This is going to be a short chapter. Please R&R.
I do not own Bleach or any of it's characters, Katsumi is mine.
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A Taichous meeting was held three days latter. The nine current squad leaders all stood in their assigned places. Yamamoto stood facing the meeting hall; with 5 taichous to his right, and 4 to his left. Standing silently behind him stood two figures; that of the Adjudicator Katsumi, and the Commander of the Kido Corp Takeshi Kitano. Yamamoto stood on the elevated platform and banged his staff o the floor twice, silencing the talk.
"This meeting is now called to order.", his gravely voice echoed off of the overhead ceilings. "You all know Commander Takeshi, of the Kido Corp; and by now you should all have meet Adjudicator Katsumi." He bowed his head briefly, and the tall woman merely smiled. Yamamoto continued, "We need to get a few things straightened out before the joint meeting later this week with all of the fukutaichous in attendance." Before he could continue Kurotsuchi Mayuri interrupted by stepping forward. "Yes Kurotsuchi?"
Kurotsuchi of squad 12 spoke up, "I think the first thing that needs to be discussed is the Taichou position of squad 9. The Taichou Exam is given to judge what kind of leader a shinigami will become, but in Hisagi Shuhei's case we already know...he's been doing it for months. We all know what a good job he has done in these trying times. I recommend that we forgo the exam in his case and name him Taichou immediately."
Hitsugaya Taichou stated with conviction, "I, too, recommend Hisagi Shuhei Fukutaichou be named Taichou of squad 9. He is one of the more reliable shinigami in the seireitei, Taichous included." His icy blue eyes piercing Zaraki, Kurotsuchi, and Kyoraku.
One of Yamamoto's eyes cracked open as he threw a glance back at Katsumi. "Who here recommends Hisagi be named Taichou of squad 9?"
Unohana Retsu, Ukitake Jushiro, Kyoraku Shunsui, and Komamura Sajin stepped forward. After a hesitant moment, Kuchiki Byakuya advanced a step as well.
"Yamamoto Soutaichou," Sui-Feng broke in, "I am concerned over his lack of banki."
"I have talked with him, and expect him to reach banki before to much longer. Tousen's legacy to his fukutaichou has been dealt with." The old man assured her. The others shared a look at each other. At least Tousen's legacy to his subordinate wasn't as crippling as Aizen's was to his. The old man was usually stingy when it came to compliments; so when he assured that Hisagi's lack of banki was soon to be of the past, there were no doubts in anyone's mind that would be the case here. "The necessary six recommendations have been me with one extra, that leaves only one Taichou to accept the recommendations to meet the requirements. Sui-Feng..Zaraki..do either of you accept Hisagi as Taichou?"
Sui-Feng looked over at Katsumi, remembering the promise she had made earlier. Of course she had not expected the woman to get not only the six recommendations...but to exceed it. As she started to move forward, Zaraki loudly announced, "Che, the man's already doing the job...so sure..I'll accept it."
Yamamoto's cane thumped on the floor. "Done! It will be announced at the joint meeting. The new Taichou of squad 3 will also be introduced then. He was given the exam yesterday in the presence of two other Taichous." A murmur of curiosity came from the other people in the room, speculation on who took the test and who were the witnesses. Yamamoto thumped the floor to regain the officers attention. "That leaves us with one more seat to fill. If any of you have someone you wish to nominate, let me know by the end of the day. Tomorrow you will all be sent a list of possible candidates, most of whom you may no know. They come from away missions and posts outside of the Soul Society, so a brief history of each will be included. Let my fukutaichou know by the end of tomorrow who you feel should be given the opportunity of taking the exam."
The Soutaichou continued, "Now to turn our attention to the fukutaichous...Kurotsuchi Nemu will no longer be a member of squad 12, her future is still being discussed. The new fukutaichou will be presented at the joint meeting." He stopped speaking as Commander Takeshi walked forward and cleared his throat.
