Disclaimer: I do not Bleach or any of the characters

Chapter Nineteen – Assessment

Toushirou hadn't been a member of Squad Three for very long but already he was starting to get the idea that his captain was something of a slacker. He was definitely lax about…well about pretty much everything as far as Toushirou could tell. It didn't really appear as though Captain Ichimaru took much of anything seriously and a lot of the members of the squad had the same lax attitude.

Which admittedly was something of an annoyance for Toushirou.

It wasn't that he was all about work but considering the fact that they all had things that they were supposed to do he did think that they should actually do them rather than procrastinating. But it was hard to convince people that procrastination wasn't a good idea when they had their own captain telling them that it could wait and that it wasn't important to do it right away.

He supposed that he could have gone to Head Captain Ukitake and complained about the situation but that wasn't really his style either. Toushirou had absolutely no interest in getting anyone else in trouble so he just quietly dealt with his annoyance over the situation.

The youngest member of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads was roaming around the barracks of Squad Three when the vice-captain, Izuru Kira, came up to him. "Toushirou…" he called out, the blond male walking toward the younger white haired Shinigami.

The kid wanted to protest the familiar way that he was addressed but since Kira outranked him Toushirou refrained from actually doing that. "What is it?" he asked instead of actually voicing just how much he disliked being called by his first name. He made the attempt to keep his voice from sounding gruff but that didn't really work out so well for him.

Kira didn't really seem to be phased by that fact however and he just offered the white haired prodigy a smile. "Captain Ichimaru sent me to get you for your assessment," the blond vice-captain said, not even reacting to the way that the kid had questioned him.

"Right," Toushirou said with a nod of his head, having wondered when exactly his captain was going to get around to giving him the assessment that would determine where he was going to fit in the squad. Each squad member was ranked based on their power and skill and Toushirou hadn't as of yet been given that test.

Even though it had been a few days since he had joined the squad.

Which just went right back to the fact that Squad Three was really lax.

"Come on," Kira said, gesturing for the boy to follow him as he turned to lead the way down the hallway toward the office where Captain Ichimaru was currently hanging out. Possibly doing paperwork but more likely not actually doing anything productive.

But he was the captain so that was his prerogative.

Nodding his head but not actually saying anything Toushirou fell into step behind the blond vice-captain as he led the way down the hall. His thoughts were swirling as he thought about what this test might possibly entail but outwardly he wasn't showing any of this, his expression was completely stoic.

Glancing over his shoulder at the boy genius Kira thought about asking him if he was nervous about the upcoming assessment but decided at the last moment that this was probably not a good idea. He didn't really know much about Toushirou but he had seen enough of the kid since he had joined Squad Three that he was aware of the fact that Toushirou wasn't really one for small talk and he wasn't likely to share his feelings with someone that he didn't really know. With that thought in mind the vice-captain just led the way to the office and without even bothering to knock he slid the door open and led the way inside.

"I brought Toushirou Captain," he announced as his gaze turned toward Captain Ichimaru.

Ichimaru was sitting at a desk with his trademark grin plastered all over his face, his squinty-eyed gaze shifting in the direction of the pair as Kira and Toushirou entered the office. "Good, good," the captain said, getting to his feet and offering the new arrivals an even wider grin.

Though how that was possible was anyone's guess.

Toushirou turned his aqua eyes toward the captain and offered a slight bow as he said, "You wanted to see me Captain Ichimaru?" Not that he really needed to ask this question, he already knew the answer, but he said it anyway.

"That's right," Ichimaru confirmed with a nod of his head. "Are you prepared for your assessment?"

Not that the kid was going to have a choice regardless of whether or not he was prepared. It was just a question that people tended to ask, more a formality than anything else.

"I am," Toushirou confirmed, a note of determination in his voice that made him sound older than his appearance led one to believe he was. Granted he had always had a maturity about him despite his young age, that was something that had not escaped the notice of everyone that had met him.

