as years pass | kyoraku shunsui

six - 'bonds'

The one thing that Shuriken learned the fastest about the Thirteen Court Guard Squads was that things were a lot different there than they were in the Soul Reaper Academy.

It wasn't that she had expected things to be identical, because that would've just been foolish. Shuriken was a smart young woman and she was aware of the changes that would come with her graduation from the academy – or at least, she thought that she was.

The academy didn't prepare her for the painfully long list of tasks that would come with her fifth seat position. It didn't prepare her for the lectures from Lieutenant Sasakibe about the maintenance of the barracks, or what she was supposed to do whenever one of their subordinates got out of line.

Most of all, Shuriken wasn't prepared to feel so at home in the First Division – to feel as if she had finally found a family again.

She loved Shunsui and Jushiro dearly, but the bond that she soon began to develop with Yamamoto and Sasakibe was something that she had so desperately needed. It was a need in her soul that, unfortunately, her two best friends couldn't satisfy.

When entering the First, Shuriken had admired Yamamoto, that much was apparent. However, the more time she spent under the old man, the more she came to love him. It really had begun to feel as if Shuriken had a father again, and that wasn't to put Tahara down in any way. Tahara had been a wonderful dad and Shuriken missed him every day, but Yamamoto provided the fatherly support that Shuriken needed. He kept her in line, he praised her when she deserved it, and if she struggled, Yamamoto aided her. Yamamoto had always had a soft spot for Shuriken – as well as Shunsui and Jushiro, for that matter – but that spot only grew when the two worked together on a daily basis.

Then, there was Sasakibe, the loyal lieutenant who spent most of his day close to Yamamoto's side. Shuriken's bond with him hadn't come automatically, mainly due to the fact that, for the longest time, seeing him brought back memories of the day she lost her family. When she saw his face, Shuriken could only think of the sympathetic way he looked at and spoke to her as he helped her gather her belongings.

- - -

"Fifth Seat Natazaki, would you mind coming into my office for a moment?"

Shuriken's first reaction to hearing her lieutenant's voice was dread. She had just finished making herself a bowl of soup for lunch when he called from the door to the cafeteria. What did I do? As if reading Shuriken's mind, Sasakibe added, "You're not in trouble, and you're welcome to bring your soup."

Although Shuriken wasn't fond of the idea of having to have a word with the older man, she took her bowl and followed him to his room without a single complaint. She hadn't been in the First for more than a month at this point, and the last thing that she wanted to do was get on her lieutenant's bad side, no matter how much she struggled to even look at the man.

That would've been career suicide.

"What is it that you'd like to talk to me about, lieutenant?" Shuriken asked as she closed the door to his office with a smooth flick of her ankle. He nodded towards the seat across from him at his desk, and Shuriken obediently took it.

"Please, make yourself comfortable. I'd like to talk more first, so feel free to eat as I speak," Odd, but who am I to question a lieutenant? Shuriken did as she was instructed once again. "In fact, you've not got to speak at all if you do not want to. I just have some things I'd like to get off my chest."

So I did fuck up. He just didn't want me to freak out in front of the other squad members. Lovely.

It was then that Shuriken replayed each task that she had completed since the day that she joined the First Division in an attempt to figure out just what she had done that was so bad that Sasakibe had to scold her like this. Did she forget to turn the lights out overnight, or maybe she hadn't cleaned the floors properly?