disclaim: manga belongs to Tite Kubo

Happy 1st April :)

Chapter 12: Aquaintance

To be honest, the last two days had been bad. Real bad. So she was supposed to do the paperwork. She hadn't touched paperwork in a long time. Okay she never did touch her paperwork. The captain had always taken her paperwork not even noticing he was doing her share. She was even so kind that she spared a bunch of papers just for the 16th of June, because the 16th was always the worst.

The first year the captain had seriously searched for paperwork in the entire squad. So well that there was nothing left to do for a good week. After that time she had made sure to keep a secret stash for him to finish that day. Some captain handed in their papers that day too just to keep him occupied. We need to precise though that the 16th of June, no one talked to her captain and he was stuck in the office from midnight to the next the day.

For the first time in 18 years, her captain wasn't there. She had five towers of unfinished papers that needed to be handed in the next week. Five one meter high stashes of paperwork she had no intention of doing. So she did the only thing she was very good at: she drank. But not alone. The point was to get the other ones drunk and get them to do her paperwork. She managed to give the fifth seat only one tower.

Miraculously she won a bet against Ikkaku where she handed him the paperwork, only to figure out that he couldn't do the work of the 10th squad. Well the point was that by the end of the day she had managed to give away four of those towers to lower seats but there were still one tower only the lieutenant or captain could do.

After running out of ideas, she had seated herself in the captain's chair waiting for something to happen while throwing a ball in the air. And her prayers were answered as the captain entered the room. Under a second, she was back in her own seat prepared to get yelled at. That never happened. Hitsugaya just sat down and started to work on the last tower. His face was blank and expression more dead than it has been in years.

"Captain," she asked, "how was your trip?" She always tried to put up a smiling face when she spoke to him.

"Fine."

"Oh look at the time," she said finally seeing a way out, "I must be off. See you tomorrow captain," she sang happily halfway out the door.

"Lieutenant," he said, "where is the rest of the paperwork?" Oh so he wasn't totally in trance. Well to a certain degree anyway as he nearly never called her that.

"Finished?"

"Is that a question?" he asked skeptical without taking his eyes away from the paper he was working on.

"It's five o'clock captain, day's over, and I'm off."

"It's seven and I want to know where you hid the rest of the paperwork that needs to be handed in tomorrow."

"I took care of that. Don't worry captain, that's all you need to work on tonight." She said the last part already down the corridor and still she could hear the sight from her captain.

Thinking of it, wasn't Ryuu here now? She didn't know anyone else that could attract the eye of soul society. Nearly running toward the fourth squad where she felt his present, she stopped just in time not to walk straight into Renji.

"Lieutenant Abarai," she said happily since he without doubt would understand where she was going. He gave her a sour look back.

"Matsumoto, don't go there," he said in a tone that made her understand he was searching for her.

"Why not?" They placed themselves out of view in one of the smaller streets.

"I went by the gathering just now and things weren't pretty." He passed his hand in his long red locks. "Someone is against Ryuu being here, some wants him gone, and some even wants him dead."

"I can't think of a single captain that could possibly want to kill an innocent child," she objected.

"That wasn't the captains. Look, I don't know what they are going to do with him, but all the captains are against the execution. I just don't trust all the captains. Anyway, if you were to show you knew Ryuu that would put you in a delicate position as well as him. Think about what they are going to think. It won't take long for them to put the pieces together." He was anxious as his hand never left the back of his head.

"I have been guarding Karakura for nearly 17 years, of course I know the kid that has such a high spiritual energy," she said, her arms crossed. "So you are telling me you rather have Ryuu suffer as a little kid in the middle of nowhere than to actually help him out and eventually get caught? Think about Ryuu."

"I am thinking about Ryuu. He can't be supported by us. If he does, don't you think they would figure out the reason you asked to take care of that town. You don't need more than that before speculations will arise. Heck, they can even start thinking he's your son."

"That is nonsense."

"This is Seireitei, rumors are spread like wild fire. Just give it some time before you go meet him." He said preparing to leave.

"So you won't talk to him?" she asks bitter.

"You have more chance to be near him since he's been put under the jurisdiction of the 10th squad. Just don't let it show you know him in the beginning."

"The captain didn't tell." She said shocked by the revelation of this. She could actually take care of Ryuu.

"He didn't say much either, he was manly put in between Ichigo and the head captain. Looks like Ichigo wants the kid to return to the world of the living. I suppose he is the only that understand the complications Ryuu will go through and what he is giving up."

"Okay, well I suppose another one from the squad can go then. Thanks for the in tell Renji. Though, you should see him later too. You're the one he looks up to," she sighs in defeat. They left each other promising they would stay away from trouble and let Ryuu adapt, not interfering if not necessary.

