CHAPTER 2l:
The 8th Division: Gotei Reinforcement and Resupply
The Acting-Captain/Lieutenant of the 8th Division, Amaya Ota, sat on a lonely wooden chair looking at the white Captain's coat hung on the bare wall in front of her. Hours earlier, the Captain Commander had personally hung it in this small preparatory room within the 1st Division complex. Earlier that day, he had given her his final ruling. She would be named the new Captain of the 8th Division, and that such official announcement would be made today in a special Captains meeting.
She had not even touched the coat yet. And now, as the Captains meeting was only minutes away, she still hesitated slightly as she rose from her chair and walked over to it. Her hand rose up and glided her hands down the sleeves and back up its chest. It was much softer than she thought it would be.
It was not the first time she had touched a Captain's coat, as she had been Lt. to the 8th Division for many years and had helped dress her now deceased Captain on many occasions, especially towards the end of his life when his condition was so poor.
A tear came slowly to her eye as she clasped the white coat in her hands, her thoughts drifting off to her dear Captain. She slowly leaned her head into the white coat, resting it on the wall behind as she wept silently for him.
Then her thoughts drifted back to Hirokatsu's parting words from before. She had grown especially fond of Hirokatsu during her time at the Academy almost a hundred years earlier, and his words had a way of sticking with her then just as they did now.
"You are not Kaito-san…I did not promote his replacement, only his successor"
At the time, she had nodded politely, as she had heard his words and knew them to be wise. However, she had not truly believed them as he said them. But as the time went on and she had sat in that little room longer and longer, looking at that white coat, his words kept resounding in her mind over and over as she waited. And with each passing minute, the words dug deeper and deeper into her psyche, and little by little she had started to understand and believe them.
Indeed, she could not BE Kaito-sama, and certainly, she did not NEED to be Kaito-sama, and of course Hirokatsu had not promoted her to be as such. Hirokatsu had promoted HER, and SHE had passed the tests, and SHE had received the Captaincy recommendations from the other Captains, and SHE had spent the long hours of doing the job for the last ten years as her Captain slowly wasted away.
She had always admired the Captain Commander, from her childhood when he would visit her Noble family's home from time to time, to when she took all of his classes in the Academy, even to when she stayed and enrolled in an extra year in the Academy in hopes of being placed in the 1st Division upon graduation. But earlier, when he had said those words to her, he seemed to have said them to her less as her Captain Commander and more as her peer. Promotion was never given in the Gotei, only earned, and she had EARNED not only this position, but also Hirokatsu's respect through her years of service and hard work.
She grasped the coat a bit tighter, and moved her head away from it. Her eyes were still slightly damp, but now filled with a hearty resolve. She took the coat from the wall peg and slipped it on over her shoulders, then pulled her dark hair out from underneath so it could lie over her shoulders and onto her back. Feeling its weight on her shoulders, she tugged her inner robe sleeves through the jacket's sleeves comfortably and then straightened the coat so it lay nicely over the zanpaktuo on her hip.
Amaya had wanted to see how she looked, but she noticed there were no mirrors in the room, which she thought was odd as this was a special room near the Captain's meeting area made specifically for those who would be preparing for an official visit. In fact, all that was in the room was the peg on the wall, a straight backed wooden chair facing it, and a small table near the door with a pitcher of water and single glass next on top of a white linen towel.
Feeling thirsty, Amaya made her way to the table for some water. She took the pitcher and was reaching for the glass when the sliding door opened abruptly. Amaya, greatly surprised, lost her balance, shaking the pitcher in her hand sloshing water over its edges onto the floor. Amaya grimaced as she saw the mess, but exhaled calmly as she saw she had not gotten any on her new white coat. Then her grimace turned to the doorway.
Standing there were two individuals. One, her 3rd Seat and the Acting-Lieutenant of the 8th Division, Ryouichi Kono, was a good, young, and trusted Shinigami whom she had come to depend on much more and more in the last five years or so as their Captain was slowly dying. The other, with his hand on the door, was Eiji Ito, 3rd Seat of the 1st Division, whom she had seen earlier with the Captain Commander. Eiji was a rather famous and well known artist in the Seretei, as well as being a trusted subordinate of the Captain Commander, which were both no simple accomplishments. Ryouichi was already apologizing as her gaze came up to greet him, sweat beading up on his brow under his short messy black hair. His head slumped down in a bow to her, as he blurted out.
"I'm so sorry Vice-Captain Amaya….er…I mean… Captain Amaya… mmmhhr.. ehh… umm…He just barged right in past me…"
He pointed at Eiji Ito sharply.
