Disclaimer: Bleach is the creative property of Kubo Taito. Blah, blah, blah…on with Chapter 2.
Author's Note: I'm so pleased that a whole 5 people have admitted to liking my work. Keep up the reviews; I like to know what my readers think. Get ready, people, this chapter's got a surprise ending.
The Babysitters Club: Chapter 2
11:26 AM
Nanao walked back to the 4-bantai headquarters after another rather unproductive, not to say that it was not eventful of course, Shinigami Women's Association meeting.
Yachiru and Matsumoto as usual had been trying to push the necessity of tea and snacks during the meetings and Yumichika had somehow managed to make an appearance. He claimed that he had a legitimate complaint in that the uniforms were not stylish enough for the high-ranking shinigami. Yumichika professed that the shinigami should take more pride in how they look and dress more "appropriately" and by "appropriately" he meant that everyone should strive to look more like him.
Matsumoto strongly objected to this suggestion, claiming that his funny turtleneck would give her "assets" rash. Soi Fon at this point decided that Yumichika had said enough and therefore was kicking him out on the grounds that the association was for "women" and that since he Yumichika was not biologically a woman, he had no right to be present at the meeting. Yumichika responded by noting that neither was Yoruichi since she spent most of her time as a male cat.
Soi Fon got upset and called out her Suzume-bachi. Nanao decided that she should interfere and do some crowd control before the whole meeting hall went up in smoke. She turned to Yumichika and commented that his hair was looking a little dull and dry and that his eyebrow was starting to wilt from the humidity. She was about to add that his uniform was a bit wrinkled, but Yumichika was already out the door trying vainly to revive the facial decoration.
Nanao had decided to adjourn the meeting early since by this time Yachiru was complaining of "hunger pains" and Matsumoto was complaining of a hangover. Just when she thought that things could not possibly get any worse, she heard the voice of a certain squeaky fukutaichou.
"Nanao-san! Wait up!" It was Hinamori—always the informal one. Nanao slowed her power walking down to a brisk walk, but said nothing. "Um, about last night…I, uh…well, you see, I um," Hinamori began, wringing her hands. "I wanted to um…I…"
Nanao was getting annoyed since Hinamori was not getting to the point. "Hinamori-fukutaichou," she said finally stopping in front of the gate to the 4-bantai headquarters. "I realize that you are distraught over the betrayal of your taichou," she said candidly. "However, I would strongly advise against the use of alcohol to alleviate your grief. 4-bantai has psychiatric counseling services available to those who need them. I think that Unohana-taichou could provide you with some referrals upon your request. The continuation of such behaviors like the ones exhibited last night could lead you to do things you may regret later."
"Nanao-san…"
"While I won't pretend that I didn't see anything, Hinamori-fukutaichou. I will tell you this. You were lucky this morning. Usually I call Hitsugaya-taichou to come and pick up his fukutaichou on these kinds of mornings." Hinamori looked down at the ground. "Well, if there's nothing else, I must go and retrieve my own taichou at this time. If you'll excuse me."
Nanao bowed briefly and left Hinamori at the gate to contemplate her words. While Nanao usually hated playing the bitch, she was on a tight schedule today and had bigger problems to worry about that Hinamori's self-confidence and dependency issues.
11:47 AM
"Ise-fukutaichou!" said one of the 4-bantai members. "Kyouraku-taichou's treatment has just been completed," he reported.
"Treatment?" she said, raising one eyebrow. "I wasn't aware of any treatment. I thought he was just supposed to have a routine physical today."
"If you could come this way, I can explain everything in detail…"
"Alright," she said as she allowed herself to be led into the room where her taichou had been treated. The curtain "protecting" her precious taichou's body had been drawn, but he gestured for her to sit in the hard-backed chair next to the bed. "Okay, so what did he need this time?" she sighed as she lowered herself into the chair.
"Well, I'm not actually the one who treated him, but I can tell you that—"
"So what are you doing still standing here!" she snapped. "Go get the doctor that diagnosed and treated him!" she said impatiently.
"Yes, ma'am!" he rose to attention. "Terribly sorry. I'll go get him right away!" she said scrambling to the door. Nanao rolled her eyes and crossed her arms and legs in irritation.
"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting," said a low voice. "Ise-fukutaichou, I'm the one that treated Kyouraku-taichou. I'm sorry, you'll have to forgive Wakabayashi, he's got a major crush on you and—okay, sorry, I'll get to the point," he laughed nervously after making eye contact with her famous glare of death. "I don't know how to put this, but…"
Nanao felt a bead of cold sweat trickle down the side of her forehead. She swallowed nervously, but showed no emotion.
