Bleach drabbles repost, part 1
Tousen has always had mixed feelings about the arrancar. On the one hand, they're hollows. More advanced and more human than your average beasts, yes, but part of him still wants nothing more than to kill every last one of them. On the other hand, they are his allies and he is honor-bound to fight with them, not against them.
Some days he thinks that is more a crying shame than others.
The only arrancar who does not evoke feelings of violence in him is the Cuatro Espada, Ulquiorra Schiffer. If he is honest with himself (something that happens less often than he'll admit), he is...curious about Ulquiorra's power, specifically his power to show others what he has seen. What does Ulquiorra himself see during such an event? How does one develop a power like that? He surely didn't discover it by accident, so how did that happen? And in his weaker moments, would that work with me?
Then he'll brush up against one of his-his allies and the touch of his reiatsu to theirs will give him a brief look behind the faces he has never seen. His bloodlust will flare and his curiosity will turn to an odd sort of empathy. If he had to see these abominations on top of all the rest, he'd probably tear out his eyes, too. In Hueco Mundo, he'd rather be blind.
Title: Time to Let Go
Word Count: 317
Rating: G
Summary: bellumina also prompted me for Kuukaku, Yoruichi--end of an era. On the day Kisuke leaves Soul Society, Yoruichi goes to visit Kuukaku one last time.
Kisuke vanished from Soul Society on a Monday morning. Word reached the Shiba household (no longer a great House but still a home, nonetheless) around lunchtime. Kuukaku immediately sent everyone out of the house, with orders not to return until the sun set the following day. Once the house was vacant, she made some tea and took it out to the small garden Miyako had planted for her to wait.
Before the tea had cooled, a shadow detached itself from the side of the house and approached Kuukaku's back. She smiled into her teacup. "Been a long time, Yoruichi," she said fondly. "Sorry I didn't expect you sooner."
"Don't worry about it," Yoruichi replied, sitting down and taking the teacup left for her but not really settling in. Kuukaku was not surprised to see it. She knew why Yoruichi had come.
"I'll worry about you, Kitty Cat, especially after you're gone," she said softly, forcing herself not to look away.
Now it was Yoruichi's turn to smile sadly into her teacup. "Oh, you will, will you? Is that permission, my little burning flower?" Her words were light and playful, but her voice was already worlds away.
"I suppose it is, at that."
Finally, Yoruichi looked up and met Kuukaku's eyes. "I'll just have to make sure I look after myself better than he will, then," she said quietly.
Kuukaku took it for the reassurance it was and understood that she would get no more from this encounter than Yoruichi had to give. "You do that."
Yoruichi vanished from Soul Society sometime before the sun set that Monday night. She left the place that never seemed to know quite what to do with her and went forward into a new life and a new adventure. And if she was the second to leave that day, well, at least she'd see a familiar face on the other side. Eventually.
Title: Taking Pictures
Word Count: 434
Rating: G-ish, I think
Summary:
youkai_girl prompted me for Ichigo/Renji--camera. Renji and Ichigo connect through a camera lens.
It had all started because Renji had gotten drunk. Of course. He'd lost a bet with Nanao (he still wasn't sure why or how) and she'd demanded pictures of Ichigo as payment and given him her camera. He'd been perfectly willing to comply. He'd gotten off worse after a lost bet, after all.
What he hadn't been prepared for was what he saw when he looked through the camera.
He took a picture of Ichigo and his younger sister Yuzu. She was trying to reach something in the kitchen that was hopelessly out of her reach. Ichigo had a hand on her shoulder and a curiously soft smile on his face as he reached into one of the upper cabinets. Yuzu was half-turned towards him, her face already lit up like a miniature sun. When he looked through the camera at the scene, Renji saw Ichigo's love for his family, and theirs for him.
He took a picture of Ichigo after a training session with Urahara. He was bruised, bloodied and filthy. His shihakusho was torn. Zangetsu was stuck in the ground and leaning on him was clearly the only thing keeping Ichigo upright. Even so, he was standing long after those who would count themselves his betters would have fallen. In this, Renji saw Ichigo's strength.
He took a picture of Ichigo on the roof of his house at night. He leaned back, propping himself up on his hands behind him, dressed in little more than a pair of sleep pants. Renji had never seen so much of Ichigo's skin without blood on it. His eyes were closed and his face turned up to the sky. The moonlight turned his pale skin silver. Suddenly, Renji saw Ichigo's beauty and it terrified him. He dropped the camera and ran.
