Morning Issues [Open]

Shuhei had gotten up early for once to get to the captain's office today. As he was strolling through the barracks on his usual patrol to check up on the guards who had been on night duty and checking up on the other officers of the 9th Division, making sure everything was in order. He stopped a couple of times to make small talk with some of the members before carrying on to the office. Once he arrived he went straight to his chair and collapsed into it. He had gotten a bit more used to the late nights and early starts a few weeks into becoming a captain but being a captain doesn't prepare you for an early start with a hangover. He gave off a small sigh before pushing himself up and taking a drink of water from the jug he kept for these types of circumstances, before looking down at the paperwork. As he was expecting there was a certain report standing out from the rest. He had finally gotten a lieutenant, and after he had sorted out some of the more important paperwork for the morning, he rose once more and headed out again to go meet her.

He was in two minds however, about the new lieutenant. He was glad he had gotten one now and the duties she would be doing would be taken off his own shoulders so he could relax a bit more. However she was from the 2nd Division. That was the main problem, they could end up having different ideas and he expected if that happened too many times, there could be a bad atmosphere between them. He let out another sigh as he walked along, the sun crawling into the sky, a slight breeze blowing a few fallen leaves along the floor. Pausing for a moment he looked westwards, towards the hill of Kaname Tousen's friend, where he and Sajin Komamura also left a gravestone for Kaname, after the battle with Aizen. He then thought of the relationship they had had while he had been in charge of the 9th Division, and Shuhei just hoped it would be the same with his own lieutenant.

He carried on, heading for the lieutenants office. By now more officers and Shinigami were up and going about their duties, hardly having to stop and say hello to their captain. He didnt mind though, the 9th Division was still relatively short staffed so many Shinigami had more to do than usual. Eventually he arrived at the office and the sight was quite odd. She was just sitting in front of the door to the office, seemingly staring at something. 'Huh? What the ...' He muttered to himself, but as he got closer he noticed something hanging from the doorway that looked quite a lot like a spider. A small smile crept onto his lips at the thought a lieutenant had been scared by a spider. 'A 2nd Division Shinigami scared by a spider huh?' He thought to himself. But he knew better than to say anything, after being around Rangiku, he knew how women could get. So instead he walked up to her leaned over and scooped the spider up in his left hand before turning and extending his right hand to help the girl up. 'Hey there, names Shuhei. I guess your my new lieutenant. And sorry 'bout the spider, i guess he made his home once the office had been left empty for a while.' He then watched as the spider fell off his hand and scuttled away.

Lin cleared her throat as she neatly stacked some papers on her desk. Her eyes glimpsed over each one, making sure they were in a proper, date organized order. They were relatively unimportant files and reports, but she had to do them. She didn't like it, but she truly didn't mind. As long as she had something to keep herself entertained, which in this case was a pair of binoculars for people watching, Lin would be alright. Even if she did have to do a bit extra. A huge smile popped up on her face as she got down to the last paper. Her eyes moved from each spot where she usually stashed papers and things, just to make sure her finished duty was not a false alarm. But nope, there wasn't any. She was slightly surprised, as it had been quite a long time since Lin had finished her own average amount of reports, along with a bit more, in one day. In fact, Lin had never remembered such an event.

This called for a celebration, or at least a few drinks. She cradled her stack of papers in her arms as she exited her tiny office. And instead of walking, or even using Shunpo, she sprinted down the large 9th Division hall to turn in her work. Unfortunatly, someone had been wiping up a spill, leaving the floor newly wet. Lin slipped and fell face forward, tumbling towards the end of the hallway along with many of the papers. After slowing down, Lin's head hit the corner, effectively stopping her. But, as fate would have it, she had landed in front of the office of which Captain Shuhei and Lieutenant Kaori were talking. Blood rushed to Lin's face, making it very hot and embarassed. her modified Shinigami outfit, one of a flowery robe and kimono, had ripped slightly, and she had just publicly embarassed herself infront of her superiors.

Not to mention her precious papers, littered the hallway. Oddly, she was fortunate enough to avoid the small spider. She stood up quickly, brushing her now wild hair out of her face and smoothing her outfit. "Hello Captain Hisagi. And welcome to the 9th Division, Lieutenant Kaori." Lin said, her voice slightly nervous. She attempted to smile, though if she would've been looking in a mirror at that moment, it would've looked like a hybrid between frowning and smiling. This attempt to play off the massive embarassment was obvious, and a bit of a failure. However, she stuck it out, continuing to smooth her hair and dress while waiting for a response from the two elite members of the 9th Division. She hoped she wasn't intruding or anything, as clumsy Lin tended to have that effect. She glanced down the hall, seeing all the papers. Some of the ink she had used on certain papers had pretty much stained the rest of the paper, making it very unitellegible. She'd have to sit there and dry out the papers tonight, then turn them in in the morning. And to think, she was so close to acheiving that tiny little goal of hers.

