So...came back for more, huh?

"You make it sound like we kicked their asses or something." Kiriumi mentioned.

Well, it's supposed to be a violent story...

The shinigami rolled her eyes. "And that's why you'll never be part of my division..."


Yawning widely, Kiriumi leaned back against the wall she was sitting in front of. It had been quite a few years since she had graduated from the academy, and she was currently the sixth seat in the eleventh division. But she was slowly making her way through the ranks. She knew that as soon as she reached bankai, she could definitely be fourth seat. Then she'd be right in between two of her best friends, Ikkaku and Yumichika. Despite being on guard at the moment, Kiriumi leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. In a couple minutes her shift would be over anyway, then she, Yumichika and Ikkaku would go shopping for the rest of that day.

Suddenly, she felt a hand, pulling her into a head lock. "Slacking off again, huh?" Renji used his free hand to rub his knuckles in her hair.

"Hey! No fair!!" She yelled, trying to pry his arm off of her. "You snuck up on me! I out-rank you!!"

"That doesn't matter!" He grinned, rubbing her head harder.

Growling in frustration, Kiriumi used her legs to wrap them around his head and used her own body weight to slam him on the ground. He let go of her neck and tried to grab her arms, but she had already pinned his arms behind his back while she sat on his face. "I'm also still quicker than you too!"

Her victory was cut short though when someone kicked her on her back and sent her rolling forward. Landing on her stomach she looked back to see who had had kicked her to find Ikkaku standing there, with Yumichika not to far behind him. "I thought you were supposed to be on guard, not restlin' with Abarai here." Ikkaku said, stepping on Renji and walking towards Kiriumi.

"I'll get you another time, monkey-ass-face!" She said, sticking her tongue out at Renji. He stuck his tongue out back at her, but got up to take his shift in guard duty nonetheless. "So you two ready to go shopping?"

"No." Ikkaku simply said. "I ain't going."

"But, Ikka-kun, you promised! And we won't be able to have fun without you!" Yumichika added, pouting in a rather beautiful way.

Rolling onto her back and looking towards her bald friend, Kiriumi glared pouting ever so slightly. "Wah, Ikka-kun, you're being so mean! Why can't you just let Yumi-chan and I have some fun?"

Ikkaku sighed, crouching down and poking her on her forehead. "'Cause when you two have fun, I always get the bad side of the deal." She continued glaring at him and swatted his hand away from her forehead.

"But, Ikka-kun!" Yumichika whined, leaning down against Ikkaku's back. He flicked his hair and frowned, which was really more of a pout anyway, before continuing, "You promised you'd do whatever Kiri-chan and I wanted to do today!"

He scoffed, shrugging the more beautiful man off of his back. "Che. That was before I realized I'd be playin' the role of you pack-mule again..."

Kiriumi jumped up and stood next to Yumichika as they both put on very similar pouting expressions. "A promise is a promise! Don't be cruel, Ikka-ka!"

If this had been a battle, Ikkaku would have been desperately loosing. "Quit callin' me that, Kiri-chan." But looking at their puppy-dog-pout faces, Ikkaku knew he had lost this battle completely. He sighed, and mumbled under his breath, "Che. Whatever, let's just get this over with..." It was surprisingly silent for a moment, but that sweet silence was quickly shattered by two twin squeals of excitement. And Ikkaku then found himself enveloped in two simultaneous hugs.

"We love you Ikka-kun!" The young, quite violent, girl said, planting a friendly kiss on his cheek.


Yelping slightly as she slammed into the wall, Kiriumi glared at Ikkaku. "Owch! You're being more aggressive than usual, Ikka-kun..." She mumbled, rubbing the spot on her back that had been hit the hardest.

"I don't think that's it, Kiri-chan..." Yumichika added, from the spot he had been watching the fight.

Grabbing her scythe like zanpakutō, she dusted off her now dirty clothes. "What do you mean?"

Ikkaku smacked her on the back of her head. "You're not takin' your fightin' seriously! What's with you?!"

She lowered her eyes to the ground sadly, her grip on her weapon tightening slightly. "I...I don't know...Hoshiyabun's been restless lately, but when I try sparring with you he just gets frustrated."

"Perhaps he's just in need of real combat." The feather-faced man suggested.

"Maybe..." She shrugged, releasing him from shikai and sheathing Hoshiyabun. "I've been thinking about it for a while, and I planned to go home today."

The bald man crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Who are you kiddin'? This is your home!"

