Maybe I should repent for making everyone wait. I'm feelimg ashamed leaving everyone hanging like this. Also, I noticed something: while I was browsing through the Bleach wiki site, I remembered that Isane wasn't Unohana's Lieutenant in this time period. And since I'm too lazy to fix it, we're just going to pretend that Isane was her Liuetenant right now anyway. Okay? Okay.

.

. .

. . .

Edited as of: July 22, 2014

.

. .

. . .

I scowled at the woman, Isane, I think her name was, rubbing the back of my head at the place where she had just so rudely slapped me after she had called me out of the hospital-like room where Vera and Lexi were still waiting in. She looked incredibly flustered at the action she had just done, but her stance didn't waver and she exerted a determination that was befitting for that of a Lieutenant status. At least she didn't regret the action. I would've assumed her to be too soft-hearted then. And that wouldn't be good. Oh no. I'd have to figure out a way to toughen her up one way or another. We couldn't have a soft-hearted Lieutenant here in the Fourth Company as Unohana liked to so callously put it. Without having said woman out for my head for breaking her Lieutenant, of course.

"Pray tell, what was it exactly that I did wrong?" I asked in annoyance.

I hadn't done anything wrong as far as I was concerned. I was just standing here, outside of the room where Vera and Lexi were still chatting happily inside, hoping for some peace after practically man-handling Vera into submission when she positively refused to read beneath the lines and wouldn't give me her chair. Then, all of a sudden, right out of the blue, this tall as hell woman appears out of nowhere and proceeds to slap me right upside the head like she was disciplining some child that had gotten into trouble. Normally, I didn't react well to people just hitting me for no good reason, but Isane, timid as I knew she was just from watching her struggle not to fidget under my piercing gaze, must obviously have a reason for hitting me if the look in her eyes was saying anything.

"Captain Unohana would appreciate it if you didn't harm any of her subordinates," She said in a soft voice, trying to appear tough, but failing epically. She wasn't the tough type. Nor was she very harsh in the way that I knew she was trying to do. I got the feeling that she knew this and was trying to make up with it by trying to use her height to her advantage, but again, she was failing spectacularly and she only seemed to be embarrassing herself more so than she was trying to punish me on her Captain's behalf.

"I didn't even harm anyone," I snapped at her, hackles raising. Isane flinched minutely at my tone, but held strong.

"I'm only repeating my Captain's words, Haruno-san," She said softly, her voice almost demure and soothing like she was talking to that of an enraged animal and she was trying to soothe it. My shoulders relaxed and I sighed, nodding my head at the timid Lieutenant.

My stay at the Fourth Company as everyone liked calling it was boring to say the least. Sure, everything was all cool and interesting when I first woke up and I had been given the chance to wander around, but that only captured my attention for so long. I had already explored whatever areas I was allowed to explore and Unohana had positively put her foot down when she forbid me from leaving the compound under any circumstances. She was a complete buzzkill. Outside was probably more fun than the inside of this place was nowadays.

It wasn't hard to notice how some of the Company workers were very suspicious of me. Especially the men. They were the most suspicious. Always throwing glares at me and, if their hands weren't occupied with anything, placing stiff fingers close to the hilt of the sword that everyone always seemed to carry. The women weren't so bad. They just looked nervous whenever I was close by and would scurry away quickly if I got too close. The only one not affected by my presence was Vera.

Vera was a whole other story entirely. Nothing I said or did would get the kid off my back. And she was a kid. She had told me that she was actually a freshly graduated student and that she had only been living in Rukongai for ten years. Add on the six years that she was in school and BOOM! Sixteen-year-old Vera is introduced. It was easy to deduce that she didn't like thinking about her previous life and that she didn't count her living years to this life. She told me she'd be in her early thirties if she did count her living years and she positively refused to do that. God forbid.

I blinked at Isane's back as she walked away in a too quick fashion. If Unohana thought me slapping Vera upside the head was harming her, what was her idea of a tiny scratch?!

I groaned, burying my face in my hands. "I'm not even going to think about that."

"Think about what?" A voice asked innocently. Fantastic. Enter the bane of my existence.

