Chapter 6 - Affinities and Arguments

Chapter 6 – Affinities and Arguments

Siren suddenly pulled back and Hisagi's head fell forward in chasing after her, but opened his eyes to see her shocked and worried face looking off into space. He knew that look too well, and immediately they both scrambled to their feet and got dressed in their shihakusho within seconds. They ran out the front door, and began using shunpo instantly, Siren getting ahead as she still struggled to try and put on her haori whilst trying not to get too far ahead of her fuku-taicho.

Within a few moments, they were standing a hundred metres away, looking at three arrancar who were looking around at the Seireitei they were standing above...

Siren and Hisagi stood as they gazed upon the arrancar surveying the landscape beneath them. The Ninth Division taicho wasn't planning on waiting for any orders. If arrancar were here, in the Seireitei, something big was going on. They must be planning something. She flickered away only to appear in front of them a moment later, and Hisagi followed suit.

"Well, that was much quicker than I expected! Sounds like the emergency alarms are only just going off!" said the single female arrancar standing behind the two male ones with a dark smirk on her face. She had long, pale blonde hair, olive skin and from the distance, it seemed like she had bright blue eyes.

"Why are you here, arrancar?" Siren asked in a confident and strong voice that sounded a little odd to Hisagi's ears and her own.

"Is that any of your business, shinigami?" she retorted quietly, glaring faintly at the girl contesting with her.

Siren groaned at being called a shinigami. "Yes, it is actually. Now answer the fucking question." she spoke in an emotionless voice that suggested she was serious.

"How dare you speak to our master in such a manner!" snapped one of the others, who had messy black hair, and what looked like blue-grey eyes. His mask started on his chin and curled up around his ears to connect back with the chin piece.

Not bothering to remove her reiatsu sealing bracelet, she charged at the female arrancar, only to have the black-haired arrancar that was closest to her stop her. Not wasting any time, she began throwing every kick, punch, and anything else she could think of at him. Hand-to-hand combat clearly wasn't his strong point, and he was put completely on the defensive. Finally, she got an opening and her foot collided with his side with a sickening crunch. She definitely cracked or broke some ribs with that blow. Maybe they might have punctured a lung.

Without giving him a second to recover as he stumbled backwards and doubled over, she drew her zanpakuto and ran towards him. Summoning up strength, he too drew his zanpakuto that had a pale-blue hilt and an oval shaped tsuba just in time to block Siren's that was swinging downwards. She pulled back and swung horizontally, only to have it blocked again. Growling, she attempted to strike him again, and he dodged just enough for the blade to nick his chest.

Moments after Siren started her battle, Hisagi also drew his zanpakuto and charged at the male arrancar with the pale brown hair, and the dark amber looking eyes. His mask had one piece coming up from the bridge of his nose, and going up to his forehead where the ends curved up slightly. It had another piece exactly the same, except going underneath his eyes and curving downwards. The arrancar looked down his nose at the fuku-taicho and lifted his zanpakuto out of the scabbard just enough to block Hisagi's swing. Taking notice of the 'x' shaped tsuba and pale-orange hilt, he jumped back and waited for the arrancar's next move.

Sighing with irritation, the arrancar fully drew his katana and began to attack. He was physically strong, but his movements weren't based on skill and technique as much as Hisagi's were. Slowly, he was gaining the upper-hand, and he almost had him at one stage, but unfortunately, he leapt back out of the way and recovered for a moment.

At that moment, Siren's opponent did the same, and both arrancar glared at their opponents standing a few metres away from them. The black-haired arrancar slowly and gracefully swung his katana in front of him with a wave movement from left to right while the amber-eyed arrancar moved his katana from right to left in an 'M' shape and they both began to shout simultaneously.

"Drown, Acua-"

"Blaze, Incen-"

"Kasui! Kasai! That's enough." the female cut them off, with an authoritative tone that left no room for questioning or negotiation.

Immediately, they both fell back to drop to one knee next to their master. "My deepest apologies, Kaminari-sama!" they both apologised in unison, trying to redeem themselves.

"Let's go." the arrancar now known as Kaminari spoke again quietly, and turned to open a Garganta behind them all.

Siren and Hisagi yelled after them, but before either of them could get there, they were already too far gone. The small vizard growled low in frustration, and sheathed her zanpakuto. Hisagi sheathed his as well and they both went to the ground. Hitsugaya and Matsumoto turned up, wondering where the enemy had gone.

"Siren! Where are they?" Matsumoto asked, quite confused. They had come as fast as they could, but it seemed they were already too late.

