She was introduced to her office the next day. Conveniently located two blocks away, the company of Kyouraku Industries was for the most part, a perfectly legal operation. For the most part, that was. They were a shipping company, handling goods, mostly legal goods. However, there was an entire building devoted to the organization. The other organization. The one which she had been in for the past four years. Kyouraku Industries was moderately large, and conveniently enough, had connections all over the place.
She was rather surprised at the lack of anything fancy in the organization. So far, the people, all of them, seemed like decent peace loving people. Which was very different from what she had expected, really. The lift bell went, and she stepped out of the lift to the eighth floor. The office was a rather nondescript place, white walls, small water feature directly facing the lift, wide corridor, tiled floor. Rather normal place, this.
Looking around for signs of any sort, she realised that there were no signs. Except for female toilet to your left and male toilet to your right, there was completely no indication as to where she was supposed to go. She was lost. Ise Nanao, probably the most organized person that Kyouraku Industries had ever known, was lost. Yes. Lost. She was supposed to report to her office at eight thirty, but she had no idea where her office was.
She looked around the rather empty place for any recognizable person to talk to. No one. And not only was there no one she recognized, there was no one. The office was silent. Strangely silent. This was odd. And kind of eerie too, but she supposed it was just because of the emptiness. Standing there in the middle of nowhere, she frowned. This was not a good start. It was not good to be late on the first day of work. Crappity crap crap.
A hand rested on her shoulder, and she started, turning around shocked, to come face to face with the boss and his best friend, the latter who grinned happily and waved, before continuing upwards in the lift. "Sumimasen, Kyouraku-senpai, I could not find my way to the office." Great, just great. What a wonderful way to start the new day. She was surprised to hear him laugh, a loud booming laugh that echoed around the previously silent room.
Saying nothing more, he steered her down the corridor, all the way to the end. Gesturing around the rather big room, he grinned. "This is your office, Nanao-chan; you'll be working here, handling all the paperwork and stuff that needs processing. Occasionally, you'll be called out for action, but that's only after we assess your abilities." Not allowing her to butt in, he continued happily. "We'll be having trials for the lower ranks in a few days, and we'll be testing your abilities then, together with all the new arrivals, 'kay?"
She blanched. Looking concernedly at her, he frowned, confused. "A-Ano, abilities, Kyouraku-senpai?"
"Why of course, Nanao-chan. We're a primarily fighting society, no?" He paused thoughtfully. "Would you prefer to not attend the assessment? It can be arranged." Another pause. "But that would just be boring for you, you know? A completely desk job is boring." He flounced around dramatically, pausing to grin up at her.
Oh no. This was not what she had signed up for. She had signed up for the desk job and pay. Not the violence. She was not a violent person. Fighting was not part of her nature at all. She could fight, but not very well. Probably nowhere near the standards of the others. There was a tanto which she kept hidden up her sleeve at all times, but it was only for self-defense. She was not very good at using it, because she hardly used it. As for guns, well, she had never touched one in her life. Nope.
Screwed. Royally screwed.
In the busyness of the next few hours, where she found out that the only thing stopping the complete breakdown of communications was her, it was absolute chaos. (And as such, due to this chaos, she happily forgot about the assessment.) Complete utter madness. Missives, messages, emails, post-its on reports, reports, summaries, accounting… Everything came to her, and she sorted, categorized, shuffled. It was tiring, and it was kind of brain numbing. She wondered vaguely why she was doing it, until Matsumoto popped a cheery head into her room three hours after the working day had begun.
"Hey, Nanao! Toshiro and I…" She began, only to be cut off sharply by the teenager lounging against the wall of the corridor.
"It's Hitsugaya-senpai, or just Hitsugaya. Not Toshiro."
A giggle, as she flapped her hand. "Maa, you're so stuck up." Turning back to Nanao, a grin reappeared on her face. "Whatcha still doing here, Nanao? It's lunchtime!" Reaching forward, she dragged the dazed General Secretary out of her office and into the lift, to join a small crowd also leaving their offices for lunch.
"Hey, Nanao!"
"Yo, Nanao-san!"
"How's it going, Ise-san?"
She blinked. If she lied and said that she was claustrophobic, would Matsumoto let her take the stairs down instead? Making her decision a little too late, the lift door slid shut and Nanao found herself in a space that was obviously designed with less than twenty people in mind filled with twenty five. The lift began its descent downwards. Only to stop two floors down.
An amused Kuchiki Byakuya stood at the lift lobby, staring unabashedly (Or rather, she assumed it was unabashedly. That guy looked the same all the time anyway.) at the large number of people crammed into the small space. A twitch of the eyebrow, and the lift burst into giggles, chuckles and sniggers.
Renji merely moved forward and squeezed into the lift. "Ne, senpai, see you downstairs?" More laughter. A sharp nod before a slightly smirking Kuchiki Byakuya turned away and made towards the stairs. "Hurry! Close the door!" The lift erupted once more.
A loud "Again, Renji?" from a person who she supposed was Ikkaku. It sure sounded like the bald man. Sniggers all around. "You forget that every time you try this, he always wins, and you always end up doing the paperwork, right?" More laughter.
Someone stumbled on the other side of the lift, and a chorus of "Whoa"s followed as the group shuffled within the too small space, trying to stay on their feet. Nanao, completely unsuited to this, stumbled backwards and came into contact with what seemed to be a brick wall. When she reached a hand out to try and get to her feet, she almost died of embarrassment when she realized that lo and behold, the brick wall had a name, and was the most fearsome person in the lift, Zaraki Kenpachi. "Er... eep?"
