The Fifth Division

Ichigo stared at the tall doors in apprehension. It was the first time he would actually enter the main hall of the 1st division's headquarters, where the captain council regularly gathered. The captains, who were the most respected people of Gotei 13.

And now he was one of them.

It still made no sense to him.

The tall doors were imposing and he couldn't help the nervousness building inside of him. Behind those doors would be the captain council. How was he to face them? He was no longer their enemy, but it wasn't as if they'd always been allies, either. He began pacing. The captain's haori distracted him as it trailed after his steps. He was not used to the piece of clothing yet, after all he had only received it the previous day.

Suddenly, words were spoken and it startled him – he had thought he was alone.

"Nervous?" a man asked. Despite his tough, gangster-like appearance, he appeared to be calm and friendly. Ichigo recognised the man to be one of the vice-captains, but they had never been formally introduced. He also noticed that he, too, was now wearing the white haori of a captain.

"Yeah." he said. He was unable to stop the words that followed. "Unlike you, I'm a complete outsider, not only to the captain's council but to the whole Gotei 13."

"You will get used to it, Kurosaki Ichigo," the man assured. He offered the younger man a slight smile, until he opened the doors and walked in.

Ichigo stood there, hesitating. Should he follow the other newly made captain and just try casually walking in? There was a part of him that was dreading stepping into the room.

While he contemplated this dilemma, feeling torn, a tall red-haired man suddenly rushed to the scene.

"Whew, I made it on time," he grinned, straightening his captain's haori.

"Renji?" Ichigo blurted, not trusting his eyes. "They made you a captain?"

"Passed the exam with flying colours," the man bragged.

Ichigo but stared at him. It still felt very hard to believe that Renji was a captain… But then again, the Gotei 13 had been desperate enough to make him take the test, too.

"Quit spacing out, Ichigo! Come on!"

Before Ichigo had any chance to respond, Renji grabbed his shoulder and had already dragged him into the great hall of the 1st division's headquarters – the very room the captains of Gotei 13 had been gathered in the council.

Ichigo tried not to fidget nervously as he felt all eyes in the room turning to look at him. Renji walked over to the vice-captain-made-captain who had already entered earlier, and Ichigo had no choice but to follow. Once they stopped, the captain commander's authoritative voice opened the council meeting.

"It's good that you are all here," Yamamoto Genryuusai spoke. "Today we welcome to our ranks three new captains. Two of them passed the qualifying exam, one was recommended and accepted. Let us commence the inauguration ceremony."

"First, the former vice-captain of the 9th division, Hisagi Shuuhei, is thusly promoted to be the captain of the 9th division, by the council's recommendation."

Hisagi bowed his head to the other captains.

"Please take care of me," he spoke formally.

"Next, the former vice-captain of the 6th division, Abarai Renji, is promoted to be the captain of the 3rd division after having passed the captain proficiency exam."

"Yo!" Renji casually greeted the other captains and grinned widely.

The corner of captain Kuchiki's mouth twitched in a way resembling a grimace.

"Finally, Kurosaki Ichigo is promoted to be the captain of the 5th division after having passed the captain proficiency exam."

"H-hi," Ichigo stammered, feeling too nervous to come up with anything cleverer to say.

"Other changes have also been made to accommodate the loss of 2 vice-captains. The 3rd seat of 9th division, Kazuki Miyu, will be promoted to be the new vice-captain of 9th division. Vice-captain Hinamori Momo will be transferred from the 5th division to the 6th division. Her place will be replaced by specially promoted lower rank shinigami." captain commander Yamamoto paused. "This concludes the council today."

While the captains began to shuffle out of the room, two of them approached Ichigo.

"Care to come with us, Kurosaki-san?" captain Ukitake asked, a friendly smile on his face.

Finding no reason why he shouldn't, Ichigo nodded.

0o0o0

Ichigo had followed captain Ukitake and captain Kuchiki all the way to the 13th division's headquarters. The three captains sat down in Ukitake's office.

"Now, I actually have a reason for inviting you along, Kurosaki-san," the captain of the 13th division confessed.

"Oh? What reason?" Ichigo asked.

"We thought it would be better for you to meet your vice-captain before you would enter the 5th division headquarters."

Vice-captain. Ichigo had not thought about that before. Captain commander Yamamoto had said that 5th division's captain was recently promoted from lower ranks. Who the hell could that be? He frowned to himself.

"Finding you a vice-captain proved to be a difficult task," Ukitake said amiably. "And in the end we chose someone who would not normally even be considered for such a promotion, but we figured that your strength would even out your vice-captain's lack of power."