She left for the captain's office only to leave the fastest she could if he suddenly wanted her to do something. Storming down to quarter number seven in her squad she found five of the seated officers drinking.

"Hey," she said in her authority voice, making the five males stand up in a clumsy way to greet her, "which one of you has ever taken care of a kid?"

The males just looked at her strangely. "Not my kid," she outraged.

Matsumoto had done a great job. She had stayed occupied the entire month to keep a safe distance from Ryuu. The seventh seat, that apparently was the only one that had ever seen a kid, if that was even possible, had agreed on taking care of the boy. He liked staying around children apparently. It made him feel younger.

She had gotten a full report on how things were going with him and even what he did in his days. She knew this was considered stalking but found that Ryuu surely wouldn't mind. He found a friend apparently, a certain Sofie Darius, that he didn't leave. She didn't even know they had such a recruit.

But he still didn't like the officer thou and said man had explained over and over again he had no idea what he did wrong. The captain in all this was nowhere to be seen. She hadn't seen him much since the day he came back actually. He sometimes when by to see the officers or to give jobs and scolding to the squad members.

Everything went smoothly until one day she woke up in the middle of the night feeling a reiatsu way out of control. She knew Ryuu's energy by heart but this one was different as if tinted by something else. Storming down to the seventh quarter she found three seated officers that had their chambers there, waiting for her.

"We don't know what happened," started the 13th seat.

"It was fine and then we walk up to this energy," said the 16th seat.

Walking to the common room, she could see pretty much every officer sleeping in the seventh building. This wasn't the first time it had happened to Ryuu to loose control like this, Rangiku knew this was coming sooner or later. Storming of she found a bucket of water that she took. She left the officers in the common room and assured them she would handle the problem.

When Ryuu was younger and still unaware of his legacy, she would wake up in the night feeling his overpowered spiritual energy glowing. Karin had called her out for help the first time. In his room Ryuu was burning up and his temperature was way beyond 40 Celsius. If they didn't move him away from the room, he would have burned it down. The solution was to wake him with a bucket of ice cold water. Or that was what she thought was the problem.

When she opened the door she was hit with a wave of cold air. The bucket of water in her hand was frozen after mere seconds. The temperature was still decreasing and she didn't know how long she would support the cold that was already biting every piece of flesh it found. She needed to take him out of this room right now.

Finding the culprit wasn't complicated as he was the only one left in the room. But the strong willed Ryuu she knew was nothing but a bleach imitation lying on a frozen bed. She tried to wake him up by calling him and eventually punching him. That didn't work.

She hadn't seen him this small, well since he was five. She picked him up slowly even if her hands were burning in contact of his ice cold skin and clothes. Leaving the room she could feel the heat coming back to her. The solution was usually to get him out of the place he was in, she supposed.

"You should sleep in the common room," she said to the 7th seat that waited right out door. "This room will be frozen till tomorrow. I'll take care of the kid." She didn't wait for a reply, they shouldn't answer anyway. There was no problem for the lieutenant to take care of the child they were in charge with. Especially not after a month.

The further she went away from the room, the calmer the boy was. Soon his reiatsu was under control, but his skin was still very cold. Taking him to her quarter, she put all the wool carpet she could find and heated up water to fill bottles to put under the cover of his bed. The water turned to ice and she continually needed to change them. Eventually, the bottles stopped freezing but she still needed to change the water every half hour.

Still when the sun was high up in the sky, she was trying to keep Ryuu warm. She couldn't sleep as he had her bed so she stayed thinking about what occurred. Ryuu had offend released a massive among of reiatsu when he was stressed or had nightmares. He usually had them after Renji or she was passing by, as if reacting to their spiritual energy.

"Where am I?" asked the small voice from beneath a dozen of covers.

"You're in my quarters Ryuu," she said prying away some of the layers.

"Who?" The voice was childish and she nearly wanted to hug him since he was so cute with his clumsy movements.

"It's me Rangiku. You know, your preferred aunt?"

"Aunty Rangiku?" He seemed to understand more and more where he was and his cloudy eyes focused on her. Out of nowhere, he hugged her. The tears flowed over and she could only answer his hug and pat him on the back. She eventually sat down beside him to hold him better.

"There, there Ryuu, it's alright. Everything is going to be alright." She didn't know if what she said was actually helping or worsening it. He seemed to calm down anyway. He straightens up as if realizing what he was doing was childish. He sat right up wiping the tears away. He had that adorable expression on his face where he was trying to act mature but failed miserably.

