"Hello Head Captain. I've heard about the new recruit and I wanted to see 'em." A voice said casually. Sinai turned around and saw a tall, slim, not to mention handsome man in a captain's garb. His hair was golden yellow and went down to his waist. Then she remembered, He's the captain of Squad 5, Shinji Hirako. Pink tinted Sinai's cheeks as she looked at him. 'I've heard of him many times…but seeing him in person is amazing…He's…gorgeous." Sinai thought to herself. Yamamoto spoke. "Ah, Captain Hirako. Finally come to explain your late paperwork, have you?" he asked. The blond twitched an eye. Then he walked up to Sinai. "Well, I just came to see about the newbie here. So, this must be her. The top notch student." He said looking at Sinai. "Nice to meet ya, I'm Shinji Hirako, Captain of Squad Five." He held out his hand. Sinai blushed a bit more and slowly took his hand to shake it. "Y-yes, I know. Captain Hirako, it's an honor to meet you. We students were taught about each captain at the Academy." She stuttered. "So ya already know about me huh? Well go on, what's your name?" he asked. "My name is Sinai Kokoroshi." She said shyly. Shinji turned back to the Head Captain. "So, which squad are you going to assign her to?" he questioned. "I was going to make the decision before you arrived, Captain Hirako." Yamamoto answered. Shinji continued. "She's a cute one, why not put her in my squad? I'm sure squad five will be good for her since she's so smart." Sinai's face turned bright red. The Head Captain thought for a moment, then replied "That does appear to be the best choice, I was thinking that from the start due to her being highly skilled in almost all areas." Shinji nodded. "I'll be sure to take good care of her and train her to get even better." He said. "Very well. Kokoroshi Sinai, I assign you to Squad Five under Captain Hirako Shinji. I'm certain you will do well there." Sinai bowed while still a bit flustered. "Yes sir, thank you very much Head Captain."
The girl and her new captain exited through the door, and as soon as they got into the hall, Shinji threw an arm around her shoulder. She blushed again, a little startled at his gesture. "Well, I guess you're with me now huh? Don't worry, I'll look after ya." He said with a smile. "T-thank you Captain Hirako..." she stuttered. Shinji took his arm back and said "Hey now, ya don't gotta be so formal with me. Just call me Shinji okay?" Sinai looked at him in confusion. "But, I just became a Soul Reaper and you're my captain now, why shouldn't I be formal sir?" she asked. Shinji sighed, a look of slight annoyance on his face. "I guess you gotta point, but you're cute so I'll let you get away with callin' me by name." He told her with a smirk. Then he saw her blush again. He asked "Hey, what's with your face bein' all red, ya got a fever or something?" Sinai giggled shyly and answered "No, I'm not sick or anything. Just nervous." "Nervous about what?" he asked. Sinai thought for a bit. "I dunno, about this whole thing of becoming a Soul Reaper I guess. I'm afraid to let someone down." Shinji snickered and told her "Ya don't have to be nervous. It'll be alright. I'm positive that you'll do great." This made her smile. "Thank you Captain." She said happily. Sinai heard Shinji grunt. "There ya go again, being formal. I don't really like it ya know." His complaining only made her giggle again.
They continued walking until suddenly, Shinji was kicked in the face and sent flying into a wall. Sinai was shocked and sprinted over to him. "Captain! Are you okay?! What the heck was that?" she yelled frantically. Shinji sat up while holding his head and exclaimed "Dang it Hiyori! What in the world was that for?!" Out stepped a small girl with blonde pig tails while Shinji was yelling. Sinai kneeled down to tend to Shinji, who now had a red mark in the middle of his face where Hiyori kicked him. "Oh, I don't know, just thought you deserved it, idiot." The blonde girl said. Shinji growled angrily. "I didn't even do anything!" He shouted. Hiyori stomped over to where the two were sitting. "Don't yell at me you moron!" she yelled. Then Sinai stood up, glaring at Hiyori. With an angry tone, she told her "I don't know who the heck you are, but nobody's gonna kick my new captain and get away with it so long as I'm around." She tightened her fists as veins popped out on them. Hiyori sneered. "Oh, yeah? And just what are you gonna do about it, little girl?" Sinai got even angrier and shouted "I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT I'LL DO!" as she began to unsheathe her Zanpakuto. But she and Hiyori were stopped by Shinji's hands. "Alright, calm down you two." He said as a sweat drop ran down his head. Sinai looked at him in confusion. "B-but Captain! She just kicked you! In your face no less!" she protested. "Yeah…she does that." Shinji sighed, then continued after sticking his tongue out at the blonde. "Sinai, this is Hiyori Sarugaki…she hates me, but follows me around for some reason…" A vein popped out of Hiyori's forehead. "I DO NOT, IDIOT!" she yelled, then shoved away Shinji's hand and grunted. Sinai gave her a nasty look before putting her sword away. "Hiyori, this is Sinai Kokoroshi. She just became a soul reaper today and she's joining Squad five." Shinji explained. Hiyori crossed her arms. "Whatever. She seems like another nuisance to me." She complained. Sinai turned away and gave her a "Hmph!" 'Oh boy…' The captain thought to himself. Sinai spoke "Well Hiyori, if you ever hurt Shinji again, I'll be there to kick your butt." Hiyori laughed. "Yeah, right. And just what makes you think that you're on a first name basis with me? Whatever, I gotta go. See you losers later!" she said before walking away.
