As soon as Lt. Oakshii died, my already complicated position as a soul reaper captain became increasingly difficult. At first my thought was that Motoko was perfect for the position, but the soul society had other plans for my squad. There is a lot of prejudice against my squad and I because I didn't become a soul reaper in the ordinary way, dieing first. So let's say I don't have as much say in my squad's affairs as I would like.
-7th squad Captain, Tai Rosuto.
Tai sat on the roof of the Squad 4 barracks at night fall; almost all of the members of squad 7 went home after Oakshii died, now the barracks was emptying of squad 4. "I should be getting back to the world of the living soon..." Tai thought as he watched the sky growing darker and darker. "No, I don't fell like going to school tomorrow; I'll stay at the barracks tonight." He thought out loud,
"That's good." Tai was startled; he looked behind him when the voice said, "Down here." He looked down off the roof to see Motoko looking up at him, Tai jumped down off of the roof and landed beside Motoko.
"Don't sneak up on me like that Motoko!" Tai yelled at Motoko.
"Well I wouldn't have to if you weren't up there sulking all the time!" She retorted, they glared at each other for a few seconds and turned away from each other.
"What did you mean when you said it was good that I was staying the night in the soul society tonight?" Tai said, forgetting the whole thing and turning back to Motoko.
"Losing a Lt. is a difficult thing, not because of losing a friend, but you have to select a new Lt." She said turning back to Tai.
She was right, Tai had forgotten all about choosing a new Lt., he was so caught up in his loss of a Lt. that it passed by Tai that he had to choose a new Lt., and quick. "You're right Motoko; the thought completely slipped my mind. I guess that it is good that I stay tonight so I can come and announce my choice at the captain's meeting tomorrow."
"Aww Tai! You know how they don't like you to come unannounced! For one thing they don't even know he's dead, second they don't know you're here, third you weren't going to come to this one, and last how are you going to choose a new Lt. by tomorrow morning?!"
"Quit yelling!" He yelled, "Do you want the whole soul society to know that he died? Now to answer, one no they don't know he's dead, two no they don't know I'm here, three no I wasn't going to come to this one, and last I am going to put you up for the spot." Motoko was shocked; Tai was going to nominate her for Lt.? "That is if you can handle the pressure..." He said as he headed for the squad 7 barracks with a huge grin on his face. "Oh, and Motoko."
"Yea Tai?"
"Don't screw up with all the pressure!"
"Ughhh, TAI!!!" She yelled as she turned for home, "I'll get you tomorrow for that!"
"Yeah right!!!"
Tai awoke early that morning on the cold, hard floor of the 7th squad barracks on the bed he made of blankets and random objects around the barracks. He strapped on his Shihakusho and his soul pager watch. "I guess there's no harm in going a little early…" He glanced down at his watch, "4 hours later..." The truth was that Tai couldn't sleep; the anxiety was keeping him up. He locked up the barracks and headed out for the meeting. He was there in a matter of minutes and before he knew it he was standing in front of the barracks of squad 1. He attempted to open the doors but they wouldn't budge. "Crap, it's locked… Yamamoto must still be asleep. What now? What should I do?" He sat there for a few minutes and pondered what he should do. "Wait, that's it! This is my first time back to the soul society in a month, I should go warm up in case there's trouble later." So he headed off in the direction of the country side.
Tai made it into a nice secluded place in the country side with plenty of trees. "Ok, here's the perfect place." He drew Nami and Yougan and began to "warm up".
He had just released the first seal on Nami and Yougan turning them into hooked swords when he realized that he had already cut down all the trees in the clearing. Returning his swords to their original forms and looked down at his watch. "Aw man, I'm late! First I'm early and now I'm late…" So he set off in the direction of the seireitei. He was running as fast as he could, "It was already going to be bad with me coming, but me coming late is going to be even worse…" As soon as he reached the Rukongai district he began to hop on top of the buildings. He was in the seireitei now and he was moving fast. He had just passed his own barracks when he stopped to catch his breath.
