A/N: I ran out of all my pre-written chapters so now I'm just writing them as I go, which may or may not be bad planning. Anyways, I was able to pass around a few ideas and get some feedback on those thoughts, so I now have a fairly solid outlook on what I want from this story. Trying to avoid it becoming a PWP kind of thing and keep in reasonable expressions, but still have some fun with it. It's kind of hard to believe it's already chapter seven because it feels like I've done nothing for it. That'll change soon enough.
"Is this the part where we make meaningless conversations to pass the time and see where it takes us?" Isane questioned as she carefully pushed the ceramic cup around in her hands; waiting for the steaming coffee to cool down a bit so she wouldn't have to deal with a semi-burnt tongue.
"I guess." he shrugged lightly. "I don't go on many dates so I really haven't a clue about what goes on. And judging from what Ikkaku has told me once or twice before when recounting his own experiences, I have a list of things not to do."
A soft chuckle left her as fingertips moved to gently push aside her silver bangs. "Same here. After working fourteen hours a day, there's really no want to actually go anywhere else aside from into my bedroom and straight to bed. And I've heard plenty of horror stories from everyone just about. From Kiyone to Matsumoto; Nanao to Momo, there isn't a story that hasn't been widely discussed and cringed over."
"Well then, I guess we're just going to have to work off of second-hand experiences then."
"At least it's a start." she replied. "I mean, there's a wide variety of things to talk about. There's… well mainly work, and… other people… and… nothing else is coming to mind really."
"If you want my honest opinion about this whole mess, I believe this mission may have just been a waste of time; our time specifically." Yumichika answered as he took a small drink of his coffee. "I mean, really? Come out and scout an area that's already been combed through multiple times before? And then make us stay here for a couple of days and/or weeks just for safety reasons? Something about it just doesn't settle well and like I said before, it just feels like a waste of time on our part. Not to mention, this is the worst combination of people to send. When they first described the mission, we were informed that it would only be Division Eleven and a possible addition from Division Four. And now… we've got Divisions Ten and Thirteen with us here, with two members who don't seem really focused on the mission at all- not that it feels like there's much to focus on. As well, the First Lieutenant's here? It makes it feel as though something more is going on. But… perhaps that's just me being paranoid. I probably sound like one of those… conspiracy theorist who panic over every small turn of a leaf."
"Actually when you put it that way, it is a little frightening." she mused. "I personally think this mission would've been fine with the people they were originally sending but… to drag Division Four into it, it seems to act like there's more to it. I'm sure it's just a precaution though; it's a safety regulation just in case. I mean… if there was anything really serious going on, Captain Unohana wouldn't have risked sending me here or any one else for that matter. And you know Captain Ukitake would outright refuse to send his own officers here unless he knew all the details about it. So, at least we can take some comfort in that."
"You do have a point but Captain Kenpachi wouldn't really care for 'precautions', if anything we're here to actually look for a fight." he chuckled lightly. "And who knows what Captain Hitsugaya is thinking, he probably just wanted Matsumoto out of his hair for awhile. Which I couldn't blame him."
"That's terrible."
"Yeah well… I don't have to defend myself." he snorted playfully before he set his coffee aside. "But, let's move away from such official matters, they don't make good conversation pieces anyways. We could try some… more personal topics but I'm not entirely sure if that'll be much of a safe conversation either."
Safe was an interesting word to use. Then again, it wasn't like she really had much to talk about anyways; yeah, she could talk about all the interesting shifts she's had before and there was that one time where the boiler room exploded and ended up putting most of their Division members out of commission. Okay that last one was a little funny to tell but nothing really worth being put into a conversation.
"To be honest, I don't think there's really anything interesting to tell." she started.
"Oh come on, I'm sure there's plenty of things." he assured.
"You should tell him the boiler room story."
She glanced up at the extra remark and nearly dropped her cup from where she had started to lift it. The sudden appearance of a joining third figure caught her off-guard and she had to chuckle to herself at the reaction of it. "Cho, I didn't even see you there. Didn't anyone tell you it was rude to butt into a conversation like that?"
"Well to be honest, now I'm curious about this boiler room story." Yumichika remarked.
"I apologize for the interruption but I was just passing by and happened to spot the two of you in here; I take it that the others are hopefully not causing chaos anywhere else?" Cho questioned.
"It would be a lie to say that I could promise that they're not." Isane answered. "They're in a store just across the street from here. We got a little tired from walking around and decided to find a place to sit and… just kind of observe." A little white lie never hurt anyone, right? The two of them getting tired of 'walking around' equaled out to them not wanting to stick around and shop, right?
"I do have to warn you though, Matsumoto was the one with the idea."
"… Well then, it seems as though we'll be here for quite awhile."
"You two are impossible." she started with a small chuckle to herself. "But come on, you can sit down and join us if you like."
"I wouldn't want to interrupt anything." Cho noted.
There was a brief collective moment of silence before he seemed to lightly laugh it aside. "I assure you, we're just having coffee and trying to escape from the horrors of shopping with the others. That's completely innocent enough, correct?"
