Walking into his office, Shinji noticed that his desk, which he had left cluttered with papers, inkwells and pens, was now completely bare. Before he had a chance to wonder why this was, the answer bumped into him from behind. "Oof!" said a familiar voice. Momo stood up and brushed herself off, blushing. "Sorry Captain, I was looking at a report and hadn't noticed you had returned." Shinji frowned down at his Vice-Captain. "Didn't I give ya the week off?" He asked her in a rather annoyed voice. "That means I want ya out of my hair fer four more days." She bowed.
"That's not really neccessary Hirako-taichou. I'm fine now and by the looks of your desk you seemed to have needed all the help you could get." She smiled at him nervously, apparently hoping he wouldn't take offense to her joke. Shinji grunted. "Fine. But I already sent in yer absence notification so I'll take ya out to eat or somethin' tonight to make up fer yer lost vacation days. But only because I feel guilty." He added hastily as Momo's face lit up. He wondered if he could handle being alone with her for an entire evening, she was back to her drainingly chipper self. "Y'know what? Invite a couple friends or somethin'." Realizing he'd just bought himself a night with, not just his annoying Vice-Captain, but her likely even more annoying friends, he decided he better go find someone willing to drink with him or he'd be in for a long night.
Momo looked back at her Captain, who, despite being the one to invite them, didn't seem very happy with having Kyoraku Shunsui and Ukitake Jushiro tailing him, animatedly discussing the best drinks to order at the bar they were going to. She herself was less than pleased that Rangiku seemed to be having no problems jumping into the older Captain's conversation. She hoped her friend didn't end up drinking too much again, she had gotten a lot worse since Gin had died. At least she had Kyoraku's Vice-Captain Ise Nanao, who had insisted upon coming to keep an eye on her Captain, to keep things fairly level-headed. Stopping at their destination, she looked up at the bar Shinji had picked wide-eyed, it seemed much more fancy than where she was usually accustomed to eating at.
It didn't take long for their drinks to arrive, and it took even less time for Rangiku to develop her usual drunken blush and begin joshing the two senior Captains to keep up with her. Nanao glared at Kyoraku but didn't move, she had given up on trying to moderate her him the moment the first drop of sake had entered his mouth. Momo looked at her own Captain, having never seen him drink before and wondering what to expect. After a few rounds, to her displeasure, it seemed that Shinji had decided to forgo his annoyances with Ukitake and Kyoraku and was already receiving a pat on the back from the both of them for finishing his own drink. "Another!" Kyoraku called happily, beckoning the harrassed-looking waitress over.
"So anyways Hirako-taichou, you were telling me about my darling Lisa-chan. You said she was doing well?" The stubble-ridden Captain smiled hazely at Shinji who let out a small hiccup before responding. "Right. Yeah. Lisa's fine. Doin' better than yer new Vice-Captain I figure." He gave a now far more annoyed-looking Nanao a onceover. "She looks too uptight fer you Kyoraku. Not a bad looker though. I'll switch ya Vice-Captains." Shunsui let out a drunken guffaw. "I don't think so Hirako-taichou, my pretty little Nanao is the perfect fit for me. Isn't that right?" He smiled foolishly at Nanao who sighed deeply and closed her eyes while rubbing her temple. Shunsui laughed softly before turning back to Shinji. "I wouldn't worry about it Hirako-taichou, some people like Hinamori-san's kind of look. Just look at Ukitake here." Ukitake frowned at his old friend and took another drink.
"Kyoraku, I've told you countless times already that I'm promoting Kuchiki because of her performance, not because of her looks." Momo blinked at this statement. "Kuchiki? Kuchiki Rukia? She's being promoted?" Ukitake winced and smiled at her sheepishly. "I shouldn't have said that. It was supposed to be a secret until everything had been finalized. Don't tell her." Momo nodded and grinned. She was happy, she didn't know Rukia that well, but she definitely deserved the promotion. Turning back to see what her Captain was up to now, her heart sunk in her chest at the sight of Kyoraku, Shinji and Rangiku all missing from the table.
