Shinigami Orientation Period

I don't ask you to be perfect copies of Kuchiki-taichou, especially his 'eloquent' ways of talking.

Kusanagi Idaten

The shinigami working hour usually ended sometime around 6 p.m., although sometimes foot soldiers had been found working over hour when there were Hollows around, and the highest ranking shinigamis were notorious for doing paperwork until midnight as of late. Hinamori often did that when she had to take care of the whole division's paperwork. Now, when the work had been split—she still took a lot more than her taichou, not that any of them would say it aloud—Hinamori decided both of them needed some rest, especially when the taichou was already furrowing her brows so deep they nearly got knitted together.

"Taichou...it's late."

"...Huh?"

Hinamori sighed, rubbing her tired eyes. "It's already nine o' clock. Don't you think you need some rest?"

"...Not yet, I haven't gotten these figured out yet." Idaten scribbled furiously, recalculating the numbers.

Hinamori rolled her eyes. "No need to push yourself so hard. You said that, taichou."

Finally, Idaten looked up, first to the window and then to the vice-captain, observing the impatience.

"If you've a plan, or should I say, a party waiting, then go ahead. I have something else to do anyway."

Hinamori said nothing, tidying her desk. She took her coat from the hanger on the wall, and had already a hand on the door before remembering to say, "Good day, taichou."

"...Right."

Idaten just let her head fall on the desk once Hinamori disappeared through the door.

"Once you're a captain, your life is reduced to papers and desk!"

Ryu maybe very simple-minded sometimes, but oftentimes he also said the blunt truth. Grumbling slightly, Idaten made her way out of the office.

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There were many bars in Seireitei, but only one was famous enough to be visited every now and then by the majority of Gotei 13. In that bar, currently a cluster of shinigamis were gathering for a certain celebration.

"Here's a toast, for Kira and Hisagi-taichou, who manage to surpass and get to overlord us!" Rangiku offered to the crowd—mostly vice-captains—who cheered and clanked their glasses. The celebrated captains flushed.

"Rangiku-san, don't call us that!" Kira objected, staring into the glass of sake in his hands. He would get drunk, no matter how little sake he drank, and when he was drunk, things really got out of hand. On the other hand, he would get drunk anyway. So he drank it.

"Hear, hear!" Renji joined. "It's really annoying, you know. It's not like we're that far away above y'all."

"Actually, Abarai-taichou", Matsuda interjected sheepishly, "you are. I can never reach Bankai, not even in a million of years."

"Sure thing, that's what Kira said." To emphasize his point, Iba slapped Kira's back, making every bit of liquid in his mouth burst out.

"Still, you can all just call us like nothing happened. Deal?"

"No deal. If you hear what Hitsugaya-taichou always says about this kind of thing..."

"Hitsugaya-taichou loves respect", Hinamori finished for Rangiku. She closed the door and undid her cloak, throwing it on the pile of others'.

"...Anyway, most of the people here think that you should use honorifics..." The busty vice-captain continued.

"...Or you're dead. It's best to apply this to anyone."

"It just doesn't feel right, you know", insisted Renji.

"Nope. I don't know, taichou."

"Shut up."

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Everyone in the Fourth Division knew how much Unohana loved to sit alone at nights, drinking tea and staring at the moon. They also knew that it was the time to leave her alone with her thoughts (Isane often trespassed this). It was widely accepted that Unohana could miraculously do so even in the coldest nights. It was also widely known, that visitors often came and sat on the roof, talking to Unohana.

"I've been expecting you, Kusanagi-taichou. Why don't you come down here?"

Like now.

Idaten silently dropped from the roof and sat a bit farther from Unohana.

"Tea?"

"No, thank you. I don't want to stay up all night."

Unohana raised an eyebrow. "That's...interesting. Tea usually helps us sleep at nights. But I digress. I assume that you want to hear the rest of my story?"

Idaten slowly nodded. "If you don't mind."

"Not at all. In fact, we thought that you should know."

"We?"

Unohana smiled. "I believe you'll soon find out.

"One thing that you should know is that, the war Aizen inflicted on us changes many things. It last for a year or so, and during that period, many shinigamis fell from every divisions. We estimated that only half of Gotei 13 survived the war, only the seated officers and some talented unseated officers. As such, I believe it leaves a certain degree of...trauma to us. Some that are dear to the most of us are gone. It is also more traumatizing, that not even the high-ranking shinigamis survived. The Second Vice-Captain and the Thirteenth's Third Seat were amongst them. And even Zaraki Kenpachi fell."

