Weird as it may sound this chapter is a bit rushed. I'm going on trip soon and I just wanted to get this up before then so I haven't done a real edit yet. But it should be readable, and hopefully enjoyable. I will certainly do a little update on the chapter when I get back home.
A whistling tune travelled into the impromptu dining room that the grim reapers had set up. It was a jaunty melody that was filled with happiness at the possibilities of a new day. With the right kind of instruments it could probably be interpreted as energetic ballroom dance music.
Evadne hoped that she was allowed to jam her stupid chopsticks that made no sense into the throat of whoever was responsible for torturing her eardrums with cheerfulness when she was frustrated and sleep-deprived, going to bed angry wasn't a good idea.
When Lucy entered with a smile on her face Evadne glared at her aggravating wooden eating utensils and snapped them in half.
"What're you so happy about?" Beileag yawned while distractedly putting butter on a carrot. She'd been busy rebuilding the part of the fourth division barracks that she'd destroyed and it was taking longer than expected. Probably because Beileag was kind of crappy at constructional labour and Richard denied her any help. To her credit however the redhead wasn't complaining in the least. She just faced the unfair task with steady determination.
"I've got a…" Lucy halted herself from declaring that she had a date when she remembered that the room was still filled with at least three people that would probably frown upon any closer interactions with their hosts. "…aehum, an important meeting with one of the medic shinigami." She lied horribly. Luckily Evadne and Nicodéme, who was busy looking through some papers, didn't care enough to notice and Beileag barely had the concentration required to put the coffee beans she believed to be jam on her breadless cheese.
The one that worried Lucy most however was sitting with his back to her. Richard had most likely heard the lie and seen through it. But for some reason he wasn't reacting to it. That made the green haired medic wary of even entering the room.
As she considered just running away to her meeting a little earlier than planned Richard abruptly leaned back so far in his chair that he stared at her with an upside down smile, pieces of an omelette sticking to his cheeks.
"Morning little Lucy! Come on in and have some breakfast." Despite his jolly and welcoming attitude Lucy made herself as tiny as possible while still standing upright.
"I'd rather…" She futilely tried.
"I insist." Richard quickly countered with a kind voice. Lucy shivered as a dark image flashed before her eyes.
"We've got a great selection between the Japanese food the shinigami provided to us and all the traditional European breakfast items we brought." The grey haired captain continued. "Now sit and eat." He kicked out a chair for her to sit on. "You're gonna need it for your big meeting."
Reluctantly Lucy sat down next to her superior with Beileag hazily joining in on the medic's left side.
"Ok then, everybody's here now." Richard said happily. "Lucy's going to a meeting and my dear vice-captain is continuing her experimental career as a carpenter. Me, I'm going to try to fit in three different divisions today. What about you two?" He asked Evadne, now shamelessly scarfing down rice with a spoon, and Nicodéme, who answered with a dignified voice.
"We shall begin the work of cross-referencing the results of your interviews with the actual reports that were made in regards to the incident." Richard smiled broadly at the lieutenant.
"We sure are lucky to have you with us to keep this whole thing properly organised, lieutenant Lumiére. I can't help but wonder how captain Kneller is doing without you."
Nicodéme shuddered and looked down at his plate gloomily. "I rather we not discuss that. It'd be bad for my nerves." Richard let out a singular loud laugh but left it at that and just resumed to expertly pick up nori with his chopsticks.
Lucy quietly took a very small portion of broiled fish and nervously ate it, afraid that the third division captain would suddenly call her on her date. She ignored any attempts at conversation, not that there were all that many, and finished her breakfast a little too quickly.
"Well, that's it I gotta run now." She squeeked and stood up. To her everlasting horror so did Richard.
"I'm finished too." He still had half a plate left. "Three portions are enough for me." He smiled down at the medic. "Walk with me 4th seat Fairchild." He said kindly while putting a hand on her shoulder. Lucy would rather have a bear-trap close on her. "Make sure that my idiot gets to her job." Richard told Evadne, now glaring at the Japanese food while chewing on some toast, and Nicodéme before leading Lucy out of the room.
