Bleach Drabble (123-128)
Yes, I'm still alive. I've just been lazy. *ducks flying produce* But um, hey... I had writer's block! And I still sorta do, which meant me taking the last few hours and just writing as many drabbles as I could without thinking or editing or really doing anything but typing whatever came to my head. So um... here I have...speed drabbles for you! That probably also means drabbles-with-lots-of-mistakes, but that's what I have you all for, right? Right. Anyway... onward!
*cringe*
123.
Title: Play Date
Rating: PG
Pairing/Character/s: Ichigo, Isshin, Ishida, Ryuuken
Word Count: 563
Warning/s: Um, not really any spoilers. Just dumbness. Lots of it.
Summary: Parent-teacher conference day in Karakura.
Dedication: laliho- your Isshin kicks my Isshin’s ass, but I try because of you. :P
A/N: I don’t know. Fighting writer’s block + KICKASS fic from Triste=OMG why can’t I write that well?! And then I try. I fail, but at least I try. And for the record, I LOVE TRISTE THE MOST SO THERE.
“Stop it.”
“But…”
“Stop it now.”
“I’m boooooored.”
“Argh. Just. Sit down and shut up, will you?”
“Iccchigo… papa is booooored! Papa wants to plaaaay!!!”
Kurosaki Ichigo slapped a hand to his forehead. “I don’t believe this,” he murmured to himself as he and Isshin sat in his school’s hallway waiting to meet with his homeroom teacher. “I don’t friggin’ believe this.”
Isshin touched the tips of his index fingers together, looking down at them nervously upon seeing Ichigo’s irate body language. “Is…is Ichigo mad with papa?”
Ichigo crossed his arms and stared straight ahead at the wall across from him. “Yes.”
“But…but…”
“I told you to be quiet and sit still didn’t I? Don’t make me take you back to the car. I mean it. I’ll do it.”
Isshin pouted. “But… I…” He trailed off, fiddling absently with Ichigo’s school progress reports, crinkling them beyond repair.
“Would you cut that out? Honestly!” Ichigo growled and snatched them out of the older man’s hands, trying to smooth them out as best he could, though the lines of Isshin’s previous attempts at paper airplanes were already permanent landmarks on the grade statements.
Isshin sniffed and wiped a tear from the corner of his eye pathetically. “Ichigo doesn’t love papa…”
Ichigo sighed and hunkered down lower in his chair, just glad to know that no one else was waiting here with them for their parent teacher conference today.
Honestly, the Kurosaki family was the only one he knew of that had to have the child accompany the parent to one of these things.
“Father, please…just be civil until everything’s been taken care of. I know you’re busy…”
“I don’t see why my attendance is mandatory. I’ve read the papers and I’ve signed them. I don’t need the word of some bachelor’s degree, master’s at best, faulty academic to tell me how my son is doing in school.”
“…that’s the exact thing I don’t want you to say.”
Ichigo blinked at the sudden arrival of that familiar voice. Sitting up a little straighter in his chair, he was just in time to catch Ishida Uryuu and Ishida Ryuuken as they rounded the corner, the Quincy’s father looking irked at having to be bothered and Ishida actually looking apprehensive rather than like his usual arrogant self.
In this case, all family arrogance seemed to have transferred to his father. And then magnified a hundred times.
But that wasn’t what was really important with this picture. The important thing was the expression on Ishida’s face, because it was absolutely priceless. Ichigo felt his face split into a wicked grin.
It was really too good an opportunity to pass up.
Ichigo eyed his father beside him, who was making whirring airplane sounds and repeatedly clicking the end of the pen that he usually kept in his lab coat, mumbling something about an emergency landing and no oxygen in Siberia as he did.
The younger Kurosaki suddenly had a brilliant idea. “Hey…dad…”
Isshin blinked at the sudden change in his son’s tone. “Ichigo… are you… you’re not mad at papa anymore?” he asked, pausing mid-click to look at the orange-haired boy hopefully.
Ichigo smiled back, because it was too funny not to. “Nah. Not anymore. But you’re still bored, right?”
Isshin’s eyes lit up. “Yes!”
Ichigo jerked a thumb towards the approaching duo. “Wanna go make a new friend?”
“Yeah!!”
END
124.
Title: Boy’s Night
Rating: PG-13
Pairing/Character/s: ShuuheixYumichika, Iba, Ikkaku, Renji
Word Count: 990 (wow, 10 more words and I woulda had to scrap this one. O.o)
Warning/s: No spoilers, just dumbness and SERIOUSLY NO KNOWLEDGE OF MAHJONG.
Summary: Companion drabble of sorts to #116 (This Stays Between Us)- The guys have their weekly mahjong night at Shuuhei’s place.
Dedication: Greg, since I stole his line. Do you really know your limit? :P Are you really done?
A/N: Forcing myself to write with this latest development of writer’s block in full swing probably wasn’t a good idea. But since I probably need to be yelled at for this crap, being yelled at might help, ‘cuz I do well with negative reinforcement? Must be the Asian parents always using that on me as a child. *shrug* Um…all mahjong terms shamelessly jacked from Saiyuki.
“Che. Why the hell do you always get to be Chiicha, asshole?”
“’Cuz you can’t count past ten?”
“You wanna die?”
Shuuhei sighed impatiently as Iba and Ikkaku glared at each other. “Oi, Ikkaku, just let Iba do it, will ya?” Hisagi prompted. “He’s already in the east position anyway.”
Madarame scowled. “Fine. But don’t complain to me when he miscounts the scores,” he sniped, before spilling the tiles onto the table in front of them.
“Oi…senpai, we’re outta sake,” Renji announced as the four began to wash the tiles around.
Shuuhei glared at the redhead. “We haven’t even started and ya already drank all the sake?”
“Wasn’t me! Totally Iba’s fault.”
“Hey, you wanna die?” Iba growled back.
“Forget it… I’ll go get some more,” Shuuhei sighed. “And try to keep it down will ya?”
