Chapter 1 – Nothing to Nine
"I call this Captains meeting to order." boomed the resonating voice of the Captain-Commander, Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, and the 9 bodies of various sizes and shapes assorted in two lines in the large room stood a little straighter.
"I have called you here to discuss the vacancies of three captain's positions. We must attempt to fill these spots. Do any of you know of anyone who could fill these positions or anyone that has achieved bankai?" he asked the other captains.
The cool, calm voice of Sixth Division Captain, Byakuya Kuchiki sounded through the room, "Sixth Division Lieutenant, Abarai Renji has achieved bankai, but I do not believe he has completely mastered it yet. Also, I would advise that if we were to consider giving him a position as a captain, that we wait until he has more experience and training."
Yamamoto was silent as he thought this over for a moment and the other captains did as well. Everyone knew that Renji had achieved bankai for a while now, and was a formidable opponent, but maybe not at captain level just yet.
"I agree. But we will keep him in consideration, and watch his progress. Is there anyone else who has any suggestions?" Yamamoto said as he looked around at the other captains in the room.
Two of the oldest captains looked directly at each other, and one gave the other a single nod before he spoke up.
"I know of someone who would quite suitable for the job. She has mastered bankai, and is very intelligent. I think that she would make a very good captain" the Thirteenth Division Captain, Ukitake Jushiro said, in his usual kind voice.
"Why did you not mention this earlier, Ukitake?" Yamamoto said with a scolding tone.
"Well, there's a good reason for that. I believed that she wouldn't be accepted because of... whatshe is." he said slowly, with slight reluctance.
"And what is that?" asked the younger sounding voice of Tenth Division Captain, Hitsugaya Toshiro.
"...she is a vizard..."
#
Siren was sitting on a rooftop, bored out of her mind. There had been no hollows show up today, so she had nothing to do. Maybe she could just go to a bar, or walk around the streets for a while and hope to find something amusing to do. She leapt down and started wandering around the streets. Pretty average for a day in her life.
She just walked around, training and fighting hollows, staying out of anything that didn't concern her directly. Pretty average life for a shinigami stuck in the real world. Except she wasn't exactly a shinigami. She was a vizard, the same as the vizards who had helped defeat Aizen, Gin, Tosen and the Arrancar. That was the reason she was in Karakura Town right now. She had heard about all the ruckus through Renji whom she had met in the real world a while ago when they were going after the same hollow.
And so, after that, hoping that something interesting might happen, she travelled to Karakura Town to find it quite average, aside from the shinigami substitute and fellow vizard, Kurosaki Ichigo, who worked together with Kuchiki Rukia, from the Thirteenth Division. There was also Ishida Uryuu, a Quincy, Sado Yasutora and Inoue Orihime, who were both humans that had somehow gained the ability to fight hollows. And then there was the ex-Twelfth Division Captain, Urahara Kisuke, ex-Second Division Captain and Commander-In-Chief of the Onmitsukido, Shihoin Yoruichi, ex-Captain of the Kido Corps, Tsukabishi Tessai and the two children Jinta and Ururu who lived at the Urahara Shoten along with the Mod souls Ririn, Kurodo and Noba who live in plushie bodies.
Considering what most human towns were like, and what Soul Society was like, this was a strange place.
Speaking of the Urahara Shoten, she was actually rather close to the shop. She spontaneously decided to visit the place, hoping for something amusing to happen. There was never a quiet moment around there. When she was out the front, she heard a vaguely familiar gruff voice from inside as well as the chipper voice of Urahara. Siren opened the door, to find none other than the bright red, spiky hair of Abarai Renji in the doorway. He turned around when she opened the door, and looked her over for a moment before recognising her.
"Hey, Siren! It's been a while." he said with a smile.
"Ah, Siren-chan! Hello there." Urahara said, fanning himself as per normal, hiding most of his expressions.
"Yo Renji, Urahara. Certainly has. What are you doing here?" she replied with her usual bored tone, laced with curiosity. She doubted that it was for any hollow reasons, as there hadn't been any all day, and Soul Society probably wouldn't bother sending Renji when Ichigo and Rukia were here. Renji's gaze turned inward as he remembered the events of this morning.
#
Renji was strolling along the path to the Sixth Division barracks where he was going to tend to some paperwork that he'd put off doing for much too long. If he didn't do it, Kuchiki-taicho was going to be on his case in his noble way that never failed to make him pull his finger out and get to work.
"Abarai-kun!" said a familiar voice from behind him.
"Ukitake-taicho!" he said with shock when he turned around and saw the white-haired captain coming towards him.
"Abarai-kun, I have a favour to ask. I'd like you to go to the real world and find someone for me." Ukitake asked kindly.
Renji eyebrows rose, "Me? Uh, o-of course. And who do you want me to find?" Renji replied curiously.
"Her name is Siren. She has black hair, green eyes and she's kind of small."
