We are back! After another... extremely long... ahem.
[WE'RE BACK AND THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS (~RIGHT?)! ~Chocomint3]
Special thanks to Lily Nozuka, Silver Shihouin, Ichigo123 (Guest), risa (Guest), KandyMiraj, Szayel's Angel, and especially Silver Shihouin, for rekindling our fire for this story!
[We actually have a bunch of arcs planned out now, so expect faster (than hiatus-paced) updates! XD ~Chocomint3]
Thanks also to everyone who favorited and/or alerted this story!
Happy reading and welcome to February!
- Sysyimi
{~} Chapter Three: The Battle for Candy! Please Don't! {~}
The red light winked on, and silence enveloped the room. In the center of the circle, Yachiru stood in a very relaxed position, a bright grin on her face, holding her katana by a string at her side. Directly opposite her, Honey had taken a proper stance, a determined glint in his eye and his staff held out at the ready.
The two eyed each other, Honey carefully and Yachiru expectantly. A heavy silence blanketed the room, broken occasionally by the scratch of cloth as the watching students rearranged themselves. Yachiru bounced on the balls of her feet and waited, grin unfaltering. Someone coughed. Finally, Honey said, "If you won't strike first, then I will!"
He dashed forward with surprising speed, swinging the staff around at her face. Yachiru ducked smoothly and brought her sheathed katana up to block his rapid second strike.
"You're not bad!" she said, smiling widely as she jumped backwards to avoid his third strike, an overhead swing. Her katana swung backwards and clanged as it hit a desk leg. Honey came forward relentlessly, cutting towards her right. Instead of blocking, Yachiru jumped to the side and rolled, gauging the distance carefully so she wouldn't come up hitting a desk. She twisted in time to bring her sword up to block Honey's fifth strike.
His eyes narrowed as she stood, pushing him into a deadlock. He twisted away to disengage and backed off. Was she hoping to frustrate him by fighting passively? Well, it was impressive that she could actually pull it off. He smirked. She was fast, he could admit. But he could be faster.
He dashed forward, aiming for her hand. Crossing such a small space in such a short amount of time. . . . His smile widened. There was no way she could dodge this.
A resounding crack sounded through the air. Honey's eyes widened for a fraction of a second as his staff slid off her sword. Then she was gone, slipping past him and bounding away. She'd parried! He recovered quickly and swung around, danger trailing shivers up his spine.
Crack! He caught her downswing just in time. She was still wearing that smile- no, not anymore. As he watched, her eyes narrowed and her smile slipped just a bit. He shifted his weight, drawing his staff with him and dashing past her in the same move she had just used against him. She stumbled forward, her back completely open. "Hah!" he thought, and swung.
She spun, only for him to duck under her haphazard counter. His staff darted out, smacking her hand. The katana spun through the air to clatter against the far wall amid yelps from the students.
Yachiru leaped away, but in the opposite direction of her sword. She waved a hand in front of the nearest camera. "Cut."
"Is there a problem, President?" Nemu, who was manning one of the cameras, asked. Honey noticed that despite her question, the red light had winked off. The lights of the other cameras doused themselves as well.
Almost immediately after Nemu's question, there was a bang. Honey twisted around to see an out-of-breath student at the door, one hand braced against the doorframe as he regained his composure. When he straightened, he gasped out, "Um, is Yachiru Kusajishi here?"
"That's me!" Yachiru said happily, bouncing up to stand on the desk and wave her hand.
The boy swallowed nervously. "Uh, well, someone- your guardian- uh, he wants you to-"
"Get out of the way, kid," a low voice growled. A large hand reached out and jerked the boy roughly away from the doorframe. Ignoring the boy's cry, the man ducked under the doorframe and stomped his way into the room.
Honey could do nothing but gape. The man was large and quite obviously muscled. A scary-looking scar stretched down and under an eyepatch. His long black hair had been gelled into spikes, each one tipped with a jingling bell. He wore a haori and geta, with a katana at his side. Honey couldn't help but wonder what sort of school was this, that just let large, suspicious-looking men with weapons in to search for a student, under the guise of being her guardian.
The suspicious man, however, didn't seem to faze the students at all. In fact, although the nearest students shifted away as far as possible, none of them were shouting about terrorists or armed infiltrators.
The timid kid that Yachiru seemed to like picking on even scrambled off his desk to approach the large man, hands out nervously. "Um, is something wrong, Mister Kenpachi?"
"Yes! Unohana needs you, Pansy, so get going!" he roared. "Now!"
"Um, yessir!" the boy stammered, jumping slightly. He scurried out past Mister Kenpachi, snatching his bag from under a desk as he passed.