The other three at the table momentarily forgot their ire at one another and snickered at the statement. “Sorry, senpai,” Renji snorted. “Forgot the lil’ lady was home.”
Shuuhei glared at him. “Watch it, bastard, Yumi’s a god for allowin’ you three pigs to have mahjong night here, got me? Anyone stains the floor and they’re dead,” Hisagi promised before disappearing back into the kitchen for more drinks.
“Are we out of something already?”
Shuuhei shook his head as Yumi turned around from where he was fixing a tray of snacks. “Just alcohol, don’t worry ‘bout it,” Shuuhei assured Ayasekawa, frowning as he observed the other man’s handiwork on the counter. “Oi… I told you already, you don’t gotta play host to these idiots, Yumi. We’re just gonna play a few rounds and drink some. It’s not supposed to be any hassle.”
Yumi shook his head. “It’s alright! We need to use this food up before it goes bad anyway…”
Shuuhei sighed. “Um… you’re makin’ tako wieners, babe.”
“Well, just because I’m getting rid of the food doesn’t mean it can’t be pretty,” Yumichika huffed in response. “Beautiful food is an important show of hospitality.”
Shuuhei rolled his eyes. “I’m serious, offer still stands. Gimme the word and I’ll toss those three jerks outside. We can go play at Renji’s.”
“Nonsense. It’s not fair that you always have your mahjong night at their places and never here just because of me, don’t you think?”
“It’s not a big deal…’s just boys’ night,” he assured the other man. “’s just… us… guys…” A light bulb went off in Hisagi’s head. “Hey Yumi, you wanna play too?”
“Eh? Really?”
“Well, you’re a guy, aren’t ya? It’ll be fine. Besides, this is our house, so if they don’t like it, they can leave,” Shuuhei promised, taking his lover’s arm and tugging him back out towards the action. “C’mon.”
When Shuuhei returned it was with sake, snacks and Yumichika in tow, causing a momentary lull in the antics of the other shinigami.
“Yumi’s playin’ with us,” Shuuhei announced as he set the sake down.
“Oh hell no!” Ikkaku immediately protested. “That’s a bad, bad idea!”
“I brought tako wieners!” Yumi declared cheerfully, putting the tray in Renji’s hands.
“Oi, a little respect for our hosts, yeah?” Iba interrupted, cutting Ikkaku’s protests short upon seeing the food. “If Ayasekawa wants to play then let ‘im.”
“You just want tako wieners!” Ikkaku accused, sourly. “I’m tellin’ you, as Yumichika’s longtime teammate, I know this is a bad idea!”
“Oi, this is guy’s night, ain’t it?” Renji asked around a mouthful of meat. “’s fine, he’s a guy, he can play.”
“But…”
“Shut it, Madarame. We’re startin’.”
“Che. This is a bad idea…” Ikkaku reiterated, though he complied under the pressure exerted by his happily snacking cohorts.
Several hours later, everyone realized that Ikkaku might’ve been right.
“Pinfu!”
Everyone stared at Yumi.
“Chii!”
More staring.
“Riichi!”
“Lon!”
“Pinfu again! That’s 1,000 more points!”
But then the staring got old and it just became outright disbelief.
“This has got to be some sort of fluke…” Iba muttered. “How does he keep doing that?”
“I told you!” Ikkaku hissed to Tetsuzaemon sullenly. “He has unbelievably good luck. Even more than me after I do my luck-luck dance!”
“He’s gotta be cheatin’,” Renji murmured, eyeing Ayasekawa as he bounced happily in Hisagi’s lap after his fifteenth consecutive victory.
“Waah! Tsumo this time!”
“Kan!”
“Men, tan, pin, ippatsu, shanshoku, iipeikou, dora-ichi! 24,000 points!”
Iba, Ikkaku and Renji looked at their defeated tiles dumbly.
After a moment, Iba picked one up and surreptitiously (angrily) threw it at Ikkaku’s head.
“OW! What the hell was that for?!” Madarame screamed in an agitated whisper.
“You shoulda said something earlier!” the larger man hissed under his breath as Ayasekawa pecked Hisagi victoriously in the background.
“I did say something!”
Renji sighed. “Forget it, I’m out,” he announced, loud enough to catch the happy couple’s attention.
“Uh…me too.”
“Che, yeah, me too. I know my limit. I’m done.”
Yumi looked around in bewilderment. “Already? It’s not even midnight!”
“Um… work in the mornin’ and all that, Ayasekawa, you understand,” Iba explained lamely.
“Oh well… good night then! It was nice playing with you all.” Yumichika beamed. “Maybe we can play again sometime!”
“Uh…night.”
“Later.”
“Yeah… thanks for the wieners.”
Puzzled, Yumi looked questioningly at Shuuhei as they hightailed it out of the room. Hisagi just shrugged.
Outside, the loser shinigami began dragging themselves home.
“Man, I lost the whole next week’s paycheck,” Ikkaku mourned.
“We all did, since you didn’t warn us properly!”
“Che. Next time we’re havin’ boy’s night at my place.”
“Are you kidding? Last time we had it at your place remember what happened?!”
Renji snorted. “Yeah, well, it’s only ‘cuz we got really drunk. And you two were only sore for three days! Think about it! What’s worse? That or this?” He gestured back towards Shuuhei and Yumichika’s place.
The other two thought about it for a moment.
Weighed their options.
Considered possibilities.
Analyzed pros and cons.
And then…
“All right, next week at your place.”
END
125.
Title: Tentative
Rating: PG-13
Pairing/Character/s: GanjyuxHanatarou
Word Count: 780
Warning/s: Just the boy love, no direct spoilers. Though it does kind of continue a long drabble arc with these two in it. -_-;;
Summary: Continuation of drabble #122 (Hung-over)- Ganjyu and Hanatarou keep moving forward.
Dedication: Miuu from ff.net- thanks so much for your awesome e-mail!
