Captain Unohana walked right into my ward at Squad Four the next morning as Fifth Seat Hanatarou Yamada was just finishing up closing over the worst of my wounds from my nice little practice session the night before. Her face had a look that mixed exasperation and resignation. I was a familiar face at her clinic, and one she'd given many, many lectures to on the art of slowing down and taking it easy in practice. She should have figured out by now that I wasn't going to listen to her. You don't get stronger by taking it easy on yourself.
"What am I going to do with you Lieutenant?" she questioned me rhetorically.
"How 'bout signing me out as fit fer duty?" I suggested, with a grin.
"I should keep you here just to teach you some restraint," she replied with that pleasant-but-somehow-vaguely-menacing smile she did. I knew I wasn't the only guy who found it more than a little unnerving to be faced with such benevolence and still have the feeling of impending doom lurking beneath the surface.
"Ya can't keep a good dog down," I said, exactly as I usually did.
"Thanks Hanatarou," I added, noting that he was done completely with my left side and had started on my right.
"You look like you got into an argument with a lawnmower and lost," he said absently, smiling up at me.
Normally he wouldn't be so openly assertive against a guy my size, but the little shrimp knew me, and he also knew that if I knuckled my fist into his head Rukia'd wallop me a good one. He couldn't do anything about the way the guys in Eleventh could kick him around, but he knew he was free to be as mouthy with me as he wanted and I wouldn't do anything to him.
"Punk," I settled for, closing my eyes and enjoying the feeling of my wounds disappearing one by one.
Healings tended to drain the one being healed as much as the one doing the healing, except with me. Zabimaru seemed to feel that being able to get back on my feet after a healing was one of those instances where he could stand to release a seal or two long enough for me to regain my own energy. Somewhere on my body, out of sight of the Healers, one of my tattoos was slowly un-knoting and fading against my skin, unraveling and disappearing, to release some of that reiatsu my zanpaktou seemed to feel was necessary to keep penned in fer some reason.
When Zabimaru had first appeared to me in my sleep, way back in the academy days when they'd first issued me a sword, I remember that he'd sort of shook his head at me and sighed, saying something about me being a late bloomer and not having the focus or control to handle all that power that was growing inside me. It was the next morning when I'd been getting ready for the day that I had found the first of what was to be many tatoos, right there on my stomach. At first, before remembering my dream the night before, I'd sort of panicked a little, thinking there was something wrong with me, then I'd thought that maybe one of my dorm-mates had played a trick on me, inking my body while I was still asleep. I waited a couple of days and even though I was on my guard and there was no-way anyone was sneaking up on me, the tatoos continued to grow like some kind of weird mold all over me. The little knot-work circle around my navel expanded up and out to circle my waist and torso over the course of the next week. The fear that maybe something was wrong with me kept me from speaking about it to anyone. It was a little while later that my dreams with Zabimaru became clearer and I started remembering them. A year later, as the tatoos on my chest strted working thier ways down my arms, I made the mistake of teasing my Zanpaktou about whether those marks of his were just his way of marking his territory, much the same way we street kids had used scrawlings here and there to mark our own turf. The next day the first of the tattoos on my forehead appeared.
:Yeah yeah, I hear ya laughin', get over it already,: I grumbled to him as I felt the vague tickle in the back of my mind that was Zabimaru when he was amused over something.
Of course the tickle only increased as he laughed harder. He always had gotten a kick out of that one. The old bastard wouldn't take any of them off either, especially the ones on my forehead. That was one reason why I tended to cover them up with bandanas and head-scarfs. Even if everyone else thought that the tattoos were intentional on my part, I still found them a little embarrassing sometimes. Even if they did play into the rebel I-don't-care-what-anyone-thinks-of-me image I tried to project, the truth was that they were still imposed on me. Growing up my distinctive red hair had been the cause of more than a few fights for standing out, and now I had a bunch of tatoos on me that made me stand out even more. Even though I generally took pride in my distinctive markings, they were still distinctive. It was hard, sometimes, to be so noticeable.
:Better that than being forgettable, I guess,: I thought to myself.
