Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own Bleach, and any part of this fanfic that corresponds with copyrighted material (besides Bleach) is purely coincidental unless I say otherwise. I only own this plot and my original characters (OCs)

Author's Note: I completely forgot to mention this in my other chapters- Amagai Shuusuke is still the captain of the 3rd squad (consider the part of him getting involved with the Bakkoutou & Kasumi-Ouji family and wanting revenge against Yamamoto completely void for this story ^^') For those who don't know who this is: he was introduced during the 'New Captain' arc of the anime (I don't know if it's out in dubbed yet) which was just used as filler episodes only. Moving on…

CHAPTER FOUR: CONGRATULATORY PARTY

Peeking out from the wall he was hiding behind, he could only watch wide-eyed at what was unfolding before him.

In the clearing among the tall buildings of Seiretei, he could identify Shizuka-taichou by the white captain's coat with the character for five as well as Yamamoto sou-taichou standing off to the side of the whole spectacle. With his angle of sight, he couldn't get a clear view, but it was enough that he could see Shizuka-taichou's movements.

She was standing with her arms up, her left bracing her right arm as her palm faced outward. Her reiatsu level was high enough that it could be seen as a faint golden light flickering around her figure. The same light could be seen streaming toward her outstretched palm and beyond to a certain point just in front of her. As he watched, he could see a shape taking place from the light and as it slowly solidified, he could recognize it as a gate or a door. But it was unlike any he had seen before and he gazed at it awestruck.

Then, Shizuka-taichou suddenly let her arms down, her reiatsu subsiding until it couldn't be visibly seen anymore. She pulled one of her zanpaktous out of its sheath; the burgundy one he noted. The blade reflected some of the light still surrounding the gate and he could see it as a sliver of bright light. She brought it parallel before her and ran her right palm across the flat of the blade. As she did so, her reiatsu flared up again and this time collected in her zanpaktou. By the time she finished, the sword was glowing fiercely with its own golden light.

Then, in one sudden movement, she stepped toward the gate and stabbed it with her zanpaktou in the center. The result was almost instantaneous. The glow that had filled her sword exploded outward and the whole structure became almost blindingly bright. Closing his eyes for a moment, he opened them again to find the new captain in the same place she was before with her zanpaktou back in its sheath.

The gate was still glowing faintly and then a creaking noise could be heard. The door opened outward and 3 figures could be seen stepping through.

The one leading was clearly male and the tallest. He carried himself with authority, clearly used to having so and strode confidently in front of the others. His short hair was a metallic shade of blonde and what features Hitsugaya could see were well-defined and quite handsome.

However, his clothes were what caught most of the 10th captain's attention.

It was neither the standard shinigami uniform nor the plain informal kimono most shinigami would wear off duty. It was a rather formal one and from one look he could tell it was made of silk or some other high-quality material. The hakama was pale silvery-gray and had no decorations as far as he could see, but the haori was a whole different story. It was a deep midnight blue, almost black and had silver embroidery along the edges. The same silver could be seen as tasteful swirls designing the rest of it resulting in a quite beautiful and elegant piece of clothing. Anybody could see that it was the work of master craftsmanship and probably worth its weight in gold.

Drinking the sight in, Hitsugaya could only come to one conclusion that he was a noble; probably from a high-ranking one too.

Shifting his attention, he focused on the two others following. The taller one of the pair was a man of unruly black hair while the other was a woman with reddish-brown hair tied in a bun.

They both wore the same clothes that looked similar to the shinigami uniform. The bottom was exactly the same, but the top looked slightly modified. The normally long sleeves were cut to the shoulder but their arms weren't bare. Instead, it looked like there was another layer underneath that covered them. The sleeves were as long as or even longer than the originals and were a gossamer silvery-white with golden designs on them.

Another thing that caught his attention was the katanas on their sides. Based on their clothes, he was almost sure that they were zanpaktous. With a bit of squinting on his part, he was able to discern that the woman's sheath was a dark turquoise while the man's was a pale amethyst. But other than that, they were too far away to see.

Based on what he saw, it was obvious that the two were of lower rank than the one they were following. He would even go so far to say that they were guards.

He was pulled back from his thoughts as they approached Shizuka-taichou. She gave a little nod to the leader before turning to the others. They instantly bowed and when they rose he saw her lips moving before they turned back around and reentered the gate. It gave off a brighter glow as they passed before it disappeared all together.

With the absence of the gate, the only source of light was the faint moonlight. He could see even less and could only see their outline. Looking around, he noticed Yamamoto sou-taichou was gone already. The two figures were now face to face, though the man was a full 5 or 6 inches taller. There was no word exchanged for a while, just staring until the man started to fidget a little, obviously uncomfortable under Shizuka-taichou's pointed stare. At that, Shizuka-taichou smiled before she started to walk off, the taller man following close behind.

