Chapter 11
Returning to their cabin, they discovered that someone had come into their cabin, leaving a package on each of the beds.
"Ooh, presents!" Buffy said happily, bouncing across the room to her bed. Ikkaku and Yumichika just looked at each other and rolled their eyes before following Buffy inside. A privacy screen had been set up in the corner as well, the panels decorated with painted cherry blossoms.
Buffy bounced happily on her bed as she tore open the package. Inside was a set of clothes like she had never seen before. Wide legged red pants, an undershirt and an overshirt that crossed over the front and tied at the waits. There was an emblem on the front of the shirt on the left hand side. Also included were a pair of socks and a pair of sandals.
"Ooh, clothes!" Buffy said, excited. They weren't exactly fashionable in her opinion, but she had seen so many people wearing this particular style of dress that it had to have been the style, and Buffy was not going to be unfashionable. She looked up to see Yumichika and Ikkaku staring at her as if she had grown a second head. "What? My hair looks bad, doesn't it? I knew I should have tried to find a mirror before we went out there. Why didn't either of you tell me?"
"No, Buffy, your hair's fine," Yumichika replied quickly. "Very pretty. Not as pretty as me, but it's rather difficult to top my beauty, so I won't fault you for trying."
"Then what's the matter?" Buffy asked.
"Well, it's just… um," Ikkaku started, fumbling over his words.
"What Ikkaku means to say, is that we haven't really seen you act like a girl," Yumichika explained with a smile. "A sight that, if I may say, is rather refreshing."
"Yeah, what he said," Ikkaku said with a nod before crossing the room and opening his own package.
"Don't think that because I'm acting like this I still can't kick your ass," Buffy said as she grabbed her clothes and headed for the privacy screen.
"Like you could kick my ass before," Ikkaku said with a roll of his eyes. Before he knew it, he was on the ground with Buffy on top of him, having been knocked onto his back when she tackled him.
"Wanna bet?" Buffy asked with a playful smirk.
"Not this again," Yumichika said with a sigh and a roll of his eyes as Ikkaku flipped them over so that he was now on top and Buffy's back was to the dirt floor.
"You were saying?" Ikkaku asked, smirking back at her. "Just because you surprised me, it doesn't mean you can beat me."
He tried to get up, but was prevented by Buffy grabbing onto his shoulders before using her Slayer strength to flip them over, slamming Ikkaku's shoulders into the ground.
"You were saying?" Buffy mimicked, her eyes twinkling in triumph. Ikkaku's eyes widened as he realized just how strong Buffy was before they narrowed in annoyance.
"You've been holding back!" he exclaimed.
"Have not!" Buffy shot back.
"You have so!" Ikkaku retorted. "You didn't seem this strong when I first met you, and now you're slamming me into the ground!"
"I don't know what's going on, but I swear I wasn't holding back," Buffy replied stubbornly, relaxing her grip a bit. As soon as she did so, Ikkaku shoved her off of him and got up, stalking out of the cabin.
"Great, what did I do this time?" Buffy wondered, rolling her eyes. She went to get up, only to find Yumichika at her side helping her to her feet in an instant. "I just don't get him! Everything I do seems to have him annoyed, angry or upset. It's so frustrating!"
"I know, I know, some days I don't get him either, like how he feels the need to risk his life all of the time," Yumichika said. Buffy sat down on a bed, and Yumichika sat next to her. "However, I think I can explain why he was so upset this time around. When he fights, he goes all out and expects his opponents to do the same. When they don't, he feels like they're dishonouring him or something and he gets rather angry."
"And he would be angry with me because?" Buffy asked. "I told him, I wasn't holding back before."
"How do you think this looks like to him, though?" Yumichika asked. "Think about it. You two went from him beating you into the ground to you being able to slam him into the ground without breaking a sweat. It looks like you've been holding back from the start, something that should have saved his ego, but it didn't."
"But I haven't!" Buffy exclaimed. She understood the reason behind Ikkaku's anger and possibly hurt towards her, but she still thought it unreasonable that he wouldn't even listen to her. "Do you think it's been long enough that I can claim I've just improved or something?"
"I doubt it, but you never know with Ikkaku. He can be a little dim," Yumichika said with a smirk. "Why do you think you're getting stronger, if it's not improvement?"
"The thing is, I think it might be, but not really," Buffy replied. Yumichika arched an eyebrow, a curious expression on his face plainly asking Buffy to continue. "I think my Slayer powers might be coming back."
"You think they went away in the first place?" Yumichika asked. Buffy glanced at him, and saw that he didn't quite believe the Slayer story anyway.
