((AN: Chapter seven already. Well, I can safely say that this is going to be rather angsty later on at the big betrayal scene. But angst is good in moderate doses; we're going to be fine, I'm pretty sure. Anyway, moving along.))



The next few days after the day she was released from Fourth division, Ichimin continually found that she was thinking back to the dinner with Aizen. She had enjoyed it very much; the Captain was a man that was easy to be around, and the two of them seemed to agree on a lot of things. He listened to her when she spoke, was genuinely interested in what she had to say instead of being more preoccupied with getting in her pants. She liked that about him.

"Fifth seat Kumorigachi." A voice cut her thoughts and Ichimin moved to look up from what paperwork she hadn't been doing earlier. Paperwork paperwork paperwork. All she did anymore was paperwork. How long had it been since she had an actual field mission?

"Hai, Lieutenant Nanao?"

It was more of instinct for her to say Nanao's name when she couldn't fully hear the owner of the voice. Nanao was the only one that ever came in her office that called her by her rank. She looked up and instead saw her Captain, Kyoraku, smiling genially at her from the doorway. Ichimin straightened up a bit. Kyoraku was lazy, but he was a good man. Besides, who was she to talk about his drinking anyway?

"Hey, hey. Do I look like my darling Nanao-chan?"

Ichimin ignored the addition of –chan, knowing that Kyoraku was probably going to get it later for that and nodded her head respectfully.

"Forgive me, Captain. Force of habit."

Her paperwork was once again in the process of being done. Three days since she had been released from Fourth, and she was still catching up on her paperwork. The Captain of Eighth glanced over her paperwork, and Ichimin blinked. Was something wrong with it?

"C'mon Ichimin-chan (Goddammit), ya can't be wasting your life doing nothing but paperwork." Kyoraku stated, leaning against the doorframe. Fuck dammit, did she hate it when he called her that. Ichimin sighed, smiling a bit to mask her thoughts.

"Well someone needs to be doing it around here. Someone other than Lieutenant Nanao, anyway."

'Because you're a lazy fuck that doesn't do shit around here other than chase women and get piss-faced.'

Kyoraku frowned a bit, as if the statement hurt him.

"Aw, that hit hard. I work…" He trailed off, and Ichimin stacked her papers in the 'done' box.

"Yes sir, you do maybe a couple sheets a week. Lieutenant Nanao and I do most likely around fifty a day. Without breaks."

She looked at her remaining papers. Not too many; she could get away with a break if Kyoraku let her. The Captain himself smiled and pulled his hat over his eyes.

"Well, I might not do the paperwork but I'd be no good at it anyway. I'm the pretty face that represents the hard-working individuals in Eighth division."

Ichimin laughed a bit, standing and stretching out.

"Of course, of course. Because this division needs an Adonis like yourself to show the other divisions what a division should look like."

She glanced to the side, seeing her Zanpakuto leaning against the wall. Black sheath, canary yellow oval guard and white hilt. She hadn't used it in a long time, because no one decided to send a bored Fifth seat out on a patrol mission. Too long since she'd actually fought a hollow. Kyoraku laughed a bit and nodded, turning in the doorway.

"Well, don't work too hard or this Adonis might have to have a worked-to-death Fifth seat dragged off. Be a shame since you survived a spar with Captain Zaraki and all."

Ichimin sighed, shaking her head a bit.

"Not a spar. When someone spars, they usually don't actively attempt to kill the other person."

She heard the lazy Captain laugh and looked up to see him wave over his shoulder as he left.

"Go have a drink or something; you've been doing paperwork for three days now."

The parting statement made the Fifth seat think. She was planning on just getting something light to eat (like godly watermelon) and then come back to finish her paperwork off for good, but where was the fun in that? And if she finished it off, then what the hell else would she do for the rest of the eternity she had waiting for a mission?

"Yeah…yeah, I think I will." Ichimin said to herself, Kyoraku long gone. Yawning a bit, she stretched her arms over her head before slipping out the door and locking it behind her. She quickly left the division, hunting for someone to drink with. Hadn't the slightest clue who to go to, but eh. She'd find someone. Staring up at the setting skies, she yawned a bit and then kept her green eyes focused in a dreamy stare at nothing in particular.

"How hard can it be to find someone who feels like getting drunk?"

Turns out, it's pretty hard.

'GOD. Abarai's got too much paperwork because he's a lazy ass that never does it otherwise, Kira has to catch up on the work Gin shoveed on him, Momo's fretting over getting work done for 'OMG CAPTAIN AIZEN', and I'm never drinking alone with Madarame ever again, after that one morning. And he'll only go drinking if it's with Ayasegawa and that psychopath Zaraki, and they'll be serving snowcones in Hell at half price before I'm drinking with him and dealing with a drunk Zaraki. Sober Zaraki's bad enough.'

