Not Mine Valentine
Migraine

Shinji glanced up at the evening sky. The color around the horizon was a nice umber color, but it didn't help to bolster his mood. He walked over to the sake bar and went and sat with Kensei and Rose before ordering a drink. "So... how did it go?"

"I was wondering that as well." The taicho of the third division frowned. "Particularly since I've heard rumor that the young taicho isn't acting like his normal self."

"He isn't." Shinji rolled his eyes into the back of his head. "He's been acting strange since we brought Ichimaru back. The kids got some serious complex issues."

Kensei's eyebrow raised up. "Serious doesn't begin to cover it. Exactly how did this kid get to be captain in the first place?"

"Apparently the previous captain decided it would be great fun to get him started on his Bankai training at an early age and see what could be destroyed in the process." The taicho of the fifth turned his head as the waitress brought him a bottle.

"Wait... what kind of moron would think teaching a child Bankai would be a good thing." Rose shook his head

"Ichigo's father..." Shinji said into his glass of sake.

"Yeah... we know that Ichigo's father's an idiot. The kid was constantly complaining about it." Kensei shook his head.

The captain of the third division. "From what we've heard from Ichigo, the guys to much of a moron to have been a seated officer."

"Ahh... yes..." The man turned his cup. "I've spent time over there and I got bored, so I looked through some of the old photo books."

"At Ichigo's house? Why would you do that?" Rose shook his head.

"No, at the tenth division." Shinji set this glass down and his voice dropped to a whisper. "This doesn't go any farther then this table, but I noticed a picture of someone who looked a lot like Ichigo."

"His father?"

"No. It would have been Kaien Shiba. The difference was their hair and eye color, but you know what?"

"What?"

"A lot of the pictures had a second person I did recognize in them."

"So?"

"Well, we know him as Kurosaki Isshin through Ichigo, but his real name is Shiba Isshin, the former head of the Shiba clan."

Sake suddenly came out of Rose's nose. "Wait... should we even be talking about this?"

"The old man knows, Ukitake knows, Kyoraku knows, oh... and Unohana. They're keeping it from forty-six I think. They're also keeping it from Hitsugaya."

Kensei paused. "So wait... if that kid does have a crush on Kurosaki's kid sister, then he's crushing on his former taicho's daughter."

"Now where did that come from?" Rose shook his head. "Next thing you know people will be telling me that Ichimaru is Hitsugaya's father."

The taicho of the ninth division. "I'd actually believe that after today's headache."

"Why? What happened?" Shinji picked up his drink again.

"Normally that kid is all calm and causes no problems, but today I ended up having to deal with an absolute monster. I'm assuming it is because he's now going through puberty despite the fact he absolutely denies that he is. And I'm wishing now I hadn't decided to teach a class with him at the academy."

"How did you walk into that one?" Rose shook his head. "I mean, I wouldn't think that Hitsugaya Taicho was that sociable."

"It was rather obvious with the way he used the words lecture he thought he was in trouble. So, I take him to one of the empty classrooms at the academy and started talking to him. It wasn't his idea, it was one of the teachers. I figured it would boost his ego a bit as he seems to be having problems with it, but you know what I found out. The kid's a piece of work."

"I blame my fukutaicho. I think she's the reason for most of his complexes."

"My fukutaicho says nothing but nice things about her." The third division taicho raised one hand up. "So surely she can't be that bad."

Kensei let out a chuckle. "No, she's that bad. Your fukutaicho has a crush on her, or so my fukutaicho tells me. He'll start off praising her, but once he gets drunk enough and she comes up... lets just say I don't like going drinking with him. Which, by the way... he's been moping around ever since Ichimaru got back as well."

"Why? He miss his old captain or something?" Rose sighed. "I don't think that man was a big loss to anyone."

"No... actually, Hisagi sees Ichimaru as competition for one Matsumoto Rangiku."

"Well, according to my fukutaicho I'm also competition." Shinji took a drink.

Rose let out a burst of laughter. "Please! I mean, you think of her as a daughter!"

"Yeah... to bad her mommy is so much shorter then her."

"Her mommy?" The fifth division taicho raised an eyebrow. "But no, seriously... how did your conversation go. Matsumoto asked me to speak to him about... well... I was planning on having the talk with him."

Kensei took a deep breath. "You mean the talk about girls and such?" There came a sudden laugh. "I'm not even sure the kid understands what I told him, I think its gone right over his head. I mean, he was asking me why it was important for someone to have likes."

"Isn't that obvious?" Rose shook his head.

Shinji took a deep breath. "I may want to consider stopping by the tenth division offices tomorrow. Though I think you should give the kid more credit then you're giving him. Yes, he does think in a strange manner, but he's a lot better then having to deal with Ichimaru Gin. Can you believe he calls me taicho?"

"Why did you even go and visit him though?"

"The first time was to I believe convince him to speak with Ran-chan, the second time was to retrieve the captain of the tenth division... and the fukutaicho of the eleventh."

"What were they doing there?" Kensei took in quite a bit of sake only to find himself choking.

"They were staring at him." Shinji waved his hand at them. "For some reason the small captain had gotten it into his head that annoying Ichimaru is one of the greatest games ever and he's found he likes annoying the man."

The taicho of the ninth division leaned in on his arm as he let out a groan. "Maybe I should go with you tomorrow."

"Why?"

"He didn't mention anything about liking that. Other things, yes... but that."

Rose shook his head. "Exactly what did you say to him."

"That it was normal for someone to like things. I should have picked up on it though when he said that Ichimaru was fun to annoy." The man folded his arms. "Really though... the kids got some screws loose. I'm not sure if it is because he's normally this strange, or if this has something to do with Aizen's manipulation of the kid."

Shinji waved his hand. "We and everyone else will just need to keep an eye on his behavior. It might be something that only lasts a few days."

"I'm hoping it is that way."