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ajremixTitle: Come What May – Setting Stages
Fandom: Bleach
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2445
Characters: Ikkaku, Nemu with Mayuri, Iba
Summary: Following Rundown, Top of the Caste and Smile for Me. An experiment, if you will. For grander things.
“I'm not so certain...”
“Ah, but just think! If these work, even the most timid of students would be able to hold their own against overwhelming odds!”
“But there are already plenty of strength supplements in the Gotei-13-”
“But not like this. When given, every individual person will work and act as a single entity, the chaos of battle will be all but extinguished. It will, in short, give the commander the most perfect tools to fight with.”
There was another uncertain pause. “Well... It has been approved of by Urahara-taichou. All right, Kurotsuchi-fukutaichou. If you believe it will work. There's a class that's ready to do field testing against low-level Hollows. I'll leave them to you, then.”
Mayuri's grin was luminescent. “Thank you.”
~*~*~*~
“Man, what's up with this?” Ikkaku stretched out, Iba slumped beside him. Their class was prepared to go on their weekly field test but were called to their seats right before they were set to leave.
“Don't know, don't care.” Fixing his shades over his face, Iba slumped down further. “Wake me up when it's time to leave.”
“Dammit, why the hell do I have to stay awake?”
Sighing, Iba lifted up a fist. “Fine, let’s do it.”
“Rock, paper, scissors!”
He cushioned his head again. “Like I said, wake me up when we leave.”
Ikkaku glared. “You’re a goddamn cheat.”
“You just suck at rock, paper, scissors. Now shut up so I can sleep.”
“Che!” Propping his head against a fist, Ikkaku scowled. “Then sleep, lazy ass bastard.”
“All right, all right!” Their instructor pounded a desk for silence. “Everyone listen up! This time, we’re going out to deal with a group of low-level Hollows. The one in charge of this field test is going to be Kurotsuchi-fukutaichou, vice-captain of the 12th division. He’s here to administer an experimental pill that will enhance your fighting prowess. Half of you will be given this pill, the other half will be given a placebo. The results will be monitored closely, so everyone do your best.
“There will be no assigned squads today. Everyone will be moving in a large group as this area is notorious for the high concentration of Hollows. If any of you feel overwhelmed, retreat into the main body. Kurotsuchi-fukutaichou is there only to observe and intervene only when necessary. Otherwise, you’re on your own.”
As the instructor spoke, the instructor assistants went down the rows, giving each student one pill. Ikkaku rolled his around in his fingers for a moment, scrutinizing the little thing before deciding, what the hell? and popped it in his mouth. Iba slumbered blissfully beside him and Ikkaku picked up his and swallowed that, too.
Teach him to sleep during a briefing.
~*~*~*~
For the first few minutes, Mayuri let the class do whatever they wanted. Once their confidence was built up enough, he would crush his experimental Hollow bait. Field testing two inventions at once. Mayuri loved being efficient.
He looked around the group as they mingled and acted generally bored with the task at hand. They were a fairly advanced class and a good number of them held high seats for their class year. Mayuri had studied every student thoroughly before picking which ones would test out his new pill. Most were lower level students, but he also picked out some of the more powerful ones to see to what level spirit power the pill would stop having an effect.
Bringing out a small microphone from his hand, Mayuri whispered into it: “Move to the outer edge of the group.” He smiled when his little rodents subconsciously did his bidding and broke the bait.
~*~*~*~
“So that’s your dad, huh?”
“Yes.”
“Weird lookin’ guy.” Madarame said conversationally, following her sedately through the crowd.
“I suppose.” Nemu replied quietly.
“Your actual dad or just someone that took you in?”
“My real father.”
“Huh.” He tapped his sheathed sword against his shoulder. “Can’t say I see a family resemblance.”
Giving a noncommittal noise, Nemu slid her gaze toward Mayuri-sama. He was grinning darkly out at the students and hadn’t seen her yet. A part of her felt like she was somewhat thankful for that. She hoped Madarame would leave before they were noticed.
“Oi.”
Nemu stopped and turned, surprised at the sudden seriousness in Madarame’s voice. “You’re not upset with me about anything again, are ya? We’re cool now, aren’t we?”
