A/N: Oh look, another OC story. As much as I love regular pairings, I just can't write a decent story with them. Ha… anyway, this story will stretch across the timeline of Bleach. I have revised this chapter to better fit into Bleach canon.
ALSO, a big thanks to Totoromo for letting me use the idea of switching lieutenants. She's a great writer, you should definitely check out Gin's Notebook, Friend, Foe, or F… mate, and of course, Lieutenant for a Week.
Hikari always hated the tea ceremonies she'd had to put up with for the past 2 decades of her life. She only liked the fact that when she was an unranked member she got to sit in the back and not pay attention. She lacked friends, and although she disliked that, it meant no one bothered her or cared if she even never showed. Yet, Captain Yamamoto always found out and she was punished each time.
When she became seated, that's when she became angry. Even at the 10th Seat, she still didn't like sitting up in the front. Now, as a 3rd Seat, she sat to the left of Captain Yamamoto, Lieutenant Sasakibe on the right. She knew he disliked these ceremonies as well, but he didn't have to be as dressed up as she was. The unseated members just got to wear their shinigami uniforms, but those in the 20 Seats up had to wear the special ceremonial kimono.
Captain Yamamoto always liked to do some lighthearted teasing on his 3rd Seat, Hikari. She was his great-granddaughter, and she didn't like the stigma that came with that. He would lightheartedly tease her, and sometimes it did grate on her nerves. It was a great name to live up to, she understood. She was just grateful it had not been too great of an issue for her; she was still young and had much time to go before she could be considered a failure.
She let out a sigh as it finally came to an end; her white hair was pulled into a very tight bun and decorated, and it was starting to itch and hurt. The kimono itself was tight as well, and was very hot. She wandered out into the garden when they were finally dismissed formally. She groaned out of frustration as she could barely walk in the ungodly sandals she wore, and balanced herself against a tree.
The fresh air hadn't done what she had hoped, and she was still ridiculously hot. Sasakibe had come out as well, and she always had to stifle a laugh when she saw him in the ceremonial kimono; it was a light blue kimono with pink floral patterns. At least he didn't put flowers in his moustache. Hikari let out an involuntary giggle at this; her zanpakuto didn't particularly like Chojiro. "Hm? What's so funny, 3rd Seat?" He asked her as she stopped giggling, and she smirked.
She didn't enjoy any of the names she was called. She couldn't be called Yamamoto due to the fact that her great-grandfather was also a Shigekuni Yamamoto; the middle name had been passed to everybody born into the family, and the last name lived on. It was either the informal Hikari, or 3rd Seat, or 3rd Seat Yamamoto. She just shook her head, and walked away. She still couldn't take Sasakibe seriously, although he was a pretty smart man. Both liked to discuss Western culture and society.
She wandered back into the main office of the 1st Division, planning to inform her Captain that she was going to head home and possibly never come back. She walked into the office, surprised to see Captain Ichimaru and Lieutenant Kira with him. "Should I come back later…?" She asked, forgetting the manners instilled in her. The Captain-Commander just chuckled, and motioned her inside.
She felt awkward being in the room; her azure eyes tried to stay focused on her great-grandfathers desk, but she couldn't. She kept glancing back at Kira's flipped hair. It didn't help as her zanpakuto was also making jokes about it. She bowed to her higher ranks, hoping she could keep her childish giggles to herself this time.
"We were just finalizing some paperwork. The lieutenant switch week is approaching, and everything must be in order. It is actually good that you came just now," Hikari just nodded along with the others, not really understanding why she was in there. Probably just to be joke fodder to her kin. Captain Ichimaru and his lieutenant took their leave as Hikari came further into the room; she had never spoken much to either of them, and always relished when she could be near such powerful shinigami.
