I feel like the chapters are getting longer and longer. There's nothing wrong with that, but it just takes forever to type...
The reason I said this chapter might read weird is because it covers three different POVs (I have previously stuck with one character per chapter). Also, there is a new POV introduced.
Anyway, here you go.
"Oh, Rukiaaaa!"
Rukia barely had time to turn before Rangiku glomped her.
"Rukia, my dear, I have an excellent proposal for you!"
"Mmmfff…"
"What?"
"Gah!" Rukia pushed herself away. "I couldn't breathe!"
"Really? But Hitsugaya-taichou never has any problems breathing when I hug him. At least, he never says so."
"What are you doing in Thirteenth Company anyway?!"
"Well, I know things didn't go as planned yesterday night…"
"'As planned'? What are you talking about?"
"Oh. After the dinner date, Renji was going to take you to an inn or something so you two could have some fun. The date was just a cover-up to hide his true intentions…because your brother would kill him if he suspected…"
"I'll kill him! I can't believe it was all a ruse! That idiot!"
"Poor Rukia…let me clutch you to my bosom!"
"No, thank you. I don't want to suffocate again."
"Then can I help you kill the idiot?"
"Sure. I don't care."
"Awesome! I'll go round up some guests to come and watch. And I'll bring lots of sake!" Rangiku walked off.
"Hey, wait?!" cried Rukia, "What do you mean, 'guests'?"
…
For some reason, Renji felt an intense silent pressure. Being in the Sixth Company headquarters was getting him on edge.
He immediately knew why when he was called into Byakuya's office.
Renji was surprised to see stacks of papers on Byakuya's desk. Byakuya wasn't doing his paperwork? Byakuya Kuchiki, the resident work-a-holic?!
It was Renji's first clue that something was horribly wrong.
Renji wanted to ask why Byakuya was acting so out of character. But knowing Byakuya Kuchiki, it had to be done very delicately and with great sensitivity.
"Kuchiki-taichou, you've really fallen behind on your paperwork."
"That is precisely why I called you in here", said Byakuya, "Abarai, you're my fukutaichou. As repulsive as that may be, that makes you the second-in-command. I'm a busy man. I have an entire company to run."
"I know that, sir", Renji replied. Byakuya was talking in his usual monotone, but Renji was still getting apprehensive. I don't like where this is going…
"It's part of the taichou's duty to see that his fukutaichou's duties get done. Abarai, this paperwork is quite urgent. Get it done."
"Um…which stack?"
"All of them."
He…he hates me!!
"Do close your mouth, Abarai. You're gaping like a fish. It's unseemly."
"K…Kuchiki-taichou…"
"It's part of my job to make sure you job gets done, as I said. And since that paperwork is so important, you're not leaving here until it's all done. Now you had better get started. You don't go through paperwork very quickly."
The whole time, Byakuya's elbows had been resting on the desk, his hands clasped in front of them. He lowered them now, and his cold eyes locked directly onto Renji's. "That's an order."
A demon! He's a demon!!
…
"Hitsugaya-taichou, I'm going on a lunch break!" said Rangiku.
"What?!" The young taichou looked up from his desk irritably.
Rangiku was always forgetting that her taichou didn't know the meaning of the word 'break'. "I'm tired from work. I need to take a break and relax for a little while." Oh, wait…'relax' wasn't in his vocabulary either.
"How can you be tired?! You haven't done anything!"
"How can you say that? I've been in and out all morning!"
"Not doing anything important! You haven't done any of the work I gave you this morning!"
"I'll do it before I leave today, I promise! I'm a reliable person!"
From the look on Toshiro's face, that argument didn't convince him. At all.
"Hitsugaya-taichou…" said Rangiku sweetly.
He sighed loudly and with great exaggeration, to let her know just how annoyed he was.
"Thank you, sir. I'll be back soon."
Rangiku had a plan---and since she was the one who came up with it, it was a great and incomparable plan.
Her destination was Sixth Company. She'd already talked to Rukia, so now it was time to conspire with Renji. Really, she wasn't trying to cause trouble. She really was trying to help them win Byakuya Kuchiki's approval. But somehow, they managed to bungle everything!
She saw a strange and horrible sight, when she arrived. Renji was at a desk. Doing paperwork.
"You're doing paperwork? But you always seemed more like a fieldwork kind of guy." She shook her head. "And here I'd always thought you were so lucky to get a taichou who didn't hardly make you do any paperwork. He really slammed you, didn't he?"
She leaned against the desk, but her elbow bumped into one of the stacks. These papers knocked the other stacks askew. Renji jumped up in horror as papers spilled everywhere---all over the desk and all over the floor.
Rangiku looked at the mess she'd made. "Oops."
Renji was frozen in shock. Then he managed to say, "Those stacks were organized! He categorized every one of them!"
"Kuchiki-taichou did?"
"Yes! Yes, he did!"
"Oh." Rangiku hopped off the desk and started picking up papers. "Well, I'm sure it's not that bad. We'll just have to re-organize them."
"You don't understand. Have you ever seen his classification system? If there's a single paper out of order, he'll know. And he gets angry. Why do you think he does most of the paperwork himself? It's because he doesn't think anyone else is competent enough!"
