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ajremixTitle: Come What May – Seating Arrangements
Fandom: Bleach
Rating: PG-13 for choice words
Word Count: 2178
Characters: Ikkaku, Nemu, Urahara, Mayuri, Yachiru, Zaraki, Iba
Summary: Following Rundown, Top of the Caste, Smile for Me, Setting Stages, Daily Reprieve, Odds Against and One Step Beyond. An experiment, if you will. Aim high.
“So you’re the oft talked about Kurotsuchi Nemu. Kurotsuchi-san thinks highly of you.”
Mayuri scoffed but it still made her smile softly to herself.
“Thank you, Urahara-taichou.”
The captain laughed. “Oh, no! Thank you, Nemu-san!” He snapped his fan open. “It’s always a pleasure to be in the company of a lovely lady. Especially one that makes wonderful tea!” Urahara leaned in with a grin. “All my other lady friends can’t brew water to save their lives.”
Her smiled widened just slightly, amused at her new captain.
“You know,” Urahara sipped at his tea, “you should try to gain a seat. You had good scores in the academy, I think you’d make a good officer. And besides, the higher in rank you are, the more you get to do.”
Nemu set her own cup back down on the table. “Excuse me, Urahara-taichou, but what exactly is done in the 12th division? I’m not entirely certain.”
He smiled brightly. “Oh, we make stuff.” Nemu’s eyes grew warm at a memory. “We develop and produce all sorts of supplements, find out what makes Hollow’s tick, develop items for field use. For an example,” Urahara leaned forward, getting into the subject, “the communicators given to each Shinigami that goes out were developed by us. Gigais for those that go to the mortal realm undercover was also developed and each one created by a member from this division. We do all sorts of things, here, many of which are kept secret. In fact,” Urahara turned to grin at Mayuri and, at least from Nemu’s angle, there was a cold edge to it, “some are secret even to me!”
Mayuri snorted again, but remained quiet in his captain’s presence.
“So, Nemu-san,” Urahara turned back to her and smile benignly, “do you think you’re willing to try?”
Nemu sat before him contemplating and couldn’t help but like him. Energetic and warm and completely at ease with himself. A part of Nemu- that reminded her much like some of her former classmates –imagined that this was the type of person you could trust to take care of you. She thought that, while she wouldn’t throw her life away for him without Mayuri-sama’s permission, she would be willing to do whatever it was Urahara-taichou asked of her.
She smiled at him, the first time since she last talked to Madarame, without inhibitions. “Yes. I will do my best.”
~*~*~*~
He was tempted to ask if this was a joke. Good Lord he wanted to know if this was a joke because if it was it was seriously fucked up. But, no. He came from one of the seedier districts of the Rukongai and knew you couldn’t fake that level of fear. And those that weren’t intimidated treated her with the highest respects. And watching her just waltz into the captain’s office and jump up on the captain’s shoulder of all places, Ikkaku pretty much had to resign himself to the fact he had a knee-high pink puffball for a vice-captain.
There was a handful of others that were recruited into the 11th division with him. Iba, thankfully, was one of them. At least, Ikkaku figured, eyeing aforementioned puffball, he’d have someone safe to bitch at.
“So,” their new captain rumbled and Ikkaku shivered at the layer of spirit power that smothered the room disinterestedly, “you brats the new guys, huh?” He huffed, causing the bells on his hair to jingle. “Name’s Zaraki, your captain. That’s Yachiru, your vice-captain. Now get the hell outta my face.”
For a moment the group just sat there quietly. Then cast sidelong looks at each other.
“Er-”
“What?” The word snapped the breath right out of Ikkaku.
“D-D-D,” he swallowed and forced the words out, “Don’t we need room and squad assignments?”
Zaraki’s lips snarled. “Yachiru.”
“I’ll get it Ken-chan!” The little girl chirped, bounding out the door and calling out into the hall. “Hey~! Weird pervert guy! The new guys need to have their,” her voice faded down the corridor.
“Anything else?” Zaraki’s spirit power gave a little flex, as if daring them to say something. “‘Cause you guys are fuckin’ boring.”
“Uh,” Ikkaku flinched when attention was focused on him again, “what about those of us that want officer spots? Are we able to gain seats?”
