Lindsey closed the top of her laptop computer and packed it away with the rest of her things. She was on her way to Florida and it was going to be a long five hour flight, from California to there. She was meeting her best friend Amy, who was from Ohio, for a rare convention the only hits the states every five years or so. She had planed to meet her and another online bubby there for the weekend.

She left the house, for the airport, around 3 am to catch her 5 am flight. The flight went well and she arrived at her destination around 10:30am. She collected her things and walked to the front desk to get a city map, to find her hotel. She was staying in a Marrot, complete with a pool and free breakfast. The room she and Amy booked was on the second floor, because Amy was eight months pregnant and this trip was sort of like a special gift for her. Lindsey had begged her friend not to go, because of her health, but Amy would hear nothing of it and continued on planning the trip. After missing the airport bus five times and getting on the wrong hotel bus twice, Lindsey arrived at the hotel exactly at twelve o’ clock.

“Lindsey!” a woman shouted out to her from across the room
Amy turned around
“Lindsey! Don’t just stand there get over here and give your pregnant friend a hug!”
Lindsey chuckled a little at the sight of her best friend wobbling over for a hug “Dear me, look at your,” she hugged her friend “did they have to fly you on a flight by yourself?”
“Very funny Lin, how have you been? I already checked us in.”
“Fine.” Lindsey said and they rolled their things to the elevator

Their room was beautiful, it had two beds, a little refrigerator, microwave, and not to mention and beautiful city side view. The walls were painted a peach color and the carpets were a lovely shade of green. The light from the windows really brought the room together.

“Awww, this is awesome Lin!” Amy threw her things on the floor and wobbled around the room, opening and closing everything inside
Lindsey threw her things on the bed “Well, lets not waste time here, lets go get our badges.”
Amy turned around and nodded

They walked out the room and down the long hallway, some people were cosplaying, but not Lindsey she was going to do that on Saturday. Lindsey was wearing a black slim fitting shirt with a black skirt and shoes; Amy was wearing a long purple gothic style dress, with purple comfort shoes. When they finally got downstairs the registration line was down the hall.

“Dang” Amy muttered to Lindsey

They got in line and waited and waited and waited, at times they thought they’d never move. Lucky for them there were benches all down the wall, so they sat. In front of them were a bunch of cosplaying school girls, chatting about the usual things and behind them was a little boy, who was unbelievingly cute. Some minutes later the little boy began to strip, changing into a little hula outfit, complete with a pink strapless bikini top and a green skirt made of leafs. They watched the boy as he changed, they couldn’t believe what was going on. As if that wasn’t weird enough, a thin Ulquiorra cosplayer went dancing by. Lindsey raised her eyebrow, as much as she was happy to see an Ulquiorra cosplayer, she wasn’t expecting this. He looked like he was jamming; he moved and swayed, like a snowflake in the wind. At times he would stop, but not for long and pretty soon he was back into motion, dancing by them several times.

Amy tapped Lindsey “If I didn’t know any better I’d say this was a sign.” Amy chuckled
Lindsey gave her a serious look

Then out of nowhere he just stopped and started walking towards them. Lindsey and Amy froze, but the Ulquiorra cosplayer was heading for the boy not them and picked him up and sat down. They looked at each other and Amy tapped Lindsey and smiled.

Amy had known Lindsey for many years; they first started talking online to each other five years ago, after Lindsey graduated high school. They both belonged to an online art site called DeviantArt, where they first started talking. It was their love of Bleach that brought them closer together. Amy loved Szayel and happened to draw all of the Espada one day, which caught the eye of Lindsey, who loved Ulquiorra and they had been talking ever since.

This year the con was featuring a massive Bleach panel, which took place in its very own dining hall. So Amy and Lindsey had to go. And To show their love for the anime Lindsey was going to cosplay as Ulquiorra and Amy, who couldn’t cosplay, was planning on buying every Szayel related thing in the convention.

The little boy took the Ulquiorra cosplayer’s headphones and started to hula, which was so cute. The boy looked just like the perfect version of a little chibi. He had short brown hair, pale tan skin, his face was round and cheeks pink and he had the cutest little butt.