"Hey hic Tai"
"Where did that come from," he thought as he looked down off the building to see 3 soul reapers looking up at him, he recognized them as members of squad 11. He jumped off the building and said, "That's Captain to you, and what is it I'm in a hurry"
The second one spoke up, "Well aren't you hic just so special aren't hic ya?"
"What are you talking about?" Tai said as the unmistakable smell of stale alcohol reached his nose.
The third one staggered forward, "I don't think that you deserve to be captain, you just got it because you are so special aren't you?"
Tai had become captain because he was special but not by any fault of his own. He had met all of the requirements for becoming a captain accept for getting another one on the head. He came to the captain of squad 7 and challenged him. During the middle of the duel he let his guard down because Tai was still alive and was taunting Tai. Tai got pissed (maybe another word for angry instead of using pissed all the time) and showed the captain what he could do, Tai struck him on the head and killed the captain of squad 7, thus becoming the captain himself.
"That was none of your business." Tai said
The 1st one spoke this time, "I say we take you down right now and put you in your place!" They each drew their Zanpakto and launched themselves at Tai. It was over quickly, Tai took each of them out by hitting them with the handles of his swords.
"Kenpachi has to shape up, getting drunk this early in the morning…" He pressed a button on his soul pager watch and a member of squad 4 popped up on screen. "This is Tai Rosuto captain of squad 7; I have 3 possibly drunk and unconscious members of squad 11 here that need to be picked up."
"Right away sir," she said as the screen grew dark again. Tai sped off towards the squad 1 barracks.
"Ok thank you Soifon, now you Unohana. Anything to report? Yamamoto said as Soifon finished her report.
"What should I do?" Unohana thought, "I have to tell them that Oakshii died, but I thought that Captain Tai was going to tell them."
"Unohana?" Yamamoto asked.
"Well… I…" Unohana stuttered. Then the doors burst open and Tai strolled into the meeting.
"Tai!?" Toshiro (Who is a good friend of Tai's) exclaimed as he walked in.
"Sorry I'm late, a couple of Kenpachi's squad members held me up. Oh, by the way Kenpachi you need to pick them up from the squad 4 barracks." Tai said as he took his place next to Byakuya.
Yamamoto's face was stiff and still, "Tai what are doing here? You said you weren't going to come today."
Mayuri piped up next, "I agree, weren't you supposed to be playing off in the land of the living now?"
"Yes Mayuri, but some disturbing news brought me back here. My Lt. is dead, killed by the hollow, Grand Fisher." All was silent and then hushed murmurs rose from the captains. "He was with 3 new graduates from the academy that might have been put into our squad. He was seeing their skills when he attacked and killed the 3 graduates. And as such I am here to nominate my new Lt. I nominate Motoko HakuMei my current 3rd seat in my squad."
Yamamoto's tone was fast and worried, "I am sorry Tai for your loss, but this couldn't have happened at a better time."
Unohana gasped, "How can you say such things?!"
"Calm down Unohana! I say this because I have found a new academy graduate that would have taken over Oakshii as Lt. of squad 7." Yamamoto said.
"Wait, so what are you saying?!" Tai yelled.
"I am saying that he will be your new Lt." Yamamoto said (stated).
"And what about Motoko?" Tai yelled.
"ENOUGH!" Yamamoto yelled, "We will talk about this later. Now if there's nothing else significant to report, this meeting is over." The rest of the captains filed out of the room, Toshiro shot Tai a sorrow filled glance and walked out. Now Yamamoto and Tai were alone in the once crowded room. "Tai you will have this guy as your Lt."
"I want Motoko to be my new Lt, besides does a fresh academy graduate have what it takes?" Tai refuted.
"Fine, I'll be lenient. You will meet him here tomorrow at noon and then we'll talk."
Tai was still pissed so he left the room and slammed the door behind him, he would not leave the soul society for many days now.
That's the chapter!!! Thanks for reading and please review!!! Oh and also thanks to my editor Leta!