Well, I did promise a couple of you guys that I'd do this as 'what happens next' seemed to be a popular question. So here's a not-so-little snippet of what Hyoka managed to get himself into after saving Karakura.

For anyone newly joining; I'd recommend reading my story 'Time and Again' to understand what's going on.

"I can't go, at least not tonight," I muttered into my cell phone and gave up trying to do my maths homework. Concentrating was nigh impossible while talking to Chou and have a three-year-old tugging at my pants leg. "Give me one minute, Isamu, and then I'll play with you."

"Aww, are you babysitting?" Chou cooed, "I thought you were grounded, again."

I rolled my eyes, "Mikami hasn't found out about Friday yet, so please don't say anything."

"Hyōka, you're already on thin ice, so you should really watch how you act in class," she warned.

"I know, I know," I sighed.

The reasons behind my expulsion from Karakura Middle School had followed me around for years. It had been extremely hard to get any of the schools in Karakura to accept me after that. Never mind that I had stopped a war and saved the entire town, if not world, from being destroyed. But, after quite a struggle, a year's worth of homeschooling, and near perfect exam scores I had been accepted into Karakura First High School on the conditions that I had to take part in at least two extracurricular clubs – to curb my delinquent-like tendencies – and if my grade point average dropped below a 2.7 I would be put on probation.

"Do you?" Chou asked with a huff.

"Who are you now, Mikami? Anyway I should go before Isamu tears a hole in my pants," I sighed.

I could hear her roll her eyes. "We'll drop by later. Oh and Chiharu's hanging out with us, so she'll be coming too. Bye!"

"What?" I almost shouted, but Chou had already hung up. I groaned and put the phone down on my desk before rubbing my temples.

Good, you'll finally get a chance to talk to her, Toushiro smirked as he folded his arms across his chest.

She's gonna think I'm weird.

She'll be right then.

I've said it before; your pep-speeches suck.

Toushiro rolled his eyes. You've been in love with this girl for months and you have yet to do anything about it.

I'm not in love!

Toushiro stared at me while Hyourinmaru rumbled in amusement.

"Unkie Koko," Isamu whined, giving my pants' leg a ridiculously hard tug for a three-year-old.

I shot Toushiro one last glare before turning my attention to my nephew. He was extremely patient for such a young child, but I had been more or less ignoring him for the past few hours and he was beginning to get frustrated.

"It's Uncle Hyōka," I sighed, bending down to pat his head. I don't know why I even bothered correcting him; Teito had him trained too well, and he wasn't even his kid. "What do you want?"

He held up a picture book and looked at me with huge, dark blue eyes. "Book."

"Yes, that's a book. Do you want me to read it to you?"

He nodded.

"Don't you want to wait for Amaya? She's coming over soon."

He frowned and held the book to his chest as if thinking about what I said. "Maya?" he asked, his eyes lighting up.

I nodded.

He giggled in excitement and covered his mouth with a pudgy hand. I smiled a little; he was kind of cute sometimes. Just then Mikami appeared at my doorway with her arms crossed over her chest. Isamu toddled over to her and pulled at the hem of her dress.

"Mommy, where's Maya?"

She let her frown drop as she ran her hand through his raven-black hair; he had taken more after Uryu than her. "She's not here yet; why don't you go wait with Daddy? He's lonely."

He gasped and toddled into the hallway, calling for Uryu. Mikami turned to me with a scowl as soon as he was out of her line of sight.

I refrained from cradling my head in my arms. "How may I help you, Mikami?"

"You know how you can help me. Try not arguing and insulting your teachers for once, huh?"

I groaned, "He was asking for it. He said I only pointed out his mistake because I was looking for attention."

"That's no excuse for calling him incompetent."

"He told me to shut up and stop disturbing the class. I was helping!"

"And maybe that wasn't the best way to go about doing it."

I rolled my eyes.

"Look, I know you're frustrated-"

"I'm still being punished for something I did almost four years ago."

"You know how small town people are."

"I can't wait to go to college."

She shook her head. "Anyway we're going to be leaving for dinner soon. Teito and Kamiko are on their way. Are you sure you'll be fine by yourself?"

"I've babysat before; you don't have to worry. Wasn't Ichigo going with you guys as well?"

"He just got here-"

"And of course the idiot is avoiding me."

