Chapter 3

Rangiku

She flash-stepped to division six together with her captain, taking care to keep her silence. She had pushed him enough for one day, or at least for an hour or so. They separated once they reached the division.
Rangiku searched for Renji's Reiatsu, and followed it.

She stopped at the edge of the training filed, and waited for him to see her. He was training with some seated officers, and it wouldn't be good to surprise them. Renji came over when he noticed her.
'Hey Rangiku. What's up?' She smiled widely.

'Not much. We are just plotting a little, and if you have any ideas, tell us. We decided to match-make, and the subjects are captains Kyouraku and Ukitake. Captain Hitsugaya is talking to your captain right now. So, we don't want you to do anything, just think if you have any ideas how to get them together, and tell me if you do. That's all.'

She had been careful to speak quietly, so the reaction to her words seemed even louder.
'WHAT?' She indicated for him to be quiet, winking.
It worked a little.

'Your captain is having a conversation with mine about matchmaking? Captain Hitsugaya? And captain Kuchiki? You are joking.'
She shook her head. 'Not joking Renji. I'm serious.'

He looked at her, decided she meant it, and started laughing loudly, collapsing to sit on the ground.

Well, he had a point there.

She left after he had promised his silence, and to give them any ideas he might have, and considered where to go next.

The fifth was near, but Hinamori hadn't really recovered yet, and she didn't know any captain besides Aizen really, having been too focused on him. Next was the fourth… she wondered if her captain was going to talk to captain Unohana, and decided to wait for him and ask.

It definitely had nothing to do with wanting to see his face after having that conversation with captain Kuchiki.

.

Hitsugaya

He knocked on the office door, and entered after he was invited in, bowing respectfully to the other captain. 'Captain Hitsugaya.' he was greeted. 'How may I help you?'

Hitsugaya chose his words carefully.
'Captain Kuchiki. I am here in a matter that has no direct relevance to our work. So I am not speaking as a captain.'

Kuchiki nodded. 'Very well. Hitsugaya-san then. What is it?'

Hitsugaya took a deep breath. 'I have come to believe that captain Kyouraku and captain Ukitake… hold affection for each other. Because of that, I have agreed to participate in a plot attempting to make them a couple.'
Oh, how he hated having to talk about this.
'Since you were Ukitake's student, and thus know them well, I have come to ask you to consider how you would attempt such a thing, and tell me any suggestions you have, in the next ten days. We will then consider all suggestions we have collected, and enact them.'

Kuchiki looked mildly surprised, which was a lot for him.
'I see.' A brief pause.
'That is an effort I fully support, so I will try to think of a plan. Though I do not have much knowledge of romance.' Hitsugaya grimaced. 'Yes, me too. Thank you then.'

Kuchiki nodded, and Hitsugaya left.

.

He felt Rangiku's Reiatsu outside the division, so he flash stepped there. She looked at him weirdly when he arrived, like she was trying to read him.
'So, how did it go captain?' she asked cheerfully.

'Well.' he answered.

'Come on, a little more detail? Please?'

He sighed. 'It went well. He agreed to think of ideas to help. He's supporting this madness. Now, can we move on? Why are you waiting here anyway?'

'Aren't you coming to the fourth with me?'

He sighed again. This was annoying. 'Yeah, I suppose.'

.

Unohana was scary. Hitsugaya would have felt stupid for thinking that, if he didn't know that every captain thought so. But she wasn't unfriendly, really, and if she did hurt him he already was in the right place to be patched up.

Unohana had invited him in with a friendly smile, and offered him tea, which he politely declined, saying that he was only briefly stopping by, and had other people to visit afterwards.

Then he got to the point. 'I came to ask for advice. Two people I know are attracted to each other. I would like to see them together, but they aren't doing anything about it.'
He had decided to leave out all the rest. Sadly, that didn't work.

'Hmm. May I assume you are working on this… project together with your lieutenant? And maybe some other friends of the potential couple in question?'
Perceptive. He just nodded.

'Generally, I would say that you should not intrude on other people's relationships. Such things are very delicate, and most Shinigami have to find their own way, at their own pace.'

Hitsugaya inclined his head, accepting her refusal to help.

'May I ask, who is it you are talking about?' she asked 'I promise I won't tell them or try to stop you.'
'Captains Kyouraku and Ukitake.' he said, since it didn't matter anymore.

'Well.' she said, smiling again. 'In that case, you have my full support. I will write a list with any ideas I can come up with, even those I think unrealistic, and send them to your division tomorrow. You can consider yourself which you want to try then.'
He just stared at her, feeling like he had missed a part of the conversation, or maybe was in a whole new conversation suddenly.
'I have known them since the academy.' she explained calmly 'And they do not have a pace. I have spent centuries watching them look at each other longingly, never moving forwards. Nothing short of an extreme intervention from outside will get them to act.'

