hey all. this is a complementary grouping of short vignettes. they go along with the events that happen in another story i'm writing, "So". while you don't have to read these to understand that story, i would certainly recommend reading "So" before reading this. each chapter will focus on one character's experiences, so don't get worked up if someone doesn't show up at all. it's a ubiquitously large cornucopia of characters; everyone will get a chance at the spotlight.

and if you are reading "So" already, well, you'll love these even more.

oh, and M for language and sMut.

Sotto Controllo

What the hell is she doing?

Ayasegawa Yumichika was sitting at his favorite bar – The Corner Bar – with his favorite drink – whiskey on the rocks – surrounded by his favorite people – Kira, Ikkaku, and Hisagi. And yet he was slightly perturbed about something.

Was it the painfully ugly musician singing painfully ugly songs on the stage at the head of the bar? While normally that would be enough to drive him to leaving, he'd gotten a substantial buzz before the fat guitar player had started singing, therefore allowing him to tolerate it.

Was it that Matsumoto and Iba weren't there? He did miss them terribly; two of his favorite drinking buddies had died in the battle over Karakura, thus spurring this group of friends out to the bar to drink in their memory.

Or perhaps it was the short, raven-haired girl that continued to inch her stool closer and closer to his. He looked over at Ikkaku. His best friend continued to make teasing glances at him and the girl who'd tagged along.

In fact, the entire table was amused over Yumichika's discomfort as Kuchiki Rukia blatantly and drunkenly tried to put the moves on him.

This was all Kira's fault; the lieutenant of the third division knew Rukia through his long-standing friendship with Abarai Renji. When the girl had learned about them going out to drown their sorrows in the bottle, she'd asked to tag along; apparently the death of Captain Ukitake had not gone over well for her. And Kira wasn't the kind of man that says no to a pretty face. Everything had been okay at the start of the night— she'd kept mostly to herself, sliding into conversations every now and then with relevant comments.

Then she flipped a switch and couldn't keep her eyes off of him.

They were talking about the battles in Karakura when they'd noticed she was flirting with him; despite the fact that it was a sore subject, they were members of the eleventh division and they loved to talk fighting. Besides, the four men at the table had been on the same defense-team and they had yet to talk about the details of their battles.

Except, of course, Yumichika's newly discovered abilities. That had spread around Seireitei like wildfire.

"Why didn't you tell anybody, Yumi?" Rukia was looking at him with big doe eyes, her interests obviously captured by him. He looked at her strangely. I didn't know we were on a nicknaming basis there, Rukia. He chalked it up to her being drunk; she was a noble and had, up until this point, always acted accordingly. He took a sip from his whiskey before he—

"'Cuz he's a damn chicken-shit."

—was cut off by Ikkaku.

The bald third seat slammed back the rest of his beer, half a mug of the dark liquid vanishing down his throat before he motioned to the waitress to bring another. "He didn't want me to find out that he had a kidou-based zanpakuto," he continued as the waitress sat down the stout in front of him. "I don't know why he thought I'd care. I know he's a proficient fighter without the sissy-ass kidou."

"Like you didn't want him telling anybody about your bankai?" Kira had butted in, defending his fellow kidou-based user.

"Yeah, well. Not like that matters now. With so few captains now, it'd be selfish of me not to apply for one of their spots." Ikkaku looked into his glass distantly, as if he was remembering something. Yumichika knew about the conversation Ikkaku had with Tetsuzaemon. Before the lieutenant, their long-time friend and sparring partner, had been disemboweled by the Espada.

"Well, I knew about it," Hisagi piped up. The rest of the group looked at him questioningly, with the exceptions of Yumichika and Rukia. The fifth-seat already knew the story, while the noble girl from the thirteenth division was completely transfixed on Yumichika. Which was a fact that he'd started to notice.

"When the ryoka invaded, Yumichika and I fought. I'd completely kicked his ass while he was using his shikai's first form, but when he pulled out his kidou shit… I didn't have a chance."

"Why the fuck didn't you tell any of us?" was Ikkaku's indignant response.

"He asked me not to," Hisagi shrugged.

"Well, I think it's very attractive and brave to not fight with your true power simply out of respect for your division. And especially when you have such a great level of… power."

What the hell?

The table turned to look at Rukia, their eyes wide at her sudden outburst of admiration for Yumichika. Ikkaku, ever the sly fox, noticed immediately that she was drunkenly smitten with his best friend. So he decided to do what all best friends would do in this situation— attempt to get Yumichika laid.

All the while knowing that Yumichika had no desire to sleep with the Kuchiki girl.

"You're right, Rukia," Ikkaku said, devilishly leaning across the table. "Not to mention it's very selfless. I mean, what kind of man would perform such brave acts?"

"What kind?" Rukia asked in anticipation, drunkenly hypnotized by Ikkaku's speech. Her eyes were focused completely on the bald man before her.

"The best kind!"

"A gentleman and a scholar!"

Apparently, the rest of the table had caught on to Ikkaku's devious plan, as evidenced by Kira and Hisagi's interjections. Yumichika simply sank lower into his whiskey.

The night went on like this for another hour. Ikkaku had subtly convinced Rukia that Yumichika was the greatest man on the planet, while Yumichika got drunker and drunker. It wasn't that he didn't find Kuchiki attractive; he actually thought she was very beautiful. The reason why he so desperately rejected her advances was simply because Abarai Renji was completely in love with her. He didn't want to step on the poor boy like that.

