Elites at the Beach, part three!
Me? Motivated? Must be my pain meds XD
A few minutes and two asprin later, Kira and Abirama had taken their possitions on a marked out stretch of sand. The other six competitors and the three judges stood beyond the boundries and out of the line of fire. It all would have been very dramatic but, the fraccion would not...shut...up!
"BARRAGON'S STRONGEST FRACCION!" he continued.
"Will you shut up! It's sandcastle building! It's not that epic!" yelled Kira.
"Yeah, you tell 'im Izuru-kun," yelled Gin, waving happily at his former fukutaicho.
"Hey! You're supposed to be neutral!" protested Luppi.
"An' you're supposed ta be dead," smiled Gin.
"...touche..." said Luppi thoughtfully.
"Come on Kira, you beat this guy once, you can do it again!" called Rangiku.
"Show him who's boss Kira!" yelled Shuuhei.
Kira smiled meekly and waved at his supportes, except Gin for, obvious reasons. The other fraccion were not too concerned with cheering on Abirama (he did most of his own cheering) so instead they stood around making bets.
"I'll put my money on the pretty blond," said Charlotte confidently.
"Exacta! I shall crush anyone who-" began Findor.
"Not you!" snapped Charlotte, then pointed to Kira, "Him."
"You do know you're betting against our comrad," said Pow.
"I know, but I think he'll win," said Charlotte.
"No es exacta! Abirama has learned to keep his distance now, so the fukutaicho will not be able to touch him," protested Findor.
"Perhaps," said Charlotte thoughtfully, "But this, Kira, is much prettier."
"He's prettier...so you think he'll win?" asked Pow.
"Precisely," said Charlotte with a nod.
Pow and Findor exchanged a worried look. "I don't think he's exacta in the head," whispered Findor. Pow nodded in agreement.
"Can we start this thing already? I'm bored," interupted Luppi.
"Aw, have somethin' ta do later? I guess bein' dead keeps ya busy," smiled Gin. Luppi smacked him.
"Alright I'll start it then!" said Rangiku with a grin. She stood up and waved a large green flag, "Go!"
Then nobody moved, all eyes were instead on Rangiku. The blond woman looked about confused, "I said 'Go'!" Again she waved her flag to signal the start of the event.
"You can move now..." said Rangiku, starting to get freaked out, "Did I do something wrong?"
"No, but when a skantily clad buxom blond starts waving a flag around, perverted men tend to shut down their brains and stare," said Yumichika, slightly irritated.
"Ayasegawa-goseki! We- we're not perverts!" protested Shuuhei. Kira, Abirama, Ikkaku, Findor, Gin and Luppi hastily nodded.
"You're all drooling," grumbled Yumichika.
"Fine, someone else wave the flag," sighed Rangiku. The seven previously mentioned men groaned.
"I guess I'll do it," said Luppi. The six other previously mentioned men groaned louder. "Hey! Do you want this thing started or not!" yelled Luppi. Not hearing any groans, he waved the flag and the event began.
Kira walked completely normally down to the water, scooped up a bucket of water and went back to the site of where he would build his sandcastle. He poured out the water to get the sand wet then shovelled the wet sand into the bucket. He packet it down and turned it over, making a corner palasade for his castle. Then it was speared by a feather.
"Can't we all just get along?" Kira half sobbed, "War sucks."
"NOT UNTILL I BEAT THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF YOU! I'M THE GREATEST!" yelled Abirama.
With that an epic battle that was supposed sandcastle contest began. But that was not the only battle...
"Come on Rangi-chan, ya can't stay mad at me forever," whined Gin.
"You betrayed the Soul Society, abandoned everyone who cared about you, brainwashed Kira, let that tentacle freak attack me and then let that monster thing blow a hole in my stomach! I think I can stay mad for a very long time!" huffed Rangiku.
"Want me to stab her for you?" offered Luppi, "It would be my pleasure."
"No...that's okay..." said Gin miserably, "Please forgive me Rangi-chan?"
"No!" snapped Rangiku.
"Forgive me...for a Klondike bar?" asked Gin, offering her an icecream sandwhich.
Rangiku looked at the puppy eyed Gin and the delicious treat she was offered. "...fine...but only this once..."
Luppi then started rolling around with laughter, "She sold out her beliefs for a Klondike bar!"
"What would you do for a Klondike bar?" asked Gin sweetly.
Across the beach, Yumichika was sulking.
"Come on Yumichika, is this about us staring at Rangiku?" asked Ikkaku.
The fifth seat crouched in the sand and traced pictures of flowers. "...maybe..."
"Is it about the drool?" the bald shinigami added.
"...a little..." mumbled the bald shinigami's trusted cohort.
"Don't worry, you're still my only partner...even if you aren't a hot blond," added Ikkaku.
Yumichika looked up, slightly perturbed, "Would you...prefer it if I was blond?"
Ikkaku thought about it for a second, "Uh, no, you're fine the way you are."
"And yet...they're both straight..." Shuuhei thought to himself sweatdropping. Soon enough his focus went back to Kira.
Abirama had learned from his last battle and was staying airbourne while Kira tried to dodge and pile sand. Since their last encounter had left the loud fighter with a very intense pain in the neck, Abirama was not looking to repeat the experience. Although he was having a hard time taking the fighting seriously when everyone was in swimsuits. It was just a little on the ridiculous side. Could he watch Kira fighting in a pair of blue swiming trunks and not giggle to himself? Actually he could not giggle, however he could laugh arrogantly and trash talk.