Sinai stomped her foot. "Oooooh! She makes me so mad!" she said. Shinji placed his hand on her head and ruffled her hair a bit. "Well it's great that ya finally called me by name." he said to her. Sinai blushed a little and turned to face him. "So are you okay?" she asked. "Yeah, I'm pretty much used to it." Shinji replied. Sinai pouted. "But you shouldn't have to take that abuse for no reason, Captain!" Shinji chuckled. "I appreciate that you're so concerned about me, but it's fine. I promise." He said with a smile. Sinai blushed a bit more. She loved his smile. It was so sincere, so kind, so perfect. Seeing him smile made her smile too. "Okay, if you say so captain..." she said "I told ya before, just call me Shinji!" he whined.
They continued on to Squad Five's barracks. After a few minutes, they finally arrived. "Alright, we're here." Shinji announced. They walked inside to be greeted by a man with scruffy brown hair and black glasses. "Captain, where have you been? There's work to be done and your absence has slowed us down." He said. "Yeah, yeah. I'll deal with it later Sosuke." Shinji told the man. "Oh, and by the way, this is Sinai Kokoroshi, the awesome student everyone's been talkin' about. She's joining our squad today." He continued, then turned to Sinai. "Sinai, this is Sosuke Aizen, my lieutenant." Sinai looked at him. She felt something odd. She didn't know why, she didn't even know this man at all. But something about him bothered Sinai and made her a bit uncomfortable. She scooted closer to Shinji and said quietly "Nice to meet you…" while looking at the ground. Aizen smiled at her and and said "Pleased to meet you as well, welcome to squad five." Sinai didn't respond though. Shinji whispered to Aizen. "She's a bit shy." Aizen tried talking to her again. "I hope you'll feel welcome here." He said. Sinai quietly thanked him. "Well, round everyone up, Sosuke so we can introduce Sinai to 'em." Shinji told him. Aizen nodded and said "Yes, captain." before leaving. Shinji turned around. "What was that about, Sinai? He can be a bother at times, but he's okay as far as I know." Unbeknownst to Sinai, Shinji didn't want to reveal his true thoughts about Aizen because he didn't want to worry her or cause Aizen to get suspicious. Sinai looked down again. "I'm not sure…to me something just feels…off about him…" she answered. 'Sinai, you couldn't be more right…' the captain thought to himself.
"Shinji?" her voice broke his thoughts. "Hmm?" "Um…when you said earlier…that is..uhh…" she paused. "What is it Sinai?" Shinji asked curiously. "No one has ever said nice things about me like you have before…do you honestly think that I'm…I'm…cute?" she stuttered as her face flushed bright pink. She shut her eyes tightly in embarrassment. 'Oh, man! Why did I have to ask? He was probably just being nice!' She heard Shinji laugh a bit. "Yeah, I do. In fact, you're adorable." Sinai opened her eyes, only to find him staring at her with those deep gray eyes of his. It made her squeak, then she looked away and stuttered "T-thank you…Captain Hirako…" Shinji smiled and thought to himself again 'Man, I've seen some cute girls in my time, but Sinai here takes the cake.' Then he said "Well, let's go and introduce ya to the rest of the squad." Sinai nodded, replied "Okay" then followed him.
(to be continued)