Disclaimer- I don't own Bleach

Chapter 14

Awkward Positions

"No."

"Senna, you can't be serious," Hisagi replied in disbelief. He was knelt across from her in an empty training room of the Eleventh squad, a small sheet of paper on the ground in front of him.

"I don't want the position, so why take it?" Senna answered with a disinterested shrug.

Hisagi sighed as he stared at the woman across from him. She was an ever changing mystery to him and sometimes he really just wanted to strangle the mystery right out of her. Now was one of those times.

"It's a lieutenant's position we're taking about, Senna," he said seriously.

"I'm aware of that, Hisagi," she answered back impatiently. "And I'm telling you.. I. Don't. Want it."

"You're as stubborn as always, that hasn't changed," he muttered with a shake of his head.

She scowled at him, but remained quiet.

"I'll try this one more time. You are being given the chance to have the position of lieutenant under Captain Byakuya Kuchiki of the Sixth Division. You would share responsibility-"

"I already said no," Senna stated stubbornly, crossing her arms over her chest indignantly and sticking her nose in the air.

"I thought you wanted a lieutenant's position?" Hisagi asked.

"I do."

"Then?"

"Not under Kuchiki."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Senna."

"He's arrogant."

"Senna, seriously."

"He doesn't even like me."

"And he's related to Rukia, right?"

Senna narrowed her eyes at the dark haired man across from her.

"You saw the same as I did forty years ago," she replied coldly.

Hisagi sighed. "That's not the real reason though, is it?"

Senna frowned, but dropped her hands to her lap as she exhaled tiredly. "No."

"It's because it isn't in the Thirteenth."

"Yes," Senna replied as she looked down at her hands that rested in her lap.

"You know it isn't betrayal if you accept the position, right? I think Kaien would be proud and so would Captain Ukitake."

"It's been forty years, Hisagi. They still haven't replaced Kaien. I don't know if Ukitake ever will either."

"Does he even know you want the position?"

"No," she sighed. "I've hardly seen him. He's been ill and I've been busy around here. It's not always easy to avoid your captain, ya know."

"I'll never understand you," Hisagi sighed with a shake of his head.

Senna chuckled lightly at him. "Who gets the position since I'm saying no?"

"Honestly, I don't know. Captain Yamamoto just asked me to offer it to you since we're friends. Guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"I suppose so. I should be going, I left Renji in the office to do some paperwork and quite honestly I'm a little afraid of what I'm going to find."

"You two still don't get along after nearly thirty years of being in the same squad? You never forget a grudge, do you?" Hisagi asked as he stood up.

Senna snorted. "The man's annoying, he causes more trouble than I do. Ever since he transferred in to the squad I've had to deal with helping him train and cleaning up after him when he screws up the paperwork. This week alone I've spent two nights at the office until at least two or three in the morning. The amount of paperwork lately has been ridiculous. At least he's improved some over the years though."

"He has gotten pretty strong. Maybe he'll be considered for the position," he said with a smirk.

"Right. He's only seventh seat right now. Hardly anyone has ever jumped so many seats."

"It's his goal to beat Captain Kuchiki," Hisagi responded with a shrug.

"He dreams too high."

"You never know. Well, I need to go tell the head captain your decision. I doubt he'll be surprised though. See you later, Senna."

"Bye, Hisagi."

Senna slid the door to the room open and nearly collided with Ikkaku who was standing just outside of it with his arms crossed over his chest.

"What, Ikkaku?"

"What was that about?"

"Nothing. I need to get to the office before that idiot Renji screws up everything and I have to work all night to fix it again."

She tried to walk past him but was stopped by his hand grabbing onto her arm.

"Why did you say no?" he asked her seriously.

Senna sighed in defeat.

"I didn't want the position, Ikkaku."

"You're never going to get to the Thirteenth Division, Senna, if you don't advance and work for it."

Her eyes narrowed at his comment and she wrenched her arm from his grip.

"It's been forty years, Ikkaku. Do you think I don't know I'll never get the lieutenant position if I don't work for it? I haven't exactly been sitting on my ass the last forty years."

"No, but you haven't done anything to get yourself the position either. You shouldn't have turned your nose up at the Sixth's offer. It'll just make everyone think you feel you're too good and don't care."

"I'll do as I please," she answered coldly before stalking towards the office she had left Renji in.

"Crap, crap, crap."

Senna sighed when she heard the muttered curses from the other side of the door that led into the office. Sliding the door open, she gawked at the mounds of paper work that had been neatly organized just an hour before and were now strewn haphazardly about the room.

