Brightest Day [Closed]

Just another morning in Soul Society, or so it seemed at least. Those without any direct assignments from their squads were probably still sleeping, or enjoying half a day off - but not so Toja Hagiwara. As an absolute perfectionist, there was no way he'd just sit around with other people of the fifth Squad!

Instead, he was sitting around alone on one of the roofs of his divisions barracks. Not too much of a change, to be perfectly honest, but he wasn't the social type, mostly because of how most people either made fun of him, or were afraid of him. The latter usually happened after the first, thanks to what usually happened when his explosive temper erupted out. He wasn't even eating anything - skipping breakfast was nothing new to the fourth seat of the Kido Corps. Fourth Seat... internally, Toja sighed. He highly doubted he'd ever be able to advance past this point - he was unable to use Bankai, something that even the Third Seat of this squad managed to do. How was he supposed to reach that? Well, he could try training with his Zanpakuto, but Hagiwara wasn't exactly good at fighting with a blade.
But the main reason why Toja was just sitting around on a rooftop was simple - he was dead-tired for some reason. The last night had been another weird one - nightmare after nightmare, with no consistent sleep or any kind of rest gained from it. In fact, he felt more tired than after a night at the bar - and considering how much this Shinigami could drink, that was saying a lot. Rubbing his forehead, Toja was looking up at the sky - oddly enough, more and more clouds seemed to come together.
"Odd... Normally it doesn't rain around this time of the year." Speaking to himself and sighing, Toja didn't flee the oncoming small shower of rain. It was a rather odd one - the layer of clouds wasn't thick enough to really make it any darker, but there was undoubtedly rain falling. Small drops only, rather soft - it was more refreshing than annoying, and gave Toja's spirit some much-needed rejuvenation. The fact that his kimono was getting soaked by the water didn't really annoy Toja all that much, although making sure that thing wouldn't fall off of him once it was wet and he stood up would be annoying. Getting these uniforms in his own size was pretty much impossible.

It was definitely just another day in the Seireitei for the Captain of Squad Five, Kaminari Hatakeyama. First, paperwork, then lecturing a few squad members, and after that was more paperwork. A typical day! And yyou know what? She didn't enjoy it! She needed a break and decided to take it when she wished. That was about an hour ago. Now, Kaminari was merely walking through random areas of the Division's Barracks, avoiding any and all confrontation with those of her Squad. Kaminari was bored, tired, and hungry. There was nothing to do. It was too early to sleep. And she wasn't exactly sure what she wanted to eat. Contemplating such, while casually making her way, out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed someone sitting on top of the roof of one of the Barracks. She turned towards them, tilting her head to the side in wonder when she realized exactly who it was. "Hm..." she took a step forward, vanishing in a flash, and then appearing behind the young man. It was then that she heard a comment about the fact that it looked to rain. "Stranger things have happened...." Kaminari said with a smile as she turned her attention to the skies above, a water droplet hitting her cheek, then another on her forehead, and then soon the entire area became drenched in a relaxing rain.

Lowering her gaze from the sky, Kaminari turned her attention back towards the young man. He was her Fourth Seat, Toja Hagiwara. The two of them didn't talk really at all, but she definitely knew his name and face. Stepping over to his side, she sat down next to him and looked around at the Seireitei. "So..." she spoke up, but did not turn to him, "Whatcha doing up here alone? Wouldn't ya prefer to be with the other members of the Squad?" Although she was his Captain and likely expected to be formal, she spoke in a casual tone and attempted to keep a friendly atmosphere between the two of them. Sure, in times of missions and situations like that you should act more professional, but the need was not constant. Of course, not many of the Captain's and Lieutenants would likely think the same way.

Toja turned his head to the side slightly when he first heard his Captain speak. Quite unusual to just meet her here - he tried to recall the last time he had even really spoken to her. Still, he wasn't the kind of guy that'd jump up now and salute her, or anything - so he just stared up into the rain again. Such a soft, yet soothing rain... Really odd for this time of the year. But it was as she said, stranger things had happened.
"Good morning, Captain." A simple greeting, with about as much friendliness as you could expect out of Toja, who was anything but a guy you'd like to talk with usually. He was quite well-known for what happened whenever his anger erupted, as it wasn't too unusual that parts of the barracks needed to be reconstructed after his outbursts. It was nice to know for him, though, that his Captain didn't seem to be above just talking with him... That gave at least some sense of his work having some meaning to him, the recognition of someone else.