"He just got here."

"Our biannual report is due in the next two weeks and I haven't seen him in three days."

"Cut me some slack, have you seen all the hollows popping up lately?" Ichigo strode into my room.

"No." I folded my arms across my chest.

"You're welcome."

I rolled my eyes. "I suppose you didn't bother to log them either."

"Of course I logged them. Have some faith in me; I've been successfully running a clinic for the past seven years or so."

"Yeah, that still surprises me."

He scowled slightly. "Lieutenants shouldn't be allowed to talk to their captains that way."

Mikami laughed. "We already know his views on authority; he badmouthed his teacher on Friday, actually."

I stood up from my desk and pushed past the two of them. "Shouldn't you be leaving?"

Ichigo clasped a hand on my shoulder when I passed by. "Don't worry too much about the report. Knowing the Seireitei it'll probably be delayed by at least a week."

I sighed; he was right. Having an outpost squad was a good idea but communication was extremely difficult. We were supposed to have three months notice for this report; I had got it last week. Yamamoto had turned the only captain-less division – Squad Five – into a living world liaison and Ichigo had finally accepted the position of captain since he wouldn't have to uproot his life here in Karakura. I really had no idea why I had been named lieutenant when there was a list of shinigami perfectly suited for the job. But it was an honour so, I didn't refuse. It wasn't really a strenuous job; most of the shinigami had been transferred to other squads since we didn't need 200 men flitting around Karakura and its environs, but the paperwork was a nightmare. Toushiro had warned me and I should have listened.

Teito and Kamiko dropped off their four-year-old daughter, Amaya, a few minutes later and after assuring the kids that they would be back soon I was left alone with two miniature people. Isamu was a good kid usually; he was quiet, mild-mannered, and would be content playing by himself with a few toys and a picture book, but when Amaya came into the picture the two of them played tag-team for the devil. Amaya was boisterous and too smart for her own good; the second I took my eyes of off her chaos would follow.

"Auntie Kami told Daddy you got in trouble," Amaya sang as soon as her parents left.

I gritted my teeth. "They were lying-"

"Nuh uh, lying is bad an' Daddy doesn't lie."

I firmly believed that Amaya was Teito's way of paying me back for all the trouble I caused him when I was younger. "Fine, I got in trouble because the people at my school don't like me."

"Why don't they like you?"

I groaned inwardly.

"Is it 'cause you have funny hair?"

"I do not have funny hair."

Isamu giggled. So did Hyourinmaru; it was comforting to know that my zanpakuto spirit had the mentality of a three-year-old.

"Alright, enough questions for now," I held up my hand as Amaya opened her mouth to ask something else. "What do you guys want to do tonight?"

"Read!" Isamu exclaimed, jumping to find the book he had been holding earlier.

Amaya tilted her head but followed him. I had no choice but to tail them lest they got into some mess or other. Moments later we were all settled on the couch. Isamu thrust his book into my hands and nuzzled into my ribs. Amaya did the same on my opposite side.

I placed the book in my lap so they could see the pictures and opened it to the first page. "Once upon a time there were four little rabbits, and their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter,"

They giggled at the names and I continued.

...

The night was actually going very well. They stayed pretty quiet for most of the story, except for a few questions and fits of giggles and the rabbits' silly adventures and afterwards they hopped around the living room pretending to be bunnies for a short while. As it was nearing their bedtime I instructed them to go change into their PJ's and my phone buzzed from my back pocket, telling me that Chou and the others were outside. I sighed, knowing that once the kids got wind of new people putting them to bed at a decent hour would be impossible and neither Mikami nor Kamiko would be pleased to hear that 'Unlce Koko' had let them stay up past their bedtime.

Chou, Kazu, Adachi – I never could get used to calling him by his given name – and Chiharu were standing outside, looking like they were going to a party or a club.

"What's going on?" I asked as I let them in.

"We were going to Arakawa's, but felt bad because you had to stay home and babysit. So, here we are." Chou said pushing past me.

"Arakawa's?" I asked, "That was this weekend?"

Chou rolled her eyes as the others chuckled. I tried not to look too pleased at making Chiharu smile.

"See, Kazu, we felt guilty for nothing. The moron didn't even know it was tonight."

