Chapter 14: First Impressions and Contests

The Sun shined down on the Siritei with an especially bright light. Sakura blossoms had bloomed and little pale pink petals danced in the wind. The three new captains stood outside of Squad One's barracks and waited to be introduced. Heather and Hitaro watched the other captain pace back and forth with an edgy eagerness.

Hayden had redone her hair in honor of her debut and styled it into a long black braid and let it fall over her shoulder with a cherry blossom holding a couple of shorter locks on the right side out of her face. Becoming a captain didn't relieve her of being rather nervous about the whole thing. All she had to do was not screw up…that's not a tremendous feat. It can be done! There was a faint buzzing behind her and the fidgeting captain looked up towards the sakura trees above her. Masses of bees swarmed the blooming tree to pollinate and to report back to the hive. Youhna slowly backed away from the buzzing tree. She had a deadly fear of bees and she wasn't looking for any trouble. In her fear she didn't notice a giant bee fly pass her.

Buzz!

The girl jumped as it circled her for the gorgeous flower in her hair.

"N-no! Leave me alone!" She yelled, giving into her panic and swinging at the black and yellow menace. This angered the bee and it zoomed after the newly portrayed threat, armed with a sharp stinger. The girl ran faster in pure terror and got the attention of the other bees that now followed her for the flower. The doors of the division opened for the three captains, but no one was ready.

Heather was aiding her friend in the battle between Youhna and the bees and poor Hitaro was dragged into the whole thing for association.

The veteran captains turned their attention to the open doors and were shocked at the sight before them. Heather used slabs of the earth to smash half of the bees, Hitaro was casting a kido barrier against the insects, and Youhna was about to blast a kido herself.

"Way of Destruction number 31: Shakkahou!"

The scarlet orb of fire flew towards the remaining bees, blasting them all to pieces. The smoke cleared and the new captains turned their gazes to the veterans and smiled sheepishly. Even Head-Captain Yamamoto was a little surprised by the new captains' actions. All this trouble over a couple of bees? The old man sighed and introduced Heather first, followed by Youhna and last but not least, Hitaro.

Back in the lieutenants' meeting room, the entire group of male lieutenants (including Akira) were gawking at the new female arrival. The only difference between the new girl and a certain strawberry-blond bombshell was that the newbie had dirty blond hair and glasses.

Hayden swung her hair over her shoulder and she stared at her twin from across the room. Matsumoto smirked as she walked towards the look-a-like. Hayden did the same and they met each other half way. There was a pause of silence between the two women before they shook hands.

"Matsumoto Rangiku."

"Hayden Hiroshima."

"You drink sake?"

"Ah, I'm more of the margarita type."

Matsumoto smirked as did Hayden.

"Welcome to the Gotei Thirteen."

"It's a pleasure to be here."

…

Before Youhna and Heather could leave, they were approached by a woman with long black hair that was styled into a braid under her chin and placid blue eyes. Her features were gentle as she gave the two girls a warm smile and nodded to them in respect.

"Good morning Captain Lee, Captain Auouye. Welcome to the Gotei thirteen. You are cordially invited to the Siritei Women's Association Club for all female subordinates of the Gotei thirteen. I'm captain of the forth division and a member of the SWAC and you're just in luck, one of our meetings are to take place in the sixth division at 6:30 this afternoon. Please join us as our special guests."

The two captains accepted the nice woman's offer and walked away.

"Siritei Women's Association Club? Do you think the club's a sorority group or something?"

Heather glanced at the younger captain.

"I highly doubt it. These women will probably have many important issues to discuss."

How wrong she was!

A little girl with shoulder length pink hair stood in front of the group of female shinigami and cleared her throat while pointing to the inadequately drawn drawing of the financial downfall of the group while three poorly drawn dollar signs were illustrated at the bottom of the chart as the green line dipped down and was trespassing the borders of the chart and threatening to jump off of the page. They were broke and there was no denying it.

"We have no money." The girl pouted, stating the obvious. "How are we going to get some?"

