Mori: I kinda like how this is turning out! Don't forget to review kiddies!
E F F O R T L E S S
"You ready kid?" Ikkaku looked back at her and smiled maliciously. Tsukiko nodded nervously, "I dunno how you ended up in this division, but I'm warning you now: every man here is no push over. You're gonna have to be at your best in order to get whatever seat your aiming for," He walked forward into the room and Yumichika had to push her back slightly to get her to follow him, "We fight with wooden swords, not zanpakutou , in here. It's just a sparring hall not a battle ground,"
He walked over to a door and held it open, taking out two wooden swords. He threw one to her and she caught it just as easily, "Yumichika, you fight her," he threw the other one to Yumichika who dogged it, letting it fall to the ground with a 'clank'.
"You expect me to get filthy and sweaty?!" He said in utter disbelief.
"Well who else is gonna? I gotta observe to decide which spot she gets," He shrugged his shoulders.
"But me? Ikkaku," he whined.
"I'll do it!" Shouted a voice from outside.
"No, me!"
"Let me do it!" Voices kept popping up from outside.
"I wanna touch her breasts!"
"All of you morons fucking get in here right now!!!" Ikkaku yelled out the window, seeing no one. As soon as he turned around the sparring room was filled with men chatting happily. He grit his teeth and growled, glaring at every last one of them.
"Ew," Tsukiko stated looking at all of them.
"You could say that again," Yumichika sighed.
"…Ew,"
"I didn't mean literally," The corner of his lip twitched into a smirk.
"I know," She stated, "But still….ew," Yumichika found himself smiling at her sullen reaction to so many disgusting men.
"All right! All right!" Ikkaku yelled to get everyone's attention, "Hey, kid, center. Now," Ikkaku pointed to the middle of the room. Tsukiko obeyed and stood where he pointed, "You ever sparred with a wooden sword?"
"Um…is there any difference?" Tsukiko raised an eyebrow at him.
"Normally, yes. There's rules," he explained to her, "But in squad eleven's case, the answer is 'no'! You fight until you or your opponent are unable to. Got it?"
"Sure," She stared blankly, yet somewhat bored, "So. Who's first?" She swung the piece of wood over her right shoulder.
"Eh…" He looked around the room. To be completely honest with himself, he didn't want to give her an opponent. She looked to small and fragile next to all of these men. In his mind's eye, it looked as if a little black sheep wondered into a den of ravenous wolves. With a slight sigh, Ikkaku picked out a random person, "I dunno. Uh…Karasu you go," He waved his hand at him.
Tsukiko couldn't care less to even look at any of the men in squad eleven. They all disgusted her to the point where she wanted to throw up. When Ikkaku gave them the okay to start, she merely stayed in the same position she was and closed her eyes.
"What? No fightin' stance?" He asked, "A bit cocky for a little girl," she could here him laugh, "Well I ain't goin' easy on yeh," She could hear his feet run across the room. As soon as he was close enough, she snapped open her eyes and swung at his stomach. The entire room went silent upon hearing his grunt of pain. They went deathly silent as he dropped to the floor, nearly unconscious.
It took Ikkaku several seconds to process what had just happened. He closed his mouth and cleared his throat into his fist, "Karasu is unable to fight. Winner: Tsukiko," The room erupted into a fit of whispers before Ikkaku could pick out her next opponent. He figured she was pretty good, so he skipped several seat numbers up to find her a better match, "Oi, Yuuske. You're up,"
Tsukiko knew she would be able to try the same trick twice. They had already seen what she could do with one blow and wouldn't be surprised if they no longer took her lightly. This time she took a fighting stance. Though she wasn't going to fight him too seriously, she figured she should at least let them think that for the sake of their own pride.
"Begin!" Ikkaku's voice cut through the air of tension. Immediately he rushed at her, taking her as serious as he would any other squad member. His eyes were murderous and full of loathing.