"You're so tense, you know that right?" Richard asked conversationally.
"Mhm." Lucy stiffly muttered as they walked out of the third division. To her great relief that's when Richard let go. Unfortunately before she could sprint off Richard bent down so their faces were on the same level, forcing the medic to lock eyes with him.
"Now, I'm gonna make something very clear for you." Lucy's paranoia wasn't needed to make Richard appear terrifying despite the kind smile. "Getting closer to the shinigami is completely ok with me. I think that our two branches have been too hostile against each other for too long. But I would keep it a secret if I were you. Other people might not approve." He jerked his head at the barracks they'd exited. "Just make sure that you do your duty and everything will be fine. Got it?"
"Yes captain sir." Lucy said with a voice so quiet it was barely a whisper.
"Good. See you later then." And like that Richard strode away while whistling the same happy tune that Lucy had been making earlier.
The green haired girl stood in place and shivered for several minutes. Being so close to the third division captain was always a nerve-wrecking experience. Eventually she remembered that she was supposed to be somewhere and hurried away, forcing thoughts captain Hawkins out of her mind.
She slowed down when she was near the fourth division and did her best to straighten out her hair before walking up as elegantly as possible to her date. To her disappointment however Hanatarou wasn't waiting outside his division's main entrance. Instead she came face to face with the fourth division captain, Unohana Retsu, and an extraordinarily tall young woman with light gray hair.
"Good morning Fairchild-san." Unohana greeted her with a wave and a smile. "This is my lieutenant, Kotetsu Isane."
"Good morning." Isane said with a kind voice. Though Lucy could notice a tiny note of apprehension.
"I guess that they're still not used to us." The grim reaper figured before returning the salutation. "Morning. Ehm, have either of you seen Hanatarou? We're supposed to… ehm… meet."
"I'm sorry Fairchild-san." Unohana said apologetically. "7th seat Yamada is pre-occupied with an assignment that could be considered his specialty."
"That's one way of putting it." Isane thought while imagining Hanatarou toiling away in Soul Society's sewers.
The disappointment made Lucy's face sink a few notches. "Oh." Was all that she could say while thinking about how crappy her morning was turning out to be.
"He asked me and Isane to apologise on his behalf and to invite you to a certain meeting." Unohana continued, undeterred by Lucy's sullen expression.
"Meeting? What kind of meeting?" Lucy asked, mildly interested. She just wanted to try to salvage what was looking to be a failure of a day.
Unohana smiled pleasantly. "Walk with us would you, Fairchild-san." The medic captain took the lead with the lieutenant and grim reaper following her, allowing Lucy to really appreciate how very tall Isane was compared to her own stupidly short stature. Unbeknownst to Lucy, Isane was similarly cursing how freakishly tall she was.
Neither woman voiced these concerns so Unohana could speak up without interruptions. "Now then Fairchild-san. Let me tell you about the Shinigami Women's Association."
Staring out into a dark, gray and, most importantly, endless desert for hours on end would be considered horribly boring and mind-numbing by most normal people. For Coyote Starrk however it was a perfect time for experimentation.
The experiment being to see how far into unconsciousness he could slip while still standing and without Lilinette, who was chattering away beside him, noticing. So far it was going pretty well.
Yes, trying to sleep while on guard duty isn't exactly the most responsible thing to do. But Starrk is the former primera espada, capable of battling multiple shinigami captains at once. Even though he is basically sleeping his finely honed senses would alert him of any approaching presence and his near instantaneous reflexes would allow him to meet it properly.
"You're sleeping on the job, aren't you?" Harribel asked with a harsh and disappointed voice as she appeared beside him.
"Huh?" Starrk muttered with a low voice. He then let out a howling scream of pain as Lilinette sent a sharp kick into his crotch.