Yachiru hopped off the table. "Ken-chan, don't call Hana-chan a pansy!" Wait, she was going to talk back to this man? Although, something urgent did seem to be transpiring. . . . Honey lowered his staff, watching as closely as it was unobtrusively possible.
"Now's not the time for that," Kenpachi growled as he scanned the crowd again. "Is the kid here too?"
"Is it Panda-chan again?" Yachiru asked, voice surprisingly muted. Kenpachi ignored her, his eyes falling on the club secretary, the short, white-haired junior.
"Hitsugaya! You need to fill in for Ukitake!" the man growled.
"What? Now?" the boy asked, surprised.
"Yes! They need a model for the Thirteen magazine. The set time was twelve; Ukitake couldn't make it, so they're in a pinch."
"Why can't you do it, Kenpachi?" Toshiro snapped. "I'm at school right now!"
The bells in his hair jingled as the older man shifted irately. Playing the 'school' card- or what Kenpachi had concluded from it- clearly did not sit well with him. Giving Toshiro the evil eye, Kenpachi barked, "Hurry up and go; you'll be paid extra for it! And keep your phone on!"
Toshiro stood staring defiantly at him for a while longer before turning away and stalking over to his bag, muttering quietly, "Whipped."
As the junior swept out of the room, Kenpachi's eyes fell on the red-haired upperclassman, Renji. He strode over quickly and motioned for the boy to move aside. Leaning over, he plucked Yachiru's katana from the floor. Before he could say anything to Yachiru though, she bounced up to him and tugged his arm.
"Ne, Ken-chan. Is Panda-chan going to be okay?"
"Unohana's taking care of him. Of course he'll be fine. Now, what's your practice practice sword doing over here? You should take better care of things."
"Oh, well, we were doing a scene for our movie," Yachiru said brightly, motioning to the cameras set around the room.
Kenpachi turned to glower at Honey. "This scraggly group is going to make a movie? Don't make me laugh."
"It's only the third day of school, so not everyone's here yet." Yachiru was unfazed.
"Fine. Whatever. Just make sure you don't mess the school up again." He turned to leave.
"'Kay!" He was halfway to the door when Yachiru latched onto his arm again. "Ne, Ken-chan, will you be home earlier today?"
Kenpachi stiffened. "Hmph. Get back to work, Yachiru."
She dropped his arm and smiled, but something in her expression hinted at disappointment. "Bye-bye, Ken-chan."
The door shut loudly behind him. Barely muted, Kenpachi's voice floated through the thin walls, thundering, "What are you still doing here, Toshiro? Get going!" After a moment, Kenpachi snapped, "It's none of your business, gaki." (TRANSLATION: brat/kid/child, generally derogatory term.)
Honey winced and made his way over to Morinozuki. "That man's scary, Takeshi."
The tall boy merely put a hand on Honey's head. Tamaki looked like he wanted to say something, but Kyouya beat him to it. "President Yachiru. Have you settled your spar?"
"Huh? Ah, yeah. I think that'll be all for today," she said, upbeat yet distracted. She waved a hand vaguely. "Let's get to cleaning up, then!"
[o0o]~[o0o]~[o0o]
When Yachiru got home she noticed that Kenpachi's shoes were already by the doorway. She frowned briefly, taken aback. She had taken the four-thirty bus today, since club activities had ended early; Kenpachi had never arrived home earlier than her before. Perhaps he had come directly here from the school?
Yachiru skipped into the kitchen, humming. Ken-chan had come home early today. He was home early, and that was all that really mattered. After all, their conversations recently had been so detached. It was like she didn't really know Kenpachi anymore, or like he was drawing away from her. But why would he do that? He was all that she had left, after all.
Setting her bag on the table, Yachiru walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of milk. As she poured herself a cup, the sound of running water reached her ears from the bathroom.
Kenpachi walked into the kitchen just as Yachiru finished wiping away the cookie crumbs she had left on the table. She washed the towel in the sink, itching to ask about Ukitake. As she was about to speak, though, Kenpachi said abruptly, "Unohana and I have been talking."
Yachiru wrung the water out of the towel, watched the drops fall into the sink, and slowly hung the towel up to dry, tingles running through her body as she braced for bad news. She looked out the kitchen window, washing her hands thoroughly as an excuse to not turn around. "What is it? Is Panda-chan alright?"
She could hear the frown in Kenpachi's voice. "Ukitake's fine." Yachiru bit her lip. Please let it not be about her. . . . "Unohana and I have been thinking, though. . . . Yachiru. You're too weak."
The words echoed in her head, and she spun around, world a blur. Unohana was the closest thing they had to a family counselor. If even Unohana had agreed- it must be a serious weakness. "Wh-"
"No; listen to me."