Ichimin sighed audibly, stopping to thud her head against the wall of Third division. Just shot down by Kira; who in the hell was left. Maybe she wouldn't go drinking tonight; maybe they'd be freer tomorrow night. It was already dark and all; seriously doubt she coul-

"Wassap Ichi?"

A slick voice spoke out right behind her and the woman in question jumped, succeeding in smacking her head on the stone of the building. Swearing under her breath, she turned to crane her neck and look up at Gin Ichimaru, grinning down on her. As if he had any other sort of facial expression.

"You're an asshole, Captain. Forgive the rudeness."

The last part was added just to add salt to the insult. Gin looked subtly amused.

"None taken. Now, Izuru been tellin' me that ya don't got nobody to drink wi'."

He stepped around her to lean against the building, looking especially menacing in the low light. Ichimin ignored the urge to rub her head where she'd smacked it, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yeah. Don't tell me you want to go; you're a Captain."

Gin was much taller than Ichimin was, so he was perfectly able to stare down on her like a grinning skyscraper.

"An' that means I ain't allowed t' go an' have fun?"

His question was rhetorical; Ichimin shrugged a bit.

"Well, thought you might have the kindness of your heart to go help Lieutenant Kira finish all that work he's doing for you. But then I remembered, 'Hey, wait a minute. This is Gin Ichimaru. He has no soul, so it's cool'."

Gin himself grinned a bit wider at the statement, turning on his heel and beginning to walk with no explanation of where they were going.

"Got that right. Now, lessgo."

Ichimin blinked, before having to run after the Captain. His long strides were a little more difficult for a normal human to keep up with, and so Ichimin had to speedwalk/jog to keep up.

"Where're we going, Captain?" She asked him, not really expecting all too descriptive of an answer. Gin just tossed a wave over his shoulder.

"You'll find out."

The Fifth seat sighed, but remained quiet and followed the Captain to a small bar in Seireitei. Bars did exist within Seireitei for the people who couldn't be bothered to head into Rukongai for cheaper swill. They were just uncommon to find.

"C'mon, c'mon."

Gin waved her inside and picked a table for them, ordering a healthy amount of the woman's very lifeblood. The both of them poured glasses and Ichimin held up hers in a toast.

"I hope it stays dark forever, I hope the worst isn't over, I hope you blink before I do, and I hope I never get sober."

The soft clinking of their glasses; Ichimin tipped hers back and finished it at that moment, as was her custom. The rest would be sipped until she became so drunk that they turned into gulps and then she'd just go for the bottle itself. Gin had drank with her before; he was apparently prepared for her drunk verbal abuse. Though it didn't come for awhile; for the longest time the two just chatted, talking about this and that. And by 'chatting', it means 'viciously making fun of'.

"An' Izuru jus' had this fashe…it looked all 'Fuck, whatsh did I DO'…wash hilarioush!" Ichimin slurred, laughing heartily. She was in her element; that degree of drunk where everything was happy and funny, and she didn't have to worry or think about anything other than getting the next drink. Gin had only been sipping; he drank enough to get a buzz and then kept watch on Ichimin to make sure she didn't just fall asleep on the table and get thrown out into the street at last call. Ichimin had her hands around the neck of the bottle when last call arrived. Gin tugged at her arm, gently.

"Come on Ichimin, 's time to go."

Ichimin rose to her feet and then staggered as she attempted to walk away from the table. The bottle was still in her steely grip, and the bartender just waved it off. Gin then walked out the door with Ichimin at his side, he having to keep a hold on her arm to make sure she didn't lose her balance and fall over. He wasn't having any problems holding onto her though, because she was clinging to him tightly. One arm locked around his, like steel.

"Sho where's we goin', Foxshy?" Ichimin slurred again, grinning. Gin let the nickname slip, because she was having such a good time and he knew that it didn't happen often when she could just enjoy life at that certain point of being drunk. He let her keep a vice grip on his left arm, leading her back towards Third division. He was now pondering if he could get away with this and that, turning a corner with Ichimin in tow to stop at seeing Aizen heading the same direction as he had left.

Ichimin, still in a deeply drunken state looked upon the confused-looking Aizen with an out of character grin.

"Hay Cap'n Aizen! Wasshup?"

She called to him waving, even though they were five feet away from each other. Aizen looked at her oddly and then looked to Gin, sharp suspicion in his eyes.

"What is the matter with her, Captain Ichimaru?"

Gin himself only grinned as usual, tugging Ichimin's clinginess into view.

"Jus' a bit of drinkin', Captain Aizen. But why're you so suspicious of me?"

Ichimin was looking back and forth between the both of them, listening to the exchange. She loosened her grip on Gin's arm slowly, attracting his attention only very slightly.

"You know perfectly well why I'm suspicious of you, Captain." Aizen shot back, the two continuing to stare each other down. Gin was about to speak when he noticed that Ichimin wasn't on his arm anymore but now staggering towards Aizen.