This man was no different from the first one. He ended up the same as Karasu. Again the room was in shock. Ikkaku tried skipping seats every so often, going higher each time. Every single time, Tsukiko would beat them with ease. He could swear that she looked completely bored out of her mind, fighting the people he was choosing for her. A bit later on, many of the men, whom she defeated, demanded a rematch. He didn't allow it since he was still trying to place her somewhere. After what seemed like hours, he finally reached Yumichika's position. No matter how many times Ikkaku yelled at him, Yumichika utterly refused to get dirty and sweaty, giving Tsukiko an automatic win. He sighed, figuring there was no other choice.
"What the hell's all this? Ikkaku, you still haven't found her a seat yet?" Kenpachi drifted into the room, Yachiru perched happily on his shoulder.
"Ah, Taichou," Ikkaku acknowledged his captain's presence, "Unfortunately no I haven't yet. In fact I was just about to fight her myself,"
"What?" He turned to Tsukiko to look at her and turned back to Ikkaku, "This brat's that high on the food chain? You gotta be kidding me!" He laughed comically, "Alright," he stopped laughing abruptly, "Go on. I'll watch from here,"
"Yay!" Yachiru shouted happily, "Tsuki-neechan, you may be a bit clumsy, but you're really strong to be fighting baldy! Ha-ha!"
Ikkaku grabbed a wooden sword for himself and faced her seriously, "You know I know most of your movements by now since I've been watching all this time. Don't hold back, you'll regret it," He took his stance.
She shrugged and took her stance as well, "I know. Besides if Ren-kun acknowledges you as a friend then I guess you gotta be worth something," She smirked.
"Who?"
"Renji," She said flatly as if it were the simplest thing in seireitei. Ikkaku tried his hardest to keep his serious expression, but failed as he fell to the floor and clutched his stomach.
"HE SERIOUSLY LETS YOU CALL HIM THAT?!" He kept laughing as a stream of tears poured out of his eyes, "HAHAHAHA! MAN, I'LL NEVER LET THAT GUY LIVE IT DOWN NOW! HAHAHAHA! HE GOT SOFT AFTER JUST A FEW WEEKS OF BEING IN SQUAD SIX!"
Sadly, Tsukiko couldn't find the amusement in his words and just stared blankly at him as he rolled around on the floor, howling with laughter. After a minute or two, he finally pulled himself together and got up off the floor. He wiped the corner of his eye as his laughter died down.
"Heh, I like you, kid," He took his stance once more, "Tell ya what. If you can actually beat me, I'll give ya anything you want. Just name it,"
"And if it so happens that I don't?"
"Mmmmm," He thought for a moment, his eyes rolling around in thought, "I dunno yet. I guess I'll know when I need something done. So we gotta deal?"
Tsukiko smirked at him, "Alright then. Deal," They nodded to each other and began the fight as soon as Yachiru gave the okay.
Tsukiko aimed right, Ikkaku blocked. She stabbed and he swung. After a few rounds of the same thing, she didn't like where the fight was going. Tsukiko jumped back a bit and waited for him to attack. Ikkaku smirked.
"Hmph. Bad move, kid!" He ran towards her and swung down his sword, "I'm better at attacking than defending," Their swords met, Tsukiko's in a sideways position to defend herself. She grit her teeth as he pushed down further, causing her to take a step back to keep her balance. He gave her a knowing smile and kicked her back with his right foot. Tsukiko wasn't expecting it and was completely caught off guard as she flew across the room. Luckily she crouched down and skidded to a stop just before she hit the wall, "Had enough, kid?"
"Heh, you wish baldy!" She charged at him with fury. The night dragged on slowly as they went on back and fourth. Some men got bored, others hungry. The ones that were still there were mostly asleep. The only ones still paying close attention were Yumichika, Yachiru, and Kenpachi.
Tsukiko began to grow tired and fatigued. Her fights from earlier, although they were mostly easy, still took a bit of effort therefore added to her fatigue now. It also didn't help that Ikkaku had a lot of stamina as it was, not to mention he really is an exceptional fighter to begin with. She now had a difficult time trying to keep up with him at best. Instead of attacking, she was now defending and blocking every attack that he threw at her, including the ones that didn't have anything to do with a sword. Too lost in her thoughts to notice his attack pattern, he smirked and gave the finishing blow to her side using his foot.