As she sat down and spoke to him again, Toja lowered his eyes from the sky and down onto the Seireitei - the place he was working for and quite franky, ready to die for at any moment. But just for a second there, his relaxed face gained a small frown, as he saw a group of people from the Fifth Squad pass by down below. For some reason, it was hard for Toja to feel any kinship with them, no matter how much time he spent within the Kido Corps.
"I'm not much of a... people person, you could say. And most people don't like being around me anyway, as if I could explode at any point." With a slightly muffled sigh, the blonde Shinigami moved some of his now wet hair away from his eyes - whenever he wasn't completely frowning or serious, it became quite clear that he was indeed rather 'cute' - almost a bit too much for a man. The fact that his skin complexion looked like it was nearly perfect naturally really didn't help convince people of his masculinity either.
"Well, they're probably right about that. But I prefer it this way, dealing with people only leads to headaches." Shaking his head slightly, Toja smiled for just a split second before looking over to his Captain again.
"So Hatakeyama-taicho, why are you here? Office work too dry?" With a small bit of snark, Toja asked a simple question to satisfy his own curiosity. He himself wasn't one for protocol either, that much was for sure - and 'dry' was too good of a pun right now to pass up for him. But just right in that moment, the headache that had been plagueing the young Shinigami for the last few days time and time again returned, and he closed his eyes rather quickly while moving one hand to his forehead.
"Ugh... Sorry, Captain. I must've caught something recently."

Kaminari instantly noticed the frown that Toja had appear on his face. She wasn't exactly sure what it meant, but following his gaze, she noticed the few squad members he was looking at and assumed it had something to do with them, or other people within the Squad. Toja spoke up and Kaminari's attention was immediately returned to him. She tilted her head casually to the side, bringing her knees up to her chest, and laying her arms along them. "Ahh..." Kaminari smiled and laid her chin on her arms, now looking out towards the rest of the Seireitei, "I see what you're talking about. All of those repairs do get a bit pricey. I've been having to come down on other Squad members that damage the Rukongai too much when on missions... I don't know how much more stress Squad Five's budget can take..." Kaminari's mention of the Squad's budget, although true, was completely lax. She did have to stress about it a bit, but it wasn't a huge deal to her. It merely meant that the Squad would have to raise a bit more money, or she would have to help control a certain persons anger. When Kaminari looked back to him again, she blinked a few times. She wasn't sure what it was, but there was something slightly different, or off, about Toja. She wasn't able to figure it out. Although she did noticed the 'cute' aspect in his features, they weren't that big of a deal for her. She herself was tiny, only reaching five foot in height. This always caused her to be underestimated and insulted in battle. There were times, if she did not wear her Captain's Coat, that her own Squad Members would laugh and disrespect her. Of course, they shut up rather quickly when she released a mere fraction of the energy she possessed.

Kaminari didn't really have a reply to his next statement about dealing with people giving him headaches. She didn't mind being around people, which is why she felt like she should come and give him some company when she saw him sitting alone on the roof. A short silence and then he turned to ask her a question. Before she got a chance to answer, his little pun about work being to dry made her chuckle just a bit. She nodded, looked up to the falling rain, and then back to him. By this time, she was also soaked, her hair clinging to parts of her face, while other parts hanging down from the weight of the water. Her clothing also soaked, she realized that she probably shouldn't be wearing her Captain's Coat out in the rain if not on a mission. "Oh well..." she thought before looking up to him to answer his question, but stopped when she saw him place a hand on his forehead. He apologized, causing her to rais an eyebrow. "You do not have to apologize for not feeling well, Toja." she said to him as she reached out and placed a hand against his cheek to see if he was warm at all. Of course, it likely won't help too much since the two of them were sitting out in the rain. Kaminari stood up and held a hand out to him, his choice to whether he took it or not. "Here... Why don't you and I head inside where it is warm and get something to eat... Maybe some soup to warm us up." she said as she waited to see whether he would take the offerred hand, "I'd rather you not get sick, or any sicker.... And I don't think it's smart for me to get sick either."

