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Eat You Alive

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Disclaimer: This is the first and last time I'm saying this here: Bleach and all its characters belong to Tite Kubo, and the song "Eat You Alive" belongs to Limp Bizkit.

Note: I don't really care if you don't like it, but… I personally think that the song's pretty good. You should play it while reading this C:

Summary: It started off with a rock concert. She saw them, heard them, and became addicted to them. Then Rukia met the lead singer, Ichigo. And it almost ended with her back against the wall and his breath tickling her face.

She was raised in a high-class society. A small girl with a potential to be someone big.

But as of right now, as she swayed to the raw music, she knew that she was intrigued by hardcore, metallic rock. Not a boring corporate job.

The lyrics were shallow, penetrating into her eardrums and into the depths of her mind. A shallow song for a shallow girl.

Rukia closed her eyes.

-X-

She was starving really, really bad. Passed out and kicked out of another bar, of another job.

It was amongst the curb where the stop sign was and just outside of an amphitheater. Dyed green hair glowed under the streetlight. The girl tried to sit up tensely, tired and stiff.

"Are you coming?"

A man suddenly asked her, carrying what looked like a guitar case.

Nel stared up dazedly, "Wha…?"

"You're part of the groupie, right? I think you're friends are camped out beside the bus."

Groupie? What did that even mean? Nel shrugged and continued staring at him. "Will there be food?" She asked hopefully.

The man gave her a strange look. "Um. I guess. Follow me." He lugged the black guitar case in his other hand and offered his free one to help her up.

-X-

Another band came in and played. Rukia closed her eyes and tried to soak up the guitar's shredding, the drum's beats, the bass's strums, but they didn't have the same effects on her like the previous one did. Like she was high and drunk and drugged out and sober all at the same time.

She left at the middle of their second song, bored out of her mind. The girl approached the ticket booth, tapping on the glass.

The woman looked up at her from a magazine. "Don't do that. Ever." She gave Rukia an annoyed look.

"When will the first band be back here?" Rukia asked, cutting right into her business voice. She was a little ashamed that she didn't even know the name of her now probably most favorite band in the whole world.

"I don't know, and I don't care." The woman replied back into the little hole. She turned a page of the magazine, the crisp papers making a sound.

Rukia grounded her teeth in annoyance. She smacked her palm at the glass, hard. "Listen here, you shriveled up whore—"

"6 months. The band won't be here for 6 months," A teenage boy from the other booth said, giving her an appeasing look.

"How do you know?" Rukia didn't care if she would've had to start a fight with the ancient bat who was trying to ignore her. She had enough money to bribe the old bitch's lawyer and throw her elderly ass into the lake. They should all be lucky that she decided to restrain herself.

"Because I saw them too." The younger boy said, smiling at her. "Aren't they good?"

"Yeah…" Rukia muttered back, growing quiet. Six months? That's a pretty long time. What would she do without her newfound addiction now that she'd finally discovered them? Could she survive without listening to their music?

"That's their bus right there," the boy said again, pointing at a faded black bus dirtied with all sorts of graffiti tattooed on each side.

Rukia's eyes wavered as she looked at where he was pointing at. She immediately wanted to grin, feeling a tug inside her chest, hard and persistent. As if it were saying Like hell I'm going to be ignored.

There was something that beckoned to her suddenly, that made her heart tight if she should choose disregard it again. Her inner demon? The thought made the girl chuckle a little, cynical. But there was something there, something that she could almost taste at the tip of her tongue… but it kept on slipping away.

Oh.

Desire. One chance to make a disappearing act for six months and run away with her newborn love affair. Should she do it?

. . . .

Why not? She decided automatically.

-X-

There was a campfire that burned beside the bus, surrounded by laughing young women who were probably drunk, high, or both.

Rukia wondered if she should make her way towards them and introduce herself; though the critical looks they gave her, followed by another round of laughter brought a sour look on her face.

Screw being friendly. These girls were jerks. She frowned, unsure of what to do next. Where the hell was the band, anyway?

She had imagined herself delving into an intelligent conversation with the lead singer, the guitarist, the bassist, or the drummer. Even their manager would suffice. Just somebody who was linked with them, not a group of whores.

Seeing that the band was nowhere to be found, Rukia sighed and sat herself somewhere near the fire, putting her hands up to be warmed.

It wasn't like it was cold or anything; it just seemed like the right way to do things when there was a campfire burning in front of you. What? It wasn't like she could piss at it, or spit her saliva into it for fun.

