Chrysanthemums & Peaches: Chapter 9

Sweep…sweep…sweep…

It was a breezy autumn afternoon. The ground had been littered with little red and orange maple leaves as a result of the cool front that had blown in late that morning.

Sweep…sweep...sweep, sweep, sweep…

The sun was beginning to sink slowly in the west and most of the leaves had been swept into piles and thrown away. Only a few leaves remained, falling gracefully from the blackening branches, carried gently wherever the wind should blow, and serving to irritate the quiet 10-bantai taichou who had been sweeping them up for the last three hours.

sweep, SWEEP, SWEEPETY, SWEEP

"To hell with these leaves!" Hitsugaya grumbled grouchily, as another leaf fell to the ground, just beyond his reach. It was at this very moment that the child prodigy decided to throw the towel in on sweeping up the courtyard and threw the broom behind him, resulting in a squawk of surprise.

"Ack!"

"Sorr—" Hitsugaya started, as he turned around to face his assault victim. "I'm sorry, I wasn't—Oh, it's only you, Urahara."

"What do you mean, 'only you, Urahara'?!" the striped-hat-wearing-former taichou groaned, clutching his head as he straightened up from a clearly stalking position. "You hit me in the head with that broom—"

"That's your fault for coming from behind me," retorted Hitsugaya. "Besides, you were trying to grope me again weren't you, you pedophile!"

"Now, now, what accusations," sighed Urahara in mock surprise. "And without a shred of proof too—"

"Well, explain what you were doing hunched over, creeping towards me from behind, then."

"That would be my new exercise program designed for muscular—"

"Tenchou! Tenchou! Emergency, emergency!" shouted Tessai, interrupting Urahara's explanation and nearly running the crafty shop owner over in his haste.

"What appears to be the problem?" asked Urahara, lifting his hat and fanning his face with it.

"Tenchou, there's no rice!"

"I thought we just bought rice last week—"

"As you said, Tenchou, we did purchase rice last week, however the exact whereabouts of thirty kilos of rice remain unknown—"

"How do you misplace thirty kilos of rice?" Hitsugaya mumbled to himself, with one eyebrow raised in curiosity, before turning his attention to a flock of birds that flew over the city. "I wonder how Matsumoto is doing? She should be back at the office right about now…"

0-0-0-0-0

"Taiiiichoooooouuu! Matsumoto reporting for duty in tip top condition!" Matsumoto called from outside of the 10-bantai taichou's office, knocking rather loudly. She was late—not her usual thirty to forty minutes late, but more like two hours late. "Taichou! Yoo-hoo?"

"Oh, Matsumoto-fukutaichou, good to see you back," bowed Nanao, as she passed by with a large stack of papers. "Have you recovered completely?"

"Yup, yup, good as new—"

"Kyouraku-taichou, get your lazy self back in that office!" Nanao commanded, turning her focus from Matsumoto momentarily.

"But Nanao-chan," Shunsui whined.

"Stop crawling around on the floor and get back to work! These evaluations were due last week!" the formidable fukutaichou ordered.

"Yes, ma'am…" he groaned childishly, as he crept back into his office.

"Sorry, what were you saying, Matsumoto-fukutaichou?" asked the overly organized 8-bantai fukutaichou.

"Perfect health, that's me," Matsumoto smiled nervously, a sweat drop forming on her forehead as she waved her hands helplessly. "Ooh, taichou, is that you? Yes, I think I hear my lovely taichou calling me. Good luck with those reports, Nanao-chan!"

Matsumoto could care less whether her taichou got mad at her for entering without permission. "Sheesh, she can be scary," Matsumoto sighed, as she slid into the snow haired taichou's office, half expecting a lecture. Getting none, she walked around the quiet office.

"Taichou?" she called. "Taichou, where are you?"

Matsumoto walked around the chairs, lifting up the blankets and looking under the cushions.

