You were covering your face with both your hands. You were utterly humiliated. No, even that was an understatement. You felt a pat on your shoulder and glanced up.

"Come on. It's fine." Rangiku gave you a soft smile, but from experience, you knew she was itching to laugh.

You groaned aloud. "No it's not. I embarrassed myself in front my new captain, Captain Hitsugaya." You buried your head in your hands. "His opinion of me will be tainted forever, if the rumors haven't done that already." You slumped into the seat you currently sat in.

Rangiku opened your hands to reveal your face, and you found that she had crouched down to your level. "Don't worry about the rumors with the Captain. He likes to judge by what he sees himself, not by what her hears from others." Your eyes widened. He based his deductions on his sight and own self observations? You couldn't help but smile to yourself.

The Lieutenant grinned. "That's better." She brushed a stray strand of hair from your face. "You look better when you're not upset." She then blinked a few times, like a lightbulb had turned on in her head. "Which brings me to a question I've been meaning to ask you. Is the Captain allowed to know about your... You know...."

Yeah, you knew what she meant. She was talking about your deafness. You looked down. "No. You probably already figured out why."

Rangiku gave you a sympathetic look when you looked back up, and then she stood up. "Yeah, I figured as much. That's this kind of person he is." She then suggestively wiggled her eyebrows with a coy smile forming on her lips. "Until you get to know him of course."

You raised an eyebrow. "I don't think I understand what you're getting at."

Rangiku gawked. "I'm saying that you should get close to the Captain, so that when he eventually finds out, he won't kick you off the squad, duh." She looked at you like you were a hopeless case, which, for the most part, you were. "This is your last chance, isn't it?" The question was spoken more like a statement than an actual question.

You nodded your head grimly. Before you had left Squad One headquarters the prior day, the head captain had made sure to tell you that this was the last chance you got to stay in a squad. If you managed to get kicked out of this squad, you would no longer allowed to be a soul reaper. Head Captain Yamamoto had specifically asked you to try and not get kicked out again. You had a feeling that he didn't want to see you go, even if he didn't say it out loud.

"What a bummer." Rangiku folded her hands behind her head and looked out the window. "I'll help you with..." Whatever she had spotted out the window must have scared her, because her jaw went slack and her eyes widened. You turned to look out the clear surface and saw what she was looking at. There was a soul reaper walking down a path that headed this way. That wasn't what scared her though. It was the tenth company's symbol pinned on his clothes.

Your hand immediately shot out and gripped onto Rangiku's forearm before she could escape. Not a moment too soon it seemed, because she began squirming in your grip in an attempt to get free. "(Y/n)!" She shouted with a panicked look on her face, but your grip was like a Chinese Finger Trap. The tighter she pulled, the tighter the hold. "You need to let me go! Don't let them take me away!" Exaggerated tears flowed down her cheek.

"Oh I won't," you assured her. Her gaze filled with gratitude. When she opened her mouth to speak, you cut her off. "I'll take you away myself."

Rangiku looked horrified.

"The only probable reason that someone from the Tenth Division is here, is that you haven't been doing work." She placed a hand over her chest in mock surprise.

"How could you say something like that to your poor, defenseless, longest known friend?" She blinked, feigning innocence.

"Because I know you Rangiku, and your not my longest known friend." You stood up, hand still attached to Rangiku's arm.

She pouted, her cheeks puffing out cutely. "Oh yeah? Then who do I have to fight for the title?"

You paused your thinking. The first person you could remember that mattered was Rangiku Matsumoto, who had retrieved you from the outer city. What had made you say that? A memory was clogged in the back of your brain, and you couldn't help but feel like it was an important one that you had forgotten.

Knocking-like vibrations coming from the door jolted you out of your thoughts. Still holding onto Rangiku's arm, you stood up and slid open the door. The man's startled reaction from the scene before him was quite funny, but he quickly composed himself.

