A/n: Thanks for the favourites, follows and readers. Well for the new year that is a bit belated (cut me some slack, I've had a busy past few days), I shall post up the beginning of another filler series. (Don't attack me! I have dogs that need me to throw the ball!) But unlike the Hidden Base, the filler series has no real plot other than just getting over the Aizen crises and a few extra bonus chaps.

Also... is it me or is there something wrong with the reviews? I've had a few reviews this past week on my email, but it refuses to show itself. Jerk of FF dot net.

Warning: Swearing, violence and grammar errors.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach - that is all... But the following OC characters are all mine :D

Chapter 51: Triumph with Sake

"That's the stupidest thing I ever heard," Tahani exclaimed as she slammed her hand on the desk that was owned by Kenpachi. It had only been a good month since mostly everyone had recovered from their vicious battle. Of course Tahani knew that it was coming, but she really hated it. She was called up to the office to see Ikkaku, Yumichika, Yachiru (who was stashing her stomach with candy) and of course the captain himself. Her dark eyes narrowed dangerously as her face formed a snarl, "I have to clean up the division for a month?! Do ya have any idea of how lazy these morons are? Hell I wouldn't be surprised if Ikkaku didn't wash his hairless ass!"

From his position on the couch, Ikkaku glowered at Tahani with a daring look in his narrow eyes while Yumichika sighed in disgust. Of course Yumichika would have the mental image in his head – now Tahani had the image in her head – it wasn't exactly pretty. Both of the men were lazing about (well technically Ikkaku was... Yumichika was sitting politely).

"Don't make me raise it," The captain growled as he took a swig off his sake cup. Unlike she normally saw him; she noticed that Kenpachi didn't have his haori. It was possibly because of the fact that they were still in the making after Kenpachi threw it away (well according to the captain, it tore when he was fighting an espada). He saw that Tahani wasn't backing down anytime soon and sighed irritably as he slammed his cup on the table. Why did he ever accept this woman in the first place? It was the greatest mystery to the most feared captain. "You know the rules of this place, just shut up and take it like a man."

Her jaw dropped comically as she looked accusingly back at him. There was no way that she was going to clean the entire division for a month – Tahani would rather sit in one of Byakuya's calligraphy lessons than clean up the mess hall. In fact, Tahani knew that her room wasn't even the neatest – the only reason why it appeared clean was because the lack of things she had in it.

"But I'm a woman – I'm not taking anything yer say like a damn man," Tahani hissed in annoyance as she ignored the snickers from the infamous duo behind her. She didn't care that the captain could cut her in half without a second hesitation – she just knew that it wasn't fair, "Besides, I heard that Ikkaku got his sorry ass handed to him back at the fight so he should help!"

"Hey that guy was a weakling," Ikkaku snorted as he laid back on the couch. The light managed to reflect on his bald head like it was some sort of mirror that had a blinding effect on it. "I'm not gonna use my power on a wimp like him."

"For your information Rosa," Yumichika spoke up with a mocking smile on his face. Tahani's shoulders shook as she glared back at the fifth seat. The last thing she needed was him to attack her already damaged pride, "We don't care that you lost to the espada but rather got saved."

"Twice by Bya-kun!" Yachiru poked her head out of eating candy session to announce out loud that Tahani got rescued. Tahani looked towards the pink haired lieutenant in depression – did she have to announce it to all of Soul Society? And why was Yachiru against her as well? "Aome you know better than anyone that Ken-chan finds it insulting to be rescued by Bya-kun."

"That's right," Kenpachi agreed with a glare. "As if I'm gonna let that prissy Kuchiki get the best of me so hurry the hell up." Yachiru sent a playful glare towards Kenpachi for insulting her second favourite captain. "I've had enough crap from the old fart saying I shouldn't ruin my haori..."

"Come on now, the guy had control of my movements," Tahani excused with a fake grin as she showed off her battle scar. "In fact, he was a user of kido – something we all suck at." She didn't bother covering the wound now that it didn't have any sensitive tingles after being touched – besides it was a great story to tell the maggots. "Then the second time, ya came with him to fight that fat Yammy bastard – doesn't it count to something?"

