Lex and I followed Rangiku to the barracks of the Tenth Division. It was very large. There was a small desk that had a stack of paper work on it. There was a couch directly in front of the desk. We followed Rankgiku through the hallways and finally ended up at the kitchen. It was fairly small; just your everyday household kitchen. Rankgiku beamed proudly.
"Let me know if you guys need anything. I think I might go work on some paper work in the office."
Lex pulled out an electronic mixer, two circle cake pans, and a rubber spatula. I grabbed some cake mix, butter, milk, Crisco, powdered sugar, and a few other ingredients that I thought Lex might need. We began quietly working, mixing the batter. Lex poured the mixture into the two pans. Next was my favorite part: banging the air bubbles out of the batter. We began to bang the cake pans on the counter repeatedly. We stopped cold when we heard shouting coming from the direction of the office.
"Rangiku, get up NOW! You told me that you would help me finish that paper work. I am your captain! UGH! You never listen! All you do is sleep. Get up and get started now or I'm going to lock away all of your sake, is that understood?"
Lex and I shrugged our shoulders in unison and continued to bang the cake pans. Someone yanked open the door.
"What the hell are you people doing in here!"
Lex and I froze. I still had a cake pan in midair. Standing before us was a small boy with white hair and beautiful turquoise eyes. He wore a white robe over his usual Soul Reaper uniform. I could feel my color drain from my face. This was the boy from Szayel's book; this could possibly be my brother. The boy let out a groan.
"Again, what are you two doing?"
"Umm…makin' a cake." Lex said.
The boy's white eyebrow furrowed. We heard footsteps approaching.
"Captain, they're making the cake for my little party tonight. They are from the Sixth Division. I kind of stole them from Renji." Rangiku said quickly.
"You know we have a mission tonight." the boy sighed.
"I know, I know, but I promise I'll be done in time Captain Hitsugaya!" Rangiku pleaded.
"What about your paper work?"
Rangiku let out a childish huff and trotted out of the kitchen, possibly to do her paper work. I was still basically frozen in place. I couldn't move. Words couldn't come out of my mouth. Lex took the cake pan from my hands and placed them into the oven. Lex began to make her homemade buttercream icing. This, unfortunately, was the part that I couldn't help Lex. I desperately needed something to do, or I was going to explode. Hitsugaya absently walked over to the fridge and pulled out three cans of juice. He placed one beside Lex, who was meticulously blending the butter, Crisco, milk, powdered sugar, and pure vanilla extract. He tossed the other one to me. Luckily I caught it. Hitsugaya walked out of the kitchen. He began to fuss at Rangiku more for her obvious laziness. I lifted myself up to the counter and sat down with a sigh. I watched as Lex slowly poured the powdered sugar into the mixer.
"Hey Lennie, will you go ask them what they want on the cake please."
I nodded and was about to leave when the oven began to ding. I got the two cakes out of the oven. Lex handed me three spoons of icing. She already had one in her mouth. I stuck the spoon in my mouth and let the soft sweet icing fill my mouth. I assumed the other ones were for Histugaya and Rangiku. I walked slowly toward the office. The two of them were sitting at their desks. Rangiku looked extremely bored and was biting her pen. Hitsugaya was scribbling furiously, quickly going through is stack of papers.
"Umm, Rangiku, what do you want on the cake?"
"CHAPPY THE RABBIT!" she squealed.
She pulled out a picture of a misshapen rabbit that was pink. I took it from her and handed her the spoon. She took the spoon and licked the icing.
"This is so good! Come over here Captain. You have to try this."
Hitsugaya got up with a sigh. He stood in front of me and took the spoon. He put it in his mouth and raised his eyebrows.
"That is good." he muttered.
Rangiku stood up and bent down to look at us face to face. She took our heads and pressed them together. We were both thoroughly confused.
"You guys have the exact same eyes." she stated.
I could feel my heat rising to my face.
"OH MY GOD!" Lex screamed from the door way.
She ran and grabbed my arm and yanked me toward the kitchen, leaving a very confused Rangiku and Hitsugaya.
"That little guys your sort of, maybe, brother, isn't he?" Lex whispered.
I nodded. I gave her the chappy the rabbit picture. Lex understood that as 'I don't want to talk about it'. She began to ice the cakes with some piping bags that she found. I sat on the counter, completely zoned out. When I looked up the cake was done. 'Wow that was fast.' I thought. Lex had cut the cake into Chappy's head and used pink icing for the fur. She had even given it a cute little face. She went to get Rangiku to show her. When she saw it she screamed and squeezed the life out of Lex.
"It's so cute! You are amazing! You two have to stay for the party so I can show you guys off!"
Rangiku continued to beam at the cake before she went off and got ready for the party.
L&L
The three of us arrived at the Eleventh Division barracks fairly early. My guess is that they planned it that way due to the upcoming mission. A small girl with pink hair welcomed us. She was so cute. I learned that she was a vice-captain. That was really impressive considering her age. I met a few really nice women there. The one I hung around the most was a girl named Nanao Ise. She was the vice-captain of the Eighth Divison and the vice-president of the Shinijami Women's Association. Yachiru, the little pink haired girl, was the president. Nanao and I were talking about different books when a small girl approached her.
