Lots of work to do
An exasperated sigh
Somewhere else to go
Epic Ten: Hide and Seek
The door slid open quietly, and Nanao sighed slightly upon seeing the large white obstacles sitting on her and her captain's desk. She could tell that the room had stayed exactly how they deserted it earlier, meaning that Captain Kyouraku didn't return here after all. She sighed again. It's not like she didn't really expect that. Today must have been some sort of fluke.
She shut the door as she entered, cutting off the direct light of the moon. It darkened the space marginally, but it put emphasis on the steady stream of light coming in through the open window. Oddly enough, it was pointed at her captain's desk, after his insistence of moving it into the sun so he could do his work, as seldom as that actually happened.
She supposed it looked empty like that, even if he preferred to lounge on the couch instead of working away at his desk like she did. A part of her had maybe hoped he would be there, but she knew better than to indulge in those types of thoughts. At least it would have made her feel less alone.
When she didn't have someone else to partly focus on, a part of her tended to think. In her opinion, she thought too much as it was.
She shook her head to clear the thoughts away, knowing that she would have a lot to do before she could go home for the night. She headed over towards her desk and lighted the lamp sitting on the corner, blinking a few times as her eyes adjusted to the light. She fetched a cup of tea next and settled in for a long night.
Straightening her glasses and pushing them up her nose, she reached for the first sheet of many.
It was a short time later when Nanao was forced to stop her continuous working. Her brow furrowed as she stared at the sheet in front of her, picking up the previous one she looked over and bringing it up to her eyes. Their reports didn't match up.
She recognized the event as a mission in the world of the living. There had been a strange reading, and two squads were sent to investigate. Both of them gave reports on the task, but even though both witnessed the same events, she found that the documentation varied. As she wasn't with that time, she had no idea which one to correct and file away.
It wouldn't normally be a big deal, but along with the two reports, there was a whole slew of other things that needed to be filled out and filed with them. She rubbed her temples. She didn't exactly have a ton of time to get everything done.
Absently, she remembered that Captain Kyouraku had been asked to supervise the mission, and promptly rose from her seat. The time read around half past eight. The early darkening sky made it seem a lot later than it actually was. She paused for a moment, concreting her decision. She hoped that it wasn't too late, or that he wasn't already asleep.
They were a bit similar, so she knew he would probably be thinking about everything that had been going on lately. She also knew that when he thought too much about something, he liked to drink. Since he was not here and she had heard Captain Ukitake mention he was going to retire for the night, he was probably at home. He had probably started to hoard his stashes there anyway, seeing how she kept finding the ones at the office. It made it more convenient if he didn't have to go anywhere.
Or at least, that's what she hoped.
She left the light on as she exited the office. If all went well, she would be back within the hour once she got the story of what really happened on the trip to the world of the living. The sooner the better. With any luck, he would still be sober enough to tell her the correct story.
--Secrets Of The Scorned--
It was warm and sunny in the empty field, and for a moment, Momo almost felt like she used to, back when there was peace and before there were problems that had everyone worried. She knew better than that now though, so she knew she was just in a dream. Dreams had their uses too, so she let out a deep breath and just listened to the wind that threaded through her hair. If a few moments of no worries is all she got, then who was she to refuse it?
She could've almost believed that it was real and none of the terrible things that occurred really happened, but she knew not to get caught up in a daydream. She had enough of only believing her own fantasies. She knew this, just as she knew that the specter of her former captain was just as fake as how she knew him in real life. Even the gently waving grass she sat on and the shining sun weren't real.
Sometimes it was hard to believe he turned out like he did. He certainly played his part well, and she couldn't help but be bitter about it. Of all people, she was the one that should've known something was off about him, but instead she allowed herself to be deceived by what she wanted to see. What ever happened to the kind man that her and Toshiro used to spend time with?
Her face was set in a grim line as she viewed the fake-Aizen. He really was just as she remembered him. That meant a lie. Just thinking about it made her disappointed, not only in herself, but in the man that had purposely deceived her and everyone else. A captain was supposed to be someone that encouraged their troops, someone that people could look up to.
She glared. "You liar."
He did nothing, as she expected, and she turned away, not wanting to look at him anymore. He had caused enough problems, and seeing him wasn't making her feel any better.