He watched their receding backs until they turned a corner out of sight, his thoughts turning inward. It would appear Shizuka-taichou came from a high noble family; which one was indicated by the modification of the uniforms of the guards. He'd have to research and find out exactly which since he'd never heard the name 'Shizuka' as a noble family name.

Still mulling over the events of the evening, he straightened up and started to walk back to his quarters slowly.

--

"..chou…taichou...Taichou…TAICHOU!"

He looked up from his concentration on his paperwork to see his fuku-taichou precariously balanced on his desk with her left hand as her support. Leaning across the desk, her face was literally only inches away from his own with her outstretched right hand even closer. He immediately backed away to a reasonable distance before focusing on Matsumoto's face. The older woman's face was brighter than was normal and seeing him meet her gaze, shoved her hand toward him.

A familiar black butterfly with a dark pink pattern was perched upon her index finger, its wings slightly moving up and down. He stretched out his own finger to accept the messenger and the butterfly alit on it.

"There will be a congratulatory meeting for the new captain and vice-captain of the 5th squad, Shizuka Akari and Shizuka Kai, this evening in the central courtyard. All captains and fuku-taichous are required to attend. Any other shinigami are welcome to attend, but is not mandatory. Formal dress is encouraged, but shinigami uniform is acceptable. "

With the end of the message, the hell butterfly flitted off out the window, leaving Hitsugaya to stare at an empty hand.

Despite the wording, he could unfortunately see the truth all too clearly.

It was a party.

And all captains and vice-captains were required to attend. Meaning him and Matsumoto as well…

Woodenly, he lifted his head to meet Matsumoto's gaze. She had moved back to behind the fortress of his desk and was clasping her hands together. Her face had gone from simply bright to downright unsuppressed excitement.

"Taichou, it's a party! I've never imagined the day would come that Gotei 13 would actually mandate a party! Speaking of which…"

Listening to his vice-captain continue to ramble, he closed his eyes, groaned, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Matsumoto, it's a congratulatory meeting, not a party. There's a difference. Did you finish your paperwork?"

He knew it was probably a futile effort to stop her enthusiasm, but he said it in a vain hope that she would listen to at least some small degree. At his words, her figure stiffened and she gave an awkward laugh.

"Haha, taichou… About that… It's a funny thing actually. See I was working hard like always, but then Ichigo went missing and I had to help find him and I just came back. Then that message just came and so I have to get ready… It's mandatory after all; part of a fuku-taichou's job! I'll see you later taichou! At the PARTY! ~~~"

As she was nervously talking, she had slowly but steadily inched backward towards the door. At the threshold, she had bolted saying the final words behind her back.

Hearing her footsteps fade away, he slowly opened his eyes and groaned again. He could've and actually should've stopped her from leaving. But if he forcibly made her stay, he knew how it would turn out. She wouldn't concentrate on her own work, instead constantly trying to engage him in a conversation about the meeting (he refused to acknowledge the term party), disrupting his own work. Then, when her excitement became too much, she would drag him as well in getting ready for the meeting and he certainly didn't need that.

Reaching in his frequently opened drawer, he pulled out a familiar packet of pills and swallowed two, preparing himself to once again do the immense paperwork of two people.

--

He knew exactly when the 'meeting' had started.

He knew because of the increasingly growing rowdiness of his subordinates expressed through shouting, running and other noise outside his office.

Though he was quite known to be prompt in his general character, he couldn't help but procrastinate as much as possible, even entertaining the idea of skipping for a brief moment. He heard most of the noise die away as the majority of his squad left the barracks and knew he couldn't put it off for much longer. Heaving a sigh, he shoved the remaining paperwork to a corner of his desk before standing up. He straightened his robes for a minute before turning to walk out of his office with a face not much different of that of a martyr.

--

It wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.

It was still a bit rowdier than he would've liked it with the sake in circulation, but it wasn't as worse as it could be (probably due to the presence of all the captains as well as the captain-commander).

Looking over his cup of severely diluted sake (he refused to get drunk in front of the entire Gotei 13) that he was drinking, he observed the mass of people that took up the main courtyard of Seiretei. Most were still in their uniforms though now and then he could spot a figure in other clothing. He had seen Matsumoto earlier in a semi-formal kimono that was actually quite pretty (though he had no idea how she came about of acquiring it). No doubt, she was considerably drunk by now along with her friends…

Speaking of being drunk, his eyes were drawn to the unmistakable cluster consisting mainly of 11th squad officers. They were usually loud to begin with, but being drunk just made it even worse. Now and then, there were the sounds of a brief scuffle, usually with one Zaraki Kenpachi or Madarame Ikkaku in the middle of it, his bald head glinting for all to see. He could only shake his head at the exasperating behavior of the squadron.

