[MillietheWarrior]

“I’ll help you, captain,” Haru offered kindly. “Since it seems your nose is feeling better?” She raised an eyebrow meaningfully, and Kisuke realized that his nose had indeed stopped bleeding. It certainly smarted though; that Hiyori had one wicked kick. “Well, captain?”

“Uh, yes, um…Right, unpacking,” Kisuke said hurriedly, hauling himself to his feet and dusting off his white robe. “Um, listen, Haru…Can you…Can you take some reports over to squad five? It’s just a few things I need captain Hirako to look over and approve before I start examining our objectives any closer.”

It was a total and complete lie.

[MillietheWarrior]

All Kisuke wanted was to get Haru away from him. Not that it was bad that she was there, he just couldn’t think properly when she was so close. He needed to get back on track and start focusing on his new position, rather than the love-struck wonderings of what he considered to be a passing infatuation. Getting Haru out of the room for a while would do him good.

Haru looked startled, but nodded, and Kisuke scrambled to remember where he’d put his paper and pen. “Uh, hold on, I’ll be right back!” he announced brightly, before he rushed into his quarters. Haru looked a bit concerned when the sound of ruffling and then a very loud crash came from the room.

[MillietheWarrior]

“Um, captain? Are you okay?” She shrieked when Kisuke suddenly appeared in front of her again, nearly toppling over in surprise as he shoved a stack of papers at her. She scrambled to grab them before they dropped to the floor, clutching them to her chest frantically.

“Here ya go!” Kisuke chirped. “And while you’re there, why not visit with captain Hirako for a while? I’m sure you two have a lot of catching up to do!”

“Yes, I suppose, but captain-”

[MillietheWarrior]

“Now get going! I’ve got a lot of work to do here, and I expect you to be present at the meeting when I announce our squad’s new objectives!” He gave her a little push towards the screen door, and Haru stumbled forward, looking confused as she glanced back at him over her shoulder. Kisuke didn’t miss the disappointment on her face or the slight sadness in her eyes when she looked at him, and he felt a tightening knot of guilt in his gut. Gritting his teeth in a smile of reassurance, he tried desperately to ignore it.

“All right, I’ll be back later, then, captain. Try not to get kicked in the face while I’m gone!” Haru replied cheerfully, waving over her shoulder as she stepped out the screen.

Kisuke stared at the door as it slid shut, and sighed, running a hand over his face tiredly.  He really had a lot to sort out, didn’t he?

--------------

[MillietheWarrior]

“I wonder what’s up with captain Urahaha,” Haru mumbled to herself as she strolled through the maze of streets that littered the Sereitei. “He was acting so weird just now. I hope Hiyori’s kick didn’t knock any screws loose…”

“Daaaamn it! What’s the big idea, Hiyori!? Huh?!”

Haru stumbled in surprise, the papers in her hand flying through the air. Desperate, she used Shunpo to dash about and gather them before they could hit the ground. “Damn it,” she muttered, catching the last as it fluttered near her head. “That sounded like Captain Hirako.” Haru blinked when she heard a familiar voice that sounded as though it was groaning from the other side of the wall.

[MillietheWarrior]

“Eh? Either that wall just talked or…” She stuffed the papers into one hand, and leapt up to peek over the edge. “Oh, hey captain Hirako!” Haru shot him a confused look. “What are you doing on the ground?”

Shinji glanced up, rubbing his face angrily; there was a large red mark across the middle of it, and Haru could vaguely make out the print of someone’s sandal. “Haru?” he mumbled, looking briefly surprised before his surprise turned into anger. “That little demon lieutenant of yours is what happened, Haru! Look what she did to my face!”

[MillietheWarrior]

Shinji was suddenly only a few inches away from Haru, pointing at his face frantically, his eyebrows twitching. “She ruined it!” Haru felt her own eyebrow twitch in return, and she carefully pushed his face away from hers.

“It’s not ruined, captain Hirako. It looks exactly the same as it did before,” Haru explained as patiently as she could. In the back of her mind, though, she sighed wistfully. These were the things she missed about being in the fifth squad. Sora would’ve thought this was hilarious.

[MillietheWarrior]

“But there’s a footprint on my face!”

“Captain Hirako, isn’t there usually a footprint somewhere on your face at some point in time almost everyday?”

“Fair enough.”

Haru leapt down from the wall, Shinji following behind her and landing silently on the ground below. “So,” he began, shoving his hands into his sleeves. “How are things going with you?” He caught sight of the paperwork she had clutched tightly in her arms. “I see you didn’t escape the paperwork, hm? Kisuke have you working hard?”

[MillietheWarrior]

“Actually,” Haru drawled, shoving the papers in Shinji’s direction. “These are for you…” And in answer to that last, no, I haven’t escaped the paperwork, unfortunately. Hiyori hardly ever does any of it, so I get stuck picking up the slack. And…well…Captain Urahara is still settling in, so he hasn’t had time to divvy up the responsibilities yet.”