Yachiru fell silent, trembling hands balled into fists.
A flicker of emotion passed through Kenpachi's face, and after a silence, he turned toward the doorway. "Come with me."
Yachiru gritted her teeth and followed, determined to not show any possible sign of weakness. If she could show she was strong, then he'd have no other complaints, right?
They climbed the stairs in silence, then turned down the hall towards Yachiru's room. Yachiru hesitated. Did it matter where they talked? It couldn't be about her homework, she knew. Maybe she'd taken a course he didn't like. Or maybe it was about the Movie Club.
The door creaked open. She really needed to oil the hinges. "Um, Ken-chan-"
"I told you to listen," he growled, but not unkindly. He walked into her room, moving aside to let Yachiru survey her room.
The walls were bare, their pale pink paint glowing with the bright ambient light pouring in from the equally bare window. Where had her shades gone? The golden cloth she had painstakingly picked out two years ago? And where were her books? The shelves and her desk were painfully clean, their surfaces far too bright. The cushion on her chair had been taken off, and the wallet she had stashed underneath gone.
And in the center of the room Yachiru suspected wasn't hers anymore, Unohana sat calmly on the ground, legs crossed and a scarily serene smile on her face. Yachiru swallowed. Kenpachi had said something about Unohana helping him come to his decision, but-
"Yachiru, I know it must be hard for you to understand why we've come to this decision," Unohana began.
"Wait, what decision?" Yachiru blurted out. She looked wildly at Kenpachi, who pointedly ignored her gaze.
"Oh my, did Kenpachi not tell you yet?" She gave Kenpachi a disappointed smile. "Well then, I-"
"Why does it look like I'm not living here anymore?" Yachiru interrupted, forcing her voice to stay steady. She could feel her eyes growing warm, and willed herself to not cry. Crying was weakness, and she couldn't show weakness, even if they were intent on kicking her out.
The silence stretched for an unnaturally long time. Unohana gave Kenpachi a subtle yet prodding glance.
"It's getting too dangerous for a young girl to go to school and back on the bus alone," Kenpachi mumbled gruffly. "So, we've decided that you should move into the school dorms."
Before Yachiru could object, Unohana explained, "You'll be staying at school later because of extended club activities. Winter's approaching as well, so eventually by the time you get home, it'll already by dark-"
"I can protect myself!" Yachiru snapped. "I have my katana-"
Kenpachi crossed his arms and turned to give her a glare. "Even you can't win against a gun if you're taken by surprise."
As Yachiru sputtered and tried to come up with a sufficient rebuke, Unohana added smoothly, "Kenpachi has said that he will be working overtime quite often from now on. He's merely worried that something will happen to you, and he won't be able to reach you in time. However, if you're near the school, you'll have friends who can help."
Yachiru took a breath, staring hard at the ground. She wouldn't accept this! They had no right to order her around- she wasn't weak! She could protect herself; Kenpachi himself had trained her. If belief was as important as Kenpachi had often stressed, why didn't- no, why couldn'the just believe in her?
And they obviously didn't trust her, either. They didn't even speak a word of this until they'd already gone through with it. And they'd anticipated that she wouldn't comply. She breathed deeply. "Ken-chan, Re-chan, I-"
Her throat tightened, and Yachiru forced herself to stop. She needed fresh air; the room was cloying; she could feel tears coming. No- she couldn't cry. She wouldn't-
Yachiru spun around and ran.
A/N: Chocomint3 here! XD I'm so excited~ Anyway, what did you guys think of the fight scene? It's our first time writing that kind of scene, so we hope we did an alright job.
Tangent: But one thing that disturbed me was that they smiled at each other while they were sparring... for practically the whole time... Honey especially seemed to be, ah, enjoying it... I had no say, didn't write much of that scene. Maybe Honey has a "I enjoy power/winning/controlling" side? Remember when he was being the tough guy and was extremely strict with his martial arts team? He must have had some part of him which enjoyed that, at least a bit, right? Just food for thought... heh. The more I think about it the more I think it's true. What do you guys think? I'll have to ask Sysyimi about it later too. (Just saying that my word has a lot of weight for this story, so if the idea grows on me... heh. I'll find a way- oh shoot, hi Sysyimi don't read this- okay fine... she read it...)
Anyway, are there any scenes you guys would like to see in the future? More showtime for a character, maybe, or character interactions (pairings, friendships, whatever) you'd like to see? I personally think a sub-arc of some sort around Yachiru and the twins would be fun... fufufufu... but currently it's not in our arc outline. Heh.
Stay tuned!
With affection, Chocomint3!