Polyphonic: 05
guess who's hereeee. XD yays. and i'm on time. sweets.
Title: Polyphonic: ch 05
Author: my_imaginating
Beta: 3_broken_hearts
Pairings: Renji/Ichigo (centric), Grimmjow/Ichigo (one-sided), Gin/Rangiku, and more
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of its characters.
Rating: PG-13 (mostly)
Warning: AU, shounen-ai, kissing (homo and hetero), mild violence, a little swearing
Word count: 2045
Summary: In which Di Roy tries to fight.
"Wait Di Roy, stop!" yelled Edorad, his hands going out to catch Di Roy's white jacket and just barely missing. He had been watching, with growing concern, both Grimmjow and Ilforte; the former was lost in his fight with Abarai Renji and the latter suppressing his hurt. So, usually extremely observant, he hadn't noticed Linker Di Roy streaking out from behind him until it was too late.
"You bastard," shrieked the silver-haired boy, his fist held high aiming straight for Abarai. The bald man, who had looked so carefree and amused moments before, caught the fist, all traces of humor gone from his face leaving a cold, seasoned fighter who was a step away from real violence. Abarai just cocked an eyebrow, his slow grin showing his amusement at the situation.
"Now now," the bald man mocked. "The adults are talking. Shoo, little boy."
"I'll show you who's an adult!" yelled Di Roy. Edorad sighed. Telling Di Roy he wasn't old enough was the surest way to rile him up. But it didn't help matters that even without the oversized baseball cap, due to his slender build and small stature, Di Roy looked young for his age. "Anyone who messes with Grimm messes with all of us."
Edorad didn't like the insane sort of smile that spread across the other man's face. Di Roy was in danger and he didn't even know it. He glanced back quickly at Kufang Shawlong, standing tall and silent behind him, his dark braid coming forward to rest on his chest. Shawlong was usually the one to interfere in these situations, but at the sight of his impassive face, Edorad decided to take action.
With a final glance at Grimmjow, standing with an amused and slightly chagrined expression and his arms crossed loosely over his chest, Edorad acted. At least, he thought grimly as he stepped forward, Abarai and Grimmjow seemed to have forgotten their personal feud being too amused at the small boy trying to pick a fight. "That's enough, Di Roy," Edorad said, placatingly.
"What? You need your daddy around telling you when you can and can't fight?" Ikkaku's crazy grin widened, as he noted the protective stance Edorad had unconsciously adopted. "What pansies."
"There is no use to fighting," Edorad informed him, adjusting his glasses. "It only leads to more violence and doesn't solve anything. People like you, who treat it as sport, are uncouth."
Ikkaku, not in the least offended, threw back his head and laughed, calling out behind him. "Shuuhei, this guy sounds like you."
"That doesn't make it any less true." Edorad turned at the sound of the voice. It was soothing and calm, a welcome sound after all the raised voices. Then Edorad stopped, his eyes widening.
Shuuhei, because it must have been him, stepped forward from his place next to a sad eyed blonde man into the circle, his wide shoulders clearly visible under the same black singlet his crewmates sported, and the thick arm bands on his muscles rippling with his movement, the sweat sheen glistening in the low club light. Their uniforms formed strong contrasts to the Reapers', something that had been in Edorad's calculations for aesthetics.
Edorad hadn't been altogether concerned with Abarai's crew before, only concentrating on the moves and Abarai, who was clearly the most charismatic of the group, but he couldn't understand what could have made him miss this man. His face, turned slightly as he spoke to Ikkaku, showed three thin vertical stripes running down the side of his face stopping only when they reached an incredible ebony eye, with a thick grey bar, lighter than the others, starting on the other side and ending just before touching the others. And the final touch: a sixty nine tattooed directly below the grey bar, in line with his eyes. The messy dark blue hair that crowned him glowed like a halo under the lights in the club.
"Ed." Edorad was jolted back to his thoughts by Di Roy, whose shoulder he was still unconsciously holding. Di Roy had been following Edorad's line of sight and had glanced back at the motionless Edorad, only speaking to wake him up. Edorad shook his head to clear it, his long red hair swishing, before pushing Di Roy over to Greendina Nakeem's side. He gave the large stoic man a sharp look, and Nakeem slowly nodded. A man of few words, but Edorad knew Nakeem could keep Di Roy out of trouble for tonight.
