Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters or settings, Tite Kubo does.

Chapter 1: New Captain of the Gotei 13

The nine captains of the Gotei 13 waited for Head Captain Yamamoto to speak. They had all been called to an impromptu meeting in the First Division Assembly Hall and no one really knew what was going on.

Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni opened his eyes fractionally, leaning forwards on his staff, 'The meeting will now commence,'

As there was another short silence, one which none of the waiting captains wanted to try and fill, Hitsugaya Toshiro took the moment to think.
As the Captain of the Tenth Division, he was usually informed of recent events. However, as far as he knew, the happenings of this meeting were going to be a complete surprise - pleasant or unpleasant.

'I will ask you all to listen to what I have to say,' the Head Captain finally continued, 'A new captain has been appointed after careful consideration,' a few pairs of eyes widened at his statement, then the old man continued, 'As of today, she will be joining the shinigami in this hall as the Captain of the Third Division,'

She? Soifon, Captain of the Second Division and Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukido, thought in light surprise, That'll be new.

At present, there were only two female captains, herself, and Captain Unohana Retsu of the Fourth Division.

'Enter, Kanashimi Yuki!' Yamamoto banged down on the ground with his staff.

All of the waiting captains turned to look at the door.

The bright light coming in from outside made Toshiro's eyes go fuzzy for a moment but, after he'd blinked a few times, he could see what everyone else was seeing.

As Kanashimi Yuki, new captain of the Third Division, walked through the doors to stand a few metres into the room, there was a pause.

The young woman would have been a good few inches taller than Hinamori Momo, Lieutenant of the Fifth Division, but she looked like an eighteen or nineteen year old human girl, albeit much more mature. Light lavender eyes were complimented with pale skin and midnight black hair that hung loose around her face but was tied tightly at the back of her neck, reaching her lower back. Her body structure was similar to Soifon's trained form and everyone could see the black hilt of her zanpakuto at her waist. The inside of her haori was a dark grey.

Yuki bowed, 'My name is Kanashimi Yuki, it's a pleasure to meet you,'

Her voice was lower than one might expect but it seemed to fit her appearance nicely.

Yamamoto nodded, 'The meeting is dismissed,'

Ukitake Jushiro, who was by nature a very friendly man, walked over to the newcomer, 'Hello, I'm Captain Ukitake of the Thirteenth Division,' he smiled at her serious face, 'Don't hesitate to ask me any questions, okay? Sometimes getting a promotion like this can be a bit confusing,'

'I see,' cool purple eyes flicked up to meet warm green ones, 'Thank you,'

Jushiro just nodded and smiled again before turning to leave with his longtime friend, Kyoraku Shunsui.

Toshiro paused by the door once before leaving, noticing that Kuchiki Byakuya did the same, and then sighed.

'Boo!' a bubbly voice sounded as someone leapt around a corner and tried to hug the short captain. Toshiro jerked backwards and his Lieutenant, Matsumoto Rangiku, flew past him.

Trying to walk onwards was impossible with her hanging around so he just waited for the woman to scamper back.

'So,' she drew out the word, then she grinned, pale blue eyes sparkling, 'What happened?'

'There's a new captain for the Third Division,' Toshiro replied shortly, envisaging all of the reports that would be sitting in piles beside his desk.

'Really?' Matsumoto stood straight, one hand tapping her chin, then she leant back down, 'Who is it?'

'Kanashimi Yuki,' sighing, the young captain gave up trying to escape the woman and leant against one of the buildings, waiting for her to finish.

'A girl?' the Lieutenant sounded surprised but she brightened immediately, 'Is she super cute? I want to meet her!'

'You've got work to do,' he snapped back, despite knowing that it was useless, 'And at least let her meet her Division first!'

'Fine,' full lips turned down in a frown, 'But I'm going to a Shinigami Women's Association Meeting so I can't do any work,'

Before he could stop her, Rangiku had used shunpo to race away. Rubbing his face in pure frustration, Toshiro used his own flash steps to take him to his office.

'A new captain?' Kira Izuru, Lieutenant of the Third Division, listened to the conversations of the gathered squad members worriedly. He was usually pessimistic by nature so thinking the worst about how the squad would receive the new captain wasn't exactly surprising for him.

When he'd woken up, someone had arrived to say that a new captain would be joining everyone at midday and to gather together all of the Division. So he'd done that and now it was midday and everyone was tired of waiting.

The soft tapping of waraji on wooden floor made Izuru turn.