"Seriously, Hyōka, how bad are you with dates? Everyone has only been talking about this party for like a month." Kazu shook his head.

"I was surprised I was even invited," I muttered.

"You're not as bad as you think," Chiharu smiled.

My throat went dry and I struggled to think of something to say, but thankfully Isamu and Amaya chose that moment to reappear.

"Uncle Koko, Uncle Koko, we're done brushing teeth!" Amaya shouted as she and Isamu bowled into the foyer. They froze upon noticing my friends. Isamu's eyes went wide as he hid behind my legs and held the back of my pants tightly. I reached behind me and patted his head comfortingly, he was very nervous around new people.

"Who are they?" Amaya asked loudly.

"Don't shout, Amaya. These are my friends Kazu, Chou, Chiharu and Adachi."

"I'm Amaya, and these are my ballerina PJ's," she said proudly and twirled around.

Chou cooed and she and Chiharu shared a sickly sweet look. Kazu and Adachi just smiled. Chou stooped down and grinned at Amaya. "They're very pretty. Do you want to be a ballerina?"

Amaya's eyes went wide and she gasped as she saw Chou's brightly coloured hair – lavender and electric blue this time. "I like your hair," she whispered, "Can I touch it?"

I shook my head and sighed, but Chou let her run her little hands through her pony-tail after raising an eyebrow at me. Then seeing Amaya get to have all the fun Isamu let go of my pants and moved to stand beside Amaya with longing eyes.

Chou giggled and let him play with her hair too.

"Children are easy to please, aren't they?" Adachi asked shaking his head.

I nodded, "You wouldn't believe it."

"They're adorable," Chiharu smiled as she knelt down beside Chou.

"Yeah, but they have to go to bed soon," I sent a pointed look towards the kids.

"Nooo," Amaya whined, "I'm not tired."

I folded my arms across my chest, "Amaya,"

"Five more minutes?" she begged.

I shook my head, "No, bedtime is now."

She pouted and folded her arms across her chest as well. "I don't wanna!"

Isamu was looking nervously from me to Amaya. I prayed that he would take my side, since he did look sleepy, and calming down two screaming toddlers was not on my to-do list that night.

"If you don't go to bed now I'm going to tell your daddy that you were being bad."

"Nooo!"

"If you be good and go to sleep I'll tell him that you were good. Do you want to be bad or good?"

She hung her head and looked at her feet. "Good."

"Okay. Now let's tell everyone goodnight-"

"Can Chou come with us?"

I looked to Chou. "If she wants to."

Chou said she didn't mind and after I lead the other three to the living room I took the two munchkins to Isamu's room. We had moved to a moderately sized house located in one of the more well-to-do neighbourhoods in Karakura. Apparently Uryu's family was freaking loaded, so He and Mikami had bought a four bedroom house. Surprisingly it didn't take much to get Isamu and Amaya to fall asleep, though, Amaya requested a good night kiss from Cho. Then, not wanting to be out done, so did Isamu.

"Well, look at you being a good parent and stuff," Chou snickered as I flipped the light switch and closed the door. "I'll admit; it's kinda hot."

I rolled my eyes.

"I'm sure Chiharu's gonna by yours by the end of the night."

"What?" I hissed, yanking the back of her shirt before she could head back to the living room. "What do you mean by that?"

She wiggled her eyebrows at me.

"She doesn't like me, right?"

"Oh, Hyōka." She slung an arm around my shoulders. "Are you blind? Why else would she be here and not at Arakawa's party?"

I told you, Toushiro chortled.

"A-are you sure?"

"Positive."

"What... what do I do? No one's ever liked me before?" I was suddenly panicking. "What if she finds out how weird I am?"

Chou raised her eyebrows and braced her hand on my shoulder. "Okay, first of all, calm down. Take deep breaths... do you still get anxiety attacks?"

"Rarely."

"Good. Calm down and just relax. I think she already knows how weird you are and come on you're not that bad, just a little short and rough around the edges. You've actually gotten kinda cute."

"What?"

She laughed and headed back to the living room. "Just don't be an idiot and everything will be fine."

Easier said than done, Toushiro mumbled.

Oh, you be quiet. You're not helping.