"Lazy bastard! You haven't heard a single word I've said!" The tiny girl arrancar yelled while stomping the ceiling they were standing on in frustration.
"Actually," Starrk grunted. "I heard the first one and a half sentence and then it got too boring to listen to." Lilinette once again kicked her other half's groin. This time he fell down writhing in pain.
Harribel ignored her comrade's predicament. "Lilinette, I have some important issues to discuss with Starrk in private. In the meanwhile I want you to go do a routine check-up on the guards."
Lilinette's face beamed at the prospect of responsibility as it meant that she was trusted. So without further ado she jumped away to carry out her task not knowing that Harribel had already done it minutes earlier.
"Stop being so pathetic and get up." The dark-skinned arrancar said without sparing Starrk a single look.
"A little sympathy would be nice once in a while you know. Might make you somewhat less frightening." Starrk said as he begrudgingly stood up.
"Me being frightening is what's keeping this place from falling into chaos." Harribel countered. "If the others didn't fear me, and you for some reason, they would've rebelled after they saw us being friendly with Inoue-sama."
Starrk glanced sceptically at her. "You sure? They didn't seem that upset to me."
Harribel met his gaze with fierce eyes that were enhanced by her frightening mask. "You don't take the time nor make the effort to listen to them. Apache, Mila-rose and Sun-sun have informed me that there's talk of us consorting with the enemy."
"I thought that we told them about what Orihime-san did for us and of Aizen's betrayal."
"We did but our word isn't enough apparently." Harribel was clearly insulted by the lack of trust but Starrk decided not to push the subject any further, allowing Harribel to continue on her own. "Basically there seems to be three different opinions in our ranks. Some have taken the Aizen's treachery as a sign that we can't trust anybody from outside our own kind and that we're weak for taking a liking to Inoue-sama. Then there are those that don't quite believe that Aizen would betray us and suspect that we're just trying to cover up our own failure to protect him."
"So why are they staying?" Starrk asked plainly.
Harribel scoffed. "Fear of death, obviously." Starrk nodded in understanding. The desert of Hueco Mundo wasn't a terribly safe place for arrancar right now.
"And the last faction?"
"They believe our story but they're wary of any interaction with non-arrancars. Especially Inoue-sama."
Starrk sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Well, that's understandable. To hear that there's a being with true power of life and death isn't exactly the most comforting news."
They stood in silence for a few moments and pondered, for possibly the thousandth time since it'd happened, what Orihime had done for them and what it meant.
Harribel broke the silence. "The point is that we are disorganised and unless we can do something about that I'm not sure that there's future for us in the long-term perspective. For now the weaker arrancar will follow us, even cheer us on in battle. But unless we can create a more concrete organisation they'll eventually turn on us in belief that they could do a better job."
Starrk nodded. "So you think that we should take the offer that Orihime-san gave us?"
"I believe that it would be beneficial to have allies in the human world. I also believe that it would be easier to convince the others of this than if we were talking about the shinigami. The problem is that we would need a solid reason for any kind peace treaty to be accepted by the majority of arrancars."
"Well, Orihime-san and the quincy did have suspicions about the threat they're facing being related to the constant attacks we have to endure." Starrk suggested with a half-distant voice.
"Right. But without any further evidence I doubt that anybody would be inclined to believe us. We need an investigative group that can brings us what we need." The dark skinned arrancar stated matter of factly.
Starrk yawned. "Can we afford the man power needed for such a group?"
"No." Harribel grunted. "And it would be best if it was carried out by somebody from outside us espada. There's a greater chance that they'll believe us then. Which is really…"
"Frustrating?" Starrk finished.
Harribel sighed, clearly annoyed. "I miss the days when idle threats, a solid rank and maybe a rise in reiatsu were enough to get everybody in line."
"Wouldn't know anything about that." Starrk replied lazily and then he narrowed his eyes. A large mass of shadows were approaching in the distance. "Today's struggle is approaching so we'll have to continue this conversation at a different time. Always a pleasure Harribel."
