With the Captains suffering casualties and heavy injuries on their side, all hope seemed to be lost... until Shinji Hirako appeared, along with the rest of the former Shinigami. Though the aid of the Vizards certainly helped to draw the battle in their favor, it seemed Aizen's power alone proved too much for them.
Ikkaku walked down the noisy streets filled with merchants and children running around. It was like navigating a maze. He tried to move in and out of the people trying not to make the wrong turn and losing himself deeper in the maze. He was trying to get to his destination which was El Cafe Sabroso. He dodged the crouds of people heading at him from all directions. It was a busy Sunday, and most people were buying goods. Ikkaku felt the smell of cakes rise and grab his nose. The smell did not let go. Ikkaku was running early. He had finished all the recommended training and had just finished his own excersize program. He stepped into the store.
Ikkaku grinned, examining the freshly backed cakes and cookies. He looked throught the crystal clear glass that held the cakes. Ikkaku wasn't very hungry. He ate some food before he took off to get here. He could use some food.
"What would you like Sir?" The owner said cheerfuly smiling. He was well rounded. He was a plump, jolly old man.
"A fight...I guess I'll take two dozen choclate chip cookies, a dozen in each bag. Two bags. And I'll have two slices of strawberry shortcake," Ikkaku said eyeing the two slices that were left. He bought an extra slice and more cookies to accompany his guest. It was a japanese culture thing. He would meet her with no open hands, but a gift in his hands.
He walked around with his hand on his sword. He noticed no one would accept a challenge of a duel. He saw everyone relaxing and chatting. He was unsure how Aoide had convinced him to skip extra training for this. He thought of Knepachi who was probably training.
He found the cafe and ordered an ice cold water. He found one open table that was covered by a red umbrella. He took his icey water and sat down. It was five minutes after they planned to meet. She was late. He spun the water around making the ice cubes spin in a circle. He took a sip and placed the two bags of cookies and two slices of cake out on the table.
"Look Jane there's a bowling ball with a body," One kid said pointing to the back of Ikkaku's head. Two kids looked at Ikkaku from behind. His head shined in the bright sunlight. the boy tryed to put his hands on Ikkaku's head.
"There's no fingerholes? Oh wait I found them," the boy said grabbing Ikkaku's eyes and mouth and pulling it up making Ikkaku have a funny looking face. Ikkaku turned around with a creepy grin and wide eyes. He stood up staring down at them. The kids fled, realizing he was no bowling ball. Ikkaku sat back down, stirring his water with a straw.
She was late, it was going on almost twenty minutes later, Aoide was always late. But normally not this late, she couldn't help she woke up from her nap late, then Captain Baba has some last minute errands for her to run. Oh to be one of the fastest people in her squad, seemed to automatically make her the messenger of all things. And even after that extra work she still had to get ready. Granted, she could have just worn the robes she had been wearing, but Aoide was in a pretty good mood, she had practically begged Ikkaku to quit being such a stiff and go shopping with her. Surprisingly, he had agreed and Aoide knew he was missing out in training to do so. But yes, instead of the usual black robes she had decided to look more like one of the locals and put on a kimono. It was a pretty light blue color with white butterflies adorning it. Its trim was white as well, matching the ribbon in her hair. Instead of her usual pigtail she had tied her hair back into a long braid, intwinging two white ribbons. When she had started out her braid had been hanging over her shoulder.
When she had started out, now she was running and mostly dodging down the street. She hoped that Ikkaku was there, if she missed their meeting she would probably owe him a month's worth of sake before he quit being moody. She saw the shop and slowed down, taking note of the bald head, good he was still there. Carefully she hide her Reistu, made she she wasn't a complete mess and walked up behind Ikkaku.