That seemed to gain Zaraki’s interest. “You wanna fight?” His grin was like a score of broken knives. “I can arrange that.”
~*~*~*~
Within a week, Nemu was called to Mayuri’s office. Among the paperwork on his desk was the result of Nemu’s testing.
“6th seat.” His thin voice read flatly. “I will admit that I didn’t believe you’d get so far so quickly.”
Nemu smiled with pride. “Thank you, Mayuri-sama.”
He glared in return. “Shut your mouth. This ability is due to my skill, not yours.”
“Of course, Mayuri-sama.”
“And another thing.” He surged from his seat and backhanded Nemu across the cheek. She twisted, tripped over her feet and fell to the floor. “I know what you’re thinking.” He hissed at her hatefully. “You think that bastard Urahara gives a damn about you. He DOESN’T. No one does. He’s only going to use your ability to make himself look good when all the credit for that goes to ME.”
He stomped around the desk as Nemu sat up, backhanding her again and pounding a foot to her chest. “You never listen to that bastard, do you understand me? He may be your captain, but you answer only to ME.” He ground his heel against her collarbone. “DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”
“Yes,” she choked, “yes, Mayuri-sama.”
He snarled and spat on her. “Worthless girl.”
Mayuri didn’t acknowledge her existence for the rest of the day. But Nemu still got up- as if nothing had happened and maybe she was just too used to it –and made him tea.
~*~*~*~
When he woke up the first thing he saw was Iemura’s face. The shock on its own made Ikkaku’s fist clip him in the jaw. If it weren’t for the reflex, he would’ve hit the annoying bastard harder.
“Hey, stupid.” Someone smacked him on the side of the head. “That’s no way to treat a guy that just healed your goddamn wounds.”
Ikkaku looked around. His body was bandaged up and Iba was next to him, smoking and nearly worse off than him. Iemura sat up with a groan and a glare.
“Where am I?” Ikkaku asked intelligently.
“Your dumbass is in the 4th division’s main wing.” Iba told him. “Iemura here’s been takin’ care of you.”
“So, but, wait a second.” Ikkaku rubbed his head, cursed at a knot and ignored Iemura’s mutter of ‘you’re welcome’. “Then the testing’s done? What seats did we get?”
“Pfff.” Iba scratched at a bandage. “You got 10th, just for the fact that you wouldn’t just give the hell up. Apparently Zaraki-taichou gives leeway for pigheaded morons that makes the vice-captain laugh.”
“10th?” Ikkaku wailed. “You gotta be kiddin’ me!”
“Yeah, well, I got 7th.”
“HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET HIGHER THAN ME??”
“Because.” Iba blew out a thick stream of smoke that caused Iemura to cough. “These guys are even bigger dumbasses than you. None of them seemed to know how to protect themselves from simple blast spells.” But he grinned. “But the guy that beat me- they call him Yumichika, damn fruitcake if I ever saw one. He’s a slippery one. Got a lot of tricks up his sleeve, I can tell.”
“This fucking blows!”
“You know,” Iba scowled, “we just got out of the academy. We still got a long time to train and get stronger.”
Ikkaku rubbed his face and muffled a frustrated scream into his palms. A heartbeat later he was sitting up and getting out of the bed. “Okay, let’s go.”
“Hey, wait a minute!” Iemura attempted to bare their way. “You can’t just get up and leave like that!”
“Send us a bill.” Ikkaku told him shoving the bespectacled man out of the way.
~*~*~*~
“Hey, hold up.”
“What?”
Instead of going through the gate to their new division, Ikkaku danced a little toward the corner. “12th division is nearby, right?”
“Uh, yeah. 12 tends to come right after 11.”
“Shut the fuck up.” He headed further down the road. “I’ll be back in a bit, just go on ahead.”
Iba cupped his hands and shouted, “You’re wasting your time!” But Ikkaku either didn’t hear or just ignored him. Iba shook his head. “Deluded idiot.”
~*~*~*~
It wasn’t hard sneaking into the 12th division’s grounds. It was still, after all, fairly early but it was only when he was on the grounds that he realized he had no way to find Kurotsuchi. Weighing his options carefully, Ikkaku finally decided to bite the bullet and ask someone.