They were all chatting happily on the couch when Chou and I got back. Chou parked herself on Kazu's lap and I sat at a moderately safe distance away on the loveseat. I couldn't stop myself from staring at Chiharu as she was talking animatedly about something that happened in class the other day. She was nowhere near as ostentatious and out-going as Chou, or any of the other girls in our class, but I thought that it was refreshing. She had long, black hair and large deep-brown eyes which were usually hidden behind a pair of square glasses – she must have been wearing contacts tonight. She was president of the yearbook club, a member of the student council, and well-liked by most of the class. Chou had to have been lying when she said she liked me. Most of the students still gave me a wide berth; given my 'history' and I was, by no means, popular. When I wasn't with Chou, Kazu, or Adachi, I was hanging out with the misfits of the drama club and rehearsing for plays. There was no way that –

"You know after you got sent to the principal the teacher had to re-do the maths problem, because there really was an error?" Adachi chuckled, "The whole class laughed at him."

"Huh," I blinked and tried to concentrate on the conversation, "Oh, well of course. If he had just listened to me then he wouldn't have embarrassed himself."

Kazu snorted, "How the hell did you even notice that? It's not fair."

"We've already accepted the fact that he's a genius," Chou drawled, "there's no competing with him."

"I'm not a genius," I muttered.

"Oh my god, is that modesty? Hyōka, are you feeling okay?"

"Shut up, Chou," I muttered.

We talked a bit more until I felt the dark reiatsu of a hollow nearby. Actually, multiple hollows nearby. I tensed slightly and concentrated. There were about six of them a few blocks away. I sighed inwardly. Isamu, being half quincy and inheriting pretty strong spiritual pressure from Mikami, attracted hollows like flies to a lamp. He was too young to control his reiatsu very well or even properly understand the concept. Uryu and I usually had our hands full at night when his minute control was the weakest. But still, there never had been this many at once. As far as we knew Amaya couldn't see sprits, just like Kamiko, so she wasn't the problem. Either way it was my job to go and dispose of them. Adachi and I shared a look.

"Does anyone want snacks?" I asked, getting up from my seat.

"I'll help," Adachi offered.

As soon as we entered the kitchen I turned to him. "I can handle this; you keep an eye on everyone here, especially the kids. Isamu can sense hollows a mile away, so if he starts crying just stay with him for a while, okay?"

He nodded and I ran upstairs to get my shinigami badge from my room. Within minutes I was shunpo'ing around the neighbourhood. I spied the horde of hollows nearing our house, but someone was already there. I could see Ichigo's bright hair a mile away.

"Aren't you supposed to be babysitting?" Ichigo called as I rushed up to him.

"Aren't you supposed to be at dinner?" I snapped.

"Well these guys had other plans for me." He pointed Zangetsu at the nearest hollow. "I'll take this guy and you can have the two smaller ones to our right."

"Right."

We attacked in unison. I grinned, sometimes when we fought that happened. It was weird, like some sort of psychic connection, but it made fighting with him fun.

I released Hyourinmaru with a shout and swung him at the nearest hollow's leg. My blade cut cleanly through the thick muscle and the hollow roared in pain as it reared up, waving its frozen stump around. I leapt at its mask next, grinning as I hit bone and caused it to disappear in a swirl of black smoke. I turned to the other hollow and killed it just as easily. Ichigo landed next to me, having taken care of his hollow and we stood back-to-back – well almost, he was still around a foot taller than me.

The rest of the hollows had noticed the reiatsu we had given off while fighting and narrowed in on us, forgetting about Isamu.

"It's just small fry," Ichigo said with a huff. "I can take care of this in a flash, or do you want to?"

"Nah, you get them." I said, already sheathing Hyourinmaru.

"Lazy," he called, but he was already jumping at the remaining three hollows. He finished them in a few seconds then turned back to me with a grin. "I've said it before and I'll say it again; we make one hell of a team."

I chuckled; we did. It had been a while since the two of us had taken care of hollows together. Usually, the both of us weren't needed, since the hollows were so weak, so it was first come first serve. Plus, we had a few members of Squad Five who were scheduled to make regular patrols. So, Ichigo and I usually handled the paperwork together. That is, when he wasn't trying to get out of it and avoid me.

Ichigo stretched. "We need to spar more. Like the old days when I used to kick your butt."

I rolled my eyes. "Used to."

