I just want to say several things before you begin on the first chapter. This is my first ever fanfiction and I'm really excited to see whether it goes anywhere or whether it is any good. I absolutely love both Yumichika and Ikkaku so, so far I've quite enjoyed writing this. Please review if you have the time, I'd be extremely grateful, and I would really like to know if I should carry it on or not.
Enjoy!
Yumichika sighed and added the second set of feathers to his face, just at the start of his right eyebrow. He stared at himself in the mirror, momentarily stunned by his own beauty. He laughed inwardly then proceeded to flick his hair in an elaborate fashion.
''Fucking hell Yumichika, are you done pampering yourself yet?" Ikkaku growled from the other side of the bathroom door.
"Beauty takes time Ikkaku," Yumichika replied bluntly. "And anyway, I don't even want to go out tonight, you can leave whenever you like."
Ikkaku ignored the second input and began to tease his best friend. "What was that? Beauty takes time? And I always thought being 'beautiful' came naturally to you, guess I was wrong."
At hearing this, Yumichika burst open the bathroom door and strutted out like a majestic peacock, then elegantly twirled, purposely making his azure kimono flow around his slender body. He smiled gleefully then placed a hand on Ikkaku's shoulder."But there's nothing wrong with a bit of make-up to enhance the natural beauty, is there?" questioned Yumichika, cocking his head a little to the side and putting on a playful pout. "Besides, even you wear a little make-up."
He flicked the side of his friends eye, then skilfully dodged Ikkaku's punch that was aimed for his gut.
"Yeah, yeah. I get it, lets just go now!"
The two left the eleventh division barracks in silence, walking at a regular pace, side by side. Yumichika, even after all the effort he had went through to get ready, was already regretting going out. He didn't want to spend his night in some stuffy bar filled with red-faced morons who all mistook him for a woman. Groping at his sides, ankles, ass. Anything they could get their hands on. The only way he could endure it was to drink. He didn't really enjoy drinking, and he absolutely despised hangovers. "Eugh," thought Yumichika. "What an ugly night this is going to be."
The sun was setting over the Seireirei, casting orange and pink shadows over paths and buildings. Not many people were out, the weather was still sharp and biting even though it was the beginning of spring. Flowers that had bloomed early found themselves enveloped in a jacket of ice in the early hours of the morning due to the extended winter.
They were nearing the bar when Ikkaku realised that Yumichika had a frown on his face.
"What's up with you?"
Yumichika startled then looked over at Ikkaku. "I don't understand, why am I here again?"
"Because Rangiku has no drinking buddies. All the other lieutenants are actually doing their jobs and they're too busy to go out on a work night. So all that's left is me and her, and I'm not enduring a whole night with her alone."
Yumichika laughed and actually felt some pity for his bald friend; a whole night alone with a drunk Rangiku in some run-down bar. How very pleasant.
"I see, I see. But you owe my, ok?" Ikkaku nodded in reply then pointed at a small building around thirty metres from them. The bar stood at the end of a row of shops. There was a welcoming bubble of laughter coming from the doorway.
"It doesn't actually look that bad…" Yumichika pondered. "Quaint."
"I guess," came Ikkaku's answer.
The two men entered the bar and were immediately greeted by the all too familiar wail of Rangiku's greeting.
"Ikkaakuuuuu! Oh, and Yumi too! Aren't I a lucky girl, hmmm?"
The two males were at loss of what to say. The already red-cheeked Rangiku pulled two bar stools next to her and beckoned them to come and sit at the bar. They complied silently and both grimaced inwardly as they thought of how the next few hours would go.
An hour or so passed; Rangiku became more calm as the night went on and once Yumichika and Ikkaku had some sake in them, it wasn't so bad. They talked and joked about the other absent drinking buddies who were probably working their asses off whilst they drank the night away. Yumichika and Ikkaku exchanged pleased glances occasionally; it wasn't actually that bad. They might have even said that they were having fun.
Then Rangiku let her tongue slip.
After the three of them ordered yet another round, something caught Rangiku's eye. Not exactly something, but someone. A handsome man with well-toned arms and curly blonde hair entered the bar and Rangiku turned automatically and gave him a massive smile and a wave. He returned the gesture politely, then joined some of his friends near the back of the bar.
"He's hot, isn't he? Look at those aaaaarms. He is hot, you do agree, don't you?" Rangiku spluttered out. She let out a hiccup for good measure then turned to Ikkaku and Yumichika impatiently. "Well?"
"Well, what?" they replied simultaneously in confusion.
"You guys must find him hot, or at least attractive! Maybe even cute." she huffed crossing her arms underneath her breasts. They looked at each other then burst out into hysterics. Rangiku eyed them with confusion then looked back at the man. Then at them, then back at the man.
"I don't get it, what's the joke?"
In between huffs of laughter Ikkaku managed to utter; "No Rangiku -as surprising as this may sound - I don't! How about you - Yumichika?"
"Certainly not as beautiful as me."
Rangiku pouted and downed a new cup of sake, then took the opportunity to take both Yumichika's and Ikkaku's whilst they were preoccupied. She looked back at them after emptying all the cups and announced, "You two have got to be the most pathetic gays I've ever met."
The men then stopped abruptly; Ikkaku choking on his last laugh of the night.
"What do you mean 'most pathetic gays?" His voice wavered.
"I mean what I said," she shrugged in reply. "Most other gay men would agree with me in an instant."
Ikkaku was trying to convince himself that she was either joking or she had to much sake in her blood system. Was she trying to call them gay? No way. She couldn't be serious. It was Rangiku after all, she was probably only just pulling their legs. He hoped.
Yumichika placed a firm hand on each of her shoulders. "Rangiku… we're not gay," he said slowly, making sure the drunk woman understood every syllable.
It was now her turn to collapse off her bar stool in knots. Usually at this point Yumichika and Ikkaku would exchange glances of confusion, but both of them were too flushed with embarrassment to look at each other. Rangiku finally controlled herself then lifted her head to stare at the two men.
"You two? Not gay? Bullshit!" She stood up and steadied herself against the bar. She grinned widely then walked over to them to hang an arm over each of their shoulders. Both the men never said a word. What were they supposed to say? What were they supposed to think?
The big-breasted woman twisted her head to look at Ikkaku, then did the same to Yumichika. She noticed their genuinely serious expressions and then she found herself looking backwards and forwards between the two men. Then her movements began to slow down. She withdrew her arms from around them and took a step back. Yumichika and Ikkaku could sense that she was now sobering up and her face seemed panicked.
"You two aren't…?"
Both men shook their heads slowly.
"But I always thought you two were… Oh shit, I've made this really awkward, haven't I? Shit." She turned away from them and looked down at the floor. What have you done you stupid bitch? Why did you have to say it? But... they're so misleading…
She blurted out what sounded like an apology then left the two men alone together in the bar.