Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. Which means that I sadly do not own Yumichika... Oh, well. I can still mess with his life here.

Yamamoto sighed, tired eyes on the shinigami in front of him. As usual, her long white hair was pulled back into a strict, severe braid that fell to her waist, allowing no strands of hair to escape to frame her angled face. Her bright red eyes, half hidden behind a pair of slim frames and fragile glass, stared at a point just above his left shoulder, refusing to look him in the eye. The blood had drained from her already unnaturally pale skin, giving her the appearance of a ghost, clad in black. "I trust you know why you are here?" Yamamoto eventually said, the question more of a statement than anything else.

She nodded, a stiff, forced movement. Yamamoto waited for a moment to see if she would actually say anything, but when it became clear that she would not, he continued, "Then Unohana has told you what will happen."

"Yes, Yamamoto-sama," she replied quietly, voice even. Despite the tone in her voice, Yamamoto could see the way her fingers curled ever so slightly. A quick glance at her face told him that her eyes were cast slightly downward, and as he watched, she swallowed. Though she clearly wanted any emotions she had on the matter hidden, her poker-straight, stiff posture and body language told him otherwise. She was profusely unhappy.

Not that Yamamoto could blame her. After all, the transfer wasn't a willing one, and he knew that she hated the very idea of it, as would most shinigami in her shoes. Unfortunately, he had no choice but to move her. He only hoped that she understood this. "You will meet with your new captain tomorrow morning."

"Understood, Yamamoto-sama."

There it was again. She was using honorifics. That, more than anything her posture or minute movements, told him that she was far more upset than he'd originally believed. "Do you understand why?"

That didn't get a reply, not a verbal one, anyways. As her reiatsu flared, her hands clenched into shaking fists, and for the first time since she'd entered the room, she met his eyes. He saw a tangle of emotion, none of which were pleasant, before she resumed her staring match with the wall. It was a while longer before her reiatsu calmed, but it eventually returned to normal – or rather, it was repressed so that it was no longer spiking.

Yamamoto sighed for the second time in five minutes. "Very well. You may go."

She didn't acknowledge the dismissal with a bow or a nod. Instead, she turned and left, not even bothering to close the door behind her. Her braid was the last thing Yamamoto saw before she vanished completely.

"I feel old," Yamamoto grumbled. Encounters with young shinigami had a tendency to make him feel this way, but only on occasion did he feel not only old, but weary. It wasn't a feeling he enjoyed. "I wish you luck, Rin Suzuki," he told the empty air.

"I can't believe you actually have to switch," Hanako said softly, drawing her knees up to her chest. "I thought that Unohana-sama would convince him to change his mind."

"He couldn't," Rin replied, her voice steady and calm. Unlike her best friend, she was standing, using one hand to brace herself against the wall. She felt strange, almost lightheaded, as though she would fall over at any time, but she couldn't sit. "There was no choice."

"Sure, just hide behind rationalities," Hanako replied bitterly. "There's always a choice and you know it."

"The other option was execution," Rin pointed out, vaguely surprised by how calm she felt now. It was as though the events of the day had happened to someone else, not to her, or as if it was just a dream and she'd soon wake up without anything having happened.

Hanako frowned and stood, crossing her arms. "It's not fair," she muttered. "What happened wasn't your fault."

Rin simply shrugged. This was not a conversation she was going to get dragged into. Not now. Not ever. For the first time since she'd walked into her friend's room, she looked at Hanako, taking in her appearance. Her hair, straight as sticks and just as brown, hung in limp locks around her shoulders. Worry creased her forehead and made her green eyes wide. Even her uniform looked limp, instead of crisp as Rin was used to seeing it. "You're really worried, aren't you?" she realized.

"The fact that you can even ask that of your best friend…" Hanako trailed off, shaking her head, then came back full force, glaring at Rin with a ferocity that surprised the pale shinigami. "Yes, I'm worried! My best friend loses it and nearly gets herself executed; how do you think I feel?"

Guilt flooded through Rin. "I –"

"And then you get transferred to that division – how, exactly, is that going to help?" Hanako demanded. She couldn't answer, and possibly Hanako saw that in her face, for she barged onwards, each word making Rin feel worse. "I mean, I get that they're strong, but aside from knocking you out whenever you –"

"Stop that," Rin interrupted. "We're not talking about it."