Nanao and Momo got up quickly, ignoring Ukitake happily humming to himself, oblivious to the fact that his drunken friend had just run off without him. Looking through the crowd of the busy bar, Momo caught sight of a white coatsleeve momentarily. Telling Nanao to follow her, she made her way over to the bar itself to find Rangiku with an arm slung around Kira who was doing his best to ward her off, and Shunsui and Shinji both speaking to some rather sleazy looking women. Momo suddenly felt her face become hot with annoyance, and to her surprise grabbed Shinji by the ear at the same time Nanao grabbed Kyoraku. "Hirako-taichou. Who is this?" she asked, glaring at her hazy-eyed Captain who grinned. "Hey Momo. This here's my first love." He jabbed his finger at one of the women, who scowled. "I wasn't the one you were talking to." Shinji blinked. "Ya weren't?"
Momo dragged Shinji away from the bar and back to the table in time to see Nanao pulling her own Captain out of the entire bar, though Kyoraku, drunk as he, was doing his best to fight her, and to see Kira leading a completely smashed Rangiku out the door with a harassed expression on his face. Ukitake chuckled and looked to the two remaining Shinigami. "That's usually the sign that it's time for me to go. You might want to help Hirako-san get home Momo, if I recall correctly he can get into trouble if he's not attended to properly when he's in this state. I can't tell you how many times Aizen had to-" He caught himself and covered his hand with his mouth, but Momo found herself too busy trying to hold Shinji back from resuming the crowd at the bar to pay much attention to Ukitake. "R-right Ukitake-taichou I'll- Captain stay still!- I'll take him home."
Following Ukitake, who Momo was surprised to see was still fairly stable on his feet, out the door, she bid him a good night and dragged Shinji down the street in the direction of her Captain's house. After awhile Shinji stopped struggling and insisted he could walk himself home. "No offense, but I don't really trust you Hirako-taichou." Momo responded, eliciting a pouting expression from her Captain. He let out an annoyed "Fine." before turning his head up to watch the stars as they walked. Awhile later he broke the silence, his voice having lost much of his previous huffiness. "I guess this wasn't much fun fer you tonight huh Momo? That was my bad." Momo blinked at looked at him. "N-no. It's fine." she muttered, but Shinji shook his head. "Nah, I still owe ya fer those lost vacation days. Tell ya what. I'll buy ya somethin'."
Momo shook her head quickly, waving her hands dismissively. "No Captain, really, I'm fine you don't have to-" but was cut off by Shinji glaring at her. "I owe ya somethin' Momo, don't be an idiot. What kind of stupid girl says no to someone givin' her a free gift? Stop bein' humble." Momo let out a small sigh, her Captain really could be stubborn sometimes. At least they were back at his house. "Okay Hirako-taichou, fine. I'll see you tomorrow." She waved goodbye to Shinji and walked to the nearby 5th Division barracks, collapsing on her bed with a content sigh. She fell asleep within seconds.
Several hours later she found herself lying on her bed, still in her clothes from the night before, and her window open. After yawning and stretching out her arms, she looked confusedly at it. She was sure that it had been closed when she had walked in last night. Looking around the rest of her modest quarters, she saw something shiny lying on her drawer. Walking over to it, she discovered that it was in fact a hairclip, square, somewhat plain with two small pieces of ribbon decorating it, but made of what seemed to be gold. She blinked at it, surprised. Noticing that there was a note underneath it, she picked it up and read aloud.
"Momo. This was the best thing I could find. Don't try to give it back, I spent as much on it as I did on all of our drinks last night. I don't care what Aizen told you, that bun thing you've got going on looks shitty, and I know style. Go get a haircut from Kuchiki's barber and tell him that you're my Vice-Captain, he'll know what to do. Don't tell them what you want, you don't have any clue what looks good, just let him do what I told him to do." she flipped the note over and read the small added bit on the back. "This is an order from your Captain, don't blow it off." She looked up into her mirror and was surprised to see her cheeks were red, which only caused them to redden even further. Nobody had ever given her a gift like this, not even Toshiro. Although he had insulted her multiple times in a single, small note. But then again he had also gotten her an appointment with the best hair stylist in Soul Society. Shinji was so difficult to read sometimes. She sighed. She wondered what having a normal Captain was like.