A/N: Dumb? Oh, I think so.
He’s always gentle with Hanatarou because every time they kiss, the little guy is shaking in his arms somehow, feeling small and overwhelmed by everything around him. It makes Ganjyu treat him extra delicately, petting his cheek or his hair, touching his throat and holding him a little bit tighter.
They’re still new to all of this after all, and there’s something awkward and pure about the way they touch each other at this stage of their relationship because right now they’re discovering the depth of their sentiment as well as the fact that it wasn’t all a dream and that it’s really okay to kiss like this, with Hanatarou curled up in Ganjyu’s lap, shaking and making little noises in the back of his throat while Ganjyu holds him steady and gently brushes the little shinigami’s cheek with his fingertips because he doesn’t trust himself to stay gentle if he tries to touch more of the other boy at this point.
Their eyes are shut tight and their kisses are short and open-mouthed, but nothing deeper than that yet because they’re still exploring and discovering one another physically.
Both of them are a little scared and a little embarrassed, tentative and unsure.
When they break for air the two of them both have cheeks stained pink, and Hanatarou always looks up at Ganjyu through shy lashes as he pants quietly against the larger man’s chest. “I-is this okay?” Yamada whispers breathlessly, sounding small and uncertain as he fists the folds of Ganjyu’s shirt unconsciously in his hands.
Ganjyu pets his hair and assures him it is, rests his chin on top of the shinigami’s head and rubs slow circles on Hanatarou’s back with his hand as he catches his own breath. It’s all a little overwhelming, even at such an early stage, and Ganjyu thinks that when things get to the next level, they might both explode or something.
It makes him chuckle to himself a little and move to press another kiss to Hanatarou’s forehead.
Hanatarou blinks up at him, looking a little confused at his sudden amusement, but he smiles back shyly when Ganjyu kisses him. “What’s funny?” he asks after a moment, looking flushed and innocent and lovely in the other man’s lap.
“’s nothing,” Ganjyu assures him with a little smile. “We got plenty of time to see if it gets to that…” he soothes, not wanting to make the naturally jittery shinigami nervous with prospects of more forceful caresses so soon into things.
“T-that?” Hanatarou is really perplexed now, though some of the worry has left his eyes because Ganjyu seems fine despite his sudden attack of cryptic speech.
“Don’t worry ‘bout it,” Ganjyu murmurs again, splaying his fingers out on the side of Hanatarou’s throat and caressing, feather-light against the skin there. “Something to think about later…there’s plenty of time…”
“Aa… plenty of…” Hanatarou’s eyes go wide. “Ganjyu!!”
Ganjyu blinks back at the shinigami’s sudden shift in mood. “Eh?”
And then Hanatarou is scrambling off of Ganjyu’s lap and back onto his own two feet rather frantically. “Your lunch break is over!” he informs the larger man quickly. “Don’t you have a test this afternoon?”
Ganjyu blinks at Hanatarou dumbly for a moment.
“Shit.”
“Hurry!”
And then Ganjyu is on his feet too, and his bento is still uneaten on the table because he decided to spend the whole hour kissing Yamada in the fourth division shinigami’s room instead of eating and studying some more like he’d planned.
He’s late already and probably really in trouble and Hanatarou looks guiltily back at him as he grabs his things to go. “I’m sorry!” Hanatarou apologizes reflexively, worrying his hands together.
And even though he’s late, Ganjyu’s conscience can’t have that expression be the last thing he sees before going into his exam, so he pauses halfway out the door and murmurs, “idiot,” before yanking Hanatarou towards him so he can kiss the little shinigami one last time before he leaves. It’s not as gentle as their previous times because he’s in a rush to go, and it makes him clumsy and forceful and hurried.
It also strips all the awkward hesitance right out of him.
When he pulls back, Hanatarou’s eyes are huge and he stares back at Ganjyu with flushed red cheeks and kiss-swollen lips, breathing heavily and looking absolutely weak in the knees.
Ganjyu groans painfully when he sees that and throws himself forcibly out of the door at a run, promising that when he gets back later tonight, he’ll try that again.
Because now, Ganjyu thinks that maybe Hanatarou doesn’t have to be kissed so gently all the time after all.
END
126.
Title: Real Friendship
Rating: PG
Pairing/Character/s: Urahara, Yoruichi
Word Count: 303
Warning/s: vague spoilers for the Urahara/Yoruichi backstory portion of the Soul Society Arc.
Summary: Urahara asks for a favor.
Dedication: Beck- who seems to be oft surrounded by infuriating men herself. O.o
A/N: I dunno, I just felt like I hadn’t written these two in a long while. So I just did. And it just came out with Urahara being infuriating in that way he is, and it just kind of ran from there. I didn’t really think about it lots. *shrug*
“I need your help.”
They weren’t words she’d ever expected to hear from him, not the infuriatingly confident guy who always smiled at her mysteriously from under long bangs, cheerful and friendly and one of the most deadly men she’d ever met in her life.
She doesn’t know what to say when she hears him ask for her help, because the words mean only one thing and a million other things at the same time, and it feels like all the pressure is on her after he’s gotten it off his chest, standing there with that mysterious smile on his face and waiting for her answer like he just asked her the time of day and not for something that may or may not be life-altering.
She looks back at him and feels like the entire universe is shifting with just the power of that smile between them. She knows just with a look that when he asks her for her help like he just did, it means something enormous.
They stand there for a moment as she studies him, he smiling at her through those unruly blonde bangs and looking happily enigmatic as he awaits her response.
Yoruichi wants to punch a couple of those shiny white teeth right out of that grinning mouth.
Later, after Urahara has to smile that smile of his and try to look mysterious while sporting a swollen black eye, she finally says, “What do you need?”
When he tells her, she eventually, inevitably agrees.
She can’t not, and he knew it all along, the sneak.
So she grits her teeth and prepares to help him with his newest crazy scheme, because he’s her friend and he really does need her.