When the blonde man saw the woman walking towards them, he was glad that his hairstyle hid one of his eyes. She was wearing a captain's haori so there really wasn't any doubt that this was the Third Division's new captain.

'Are you Lieutenant Kira?' when she spoke, it was clear that her appearance belied her true age, but still, it was . . . strange.

'Y-yes,' he held out his hand nervously and tried to smile, 'That's me,'

She took it and then turned to the dumbstruck shinigami watching them, 'You must be the members of the Third Division,'

'Who the hell are you?' the rude words made Izuru flinch but the captain just gazed at the speaker impassively, 'You can't be our captain,'

'I am Kanashimi Yuki, newly appointed Captain of the Third Division,' there was some steel in her voice when she added, 'It's nice to meet you all,'

The man who'd spoken was slightly taken aback but no one really accepted this shinigami as their captain. To make matters worse, the majority of the Third Division was currently male and, from the looks on their faces, they weren't too happy about the way things had turned out.

'I understand that it will take more than a day for you to start accepting me,' Yuki turned away, 'But, as long as I'm your captain, I will protect you no matter what. That's what a captain does,' she paused, 'Kira,'

The Lieutenant hurried after her, shooting one last look at the frozen Division members.

Matsumoto snuck around another building, hiding her reiatsu as best she could. Her captain would never know if she just met the new captain secretly.

Coming around another corner, she found herself in front of the Third Division offices. Grinning, she used quick shunpo to take herself inside, peeking around doors until she sensed Izuru's reiatsu.

'Izuru, where's your-,' as she rounded the corner, Rangiku found herself standing in the office of the Third Division's captain, which looked identical to her own captain's apart from the second desk.

The young woman herself was seated at her desk, Izuru at his, and both looked up at Matsumoto's loud entrance.

Why didn't I sense her reiatsu? Rangiku paused, thinking that it was odd, especially since she could feel it now.

'Lieutenant Matsumoto!' Izuru jumped up, looking from face to face in shock, 'What are you doing?'

'Matsumoto?' Yuki stood and walked over, 'Are you from the Tenth Division?'

'That's right,' Rangiku smiled winningly, hoping that the captain wasn't going to tell Toshiro.

'May I ask what you're doing?' the tone wasn't demanding, just curious.

'Oh, I just wanted to meet you. I heard the Third Division had gotten a new captain,' the taller woman brushed some strawberry blonde hair out of her face, 'I thought Izuru could tell me where to find you,'

'Kira?' turning to her Lieutenant, Yuki raised a questioning brow.

'Oh yes! Didn't he tell you?' Matsumoto made it sound like the pair were in a relationship, then she just grinned, 'We're drinking buddies!'

Izuru felt any pride he'd managed to retain after the former captain, Ichimaru Gin, had deserted the Soul Society, slip away from him and he put his head in his hands. Trust Rangiku to ruin any positive relationship between him and his new captain.

'Drinking buddies?' the carefully blank look on the captain's face made Matsumoto instantly feel that she needed to take the girl under her wing and 'nurture' her.

'Matsumoto!' the cold fury rippling along the corridor made everyone blink.

'Oh no!' Matsumoto rushed further into the office, looking for a place to hide, 'That'll be my captain!'

Unfortunately for her, Toshiro stepped through the doorway just as she was about to hide behind Kira.

'What are you doing?' seeing the white haired captain's rage had Matsumoto shivering, as well as the sudden temperature drop, 'You do have work to do, you know!'

'I just came to say hello to Captain,' Matsumoto realised she didn't recall the woman's name, then Izuru whispered it to her and she smiled, stepping out from behind the blonde, 'Kanashimi,'

Toshiro turned and glanced at the black haired shinigami before sighing, 'My apologies for my Lieutenant's behaviour,'

'Don't worry about it,' Yuki met turquoise eyes with her own before glancing at the two Lieutenants, 'Matsumoto, I think you're required somewhere else,'

'I'll be back!' Rangiku declared grandly as she marched from the room, her captain following silently, eye twitching.

'Drinking buddies?' Yuki repeated once they'd gone, amused despite herself.

Author's Note:

And so another epic tale begins! *laughs self-consciously*

This story is set after the Winter War, but it kind of takes the place of the Amagai Arc in the Bleach anime - the stories aren't similar apart from the beginning though.

Also, compared to Snow Falls in the Present it might be a little slow, but I still hope you read and enjoy!