"Yeah? How's the bankai coming along by the way?" he smirked.

"Oh shut up. You know it has wings; there's no way you're getting me to fly anywhere."

He sighed. "And I still can't believe that after all of this you're still afraid of heights."

"It's not that easy to shake."

"You killed Aizen..."

"Yeah, he wasn't that scary."

Ichigo laughed. "How does tomorrow at Urahara's sound? Let's take a break from all that boring work."

"Sounds great. But I'll warn you; I've improved since we last sparred. Toushiro taught me a couple new tricks."

"We'll see, mister no-bankai."

"Bankai or not; I'm gonna kick your ass. I still have a hollow mask, don't I?"

"Is that supposed to intimidate me?"

"Shut up."

...

"What was that about?" Chou asked as I joined them again.

"Um, I thought I heard Isamu crying then Ichigo called," I offered, shrugging.

"Who's Ichigo?" Chiharu asked.

"He's..." I paused. How did I go about explain Ichigo's and my relationship?

Adachi snorted, "Pretty much his boyfriend."

Chiharu looked crestfallen and Chou slapped her forehead while Kazu chuckled.

My jaw dropped and I felt myself blush. "What the hell! No he's not!" I scrambled to rectify the situation.

"Well you two spend enough time together so..." Adachi grinned.

"That's because he's... he's my... Ugh, I'm not gay. He's Mikami's boss, so of course I see him a lot!"

"Riiight,"

"Oh shut up, Kouta," Chou snapped. "We all know Ichigo's Hyōka's man crush."

I groaned and buried my face in my hands. "I hate you guys."

They all laughed at me. Even Toushiro and Hyourinmaru were laughing at me. I left to go to the bathroom to try to wrestle down the violent blush across my face. If Adachi had ruined my chances with Chiharu I would kill him.

I haven't laughed that hard in a long while, Toushiro chuckled.

Shut up. Do we really come off as that? I groaned.

No. But you do spend a lot of time together; to the outside eye it does look suspicious.

Great I can't help it. We run a squad.

Well I think you should embrace it, Hatchling, Hyourinmaru cooed, You two are cute together!

I glared hard at the dragon.

Lighten up, he sighed after a while, Chiharu knew you were joking, plus I'm sure Chou is doing damage control right now.

I sighed, not even wanting to think what 'damage control' entailed, and opened the faucet to splash some cold water on my face. I'm still going to murder Adachi.

Toushiro shook his head. I don't understand why your friends make things so hard for you. It's amusing, of course, but I wonder.

Really? Well, that makes two of us.

I deemed myself appropriate to go back out after a few minutes and sent Adachi a cold glare before I sat back down. We avoided all talk about Ichigo after that, thankfully. And after a while Chou said she was thirsty and demanded that I go get drinks for everyone. Rolling my eyes, I headed back to the kitchen, but not before Chou sent a pointed look to the couch and Chiharu offered to help me.

Toushiro, help, I pleaded as she followed me to the kitchen.

He grinned at me. Nope, this is all you this time.

Seriously?

He refused to answer me after that.

My heart was pounding and my palms were suddenly sweaty. I busied myself with getting a bottle of soda from the fridge.

"Where do the glasses stay?" Chiharu asked.

"The cabinet next to the fridge," I squeaked, yes squeaked. I looked away, cursing myself.

She pulled down five glasses and after I poured out the soda we just sort of awkwardly stared at each other. Great, this was going beautifully.

"So..." God wasn't there anything I could say? I mean, I wasn't a complete retard; I could come up with a decent conversation. "Um... why'd you choose to spend the night with those losers and not go to Arakawa's party?"

"Oh... um," she was suddenly interested in the marble-top of the kitchen island, "well, no one really fun was going if you guys weren't there."

I raised an eyebrow. "Those guys out there? That's not fun."

She giggled. I smiled.

"They take pleasure in torturing me; I don't know why I'm even friends with them."

"Maybe It's because you're a nice person..." she looked shyly up at me and I felt my voice get caught in my throat. "Um Hyōka,"

"Y-yes?"

She blushed and, oh my god, was this really happening? "I, um... I really like you..."

I blinked slowly and my mouth fell open slightly.

She continued, "D-do you-"

"Yes," I blurted before I could chicken out, "Yes I – l like you back." Blunt much? I knew tact had never been my forte.