The first person he came across was sitting out on the walkway, a cup of tea cradled in one hand, a hang over cradled in the other. He was muttering something about ‘never matching Shunsui drink for drink again’. Low crawling through the grass (useless endeavor, really, as the grass was always kept short), Ikkaku came up on the early riser (or late sleeper as the case may be).
“Hey,” he called out softly, “uh, guy!”
The man looked up between fingers, eyes blurry. “Hm?”
Braced on the ground he probably should’ve felt more foolish than he did. Instead, Ikkaku went on single-mindedly. “Do you know Kurotsuchi?”
There was a brief pause. “I know of a couple Kurotsuchis.”
Well, duh. Ikkaku rolled his eyes at himself. “Well, yeah. I mean the younger one. Girl, black hair, sad eyes, quiet.”
“Ah.” The man said with a smile edged with pain. “Nemu-san.”
Gee, he felt stupid. He never even bothered to ask for her given name. “Er, yeah.”
“Alright, hold on. Nemu-san!” He called out, wincing at his own volume. “There’s someone here to talk to you!” A moment later the door behind the man slid open and Kurotsuchi stepped out, curious expression on her face. Ikkaku, still on the ground, only then began to feel foolish.
He jumped to his feet abruptly, “Kurotsuchi, hey.”
She blinked at him. “Madarame? May I ask why you’re here?”
Ikkaku cleared his throat and hid his bandaged arms behind his back. “Just, you know, in the area. Thought I stopped by.”
“That’s very kind of you.” Kurotsuchi said, kneeling next to the groaning man. “Are you well? You’ve been in another fight, haven’t you?”
Sheepishly he grinned. “Just gettin’ a seat in the division is all.”
“How did you do?”
This time he scowled. “Got 10th.”
“Congratulations.” Kurotsuchi smiled at him.
“That’s pretty good for someone fresh out of the academy.” The strange man beamed. “I’ll bet you’ll be climbing the ranks in no time.”
“Iba got higher than me.” Ikkaku told them glumly. “He got 7th.”
“Oh, that’s good, too! Nemu-san here just picked up the 6th seat.”
Ikkaku’s jaw dropped and he stood there spluttering for a bit. “Th-That’s amazing!” He hooted, happiest she’d seen him since the final exams. “Kurotsuchi, you’re amazing!”
She blushed prettily at that and the man smiled warmly at them both. “Thank you.” She murmured, pleased with herself. “Are you going to stay long, Madarame?”
“Ikkaku.”
Her head tilted to the side. “I’m sorry?”
“Call me Ikkaku.” He repeated, grinning. “All my friends do.”
“All right, then. Ikkaku.” She said slowly, seeing how the name tasted on her tongue.
“Then can I call you Nemu?” He added quickly when her eyes became panicked. “I mean- not all the time! Just, you know, when it’s us, when no one important’s around.”
She looked at the man beside her and he gave her a wide smile. “Let him, Nemu-san. That way, it’ll be easier to tell you apart from Kurotsuchi-san.”
Looking back at Ikkaku tentatively, Nemu nodded her head. “Then it’s fine.”
An almost disbelieving smile worked its way across his lips. “Great. Ah-“ his mind suddenly jolted at him. “I gotta go.” He gave a sort of half-bow to them. “I’ll see you later, okay Nemu?”
And she smiled back, waving. “Take care of yourself.” The man next to her waggled his fingers goodbye. Three heartbeats after Ikkaku had vanished, Nemu’s companion gave a little chuckle.
“Nice kid.” He said. “Full of potential, so long as he keeps his focus. Not all that bright, though, is he?”
Nemu gave him a sideways look. “I hope he didn’t insult you, Urahara-taichou.”
“No, no, not at all.” He assured her. “I don’t like it when people get all stuffy with me. We’ll just see how long it takes him to realize it, shall we?” Urahara noticed her pensive look. “Something wrong, Nemu-san?”
But Nemu looked down at her hands as if they were what had betrayed her. She replayed the exchange in her mind, Ikkaku’s tense and edgy disposition, the too-wide grin and nervous bounce in his feet.
Something had changed between them, Nemu realized. She didn’t know where they stood now, but wherever it was, it was leaving their friendship crumbling behind them.