I glared at the cheeky smile Vera had on her lips. "You knew she was going to do that," I accused. If possible, Vera's smile grew even cheekier. She didn't answer me, though the mirth in her eyes was enough of a give away as anything. Cheeky brat. She wouldn't be giving me that look if I slapped the back of her head again. I gave a lazy wave towards the room she had just exited. "What happened to Lexi?"

"She had to take her medicine," Vera said. "Knocks her out cold once she takes it." Here she shrugged. "I saw no reason why I should stay and stare at her while she sleeps."

Realization crossed her face and a wide grin spread across her lips. Grabbing my hand in a slow manner, Vera tugged insistently on it. She had learned her lesson the first day when I head-butted her to make her actions very obvious to me or she'd be getting a bump the size of Sasuke's ego one way or another. I let her tug me through the labyrinth that was the Fourth Company, unsure of where we were going, but letting the younger girl drag me to wherever it was that she wanted to go. I had quickly learned with the girl that she never revealed her intentions until the last possible second so as to not let me get away from her. I didn't particularly care right now. I was dying of boredom and hopefully her destination in mind would help alleviate said boredom.

"Where are we going, Vera?" I asked her as we turned a corner. If my knowledge of the layout of the compound was correct, this hallway would take us towards the front entrance.

A grin was tossed over her shoulder at me. "I want you to meet someone! She's very excited to meet you!"

I had half a mind to dig my heels into the ground to stop Vera from taking me another step. Unohana had told me that nobody should know about my being here. Apart from this so-called Captain Kuchiki, Unohana herself, Vera, the staff here in the Fourth Company, the guards that had found me, and the So-Taichou, whoever the hell that was, my existence here was a complete secret. I highly doubted that Vera's friend was part of the Fourth Company, seeing as how everyone avoided me like I was a deadly disease or something. It had to be someone outside of the Company. From one of the other Companies. Vera had let slip that there were Thirteen Companies in the whole Seireitei. The real question was wondering just which Company officer was so "excited" to see me.

I couldn't deny that I was curious, though. Apart from Vera, I was deprived of any human contact since I arrived here a little over a day ago. Unohana was constantly busy as Captain and Isane couldn't seem to get past her wariness of me and gather up the courage to talk to me in a normal fashion. I appreciated Vera's company, seeing as how she kept me from going insane, but I could only take so much of her chatter and constant asking of questions. Meeting a new person could possibly be a good thing for me. Keyword being hopefully. If this person proved to be just as chatty as Vera, I was, simply put, going to walk in the other direction and hope to never be seen again.

"Vera!"

I jumped at the loud shout and promptly shoved Vera straight into the person that was careening towards us at an impossible rate. The collision didn't come even close to Naruto's excited hugs, but it was definitely the one with the most whining. Vera gave a pitiful cry from beneath the tiny figure that was sprawled on her back, reaching pathetically in front of her as if somebody would save her from this fate. Said tiny figure gave a pained groan and promptly sat up, remaining seated on Vera as it rubbed its head. It was actually a girl. A very strange girl. And that was saying something considering I had pink hair. That was practically the epitome of strange here.

She was probably around my height, with long legs barely covered by too long hakama pants. She wore what appeared to be the standard Soul Reaper attire, though the sleeves were so long, they completely covered her hands and hid them from my view. A short pink scarf was wrapped around the girl's neck in a stylish manner and I found that Ino would've liked talking with this girl if she were here. A mop of green, wavy hair with a simple set of white goggles acting as a sort of headband shook at me before the curls lifted and a set of hazel-brown eyes met my emerald eyes as they swam with barely suppressed fake tears.

"Geez!" She drawled in a soprano-pitched voice, dragging the word out to an extreme length. "Why'd you do that? I was just trying to say hi!"

She shifted slightly when Vera moved beneath her, grumbling out a reply when I didn't answer. "Sakura-san doesn't take well to people trying to jump her out of nowhere..." The green-haired menace made a sound of understanding before she jumped to her feet easily, brushing imaginary dirt off her front with too long sleeves. She left Vera to get up on her own, though I noted that Vera didn't seem to mind the rude action. It made me think that this must've been a common thing between the two if she wasn't complaining.

