brass pt 11

[convault]

Brass
Series: Bleach
Characters: Ikkaku/Tatsuki; lots of others
notes

Ikkaku slouched in a cushy chair and mentally assessed his condition while Matsumoto disappeared behind a rack of shoes. His feet hurt. His arms hurt. His head hurt. Hell, his ears hurt. too. He shut his eyes, leaned back and tried to sneak in a few minutes of sleep before Matsumoto could drag him out to another store, shopping bags behind and between his knees-- if anyone so much as touched them, he would know. Someone sat down next to him. He inclined his head, eyes still shut. "No practice today?" "I thought you were asleep-- one of the upperclassmen sprained his wrist. It ended early." "You sprained someone's wrist?" "Why is that the first conclusion to jump to?" "How?" "I flipped him too hard when he grabbed me from behind. He's lighter than you." Ikkaku gave up on sleep, grinned and cracked open both eyes. "What're you doin' here?" Tatsuki grinned back and held up a shoebox. "Needed new sneakers. You're with that lady who's living with Orihime, right? I can recognize her chi now." "Matsumoto. An' it's called 'reiryoku'." "Whatever. They call it chi in Dragonball. And China." "I know they call it chi in China, this is a little different. Dragonball?" "Manga. Forget it." "Keepin' tabs on Orihime-chan?" "I always keep tabs on Orihime. Why're you here?" "Matsumoto's shopping." Tatsuki raised an eyebrow and pretended to check her nails. "So you're her bitch." Ikkaku shot her a withering glare. "Anyone ever tell ya you've got a mean streak?" "All the time. Anyone ever tell you you're a gigantic pushover?" "Did Yumichika say that? I'll kill him. Repeat that an' I won't spare you, either." Tatsuki laughed and they sat in comfortable silence for a few seconds. "Did you see the movie?" "Yeah. How much'a that d'you know?." "Some of the basic stuff. Wanted to look into knee strikes." "Show me sometime. You busy tomorrow?" "I bet you already know how to do most of it. And there's no club tomorrow, so sure." "Ah, maybe. Hey, I got a question." "Yeah?" "What's a nice place to get food?" "Couple places. Why?" "Eatin' out tonight." "That's why you're shopping? Uh. Getting dragged out shopping?" "Yeah. Last assignment I had here, guys were wearin', what, bell-bottoms? Heh. That one got me promoted." "What the hell? How old are you guys? You had a school uniform, right?" "Nothin' for this weather. Could probably be your great-granddad. Where're your parents from?" "That's weird. How come you don't act like an old guy? If you're already dead, I guess it's hard to age, but..." "Mind over matter, grasshopper." "... you've been watching too many badly-dubbed movies at Keigo's, haven't you?" The set of Ikkaku's mouth was serious, but the slight quirk of his eyebrow screamed, As with so many other things, I am pulling this out of my finely sculpted ass. "Like you said, we're already dead." "Jerk. I'll draw you a map." "Thanks." Ikkaku cinched his belt and pulled on a black sleeveless shirt. "White hoodie? Gray jacket?" "White." Yumichika leaned back onto a few pillows and pulled his knees up to his chest. "You're already wearing so much black." "I like black." "You like red, too, but you never wear any." Ikkaku checked his reflection in the window; there wasn't a mirror in the guestroom, but then again, they didn't really need one. Yumichika tossed him the hoodie and he pulled the sleeves up behind his elbows. "Red stands out too much. Looks alright?" "You look good. Where are we going?" "Surprise." "I thought you were letting Mizuho pick." Ikkaku adjusted the hood. "An' she told me to pick." "Are you done primping?" "I'm not primping. You primp. I-- uh. Assess." Ikkaku grinned at him and Yumichika picked at the sleeve of his own shirt. "This looks okay?" "Looks good." "Good." Mizuho's voice drifted through the door. She said something like, Darliiing, are you ready? Yumichika mouthed Ready if you are! Ikkaku put a finger to his temple, cocked his thumb and mimed pulling the trigger. "Where'd you see that?" "Some movie." "You have been spending way too much time in front of the television. Time to get this over with?" Mizuho latched onto Ikkaku's arm as soon as they left the building. Yumichika started up a steady stream of chatter while Ikkaku (surprisingly, to Keigo) managed polite conversation with Mizuho. Polite being occasional Kill me now! looks to Yumichika and agreeing every time she asked him a question. Ikkaku