This is Week 5: Challege 1 ~ part 7: I'm working with each flower for each Gotei Thirteen division as well as the meaning.

Summary: Speaking to people is not Toshiro's strong point. So it goes without saying that speaking with Bambietta is also not one of his strong points.
Notes: This is another story that takes place after the Quincy war. This though is not related to the previous one-shot and is meant to stand on its own. Also, this was written a long time ago but I never got around to posting it as I hadn't finished it but with the reveals of certain characters personalities I decided to leave it as is. :P

Iris
~courage~

Toshiro stood in the corner of the room watching the five girls gossip. Hyorinmaru spoke to the child taicho. "She is your sister. Just speak with her."

The boy leaned against the wall. "It's not that simple. She may be my sister... my twin sister to be exact... but she is still a stranger. I can't just go up and talk to her. If I say the wrong thing she'll never want to speak with me again."

The five girls continued to giggle. Candice looked up at him suddenly, her eyes narrowing. "What are you doing?"

"What?" Toshiro startled, his body shifting to another position. "Does Basterbine even know that she's my sister or the other Quincy."

"Sheesh." The girl stood up and headed over. She bent over to look at him so he got an even better look at her cleavage.

"Why does she have to dress that way?" The boy simply stared at her.

"Why do you have to have no reaction?"

"I think she's my cousin, or something like that."

The girl's finger suddenly pushed into his chest. "Look... I know you Shinigami don't like us and you don't like the fact that you have to live with us among you now. Just deal with it."

"Nope. She doesn't know." Toshiro glanced around her shoulder and noticed Bambietta looking right at him. When she suddenly caught sight of him looking right at her she turned her head. "But she might."

The boy turned then to leave, only to have the busty teen grab his shoulder. "Uh-uh, we've been talking about it and we've noticed you've been lurking around. Every time we try to talk to you, you end up leaving like this. You and everyone else likes to stare and talk behind our backs as if we're freaks."

The boy's comfort levels were quickly lowering. "As if you would know what that feels like."

"Excuse me?" Candice refused to let go of his shoulder. "You guys are a bunch of self-centered snobs."

Toshiro turned his head to look at the other four girls and saw the look on Bambietta's face. Her face was twisted up in disgust as she looked at him. He swallowed as a thought passed his mind. "I didn't even say anything to her and she doesn't want to speak with me."

"I think this is the result of you not choosing to speak."

"Yes... but I don't know how to speak to her. I don't know what to say in this situation as what I've said has already gotten her mad at me." The boy felt himself shrinking away, only to have the girl tug on his shoulder.

"What do you want from me?" The boy's voice strained.

"Why don't you just leave us alone? Just go away."

"What do you mean by that?"

The smallest of the girls spoke then ending her sentence with some majorly bad words. "We're saying none of us want to see your face again."

Toshiro found himself flinching and his voice strained. "Fine."

"Good... go."

The boy turned then to leave. Hyorinmaru spoke in the back of his mind. "You should say something to them."

"Like what? My own sister has made it clear that she doesn't want anything to do with me, likely because I'm a shinigami." He paused then, stopping in the door way. "You know... you accuse me of not wanting to have anything to do with you because you're Quincy but the way I see it having watched you guys since the war ended you also don't want anything to do with the Shinigami. It's a two way street."

He then slipped away, heading to his room. He found himself slumping down onto his bed, lying on his back without looking at the ceiling. His arms were spread out to the side. He simply stayed there, not noticing when Rangiku approached the room. "Taicho... it's dinner time."

"Not hungry. Actually, I don't feel good." He remained there. Rangiku came and went and his answer was the same, that he didn't feel good. A few days didn't take the depressed feeling away and he knew that he would have to get back to working but he didn't want to. Opening his eyes and turning on his side so that he could go the restroom he startled.

There peeking around the open door was one of the girls. He blinked a couple of times as he thought one of the strands on the top of her head twitched and moved as if it had its own life. He sat up, his voice straining in panic. "What are you doing here!"

"I came to visit."

His voice hissed. "These are my private quarters. And why would you come to visit?"

Toshiro stood up, only to watch as the girl moved so she was standing in the doorway, her hands behind her back. "I had to come and visit you here because you haven't left your room the last couple of days.

He felt his muscles tense up, wishing that she would move. Normally he would be in the restroom by now. "That answers one of my questions. I'm going to ask why you came to visit."

"You were right."

"What?"

"We're guilty of not wanting having anything to do with the Shinigami just like the Shinigami are guilty of not wanting to have anything to do with us."

"Yes. But why are you here?"

"I want to try and make conversation with you."

"I'm horrible with conversations! And I have to go to the restroom!" Toshiro's voice strained more with panic. "Not now."

"You're going back to your duties."

"No." The boy wasn't happy.

"Then you can have a conversation with me."

"No, I can't." The boy began to fidget. "I really need to go!"

The girl tilted his head. "You don't have to go and use the restroom?"

The sound of the youngest of the five suddenly came from the other side of the door. "He has to go potty!"

Toshiro felt his cheeks heat up and he found himself storming out of his own room, his eyes confirming that all five were there. "You're all a bunch of bullies!"

"Bullies? That's rather uncalled for." These were the first words Bambietta had spoken to him directly.

