AN: Why is it that I always decide to write when its like 12:30… sigh…lol ruining my sleep…But I can't stop writing this. Its too fun to write. Please review, because I like to know if people are actually caring about this fic – and I want to make people understand the story. I really want to update as soon as possible, but I'm hesitant to update when there are so little reviews…XD And on the reviews thing, just to clarify something – no, Aizen is not dead, he just hasn't shown himself :P… anyway, READ ON!
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.
A Summer Job: Operation T-A (Part I)
"Silence." The old man's voice did not change tone but for some reason all the shinigami's assembled quietened down. Probably because it was an emergency meeting and the old man never called emergency meetings unless, well, it was a real emergency. Like those times when Matsumoto had to be rushed to the fourth division because of lack of oxygen one particular afternoon, when she accidentally slept on her stomach, and well…her large assets proved to be a weapon (yet again). Sure, that was an emergency, but Yamamoto only called these meetings when something…big was up.
The old man opened his mouth to speak, when Renji, the vice-captain of the sixth division arrived. He quickly walked to his spot next to Kuchiki Byakuya, who looked like he was about to kill his vice-captain for being tardy.
"The reason why we are gathered here-…" he was cut off again by the entrance of another shinigami, Kuchiki Rukia. The old man noted with mild astonishment that Renji didn't even look up when Rukia entered the room. Of all of the people in Soul Society, Renji was the one that would always be the first one to know when Rukia was around, when she was coming, when she was going, etc. Something, this time, was definitely wrong between the two best friends. However, there were more important things going on rather than the relationship between the two shinigami. Yamamoto cleared his throat, and acknowleged the two shinigami.
"You all know the reason why we are gathered here. Since we do not have much time, I will make this brief." Yamamoto paused momentarily and quickly scanned the room. Good. Everyone that needed to be here was here. "As you know, two arrancar have been confirmed in the real world. The questions we need to ask ourselves are these: How strong are they? And who is going to go defeat them?"
These two questions interrupted the sharp silence that had pervaded the room. The once quiet meeting hall now turned into a flurry of questions, mutterings, and yelling. The old man sighed and closed his eyes, but his ears heard a lot of things.
"Arrancar's hey? I don't care, as long as they are strong enough to cut me." That must have been Zaraki the old man thought. Zaraki, sometimes, even scared him.
"Actually, Kenpachi, I would advise against putting yourself in such difficult positions. It has become quite a chore for me to heal you continuously." Some of the other members present grinned. Unohana-taichou definitely was a good thing for the bloodthirsty 11th division captain, Yamamoto decided.
"I'm going. No one try to stop me. My family is there." Definitely his new captain, Kurosaki Ichigo.
"Pfft…As if you'll be enough to take out those arrancar. I bet you couldn't even take out one of them," a sneering voice proclaimed. Renji Abarai, the old man declared to himself. The only one who would reply to Ichigo like that.
"Renji. Do not use such a provocative tone. It is unbecoming of you." The infamous statue, Kuchiki Byakuya.
"Yes, Kuchiki-taichou…"
"Yes…Oh, YES! More…experimentsssss…" Ugh. That captain. Kurotsuchi Mayuri. The old man didn't even want to know what actions accompanied those words, though he did suspect it would be something along the lines of drooling, and crazy eye movements.
That last statement made everyone go silent.
"Hmmph. I don't care." The genius, and shortest captain, Hitsugaya Toushirou, had finally broken the awkward silence.
"I want to go as well. This could…well clear some things up for me," a young female voice piped up. The old man's eyebrows rose a little. Hinamori?
"Actually, on second thoughts, I definitely want to come." The old man smirked inwardly. It was funny how the 5th division vice-captain had such a strong influence on the shinigami nicknamed 'genius.'
After hearing (and laughing silently to himself) a few more random comments made by the shinigami Yamamoto decided to stop the rowdy lot. It was just as well he did, because Zaraki had almost chopped off Byakuya's head, for telling him that the arrancar's wouldn't fall prey to someone who didn't even know the name of his own sword.
After calming the captains and vice-captains down (with the help of a blast of his sword), the old man said, "The power of the arrancar's would probably equal that of a vice-captain."
Disappointment ran through the crowd. Zaraki looked like he was about to sink into the ground.
