As the sun travels across the sky (Open)

Where is everyone?

That was what the new vice captain of the 13th division had been asking herself, ever since she left her room in the Kuchiki manor. Having been an early riser for a long time, Rukia had gotten up as soon as the sun`s first rays had reached her window. She had been pleased to wake up to a blue sky and mild breeze, a good weather was a sign on that the day would be good. Rukia was currently walking across one of the large bridges that connected the division barracks with each other. She still had plenty of time before she had to meet up at the barracks, so taking one of the longer routes would`t hurt well? As she was halfway across the bridge, the view caused her to stop, and walk over to the railling.

"beautiful..", the young vice captain mumbled to herself as she watched the sun rise in the horizon. Due to the lacking clouds in the sky, her shadow was casted long across the bridge. Before Rukia knew it, she became lost in her thoughts, and reality began to catch up to her. Aizen had escaped his prison around a week ago. The gotei 13 had been on high alert for the past few days, shinigami had been dispatched to search every corner of the court, as well as rukongai and the other areas outside the walls. Some had even been sent to the human world. As her thoughts was turned towards the human world, the usual unsettling feeling came over her. Since Ichigo had lost his powers, the town had lost its strong guardian. Of cause shinigami were still hunting hollows there, but who could stop Aizen if he decided to kill? Since his escape, Rukia had been spending the nights worring about her human friends. Last night had been the first night she had gotten proper sleep, did it mean she was getting more careless about the whole situation? Before she could answer the question, three members of the 13th division came walking by. They were some of the many that had been send out during the night to patrol. The only reason why Rukia haden`t been with them, was because she had been up nearly three days in a row, which had caused her to pass out on the desk last night. She had awoken in her bed, having an idea of who had brought her there.

"Kuchiki fukutaicho, good morning!".

"Good morning, keep up the good work".

She kept her welcoming smile and waving hand up until the guards had passed. It was good to see that there wasen`t the biggest panic among the unseated officers. She reached up and ran her fingers across the lieutenant badge that was tied around her left foram. Even through she had been wearing it for two months now, it still felt odd. Rukia returned her gaze to the sunrise and relaxed her shoulders a little. This moment had to be enjoyed, who knew how long the peace would last?

(sorry its not the best x.x)

Kristoph took simple steps about. He held a folder with miscellaneous documents. An errand that he had to run. Honestly, he hated the public, so most likely, not many people would recognize him. He sighed, opening the folder to shuffle through the papers. One flew out of his hand as he gave a sharp gasp. He couldn't afford to lose any of these papers. Not after the long nights he spent doing them. Rushing after it, he jumped up to catch it. It was a failed attempt.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" he shouted repeatedly.

Kristoph was able to catch it. He gave a sigh, placing it back into the folder, along with the other documents. He ran his hand through his pure, silver locks. He looked down and adjusted his lieutenant's badge a bit. The second division, moreso known for its expertise in combat and assassination. He closed his eyes for a moment before hearing 'Good morning, fukutaicho!'.

"Good mor-," he cut himself off.

Kristoph noticed the other lieutenant and sighed somewhat. He did not know the greeting was towards her. From what he could see, the lieutenant was short. He gave a silent chuckle, approaching the other lieutenant.

"Good morning," he greeted.

Laying on his bed for the entire time - unmoving, the person thought to himself about this day, perhaps it wasn't the best he could find. Soon it will be morning and he will have to return to work as a Captain... The sun began to rise. How unfortunate. This was the first night in so frigging long Sashinga Tenge can remember that was what you would call a 'white night' in some language, a sleepless night. Although he tried his best to fall asleep - something he awfully excels at, this night was simply no use, no matter which angle he tried to sleep in or in any pose - sandman never came.

The Captain of the 7th Division squad let out a sigh. In so long, has this phenomenon not occurred to him, he can't remember how long has it been since the last time he stayed up all night because something interrupted his sleep. It was only sunrise, but morning started already. What prevented this man's precious sleep was some issue that bothered him since yesterday, thinking to himself about several possible solutions that can cause him to forget all about it completely, some solutions that can lead to a bigger problem yet - they're all worth it. Maybe it was finally time Tenge accepted on himself that he has to marry the girl he's engaged to? No, not a chance.

"(F*ck... It's morning already. Guess I could try cleaning my mind a bit, going for a walk or something could be nice.)"

The Captain thought to himself as he stepped out of his bed, wearing his Shinigami robe and on top of it - the white Captain Haori that was worn out from the struggles against that invisible man. Crud, if this cape gets any more torn or burned he'll have to ask the Captain Commander for a new one - and boy, is he going to get a scolding if this would happen...