"And in a similar fashion, your vice-captain has showed skill in kidou – unlike you," Kuchiki Byakuya said levelly.

"We thought that this whole transition would be easier for you, if we picked someone with whom we knew you would come along," captain Ukitake continued.

There was a rap on the door and a petite, dark-haired shinigami stepped in.

"Rukia!" Ichigo breathed out in surprise. He was delighted to see the woman again; it had been so long since they had bid their goodbye. "It's good to see you! What are you doing here?"

Rukia's slight scowl was the only warning he got. The next moment, Ichigo doubled over, sputtering, after the small female had mercilessly shoved her elbow into his gut.

"Owwwww, what the hell, Rukia?" he managed to wheeze. There was a tiny part in him that was happy for the uncalled-for assault. At least there was something in his (after) life that remained constant - Rukia would still beat him up randomly for no reason. He'd never understand women.

"That was for getting yourself killed, you idiot!" the Rukia said, crossing her arms and glaring angrily at him. "What the hell were you thinking?"

So there actually was a reason. Ichigo lowered his gaze and actually managed to look a bit sheepish.

"I guess I wasn't thinking…?" he admitted slowly, careful not to add fuel to Rukia's fire.

"Damn right you weren't! I knew you would end up doing something stupid as soon as I wasn't there to look after you, but even in my wildest dreams I didn't think you would actually be moronic enough to – "

"Hey," Ichigo blurted, cutting through Rukia's irate rant as something caught his eye, "what is that?" he asked, pointing at the item tied around Rukia's left arm.

The small shinigami's chest puffed out a little, and it was hard for her to keep the smugness out of her voice and still appear indifferent.

"You know what it is, you've seen it before," she replied.

Ichigo stared at the vice-captain's badge that Rukia was donning in utter disbelief. Then, he almost twisted his neck, looking over his shoulder and trying to peer what number it was again that was adorning his new captain's haori.

"They picked you?" he managed to stammer, staring at the number five painted on Rukia's badge. "You are my vice-captain?"

Rukia grinned.

"Please take care of me, Kurosaki-taichou," she said formally, bowing gracefully.

Ichigo scowled.

"Don't do that, it gives me the creeps."

"Don't do what, taichou?"

"That taichou-crap."

"As you wish." the woman shrugged.

Suddenly, Ichigo was aware that captain Ukitake was beaming at them.

"We'll leave the rest to you," the old man said loftily. "Kuchiki-san, please show Kurosaki-san your division's headquarters."

Rukia bowed her head.

"Yes, Ukitake-taichou."

"Do not be late for dinner, Rukia," captain Kuchiki spoke in his usually indifferent tone.

"I won't, nii-sama," she promised.

Then, the woman turned to Ichigo.

"Follow me."

Ichigo's eyebrow rose at the command in Rukia's voice, but he knew better than to question her. He had been punched enough for one day.

0o0o0

Shin, the 3rd seat of the 5th division was waiting in front of the squad's barracks, shifting nervously. While the majority of the division was relieved that they had finally been appointed a new captain, there was also a certain amount of anxiety in the air. It would be a while to ease under the new rule. Furthermore, even their vice-captain had been transferred to another division.

Shin raised his gaze as he heard bickering voices approaching. He soon saw a young man with wild-orange hair wearing a new captain's haori, arguing about something with a petite woman with unruly black hair.

When the pair drew closer, Shin tried to swallow the lump in his throat. He bowed to his new superiors.

"Welcome, taichou, fukutaichou! I'm Shin, the 3rd seat of 5th division and I will show you around our headquarters!"

"Yo!" Ichigo greeted casually. "What's with all the grovelling?" he asked then, obviously uncomfortable by the man's deep bow.

Shin straightened hesitantly.
"It's a show of respect, Ichigo!" the woman huffed, glaring at the captain from the corner of her eye.

Obviously, his new vice-captain and captain were familiar with one another.

"Do not mind him, Shin-kun," the woman continued, smiling at the nervous man. "He can be quite a grouch sometimes."

"Oy, Rukia!" the man protested indignantly.

She blatantly ignored his protests.

"Please, it would be great if you could give us a tour. We really want to get to know our way around as soon as possible."

Ichigo was still grumpy at Rukia's bossy treatment. At the same time, though, he was relieved that even though he was now higher in rank than she was, the way she behaved around him hadn't changed in the least. Paying close attention to his surroundings, and looking at the cluster of buildings curiously, Ichigo trailed after Rukia, who was kindly chatting with their guide.

This would be his new home.