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It had to be sometime around midnight, I guessed, as I paddled around in the pool. I had gotten used to the water temperature finally. Renji sat not too far away on shore, watching me goof off and play.
"Why don't you come back in?" I asked, treading water.
He shrugged. "We've been swimming for an hour, Michiru. I don't want to get water-logged."
"Water-logged?"
"Yeah. When something soaks up too much water and it sinks."
I flicked water at him playfully. "C'mon. It won't kill you."
"You come up here. You still haven't touched your bento," he countered, grinning as he skipped a rock past me. "I didn't go buy snow peas to feed the fish."
Snow peas. I perked up instantly, struggling to swim to shore faster. How did he know my favorite food already?
"What did you make?" I asked, stumbling out of the water. He pulled the bento open, revealing a rather tasty-looking salad. With tons of snow peas.
"I can't really cook. So I put this together. I guess it's a...garden variety salad? It's like a surprise salad, I guess. If salads can be surprising."
He put the box down in front of me as I dried off, but watched me intently. "It looks good," I told him, hoping to disarm him. Was he that worried about it?
"You think so? It's really all I know how to make," he admitted, tying his hair back up. He seemed relieved. "I hope it tastes as good as it looks."
"I'm sure it does." I sat down across from him. I didn't realize that he could see the tattoos on my legs, but at the same time, I didn't care. What in the world was he going to say about them, anyway? That he didn't like them? If that was all I had to worry about, then it really didn't matter.
He picked at the salad with me, his ceramic hashi clinking against mine occasionally. It was peaceful, really, the sound of the waterfall and his presence. And he was content, which was something that I picked up on immediately. It emanated. Like a warm fire.
"Should we go back?" I asked, realizing how late it must be. The moon had slipped over the tree-line.
He picked the very last leaf out of the bento box, munching it thoughtfully. "I guess," he answered. "You have to be up in the morning early, don't you?"
"I do. And Hisagi is supposed to come back soon so I can talk things over with him."
"Oh yeah. What did Yamamoto tell you, anyway? Just curious." He peered at me questioningly.
I ran over the Captain General's speech in my head. When I'd met him, in 1st Company barracks, he'd offered me tea and sat down to talk business. Which, of course, was about my training and Hisagi and my authorities. I was still to train, but under another captain, and he didn't say whom. Also, I had to go back to Karakura Town... Just to meet Hisagi, I assumed.
"I have to go back to Karakura, but I don't think I'll be there for long," I said. "I mean, I think I'm just supposed to go to meet Hisagi. I know Hitsugaya is already there with Rangiku, and the Kurosaki kid."
"You know Ikkaku went back after the meeting this morning?" he asked.
I paused. He'd left without me? "Why?"
"I don't know. Nobody asked him to. Ayasegawa is still here, though."
"He just up and left?"
He nodded, laying his hashi down gingerly. "Does it bother you that much? Just have him brought back." He eyed me questioningly.
"It doesn't bother me, it just...I don't know. I thought he'd be happy that I got this position. And maybe come see me," I sighed. I wasn't nescessarily upset, but it didn't help my feelings any.
"Maybe he's jealous."
That startled me. I glanced up at Renji, wanting to believe him. It made sense. But Ikkaku had been asked to fill Aizen's position, right? I struggled to follow the thought process. "What of? He turned the position down," I muttered.
"Think about it." He shifted, leaning a little closer to my face. "You're a lovely, intelligent, high-ranking student. Well, you were a student. Anyway. Maybe it's not wanting to BE a captain as much as it is WHO is the new captain," he started. "He worked hard to get where he is now. Third seat. You, on the other hand, tore through the Academy like it was made out of gauze. You basically swept the feet out from under the other students. Straight from the Academy and to a ranked officer is more than any one of us has ever accomplished, y'know?" He reached over to me, brushing my hair back gently. "There's a lot to be jealous of."
"But he's been acting so strange, anyway."
"I know," he growled, rolling his eyes. "I don't know what the hell his problem is...Anyway, we should probably head back, huh?"
"I asked that a few minutes ago, but yeah, probably."
He snagged my wrist as I stood up, making me stumble. "Wait," he chirped, his eyes urgent.
"What?"
"When can I see you again?" He stared up at me, sincere, squeezing my wrist gently.
But I didn't know the answer to his question. If I headed out to the human world and he didn't come too, then I wasn't going to see him for a while. If I didn't leave, then I had many, many things to do within the Seireitei that would keep me busy. Paperwork, meetings, training... I didn't know.
He understood before I could say anything. "If you have any free time... I don't know. I'll always be patrolling the East gate when I don't have any other work. So look for me there. Will you do that for me?" he asked softly.
I nodded, pulling him up to his feet so that I could hug him tightly. "I will. I promise."
"Good." He propped his chin on top of my head. "Now let's get back, or Yamamoto'll have the whole Soul Society looking for us."

**

The next morning, a few minutes after the bell rang, I tore myself out of bed. It was a herculean task--my body was beyond fatigued, just from all the swimming. Not to mention my feet were a little sore from walking on rocks. But I couldn't complain.
I couldn't get used to the new room I'd been given. It made me feel small, especially in the morning, when I had no depth-perception and the wooden floors seemed endless. The floors were warm, though, thanks to the large windows that lined the very top of my eastern wall that let the sun heat my room naturally.
I searched aimlessly for tea, confounded by the pantry-space in my new kitchen. It was bigger than my old room all by itself. But as for the tea, I remembered that I had no way to make it. So I dropped it and shuffled back to my bedroom.
The door rattled furiously. "Michiru! Michiru, wake up please!"
Yumichika nearly smashed my door down before I could reach it. Slightly annoyed, I slid the door open angrily, expecting him to have some sort of silk crisis. I was wrong. So wrong.
"Michiru, you have to come with me now!!" he sputtered, gripping my shoulders tightly. "Like right now! Immediately!"
"Why? What's wrong?" I asked, trying to shake him off. He only held tighter.
"Just come with me. Please. We have to go now," he begged, his voice dropping with frustration.
"Tell me what's wrong, then I'll go with you." I peeled his hands off my shoulders, trying to stay calm.
He sighed heavily. "It's Inoue. And Ikkaku," he whimpered. "They're gone."