She dipped her head slightly, unable to think of a way to explain that she had eventually come to enjoy his company and his strange jabber could be soothing on occasions. She couldn’t think of a way to say that she never was upset with him but was worried about what Mayuri-sama would say about her relationship with a male. She couldn’t think of a way to say that, if Mayuri-sama would become angry at his closeness, she didn’t want Madarame to be hurt.
So, instead, she gave him the barest hint of a smile and said, “We are.”
Another student walked between them at that moment and Nemu took the chance to slip away. When she looked at Mayuri-sama again, she was victim to another furious scowl.
~*~*~*~
“What’s got your panties in a bunch?”
Ikkaku scowled. “Shut the hell up.” He told Iba, kicking and cursing his way toward the outer edge of the group. Iba followed quietly until they were far enough away Ikkaku felt comfortable enough to bitch.
“Man, why the hell are women so hard to understand?”
An eyebrow rose up behind reflective shades. “You know, maybe I should get Matsumoto to explain things to you. ‘S what she’s good for, after all.”
He scoffed. “I don’t need some chick to tell me anything.”
“Well, just a thought. I mean, as I don’t know much about women and you know less then I do and Matsumoto is, unless there’s something I seriously don’t want to know about, a woman, I thought that would be the most obvious of decisions.”
“It’s just annoying, okay? I mean, sometimes everything’s great and she’ll seem like an actual PERSON and not some shy little thing afraid to do stuff. And then she’ll just clam up and it’s hell trying to get her open again!”
“You know what I’d do?” But Ikkaku wasn’t really listening to his friend. Instead there was something else that seemed to be trying to get his attention. “I’d give up on her. I mean, she’s hot as anything but she’s so unresponsive!” Something that kept niggling at the back of his head and demanding he do what it said. “She’s always gonna be like that and that ain’t gonna change.” And it said ‘get ready’. “No matter what you try- what’s the matter?”
Ikkaku was looking around, eyes narrowed. “Something’s happening.” He said quietly. Around him, a dozen others were scanning the area.
“What?”
From several different spots came the cries of ‘Hollow!’
~*~*~*~
Mayuri cackled happily to himself. The current situation had temporarily dispelled the rage at finding Nemu unnaturally close to some muscle head. Several Hollows had shown up of varying strengths and, from what he could sense, several more were on their way. All the commands he’d given his unwitting guinea pigs had, so far, been followed to the order. When he told them to fall back, they did. When he said move to the right, they did. And when he told them to allow the next attack to give them a minor injury, the crowd threw out screams of pain.
He had the class representative, the one who gave out the orders so long as it wasn’t necessary for Mayuri to step in and given the subliminal pill for this very reason, explain the situation on his communicator to the instructors. When asked if backup was needed, the student told them if they needed help, Kurotsuchi-fukutaichou was with them. Mayuri sneered to himself before sending the class rep back into battle.
Nemu stood beside him, properly broken so Mayuri didn’t feel the need to include her in this experiment. Her eyes were tinged with sadness but she kept her gaze to the ground. He knew it was to keep him from thinking that… MALE as being more than just some friendly classmate. That was fine, he already knew who it was. Some worthless street punk from one of the seedier Rukongai districts. His only saving point was his fighting ability. Unless Zaraki requested more people the brat couldn’t hope for a future within the Gotei-13.
“Stop with that stupid look.” Mayuri scowled at Nemu. “This is to ensure that these roaches will be useful. After all,” his smile was more like an aggressive show of teeth, “those that aren’t useful are made to die.”
Bringing up his microphone again, Mayuri decided to give the pill the ultimate test:
“Drop your swords and fear.”
~*~*~*~
His sword clattered to the ground and Ikkaku couldn’t bring himself to pick it up. Couldn’t bring himself to do more than stand there and SHAKE. A claw whipped around and caught him in the shoulder, slamming him to the ground as it damn near tore his arm off. Clutching at his arm and whimpering, Ikkaku had never felt so weak since his days as a street rat. The Hollow rose up like that giant merchant from his memories, claw waving like a cleaver that threatened to swing down on a little child caught pilfering a blanket.
His mind chanted at him ‘fear fear fear fear fear’
A body stepped between him and the Hollow and rough hands were dragging him backwards by his uniform collar.
