Hello everyone! And welcome to our third installment of our (cough) torture Ichigo series! This chapter's character is . . . . Yumichika!
If any of you are wondering, they did manage to save Katsu, and thankfully he was unconscious at the time so he did not notice Chad's arm. Getting Kenpachi to stop was not a pretty sight, but they did succeed, if barely.
Reviewers? Gotta luv ya: CandleLight-Soul, darkangel1910, Xx Trinity xX, and Acara Whitefox
Ichigo winced as the warm water made contact with his bare skin. Stopping Kenpachi at the Monster Truck Smashdown yesterday was brutal. The shinigami was truly in a crazed frenzy, leading Ichigo to believe things must have been quiet far too long in Soul Society. Once they had finally detained him, Chad left abruptly, worn out and not wanting to be there any longer, so Ichigo was forced to usher Kenpachi out of there, almost forgetting his own body in the process.
Once they were far away from the building, Kenpachi sighed and slapped Ichigo on the back, throwing him a couple feet.
"I'll admit, that was fun, and it kept me busy," he said. "I've got to go back to Soul Society, but I'll send someone from my division over to take my place."
As Ichigo dried himself off with a towel, he wondered who Kenpachi would send. He hoped it would be Ikkaku, seeing as how the two had formed a rather strange friendship since the day they fought in Soul Society. With him around, nothing was dull. After dressing himself in plain jeans and a white T-shirt, Ichigo entered his room, where the replacement was glancing around, wincing at everything he saw.
"This room is not very beautiful," he said in disgust. "It's too plain, not much to look at." The shinigami turned to Ichigo and began inspecting his clothes.
"This just will not do!" he said, shaking his head back and forth. "If you're going to be around me today, you have to look somewhat beautiful." He paused for a moment then threw open Ichigo's closet door and began searching through all his clothes.
"Not much to work with, but I think this will do," he sighed, throwing a bundle of clothes at him and then shoved him into the closet. "Put these on quickly!"
Of all the people, it had to be Yumichika? Ichigo silently groaned. This was not the type of day that he was looking forward to. Being constantly told he wasn't "pretty enough" by the narcissistic shinigami, as well as everything else they most likely came in contact with was not his idea of fun.
With a sigh Ichigo hastily threw on the clothes Yumichika had instructed him to do so, and emerged from the closet.
"Much better," Yumichika approved with a smile. Turning around, Ichigo examined himself in the mirror. He was wearing brown khaki pants with a light blue shirt over a white, long-sleeved undershirt. Ichigo had to admit it looked better than what he had on before.
"Now come on! Let's go!" Yumichika prodded, already at his bedroom door.
"Um, it might be better if we go out the window," Ichigo suggested. "My family doesn't know you're here and it might be best—"
"You can get dirty jumping out of a window onto the ground!" Yumichika scolded, apparently appalled by the idea. "I went through all that trouble to make you beautiful, and now you want to get all dirty?" He humphed and left the room, leaving a very annoyed Ichigo in his wake.
Maybe you can lose him once you go outside, he assured himself.
"Oh, your shirt is so beautiful!" Yumichika proclaimed in a sing-song voice. Ichigo frowned and sprinted down the stairs, only to discover the shinigami talking to Yuzu and pointing at her white shirt with silver stars that were outlined in red.
Yuzu blushed. "Thank you! I like your clothes as well!"
Yumichika giggled and brought his hands to his face gleefully. "Do you think so? Do they make me beautiful?!" he asked, spinning around like a ballerina. Ichigo found himself resisting the desire to puke then and there.
His "escort" for the day had donned on a pair of low rise navy jeans with a tight red collared shirt with orange sleeves that stopped at the elbow. Somewhat feminish, now that he thought about it.
Yuzu giggled. "Is she your new girlfriend, nii-san?"
The world seemed to go still as Ichigo and Yumichika stopped breathing for a few seconds and then they exploded.
"GIRLFRIEND?!"
"I'M A MAN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"
Ichigo's sister was very distressed at the sudden outburst. "Sorry-sorry-sorry-sorry-sorry-sorry!" she whimpered, covering her ears.
"Mistaking me for a woman!" Yumichika was clearly distressed. "How could that possibly happen?"
"Maybe because of your feathers, clothes, and attitude," Ichigo muttered.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Tears welled up in Yumichika's eyes and he started mumbled to himself.
Yuzu appeared puzzled for a moment then her eyes widened into one of horror. "Ichigo, does this mean you're—"
"NO!" The youth shuddered at the thought. "He—he's new here, and I thought I'd show him around. Let's go!" With that Ichigo threw open the door and dragged the shinigami along with him.
"I'm willing to overlook that if you take me somewhere fun," Yumichika protested, sticking his nose up in the air. Ichigo debated where he should take him, when suddenly his companion shrieked happily.
"How about the mall? I've read it's a very beautiful place, full of shops with the most adorable clothes!" Ichigo felt the need to bang his head against a wall. The mall? He avoided going there as much as was humanely possible.
