A/N: I did take some creative liberties. Nanao is not in the story, sorry! Plus, some extra explanations for some friends of mine that don't actually read Bleach (gasp!).

Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite.

OC's are my silly imagination.

Hiromi Oshima wandered down a road towards the eighth division barracks. She had been running errands for her vice-captain, Lisa Yadomaru. As she entered the barracks, she made her way through the various groups of people. As she moved through the crowd, everyone seemed to subconsciously move or turn away from her. The girls green eyes barely gave them notice. Appearing to be in her mid-twenties, she was slender and stood at five feet five inches. Her soft brown hair was pulled into a ponytail and sometimes a half bun. She used to wonder why that happened, but she had long since abandoned giving it any thought. Hiromi never thought herself ugly, but never thought herself particularly pretty either. She always kept her spiritual power very low, but she suspected what was actually being felt was somewhat unpleasant. Lisa had informed her once that her reiatsu was uncomfortable to be near, and since then she tried to emit as little as possible. This seemed to repel others, even if they did not notice her presence. She had no business with them, and they had none with her. It had taken a good part of a hundred years for Lisa to cultivate the relationship with the girl, she had been very persistent. Hiromi entered the Gotei thirteen fifty years prior to meeting Lisa. She had graduated in the middle of her class and entered division eight as an unseated officer. She had climbed very little in the ranks after joining and had mused that it was due to her people skills. Many times, she often wondered if she would have been better suited for the stealth squad due to the general lack of awareness to her existence.

The Gotei thirteen is the central part of the soul society, it houses all the current soul reapers. The soul society itself is where souls go when they pass away, if they are not destined to go to hell. Not all souls become soul reapers, and those souls live outside the walls of the Gotei thirteen. It is divided into thirteen divisions, each containing a captain, a vice-captain and around two hundred members each. There are seated positions from the third seat down to the twentieth seat. Being a seated member was a great honor, it meant you had learned the name of your zanpakuto and mastered shikai. Each soul reaper gains a zanpakuto upon entering the Shinigami Academy. When they first get it, it is an unnamed plain katana. As the soul reaper gains skill and power, they will learn the name of their zanpakuto and can also master shikai, which is the first released form. Shikai can take several forms depending on the shinigami. The very essence and nature of each zanpakuto is taken and born from it's master's soul. To become captain, you must gain another release, called bankai. Captain level shinigamis are innately powerful and bankai form can increase their power by five to ten times. Gaining bankai can take from ten to one hundred years to learn and many years of training to master.

Because of Lisa, Hiromi had decided to work hard to make her way up in the ranks and was proud of being the third seat of the division. It had been difficult for her as she was not comfortable around people. She smiled as she remembered how Lisa had pestered her. No, pestered isn't the right word, it was more like nurtured her. Lisa had seen it upon herself to mother the girl, even though Hiromi was pretty sure she was older than her. And to Lisa, mothering meant dragging Hiromi around with her all day, every day it seemed. Hiromi had objected quite a bit at first. Running errands with her vice-captain also meant she spent a lot of time around her captain as well. She was comfortable in the life she built in the division under her captain's rule. He never pressured her to be something she wasn't and she was glad to help when possible. Hiromi liked her captain. He was a pleasant, gentle natured man and always made a point of looking her in the eyes when speaking to her, though she suspected it was because she was female. Captain Kyoraku shamelessly flirted with most women, most obviously with his vice-captain. She always found it amusing the way she shot him down every time.

He had always called his vice-captain Lisa-chan, and promptly started calling her Hiro-chan. Lisa seemed a little bothered by the endearment, but Hiromi didn't mind. She never had anyone close enough to use endearments for her. She was glad she now had two people she could call friend, even if they were both her superiors. She knew they both held her in the same regard. It was the two of them who she fought for and would gladly lay her life down for them. It was because of them that she had changed.

Hiromi sauntered down the hall towards her captain's office. As she neared, she heard him pleading with Lisa.

"Oh, come on Lisa-chan" he whined, "Just one?"

Hiromi grimaced, she knew what 'just one' meant, it was either a kiss or a date. She let out a big sigh and pushed open the door. The two inside both gave her pleading looks, each with a different meaning. Her captain was leaning over Lisa's desk, his pink kimono was draped over the desk. His sakkat had fallen to the floor and his long ponytail was draped over his shoulder. His wavy hair held in place by a pinwheel adorned band.

"Hiro-chan! You have to help me! Lisa-chan is refusing to go on a date with me!"

She looked at the man as he tried his best at imitating puppy-dog eyes. "Captain, do you really expect that to work on me? You silly man."

The man pouted, "Aww, I am hoping one day it will." He gave her a wink.

Lisa rolled her eyes and gave her captain a smack on the back of his head. "That's what you get!" She looked at Hiromi and grinned in triumph as she adjusted her glasses. "About time you showed up Hiromi, I was thinking about sending out a search party for you."

"Oh, were you? I didn't think I took that long, did I?"

"Damn right you did! Did you decide to stop and flirt with every boy along the way?"

"Of course I did!" Hiromi snorted, "But captain, we may need to find some more recruits, the ones I flirted with decided seppuku was more preferable. I shall take a moment to mourn their deaths." She dramatically dropped to her knees on the ground and bowed her head in reverence.

"Why Hiro-chan, I never took you for such the sentimentalist! Those men were fools anyhow! Refusing the advances of such a beautiful woman! And how many times do I need to tell you to call me Shunsui?

"One more time captain, may do the trick." She rose up and produced the papers she had retrieved. "These are the most recent updates on those new attacks."

"This is most unsettling" Captain Kyoraku said as he read the reports. "It says here people are disappearing. Completely!"

"What do you mean by completely?" Lisa asked.

"Hmm, says here only clothing is left behind. Hey, I've got it! They are all skinny dipping somewhere and just forgot to get their clothes. I'm sure of it!"

"I seriously doubt that captain." Hiromi replied, tugging at her ponytail.

"That does sound very odd." Lisa commented while absently redoing one of her braids.

At that moment an alarm went out, "Emergency Summons! All division captains are to report to the 1st division barracks immediately! Emergency within the 9th division! We have lost all traces of reiatsu of both Captain Kensei Magurama and Vice-Captain Mashiro Kuna! This is an emergency! All captains report to the 1st division barracks immediately!"

Their captain was already out of the building when the signal ended. "Ok, Hiromi, watch the place, I have an...errand to run" Lisa said.

"Errand my ass, you plan on spying!"

"Of course I do!"

"Well, I will hold down the fort for you, just tell me everything when you get back!" Hiromi replied.

"Will do!" she said as she ran out of the door.