Whiskey in the Jar

Heiwajima Taira and Yūri Hiroshi stood with their backs straight as their Captain, Tadashi Kori, lined them up in his private offices, which where becoming increasingly messy as more assignment rolled in. Hei noticed that stacks of paper filled his desk and loose pieces where strewn over the floor every-which way imaginable. Tadashi himself even appeared tired. His hair was messed and his garb was scuffed.

"I've got another job for you," he told them. "My eyes and ears in the Rukongai-" he really meant Shin Nagakura's eyes and ears "-have brought to my attention certain rouge Shinigami. They where sited at a bar not fifteen minutes ago. Capture them if you can. If they resist, however,"

"Take them out," Yūri supplied. "Gotcha, Captain."

"Consider it done," Hei remarked.

Koga Hayashi enjoyed the general lifestyle of Heisekai, but at times he couldn't squash the urge to return home. Hard to imagine he still thought that of the. The Fourth Division had only ever saddled him with unhappy memories, and this time not even the glass of whiskey he had drowned his sorrows.

The bar was plain and secluded. He remembered it from his days in the fourth, and noted it as a spot where Shinigami rarely visited. To his right was Kenshiro Hatake, the man who'd led him away from Soul Society, while to his left was Ranmaru Shibata Jr.; who watched the local girls with an appraising eye.

Kenshin Suzuki, dressed today in the standard attire of a shinigami, minus his customary blue haori and scarf, followed the pretty young woman, Maya, into the bar where she worked. He had met her at another bar, where she also worked, and had followed her all the way there. He liked the way she moved behind the bar and while walking behind her had come to realize that he liked the way her hips swayed while she walked even more. Not that she minded, after all the more drinks he bought from her the more her commission. He knew he should not be drinking, but it seemed to keep both of them happy so how could he stop?

As he took a seat at the bar, he vaguely sensed a large spiritual presence near him, or maybe it was more than one presence, but apparently he was more drunk than he had thought and as soon as Maya placed a new glass in front of him the thought was pushed out of his head. Smiling up at Maya, he raised a silent toast to her and gulped down his drink in a single shot, a voice gleefully whistling away in his head. I like her, the words reverberated in Kenshin's head, not his own, but by now he had become used to the voice in his head, ''she's beautiful and she gives me drink. What else does a man need?'' Kenshin found himself nodding in agreement with the voice and forcefully stopped the motion.

"So you were telling me about all your work, the secret kind." Maya had a playful smile on her lips and a twinkle in her eyes as she spoke the words. But Kenshin was slit sober enough to catch that she was playing around with him and decided to go along with it. "Yes, its all secret stuff I can't really tell you about but I catch bad guys every day. Why don't you get me another drink and I'll tell you all about it?"

Koga was enjoying a conversation with Kenshiro on the subject of boats and how one model, known as a caravel, was superior to the far larger galleon. "I'm telling you, Shiro, the caravel skins across the water." He accompanied his explanation with hand motions, his right skimming across his left. "I'll admit the galleon would blow it clean out of the water if it managed to pin it down, but what chance has it got of doing that?"

"Guys," Ranmaru interjected, only to be ignored.

"Depends whose at the wheel," Kenshiro pointed out, Ranmaru forgotten. "Yes, the caravel is sleek in design and swift across the waves, but when it comes to attack and defense it sucks."

"Guys!" They turned to look at their sun-kissed friend, who motioned sharply to the bar, where a Shinigami was seated. "Says he's here to 'catch bad guys'. Sound familiar, Koga?"

Koga nearly choked on his whiskey. It was amazing how quick an enjoyable, casual drink in one of his old watering holes was ruined. "Well? What's the plan?"

Kenshin was sipping slowly on his drink, pacing himself now, enjoying Maya's company. The bar was not all that crowded at this time of the day and as a result she was able to pay quite a lot of attention to him, more drinks for him, more money for her.

