Three clouds in the blue heavens
Title - Clouds In the Blue Heavens (I'm not convinced, but I'll go with it)
Characters - from Bleach (deep apologies to Kubo-san). Less ripping off of 'GiraGira' plot.
Notes - ravens_rising+blonde hair colour=crack AU fic. But I'm kinda getting into it...
I should mention about ages. Kisuke, Aizen and Isshin all are in their mid 30s. Shu, Juu, Gin, Ran are in their late 20s. Everyone else are in their early 20s.
Summary - Alternate reality for our friends from Bleach as the characters work in two rival host bars, Cloud and Throne. Not that much rivalry has come to the surface yet.
Part One (The best job in the world...)
Part Two (Being hired usually isn't like this.)
Part Three (First song)
~-~-~-
The night was in full swing. The tables were full and each host had at least two or three ladies to attend to. Shuuhei was making a brilliant debut on stage with five ladies attentively sitting at the foot of the stage. Shunsui's arm had recovered and he was entertaining with flair bartending. Renji had one more lady than Kuchiki at the moment and seemed to be preening in that fact, not that the other man would care to notice. Juushiro was in a particularly good mood which translated to even greater charisma, and therefore more work. So it was only Isshin who welcomed the newest arrival, a blonde with a body only a dead man could fail to notice.
"Welcome to Cloud," Isshin said warmly, holding out his arm for the lady's coat. She gave it over distractedly as she looked about the crowded room, her rosebud lips pursed. Then she focused on Isshin and her pale eyes widened a bit as if in recognition.
"Oh, you must be the 'old new guy'!"
"'Old new guy'...?"
"Ne, are you free? Because I would like to request you."
Isshin was surprised at the request, but he instinctively looked over the room. Ice was filled, everything was clean, and no one would be leaving for a while.
"Yes, my lady. I would love the honour of your presence," he said with a flourish to an empty table a bit removed from the others. The lady gave a light laugh and took a seat. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Isshin, at your service."
"And I'm Rangiku. Okay! Let's get started. Get me your most expensive champagne!"
"At once! Shunsui," he called over to the bar, "A bottle of Dom Perignon for the lady!"
"To the lady!" the hosts chorused in cheer, as ordering a bottle like that surely meant something was being celebrated.
With a practiced hand Shunsui presented the bottle, opened it, and poured a glass for Rangiku to sip. Once she had indicated her approval Shunsui returned to the bar, leaving Rangiku and Isshin alone again.
The lady proved to be no stranger to being hosted to as she flowed seamlessly into pleasant small talk. Isshin kept her glass properly topped up and engaged in the small talk with his usual reckless abandon. Once the bottle of Perignon was gone, Rangiku ordered the most expensive bottle of sake. Isshin didn't think much about mixing the taste of champagne with sake, but he obediently asked Shunsui to bring the bottle.
Then the trouble started.
Rangiku must have started drinking even before coming to Cloud because now after two bottles of very fine alcohol, the woman was obviously smashed. She wandered away from Isshin, despite his attempts to keep her seated, and over to where Shuuhei was still singing on stage. The other women around him looked on in bewildered amazement as Rangiku stepped up onto the stage and peered closely at Shuuhei. Then they all looked on in horror as she planted a huge, passionate kiss on the poor man's lips. Well, maybe not 'poor man', for Rangiku was beautiful, but the act was so outside proper behaviour that everyone was stunned to silence.
"Rangiku!" Isshin nearly shouted, using the voice he usually reserved for when his son got into deep trouble. The tone of his voice made Rakgiku whirl around, her blonde hair a cloud about her reddened face. Isshin caught at her shoulders and tried to guide her off the stage, but the lady resisted. "Come on, Rangiku. We need to talk about this-"
"No!" she shouted, twisting out of Isshin's grasp. "This is a host bar, not a counselling session. I demand to be pleasured! And this man," she pointed at the stunned Shuuhei, "will do nicely." With that her lips curled up in a smile that under other circumstances would have been irresistible. However on that red, drunken face it just came across as twisted and somewhat pitiable.