"Taichou?" Matsumoto called, walking over to his desk, picking up various pieces of paper, examining them, then returning them with disinterest. "Hmm, I wonder where he went…"

"Nanao-chan?" called Matsumoto walking back out into the hallway in search of the 8-bantai fukutaichou.

"…That's why I told you to get it done sooner!" shouted Nanao angrily.

"But Nanao-chan, Yama-jii is on my case nooooooowwwwwww," Shunsui whined.

"This is what you get for going out drinking with Ukitake-taichou on a weekday," she said, not giving him a single shred of pity.

"Oh, Rangiku-chan, you're back?" squealed Shunsui excitedly. "Feeling better?"

"Yes, thank you, am I interrupting something?" she asked.

"YES!! NO!!" came the simultaneous response, the negative obviously coming from a Shunsui that was trying to avoid a lecture.

"We mustn't make our guest feel unwelcome," said Shunsui jollily, laying the chivalry on thickly as he offered Matsumoto a chair. "What can we do for you?"

"Have you seen my taichou?" Matsumoto asked curiously, running her fingers through her hair lazily.

"Now that you mention it," Nanao said looking up to the ceiling, and chewing on the end of a brush. "I think he hasn't been in the office for about a week."

"Really? That's unusual…"

"Taichou, do you recall anything?" commanded Nanao. "You're sometimes here with Ukitake-taichou drinking at night, right?"

"Yeah…I mean…oops. Looks like the cat's out of the bag. Can I plead the fifth?"

"Just get on with it! When was the last time you saw Hitsugaya-taichou?!"

"Let's see…today's Thursday…Last week Thursday…I didn't see him then. Monday, I know I saw him…Maybe Monday or Tuesday. Monday I know I definitely saw him. Tuesday I think I may have seen him, but I could have just been drunk…"

"Well, I can tell you that he's not in the taichou meeting," Nanao offered, pushing her glasses slightly up the bridge of her nose. "It was cancelled at the last minute. Yamamoto-soutaichou said something about finishing bantai evaluations for all EVEN NUMBERED BANTAI," Nanao emphasized loudly towards a certain fidgety taichou.

"…What….?"

"Taichou!" she said exasperatedly, but noticing Matsumoto's momentary moment of panic, "Oh, but don't worry, Hitsugaya-taichou already finished 10-bantai's evaluations ages ago, unlike SOME PEOPLE HERE!"

"Oh, I see…" Matsumoto said quietly.

"Matsumoto-fukutaichou, is something wrong?" Nanao asked concernedly.

"Yeah, Rangiku-chan," chirped Shunsui. "You're usually a bit more lively…?"

"Nothing, thanks anyway though," Matsumoto said, disappointment evident in her voice.

"Sorry we couldn't be of assistance."

"No, not at all. I guess I must have been more tired than I thought I was," Matsumoto said, a sad smile gracing her face for a moment, before walking out of the 8-bantai office.

"…Hey! Don't think you're getting away, taichou!" shouted Nanao, chasing the sakura haori wearing taichou that was trying to escape with an aloof Matsumoto, lost in her thoughts.

"And I thought I'd surprise him today too," thought Matsumoto gloomily. "I wonder where he could be….? I checked the training area before I came here—he wasn't there. There's no taichou meeting and if Yamamoto-soutaichou wants those evaluations, then he's probably not meeting with the soutaichou now…Where did he go?"

Matsumoto wandered back into the familiar 10-bantai office that despite its sparse appearance, somehow looked more lonely and empty than she was used to.

