Disclaimer: - I don't own Bleach. Kubo Tite owns Bleach.

Advice to fellow writers:- Coffee is good, coffee is your friend…

WARNING MASSIVE SPOILERS

The alerts system seems to be down so here's a note to say that I update this story roughly every two days. The joys of working from home!! (But damn my works suffering now – got to slow down!)

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Politics

Inoue Orihime hugged herself tightly, the white on her knuckles showing as she clenched her fist. She was walking through the hallways of the 4th Division, slowly and with a cold, damp, uneasiness drenching her heart. Although she generally enjoyed coming here she really only hated these particular days. As she entered the door to the small, private room within the hospital compound, she saw the figure of a familiar boy, sitting down leaning over the only bed in the room.

Toshiro Hitsugaya held the hand of the lone occupant in the bed. His silver looked a dull grey this morning, as if overnight he had aged dramatically. His eyes took the dull, cloudiness of rain swept sky as he stared intently at the patients long, brown hair, cascading into rivulets of pillow. "Thank you, Orihime-san." He spoke softly, without turning.

"Toshiro-kun…" Inoue whispered gently, "It's.. it's no problem….Rangiku is my friend too." She slowly stepped over beside the bed, sadly watching the Vice Captain, Matsumoto Rangiku's ample bosom rise and fall with her breathing.

"Thank you for coming every week to heal her" Toshiro's calm voice hiding the pain he felt. "You must be tired by now…"

"…No..no… it's fine… One week is plenty of time to rest."

Toshiro raised his eyes and smiled weakly at Inoue who politely returned the gesture. It had a become a regular and sad routine for the two spanning almost five years now. "How is she…" Inoue finally asked. Five years and ever the optimist she had kept on hoping and asking.

"She's perfectly healthy, her bodies perfectly fine thanks to you preventing her muscle atrophy." Toshiro turned his gaze back to Rangiku. "But she's still in a coma and her reiatsu is low but stable."

"I'm… sorry…"

"It's fine…" Toshiro uttered, "…at the very least I was able to get revenge for her."

"Gin…" Inoue breathed the word more than said it. "Would you like to talk about it…."

"No!" Catching his uncharacteristic outburst, he closed his eyes and gripped Rangiku's hand in both of his tighter. "Maybe… maybe one day…"

The silence was deafening, the momentary pause interrupted by movement at the door. A small, childlike figure walked in slowly, her dark black hair bobbing gently in it's bun. Hinamori Momo slowly stepped over to the empty vase on the small bedside drawer and placed a fresh bouquet of flowers into it. Happy that the flowers were arranged neatly she turned and placed a small hand on the young man's shoulders.

Toshiro recognized the reiatsu of his child hood friend behind him. He felt the small, warm hands come to rest on his overburdened shoulders and was grateful for the touch. "Aren't you supposed to be at Abarai's captaincy acceptance ceremony today. You're his vice captain now."

"I heard about Rangiku… I wanted to come by to visit first…." Momo fought back her tears, a shudder ran through her body.

Toshiro heard the wavering in her voice, her sniffling and her hand quivered on his shoulder. He felt her sudden rush, her body pressed against his back, arms wrapped around his chest and the soft sobbing from near his face. "..Shiro-kun.." Momo cried softly.

Not fighting the hug, nor embarrassed by it, he spoke up gently, as if laying a great burden to rest. "The Chamber of 46 have decided five years is enough. A date has yet to be announce… but they will be sending her soul back… to the Sea of Souls (1) to be reincarnated. She'll die here but eventually be reborn into the real world."

Inoue sobbed gently at first but she was never able to hold her emotions in well. Affected Momo started crying louder, hugging Toshiro in tighter, almost crushing his small frame. "Isn't… Isn't there anything… we can do? Any…thing I …can do?" Inoue uttered between breaths.

"No…" Toshiro closed his eyes tightly, squeezing his lids together almost painfully. No one saw the one tear that formed, grew heavy and traced a path down his cheek, waiting patiently at his chin before falling under it's own weight. "There's only one thing left that I can do for her…"

Rukia arrived at the large, brown door of Ichigo's room early in the morning. She had a lot on her mind, but only one subject matter… Ichigo. Rapping the wood of the door loudly, she was soon greeted by a muscular young man. She recognized him as the other room mate, not Saito and she breathed a silent relief. Exchanging pleasantries, she stepped into the room and eyed the one youth that she had come to see. "Ichigo!"

