Chapter 2
I woke up the next morning with the sun shining in my eyes. I got up and dressed in my shihakusho robe and put Enraiha, my Zanpakuto in my red shitagi and walked outside to see a blue box with a pink ribbon. I picked it up and read the card. It was from Hinamori and Captain Hitsugaya. The card said they were going on a mission today so they couldn't come to the party… Oh snap, I forgot Matsumoto was going to throw me a birthday party and the 10th squad barracks. Anyways I opened up the box and inside was a dark red scarf with the letters K and T at the end of the scarf. I smiled and put the present on my desk. I walked back and closed my bedroom door. While I was walking through the squad 1 hallway, everyone was saying 'happy birthday'. That was weird since no one but Matsumoto, Hinamori, Isane and Nanao knew when my birthday was. Either way I still said 'thank you' to them. I was probably guessing, knowing how Matsumoto loves to throw parties that she told almost the entire Gotei 13 when my birthday was. Or was it Hisagi who told them, Matsumoto did tell him to tell everyone when the party was. Oh well. I haven't seen Isane in a while so I thought I should go visit her. I reached the squad 4 barracks and the first person I saw was Captain Unohana.
"Kazuko-san, good morning." She said with a smile.
"Good morning Captain Unohana." I said back bowing my head.
"Happy birthday. Did you come here to see Isane?" She asked.
"Thank you, and yes I did. Is she around?"
"She went to the 8th squad barracks to see Captain Kyoraku and Lieutenant Nanao."
"Thank you Captain Unohana. Excuse me."
I bowed and left the squad 4 barracks, walking to 8th squad. As I was walking to 8th squad I saw Kira and Hisagi walking a couple metres ahead of me. I would've called out to them, but they look like they're talking about something important, so I'll talk to them later. But they turned around and saw me, so they waited for me to catch up to them.
"Happy birthday and good morning Kazuko-kun." Kira said with a smile.
"Good morning Lieutenant Kira, Lieutenant Hisagi." I replied.
I only just realised what I called Hisagi, after he flicked me in the forehead.
"Oww… what was that for?" I asked.
"It's not 'lieutenant' it's Hisagi or Shuhei." He said.
"Don't call me 'lieutenant' either, Kazuko-kun." Kira joined in.
I sighed. I'm so used to calling them 'lieutenant' though. Oh well, if I don't call them by their names, they will probably flick me in the forehead twice as hard.
"Then, Kira-kun and Hisagi-kun."
"Good girl." They both said, with Hisagi putting his hand on my head.
We continued walking towards where we each needed to go. I wanted to go to squad 8, but I don't know where the other two were going.
"Hey where are you two going." I asked them.
"Matsumoto said she needed help with something." Kira explained.
"She firstly asked Renji and Ikkaku, but they were busy with something so she came to us for help." Hisagi added on.
"Sounds like she's busy with something, I wonder if I should help her out too?" I wondered.
"Kazuko, you're way too nice, it's your birthday, so you take a break and we will help Matsumoto." Hisagi said.
"That's right. You always help everyone out, and now it's our turn to help you, by leaving the jobs to us." Kira added on.
I smiled and said 'thank you'. I reached the 8th squad barracks, so I lightly waved goodbye and went inside. I stopped in front of the office and knocked on the door followed by saying.
"It's Kazuko, can I come in?"
The door slid open and Nanao let me come in.
"Captain Kyoraku, Kazuko has come to visit." Nanao said.
But Captain Kyoraku was lying on the couch with his hat over his head. Then we heard a snore… he was sleeping.
"CAPTAIN WAKE UP. IT'S RUDE TO SLEEP WHEN ISANE-SAN AND KAZUKO-SAN ARE HERE TO VISIT!" She scolded him.
Isane and I sweat dropped at the sight of Nanao getting mad. The Captain woke up and said sorry for his behaviour. But Isane and I didn't mind.
"So Kazuko-san, why did you come here… not to be rude or anything." Nanao panicked after saying stuff like that.
I giggled, since I knew she would never be rude to anyone. She would just scold Captain Kyoraku.
"I just came to visit. I haven't seen any of you in a while." I told her.
She smiled and we all started talking for a while, then a few hours later I left to do some work. It was sundown and I had a stack of paperwork on my desk. I sighed at the sight. I was about to sit down when Lieutenant Sasakibe walked in.
"Kazuko, could you come to the 10th squad barracks for a bit?" he asked with a slight smile.
"Sure."
We both flash stepped over to the 10th squad. When we got there it was so dark, until the lights flicked on and almost all of the Gotei 13 jumped out popping party poppers.
"SURPRISE, HAPPY BIRTHDAY 3RD SEAT KAZUKO/KAZU-CHAN/KAZUKO-SAN/KAZURIN" They all said calling me by different names. I get called 'Kazurin' by Lieutenant Yachiru
I sweat dropped knowing the different kinds of names people call me. But I smiled at them.
"Thank you, everyone."
They all smiled back and the party was continuing. Everyone was drinking; especially Matsumoto and everyone had all sorts of fun. Hisagi and Kira brought a huge cake from the office, which said 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAZUKO' and 'THANK YOU'. I blew out my candles and everyone cheered. I got all sorts of presents. I got clothes from the world of the living from Matsumoto, a book from Nanao, a pendent from Captain Unohana and Isane, and a black ribbon from Captain Byakuya. I would go on but there were too many presents. It was surprising for everyone that Captain Byakuya actually got someone something. I found my violin in the 10th squad office. I remembered I accidentally left it there a couple days ago. Matsumoto saw me stare at my violin, so she took the violin.
"Kazu-chan, will you play us a song." She asked giving me the violin.
I nodded and stared playing a song. I haven't named it yet, because this was a piece I wrote myself. When I was finished everyone clapped and cheered. Hisagi, Kira, Renji, Ikkaku and Yumichika even threw roses above me. The party went on till around about 2 in the morning, mostly everyone was too drunk to walk or even flash-step home so we all fell asleep on the floor. Isane slept on my left and Nanao slept on my right, putting me in the middle. Matsumoto was sleeping on the table. The only one who was healthy enough to go home was Captain Kuchiki, which he did. Before I fell into a deep sleep like everyone else, I heard Enraiha's voice in my head.
"Happy Birthday, Lady Kazuko." He said.
"Yeah, thank you."