“What the hell are you doing!?” Someone was screaming at him. “Get up and fight!”
Mouth working soundlessly, Ikkaku only managed to let out another whimper, remembering how scared he was of that man and how certain he was that he’d die.
“Pick up your sword!” The person shouted in his ear. “Pick it up and fall back! Protect the injured!”
‘Protect’. It was the only word that echoed louder than ‘fear’ in his mind. ‘Protect’ and it made him sit up, looking around wildly. And he found her standing safely by the vice-captain- by her father’s side and when she met his gaze for a mere second, all he saw was resignation and farewell.
Hollows were lumbering among the students, isolating them into groups and she was already counting him among the dead. His mind told him ‘fear’ but the memories of fear gave way to ‘fight’.
Because he kicked and fought the merchant and hadn’t died. He fought the rival kids that ganged up on him and hadn’t died. He fought and snarled for every inch he took anywhere and he had yet to die. No matter how afraid he was, it was Ikkaku’s natural instinct to fight back.
“Hey! Hey ugly!” The Hollow reared around and snorted at the little figure that was waving frantically at him. “That’s right, ya window lickin’ assclown! Over here!” The Hollow roared and launched itself at Ikkaku who- his brain narrowed out the command to fear as it prepared for fight –dropped into a stance and-
He never picked up his sword.
-dove frantically out of the way of an enraged Hollow. “Shit!” He cried out. “Shitshitshit!” The Hollow turned for a second pass and Ikkaku hastily backpedaled. Until the mask was dashed to piece.
“You retard!” Iba shouted at him. “What the hell were you gonna do without your damned sword!?” He tossed the thing like it was a javelin, catching Ikkaku in the gut.
“Waiting for back up!” He coughed back. “Not my fault you’re so damn slow!”
“Yeah, well try keeping a hand on it from now on, okay?” Iba grumbled out as they stood back to back against a circle of Hollows. “This may take a while.”
~*~*~*~
As sadistic as Mayuri-sama could get, he still understood that some people thought fatalities during experimenting wasn’t worth it and so, after the first two students died, decided he would end the experiments and killed off the remaining Hollows. He allowed Nemu to help her injured classmates.
She tried not to let it show, she tried not to even think about it too much but the worry whittled at her mind. During the conflict she lost sight of Madarame and, though she knew it was foolish to think of it, wondered if he was badly hurt.
Stop. She told herself. Mayuri-sama isn’t happy already that he saw you talking with Madarame. He would be even more furious if he knew you were worried.
“-so fucking reckless, you idiot.”
“-not exactly the height of caution yourself so shut the hell up.”
Nemu almost snapped her head around at the voice but had enough control to merely pause from the pressure bandage she was doing on someone’s leg. Lifting her head up slightly, she saw Madarame coming among their classmates, he and his friend were supporting each other, both looked to be close to their last leg. Iba had a large gash down the side of his face, shades long broken and discarded.
“You two are pretty cheery.” One of the higher ranking classmates told them as they passed.
“You can shut the hell up, too.” Madarame told her. “I’m just gonna collapse here for a little while.” And promptly did so. His weight dragged Iba down on top of him. “Ow- goddamn, you bastard! Get the hell offa me!”
“If you didn’t drop like friggin’ dead weight like that, we wouldn’t be having this problem!”
Quickly tying off the bandage, Nemu hurried over to the two. Their wounds were more numerous and serious looking than the other students who had yet to be treated, she reasoned with herself. The higher rank was already working on their injuries- Kotetsu, recalled Nemu, well versed in Demon Arts and with passable healing skills. Nemu knelt down by Madarame and peeled apart his tattered haori from where it stuck to his chest.
He blinked up at her. “Kurotsuchi?”
“Your injuries aren’t life threatening.” She told him plainly, running soft fingers across his ribs to see if the bruises had broken any.
“Hey.” She paused at the almost-softness of his voice. “You saw me earlier, right? You thought I was gonna die, didn’t you?”
She had no reason to lie. “Yes.”
“Che.” He laid his head back, words slurring slightly as adrenaline wore off. “Don’t go killin’ me off early. Still got surprises in me yet.”
Nemu watched him quietly, a hand pressed against his chest, feeling his pulse and breathing slowed to an exhausted sleep. It was only then she realized how fast her heart was beating.
