Chapter Eleven
“My,” she smiled softly, “you’re so flushed already, Hitsugaya? Just how many of these silly sex questions have you been drinking to?”
~*~
Chapter Eleven
Down the Hatch
~*~
It couldn’t have been longer than twelve hours since he’d last seen the man. Toushirou Hitsugaya had been fast asleep for the first half of that, relaxing for the second. It had been a blissful break from their current situation, but it had also been a short one. And, of course, who else would be sent down to check on them as soon as he was awake again besides Kisuke Urahara?
“A change of clothes and a warm bath, courtesy of my dear Yoruichi! Try them out, and be amazed! You’d never believe what a bit of good hygiene can do for you!”
Damn. His brain hadn’t been exaggerating. Urahara really was as antagonistically cheerful and blatantly condescending as he had remembered.
All modesty aside, the water wouldn’t stay warm for long, and so the man stood just outside the open door frame as Hitsugaya and Yamada both stepped into the tub that had been prepared for them. More than anything else, it resembled a large barrel of ale, and Hitsugaya snorted derisively as he realized that was probably what it was. He regretted the noise when it was followed by Urahara’s voice again, this time much less cheerful and much more condescending.
“I wouldn’t complain if I were you, Toushirou. I’m holding your clothes,” Urahara smirked, peeking in and waving the bundle in the air. Hitsugaya refrained from comment, preferring to seethe silently as the navigator went on. “I still intend to get my answers, whether you’re willing to give them or not.”
The bastard had him cornered. One offer of cleanliness, and Hitsugaya was wrapped around his finger. With a few words Urahara could gauge Yamada’s reaction, proving whether or not he knew about Hitsugaya’s assassination attempts, as well as blackmail him into an answer by withholding the offered garments. In all honesty, he didn’t remember the entire conversation, but he remembered enough to recognize what Urahara was fishing for. A sweep of the floor told him their other clothes were too far to grab from the tub, and there was no way in hell he was going to give the smug man a show.
By this time Yamada was looking from Urahara to Hitsugaya in confusion, trying to figure out what he’d missed. One glimpse of that concerned face was all it took for Hitsugaya to make his decision. Damn it all, but if Yamada thought Hitsugaya was hiding something from him, he’d never hear the end of it.
“Why would you want to kill Aizen?” the white-haired teenager countered in frustration.
When Yamada wasn’t shocked by Hitsugaya’s question, instead turning an almost accusing look on the navigator, Urahara was assured that he was well aware of Hitsugaya’s attempts on King Aizen’s life. In fact, Hitsugaya could tell by the glint in his eye that Yamada’s reaction proved plenty of other theories he had as well, and he didn’t like that at all. Intrigued by the question and the subsequent conclusions he drew from it, Urahara easily played along. “King Aizen enjoys the power he has far too much for anyone else’s welfare, and he doesn’t like to share. He’s entirely too much like me for me to ever get along with him.”
For just a moment, Hitsugaya was quiet. Then: “Well, I live with him.”
And Urahara promptly burst out laughing. “Good answer, but it’s not the one I was looking for. I know why you’d want to kill him, but I don’t know why he keeps you around afterward.”
Yamada bit his lip and looked away, but Hitsugaya didn’t blink, mouth coiling into a disgusted grimace he didn’t even try to hide. “The same reason he does everything else. To stroke his ego.”
Kisuke Urahara chuckled knowingly, tossing the bundled clothing into the room. “Thank you for your cooperation,” he concluded, back to being nauseatingly happy. “You’re an interesting brat, you know. If you’d just stop acting like an ass all the time, everybody else would realize it too.”
“You’re one to talk.”
“Ah, yes. But the difference is that while I really am an ass, you’re only acting. It makes me wonder whether you put up that front with everyone, or just us worthless, scum-sucking pirates, hm?”
A wave of his hand and he was gone, leaving Hitsugaya to stew while Yamada remained thankfully silent.
If only for the sake of what little hygiene a person could maintain while on a crowded ship out to sea, they finally got out of the tub and pulled on the clothes Urahara had given them. Yamada couldn’t express just how glad he was to be rid of the signature robes, donning a simple, light blue shirt and tan pants with boots to match. Hitsugaya decided upon the darker set which came with a black sash, likely meant as a belt, that he tied around his forehead.
“Yamada,” he spoke up for the first time since Urahara left, “Kuchiki seems like the type to watch the ocean, does he not?”
Hanatarou Yamada cocked his head quizzically before mumbling, “I … I don’t know. Why?”
“Perhaps … just once … I can stop acting like an ass.”
Yamada followed him up to the deck, smiling all the way.
~*~
Renji Abarai could think of several things he’d rather be doing, but regardless of their defection and subsequent joining of the Narcissus’ crew, he still considered Kuchiki to be his commanding officer. And so when the stoic man had stepped out on deck to get a bit of fresh air (and, more likely, to escape the rowdy arm wrestling tournament taking place down below), Renji had followed him. He probably didn’t appreciate the company, but it was the sentiment that mattered.