“In other words,” Shinji replied sourly, taking the papers from Haru and eyeing at them as if they carried some sort of contagious disease. “You’re stuck doing his paperwork too until he gets settled?”

[MillietheWarrior]

Haru shot Shinji a pointed look. “It’s not as if it’s any different from having to do yours all the time, slacker.”

“You wound me!” Shinji cried dramatically, throwing his arm over his eyes.

“Hardly,” Haru snorted. “You’re so dramatic, captain.”

“If only I was still your captain, Haru. I’m not sure how I feel about lieutenant Aizen. He’s so creepy and serious all the time. Not like you. You were always so much fun.”

Haru raised a brow. “I thought you told me I was a stick in the mud.”

“But…okay, true, you were…but at least you’re a girl!”

“You mean, at least you had the chance to grope me?”

“Exact- I mean, no, of course not!”

[MillietheWarrior]

Haru rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help the fond smile that curled across her lips. “I almost miss the groping,” she mused aloud, and Shinji chuckled lowly, earning him an irritated look from the woman beside him. “I said ‘almost,’ captain,” she repeated firmly. “So don’t get any ideas.”

“My dear Haru, I would never!” Shinji whined, but contrary to his words, he reached over and patted her on the butt. “I certainly miss your amazing assets though, Haru. You really were a wonderful addition to the squad,” he said slyly, a large smirk on his face.

“Pervert!”

The hit sent Shinji flying over half the Sereitei as Haru stormed off in a huff to retrieve and deliver the paperwork in her room-turned-office before the deadline expired. When they found Shinji a few hours later, sprawled atop the Fourth Squad’s roof, he was muttering something that sounded suspiciously like; “Totally worth it.”

-------

[MillietheWarrior]

“Uh, captain, why aren’t you in your quarters?”

Kisuke looked up to see Haru hovering over him, what looked like a small stack of papers clutched tightly in her hands. She always seemed to be lugging around paperwork wherever she went. Haru looked confused and, Kisuke noted with a small blush, worried.

Over him? Impossible.

Most likely worried he wouldn’t get his work done on time.

[MillietheWarrior]

Kisuke rubbed the back of his neck nervously, his face betraying none of his thoughts as he smiled up at her. “Oh, well, just thought I’d take a bit of a break is all,” he explained lightly. “It’s such a nice day outside. Why waste it indoors doing paperwork?” Kisuke was a little frightened when he saw Haru’s eye twitch slightly at his answer.

“Because-” she began slowly, her voice rising with each word until she was nearly shouting in his face. “-if you don’t do your paperwork, then I have to since the lieutenant is too busy sulking to be of any use in this case. If neither of you want to take responsibility for the paperwork, the forms, and the constant flow of things that need approval and disapproval, then you might as well hand over that damn captain’s robe to me, because I’m doing all your work anyway! And another thing-” She tossed the stack of papers to the floor, ignoring the odd looks she was getting from her fellow squad mates. “-these stupid papers can only be approved by you, so you better have your stamp on them by the end of the day or I’m going to tie you up in that damn robe of yours and glue you to the wall upside down!”

[MillietheWarrior]

Kisuke’s eyes had widened comically, and he was staring up at Haru with his mouth slightly agape. He’d never seen her lose her temper in that manner before, and he’d never…heard her curse, unless she was sufficiently stressed out. Although, Kisuke decided, she wasn’t nearly as frightening as she was when she smiled at him. Haru’s smiles could be pretty scary when she was pissed off. Still…

He couldn’t deny that she looked cute when she was angry.

He kept that thought to himself however, and opened his mouth to tell Haru that he’d get on it right away (after he enjoyed the sun a little more, of course) when a head of familiar blonde hair appeared behind her. Haru blinked as Kisuke’s gaze suddenly landed somewhere in the vicinity of her backside (but that was impossible, since she was facing him…right?) and turned slightly to see what he was staring at.

[MillietheWarrior]

Her choked gasp was quickly covered up by a cough as Hiyori turned her flat-glare in Haru’s direction. “Sulking!?” Hiyori practically snarled, her hand on the sword on her back as if to draw it from it’s sheath. Haru’s body tensed, and her eyes narrowed, wondering if the lieutenant would be dumb enough to draw on someone stronger than her. “Did I hear you right, 3rd seat?”

“Oh, yes you did, lieutenant,” Haru replied kindly, and the two men sitting nearby felt a shiver roll up their spine at the angry sparks that danced between the two girls. That was not a crossfire they’d want to be caught in. “Perhaps if you’d stop acting like a child all the time, you’d realize that you actually have duties to tend to other than complaining about the change in leadership and punching your captain in the face every chance you get…which, I might add, is not only demoralizing for him and the rest of the squad, but completely uncalled for, unprofessional, and probably against the rules.” She smiled sweetly, tilting her head to the side. “So now, lieutenant. Did you have something to say?”