She rolled her eyes and placed her apron-like accessory back around her hips. "You know what I meant! I'm going back to the sixty-fourth district. Just for the day, I'd be back before breakfast. And before you start worrying, I've got a stew brewing that should be able to feed the entire division, and I've got someone to turn it off when it's done. So you two have nothing to worry about."

Her two dear friends knew she could handle herself, but the prettier man still felt the need to warn her. "Remember to be careful. It's dangerous to be going around the higher numbered districts by yourself."

Waving off his warnings, the girl smiled at them. "I'll be fine! Oh, and before I forget, could one of you let Zaraki-taichō know I'm leaving? Okay, I'll see you both later!" Without waiting for a reply, she flash-stepped out of the room and out of the division. She had a sword on her hip, money in her pocket, and quite the distance to go. But her excitement was so intense she never stopped for a moment.


Well...bye bye comedy.

"Only for a bit! It'll be back...well...eventually..." Kiriumi sighed.


"Hmm...Kiri-chan's ba..." Yumichika stopped in mid sentence upon seeing his friends current condition. She was covered with random splotches of blood, and clutching a small colorful beaded necklace in one hand as she dragged her non-released zanpakutō in her other. "Kiriumi, are you alright?!"

She looked calmly at him and shook her head. "Don't worry, I'm fine. I'm going to bathe in the springs to wash all this blood off." And so, she walked away, leaving one of her closest friends stunned.

Quickly, Yumichika went off to find Ikkaku. He eventually found him speaking with Kenpachi. "Ikkaku! Something terrible has happened!!"

Kenpachi rubbed his head. "Stop shoutin', will ya?"

"What's the problem?" Ikkaku asked, not really interested either way.

"It's Kiriumi!" Both other males perked up just slightly. "I just saw her and the sight was not beautiful! Obviously something terrible happened to her, I've never seen her with that look!"

The bald one sighed. "Where's she at?"

Frowning frustratedly, the beautiful one placed his hands on his hips. "Aren't you worried?! She comes back covered in blood, and not acting like herself and all you can do is sigh?!"

Their captain stood up. "If you'd both just shut up, then we can go find her."


This place she was going wasn't really her home. Her home was where she and her older sister Retsu used to live, but that was so long ago she could barely remember. So, instead, she claimed her home to be the place she went to live when she and her sister got separated. As she continued running, thoughts of her friends their were buzzing through her head. "It'll be so much fun! I'll get to see how Akito-kun and Hitomi-chan are doing, and I bet by now their married with children! I can't wait to find out! And I'm sure Noriko-chan is much bigger by now. And I wonder how gramps-Satoru is doing! Is he even still alive? I hope he is!"

She practically exploded with excitement when she saw the small village she stayed in for so long. "Hitomi-chan!! Akito-kun!! Are you guys still here!? Noriko-chan!! Gramps!! Where are you all at?!" Kiriumi called, looking around the small village for any form of life. But she could find none. "Guys?! Anyone!!?"


It was fairly late in the morning, so it was no real surprise that the hot spring was fairly empty. Which was good in Kiriumi's opinion. She really just wanted some alone time to think things over. "Things like this happen." Hoshiyabun said, materializing in his shining, human-esque form. The shinigami looked up at him, his long, golden hair flowed behind him like rays of light as he sat down on a large rock next to the spring.

"Y'know, this is the girls side." She snorted, turning away from him.

He smirked, silver eyes glowing as he eyed his companion. "Then it's a good thing no one else can see me but you." She still tried to ignore him. "You're not going to get rid of me by ignoring me. I know that you're upset because of what happened, but you should be old enough to handle this. Things like this do happen to people, it doesn't matter who they are."

Tears finally falling from her eyes, Kiriumi sniffled. "If it could have been anyone, then why was it them?"

He placed his elegant hand on her shoulder. "I don't know. Nobody does. But, what I do know is that you are stronger than this. No matter what, you can move on. You can't change the past, but you can work towards a better future. And I'll be there with you...always..." Feeling that he'd gotten his message across, Hoshiyabun faded away.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, she sighed. He was right, and she knew it. She sighed again, washing the blood out of the short back of her hair and the much longer front. "He's right. And I'll be there for my friends next time anything happens." After getting rid of all the blood and putting the necklace on, she quickly tossed on her dirty clothes, just to use until she could get some fresh clean ones.


Oooh, drama...Yeah, Kiriumi isn't in the mood for an ending comment, so...yeah....But, don't worry about her, she'll be back to normal soon enough! The only real difference is that she'll be just a bit more mature! So, I guess you guys will just have to wait until next time!