Two blocks later, Ichigo caught up with him. He shoved Renji up against a tree and kissed him. Renji was unsurprised to find that Ichigo kissed exactly like he did everything else: hard and fast and with everything he had. Ichigo pulled back barely far enough to allow air to flow between them and whispered against Renji's lips.
"Caught you."
Renji laughed. "Yeah, you did. You gonna keep me?"
"Always," Ichigo breathed. "You're mine now."
In the end, Nanao had to enlist Soi Fon's help to get her camera back, and she never did get the pictures. By then, Renji didn't care. The camera was just a tool and the pictures were nothing without inspiration. And Renji had all the inspiration he'd ever need by his side every day and in his arms every night.
Title: Dance With Me?
Word Count: 150
Rating: G
Summary: shadowgirl1605 prompted me for Isshin/Masaki--"don't let anybody put you down." Isshin's a horrible dancer. Good thing he only does it for Masaki.
Isshin was a horrible dancer. It baffled Masaki a little, because he seemed oddly graceful at times, usually the same times he took on an unaccountably dangerous air. As Isshin's strange friend with the hat said, secrets make the world go 'round.
Unfortunately, Isshin didn't seem to know that he was a horrible dancer and tried to dance with her in public at every single opportunity. He always looked so joyful when they were dancing together that Masaki could never refuse him. Still, she eventually had to ask him WHY he kept doing this.
"Well," he drawled, "it makes me happy to have you in my arms, no matter what I look like. And after all, you were the one who told me not to let anyone take my happiness away from me, weren't you?"
Masaki smiled. "Yes, I suppose I was. Isshin?"
"Yes, Masaki?"
"Would you like this dance?"
Title: Semantics
Word Count: 184
Rating: G
Summary: shadowgirl1605 prompted me for Urahara/Yoruichi--"it's an action figure, not a doll." Yoruichi gets curious about one of Kisuke's new toys. No, not that kind of toy. Get your minds out of the gutter.
Kisuke, Yoruichi noticed, had a new toy. No, not like that. An honest-to-god toy doll of none other than that ridiculous washed up TV star/psuedo-superhero/wannabe hollow-killer. His name was Don Kanonji, unless her memory failed her.
Yoruichi wasn't really surprised that he'd gotten himself a doll--he toyed with full-sized living people enough that it was probably inevitable. She wasn't surprised that he didn't bat an eye at carrying the doll in public, because she had long known that Kisuke Urahara had no shame whatsoever. She wasn't even surprised to find the doll in his bed. She didn't question why it was there. She was pretty sure she didn't want to know. She was surprised that he'd gotten Don Kanonji of all people.
Eventually, the one commonly accepted fault of all felines got to her and she asked Kisuke directly.
"Yoruichi," he whined, looking gravely affronted and terribly cute in the process, "it's an action figure, not a doll!"
Yoruichi just laughed, wrote the whole affair off as "Kisuke being Kisuke" and dragged him off to go rescue Ichigo again, action figure and all.
Untitled Isshin/Urahara dialogue
Word Count: 82
Rating: PG
Summary: shadowgirl1605 prompted me for Isshin/Urahara--"less talk, more action." Isshin and Urahara get attacked, but Urahara's more interested in discussion than destruction.
Note: This is dialogue-only because the prose bits wouldn't cooperate. It's set before Isshin and Urahara leave Soul Society.
"Hollows? Here?"
"Right, because they're usually so respecting of-get down!-other people's space!"
"Really? I hadn't noticed."
"Kisuke-"
"I mean sure, they are territorial..."
"Oh, you did not just spit fire at me you bastard."
"And they definitely display verifiable tendencies in behavior..."
"You don't-agh!-you don't say."
"Oh, I do. It really is fascinating when you think about all the different-"
"Kisuke!"
"Yes, Isshin?"
"We. Are. Being. Attacked! Less talk, more action!"
"Oh, all right. Awaken, Benihime!"
Title: Drunken Quincy Princess Ishida
Word Count: 323
Rating: PG
Summary: mysocalledhell prompted me for "Ishida gives Ichigo a blowjob." As promised, I wrote crack.
Note: Here's a quote from the entry in question to explain this one. "Oh yeah, one more thing. I don't write smut. I've no desire to and I'm no good at it anyway, so you really don't want to read it. Trust me on this. So, while I'll happily take prompts that flirt with sex...if you give me something like "Uryu gives Ichigo a blowjob" you're going to get drunken Ishida wielding the Mystic Quincy Hairdryer of Spiritual Empowerment and bitching about Ichigo's split ends." Piqued your interest yet?
