Paperwork

"Fukutaichou, I'm sorry to bother you, but …"

"Yes, what is it?" the shinigami automatically replied, not even looking up from the paper she was holding. Her desk had disappeared ages ago underneath high piles of paper and the vice-captain herself looked as if she had not slept for several days – which was probably true.

Shin very well knew that even though his vice-captain generally was a gentle person, when she was behind her desk in her own study she turned into a monster with tendencies to bite off people's heads.

Paperwork had such an effect on people sometimes.

"Uhm... Taichou told me to bring these to you..."

The raven-haired vice-captain now finally raised her gaze from her work to look at the nervous young shinigami at the door.

A curse slipped from her lips as she noted the stack of papers Shin was holding.

The shinigami gulped nervously.

"Shin-kun," the vice-captain started, a pleasant smile on her lips – although Shin noticed the twitching of the corner of the female's lips, suggesting that the smile maybe was not quite that genuine, "could you maybe tell me where the taichou is?"

'She's going to snap right now,' Shin thought to himself.

"He's in his own room, Fukutaichou... he said that he'll take a nap."

A nap?

Vein pop.

The vice-captain got up and smoothed down the wrinkles on her black haori.

"Put the papers onto my desk, please, Shin-kun. I think that I'll go to have a little chat with our honoured captain."

After stomping down the corridor for a while, the very thoroughly pissed off vice-captain found the door she was looking for.

"Oy! That's my door you're slamming! Watch it, will ya!"

"Oh, forgive me, taichou-sama."

"Hmhp, spare me the bullshit. What's up?"

"Nothing much," the woman answered dryly.

The captain clenched his teeth.

"Oh, you're in one of those moods," he huffed.

"And what mood might that be?" the woman's voice as good as dripped with acid.

He ignored the comment and crossed his arms across his chest.

"What is it? Or did you stomp in here just to ruin my day?"

"I? Ruin your day?"

At this point the volume level of the "little chat" increased noticeably. In other words, the conversation was now loud enough to be clearly followed even from as far as second division's quarters.

"You're pushing your paperwork over onto me. AGAIN!"

"So…?"

"So, stop it! It's your job, damnit! Instead you keep on throwing me all these piles of paper! You don't even spare a glance at them before you call for someone to bring them over to my study. My desk is drowning in all that damn paper as I struggle from day to day to keep up with it, all while YOU ARE TAKING A NAP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY!"

"Well I was tired," he defended himself.

"YOU were tired? I haven't slept for three friggin' nights because I've been too busy with the damn paperwork and you dare – "

"Well it's not MY fault that – "

Out in the corridor, Shin pressed his hands over his ears and heaved a sigh. In the days before Aizen-taichou's betrayal, the fifth division had been a peaceful and harmonized place. Aizen-taichou had been very kind and well liked among his subordinates.

After his betrayal though, fifth division had been thrust into chaos. Vice-captain Hinamori had done the best she could, but her health had still been wavering.

Now, finally, fifth division had been appointed a new captain. Everyone had been relived, but it would seem it would take some time for them all to get used to the new situation.

And for sure, peace had not yet returned to the fifth division.

0oOo0

"How can they get along at all," Isane wondered, listening to the yelling coming from the fifth division's headquarters. She was sitting in the garden outside the fourth division's headquarters, holding a cup of tea in her hands.

"Is it just me," Matsumoto chuckled, "or do they remind you of one other division?"

"What division?" Isane asked, puzzled.

"Well, those two kind of remind me of Nanao-chan and Kyoraku-taichou. Of course, the fifth division tends to take it all a bit too far," Matsumoto said shaking her head.

"We are nothing like them!" Nanao objected, adjusting her glasses. "I'd rather say they are like Rangiku-san and Hitsugaya-taichou, one doing all the work for the other one, too."

"Hey – "

"They're both young and new to their positions," Isane cut in quickly. "They'll learn."

"Or they'll just end up killing each other," Matsumoto suggested in an off-handed manner, taking a long sip of her tea.

0oOo0

As the fifth division's vice-captain returned to the Kuchiki manor after a long day at work, the first thing she did was to collapse in a very unladylike manner onto her futon. She felt thoroughly exhausted.

Rukia called a servant who quickly arrived. She helped the raven-haired vice-captain to change from her formal shinigami's attire into a plain lilac kimono. Nobility or not, Rukia could not forget her poor origins and therefore preferred plainness, simplicity and comfort in everything she did.

After she had sent the servant off with an order to bring her a cup of tea and a little something to eat, Rukia sighed to herself and sat down onto the tatami floor.

