Me: I would say this is a random filler fluff chapter, but I've deduced that this whole story is random, so scratch that. ALTHOUGH, I'm right about the fluff part. So go me.
Ichigo: ...Oh god, not THIS part!
Me: (evil grin)
Rukia: ...I thought it was sweet.
Ichigo: EXACTLY!
Me: That's why it's so great. He hates it.
Ichigo: Eat shit.
Me: Maybe some other time. Anyways, read, review, and enjoy!
"WHOA!" everyone yelled out for the millionth time as the demon screamed and dropped something heavy downstairs. Even Peyton, Karakura's Queen Of Horror Flicks, jumped and reflexively hid her face, peeking through her fingers. "...I LOVE this movie!"
Matsumoto looked like the true face of PUMPED a few seats over. Like, edge-of-her-seat, open-mouthed into it.
Toshiro tried to look casual and calm, but Peyton knew from past experiences why he was resting his legs on the bar in front of their seats so high. Rukia and Renji were practically one person the way they were huddled together over there, they were that freaked.
Ichigo and Peyton exchanged a grin and he wolf-whistled at them while she waggled her eyebrows at the two upon catching their attention. Thus causing the people behind them to kick their seats, Rukia and Renji to throw popcorn at them, and a few people to laugh nervously, obviously freaked about the movie and glad for any distraction.
The two sweatdropped. "...Well, it was worth it. When's the scary gonna start back up?" Peyton wondered. No sooner had the words come out of her mouth than the little clock in the bottom right part of the camera's screen stopped going in fast-forward, and the creepy sound-effect that tipped them off to a scary part approaching started back up again. She bounced in her seat excitedly, making those sitting next to her sweatdrop. "Yay! This is awesome!"
AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER...
"...And it creeped me out every time she just stood there by the side of the bed for hours on end," Ichigo was saying.
"See, if I were Mica and she was acting like that towards the end, I'd dump her on her ass instead of getting totally OWNED by a demon," Peyton commented, and Rukia nodded in agreement.
Matsumoto waved them off. "Eh, I would've kicked her to the curb the minute she started sleepwalking. That would be enough to give me the creeps!"
"True that. The chick was hot, but freaking psycho," Renji stated.
Toshiro held up a finger. "Well, it wasn't entirely her fault. The demon had been attached to her essence since she was a child, Renji."
Renji drooped. "You just have to ruin it, don't you?"
"Hey Peyton, didn't you guys have a house fire a few years back?" Ichigo asked slyly. "Maybe you should check your attic for any missing pictures when you get home, eh?"
Peyton made a face and shoved him half-heartedly. "Shut up, Strawberry!"
"Oh, c'mon, Strawberry again?"
"Fine. Shut up, Strawberry SHORTCAKE."
"Ha. How ironic, seeing as I'm all TALL, and you're all SHORT and...and all...I'm sorry," he said quickly as she gave him a look that could kill.
Renji chuckled. "You're so whipped, and you're not even going out with her yet!"
"Shut up, before I whoop your ass! AGAIN," Peyton warned. Everyone else laughed at his expression (well, Toshiro half-chuckled as usual), and Renji's temple throbbed.
"You're just pissed 'cause Keigo plays the guitar better than you EVER will."
"LalalalaLAAAla, I ca-an't HEAR YOUUUU!"
"OH, REAL MATURE, PEYTON!"
"WHATCHYA GONNA DOOOO ABOUT IT, RENJI?"
Everyone else watched with fresh sweatdrops as they had a stupid shouting match for the rest of the time until they all went separate ways.
Peyton ended up spending the night at the Kurosakis' again, after Rukia methodically creeped her out enough to make her too scared to sleep for a while. Ichigo scoffed as he opened his front door, and Rukia strolled under his arm with ease.
Peyton narrowed her eyes after noticing he was looking at her smugly. "What?" she asked defensively.
"You. You get creeped out that easily? It's funny."
"I am NOT creeped out, Ichigo."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"YEAH?"
"...You just can't think of anything else to say, can you?" She accused.
"...Tch. No, that's not it at all!"
"Hit me with your best shot then, Ichigo," Peyton teased, smirking.
"I'm not sure if you could handle it, and I hate making girls cry."
"Try me." They had a stare-off, and finally Ichigo pointed inside with a temple throb.
"Just come in already."
"...Thank you," Peyton commented casually as she strolled into the house, and he shut the door behind them.
"Don't mention it. ...Midget."
"At least I'm a hot midget."
"What gave you that idea?"