"Vera," I began, eying the girl warily. I only needed one look to know that this was practically the female version of Naruto, minus the hair and eyes. Just the way she talks and moves shows hyperactivity and the inability to sit still. "Who is this?"

Vera grinned happily, making a dramatic flourish at the girl beside her, who was fidgeting impatiently and moving from foot to foot as she stared at me in unveiled curiosity. I didn't miss the way the girl's eyes gleamed in a strange fashion and I struggled not to inch away. I had the sudden instinctual feeling that she was resisting the urge to jump me again. Or something of the sort. "Sakura-san, this is one of my closest friends in all of Seireitei, Kuna Mashiro!"

The evil menace bowed clumsily and sloppily and I resisted the built-in habit to fix her. One thing I had quickly learned from Tsunade when she first took me on as her apprentice was that she was the most proper woman in all of Konoha. Like, Lady Daimyo proper. She expected no less than absolute respect from me and didn't hesitate to beat out any horrible habits I had developed growing up my first couple years as a civilian. I cringed at the memory of my first lesson on etiquette. Those were definitely some of my most painful days...

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you!" Mashiro chirped and saluted me good-naturedly. "Kuna Mashiro, Lieutenant of the Ninth Company, at your service!"

I was surprised to hear that this girl was a Lieutenant for one of the Companies here in Soul Society. The way she talked and her movements...it was almost wasn't right for her to have such a high-ranking position and not take it seriously. If such a position was offered to any of the Shinobi back home, the position would be considered a blessing to us and would be taken as seriously as possible so as to not let our Hokage or our current squad Captain down. This girl, Mashiro, would more than likely have been the very last choice any Hokage would've picked for the position of Lieutenant, regardless of what her skill level was or what Kekkei Genkai she had. I could honestly say that I was mildly affronted by this world's standards of choosing the correct people for such an important job.

I dipped my head, enough to make it polite, but not submissive and disrespectful. "Pleasure to meet you, Kuna-san. I am Haruno Sakura."The obviously unwelcome guest here went unsaid, but I had a feeling that Mashiro and Vera heard the unspoken part. Vera frowned minutely at me and seemed upset. Mashiro simply didn't remark, letting it slide right on by.

She laughed cheerily at me, her vibrant happiness lighting the unconscious tension. "You don't have to be so formal! Just Mashiro is fine, but if you insist on formalities, Mashiro-san is acceptable to me!"

I avoided looking at her shining hazel eyes, seeing the playfulness and giddiness that rested within them. It was only a further reminder of what Naruto was like and I wasn't fully prepared to confront those forlorn and guilty feelings just yet. But mainly, I had a feeling if I stared at her for too long, I'd eventually be sucked into whatever mischevious ideas she'd no doubt come up with. Cause let's face it. I could definitely use a good prank and laugh sometime soon. "I'd prefer not to be so straight-forward if you don't mind, Kuna-san. It makes me uncomfortable being so direct with someone I've never met."

Mashiro tilted her head to the side, confusion clear on her face and her lips jutting out into a pout. "Is she always like this, Vera?" She asked her friend. "You made her seem like she was a younger, more scarier version of Captain Unohana instead of this timid thing!"

I twitched at that part. I'm a thing now? To say that I was offended was putting it mildly. I was highly tempted to just punch the girl through a wall or two. I scowled slightly in irritation at the offending girl. I knew she could sense my anger rolling off of me in waves. Her eyes had switched over to me for the briefest of seconds before flitting away and the tips of her fingers were now peeking out if her sleeves. Ready to openly defend herself without her sleeves hindering her if I were to attack. Vera looked between us nervously, wringing her hands together and looking unsure of what to do to diffuse the tense situation we had walked into.

She settled for taking the more direct approach. "Mashiro, that wasn't polite," She said in a weak imitation of a scolding tone. "You shouldn't say such offending things."

"I agree," I said through clenched teeth, an annoying tick making itself known in my jaw."You'll make an enemy out of me real quick with words like that."