There was silence among the mass of women until Soifon hesitated and then offered her idea.

"Would something like a competition do?"

Most of the members' faces showed hints of skepticism. Matsumoto smiled at her idea.

"Soifon's on the right track, though I don't recommend a competition. What she's thinking of entertainment…how about a concert?"

Everyone seemed to agree with her except for one thing that Lieutenant Ise pointed it out rather bluntly.

"Matsumoto, none of us can sing."

The strawberry-blond flashed her infamous smirk.

"I know someone who can…" She said, glancing sideways to Youhna who glared back at her.

There was no way she was going to get on a stage and sing in front of a bunch of men. Over the past year, the girl had really changed and she had lost her passion for singing. All she wanted to do was to meet her division and finish that stack of paperwork that was sitting beside her desk before the day ended.

"Youhna, will you-"

"No."

"Please?"

"No. I'm pretty sure you could think of something else."

"Maybe she's scared. I don't mind singing I'm actually quite good at it." Youhna rolled her eyes at Mai.

"Maybe I just don't feel like singing. Tell you what; let's have a friendly competition right now. You're first." Mai shrugged and stood up.

"You're giving me, too many things lately. You're all I need. You smiled at me and said, 'don't get me wrong I love you, but does that mean I have to meet your father?' When we are older you'll understand what I meant when I said, 'No, I don't think life's quite that simple.'"

"When you walk away you don't hear me say, 'Please oh baby, don't go.' Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight. It's hard to let it go. Simple and clean."

All the women clapped and cheered for Mai, who gave her following act a pseudo-innocent smile.

"Break a leg Youhna."

"That's Captain Auouye to you. Oh, and get ready to get thrown off of your pedestal."

The Captain stood up.

"This is also a song from Utada Hikaru."

Without further a due, she sang the song.

"In you and I there's a new land. Angels in flight, I need more affection than you know. My sanctuary, my sanctuary, yeah. Where fears and lies melt away. Music will tie. I need more affection than you know. What's left of me? What's left of me now? I watch you fast asleep. All I fear means nothing."

"In you and I there's a new land. Angels in flight. I need more affection than you know. My sanctuary, my sanctuary, yeah. Where fears and lies melt away. Music will tie. I need more affection than you know. What's left of me? What's left of me now?"

She stopped and the group roared in applause. Youhna smiled back at her competitor and gracefully sat down, beaming inside.

The little girl who was standing in front of them the whole time smiled at her latest idea.

"Let's do both Soifon and Matsumoto's idea! We can host a singing competition between Youhna and Mai!"

Both girls blanched. A contest?

"Oh no, no, no. I only did that to shut her up. I don't want to-"

"Well why not?" Heather asked. "You're obviously a pro when it comes to this kind of thing. Are you really going to give up to the likes of that thing?" She asked, pointing at the obnoxious monarch across the table.

"Oh fine. You win Matsumoto okay?" The lieutenant smiled happily.

"Then it's all set, all we have to do now is make the posters."

It was 7:30 p.m. when Youhna made it to her division. Outside she heard a large group of people talking amongst themselves for information.

"I thought we had a new captain and two new lieutenants. They still haven't showed up yet?"

"We've been waiting for hours; they're not coming let's go home."

"This whole thing was a waste of time."

"Why did we even wait this long anyway?"

Youhna emerged from behind the wall and made her way to the front of the crowd with Hayden and Akira following her. Her captain's haori fluttered in the afternoon wind as she spoke to the retreating crowd.

"I thought you guys wanted to meet your captain."

As the group of Shinigamis turned, they were hit with a wave of heat and flinched at the incoming fire bird that flew over them and ignited the torches and exploded into flames behind them. Now they could see their leaders better.

"Thank you, Xiomara."

A dark-skinned woman stood before them with long ebony hair and a small smile on her face. Her brown eyes lit up with the wavering flames of the torches. On her right, was another woman with long dirty blond hair and rimmed glasses that wore a lieutenant's badge. Beside her was a man with crimson hair and violet eyes stood on the left, also wearing a lieutenant's badge.

