Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite.
A/N: Thankee, MissJudged16! Everybody, MissJudged16 is my first BetaReader! ^^ *Applause*
…
The Bodyguard
Mission 7
…
– Karin –
For the first time in years, Karin put on the wig and stood in front of a mirror, examining herself with a frown. It made her face look like a girl, but she didn't have any clothes to wear along with it.
Over the course of the years, she had filled out in the chest and hips, and now it hurt to bind her chest down in order to hide her still growing breasts; it was difficult to even have suits tailored to fit her stature.
Inwardly, Karin sighed. In order to fulfill his request, she would have to go clothes shopping, not to mention underwear shopping; she already hated regular shopping (that is, shopping for men's clothes), but the thought of her going shopping for women's underwear – furthermore, as a man – made her wince.
But here, Karin stood – albeit unwillingly – in Victoria's Secret, looking helplessly at the various bras, panties, and heaven forbid, lingerie and garters to go on top of them. She definitely didn't need those. Unless… A kinky thought occurred to her, but she immediately drove it away with her mental chainsaw. He didn't need any further encouragement. No indeed. Her cheeks reddened at both her lascivious thoughts and the women giving odd looks at the 'man' ogling women's underwear.
With an effort, Karin managed to ignore the curious glances and continued to stare at the bras. She had no idea what her bra size was, and she couldn't well go into a changing room and put them on without looking a total weirdo. So she just chose the smallest cup size. She didn't have a bosom anyway. Much. Even if the bra turned out to be a bit small, she could endure it for a single meal. Then she'd lock it away in the safe with her wig. Either that or burn it.
As she meandered around and considered whether she should buy the panties with provocative slogans written on the rump, her principal unexpectedly walked into the shop. Karin froze. Why on earth was he… Oh.
A woman was hanging off his arm; she was a different one than his last woman, but just as beautiful. And behind them had to be…
Her fellow employee reluctantly followed them in. Out of pure bodyguard habit, his eyes scanned his surroundings, and his eyes landed on Karin. His eyes widened upon seeing her – in a lingerie shop of all places – but he thankfully seemed to assume that she had come here for her significant other. Which she actually had, in a roundabout way, though her 'significant other' was of a different gender than what he was most likely thinking…
The bodyguard gave her a pained glance and Karin shot her fellow sufferer a sympathetic grimace in return. Nearing her, the bodyguard whispered, "I don't know how you deal with this guy six days a week, Akimoto. He's such a pain in the – "
Turning around to see what his Sunday bodyguard had stopped for, the principal spotted Karin. Prying the girl off of his arm, he stepped over to her, eyebrows raised. "Why, what a surprise, meeting you here. What are those?" he said, looking pointedly at the basket she held, filled with women's underwear.
Since she was off-duty this day, she could be as snarky as she liked; though she knew he could get her back for it the next day, when she was back to guarding him again.
"You must be stupider than you look if you don't know what these are." Nonchalantly, she picked up and examined a boy-short panty that had 'you know you want this' written on it. She swiveled an eye his direction and smirked. "Or have you never 'gotten any?'" That was the ticket. Twist the sarcasm knob to the max.
But her 6-days-a-week principal ignored her last statement and peered at her. In mock sympathy, he asked, "Do you like to wear women's underwear?"
Karin grit her teeth and ground out, "…It's for my… girlfriend. Like yours, who's waiting for you over at the garter section."
In an exaggerated motion of looking around, her principal said, "Your girlfriend? Is she here with you?"
Karin didn't answer, but grabbed a navy blue boy-short panty (which ironically had 'I'm on vacation' written on the rear) and threw it into her basket, stomping over to the cash register.
She stalked out of the shop as her principal waved her goodbye in a faux friendly manner.
Great. Her principal thought that she liked to dress in drag.
But since when had she cared what her principal thought of her? He already treated her like she was a cockroach stuck to the sole of his shoe, still wriggling.
Raking a hand through her hair, she went to look for women's clothing. Another hurdle.
'Why the hell am I doing this …' Oh yeah. It was for him. She inwardly cursed. 'You'd better appreciate all the trouble I'm going through for you.'
…
3 years ago
…
Karin turned away from the assignment listings with a sour look on her face. Some distance away, Ggio seemed to be thinking along the same lines. They looked at each other, resigned. And it wasn't because the two had been partnered with each other. It was because their job was to protect the headmaster. The slovenly, incompetent headmaster.
While they clipped their airsoft guns and the holsters to their belts, Karin muttered out of the corner of her mouth to Ggio, "I'm looking forward so much to protecting this principal, aren't you?"
"Oh yeah." Ggio replied with just as much sarcasm coating his voice. They saw the headmaster trot over to the side of the room, waiting for his Executive Protectors to come find him.
"Speak of the devil."
