The next morning, I awoke with a renewed sense of enthusiasm. I hoped today wouldn't be as difficult as yesterday, but some how I was having a terrible run of luck. For starters, my squad had tasked themselves with hiding all of the brooms the area. Or possibly the whole Seireitei, I considered. That made my first task of the day extremely difficult.
I had found the key to my new office late last night and was eager to get things set up this morning. When I opened the door, I invisioned a room full of books that was warm and inviting. Sadly, that wasn't the case. Inside the room was bare, the floor to ceiling bookshelves were stripped of their contents. Only bits of paper littered the shelves surface. The desk in the centre of the room was on its side, its drawers pulled out and discarded on the floor. To my right there would have been a cozy seating area with two love seats and a coffee table. The cushions for the seats, however, were scattered on the floor and the coffee table was covered in dust. There were no paintings on the walls, only one panoramic window featured the room. It was centred in the lounging area and based on the number of shinigami that were poking their heads in the window, it needed curtains. After spending an hour or so dusting everything down and setting what little furniture I had back up, I decided to clean the floors.
Wandering the halls of Squad Fives main building, I slowly became acquainted with the rooms in it. To my relief, the main building of the Fifth Division had a similar lay out as Squad Eight. I found my way around the building with ease. The floors were spotless; no doubt my squad was up late last night rubbing polish into the wood and wiping the walls of scuffs and marks. It made me proud that they had taken my orders to heart.
At the end of the hall a shinigami approached, his attention fully fixed on the book he had open in his hands.
"Excuse me what is your name?" I asked, I thought it was a harmless question.
He panicked and tossed the book into the air, cracking it off the top of his head on its downward path. He stood at attention, "f-fourth seat H-Hiroto Yoshida, captain!" he practically yelled it.
I uncovered my ears and politely nodded to him. I had finally bumped into one of my seated officers. Now I was getting somewhere. "At ease fourth seat Yoshida. I just have a question and I hope you can answer it for me."
He relaxed imperceptibly. "How can I help captain?" there was no stuttering that time.
"I'm trying to find a broom and mop, but there aren't any in the usual areas around here. Where could I find a set?" I asked.
He thought about it for a second. "What exactly do you plan to do with them when you get them, captain?"
I stared at him. For a moment I thought he was joking but he didn't laugh. I looked at him, confused. If I was going to attack someone, I had a perfectly good zanpakuto strapped to my back.
"Fourth seat Yoshida," I said, slowly enunciating each word, "I plan to clean my office floor with them." I tried for my best deadpan look.
"Oh right! Of course thats what you'd do with them! What a stupid question for me to ask!" he bowed several times. This was bordering beyond ridiculous.
"Yoshida?" I sighed, staring at the ceiling so he could stop embarrassing himself.
"Yes ma'am?"
"Just show me where they are please," I slapped my palm to my forehead, I attempted to hide my irritation.
"Right away!" he saluted. With out further prompting he marched down the hall in the direction I was originally heading. Rounding the corner, he stood in front of a door. Turning a key he held in his hand, he opened the closet and gave way for me to look inside. As I had suspected, my squad was hoarding them. Handing both items to me, he looked instantly sheepish. "I'll have someone put all of these back as soon as possible," he said.
"That would be nice. In the meantime, I would also like the squads schedule written up by you today. Have it on my desk before you head out this evening. As it happens, I fired our third seat yesterday for sleeping on a table. So I leave this up to you. Do you think you can handle it?"
"Of course captain! I'll get to it right away!" he said, turning away from me.
Looking at the broom in my hand, I let out a little chuckle. "Oh and fourth seat Yoshida? Just so you're aware... I don't kill hollows with a broom." he marched down the hall, laughing.
***
Back at my office a familiar face greeted me. "Nanao! Missing me already? Begging for me to come back?" I grinned.
"You've only been gone a few days you know." she straightened her glasses. "But yes I'll admit your absence has been noted."
"Awe Nanao you big softy, don't go crying on me now!" I pulled her in to a big hug. "So what are you doing here, really?" I asked.
"The captain has me working on a file and it's been giving me a lot of trouble. I want access to the restricted area of the archives to do some research but I need clearance in order to do so." She said simply.
"Why aren't you asking Captain Kyoraku to write you a-," I corrected myself, "-you can't find him can you?"
She shook her head. "You know what the captain's like. He's probably sleeping on a rooftop right now, working off the sake he drank yesterday."
I stifled a laugh with my hand. "I'm sorry Nanao! At the very least, you have me to come to now. But tell me more about this file, what's it about?"
"It's an old file; about a shinigami by the name of Kisuke Urahara, does he sound familiar to you?"
I leaned against the wall and shrugged. "Nope, never heard of him before."