As Tahani went through her rant, Kenpachi's visible eye met with hers when he finally spoke up, "I'm gonna kill you if you don't hurry up and get out of my face – my sword arm's been itching for a swing and I will gladly use you as practise."

She ignored his warning and continued, "Seriously – the bastard was so arrogant with the way he fought me then he was saying that I was the arrogant one. I do admit that I come off as cocky but it pissed me off... and Captain Kuchiki just interrupted like some sort of freakin' princess!"

The captain narrowed his eye warningly and grumbled, "I'm really gonna cut ya if you don't shut your stupid mouth."

"But at least I fought some espada that should really give me some damn bonus points." Tahani still didn't take the hint and glared at the duo. It appeared that Ikkaku had his eyes closed and totally ignored the woman's presence. Yumichika on the other hand looked annoyed at the mention of his own battle, "Where were yer lazy asses? Back dying with mere fraccion... the scraps!"

"That's it." And then Kenpachi proceeded to kill Tahani because she didn't shut up. She let out a sudden yelp and dodged the familiar jagged blade, missing the katana by a strand of hair before she raced off with a scowl. She may love the battles, but Tahani didn't want to die just yet – this guy managed to slash Yammy in half without even trying.

This was a really stupid day indeed. Maybe Kenpachi was pissed because he couldn't finish his fight with Ichigo. After all, Tahani knew that pain well and understood that Ichigo wasn't coming back. As the fourth seat fled, she turned to raise her arm threateningly towards the office with determination in her eyes. "This ain't over Captain! I promise ya that!"

-:-

"This is great!" Hozumi chimed brightly as he stuffed his face with rice, shoving all the food down his mouth. As soon he swallowed too much, he suddenly halted his actions and coughed heavily. "Ah crap... forgot to chew!" Pain shot through his chest from his most recent injury (from a hollow hunting mission) as he choked on his recent meal – the last thing he wanted was his wound to open up again.

Then he would have to visit Captain Unohana again.

His face turned pale at the thoughts of the smiling captain. Damn, he had heard stories from the poor unfortunate souls that were around to see the frightening wrath of the captain. Not one of them had a happy ending. When he left the fourth division, Unohana reminded him with the slightly scary smile that he wasn't to be straining his lungs.

Okay, he took that back – Unohana's warning smile was freaking horrifying.

"An amateur like yourself wouldn't understand how to eat," Omaeda declared proudly as he grabbed a rice cake with the size of his hand before he put it in his mouth. "You, my friend have a lot to learn before you beat me." The large lieutenant snorted at the thought as he grabbed another cake to eat. "It's not like you stood a chance anyways..."

Hozumi glowered at his companion before he turned to his sake cup with a light smirk, "You may best me when it comes to your speciality... but it doesn't mean that you can beat me when it comes to my favourite hobby!" He filled his cup with the goodness of his drink as he downed the cup without another moment to waste. "Drinking the wonderful sake!"

"Huh, it looks like you did after all..." Omaeda snorted with his mouth full and looked over to the group of shinigami that were staring at the duo in disgust. Another snort escaped his mouth. "Those damn peasants think they're better than us?"

Now that Hozumi thought about it, the shinigami that were looking at them were probably better than them as people in general. Instead of speaking his thoughts, he took a drink from his cup and his cheeks turned pink. Of course, once he would have one drink, Hozumi was determined to have more drinks filled in his cup.

After countless cups, Hozumi's vision began to blur and he suddenly laid his head down on the desk with drool in the corner of his mouth.

However when Hozumi was drunk, he began to notice things that he didn't see before. His grey eyes narrowed in tension as he saw someone post up a piece of paper on the notice board. Without Omaeda noticing Hozumi approached the notice board with drunken moans to read the paper. He even went extremely close just to read the large letters and when he was satisfied he picked the paper off with the giggle of a school girl.

"That's... new..." He snorted and walked (*Ahem* stumbled) towards his companion who finally noticed he was missing.

"What the hell are you doing Aoki? " Omaeda questioned as the unseated officer placed the paper on the desk. His eyes glanced down which turned out to be a flyer with decorative colours on it.

Again, Hozumi snorted and showed him the piece of paper as if Omaeda was blind. In this case, the lieutenant was blind with food all over his face. "It's a spring festival Omaeda-chan," Hozumi replied with a flirty wink. "Tonight."