"Well, let's see. Rukia told me so, Keigo told me so, Matsumoto told me so repeatedly, and the looks you gave me all night told me so. So...yeah, I've drawn the conclusion that I am one hot midget when I try," she explained thoughtfully as she sat on the couch beside Rukia tiredly.
Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Oh, whatever. Your hotness is a matter of opinion."
Peyton nodded. "Yes, you're right. Some people would disagree with you and find me less attractive. But I guess we know better, hmm?"
"W-Whoever said you were attractive!"
"We've been over this already, dumbass!"
Ichigo pointed a finger at her and was about to retaliate when Rukia glared at them both. "Will you two give it a rest, already? God! The only demons around here are you two!"
The weeks went by, Thanksgiving came and went. By the way, watching the Soul Reapers stuff their faces after taking two hours to explain why Lindsay was flitting around the kitchen frantically trying to fix meals as if she had chugged five cans of Red Bull was funny as hell.
Actually, no; the expression when she OWNED Toshiro in a soccer match after he beat her five times in a row was funny as hell.
But now it was a few weeks before Christmas, and Peyton was pissed. It was hot and itchy, just like your average dressing room. Man, she hated trying on clothes. She slipped on the cool fabric, made sure the slip and such were on correctly, and opened the dressing room door.
Lindsay immediately beamed. "Oh, Peyton...You look great!"
Peyton crossed her arms. "If you say so. I'm just ready to GO. Can we go? Because I have sweat in places I didn't know sweat could gather."
They were trying on bridesmaid dresses, MUCH to Peyton's chagrin. Miya wasn't trying on her wedding dress until January, so she was using Peyton and Lindsay's dress endeavours to amuse her until then.
Lindsay rolled her eyes at Peyton's whining. "Suck it up, sis, you're giving me a headache. Miya, she's done!"
The fiancee-in-question strolled over gracefully, deep black hair swishing with her fluid movements. She broke into a huge, unsettlingly bright smile. "It's a perfect fit! I knew that blue would look great on you, and the pattern does really good at making it look like you just might have actual curves."
She got a huge temple throb at that. Look like I MIGHT have ACTUAL curves? What, there's a fake kind out there?
Peyton smiled through gritted teeth, eye twitching slightly. "Thanks. Now can I go?"
Miya laughed and waved her off. "Sure, don't forget to give Lindsay your dress."
"Yeah, or we'll have to make this wonderful trip aaaaall over again," Lindsay added, voice dripping with sarcasm as she blew her blonde bangs out of her eyes.
ENTRY NUMBER...SOMETHING:
Sigh. It's almost Christmas. It's gonna be so weird with some different woman hosting like my mom would, not to mention spending it in a totally different town - hell, totally different CONTINENT. It'll only be the second Christmas without Mom, so it's gonna be really...well, weird...I'm still not all that used to it.
Not that I have a personal problem with Miya or anything. Although, she makes me look so awkward in comparison. She's like a freaking ballerina just walking to get some potato chips! And she never gets food babies. EVER. NEVER EVER.
She's got more of a chance of being mistaken by a Twi-hard for a Cullen than I do. ME. And I had the family name and sports talent to help me out! If Stephanie Meyer had any say in it, I'm sure she'd agree. And soon, she'll be Mrs. Cullen. Does that not just blow your mind to bits? It blows mine. Almost more so than Keigo's song.
...That...was the MOST HORRIFIC experience of my life! Well, not near as bad as when I thought Ichigo was dead, but you get the point, right?
He basically admitted to CAMPING OUT IN MY FRONT YARD.
AHHHHHH! FUCKIN' HELL!
...Sorry. The creepiness of that just suddenly hit me like a Tidal Wave of Brain-Rape, I had to get it out...
"Are you going?" Rukia asked a few days later, having been visiting Urahara's shop for some random Chappy merchandise.
"Going to what?" Peyton asked, drinking some water and wiping sweat off her forehead as she tried her best to stop panting in front of all these Soul Reapers.
"Holiday party," Matsumoto stated as if it were obvious, sipping some sake. She was more commonly known around Karakura as the Schoolgirl All The Other Schoolgirls Wanted To Rip Apart For Having Much Bigger Boobs.
"For our year. Well, your year. My pretend year," she clarified with a casual hair-flip. "Captain, you're going, right?" she asked, blinking all doe-like.
Toshiro, who looked like he should be placed on Suicide Watch at the thought, sighed. "...Yes. Yes, I am."
