The time had come.

His first captains meeting.

Panic was a slight understatement.

"You'll be fine," Ikkaku said, watching his long time friend pace up and down the room, long hair swaying behind him violently.

"But what if I mess up?" Yumichika mumbled through his hand, which was pressed over his mouth in a attempt to stop himself from shaking, "they've all been there for ages, they know what they're doing, I don't! I'm going to screw up, I know it!"

"You'll be fine," the bald repeated, smiling confidently, "Every captain had a first meeting once, and I can bet they probably screwed up at one point or another too."

"But I-"

"No!" Ikkaku exclaimed suddenly, standing up and putting both hands on his friends shoulders, shocking him still, "You will be fine, I promise," he said firmly, "And if you're not you can come and moan about it over a drink tonight, okay? I'll buy."

Yumichika nodded, eyes still wide but looking slightly calmer. He peeled his hand off his mouth and took a deep breath, holding it for a moment, before letting it out in a sigh. "Alright," he said after a few moments silence, running a hand through his hair and calming down considerably, "alright," he repeated with a sigh.

"You calm now?" Ikkaku asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yes," Yumichika replied, taking his long ponytail and running his fingers through it, a nervous habit he had picked up since his hair had grown. More often than not he didn't realise he was doing it. This was one of those times. Ikkaku raised an eyebrow, pointedly watching his gloved hand thread through his hair. Finally noticing, Yumichika grimaced, moving his hands away from his hair and flipping it behind his body.

"Okay, time to go," he said with surprising confidence, standing straighter.

"Good, I'll walk with you, need to catch the captain before the meeting anyway."

"So?"

"Don't even mention it," the new captain stalked past, deep scowl on his face.

"That bad, huh?" Ikkaku asked, his face somewhat sympathetic.

"Not really," Yumichika shrugged, "it was as boring as heck, but I didn't screw up at all, even giving the division's report, but I kept getting these looks, and the amount of 'how-are-you-getting-on'? questions I got at the end got pretty infuriating."

"How are you getting on?" Ikkaku could help but ask, smirk filling his face, which quickly fell off when he caught sight of the death glare thrown at him.

"Just beware, I am not afraid to punch you," Yumichika said darkly, "Or go Bankai on you, whichever comes first."

That shut him up pretty quickly. If there was one thing he had learned over the years, it was don't mess with a pissed off Yumichika. And over recent months, don't mess with a pissed off Yumichika's Bankai.

It doesn't end well.

"So that was a success, meaning I was right, therefore you are buying tonight," Ikkaku said, with a smug grin.

"That," Yumichika said with a smirk over his shoulder, "was never part of our agreement."

"No, I remember-"

"You said, if it goes badly you'll buy, but we never said I'll pay if it goes well now did we?" With a wide smirk on his face, Yumichika sauntered off, leaving a spluttering Ikkaku staring after him.

Strong fearless 11th division Shinigami were hiding in terror as a menacing figure stalked the hallways of their division.

It wasn't Zaraki.

Surprisingly.

But that person had some of the most daring and bold (and sometimes downright stupid) officers in the entire Gotei Thirteen trembling on the floor, pressing themselves as close to the wall as humanly possible. The flaring murderous reiatsu was even causing some lower seated officers to pass out.

"Zaraki Kenpachi!" was probably heard miles away, along with the loud 'bang' as the door to his office was slammed open.

Even Zaraki, the most fearsome man in the Serietei, half jumped out of his seat, head snapping up to the ominous figure in the doorway, eye wide with surprise and; though he would desperately deny it later, fear.

Yumichika Ayasegawa stormed up to his desk, slamming his hands down and glaring fiercely down at his ex-captain.

"You," he near yelled, pointing right at the man, "have got to stop sending your bloody paperwork to me!" He growled, leaning in closer to get the full point across that he was pissed.

"It's part of the job," Zaraki said simply, trying to stop his voice from shaking slightly, "There's some paperwork that I do that needs to be sent to you, along with some of the other captains for signing."

Yumichika sighed, standing straight again, "yes, I know, I was doing that for several decades remember," he said, "what I don't want you doing is slipping in the paperwork YOU have to do but can't be bothered and actually expect me to do it for you."

"You've always done it before."

Yumichika growled, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Yes, because then I was actually a part of your division," he bit out, trying to stop himself from yelling, "I have my own division to run now, in case you haven't realised, and I really don't need any more paperwork on top of what I already have!"

"And this is my problem because?"

"You do realise that makes you sound like a spoilt kid right?

"So?"

"You are infuriating, you know?"

"Yeah."

Yumichika resisted the urge to bang his head against the wall. Which was when it hit him.

He was doing this on purpose.

"Look," the smaller said, stepping back, "if you want to fight, all you have to do is ask."

"Really?" the larger captain suddenly perked up, a feral grin slowly growing on his face, "now?"