Ignoring Di Roy's pout, Edorad glanced back and saw Shuuhei looking at him with a slightly curious gaze, before turning away and addressing Ikkaku again.
"Starting brawls in the middle of clubs we work at is bad for our rep, can you please remember that?"
"Hai hai, Hisagi-san," Ikkaku said, giving a half-hearted salute even as he grinned, obviously good friends with the man. Hisagi Shuuhei, Edorad's mind noted with pleasure. His name is Hisagi Shuuhei.
"Who's the pansy now?" came a sarcastic voice from behind him. Crap, Edorad panicked, he had forgotten about Ilforte.
--
Granz Ilforte had spent years with Grimmjow and the other guys, watching him and having his back and slowly changing himself to become whatever Grimmjow had wanted him to be. But then the ungrateful bastard went and fell for a total stranger. It was bad enough with him flirting and sleeping with all the hot men and women chasing after him, but Grimmjow had never been the one to chase, which is how Ilforte knew just how much that kid had shaken him.
Hurt, angry, and jealous, Ilforte turned to the only weapon he had left: sarcasm. "Who's the pansy now?" he taunted scathingly. He saw Edorad's horrified face turn toward him in the corner of his eye and felt Shawlong's restraining touch upon his shoulder, but he was beyond caring. His smile was razor-edged. "I mean, you're one to talk after bragging like an idiot, brother."
He saw Ikkaku's eyebrow twitch and smirked wider. Ilforte's eyes swept over the group. Ikkaku was as tense as a bowstring about to snap, Abarai was clenching his fists, that Shuuhei guy looked panicked, the girly man in the corner seemed apathetic, and the sad-looking one looked as if he wanted to jump in and help. Any moment now, a fight would break out and he could get rid of some this goddamn tension. "Whatcha gonna do, brother? Afraid of a fair fight?"
He stepped forward, breaking Shawlong's grip, brushing aside Edorad's warning hands, dismissing Di Roy's whine, and avoiding Nakeem's accusing stare. He leaned in close to Ikkaku, long hair swinging forward, and whispered, "Are you afraid to hit me?"
With a yowl of rage, Ikkaku pulled back to strike, only to be held down by the one called Shuuhei.
"Tch," Ilforte grunted, turning his annoyed glare on him.
"I'll fight you, you cocky bastard," came a husky voice. It was Abarai, that bastard, his fists clenched tightly at his sides. If he'd taken care of his own boy toy more carefully, Grimmjow and the rest wouldn't even have been caught up in this mess. The worried looking blonde man laid a cautionary hand on his shoulder, preventing Abarai from action.
Ilforte glanced over at Abarai with a poisonous smile, and in a sickly sweet voice, he chided, "Now, now Abarai, I'm not allowed to fight you. That wouldn't be fair to the boss-man. He's pretty possessive when it comes to rivals." A tilt of his head let his long blond hair fall off his face as he looked at Grimmjow. "Ne, brother?"
Grimmjow frowning, ignored the jibe. "What's wrong with you, Ilforte?"
All traces of smiles dropped from Ilforte's face. Why was everyone so damn cool and collected? Couldn't they see he just wanted to freaking bust something? The wonderful discordance which had been building up to a fever pitch had suddenly mellowed out, leaving a bad aftertaste in Ilforte's mouth. He swung around, his long hair snapping around him, heading for the exit. "I'm bored with you all. See you later, brothers."
--
Edorad watched Ilforte go, eyes worried.
"Get off me!" the bald one was screaming. "Wait til I get my hands on that bastard. He's dead!"
"Shut it, Ikkaku." The man was instantly silent.
Edorad's eyebrows rose as he looked over at the man with the power to stop him in his tracks. He almost smiled as he saw the effeminate man stand with his his hand resting on a cocked hip and the other lightly caressing Ikkaku's face. He was speaking softly, and Ikkaku's eyes -- the battle fury abating slightly -- were focused on his. At least there were people against fighting around him, was Edorad's first thought until he heard the "comforting" words.