Fandom: Bleach
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2445
Characters: Ikkaku, Nemu with Mayuri, Iba
Summary: Following Rundown, Top of the Caste and Smile for Me. An experiment, if you will. For grander things.
“I'm not so certain...”
“Ah, but just think! If these work, even the most timid of students would be able to hold their own against overwhelming odds!”
“But there are already plenty of strength supplements in the Gotei-13-”
“But not like this. When given, every individual person will work and act as a single entity, the chaos of battle will be all but extinguished. It will, in short, give the commander the most perfect tools to fight with.”
There was another uncertain pause. “Well... It has been approved of by Urahara-taichou. All right, Kurotsuchi-fukutaichou. If you believe it will work. There's a class that's ready to do field testing against low-level Hollows. I'll leave them to you, then.”
Mayuri's grin was luminescent. “Thank you.”
~*~*~*~
“Man, what's up with this?” Ikkaku stretched out, Iba slumped beside him. Their class was prepared to go on their weekly field test but were called to their seats right before they were set to leave.
“Don't know, don't care.” Fixing his shades over his face, Iba slumped down further. “Wake me up when it's time to leave.”
“Dammit, why the hell do I have to stay awake?”
Sighing, Iba lifted up a fist. “Fine, let’s do it.”
“Rock, paper, scissors!”
He cushioned his head again. “Like I said, wake me up when we leave.”
Ikkaku glared. “You’re a goddamn cheat.”
“You just suck at rock, paper, scissors. Now shut up so I can sleep.”
“Che!” Propping his head against a fist, Ikkaku scowled. “Then sleep, lazy ass bastard.”
“All right, all right!” Their instructor pounded a desk for silence. “Everyone listen up! This time, we’re going out to deal with a group of low-level Hollows. The one in charge of this field test is going to be Kurotsuchi-fukutaichou, vice-captain of the 12th division. He’s here to administer an experimental pill that will enhance your fighting prowess. Half of you will be given this pill, the other half will be given a placebo. The results will be monitored closely, so everyone do your best.
“There will be no assigned squads today. Everyone will be moving in a large group as this area is notorious for the high concentration of Hollows. If any of you feel overwhelmed, retreat into the main body. Kurotsuchi-fukutaichou is there only to observe and intervene only when necessary. Otherwise, you’re on your own.”
As the instructor spoke, the instructor assistants went down the rows, giving each student one pill. Ikkaku rolled his around in his fingers for a moment, scrutinizing the little thing before deciding, what the hell? and popped it in his mouth. Iba slumbered blissfully beside him and Ikkaku picked up his and swallowed that, too.
Teach him to sleep during a briefing.
~*~*~*~
For the first few minutes, Mayuri let the class do whatever they wanted. Once their confidence was built up enough, he would crush his experimental Hollow bait. Field testing two inventions at once. Mayuri loved being efficient.
He looked around the group as they mingled and acted generally bored with the task at hand. They were a fairly advanced class and a good number of them held high seats for their class year. Mayuri had studied every student thoroughly before picking which ones would test out his new pill. Most were lower level students, but he also picked out some of the more powerful ones to see to what level spirit power the pill would stop having an effect.
Bringing out a small microphone from his hand, Mayuri whispered into it: “Move to the outer edge of the group.” He smiled when his little rodents subconsciously did his bidding and broke the bait.
~*~*~*~
“So that’s your dad, huh?”
“Yes.”
“Weird lookin’ guy.” Madarame said conversationally, following her sedately through the crowd.
“I suppose.” Nemu replied quietly.
“Your actual dad or just someone that took you in?”
“My real father.”
“Huh.” He tapped his sheathed sword against his shoulder. “Can’t say I see a family resemblance.”
Giving a noncommittal noise, Nemu slid her gaze toward Mayuri-sama. He was grinning darkly out at the students and hadn’t seen her yet. A part of her felt like she was somewhat thankful for that. She hoped Madarame would leave before they were noticed.
“Oi.”
Nemu stopped and turned, surprised at the sudden seriousness in Madarame’s voice. “You’re not upset with me about anything again, are ya? We’re cool now, aren’t we?”