"Looking for her?" You asked, and he nodded his head. "Alright then, you can go back to your duties. I'll take her to the Captain for you."

His expression turned to one of suspicion. "Who are you to be giving me those type of orders?" You gulped. You really didn't want to answer that question. Your nerves began to jumble together at the thought of answering. The man would surely think of you differently once he heard your name.

You lifted your chin and said, "I am your new Thirteenth seat, (Y/n) (L/n)." His face immediately changed to disgust, but he hid it well. It was clear he didn't like you being in a higher position than him. Your face fell a little but you kept up your formal tone. "Anything else to say?"

He shook his head quickly and disappeared out of sight in a blink of an eye. When you were sure he was gone, you dropped your act and sighed heavily. You closed your eyes. The hope you had held that the Tenth Squad members hadn't heard the rumors about you yet, were now completely crushed. Just like a human glass piggy bank. There would be no way they'd accept you. Your heart felt heavy. You brought a hand to the place over your heart and clenched the fabric. Your knuckles turned white as your heart bled in pain. All colors of the rainbow flowed from the wound, but the color that was most prominent, was blue, the color of sadness. Nothing may have physically been there, but the pain was fresh like reality. You couldn't bare it if you were forced to resign from being a soul reaper, especially since you hadn't fulfilled your promise yet.

Then, you felt a hand atop your head. It ruffled your hair, and even though it irritated you, you made no attempt to stop it. In fact, it alleviated some of your pain. Not much, but enough to keep you going. Enough to keep your head focused.

You looked up to see Rangiku pulling her hand back from your head. You gave her a small smile. "Thank you, Rangiku. I needed that." You then smiled slyly. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to take you to the Captain's office."

"No! How cruel!" She went limp in your grip and nearly took you down with her. "I thought we were bonding!"

"And we were." You grunted in your struggle to pull her back up. "But you still have a responsibility, and I refuse to let you slack." You managed to lift her enough to get her onto your back. She was incredibly heavy, but you still did your best to hold her up.

Matsumoto groaned in protest when you began to move. Walking out the already open door, you closed it behind you and headed towards where you believed Captain Hitsugaya's office to be. You remembered the previous night when you had seen him through the window of a building. You'd try that one first, because there was no use asking Rangiku. There was no way she'd tell you since she didn't even want to do her work.

You looked up to the morning sky. Well, it wasn't quite the morning any more, but it hadn't hit midday yet so it was still technically the morning. The sky donned a pastel blue. The few fluffy white clouds that floated in the air were plastered against the sky so perfectly it could have been a painting. The sky that could never be reached, was always so much prettier than the ugly ground below. A good example was the soul reapers right now.

The few people that passed you gave you odd stares, most likely because of the Lieutenant laying on your back, but you could help but feel their eyes on the back of your head, not hers. Their judgmental gazes pierced straight through your skull. You could feel it right to your soul.

You gasped as you felt foot step vibrations too late, and bumped into someone. Lucky you didn't drop Rangiku, who was still as limp as a ragdoll. You turned quickly to apologize to the person you had bumped into. "I'm terribly sorry! I wasn't paying attention to where-"

A hand rested on your shoulder, and you looked up to see Captain Tousen. The morning sun reflected off his shades, and his white captain's cloak billowed in the light breeze. "It is alright, blind one." You grinned at the nickname. He had given you that nickname because he was the one who was blind, and the nickname you gave him was because you were the deaf one.

"Thank you, deaf one," you said back. A smile flickered across his face before disappearing. Then he seemed to frown.

"What is Lieutenant Matsumoto doing on your back?"

"Um..." He must have felt her spiritual pressure. "I'm dragging her to Captain Hitsugaya's Office. Speaking of, can you direct me to which one it is?"

A flicker of a smile again, this one more in amusement. "Go two buildings down, then take a left. It should be on your left."

You bowed your head respectfully, not only because he's a captain, but because he's your idol. You admired him. He had reached the level of captain even though he was blind. He did something that you could never hope to achieve. "Thank you, Captain Tousen."