"What was it this time, lieutenant?" she asked me, checking over the chart at the foot of the bed I was on. It took me a second to come out of my own thoughts and focus on what she was reffering to, oh... she wanted to know how I'd managed to slice myself up this time.
"Training," I replied succinctly. "Got a new move I'm workin' on."
"Don't you ever give it a rest?" she said, her tone mildly chiding. She already knew the answer tot hat one.
"Nope," I replied. "No rest fer the wicked, y'know."
"You're a Lieutenant now, so try to show some decorum," she replied, signing off on my release papers as her little henchman closed off the last of my wounds and the final bit of ache disappeared.
"Thanks doc," I said cheerfully, leaping to my feet and heading towards the door with a jaunty backwards two-fingered salute.
I heard her admonishment for me to be more careful next time sound into the empty room at my back as I launched myself down the hall and out into the day. I had training with the greenies this morning.
My noobs were all gathered in the training courtyard grouped together by association and by element. I set them through their paces as a warm up then had them pair off and run five-minute matches against each other. Losers did push-ups. An hour later I set them to practicing lunges and retreats, followed by sprints and shuttles, glide-step and timing each other on the course, then lastly, sprinting. It was an excellent way to work on their endurance and breathing. Mindful of what I had decided the night before, I joined them this time.
:Not so many early drop-outs when I run with them,: I noted absently after me and the bulk of the noobs had been running at a pretty good clip for some time.
It felt pretty good too, my muscles were nice and loose by this time so I could just enjoy the purely physical activity, the way my legs pounded into the solid turf beneath my feet, the steady in and out of my breath, the harder beat of my heart, my blood seeming to sing through my veins. The academy was good for teaching a Reaper what he needed to know in order to survive out in the field, but I'd noticed that there was nothing quite like excersizing together and training against each other to build up teamwork and a sense of comraderie. I guess until I showed up every Reaper had taken his cue from the Captain and they'd each done thier own thing; I was noticing more and more since I'd taken up the mantle of Vice-Captain that there was more cooperation between Reapers and that squad was working together a bit more. Maybe Captain Kuchiki would never lower himself to doing stuff like this, but that was what he had me for.
I'd generally noticed that Captains and Vice-Captains were a team, one supplying the skills that the other lacked. Kuchiki the Elder wasn't exactly a people person, but I was, so it was my job to handle the people aspect. Considering the fact that it was my goal to one day fight and be able to hand his ass back to him, a person might think that I held a personal grudge against Captain Kuchiki. Well, that person would be right and he'd be wrong; I held a grudge against him for taking Rukia out of my life and I wanted to beat his ass for that offense, but as far as being his Vice-Captain went, that grudge had no place in my filling out my duties to him as his subordinate to the very best of my abilities. And that was how it was, as far as I was concerned.
After cool-down, stretches, a shower and a change of uniform it was off to the main headquarters to attend the weekly meetings of the Vice Captains. It took place when the Captains met, in an ante-chamber off to one side. It was supposed to be a serious, dignified affair; sort of like a lesser captain's meeting. It wasn't, or at least, not anymore. Me, Kira and Momo had all known each other since the academy and didn't stand on ceremony around each other. Same went for Shuuhei Hisagi. Rangiku Matsumoto didn't stand on ceremony around anyone. Little Yachiru had the attention span of a gnat and she was just too cute to take seriously. The fat guy from Second only showed up for the food. Nemu, Nanao, Isane and the Head Captain's lieutenant I can never remember his name, but he looks sort of like a butler from one of those old movies, I keep half-expecting him to say 'you raaang?") were the only ones left trying to uphold the dignity of our august positions. And a fine job they were doing too. They were so dignified, the rest of us could kick back and gossip about our squads without having to worry about the position of Vice Captaincy going to wrack and ruin.
"I heard that Head Captain Yamamoto is tired of the squabbling in Thirteenth and is going to hand Captain Ukitake an ultimatum that he has to pick out a new lieutenant by the end of the summer," Rangiku said, wafting the air with her saucer of sake for emphasis.