"I…um…well, you see…"
"Just get to the point!" she snapped for the second time today.
"Okay, well you see, we thought it might be funny to tell Kyouraku-taichou that he could no longer consume alcoholic beverages—as a joke of course. He's miraculously in perfect health, but we thought that as a, eh-he-he—" he laughed nervously as Nanao stood up wordlessly and approached him. "Hmm?"
Nanao swiftly took out her fan and smacked him sharply on the forehead, producing a distinct red mark on the young doctor's face.
"What the hell were you thinking! That was in poor taste!" she said, her voice taking on a nasty edge. "I can't believe you told him that! And what the hell happened after that?" she yelled.
"Well—"
"Nanao-chan," a familiar voice groaned from behind the curtain.
"Taichou!" Nanao said in surprise, pulling back the curtains partially to find a somewhat groggy Shunsui with a large cross-shaped bandage above his right eyebrow. "What happened to you?"
"Well, as I was trying to explain earlier, he actually believed us and fainted. We didn't expect him to faint and he just banged his head on the corner of the examining table, knocking himself unconscious."
"Nanao-chan, you were worried about me," Shunsui said happily, sitting up.
"Of course I was worried about you," Nanao said. "You still haven't looked at the reports or the complaints." Shunsui sweat dropped and sighed as Nanao continued, "And we're far behind—"
"Nanao-chan."
"Yes?" she said annoyed that she had interrupted her again.
"I—"
"Well, you don't seem to have a concussion or anything, Kyouraku-taichou," the doctor said poking his head into the curtain. "I think you can—"
"Nanao-chan," Shunsui gasped. "Have you been hitting other men while I was unconscious?" he said accusingly pointing to the red welt on the doctor's forehead. "But that's the fan you use to smack me," he whined, recognizing the pattern all too well. "I can't believe you've been cheating on me. How long has this been going on? How long have I been unconscious—OUCH!" Shunsui was once again stopped mid-sentence by Nanao's fan.
"You've only been unconscious for an hour or two," she said, a vein appearing on her forehead, as she rapped Shunsui again for emphasis, just barely missing the area he hit on the table. "Now, if there's nothing more," she said, turning to the doctor. "Is he free to go?" she demanded.
"Free as a bird," he responded weakly.
"Taichou, let's go then," she said walking out of the room towards the reception. "Certification!" she called.
"Yes, ma'am!" bowed the pour soul working at the reception as she scrambled to line up the documents for the 8-bantai fukutaichou. Nanao took out her hanko (see footnote) and the little red ink pad from the inside of her uniform. She swiftly stamped all 6 copies with "Ise" and took the top copy for herself.
"Yo, Nanao!" called Ukitake as she briskly walked out the double doors of the 4-bantai headquarters.
"Nanao-chan," Shunsui called after her, holding an ice pack to his forehead. "Yo, Sexy," he called to Ukitake as he chased after Nanao. "Drinking later?"
"My place or yours?"
Shunsui took one look at the slowly fading figure of his fukutaichou and said quickly, "Definitely yours. See you then," Shunsui called as he ran out the double doors after Nanao.
12:54 PM
Nanao had somehow been coerced into going to the cafeteria after retrieving the reports she had organized in the morning. Shunsui said that he was hungry and that there would be plenty of time to "work" after lunch, since he claimed that one could not think properly on an empty stomach.
Shunsui had gone outside to eat lunch, preferring to sit and eat under the tree that was rooted on a cliff that overlooked the west part of the Soul Society. Nanao decided to work through lunch in an attempt to make up for lost time. According to her planner, she was exactly 53 minutes behind schedule, which meant that if she worked through lunch, she might be able to catch up.
Nanao put the reports on the last open table in the crowded cafeteria and walked up to the counter to order. While she usually only drank a small bowl of miso soup if anything, which she discovered was just enough to sustain her through the day without her fainting, today since she had been dragged all the way out to the cafeteria, she decided to indulge.
"Ise-fukutaichou, what can I get you today?" said the cheerful girl who worked at the counter.
"Eggplant combo," Nanao said stamping her name once again on the sheet next to the register. The Soul Society gave its high-ranking members a monthly stipend for food related expenses. She simply needed to stamp her name at the cafeteria or at various stores and the cost would automatically be deducted from her monthly balance.
