Chapter 2

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The sun was blazing hot in SeiReiTei, very unusual for a place where the weather was usually comfortable. Hitsugaya Yuki was making her daily rounds with her Fukutaichou, Hisagi Shuuhei. Neither of them was dressed as they usually would be. Unohana had declared that, due to the extreme heat, everyone was to dress as cool as possible that day. For Hisagi that simply meant removing his shirt, it hung down around his waist, his Zanpakuto sticking out from under it. Ever since the previous attack to SeiReiTei, they'd all been allowed to carry around their weapons.

Yuki didn't wear her top at all. Instead she just wore her usual bandage wrapped torso with her Hayori over the top of it. She had her fine white hair pulled up into a clip to keep it off of her neck; although, it still fell in its normal fashion in the front. She also just wore her sandals with no tabi socks; they could just barely be seen from under her Hakama.

"What the hell is with this sudden heat?" She exclaimed, the weather putting her in a very bad mood.

"It sure is strange…" Hisagi sighed, exhausted from having traveled around all day in the heat.

They walked a little further until the entered the entertainment district. Yuki suddenly stopped short, causing Hisagi to slam right into her,

"Ah! Taichou! Are you al-… Eh? Taichou?"

She hadn't even noticed or budged, she seemed to be staring very intently at something. He followed her gaze to a small stand directly across from where they stood.

"Eh? Ice Cream?"

He'd just finished his thought when he noticed his Taichou was already at the window.

Yuki was just barely tall enough to rest her arm on the counter. The girl working there let out a loud gasp when she noticed Yuki standing there,

"Ahhh!" She squealed, "You're so cute!"

Yuki's eye twitched,

"…So I've been told…"

"What can I get for you sweetie?"

"How 'bout…" She started, quickly scanning the board full of flavors, "Oooone…oooof…Everything ya got." She glanced back at Hisagi, "Oh, and one of whatever you've got left for him." She pointed back at him.

The girl simply stood there, a look of shock on her face, "E-everything…?"

"What're you waiting for?" Yuki demanded, "I don't have all day!"

The girl snapped out of her daze, "Oh yes…Of course. Right away…"

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After a short wait, she was done. She'd boxed up 30 cones for Yuki , and left one out for Hisagi,

"Shuuhei! Come and get yours!"

He smiled, she'd actually thought of him. He walked up to the booth and the girl handed him his cone. His smile immediately changed to a frown. It was a terrible mutant of a pile of ice cream plopped onto a cone,

"Why…Why do I always get the leftovers…?"

"I'm sorry…" The girl said, blushing a little, "I tried to make it a good combination for you…"

Hisagi's mood suddenly lifted as he took the cone from her,

"Well, as long as you made it, I'm sure it'll be great."

Yuki choked out a laugh.

Hisagi shot her a glare, "It's absolutely true."

"Whatever." Yuki said, stuffing an entire cone into her mouth. She chewed it up, swallowed it, then crumpled up the empty box, "Do your flirting later… We're still on duty here…"

The girl just stared at her, that same look of shock coming back to her face,

"Wha…How…? How'd you eat all those so fast…?"

Hisagi tried to calm her down, "Don't mind her…She can just…Eat…A lot…"

"I think I'm going to go lay down now…" She quickly retreated.

"Wait! Don't go!" Hisagi shouted after her.

"Give it up, Shuuhei...I don't think she deals with too many high level Shinigami."

"I guess you're right…" He sighed, "Let's go."

Yuki walked off, Hisagi trailing behind, eating his ice cream.

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By the time they got back to the 9th division area it was dark outside. It seemed to take forever for them to make it back. It didn't help that every new recruit stopped Yuki every few minutes to ask her if she was really a Taichou. This also didn't help her already bad mood. The moment they returned she went straight to her quarters and slammed the door shut. Hisagi sighed and carefully knocked on the door,

"Taichou…?"

"WHAT?"

"I just wanted to let you know I'm going to be leaving for awhile."

"Whatever!"

He shrugged his shoulders and left, not wanting to add more fuel to the fire.

Yuki walked back to her small kitchen, discarding her Hayori on the way,

"Maybe I just need to relax a little…?"

She quickly grabbed a popsicle out of her small freezer, then sat down at the round table in her main room. After a moment she built up and released a huge amount of reiatsu. Huge ice spikes erupted from her walls. They covered her entire room and even burst out of her front window. She let out a long sigh as the room instantly cooled off.

She made quick work of her snack, and was nearly finished with it when she heard some unsuspecting Shinigami run into the spike that was protruding out her window. She quickly ate the last bite and jumped up, running to the door. She slid it open to see Shinta sitting there, rubbing his head.

"Shinta?"

"Eh?" He looked up to see her standing there, "Oh, hey."

"Are you okay?"

"Oh…Yeah, I'm fine. I've had worse hits to the head…" He slowly stood up, "How are you doing?"

"Fine…Why?"

"Just…all that stuff with the Arrancar."

"It's fine, whatever happens, happens."

"I guess so…"

Suddenly, something caught her eye. A huge and bright explosion in the distance,

"Wha-What was that?" Shinta exclaimed.

"I don't know, but I'm gonna find out."

She reached just inside the door where she had leaned Korihoshi, and grabbed it, then sped off, in her bare feet, toward the explosion.