Ichigo stood motionless in the door to his room, torn between hysterical laughter and abject horror. Was that...Ishida? Suddenly the figure noticed him in the doorway and lurched to its feet, giving Ichigo a clear view in the process. Yeah, that was Ishida.
Apparently the height of fashion right now involved a purple skirt of some weird Western design, a shirt that had surely come from Chad's closet and a paper crown with a crapload of sequins and other sparkly bits glued onto it. Ichigo wasn't going to comment on the cape. It wasn't like that was anything out of the ordinary.
Then Ishida reached around behind him and pulled something vaguely gun-shaped from...somewhere. Ichigo didn't want to know. "Ishida. What are you doing."
"I am wielding the Myshtical Quinshy Hairdryer of Shpiritual Empowerment to fight the evils of Shplit Endsh."
Oooh. Drunken Quincy. Well, that makes everything better, doesn't it? "The Mystical Quincy Hairdryer of Spiritual Empowerment?"
"Yesh."
Ichigo sighed and tried not to start laughing. "Ishida, that's Yuzu's hairdryer. You drew on it with a blue crayon."
Drunken Quincy Princess Ishida looked gravely affronted at Ichigo's insinuation. "It'sh blue and white. And look! It'sh got a crosh on it. So it'sh Quinshy and o'ly I can prop'ly weild it." Ishida tried to look severe and gesture menacingly with the dryer towards Ichigo. He only managed ridiculous. "YOU," he said oh-too-seriously, "have the dreaded Shplit Endsh. We musht do battle to Presherve the Beauty of the Hair."
"Mmm-hmm," Ichigo agreed easily. Any excuse he got to kick Ishida's ass was not to be tossed aside, in his opinion. Still, there was something missing. "You know, I think we might need to chronicle your mighty battle against the evils of split ends." He leaned back out into the hallway, finally losing the battle against a shit-eating grin. "Hey, Karin," he yelled. "Could you do your big brother a favor and bring the camera?"
Title: Bananas
Word Count: 49
Rating: PG
Summary: shizukashadow prompted me for Zangetsu, Zabimaru--bananas. Zangetsu and Zabimaru settle a very important question.
"He said what?" Zangetsu asked, looking a bit confused.
"Dunno, exactly," Zabimaru replied. "'M just sayin' what Renji told me. But, yeah, bananas. What the fuck?"
"I couldn't begin to guess," Zangetsu said dryly. "Still..."
"Still what," Zabimaru snarled.
"Well...DO you have any banana trees in your inner world?"
Okay. That's it for now. Rest of them in the next entry.
Some days he thinks that is more a crying shame than others.
The only arrancar who does not evoke feelings of violence in him is the Cuatro Espada, Ulquiorra Schiffer. If he is honest with himself (something that happens less often than he'll admit), he is...curious about Ulquiorra's power, specifically his power to show others what he has seen. What does Ulquiorra himself see during such an event? How does one develop a power like that? He surely didn't discover it by accident, so how did that happen? And in his weaker moments, would that work with me?
Then he'll brush up against one of his-his allies and the touch of his reiatsu to theirs will give him a brief look behind the faces he has never seen. His bloodlust will flare and his curiosity will turn to an odd sort of empathy. If he had to see these abominations on top of all the rest, he'd probably tear out his eyes, too. In Hueco Mundo, he'd rather be blind.
Title: Time to Let Go
Word Count: 317
Rating: G
Summary: bellumina also prompted me for Kuukaku, Yoruichi--end of an era. On the day Kisuke leaves Soul Society, Yoruichi goes to visit Kuukaku one last time.
Kisuke vanished from Soul Society on a Monday morning. Word reached the Shiba household (no longer a great House but still a home, nonetheless) around lunchtime. Kuukaku immediately sent everyone out of the house, with orders not to return until the sun set the following day. Once the house was vacant, she made some tea and took it out to the small garden Miyako had planted for her to wait.
Before the tea had cooled, a shadow detached itself from the side of the house and approached Kuukaku's back. She smiled into her teacup. "Been a long time, Yoruichi," she said fondly. "Sorry I didn't expect you sooner."
"Don't worry about it," Yoruichi replied, sitting down and taking the teacup left for her but not really settling in. Kuukaku was not surprised to see it. She knew why Yoruichi had come.
"I'll worry about you, Kitty Cat, especially after you're gone," she said softly, forcing herself not to look away.
Now it was Yoruichi's turn to smile sadly into her teacup. "Oh, you will, will you? Is that permission, my little burning flower?" Her words were light and playful, but her voice was already worlds away.
"I suppose it is, at that."
Finally, Yoruichi looked up and met Kuukaku's eyes. "I'll just have to make sure I look after myself better than he will, then," she said quietly.