"I'm going to kill you," she mumbled as Renji's head poked out from behind a desk stacked with more paperwork.

"Senna, you're back I was just..."

"Just what? You really do want me to kill you one day, don't you?" she asked in a toneless voice as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Uh, not really," he muttered, scratching at the back of his neck nervously.

"Then I suggest that you clean all this up and help me finish it. If I have to stay here all night I swear I'll make a woman out of you, got it?" she growled angrily.

Renji paled slightly before hurriedly gathering up papers and trying to organize them.

It was three hours of nonstop working later before they finished the paperwork and stacked it neatly on a desk to be delivered the following day.

"You still have to help me tomorrow too and you had better not be late again," Senna ordered.

"Right," he mumbled before running away from her with a smile and a wave.

She reached her barrack to find Ikkaku and Yumichika on the porch with Hisagi. Hisagi and Ikkaku were splitting a bottle of sake while Yumichika stared blankly at the night sky.

"Hey, Senna," Hisagi called as she walked up the steps.

"Hey, Hisagi, Yumichika. I'm going to bed," she said grumpily and without another word she walked past the men, throwing a glare at Ikkaku and stalking to her room.

"What was that about, Ikkaku?" Yumichika asked.

"We had a slight disagreement earlier."

"About?" Yumichika pressed.

"Her declining the lieutenant position in the Sixth Division," Ikkaku replied.

"She'll get over it by tomorrow," Yumichika said.

The next morning Senna lazily dressed and trudged over to the office. She sat behind one of the two desks and began sorting through the day's paperwork.

"Why is there always so much paperwork? I swear it's like it never ends anymore," she mumbled to herself.

It was two hours before she heard the door slide open, she never lifted her head from her paperwork. "You're late again, Abarai."

"Sorry I was called into a meeting."

Senna arched her eyebrows and looked up at the red head who was smiling arrogantly and looked like he thought he was the most important thing in the word at that moment.

"What's with the moronic grin?" she inquired curiously.

"I'm being promoted to lieutenant of the Sixth squad," he answered with an even bigger and more arrogant grin.

Senna just stared blankly at him before standing up quickly, the wooden chair she was in scraping loudly against the wooden floor as she did so. She silently walked to the door, slid it open and stalked outside.

Renji stared at her back in confusion. He hadn't expected her to be happy, but he hadn't expected her to not say anything at all and walk away looking as if he had slapped her.

"I take it she knows Renji accepted the promotion?" Yumichika asked Ikkaku as the two watched Senna walk into the forest.

"It would seem so."

"I didn't expect her to be so upset," Yumichika said with a sigh.

"Neither did I."

Senna made her way to her tree and hopped into a branch. She took in a deep breath as she lay against the cool bark of the tree and looked up into the cloudy blue sky.

'Overreacting a bit, don't you think?' asked an all too familiar airy voice.

"Oh, shut up, Kuro," Senna grumbled in response as she shifted around on the branch.

'I thought you didn't want the promotion.'

"I don't."

'Then what's the problem?'

Silence.

'Well?'

"Can't you ever just leave me alone?"

'No.'

Senna took another deep breath.

"There isn't a problem."

'Liar,' Kurohineko snorted.

"Oh go away already, you nosy cat."

'No.'

"Seriously. You're so stubborn."

'Like you're not?'

"Ok, enough already. There really isn't a problem. I just overreacted, which we've already established alright. I wasn't really prepared for him to be getting the promotion when I refused. I had kind of figured it would be him, though. I mean it is his goal to best Kuchiki and Kuchiki is probably aware. He thinks strangely and would probably want to keep potential threats close to himself so he can see their ability himself."

'Makes sense. But why offer you the position first?'

"My abilities are still more desirable than Renji's. I'm not as much of a loud mouth and I'm competent. Not to mention I'm still stronger than Renji, but Renji has great potential, especially now that he'll be training alongside the man he wishes to surpass."

'True, I suppose.'

"Eh, who knows really? Renji might just make a great lieutenant. At least he'll be out of my hair. Speaking of which I should probably go back now, before he destroys the office yet again," Senna said with a sigh as she sat up and nimbly jumped through the trees back to the division.

"Done," Renji said as he finished the last sheet of paperwork that was stacked before him before letting his head drop onto the desk.

Senna sighed, she still had a few stacks piled up in front of her and she was going to be there a few more hours.

"You can go ahead and go, Renji. I'm sure you and Hisagi want to go celebrate," she said as she grabbed another form from her stack.

"You sure? I can help if you want," he offered although he was already half way to the door.

Senna sighed. "Nah, don't worry about it, soon to be Lieutenant Abarai," she mocked with a smirk. "Go celebrate."