She sat like that for a few minutes, mulling over everything. Then, the sun faded, and the sky began to grey. She got up and looked around, but the ghost was no where to be seen. The wind picked up, and the air began to smell of water. Deciding that this was no longer a good place to be, she began to run, not paying attention to what direction she went.
She ran until she was engulfed entirely in darkness, and she began to panic when she couldn't see anything. There were no rolling hills, no blades of grass to sit in, and she couldn't help the feeling of loneliness that came over her in waves.
She gasped as figures appeared, and she recognized them as fellow soul reapers. Most of them were unfamiliar, but a few of them she knew. That wasn't what had her worried though. What she noticed was that every one of them were looking down on her, frowning at her. She glanced at the image of Izuru to her left, and he just shook his head and turned his back on her.
One by one, she watched the rest do the same until she was alone once more. Puzzled, she almost didn't notice the appearance of a tall ledge to her right, or the three figures standing on it.
She looked up, and it didn't take much to recognize the three traitors. They looked a little different than she remembered them, but that detail didn't really matter. Tousen was stone as usual, his face blank. Gin was still smiling, at least one thing about him not changing. Aizen was smirking at her though, and that unnerved her more than anything else. She felt so small with them looming above her, and she staggered back, only to whirl around when a voice sounded behind her.
She would've been able to tell the Captain Commander's booming voice even if she hadn't looked, but even just the image of him had her trembling in her spot. Slowly, all of the remaining captains in Seireitei faded into sight, all bearing frowns while staring at her.
Of their own volition, her eyes automatically strayed to spiky white hair, and she flinched when she saw the scowl on his face. Even while asleep he was unhappy with her.
She directed her vision Captain Yamamoto as he spoke up, the sound vibrating the walls of her dream world.
"Defect."
It was spoken at room volume, but the echoes it sent through her ears caused her hands to fly up to them.
"No, I'm not!"
She felt the need to defend herself, but by the sounds of it nobody was listening. He repeated his accusation again, and continued to do so as he grew louder in volume.
"Defect!"
She heard laughing, and her head jerked up to the ledge once more. He was laughing at her now, the man she once called Captain. It didn't matter how much she shouted otherwise. They weren't listening. Wetness started to form at the corner of her eyes and she looked back towards the larger group. She wasn't a traitor. Why wouldn't they believe her?
The head captain pointed towards her, and the next thing she knew flames had rose up in a half circle around them. Shadows danced along the floor, and she could feel the intense heat on her skin. When they began to enclose on her she knew she needed to leave. Nobody made any motion to stop any of this as she turned and bolted.
Adrenaline rushed through her as she ran, still feeling the flames that were following. A part of her mind knew that this was no more than a dream turned nightmare, but somehow it felt too real to pull away from.
She pushed her legs faster, not knowing how long it had been since she started. She stopped suddenly, colliding with something white that reached out to steady her. Regaining her balance, she looked up to see none other than her childhood friend. She knew he would believe in her.
She couldn't help the small smile and the breath of relief that came out of her at the sight. Even if she didn't really deserve otherwise, she wasn't alone after all.
Her joy was short lived though, as her eyes widened with shock at a sharp pain in her gut and the feeling of a warm liquid running down her. Stepping back slightly, she realized that the blood was coming from her, and the hand connected to the blade being pulled out of her was Toshiro's.
She looked back up to him, not understanding. A wave of pain went through her, and it had nothing to do with the wound. This seemed so familiar, and yet it seemed wrong. She searched his face for answers and saw nothing in the cool depths. Then, he smirked viciously at her, and it looked so wrong on his face, so much like his, that she couldn't help it.
She screamed.
Momo jolted upright as the remnants of her outburst echoed off the walls. There was a cold sweat on her brow, and she couldn't keep her hands from shaking as she looked down at them. She was breathing heavily, yet it seemed like she couldn't take in enough air. The feeling of panic didn't leave her, and she reached for her light blanket as she realized that she was hyperventilating.
Breathing deeply into the fabric, she tried to calm her rapidly beating heart as well as her nerves. It was just a dream. She shouldn't be reacting so strongly to it. She tried to tell herself this, but it still didn't stop the silent tears that tracked down her face. It had seemed so real.
