Chapter 10: A Wonderful Journey
"My romance senses are tingling~~!" Lussuria sang.
I choked on whatever food was in my mouth, and I could have sworn Xanxus stiffened up.
I coughed for a good minute or so before calmly wiping my mouth, turning to Lussuria, and saying politely, "I beg your pardon?"
It was then that Lussuria stood up, slammed his hands on the table with a loud BANG, and effectively scared the shit out of me. "DON'T LIE TO ME HONEY! WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN YOU AND THE BOSS WHILE WE WERE GONE?"
There was a long ringing silence, punctured only when Xanxus threw his glass of tequila at Lussuria's head (who ducked in time). "Shut. The fuck. Up. Trash."
Wow, he must have been really pissed. He liked that tequila.
I felt my face flame up instantly, which didn't help the situation at all.
"VOOOOOOOOOOIIII! SO YOU DID DO SOMETHING WITH THE BOSS!" Squalo yelled.
Xanxus' plate of stew came next. This one hit, and Squalo was covered in the thick soup (which, in case you're retarded, is basically stew).
"VOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIII, WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?"
Squalo grabbed his own bowl of stew and hurled it at Xanxus. Levi jumped up onto the table. "I will protect the boss!"
Chaos ensued.
"Ushishishishi, let's fight!" Bel giggled, jumping up too while his knives appeared out of nowhere.
"Oh dear, now Suki-chan will have to clean this all up." Lussuria sighed, seemingly oblivious to the shit he created.
"Luss-nee-chan, this is all your fault." I accused the flamboyant, lovable gay bitch. He smirked smugly at me, his sunglasses flashing. "Honey, there's tension in the air between you and the boss. Romaaaaaaaaantic tension-"
Xanxus threw a plate at Lussuria's head.
More chaos ensued. It was an all-out food fight.
I hid under the table, and I was surprised to see Xanxus was comfortably sitting under there too, resuming his plate of steak, as though it was perfectly normal to be sitting cross-legged under the table while several childish maniacs threw food at each other above you.
"What are you doing here?" I asked him.
"Shut it, trash." Was his answer. "I don't want to get my clothes dirty, and I have no interest in the trash's food fight. Got a problem with that?"
"Not really, but…..I'm hungry." My own portion of stew was probably splattered along the wall by now.
There was a long silence. I stared at Xanxus, and he tried to ignore me. Tried to.
Finally, he gritted his teeth, swore under his breath, and viciously stabbed his steak, separating it into halves. He stabbed one and then handed it to me. "Take it, trash."
"Thank you." I pulled the steak off of the fork and ate it. It really was good. I loved that sample lady.
"You know, you can be really nice when you're not being a dick." I said by way of making conversation.
He smirked. "And you can be really nice when you're not being an annoying bitch."
That started it. I grinned. "Well then, you can be pretty hot if you're not being a total assbag about everything."
He actually seemed to consider what I was saying, then turned to me and leaned in closer. "You can be really pretty when you're….." Then he stopped and stared at me. For a long time.
It wasn't until I felt it was getting extremely uncomfortable did he lean back and resume eating. "Never mind. You're always pretty."
.
.
.
.
.
I think I just died a little bit on the inside…..
Oh shut up, you would too if you were in MY shoes.
"That's a little bit OOC of you, Xanxus." I said. I mean, he doesn't always compliment me like this.
"I don't know what the hell that means, and I don't care, trash." He said, sounding a bit like his old self. But he seemed to enjoy talking to me.
"Were you embarrassed?" I blurted out.
"What?"
"Were you embarrassed when that sample lady said, you know…." I swallowed. "That you were my b-boyfriend?"
Xanxus looked at me for a split second, then looked the other way and started to eat again. Silence.
"Dude, I can't keep up a one-sided conversation here. Will you please answer me?"
Exasperated, he slammed his plate down on the ground. "Yes."
"Yes, as in 'Yes, I was embarrassed' or 'Yes, I will answer'?" I said, irritated.
He smirked at me. "Depends."
"You're idiotic."
"And you're annoying."
"I can't believe you're actually competing in an insult-fest with me. Usually only Squalo will do that, since he's an idiot. Are you drunk again?" He's always more violent to the others and nicer to me when he's drunk.
"Probably. I drank a bottle of tequila before coming down for dinner. That shit is powerful."
"It make sense." In a way, though, I felt kind of sad. Was this guy only ever going to be kind or at least civil to me when he's hammered?
"I'm not shitfaced, if that's what you're thinking. In fact, I'm barely even tipsy."
"Le gasp, dude! How did you know what I was thinking?" I gasped.
"I don't." He said smugly, smirking slightly. "You're just really easy to read."
"Am not!"
"Are so."
"Am not!"
"Are so."
"AM NOT!"
"Look, trash, we can go on forever, but either way, I can tell what you're thinking." Xanxus seemed to enjoy pissing me off.