"So then what's with the sudden change of heart? If anything, I thought his opinion of your competence had lowered." With one sweep of her arm, she knocked the papers from the desk onto the floor and set her tiny stack down on the cleared surface.
"He did this on purpose. He was setting me up for failure. He knew I'd mess up."
"But it's my fault these papers got scattered everywhere. If he tries to yell at you, I'll just explain to him. He seems like a reasonable and logical man."
"No, I would have messed up at some point anyway. I just can't sit down at a desk for a long period of time", Renji explained as they picked up papers together, "I get fidgety. And then I get careless with my work because I just want to get it over with. I wouldn't be surprised if I messed up on something before you came in."
"I'll need to go back and do my paperwork", said Rangiku, "Hitsugaya-taichou will keep bugging me until I do it. Oh, yeah. Rukia's angry with you because I told her the reason for the date was so you could do her later without her brother interfering."
Renji dropped some of the papers he was holding.
Then: "You what?! Rangiku…do you hate me…?!"
"No. How was I supposed to know you were deceiving the poor girl?"
"I wasn't deceiving her! But you didn't have to be so blunt!"
"Renji." Rangiku slapped another handful of papers on the desk. "I'm not going to be home this evening."
"So?"
"So both Izuru and I are going out tonight. It's Shuuhei's turn to host poker."
"That's tonight? And you didn't invite me?"
"Well, actually, that was the plan for last night, but I asked the guys to reschedule. I told them you were having trouble winning your nii-sama's approval. So they offered to help."
"Aw, come on, you can't get the guys involved in this, they'll just make things worse, and---hey, did you call him my nii-sama?!"
"He's Rukia's nii-sama. And since you and Rukia are married, that makes him your nii-sama, too. Your taichou is your nii-sama. Talk about awkward!"
"Somehow, Rangiku, you never make things any better. Look, it's unfortunate that we happen to be related, but don't ever call him my nii-sama!" Then Renji stopped and looked around.
"What are you doing?" asked Rangiku.
"I was expecting him to walk in with some smartass comeback. I've been expecting him to bust in every since you spilled these papers."
"Why? You make it sound like you want him to come in."
"Of course I don't, but he always appears when I don't want him to."
"But you're expecting it. Therefore, he won't come."
"What are you talking about?" asked Renji irritably.
"It's just like when you're Hollow hunting. You catch them by surprise. Wherever they don't expect you, that's where you are."
"…so you're comparing me to a Hollow."
…
Rukia was still fuming when she felt a tap on her shoulder.
"So…having marriage problems, huh?"
"H…Hisagi…!" cried Rukia in surprise.
"So what's the source of the problem?" asked Shuuhei.
"That's…kind of personal…"
"Oh. Well. It's not like I have any experience with these sorts of things."
Rukia and Shuuhei stood there awkwardly. Then Shuuhei said, "So…I'm going to go…I've got important, um, taichou stuff to do, so…see you later, Kuchiki-san…"
"Wait, why are you here?" asked Rukia, who was very confused.
"Oh. Rangiku. She asked me to come."
"Rangiku did? But why?" And why Shuuhei?
"She said you and Renji were having marital problems, so we thought we might try and help."
Who's 'we'? Do I even want to know? "I see."
"So what's it like, being married?"
"Oh. It's all right. It's not as nightmarish as people make it seem, but it's not heavenly bliss, either."
"I see. You're a noble, do you have to do any housework?"
"Oh. Yes. I do some."
"Really? But you're Kuchiki-taichou's sister. I didn't think he would allow that."
"Well, we had a falling-out when I ran off with Renji."
"Really?"
"Yeah. But we're getting along better now."
"Well, that's good…"
…
"Well, I'm going to go, before my taichou comes looking for me. He gets cranky when he has to do that."
"Hey, wait, you're not even going to stay to pick up the rest of your mess?!"
"Well, it's mostly good. Besides, you can do the rest on your own."
"Rangiku!"
"Oh, don't get all mad. You can consider this repaying me."
"Repaying you? For what?!"
Rangiku sighed like he was missing an obvious point. "I already told you that Izuru and I aren't going to be home tonight."
"Yeah. You're going to be at the poker game that you didn't invite me to."
"And there's a reason we didn't invite you! Renji, you and Rukia are free to come over in our absence tonight to use my house as you see fit. You can't do it at home with your darling nii-sama around, and last night didn't work out, so this is your next best option, right? Just go do your business, and come back home before your nii-sama misses you."
"Stop calling him my nii-sama!" snapped Renji, "And you're not playing any tricks? There's not going to be someone hiding in the shadows ready to pop out at me, is there?"
"You're so silly. I'm going to go find Rukia. The guys may have already gotten to her."
"Hey, I thought you said you were leaving to go do your paperwork?!"
"…oops. Slip of the tongue."
…
Meanwhile, Rukia was finishing her heart-to-heart with Shuuhei.
"…and then Rangiku tells me that last night was all a ruse just because he's feeling sexually frustrated!" Rukia fumed.
"A man has his needs", Shuuhei replied, "But I see where you're coming from."
"Thank you! You know, you're really easy to talk to."
"Um, you're welcome?"
I intentionally omitted Byakuya's POV from this chapter. He's not as oblivious as they all think.
