"Come on. Let's go for a drink."
Rangiku had been playing around with the cleavage of her top for nearly an hour. It needed to be sitting perfectly before she left the small dorm room they shared. It had been the last day of the academy. With all their exams passed the busty red-head thought it was the perfect time to go celebrate. Then again, it seemed every night was a good night to go celebrate… anything. Nanao on the other hand thought it was a great night to read her book.
"No. You go without me."
"But Nanao. We should be celebrating. We passed all our exams. If it weren't for you I wouldn't have passed at all," still continuing to fiddle around with her cleavage.
"Yes you would. It would have just taken longer," she replied matter-of-factly as she opened the screen door which led to the senior students' private garden/study area of their dorms. Placing a cushion on the boardwalk she knelt with her book in her hand.
"Come on. Gin said he would buy the first round of drinks for us," she finally gave a huge grin to herself in the mirror as she perfected the position of the two sizes too small kimono. It was only too small because her ample breasts were five sizes larger than the average woman.
'No wonder all the male captains wanted her as a Vice Captain in their squad,' Nanao thought as she slid her spectacles further up her nose. That's way Nanao had chosen to apply for a position in the Bureau of Technological Research. She preferred reading and wielding a pen than wielding a zanpakutō. And apart from Captain Urahara being a bit too enthusiastic with his inventions he was still a genius and it would be an honour to work for such a prestigious man.
Unfortunately this came as a slight problem as this meant she would not be an officer of one of the Gotei 13 squads. Rangiku had made a pact with her when they first became friends at the beginning of their academic studies. Neither would progress with out the other. It had to be equal or nothing. It was a great idea at the beginning but now it was holding them back. Nanao, not being as apt with a zanpakutō as the division leaders wanted was ignored while her friend had already been offered three vice captain positions, all of which she had refused. It was also Nanao's own 'cold-hearted' and fixed attitudes to her beliefs, regulations and mostly everything which stopped any offer of a seated position in the ranks. And no matter what she said to Rangiku, her friend refused to ignore the pact.
"Not 'us'. 'You'. You know I don't drink. Besides I have a book I want to read."
"Which you can read tomorrow," Rangiku stated tucking the hem into her hakama.
They hadn't official become shinigami yet, so they still had to wear their academy uniform with the modification of a black obi, instead of the red, to show they had passed their exams. They also had to wear an arm band, which some found degrading; to indicate the level at which they passed. Rangiku was designated with the number 4 which was high but not as high as it should have been if she was better at kidō or had even put more effort into studying. Nanao was designated with the number 3. It would have been higher but she lost marks for relying on her kidō more than her zanpakutō which she wasn't so confident with. Both grades were high with only a rare few receiving the number 1 which showed they were destined to be captains. The average most students passed with was 7/10.
"I want to clean this place up. It's a mess," her eyes scanned the room to emphasis the mess she meant which wasn't her own but Rangiku's, then turned back to her book.
"Which is my fault and I'll do it tomorrow, while you're reading."
Nanao turned around, holding back a snort of laughter at the idea of her friend actually clearing her own mess. She had never done it so far. "You'll be sleeping off a hangover all day."
"So I'll tidy the next day," Nanao just rolled her eyes and turned away once again. "O come on, Nao… PLEASE! Just one drink, you won't have to stay long. Just one drink," when Rangiku started you could never shut her up until she got what she wanted or she got too drunk to remember what she wanted.
"I'll think about it," she didn't really mean it. She just hoped that her friend would go and 'forget'.
Suddenly, she felt a blow to the back of her head which knocked her glasses of their perch. Then just as suddenly her head bounced back into familiar clutches of the excessive mounds of flesh and the blurred vision of big blue eyes and pink pouting lips peered down at her.
"That means you'll think all night and won't come. Please! Nao, just one drink, just for me… PLEASE!!!!"
"RANGIKU!!! Enough, I'll come. Just stop with the pouty lips and puppy dog eyes." Said pouty lips came down to lay a kiss on her forehead. Then she was left to hunt for missing glasses.
"Thank you, Nao. You won't regret it. We'll have lots of fun. Your eyes are really pretty; you shouldn't hide them behind your glasses. Why don't you leave them off tonight?"
"I've told you already. I'm short-sighted and subsequently blind as a bat. My vision blurs from about here onwards," she replied irritated as she presented her hand five inches from her nose.
"That's sounds more like long sighted," looking very confused.
"It would be if I could see objects further away perfectly." She found and placed her spectacles over her eyes, sliding them up till they were in the right position. She rose from the cushion feeling slightly disappointed with not being able to read any pages of her book.
"DAMN!" The exclamation erupted from the previously excited red-head who suddenly began frantically rushing around.
"What's wrong?" she closed the screen doors and moved across the room.
"I said I'd meet Gin at the bar nearly 20 minutes ago. We have to go now."
"You go on ahead and I'll catch up," standing in front of the mirror to scrutinize herself to see how presentable she was.
"Oh no, you don't. You'll change your mind and not turn up. You're coming now."
"I need a few minutes to clean myself up. You messed my hair up with that bear hug of yours," she pointed to the bird's nest of hair which was half held in place with a sliding clip.
"As long as you promise you will come." It was evident that she still half expected her friend to back out.
"I'll come… I promise," she unclasped the hair clip and gently untangled it.
"Good. I'll see you in awhile," she made to leave but stopped just before she closed the door. "If you're not there in an hour I'll come and drag you out." Then she was gone.
Left alone, she began the tedious job of untangling her hair and brushing it straight. With no more knots she pulled it back with a tight twist and slid the clip back into place. She ran her hands across her hair making sure there were no stray strands or annoying lumps, then smoothed the bang into place. She corrected her uniform and picked off the barely noticeable lint and hair. Giving a final once… twice over she gave a sigh before leaving the room.
A/N: As I should have mentioned in the first chapter but someone pointed out, the story is set pre-runaway- Yoruichi. But you'll figure who is and isn't in the Gotei 13 as I mention all the necessary stuff.