"That damaged the Eleventh Division's pride most severely, and it is made to be worse by the appointment of Abarai-taichou (oh, no, nothing's wrong with him) as his replacement. The Eleventh Division always had a...delusional belief that they were the strongest division (they neatly neglected 'in the zanjutsu area only' part) and they had a very fervent faith that Zaraki-taichou was the strongest captain, even stronger than Yamamoto-soutaichou. When the news of him allegedly dead (we can never find the body of the victims) they caused quite some uproar, especially since the vice-captain was...not quite ready for her position. Fortunately, they would still comply with our priorities. When they finally accepted that Zaraki-taichou had passed away...on the positive side, they don't harass other divisions as often."

The look on Idaten's face stated that she could quite care less about the Eleventh Division since she never liked them in the first place, but she did ask Unohana to continue.

"To sum it up, most of the people had gotten bitter, even the ryoka Kurosaki Ichigo. At the same time, the bond between the high-ranking shinigamis increases, most notably between Kyouraku-taichou and Ise-fukutaichou. And..." Unohana stopped and pondered. "If I'm not mistaken, Soi Fong-taichou has also begun to treat Ukitake-taichou better than the rest of the captains. All I know is that sometime in the war period, Soi Fong-taichou, wounded and was near the point of collapsing, supported Ukitake-taichou—he was in a very bad shape—and half-roared for help. I don't know what the problem was exactly. They never told us...Perhaps if you're curious, you can ask them."

Idaten raised both eyebrows fleetingly.

"Kusajishi-fukutaichou has been thoroughly depressed by the loss of Zaraki-taichou, but I believe Abarai-taichou could help her. Kira-taichou and Hisagi-taichou were becoming friends, and it was one of the reasons they both managed to be a captain now. Unfortunately, a ripple had seemed to form between Hitsugaya-taichou and Hinamori-fukutaichou. I also believe that Hinamori-fukutaichou is currently suffering from lack of trust."

Idaten stared at the ground, brain trying to process all of the new information at once. Then something else clicked.

"Should I know if you have changed at all?"

Unohana just smiled.

"Never mind then."

"Can you do me a favor, Kusanagi-taichou? The vice-captains are having a celebration as we speak, and they tend to overuse the freedom they have. Could you go to the bar and tell them that they need to call it a day? I wouldn't want their captains scolding them...again."

Idaten pondered. "Just as long as you provide the complete directions, I'm as bad as Kusajishi in finding ways."

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Later on, while following Unohana's directions, Idaten still couldn't know exactly what's wrong with Yachiru to make her threw a comment like that. In fact, she wasn't even sure she had known the pink-haired vice-captain before. Maybe someone had mentioned about it...

According to Unohana, the bar—once she was in the correct street anyway—wasn't hard to miss. Idaten knew what it meant now: it was the only place that was still bright, and was the only place where all sorts of noise pierced the silent night. Idaten slid the door open...

...And half-regretted doing it. Upon opening, the sight of Kira tap-dancing on a table, Rangiku tried seeing how low her garbs could fall before revealing everything, and every other men ogling on her was enough to send chills down Idaten's spine. She wondered why the captains allowed this sort of things to happen...and then knew that the practice had run much, much earlier before the war; it must have served to make it prominent a habit. At least being drunk didn't prevent them from noticing her.

"Well, hello there, Kusanagi-taichou", said Renji soberly. "Want to join us?"

"No thanks, even one drop could make me do a very good impersonation of Kurotsuchi." Idaten frowned as Isane began singing on the top of her lungs shrilly. "Aside from that, it's late. Unohana-taichou told me specifically to send you all back to your quarters, she said that the captains' patience is wearing thin."

"That's nice of her", said Hinamori defiantly, face matching Renji's hair.

"Yes. Now we have to—"

"Don't be such a spoilsport!" Rangiku interjected, yanking Idaten so fiercely she couldn't react. Rangiku then held a glass of sake in front of her nose. "Don't you want to have fun?"

"No, Matsumoto, I don't—"Idaten raised her voice.

"One glass won't hurt anyone", Rangiku cooed, acting as though she was about to pour the sake down Idaten's mouth. Idaten reflexively slapped it away. The glass hit the wall, breaking with a loud crash and bringing everyone's attention to them with wide eyes.

Idaten sighed warily. "Sorry."

Rangiku shrugged. "You heard the order, guys. Party's over. Now, excuse me, Shuuhei and I need to drop Kira off."

At least Kira's escorts were sober enough to force him to move, even though the three of them swaying greatly in their move. The others, howbeit dizzily, followed suit, leaving only Hinamori behind, who glared daggers at her captain. Idaten exhaled.

"That was uncalled for, taichou", accused Hinamori.

"Yes, that was. Come along now, you still have a hangover to cure."

For a split second Hinamori considered rebelling...then thought better of it.

Idaten could only wish they would soon return to their original state. It seemed to be unlikely at the moment. The blow must have been strong, strong enough to change even the demure and serene Unohana.

