We're No Longer Ten
By Uchiha Xairylle
Part 11 : Dismount And Development
Ken'ichi stretched and looked at the clock but either because it was dark or because he was tired, he was unable to determine the time but he was guessing it was somewhere around twelve midnight. Outside was quiet. Even the crickets seemed to be curled in their beds and tucked away into dreamland. Ken'ichi would love to do the same had it not been for the intense schoolwork they had to finish. The night sky was in a wonderful midnight blue color painted with random drops of sparkling light. The lamp posts outside were lit and Ken'ichi could even imagine one of them flickering randomly. Wetting his lips, he leaned against the back of his computer chair as his looked at the monitor, which looked bright against the darkness that enveloped his room. Above it was his printer doing lots of work and the low, rumbling sounds it created was the only sound in the room until Ken'ichi yawned a big yawn and stretched again.
Good grief, he was so tired.
He looked at his desk.
So was Yui.
Yui was sitting on the edge of the chair as she rested her head on the table where the desk lamp was still on. Her right hand was loosely holding the pen against the notebook and her left hand was still lightly on the page of the book as if to turn it. Ken'ichi smiled lightly and pushed himself off the chair before starting towards her. She was breathing softly with her hair slowly draping over her face. She probably did not realize how she had fallen asleep. Perhaps she was still writing and solving Physics problems in her dreams. Such mental torture. What a nightmare!
"Yui." Ken'ichi spoke lowly but it seemed as though his voice was louder than he intended it to be probably because of the quietness of the night. That or he had gotten so freaked out from all the noise from the whole day that this sort of silence was already so much for him.
"Yui…" he said again, touching her shoulder and slowly shaking her. She responded with a low sound, probably still in her dreams and only partly stepping into the real world. He continued shaking her carefully until her eyelids fluttered in wake, her eyes moving as if to reorient her senses and recalling what she had done last. And suddenly, her eyes widened and she pushed her self up, nearly falling off the chair she had been sitting on as her knee hit the table. Ken'ichi's eyebrows shot up with a stifled chuckle at the klutzy way she woke up but chose not to comment about it.
"Physics… The things… The… Paper… Sensei… Thirteen divided by…" Yui said, probably saying the words that came into mind without even bothering to turn them to sentences.
"Almost done." Ken'ichi muttered, "You should rest."
"N-no, I…" Yui was looking disoriented at the papers in front of her.
"The printer's doing its job. We can compile it later." Ken'ichi started piling the books and papers on his desk to clear it and perhaps relieve Yui of an eyesore, "Right now, you should get some shuteye."
Yui nodded absently before weakly getting up from the chair and heading to the bed. Ken'ichi raised an eyebrow as she threw herself messily with her face against the bed. She was wearing a white shirt and shorts that dropped below her thigh while a topless Ken'ichi wearing cargo shorts shook his head.
"Hey, baka." Ken'ichi mumbled as he walked towards her, "Who gave you permission to sleep on my bed?"
"I have no strength to argue with you." She replied without budging, "Let me be."
"You can't sleep here. Your dad will kill me." Ken'ichi sat on the bed.
The Kurosaki house had five rooms — one for the Kurosaki couple, one for Ken'ichi, one for Hideki (but Mai bunked in with him since she was too young), one for Byakuya (because he insisted on it) and Mai's future room, which acted as a guestroom. Currently, Ishida Uryuu and his wife were sleeping in the guest room while Ryu and the two other girls were forced to stay in Mai and Hideki's room until they were finished with their Physics project, which required peace and quiet and not a close girl forcing a Quincy guy to be the father of her son and an amused Shinigami girl for audience. But as things stand, the trio would have to stay in the kids' room until morning.
Wonder how they were doing?
--
"Y-gaugh…!" Ryu's eyes snapped open for how many times tonight that he had no more intention of counting or looking at what time is it again or if it is already morning. Something was horribly wrong with him — so wrong that he should probably see a doctor. He had been dreaming of things he never even thought he'd dream of, dreams that made him sweaty without even doing any physical work. For the love of him! He did not want random erotic dreams about two nearly topless women with him plaguing his sleep.
The young male Quincy was lying on his side on the mattress on the floor and behind him was Andjaliria in a gigai who was quietly snuggled and sniffing his back. It obviously did not bother her that he was full of sweat even with the alluring coldness of the night. Beside her was Yachiru, also in a gigai, who had her back to him. Whether or not she was asleep, he did not care. He had his sanity to be worried of. He shifted his arm so that his head could rest on it and he sighed as softly as he could.