They both waded through the gaggle of their peers over to their temporary principal. When the headmaster spotted them, his smile abruptly widened.
"Oh~ are you my two bodyguards?"
They blinked at his blatant use of the word 'bodyguard.' He was a preceptor, wasn't he? Shouldn't he use more professional terms? Reading the looks they were giving him, Urahara Kisuke shrugged. "I think that Hirako-san is being rather pretentious by insisting on the whole 'executive protector' thing. What's wrong with the word bodyguard?" Though his eyes were invisible under his hat, nearly all his teeth were exposed due to his ear-to-ear grin. As they processed this information, a clear chiming sounded.
Preceptor Urahara said, "Well, it seems like it's time to start." The preceptor looked around. "Hm. I wonder where we should go."
"You haven't decided where to go beforehand?" Ggio frowned.
Karin protested, "Then how will the upperclassman find us?"
Urahara answered by showing them a little sticker stuck to the cuff of his sleeve. "I have a tracker attached to me, as do all the other preceptors. Of course, the upperclassmen will have the corresponding tracking device." Looking at it fondly, he remarked, "I made it myself."
Rather surprised that the scatterbrained headmaster could make such a complex device himself, Karin decided to reconsider her opinion of the headmaster. Maybe he wasn't so incompetent after all.
Or not. They were just meandering aimlessly around the mess hall, with no apparent destination.
After all the preceptors and their 'bodyguards' had left, the headmaster finally said, "Well, I'll think I'll just wander around the library."
Both of the first-years were bewildered by this.
"Library?" Karin spluttered.
Likewise, Ggio was poleaxed. "There's a library here?"
The headmaster led the way up a staircase going to a section that Karin had always assumed was reserved only for the staff.
"Of course there's a library~ state of the art, too, if I do say so myself. But only the third-years know about it; they need it for their programming and science classes."
As they entered the library, the two of them fixed a rough blueprint in their minds. They would likely have to escape from there, so they took turns to walk around and memorize all the exits.
Meanwhile, Preceptor Urahara chose a random book (title: 'HardCore Swing'), sat down, and began to lazily flip through the pages, snacking on dried mango slices he had produced from his coat. Karin and Ggio looked on stiffly. Looking at them innocently, the headmaster offered the dried mangoes to them. "Want some?" It took tremendous effort for them to not glare at him as they shook their heads.
After he had finished his dried mangoes, the headmaster pulled out another ziplock bag of what looked like beef jerky. He started gnawing on one piece while secretly examining them beneath the brim of his hat. His eyes lingered on the more slender of the two.
He wondered whether to contact his old friend or not, before he returned to skimming the book he had already memorized by heart.
It seemed like ages before the two first-years saw any action at all. Unless they counted watching their headmaster munching on one snack after another, ranging from various dried snackables and granola bars to nuts. His coat seemed to be a bottomless source of snacks. But amidst the crunching sounds coming from their headmaster, the two trainees heard a rustle.
Immediately, they went into the protective formation for pairs that they had learnt of in Preceptor Gin's class. Both Karin and Ggio had a silent understanding that they would each take whichever of principal's side they were closer to.
The tenseness in the air was thick enough to cut through. The two trainees forgot that this simulation was just for an exam.
Looking up from the middle of 'HardCore Swing,' Urahara questioned, "Should I be doing something?"
If they weren't supposed to be protecting him, Urahara would have been long slaughtered by his own bodyguards, with time to spare.
Biting her tongue to stop herself from spewing acrid comments to her 'principal,' Karin grabbed his atrocity of a hat and threw it far into the bookcases instead. When the headmaster protested, she hissed, "That hat is one of your defining features, so I'm decreasing the chances of your head becoming a target."
Ggio snarled, "Put the book down." Feigning reluctance, the headmaster complied.
Looking around, Karin signaled that all was clear and that they could move. Ggio guided their principal through the bookshelves and towards the nearest exit. Karin strained her ears and listened carefully; she heard footsteps coming after them. She urged both her partner and principal to hasten their escape. Ggio's eyes met hers, and he nodded.
As was the procedure, the bodyguard closest to the door would lead the principal to safety, while the other would remain behind, if need be.
Hand reaching for the gun at her hip, Karin glanced at her partner and principal hurrying towards the door on the far right. She drew out the gun from the holster. Why was the exit so far away?
When Karin heard the footsteps nearing and a click of the hammer to unlock a gun, she finally saw her partner and principal slip out the door. But it was too early to be relieved; she too, hit the hammer on her gun and aimed towards the general direction the sound had come from. She still had to lure the enemy away from the two.
But her heart plummeted as the headmaster dashed back in from another door, with Ggio trying in vain to stop him.
"My hat!"