With hands still shaking, she lowered her blanket, finally breathing somewhat normally again. She could still hear her breaths echoing on the walls, but at least some of the lightheadedness went away. She closed her eyes and sat for a few minutes until the tears stopped, and then finally the shaking.
She opened her eyes to look at the time, and she found that she really hadn't been asleep for very long at all. She scooted backwards and rested her head against the wall. She would never get any sleep if she kept this up all night.
Her eyes drifted to the nightstand and the small white bottle on it. This wasn't the first time she encountered something like this. You would think she'd be used to it by now.
She really hated relying on something else to get to sleep, but sometimes it was just too much. The first time this had happened at been in Fourth Division, just as she was almost ready to be released. She had woken up screaming, resulting in five nurses rushing in, trying to calm her. She couldn't really remember what she had been dreaming of that time, but it had scared her nevertheless.
After that, Captain Unohana had given her the sleeping pills, saying it would give her a full night of dreamless sleep. True to her word, that's exactly what they did.
Still, she didn't like using them unless she had to, even if they were harmless when used in moderation. She had thought she was getting better. She hadn't had to use them in a long time.
Sighing, she argued with herself whether to take one or not. She really should, as she needed her rest in order to get everything done for tomorrow's deadline. Her position was probably on the line if she didn't do well at this year's inspection, and she really didn't want to lose it.
She was told to go home and rest today after the captain's meeting, just having minimal cuts and scrapes that would disappear in a few days. She didn't like disobeying Captain Unohana ever, so she came straight home. There was just some part of her that warned against it. She was tired. She couldn't argue with that. Those two intruders had wore her out with the mess they made in the Tenth. She still had a lot of work left, but if she got up early enough, she should have enough time to finish and still get enough rest.
She smiled slightly as she wondered if Toshiro and Nanao were still up doing theirs. They probably were, as it wasn't that late yet.
The thought of her childhood friend, however, made the smile drop from her face. Now that she was more awake, even with the dream image fading, she still remembered what had happened after the meeting. She shook her head. She was trying to calm herself right now, not work herself back up.
She sighed again as she made to get up, straightening the covers out of habit as she moved out of her room. Even if she did take a sleep aid when she got back, she still had to wear off all the effects of her dream. Sometimes, if she fell back asleep right away, she dreamt of the same thing.
She never wanted to have that dream ever again.
--Secrets Of The Scorned--
Nanao frowned slightly as she sensed no inhabitant in her captain's dwelling. There was a possibility that he was completely masking his spiritual pressure, but the fact that she was standing outside his front door and knocking, her spiritual pressure easily detectable, had her thinking that he just wasn't home. There were no lights on from what she could tell, and she didn't hear anything from inside.
Well, that was a downer.
She sighed and brought a hand up to rub her temples, trying to rack her brain on all the places he could be. She really didn't have time to play hide and go seek at this hour with him.
She flashed back towards the division, deciding to ask some of the other staff if they had seen him. Since inspection was so soon and the paper deadline was tomorrow, there were a few others besides herself that were putting in extra long days. She made a mental note to give those people a well-earned break after everything was over.
It wasn't as busy as during the day, but she was able to find someone that had caught wind that he was off to drink in the Rukongai. Rolling her eyes, she continued on her present track, stalking past the kindly opened gate and into the home of all those non-shinigami.
A gust of wind rustled her robes as the weight of the gate settled back into the earth. She brushed down the non-existent ruffle in her uniform, thanked the guard, and continued out into Rukongai. Oh, why couldn't she have a more responsible captain.
She made a list in her head of all his favorite places to drink. If she recalled correctly, there was a pub in the twenty-seventh, forty-third, and sixty-fourth district that he frequented often. She wasn't very fond of any of them, but she really disdained the sixty-fourth, if only because it was more violent than the rest.
She sighed. She supposed it couldn't be helped. Having no other choice than to start from the top of the list and hope he was at one of them, she flashed down the road, wanting to get out of here as fast as she could. She may have spent a part of her early childhood here, but it didn't mean she felt at home.
Besides, soul reapers weren't exactly liked here anyway.