"They're already gone. Hisagi and I came here as soon as I sensed the Garganta being opened. We fought with them for a few minutes, and I think two of them were going to release their zanpakuto, but their master told them not to. Then they just left." she answered, trying to tell them mostly everything that happened in the shortest way possible. She and Hisagi would have to give a report immediately and there would most likely be a meeting of some sort.

Before anyone else could speak, Hell Butterflies appeared, informing all taicho and fuku-taicho to report to the First Division barracks immediately. With a glance between the four of them, they made their way to the barracks, while Siren and Hisagi briefed Hitsugaya and Matsumoto on exactly what had happened (definitely excluding their little 'encounter' at The House). Minutes later, they were all standing in the large room that the captain's had their meetings in, with them all lined up as usual and their respective Lieutenants standing behind them.

"I call this meeting to order." boomed the voice of the old man sitting up the front of the room. "Kyubantai taicho, Siren. Kyubantai fuku-taicho, Hisagi Shuhei. Please step forward and tell us what happened." he asked, and the two said people stepped forward to stand in the middle of the two lines so they could be seen.

"Hai. My Lieutenant and I were in the Rukongai area, and I felt a Garganta opened by an arrancar with a very large reiatsu. We left immediately to investigate and found three arrancar standing above the Seireitei. I asked them why they were here, but they did not respond, so we both attacked the two who acted like Fraccion to the third. Just as they were about to release their zanpakuto, their master stopped them, and they left before we could capture them." Siren spoke in an unwavering professional tone, but felt kind of stupid on the inside.

"Also, I believe that we may be able to determine their abilities from what we experienced. Their names were Kasui, Kasai, and it seemed like the female known as Kaminari was their leader. This could suggest some sort of elemental affinity. From what I heard of the release commands from my opponent, he said 'Drown', which may confirm my theory about elemental powers, his possibly being water. Hisagi fuku-taicho, what about your opponent?" she turned to him, hoping he hadn't spaced out during her little speech.

"My opponent's release command sounded like 'Blaze', suggesting that they may have some fire-based abilities. Also, when he attempted to use his Resurreccion, I felt the humidity and the temperature change slightly, but it stopped as soon as he was interrupted." Hisagi spoke in his professional voice as well, feeling a little odd about being the centre of attention.

Siren nodded, taking it in. "They were all strong, but I think the real problem will be their leader, Kaminari. It seems like she is going to be the most trouble, and if her abilities are anything like I presume, there is a possibility of very high damage to anyone and anything near her while she is fighting."

"And why do you say that?" asked Hitsugaya out of the blue.

"Because I am under the impression that her abilities are similar, if not the same as my own. From the small amount she was releasing naturally, it felt like her reiatsu was almost exactly the same as mine." she answered, if a little reluctantly with her gaze directed at the turquoise eyes of the young, white-haired captain.

Everyone went silent at this revelation, wondering about what they should do if these new enemies should appear before them yet again. They were all quite surprised at the new captain's deductive abilities, having figured all this out in the five minutes or so that the arrancar had left through the Garganta. Even Hisagi, Ukitake and Kyoraku were a little shocked at the intelligence she showed. Renji had a small grin on his face, happy that everyone was now finally realising just why Siren was such a good captain. Vizard or not.

"Then you are probably the only one who might be able to cancel out her abilities completely, rendering her only being able to use anything else she might have." Hitsugaya replied, contemplating anyone else whose power could have the same effect.

"There is no guarantee of that, but because of our similar reiatsu, it may be possible for me to control her lightning, but that may mean she will also be able to control mine. Using other elemental zanpakuto against her will only decimate the immediate vicinity, and I have no knowledge of any Kido types that could work against lightning. Melee types are almost completely eliminated since most of them use weapons, which can conduct electricity..." she trailed off, thinking to herself about any options that they may have.

"Either way, we would need the fastest of us to be ready at any given time if we're going up against lightning. I propose that Kuchiki, Soifon and I will be the first to act if they appear again. I will sense them earlier than everyone else, so I will go to the scene first off and test if our theory on my power negating hers will work. If not, I will continue to fight her anyway and have Kuchiki and Soifon ready to take over if I should fall." Siren said, taking most of the other's in the room by surprise again with her simple, yet incredibly effective strategy.

"Kuchiki-taicho, Soifon-taicho. Do you agree with the idea that Siren-taicho has proposed?" spoke the bearded Captain-Commander.

"Hai." they both said in unison.

