Me: In this chapter begins a rather long-
Rukia: But SO FUN!
Me: (glares) ...Filler. Arc. Type thing.
Ichigo: (sweatdrops) Mandy, you DO realize that this whole story is basically randomness, so there's no real plot at work here? Meaning the purpose of a filler would be defeated?
Me: ...SHUT UP.
Rukia: (eyeroll) Because that comeback always gets you far in life.
Me: YOU SHUT UP TOO.
Ichigo: Tch. Idiot. Anyway, read-
Me: Review!
Rukia: And ENJOOOOY!
"I can't believe you guys are turning this down!" Peyton cried out in disbelief, drooping rather comically as they continued to shake their heads.
Lindsay sighed in exasperation. "Look, I'm going out with Keigo at least three times during the time we'd be there! Not to mention I'm seventeen. I'm too old for that kinda stuff."
"Sis, you're NEVER too old for this!"
"I still say no. We have a WEDDING to plan, too!"
Peyton looked to Seth, giving up on her sister, but he just shrugged. "I got Orihime. ...Plus, I'd have to babysit you the whole time."
Her temple throbbed menacingly, making Miya wince. "BABYSIT ME? I'm fifteen, dumbass, I don't NEED babysitting!"
"Yeah, you're fifteen. Meaning I'd be the only one there that could drive, even have a CHANCE at buying beer, and do all that other good adult stuff to keep me sane. While babysitting you. Because I'm eighteen. And therefore am exponentionally more badass to the third power. Get it? 'Cause you're fifteen, and I'm -"
She didn't let him finish, opting to toss a can of whipped cream at his head. "JEEZUS, P, NO NEED FOR VIOLENCE! VIOLENCE IS NEVER THE ANSWER!"
"Nope. Violence is the question, and HELL TO THE YEAH is the answer," she replied simply.
"Did Ichigo teach you that?"
"NO! ...Renji did. But seriously, you guys, you KNOW we used to have all kinds of fun there. And you never get tired of it! C'moooooon...Please?" The two siblings exchanged a look before shaking their heads, making her slump even further in defeat. Great. She knew Miya and her dad wouldn't go.
Peyton sighed heavily, shaking her own head. "God, I hope I never fall for anyone as hard as y'all have! Or get grumpy and tasteless..." She rubbed her temple with her left hand, tickets and packets in her right.
And that's when she got an idea, a horribly wonderful idea. A slow grin spread across her face.
"I know who'll go!" And with that, she ran for the door.
"...Sure, hon, I give you permission to ask someone to go across the country with you without me!" Dad called out after her.
"GREAT!"
His temple throbbed as Lindsay poked her head out the front door her sister had left wide open. "So...Where's she going now?" he asked them.
Miya, Seth, and Lindsay looked at him as if he were an idiot, and they all said just one word:
"Ichigo's."
"Okay, you guys are going to love me," Peyton told everyone as she was let inside.
Ichigo just sighed as he shut the door behind her. "Oh, hey Peyton. Sure, come right in. I'm fine, thanks so much for asking, how are you today?"
She promptly ignored him, just like everyone else, much to his agitation. "What's with those tickets?" Karin asked.
Peyton grinned. "What if I told you I had six tickets for Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and I wanna take you guys?"
Yuzu, Karin, and Isshin immediately shot up. "I love you!" Karin and Yuzu shouted, and Isshin gave her a huge bear hug.
"AH! HOW KIND OF YOU! YOU HAVE TRULY EARNED THE TITLE OF MY WONDERFUL FUTURE DAUGHTER!"
"Dad, she's turning blue," Ichigo pointed out, and he let go with a laugh.
"And yet she still looks stunning! Yet another trait I need to add to my calculations..." he muttered to himself, making Ichigo and Peyton shudder at the thought of...well...whatever the hell he was "calculating" for.
Ichigo then scowled down at her. "Alright, did you buy those off Ebay or what?"
Peyton shook her head. "Nope. My mom worked for the airlines, so we get free flights and stuff all the time. She gave Dad the account, and we get ten buddy passes a year. So I decided to use the ones we had left since we first flew over here. Merry Christmas!"
"When are we leaving?" Yuzu asked eagerly, practically - no, literally - bouncing in place.
"Tomorrow."
The girls of the house immediately went to pack, making Peyton's grin grow even more. Isshin grinned as well before bolting down the hall for his room. "Thank you so much, my Wonderful Future Daughter! I MUST PACK, THEN TELL DEAR MASAKI ABOUT OUT FORTUNE!" he called out over his shoulder, and they heard his door slam shut.
