Capture the Moment
by Ulquiorra9000
Why, oh why did the Soul Reapers Women's Association have to meet this early in the freakin' morning?!
Rukia Kuchiki stifled a yawn behind her hand as she shuffled into the club's meeting room in the Kuchiki manor. It was sure convenient that the club met in her residence, but that fact had hardly cheered her up when Nanao Ise had apologetically called her in, and Yachiru's loud insistence had been even worse.
Wasn't it time for a new chairwoman already?
"Thank you, everyone, for arriving on such short notice," Nanao said in the same meek tone once all the ladies had assembled. Early morning sunlight glowed through the windows, and Rukia could hear birds chirping in the blossom trees in the garden.
"It's no trouble," Momo said, bowing her head.
"Is too," Rangiku complained, lounging on the floor, resting her chin in her palm. "Don't you know I like to sleep in, Chairwoman Yachiru? After a long night of -"
"Drinking," Soi Fon muttered.
Rangiku went red. "Did not! Well, yes, but other things too! Look, I was just -"
Nanao clapped her hands together for attention, her glasses lenses glinting. "Settle down, everyone. Chairwoman Yachiru called this meeting because of an innovative idea she and I developed for the club!"
Rukia sat up straighter and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. This should be good!
Nanao smiled. "We have agreed to expand on the concept of our Captain Photo Collection with a brand-new series. Now, the new subject is not technically a Captain of the Gotei 13, but -"
"Oh, just let me say it already!" Yachiru interrupted, hopping up and down and waving her arms. "Ladies, our new subject is Ichigo Kurosaki!"
There was a collective gasp. Even Rangiku sat up straight to listen, though she winced at the movement.
Soi Fon was probably right about that hangover...
Rukia went pink and sputtered, "Th-that's... not... why him?"
"He's your good friend, isn't he?" Nanao said kindly, adjusting her glasses. "In fact, we can all consider him a good friend of the Gotei 13 after he defeated Sosuke Aizen and ended the arrancar war. And for his defeat of Ginjo as well!"
Rukia felt herself go redder. "Well, that's all true, I suppose..."
"Hmph," Soi Fon said, arms folded across her chest. "He's surly and secretive. No one likes people like that."
Momo winced. "Captain Soi Fon, why would you say that?"
Soi Fon scowled. "I have my reasons. Don't worry about it, lieutenant."
Rangiku grinned. "Now you're the surly and secretive one, Soi Fon. No wonder you're so unpopular."
Soi Fon leaped to her feet, face livid. "I beg your pardon?"
"Ma'am, you're just proving her point," Isane said gently, easing Soi Fon back down.
But that didn't stop Soi Fon from shooting Rangiku sidelong looks.
"Getting back on topic... again..." Nanao said wearily, "Chairwoman Yachiru wanted to hold this meeting ASAP so we can complete our novelty photo shoot in time for the next Seireitei Bulletin issue. Lieutenant Hisagi assures me that he'll extend his full cooperation, but -"
"But we gotta take pictures of carrot top right away!" Yachiru declared loudly, drowning out Nanao's words. She waved her arms some more. "Let's get some volunteers!"
Everyone glanced at each other. Who would be up to this momumental task?
Then Rukia realized that all eyes were on her.
Rukia shrank back. "N-no way, I could never..."
"Sure you could, Rukia," Momo said. "You're his best friend! You know what he's like, and how to capture his essence on film. You'll make the best photo shoot yet."
"What she said," Rangiku added.
"I don't even have a camera," Rukia blurted out. "How -"
Yachiru tossed her one, and Rukia fumbled with it until she got a good grip. "Okay, okay," Rukia conceded. "I... I'll take the pictures. But it'll be on my terms!"
She felt her face warm as she recalled Rangiku's idea of a photo shoot!
Nanao beamed. "Then it's settled! Rukia Kuchiki, you will be our photographer. Please submit your finished film to Squad 9's barracks as soon as you're done."
Rukia stood and bowed. "Yes, ma'am!"
The meeting weas adjourned right after that. But along the way, Rukia thought she saw a suspicious bulge in Rangiku's robes...
*o*o*o*o*
"It's, uh, really nice to have you visit!" Rukia said later, praying that she didn't sound... well, odd as she and Ichigo had tea in the Kuchiki manor's front gardens. She sat next to him on a stone bench, nervously scuffing her sandaled feet on the ground as she sipped her mug of hot jasmine tea.
"Yeah. Anytime," Ichigo said simply, taking a sip. "Byakuya really doesn't mind? Or your grandfather?"