"My name is Youhna Auouye, but I prefer Captain Auouye. These are your new lieutenants, Lieutenant Hiroshima and Lieutenant Okaiza. I'm not one that's too strict or anything like that, I like to consider myself as a rather caring and helpful leader, but the rules for this division still apply and I will enforce them along with their consequences. I'm not one for many words, so you're dismissed."

The trio retreated to their offices where their paperwork awaited them beside their desks. Both Hayden and Akira had half a stack while their captain had an overwhelming two stacks. Wait a minute, two?

"When were there two? Earlier today there was one!"

The furious captain noticed a blue sticky note on the top of the second stack, addressing her.

Welcome to the Siritei Captain Auouye, here is the previous stack of paperwork from last week. The due dates for these papers are today, so I suggest that you finish them first. Good luck.

-Captain Hitsugaya of Squad Ten

"Good luck?"

She glanced at the clock. Fifteen minutes until 9:00 and that jerk had the nerve to wish her good luck? She would at least be up until 1:00 doing this stack. She sighed and got started.

Sign here, put your squad number there…

More papers were filled out as time passed in ink splotches and cursive letters. Oh how she hated writing in ink… Finally, Youhna had reached half way mark at about 11:30 p.m.. Hayden and Akira were already gone after they finished their stacks and left for their new homes in the division. Youhna longed to be with them.

She sucked it up and resumed her paperwork with the goal of finishing before her estimated time. Would 12:59 a.m. really count as breaking her goal? She didn't care; she simply dropped the now completed papers off at the first division and turned in for the morning.

…

Dawn came too quickly for Youhna's liking and she turned over, hoping to discourage the early morning into coming later. No such luck, the dawn apparently had no feelings and came anyway, forcing her to get up and get ready for the day.

Settling into her office, she started on the first original stack before she heard her lieutenants stumble into the room. Akira's eyes were dull with sake as were Hayden's, but Youhna could tell that she had far more than her partner. A scarlet blush swept across her cheeks as she sat in her chair, happily hiccupping the day away. She giggled when she placed a large brown bottle on her desk.

"Capshain,-hiccup- wantch some?"

She was beyond drunk. In a split second, the captain snatched the alcohol off of her subordinate's desk and asked the blond a very easy question.

"Hayden, who gave this to you?"

There was another giggle before Hayden answered.

"Matsumoto and I –hiccup- wentsh to the bar last night and-"

"You went to the bar last night? I thought you went home!"

The blond waved her hands drunkenly at her superior in surrender.

"I –hiccup- did! After a couple of hours I –hiccup- went home. I had twenty seveny shots!"

She finished happily before promptly passing out right then and there. Captain Auouye turned to the second lieutenant.

"Akira-"

The redhead had also passed out on his desk along with his partner. It was then that Captain Auouye face palmed herself. This just wasn't her day…especially with it being her first day. She's doomed! The young captain picked up Hayden first and took her to her home to sleep off the incoming hangover and came back to take Akira home as well.

Working on the last paper stack took three agonizing hours of ink spills and grunts of frustration before she was freed from her first burden as a captain. She turned the completed stack in and went to lunch with her division.

The dining hall was quite large and seemed decent enough to eat in, so she stayed. Members of her division passed her as if she didn't exist, chatting away what was on their mind with their cohorts. Why did she feel like she just stepped back in time to her high school days as a loner? The dining hall grew quiet and the tension between the captain and the lower ranked Shinigami seemed to escalate. Deciding to avoid any confrontations, she returned to the stony embrace of the streets. She walked briskly through the maze of the Siritei and managed to get herself lost.

'Nice going Youhna and on you're first day too!' Reidyn said sarcastically.

"Oh hush; I don't need this right now."

"Who are you talking to?"

The captain turned to Rin who was staring back at her with curious pink eyes.

"I uh, nothing. Why are you here?"

The purple haired girl turned her gaze to the ground.

"I'm just taking a break…what about you?"

"Would you believe that I'm lost?"

Youhna laughed at herself while Rin gave her a reassuring smile.