He was about to start describing to her just how heroic and dangerous his job was when he felt a prickling at the back of his neck. Looking around he noticed a trio of patrons, not too conspicuous but he could see that they were tough, and they seemed to be looking right at him. "Kill them, kill them now." Kenshin ignored the voice and a lop-sided grin appeared on his face as he waved at the trio before turning back towards Maya, more intent on impressing her than on the sense of unease that he was feeling. The voice was normally much more quite in the company of pretty women, quietly whistling away, why couldn't it just shut up right now and let him talk to pretty little Maya?

The casualness of that wave made Kenshiro narrow his eyes. He wasn't particularly looking forward to another tussle with a member of the Gotei 13. The last time he did he was captured and held prisoner by the Seventh Division and its Captain, Shin Nagakura. Then he'd only been a Ryōka. If Koga where caught... "Get out of here," Kenshiro said to his former fourth division friend as he readied himself for combat. "No arguments, damn it!"

Ranmaru closed his fist and struck Koga in the jaw, knocking him to the floor. A big man who probably was a bouncer told them to take it outside, so Ranmaru did so by dragging his ally; who put on a show of being in trouble. When he got to the door, Ranmaru hurled him out rather unceremoniously, where he nodded. "Leave this to us," he said confidently. He turned on his heel and stared right at the Shinigami seated at the bar.

Closing in also, Kenshiro and Ranmaru formed a pincer movement, their intentions clear. The bouncer moved to break any potential trouble up before it escalated further, but Kenshiro back-handed him with enough force to break his jaw; which sent the poor fellow sprawling into the corner unconscious.

Maya stopped speaking mid-sentence, her attention caught by something behind Kenshin and though he had been ignoring the uneasiness that he had been feeling, a part of him already knew who must have distracted Maya. He turned around in time to see one of the strangers toss another one of his companions out on the street and turn to face him. Odd, he had thought they were friends. But he didn't have long to wonder on that thought as just then the last of the trio of strangers knocked the bouncer out of his way and began moving towards Kenshin as well.

A cocky smile on his face, more for Maya than out of any confidence he was feeling, Kenshin winked at her before getting up and turning around to face the duo. "Don't worry sweetheart, I'll take care of this."

One of his hands was still on the bar behind him to steady himself, he was a little too drunk. "Now gentlemen, you don't really want Maya's bar to be damaged do you? I might have to hurt you if you do that." But the first step forward sent him lurching forward unsteadily and he ran straight into Kenshiro, catching his arm to steady himself. But instead of attacking he instead looked up with a sheepish look on his face, "Damn it, she didn't see that, did she? You won't believe how difficult she was to impress."

Either the man was an idiot of the largest caliber or he was the best damned actor Kenshiro had ever seen in all his life. He was obviously plastered! He couldn't even stand without a steadying hand. "Is this what I thought was so threatening?" He now felt a little bad about his actions. "This guys obviously drunk... could it be he was just in here trying his luck with the girl?"

Ranmaru wasn't as courteous. He closed the distance, perceiving the Shinigami's advance on Kenshiro as an attack! He vaulted over a circular table and parted his friend from the Shinigami, where he proceeded to impact him in the chest with a blast of reiatsu; which forced him away from Kenshiro back towards the bar. "Let's dance, landlubber."

Kenshin was sent crashing into a couple of stools in front of the bar, crashing to the ground in their midst as they broke below his weight. "I told you, you should have killed them!" Kenshin forced the voice down, the task taking more effort then it normally would because of his inebriated state. The reiatsu blast had cleared his head a little but he was still aware of the fact that he was in no condition to be fighting. But neither could he just let these two leave after they had attacked him.

Getting unsteadily to his feet he picked up a broken leg from one of the stools he had broken and the moment he was up he tossed it straight at Kenshiro's face. At least he had aimed to toss it towards his face but his aim was off and it flew harmlessly over his shoulder. But at the same time Kenshin rushed in towards Ranmaru and aimed a kick straight at the center of his torso, hoping that he wasn't too slowed down by the drinks in his system.