Amy nudged Lindsey “Awwwwww”
Lindsey stared at Amy

Down the hall they saw two random ninja cosplayers. They stood out the most because of their mask. The face was blank, white, with no facial features what’s so ever and the rest of their costume looked like normal period style clothes. They walked closer and closer and Amy and Lindsey had hoped they would past them by, because to be quite honest, they looked scary, but they stopped right in front them. They stared at Amy and Lindsey for a second and took a seat on the floor next to the Ulquiorra cosplayer and the small boy. Amy and Lindsey looked at them and one of them had their face fixed on Lindsey, like a dog’s eye on a stranger. Feeling a little nervous under the cosplayer’s gaze she turned and looked at Amy, but when she looked back the cosplayer was still looking at her. Just in time two girls walked over to the Ulquiorra cosplayer, breaking the gaze of the white face cosplayer. They all looked at the girls. One of the girls was wearing a white thick shirt with a hood on it and a short blue skirt and the other was wearing a long blue jean dress.

“Dilan! Where have you been?” said the girl in the white shirt
The Ulquiorra cosplayer looked up at her “Here, I had to watch Sunny.” replied the cosplayer
“Whatever, I’m so sick and tired of this anime stuff.” said the girl in the white shirt
“Well, you said you would support me on this.”
“Whatever, and what are you so post to be anyway?”
Dilan signed and looked up “Ulquiorra Schiffer”
Brittany gave him an angry look “A Ulquiorra? What? Why are you even dressing up as that freak!” she snapped

There was a short pause before the cosplayer could completely take in what she had just said, a little bit of him died when he heard those words. They tore away at his mind, at his soul, and most of all at his heart. The anger inside him was starting too built up and he felt like he was about to snap.

“Freak!” Lindsey shouted out “Who are you calling a freak! Ulquiorra Schiffer is a well respected member of the Espada/Bleach community and he demands respect from everyone!”

Brittany’s eyes roared with anger at the comment from the mysterious girl. Who was she Brittany thought who was she to interfere with her AB conversion. She looked into the other girl’s eyes like a hawk that caught the eye of its prey, but she was met with an equal, if not more powerful gaze, one that could cut the very strings that hold your soul together. Not willing to take on such a stare Brittany backed off.

“Whatever! I don’t need this! It’s over Dilan!” Brittany shouted and ran off and her friend followed

Everyone watched as the girls walked off, the line moved and everyone remained quiet. The two ninja cosplayers nodded at the green eyed cosplayer, and stood up and walked in the direction where the girls had went. Lindsey glanced over at the cosplayer, who was looking down, she wanted to say something, but the words wouldn’t form at her mouth.

Sunny looked up “Dat lady had a bad face”

But the cosplayer’s face remained the same. Lindsey and Amy looked up and there was two matching Szayel cosplayers standing in front of them. One was really tall and the other was quite short.

“Papa!” Sunny called out, he hugged the short one
“Uqlui, I’ll take Sunny can you collect everyone’s badges for use? Erin and Dale already got theirs.”
The Ulquiorra nodded
“Thanks!” they both said and walked away

It was bugging Lindsey so much, trying to find some way to talk to the cosplayer. Then suddenly Amy tapped her, snapping her out her state of mind.

“I’m going to set down over there, can you get my badge?” Amy stood up
Lindsey nodded still a little lost in her thoughts

The cosplayer and Lindsey both watched her walk away and then they looked at each other.

“Was that your girlfriend?” the words slipped from her mouth like the soap in the shower
“Hmm?” He looked at her

She had time to take in his features, he was the perfect size and had the perfect face for the cosplay and pulled it of perfectly. His jet black hair formed perfect shadows on his pale face, the tear marks on his cheeks were the perfect length and size, and matched the color of his beautiful green eyes. His hands neatly done there was not a speck of white on his jet black nails. His uniform ironed to perfection, his attention to detail was something to be admired.

“That girl, was she your girlfriend?” Lindsey looked at him, but not in the eyes
“Oh, Brittany? Yeah, was.” He looked down
“Didn’t seem like much of the fan.” She spoke again
“No, I wanted her to come because I hoped she would find something she liked and catch on.” He sighed still looking at the floor
“You shouldn’t have to be forced to like something.” Lindsey looked at him
The cosplayer remained quiet

The line moved, but they were no closer to the front desk then were an hour ago. Feeling a little awkward Lindsey searched her mind for something to say. Finding nothing she went to easiest thing.

“What do you admire most about Ulquiorra?”
He looked up and tilted his head “What is there not to admire.”
Lindsey smiled

The lined moved up and before they knew it they were at the front of line. They picked up their badges and went their separate ways. About four feet out Lindsey paused. She thought about the events that had just happened, she thought about the girl, but most of all she thought about the cosplaying Ulquiorra. She thought about his curves, the way all the lines of his figure went perfectly together, from the tip of his helmet all the down to the tips of his boots. Just thinking about it made her mind go crazy. She clinched onto the badges unaware of her friend calling her name from across the room.