Let's not forget that the poor unseated officer was drunk. Drunk enough to flirt with a brick wall if it came down to it.

And make out with it.

"Yeah my family is sponsoring it, what does it matter?"

"This festival is gonna have it all," Hozumi's eyes sparkled brightly as he held his friend's shoulders and stretched out his free hand. "It's gonna have women!"

"Don't care."

"Music!"

"Really don't care."

"Sake!"

"Aoki, are you seriously trying to invite me to this poor society, you crazy drunk?"

"Uh... good food?"

"..."

Hozumi's drunken smile widened with realisation, finding Omaeda's ultimate weak spot; there was no way that he would refuse now. The bastard loved food more than Tahani loved cutting things – and that was saying something. "Does that sound like something you like? I bet they will have some foreign foods as well... I heard about some food in the human world... cotton candy or something and it literally melts in your mouth!"

"Yeah fine – I like the sound of this weird cotton candy stuff that you're speaking about," Omaeda grumbled with a small smile on his face at the thought of food. His eyes than narrowed and he leaned uncomfortably close with the unseated officer but since Hozumi was drunk he didn't notice. "But if any of those damn freaks try to leech away my money then I'm gone!"

"It sounds so perfect, Omaeda-chan~" Hozumi sang as he hugged the lieutenant with a drunken hum of excitement. "We are gonna watch Kukaku fireworks, take a look at the stars and have so much fun!"

Omaeda tried pushing Hozumi away but boy, Hozumi had a stern grip for an unseated officer. A chuckle came from Hozumi and he tried to snuggle the lieutenant as if he had been a giant teddy bear. It wasn't long until Hozumi actually fell asleep on Omaeda and he groaned uncomfortably at the situation. He snored on Omaeda's shoulder and let the drool from his mouth slobber all over the lieutenant's uniform which made him gag at the sudden sight.

"You're really disgusting Aoki," Omaeda complained as he struggled to pull the other male off him. "I think I prefer you when you ain't drinking."

Slowly the lieutenant managed to pull Hozumi off him and left him asleep on the table before he rushed off himself. The last thing Omaeda wanted was Soifon to kick his ass after being late again – since she was a master of Hakuda, she kicked like a freaking pmsing horse.

-:-

Things in the tenth division captain office were worse than an awkward dinner at a parents' house. The petite duo barely found anything to talk about – rather strange since they were both happy with silence but since Laria realised she had feelings for him, she couldn't help but look at him occasionally. Of course the captain would sometimes meet her gaze and then the gauche button was pressed before they would look away in embarrassment. Luckily the paperwork was there for them to finish up; otherwise they would be in real trouble. Since Rangiku was currently out (who knew what the busty lieutenant was doing while she was out?) They were trying to complete the paperwork but it wasn't as easy as it looked with the amounts they had to finish.

Laria was so used to seeing Captain Hitsugaya snap when she met his look but this time... it was just silence. It really didn't help that he was looking just as ashamed as she was at the moment. What the heck was happening between them two anyways?

And why was she so nervous? She glared at the paperwork and began to fill out everything that she needed to finish. Wasn't the way to get rid of one feelings was to confess or something along those lines? Even though she confessed, Laria wasn't sure that if it counted if one was at a deathbed (or nearly in his deathbed).

Maybe Laria should've asked Hozumi about these things. After all, he's always saying that he's in love with the next woman he saw (it's anyone he saw when he's drunk). Even if Hozumi hadn't been able to answer, Rangiku would gladly tell Laria about the romantic feelings.

As she tried reaching for her next file, Laria found her hand grasping onto empty air and she immediately scowled when she realised that she finished. Well, to be précised, she was finished with the first part of the paperwork. With a sigh of defeat, Laria stood up to her captain's desk to reach the work, trying to avoid Toshiro's gaze. However Laria's hand brushed softly against another and she immediately looked up to see the captain looking at her with wide eyes.

"So..." Laria wondered with a sheepish smile. "How has your paperwork been treating you?"

Worst conversation starter ever.

