Office Work

Rina sipped her tea as she signed another report, her desk was brimming with paperwork. Requests about mounting a big-scale investigation on the disappearances, numbers on how many that had just vanished. She put the brush down as she saw her former captains name, Hitsugaya Toshiro, on the list. He was a good captain, and Rina felt somewhat horrid to know that she had to replace him. She hadn't donned her white haori, it was neatly folded on a side table. Next to Hitsugaya-taichous.

"Todou-fuku.. Todou-taichou, I have more reports," it was the seventh seat who belatedly corrected her title.

"It's alright, just leave them on the pile," the red headed captain said emotionless.

"Taichou, you need to take a break," the man said straightly as he neared her, she sighed, he had a point, she hadn't slept since, she couldn't remember when she last laid down in her own futon instead of the rather uncomfortable sofa in the office.

"I don't have the time at the moment," she simply answered as she picked up the brush and continued to scan through the papers.

The sound of Lightning's boots upon the hard flooring of the 10th division barracks sounded out as she deliberately walked heavier than normal. She was not in the mood to deal with needless things and was exuding a 'don't get in my way' aura as she checked yet another divsions barracks for any sign of the missing. She knew that it was pointless, they wouldn't be there...they were gone. But until she knew for certain that none were simply 'misplaced' so to speak, she would not be able to get rid of the feeling that she should be searching. Her intimidating aura startled and scared a seated officer of the division as they saw her heading their way in the hallway. Fumbling they dropped the stack of papers that they had in their arms as Lightning walked past. So pathetic, why on earth would one be so intimidated by one of their own.

Lightning stopped in front of the practically terrified shinigami and simply looked down at the trembling figure.

Rina felt Lightnings reiatsu approach, she didn't know the 6th divisions captain well but she was aware that her subordinates was intimidated by her. She heard the flutter of papers when one sad officer came face to face with Lightning.

"Lightning-taichou, would you mind not scrambling the mind of my men," she said from within the office, not even glancing up from her papers, "We have lost many members of this division already." The redhead finished the paper and rose from her desk. She fought back a sigh when she noticed the messed up papers and the franticly apologizing man, more papers.

"What can I do for you Lightning-taichou?"

Lightning looked to red haired woman seated behind the desk in the direction the voice had come from, so this was the replacement for Hitsugaya was it..interesting. She returned her gaze down to the panicking officer on the floor scurrying to pick up the scattered papers for a moment before approaching the desk of the woman that was the newest paper pusher. "A stupid Question, you know why i am here surely, otherwise you would not be seated in that desk" Lightning approached a seat on the otherside of the desk and sat down, her arms folded and her legs crossed as she leant back into the chair and looked into the eyes of the woman across the desk.

Lightning's gaze watched the envelope slide towards her across the surface of the desk before returning it to the red haired woman that was handing her a cup of tea. Lightning simply made a hand motion that signalled her rejection of the tea, it was only slight but she knew that the woman would notice it. She wasn't meaning to be rude but Lightning didn't like hot drinks on the best of days...and today was far from being a good day. The question she had asked of Lightning was definately one that had many answers, how did she fare in this situation? She had been made to return to the Seireitei and become acting captain for the 6th division...again. It wasn't that she disliked the 6th division, after all it was her former squad and it wasn't that she hated the Seireitei either...she just hadn't been back in a long time.

Only one Royal Guard had disappeared which left them i a relatively strong state of affairs compared to the Gotei 13 right now, so many had gone missing. Sure she didn't really personally care for any of them, she didn't really know them. But one of them was someone that she knew, someone that she had gone to academy with. Sure she hadn't socialised with him due to the gap between their status but the one sided attachment was there despite that. He was also the man she had left the 6th division in the hands of when she was promoted to the Royal Guard. Byakuya Kuchiki...

"How i fare is simply not relevant. The situation at hand is that of importance."

Lightning knew of the plans being thrown around for a mass mission to search for the missing, she had rather strong opinions on the plans she had heard so far.

Rina placed the cup on a free surface as Lightning dismissed it, she slightly disagreed with her fellow captain, their faring were important.
"How we fare are important, the responsibility lays on our shoulders now. Moreover, all these," at this Rina motioned the piles on her desk, "are individual reports on the night of the disappearences. They make little sense, some, like myself, I have no memories at all from that night."
The redhead hated the fact that she was one of those that seemed to suffer from a selective amnesia, it made her feel traitorous, and she also wondered if the pinkette opposite of her was aware that there were people who had no memories.
"You were aware that there were people without memories?

Lightning listened to Rina talk about the importance of how they the captains are faring, something she didn't agree with but would not argue upon. As the night in question was mentioned and missing memories joined the conversation Lightning leant back in the chair further, completely resting her weight against it's sturdy back.

None knows what happened that night" Lightning was referring to the actual cause behind the disappearances, she could see the woman before her felt guilty or perhaps useless for not remembering more of the incident. In truth Lightning was extremely intrigued that one of captain rank suffered from amnesia. If this was the case then perhaps...just perhaps her mind was beginning to wrap itself around what had occurred. Lightning remained quiet as she thought things over in her mind, it almost appeared as if she had forgotten about the woman in the room with her.