"Holy shit, it'sh Sherlock Holmesh! But doesh that mean that Foxshy wash…"

She was at Aizen's side now, smiling up at him before coming to some conclusion. She turned around, swaying slightly.

"Aw, you'sh a perveh foxshy!" She giggled, obviously beyond wasted. Aizen looked down on her before offering his hand.

"Why don't you come stay the night with me, Fifth seat? For your own safety of course; my intentions are far less insidious than what I suspect Captain Ichimaru's to be."

Gin merely shrugged, looking at Ichimin and Aizen.

"Fine, fine. If ya don't trust me, then stay the night with Cap'n Aizen. Be seein' ya, Ichi."

The fox-faced man turned on his heel, disappearing around the corner while Aizen looked to Ichimin.

"Ichimin, how much did you drink?" He queried, slightly worried. Ichimin herself just laughed.

"Jush' 'nough, Cap'n. Jush' 'nough." She patted his arm, before leaning on him.

"Ichimin, are you alright?" Aizen asked again, looking at her seriously this time as she leaned more on him.

"Yeah, I'll be…fine…" She mumbled, closing her eyes. Aizen merely scooped her up bridal style and began to shunpo back to the Fifth division. It was a relatively quick trip and he sidestepped Momo on the way, telling her that he had found Ichimin and that needed to sleep something off. Momo continued to fret, but left Aizen to put Ichimin down on the couch in his office. She laid as still as a stone as he began to lay her down, apparently having blacked out. As he moved to let her go and sit at his desk, she rolled over to face him and caught his sleeve gently.

"Sorry…Cap'n…" Ichimin mumbled, her eyes still closed and voice sort of muffled by her arm. The Fifth seat's dirty blond hair lay as a halo around her head, half over her face. Aizen blinked in somewhat surprise at the sudden action, but moved to lay the back of his hand against hers.

"It's alright, Ichimin." He spoke softly, and she smiled a bit at the contact. Her plain green eyes opened a small bit to look upon him, hand already slipping from its hold on his shihakusho sleeve.

"Thanks…I trust you."

And with that, she seemed to drift off to either sleep or a black out unconsciousness while her hand slipped completely and dropped to the floor.

Aizen, meanwhile, had lost the warm expression and was now staring down coldly at the unconscious woman. How the ditz even came to her position as a fifth seat, he could only attribute to the incompetence of the higher ups in her division.

'A drunkard of Eighth division, certainly. Cut from the same cloth as Kyoraku.'

She was constantly running around and putting herself in danger, acting like a drunk slut hanging off of Gin as she had been and basically not giving a damn about what happened as long as she had fun. She was his polar opposite in nearly every way, and he very much found her an annoyance in that respect.

…And yet…

Reaching forward, Aizen gently brushed back the hair out of her face. He knew that she wasn't Kyoraku, because she had some sort of purpose. Gin had been telling him all the secrets of everyone he knew, and Ichimin had been no exception once Aizen had met the woman. The scar on her neck? He had long already known of it and it's history. He knew her past in Rukongai, from what Gin had told him. He knew that she very much loathed shinigami in general and hated the entire society of hollow slayers that feast off of one another like stray dogs, use the bodies of former friends and allies as stepping stones to some meager position above their own. He even knew her Zanpakuto name and abilities. He knew everything of her and she knew absolutely nothing of the true him.

'She is a hazard. The logical choice of action would be to have someone kill her and keep her out of the way of my plans. Gin, possibly. Someone that knows her.'

And when did he start wanting to kill off hazards by a close friend? A hollow killed in the exact same manner, and he had plenty of hollows to use. So why did the idea of allowing a hollow to devour her leave a bad taste in his mouth?

'…I will decide what to do with her soon enough.'

Aizen stepped back, removing his hand from her face and returned to his desk. The man had seen her at her most pathetic; he could see her at it right now. A drunkard sapping off of those that she called friends. But he had also seen her when she was sober and when she was happy. The night after she was released from Fourth after her fight with that insane berserker Zaraki. Ichimin had been pleasant and kind, and as much as he didn't want to admit it, Aizen had had a good time. But what perturbed him the absolute most was not that he had had a good time; it was something else. His sharp eyes observed her from his seat at the desk in the corner of the room, paperwork sitting in front of him. Ichimin Kumorigachi may have loathed the shinigami, may have intimate knowledge of what they did to those beneath them and those weaker than themselves. But there was one small bit that she still didn't know.

"She is in good company."


((I've been a bit preoccupied with schoolwork recently, but I should be updating all of my multi-chapter stories within the next few days. Hopefully, I won't have to go away this weekend and can finish up everything. And also:

During the summer, I lose my laptop because it's rented from the school. So updates are going to slow down unless I can get a hold of my sister's laptop. So just forewarning you guys: updates are going to slow down at the end of May.))