Alright so welcome to my Kensei/Mashiro epic. 'Rogue's Gallery' looks likes its gonna be more about the Vizards but I wanted to do a big scale fic with just them. This takes place (obviously) BEFORE Kensei and Mashiro become official leaders of the Division. So they're acting a little differently right now.
WIth a mumbled sigh, Mashiro Kuna shifted against the chest currently being used as her pillow and fought off the need to open her eyes for a few heartbeats longer. The sun was so nice and warm against her back...
Mashiro's eyes snapped open. With no thought to modesty she shoved herself up and looked over at the sun, high enough in the sky to tell her she was running horribly late. The brown haired man in the bed just groaned and rolled over as Mashiro jumped to her feet on the bed, using the height to tell her where the first of her cloths were. Locating underwear and her pants, she grabbed them and yanked them on before searching for the top half of her uniform. Finding it in his closet she grabbed it and pulled it on, tying up her pants and racing out, only to run back in and grab her sword, throwing herself back out where she stumbled into her socks and shoes. She found her sunglasses in her sleeve and shoved them onto her head before taking off in a dead run towards the Ninth Division.
"Mashiro!" she heard someone shout.
"I have to go!" she screamed over her shoulder, "I'm late!"
Despite her headache and dry mouth, Mashiro threw herself in Shunpo, racing towards the first division. She was so stupid to be drinking the night before, but she had just passed the exams for being a Seated Officer, a little celebration was in order! What happened with that guy from the Eight Division however, that was not necessary. But it happened anyway and Mashiro saw no reason to dwell on it. She had to hurry though, she was horribly late! Skidding to a halt she looked both ways, trying to figure out which was she was supposed to go. She hated this! It wasn't like she asked for the transfer. Captain Yoruichi had her take the exams and when she passed she had her transfered so she could be a Seated Officer. Mashiro had known that certain things about her didn't fit with the Second Division. Bright green hair, her loud mouth--but she had done well, well enough to be turned into a Seated Officer. This was purely a matter of room. There was no room there so she had been moved to a Division with room.
But the Ninth? The Ninth was a bunch of destructive, stupid men who got drunk and blew things up. As far as Mashiro knew it had been centuries, at the very least, since they had more than one woman for a Seated Officer. In fact, she doubted there were many women there at all. Only the Lieutenant was one. It was a boys club but apparently they had a vacancy and, with a smile, Yoruichi had signed off on the transfer. Mashiro had grinned and agreed but inside she felt like crying. The only woman there seemed to do nothing but sleep with her Captain who did little in the way of running the Division. It was a well known fact that the Seated Officers didn't really like their Captain and they were the ones who ran the Division. Of all the things she didn't want to do, being forced to be one of a bunch of people running a Division was high on her list.
Well there was nothing to do about it but apply for transfer the moment her foot was across that doorway.
Locating the correct path, Mashiro took off at blazing speed once more. The looming buildings of the Ninth Division finally came into view, the black mark that labeled them the most beautiful thing in Mashiro's eyes. She stopped Shunpoing just outside the gate before stepping forward into the Ninth Division. It wasn't that difficult to find the Captain's office, after all pretty much all the Division were laid out the same. Standing in front of the doors, Mashiro raised her fist and rapped on the door, shifting her weight anxiously. She had to go to the bathroom, her head hurt and she thought she'd probably kill the man who opened the door if it'd get her a glass of water. Biting her lip she looked up and around, wondering if maybe she should knock again when the door was wretched open.
"Yeah?" demanded a gruff voice.
Mashiro looked up into what she was certain were the most beautiful pair of eyes she had ever seen. Bright gold, the kind you usually only found in jewelry looked down at her and suddenly she felt as though maybe she had forgotten to get dressed. It was like those eyes could see everything about her. Mashiro gulped and quickly looked somewhere else. Grey hair came dangerously close to falling into those eyes which were somehow made even more haunting by the dark circles under them. He wore the usual uniform but there were no sleeves, revealing the worn black fingerless gloves that covered his forearms and the top was loose enough for her to see the edge of a tattoo on his chest. She realized, belatedly, that she was staring at him and he was getting impatient so she did the only thing she could think of.
"Hi," she grinned, "I'm Mashiro Kuna, the new Seated Officer. Who're you?"
Kensei could only stare at the petite woman in front of him who was a thousand times too peppy for for this early in the morning. She might have been bipolar as well. One second she was staring at him like she was going to be sick and the next she was wearing the biggest grin he'd ever seen. Bright bright green hair made him wonder how the hell she'd survived past her first day at the Second Division while the rest of her made him sure she could hold her own in a fight without much in the way of help, even from her own sword. Her sleeves were overly long and the top of her shirt was loose enough for him to see--
Were those hickeys?
Kensei felt heat on the back of his neck as he realized that yes, in fact, the new seated officer was probably late from a romp in the bedroom. Hickeys new enough to be bright red decorated her neck and some of the skin he could see on her chest. Either she didn't know or she didn't care because she continued to smile at him as if it was perfectly normal for someone to arrive for a meeting with the Captain with bright red hickeys decorating them. It was too early in the morning to be dealing with this, especially since he and the other Officers didn't get any sleep last night thanks to the Tenth once again not turning in their reports on time. Not to mention the magazine was behind and it had taken all night to catch it up once more.
"Well?" Mashiro grinned up at him, jarring him out of his thoughts of a bed instead of the day that stretched in front of him, "who're you?"
"Kensei Mugurma," he said finally.
Mashiro forced herself not to look stunned.
