One cloud in the blue heavens

Aug 02, 2009 19:24

Title - Clouds In the Blue Heavens
Characters - from Bleach (deep apologies to Kubo-san). Also some shameless ripping off of the 'GiraGira' drama storyline.
Notes - It's all still ravens_rising's fault. And my hair colour's.
Summary - Alternate reality for our friends from Bleach. No Shinigami powers, no wars. Well, at least no wars of the same kind we've seen. Several chosen characters are working in host bars, businesses designed to give women a place to meet attractive men and drink away the problems of the day. The arrival of one 'new' host will certainly turn this world upside-down and fire up the rivalry between two famous clubs, 'Cloud' and 'Throne'...
Part One


~-~-~-

"...Are you mental?!"
The chorus of voices repeating what Shunsui said earlier nearly knocked Kisuke off his feet. He motioned calmly to his gathered hosts seated before him.
"Now, now..."
"I cannot accept this, Urahara." Kuchiki rose to his feet in a fluid motion. "More than my opinion, the ladies will not accept this. He is far too old, and his experience is from over a decade ago." His dark blue eyes slashed at Isshin where he stood beside Kisuke. "How could he ever connect with the young ladies of today?"
"That's right!" Renji jumped to his feet as well. "This old man-" he stopped what he was going to say abruptly when Kuchiki raised his hand slightly.
"Would Kurosaki be so good as to answer my question?"
Renji dropped back into his seat with a scowl on his face that he immediately directed towards Isshin. Isshin straightened his posture and grinned in the face of the harsh atmosphere.
"Simply, Kuchiki, ladies' hearts have not changed. A hundred years ago or a hundred years from now, women will come searching for the same thing: someone who will listen carefully to their concerns. Someone who will share their happy moments and their sad moments. And once they give us the gift of their words, we give them the gift of peace and happiness in return."
"Flowery words indeed," muttered Renji.
"Yet so true," rang Juushiro's voice. "If you didn't think so, you would be at Throne instead of here."
"I just got tired of having a hangover every morning," he said in rebuttal, but his grin said that Juushiro was right.
"Yep, yep. Either way, we do need a runner," Kisuke said, bringing everyone back to topic. "Can you live with that for now, Byakuya?"
The slender man sat back into his seat as gracefully as he'd left it. "As you say."
"All right then. Isshin, you'll be runner, and I know you'll remember most of what to do. Renji will bring you up to speed. If you can prove yourself there, perhaps I'll move you up. I'll play no favourites!"
Isshin bowed in gratitude to Kisuke. "I put myself in your hands!"

-~-~-~

"Booze are here, and here. Some snacks are in here. Sweets are up there, but we hardly use 'em. Glasses are all over there and the dishwasher is in the back." It was the evening following Isshin being hired and Renji was taking him through the bar area quickly, motioning lazily with his hand. "Make sure ya keep the ice topped up and the ashtrays clean. Once a table empties you'd better jump to clear it. Assisting comes before hosting. Now that you're the new guy, I can concentrate on my requests. Don't get in my way, ol'man."
"I'll try not to, Renji!" Isshin clapped the young man enthusiastically on the back only to have Renji growl at him and back away.
"Shunsui is bartender but he often gets distracted. If he leaves the bar you'll have to jump in. Can you even mix drinks?"
"Oh, that won't be a problem. I used to drink a lot. But since I met lovely Masaki, not nearly so much. Now since meeting my two wonderful darling girls-"
"Yah, yah. So you can. Anyways, start setting up, would ya?"
Renji left the over-enthusiastic old man to the work and went into the change room. As he walked in he saw that Juushiro and Shunsui were already there, with the latter helping to knot Juushiro's tie.
"Seriously, Juushiro, you still need help with that sort of thing?" Renji asked as he dropped into the stool in front of the mirror.
The man chuckled in answer and turned his bright hazel eyes towards the red head. "So says the one who never wears a tie!"
"Just so happens that my style doesn't call for it," Renji fired back, brushing out his hair with his fingers.
"All done, Juu!" Shunsui tucked the green tie into Juushiro's white vest with a grin then turned back to adjusting his own black jacket.
"Besides," Juushiro said softly as he stepped closer to Renji and dipped his face close to his ear, "there are certain kindnesses that are nice to take advantage of."
Renji stared after Juushiro in surprise as the man drifted out the door. Somehow that sentence had just the strangest tone to it...
"Don't worry about it!" Shunsui gave Renji a friendly clap on the back as he moved towards the door. "That casual look is good for you, but you should try a tie sometime. For sure Byakuya could help you with it!"
And with that parting shot he was out the door, leaving Renji blinking blankly after them.
"What the heck was that all about...?" he muttered, turning back to the mirror.

~-~-~-

"Ne, did you hear about the old new guy at Cloud?" The blonde lady leaned enthusiastically towards her host.
"'Old new guy?' What do you mean?"
"Mmm, not sure," the blonde drawled, taking another long sip of her drink. "My friend was over there earlier and texted me with the news. She just said that there's an 'old new guy' there." The host's thin lips turned up in a smile as he poured a little more from the bottle into his customer's glass.
"Well, that does sound interestin', Rangiku-sama."
"For sure!" She snorted in amusement. "'Old new guy.' If I hear any more good stories, I'll for sure tell you about them!"
"Please do. You know I love to listenin' to your stories long into the night," the silver haired host said smoothly, pouring the last drop into the blonde's glass.

And what 'that' was about, Renji, is me messing with you and your future in this story. Sorry. ^.^o
If I'm going to do a lot of these, perhaps I need a new icon for the occasion...
In addition, my mental images for this foray are heavily influenced by the images loaded by Ileenka at Anime Paper and the colour splash page of chap 335.

bleach, clouds, fic

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