"Then it is decided. Kyubantai taicho, Siren. You are to act first should the arrancar appear again. Rokubantai taicho, Kuchiki Byakuya, Nibantai taicho, Soifon. You are to assist or take over should Siren fall. Dismissed." the So-taicho said with finality, and the shinigami (and vizard) in the room began to stroll out of the huge doors.

Hisagi and Siren began walking casually back to the Ninth Division barracks and he was finally snapped out of his daze, everything that had happened in the last hour or so sinking in. Siren seemed very adamant about taking on the female arrancar named Kaminari on herself, and she hadn't said a word, much less even looked up from the ground since the meeting finished. She seemed to be in deep thought, and he decided to take her somewhere she hadn't been yet in the Seireitei.

A few minutes later, without Siren realising it at all, they were standing out of the front of the Seireitei Communication Editing Department. Everyone came rushing over to Hisagi and their captain, who was snapped out of her thoughts by members of her division bombarding her with questions about the arrancar. After quickly briefing them about it just being three arrancar trying to cause trouble (which it technically was, but she didn't exactly elaborate on the severity of said trouble) they backed off and got on with whatever they were doing earlier.

She turned to Hisagi, rather confused. "Why are members of our division here? And what are we doing here?!"

"It's the Ninth Division's job to run the Seireitei Communication. Didn't you know that?"

"Kensei didn't tell me that...bastard." she said to no one and pretended that she was choking Kensei, which was actually just the air. "No, I didn't pay attention to that when I was here way back when. And I don't want to run the damn magazine, make someone else do it!" she went to storm out but stopped when she saw 'Shuhei-sensei' out the corner of her eye written on an open page of the magazine.

Instantly, she whirled around to look at the page to discover an article called 'Please Teach Me! Shuhei-Sensei!' on the page. She snorted faintly with laughter, and read the first few lines. Her laughter got louder and louder, and within a minute she was literally rolling on the floor, in tears from laughing so much. Hisagi watched on, completely unaware that her amusement was at his expense, and he walked over to see the magazine on the floor next to her, opened to his article. His face swiftly pulled into a scowl, and it was his turn to attempt a storm out, even though he didn't get far.

"Oi, Hisagi! I-I'm sorry, it-it's just so funny!" Siren said, using every ounce of her self-control and composure to try and stop laughing. Her body was shaking with the effort, and the moment she saw the title of the article again, she burst out laughing again. He went to walk out again, but was stopped by the hand that had grabbed onto the bottom of his shihakusho and grasped onto his leg. Siren looked up to see his disgruntled expression, and she didn't really want to make it worse, just in case he wouldn't cook dinner for her tonight, but the temptation was too great.

"Please, teach me! Shuhei-sensei!" she spoke in a ridiculously innocent and sugar-sweet voice but there was dark amusement shining brightly in her eyes, and it only took another moment for her to start roaring with laughter again, and collapse to the floor.

Most of the other shinigami were trying not to laugh at the sight of their captain taking the piss out of the Lieutenant, but Hisagi sent them all a glare which stopped them immediately. Siren didn't let go of his leg, so she was dragged along the hallway floor, still laughing as the dark-haired man walked awkwardly dragging her along until the green-eyed woman collected herself. She got up and walked beside him, lips tightly shut so she wouldn't continue laughing.

After they got to his place, he cooked them both dinner (Siren being inwardly overjoyed that he actually did cook for her after she embarrassed the shit out of him) and a few hours later, Hisagi had decided to take a small nap on the couch, even though it would be dark soon already. Siren stayed up, doing as much paper work as she could, trying to eliminate having to do it all tomorrow. She couldn't stop thinking about the arrancar.

She thought about how great her luck was, for something like this to happen. She had just gained acceptance and didn't want reminders of Aizen's work around. She wrote down way too many words for her liking and signed her name mechanically. Paper work was truly a painful thing to do. It was half the reason she never wanted to rise up the ranks! She already got sent on missions a few times when she was still in the Shinigami Academy and that had turned her off paper work completely, after seeing how much the seated shinigami had to do.

She still didn't feel like a proper captain, but now she was kind of in charge of something pretty important, it had sunk in a little more. She definitely didn't want the arrancar turning up again, but she couldn't deny that it would give her a chance to show her worth. When the old man actually referred to her as 'Siren-taicho' it started to feel more natural than it used to, even though she still hated it in that insecure part of her mind.