"Old news," Momo scoffed. "He's been threatening that for years and Thirteenth seems to just keep putting it off."
"I heard that it's because he's waiting for Kuchiki's little sister to step up to the plate already," Kira said, elbowing me.
I glared at the two of them. I could tell they were needling me. Again. As usual.
"Wellll," Rangiku said, clearly joining in the fun. "She'll never make rank without some field experience. The trip to Hueco Mundo may or may not count since it wasn't an official Court-sanctioned assignment. She certainly seems to be spending time enough lately in the living world. I heard she's shacked up with some mortal. Not that we all haven't had our fun from time to time, but staying there for months on end is really just indiscreet, wouldn't you say Renji?"
"Shaddap," I grunted, knocking back some sake. "Someone's gotta babysit the new kid, he's just one giant lightning rod fer all kindsa trouble."
Momo and Kira exchanged a look.
"Are you buying that?" Mmo asided to him, pitched so I could hear her just fine.
"Not a bit of it," Kira replied.
"Any word on whether or not they're gonna haul some other poor bastard in and make him Captain?" I said, very deliberately changing the subject.
It was after all, the topic that everyone was talking about, who they were going to get to fill those missing slots. People were more worried now than ever about having good leadership, what with a tripe betrayal having shaken everyones confidence in the august position of the Captaincy. There were three positions open, that was three squads without a real sense of leadership and cohesion, and without the sense that if thier squad got into desperate straights they had someone who could pull a victory out in one swing of his sword. That was another thing that Captains were known for... and depended on for.
"There's been some talk of someone taking poor Kira here off the lists for a trip up to the mountains to beat him up until he achieves Bankai," Momo teased, poking his cheek. He gave her a level look.
"I'm perfectly content as Third Squad's Lieutenant, Momo," he replied, refusing to rise to the bait. "I can wait until they assign a new captain to the squad."
"You're no fun," she mumbled, rolling her eyes at him. "Besides, what if they assign Ikkaku Madarame as your captain?"
"Nuthin' doin'," I said flatly. "I don't think he's gonna go. No offense Kira, but I think Third's just a little too uptight for him, Eleventh is more his style."
"Isn't that yourself you're describing?" Tetsuzaemon Iba cut in, helping himself to the sake jug.
We'd been in Eleventh together for a number of years, and while we hadn't been bosom companions, we'd gotten into a few drunken brawls together and that sort of made us mates. Like me, Iba knew that his chances for advancement in Eleventh only extended so far, and he'd moved out like I had when a spot opened up in Seventh Squad. He didn't comment much on how he got along with his Captain, if he did at all, but I knew he and Ikkaku-sempai still got together for fighting and drinking.
"I'm in Sixth ain't I?" I replied, as if that should settle the matter.
Kira and Momo both grinned at me like sharks scenting blood in the water. Plenty of fodder there for more teasing about my wish to get closer to Kuchiki's little sister.
"Don't start with me," I muttered.
"You people gossip like old women," Shuuhei Hisagi chided us even as he reached over and poured himself a drink.
"Hey!" Rangiku protested. "No drinking the sake unless you're joining in the gossip."
Shuuhei flopped onto a nearby cushion and said
"My squad's been trying their hardest to act like they aren't worried about their former Captain defecting to the dark side, but the truth is we're all a little on edge. Being out three captain's is a pretty big deal. You can't just pick some guy at random to fill the spot either, especially not now. He's got to have the qualifications that make a good captain, because, whether it's intentional or not, the squad tends to take on the tone of thier captain."
"Yeah, just look at Eleventh," Momo said, citing the age-old case in point.
I'd heard that Eleventh had once been full of uptight young men like Maki Ichinose but when Zaraki killed the previous Captain and took over the squad it had taken on a different tone. Most would say that Eleventh was now where Yama-sama dumped the dregs, but I saw something different about it (of course I was biased). Eleventh was a place where the only thing that was important was the strength you could bring to the fight, ground-pounders of Eleventh as a consequence were always fighting (usually with each other). There was a lot of upward-mobility among the Seated Officers in Eleventh... basically if you wanted a person's job, you fought him for it, and if you won you got it. A great system as far as I was concerned. Eleventh might be the squad that most people thought of as being full of rowdy, brawling thugs, but to me the system was one that encouraged a fighter to be the strongest fighter he could be.