Karin grit her teeth and tightened her trigger finger. The cursed headmaster was trying to make this harder for them on purpose! Not only was he slovenly and incompetent, he was also a downright pain in the ass.
To her right, Karin heard a shifting sound a few bookcases away; she estimated it was about three to four bookcases away.
As if in slow motion, she saw her principal and partner run closer to the area she had tossed the terrible hat. The space behind the fourth bookcase was closer to that area.
Making a split-second decision, Karin chose to lunge for the fourth bookcase. If the enemy was there, then she could disarm him; if he were behind the third bookcase instead, she would still be between him and her principal with a fighting chance to block the enemy.
As she tumbled to the space behind the fourth bookcase, she discovered she had made the right decision. She toppled onto a figure with a gun. Grappling with him, she managed to hit the safety of his gun, and tore it out of his grasp.
Though he was stronger, Karin had started in an advantaged position. Wrestling with him, Karin finally pinned him and locked his arm behind his back.
"Ggio! Take the goddamn principal and his hat and get out of here!" She hollered.
She turned back and got a facefull of black hair and a hard hit on her face.
Karin's hold loosened from the blinding pain, and taking this chance, the attacker wrenched free of her armlock. He shoved her back and went past her. But she swept out her leg at the last moment from behind him, and he stumbled.
Grabbing him in a stranglehold, Karin held her gun to his head. "Will you surrender?" she sounded terrible, on account of her bleeding – maybe even broken – nose.
But she froze as she heard another click and felt another gun over her heart. She forced a grin. "Should we test who pulls their trigger first?"
A familiar voice snorted, "Then we'll pull them both at the same time. What about a rematch?"
Not bothering to stop and recall where she recognized the voice from, Karin retorted, "And reenact the prisoner's dilemma? Not a chance. I'd rather commit double suicide with you than let you go and be backstabbed." She looked down at the barrel aimed straight at her heart, and amended, "Or shot in the heart, as it were."
Just after she had said this, she felt a sharp pain over her heart.
There was a grin in the voice this time. "Or I could just pull the trigger while you're distracted by the dialogue."
Karin let go of him, clutching at the area where she had been 'shot.' It still stung. Lowering the gun, she looked the third-year who had defeated her in the face and saw why the voice had seemed familiar. He was the one who had told her that her problem with aiming lay with her contacts.
As he looked at her, he raised an eyebrow. "You look familiar." He tilted his head, trying to remember from whence. Then he shrugged, giving up. "I was never good at remembering faces. And frankly, I couldn't care less. I'm leaving this hellpit soon anyway." Then he left to track down the headmaster and Ggio.
Karin held the gun loosely at her side, feeling miserable. She had failed to protect her principal. And her nose stung. Wincing, she pinched it to stop the blood flow. When she returned back to the mess hall, she already saw about forty dejected people. She sagged down onto an unoccupied chair, feeling quite the same sentiment as the rest of the trainees.
"Oh? You've been killed, have ya?" He examined her face and noted her bleeding nose. "And someone got ya good, I see. Ya must've gotten a hard one."
"Preceptor Gin." Too tired to stand up, she simply looked at him as he sat down on a chair beside hers, wondering why he was here. "Did both of your Executive Protectors get killed as well?"
He shrugged. "They never really stood a chance. The third years are too well trained. It was just a matter of time. Plus, the third years were going all out as well, 'cause it's their graduation exam."
Curious despite herself, Karin asked, "Do two years really make that big of a difference?"
Looking amused, Gin said, "How far have ya come in a single year?"
Karin supposed she had progressed quite a bit in the past 9 months. She'd learnt combat styles, the basics of how to protect, furthered her academics, and most of all, how to use and shoot a gun.
But still, she hadn't stood a chance against the guy.
"If my suspicions are correct, ya just faced the top of the food chain of third-years. Don't be too hard on yourself." Gin assured her. His smile somehow became more genuine and Karin couldn't help but smile back.
Sighing, Karin stretched out on the chair like a cat. Exhaling, she admitted, "Well, the test is over and I've done my best. No point beating myself over what can't be helped."
Gin's smile widened. "That's the spirit."
Slowly, students trickled in, either solo or by pairs accompanied by their overseeing preceptor. Even Izuru walked in. He saw Karin and Gin and started heading over. But before Izuru reached them, Gin stood up to leave.
Karin gave him a questioning glance.
He gestured over to the corner, where the preceptors were slaving away. "They'll be about done with the paper exams and calculating the marksmanship, so they've got to get the preceps' ratings from the simulation." He shrugged, looking resigned. "Well, I'll see ya later."
Afterwards, Izuru arrived. "Wasn't Preceptor Gin here just now?"
Karin nodded. "But he left to report the exam."
