With a Silent Step

Ichigo took a deep breath, and stepped through the gate into Soul Society. A wave of dizziness assailed her, and she stumbled briefly, before gaining her balance again. Ishida had sent pins along with her so she could pin her haori up at the bottom. It would drown her terribly at the top, but that couldn't be helped. She hadn't been able to retrieve it in time for him to alter it the way he'd readjusted her shihakusho. Zangetsu tingled at her back.

Shirosaki piped up uneasily. Ne, Aibou? Something weird's goin' on in here.

What? What's that supposed to mean? It's just cause I'm a girl.

/No, Ichigo. I'm afraid something doesn't feel right about the Soul Society this time./ Zangetsu added.

You're both fulla shit, scoffed Ichigo. It's just cause I'm a girl. She slipped silently into her quarters in fifth division, and let Zangetsu lean against the wall beside the door, within easy reach. She blew some dust off the mantle, and scowled. I really need to get in here and clean, she thought. When she'd originally been granted captaincy of the fifth squad, she'd set up pictures of her family and friends, and rearranged the spartan furniture to her liking, and then only stepped foot inside the bare apartment long enough to put on her haori and leave again.

She resolved to dust it as soon as the meeting was over. Pinning the haori up so that it would stay out of the dirt, she slung Zangetsu over her shoulder and started off towards the first division house.

-

Hitsugaya was running late, and for once it wasn't the fault of Matsumoto. He'd stayed up late into the night working on his report for the soutaichou last minute, and overslept. That had thrown off his entire schedule for the day, and he found himself hurrying down the main road, dodging the stray soul reapers he passed, and tried not to look too much as if he was running. Up ahead was a strange girl with long hair, and for a moment he thought it was Orihime.

Not wearing a taicho's haori, he thought irritably to himself. It was a very serious crime to wear the captain's jacket if one was not a captain. As he got closer, he realized that it was the fifth squad's haori, Ichigo's, that he left behind whenever he went back to the human world. Very, very idly, Hitsugaya sometimes played with the idea of killing off his human body and forcing him into the Soul Society full time. It was something that horrified the rest of himself, but he couldn't deny that it would make things easier on everyone else - Ichigo refused to choose a fukutaichou, and the paperwork that gathered in his absence was being completed by his third seat, a skinny little chit named Emmi.

"You, girl! You are under arrest for the theft and unlawful wearing of a captain's haori," he called, hurrying his steps to catch up with the offending female. She turned, scowling.

"Toushirou? What happened to you, wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?" Her arms crossed across her chest, she stood glowering down at him; there wasn't more than four or five inches of difference in their size, although her zanpakutou looked familiar. So did that tone of voice, now that he thought about it.

"Kurosaki-taichou?" he gasped out, more to himself than the girl.

"You were expecting, perhaps, Aizen?" she snapped, and turned on her heel. "I'm already late, Toushirou, I don't have time to play with you." She stalked away, heading in the direction of the soutaichou's quarters.

"Hitsugaya-taichou!" he shouted after her out of habit. A bell gonged out the time, and he used shunpo to cover the last fifty meters.

They were the last two to arrive, and Yamamoto glowered down at them thunderously, looking older than ever. Being well into his second millennium, Hitsugaya was surprised he wasn't older looking still.

"Kurosaki, I hope you have a good reason for being so short," he said crossly, and several people coughed into their hands to hide their laughter. "Late, I meant," he amended irritably. Even Hitsugaya was hard pressed to keep a straight face.

"Yes sir," Ichigo said firmly, and held up her wrist. There was a collective gasp as people realized exactly what they were looking at.

Yamamoto's thunderous expression darkened. "Why was I not informed of this development?"

Ichigo's lips twisted into a nasty look. "You were," she bit out. "The moment I had a free minute, I wrote one down and sent it. It should be on your desk somewhere."

The soutaichou's desk was legendary for it's contents; an entire chicken was once found under a pile of papers, and people still snickered about it occasionally.

Unfortunately, this did nothing for his mood. "And it was not personally delivered - why?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Because, sou-tai-chou," it was clear to everyone that she was barely restraining her temper - "I had just been abducted by a homicidal maniac and experimented on, not to mention forced into this horrible girl's body! I'd like to see you have your entire physical being transformed into something completely alien to you - like a chicken!" no one bothered to hide their laughter this time - the dig was clear. "And then immediately think to yourself, 'I've become a chicken! Let me rush out right now and tell the whole goddamned world, even though I can't walk and can't figure out how to move my wings around.' That, Soutaichou, is why I didn't personally haul my ass up here the second I woke up from a four day coma and flash this stupid body at everyone."
She finished her dramatic speech with a sway, and for a moment, Hitsugaya - standing next to her - thought it was intentional. When he caught sight of her white face and shaking limbs, he reached out just in time to catch her as she started slumping to the floor.