Leaving his house and out for a walk, the Captain gazed at the sky as the clouds were located above the sun's current level - creating such a sight that's so rare and beautiful almost nobody can resist it. Unless you're evil of course. Passing through the streets of Seireitei while thinking to himself, several Shinigami from and not from his squad passed near him, greeting him with a good old 'Ohayo Gozaimasu***, Sashinga Taicho!****', another one of those formal greetings this very specific person hates. It's a good thing he's not from a noble family, or this could have been really tough for him. He greeted back with a proper and polite "G'mornin'." in response, looking at them and smiling peacefully. Almost nobody amongst those around could have guessed what is interfering with his sleep - and if there is something that interrupts his peace at all.

The man didn't notice he was getting near a certain bridge, right above a lake that's seemingly crossed by trees, blocking some of the sun's ray in a fashion that puts immediate calmness to any stressed soul. The Captain leaned against the bridge's handles and just gazed at the skies in-front, smiling widely.

"(Oh well, guess I'll let her go. She's Adachi's 'property', after all.)"

Seriously? Woman problems caused his sleeping delay?

Alas. There was someone near him that he didn't pay too much attention to. How inappropriate of him to do, especially since the persona was apparently of high rank and he was too. Therefore, he had to fix this up as soon as he picked up the Reiatsu fragments.

"Ara, good morning Kuchiki Fukutaicho*, Reina** Fukutaicho. Sorry for the delayed notice... What brings you guys here this early?"

He asked, incredibly relaxed. This was indeed rare - such a beautiful scenery fused with the chilled Captain Sashinga Tenge, which is usually seen stressed thanks to paperwork, running with squad members, training or laughing with some friends.
_____________________________
(*Fukutaicho: Lieutenant. The regular honorific used by Shinigami to address those of the Lieutenant rank.)
(**Reina: Although the name is Reiner, if we try Japanizing this name we will notice it's written like "Re-I-Ne-Ru", something which is quite uncomfortable to pronounce. Therefore, when writing Romaji Japanese, any form of L becomes a form of R and idle R becomes a silent letter. Therefore: "Re-I-Ne-Ruaa", or in other words, Reina Fukutaicho.)
(***Ohayo Gozaimasu: A polite way of saying 'Good Morning', an alternative of 'Ohayo' - which means good morning, although it can also be used at noon.)
(****Taicho: Captain. The regular honorific used by Shinigami to address those of Captain rank. Used by everyone and addressed to any captain except Captain Commander, Soutaicho.)

The large snake looked deep into Yokkyu's eyes, considering his presence as strange. He had not visited her in such a long time, and the two barely had any conversation since thier last serious battle. That was the way the two were - she trusted him completely, and he trusted her completely, but the two barely ever spoke. Yokkyu's face was kept completely calm - completely expressionless. He gave a low bow following the stare, his hair staying between his ears, and down his back. His legs up to his knees were doused in water, the water of his Inner World, the water that Okunoheb had stayed in. Yokkyu's eyes went back up to meet again with the large snake, who simple sat there, flicking her tongue every now and then. She was smelling him, he knew - even though she knew who was there, she was trying to see if she could somehow smell his intentions. Okunoheb. Yokkyu greeted, walking up in the air from the lake, stepping each step by using the reirokyu on the bottom of his feet as tiny stairs to hold himself in the air. With each step came that signature woosh of wind as his feet disturbed the air pressure around. Okunoheb simply hissed, which was her specific way of laughing - very very strange. The two were not looking at each other happily - neither were in the mood for games. The day had some where one would kill the other, that much was for sure. Yokkyu reached for his blade, unsheathing that magnificent katana slowly. He gripped it firmly between both hands and held it nonchalantly right afterwards in his right hand, where it was pointing to the ground. Okunoheb simply hissed again, and curled her neck in an "S" shape. Without a seconds thought, she lunged forward, striking at Yokkyu full force. He brought up his blade in defense...