"What!" Ichigo, standing defiantly spluttered with a hint of annoyance. "Don't you believe in 'Good Mornings'?"

"Come with me, we need to talk." Rukia, blunt as ever and to the point.

"Why can't you just say it….oooff!" A small fist completed his statement as he doubled over.

"Ichigo you look pale! Come, we must take you to the hospital!" Rukia was using that high pitched, fake voice of hers again as she dragged him out bodily by his collar. Old habits die hard. Ganjyu merely laughed at the scene as he slapped a dumbstruck Hyou in the back.

Outside, Ichigo finally regained use of his lungs and his composure. "This had better be important!" He said as they ambled their way down the hall.

There was a fair few people walking their way, the pair noticing the stares and hushed tones that all those around them were using in their presence. Rukia decided to take a turn off, finding privacy in a small yard further away from the barracks. "I heard you had a fight yesterday!" She turned an accusing eye on him.

"Oh! Is that what this is about!..." Ichigo shrugged, "The guy was a jerk so I challenged him to a duel."

"You challenged him…" Something struck the back of her mind. Lost for words she merely stared at Ichigo.

Feeling uncomfortable Ichigo turned his profile to her, "No big deal, I won and I didn't even use much reiatsu. I don't think anyone will notice." He lied of course, it would be big news around the academy soon that he had broken someone's shikai (2) with his bare fist.

Rukia took a moment to take all this information in. She paused looking at the young man in front of her unconsciously tracing his hard jaw line with her eyes. She caught herself, breaking the silence she asked gruffly, "But why?"

"He was a jerk alright!..." Ichigo turned to her his face, crimson with fury, "He was going 'round say shit about us…I mean me…"

'Us', Rukia was surprised by her own blushing, as far as she thought there was no 'us' but something about that word made her happy anyway. No Ichigo was just a friend. She closed her eyes and breathed, willing the heat away from her face, "Someone says stuff about you and you go knock them out… You've got to learn to control your emotions." She glared at him with a fake anger she no longer felt.

Ichigo returned her glare, "Sorry! Don't want to end up like your brother…"

Rukia was about to say something but caught herself at the mention of her brother, instead her seriousness returning, she decided to tell him. "You're room mate, Fujiwara Saito works for my brother." Ichigo's face looked enquiringly at her. "He was sent as your bodyguard. I'm sorry Ichigo… It's our duty as a Kuchiki to protect you…"

"He's spying on me?" he questioned.

"Nii-san didn't say so explicitly but I think maybe."

"Why are you telling me this then? Won't you get in trouble?" he asked concerned now. He knew Byakuya was concerned about rules and law above all things and really did not want to get Rukia into any trouble regardless of how she treated him.

She shrugged, "He never told me I couldn't." She turned to walk back, "Just don't tell anyone, it stays between you and me. Got it!"

"…yeah… Got it" Ichigo went to follow after her.

"One more thing, be careful how you act from now on, even when he's not around you."

When Ichigo finally reach the dining hall for breakfast he saw his friends all gathered around a small table chatting. He grinned inwardly when he saw the Yukino. Her lips were stained black, reminding him of the gothic look from the real world, and there was a short black ink line on her cheek. 'If she didn't look so comical she'd look cute' Ichigo thought. Obviously that meant she had done a lot of talking this morning. Ichigo looked over at Ganjyu who hadn't even realized he'd entered the hall yet, lost in his conversation with her. Hyou had noticed and had raised his hands waving at him "Kurosaki-san!" he shouted, smiling.

"Yo! Ganjyu! Hyou! Yamada-san!" He waved back at them as he got his breakfast.

The hall became silent as hundreds of pairs of eyes focused on him. Ichigo looked over the suddenly silent room and his eyes focused on one person, Kenjimaru. Losing himself for the moment he walked over to the man, still holding onto his tray of breakfast, "Well…"

Kenjimaru simply gave him a dirty look. Silent, Ichigo said in the most carefree tone he had "We'll I didn't think there was honour among…"

His sentence was cut short by the scraping of wood on wood as Kenjimaru stood up from his set. Nodding quickly he simply said, "Kurosaki-sempai." And marched out of the hall. Ichigo, satisfied turned around to walk over to his watching group. He was accosted halfway however by a trio of girls.

A tall, lanky dark haired woman purred "I heard you beat Tsukimoto-san. Is it true?"

A shorter brunette, excitedly stated, "Tsukimoto-san's supposed to be a real genius!"