Finally, the noise ceased. It seemed like they had finally run out of food to throw at each other. I crawled out and stared in horror at the carnage.
"FUCKSOCKS!"
Xanxus, who also straightened up from under the table, looked at me and frowned. "Did that trash just say 'Fucksocks'?"
"Yes…." Everyone stared at me. I continued ranting.
"FUCKSOCKS! WHAT THE FUCKSOCKS IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS? HOW DID YOU EVEN GET IT ON THE FUCKSOCKING CEILING?"
"Well, that is a good question…." Bel snickered.
"THERE'S NO WAY IN FUCKSOCKS I'M CLEANING THIS UP BY MYSELF! I HAVE STUDYING TO DO!" I turned to glare at them all. "Help me."
"I'm a prince." Bel said quickly.
"And I'm a maid. Shut up and help me."
"Cleaning isn't my style," Lussuria whined.
"Once again, fucksocks. Help the maid, Luss-nee-chan."
"Screw that! I'm not cleaning up!" Squalo scoffed.
"I'll cut your hair in the middle of the night, sharkie. Don't think I won't."
Squalo paled. "You wouldn't." He knew that I knew of his loyal oath to Xanxus or whatever. I kind of lost track in the middle of the explanation. It had something to do with his hair, though. And that he could never cut it until Xanxus became the boss. Actually, considering the rings rejected Xanxus and it didn't look like there was any way he'd become the boss anytime soon….Squalo might have Rapunzel hair by the time this is all over. I almost started to laugh, but quickly returned to the mass murder of stew at hand.
"I would."
"You wouldn't."
I raised an eyebrow at him, all badass-like. "You want to bet?"
Squalo growled but said no more. He valued his hair too much. Prissy.
"Muu, you'll have to pay me." Mammon sighed.
"I will do what the boss orders me to!" Levi said.
I turned to Xanxus. He was giving me a bitch-don't-you-dare-ask-me glare, and I hesitated.
"You can go, Xanxus."
"YOU'RE NOT ASKING HIM?" Squalo roared in outrage. Half of the reason he agreed was because he wanted to see Xanxus do housework for once.
"He wasn't the one throwing food around like some whiny toddler brat." I snickered. Squalo muttered obscenities under his breath. Xanxus smirked and left.
"Okay, so first things first, everyone get the cutlery and shit and put them in the sink. I'll spare you the agony of washing and drying them and I'll do it myself. Bel, I need you to get several mops and sponges and buckets of water and all that."
"Do I have to?" Bel huffed. "The prince does not take orders from menial servants!"
I looked him straight in the eye. Or tried to anyway, his bangs weren't helping. "That was before this menial servant had access to whatever you eat. I could make your mealtime a living hell if you DO NOT FOLLOW MY ORDERS!"
Bel hunched his shoulders, muttering sullenly to himself as he rushed off to obey me. I snickered.
"So you do have an evil side." Squalo grumbled as he grabbed mush-smeared plates and put them into the kitchen sink as instructed.
"Only when you guys really piss me off." I pulled at Squalo's hair affectionately. "Ooh, it really is soft! Lussuria was right!"
"Vooooiii, what the hell, woman? Don't touch my hair!" Squalo yelped, twisting away. "What do you think I am? A doll?"
"You have the hair of one." I snapped back, grinning at his flustered and embarrassed (and incredibly pissed) expression.
"Jesus….if only you and the boss didn't have something going on I would totally kill you right now….."
My face turned bright red again. "W-what? We don't have anything going on! What the hell are you talking about?"
Squalo smirked at me. Shit, now he knew how to bother me. He had leverage.
"Voooiii, Lussuria!" He called out to the flamboyant martial arts expert.
"Yes, Squ-chan?" He said brightly.
"What was that song? That really annoying, shitty-ass song you sing to bother a couple?"
"Oh, yes, that's right!" Lussuria giggled. "SUKI-CHAN AND BOSSU SITTIN' IN A TREE, K-I-S-S-I-N-G….."
"SHUT THE FUCK UP, LUSSURIA!" I screeched. This was so embarrassing. I was twenty-fucking-two years old and I was getting humiliated by guys with a childish elementary-school song.
"FIRST COMES LOVE, THEN COMES MARRIAGE….."
Squalo couldn't stop laughing. Bel returned to catch the rest of the song and grinned his Cheshire Cat grin at me.
"THEN COMES A BABY IN A BABY CARRIAGE…..I don't know the rest."
"Is there a rest of the song?" Bel asked curiously.
"Not that I know of, Bel-chan." Lussuria shrugged his shoulders.
"Will you guys SHUT UP and help me already?" I yelled, feeling incredibly flustered. Why the heck did it bother me so much?
Actually, unbeknownst to the others, the Varia member's childish teasing was bothering Xanxus too.
Or maybe it really was the tequila going to his head.