"You're up again?" said a female voice. Ryu did not budge and only his eyes moved towards Yachiru's direction and replied with a question of his own.
"You're still up?"
"Go to sleep Horny Boy Ryu-kun. Your random wake-up's are disturbing me." She said without moving.
"Don't mind me." Ryu said and paused before turning his head towards her and saying, "And that's just Ryu to you."
The girl did not answer. For moments more, Ryu found his self looking at the back of her pink head as if waiting for an answer but was awarded with none. He dismissed the thought of shrugging and went back to his previous position, praying that he be blessed with sleep by the Sandman as he forced a yawn to perhaps induce some slumber thoughts.
But all was lost when he felt slender fingers crawling towards his belly.
Not again.
Ryu rolled his eyes away, gripped Andjaliria's wrist and lifted it off him. He looked at her and found her obviously asleep. He should do something about this girl at least even for just this night.
"Yachiru-chan." Ryu muttered and looked at Mai and Hideki to make sure they were still asleep. The Lieutenant was not moving. Was she asleep or pretending to be asleep?
"Yachiru-chan…!" Ryu called again, leaning forward towards her and still holding Andjaliria's hand to keep it from going anywhere on him. But the Vice-Captain was not showing any sign of response. Anybody would've taken it as "asleep" but something in Ryu's deep guts was telling him she just wanted to shut up for the heck.
"Yachiru-chan!"
He was getting sick saying the same name without getting any response. Really, now? Well, he could do this his way.
He was, after all, Ishida Ryu.
"Fine, I'll look at this myself. Don't ask me to share."
Yachiru's ears seemed to have moved and she looked behind her to see Ryu.
"See what?" she blinked with star-glazed eyes, "What? What?"
Ishida Ryu. God of all that is cunning.
"It's over h—Ah, it got away!" Ryu was faking an excited gasp and Yachiru leaned closer, looking left and right to find the invisible thing that Ryu was chasing after with his eyes.
"You can't see at it while she's like this." Ryu pointed at Andjaliria and Yachiru blinked at the sleeping body that was between them, "Switch places with her and I'll show you what I mean."
Yachiru blinked. Skeptical or just plain stupid? Ryu had no care. He just wanted space away from this woman trying to copulate with him by hook or by crook or by all the intentions of evil Aizen going Loco Mundo. She did not even bother to change off her white clothing and that made it all the more… complicated, at least for Ryu's hormones. The pink-haired Shinigami looked at him as if in silent, dumb contemplation. Her pink flipping tresses fell in a bit of disarray below her shoulders. She looked at Ryu and then at Andjaliria and then at him again.
Ryu opened his mouth to say something but the daughter-clone started to wake up. The Ishida boy gasped and immediately played dead as he lay on his side. Yachiru blinked at Andjaliria who yawned as she rubbed her eyes. A few more moments later, she looked at the Shinigami girl and said, "Ara?"
"Ara?" replied Yachiru.
"Araaaa…" Andjalira muttered.
"Ara, ne?" Yachiru said again.
Ryu wanted to roll his eyes away again but kept them shut. The two bimbos were communicating with "ara" and who knows if they even understood each other. Not that Ryu cared if they started talking like aliens. He just wanted to get some peace of his own.
"Ara, ara…" Andjaliria's voice was coming closer. Ryu was still sweating and wanted to gulp. He did not speak "ara" language but somehow, to him, it sounded like, "I'm comin' to getcha!" He could not feel Yachiru moving or doing anything. Stupid Shinigami girl not lending him a hand.
"Anata!" Andjaliria squealed louder than she was allowed.
Anata? Darling? Since when was she allowed to call him something along those lines?
Did it matter now? Ryu was determined to make it look like he was asleep. Hideki groaned and scratched his head before resuming his previous position, breathing softly with the blanket pushed down to his waist.
"Anata!" she squealed again and in one move, she pulled his shoulder and laid him flat on his back, making him open his eyes in surprise. She was already on all fours and on top of him! Ryu gritted his teeth and his eyebrows furrowed but before he could say anything more, she rested above him, limbs locked around him.
Why was this girl so engrossed about him!
"Y-Yachiru-chan!" Ryu appealed to the Shinigami nearby. Really, he was getting tired saying her name for how many times tonight.
"Hai?" she replied jovially with that childish grin across her face.
"A little help here?" Ryu pointed with his head at Andjaliria who was mumbling something they could not understand, "It wouldn't help if you at least came between us, you know."