Why, people who had a habit of observing normally wouldn't make their findings known to complete strangers.

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"You know what, Kira, now that you're a captain, you should just stop doing this."

Kira didn't respond, partly because his mouth was used to vomiting right now, and another part because he wasn't conscious enough to come up with anything decent. Shuuhei, though, could nod in agreement.

"I think so too. We used to fool around because we are vice-captains, but now—"

"—so you guys don't want my company anymore, huh?" Kira interjected dizzily.

"No, it's not that", Rangiku quickly said, "We just think that this habit isn't so good anymore. I mean, a few months ago it sounded good, but now..."

"This is because I always get you guys in trouble while I'm drunk, right?" Kira muttered. As soon as he finished the sentence, he vomited again.

"Well, yeah, but it's not a good example to our subordinates."

"That's what prissy Kuchiki always said", Kira mumbled, snorting.

"Actually, Hitsugaya-taichou had also forbidden me from going out with you guys whenever sake is involved", Rangiku explained. "He always said that running away from trouble by going to la-la land was never good."

"Heh, la-la land. It's better than rejecting the world, isn't it?" Shuuhei chuckled.

"Who are you referring to? Hinamori-san or Hitsugaya-taichou?" Kira swayed dramatically. He managed to stand still by leaning to a wall.

"Both, if you don't mind."

"That subject is prohibited from discussion", Rangiku frowned, "I'm bored stiff of them. It's as if they were the only ones suffering."

"Hinamori-san has the right to be sad that she was betrayed by her idol", Kira chirped, "but Gin left me and I'm alright!"

"Sure thing", Shuuhei uttered under his breath. He said loudly, "Let's just leave them be. Everyone has their own methods to recovery."

"And drowning in alcohol is not one of them."

Had they been sober they would have realized how odd the situation was. Rangiku was the one who got them into their drinking habit, now she was the one to oppose it.

"Right-o. So what's legal then?"

"...I'll think of something. Now that we can no longer meet during the vice-captain meetings..."

"Gin always said Yamamoto-soutaichou's drone was the only way to get to sleep in five minutes", Kira said off-handedly.

"This is going to be massive hangover", Shuuhei muttered, rubbing his head.

"Right then. Come here, Kira-taichou, it's still a long way from the Third Division."

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"Do I have to do this?"

"Absolutely. The custom is that whenever there are new members in a division, a captain has to tell them the rules. When a captain is the new one, everyone has to assemble and hear what the new captain's rules are, or just to know what the captain looks like. Anyway, you skipped this part yesterday, it's only normal that we do it now."

"Actually, you skipped to mention this", Idaten said acidly. All members of the Fifth Division were assembled that morning, eagerly waiting for their new head's appearance. It was the combination of being watched by at least a hundred shinigamis and that Hinamori 'forgot' to mention about it that made Idaten delayed the supposed orientation.

Hinamori for her part just smirked. "I thought that since it was a common thing to do I didn't need to tell you about it. Now hurry up, taichou, they are waiting."

Idaten grumbled softly. She inhaled deeply, exhaled, and steeled herself to walk out into the open air, Hinamori trotting behind. The shinigamis, who had been talking without any restrictions before, suddenly froze and stared avidly at them.

Idaten cleared her throat, a very useless thing to do. Hinamori realized this and rolled her eyes.

"Greetings. To the new ones, welcome to the Fifth Division. To the old ones, I am pleased to meet you. My name is Kusanagi Idaten, and I will be your captain as long as the Central 46 is concerned. The vice-captain is Hinamori Momo, (Hinamori curtsied)."

Several of them, especially the veterans, tried to hide their snigger. Idaten glanced around nervously, especially at Hinamori, who rolled her eyes again.

"Just tell them the rules and be done with it", she whispered curtly.

Idaten nodded, and cleared her throat again, this time it was effective to silence them.

"Now there are a few things to get straightened here. First of all, as a part of the Gotei 13, you must obey the rules, no exception, unless you are ordered to do so."

A lot of them raised eyebrows on this one, including the one with the badge and black bun.

"Second of all, it really doesn't matter much how polite you can be. I don't ask you to be perfect copies of Kuchiki-taichou (a lot sniggered), especially his 'eloquent' ways of talking. Just as long as your behavior is within the generally accepted standard, you won't get into trouble."

At this point Hinamori considered asking what the generally accepted standard was, but Idaten just ploughed on.

"Third, if anyone, anyone from any division, challenges you or just generally asks for 'special treatment', ignore them." There was a loud murmur of disagreement between them. "Yes, I know it will hurt, but that is just exactly what they want, so don't comply, ever."

"Finally, if there's anything that bothers you, just tell us." She gestured to Hinamori and herself. "We'll try and help as much as we can. Do you understand?"

They nodded. Idaten sighed in relief. "Good. Go back to your positions."

