CHAPTER 2k:

The 1st Division: Gotei Command

Nozomi Takeuchi approached the Captain Commander's office door silently. She stopped in front of the door and pushed her long blonde hair back behind her ears. Then she carefully straightened her white diagonal sash with the 1st Division's insignia embroidered on it which served as her Lt.'s badge. Her kind eyes sparkled slightly in the light of the dim lantern which hung next to the wooden sliding door. She took a deep but calm breath in and was extending her hand to the door when a voice spoke out from a nearby shadow outside the lantern's illumination in the darkened interior hallway. Her eyes widened and looked over as her hand immediately went to her sword hilt and she stepped back with her back leg in a defensive stance.

"Hey gorgeous, 'bout time for that Captains meeting, eh?"

The voice was that of, Eiji Ito, the 3rd Seat of the 1st Division. He rose from his seated position and stepped out of the shadows, placing his little black and silver pen and black and white notebook in his chest pocket as he did so. He wore normal black shinigami robes with a rather wide white belt which had tucked in it many papers, notebooks, pencils and pens of all sizes, everything it seemed, except for a sword. He took a few steps closer to her and smiled, bowing his head to her slightly, almost sarcastically.

Her eyes stayed wide for a moment, as some frustration and a touch of anger crept in, replacing some of the earlier surprise.

"3rd Seat Ito!"

She said rather loudly, a combination of a reprimand and embarrassment in her tone as she relaxed her stance and placed her right hand on her hip and left hand pointing at Eiji.

"Shouldn't you be with the new 8th Division Captain right now? You are supposed to be with her until she is called in to the Captains meeting."

She said intensely but lowering the volume as she suddenly remembered her proximity to the Captain Commander's office.

"Eh…She'll be fine by herself for a little bit, with all the meetings and her test, she hasn't had any time to herself. Plus, I kinda wanted to let her put on her Captain's coat for the first time in private ya know? I'll go meet up with her soon, ok?"

Eiji said a bit more casually than Nozomi would have liked.

Nozomi's eyes softened as she began to realize that what Eiji said was actually very thoughtful. Her eyes then quickly became steely again.

"Well…orders are orders 3rd Seat… If the Captain Commander wanted her to be left alone, he'd have ordered it…Now get going!"

She said in a soft but still direct voice pointing off down the hallway.

Eiji's eyes were casual and playful for a moment during her words, as if they were recreating these types of discussions from the past, but then in a flash, his eyes turned very wide, as he straightened up in his place and bowed very deeply in front of her, before backing off slowly, then turning and rushing away down the corridor to follow his orders, speaking as he went.

"yes...YES…sSir…ma'am...I mean ma'am…Yes, right away Ma'am!... My apologies."

Nozomi's brow quirked at Eiji's sudden change in attitude.

"Eiji has never followed my orders so quickly…and NEVER apologized for not following them."

She thought to herself taking a deep breath in and turning in her place.

As she spun around she bumped right into the Captain Commander, Hirokatsu Goto's, chest. Her face scrunched up as her nose pressed in against his black Shinigami robes and white Captain's haori. She looked up timidly to see his face looking down at hers, causing her to immediately go stark red in embarrassment.

She backed up immediately and bowed her head to the Captain Commander.

"My deepest apologies, Sir…I am so so sorry, sir..."

She opened her eyes slowly to look at him, squinting them open at first in hopes of not seeing him upset. Instead, she found the demure and calm face of the Captain Commander which had just a hint of a smile on it, a smile which probably no one else in the entire Gotei would be able to tell was a smile, but one she had learned in her years of close service to him.

Her face still red, she bowed even deeper before straightening up to look at him, though she still had a hard time making eye contact without her cheeks reddening again, which one would think was easy since his eyes were closed shut almost all of the time and even when open were hidden behind his long thick eyebrows. She tried to look at everything BUT his eyes in fact: his graying black hair tied back in a topknot, his long dark mustache, his curled up little chin beard which matched his sideburns in their curly shape. Anything but those pale blue eyes of his.

His voice responded and was soft, but was not hard to hear, his words short but not left wanting for more.

"Nozomi-kun…don't be so hard on Eiji-san. His intentions were thoughtful and correct…Even I overlook some things in my orders from time to time Lt."

One of his eyes opened just a crack wider for a moment to catch her eyes in a playful way, another expression, if still a rare one, which she had grown to recognize from her Captain Commander.

As Hirokatsu finished, he moved slowly passed her and down the long darkened corridor, holding his closed umbrella behind his back horizontally with both his hands and over his long over-sized white Captain's coat which swayed gently in concert with his long mustache and eyebrows as he moved.

A few steps down the corridor he spoke to her, his voice still soft but clear, and if Nozomi didn't know him better she would have swore she almost heard a bit of playful sarcasm in it.

"Now shouldn't we be going Lt? I think we of all people shouldn't be late…wouldn't you agree?"

He paused for the briefest of moments.

"…And what was it exactly that you were coming to see me for anyways?"

He said as he began to move past her.

"Ugh…that's exactly what I WAS coming to tell YOU... Stupid, Eiji!"

She thought to herself as she quickly collected herself from her momentary daze to hustle and take her customary position near the Captain Commander, slightly beside and slightly behind him.

"Of course sir...and it was nothing sir…"

She spoke very softly in a slightly exasperated tone to him, as she accompanied him to the 8th Division Captains announcement meeting.