It seemed to take the other Lieutenant just an equal amount of time before he seemed to nod lightly in conclusion. "I suppose you do have a point. Well, as long as I'm not intruding on anything."
"It's quite alright, it'd probably be nice to have a third member to speak with; we're absolutely terrible with trying to keep up a conversation." she humored lightly; watching as he seemed to finally agree and moved to pull up another chair to join them. "Did you find anything interesting why you were out?"
"Nothing quite… concrete but there are significantly higher levels of 'activity' around than from what I was expecting. I don't really want to say anything on it just yet until I have more time to investigate into the matter." Cho replied.
"We haven't gotten much activity but… there's still a lot of walking to do." Yumichika started. "Hopefully the levels are just an inconsistency and aren't really high enough to become a threat but, I suppose at this point we can't afford to let our guard down for anything."
"Especially in a vulnerable environment such as this."
"Are we really expecting to run into much though? I thought it was just 'rumors' and such." Isane reminded.
"That's what it started out as but… we have to keep an open-mind with what those rumors might turn in to. Now, it'll be quite a stretch if anything serious does occur; at most it may just be a minor encounter that isn't really worth much but… we can't know for sure." Cho remarked with a light shrug.
"Sounds dangerous."
"Well, that's why we had to convince Captain Unohana to send you along. Just in case something did occur and for good measure."
"Well at least I feel valuable to the team." she teased. "Otherwise, should some kind of battle commence, I'll have to step aside and avoid combat until it's over."
"We'll do our best to make sure it doesn't get out of hand and keep you out of combat but… well we'll try to avoid anything after that."
"Don't worry, if such conflict does occur, you have a sword, just swing it around for a bit; we're not really expecting any kind of high-level Hollows to be out here." Yumichika remarked; almost teasing the woman with his words.
"Well if you get hit, just wrap a bandage around it; it's not like I'm expecting any serious injuries."
"Touché."
"This seems like it's going to be a long mission now, doesn't it." Cho commented with a quiet chuckle.
"I've been saying the same thing to myself ever since we got here." Isane replied. "But I guess we might as well try to make the most of it while we can, before it possibly gets worse."
"That is a terrifying thought."
"And just where did you two run off to?"
Yumichika glanced up slightly just in time to catch the Fourth Lieutenant's expression before he lightly took another sip of his coffee. "And here comes the terrifying part of it."
She felt herself almost cringe at the posed question and forced herself to look up to see the small trio slowly heading their way towards them. A soft chuckle escaped her as she carefully set aside the cup in hand and glanced to the other two figures at the table. "Well… uh, we got bored watching you guys shop so… we kind of ditched out to find a nice place to sit. And then Cho ran into us while he was out observing. And this is where we've been since."
"You sure about that?" Matsumoto questioned with a light arch in her eyebrow; a slight mischievous peak at one corner of her lips.
"You can ask them if you want confirmation on it." Isane replied.
"She does speak the truth. It seems as though these two were actually observing a collective area unlike some people." Cho remarked as he glanced over at the three; a brief chuckle escaping him. "But I suppose it's best that you got it out of the way now instead of having the lingering temptations for it later."
"Did you find anything that seemed out of place?"
"No, not for now or from the areas that I was able to observe; we'll just have to keep a look out for anything in the upcoming days, just to be sure." he nodded before he carefully pushed himself to his feet. "Now then, if you'll excuse me, I have a few other matters I'd like to finish before this day is over with. I do expect everyone here to be back in your coordinating apartments before dark."
"That won't be a problem." Isane assured; watching as the man eventually nodded once more before he made his way out. She turned back to the other three and couldn't help but to shake her head lightly. "Well, at least you brought Kiyone back safe and alive. I was beginning to get worried."
A light click of her tongue escaped before the Tenth Lieutenant spoke. "Well I wouldn't say that we were able to keep her completely out of trouble; she still bought that hideous dress despite our protests and objections to it."
"It is not hideous; it's unique." Kiyone defended before she turned back towards the silver-haired woman. "I wanted you to look at it but you ran off before I could get your opinion; in all honesty, I think I modeled it perfectly."
"… Well that is certainly a word to use." Matsumoto replied.
"Don't worry, I can look at it when we get back to the apartment." Isane promised. "I'm sure it looks just fine… besides, you're more worried for if Sentaro likes it instead anyways."
"Not always!"
He lightly shook his head at the ongoing conversation before he turned back to the only other Division member still present. "So? Did you have fun looking at all the brightly colored fabrics and giving out rather meaningless compliments?"
"Hey man, there's a lot to fear when a woman goes shopping but… you get a free show out of it." Ikkaku replied; finding his Division partner's almost disgusted expression rather humorous. "Looks like you were getting a show of your own too."
"Last time I checked, sitting down for coffee and a decent conversation didn't qualify as a 'show.'"
"Yeah but the fact that you normally hate coffee and crowded places like this says otherwise."