"My lady, come with me now," came a stern voice at Isshin's shoulder and he turned to see Kisuke there. Rangiku's face showed that she still wanted to rebel, but something in Kisuke's voice told her to stand down. Between the two of them, they managed to get Rangiku into the back office. As the door closed softly behind them they could hear conversations start up again in that halting, soft way that they have after such a disturbance. By the time they had Rangiku seated with a cup of tea they could hear Shuuhei's guitar.
"Rangiku," Kisuke said gently, taking a seat across from her. "Whatever came over you? Why are you here anyway? You know for that kind of disturbance you won't be able to set foot in here again."
Rangiku looked sullenly down into her teacup, unmoving. Isshin took a seat beside her. "If you don't tell us, we cannot even begin to understand your situation. Please tell us why you did such a thing to Shuuhei."
She continued in her silence. Eventually Kisuke sighed. "I don't know what they are doing at Throne, but we don't allow such things here. At all. Don't come back to Cloud, Ran."
At the use of her shortened name Rangiku looked up into Kisuke's blue-grey eyes.
"It's his fault! No, it's this guy's fault too! I'll be glad to not come here anymore, but that doesn't keep him from me!"
"One guy at a time, Ran," Kisuke said, taking a sip of his own tea all too calmly.
Rangiku laughed bitterly. "One at a time, ne? How about starting with him," and she pointed to Isshin.
"Me?"
"What does Isshin have to do with it?"
"I heard that you got an 'old new guy' to work here. Gin was interested and I thought I'd check it out. It'd make for a good story, seeing what all the talk's about. But he's boring, Kisuke! Boring as dust!"
Isshin looked rather affronted by this, but Kisuke made a small motion to keep him silent.
"So you're going to tell Gin that you met the old new guy that's as boring as dust," he said lightly. "I'm happy that Gin will get some news! He seems to not get out much." Now it was Rangiku's turn to look affronted, almost as if she's taking it personally, Isshin thought. And if you identify with someone enough to be upset when they are spoken ill of... she must like him, as more than a host.
"So that's Gin and Isshin. What about Shuuhei?"
"That guy..." Rangiku finally took an sip of tea and unsteadily placed the cup back down. "I think that guy has been stalking me. I see him everywhere I go, and he looks at me."
Kisuke sighed and leaned back in his chair. "It would be easy to spot Shuuhei from a mile away with that tattoo of his. And any man alive would be looking at you. You are indeed beautiful, Rangiku."
"So what?!" She slapped her palms down on the table, startling the two men with the resulting crack. "When I saw him here, of all places, I thought I would confront him directly."
"That was a confrontation?" Kisuke said, amused.
"Yah, so what. Maybe it wasn't the best idea. You just tell that guy to leave me alone!"
With that Rangiku abruptly got to her feet and stalked out of the room before the other two could react. The noise from the bar quieted for a moment then resumed.
Isshin got to his feet and was at the doorway when Kisuke stopped him.
"Isshin, don't go after her right now."
"Why not? She's in pain from something deeper than what she told us, I'm sure of it! If she could just talk it out..."
"No, not now. Don't worry about her. She'll talk when she's ready."
Isshin turned his back on Kisuke, ready to go anyways, then relented. It was obvious that he knew Rangiku better than Isshin did. But as for Gin...
"Kisuke," Isshin asked, turning back into the room, "Is that Gin-"
"Ichimaru. Yep. You might not remember him well, but you will remember Sosuke."
"Sosuke! He's still in hosting then?"
"More than that. He wants to take over every host bar in the prefecture. I've staved him off so far, but with Ran showing up, I think our time is about up."
---
Sorry for the serious story this time. It just wanted to come out... o.o I'm sorry, Rangiku! (I'll give her a happy end, I promise!)
