Hellloooooo!

Welcome to Chapter Nine! *Throws Confetti*

I feel so great that I've made it this far I JUST WANT TO TURN THE CAPS LOCK on.

I've never been one to believe in magic, in case you don't know that.

Creepy, unnatural things aren't new to me, but there's usually a group of crazy white coats behind it. There has always been someone to blame for what happens. Usually Jeb.

Kidō was not Jeb's fault, and I'm pretty sure white coats didn't invent it. No, it's my personal hell.

I won't say too much about it, but let's say that I'm lucky to still have my eyebrows on... And that was from using a binding kidō.

"You know, it's not the end of the world, Max-chan," Minako reminded me; I didn't bother with a response, I was concentrating on getting away from her. It seemed that nobody in the Soul Society could take a hint, and I was starting to think they were ordered to annoy me. At least Taro didn't actually leave the school grounds with me.

We pushed the doors of the classroom open; the hallways were already crowded with students, most of them seniors. They were all avoiding a bubble of room to my right, though, and so I ducked over that way.

"Finally," A familiar voice said tiredly. My eyes narrowed.

"What're you doing here, Hitsugaya?" I asked; he pushed off the wall and walked over to me, some students around us pausing to see what was happening.

"I've been given orders to check up on you every week, starting now," He explained, I scowled.

"Why?"

Minako appeared by my shoulder, blinking. "Huh? Max-chan, you know another taichou? How cool!" She squealed, I rolled my eyes.

"Why are yours arms covered in soot?" He asked, raising my left arm by the wrist, inspecting it.

My eye twitched. He was avoiding the question. "I had Kido class, now tell me why you've been-,"

"So you suck at kidō, huh? I can't say I'm surprised," He murmured, starting to tow me through the hallways.

"You've got a lot of nerve for a midget," I growled. He stopped suddenly, causing me to run into his back.

The air became chilly, the shinigami turned to me. "What did you say, Max?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Taichou!" Our heads snapped up at the bubbly voice.

"Matsumoto..." He growled; I took a step back, dodging a strawberry blonde woman that tried to hug me.

"Who's this? Is this Max, the one you were talking about, taichou?" She asked, staring at me excitedly. "She's cute, does she talk?"

Oh, right, never mind that I can hear you.

"Matsumoto," Hitsugaya repeated, folding his arms.

"I'm Matsumoto Rangiku, Squad Ten's fukataichou. You're pretty. It's nice to meet you!"

This woman... she was as bad as Nudge when it came to talking, apparently.

"Yeah, I'm Max," I replied, Rangiku bowed deeply, I spotted a zanpakutō on her hip. And whose bright idea was it to let someone like her have a weapon? She could always just talk her enemies to death.

"Matsu-,"

"Come on, then, Max-chan! I'll introduce you to my friends!" She announced, grabbing my hand and wrenching me away from Hitsugaya. He looked just about ready to explode by the time she started pulling me down the hallways.

We broke through the front doors, Rangiku calmed down to a speedy walk as we started towards the Seireitei.

"So, tell me about yourself," She said, smiling at me.

"There's not much to tell."

"Sure there is! Taichou can't stop talking about you!" She said, thoroughly confusing me. Confused Max is not a happy Max. "Come on, we're almost there!"

When we arrived outside the gates, she pulled my off to the left, down a small alleyway, and into what looked like a bar of sorts.

"Rangiku...what're we doing here?" I asked cautiously, glancing around. It was midday and shinigami were scattered around the bar; some were singing by a small karaoke set, their talent was on about the same level as someone playing the violin with a cat while doing a handstand. I scowled as she yanked me towards the back of the bar; a small window was my only possible escape route.

"I told you, we're here so you can meet my friends."

"I doubt any friends you meet in bars at lunch time are good ones..." I muttered, wrinkling my nose. Alcohol wasn't my favourite thing in the world; I preferred to avoid it; because, hey, not many Erasers will keep still for you if you're drunk in a battle.

"Aw, don't be like that, Max-chan. They're really nice!" She said, sitting me down next to a dark haired man, who was pouring some drinks.

"Who're you?" He asked, not looking up from the small glasses.

"She's Max, the one that the higher-ups were talking about," Rangiku said, falling down across from me, next to a timid looking blonde, who surveyed me.

"Hello, I am Kira Izuru," He introduced, smiling and nodding to me. "That's Hisagai Shūhei." Said man grunted in hello.

"Why do you have 69 on your face?" I asked flatly, curious about the only part of his face I could see at the time.

He looked up, and I blinked.

"...Fang?"


"I'm stupid."

"Not exactly..."

My eye twitched as I brought the wooden sword- a shinai, I think the instructor called it- on Ichigo's head. He dodged and went for my ribs, but I jumped back out of the way.