She dipped her head slightly, unable to think of a way to explain that she had eventually come to enjoy his company and his strange jabber could be soothing on occasions. She couldn’t think of a way to say that she never was upset with him but was worried about what Mayuri-sama would say about her relationship with a male. She couldn’t think of a way to say that, if Mayuri-sama would become angry at his closeness, she didn’t want Madarame to be hurt.
So, instead, she gave him the barest hint of a smile and said, “We are.”
Another student walked between them at that moment and Nemu took the chance to slip away. When she looked at Mayuri-sama again, she was victim to another furious scowl.
~*~*~*~
“What’s got your panties in a bunch?”
Ikkaku scowled. “Shut the hell up.” He told Iba, kicking and cursing his way toward the outer edge of the group. Iba followed quietly until they were far enough away Ikkaku felt comfortable enough to bitch.
“Man, why the hell are women so hard to understand?”
An eyebrow rose up behind reflective shades. “You know, maybe I should get Matsumoto to explain things to you. ‘S what she’s good for, after all.”
He scoffed. “I don’t need some chick to tell me anything.”
“Well, just a thought. I mean, as I don’t know much about women and you know less then I do and Matsumoto is, unless there’s something I seriously don’t want to know about, a woman, I thought that would be the most obvious of decisions.”
“It’s just annoying, okay? I mean, sometimes everything’s great and she’ll seem like an actual PERSON and not some shy little thing afraid to do stuff. And then she’ll just clam up and it’s hell trying to get her open again!”
“You know what I’d do?” But Ikkaku wasn’t really listening to his friend. Instead there was something else that seemed to be trying to get his attention. “I’d give up on her. I mean, she’s hot as anything but she’s so unresponsive!” Something that kept niggling at the back of his head and demanding he do what it said. “She’s always gonna be like that and that ain’t gonna change.” And it said ‘get ready’. “No matter what you try- what’s the matter?”
Ikkaku was looking around, eyes narrowed. “Something’s happening.” He said quietly. Around him, a dozen others were scanning the area.
“What?”
From several different spots came the cries of ‘Hollow!’
~*~*~*~
Mayuri cackled happily to himself. The current situation had temporarily dispelled the rage at finding Nemu unnaturally close to some muscle head. Several Hollows had shown up of varying strengths and, from what he could sense, several more were on their way. All the commands he’d given his unwitting guinea pigs had, so far, been followed to the order. When he told them to fall back, they did. When he said move to the right, they did. And when he told them to allow the next attack to give them a minor injury, the crowd threw out screams of pain.
He had the class representative, the one who gave out the orders so long as it wasn’t necessary for Mayuri to step in and given the subliminal pill for this very reason, explain the situation on his communicator to the instructors. When asked if backup was needed, the student told them if they needed help, Kurotsuchi-fukutaichou was with them. Mayuri sneered to himself before sending the class rep back into battle.
Nemu stood beside him, properly broken so Mayuri didn’t feel the need to include her in this experiment. Her eyes were tinged with sadness but she kept her gaze to the ground. He knew it was to keep him from thinking that… MALE as being more than just some friendly classmate. That was fine, he already knew who it was. Some worthless street punk from one of the seedier Rukongai districts. His only saving point was his fighting ability. Unless Zaraki requested more people the brat couldn’t hope for a future within the Gotei-13.
“Stop with that stupid look.” Mayuri scowled at Nemu. “This is to ensure that these roaches will be useful. After all,” his smile was more like an aggressive show of teeth, “those that aren’t useful are made to die.”
Bringing up his microphone again, Mayuri decided to give the pill the ultimate test:
“Drop your swords and fear.”
~*~*~*~
His sword clattered to the ground and Ikkaku couldn’t bring himself to pick it up. Couldn’t bring himself to do more than stand there and SHAKE. A claw whipped around and caught him in the shoulder, slamming him to the ground as it damn near tore his arm off. Clutching at his arm and whimpering, Ikkaku had never felt so weak since his days as a street rat. The Hollow rose up like that giant merchant from his memories, claw waving like a cleaver that threatened to swing down on a little child caught pilfering a blanket.
His mind chanted at him ‘fear fear fear fear fear’
A body stepped between him and the Hollow and rough hands were dragging him backwards by his uniform collar.
“What the hell are you doing!?” Someone was screaming at him. “Get up and fight!”