Maybe it was because Toja was finally talking to someone who was just kind and rather easygoing, but for the first time in months - maybe years - he didn't feel on edge about talking to someone without first consuming massive amounts of alcohol. That was quite the nice experience, and took away some of his normal rather ruff behavior, probably together with this soothing rain. Yet still, the day was also unusually bright... Normally, his Zanpakuto spirit would've made a snide regard regarding the Captain by now. She was even less of a people person than her wielder and prefered action to talking, but today, she was awfully quiet. Either she wasn't feeling well either, like her wielder, or had decided to shut up for a different reason...

"Hey, all of the people I burned in the last month deserved it... Most of them, at least. Pretty sure of that." A rather weak defense, but really, Toja did not feel any guilt about turning someone that mistook him for a girl into charcoal. It was almost a tradition by now that new corps members that met him for the first time ended up with the fourth squad to be fixed up shortly after, at least he didn't actively try to kill people. Most of the time, at least. Reasonable anger, in a way - the property damage that also resulted out of these outbursts was something that Toja probably SHOULD feel bad about, but he couldn't bring himself to really care about money. Most of his paycheck each month went unspent, and he didn't even take time to count how much he had saved up by now.
"Just cut my pay the next time, not like I got much use for it anyway." Another small smirk at least, and this time, it didn't seem quite as weird. But it was strange... his Captain seemed approachable now that he was actually talking to her. Why had he never done so before on off-time? Taking the offered hand, he was quickly standing again, even with the sudden pain right behind his forehead. Normally he'd refuse help for something as simple as standing up, but he was willing to make an exception for a person that actually seemed to care.
"And yeah... That'd be a good idea, Captain. I doubt it's anything serious, but I could do without being knocked out of duty." There wasn't much besides his job for Toja to begin with, laying around with a serious sickness was the last thing he wanted now. One last look towards the sky, this time because Toja thought he had seen something out of the corner of his eye - but there was nothing there. Rubbing over his right eye for a second, he looked down from the roof.
"Time for a little bit of morning excercise, then." Without any worry, Toja jumped off of the roof, landing on the pathway between the different buildings without showing any strain - some other squad members that were walking nearby nearly fell over from the sudden surprise. Served them right, Toja loved scaring people a little bit from time to time! Even though his headache reduced his usual smug smirk to a slight grimace after the jump. Looking up, Toja waited for his Captain to follow.

His defense was weak, yes, but it was also entertaining. Kaminari let out a small chuckle when he said it. "Only pretty sure, huh?" she said with a small smile. His next statement about cutting his pay was merely met with a raise of her eyebrow. That wasn't something she'd do, even if he didn't use money and should be the one paying for the damages that he caused. It wasn't too big a deal in her mind either, so she'd just have the squad pay for it and continue making them practice not doing damage to their surroundings when on mission. His outburst actually unintentionally helped his fellow squad members increase their skills when they are forced to practice aim and holding back power. Even Kaminari had times that she would be forced to pull an attack or alter it in a manner that would save a building from collapsing or peoples homes from being destroyed. Now ready to get out of the rain so he wouldn't get any sicker and offering Toja a hand, she was glad when he took it and helped guide him to his feet. He agreed with her simple suggestion about going inside and then smiled at the thought of him being knocked out of duty. Not that she'd be glad to have him knocked out, but the next like that came to her mind, she couldn't help but say.

"Yeah..." she spoke with a small giggle, "Especially if I'm cutting your pay." Kaminari watched him leave her side by jumping off the roof, but she did not move. As he landed, a few squad members were startled by his sudden appearance, and Kaminari had to fight a smirk and giggle, forcing herself to keep a straight face. She soon followed, mimicking his manner of leaving the roof and hopping down towards the startled squad members, but instead of in front of them, she purposely made a loud slam behing them, causing them to jump right back to their feet. That only made it funnier and making it where Kaminari was unable to fight the life she so desperately held back the first time. "Hahahahahahaha!" she set a hand on her stomach and stepped over to Toja's side. "I honestly didn't think I was going to be able to scare them after you did... So where are you gonna head to?"

Toja couldn't help himself, he simply had to grin slightly at the easygoing and funny behavior his Captain was showing. Like this, even his odd headaches seemed unimportant, as for the first time in quite a while, he was actually enjoying himself somewhat. It seemed odd that one of the most hard-drinking and rowdiest Shinigami in the entire division would feel that way, but he wasn't a hard drinker because it was fun - he did that because he had little else to do in the long evenings. Well, maybe he should actually invite his Captain over for a drink once in a while? She didn't seem to have any problem being around him, after all. That'd be a lot more relaxing than sitting around with only scaredy-cats surrounding him, and the Shinigami in the body of a young boy could already imagine the fear they'd have of both him AND a commanding officer being around. People liked to forget his own position after all, being 'only' a seated officer.