"Ah, I've met her before." he paused, but explained when Ukitake looked rather shocked. "We were going after the same hollow in the real world quite a while ago. Do you know where she'll be?"
"In Karakura Town."
Half an hour later, Renji was walking through the Senkaimon and coming out on the other side to find the familiar sight of Karakura Town.
#
"Actually...I'm here to see you." Renji answered, and shrugged.
"Really? That's random. Whatever for?" Siren asked, thoroughly confused as to why Renji was here to see her in particular.
"Um, I'm here on Ukitake-taicho's behalf. He's asked you to see him in Soul Society as soon as possible."
"What? Did he say why?"
"Nope. He just told me to come here and get you to come back to Soul Society to see him."
Siren sighed, and lowered her head. Well, she was right. Something interesting did happen. She hadn't seen Shiro for many years now and to be honest, she missed seeing him and Kyoraku, whom she called Shun, and she had affectionately deemed them 'Shun-Shiro' when she met them as a child.
"Sure, why the hell not. I can't be in trouble since you didn't say that you were going to take me back by force if I didn't agree. But they would have sent someone stronger if that was the case." Siren said, with a teasing tone, huffing in amusement when Renji tensed and gritted his teeth.
"Just kidding, just kidding. Let's go. See you later, Urahara." she said, walking out the door.
With a grumble, Renji followed and unlocked the Senkaimon and accompanied by their Hell Butterflies, they went through the Dangai, making small talk and when they came out, Siren groaned when she saw the Seireitei which she had been forced to leave very long ago. Things didn't look like they had changed much, but that was fairly normal around here. Traditions and laws were all the same, and since the Old Man was still around, nothing would be changing any time soon.
She turned to Renji, and bid him goodbye, promising him that they would get together to have a few drinks before she left. He agreed and told her to come see him in the Sixth Division when she was able to after she had finished with her business.
Even after being gone for so long, she knew the way to the Thirteenth Division from anywhere since she used to spend most of her free time either there or the Eighth Division rooftop or in some bar with Shunsui. When she got there, the first thing she saw was a male and female arguing about something or other which she didn't bother paying attention to. She went straight past them and opened the shogi screen, and peered into the room to see Ukitake sitting on the floor doing paperwork at a small table.
"Yo." she said simply, waiting him for to look up, which he did immediately after she spoke. He gave her a happy grin and stood up and walked over to her.
"Ikazuchi-chan!" he said happily, and wrapped his arms around her and brought the girl he hadn't seen in so long into a gentle hug.
"Oi, don't call me that here." Siren replied with as much anger as she could muster while giving an awkward, but much needed hug to her old friend and father figure.
"Heh, I'm sorry. It's just been such a long time since I've seen you. I'm glad you're here. We'll catch up soon, but first, there's somewhere we need to go." he said after stepping back, and heading towards the door.
"I'm not in trouble am I? I really can't be bothered to deal with something like that at the moment..." Siren asked him as they walked out of the Thirteenth Division barracks. Though her tone was lazy, inside she was actually a little frightened. If they were going where she thought they were going, then she should be scared.
Ukitake laughed, "Not at all, my dear. There's nothing to worry about." That still didn't alleviate her fear.
"Well, where are we going then? Please tell me we're going to fetch Shun and go have a few drinks." she said, faint excitement in her usually unenthusiastic voice as they strolled through the Seireitei.
"You'll see…" he answered cryptically with a smile.
Siren just sighed and followed him until the large symbol of the First Division loomed over them. She looked at Ukitake questioningly, who just gestured for her to enter the building, and she walked in with him and followed him to a hallway with a massive door at the end. Her feeling of dread started to bubble in her stomach, and she could feel her heart begin to race.
"Wait here for a few moments, okay?" he assured her as she stared at him pointedly, clearly wanting to know why the hell she was here.
For the next few minutes, she waited there quietly, watching as shinigami occasionally walked past at the other end of the long hallway. She guessed that this was where the captain's had their meetings, but could not for the life of her figure out why she was here. It was bad enough that she had to come here in the first place. As a vizard, she technically broke the law of Soul Society that no shinigami was permitted to "acquire or attempt to gain hollow-like powers". So her presence here was not exactly legal, as such.
The massive door opened suddenly, and Ukitake poked his head through and smiled at Siren, glad she hadn't done a runner on him. She had considered running a few times, but trusted that Ukitake wouldn't lead her into a trap that would get her hurt or executed for being a vizard. Even though they hadn't seen each other in so long, she couldn't mistrust him, even if she wanted to.
"You can come in now, my dear." he said, opening the door far enough for her to walk past him and into the large room which had the 8 other captains lined up as per normal and Yamamoto sitting at the head of the room.
She walked in hesitantly, hating the fact that she was the centre of attention. She loathed this situation already. All the captains were looking at her and she shrunk away a little before she saw Kyoraku giving her a comforting smile and a small wave.