Xanxus leaned back in his chair, a fresh glass in his hand, fingering his raccoon tail mindlessly. Sure, he played it cool when Natsuki asked him, but when that sample station woman actually called him her boyfriend, Xanxus felt every bit as embarrassed as she was. He was just better at hiding it (he had to admit, she looked so funny when she blushed).
Why did he care so much? Actually, why didn't he kill that woman for even daring to suggest a woman like Natsuki was his girlfriend?
You've grown soft, a voice hissed in his ear. Irritated, he pushed the voice away by taking a huge gulp out of his glass. The voice kept on nagging him.
The reason why you didn't kill that stupid trash was because Natsuki so obviously liked that woman…..she would have been devastated if you killed her right in front of her…..
"I don't give a shit about what that trash thinks!" Xanxus snarled to himself, drinking deeply again. Great. Now he was talking to himself.
Liar…..you're a liar…..you don't want Natsuki to be upset, do you…..you care….
Xanxus desperately wished he could shoot his inner self with his X-Guns, but even he wasn't stupid enough to try that. So the irritating trash-voice kept on talking.
Why bother hiding it…..she's different to you…..why is it you always feel like talking to her….
"She's….interesting….that's all." Xanxus muttered to himself stubbornly. He refused to think he cared about ANYONE. Even his own father, Nono, he didn't really give a shit about. That much was clear considering he was okay with locking his foster father inside a giant mechanical monster that feeds off of life energy.
That Sawada Natsuki trash-woman was doing something to the Varia. Xanxus didn't know if it was good or bad, but either way, she managed to make both their great boss embarrassed and convince them to help her clean up their mess. In ONE DAY.
…She's one incredibly woman, I'll give her that.
Xanxus drained his glass.
It was almost ten. The Varia members had gone to sleep. Except Xanxus, which he presumed was because he drank way too much tequila. And he had a killer headache.
"Shit, shit, shit…." He snarled to himself as he staggered out of his bedroom and towards the kitchen, in search for an aspirin or something to ease his pain.
When he was just outside the kitchen door, he stopped. He heard a voice. Was it…..
He slowly pushed open the door, just enough for him to see inside. It was Natsuki, washing and drying the dishes on her own. She must have taken pity on the Varia and sent them to bed, leaving most of the work for herself.
"Nobody knows who I really am.
I've never felt this empty before…."
And she was singing.
"And if I ever need someone to come along,
Who's gonna comfort me and keep me strong?"
Xanxus had no idea how a woman with such energy and confidence like herself could sound so sweet and sad. She was softly singing a song with a clear, angelic voice.
"We are all rowing the boat of fate,
The waves keep on coming and we can't escape.
But if we ever get lost on our way,
The waves would guide you through another day."
Xanxus leaned against the wall just outside the kitchen, and closed his eyes. For some reason, Natsuki's voice echoed inside his head, but not painfully. It felt more like the gentle, soft movement of ocean waves.
"People's hearts change
And sneak away from them….."
Xanxus felt his headache lessen slightly. It reduced to a light throbbing, rather than the intense pounding from before.
"I want you to know who I really am,
I never thought I'd feel this way towards you.
And if you ever need someone to come along,
I will follow you and keep you strong."
The headache disappeared. It was as if it never existed.
All Xanxus could hear and feel now was the song. Natsuki's song, and her voice as soothing as waves inside his head.
"I give a prayer
As I wait for the new day.
Shining vividly
Up to the edge of that sea."
Quietly, so Natsuki wouldn't know he was there, he shrugged off the wall and slowly walked away. He returned to his bedroom and flopped down onto the bed. Now that her sweet voice wasn't distracting him, the headache was coming back.
Strangely enough, he heard her voice again. It returned to him. He closed his eyes, and softly, the rest of the song whispered inside his head as sleep overcame him.
"We are rowing the boat of fate,
But the waves keep on attacking us.
But isn't that still a wonderful journey?
Aren't any of them a wonderful journey?"
A/N: Hey y'all, it's me again J
Sorry if this seemed like one of those songfics, but I really love this song and for some reason I felt Natsuki would be the perfect kind of girl to sing this.
If you want to hear the song (I didn't include all the lyrics in here, just the ones I felt like putting in), these are English-translated lyrics from the song Life is Like a Boat by Rie Fu. It's incredible. If you don't know this song, well…..that's probably because you've never seen Bleach before. This was….um, the first ending, I think? I don't remember, but whatever, I'm rambling.
Keep reviewing! Authors need reviews to survive! Oh yeah, if you guys have any questions at all that are relevant to this story, you are free to ask them. I'll choose a couple and answer them before each chapter if I feel like it.
Bye!
Oh, P.S.: I finally figured out how to do the line break thing. I thought just using a line of asterixes would be okay...well, whatever. A big thanks goes to one of my fave authors PsychedelicFlame for helping me figure that out! If you haven't read her story Sonic Life featuring Squalo, you should. And it's not yaoi! Le gasp!
Anyway, bye. Like, for realz.