"What?" she asked at his questioning look and hiding the wide grin that was forming on her lips.

"I'm not a kid," he said dead serious. "I am 17 years old and smartest in my class. I am not a child." He seemed to say it more to himself than her as if debating if he really was a child or not. "And I don't like the 7th seat or his squad." He finished pouting.

"The 7th seat's squad? Ryuu there is nothing like that. You either don't like the seventh squad or, I don't really know what." There was no point in commenting his first outburst, which would worsen it.

"Yeah you know, that place you put me in: seventh seat squad." He looked at her as if telling her he knew perfectly well what he was talking about. And she couldn't stop the laugh.

"Did your friend tell you that? What was her name again? Sophie Darius?" she asked gleefully. She could see on his face when he realized what was going on.

"Why did you never come see me if you knew where I was?" He wanted attention, the stoic little Ryuu who had a tendency to push away anyone and hit anyone that tried to hug him, wanted attention like a little kid.

"Ryuu are you okay," she asked reaching out to feel if he had a fever. His skin was still cold and looking closer, she could see the carpet closest to his body was frozen.

"No I'm not okay. I spend my enter day being ignored or looked down upon. I don't know the rules but of course no one wants to tell them to me and just expect me to know everything. Oh and let's not forget that I don't even know who I am anymore." His face was red from the combination of tears and anger flaring in his facial expression.

"Come here," she said pulling him into a tight hug. "No one expect you to know the rules and none look down on you. It's just you look like a five year old right now and you are walking in the barrack of the 10th division. That is impressive."

She honestly doubted that all the officers were kind toward Ryuu, but a blunt lie couldn't do much. He seems to calm down but this time didn't let go of her.

"Why didn't you come and see me, aunty? I was searching for you." His words were half muffled by her cloth. "Why didn't uncle come? Why didn't even that captain tell me what I was supposed to do?" She was afraid the Seireitei was scaring him but not to this extend.

"I didn't come so suspicions shouldn't arise. They don't know you yet and they are afraid you can be a treat for the society and therefore keep a close eye on you. If I was to come they would understand you were more bound to soul society than what they thought. Renji didn't come for the same reason. As for my captain, I haven't seen him in a week."

"It's still unfair," he wined, a side he would only show either her or his mother. Not even Renji was presented by this character. He wanted to be strong in front of his uncle.

"I know, I know, but it's for the best, you'll see," but whatever she intended to tell him to comfort him was stopped by a suddenly way more energetic child.

"Hitsugaya is you captain? You never said you were in the 10th squad. I thought you were in the 6th with uncle." He retrieved his hands to look up at her easier.

"Whoops, looks like I forgot that detail." He didn't looked convince and bore that 'I want to know more' expression she found so adorable when he was, well the same age as he looked right now. "I didn't see what that would do."

"Is even uncle in the 6th division? I haven't seen him and I have visited the entire 6th division. Just tell me aunty, you have the 'I know something you don't' look. I want to know."

"Well, Renji was part of the 6th squad until they needed more captains and he was promoted as such. Though call him Lieutenant, it annoys him," she said in her childish way.

"Captain? Uncle Renji is a captain? Wait, what position do you have?" His shock made him sit back in the bed to look at her better and better to absorb information. She laughed at his way of being, suddenly missing the small child Ryuu that would always ask for more information. He could sit for hours asking all the questions he had on his mind, always managing to bring his mother to the computer to look up the answer.

"No worries, I'm just a lieutenant," she giggled happily at his shocked face.

"So I have two captain level uncles and a lieutenant level aunt. Any more relations I need to take into account when I fail miserably?" he asked with a worried look. Young Ryuu wouldn't mind showing his feelings as the older one wanted to suppress.

"Oh one of your uncles is sort of engaged to a lieutenant too, so I suppose you have two lieutenant level aunts and off course I think your other one is trying very hard to woe another lieutenant, or was she a captain." And your father is a captain; she wanted to add at the end of her sentence.

"What kind of family is this?"

"And I nearly forgot: you grandfather was a captain too," this shocked him more actually.

"Old goofy man was a captain?" She let him proseed the information before continuing.

"Ryuu," she said as she entered the responsible part of her, "do you know what happened tonight?" He lined his head slowly to one side as if believing the question would make more sense if he looked at her under another angle. He eventually shocks his head.

"You released a massive among of spiritual energy and you nearly froze the ten officers that shares that room with you. With all that energy you used I am surprise you're not hungry." He looked at her as if not understanding what she was trying to tell him. She saw those turquoise orbs looking at her waiting for more information, always more than what she could offer or anyone really. It made her wonder if her captain would be able to cleans the child's thirst for knowledge.

