Class was amazing. Hisagi…he was so smart. He seemed to know everything. Not something you would get from his rough exterior. She listened to everything he said and took notes. He explained that even though they need to hurry, these were special circumstances and she wouldn't be able to learn the kido for a couple days. That meant that she needed to work harder on controlling her spirit energy before she could do anything.

"In order to help you quicker, I'll be coming to the Division 6 barracks in the evenings to help you. They have the perfect training grounds there that we can use."

"Okay." Tatsuki smiled. She really, genuinely enjoyed her time with him, even under the circumstances.

"Then class is dismissed, Miss Kuchiki." She stood up and turned to walk out the door when he stopped her.

"Where do you think you're going? You don't know your way back, do you?"

"Honestly? No…I don't even know my way out of this building."

"Then you'd better wait for me. I'll only be a few moments to report to the captain."

"Okay. I'll wait here." She watched him walk out of the room and then sighed as she fell to the floor. This feeling…I think…I love him… She waited for about ten minutes when she heard his soft footsteps sounding in the hallway before he stopped and opened the door.

"Ready, princess?" He asked.

"Princess?" She looked at him confused.

"Of course, you are the princess of Rukongai now that you're with the nobles," he winked at her. "Remember that."

"Hai. Of course." She smiled as he led her outside and down the corridors of the huge building.

"Tonight I have some work to do, you know, reporting with the newspaper and everything but tomorrow-"

"You work for a newspaper?"

"I run the newspaper now that my captain's gone. Would you like to see my studio."

"Would I? Of course!" She smiled excitedly. "That would be awesome!"

"I didn't know you were so in to reporting, miss Kuchiki."

"Stop calling me that. My name is Tatsuki."

"Heh, of course, Tatsuki." He smirked. "So, Tatsuki. I don't know much about you, except that you're not really from Rukongai and that you want to help Orihime. Would you tell me more?"

"When we were younger…I helped Orihime and Ichigo a lot. Ichigo," she laughed a little, "he was always getting picked on for his hair so I would stand up for him and beat the crap out of kids who made fun of him. And Orihime…her whole family's dead…I was there the night her brother died. I guess you could say we've been like family since then. People stopped picking on her after I got involved. I take karate classes after school and I'm in the top 10 of my class…"

"You sound very interesting, Tatsuki. I can't wait to know more about you." He looked at her. "After this is all said and done…I think you should come back here…you could be a great addition…"

"You mean here in the soul society…as a real soul reaper?" She looked at him, trying to see through his hard exterior. Could he actually want her to be there with him?

"Of course. Your spiritual pressure is amazing, and you're skilled, I can tell that already. You'd probably be put in the 11th squad…."

"11th squad?" She looked at him quizzically.

"It's the best of the best fighters. Their captain is the only captain who doesn't have a release of his sword. He's also the only one who got to be a captain by killing the former captain."

"Killed a captain? But I thought you're all on the same side here."

"We are, for most of the time. But sometimes power drives people to do things, and that's all Captain Zaraki is about. You'll find that out if you ever have the misfortune of running into him alone."

"Right…" They finally made it outside and they were walking down the streets. They were walking differently than before, she could tell that much. They were going to his studio! She could have more alone time with him.

About 10 minutes later, they arrived at the studio. He opened the door for her and let her go in front of him. She looked around at all of the workers and all of the clippings of articles. Laying open on the desk was a folder of pictures. They were of…some captain maybe? White hair and really short…

"Oh, that's Captain Hitsugaya of the 10th division. His lieutenant brought those in because she thought they were good reporting." He air quoted. "Sometimes I don't know what to do with her-"

"Hey!" Rangiku hit him on the back of the head. "That wasn't nice Hisagi…"

"I told you to call me Lieutenant Shuuhei." He crossed his arms. "Tatsuki, this is-"

"Tatsuki!" Rangiku yelled. "I heard you were going to be here!" She pulled her into a huge hug. "Smothering….can't breathe…" she said as well as she could.

"Matsumoto, get off of her!" Shuuhei pulled her away. "You're gonna smother someone one of these days…"

"Thank you." Tatsuki breathed. "Matsumoto…" she looked up at her. "You're here, too?"

"You know it," she winked. "You'll do fine, Tatsuki."

"Thank you, Matsumoto," she smiled. "I will rescue Orihime with the rest of you!"

"Now, now. Not so fast…that may take too long, Tatsuki," Rangiku said. "You may be able to help with the arrancars though."

"Not a chance! I'm going to get strong and I'm going to save her and Ichigo!" She yelled. "You'll see. I will!"