"Hey there, Siren-chan. It's been a while." he whispered as she walked slowly closer to the other captains. Siren just gave him a small wave and a small but genuine smile as she walked to stand in front of the old man.
"Siren." the large voice commanding respect grabbed her attention immediately and her head snapped up to look at the So-taicho. She bowed to him in respect, even more confused with the predicament she had somehow managed to get herself in. The atmosphere in the room was tense, but she didn't feel like she was here to be put on trial for what she was.
"You have been asked to come here for a very important reason. I am sure that you know of the treachery of three of our previous captains who were defeated in the recent Winter war." he paused and Siren nodded in confirmation. "Things have calmed down now, and the need for new captains is dire. Ukitake and Kyoraku have recommended you to take the exam, and depending on that, you may or may not be eligible to become a taicho of the Gotei Thirteen."
Siren raised her eyebrows in complete disbelief, wondering for a moment if she had just had way too much to drink last night and was having some sort of odd sake-induced dream or hallucination. This was certainly the last thing she expected when Renji told her to come to Seireitei this morning.
"Uh, so you want me to take the captain's exam? Well, I'll be honest, I have no interest to become a captain. My time serving as part of the Gotei Thirteen ended quite a while ago, and with good reason." she looked behind her at Ukitake, then Kyoraku, then back at Yamamoto, "and I'm sure that Ukitake-taicho and Kyoraku-taicho informed you of exactly what I am. My question is, why would you consider someone like me for a captain's position since by default I break the law of Soul Society?" she said with a shrug.
"Siren, I informed him of your abilities, and we think that you would be a good asset to Soul Society. And like Genryusai-sensei said, the need for captains is dire, and there is no one else to fill the spots." Ukitake spoke up, trying to reason with Siren, knowing that she wouldn't be interested in such a time-consuming job, but even he couldn't deny that they needed captains badly and that she was perfect for the job.
It wasn't just one captain missing, or even two. There was three large holes in the Gotei Thirteen, and they needed to be patched up. Most of the squads weren't interested in having a captain, thinking that they were holding together fine without one, even though they were probably just worried about being betrayed again by someone they had learnt to admire and look up to. The biggest problem was that there was just too much work for everyone to pick up the slack. Siren couldn't deny the logic, and it seemed that taking the exam couldn't hurt. Though she had left many years ago, she knew she would have stayed if she would have accepted.
"Alright. Fine. I'll take the exam." Siren said knowing that she probably couldn't really talk her way out of this. And this way, if she passed and become a Captain, she would get to see Shiro and Shun more often.
With that positive thinking she accepted her fate.
#
Several hours later, Siren came out of the exam. All the captains had watched, and none of them could deny her power and abilities were quite impressive, even for a captain level. She had to show her hollow powers as well, which she hated having to do, knowing that most of the captains would probably be disgusted with the source of her power. But still, it wasn't like she asked for it. Her hollow side was thoroughly pleased with getting to be used for once since it was usually stuffed away in the corners of her mind.
When she finished, the captains had another meeting, and Siren was forced to wait outside...again. This time she had to wait almost an hour before Ukitake peered through the door again to find Siren sitting down, half-asleep leaning up against the wall. She opened one eye as she heard the door open and saw Ukitake smiling at her, gesturing for her to come in.
She slowly stood up and strolled back into the large room again with her hands in her pockets. This whole process was nerve wracking, but at least it was interesting. Again she watched as Ukitake took his place in line and looked up at Yamamoto.
"Siren. You have passed the exam, and after discussing the matter of your power and its source, we have decided to place you as a captain, but you will be on probation until we can determine that you are fit to keep the job permanently. However, there are a few conditions. One, you must train for a minimum of five hours a week to keep your inner hollow under control. Two, you must report to me directly each week about how the training is going. Do you agree to these terms?" Yamamoto said as Siren just stood there in shock, completely still except for blinking.
"Yes I do." Siren answered with as much professionalism as she could in her shocked state.
"Then, I give you the title of the Ninth Division Captain of the Gotei Thirteen. Do you have anything you would like to say?"
"Um...yes. I'd just like to thank you all for at least accepting me enough to stand with you as a comrade." she said with a quick bow and turned around to bow to the other captains awkwardly. She may be half hollow, but she had manners and could use them when she had to.
"You will be properly inducted early tomorrow morning. Thank you all for your attendance today. This captain's meeting is dismissed." the So-taicho announced and the captains, except for Ukitake and Kyoraku began to walk through the large door.
Ukitake and Kyoraku walked over to Siren, all smiles. They all walked out together, and Siren walked in between them, still kind of shocked about the whole thing. They walked for quite a while until Siren realised that they were in a bar, presumably to celebrate. Kyoraku asked the girl who served them for a private room, and she nodded knowingly, and Siren guessed Kyoraku frequented this place a fair bit.