"As the 3rd Seat, you must understand you must be there to help your lieutenant. This is true even during the lieutenant switch week, so I ask that you help the lieutenant we receive to the best of your ability. I can assure you it will not be Lieutenant Kusajishi, as well." He gave a chuckle at the last statement, making both remember exactly what happened the previous year.
She nodded, giving a small yes. For the first time in awhile, her zanpakuto was silent. "Good. We'll be receiving Renji Abarai as our lieutenant in 2 days, so be prepared for that change. You are dismissed." He officially said. Normally, Hikari would have hurried out, but she stayed in the office, her light blue eyes meeting the red ones that reminded her of her own father and younger brother.
He gave her an expectant gaze, but she just shook her head, walking out. She stopped as she saw the poster for this years change-up in Lieutenants. It was just a reason for Yamamoto to cause havoc and have some fun, as were the rest of his 'team-building holidays'. She read down the list:
1st: Renji Abarai (6th)
2nd: Shuhei Hisagi (9th)
3rd: Rangiku Matsumoto (10th)
4th: Kiyone Kotetsu (13th)
5th: Marechiyo Omaeda (2nd)
6th: Yachiru Kasajishi (11th)
7th: Isane Kotetsu (4th)
8th: Nemu Kurotsuchi (12th)
9th: Izuru Kira (3rd)
10th: Chojiro Sasakibe (1st)
11th: Momo Hinamori (5th)
12th: Nanao Ise (8th)
13th: Tetsuzaemon Iba (7th)
An odd list. It doesn't sound as fun as it has been recently. I still miss Yachiru… Her zanpakuto trailed off, thinking the same that Hikari was. She just absently continued on her way to her home in the barracks. She wished Sasakibe had gotten 11th Squad, but she knew there'd be fun stories from there anyway, considering they got a girl who's scared of blood.
She had changed into her normal shinigami uniform, sans her zanpakuto. She didn't like the constant nagging of him… her… it. She could never tell what it was based on its voice, and it never answered her directly; only vaguely. It didn't help that it was a partridge and not a human manifestation. Hikari stared at her sword in the dark room, unsure of what to do. It came to this a lot lately- a silent contemplation of how to better control her sword, and how to get stronger, that got nowhere.
She sighed as she stepped outside once again. It was sunset, and since it was Friday, all the other 1st Division members were out having fun, drinking, or both. She never drank; no desire to. When she tried, she couldn't stand the incessant squawking of her zanpakuto; Raichou didn't enjoy alcohol or inebriation, it seemed. She looked up at the sky, and the lack of clouds. She twirled her long white hair in her fingers. The glow from the sky had made her hair seem a strange combination of pinkish orange and she liked it. She sincerely hoped there would be a storm that night as there hadn't been one in quite some time, but she had no such luck. She sighed yet again, heading inside as it grew darker and darker. She had no interest in strolling through the Seireitei as normal, nor hanging out with the few people she knew.
The weekend was fairly uneventful, and still no storm. She got up early on Monday however, ready for a fun change. Although she had had no previous interaction with Lieutenant Abarai, she had heard he was a fun guy but still serious when it mattered. Her weekend had consisted of basic training exercises and a lot of bad cooking- she wanted to laugh, knowing this week was going to be dreadful.
She walked into her Captains main office, greeted with a hesitant Sasakibe and no sign of Lieutenant Abarai. She sulked in, disheartened. "What, are you scared of some little kid? I'm kinda surprised, considering your moustache." Hikari teased Chojiro, doing it just to get a reaction. He snickered at her, lacking a witty response, as usual. Everyone was so serious in her division, it freaked her out. She was shot a glare from Yamamoto, and she just shrugged as she took to standing to the left of him. She wanted to meet the new Lieutenant before retreating to her office. Work actually got done in the 1st Division.