Kuukaku took it for the reassurance it was and understood that she would get no more from this encounter than Yoruichi had to give. "You do that."
Yoruichi vanished from Soul Society sometime before the sun set that Monday night. She left the place that never seemed to know quite what to do with her and went forward into a new life and a new adventure. And if she was the second to leave that day, well, at least she'd see a familiar face on the other side. Eventually.
Title: Taking Pictures
Word Count: 434
Rating: G-ish, I think
Summary:
youkai_girl prompted me for Ichigo/Renji--camera. Renji and Ichigo connect through a camera lens.
It had all started because Renji had gotten drunk. Of course. He'd lost a bet with Nanao (he still wasn't sure why or how) and she'd demanded pictures of Ichigo as payment and given him her camera. He'd been perfectly willing to comply. He'd gotten off worse after a lost bet, after all.
What he hadn't been prepared for was what he saw when he looked through the camera.
He took a picture of Ichigo and his younger sister Yuzu. She was trying to reach something in the kitchen that was hopelessly out of her reach. Ichigo had a hand on her shoulder and a curiously soft smile on his face as he reached into one of the upper cabinets. Yuzu was half-turned towards him, her face already lit up like a miniature sun. When he looked through the camera at the scene, Renji saw Ichigo's love for his family, and theirs for him.
He took a picture of Ichigo after a training session with Urahara. He was bruised, bloodied and filthy. His shihakusho was torn. Zangetsu was stuck in the ground and leaning on him was clearly the only thing keeping Ichigo upright. Even so, he was standing long after those who would count themselves his betters would have fallen. In this, Renji saw Ichigo's strength.
He took a picture of Ichigo on the roof of his house at night. He leaned back, propping himself up on his hands behind him, dressed in little more than a pair of sleep pants. Renji had never seen so much of Ichigo's skin without blood on it. His eyes were closed and his face turned up to the sky. The moonlight turned his pale skin silver. Suddenly, Renji saw Ichigo's beauty and it terrified him. He dropped the camera and ran.
Two blocks later, Ichigo caught up with him. He shoved Renji up against a tree and kissed him. Renji was unsurprised to find that Ichigo kissed exactly like he did everything else: hard and fast and with everything he had. Ichigo pulled back barely far enough to allow air to flow between them and whispered against Renji's lips.
"Caught you."
Renji laughed. "Yeah, you did. You gonna keep me?"
"Always," Ichigo breathed. "You're mine now."
In the end, Nanao had to enlist Soi Fon's help to get her camera back, and she never did get the pictures. By then, Renji didn't care. The camera was just a tool and the pictures were nothing without inspiration. And Renji had all the inspiration he'd ever need by his side every day and in his arms every night.
Title: Dance With Me?
Word Count: 150
Rating: G
Summary: shadowgirl1605 prompted me for Isshin/Masaki--"don't let anybody put you down." Isshin's a horrible dancer. Good thing he only does it for Masaki.
Isshin was a horrible dancer. It baffled Masaki a little, because he seemed oddly graceful at times, usually the same times he took on an unaccountably dangerous air. As Isshin's strange friend with the hat said, secrets make the world go 'round.
Unfortunately, Isshin didn't seem to know that he was a horrible dancer and tried to dance with her in public at every single opportunity. He always looked so joyful when they were dancing together that Masaki could never refuse him. Still, she eventually had to ask him WHY he kept doing this.
"Well," he drawled, "it makes me happy to have you in my arms, no matter what I look like. And after all, you were the one who told me not to let anyone take my happiness away from me, weren't you?"
Masaki smiled. "Yes, I suppose I was. Isshin?"
"Yes, Masaki?"
"Would you like this dance?"
Title: Semantics
Word Count: 184
Rating: G
Summary: shadowgirl1605 prompted me for Urahara/Yoruichi--"it's an action figure, not a doll." Yoruichi gets curious about one of Kisuke's new toys. No, not that kind of toy. Get your minds out of the gutter.
Kisuke, Yoruichi noticed, had a new toy. No, not like that. An honest-to-god toy doll of none other than that ridiculous washed up TV star/psuedo-superhero/wannabe hollow-killer. His name was Don Kanonji, unless her memory failed her.
Yoruichi wasn't really surprised that he'd gotten himself a doll--he toyed with full-sized living people enough that it was probably inevitable. She wasn't surprised that he didn't bat an eye at carrying the doll in public, because she had long known that Kisuke Urahara had no shame whatsoever. She wasn't even surprised to find the doll in his bed. She didn't question why it was there. She was pretty sure she didn't want to know. She was surprised that he'd gotten Don Kanonji of all people.