Rukia grumbled, feeling that she was being stared at again. She tried to ignore them.

"… looks like a boy…"

A giggle. "No… both, that's pretty sad…"

"Flat-chested," An angry vein throbbed at her forehead. "Hahaha… you're so mean!..."

"Flat-hair, too…" Calm down, Rukia. She exhaled. At least she was a graduate woman with enough sense and self-respect to know that she didn't have to sell her body to gain social status. Yeah, laugh at that.

"You have really pretty eyes."

Rukia turned her quoted really pretty eyes to a girl with green hair, a little surprised at the compliment wedged in between the superficial criticisms.

"Thanks," She muttered stupidly, a little embarrassed.

The girl smiled at her. "I didn't see you here when I came. Are you new, or did you just come back from somewhere?"

"I'm new," Rukia replied, smiling as well. There was just something about the other girl that seemed radiant, pulling her along for a ride in Sunshine Park. "I'm Rukia, by the way."

"My first name's hard. So everybody just calls me Nel," the girl replied, sticking out an awkward hand.

Rukia looked at it then let off a little laugh.

"What..?" Nel gave her a worried expression. "Is there something wrong?" She was about to pull back when Rukia stopped her and shook it.

"No, nothing. Your face just sort of twisted uncomfortably when you did it."

"Oh… I'm not used to proper manners," Nel smiled. "But I try hard, you know?"

"Yeah. Same here." Rukia replied warmly, a kind of wistful glaze clouding over her eyes. She wondered if she would miss her old lifestyle in this six month trip.

-X-

Nel was a little quiet beside her. Rukia closed her eyes, thinking it was fine. It was really late in the evening, anyway, and she would be more curious if her newfound companion wasn't the least bit tired. Though she was used to this, living in a world of pulling all nighters to pass tests and late-night job meetings.

She wondered why the band didn't come back yet, and then wondered if she would have to stay here all night, camped under the stars.

Not that it bothered her a bit. It had been a long time since she slept outside. Mainly, never. Not since she got adopted, anyway. And it felt refreshing to sleep without a roof, just feeling the summer night breeze fly past her cheeks, blowing her hair. The stars shone fairly bright, like little night lamps for people who were afraid of the dark. The grass kind of bit into her butt, but it wasn't completely unbearable.

Rukia sighed contentedly. Maybe the city was getting to her, making her forget these kinds of things. The only downside here was the whores.

She imagined meeting the band in her head to entertain herself, seeing what they were like. She wanted to ask them how they played such shallow, raw music, but still have so much emotion and ardor between the lyrics.

She wanted to ask them how in the world it captured girls like her, who never even thought about looking into that kind of music genre before. Brahms and Tchaikovsky, please.

She wondered why she was suddenly getting way too into this. Music was not her calling. But… there was just something there that pulled her along. Maybe this was supposed to be her crazy twenty-year-old expedition that came along with the life experience. Finally.

"Food…!" Nel suddenly squealed beside her, instantly jerking Rukia out of her thoughts. The roadie crew appeared like blessed saviors underneath the holy glimmer that was the flickering streetlights, plastic bags full of soda, beer, chips, and hot dogs in their hands.

Junk food. Rukia resisted the urge to scrunch her nose.

The girls immediately leapt all over them, not because of the food, but because of the roadie crew itself. Apparently, they were in a diet or something.

Rukia stood up herself and went over to the mini buffet. She wasn't certainly chancing talking to one of the roadie crew rather than eating; she was pale and thinly enough without it. Questioning came later, especially if they weren't even the particular band members she was looking for.

She was completely starving. Nel trailed closely behind her, as if was going to drop dead any minute.

"Food…" The girl moaned blissfully, taking a hot dog and shoving it down her throat. Rukia stared at her in alarm.

How could such a tiny thing… well, she shouldn't be speaking herself… she was a great deal tinier than Nel. Rukia took a bite out of her own ration, chewing it slowly and staring at the girl with a sort of bemusement.

Nel took another hotdog and ate half of it in one bite, then washed it down with Dr. Pepper. Rukia looked at her, wanting to laugh.

"How long have you not eaten?" She joked good-naturedly.

"Three days," Nel replied simply like it was just that.

Rukia chocked on the bite of hotdog she just took. "Oh…" She became quiet, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Oh, screw it. No sense being all etiquette here. "That sucks."

"Yeah." Nel smiled at her reply. "Thanks. I hate it when people feel sorry for me."

Rukia gave her a quick grin. "You're welcome. I have a feeling we're gonna get along just fine."