After a few minutes, they were set up in their private room, with a bottle of sake each, and some extra bottles on the table (this alone confirmed her thought about Kyoraku coming here a lot, and they clearly knew how big a drinker he was) and they sat down, still in complete silence.
"Congratulations Siren-chan! We are both so proud of you." Shunsui said, pouring his cup full of sake.
"We certainly are. Congratulations, my dear." Ukitake echoed as he did the same.
Siren filled her cup and they said "Kanpai!" and downed the liquid in their cups, and filled them up again.
"I...can't...believe it. How did I go from absolutely nothing, just a vizard, stuck in the real world to Captain of the Ninth Division in less than one day? Any why the Ninth Division by the way?" Siren asked, and drank her sake rather quickly.
"Well, we were originally going to put you as Third Division captain, but their lieutenant has been holding the squad together well enough, and Hitsugaya-taicho has already been helping out the Fifth Division pick up the slack, and Hinamori-chan is back doing her lieutenant's duties. But the ninth division fuku-taicho is a very busy man, and is having a hard time balancing his duties as acting-captain, lieutenant, and the editor job he has in the Seireitei Communication, so we figured that, if for anything else, is decent enough reason for you to be placed there." Ukitake answered and he drank his sake much slower than both Siren and Kyoraku.
"Fair enough." Siren replied simply, in an accepting voice, and drained her cup before filling it up again. "Sounds like a bit of workaholic to me. I couldn't handle that much work. I'm going to have trouble just being a captain. And I'm certainly going to loathe paperwork even more than I do now."
"Don't worry, Siren-chan. We'll help you out with anything you need." Shunsui said with a reassuring smile.
"I don't know about that. You barely do any of your own work, let alone help me out with mine." Siren stated teasingly with a laugh.
"Aw, you are just as mean as always Siren-chan!" he said with mock hurt, but then become a little more serious, but he was smiling. "I'm glad you haven't changed."
"Ah, let's not get all sentimental now. Of course I haven't changed." Siren waved her hand to brush off the comment. She never handled compliments or sentimentality well.
The three of them, now all of them captains, had a great time catching up with their old friends. It had been many years since Siren had seen either of them, and they were always like fathers to her, and she had missed them dearly. They talked about everything that happened with Ichigo becoming a substitute shinigami, Rukia almost being executed, the both of them destroying the Sokyoku, (which had received an amused chuckle from Siren) nearly having to fight Yamamoto, Aizen and his group, the war, and everything in between. In return, Siren told them about what she had been doing for the past few years, which only took a second since all she said was "Nothing in particular".
After two hours, Ukitake began to feel a little tired, so they paid the bill and left, and Siren insisted to walk Ukitake back home just in case he passed out half-way or something. She said goodbye to Kyoraku and promised that they would go out drinking again as soon as possible. She and Shiro talked more on the way back, and Siren was starting to feel glad that she came back, and that she missed having him around more than she realised. They got back to his captain's quarters, said goodnight and Siren said that she would come and see him tomorrow.
Siren walked around for a while, before deciding to go and see if Renji was in his office. She was in a good mood, and still felt like a drink, so if she could find him she'd drag him back to the closest bar with her. She got lost once, her memory failing her, but eventually found the Sixth Division barracks and found Renji's office. Luckily he was just finishing up some paperwork when she entered.
"Hey Siren. What did Ukitake-taicho want?" Renji asked stacking the last of his paperwork.
"If you can keep a secret and come out for drinks with me, I'll tell you." Siren replied with a mischievous smile.
"Hah, luckily enough I'm actually meeting some of my friends for drinks right now, so you may as well come with me. And I can definitely keep a secret."
They walked out of the barracks with various members of the division bidding their fuku-taicho goodnight, and Siren decided to tell him about what happened today before they got to the bar. She doubted that anyone aside the Captains were supposed to know, but she did kind of what to talk about it, and Renji seemed trustworthy enough. And it wasn't like she knew anyone else here beside the Captains.
"So, do you want to know what happened today? You probably won't even believe me." Siren said, glancing at Renji, who nodded vigorously.
"Well, Ukitake took me to see Yama-jii, and there was a captain's meeting going on, so I had to wait outside. They called me in after a few minutes, and I was asked to take the captain's exam." Renji's head snapped towards her when she said the last part, and before he could interrupt, she held her finger up to silence him and continued. "Anyways, I took the exam, and then they had another meeting, which lasted like an hour, and I was stuck waiting outside again, and when they finally called me in, the old man told me that I passed the exam and that the captain's had decided that with a few conditions I could be a captain... And there you have it."
"Wow..." Renji's jaw was almost dragging on the ground.
"I know. That's what I thought."
"Do you know what division you'll be captain of?" Renji asked carefully, wondering if he was pushing his luck.
"Ah, I'm not telling you that much. You can find out soon enough. Just don't get drunk and blurt it out, okay?"
