Neko

Shimizu Ume

Occupation - Fourth Seat of the Sixth Division

Birthday - July 17

Height - 164 cm (5'4⅝")

Weight - 45kg (99lbs)

Blood type - AB

Zanpakuto - Umehime

Ume glanced around and yawned. She had been on patrol for more than two hours now and all was quiet in the Seireitei. Ume sighed heavily and sat with her legs crossed on one of the many roofs of the Seireitei. Her zanpakuto was strapped loosely to her back and longed to be unsheathed. Ume looked around at the empty roof tops of the Seireitei with little interest and sighed heavily again. She didn't understand why such a highly ranked shinigami like her had to go on patrol duty. She shrugged and continued to sit sleepily on the roof top with the moon looming over her.

About an hour later Ume's head began to droop sleepily and suddenly she fell off her perch on the roof top and landed hard on the ground below. She quickly raised her head and got off the ground, brushing off the dust from her uniform and her face. Glancing around, Ume was relieved to find that no one was around to watch her display of clumsiness. Ume usually put on a mask of indifference once she was in public. When she was alone though, she was rather clumsy and aloof. She touched her forehead gently and found that there was a small cut that was bleeding. Ume wiped the blood away with her hand and reached in her pockets looking for a band aid or a piece of cloth. She had nothing in her pockets except for the card key to her apartment. She frowned and shrugged. Ume leapt back up into the sky and landed on a steadier roof top where she could still see the region she was on patrol duty for.

Dawn approached soon afterwards much to Ume's delight. She yawned and walked back to the Sixth Division Headquarters. Before she could enter the headquarters a strong reiatsu approached her. She turned around to see that it was the Vice Captain of the Ninth Division; Hisagi Shuuhei. Ume bowed slightly and addressed him,

"Good morning Vice Captain Hisagi-sama." he bowed back and then looked at Ume's forehead.

"What happened to your forehead Shimizu-san?" Ume looked up at her forehead and shrugged,

"It's only a flesh wound." Shuuhei smiled and pulled out something from his pocket. He walked up to Ume and placed something across her cut. Although Ume came up to at least Shuuhei's ear in reality, at that moment it seemed like Ume only came up to his chest. Ume glanced up at Shuuhei and stared at his features. A band aid on his nose and the wounds of a past battle over his left eye, if those were not odd enough there was that tattoo on his right cheek, 69. It was so intriguing that Ume almost wanted to reach up and touch it. Noticing the odd staring aura, Shuuhei glanced down but he simply smiled. Ume looked down quickly as he stepped away. He had placed a band aid similar to the one on the bridge of his noise over her cut. She bowed and thanked him. He shrugged and turned away.

"Be seeing you Shimizu-san." Ume watched him walk away with a small sensation sparking in her heart.

Ume found Rikichi; the Abarai Renji wanna-be, sleeping at the patrol duty desk. He was a lowly shinigami in the Sixth Division that even Ume wasn't sure what rank he held. Ume slammed her report paper on her patrol duty on the desk, waking Rikichi up. He raised his head up suddenly and fumbled with the paper stuck to his forehead.

"S-s-sorry!" He finally ripped the paper away and looked up at Ume. She glared at him and slid her report forward. "Ah- oh yes-." he took her report and filed it in to a cabin then returned with a small slip that he handed to her. On the slip was a small stamp and the words 'Shimizu Ume signed in from her Patrol Duty on 6/9 at 6:09am' typed on it. Ume frowned as she looked at the time and date. Rikichi looked up at the motionless Ume and asked, "Um- Shimizu-sama is something wrong?"

"No." Ume responded and stuffed the slip of paper into her pocket. She turned and walked out of the Sixth Division Headquarters.

Since Ume had gone directly to sign in from her patrol duty, she hadn't had breakfast yet and was very hungry. She glanced around at all the shops. None of them were open which surprised Ume. She thought there was a lot of people that woke up early to get to work and so they needed early breakfasts. However it seemed that she was wrong.

