Title: Bamboo Dragon
Genre: Romance / Humor
Rating: M (eventually)
Pairing: Ichigo x Ikkaku (yes, in that order) (guess I should mention the others: Ishida x Yumichika, Shuuhei x Matsumoto, one-sided Ishida x Orihime, Izuru x Orihime, Byakuya x Renji, Shunsui x Nanao that's it for now) (tell me if there's something you'd like to see, that DOESN'T involve those people, I'm thinking of having an Ukitake x Rukia thing-y, but I can't figure out where to stick it)
Spoilers: None, at the moment
Summary: After a night they can't remember, comes a day they'll never forget.
Word Count: 4,681
Warnings: Yaoi. That's right. Two hot guys getting it on. And language.

Disclaimer: The summary is from Dude, Where's My Car? Which, clearly, is not mine. Bleach is also… not mine. ::Cries::

A/N: Am I really the first person to write this pairing?! But… it's so hot! How can there not be more?! ::cries::

Full explanation for long, long, (really long) wait, at the bottom.

Flashbacks between the xxxx's.


From the outside, The Green Fairy looked… well, like shit, to put it bluntly. But from the inside… well, actually it wasn't much better. Booths in dingy corners with dim lights swinging overhead, pool tables littered with empty beer and sake bottles, the floor underneath covered with cigarette butts and stained with liquor. The entire place smelled musty and dank and old, like stale alcohol and sweat and other things that no one wanted to dwell on for too long.

Stepping over a few broken chairs and pool sticks, they made their way to the bar, which seemed… remarkably well-kept, considering the state of the rest of the place. The entire thing was made out of glossy bamboo, polls at either end, and, when Ichigo leaned over it to see if someone was back there, he saw an intricate carving of an oriental dragon along the top of it.

"Hey," he called, as the others leaned against various pieces of furniture around him and looked around. "Hey," he called a little louder. "Is someone fucking-" his eyes caught sight of the bulletin board behind the counter, "back… there…" His eyes grew almost impossibly wide as he trailed off.

Renji, leaning back against the bar next to him, turned to him when he grew silent, "Oi, Ichigo, you-" He stopped when the boy suddenly leapt over the counter and snatched what he'd been staring at off the wall.

Ichigo was staring at the photograph in his hands with something akin to horror in his eyes. It wasn't like he didn't know what happened last night, but, this, well…

Oh God, just kill us now, came his Hollow's disembodied voice from his head.

"Hey, what's that you got there?" Ikkaku asked leaning over the bar and reaching out for it. "Is it something good? A hot girl? Something from yesterday? You remember anything?"

"You really… do not want to see this."

"Oh give it here you dumbass," he snapped, snatching the picture from him.

xxxxx

Ichigo hissed as he slammed the empty shot glass back on the table. "What did you say that was called again?" He asked the man behind the bar, shaking his head to try and clear it. It didn't work.

"Bohemian-style absinth," the man answered calmly, his voice smooth and slow, cultured. "It is strong, yes? It contains few herbs and much wormwood." He glanced down the bar at the group of shinigami and humans scrunching their noses at the bitter taste. He watched the red-headed girl teeter unsteadily. "It has the highest alcohol content of the absinthe we serve here." He gave them all a long look. "Would you all like another shot?"

The group was silence, as they tried to think about what would probably happen if they drank more of that stuff. And then Renji uttered the one sentence that would ruin their nights (and, for some of them, their lives). "Dudes, let's get shit-faced and see what happens!"

"I don't-"

"Don't be such a fucking girl, man," Ikkaku said, before slamming a fist on the counter. "Another round!"

The man sighed, glanced down the length of their troupe, and said, "Something sweeter for the ladies, first, I think." Rummaging around under the counter, he pulled out a bottle and handed it to Matsumoto, who tried to take the bottle and still keep herself situated between Orihime and Shuuhei. "This is absenta. A sweet absinthe, for such sweet ladies."

"Uh- hello?" Ikkaku called impatiently.

The barkeep rolled his eyes, but Ikkaku was too drunk already to notice, so he rummaged around again, and started setting up glasses in front of them and placing intricately designed slotted-spoons across the top.

"What, precisely, are you doing?" Ishida asked, as the man filled the glass halfway full with some sort of green liquid and then placed a sugar cube on top of the spoon.