"Kind of. I mean, it was kind of a shock to my system when I landed here," Buffy replied.
"But how do you know that you were the Slayer?" Yumichika asked. Buffy chewed on her lip, not sure how to answer. On the one hand, she knew that she should probably tell him that her memories had come back somewhat, so that he would be in the loop as well. On the other hand, though, she kind of liked the fact that she and Ikkaku had their own secret. However, seeing as Ikkaku wasn't speaking to her and she didn't want to alienate Yumichika, the only thing she could think of was to tell the truth.
"It's like this," Buffy began. "My memories came back last night. I didn't want either of you to know, but Ikkaku caught me crying and wouldn't leave me alone until I told him what was wrong."
"I see," Yumichika said. "And why didn't you wake me up instead? Surely I would have been a better choice to comfort you when you were distraught."
"You know, I thought of that," Buffy replied. "Even tried to convince Ikkaku that it would be better for me to speak to you and that he didn't need to worry about it. He completely nixed that idea, saying that you got bitchy if you didn't get enough sleep."
"Did he now?" Yumichika asked, his eyes flashing as an amused smirk spread across his lips. Buffy smiled to herself in satisfaction; that would show Ikkaku for not believing her when she told the truth!
"You're not going to hurt him too badly, are you?" Buffy asked.
"No, just maim him a little," Yumichika replied. "No one calls me bitchy and gets away with it."
"Just bring him back in one piece," Buffy said and Yumichika got up from the bed. He looked down at her, surprised. "I've kinda grown attached to him. And besides, he probably wouldn't be too happy with you if you took him out of the fight, so to speak, for an extended amount of time."
"Good point," Yumichika said. "I'll be back as soon as I can, definitely in time for that party tonight."
"See you later," Buffy said with a smile as Yumichika turned and left the cabin, leaving Buffy alone. She turned to the pile of clothing on her bed. "Okay, time to figure out how to put this stuff on."
As Yumichika left and Buffy closed the door of the cabin, a figure, a man, extracted himself from the shadows. He rubbed his hands together and chuckled before rushing off in the opposite direction Yumichika had gone to places unknown.
***
The sun was low in the sky and on the verge of setting, turning the sky an amazing array of colors when Yumichika and Ikkaku stumbled home. Ikkaku didn't even look Buffy's way when he grabbed his clothes and stalked over to the privacy screen to change. Yumichika smiled at Buffy apologetically but didn't say anything. She understood, though. It was amazing; she'd only known these boys, men, really, for a few weeks and she was already reading them as well as she could read Xander or Willow. Buffy smiled sadly at the thought of her friends, wondering what they were doing and how they were holding up.
"What's the matter, Buffy?" Yumichika asked, breaking Buffy from her thoughts.
"Just thinking, about stuff," Buffy replied with a sigh. "Wondering if my friends miss me as much as I miss them, that kind of thing. Wondering if my sister is going to school, although I wouldn't blame her if she didn't."
"Why is that?" Yumichika asked.
"She's had a rough year," Buffy replied. She didn't want to elaborate on it, not now. The emotional wounds were too fresh, too open for her to discuss the situation freely. In time, she would.
"I see," Yumichika said. He was silent for a moment before speaking again. "If you need to talk or anything, you know I'm here, right?"
"Thanks, Yumi," Buffy replied with a grateful smile. Just then, Ikkaku came storming out from behind the privacy screen clad in just his pants, his overshirt and undershirt balled up in his hands.
"Well, it looks like it's my turn," Yumichika said, grabbing his still unopened package from his bed. "Try not to kill each other, okay? I don't want to pick up the pieces when I get out of here."
"Can't make any promises," Buffy replied absently, her eyes on Ikkaku. She'd been pressed up against him enough times to know that he had muscles, but holy cow! If she'd known he was built like that, she probably would have been campaigning to make sure he kept his shirt off all the time. Of course, if he knew her reaction to it, he probably would have kept it off in the hope that it would give him a distraction in any fight that they may have.
"See something you like, Buffy?" Ikkaku asked with a smirk.
"Nope, not at all," Buffy replied, averting her gaze and fighting down the blush staining her cheeks. "And hey, weren't you supposed to be, like, not speaking to me or something?"
"Oh, right," Ikkaku said, scowling at her before he put his shirt on. Buffy watched him out of the corner of her eye until Yumichika came out from behind the privacy screen, impeccably dressed.