She was glad he didn't ask about her face. He too, looked worse for the wear, with a slowly rising black eye and a bleeding lip. As Izuru eased himself into a chair, he asked Karin, "How do you think you did?"
Closing her eyes and leaning back, Karin said wearily, "Don't know, don't care. I'm too tired to worry about things that I can't change now." The first and last statements were true. But the middle one was a lie; she did care. But she didn't want to worry Izuru, so she just acted nonchalant. Then Izuru said, "Look, the headmaster's coming."
Surely enough, when Karin opened her eyes, she saw Preceptor Urahara enter the hall. She covered her face with a hand so he couldn't see her. She wasn't sure it worked when his head turned her direction, but he didn't come over; instead, he headed straight towards the staff table.
When all the trainees had returned, Headmaster Urahara stood on the podium – with his hat back atop his head – the epitome of perkiness in a stark contrast to his weary and worn audience.
"You are now no longer probationers. Some of you will stay, and some of you will go." His hat swiveled around, indicating that he was looking around at the no-longer-first-years. "Though I wanted your names to be called out, the teachers argued against it, as it wouldn't be time efficient."
Not to mention publicly humiliating.
"You will, however, have your name posted up on the wall now, ranked by the total number of points they received. This year, since the curve was set so high, only 17 people will stay. Congrats to those who passed. Over and out."
Again, a very short speech, Karin thought wryly, staring after the headmaster who again bounded off in the direction of the staff quarters. Unlike the other times, Preceptor Hirako didn't step up. Perhaps he felt that everything that needed to be said had been said.
However, when her thoughts turned to the postings, Karin's heart started pounding. She didn't move from where she was sitting. Her breath sounded shallow even to her own ears. All of the other students went, whether they rushed or shuffled, towards the wall where they would find out if they had lasted past the probationary period or not. Some stumbled back in shock, some clutched their faces in horror, and still others hung their heads in shame.
Izuru said tentatively, "We should go check the scores…?"
Karin shook her head tightly.
So nervous he didn't notice Karin's uncharacteristic behavior, Izuru said with a quavering voice, "I-I'll go check out the listings, then."
Numbly, she nodded. Turning, Karin watched as Izuru slowly neared the listings; it was like she stood in an ocean, and every step forward she took felt like a cold wave of water washing over her.
Izuru didn't need to push his way forward to the wall; nearly all the students had dissipated already. He froze, and Karin's heart leapt into her mouth.
Slowly, Karin stood up. Dreamlike, she walked over to where Izuru stood, staring up at the postings.
Sensing that Karin was beside her, Izuru pointed and whispered, "Look."
When Karin stumbled into her room, she sat heavily at the edge of her bed, barely able to believe it. She had worked so hard this past year…
"Haru!" Renji practically yelled her name.
Automatically, Karin looked up. "…Renji…"
He grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, looking panicked. "How did it go? Your face… don't tell me you…"
Her dark blue eyes met his dark brown ones. "I… I…"
Renji waited for her to finish. When she didn't, he shook her. Unable to stand her silence, he shouted, "Damnit! Just say it! Did you pass or not?"
"I… came in first." Her face was disbelieving.
Renji stared at her, not comprehending.
"I passed." Karin breathed.
Renji's eyes widened as the puzzle pieces clicked together. "Passed… in first place?" His face broke out into a large grin, the biggest one Karin had seen him wear yet.
Once again, Renji shook her vigorously, this time not of agitation, but from excitement. "That's great! Awesome! I'll call Ginjou. We're gonna get smashed tonight!"
As he reached for the door, Karin's face turned confused. "…Smashed?"
Renji turned and said, "Yeah!" He smirked at her. "Get ready, you're gonna have one hell of a headache tomorrow." He dashed out of the room, supposedly headed to Ginjou's room to tell him of the miraculous news. But as soon as the door closed, Renji's pace slowed.
The fact that his suitemate had gotten first place was not the only thing on Renji's mind.
Meanwhile, inside of the room, Karin lay on the bed, spread eagle, recalling what had happened
Izuru pointed and whispered, "Look."
Karin followed Izuru's finger to the way upper left corner of the poster.
"Akimoto Haru, 98.85 points. 99th percentile. Pass." He breathed. "You're in first place."
Returning to the present, she wondered out loud, "What is 'smashed' anyway? Are they going to beat me up as an initiation rite?"
Shrugging the thought off, Karin then called Ikkaku.
"Yo, Akimoto. How go your classes? Have you given up yet?"
Rolling her eyes, Karin retorted, "You ask that every time I call, and each time, I tell you, no. Especially now that I've passed the probationary period."
There was a shocked silence on the other line at her proclamation. Karin grinned widely.
"What? You've passed?" Ikkaku said incredulously. "You aren't pulling my leg, are you?"
Forgetting that he couldn't see, Karin shook her head. "Nope.