Fandom: Bleach
Rating: PG-13 for choice words
Word Count: 2178
Characters: Ikkaku, Nemu, Urahara, Mayuri, Yachiru, Zaraki, Iba
Summary: Following Rundown, Top of the Caste, Smile for Me, Setting Stages, Daily Reprieve, Odds Against and One Step Beyond. An experiment, if you will. Aim high.
“So you’re the oft talked about Kurotsuchi Nemu. Kurotsuchi-san thinks highly of you.”
Mayuri scoffed but it still made her smile softly to herself.
“Thank you, Urahara-taichou.”
The captain laughed. “Oh, no! Thank you, Nemu-san!” He snapped his fan open. “It’s always a pleasure to be in the company of a lovely lady. Especially one that makes wonderful tea!” Urahara leaned in with a grin. “All my other lady friends can’t brew water to save their lives.”
Her smiled widened just slightly, amused at her new captain.
“You know,” Urahara sipped at his tea, “you should try to gain a seat. You had good scores in the academy, I think you’d make a good officer. And besides, the higher in rank you are, the more you get to do.”
Nemu set her own cup back down on the table. “Excuse me, Urahara-taichou, but what exactly is done in the 12th division? I’m not entirely certain.”
He smiled brightly. “Oh, we make stuff.” Nemu’s eyes grew warm at a memory. “We develop and produce all sorts of supplements, find out what makes Hollow’s tick, develop items for field use. For an example,” Urahara leaned forward, getting into the subject, “the communicators given to each Shinigami that goes out were developed by us. Gigais for those that go to the mortal realm undercover was also developed and each one created by a member from this division. We do all sorts of things, here, many of which are kept secret. In fact,” Urahara turned to grin at Mayuri and, at least from Nemu’s angle, there was a cold edge to it, “some are secret even to me!”
Mayuri snorted again, but remained quiet in his captain’s presence.
“So, Nemu-san,” Urahara turned back to her and smile benignly, “do you think you’re willing to try?”
Nemu sat before him contemplating and couldn’t help but like him. Energetic and warm and completely at ease with himself. A part of Nemu- that reminded her much like some of her former classmates –imagined that this was the type of person you could trust to take care of you. She thought that, while she wouldn’t throw her life away for him without Mayuri-sama’s permission, she would be willing to do whatever it was Urahara-taichou asked of her.
She smiled at him, the first time since she last talked to Madarame, without inhibitions. “Yes. I will do my best.”
~*~*~*~
He was tempted to ask if this was a joke. Good Lord he wanted to know if this was a joke because if it was it was seriously fucked up. But, no. He came from one of the seedier districts of the Rukongai and knew you couldn’t fake that level of fear. And those that weren’t intimidated treated her with the highest respects. And watching her just waltz into the captain’s office and jump up on the captain’s shoulder of all places, Ikkaku pretty much had to resign himself to the fact he had a knee-high pink puffball for a vice-captain.
There was a handful of others that were recruited into the 11th division with him. Iba, thankfully, was one of them. At least, Ikkaku figured, eyeing aforementioned puffball, he’d have someone safe to bitch at.
“So,” their new captain rumbled and Ikkaku shivered at the layer of spirit power that smothered the room disinterestedly, “you brats the new guys, huh?” He huffed, causing the bells on his hair to jingle. “Name’s Zaraki, your captain. That’s Yachiru, your vice-captain. Now get the hell outta my face.”
For a moment the group just sat there quietly. Then cast sidelong looks at each other.
“Er-”
“What?” The word snapped the breath right out of Ikkaku.
“D-D-D,” he swallowed and forced the words out, “Don’t we need room and squad assignments?”
Zaraki’s lips snarled. “Yachiru.”
“I’ll get it Ken-chan!” The little girl chirped, bounding out the door and calling out into the hall. “Hey~! Weird pervert guy! The new guys need to have their,” her voice faded down the corridor.
“Anything else?” Zaraki’s spirit power gave a little flex, as if daring them to say something. “‘Cause you guys are fuckin’ boring.”
“Uh,” Ikkaku flinched when attention was focused on him again, “what about those of us that want officer spots? Are we able to gain seats?”