Yumichika also had to pee. Very badly. But he was afraid of what his "friend" would say about him once he'd left the table. Fortunately for Yumichika, Ikkaku was drunk. And when Ikkaku drinks, he gets angry at the smallest of things. Like the guy that just bumped into his chair. Yumichika didn't have to watch to know that Ikkaku would be in a yelling match within seconds. He simply rose from his seat and darted to the bathroom.

After he'd used the facilities, Yumichika looked at himself in the mirror. Well, I am rather good looking, he drunkenly mused at his reflection, smirking and looking at his face from different angles. Maybe Renji would simply understand that I'm far more attractive than he is and… No, no, no. I can't do this. He reached his hands down into the sink and splashed cold water up onto his face.

I'm not that guy.

Yumichika stepped out of the bathroom and stopped. Several tables had been flipped and there was blood on the corner of the bar. There was a man with a severe gash on his head and broken glass in his hair. Yumichika sighed when he noticed that everyone from his table was missing. Assuming that they'd been kicked out, he walked over to the bartender as he took out his wallet, his feet crunching on top of the broken glass as he went. He looked at the bartender apologetically.

"Ikkaku?"

"The one and only," the man behind the bar snickered as he handed Yumichika the bar tab for everyone at the table.

"Oh fuck off," he said as he pulled some money out of his wallet and threw it down on the bar. "If you had any idea what we go through to save your sorry ass souls, you'd buy our drinks every night." Yumichika turned away from the bar and began to walk out the door, enjoying the banter he had with the bartender every time Ikkaku got kicked out.

"I could go out of business!"

"I could die!"

Yumichika stepped out into the night and saw Rukia waiting for him; her small body leaned up against a wall, her arms crossed. He looked at her and continued to walk ahead slowly.

"I didn't want to leave you here by yourself," she said as she calmly strode over and matched his pace. "The guys went on ahead. I think Ikkaku said 'fuck that pretty boy' as he stumbled away."

"Ah."

Rukia chuckled slightly at the obviously uncomfortable shinigami next to her. "I'm not that drunk, you know," she confessed. He whirled to face her, his eyes widened inquisitively.

"Then why were you—?"

"Hitting on you? I was just having fun. I was really trying to get Kira to feel uncomfortable. I had no idea he'd jump onto Ikkaku's little tirade as quickly as he did. You gotta tell that pachinko-head that he's a terrible wingman."

"Oh." Yumichika felt slightly relieved and slightly deflated. He wasn't used to getting mercilessly hit on for an hour only for the girl to mercilessly shut him down at the end of the night. His ego, indestructible as it normally was, faltered slightly in his chest.

"So are you gonna walk me home?" Her words dredged him out of his thoughts as he looked over at her in surprise. "I mean, I'm just a small girl walking alone at night. What would I ever do if someone tried to take advantage of me?" She smirked up at him as he chuckled lightly.

"I would be glad to, Kuchiki."

They walked silently for a while, bits and pieces of conversation breaking out here and there as they approached the thirteenth division. Yumichika had kept his responses to Rukia's questionings short and to the point; Rukia, seemingly unsatisfied with this, had made every question increasingly more difficult and personal. Which culminated in the question she asked as they approached her doorstep.

"So do you ever get laid when Ikkaku's trying to 'help' you?" She was grinning in a feigned innocence, her hands held behind her back, knowing that Yumichika would squirm under this question.

"Uh…" Her smile widened as he fumbled for the words. "Well, I usually don't have to worry about him interfering like he did this evening. He usually isn't presented the opportunity."

"Are you trying to tell me that the girls don't swarm over you? I find that very difficult to believe, Yumichika."

"I'm afraid not, Kuchi—"

He was cut off as her mouth struck his, her lips connecting with his ferociously.

Perhaps it was the alcohol. Perhaps it was his ego regaining its former stature. Perhaps it was her one hand on the back of his neck, pulling his mouth closer to hers, while the other started undoing his belt. Whatever the reason, Ayasegawa Yumichika forgot about Abarai Renji completely as Rukia grabbed hold of him underneath his hakama.

Her gasp of surprise certainly did not dissuade him either.

She flung the door to her quarters open and swiftly dragged him inside, pulling his shirt off as she went. They didn't make it to her room; she threw him down on the couch, her hands running over his muscular torso. His hands were equally as explorative as they struggled to remove her clothes. The two shinigami were soon naked and Rukia straddled Yumichika, taking him in her hands as she slowly lowered herself into him.

She was grinding on him, her torso lowering itself so she could kiss him. Their lips pulled away and she leaned in and began nibbling his earlobe hungrily as he thrust upwards, her moans coming in soft whispers as he pushed deeper into her. She came quickly, her body tightening as she moaned. Yumichika continued, Rukia's orgasm extending with his swift hip-movements. He soon followed suit and she collapsed onto his chest as they both lay panting for air.

She kissed his neck gently, slowly working her way up to his ear. She brought her mouth up to his ear and whispered softly and seductively

"If you tell anybody about this, I'll kill you."

What a strange and beautiful night, Yumichika thought as her head rose from his chest and sank below his waist.

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author's note

as i said above, these go alongside my other story. they're supposed to be small and humorous glimpses into the pasts of the non-main characters; perhaps explaining why some of the characters are the way they are.

anyhoo, all of these will have names borrowed from ennio morricone pieces.

italiano ftw.

jta.