Chapter Two-Their First Meeting

"That was so funny," Ren breathed, barely able to stop her laughter long enough to speak.

"I told you it would be! Their faces were priceless!" Yoruichi jeered. They had Shunpo'd their way back to the Second Division, and once they entered Yoruichi's office, they both collapsed to the ground laughing.

"I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that!" Ren added, holding her ribs even tighter.

"Oh, Ren, you are not going to regret this, I swear," Yoruichi told her, finally beginning to catch her breath.

"If you keep letting me do things like this, I know I won't," Ren agreed, getting off of the floor and then helping Yoruichi do the same. They both sat down behind their own desks and turned their chairs to where they were facing each other.


"Captain Hirako?" Aizen shook the shoulder of his captain, trying to snap him out of his thoughts. Most of the other captains and lieutenants had already left, but Shinji hadn't budged an inch. Aizen was under the impression that he hadn't even blinked, either.

"Haha! Go on back to your division, Sōsuke. We'll take care of him," Shūnsui laughed. Jūshirō, Lisa, and Love were also with him, and Jūshirō was the only one that wasn't laughing at Shinji's expense. Aizen just stood there for a moment, unsure if it was really wise to abandon his captain here, with these people, but he had work to do, so he left without another word.

"Oh, Shinji~!" Shūnsui sang, standing in front of the immobile captain. To his surprise, he received no reply; Shinji just stood there motionless.

"Do you think he's okay?" Jūshirō asked, trying to see what Shinji was staring at. If he wasn't mistaken, he was staring at the spot where Yoruichi and her new lieutenant had been standing.

"Probably," Love told him, snapping his fingers in front of Shinji's face. He still wasn't moving.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" Kensei demanded, still angry from that thief's 'display' earlier.

"I think he's a little 'stunned'," Shūnsui told him, the grin never leaving his face.

"By what?" Kensei asked. He looked at where Shinji was staring, and the answer to his question hit him like a brick, and that particular brick had 'rage' written all over it.

"Are you kidding me? That crook?" Kensei yelled, smacking Shinji in the back of the head, hitting him so hard that he knocked him to the floor.

"Ow! Geez, what the hell was that for?" Shinji yelled, not only angry that Kensei had hit him, but also angry that he had been knocked out of his thoughts of the mysterious new lieutenant.

"Get over it! I can't believe you're thinking about that-that thief!" Kensei yelled back at him. He didn't think that even Shinji could be that desperate.

"Did ya see her? She was gorgeous," Shinji told him. "I think she's my first love."

"You say that about all pretty girls, Shinji," Lisa reminded him.

"Well, maybe, but it's different this time," Shinji stated.

"It better not be! How could you even think to associate with that criminal?" Kensei asked, exasperated. He knew that at this point, no matter what he said to him, Shinji was lost; Shinji had his eyes set on the thief, and Kensei wasn't sure that anything would be able to pry them off.

"Well, she's obviously not one anymore!" Love laughed, slapping Kensei on the back.

"Yep, she's a Soul Reaper now. Why don't we go and meet her?" Shūnsui suggested. Shinji's eyes grew wide at the statement, and a jolt of excitement went through him.

"Tch, have fun. Count me out, I have more important things to do," Kensei scoffed, walking off to tend to his own business, giving up on the matter altogether.

"Must have been a real shot to his pride," Lisa commented. Love hummed in agreement.

"Why are we waiting? Let's go!" Shinji called. He was already at the door, ready to lead the charge to Yoruichi's office in the Second Division. Jūshirō was startled by his sudden urgency, but Shūnsui and the others just laughed at him. They couldn't wait to see what he would do when he got to see Ren up close and personal.


"So, we haven't been able to have a good talk in a while. How have things been?" Yoruichi began, folding her hands behind her head and propping her feet up on her desk. Ren let out a short sigh, leaning back in her chair, and crossing her arms over her stomach.

"The Thief Clans were pissed, that's for sure," she started. "Not that I care, really. I mean, I don't care what they do, but I don't want them bringing any trouble here. That wouldn't look too good for me."

