Vice Captain duty

It was a sunny afternoon when Ukitake Jushiro, captain of the Thirteenth Squad, sat just outside the barracks of his division watching a few of his subordinates go through some routine training exercises. It was a habit of his to observe these sessions when he was not too ill to do so, for he always thought that to properly lead, one must know those he is leading; these provided a good opportunity for that. What was unusual, however, was the company that he had that day.

"Lieutenant Kuchiki!" One of the men, a fairly new recruit transferred from the fourth division, started with surprise at the sight of the vice captain.

Kuchiki Rukia stood before him with one hand on her hip; despite reaching only to the man's shoulder, the authority with which she stood made her appear much taller.

"Sato-san." she spoke in a clear, steady voice. "Your stance is incorrect."

The man was sweating and he stood shakily, looking like a nervous child expecting a scolding. Rukia paid that no mind as she moved around him and grabbed a hold of his arm, positioning it until it was stretched out horizontally at her eye level; then she unceremoniously pulled on his shoulders and straightened his back. Once she appeared satisfied, she took a step back and folded her arms over her chest, looking at him expectantly.

"Now don't stutter!" she instructed, her violet eyes blazing with intensity.

The man nodded once before commencing the kido chant, his voice firm and much louder than before.

"Hado no.33 Soukatsui!"

A ball of blue energy was fired from the palm of his hand and blew away the target a few yards away flawlessly. The now-grinning man turned to Rukia, who stood with a large smirk on her face.

"I did it!" he said incredulously.

"Well done, Sato." she looked at him approvingly.

"Thank you, Lieutenant! Couldn't have done it without you!"

Captain Ukitake smiled as he watched the exchange, before Rukia moved on to aid another struggling officer. "She is a good mentor, don't you think? Ichigo-kun?"

The orange-haired shinigami substitute sitting beside him clicked his tongue. "She should be. She's had plenty of practice bossing me around."

Despite his gruff tone, Ukitake could see the glint in the young man's eyes as he watched her. Pride would be an accurate enough word to describe it, but the older man thought that there was more swirling in those brown orbs.

He chuckled lightly at the young man's response. "It's hard to believe she has only been a lieutenant for little more than a year. It seems as if she has been in the position for a long time."

"That's not surprising." Ichigo said, making the captain curious at his reply.

"Oh? What makes you say so, Ichigo-kun?"

The young man started scratching the back of his head as he averted his gaze towards the sky. "Well, that's the thing about Rukia. She has a way of wiggling into your life and making it seem like she was always there."

Ukitake felt apprehension at his seemingly casual words, his expression softening as he looked at the substitute and then glanced forward and saw his vice captain, unaware of the two pairs of eyes on her. As he saw the young woman loudly scold one of her subordinates before smiling at his progress, the white-haired captain couldn't help but see in his mind's eye a broad-shouldered young man, with unruly dark hair and a bright, genuine smile.

"What are you doing, Kuchiki?" that man had shouted.

"What are you doing?" her voice echoed his words in the present.

"With that form you'll lose your sword before the hollow has taken its second swipe at you!"

"Holding a sword like that won't get you halfway through a fight with an average hollow!"

"Show me what you can do!"

"Let's see what you're capable of!"

At the same time as Rukia successfully disarmed Shiba Kaien in his memory, her own zanpakuto fell to the ground before his eyes and the subordinate who had been sparring with her gaped, before his face broke out in a triumphant smile.

Ukitake felt his lips curling in a bittersweet smile as he saw the student become the teacher right before his eyes.

"Perhaps," he began to muse out loud, following the line of Ichigo's previous words. "It seems that way because she was always meant to fill those places."

Ichigo didn't respond, but a slow smile appeared at the corners of his mouth as his eyes found her form once more.