Disclaimer: Bleach, its characters and its settings aren't mine
T minus 15 days and counting
This damn brush! The damn ink is going everywhere!
I write with a pen, like a ball point or something. I'm lousy with a brush. My first order as captain commander, someone is going to the real world to get me a box of pens!
Shit!
I have eleven vacancies and I don't know how to fill them. I've tried process of elimination about five times now and I'm still not sure I like what I'm getting.
Isane gets fourth squad. She doesn't feel ready for it but I can't put her anywhere else. Lemura could handle the reins there but there's nowhere else for her. One down.
Renji gets sixth, that's a done deal. He's got a bankai, no one can argue with him as a choice. Hisagi and Iba take over their own divisions, fine. Same with Nanao, I suspect she's going to be my right hand. And Nemu is up to the task, say what you want about Mayuri but Nemu is a fantastic piece of work.
Kira and Soi's guy were killed during the war and they've yet to be replaced. Momo is alive but I'm not sure she's up to this. Fact of the matter is Aizen messed her up badly. Excuses can't cut it here, not when I'm entrusting the lives of everyone in fifth squad to its captain.
I'll have to speak to her but I really don't have a good feeling.
Rangiku - I hate to do this to her. She's more than capable but she has absolutely no ambition to be a captain.
She's an adult and a shinigami, she can handle it. The thing that gets me? She's probably the closest thing to a natural leader I have.
That leaves what, second, third, fifth and thirteenth. And I have Lemura, Momo, Ikkaku, Rukia and the two third seats from 13th.
Ikkaku, that's going to go over big. There's no one in the Seireitei who wants to be a captain less than Ikkaku. What do I say, congratulations on your promotion? And where do I put him? He's got the haircut for second but he's hardly the stealth type.
I need a division for guys that walk like a duck.
Give him third or fifth. God, I don't even know what those divisions specialize in. Most divisions – hell virtually all of them, I've got no idea what the hell they do.
I'll tell him it's only temporary and see where that goes.
Rubbed my eyes. Who have I got left? Thirteenth's third seats were too damn immature.
Fine, Rukia gets thirteenth until I can figure something out. I can't give her the vice captainship though, not without upsetting people. Regardless of how good she is Rukia is not a seated officer and never has been.
Of course, neither was I.
That might work, she was like me, a combat specialist with assigned responsibilities out of all proportion to her rank.
Okay, have to think about that.
Lemura. Out of the remaining third seats I suspect I'll need him for something. He's an administrator, the sort of guy I'll be able to trust to catch the small stuff. Having met that clown from eighth I consider Lemura an absolute gem amongst third seats.
Maybe I'll make himmy lieutenant.
Leaned back in my chair, rubbed my eyes. Just two and five to go, I can worry about them later. Maybe I'll have some great brainstorm.
Not a single captain has been by to see me. I don't know if I should read anything into that or not.
Oh wait - how many of my prospective captains meet the bankai requirement? Ikkaku and Renji do, I know that, and it doesn't apply to Zaraki. I've got mine.
That leaves nine others.
Rukia can't, she would have told me. I'm pretty sure Iba can't and I don't think Hisagi can either. Rangiku can't, I'm not sure about Nemu or Nanao, though I suspect at least one of them might surprise me.
Shit and double shit, I'm going to have to think of something. I mean I can let it slide for awhile but there are lots of tough guys around here and lots of people who might take a shot at a captain's haori. Rukia and possibly Isane and Nemu might be targets.
Zaraki would not.
Maybe I could get someone to start a rumor the Captain Commander is fine with that provided they defeat me first. Or Zaraki.
I'll have a word with Zaraki, he can make sure no one does anything stupid.
I need some sleep.
So not counting the outgoing shift the squads now include one senior captain (length of service, less than a week), one real bastard of a captain, a bunch of vice captains (at least two of which meet the main qualification for being a captain) and a bunch of people filling in. A few of whom don't actually want to be captains.
