Moon Above the Winter Mountain
(Tsuki ue ni To no Yama)
-Rei
“I’m sorry Captain, but I think your days in the Gotei Thirteen are done.”
Jushiro Ukitake looked at the Fourth Division Captain--or rather, new Division Four Captain, since the passing of Retsu Unohana. “Kashinro? Really? You think that?”
Over the past hundred and fifty years since the end of the Blood War, Ukitake found himself growing weaker and more sickly. Hence, he usually came in to the Fourth Division barracks for a monthly check up. Kashinro Morita usually personally oversaw his checkups.
Captain Morita was a rather young and energetic man with short, chocolate brown hair and sparkling green eyes the color of emeralds. He wasn’t too tall, nor too short. He was an average man, but Captain-Commander Kyoraku ensured all of the remaining captains that he was a dedicated, trustworthy, and capable man. His voice was soft, but carried powerful words.
Morita gave him a sad look. “Well, if you want me to be honest, then I’d say your lungs look worse than Hueco Mundo on a good day. But the nice thing to say”--Morita put a hand on his shoulder--“would be to go home and get some rest. And start thinking if there’s anyone you’d recommend to the Captain-Commander as a replacement.”
Ukitake sighed. “I... suppose you know best.” He smiled at Morita. “You are the ‘doctor’ after all.”
Morita laughed. “Been asking Captain Kurosaki about the world of the living again?”
“Ah,” Ukitake sighed again as he rose up from the medical bed. “You’re right. I don’t think I have too much fight left in me. Maybe I’ll ask Rukia if she can think of anyone for my position.”
“Good idea. Have a nice day, Ukitake.”
Ukitake had just walked out of the Fourth Division barracks and started to make the long trek back to his own Thirteenth Division barracks, when he just so happened to glance up at the tall, towering first district and at the First Division barracks, standing tall and proud above the rest of the Seireitei.
“I don’t suppose you’re too busy to talk to an old friend, are you, Shunsui?”
~~~
“Say what?” Shunsui Kyoraku’s single eye nearly bulged out of its socket. His eyebrow almost disappeared into his brown hairline. “Come now, you can’t be getting that bad, now, are you?”
The two old friends stood out on the veranda of the First Division office, each with a cup of tea. Behind them, Nanao Ise quietly walked over to Kyoraku’s desk and picked up the finished documents and replaced them with a fresh stack. She left just as quietly as she entered.
“That’s what Kashinro suggested,” Ukitake sipped his tea.
“Well... if that’s what he said... then I guess you’ll just have to take his word and his advice and start thinking of someone worthy of your place as captain.” Kyoraku groaned. “Man. Now that’s going to be three positions open again. We just got Ichigo to take over for Zaraki not but a few decades ago, and you know how long that took. Then we loose Kurotsuchi. We still haven’t filled my former position as captain and Nanao’s previous vice-captain position. And now your spots going to come up empty too.”
“Nonsense,” Ukitake told him. “I’ll remain captain for as long as it takes until a replacement is found and approved.”
Kyoraku hummed, looking over the horizon. “Do you think it was a good idea to change the selection process for captains?”
“Well, considering how bad the Gotei has been doing about choosing captains for the past two-hundred years, I’d say it was necessary. Plus, your change got us Ichigo and Kashinro.”
“Yeah. If anything, that’s good improvement.”
“And maybe... it will get us more great leaders.”
“I sure hope so.”
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Okay, so "rei" means "zero" (among other things), so this is sort of like a second prologue, but it's also the "first" chapter.
Oh, and sorry Juushiro...