"Thanks a lot," he said as he walked to the door. When he got to the door he hesitated slightly and looked back at Senna.

"It's rude to stare, I'm not that beautiful."

"Never said you were beautiful," Renji retorted. "I was just going to say that you should join us when you're done, you don't get out much."

"I'll think about it. Thanks for the offer," she replied looking up and giving Renji a slight smile.

"See ya," he called and then he was gone.

"Ok, on with the never ending paperwork," Senna sighed to herself, diligently returning to work on the paperwork that seemed to have grown in size when she looked up. "I'm imagining things now, just great."

Hours passed, the sun had sunk into the horizon and she was still scribbling away.

"This has to end," she groaned, stretching her arms into the air above her head and wincing as her back produced many pops and cracks at the movement.

She folded her hands on the desk and laid her head on them tiredly. She had been working for almost twelve hours now and she hadn't slept well the night before. It was no surprise that before she even realized it she had fallen into a deep sleep. Nothing was going to wake her outside of a massive earthquake and even that was doubtful.

"Senna," a voice called softly. "Senna."

"Go away," she grumbled sleepily trying to wave the offending voice away.

"Guess I've got no choice then," the voice said before she felt an arm under her knees and another around her shoulders before they gently lifted her up.

Not actually realizing she was asleep or being carried but only registering that she was warmer than she had been, she unconsciously snuggled into the warmth and grabbed a hold of some fabric believing it to be a blanket.

'Why the hell is my pillow at such a weird angle? I must have been dead tired,' she thought as she felt around to readjust her crooked pillow. She furrowed her brow when her hand wandered over what she thought was her pillow. 'I don't even remember getting back to my room. Is my pillow... breathing? And why does it feel all warm and like... someone's chest.. holy crap!' She blinked her eyes open quickly upon realizing that what she was laying on was definitely not a pillow.

"Ahhh! What the hell!?" She screamed, sitting bolt upright in bed and shoving a pillow into the face of the man she was laying with. It was a man, that much was obvious, but she had no idea who. His body was tangled in her sheets and he was struggling to release his arms so he could get her to let go of the pillow she was holding over his face.

"Senna, are you..."

She turned to see Yumichika standing in the door way. She looked over at him and then back to the struggling man in her bed, her grip slackening slightly on the pillow. Her eyes widened as an arm shot out of her sheets and pushed the pillow out of his face.

"Renji?" she asked slowly when she saw the unmistakable bright red hair and tattoos.

"Yeah, why the hell did you try to kill me?" He asked grumpily.

"Because you're in my bed, you perv!"

"I'll just leave you two alone," Yumichika said amusedly as he shut Senna's door.

"I didn't exactly have a choice," he shot back.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? If you tried anything I swear I'll-"

"Oh jeez would you shut up already, my head hurts enough and don't flatter yourself," he snorted. "You never came out to join us for drinks so I came to force you away from the paperwork. Instead, you were passed out on the desk in the office. I tried to wake you, but you sleep like the dead."

"That still doesn't answer the why are you in my bed question," she snapped with heavy emphasis on the 'why are you in my bed' part. Senna felt like murdering the red head and it was written plainly on her face.

"Calm down, will you?" he muttered. "If you kill me now you'll never get your answer," he finished by rolling over and attempting to go back to sleep.

She growled and roughly shoved him out of her bed and to the floor with a loud thump.

"What the hell, woman?" he mumbled as he rubbed his head.

"Don't woman me! Just answer the damn question and then get the hell out!"

"Ok, ok, sheesh," he grumbled as he sat up on her floor. "I tried waking you but when I couldn't I picked you up and carried you here." At this point he started grinning like a kid in a candy shop, "Apparently when you sleep you like to cuddle because you curled up into my chest and grabbed my shirt and wouldn't let go. When I set you down in your bed you still had a tight hold of my shirt and wound up pulling me with you and using me as your own personal pillow."

Senna listened in a mortified silence while he told his story, going from angry to just plain dumbfounded at her own actions.

"And you didn't wake me!?" She was practically screaming at the red head now.

"I said I tried. You wouldn't wake up," he replied with a shrug.

She just stared at him wide eyed and in disbelief. "Then you should have tried harder!"

"What did you want me to do, hit you?"

"Yes, anything would have been better than waking up to you," she shouted.

"Like I wanted to wake up to you!"

"Argh! Out!" She yelled as she pointed a finger at her door.

He quickly got up and stalked to her door and out of her room mumbling under his breath. All she caught was 'Hisagi' and 'strangle' which just confused her.

