AN: My first attempt at anything Bleach -critique as to whether the characters are correct or not would be loved.

"Taichou?" Kira asked, for what must have been the tenth time at this point.

Ichimaru continued to stay slumped in the chair –his arms crossed and his head facing downward.

"Taichou, I know you're awake," Kira said softly. "Please, it's not too much more now."

Were he in the mood to do more than alternate between pretending to be and actually sleeping, Gin probably would have pointed out that they still had a few hundred sheets left to go through. And then, of course, tell him again of all the millions of more interesting things that they could be doing.

Kira should be spending more time sleeping, he had said a few times. When this was turned down, Gin had immediately told him of a performance hall not too far from the office that was easy to sneak into, and that the stars were pretty at this time of night. And, especially, the bars were open and filled with women begging for attention. He said that and traced an hourglass figure in the air –telling him with a wide grin and a wag of the eyebrows that there was nothing sexier to them than a man with power and a uniform.

He'd used every excuse and distraction in his arsenal, Kira believed, to try and be allowed to do anything at all except paperwork.

The year was ending, and the recruits' progress needed to be charted. Normally these sorts of things would have Kira spending the night alone –enjoying the rare bit of solitude and the satisfaction of his neat forms. But the final evaluation required his Taichou's wording and signature.

They'd had these papers for nearly a month, now. But, despite all of Kira's insistence to do it early, they were now down to the last minute.

… Again.

Gin put his feet up on the desk and leaned back.

Even with the amount they had to do, they should have been able to finish all of it by midnight. It was because of his constant need to beg for attention that they were only on the second at two in the morning.

"And what about his swordplay?" he asked, brush poised just over the paper as he waited for an answer.

"It's fine."

This particular recruit was actually sub-par when compared to the rest of the unit –and it wasn't very difficult to see. He'd even missed out on one of the last training sessions without any real excuse. Perhaps Ichimaru-Taichou was exhausted and confused…

"Are you sure?" Kira asked hesitantly –the ink-soaked tip of his brush hovering just above the paper.

The wide, trademarked grin again began to spread across Gin's face. "Are you questioning my judgment?"

Kira's face paled just a bit, "N-no, of course not! I would never…!"

"Good then," Gin said happily, "Write down that he's fine."

He nodded quickly –and did exactly as he'd been told.

As Kira moved on the next sheet, Gin took to watching out the window again. His narrow eyes searched the dark city to find the nightlife he rightfully should have been enjoying.

"Do you ever wonder about shaking things up?"

Kira looked up from his work, "What do you mean?"

"Getting a bit of excitement around here," Gin said, turning back. The top teeth revealed by his smile glistened in the moonlight, "It's boring to patrol without anything to patrol for, don't you think?"

"Yes, Taichou."

The elder officer walked to the window and looked out, "I'm sure this dry spell won't last much longer, though." He snickered just a bit, "We'll just have to entertain ourselves until then, won't we?" He glanced back over his shoulder, "How much more do we have?"

Kira paused and looked down at the form before him. "We can finish in the morning, if you'd like."

Gin's smile broadened, "Wonderful, then. Come with me, I want a drink."

Kira smiled hesitantly, "… Perhaps later, Taichou… I'll just need to clean this up first."

He tilted his head just slightly and shrugged, "If you'd like." A second later, he'd vanished.

Kira watched the now slightly-open window for a moment before returning to the paperwork –filling out the evaluations with the eloquence that his Taichou had within him, but had no patience to write down.

He worked under an alley cat, so he'd become used to this.

Ichimaru Gin would be happy to be by you, yes. But you needed to remember that he was wild and must to be allowed to come and go as he pleased.

If you were just patient… he'd always come back eventually.

Maybe, if Kira was patient enough, he could tame his Taichou to the point that he would stay and at least keep him company while he finished what rightfully should have been done weeks ago.

But, as he dipped his brush for more ink and continued to write, he knew there wasn't much hope of that.