Eiji did not look very apologetic, though he was sweating more than Ryouichi. He bowed his head to Amaya respectfully and spoke out assertively as he straightened up. His words were plain but sincere though seeming a little as if they were practiced.
"I am here to be by your side from now until you enter the Captains meeting sir…I should have been here earlier, i humbly apologize for my absence."
He bowed again deeply as he stepped into the room and stood by the door with his arms crossed. Ryouichi followed, closing the door behind them and then moving to the other side of the door, his hands clasped in front of him.
The aloof and popular 3rd Seat, Eiji Ito, was rarely this proper, Amaya thought to herself. Obviously he had been reprimanded for something, his rigid tone and sweating probably meaning it came from Hirokatsu himself. Amaya thought thinking back to her time in the Academy when she had witnessed the Captain Commander's 'passionate' way he reprimanded students who fell out of line.
Her grimace subsided as she looked upon the two young Shinigami. Both were very capable officers and gifted young Shinigami. Looking first to Ryouichi, Amaya spoke succinctly.
"It's fine Ryouichi-san…He was just doing his job. Sometimes, the Captain Commander can be rather... 'clear' about his orders…"
Looking over to Eiji as she continued, the faintest bit of a grin escaping her lips.
"…Right, Eiji-san?"
He nodded to her quickly in response, causing a bead of sweat from a lock of the black hair that covered half of his face to slide down his forehead and come to an uncomfortable stop right on the tip of his nose. He tried to blow a quick puff of air up from his lips to get it to fall off, but it stayed nonetheless. He tried not to think about it and stood up straight as he felt the New Captain's eyes on him.
Amaya gently set the pitcher down on the small table and grabbed the folded white linen towel. Looking down at the mess of water on the floor, she then moved in front of Eiji. Looking at him, she paused for a moment, then smiled and dab his nose and forehead with the towel gently before speaking with a slight grin.
"It is fine Eiji-san…next time, however…Do knock…this is a changing room, no?"
Eiji's momentary relief from the bead of sweat was immediately replaced by an even more uncomfortable feeling, as his face turned bright red.
Ryouichi smiled and almost chuckled from his spot in the doorway, but when the attractive Captain's gaze moved from Eiji and landed squarely on him, he could not help but blush in embarrassment as well.
Amaya then knelt down and dabbed up the water from the floor, returning the towel to its place back on the small table when she was finished. Standing up, she readjusted her new white coat and looked around the rest of the empty room, taking a few moments before speaking.
"So…now what?...When does this thing start anyways?"
Eiji reached into his wide obi belt pulling out a silver watch on a chain.
His eyes widened, and jumping a little in place in shock he quickly bowed to Amaya and moved to slide open the door, he motioned impatiently with his left hand for her and Ryouichi to follow.
"Wha!...Come on, come on…It's time to go!"
Amaya's eyes darted open at first, thinking she may be late, causing a tiny anxious lump to form in her stomach. She was actually feeling nervous. She hadn't even thought about that part of this yet. She had been focusing so much on passing the tests and whether she was even worthy of the promotion or not, she hadn't even thought of walking into that special room and see the looks on the faces of all the other Captains.
She took a breath in to calm herself and straightened her coat and walked forwards towards Eiji and the door.
Ryouichi looked on as his Captain approached and suddenly his eyes popped wide open. He ran up to her before she got to the door. Eiji looked on concerned as he checked his timepiece again.
"Wait a minute Sir!..."
Amaya furrowed her brow as Ryouichi unexpectedly came in front of her and reached his hand out to her obi belt. Amaya's looked on perplexed, tensing up her shoulders, as she had no idea what Ryouichi was doing. But as fast as she had tensed herself up, she relaxed herself and her shoulders softened down. A calm sense of relief and appreciation washed over her face as she looked at her 3rd Seat, Ryouichi.
Ryouichi gently removed her old wooden Lieutenant's badge from the right side of her belt. She had worn it for so many years, she had forgotten it was even there. As he unwrap its bindings and took it off, he stepped back and extended it to her, bowing his head and speaking lightly.
"Sorry sir…I just didn't want you to forget…"
Amaya blushed very lightly at his compassion as she extended her hand to her 3rd Seat's shoulder, waving off the Lieutenant's badge he offered as she did.
"That badge isn't mine any more, Ryouichi-san,…Why don't you hang onto it for a while?"
She smiled to him as she squeezed his shoulder lightly.
Amaya released his shoulder and stepped passed him, towards the open door and the tapping foot of Eiji.
"Yes sir… Captain Ota"
This time, Ryouichi said the new title with no hesitation.