Hiyori walked down the destroyed road, kicking up a few rocks as she went. It had been two weeks since the fall of the Quincy's and she knew her, Ichigo's friends, and Kisuke's group would be going home in the next few days. The idea of returning home alone, without the others, was not one she wanted to face. Over the last hundred years she had become close with her seven other living companions. Now most of them were staying here. She got offered the opportunity, but turned it down immediately. She had no desire to work under Mayuri. The asshole always acted superior to her when he was below her. She had no desire to work under him now. Looking over her shoulder she thought about the Taichou Promotion ceremony that was about to start. She had decided not to attend due to her mixed feelings about possibly getting left behind.

"You've grown up so much Hiyori." she heard. Hiyori paused. She knew that voice. She turned around to see Hikafune, looking small and pale, but it was her. Hiyori ran over, happy and upset to see her at the same time. Hikafune was the closest thing Hiyori had to a mother. She hadn't seen her in over a hundred and ten years and had missed her terribly. She had heard that her former taichou had been around, helping by making special reishi infused food to help recover the shinigami who were still hurt. She must have been running herself into the ground doing that.

"I thought the Royal Guard didn't get involved in the affairs of the seiretei." she said in a putout tone. Hikafune smiled, as if she didn't mind in the least.

"Normally we don't, but Ichigo helped us so we are returning the favor." she said. Hiyori pouted, not liking the answer. "I heard you were still here, so I had to come make sure you were well. I saw Shinji, but you weren't with him." she said. Hiyori frowned.

"You mean baldy didn't tell me you were looking for me. That guy." she growled. The taichou laughed.

"You get along as well as ever." she said. Hiyori scowled. "Why don't you come walk with me and tell me all that you have been up to?" she asked. Hiyori smiled, that actually sounded nice.

xxx

Shunsui stood at the front of the room, Okikiba and Nanao behind him. On the even side of the room Soi Fon and Marechiyo started the line. Beside them was Isane, by herself. Shunsui knew the fourth division needed a taichou the most currently, but Isane wasn't ready to take over such a demanding job. She would just have to remain the acting taichou for now. He had actually asked Hachigen to do it, but the man refused on the grounds that he was not a healer. Shunsui decided to make sure Isane was getting help from the other taichou's around her for now and promote her to the position in a few years when she was ready for it. Next to her was Byakuya and Renji, then Toshiro and Rangiku. After them was Mayuri. He had no fukutaichou at the moment. On the other side of the room was Rose and Izuru, fresh on their feet again, then Shinji and Momo. Iba stood next, by himself. He could continue to be the fukutaichou. Next to him was Kensei and Shuhei, followed by Kenpachi who also had no fukutaichou. Lastly was Rukia. She was another one who Shunsui wanted to make taichou immediately, however he knew she wasn't quite ready yet. She had a bankai, yes, but it was only just achieved. He didn't want to overwhelm the young girl so quickly. He knew he had nothing to fear with her though. Byakuya would never allow his precious little sister to fail. If she struggled he would swoop in an save her.

Shunsui had hoped he was doing the right thing, rushing into making Lisa and Love taichou's again. However he knew they could do it, and the sooner they get the divisions back on their feet the better. After all, Lisa practically ran the eighth division and Love was the seventh taichou before. Not only that but their new fukutaichou's would be excellent assistants. It would also be two less things that he would have to worry about. "Enter, seventh division taichou Aikawa Love and seventh division taichou Yadomaru Lisa." he called.

xxx

Mayuri left the taichou ceremony as soon as it ended. He didn't care much for it, and now there were two more old faces among the ranks. Yet he knew the necessity behind it. Just like he knew he needed a second. Nemu may not have been perfect, but she had ran the division well as his fukutaichou. He still couldn't believe she was gone. She died, yet he still had her heart. He decided to make another Nemu, the eighth one. Yet she would not be ready to be a fukutaichou for a very long time. He needed someone he could trust.

Mayuri wasn't a very trusting person at all, but whoever the second officer he choose was had to understand how he worked. There were only a handful that did. When Kisuke had formed the Research department, it had been him, Kisuke, Hiyori, Akon, and Kuna. Kuna was still around, but she was rather annoying at times. He would also never ask Hiyori to come back. She just didn't work well with him. That only left a singe person. Akon had already been his third seat for quite some time now, and while he did have a habit of doing his own thing every now and again he was remotely trust worthy.

To his surprise, Mayuri found himself missing Nemu. He didn't understand why. She wasn't a real soul, just one he made in a test tube. Yet somehow he had developed an attachment to her. That happened around the time Ichigo's quincy friend first invaded. He knew Ichigo had indirectly or directly changed every single person in the gotie thirteen. He didn't like the fact that a mere human could do that, but at the same time it was intriguing. He wondered where all that boy and his friends would go. Putting the thought aside, he set out to find Akon to inform him of his intentions.

xxx

Kenpachi let out a heavy sigh as he returned to the eleventh division. Surprisingly he hadn't gotten lost this time. He thought to blame it on the fact that Yachiru was no longer riding on his shoulder and giving him directions. Yet the thought left a hollow feeling in him. It wasn't like she was completely gone for him. After all, she was the spirit of his zanpakuto. If he could just find a way to communicate with her, but he knew he was no good at that thing. Yet for the sake of his beloved daughter, he knew he had to learn. He entered his office to see Ikkaku and Yumichika, like they always were. Ikkaku was fast asleep on his couch, and Yumichika was organizing his stuff. Not that it mattered. Kenpachi would just tear it up again by the end of the week.