"Something like that." Harribel blurred away as Starrk leaped off the Las Dias' roof, getting ready to battle the oncoming hostile hollows.
Unknown to either of them a third presence had been listening in on the conversation. Hidden away under a cloak that masked reiatsu, one of the few remains from Las Noches, she had skulked in the shadows, a practice that she was getting good at. She had heard everything and once the two former espada parted a course of action had revealed itself to her. She blurred away to begin preparing her task. One did not enter the human world without preparation.
"Nice office you have here captain Kuchiki. Much neater than some of your comrades." Richard said jovially to the stone faced captain, whom had greeted him but remained silent afterwards.
Richard made a note of it as he pulled up a seat for himself.
"So, you ready to answer some of my questions then?" Richard asked.
"Yes. You may proceed with your interview." Whatever Byakuya was feeling about the situation he was hiding it expertly. Richard preferred this over the ones that had implied threats on his person.
"Right then. Let's start with you recounting the events in your own words. I hear that you were especially close to it all due to your relation with one Rukia Kuchiki."
"If you wish to phrase it that way." Byakuya answered stoically as was his nature.
"And how would you phrase it then?" Richard asked sincerely.
"I acted out of responsibility due to Kuchiki Rukia's connection to my clan. Whatever relationship I have personally to her was of no consequence for my actions during the events that you are referring to."
"So you were only acting out of duty for your clan?" The gray haired reaper hid his sceptisim well.
"Correct." Byakuya answered.
"Well, then. With that perspective in mind I'm certain that your story will be very interesting."
Though Byakuya's story was technically longer than most of the other people that Richard had interviewed so far it didn't take all too long for the sixth division captain to tell it. The reason being that he anticipated any and all questions that Richard might ask and at the same time he described the events very clearly.
Smiling friendly all the time Richard wondered if Byakuya didn't just want him away from his office.
Within little over half an hour Byakuya had finished his tale. "I trust that is everything you need to know."
Richard nodded. "Pretty much, at least on an informative level. I still have a few questions regarding yourself."
"Oh." Byakuya said with narrowed eyes.
"Yes. My superiors felt it important that I take note of the shinigami captains personal view on matters along with their own retelling of events. So if you don't mind, please tell me what you could've done differently."
Byakuya stared a Richard for a minute. "I could've made some further investigation into the matter, though I doubt that would've changed much as Aizen's deception was far reaching and well done. The same is probable for a situation where I would've acted I Kuchiki Rukia's defense. The events that transpired already happened. Dwelling on what could've happened or been done is pointless."
"Oh, you think so." Richard said, his smile slightly broader than usual.
"I do. What other questions do you have to ask?"
Richard tilted his head a few millimetres to the right, smiling broadly. "What's your opinion regarding the human, Ichigo Kurosaki?"
"Kurosaki Ichigo is a bothersome boy that doesn't know his rightful place. But he does have his uses." The black haired shinigami answered bluntly.
Richard nodded. "Do you feel that there's any rush for the central 46 to be replaced?"
"Tradition dictates that they are needed to govern our operations." Byakuya answered curtly.
Richard gazed briefly into the shinigami's eyes. "I see." He said with a slightly smaller smile. "Who do you consider to be the best candidate for head captain?"
"Unohana Retsu, Shunsui Kyoraku and Ukitake Juushiro are all suitable candidates. Of them I would consider captain Unohana the most fitting due to her experience and skill."
While Richard had been courteous enough to not press the other answers, despite them kinda obviously being only halves of full answers, this time he couldn't resist. "Are there any other reasons why captain Shunsui and captain Ukitake wouldn't fit the bill, so to speak?"
Byakuya narrowed his eyes yet again. "Captain Shunsui is too frivolous and captain Ukitake's has health issues that would not be desired in a head captain. I am not aware of what process you grim reapers have but Captain Yamamoto set a high standard for us shinigami and we do not wish to just blunder into the decision."