She stared at me for a moment. "Right, anyways I'm trying to get more information about this guy but all of the accessible records on him don't exist."
"What's the reason for the research?" I raised my eyebrows.
"I can't say. All I know is that I was ordered to work on it for the head captain."
I considered what she said. "If the head captain is involved then this is serious stuff Nanao. Mind keeping me updated on it?" I went into my office and beckoned her to follow.
"Why the sudden interest?" She inquired.
"Purely curiosity, nothing more." I penned the note and signed it with a flourish.
She grabbed the note off the desk. "You know, he's not the only one who's missing records. I can't find any information about you before you joined the thirteen court guard squad. Not even your records from the academy, why is that?" She sat in front of me with her head cocked to the side.
"I think we both know that Captain Kyoraku likes to protect his subordinates, Nanao. I believe if I went looking through your files, there would be holes in it too. Am I wrong?"
She put her hands up in defeat. "I wasn't interrogating you Akira. It was, as you say, 'purely curiosity'." She changed the subject. "Thank you for getting me this," she gestured to the note. "I owe you for it."
"Don't worry about it, just avoid giving me the third degree in the future, okay?" I tried to pass it off casually, getting up from my desk. "Let me see you out."
She turned to me at the door. "I'll try to keep you informed as best I can about this file I'm working on. Good day Akira." She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and walked away.
Urahara. That was a name I hadn't heard in over fifty years.
I looked over to my right at the entrance. Several boxes were stacked by the door. Jushiros tidy script was evident on the top of one box; my curiosity was asking me to open them. I decided to deal with those after the floors were cleaned.
Placing my weapons on the clean surface of my desk and shrugging off my haori, I set about the task at hand. Cleaning floors was a thankless job, but it was also therapeutic. Within twenty minutes, I had worked up a good sweat. Wiping my forehead across my brow, I surveyed my office. It was still bare, but much less dusty. I could work with that.
Grabbing a few of the boxes from the hallway, I began opening them and organizing their contents. I smiled as I saw what was inside. It was an assortment of books. Pulling my office chair to one bookcase, I set the box down on it. I riffled through the books, starting with the non-fiction. I found a few familiar titles: A History of Shinigami, Hollows and Where to Find Them, and Jinzen: A Guided Meditation, to name a few. All books I had borrowed from Jushiro at some point or another. How thoughtful of him.
A quiet knock sounded at my door and I heard a click as it opened. I chanced a quick glance over my shoulder to see who had arrived. I saw the silver hair before I looked at his face and my heart skipped a beat. Sadly, his hair was too long and his eyes were the wrong colour. Trying my best not to sound disappointed, I gave him a wide grin and spoke up. "Jushiro! What brings you over to my neck of the woods?" I placed the book in my hands on the shelf and dusted my pants.
He didn't reply immediately. When I looked over at him, he was politely staring in a different direction. Was he blushing? I had completely forgotten that I wasn't wearing my haori. My backless kosode showed a little too much skin and I knew Jushiro was a very modest man. "I'm sorry captain, give me one moment." I hurried over to my desk and threw my haori back on.
He walked over to the two couches and sat down, patting the cushion for me to follow. Sitting down opposite to him, I smiled. "Thank you for the books, Jushiro, my office would have looked a little bear without them."
He looked over at the shelves and smiled. "I was in your office yesterday to check up on you and noticed Squad Twelve had ransacked the place, no doubt looking for evidence Aizen left behind. It seemed unfair for you to have such a lovely space without anything in it."
I felt a twinge of regret that I had not been there the day before. "I'm sorry about that," I frowned. "A lot happened yesterday. I was busy with the squad and I guess I hadn't really thought about setting up my office until today." I rubbed my forehead, working out the stress lines . I had a feeling that the kind and sensible Jushiro Ukitake I knew, would have disapproved of the methods I used the day prior.
His smile faltered, obviously word had gotten out about my tactless introductions. "Yes I heard that you found the squads common area in an unpleasant state."
"Jushiro, that is the understatement of the century!" I fell back on the couch. "They were drinking before noon; they left their food, plates and even pots and pans on the tables. I mean the smell in that place Jushiro..." I scrunched my nose in disgust, "it made even a sewer smell like roses."
He was silent for a moment, considering his words. "Clearly these men were neglected. Maybe a little tough love wouldn't hurt them. But I believe there is a fine line between discipline and unnecessary punishment, wouldn't you agree captain?" he gave me a stern look.
I felt guilty. As difficult as it was to see my faults laid out before me, I had to hear them from another person. Talking to Jushiro on a regular basis could prove instructive for me. Slouching my shoulders, I agreed with him. "It was a rash decision on my part I'll admit, I should have tried a different approach. I guess I forget my temper sometimes."