"This is Verte absinthe," he said, beginning to pour cold water into the glasses, letting it run over the sugar cube and through the spoon. "It is called The Green Fairy," he said sliding the glasses forward with a truly demonic smile. "Enjoy, don't drink too much, it makes people do strange things."

-

It didn't take Ichigo very long to realize that making any type of potentially life-changing situation with absinthe as your starting point… was probably not the best idea. Of course, he was too drunk to realize that he knew this, so when he stumbled over and fell into Ikkaku, draping himself over the man, he slurred, "What the hell am I doing with my life man?"

"Who the fuck- Hey!" Ikkaku staggered sideways when Ichigo was suddenly yanked away from him. "What the hell?"

"Come on Ich… i… go…" Renji slurred, so drunk he was slurring his pauses, "I wanna go dance!" He said, dragging the fumbling substitute shinigami to the dance floor after him.

Ikkaku shrugged and turned back to the person he was talking to, picking up his conversation where-

"… you know that's a plant, right?"

Ikkaku paused, mouth still open, before blinking at the outline in front of him. "Huh. So it is." He turned, shocked the girly Quincy was still standing after all they'd drank. "Where's Yumichika- oh, there he is," He answered himself when his friend morphed out of thin air and launched himself at the bespectacled boy, sending them crashing to the floor.

Ikkaku walked (well, he stumbled and held on to a lot of furniture and practically dragged) himself to a booth, and collapsed into it. This… was a hell of a lot more fun than he'd had in a long time.

Orihime was still drinking away, and the Third seat was shocked at her tolerance. Shuuhei was next to her, staring at her, but sending appraising glances back at Matsumoto every few seconds, which was understandable, since the woman had sprawled herself provocatively across the nearest pool table and her full-body looked like one big promise lying there. Hitsugaya was in some back booth and Ikkaku couldn't really see who he was with, but he could swear he heard the frosty Captain giggling. Ishida and Yumichika were still tangled on the floor, though the Quincy was putting up quite the effort to get away, screaming hysterically all the while. Chad was a silent shadow alongside the bar, and the small, small, small part of his brain still functioning, realized that he could at least drag the rest of them home when they passed out. And Ichigo and Renji were trying to drunkenly dance, but it was turning out to be more of a fight than any form of dance.

Even as he watched, the drunken pair of shinigami tripped over each other, or, more like, Renji tripped over himself and into Ichigo. The redhead giggled (yes, like a fucking girl) and grabbed on to his friend. And everyone in the vicinity took a moment to stare silently (and strangely) at Renji, who now had Ichigo in a headlock and could be heard saying loudly, "I love you, you little fucker." At least he was a happy drunk.

The next thing everyone saw was Renji go flying heels over head when Ichigo socked him one in the jaw. Snockered or not, Kurosaki Ichigo could punch like a motherfucker. He'd fit right in at the Eleventh Division, Ikkaku mused, fearless, self-assured, and tough as fucking nails.

And that was the last thing he remembered for a while, since Ishida, managing to somehow free himself from the deathly clutches of his stalker, had slammed down several jars of that crazy absinthe shit, calmly told Ikkaku he was planning on drinking himself into a stupor and asked if he wanted to join in. And of course, Ikkaku told him no…… Not.

-

Ichigo used to hate drinking. Alcohol tasted awful, it made you act stupid, it made you sick, gave you fucking hangovers in the morning. But now, he decided he'd had a change of heart. In fact, drinking makes the world go 'round.

At the moment he was trying to convince Chad that, yes, he could out-drink the taller man in a shots contest and, dude, could they please get some Tequila out here, when someone crashed into him from behind.

"Oi, oi, oi, oi," he slurred, turning around with assistance from a barstool, "What the hell do you think you're doin, man?" He blinked, bleary-eyed at the person, until their blurry form came into focus. "Ikkaku? Whadda doin?"

"Gettin more booze," he answered. "Move out the way."

Ichigo gave his head a hard shake. "Who died and made you boss, you fucking dick? I'm sittin here, there's a whole bar." He gestured wildly, knocking Shuuhei in the head with his drunk, erratic movements.

"Hey!" The lieutenant said, forcibly tearing his eyes away from Matsumoto. "What the fuck, dude?!"