Sasakibe sighed, and just decided to leave. It was met with no response from either in the room; after a full 10 minutes, Hikari was growing impatient. She had taken to groaning at each 5 minute increment and twirling her thin, stark white hair. "You need to develop patience. Even Atsuto has some, and he's half your age." Yamamoto scolded her with her weak spot: her younger brother, whom she was not fond of. He actually worked to get to the top of his class while Hikari just got lucky at every chance- she didn't graduate at the top, but she was thankful just for graduating unscathed.
Finally, the doors to the main office opened again, and Hikari didn't realize she had been holding her breath in anticipation as a figure strolled in. The morning sun silhouetted him, and they didn't see who it was until he closed the doors behind him. Their suspicions were correct as they saw a tall, grinning man with sunglasses resting on his forehead. Yamamoto didn't even say anything; all he did was nod to acknowledge his presence, and walked away, heading to his own office. Hikari stood there a moment, extremely pissed off at how he always scolded her for not being polite, while he just got to walk off like that.
She glanced back at the man who looked nothing like she expected; all she knew was that he had red hair, as she had only seen him from behind once. He looked to be as pissed off as she was; only she wasn't seething like he was. She gave him a smile, not really knowing what to say. "Um, welcome to the First Division. Uh, Captain Yamamoto must have something very important to attend to, I guess, he's normally much more polite…" She trailed off, noticing he had regained composure.
"Who the hell are you, anyway?" She almost ran to him and drop kicked him. Well, that'd be hard considering he had a height advantage on her, but she could still try. She just took a deep breath and fought back the urge to carry out what she was threatening him with. "I'm 3rd Seat Hikari Shigekuni-Yamamoto. I can take you to our office, it's shared between us." She told him, crossing her arms with a bored face, and headed into the Lieutenant's and 3rd Seat's shared office. She silently thanked Sasakibe for not doing most of his work, leaving piles of paperwork for Abarai to complete.
She heard an immediate sound of a door being knocked on rather loudly, forced open, and an argument between Abarai and Yamamoto- she figured he wouldn't have followed her. Hikari was still grinning as the new, yet temporary, lieutenant walked into their shared, but rather large, office. Perks of being in the 1st Division, she just assumed. He sat down at his designated desk, fuming with anger.
"I guess I should've told you, there's no point in arguing with my great-grandfather. He's right, even when we all know he's wrong." She told him, doing it solely to irritate him. She got irritated herself after a few seconds of no reaction, so she tried again with the pushing of Raichou. "So tell me, Lieutenant Abarai, what'd you two fight about?" She prodded him, still getting nothing quickly.
"I don't see the point in these things, the lieutenant switch weeks and other events. They're pointless! I'm needed in the 6th Division, doing my job there, not here!" Renji finally spat; it was not anything new to be said by a lieutenant during this week.
"And I'm sure he told you-" she was cut off by Renji, "That they're meant to build a flow between the divisions and allow us to develop our skills in multiple areas? There are better ways than this."
She huffed in a breath, thinking as she continued on her paperwork. She kept glancing at him; he was playing with a few pens on the desk, but not working.
It was silent for another hour or two, with random members coming in and dropping paperwork off on his desk to not be completed. As usual, because of her quick, yet sloppy, handwriting, Hikari was finished by lunch. She had noticed the lieutenant was growing impatient, and was actually carving shapes into the desk. She stood up, walking to stand in front of the semi-destroyed desk. She peered at the carvings. Some were copies of the tribal tattoos he had; others were pictures of him stabbing hollows. Well, that's what she assumed they were.
"If it means anything, many lieutenants find no value in the switch week at first, but they ultimately grow to enjoy it and appreciate it. Last year we had Yachiru, and the year before we had Lieutenant Kira." She laughed at the memories, and saw Renji looked up at her. His brown eyes pierced into her own light blue ones, and she honestly felt put off by it. "Do you want to have lunch with me, Lieutenant Abarai? I've finished all my work-" She was cut off. "It's Renji. And no thank you." He grumbled out the last part, getting up and taking his leave with that said.
Hikari felt extremely annoyed, and had no idea what to do.