Finally when she jumped down and scared the squad members even more, the blonde Shinigami couldn't quite contain himself and laughed as well - just for that one moment, his voice seemed completely free of anything else. The slight mumbling that normally accompanied anything he said just wasn't there anymore, and for just a few seconds, his headache seemed gone as well. Really, he had to be around people like his captain more... And what was more, his voice was not just free of the usual grumpiness, but also for once he didn't actively try to make it sound deeper conciously.
"Haha... Those guys could be scared by a rabbit hopping by." The smirk on Toja's face caused the group of startled and confused squad members to disperse rather quickly, maybe because it was the same type of smirk he usually had before setting something or someone on fire. After her next question, Toja just lazily pointed towards one of the entrances into the compound.
"The usual, I think. They'll probably not be all that thrilled to see people outside of major times, but they usually got food all round anyway for those returning from assignmets. And I kind of doubt they'll tell their Captain that the food is out." Also, going that way would get them out of this weird rain that still continued. It wasn't too weird that it WAS raining, but it was certainly weird how bright the day still was. But she had been right - stranger things had happened before. What was the worst this could possibly mean? After thinking that, Toja could've sworn that he heard his Zanpakuto-spirit grumble something in the back of his mind. Her odd behavior was a whole lot more concerning lately than some rain.

Since this was the firs time that she and Toja had really ever done anything together, it was nice to see that the rumors weren't all completely true. The smile he held on his face at times and the laughter she was able to get out of him proved that, which made Kaminari merely smile back towards him. With a threatening smirk, the squad members all fled away from Toja. Kaminari merely watched them run off, shook her head, and laughed at them a bit. "You can say that again..." Kaminari agreed with Toja. They were frightened rather easily. In the back of her mind, Kaminari was unsure whether that was a good thing or not. Being startled so easily was not the best thing, especially if it were to happen on the battlefield. Oh well, Kaminari said and shrugged it off as she turned back to Toja, hearing him explain his plans. "Alright then... I'll follo-..." Kaminari said in reply, but then something also began bugging her. Like she had mentioned before, raining wasn't that odd. Usually, when the day is bright and it rains like this, it'll stop only a few minutes later, which is why she was so easy to stay out as long as she did. This rain though, it kept going. She could tell it was bugging Toja as well. Kaminari glanced off and up to the sky, narrowing her eyes at it and wondering how many other people withing the Seireitei noticed such.

"You know...." Kaminari crossed her arms along her chest, "This rain is a little odd... I know I said stranger things have happened, but the fact that the rain is continuing when there isn't a single cloud in the sky does begin to botther me. A little drizzle would have been fine.... but this..." Kaminari turned her attention back towards Toja, "Well... After you Toja." Kaminari said and waited for him to start walking in the direction of the place they were going. Once, or if, he did, she would begin following him. "You know.... You should change your name!" Kaminari said with a small smile and in a joking tone. She figured the sudden suggestion, even though joking, would startle or confuse him a bit. "Your Captain's name is Kaminari, Vice Captain Ketai, and Third Seat Kuro.... Fourth Seat Koja sounds awesome. That is a lot of K's." Kaminari said with a small giggle, wondering how many people have noticed the pattern through her Squad. It would be high-larious if she got a fifth seat with a K name as well. She'd love it.

"It certainly IS odd... but it's only water, after all." Where was the water even coming from? Well, not that it mattered too much. It was only a bit of rain, after all... And nothing foreign could enter the Seireitei anyway without everyone in the Gotei knowing almost instantly. So really, the 4th Seat just shrugged it off - maybe not the wisest decision, but he was a practical person, not one to theorize. Well, at least not outside of the field of Kido.
The next thing that his captain said made Toja chuckle, though. Changing his name? Well, that was an odd thought... Toja just started walking in the direction of the place he had in mind, with her following after him. Once they got inside of the complex, the rain ceased to be a factor, with the two leaving behind a slight trail of dripping water. Shinigami robes were really not the ideal clothes for this much rain on a day without clouds...

