Misunderstandings in the Morning [PRIVATE]

Toja sat back in his chair with a deep sigh. When the others turned in last night and went off to do whatever they did when not on duty, the small Shinigami thought to himself that he'd join them soon enough - but of course, he had only been lying to himself. Now, the early morning hours began, and he STILL wasn't done with all of the paperwork he had to get done. Well, that was to be expected when you launched an unplanned rescue mission for your Captain-Commander right behind enemy lines, and right now, he'd rather fight another ten or twenty Arrancars instead of doing all of this paperwork.

In addition to that, the usual papers for simply keeping the first squad going - then, all of the papers, requests and orders for other squads. And the worst part, because he was only a Lieutenant, and not the actual leader of the Gotei 13, he had to get everything that ordered someone outside of the First Squad to do something signed by Kaminari, because the rules didn't care about the fact that she just got released from medical care a day ago. In his opinion, she should've actually stayed in hospital for another two or three weeks, at the least - maybe even a month. Sure, he was swamped in work, but that wouldn't change just because she was back. It would just mean he wouldn't be the only one sitting in this huge office. It felt really empty, with her place being empty, yet kept clean as if she was expected to walk right into the room right at any moment, with the smaller table on the side of the room filled with work, and the blond Shinigami trapped somewhere amongst it.

Leaning forward to sign off on one of the medical examination records, Toja grimaced as he read it. A detailed description of everything they were able to find out about the poison that nearly killed Kaminari back in Hueco Mundo... After that medical report, the next one was anger-inducing enough to almost make him crumple it up and burn it to ashes, but he kept his anger in line. After all, everyone had the right to make requests, even if they pissed him off royally with them. Writing a quick reply of his own to it with his skilled, somewhat tiny handwriting, he added it to the pile to take to Kaminari, which was growing consistently over the last few days. Today, he'd have to go and visit her, or he'd go over the expected limit for a few of them. While throwing a bunch of work at her wasn't exactly helpful for recovery, Toja had gone through the trouble of writing summaries, comments and other helpful notes to make the whole process as easy as possible.

As the morning sun was fully rising up, Toja virtually jumped out of his chair with a muttered curse. This whole pile of work was becoming a literal pain in the ass, and while he didn't want to disturb his captain during her sleep, he had to do SOMETHING else besides just sitting in the office all day, or he'd go crazy. Bundling up the two stacks of papers for the captain neatly together, the Vizard looked under the table briefly, at the bottle of high-quality whiskey he had bought for keeping the promise between Kaminari and him - after all, he still owed her that drink. However, people recovering from terrible ordeals at the hands of crazy Arrancar shouldn't be drinking, and definitely not in the early morning, so he just smirked when he looked at the bottle before making his way out of the huge office, locking the door behind him - and almost managing to get the Zanpakutō on his side stuck in the door while trying to do so with both hands holding a stack of papers. This work was infuriating at times...


After knocking at the door and seeing just what - or rather, who - opened it, Toja hoped for a small second he had either gone completely insane, or that he somehow managed to get the wrong door. A shirtless and good-looking guy, with hair as if he had just fallen out of bed. To make matters weirder... this guy knew him? Wait, he had seen this person before... Quite some time ago, right? Yes, he had one of those weird western names... What was it again? Russian? German? Scandinavian? Well, whatever language it came from, the full name escaped Toja for a moment, just standing there in slight shock, mouth half open. The implications of a tall, good-looking fellow strolling to the door in the early morning, out of Kaminari's home... they were not lost on the Vizard, and he felt as if a giant hole had just opened up in the ground, with his stomach and heart both jumping into it at the same time. He wanted to throw up, run away, wake up from a nightmare and scream all at the same time, but he didn't do any of those things.

"Y...yeah, I'm Hagiwara." The answer took a bit longer than would've been polite, but being polite to this... loverboy didn't exactly strike Toja as something he should care about at all. His facial expression finally got the memo of hiding his shock, and switched into a completely serious, critical and almost analytical view. What did THIS guy have that Toja didn't - besides a size appropriate for his age?! Well, probably simply the guts of asking Kaminari out before he did, but logic had no place in the small lieutenant's head right now. "Well, if she's still asleep, then here." With a gesture, Toja held out the two stacks of documents towards the taller man. "Those are all of the papers I'm not allowed to take care of completely on my own, together with any notes for required context and my own input. The left one has to be done by tomorrow evening, the other one has a bit more time." Giving a dry explanation of the facts, he continued. "I'll come back tomorrow then to collect them. Oh, and tell Hatakeyama-taicho to take it easy, I've got things under control in the First Division."

Well, at least now Tsubine had to struggle with the documents for a short moment. A small victory and revenge, but it made Toja feel a tiny bit better about the hole he just metaphorically fell into. Why was this guy so... NICE to him?! Oh, of course. He had no idea just what even meeting him here meant to the Vice-Captain. Nobody did... apart maybe from a certain other captain he had once told about this over a few drinks. And if life went at all like he wanted it to, that would now stay a secret for the rest of eternity.

Then, Kaminari herself showed up... and instantly, Toja's emotionless expression, his hardened shell of not showing any emotion, cracked, as he suddenly had a warm smile on his face, as if he'd had it the whole time.
"Don't worry, captain. Its nothing major, really. Just the usual suspects that don't take the word of the Lieutenant alone." Explaining why he was here to her, the small Shinigami nodded. "And I'm glad to see that you're up and about already! Tenacious as always, I see." congratulating her on her apparent recovery rate, the Shinigami felt another stab into his heart when Tsubine returned and wrapped an arm around Kaminari. But really, the only thing about the vizard that seemed slightly off, was that his eyes seemed rather dull and non-reflective - which could've just been a result of being incredibly tired.

"I knew I had seen your face somewhere before. Tsubine von Zarkonheinz, right? I take it you're part of Red Division now? Well, good to know someone dependable is keeping my captain here company." Fighting his desire to leap at the throat of the taller man, Toja actually managed to congratulate the two while also acknowledging now knowing who this guy was. A former Captain-Commander, and since Toja was actually able to recall his face, probably the one right before Kaminari, too. Captains didn't have the 'luxury' of keeping their positions for as long as seated officers or Vice-Captains, at least not within the normal ranks of the Gotei. "And don't you worry about my role in the rescue. I did what any subordinate - and any friend - would've done."

But the next offer caught Toja off-guard, causing his facial expression to slip away from his smile into surprise and almost something like fear. If he had to look at Tsubine and Kaminari being so... in love... any more, he might just snap completely. And since he was a Vizard, 'snapping' was an actually dangerous thing to people around him, instead of 'only' possibly ruining his relationship with his captain forever.
"Tha-that's not necessary, really. I have to... eh... go back to the office, pretty soon, yes. I really... really think you two should just enjoy a morning together, without a workaholic ruining the mood." Waving his hands around somewhat frantically while speaking, it was very clear that Toja felt quite uncomfortable with that offer... But he also knew that if Kaminari herself asked him to stay, he would. So internally, the Vizard actually begged for her to wish for some alone time with her... boyfriend... right now. Never before had he felt so pathetic, in his entire long life.