Renji laughed. "Hah, I'm not having too much tonight. I still have a lot of paperwork to do, so I don't want to have a huge hangover tomorrow. Here we are. Everyone should already be here."
They stepped inside the bar, that was full of people, and Renji sauntered over to a large table with numerous shinigami sitting at it. Everyone said hi to Renji and he greeted them before introducing Siren.
"Everyone, this is Siren. Siren, this is Matsumoto Rangiku, Madarame Ikkaku, Ayasegawa Yumichika, Kira Izuru, Iba Tetsuzaemon and last but not least Hisagi Shuuhei." Renji pointed to each person as he said their name and Siren smiled and greeted them all simultaneously with her usual 'Yo'. She wouldn't admit it, but she wasn't always great in social situations like this, and it was the first time she had been here in so long that she felt quite out of place.
She sat down across from Renji, next to the bubbly woman, Matsumoto, who immediately started talking to her. They seemed to get along pretty well, and Matsumoto seemed like a big drinker and Siren knew that she had a new drinking partner in the gorgeous, curvy woman. Everyone else seemed pretty cool, and she was glad that Renji had introduced her to them all. Yumichika seemed to take quite an interest in her, and commented on her being beautiful, to which Siren just scratched her head and thanked him awkwardly. She got to talk to all of them, and seemed to get along with them all quite well. She talked about fighting with Ikkaku, and Yumichika questioned her on random girly things that she had no interest nor knowledge in. She debated with Iba if sake was better in Soul Society or the real world and she talked with both Kira and Hisagi about what Hado looked cooler. It was a wonderful night, and slowly they all left to eventually leave only Hisagi and Siren who were both on their fifth bottle of sake.
They talked about random impersonal things and Siren told him about some amusing things she had seen in the real world without revealing more of her past than she wanted. Hisagi told her about his guitar playing and in return Siren told him that she did a bit of singing sometimes. Hisagi seemed like a very genuine, mature and calm person, and Siren knew that she would get along with him. He might be a little too serious for her liking, but then again, that was probably only because she was incredibly lazy and bored by mostly everything.
They called it quits and Hisagi offered to walk Siren home, but she insisted that if anything she would be walking him home. He was considerably more intoxicated than she was and even if he wasn't, she still wasn't ready to go to sleep yet. He followed the usual path mechanically and Siren just followed, even though she had no idea where they were going. Eventually they arrived, and after they got to the room, Siren questioned him on sleeping in an office. Hisagi simply said that it was easier to stay here since he would be here tomorrow morning, which made sense to her. Hisagi put on a womanly sounding voice and thanked her for walking him home. They both laughed hysterically and after they collected themselves they said goodnight and Siren started too wandered out of wherever she was before Hisagi's voice stopped her.
"Hey Siren, what squad are you on? I haven't seen you around before." Hisagi asked after suddenly realising that he'd never seen her around before.
"...you'll find out tomorrow." Siren said cryptically over her shoulder and held up her hand and gave him a single wave.
Hisagi knew that should have some really important meaning to him, but in his half-drunk state, he couldn't remember for the life of him, and just brushed it aside before shutting the door and laying down on the couch in his office. He thought about Siren a little, deciding that she seemed cool and that he hoped he could hang out with her again. She was definitely attractive too, with her black hair, dangling just past her shoulders and the bangs often covering those vibrant green eyes. She was probably only a little taller than Soifon-taicho but had the same build, except maybe a little more muscular.
And with those thoughts in mind, he eventually fell into a deep sleep.
#
For a while, Siren just strolled around, and decided to spend the night on a rooftop as she quite oftenly did in the real world. She wandered around for an hour or so, trying to find the most comfortable looking one, and eventually settled on what was the Thirteenth Division roof, more specifically the roof of Ukitake's quarters. She figured she would talk to Ukitake in the morning, and use his 'facilities' so it would be much quicker if she just stayed here. She laid down on her back, facing the sky and looked at the stars and thinking about what happened today until she fell asleep.
#
Dawn broke, and a few minutes later, the bright sun woke up the small black-haired girl sleeping on the rooftop. Siren stood up and stretched before jumping down to find the closest entrance to the Thirteenth Division barracks. She found Ukitake's quarters and with surprising silence, stalked past his door, but stopped when she saw a pair of familiar looking shinigami robes sitting on a table. She picked them up, noting that they were just her size, and a note next to it read "For Siren" confirmed the thought that they were hers. She strolled quietly down the hall and began to use his bathroom. After she was all fresh and clean, she came out, dressed in the new pair of shinigami robes. They were exactly like the Second Division's robes and she felt like a proper member of the Gotei Thirteen again.
Her old robes were so faded that they were grey, and she threw them away, almost signifying the end of her struggling alone in the real world. It was a seemingly easy task, but it was one that took more mental strength than she had originally expected. It was almost like she was throwing away part of her life, but she was committed and didn't look back.
