Important(ish): I am rewriting this story; it may be renamed On Life, Love, and Tequila or it may have the same title. Stay tuned.

"Owy! Why must you hurt me, Ichigo?" Urahara whined, rubbing his shin. Ichigo just grimaced and crossed his arms.

"Let me think. Oh, yes! Maybe it's the fact that you call me Strawberry every single fuckin' day." Ichigo retorted, tapping his foot on the polished linoleum floor.
"I've already got my wife on my case for—" Urahara got no further than that because the door to the back of the night club flew open and a livid purple-haired woman flew out, fists up.

"How dare you? First you have the nerve to get me pregnant, and then you tell Ichigo so he'll stop hurting you? I think you're due for a little lesson." Ichigo smirked and turned away as Yoruichi pummeled her husband, letting her little fists of fury do some damage. Ah, what an interesting couple they were. Ichigo scratched the back of his head and sidled back to the bar, hoping that his part in the conversation…and now fight…was done for now.

Seireitei was a renowned night-club in the city of Karakura. Kurosaki Ichigo was lucky enough to work there as the bartender. He had been hired after attending high school, and worked on weekends, somehow managing university also. A few of his high school friends also worked with him—Inoue Orihime and, much to her dismay, Arisawa Tatsuki, working as waitresses, Ishida Uryū working as a finance balancer and general band and VIP manager, and Sado Yasutora, also called "Chad", working as a bouncer.

The club was a new, polished place with a crisp air about it. The floors were white and black linoleum, and the walls were very bright, reflective metal that worked wonders with the disco ball centered in the large room. There was a stage in one corner of the room for the various bands that would come to play. The stools were also metal, with soft red leather cushions. The barroom looked very much like a scene from the future, especially when the only illumination was coming from strobe lights hitting the disco ball and from five dim spotlights pointed on the band stage.

The bar was an elegant glass affair, consisting of glass stools for VIPs, a glass counter so that one could see all of the drinks kept under, and little hanging glass lights that would only be illuminated if there was someone sitting under them. The overall effect was really quite stunning.

A few minutes after Yoruichi had finished pounding her husband, she returned to their living quarters in back and over the bar. Urahara winced at his developing headache throbbing through his brain and touched a rather large lump on his head gingerly, making a rather comical face. "Kisuke—may I call you Kisuke?" Ichigo asked, interrupting himself.

"No! I'm your boss! You call me Urahara. Got it?"

"Whatever. Anyway, Kisuke, I was just wondering when the gang is gonna get here. Isn't it a bit late? The bar opens in, uh, about ten minutes." Indeed he was right. The sky was painted crimson and fuchsia, lightened only by the abundance of city lights all around. The club opened at sunset every night and stayed open until two in the morning. While most of the customers were well-manicured, wealthy business people there would always be one or two street bums or gangsters staggering in. That was where Chad came in. He was capable of scaring armed thugs just by crossing his arms and flexing his massive biceps.

Urahara yawned and adjusted his green and white striped fedora before answering. "Oh, don't worry. They'll get here any minute." The aforementioned words were said with perfect timing; Tatsuki came dashing in to the club, chased by a red-haired man.

"RENJI! I TOLD YOU TO KNOCK IT OFF! THIS IS GOING TOO FAR!" Must be Tatsuki's boyfriend, Ichigo thought amusedly. He ran in, knocking over Urahara in the process, and finally catching up to Tatsuki, who had stopped for air. He attempted to hug her, but instead got elbowed in the face.

"Ouch." He said, holding his face.

"Renji…you may want to leave before the boss gets up." Said a deep voice. Ichigo looked to the door and saw Chad standing at the threshold, arms crossed. Renji looked up and grinned in embarrassment. With the extensive tattoos on his forehead, the impression was that of a scary, maniacal clown.

"Riiight. Leaving! Only problem is that I'll be coming back!" Before Tatsuki could argue or any of them could ask what he meant, Renji stole a kiss from her and speeded passed Chad, stirring a bit of dust just outside the door. Chad's lips twitched up in a slight smile before returning to their normal passiveness. He bent down and helped Urahara up, silently amused at the owner's grumbling. Poor guy seemed to be getting hurt somehow every day. Usually it had to do with his wife or Ichigo, though spontaneous incidents like the past one could happen every now and then.