And his eyes flashed open, flashing to the left and to the right, as if he was fretful. With a sigh, he realized it was another one of those strange and meaningless dreams. It was a simply reiteration of when Yokkyu had obtained his bankai, that's all. The dreams did, however disturb Yokkyu, for he had them quite frequently. He tried his best to push it from his mind, as he slowly rose from his luxurious Captain's bed in the Captain's Quarters of the 9th Division Squad Barracks. With the window being closed, and the thick drapes covering the closed windows, which were boarded by two beautiful and decorated pieces of wood, which pivoted at two golden hinges. With the thought of what he needed to do, Yokkyu slowly rose from the bed, stretching before stepping to his feet. As he rose, his fair flew down from weird angles, and sat draped down his back, a bit frizzy from the nights sleep, but nothing a run-through with his claws wouldn't fix. He did just that, with both his left and right hands, and ran the claws on each hand down the length, which in turn scraped lightly against the bare skin on his back. That was how he slept, and how he woke up - in the plain black and white Shinigami attire, with the torse section removed, leaving only the robed bottoms. Before Yokkyu would go to the window, he would want to at least put on the robe top so he wouldn't open the window half-naked.

From his bed he walked straight forward, to theneat mannequin that held all his clothes. He removed the Captain Haori from the mannequin and set it to the side, and grabbed the robe top, pulling it over his chest, and through the neck hole his head went. He brought his hands to the back of his neck and went back and up at the same time, freeing his hair from the back of his robe. Next came the tieing of the sash, which was simple. Bring the two pieces together, and maneuver it this way and that, and voila! - you had a tied sash! He then grabbed towards the bottom of the mannequin and pulled free his Zanpakutou, still in the magnificent blue sheath. He placed it in the sash, to the left of his hip. After that was completed, he yawned once more, taking in a big breath of cool air, filling his lungs, then exhaling to release the carbon dioxide. After the stretch that followed, he grabbed at the haori, pulling it through his left arm first, then his right. The magnificent thing draped down to his ankles, and covered his arms up to the wrists of each arm. He grabbed the black sash that kept it tied safely and securely to his waist, and pulled the haori together, tieing the sash tightly. All from his waist was hidden aside from the hilt of his magnificent Zanpakutou. He had about three more pieces of clothing to put back on, which he did relatively quickly. A iron plate-piece, protecting the front and back of his torse, with a blue trim towards the bottom, and then an iron spiked pauldron. The last piece was a magnificent pelt of a fearsome wolf, which went around his neck, and draped down his back like his luscious hair.

Now that he was properly dressed as the Captain of Squad Nine, he walked towards the window to check on the time. He pulled the shades apart from each other, and then went for the shutters, pulling those two apart. Then up came the glass on the window, which let in dim sunlight. He could see the rays rising above the trees in the distance. Sunrise Yokkyu guessed, for he knew it wouldn't be sunset for then the sun would be in the opposite direction. The dream woke me up a bit early. he reasoned, knowing he usually wouldn't be up until the sun hung right overhead - noontime. It was too late to go back to sleep, it would be futile, for now he was too much on the awake side to go back to sleep for any significant amount of time. With the duties of the day far from starting, he decided to take a nice little stroll by the local lake. It was quite a popular destination during the morning, and during the night, for you could see both the sunrise and sunset, and the glare from the sun on the water was absolutely beautiful to any who had the blessing of witnessing such an event. That sounds nice Yokkyu thought cheerfully, though the expression on his face told otherwise. Expressionless, always expressionless. He now knew where he would be going, and walked to the exit of his Quarters, opened the door, and stepped out. He noted that each door he past was house to Shinigami, all of which were snoring entirely too loudly. No matter, they were likely having happy dreams, and they would be able to sleep in today, for Yokkyu wouldn't do as he usually did and wake them up early for the hell of it.

He continued down several hallways, passing several doors, and not seeing a single Shinigami of his Squad up and awake for the morning ahead. Strange, yet normal. Though nothing to be concerned with. Yokkyu continued until he got to the Squad 9 Compound, and exited his Division Barracks, passing into Seireitei. It would be about a five minute walk until one got to the lake, which was fine for a morning stroll. Yokkyu was like most others, while in Soul Society, he neglected to release any of his reiatsu, as well as neglected to feel for any others. His was obviously silent and unnoticable, for the reiatsu is simply the pressure of the Reirokyu one is currently releasing. Yokkyu was currently releasing none whatsoever, as most others would be doing. If any were exerting any reiatsu, it wasn't large enough to catch Yokkyu's attention. The day was beautiful, and any intense reiatsu would simply ruin the mood. Yokkyu passed several shops which were getting set up by their owners, who simply bowed in his pressence, uttering "Good Morning, Fuman Taicho", to which Yokkyu nodded his approval and greeting each time. He arrived at a bridge, and noticed two Shinigami. One was the noble Kuchiki Rukia, sister to Captain of Squad Six, Byakuya Kuchiki. It was commonly known to all that Rukia was the adopted sister of Byakuya's Clan, but she was still treated with the highest respect possible, even by Captains as respected as Yokkyu. The Captain of Squad Nine didn't pay attention to see who the second Shinigami was, and simply unleashed a half-assed, but undoubedtly quick, shunpo to appear in front of Rukia. He smirked, a true smirk, for he was to be respectful to the noble, the beautiful, the Kuchiki. Good morning, Lieutenant Kuchiki . he said bowing, and then decided to correct his speech, Beautiful morning. he said, correcting himself as he rose from his bow, still paying no mind to the other Shinigami.