"Because of this power, I am going to send 2 vice-captains to eradicate the arrancar." The vice-captains looked at each other. "I am also going to send a supervising captain." This time the captains looked at one another. They got what the old man was telling them to do. "You probably have figured out by now, but I have wanted to test our vice-captain's to see if they are capable of making a captain. This scenario is the perfect test."
The captains looked at one another, again. This meant the boring job of sitting and watching vice-captains fight. Since the gap between vice-captain and captain was usually huge, the captains were all reluctant to take the boring job. Before the old man could choose, Renji spoke up.
"I'm going to go, Yamamoto-taichou." With that the vice-captain turned his heel and walked out of the meeting room. Yamamoto looked at the young man's retreating back but he didn't fail to notice the quick, sad glance that Kuchiki Rukia gave Renji. Something must have happened between those two.
"Well, that's one." Yamamoto looked around. "The next vice-captain please?"
As soon as he said this, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the most interesting turn of events unfold. Hinamori started to raise her hand, but Hitsugaya Toushiro, with his lightning quick reflexes 'accidentally' tripped and fell onto her, which stopped her hand from raising up. Instead she tried to catch him. Meanwhile Hitsugaya wasn't even looking at Hinamori, he was concentrating on the vice-captain closest to him, other than Hinamori. Hitsugaya was pointedly glaring at him, and giving him sharp kicks in the leg. The poor vice-captain melted underneath Hitsugaya's cold stare and resignedly put his hand up.
When Hinamori had straightened up, Hitsugaya apologized to her, and quickly nudged the other vice-captain.
"I…I…" The vice-captain looked down at the glaring captain. "I want to go." The vice-captain that had been manipulated for Hitsugaya's own personal gains (ie. Keep Hinamori safe) was none other than Hisagi.
When Hisagi had noticed the white haired prodigy's lame excuse for a trip, he wondered what on earth was Hitsugaya thinking. Oh no. Why did he have to be the closest vice captain at the time? The prodigy's glare was enough. It said, 'Go volunteer before Hinamori. Or else I'll kill you.' Damn that brat, cornering him into going.
Most of the other shinigami in the meeting chuckled silently to themselves. The old man sighed. At least it was an attempt to be subtle. But, on the other hand, the person that had fallen under Hitsugaya's death glare was none other than Hisagi-fukitaicho, one of the vice-captains he actually wanted to test. So, the old man didn't say anything, merely let out an amused smile. "Ok, that vice-captain bit is settled. Now…" The old man looked meaningfully around the room. All the other captains seemed to shrink back. No captain wanted the boring job of watching a vice-captain level battle. "…Hitsugaya-taichou will be the supervising captain. Any questions?" He expected the short captain to disagree immediately with him, but to his surprise the white haired genius didn't say anything. He almost looked, sad, the old man thought. Like he was ashamed of something. Well, now wasn't the time to be thinking of such trivial matters. Hitsugaya could sort it out himself.
"Wait." The shinigami's whirled around to see Kurosaki Ichigo standing there, anger written over his face. "I want to go."
The old man's eyes did not burn with fire. Instead, it took on a form of understanding. "No." His voice was soft, but firm. "The arrancar's are only vice-captain level. You are not needed. Instead, you should stay here and learn your duties as a captain."
The orange haired captain clenched his fists. He opened his mouth to say something, but the old man cut him off. "Remember who is your boss, Kurosaki Ichigo."
A few moments of silence passed. Finally Ichigo started to calm down, but, the old man noted with light amusement, it was only because a certain petite shinigami had placed her hand on his clenching fist. Thank goodness he had decided to bring Rukia along to the meeting. Things could have gotten nasty.
"Ok. The meeting is over. You are all dismissed." As the captains and vice-captains turned to go, the old man said softly, "Don't get too comfortable. They have definitely started making their move."
The only shinigami's that were left was Hitsugaya, Hisagi, and Renji, who just leaned against the outside wall of the meeting hall.
"As of now, this mission will be referred to as 'Operation T-A'" The old man focused on Hisagi. "I'm expecting something from you, Vice-captain."
"Lets go," Renji's voice called from outside. The sun had begun to set. "It's getting late."
The three shinigami leaving caused quite a crowd, which was quite unbelievable. Why would such a parting cause such a large leaving party? Hitsugaya looked around. The leaving party consisted mostly of young women. The short captain raised an eyebrow at his two companions. Renji looked totally out of it, whilie his other companion, Hisagi looked like a tomato.