--Secrets Of The Scorned--
Rangiku groaned as she rolled over again, as careful as she could manage. She stared at the ceiling tiles, trying to will herself to sleep. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but between nerves and a side she had to scold herself from rubbing, she was having no success.
She huffed as she threw her arm over her eyes, thinking that maybe if it was just a tad bit darker, instead of the silvery shade everything was from the moon, then she could finally stop thinking and just relax. She should know better though, especially when silver reminded her of so many things.
She knew that she had been tossing and turning since she tried to go to sleep. On Nanao's orders, she had done exactly what the Fourth had told her, getting some rest after a very eventful day. She had even skipped the sake. None of that was helping her currently though.
Her mind was a whirlwind that refused to die down. Since she couldn't get to sleep, she didn't have much else to do but think. She didn't want to think. It made her want to go back to her desk in the office and grab the bottle of sake she knew was in her bottom right drawer.
She sighed, knowing that sleep was far from her now. She allowed her mind to drift too far, and now she was seeing silver waves and curved grins. She frowned, all previous energy from the talk with Nanao completely gone, only to be replaced by the dark cloud that she allowed to loom over her.
It was the best she could do, most days, to keep it from raining.
Tapping her finger on her lips, her arm removed from her eyes, she debated about staying in bed at all. It wasn't doing her any good just laying here. Even if she didn't really want to, there were still things that needed to be done. She had wanted to check up on her captain, even if she wasn't going to be much help to him tonight, just to make sure he didn't overdo it. She also remembered that something had happened between him and Momo, according to what Nanao witnessed.
She shrugged to herself, bringing her hand backward to prop herself up as she slowly rose. The Fourth didn't specifically say where she needed to rest, and it was true enough that the office was almost as much as home to her as this room was.
She dangled her legs off the bed, mentally shaking her head on how tired she shouldn't be, but was all the same. Her first few steps were wobbly as she stood, but she shook the feeling off when she didn't fall. Grabbing the light lap blanket she kept on her bed, she wrapped it around herself and quietly padded out of her dwelling and down the main hall.
There were a few more people out tonight, she noted. It made sense with all the excitement they had earlier, in their own division even. The clean-up crew was going to have some fun with the craters and the burn marks on a lot of the walls. She chuckled a bit at the thought.
Nobody bothered her as she made her way to the office, and she was grateful to it. She didn't want to know how she looked at the moment. Her hair was probably sleep ruffled, even though she did nothing of the short, and she had too many wrinkles and tears in her uniform. She had been so exhausted physically that she hadn't bothered to change out of it, as uncomfortable as it was.
Rangiku came around the corner and wasn't surprised to see the office light still on. It wasn't really that late, but even if it was, she knew her captain would still probably be there. She pulled her covering tighter as a gust of wind flew up, and she paused for only a moment before sliding the office door open.
She took her time in closing the door, making sure to turn her back to the office room while she was at it. The light scratching of the quill Captain Hitsugaya was using had stopped, and she felt eyes on her as she made sure no air was getting through the seam of the wall and the door. He had probably sensed her from a ways away, even though her energy was a bit low.
Putting on a smile she perfected over the years, she turned around.
"Whew!" She made a shivering sound as she rubbed her arms. "It sure is getting cold out. I think it could snow any day now!"
Her enthusiastic act met the flat look she was getting from across the room. It didn't really surprise her that his face was saying he wasn't buying it. He rarely ever did.
She noticed that his captain's cloak was hanging off the back of the chair, signifying that he was settling in for a long night. A cup of tea sat to the left of him, confirming that idea. He usually had tea in the mornings, but only used it at night if he needed the caffeine to stay awake.
He appeared like he was going to say something, so Rangiku decided to cut him off. "So, if we work a little more tonight, tomorrow should be a breeze. We didn't have that much left did we? Why I think-"
"Matsumoto."
She tried not to flinch at the slight reprimanding tone she heard. She should know better than trying to distract him with words, especially regarding this particular content. She turned towards him and blinked, putting on her most innocent expression.
"Yes, Captain?"
Toshiro sighed and rubbed his temples. "What are you doing here? You are supposed to be in the Fourth, resting."
She smiled at him, not quite reaching her eyes, as she made her way to her desk. "It's not really that serious, and as long as I take care of it, they said I'd be fine. It's nothing."