Perhaps the tone of her voice got though, for Hanako shut up and stared at the floor shamefacedly. The silence that fell was uncomfortable and tight, the words Rin had snapped echoing in her mind, if not the room itself. Unable to take it any longer, Rin drew a deep breath and spoke, breaking the silence. "I'm sorry," she offered quietly, pitching her voice so that it wouldn't sound unnatural in the room.

After a long moment, her friend sighed. "I know," she replied. 'And I know you didn't do anything intentionally – which is probably the only reason you're still alive."

Rin bit back the reply that leapt to the tip of her tongue. Now that the shock and unnaturalness of the situation had worn off, or rather, been broken harshly by Hanako's words, the fear and worry had returned at full force, and her old shields of sarcasm and indifference along with them. Hanako, for all that she'd said earlier, was truly worried about her. Rin wasn't about to drive away her friend. "Can we change the subject?" she asked instead, finally removing her hand from the wall.

Hanako sighed in a way that Rin knew meant that this conversation was over for now. It would be brought up again, that was certain, but she was kind enough to let it drop for the moment. "Fine. Have you seen what Jun did to his hair? It looks like he fell into a bucket of blueberries headfirst."

For once Rin was happy to indulge in basic gossip. She sat down on the floor, only half listening to Hanako talk happily about her favorite subjects – the shinigami, their tastes in fashion, and their love lives – and commenting when she was expected to. The rest of the time she was lost in thought, looking over the events of the past few days and wondering if there was anything she could have done differently.

Finally Hanako stopped talking, and Rin looked up at the sudden quiet. "Did you run out of gossip?" she wanted to know. If so, it would be the one and only time it would ever happen. Hanako was infamous among the shinigami for sticking her nose into everything, whether she was meant to know it or not. In fact, it was that very trait that had led them to become friends.

"No," was the reply she received. "I've got lots more, but you look exhausted and since you're formally meeting your new captain tomorrow, I figured you wouldn't want to be tired."

Rin raised one of her thin eyebrows. "I look that bad?"

"Worse. You – I can't believe I'm saying this – you almost look as if you've been crying." Rin looked at her friend in disbelief and Hanako nodded solemnly. "Really. Actually, almost as if you're about to cry, which I personally think are very alike expressions. Your cheeks are even pink."

"Lovely." Sarcasm tinged her voice and she resisted the urge to lift her hands to her cheeks.

"Anyways, considering who your new captain is, I thought you wouldn't like the idea of showing any weakness at all. Not that you usually do anyways," Hanako added dryly. Rin gave her a small smile. Whether or not she was avoiding the captain's name on purpose or if it was a subconscious decision, Rin didn't know or care. She was just grateful that the actual name hadn't come up.

"Thanks, Hanako. I'll see you later?"

"Just so long as it isn't on one of the operating tables," Hanako agreed.

Rin stood, forgetting that she had been sitting for the better part of three hours, and winced at the way her muscles protested. "Trust me, I have no plans to be there," she commented, taking an experimental step and reminding herself to get back to her daily stretches after a twinge of pain made itself known. "Wish me luck?"

"That depends. What kind?"

Rin shot Hanako her best oh-ha-ha-very-funny look. "The kind that gives me luck," she replied sarcastically.

"Oh, you mean the good kind?" Hanako grinned. "Sorry, but I've run out."

A roll of the eyes didn't stop the smile from spreading across Rin's face. "Hush, you," she ordered. "You've got plenty in reserve."

"Good luck," Hanako offered as Rin turned to leave. She stopped in the door, nodded, then left, heading straight for her quarters.

Dawn came, and with it, a gathering of his division. Yumichika yawned discreetly from next to Ikkaku. "Do you have any idea why everyone's here?" he asked his friend quietly, eyes on his captain, who seemed to be waiting for something. Ikkaku shrugged.

"Hell if I know," was Ikkaku's much louder, thoroughly annoyed, reply. "Some newcomer, or something, I think."

"Ah."

Yumichika vaguely remembered Yachiru saying something about 'Ice-chan' switching divisions, but he wasn't in the habit of really listening to anything his excitable and rather silly lieutenant said. Whoever 'Ice-chan' might be, he didn't know, but any newcomer here was reason enough to make Ikkaku tetchy. The fact that the sun was still in the process of rising didn't help his friend's mood either, and Yumichika himself wasn't pleased at being awake so early either.

