This is an AU. Meaning I have written it and I will continue to do so. If you have any helpful criticism, please do drop it by me :)

This story takes place in a world without hollows and ghosts. Life is a little boring for Ichigo Kurosaki but one day at school he has an interesting run in with a certain blue haired Sexta. (GOD, I love that word.) Everyone is about 17 and Grimmjow's personality is very OOC. But I hope you find a place for him in your heart anyway :)

The whole story is in Ichigo's POV. I might do the last chapter from Grimm's prospective... ;)

Also this is not going to be a story that revolves around sex. There will be sex. Eventually. But I dont believe in not doing something unless your heart is fully in it so thats the way the story is going to go. :)

This is also Un-Beta'd so please excuse any errors!

Many thanks x

Have you ever been so incredibly bored, you would gladly exchange a testicle or another vital part of anatomy for a something –anything- to amuse yourself with ,during an extended period of boredom?

I have.

In fact it's a regular occurrence for me.

Or about as regular as double Math.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhh."

I sigh loudly. No one moves or looks at me to condone the volume of my sigh. The whole class is as good as dead anyway. I look at the clock. Still 35 minutes left.

Isn't 35 such a detestable number? Oh god! Now maths is affecting time, as well!

I sigh again, but more to myself than to the rest of the world. I fold my arms and rest my head on the desk, looking out the window at the sky which, as if to mock me, is cloudless and a deliciously pale blue.

I love looking at the sky. I think it's thoroughly underappreciated. It's there all the time, holding things together and we cuss at it when it goes all grey and cloudy, but when it looks like this... I just want to stand in the middle of nowhere and gaze up at it all day.

I jump in surprise when I realise I'm actually looking at the head of the person sitting next to me.

I glance around nervously. I don't want someone to catch me surveying Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez.

He's the resident badass, I suppose. Every town has one; the hansom loner who seems to be in a different world from everyone else. Well that's Grimmjow.

I feel sort of bad for him, though. He seems really lonely. But another part of me doesn't actually care because plenty of people have approached him with friendly intentions and he's just told them to fuck off. He obviously likes being alone.

Well, I reason in my head, I like being alone, but I still have friends.

Actually, having said that he's not totally alone. There's Ulquiorra from the classroom next to ours, and his little posse. But even then, I've seen Nnoitra and that big guy Yammy just walk past Grimmjow without even batting an eyelid in his direction. Maybe only Ulquiorra talks to him. The rest of them might have had a fall out or something...

But still, there is most defiantly something wrong with Grimmjow. Girls are practically throwing themselves at his feet, but he just isn't interested. They find his aloofness sexy, I suppose. You would have thought though, wouldn't you, that since most of the female population are salivating after him that the guys might bear some sort of grudge, but no; they love him too. It's like he's universally appealing. Fun for all the family or whatever.

Oh well... I've got more important things to worry about. Like the fact that my head may implode if I hear the word 'add' again.

"...and so you add the two denominators..."

BOOM!

There's a lone cloud floating in the sky outside. I bet it doesn't have to deal with Math's. But the cloud certainly is a deformed looking thing. It sort of resembles-

"Bert?" I mutter disbelievingly. It's like the sky is a huge blue canvas and there's this one visible mass of water vapor which stands out against it, like my hair in a concert crowd.

However I'm not the only one who speaks.

Grimmjow turns to look at me, eyes wide in surprise. I sit up and gape at him.

"That cloud looks like..."

"Bert."

"As in Bert and Ernie..."

"...from Sesame Street?"

"Pfft." He stuffs his fist into his mouth and suddenly starts shivering with suppressed mirth.

Yeah, I guess seeing puppet characters in the sky in the shape of clouds might possibly be a sign of severe mental illness. In fact, when you put it like that...

I plaster my hand over my mouth trying to keep it air-tight and hoping my laughter won't seep out.

But then Grimmjow starts choking on his fist or something, so he pulls it out of his mouth in a flurry of spit and hilarity.

Nice.

I just can't contain my voice anymore and a shout of laughter escapes me.

But I sober up right away as all heads turn towards me and I'm actually surprised to see the rest of the class there; it's like they melted away for a moment.

Then I notice my desk is shrouded in shadow and I look up to see a murderous Zaraki-Sensei looming over me.