Hitsugaya left feeling confused.

.

Rangiku

She let herself into Hisane's quarters, and said 'Don't worry, I'll be on my way in a second.' when Hisane jumped when she saw her.
'Consider this a secret mission from the Shinigami-women's-association: think of ways we could use to get captain Kyouraku and captain Ukitake to get together. You can give me the list at the next meeting, but remember, it's secret.' She patted the tall, nodding woman on the shoulder before leaving, cheerfully.

That one was easy.

This time, she didn't wait for Hitsugaya, since he wouldn't be going to the third. Instead, she flash stepped to Kira's office, knocking briefly before entering, grinning at him. She really had the easiest part of the task.

'Kira! Just stopping by, no need to interrupt your work.' she said smiling, as a greeting, ignoring that Kira had already risen and that she was clearly interrupting his work.

How to do this one… She mentally shrugged, and went for directness once more.

'We are preparing a plan to make captains Ukitake and Kyouraku enter a relationship, and your task is to think of ideas how to accomplish that and send them to me ten days from now.' He looked somewhat shocked, and Rangiku shrugged, and decided that she might as well keep her previous pattern. She grinned at him. 'So, I will be expecting your ideas. See you.' and left before he had time to answer.

.

Hitsugaya

Deciding that the visored were lieutenant Yadomaru's problem, he flash stepped straight to division two from the fourth, considering how to approach Soi Fong on this.

It wasn't that they didn't get along, actually. Compared to some of the other captains, they got along relatively well. But that peace consisted of both being annoyed by the others, and both appreciating silence, and sometimes being the only reasonable captains that seemed to exist.

Well, he could always appeal to her sympathy. Hitsugaya grinned darkly to himself.

It turned out to be easier than expected.

Which was not his first thought when he felt a sharp point on his neck before he even entered division two. 'Do not enter our division without permission.' came Soi Fong 's voice. Hitsugaya glared into the air, fighting his embarrassment at being caught unaware.

The sharp… whatever it was moved back from his neck.

'I will send Rangiku a list with ideas shortly. Do not bother me with your foolish plotting again.' Soi Fong said, still behind him, and then Hitsugaya felt her flash stepping away.

How the hell did she know?

Well, it saved him some trouble.

After a short consideration he decided against visiting division one. There was a limit to how much he was willing to be humiliated for this. Division twelve… also seemed like a bad idea. Which left division eleven, but captain Kenpachi and lieutenant Yachiru were usually running around together, so he should talk to Rangiku about visiting them. They probably couldn't help anyway, he had a vague memory of captain Kenpachi asking him for his name in his third year of being a captain.
No, they probably couldn't help with this.

.

Nanao

She stared at Lisa as the other woman told her of their wonderful plan, and that she should tell the rest of their division. How did this get so big so quickly?

'Lisa, this is too much. You are going completely overboard here. And I'm not going to get the whole division involved in this madness.'

Lisa just looked at her. 'Don't worry, they will thank us once we are done. And if they find out before, they can't be angry because we are too many. No reason to be afraid Nanao-chan.'

It is perfectly possible to be angry at many people. And I'm not afraid.

'I still believe this is too much.' she said instead. Lisa smiled at her. 'Come on, Nanao-chan. You agreed to it, you can't just leave now. Besides, we need your insight and your intelligence for this to work.'

Nanao lowered her gaze. 'Fine.' She said quietly, feeling angry at being manipulated. You are not listening. But Lisa grinned at her agreement, and moved on.

.

Lisa

She had invited the other visored for dinner anyway, so she just had to wait until Mashiro fell asleep to bring up her plan. She had decided not to include Mashiro, since she had a strong inability to keep secrets. So strong that she might go to Kyouraku or Ukitake, even though she possibly had never spoken to them before, just to tell them of their plan.

'So, do you remember a month or so after we left, and we kind of all got drunk and talked about soul society?' she brought up the topic. Shinji and Kensei nodded, and Rose added 'Very vaguely. Why?'

'I said something like `If I ever get back, and Kyouraku and Ukitake are still not together, I will do everything I can to make them?'
Shinji was already looking wary, but nodded.

'And do you also remember that all of you said something like 'If that happens, we will help you? Well, it happened. You are not going back on your word, are you?' she asked, smirking.
Shinji signed. Rose answered: 'Fine, what do you want?' and Kensei frowned, but didn't protest.

Lisa smiled at her easy victory, and explained their current plan.