"Great. Now you two are here, but where's Orihime and Ishida?" Ichigo said, a bit irritated. The place was so busy at night that the club just couldn't afford to have only one waitress. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, only broken every so often when Urahara would grumble something under his breath, Orihime ran through the door, panting.

"I'm so sorry I'm late, Urahara-san!" She gushed, looked at him with puppy eyes. The boss just laughed and patted her on the head.

"No worries, Inoue. Please change into your uniform now, all of you. We may have to open without Ishida, which is bothersome because he said something about getting a legendary bend—" Once again, the man's timing was impeccable. Ishida came rushing full speed through the door, doing an unintended somersault and landing on his knees.

"Sorry I'm late, Boss. I had some last minute complications. The band isn't going to be able to play because the drummer got stuck in a tree—I don't want to know how or why—and the band doesn't have a backup player. I quickly found and alternate band. They still have to make a name for themselves in the city, but they have potential, so I decided to hire them for tonight." He explained, quickly standing and dusting off nonexistent dirt from his white pants.

Urahara scratched his stubble as he thought. "Good thinking on your part, Ishida. Have you told the band to go around back to get ready?" A sudden crash and swearing was heard from the back room. "Ah…I take it they're already here, then." Ishida nodded sheepishly, pushing his glasses up on his pale face. Ichigo raised an eyebrow but said nothing, going to the second back room to change into his red bartender's attire. Chad followed him silently. Ishida quickly opened the door, eager to escape from the more than slightly nutty owner.

By the time the three men had changed and opened the door again, Tatsuki and Orihime were already discussing who would serve whom. Ishida quickly went up to the corner band stage and began making adjustments to the drums, guitar, base, and various microphones. Chad took up his position immediately to the left of the door, somehow able to make himself inconspicuous despite his large frame. Ichigo walked behind the bar counter, taking the most commonly used alcohols out of their place on the counter shelves and placing them on top of the counter where he would have easy access to them.

Just when everything was getting settled and Urahara was about to turn on the strobe lights, a little girl whisked by him and jumped onto Chad, hugging him. She wore a pink dress with a dark blue cape and had blonde, curly pigtails. Ichigo was shocked, but only raised an eyebrow at this unusual sight. Chad gently placed the girl on the floor, color staining his cheeks. "Uh, Ririn…what are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay with Nova." The girl smiled deviously and tugged on his pants leg.

"Nova wouldn't give me candy, so I decided to come and stay with you!" The girl named Ririn said as if that should explain everything.

"Ririn, you know that this club is only for people of twenty-one years or older. You have to go back home. Tell Nova that I give you permission to eat a bit of candy. A bit." Ririn grinned, hugged his leg—for that was the only part of him she could reach—and dashed out of the club door again. Damn. People are doing a hell of a lot of running today…Ichigo thought. Orihime asked the question that had gone unspoken in all of their minds for the past few minutes.

"Chad, who was that? I've never seen her before." Chad looked at his shoes and cleared his throat.

"That would be my younger sister. Not blood relative, but I call her my sister."

"Really? You never mentioned that to us before. Who's Nova, too?" Urahara said, smiling slyly in that freaky way of his. Chad cleared his throat again but said nothing. This matter was not open to discussion. After a moment of awkward silence, Urahara shrugged and turned off the house lights without further question, flicking on the strobe lights that made the disco ball reflect onto the metallic walls. As Urahara flicked a last switch, the store was officially open.

Although those indoors could not see, they knew that the sign above the club's entrance was now illuminated. There would be a crowd stampeding in here at any given moment. Ishida quickly opened the door to the first back room and said something to the band—probably to hurry up and get on stage. The first customers started trickling in—the first people were usually the regulars, so Urahara stood by the door and greeted them for a while before heading to his home in the back.

Three well-dressed men and one woman took seats at the bar—the VIPs of the night. It was Ichigo's responsibility to make sure that they above everyone else had what they needed first. Orihime and Tatsuki started to take orders around the room while Chad confronted a thug trying to get in. While the club was normal looking enough on the outside, it was only for the elite in reality. Ichigo poured drinks endlessly, handing them to the two women. Although the job was very tedious, Ichigo enjoyed the music and the people.

