"Hey, Kuchiki." A tinkle of bells accompanied the greeting.
Rukia turned to the rough voice, coming face to face with a terrifying scarred visage. She grinned when she recognized who the face belonged to. "Hey there, Zaraki."
Facing the other way and finishing off the dregs of his glass, Ichigo began to choke violently.
Zaraki Kenpachi!?! FUCK!!
"Oh? Who's this bright punk?" Kenpachi grinned maliciously as he caught sight of a familiar mop of orange hair, speaking loudly to be heard over the pumping music and voices of the other patrons.
Ichigo turned slowly in place, still seated on his chair. "Kenpachi." He greeted in a controlled voice, a bead of sweat gathering upon his brow.
Rukia grinned evilly at their greeting. It looked like they knew each other and even better, Ichigo was shitting bricks at running into the intimidating man. But, she reasoned, there were few men who could stand up to Kenpachi's fearsome stare, let along hold a casual conversation with him.
"You still owe me a rematch, Ichigo. I want a chance to even the scores."
Ichigo gulped heavily, scared out of his stupor-like state while Rukia watched on open mouthed. Ichigo had fought Kenpachi and won?? The man who was occasionally stoned and usually drunk whenever she ran into him (admittedly she worked at a bar) had actually beaten the Kenpachi?
"Maybe some other time." Ichigo sweated. Chad drew his gaze away from a pretty silver haired barmaid and decided to take pity on his friend.
"Zaraki." Chad spoke in his deep voice.
"Chad." Zaraki replied with a small grin as he drew his gaze away from Ichigo.
Both men greeted each other with a nod of their heads, acknowledging the history they shared.
"Hey, Ichigo!" A bright, shiny surface approached calling his name.
Ichigo turned in the direction of the new voice and grinned. "Hey, Ikkaku. Still shaving I see." His voice was slightly mocking.
An effeminate looking man with strange eyebrow attachments standing beside the bald man rolled his eyes as Ikkaku replied. "Course I am. What're you doing in a place like this anyway?"
Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "Having a drink. What's a brawler like you doing in a place of good repute like this?"
Ikkaku cackled. "I'm one of the bouncers."
Ichigo shook his head. "Figures...Hey, Yumichika." He gave a short greeting to the bob haired man at Ikkaku's side as the bald man turned away.
Ikkaku and Chad greeted each other as Rukia leaned over the bar to quiz Ichigo. "How do you know them?" She asked curiously. Rukia had thought she was the only one Ichigo knew who worked at Seireitei, but as it turned out he knew more than a few. Now she was feeling slightly possessive.
"Them?" Ichigo questioned, taking another sip from his glass.
"Ishida, Kenpachi, Ikkaku, Yumichika. I thought I was the only person you knew who worked here."
"Jealous?" Came the teasing reply.
Rukia blushed slightly. "Hardly," she replied in a tart tone, waiting for him to elaborate.
Ichigo sighed as he drained the last dregs of his drink. If Kenpachi and his gang were here, odds were the atmosphere wouldn't be sociable for much longer. "Ishida I know from college. We were both there to get the degrees our fathers wanted us to; so we sorta stuck together. We both joined the army at the same time too, although got drafted into different units." Ichigo paused, clearing his throat. "Kenpachi was a merc I met while I was deployed and Ikkaku and Yumichika were his squad mates. We almost killed each other the first time we met." Ichigo laughed as he recalled the memory of their meeting.
"You know a lot of people through the army then?" Rukia questioned.
Ichigo nodded. "You'd be surprised."
Things were silent for a the next few minutes, as Rukia served the few customers who approached the bar and occasionally sent nervous glances over to the group of gang members Ishida was serving. Ichigo watched as Chad talked with the silver haired barmaid who's name tag read 'Isane'. He was surprised when the woman managed to elicit a short chuckle from his normally taciturn friend.
Ichigo was the first to break the silence. "What's going on, Rukia? Is there some trouble expected or something?" He asked her seriously, making sure to look her in the eye.
Rukia looked away, unwilling to meet his gaze. "Maybe. There's group in here that are known trouble makers who've made threats against a few of the employees here."
Ichigo glanced over at the gang on the other side of the bar and met the gaze of the blue haired man who had the tattoo of a skeletal jawbone on his face, making it appear that he was actually missing the flesh from that area. He looked back to Rukia, taking note now of the way she kept smoothing her palms over her black pants to wipe the sweat off them.
Before Ichigo could make any response, he found himself being knocked in the side as another man pushed his way to the bar. The man had a mass of red hair done up in a ponytail along with what appeared to be tribal tattoo's on his eyebrows and forehead.
"Ruk--"
"Watch who you're knocking about mate." Ichigo snared as he regained his position on the bar stool, sending an angry glare along with his words.
The red head turned from greeting Rukia to return a glare of his own. "How bout you don't get in the way then?" He replied bluntly.
Ichigo was about to stand and give the red headed arsehole the hardest crack he'd ever received in his life when Rukia's sharp voice interrupted them.