Still absentmindedly looking, his attention was caught by a flash of red. Focusing, he realized he was looking at the group consisting of Shizuka-taichou, her fuku-taichou and various other members of Gotei 13 crowding to congratulate her on her promotion. He remembered that was the excuse for the 'm

He watched several people drift from the tightly-packed group that obscured the new captain and her vice-captain from view and decided it was time for him to give his greetings.

He threw away his now empty cup and approached them. People on the outer edge immediately moved upon realizing who he was and he was able to penetrate through the group until he reached the inner circle. There he found several captains and their vice-captains already there along with Shizuka-taichou, including Ukitake, Kurosaki, and Kyoraku. They were clustered together and leisurely talking, Shizuka-taichou looking up whenever someone demanded her attention to politely respond before resuming whatever conversation they were having.

Looking over the group of vice-captains, he was startled by the sight of the man that he had seen yesterday among them. He was now dressed in the standard shinigami uniform which explained why he didn't notice him earlier. Pausing in his approach, he saw the armband/badge showing that he was vice-captain for 5th squad and concluded that he was Shizuka-taichou's brother, which explained their relationship the night before. Slightly glad that he had figured who he was, he continued on his way to the clustered group.

When he got close enough, they all looked up to give their own respective greetings to him ('Hitsugaya-taichou/Toushiro/Hitsugaya-kun good evening' and other variations) before making space for him to join. He nodded towards them as his own greeting and was about to congratulate the new captain when he was interrupted in the form of Matsumoto bursting in the circle unannounced.

She ended up leaning on his slightly shorter form and he instantly noticed the telltale smell of alcohol around her and the slight pink in her face. She let out a cheery 'hello' for the group before giggling drunkenly. Holding up a bottle of alcohol, she offered it to the people around her and before anybody could answer, started pouring into the cups held in their hands. Thankfully, all present were used to Matsumoto's actions, being dragged to and/or willingly going to a sake party with her (at least Kuchiki-taichou wasn't there; he could only shudder at the thought of his fuku-taichou doing it to the strict noble).

When Matsumoto got to Shizuka-taichou, she blinked slowly for a moment with the alcohol muddling her mind before grinning widely in recognition.

"Ah, Shizuka-taichou! Let's have a toast! Here…" She immediately seized the momentarily confused captain's cup and poured a fair amount of the liquid from the bottle she held into it. Shoving it back into the unmoving hands, she raised her bottle into the air.

Just before her mouth opened, she was interrupted by a soft voice.

"Ah Matsumoto fuku-taichou, I'm afraid I can't stand alcohol." Everyone turned to look at Shizuka-taichou, her mouth twisted in a wry smile. It quickly turned into a slight look of horror at the following action.

"Ehh, but you have to~~~ See…" Saying that, Matsumoto turned around and started in a loud voice, enough that it made him want to cover his ears.

"A TOAST TO SHIZUKA-TAICHOU!!!!!!!!!~~~~~~" Unsurprisingly, her voice carried and most of the crowd turned to look at her with startled eyes. Recovering from their shock, they raised their own beverages to accept her toast as Matsumoto herself started to gulp down her bottle.

The sound of someone falling to the ground and various voices crying "Amagai-taichou!" nearby caused several people to chuckle, by now used to the 3rd division's captain's bouts of unconsciousness caused by alcohol that weren't too rare with him being easily convinced to drink.

Everyone in the circle (except Hitsugaya; thankfully saved from drinking with the excuse of not having a cup available) drank their own cups, chuckling slightly at the unsurprising development. Seeing the others, Shizuka-taichou grimaced a little before slowly drinking her own drink.

It was quite noticeable that her statement on her low alcohol tolerance was true. Her face quickly became flushed and the once piercing eye turned glassy. Swaying a bit on her feet, she started to fall forward until Kurosaki was able to catch her. He stood there awkwardly for a second with one arm around her waist to stop her from totally toppling over and looking around almost pleadingly for someone to help him. In turn, they looked around at each other, wondering what to do before Kyoraku decided to help in supporting her so Kurosaki wasn't in such an uncomfortable position.

Luckily, the vice-captains noticed something off in their group and came over. Before long, they stood alongside their captains, looking over the unmoving captain with worried looks.

"Ah, I'm guessing that taichou drank some alcohol…?"

Their attention was diverted to the silvery-blond man that spoke. Stormy grey eyes assessed the situation calmly with a slight mirth. Noticing some confused looks, he quickly introduced himself as Shizuka Kai, newly instated fuku-taichou of the 5th squad.

"Eh, does that mean this happens a lot?" The question was asked by Kyoraku whose expression had changed to disappointment upon realizing the possibility of having a new drinking partner was gone.

"Yes, I'm afraid so… Will you allow me to take her now?" Stepping forward with arms stretched outward to take the unconscious girl, he proved himself to have a very tall build (a fact that Hitsugaya processed quite sourly).

