Waterfall Eclipse

Lieutenants Meeting

Chapter Ninety-One

Lieutenants Meeting

Kiyomi reluctantly agreed to let Rani speak with Lieutenant Hisagi at the next lietentant meeting, which wouldn't be for a week according to her friend. That gave the Squad Five shinigami some time to change her mind, and Rani was well aware of that.

Not long after, Chiharu and Umeko arrived and the four made their way inside and were seated immediately at their regular table.

"So, Rani, how are things with you and Captain Hitsugaya?" Umeko asked. "And remember, we are living vicariously through you." She added not wanting Rani to get mad.

"It's going good. I have no complaints." Rani answered with a smile.

"How's Lily doing? Have you been going to Kuchiki Manor on Mondays still?" Kiyomi questioned.

"Yeah. She's doing great. Her lessons have lessened. She doesn't have them all day anymore."

"So what does she do with her free time?"

"She has to keep Lord Kuchiki company." Rani said with a grimace. "And, boy, does she hate that."

"You would too, right?"

"Yeah, oh, so speaking of," Rani said as she put her drink down that she forgot she was holding, "I have to go to Kuchiki Manor tomorrow night for dinner."

"Oh? What for?" Chiharu asked.

"I have no freaking idea, but can you come over to help me with my hair?"

"Sure." Chiharu agreed. "Just make sure it's dry."

"I know. I'll wash it tonight before bed."

The girls continued to converse throughout their meal and once they were done, they headed to their own barracks and Rani relaxed in her personal tub before calling it a night.

The next day, Rani woke up with her ears ringing and voices outside her quarters. She slowly got up and then changed to head into the office. As soon as she opened the door, Lieutenants Hinamori and Matsumoto greeted her.

"Ladies, uh, how can I help you?" She asked startled.

"Rani, the meeting has been pushed up to today for some strange reason." Momo stated.

"We already told Captain Kuchiki, so he's aware." Rangiku added with a concerning grin.

"Okay, let's get going then." Rani said impatiently as she started to proceed through the threshold.

"Actually, it's not right now. We still have some time." Momo started as she and Rangiku pushed Rani back inside.

"Momo! What the hell!" Rani almost screamed.

"Sshh!" Momo scolded. "I don't want to ruin the surprise, but you are going away with Toshiro in a week for a week whether you like it or not."

"Huh?" was all that Rani could muster out.

"My glorious captain is taking you on a vacation...a very important one. No arguments, no protests. You are to go with him." Rangiku explained. "He's talking with your captain now about it."

"Okay, but that's in a week." Rani started. "What the heck is he planning?" She asked half worried.

"You'll see in a week, but this is your only heads up." Momo answered and then headed for the door. "Come on, we should probably go." She said with a wink as she walked out the door.

Rani was confused as ever thanks to this little move of Momo and Rangiku's. It was a tease to even mention the vacation to her, and now she had to sit through an entire meeting wondering what her illustrious boyfriend was planning. She followed the other two to Squad One where the meeting was apparently being held.

"Okay, now that everyone is here, let's get down to business." The Squad One lieutenant, Nanao Ise started as she sat down. "Each file contains new paperwork." She continued receiving a bunch of grunts and groans. "I know. I had the same reaction." The lieutenant stated sympathizing with the others. "I am going to go over how to fill these out before we leave here today, but before that, we have other items that need addressing."

So, Rani sat through this meeting, nearly falling asleep at the boredom of it all. Although not professional or polite, she could at least say she wasn't the only one yawning. Chiharu tried really hard not to too, as well as Momo and Rangiku.

Halfway into the meeting, a break was called so that everyone could stand up and stretch. Rani bit her thumb debating on if she should go over and talk with Lieutenant Hisagi really quick, or leave it until the end of the meeting. Fortunately for Rani, he made the decision for her when he started to come over to her.

"Hello Lieutenant Hisagi." She greeted once he was, in fact, walking towards her.

"Ah hello Lieutenant Tómasu." He nervously greeted. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" He asked as he screatched his head.

"Sure. What about?"

"Well, uh," He started with a stammer, "You've known Miss Kiyomi from Squad Five for a long time, right?"

Rani couldn't help but smile at his apparent nervousness.

"Yes, since we were kids. Why?"

"Is – is she seeing anyone?"

Rani faked thinking for a few seconds before answering him.

"Nope. She's as single as they come." She stated causing him to raise an eyebrow. "Okay, so there's something I am going to admit to you about her – she has, honestly, had a crush on you for months. She might kill me for telling you, but you should know."

Lieutenant Hisagi listened intently and then asked her more questions about her friend, which he admitted was more information that Chiharu had given him previously.

Once the break was over, they all gathered at the table again to finish the meeting. Afterwards, Chiharu and Rani decided to walk back to their squads together.

"So, what did you and Lieutenant Hisagi talk about?"

"Kiyomi." Rani said with a giggle. "Did he ever flat out ask you if she was seeing someone?"

"Nope. He kept asking questions about her favorite flower and stuff. I felt weird answering them, but I knew why. Did he ask you that?"

"Yeah, and about her work schedule, and a bunch of other things." Rani answered as she walked. "I think he actually going to ask her to dinner."

"That's great!" Chiharu squealed. "I mean, it is, isn't it?"

"Yes, for her it will be. She's liked him for so long, she might faint once he asks the question, but it will be good for her."

The girls continued to talk before having to separate and get back to their duties with their new papers in hand. Rani headed up to the office, was acknowledged by her captain, and then she went over to her desk.

"How did the meeting go?"

"It was the same as usual. Forms six-five-alpha and twenty-seven-gamma have been changed again." She informed her captain as she pulled the forms out and decided to show him. "Should I go and copy them?"

Captain Kuchiki nodded his head at the fact of another change had taken place with the forms.

"Might as well for the both of us." He said as he let out a sigh and gave it back to her.

A/N: I just want to give the readers on here a heads up: I think I killed my laptop, which had all of my remaining chapters on it, in Word especially. I had to retype this at work on the Windows PC and in their Word in order to update. I am not looking forward to finding out what I exactly did to my MacBook when I attempted to upgrade my OS. I am hoping, with crossed fingers, that the Genius Bar can put me back to the previous OS that I had and/fix the startup disk, which may have been damaged.

So, I won't be updating for a while. I have this story saved as a PDF (one large one starting from chapter one until the end) in my Google Drive, but didn't save the Word into Pages in my iCloud like I did with my other two "in progress" stories. I am sorry. Please forgive me, and please be patient. Thanks!

~Kirby42280