"It's probably taking so long because candidates for the position aren't exactly thick upon the ground," said Kira. "A captain has to have a Bankai, with the notable exception of Captain Zaraki--"
"An' ol' steel-skin's his own Bankai," Tetsuzaemon snorted.
It was a well-known fact that Zaraki could take a hit and keep on comin'. Until Ichigo had showed up, no-one had been able to put a scratch on him. Most of the people in our gossip circle who knew of Zaraki nodded agreement with Iba's assessment.
"So now more than ever, even with the proliferation of open positions, they'll be looking at and testing their candidates carefully to search out any weaknesses that might spell difficulties down the line," Shuuhei concluded. "They'll look for qualities that are going to make a good Captain; not just raw power or ability, but leadership skills, intelligence--"
"Well that lets Renji off the hook!' Momo said.
I leaned back and instead of scowling, exaggeratedly wiped my brow as I said
"Whew! What a relief. An' here I thought I was gonna have to fake my own death or somethin' to get out of it. I even had my noble death scene all planned out, goin' down in a nice, bright blaze of glory. 'No no, dear friends you must go on without me...' or sumthin; like that."
Momo and Kira booed and hissed at my theatrics while Rangiku and Omaeda threw nuts from a nearby bowl at me for bad acting.
"Thank-you, Thank-you I do birthdays and weddings too," I said, grinning from under a shower of food and a chorus of boos.
The Lieutenants from First, Fourth, Eighth and Twelfth looked on at our antics with matching expressions that said louder than words 'so this is what we have at last sunk to.'
"Waaai!" Yachiru cheered, hopping onto my back as I bent forward into a bow.
"Hey, ya little demon," I said straightening and letting her clamor onto my shoulders.
All the guys at Eleventh might act tough, but damned if we didn't all spoil the little brat when we thought no-one was looking. I kinda had a soft-spot for kids anyway, most people would say that it was because we shared the same maturity level. I tried to act like I wouldn't spoil 'em if given half a chance though, it'd completely ruin my tough-guy image.
"Ne Renji," she said, putting her hands over my eyes so I couldn't see.
"Watcha want brat?" I asked, smiling a little in spite of my resolve to look tough. Even Captain Zaraki couldn't manage to look completely intimidating with the cuteness that was Lieutenant Yachiru hanging off his shoulder.
"When ya gonna come back over an' play fer me?" she demanded, tugging my tail to emphasize her point.
"I'm kinda busy bein' a Lieutenant right now kiddo," I said. "My captain ain't nice like yours, and he makes me do all the paperwork instead of shoving it onto Ikkaku. How about this, the next time I'm injured and laid up in Fourth, you come on down an' see me, an' bring my axe, an' I'll play as much as you want me to. How's that?"
There was a long pause while she considered the deal I offered, then in typical Yachiru fashion she said
"Okaaaay!" and hopped off to go drink some juice.
The other Lieutenants, including the serious corner, all stared at me.
"What?" I grumbled, my face flushing a little as I straightened my shoulders and crossed my arms over my chest, trying to look tough, like I hadn't just been bouncing a little girl on my shoulders and basically promising to give her whatever she wanted.
"Training for your hopes of future fatherhood?" Rangiku teased.
"Shaddap."
& & &
After the meeting I was due to oversee the group training in Element Three, under Kimiri Rokku. A decent bunch of mixed fighters in that element; two Kido specialists, one specialized in attack-spells and the other usually managed healing spells and weaker attacks, a tank, an all-around, a ranged fighter (rather, her sword, enabled her to attack from a larger distance) and three lightweight fighters. A good and balanced mix and I commended the Sixth Seat on her skills at picking out a good team with complementary skills.
I had them practicing against fake Hollows, they were Constructs run by kido that Twefth had developed for training purposes. They generally weren't as difficult as the real thing but they were enough to give a group a good work out. Rokku called out the commands for her fighters to switch in in teams of three against the Hollow, mixing their skills and different styles of combat against the various moves that a Hollow might make.
