Disclaimer: Bleach is the work of the maestro Kubo Tite.
Shinigami Movie Night
Abarai Renji surveyed the crowded room with a sense of satisfaction and pride. Only an accomplished mastermind could fully appreciate the finesse it took to organize these clandestine gatherings.
Tonight promised to be another one of those nights. Kurotsuchi-taichou's presence was guaranteed in the dissection labs. While Captain Creepy was playing at mad scientist, it would be Happy Hour time for the off-duty Death Gods.
As the saying goes: While the cat is away, the mice come out to play. The merry-making crowd had arrived in the screening room of the 12th Division Head Quarters.
The usual encrypted messages had been sent out to call the men together for a guys-night-out.
The mutual understanding ran along the lines of: Bring on the Asahi, bring on the sake!
There were no worries that the vice-captain, Kurotsuchi Nemu would tell. On the nights when she could get out of lab assistant duty, she actually joined the girls in the Shinigami Women's League for movies.
There were risks of course. Nobody messed with Captain Kurotsuchi Mayuri without having nightmares of being strapped down to an operating table. This was not for the faint of heart –which was why there was nearly always a full attendance from the 11th Division. The 12th Division hardly dared to show their noses since they knew better.
Tonight was movie night for the assembled Shinigami and Renji was the man of the hour. Now, it was time to make his entrance. The red-haired vice-captain of the 6th Division swaggered his way towards the front of the room.
No captains here to give disapproving looks. None of the fussy female Shinigami's to call the men on their immature behavior.
Oh, yeah! Renji did a little shimmy on the spot and punched his fist into the air. Movie Night!
The men roared their approval. Heads bobbed their appreciation in the crowd. The room made a toast to him, sake cups flying in every direction.
Renji owned the crowd. The stage was all his. He addressed his slightly tipsy audience. "This program was brought to you, all the way from the mortal world, by yours truly!" He waited for the clapping to subside, and continued, "Men, tonight, I give you…the Death Note Movie!Please sit back and enjoy the show!"
Renji took his seat. Iba Tetsuzaemon got to his feet and took over where Renji had left. The man who gave everyone an impression of a classic street yakuza was still sporting sunglasses even though the room was darkened. "Yo, listen up proper, you miserable punks!" He interrupted himself with a cough. "… I meant, gentlemen, I call your attention to a brief reminder…"
Iba seemed to be struggling with the announcement. "Don't ignore your Hellmoth messengers. But, kindly receive the fu-unny bastards, I meant: beasts, outside so you don't ruin it for the brother next to you. You got that, you bunch of low-lifes? You better had –'cuz I sure as hell ain't gonna repeat myself to you."
The crowd (of punks and low-lifes) hesitantly applauded his efforts. The emcee with the potty-mouth problem bowed and sat down.
As the screen came to life, there was a small commotion from the back. An apologetic voice floated across the room like a crippled fly. "Excuse me! Excuse me!"
"Oww, my foot! Watch it, 4th Division pipsqueak!" snapped the owner of a voice who sounded as if he wouldn't think twice about giving pests a quick swipe with a swatter.
"Oh, I'm sorry! Shall I heal it for you now?"
Someone from behind started to throw popcorn at the suggestion. "Oi! Bighead! You're blocking the screen! Move it!" A cushion-seat was added to the volley of projectiles.
Renji snorted and rolled his eyes. There was no mistaking who the aforementioned 'pipsqueak' was. "Yamada Hanatarou, get your skinny-ass over here!" he hollered, quickly signaling to the late-comer.
Well, Renji had fulfilled Rukia's request. She had asked him to be nice to the 4th Division paramedic. But, she hadn't said anything about not being rude.
Ayasegawa Yumichika shifted restlessly and gave an exasperated sigh. The (self-proclaimed) prettiest officer in the 11th Division threw an annoyed glare behind his shoulder. "Whoever throwing the popcorn –stop it! It's getting in my beautiful hair!"
There was a sudden hail of popcorn raining in the vicinity of Yumichika. The targeted victim imparted the nearby audience with an ear-popping shriek of protest.
A slightly deafened and definitely pissed-off Abarai Renji stood up. "Whoever throwing the popcorn –stop it now! It cost me a mint from Urahara's shop!"
They settled down for a record-breaking six seconds until some big mouthed troublemaker called out, "Hey, who let the bald guy sit in front? I can't see from the glare!"
Madarame Ikkaku shot up from his seat, his zanpakutou, Houzukimaru, in hand. "The one who called me bald –stand up and identify yourself!"
By the time the chaos died down –when the guilty perpetrator was deported, and Ikkaku placated, the movie was well into the first action scene.
oooOooo
"Where are the snacks? Pass the peanuts over."
