Dragon's Fang (Renji Abarai x OC)

¢нαρтєя 7

"What on earth is taking so long?" Hotaru wondered aloud to herself. Her Captain and Renji had been called to another officer meeting, although for the most part it was only the top officers taking part in the meeting while the lieutenants sat in a room bored out of their minds. Either way, an intruder in Soul Society was serious business, and Hotaru found herself growing increasingly impatient.

As if on cue, Captain Zaraki Kenpachi and his Lieutenant Kusajishi Yachiru ran past. She was perched on his shoulder smiling happily. Hotaru and her squad bowed their heads, acknowledging the captain.

"Hi Ho-chan!!" Yachiru called happily on his back, waving at Hotaru. Hotaru reacted as quickly as possible and dodged as Zaraki streaked by her, on a mission.

"Ah, good morning, Yachiru Fukutaichou!" Hotaru called back as the pair disappeared around the next corner. Hotaru stared after them, rather confused as to where they were off to in such a hurry. Thankfully she didn't have to wonder long.

"Kuchiki Taichou!" the squad acknowledged the captain, bowing their heads to him and standing in proper formation. Hotaru turned and bowed her head as well, watching as the captain and Renji walked to the front of the line.

"Division 6 is to remain in our Division Court. Should any of the ryoka enter, it is permissible to engage. If you wish to capture them alive, you are to bring them straight to the division barracks, otherwise you may kill on sight. That is all" Renji barked out for the lot to hear while Captain Kuchiki looked on in stony silence. Hotaru listened on in surprise, wondering if this boring little report had really been necessary at all. Looking away, she spotted a pair of fluttering black wings approaching.

"Kuchiki Taichou, a hell butterfly is here" she said, and with minimal movement he looked up at it. Renji let the butterfly land on his hand and reported back to the squad what news it brought.

"Urgent message to the Gotei 13: 3rd seat of Division 11, Madarame Ikkaku, has been discovered unconscious and badly wounded after engaging in battle with the ryoka and sent to the 4th Division General Relief Station. Be advised, the intruder is armed and dangerous, take cautionary measures."

Everyone was stunned to silence. Madarame Ikkaku was a brilliant and skilled fighter. For him to be defeated means that the situation was far worse than initially thought.

"I see" Captain Kuchiki said softly before addressing the division. "Due to the current circumstances, what was reported to you previous to the announcement shall be omitted. We will remain in the Division court in defensive positions. This will require rotations of lookout positions. If anyone is spotted, report immediately to your Fukutaichou or directly to myself. Uchiumi Hotaru, set up a rotation schedule for the four towers" he commanded, then turned and walked solemnly away.

Renji nodded to the squads and turned as well. Hotaru took up her spot in front of the line now and began to set up the rotations.

"Alright, you heard the Captain, I want the rotations to be set by squad number. Squads 1-3 are to follow Abarai Fukutaichou for ground instruction" she said and paused as they left the line and caught up to Renji several yards away. "Squads 4, 8, and 12 are to take up the northwest tower post. Squads 5, 9, and 13 are to take up the northeast tower post. At the Southeast tower, I want squads 6, 10, and 14, and at the southwest tower I want squads 7, 11, and 15. You are to take up half day rotations, 6 people per tower at one time, 2 per squad. I want you all to decide who will be going first and report to me" she finished, taking a step back as the squads split up and started discussing the situation with each other.

"I can guarantee I'm first" Hotaru heard a voice behind her and turned to face the person who spoke.

"I can bet you're the only one I would need to drag away from a post" Hotaru said with a grin as her friend Noriko came into view.

"Of course" she said, smiling back at her. "I don't even need to huddle up with the others"

"Well that would be correct, seeing as how you should be training with Abarai Fukutaichou" she said, wondering what her 6th seat friend was doing. Noriko laughed.

"Since when are you being all formal about Renji-kun?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow, although it was hard to see under her long solid black bangs.

"Because I'm supposed to be" Hotaru replied, cocking an eyebrow as well.

"I see...so anyways, where have you been lately? I haven't seen you in forever" Noriko said, and Hotaru sighed.

"Well, I've been visiting Rukia, and with the ryoka everyone is just in a frenzy"

"How is Kuchiki Rukia doing? I heard about the execution..." Noriko trailed off, her smile fading. "I'm sorry" she said, grasping Hotaru's shoulder supportively. Hotaru nodded sharply and exhaled deeply. She thought for a moment and opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted.

"Kobayashi Noriko, why haven't you joined squads 1, 2, and 3 for training?" Renji appeared, a scowl on his face. Noriko straightened up and gave him a tiny salute.

"My apologies, Abarai Fukutaichou" she said, although her sarcasm was making Renji rather suspicious. She gave Hotaru a quick nudge on the arm. "See you, Ho-chan" she said, turning on her heel and jogging off to join the ranks. Renji cocked an eyebrow.

"Supporting laziness, eh Uchiumi-san?" he said, and Hotaru smacked him on the arm.

"She was trying to cheer me up over Rukia...idiot" she said with a growl. Renji's face softened a bit.

"Oh...well, I won't beat her up for her informalities then" he said, and Hotaru made a move to slap him again but instead caught him smiling and relaxed a bit.

"Be sure you don't, I might have to beat you up then" she said and he chuckled.

"Like you could"

"I happen to recall wiping the floor with you no more than a week ago" Hotaru replied, tapping her chin as if in thought.

Renji stiffened up and lifted his head proudly. "I had just gotten out of training with Ikkaku, I wasn't at 100%" he corrected her, and Hotaru rolled her eyes.

"Yuh-huh, whatever you say, Renji" Hotaru said before getting serious. "Are you ok, though? When I saw you before the meeting, I thought you might cry"

For once Renji realized it wasn't an attack on his masculinity, but simply Hotaru caring about him. He sighed and nodded. "I'm fine. Right after I led Rukia to her new cell, I ran into Aizen Taichou. He seems to think somethin' weird is goin' on. Like Rukia's execution is a set-up"

Hotaru wanted to scoff at the idea, but something made her think hard about the situation. "I guess it is very strange that so many new, drastic measures are being taken. So he got you thinking about it?"

"Yeah I guess. It just seems weirder every day" Renji said sadly, and Hotaru frowned. It was odd that Captain Aizen would say such careless things. He was always the one to offer words of advice and consolation. Renji was already so burdened by everything, why would Aizen add to that?

"Well you better get going before Taichou returns" Hotaru warned, and Renji nodded.

"Ah, yeah finish up here so you can join in with training" he said, jogging over to where the first 3 squads had prepared for training. Hotaru sighed and turned back to the squads.

"Alright, I want to hear your lookout rotations and I want to hear them now!"