When she was just walking out of the bathroom, Ukitake opened his bedroom door and lifted his head to look directly at Siren. With a single wave she greeted him, and he glanced over to the table, noticing the new shinigami robes he had gotten for her were gone and that she looked fresh and clean. He smiled and bid her good morning and said he would be out soon as he walked into his bathroom. Siren just sat down and made herself comfortable and waited for him to finish. After he came out, he looked and felt significantly more awake and began to talk with Siren.
"So, how are you feeling about today? Nervous?" Ukitake asked as he made some breakfast for them both.
"No, I just feel...weird. I guess it's just being back here again. Rather nostalgic." Siren said as she got up and helped Ukitake with breakfast.
"Oh, by the way. I should have offered for you to stay here last night since you probably don't know where your quarters are. What did you do?" the white-haired man said apologetically.
"Don't worry about it. I just slept on your roof. After I walked you home, I went out with Renji and some of his friends for drinks. They're all pretty cool. I walked Hisagi home as well, since he was kind of drunk. I don't think I've ever walked two people home in one day, let alone had that much interaction with other people in one day for several years." Siren replied recalling the fun memories from the previous night. "It was…nice…to be around people again. I thought I'd forgotten what it was like." She said with a wistful expression.
Ukitake was silent and he watched Siren for a moment before speaking again. "Well, you shouldn't have had to sleep on the roof, but it's too late for that now, I guess."
They finished making breakfast and ate with light small talk and Siren told Ukitake about who she had met last night and other random stories from her time with her new friends. Ukitake decided not to mention that most of them were lieutenants, especially that Hisagi would be her fuku-taicho since she didn't seem to know. For only knowing him for a short time, she did speak rather highly of him, and he guessed that they would get along quite well. They would eventually butt heads with their different work ethic, but he knew that Hisagi would help her settle in.
When the time came for the ceremony where Siren would officially become the Ninth Division taicho, she and Ukitake walked to the large space in front of the First Division where the captains, most of the lieutenants and many other shinigami were waiting. Ukitake took his place among the captains, and Siren just stood off to the side where she couldn't be seen very well, listening as Yamamoto introduced her. She walked up onto the stage and the shinigami of various ranks and squads clapped as she was handed her new haori and put it on. The ceremony finished quickly and Siren was shown to her office by her Fifth Seat. He told her that most of the seated officers and her fuku-taicho were waiting in their training hall and that he would take her there now.
They arrived at the training hall and she told the Third Seat to go inside and that she would be in in a moment. She waited outside while inspecting her new haori and thinking about how ridiculous she felt in it. She didn't feel like a captain at all. As soon as they found out her being a vizard they would hate her and the last time she had done any sort of leadership work was years ago when she led a mission to the outskirts of Rukongai to do some scouting before the Thirteenth Division came to take care of a particularly strong hollow. And it was that mission that did her in. She shuddered at the memory. Realising abruptly that she'd been out here for several minutes, she put her haori back on, just for the sake of technicality and quietly opened the door. Luckily no one had noticed her yet, so she walked in and stood there silently for a few moments before someone noticed her and within a split-second everyone in the room was staring at her.
Unsure of what to do, she just gave them her usual 'Yo' and single wave but with infinitely more awkwardness than normal. They looked her up and down for a moment and they were all broken out of whatever thoughts they were having by a familiar voice calling her name. She turned her head towards the sound to find none other than Hisagi Shuuhei staring at her with shock.
"So, that is what you meant by 'you'll find out tomorrow'." he said he realised that the really attractive, kind of shy girl he met last night would be his new captain.
"Pretty much." Siren replied as she scratched her head, again hating the fact that she was the centre of attention. She spoke louder so that everyone could hear her. "Uh, I'm not good with this kind of stuff, so...um...Hi, I'm Siren. It's nice to meet all of you. I have only one thing to ask of you. Don't call me 'taicho'. I don't feel like a captain yet, so I'd prefer not to be called by the title until I have proven it to myself as well as all of you. That's pretty much it...I'll meet all of you as soon as I can, but for the moment I'm going to try and get started doing something a little less confronting. So...until then..." she trailed off, having no idea of what to say to these people who were eyeing her so intensely that she could swear they were all art critics and she was just a piece of art on display. She hated the feeling. It was almost like they already knew she was a vizard and were waiting for the chance to see her go out of control so they could reject her.
It took everything she had not to use shunpo to get the hell out of there as fast as possible, but she resisted until she got out of the training hall and a little ways away before using it to go straight back to her office. She would have gone to her quarters but she didn't know where they were, and Ukitake's was too far away at the moment. She needed to calm herself down right now. Sitting down at her new desk and putting her head in her hands, she tried to slow her breathing and heart rate. She wasn't good with crowds and with everyone staring at her like that, so fiercely that she could have sworn they were trying to stare straight into her soul. She just couldn't deal with it.
