Chapter 12

Nanao

Lisa carelessly took off her skirt, and looked at Nanao expectantly. 'If you don't want me to stand around half naked, hand me your Hakama, will you?' she said, grinning.

Nanao sighted, and took off the black trousers. At least she still had the knee long white under trousers that were traditionally worn under the hakama.

Lisa frowned at her. 'Take those off too, it will look stupid if you wear them under a skirt.' she ordered. Nanao looked at her, then looked at the very short skirt.

'No.' she said.

Lisa seemed surprised, then she repeated. 'Come on, you don't have to be shy.'

Nanao breathed deeply once. She had learned how to stare down her captain, this couldn't be that hard. She looked into Lisa's eyes.
'I will either go back in in my white trousers, or in my white trousers and your skirt. I will leave my hakama here, and you can chose to wear it or come back in in your underwear.' she stated grimly.

Lisa stared at her, and Nanao took the time to take the skirt out of her hand and hang her hakama over Lisa's arm, and proceeded to put on the new garment.

Lisa didn't say anything, but started putting on the hakama after a few seconds.

Then she smiled at Nanao like nothing happened. 'Fine Nanao-chan, you win.' she said before walking back into the room.

.

Ukitake

Nanao wore an expression that seemed to be a mix of annoyance and satisfaction, and Lisa wore nearly the same expression, making Ukitake wonder what they had been doing outside.
Kyouraku shrugged when he glanced at him. Rangiku started laughing when they came in, saying that their new look was really strange, but after both of them glared at her, she didn't comment further.

Renji and Rose exchanged hakama without problem, while it was obvious with Yumichika and Ikkaku that the other's clothes didn't fit them at all.

Kyouraku and Ukitake then went out, and exchanged clothes easily, like they had done it often before, which they had. The hakama was a little short for Kyouraku, but since he wore no socks it wasn't very noticeable, and Ukitake always managed to bind the trousers a little higher, so that the length fit.

'Want to change haori too, and see who notices?' Kyouraku asked him then, and Ukitake laughed, and shrugged out of his haori.
Kyouraku was not wearing his flowered Kimono, since it had been too warm in the room with all the people, so the other's actually had a fair chance to notice.

'I just hope we remember to change them back, later.' Ukitake said, grinning. Kyouraku shrugged, grinning back. 'I'm sure someone will remind us eventually. At least Yama-jii in the next captain's meeting. He noticed last time, remember?' Ukitake nodded. 'That's why I hope we will remember ourselves.' he said.

.

They had been lying in the sun, by the lake in the forest, right before a meeting. It had been warm, and they hadn't wanted to get stains on the haori, so it had been logical to take of the haori. And since Ukitake had been lying half on Kyouraku, using him as a pillow, it had also been logical to fold up both haori for Kyouraku to use as a pillow. Especially since the shore was nice, but rather stony.

When they noticed that they were late for the meeting, they had hurried to put the haori back on, and flash stepped all the way to the first division.
They had even been punctual, so no one had thought anything was wrong, until they were walking out and Yamamoto had called Ukitake back. Kyouraku had slowed down when he heard, and Yamamoto had told him to stay as well.

What had followed had been a rather strict telling off, about keeping up appearance, and the reputation of the Gotei thirteen, which had only ended when Kyouraku asked him what he was even talking about.

Yamamoto had stared at him then, for a whole minute, before sighing, obviously giving up on tehm, and dismissing them, telling them to please exchange their haori on their way out.

Ukitake had to flash step them away, since Kyouraku had looked at the number on his haori, and stared laughing so hard Ukitake considered bringing him to Unohana.

Instead he had gotten them far enough away to be safe from Yamamoto's wrath, and had then collapsed beside his friend, joining his laughter.

.

They went back into the room. 'Did you actually swap?' was the first thing Lisa said.

.

Kyouraku

He assured his lieutenant that they did exchange clothes, seeing Ukitake grin at the use of the word clothes instead of just trousers beside him.

Meanwhile, Kensei and Shinji went outside, and soon came back in, looking like before.

While this task might be interesting in the human world, the fact that they all wore their uniform meant that it wasn't difficult for anyone here. Except for Nanao, paired with Lisa, who wore her own version of the uniform. And, apparently, for Hitsugaya and Byakuya, he realized, seeing Hitsugaya's frown while Rangiku and Hisane left to change.

He nudged Ukitake, and cut his eyes to the pair, and Ukitake nodded slightly. 'I expect them to drop out.' he whispered. 'But then, I never would have expected them to play at all.'

Kyouraku nodded. 'Me neither.' he whispered back.

.

After Rangiku and Hisane returned, Hitsugaya did indeed glare at the room, and state 'I am not doing that.' As before, Rangiku smiled at him, asking 'Are you dropping out already?' like before. But this time, Hitsugaya and Byakuya looked at each other, then Kuchiki calmly said: 'I think it's enough.' and Hitsugaya nodded, and said 'We are out.' relaxing slightly.

Kyouraku exchanged a look with Ukitake, wondering what was enough. Had they somehow agreed to play for a certain length of time, and that was why they were playing?
But that would mean they had been convinced to play before the party, and it didn't seem like they would agree to play a game they didn't know.

.

Then Renji drew the next card, nearly making Kyouraku laugh when he heard the next question. Humans really did create some strange games. And again, it felt like him and Ukitake had an age advantage, having long since gotten used to some topics.