Rukia took one last long look in the mirror to make sure she looked decent before heading out to that date. A half-hour bath brought out a nice healthy color in her skin and made her hair sleek and shimmer. She picked out a decent-looking yet simple looking black and white kimono; one that wouldn't too much of a hassle to clean or mend if something were to happen…which Rukia expected. She looked the part and felt ready to have a date with the busty lieutenant of the 10th Division.
The day itself had been normal up to now. Rukia went to work and did it without delay. No people asking weird questions about Rukia's current relationships with Rangiku Matsumoto, no unusual packages being delivered, Rangiku didn't pop by wearing something 'sexy', nothing of note happened. Just a basic day of basic training and repetitive paperwork. At least it allowed for Rukia to keep her head steady and her mind sane for tonight's date. Knowing how things have been going, this could get rather stupid really fast.
Byakuya just figured the two were trying out the new restaurant in town, with the assumption of Rukia was apologizing for last night's little problem. Rukia went along with that, not wanting to get him involved with whatever scheme that Rangiku had planned for tonight.
Rukia took her time walking to the place. The streets at dusk were scare of life but you could still see and hear plenty of activity coming from the buildings. All the people that didn't want to spend even a single minute in a line had come out near the store's closing times to get want they wanted without the bustle of a normal day. Rukia often did that; some days she just wanted to shop in peace and quiet. Maybe with a little luck the date would end early and she could get some shopping done.
The name of steak place was in English letters that read out 'Texas-Style.' Rukia didn't get it, but it looked lively and a delicious aroma emitting from inside. Rukia didn't mind steak, but hey it would be something different and she could use some good food. She did ask a few friends at work if the place was any good, and they either haven't heard of it, haven't tried it, or said it was okay. So it had to be decent at the very least. Hey, even if Rangiku's plan (Whatever it would be) worked against Rukia, maybe she would get to try some good food!
She approached the waiter, dressed in the traditional clothes a waiter would wear in the Soul Society as opposed to whatever style this restaurant went with, at the front and asked, "Excuse me? I'm Rukia Kuchiki, and I believe me and a Rangiku Matsumoto have a table?"
"Yes, Ms. Matsumoto has already arrived and she's waiting for you." The waiter politely pointed over to a table near the back and in the middle and walked over to it, Rukia following behind.. Knowing how things were going for her, Rukia expected the waiter to make a snarky comment and just point her in the direction of the table. And yet another surprise awaited for Rukia at the table: Rangiku wearing a nice conservative purple dress! It didn't even reveal even a hint of her breasts! And she sat normally, looked pleasant, not even a object that could be used as a sexual joke laid on the table!
Oh, this was a set up all right!
Rukia sat down at the chair opposing Rangiku. If this was a set up, might as trigger it and escape at the earliest opportunity. "You're a bit early." Rangiku mentioned. "I just sat down." A waiter then came by and delivered a bottle of koshu wine.
"Decided not to disappoint you." Rukia responded in kind. "Nice outfit." She added in a compliment not because it would keep the mood pleasant but because she honestly liked the dress.
"Thank you!" Rangiku cheerfully replied. "Had this dress still sitting around for some time. Glad it still fits me." She passed a menu over to Rukia. "Go ahead and pick something out. The owner has a favor to repay and I turned it in for free meals…whatever we want!" Rukia smiled back and looked over the menu. The menu didn't offer a hundred things like the recent place Byakuya dragged Rukia to and it had more than twenty items unlike that dive that Ichigo took her to in the human world. Rukia's eyes scanned the paper menu for anything interesting and she found one such item: grilled hanger steak with a cucumber salad! She could eat that, no problem!
