A/N: To those of you who're viewing the message, thank you! I have a feeling that I might be letting some of you down. No, nothing terrible happened to me today to make me feel bad. Just.. yeah.
Story's wandering away from its storyline. Just for just one chapter. Kladias's point of view peeks in here and there. Kind of a special backstory.
February 14th, three months before Ichigo's arrival
Hands sliding open the door with a brutal screech, Kladias blinked as confetties rained down in front of her in white, pink and red swirls of a storm.
When the confetties cleared, she got a good look at the room - and for a second thought she had gotten lost and ended up where she wasn't supposed to be. Then she realized that the ROOM was the one in a state it was not supposed to be. Well over fifty shinigamis were packed in there. Every imaginable shades of pink and red clung about everywhere - cottony threads on the walls, frilly tablecloths on usually dark mahogany worktables, hats on shinigamis' heads(?), rice cakes, a westernized record-player draped in the color...
She feverishly flailed at the confetties still raining down at her. She couldn't believe that she actually contributed to this THING they called a party. All throughout yesterday, she spent... ARRRRRGH-
Too much pinkness. Though half of the mahogany tables hadn't been draped in the awful color; instead, they were piled up precariously against one of the walls, towering almost to the top of the 30-feet high ceiling. The ones that weren't piled up were centered in the middle, agonizingly colorful sweets and other treats laid out in heaps to fill the entire tabletop. Bottles of sake were gathered on another cluster of tables nearby. Conversations buzzed about - people chattered about, some obviously drunk, some obviously drunk but trying hard not to appear so. And failing to.
Okay, a party in the 9th squad magazine press room. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Smackdown in the middle of the week. And the color scheme...
What the fuck was WRONG with those people?
A couple of female shinigamis spotted her standing at the door and waved her over.
"Who died to brew up the ridiculousness?" Kladias positively snarled and screeched at the pair.
One of them hollered back between munches of fuchsia rice cakes, "No one died, Kladias-san! It's Vala- Valantiada! Right, Rangiku-san?"
Rangiku, who had been jabbering away to a pair of entranced-stupid male shinigamis nearby, turned around to them, followed their gaze to Kladias. She then put on a winning smile, "Valentine's Day, actually! It's one of the most romantic holidays in the human world. I've been working SO hard to get together a party in such a short notice. Come join us, Dia-chan!"
Kladias perked up and yelped, "Quit calling me that! And your captain's gonna grow an inch before I join this thing."
"Awww...!" Rangiku cooed, further irritating Kladias, and snatched a bottle of sake from the table in front of her, "Then have a bottle of sake instead! Who knows, you might want to join in after a couple swigs!"
At the end of the sentence, the blond vice-captain tossed the bottle casually at Kladias - who, with a disgusted expression on her face, caught it and threw the bottle back at a breakneck speed. The bottle smashed into Rangiku's head, making the vice-captain fall over with an extremely high-pitched squeal that drew every single shinigamis' attention.
"Wha - are you all right, Rangiku-san?" Hisagi dropped down to his knees at her side, horror evident on his face.
"That was uncalled for, Kladias-san." Kira grimaced before kneeling down too.
"I hate drinking! And she knew it, so she brought it onto herself." an annoyed glance at Hisagi, "oh stop fussing, Shuuhei. Your wet dream's gonna be absolutely fine."
Hisagi flushed ever so slightly but kept his control, his coal-colored eyes shoot up, irritation showing, "How many times do I have you to remind you to address me by my title when-"
Kladias cut through nonchalantly, "You are welcome to remind me however many times you want, comrade. Not like it's gonna help me remember any better." Rangiku rose herself halfway up with a moan, and Kladias spat at her, "How in the fuck's sake am I supposed to find my zanpakuto in this mess? You'd better know where it is, blondie."
Rangiku blinked confusedly, rubbing her head where the bottle hit. A realization dawned on her, "Oh, the one I found on the floor was yours? Yes, I know where it is-"
"Where? I need it out of here with me before either of us catches any of this awful atmosphere." Kladias snapped.
A coy look slid into Rangiku's expression, "Give someone in the room a kiss, and I'll tell you where."
That caught Kladias by surprise, "Okay, I'll - wait, what? What kind of request's that?"
Rangiku chirped, "Valentine's Day is all about," she dramatically threw her arms up in the air, "love. Let's see you display some affection for once, Dia- oops, Kladias-chan!"
Now on their feet, Kira gave a snort, Hisagi a chuckle. Similar sounds came from all over the room. The rest who hadn't made a sound paled - they were the ones who had witness the 3rd-seat woman's wrath first-hand. The only physical contact she ever displayed usually resulted in someone being carted off to the 4th division in a gurney.
To the second group's surprise, Kladias just rubbed her eyes, "Oh god, you've been drinking again. Hmm." a thoughtful expression, followed by one of mischief crossed over her face, and she shunpo-ed out of everyone's sight-
9th division vice-captain's eyes widened to impossible size as he was ambushed with an ever so slight peck on the cheek.
"Wha-" Hands flying up to his cheek, Hisagi's mouth fell open in utter disbelief. Rangiku shrieked with laughter, immediately to be joined by several others. As Kladias hopped back a few steps with a huge characteristic ear-to-ear grin(victorious?) on her face, Hisagi spluttered in attempt to form words, failing to do so in the end. His face turned fire-engine red, his mouth still hanging wide open. Chuckles rang out all around, amused at seeing the usually stoic and expressionless senior officer in that state.
"That," Kladias, still grinning, pointed a finger at Hisagi's scarred cheek, to the spot she gave a peck, "was your way of paying for making me cut out those confetties all yesterday. You know that my arms were actually SORE last night? That's saying something, since I'm used to sparring all day with a freaking sword in my hand. The kami's honest truth."
Hisagi choked out, "What? How'd this... Why in the... Not my fau... Oh, the how am I supposed to discipline you by the end of the month, Captain..." he groaned and put both this hands on his forehead, and blushed even deeper, which drew even more chuckles from the crowd.
Kladias's grinned even wider, "Theeeeere we go! Our badass, fierce warrior of a vice-captain is revealing his true colors once again," a bout of laughter from the crowd, ", pun intended. Enjoy the fire-engine show while it's on, and remember to add it to the collection of good old memories to make fun of him later on, folks."
Rangiku, having gotten up to get away at some point, tossed a zanpakuto at Kladias. The latter caught it reflexively, "That's the way, blondie. Go throw up or something now, Hisagi. Or just faint and stop paling tomatoes before people start suffocating."
Indeed, some of the shinigami were rolling on the floor, out of breath in howls of silent laughter. Oh, how they loved seeing the 3rd-seat mischief of a woman give difficult times to her vice-captain.
"I'm out of here." With that curt, sudden announcement, Kladias spun around and darted towards the exit, zanpakuto clutched in one hand.
Rangiku gasped to a pause between her laughters just long enough shout out at the sleeves of shihakusho disappearing out the open door, "Happy Valentine's Day, Kladias-chan, and good luck with your training!"
Kladias heard Rangiku's shout, and grimaced. She turned her head to shout back, "Go screw yourself!"
Turning forward again, she broke into a quick run. She looked down at the plain, non-descript standard-hilted zanpakuto in her hand. It was frustrating how she was on the verge of breaking through the barrier blocking her zanpakuto spirit... Several times the damn hell-tempered feline roared out his name, the sound distorted to something inaudible to her ears. Kladias huffed out a breath in annoyance.
She muttered to herself, "I take that back, Rangiku-san."
Then she barely whispered, "I might just take the good luck part.."
Happy Valentine's Day to you, dear readers!
