Concerts (Part 2)

A/N: Sorry for the delay, I just haven't been in a real great mood lately, but here's part 2 of date 4. Up next, the final conclusion x3 and sorry it's not real long

The crowd was in an uproar, screaming and moshing violently at the front. Taproot was opening followed by Deftones, before Staind. The heat, the power of metal scouring through their ears, and the frenzy of an inviting mosh pit was pure blissfulness to Ikkaku. For Rangiku it was a bit frightening and nervewracking, yet she had gotten use to the strands of metal inflicting a stir of a repressed rage in her. Deftones was closing up with one Ikkaku's favorites "Feiticeira."

"So, you brought me to see three other bands yet only let me prepare for one?" Rangiku asked, grabbing his hand and pulling him near the bar. The venue was packed, small for its size, but sold out three weeks in advance. For each show.

"Well, Staind's the trump card." He grinned, sitting up on the stool. "More my kind of music."

Rangiku ordered up a beer and laughed. "Hey those guys up there are pretty nice." She said.

"Deftones? Well no shit! They could rock your socks off any day."

"You wanna try me?" She smirked with a light wink, watching Chino give his goodnight speech before exiting the stage. Ikkaku slipped an arm around her waist and chuckled.

"I could take you up on that one." He teased.

"Well not right now." She smiled back, letting the alcohol sedate her nagging thoughts.

Today was that day. The day she would have been born...Rangiku swallowed down a sudden lump. She finished off the beer and weaved back into the crowd with Ikkaku right on her heels. Staind opened up with "For You" and Rangiku found her fingers lacing in Ikkaku's. he looked at her softly.

"Hey, trust me. Just for today." He smiled warmly, starting to bounce on his toes.

She smiled faintly and watched the band perform on stage, letting the riffs, vocals, and performance weave into her system; warming her up, coaxing her to leave the negative thoughts behind. Soon she found herself slipping into a catatonic state of drowning in the released weight on her shoulders. As the track "Tolerate" squirmed to her recognition she joined in the mosh, repaid by bruised ribs and banged up arms and legs where other moshing metalheads slammed into her.

Ikkaku slipped in as "Tolerate" ended, picking up with "Outside", and pulled her from the pit. A grin was on her face, yet as the chords and swallow of somber lyrics traced inside her the grin slowly fell. She looked up at him, uncertainty marking her delicate features. He pulled her into a tight hug, wrapped in the tale of his life, his puzzle piece.

"Don't go." He blurted quietly. "Don't leave with that bastard, please Ranno-chan!"

"I..I'm not." She sputtered, stepping back to look at him. "Who thought-"

"It's hard to understand if you will or you won't leave with Ichimaru because of this daze you've been in." He said softly, almost pleadingly. "You don't have to go through this alone you know? You have me, you have the whole gotei 13 backing you up. Please don't forget that."

She scrambled to keep her emotions at bay, "Pardon Me" crying out for the next play.

"For now," she cocked her head with a slight smirk. "Let's just enjoy the show."

When the concert finally drew to a close, Ikkaku found his fingers laced tightly with Rangiku's. He let go reluctantly, watching her wrap herself in the tone of the music.

'I'm glad I made you happy,' he thought. 'Even if it was for five days...but they've been the best five days of my life.'

Her eyes turned on him, an old glint and a long lost sparkle finally flittering in them. He smiled back at her, and moved his fidgeting fingers to his pockets.

"What?"

"Nothing." She chirped, slipping past him. "Let's go home, I'm beat."

"Well you did mosh at your first concert." He laughed, falling in step beside her.

"I had a blast, and I take back what I said about metal. It is a powerful raw type of scene damaged people relate with."

"Hey, not everyone is severely damaged!" He chuckled, ruffling her hair. "You get to drive."

"Seriously?" She arched a brow slapping his hand away gently.

"Yes." He drawled. "I drove here, now you get to drive back."

"Ugh, fine." She poked her tongue out and took his keys. She climbed into the driver side, adjusted the seat and glanced over at him. "What gave you all the idea I would leave with Gin?"

The question surprised Ikkaku. She sounded so calm, so nonchalant about it, almost eerily calm. The car rumbled to life and backed out of the lot, moving casually to the highway.

"Well the stupor you've been in as of late has us all worried you may consider leaving the Gotei." He said carefully, scanning her face for a flicker of what was running through her head.

"I would not leave. Not now, not ever. I owe Gin my life but after his last..course of action," -she gripped the steering wheel as they pulled out onto the highway- "I could never be around him."

"Can I ask why?"

She faltered for a moment. Part of her wanted to scream the truth yet still she denied release from the crushing burden. They drove in silence for a while before she looked at him while sitting at a light.

"He took my child." She said quietly. Ikkaku's face fell from surprised to mortified then to concern. He didn't want to ask how, didn't need to. "It was late one night last fall or so...I had recently found out I was prego" -she laughed slightly- "about three months before. He...he came to me asking for something, I don't remember too well. When I said no, there was a sharp intense pain in my stomach."

Her voice was shaking, her hands wringing the steering wheel while her eyes never looked over.

"I didn't want to look down, I already knew the bastard had stabbed me. He did so just enough not to kill me but kill the baby..." She bit down a sob. "The hours following I healed myself but there was no hope for the little girl...my body went through the process, and..since then..I always wonder why? Why did he do it?"

Ikkaku stared at his lap, letting it sink in.

"So..that's why you kept yourself covered?"

"As a way of showing grief without really externally showing it, yes." She wiped at her eyes. "I didn't want anyone to know. Still don't but now the cat's out the bag isn't it?" She laughed slightly, speeding up to keep the flow of traffic going. "Yet it feels good to finally get it out y'know?"

"Yeah." He nodded, hesitantly moving his hand to the console. "I won't tell a soul until you say so."

"It's nothing drastic, but thanks." She smiled slightly.

She reached for the volume, flicking it up as The Pixies "Where is my Mind?" slipped out of the stereo speakers. She relaxed her hands, letting one rest on the console, brushing over Ikkaku's.

"Ranno-chan," he began, watching her fingers twitch. "This doesn't have to end you know.."

She smiled slightly, intertwining there fingers.

"I know." She mused. "I know..."