Honestly? Rukia enjoyed the date. Her meal actually tasted real good! She honestly wanted to come back here on her own and try out a few dishes. The service actually moved fast and efficiently at that; while they were a bit busy tonight they still managed to get the food out in time and they got the pair whatever they needed to enhance their dining experience. And Rangiku…actually behaved a bit better than usual. Sure she did spice up their conservations with innuendos whenever possible but she didn't do anything too ridiculous or even reach over to get a little touchy-feely. Rangiku kept her distance and kept things civil.
But seeing how has I skipped the entire date, you know that the real main event it still to come.
Rukia patted her mouth down with a napkin to get some sauce that spilled. She finished her meal and she didn't feel too heavy in the stomach. All in all, a great meal! She almost asked for the check until she remember the meal was free. Even then, she would gladly pay for it herself regardless! Before Rukia could get up to go and use the ladies' room, Rangiku held up a hand to stop her. "We're not done yet." Rangiku let out a low chuckle. "There's one more thing we have to do before we can leave." Rukia sat down, figuring this was the revenge plan going into effect.
With a snap of her fingers, Rangiku summoned an army of waiters. They came out in a chorus line carrying a huge chocolate cake and starting to sing a song. Rukia's eyes went wide open as the crux of Rangiku's plan became very clear to her. Before she could make a hasty retreat, a waiter suddenly appeared behind her and put on a silly birthday hat.
Rangiku's revenge scheme was the 'embarrassing-restaurant-birthday-ordeal.' And Rukia's face already started to redden into a deep crimson. With the plan in effect, Rangiku relaxed her posture. Leaned back in the chair, and opened up a flap in her dress to reveal her characteristic cleavage line. This made her night! Free food, free cake…and poor Rukia red as a beet! Maybe she enjoyed tormenting the poor girl a bit too much…
"This isn't my birthday." Rukia finally muttered out under her breath.
"Honey, we should treat everyday as your birthday." Rangiku breathed out, taking a long swing out of her wine glass. "After all…"
Before Rangiku could finish her sentence, her leaned back position got in the way of the waiter carrying the matches. Her tripped over her legs and his lighted match fell onto the tablecloth. The cloth caught alight within seconds. Seeing the fire and not thinking ahead, Rangiku grabbed her glass and poured the contents on the flame. The fire liked the grape wine so much it decided to show it's appreciation by expanding itself to the entire table, but as fire doesn't have manners, it promptly started to engorge itself on the cake.
Both Rukia and Rangiku had backed off. "What made you think that would work?" Rukia shouted at Rangiku.
"I forgot…" Rangiku bemoaned as she reached for a empty table and yanked the tablecloth of it. She attempted to fan the flames, but the alcohol-powered fire saw the second table-cloth as another chance to go even further and hopped on over. Rangiku eeped and threw the now flaming sheet over to the side, where it (Of course) landed on a curtain and THAT caught on fire too. "…well, how I'm supposed to know if everything here is flammable?"
Rukia didn't respond to the asinine statement. All around her were people panicking. The fire had started to expand all across the restaurant, and Rangiku was just standing around trying to figure out how to put out the fire without making it even bigger than before. If Rukia had her sword on her, she could have used her bankai to put out the flames…and freeze Rangiku into a block of ice so she wouldn't cause any more problems! Now, if this was the human world, Rukia could have taken a fire extinguisher by the far wall, use the dishwasher showerhead to try and fight the fire herself, or made a quick phone call to the local fire department. Of course, the Soul Society lacked the first two and it would take a while for the fire fighters to arrive…with their buckets of water and/or that prototype machine that Mayuri recently built.
Best try to put out the fire before that appears.
Rukia rushed into the kitchen and looked for the sink. Several barrels of collected rainwater stood next to it, with one already open and having a large ladle sticking out. The petite girl grabbed the barrel, threw the ladle aside, and dragged it as fast as she could back into the front. One of the waiters had smartly pushed Rangiku off to the side to prevent her from causing any more trouble. Two more waiters, big ones, came and took over the barrel. Their bigger size and muscles made it easier to pour water out of the heavy barrels and onto the raging fire. Rukia and a couple other waiters rushed back to get the other barrels.