She'd been careless, not to mention tired, and spacing out was her biggest mistake. She landed roughly against the wall. She panted and opened her eyes to see him standing not too far away. He was smiling at her and holding the sword over his shoulder, just as she had been doing when she started out. She breathed out and smiled back at him, knowing she couldn't hold out much longer, "Ha. Okay. You win," She closed her eyes and began to drift off.
"Heh," She heard him say, "Not too bad, kid. That puts you in the fourth seat,"
Tsukiko guessed that was pretty good, but could no longer care at the moment. The only thing she wanted was to sleep.
N I E B L O T O M O D A C H I
"Geeze, how long does this kid sleep? It's already noon!" Tsukiko heard Ikkaku's voice loud and clear. She decided to ignore it and roll over. She realized she was in a warm, comfy futon, with a blanket wrapped around her, "Finally! You're awake! C'mon, kid, get up!" Tsukiko groaned in protest and pulled the covers over her head.
She heard a giggle and guessed it was Yumichika, "I guess she really liked sleeping in your bed last night, Ikkaku,"
"Heh, it was part of the deal after all," Ikkaku played along.
"WHAT?!" Tsukiko shot right up, a horrified expression plastered on her face. Ikkaku and Yumichika both laughed at her reaction.
"Oh man! You shoulda seen you face, kid!" Ikkaku's laughter died down a bit more quickly than last time, "Priceless," Tsukiko looked over pleadingly at Yumichika.
He laughed a bit, "Don't make such a big fuss, Tsuki-chan! You slept in Ikkaku's bed for the night because we don't have a room for you yet and, no, he did not sleep with you," he added quickly to calm another horrified expression.
Tsukiko sighed with relief, "Sorry about stealing your bed then," she laughed nervously, "You coulda let me sleep where ever I happened to knock out! I'm not really that picky,"
"Nah, don't worry about it," Ikkaku shrugged it off, "Besides, what kinda man would I be if I let you sleep like that," he smirked, "Heh. Especially in this squad,"
"Besides!" Yumichika added, "Tsuki-chan, you look much too innocent to get raped!" He help up a finger to make a point, smiling all the while. Tsukiko's face turned blue at the thought.
"So, you gonna get outta my bed?" Ikkaku asked flatly. Tsukiko stared at him for a moment, blinked a few times.
She happily threw herself back on the futon, hugging the pillow, "No way! This is hella comfy!" She squealed like a fan girl, "I don't remember ever sleeping in something so comfortable before!"
"What the hell kinda life were you livin'?" Ikkaku raised his eyebrow in thought, "What, didja sleep on trees and camp out in dirt or something?"
"Yes," There was an eerie silence following her answer.
"Mah, Tsuki-chan," Yumichika waved his hand at her, "Surely you don't really mean that quite so literally! I mean sleeping in trees where those ugly insects can crawl in your shirt, or on the cold icky ground where you can get dirty so easily!" Tsukiko gave no notion that she was joking. In return Yumichika gave her a horrified look.
"Speaking of dirt," Tsukiko sat up and looked at both of them, "Is there a bath near by or something? I feel kinda gross from yesterday,"
"Yeah, kid about that-"
"You don't want to take a bath here! Those men will just be waiting for a chance to take advantage of you!"
"That's kinda the reason why we're trying to get ya a better room. So you don't have to use the same bath as us,"
"So….what then?" She blinked. The situation was getting more tedious by the second.
"Well we're right next door to the 10th Division. I'm sure that bimbo wouldn't mind letting you use her stuff for a while," Ikkaku rubbed the back of his neck. Tsukiko was confused at this point, "Yumichika, since you refused to participate yesterday, I want you to go take her to Matsumoto," Yumichika frowned, but agreed.
Tsukiko got up and straightened out her clothes. She was thankful that Ikkaku had enough decency to not change her. She took one step forward, but noticed a chunk of her hair fall in front of her face. She stopped and looked around to find her ribbon. She found it next to the pillow and grabbed it, putting it up in the same spiky hair style as before. She smiled, signaling to Yumichika that she was ready and he led the way.