"Pass the message on to pass the peanuts here…"
Renji concentrated on ignoring the whispering behind him. The movie was just getting to the good part. As if in agreement, the murmuring stopped. Then, there was a tap on his shoulder. "Anou, Abarai-fukutaichou…?"
Renji gave a loud 'tsk' of annoyance. "The freakin' peanuts aren't here," he said, quickly.
The voice refused to go away. It began again with an even clearer note of discomfort that Renji would've noticed if he had been paying less attention to the screen, "It's not the peanuts. It's your taichou…"
Renji turned around impatiently, "My officious taichou isn't here ei… Er, Kuchiki-taichou, you are here! How unexpected…" he trailed off and finished with a wide, glassy grin.
The uninvited visitor gazed down with an utterly removed expression on his face. Renji returned the icy look with one akin to that of a boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Oh, cripes! That was the problem with having the frosty nobleman as a Captain. You couldn't really judge how much trouble you were in by his face. And what had he called him again? Oh, right. Something along the lines of… fussy. He was a dead man.
Renji thought he had better break the silence before Captain Kuchiki brought up the issue of being so rudely addressed by his subordinate. The red-haired shinigami fumbled for something to say. "Since you're here, taichou, why don't you… join us?"
The lads opened their eyes wide at his daring.
The 6th Division Captain made some quick speculations. If he hauled their asses off and had this bunch of fools detained, he would have to write a report for each and every one arrested. The number of detained officers here would result in a mountain-load of paperwork that would keep him behind his desk for weeks. Especially since it appeared that he couldn't even dump any onto his fuku-taichou's desk.
The fool appeared to be the ringleader behind this circus.
Someone had paused the movie on the screen. Kuchiki Byakuya's voice carried clearly across the room. "Tell me, Renji. Could it be that you are… drunk?" Byakuya said, ending his sentence in a somewhat delicate tone.
Renji gave the question a moment of thought and carefully replied, "I don't think so? No, I could drink more. And drunk is such an ugly word, taichou…"
Byakuya thought that being in the state of intoxication and being capable of ingesting more sake were different matters that held no relation in his question. All except that one thing would lead to the other, of course.
"You have received permission for this…" Byakuya's eyes flicked over briefly to the (mostly empty) bottles of liquor –they appeared to have sampled the entire assortment Asahi Breweries, Ltd. had to offer. "…meeting?"
"No. But, we're not exactly breaking the rules."
"You call this not breaking the rules?" Yes, Byakuya thought to himself, most definitely drunk. And quite incapable of lucid judgment.
"Well, that is fundamentally arguable," Renji said. "Captain Kurotsuchi is just too stingy to share the screen. It's not like we're going to steal it. It's too big to go through the doorway."
And they've tried it, Byakuya thought.
"Fine. I shall see for myself what this is all about."
Jaws fell open in shock across the room as the statement made contact with alcohol-induced fuzzy minds.
Renji gathered what wits he had left and said, "Have a seat, Captain…"
oooOooo
As the ending credits scrolled across the giant screen, the officers turned to look at the captain seated in their midst. Kuchiki Byakuya had sat with his hands-crossed and a look of appraisal on his face throughout the show.
He granted the men a response. "I deem it unsatisfactory. The ending ruined it."
"Ah, that's because there's a… second part to the movie."
"Then, I trust you will inform me when you resume," Byakuya said. A Kuchiki never left loose ends untied.
The nobleman swept out.
The palpable tension in the room dissipated. The men expressed their pent up emotions. Captain Kuchiki Byakuya had a sobering effect on the men that ten cups of nasty herbal teas couldn't ever dream of achieving.
Someone clapped Renji on his back. "Quick thinking, man! And your captain isn't a bad sport either."
"Freakin' hellfire! I thought we were toast for sure."
"…Kami-sama!" implored a shinigami officer before his eyes rolled to the back of his head.
"Araa… it was too much for Maki-chan!"
Renji knows how he feels. He wiped the cold-sweat from his tattooed forehead. He doesn't feel all that far from fainting either.
Author's Note: Welcome to the 2 part side-story/extra for Mirror Mask. But, it can be read as a stand-alone story.
Picked the Live Action Death Note movie because of the small shinigami relation in the storyline. (Using the manga as a yardstick, it's probably not the easiest storyline to grasp while Asahi intoxicated ;) The movie does come in 2 parts, but the second is scheduled to premier only in October.
And the truth is: I've not watched the movie yet. So, the suggestion of a cliff-hanger ending is complete guesswork. Apologies for my shortcomings.