But all the same, it makes her wish she’d given the bastard two black eyes first.
END
127.
Title: Illness
Rating: PG
Pairing/Character/s: GinxKira undertones, but nothing really obvious about it.
Word Count: 337
Warning/s: Spoilers for the Soul Society arc.
Summary: Kira works hard.
Dedication: Christine- who’s sort of like Kira sometimes, I think. -_-;;
A/N: Wow, they’re starting to come easier now that the TV’s off. Who knew? Anyway, I think I’ll write one about nosebleeds next cuz guess what? My allergies have decided to kick in after about a week of being back and voila… dry weather means MY NOSE EXPLODED AND THERE’S BLOOD EVERYWHERE. Yay.
Everyone talks about how brave he is, how the three of them all are. They talk about how Hinamori’s still trying so much, how Hisagi’s being strong and Kira’s always working hard.
Kira doesn’t think that they understand, not really. The three of them, they aren’t doing it because they’re brave, he thinks. They’re doing it because it’s all they can do. They keep busy and do their jobs while secretly hoping that it was all a lie and that their captains will come home to them one day soon.
They keep working so that when their captains do return, everything will be ready for them. Kira thinks that if everyone knew, they’d think the three of them were sick instead of brave, especially after everything that happened with their missing leaders.
He would agree with them.
He thinks he might be a little bit ill, thinks he has to be, because every day after he finishes all his brave, hard work, he comes back to Ichimaru Gin’s old room. He lights a candle and looks around and cleans up a little, because if his captain comes back, he doesn’t want it to be too dusty in here to sleep.
Everyday after he’s worked hard and put on his bravest face, he still thinks about Ichimaru-taichou.
If anyone else knew, they would think he was a little sick, and he would agree with them.
But he can’t help it, and when he crawls into Gin’s familiar bed and covers himself with familiar blankets that still smell of his captain, and of blood and sex and other familiar things, he feels whole again.
He forgets his hard work and lets go of that exhausting brave front when he’s curled up in Ichimaru Gin’s bed, hoping that maybe tomorrow, his captain will return and everything will be like it was before.
It’s the only way he can fall asleep anymore, and as he drifts off each night, he thinks to himself that he’s a little bit sick for it.
END
128.
Title: Anemic
Rating: PG-13
Pairing/Character/s: RenjixByakuya
Word Count: 629
Warning/s: No spoilers, just…blood.
Summary: Renji has seasonal allergies.
Dedication: My brother, who also has a daily nosebleed, it seems. -_-;;
A/N: MY ALLERGIES HAVE FINALLY CAUGHT UP WITH ME AFTER A WEEK OF BEING HOME. I’m gushing blood. I’ll have to eat like, ten steaks to make up for the loss of iron, I mean it. -_-;; And it’s not cuz I’m a pervert, SHUT UP. If that myth were true I’d need a transfusion every three hours.
For the past few days, Abarai Renji has been forced to walk around with a little white trail of Kleenex that went down from inside his nostril to the top of his lip. And while it’s not really glaringly obvious from a long distance, he still finds it rather mortifying because it’s unquestionably noticeable if one takes a second look.
People have smirked as he walks by, and Byakuya, who has been oddly disgusted with him lately, has tried to ignore the indignity of it all as best he can.
It happened during one of his rare, unobstructed-nostril, blood-free moments that Renji cornered the other man in his office and asked him why he seemed so put out with his vice-captain’s nosebleeds. Byakuya had looked at him for a moment and then responded with a very curt, “It’s as if your nose has been constantly bleeding for the past week, Renji. If you don’t want to develop anemia I would suggest that you behave like less of a pervert.”
Renji had only been able to stare back at his captain incredulously. “Um…excuse me, sir?”
The sixth division captain sniffed. “You heard me.”
And Renji still hadn’t been able to believe it. “You know that’s a myth right?” the vice-captain had inquired carefully. “Taichou…my nose only bleeds ‘cuz of my seasonal allergies. I mean it. It’s too damn dry here!”
Byakuya frowned. “I saw your nose erupt when the female officers went to attend the summer festival in their yukata the other day.”
Renji still hadn’t been able to believe it. “Is that what this is about? You’re jealous ‘cuz you think my nosebleeds are happenin’ because of some pervy thoughts or something?”
Byakuya merely arched an eyebrow in response before turning imperiously back to his paperwork, letting Abarai know by his reaction that the vice-captain had hit the nail on the head.
“I don’t believe this!” And he still doesn’t, to tell the truth. If he wasn’t so shocked at the time, he thinks that he might’ve been amused by the great Kuchiki-taichou’s sudden display of deeply misled naiveté.
As it is, he doesn’t particularly like it when his lover is displeased with him, and in his most cajoling tone, he’d begun to reassure Byakuya that the sole culprit to his chronic nosebleeds were his seasonal allergies. “Taichou… I mean it, it’s just my damn allergies. C’mon, I’ve been bleeding everyday for like, the whole day, haven’t I? Even I can’t have pervy thoughts that often and still do my job, right?” he’d asked, appealing to Byakuya’s sense of rationale. “That wouldn’t make sense!”
Byakuya eyed him from his paperwork. “So you’re saying that what I saw the other day was a fluke?”
Renji, having sensed that he was getting somewhere, had stepped around his captain’s desk to rest his hands reassuringly on the other man’s shoulders. “Complete fluke. Weird timing, I mean it.”
“You swear?”
Nodding, Renji had proclaimed, “Swear it.”
“…all right then.”
The redhead, sighing with relief, had moved to kiss Byakuya then, and when the sixth division captain had tilted his head upwards invitingly, Renji knew that all was truly forgiven.
Their kisses had deepened eventually, and work was, in one of Byakuya’s rare moments of capitulation to Renji’s will, temporarily forgotten. Renji had smiled into his lover’s lips as a sense of relieved longing washed over him, making him realize that over the past few days, Byakuya had been irate with him and as a result, he’d missed the familiar feel of the other man’s lips in that time.