First she'd call in her tank, a lightweight and a Kido and have them attack, then she'd switch out the kido for the healer to revive the two blunt-force fighters before switching out both the tank and the healer for another lightweight and the ranged fighter getting them to work together before switching the tank back in in place of the kido and the all-around for the lightweight for a battle. I was both pleased and impressed, it seems that the tips I'd given them about teamwork and mutual benefit had done some good. There had been significant improvements in both thier fighting skills as individuals and thier ability to switch in and out of formation without getting in each others way.
"Good work guys!" their element leader called out when I signalled they were done. "Hit the baths, you all need it."
"Awww, cheif!" the all-around said, a lightly teasing grin on his face. "An' here we thought you liked us!"
"I like you fine when I can't smell you from across the practice yard," she replied with a small smile.
I was also pleased to note that their morale was up significantly from where it had been when I had started their training regimen.
"Your element looks like it could beat the crap out of an Espada," I said sincerely to Kimiri Rokku as we heaved the deflated Hollow back into its box. Byakuya Kuchiki would probably say something like "excellent progress and significant improvement" but that wasn't really my style, I measured success by how strong an opponent I judged they could take on and come out alive. The Espada thing had been my way of complimenting Rokku on a job well done.
"I owe it all to you, Lieutenant," she replied. "You're the one who came up with these training drills for us, without it I would probably have just sent them on their merry way without trying to work with them to hone their skills. That's how it's run in Seventh anyway."
Most squads were like that, they didn't even bother dividing into elements, the Captains just handed down their orders through the Seated officers and let the peons work out who did what between them, but I had this odd idea that people who were under me should have the best chance of survival that I could give them. I wasn't turning all soft and mushy or nuthin' (even though I had gotten the Element idea from Fourth Squad) but it was a fact that with so much up in the air we couldn't afford to waste our talent on stupidity. When I took up the Vice-Captaincy it came with an obligation to the people under me, just the same way that being a small gang-leader in the Rukongai made me responsible to see that nobody got left behind on a raid.
About a week into taking up my new Vice-Captaincy I noted that the Squad, run the same way most squads were at that time, had a disproportionate number of young men and women who seemed to think that now that they were out of the Academy that meant they could slack off and not hone their skills properly. It had also had a large number of young men and women who spent their energy in petty squabbles and stupid vendettas, mostly lower-ranked members but some Seated Officers too; as long as word of it didn't reach their Captain they were free to do as the pleased. Because of this there was no sense of fellow-feeling and no cohesion except that they were all under Captain Kuchiki. That lack of esprit de corps probably contributed to the death-toll on regular missions. It had made no sense to me that those guys should have been dying fighting regular Hollows. Menos grande's I could understand, but these were weak specimens of their kind.
I had known right away that they needed training, not just all around physical conditioning but structured training regimens too. To do that, I figured it would be easier of I could have them fight in groups of mixed combat specialists so they could get accustomed to working with all different types of fighting styles. That was what had led me to adapting the basic structure from fourth, where different smaller groups of healers were assembled into groups under thier Seated Officers. So I divided them into what I decided to call elements under the Seated Officers, assessed thier skills and weak points, and drew up training regimens for each element. It didn't make me terribly popular at first, but after the aches and pains of that first week faded, they could see that I had their interests at heart and they'd eventually cooled off. When I had one element fight another they began to see the advantages. It wasn't long before they started to really like it. I was finding that this system was working well for me, and for them... even that stuffed-shirt Kuchiki seemed to approve of it!
:This ain't time to feel smug, you've got another group to train with,: I told myself.
"Next up, Seventh Element!" I called to the soldiers and thier seated officer waiting in the wings.