Peyton and Rukia exchanged a smirk; she'd noticed he seemed to have a problem saying no to Matsumoto. She then sighed heavily, leaning against the table and trying to get her breath back to normal. She'd just finished her latest training session, in which Kisuke'd had her purposely lose total control of her electricity while gripping Tessai's arm, meaning she had a limited time to regain control until his arm was completely fried or the volts killed him. And if she tried to let go of Tessai's arm, Urahara would whack her repeatedly upside the head with Benihime in its cane form until she gripped it again. Which hurt like hell, by the way. Stupid pimp cane of a zanpakuto...
Thankfully, the volts would've taken longer to kill him than regular electricity since her electricity...well, wasn't exactly electricity. Apparently, it was how her body manifested the spirit energy within it that allowed her to see spirits. Or something like that, it was hard to keep up with information when he and Yoruichi kept shoving new random facts down her throat and changing old ones.
She smiled apologetically at Tessai as he came through, arm wrapped up in gauze with a bit of steam still wafting from it. "...Sorry about your arm," she offered, making Rukia and Matsumoto sweatdrop.
"YOU did that?"
Toshiro sweatdropped as well. "Rangiku, you were here when it happened. Didn't you hear them?"
"Hear what?"
"Tessai shouting for her to stop apologizing while Peyton kept shouting 'I'M SO SORRY!' over and over while shouting various comments about Kisuke's sanity. I could hear them all the way from outside," he replied with a sweatdrop, continuing to peer at his Soul Phone in hopes that a Hollow would show up. It had been kind of slow lately, now that the Bount was gone and wasn't attracting extra ghosts and Hollows.
Tessai shook his head, lifting up a crate bigger than Peyton with one hand and making her jaw drop. "...I've suffered worse, Peyton," he said simply before walking towards the back of the shop.
Renji shook his head before speaking suddenly beside Peyton, making her jump since she hadn't realized he was there. "Damn. ...Hey, could you fix the straw for me?" he asked, making her temple throb. She sighed heavily before ripping the plastic wrapper off the straw and practically impaling the juice box with it. "THERE."
Renji gulped before sitting next to Rukia. "Th-Thanks, Peyton."
"Any time!" she said cheerfully, picking up her water bottle. "Well, I think I've fried enough people today. I guess I should get going."
"Peyton, before you go, we found the full story on your tinglies," Urahara stated.
Everyone sweatdropped besides Peyton, whose eye started twitching. "Tinglies?" Matsumoto repeated, biting her lip to keep from giggling.
"...He calls it that just to piss me off," Peyton grumbled as Kisuke hid the lower half of his face with his fan. And he's succeeding...What a jackass.
Renji started laughing, smacking his knee for emphasis. "HAHAHAHAHA! Ohhh NO, the TINGLIES - HEY!" he shrieked suddenly as she launched a low-powered ball of the "tinglies" at his head. He dove out of the way before it could do much damage, resulting in some of the static charge to bounce onto the wall behind him.
Peyton laughed nervously as merchandise fell off the precarious (and pretty tall) stack, making Urahara's temple throb. "...That was Renji's fault," she informed him, pointing at the Soul-Reaper-in-question.
"NO IT WASN'T! YOU TRIED TO KILL ME!"
"Oh, puh-lease! It wouldn't kill you! Just...make you have seizures. MAYBE," she added at the sweatdrops that appeared throughout the room. Yoruichi chuckled as she hopped onto what was left of the stack of merchandise, in her cat form as usual. "Tell her, Kisuke."
"Oh, right. Anyway, it took a ton of searching, but I found it way back in the library - on the top shelf, mind you. Some sort of old folklore, like Rangiku had said. It mentioned a woman who walked with the living, but assisted the dead. Yet she had no zanpakuto. She was an ally of The Soul Society, like some sort of prophecy."
"...But without the prophecy part, basically?" Renji clarified, slurping some of his juice box from his spot on the floor.
"...Yeah," Urahara admitted with a sigh. Yoriuchi rolled her eyes, and Peyton sweatdropped.
"Then why even say it was like a prophecy? That's just plain confusing."
His temple throbbed as he whipped his fan back open extra loud, slapping Peyton on the head with it in the process. "Ow!"
"Where was I? Oh, right. So, in a nutshell, this woman - like you - harnessed her spirit energy, her soul, aaaall her spiritual power, into the same sort of tinglies as you do."
Renji and Matsumoto started snickering again, making her temple throb. Again. "Keep going, I beg of you," she grumbled.
"Gladly! Basically, where Soul Reapers have zanpakutos, you have tinglies."
"SHUT UP, RENJI!"
"The tiiiiinglies! Ohhhh NO! I'd pay big money to see Aizen reveal his master plan with some power called 'tinglies' thrown in somewhere," he said between laughs, and that thought made everyone else start laughing.