After the bar was full and everyone was growing impatient for the band to play, four people seemed to rise from the floor of the stage. Everyone started hooting and hollering—many were already fairly drunk. As Ichigo saw the members of the band, he understood Renji's words—he was the lead guitarist of the group. He wore black skinny jeans, Converse high tops and a nondescript black hoodie with white designs that matched his tattoos. On drums was a well endowed woman with flowing strawberry-blonde hair. She was dressed in a skimpy halter top that glittered and said in black "YO", black skinny jeans and—again—black high tops. The bass player was a blonde man with strange hair. He, in fact, wasn't wearing any shirt. Instead, his chest was painted gold. He wore the seemingly "trademark" jeans and Converse.

As Ichigo took in the lead singer, though, his breath caught in his throat. She had raven hair, interesting in style. She wore a shimmering dress that reminded him immediately of a waterfall—yes, the outfit was made entirely of glass. Even though the woman was rather short, the dress showed her legs off nicely. That was only the beginning, though. They hadn't started singing yet.

The woman leaned into her microphone and said in a beautiful, tinkling voice, "Okay, guys! We're really glad to be here. We call ourselves the Time. This first song is called "Missing You". Enjoy!" With that they launched into the most beautiful song Ichigo had ever heard. The drums were played softly, using lots of cymbal. The base played a mysterious rhythm that brought the player's fingers all over the strings. Renji was playing a soft tune, strumming his guitar as a country star would. Then the woman joined in singing.

Ichigo was entranced by her voice, low but even. The tune was unlike any other he'd heard before. The talking in the bar quickly died down so that everyone could listen. Even Tatsuki and Orihime had stopped walking momentarily, watching the band. By now all eyes were on the singer, absolutely enchanted by her voice. And to think that this was a last-minute replacement…Ichigo thought, ever glad that the other band didn't come. The drummer was vocalizing, making soft sounds into her microphone. At this point even Yoruichi and Urahara had joined the crowd to listen. More people were crowding into the bar from the street—still qualified people, but more than the bar had ever had to face.

As the music faded away, the room was silent. Then everyone erupted into both drunken and sane cheering, crowding around the stage to get a high-five from someone in the band. Ichigo stood where he was, taking in the woman. She was blushing and shaking hands modestly, looking at her band. They, on the other hand, were grinning like maniacs and fist pumping. Either way, everyone loved them.

The rest of the night passed uneventfully, save the Time. Every conversation was now about the band. People made endless speculations of how they came to be so amazing and how they got started and where the amazing inspiration came from. Ichigo thought of this as gossip, so stayed away from all of it—which was nearly impossible since the VIPs were talking up a storm with him…or at him.

Urahara was overjoyed by all of the customers and stayed for the whole night, milling about and mingling with various people. Yoruichi went back, but only after a few more of the Time's jaw dropping songs. Orihime and Tatsuki quickly got over their shock and went back to serving people their drinks. After all, it was their job to not get involved. Ishida, pleased with himself, stood by the stage for the entire time.

Sometime after one, Chad joined Ichigo behind the bar to pour drinks since the traffic out was much heavier than the traffic in. He said nothing as he handed glasses of champagne, schnapps, and sake to the VIPs and the two women serving. That was one of the main reasons the two men got along: they both liked to listen and both disliked talking or getting involved.

Some more people left, causing the bar to become quieter. The Time had stopped playing and had returned to a back room to change and put away their instruments. The VIPs eventually left, making a big scene. Urahara, being the clever businessman that he was, took it all in stride and was playing the role of "gracious host", leaving the other five to clean up. Ishida was busy thanking the band and getting the microphones put away. Tatsuki and Orihime wiped off the tables while Chad put the liquors away. Ichigo, though, wasn't helping. He wanted to go talk to the lead singer.

When he saw that Urahara was engaged in a deep conversation with one of the shallow VIPs, he quickly walked discreetly to the back room's door and slipped inside, unnoticed. Ishida was having an animated conversation with the drummer, but stopped when he saw Ichigo enter the room. "Hey, Kurosaki. Let me introduce you. This here is Rangiku Matsumoto. You already know that she's the drummer. On bass is Izuru Kira. You already know Renji, of course. And the lead singer is…Kuchiki Rukia." At her name, the woman walked out from behind the divider for changing, smiling, and stuck out her hand to the orange-haired man.