Ichigo sighed and shook his head. "Great. Fourteen hours on a plane with you guys. Just what I always wanted."
"Maybe it's karma," Peyton suggested.
"For what?"
"I dunno...Probably for kissing me for so long the other night," she said innocently before getting a head start up the stairs. It took about five seconds for him to process what the hell she was talking about, and then she heard what she had been expecting.
"Hey...wait...HEY! Come back here, dammit!"
She sought refuge in Ichigo/Rukia's room, where she noticed a really cute bathing suit being packed into Rukia's Chappy suitcase. Peyton shuddered at the happy Chappy image and sat calmly on Ichigo's bed, just waiting for him to start yelling at her while already making plans in her head on how to best get rid of the Chappy image on that luggage. Maybe color over it...With the most permanent Sharpie I can find...I could test them on Ichigo while he's sleeping, I guess...
Rukia glanced up, the tiny Soul Reaper's gaze snapping Peyton out of her thoughts. "Ichigo pissed at you again?"
"Yeah."
"Has he yelled and chased you up the stairs yet?"
"Nah, I got a head start."
"Oh, nice one."
"Yeah. I've had plenty of practice by now."
They both laughed, and then Ichigo burst in. "Now look here, the only reason I was kissing you that long was because you were still kissing me!"
Rukia laughed. "Ohhhh, this is about...the makeout."
"We did NOT make out," they both yelled, temples threatening to throb right off their heads.
Rukia just blinked before continuing to fold clothes from within Ichigo's closet, making Peyton wonder just how long she'd been living in that thing. Long enough for her to get cute clothes, apparently...
"Oh. Sorry. The really long kiss that wasn't exactly close-lipped, then."
"...What kiss?" Karin asked suddenly, and Yuzu's eyes were wide in the doorway next to her sister.
"...Ichigo, you kissed Peyton?"
The two teens-in-question exchanged an "Oh SHIT" kind of look. "Well, she-"
"It was Rukia's fault-"
"And Matsumoto's-"
"Yeah, hers too. And the mistletoe-"
"God, I've always hated mistletoe!"
"Me too!"
"It's pointless!"
"Yeah! And they bet us money..."
"And it didn't really mean anything..."
"We barely even made contact!"
"So...Yeah," Peyton and Ichigo explained lamely.
Everyone looked at them weird, and finally Yuzu squealed and jumped up and down, obviously not believing a single word as far as their half-assed explanation was concerned. "Finally! Yay yay yay! Wait until Papa hears about this!"
Before Peyton and Ichigo could stop her (and they really tried; Ichigo almost fell down the stairs), she bolted ahead of them and headed for Isshin's room.
They both sighed, drooped, and went on about their business, accepting their fate. "For the record, jackass, this is your fault."
"I beg to differ. You're the dumbass who brought the whole thing up."
"And YOU'RE the dumbass who came up here shouting and drawing attention to our conversation."
"..."
"..."
"...Peyton, this is still your fault."
"GET OUT, ICHIGO!" she shouted, throwing a random shoe at him.
"Alright, ALRIGHT, jeez!" he shouted back, hurrying out of the room as Peyton slammed the door in his face.
Rukia looked at her funny. "He...DOES realize you just chased him out of..." she trailed off as Peyton smirked mischievously and put a finger to her lips, locking his door rather loudly and knowing he was still outside the door.
"...Wait...HEY, PEYTON, GET OUT OF MY ROOM!"
"I'M SORRY, THE DOOR'S JAMMED!"
"GODDAMN IT, UNLOCK THE DOOR!"
"Soooo-rry! My mistake!"
"JUST UNLOCK THE DOOR AND GET OUT! ...Please," he added as an afterthought, making Rukia and Peyton sweatdrop.
"...Nah, I think we're good in here on our own."
"GODDAMN IT, PEYTON!" he shouted, stomping off.
Peyton chuckled to herself, and Rukia just shook his head. "What an idiot. So...which one of these do you think I should bring?"
She glanced inside Ichigo's closet and pointed to the bathing suit on the left without hesitation. "Blue is definitely your color. Makes your eyes look really purple-"
"YES! I KNEW MY SON HAD IT IN HIM! THIS MEANS SHE'S ONE STEP CLOSER TO BEARING MY GRANDCHILDREN SOMEDAY!"