"I'd rather not. Otherwise, Koga might think I want my name to be more similiar to his instead." Was the reply, given with a grin. Kaminari probably didn't know Koga, but he was probably the only person in the whole world that Toja would call his friend. A rather troublesome friend that constantly tried flirting with him through roundabout ways, but a friend nontheless!
"Pretty sure that he'd like your proposal, Captain. I'm not quite sure if he might've actually said it once before himself..." With a slight sigh, Toja shook his head with another chuckle. "People say the weirdest things from time to time. Yet I never seem to get any such jokes in my mind myself, really. Guess I'm not a funny person." Another corner turned, and there they were - the main caffeteria of the fifth Squad. Big enough to probably fit all the soldiers and specialists of the squad inside, with a typical array of food on one wall. Not that many people were manning those stations at the moment, for obvious reasons - as Toja had said previously, main time for the food was over. Not that it would stop him from finally eating something today, although he didn't feel particularly hungry... Another oddity of this day, since Toja was normally a rather hungry person.
Walking into the hall, Toja once again tried in vain to get some of his still slightly wet hair out of his face. It just didn't want to budge from it's position right between his eyes today. Straightening up his uniform, he was ready to get at least something edible.

And finally, through a window... It could be seen that the rain had stopped, almost as if it had never even happened. It was bright outside, almost too bright... Really, it was the brightest day of the year so far, it seemed.

"Yeah..." Kaminari narrowed her eyes as she stared up at the sky with a slightly suspicious expression, "Just water..." Kaminari then moved on to her bright name changing idea, but Toja didn't seem to go for it. Too bad. She really thought it would have been hilarious. At least it made him chuckle, that was a bit of a nice sight. She was happy to see him relax around her. As he began to walk, she followed him calmly, waiting to hear his relpy to her silly suggestion, though she was slightly serious about it. As they entered the area that she was being lead, Kaminari shook her head to get some of the water off. She wiped her forhead as he spoke up. "Koga?" was her first response towards him, "Who's that? If I may ask of course..." Toja went on to speak about his lack of humor, but Kaminari merely shrugged it off. "That's fine. Not everyone needs to be a funny person. We need some serious people in the world. As long as you have some sense of humor, you're fine.. And since you've chuckled at some of the stuff I've done and said, I am sure you do..." Kaminari said as she looked around, raising an eyebrow at the direction that they were going. She kept following until the two of them came to the cafeteria of the Fifth Squad. She raised an eyebrow at him and was about to speak up, but a low rumble coming form the pit of her stomach stopped her.

She looked up and to the right as if it wasn't her, a small embarrassed blush creeping it's way onto her face. "Oh no... that wasn't embarrassing at all..." she mumbled in an irritated tone and sighed, then giggling a bit. "Well, looks like I am hungry..." Kaminari said as she followed him still. She watched as he attempted to push his hair out of his eyes, but was failing. "Here...." she said as she reached back and grabbed onto the band she constantly had in her hair to keep it up. She pulled it out and held it out to him, as unexpectedly long and wavy brown hair fell down towards her lower back. "It's stretchy enough to wrap around your head. I have at least fifty of these, you can have this one to help you when you need it." she said, waiting for him to take it. It was at this moment that she noticed some more light coming in through a window and looked out to see that the rain had stopped. "You know... that rain was extremely odd..." Kaminari mumbled a bit, but loud enough for him to hear, "I know it's just water, but look at how bright it is. I swear, it could be the brightest day of the year..."

Normally, Toja would probably feel offended by someone offering him help, but... his captain was just too nice of a person to get mad at. She seriously seemed to care for him, some random seated officer - so he accepted the hairband with a slight smile on his normally serious face once more. He had probably smiled more often today than the entire previous week... A nice change. And with this band, he was able to look at her without hair in the way, which was certainly an improvement!
"Thanks, Captain." A short word of thanks, then his eyes followed after hers to the window. Really, that WAS weird... First it rained suddenly without dimming down, now the sky was completely lit up in bright light. "Hm. I wonder if it'll stay the brightest day, or if this is some weird phenomenon for the next few days... But I'd leave it to the Science Division to actually figure that out. If it has nothing to do with Kido, chances are, I wouldn't get it anyway." Toja was a special operations officer, not a meterologist, after all. While taking some food from what was left, and then walking towards one of the tables, he decided to tell her about Koga... One rather odd Shinigami that Toja knew.