She threw her arms around him, "Hey Ikka-chan," she said cheerfully. She had to admit she liked his mannish smell, but she would never admit to it as she slid into the seat across from him. She frowned deeply looking at the red marks on his face, "Kids thought you were a bowling ball again?" she asked sounding a little bored as she swiped his ice water and took a sip, "Bakas," she added before leaning forward and rubbing his hairless head, "It's okay we can kick their asses later," she grinned before sitting back down.
"You bet we will Aoide-chan," Ikkaku grinned giving the kids that same crazy glare. They quickly looked away from him and back on their drinks. Ikkaku swiped his water back and took another sip.
"It seems you have done your hair and have had a change of outfit. Very Nice," Ikkaku complimented as he examined the girl's hair and Kimono. It was a nice color and she matched well. Ikkaku quickly changed the subject. He grabbed the bag and treats.
"The cookies and cake are for you. I wasn't sure if you wanted a dessert before we go on your....spree," Ikkaku said as he pushed the bags of treats forward. "If not than we can save them for later," he said watching the girl's expression to see if he had made a mistake. Maybe she was allergic or didn't like the flavors. He pushed his chair back and grinned. He took the last sip of water before hurling it intot he trash bin behind him. He hurled it over his shoulder with pinpoint accuracy. He wiped his red eyes and checked to see if his lips were still attatched. He slammed his left hand ontot the table.
"We going shopping or what?" Ikkaku said grinning even more wide. A thought ran throguh his head. He was going to act as if it was training. He would carry all the bags with one arm and have to keep up with Aoide who would probably be running from store to store. He would find ways to train. He wondered if they were going to pick out clothes for him. He was wearing his regular outfit but with new sandles. He truely did not want to get dragged into all this, but the thought of training riled him up. He punched the nearbye trash bin and sent it flying into a nearbye tree. The bin cringed as it hit and lowered it's height by a few inches. It was crushed inside out. Hey maybe they would even find a local gang to pound on. Being a hero was not what Ikkaku was about, but fighting people was. He waited to see if Aoide wanted to eat or save it for later.
"Yeah, good going with matching with locals," Aoide spoke playfully, "Che, now they're going to charge us 15% more then anyone else because you dressed like a Shinigami," now enough of that, food! Aoide was so happy anime-like tears streamed down her face. Food! She hadn't eaten since that morning, and here delivered to her personally was cookies and cake. CAKE! Strawberry Shortcake! It was so beautiful to look at, Aoide clasped her hands together and stared at the cake. She then shoved the cake in her mouth as soon as Ikkaku turned her back to her to beat up a trashcan.
IT was so good! Aoide held her cheeks as she ate the cake, humming happily. She quickly shoved the other slice of cake into her mouth just as Ikkaku was turning around. She chewed quickly and swallow, "Ahem," she said dabbing her lip daintily with a napkin. "Well now," she spoke sweetly, taking the bag of cookies and putting it into her pocket. She lept up and grabbed Ikkaku's arm, "Lets go!" she spoke grinning up at him, "There's this new hair ribbon shop, and a shop that sells human clothes, oh and that shop where Renji-san buys all his sunglasses!" she spoke counting off the different shops she had heard of on her free hand. She then stopped looking at Ikkaku and raising an eyebrow, "You are oddly happy to be shopping," she said blinking her long eyelashes.
Ikkaku let his grin go as he said,"Uhhh...No reason...Maybe it would be better to get the stuff done with," Ikkaku said defensively. He was looking forward to finding a local gang or having to carry heavy weigths. He stood up watching her eat the food. He was happy she liked it. He didn't know what to think of this girl. He noticed she said they would have to pay more. He was confused. He was unaware of this. If he knew he would have asked Yumichika for some. That is, if Yumichika would let someone borrow his beautiful clothes. The girl stached the cookies for later. Ikkaku grinned once again as the girl grabbed his hand pulling him along. She named all these palces they would go.
