Bleach: The Forgotten Captain - The Memoirs of Akari Miyazaki

Chapter 6: The Dream All Along

"Akari!" one of them screamed, and I recognized it was Rangiku. She jumped up and hugged me.

"We're in the same company?" she exclaimed joyfully, and I hugged her back. Then her gaze fell on my badge, and she gasped.

"Fourth?" she whispered, and I nodded slowly, hoping she could see the disbelief in my eyes. She showed me her own badge, and I was pleasantly surprised that she had also attained an officer rank.

"Tenth, that's wonderful," I said, and she shrugged somewhat shyly. She hadn't expected to reach an officer rank at all. There were twenty officers in each company. She had the tenth rank, making her one of the ten strongest in the company. So, her training had really paid off.

A few more entered the room, but none of our friends were among them, and none of them carried a wooden badge. It took almost two hours until Ivan Youru arrived and could officially greet us once again.

He assigned sleeping quarters to everyone except Rangiku and me. He asked us to stay for a moment while the others could now go get their belongings from the academy or home to bring them to their new accommodations.

"There is a single room for each officer, the suites for vice-captains and captains are upstairs, but that shouldn't concern you at the moment since they are currently unoccupied, as you surely know," he rummaged in a cupboard, "here are the keys," he handed each of us a small key with a number engraved on it.

On mine, the number four, and on Rangiku's, the number ten.

"You are located in the left part of the main building; only the first ten have their rooms in the main. The lower ten have their accommodations between the dorms of the others," he explained further, pointing to a map outlining the buildings of the Tenth Company.

That was the beginning of my career in the Gotei 13.

My room wasn't particularly large, but compared to our sleeping quarters at the academy, it felt enormous. I had my own small bathroom and a little kitchen. Rangiku's room was an exact copy of mine.

The same symbols adorned our doors as on our keys and wooden badges: the emblem of the Tenth Company and the respective rank.

I had nearly finished exploring my room when there was a knock on the door, and Rangiku stood in her Shinigami uniform in front of me. I had also changed, and a strange feeling came over me. I felt the new phase of life I was stepping into.

"Ready for this, I'd say," remarked Rangiku with a grin, and I laughed.

"Shall we?" she asked, and I nodded. We had agreed earlier to meet at eleven o'clock at our favorite spot, the meadow at the academy.

It was dark, and a cool breeze swept around us.

I had to hold back from outpacing Rangiku, as thanks to Yoruichi's training, I was now much faster than her. When we arrived at the meadow, a figure was already there.

As we approached, I recognized it was Kisuke. He too wore the black Shinigami uniform and had a wooden badge attached to his arm.

"Good evening, you lovely officers," he greeted us mischievously, and Rangiku laughed cheerfully, all the burden seemed to have lifted off her. She plopped down on the meadow.

"Kisuke, man, the fourth rank for you too?" she asked, eyeing his badge.

"You two, always the achievers," she teased us, and I sat down on the grass. Kisuke and I exchanged a glance and laughed, but I quickly averted my gaze. Since our conversation a week ago, it had been strange between us. Kisuke behaved towards me as before, yet I noticed his sidelong glances when he thought I wasn't looking. I felt I owed him an answer, but I had deliberately avoided it so far.