"Oh. Sorry." Yachiru smiled with a shrug and crawled towards the Quincy and the daughter-clone. Finally, some cooperation from the pink-haired Vice-Captain! Ryu wanted to sigh in relief when he saw Yachiru lift Andjaliria's arm but his eyes widened in baffled alarm when the Lieutenant started inserting herself between him and Andjaliria.
Ryu gritted his teeth again to prevent him from shouting.
"What. Are. You. Doing?" Ryu was speaking between his teeth as he looked at Yachiru whose face was only a few inches above his.
"I thought you wanted her between us?" Andjaliria commented from behind Yachiru's shoulder.
"Yeah, I thought that's what he wanted to." Yachiru nodded at Andjaliria who nodded back.
Oh, so he was the one who misunderstood everything? Sor-ry. Right now he had two women on top of him. If anyone came in right now, he would look like the pervert but in reality, the whole thing was caused by the lack of working brain cells of the two women who were unconsciously harassing him both mentally and physically.
Ryu wanted to scratch his head but the position he was in did not allow him to.
"Okay, sorry for being such an idiot.." Ryu sighed heavily.
"I love you, anata!" Andjaliria squealed and reached for his cheek and started pulling, "Daisukiiiiii!"
"Get off me, please." Ryu was trying to sound calm, "Now."
"Who? Me or her?" Yachiru blinked.
Where were these two when god gave away common sense?
"Both of you." Ryu muttered.
"But I love you!" Andjaliria said in a rather "hurting" tone, which Ryu did not know the origin of.
Kami. why me?
"I would love it if you got off me."
Andjaliria was close to tears. Yachiru was still blinking.
"Just please get off me." His voice was rising while mentally noting to keep everything he said to be literal, "Both of you, get off me."
"Sheesh, you are so hard to understand." Yachiru slowly pushed her self away from Ryu as she sat up and Andjaliria followed suit.
"You want me between you. You want me off you." Yachiru continued, "Make up your mind!"
Ryu continued to stare at Yachiru who had not cleared off. Wonderful. Now he had to girls sitting on top of him.
"I've made up my mind now GET OFF."
Yachiru shrugged and crawled back to her spot while Andjaliria remained staring at the window as if in a daze.
"Andjaliria." Ryu called.
No response.
"Andjaliria."
Still nothing.
"Andja—"
"It's here." The girl gasped and got up immediately, her weight leaving Ryu in a bad way that it made him cough and wince a bit.
"It's here!" she repeated.
"What is?" Yachiru asked, motioning to get up.
"It's here! My baby is here!" Andjaliria excitedly told Yachiru who blinked and gasped as her wrist was grabbed along with the rest of her being dragged by Andjaliria out the room. Ryu pushed himself up by his elbows and raised an eyebrow. Normally he would have followed them out but right now, he had no interest to do so and he threw his self back to bed.
Wonder how Ken'ichi and Yui were doing…?
--
Yui was lying on her stomach, her head veered towards the left. Ken'ichi was still sitting on the bed and scratched his head.
"Budge, girl." He said and pushed her slightly.
"I don't want to move…" she replied wearily, "No strength."
"You can't sleep here. Your father will kill me."
"Sleep on the floor."
That's some suggestion, you have there!
"Oh, and may I remind you whose room this is…?" Ken'ichi raised an eyebrow.
"Ever heard of joint property?" she was speaking with an eyebrow unconsciously raised as well.
"That happens when we're already married." Ken'ichi replied and started tugging her hair, "At least give me some space to bunk in, baka."
"Baka." Yui shot back for the hell.
"Baka!" Ken'ichi retorted smugly. She did not respond. With a grunt he shifted his position and crawled on top of her so that he was lying on her back. She groaned and cursed at him but he pinned her down with his weight.
"KEN'ICHI, GET OFF ME!" she was nearly screaming.
"Oho… I thought you were tired, you bossy Quincy-baka?" Ken'ichi replied casually as he crossed his arms and looked at the ceiling.
"GET OFF ME!" her voice was getting louder as she pushed against him and the bed. Indeed, she was tired because it would've been somehow easier if she hadn't been so stressed out.
"Not so loud, you twit!" Ken'ichi veered his head slightly towards her, "Do you want to wake up the whole house!"
"Then get off me, you ass!" Yui complained; her voice in modulation as she grunted and struggled, "Or else my dad will think you're harassing me!"
Good point.