collapsed face-first on the bed, then rolled onto his back. "Ate too much. Never again." "That wasn't so bad. Classy Italian, I didn't expect that from you." "What?" "You made a good choice." "Oh." Ikkaku struggled out of his jacket and threw it at Yumichika's head. "Didn't expect?" "You asked Tatsuki-chan, right?" Ikkaku dragged a pillow over his face to block out the light and stretched so his legs and other arm took up most of the space on the bed. "This afternoon. ... you're usin' Keigo's soap?" "Shampoo. You smell Keigo's hair?" "Mizuho's when she when she got in my face. An' your pillow smells like, uh. I dunno, soapy." "Oh. You realize that was a hug, right?" "It should count as-- what do they call trying to kill someone'n not doin' it right?" "Assault. And suffocated by a little human girl? I know we're in gigai, but really." "Weren't you the one who keeps warnin' me about underestimating human girls? An' she manages some kendo team." "Why isn't your memory ever this good when I'm writing up our reports?" "'Cause we'd get in trouble?" "I am using his shampoo, by the way. It's not nearly as fruity as Mizuho-chan's. Move over a bit." Ikkaku was silent for a moment, then he pulled the pillow off his face and shifted to the side to make room for Yumichika. "Smells kinda familiar." Yumichika raised an eyebrow and half-teasingly asked, "Maybe Tatsuki-chan?" "... yeah, that might be it." "You know I was joking, right?" "No, it is. Comes up to my neck. Gets in my face when we're grappling. Which is part'a judo don't start with me." Yumichika rolled his eyes in a way that Ikkaku knew to mean I don't believe a word you just said but I'll humor you and nudged his arm. "Okay-- wait. You don't pull your punches when you fight her? Ikkaku!" "'Course not." "I would be a lot less disturbed if you hadn't said that like it was obvious." "Huh?" "Never mind!" Ikkaku reached around the back of his head and tapped Tatsuki's knee. She rolled off his back with a victorious laugh while he swiped a hand under his nose to check that it wasn't bleeding. "Agh-- fuck." "You could've won if you used an armbar when you flipped me." "'S not a real fight. 'F it was, you'd be missin' that arm--" "Yeah, but then you'll keep losing--" "Keep losing?" "Okay, okay, then you might win all the time instead of half the time. Happy?" "Hm. 'Nother round?" Tatsuki dragged a towel off the back of a chair and tossed it to Ikkaku, then grabbed another one and wiped down her face. "We've been doing this for hours. I have an actual punching bag if you're that bored. You're allowed to bleed on that towel, by the way." "Go drink some water. If you have a staff or somethin', I can teach ya how to use it." "I have an old one, but I never learned how to use it. Go through the closet. My dad went a little overboard when I got into martial arts." He went for the closet like a kid going for birthday presents. "Why the hell've I never been down here before?" "I like it better outside. And it's not like there's anyone to train with whenever I feel like it in my basement. But I taught Orihime karate here." Ikkaku turned a shinai in his hands, then stuffed it back into the corner of the closet. "Orihime-chan knows karate? -- you did kendo?" "Yeah. And no. I never learned how to use a staff and I don't know how to use nunchakus either, but they're there. Just in case." "You have a sansetsukon! This's a goldmine--" Tatsuki figured she should've known that Ikkaku would get excited over a closet full of weapons. "If I knew you were like this, I would've showed you a lot sooner." "C'mon, let's get started." Tatsuki caught the staff he tossed her way and rubbed her forehead as if she was flashing back to some unpleasant memory, then slowly took a drink of water. "I'm gonna look stupid with this. There's a reason I hit people with my fists instead of sticks." "Forward stance." "You're such a hardass." "Ya wanna take a break?" "No." "Stance!" "Okay, okay. When have you ever cared about the right way to do things, anyway?" "Doesn't matter if I do it, but when you're learnin', gotta do it right. Hands on the middle." "So I'm learning bojutsu?" "I don't know bojutsu-- wait I lied, I do. This ain't it." "So this is..." "Uh. You ever seen Keigo's wuxia films?" "Yeah." "That." "... really? How?" "Hoozukimaru's a spear. It was just... I dunno, natural?" Ikkaku thought about mentioning Hoozukimaru's sansetsukon form, but ultimately decided that it'd