooden katana resting on his shoulder. The two of them chuckled as they saw Ichigo, Renji and Grimmjow squabbling in the distance.
"Che, he's an interesting one," muttered Ikkaku. It was obvious he meant Grimmjow,
"Yeah," said Hara, smiling. Ikkaku glanced at her expression and shook his head with a grin. The two of them walked in silence for a few minutes before Hara turned to him, "About Renji…" she said, "...I don't understand…he acts like nothing's happened…Why-?"
"He's doing it for you," replied Ikkaku in a serious tone. "I think he's doing it because he doesn't want things to be so bad between you two… He'd rather be on good terms than not…" He shrugged and Hara stared at him. It didn't make her feel any better about it, she still felt guilty, even if he was pretending everything was fine.
But Hara could not regret meeting Grimmjow; even if it hurt Renji and made her feel guilty, she would never regret it.
Hara fell into a long silence, deep in her thoughts. The last thought made her slap her forehead, geez, I sound like some love struck idiot… Her eyes widened slightly, love struck… She closed her eyes, no…wait… Hara put her fingers through her hair, what do I exactly feel for him? She stopped in her tracks, and what does he feel for me?
Flashes of all the days she spent with Grimmjow ran through her mind,
**
"Hello? Grimmjow?" she called, waving her hand in front of his face. He blinked once, "Hey, Grimmjow," her cheeks turned a bit pink, "I don't look that great, so snap out of it-" He suddenly grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him, "Agh! Hey! What are you-" her face was inches from his own. Hara turned red as she saw the look in Grimmjow's eyes. He started to lean in, his eyes closing. Hara was frozen; she just stared at him as his lips came closer and closer to hers.
Suddenly, when his lips were just touching hers, she pulled away with a powerful tug of her arm. She fell back into the wall, her eyes wide. Grimmjow stared at her, shock on his face.
"H-Hara-"
**
Suddenly Grimmjow grabbed her hand, he looked at it and then at her.
"What the hell is this?" he looked at the shape of the gashes, "Fingernails?" he stared at her, "Why did you do this to your hand?"
She shook her head and pulled away, "It's nothing." she said.
"Nothing?" he asked his voice angry. Grimmjow got to his feet and walked a few steps away, his back turned.
"It's my fault, isn't it? I got you so upset you did that to your hand…" his voice was suddenly soft.
Hara got to her feet, "No. It wasn't you."
He turned around, "Then who was it?!" he cried, his hands in fists, "Tell me so I can kill them. I know that's why you were so-so…out of it!"
**
"Grimmjow, why do you care so much?" she asked. Hara pulled her finger away, as he stared at her in surprise.
"Well, I…um…" he stuttered, "Dammit! I don't know, I just do-"
**
"That's for rescuing me."
He put his arms around her, "Rescuing you?" She nodded,
"From myself," He put his nose against hers, pulling her close against his body. She laughed softly.
"What happened to not having relationships?" he asked her.
She sighed, "I gave up. I like you too much." He let go of her in surprise, before pulling her to him again and crashing his lips against hers.
**
"Hara…" he whispered, "Get up, I'm here to save you."
**
"Is everything okay?" she asked softly.
He pulled back to stare into her eyes, "It is now," he frowned slightly, "But don't you ever do something like that again."
"Huh?"
"Hara… you nearly died! When you passed out, if the woman didn't do something, you would have died right there and then!" Hara was slightly surprised; she hadn't gotten that close to death before… Her eyes flashed back to Grimmjow, "I thought I'd lost you," he admitted, "I was…afraid…"
**
"Hara…"
***
"Hara!"
"Huh?" she replied, snapping out her daze, "What?"
"We're here, baka," replied Renji, holding open the door.
"Che, what the hell were you doing, sleep walking?" growled Grimmjow, putting his hand on the small of her back and pushing her forwards.
She felt slight heat go to her cheeks, "Uh…sorry…" she muttered going inside.
The sound of the arcade seemed to swallow everything else up. The flashing lights and different sounds of different games played together made Hara feel more awake and less dazed. The others were already at play; Rukia and Ichigo had just started playing a violent game of air hockey, which Ichigo was sorely losing. Ikkaku was glaring at a group on punk looking teens who were muttering something to each other as they stared at him. Yumichika was examining a photo booth with an indecisive expression; Renji was standing next to Hara as he looked around. Flanking her other side was Grimmjow, who again was hovering protectively next to her, pft. More like possessively, she thought, smiling.
Her eyes flashed across the arcade, taking in all the table games, the shooting games, the ones where you could win things, and the ones that were more for the chance of winning tickets. Nothing really caught her eye, until the sound "Dee Dee Arrrr!" was exclaimed. Hara's eyes widened and she shot towards it, sliding across a pool table and dodging the flying air hockey puck.
"Oh…" she muttered, staring at the machine before her with hunger. The pink and blue foot pads called to her, the flashing lights inviting.
"What in the hell is that?!" cried Grimmjow as he followed her, but at a walking pace.
"DDR!" exclaimed Hara as she leapt onto the step pad. She looked down, "Oh, damn, I need tokens…"
"Here!" said Renji, pushing some gold coins into her hands, "Rukia just gave them to me for you."