"Oi. What the hell is this all about?" Hitsugaya didn't like crowds. Especially ones that consisted of sobbing girls.
Hisagi looked down at the captain. "Um…everytime I go somewhere on a mission, these people seem to follow me when I leave. And they seem to know everytime I leave…"
"So…they're your fan club?"
"Um…no…just…"
"You're lame."
"Uh…no…Hitsugaya-taichou…"
"Go on…go get kissed and hugged by one of those bawling girls over there," Hitsugaya gestured to the crowd. "I won't look. Promise." The short captain added with a sneer.
Hisagi was about to answer, but he saw the smaller captain become engulfed in flurry of black.
"Shiro-chan!" The flurry of black was none other than Hinamori. The bawling fanclub became silent. Now this was going to be interesting. "You didn't tell me you were leaving so soon!" Hinamori was oblivious to the oogling group of girls behind her. Hitsugaya wished he was oblivious as well.
"What? Why should I tell you if I was leaving? And don't call me Shiro-chan." The group of girls behind Hinamori had started to whisper amongst themselves. No doubt to spread the latest gossip about…
His train of thought just derailed as he felt Hinamori hugging him. "You should tell me if you're going to leave because I…because we're best friends, Shiro-chan." This immediately sent the group of girls behind her into a bunch of squealing fits. This was such a romantic scene! Hinamori and Hitsugaya were so cute together. What was with these girls? They couldn't get any more mental than this, Hitsugaya thought with a red face, still in Hinamori's embrace.
Actually he was wrong. He felt Hinamori break their embrace, but she stopped halfway. He temporarily wondered what she was doing then felt something soft press against his cheek. Before he realised it, Hinamori had taken herself out of the embrace, she had kissed him on the cheek, and…and…the FRICKEN group of girls behind her had seen the whole FRIKEN thing! A few girls had swooned, and another few were jumping around, others were screaming their heads off…etc.
Hitsugaya felt someone staring at him. Hard. He turned and saw Hisagi smirking. Suddenly the temperature dropped. "Say one thing... and I will kill you."
Hisagi decided that his life was nice, but inwardly he was screaming with laughter. HAHAHAHAHAHA! The tough little captain of the tenth division had just told him to go 'kiss and hug' with a girl, and then Hinamori walked up and did that exact same thing to Hitsugaya. Oh, the laughter he kept stored inside would kill him, unless the angry captain didn't kill him first.
Hitsugaya eyed the other vice-captain to check if he was laughing, but it looked like Renji was in another world of his own. Suddenly, the vice-captain's eyes opened, and walking through the crowd, was Rukia, accompanied by Ichigo. Hitsugaya frowned. Having Renji like this just before a mission could endanger things. He watched as Rukia and Ichigo made their way in front of Renji. Ichigo walked straight up to Renji and grabbed his gi.
"If you let any of my family die, or any of my friends die, don't even think about coming back. I'll kill you." Hitsugaya noted with some satisfaction that the excitement of the female fans had died down with the obvious tension that was in the air.
Renji grinned and grabbed Ichigo's gi. "Don't worry. I'm not as weak as you."
Ichigo grinned back at him, then they pushed each other off. However, Rukia didn't say anything, Ichigo noted. Usually she would be between them, screaming that they break up whatever fight they were going to get in to. Also, Renji's voice was unusually weak, it was lacking a fighting spirit. What was wrong with these two? Did something happen?
Rukia finally looked up. "Uh…Goodbye Renji."
"Yeah. Goodbye." Renji didn't look at her, but looked to the side.
Ichigo looked at both of them. Something was definitely wrong. He was about ask Rukia what was wrong, but Yamamoto appeared.
"Let us commence 'Operation T-A'"
"Yes Sir!"
AN: Ah, the joys of holidays. Staying up till the wee hours of the morning… Anyway, I know you guys are getting tired of hearing this, but please review! I need to know your thoughts…and all that stuff… thanks, non-regular and regular reviewers… Um, you all know what T and A stand for…It's pretty obvious… T – Testing. Next chapter: I can guess your thoughts…you all think its Operation T-A (Part II) right? WRONG! - maniacal laugh – It's actually entitled, 'Work Responsibilities'… Ok… You guys will understand later…don't worry, part II will come later... cya!