You lifted your head, only to have him ruffle your hair. Your grin widened and he walked past you. "Anytime." A large grin was still plastered across your face, even after he was long gone. Rangiku took this as a perfect time to look up and tease you.

She taped your shoulder and you turned your head to face her. "So," she started at she wiggled her eyebrows. "What's your relationship with Kaname Tousen?" You couldn't help but let out a groan. Of course she was going to ask that question. Her playful gaze could only mean one thing: that she was asking you about your romantic relationship with the captain.

"I've known him since I was young, after I met you. Also I'm ninety nine percent sure that I've already explained this to you a thousand times," you said with a deadpan face.

She looked up thoughtfully and gained an almost innocent expression. "Oh yeah. I suppose you have." Once again, a coy smile formed on her lips. "I guess that means more competition for Toshiro, doesn't it?" You would have smacked a hand to your forehead if it didn't mean dropping Rangiku.

Actually, that didn't sound so bad at the moment.

"Come on you lumpy sack," you said as you began moving once more. "Time to get you to do your work." Rangiku immediately began protesting and struggling, making it very hard to walk with her on your back. You threw your head back and she yelped when you hit her forehead. It didn't hurt you much, but she held one hand over her forehead and kept muttering "ow" and "ouch" under her breath. You smirked. That would keep her mostly quiet for a while.

Rangiku was still muttering to herself when your duo arrived at the sliding door. When you glanced around the place, nothing seemed too different around this building. The doors and walls were the same. Even the size seemed to be very similar. You lowered Rangiku off your back and plopped her on the floor, since she still refused to move on her own. You slid the door open, and there, sitting at his desk with large piles of paper at each of his sides, was Captain Hitsugaya.

He glanced up at the sound of the door opening and raised an eyebrow. "What is going on here?"

You sighed, and bowed respectfully. "My apologies for intruding Captain Hitsugaya. Lieutenant Matsumoto didn't wish to come to do her work, so I was forced to drag her here." Seconds passed as you waited for a signal to look up, but then you remembered that your Captain didn't know about your impediment. You quickly looked up to catch his words if he was saying something.

"-come in." You breathed a sigh of relief. You caught the last couple words, but you were mildly frustrated that you had missed the beginning half of the statement or statements.

"Yes, Captain." You lifted Rangiku from around the waist, which was easier said than done, and dragged her over to the couch. She gave you a pleading look as to not leave her here, but you sent her a look back that said 'If you hadn't resisted the entire way I'd might have considered it'. She looked hurt and betrayed, but in a playful way, so you know it didn't truly offend her.

You turned and moved toward the Captain's desk, eventually standing in front of it. Captain Hitsugaya, who had gone back to working on the paper piles, paused and glanced up at you without moving his head. "Is there something else you are here for?" He probably sounded irritated. You could tell because his teeth were clenched and his eyebrows were deeply furrowed.

You glanced away. "Well, I wanted to apologize for how we met this morning." You knew your voice must have sounded nervous and uncertain. He just waved a hand and looked down at the paper in front of him.

"Don't worry about it. Besides I'm sure it was Matsumoto's fault anyways." Rangiku turned around on the couch to face her captain, and silently feigned surprise.

Your eyes widened. You hadn't expected that from him. He was right of course, with the bucket of water being dumped on you an all, but you hadn't expected him to be so understanding. You couldn't help but begin to laugh.

He looked up, definitely irritated now, but you thought your eyes were tricking you when his gaze seemed to soften ever so slightly.

Once you were done laughing, you walked to the door and bowed to Captain Hitsugaya again. "If Lieutenant Matsumoto ditches her work before it is complete, feel free to notify me if you'd like. I can get her back here, Captain." Rangiku's face looked like you had just condemned her to spend the rest of eternity in an insane asylum when she wasn't truly insane.

When you saw the Captain nod his head, you slid the door closed and disappeared around the corner.