"Nice to meet you…?" She said, waiting for a full name.

"I'm Kurosaki Ichigo. Pleased to meet you, Kuchiki Rukia."

"The pleasure is mine. By the way, this bar you work at is one hell of a place." Ichigo grinned and shoved his hands in his pockets. Rukia was wearing a fluttery blue halter top that looked very similar to paper Mache, only wasn't quite as see-through. She had on the trademark jeans and Converse now, also. Ichigo sucked in his breath at this sight. She was absolutely stunning. He had to talk, though. He couldn't just stare at her all night.

"I loved your songs. They were all great. Where did you come up with stuff like that?" Rukia smiled up at him, a light pink tinting her cheeks.

"I love to sing, and Rangiku, Renji, and Kira are three of my closest friends. Since we all have musical talent, we decided to try our luck as a band. I take it you know Renji?" Rukia said, looking at Renji grinning at Ichigo. Ichigo laughed.

"Now I do. He's Tatsuki's boyfriend. Tatsuki is the black-haired waitress." Renji gave Rukia the thumbs up sign in indication that Ichigo was right on target. Rukia nodded her head in understanding.

"Rukia, we better pack our stuff up in the car. We'll meet you out there in a few. 'Kay?" Kira asked, pulling a sweatshirt over his head.

"Of course." The other three band members started lugging their equipment out the back door and to their car. Ishida waved at Ichigo and went out the other door, back into the bar. That left Rukia and Ichigo alone. "So, Kurosaki-san—"

"Ichigo. Call me Ichigo."

"Alright then…Ichigo. How did you come to work at a place like this? It must be hard to get a job at the city's finest night club." Ichigo ran his hands through his orange hair and chuckled.

"Well, I suppose it is, but me and the crew have been working here since the end of high school. I'm a family friend of his, and so are the others, so we kind of just started working here when it opened. Then the club got famous, and we still got to work here."

"Huh. That's very interesting. I guess I just thought of this place as always being famous from the moment it opened."

"Far from it. For the first year or so, this place was really like any other bar you'd find. We didn't have all of the cool décor or anything. After the place got a little more popular, we upgraded to the futuristic theme, and all of a sudden this was the most popular place in the city." Rukia cocked her head in interest. Most people thought that Seireitei had always been an upscale night club for rich people. That hadn't been entirely true, though—as Ichigo had just revealed it.

"Wow. Well, I'd better be going or else my friends will think something has happened. I hope I'll see you soon!" Rukia said, smiling brightly. Ichigo smiled back—not a smirk, but a genuine smile. He liked this woman.

"Oh, I'm sure I'll see you again. With the performance you put on tonight, the boss will definitely be asking for you to come back."

"Thank you. Until then." They shook hands again, and then Rukia was gone. Ichigo looked at the door, thinking about their conversation. Even though he had just met this woman, he was interested in her. She was kind, polite, funny, and not to mention one hell of a singer.

He shuffled back into the barroom, lost in his thoughts. Tatsuki, noticing that look, made the best of a golden opportunity for teasing. "Hey, Kurosaki. Something happen in there? After all, you two were alone…" At this, Ichigo snapped out of his daze and glared at Tatsuki, fists clenching.

"No, Arisawa. Nothing, I repeat, nothing, happened besides us talking." Ichigo retorted through gritted teeth. Urahara, standing by the front door, chuckled lightly.

"All right, you ruffians. Get gone. I'll see you tomorrow. I wonder if we could get that band again on Sunday…" Muttering to himself again, Urahara opened the back door and vanished back into his living quarters. Ichigo was the first one out the front door, eager to get away from all of the lunacy of his friends.

That night, all the way home and even when he was in bed, Ichigo thought about Rukia and her new band. Wow. They're really amazing. Rukia is so interesting—I hope I can talk to her soon…He thought sleepily. Little did he know, across the city and in her own apartment, Rukia was thinking the same thing about him.