"Don't yell at him, Hisagi!" Ikkaku slurred, trying to take a swing at him, but missing, and having to grab half onto Ichigo, half onto the bar for support. "And move over, I'm gonna sit here!"

"You don't own this place, Madarame! You can't tell me what to do!"

"Everything here belongs to me!" Ikkaku yelled, standing unsteadily and gesturing eccentrically. "Even him!"

Ichigo tuned back into to their drunken argument when the bald shinigami pointed at him. "Excuse me?"

"Shut up, bitch."

Brown eyes widened. "Alright, that's it." He glanced around, his eyes falling on Chad. "Here," he said, shoving his almost-empty glass of whiskey at his friend. "Hold my drink, bitch." And then he threw himself at the man, punches flying.

-

Luckily for everyone, The Green Fairy didn't only look like a proper bar from District 76, it also was well-aware that, fights break out a lot in that neck of the woods, and as such, as long as no one died, and you kept the non-fighting patrons out of it, they didn't really care if you fought with each other.

"Hey now boys," Matsumoto purred, slinking in between them, "hey now. Is this really any way to treat each other? Come on," she said, pulling them towards each other. "You guys should kiss and make up."

The two stared at her. "Pass" they chimed in unison.

"Awww… You're no fun."

"Attention, attention!" Luckily, they were saved from Matsumoto trying to force them into anymore unwanted contact when the patron of the bar, or patroness, as it were, stood up on the bar, leaning against one of the poles at the end. "It's time for our monthly contest!"

Cheers all around the bar.

"Contest?" Orihime echoed, clinking another empty glass down on the bar in front of her and teetering in her seat.

"That's correct, little lady!" The woman, decked out in what Ichigo would have called 'clubbing clothes' had they been in the human world, her long ebony hair pinned away from a ruggedly beautiful face, which was, at this moment grinning brightly at Inoue. "Our monthly contest! Every month The Green Fairy hosts a talent show. And who ever wins gets a fantastic prize!"

"Ooohhh!" Matsumoto squealed, grabbing onto Shuuhei in excitement. "That sounds like fun!"

Ikkaku scoffed, scooting away from Matsumoto glomping Shuuhei and closer to Ichigo and Chad. "What a stupid fucking charade."

"And this month's prize-"

"No prize could possibly be worth-"

"Is a year-long supply of sake!"

"……" His mind screeched to a halt. Year-long… supply… of… sake…? "Well, what the fuck do you have to do to win that?!"

"Excellent question, good sir!" The lady called out, swirling once around the pole and marching across the bar to stand in front of him. Ikkaku looked up at her, then looked down, because he really didn't care what kind of underwear she was wearing. "You have to come up onto the bar," she tapped one heeled foot against the dragon etched on the bar-top, "and," she spread out her arms, "entertain." She grinned. "Whoever the crowd likes the most, wins! It's the famous Bamboo Dragon competition of The Green Fairy!"

"… This is bullshit," Ichigo said, turning and heading back to the booths. Or trying to. As he was swiftly snagged by Yumichika, who was walking towards the bar.

"Oh, no you don't! Let's go win that sake!"

Ichigo groaned.

-

Twenty minutes later, he was successfully slinking away from the bar, to Yumichika's soulful rendition of "How doth the shining crocodile, improve his shining tail, and pour that waters of the Nile on every golden scale."

Ichigo sighed, sliding into a booth, his friends we so messed up.

"Hey, handsome," a melodic voiced purred.

Ichigo looked up at the woman.

She let a slow smile pull across her face. "Hey, how you doin?"

Saw the young woman standing there and looked her up and down. She was pretty, gorgeous, actually, with catty features like Yoruichi and a mass of red-gold hair that made her look sleep-rumpled and sexy. And her golden dress, strapless and ending above the knee, looked painted on her body. And what a body it was.

"Can I help you?"

Sitting on the edge of the table, she stretched her long legs out in front of her, crossing one high-heeled shoe over the other. "I was just wondering why a good-looking thing like you is doing back here all along," she said, her sultry looks at odd with the sincere look in her green eyes.

Ichigo shrugged, watching as she flagged a waiter over and taking a handful of shot glasses from him.

"Here, sweetie," she said sliding some towards him, "I think you need some more of these."