"As for Koga... well, he's hard to describe, really. I guess you could call him a good friend of mine, really." The seated Shinigami slowly realized how hard it was to really describe Koga, he was just not a simple guy at all... "Possibly even the only one. But well, he's a bit of a weirdo too. Sometimes I don't know if he really has a crush on me, or just likes to see me freak out. I guess a bit of both?" The blonde reaper made a slightly amused grimace thinking about his best and only true friend. "I'm pretty sure you'd like him, Captain. He's also a lot better company than me, not nearly as dry of a person."

"You are welcome of course. I know how it feels to have your hair in the way. Mine is likely a bit less annoying for me than yours is for you. Mine doesn't exactly block my face.. haha." Kaminari told him with that same kind smile she always seem to hold. "Agreed. I don't feel like having my thoughts linger over strange weather..." she said and sighed in relief. She even sounded worn out when she said that, like something had recently been on her mind. Kaminari decided to take a bit of food as well and followed him over to the table he chose to sit at. It was then that he began to explain about this Koga person he mentioned. Apparently the guy was his only friend. "Hmph. I may be your Captain, but I prefer friends over subordinates, okay? Remember that." she said and then allowed him to continue his explanation. She giggled at this Koga being called a weirdo and took her first bite of the food she grabbed. It wasn't the best, or the warmest, but it wasn't horrible either. Chewing and swallowing her first bite, she kept eye contact with Toja as he continued the explanation of his weird friend. Toja even went on to say that she would like him. "I might." was her only reply to him for that. She didn't like what came only moments later. Toja called himself a dry person, causing Kaminari to raise an eyebrow at the statement. "Don't insult yourself, Toja. There are good reasons for there being so many different types of people in existence..." she told him, keeping a serious tone when saying so, "You have no idea how refreshing it is to speak to someone who isn't bouncing off the walls, hyper, or just plain depressing... I have enjoyed our conversations today and wouldn't mind continuing them at other times." With that said, she went to take another bite and began really eating when her stomach decide to make itself known.

"I'll keep it in mind, Captain." Friends, huh? Toja couldn't help but smile a little saying his own words and nodding. No wonder that someone like her would be chosen as a Captain. The air around her just made someone want to follow her, for some odd reason, and unlike most people, she didn't annoy him to no end. Working under a 'friend', instead of a cold and calculating captain, didn't have any practical advantages, but it felt a lot nicer. Having been a Shinigami for nearly 700 years, Toja knew both sides in a way already. Maybe he was getting old, but he just prefered this captain over the others in the past...
Her next words were a little odd for him, though. Enjoying a talk with him? That was weird, mainly because she was the first person to do so in quite some time. But well, who was he to tell his captain otherwise? A small smile crawled over his face for a moment at her words. "Thanks. I'd enjoy talking to you from time to time, too. It's refreshing when people don't treat me as if I'm about to explode at all times." With a smirk, Toja also shifted his attention towards his meal, and took a bite, when a sudden feeling of cold creeped up his spine and made him shiver a little. What was THAT all about?! It wasn't exactly cold here, not even the rain outside had been cold! It was more as if that feeling of the cold came from the back of his own mind, rather than from the world around him...
So for a short moment, Toja closed his eyes and concentrated.

When his inner eyes opened instead of the outer ones, he was instantly assaulted by even more cold. In this inner world, Toja was even able to see his own breath infront of his face all of the sudden - even though this was supposed to be a vulcano! Looking around, Toja didn't believe his own eyes - lava had been replaced by ICE, and he was standing on a platform made out of solid ice instead of half-molten rock. What was going on here?
"Hotaru? Hotaru, where are you?!" Looking around for his Zanpakuto spirit, he suddenly felt another cold sting go through his entire body. All he had been able to see was a smiling face, right as he was almost literally thrown out of his inner world.

"What the..." Toja let go of his fork, which fell back onto the tablet, while Toja gripped his head in pain. A headache big enough to make him feel as if his brain was about to explode suddenly assaulted him. It was as if the world around him started turning, too, and his feeling of balance disappeared - his eyes were nearly completely closed in an attempt by himself to get his own body back under control. For just half a second, or maybe even less, it seemed as if something black was behind his eyelids instead of the normal white, but that odd moment had ended before it really began. Any sort of appetite that Toja had before was now gone.
"Ugh... This isn't good..."