"Soutaichou..Taichous...as we are talking of the fukutaichous I feel it is necessary for me to address this issue.." It was unusual for the Commander of the Kido Corp to attend these meetings, let alone speak at them. "During the final battle of the Winter War Hinamori Momo fukutaichou was brought to my attention because her skill of the demonic arts. Her ability to combine and use effectively different spells show her mastery of it. She would be an asset as a member of my group, and I would like her to be reassigned to the kido corp."
Unohana, as head of the squad 4, addressed the room. "Speaking as a healer, I have gone over her medical files and feel that this would be a good thing for her. After her treatment from Aizen a change of surroundings would do more good than harm. I would suggest she continue with therapy, but this should help stabilize her mental health." Several of the Taichous threw a look toward Hitsugaya, knowing of the youngster's protectiveness of Momo. But he stood still with a blank look on his face.
"Granted." Yamamoto waited for Takeshi to return to his post. "That leaves us with the question of fukutaichou for squad 5. Kira Izuru will be stepping down, but what should we do with him? Leave him demoted as a member of squad 3, or transfer him? I personally feel that he is a good officer...and with more experience a good fukutaichou. We find ourselves with a squad that has no Taichou or fukutaichou."
"I might be able to help you with that." Surprise filled everyone's face as Zaraki spoke up. "He'll have to fight for whatever seat he gets, but...I'll take him."
Both of the Soutaichous eyes opened. "You Zaraki? I would never have expected that of you."
Zaraki shrugged diffidently, "He's a good fighter. All he needs is a little backbone, and there is no where better than squad 11 to get that." So spoke the most confident man in the seireitei. Most of the others just snickered at the boast. "If you want him to babysit the 5th till a new Taichou is found...fine, as long as Hitsugaya continues to oversee it."
Hitsugaya nodded his agreement. The oldest shinigami addressed the youngest Taichou, "Thank you Hitsugaya Taichou for overseeing a squad not your own. I do not like to drag a Taichou's attention away from their own squad, but in this case you are doing a good job. The 3rd and 5th squads are both understrength at the moment, so the new academy student will be assigned to them, excepting those with skills related to the 4th and 12th squads."
"Yamamoto Soutaichou," Kuchiki spoke in the polished clear tones that reflected his noble upbringing, "that would not be the wisest of ideals. Inundating those two squads with new and untrained recruits could have detrimental effects."
"As much as I hate agreeing with the princess here, I have to say he is right on this one. I'm full up at the moment, I suppose I can take some of the new recruits and transfer some of the trained men to the other two squads." Needless to say most of the officers were speechless at this offer. Hitsugaya, Sui-Feng, and Byakuya were suspicious. Squad 11 has given 2 other squads their fukutaichous, and now it was supplying trained men to others.
"Squad 4 has two lower seated officers who are adequate with healing kido, but their talents lie more with fighting. I can assign each to a different squad. Not only will they be getting a fighter, but someone that can handle triage in the field." Unohana interjected.
"We have addressed the 3 empty Taichou seats and the reassignments of the fukutaichous. If there is nothing else to discuss this meeting will be ended. Needless to say this will not be spoken of to anybody till the joint meeting." After thumping the floor one last time, Yamamoto turned and left the room. Some of the others left as well, but some were drawn into conversations speculating on the identity of the new Taichou before heading back to their barracks.
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Katsumi joined Zaraki as they headed back to the 11th squads grounds. "I guess that means Ikkaku passed." She piped up. "Does that mean you want me to look into that administrator for you?"
"Yeah, I guess so. Though it still hurts letting a weakling into the squad, but if Yachiru is happy with him...fine. So...did it all turn out the way you wanted it to? You practically arranged the whole thing."
"Pretty much. If things keep going like this...I don't know how much longer I will be staying here. I do have another job you know. This is actually one of the longest stays I've had here at the seireitei." Katsumi's voice held a light, teasing tone, but Kenpachi threw her a concerned look. He was starting to get use to this amazing woman, and he wasn't going to like it when she left.
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Yeah! A short chapter. Next one will be filled with more fluff than content. Hopefully it will be over before to long.