However, just as things had been getting interesting, Byakuya removed his top.
Renji, currently sentenced to a week of sleeping alone, will never forgive his nose for choosing that exact moment to explode on him.
END
HELP ME.
*cringe*
123.
Title: Play Date
Rating: PG
Pairing/Character/s: Ichigo, Isshin, Ishida, Ryuuken
Word Count: 563
Warning/s: Um, not really any spoilers. Just dumbness. Lots of it.
Summary: Parent-teacher conference day in Karakura.
Dedication: laliho- your Isshin kicks my Isshin’s ass, but I try because of you. :P
A/N: I don’t know. Fighting writer’s block + KICKASS fic from Triste=OMG why can’t I write that well?! And then I try. I fail, but at least I try. And for the record, I LOVE TRISTE THE MOST SO THERE.
“Stop it.”
“But…”
“Stop it now.”
“I’m boooooored.”
“Argh. Just. Sit down and shut up, will you?”
“Iccchigo… papa is booooored! Papa wants to plaaaay!!!”
Kurosaki Ichigo slapped a hand to his forehead. “I don’t believe this,” he murmured to himself as he and Isshin sat in his school’s hallway waiting to meet with his homeroom teacher. “I don’t friggin’ believe this.”
Isshin touched the tips of his index fingers together, looking down at them nervously upon seeing Ichigo’s irate body language. “Is…is Ichigo mad with papa?”
Ichigo crossed his arms and stared straight ahead at the wall across from him. “Yes.”
“But…but…”
“I told you to be quiet and sit still didn’t I? Don’t make me take you back to the car. I mean it. I’ll do it.”
Isshin pouted. “But… I…” He trailed off, fiddling absently with Ichigo’s school progress reports, crinkling them beyond repair.
“Would you cut that out? Honestly!” Ichigo growled and snatched them out of the older man’s hands, trying to smooth them out as best he could, though the lines of Isshin’s previous attempts at paper airplanes were already permanent landmarks on the grade statements.
Isshin sniffed and wiped a tear from the corner of his eye pathetically. “Ichigo doesn’t love papa…”
Ichigo sighed and hunkered down lower in his chair, just glad to know that no one else was waiting here with them for their parent teacher conference today.
Honestly, the Kurosaki family was the only one he knew of that had to have the child accompany the parent to one of these things.
“Father, please…just be civil until everything’s been taken care of. I know you’re busy…”
“I don’t see why my attendance is mandatory. I’ve read the papers and I’ve signed them. I don’t need the word of some bachelor’s degree, master’s at best, faulty academic to tell me how my son is doing in school.”
“…that’s the exact thing I don’t want you to say.”
Ichigo blinked at the sudden arrival of that familiar voice. Sitting up a little straighter in his chair, he was just in time to catch Ishida Uryuu and Ishida Ryuuken as they rounded the corner, the Quincy’s father looking irked at having to be bothered and Ishida actually looking apprehensive rather than like his usual arrogant self.
In this case, all family arrogance seemed to have transferred to his father. And then magnified a hundred times.
But that wasn’t what was really important with this picture. The important thing was the expression on Ishida’s face, because it was absolutely priceless. Ichigo felt his face split into a wicked grin.
It was really too good an opportunity to pass up.
Ichigo eyed his father beside him, who was making whirring airplane sounds and repeatedly clicking the end of the pen that he usually kept in his lab coat, mumbling something about an emergency landing and no oxygen in Siberia as he did.
The younger Kurosaki suddenly had a brilliant idea. “Hey…dad…”
Isshin blinked at the sudden change in his son’s tone. “Ichigo… are you… you’re not mad at papa anymore?” he asked, pausing mid-click to look at the orange-haired boy hopefully.
Ichigo smiled back, because it was too funny not to. “Nah. Not anymore. But you’re still bored, right?”
Isshin’s eyes lit up. “Yes!”
Ichigo jerked a thumb towards the approaching duo. “Wanna go make a new friend?”
“Yeah!!”
END
124.
Title: Boy’s Night
Rating: PG-13
Pairing/Character/s: ShuuheixYumichika, Iba, Ikkaku, Renji
Word Count: 990 (wow, 10 more words and I woulda had to scrap this one. O.o)
Warning/s: No spoilers, just dumbness and SERIOUSLY NO KNOWLEDGE OF MAHJONG.
Summary: Companion drabble of sorts to #116 (This Stays Between Us)- The guys have their weekly mahjong night at Shuuhei’s place.
Dedication: Greg, since I stole his line. Do you really know your limit? :P Are you really done?
A/N: Forcing myself to write with this latest development of writer’s block in full swing probably wasn’t a good idea. But since I probably need to be yelled at for this crap, being yelled at might help, ‘cuz I do well with negative reinforcement? Must be the Asian parents always using that on me as a child. *shrug* Um…all mahjong terms shamelessly jacked from Saiyuki.
“Che. Why the hell do you always get to be Chiicha, asshole?”
“’Cuz you can’t count past ten?”
“You wanna die?”
Shuuhei sighed impatiently as Iba and Ikkaku glared at each other. “Oi, Ikkaku, just let Iba do it, will ya?” Hisagi prompted. “He’s already in the east position anyway.”
Madarame scowled. “Fine. But don’t complain to me when he miscounts the scores,” he sniped, before spilling the tiles onto the table in front of them.
“Oi…senpai, we’re outta sake,” Renji announced as the four began to wash the tiles around.
Shuuhei glared at the redhead. “We haven’t even started and ya already drank all the sake?”
“Wasn’t me! Totally Iba’s fault.”
“Hey, you wanna die?” Iba growled back.
“Forget it… I’ll go get some more,” Shuuhei sighed. “And try to keep it down will ya?”
The other three at the table momentarily forgot their ire at one another and snickered at the statement. “Sorry, senpai,” Renji snorted. “Forgot the lil’ lady was home.”