She was snapped out her thoughts as the door opened suddenly. She looked up to find Hisagi, looking quite frantic before calming down when he realised that she was actually there. He had been looking for her after she left the training hall. He had no hope of catching her when she was using shunpo, especially since she left a few seconds before he realised what just happened and he went to her quarters first, to find them completely empty. He looked around the barracks and finally ended up at her office, even though he thought it would be the last place she would come. But nevertheless, there she was, sitting at her new desk, staring at him looking rather flustered and unnerved.
He walked in and shut the door behind him and over to her desk. She had turned away from him, and he went around her desk to look at her, but she just turned her head the other way. He couldn't deny that she looked kind of adorable trying to stop him looking at her, and almost laughed out loud at the thought of thinking someone who could probably kill him rather easily, adorable. He walked next to her chair and pushed it back until he could stand in between her and the desk. Finally, she relented and looked up at him.
"What's wrong? You got out of there so fast that I was almost convinced that you weren't even there to begin with and that I was just imagining it." Hisagi said softly, trying to cheer her up a little. He smiled when he got a small ironic smirk from her.
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." she answered, trying to cover up her obvious lie. Hisagi just raised an eyebrow at her, saying that he didn't believe a word of that. "I'm...I'm just not good with crowds. Especially crowds of people staring at me like they hate me already." she said with reluctance, not really wanting to open up, but finding it surprisingly easy with the black-haired lieutenant currently leaning against her desk.
"They can't possibly hate you already. If anything, I think they are curious about you. No one has heard of you before today. Don't worry so much. And hey, why didn't you tell me you were going to be my new captain?" he asked with slight amusement, still trying to cheer her up.
"Why didn't you tell me you were the Ninth Division fuku-taicho? If I knew, I probably would have told you that I would be your new captain." Siren retorted in her casual bored tone.
"Well, when all of us go out, we have a rule to take off our insignia and not talk about our work. That's why." Hisagi said, and Siren shrugged as if to say 'Fair enough'.
Suddenly, she starting getting searing pain in her head. This wasn't uncommon for her, and she'd learnt to cover it up very well, but it was much worse than usual. Her hollow side, which she had named Utsuro was really giving her shit lately, it wanted a chance to get out and reek some havoc. It had a slight taste of really going off in the exam yesterday and it wanted more. The only sign of the sudden pain was the fractional widening of her eyes, and she just sighed as quietly as she could and put her hand over her face. The pain slowly intensified, and it was one of those rare times where she could only suppress her hollow side so much. It ended up coming out as some sort of melding together of both their personalities. Bored with chaotic.
"Annyyywayyy, I'm going to go to the Eleventh Division and spar with someone. I'm up for some training." she cut off Utsuro before she had a chance to continue onto what would have sounded like something Ikkaku would say. She was like the Eighth Division Captain when it came to fighting, only doing it when necessary, and usually too carefree and lazy to take it seriously. But that's because when she did fight, Utsuro came out more, and she became more bloodthirsty and ruthless. She didn't mind that too much, since usually that's who you had to be on the battlefield, but it still annoyed her that she couldn't completely control it.
If Hisagi noticed, he didn't say anything and he moved out from behind her desk so she could get up, which she did slowly, and casually as possible, waiting for the pain to subside. It usually only lasted for a minute or two, and as she walked towards the door, it died down to nothing again.
Hisagi decided to come with her, eager to see his new captain in action. They got there in a few minutes, thanks to Hisagi's directions and as usual, the training hall was full of people sparring and fighting. Ikkaku was standing with Yumichika over the other side of the hall, watching the various sparring matches but when Ikkaku saw Siren he instantly got a huge grin on his face.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the new captain!" he said as he walked over to her. "Clear the floor, let's find out what the new Ninth Division taicho can do!"
As he spoke, the floor quickly cleared, everyone in the room eager to see the two square off against each other. Ikkaku knew he was going to have a really tough time trying to fight off a captain whose abilities he knew nothing about, but he couldn't wait to test the shy, and kind of quiet, but fun when she came out of her shell, girl that he'd met last night.
Siren said nothing, but the shadow of the smirk on her face told everyone in the room that Ikkaku was in for a tough fight. They walked to the opposite ends of the hall and faced off. Ikkaku laughed maniacally when he knew that he was certainly going to have some fun sparring with her.
"How about some hand-to-hand combat for a warm up?" Siren suggested calmly as she stretched her arms and cracked her neck.
"Sounds good to me, taicho." Ikkaku answered like the smart-ass he is.
"Ah, no calling me taicho. Not until I feel like one." Siren said, as she continued to stretch.
"As you wish. Here I go." Ikkaku retorted before running at her.