A challenging glint appeared in Mashiro's hazel eyes and a tiny, teasing smile appeared on her face. I snarled at the look. To any other person, it'd just be a disarming smile. In my eyes, it was a taunting half-smile, half-smirk that infuriated me and had my blood boiling. The primal side of me that had been born from studying under Tsunade and integrating some of her possessive habits into my daily life style wanted to show this brat just who was the harder hitter. Words like that was pretty much taken as a challenge to me. And my pride demanded that I take the bait and put this girl in her place. Beneath my foot where she belonged.

At the same time, however, another side of me was warning me against doing such a violent thing here in this particular building. I'd have to be completely blind to not have seen the random cameras posted around the compound. They were hard to see since they blended in so well with the wall, but they were there and I knew that I was under constant surveillance. And the fact that someone was always tailing me, always watching my movements from the shadows, belied a strong distrust on Unohana's part. Which was smart on her part, I'd give her that. I wouldn't trust myself either.

The girl before me suddenly moved her hands back into the depths of her sleeves, her mocking smile turning into a genuine grin on her face as she did a complete 180 degree attitude turn. I blinked in confusion at the change and she laughed giddily. "I like you," She stated boldly. "Your type definitely isn't common around here and you're totally proving to be entertaining already!"

I stared at her for a long few moments, my mind working furiously to wrap around the complexity this girl kept throwing at me. I turned to Vera when I decided that I had had enough of trying to figure her out. "Did I miss something here cause I'm thorougly confused."

Vera giggled nervously, wringing her hands together. "T-That's just Mashiro for you, Haruno-san. Please don't take too much offense to what she says to you."

Hard to do when I have Tsunade's legendary temper and patience levels.

.

. .

. . .

A graceful, long-fingered hand slowly lowered from its raised position, dark eyes staring intently at the screens of computers before, one in particular screen captivating her entire attention. A flicker of black and a masked figure with only one eye visible was staring up at the hidden camera. A barely-there motion of his head bobbing was caught before he disappeared from sight.

Unohana sighed, utterly mind-blown and confused beyond belief with the current situation. Never in her 100 years of service as Captain of the Fourth Company had she ever had this much difficulty with a patient. Never. Not once. Patients were either treated or she was given the choice from the Head Captain whether to push a particular patient for medical attention or not. It was a simple process and it was being completely ruined by this girl.

Unohana didn't have a negative opinion on the girl, but she certainly didn't have a positive one to give, either. Hot-tempered and volatile patients were not new to the senior Captain, but the girl was a wild card and completely foreign to the sophisticated and respectful environment that the Head Captain had built over the years. Normally, Unohana wouldn't even hesitate to smother the girl in her Spiritual Pressure just to quiet the girl enough to where she could heal her, but she had held back for curious reasons. Reasons that she was positive any competent Soul Reaper would notice if they were paying attention.

She turned her head to smile warmly at her clumsy Lieutenant as she tripped over the threshold in a timely example of said clumsiness. A red blush covered her face as she mumbled an apology and shuffled over to her Captain's side. The rhythmic and steady tapping of computer keys dragged on a steady silence between the two women as they watched the different screens that were posted around the compound. Unohana was currently portraying a slight interest in a new recruit learning the works from his junior when Isane's voice cut through the calming sounds of tapping and clicking.

"Captain?" Her Captain's grey eyes sliding over to her was enough for Isana to continue. "There was a messenger from the First Company waiting for you in your office. It seemed important."

A dainty chuckle escaped Unohana. "I bet it is," She said. "I've been recieving a lot of troubling messages from the Head Captain and the other Captains for thr past day and half now concerning the girl."

Isane's eyes widened and she struggled not to make any choking sounds. The mental image of many displeased Captains made unpleasant shivers race down her spine. Isane liked to think she was on relatively friendly terms with all the Captains in the Seireitei. With the exception being the Kenpachi of 11th Company. Isane couldn't muster up the courage to hold a prolonged conversation with the bloodthirsty and intimidating man. But apart from him, she had a good relationship with everyone else. She had never been on the bad side of any of them. Well. None that she had been told of, at least.