Shuuhei glared at him. “Watch it, bastard, Yumi’s a god for allowin’ you three pigs to have mahjong night here, got me? Anyone stains the floor and they’re dead,” Hisagi promised before disappearing back into the kitchen for more drinks.
“Are we out of something already?”
Shuuhei shook his head as Yumi turned around from where he was fixing a tray of snacks. “Just alcohol, don’t worry ‘bout it,” Shuuhei assured Ayasekawa, frowning as he observed the other man’s handiwork on the counter. “Oi… I told you already, you don’t gotta play host to these idiots, Yumi. We’re just gonna play a few rounds and drink some. It’s not supposed to be any hassle.”
Yumi shook his head. “It’s alright! We need to use this food up before it goes bad anyway…”
Shuuhei sighed. “Um… you’re makin’ tako wieners, babe.”
“Well, just because I’m getting rid of the food doesn’t mean it can’t be pretty,” Yumichika huffed in response. “Beautiful food is an important show of hospitality.”
Shuuhei rolled his eyes. “I’m serious, offer still stands. Gimme the word and I’ll toss those three jerks outside. We can go play at Renji’s.”
“Nonsense. It’s not fair that you always have your mahjong night at their places and never here just because of me, don’t you think?”
“It’s not a big deal…’s just boys’ night,” he assured the other man. “’s just… us… guys…” A light bulb went off in Hisagi’s head. “Hey Yumi, you wanna play too?”
“Eh? Really?”
“Well, you’re a guy, aren’t ya? It’ll be fine. Besides, this is our house, so if they don’t like it, they can leave,” Shuuhei promised, taking his lover’s arm and tugging him back out towards the action. “C’mon.”
When Shuuhei returned it was with sake, snacks and Yumichika in tow, causing a momentary lull in the antics of the other shinigami.
“Yumi’s playin’ with us,” Shuuhei announced as he set the sake down.
“Oh hell no!” Ikkaku immediately protested. “That’s a bad, bad idea!”
“I brought tako wieners!” Yumi declared cheerfully, putting the tray in Renji’s hands.
“Oi, a little respect for our hosts, yeah?” Iba interrupted, cutting Ikkaku’s protests short upon seeing the food. “If Ayasekawa wants to play then let ‘im.”
“You just want tako wieners!” Ikkaku accused, sourly. “I’m tellin’ you, as Yumichika’s longtime teammate, I know this is a bad idea!”
“Oi, this is guy’s night, ain’t it?” Renji asked around a mouthful of meat. “’s fine, he’s a guy, he can play.”
“But…”
“Shut it, Madarame. We’re startin’.”
“Che. This is a bad idea…” Ikkaku reiterated, though he complied under the pressure exerted by his happily snacking cohorts.
Several hours later, everyone realized that Ikkaku might’ve been right.
“Pinfu!”
Everyone stared at Yumi.
“Chii!”
More staring.
“Riichi!”
“Lon!”
“Pinfu again! That’s 1,000 more points!”
But then the staring got old and it just became outright disbelief.
“This has got to be some sort of fluke…” Iba muttered. “How does he keep doing that?”
“I told you!” Ikkaku hissed to Tetsuzaemon sullenly. “He has unbelievably good luck. Even more than me after I do my luck-luck dance!”
“He’s gotta be cheatin’,” Renji murmured, eyeing Ayasekawa as he bounced happily in Hisagi’s lap after his fifteenth consecutive victory.
“Waah! Tsumo this time!”
“Kan!”
“Men, tan, pin, ippatsu, shanshoku, iipeikou, dora-ichi! 24,000 points!”
Iba, Ikkaku and Renji looked at their defeated tiles dumbly.
After a moment, Iba picked one up and surreptitiously (angrily) threw it at Ikkaku’s head.
“OW! What the hell was that for?!” Madarame screamed in an agitated whisper.
“You shoulda said something earlier!” the larger man hissed under his breath as Ayasekawa pecked Hisagi victoriously in the background.
“I did say something!”
Renji sighed. “Forget it, I’m out,” he announced, loud enough to catch the happy couple’s attention.
“Uh…me too.”
“Che, yeah, me too. I know my limit. I’m done.”
Yumi looked around in bewilderment. “Already? It’s not even midnight!”
“Um… work in the mornin’ and all that, Ayasekawa, you understand,” Iba explained lamely.
“Oh well… good night then! It was nice playing with you all.” Yumichika beamed. “Maybe we can play again sometime!”
“Uh…night.”
“Later.”
“Yeah… thanks for the wieners.”
Puzzled, Yumi looked questioningly at Shuuhei as they hightailed it out of the room. Hisagi just shrugged.
Outside, the loser shinigami began dragging themselves home.
“Man, I lost the whole next week’s paycheck,” Ikkaku mourned.
“We all did, since you didn’t warn us properly!”
“Che. Next time we’re havin’ boy’s night at my place.”
“Are you kidding? Last time we had it at your place remember what happened?!”
Renji snorted. “Yeah, well, it’s only ‘cuz we got really drunk. And you two were only sore for three days! Think about it! What’s worse? That or this?” He gestured back towards Shuuhei and Yumichika’s place.
The other two thought about it for a moment.
Weighed their options.
Considered possibilities.
Analyzed pros and cons.
And then…
“All right, next week at your place.”
END
125.
Title: Tentative
Rating: PG-13
Pairing/Character/s: GanjyuxHanatarou
Word Count: 780
Warning/s: Just the boy love, no direct spoilers. Though it does kind of continue a long drabble arc with these two in it. -_-;;
Summary: Continuation of drabble #122 (Hung-over)- Ganjyu and Hanatarou keep moving forward.
Dedication: Miuu from ff.net- thanks so much for your awesome e-mail!
A/N: Dumb? Oh, I think so.
He’s always gentle with Hanatarou because every time they kiss, the little guy is shaking in his arms somehow, feeling small and overwhelmed by everything around him. It makes Ganjyu treat him extra delicately, petting his cheek or his hair, touching his throat and holding him a little bit tighter.