Ikkaku trailed along. He dodged the incoming people. He ducked and sidestepped the people as if they were all his opponents. The people were flooding the streets. Ikkaku recognized a ribbon shop. It was small and it had that new smell. Aoide hurled Ikkaku into the store. As she looked at the ribbons, Ikkaku examined the store. He feared he may be in this store for a while. It was full of pretty ribbons. The store was kept up by an elderly couple. They smiled and watched Ikkaku and Aoide had they had a look around the store.
"See anything you like?" Ikkaku said looking at Aoide.
Aoide easily passed by the people on the street, slipping in and out of the conjested areas, she had a special knack for finding openings in the crowds. She pulled Ikkaku along, finding it easier to hold his hand then his arm in such a crowded area. His had was nice and warm, calloused just like her own from hours of training, but in a nice way, like a guy who actually worked for a living. And he was strong, their fingers entwined with one another, Ikkaku's hand seemed to engulf Aoide much smaller hands.
As Aoide entered the shop she let go of Ikkaku's hand, now safe from being lost in the crowds. She smiled happily as she gazed around the store. She loved playing with her hair, she loved putting her hair in different styles, she loved being creative. Once she had even attempted to put her hair up like Kenpachi, only to find her hair was too soft to do so. As she looked from one display of ribbons, hair clips, and those little claw things that held hair back, she found something amusing.
"Ikka-chan, don't look bored, look they have something for you," Aoide spoke holding up an elastic band of white and pink ribbons meant for the head of an infant, "We just have to stretch it out a bit," she added walking up to Ikkaku with a mischievous grin on her face, "Just hold still," as she quickly snapped the band on his head. "See perfect," she said making her fingers into a square and pretending to take a picture, noting the death glare he was giving her Aoide sighed, "Fine, you're no fun," she said snapping off the headband only to find it stretched out to the limit of the elastic. Aoide grimaced in semi-panic before taking it and a few of the hair bands, ribbongs, and claw thingies to the register and paying for them.
"Really I just paid 500 yen for a headband that can now only fit your head," Aoide sighed dangling the limp fabric inbetween two fingers and pouting a little. She glaced at Ikkaku swinging the material around, "Oh well I can always make you wear it when we're in private, or when it's just you and me sparring," she said closing her eyes, stuffing the headband into her pocket. "Hey, here's that human shop!" Aoide said changing the subject and pulling Ikkaku into the shop, "Now we can get you some clothes to blend in with everyone else."
Ikkaku was looking through the store when Aoide mentioned him being bored. He wasn't drop dead bored, but he was getting restless. He watched as Aoide pulled the elastic band over his head in a mere second. As she let go the band clamped onto his head tightly. He felt it try to crush his skull with it's elastic force. It was full of pink and white ribbons. For an infant girl it was okay not for a grown shinigami. She made a picture gesture and Ikkaku gave her a deadly glare that said take this tight thing off me. It seemed she was amused at all this. Ikkaku sighed. This was the first of many stores. She grabbed diffrent items and payed for it. Ikkaku waved slightly to the old couple bringing his head down and walking after Aoide.
She held the headband and it slowly limped out as if it was a liquid. Ikkaku rasied his head and watched as the girl pouted. She mentioned wearing it in private or during sparing. Ikkaku watched as she stuffed the thing into her pocket. He was about to giver her another death glare about wearing it again, but he saw she wasn't in the mood for that kind of thing. He sighed looking at the headband wash out of her pocket. Just enough so it wouldn't fall out of her pocket. She seemd upset but her mood changed when she thought about going to the next store.
He felt Aoide's smaller hand wrap around his. She pulled with great strength and eagerness. Her hand was gentle and soft. No one would expect that if they felt her strength first hand. When Ikkaku had fought her, she had possesed superior strength to any girl he had fought before. She had did some real damage on him. It was only a few days ago. The next store was nearbye. The streets were only slightly less crowded. As the day would go on people would start to leave. However it was still early. Ikkaku looked for the time. He would have stopped and asked someone but Aoide was dragging him across the street. Ikkaku thought it was nice to see her so happy and eager. At least she was getting a kick out of it. They got to the front of the store.