He shrugged again, and tossed a few back with her, feeling the blossoming warmth of the alcohol spread through him. He smiled brightly at the woman now, feeling better, and wondering why he was just sitting here. He should be doing something fun!

She was smiling, sliding off the table, taking a hold of his hand and pulling him with her. "Come on, hot stuff, dance with me."

-

Twenty minutes later, Ikkaku, after having just watched Matsumoto's horrifyingly bad attempt at singing… something, he came to the conclusion that none of them were going to win that goddamn sake and slumped onto the nearest barstool. As he took a look around the room, his eyes fell on the dance floor off to the side… and he felt his jaw literally drop.

Ichigo was drunk. That much was clear. Not falling-down-hold-onto-furniture-to-walk drunk, but everything-suddenly-seems-like-a-good-idea drunk. That was the only way to explain why he was dancing so… erotically… with some woman.

And clearly Ikkaku was drunk, too. Because instead of following the kickass curves Ichigo's partner was sporting, the endless pair of legs her dress was showcasing, or the sexy pout to her lips, he was staring… at Ichigo.

The boy moved with more liquid grace than any man should be allowed to possess. Sure, a lot of shinigami were graceful, but only in battle. Shunsui wasn't graceful, neither was Renji, or Zaraki-taicho. But that was different. Fighting was more a memorization of movements, that you did unconsciously. What Ichigo was doing… was… was…

Ikkaku felt a heat curl low in his stomach as he watched the two dance front-to-back, Ichigo trailing fingers lightly up the woman's side as he grinded against her. His hands softly followed her neck, tilting her head backwards to rest against his shoulders. Ikkaku felt his mouth go dry as he watched Ichigo kissed up the curve of her neck, hands fisting lightly in her hair.

"Damn."

"He's freakin sexy, isn't he?"

"Yeah, he's freakin- Wait, what?" Ikkaku spun on the barstool to stare behind him at Shuuhei. "You're weird."

"And you're sexy." Ichigo's warm tones seemed to come out of nowhere, and the boy draped himself over Ikkaku from behind, giggling into his ear. "I am sooooo drunk!"

Shuuhei laughed raucously. "No shit, Sherlock."

"Hey Ichigo!" Yumichika appeared out of nowhere, prying the boy off his friend. "You should do that for the talent show!"

"Huh?"

"Dance!" Silence. "On the bar." More silence. "For the sake?"

"For the sake!" This time, it was Matsumoto who suddenly showed up. "But… you can't get up there in that," she said, and she and Yumichika looked him up and down. "Come on!"

"Wait!" He yelped when they each grabbed an arm and startled pulled. "Waaaiiiittt!"

Ikkaku watched with little interest as they dragged him off to speak with the patroness of the bar, before turning back to his bottle of sake.

Ichigo, meanwhile was being forcibly wrestled into an outfit that belong to the bartender. And he was not happy about it.

"Yumichika, stop! I'm not wearing those fucking clothes! Hey! Give me back my damn pants! Rangiku-san! Heeey!"

When the trio of them stumbled out of the back room, they tumbled into some of the rest of their group. When Renji, Ishida, and Orihime turned to see who had crashed into them, they were speechless for at least a minute.

Clearly, a drunken Ichigo was easy to dress, and undress of course, because there was no way a sober Ichigo would have allowed someone to put him in… that.

The dark, dark blue jeans he was wearing shouldn't really constitute as pants. They were skin-tight all the way to the knee and were covered in so many whole wit was a wonder how they even stayed on. And, though they'd given him a simple white dress shirt, they rolled up the sleeves to his elbows and removed all the buttons, leaving it open. Apparently, to the shinigami, human world clothing was a bit of a novelty, which explained why there was some just lying around.

"Ichigo, uhhh…" Renji blinked. "What the fuck are you wearing?"

"It's not my fault." He glared at the two who'd dressed him and pointed a finger at them. "They made me do it!"

"Oh Kurosaki-kun, you look amazing!"

His glare hardened.

And Yumichika frowned when he saw Ishida scowl at Ichigo because of the look Orihime was sending him. He slid into Ishida's line of sight and started pushing the boy backwards. "Come on. To the bar."

"But- Hey, stop, I don't want-"

And then his voice trailed off and the rest of them were left staring at one another.

"This is repulsive."

"Come on, Ichigo," Matsumoto said, "it could be worse."