That seemed to gain Zaraki’s interest. “You wanna fight?” His grin was like a score of broken knives. “I can arrange that.”
~*~*~*~
Within a week, Nemu was called to Mayuri’s office. Among the paperwork on his desk was the result of Nemu’s testing.
“6th seat.” His thin voice read flatly. “I will admit that I didn’t believe you’d get so far so quickly.”
Nemu smiled with pride. “Thank you, Mayuri-sama.”
He glared in return. “Shut your mouth. This ability is due to my skill, not yours.”
“Of course, Mayuri-sama.”
“And another thing.” He surged from his seat and backhanded Nemu across the cheek. She twisted, tripped over her feet and fell to the floor. “I know what you’re thinking.” He hissed at her hatefully. “You think that bastard Urahara gives a damn about you. He DOESN’T. No one does. He’s only going to use your ability to make himself look good when all the credit for that goes to ME.”
He stomped around the desk as Nemu sat up, backhanding her again and pounding a foot to her chest. “You never listen to that bastard, do you understand me? He may be your captain, but you answer only to ME.” He ground his heel against her collarbone. “DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”
“Yes,” she choked, “yes, Mayuri-sama.”
He snarled and spat on her. “Worthless girl.”
Mayuri didn’t acknowledge her existence for the rest of the day. But Nemu still got up- as if nothing had happened and maybe she was just too used to it –and made him tea.
~*~*~*~
When he woke up the first thing he saw was Iemura’s face. The shock on its own made Ikkaku’s fist clip him in the jaw. If it weren’t for the reflex, he would’ve hit the annoying bastard harder.
“Hey, stupid.” Someone smacked him on the side of the head. “That’s no way to treat a guy that just healed your goddamn wounds.”
Ikkaku looked around. His body was bandaged up and Iba was next to him, smoking and nearly worse off than him. Iemura sat up with a groan and a glare.
“Where am I?” Ikkaku asked intelligently.
“Your dumbass is in the 4th division’s main wing.” Iba told him. “Iemura here’s been takin’ care of you.”
“So, but, wait a second.” Ikkaku rubbed his head, cursed at a knot and ignored Iemura’s mutter of ‘you’re welcome’. “Then the testing’s done? What seats did we get?”
“Pfff.” Iba scratched at a bandage. “You got 10th, just for the fact that you wouldn’t just give the hell up. Apparently Zaraki-taichou gives leeway for pigheaded morons that makes the vice-captain laugh.”
“10th?” Ikkaku wailed. “You gotta be kiddin’ me!”
“Yeah, well, I got 7th.”
“HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET HIGHER THAN ME??”
“Because.” Iba blew out a thick stream of smoke that caused Iemura to cough. “These guys are even bigger dumbasses than you. None of them seemed to know how to protect themselves from simple blast spells.” But he grinned. “But the guy that beat me- they call him Yumichika, damn fruitcake if I ever saw one. He’s a slippery one. Got a lot of tricks up his sleeve, I can tell.”
“This fucking blows!”
“You know,” Iba scowled, “we just got out of the academy. We still got a long time to train and get stronger.”
Ikkaku rubbed his face and muffled a frustrated scream into his palms. A heartbeat later he was sitting up and getting out of the bed. “Okay, let’s go.”
“Hey, wait a minute!” Iemura attempted to bare their way. “You can’t just get up and leave like that!”
“Send us a bill.” Ikkaku told him shoving the bespectacled man out of the way.
~*~*~*~
“Hey, hold up.”
“What?”
Instead of going through the gate to their new division, Ikkaku danced a little toward the corner. “12th division is nearby, right?”
“Uh, yeah. 12 tends to come right after 11.”
“Shut the fuck up.” He headed further down the road. “I’ll be back in a bit, just go on ahead.”
Iba cupped his hands and shouted, “You’re wasting your time!” But Ikkaku either didn’t hear or just ignored him. Iba shook his head. “Deluded idiot.”
~*~*~*~
It wasn’t hard sneaking into the 12th division’s grounds. It was still, after all, fairly early but it was only when he was on the grounds that he realized he had no way to find Kurotsuchi. Weighing his options carefully, Ikkaku finally decided to bite the bullet and ask someone.