"No." His face fell, and Yumichika rolled his eyes, "I've got to finish my paperwork and send someone over with yours, but does tomorrow sound good?" He couldn't help but smile as he saw his old captain's eye light up, although on the inside his mind was screaming 'what have you just agreed to? Don't do it! Take it back!' at him.

"Deal."

"Deal," Yumichika agreed, mentally kicking himself.

"Are you crazy?"

"It would appear so," Yumichika mumbled into his desk, which his head was currently resting on. Ikkaku paced the room in front of said desk, somehow freaking out more than his friend.

"You actually offered to fight Zaraki," the bald said, which was replied with a nod, "you are going to be killed, you know that?"

"I would like to see him try," Yumichika shot back, slightly annoyed at his friends lack of faith in him.

"You've fought him before, and what happened then, huh?" Ikkaku asked, looking rather worried for his old friends safety. They had indeed fought before. Zaraki had realised that he had fought Ikkaku, but not the bald's slightly quieter friend, and Yumichika took the order with willingness and grace, knowing he couldn't win but taking him on anyway.

He lifted his head, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, I know, I ended up in the fourth division for several weeks, but that was then, I think I was ninth seat or something at the time, and still hiding what I could really do with my Zanpaktou. Now, in case you haven't realised, I'm a captain, I have Bankai, which I know full well is what he actually wants to fight, and I have a way of healing myself should something go horribly wrong."

"Healing?"

"My Zanpaktou, the energy can be used for destruction or healing, I've told you this before," Yumichika sighed at the blank look on Ikkaku's face, "do you actually listen to anything I say to you?" The blank look remained and Yumichika resisted the urge to drop his head back on to the table.

"Right, so there's a slightly higher chance you may win this time, but even so, he doesn't hold back!"

"You're acting as if I don't know this, I was part of the eleventh too you know?"

"Well, yeah, but it's been a while," Ikkaku said, scratching the back of his head, looking actually rather nervous under the captains cool gaze.

"You think I'd have forgotten those particular eccentrics? The amount of paperwork I had to do because of them was unbelievable."

"Fine, but I'm stepping in if-"

"You'll do no such thing!" Yumichika cut him off, glaring fiercely, making Ikkaku take a step back. "I don't know when you became such a mother hen, which, by the way, is Rangiku's job, I don't want another one, but I can take care of myself, and have done for quite a while. I thought you stuck to your 'no interfering' rule, which is something I like to stick to as well in case you don't remember."

Ikkaku was speechless, mouth open wide, as if he was about to say something scathing in return, but it died in his throat. But, under Yumichika's cold glare, his eyes became downcast, and his defiant expression fell, suddenly sombre.

"I just don't want you to get hurt again," he said quietly, looking anywhere but Yumichika's face, which had softened considerably, and his eyes, which were sympathetic.

"I won't," he said firmly, standing up and walking around his desk to stand in front of his friend, despite being nearly a foot shorter, which probably didn't help his case all that much. Ikkaku was the type to automatically protect those shorter than him by instinct, even when they didn't need it.

"I won't get hurt," he repeated, stronger, "Last time," he faltered, closing his eyes in an attempt to block the painful memory, "last time I held back, I held back because I was too shallow and scared of others opinion of me, and it cost me my life," he stopped for a moment when Ikkaku winced, obviously trying to push back his own memory of that fateful morning, "but I got a second chance, and I know I won't get that again, so I'm not going to hold back, I'm going to fight at full power should the need arise and I am not going to make that mistake again."

Ikkaku nodded, "good, cause I would hate to have to go through that again," he said, as Yumichika sat on his desk, legs dangling and a confident smirk on his face. "Well, in that case, I should probably leave you to your mount paper Everest, I swear it gets bigger every time I come in here," he said, eyeing up the piles and piles of paper.

"ugh, don't remind me," Yumichika moaned, moving back around to sit at his desk properly, "I still don't see the point of half of it," he stuck his tongue out a little in disgust.

"I'll see you later then, good luck with this and I'll be watching tomorrow," Ikkaku said with a wave as he walked from the room.

"Yeah, see you," Yumichika replied, picking up his brush. But he put it down again just as quickly, as if remembering something.

"Oh, and Ikkaku," He called, smiling slightly as the bald head poked in around the doorframe, "take your own advice one day please, if I'm not allowed to hold back neither are you," he said simply, ignoring the look of shock from his friends face as he went back to work.

A/N: Hello, Here's chapter two...just in time, I'm off on holiday tomorrow :P But I made a deal that I would get this chapter up before I went away and so here it is, for your enjoyment and amusement. It's a bit shorter than my usual chapters, but a short chapter is better than no chapter right? :)

Enjoy and please do review, whatever your opinion, I love reading all reviews, even the ones that say it's awful :P