"Coming right up," the girl said cheerfully as she poured a bowl of miso soup and placed a bowl of rice next to the plate of sautéed eggplant. Nanao bowed slightly before heading to get a cup of tea at the end of the counter.
Just as she was about to reach for a cup, another small hand reached for the same cup from the other side of the counter.
"Excuse me," they both said at the same time. Nanao looked up.
"Hitsugaya-taichou, good afternoon," she said bowing, allowing him to take the cup.
"Excuse me," Hitsugaya mumbled as he filled a cup for Nanao first and then filling another one for himself.
"Thank you," she said, as she carried her tray back to her table.
She was surprised however when he followed her to her seat and asked, "Mind if I join you? It's crowded…"
"Go ahead," she said, moving the reports onto the empty chair next to her, and gesturing for him to sit down.
"Thanks," he mumbled.
Nanao picked up her bowl of rice and started to nibble at it curiously as she stared at Hitsugaya who was silently drinking his tea.
"Busy morning?" she offered.
"Not really, especially on days like this," he said, sipping his tea and gazing out the window. "Plenty of work to do, reports and complaints as you know, it's the first of the month and everything. But until Matsumoto unlocks the reports, I can't touch them," he sighed, running his hands through his spiked snow-white hair.
"I see…" Nanao said, taking a slice of eggplant and placing it on her rice, allowing the salty sauce to be soaked up by the shiny rice and eating the two together as she too stared out the window. The table they were sitting at offered a beautiful view of one of the gardens in the Soul Society.
"You?" he asked after a few pauses, taking another sip of tea.
"Well, everything's in order and ready to go," she said, motioning to the stack of reports. "But my job is to simply unlock them and organize them and prioritize them so that he can review and approve them, she said pointing to another window which showed a relaxed Shunsui sleeping under the tree with a blade of grass lazily hanging out of his mouth.
"You didn't call me this morning. I mean it is Monday, and the first of the month…Was Matsumoto not there this morning?" Hitsugaya asked, munching on the rice ball he bought.
"Why do you ask?" Nanao said carefully, as she took a sip of her soup.
"Because she didn't show up until after the Shinigami Women's Association meeting," Hitsugaya said dully. "I haven't been able to do paperwork all morning, which is just as well I suppose. I did get some valuable training time with Hyourinmaru, but I was just wondering. Do you know anything?" he asked, finishing off his rice ball.
"I—"
"Hello!" said a sexy voice covering Hitsugaya's eyes from behind.
"MATSUMOTO!" Hitsugaya exclaimed, slamming down his cup onto the table, stunning Nanao into nearly spilling her soup.
"Ooh! How did you know!" Matsumoto pouted cutely. Nanao raised one eyebrow. "How did you guess?"
"Matsumoto, where the hell have you been all morning!" he demanded, turning around only to find himself eye level with Matsumoto's cleavage. His eyes widened and he promptly looked away, blushing slightly.
"Oh, taichou!" she giggled. "You dirty little boy!" she teased, spinning around and pretending to blush as she cupped her face with her hands.
"MATSUMOTO!" he shouted, standing up from his chair.
"Taichou, it's been awhile, but I don't mind if you don't mind," she winked as she skipped towards the door.
Hitsugaya looked stunned for a second as if he were processing those words before blushing and sprinting after her. "Damn you, Matsumoto! Never mind that nonsense. You release the seal on those reports NOW!"
Nanao picked up Hitsugaya's teacup and put it on her tray as she watched Hitsugaya bound after her, sighing in sympathy. She gave the tray to the clean up crew and walked outside with her reports.
1:38 PM
Fortunately for her, Shunsui wasn't sleeping. He was doing something much more productive. He was hitting on a newly entered member of 6-bantai. The shinigami he was talking to was clearly blushing and was cornered against the tree. The two didn't notice Nanao until she was standing right in back of Shunsui.
"I-I-Is-Ise-ff-fukutaichou!" the shinigami exclaimed in surprise.
"Oh, is that you, Nanao-chan? Shunsui said, turning around.
"Is he bothering you?" she asked the new recruit. "Hada, was it? Hada Akira, right?"
"Yes, ma'am. How did you—"
"Please return to your division," she said quietly. The shinigami bowed and left.
"Nanao-chan—"
"Back!" she said walking towards the 8-bantai headquarters.
2:02 PM
They arrived at the office shortly and she pointed to his desk and the chair he hardly ever used.
