It had been so long since I'd seen him. Frankly, at this point, I had fully expected never to see him again. But there he was, bold as you like, striding along in the wake of that giant. There was no shocked double take, no moment of denial; I knew the second I saw him. In all honesty, I couldn't have ever mistaken him for anyone else. Who else had such a distinctive look? My heart stuttered in my chest, and my knees grew weak.

"Riko? What's wrong?" Of course Asuka would notice my reaction. She was probably the most perceptive shinigami I knew.

I shook my head quickly. It's nothing, Asu-chan." Her skeptical gaze remained in place. "Really! Now come on, or we're gonna be late and the lieutenant's gonna yell at us again!" And we quickly dashed toward our division, because the wrath of out lieutenant was nothing to take lightly.

Of course, later that night, after a particularly grueling kido session, my mind returned to him. How had he gotten here? And more to the point, how on earth had I not realized he was here before? I'd only been serving the Gotei 13 for twenty years...maybe that was it. I was so focused on studying at the Academy, and training to advance up the squads that I hadn't had time for any of the gossip that seemed to so enthrall my squad mates. What did it matter what one lieutenant was doing with another? I had my own problems to worry about. I paced my quarters restlessly. How I wished the cafeteria was open this late! I would kill for a cup of tea.

Fuck. I flopped pointlessly down onto my futon and lay there seething at the ceiling. Well, to be perfectly honest, seething and worrying and shaking and...pretty much anything else a soul was capable of feeling. I glanced to my right, seeing the deep crimson sheath of my zanpakuto leaning gently against the wall. A low growl reverberated through the back of my mind, and my thoughts settled slightly. I still had my sword, my job, my friends, colleagues and captain. Seeing him again wouldn't change any of that. I rolled to my side and closed my eyes, determined to deal with this tomorrow.

Oh, I suppose an introduction is in order. I'm Madarame Riko, Fourth Seat of the Eighth Squad of the Gotei 13. And I had just seen my twin brother for the first time in almost a hundred years.

Of course, as always, tomorrow came much too soon for my liking. Like our captain, it was my firmly held belief that mornings should not begin until noon. Unfortunately, unlike our captain, I did not have the necessary clout to get away with holding to my conviction.

"Man, Ryu-kun, why do work days hafta start so damn early?" Addressing one's sword out loud; never a good sign. Maybe I really was going insane.

That is, of course, assuming you aren't insane already.

"Oh, shut up, you overgrown lizard." Of all the zanpakuto spirits I could've gotten, I had to get one that thinks he's funny. "I don't want to deal with your crap this early."

Ignoring the chuckling behind my thoughts, I grabbed a towel and stormed to the showers. At least with Ryukazuchi's harassment I had entirely forgotten about yesterday...crap. There went that happy little mental block. No, stop thinking about your stupid little brother (he was the younger one, no matter how much he liked to protest. Okay, maybe only five minutes younger, but still...it was the principle of the thing). Of course, the really stupid thing was that, underneath all the pent up anger and resentment, I was worrying about him. I guess I never really stopped...

Nope! That's quite enough of that train of thought, thank you very much. I really don't need a deep emotional examination this morning. What I need is a friggin' shower.

Just as I turned down the corridor to the showers, I ran face first into a wall. "Hey!" shouted the wall. "Watch where you're going, bitch!"

I blinked up at the wall dazedly, then hurriedly gave him a semi-respectful bow. "Third Seat Tatsufusa, my apologies. I will be more careful in the future."

He looked at me as though I was something he'd found on the bottom of his sandal. "Yeah, you better be. Otherwise who knows what'd happen to that pretty face of yours." As he leered at me, it was all I could do to keep the disgust off my face. I'd had to deal with too much of this crap in the Rukongai. Keeping my gaze fixed on his left shoulder, I ground out a "Yes, sir". That seemed to pacify him, and he sauntered off.

God, that guy gave me the creeps. Never mind the fact that he was the one lurking around the hallway to the women's baths. But the real kicker was that he never, ever did anything like that around the lieutenant or captain. Around them, he was a perfectly competent and respectful officer. I fumed as I stepped beneath the hot spray. And because I was the next-highest ranking officer, and a woman to boot, he saw me as the greatest threat to him becoming lieutenant some day, and from there captain. Amongst his little gang, he made no secret of his disdain for female officers (Lieutenant Ise) and lax captains (guess who). Personally, the day Tatsufusa became Captain of the Eighth, I'd either defect or cut him down myself.