Mouth working soundlessly, Ikkaku only managed to let out another whimper, remembering how scared he was of that man and how certain he was that he’d die.
“Pick up your sword!” The person shouted in his ear. “Pick it up and fall back! Protect the injured!”
‘Protect’. It was the only word that echoed louder than ‘fear’ in his mind. ‘Protect’ and it made him sit up, looking around wildly. And he found her standing safely by the vice-captain- by her father’s side and when she met his gaze for a mere second, all he saw was resignation and farewell.
Hollows were lumbering among the students, isolating them into groups and she was already counting him among the dead. His mind told him ‘fear’ but the memories of fear gave way to ‘fight’.
Because he kicked and fought the merchant and hadn’t died. He fought the rival kids that ganged up on him and hadn’t died. He fought and snarled for every inch he took anywhere and he had yet to die. No matter how afraid he was, it was Ikkaku’s natural instinct to fight back.
“Hey! Hey ugly!” The Hollow reared around and snorted at the little figure that was waving frantically at him. “That’s right, ya window lickin’ assclown! Over here!” The Hollow roared and launched itself at Ikkaku who- his brain narrowed out the command to fear as it prepared for fight –dropped into a stance and-
He never picked up his sword.
-dove frantically out of the way of an enraged Hollow. “Shit!” He cried out. “Shitshitshit!” The Hollow turned for a second pass and Ikkaku hastily backpedaled. Until the mask was dashed to piece.
“You retard!” Iba shouted at him. “What the hell were you gonna do without your damned sword!?” He tossed the thing like it was a javelin, catching Ikkaku in the gut.
“Waiting for back up!” He coughed back. “Not my fault you’re so damn slow!”
“Yeah, well try keeping a hand on it from now on, okay?” Iba grumbled out as they stood back to back against a circle of Hollows. “This may take a while.”
~*~*~*~
As sadistic as Mayuri-sama could get, he still understood that some people thought fatalities during experimenting wasn’t worth it and so, after the first two students died, decided he would end the experiments and killed off the remaining Hollows. He allowed Nemu to help her injured classmates.
She tried not to let it show, she tried not to even think about it too much but the worry whittled at her mind. During the conflict she lost sight of Madarame and, though she knew it was foolish to think of it, wondered if he was badly hurt.
Stop. She told herself. Mayuri-sama isn’t happy already that he saw you talking with Madarame. He would be even more furious if he knew you were worried.
“-so fucking reckless, you idiot.”
“-not exactly the height of caution yourself so shut the hell up.”
Nemu almost snapped her head around at the voice but had enough control to merely pause from the pressure bandage she was doing on someone’s leg. Lifting her head up slightly, she saw Madarame coming among their classmates, he and his friend were supporting each other, both looked to be close to their last leg. Iba had a large gash down the side of his face, shades long broken and discarded.
“You two are pretty cheery.” One of the higher ranking classmates told them as they passed.
“You can shut the hell up, too.” Madarame told her. “I’m just gonna collapse here for a little while.” And promptly did so. His weight dragged Iba down on top of him. “Ow- goddamn, you bastard! Get the hell offa me!”
“If you didn’t drop like friggin’ dead weight like that, we wouldn’t be having this problem!”
Quickly tying off the bandage, Nemu hurried over to the two. Their wounds were more numerous and serious looking than the other students who had yet to be treated, she reasoned with herself. The higher rank was already working on their injuries- Kotetsu, recalled Nemu, well versed in Demon Arts and with passable healing skills. Nemu knelt down by Madarame and peeled apart his tattered haori from where it stuck to his chest.
He blinked up at her. “Kurotsuchi?”
“Your injuries aren’t life threatening.” She told him plainly, running soft fingers across his ribs to see if the bruises had broken any.
“Hey.” She paused at the almost-softness of his voice. “You saw me earlier, right? You thought I was gonna die, didn’t you?”
She had no reason to lie. “Yes.”
“Che.” He laid his head back, words slurring slightly as adrenaline wore off. “Don’t go killin’ me off early. Still got surprises in me yet.”
Nemu watched him quietly, a hand pressed against his chest, feeling his pulse and breathing slowed to an exhausted sleep. It was only then she realized how fast her heart was beating.