Rukia beamed. "Grandfather Ginrei is always happy to have visitors. And my brother, well... you did promise him that you'd behave."
Ichigo grimaced. "He literally made me bow and scrape at his feet."
"My brother never changes, does he?" Rukia said with an awkward laugh, seeing Ichigo's dark expression. Then artistic inspiriation hit!
While Ichigo took another sip with that expression still on his face, Rukia whipped out her borrowed camera, focused, and took the shot. Just as quickly, she hid it again. Her first photo: Tranquil Garden Tea!
Ichigo blinked. "Did something just go 'click'?"
"N-n-no."
"That was the least convincing 'no' ever."
Rukia drained her mug of hot tea too fast and felt steam come out of her ears. "Okay, let's have some fun around here, huh?" she said hastily, swatting Ichigo's shoulder. "Come on!"
Ichigo nodded. "Sure thing."
So, Rukia brought him to a porch, where she set up a shogi game. "Have you played before?" she asked.
"Sure I have," Ichigo said, scratching his head as he sat at his side of the board. "But I'm not so hot at it."
"Well, me neither," Rukia lied, smiling. "Let's have a good game!"
Five minutes later, though, Rukia couldn't hide the fruits of Byakuya's masterful training for her in this game, and Ichigo was red in the face as he glared at the board.
"I thought I had the advantage," he fumed, moving another piece. "What the hell..."
"Unlucky, I guess," Rukia said bracingly, and she tried to make a poor move, but she soon found a way to exploit the board state and put Ichigo on the defensive. She had nearly won!
Ichigo tapped his knee as he studied the board. "Man, this is dumb," he complained, then made his move.
"Maybe you'll beat me in the next one," Rukia said, and she prepared to take out her camera for her next photo: Warrior of Shogi! She moved a game piece. Any second now...
Ichigo reached out to make his move, and Rukia already had her camera out while he wasn't looking, and she tensed her finger on the shutter button.
At that very moment, Ichigo realized that he had just lost, and he threw the board up into the air in fury. "Noooooooo!" he cried. Pieces flew everywhere like confetti as Ichigo put on his rage face.
Rukia's finger impulsively pressed the shutter button to capture that moment, of all things.
Now it would be Tantrum of Shogi!
Whoops!
"Sorry about that," Ichigo huffed, scooping up the pieces again. He did a half-smile, half-wince. "I get really competitive, you see. Maybe another game?"
"Let's do something else for now," Rukia said, secretly wondering how she could already be screwing this up.
Chairwoman Yachiru was counting on her!
But not even kendo practice with Byakuya, skipping stones in a pond, or a noon snack yielded a good photo. Instead, the moments that Rukia committed to film were Byakuya chasing a comically terrified Ichigo around the kendo dojo, Ichigo falling into that pond, and Ichigo choking on an unexpectedly spicy dumpling.
Dorothea Lange, she was not!
Then, as they wandered the gardens as Rukia brainstormed more ideas, Rukia felt a hand seized her by the elbow and drag her into cover behind a hedge. "What the -!"
Ranguku Matsumoto smiled and clapped a hand over Rukia's mouth. "Shush! D'you want me to get caught?"
"Caught?" Rukia repeated when Rangiku lowered her hand. "What, did you sneak onto the manor grounds?"
Rangiku's smile widened.
"This isn't...!" Rukia started, annoyed.
"Isn't working out," Rangiku finished, holding up her own camera. "No offense, but your photo ideas are half-baked, and the chairwoman is counting on us."
"Counting on me."
"Whatever." Rangiku patted Rukia's shoulder. "Let's really go out and have some fun! Come on, there's a carnival going on in a neighboring district. I'll follow you and take some great photos for you."
"But this is my job!"
"We'll split the credit." Rangiku then gave Rukia a pleading look that managed to work.
No one was immune to Rangiku's charms, were they?
Rukia ever-so-innocently caught up to Ichigo, hiding her camera behind her back. "So, uh..."
"What's up?"
"I just remembered... there's this carnival nearby. Want to go?"
Ichigo grinned. "Sure. The Kuchiki manor is driving me nuts!"
That made two of them.
*o*o*o*o*
Rukia didn't actually see Rangiku follow her and Ichigo around, but she could sure as hell sense the older woman's cunning aura. As Ichigo tried his hand at catching koi fish in a large tub while some kids cheered him on, Rukia decided, to hell with it, and tried taking some photos. They actually didn't turn out half bad!
Until she accidentally got a shot of a koi leaping out of Ichigo's hands and lodging itself halfway into his mouth.
