Sinai's eyes slowly fluttered open. She stretched out her body and yawned. Then she sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Is it morning already?" she asked herself when she saw light shining through the windows. "Hm, weird. I thought I fell asleep with my glasses on." She grabbed her glasses and put them on and did the same with her hair ornament. "I guess he took them off for me." She said smiling. Sinai looked over at Shinji's desk. All of the paperwork that used to be on the right side of the desk was now on the left side. "No way…" she said with a gasp as she got out of bed. Sure enough, the papers were filled out. Sinai carefully looked through the pile. "Did he seriously stay up long enough to finish all of this?!" She placed all of the papers back where they were. After stacking them neatly, she opened a sliding door and walked into another room. There was Shinji, passed out on the couch. He was a pretty ungraceful sleeper though. Half of his blanket was on the floor, one of his pant legs was hoisted up to his thigh, his hair was a mess, his mouth was half open, and his shihakusho was lose, revealing his bare chest. Sinai blushed like crazy. But then she giggled. He did look pretty silly. "Aww captain Hirako looks so cute." She whispered. Sinai quickly realized something and panicked a little. "Oh, what am I thinking? I need to respect his privacy!" she quietly exclaimed before rushing back into the first room.
She made the bed and started straightening up her hair. "It's my first real day as a Soul Reaper…I hope I didn't oversleep…" Sinai said. She tightened her sash and slid her Zanpakuto under it. She stood there, not knowing what to do now. "Should I wake him up? I don't know…that might be rude. But he's my captain, so I can't do anything else until he gives me orders…and he can't do that if he's sleeping…" Sinai crossed her arms and thought for a while. After about five minutes she made a decision. "Alright, I guess I'd better wake him up. I hope he won't get mad at me for it though…" she walked back to the other room. Shinji was still asleep, but now he was laying on his stomach. Sinai tapped his shoulder. "Captain Hirako, are you waking up yet?" she asked. But there was no response. So she shook him a bit with her hand. "Captain, get up!" she said a bit louder. But he kept on snoozing. So she grabbed both of his shoulders and shook even harder and yelled "Shinji! Wake up!" Finally he yawned and began to stir. "It's about time." Sinai said. Shinji grunted as he stretched. After a minute, he sat up and yawned again. "Good morning to you too, Sinai." He said before rubbing the back of his neck. "Good morning Shinji…do you think we may have overslept?" she asked him. He yawned and stood up while stretching out his arms. "That's a possibility, thanks for gettin' me up." He said. "You're welcome, it was pretty difficult. You're a really deep sleeper." Sinai told him. "Sorry." He apologized while scratching his head. They heard a knock on the front door. "Captain, you've overslept again, this is the third time this week." A voice said. An annoyed look appeared on Shinji's face, then he and Sinai walked over to the door. "Yeah, yeah Sosuke. I'm up. You can go now. I'll be out in a few minutes." He told Aizen. "But sir, are you sure you won't just fall back asleep? You've done that in the past.." he asked from behind the door. A small vein popped out of Shinji's forehead. "I said I'm comin'! Sheesh! Go do what ya need to do." He said frustrated. "Yes Captain." Aizen replied. Then the sound of footsteps walking away were heard.
Shinji was now straightening out his shihakusho. "Geez, I hate how he's so uptight all the time. It's a real pain." He said. "So, what will be my first assignment for today Captain?" Sinai asked. Shinji turned around to face her and put his hand on his chin as he thought. "Hmm, well I guess you can help me take this paperwork to where it needs to go." He answered. "Okay." She said before walking over to the stack of papers. She tried picking up the entire thing. "Woah, woah, woah, hold on. You don't need to carry all of it. It's pretty heavy." He said as he stopped her. "It's okay, I want to help." She told him. Shinji put his socks and shoes on, then grabbed about three-fourths of the stack. "And you can, but there's no need to overdo it." Sinai pouted and grabbed the rest of the papers. They headed out the door and towards their destination. "I can carry more ten this you know, you took most of it! Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't carry heavy things…I'm not weak." Sinai complained. Shinji chuckled. "I never said anything like that, I know perfectly well that you're not weak Sinai." They continued walking through their quarrel. "Well why don't you let me carry more then?" she asked. Shinji sighed and replied "Fine, you can take a little off the top of y stack if it makes ya feel better. Just not too much." Sinai smiled and nodded. They stopped walking for a moment so she could take some more paper. When she was satisfied with an amount, (It was very close to half) they continued. A sweat drop ran down Shinji's forehead when he realized that there's no getting Sinai to do less than she's fully capable of. Finally they arrived at an office. They both places their stacks on a desk, then Shinji spoke to the person sitting there. "I got this paperwork done." He said. "Thank you Captain Hirako, more will be delivered to your quarters later." The other soul reaper told him. Shinji sighed heavily as a small vein popped out of his head. "Fantastic…" the frustrated captain said sarcastically. He and Sinai left the office.
As they were walking, Sinai asked "So what should I do now, Shinji? I'd hate to just follow you around if you find it annoying.." "I don't mind it at all, like I said before I enjoy your company. As for what to do now, I'm not entirely sure." Suddenly, Aizen appeared before them using flash step. "Captain, there's trouble! He said frantically. "What is it? What's happened?" Shinji asked concerned. Aizen answered him promptly. "Hollows in the 60th district of the Rukongai, our squad has been assigned to take care of them." Shinji turned to face Sinai. "You stay here, I don't want ya gettin' hurt." He told her. But Sinai shook her head and replied with a stern voice. "No! You said it yourself captain, to not treat me like a kid! I want to be useful to my squad, I've trained long and hard for this. Please don't ask me to stand by and do nothing while the others are out there fighting." Sinai stared at Shinji, waiting for a response. "Sir, we don't have much time. The hollows have already done significant damage." Aizen said. He answered "Fine, ya got a point. I'll be able to see your fighting skills in person too. Alright, come on. Show me what ya got." Sinai smiled brightly. "Yes, sir!" she said confidently. The three of them took off toward the 60th district. This would be Sinai's first battle against a serious threat.
(to be continued)