The two's conversations were actually going quite well. Kaminari did not understand the complaints that she was given about Toja. Sure, he destroyed a few things every now and then, but if you respected him and treated him nicely, which is what he deserved, there would not be a problem. A calm conversation lead them to even eating together in the barracks cafeteria, so obviously it was the others that needed to change. It was nice to know that Toja was enjoying her company as well. Kaminari kept silent while she ate and Toja turned to his meal as well. At first, she was peacefully enjoying her meal until a wave of cold came over them. Kaminari's expression switched from calm and happy to serious and she stopped in mid chew. The cold wasn't exactly normal. In fact, she could tell that it was coming from Toja. Just like many Captain level Shinigami out there, Kaminari was also able to tell when their was some sort of turmoil going on within someone else's inner world. Toja was no exception. Kaminari's eyes moved upwards until they met Toja's face. He closed his eyes and she waited. It didn't take very long and Toja's eyes snapped back open. He dropped his fork and brought his hands up to the side of his head. Kaminari leaned down a bit to look at his face. He was in pain... and his eyes flashed black. "... You've got to be kidding me." she thought and in that short instant, Toja's eyes shifted back to normal. Kaminari sat up straight again as she heard his words on the little incident they just had. Kaminari just stared as she began chewing again. She swallowed, picked up a napkin, and wiped her face. "No... It isn't good at all..." she thought, hoping that she was wrong about this. It reminded her of something, a situation she had to deal with before. "Are you all right?" she asked him. Her tone from before had obviously changed. She wasn't going to hide her concern on the situation. "Your eyes flashed black for just a moment..." she told him, "How long have these headaches been going on?"

"Huh... Black...?" Toja asked, not really understanding what that meant. He had little to no knowledge about things that were not directly related to Kido, so he of course didn't make the possible connection that black eyes would give other Shinigami like his Captain. For Toja, this was still nothing more than an unusually strong headache and a Hotaru that was, for some reason, angry with him and thus kicked him out. That had never really happened before... why was she angry with him? Maybe she was jealous? While that seemed ridiculous, Hotaru was able to be incredibly childish when she wanted to. She even got jealous at Koga from time to time, after all!
The small Shinigami was rubbing his forehead as he struggled to answer his captain, as the pain was making the forming of any sentences a bit difficult. It was straining in a really weird way to him that he had never experienced before.
"I've... got these headaches since I've become a Shinigami. Sometimes they're there, but most of the time they aren't. Figured out recently that the humans call it migraines? Really funny how you find out that people found names for stuff you've dealt with for centuries." A slight grimace was all that Toja could manage, a smile wasn't exactly possible. "Recently, they became more numerous. Didn't think much of it, really. Just thought I was getting... well, old. Might not look like it, sure, but I'm closing in on the 800 by now. I'm sure... in a few days, I'll be good as new. Just as always." That was really a rather weak reassurance, seeing how Toja had trouble just sitting straight infront of his food that he now pushed away from himself slightly. Any appetite he had beforehand was gone now, his stomach actually feeling as if he was about to throw up. Even the rather bright light from outside today that came in through the windows was now biting him in the eyes like long, red-hot needles.
"Just... gotta get back to my room..." It was as if you could see Toja get weaker with each passing second. Migraines or not, this wasn't exactly normal... "And then... need to tell Hotaru... to stop messing around. My head... hurts enough without her pranks..."

"Yeah... black...." Kaminari narrowed her eyes, replying in a concerned tone, but began to whisper half way through the two word statement. She could tell what was coming. He had all the signs. She had been through this shit once before and never wanted to again. And why Toja? He had enough problems with everyone being frightened of him! When she asked about how long he had the headaches, he mentioned since he had become a Shinigami. That seemed like it might have been a long time, but she was unaware of how long he had been one. The incidents she had seen before the person was a Shinigami for a while and something happened later to cause the headaches, and soon after that, the transformation. "Toja..." Kaminari looked at him, extremely concerned for his well being. He had even tried making light of the situation by moving the subject somewhere else, but Kaminari didn't bite. She merely watched her new friend and subordinate sit there and suffer in pain. And the worst part of it, she could do nothing to help. Toja went on to explain that the headaches, or migraines, had actually begun getting worse as of late. "Well that isn't good..." Kaminari sighed and then stood from her seat at the table, "Have you went to Squad Four about this? It might not be something that will just stop after a while..." She walked around to his side and went to set a hand on his shoulder as he pushed his food away. She actually didn't want him going to Squad Four because she doubted he would be allowed to stay within the Gotei, especially if he was right about what may be happening to him.