"Was taichou's existence really such that it made that big of a difference? I mean, he only really sat there, read, and signed paperwork—not exactly high quality conversation and bonding going on here," she wondered. "Maybe it was his mere existence that made me feel safe and at home…"

Matsumoto stood behind the chair looking at the papers on his desk once again, flipping through the files and folders in the hopes that they would tell her where the 10-bantai taichou had disappeared to. Suddenly Matsumoto remembered a drunken conversation with the other handsome white haired taichou, Ukitake. The sickly taichou had volunteered some information that made no sense at the time, but maybe…

"Well, it's not that unusual for Hitsugaya-taichou to disappear for days or weeks at a time. Sometimes he finds something that he wants to investigate immediately and leaves without warning. I think he mentioned something about a locked drawer…"

"Well, there's only one place that he locks," Matsumoto said aloud to no one in particular, looking around the office. "All the file cabinets are unlocked, the shelves are open, as is this middle drawer for brushes, that drawer has office supplies—which leaves this drawer…"

Matsumoto gazed at the bottom drawer of the desk. On it was not a typical reiatsu seal, but an ordinary looking lock-and-key desk lock. "Hmm…"

Matsumoto looked at the lock, then she ran her hand on the inside of the desk—no luck. She ran her fingers under the bottom of the drawer—bingo. Under the desk, the key had been stuck by a magnet. Pulling the key, she carefully inserted it into the hole, making sure not to dent the lock or key. Surprised that it actually opened the drawer, she returned the key to its original place before proceeding to look at the contents.

The first thing she discovered shocked her. It was a pad of paper—the same pad of paper that she had given to her taichou one Christmas. It read 'From the desk of 10-bantai taichou, Hitsugaya Toushirou' at the bottom and was embossed in glittery blue ink. Next to her personalized message was a chibi Hitsugaya doodle that she had drawn and taken to the printer's to make into a pad. This chibi Hitsugaya was of course round and cute with a little Hyourinmaru on his side, but just the fact that it was sparkly and well, gaudy, even by Matsumoto's standards, Matsumoto was surprised that he hadn't thrown it away.

In fact, what shocked her more was that he had been using the pad. The sticky residue that held the pad together hung several millimeters off the edge and Matsumoto even noticed a letter that had yet to be mailed under the pad. The glittery motif was easily visible through the thin envelope that contained it. She couldn't read anything written, nor was there any address on the envelope.

Hoping to find another letter, she rummaged a bit and a sheet of paper slid out from somewhere. Picking the paper up curiously, she noticed it was a memo from the soutaichou.

"What do we have here?" she said, examining the seal, before unfolding the memo.

"Drafting for Deployment to the Material World. Per the direct order of the Soutaichou, Yanamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni, 10-bantai taichou, Hitsugaya Toushirou, effective immediately, you are to be deployed to the Material World until further notice. Sources have confirmed the existence of Aizen Sousuke in the Material World. He is under suspicion for making possible contact with the humans and should be monitored by the Gotei 13. Upon receiving this message you are to report to the Grand Hall of 1-bantai. Preparations are complete. Your mission: To investigate possible interaction between the humans and ex-taichou accused of treason, Tousen Kaname and …Ichimaru Gin…Report immediately..."

Matsumoto looked at the top of the memo. "That's around the time Nanao-chan and Kyouraku-taichou said he stopped showing up…" Matsumoto clutched the paper tightly, the clock ticking in the background almost ominously, as she watched the overcast day turn cloudy and the roll of thunder bellow deeply. Rain came as suddenly as the thunder and change in weather. Matsumoto walked over to shut the window. The downpour seemed to envelope everything in a thick, dull gray. The air was thick, almost stifling for the troubled fukutaichou.

"Gin…Gin…What are you thinking…?" she thought as she slid the delicate windows shut.

To be continued…

A/N: Yes, I am evil, leaving you all at a cliff hanger. Sorry I've been so slow at updating. I've had some personal stuff going on and with the start of the semester, things have been hectic to say the least. I'm sorry, this is just a teaser, I promise there will be more—people have been needling me about updates and I'm so bad at updating. Please, I know this chapter is short, but to tie you sap junkies of bad fiction over until the next update—I throw you this morsel. Thanks for all your support up until now. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu –Mayonaka no Taiyou