Questionable Decisions
"Ikkaku," Yumichika said, "I really need to work out a little…excess energy."
"Well, good thing we got an ass load of new recruits that need a little common sense pummeled into them," Ikkaku replied with a grin.
Yumichika was getting eyeballed by the new members of Squad 11, but he was used to that. He knew that, it being Captain Zaraki's squad, it was far less likely that they were admiring him and his perfections, and far more likely that they were measuring him as a combatant. They always seemed to get that last part down wrong and he viewed it as part of his job as 5th seat to reeducate the unwashed masses that came through the Squad 11 gates on exactly how much a "fancy pants pretty boy" can absolutely demolish a giant ogre who thought his damn zanpakuto somehow made him invincible. He often used his opponent's underestimation of him in battle, but there was no reason their own men needed to die because they hadn't learned how to always be on their guard. It's not that he really cared about them individually, although he did have to file paperwork when they died, which was a hassle. He just hated having to train new ones. Somehow they just kept getting dumber and uglier and Yumichika had to wonder if they were really scraping the bottom of the barrel every time a crop of greenhorns stood in front of him.
Yumichika looked over at Ikkaku, who was scanning the crowd. He could tell that the same thoughts were going through his mind.
"Amateurs, all of them," Ikkaku said finally, loud enough for them to hear him. They began to grumble.
"I'd like to hear you say that again, after I defeat you," one of them said, coming forward.
"Oh, there wouldn't be a point to that, you'd either be unconscious or dead," Ikkaku replied. "Besides, I'm not going to fight you today, Yumichika Ayasegawa, the squad's 5th seat will." There was more chatter.
"How is this going to work?" one of the recruits asked.
"Basically you'll just run up to him one by one and then get your asses handed to you and hopefully not lose any limbs in the process. The ones that need it will be carted off to Squad 4 and made fun off by the rest of us as we get drunk and talk about what complete losers you are," Ikkaku explained.
"Ha, I don't think so," the man who had spoken to Ikkaku earlier said.
"Have fun, Yumichika," Ikkaku said, moving out of the way with a wave.
Captain Zaraki watched Yumichika fight with interest. Yumichika had always been a good fighter. He didn't win against Ikkaku but then again, he never really seemed to try to. Kenpachi was watching him fight this time knowing that Yumichika always fought with the equivalent of his hand tied behind his back.
Kenpachi always had trouble thinking in other people's terms. To him, he assumed that Yumichika didn't use his zanpakuto because it was a cheap power and would make fights way too short. He did think about Yumichika's threat, which meant the other reason he didn't use it was because he didn't want Ikkaku to think he was weak. The reality was that it wasn't that Yumichika was scared that Ikkaku would think he wasn't a strong fighter anymore, it was that he was absolutely terrified of how Ikkaku would react knowing that Yumichika had lied to him for basically their entire friendship.
Kenpachi was still mulling things over slowly in his mind. Yumichika had a kido type zanpakuto, which meant he was a weakling who had to use the equivalent of magic and spells to keep him safe. However, aside from last night, Kenpachi had never seen him use his zanpakuto in that way, he'd only ever seen Yumichika use physical attacks. So that meant that he was able to defend himself, aside from the night before. Then again, it's not anyone could hope to defeat Kenpachi (besides one moment of weakness to a feisty human) so maybe it was ok. Kenpachi frowned. Had Yumichika really thought he was going to rape him? He guessed he had been kind of drunk and not really thinking, but he would have left him alone eventually.
He looked up suddenly. What in the world what Yumichika doing?
Yumichika was still feeling the after effects of using his zanpakuto in the way that he had. One of the many reason Yumichika didn't like using it was because it formed an odd connection between him and the person he was attacking. The transfer of spiritual pressure made it a little too intimate for Yumichika to ever want to use in public, even if he could. The fact that he had made that connection with someone like his captain, who he currently passionately hated, made him angry. Yumichika liked his passions, they made him artistic he liked to think, but in this case, it was making him terrifying.
He hadn't gone easy on the new recruits at all. The only ones that had escaped fairly severe bodily injury were those that had been fortunate to suffer a head strike and go unconscious. It might be fair to say, although it was Squad 11 so there weren't that many, that some recruits were actually faking unconsciousness as a means to escape the inexplicable wrath of their 5th seat.
Yumichika turned and rushed the remaining standing group of soldiers, hacking at them the way someone else might chop down trees. He had gone to shikai almost immediately when starting to fight; he wanted to get the feel of his fully released zanpakuto last night out of his hands, its memory out of his head.
"Uh…" Yumichika was blocked by Hōzukimaru. He hadn't even noticed Ikkaku release his zanpakuto. He looked at his friend, whose eyes were gleaming.
"It's been a long time since we've had a good fight," Ikkaku said. "You seem like you might be in the mood for it today."
Yes, Yumichika thought to himself, this will be a lot better.
The two fought with a violence that stunned those of the newcomers still aware enough of what was happening to observe the fight. The shock of the continued raising of their battling spiritual pressures brought some of the regular members of the squad out to the training grounds to watch.
"Ahhhhh!" Ikkaku roared, jumping and coming from above. He was blocked, the force of his attacked redirected over Yumichika's shoulder. This was being more difficult than usual, Ikkaku thought, pausing for a moment while he studied Yumichika. He didn't like to use street tricks on his friend, because Yumichika always chided him and told them they weren't elegant. However, they tended to be very effective.
Ikkaku launched himself at Yumichika, splitting his zanpakuto as if to do a wide range attack, but instead raising a knee to hit Yumichika squarely in the chest. At least, that had been the plan. Yumichika wasn't there. Ikkaku, even as he realized that this must mean Yumichika was behind him, was laughing to himself. Of course; it's not like Yumichika hadn't seen all of his old street fights. He wasn't the type of person to forget a move.