As the rest of them realized that something was clearly wrong, and Ichigo wasn't just being a drama queen, Hitsugaya was shaking her, trying to get her to wake back up. He felt for her reiatsu, and was surprised to find it fluctuating wildly, like a little bird caught in a cage. After a few moments, the colour returned to her face, and her eyes fluttered open.

His breath caught in his throat as she stared up at him, uncomprehendingly, before shifting her eyes to the surrounding room. Shoving the unexpected and unwelcome thoughts into the back of his mind, Hitsugaya helped her up.

"Are you okay, Kurosaki-taichou?" he asked brusquely. She nodded, and put a hand to her head. Yamamoto sat down, trying to look as though he hadn't just leapt to his feet with worry.

"Just a dizzy spell," Ichigo announced, and most of the gathered captains looked relieved, and then returned their attention to the soutaichou. Hanatarou peered at her closely, scrutinizing her colour and reiatsu.

"Kurosaki-taichou, I'd like you to come back with me to the Fourth when we're finished here," he said after a few moments of silence. "There's no telling what that monster Kurotsuchi did to you with that thing on your arm."

---

In another place, the unwelcome eavesdropper scowled. "Monster," he scoffed, and set the machine to record before shutting off the sound. Nemu looked pleased, and he hit her on general purposes. "It won't be long now, girl," he announced. She smiled.

"Yes, Mayuri-sama. You have truly created an infallible plan." Her smile turned a little wicked. "You will have your victory in this, Mayuryi-sama," she proclaimed quietly. "Those fools will not even see what has hit them until you are the soutaichou of Soul Society."


-[TBC]-
I just realized that I have no Bleach OTP. If you ask me about any of my other fandoms, I do. (DN: Light/L. Weiss: Crawford/Schuldig and/or Nagi/Omi. Loki: Loki/Heimdall and/or Loki/Narugami. Even Harry Potter, Harry/Draco and/or Sirius/Remus.) But Bleach, I'm all over every character. I like Ulqui/Grimm, Ulqui/Ichigo, Gin/Ichigo, Aizen/Ichigo, (I like Ichigo, though...) Ishida/Ichigo, Renji/Ichigo, Byakuya/Ichigo, Byakuya/Renji, Grimm/Ichigo, Urahara/Ichigo... Kon/Ichigo, Shirosaki/Ichigo, Shinji/Ichigo.... XDD I'm gonna stop there before I discover any others. XDD

I wrote that *points to above* hours before I even started this chapter. (that's why my author's notes are so long. not only do I like to hear myself talk, I write the things in advance, and then add to them as I think of more things to say later on.) Well, at this present moment, I just wrote Yamajii's line, "I hope you have a good reason for being so short," and it cracked me up. XDD I feel very strongly for my stories, and can often be found hunching over the keyboard, crying my eyes out while writing sad scenes, or leaning back and cackling during funny ones. If anyone reads these things, every few chapters or so try to point out a particular line or passage that you thought was funny/moving/profound/sad/etc, just cause I'm a nosy bitch and I like to know exactly what people think of this thing besides "it's so good."
This chapter's devoted to Midnight Essence and Baroqueangel for their reviews.

After a few moments, the colour returned to her face, and her eyes fluttered open.
Oohhhhh, the hitsu/ichi idea that just flit through my mind.... That's all Ichigo needs right now; more suitors. XDD Ishida's got it for her, Shinji may or may not (I'm not even sure... XDD) Renji's going to confess to a crush later, and now (at the moment of writing this addition to the immense author's note, I haven't written anything further than that line, because I can't decide whether or not the next line should be 'badump' as Hitsugaya looks down into the unfocused eyes of a drowsy Ichigo or a 'kathump' as he drops her to the floor in irritation. XDD) to finish my sentence, now I've got a dilemma about whether or not to add Hitsugaya to that list, too.
Hey, if I ever write 'Toushiro' someone call me out and slap me. I hate the way that looks, but I don't like just 'Toshiro' either, so I'm trying to write Toushirou, but my fingers always forget the U for a moment.
Those damn U's! First Kurotsuchi and now Toushirou.

End: I meant for this chapter to be longer, but it's after midnight again, and I meant to be in bed hours ago. XDD *horrible insomniac* I'm so sorry that they're so short, but at least I'm able to update frequently.