"Oh."
She was taken aback by his lack of joy. He even sounded a bit… disappointed.
Crestfallen, Karin asked, "…Aren't you happy for me…?"
"No, no, of course I'm happy!" But Ikkaku sounded forced.
"You aren't." Karin said unhappily.
"You're right… I'm not." Ikkaku said reluctantly.
Now Karin was angry. "And why the hell not?" She demanded.
Ikkaku admitted, "I thought that if you failed, you would come and live with me."
Karin was surprised and, even though she didn't want to admit it, touched. "Even if I have all that debt?" Tears threatened to pool in her dark blue eyes, and she had to lie down in order to prevent them from spilling out.
"Of course! You're like my little sister! I'd pay back every penny!"
"It would have been a really, really big debt. Don't you know? You had to pay it back too, didn't you?" Karin managed to get her voice back to normal.
"No. I passed the probationary test, but walked out of my own accord. Because the academics were a pain in the ass."
Though she had been on the verge of crying a minute earlier, Karin suppressed a snort of laughter at that statement. That was so like him. "You're smart, though." She pointed out. "You made half of my identity."
"Yeah, and Zaraki Kenpachi made the other half." He said sourly. "And that's not because I'm smart. I just have good connections."
"Which makes you street smart." Karin finished.
"But not booksmart, which is what you need there."
"It's still street smart here too." Karin argued. "You have to learn how to hack into computers to dust out traces that you were there, for example. You learn that third-year."
Ikkaku snorted. "Yeah. That's about the only thing that's street smart there."
Karin had nothing to say in reply to that. After a bit of silence, Ikkaku said, "Well, you've told me your good news. So I'll tell you some bad news."
"Wait, how does that make sense?" Karin protested.
"Shut up. Your good news was bad news for me, so gotta share the pain."
So Karin huffed but listened.
"Don't sulk. This is actually bad news for me too. Your father's gotten wind that Zaraki Kenpachi helped you. Tell me honestly, does Zaraki Kenpachi know your alias?"
At this news, Karin felt her jubilation of passing the final test drain out of her. However, she answered in a steady voice, "No. He doesn't really know my alias. He just helped 'edit' the Japanese National Database so Kurosaki Karin doesn't exist anymore."
Ikkaku sounded sullen. "I could've done that, you know. After all, I created Akimoto Haru on the National Database."
"All things concerning 'Akimoto Haru' went to you, while all things to do with 'Kurosaki Karin' went to Kenpachi. I chose you to take care of my new identity. That's how much I trust you." Karin pointed out.
"But you didn't want to put all your eggs in one basket, huh?" Ikkaku sarcastically said. But he sounded appeased.
Karin didn't mention that Kenpachi had also helped her deal with her money transfers over several years. He had hacked the bank, so 'Kurosaki Karin's' every transaction – from extracting cash to buying a beverage – didn't leave a single trace. Every track of every single record of credit that had flown in and out of the bank account made to 'Kurosaki Karin,' had been erased.
Kenpachi just took his pay and executed the job, eradicating anything or anybody who got in the way; no questions asked. He probably wouldn't have given a second glace to the very few bank transactions made out to a certain 'Akimoto Haru.'
But if Kenpachi had saved the record of mediating the transfers, he could easily look into her new identity; there was no putting it behind him. Even so, he couldn't know for sure that Akimoto Haru was a male; Haru was a unisex name. And there were only a few, very small sum of bank transfers made to 'Akimoto Haru.' There was no way he could figure that out, right?
But there was always the liability factor.
The hidden joker.
Murphy's law.
And Ikkaku seemed to sense it. "Well, if there's any thread of your identity left at Zaraki Kenpachi's disposal, he won't hesitate to unravel whatever the thread leads to and spill his guts about it if your pops pays enough."
On that somber note, they ended the call.
That night, both Karin and Izuru went to Ginjou's suite for the first time. As soon as they stepped foot into the room, they gaped. Bigger bed, bigger window(s), and a significantly fluffier carpet. In other words, a much larger and more luxurious than Karin and Renji's prison cell of a room.
Karin turned to Ginjou, outraged. "How come I've never been here before?" She looked resentfully at Ginjou. "You've been holding out on me!"
Ginjou glanced apprehensively at the connecting door (which was also an apparatus that Karin coveted, the connecting hall between her and Renji's room was open). "My suitemate is a bit of a… um…" He seemed to have a hard time deciding on a word. "…stickler."
Karin rolled her eyes. "As in the 'perfectionist,' or a 'nitpicker?' Or, God forbid, the mysterious sense?"
"Well, both perfectionist and mysterious. Not nitpicky though, even if he does have sarcastic tendencies. We don't interact much." Ginjou shrugged. "But he's not going to be here tonight."