Urahara had said loyalty was important in Hueco Mundo. Well, it was important here too.
But when Kuchiki turned around and Renji’s eyes locked themselves on the two hostages as they walked slowly over, he decided this may have been the best place to be after all. “I was under the impression you wished to avoid my presence,” came Kuchiki’s cold, monotonous voice, his grey eyes narrow as he looked down on the approaching young men.
Renji was surprised when Hitsugaya didn’t retort. Everything in him had expected the insolent brat to mouth off again, but he didn’t. Instead, he stopped about a meter away and looked up into those narrowed eyes with a blunt frankness Renji would have expected more from Rangiku herself than from their hostage.
“I was misinformed by the Palace,” returned Hitsugaya with as little emotion as Kuchiki. It wasn’t an apology, nothing of the sort, but it wasn’t an excuse either. A pause followed, as if he were debating whether or not he should say something more. But with a small nudge from that prince, he added a quick, “So were you,” before turning around for the fastest walk Renji had ever seen until they were both back below deck.
“What the hell was that?” he asked, not at all fond of how often he seemed to be caught off guard recently. “We don’t talk to the bloody Palace; how would they lie to us? The last time they told us anything was when Rukia-”
“Excuse me, Abarai,” Kuchiki interrupted when Renji had frozen up mid-sentence. The former soldier stepped around the thoroughly shocked redhead and made his way below deck as well.
Unfortunately, it looked like Renji wasn’t going to get a moment to let the shock leave his system. Just as Kuchiki left, Rangiku popped up from the other side to pout at the retreating man’s back. “What crawled up his ass today? He looks even stiffer than usual.”
Renji opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. “I think … he’s happy.”
“Eh?”
“Your hostage … just said Rukia’s … not dead.”
Rangiku looked to be in almost as much shock as Renji. “Let me get this straight…” she trailed off in awe. “Hitsugaya had a civil conversation with someone besides Hanatarou?”
Renji sent her his most scathing “are you sane?” stare, but as always she remained unaffected. “What? I heard what you said. But we can’t go gallivanting off to look for her with Hueco Mundo’s king waiting for us in Resurrección, and we don’t know where to look for her in the first place if she is, in fact, alive. We can’t drop everything for one girl who was never even part of this crew to begin with. If we don’t want to get ourselves killed, we’re going to have to focus on the here and now.”
“…So then what are we going to do now?”
“What else?” she countered as if it were obvious. “We’re gonna drink until we pass out!”
“And how is that considered focusing?!”
~*~
“Gather ‘round, gather ‘round!”
The room was suddenly filled with upturned heads, pirates caught up in all different levels of inebriation still managing to come to semi-attention when their captain called out to them. Rangiku Matsumoto was standing atop a long table in the center, holding a glass of liquor up to the ceiling like some sort of beacon. Renji, Shuuhei, Izuru, Hitsugaya, and Yamada all stood awkwardly on the ground behind her, the two hostages clearly having no idea why they were there.
“Alrighty! We’ve got ourselves two prissy Loyals on this ship who have been proven to have zero alcohol tolerance! What do you say we show these guys how you’re supposed to do it?” she roared to those who hadn’t already returned to their drinks. Hitsugaya attempted to protest, but the resounding cheers drowned him out. “Get on over here, and let’s have a party!”
“So we’re just gonna chug ‘til only one of us is left?” Kenpachi Zaraki asked, looking a little too pleased at the thought even as Yachiru scrambled up his shoulder blade.
“Naw! I don’t wanna kill them, just show them the true spirit of spirits!” A giggle. It was fairly obvious that she’d had a few already, not that it would make much difference. “I was thinking more along the lines of ‘Never Have I Ever.’”
“Sounds good to me,” grinned an irrepressible Yoruichi as she took a seat as well.
Kisuke Urahara took the seat next to her, and Retsu Unohana surprised all by accepting a seat next to Kenpachi. She was quickly followed by Ikkaku and Yumichika as Renji sat at Kisuke’s other side, and Shuuhei took a spot next to Rangiku, who by then had hopped off the table and forced Hitsugaya and Yamada into seats on her opposite side. Izuru, having been in Hitsugaya’s and Yamada’s position several times before, opted out and instead manned the barrels of ale that would likely need to be refilled at their next stop.
“Hitsugaya goes first! Come on! Say something you’ve never done before!”
“Why do I have to…?” he grunted under his breath, but Rangiku would have nothing of it.
“Because I’m the captain, and what I say, goes!”
One glare later, he icily replied, “Never have I ever taken prisoners.”
As all of the pirates paid their dues, Matsumoto laughed. “Cheap shot, Hitsugaya. Let’s keep ‘em coming. Never have I ever helped anyone who took me prisoner.” She grinned wider. “And no lying. We have Hanatarou to tell us when you’re lying.”
Hitsugaya knew without doubt that if he did lie, Yamada would do no such thing, but none-the-less the two hostages dutifully drank from their glasses.
