Party

Part 2

The shinigami of the 4th division were all quite paralyzed in fear.

Zaraki Kenpachi was stalking through the halls of the 4th division living quarters, apparently going in circles and muttering to himself.

Koetsu Isane gulped. She was the vice-captain, and thus had a duty to be braver than the others. Or at least to appear so. She was also sworn to protect her men… er, people. Or at least find out why Zaraki-taichou was glaring bloody death at every male that passed him.

…actually now that she thought about it, she had a pretty good idea. But Isane wanted to be sure.

She called up her inner Unohana. I am too important and scary to kill.

"Zaraki-taichou," she called as he neared the spot she was standing, "Please refrain from emitting your reiatsu in the 4th division." She dropped her voice to a whisper as he passed her. "None of these men are here to ask Unohana-taichou to the party."

Zaraki stopped and glared at her. Since he was also wearing an embarrassed grimace on his face below the glare, it did not have it's usual effect. (This ranged from the other laughing in his face (Yachiru) to the other running like hell (most of the rest of Seireitei).)

"You'd better ask her quickly, though," she advised him. Kenpachi twitched. "Don't worry, taichou, I don't think she'll refuse you."
He twitched again, then set off at a dead run. Isane waited until he had passed her for the third time to point a helpful hand in the direction of the stairs.

Then she went off to find Kiyone. Her sister had one of the biggest mouths this side of Seireitei and this piece of news was far too good to keep for herself.

.0.

Rukia was still laughing to herself, drawing meaningful looks from pretty much everyone else in the building with her. (Meaning: that Kuchiki girl has finally snapped. Huh. Knew it was going to happen someday. The 13th had evolved some very meaningful looks for the times their captain required silence.)

Honestly, Renji was so- so- so Renji sometimes. Why fuss over asking someone to a party they were required to attend?

And anyway, if Renji thought there was even a possibility of refusal, then he must have contracted some form of selective amnesia in between not waking up in his own bed this morning and asking her.

If Nii-sama was going to refuse Renji, then nii-sama would probably have done it before the month or so of sleeping together that Nii-sama and Renji had been doing so far.

Renji had turned a deep red strawberry color when she informed him of that, dumb baboon.

Ah, well. She could think about that later. Now she had to instruct Kiyone and Sentaro in the usage of her (Ichigo's) camera.

She would definitely want pictures of the party.

.0.

"…What is this?"

"Err…Kyouraku-taichou's order, Ise-fukutaichou."

Nanao meaningfully eyed the stacks of bottles in Shunsui's room, then the large crates still waiting to be unpacked.

"…Kyouraku-taichou ordered you to place the sake for the party in his room?"

"Err…not precisely, Ise-fukutaichou."

Nanao swung towards him, and the burly deliveryman was stuck by the desire to run away as fast as he could from the skinny girl a third his size.

"Precisely?"

He held out a piece of official-looking paper as though it would protect him from the evil gleam of her glasses.

"This was his order, Ise-fukutaichou."

She took it. "So…first you were to place it in the cellars, right?"

"Full."

"Then the storage rooms…"

"Full."

"Then barrack 13…"

"Full."

"Then Kyouraku-taichou's room."

"Err… in the process, Ise-fukutaichou, but there may not be enough room-"

"Then the next place listed is my room." Evil-glasses gleam.

"On-second-thought-i-think-we-will-be-able-to-fit-it-all-in-here-and-not-inconvience-you-at-all." He said very fast.

She smiled. That is to say, her eyes closed and the corners of her mouth tilted up.

The deliveryman quivered.

"Very well. Carry on, then. Oh, and please ignore any loud noises or screams of pain from the main building. Kyouraku-taichou and I are going to have a talk about his use of 8th division facilities."

He stood perfectly to attention until she left.

Damn, that was one scary woman. What the hell did Kyouraku-taichou see in her?

Praying under his breath for Kyouraku-taichou's health (and, thus, continued patronage), he got back to work. Filling a room with sake bottles was an art, after all.

.0,

"Absolutely not."

Ikkaku's fist clenched. Asshole.

"I just want to speak to Nemu, Kurotsuchi-taichou."

Mayuri gave him a suspicious look. The effect was somewhat marred by the fact that he was talking through a long, long tube from his lab, but the added virulence of 'girl's father' and his detachable eye combined to make it an actual look.

"I don't want any of you thugs from the 11th speaking to my daughter. Come to that, I don't want any of you thugs from the 11th speaking at all. Go away. I'm dissecting and Nemu is having a shower. And I will most certainly not tell her you called.'

Ikkaku suppressed the urge to grab the eye and start pulling, because he didn't need to risk Nemu actually liking her creator, then getting upset if he killed the clown. Stranger things had happened, although not by much.

Alright then, if he wasn't going to be allowed to speak to her, he have to find some other way of asking her out. Besides… who the hell needed that asshole's permission anyway?

The guy trying to date his daughter, that's who, said his brain. Ikkaku very firmly ignored it.

.0.

Hitsugaya Toushirou was not a happy camper.

He was waiting outside Hinamori's office. That was fine. That was perfectly fine. He had no problems whatsoever with waiting while she finished a practical application of a demon arts spell she'd created. In fact he couldn't wait to go in there and marvel at it once she'd finished.

What Hitsugaya was rather annoyed about was the blond temporary captain also waiting outside her office with him.

Kira was nervous.

When Kira got nervous, Kira babbled. It was one of Gin's favorite entertainments.

Kira really didn't know what to say to Hitsugaya-taichou, except maybe umm… that you've really grown, sir, you must at least be taller than I am now, and- and- I supposed you've got something to talk to Hinamori-kun about too, right, sir? I've sorta got an important question to ask her too, y'know, I've been thinking about it for a long time and I think I'm ready to ask her now…

Hitsugaya interrupted. "You have a what?"

Kira was surprised that Hitsugaya-taichou had actually been listening. "A very important question to ask her, sir."

With difficulty, Hitsugaya banished the urge to kill Kira.

"I…really don't think you should ask her that, Kira."

Kira blinked. "You…don't, sir?"

"No. you're not ready."

"Really, sir?"

Kira slowly deflated.

"Not strong enough."

Kira sniffed.

"Not enough control."

Kira made a barely audible whimpering sound.

"Nowhere near ready, in my opinion."

Kira began to silently cry.

Hinamori called, "Come in!"

Hitsugaya stood and sauntered in, secure in the knowlegde that there was no way Kira would ask her to the party now.

Outside, Kira sank into his customary fit of depression. Hitsugaya-taichou was right, of course, he wasn't sniff strong enough sniff or had enough control sniff.

He'd just have to put off asking Hinamori-kun to recommend him a captain to teach him bankai for a while, then.

-tbc-

Notes: No one got it. cries. But thank you if you guessed.