He didn't miss the faint, sharp intake of breath he heard when she stumbled, or the way she unconsciously reached for her left side. She turned around with a sheepish look on her face, and he had to resist the urge to roll his eyes.
She rubbed the back of her head as she settled down in her chair, careful not to jar the wound. "The Fourth has something going around. It'll be fine in a few weeks tops. After my chat with Nanao I went home, but I couldn't sleep. I thought I'd be more useful here then wasting away there." She didn't mind telling him the truth. He somehow understood, and she was glad that he trusted her that far.
He kept silent for a few moments before closing his eyes and sighing. "As much as I appreciate your…enthusiasm to help out, you really shouldn't be pushing yourself. I am more than capable of finishing this with time to spare."
Ignoring him for a moment, she found the stack of papers from before were still sitting on the edge of her desk. With an energy she didn't think possible herself, she pulled them towards her in order to get started. "I'm not pushing myself. I'm resting here." She looked up to see him quirking a brow at her, but she just shrugged it off.
"There's no need for both of us to stay up the whole night."
To her surprise, he didn't comment any further, and after a few moments she heard the scratching of his pen against the documents. She sighed a little to herself, glad that no further explanation was necessary. She got to work, not minding for once. After all, the sheets were white, not silver, and she painted on them with black, not red.
It was a short time later that Toshiro stopped in his writing to rub at his eyes. Despite the early hour, paperwork and the same repetitive motions got to you after a while.
He glanced over at his lieutenant, finding her to be working away. As much as she was right about getting done faster and not having to work as long, he was still concerned about how much she was put through today. She was not fragile, that he knew, but if she thought he didn't see the occasional winces and how her hand strayed to her side, she was mistaken.
He understood if the Fourth didn't want her there to catch something, but he didn't want her to fall apart either. At least Lieutenant Ise had tried to bring her home. He paused, remembering what she said. With a furrow in his brow, he questioned her.
"Matsumoto, you said you had a talk with Lieutenant Ise?"
She stopped to look up at him, wondering what he was getting at, even though the back of her mind already knew. "I did." She hoped that a simple answer would be good enough.
"She was at the meeting, which means you either went there, or you met up with her on the way." She watched him come to his own conclusion. "What did you want to talk to her about?" After all, she had plenty of time to make it home before the meeting was over.
"Meeting stuff. You know, the usual." She could almost hear the 'who was behind it' humming in his mind, and with a slight smirk that she tried to hide, she added on in a slightly airy tone, "Trying to determine who the woman was."
She watched surprise briefly flicker over his face until be blinked it away. "Woman?"
"Yes, woman, not Aizen. I doubt he would come here like that anyway, but I'm almost positive it was a woman that attacked me. She had the right build for it. Although I'm not sure about the other two. You would have to ask Momo about it." She watched him mull it over for a minute, and she remembered what Nanao had told her about Momo and her captain earlier.
"Did you think Aizen was behind it?" She shot him a look, and she noted that he had a slightly guilty look about him. "I'm not saying it isn't, but it doesn't feel like it. I don't know how to explain it other than I can feel it."
He didn't answer for a bit, and Rangiku was worried that maybe be wasn't going to answer at all.
"The thought had crossed my mind."
He didn't say anything more, so Rangiku decided to try and push the envelope a little farther. She knew it wasn't a very good idea to make him angry, but she wanted to know what he thought. Aizen was the first conclusion most would draw to this situation she thought, but she was sure she wasn't wrong this time. Besides, she knew the new fallout between two of her friends needed to be fixed. She couldn't do it for them, but she could push them in the right direction.
"Did Momo say what she thought of it?"
He scowled, and mumbled under his breath. Not hearing him, she asked him to repeat, and he ground out, "She didn't think so either. Not that I really expected anything different."
Rangiku frowned and waited until he looked at her so he could see it. She sighed. "Nanao didn't think so either. Neither did Captain Kyouraku. Is it so hard to believe that we might have more than just one enemy and that all of them aren't connected to Aizen?"
He scoffed, but she didn't let up. "You know, with all due respect sir, it's people like you that are holding her back." He snapped his head over to her, but she wasn't looking at him. She had a far off look in her eye, and he knew that even if she was talking about this, she was thinking something else.
