Frozen flame– Chapter Two: A Place to Belong

Summary: Tsukikade has found herself a comfortable part of squad ten, but how will things work out? and haw does she interact with her fellow shinigami?

Author: Adameia Kirantro

Rated k+: no cussing, or innuendos or, has violence, possible pairing not sure

Disclaimer: I did not create, and do not own the characters from Bleach, They are owned by, and I may borrow them for your possible and hopeful enjoyment. But I DO own Tsukikade, she is completely mine so do not steal her or else you will feel my wrath once I find out that you did (and trust me I will).

Chapter 2: A Place to Belong

It has been about twelve human years since I have joined Toshiro Hitsugaya's squad. I now find myself ranked as the third seat of the tenth squad of the13 Court Guard Squads of Seireitei, and I have learned, over time, to fluidly avoid my one rank senior... Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto, because of her… habits, almost daily. I also, with the use of my heightened stealth abilities, that have gotten more than one Captain annoyed with me, have had the pleasure of watching Matsumoto… convince (more like drag) others to go drinking with her, since I am always "mysteriously busy" (more like absent) whenever she comes around to try to nab me, which seems to have risen to her purpose in life if how many times she tries is anything to go by.

I quite enjoy the quiet life of a third seat, if you ignore the minor pests… but every now and then I find myself looking back into the past, to how much easier life was before I ever even thought about shinigami, let alone becoming one. My life out in soul society was dull compared to most, the only exciting thing was that in my early years, I got lost a lot, sometimes, I would find my own way back, but those other times, I was found by him. He often guided me around and eventually taught me the way, and he was the one who took me to the shinigami academy and told me of my powers. I was shocked to find that all that time, he had hid the fact that he was one of the shinigami of the seireitei, and a captain at that. But despite all that I still owe him a life debt, for helping me, for showing me my potential… and for most of all, saving my life.

Ah, well at the present time I find myself in the office that was intended for a certain lieutenant, completing the ignored paperwork. I grabbed the sheets and leveled them against the desk while I stood, heading towards the door, only to sense Rangiku's Reitsu signature along with a dreaded sense of foreboding, I glanced around, only to recall that there wasn't a second exit, or even a window. The Reitsu drew closer, leaving no time for me to escape her sight if I were to try to leave, so I started to plot how I could out maneuver her this time, only to hear the door open and look up in slight shock. My time was up. The familiar head of the fuku-taicho popped in and grinned as she caught sight of me, her grin widened as she greeted me enthusiastically, "Ohayo! Tsuki-chan! Wanna go out for a drink? I know we can have some fun."

– lets see if pulling a Toshiro will work…– I thought as I said with a blank, pointed stare, "no thanks… don't you have something else your supposed to be doing at the moment? Or do you want me to inform Captain Hitsugaya" I gave her the appropriate looks at the right times to get my point across, but to no avail.

Plan A failed when she replied, "Nope! So let's go! Before all this work you've been doing turns you into another captain!" she managed to pull me into the hall by the arm before I got frustrated enough to forcefully remove it from her grip.

I straightened my clothes and the papers I was holding as I said angrily, "I am busy and I'd rather not lose the brain cells by drinking that horrid stuff, so go find some other poor soul to corrupt… anyway there is nothing wrong with being a little like the Captain, it pays off to be responsible, you should try it sometime." She pouted but resigned, it seemed that letting out my icy side worked this time… like usual. I sighed and headed off to deliver the paperwork to the Captain's office, before Hitsugaya gets back, after all, I wouldn't want him to know that I am the one actually doing the work since I've sort of been hiding it from him, not hard but I've still been sneaky about it.

–A few minutes later–

I silently opened the door with ease to find the image of a shadow filled room greeting me, –Perfect– I thought, –he isn't back yet, I should probably hurry, he is due back soon…– I scurried quickly into the room and placed the papers into all the correct places in record time, and without a sound, only to start to turn and leave when the sound of a door closing and the sight of the lights turning on froze me in my place. I finished turning only to come face to face with an irate, miniature captain. –oh crud–I thought, feeling the nervous sweat run down my face as I laughed lightly and said, "oh, captain, your back! You gave me quite a shock!" a smiled slightly and gave off a small laugh to try and ease the tension… it didn't work.

"I know what you have been doing, and don't try to fool me, I was here I saw what you just did. Did you think I wouldn't notice? Rangiku isn't the type to just randomly start doing her work when she spends so much effort avoiding it and you were the only new seated officer that we have had in a while so even if I hadn't caught you… you still would have been found out." He growled, letting some of his reitsu bear down on me to make his point… and his irritation clear. I sighed.

" I knew you would find me out eventually, I was leaving an easy trail, but if your done being mad at me for helping get the work done on time then I DO have other things I could be doing." A calmly stated, giving off a slight smirk at the end. I tried hard to keep the blush off my face when he made a cute contemplating face after I said that, and as he was about to say something else, I gave him a mischievous look and used my Seireisenkou (Spirit flash) to disappear from the room, right as he started to say something more on the matter.

– That night–

I laid against the tiles of a roof as I somberly watched the moon rise and I contemplated the events of today, – Toshiro-kun found out my small secret, but I should be more careful not to broadcast my talents, I don't want to possibly be separated from him before I manage to tell him my feelings…–I sighed wistfully, debating over my problems, and my feelings as I stared at the full moon and wondered, –I wonder what new adventures I will find in the future eh? I miss you old friend, I only wish you didn't have to leave, or that you at least told me where you were going so I could visit, though I do wonder what you would think of me now…– I stood and took a deep breath and closed my eyes, relishing in the light breeze. I smiled softly, and made up my mind as I disappeared silently into the night.

Authors note: hi guys! Sorry I took so long, I had to revise this chapter a couple times, hopefully it is to your liking, and as you may have noticed, I revealed a bit about Tsukikade's past. Now I have a challenge for you. If one of you can guess who the mysterious captain of her past is correctly I will focus harder on the next chapter to get it up faster and mention you in my authors note. Have fun XD!(And for those of you who didn't catch the hint in the story it isn't one of the people who was a captain when ichigo and his gang invaded soul society (that hasn't happened in this story yet) it was someone who was a captain before all of that stuff.)