"Who the hell's Aizen?" Peyton asked, and Urahara sighed heavily.
"Yoruichi, care to wrap this up for me?"
"Since you seem so incapable. In the legend, the woman's name was Sumi. She tapped into her tingl - ...powers...when she was nineteen. Her childhood friend was killed by a Hollow, and she exacted her revenge by newly acquired 'beams of regal righteousness', according to the legend," Yoriuchi explained.
That got both Renji and Peyton snickering, making everyone sigh. "What's so funny about that?" Rukia asked.
"Righteousness, maaaaan!" Peyton managed to get out between laughs, invoking a Surfer Dude accent.
"RIGHTEOUS, duuuude, RIGHTEOUS!" Renji chimed, making the two of them laugh even harder.
"Purple is usually associated with nobles and regality," Rukia stated suddenly, making Peyton's laughter slow a little upon remembering they were still talking about her. "Regality equals immense power as far as the nobles are concerned. It makes sense."
Yoruichi nodded. "Exactly. Basically, your power is incredibly strong, if your aura and the way your training has gone so far is any indication. That doesn't mean you can just use it when you please. You saw for yourself what could happen; when you faced the Bount, you nearly injured Ichigo and yourself even further because you couldn't control it. Just like a Soul Reaper must learn to control their reiatsu and maintain it, you have to learn to control and maintain your own. Not to mention that using that ability in heavy quantities causes extreme exhaustion, and could even cause internal damage if you let it run rampant within you. Luckily, you have Kisuke helping you with training and guidance Sumi didn't have; she never learned to properly control it, and eventually it consumed her from the inside out. If Kisuke here keeps training you the way he has, we shouldn't have any problems, and eventually you'll be able to master it. I'll keep my eyes open for more works on Sumi or any predecessors to see if we can answer more questions about your abilities, Peyton."
With that, Yoriuchi slunk around the corner. "Well, that's enough lecturing for today. I'm off to nap."
Peyton nodded, making a clicking noise with her tongue before heading for the entrance to the shop to slip on her shoes. "Thanks, guys. Well, I guess I'll see you..."
"Tomorrow!" Kisuke chirped. "For your next training session!"
She drooped at that. "Riiight..." As she was leaving, Renji started snickering again, making her temple throb majorly.
"Heheheheh...tinglies...OW!" he shouted as she threw Rukia's shoe at him from the doorway.
A WEEK LATER...
"Oooh, it's georgous!" Matsumoto commented, Peyton's necklace flashing in the sun.
Rukia nodded. "I agree," she said simply, eyeing the necklace with slight envy. Peyton grinned, and Ichigo eyed them strangely as he joined their walk to school.
"What're you two crowing about?" he asked, scowl already set on his face for the day.
"The necklace he got Peyton!" Matsumoto answered.
"...Who?"
Peyton waved him off. "Eh, it doesn't really ma-"
"It was Keigo, wasn't it?"
"No!"
Ichigo scoffed. "Uh-huh. Sure. Keep telling yourself that."
Peyton narrowed her eyes. "Well, even if it WAS Keigo, it's a nice gesture, so NEH!"
"Neh?"
"NEH! Means in your face."
Ichigo scoffed again, but his eyes lingered on the necklace. Dammit, it was pretty and expensive-looking. Peyton simply continued talking with the stupid girls, totally ignoring him.
He hated when she did that.
And she knew it.
All the girls "Oooh"ed and "Ahh"ed over Peyton's stupid necklace.
I don't see what the big deal is, it's just JEWELRY!
When I told her that, Matsumoto went all romantic on everyone and sighed.
She was all, "Oh Ichigo, to get jewelry from a guy is like..like.."
And then Rukia said, "Like dating a girl who loves Xbox just as much as you guys do."
So, I deduced jewelry is a huge deal for chicks. But then Peyton suddenly was like, "Hey, wait, what's so rare about a girl loving Xbox?"
Great. That's just fucking fantastic, she loves Xbox. Way to make me like you a little more, you goddamn midget.
...You know...If it WAS Keigo, he could've rigged it with a GPS so he knew where she was at all times!
I cannot allow this.
So, I feel it is my right- nay, my DUTY- to TOP that necklace so she'll stop wearing it!
YEAH!
Huh. Good plan, Ichigo. Who knew you sounded so smart. Maybe you should make up lame-ass excuses to want to get Peyton stuff more often, then people won't think you're such a loser with the girls.
KARIN, GO AWAY!
...
...I just realized. I forgot to write my title.
SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!