Even if the fellows aim was atrocious you couldn't stop your body reacting. The sad truth was that the more used your body was to battle, the more you relied on your instincts. The leg may have whizzed past harmlessly but Ranmaru had been preparing to dodge just as Kenshiro was. The small confines became their enemy. They reacted to the leg alright, but when they reaffirmed themselves their enemy was leading a drunken kick. Ranmaru couldn't move in time because of the tables all around -- they'd trip any attempt at Shunpo, which would potentially knock him on his ass. Kenshiro though could only back up, which made both fly backwards into the wall when Kenshin's kick impacted Ranmaru!

The pirate skidded back into Kenshiro, forcing him all the way to the far wall. "Clear this place out," Kenshiro said sharply. "We can't fight in these confines."

"Sounds like a plan," Ranmaru grinned as he spat on the floor. Ranmaru spin in place and released a circular blast, which knocked aside the tables, chairs, stools, and whatever glasses had been on those tables. The furniture crashed against the side walls thus clearing the center. "Ready, bitch?" As Ranmaru was now he didn't care if he torched the entire bar!

Kenshin had the presence of mind to jump and avoid the blast of Kidō as it passed by his position. He landed awkwardly and turned around just in time to see Maya flee the bar, a look of pure terror on her pretty face. Now he was really angry, he had warned them not to damage the bar. Pointing two fingers of his right hand towards Ranmaru, he used to send a rope of crackling yellow energy towards his hand, hoping to tie it down so that he could not perform any more Kidō, but he was unable to execute the spell perfectly and ended up with a rope of energy linking his hands and tied up around one of Ranmaru's legs. For the briefest fraction of a second he was surprised but quickly overcame his surprise and pulled with all the strength he could muster, intending to pull Ranmaru's legs from under him. But while basking in the satisfaction of having successfully turned his blunderous execution of the spell to his own advantage, he completely forgot about his other opponent.

Ranmaru could handle himself. Always did. It was why Kenshiro ignored his comrade and opted instead to attack. He'd studied the Gotei 13 as part of his career as a hired blade, and he generally agreed with one concept held by the Second Division -- "Think of your comrade getting beat as an opportunity. Don't get in the middle of it. Stab from behind." He didn't agree with the rest for it involved abandoning ones allies which just didn't sit well with him. Moving forward and to the side, Kenshiro circled the battlefield, with his katana firmly in hand. As Kenshin dealt with Ranmaru, Kenshiro was hoping to cleave open his side!

Kenshin did his best to try and pull Ranmaru's leg, but his intoxication got the better of him. While he was pulling on the modified Kidō, he would momentarily loose control over the spell and it would disperse in an instant. Kenshin, having been in the process of pulling with all he was worth, suddenly found himself pulling against a resistive force that no longer existed and suddenly toppled backwards. As luck would have it Kenshiro's blade passed through the space that Kenshin had been occupying a moment earlier and would have struck him well and truly if not for what could only be called a stroke of luck on Kenshin's part. As he would land on his back, Kenshin would not miss the blade passing through the space he had just occupying and realize how careless he had been in his inebriated state and that the opponents he faced were serious. A part of his mind registered the fact that his luck wouldn't last forever and he needed to get serious if he wanted to get out of this in one piece.

Still lying on the ground where he had fallen flat on his back, he would raise a hand and pointing a finger straight at his chest and utter a single word as he fired off a weakened Kidō on himself, "Byakurai". The electric charge from the spell would help clear his mind and suddenly he would find himself much more lucid than he had been a few moments earlier. Shaking his head once to clear away any remnants of intoxication still lingering within his system he would jump to his feet, almost fully alert and focused on the two opponents he faced. "I am sure we can figure out some other way to resolve this issue, no matter what the issue might be. No reason that this must end in violence."

Next Story > Mystery of the Emblem.