Rina nodded before brushing her hand under her nose, absently checking for any signs of blood. Of course there weren't any, but nevertheless. She went back to reading her reports, but at the same time she thought about the morning after the 'incident'. She had woken outdoors, nearly a kilometer from her home, cold and with a heavy nosebleed, not knowing how she had ended up there dressed only in her sleeping yukata.

The walk back had been confusing and she still felt a chill down her back just by thinking about it, Rina was well aware that she should have filed a report. She still hadn't.

"Is Cypher really the new sou-taichou?"

Lightning had been deep in thought before Rina spoke again, she had been contemplating if her theory on the disappearances was correct. Rina mentioned Cypher, of all people to talk about Cypher was at the bottom of her acceptable list. Lightning let out a sigh of frustration and her foot began to move back and forward as she sat crosslegged, leaning back into the chair with her arms folded across her chest.

"Yes..." She couldn't quite pin-point the reason for her dislike of the man, after all she did not know him personally very well, but something...something about him annoyed her to no end. Oh how she wanted to pound that smug and cocky face of his into the very dirt he walked upon.

"Well, I'm sure he has his qualities, however I'm not sure what those are..." Rina said with a slight smile, as she sipped her now tepid tea. She belonged to those who weren't on par with Cypher. She had some thought to the facts that they were fellow redhead, even if she knew that Cypher was a natural redhead unlike herself.
"Lightning-san, I don't even know what I'm looking for in these reports! It makes little sense that so many simply disappear, I know no other phenomena that even begins to remind us of something of this magnitude. All we have to go on is nothing. Nothing make sense," Rina exclaimed as she rubbed her forehead to ward of the headache that came as sudden as her little anger attack.

Lightning saw the cool-headed woman beginning to feel the burn of frustration, and it also seemed she was suffering from a headache due to it."Perhaps you should try not to dwell on what has happened and focus on simply recovering. Even if we knew what caused the disapearances we would be in no different of a situation." Lightning had an uncanny ability to remain focused and objective in even the most dire of situations, that wasn't to say she didnt have other thoughts. She merely did not let them fester and was good at quickly dismissing them from mind.

"im sure once all the puzzle pieces come together we will have a much better grip on the cause and reasoning behind it.' Lightning was referring to the reports from that night that would come together and create an image of the night.

"Those that have memories of that night all talk about some kind of Light Phenomena, not much unlike Aurora Borealis, just instead of keeping to the northern and southern pole of the living world it was everywhere. I have reports from the remaining division members stationed in the living world that humans disappeared as well, one of my men had been purifying a hollow that simply vanished without a trace, so it's rather safe to assume that Hueco Mundo was inflicted by this as well."

Rina motioned one of the neat piles, “some of the division like this one lost nearly a 5th of it’s members, I’m not only decimated. Souls from the Rukongai, gone, humans, quincies, hollows, gone. It makes no sense that something can disappear without a single trace, no scent, nothing," of this she was sure since she had had Byakko try to sniff out her captain but the feline had come up short. "I haven’t left this office except to freshen up since that day, and I still make no progress. If the 12th had a working order I would seek their advice, but they seem to be in similar mess as all the other divisions, my men couldn’t even get copies of their reports,” Rina admitted dejectedly, her headache showed little sign of disappearing and it made her feel even more horrid than earlier.

Lightning's own memories of the phenomenon played through her mind as the young red-head spoke of the reports she had gotten so far. She could tell that the whole situation was eating her from the inside out as she listened to her speak of the chaos that was the Soul Society right now. She decided she would share what information she could with the captain, being sure to keep that she was unsure of and her own thoughts to herself. She had theories based on what she had experienced that night, but she could not be sure. She definately didn't want to spread it around as conjecture.

"Yes, las noches was affected. Everywhere was as you have had reports of, no race was safe from the phenomenon. It was indeed a light phenomenon" Once again the night in question played through Lightning's mind, so much she experienced that others by the sound of it had not.

"What is strong enough to affect all three realms? Kings Realm... or Hell?" Rina asked, in a dismissive way, at least she hoped; the last alternative made her feel even more uneasy. "Forget I mentioned that, it's more far fetched then it sounds, just frayed nerves and exhaustion," the redhead said waving her own options away, she understood that Lightning didn't tell her everything she knew. Rina was in a disadvantageous situation, she hadn't read one report were there were no memories at all, jumbled memories; yes, but no other lacked any memories at all. It was disturbing.
She had a sudden smile as she remembered something from the world of the living. "I think aliens did it," she snorted as she refilled her cup.

Lightning furrowed her eyebrows as she heard Rina make a comment about aliens, at first she had not caught on to her joke. But then after a moment of thought she finally remembered something about conspiracys in the human world and aliens being responsible for abductions and the like. Her gaze softened as she realised that Rina truly was simply joking around, in a normal situation Lightning might not have looked at the fact she was making light of an important situation so lightly but right now she guessed that everyone could use some lightening up.