"Now, now, you know it's not the right time to fight. Maybe you can find him another day. I'm sure he'll be up for another one. We can find the perfect spot, isolated enough so that there's noone to interrupt, and --"
"Please stop." Shuuhei looked pained, still holding on to Ikkaku's arms. "Ikkaku," he said, giving the man a little shake, "please don't get into more fights. I've already had to bail you out five times this month. Any more and I won't be able to buy decent sake."
"Oh, sake." Ikkaku's attention seemed completely diverted. "Sake might be better than fighting. Don't get the cheap stuff, okay Shuu? That stuff tastes vile. Right, Yumi?"
"You drank it all anyway," said the effeminate man, flipping his short jet-black hair. "And who's fault was it last month that there was no good sake?"
"Ah, probably me," Ikkaku muttered, turning red.
Edorad's eyes followed the conversation, but he couldn't quite believe his ears. They were choosing not to fight because they wanted to drink better sake? He was in the presence of madmen, surely.
"They're all mad," Shawlong murmured softly, echoing Edorad's thoughts.
"We could always steal Ran's sake," the blonde man was saying, finally joining the conversation. Shuuhei just grinned, finally having let go of Ikkaku.
"You will do nothing of the sort!" wailed a female voice. Matsumoto Rangiku, Edorad recalled faintly, as the cleavage of her oversized breasts entered his view. "As your manager, I'm ordering you not to fight and not to steal my sake! Got it, boys?"
"Yes, ma'am," the entire crew chorused in unison, all of them grinning stupidly.
"Now go home, before you cause any more trouble," she said, grinning and shaking her finger at them like they were her children. The way they filed off after a chorus of "Haaai!" and chattering amongst each other made the scenario seem even more surreal.
"We should probably go too, ne?"
Edorad jumped at the voice. Their manager, Ichimaru Gin, had the uncomfortable ability to move without being detected, and enjoyed scaring the wits out of his crew on a regular basis.
"Sure Ichimaru-san," Shawlong said smoothly, motioning for everyone to depart before he shifted his own way through the crowded room. Nakeem moved silently pulling along Di Roy who was still pouting. Grimmjow simply slouched off without a word, looking annoyed to be taking any orders.
As Edorad turned to leave, he felt a hand touch his arm. It was Hisagi Shuuhei.
"Thank you," he said pleasantly, "for keeping the peace with me. It's hard when I'm the only one who cares."
Edorad's throat had caught at the words "with me" and it was few moments before he found his voice. "No problem, Hisagi Shuuhei."
He looked surprised, before realizing his name must've come up in the conversation earlier. He laughed ruefully before saying, "Well, you know my name, so what's yours?"
"Leones Edorad. Most people just call me Ed."
Shuuhei grinned. "Most people call me Shuuhei, but I get Shuu a lot."
Edorad paused, before asking hesitantly, "Do you want to join me for a drink at the bar?"
Again, Shuuhei looked surprised. "Ah, I probably shouldn't. My boyfriend's waiting for me at home." He flashed another smile. "Thanks though. I hope you'll help me out again sometime."
With a parting wave, Shuuhei disappeared into the crowd, moving toward the exit.
"A boyfriend, huh? Well ain't that a bitch," Edorad murmured aloud.
OMAKE
Kira: Where do you think Ran keeps her stash anyway?
Ikkaku: There's one way to find out... let's break into her place and find it.
Renji: Um guys, ya know what'll happen when Ran finds out?
Ikkaku: Oh... maybe that's not such a great idea.
Yumichika: *sighs* Idiots.
EDIT: 09/27 haha forgot to add the end notes. sorry if you've already read it.
A/N: Clever Shuuhei, knows exactly how to distract Ikkaku. :D Haha but do y'all remember all the members of Grimm's fraccion? They're ba-ack! Well, at least here they are. Ah, I guess if you guys forgot, Ilforte kinda refers to everyone as "brother."
**SPOILER ALERT** (if you didn't watch/read the Arrancar arc)
If you guys appreciate a little side humor while reading, here are some factoids from the Bleach anime (manga) about them: Ilforte was actually killed by Renji who he almost killed while Renji's power was limited, and Edorad was killed by Ikkaku whom he doesn't like because of Ikkaku's "pointless" (in Edorad's view) love for fighting. Just to complete the set: Shawlong was killed by Hitsugaya, Di Roy by Rukia, and Nakeem by Rangiku.
begin at 01. back to 04. on to 06.
Title: Polyphonic: ch 05
Author: my_imaginating
Beta: 3_broken_hearts
Pairings: Renji/Ichigo (centric), Grimmjow/Ichigo (one-sided), Gin/Rangiku, and more
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of its characters.
Rating: PG-13 (mostly)
Warning: AU, shounen-ai, kissing (homo and hetero), mild violence, a little swearing
Word count: 2045
Summary: In which Di Roy tries to fight.
"Wait Di Roy, stop!" yelled Edorad, his hands going out to catch Di Roy's white jacket and just barely missing. He had been watching, with growing concern, both Grimmjow and Ilforte; the former was lost in his fight with Abarai Renji and the latter suppressing his hurt. So, usually extremely observant, he hadn't noticed Linker Di Roy streaking out from behind him until it was too late.
"You bastard," shrieked the silver-haired boy, his fist held high aiming straight for Abarai. The bald man, who had looked so carefree and amused moments before, caught the fist, all traces of humor gone from his face leaving a cold, seasoned fighter who was a step away from real violence. Abarai just cocked an eyebrow, his slow grin showing his amusement at the situation.
"Now now," the bald man mocked. "The adults are talking. Shoo, little boy."
"I'll show you who's an adult!" yelled Di Roy. Edorad sighed. Telling Di Roy he wasn't old enough was the surest way to rile him up. But it didn't help matters that even without the oversized baseball cap, due to his slender build and small stature, Di Roy looked young for his age. "Anyone who messes with Grimm messes with all of us."
Edorad didn't like the insane sort of smile that spread across the other man's face. Di Roy was in danger and he didn't even know it. He glanced back quickly at Kufang Shawlong, standing tall and silent behind him, his dark braid coming forward to rest on his chest. Shawlong was usually the one to interfere in these situations, but at the sight of his impassive face, Edorad decided to take action.
With a final glance at Grimmjow, standing with an amused and slightly chagrined expression and his arms crossed loosely over his chest, Edorad acted. At least, he thought grimly as he stepped forward, Abarai and Grimmjow seemed to have forgotten their personal feud being too amused at the small boy trying to pick a fight. "That's enough, Di Roy," Edorad said, placatingly.
"What? You need your daddy around telling you when you can and can't fight?" Ikkaku's crazy grin widened, as he noted the protective stance Edorad had unconsciously adopted. "What pansies."
"There is no use to fighting," Edorad informed him, adjusting his glasses. "It only leads to more violence and doesn't solve anything. People like you, who treat it as sport, are uncouth."
Ikkaku, not in the least offended, threw back his head and laughed, calling out behind him. "Shuuhei, this guy sounds like you."
"That doesn't make it any less true." Edorad turned at the sound of the voice. It was soothing and calm, a welcome sound after all the raised voices. Then Edorad stopped, his eyes widening.
Shuuhei, because it must have been him, stepped forward from his place next to a sad eyed blonde man into the circle, his wide shoulders clearly visible under the same black singlet his crewmates sported, and the thick arm bands on his muscles rippling with his movement, the sweat sheen glistening in the low club light. Their uniforms formed strong contrasts to the Reapers', something that had been in Edorad's calculations for aesthetics.
Edorad hadn't been altogether concerned with Abarai's crew before, only concentrating on the moves and Abarai, who was clearly the most charismatic of the group, but he couldn't understand what could have made him miss this man. His face, turned slightly as he spoke to Ikkaku, showed three thin vertical stripes running down the side of his face stopping only when they reached an incredible ebony eye, with a thick grey bar, lighter than the others, starting on the other side and ending just before touching the others. And the final touch: a sixty nine tattooed directly below the grey bar, in line with his eyes. The messy dark blue hair that crowned him glowed like a halo under the lights in the club.
"Ed." Edorad was jolted back to his thoughts by Di Roy, whose shoulder he was still unconsciously holding. Di Roy had been following Edorad's line of sight and had glanced back at the motionless Edorad, only speaking to wake him up. Edorad shook his head to clear it, his long red hair swishing, before pushing Di Roy over to Greendina Nakeem's side. He gave the large stoic man a sharp look, and Nakeem slowly nodded. A man of few words, but Edorad knew Nakeem could keep Di Roy out of trouble for tonight.