The captain looked like he was a deer caught in headlights. She could see the shock clear in his cold features before he shook his head as if he was to squash his inner thoughts. He merely raised a brow, looking towards his third seat before he dismissed her with the wave of his hand. "It's going fine, now you should hurry up with the rest of it."

Instead of flinching, Laria did exactly what he had said and took half of the stack to put on her own side to stay out of his way. She couldn't believe that there was so much paperwork after the mess that went on during the fight.

"Look Alfero," Captain Hitsugaya began and made Laria look over in his direction with a puzzled expression crossing over her face. He looked like he was struggling to find his words. "About the fight with the espada... I want to thank you for... assisting me. I know that it wasn't much since she broke out of the prison but... I know I needed it."

A smile formed on Laria's face, but it was only for a moment before she turned away, suddenly embarrassed to have his attention. "You're welcome Captain; I told you that I will always stand with you."

Toshiro looked like he wanted to say more but the duo were interrupted by Rangiku who rushed in with a cheer. At the sight of his busty lieutenant, the captain scowled and Laria felt like she wanted to bang her head in annoyance. What was he going to say to her?

"Hey Captain, Laria-chan!" Rangiku danced around the couch and had a cheerful look on her face. It seemed that she was covering her pain up with smiles. "I was out shopping when I realised that we're all too stressed from what happened, so I decided how to let go all the tension!"

"Matsumoto..." Toshiro growled in warning, glowering at his lieutenant as she smacked the paper on the desk. "Look, I do not have time to go to silly parties."

"It's not a party Captain," Rangiku scolded playfully before she grabbed Laria (the mystery of how fast she grabbed the brunette will never be revealed) and hugged her tight. "It's a festival silly; it would be nice with all the fireworks!"

"Fireworks?" Laria muttered softly before she pushed away, "Sorry Matsumoto-san... I am quite busy with this work." That was the only (lame) excuse that she could come up with. Since she actually didn't have anything to wear (that and she really didn't feel in the mood to go) Laria felt it would be better if she just stayed in her room for the rest of the night.

"But Laria-chan," Rangiku sighed in disappointment and turned to the brunette with a childish pout. For some reason, seeing her lieutenant so pouty made Laria want to cringe away. "Come on, Laria-chan I got you a kimono that you could wear!" She knew that Rangiku wanted to bring them along to cheer them up – after all, since the battle no one had really been themselves. Laria was feeling angry with herself that Aizen got the best of her and she guessed that the captain was furious that he didn't end up killing Aizen.

"I really don't know... I guess I will think about it then," Laria admitted sheepishly just as Rangiku ignored her and turned towards the captain with a determined smile.

Somehow the strength of the lieutenant increased as she grabbed Laria again. "Come on Captain, Laria-chan's coming as well!"

"I never said I was going..."

"Matsumoto," Toshiro spoke up with his signature glare. "I already told you that I don't have time to go out." He looked towards Laria for a moment, before he looked back at Rangiku with a sigh. "But do take Alfero – she looks like she could use a break."

Laria's chestnut eyes went wide. "Huh?" Wasn't he just saying that she should finish the paperwork earlier? Comical tears streamed down her face as she saw that his expression was dead serious. He wasn't going to let her stay back in her room to mope... or something. Why was the captain secretly evil?

An excited squeal came from Rangiku, "I will take Laria-chan in your place captain!" She chanted as she dragged the third seat out of the office, without bidding farewell to Toshiro. "Let's try on that kimono I bought for you Laria-chan!"

Laria sweat dropped. "You bought me a kimono?"

"Yup," Rangiku explained with a chirpy smile. "I saw it half price and it looked like it would fit you! You can consider it as my present!" They fell into a comfortable silence, and Laria didn't protest when Rangiku dragged her arm through the barracks to her room.

The brunette frowned in consideration as she looked at Rangiku's back. She seemed to be quick in dismissing the captain when he refused her offer, yet she got really excited when he let Laria go in his place. There was something that Rangiku seemed to be planning – either way, Laria didn't like it one bit.

A/n: I enjoyed writing this filler part, just because I missed writing the innocence and the background stuff. So I decided to have a festival in order to help Gotei Thirteen move on after the Winter War, obviously because it was a perfect opportunity for my lame attempts of fluff :D

03-01-2016*

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