"I thought a stranger was Fang, how stupid do you have to be to do that?"

"Well, you said he looked like this Fang guy," The red head reminded me, lunging forward. "It was an honest mistake."

"How could I have thought it was him? He doesn't have tattoos, doesn't drink, isn't friends with Rangiku, and more importantly, isn't dead."

He paused, looking slightly insulted. "Hey! I'm here and I'm not dead!"

"That's different; I didn't scream 'Iggy!' when I met you." I discarded the sword and lunged at him, knocking the boy over.

We wrestled for a while, swearing and punching each other. After a few minutes, we gave up, and resorted to lying on the floor.

Ichigo looked over at me, still grinning slightly. "Are you ever going to tell me about your past?"

"I told you about the flock, isn't that enough?"

He gave me a look. "You and I both know there's more to your life than that."

I rolled onto my stomach, narrowing my eyes. "Are what about you? I'm sure your life hasn't been all sunshine and daisies either."

He shrugged. "Nobody ever has the perfect life."

I raised an eyebrow at him, before nodding. "I guess."

Ichigo turned, grinning at me. "Anyway, how's finding your zanpakutō spirit going?"

I pouted, slamming my head into the wooden floor. "It's being stubborn. I can't sense anything in my head."

The strawberry laughed, and I grinned slightly in return. "C'mon let's go get some dinner," He stretched, before holding out a hand. I shook my head and accepted his help up.

We started out for the nearest restaurant, Ichigo was laughing about some stupid thing I said, but I froze at the door. Something sounded in my head that I hadn't heard for…well, for quite some time.

"You're almost ready, Max… "

That stupid Voice; it was always finding a way to pop back up into my life.

BEWARE! LONG AUTHOR'S NOTE AHEAD!

Ahaha, would you like to know the scores of where Max should go?

Karakura: 2

Hueco Mundo: 6

Well, the question is still open, and will be for a while longer. As for the Kido issue…. I've pretty much decided. As many have suggested, she will not be absolutely freaking fantastic at Kido, because, hey, she isn't really the type for that. BUT, she will not be completely useless in the area.

Also, just a small alert, I may be able to get these out quicker, or slower, than usual. I'm not sure, as I am sort of in the middle of something right now and keep getting distracted by stupid thi- Oh, look a bird!

To the oh-so-precious reviewers of mine:

WingedHero540: Oh, I can just imagine Max's reaction to those guys. I can't WAIT to write about Grimmjow!

RuneSabre: Hehe, you make me giggle. If she does end up shooting fireballs at sexists, Iggy's in deep doggy doo-doo there. Thank you for your suggestions and insight!

fayfan: The U.S of A, huh? Wish I could go there, in winter, especially. I wanna have a white Christmas sooo bad! Szayel, you say? Interesting… He gives me the creeps, so it could be fun! Giiiin~! I shall try to work it into the story, maybe Max will be able to save the poor sod. Thank you!

MorganBannerX2: Ah, what would I do without you? *cough*Be lost in a void of bad grammar*cough* I agree, Max doesn't seem like the type to keep unreasonable distance in a battle. 'Idiot girl who was dumb enough to get herself captured'… Yep, that pretty much sums up Orihime in my mind. :D

Silverleaf2157: "Uh, did you dye your hair blue on purpose, or are you just stupid?" Max and Grimmjow could be quite entertaining when irritating each other. I shall try to update quicker!

SSJSaphira: Aw, thank you. You're review means a lot to me, and yes, Max is special, so she will probably end up being great at something. Chosen ones usually are, but I hope it doesn't come out too cheesy

Vani Parfait: Yeah! I love the Iggy suggestion, I love the do suggestion as well, but you mentioned Iggy, so… yeah. Don't worry, the stalkers are only temporary, they might get killed off or something, I'm not sure yet…

RainWithWings: That's really fine! Suggestions aren't a must-have in reviews; it's just great to know you enjoy the story so far! Thank you!

Vani Parfait: That's fine, I'm sure I would have figured out who you were eventually

Vani Parfait: I DON'T KNOW :D

fushigiarisu13: Hmmm, prodigy at Kido…. I'm not sure… Don't worry, I don't mean to knock your idea totally off the mind map, but maybe she can be extremely talented at something else? It looks like she will probably be going with Ichigo, right now, anyway. Thank you!

RuneSabre (Again!): My gosh, that's detailed! What an awesome suggestion! Thank you! Uh…. How do I turn multiple reviews on? /

SkyEra: Don't worry, I assure you, we will be seeing the flock soon *OMSPOILER* I kind of got the feeling she would have a list like that, or maybe one for those she wanted to kill with a spoon, or something… Hehe, thank you for the review!