It wasn't long before they entered squad ten barracks. He went inside and walked calmly to the captain's room.
"Who is it?" An irritable voice drifted from behind the door.
"Hitsugaya-taichou, it's Ayasegawa Yumichika from squad eleven. Is Matsumoto fuku-taichou available?"
The door slid open suddenly, "Ah! Yumichika! Come to save me from the dreaded paperwork?" A woman with extremely light brown hair (almost a dirty blond) that was rather wavy, and large breasts popped out of the door. She averted her lightly colored onyx eyes behind Yumichika, "Eh? Oh! You're the ryoka girl! Tsukiko? Right?" She smiled at Tsukiko as she nodded.
"Matsumoto, I need to ask you a favor," Yumichika continued.
"Hm? What kind?"
"Would you mind letting Tsuki-chan borrow some of your bathing supplies? Ikkaku and I don't really think it's a very good idea if she bathed in our barracks,"
"Of course! Why didn't you say so earlier! Taichou!" She called out from behind her back. Tsukiko saw a white haired kid with sea green eyes glare at her, "Taichou, I'm going to take a break right now!"
"Matsumoto, you've done nothing but take breaks since you started," His voice was irritated and threatening.
"Ah, but this time it's for good reason! I'll see you in a bit, Taichou!" She stepped out and nearly slammed the door behind her, "You can go if you want, Yumichika! I'll make sure she gets back to your squad in one piece,"
"Thanks," He grunted, "But knowing Ikkaku, I'm expected to bring her back with me," He turned and walked off, "Call me when you're done,"
Matsumoto shrugged, "Suit yourself!" She looked at Tsukiko and grabbed her hand, "Lets go! It'll be fun taking a bath together!" She dragged her off in the opposite direction Yumichika went and into another room.
Matsumoto practically shoved her in the steaming room. Once she was in herself, she ripped off all her clothes. Tsukiko was still in the process of untieing her obi and was going much to slow for Matsumoto's tastes. Matsumoto thought she should help her and began to rip of nearly ever article of clothing she had.
"Ah! Matsumoto fuku-taichou! I'm perfectly capable of undressing myself!"
"Eh? That's too long! Just call me 'Matsumoto'! Or a nickname if you can think of one!" She laughed happily and pushed Tsukiko towards the showers. They washed their hair and their bodies and rinsed off. Once they were done, Matsumoto nearly threw Tsukiko into the bath.
Tsukiko sighed and relaxed against the edge of the bath. Tsukiko learned that dropping her guard around Matsumoto was one of the biggest mistakes of her life. Matsumoto sprang up from beneath the water and jumped on Tsukiko excitedly.
"Ah! Matsumoto-san! W-What are you doing?!"
"Oh? You have nice round breasts, Tsukiko! Let me see if they're any good!"
"Ah! Wait! Don't!"
O U T S I D E
Yumichika leaned against the wall; just outside of the room Tsukiko and Matsumoto were bathing. He looked up at the clear blue sky, but his vision was cut short from the steam that floated out of the room from the vent openings all across the wall. He sighed once more and looked down at his feet. Suddenly he heard Tsukiko screech, making him jump slightly.
"Matsumoto-san! Don't!"
"How nice! You're breasts are so soft, Tsuki-chan! What lotion do you use?"
"Stop touching them! It's creepy!"
"But they're soft!"
"I don't-EEP!"
"What the hell are those two doing in there?" He mumbled to himself. He shook his head free from thoughts and tried to ignore them. From the corner of his eye, he saw several people. He looked with full attention and saw about three men standing on wooden crates to peek in the vent openings, "What the hell are you doing?! Perverts! Get out of here!" Yumichika yelled at them. The men fell off the crates loudly, scrambled to their feet and ran off in case they got caught, "Geese," He sighed.
After another ten minutes of Tsukiko yelling at Matsumoto to 'not touch', they got out of the bath and put on knew kimono that were laid out for them. They dressed; Tsukiko reapplied her swords to her back and her ribbon in her hair. She reluctantly thanked her for the usage of the bath and supplies.