Trust guys to do anything they like as soon as the interference is gone.
Renji dove in, "Where's all the holy water? Let's get down to it!"
This made Karin even more nervous. Was this 'holy water' going to be used in the induction rite? Were they going to dunk her head under the water until she cried mercy? Passed out? They wouldn't kill her, would they? They had gone through so much together, and she thought that they had become friends…
But Keigo and Shishigawara whooped when they broke out some cans. Ganju yelled, "Oh yeah!" The caught the cans enthusiastically when Ginjou tossed it to them.
Karin and Izuru each caught one as well, but less enthusiastically and more bemusedly. She turned the can over in her hands and read out loud, "Asahi…" she had seen this can in the communal staff refrigerator a few times and just assumed it was a carbonated drink… was this the 'holy water' that Renji was talking about?
Ginjou laughed bawdily at her face expression and put her in a headlock. "Have you never seen beer before?"
Shocked, she exclaimed, "What? Beer? How did you – "
He clucked his tongue at her. "We all have our ways…" He winked at her. "How do think Renji gets all those gunhead magazines?"
Karin rolled her eyes and maneuvered out of the headlock with ease. "I don't even wanna know. And I'll have you know that I'm still fourteen! That's four years too early to be drinking alcohol!"
Renji interrupted, "Nope! Today's May 6th! Your birthday! You're officially fifteen!"
Taken aback, Karin realized that since it was past midnight, it technically was her birthday.
"Wait! How did you remember? Even I forgot!"
"Well, I remembered because your birthday is the same day as Karin's!" Renji grinned smugly at her.
Karin herself stubbornly crossed her arms. "Well, still! Even fifteen is three years too early to drink alcohol!"
Ginjou hooked his arms around both Karin's and Izuru's necks. "C'mon, don't be such sticks in the mud! We're doing to celebrate your guys' passing!"
There were several sounds of cans popping, and Ginjou raised his can.
"To Haru and Izuru~ who passed the probationary period! And are officially students of The Jungle!"
"And to Haru's fifteenth birthday!" Renji chimed in.
They all cheered and raised their cans and banged them into each other.
Karin took a sip from the can of beer, and nearly spat it back out.
"YECH! What is this? This is beer? It tastes like… like…" she struggled to find a fitting phrase for what the disgusting liquid tasted like. "Like monkey piss!"
All the other boys laughed, and Ginjou thumped her on the back. "It's an acquired taste that catches on quick. You'll feel the buzz in no time."
"How much you wanna bet that Izuru has the Asian Glow?" Keigo crowed.
Guffawing, Shishigawara said, "I'm betting on Haru being a lightweight."
Frowning at this, Karin downed the whole can, grimacing as she did so, and the boys cheered.
Renji called out to Ginjou, "Oi! Where are the side dishes?"
Ginjou got up from the floor and headed towards his monster of a closet. "Aight aight, I'm getting them. Keep your boxers on." After a moment, he produced dried squid and various crackers and everyone, including Karin, cheered. She would be able to wash out the nasty taste of the alcohol.
Reaching out for a second can, Karin asked Ginjou, "So did you poach these too? Or smuggle them in by bribing?" Her mouth was full of rice crackers. She saw crumbs fly out of her mouth and winced; it seemed like the boys had rubbed a little too much on her.
Ignoring the crumbs as if they were everyday occurrences – which, to be fair, were – Ginjou shook his head. "Nawp. I brought these snacks in with my own two grubby little hands." He indicated the closet where she supposed his suitcase lay.
So he had brought them by his suitcase somehow, Karin realized. Though The Academy was somewhat Spartan, they didn't search your luggage and rooms. Or didn't force you clean up either, she thought, shooting Renji a wry look.
Sipping on the revolting substance thoughtfully, Karin realized that she would have to visit some city when break came around. Her chest was filling out and getting harder to hide with bandages; she was running low on pads as well. And all her boy's clothes were getting steadily smaller.
And on another note…
With her third beer in one hand, Karin was pointing the index finger of her other hand accusingly towards Renji. "You! Why don't you ever clean up after yourself? I'm the one always has to clean up after you in the bathroom!" Her finger wavered a bit and her eyes were slightly crossed.
Renji eyed her over his can of beer. "You're only cleaning up because you mind. I don't mind a dirty bathroom and neither did my previous suitemate, so I don't feel the need to clean up."
Karin heatedly argued back, "At least wipe up your own piss!" The boys sniggered. "Do you know how many times I've walked into the bathroom to take mine and I've stepped into the nasty puddle? I dun care how filthy your room is, but you're sharing the bathroom with me!"
Letting the insults wash over and off of him, Renji leaned back and stretched. "My answer is still no. But you should know that your efforts don't go unappreciated. It is nice to see my handsome visage properly."