Toja only seemed to be getting worse and worse, right in front of her eyes. Watching this actually brought a tear to Kaminari's eye, but she forced it back. "This is ridiculous!" she thought, "I can't even do anything to help him!" Toja said he wanted to get back to his room and at this point, that might of been the best decision. He needed to rest. "Alright..." Kaminari went to try and help him from his seat and would walk him back to his room to make sure that everything was okay, "Let's get going..." His next statement made her worry. Hotaru was acting up as well? If she remembered right, from Toja's record, that was the name of his Zanpakuto. At least, that is what she felt she remembered. Kaminari would do her best to help Toja in any way that she could, whether that was just getting him back to his apartment, or helping him through the transformation that may come, his hollowfication.

It was probably for the best that Toja didn't know the possible implication of suddenly gaining black eyes as a Shinigami - worrying about possibly being a 'Hollow in disguise' in addition to this headache could've probably caused him to just pass out. As it was right now, he gladly accepted the help from his captain - usually he'd never allow someone to help him like this, but usually his migraines also didn't reach such a high intensity.
With the help from Kaminari, Toja was able to stand up from his seat, even though his sense of balance seemingly decided to go off adventuring alone and left him behind. His whole world - or what little he could see of it right now - was spinning just a little bit around him. "I should... have some medication back in my room." He had indeed gone to Squad Four before because of his headaches, although they had been nothing like this right now. Still, if he took the double dose or something along those lines, it should help him to at least recover somewhat with some sleep added onto it. Seemed like Kaminari would have to assign his duties as a seated officer to someone else for at least a day or two, though... and that really wasn't something that Toja wanted. HE was the fourth seat of Squad 5, nobody else! Something as mundane as a headache and migraine shouldn't be able to keep him away from duty, but it did.

The way back to Toja's quarters also seemed longer than it had ever been to him before. Thankfully as a seated officer he actually had quarters for himself, though.
"Not exactly the best way to introduce myself to my captain properly, now is it..." With a slight sigh, Toja resigned to his fate of being escorted back by her. His own vision was still slightly distorted, but for the moment, it seemed as if Hotaru had gone back to giving him the silent treatment. Just what had he done to upset her in this fashion? Toja never understood women, wether they were an extended part of his soul or actual people, that apparently made no difference. Well, of course, normal women also didn't reside in vulcanoes and were driven by fits of jealousy and rage.

...At least not all of them.

There was no possible way, especially at this point, that Kaminari had the heart to tell him what might be happening to him. Though this was their first real meeting, he was kind and merely misunderstood by those who would constantly complain about his "outbursts". It was truthfully breaking her heart to see this and it did not help that she actually knew what was going on with him. Actually thinking about what he was going to end up going through brought a tear to her eye. She hadn't seen this once, but twice in her time as a Shinigami, and always from members of this squad. She called it a curse, wondering if she would be taken by it as well. Either way, she was helping him back to his room, staying quiet most of the time. It was her way of preventing her emotions from going wild. She merely listened to what he had to say, replying with a soft smile and a nod when he spoke of medicine. "So he has been to Squad Four..." she thought, "I have a feeling he has also been worried about it... even if he is putting on a brave face." Arriving at his room, she walked him inside and helped him into bed. "You need to rest." she said, holding back any emotion she would usually reveal in her voice. Unfortunately, it made her sound slightly emotionless and that was not something she wanted, not at this time. She cleared her throat, rubbing her neck to give of the impression that her tone was an accident. She put on a smile and then looked back to him. "Alright... Do take your medicine. I have to go. There is something that I need to talk to." Kaminari told him as she made her way to the exit. At the door, she turned back to him and put on another fake, but convincing smile. "I'll check back with you some time later. Get better, alright?" With that, she closed the door and took a few steps down the halls. She felt a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach, fear for Toja. She couldn't hold back a few tears and they pushed up from her eyes and down her cheeks. Taking a deep breath, she wiped them away and calmed herself down. A moment later she opened her eyes and vanished from sight, using shunpo to leave the area, immediately heading to her next destination with her own sense of determinations.