"So, are we all ready to go?" Yumichika asked with a smile as he surveyed the scene. The scowl on Ikkaku's face was normal, but the blush on Buffy's cheeks were not. While he had heard some of what had gone on in the main room while he had been changing, he had been too concerned with making sure his clothes looked impeccable that he wasn't quite able to keep a full ear on the conversation. He was going to have to ask Buffy about it when he got her alone, if that was even possible.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Ikkaku replied. "How about you, Buffy?"
"Let's get this over and done with," Buffy said, wanting to get as far away from Ikkaku as she could. She didn't think she could deal with him smirking at her teasingly for very much longer, and at least at a party she could get away from him.
"Then let's go and meet our fellow students then," Yumichika suggested. He took Buffy's arm and led them out the door, Ikkaku bringing up the rear. The walk to where the party was going to be held was a silent one, but because Buffy couldn't see Ikkaku she began to relax a little, looking forward to this little shindig.
When they finally arrived, the room was already full with people, mostly from the test from the previous day. One person in the crowd in particular came rushing through, enveloping Buffy in a hug.
"I'm so glad to see you're okay!" she said happily. Buffy stepped back to see Rangiku Matsumoto, the girl she had met the previous day when waiting for the test to begin.
"Um, thanks?" Buffy said, slightly unsure. She didn't really think she'd made a connection with this girl, but having a female ally might be a good thing. Buffy wondered who her roommate was going to be, and hoped whoever it was, was a cool person. Having one hellish roommate experience in college was bad enough and she didn't really want to repeat it.
"So, you passed too?" Rangiku asked as she dragged Buffy to the refreshment table. Buffy threw Yumichika a look over her shoulder and mouthed 'help', but one look at the expression on his face and she knew she wasn't going to get any help from him. She tried Ikkaku, but that was a lost cause. He was studiously looking away from her, scowl firmly on his face.
"Stupid boys," she muttered under her breath before answering Rangiku's question. "Yep, with flying colors apparently."
"Do you know what class you're going to be in?" she asked as she poured Buffy a drink. "Here, try this, you'll like it."
"Thanks," Buffy replied, taking the small cup from Rangiku. "And no, I don't know which class I'm going to be in. Do you?"
"No," Rangiku replied. "I don't think anyone does, but I thought you might be different or something."
"I see," Buffy replied. They were silent for a few moments as they examined the room. Buffy was trying to catch Yumichika's eye when Rangiku spoke up again.
"Come on, let's go talk to the guys over there!" Rangiku said, grabbing Buffy by the hand and dragging her across the room to where a group of men stood. Most of them looked at the two women approaching with interest; one tall with strawberry blonde hair and big breasts and the other tiny, petite and blonde.
"Hi boys!" Rangiku said flirtatiously with a wave. Most of the men flocked to her immediately, save for one. He had a flat top hair cut and wore sunglasses. His shirt front was open, revealing a sliver of lean chest. He scowled over at the group of men now fawning over Rangiku.
"I'm guessing you don't like these party things either?" Buffy ventured, getting his attention.
"What gave you your first clue?" the man asked, his voice a deep rumble. He gestured to Rangiku and her admirers. "And it's not that I don't like them, it's just I don't like the fact that some men flock to the first pretty woman that happens to walk in their direction."
"Do you want me to go?" Buffy asked, beginning to feel like she was unwanted. "Because I should probably go and find my brother to let him know I'm okay. Rangiku kind of dragged me over here and I didn't get a chance to tell him where I was headed."
"Nah, you can stick around, you're not so bad," the man said. "And I'm sure he'll realize you're a big girl soon enough. Figuratively, anyway. By the way, I'm Tetsuzaemon Iba, although most people just call me Iba. The first name is a bit of a mouthful, I guess. And who might you be?"
"Buffy Ayasegawa," Buffy replied with a smile.
"So, you're the one," Iba said with a grin.
"I'm the one what?" Buffy asked, arching an eyebrow, curious.
"You're that girl that took on that Eleventh Squad goon," Iba said, slightly in awe.
"People know about that?" Buffy asked, incredulous.
"Well, yeah," Iba replied. "Apparently, it's the farthest a woman has gotten in the combat phase of the entrance exam."
"Please tell me you're joking," Buffy said, burying her face in her hands. That was the last thing she needed; if Ikkaku found out about this, he'll think she was holding back earlier for sure and wouldn't listen to her when she said otherwise.
"I think it's awesome," Iba said with a grin before he looked at Buffy. "You don't?"
"It's just, there's this guy," Buffy began, and she could see Iba's shoulders slump a little, just enough for her to notice. "But we're not like that, I swear! We just fight, a lot, and he always ends up beating me. Well, we got into another scuffle this morning and I kind of slammed him into the ground. Now he's accusing me of holding back and we're not really talking because he's being a stubborn butthead."