"I thought you didn't associate with the Thief Clans?" Yoruichi pressed.

"I don't, which is ironic, but they tried their hardest to get me to join them. They were starting to get pretty violent when I left," Ren told her. As their name suggested, Thief Clans were clans of thieves, mainly based around the outer districts of Rukongai. Their thieves were trained from infancy to steal, to spy, and even to assassinate. There were several clans, all distant from one another, which was a good thing, considering that they were definitely not friendly with each other. They were always trying to out-do each other, and recently, they tried to do that by recruiting the Queen of Thieves herself.

"Why did you never associate with them? I was under the impression that all thieves were in one of the clans," Yoruichi continued. Ren was quiet for a moment. Her vendetta against the Thief Clans was one that started at birth, one that still hadn't died and probably never would.

"I was born into one. When I was little, I went through my training pretty fast, and my parents were thrilled. I didn't really understand how wrong stealing was at the time; it was all that I'd ever known, and at that point, it was all that I was supposed to know. But, I had a brother. He, he was strong, but he wasn't good at his thief training, so my parents disowned him and he was exiled from the clan. I loved my brother to death, so I was pretty heartbroken when they took him away from me. I figured that the best way for me to get back at them was to take away what they were so proud of, so I slacked off in my training. It made them so mad, and they exiled me pretty quickly after that. They left me on the streets of District 80 in North Rukongai, and I just sort of went from there. I traveled, stealing things on the way, selling what I could, and making a small name for myself in the process. After a while, I reached District 80 in the South," Ren explained. She stopped for a moment, going through her old memories. She couldn't even remember all of the times that she had pickpocketed people, or the amount of times that she had stolen food from a merchant's stall, or the countless homes that she had broken into to steal valuables. She was trying to make it by, and stealing, being a thief, was all that she had ever known.

"Ren?" Yoruichi called, concern laced in her voice.

"Hm? Oh, sorry. Uh, yeah, I found my brother in South Rukongai. The thing was, when he was exiled, the clan that we were from did something to him. I have no idea what they did, but he had lost his memories. I've never heard of them wiping an exiles memory before, but they did it to him. It took forever, but he finally remembered me, but that was it. It's funny, though. They said he was talentless, that he wasn't worth the air he breathed, but he turned out to be one of the greatest swordsmen in all of Soul Society. If they had just kept him, that clan would have been at the top. Their loss, though, not his," Ren continued, shrugging her shoulders.

"Who is he?" Yoruichi asked.

"You haven't heard of him. He's really only heard of in the outer districts. We split up a long time ago. I was through with traveling, and he wanted to keep traveling to fight people. We still meet up from time to time, though. I told him that I was coming here and everything," Ren told her, breaking Yoruichi's curiosity in one strike.

"He didn't want to come, too?" Yoruichi pondered.

"He'll come here, eventually. He'll run out of people to fight and he'll have no choice but to come here," Ren told her, with a knowing look on her face.

"He'll come here to find her, too," Ren thought. She decided to keep that little detail to herself, though. It would only complicate things.

"So, anyways, on a happier note, what will my first orders be?" Ren asked, eager to begin her work. She was ready to slay some Hollows, or maybe even train some newbies. She had a tanto blade strapped to each of her thighs; these tanto blades were her zanpakutō, her trusted partners that had seen her through many a fight and theft. Yoruichi seemed to think for a moment, but an idea hit her, and that mischievous grin hit her face again.

"Make me lunch," Yoruichi told her.

"What?" Ren asked, not believing what she had heard.

"Make me lunch."

"Don't you have people to do that?"

"Yes, but they can't cook like you can, my dear Ren," Yoruichi taunted. Ren knew that Yoruichi loved her cooking, and she didn't mind doing it because she loved to cook, but it seemed strange that it was her first duty as a Shinigami…

"Fine," Ren conceded, getting out of her chair. "Where is everything?"

"In the back. I had it all set up just for you!" Yoruichi cheered. "And make plenty, because I'm sure we'll have guests!"