It was one of those weird feelings you get. It felt you were in the world of the living but you were just in a store. Ikkaku scartched his head. The store was much larger than the ribbon shop. It was divided into two sections. The left half of the store contained Japanese human clothes while the right side had the rest of the world, including Italian and English imports. Ikkaku stayed close to Aodie but walked around noticing that unlike the shop, this store was fulled of shinigami. Kids hid and ran around the racks of clothes. Parents scolding them. Ikkaku looked at Aoide who already had clothes in mind for Ikkaku to wear.
"Lets see, you know we were entirely too much black, even if we are Shinigami," Aoide spoke as she pulled shirt off the rack as she talked to Ikkaku, "That's why I like my Shikai form so much, I love all the yellow, and the poofy skirt! Oh look dark purple!" she spoke pulling a dark purple, button up shirt off the rack, "Hey it's in pink too!" she added pulling off a light pink version as well. She then grabbed a few pairs of pants, a couple tanktops, and a few hats before pushing Ikkaku into a changing room. "Try the purple shirt with the blue jeans first!" she said through the crack in the door before taking a seat on the bench outside the changing room. She placed her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands.
This was long overdue, if Aoide had to see Ikkaku in that pink teddy bear shirt one more time when she poked him awake to go train, she was going to burn it. That and she had snooped through his clothes and found a lot of creepy shirts with him and some other girl on it. The human girlfriend perhaps. So at least he could dress nicer for her, even though Aoide was the one helping him. Aoide let out a sigh, she wasn't jealous, but still, she had beeter fashion sense then that girl.
Ikkaku was walking around, not really looking at the clothes. He was almost zoned out, actually. He heard Aoide say something along the lines of black shinigami have shikai and yellow poofy skirts. Ikkaku scratched his head and walked toward Aoide to see what that was supposed to mean. When he got close to her, she pushed clothes into his stomach. Ikkaku gave the girl, a what the hell face. Ikkaku looked down and saw a purple button shirt and blue jeans. He sighed as she shoved him into the changing room. It was small and compact. It had a white bench and a mirror. He heard her mumble something about trying it on.
While Ikkaku out on the clothes, he thought of his closet. It was full of about twenty of the division standard uniforms. He had no human clothes on the rack. In the back of his closet was a pile of human clothes he recieved as gifts from Mizuho. The pile was far back almost impossible to see unless you were searchign through the closet. He never wore it in the soul society, but he didn't throw it away. He learned to not burn clothes Mizuho gave him. He once tried to throw away one of the shirts that had the picture of the two, and she gave them almost no food, water, and clothing for a few days. He was required to bring the clothes every time he went to her house if he wanted shelter. Yumichika also would not let him throw it away. He thought it was too good to be true.
Ikkaku stepped out and walked to Aoide who seemed to be thinking over something. He walked up to her. His face was crooked. The jeans were tight and the shirt was loose. He never had liked human clothes. Only because they were uncomfortable to fight in. He spun around once examining the clothes at the same time Aoide was.
"So...?" Ikkaku said knowing he would be trying much mroe clothes on today.
(OOC: I don't really follow fillers, I stick to the manga.)
Aoide was lost in thought as the dressing room door clicked open. She slowly looked up at Ikkaku and blinked lazily. Had this been some sort of anime, she would have gotten a nose bleed. Had this been an american cartoon she might have turned into a rocket and exploded. Instead she was quiet as she studied Ikkaku, her cheeks slowly growing a dark red. All she had ever seen him in was the black uniforms of the Shinigami...and of course that pink shirt in her imagination which made her laugh everytime she pictured it. Needless to say, she had thought he was attractive for a Squad 11 guy before, but now with a little color, well he was hot. Even if the lighting of the store was reflecting off his bald head, Aoide didn't mind.
She then coughed a little, her eyes sparkling before she said slyly, "So Ikkaku, when did you get hot?" she smirked.