Next time, the prompt is 'cake'!
Characters - from Bleach (deep apologies to Kubo-san). Less ripping off of 'GiraGira' plot.
Notes - ravens_rising+blonde hair colour=crack AU fic. But I'm kinda getting into it...
I should mention about ages. Kisuke, Aizen and Isshin all are in their mid 30s. Shu, Juu, Gin, Ran are in their late 20s. Everyone else are in their early 20s.
Summary - Alternate reality for our friends from Bleach as the characters work in two rival host bars, Cloud and Throne. Not that much rivalry has come to the surface yet.
Part One (The best job in the world...)
Part Two (Being hired usually isn't like this.)
Part Three (First song)
~-~-~-
The night was in full swing. The tables were full and each host had at least two or three ladies to attend to. Shuuhei was making a brilliant debut on stage with five ladies attentively sitting at the foot of the stage. Shunsui's arm had recovered and he was entertaining with flair bartending. Renji had one more lady than Kuchiki at the moment and seemed to be preening in that fact, not that the other man would care to notice. Juushiro was in a particularly good mood which translated to even greater charisma, and therefore more work. So it was only Isshin who welcomed the newest arrival, a blonde with a body only a dead man could fail to notice.
"Welcome to Cloud," Isshin said warmly, holding out his arm for the lady's coat. She gave it over distractedly as she looked about the crowded room, her rosebud lips pursed. Then she focused on Isshin and her pale eyes widened a bit as if in recognition.
"Oh, you must be the 'old new guy'!"
"'Old new guy'...?"
"Ne, are you free? Because I would like to request you."
Isshin was surprised at the request, but he instinctively looked over the room. Ice was filled, everything was clean, and no one would be leaving for a while.
"Yes, my lady. I would love the honour of your presence," he said with a flourish to an empty table a bit removed from the others. The lady gave a light laugh and took a seat. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Isshin, at your service."
"And I'm Rangiku. Okay! Let's get started. Get me your most expensive champagne!"
"At once! Shunsui," he called over to the bar, "A bottle of Dom Perignon for the lady!"
"To the lady!" the hosts chorused in cheer, as ordering a bottle like that surely meant something was being celebrated.
With a practiced hand Shunsui presented the bottle, opened it, and poured a glass for Rangiku to sip. Once she had indicated her approval Shunsui returned to the bar, leaving Rangiku and Isshin alone again.
The lady proved to be no stranger to being hosted to as she flowed seamlessly into pleasant small talk. Isshin kept her glass properly topped up and engaged in the small talk with his usual reckless abandon. Once the bottle of Perignon was gone, Rangiku ordered the most expensive bottle of sake. Isshin didn't think much about mixing the taste of champagne with sake, but he obediently asked Shunsui to bring the bottle.
Then the trouble started.
Rangiku must have started drinking even before coming to Cloud because now after two bottles of very fine alcohol, the woman was obviously smashed. She wandered away from Isshin, despite his attempts to keep her seated, and over to where Shuuhei was still singing on stage. The other women around him looked on in bewildered amazement as Rangiku stepped up onto the stage and peered closely at Shuuhei. Then they all looked on in horror as she planted a huge, passionate kiss on the poor man's lips. Well, maybe not 'poor man', for Rangiku was beautiful, but the act was so outside proper behaviour that everyone was stunned to silence.
"Rangiku!" Isshin nearly shouted, using the voice he usually reserved for when his son got into deep trouble. The tone of his voice made Rakgiku whirl around, her blonde hair a cloud about her reddened face. Isshin caught at her shoulders and tried to guide her off the stage, but the lady resisted. "Come on, Rangiku. We need to talk about this-"
"No!" she shouted, twisting out of Isshin's grasp. "This is a host bar, not a counselling session. I demand to be pleasured! And this man," she pointed at the stunned Shuuhei, "will do nicely." With that her lips curled up in a smile that under other circumstances would have been irresistible. However on that red, drunken face it just came across as twisted and somewhat pitiable.