So the very idea of having an enraged Captain Kuchiki and Head-Captain Yamamoto on the Fourth Company's door step made Isane more nervous than she would like to admit. The other Captains had tempers, yes, but there was nothing that compared to an angry Kuchiki and Head-Captain. Absolutely nothing could rival that kind of anger.

So it took a great deal of effort on Isane's part not to stutter too much when she spoke again. "I-Is that a good idea to make them wait, C-Captain?" She knew she kinda failed in the not stuttering department, but it was an improvement that her Captain could actually understand her at this point.

"I'm not worried about the others, Isane. I will answer them in due time. It just won't be now. I have work to do right now."

Unohana was silently proud to hear the stutter leave Isane's voice for once and be replaced with a stronger one instead. "Is it a good idea to let that girl roam so freely, Captain?"

"I haven't seen any evidence so far that the girl is doing harm to the Barracks. She's only associated with Vera and Lieutenant Kuna for an extended period of time." Apart from the girl's temper, Unohana hadn't labeled the new girl a threat. She was harmless so far, though she was showing a lot of potential if she was allowed to be trained properly and if she was given the okay from the Head-Captain. But that would just remain as a passing thought for now. It could be brought up at a later date.

Isane bit her lip. Mashiro was a talker. A gossiper. No private information was safe once the Lieutenant got her sleeved-hamds on it. She really only held secrets for her Captain. And even then, that was rare as Mashiro seemed to enjoy getting a rise out of the short-fused Captain with her teasing and whining.

Combining Mashiro with someone who Isane believed to have a worse temper than Captain Muguruma just spelled out disaster. It also spelled out property damage paperwork, something Isane absolutely hated doing, but did it anyway to prevent her desk from being too cluttered.

"Captain," A female worker in front of Isane began furiously clicking at the keys before her, brown eyes glued to the screen. "The girl's Spiritual Pressure is spiking again."

Curious, Isane bended her knees a bit so she could half-crouch behind her and see what was on the screen. Unohana leaned over the girl's shoulder, the girl thankfully acquiring the ability to not mind her Captain's closeness and not squirm with her bubble being invaded.

A large chart showing sharp ups and downs appeared then, taking up half the screen that showed Sakura with Vera and Mashiro. The little arrow was currently making mini erratic squiggles, but it was slowly ascending up fhe chart, jumping up a bit before repeating it's small progress. Isane couldn't believe what she was seeing. She had neverseen a new Soul's Spiritual Pressure go up that high before. That was almost 3rd Seat power level right now, but if Isane hadn't lost her guessing abilities, she was almost positive that the Spiritual Pressure the girl was giving off would only continue to grow.

"Captain, what's going on with her Spiritual Pressure?" Isane asked. "Why does it keep growing like this?"

Unohana covered her mouth with her hand thoughtfully, hearing her friend's inquiry, but not saying anything. In all honesty, she was just as curious about the girl's strange Spiritual Pressure as Isane was. Her medical mind was astounded and insanely curious about the anamoly this girl was proving to be. There were many reasons as to why her Spiritual Pressure was acting like this, but she couldn't make any concrete calls just yet. It required further testing and observations.

"I'd be more curious as to why she isn't realizing what she's even doing," Unohana commented idly as she watched the girl's face. She seemed to be blissfully ignorant to the energy that was coming off of her in waves and made no reservations to try hiding it if she did know what it was that she was doing.

Isane couldn't help it. She flat out gaped at thr screen in surprise. "She doesn't even know she's releasing this much pressure?" Her mind couldn't wrap around this new discovery. How does one not realize they're exerting this much power? Surely the girl was sensitive to Spiritual Energy if her awareness of her surroundings was any indictaion to some type of training.

"Or she could be aware and just not giving away any visible signs," The computer specialist commented absently as she saved away the new data for later examination. "She does have a damn good poker face when the time calls for it."

"No," Unohana denied after a moment of thinking. "I'm almost positive she's oblivious to what she's doing. Not all Souls are spiritually aware when they first arrive. She doesn't even seem to realize just what kind of power she has at hand, much less have the knowledge to tap into it. She's like a beginning Academy student: new, oblivious, and a complete wild card."