Shinji was having second thoughts. As soon as they reached the Second Division, he froze. His nerves got the best of him, and he wasn't sure if he could face the beautiful lieutenant anymore. What if she didn't like him? What if her personality didn't match her looks? What if she wasn't single? What if she hated him?

"Nope, keep moving," Shūnsui stated, pushing Shinji forward towards Yoruichi's office. He and Love ended up having to drag him the rest of the way and Lisa laughed the entire time.

"Knock," Love demanded, as they finally reached the office.

"What?" Shinji asked incredulously. He tried to smooth down the wrinkles in his haori from where he'd been dragged.

"It's not hard, Shinji. Take your hand, ball it up, and tap it against the door," Lisa mocked, enjoying every minute of Shinji's discomfort.

"But-" Shinji began.

"No buts, just actions," Shūnsui told him, taking Shinji's hand and making him knock.

"Wait! I'm not-" Shinji tried to walk away, but this time, Jūshirō stopped him from walking away.

"You have to start somewhere," Jūshirō assured him, giving him a smile to encourage him.

"Come in! ~" Yoruichi called. Shinji could have sworn that his heart skipped a beat. He was here, she was here, and the meeting was bound to take place. And now, thanks to his oh so supportive friends, he couldn't avoid it.

"Here we go! ~" Shūnsui sang as he opened the door. "Yoruichi-chan! ~"

"Shūnsui! Jūshirō! Love! Lisa! Hehe, Shinji," Yoruichi greeted with a sly grin. Shinji's face fell. Was it that obvious? And just where was Ren at?!

"Lunch is just about ready, so make yourselves comfortable!" Yoruichi told them.

"Lunch?" Jūshirō asked.

"Yes, I had Ren fix something up for us," Yoruichi told them. She already had a table set out along with mats for them to sit on. They made sure that there was an empty seat beside Shinji, although he tried to fight it.

"So, how's the new lieutenant going?" Love asked. Lisa snickered as Shinji's eyes widened at the mention of Ren.

"Oh, it's great. She really knows how to have fun in the work place," Yoruichi answered with a suggestive tone in her voice. Shinji couldn't help it as a small trail of blood came out of his nose, and Shūnsui had a pretty big smile on his face, too. Jūshirō, on the opposite end of the spectrum, was slightly blushing. He could tell it was going to be a long lunch.

"Yoruichi! Lunch is done!" Goodness, Shinji loved the sound of her voice.

"Our guests are here, so go ahead and bring it out!" Yoruichi called back.

Nobody but Yoruichi could believe their eyes. There was so much food! Ren just kept bringing more and more plates in, and they were stacked with rice, vegetables, all kinds of meat, and even some sushi. She also brought some tea to go with it.

"Beautiful!" Love cried.

"I see you've outdone yourself again, Ren," Yoruichi commented.

"Well, I aim to please, Yorui- uh, Captain," Ren replied, quickly correcting the way she addressed Yoruichi.

"That you do, Ren. Now, let's not wait any longer. This food looks too good to just be sitting there," Yoruichi stated. Ren finally sat down, and of course, she had to sit by Shinji. His eyes were as wide as saucers, and his breathing was quickening. Love was on the verge of tears with his laughter, and Lisa was having a hard time keeping hers in.

"So, Ren, what brings you to the Gotei 13?" Shūnsui asked, generally curious. Shinji, on the other hand, was mildly agitated that Shūnsui was speaking so familiarly with her.

"It's just something different to do, really, and that one played a role in it, too," Ren told him, pointing her thumb at Yoruichi.

"Don't pretend like you don't love it," Yoruichi commented, although it was muffled by her mouthful of food.

"Beautiful, Yoruichi, beautiful," Ren replied, shaking her head.

"It's amazing!" Love sang, swallowing a mouthful of food.

"Ah, it is! You're a wonderful cook, Ren-chan!" Jūshirō agreed. Shinji couldn't believe his ears. Now Jūshirō was acting all cozy with her?

"Thank you, Captain Ukitake," Ren replied.

"There's no need to be so formal here, Ren. You can call me Jūshirō if you want," Jūshirō told her.