"Yeah. I'm sure all those comments I heard about myself over the past couple of months haven't been you... just, never mind!" His face reddened even more and he found himself hurrying off. Once he had relieved himself he came back, only to find that two of the females were still there.

Candice was sitting on the bed, her legs crossed while Giselle stood with a bundle in her arms. "So the captain is back."

The boy's fists clenched together. "What are you doing here?"

"Giselle is right in saying that we're also guilty of not wanting to deal with the Shinigami."

"And what does this have to do with me? You clearly said yesterday that you never wanted to see me again."

"We thought, or at least I've been thinking about it. Having a conversation doesn't sound like a bad idea, so come here."

Toshiro frowned, looking around his room to make sure nothing was out of place. He then stepped over to the bed. "Wouldn't this conversation be better away from my quarters?"

One of Candice's hands reached out and grabbed the front of his uniform and tugged slightly and then the other hand latched on as well. She pulled him off his feet and onto the bed onto his back. She then moved on top of him. "I think this is the perfect place to have a conversation as there is a particular way I like my conversation with men."

"Candy... this is a bad idea."

The next thing Toshiro knew the other girl was sitting on him, glaring at the other girl. "You can go away if you want Gigi. Your plan to get him to talk to us didn't work, so I'm going to use my plan as I know it will work. It always does."

"I didn't even have a chance to implement my plan so you can't say it works." Giselle looked away.

"Excuse me." The small boy watched the two but got no response back. He let out a deep sigh. "Could you please get off me? This is not a very comfortable position."

"Oh, sorry." Candice got up but remained over him. "I'll try a different position."

The boy's bright teal eyes narrowed. "Exactly what do you mean by that?" Instead of getting an answer the light haired teen touched him, causing him to flinch and then scuttle away. "What the hell are you doing?"

The female stared at him, moving into a sitting position. "You do understand what I meant when I said that there is a particular way I like to have conversations with guys? Despite the fact you are a Shinigami you do have quite the handsome features. You're also a captain so you should be experienced somewhat."

"Are you crazy!" Toshiro could feel the heat leaving his face. "We're blood related!"

Candice's face changed from one of seduction to one of surprise. "Wait... what."

"I told you it was a bad idea." Giselle continued to look away.

"Wait? You knew?" The light haired female turned her head away. She then turned to look at the boy. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"You never asked why I decided to come and see him. All of you just followed along with it and then you took my own words and twisted them around. You weren't actually thinking about it before I mentioned it and you thought that you could sack a hot guy."

The small taicho took a deep breath and pushed himself away. "Look. I'm really not comfortable with having this conversation. Even if you weren't blood related... never mind."

Candice's hand came out and grabbed his shoulder. "Wait... did you just get quieter. Come on, talk to us. Or do you hate us."

The boy tensed up, his hands clenching the seat of his pants. Hyorinmaru spoke then. "Tell them."

"I can't."

"Sheesh. You had some conceited words back there but you only ended up condemning yourself."

Toshiro's body tensed up. "Conceited? If my not talking to people is an indicator that I hate people then I must hate a whole lot of people." He scooted off the bed. "Seriously... close the door after you leave. I'm heading into the office to work."

M

Upon arriving at the office he found himself hugged by Rangiku. "I was starting to get worried. To forewarn you I did mention it to Gin and he said he would do something about the situation so if he does something weird. I know I shouldn't have said anything to him, but..."

"It's all right. I'm getting to work." The boy went and sat down at the desk. Half way through one piece of paper someone came into the room causing him to look up. He saw both of the females that had been in his room. "What do the two of you want?"

Candice looked away. "I'm honestly not sure what I did wrong, but I do know I should apologize for upsetting you like I did."

The other Quincy female came over and set something on the desk. Toshiro looked at it as she waited for him to speak. "When we were talking in my quarters where neither of you should have been all things considered you made it clear that you knew before that I was related to you guys. How did you know?"

"Cang Du nii-sama told me as soon as the war was over. I noticed you standing to the side watching us. It looked like you wanted to join us, but you never did."

Toshiro glanced away. Rangiku was watching which caused him to wonder if he would be able to say what he wanted. "They're strangers." His fingers of one handed grabbed the edge of the desk. "To me you all are strangers who had no problem talking about me, saying things despite the fact you didn't know me. Mind you, now that I think about it you were the only one I never heard say anything other then to give me a chance."

"Nii-sama says you told him that not being able to speak with us was frustrating you."

"Ichimaru?" Toshiro blinked a couple of times. "I don't recollect saying something like that to him."

"He said he asked you how getting to know us was going and you gave him the silent treatment."

Rangiku let out a sigh. "Taicho... by not saying anything to people you tend to give them answers."

"So when Nee-chan told Nii-sama that you were sulking in your room and not eating or drinking he figured what was going on and came and asked me to talk to you. The others weren't supposed to come." Giselle unwrapped the bundle revealing a thermos of tea as well as some sandwiches. Two cups sat in the bundle as well. "I wasn't lying when I said I wanted a conversation with you. Despite the fact we're close in age I'm still your aunt."

Toshiro glanced away. "Talking isn't my strong point. I..."

"... can't talk to people unless you come to know them." The girl reached out and patted his head.