Feeling a little drowsy after thinking so much, she moved to sit with her back leaning against the couch that Hisagi was asleep on. She looked at his peacefully sleeping face, marked with the scars and tattoos. A smile came across her face and her heart started pounding when his arm suddenly came to wrap around her shoulders and pull her closer to him. He was laying on his back, so when he pulled his arm in, her head landed straight on his chest. Inhaling his scent that seemed to have been tainted with sake ever since she turned up, she lifted her arms onto the couch and crossed them underneath her head.

Within the next few minutes, she was half-asleep and her breathing had evened out to a calm, relaxing speed. She was still wearing her shihakusho and haori, but that didn't seem to worry her at the moment. A kind hand was pulling her towards sleep gently, and she had almost succumbed to it completely when Hisagi awoke and his body flinched abruptly. It took him a moment to notice the small girl, whose green eyes were glaring at him with hell in them that was currently resting on his chest. They looked more familiar than usual, and a feeling of nostalgia washed over him.

"W-what?" he stuttered faintly, kind of worried about why the girl was glaring at him, since he was quite sure that he was asleep for the past hour or so.

"You woke me. I was trying to stay up and do more paper work, but...yeah." she trailed off faintly, and gestured to the muscular arm belonging to her Lieutenant that was currently draped over her shoulders. He flinched at the sight and snatched his arm away, expecting her to tear it off with her bare hands. Raising an eyebrow, she flicked his forehead nonchalantly and turned away, back to the small table she was attempting to complete paper work at.

Hisagi laid there comfortably, listening to Siren writing, trying to remember why he felt so nostalgic earlier. The dream he had come back to him in bits and pieces. After a moment, he put them into place and recalled something he had completely forgotten. Her earlier action of flicking his forehead had put the last piece into place.

Walking past the sakura trees, Hisagi looked for a comfortable place to rest for a while. He had a pretty big day and he was quite exhausted. Sitting down in the shadow of one of the trees, he rested for a moment until he felt the presence of another person nearby. He looked up at the trees and to his right, there was a large tree that seemed to be the temporary resting place for said person.

They were dressed entirely in black, looking quite a lot like a ninja. Abruptly realising that it was the clothes that the Keigun in the Onmitsukido wore, he stood up to sneak around and get a better look at them. Usually you only saw them in passing every now and then, and that was rare in itself. He walked to stand underneath the tree and look up at the small...female.

He could only see the small section that revealed her eyes which were shut in resting. He could see soft, black hair that had been pulled back, but a few stray bangs popped out from behind the fabric. She was built like a person perfect for the Onmitsukido. Small, agile but still muscular and strong. He noticed that she was still very much a woman though, even though she didn't look more like the typical big-chested beauties.

Gazing back up her body to her face again, he saw two big vibrant green eyes that contrasted with the small pink petals surrounding her staring straight into his eyes. He looked away self-consciously, hoping that she wouldn't beat him up for looking at her. Silently, she leapt down to land straight in front of him.

She sized him up for a moment, before sighing and shaking her head. She raised her right arm and he flinched in preparation for what would be the beating of his life. Vowing to never check out an Onmitsukido member ever again, he shut his eyes tightly and waited for it. It didn't come. Whatever 'it' was anyway...

Opening one eye, he looked to see that the girl was just standing there, staring at him with an eyebrow raised. Then faster than he could register, her small hand appeared in front of his face and she flicked him firmly on the forehead. He made a small, barely audible sound of pain in the back of his throat, shocked at how much that actually hurt and put a hand over his forehead. She retracted her hand and the wind started to blow. Shutting his eyes, and covering his face with his arm, he waited until the wind had slowed down until he opened his eyes again.

The girl was gone.

He snapped out of the now properly formed memory, and remembered the time that Siren had flicked his forehead just as casually at that first time amongst the sakura petals. How had he not remembered that before? Obviously it happened years and years ago, but that small encounter had stuck with him for ages, until it obviously was replaced by other memories. Before he could tell her about it, the green-eyed woman spoke.

"Why do you never release your zanpakuto?" she paused, waiting for his answer, but continued when he didn't say anything. "I've only seen it like once or twice when I've been training you. It's just kind of odd since I'm your captain and all."

"I don't like it." he said simply, not really wanting to go into the matter. But he hadn't really talked with her about it before, so it's not surprising that she brought it up eventually. It's not he had any reason to not talk about it either.

"Could you elaborate on that for me?" she asked with a slightly bemused tone.

"I don't like how it's shaped. It honestly looks like it's only meant to kill." he spoke quieter, guessing that he couldn't really get out of talking about it, especially with the tone she was using.

"What's the point of not liking it when it obviously came from a part of you? That would mean that you have a small part of you that is destructive. It's not like that's different from anyone else." she reasoned, just trying to have a discussion with him. He didn't exactly take it that way though...