As soon as the door was shut, she dropped her head into her chest and brought her hands up to her face.

"This can't be happening," she groaned. "I'm never going to live this down."

She flopped back into her bed with another groan.

"Did I seriously do that?"

'Yes you did.' Kurohineko said, she sounded highly amused.

'Kuro, why didn't you do something?'

'What was I supposed to do? You were completely unconscious.'

Senna groaned and rolled over, bringing her sheets and blanket up over her head.

"Thank the gods I have today off," she mumbled before falling back to sleep.

She was woken up a few hours later by Yumichika knocking on the door and asking to come in.

"Yeah, come in, Yumichika," she called sleepily.

"You do know it's midday already, right?" he asked, disapproval ripe in his tone.

"I was tired," she replied with a yawn.

"I figured."

"Who all knows?" Senna asked.

"You, me, Ikkaku, and Renji as far as I know," Yumichika replied knowing what she meant.

"So the fool can actually keep his mouth shut about something, huh? That's good. So what did you need anyways?"

"Oh, some of us are going for dinner and sake, you're coming too," Yumichika told her.

"Am I now?" she replied with raised eyebrows.

"Yes, now get ready," he answered as he stood up and left her room.

An hour later she was seated at the same bar they had celebrated Hisagi's promotion in years ago with Ikkaku, Yumichika, Renji and Hisagi. She sat in between Hisagi and Yumichika and across from Renji.

She ordered some food and a bottle of sake. She ate slowly so she wouldn't have to talk much and just enjoyed the food and sake that was before her, tuning out most of the conversation the four men were having around her.

"Senna," Hisagi called, poking her in the side with his elbow.

"Huh?" she grunted as she looked up from her now empty plate.

"Falling asleep are we?" Renji mumbled.

"Don't get your hopes up," Senna retorted.

"Right, like I would want to sleep with you again," Renji replied, glaring at Senna until he noticed the narrow eyed glare he was getting from Hisagi.

"Uh, I mean, uh.." Renji stuttered while turning bright red.

"You idiot, like I was willing," Senna hissed.

"What?" Hisagi half shouted, choking on the rice he had just put in his mouth, looking at Senna and then turning to Renji who was beginning to look a bit scared and was leaning away from the table, ready to bolt if he needed to.

"It's not what you think, Hisagi. I swear, it just came out wrong," Renji said quickly.

Ikkaku started laughing loudly, tears pouring down his cheeks as he watched Renji backing away from Hisagi who looked like he was ready to kill him and Senna who was ready to pounce and scratch his face off. Both Senna and Hisagi looked at Ikkaku.

"What?!" They shouted at the hysterical man.

He didn't respond just kept laughing at them.

"Renji," Hisagi growled at the red head who gulped.

"Hisagi, I swear it's not what you think, nothing happened," Renji tried explaining.

Hisagi looked over at Senna who was still scowling at Renji.

"What did he do?" Hisagi asked her.

Senna was taken aback slightly by the tone of Hisagi's voice, he sounded angry and almost protective. She looked at him for a moment before she realized how it must have sounded to him.

"Not what you're thinking," Senna answered quickly. "I fell asleep in the office. Stupid over there found me, supposedly tried to wake me, but couldn't, so he carried me to my room."

"She sleeps like the dead," Renji snorted.

"Maybe if I didn't have to stay late three nights in a row because some dumbass messed up on half the paperwork I wouldn't have been so tired," she retorted shortly.

"Whatever. She apparently likes to cuddle in her sleep, too. She wouldn't let me go so I got stuck being her personal pillow," Renji replied in a disgruntled mumble.

"You should have woken me up, it's not like I wanted to use you as a pillow. I was freaking unconscious," Senna said stubbornly.

"Hey, I told you I tried. You should thank me for being a gentleman and letting you sleep on me."

"Gentleman my ass," Senna mumbled.

"That's it?" Hisagi asked. "Nothing else and you two want to kill each other?"

"I wanted to kill him before that," Senna replied with a shrug.

"Like you could," Renji mumbled back.

"Can we all act like grown-ups for at least five minutes?" Yumichika asked with a sigh.

Hisagi looked at Senna before pouring her a cup of his sake.

"Thanks."

"No problem. You must be traumatized," he said as they downed their sake at the same time.

She didn't notice the somewhat angry glare that Hisagi sent in Renji's direction. Yumichika however did and he chuckled to himself.

"What's so funny, Yumichika?" Senna asked when she saw the big smile on the man's face.

"Oh, nothing," he replied evasively.

"Liar," she muttered.

~A/N~

Please review and feed the monster. Thank you!