Making a sour face, Karin downed the rest of the beer. She vaguely thought that drinking so much beer was a bad idea, but she ignored it on account of the pleasant buzz that she now felt. Picking up another can, she popped it open. "Hey Renji, have the others seen your back? The tribal tattoos?" Even in her quarter-drunk state, Karin realized that she shouldn't say 'wing' tattoos, so said 'tribal' instead.
"We don't start swimming until next year. So nope."
Karin started to nod, but then what he said clicked in. She leapt to her feet. "Swimming?" Her body did not like the sudden vertical movement, and she swayed on her feet.
"Oi, steady now."
"You just drank three cans of beer straight without eating much besides a few crackers. For a first timer, that's gotta be kinda rough." Keigo said, smacking his lips.
"Yeah, take it easy there, buddy." Ginjou said.
Renji looked at Karin shrewdly. "Can it be that the 'great Haru' doesn't know how to swim?"
Slowly, Karin sank back down, trying to process what Renji has just said. She grabbed a whole bag of shrimp chips. Absently, she began to chow on the chips. 'Swimming. Swimming? Swimming!' She tried in vain not to panic. 'If I take my shirt off in front of all those boys…'
Taking a deep breath, she said, "Flip it. I'll just take it when it comes." She finished off her fourth can, and picked up her fifth.
By the time she had set down her sixth can, the overload of beer had calmed her down a bit. So what if she had to swim? She could just learn to swim with a corset on, couldn't she? Pass off the corset as a bullet-proof jacket? And say that she wore the 'bullet-proof jacket' to practice for real life situations. Or hide a hideous scar or something. Yeah, that might work. If it didn't, she could just improvise. Improvise on what, she had no idea. She could think on that later, when her mind was clearer.
So Karin had long forgotten about the swimming issue when Luppi suggested that they sit in a circle and drink around playing Truth or Dare. She wrinkled her nose. "Truth or Dare? Inn't that… a girl's game?" She opened her ninth can of beer.
"Well," Shishigawara reasoned, "We could add a strip component to it as well –"
"I get it!" Keigo exclaimed. "Let's play a Truth or Dare combined with Sip or Strip!"
Karin took a large gulp of alcohol. Even in her tipsy state, the word 'strip' made her somewhat nervous. So with an effort, Karin snorted and made a face. "Any game containing the word 'strip' is played only in a heterogeneous group. What kind of guy wants to see other guys naked?" Anyway, she didn't know what Sip or Strip was. In order to drive the conversation away from 'stripping' she just suggested, "What about we just play *Shiritori?
[*Shiritori: Japanese word game where a player must say a word that starts with the first syllable that was last syllable of the previous player.]
They all looked at her like she was a particularly large and hairy spider. Suppressing a sigh, Karin amended, "Well, I'm just saying that I'd rather play Shiritori than Tooth or Tear and Tip or Trip."
"Truth or Dare and Sip or Strip." Luppi fixed unnecessarily.
Karin rolled her eyes, and tossed aside her ninth can of beer.
Then, Ginjou thought of a good idea. "We could play poker! The loser can choose Truth or Dare, and Sip or Strip! I have a deck of cards!"
Ganju raised his half eyebrow. "What'll we use as chips?"
Fishing out a deck of cards from under his large bed, Ginjou motioned towards the snacks. "We have shrimp chips, don't we?" He looked severely at Karin who had her hand in the chip bag. "No more eating shrimp chips, Haru."
Karin sulkily withdrew her hand from the bag.
"Loser, as in the first one who folds?" Renji asked curiously.
"Nah, then no one would fold. Loser is one who has the worst hand."
"The one with the least number of chips?" Muzuiro suggested.
"Or the loser can just be the one who the winner chooses!"
"That'll make it unfair! If the same person wins and they have a vendetta against somebody, then the same person will have to – "
"But that'll make it funnier!"
It was decided. The winner would pick one loser; the loser in turn would have to choose between truth and dare, and between drink and strip on top of that. The rest would just take a drink.
Every one of them piled his hand on top of the others. Karin saw all their expectant faces turn to her. Finally getting tired of waiting, both Renji and Ginjou just grabbed her hand and smacked it on top of theirs.
"DEAL!" They all roared.
After haggling over which version of poker to play, Texas hold'em won out over Omaha.
Ginjou shuffled the cards and dealt out two each, and threw down five cards face down.
Karin peeked at her cards. An Ace and a Jack of diamonds. If luck were on her side, she would get an all-red royal straight. She hid a secretive grin behind her cards.
And sure enough, luck was on her side. Karin pointed at Renji. "Renji!" Her suitemate looked resigned. "Now, what will you choose? Truth or dare?"
Leaping to his feet, Renji answered immediately, "I'm a man! Dare!"
"And for sip or strip?"