"Exactly the problem. I don't like the idea of that." he said, if a little sharply.

"Fair enough. But it's still part of you nonetheless." she retorted, her tone also getting a little sharp.

He scoffed. "What about you then? Do you like your hollow side?" he watched her expression dead pan, and wondered if he had gone too far.

"Are you so naïve as to not realise that the rules are different for me? I'm practically a different species." she spoke quite tonelessly, trying not to get angry at him.

"How are these 'rules' different for you? Your inner hollow is 'still part of you nonetheless." he mocked and she could feel her anger increasing by the second.

"Then if I could accept my being part hollow, how can you not accept having destructive desires? It's basically the same fucking thing!"

"Don't insult me like that! I actually fear that side of me, I fear my own power. It's a sign of respect to fight for justice! I was taught that without that fear I have no right to wield a sword at all or use the power you have!" he was nearly yelling now, and his usual calm self was long gone.

"Oh, let me guess. Tosen-taicho told you that. Ugh, you really got to come up with your own views. Just because you're old captain had those views, it doesn't mean you have to adopt them. Suppressing your stress and desire for chaos has only made it become the embodiment of your zanpakuto."

He was really getting pissed off now. "How dare you insult Tosen?! Even though he may have strayed, in the end he realised his wrong-doing!"

"Wah." she mocked and made loose fists and turned them as they hovered over her eyes, making a crying face. "His repentance doesn't mean shit. He worked with Aizen for 100 years, maybe more. After that much time, only just realising he might have been wrong is kind of fucking pointless."

"That shouldn't matter! What if Aizen had brainwashed him in some way? We never found out how he joined forces with him or event met Aizen, so how could we ever know?"

"I'm pretty sure you were there when he explained why he did what he did. For his petty revenge." she made a vomiting sound, and he narrowed his eyes further at her.

"His best friend was killed! And he was pissed off! It would only be natural to harbour some anger towards whoever caused her death."

"Yeah, so he decides to join up with Aizen and co. so they can destroy thousands of innocent human lives in Karakura Town as well as attempting to kill you and Komamura, so that they could create the King's Key and do fuck knows what with it. I applaud him for holding true to his philosophy of 'taking the path with less bloodshed'!" she started clapping with extreme sarcasm, further mocking his ridiculous hero-worship of the former Ninth Division captain. "You should wait another hundred years before you start talking like you know everything."

"How would you know anything about him? You never met him before! I haven't even talked to you about him!"

"Two words, Hisagi. Muguruma Kensei. The captain he cut down, to be hollowfied along with Shinji and the others. And he killed three of his comrades without batting a fucking eyelash! I lived with them for 10 years. I know what happened."

"What does this even have to do with me not liking my zanpakuto anyway!? I don't like it because I do not enjoy killing and my zanpakuto looks like it's supposed to reap life itself! I fear that power for a noble reason, and it's just too bad that you can't understand that." he paused for a moment and crossed his arms angrily, and there was a little voice in his mind telling him that what he was going to say next was probably too far, but he ignored it in his anger. "Maybe you just can't understand such a thing because you're part hollow."

Siren was quiet for a moment and closed her eyes before replying quietly, speaking slowly. "Hisagi. It's true, I am part hollow. The thing that we have been trained to fight the many years that we have been working as shinigami. Do you honestly think that I do not fear that side of myself? Ever since I instinctively threw myself in front of Ukitake when he got sick in the middle of battle, I have been psychologically tortured and bombarded by what was made a part of me in some phenomena." she inhaled and exhaled shakily, recalling all that she had been through the past thirty years.

"Instead of whining because you don't like your zanpakuto, how about you step into the shoes of someone who has to deal with being more closely related to the three arrancar that we fought earlier than anyone else in Soul Society. Why do you think that the vizards never returned to Soul Society after the war, even though they would have been able to? It is because of you...shinigami." she paused, breathing shakily again and pointed at him, trying to contain the strangle hold she had on her anger. She couldn't remember the last time she had been so enraged.

"Three shinigami conspired against their comrades all for the sake of 'experiments' and power. One of the three being the previous Ninth Division captain. The man you looked up to and admired for his justice and what not, Tosen Kaname, betrayed Kensei, his own captain and cut him down without batting an eyelash. Shinji, Hiyori, Rose, Love, Hachi, Mashiro, Risa and Kensei became part hollow because of one shinigami's lust for power and destruction of all that we know. The vizards have never betrayed Soul Society. All we did was exist after being victims of circumstances and certain people that caused us to change into what we are now." slowly, she got up, her small body trembling with immense anger. She opened the door but stopped to say her last words.