“Lin-Sey! Li-n-se-y! You there girl?” Amy tugged on her arm
“W-what?????” Lindsey looked around, like a confused animal
“Lindsey! Girl?” Amy looked into her friend’s eyes
“What?” Lindsey shook her head and looked up at her friend “Amy? Amy, where at I?”
Amy looked at her with concerned eyes
Lindsey searched her friend’s face “Oh” She smiled nervously
“You ok girl?” Amy placed her hand on her shoulder
“Yeah, just thinking” Lindsey said
Amy let out a sigh of relief

They both walked to the dealer’s room. There was a great selection this year, but why not after all this was a once in a life time convention. There were booths for manga in English and in Japanese. The anime booth featured new titles straight from Japan and they had the cheapest box set prices around. Lindsey scanned the booths for any sign of Bleach and Amy followed behind, looking at the other booths for cute cosplay items. Suddenly a large white object flew right behind Lindsey. Lindsey snapped around. She scanned the room, but found nothing and went back to looking at the anime selection before her. Amy tapped her arm informing her of a small booth in the back, which sold cute little Ulquiorra dolls.

“Really!?” Lindsey said excitedly

She rushed over there quicker than a hungry lion to its food. Once there she gently pushed through the people, to have a look at the table. Amy was right; this table was full of cute little items. There were Ulquiorra key chains, dolls, and even magnets.

“Oh my.” She said to herself happily

She moved her hand other a cute little Ulquiorra doll, which was setting down in the butterfly position with his hands on feet, but it was meet by another. She quickly pulled it back to see the competitor. She froze; it was the dancing Ulquiorra cosplayer from before. He tilted his head and stared at her; he removed his headphones and smiled.

“You can have it if you want.” He picked it up and placed it in her hand
She looked down “T-Thank you”
He smiled and continued looking at the table for his very own Ulquiorra treasure

Still frozen, the dealer behind the table had to ask her repeatedly if she wanted to buy the Ulquiorra doll. After a few tries the dealer got her attention.

“Oh oh” Lindsey turned around “Yes, of course.”

Lindsey paid the man and searched the room for the pale faced cosplayer, but he was no where to be found. She sighed and thanked the dealer for the purchase. She walked through the people, glancing at the tables as she walked by, she was getting hungry and wanted to find Amy quick to grab a bite to eat before her stomach implodes. Amy was standing at the front putting all her little bags into a bigger bag.

“Hey,” Lindsey tapped Amy on her back “I’m hungry, want to grab a bite to eat?”
Amy looked up “Yeah sure, let’s put this in our room first.”
“K” Lindsey said and they both walked out of the dealer’s room

On there way back to room, Lindsey thought she saw a white figure turn the corner; Amy was already in the room, and she didn’t really want to walk all the way down the hall for nothing. She picked up her things and went into the room. From the back of the room she could her friend say something about wanting to change first, but her mind was else where. And now that she has extra time, she was seriously thinking about perusing the white clothed figure.

“Alright Aem, I’m going out real quick to get...something.” she grabbed her key and walked out the room
“Alright girl!” Amy called out but Lindsey didn’t hear

She walked quickly down the hall, but before she got to the end she paused. She thought about what she was doing and took a deep breath and turned the corner. Expecting, but not really expecting anything at all, she was surprised to see that the mysterious white figure was not Ulquiorra at all, but the short Szayel cosplayer from before.

“Oh!” Lindsey uttered
The cosplayer turned around “Hey, you’re the girl from before.”
Lindsey nodded, feeling a little embarrassed but she couldn’t figure out why
“Dilan told me what happened.” Said the pink haired cosplayer

“Dilan?” That named ringed in her head like a thought once lost now found. She had heard it before but couldn’t think of where, but she knew it was very important. After speaking it in her mind several times, she came up with a face.

“That Ulquiorra cosplayer?” she responded
He smiled “Yeah, we call him Ulqui for short sometimes. Hey it was cool what you did, Brittany was being a total B. Dilan told us all about it.”
Lindsey blushed “About me?”
“Yeah, he said that you were an intelligent Ulquiorra fan.”
Lindsey looked down “Oh, that’s cool.” She was blushing even more
The cosplayer looked into a room and turned back around to her “Yeah, we’re all going out to dinner want taa come?”
Lindsey looked up, just now remembering her best friend back at the room “Yeah sure, just let me tell my friend right quick,” just as she was about to turned around she a had forgot to make sure if it were okay for her friend to come “Hey, can my friend come too?”
The cosplayer smiled “Of course!”