He grinned. "Strip! Ya'll will get a chance to see my Ronnie Coleman body!"
All the boys choked on their beer with laughter. If the bulky bodybuilder were a tree, Renji's body likened to a weed next to it.
Renji pulled off his shirt and revealed a sweat-soaked undershirt. The other boys' (at least, Luppi, Mizururio and Izuru) mouths dropped in horror. However, Karin, who already knew how much sweat Renji excreted, tapped her fingers on the silver top of her tenth can before popping it open. "What's the dare?" Renji asked Karin.
Karin looked at the ceiling and pretended to think. "Hm. What about…" she looked at him with sly blue eyes. "Getting tickled for three whole minutes?"
Renji paused, before holding up his hands. "Ooooh, no. No no no no no. I'll do anything but that. Anything."
So that was Renji's weak point. His ticklishness. The boys and Karin looked at each other with enormous grins on their faces.
"I'll hold his arms!" Ganji held Renji from behind.
"I'll hold his legs!" Keigo shouted
The others advanced with evil smiles.
"No! Noooo! Buwahaahah – "
The only one not participating in the very torturous execution of Renji's dare, Izuru felt very bad for the redhead.
After the three minutes were over, once again, people tossed their shrimp chips in, and Ginjou flopped three cards, then the next, and then the last.
Yet again, Karin won. Tossing aside her tenth empty can, she beckoned to Ginjou with a finger with an evil grin on her face. Wary of being tickled, Ginjou went with the complete opposite that Renji had, choosing truth and to chug down a whole can of beer.
All of the players significantly drunker, they played several more rounds. Neither Ginjou nor Renji won, so Karin was never picked on.
Hours and several cases of beer later, snacks and cards were strewn all over the ground, and a majority of the kids passed out on the ground. Karin and Ginjou were barely conscious.
Only Renji was sober, mostly because he kept losing and choosing to strip instead of sipping. Though Karin was barely awake, she still managed to crawl over to Renji.
"You!"
Taken aback, Renji answered stupidly, "What?"
She stuck her face close to his, so they were almost nose to nose. Unnerved that his suitemate was shoving her face into his, Renji hastily backed up a bit.
"You know *hic* what?" Karin pointed an accusing finger at him. "You *hic* really suck at expressing your *hic* emotions."
Though Renji did in fact know that he lacked in the expression department, he wasn't about to admit to it. He defensively crossed his arms. "And how do you figure that?"
Karin hiccupped, "You get *hic* angry at the person you know you *hic* need to apologize to, for *hic* one."
Renji narrowed his eyes. "That suggests that there's more than one reason."
Her finger wavered, and slightly cross-eyed, Karin said, "Ding ding ding! Correct! But there's no *hic* prize, sorry. Number two." Another finger shot up to join her index finger. "You never, ever, smile."
Renji felt that was an unjust accusation. "What? I smile all the time!"
Karin shook her finger at him. "Nuh uh. You grin. Grinning *hic* is different from smiling. Grinning is what *hic* people do when something's *hic* funny. Smiling, is what people do when they're *hic* happy. And you, *hic*" her dark blue eyes turned sad, "are never happy, not from the bottom of your heart."
With a jolt, Renji realized that this was true. The times he had truly been happy could be counted on one hand.
Renji turned back, all prepared to shoot back with a snappy comment, but his suitemate had passed out after uttering that last statement.
Seeing this, Renji hauled up his unconscious suitemate (who had consumed eighteen too many beer cans) up and picked up his scattered clothes.
Seeing the movement, Ginjou squinted and sat up. "Need shome 'elp carryin' Haru?" he slurred.
"You think you can help me in that state? Up all those stairs? You'd just trip and kill both yourself and Haru." Renji grinned. "No thanks, I've gotten rather attached to my suitie. I'll carry him back. If you want to help, help me get him on my back."
Unsteadily, Ginjou heaved the slender kid onto Renji's back. "Huh. Haru'sh light fer hish height." He frowned, before slumping back on his bed and surveying the mess before him with half-lidded eyes. "My shuitemate… ish gonna kill me for thish."
Chuckling, Renji waved and left Ginjou to sleep.
But Renji's smile faded as he climbed the stairs. Instead, a shadow cast over his face as he glanced over his shoulder at his suitemate's face.
Before, he had suspected it.
Today, he had confirmed it.
His suitemate's eyes were blue.
…
A/N: ∞_∞ •_• ®_© …writing…(gun)fight…scenes… -dies-
But yeah, modern gunfight scenes are seriously, so much harder to write than swordfight scenes. ç_ç Odd, as I've seen tons and tons of action movies.
On a less painful note, there seems to be another man in the mix. :3 At least, 3 years later.
Thank you again, MissJudged16! :D
Cue huge applause!