"If you truly think that fearing your own zanpakuto is like having fear that one day you might be consumed by the hollow inside...then wake the fuck up to yourself." and with that, she walked out the door, shutting it quietly behind her, still attempting to throttle her anger until she could release it. Her voice became much more like it did when she was wearing her mask, and she knew she was probably more pissed off than she had ever been.

It was dark by now, and she had a large urge to go tear up half of the Eleventh Division. Hoping that Ikkaku was there, so she could beat the shit out of him as well as anyone else who was up for taking her on, she headed there in hopes that maybe she would calm down after some sparring. There was noise coming from inside the training hall, and not surprisingly, she could hear Ikkaku laughing manically and yelling with joy.

Rolling her eyes at the antics which were so 'him', she opened the door, and strolled in and took a seat next to Yumichika. Mostly everyone greeted her, except for the two currently sparring which was Ikkaku and some Eleventh Division member that she hadn't seen before.

"Hey, are you alright? You seemed kind of pissed off." Yumichika asked the woman, who was clenching her jaw tightly with her gaze inward.

She looked at him and sighed before answering. "Not really. I just had a massive argument with Hisagi. I don't think I've ever been so angry or raised my voice so much in my whole life." she said with an awkward chuckle, realising how ridiculous the whole thing was.

"Lovers tiff, eh? Bit soon for that I would have thought." he replied, looking up at the ceiling, waiting for Siren to make some sort of amusing and exaggerated reaction.

"Wha- Hey! It's not like that, you fool!" she snapped and pushed him so he nearly fell off the seat. He laughed in response, glad that his prediction of her reaction would be correct.

"I'm just saying that you pair seem like you are together! You-are-totally-crushing-on-each-other!" he said each words between Siren's punches that landed on his arm, ribs, back and leg. He'd probably have a few bruises tomorrow, but he couldn't deny that he probably asked for it by egging her on. Dashing off, out of her reach, still chuckling, the Fifth Seat caught the full-strength glare that Siren would only use maybe once a week and his expression dead panned, before he turned away, trying not to laugh.

She growled briefly and moved her head to the left slightly as Ikkaku's opponent went flying past her head and almost crashed into the wall. Her arm flung out and she grabbed his left leg, so he dangled there for a few moments before she lowered him to the floor. He murmured his thanks while getting up and rubbing his sore head and the green-eyed woman went to walk out in the middle of the hall. She spoke to Ikkaku for a few minutes before he sat down to rest. Looking around, she decided on what way to go about her stress-release for the day.

"Alright. You five," she pointed to a group of five sitting at the far end of the hall, talking away casually. "On your feet."

They got up quickly, and walked over to her, wondering what the Ninth Division taicho could want with them. Taking a deep breath, Siren moved into a half-assed fighting stance and the eyes on the five shinigami widened as they realised what she was asking, or ordering...more or less. Most of the Eleventh Division knew that she usually only fought bare-handed, so they didn't bother picking up their discarded zanpakuto. Glancing at one another, they surrounded her and charged at her, hands clenched into fists.

Siren dodged each of their first attempts at getting a hit on her, and blocked the second. For a while, she just dodged and blocked, getting used to their weight, technique, speed, agility and style. As well as getting used to fighting five opponents at once. She hadn't done this kind of thing in a while. Then...she attacked. In just a few moments, they were all down and out for the count. Looking around at her defeated opponents, she huffed in disappointment, and gestured for another group, this time of six shinigami to come over and see how they went. The other's that were knocked out were moved out of the way in preparation.

Grinning with anticipation, they stalked over and began to circle her. One of them spoke up. "Don't think we're like those guys. We're all way above their level!" he said with confidence, and then the second round began.

Using the same strategy of analysing them before being offensive, she waited for the right time to strike on each of them. Unfortunately, for the arrogant one that spoke up, she took him out first, and he was moved out of the way by whoever was standing nearby. The smallest of them was the next to go, and then the taller one who was a little on the chubby side went after. Just barely, she dodged a kick her side and one of the guys behind her tried to get a lucky hit, but only received an elbow to the stomach before Siren knocked out the other three.

After about another half hour of going up against six more rounds of groups up to seven people, Siren had finally calmed down enough and decided to head out before it actually clicked in with someone that she had made a line of unconscious and injured shinigami against the wall. She knew it was that it was the night where Matsumoto had drinks with some of the members of the Eighth Division, but funnily enough she didn't feel like going to hang out.