"Do you want me to send all of these documents to your office computer, Captain?" A male tech across the room interrupted as he paused in his typing to look over his shoulder at the woman. "I've successfully managed to uodate everything concerning the girl and I just need approval before I do anything else."

Unohana nodded her head once, the tech instantly turning to begin sending the information. "Yes, thank you. Also," He turned back around when she wasn't finished, "I need you to look up the cases for the Souls that weren't spiritually aware upon arrival. Haruno-san might be one of these rare cases if past experiences have any say right now."

"Yes, Captain."

Isane dared to ask the question that plagued her mind at the moment. "And if she isn't?"

"I wouldn't be worried, Isane." Unohana gave her twitchy Lieutenant a genuine smile. "The girl has been watched and followed by one of my best ever since she walked out of her room. She is in capable hands right now until the meeting with the Head-Captain tomorrow."

A quick glance at a computer screen told Isane something entirely different. "I'm not so sure about that, Captain."

An enraged pink-haired girl waved angry fists at a laughing Mashiro, who danced out of the girl's reach every time she made a lunge for her. A flustered Vera wrapped skinny chicken arms around the angry girl's thin waist, attempting to soothe the furious woman with consoling words. A well-placed foot from Mashiro had both girls tripping into a passing medic, causing the said medic to accidently drop the liquids in her hands to the floor.

Amused laughs were heard from many of the workers in the room, Unohana included, as they watched the amusing scene before them. Isane was slightly surprised that her Captain wasn't angry about the important medicine that had just been wasted.

"I think having Haruno-san here in the Seireitei will be good for everyone here, Isane," Unohana said in between her laughs. "I think everyone here could use a good laugh from time-to-time and Mashiro and Haruno-san are perfectly capable of delivering it to us."

It was at that moment that Isane decided to trust her Captain's judgement regarding one Haruno Sakura. Her Captain hadn't led her astray once since she was given the Lieutenant position a few years ago. She highly doubted that, after serving over 100 years of servitude, her Captain hadn't gained wisdom and learned from her mistakes. She was smart. Isane knew that. Her Captain was smart and Isane would trust her word now just like she would any other time.

.

. .

. . .

I couldn't help but stare in stunned shock at the liquid that seeped under my feet and soaked the pads of delicate skin underneath. The medic girlin front of me did the same thing, except she looked like she had seen a ghost and had gone paler than a grain of rice in an impressive 5 seconds flat.

Vera had outright fainted before the vials had crashed to the floor. I felt bad. Poor girl had been near close to having a heart attack when I had tried to claw Mashiro's eyes out and then this nonsense had happened.

And the sudden thought of Unohana appearing out of the blue and seeing the resulting mess did not send pleasant shivers down my spine. Mashiro seemed to agree because the light perpetual blush that seemed to enhance her cuteness factor almost faded out of existence as she paled. Her eyes darted over to me.

"Are we on the same page, Sa-chan?"

I was too concerned about my life to even call her out on the weird as hell nickname that she had now dubbed me as. Though there was still a good portion of me that was happy that it wasn't as offending as Sai's nickname for me. "Does it involve a very pissed off woman chasing us around the compoumd with a scary look on her face?"

I knew Unohana wouldn't chase us around. She'd probably make someone else do that. I couldn't see the woman chasing Mashiro and I around just because we accidently knocked over some poor girl carrying important medicine.

Maybe she'd let us off the hook.

Mashiro nodded her head. "Shall we make a run for it?"

Or maybe it'd be safer to just flee now and die later.

"Now's a good a time as any!"

Safe to say, Mashiro and I got away successfully. The down part: we kinda left Vera to suffer. Whoops...

.

. .

. . .

Yeeeaaaaa. Please don't hate me. It's been hard getting through chaoters lately since I keep hitting road blocks left and right and constantly having to erase everythimg because I didn't like it.

On a bad note: school starts this Wednesday. GOD DAMN IT. Where did my summer go?!

Bye for now. :)

-KalafinaJ