Although, I thought with a grin, to become captain he'd have to get through Captain Kyouraku first. And if battling the Primera Espada didn't faze the man, it's highly unlikely that a small-minded Third Seat would give him any trouble.

Okay, so I idolized my captain a bit. Okay, maybe a lot. So sue me. There probably wasn't an officer in the Gotei who wasn't at least a little bit in awe of their captain. And for me, Captain Kyouraku was the kind of man who was about as far as you could get from those animals in Zaraki.

Ugh. So don't need to drag up those memories. There's a division-wide spar this afternoon; I need to be alert.

Because the world always needs more lerts.

I scowled and let my head fall forward onto the shower wall in exasperation. There really was no winning with him some days.

I finished shortly after, and went back to my quarters to grab my sword and uniform. I glared at my reflection as I (once again) struggled to tie my obi. No matter how many years I would spend in uniform, it seemed I would never really get the hang of these "fancy" clothes. Finally it was tied, if perhaps a bit crooked, and I ran a hand through my hair. My reflection stared back at me impassively with the same short brown hair, the same light brown eyes and that old scar under my chin. Tall, but not overly so, and no real curves to speak of.

"Whaddya think, Ryuu-kun? Think you'll keep me?" I struck a ridiculous pose, just for the fun of it.

Well, you're a little funny looking, but you'll do.

I grinned. "My thoughts exactly. Now, to breakfast!"

I had thought, perhaps foolishly, that sitting with Asuka would allow me to continue my blissful self-delusion about yesterday. She's a quiet, retiring sort of person that normally doesn't like to pry into other people's business. This morning, however, she seemed to have been replaced with her nosy evil twin.

"So what happened yesterday, Riko? You were acting like you'd never seen Captain Zaraki before." This was not an unreasonable assumption to make; new recruits were frequently struck dumb upon their first experience with the Eleventh's Captain.

I jumped on this excuse at once. "Yeah, you know how that reaitsu can be-"

"Except I know for a fact that you once happened to visit the Eleventh while he was fighting and you didn't even flinch."

Damn. And there was no way to refute that statement, as Asuka had been with me at the time. "Erm..."

Well, if it wasn't Captain Zaraki, it must have been one of his companions." Asuka continued without waiting for a response. She was very logical, and once she had latched on to a line of inquiry, it was pretty much impossible to stop her. That tenacity was one of the qualities that had won her her place as Seventh Seat. This fact was of little comfort to me at the moment, however.

"It could have been Lieutenant Kusajishi...she's certainly one of a kind," my supposed friend continued. "But again, you've seen her in action on several occasions, most notably last year at..."

I tuned out as Asuka continued rambling along her train of thought.

"Hey, Madarame-san has the same surname as you! Isn't that a funny coincidence..."

Oh shit. I immediately tuned back in and tried to seem nonchalant while internally panicking. "Yeah, funny how that happens..."

She paused and gave me an odd look. "Riko, are you okay?"

Shit. Shitshitshit. Her internal radar had been triggered. I was going to have to tread very carefully if I wanted to avoid spilling my entire life story.

I jumped from my seat like I'd been stung. "Oh, hey, is that the time? Jeepers, I'd better get into the office or Lieutenant Ise will be pissed! See you later Asuka!" I'm pretty sure I left her gaping after me, but I wasn't about to look back and check. I fled from the cafeteria and nearly ran to my desk, flinging myself into my chair as though it would offer some protection from questions I really didn't want to answer.

Oh, very smooth, Riko. You've thrown her right off the scent now. Jeepers"? You could have started speaking German and she'd be less suspicious!

Ryukazuchi's sarcasm could have stripped paint, I was sure.

"Shut up," I muttered, grabbing a random form and my ink in an attempt to appear occupied. "I panicked, alright?"

He sniffed. That much is patently obvious. How long do you think you're going to be able to avoid her questions after that little display?

"I don't know, and I don't care. Just shut up and let me do my work, yeah?" I wanted to be able to lick my wounds in peace.

Fine. Just don't say I didn't warn you. And don't forget about the division spar this afternoon, either.

"Yes mother, thank you. I won't forget," I snarled, signing my name with a little more force than necessary. The ink splattered a bit, and it ended up looking like a cat had wandered across the paper. I groaned. Was this day over yet?

