Waterfall Eclipse

First of Two Meetings

Chapter Eighty-Four:

First of Two Meetings

The girls woke up and got ready for the day slowly. They walked into the office fifteen minutes before nine o'clock, beating their officers there.

"I am going to go make some tea. Stay here. I should be back by nine." Rani stated.

"Sure. I'll wait outside the office for you."

Rani nodded and then headed quickly to the kitchen to quickly heat the water and prepare the tray for the tea. Ten minutes later she was walking back into the office with Chiharu following her inside. She placed the tray on the coffee table and prepared the glasses before standing up and walking over to the captain at his desk.

"Thank you Tómasu." Captain Kuchiki stated as she handed him his cup and then picked up the lieutenant's.

"Yes, thank you." The lieutenant agreed.

Chiharu was silent but assisted Rani with making their tea while Rani gave the captain and lieutenant theirs.

"Okay, so down to business." Captain Kuchiki started. "A lot is going on within the Gotei 13, including the shuffling of officers." He said and then got quiet as he walked over to the girls. "Nakano, how comfortable are you training with Lieutenant Abarai?"

"Well, practice was fine. I had no issues." Chiharu answered confused.

"Good. The Captain Commander wanted to surprise everyone at eleven o'clock, but I feel it is my responsibility, and right, to inform you. Lieutenant Abarai will be promoted to the rank of Captain for Squad Eight. He will need a new lieutenant as well, which is where you will be placed, Nakano. He has been entrusted with helping you master your Shikai while there."

Rani and Chiharu's eyes got wide.

"Tómasu, you will be promoted to my lieutenant. This is at the request of Captain Commander Kyouraku. Then you and I will discuss the other seated officers, since we will have two vacancies, when we return here."

"Yes, sir."

"I know this is a big responsibility for you, Miss Nakano, but I truly feel you are capable of it. Tómasu can help with your training as well, if Abarai requests it. I see no need to disallow her to assist you."

"Thank you, sir." Chiharu choked out.

"All right. I am going to leave you and Tómasu in Abarai's care for the next hour and a half. He can show you the ropes of the paperwork that he is required to fill out, as an introduction."

The two girls nodded as he put his teacup on the tray and then left the room.

"Get ready for a crash course in paperwork." Lieutenant Abarai stated as he handed them each a packet of documents.

"I feel like I am at the academy again." Chiharu quietly joked. "Should we call you Abarai-sensei?" She asked with a straight face causing Rani to burst out laughing.

Both Chiharu and Lieutenant Abarai also eventually lost it.

"Nah. These are just samples of the paperwork. Each of these pages is self-explanatory, but Captain Kuchiki likes them filled out as neat as possible, Tómasu. As long as I can read it, Nakano, I am fine with that." He started as he sat down. "It's not hard, but if you have a question, feel free to ask. Captain Kuchiki knows you are new at the position, and I am open. I am not going to be as strict as him."

Rani raised her eyebrow at him and shook her head.

"As seeing as I had glanced at all of these while filing the darn things, I feel confident enough that I can fill them out." Rani stated after carefully leafing through the pages.

"I will definitely need some help though."

"That's why this whole thing is a trial period." He stated as he handed Chiharu another page.

"What is this?"

"I had been talking with Squad Eight Third Seat Enjoji. He, as well as the other lower seats, did not want to be moved up, so that's why I needed a new lieutenant. However, this is your schedule. I made it a point to make Shikai Training a necessity for all of the officers and we will train in pairs. They all agreed to help you knowing you had just achieved it. I don't know who, or when, but you will be working with all of our lower seated officers."

Chiharu nodded.

"I take it Captain Kuchiki wasn't aware of this?" She inquired.

"Nope. But you are still welcome, Tómasu, to help out. Maybe even help the other officers of mine."

Rani nodded this time and smiled.

"Of course! Just let me know a day before."

"Are you girls nervous?"

The two looked at each other and then nodded before answering.

"Yes." The duo admitted.

"Will this be one massive promotion ceremony in the Captain Commander's office?" Chiharu inquired.

"I believe so. I think he will be going down the line of Squads with open positions. Squad Four is the first one with two promotions and then it jumps to Squad Six, which works out wonderfully for us."

"Why is that?" Chiharu questioned.

"I'll have the honor of taking off this band and placing it on Tómasu, and then the Captain Commander will hand me the haori for Squad Eight."

"Who puts the band on Chiharu?" Rani questioned.

"Either myself or the Captain Commander. He hasn't informed me yet because technically I am not supposed to know." Lieutenant Abarai said with a grin causing the girls to smile.

"You're horrible, but we'll keep quiet."

"All right. I'll slowly go over each page with you now to make sure everything is good."

Lieutenant Abarai spent the next thirty minutes explaining each document before deciding to stop. The three chatted before the captain came back in to bring walk with them to Squad One.

The walk there was silent, except for Rani and Chiharu discussing the paperwork and their Shikais. The group of four from Squad Six eventually arrived to Squad One, meeting up with many other seated officers from other squads.

"I feel severely out of place. I don't even hold a seated position yet." Chiharu said quietly so only Rani could hear.

"Don't worry. It's not so bad. At least you know who most of these people are." Rani said trying to reassure her.

"Tómasu!" Lieutenant Hinamori greeted as she and her captain came over. "Captain Hirako, this is Squad Six Third Seat Tómasu Rani. And this is Nakano Chiharu." She introduced smiling. "Girls, this is Captain Hirako Shinji."

"Pleasure, young ladies." He greeted.

Rani and Chiharu smiled back.

"I am so glad that you girls are doing better. It was scary a couple of days ago."

"Yeah, but we survived." Chiharu responded. "Rani will always bounce back it seems."

"Hey now! I almost didn't." Rani defensively said. "If it wasn't for Lady Lily, I definitely wouldn't have."

"I had heard about that." Captain Hirako stated. "But, at least she was smart enough to remember what she had been told about zanpakutos. The doors should be opening soon. It's almost eleven."

Just like he had stated, the doors started to open. The girls were instructed to walk behind Lieutenant Abarai, with Rani being directly behind him. They were then instructed to stand in the same way inside the great hall. Rani noticed the table with some newly crafted haoris and armbands