Neither said anything after that for a few minutes. Byakuya's stoic expression just met with Richard's smiley face. Then Richard stood up.
"Thank you for your co-operation captain Kuchiki. I believe that I have everything I need from you right now." He said perfectly naturally, though Byakuya noted that the grim reaper's movements were a bit stiff.
"It is my duty." The shinigami captain said with a voice that clearly held a silent 'Get out of my office now' behind it.
"See you around." Richard walked out of the office without the slightest bit of indication that he'd been anger or that he'd lost some kind of contest. In short, Richard was good at hiding his feelings.
Lucy felt very intimidated where she was sitting right now. It wasn't because she was sitting next to Unohana, she'd gotten kind used to the medic captain's strange aura of motherly friendliness and paralysing intimidation. It was basically everybody else around her.
This Shinigami Women's Association thing was apparently just an excuse for all the highly positioned female shinigami to meet and chatter. At least that's what it looked like to Lucy who normally could barely gather up the courage to speak with any officers outside her own division that were ranked above her. So sitting in on a meeting with several women ranked higher than her in a foreign area was proving rather taxing for her nerves. Adding to that there were quite a few that cast short glances her direction every now and then. It wasn't all that welcoming.
"Well, I guess I'd be a bit suspicious if the positions were reversed. At least these two aren't doing it." She glanced at Unohana on her right and then at a woman with black, braided hair and a blank expression. Neither was speaking or giving her odd looks so at least in her near vicinity she wasn't being ostracised. The only other reason she wasn't leaving this ill-planned thing was because she was genuinely interested in who the chair-woman of this group was.
As far as Lucy could tell both the two female shinigami captains were present and seated along with the other regular members. So whoever the chair-woman was she had to be a fierce person. Lucy was imagining flaming hair and three demonic eyes. Lucy's imagination tended to go overboard. So naturally she was mind-boggled when what appeared to be a six year old little girl with pink hair appeared at the head seat and declared the meeting open.
As quietly as possible Lucy turned to Unohana and whispered. "Ehm, Unohana-san is…?"
"Yes, that is the chairwoman of this group." Unohana quickly responded cheerfully.
"…ok." Lucy just stared at the little girl, who was now busy showing off rocks she thought looked like the shinigami captains' faces. At least there was a bespectacled woman reading through a protocol of their previous meeting, the interruptions from the chairwoman didn't seem to bother her very much.
Still trying to wrap her head around the situation Lucy nearly fell out of her seat when the pink-haired girl suddenly yelled out. "CANDY!"
The entire room went quiet and stared at the chairwoman.
"I smell candy." She yelled as an explanation and then she jumped on to the table they were sitting at.
Lucy stared bewildered as the chairwoman franticly crawled around on the table while sniffing the air like some kind of tracking dog. Too late did the sole grim reaper in the room realise that the strange little girl was moving towards her.
When the two came face to face everybody else stared at them but Lucy's frightened eyes were only focused on the terrifyingly hungry ones in front of her.
"Do you have candy?" The saliva-dripping girl asked energetically.
Not daring to do anything else Lucy slowly picked out a candy-bar wrapped in red. It was her favourite snack from back home and she had planned to share it with Hanatarou today but considering the direction things were going in that was unlikely to happen.
Lucy moved the candy bar around a little and the chairwoman's eyes followed it like a predator on the prowl stalking its prey. And continuing the animal metaphor the little girl's arm struck out like viper and ceased the candy bar so fast that Lucy didn't see it happening. And before Lucy could protest the kid had run back to her seat where she proceeded to eat her stolen snack chipmunk-style.
"Ehh… wha… but… what…" Lucy mumbled with her mouth hanging open.
As the day was still just starting this and it so far was turning out to be crap this might've been the last drop that would send her to her room where she would cry about how this place is horrible. Seconds before that happened however a gentle hand touched her shoulder.
