Admiration (Bleach Fanfic)

Starting Move

Over at twelfth division, a buzzer went off on the screen, causing the men to hurry to the screen. The captain of the division was stuck in the room, due to his punishment for the fiasco with the new tenth division member a few weeks ago, thus he came to find the siren going off. He sat up, and began to push some buttons. "And it just disappeared from there… huh?"

"Captain…" one of the men stated. "It is almost as if there is a huge hollow in the desert area that needs to be taken care of, but then disappeared."

"I already said that you buffoon!" the captain snapped.

"But… it must be an error with the equipment… right," another stated.

"Perhaps…" the man then turned his eyes towards them, killing intent high. "Do you really think that I would have an error in my equipment?"

"I heard that kid that just graduated could easily fit in here," one of them gabbled to try to change the subject.

"Ehh…" the man turned and looked at them. "Apparently, that buffoon Isshin thinks the kid is lieutenant material. I wonder… a good test of what his abilities are would be to send him with his taicho and lieutenant to that area… if what I think is true, is true…"

An evil smirk appeared on the man's face. "And this wouldn't count as an experiment, now would it?"

M

It was in the yen garden that Matsumoto was able to find Toshiro, sitting on the huge rock in the center. She went and sat down next to him. "So… what exactly was that comment about snakes."

"Why did you cover for him again?" Toshiro glared at her, causing her to flinch.

"Because… I thought taicho didn't know that Gin had been staying in there… but I just found out he probably has known for some time now," Rangiku had a sad look on her face.

"I figured as much. The only reason that I agreed to this stupid makeup was if we didn't tell taicho about Gin being there, as I did wake up screaming this morning, they would have placed me in your room, making them think that it was you who did it," the white haired boys logic caused Matsumoto's jaw to drop.

"So you didn't think that Gin might have gotten in trouble for this… I mean… I've never seen him… I've never…" the woman closed her eyes.

"Matsumoto… the only reason he tried killing me last night was…" Toshiro found himself interrupted.

"Gin would not kill you… he did not try to kill you!" Matsumoto had a sad look on her face, close to tears, not to mention some anger.

"Rangiku-san…" the boy turned his face away. "If you had let me finish… when he attacked me last night, he didn't realize it was me until after he had grabbed me. I think… I think because of his sleep problem as you call it… he may have thought I was trying to kill him."

"I … but," Matsumoto closed her eyes. "Gin… I've never known him to do even that…"

"That might be because he doesn't want to hurt you," the boy suddenly turned to stare at the sky. "It's kind of like how snow can be a good thing, but it can also be a very dangerous thing. Anyways… because it was self defense, I don't think taicho would have been mad at Gin… I think he likes captain Ichimaru Gin a lot, so don't worry about it."

M

Atsuo sat at his desk, working on the paperwork as the third seat and Toshiro had yet to come back to the office area. He suddenly glanced up, a little bit worried. "I heard Toshiro yell this morning… was that when Gin attacked him?"

"Ahh… I don't believe so," Isshin folded a blank piece of paper into a crane. "I think Toshiro made the mistake of waking Gin up last night, thinking it was Matsumoto. Gin thought someone was attacking him, which is why Shiro-chan made the comment about playing with snakes… that he should have in a way known better."

"But why did Toshiro scream this morning?" the man suddenly stated.

"… because he woke up in Matsumoto's room instead of his own," Isshin stuck a letter into an envelope. "Gin had also probably left, and Shiro-chan shunpooed out of there, so we couldn't find anything."

"But how did the kiddo end up in her room. I know he's been walking around at night until he can get to sleep… I mean, I can't blame him… twelfth division and all," Atsuo redipped his brush into the ink pot.

"Oh, because he was likely not allowed to leave after he went into her room," Isshin shrugged his shoulders. "I would imagine Gin to be a very deep sleeper."

"But why cover it up?" Atsuo frowned at the whole matter and completely stopped working.

"Matsumoto because she didn't expect this kind of behavior from Gin, even though it was accidental, while Toshiro figured that we didn't know Gin was there and didn't want Ran-chan to get blamed," Isshin laughed.

"So, what exactly are we going to do about the kids inability to sleep," the man stated. "There is no telling if he'll fall asleep somewhere he shouldn't."

"Don't worry, it may not be his room, but it has been the same place," Isshin smiled. "He seems to have a liking for sleeping on the roof."

"And how would you know this?" Atsuo suddenly chuckled, only to find himself shocked by Isshin's response.

Isshin blew on a party whistle in his desk drawer, then spoke up. "Every day before he wakes up, I take him from where he sleeps above my quarters back to his room. So shush, don't tell him, as he doesn't know."

"He doesn't seem a heavy sleeper," Atsuo started back into work.

"Well, so far I've been lucky," Isshin smiled. "Oh… and how is his training coming along?"

"He thinks he's still struggling, but as you requested, I am lessening the box size, in a way so that he hasn't yet noticed that I am doing this," the man stated. "He could probably release without causing major damage inside. A lot of ice, but not major damage."

"Do you think that Ukitake would be willing to put in a word for him," Isshin stated as Atsuo took a drink of his tea, only to watch as it went everywhere.

"Ukitake! Isshin, are you crazy? Jushiro has a thing about children fighting…" Atsuo's face had turned pale.

"Which is why I want Ukitake to see Toshiro's shikai," Isshin stated, getting a confused look from his lieutenant. "I believe he'll be the one person who will understand Toshiro the best, because of his liking for children."

"I hope you are right," Atsuo shook his head, not sure where this was going.