"BWAHAHAHA!!! YOU LOOK LIKE A MORON RUNNING AROUND LIKE THAT!!!!" howled Abirama.
Kira growled to himself. There was no way he could get at Abirama in the air, especially while he was firing off feather projectiles everywhere. The fraccion seemed determined to take his revenge for that, pain in the neck, from last time.
"WHAT WILL YOU DO NOW FUKUTAICHO!" he laughed triumphantly.
'I was hoping to build a sand castle about now...' Kira thought to himself.
"Hey Abirama!" called Findor.
"WHAT!?!?!" yelled the loud fraccion.
"Aren't you supposed to be doing something else?" asked Pow.
Abirama paused for a long awkward silence. "BHCFCGHGFDRJYHULIHHGFHRDFSANDCASTLE!!!!!!!"
"Exacta!" called Findor.
The airbourn faccion swooped down closer to the sand, only to be driven off by a released Wabisuke.
"WHAT THE HELL MAN!!!!!" yelled Abirama.
Kira glared him down, "I'm not going against the rules. I just figured I would cut out the middle man. Instead of letting you build a castle then knocking it down, I just won't let you near the sand."
On the sidelines, Shuuhei smiled, "Well, he seems to have figured it out."
"Yes, but if Abirama keeps shooting at him, Kira-fukutaicho won't be able to build anything himself," observed Yumichika.
"But, he has built something. Destroyed or not, that counts for something right?" asked Ikkaku.
"I guess we'll find out," said Shuuhei, "They're almost out of time."
The battle of sand sea and sky raged on as the sand castle builders defended their feilds. Abirama kept to the skies and demolished anything Kira built, while the shinigami kept his rival away from the sand. Then Abirama used a new tact. Flying close he beat his wings with double the force and sent sand flying everywhere, including Kira's eyes. The blond let out a cry of pain as his eyes burned and he took off towards the water. With Kira out of the way, Abirama was free to build. There was however, one tiny problem.
"Say..." said Abirama quieter than usual, "How do you...build one of these things anyways?"
"What!?" yelled Charlotte, "We lived in a freaking desert and you never built a sandcastle!?"
"Um...no..." said the winged arrancar.
"Oh, I'll tell you how!" called Rangiku sweetly, "I taught Orihime once, you just scoop up some water in your-"
"No! No! We are not doing that kind of gag in a PG rated fic!" yelled Yumichika.
"You're just jealous..." grumbled Hisagi, who had been looking forward to the lesson ever since he had heard of it.
Yumichika however, was not amused, and smacked him, "Pervert! You wouldn't know beauty if it snuck up on you and sucked your energy dry!"
"Come on Yumichika, leave him alone," said Ikkaku, signalling for the fifth seat to join him, "Just sit here and watch."
Yumichika pouted, but obeyed.
Kira flushed his eyes and went to the wet stretch of sand and quickly caked some together. He would have to hold his ground now and defend his castle from destruction. There waas no more time for to be on the offensive.
"And, stop!" said Luppi, looking at his watch, "Alright, let's see what you numbskulls accomplished."
The judges looked from a dry pile of sand, to a wet pile of sand.
"Oh...well...er...Good job?" offered Rangiku.
"They both suck," noted Luppi, "Really, really badly."
"Oh come now they aren't that bad," said Gin.
Kira hung his head in shame as Luppi pulled out a measuring tape. "I guess we'll have to do this based on size. I mean, come on, those don't even look like castles."
Rangiku smacked him, "Be nice! They did their best!"
"Dumb broad," grumbled Luppi, "Should've killed you when you had the chance, along with the pretty boy and that bald guy."
"Who're you calling bald!" yelled Ikkaku.
"Now now, watch your blood pressure," said Yumichika, holding Ikkaku back, "We aren't aloud to hit the judges Ikkaku, we'll be disqualified."
"But you heard what he said!" yelled the bald and in denile shinigami.
"I heard him call me pretty," mused Yumichika. Hisagi palmed his forehead and wondered how the two eleventh divisioners had passed their psychological evaluation.
To their chargin, the judges found that the 'castles' were the same size.
"Well how the hell do we decide this now!?" exclaimed Luppi.
Rangiku looked at the mounds of sand, "Well, Kira used wet sand, so it sticks together better and the rocks are shiney."
"Good point Rangi-chan~ Also, I like Izuru," said Gin, flashing a smile at the blond fukutaicho.
"That doesn't mean I like you back..." Kira mumbled to himself.
"Face it Abirama, your castle sucks eggs," said Luppi, "Mind you the shinigami's wasn't much better. Victory goes to the shinigami team."
"Good job Kira," said Shuuhei, "But you better take a break, you look exausted."
"Thanks," said Kira with a weak smile.
"I won!" squealed Charlotte, jumping up and down, "I think I'll go get a facial done with my winnings."
"Get a new face while you're at it," Yumichika whispered under his breath.
In the mean time, Gin was kicking over the sandcastles. "Anyways, we'll give ya'll a ten minute break. When we come back, be ready fo' da next challenge."
Shuuhei smiled. That was good, he only had to keep his team occupied for ten minutes. That should be easy enough, or so he though. In the time it took for him to turn around, Yumichika and Charlotte were hissing and yowling again, Ikkaku was challenging Pow and Abirama was screaming that this rematch did not count. Findor put his hand on the distraught Shuuhei's shoulder.
"Don't worry fukutaicho, we can't be exacta all the time," said Findor smugly.
Why? For once in his life, couldn't something go right!? Perhaps after this 'vacation' he would take a leave of absence far far away from Arrancar and the eleventh division. That thought was all that kept him sane, for now.