Eventually, the one commonly accepted fault of all felines got to her and she asked Kisuke directly.
"Yoruichi," he whined, looking gravely affronted and terribly cute in the process, "it's an action figure, not a doll!"
Yoruichi just laughed, wrote the whole affair off as "Kisuke being Kisuke" and dragged him off to go rescue Ichigo again, action figure and all.
Untitled Isshin/Urahara dialogue
Word Count: 82
Rating: PG
Summary: shadowgirl1605 prompted me for Isshin/Urahara--"less talk, more action." Isshin and Urahara get attacked, but Urahara's more interested in discussion than destruction.
Note: This is dialogue-only because the prose bits wouldn't cooperate. It's set before Isshin and Urahara leave Soul Society.
"Hollows? Here?"
"Right, because they're usually so respecting of-get down!-other people's space!"
"Really? I hadn't noticed."
"Kisuke-"
"I mean sure, they are territorial..."
"Oh, you did not just spit fire at me you bastard."
"And they definitely display verifiable tendencies in behavior..."
"You don't-agh!-you don't say."
"Oh, I do. It really is fascinating when you think about all the different-"
"Kisuke!"
"Yes, Isshin?"
"We. Are. Being. Attacked! Less talk, more action!"
"Oh, all right. Awaken, Benihime!"
Title: Drunken Quincy Princess Ishida
Word Count: 323
Rating: PG
Summary: mysocalledhell prompted me for "Ishida gives Ichigo a blowjob." As promised, I wrote crack.
Note: Here's a quote from the entry in question to explain this one. "Oh yeah, one more thing. I don't write smut. I've no desire to and I'm no good at it anyway, so you really don't want to read it. Trust me on this. So, while I'll happily take prompts that flirt with sex...if you give me something like "Uryu gives Ichigo a blowjob" you're going to get drunken Ishida wielding the Mystic Quincy Hairdryer of Spiritual Empowerment and bitching about Ichigo's split ends." Piqued your interest yet?
Ichigo stood motionless in the door to his room, torn between hysterical laughter and abject horror. Was that...Ishida? Suddenly the figure noticed him in the doorway and lurched to its feet, giving Ichigo a clear view in the process. Yeah, that was Ishida.
Apparently the height of fashion right now involved a purple skirt of some weird Western design, a shirt that had surely come from Chad's closet and a paper crown with a crapload of sequins and other sparkly bits glued onto it. Ichigo wasn't going to comment on the cape. It wasn't like that was anything out of the ordinary.
Then Ishida reached around behind him and pulled something vaguely gun-shaped from...somewhere. Ichigo didn't want to know. "Ishida. What are you doing."
"I am wielding the Myshtical Quinshy Hairdryer of Shpiritual Empowerment to fight the evils of Shplit Endsh."
Oooh. Drunken Quincy. Well, that makes everything better, doesn't it? "The Mystical Quincy Hairdryer of Spiritual Empowerment?"
"Yesh."
Ichigo sighed and tried not to start laughing. "Ishida, that's Yuzu's hairdryer. You drew on it with a blue crayon."
Drunken Quincy Princess Ishida looked gravely affronted at Ichigo's insinuation. "It'sh blue and white. And look! It'sh got a crosh on it. So it'sh Quinshy and o'ly I can prop'ly weild it." Ishida tried to look severe and gesture menacingly with the dryer towards Ichigo. He only managed ridiculous. "YOU," he said oh-too-seriously, "have the dreaded Shplit Endsh. We musht do battle to Presherve the Beauty of the Hair."
"Mmm-hmm," Ichigo agreed easily. Any excuse he got to kick Ishida's ass was not to be tossed aside, in his opinion. Still, there was something missing. "You know, I think we might need to chronicle your mighty battle against the evils of split ends." He leaned back out into the hallway, finally losing the battle against a shit-eating grin. "Hey, Karin," he yelled. "Could you do your big brother a favor and bring the camera?"
Title: Bananas
Word Count: 49
Rating: PG
Summary: shizukashadow prompted me for Zangetsu, Zabimaru--bananas. Zangetsu and Zabimaru settle a very important question.
"He said what?" Zangetsu asked, looking a bit confused.
"Dunno, exactly," Zabimaru replied. "'M just sayin' what Renji told me. But, yeah, bananas. What the fuck?"
"I couldn't begin to guess," Zangetsu said dryly. "Still..."
"Still what," Zabimaru snarled.
"Well...DO you have any banana trees in your inner world?"
Okay. That's it for now. Rest of them in the next entry.