Yumichika struck down with force, a spray of blood shooting from Ikkaku's back.
Kenpachi had to admit he was a little shocked. He wasn't as shocked as Yumichika was though.
"Ikkaku! I'm so sorry!" Yumichika apologized watching the blood drip from his zanpakuto. He hadn't been thinking, it should have been just a small blow with a slight cut, but he had been angry and it had gone deep. He had felt it rip apart skin and muscle. Ikkaku...
"Ha…ha…HAHAHAHHAHAH!" Ikkaku laughed maniacally. He charged, hitting hard, pushing Yumichika back. Yumichika immediately got over his guilt. He needed to defend himself.
"Heh," Kenpachi said.
Yumichika had known he was there of course, but actually hearing him speak, just a little, brought all of his rage back to the surface.
Ikkaku wasn't really sure how it had happened, but all of sudden he had the familiar sensation of having the wind knocked out of him; the tightness and gasping. His vision was slightly blurred as he looked up at the sky from his position on the ground where he was laying on his back. He looked over to see Yumichika walking away.
"Get back here! I didn't yield yet," Ikkaku gasped out.
"Don't," Yumichika said, continuing to walk.
"I heard Yumi really beat up everyone today," Yachiru said.
"What is that you're eating?" Kenpachi asked.
"Candy!"
"We haven't had dinner yet," Kenpachi said with a groan.
"Too late now, it's almost gone anyways," Yachiru said, finishing off the bag.
"Yeah, he did. He even got Ikkaku," Kenpachi answered.
"That's good. He was really nice to me the other day when I went to town and those boys were being so mean," said Yachiru.
"What boys?" Kenpachi's eyes narrowed.
"Oh don't worry about them, Yumi showed me how to handle annoying boys."
"He did, huh?"
"Yeah, he said that I'm probably going to grow up to be really beautiful, and that beautiful people need to stick together," Yachiru continued.
"You could have just killed them."
"They didn't have zanpakuto. Plus, like I said, they were just being annoying. Yumichika said that people get mad at you if you kill people just for being annoying, but that there were lots of other ways to really hurt them. So we rounded up the boys and practiced," Yachiru said. "It was a lot of fun!"
Kenpachi was still unsure what to do about Yumichika. He wasn't the type that usually hedged about anything. However, he didn't really feel a pressing need to kill him and he wasn't a snitch. Ignoring Yumichika and his threats and posturing seemed like it should be a pride issue, but Kenpachi was finding that he didn't really care about it.
Yumichika on the other hand, had been on pins and needles all night. Kenpachi hadn't really promised to not tell Ikkaku. Even if he didn't tell Ikkaku, he could just kick Yumichika off the squad and not give a reason. Kenpachi had never apologized for touching Yumichika either, and Yumichika knew he never would. I should have just fought him, Yumichika thought to himself. Actually, that seemed like a good idea. He looked over at his captain, who was staring off into space while blocking the doorway.
Yumichika got up as if to move through the doorway. "Hey asshole, move!" Yumichika said rudely to his captain.
Ikkaku sat up quickly from where he'd been lounging outside with a bottle of sake. Did he just hear Yumichika…?
Captain Zaraki looked down at Yumichika. He wondered again why it was he didn't feel like hurting him at all. Heh, Kenpachi thought to himself, he's getting pissed because I haven't said anything.
Yumichika punched his captain in the hip. "Ow," Kenpachi said. Not as in, "that actually hurt me", which would only be possible if Yumichika's fist was attached to a freight train, but along the lines of "you hit harder than I thought". The hip was an odd place to be hit as well. It hit bone and had an odd reverberating sensation.
Yumichika could feel his captain's eyes boring into him. He looked back into Kenpachi's eyes with as much fire as he could muster. "Hit me back you bastard!" Yumichika was thinking.
Kenpachi remembered Yachiru playing with a kitten once. She'd reach out her finger and the kitten would take a swipe at it, while she quickly withdrew her finger out of harms way. "Ow!" she had cried out when it had eventually clawed her, drawing a few drops of blood. "Well, what did you think was going to happen?" Kenpachi had asked. She had started doing the same thing again almost immediately afterward.
He was beginning to understand the fascination.
Also, he could tell that the longer he didn't do anything, the angrier it was making the small man in front of him. Kenpachi laughed, reached down, and ran his fingers through Yumichika's hair before moving out of the way, shoving Yumichika out and closing the door behind him.
Yumichika was fuming.
"Holy shit Yumichika!" Ikkaku was saying.
Kenpachi wasn't really the pursuer or wooer type. If he saw something (or someone) he liked, he took it, or not.
"What's wrong, Kenny?" Yachiru asked from her perch on his window sill.
"I was thinking about chasing Yumichika," Kenpachi said. He was always as honest as he could be with her.
"Oh, I want a mommy!" Yachiru said.
"A mommy?" That wasn't really what he had intended. Kenpachi wasn't really someone who thought forward that far. He looked at Yachiru. He guessed she could use someone that knew a little more about being a woman. He laughed to himself. God Yumichika would get pissed off to know that he'd just been compared to a woman. Honestly, the problem with women was that although they were soft and boobs were great, he always felt like he might break them if he let himself go at all. With men, he enjoyed slightly rougher sex, but he as much as he thought ruggedness was attractive on the battlefield, it didn't really do much for him in the bedroom. Yumichika skirted all of those problems by being as strong as a man, and still…Kenpachi paused for a moment trying to remember how Yumichika had tasted and whether his lips had been soft. He'd been a little too drunk to recall details like that unfortunately. His hair had been silky in his fingers a few minutes ago though, and he always smelled good, had glowing white skin…
"Hmmph, you know, maybe," Kenpachi said to Yachiru.
"Yay!"