"And this would be a bad thing why?" Iba asked.
"Well, he's the first friend I made when I got here and we're finally getting along without me wanting to smack him upside the head every minute. Now it's like every five," Buffy replied, and Iba smiled at that. "And besides that, he's my brother's best friend and I really don't want to be the force that drives them apart."
"I see," Iba said, stroking his chin thoughtfully for a moment. "How about, just for tonight, you forget about him and your brother and just have fun. Whaddaya say?"
"What do you have in mind?" Buffy asked, cautious. The last time she had fun involving alcohol or strange men in general, she'd turned into the Cave Slayer. While she was pretty sure that wouldn't happen again, it was tough to get that memory out of her head.
"Well, we seem to be doin' pretty good just sitting here and talkin'," Iba replied before taking a sip of his drink. "Why don't we just keep doin' that for now, unless you got any other ideas?"
"Sitting and talking works for me," Buffy replied, taking a sip of her own drink. Surprisingly, it was very good. She wasn't sure what it was, but she liked it.
"So, why did you join the academy?" Iba asked.
"To be honest, I kind of got dragged here by my brother and his friend," Buffy replied. "The friend kind of has a vendetta against someone in the squads, and since I didn't really have anywhere else to go, I decided to tag along. Glad I did, too. So, what about you?"
"Personal reasons," Iba replied evasively.
"Such as?" Buffy asked. "Come on, I gave you an honest reason, so you have to do the same."
"I don't wanna and you can't make me," Iba said, taking a swig of his beer. "Next question. How about you tell me how you got so far in the test? No woman has gotten that far, and I'm sure people are wantin' answers."
"No comment," Buffy replied.
"I'm sure people thought you were cheatin'," Iba wheedled.
"And that's their problem, not mine," Buffy replied. "If the officials thought I was cheating, I would have been investigated by now."
"Point taken," Iba said. A shadow fell over them at that moment, and Buffy looked up to see who it was. It was a strange looking man, with a painted face and curious amber coloured eyes. A shock of blue hair covered his head, and Buffy wondered if it was dyed or not. He was dressed in a standard Shinigami uniform, all in black, although it didn't hide the rest of his unusual appearance.
"Can I help you?" Buffy asked, curious as to what this strange man would want from her.
"I would like to borrow you for a moment," the man said with a would-be kind smile, if it had reached his eyes at all. Iba shot a concerned look at Buffy before looking up at the man in front of him. "Don't worry, I should be able to bring your girlfriend back in one piece… this time, anyway."
Iba moved to get up from his seat, but Buffy's hand on his arm stopped him. He looked down at her, and she thought he looked surprised, but with those glasses on she couldn't be sure.
"I'll be fine," Buffy said as she got up. "It's not like he's going to try something in a room full of people. Right?"
"You would think," the man said. "Come along, I wish to speak to you in private."
He turned and began walking away, not checking to see if Buffy was keeping up. She chewed her lip for a moment, wondering if she could get away with simply not following him, but thought better of it. If it came down to it, she could probably get away by kicking him in the crotch and running for it.
"Okay, so who are you and what do you want?" Buffy asked, arching an eyebrow and crossing her arms across her chest when she had been led to a secluded corner of the room.
"I am Mayuri Kurotsuchi of the Twelfth Division, and I wish to experiment on you," he introduced himself, waving his hand in an imperial manner.
"I beg your pardon?" Buffy asked, a little shocked. "I think I might need my hearing checked, because I could have sworn you said you wanted to experiment on me."
"You didn't hear incorrectly, girlie," Mayuri replied. She shivered in revulsion. While she didn't mind Ikkaku calling her "girlie" – in fact, she kind of liked it – it sounded very wrong coming from this man. "I overheard the discussion you had with your brother earlier, and after viewing the footage of the most recent entrance exam and doing some of my own research, I must say I'm quite intrigued. I would like to run some mostly painless tests on you, to see what you are capable of and what your limits are. I say mostly painless because I have never run these tests before and can't accurately determine how much pain they will cause."
"Please tell me this is some sick joke," Buffy said. She couldn't, no, wouldn't believe this guy, and she definitely wasn't going with him, even if he paid her, which she doubted. With her experience with the Initiative, she would never submit to any kind of experimentation, no matter how painless or benign.
"I am a scientist, of course I would not joke about something like this," Mayuri replied.
"No deal," Buffy said, turning to walk away only to have Mayuri grab her arm with his cold fingers in a surprisingly strong grip. "Let me go before I break your arm."