None of them moved, in fact they were still staring at her.

"...Could you tell me why you are blatantly refusing an order?"

A few of them spoke and pushed each other. Finally, one was pushed to the front, where he stood nervously and scratching his head. He was a man with two short pigtails, and according to Hinamori, he was the third seat.

"See here, taichou, it's not that we disrespect you...we just want to see if you're--eh..."

"—Strong enough to be your captain", Idaten finished, nodding. The third seat winced. "It's alright, it's entirely reasonable. So what should I do to prove it?"

Hinamori snapped her fingers. "How about we spar? At least you have to be stronger than me."

Idaten hesitated. During that period, everyone had cleared a considerable space reserved for the 'arena'. Hinamori had stepped in the middle of the area, and was casually resting a hand on the hilt of Tobiume. The captain sighed in resignation.

I guess I'm a fool for not seeing this coming.

"Just—don't be too hard on me, Hinamori."

"Are you kidding, taichou?" Hinamori grimaced. "I should have said that."

Silence fell, in which hundred pairs of eyes were trained on two figures, and two sets were on each other.

Then without warning Hinamori whipped out her zanpakuto. "Snap, Tobiume!"

The zanpakuto exploded into a dull blade with few jitte, and from it a decent-sized fireball launched straight to Idaten. She was gone in a blink of an eye, and the fireball sailed into a tree, burning it. Hinamori didn't just stand there, she muttered incantations. When Idaten appeared from behind, Hinamori pointed a palm on her and shouted, "Hadou 63, Raikouhou!"

The electrical blast was big enough to devastate a ginko tree, but Idaten was not there to receive the blow. Furious, Hinamori tried to search for Idaten's signs of reiatsu—only to remember that the captain never did seem to let her know about it.

Now Idaten reappeared beside Hinamori, who instantly blasted Tobiume to that direction. It was again directed into thin air. By now, Hinamori was as infuriated as Tobiume's flame. Her new captain was just toying with her, she concluded, and she wasn't about to let it happen in front of her subordinates.

So when Idaten materialized out of thin air besides her, she was ready. "Bakudou 1, Sai!"

It was the basic of all binding spells, normally it wouldn't be enough to bind a captain, but it was enough to hold Idaten there for a second until Hinamori had Tobiume by her throat. Hinamori couldn't resist a smirk of triumph.

"Is that all, taichou?"

On the contrary to her position, Idaten smirked. "I wouldn't be so sure. Have you ever thought why I kept running around without doing anything around you?"

Hinamori scowled, pondered, and with a gasp looked around her. On the ground were some words, the protocol for—

"Hadou 92, Santenkago."

The three words glowed, forming lines between them. Hinamori knew what this meant, she had read about it before. Once the symbols glowed, there would be no escape for the one trapped in the triangle...Not to mention that it was a ninety-up spell, it was bound to hurt even though the incantations were bypassed...

Hinamori yelped when she was jerked out of the triangle. One second later the triangle and everything within it exploded in a bright red light. Everyone shuddered and cried, apparently thinking that their vice-captain was still trapped inside the blast while in reality she was hyperventilating safely. Idaten was standing next to her, torn between doing something to comfort her and doing nothing. She opted for both.

"Are you alright?"

Hinamori glared, breathing normally. "No, I'm not. I thought I was going to die."

"Well, no, you wouldn't, because I bypassed the incantations, and ninety-above spells won't work well that way. Still..." Idaten paused. "I'm sorry for scaring you."

Hinamori thought of a reply but was interrupted with multiple shouts of: "Ah, Hinamori-fukutaichou is still alive!"

"Yes, I am, now are you satisfied?" She asked firmly.

"Y-Yes, fukutaichou!"

"Good. Now go back to your positions!"

This time, they obeyed in hurry, occasionally bumping into each other. Hinamori snorted, shaking her head.

"They are lovely at times, but are also the greatest fools at other times", muttered Hinamori sourly.

"Then don't be too hard on them. We all must have been like them at least once in our life", Idaten replied.

"Hmm...Oh, yeah, taichou? I think I owe you an explanation on how the financial records works."

"Oh...right. Lead the way."

Hinamori obliged gleefully. The chance that the vice-captain was the one driving the captain around was so slim, it seemed like a joke. It was also very odd; this captain didn't mind being driven around unlike most other captains, who had heads as big as the mountains. Idaten seemed to trust Hinamori so much; it was too weird to be true.

Hinamori scowled. No matter what, she had made a resolution not to trust anyone easily. She wasn't planning on breaking it anytime soon.

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Santenkago : Three point cage

The man with pigtails appeared in the manga briefly as the one who told Hinamori about shinigamis being allowed to release their zanpakuto. Although his position is unknown until know, I think he's possibly the third seat.