"Sit. We have paperwork to do. These reports need to be submitted by noon tomorrow, but since you have a meeting in the morning, you need to finish these tonight. We need to take care of these complaints by midnight and you need to approve these reports. Here," she said, handing him a calligraphy brush and an inkwell.
"What's this for?" he asked.
"I ordered a new hanko for you but, they had to back order it since they ran out of marble. So you have to sign your full name this time."
"On all the blanks?" he said paling.
"Yes, since you were the one who dropped your hanko into the river," she stated matter-of-factly.
"Gimme a break, Nanao-chan," he pleaded. "There are 83 reports here," he said picking up the cover sheet. "Each report has at least 50 or 60 places or more to stamp…I'll get arthritis in my hands if I have to sign every single one!"
"Well it's not like you have to read it or anything. You've already read the summaries last week. All you have to do is sign today. You only have to do the first 46 tonight," she said, picking up the stack of reports and dropping them facing her taichou. "The rest are due before the 15th."
"Oh, okay." He sighed in resignation, opened the first report and began signing.
"Honestly, it's like pulling teeth from you," she said sitting down at her own desk.
Sitting at her desk, Nanao took out her ink and brush set and began to make the ink as she read the first set of complaints.
3:20 PM
Nanao was nearly half done with the complaints against her taichou, minus the sexual harassment cases, which generally took longer to read. So far she had taken care of the fines and unpaid tabs writing, 'Pay balance due immediately from bank account 0039583782 Kyouraku Shunsui—per Ise Nanao' and stamping 'Ise' onto each of the reports. The alcohol and noise related cases generally assessed a fine, which she also had paid on behalf of her taichou, who was still sighing and signing paperwork.
Nanao looked at the pile of sexual harassment cases. She quickly scanned the first pages to get a feel for the kind of accusations that were being made and what they sought as retribution. Most were the standard, 'Please leave me alone because I have a boyfriend/husband' complaints. But 3 names stood out in the pile.
'Nakata Hiromu' 'Komatsubara Yuusuke' 'Sakaki Shin'
Nanao looked at the case carefully. "Hiromu, Yuusuke, Shin…" she said quietly, contemplating their names. "Those are guys' names," she thought. "I wonder if they're feminine looking like Hada Akira, so he hit on them by mistake." She turned the next page and almost fainted when she saw the accusation.
'Personal Statement: I was drugged and raped by Kyouraku-taichou. –Nakata Hiromu'
'Personal Statement: I was drugged and raped by Kyouraku-taichou. –Komatsubara Yuusuke'
'Personal Statement: I was drugged and raped by Kyouraku-taichou. –Sakaki Shin'
To the 'faithful' readers of The Babysitters Club, (This was originally the note under "chapter 3" but I moved it here because I unknowingly was violating a site policy.)
Yes, I know my story is only a pathetic two chapters, but it's been fun writing it and I hope my characterization isn't too off. Anyway, I wrote the ending of Chapter 2 intending to turn this fic serious, but at the last second I thought of a lighter, more humorous continuation. Writing two separate continuations for one beginning might be fun, but probably really confusing to write and upload.
I was thinking that maybe I could write both continuations at the same time, just uploading them under something like "Chapter 3: Humorous Continuation" and "Chapter 3: Serious Continuation" but both under the same title, "The Babysitters Club." Or I could split them, keeping one under this title and starting a "new" fic for the other, calling it something either generic like "The Babysitters Club: Ending 2" or giving it a completely new title. The thing is that if I split them, the one that I will probably keep under this title will be the humorous continuation, putting the more serious continuation under a different title.
I'm not entirely sure how dark and angsty things will get with the serious continuation because to tell the truth, I haven't planned the endings yet. But I am a big fan of angst and character death—not saying someone will die, but I love the fics that really pull at your heart and make you want to scream and cry.
I would like to know what readers want or are anticipating in the following chapter(s) of this fic. Do you want things to turn serious, or do you like things light and humorous? If you want both endings, shall I split them or keep them under one name?
I guess until I can figure out what I'm going to do with this, I'm probably going to put this story on hiatus. Please, I need advice and direction.
All you readers out there, yoroshiku onegaishimasu!
--Midnight Sun--
Footnote:
1. In Japan, instead of signing things, they have a round "stamp" with their last name carved into the bottom of some sort of cylindrical stone (like marble), which acts as their signature on official documents. The spot they stamp is usually represented by the kanji for "in" as in "inkan" which is another name for "hanko."