Alright, my first story, yay! As a reminder I do not own Bleach, wish I did, but I don't.

Shimeru is fairly mine in all her cuteness.


"Whatcha doin' Shimeru?" the cocky voice asked as it made way around her. "Don't be a pester eh?" she moaned as she turned away from him, her green eyes locked on the annoying papers. "Hey now! I'm your captain!" Ichimaru said, his mouth forming an "O."

"But you are my friend, so you're not really my captain." Shimeru grinned at the Cheshire man before she looked at her paperwork once more. "Ya got that right, girlie, we just like two peas in a pod, eh?" She twisted her lips sideways "I guess so Ichimaru- Taichou!" With that, he left her like he always did, but she knew he would return when she least expected it. No big deal.

Those memories stood in her head as she sat in her quarters in silence. He had left her with the dirty work she thought. She lifted the bottle of the sweet sake and put it to her lips, drinking almost the entire the bottle in a few swigs. Since he left, her new friend was that of a drink, sake, and her tolerance for it sky rocketed higher than Soul Society.

She never liked the drink, but Ichimaru loved persimmons, she never knew why, but sake was the first persimmon she ever tasted.

Her door knocked, she quickly reacted and hid her "friend" underneath her bed, and fixing her hair just before opening the door to a happy Ukitake. "Hello, Shi!" he greeted, using her nickname as usual. "Ukitake, what are you doing here?" she asked with confusion, her silver hair tipping over her face. "Just visiting, did I have bad timing?"

"Oh no, I was actually going to go for a walk." She lied to Ukitake, something she didn't enjoy doing. "Accompany me?" he asked with happy eyes.

"Of course." she smiled and walked ahead of him, Ukitake casually walking behind her. "How's the division, Shimeru?" the sickly man asked as they walked around the Society. She paused "Fine, I've been handling the Captain's seat as much as I can.." She said solemnly, her hair pushing itself back in her eyes. "How about Izuru, that poor boy." She wiped her hair from her eyes.

"I try to keep him to himself, he's not ready to be with us or anyone for that matter."

"It's good he does things by himself, that damn captain of yours, how could he damage the mental capacity of that boy." Shimeru wanted to yell at him, he wasn't a bad captain, he wanted more power, that's all..that's all..

"How's being a part-time captain?" he asked, amusing himself as she grunted. "Tiring, pestering, my hands want to stab themselves." She held up her hands, tiredly, and groaned. "They're all achy now." Ukitake looked at her delicate hands "That's not even the half of it." She snorted and took a deep sigh, forgetting she drank that morning, she smelt the persimmon in the air, hoping her friend wouldn't smell it too.

"Persimmon..?" he raised an eyebrow at her. "Very strong, and in the morning?" She gulped, "It was nothing, really." "Shimeru..have you..-?" "N-no!" she yelled, holding her hands out. "Don't lie to me, Shimeru." he began as he took a step forward.

"I-I've been so alone! You can't take it from me again!" she cried in shock as she jumped back. Ukitake sighed and rolled his eyes "Drinking is no good, Shimeru.." he lay a fragile hand on her head and frowned. " He left me.." she said slowly, her green eyes leaving a trail of clean tears. "Hey now, I know you two were close, but hey-" he spoke softly, looking both ways. "Don't let Soifon see you like this, you know how much she does not like him, right?" She nodded and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

"Remembering someone, is not drinking yourself to death, you know this last time I did this to you.."

"May I have the sake bottles?" he asked holding out his hand, she nodded and sniffled, grabbing his hand. "You'll be surprised, Ukitake.."

-

The walk was in total silence as she opened the door to her quarters. Shimeru gulped as Ukitake sat down and waited for the worst. She took off her zanpakuto and bent down on her knees and searched under her bed and dresser. She took out bottle after bottle and handed them to the pale captain. Persimmon, apple, plum, watermelon..almost every flavor she popped up from the small spaces.

"What a horribly high tolerance.." he thought as he tucked the bottles away in his haori.

She bent upward "Finished." He sighed once more. "This is destroying you, Shi. It really is." He pat her head as she listened to him. "You can believe whatever you want, but if he really cared, he wouldn't leave you a mess." She nodded, looking outside, the sun set beautifully emanating orange light in her room, how time flew.

"I should get going, and don't think I'm not going to check in, Shimeru." "I know.." He paused "As a matter of fact, meet me in the courtyards tomorrow evening." She sighed, and nodded her head knowing this was all her fault. He was right and he couldn't argue with him. "Alright.." "If you're not there, I'll find you, and force you there." he smiled which made her laugh, him, vicious, no way.

He walked out the door perplexed, where was he going to put all these bottles? "Aha!" he exclaimed. "Kyōraku!" Shimeru snorted before closing her door. She fell back on her bed and yawned. It wasn't a bad day, but not a great one either. She stared out her window, the sunset was beautiful. "Ahhh.." she sighed.

She focused on the sun, seeing a small speck going across the view she had, she glanced at it, wincing her eyes almost shut. "Must be a hell butterfly no biggie.."

She took out a small book and looked at the cover. Old stories her favorite, especially the silly boy who fell in hole on the wall, which led him to odd places. Shimeru wished she was in that story, she was odd herself, maybe she could fit in?

-

I don't get why ya like the story so much..." her captain said as he looked at her confused. She laughed "You're not supposed to! It's supposed to be silly and misunderstanding!"

"Nah! That ain't the point!" "Huh?" Shimeru looked at the Cheshire man.

"Why did he ever leave the weird place eh?" She shrugged "I'd stay, people think I'm a a big weirdo already!" They chuckled.

-

Shimeru laughed and put the book down. "If only things were weird here, would that make you feel "normal?"

She bit her lip and closed her eyes for the night.