"How?" Ichigo mourned. What on Earth could be worse than this?

"Urahara-san could be here," Yumichika said.

"Yeah," Renji chimed. "Or your father."

Ichigo paused. "I feel better now."

"Well, then, this'll make you feel great then," Yumichika said, showing up with Ishida and a tray full of liquor. "Here," he chimed, shoving a pair of glasses at Ichigo, filled with a familiar bright green liquid. "And there's more with this came from!"

Downing the two glasses in quick succession, he grimaced at the bitter taste and took the next one from Yumichika. "Didn't the guy say not to drink too many of these?" He asked, even as he drank the one in his hand and took another. "Why am I drinking all of these anyway?"

"Because," Yumichika answered, grinning evilly as he watched Ichigo start to chug down the last glass. "We're getting you drunk enough to dance."

Ichigo choked on his drink.

-

"I – kakk – ku – " Yumichika sing-songed as he skipped over to his friend, brooding over the fact that he thought Ichigo was attractive.

"What?"

"Do you know what today is?"

He looked up. "October?"

"No, silly," he said, and tapped his friend on the nose. "The correct answer is… Your lucky day!"

"Huh?"

It was at that moment that Shuuhei walked up between them, gaping at the bar with his mouth open.

Ikkaku turned to see what the lieutenant was gawking at, and his eyes got wide, too. "God almighty," he breathed, staring at the bar.

More importantly, staring at a drunken Ichigo, dressed in some outfit that no one should be allowed to wear outside the cover if a romance novel, climbing on top of the bar, swaying unsteadily as he stood.

"Okay, okay," he mumbled. "My friends wan' me ta dance, kay, for the sake!" He teetered sideways, holding onto a pole to keep himself from tumbling over the edge. "So… I'm drunk, here we go!"

Ikkaku felt his blood go hot and cold at once as he watched Ichigo, so graceful and wild, free from all restraints in his drunkenness. The music began to play a blood-pumping beat and Ichigo found his rhythm in the music as easily as he found his ground in a fight. The Third Seat groped blindly on the table for something (anything) with alcohol in it, and started gulping it down as fast as he could swallow.

"Easy there, Ikkaku," Yumichika urged his friend. "You don't want to drink yourself into some new sexual lifestyle." The effeminate man watched his friend's eyes drink in the way Ichigo ran his hands along his own chest. "… or maybe, you do."

"… Shut-up," he said, but his eyes never left Ichigo, running long fingers through his own short hair, pulling softly on the orange strands, then tracing his face, his lips, and Ikkaku's drunken mind wondered what it would feel like if he could follow that same path with his own fingers, his lips, his teeth and tongue. He moaned softly when Ichigo's hands trailed along the hem of his pants.

He was snapped out of his stupor when the room was suddenly filled with cheers and Ikkaku realized that basically everyone in the bar was cheering Ichigo on. The boy didn't seem to mind, he even wore a sultry smile, that made him undeniably attractive, more so than he already was.

He forced himself not to stare, no matter how much his eyes seemed to be drawn to Ichigo's flat stomach, the defined chest and abdominal muscles, the light shadow of hair underneath his bellybutton, trailing down under the hem of his jeans -

Not staring.

If he thought nothing else could make him question his suddenly questionable straightness, he was mistaken, because when Ichigo tripped, caught himself on the nearest pole, the one luckily (or not so luckily) dead in front of Ikkaku, the boy just decided to hang on to it and twirled around it gracefully. When the boy crouched down, knees spread apart around the pole, Ikkaku felt every ounce of blood in his body flow south.

"Hey, handsome!" Ikkaku turned at the voice yelling so close to him, and saw the lady Ichigo had been dancing with before trying to be heard over the crowd. "Need a dance partner?"

Ikkaku frowned. "He doesn't need you, ya dumb broad."

Ichigo frowned as he did another look around the pole. Ikkaku's words held an edge than confused him. Was Ikkaku getting… jealous? Surely not. On his next twirl around, he grabbed a hold of Ikkaku's sleeve and trying to tug him upwards. Ikkaku would have willingly gone, except, one, he didn't really want to be on the bar Ichigo (Lies, his conscious coughed) and two, he was so turned on from the boy's drunken pole dance he was practically frozen to his barstool.