"Then let's go out to the training grounds and see what you're capable of," Ichimaru said, his fox-like grin ever present as he moved from behind his desk and started to lead the way out of the office. Kira fell into step behind the captain and that left Toushirou to bring up the rear, the youth still thinking about what he was going to have to do for this assessment.

Toushirou surveyed the ice that was left in the wake of his attacks, his aqua eyes shifting around the area before going back to Ichimaru. Who had not once, during the entire battle, lost that smirk that he held on his face.

Which was sort of amazing as far as Toushirou was concerned.

"Well that was fun," Ichimaru said with a wave of his hand before he sheathed his zanpaktou and then stuck his arms in the sleeves of his shihakusho. "Now you get to clean up the mess."

An announcement that left Toushirou sort of gaping at the man.

It became apparent pretty quickly that he wasn't joking around as the man motioned for his vice-captain and then turned to walk away. Kira looked over at Toushirou briefly before he fell into step behind his captain, not sure if Ichimaru had a reason for making the kid stay behind and clean up the mess but not asking the question.

Mainly because he wasn't entirely sure if that would end up making Toushirou mad.

Something that didn't seem too difficult to accomplish from what little he knew of the white haired prodigy.

Toushirou had a scowl on his face as he watched the sole two officers of Squad Three that outranked him now walking away. Making an unhappy little noise low in his throat the white haired youth sheathed his sword and then set about assessing the damage so to speak. He was under the impression that most of it would be okay once it thawed out but there were a few things that he was going to have to deal with unfortunately.

Not something that he was overly happy about but there were worse things that he could think of than that.

As he worked the white haired prodigy couldn't help but think about how things were going to be now that he had managed to rank so high within the squad. It was almost guaranteed that people were going to give him grief the same as they had while he was in the academy but that was something that he was starting to grow accustomed to as sad as that was to say.

And it helped that he didn't give half a damn what people thought about him.

Or so he maintained anyway.

"Jyuushirou, did you hear the news?" Captain Kyouraku asked his old friend as he practically waltzed into the office of Squad One. The flamboyant, flowery-haori wearing captain had a smirk on his face as he walked toward his friend and he seemed to be amused by something.

"What news?" Ukitake questioned, wondering what it was that his friend was referring to.

"Your kid's assessment," Kyouraku said with the look of amusement still on his face. He was even more amused by the fact that he'd referred to the white haired prodigy as Ukitake's kid but that was the way that he, and several others among the inhabitants of the Seireitei, saw the situation.

"I knew that Gin was planning to test him today but I haven't received word of the results yet," Ukitake said, wondering what Kyouraku knew that he didn't.

"Oh ho ho… I think you're gonna be sorry that you missed seeing it," Kyouraku said with a chuckle. "I heard that Ichimaru himself dueled the kid to test him… and from what I gather they're still trying to de-ice the Squad Three training grounds."

The amusement in the captain's voice was not lost on his best friend.

Ukitake couldn't help but smile as he heard about the fate that had befallen the training grounds at the hands of Toushirou but he was still curious about just how the child prodigy had done. "So you told me that he froze the training grounds but you didn't actually tell me how he did in the assessment," Ukitake said as he gazed at his friend.

"Third seat," Kyouraku said, knowing that Ukitake wasn't likely to be surprised when he heard how well the prodigy had done. Everyone knew that the white haired boy was powerful and had skills so it wasn't really surprising that he would do well.

The smile that Ukitake was already wearing only grew wider when he heard how well that Toushirou had done. The pride that he felt for the child prodigy was evident in his eyes as he nodded his head slightly. "I knew that he was going to do well," he said though at the same time he was also aware of the fact that having done so well was likely going to make Toushirou something of a target among the other members of the squad.

Because few of them were likely to handle being outdone by a child with very much grace.

A/N: End of another chapter and nothing really exciting happened this time either. Shiro-chan did get his placement in the squad however and all the 'joys' that come along with it. Yep, skipped the fight scene because writing them is a headache that I prefer to save for boss fights and stuff lol. Hope that you enjoyed, please leave a review and share your thoughts.