But, of course, it wasn't. Thankfully, the morning was as normal as could be expected (with Captain Kyouraku at the helm, there was no way a day in the Eighth could ever be considered normal), and by lunch I had relaxed enough to be able to look forward to the afternoon's spar. Unlike our Captain, who only fought when he considered it necessary, I rather enjoyed it. The adrenaline rush was invigorating, and there was just something therapeutic about letting loose all one's pent up frustration against an opponent.

After lunch (during which I spent most of my time on the lookout for Asuka, but thankfully she hadn't shown up), I sped ahead of the rest of the squad to the training grounds. Being a seated officer, I had to be on hand to help organize everyone.

That was in theory. In practice, when you had Lieutenant Ise in your squad, there wasn't a lot left over that needed organizing. I presented myself to her, and she directed me to the group of unseated shinigami that I was to lead. From what I could see, there were five groups spread out through the grounds, each to be led by the top five officers (from Captain to Fifth Seat) with the Sixth to Tenth Seats assisting. In trying to balance out the relative strengths of the leaders, the lieutenant had placed the Tenth Seat with the Captain, the Ninth with herself and, in a stroke of spectacularly bad luck, the Seventh with me. Fucking fabulous.

Though Asuka was trying hard to catch my eye, I ignored her as I turned to address our group. "Okay guys, here's the deal. Today's exercise is more than just a show of strength; it's a tactical one as well. Each team has been given a flag with their team number on it." I held up a purple flag with the number 4 on it. "Our objective is to use any means to try to steal another team's flag, while simultaneously protecting our own. The first team to succeed is exempt from paperwork duties for the next month." I smirked a little as I said this, as the whole team immediately perked up on hearing this. The Captain certainly knew how to motivate his men. "The team whose flag is taken will be responsible for picking up the slack. Now, there is no reason at all that we should not be able to win this. What we may lack in firepower we will make up for in strategy. Seventh Seat Sakamoto will brief you."

I nodded to Asuka and stepped back for her to speak to the group. With her on our team, we had a much better chance of outwitting somebody as clever as our Captain.

I glanced around the field, sizing up the competition. Tatsufusa's team was already taking their positions; he usually just set the stronger people on offence and the weaker on defense. But for all its simplicity, his method was usually quite effective. It would be dangerous to underestimate him. Of course, the captain's and lieutenant's teams were not to be taken lightly either. In fact, considering Fifth Seat Ishiguro's shikai ability, it was starting to look like we were the underdogs.

"So, is everybody clear?" Asuka's voice broke through my reverie.

"Yes sir!" The team- our team- responded with enthusiasm. They dispersed to their assigned positions. Asuka approached my from behind. "Are you ready to go, Riko?" she asked hesitantly.

I sighed reluctantly and turned to face her. "I'm ready if you are. Are you sure you don't want me to take the offensive?"

She nodded firmly. "Quite sure. If someone breaks through our initial guard, we need our strongest member protecting our flag. See, that's what Team One is doing." She gestured across the field to where Captain Kyouraku could be seen taking up the primary defensive position. "This way we can be sure that, if we don't win, at least we won't get our flag taken."

"Assuming Tatsufusa doesn't set his sights on us, that is," I added darkly. "I wouldn't put it past him."

Asuka smiled enigmatically. "I don't think we need to worry about him getting our flag," she said. "Now go take your position, I think we're about to begin."

And indeed, Lieutenant Ise was standing in the middle of the field, waiting for the teams to signal their readiness. I took my stance in the middle of the defensive line in front of our flag and made eye contact with the lieutenant, nodding that we were ready.

She waited until we were all quiet, then began speaking. "These are the rules of engagement: in a spar, the first one to be disarmed loses. The loser must remove themselves from the field for five minutes before returning. Kido, shunpo and shikai are all permitted. No blood is to be spilled; those who do will be disqualified. The exercise will continue until a winner is declared. Are we clear?"

As the squad roared their affirmative, I caught Tatsufusa's eye across the field. He was staring at me with an almost frightening intensity. Hatred blazed in his eyes, and I knew without a doubt that I would be his target. My hand tightened on Ryukazuchi's hilt.

"And begin!"

The lieutenant's shout shattered the tension, and we leapt into battle.