She looked up, surprised, but then she smiled widely and tried to hide her blush behind her hands. "Really? I wasn't sure that you even noticed me; I don't stand out much, and you, well everyone in the class knows your name."

I couldn't care less about who knew me; it probably wasn't for good reasons anyway. But, Chiharu had just confessed to me. The girl I had been crushing on for months had just told me she liked me.

I grinned. "Don't give me that 'you don't stand out' crap. You're like in a million clubs and part of the student council. I definitely noticed you."

She raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"So, uh, do you want to like do something tomorrow? Like a date or something?" I asked scratching the back of my neck.

"Yes, that sounds nice."

...

Chiharu sat next to me on the loveseat for the remainder of the night. They stayed until about eleven thirty. Kazu had promised his parents that he'd be home by midnight and since he was the only one with a car the others had no choice but to leave as well. Chou Texted me as soon as they left, asking if Chiharu and I were finally official. I replied; yes, since she seemed to have been working hard to get the two of us together. She might have been a pain most of the time, but there was the always the off chance, like tonight, where she was nice to me.

I sat on the couch in a giddy daze until the adults and Ichigo came back from their dinner.

"Is everything alright, Koko-chan?" Teito asked, "You're grinning like a maniac."

I blinked and forced myself to look annoyed.

"What did you do?" Mikami sighed and sat down next to me.

"I didn't do anything. Why do you always have to assume that I did something?"

"Is my kid still alive?" Kamiko asked.

I rolled my eyes. "She's fine. They're upstairs, sleeping. Everything went fine, just fine."

Just fine? Hyourinmaru smirked.

Alright, prefect.

Kamiko winked at me then dragged Teito upstairs to collect their kid.

"Did your friends end up coming over?" Uryu asked sitting down on Mikami's other side.

I started to blush and looked away from them, but managed to meet Ichigo's gaze as he leaned against the wall. I then remembered what Adachi had said and I blushed deeper.

"Hyōka?" Mikami asked, worriedly, "What happened?"

"You!" I exclaimed, glaring at Ichigo.

"What? What did I do?" Ichigo asked raising his hands defensively.

"You almost cost me a date!"

"A date?" Mikami exclaimed, "With who? That girl you're always talking about?"

I nodded quickly. "Chiharu." And Mikami grinned widely and turned to her husband, who seemed to be more interested in my vexation with Ichigo.

"What? How? I wasn't even here," the redhead defended himself.

"We spend too much time together. So much time together, in fact, that Adachi called you my boyfriend!"

Ichigo was silent for a while before he doubled over laughing.

"It's not funny," I growled just as Teito and Kamiko came back downstairs with a sleeping Amaya. Kamiko raised an eyebrow at Ichigo nearly rolling on the carpet with laughter and said she'd wait for Teito in the car with a tired smile.

"What's going on?" he asked and Uryu filled him in trying not to burst out laughing as well.

Teito just grinned and ruffled my hair. "Whatever floats your boat, Koko-chan. I just want you to know that I'll support you either way."

"Oh my god, you people," I exclaimed, standing up from the couch and stomping over to the staircase, "for your information I find Ichigo disgusting and I have a date with a girl from my class tomorrow. So, goodnight to you all."

That's a lie; everyone knows Ichigo is your best friend, Toushiro sighed, you both have been through too much to be anything less.

I shook my head. The annoying redhead had gone from being Mikami's stupid boss, to a stalker, to an overbearing adult, to a very close friend and a permanent fixture in my life.

"We're still on for Urahara's tomorrow," Ichigo called after me, "right, baby?"

Best friend or not I would murder him in his sleep. Like I said, I couldn't wait to go to college and get away from the crazy mix of shinigami, hollows, visoreds, and my patchwork Takemitsu-Ishida-Kurosaki family – Ichigo was one of us, even if we weren't blood related. But, I knew that I would pick this wild, hectic life time and again before I even considered something different.

I guess this can serve as a sort of epilogue to 'Time and Again'. Hyoka refused to allow me to let him go that easily and, well, if anyone has any more burning need-to-know questions on what happens next feel free to ask them in a review and well nothing is a spoiler anymore :D

Anyway, this is it for Hyoka and friends. It was a really fun time :)

-Mymomomo