"There will be none...of this nonsense... in my... CLASSROOM!" Sensei is suddenly centimeters from my face, spraying it with phlegm and screaming like there's no tomorrow, effectively popping my eardrums. Is there bloody coming out of my ear? Can someone check? I think there is.

I am left to ponder my existence as I scrape the gum off the bottom of the desks.

Grimmjow and I have been in the same class for two years; we even sit next to each other in Maths and behind each other in History and diagonally in tutorial. So how is it that we have never even had a conversation? I mean like, never. I haven't ever said a single word to him.

I didn't do it to be rude or anything, but he always arrives right before the bell at the beginning of the day and he disappears at break and lunch and I've never been asked to work with him in class. But still, why would that stop me talking to him?

It's his aura, I decide. He wants to be alone and every person in school knows it.

But why now? Why all of a sudden am I noticing that actually, we are pretty similar, and it probably wouldn't hurt to be a little more social with him. Mind you, I'm not exactly the friendliest person around.

It's not that I mean to push people away, but with a face like a 'smacked arse' (as Tatsuki put it once), it's not the best way to start off a friendship. I can't help that, though. I'm not incapable of laughing or smiling or just having fun in general, it just takes a lot more effort to get a reaction from me. Very few people are willing to make that effort. Everyone else just sees me as a sour, stuck up dick with orange hair.

What's not to love?

I walk through the school alone after my detention. It's dark, so there's no more nice, bright, blue sky to play football or have a nap under. I sigh sadly.

"Oi! Kurosaki!"

The shout startles me and I turn to see Grimmjow jogging after me, a can of coke in hand.

I pause in surprise. I didn't expect to see him here. He didn't have detention, did he? Has he been here the whole time? I expect he wants to apologize. He takes my pause as an invitation to walk with me. I roll my eyes and want very much to be at home in my warm bed with a stomach full of food right now.

I am pulled from my fantasy about a huge Sausage Casserole as Grimmjow burps loudly.

"Can I help you?" I say through gritted teeth. I can smell what he ate for lunch.

"Ohh yeah, sorry." He chuckles, patting his stomach. "Coke gives me gas, pardon me." He says with a little smile, which disturbingly feels as though it is just for me.

"Erm... Right." I say, trying to pick up my pace.

"Have you ever tried to hold a burp down?" He queries, conversationally. "It's so painful! I did it once and I won't do it again." He shakes his head solemnly. I can't help but feel like he is just making a joke and trying to be friendly – but why would he? I thought he didn't like anyone.

"Can't say I have, sorry." I say monotonously.

"Really? So you are hereby swearing on this day that you, Ichigo Kurosaki, have never ever burped at all in your entire life?" He asks, grin widening.

"Yeah, I'll swear to that? Do you want me to sign anything?"

"No, but we need a urine sample and a handprint in blood." He says, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Ohh sure, but I don't fart either, does that require more paper work?" I ask him seriously.

He throws back his head a laughs again. Its a pleasant noise which arouses goosebumps on the back of my neck. Again, I find myself chortling along with him.

But I can't help but wonder why he's approached me. I mean just –Why? It doesn't make sense. I frown as I think; something I have always done and people automatically assume im angry and run off or make a hasty excuse to leave with an even hastier exit.

I wait for the question.

"Why are you scowling so much Ichigo? Lighten up!"

"Jeez, you're so miserable."

"Can't you get a sense of humour?"

"It was weird, wasn't it?" Not the question I was expecting but as I glance back at Grimmjow he is looking at the darkening sky, thoughtfully. "Seeing puppets in the sky, I mean."

Just the way he says it, I can't help myself, I burst out laughing.

He smiles with me but continues to look up at the sky as though he's never seen it before. One by one, stars begin to appear.

Honestly, clouds that look like puppets on TV programmes we used to watch over 10 years ago. I should really deny I ever saw anything and just brush this odd behaviour under the carpet, but as we walk out of the school gates and Grimmjow gives me this look that makes me feel more at ease and less like a retard, I decide that I don't need to pretend or be someone else.

"Yeah, it is." I say finally, surrendering. "Very weird behaviour."

Grimmjow grins at me. His blue eyes flicker with something unknown and I immediately feel like I'm back in that stuffy classroom, gazing up at the boundless sky, trying to fight an urge to reach up and see if I can touch it.

I'm 17 and I don't study literature. My spelling and language are probably bordering retarded and I have the same mentality as a deaf chicken, so do please be kind... and leave a review! :D