Her gaze soon got distracted by a flutter of birds leaving one of the nearby rooftops, setting off towards the outskirts of rukongai for their neasts. It was spring after all, soon the sakura trees would be in full bloom. Would the yearly party to celerbrate the comming of the spring be cancled this year? Last time it had been a succes...at least for most. She could still remember how angry Byakuya had been to find a certain busty vice captain laying in the middle of his koi fish dam last year. She allowed herself to sigh a little and removed her fingers from the armband. A new generation of shinigami had been born this spring, a change of rank was common when such things happened.

"Good morning"

She turned halfway to the left and found herself looking into the chest of a male shinigami. Rukia ran her violet eyes over the upper torso of the male before reaching his face. As usual her small size made her look small compared to most shinigami. "Good morning..". She moved her gaze onto his armband for a moment, before returning it to his face. "Reiner fukutaicho". Being new among the vice captains herself, she had yet to really talk with any of them. At the recent captain meeting, every captain and vice captain had introduced them selfs, it was quite hard remembering who was who due to all the new faces. Before the conversation could even get started, another voice broke the morning air.

"Ara, good morning Kuchiki Fukutaicho, Reina Fukutaicho. Sorry for the delayed notice... What brings you guys here this early?"

"Good morning, Sashinga taicho!". The words were spoken, and was followed by a brief bow in his direction. The tone was respectful, and the honorfics as well as last name had been said correctly. It was clear she had grown up learning her manners. Should i answer or simply let Reiner-san answer first?. She briefly lowered her gaze to the ground, keeping her back straight since a captain was present now. She had never been one to really socialize with the captains. The only two she really cared for was, of cause, her older brother, and the other being the now retired Ukitake. As she looked up again, she was taken by surprise when another shinigami suddenly appeared in front of her. She grabbed onto the railling to prevent herself from falling, who would use shunpo to surprise anyone like that?

"Good morning, Lieutenant Kuchiki"

"Goo- good morning Fuman taicho..". As she adjusted herself to stand straight, she got a little surprised over seeing a captain bow towards her. Why would a captain show such respect towards a vice captain? She wasen`t even from his division. "Hai, it is beautiful..". Rukia once again moved her gaze away from her fellow shinigami, returning it towards the horizon. The day had started out good, but now it was just weird...what was the chance of running into a vice captain, and two captains within the same couple of minutes?

(sorry about the short length x.x)

"Oh," he nodded as if bowing, "Konbanwa, Captain Tenge."

A smile flashed against Kristoph's thin lips. He then dropped the smile, as it had agitated his jaw. It was obvious he was not used to smiling. He simply gave a swift bow, then opened his folder. It was truly a coincidence. Running into a captain while doing his errands was a rare thing. Simply, he closed the folder, remembering his last occurence with a paper that tried to fly away.

"It's a pleasant suprise to see you both out this early," he admitted, "I was out because the squad members insist I get out more. The inside is not good for my health, apparently."

Kristoph gave a sharp cough, covering his mouth as he did so. It was obvious the only thing keeping him up was caffeine. He tucked the folder under his arm, muttering something about a pain in the neck. It was litteral, not metaphorical, of course. He rubbed the back of his neck, as it was covered by his shirt collar and bandages. He then cleared his throat.

"But to answer precisely," he began to say, "I was out running a simple errand."

Kristoph then saw as another captain had used flash-step to arrive so quickly. As he could see, the captain was focused on Miss Kuchiki alone. He held back a scoff, as he remembered the last time he talked back to a captain. That was a very painful training exercise that his captain made him do. He still felt the shock from the shock collar that was placed on him. He gave a soft sigh, as womanizers annoyed him. Clearing his throat, he looked to the other captain.

"Konbanwa, Captain Fuman," he greeted in a simple, yet oblivious tone.

Kristoph's blood red eyes sparked somewhat, as he was interested in why there were two captains and a lieutenant out. He had not seen them before when he did his errands. He just pushed the thought aside, and bowed to the captains. He then bowed to the lieutenant, showing mutual respect.