CHAPTER 2j:

The 13th Division: Mortal World Patrol

"Hai!..…right away Sir…of course Lt., Sir…"

The young 13th Division shinigami said quickly in response, as he bowed to Chosokabe Enomoto, the Lieutenant of the 13th Division. Chosokabe and his Captain were on their way out the 13th Division's main gate, on their way to the Captains meeting. The young shinigami was about to dash off when he caught the stern and steely eyes of the Lt., at which point the young shinigami's eyes widened greatly in response. He then stopped in place and bowed deeply to the Captain who was following just behind the Lt.

"I mean…umm…good day to you as well Captain Sir…I mean M'am."

After, no visual response from the Captain, the young shinigami quickly gazed over to the Lt. for confirmation that it was acceptable for him to go. Greeted with the Lt.'s rolling eyes and slight sigh, the young shinigami bowed once again, a bit lower, and then headed back to the 13th Division barracks.

Chosokabe looked back at his Captain, Izumi Samiru, her long black hair hanging down over her face and her large, bug-like black sunglasses glinting in the mid-afternoon sun. Her long sleeved white coat was tight around her black shinigami robes. Her twin zanpaktuo's, one black and one white, crossed at her waist poking their hilts and matching colored ribbons out from under her white coat. She had her arms crossed in front of her, keeping the coat close and tight to her body as she walked casually onward.

Chosokabe opened his mouth to speak, but was immediately interrupted by the soft, and slightly annoyed, voice of the Captain.

"Leave it alone Chosokabe… Sometimes YOU'RE not in the mood either…"

The Lt. smiled a bit at her, nodding and immediately understanding as they walked on. Chosokabe was a tall and strong Shinigami, his short black hair was combed neatly on his head and he wore the standard black shinigami robes with his wooden Lt.'s badge wrapped around his upper left arm and his zanpakuto snug in his belt. His dark features, handsome face, and strong jaw line made him out to look like an almost 'perfect' example of a male shinigami.

After quite a while of silent walking with the Lt. in the lead, the Captain stopped, unannounced, and moved under a shade tree along the side of the street. After realizing she had stopped, Chosokabe smiled softly to himself and turned back to join her.

"Ugh….this sun…"

The Captain annoyingly said to herself as she brushed her hair back from her face, removing her large sunglasses to show her very beautiful green eyes and pale young face. Her eyes squinted and slowly opened to peer at her Lt. in silhouette in front of her, before she looked away and then up through the leaves of the tree to the blue sky. She said nothing, seeming to just take a moment to relax in the shade, out of the sunlight.

Chosokabe knelt down, grabbing a small broken tree branch from the ground, then rose back up. Gently bending the wood back and forth to occupy his time, he calmly spoke in a low voice, as if he was already in the middle of a conversation with the Captain;

"You know, Captain…About who is going to be named Captain of the 8th Division…"

The Captain continued to look up through the leaves, her eyes closing for short moments of time as she stood silent. The Lt. continued on;

"I mean…as far as I know, there are only a few people even eligible. There's the 5th Division Lt. who ran the 5th for a while before Akito-sama came in from the Kido Corps. Then there's the 8th Division Lt., obviously, and she's been running the 8th for a while anyway, so it wouldn't be a big surprise if she was named Captain. And there WAS the 3rd Division Lt., but even if she had not passed away so tragically, I doubt the 3rd Division Captain would have let her go anyway. Other than that...I guess I've heard that the 10th and 11th Division Lt.'s both have been working on their Bankai's, but I don't think either of them have had them very long, if at all to be honest. So, really it just comes down to the 5th or 8th Division Lt.'s, Right, Captain?"

Izumi closed her eyes looking up to the blue sky between the leaves of the tree, she felt the gentle warmth of the sun fall on her eyelids as the voice of her Lt. going on and on about who could be Captain, seemed to fade away. As Chosokabe finished, Isumi turned to look back at him, squinting just a bit as she opened her eyes. She shook her head very slightly, but not out of anger, more out of annoyance at her Lt. for having been endlessly trying to get her to reveal who the new Captain was, even though he knew she could not tell him.

The Captain put her big black sunglasses back on, swept her hair back, then let it fall back over her face. She then began to walk on again, out from under the shade tree, passing Chosokabe without even a sideways glance. The Lt. grinned a bit to himself, knowing the meaning of her silence all too well. Then he snapped the little branch he was bending and tossed it over his shoulder as he moved to now follow his Captain to the 8th Division Captain announcement.