Sorry for the long wait everyone.

So as promised this chapter pucks up speed in preparation for the main conflict of the story. I'm not going to tell you what it is, ^^ so you'll have to read to find out.

Disclaimer: I own nada.

enjoy ^^

Shuffling sounds could be heard throughout the entire tenth division. And occasionally there was a loud bang and a few swear words. Other than that it would have been a nice morning. Rangiku was sitting in her desk, absentmindedly going through a stack of completed paperwork. She was surprised at herself for even being able to get up this early much less to get to the office and to start doing work. She snickered, noticing that Toushiro was nowhere to be seen. The trials of the lieutenant were probably catching up to him. Yeah, she was so winning this bet.

The shuffling sounds got louder causing Rangiku to stop her work and look up. It sounded as though someone was scuffing their feet as they walked. Soon the office door slammed open and in came a very disgruntled looking Toushiro. His normally messy hair was even more messy than usual and his eyes were blood shot. Rangiku glanced at her perfectly manicured nails and tucked a lock of neatly styled ginger hair behind her ear. He glared at her as he made his way to his desk nearly tripping over his feet. As soon as he sat down in the chair he flopped over the desk.

Rangiku raised an eyebrow. He honestly looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep at all last night. Come to think of it, she didn't really think that he had a decent night's sleep for a really long time now. And yesterday had been taxing on him, to put it mildly. She sighed and went over to him and rested a hand on his back.

"Now, Toushiro, no sleeping in the office." She joked gently.

He raised his head and glared at her with one blood shot eye, before resting his head back into his arms. "Shut up Matsumoto, I'm not in the mood for this."

"You look terrible; didn't you sleep at all last night?"

"No. Now shut up."

She giggled; he was so cute when he was grumpy. She ran a hand through his hair managing to mess it up even more. He was even too tired to slap it away. "Why not? You went to bed early."

"That doesn't mean I slept."

"Explain."

He slowly sat up glaring at her. Obviously he was not enthused with all her questions. "Can I ask you one thing Matsumoto? Why is it that you have to play mother to every single person in the squad?"

She frowned slightly, "Well if I don't do it nobody else will. And I don't see what you're getting at. If you don't want me to ask you what's wrong you could just say so."

He sighed and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands, "No that's not what I meant. I mean why is it that when somebody has personal troubles they sniff out the lieutenant at ungodly hours of the night to discuss these said problems?"

She bit her bottom lip, oh yeah that.

"I was up for the whole night trying to convince some woman that her husband was not cheating on her, and that there was no reason to commit suicide because of this!"

She mentally cringed. Mokoto was known for being overly dramatic... but to talk for the whole night? She knew she had problems with her husband, who was not cheating on her by the way, but she still needed to be convinced every so often that their relationship was going fine. Rangiku was usually the person charged with that task. Maybe she should have warned Toushiro before hand, though. He looked like he was paying for it now. It was the both Captain's and lieutenant's job to look out for the squad, but Toushiro was not known for his social skills. Even though it was obvious that he cared for his men, the task of counselling, consoling or whatever emotional needs the squad had usually fell into Rangiku's hands.

She scratched the back of her neck, "It was Mokoto wasn't it?"

His glare intensified, "I don't even know the blasted woman's name! She was talking for the whole night, Matsumoto, the whole night! I learnt things I never wanted to, she was basically crying over my shoulder!"

"Well it is the superior's job to look after subordinates..."

"Looking after does not entail counselling." He growled.

She sighed, "Yes it does. Each one of the members of squad ten looks up to you. You should at least hear them out when they come to you with a problem."

He rolled his eyes, "I think I did more than hear her out, Matsumoto. If this happens again I'm sending her straight to you."

"You see, that's your problem, how can you be a good captain if you don't listen to your men?"

Toushiro looked at her shocked, "I listen to my men Matsumoto. I just don't find it necessary to fraternise with them when I have more important things to be doing such as making sure the squad is running smoothly, making sure we don't go bankrupt, or I don't know, sleeping!"

"I bet you don't even know the names of half of your men." She folded her arms across her chest and glared at the small boy.

"Matsumoto, the squad is made up of over two hundred people, you can't expect me to know all of them."

"You should at least try. Why do you think they come to me if they need help with anything? I haven't seen any squad members asking you anything lately."

Toushiro paused; the members did seem to shrink a bit whenever he was around. They were efficient, but they didn't seem to communicate with him much. He had never thought about it before. They respected him that was for sure... wait what was he doing dwelling on this. He was their superior he did not need to make sure they're every whim was met. His squad was run on efficiency and so far he had been doing a darn good job.

