Chapter 12:

The day of the Lieutenants' games arrived and everyone, even those not taking part were excited. Unohana set out snacks on a table for everyone and the competitors stood around chatting or trash-talking the other team. Renji kept telling Hisagi that his team was going down, but Hisagi smugly shook his head and told Renji that he was the one going down.

When Kira showed up, Renji flinched looking worried.

"Hey, Kira!" Hisagi waved. "Haven't seen you in a while. You ready to play?"

"Yup," he said with a nod. "I'm ready. Are you?"

"I'm ready to win."

Renji shot Rangiku a worried look. He pointed at Kira while his back was turned, shaking his head from side to side and started waving his arms, indicating his unwillingness to have Kira present for these games. Rangiku kicked him in response.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Don't go making him nervous now. Let him do his thing."

"Are you kidding? You were the one who thought for sure he'd lose this for us. The guy's been missing for two days. Something tells me he wasn't training during that time. He must have been curled up in a fetal position having a panic attack. There's no way we're going to win with him on our team."

"You don't know that," said Rangiku. "He might surprise you."

The first round was an obstacle course Ikkaku and several other people pieced together the past couple of days. Everyone had to run through it, but in sets. Five sets, one member from each team. Renji and Nanao were up first. Renji gave it his all and made it to the finish line first. The team with the most winners would take the point.

Kira and Hisagi were up last. Renji stood beside Rangiku, crossing his fingers and keeping his eyes shut. Before the game officially began, he had upped his bid, thinking Kira wouldn't show up. If they lost this, he was going to be out a lot of money.

The race began and Kira and Hisagi rushed through the course. The rope swing was the second-to-last obstacle and Kira got more distance from it than Hisagi. He landed in front of Hisagi and ran as fast as he could. They jumped over the last obstacle, the mud pit, and rushed to the finish line neck-and-neck.

A desire to show off rather than a feeling of worry overtook Kira and carried him over the finish line. He managed to pick up just enough speed to cross first.

"He did it?" Renji said in shock. "He actually crossed first?"

Rangiku cheered for her friend. "Whoo-hoo! Go, Kira!"

Hisagi looked at Kira and smiled. "Since when are you faster than me?"

Kira shrugged, panting. "Dunno. But that was fun, right?"

"Yeah, it was." Hisagi bumped knuckles with his friend. "I better step up my game if I want to beat you."

"Don't go easy on me just because we're friends."

"I'm not." Hisagi glanced to the side. "Rangiku's watching. I'm giving it my all. Hey, clearly, you're not holding back either."

Kira felt even more accomplished now. He had beaten Hisagi while he was going all-out. No one was taking pity on him when he won the race. He actually won and no one let him win. What a great feeling. It was even better knowing that Hisagi wasn't going to hand over victory that easily. It wouldn't be any fun if people let him win.

This was fun.

The next game went well, too. It was a search and find game where they had to match cards with corresponding ones scattered across the ground. Kira didn't lead them to victory, but he had fun playing the game. Rangiku was the one who won this time. Mostly because Hisagi was frozen in place when he caught sight of her chest as she leaned over the cards. Unable to move, he couldn't search for any cards and that cost them the game.

The next round brought Hisagi's team a victory, but Kira didn't mind. This was pretty fun.

For most of the game, he was only dimly aware that he was playing to win. He just wanted to play and have fun, not necessarily win.

Renji and Rangiku were worried that losing one of the games would discourage Kira but it didn't. He had a good attitude about it. Renji wondered what had gotten into him.

Perhaps playing games as a dog was therapeutic for Kira. Dogs didn't care about winning when they played. They just wanted to have fun. That was the point of their games. No winners, just fun.

It was also excellent training, too. That probably was what helped Kira cross the finish line first in his race against Hisagi. Crawling around for two days had strengthened muscles Kira rarely used. He had to get faster crawling on four legs if he wanted to keep up with Ichigo and chase after a ball. Now in an upright position, he could run more easily, but his time on all fours had given his muscles a boost. Now he was slightly faster than Hisagi.

Playing as a dog helped him get rid of his stress. Not to mention all those naps had him well rested.