Focusing on the spider, Kaori hadn’t noticed anyone approaching, until a swift hand came along and scooped the tiny spider away. She blinked a few times before she finally noticed her captain standing before her offering his right hand to help her up. “C-captain…” The first emotion that seeped through her mind was absolute embarrassment. She could almost feel her face turn red “Was this actually happening? such horrible timing.” she though to herself. She didn’t want the captain to think she was some kind of scaredy cat. But, by the way the situation was who wouldn’t think that. However, she tried to keep a calm expression on her face as she accepts his hand and pulls herself up from the floor. She begins to dust herself off and adjust her uniform by pulling the ends down from her kimono. Unlike the traditional Shinigami attire Kaori wore a unique uniform to say the least. She nodded to Shuhei’s statement with a smile trying to hide her embarrassment.

“Yup that would be me. I’m Kaori Kanzaki, it’s a pleasure to meet you Captain.” She let out a small laugh as she continued. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not like it was your fault.”

She then realized that Shuhei still held the spider in his left hand and saw it fall and scurry away. Crouching down and wrapping her arms round her smooth legs as she rests her chin on her knees, she continued to watch the spider once again. “Such a fast little guy, huh?” Why she was so interested in the spider was even a little puzzling to her.Taking her attention away from the spider she quickly takes a glimpse at his left hand and tilts her head upward looking up at Shuhei as she gets up from her crouching position “It didn’t bite you or anything?” She always imagine these critters biting into flesh and injecting their venom at any cause and yet the Captain didn't seem to be bothered by it. Maybe she had over reacted a little.

Before she could even wait for his respond the sound of a thump catched Kaori’s attention. As she turned she saw a girl face down on the floor. Kaori tried to get to the girl to assist her however she had already stood up before she got close enough. “eh, are you alright?” She must have felt as embarrassed as she had earlier, it seemed like today was such a misfortune day not just for Kaori but for another individual as well. While she was fixing herself up Kaori noticed she to wore a customized attire. As the girl greeted the two she could tell she was a little nervous but she couldn’t understand why, could it have been the presence of a captain and lieutenant? However that wasn’t Kaori’s priority at the moment, what she was mostly interested in was knowing this girls name. She was unsure if she should ask, she didn’t want to come off rude or anything like that. But it was the only way to accomplish her goal and that was to get to know at least the majority of the squad members.

“Thanks for welcoming me into the division, to be honest I was a little worried that i wouldn't be as easily excepted...um, I feel terrible for asking this but…you see, I don’t know everyone’s names as of yet and it would be very helpful if you’d tell me yours.” A smile grazed her lips as she finished her sentence.

Upon further inspection she discovered a bunch of paper work scattered across the hallway. Of course mistakes happen frequently, however Kaori didn’t think of the mess as such a big deal as others might have and she wasn’t sure on what Shuhei would think of it. She briefly looked up at shuhei and back at the girl. "Don't worry about the mess, if you'd Iike I can help you clean it up" smiling yet again.

As Shuhei helped his new lieutenant to her feet he could tell she was embarrassed after stuttering and looking a bit flustered in general plus the fact her face had gone bright red. But she dusted her unique uniform off which Shuhei had noticed to be .... slightly modified and managed to regain her composure quickly and introduced herself letting off a small laugh. He smiled and said 'Nice to meet you then, Kaori' He had taken a liking to her already and guessed that she might be a bit more laid back than most, but still likely to get on with work. That suited Shuhei fine, and it also seemed that she had a fascination with spiders and she crouched down and watched it scuttle away. He raised an eyebrow but when she asked about his he looked down and shrugged slightly and said 'No, i don't think so, but even if it did it wouldn't matter'

However just as he began speaking, chaos broke out. Papers and reports flew around the corner of the corridor along with a small body. He raised his arm slightly out of defense and also confusion as paper flew to and fro. As she as he noticed who the girl was he lept over some papers but by the time he had gotten there she had stood up and was sorting herself out. He temporarily forgot Kaori and put his hand on the girls shoulder while saying 'Hey, you alright Lin? That was an impressive fall there, you could've hurt yourself pretty bad just then.' He then looked back at Kaori and said 'Oh yea, this is Lin, the 3rd Seat Officer, been around a little while now, since that strange night.'

'Anyway, lets see about those papers. And don't worry about it Lin, we'll take care of it OK?' He looked over to Kaori and motioned that she could help, after all she had offered so he might as well let her help out. It would allow her to get on good terms with the officer below her too. Plus the poor officer seemed as nervous and as embarrassed as possible so it would be best to help her out. As he picked up some papers closest to him he looked over to Kaori and said 'Exciting jobs you get as a lieutenant huh? Funnily enough that spiders still trying to get out of this mess too!' He said smiling as the small spider scuttled over the papers, disorientated in the papery madness.