"Renji! Ichigo!" Rukia cautioned, eying both men warningly. "You want to fight, do it on your own time."
Ichigo settled himself reluctantly and allowed his muscles to unwind. The shock of adrenaline he had received from the impending violence was fading away, but it had given him enough of a boost to jolt him almost completely back to his senses.
Meanwhile, Rukia was interrogating Renji as Kenpachi drifted over to listen, followed by Ikkaku and Yumichika. "Who's on the door?" She was demanding.
Renji grinned easily as he responded. "Iba and Komamura are on the door now," Renji explained, referencing the cross bred beast of a dog that was trained to act as a bouncer alongside its handler, "and Hisagi is supposedly about to join him."
"Soi Fon and Hitsugaya are upstairs," Ikkaku added, glancing around as Ishida approached Rukia's side inside the bar.
"We're supposed to stop serving people soon," Ishida told Rukia. "to help shuffle people out of the club sooner rather than later. Mayuri has also set up a good field of cameras to catch anything that occurs on film." He adjusted his glasses irritably. "He even told me just now that there's a camera on my glasses."
Renji sent a harsh look at Ishida and Ikkaku as a blonde man with half his face hidden by his hair and a larger overweight man approached. "When did you guys start discussing store policy in front of strangers?" He almost snarled, jerking his thumb at Ichigo and Chad who was still caught up in conversation with Isane.
"Since we know both of them and the carrot top beat Kenpachi in a fight." Ikkaku retorted, Ishida nodding to silently agree with him.
Renji stared at Ichigo in disbelief as the orange haired man snorted, getting to his feet.
"I'm going for a leak if my presence makes you nervous." Ichigo mocked him. "And Chad's too caught up in his new bird to be eavesdropping on whatever you guys are talking about." So saying that, Ichigo began to make his way through the crowd towards the toilets.
"Renji!" Rukia scolded him as she sent a glare his way.
"Yeah, nice one." Ikkaku snorted. "He might've given us a hand if things got too dicey, but now we'll be lucky if he does."
Renji scowled. "Why should we need--"
"Because he fights like a fucking berserker, that's why." Kenpachi told him bluntly. "And in a bar fight, luck means everything. Don't matter how good ya think you are, another pair of fists isn't something you turn down."
Renji hung his head, properly chastised. They were interrupted by the arrival of another pair of guests, an exotic tanned woman that sent a flirtatious look at every male in the group, who was attached to the arm of an eccentric looking man clad in a dark haori and trousers, complete with wooden clogs and a striped white and green hat.
"Urahara, Yoruichi." Rukia greeted the duo warmly, genuinely glad to see them. The pair were rumored to be the go-to guys for the owner of the club, Yamamoto; and quite possibly deadlier than any of the other fighters present.
"My my Yoruichi, quite a gathering of talent here." Urahara commented, pulling out a fan and flicking it open to hide his mouth. Yoruichi smiled, but remained silent. "But wait!" Urahara flicked his fan shut and began to theatrically sniff at the air. "There was another here, just recently departed who I would very much like to talk to."
Those who worked at the club looked amused, used to the possible hit man's antics. Chad looked over at the sound of his voice; his visible eye widening. Urahara looked around and as if noticing Chad for the first time, greeted him enthusiastically.
"Chad, so good to see you? Hmmm, it's not often you get out to clubs like this..." Urahara mused, while the blonde man, Kira and his overweight companion, Omaeda, the two who had approached when Renji voiced his objection to Ichigo, looked surprised that this stranger knew the mysterious Urahara. "That could mean that he is nearby, hmm?" Urahara looked like an evil little child as he rubbed his hands together, while a wicked grin broke out over Yoruichi's face.
"Oh, for fucks sake."
Ichigo's voice was resigned, as if he had no choice in the fate about to befall him. There was a variety of reactions from those watching, ranging from confused to amused to jealous, as Yoruichi literally pounced on the unfortunate lad, pressing her chest into his as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Ichigo," Yoruichi purred. "It's so good to see you."
Rather than reacting angrily at his partner's behaviour, Urahara seemed to be struggling to contain laughter as he watched Ichigo's efforts to separate himself from Yoruichi's grip.
Rukia watched Ichigo's predicament with an unusual feeling in her chest. With a jolt, she realized that this emotion was jealousy; an emotion she did not enjoy, especially when she had no need—or even right to feel that way.
"Come on Yoruichi, give him a break." Rukia told her with exasperation clear in her voice. A few of the group gave her startled looks—since when did Rukia stick up for a guy she herself enjoyed teasing?
Yoruichi gave her a quick, sly look of understanding before releasing her 'prey'. Ichigo gave a sigh of relief before making his way to reclaim his bar stool, that just happened to be next to Renji's own, whom he just happened to bump into as he took his seat.
Rukia watched as the two men exchanged a glare and released a small sigh. From the looks of things, the Espada gang would be the least of their troubles—these two idiots would tear each other apart at the first chance they got.
Sighing again, Rukia picked up a cloth and began to wipe a dirty glass steadily. Life as a barmaid was so hard sometimes.
To Be Concluded...