Chapter 2

My knees were buckling, my palms sweating, brow creasing, eyes watering. All nervous signs. I kept pulling at the loose curl over my eyes, playing with my sleeves, adjusting my Zanpakuto on my back. All nervous habits. I felt like a child. But, this was no different from any other time I'd had to have been within a general vicinity of people. Being around others was not my forte. Let's just say that living under a rock has crossed my mind a couple of times, and not struck me as bad. Don't worry! I never seriously considered it. I'm socially awkward, not a hermit.

I finally reached the squad 6 headquarters. There was no one going in or out. Was I late, or early? I fretted. The sun was still red on the dawning horizon, so I assumed the latter. I nervously climbed the stone steps and pulled at the door, which I was surprised to find was open. There was only one person there. He had long black hair, part of which he kept up in white hairpieces. He was a lot taller than I, and had grey eyes. He was also wearing a white captain's uniform over his regular soul reaper's attire. He turned to look at me.

"Knock next time you enter." He said.

Yay. What a great start. My face burned red. Stupid! You're so stupid, Shina!

"You're awfully early." He set down the paperwork he had. "It's only Lieutenant Abarai and I right now."

I felt awkward and didn't know what to do, so I went down on one knee and bowed. I regretted it as soon as I did it, and I wanted to stand. But, I didn't want to look like I had issues, so I just followed through with it.

"I-I'm Shina Hotaru. I'm new."

He looked down at me. His eyes had an icy gaze.

"I see. I'm Captain Kuchiki. Please rise."

I awkwardly raised my head. Smile, Shina! Smile! I heeded the little voice in my head and a grin spread across my face. The smile was so forced that looking back on it, I probably looked a little sadistic. My smile fell as I heard footsteps. Great, another person I could make a complete idiot out of myself in front of. This mystery soul reaper entered the room.

He was different.

He had a… warmer feeling than Captain Kuchiki. The Captain's personality was so cold. This person felt friendlier. He was fairly tall, a little taller than Captain Kuchiki. He had several tattoos on his forehead, covered by a white cloth, knotted on the side. I placed my hand on my neck. Much like this man's cloth, I wore a red bandana tightly around my neck, with the knot on the side (oh, and if you're expecting some sentimental explanation to describe why I wear this cloth, don't even. I just decided to wear it one day because it looked good. Sorry, I don't have a teary backstory about it). He had thin brown eyes, and this striking bright crimson hair, tied back into a ponytail. I stood and stared. I hope I wasn't drooling…

What was this feeling? The feeling that I was going to barf my guts out, the self-conscious feeling that everything was wrong with me? The sweaty, hot feeling, the heart-beating-at-light-speed feeling?

Oh God.

It couldn't be.

He turned to look at me. I got that familiar feeling of wanting to die/sinking into the ground/jump off a cliff, etc.

"Is this that girl?"

Shoot. "That girl"? Shina, maybe if you look at the ground for long enough, it'll swallow right up and you won't have to worry about contact with anyone ever again. That would have been nice.

I looked up to see Captain Kuchiki nod curtly.

"Yes. This is her. She graduated at the top of her class at the Academy."

The man glanced at me again. The blood all rushed to my face and I looked down. I know I don't look like much, but it's true! I am actually good at what I do!

"Hmm. What's your name?"

HE'S TALKING TO YOU.

"Uhh… It's umm… Shina Hotaru."

You idiot, you forgot your own name! It wouldn't have mattered anyway if I had. My voice was basically inaudible anyway.

I was so mortified. When I'd said my name, I'd barely made any noise at all. In fact, looking back, what I said probably didn't come out sounding much like a sentence at all. I'm going to guess that it kind of sounded like the noise a mouse makes when someone is choking it. Yeah, that sounds more accurate, thinking of what was said next.

The guy looked at me. "Your name is… Shiori, did you say?"

I stammered, "N-no! It's Shina."

He nodded. "Oh."

"This is Lieutenant Abarai." Captain Kuchiki said.

"But you can call me Renji." Renji added.

Renji. I was poor with names, but I had to remember his. A thousand things went through my mind. I thought of things I should say. I thought of what demeanor I should come across with, ranging from cool and calm, to dynamic and irrational. I didn't know which personality to pick, since I didn't know what he liked. Do I look OK? How's my hair? Do I look as scared as I am? Fantasies appeared in my mind, of Renji and me fighting off hollows together, of him and me, of us. So many things were in my mind.

I said nothing.

There was an awkward silence. It took me what seemed like an eternity to gather up enough confidence to say something. I was ready to talk. I opened up my mouth, and-

The door opened. I was peeved and grateful all at the same time. It was a wacky combination. I hated it.

Two people entered the room, both in soul reaper attire. One was a guy, young looking, with dark eyes and short black hair. The other, a girl, with thick-lensed glasses, bob-length light brown hair, and frantic looking forest green eyes. Captain Kuchiki turned to me.

"Shina, this is-"

Listen. Trust me, OK, I feel really bad about this. Remember how I mentioned how catastrophically bad I am with names? Well yeah. It kicked it right then. It was in one ear and out the other. The captain said their names and they just slipped my mind. I heard them, but just when I was about to introduce myself, I realized I didn't know what to call them. Crap! I tried to remember how I'd always dealt with this in the past, when I'd instantly forget a new acquaintance's name. Well, I'd always just wait until they looked at me and then muttered my hellos. So I waited until they were looking at me and mumbled,

"Umm, hi. I'm Shina Hotaru."

The two squad members (who I remembered as Reaper 1, the guy, and Reaper 2, the girl) looked at each other quizzically.

Reaper 1: "Well, nice to meet you."

Reaper 2: "…"

I swallowed. As you probably have noticed, first impressions aren't my best thing. What I mean is, I completely suck at them.

Captain Kuchiki broke the awful silence.

"Shina, I'm interested in what the Academy saw in you. I've decided that I'd like to take you on a mission to the World of the Living with Lieutenant Abarai and my sister Rukia, the lieutenant of squad 13. There had been a lot of hollow activity lately, and I'd like to see your skills."

I nervously pulled on my sleeve. This is it! They can finally not think of me as that stupid quiet girl!

The captain began to walk to the door with Renji. He looked back and his cold grey stare pierced me.

"Are you coming, or not?