CHAPTER 2a:

The 6th Division: Rukongai Patrol

Gonnosuke Kan stood on a step stool in front of a large full length mirror in the female dormitory locker room of the 6th Division barracks, his hands outstretched to both his sides. Two younger looking Shinigami girls attended to him as he stood silent trying not to move. Every few moments, a few young unseated Shinigami girls from the 6th Division would snicker from just outside the door as their crouched silhouette's could be seen behind the screen door. Gonnosuke was too old to be embarrassed, and even if he were to be blushing, his black skin helped to hide it.

"Sigh"

Then Gonnosuke spoke in a slightly playful yet gruff voice.

"Girls…"

They continued to prod and pull at his white Captain's coat, speaking in high voices only between themselves. Combinations of "ohhh…yeah yeah!" and "wait…wait…yeah!" seemed to be all that he could clearly comprehend as they spoke so quickly.

He spoke again, this time a little louder.

"GIRLS…"

They continued on, one girl was smiling and cheerfully adjusting Gonnosuke's collar of his sleeveless white Captain's coat, while the other girl continuously kept raising and lowering Gonnosuke's arms up and down trying to straighten the long sleeves of his black robes as they came through the openings in his coat so that they would rest and wrinkle just right when his arms would rest at his sides. Neither of them heard Gonnosuke.

"GIRLS!... MIKO! MINA!...ENOUGH!"

His voice came out forcefully with just a slight hint of frustration. He softly shrugged his shoulders to relieve his collar and arms from the girls' light grasp's and flopped his arms down to his sides, resting his left hand gently on his sword hilt before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath and exhaling it slowly.

He opened his eyes to see both girls stopped in mid-motion and mid-sentence. Upon seeing their Captain upset, they popped straight up and were standing next to each other at 'attention', both of their heads down. Then, almost in unison, both softly and a little sadly said.

"We are so sorry Captain Gonnosuke, sir…Our deepest apologies, we didn't mean to upset you."

Gonnosuke looked at them, his empathetic eyes peering to the top of their heads. Bringing his hand off his sword hilt, he waved at them with his left hand apologetically.

"No…no…no… I am not upset with you two…..Please…raise your heads."

They did so and were greeted with the warm and old eyes of their Captain.

"But don't you think I look good enough?...I mean...there's only so much you can do, right?"

He then leaned in close to Miko, whispering, so only she could hear.

"Plus, it's not like this new 8th Captain is anyone we don't already know right?"

He winked at her, knowing she knew all too well who the new 8th Captain was, before straightening up to look on both of them.

Miko looked quickly over to Mina hoping that she didn't hear, before looking back to the Captain.

"but…but… we just wanted you to look your best Captain…"

Miko said changing the subject.

"HAH HA HAH AH HAHAH! HAHAH HAH HA!"

Burst out loudly from a bench nearby echoing in the locker room, followed by a few loud snorts and foot stomps.

"You three are ridiculous. Mina I thought you were too old for playing dress up, and Miko….HA! Didn't your family give you enough dolls when you were younger?... HA HHAHAHAHHHAHA"

The two younger girls' razor sharp icy gazes quickly panned over at Okuni, their Lieutenant, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, yet had been seated watching from a wooden bench between a row of lockers the whole time, the girls only not noticing as they were too caught up in preparing the Captain.

"…W..well…at least MY family's name doesn't sound like a breakfast cereal...'Nishi-Beppu'..heh!"

Miko whispered under her breath, combining it with a rather obvious glare at Okuni.

The Lieutenant jumped to her feet quickly, her stance wide and her retort quick and punctuated as she pointed right at Miko.

"WHAT did you say 3rd Seat?... my name is OLD and VERRRY famous…I come from a LONG line of great warr-…"

"EEEENOUGH!"

Loudly rang out and easily obscured the rest of Okuni's response. Gonnosuke had had enough of this bickering. A moment passed of deafening silence, before he sighed lightly and spoke again, his face calm and with a caring smile he made eye contact with all three of them and spoke direct if yet still soft.

"Enough of your bickering you three…understand?"

Then turning in place he looked quickly over himself in the mirror, adjusting his sword in his white belt, before turning back around to face the three women.

"Well…I look great thanks to you two…"

Gonnosuke said bowing his head to his 3rd and 4th Seats with a smile which they could not help but smile back at. He stepped off the stepstool down, patting them each on their shoulders as he passed them moving towards his Lieutenant, Okuni. Both girls turned and watched as he did so.

"As for you Okuni…we are going to be late...and you know how long it takes to get to the 1st Division's Barracks…"

She nodded in understanding, allowing him to pass her before throwing a steely gaze back to Miko and Mina. She adjusted her sword in a huff to them and then rushed to catch up to her Captain and accompany him to the Captain's Meeting.