But the bar-goers were screaming "Dance! Dance! Dance!" and he really didn't want Ichigo dancing with that slutty whore, so he allowed himself to be pulled onto the bar.

But he was still hesitant about it. Firstly, because he wasn't gay. (Denial, thy name is…). Secondly, because he couldn't dance, even as drunk as he was. And thirdly, once again, he was so turned on right now that he really didn't want to get that close to the boy. But before he could shake his head and back away, Ichigo tugged him close, still grinning, eyes half-lidded in drunkenness.

Ikkaku held back a moan. Oh god, he feels so good pressed up against me… He could feel the heat of Ichigo's bare chest through his shihakasho and those half-lidded eyes in front of him (looking so sexy and close and sexy) were not helping the not-so-little problem he had throbbing in his hakama

Their friends were leering up at the pair, and the rustle of their bets is muted between robes. They'll win the sake. They'll lose the sake. They'll kiss. But the pair wasn't paying attention.

"Dance with me?" Ichigo asked, in a slow, deep, male voice.

Ikkaku felt his eyes flutter shut, only to fly wide open again when Ichigo shoved a thigh between his legs and ground against him. His head tipped backwards at the sensation, and he moaned, loud enough that he was sure the entire bar could hear, when Ichigo's hot breath fanned against the expanse of flesh the movement exposed.

"You're not trying very hard," the boy said.

The feel of those words, hot and wet against his neck, made Ikkaku thrust instinctively forward towards him, holding back a groan. The fuck I'm not very hard, he thought.

Hands gripped tightly in the shirt Ichigo wore, before slipping beneath the loose fabric, and trailing them up the smooth expanse of his back, causing Ichigo to hum appreciatively. Ignoring when someone made a catcall and hoping they died sometime in the near future, Ikkaku slipped the shirt from Ichigo's shoulders.

Head coming back up, he found himself face-to-face with Ichigo's hot-eyed stare. For a long moment, they were still, staring at one another. And then-

"Well, well, well! I think we have our winners!" The patroness called out suddenly, climbing onto the bar with the pair of them.

Ikkaku jerked, startled, suddenly realizing the position he was in. He tried to pull away, to back up, but he was drunk, his movements slow and sluggish, and he really didn't want to leave Ichigo's hot embrace. But on the outer edge of his drunkenness, embarrassment was attempting to rear it's annoying head, so he took a step back.

But before he could escape, Ichigo pulled him close and kissed him. And there was nothing gentle about it – it was a possession, an affirmation of right, and it left him both shaken and stirred.

The cheers that went up at this were deafening, and it was a full minute before they pulled apart, both panting heavily. And when they broke apart, Ikkaku found himself momentarily following the heat of Ichigo's kiss, the passion of his lips and teeth and tongue.

"… Well now," the patroness said after the cheers at died down to a dull roar. "How about that sake?"

xxxxx

12:30 PM

The pair in the picture was unmistakably Ichigo and Ikkaku. Ichigo's orange locks were as well-known as Ikkaku's shiny head. And they were glued at the face. Ikkaku's hands as twisted in Ichigo's hair as he could get then. One of Ichigo's hands was fisted in Ikkaku's hakama, pulling the man close by his hips, the other was on the wall behind Ikkaku's head, from where they stood in what looked like the entrance to the bar.

"I took that I you were leaving." The group pivoted, at the woman's voice, the patroness that they now remembered from the night before. "You all left before you could collect your earnings, though," she added, and gestured behind her.

They glanced behind her and gaped. If ever a room full of shinigami has ever looked like a pack of scavengers, coming across a buffet of dead animals, it was then. Because behind her, were boxes and boxes of sake. And it was all for them.

"Wow."

"I just need someone's address, so I can send it over. And more, when you run out. You brought us quite a lot of business yesterday."

"Hm? Oh, yeah," Ichigo mumbled, scratching down his address on the paper she handed him. "Hey, do you, uh, know where we went from here?"

"Oh yes," she answered dismissively. "I gave you directions to the restaurant three blocks to the east."

"Well," Hitsugaya sighed, shoulders slumping. "Let's go there then shall we? And on the way over the two of you can have the nervous breakdowns you're holding back."