She felt guilty for yelling so much at Ichigo. Surely they had always been bickering before but their fights had never been quite so severe as the ones they'd been having as of late, after gaining their new positions in Gotei 13. Naturally she felt annoyed because of all the paperwork he insisted on handing over to her but she ought to have realised how he was feeling.

He had first lost his powers, then he had died, and almost right away had been promoted to a captain in Gotei 13. He must have been overwhelmed by the very same feeling of being out-of-place that had took a hold of her when her powers had vanished and she had been trapped alone in the real world.

'I'll apologise to him,' she decided. She should from now on be more considerate and treat him with understanding and kindness. They'd find a compromise regarding the issue of the evil paperwork.

She heard the door slide open but didn't spare the servant a glance.

"Leave it onto the table."

She heard footsteps nearing her and then a light tap when the tray was being set onto the table.

However, she had not expected to hear "Yo, Rukia."

The woman quickly turned to look at the man she had mistaken for a servant.

"Ichigo? What are you – "

"What does it look like?" he snapped, looking quickly away and fighting a blush of embarrassment.

Truth to be told he had been pacing in the corridor behind Rukia's door and when the servant had appeared, startling him, he had stolen the tray from her while declaring that he would deliver it for Rukia.

"But why – "

"Rukia… I'm sorry."

The surprise disappeared from her face as her lips melted into a small smile.

"Ichigo, you idiot," she said quietly, still smiling. "Sit down," she requested, patting the empty spot by her side.

Ichigo scowled and seated himself onto the floor next to her.

"I was foolish as well as selfish. It is I who ought to apologise."

"Oy, what are you – "

"I was not considerate of how you feel. Forgive me." The young woman bowed her head.

"Geez, Rukia, raise your head. You were right too, you know. It was wrong to keep pushing all my work onto your shoulders. It's just.. I just.. Ugh, I've never been one to have patience with paperwork. Besides, I thought that you would know what to do better than me anyway, so – "

"I'll help you," Rukia offered. "Tomorrow we'll tackle the paperwork together."

"Deal," the fifth division's captain agreed with a faint smile.

"It must feel awful to you," she said suddenly in a hushed tone. "Having everything you know suddenly taken away and – "

"Shut up, Rukia," Ichigo interrupted sourly. "You're always like that. Worrying way too much for your own good." The orange-haired young man huffed, shaking his head. "Haven't I told this to you already before? I don't want you to worry about me. I can manage well. Worry about yourself for a change, okay?"

"But – "

"It's okay, really. If you don't worry about yourself, it will only be more of a bother to me. 'Cause then I'll have to worry about you since you're too busy worrying about everyone else but yourself. So just do me the favour, will ya?"

Rukia lowered humbly her head.

"Hai, Kurosaki-taichou."

"What's with that crap now?" he sneered. "You ought to know my name by now since you've used it for so long already. Or do you really want me to start calling you 'Kuchiki-fukutaichou'? You're such an idiot."

Ichigo ruffled Rukia's hair and got up.

"It's dinner-time. Byakuya's probably waiting us already."

0oOo0

Vice-captain Matsumoto gasped.

"What now, Rangiku-san?" asked Hinamori Momo, puzzled at the sudden reaction of her friend.

"Listen!"

"… But I can't hear a thing," she replied, now even more confused.

"Exactly," Matsumoto stated.

The two vice-captains looked at each other worriedly before they sprang up as one, both grabbing their zanpakutou. Together they ran to fifth division's headquarters.

The captain and vice-captain were both in the captain's study, bent over sheets of paper. As the door was slid open with force, their heads bopped up as one, their gazes settling onto the two vice-captains standing in the doorway.

"Matsumoto-san? Hinamori-san? What is going on?" Rukia immediately asked. Her small hand had already flown onto the hilt of her sword.

The two vice-captains gawking in the doorway now looked slightly embarrassed.

"Uhh.."

"We apologize..."

"We thought that something was wrong, so…"

"Quit babbling," Kurosaki-taichou barked out. "We've got work to do here."

"If there's nothing you wish to discuss, could you please leave? We're a bit busy at the moment and…"

"Sorry about the disturbance, Kurosaki-taichou, Kuchiki-san…" Hinamori bowed, sheathing her zanpakutou.

The door slid shut.

"What the hell was that about?"

"Who knows," Rukia replied shaking her head.

Outside, in the corridor of the fifth division's headquarters stood two very puzzled vice-captains.

"I can't believe it," Matsumoto finally breathed out. "They're actually getting along."