This was Kensei Mugurma? But this guy, he looked old and tired and, despite being handsome, not like ass kicking material But that many rumors couldn't be false. Apparently he had single handedly taken out an entire nest of Hollows without so much as a scrap on him. In the process he had broken a cliff clear in half, barely managing to destroy enough of the debris so the only thing that happened to the people below him was they got a showering of dirt. Despite mostly keeping to themselves, rumors of him had reached even her in the Second Division. But standing in front of him, Mashiro couldn't help but be a bit confused. Still he had no reason to lie to her so she shrugged and smiled.
"Kay, well, I'm supposed to meet with Captain Midorikawa--" she began.
"You're late," he said opening the door wider for her to get through.
"Not true," she said, "I was on time--" she began knowing that it wasn't exactly true, "you made me late!" she finished triumphantly.
"I what?!" he demanded turning to her.
"Uh huh," Mashiro said nodding, "you made me late."
Kensei glared as she grinned back at him before storming down the hallway. Mashiro followed him, finding endless amusement in the dark red that stained the back of his neck. They got to what she assumed to be the Captain's office and Kensei knocked on the door loudly a few times before walking over to the bench pressed against the wall and sitting down. Mashiro looked at the door and then at him. He had his head back against the wall and his eyes were closed. The door remained closed but she still stood there, looking at the wood. In the Second, most of the time Yoruichi was there before you even knocked. Kensei had banged hard enough that either the Captain was deaf or he wasn't there.
"Take a seat," Kensei said, his voice gruff but not unkind, "it'll take him a minute to get dressed.
"Huh?" she turned and looked at him. Kensei opened one of his eyes and shrugged, as if it was a common thing for his Captain to be in there naked, "is he there alone?" she asked.
"Nah," he said, "the Lieutenant's in there with him."
Mashiro looked at the door before shrugging and going over to the bench, sitting down next to Kensei. Idly she kicked her legs, waiting for the door to open. She could hear the irregularity in Kensei's breathing and knew he wasn't asleep, not yet anyway. But he probably would be very soon. Shrugging she stared at the door, willing the Captain to hurry up. She didn't want to drag this out, she wanted to meet, smile and be sent off to her new quarters where she could get a drink and maybe a nap. Unfortunately all that had to wait until after he came out. Biting her lip she shifted slightly on the bench.
"Stop movin," Kensei mumbled.
Mashiro stuck her tongue out at him, feeling a bit of satisfaction though she knew he couldn't see the gesture. All too soon she heard the even rhythm in Kensei's breathing as he dozed off.
Finally the door began to open and Mashiro jumped to her feet. Her eyes widened as she realized Kensei was still there. In a split second decision she swung her foot back and smacked his shin with her toes. His eyes flew open as he jumped to his feet. She faced the door and instantly he did the same as it swung open to reveal Yamashita Midorikawa, the Captain of the Ninth Division.
He certainly didn't seem like the type to be naked with his Lieutenant. For one he was dressed in the normal uniform, sleeves ripped off which Mashiro was beginning to think was the unofficial style for the Division. His blond hair was unruly and his one storm blue eye was kind. He was missing his other, an eyepatch over what she presumed was the empty socket. He smiled at her and pushed the door open fully, stepping out into the hall. She caught a glimpse of a bare female back before the door swung shut. He looked at her.
"You must be Mashiro Kuna, our new Fourth Seat," he said.
"Yep," she said with a grin.
"Good, you've met Third Seat Muguruma," he said, "you two will be working directly with each other."
Mashiro nodded before realizing how bad an idea that was as her head protested the movement. Captain Midorikawa looked between the two of them.
"Muguruma, why don't you show Kuna to her room?"
Kensei gave a nod.
"Come on," he said.
"Kay. Bye Captain Midorikawa!" she said before trotting after Kensei. She heard the door close behind her, "that was the shortest meeting with a Captain I've ever had," she said.
"Yeah, well, get used to it," he said, "your other one's aren't gonna be much longer."
"But what about orders and debriefings and everything?!" she cried looking at him. Barely a day went by in the Second when she didn't see Yoruichi. for something and certainly for longer than that. "do I come to you?" she asked.
"Why'd you think that?" he demanded.
"Cause you're the Third Seat," she said with a smile.
Kensei narrowed his eyes at the unusual perception. Usually it took people repeatedly being told to come to him for debriefings-not to mention briefings and everything else. Captain Midorikawa was a good Captain but not when it came to the day to day stuff--stuff that someone had to do. Kensei was, unfortunately, responsible, competent and a good fighter. He had learned to be a good organizer as well. He had a suspicion that the reason they had a Fourth Seat now was so someone could take on more of the load. But they had all been expecting someone--well someone else. Not someone like her.
"Come on," Kensei said, opting instead not to answer her question right away, "lets get you to your room, you look hungover enough to drop."
"I--shut up you--you meanie!" she hollered at him, hating that he had seen though her so easily.
Kensei shook his head as he led her to her new rooms. They had been expecting someone else but he had a feeling that if nothing else she'd at least make things interesting.
So just to review the Division ranking at the moment:
Captain Yamashita Midorikawa
As yet unnamed Lieutenant
3rd Seat Kensei Muguruma
4th Seat Mashiro Kuna (just transfered from the 2nd Division)
Other seated officers.
I made Mashiro start out in the 2nd Division because she's such an excellent hand to hand combatant I thought she fitted well there. But she's obviously got some drawbacks so she's now in the 9th Division. Also I'm aware they're a bit OOC but they've just met and aren't quite comfortable with each other.
Please R&R!