"She can't change what's already happened. She can only go forward, even if certain people try to hold her back." She looked over at him then, and Toshiro knew she believed what she said. "You haven't noticed, but she's really trying. She's doing it for herself too, which makes it all the better."
A smile came to her face. "We're really not all that different sometimes."
He said nothing, knowing that she was probably right. Momo had seemed a little different lately, he just never attributed it to what Rangiku was implying. Had she really stopped believing in the man that was her former captain? His eyes widened as he remembered something.
"I don't think it was A-Aizen."
Aizen. Just Aizen. When had that stopped?
Toshiro realized in that moment that maybe she had been changing. His bitterness melted away as he thought about it. A part of him was glad that maybe they wouldn't have to keep pretending. Then again, for how long had he still been pretending when she didn't need it? Another part of him felt guilty. It didn't change what she did, something he didn't want to go through again, but if she was trying to move past that, what good was he doing if he was just setting her back again?
"Nanao said she was pretty upset. What did you say to her?"
Rangiku knew this information of course, having asked Nanao herself of what she heard, but she wanted to see if her captain was the type of person to own up to their faults, or perhaps to see if he really did care at all. She would bet that he did, but she knew that everyone was on edge lately too.
Rangiku's words broke him out of his inner thoughts. He knew Momo was upset as she left. He saw the way that she had kept her eyes down and hidden as she hurried out, how her mumbled goodnight was a little wobbly. It pained him a little to know that he was the cause of her sadness, but at the time he was too angry to think about it. Now though, it made him seem like an ass. He was supposed to support friends in their time of need.
"Something I probably shouldn't have."
Making a decision, he stood, forgetting about his captain's wear as he headed towards the door. "I'm going to get a little fresh air." Then, either by lack of something else to say or an attempt to save face he said, "And I expect some of that to be done by the time I get back."
Rangiku caught the tail end of his gaze as it landed on her stack of papers, and she broke out into a small laugh as the door shut behind him.
--Secrets Of The Scorned--
Nanao let out an exasperated sigh as she crossed into the forty-third district. The bar in the twenty-seventh had awarded her with no luck, and as the night wore on, so did her patience. She wasn't sure how long she had been out here, but she was sure she could have had one of the towering stacks of papers finished in the time she had spent searching.
She supposed the trip wasn't entirely worthless though, as the barkeep had informed her that he had seen her captain stop by earlier in the night, much to her relief. At least she knew he was out here somewhere. That didn't mean he was at a bar though. Depending on how long he had been here, he could very well be slumped in an alley somewhere.
She rolled her eyes. If any soul reaper was going to get mugged out here in Rukongai by a harmless villager, it would be her captain.
She really hoped that he hadn't somehow gotten back to the Seireitei. Even though that was the goal in the first place, she didn't want to have wasted all of this time for nothing. She absolved that if he wasn't in one of the three common places he visited, she was just going to go back to the office. She would make a guess what document to correct and leave her captain to fend for himself. If it were any other day she might have continued to search until she found him.
So lost in her own inner ramblings, she was startled when she heard a whistle come from the side of the street. Stopping, she glanced to the side of the street to see a few men giving her catcalls. Pushing up her glasses, she gave them a dark glare and stalked off, willing them to stay where they were.
It wasn't good to show them your fear. A lot of them fed off that. She doubted that she would have any problems with regular souls, but she would like to avoid violence if she could. She didn't need any more disturbances tonight, and she didn't want to think about the forms she would have to fill out if one of them filed a complaint. It would be shot down as soon as it got to the higher ups, but it would still cause a headache for her.
Still, it would almost be worth trying to knock some sense into them if they did try anything. Men like that made her sick, and it would be nice to teach them a thing or two. She was very grateful that her captain was nothing like that. A flirt he may be, but at least he kept his actions innocent enough. She'd never seen him push anyone.
She had enough trouble with those sorts of people while in the twenty-seventh. She had barely made it to the bar, having to wade through people. Some of the farther gone patrons had taken a chance in grabbing for her, trying to convince her to stay for a bit. She had cured that with a quick flick of her fan, and it had been worth seeing the stunned looks on some of their faces. She allowed herself a small quirk of her lips at the thought.