Honestly, she was starting to feel like crap for what happened between her and Hisagi, and even though he said some pretty stupid things, she did as well. They were both in the wrong for continuing the argument and not just trying to calm down and solve things like adults. She was supposed to be older than him, she should have been able to calm herself for at least a moment before it got too out of hand. There wasn't much sense in worrying about it now, they'd screamed and shouted and mocked each other to their heart's content and they'd both probably have too much pride to apologise.

It was going to be a long week...

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Several days later, ever since their fight, there had been an unspoken rule made between the Kyubantai taicho and the Kyubantai fuku-taicho; 'I-don't-want-to-see-you-unless-I-have-to-for-work-related-reasons'. Occasionally, she would drop some paper work off to him, and he would do the same to her. Most of the time they just got someone else to do it though. At the moment, Renji was in Siren's office whining about how they should 'stop screwing around, and just screw each other'. The comment certainly earned a large book making contact with his face, and his nose had finally stopped bleeding a few moments ago, so it was back to bitching.

"Siren, you know that you both like each other! So why don't you just apologise and get it over with!? It will start to affect your work-relationship soon, and then shit will really hit the fan." he pleaded, trying to reason with the insufferably stubborn woman.

"No. I told you what he said. And I know that I insulted him too, but he just took it too far. He just needs to get over this hero worship of Tosen. I mean, he killed the guy! Obviously he realised that Tosen wasn't some almighty deity. He's just holding out a candle for him. It's not helping him at all. He's not allowing himself an closure." she retorted back, her voice becoming quieter on the last part.

"Oh my god. You really do like him." Renji drawled, realising why Siren was trying so hard to force Hisagi to get over Tosen and his betrayal. Because she cared about him, and she could still see that small amount of loneliness in the black haired man's eyes that had appeared there ever since Tosen left with Gin and Aizen. Everyone could see it, but he seemed to be the more 'suffer-in-silence' type. He owed Rangiku-san a bottle of sake now. How was that woman always right with these things?

"Why does everyone keep saying that to me?" Siren dropped her chin to her chest with a groan of defeat and irritation.

"Because it's true. You are just trying to get him over the whole Tosen thing because you know he's still torn up about it now matter how much he denies it. It's written all over your face Siren."

She glared at him and scoffed. "Absolutely preposterous. I value him as a friend and Lieutenant. Nothing more."

"Bullshit. You are so stubborn. Can't you at least try and fix the problem though so the group can hang out at The House next week on our day off?" he pleaded again, hoping that putting it this way might work. He knew that Siren really enjoyed the rare times when everyone was able to get together and hang out. He was watching her inner debate and it looked like she was about to give in when...

Speak of the devil, the scarred and tattooed fuku-taicho walked through the door with a slightly nervous expression. Even though Renji was dying to stay so that he could tell Rangiku-san everything that happened, he took his leave silently, just glancing quickly at Siren who saw the small smile he had on his face from the corner of her eye. Hisagi approached her desk cautiously, almost as if he was expecting her to lash out and bite his head off...literally.

A few moments later, Siren casually threw a book through the open window, hearing someone attempting to look inside and listen to their conversation that hadn't even begun yet. Her thoughts about it being Renji were confirmed when he yelped in pain and swore loudly before walking briskly away. She glared at him through the wall, and made sure to listen carefully for anyone else that was trying to listen in. Turning her head back to Hisagi, she sighed faintly and waited for whatever it was he was here for. When Hisagi determined that the small, vengeful woman wasn't moving in for the kill, he bowed low.

"I'm really sorry!" he said kind of loudly, and stayed in a bowing position for a few moments until he noticed that she hadn't said anything yet. He stood back up to his full height to look at her. She was looking off to the right at the ground, chewing her lip with a far-off expression. She blinked a few times, and looked back to him, melancholy light shining in her glassy green eyes. It was only now that she realised how upset she really was by what he said. Since she hadn't confronted him, she hadn't thought about it. So it was just all boiling underneath the surface, waiting to be released.

"I really wanted to apologise earlier, but I was pretty certain that you would have torn my throat out of my neck if I stayed in your presence for longer than ten seconds." he flinched almost imperceptibly, when she looked at him with a glint in her eye that said 'Yeah, I probably would have'. He took a deep breath, and hoped that he didn't start stuttering like a nervous little boy.

"Let me make it up to you?" he asked hesitantly, sounding much more confident than he felt, but the wringing of his hands gave his nervousness away.

She raised a shaped black eyebrow at this, trying to keep her face as blank as possible. "How?"