"No problem! Come over anytime you want!" She waved the two of them off.
As soon as Yumichika and Tsukiko were out of hearing range, Tsukiko looked to him pleadingly, "Can't we go to squad twelve next time?"
"No,"
"Why?"
"…You'd probably prefer taking the risk of bathing in our squad," Tsukiko sighed and said nothing more.
Once they were back at their own squad, they checked with Ikkaku and sat down to enjoy the somewhat peaceful atmosphere. That is until Yachiru bounced up to them.
"Tsuki-neechan, play with me!" Yachiru jumped on her chest. Tsukiko groaned inwardly. Her poor chest was getting very abused lately.
"Play what?"
"Um…..Tag! Lets play tag!" Yachiru poked her finger to Tsukiko's forehead, "You're it! Try to catch me if ya can!" She stuck out a tongue and ran off.
Tsukiko sighed and got up, hearing Ikkaku laugh slightly next to her, "What?"
"Nothin'," He shrugged, "Be careful though. She cheats," He folded his arms and glared behind closed eye lids.
"Great," Tsukiko replied sarcastically and ran off to go tag Yachiru. Seeing her nowhere in sight, she jumped up high, hovering in the air a few moments while turning in a three-hundred and sixty degree circle. To her far left she saw a little pink blur, "Gotcha!" She landed on a nearby rooftop and jumped on each one with swiftness. It only took her less than a minute to catch up to her little vice captain.
"Haha! Hey! You caught up!" Yachiru smiled at her and bounced off to her right, away from Tsukiko cursed under her breath and tried to follow Yachiru. The game of tag continued on for hours, going back and forth between the two. It was mostly Yachiru trying to catch Tsukiko after the first few times of being tagged. Tsukiko, having longer legs, was much faster than the smaller vice captain.
The game was very intense and spread throughout the seireitei. Yachiru had often knocked people or objects over, going after Tsukiko. Tsukiko rarely ran into someone on the occasion. Several people looked from the balcony of one building. Some watching with amusement, others with annoyed expressions.
"They causing a disturbance," Kuchiki's voice cut the silence between them.
"Ha! I don't think I've seen Yachiru have this much fun with someone before," Kenpachi took a sip of sake, watching random explosions of dust clouds appear from one end of seireitei to another.
"Fun wreaking havoc," Renji mumbled, leaning on the balcony with his head resting on his arms.
"Haha! Don't get mad now, Kuchiki-taichou," A man with short silver/white hair leaned his elbows on the railing. His face was permanently turned into the form of a smile, "Yachiru fuku-taichou looks like she's havin' a lotta fun!"
"Get back here you! I'm telling Ken-chan on you! You're not playing fair!" Yachiru yelled out angrily, even though Tsukiko was playing perfectly fair, "HA! I tagged you! Now your it! You won't get me this time!"
The four of them sweat dropped as more random explosions of dust clouds appeared and screaming from several of the shinigami from down below was heard. Yachiru flew in front of their eyes. She saw Kenpachi from the corner of her eye and decided to wave, giving Tsukiko the perfect opportunity to catch up.
"Ha! Now I've got you Ya-" Yachiru kicked her in the face before she could tag her. Tsukiko descended towards the ground, her front side hitting the tiles of a roof, and landed in a mass of crates that crushed under her sudden weight, "Ah! Yachiru fuku-taichou! That's cheating!" Tsukiko muttered several curse words and whined a bit from the fall, "Ow! That hurt! Someone wanna help? I'm kinda bleeding," She called out.
Renji's eyes twitched in annoyance and he finally decided to call out to her, "Suck it up, Tsuki! I bet your not even hurt that bad!"
"Ah! Ren-kun! Help me!" He saw her arms wave around from beneath the mess of broken wood.
Renji growled with frustration and jumped over the railing, "You didn't even fall that far down," he walked over to where she landed, "I bet it's just a little scrape on the elbow," he smirked, "You know you really need to- HOLY SHIT! YOU'RE BLEEDING!!"