Ken'ichi rolled to one side and landed on the bed. He pushed at Yui slightly to make space for him. She groaned in complaint as several strands of her hair got caught in his fingers as he moved. There were a few grumbles as Yui inched a bit further, mumbling at the effort and making a sarcastic big deal about it just for the purpose of annoying Ken'ichi, which amused her quite so. It took a moment before they could find a position comfortable for the both of them and then there was silence except for the rumbling sound of the printer on the table.
Ken'ichi yawned and he lay quietly on his back while Yui had shifted to lying on her side. The young Shinigami moved his head to look at his right where his future wife was. She had her back to him as she breathed softly, barely moving while he continued to stare. He wanted to stroke her hair but was somehow too tired to do anything. He continued staring at the back of her head, reminiscing and thinking about random things both trivial and critical as he blinked.
Girlfriend.
Fiancée.
Future wife.
Wife.
Ken'ichi smiled inwardly. Everything happened so fast but somehow, he felt he had been waiting for it to come to this. It's just that he had not realized how complicated things would be.
Girlfriend.
Fiancée.
Future wife.
Wife.
Before he knew it, he'd be dealing with words like daughter, son, mom and dad.
Otousan.
It would indeed sound so strange and new if he had a kid calling him "otousan" and he wondered if this was the same thing his father felt when he married his mother. What could have been his ojisama and ojiisan's reactions? He heard their wedding was incredible. Judging by how their family was, Ken'ichi summed it to be "out-of-this world".
Again, he smiled at his seemingly witty little comment. If he had a son, would he be Shinigami? Or Quincy? Was there ever a Shinigami Quincy? Yes, his dad was both Quincy and Shinigami in his own right but if in some strange twist of fate his son became Quincy and Shinigami in an entirely different way, then he would be the first Shinigami with a bow Zanpakutou.
He wouldn't know if his father-in-law would be proud or mortified.
And if he had a daughter…
Good god, he might spoil his daughter.
PLEET!
Ken'ichi opened his half-lidded eyes and sat up. His eyes immediately darted for the computer and realized that the printing had been finished. Yui got out of bed a few moments before he did as he yawned, stretching lazily. She was immediately in front of the computer and Ken'ichi was surprised at how she was able to leap out of bed while being tired and saying, "It's done, Ken'ichi…!"
"Is it done?" he asked mindlessly as he slugged towards his computer. Yui nodded, eyes still on the monitor and hand on the mouse as she clicked away. Ken'ichi looked at the paper on the tray and noticed its thickness. He then mentally noted that he would have to remind himself to buy some ink in a few days as he scratched the back of his neck.
Yui reached out for the thick sheet and looked at it. She carefully halved the stack and handed one to Ken'ichi as she said, "We have to arrange it since the pages are in reverse."
Ken'ichi nodded absently while scratching the back of his neck as Yui handed him his share of the work. He sighed. Why don't papers just arrange themselves? And why the hell was the printer designed to print with the first page at the bottom of the stack? Why hadn't anyone realized that?
And why the hell was the back of his neck so itchy? Bug bites from his pillow?
Damn it.
And Ken'ichi slapped the back of his head with his hand. Yui gasped at the sound. Ken'ichi looked at his hand to see what he had hit and his eyes widened in alarm.
Ken'ichi opened his mouth and released a loud, aggravated panicking scream that drowned the sound of his bedroom door being kicked open and Andjaliria's blurting of "My baby! My baby!" as he looked at his hand.
There was a large, bluish white swallow tail butterfly with crumpled wings…
This day would never be over.
- End of Part 11 -
Author: Yes…! I managed to do this during my free time! Yay! I had quite a good time writing this chapter. It was fun writing mental stuff regarding Ken'ichi and Ryu. I don't know why. Perhaps they speak in such a "creative manner". Nyehehe.
Dismount is a synonym for "get off", a phrase which had been used several times in this chapter.
On a different note… "Oh My Gigai!" … -breathes in- … has been stolen, plagiarized and/or copied. Details in my profile. I feel mortified.
On a lighter note, I'm accepting votes and suggestions for Ryu! Yachiru or Andjaliria? The Shinigami or the Arrancar? I didn't think I'd come up with a partner for Ryu but I felt sorry for him just being on the sidelines. He has fangirls of his own and I'm pretty sure they'd like him in the spotlight from time-to-time.
So there we have it. The eleventh installment! Read and Review!
Cheerios, Cookies and a whole lot of Bankai love!
Anata – darling
Daisuki – I love/like you.