The girl laughed before groaning sourly. "Urggh… I have a feeling I'm about to explode," She muttered, frowning.

"Huh. But it must feel good, right? Eating for the first time in three days. How's it feel?"

"Good," Nel answered honestly, then burst out giggling. Rukia smiled, taking another bite.

-X-

After eating, Rukia flopped back down on the grass and relaxed, pillowing her head with her arms. She knew that it wasn't a really good idea to lie down just after eating, but then again, she didn't really care. This was supposed to be her moment now. She's lying on the ground outside at two in the morning with people she's never even met before, for fuck's sake. Rukia liked to think she was a little hardcore because of this, and therefore didn't need to worry about herself.

Health in moments like these was kind of insignificant compared to excitement and pleasure. It wasn't like she was asking for some; she was just stating the facts. Nasty as they were, it was best to take things in stride rather than get so uppity about it.

Besides, this was the time of her life. What time exactly, or when? She didn't know. It was best not to give a damn, and so she didn't.

Except… except that…

Rukia stifled a yawn.

She felt a bit dazed, though she convinced herself that she wasn't sleepy yet. Because, pfft. It was still so early… in the morning, yes, but the people here were still so lively and energetic. Laughing, laughing, laughing. She didn't want to miss at this kind of atmosphere.

Where was Nel? The girl wondered vaguely, and couldn't suppress the nice, stirring groan that emanated from her throat. The cool, lavender blue skies just felt so good to look at, stimulating the soul, and the wind was so breezy. The fire burning in the middle of the horizon was just an outstanding contrast to it all.

Rukia smiled at the pleasantness of her environment, yawned, and then closed her eyes.

Hey, you Mrs. I don't know what the fuck your name is, I'm drawn to you... something's magnetic here…

It was the verse that kept ringing inside of her head before she passed out.

-X-

She awoke to a sound of muffled voices. Rukia shifted slightly and grunted a bit, unaware that she had passed out like a light like that. She still felt a little half-asleep though, like she was just coming down from being drunk, happily evading hangovers or stirring awake after being knocked out on anesthesia at the dentist's office.

Rukia didn't feel Nel beside her and considered that she just went to get more food. But really, she was a little worried about the girl, especially since she just skipped off like that. The minor grumblings from her body made her feel like something was a little off, or that she was just hungry as well.

More muffled voices came. Rukia yawned once again, muttering and scratching her elbow idly about how comfortable she had been and how fit her sleep was, if only they hadn't woke her up.

They owed her five more minutes of sleep, she grumbled, although got up on her feet nonetheless.

"Rukia…" Nel called at her, and Rukia's eyes focused to see the girl sitting at a folded chair near where the mini-buffet was, a plate of half-uneaten food on her lap. Sunlight had begun to crawl its way steadily through the soft blue sky.

"Hmm…?" She said, a bit indifferent. Rukia lifted her brows for good measure, since Nel just gave her a mild look. "Just five more minutes, Nel." She mumbled.

"No, it's…" The girl shook her head, saying something more. But all Rukia heard despite herself were incoherent slurs. Or maybe there was just something wrong with her ears.

"What…?" Rukia's eyebrows furrowed. "If it's the food you're worrying about—"

Nel shook her head again. "No, listen to me…" More muffled, incoherent voices. "The band's here."

No doubt that… you bring out… the animal inside…

I'D EAT YOU ALIVE… I'd eat you alive…
I'D EAT YOU ALIVE… I'd eat you alive...

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Well, this is a story I've first started after a long time now. This is a tribute for all the people that read TomFoolery and never got what they wanted; I'm so sorry.

But anyways, hope you like this one C: Since I failed at Tomfoolery, I kinda hope to make it up with this. Feel free to leave any good songs in your reviews that I can use. And no, none of that The Maine and All Time Low bands (There's nothing wrong with them, hell I even like them—but they're not really the hardcore rock material this story describes, y'know?) I'd take All American Reject songs or Maroon 5… I dunno, I'm a sucker for them. Leave me alone. xD Punk rock songs are also appreciated, and probably some slight Screamo stuff like Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Check out their song Atrophy, yeah something like that...

So. Yeah. Review!! Click that little button and all because you love this story so much and you're just dying to know what happens and you know that I know you've missed my writing here in the Bleach fandom. Yeah. I know. C: But seriously. Review.

A/N: Yeah, don't think I don't notice you lurkers out there that just fav/alert the story. That's nice and all, but reviewing adds the cherry on top. Mmkay? C: