24 Chips - 14
Theme: 16:00
Title: Backhanded Words
Fandom: Bleach
Character: Hirako Shinji and Sarugaki Hiyori
Category: Romantic
Rating: PG
Warnings: Other than the TBTP arc, mostly just language, really bc of Hiyori. And as always, I'm making up their past before the TBTP arc because we don't know about their childhood/academy days/etc.
Disclaimer: Bleach =/= mine, or we'd see way more Vaizard love.
Summary: Part 14 of my 24-piece series of memorable "firsts" for these two.
The first time Shinji ever got a compliment from Hiyori, it wasn’t even a normal compliment at that. But then, one couldn’t really call much of their relationship “normal” to begin with, so he had to grant that it wasn’t really that out of the ordinary.
They’d been in the real world for nearly 6 months now, since their exile and flight from Soul Society. Urahara had, despite the fact that many of them felt a certain lack of trust for the man - after all, it had been his experiment that helped make them thus - been something of a godsend, his knowledge and skill providing them with not only a place to stay but the gigais they were currently using.
Rotating his shoulder slightly, Shinji could see Hiyori fidgeting a bit from her slouched position on the other side of the common room where she’d taken over the small loveseat and evicted Rose and Kensei to the carpet at the other end. She did a poorer job of hiding the fact that none of them were really used to the sensation of being in a gigai on a longterm basis. It was an adjustment for them all, but they’d have to get used to it. It wasn’t as though they had a choice in the matter. Otherwise they’d have been doing something other than sitting around the house like they’d been doing since returning from Urahara’s about 3 hours ago. That was 4. Now it was nearly dinner time and they still hadn’t figured anything out.
Combing a hand through thick bangs, he let long fingers trail back to the leather tie at the nape of his neck, it’s coils holding his long hair in a tight ponytail. He’d kept it long for… well, almost as long as he could remember. Hiyori used to tease him when they were little about how he’d rather have had his arm cut off than his hair and he couldn’t totally deny the truth of it. In a way, it was almost a security thing. Growing up in a world where nearly anything could be taken from you and you had so little control, his hair had been one of the few things he could control.
I’d miss it, but… it’s so distinctive. I stick out like a sore thumb and that’s not gonna help us blend in…
But could he really cut it? And if he did, how much to take off? Yanking the tie free, he felt it’s heavy weight fall over his shoulders and pool on the bench behind him in a honey-hued pool of silk. Yeah, he’d miss it. But this wasn’t about vanity anymore, or even about preferences. It was about survival. And sometimes survival meant sacrifices.
Pulling out his zanpakutou - he hated to use it for something like this, but it wasn’t as though he had anything else - he gathered his hair up on one hand, cognizant of the confused stares the others were giving him. Especially Hiyori, though her stare was more one of amused disbelief and skepticism - not surprising, seeing as she was the one who’d sworn he’d never cut it. Sparing barely a look for the others, he brought the blade up, feeling the slight resistance as it sliced through thick blond strands. Letting the fistful of hair drop to the floor behind him, he shook his head as cropped blond locks fell around his face.
There was silence in the room for a moment as the others stared in stunned disbelief before the atmosphere was broken by a scoff from Hiyori as she rolled her eyes at him and pushed herself off of the couch.
“About damned time, Baldy. At least now you don’t look so much like a really butt-ugly woman.”
She walked out, stretching arms over her head as he stared after her for a moment before grinning slightly and shaking his head, running fingers through newly-short hair. Compliments weren’t something that Hiyori generally dealt in, but that was probably about as close as he was likely to get. And he’d take it.
Title: Backhanded Words
Fandom: Bleach
Character: Hirako Shinji and Sarugaki Hiyori
Category: Romantic
Rating: PG
Warnings: Other than the TBTP arc, mostly just language, really bc of Hiyori. And as always, I'm making up their past before the TBTP arc because we don't know about their childhood/academy days/etc.
Disclaimer: Bleach =/= mine, or we'd see way more Vaizard love.
Summary: Part 14 of my 24-piece series of memorable "firsts" for these two.
The first time Shinji ever got a compliment from Hiyori, it wasn’t even a normal compliment at that. But then, one couldn’t really call much of their relationship “normal” to begin with, so he had to grant that it wasn’t really that out of the ordinary.
They’d been in the real world for nearly 6 months now, since their exile and flight from Soul Society. Urahara had, despite the fact that many of them felt a certain lack of trust for the man - after all, it had been his experiment that helped make them thus - been something of a godsend, his knowledge and skill providing them with not only a place to stay but the gigais they were currently using.
Rotating his shoulder slightly, Shinji could see Hiyori fidgeting a bit from her slouched position on the other side of the common room where she’d taken over the small loveseat and evicted Rose and Kensei to the carpet at the other end. She did a poorer job of hiding the fact that none of them were really used to the sensation of being in a gigai on a longterm basis. It was an adjustment for them all, but they’d have to get used to it. It wasn’t as though they had a choice in the matter. Otherwise they’d have been doing something other than sitting around the house like they’d been doing since returning from Urahara’s about 3 hours ago. That was 4. Now it was nearly dinner time and they still hadn’t figured anything out.
Combing a hand through thick bangs, he let long fingers trail back to the leather tie at the nape of his neck, it’s coils holding his long hair in a tight ponytail. He’d kept it long for… well, almost as long as he could remember. Hiyori used to tease him when they were little about how he’d rather have had his arm cut off than his hair and he couldn’t totally deny the truth of it. In a way, it was almost a security thing. Growing up in a world where nearly anything could be taken from you and you had so little control, his hair had been one of the few things he could control.
I’d miss it, but… it’s so distinctive. I stick out like a sore thumb and that’s not gonna help us blend in…
But could he really cut it? And if he did, how much to take off? Yanking the tie free, he felt it’s heavy weight fall over his shoulders and pool on the bench behind him in a honey-hued pool of silk. Yeah, he’d miss it. But this wasn’t about vanity anymore, or even about preferences. It was about survival. And sometimes survival meant sacrifices.
Pulling out his zanpakutou - he hated to use it for something like this, but it wasn’t as though he had anything else - he gathered his hair up on one hand, cognizant of the confused stares the others were giving him. Especially Hiyori, though her stare was more one of amused disbelief and skepticism - not surprising, seeing as she was the one who’d sworn he’d never cut it. Sparing barely a look for the others, he brought the blade up, feeling the slight resistance as it sliced through thick blond strands. Letting the fistful of hair drop to the floor behind him, he shook his head as cropped blond locks fell around his face.
There was silence in the room for a moment as the others stared in stunned disbelief before the atmosphere was broken by a scoff from Hiyori as she rolled her eyes at him and pushed herself off of the couch.
“About damned time, Baldy. At least now you don’t look so much like a really butt-ugly woman.”
She walked out, stretching arms over her head as he stared after her for a moment before grinning slightly and shaking his head, running fingers through newly-short hair. Compliments weren’t something that Hiyori generally dealt in, but that was probably about as close as he was likely to get. And he’d take it.