Another well endowed, black haired vixen asked, "So, do you have a sparring partner yet?"

Ichigo was unused to this type of attention. Feeling his face becoming hot he uttered a few umms and ahhs finally resting on "Sure…" and walked briskly off to his friends. Silently he vowed he would never have breakfast here again. The girls went back to their giggling friends and started whispering in hushed tones.

Sitting down, Ganjyu finally broke the tension with his raucous laughter. "Hahaha! From dunce to dude!"

"Shut up Ganjyu." He was in no mood to joke.

Yukino smiled at him, as did Hyou. Hyou joked, "Haha, now all he needs is Bankai and his reputations cemented!"

The slight pause in Ichigo's actions and softening of Ganjyu's laughter didn't go unnoticed to the perceptive Hyou. He wondered at this, 'No it couldn't be', he thought, 'that'd be absurd.'

Finishing their breakfast they marched off towards their first class – Shinigami Technologies. The academy buildings, joined by long walkways surrounded yards with small well kept gardens. The gardens bloomed flowers in Soul Societies eternal spring offset by the occasion water feature in some yards. The four were so busy chatting away in this picturesque scene that they did not notice the dark haired young man approach them from the other direction. His dark brown eyes crossed Ichigo's and their gaze met, recognition flagging Ichigo to a stop. Kuchiki Minosuke spoke first, "Quite the big man now, Kurosaki."

"Not as big as a Kuchiki," Ichigo retorted, "…Kuchiki-sama" Ichigo placed a careful emphasis on the name.

Unfazed Minosuke answered. "As long as you know your place."

Ichigo gritted his teeth suppressed his rising anger, his thoughts resting on Rukia and the conversation in the morning. "Che.." he grunted, inarticulately. He clenched his fist and scowled so hard it was difficult to determine whether his eyes were open or closed.

Minosuke noticed the change in Ichigo's visage. He noted the way his fists were balled and he was secretly happy he had made Ichigo this mad. He glanced over at Ichigo's companions and saw Yukino firmly clutching at Ichigo's sleeve with both hands. He turned his eyes on her and coldly stated, "Don't worry, I don't accept duels from riff raff." Minosuke continued down the hall away from them quite pleased by the turn of events.

"What an asshole!" Ganjyu laughed when only the four of them were left.

"That wasn't funny" Hyou added concern for his friend showing on his face. "Why does he hate you so much?"

Ichigo shrugged and turned to walk to the next class when he felt a tugging at his sleeve. Yukino smiled warmly, a large toothy smile on black lips and with her free hand she gave him a big thumbs up.

Arisawa Tatsuki was a finely cut woman. Her figure had grown a little fuller since high school, but she had essentially remained unchanged. The same black hair, the same dark brown eyes, the same slight build that hid her immense strength. She had kept her short, sharp, haircut so that it wasn't in the way whenever she attended the numerous martial arts tournaments that now defined her life. Having earned her instructing credentials over two years ago she had moved out of home, working part time as an instructor at the dojo (3) she used to train at, to pay her bills. Her tourney wins also went along way in helping and she was favored by the relevant press to soon become pro.

That was how she had met him, the tall, thin sports photojournalist she was now cooking dinner for in her small apartment. Her boyfriend of 3 months Nakamura Tetsuya was sitting at the dining table looking over a set of photo's, carefully placing them in one of three piles and ruffling his short black hair. He looked up at her through his thin silver glasses and smiled at her as she brought out two plates of rice and curry and placed one in front of him. "Eat up! You're so skinny. I'm going to put some meat on you if I have to kill myself cooking!" Tatsuki frowned.

She was serious about the meat but at the same time she really didn't mind him being skinny, she loved him all the same. "Hahaha!" He laughed heartily, "Not everyone needs to be able to break stone with his hands you know!"

She smiled, she liked his sense of humour, even though it was lighter and less jarring than a couple of Shinigami's that she could name. "Eat! Or I'll break you in a minute." He leaned over and kissed her before eating.

"Photo's…?" she said as she started eating.

He grinned as he placed the photo's carefully away, criss-crossing each pile so that he could find their places again later. They talked while eating, Tatsuki chatting about her martial arts dreams and goals, happy that Tetsuya was genuinely interested. In return she listened intently as he discussed his ambition to break into what he called 'real news' and travel the world taking photo's and reporting the 'truth', as he termed it, to the world. She liked people with ambition and the determination to match, and he had both.