"Sorry about Fairchild-san." Unohana said with a voice that was so full of motherly caring that Lucy found herself mellowing down. "Yachiru is a nice girl but still so very immature… and energetic. We've all gotten used to it and it's easy to forget what an experience it can be to first meet her."
"Tell me about it." Said a woman with strawberry blonde hair and bobs that looked like they were as big as Lucy's head. "The first time I met Yachiru she wouldn't stop poking me with a stick to see if I had ballons stuffed in my clothes."
"She won't stop offering up my seat as vice-chairwoman to other members of this group." The glasses-wearing woman said while glaring down at the snacking little girl.
"It took me ages to get her to stop calling me giant tree person." Isane recalled with a dejected expression.
And suddenly everybody shared short stories about how they'd been annoyed by Yachiru and Lucy felt a little more like part of the group.
When things calmed down Unohana turned to the grim reaper again. "There you see Fairchild-san. While we dearly love Yachiru, she does bring an unique and lively energy to the place, she can be very…"
"What ya talking about?" Yachiru asked loudly as she popped up from her seat, her smile covered with crumbs from her stolen snack.
"The policies regarding interaction between cross-continental branches of Soul Society." Unohana answered without missing a beat.
"Boring!" With that Yachiru disappeared from sight again.
"Say," A bubbly voice said from behind Lucy and someone pulled on her arm. The green haired reaper turned her head and found big bob lady there. "You grim people sure have some cool outfits. Makes you look totally slick. Do you have any extras."
"Ehm… maybe but probably not in your sizes ehm…"
"Ah, my bad. I am Matsumoto Rangiku, lieutenant of the tenth division." Rangiku shook Lucy's hand before returning to examining her outfit. "Ok, not my sizes. Do you have a list of materials. Maybe we could produce some ourselves."
"Matsumoto!" The bespectacled woman shouted. "I hope that you're not suggesting that we exchange our uniforms for something, for lack of a better word, foreign. No offense, Fairchild-san."
"None taken… I guess."
"Aww, come on Nanao." Rangiku pounted. "We'll just have some fun with them. You know, start a trend or something. Oooooh, we could put on a fashion show!"
"Yeah, that'd be cool." A short shinigami with short light-brown hair agreed. "We could make it some kind of international exhibition and runway." She enthusiastically suggested.
"What good will that…" Nanao began but was interrupted.
"We can charge money for seeing the show." The doll-faced shinigami on Lucy's left said. "Women will be interested in the outfits and men will be interested in the women wearing the outfits."
Nanao considered the proposal. "That's true. But you do know that we'd need to make all the clothes ourselves and right now isn't a good time for things like this."
Rangiku waved off the vice-chairwoman's protest. "Pishposh. It'll lighten the mood around here considerably and we're just starting to plan. The grim reapers will be long gone before we're ready and we need Lucy here as a consultant before they leave. Right Lucy-san." The strawberry blonde smiled down at the kinda confused grim reaper.
"Yeah… sure, sounds fun." Lucy said with an astounded voice. The mood had shifted from annoying and soul-crushing to welcoming and lively.
"Then it's settled!" Rangiku shouted with an excited voice.
"No it's not!" Nanao countered but was ignored.
"Now then Lucy-san. What can you tell us about fashion in the west." Rangiku asked and suddenly Lucy found herself surrounded by women who were all honestly interested in her opinions and a part of her culture. And just like that Lucy's day, and perhaps the rest of her time on this mission, was saved.
"You called for me captain." Renji asked as Byakuya as he entered his captain's office.
As usual the sixth division captain didn't beat around the bush. "You have been interviewed by the grim reaper."
"Yeah, he sure was thorough. But I guess that's part of his job." Renji said.
"Is that how you would describe him?" Byakuya questioned. He explained himself when Renji's expression showed a lack of understanding. "I wish to get a better understanding of what kind of characters our guests are."
Renji scratched his head. "Why is that, captain?"
"I do not trust them or their intentions. I wish to understand them better so that I may be prepared for any possible ulterior motives they may have." The sixth division captain said it like it was the most natural thing in the world. "So, what are your opinions regarding Hawkins?"