"DAD, SHUT THE HELL UP!" Ichigo shouted from the kitchen. Rukia giggled, and Peyton sank lower into Ichigo's chair and turned bright pink.
"Maybe I should take off before they get really into it. I'll see you guys tomorrow," Peyton said after heading for the stairs, already hearing the usual battle sounds that tended to break out between Ichigo and Isshin.
"Bye!" the girls of the household shouted before going back to whatever the hell they were doing.
THE NEXT MORNING...
"Here we go!" Peyton said excitedly. They were lucky they made it in time; their plane left at eight, which was way too early considering all that had to be done before going on a plane.
Karin nudged her, making her jump. "Huh?"
"Here, switch tickets with me."
"...Why?"
"Well, you should sit by your boyfriend. He's my brother, it's too early for me to deal with him for fourteen hours."
"HE IS NOT- ...my boyfriend," Peyton hissed, eyeing Isshin out of the corner of her eye as she lowered her voice. The last thing she wanted was for him to start explaining the "phases of love" in front of all these people...it had been bad enough when he had explained it to her during dinner one night. She'd never been so happy for Ichigo to kick him in the face...
Karin smirked as Peyton started flushing at the memory, and she grudgingly snatched the ticket out of her hand and handed Karin her own. "I'm doing this out of the kindness of my heart," she proclaimed before following Rukia's small head towards the boarding gate.
"Yeah, whatever."
How to describe their flight?
Traumatizing was a good word.
Almost as soon as she sat down, Ichigo scowled at her as he put some random bag in the storage bin above her head. "...What?" she snapped, making his scowl deepen.
"How come you get the window seat? Actually, why're you sitting in Karin's seat anyway?"
"She wanted me to switch seats with her. Why, you got a problem with it?"
"Of course I do. Karin's the lesser of two evils by a looong shot," he commented simply as he shut the bin, making her eye twitch. She then crossed her arms and huffed. "Too bad the same can't be said for you. And I'm not moving from this seat, so you'll just have to deal with it."
"Here I am, never having been to America before, and you're hogging the window seat," he mumbled in a somewhat-scolding tone as he plopped into his seat.
"Ichigo, you'll survive. Can't you see over me, anyways? You're like, what, eight feet tall?"
"Five foot nine, dumbass."
"So...roughly six feet?"
"Roughly," he said with an exasperated sigh, shaking his head. "Why does it matter?"
"I'm not even five foot three, Ichigo. You can see over my head no problem. SO I GET THE WINDOW SEAT."
That made his scowl deepen even more, something she didn't think was possible, and she shook her head. "Jesus. Bite my head off, why don't you ."
"Don't tempt me."
That made her growl, and he smirked at her. "Someone didn't get much sleep last night."
"YOU'RE ONE TO TALK! Get some goddamn food on your stomach before I kick your ass!"
"LIKE YOU COULD KICK THAT HIGH!"
They settled with glaring at each other, both of them growling slightly, and finally Ichigo crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat. "Food sounds good. What the hell do they serve on planes, anyways?"
"Alcohol, orange juice, Coke products only - no Pepsi products, which means no Mountain Dew, peanuts, and the other snacks vary from airline to airline," Peyton rattled off without thinking, making Ichigo and the flight attendant next to him sweatdrop with each item.
"Uh...I was kinda asking her, Peyton."
"...Oh. Sorry," she muttered with a sheepish laugh, making Ichigo shake his head.
"Whatever. I guess some dry-roasted peanuts sounds good..."
"They don't have dry-roasted, stupid, only salted."
The flight attendant opened her mouth to reply, but closed it again when Ichigo turned in his seat to glare at her better. "Oh? And how do you know? Are you the one with the cart?"
"No, but my mom was a flight attendant, dumbass. They only have salted."
"Why would they only have salted?" he demanded to know, making her sigh exasperatedly.
"BECAUSE, Ichigo, dry-roasted costs extra to supply in the cabins! So unless we're in first class - which we're NOT - you only get salted."
"Well, why didn't you get us first class then!"
"Because they didn't have enough seats left!"
"We coulda split up! I would've LOVED a first class seat!"
"Dumbass, if anyone got a first class seat, it'd be me. That way I wouldn't have to deal with you for fourteen goddamn hours."
"...You bitch."
"Why don't YOU quit bitching about peanuts and just GET SOME GODDAMN FOOD!"
"I bet you're wrong. I bet she has dry-roasted," he informed her simply, making her temple throb.
"NO, Ichigo, she doesn't."