The voices and whistles died down, and she was pleased to find that she hadn't been followed. She relaxed slightly, putting less strain on her muscles. Out of her thoughts, she now had the chance to look around a bit. Now that she paid attention, some of the streets looked a bit familiar. Then she remembered she was in the forty-third, and it all made sense.
Sometimes it was hard to forget where you grew up.
It was true that she wasn't here for very long, but the first few years of being alone had left an impression on her. She wasn't likely going to forget this place any time soon, no matter how much she wanted to sometimes.
Seeing a sign she used as a landmark, she found herself close to her destination. It was slightly louder here than the previous stop had been, but it wasn't so bad. She remembered collecting her charge many times from this spot.
An older man standing near the entrance slid to the side as she approached, and she thanked him as he pulled open the drape across the door way for her. Ducking inside, her eyes had to adjust to the change of lighting. Even though it was dark outside, the moon had given off plenty of light, and the change to lamplight was a little hard to get used to.
Once she could see properly, she almost laughed in relief as she saw a pink clad figure leaning on the bar. Being her, she sighed instead, making her way towards him. He appeared to be asleep, hence being slumped on the bar, but at least she found him.
"Evening, Nanao," the barkeep greeted. "Got away from work again, eh?"
"Hello, Hiroshi." She followed her words with a nod. "So it seems."
She respected Hiroshi. He had been the owner of this pub for as long as she knew her captain visited, and he harbored no ill will towards anyone, shinigami or otherwise. He was middle aged, and he admired his high tolerance for everything that happened here.
She looked down at her captain, shaking her head slightly as she saw a bit of drool. His hat was slightly skewed, but other than that, she didn't see anything out of the ordinary. She told herself she wasn't looking for lipstick or hickeys, and she closed the door on that little voice in the back of her head that said otherwise. It could've been worse.
"I'm sorry about this…again. How much was his tab?"
Hiroshi waved it off with a smile. "It's no big deal. I'm sure he'll be back. It's nice seeing a familiar face around once in a while."
She thanked him and proceeded to think on how she was going to move him. He was probably still partly conscious, and she hoped that he could support some of his weight on his own. Soul reaper or not, he was still much bigger than her. She tried to ignore some of the stares she was getting.
Suddenly, a thought came to her. "Hiroshi, what time is it?" She had completely forgotten.
He glanced at the clock under the bar. Having one in sight could be bad for business, if people kept track how long they were out and about for. "It's five to ten." He took in the startled look that came across her features. "Something the matter?"
She let out a shaky laugh as she shook her head slowly. "The gate back into Seireitei is closing in five minutes."
She knew that if she were alone, she might've been able to make it there if she hurried. However, with her current baggage, she knew that was not an option. She wasn't going to just leave him here either, not after she had found him. They couldn't stay here either. The bar was going to be closing in a few hours true, but the gate wasn't going to open back up until five. Sighing, she put her mind into thinking of a way out of this mess.
She probably should've known. There went her plan for finishing that work.
"Do you have somewhere to go?"
A thought struck her, and she opened her eyes. Looking at the barkeep, she answered.
"Yes, I do."
-To Be Continued
D: Let's not talk about my horrible updating skills. I'm not going to bother predicting when the next part will be out. My vacation wasn't so great as I planned, finding out on the second day that my loan was denied for school this quarter, which started Monday. I had to spend a lot of time working with the financial lady (long distance, mind you, because I wasn't at home) working stuff out just so I could actually go to class this quarter. They won't give me my books until all of my finances are wrapped up. The company I first applied through didn't bother to tell me that they no longer did student loans, they just said the loan was denied. That started a whole bunch of worries for my dad, thinking their was somthing wrong with his credit, which there wasn't. Good news though, is that it looks like I'm approved after all, and I get to go to class tomorrow. Yay.
Okay, enough of ranting. On a side note, I think that spiky should be spelled spikey, but apprently my spell check says otherwise. Also, what is that little blanket called? You know, the one that you throw on the back of the couch to keep your legs warm sometimes. I thought it had a name, and not what I called it. It couldn't be that simple.
Also, I'm concerned about Toshiro's characterization. D: D:
Until next time.