Lindsey backed away slowly and nodded at the cosplayer before darting of to her room. She had never run so fast in her life before. She dug deep in her pocket for the room key and jerk it out to unlock the door. She shoved the key into the door, but was having the worst of luck. She jerked and jerked but the key wouldn’t work.

“Come on key!” she jerked “Work!”
Her friend swung open the door, to a rather upset friend with her foot up in the air.
Amy giggled “I’m pretty sure kicking down the door would get us kicked out of this hotel.”
Lindsey let her foot drop “S-sorry,” she scratched her head “Um, you ready?”
Amy nodded and grabbed her purse off of the table next to the door.

Amy headed down the hall, but Lindsey didn’t move. Amy turned around and looked at her friend, she was wearing a long fitting red dress and red shoes, after some minutes of staring Lindsey turned around and started walking the other way. Amy smiled, she was only about two feet away, and caught up to her silent friend in no time.

“This way?” Amy said a tad out of breath
Lindsey nodded “We’ve been invited to dinner.”
Amy stopped and Lindsey looked back but not at her “Invited?”
Lindsey blushed
Amy’s face filled up with enthusiasm “Oooooooh, it’s by that cosplayer?”
Lindsey turned around and started walking again “Lets go.”

Her heart was racing too fast for her to think and she didn’t want her friend see that she was this fluster over something as little a dinner date. Date, the word rang in her mind like the sound of keys long forgotten. How long has it been since she’s even thought about the word date? Just the sound of it was enough to make her heart jump out of her chest.

They turned the corner and walked to the door that the Szayel cosplay was once standing at. They paused, the door was open and they could hear sounds coming out of it, but Lindsey dear not look in, but her nerves were getting the best of her and she had to peek. And when she did she nearly ran into someone trying to come out.

“Aa-oh sorry, I…” she looked up

Their eyes met, his were dark auburn, deep, and endless. She nearly jumped back because they were so close. She looked him over; he was wearing black boots, with black pants with and sliver chain on the left side and a light and dark green short sleeve striped shirt, with the collar down. His hair was jet black and cut nicely and reminded her of Ulquiorra. His face was blemish free, nice and tan but pale too and his lips were perfect in everyway it didn’t even matter if he were frowning or not. Everything about him was fresh and clean, he even smelled good. Lindsey put her hands on her cheeks and turned around.

Dilan looked at Amy and Amy smiled “She can act crazy sometimes.”
Lindsey turned around, face red and flush “Amy!”
He chuckled

Soon more people started coming out of the room, for a moment Amy had thought that everyone in the convention was staying in this room. All together eight people and one child came out and that’s not even including the one outside. There was three girls and five boys.

Dilan turned around and looked at the group and turned back to Amy and Lindsey “Oh,” he smiled nervously “Well, ah, these are my friends KuroKuro and Monte, Vic and Mike, Howie and Panda and their son Sunny, a-and I’m Dilan.” he looked down, anyone could tell he was blushing
Amy and Lindsey looked at each other and Lindsey introduced herself and Amy “Cool, well I’m Lindsey, but you can call me Lin and this is my best bud Amy.”
“It’s a pleasure.” he shook their hands

After the hellos and the hand shakes they all packed into the elevator, it was a tight fit but no one complained. They left the hotel and decided to find a place with in walking distances to eat. Their choices were McDonalds, UNOs, or China Town, after some serious talking and convincing they all decided to good to UNOs, with was one of the best pizza places around. They crossed the street, looking like a mod of people on the brow. It was a nice day not too hot and with a good breeze. They entered the pizza place and waited to be seated.

The host walked over “How many?”
KuroKuro looked up “Ummmmmm?” she counted “Twelve and can get we a booster set?”
The Host nodded “It’ll be about twenty minutes.”

Everyone waited quietly, which was really working on KuroKuro’s nerves and on top of that she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had seen Lindsey and Amy somewhere before. So she came up with a fun way to gain information without being to blunt.