"Um, excuse me - " The polite young flight attendant was cut off by Ichigo's shouting, making her sigh to herself.
"When's the last time you flew on a plane, Peyton, huh?"
"DUMBASS, how do you think I got to Karakura town? I sure as hell didn't SWIM from Tennessee!"
"And did you order peanuts?"
"...Well...no..."
"Ah, so there you go. She could have dry-roasted peanuts. The airline we're on might be different than the ones your mom worked."
Her eye twitched at his tone; she hated when he suddenly became logical and calm in order to win one of their arguments. "...Goddamn it, she doesn't have dry-roasted."
"YES SHE DOES!"
"NO SHE DOESN'T!"
"Care to make it interesting?" Karin asked, standing behind the poor flustered flight attendant. The two teens looked over at her, then at each other. Smirks slowly found their way upon their faces.
"...You're on."
"PLACE YOUR BETS, PASSENGERS!" Isshin shouted suddenly, making everyone jump and turn to look at him. He practically pranced down to where they were, beaming and holding out his hands, palm sides up. "WHO'S RIGHT? MY DARLING FUTURE DAUGHTER-IN-LAW, OR MY STUBBORN SON? PLACE YOUR BETS!" he announced, and Peyton sweatdropped as people actually took out their wallets and started betting with them.
"Please don't tell us the answer until we're ready, miss," Isshin informed the flight attendant, who sweatdropped and nodded slowly.
"I'm right, Ichigo, you might as well just save yourself the embarrassment and give it up now."
"Tch. Even if you are right, which you're not, it'd be more embarrassing for me to back out. Plus, I never give up. On anything."
"...Point taken."
"FLIGHT ATTENDANT WOMAN! PLEASE, TELL US, DO YOU HAVE DRY-ROASTED PEANUTS?" Isshin asked, and everybody leaned towards her eagerly.
"Um...Er...Well, not for this class...only first class gets them," she replied with a slight flush, making Ichigo and half the plane groan.
Peyton grinned at him triumphantly as Isshin happily did business with the passengers. "Told ya, Straaaaawberry," she drawled, making him scowl down at
"Enjoy the win while you can, Cullen."
"Oh, I intend to, Kurosaki," she replied as he grudgingly took the peanuts the blushing flight attendant held out to him.
After that excitement, they both caught up on much-needed sleep. But when Peyton woke up hours later, she felt like kicking herself after she realized the clicking she had heard before opening her eyes was Yuzu taking pictures of her and Ichigo sleeping while the flight attendants milling around weren't watching.
According to the pictures Yuzu held up for her to see, her head had been drooping against his chest and he had been leaning with his head tilting towards the top of hers. So, needless to say, she spent the rest of her napping time leaning against the cold window she'd wanted to badly in defiance. And every time she thought of how warm she had been before, she simply pressed her head harder against it and drew her arms tighter around her from within her oversized hoodie, as if that would keep her from thinking so much.
No such luck.
And once Ichigo had been awake for a while, the people behind them were seriously dumb enough to play I-Spy on a plane, so after about ten minutes of hearing it, they finally turned around and kindly told them to shut up.
Then they began to criticize each other's iPods, both on style and music on it, even though their music was relatively the same. So, minus that one time when his hand was dangerously close to her thigh while scrolling through her iPod, it wasn't too bad.
When they finally arrived, Peyton immediately led them through the Orlando Airport to the Disney Magic-Bus, and Yuzu offered to stand in the line to register them and such.
Everyone else gratefully bolted for the incredibly short line - well, as fast as they could since they were all still stiff from that extremely long plane ride. Ichigo and Peyton made a point of trying to get in front of the other one, and Peyton ended up getting tripped and tangled up in the little ropes the separated the lines. "GODDAMMIT, ICHIGO!" she shouted as he started laughing.
"S-Sorry, I didn't mean to that time," he said between laughs, helping her up.
"Whatever. ...Hey, what day is today?" Peyton asked Rukia as she brushed herself off.
"Ummm, the fifth of December, I think. And it's Monday."
Cool. She'd be sixteen Wednesday.
"Thanks."
"Why?"
"Oh, I just forgot," she stated, twirling her necklace in thought; the one Seth gave her was in her bag, since Miya had demanded pictures. She peered at the signs by each line before nodding. "Lemme see, our resort's bus is...this way!" Peyton stated, bringing them right up to the correct bus, and she slid into a seat in front of a tiny tv attached to the bus ceiling.
"Wow, you don't even have to stretch your neck to see it. That must be new for you," Ichigo commented from behind her, making her jump with a yelp.