"My lady, come with me now," came a stern voice at Isshin's shoulder and he turned to see Kisuke there. Rangiku's face showed that she still wanted to rebel, but something in Kisuke's voice told her to stand down. Between the two of them, they managed to get Rangiku into the back office. As the door closed softly behind them they could hear conversations start up again in that halting, soft way that they have after such a disturbance. By the time they had Rangiku seated with a cup of tea they could hear Shuuhei's guitar.
"Rangiku," Kisuke said gently, taking a seat across from her. "Whatever came over you? Why are you here anyway? You know for that kind of disturbance you won't be able to set foot in here again."
Rangiku looked sullenly down into her teacup, unmoving. Isshin took a seat beside her. "If you don't tell us, we cannot even begin to understand your situation. Please tell us why you did such a thing to Shuuhei."
She continued in her silence. Eventually Kisuke sighed. "I don't know what they are doing at Throne, but we don't allow such things here. At all. Don't come back to Cloud, Ran."
At the use of her shortened name Rangiku looked up into Kisuke's blue-grey eyes.
"It's his fault! No, it's this guy's fault too! I'll be glad to not come here anymore, but that doesn't keep him from me!"
"One guy at a time, Ran," Kisuke said, taking a sip of his own tea all too calmly.
Rangiku laughed bitterly. "One at a time, ne? How about starting with him," and she pointed to Isshin.
"Me?"
"What does Isshin have to do with it?"
"I heard that you got an 'old new guy' to work here. Gin was interested and I thought I'd check it out. It'd make for a good story, seeing what all the talk's about. But he's boring, Kisuke! Boring as dust!"
Isshin looked rather affronted by this, but Kisuke made a small motion to keep him silent.
"So you're going to tell Gin that you met the old new guy that's as boring as dust," he said lightly. "I'm happy that Gin will get some news! He seems to not get out much." Now it was Rangiku's turn to look affronted, almost as if she's taking it personally, Isshin thought. And if you identify with someone enough to be upset when they are spoken ill of... she must like him, as more than a host.
"So that's Gin and Isshin. What about Shuuhei?"
"That guy..." Rangiku finally took an sip of tea and unsteadily placed the cup back down. "I think that guy has been stalking me. I see him everywhere I go, and he looks at me."
Kisuke sighed and leaned back in his chair. "It would be easy to spot Shuuhei from a mile away with that tattoo of his. And any man alive would be looking at you. You are indeed beautiful, Rangiku."
"So what?!" She slapped her palms down on the table, startling the two men with the resulting crack. "When I saw him here, of all places, I thought I would confront him directly."
"That was a confrontation?" Kisuke said, amused.
"Yah, so what. Maybe it wasn't the best idea. You just tell that guy to leave me alone!"
With that Rangiku abruptly got to her feet and stalked out of the room before the other two could react. The noise from the bar quieted for a moment then resumed.
Isshin got to his feet and was at the doorway when Kisuke stopped him.
"Isshin, don't go after her right now."
"Why not? She's in pain from something deeper than what she told us, I'm sure of it! If she could just talk it out..."
"No, not now. Don't worry about her. She'll talk when she's ready."
Isshin turned his back on Kisuke, ready to go anyways, then relented. It was obvious that he knew Rangiku better than Isshin did. But as for Gin...
"Kisuke," Isshin asked, turning back into the room, "Is that Gin-"
"Ichimaru. Yep. You might not remember him well, but you will remember Sosuke."
"Sosuke! He's still in hosting then?"
"More than that. He wants to take over every host bar in the prefecture. I've staved him off so far, but with Ran showing up, I think our time is about up."
---
Sorry for the serious story this time. It just wanted to come out... o.o I'm sorry, Rangiku! (I'll give her a happy end, I promise!)
Next time, the prompt is 'cake'!