Lin blinked for a second, quickly picking up a small amount of scattered papers that were in her vicinity. She had quite a lot more to pick up down the hall, but at least this covered the front of the hallway. After she had picked up a few more, Lin returned to her spot in front of the doorway, hearing Kaori and Shuhei inquire about her panicked state. "Huh, oh- mmmhmm, i'm a-ok. I didn't hit the corner too hard, so i shouldn't have a bruise or anything serious. I'm surprised I actually rolled this far down the hallway.....I must of been sprinting faster than a recognized I truly was." Lin said with a small laugh, her nervous smile still relaxing to a a more natural one. Lin blushed a bright red when Shuhei set her hand on her shoulder, though it quickly faded from her cheeks. Shuhei mentioned Lin being a long time officer in the division and nodded, remembering her earlier days, and that terrible night.

She shuddered, recalling waking the next morning only to find the Soul Society eeriely reduced of shinigami. Her eye caught the little spider crawling away, as Lin had managed to avoid crushing it in her careless accident. She quickly followed the spider's actions, observing the small arachnid. She giggled as it roamed over and under the papers on the hallway floor. Lin had developed an affection for insects and bugs after collecting them in her childhood during the years she spent with her now deceased parents. Even though the memories of her collection had caused certain unpleasent memories to surface, she kept her emotions under control. Except her embarassment, that was slowly subsiding though.

She looked up towards Kaori again, the small spider circling around her hand. She listened attentively, and a massive grin cropped up on her face, finally replacing the timid half smile. She heard Shuhei introduce her to the Kaori. "Mmmhmm, that's me. It'll be nice to have a help around here, eh Captain Hisagi?" She said happily to the two other shinigami. Lin's facial expression looked almost ecstatic, as her embarassment had briefly been forgotten. Lin did a double take from the messy hallway, to Kaori and Shuhei's polite offers to help Lin pick up papers. She was about going to say she could pick them up in a second, but she figured it would be a bit rude to decline the offers, so she nodded to them.

"Thanks, it really helps. I shouldn't of been running through halls anyways, but my early start has pretty much rendered me more reckless and tired than usual." Lin joked, her wild grin calming into a kind smile paired with a laugh. Though she did hear Shuhei tell her not to worry about the frenzy of papers. She shook her head. "That's ok Captain, I might as well help. I'm not hurt, and i'd feel pretty bad just lettin' you guys pick up papers." Lin remarked, joining Shuhei in picking up the papers. She quickly swept the small spider into her hand and set it onto a wall, to make sure the poor little arachnid didn't get squished in the frenzy. She resumed picking up papers, slightly shaking ones that were wet to make sure they weren't sopping wet.

Shuhei was crawling along the floor now picking as many papers as he could, and those which were a bit wet he set aside to try and dry them out rather than letting them get all the other papers wet as well. He looked back over Kaori as she smiled and replied before laughing at the poor spider caught within the papery mess. Then she moved down the hallway to try and get the papers from down there. As he watched he found himself glad that she had ended up as his lieutenant. He thought that perhaps things would finally get back to normal around the Division now with a lieutenant, and a good lieutenant too.

Then as Shuhei was picking up some of the papers he looked back to Lin who was watching the spider quite intently as it ran around in the chaos of the papers. She then seemed to relax a bit after the two of them had started helping out and had began grinning. And after she mentioned about the extra help and he couldn't help but smile slightly. it was going to be a lot easier on him with a lieutenant to help out around the Division. 'Yea, having a lieutenant around will really help speed things up for the 9th Division.' He said, not talking to either one in particular as he was trying to piece together a torn and very wet page. He let out a small sigh, gathered the pieces and set them with some other papers being dried and when he had turned around Lin was picking up papers too. 'Huh, its been a while since i didnt have to do all the work.' He muttered under his breath, smiling. Lin was always one to help out when she could, especially when she was involved, such as this incident. Plus she did say she was fine so there was no point arguing with her.

So he got back down on his knees and gathered all the papers close by to him and stacked them with the others he and Lin had already gotten. Just as he had finished he looked back to Kaori as she raised her voice to say she was done. 'Right, we're all done here too Kaori!' He replied putting his hand to his mouth to make himself louder. He pushed himself up and put out a hand to help Lin up off the floor too. He also glanced back over Kaori at the bottom of the hall getting the papers she had collected together to come back. 'Come on then Lin, if you want i dont mind sorting out all those papers, its not really fair on you to have to sort them out all over again? Go take a break for a bit.' He knew she worked hard, she always did so he expected it was likely she wouldn't take the break to work more. But really they could all do with a break in the 9th Division. 'In fact, before you say no ...' He looked at Kaori and back at Lin before finishing and saying 'Why dont we all take a break in the Division's garden just outside?' Making sure he was loud enough for Kaori to hear too.