By the end of the training session I had spotted several places where they could stand to improve themselves. The kido specialist was a little slow, so he should work on his time, plus the tank had a tendency to leave his flank open. Ensil's (the Seventh Seat in charge of the squad) own attacks could use some work as well, his swing was slightly wide and to the left and his endurance could use some work. Ensil's two tanks tended to be stationed too often together, and while they worked great with each other, they didn't seem to be able to blend their skills with another style of teammate. I called them individually to face off against me in order to demonstrate the areas in combat where they could make improvements. Then we ran through another set of drills and I coached them through switching out on command and listening to their element leader. I'd picked Ensil because he had the right kind of tactic expertise to pick the right set of skills to fight against a Hollow and win.
:Sometime's this Lieutenant thing ain't so bad,: I thought as I sent them off to hit the baths and eat.
The rest of the afternoon and early evening had been spent in training; good, clean physical activity. It sure beat being trapped behind a desk like some paper-shufflin' bureaucrat! The element exercises were my kinda thing; sparring, working with my Reapers, I got to get out and meet people. For all that I was something of a solitary warrior in my fighting style, I was really a people person, I liked being surrounded by people. I liked the interaction. It certainly made up for my Captain's aloofness with his troops. I often wondered how he ran this Squad before I got here if he never spoke to any of them. Maybe my predecesor had been a people person too.
I grabbed my own bath in the quieter, more private, officers baths. Rank had it's privileges, even if the soap that the cleaning crew kept giving me did smell kinda strange and spicy, it was manly enough not to have me smellin' like a buncha flowers so I guessed I'd let it pass. I grabbed a tray of food for dinner and took it up to my office in my Lieutenants quarters, lit the candle on my desk and started on my daily forest of paperwork. Such was the glorious life of a Lieutenant.
I left my door cracked open as a signal that I was free in case someone needed to talk, it was a practice of mine, another way I handled my duties as Kuchiki's Lieutenant. Ancestors knew they couldn't take any problems they might be having to the Kuchiki, he'd probably just raise that aristocratic eyebrow of his and stare at them coldly like he was wondering why they would come whining to him if they had a problem. I might not look like the 'wisdom and counsel' type (as a matter of fact, I wasn't) but I knew that sometimes it helped just to be able to talk about what was going on. Sometimes my Reapers needed only an ear to listen to them, sometimes they needed someone to beat them with the common sense stick. I was there to do both.
I was about halfway through updating my report and adding notes on the Soul Roll when a light tap sounded against my door frame.
"This ain't the toilet, th' door's open!" I grunted, kinda glad to set the paperwork aside.
"Lieutenant Abarai," a somewhat timid voice said as she pushed the door to one side. I nodded her in and she entered, moving to slide the door shut behind her.
"Leave it open," I told her. "I like the air."
The real reason was so no-one started any rumors about any funny business going on between me and my impressionable young female Reapers. I had enough headaches without adding that one to the pile.
"I hope I'm not disturbing you," she said as a preamble. I recognized the little Reaper, kinda new to the business, just assigned to Sixteenth element. I think that I'd just assigned her to her first mission in the Mortal Realm.
Sure enough, that was what the meeting was about. She was a little nervous and feeling insecure about being sent out by herself. I didn't tell her not to worry, she should be worried. I told her to keep that fear and use it, but don't let it overcome her. A little fear would keep her senses sharp. It was when the fighting became routine that a Reaper started missing things, and that could spell disaster. She confided that she was nervous about running into a powerful Hollow so I told her that the area I'd assigned her to was going cold, and the incidence was unlikley but that was no reason to let her guard down. She was to trust in her training and to do her best but to call in for back-up if there was a complication. Just standard newbie advice. She seemed to feel better, calmer, after hearing it and left the room with a spine that was a little straighter. I went back to my damned paperwork.
:Ah, the glories of being a Vice-Captain,: I sighed internally over my desk. What the hell had I been thinking, training to be a Lieutenant?!
I ran my thoughts back over the day and realized that, in the routine, I'd completely forgotten to investigate that Shadow mystery.
:I'll have time to do it tomorrow,: I thought to myself.
There was no lieutenants meeting and one of the elements I had had sceduled to train had been called out as back-up for another squad in a hot site. After my paperwork was done, I'd go out for another training session with Zabimaru before a final shower and then bed.