For a man who had spent half the night hunting and killing a particularly nasty Hollow, Yumichika's mood was surprisingly good. Of course, considering that even when he was at his best, he wasn't particularly nice, this didn't mean much. On the whole, he was probably about as irritated as Ikkaku, perhaps a little more so. Yumichika was a man who enjoyed his beauty sleep, and when it was interrupted or cut short for any reason, he tended to get moody.

"I mean, couldn't this newbie show up at a time that isn't unholy?" Ikkaku demanded, and Yumichika resurfaced from is thoughts. Evidently he had missed part of a rant while thinking wistfully of his bed. He nodded his agreement, even as footsteps behind him heralded the approach of another person.

"This wasn't my idea," a clipped, feminine voice informed them both. Yumichika half-turned to see the newcomer, and was greeted with a white braid that fell down the back of black shinigami robes. She continued past them without pause until she stopped in front of the captain and his lieutenant. "Here as ordered," she said, turning so that Yumichika had a decent view of her face.

Pale skin, red eyes, slim glasses, and white hair pulled completely back from a face with sharp cheekbones and a slightly rounded chin did not make for a good look, he decided. "Ugly," he commented, and was rewarded with a look from the woman.

"Peacock," she retorted swiftly without pause.

He opened his mouth to retort, then thought better of it. It was far too early in the morning to get involved in a verbal spar, and besides, this woman was undoubtedly the 'Ice-chan' Yachiru had mentioned. The quicker she learned that they fought with fists and blades and not words the better off she'd be, and the less annoyed everyone else would be.

"This is Rin Suzuki. She'll be taking sixteenth chair," Zaraki announced. "She's transferring from the fourth division –"

"The fourth?" Ikkaku exclaimed loudly. He wasn't the only one. Several of the shinigami had yelled in protest at this news. Yumichika felt his jaw drop, and he mentally echoed Ikkaku's statement. The fourth division? The healers? The ones who abhorred fighting?

She wouldn't last two days.

"All right, all right, shut up," Zaraki told them. The cries began to die down, though Ikkaku shut his mouth sullenly and glared at Suzuki as if she'd terribly wronged him. Yumichika heard him mutter something about weaklings before Zaraki spoke again. "Madarame, Ayasegawa, spar with her. See how well she fights."

While Ikkaku complained loudly, Yumichika folded his arms across his chest in a silent denial and disapproval of the task he'd been set. "I hate you too," Suzuki informed them tartly when Ikaku stopped for breath.

Zaraki grinned at them in a way that couldn't have been mistaken for anything but malicious and cruel, Yachiru perched on his shoulder. "Have fun, and don't kill her," he told them before setting off to do something else. Taking this as a cue to go do something else – probably sleep, if the number of yawns he had seen were any indication – everyone else left until it was just him, Ikkaku, and Suzuki left.

"No healing tricks," Ikkaku warned, fury still defining every muscle in his body. "Got that, Suzuki?"

She didn't bother to answer. Instead she eyed their surroundings for a moment and then sighed. "Now I know why I was asked to come to the training grounds," she muttered to herself.

Yumichika scowled at her, then turned his gaze to Ikkaku. "Do you want to go first or should I?" he asked, indicating what he meant by laying his hand on his zanpakuto.

"You," Ikkaku growled. "I'd kill her in five seconds. That's how pissed I am."

With a sigh, Yumichika drew his zanpakuto and turned to face Suzuki. She hesitated for only a moment before drawing hers. It looked plain and unassuming, perhaps a bit shorter than other swords he'd seen, but still slim. He'd learned not to judge zanpakuto or shinigami by their appearances, but if she was as weak as she appeared to be, this fight would be a piece of cake.

"Ladies first," she taunted. Yumichika's only reaction to that was a smirk, before Suzuki came towards him and swung. He blocked easily, and the fight began.

A/N: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my first attempt at a Bleach fanfiction. I really hope I've got everyone in character here... So. Anyways. I'm rather proud that I managed to spell Ikkaku's and Yumichika's last names right without looking them up. And verbal sparring, my favorite. You'll see more of that, I promise. And since I've reached the point of babbling and nobody really cares about author's notes anyway, just remember this: Reviews feed the authoress's soul, and I'd really like to know what you guys think of this.