Hara grinned and quickly shoved them into the machine, "Grimm," she said happily, "This will answer your question… Watch closely!" She hit start and began, playing 123 Stars as her first song.
"…Wh…what the…?" muttered Grimmjow as he watched Hara nimbly go through each step, the game saying, "Good!" "You're on fire!" and so on.
On the second song, everyone else in the group had come to watch, most of them with their jaws hanging open as they had never seen a game like that before. Hara slammed through each song, a big grin on her face. Her last song Grimmjow liked (Daikenkai), the beat and words causing a grin to break out across his face too. It picked up pace, and she moved and twisted with it, her expression concentrated and happy.
When the song finally ended she stumbled off the foot pad, wiping at her forehead, "Woo! That was great!" she cried, her eyes falling on everyone around her, including the punks who had somehow snuck over. Her cheeks flashed the color of Renji's hair.
"That was…" muttered Rukia, "Amazing!" She ran to Hara, "I challenge you!"
Hara raised an eyebrow, "Challenge?" a battle grin broke out across her face, "Bring it!"
Half an hour later, both girls were shaking and starting to slip up, but neither seemed to want to give up as neither seemed able to beat each other. Finally at the end of that round they stopped, and Grimmjow, Ichigo, and Renji leapt forwards to pull them away before they passed out.
There was a half second of a standoff between Renji and Grimmjow, who both went for Hara, but Renji pulled back with a trace of a grimace on his face.
"You two are psycho, you know that?!" snarled Ichigo as he pretty much had to hold Rukia up-her legs were shaking so much she couldn't stand. Hara was in the same situation, only she seemed more comfortable. Grimmjow's arms were tight around her waist, and her head was resting against his chest, his chin resting on the top of her head.
Renji stood there awkwardly, seeing both the girls he carried feelings for in other men's arms.
As if reading that in Renji's eyes, Ichigo let go of Rukia and grinned, "Renji…" he said, "Let's go!"
Renji grinned, "Fine, I'd love to wipe the floor with you!" And the two began, awkwardly using the step pads.
"Mmm…Grimm, let's go sit at a table," suggested Hara as she pointed to the little cafeteria like area. Grimmjow put his arm under her knees and lifted her over there, much to her surprise.
They sat down and watched Ichigo defeat Renji and then go up against Rukia, who easily knocked him out with one song.
"So what'cha think?" asked Hara, leaning against him.
Grimmjow shrugged, "Weird. But you were pretty kick ass!" he grinned.
Hara grinned back, "You should try it!" He shook his head,
"Hell no, I'll pass on that."
Hara pouted, "Aww come on! I bet you'd like it!"
Grimmjow shook his head, "Nah," he put his arm around her, "It's not for me…"
Hara sighed, "Okay… I won't push you…" She looked around the arcade, "But let's go play something, kay?" He nodded.
*little later*
Grimmjow and Hara had played a few shooting games and fighting games, and finally she had talked him over to the prize games where she tried to win a stuffed animal in the claw machine and failed.
"Wah! I can't get it!" she cried, wiggling the joystick angrily.
Grimmjow chuckled and bumped her out of the way with his hip, "Move," he said, taking over. He tried and failed as well, his teeth baring in anger in response. Suddenly he punched the glass and shattered it, grabbing the evasive stuffed animal and handing it to her, "Stupid machine," he muttered under his breath.
"Grimm!" cried Hara in shock, "You can't just break it!" she whispered, "We'll get kicked out!" Either way she took the stuffed animal from him and his frowning self. It was a blue cat with a fierce expression.
"Pfft!" she laughed, holding it up, "Grimm, it looks like you!"
His eyebrow rose, "What?"
Hara grinned, "Look! It looks like you, seriously!"
He stared at it, then at her, "Do I look like a damn stuffed animal to you?!" he growled.
Hara stared at him and then laughed, "No, but you're cuddly like one!" she cried, wrapping her arms around him.
He stared at her, "Did that damn DD-thing do something to your head?!" he snarled, but wrapped his arms around her anyway.
Hara smiled up at him, "Hey you kids!" yelled a voice, "What the hell did you do to my machine?!" Hara and Grimmjow spun around to see an angry man coming towards them, "Did you… break the glass?!" he accused.
Grimmjow was about to say something not at all polite to him, but Hara stepped forwards, the stuffed animal behind her back, "No, but it's a good thing you showed up!" she snapped, causing the man to stop in his tracks, "It's about time someone cleaned this up! Broken glass on the floor…do you know how dangerous that is?! What if a little kid got cut up, huh? You'd be sued!"
The man paled, "Sorry! I'll clean it up right away!" and he ran off to get a broom and dust pan.
Hara turned to Grimmjow who burst out laughing, "Ah! Nice!" he gasped.
Hara smiled, "I didn't want to do it, but I'd rather not be kicked out…" She glanced back to see the man coming, "Come on, let's see what the others are doing before we do get in trouble…" Grimmjow grinned wider and followed her back to the DDR, his hands in his pockets.
And that's part one of the arcade adventure! XD
Yes, it was very random... But so was I when I wrote it. ^^