"I'm just waiting for my big break! Something big! I don't know… maybe one day… but it seems like all the luck goes to other people!" he exclaimed as he picked up his empty dish and took it to the sink.

"It will come if you work hard and keep at it." She replied supportively. "Lucks got nothing to do with it, it's all hard work and I know you work hard!"

"I try.." he pouted.

"Don't do that! You're not a baby!" she teased. Secretly she liked his pout and secretly he knew she did.

"Am not!" he exaggerated his pout.

"I'll beat you up!" she raised one fist up clenched.

"Oh no you won't!" he replied as he deftly ducked beside her reaching to grab her around the waist from behind.

Of course, being a martial arts master, Tatsuki saw it all in slow motion, but decided that maybe grabbing his wrist, forcing it behind his back and breaking his arm wasn't a good idea. So she did the only thing she could, she giggled and squirmed as he tickled her and the couple crashed to floor laughing like children. After a while they sat up and she leaned against his shoulder wrapping her arms around him.

"So when are you going to visit your friends? Any word yet?" he asked. She like this about him, he always remembered whatever was happening in her life even if she only told him once.

"Five days time I leave, I'll be gone for a week." Tatsuki replied.

"Are you sure I can't come… "I'll miss you to bits!"

"I'm sorry Suya," she had gotten used to calling him by this nickname, "It's a private function." She gave him a quick squeeze.

"I better get my five days worth then." He leaned over and kissed her soft lips, the pressure slowly increasing as he became more passionate about it.

She pushed him away suddenly, an evil look in her eyes as she stood up, hefting him to his feet by the collar of his shirt. "Oh no you don't." He instantly recognized the look of mischief drawn on her lips. "I'm going to get MY five days worth!" she grinned as she dragged him over to the small bedroom of her apartment.

It was nearly midnight as Tetsuya looked at the alarm clock beside him on the bedside drawer. He could feel her warm, naked body draped over him in the cool night air, a breeze wafting in gently from the partially opened window. As usual, their love making had been wild and passionate, Tatsuki was not one to hold back on anything she chose to do. He felt tired and drained as he wrapped his arms around her sleeping form and wondered, at exactly what point did he start caring so much for the lithe form wrapped around him.

Fatigued, he slowly drifted off to sleep in the soft pillow and his mind wondered back to his own apartment, to his bedside drawer, bottom shelf to two blurry photo's sitting sandwiched in his diary. He had taken the photo's at a great distance and the shutter speed and film had been incorrect for the shot, but they were his prized possessions. One was of a small, dark haired girl leaping off a three storey building, dressed in a karate-gi (4), her posture suggesting a leaping kick. The surrounding bush had looked like it was crushed. The second photo was of the same girl, standing in a fighting posture, the earth in front of her exploding in a rocky fountain, her stance exuding a confidence amongst the war like scene as if it natural and expected.

His mind replayed the scene between those two shots. The girl had leapt of the roof of that building and had flying kicked something, something he couldn't see and she leapt backwards in mid air and landed while the earth erupted towards the sky. There were numerous other explosions uncaptured by the camera, but what he remembered most was the girl running through it all like a soldier, naturally and confidently. His mind rested on one thought before he finally fell asleep, 'There was definitely something there'.

End Chapter 4

A/N: My first fluff scene ever. How was it! I don't really write fluff so it wasn't natural to me. Also a lot of the Japanese names that I am making up are flavour only for those interested. Because they are specific to this story I will tend to use the English translation to avoid confusion of readers due to unfamiliarity. Do you think this is the way to go or should I use the Japanese naming instead? Am I keeping consistent tense and when is it alright to break tense sequence other than explicitly? (I hate using the –flashback- explicit)

Final point I don't know the martial arts system in Japan and whether or not you can instruct if your not a pro but where I come from (Australia) you can instruct with an instructors license (3 dan black belt minimum) so I am going by this system. If anyone knows better please inform me and I will adjust the story accordingly.

Please Read and Review. I really appreciate Constructive criticism. Oh and Shannon the anonymous reader please email me, I'd love to chat with you about the story and editing.

(1) Seireienkai – Literally means great ocean of spirits.

(2) Shikai – Just in case you still don't know it's the first release form of a Shinigami's Zanpaktou.

(3) Dojo – In case you've been hiding under a rock it's a traditional martial arts training hall.

(4) Gi – Karate uniform. You know you've seen it before. Think Karate kid.