For the next few moments, the various members of the Eleventh Division stood and watched, shocked at how much physical strength the small girl had. She was at least at Soifon's level, maybe even a little further because she was a little taller which would help give her more leverage. They were well matched. Ikkaku's no strategy, all out destructive force, against the technical, agile, but still incredibly strong style that Siren had. It only took a few minutes for her to overpower him, and she finally got him pinned after he left himself open, using his momentum against him. Hisagi was impressed with his captain's prowess. He couldn't wait to see what she could do with a blade.
Both of them grabbed their zanpakuto that they had set down earlier, and Ikkaku drew instantly and took his usual fighting stance. Siren just stood there, with her zanpakuto in hand, still sheathed and waited for Ikkaku to make the first move. She watched his every movement, no matter how small. She suggested for them to warm up with hakuda so she could analyse his fighting style. He had an all-out destructive style and he didn't really think about what he was doing. He just fought for the fun of it. She knew that she would have to watch her defence since she guessed that if he actually got a hit on her, it would be a very painful one. She already had experience with an opponent using both the katana and the scabbard because of Risa, who when she could be dragged away from her ero-manga, was a good sparring partner. Slowly, exaggerating the dramatic effect, she drew her zanpakuto, which was the same size as a normal katana with a silver hilt and the handguard shaped liked a diamond. She discarded the scabbard, and inwardly noted that it might be fun to learn how to use it like Ikkaku and Risa sometime.
"Let's go." she said quietly, and they both disappeared as they rushed at each other.
For most of the other people in the room, they couldn't keep up, and only heard the clashes of metal, Ikkaku's trademark laughter, and saw them occasionally appear at random spots in the hall. Ikkaku had a huge smile on his face and seemed be enjoying the battle. After a few minutes, they both fell back and landed at the original positions on opposite sides of the hall. They were both breathing heavier but didn't take their eyes off the other's movement, watching for any sign of an attack. Ikkaku decided to see how she would do against his shikai, and his grin grew larger as he put the two ends of the katana and scabbard together.
"Nobiro, Hozukimaru!" he yelled as the zanpakuto went into the form of a spear. Siren wasn't the type to assume that what you see is what you get, especially with zanpakuto, so she kept her guard up, and kept a close eye on the zanpakuto as Ikkaku charged at her again.
It was certainly different to fight against a spear compared to the hollows she had been fighting for however long it had been and it felt good to go up against someone that could actually force her to use shikai if he got lucky. And at one point he did. Ikkaku used the 'Split' command to separate the spear into the smaller parts to make his spear a sansetsukon, and he nearly cut Siren, but she blocked in the nick of time and jumped back out of his range.
"That's certainly an interesting shikai you have there." Siren drawled slowly, as she stabbed her zanpakuto into the floor to keep it still as she undid a bracelet on her right arm. As soon as she took it off, she threw it to Hisagi, who fumbled slightly catching it, and she smirked before releasing enough reiatsu abruptly to knock out anyone lower than a Tenth seat in the immediate vicinity. She pulled her zanpakuto out of the floor and held her arm out directly straight to the side, with the tip of her blade pointing to the sky. "But, let me show you...mine...Strike, Raikou Arashi." There was a bright light that obscured the sight of Siren's blade transforming into a large, silver, single bladed scythe that looked slightly odd for her size.
Everyone in the room felt a tingle through their bodies and the air seemed to feel a little heavier and Siren just stood there, twirling the large scythe with her right hand, and as it got faster and faster, the air got slightly heavier, and the tingling sensation become more prominent. She abruptly stopped twirling her zanpakuto and disappeared before using her full speed to charge at Ikkaku and use the opposite end of the scythe to hit him in the stomach and send him crashing into the wall behind him. When he opened his eyes a second after he hit the wall, he saw the blade of the scythe directly in front of his face. He looked up to see Siren with a victorious look on her face.
She tilted her head to the side slightly before speaking. "I win." She flipped her scythe around and held it to him so he could use it to help himself up. Siren spun her zanpakuto around a few times as she stared at Ikkaku with her expression saying no less than 'Ha ha, you lost, and I won, ha ha!'.
"Well then. I think you've proven yourself pretty worthy of a captain's spot. Can I call you taicho now?" he said teasingly, trying to get a rise out of her and destroy her glory of winning.
Suddenly, Siren's expression dulled and became incredibly serious. She quickly sealed her zanpakuto, sheathed it, and put it back where it sat on lower back, so all she had to do was lift her arm, and reach back a little before the hilt was in her hand. She looked over to Hisagi, who had already picked up on her change in demeanour and he figured something was wrong. He came over to her immediately, and she tilted her head to the right and even though he had no idea what was going on, he followed her out the door of the training hall and ran along the rooftops beside her nonetheless.
They were heading towards Rukongai and he was going as fast as he could to keep up with her. The speed she had shown when she beat Ikkaku in one move was probably her fastest without a bankai and he was lucky that she wasn't using it right now. After a few minutes of flat out running to an area of Rukongai that Hisagi had never been to before, he realised exactly why they were there.
"Hollow..."