A chuckle. "No worries." He helped her up, a grin on his face. " 'S long as it wasn't on purpose, I don't blame you." There was a pause as his eyes narrowed slightly. "It wasn't on purpose, right?" Nanao shook her head, mortified at the number of eyes turned her way, and the devious grins that accompanied them. A snigger from Ikkaku's corner.
"Ken-chaaaaaaaaan, stop picking on Booky! It's mean!" A pink head popped from over Zaraki's shoulder, an impossibly large grin on her face, waving frantically with the hand that was not supporting herself. "Hi Booky! I'm Kusajishi Yachiru! Nice ta meet you!" A tiny hand stretched out as she crawled a little higher onto Zaraki's shoulder, the big man raising an eyebrow as he looked at the little one squirming around on his shoulder.
Blinking, Nanao was not sure what she had expected. But whatever that had been, it was definitely not this. She had assumed that Zaraki was boarding in the rooms with his… daughter (That was what she assumed Yachiru was.), but she had assumed that the little girl would have been at school or daycare or something. Not at the workplace of her… father. In any case, she shook the hand, a slight smile on her face.
Yachiru beamed happily back, and everyone lost interest as the lift reached the third floor. Renji held his breath. The lift dinged to yet another stop, and the red haired man groaned as they caught sight of coat tails disappearing down the stairs. "Don't say I didn't warn you." A very Ikkaku-like voice echoed from a corner, and Renji scowled in the general direction of Ikkaku.
Thankfully, they reached the first floor. Waiting in one of the sofa provided for guests was one completely unruffled Kuchiki Byakuya. A smirk later, he got up and joined them, shooting Renji a smug look. Sniggers. Nanao on the other hand, had not noticed anything, being too busy breathing in fresh air. It was not that the lift was slow, merely that there had been too many people in that small confined space.
Nanao decided that she like wide open, quiet places. And here was one. The lobby was large, open, the glass doors letting in much of the sunlight. Finally, Nanao could breathe again. Thank god for architects with some sense. Turning past a few rooms, the rowdy group entered the cafeteria. It was loud, bustling and noisy, but it was not claustrophobic or anything like the lift had been.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Nanao moved to get a tray of food, before finding herself being dragged away towards Rangiku, the blonde grinned happily. "Told ya that they'd be arriving today, right?" Nanao was dragged along into an adjoining room, where a small group of jetlagged people were lounging around the room.
A scruffy haired man, looking somewhat like Hisagi-san was puffing away on a cigarette, or at least that was what it seemed like, as he read a newspaper. A meek girl, head bowed as she sat in perfect posture on a chair looked up as they entered. The third was sleeping, his hairstyle almost triangular, the goatee on his chin sticking out rather oddly.
Without looking up from the newspaper, the Hisagi-san look-alike (minus choker, tattoo and scratches) snapped irritably. "We're not hungry. Geez, do you people not communicate or something? That's the third time already. I really don't care if we're in Japan now, because as far as I'm concerned, now is the time when I sleep, and you guys are wasting my sleep time, and I don't like having my sleep time wasted. I'll sic Kuu-chan on you if this continues, and believe me, you don't want Kuu-chan sicked on you…" He paused, not hearing anything, which would mean that the people had not yet left the room. "WE ARE NOT HUNGRY. There. Happy?" A large puff of smoke appeared from behind the newspaper, together with a sigh. "Geez. Weird people."
The room was largely silent, only a chuckle from the doorway as the two bosses slipped into the room. It was not that they could not think of a retort. They were just stunned. Completely, utterly stunned. This guy was an hour new, and already he was retorting the local people.
And smoking. In a non-smoking room. Ukitake's smile was wide as he whipped out a fork (and where on earth he had gotten a fork from, nobody knew), poking it through the newspaper, creating four very nice little holes. "Mind if you don't smoke?" The Hisagi look-alike blinked, stunned. "My lungs can't take the foul smell."
"A-Ah… Gomen." The cigarette was hastily stubbed in a pocket ash holder, a sheepish grin as the hole-y newspaper was folded up and placed to a side. He scratched at the back of his head, holding out a hand. "Shiba Kaien checking in from Deutschland. Pleased ta meet ya." Ukitake shook his hand, amused, but not saying a word. Shiba looked around him, frowning slightly. "I thought..."
He looked around at his surroundings, just noticing the largely half-amused half-insulted crowd. His sheepish grin widened. "Sorry 'bout just now. I blame jetlag. I'm supposed to be happily asleep by now… By about four hours ago." He yawned widely, covering his mouth with a hand. He seemed to be noticing things in stages, Nanao noted, as he leant over and nudged the triangle man with a toe.
"Oi, Kotsubaki." A pause. "Kotsubaki!" He sighed, moving over and slamming a hand into triangle man's stomach. "KOTSUBAKI SENTAROU!" The other man sat up suddenly, smashing his forehead into Kaien's jaw, and both of them rolled away, clutching the respective parts of their faces. Two groans were heard.
Ikkaku snorted. Renji chuckled. Urahara, who just entered the room, was giggling away, face half hidden behind that fan of his. "Welcome ta the team! Yer going ta fit in just fine." Ah, Ichimaru had arrived. "Ne, Kyouraku-senpai?"
The pink man in the corner grinned, before sitting up, the light of a revelation in his face. Nanao wondered vaguely what was going on, or rather, what kinds of great ideas he had. She resisted slamming her head into the wall when he beamed, happily proclaiming, "LUNCH!"
A loud groan and a thud meant that someone else had already done it.
No prizes for guessing who.