~Author's Note: It's my first fic X) This is sooo exciting! **squees** um, yeah. I wrote this because I love the rain and I love umbrellas ^^ It's slightly crack-fic-y, just because of the setting. It takes place in a town near Karakura. For some reason or other, the shinigami rented a house there... maybe so they have a place to stay while they're on missions or something... I'll leave it up to your imagination :-)

I'll be uploading a second chapter at some point. Read and Review- please!

The pairings here include UkiUno (my OTP), ShunNan, HitsuHina, YoruKisu, and (sort of) HisagiXMatsumoto, although I really very much prefer MatsuGin. I just can't write Gin.~

Chapter 1

It started to rain hard during the night, and they were unsurprised to see that it had not ceased by morning. Over a simple breakfast in the spacious rental-house kitchen, the eleven of them discussed rain gear.
It was Unohana who started the conversation, calmly and practically, by stating that she did not think the owners of the rental house had left a spare umbrella on hand anywhere.

Soifon snorted. "Who needs an umbrella? Umbrellas are pointless. They ruin all the fun of getting wet."
Unohana looked at her serenely while scrubbing the oatmeal tureen with a sponge. "Seeing as it is almost November, and quite cold here, I believe it makes sense to avoid getting wet. Getting a chill would surely ruin the enjoyment of relaxing in the real world."
Soifon gulped. "I suppose you're right", she said, taking out remaining aggressions on her toast with a butter knife.
At this point, the others had lost interest and turned to a variety of other subjects. Shuuhei, Kisuke, and Toushirou were discussing real-world soccer so enthusiastically and violently that they were given a wide berth by Hinamori, who returned from the fridge with a glass of milk and sat down between Nanao and Matsumoto. Matsumoto was discussing something that sounded suspiciously like alcohol with Kyouraku. As a result, both were being glared at by Nanao."For heavens sake, Rangiku, don't encourage him", she groaned.
Ukitake was helping Unohana by drying the dishes, and Yoruichi was sprawled on a couch in the next room, fast asleep."She's a cat", said Urahara. "Rainy days make her sleepy."
Just then, Hisagi upended a bowl of cereal, which made everyone jump with surprised expressions on their faces.
Hisagi was put in charge of breakfast clean-up.

After breakfast, there was a rowdy, fukutaichou-led search for umbrellas, which resulted in a few bruised fingers and a very annoyed Nanao.
The search was futile, and then there was a rowdy, fukutaichou-led argument about who should go and buy umbrellas, which resulted in a few bruisedegos and a very annoyed Soifon, who, upon listening in, decided that arguing about umbrellas was very immature indeed and must be put a stop to.
In the end, Toushirou and Urahara were sent to buy umbrellas- Toushirou because he didn't mind the cold, and Urahara because he was the only one who knew where the store was.
Until the two returned, Hinamori and Matsumoto experimented with the brewing of hot beverages on the gas stove- Yoruichi's plea for coffee was outvoted by tea and cocoa.
She didn't mind. "The only coffee here is instant anyways", she said with a shrug.
When Kisuke and Hitsugaya re-entered the house, they looked rather displeased and quite wet.
"They only had 7 umbrellas in stock", muttered Hitsugaya, looking murderous. "The stupid clerk."
"The cruel world conspires against us", sniffled Kisuke, plopping down on the sofa, looking tragic and insincere.
"Hmm, maybe the rain will stop", said Hinamori, looking hopefully out of the window. There was a thunderclap and everyone jumped.
Urahara stood up with a flourish. "Well, it's been lovely eating breakfast here and all but we really must catch the bus and be off to the store, mustn't we, Yoruichi?"
"Suit yourself", muttered Yoruichi, looking ornery and holding a fishbowl-sized mug of hot cocoa. "You go ahead, I'll be here finishing this."
Urahara shrugged and sneakily grabbed an umbrella before disappearing out of the door.
"What the- HEY! He took an umbrella!" shouted Hisagi reproachfully.
"Now we've got 6 umbrellas" said Nanao with a sigh. "And 10 people".
Toushirou shrugged. "Well, I was planning to stay here and do some paperwork,"- a pointed glare at Matsumoto. She threw up her hands. "Okay, okay, I'll help you, fine, whatever. You're cruel, Taichou."
Hitsugaya bared his teeth in a comical yet frightening way and went to find a writing implement.
"So I guess that just leaves us 8", said Kyouraku, looking around at Unohana, Ukitake, Hisagi, Soifon, Nanao, Yoruichi, and Hinamori. Momo quickly removed herself from the group. "I think I'll just stay here and keep them company", she said quickly, taking her teacup to the kitchen.
"Well, I'm not sharing an umbrella with anyone", snapped Soifon, glaring at them all. "I don't even want one at all, but if I'm being forced to, I'm certainly not going to share."
"I could share with Nanao-chan", said Kyouraku hopefully.
"Not a chance!" snapped Nanao, brandishing a spoon threateningly.
Unohana decided it was time to intervene. "This is certainly being turned into a big deal when it doesn't need to be. Ukitake-san and I will share an umbrella and everybody else will get their own, is that a problem?"
Nobody disagreed with Unohana.