"True, true perhaps the lights were some kind of UFO" Lightning shrugged her shoulders as she held back the laughter she was feeling welling inside at that ridiculous thought.

Rina burst out in laughter as Lightning went along with her crazy idea about aliens, the laughter felt reviving even if her headache did get worse from the action it was worth it. She realized that the fact that she couldn't really stop laughing was partially because she was too tired and that in combination with laughter usually meant that she laughed until she had no air left but again it was worth it. She managed to control her mirth with a deep breath, "I usually am more controlled than this, Lightning-san but I fear that I have been caught in this office a little too long," the redhead said apologetically as she nearly started laughing again.

Lightning was almost stunned at the woman's rather humourous fit of laughter at her comment, she also started to become worried about the degree of the laughter. She was laughing far too hard and loud for the simple joke she made about UFO's then as the woman spoke she realised the reason behind the laughter.

"Ahh yes i see, delerium. I too have found myself too tired and exhausted to stay close to reality" Lightning smiled faintly at Rina in an understanding manner. She watched Rina try to stop laughing and almost started laughing herself "Although i find myself tired and comatose more often than i do delerious" Lightning chuckled lightly as she tried to contain her own laughter and not to start Rina off again.

"I used to stop Hitsugaya-taichou when he worked too hard, my division-members have been nagging at me to take a proper break," Rina said, "although I haven't obeyed them as of yet. I should have, if I felt that I had the time and opportunity." the woman continued as she looked at the ever-growing piles of papers covering her desk. At the rate the reports were coming in she would be in the office for months, Rina forced down the shiver that ran through her at that thought. "I will head their advice for a while I think... Lightning-san, would you like to join me for a walk?

Lightning had heard of the former captain of the division, Toshiro Hitsugaya. He was the youngest captain ever in the history of the soul society, well she knew how hard it was to be the youngest...Lightning was the youngest royal guard. Lightning stood from the rather uncomfortable chair, it was nothing like that of the 9th divisions....so comfortable. She made a note that she would have to visist Shuhei again just to sit in that chair. "Why not i am in need of stretching my legs, i have been sitting too much today" Lightning was referring to the long time she had spent seated in shuhei's office talking and discussing the plans for the divisions. She took a step to the side of the office and waited for Rina to lead the way.

Rina pulled on her white captain's robe and picked Byakko from her stand, the feline purred making Rina smile and caress the blade extra as she pulled the blue band across her back. She picked up her sandals from the basket before going out through the door into the roofed balcony's leading to the ground level. The day was sunny and bright, even if the air was little chill it rejuvenated Rina. She leaned against a pole and tied her sandal before walking towards the 11th division.
"I haven't received the reports from 11th, I was hoping to catch Solomon-san and talk to him."

As Rina passed Lightning on her way out of the doors Lightning could hear Zetsu-maru growl at the blade now hanging from Rina's body. This made Lightning smile slightly as she closed the doors behind them both and followed after Rina whom was now tying her sandals. The cool air was nice as it gently washed past Lightning's face, finally some cooler weather....Lightning was getting sick of the heat wave they had been having lately. As Lightning approached Rina she could hear Zetsu-maru's growls become louder once again. She began to chuckle slightly as she became amused at the actings of her zanpaktou spirit. She figured by his reaction to Rina's blade that her spirit must be something remotely feline, it really was the only thing Zetsu-maru acted this way at. She would have put her hand on her blade to calm the canine if that was she had her blade materialised.

"Ah it makes sense the 11th division are last, all braun and no brains" Lightning replied to Rina's comment by teasing in a way, sure the 11th division wasn't around to hear but that did not mean she didn't speak her mind. As Zetsu-maru's growls became too loud for Lightning to hear herself think she spoke "calm Zetsu-maru, i can not hear myself think". Zetsu-maru hushed immediately like the obedient canine he was, the odd grunt bark was still there but he ceased his growling. Lightning shook her head as the wolf spirit still comtinued with his grunt like barking in protest of her being near a feline based zanpaktou.

"The 11th are strong, that is why they are the tip of our sword," Rina said as the duo continued their walk in the sunlight. The low ranking officers of the tenth division might be the ones that had the most knowledge of other divisions as they were the ones doing most of the planning of joint operations. Rina also had the utmost respect for the 11th, even if at times working together with members of said division she had wished for a heavy pipe or something similar to whack the sense into them.
Byakko purred delightedly in her mind when Lightning admonished Zetsu-maru out loud.
"I take it that Zetsu-Maru is some kind of canine? Byakko is rather pleased with the fact that you told him to silence, she is a little mischievous when it comes to canines," Rina patted her sword-sheath affectionately, she loved that part of her soul that was the feline, even though Byakko seemed to be more playful that Rina.

Here they stood together two seemingly complete opposite women..or so their zanpaktou's seemed to show. "Yes he is a canine" Lightning answered the question asked of her simply and plainly without adding any extra information to her answer, she was sure that Zetsu-maru would not appreciate it in the slightest. Lightning motioned with her hand to Rina asking with her body language for them to leave.


((OOC: sorry it is short i am dead after a marathon at work and no sleep xD))