Ignoring Di Roy's pout, Edorad glanced back and saw Shuuhei looking at him with a slightly curious gaze, before turning away and addressing Ikkaku again.
"Starting brawls in the middle of clubs we work at is bad for our rep, can you please remember that?"
"Hai hai, Hisagi-san," Ikkaku said, giving a half-hearted salute even as he grinned, obviously good friends with the man. Hisagi Shuuhei, Edorad's mind noted with pleasure. His name is Hisagi Shuuhei.
"Who's the pansy now?" came a sarcastic voice from behind him. Crap, Edorad panicked, he had forgotten about Ilforte.
--
Granz Ilforte had spent years with Grimmjow and the other guys, watching him and having his back and slowly changing himself to become whatever Grimmjow had wanted him to be. But then the ungrateful bastard went and fell for a total stranger. It was bad enough with him flirting and sleeping with all the hot men and women chasing after him, but Grimmjow had never been the one to chase, which is how Ilforte knew just how much that kid had shaken him.
Hurt, angry, and jealous, Ilforte turned to the only weapon he had left: sarcasm. "Who's the pansy now?" he taunted scathingly. He saw Edorad's horrified face turn toward him in the corner of his eye and felt Shawlong's restraining touch upon his shoulder, but he was beyond caring. His smile was razor-edged. "I mean, you're one to talk after bragging like an idiot, brother."
He saw Ikkaku's eyebrow twitch and smirked wider. Ilforte's eyes swept over the group. Ikkaku was as tense as a bowstring about to snap, Abarai was clenching his fists, that Shuuhei guy looked panicked, the girly man in the corner seemed apathetic, and the sad-looking one looked as if he wanted to jump in and help. Any moment now, a fight would break out and he could get rid of some this goddamn tension. "Whatcha gonna do, brother? Afraid of a fair fight?"
He stepped forward, breaking Shawlong's grip, brushing aside Edorad's warning hands, dismissing Di Roy's whine, and avoiding Nakeem's accusing stare. He leaned in close to Ikkaku, long hair swinging forward, and whispered, "Are you afraid to hit me?"
With a yowl of rage, Ikkaku pulled back to strike, only to be held down by the one called Shuuhei.
"Tch," Ilforte grunted, turning his annoyed glare on him.
"I'll fight you, you cocky bastard," came a husky voice. It was Abarai, that bastard, his fists clenched tightly at his sides. If he'd taken care of his own boy toy more carefully, Grimmjow and the rest wouldn't even have been caught up in this mess. The worried looking blonde man laid a cautionary hand on his shoulder, preventing Abarai from action.
Ilforte glanced over at Abarai with a poisonous smile, and in a sickly sweet voice, he chided, "Now, now Abarai, I'm not allowed to fight you. That wouldn't be fair to the boss-man. He's pretty possessive when it comes to rivals." A tilt of his head let his long blond hair fall off his face as he looked at Grimmjow. "Ne, brother?"
Grimmjow frowning, ignored the jibe. "What's wrong with you, Ilforte?"
All traces of smiles dropped from Ilforte's face. Why was everyone so damn cool and collected? Couldn't they see he just wanted to freaking bust something? The wonderful discordance which had been building up to a fever pitch had suddenly mellowed out, leaving a bad aftertaste in Ilforte's mouth. He swung around, his long hair snapping around him, heading for the exit. "I'm bored with you all. See you later, brothers."
--
Edorad watched Ilforte go, eyes worried.
"Get off me!" the bald one was screaming. "Wait til I get my hands on that bastard. He's dead!"
"Shut it, Ikkaku." The man was instantly silent.
Edorad's eyebrows rose as he looked over at the man with the power to stop him in his tracks. He almost smiled as he saw the effeminate man stand with his his hand resting on a cocked hip and the other lightly caressing Ikkaku's face. He was speaking softly, and Ikkaku's eyes -- the battle fury abating slightly -- were focused on his. At least there were people against fighting around him, was Edorad's first thought until he heard the "comforting" words.