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Jūshirō," Ren said, giving him a smile to go along with it. If her food wasn't so damn good, and if her smile wasn't so damn beautiful, Shinji might have been a little mad at Jūshirō. But with a mouthful of such amazing flavors, there was no way that he could be mad, no matter how jealous he was of Jūshirō and Shūnsui for even being able to talk to Ren.

"How do you like the food, Shinji?" Lisa asked him, trying to get him to speak.

"It's, uh, it's good," he stuttered. The uncertainty in his voice almost made it sound like he thought it was bad. Yoruichi smacked her forehead in frustration.

"You know, Shinji, Ren could probably use someone to show her around the divisions. Would you be able to do that?" Shūnsui asked, trying to save Shinji.

"I, uh, I think Aizen has work for me to do," Shinji answered. Love almost choked on his food.

"You never do it anyways," Lisa commented, trying to push him on.

"He, uh, said it was important," Shinji replied. Jūshirō shook his head this time, showing just how hopeless Shinji was.

"Well, Ren is a smart girl. I'm sure she'll find her way around," Yoruichi commented, sending a small glare towards Shinji.

"Well, somebody did already offer to show me around," Ren added, making everyone look at her in surprise.

"Really? Who?" Yoruichi asked.

"It was a lieutenant. I think he said his name was Sōsuke," Ren told them.

"I'm going to kill him," Shinji thought. "When did he even have time to talk to her?!"

"Well, how nice of him to offer!" Shūnsui commented, nudging Jūshirō's arm to get him to go along with him.

"Well, he is a very nice young man," Jūshirō added.

"He's not bad looking, either," Yoruichi stated, joining in on the action. Jealousy was raging in Shinji's eyes, along with a hint of anger.

"I suppose, I mean, I've only seen him once, so," Ren replied. Shinji couldn't take it anymore.

"I have to go," he said, standing up quickly.

"But you hardly ate anything," Love told him, trying to get him to sit back down.

"I'm not hungry," he replied, quickly storming out of Yoruichi's office, leaving a moment of silence in his wake.

"Is he, uh, usually like this?" Ren asked, taking a sip of tea.

"No, not usually," Yoruichi breathed, mildly disappointed. She quickly went over to her desk and wrote something down on a piece of paper, folding it up when she was done.

"Lisa, will you drop this by Fifth Division on your way back to Eighth?" Yoruichi asked.

"Of course," Lisa replied, having a pretty good idea of what was on it.


Aizen could tell that something was wrong with his captain; he was doing paper work, not saying a word, with a very broken air about him. Aizen had tried to ask him what was wrong, but Shinji wouldn't say a word to him. He merely huffed and kept writing.

"Shinji! Yoruichi sent you a message!" Lisa called as she opened the door to the Fifth Division office. Shinji just huffed in reply and kept doing his paperwork.

"What is wrong with him?" Aizen asked her.

"He's just got a stick up his ass, that's all. And it's his own fault," Lisa told him, putting the piece of paper on his desk. "See ya."

"Captain, I-" Aizen began.

"Just go," Shinji cut him off. He knew what Aizen was going to ask him, and he just wanted to get it over with.

"Al-alright, Captain, if you insist," Aizen replied, quickly leaving the office.

"If you insist my ass," Shinji muttered, dropping his pen on his desk. He stared at the note that Lisa had left on his desk for a moment. He thought about not reading it, but what if it was about Ren? He quickly unfolded the note, dropping it as soon as he read it.

'Dumbass' was the only thing written on the paper, and at this point, he couldn't help but agree. He had acted like a rude asshole to Ren, and he just let his lieutenant go off to show her around, when it should have been him. He should have been one standing by Ren, talking to her, complimenting her, telling her some stupid joke so he could see her smile again. Her smile had sent a jolt of sheer joy right through his heart, and now, he would be lucky if he ever saw it again. And he had no one to blame but himself.

Author's Note: A special thanks to kodokuna 13, ocmaker317, and EaSnowPw for the follows and favorites, and especially to wolfgirl3090 and kdeargh for the reviews!