"Maybe I can help you back, you're in charge of Squad Five right?" Youhna nodded.

"Alright then, follow me."

The two traveled the Siritei, making twists and turns that Youhna knew that she wasn't going to remember. Ah well, she'll get it sooner or later.

"By the way Rin, what squad do you work with?"

"Squad ten, third seat. Why?"

"I need to speak with Matsumoto Rangiku. She is the lieutenant of Squad ten isn't she?" Rin nodded and took a left turn.

"This way then."

Many more twists and turns later the duo winded up at the tenth division.

"Thanks Rin!" The girl bowed and went her own way.

Youhna was left standing one of the many halls of the division. Maybe she should've asked Rin for directions first…

'Did you spend half of your life lost on Earth?' Reidyn couldn't help but wonder.

"Shut up."

After about thirty minutes of walking she finally found the captain's office. She knocked on the wooden frame of the door and asked for permission to enter. Her request was granted and she came into the room looking for the strawberry-blond lieutenant.

"If you're looking for Lieutenant Matsumoto she's not here." The Captain stated, not looking up from a section of the stack of papers on his desk.

'No shit Sherlock.'

"My, you're certainly talkative today aren't you?"

Captain Hitsugaya stopped writing and turned his gaze to the girl standing in front of him.

"Were you referring to me?"

"U-uh of course not…I was just- oh never mind! Can you tell me where Matsumoto might be?" The boy raised an eyebrow at her the girl's strange antics before dismissing them.

"The only place I can think of is the bar. If you see her, tell her that her break ended twenty minutes ago."

"Sure, let's just hope she's there."

Youhna left in a hurry to get out of the other Captain's sight.

"Thanks a lot Reidyn."

'What did I do? You're the one that responded... I sure as hell didn't force you to.'

"He probably thinks I'm an idiot now."

'Again, not my fault.'

"You're really evil you know that?"

'Then I have truly completed my purpose in life.'

After visiting five bars Youhna was about to call in quits when she heard a high pitched laugh coming from a small bar called "The Lucky Dragon." The Captain entered the bar when she heard the high pitched laugh again, coming from the table in the back.

Sure enough, she found the lieutenant surrounded by two men. One had red hair that was up in a spiky ponytail on the top of his head, while the other one had short spiky black hair and a sixty-nine tattoo on his face.

"Ah, Captain over here!" The blond yelled, waving her over.

"Matsumoto I need to talk to you."

"What about?"

"You're actions with Lieutenants Hiroshima and Okaiza. This morning they both came to work drunk."

Matsumoto looked surprised.

"I didn't go to the bar with them last night." She lied with a straight face.

Youhna slowly started to change the atmosphere with her reiatsu, causing the room to become hot and stuffy. The room soon cleared and the only ones that were left were the trio of lieutenants and the Captain. Out of all the things she couldn't stand, she couldn't take a liar. The heat slightly increased.

"That's funny, because Hayden said that you two went to the bar last night. Now why would she lie about that?" The girl said, her fingernails impatiently drilling into the surface of the table.

The boys next to her started to sweat under the heat.

"Come on, Matsumoto."

"She's gonna cook us…"

Her friends finally managed to convince her into confessing.

"Alright, alright, they were with me last night. Akira lost a bet, so he had to drink fifteen shots of sake. Hayden tried her first shot of vodka last night and had twenty-seven shots of sake. Not bad for a first timer huh?"

Youhna stared at the obliviously happy lieutenant. Was she serious? She ruined her first day by incapacitating both of her lieutenants.

'Apparently she is…her grin isn't going away anytime soon.'

The Captain refrained herself from answering her counter-part and got back to the task at hand.

"Matsumoto, in the near future; I'm going to need you to not get my lieutenants drunk silly…by the way your captain wants you back since you're twenty minutes over your break."

"Damn."

Author's Note: I think I'm back. I pretty much know what I want from this story now and my zeal for it has been reawakened. Just in case you're wondering, the word 'pseudo' means fake and please keep reading and reviewing!