However, at the end of the road in a secluded corner, Ume found a small bakery-tea-house that was open. Driven by hunger Ume ran in and almost melted at the wonderful smells of food. The old man at the counter welcomed her and she smiled back. She glanced around and then almost fainted when she saw small boxes with mini taiyaki's bursting at the rim. Ever since she was small she had loved any fish related treats or meals and was always being called 'nekomusume'. She ran over happily to the taiyaki boxes and brought one to the counter. As he calculated the price she glanced around at the bakery. In a corner there were four small tables that were for the customers who wished to eat in the bakery. At the table next to the window there sat a male shinigami eating his breakfast and drinking tea. He was looking out the window and his back was facing the store. Ume blinked when she noticed that he was eating from a similar taiyaki box that she was purchasing.

After paying for the taiyaki box she asked if it was ok if she sat at one of the tables. The cashier nodded followed by an 'of course' and asked her if she would like some complementary tea. Ume smiled and thanked him as he brewed some tea for her. She sat down at the table diagonal from the mysterious shinigami, her back to him. She glanced back slightly once more to examine him more closely.

"Here you go." Ume almost screamed as the cashier startled her by serving her the tea. She thanked him and turned to the taiyaki box in front of her. Terribly embarrassed Ume reached over for the cup of tea.

"SHIMIZU-SAMA!" Ume fell back in surprise and spilled her tea all over herself as Rikichi burst into the bakery. She winced as the hot tea soaked through her clothes and burnt her skin slightly. The cashier and Rikichi ran over to help her but a cool handkerchief was placed on her hand before any of the two could reach her. Ume looked up to see Shuuhei kneeling over her, holding the handkerchief wrapped around her hand. She glanced up at the table where the mysterious man who shared similar meal opinions as her had sat. It was empty and there was no other person in the bakery except for the cashier and Rikichi. This meant that man was Shuuhei. He smiled at her and helped her up. "I'm sorry Shimizu-sama! I didn't mean to startle you; it's just that Captain Kuchiki-sama is requesting all of the 2nd to 5th seats of the Sixth Division to assemble at the Sixth District Headquarters immediately." Ume nodded and thanked Shuuhei for the handkerchief but left it in his hands. She ran out of the bakery with Rikichi stumbling behind her. Shuuhei looked down at the untouched taiyaki box on the abandoned table. He turned to the cashier and asked,

"Can you wrap this up for me?"

Ume ran into one of the meeting rooms of the Sixth District Headquarters and found the second and third seats of the Sixth District already seated around a long table. Fortunately from running her shinigami uniform had dried. Captain Kuchiki Byakuya-sama sat at the head of the table with a scroll placed in front of him. Ume bowed and took a seat next to Vice Captain Abarai Renji-san. Not too long after the fifth seat stepped in groggily and took his seat across from Ume. Captain Kuchiki unrolled the scroll and said shortly,

"First Division is requesting that we send two Sixth Division high seated officers to accompany two Ninth Division high seated officers on a mission into the human world."

"I'll go Captain Kuchiki-sama." Renji said and received a slight nod from Byakuya. The third seat and fifth seat did not move or speak. Ume sighed heavily to herself and spoke,

"I will go as well Captain Kuchiki-sama." Byakuya nodded to her as well and wrote down their two names on the scroll before handing it to a messenger who was waiting in the corner. The messenger bowed and disappeared. Captain Kuchiki dismissed them and walked out of the room.

Early next morning Ume turned over and opened her eyes suddenly in realization. She sat up straight and realized that she had rolled all the way to the opposite side of her room. She got up and laughed at herself quietly before she folded her blankets and returned them to the bed underneath the only window of the room. Today she had to go to a debriefing of the mission with the two Ninth Division seats. Ume sighed heavily and changed into her shinigami uniform and exited her small apartment, locking it with the card key. A strong reiatsu appeared behind her and she swiveled around.

"Good morning Vice Captain Hisagi-sama." Ume bowed and he bowed back. He raised his arm slightly and in his hand was a wrapped up box that looked familiar. Ume took it graciously and ripped away the paper. It was the taiyaki box from yesterday that she had forgotten to take with her. She smiled and bowed in a thank you. Shuuhei lowered his head slightly,

"No problem." Then Ume opened the box,

"Would you like to share with me?" Shuuhei looked up and smiled a sure. Ume realized that Shuuhei was blushing slightly and at that moment, Ume's thoughts rung clear in her mind,

He looks . . . like a cat. Ume blushed and together they walked while sharing the mini taiyakis.