"I told you!" She whined as he began to panic slightly.
"Hold still! Don't move! Somebody call squad four!" He yelled out, "Don't move, idiot! You'll make it worse!"
"But it's uncomfortable! Besides aren't you supposed to put pressure on it?! It's gonna keep bleeding!" She got up from the mass of crates.
The three captain's watching the scene, watched with a slight amusement as people began to panic from the sight of blood on the floor. Kenpachi laughed at some of the weak-hearted ones that went into a panic frenzy.
D A I S K I!
Tsukiko was sniffling comically in a chair. Hanatarou was applying bandages to the wound and Renji was leaning against the wall, eyes closed and arms folded. He finally had enough of Tsukiko's sniffling and whining, so he pushed himself off the wall and made his way over to her. He clenched his hand into a fist and landed it at the top of her head, lightly, but still hard enough to get her to cry out in surprise, "Quit your wailing! He said it's not that serious!"
"That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt, you jackass!" She yelled back at him.
"Refrain from moving please!" Hanatarou gave her a stern look, which she obeyed, but continued to glare at Renji, "Alright!" Hanatarou wiped his brow with his forearm, "I'm done! I know you're a fast healer, Tsukiko-neesan, but try not to move around too much until it's healed enough,"
Tsukiko rolled the leg of her hakama back down and rubbed her thigh a little where the wound had been, "Thanks, Tarou-kun!" She jumped on him, nearly hugging him to death, "You're always helping me! I don't know whether to call you 'big brother' or 'little brother'!"
Renji found it odd that he was slightly jealous at the sight of Hanatarou being squashed into her bosom. As she jumped up and down on one foot with Hanatarou still within her grasp, her breasts bounced along with them and opened her kimono just ever so slightly. Renji saw the smooth skin curve down into her kimono and, for a second, wondered how soft it was. He shook his head free of thoughts and grabbed her wrist.
"Alright, c'mon," he sighed, "Hanatarou needs to breath. And get back to work," he added. They quickly left the room. Tsukiko smiled and waved at a flustered looking Hanatarou, and let herself be dragged off by Renji. Once they were outside Renji sighed and began to use shunpo to escort her back to her squad. After leaping off several buildings, he noticed she wasn't following. He stopped and looked back. She was following. She was just being extremely slow about it.
Tsukiko finally caught up, out of breath, "Oi, Ren-kun, just because my wound insn't life threatening doesn't mean I'm not affected by it!" She bent over, leaning on her knees. Renji could see her cleavage as she bent over. He blushed and instantly looked away.
"Not my problem. I'll slow down a bit if you're hurting that much," He was about to leap off, but was caught from the sleeve by Tsukiko.
"Hey, what's wrong with you? You've been acting kinda weird since we left the fourth squad," Her eyes were full of concern.
"Nothing's wrong!" He snapped and tried to yank his sleeve away from her grip, "Now let go!"
"No!" She held firm onto the fabric, "I'm not letting go until you tell me!" While Renji was struggling to shake her loose, she was struggling to keep a firm grip, not paying attention to her footing. Her right leg gave out, from the wound earlier, and slip along the tiles and into an ally. Tsukiko screamed out of habit and dragged Renji with her.
'Shit' Was his only thought before taking action. There was a small 'thud' sound on the ground where they landed. Tsukiko heard it, but didn't necessarily feel the effects of landing on a stone floor (though it wasn't that far from where they fell). She heard Renji groan and her eyes immediately shot open at the reality of the situation. She sat up as far as she could, with Renji's grip tight around her small frame, and looked at him worriedly.
"Ren-kun! Are you okay?! I'm sorry! I didn't mean for that to happen!" She got another groan in reply. She leaned down on him and pressed her hand to his cheek, "Do you feel alright? Did you hit your head?"
Renji bit his lip in pain. He was in agony, yes, but not the kind she was thinking. Her small body was soft and fragile and so easily embraceable to his arms. She could feel the skin from her chest reach his just ever so lightly, teasing him. Why didn't she ever wear wrappings underneath her kimono? He nearly went overboard from the touch of her soft, cool hand against his face. Her fingers brushed him like feathers.