"...Hey, Peyton?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you notice something...I dunno, off about Ichigo today?" Orihime asked worriedly during lunch, popping a rice ball practically drowning in honey and relish delicately into her mouth.
Peyton glanced at him. He was currently wearing his "Calculating My Next Move" face while fixing Toshiro's straw into his juice box.
"...No, not really. Although, he usually doesn't think so much...hmm..."
Orihime nodded slowly to herself. "I bet that straw must be causing him a lot of trouble. That would explain why he's thinking so hard, right?"
Peyton sweatdropped, eating another pretzel stick. "...It's possible."
"I bet it has to do with you," Tatsuki commented, making her temple throb.
"Goddammit, Tatsuki, not you too! There's nothing going on between us. At all. Nothing."
That made Tatsuki sweatdrop. "Uh, actually, I was just figuring it had to do with you since he keeps glaring at you every ten seconds." The girls turned to look at Ichigo, catching him glaring at her just like Tatsuki had said, and Peyton scowled at him. "Hey!"
He scowled right back at her, as if he hadn't just been caught staring. "You got something you wanna say, Cullen?"
Her eyebrows shot up. "Do YOU, Kurosaki? You looked at me first."
"Tch. I wasn't looking at you!"
"So what were you looking at, huh?"
"The, uh...That...wall over there," he replied lamely, making Renji shake his head in disappointment.
Peyton laughed at him, making his temple throb. "Sooo, Ichigo, what's got you acting so weird lately?"
This, of course, led to them shouting at each other for the next five minutes.
"TELL ME!" Peyton yelled for the hundredth time.
"NO," Ichigo yelled back.
She kicked a random can in annoyance before jumping to her feet and stomping over to him. "Gah! You're freaking impossible!" she declared.
"No, YOU'RE impossible!"
"You're MORE impossible!"
Then a slow grin spread across her face, making him wince. "What's that look for?"
"Wait a minute...this is all because of this, ISN'T it?" Peyton asked, holding her necklace up for emphasis.
"Tch. No. Don't flatter yourself, Cullen, it's an ugly look for you."
"Mm-hm. Don't try and fool me, Kurosaki, it's a stupid look for you."
THREE DAYS LATER...
"Oh c'mon, the slide-tackle was SO legal, Renji didn't call it," Peyton argued.
"That's because he's the worst referee in history!" Toshiro shot back.
"Hey!" Renji commented with a mouth full of food, making Rukia laugh. Matsumoto had gotten sick after lunch; a group of freshman girls seemed suspiciously happy about it, and they HAD been lurking around her lunch earlier that day...
"You're just mad 'cause I beat you, AGAIN, you big baby," Peyton teased. She was pretty much the only person Toshiro allowed to even hint that he was younger or shorter than other Captains, and even she didn't get away with it without a sharp glare or - if it was smack-talk during a game of soccer - rather aggressive slide-tackles.
He probably allowed her to somewhat get away with it because she wasn't a Soul Reaper, was short as well, and was close to his age. Rukia glanced behind them, then quickly turned away with a grin. Weird.
"Anyway, this means you owe me twenty-five, crisp, brand-new-" Peyton cut herself off as something was slipped over her head and around her neck. She spazzed, grabbing the person's arm and flipping them over her with a shock of electricity for good measure.
Ichigo groaned, and she winced as everyone else sweatdropped, laughing nervously. "Oh...Sorry, Ichigo..."
He stood up. "Dammit, Peyton, that fucking hurt."
Her temple throbbed. "Jackass, that's why you don't just sneak up on me outta nowhere! Jeez..." Then she realized there was something around her neck, and slipped it off. It was a necklace on a thick brown cord, and it was the color of gold, but there was no way it was seriously gold. PLEASE don't let it be real gold...
It had Japanese symbols etched into it; after a few seconds of pondering, she realized it was her name. She gasped and looked at him. "No way. This is for me."
"Yeah."
"ME...?"
"Did I stutter? It's got your name on it, doesn't it?"
Renji raised his hand proudly. "I knew about it first!"
"...Ichigo, why'd you- There's no way I could- I mean, i-it looks so expen-"
He waved her off. "Consider it an early birthday present. And it only set me back twenty bucks or so."
"Tch, try two hundred," Renji muttered, and Ichigo smoothly stomped on his foot.
"OW! GODDAMMIT, STRAWBERRY, THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR!"
"Just be sure to wear it more than Keigo's," Ichigo said simply, ignoring Renji's shouts of protest. Peyton grinned and slipped the other one in her pocket before sliding his back around her neck.
"...Thanks, dumbass."
...I guess I COULD tell him Seth gave it to me for my birthday, but...nah.