Tip

Tip. Tap. Tip. Tap.

Whoosh!

A sudden gush of water came down the street, sweeping everything in its path. It seemed unstoppable and it is, at least for the people living on the streets of Rukongai, where people had always been peaceful for a very long time. Hundreds of years came and go but the way of life had always been the same, to most, at the very least. The rain continued pouring, drowning the eighty-ninth district with water. The liquid rose ever higher, seemingly a reincarnation of the biblical great flood but this was not so. This was very common once every fifty-eight years. Why fifty-eight? No one knows. The new citizens of Rukongai were getting worried but the old ones were used to it. All they were worried about was the condition of their belongings inside their house. The storm continued as a white light streaked across the sky. Surely enough, the roaring sound of thunder surged through the atmosphere, accompanied by the fury song of the blaring wind. The water level was already waist high and wooden planks and various floatables were found swimming on the water surface along with dresses and wooden poles dancing to the beat of the flowing current.

In the midst of all this, the clanging of metal pounding upon metal upon metal resounded through the end of the street. A huge explosion, another loud sound, and nervous wrecks were what took to make this deluge succumb to the foolish workings of few blue-clad personnel the people of Rukongai were thankful to. In a few seconds the water came rushing at high speeds, tearing at the people's house, the old denizens already informed the newbies that their belongings should be kept in the district safe so they won't get damaged by whatever the students would do. And thank Gods; they were correct in trusting the wisdom of the district's council of elders. In a few seconds, the water level was all but gone although doors, windows and most parts of the district's housing were damaged and wet. They thanked the students but the rain still had not stopped. A student came down from the rooftop and started punching holes to the ground, each one about the same size as the previous. Smiling, the students left the district, happy that they had done their job although they might be a little late for their next class as they still have to change.

"Let's go! Hurry!"

oooo

"Matsumoto!"

The white-haired captain of the tenth squad bellowed. His vice captain was late again, as usual, and his temper is flaring up. He doesn't really know why he even bothers having a vain, useless, and lazy vice captain by his side. If it weren't for the rules, he'd rather handle the squad by himself. Today, they were to go to the Shinigami Academy to inform the students what each squad is for and recruit students interested in taking up the entrance exam into each squad. Each squad's respective captains and their lieutenants were to be present.

After a few more minutes of waiting, Matsumoto Rangiku, Jubandai Fukutaichou, finally appeared. With a sigh and some silent utterances of wishes of improvement for his Vice Captain, Hitsugaya-taichou went on toward the academy.

"Taichou, today's the big day, ne? I want to recruit good looking students into our squad so we will have a wide array of eye-candies running around our headquarters, don't you think so?" Matsumoto said, all the while skipping and hopping in an attempt to get her "girls" in action, to the delight of the male populace. "Although it wouldn't hurt if we actually get a few useful students, ne taichou?"

She wishfully said, putting her index finger on her lower lip. Hitsugaya walked on. He knew that replying to her non-sense statements would result to a non-sense conversation and he would love to save himself the indignity of saying 'Shut up'. And so they walk on toward the place.

"Rangiku!" A familiar voice called out. The female shinigami looked behind to find the source of the sound. Her eyes widen as Hitsugaya gives a stern glance at him.

"Shuuhei!" Hisagi Shuuhei was the Kyubandai Fukutaichou. He was there together with the Kyubandai Taichou, Kaname Tousen. The ninth squad captain stood there, waiting for the conversation of the two vice captains to finish. Matsumoto nodded at Kaname-taichou.

"At ease. How are things, Hitsuyaga-taichou?" Matsumoto went off to talk with Hisagi about cute academy students and ambushes and kidnapping and other things Hisagi doesn't even want to know, other than the sake bottles on Hitsugaya-taichou's drawer that is. Hitsugaya just nodded at Kaname-taichou.

"The same."

After a few more greetings, the two went on their way toward the academy. When they arrived, the gates haven't even opened yet for the students. They were thirty minutes early. They were about to come in when a very loud and obnoxious voice resounded throughout the street.

"Hitsugaya-taichou!" said the voice. Hitsugaya-taichou looked at the source. It was the orange-haired boy with red highlights. The one obnoxious student you could hear even on the other side of the world.

In a stern cold voice…..

"Itakura. Nanda?" He looked at Itakura Kyousuke, a graduating academy student.

"We did it!" He said. Hitsugaya-taichou looked him over. The left sleeve of his uniform was torn off, there lots of cuts on the boy's body and there were dirt all over the boy, not to mention that the boy was wearing muddy boots.

Matsumoto looked the boy over and crinkled her nose.

"You know, you're cute but you're way too noisy. I hate guys like that." She said but the boy, to her surprise, shouted back at her.

"I would rather die than touch you, even if you were the last female creature left! If it weren't for your abnormally large bumpers, no one would look at you." Kyousuke said, sticking his tongue out. Then his eyes rolled over and stared at the papers Hitsugaya-taichou was holding. His mouth was watering.

"Paper!" he went on to grab the papers but Matsumoto held his arm and folded it to his back, pushing him to the wall.

"Don't let your guard down, ne?" She said, smiling. Kyousuke screamed in horror.

"Aaaah! A big breasted slug is holding me! I'm dying!"

"What did you say, you, you, you….. Big mouthed frog!"

"Shut up, hunchback!"

"I am not a hunchback. And hunchbacks have a…." she stopped in midsentence as Kyousuke pointed to her chest. "They are not hunches! You loveless dimwit!"

"So what, Mrs. Mole!"

"My mole is perfectly fine!"

"Matsumoto…" A tone that could freeze hell over erupted from the captain of the tenth squad with a glare so intense you feel like soukyouku went through you ten times over. The two stopped. Kaname-taichou was just observing the situation as Hisagi-fukutaichou. Matsumoto's eyes blinked.

"What did he mean by it was done?"

Kyousuke started beaming with pride. "I sent them on a mission to fix the recurring flood."

Rangiku looked confused. "Them? But that had always been the mission of vice captains to fix by themselves, ne? To prove them to their captains? Why was I not informed of this?"

"Because you were asleep after drinking with Hisagi-fukutaichou when the order was given. It was supposed to be your job but….."

"But he decided that I was more useful, ne? Toushi-kun?" Matsumoto's eyes widened as she tried to latch herself onto the newcomer.

"Yutaka, what happened?"

The newcomer bowed down to them and said,

"Sumimasen. Watashi no namae wa Yutaka Yomi desu. I'm a graduating student from the academy. It's an honor to meet you, Kaname-taichou, Hisagi-fukutaichou." Hisagi smiled. His ego went up to the roof as someone actually knew his name. Kaname-taichou signaled the kid to get up.

"At ease. Yutaka Yomi, this year's valedictorian, am I correct? Congratulations."

Yomi nodded again in gratitude.

"Thank you Kaname-taichou. It's an honor to be praised by a well respected captain such as you. The activities are about to start and I need to be in there to supervise the whole thing. So, shall we all get going?"

He said, flashing his ever-present non-erasable and non-refundable smile. Yutaka was never known to appear before anybody without his smile. Nobody knows why he doesn't change expressions but his smile never changes no matter what throughout his school life. They just hope they can get more expressions from the valedictorian. With that, they went inside the academy.

Time Skip next Chapter

All the nonboring stuff on next chap...