"Renji?" Her voice was soft and worried, she almost whispered it. Renji swallowed and tried to keep control. He opened his eyes and didn't expect her to be so close. He blushed, lightly, let her go, and sat up.
"I'm fine," he managed to choke out, "C'mon. Lets get you back to your squad. It's getting late," He stood up and dust himself off. Tsukiko did the same and followed behind, his now much slower, pace, "I'm not gonna keep doin' this for you, keep that in mind. Just until you're used to the layout,"
"Yeah," She nodded, her mind still racing with thoughts, "Thanks,"
Once they arrived, Renji turned on his heel to leave, but was held back around the neck, "Oi! Renji! It's been a while!" Ikkaku held him in a head lock.
"Ikkaku!" Renji growled.
"Stay for a bit! Have a drink or two! Just like the good ol' days!" Ikkaku dragged him to where he and Yumichika had been sitting. Tsukiko was going to wander off around the squad, when Yumichika called her and waved her over to them. Ikkaku sat talking animatedly to Renji, while Yumichika turned his back to them and started talking to Tsukiko.
"Tsuki-chan! I heard you got a nasty little wound from playing tag!"
"Yeah," She sighed, "Yachiru fuku-taichou kicked him in the face in mid air and I fell on a bunch of crates," She rubbed her temple.
"Ah, a bit unfortunate, but if I recall correctly, Ikkaku did warn you about her cheating!" He smiled and waved a finger at her.
"Yeah, he did," She leaned back on her hands, "I guess I shoulda listened a bit better,"
Yumichika felt a little nudge on his back. He twitched as Ikkaku nudged his back several more times, each one harder than the last. Yumichika's eye twitched in annoyance. He knew what Ikkaku was trying to tell him, "Neh, Tsuki-chan, why don't we go find Yachiru-chan? She seemed a bit worried when she got back,"
"Eh? Really?" Tsukiko tilted her head slightly.
"Well sort of. She refused to say anything and when someone mentioned your name, she would glare at them and release some of her reiratsu, which isn't as small as she is by the way," he added. Ikkaku dug his elbow into Yumichika's back, earning a small grunt from the man.
"Hm?" Tsukiko looked at Yumichika's pained expression, "Ayasegawa-san, are you okay?"
Yumichika immediately perked up and laughed nervously, "Yes, of course I am! Haha! Why don't we go pay a visit to Yachiru-chan! Come now!" He grabbed her wrist and ran off with her.
Ikkaku sipped a bit of his sake and sighed in content. He set down the empty cup and poured more into it. He looked at Renji, who hadn't had a sip since they first arrived, "Alright. Spill," Ikkaku demanded.
Renji gave him a confused look, "What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb with me, 'Ren-kun'," He mocked and smirked at Renji's reaction, "What going on between you two?" He gingerly sipped his third round of sake.
"Nothin'," Renji refused to give him a straight answer.
"Don't give me that shit, Renji," Ikkaku turned serious, "I made Yumichika take Tsukiko away from here just to here you talk and kami-sama knows he's gonna beat my ass with an ugly stick, if he has the courage to pick on up, for wrinkling his clothes! Now spill it!"
Renji finally picked up the cup of sake and took a sip, "Well I'm sorry you had to go through all the trouble of hearing my talk, but like I said," Renji gave his friend a cold look, "There's nothing going on between us,"
Ikkaku looked over him carefully and smirked, "Heh, that may be true, but you definitely got the hots for her right?" Renji sprayed out a mouthful of sake, "Ha! That's it isn't it?!" Ikkaku yelled out happily.
"You're wrong! I hardly even know the girl!" Renji yelled at him. Ikkaku ignored Renji and began to hop on his toes shouting 'luck, luck, lucky,' ever few seconds. Renji slapped his forehead in embarrassment.
"What the hell is he doing?" Renji jumped at the sound of her voice behind him. He turned around to see Tsukiko with a stupefied expression on her face. Next to her, Yumichika was covering his face in embarrassment and Yachiru hung from her shoulder while laughing at Ikkaku.