Renji thought back to his only meeting with grim reaper and collected his thoughts and impressions "He was a professional all the way through the interview. Never once did he display as the slightest hint of surprise at my actions nor did he express his own opinions. He just asked questions and follow-up questions while taking note of everything I said." Renji thought back and remembered another trait the grim reaper possessed. "He smiles a lot too. The smile in itself wasn't all that unusual. In fact, it was pretty natural. But still, I couldn't lose the feeling that there was something behind it."
"You mean like with Ichimaru?" Byakuya asked, remembering the former third captain.
Renji shook his head. "No. That guy could hide his entire being perfectly behind his smile. This Hawkins guy isn't hiding anything with his smile as much as there's something just waiting to be unleashed once he drops it. And that just seems to be what's natural for him."
"And what do you believe he was ready to, as you say, unleash?"
"Well," Renji hesitated for a moment, not entirely show to voice his thoughts. "It felt as though if I gave him any reason for it he wouldn't hesitate to cut off my head." Renji expected his captain to ask for an explanation. Instead the head of the Kuchiki clan simply nodded.
"I agree and I believe that I got a more advanced version of the same feeling."
Renji raised an eyebrow at the comment. "Captain. Did you provoke him?"
Byakuya didn't flinch at the accusation. "I merely stated my opinion to which he reacted. How he chose to handled the situation is his prerogative." Renji hated it when there was a slight possibility that his captain was joking. He never knew how to react.
"But sir, we have captain Zaraki. So shouldn't we give them some leeway in regards to having odd people in high positions?"
Byakuya's gaze hardened so minuscule that it would've been impossible to notice for most people. "They have not yet allowed me to contact Rukia despite the fact that she failed Ukitake's summons. I believe it is because they don't trust me. Suspicion begets suspicion." He mellowed down as subtly as he flared up. "I believe that it is wise to keep a close eye on these grim reapers. If you feel prepared for it I have orders for you regarding that purpose."
Renji immediately straightened his back. "I assure you captain that I'm ready to follow any order you give me."
"Good. I want you to investigate what documents it is that they've gone through. See if there's anything suspicious in their investigation. Any strange patterns or a focus on any one particular element or anything you find odd enough to warrant further inquiries. I would see to this task myself but as we are under observation I cannot draw too much attention to myself. A lieutenant doing the same would be much less suspicious."
Renji bowed quickly and deeply. "I will see to the task at once."
Byakuya nodded. "Be careful, see to it that you are not discovered. Though you are more likely to perform such a menial task it would be best if they did not discover what we are doing."
"Yes captain." Renji bowed once again and left for his new task. Byakuya leaned back in his chair and spared a thought to Rukia's safety.
"Bye Lucy-san, see you tomorrow."
"See you later Lucy!"
"We'll talk more tomorrow Lucy!"
Lucy could only wave her hand in disbelief as the various shinigami women said their goodbyes. She'd ended up having quite a fun time with the SWA and gotten to know most of the members at least on a rudimentary level. And she couldn't help but wonder how often they used spontaneous ideas to get everybody in a good mood.
As she began skipping back home she took note of the beautiful evening sky. The meeting had taken up the entire day due to everybody being excited as all hell for a theoretical fashion show that Nanao would point out was poorly planned. Lucy had even forgotten about her cancelled date and it would probably had stayed out of her mind for a while longer if she hadn't literally run into Hanatarou as they both rounded the same corner.
"Hi… Lucy-san." Hanatarou stuttered out nervously, clearly worried about how upset she might be with him.
Instead of responding Lucy just sat there and stared at the black haired young man who had several dropped cleaning appliances scattered all around him. Her eyes scanned the scene for several minutes before sharply meeting Hanatarou's. "You smell like…"
"I know." Hanatarou answered with an embarrassed voice.