And the game was on. Shuuhei Hisagi was next, ganging up on Rangiku with something that must have happened when they were children, and Yumichika and Ikkaku succeeded him with less than decent accusations that left virtually everyone guiltily chugging away. Yoruichi was happy to follow their example with a playful assertion that she’d never had sex in the captain’s captain, which left everyone to pause and reassess their opinions of their fellow shipmates when not only Rangiku but Unohana and Zaraki drank their fill.
After Yoruichi, however, it was Kisuke’s turn, and the lightening mood was derailed when he embraced the moment to do what he did best. “Never have I ever believed Yamada was a prince.”
Confused, awkward silence prevailed as Kisuke cocked his head to the two men across the table. Rangiku gave the be-hatted man a look that clearly said this was not the right way to get everyone drunk and happy, but then she whirled around when Hitsugaya met the challenge with a steady smirk. “Ah, so I’m not the only one who’s noticed then? I’d probably make a better prince than Yamada.”
Matsumoto smiled, splashing her glass into the air above the prince. “Aww, I support ya, Hanatarou!” she cheered, taking a large gulp while several others followed suit. The tension eased alongside the confusion, and Urahara grinned back to convey his satisfaction. Damn, but Hitsugaya hated that man!
Luckily for him, Renji, while still as suspicious as ever, was more intent on the game and the drinks and forgetting about the insanity he was encouraging in his captain. He brought the subject right back to the indecency where it belonged. Zaraki and Unohana went along with the flow, and the circle wound around to a very relaxed, very uninhibited Hanatarou.
He smiled his disarming smile, hugged his draining glass with both hands, and said with a mischievous glint in his eye, “Never have I ever pushed a visiting princess into the lake.”
Hitsugaya, who by the time his turn rolled around a second time had already consumed a surprisingly large amount, drank grudgingly but refused defeat, forgetting about the surrounding pirates just long enough to exact due vengeance with interest. Looking innocently at anyone but his fellow hostage, he replied, “And never have I ever had sex in the throne room.”
The entire table erupted when Hanatarou Yamada gave Hitsugaya a comically scandalized glare and obediently took a drink.
But it wasn’t Yamada’s promiscuous behavior that finally got the game going strong. It was one, simple observation made on the part of Retsu Unohana after the game had gone another round.
“My,” she smiled softly, “you’re so flushed already, Hitsugaya? Just how many of these silly sex questions have you been drinking to?”
With all eyes suddenly on him and Unohana looking even smugger than Urahara, Hitsugaya was not in any mind to give any sort of answer at all. This, however, only encouraged them. People began calling out random designations out of turn, and intrigued pirates who hadn’t been part of the game began to crowd around doing the same.
“On the beach!”
“In a broom closet!”
“In a fountain!”
“In a threesome!”
“A foursome!”
“On the roof!”
“In a stable!”
“With voyeurs!”
Soon enough, Hitsugaya just didn’t even bother removing the glass from his lips between shout outs. Refills were shoved in his face as more people, places, and objects rolled endlessly from overhyped mouths. He tried to lean back to get away from them all, but his balance wasn’t exactly at its best, and he tilted the back of his chair one centimeter too far. But just as he was sure he was going to hit the ground, the chair stopped, two arms wrapping tightly around his neck as two giant breasts engulfed the sides of his face.
“Aw, Hitsugaya! Yer like a little sex bunny!”
Toushirou Hitsugaya’s entire face turned scarlet.
“AM NOT!”
And all hell broke loose.
~*~
Captain Rangiku Matsumoto observed the scene before her.
Empty glasses littered the room; tables were upturned; men and women were lying passed out on the floor; and the smell of alcohol and sweat drowned out all else. Unohana had told her it would probably be best to leave them there for the night, so that when they woke up and looked around they’d remember why they had such monumental hangovers.
She didn’t remember what exactly had happened to the game, but by the time everyone still awake (i.e. Unohana, Kisuke, Yoruichi, and herself) had decided to call it quits, it had evolved into something more reminiscent of a riot. That was perfectly fine by her. In fact, it had been the most fun she’d had in a long, long time.
Thus was the reason she was searching through the deeply sleeping bodies littering the floor until she found the one she was looking for. Next to a sprawled out Hanatarou lay Hitsugaya, curled up into himself, pale brows furrowed tight. His face was still flushed from the liquor, and the sash he’d tied around his forehead had loosened, falling into his eyes.
Geez. He was just as tense asleep as he was when he was awake.
She pouted, full lips upturned as she scanned the room to make sure they really were all out for the count. Once she was certain, she plopped down onto the floor next to the royal servant/bodyguard/soldier/whatever he was and cuddled gently into his back. A hesitant hand pushed the sash out of his eyes and lightly caressed the limp strands of hair that had lost much of their lift from his quick bath earlier that day. The pout slowly, cautiously, made way for a smile.
“No li’l sex bunny o’ mine’s allowed t’have bad dreams,” she asserted to the sleeping boy as she nuzzled her face into that hair and fell asleep to the feel of a warm body beside hers.
She’d forgotten just how good a feeling it was.
~*~
Chapter Eleven End