Mock fencing, mochi stands, face painting, and more fun stuff went by in a flash, and Rukia felt herself relax and smile. For sure, she could use some of these charming scenes for her collection! No need for Rangiku's nonsense after all!
Then Ichigo, at Rukia's urging, tried out amateur sumo, and Rukia felt herself go red as she watched Ichigo, wearing only the traditional loincloth, go into the ring and face off against some other tough guy.
Another solid photo of Ichigo in action. Great! Rukia checked her film reel, and she realized that this last shot finished the reel. She was already making plans to head up to Squad 9's barracks when the other tough guy charged and plowed into Ichigo, and Rukia, who was standing unwisely close to the sumo ring, was plowed right over!
Worse yet, the sheer momentum knocked the camera from Rukia's hands, and it went flying through the air... right into an open cauldron of hot soup!
"Hey! Watch it!" the chef barked, and nearby children giggled.
Rukia gasped. "No! Noooooooooo!"
Then Rangiku stepped up and smiled, her own camera in hand. "I got a good shot of you three colliding with each other," she gloated. "Rukia, you made the funniest expresion when Ichigo tumbled on top of you!"
"Yeah. Really funny," Rukia muttered.
Ichigo, meanwhile, hastily threw on his substitute Soul Reaper robes and scowled yet again. "Lieutenant Matsumoto? How long were you watching me?"
"Long enough," Rangiku said with a grin. "I got a nice photo of you lovingly tackling your dear Rukia to the ground. Perfect!"
Rukia made a furious swipe for the camera but missed. "Give me that film! You can't publish that!"
Rangiku giggled. "Too late, Rukia!"
"Like hell!" Ichigo seized the camera and tossed it like a pro pitcher, right into the same soup as before.
"Dammit, kids!" the same chef roared, and the kids giggled again.
Rangiku clapped her hands to her cheeks. "Ichigo! What have you done?!"
"Saved my and Rukia's dignity, that's what." Ichigo protectively took hold of Rukia's shoulders. "What's the big idea?"
"I'll tell you what," Rangiku said indignantly. "Rukia and I are photographers for the Soul Reaper Women's Association on an official mission -"
"It was my idea," Rukia snapped. "You just butted in!"
"So, Ichigo," Rangiku went on, "we were tasked with creating a photo collection of you -"
"I was," Rukia interrupted again.
"But now, we don't have anything to show for it," Rangiku said meekly. "All our film is gone."
"We were supposed to capture your essence, since you're an ally of the Gotei 13," Rukia told Ichigo. She blushed. "And my good friend."
Ichigo's brown eyes widened. "Well, why didn't you both just say so?"
"I didn't want anything to be staged," Rukia admitted.
"Fair enough," Ichigo said, finally calming down. He reached into his pocket. "Look, to make up for your cameras, I'll provide a photograph for your publication. Okay?"
"Maybe," Rukia said slowly. "Who's the photographer? He or she had better be good."
"It was my dad," Ichigo said, handing over a print photo face-down.
Rukia winced. "That goofball? He's the Three Stooges rolled into one! Did he take a picture of a pie on your face?"
"Nope," Ichigo said with a mysterious smile.
"Let me see that." Rangiku reached over and flipped over the photo in Rukia's hands.
The subject: a beaming, young Ichigo with his mother in a springtime park. It was...
"S-so beautiful," Rangiku blubbered, tears welling up in her eyes. "I had no idea!" She threw herself onto Ichigo in a tight hug.
"Rangiku! C'mon!" Ichigo yelped.
Then Rukia felt her own tears well up. "It's perfect!" She joined the group hug, and the three of them tumbled onto the ground.
Ichigo rubbed his head when the girls let him go. "So... you like it?"
"This is going straight into the Seireitei Bulletin," Rukia said fondly. "It reminds us of what we fight for."
"I know, right?" Ichigo said with a quick smile.
They all got up and took a minute to bask in the sentiment of that photo.
Then Rangiku got a cunning look in her eye.
"Wh-what now?" Ichigo sputtered.
"Now that Rukia mentioned it," Rangiku said, "I'd love a photo of a pie on your face, Ichigo! Then we could eat it, too."
Ichigo's scowl slid right back into place and locked in. "No way."
"Now I'm hungry for dessert," Rukia said syly, patting Ichigo's stomach. "I'll go bake the pie!"
"And I'll get a new camera!" Rangiku said. Both girls ran off.
Ichigo stood there in numb shock. Was it worth trying to complain to the women's club's president?
Maybe not...