"And you were carrying a considerable amount of equipment used for cleaning purposes." She paused while her expression hardened. "I was told that you were doing an important duty. This doesn't look like it'd be important."
Hanatarou would've preferred to just stare down into the floor and mumble but he was too afraid of looking away from the green haired reaper. "I was scheduled to cleaning the sewers and couldn't get out of it and I didn't want you to know that I was doing something so demeaning." He half-mumbled.
"You know," Lucy said while standing up and dusting herself off. "If my day hadn't been so fun I would be upset rather than mildly annoyed that you didn't just tell me this up front and instead relied on others. But at least you did think up something for me to do with my day, so you get points for that."
Hanatarou blinked. "So… are you not mad at me?"
Lucy smirked. "Are you gonna treat me to lunch tomorrow?" Hanatarou nodded and smiled. "Then we're good." Lucy concluded. "Is there anything here that hasn't touched anything disgusting today?" She asked while Hanatarou stood up.
"No, there probably isn't." Hanatarou chuckled and Lucy joined him and they laughed together for a minute or two. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you myself and I'm sorry that we couldn't go on a… ehm… you know."
"Yeah." Lucy agreed softly. "It's ok. You were doing your duty. And duty is important, no matter how low some may see it." She teased. "Just be straight with me and we're good. See you tomorrow."
The two medics parted unaware that Richard had been sitting on a nearby roof to go through his notes in peace. Stopping only to watch Lucy and Hanatarou with interest. The gray haired captain smirked to himself. "Awkward medic romances sure are cute." He then stared down at the short personal opinions he'd written down for the day's interview subjects.
Byakuya Kuchiki: Controlled with superiority complex.
Sajin Komamura: Overly emotional.
Kyoraku Shunsui: Funny, drunk dumbass.
Clearly he wasn't all that impressed.
He stared after the shinigami medic whose silly nature had charmed their own green haired girl. "Hopefully we don't have to end up hurting him." He jumped down to street level and calmly walked home while whistling to himself.
The world was fuzzier than it usually was whenever Orihime woke up from deep slumber. But she was still pretty sure that she wasn't in her own room. For one thing the bed was somewhat bigger than hers was. And the sunlight came in from a different angle. And there was no room in her apartment that had such a strong Ichigo-smell. And...
Orihime sat up and opened her eyes so much that they resembled saucers. Shock took a hold of her and all she could do was to slowly turn her head to survey the room she was in.
It was as her nose had told her. She was in Ichigo's room. More specifically, she was in his bed.
Her face turned red as her over-active imagination created various scenarios for how she'd ended up there at the same time as her memory of the fierce battle against Michael started surfacing. The happiness and nervousness of waking up in her crush's room mixed together with a stressful sense of urgency that she needed to inform somebody about what had happened and a sudden exhaustion from previous events which she apparently hadn't recovered fully from.
It left her kind of discombobulated and confused as to where she was supposed to turn with the new information in her head. Then she heard that someone was approaching the room fast. It wasn't actually all that fast, she was just exaggerating things.
"What if it's Kurosaki-kun? Does he know that I'm in his bed? It would be weird otherwise. Did he sleep in the bed with me? NO NO NO! That would be bad… I think. I need to tell him about Michael! Wait! Where's Rukia? If I'm here, Rukia should be here, I hope. He's getting way to close way too fast. Ooh, I need to put on some clothes. Where are my clothes? Wait, what am I wearing?"
The healer looked down and saw that she was wearing a white shirt that was a few sizes too big for her. Just like the room the shirt had a distinct Ichigo-smell just bursting out of it. Orihime's imagination went into over-drive and when the door opened up she pictured Ichigo smoothly wishing her good morning.
Once she woke up against Orihime would apologise to Yuzu for scaring her by fainting when she came in to check up on Orihime's fever.
There we go. Like I said, I'll probably do an edit update when I get home then the updates should be a bit quicker... hopefully. Hope you enjoyed this chapter so far. Have a nice summer y'all, preferably after you've reviewed this chapter.