They’re still new to all of this after all, and there’s something awkward and pure about the way they touch each other at this stage of their relationship because right now they’re discovering the depth of their sentiment as well as the fact that it wasn’t all a dream and that it’s really okay to kiss like this, with Hanatarou curled up in Ganjyu’s lap, shaking and making little noises in the back of his throat while Ganjyu holds him steady and gently brushes the little shinigami’s cheek with his fingertips because he doesn’t trust himself to stay gentle if he tries to touch more of the other boy at this point.
Their eyes are shut tight and their kisses are short and open-mouthed, but nothing deeper than that yet because they’re still exploring and discovering one another physically.
Both of them are a little scared and a little embarrassed, tentative and unsure.
When they break for air the two of them both have cheeks stained pink, and Hanatarou always looks up at Ganjyu through shy lashes as he pants quietly against the larger man’s chest. “I-is this okay?” Yamada whispers breathlessly, sounding small and uncertain as he fists the folds of Ganjyu’s shirt unconsciously in his hands.
Ganjyu pets his hair and assures him it is, rests his chin on top of the shinigami’s head and rubs slow circles on Hanatarou’s back with his hand as he catches his own breath. It’s all a little overwhelming, even at such an early stage, and Ganjyu thinks that when things get to the next level, they might both explode or something.
It makes him chuckle to himself a little and move to press another kiss to Hanatarou’s forehead.
Hanatarou blinks up at him, looking a little confused at his sudden amusement, but he smiles back shyly when Ganjyu kisses him. “What’s funny?” he asks after a moment, looking flushed and innocent and lovely in the other man’s lap.
“’s nothing,” Ganjyu assures him with a little smile. “We got plenty of time to see if it gets to that…” he soothes, not wanting to make the naturally jittery shinigami nervous with prospects of more forceful caresses so soon into things.
“T-that?” Hanatarou is really perplexed now, though some of the worry has left his eyes because Ganjyu seems fine despite his sudden attack of cryptic speech.
“Don’t worry ‘bout it,” Ganjyu murmurs again, splaying his fingers out on the side of Hanatarou’s throat and caressing, feather-light against the skin there. “Something to think about later…there’s plenty of time…”
“Aa… plenty of…” Hanatarou’s eyes go wide. “Ganjyu!!”
Ganjyu blinks back at the shinigami’s sudden shift in mood. “Eh?”
And then Hanatarou is scrambling off of Ganjyu’s lap and back onto his own two feet rather frantically. “Your lunch break is over!” he informs the larger man quickly. “Don’t you have a test this afternoon?”
Ganjyu blinks at Hanatarou dumbly for a moment.
“Shit.”
“Hurry!”
And then Ganjyu is on his feet too, and his bento is still uneaten on the table because he decided to spend the whole hour kissing Yamada in the fourth division shinigami’s room instead of eating and studying some more like he’d planned.
He’s late already and probably really in trouble and Hanatarou looks guiltily back at him as he grabs his things to go. “I’m sorry!” Hanatarou apologizes reflexively, worrying his hands together.
And even though he’s late, Ganjyu’s conscience can’t have that expression be the last thing he sees before going into his exam, so he pauses halfway out the door and murmurs, “idiot,” before yanking Hanatarou towards him so he can kiss the little shinigami one last time before he leaves. It’s not as gentle as their previous times because he’s in a rush to go, and it makes him clumsy and forceful and hurried.
It also strips all the awkward hesitance right out of him.
When he pulls back, Hanatarou’s eyes are huge and he stares back at Ganjyu with flushed red cheeks and kiss-swollen lips, breathing heavily and looking absolutely weak in the knees.
Ganjyu groans painfully when he sees that and throws himself forcibly out of the door at a run, promising that when he gets back later tonight, he’ll try that again.
Because now, Ganjyu thinks that maybe Hanatarou doesn’t have to be kissed so gently all the time after all.
END
126.
Title: Real Friendship
Rating: PG
Pairing/Character/s: Urahara, Yoruichi
Word Count: 303
Warning/s: vague spoilers for the Urahara/Yoruichi backstory portion of the Soul Society Arc.
Summary: Urahara asks for a favor.
Dedication: Beck- who seems to be oft surrounded by infuriating men herself. O.o
A/N: I dunno, I just felt like I hadn’t written these two in a long while. So I just did. And it just came out with Urahara being infuriating in that way he is, and it just kind of ran from there. I didn’t really think about it lots. *shrug*
“I need your help.”
They weren’t words she’d ever expected to hear from him, not the infuriatingly confident guy who always smiled at her mysteriously from under long bangs, cheerful and friendly and one of the most deadly men she’d ever met in her life.
She doesn’t know what to say when she hears him ask for her help, because the words mean only one thing and a million other things at the same time, and it feels like all the pressure is on her after he’s gotten it off his chest, standing there with that mysterious smile on his face and waiting for her answer like he just asked her the time of day and not for something that may or may not be life-altering.
She looks back at him and feels like the entire universe is shifting with just the power of that smile between them. She knows just with a look that when he asks her for her help like he just did, it means something enormous.
They stand there for a moment as she studies him, he smiling at her through those unruly blonde bangs and looking happily enigmatic as he awaits her response.
Yoruichi wants to punch a couple of those shiny white teeth right out of that grinning mouth.
Later, after Urahara has to smile that smile of his and try to look mysterious while sporting a swollen black eye, she finally says, “What do you need?”
When he tells her, she eventually, inevitably agrees.
She can’t not, and he knew it all along, the sneak.
So she grits her teeth and prepares to help him with his newest crazy scheme, because he’s her friend and he really does need her.
But all the same, it makes her wish she’d given the bastard two black eyes first.
END
127.
Title: Illness
Rating: PG
Pairing/Character/s: GinxKira undertones, but nothing really obvious about it.
Word Count: 337
Warning/s: Spoilers for the Soul Society arc.