"The important part is that you learn from it. Akira these men have no direction and you need to give them one. Build them up and make them proud to be a part of your squad. I know you have it in you." he tapped his chin thoughtfully. "On another note, where have my subordinates vanished too? They said they were going to fetch tea and they're usually very punctual." he turned in his seat, looking over his shoulder at the doorway.
He was talking about his co-third seats: Kiyone Kotetsu and Sentaro Kotsubak. I had never met two people who fought over the attention of their captain more then they did. They always conducted themselves in a childish manner. Jushiro didn't seem to mind though. Perhaps it was his youthful nature, or possibly his unyielding patience for silly shinigamis. Whatever the reason, I admired his perseverance.
"Quit shoving me! You're getting in the way of the door!" I could hear them bickering.
"If you would stop putting your hand in my face, I'll stop shoving you!" the other one grumbled.
Here comes the circus, I thought. I heard a bang and the two of them tumbled into the room, attempting to recover into a bowed position on the floor.
Entering the room after them, to my surprise, was Kensei. He was balancing two trays with his hands. He no longer sported the smirk on his face from yesterday; it was replaced with two very black eyes and a rather large bandage across the bridge of his nose. He didn't have any tissues stuffed up it so I assumed the bleeding had stopped. I felt a little bad about what I had done, but only a little. He placed the first tray on the table in front of us. Four little cups rested upturned on a tea towel, while the fragrant steam of jasmine rose from the tea pot. Next to that tray, he laid out an assortment of rice balls; the irony of it wasn't lost on me. He gave a polite nod but said nothing. Reaching in to the folds of his kosode, he pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me. I gave him a quizzical look, but he didn't react. "Good day captain." He gave me a curt salute and left the room.
Jushiro looked at the paper in my hand with a puzzling smile. "Care to share, Akira?"
I unfolded the piece of paper and read its contents for a moment. I summarized it for them, "it's an apology for his misconduct yesterday." I refolded the paper and placed it on the table.
Kiyone rubbed her hands together mischievously. "Oh I know! Is he the one you beat senseless? The one that everyone's talking about Akira? I bet you taught him a lesson!"
That irritated me to no end. Temper Akira. "Let me correct you, third seat Kotetsu. Firstly, he fought me in an agreed upon duel after displaying gross insubordination. He received a fair punishment and the matter has been resolved. Secondly, I would ask that you respect my position in the thirteen court guard squad and refer to me as Captain Yuki."
She froze. "Apologies Captain Yuki, that was very rude of me." She resumed bowing her head on the floor like an idiot.
A smile threatened to take over his features, so Jushiro busied himself with the task of pouring the tea. "So serious Arika! You need to smile more, otherwise you'll ruin your pretty face. Now then, how about well take a moment to enjoy the food and drink we have been given," he gestured to the table, "Kiyone and Sentaro, come and eat with us."
As we sipped our tea and chatted amongst ourselves, I couldn't help but be reminded of my old squad. I needed to spend more time enjoying the little moments, instead of stressing so much. Jushiro said something funny and we all laughed. It felt good to do something so normal. What exactly was I stressing about anyways? An image flashed in my mind of a man wearing an eye patch and bells in his hair. Oh right. That. I needed to start hashing out my strategy. If I lost to him, I had a feeling my squad would never take me seriously again. It made me a little sick to my stomach.
Peering over at me, Jushiro pulled me from my thoughts. "Is everything alright, Akira? You seem distracted."
"Oh it's nothing really. I was just mentally cataloguing the things I have left to do for the day," I scratched my head with my index finger. Liar.
"I think that's our cue to leave then," he said kindly. "We also have a lot on our plates today don't we?" He looked to his two subordinates. "The head captain has my division monitoring some activity in the world of the living."
"Is it connected to Aizen?" I asked.
"We're not quite sure yet. I have a feeling we'll be calling a meeting about this before long, just be prepared." He gave me a serious expression. "Now I believe my subordinates and I have some work to do!" He looked over at them and smiled.
"Yes captain!" They said in unison. Grabbing the empty trays, they carried them out of the room.
"Well then, I bid you farewell for now, Captain Yuki. I hope you find these books a great resource." He patted the boxes I had already brought in. Waiving farewell, he followed his subordinates out.
The head captain had tasked Squad Eight and Squad Thirteen with some very important assignments. I wondered what it all meant. For the time being though, I needed to focus on my own squad.
Walking over to the boxes, I continued the slow and methodical task of placing them on my shelves. Someone had the foresight to place the latest volume of my favourite anime on top of one of the boxes; that made me smile. Looking around my office, I counted off the list of items still left to be done. There was a lot. I decided to tuck it away into the drawer of my desk, I'd save it for another day.