Things were looking better! Rukia thought to herself as she dragged a smaller barrel into the front. That simple positive thought lead to two things happening to Rukia. First, she accidently dropped the barrel; the edge of the bottom rim coming down on her toes. As she looked down to see what happened (While doing the dance of foot pain) she saw that this barrel had writing on it, unlike the other ones. As she read out the writing in her head, the two strong waiters rushed off and grabbed it.
"WAIT!" Rukia loudly pleaded as the waiters went back to work with a new barrel. "THAT'S…" She barely got out the last word as the waiters dunked the barrel over the site of the original fire. "…grease."
The fire loved this! Low sulfur petrochemical really made it explode into a literal red-hot flame that engulfed the restaurant within seconds. Rukia fell to the floor out of shock, but had enough nerve to scoot away from the fast-growing fire. Rangiku did the opposite; she jumped over a few of the growing fires and to a barrel. Rukia lifted a hand and tried once more to shout out to Rangiku: "Don't throw water on a grease fire!"
Rangiku stopped, but with the weight of the barrel she ended up following through with her plan. The water went into the fire and the combination caused the fire to shoot up to the ceiling, catching that on fire as well. Rukia screamed out in frustration. She stood up to shout: "RANGIKU! STOP!"
"OKAY!" Rangiku stepped back and stood still. As bad luck continued to roll like it would in Vegas, a ceiling beam fell down and landed on the easy target.
"I MEANT STOPPING INTERFERING, NOT TO STOP MOVING!" Rukia bemoaned, now having two problems…well, she already had two problems to begin with, now she just had less time to fix them both. Trapped by fire around her, Rukia looked around for anything she could use. Somehow, by sheer dumb luck, a wooden broom remained untouched by the hungry fire. Recalling the words behind the Kido spell, she dropped the broom for only a second before tapping the long end to make it spin in the air. Whispering 'Tenran', a wide tornado spurned out of the broom. The spell torn all throughout the restaurant, blowing out the fire with extreme winds. While the fire was merely put out, the furniture didn't share the same luck. Chairs and tables were flown against the walls, the doors and the windows; some of them shattering into wooden splinters on contact. Tablecloths and other assortment of drapery were picked up and flung all over, and unitsels became embedded into walls. Thankfully only Rukia and Rangiku were the only people still inside by this point, or those steak knifes would gone and poked out some poor fellow's eye.
Rukia let the broom drop to the floor to access the situation. The fire was all gone, leaving only black burn marks as a reminder of what happened. They also served to the only assortment of decoration as the actual decorum had been flung all over into chaotic fashion. Rukia noticed a hand sticking out of a nearby fallen ceiling beam. She rushed over and lifted the beam up to get Rangiku freed.
"You saved my life!" Rangiku exasperated as she got back up on her feet. "For a second I thought you would leave me behind…"
"No." Rukia shook her head and sighed. "Come on, let's go home before we get into any MORE trouble." Rukia held out her hand. Rangiku was a bit surprised at first, but she did take the hand and they walked out together. The crowd outside the now-charred restaurant looked at the two as they walked outside of fire zone fairly calmly. They did have some bit of ash on them and the busty lady had her eyebrows singed off as well as her dress being ruined, but they looked fine otherwise. Some of the waiters recognized them, but they kept quiet as they were too tired from a long day of work.
The pair walked through the front door and prepared to go to their respective rooms when they ran into Byakuya, heading to bed himself. He looked at the two with alarming eyes. "I have two questions Rukia." He asked after a few seconds of staring.
"The restaurant nearly burned down, you'll hear about it in tomorrow's paper." Rukia brushed him off and headed to her room.
"Okay. Now, about the party hat."
Rukia reached up and felt the paper hat, still attached to her head. She tore it off and silently to bed without as much as a 'good night' to her brother-in-law and her houseguest.