"This is a work place Matsumoto, not a daycare. I can't afford to waste time tending to people's needs. If I did then nothing would ever get done. As long as nobody is dying, I'm fine with it. I deal with efficiency not emotion, and you should too. Maybe then you would be able to do your work."

The redhead threw her arms up in the air, "You're hopeless! I try to teach you how to be a person and all you care about is work, work, work! No wonder you don't have any friends-"

She immediately clamped her hands over her mouth. That had been a low blow. The white haired boy glared at her before abruptly standing up and marching to the door. "That's enough, Matsumoto. I'm going to make a cup of tea, would you like some?"

His mouth was set in a grim line and though his last statement had the illusion of being thoughtful, she knew that he was plotting her death. She slowly nodded and he left the office, slamming the door shut and leaving the room a bit colder than before he entered.

Rangiku slowly sauntered back to her desk then plopped herself in the chair. He was going to be mad for quite some time. It may have been a low blow, but in a sense it had been true. He was so work oriented he often forgot that he had to let loose once in a while. Okay so he let his men throw parties occasionally, and when the occasion called for it, but more often than not he disappeared soon after the start. In his fear of being looked down upon because he was a child, he had put up so many barriers and strived so hard to prove himself that he came off as emotionless and cold most of the time. He should realise by now that his men did not just want a figure head for a captain, they wanted someone who they could relate to and see as a person, not just a commanding officer. She sighed and rubbed her forehead, if anything she hopped this bet would help him to see that.

Toushiro made his way to the kitchen, nearly freezing everything in his path.

Stupid Matsumoto, he growled inwardly, who was she to tell him how to run his squad. He was the reason why it was functioning as effectively as it was, if it wasn't for his organising, his strategising his everything the tenth would have crashed and burned by now. She didn't even do her paperwork most of the time and yet she was telling him about being a bad captain; the bloody hypocrite. He snarled and turned round a corner. Plus despite what she said, he did have a relationship with his men, he gave orders and they followed them. They trusted and respected him, and that was the exact relationship he was looking for.

"Um Captain?" he was pulled out of his thoughts as someone walked up to him. He glared at the man, who noticeably flinched.

"What is it?" He tried not to sound too irritated but that was hard to do considering his previous thoughts.

"Are you alright?"

Toushiro raised an eyebrow; the man had stopped him and gone out of his way just to ask him if he was alright?

He nodded, "Yes, Akiyama," Ha in your face Matsumoto, he knew the man's name, "I'm fine just a little preoccupied with something. Thank you for asking."

The man smiled a bit, "That's good, sir, you looked angry. Is there anything I could do to help?"

Toushiro frowned and shook his head, "No. Don't you have duties to be doing right now? I appreciate your concern, but you should be getting back to work now."

The man nodded and bowed before he sped off. "Yes, sir."

Toushiro sighed and continued on his way to the kitchen. See, he knew how to communicate with his members. Though, Akiyama had seemed a little scared, maybe he had been slightly too harsh with him... damn Matsumoto had him second guessing his actions. His scowl returned. But the man had seemed scared; why though? He must have made a name for himself then, okay fine everyone in the squad knew that he was no nonsense and strict and that he would tolerate no foolishness, and he was not generally a laid back person. He thought for a while, maybe he shouldn't have ended the conversation so abruptly either. The man had genuinely seemed concerned about him, and his granny had always told him it was polite to inquire how others were doing.

He stopped and really began to analyse his interactions with his squad. As far as he knew he was pretty nice to them. He was concerned for their well being, he never overworked anyone, and every so often he gave them time to relax and unwind. He was a little strict though, but that could not be helped, he was generally patient, unless someone got on his nerves. Now he was actually trying to figure out what he was doing wrong. Sue him for being a perfectionist; he hated to be doing anything wrong. The more the thought the more he realised that his lieutenant had a point. He did not really communicate with his men at all. And the conversation with Akiyama had proved it. Okay, so maybe his relationship with his men was a little flawed, but nothing was perfect... on second thought, he would work on that.

("\(^.^)/")

"Okay Matsumoto, I admit it, you were right." Toushiro exclaimed over his newly received pile of paperwork.

The two sat in their office trying to complete the day's work.

Rangiku looked up from completing a form and glanced over to the acting lieutenant. "What was that, Toushiro?" She hid a small smile.

The boy rolled his eyes, "You heard me perfectly well, Matsumoto."

She giggled as she signed her name at the bottom of the paper. "And what brought about this wonderful revelation?"

"This goddamn paperwork!" Toushrio fisted his hair in his hand that wasn't holding the stack of paper. "I have to select ten members of the squad to patrol district 39 next week."

