Chapter Text
"Rangiku..." A quiet sigh was exhaled, a hand lifting to rub at the woman's temples. "Why do you never do any of your paperwork..."
There were so many reports. Some were reports she had to do, but most of them were her new Lieutenant's. She was certain her recent promotion was solely because she was better with paperwork than Rangiku was. Her own work was always on time, and done thoroughly.
"This is going to take forever."
It came out as a slight grumble, because it was far too early for this much paperwork. But it didn't stop Hitomi from going through each piece of paper diligently. If she didn't, it would only continue to pile up and make even more work for her and Captain Hitsugaya. While there wasn't much going on, that didn't mean work needed to pile up until it was unmanageable. Thankfully, everything was relatively peaceful. And had been since she first entered the Tenth Division five years ago.
Her mind wandered while going through a random expense report.
It went to where it always went. The feeling of something missing deep within her. It was hard for her to fully explain, but the best way she could think to describe it was it felt like a piece of her was missing. What that piece was, she didn't know. For years, she'd tried to figure out. Even before she was in Shin'ō Academy, it was there. But she was never able to figure out what it was.
With a shake of her head, she snapped herself out of it. What was important right now were these reports, and she couldn't waste time getting lost in her own mind. There was plenty of time for that later.
She was partly through the pile of reports when the sound of a door clicking reached her ears. Hitomi didn't need to look up to know who it was, since she and Captain Hitsugaya arrived within minutes of each other. However, she still glanced up. Sure enough, it was Rangiku finally making an appearance. She needed to go through Hitomi's work space to get to her and Captain Hitsugaya's office.
"Good morning, Hitomi!" Rangiku greeted with a wide smile, radiating her usual warm and friendly energy.
"Good morning." Hitomi wasn't able to keep herself returning the smile. Despite the way she did her best to get out of doing her own work, Rangiku's warm and friendly energy was contagious. "Late night of drinking again?"
"It wasn't that late." Rangiku laughed, waving one of her hands in the hand. "You really should come drinking with me one of these times. You need time to relax too."
"I've never been one for drinking." Hitomi replied, attention now back on the report in her hands. "Plus, I have work to do."
"You work too much!" Rangiku's bottom lip jutted out in a pout, hand resting on her hip.
"I work too much, because you don't work enough." Hitomi retorted smoothly, though not in an unkind manner. It was more of a playful tone. "And I don't want our Captain stuck with all this work."
"Spoil sport." Rangiku's pout deepened. "We still need to celebrate your promotion!"
"Maybe if you get your work done early one of these days, I'll have time to do that." Hitomi didn't look up from the report she was going over. She knew if she saw Rangiku's pout, she wouldn't be able to say no. If there was one thing that Rangiku was a master at, it was the puppy eyes and pout. She didn't have the immunity to it that Captain Hitsugaya had. It broke her every time.
"Hitomi!" Rangiku tugged at Hitomi's right arm, conveniently ignoring the mention of doing any kind of work early.
"Rangiku..." Hitomi sighed, as she was tugged on like a toy. Against her better judgement, Hitomi turned her head to look at Rangiku. Just as she thought, she was met with the puppy eyes and pout.
"Hitomi, we need to celebrate." Rangiku insisted, maintaining her pout.
"I.." Another sigh escaped Hitomi. "Fine."
"Great!" The pout was replaced by a grin as Rangiku secured her victory.
"Not fair." Hitomi mumbled, turning her attention back to the report at hand. No unusual activity in Naruki City, so that was good. Not a report that Captain Hitsugaya had to go over.
"Are you ever going to get to work, Matsumoto?" Captain Hitsugaya asked, leaning out of the door way to their shared office. His turquoise gaze was narrowed, once it found Rangiku.
Hitomi set that report in the completed pile, glancing up at Rangiku. What excuse was she going to give Captain Hitsugaya this time?
"I will later! I'm working on a night out for celebrating Hitomi's promotion!" Rangiku retorted, not faltering under the intimidating glare Captain Hitsugaya was giving her. "You work her too hard, so we haven't been able to do that yet."
"You work her too hard, because she does all of your work, on top of her own." Toshiro pointed out, with a blank look on his face and without skipping a beat.
"He has a point there." Hitomi chimed, picking up another report to look it over. "I was just telling you that I do most of your work too."
"Why do you two always gang up on me!" Rangiku huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"There won't be any celebration if you don't get any of your work done." Toshiro gave her another look. Then he glanced to Hitomi. "Good work, Shirai. Keep it up."
"Thank you, Captain." Hitomi bowed her head, attention still on the paper in her hands.
"You two are no fun." Rangiku grumbled, before making her way into the shared office.
Never a dull moment with Rangiku around, at least.