"What happened to you Ryuu? Last time I saw you, your body was perhaps nine years old, now you look like a five year old. You even act like one." He didn't want to meet her eyes and turned them toward the opened window.

"I'm not a child," he whispered. "I'm not five and I'm not a kid. I'm 17 years old and I most definitely don't act like a five year old."

"But you can't deny that your body is the same as when you were five," she said tiered.

"I don't know what is going on," he said looking down at his hands again. "When I arrived I felt like I was degrading, like I wasn't me anymore, as if everything I learned was only a part of a bigger scheme. I feel so young. Captain of the 4th squad said that my mind understood just how young I am, but I don't think I have caught up with my mind."

She looked at him with concern. She knew souls didn't age as fast as humans so the fact a soul grew up as a human wasn't such a good thing when they were so young. Urahara even said that he didn't know how the soul would react coming in contact with the Seireitei. The soul could stay stable, it could go wild or it could do something unpredictable that would be the most obvious. It actually pleased her to know she could be with the little Ryuu again; the one that wouldn't push you away as if nothing touched him.

"I don't know either," she said simply. "It could be you don't know how young you are and the mind and body aren't on even ground making them, and you, confused."

"I don't know," he said the sadness clouding his entire body.

"I think you need to figure out exactly what you are and that you are extremely tired." He looked at her with sour eyes as if she betrayed him. "Just sleep a while. I'm here when you wake up again."

It didn't take long after his head hit the pillow before he was far gone. Rangiku wondered thou, who she could ask about this situation. She didn't think of many, but maybe Ichigo could help. Or captain Kurosaki, even if saying it was still odd.

She knew very well that she had negligee all her work that day, but, hey, wasn't taking care of Ryuu actually her work too? The 8th division was a mess. The nearly reformed gotei 13 was still short on shinigamis and most squads that lost a lot of officers hadn't gotten their number back up, even after all these years.

It was no surprise to her to find the captain in his office filled with paperwork everywhere, and a stressed out captain trying to finish all said paperwork.

"Morning captain Kurosaki," she sang as she entered the office.

"No more paperwork please," said the officer looking up in desperation. "Oh Rangiku," he said plainly when seeing her form, "I thought you were the 4th seat. She has a tendency to come in with all the paperwork. Anyway," he said putting down his pen, "how're you doing?"

"It is lieutenant Matsumoto," she said teasingly, "and I'm doing fine, well better than you anyway." She found a seat under a stack of papers she could sit one.

"Don't tell me. I haven't been doing anything lately. And it doesn't help that the new recruits don't feel at ease yet. And apparently I don't need a lieutenant since there is no one capable to fill that position." Picking up one of the papers as if it was the plague she looked back at him.

"Why aren't your seated officers doing any of these? You can always give them work to do you know?" He looked at her with questioning eyes. "You have been a lieutenant for some time so you should know that not even half off these has to been done by the captain. I would even say one out of five have to be done by you." Looking up at him again she could see the realization draw on him.

"What exactly are you doing these days Ichigo?"

"I… Well I didn't think about that," he said while scratching the back of his neck. "I've been having a lot on my mind lately."

"Oh do tell." She lined closer as if to hear the big secret.

"As if I would tell you," he said plainly.

"I just diminished four fifth of your work," she pointed out.

"You'll figure out soon enough anyway." He had that empty look in his eyes, usually when he dreams of loved ones. "So how's that Ryuu kid doing?" he asked suddenly.

"Huh, Ryuu? His fine I suppose. Have you seen him?" she asked innocently.

"Even I Rangiku, even I could feel that massive energy, so don't skip the question."

"He is better. Nearly froze down the 10 officers that he shares room with. Actually I think he froze down the room next door too."

"And what exactly did you need from me?" he asked, eyes conveying that he wasn't as stupid as the majority of the citizen took him for. He had grown. "Apart of course to sail away from paperwork?"

"Ryuu is adapting rather strangely to soul society and I wondered if you could talk to him or at least tell me what to do in his situation."

"I don't really know. I came here because I wanted too and not because I was forced away from my town. Well, kind off anyway. As things are going, the kid won't return home in 10 years or so. The life he had would be gone by the time he goes back. As for his energy, I highly doubt I should be the one to talk to him." The last bit made them both smile. Kurosaki's lack of control was legendary, especially on the economy of the academy.

"Then maybe just tell him about soul society in a way that a human would understand."

"I suppose it wouldn't matter so much if I talk to him. At least that is a good excuse to get out of this stupid office."

Thanks for reading wonderful people :)

And have a nice week-end :D