"And that is a problem how?"

"The instructions specifically said that I was not to choose any seated members, or members with element based zanpackutos. They want people exceptionally good at kido, shunpo and sensing reiatsu."

Ranigku nodded, that seemed simple enough, and in her mind she had already picked out seven members who would be good for the job. "And I'm guessing you don't know who to pick."

He growled, "Obviously not. How the hell am I supposed to know who has element based zanpackutos in my squad?"

"You could get to know them."She mumbled under her breath. She glanced up to see the little boy on the verge of pulling out his hair. "43% of the squad has element based zapackutos that should cut down your search quite significantly."

He gapped at her, "How do you know that?"

She sighed and tugged a piece of hair behind her ear. She got up and went over to his desk where she opened the bottom drawer. In it lay slightly over two hundred thin files neatly organised in alphabetical order. "These are simplified profiles of each member of the squad. They are all only one page long and contain name, birthday, skills, zanpackuto information, medical conditions and photos. I suggest you start looking."

Toushrio's mouth dropped open. This type of work was not new to him, but going through over two hundred profiles, was not something to be taken lightly. Maybe he should get to know his squad better after all.

Rangiku chucked and made her way back to her desk. She glanced over at him and smiled when she saw him fervently going through the files with fiery determination in his eyes. She knew that he was not just going through the names but actually trying to remember who the people were. She was proud of him. She sat back down and pulled her work back towards her. Thank god she didn't have to deal with numbers for a while. All she had to do was proof read some reports from the lower members who had just come back from a mission in district 21. She flipped through then realised with horror that it was almost ten pages long. Apparently the mission had been very eventful. She groaned but got to work anyway.

She had only gotten half way down the first page when there was a loud knock on the door. She sighed before placing the document aside.

"Come in!"

The door slid open to revealing two bulky men, one holding a clipboard. She looked on confused at them. Toushiro had glanced up and regarded the two men with uncertainty before looking at Matsumoto questioningly. She sighed and nodded, yes they were members of squad ten. But what were they doing here.

"Good afternoon..." The man with the clipboard paused staring at Toushiro sitting in the lieutenant's desk and then at Rangiku with a captain's haori. She rolled her eyes, wasn't everyone confused today?

"The captain and I are doing a... an experiment. I'll be acting as captain for the next two weeks."

They nodded in understanding, the tenth division officials were anything but normal.

"Now how can I help you two?" She sent a dazzling smile their way, causing Toushiro to scowl.

"We're here about the renovations to the mess hall... er... Captain. The suppliers were here yesterday and left a few samples and prices for the materials. We wanted to go over the costs with you before we placed any orders."

So these were the two in charge of the renovations. She nodded, "Let's see then."

They came over to her desk and gave her the clipboard. Matsumoto nearly burst into tears at the sight. All she could see were numbers, numbers and more numbers. What the hell did they mean by net cost anyway? While she was busy trying not to hyperventilate the men were blabbing on about measurements and cost per square foot. They were talking about two different sets of numbers. That was way more than her brain could handle she felt it slowly dying. And what more, these people expected her to understand and give them a solution. Ha, boy were they in for a shock.

"Excuse me, Gakusha and Baisotei?" Toushiro had somehow made it into the middle of all the numbers, when had he even got up from his desk? Rangiku gazed at him thankfully. He acknowledged her with a slight nod of then head.

"Yes sir?"

"Why don't you leave this here, so that the captain can go through it at her own leisure, you don't need a response this instant do you?"

"No, sir."

"Good, we'll call you back after we've gone through it."

They nodded and thanked the acting lieutenant before bowing and leaving the office. Matsumoto snapped out of her daze as soon as they backed away from the desk. "Have a good day you guys!" She called out as they closed the door.

Then turning on Toushiro with a grin like the cat that ate the canary she exclaimed; "You used their names!"

Toushiro rolled his eyes, "I looked them up as soon as they came in. I have to say it is rather useful to know what to call someone. Now I suppose you need help with all these numbers?"

Sooo how was it?

actually when you come to think of it, Toushiro really doesnt seem like the type of person to go out of his way to get to know someone, much less for two hundred people so I think he wouldn't know all the people in his own squad. As long as it didn't interfere with the functioning of his squad he'd be alright with it. Also I hope I didn't portray Toushiro as being too distant from his squad members because he really does care for them, and it is through his work ethic that he inspires them to work their best. I think this was said in some bleach guide or other. So I'm sorry if I made it seem like Toushiro did not care about his men, because he does.

Did I do a good job? Was it completely horrible? Tell meeeeeee

REVIEW PLEASE!

-Mymomomo