Summary: Kira works hard.
Dedication: Christine- who’s sort of like Kira sometimes, I think. -_-;;
A/N: Wow, they’re starting to come easier now that the TV’s off. Who knew? Anyway, I think I’ll write one about nosebleeds next cuz guess what? My allergies have decided to kick in after about a week of being back and voila… dry weather means MY NOSE EXPLODED AND THERE’S BLOOD EVERYWHERE. Yay.
Everyone talks about how brave he is, how the three of them all are. They talk about how Hinamori’s still trying so much, how Hisagi’s being strong and Kira’s always working hard.
Kira doesn’t think that they understand, not really. The three of them, they aren’t doing it because they’re brave, he thinks. They’re doing it because it’s all they can do. They keep busy and do their jobs while secretly hoping that it was all a lie and that their captains will come home to them one day soon.
They keep working so that when their captains do return, everything will be ready for them. Kira thinks that if everyone knew, they’d think the three of them were sick instead of brave, especially after everything that happened with their missing leaders.
He would agree with them.
He thinks he might be a little bit ill, thinks he has to be, because every day after he finishes all his brave, hard work, he comes back to Ichimaru Gin’s old room. He lights a candle and looks around and cleans up a little, because if his captain comes back, he doesn’t want it to be too dusty in here to sleep.
Everyday after he’s worked hard and put on his bravest face, he still thinks about Ichimaru-taichou.
If anyone else knew, they would think he was a little sick, and he would agree with them.
But he can’t help it, and when he crawls into Gin’s familiar bed and covers himself with familiar blankets that still smell of his captain, and of blood and sex and other familiar things, he feels whole again.
He forgets his hard work and lets go of that exhausting brave front when he’s curled up in Ichimaru Gin’s bed, hoping that maybe tomorrow, his captain will return and everything will be like it was before.
It’s the only way he can fall asleep anymore, and as he drifts off each night, he thinks to himself that he’s a little bit sick for it.
END
128.
Title: Anemic
Rating: PG-13
Pairing/Character/s: RenjixByakuya
Word Count: 629
Warning/s: No spoilers, just…blood.
Summary: Renji has seasonal allergies.
Dedication: My brother, who also has a daily nosebleed, it seems. -_-;;
A/N: MY ALLERGIES HAVE FINALLY CAUGHT UP WITH ME AFTER A WEEK OF BEING HOME. I’m gushing blood. I’ll have to eat like, ten steaks to make up for the loss of iron, I mean it. -_-;; And it’s not cuz I’m a pervert, SHUT UP. If that myth were true I’d need a transfusion every three hours.
For the past few days, Abarai Renji has been forced to walk around with a little white trail of Kleenex that went down from inside his nostril to the top of his lip. And while it’s not really glaringly obvious from a long distance, he still finds it rather mortifying because it’s unquestionably noticeable if one takes a second look.
People have smirked as he walks by, and Byakuya, who has been oddly disgusted with him lately, has tried to ignore the indignity of it all as best he can.
It happened during one of his rare, unobstructed-nostril, blood-free moments that Renji cornered the other man in his office and asked him why he seemed so put out with his vice-captain’s nosebleeds. Byakuya had looked at him for a moment and then responded with a very curt, “It’s as if your nose has been constantly bleeding for the past week, Renji. If you don’t want to develop anemia I would suggest that you behave like less of a pervert.”
Renji had only been able to stare back at his captain incredulously. “Um…excuse me, sir?”
The sixth division captain sniffed. “You heard me.”
And Renji still hadn’t been able to believe it. “You know that’s a myth right?” the vice-captain had inquired carefully. “Taichou…my nose only bleeds ‘cuz of my seasonal allergies. I mean it. It’s too damn dry here!”
Byakuya frowned. “I saw your nose erupt when the female officers went to attend the summer festival in their yukata the other day.”
Renji still hadn’t been able to believe it. “Is that what this is about? You’re jealous ‘cuz you think my nosebleeds are happenin’ because of some pervy thoughts or something?”
Byakuya merely arched an eyebrow in response before turning imperiously back to his paperwork, letting Abarai know by his reaction that the vice-captain had hit the nail on the head.
“I don’t believe this!” And he still doesn’t, to tell the truth. If he wasn’t so shocked at the time, he thinks that he might’ve been amused by the great Kuchiki-taichou’s sudden display of deeply misled naiveté.
As it is, he doesn’t particularly like it when his lover is displeased with him, and in his most cajoling tone, he’d begun to reassure Byakuya that the sole culprit to his chronic nosebleeds were his seasonal allergies. “Taichou… I mean it, it’s just my damn allergies. C’mon, I’ve been bleeding everyday for like, the whole day, haven’t I? Even I can’t have pervy thoughts that often and still do my job, right?” he’d asked, appealing to Byakuya’s sense of rationale. “That wouldn’t make sense!”
Byakuya eyed him from his paperwork. “So you’re saying that what I saw the other day was a fluke?”
Renji, having sensed that he was getting somewhere, had stepped around his captain’s desk to rest his hands reassuringly on the other man’s shoulders. “Complete fluke. Weird timing, I mean it.”
“You swear?”
Nodding, Renji had proclaimed, “Swear it.”
“…all right then.”
The redhead, sighing with relief, had moved to kiss Byakuya then, and when the sixth division captain had tilted his head upwards invitingly, Renji knew that all was truly forgiven.
Their kisses had deepened eventually, and work was, in one of Byakuya’s rare moments of capitulation to Renji’s will, temporarily forgotten. Renji had smiled into his lover’s lips as a sense of relieved longing washed over him, making him realize that over the past few days, Byakuya had been irate with him and as a result, he’d missed the familiar feel of the other man’s lips in that time.
However, just as things had been getting interesting, Byakuya removed his top.
Renji, currently sentenced to a week of sleeping alone, will never forgive his nose for choosing that exact moment to explode on him.
END
HELP ME.