KuroKuro stood up “All right everyone! To make the wait go by quieter, let’s have everyone tell one thing about themselves!”
Mike sighed “Really…”
KuroKuro cut him off “Starting with,” she turned around in mini circle “Our new friend Lin!” she pointed and winked
Caught of guard Lindsey looked up “Um…..well I like Ulquiorra from Bleach and drawing…” she scratched her head
KuroKuro smile a satisfied smile and pointed to Amy
“What’s up, I pregnant, as you can see,” she said jokingly and everyone laughed “And I also love someone from Bleach, and if you’re nice I’ll tell you,” she joked again
Sunny jumped up “Who is it! Who is it!”
Amy laughed “Hehe, by baby Szayel.”
Monte stood “Oh Yeah! Szayel lovers unite!”
Howie and Panda stood up also and started dancing with Monte
KuroKuro lowered her hands, for them to be seated “Szayel, nice, alright Dilan you’re next.”
Dilan, who was reading the menu “I am an Ulquiorra and Bleach fan.” He said mechanically, as if he had said many times before and turned the page of his menu
KuroKuro smiled and pointed to the next person
Sunny popped up from the floor “I-I-I Like Peza and shakin’ mah boody!” everyone laughed, which made him very happy
“Looks like we got a boggy boy.” She pointed to Panda
“Hi Hi, I’m Panda and this is my son Sunny,” he smiled at Sunny “And next to me is boyfriend Howie. And yes I am a Szayel fan.”
“Woot!” Amy yelled
Howie stood up next and introduced himself “What’s up, I’m Howie and that’s my man Panda-Boo and I love Szayel too, because he’s the greatest.”
“As if,” muttered Dilan
Howie heard him but ignored his comment
“Next up Dale!” KuroKuro pointed
“Hi, I’m Dale, I don’t really watch Bleach but the love books about werewolves.” Dale sat down
“I’m Erin and same goes for me, Werewolves rule!” Erin smiled and set down
KuroKuro smiled and pointed to Mike
“Where’s the food?” everyone laughed
“Oh Mike,” KuroKuro said
Mike stood up “Well, I’m Mike and I’m hungry,”
Everyone laughed again and Vic slapped him “Hi Hi,” Vic waved “I’m Victoria, but you can call me Vic or Vicky if you want and I love to sing and draw.”
Monte stood up next “I’m Monte, and I’m a super ninja and crack addicted Szayel fan.”
Everyone laughed, expect Dilan who thought that there were way to many Szayel fans
KuroKuro was the last to go “Well, I’m KuroKuro and my task is complete,”
Everyone looked at her confused
She turned and looked at Lindsey and Amy “It’s a pleasure to me you both,” they looked at her “GreenistheColorofLife and Puppylove.”

Lindsey and Amy were both surprised to hear their DA names, but soon after KuroKuro had told them that she was the one that they were suppose to meet here, and so everything worked out. The food was great and they stayed there until eight. They walked back to the hotel and everyone slit up. Erin and Dale went to the dealer’s room, Vic and Mike went back to their room to rest up before going to the rave later that night; Howie, Panda, and Sunny went to a late night showing of Shin-Chan, KuroKuro and Monte said they were going to just walk around, and Amy wanted to go back to the room and sleep. The only ones left were Lindsey and Dilan.

“Well, I’m going back to my room,” Dilan turned around and said, which he regretted
Lindsey frowned “O-ok, well I’m going to the special showing of the Bleach,”
“Which one?” Dilan asked
“The third one,” Lindsey responded, hoping he would go with her
“Awesome, Well, I guest I’m just going to go with you then…haha” He said nervously
“Ok,” she said happily

They walked to the special showing together; it wasn’t really crowded since they were showing the movie all three days and both nights. The movie was showing in a small room with no chairs and even though they had to sit on the floor, they didn’t mind. The room quiet chilly, and they were getting cold, so Dilan gathered up some nerve and moved closer to Lindsey. Lindsey jumped nervously at the sudden touch of skin. They looked at each other, but quickly looked back at the movie when their eyes met. The movie was long and the room wasn’t getting any warmer, Lindsey was sitting with her knees tucked close to her chest and Dilan was sitting with his legs stretched out on the floor. The movie ended around 10:15 and nothing was really going on at the convention, except the rave, which nether of them wanted to go. So they walked around outside the convention hall, because they had a nice wooded path area, and it was set up especially for night walking, because of all the ground lights and glowing waterfalls.

“It’s pretty isn’t it?” Dilan spoke out
Lindsey looked over to him and nodded

They walked down the path, there were a few people out, but they did pay any attention to them. Dilan stopped suddenly, almost causing Lindsey to trip; he stared into her deep brown eyes. She stared back, trapped in the endlessness of his gaze, he moved closer. She froze. Their lips met, and she closed her eyes, taking in every moment. All too soon the kiss broke and when she opened her eyes, he had already gone.