"Vice-Captain Ise, Captain wanted me to let you know that he needed to speak to you after the party."
The girl had a very soft spoken voice and glasses similar to Nanao's, the only difference was that her frames were a bit thicker and brown. She had short dirty blonde hair that had thick side bangs and flared out on the sides.
"Thank you Gabriella, why don't you stay for a bit? There are some other non-members here, so it should be fine."
The small girl nodded and joined our conversation. I looked at Lex who was talking to a really pretty girl with black hair that was short and spiked with two braids coming down the sides. I couldn't remember her name, but I knew that she was a captain.
"OKAY EVERYBODY! I have some exiting news!" Yachiru began.
Everyone got quiet. These women seemed to be, just a tiny bit, intimidated by her. I have to admit she was little, but she knew how to boss people around, in a nice way. Yachiru pulled out what appeared to be a large pink scrapbook.
"My mission is complete."
She opened the book to reveal tons of pictures of a tall man with long black hair and odd hair clips. I could tell he was a captain by the white robe he was wearing. He was, well, pretty.
"I have assembled this book full of my pictures of Byakuya Kuchiki!"
Everyone gathered around the scrapbook oohing and ahing at the different pictures. Lex walked over to me.
"That's our captain, right?"
I nodded my head.
"DAMN, that's our captain!"
I laughed and shook my head.
"If Captain Kuchiki finds out about this he is going to be very upset." Gabriella said softly.
Lex, Gaby, which was our nickname for her, and I began talked about nothing in particular when a small girl with dark, shoulder length black hair tapped on my shoulder.
"Do you know where Rangiku is, she told me it was urgent."
Before I could answer her, Rangiku ran up behind her and gave her a big hug.
"Rukia, I have a surprise for you!"
Rangiku ran off and came back holding the cake. She placed it on the table. Everyone crowded around the cake, squealing. Rukia pushed her way through the crowd. I saw her violet eyes grow large.
"Oh my freaking God, it's Chappy!"
Rukia began jumping up and down in excitement. I looked down when I felt someone pull on my sleeve. Yachiru looked up and Lex and I and said very seriously:
"You girls did a very good job. I think you guys are going to be in charge of my snacks from now on."
With that she left. Lex, Gaby, and I all shrugged our shoulders and laughed. Rangiku came over to us and wrapped her arms around us.
"I really owe you two, is there anything that I could do for you in return?"
The wheels in my head began to turn.
"If it's not too much to ask, is there any way that you could introduce us to the captain-commander?"
Rangiku tapped her lip in thought.
"Well, I'm sure that we will have a meeting tomorrow after our mission. I could take you there and you might be able to see him, but you might not get to speak to him. You won't be allowed in, but you could wait outside."
We both nodded in understanding and gave our thanks. We spun around and we heard the being snatched open. Hitsugaya stood there. He was out of breath and looked very annoyed. Yachiru ran up and began to hit him on the back.
"No boys allowed! No boys allowed!"
Hitsugaya appeared very frustrated and he brushed Yachiru off of him.
"Rangiku, you are late! Get your ass up and let's go."
Rangiku nodded and began to follow her captain. I ran and grabbed a piece of already cut cake and took it to Hitsugaya. He looked confused when I shoved it into his hands.
"One for the road?" I said with a smile.
Hitsugaya nodded and began to eat the cake as he walked to where ever he was going. He had a small smile on his face as he ate his piece of cake. I knew that he was probably a whole lot older than me, but he didn't look it. I felt in my heart that he was my brother…half brother. It was hard to explain, but I felt connected to him somehow. I was already growing to love him. I wanted to do what I could for him. It was hard to know what to do. Aizen, the one who we were working for, was obviously planning something against these people. I wanted to be able to look out for him, though I didn't know how I was going to do that.
L&L
Gaby walked us back to the Sixth Division barracks; we had no idea where we were. After we got our information on the captain-commander, we would leave tomorrow. I wished that we could have more time with these great people, especially Gaby. She fit in with Lex and I perfectly. I hoped that our actions wouldn't cause her any harm. I gave her a big hug before we went inside. That terrible sensation engulfed me again. I saw Gaby in an open field somewhere in France. Three, obviously drunk, men approached her. They tried to make advances on her, but she brusquely blew them off. When she was trying to leave, one of the men grabbed her wrist. Gaby fought back and was almost free when one of the other men put a knife to her throat. During the whole attack, she had a determined look on her face. She began to struggle again and the man holding the knife stumbled. His drunkenness made him falter and he fell on top of her, causing the knife to slit her throat. I let go of Gaby as the image began to fade. I gave a weak smile, trying to hide the fact that I was on the brink of tears. We said our goodbyes and Gaby was on her way. She got halfway down the street when she turned around, gave a big smile, and waved goodbye. The red sunset reflected off of her hair. I hoped that this wouldn't be the last time that I would see my new found friend.