"Now, now, you know it's not the right time to fight. Maybe you can find him another day. I'm sure he'll be up for another one. We can find the perfect spot, isolated enough so that there's noone to interrupt, and --"
"Please stop." Shuuhei looked pained, still holding on to Ikkaku's arms. "Ikkaku," he said, giving the man a little shake, "please don't get into more fights. I've already had to bail you out five times this month. Any more and I won't be able to buy decent sake."
"Oh, sake." Ikkaku's attention seemed completely diverted. "Sake might be better than fighting. Don't get the cheap stuff, okay Shuu? That stuff tastes vile. Right, Yumi?"
"You drank it all anyway," said the effeminate man, flipping his short jet-black hair. "And who's fault was it last month that there was no good sake?"
"Ah, probably me," Ikkaku muttered, turning red.
Edorad's eyes followed the conversation, but he couldn't quite believe his ears. They were choosing not to fight because they wanted to drink better sake? He was in the presence of madmen, surely.
"They're all mad," Shawlong murmured softly, echoing Edorad's thoughts.
"We could always steal Ran's sake," the blonde man was saying, finally joining the conversation. Shuuhei just grinned, finally having let go of Ikkaku.
"You will do nothing of the sort!" wailed a female voice. Matsumoto Rangiku, Edorad recalled faintly, as the cleavage of her oversized breasts entered his view. "As your manager, I'm ordering you not to fight and not to steal my sake! Got it, boys?"
"Yes, ma'am," the entire crew chorused in unison, all of them grinning stupidly.
"Now go home, before you cause any more trouble," she said, grinning and shaking her finger at them like they were her children. The way they filed off after a chorus of "Haaai!" and chattering amongst each other made the scenario seem even more surreal.
"We should probably go too, ne?"
Edorad jumped at the voice. Their manager, Ichimaru Gin, had the uncomfortable ability to move without being detected, and enjoyed scaring the wits out of his crew on a regular basis.
"Sure Ichimaru-san," Shawlong said smoothly, motioning for everyone to depart before he shifted his own way through the crowded room. Nakeem moved silently pulling along Di Roy who was still pouting. Grimmjow simply slouched off without a word, looking annoyed to be taking any orders.
As Edorad turned to leave, he felt a hand touch his arm. It was Hisagi Shuuhei.
"Thank you," he said pleasantly, "for keeping the peace with me. It's hard when I'm the only one who cares."
Edorad's throat had caught at the words "with me" and it was few moments before he found his voice. "No problem, Hisagi Shuuhei."
He looked surprised, before realizing his name must've come up in the conversation earlier. He laughed ruefully before saying, "Well, you know my name, so what's yours?"
"Leones Edorad. Most people just call me Ed."
Shuuhei grinned. "Most people call me Shuuhei, but I get Shuu a lot."
Edorad paused, before asking hesitantly, "Do you want to join me for a drink at the bar?"
Again, Shuuhei looked surprised. "Ah, I probably shouldn't. My boyfriend's waiting for me at home." He flashed another smile. "Thanks though. I hope you'll help me out again sometime."
With a parting wave, Shuuhei disappeared into the crowd, moving toward the exit.
"A boyfriend, huh? Well ain't that a bitch," Edorad murmured aloud.
OMAKE
Kira: Where do you think Ran keeps her stash anyway?
Ikkaku: There's one way to find out... let's break into her place and find it.
Renji: Um guys, ya know what'll happen when Ran finds out?
Ikkaku: Oh... maybe that's not such a great idea.
Yumichika: *sighs* Idiots.
EDIT: 09/27 haha forgot to add the end notes. sorry if you've already read it.
A/N: Clever Shuuhei, knows exactly how to distract Ikkaku. :D Haha but do y'all remember all the members of Grimm's fraccion? They're ba-ack! Well, at least here they are. Ah, I guess if you guys forgot, Ilforte kinda refers to everyone as "brother."
**SPOILER ALERT** (if you didn't watch/read the Arrancar arc)
If you guys appreciate a little side humor while reading, here are some factoids from the Bleach anime (manga) about them: Ilforte was actually killed by Renji who he almost killed while Renji's power was limited, and Edorad was killed by Ikkaku whom he doesn't like because of Ikkaku's "pointless" (in Edorad's view) love for fighting. Just to complete the set: Shawlong was killed by Hitsugaya, Di Roy by Rukia, and Nakeem by Rangiku.
begin at 01. back to 04. on to 06.