"Really? I didn't think you would say yes-"

"I didn't, idiot. I asked you how." she cut him off, now trying to fight a smirk at his nervous state. She had never seen him like this before, and it was pretty funny. Placing her elbows on the desk, and linking her fingers together before resting her chin on them, she waited for him to speak again, even though he had suddenly become extremely interested in fiddling with his obi for no particular reason. He mumbled something incoherently, and she couldn't keep the blank look on her face any more as her expression contorted into 'extreme-confusion-with-a-side-of-suspicion'.

"Dinner." he said, only a little bit louder this time, still refusing to look at her. She just couldn't resist playing around with him a little bit. Payback...is a bitch, she thought and mentally chuckled darkly at her version of payback. She also considered that it might even be better than tearing his throat out.

"Hisagi, since I've been back here you have cooked for me more than I have for myself. What's so different?" she asked in 'confusion', even though she was pretty sure that she knew what he meant.

"...I mean...go...o-out." the raven-haired man stuttered and Siren shook her head and shrugged as if she still didn't know what he meant.

"Dude. Spit it out already." she spoke firmly, but with a chuckle, hoping that soon enough he would just come out with it already.

"I mean that maybe we could go out for dinner and that maybe it could be a date or something." he said much louder with frightening speed and they were both a little surprised that he didn't mess it up. Siren's blank face kind of scared him and he couldn't take his eyes off hers, looking for any sign of acceptance or rejection. So much so that he didn't see the book flying towards him and smack him in the face.

"Ouuucchh." he hissed and whimpered in pain, then forgot about it for a moment when he remembered that Siren threw it. His head snapped up and he glared at her ready to bust a nut and tell her off, but he melted at the sight of her cheeks being slightly pink, struggling not to smile and looking away from him at the floor defiantly. She certainly hadn't expected him to react like that. All she was planning to do was ask him to repeat it over and over until he realised that she'd pretty much heard him the first time and his reaction had really caught her off-guard. Quickly, she composed herself and put on her blank mask again and turned back to him.

"May I enquire as to when shall this event take place?" she asked with a little hint of nobility in her voice, almost breaking her composure and cracking up laughing as she wondered where the six-foot long stick with the name 'Kuchiki Byakuya' written on it in fancy writing that was currently stuck up her ass had come from.

"Um, well how about when we both have our day off next week? We could spend the day doing whatever you want and then go out for dinner or something...I'm not very good with this kind of thing." he admitted with a chuckle, scratching the back of his head and loosing most of his shyness at her obvious interest, since she couldn't hide from him behind blank expressions. She thought quietly for a moment before replying.

"That is acceptable. Now, if you wouldn't mind I must excuse myself and drop this report off at the Tenth Division." she got up out of her chair, and refused to look back at him as she walked out the door, not being able to hide the school-girl grin on her face any longer. If she had looked back, she would have seen him grinning even bigger and brighter than she was. He had a feeling that she wasn't just dropping off a report.

She ran all the way to Tenth Division, realising that Matsumoto was right. She really did like him. And it was great, but it sucked at the same time. If Hisagi thought he wasn't very good with dates and all that, he'd just have to wait and find out about how inexperienced she was with all those romantic interludes. Opening Matsumoto's office door, she found her laying on the couch, dozing lightly, but her eyes opened after hearing the door open.

"You will never guess what just happened!" she whispered excitedly, impatient to tell her close friend about the whole shebang.

"Shuhei finally asked you out?" the blonde beauty asked evenly. Siren's shoulders slumped, and her arms dangled beside her and she dropped her chin to her chest with a groan.

"How long have you been involved with this?" the small, haori-clad woman asked her, completely defeated. She should have known that Matsumoto probably would have pestered Hisagi until he asked her or something. That would be just like her.

"I was just about to come and say hi to you guys the other day, but you two were arguing really loudly. So I just left and waited to see Shuhei the next day. And I talked to him."

"So, basically you annoyed him until he agreed to ask me out to apologise?"

"Yep!" the other woman who had only just moved to nod her head, speaking way too excitedly.

Siren laid down on her other couch in the same position, with her arms crossed behind her head, and they both looked at the ceiling before closing their respective green and blue eyes.

"You do realise that I'll be helping you get ready for your date with Shuhei, right? We're going all out. A nice kimono, or maybe a western style dress. Maybe a little bit of make-up, and I'll do your hair too!..."the woman continued to speak as Siren slowly dozed off into a light sleep.

Next week is certainly going to be interesting...that's for sure...