"I'm afraid that's Ikkaku's 'Luck-Luck Dance'," Yumichika's eye twitched as Ikkaku used his zanpakutou to lift himself from the ground, "Try to avoid this embarrassment dance at all costs, Tsuki-chan,"
Tsukiko's expression was still stupefied, "Y-Yeah…"
"Hahaha! Baldy's doing his funny-funny dance! Yay!" Yachiru clapped her hands together several times to encourage him.
"EH?!" Ikkaku stopped dancing and looked over at his new audience, "When the hell did you bastards get here?!" He pointed with his zanpakutou.
"Right in the middle of your little rain dance," Tsukiko replied flatly.
"Che," Ikkaku slung his zanpakutou over his shoulder and sat back down as Renji got up, "Hm? Where are you going?"
"It's getting late," Renji replied, strapping his own zanpakutou around his waist, "I need to get back before Kuchiki-taichou lays my head on a silver platter," He waved to them with his back turned, "Later," With that, he shunpoed out of the area.
"Ren-kun's been acting all weird lately," Tsukiko frowned. Ikkaku laughed at this, making Tsukiko frown further, "What?"
"Nothing! Nothing!" He waved her off, causing her to give him an even more confused look. He continued to laugh, but stopped abruptly as he remembered something, "Oh that's right," he looked towards Tsukiko, "Sorry, kid we still don't have a room for you. Those damn wise men at Central 46 don't want to do through all the trouble of preparing that kind of room if you might not be here later. They said to wait until your surveillance was done with,"
"I see…"
"Honestly," Yumichika sighed, "How do they expect her to stay here if they don't treat her properly? What an ugly way of thinking,"
"It's fine," she shrugged them off, "To me they're just being cautious and they have every right to be. I mean, from what I've seen, nobody here just waltzed right in and said 'Hey there! I'm a shinigami too!' Even I think it's a bit strange," Tsukiko sighed inwardly and looked up at the night sky. Right amongst the billions of tiny lights was one giant moon. Though it was half full, Tsukiko still felt a heart-warming sensation travel down her spine as she admired its beauty.
"How did you become a shinigami? If you don't mind us asking," Yumichika looked over at Tsukiko, who held their vice captain's head in her lap as the little girl slept comfortably.
"Who knows," She answered, still looking at the bright orb in the sky, "I don't remember much from when I was little or anything. I seriously just woke up one day and started fighting like this. The only thing I remember when waking up was the voices of my zanpakutou calling out to me. Actually," her face turned less serious as she somewhat laughed nervously, "They were kind of yelling at me to wake up,"
"You honestly don't remember anything before you woke up a shinigami?" Ikkaku said it in a tone that he found hard to believe. Tsukiko sensed this.
"I know it's hard to believe. Looking at everyone here helps me to think that way too," She looked down at the sleeping girl in her lap, "But that's honestly the way things are right now and I can't help that. I am what I am and no one can tell me otherwise," She took Yachiru in her arms and rested her head against Ikkaku's leg, "I think I'll get going now. I'm tired,"
"Eh? Where are you going to sleep?" Yumichika looked at her with a strange expression.
She shrugged, "Meh, who knows. See you guys in the morning!" She gave them one last smile before running off.
Tsukiko found a rooftop with a flat surface and decided that it would be an okay place to sleep. She landed on it and took her zanpakutou off her back. She leaned against a nearby wall and held both of her zanpakutou upright between her inner thigh and her shoulder. Tsukiko's eyelids grew heavy in an instant. She was exhausted from the day's events and gladly welcomed the darkness that was sleep.
Y U M E
Mori: WOOT! Another chapter down! Yay! You guys have no idea how glad and excited I was just from going into my inbox and finding a horde of emails for various reviews and subscriptions! Just by doing that makes my day and gets me all worked up for another chapter!
Also if some of you, who don't understand something, please let me know! I know I use random Japanese words or phrases sometimes!
Thanks again! Review please!