Kurosaki and Kyoraku eagerly passed her off, but somehow during the process, the girl's fingers had caught ahold of Hitsugaya's sleeve and were holding onto it with an iron grip. So now, Shizuka-taichou's body was supported by her brother's while keeping a firm hold on Hitsugaya's sleeve. It didn't appear she was waking up now or anytime soon either as her flushed face was quite peaceful with a contented smile on her face.

He futilely tried to pry the unrelenting fingers off much to the amusement of those around him. Glancing up, he thought he caught a look of chilling hostility on Shizuka-fuku-taichou's face for a split second. Before he could ponder on it, it subsided into a smile that matched the ones on the others as he turned his full attention back on regaining the mobility of his arm.

Finally giving up, he crossed his arms (a feat that proved a bit difficult) and scowled at the others who were now trying to keep from laughing out loud at the ridiculous situation.

Surprisingly, it was the 8th squad captain that came up with a somewhat reasonable solution (at least to the others; it was quite ridiculous in his opinion).

"Why don't you take the captain back Toshiro? After all, it doesn't look like she's going anywhere herself or if she wants to let go you that's for sure."

At that, he found himself holding the limp body of one Shizuka Akari, being immediately passed on by Kyoraku with no chance for him or her brother to refuse. Unsurprisingly considering her petite build, she was light and he was able to support her easily. He saw Shizuku fuku-taichou starting to talk, maybe in protest, but he didn't get a chance as several bodies blocked him to shove Toshiro forward.

Grudgingly, in order to save face, he said farewell amongst the suppressed laughter and started off toward the direction of the 5th squad building.

Turning a corner out of sight, he stopped for a moment to adjust his grip on the girl and ended up carrying her bridal style. Hopefully, since most of Seireitei's shinigami population was currently in the central courtyard, he wouldn't encounter someone who would recognize him and gawk at the unusual sight of the 10th squad's captain, known for his frosty demeanor, carrying the new 5th squad captain. He could only imagine the rumors that would start.

Continuing to walk at a leisurely rate, he found himself reveling in the brisk night air accompanied with the peaceful silence that usually fell upon Seiretei at this time. It was a full moon tonight and the light caught his surroundings in a silver glow. His mind at peace, it began to wander onto random topics of little consequence.

Suddenly, his attention was snapped back to the now moving figure in his arms. She had relinquished her death grip on her sleeve somewhere during the walk, but she was now clutching the front of his robes. He stopped walking, hoping that the movements meant that she was close to waking up.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem that that was the case. Instead, she was mumbling words, obviously in the middle of a dream.

He sighed and continued walking. However, that action was soon stopped on account of a shocking event that left him flabbergasted and gaping in disbelief.

The petite girl's previous mumbles were now slowly becoming more intelligible and louder. All of sudden, she pulled herself up to his level and kissed him firmly on the cheek along with the words of "I love you too Yuki…" accompanied with a sigh. Though her voice faded out near the end, it was said with such conviction that he would've believed she was awake if it wasn't for the fact that her eyes were still closed and she immediately fell back on the support of his arms after uttering the statement.

'Wha…?'

--

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

I'm very sorry I updated so late T.T

Though it could be partly blamed on my laziness, all the computers available to me were down for quite a while to a certain extent. Also, I was busy and fanfiction was more of a distant dream for me for a while… -.-". I was literally only able to type a few sentences at spare moments of time.

Looking at this, I've decided to stop setting update times since this is unfair for my readers. I know for myself from the viewpoint of a reader the frustration one feels when a writer promises an update at a certain time and it just doesn't happen. Updates will happen at unequal intervals.

On the topic of updates, my next chapter will probably will be shorter than usual (though that might change as well… I don't know if anybody noticed, but my chapters have been steadily increasing in size lol)

I would still like to ask people about their thoughts on my reading style… please comment 

About the chapter…

I have a habit of constantly rereading my current chapter and editing them before continuing. Though it may result in a better chapter sometimes, it was just downright annoying in this chapter =.=.

I'm pretty sure this is my longest chapter yet (Woohoo!) though I don't know how it turned out to be that way… it just didn't feel right to stop somewhere in the middle of it ^^. Actually the last part of this came as a surprise for me as well kk~~~. I was worrying how to end it, but somehow the story guided me… I'm betting it came as a surprise for most of you as well lol.

This was actually supposed to be more of a humorous chapter, but as you can see, I suck epically at humor and my pitiful attempt reflects that; thus it somehow turned into a serious chapter again to my dismay -.-

Thanks to Hatake Nyra for being my (unofficial) beta-reader :) LOVE YA~~~

A big shout-out also to my reviewers for the last chapter ^^

Thoughts, comments, suggestions, PLEASE REVIEW!!!~~~~ (They really just make my day ^^) No flamers though…