She shot a glare at him, and he tried not to laugh; that would ruin the effect. "No, dumbass, I'm actually quite used to it...but the person who's stupid enough to sit behind you might have problems."
Sure enough, some short guy planted himself right behind him, causing both Ichigo and Peyton to turn and look at him as if he were stupid. A rather long and slightly-awkward silence passed between the three of them, and finally the guy got up with a sigh and went to sit behind Karin and Rukia on the other side of the bus.
"Jeez, if you wanna be left alone to make out, you just have to say so. Kids these days..."
Peyton sighed and held Ichigo back by his shirt as he attempted to stand up. "SAY THAT AGAIN TO MY FACE!"
"Ichigo, let it go. We don't even know his name."
He sat down with a huff, and she laughed and shook her head. "You know, if you don't want people saying stuff like that, maybe you shouldn't sit by me all the time," she pointed out.
He scowled down at her. "Dumbass, I sit by you all the time 'cause otherwise you'd do stupid shit."
"YOU'RE the one who does stupid shit, not me."
"Yeah right!"
"You know what, just forget it. It's too late at night to be arguing with you," she muttered, leaning her head against the window, much to his disappointment.
They were staying in Port Orleans, a resort modeled after 1800s New Orleans.
"Okay, there are two parts to Port Orleans: Riverside and French Quarter. We're staying in Riverside," she explained, leading them around the awesome resort.
"How do you know all this?" Rukia asked; everyone else nodded in agreement.
Peyton shrugged. "I've been to Disney World a few times; we've stayed at Port Orleans a lot."
Isshin grinned. "See, she's even good with directions!"
Ichigo and Karin rolled their eyes, while Peyton completely ignored him, hellbent on completing her mission. "Let's see...Magnolia Bend. Never stayed over there, but I still know where it is," she muttered thoughtfully to herself with a yawn.
When they reached it, everyone's jaws dropped. Peyton grinned. "You know, you can find mansions and plantations like these all over the South."
Ichigo snapped out of it and shoved her lightly. "Hey, no American bragging. Karakura kicks its ass."
She hip-checked him back stubbornly. "Um, no, you dumbass. I thought we agreed they were tied!"
"Aren't they cute?" Karin remarked loudly. They immediately cleared their throats and walked normally, avoiding eye contact with each other. Karin snickered. "See? That's all you have to say."
Clever fucking kid, Peyton and Ichigo thought moodily.
LATER THAT NIGHT...
They had bought a total of three rooms; Peyton and Rukia were sharing one, Karin and Yuzu were sharing the other, and Ichigo and Isshin were in the last one.
Peyton had thought it a good idea to have adjoining rooms - they were connected through a system of doors - so that way if one of them tried to kill each other, there would be a speedy intervention. After all, they were staying there for two whole weeks, and Isshin and Ichigo were sharing a room. Hello!
"Yeah, we'll see how long that lasts," Rukia said with a scoff.
Peyton laughed, changing into a baggy t-shirt. It was way too hot in Florida for pants in bed, even for her, who had dealt with horrible humidity that made a hundred degrees feel like a hundred and seventy-five minimum. "I know, right? We shoud place bets on who kills who."
"My money's on Ichigo killing Isshin."
Peyton shrugged. "Hey, you never know; Isshin could win one this time. I bet he goes easy on him all the time."
"Yes, I suppose he might be. But in any case, Ichigo's strength is still impressive."
"Oh, I know. But I bet his dad could be stronger when he tries. REALLY tries," Peyton replied as she slipped under the crisp, cool sheets.
Thank God no one had to share a bed in any of the three rooms; then they'd have several murders on their hands.
"Tomorrow we start!" Rukia announced rather loudly, stretching her hands towards the ceiling for emphasis before flopping down onto her bed and turning off the light.
Peyton grinned in the darkness. "Yeah. Tomorrow we...start," she agreed between yawns.
Me: Yay yay yay yay! I'm so excited!
Rukia: Me too!
Ichigo: (throws lamp at us) SHUT UP! I'm so fucking tired, and I just got my dad to shut the fuck up! Fuck!
Me: (stage-whispers rather loudly) You can always tell when he's sleepy because he says "fuck" a lot! Plus, he acts like a whiny eight-year-old girl.
Ichigo: Mandy, shut the fuck UP!
Me: (dodges a rather out-of-place-seeming gauntlet) ...Ummmm, REVIEW, or your author's toast!