"How did the meeting go?" Yumichika asked without looking back.

"Does it matter? There's just two new faces running around." he dismissed, then he went and sat at his desk. "I don't have Yachiru around to help with the paperwork, so I guess that mean's Ikkaku is going to take that spot over. You'll be the new third seat." Kenpachi groaned out as he looked at the paperwork. Yumichika just nodded. They all knew that was coming, they just wanted to give Kenpachi the chance to voice it.

"Have you seen Ichigo yet?" Yumichika asked. Kenpachi just waved it away.

"No, I'm not in the mood to go find him." he said. Yumichika felt a twinge of worry about the man. Kenpachi always wanted to fight. They had to find a way to get him out of the slump he was in.

"Then how about you try me?" Kensei asked as he and Shuhei came into the office. Shuhei nodded politely to Yumichika, and the feathered male returned it. Kenpachi looked the ninth taichou up and down.

"Not in the mood." he groaned. Kensei scowled.

"I'm not asking. I need a challange, and your the only one that will accept it." he said. Kenpachi smirked.

"Oh really. You going to use your banaki?" he asked, and Yumichika felt a twinge of excitement, hoping the battle hungry man would take the bait. Kensei nodded. "Alright, let's go then." he said. Kensei and Kenpachi stepped out of the office, leaving Shuhei and Yumichika alone with a sleeping Ikkaku.

"You look better." Yumichika noted. Shuhei sighed.

"I suppose." he said. Yumichika sighed. This boy was depressed too.

"Those Quincy's managed to kill a few of our best people. The ones you happened to go against were able to kill our suitaichou and take down the royal guard. You shouldn't be down about loosing to them." Yumichika said.

"It's not that. Taichou already gave me the same lecture. It's..." he started, but Yumichika already knew. Sajin was gone, Kensei was almost gone, Rangiku and Izuru were both almost gone. Shuhei had been through a lot in the last two years, had lost a lot of people he cared about. It was hard just to bounce back.

"Come on, let's go watch the taichou's." Yumichika said. Shuhei nodded.

xxx

Izuru came into the fifth division with Rangiku. It was lunch time and they wanted to take Momo out. They had gone to find Shuhei and Renji too, but the two were not in their offices. Momo was handing off some papers to Shinji when they came in. "Oh, looks like your friends are here. You should get going." Shinji dismissed her as he took the papers. The black haired girl gave him a nervous look.

"Are you going to get some lunch?" she asked. He smiled and nodded.

"Yeah don't worry about me. I'm just waiting for Hiyori and Hikafune to get here. Go on." he shooed her away. Momo nodded and followed the two blondes out.

"Where are we going?" she asked them, curious. Izuru looked back to her as they walked.

"We thought about getting all the fukutaichou's together for lunch, but Abarai and Hisagi are already off somewhere. I wonder if they're training together again? Iba should still be in his office, but I think we should let him get to know his new taichou. Omaeda probably went home, and I think the others are busy, so it's just us." he said.

"Mind if I join you then?" they turned to see Toshiro, looking a little lost and out of place. Izuru and Rangiku went to answer, but Momo ran over to grab him arm and pull him over to the others.

"Of course Shiro! You're always welcome." she said. The other two tried not to chuckle at the young taichou's red face. He hated being called Shiro because it reminded him that Momo viewed him as a kid. He had started to accept that from the others, even started to make jokes about it. However she was one of the few he really wanted to view him as an equal, and not as an inferior child. Yet he learned not to push it. He had been telling her for years to stop calling him that, yet she continued to do so. It would make no difference.

"Taichou, it's great to see you away from work!" Rangiku cooed. Toshiro scowled.

"Don't get the wrong idea, I'm coming to make sure you don't get drunk while we have a lot of work to do!" he hissed. Izuru smiled. Leave it to Toshiro to try and cover up genuine concern with work related issues. If it was anyone else in the Gotie thirteen, Izuru would think it really was work related. However he knew from first hand experience that Toshiro was very serious about anything involving Momo and Rangiku. These two were very precious to him and Izuru felt bad for any poor soul stupid enough to wake that dragon.

"Awww come on, you need to relax a little." Rangiku said. Toshrio sighed, letting the matter drop.

"By the way Kira, it's good to see your doing well again." he said, shifting focus to the third officer. Izuru wanted to point out it hadn't just been him in bad shape. Toshiro and Rangiku had both been turned into zombies. Yet he felt it was better not to bring that up.

"Thank you sir." he decided to say instead.