"I never said I was making a deal with you, Ayasegawa," Mayuri hissed. "I only thought it polite to make you aware of my experimentations because as a fellow Shinigami it would only be fair."
"I said, let me go," Buffy repeated, grabbing Mayuri's wrist with her free hand and squeezing. Before long he winced in pain and let her go. "Nice to see you can actually listen to people."
"This isn't over, Ayasegawa," Mayuri hissed, his lip curling. "You're what I want, and I always get what I want."
"I'm shaking in my sandals," Buffy said sarcastically as Mayuri stormed out. Buffy watched him leave, making sure that he was out of the building before turning and returning to her table, surprised that Iba was still sitting there waiting for her.
"What was that all about?" he asked. "You know, the usual story," Buffy replied. "Guy hears girl talking to her brother, guy does research on the discussion subject, discovers girl might be interesting and tells said girl that he wants to experiment on her. Girl tells guy to shove off and when guy grabs onto girl's arm, said girl almost breaks said guy's arm."
"You broke his arm?" Iba asked, incredulous.
"I said almost," Buffy replied. "But I really don't want to talk about it right now. Can we forget it, please?"
"Works for me," Iba said. "I say we have a toast. To… forgetting creepy guys who want to experiment on pretty girls."
"Cheers," Buffy said, clinking her glass with his bottle, blushing a little at the pretty girl remark.
The rest of the evening went like this, each toast getting more and more ridiculous. Their table slowly became littered with bottles and glasses as the night wore on, and by the time Ikkaku and Yumichika found them, Buffy was quite sloshed and quickly on her way to being trashed.
"Hey guys!" she greeted them with an enthusiastic wave before she hiccupped and giggled. "Meet my new friend Iba! Iba, this is my brother Yumi and his friend Kakku."
"I told you not to shorten my name," Ikkaku ground out. "But it's so loooong," Buffy whined before she hiccupped again.
"You're drunk," Yumichika remarked.
"Well, duh!" Buffy said in her best Valley Girl impression. Considering she practically had been a Valley Girl in her youth, it wasn't that difficult to mimic.
"I think it's time we take you home," Yumichika said, taking Buffy by the hand and hauling her to her feet. She stumbled and landed straight into Ikkaku's arms, which made her giggle. "It was nice meeting you, Iba. Thank you for taking care of my sister."
"Right back at ya," Iba said, lifting his bottle at them as they left. Ikkaku tried to lead Buffy out of the building, but she kept stumbling and falling over.
"Oh, for fuck's sake," he grumbled before he grabbed Buffy and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Be careful –hic- you don't want me to –hic- throw up," Buffy said with yet another giggle. Ikkaku sighed and rolled his eyes heavenward.
"I'll keep that in mind," he muttered.
"You know, from this angle your bum's kinda cute," Buffy said.
"Really, I hadn't even thought about it," Ikkaku deadpanned, glaring at Yumichika when he tried to stifle a snicker. "Shut it, Yumi, or I'll deck you."
"Whatever you say, Kakku," Yumichika snorted, covering his mouth with his hand.
"I swear, if I didn't have a girl in my arms, you'd be dead by now," Ikkaku ground out as they got to their cabin. Ikkaku unceremoniously dropped Buffy onto a bed, on which she promptly began to undress.
"What the hell, don't you have any sense of decency?" Ikkaku asked as Buffy stripped down to her undershirt.
"Well, I'm not gonna sleep in my clothes if that's what you were wondering," Buffy replied. Ikkaku just shrugged out of his clothes until he was in his undershirt as well. He was about to head over to his own bed when Buffy grabbed his wrist. "Stay with me, please? At least until I fall asleep. Please?"
Ikkaku sighed and rolled his eyes before climbing into the narrow bed with Buffy, lying on his side with his back to them. He growled when he heard Yumichika chuckle, but calmed down as Buffy settled in next to him.
"If you puke on me, you're a dead woman, I don't care if you're Yumichika's sister," Ikkaku grumbled.
"'Kay," Buffy replied sleepily before a loud snore escaped her. Ikkaku groaned and buried his head under the blanket, trying to drown out the snoring.
***
Okay, so here's Chapter 11. Once I got started on it, I found it really enjoyable to write. While I have no real opinion about Iba-san, as he isn't seen too much in the series, I do happen to like Mayuri, although he's a bit of an asshole and a mad scientist without technically being evil. This will not be the last appearance by either of them, although Mayuri will be featured more in this fic, as well as the next one in this series. Anyway, reviews are loved, constructive criticism is appreciated and flames will be used to toast marshmallows. Ta, all!