be a good idea to have something up his sleeve on the off-chance Tatsuki ever grew up and died to become a hollow and just happened to retain knowledge of his weapon. Which would be inconvenient. "... have you ever heard of Bruce Lee? Jet Li? Jackie Chan?" "... who?" "Never mind." Tatsuki caught the staff before it hit the floor, tapped it a few times against her ankle and shifted her grip back to the middle. "I still don't get it. You don't even use the spinny move in a real fight." "'Course you don't. Don't use most'a those spin kicks in a fight, but you still gotta do 'em. Watch my hands, alright?" Tatsuki watched Ikkaku's hands blur while he demonstrated a weave for what felt like the twentieth time with the three-sectioned staff. He'd tried slowing it down earlier, only to miss a beat and end up smacking himself on the shoulder. Then he flashed a dirty look at Hoozukimaru for what Tatsuki assumed was a snide comment. She chalked it up to Ikkaku being so used to not thinking that any change in the habit resulted in failure. "That doesn't help, you're going too fast." Ikkaku was about to snap that he's never heard that one before, until he realized that it would probably fly right over Tatsuki's head and that wouldn't help, either. He dropped the sansetsukon on the floor and nudged it aside. "Tch, fine. Stance. Hands on the middle." "Okay." Ikkaku walked in a wide circle around Tatsuki, nudged her feet closer together, adjusted her grip on the staff and then pried her fingers half off of it. "Keep your hands relaxed. You don't want a real tight grip, or everything slows down." "Now what?" Ikkaku ducked behind her, reached around her shoulders and covered her hands with his. "Just... try'n feel what I'm doin'." "Wow." "What?" "Nothing. Let's do it." Tatsuki picked up the weave fairly quickly after that. Ikkaku waited until she got used to the motions before moving on to getting used to shifting her grip along the stick and attacking. Which she sucked at. Unsurprisingly, to Ikkaku, but Tatsuki was so frustrated by the fiftieth or so round of disarm-smack-pin that she ended up letting go of the staff and kicking him in the head. "Sorry. Reflex. And I maybe hate you a bit." Ikkaku waited for his ears to stop ringing before replying. "Waiting for that, actually." "What?" "When a guy grabs the stick, you snap it up'n break his grip if he's weaker-- won't work on me, by the way-- or you let him have it an' kick him in the face. Like ya just did. Any guy not already fightin' with a staff doesn't know how to use it. Usually." "You are the worst teacher ever." "Well, now ya know." "That's gonna bruise. Sorry." Ikkaku leaned back and batted Tatsuki's hand away from his face. "Don't worry about it." "Okay, but I have a question." "Yeah?" "How's it teaching me how to use a staff if your best suggestion is to drop it and use my legs?" "'Cause you suck at it." Ikkaku ducked another swing at his face, caught Tatsuki's wrist and eventually managed to wrestle her back down to the mat, one arm twisted behind her back and the other hand tapping out frantically on his shoulder. "Hey, don't break my arm!" "Waitin' for the ten-count. Hey, since we got some time." He leaned close to her ear and said, smirking, "I really hope ya don't let guys pin you when you're alone all the time." Tatsuki squirmed a bit and tried to draw her neck into her shoulders-- "What about Ichigo?" "Ichigo's okay." "What about you?" "Obviously I'm okay!" "What about Asano Keigo?" Ikkaku let go of Tatsuki's wrist and moved back to sit cross-legged down on the mat while Tatsuki flexed her arm a few times. "I'll get back to you on that. No, I'm kiddin'. Keigo's a good kid. Weird kid. But good." Tatsuki laughed. "Kojima says that." "They're good friends?" "Yeah, but he'll probably deny it." Tatsuki stood up and extended both hands to pull Ikkaku to his feet. She had to lean back hard and anchor her feet on his to avoid being pulled forward, but felt oddly satisfied that he saw fit to let her try and pull up all 76 kilos of him. Or at least, trusted her to succeed at it. "Probably." "Hey, when do you go back to Soul Society?" "Winter at latest. Usually get the warning a day or two in advance. What, gonna miss me?" Tatsuki flashed him a smile that said, Yeah, I might miss you a little bit, then tossed her head. "You wish." "Towel off. Drink some water. You're gettin' the hang of this."

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