________________________________________________________________________

A/N: Okay, sorry for the crazy-mad wait. Lots of stuffs has happened. Like college and this stupid Critical Thinking Test I have to take and don't WANT to take. Ugh. Also, working a lot now since I'm trying to save up for this EF-Tour to Japan for next summer, so yeah. And, okay, so it's not a lot. It's mostly just school, I guess. But, it's stressful on my end so, my bad guys, but, school's got priority, unfortunately.

1. Yeah, I meant to name that bar Bamboo Dragon (did I already say that was the name of the bar before, if so, tell me, so I can go back and change it). But I totally forgot about it when I decided to make them all drink absinthe. So, improvising!

2. I have also not read or worked on this story in so long, that I have forgotten how I'm making people address each other. I'll go back and read the first chapters and change them if they're different in this chapter. And… I've forgotten if Rukia is with them. Ah, well, who cares?

3. From what I understand, absinthe isn't really a hallucinogenic, like it's prone to be advertised in things like Moulin Rouge or Eurotrip. Apparently, in the 1970s, some paper reported that one of the ingredients in absinthe was the same chemical in cannabis. And someone said that it's a hallucinogenic because of something to do with the fermentation process. Most of the people who claimed to see things and have hallucinations were bohemians. Today, scientists say that it doesn't cause hallucinations, but in the 19th century, some poisonous chemicals may have been added to some cheap version of the drink to make the color brighter. There are several types, as mentioned, ideally, I suppose any of them would have caused hallucinations if poison chemicals were added. But, for the sake of the story, we're making the pop-culture version of absinthe (the green version) this bars trademark. It's not any more difficult to make, actually, there's an extra step involved to color it, but well, it's what most people think of when they think of absinthe. So I'm pretending that one's The Green Fairy. Deal with it. So, well, yeah, there you go. Everything I learned about absinthe. Because I wanted to go to Amsterdam when I turned 21 and get me some, but what's the freakin point if you don't hallucinate? Geez.

4. Did I spell that shinigami uniform word right? Shihakasho. It looks wrong.

5. The drunken-pole dance thing is a joke, because a friend of mine, honest to God pole dances better drunk than she does sober. Swear. Probably has something to do with inhibitions or something. Or the alcohol.

Last Chapter's Pop Culture References:
1. Cheers is the bar from an old TV show, and if you've even remotely heard of it, you'll get it.
The TV show is called "Cheers." Duh.
(Found by Ruby Tuesday-chan, Rionarch, Lulu the fallen Angel)
2. A line from A Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (the movie)
It's Nanao's "Buttons aren't toys!" line
3. A few lines from Dane Cook's Vicious Circle
The whole "You've had a lot of beers" line, all the way to "Because you're too fucking drunk to find the house, you've had like five hundred beers"
(Found by Rionarch)
4. A line from The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Of course it's, "I'm just a sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania
(Found by Ruby Tuesday-chan, Affie And Rysh, Rionarch)
5. A little conversation taken from an episode from the first season of Friends between Rachel and her sister
Inoue and Matsumoto's conversation about Inoue's outfit. The "It's kind of slutty" / "Yeah, well, I'm a slut" one
(Found by Rionarch)
6. Why it amuses me that two girls kissed in a bar named Sappho's Lyre (not really pop culture, it's more mythology/Greek history)
Sappho was a woman poet way-way-back-when and was supposedly as lesbian. She lived on the island of Lesbos, which is where was get the term "lesbian" from
(Found by Lulu the fallen Angel)
7. Reference to a Katy Perry song
"I kissed a girl and I liked it."
(Found by Ruby Tuesday-chan, Rionarch, Lulu the fallen Angel)
(Shout out to Rionarch, who found the hell out of my references!)

This Chapter's Pop Culture References:
1. Ikkaku and Ichigo's back-and-forth "Everything in this place belongs to me. Even him." / "Excuse me?" / "Shut up, bitch." is from something, but I do not know what. So if someone knows what, I'd love to know.
2. A Chappelle Show reference, specifically, one relating to the Rick James skits.
3. An few lines from Alice In Wonderland.
4. A well-known line from Friends, though I made a girl say it, instead of a guy, like who says it in the show.
5. There's a subtle reference to the title of a Bowling For Soup CD.
6. Another one you can help me with. Anyone know what the "You don't want to drink yourself into a new sexual lifestyle. Or maybe you do" lines come from?