He wasn't worried about winning. He wasn't worried about letting his team down. He just wanted to play the game and have a good time. The physical and mental training combined helped him cross the finish line first.

Renji tallied up the score and realized that their team was in the lead by one point.

"We're actually beating Hisagi's team. Nobody blow this!"

Rangiku put her hands on her hips. "Jeez, lighten up, would you? It's just a game."

"I've got a lot of money riding on this."

"Money? You placed bets on this?"

Renji bit his lip. "Um… So did Hisagi!"

"How typical. Throw the blame on someone else."

"Really? That coming from you?"

Ikkaku leaned over to Yumichika. "You think they know that the next game's about to start?"

"Think we should tell them?"

"Nah."

"You know what I heard, Ikkaku? I heard that Captain Hitsugaya came over to yell at the new guy in our Squad after he grabbed Rangiku."

"Oh?"

"Can he do that? He's not our Captain."

"He grabbed someone from Hitsugaya's Squad. Of course, he can yell at him."

"True. Plus, it was probably a blessing. If he informed the Captain about it, what do you suppose he would do?"

Ikkaku shrugged. "Don't know. But the guy is lucky he got told off by someone else. If he plans on disobeying Hitsugaya's orders, tell him that. I bet he fears Kenpachi more than Hitsugaya."

"I informed him that even though our Squads are so close together, we need him here and has no business going over there. I'll admit there aren't many women, if any, in our Squad, but what he did was vulgar, I have to say."

"Yachiru's the only girl in our Squad."

"Would you count her as a woman?"

"Hell, no. I don't know what I'd call her other than a child."

Yumichika saw Rangiku yanking Renji around by the ear and decided it was time to get their attention. "Guys! The next game's about to begin!"

"On it!"

"Ow!"

Hitsugaya looked up as a Squad member entered his office.

"Lieutenant Matsumoto at the games?"

"I let her attend. She did a good job yesterday, so I thought it was only fair."

"Speaking of which…" The Squad member set a stack of papers on Hitsugaya's desk. "She filled these out yesterday."

"Why are they here?"

"Not all of them were filled out correctly. Two of these have nonsense written in certain areas, and these ones are illegible. Looks like she scribbled down anything quickly just to get it done."

Hitsugaya sighed, scowl back on his face. If the paperwork wasn't legible, it had to be done over again. She tried to help him out, but she just ended up delaying the issue. This was why he wanted to get it done right the first time. Her method would get it done faster, but it would end up increasing their workload in the long run. It was just easier if he did it himself.

"Sorry, Captain." The Squad member could see his annoyance and felt bad for delivering more work for him to do.

"It's not your fault." Hitsugaya took the papers and started to read over them. "Rangiku's promised me that she would be helping me more often. Of course, if this is what her help looks like, I might as well do it all myself."

"I'm sure she'll put forth an effort, Captain."

Rangiku knew how to do paperwork. She has in the past, long before he was made Captain. Apparently, now that she had a diligent Captain, she saw fit to be lazy because only one person was needed to get it done. If they were both lazy, nothing would get done. Too bad she didn't see the point in having two hardworking people in the office.

The following day, Hitsugaya was looking forward to having Rangiku's help, as she promised. He had already started, thinking she would show up soon, but she didn't.

Half an hour later, the door opened and a Squad member entered, knocking against the side of the open door. "Lieutenant Matsumoto sent me here to help you complete the paperwork so you won't be stuck doing it alone, she says."

Hitsugaya's eye twitched.

This was her method of helping him? Sending someone else to do it for her?

Considering how he didn't want to be the only one working and how she filed the paperwork before, perhaps this was her best effort of handling the situation. However, this paperwork wasn't fit for Squad members. It was too advanced and they wouldn't know certain things.

"Never mind," he told them. "I'll do it myself."

They tried again the following day. Hitsugaya made Rangiku stay to do the paperwork with him and do it right. Her constant humming was too much of a distraction, so he finally kicked her out and said that he would do it himself, alone in the quiet.

Rangiku went off to do her own thing and Hitsugaya completed the paperwork correctly and in a timely fashion.

It was probably better this way.

Well, they do compliment each other, don't they?

The end!

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