Probably the only place he would be happy though. As they rode the bus to the local mall, Ichigo's headache grew by the minute as he listened to the shinigami's ramblings on and on about how it was so hard to find a decent place to get clothes in Soul Society, how the haoris weren't all that beautiful anyway, blah-blah-blah.
How much of a hand is Toushirou playing in this? the poor boy wondered. How long will this revenge last?!
When they finally arrived at the mall, people were staring at them strangely, raising their eyebrows at Yumichika's appearance and behavior, confused about his sexuality, and wondering if they should be afraid of being so close to him.
"How about this one?" Ichigo groaned.
"For the last time—GREAT!"
"But I don't know if it's better than the white shirt with green stripes, or the blue shirt with black stripes," his companion frowned, holding the two shirts up and inspecting each in turn.
Ichigo slapped his own face. They had already been in the mall FOUR hours, and one hour was simply spent at this store, in this dressing room, where Yumichika was having the hardest time deciding what to purchase.
"Can you please make up your mind so we can go get some lunch," Ichigo pleaded. His companion had already bought so many clothes, now it was just a manner of deciding between these two.
"All right, all right," Yumichika huffed. "Don't have to be so snippy. It's not a beautiful behavior, you know. Frowning as much as you do can't be good for your skin." He paused for a moment, not noticing Ichigo's furious attempts to restrain himself from strangling him.
"I think I'll get the red with yellow stripes," he finally decided.
"That was the FIRST ONE you tried on! An hour ago!" the distraught teenager cried.
"I had to see if the other ones looked better," Yumichika stated, as if it was the most obvious fact in the world. "Do you know how to shop for clothes or not?" (he paused for a second) "Actually—you don't. We should go shopping for clothes for you next! I'm sure I could find some beautiful outfits for you, much better than those rags you've got at home—"
"My clothes are—just—fine," Ichigo growled through clenched teeth. "Just pay for the shirt and let's get something to eat."
Yumichika rolled his eyes but nonetheless did as Ichigo instructed, leaving behind an almost destroyed dressing room in his wake with clothes strewn about everywhere.
"Finally," Ichigo sighed as they made their way over to the food court. "I've been starving—"
"You there!" a strange voice called out. The two boys spun around to discover the source of the sound.
The owner was a small, skinny man with an outlandish goatee and measuring tape laid across his shoulders as if it were a fashion statement. There was a camera around his neck and thin sunglasses around his eyes.
"Yes?" Ichigo asked, eager to get his desperately awaited food. The man didn't appear to have heard him. Instead he circled around the pair like a hawk, inspecting them as if they were a piece of artwork he needed to complete. Finally, he clapped his hands together.
"You are perfect!" he proclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.
"What?"
"With those feathers, that hair, and those expressions—I need you to model my new designer line!" Yumichika's eyes lit up in stars, looking as if he could die from happiness while Ichigo's stomach rumbled.
"Barely a day in your human world and already you want me to model for you! I must be really beautiful!" Yumichika cried out in delight.
"I don't think—" Ichigo began.
"Please! I insist!" the man cried He grabbed ahold of their wrists and dragged them into his store, meaning Ichigo no longer had any say in the matter.
The man finally let go of them in front of some dressing rooms in the back, then threw them behind the curtains along with an outfit. "There are more where these came from, and my name is Yukio, pleased to meet you. Now, hurry and put these on! We have so much work to do!"
And so, Ichigo found himself unwillingly wearing apparel after apparel of whatever Yukio tossed at him, posing in more ways than he thought imaginable, having to glare with every pose (which actually wasn't that hard to do; Yukio wanted him to glare because he said he needed that look for his line of clothes) while Yumichika soaked it all up and grinned madly in every shot. Yukio had explained that he wanted the stark contrast between their expressions and looked as if he was going to burst into tears of joy every time he took a picture.
"So magnificent, so beautiful!" he proclaimed as he rushed around and around the two boys, blinding them with flashes, making it difficult for Ichigo to concentrate, and not helping his headache at all.
When they were finally done, Yukio printed off their best picture, "as a symbol of his eternal gratitude" and shooed them out of the store so he could modify the photos and then send them to his publisher.
By then it was dinnertime and Ichigo practically dragged Yumichika to the nearest fast food outlet and ordered the largest helping of food he ever had in his life, ignoring the warnings from Yumichika that food like that would make him fat and not beautiful at all. Ichigo was able to effectively shut him up when he threatened to dump his food all over his new purchases.
When the waitress came to collect their purchase, she said sweetly, "So how long have you two been together?"
For the first time the entire day, Yumichika and Ichigo found themselves in perfect agreement. Both of them glanced each other in the eye and nodded, unable to hold their anger in any longer. That girl was going to pay.
How did you like it? I had the hardest time figuring out who to do for this chapter, because it was either between Byakuya and Yumichika, then I figured that someone from Kenpachi's division should be next.
I'm thinking that Byakuya will be next, unless anyone has any other suggestions and I can come up with a better idea!