I'd asked Nanao to get me a table somewhere to work. I also asked her to recommend someone who can act as my aide (for the simple stuff, tell me where the washrooms are, that sort of thing. Someone to get me those damn pens).
Sei Nagisa was an excellent shinigami. Her parents insisted this was the case. She was a decorated warrior, a war hero, and one of Eighth Divisions twentieth seats three years out of the academy. Nagisa felt she was a shinigami on the move, the sky was the limit. Already she aspired to a eighteenth seat position.
She was pleased and surprised to receive the summons upstairs, and went immediately to her fifteenth seat's office. Nargo was Nagisa's superior officer, responsible for two sixteenths and the officers under them.
He was surprised to see her.
"I didn't send for you."
"But-" Nagisa pulled the envelope from her sleeve.
He laughed. "What, it's official, so it has to come from me?"
"I'm sorry Nargo-san." Nagisa was staring straight ahead. Like a fool she'd never checked the summons. She'd simply assumed it came from Nargo.
He was looking at the envelope, silent. When he looked up his eyes were unfriendly.
"Sei-san, why do you have a summons from Vice Captain Ise?"
The shock was enough to drag Nagisa's eyes down. "What?"
"This is a summons from our Vice Captain. I ask you again, Sei-san, why have you been summoned by our vice captain?"
"I-I don't know sir." She'd just made the career mistake of a lifetime.
"Sei-san, listen to me very carefully. Have you been corresponding with officers ranked above me without my knowledge or permission?"
"No sir! I have no idea why the Vice Captain summoned me! Sir!"
"Go see what the Vice Captain wants, Sei-kun. Afterwards I expect you back in this office with an explanation of your conduct, is that clear?" His voice was very cold.
"Sir! Yes sir!"
"Get out of my office, shinigami Sei."
He was going to bust her down. Nargo was going to take away her seated status.
Her career was over.
And now she had to see the Vice Captain.
Ise Nanao was known throughout eighth division as the Ice Princess. She was as cold as winter, a figure of absolute terror to her subordinates. She was a perfectionist close to perfection, a fanatic administrator and a demoness amongst fighters. There was no one in the division save the captain himself she could spar with, and now she'd be captain herself.
There were even rumors she'd achieved Bankai.
Nagisa stood in the Vice Captain's office, trembling and trying not to show it. She'd never met the Ice Princess before, never spoken to any officer above the twelfth seat. Ise-sama was going through her paperwork, didn't look up when Nagisa padded into the room.
"Sei Nagisa," the Vice Captain eventually said. "Your immediate superior has given you acceptable reviews and indicates you're looking for a new assignment. Is this true?"
"Yes C-Captain!"
The ice maiden looked up, met Nagisa's eyes for the first time.
"My title, Nagisa-san, is Vice Captain."
It was the way she said it, Nagisa felt her knees begin to knock together.
"You're temporarily reassigned, Sei-san. You will be a messenger. Mostly you'll be fetching information and providing basic answers."
She'd been destroyed. They were going to turn her into a courier. Who could have done this to her? She had no enemies, no one who'd try to ruin her.
"-and liaising with me."
Liaising with the Vice Captain? "Yes Vice Captain!"
The Vice Captain looked up again, fixed Nagisa with her wintery eyes.
"You're very young, twentieth seat Sei Nagisa. Allow me to give you some advice. Your duties don't include fetching tea, fetching sake or getting spots out of his haori. That said, you will fetch tea, sake or a clean haori as he requests. You will never speak of him to anyone in less than glowing terms. And you will respect him as you respect his predecessor. These are my orders, shinigami Sei. I expect them followed to the letter. You are in a position to learn a great deal over the next month and possibly further your own career. Do not waste this opportunity. Now go."
The Vice Captain pointed to a door Nagisa assumed was a closet. When Nagisa looked at her Ise Nanao stared back, until Nagisa went to the door and opened it.
It was a tiny little office. Sitting on the far side of the little desk was Kurosaki Ichigo.
He looked up at her and scowled.