The first person he came across was sitting out on the walkway, a cup of tea cradled in one hand, a hang over cradled in the other. He was muttering something about ‘never matching Shunsui drink for drink again’. Low crawling through the grass (useless endeavor, really, as the grass was always kept short), Ikkaku came up on the early riser (or late sleeper as the case may be).
“Hey,” he called out softly, “uh, guy!”
The man looked up between fingers, eyes blurry. “Hm?”
Braced on the ground he probably should’ve felt more foolish than he did. Instead, Ikkaku went on single-mindedly. “Do you know Kurotsuchi?”
There was a brief pause. “I know of a couple Kurotsuchis.”
Well, duh. Ikkaku rolled his eyes at himself. “Well, yeah. I mean the younger one. Girl, black hair, sad eyes, quiet.”
“Ah.” The man said with a smile edged with pain. “Nemu-san.”
Gee, he felt stupid. He never even bothered to ask for her given name. “Er, yeah.”
“Alright, hold on. Nemu-san!” He called out, wincing at his own volume. “There’s someone here to talk to you!” A moment later the door behind the man slid open and Kurotsuchi stepped out, curious expression on her face. Ikkaku, still on the ground, only then began to feel foolish.
He jumped to his feet abruptly, “Kurotsuchi, hey.”
She blinked at him. “Madarame? May I ask why you’re here?”
Ikkaku cleared his throat and hid his bandaged arms behind his back. “Just, you know, in the area. Thought I stopped by.”
“That’s very kind of you.” Kurotsuchi said, kneeling next to the groaning man. “Are you well? You’ve been in another fight, haven’t you?”
Sheepishly he grinned. “Just gettin’ a seat in the division is all.”
“How did you do?”
This time he scowled. “Got 10th.”
“Congratulations.” Kurotsuchi smiled at him.
“That’s pretty good for someone fresh out of the academy.” The strange man beamed. “I’ll bet you’ll be climbing the ranks in no time.”
“Iba got higher than me.” Ikkaku told them glumly. “He got 7th.”
“Oh, that’s good, too! Nemu-san here just picked up the 6th seat.”
Ikkaku’s jaw dropped and he stood there spluttering for a bit. “Th-That’s amazing!” He hooted, happiest she’d seen him since the final exams. “Kurotsuchi, you’re amazing!”
She blushed prettily at that and the man smiled warmly at them both. “Thank you.” She murmured, pleased with herself. “Are you going to stay long, Madarame?”
“Ikkaku.”
Her head tilted to the side. “I’m sorry?”
“Call me Ikkaku.” He repeated, grinning. “All my friends do.”
“All right, then. Ikkaku.” She said slowly, seeing how the name tasted on her tongue.
“Then can I call you Nemu?” He added quickly when her eyes became panicked. “I mean- not all the time! Just, you know, when it’s us, when no one important’s around.”
She looked at the man beside her and he gave her a wide smile. “Let him, Nemu-san. That way, it’ll be easier to tell you apart from Kurotsuchi-san.”
Looking back at Ikkaku tentatively, Nemu nodded her head. “Then it’s fine.”
An almost disbelieving smile worked its way across his lips. “Great. Ah-“ his mind suddenly jolted at him. “I gotta go.” He gave a sort of half-bow to them. “I’ll see you later, okay Nemu?”
And she smiled back, waving. “Take care of yourself.” The man next to her waggled his fingers goodbye. Three heartbeats after Ikkaku had vanished, Nemu’s companion gave a little chuckle.
“Nice kid.” He said. “Full of potential, so long as he keeps his focus. Not all that bright, though, is he?”
Nemu gave him a sideways look. “I hope he didn’t insult you, Urahara-taichou.”
“No, no, not at all.” He assured her. “I don’t like it when people get all stuffy with me. We’ll just see how long it takes him to realize it, shall we?” Urahara noticed her pensive look. “Something wrong, Nemu-san?”
But Nemu looked down at her hands as if they were what had betrayed her. She replayed the exchange in her mind, Ikkaku’s tense and edgy disposition, the too-wide grin and nervous bounce in his feet.
Something had changed between them, Nemu realized. She didn’t know where they stood now, but wherever it was, it was leaving their friendship crumbling behind them.
