Hisen yawned loudly into the cold morning mist. He couldn't believe his guard duty was pushed unto five in the morning! He glanced at his companion from the corner of his eye. Dammiit! Miza was half asleep already. Hisen was pissed off just looking at him. He threw a pebble at Miza's cheek. Hard.

"O-W-W-W-W!"

"Wake up you lazy lout!"

"WHAT! I was wide awake man. Whatcha do that for?"

"I just can't stand you dozzing there when I do all the work!"

"What work?"

Hisen face-palmed himself before retorting sharply, "The senkai gate can't open itself you fool."

"Oh, yeah." Miza replied after a moment's pause. He hadn't really thought of it that way. Hisen gave a derisive snort and turned away. Man this guy was hopeless. A few tense moments passed by in stony silence. Miza knew his friend was in a foul mood, but the air was downright oppressive. Risking his wrath Miza asked conversationally, "You know who's coming through the gate, man?"

"No." Was the sour reply. But when Miza gave him long expectant look, he finally cracked. Rubbing the sides of his temple hard he said, "Ah, I dunno. I only got orders that one of us was coming through the gate by dawn. From the REAL WORLD that is."

Hardly had he finished talking when the Senkai gate creaked open. Out of the mist, a dozen hell butterflies flew out. Then the light shuffling of feet approaching them could be heard. Miza squinted is eyes into the hazy gloom. He could only make out a steadily darkening figure approaching them.

"Hey Hisen. Can you tell who it is?"

Hisen glared at him. "How would I know? Am seeing just as much as you are?" Miza, tired of his friend's snippy replies, gave him a glare of his own.

"Jeez. I was just asking!" As they bickered with each other, they didn't notice the figure behind them until it spoke.

"Hey guys…", said a sultry voice. They turned around in a whirl, the very sight caused their eyes to widen to sauce like proportions. Standing before them was them was frankly the most beautiful girl they had ever seen. Her long pink hair had been caught in a braid and she was dressed in a rocker shirt and ripped jeans. Her hands were tucked snugly into the pockets of snowy white jumper. It was only when she stood next to them did they notice how tall she was too.

Glancing at each other in an unspoken agreement, they unsheathed their swords and turned on her.

"Whoa," Yachiru said, holding her hands up, "am on your side."

"We don't believe you. As far as were concerned, we had orders to let a Shinigami in…" Hisen informed her, pointing the sword in her direction. Yachiru used her right finger to push the blade away from her.

"Ah, that would be me?"

"You don't understand," Miza explained. "We have orders to let only shinigami through, and you're obviously a human soul. From Rukongai perhaps?"

Yachiru felt slightly offended. Rukongai? Her? They must be joking. No doubt they were posted as guards well beyond her time since they couldn't recognize her. She let the insult slide. Besides; her street clothes weren't helping her argument much.

"Am telling you I'm a Shinigami," she repeated stubbornly.

Hisen and Miza had been day guards a little over sixty years now, so they knew almost everyone who'd been assigned REAL WORLD assignments. They'd never seen her before and they were almost certain she couldn't be one of them. Just to humour her though, he said: "Fine. If you want to pass through you'll have to tell us your name and squad." Ha! They were sure to catch her in her lies now! Yachiru frowned in consternation. "I-I-I can't", she said shortly. If she said anything now it would ruin everything! She'd wanted it to surprise everyone with her sudden appearance. Especially Zaraki. If she talked now, these guards were sure to blab in flashstep.

"Can't let you pass," Miza said with regret, "you'll just have to wait for a decent hour of the morning to get verification." She smacked the palm of her hand to her head.

"What? Wait here until-gods- knew what hour of the day? By then the surprise would be totally ruined. Sighing in defeat, she took the lesser of the two evils.

"Fine, I'll tell you." Miza gave his friend a clearly triumphant look. Ha! He'd cracked her. Hisen was always terrible with women. Breathing in, she said the word s she hadn't said in decades.

"I am the fukutaichou for squad 11 under captain Zaraki."

There was a slight pause of disbelief before the two guards burst in raucous laughter. Annoyed now, Yachiru scrunched her eyebrows and witted for the storm to pass.

"What?" she asked crossly, when one of them seemed to recovered from his self-induced fit. Hisen wiped the tears from his eyes.

"Hai. That was a good one. That's a real rib-cracker." He gave her a renewed sharper glance. "The 11th squad already has a vice-captain," the guard informed her, "…and he's a man. You'd better spin another tale lady." Curiosity pricked her conscience. "Who is it? What's his name?"

"There's no way were telling you anything." Hisen said with a fresh note of authority in his voice. "As far as we know, you're a ryoka attempting to inflitrate Seretei and we won't allow that. If you want to be apprehended peacefully, you' better come with us."

"What are you doing? We can't arrest her! Our only orders is to guard these gates." Miza growled.

"That's exactly what were doing", Hisen said from the side of his mouth as he approached Yachiru with a raised sword. "Were protecting Soul Society from an evil enemy ryoka who was attempting to breach in. Don't you see Miza? This is our big break! Once we hand her over, the higher-ups will see our service and BAM! We'll be seated officers in no time."

Yachiru's brow rose with amusement. This was just not her day, was it? She had to run into saw over-ambitious guards who saw her as no more than a stepping stone towards their promotion. She watched this Miza-guy warm up to the idea and finally raise his sword against her too.

"Sorry babe, this isn't personal." He told her. She ginned in reply, "Am sorry, but this isn't personal for me either. Am going in whether you want me to or not." And with that, before any of them could react, she aimed a few lightning quick kicks and punches that had them unconscious in a minute. Using one of their spare hell butterflies, she sent a message to Gotei 13 requesting for an additional deployment of guards at the gate. As she watched the butterfly disappear it occurred to her that her little stunt would get her in a lot of trouble…but what the heck! Those guys were pissing her off anyway.

Shunpoeing out of the scene, she had a house call she had to make to a certain taichou…

This took me 4hrs of non-stop writing. Don't hold your breath waiting for a quick update! Creative criticism is appreciated greatly. Please tell me what you think about it! Luv S.S