Long time no update, so I'll cut the blabbering this time! (Just one thing: the timing's a bit off if you think about it, 'cause I'm not sure if Toshiro should know Tatomi already...)

You dropped your pen while you were distracted
I knelt down quietly while you turned and kept walking
Something must have caught your eye,
For you were gone when I looked up in my school tie
and maybe I am a romantic guy
I kept the pen, and started running,
Dropped down on one knee, and said 'You dropped it'
You dropped your pen while you were distracted by me.

A bright flash filled the room, and I shut my eyes again, momentarily blinded again.

Not again.

This all was happening over and over. Wasn't this just a little bit annoying for whomever was causing this to happen?

I felt my collar disappear, oh lord, what was going to happen this time? I wondered when the bright light didn't fade instantly like the first. It can't be any worse than all that's happened before, right?

Something soft brushed by my neck. Curious, I grabbed hold of it, and gave it a sharp tug, "Ow!" I squeaked, and let go. The light faded, and as the mist in the room started to clear, I saw that I was holding onto a black strand of hair. My hair.

Wait a minute! Did that mean that I-oh nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo I frantically folded my arms over my chest as the mist faded some more. kusokusokusokusokusokusokusokusokuso

"How-" then Byakuya's eyes widened, his cheeks turning pale pink and he shoved his captain haori to me before the mist could completely fade. I put it on and wrap it around me, just as another flash filled the room and then disappeared. Something clattered to the floor.

Mistress...

Hm?

Aren't you going to pick me up?

Oh, it was you who fell?

Are you going to pick me up or not?!

"..It really is you."

I look at my feet, feeling the heat rise to my face. "Um..."

"You were the kitten," says Byakuya slowly.

"Yes," I said, shooting him a glare, "I can't believe it took you THIS long to figure it out, Byakuya..." I look down again, "Um...uh...arigatou..."

We avoid each others eyes for a while, then Byakuya smirks, "That explains the weird personality."

I look up, startled, "W-what?" I glare at him accusingly, "So you knew all this time?! I bet you had fun, starving me and having senbonzakura dancing around me and everything. Ignoring me too. "

"I didn't know. I just thought the kitten resembled you," was Byakuya's calm reply as his eyes regain his now normal stoical gaze.

"Oh. Well, um..I knew that..."

"Why?"

"Hm?"

"I'm curious. Why didn't you turn back into a human until now?" says Byakuya, studying me.

I shrugged, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"... Are you going to avoid answering this question too, Tatomi?" the change in Byakuya's tone of voice caused me to feel a flash of suprise.

"Well..I..." I looked at him, was that hidden frustration I saw beneath his eyes? Was he angry that I was here? "I didn't transform into a kitten. Someone else did that for me. And this," I gestured to myself, "Surprised me as much as it surprised you."

"THAT'S ALRIGHT KUCHIKI-TAICHOU!" says a third voice from behind me.

I spin around, and see her. It was so long, but she really hadn't changed much. Her ginger/blonde hair had grown, and she matured and stuff, but that sake scent around her would never change. The silence settled into the room once again as the woman stared at me and I stared at her then at the device she held in her hand, a camera. Her name was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn't grasp it...what was it again?

Mistress! Why're you ignoring me?!

Wait, why did she have a camera? Then the flashes that had filled the room a few moments ago popped into my head. My eye twitched. A flash and a camera, those could only mean one thing...

"RANGIKU-CHAN!" I shrieked, attacking the camera she held in her hand, "YOU'VE GROWN SO MUCH!" Caught off guard, she loosens her grip on the camera, and I grab it from her and swifly take out the memory card, snapping it in half. "You haven't changed though," I add sternly, handing her back the useless camera.

"What, who are-" Rangiku takes a good look at me, and her eyes widen in shock, "No way...is that..." She rubs her eyes a few times, then hollers at the top of her lungs, "TAICHOU!"

A short shinigami appears at the doorway. He had white-blue hair, and was wearing a captain's haori with the number 10 on it...Rangiku's squad, if nothing had changed. I cocked my head in confusion, this kid looked familiar... The short shinigami's eyebrows caved together, and he sent daggers towards Rangiku, "There you are, Masumoto. Let's get going, you should be inside working on paperwork, not making some sake excuse and coming here to annoy other Taichos."

"Taichou, look Taichou!" Rangiku starts bouncing up and down, "It's Tatomi! The little girl who welcomed you first when we went into the Soul Society building thing!"

"You've drank too much sake, Masumoto. Lets go-" then the 'Taichou' sees me, and his bewieldered expression mirrored mine.

There's a moment of awkward silence.

"See Taichou?" Rangiku exclaimed, breaking the silence, "You don't recognize her?"

"You probably snuck some sake into my tea, Masumoto," says the shinigami, but his voice wavered slightly as he continued to stare at me.

Then Rangiku turns to me, "You don't recognize Taichou?"

I frowned and stepped closer to take a closer look.

Flashback

Byakuya...I look around the Soul Society Academy yet again after angrily using shunpo to leave the room where he had been recovering in, I can't believe you broke Yokoso... and you're still hospitalized...

God Byakuya, why are you so destructive?! I sighed, maybe I should go and find Rangiku-chan to see what she's doing...

As if on cue, someone wraps their arms around me, "Tato-chan!"

I stiffen, not recognizing the sake scent, "Who are you?"

The person-she-sighs, "You're so silly, Tato-chan. Forgot your friend Rangiku already?" She spins me around so I could see her face properly. Her face is slightly flushed.

I frown, "What's that sake scent?" then my eyes widened, remembering the sake parties that Nee-san would occasionally crash, "Oh no Rangiku, don't tell me you go there..."

"Aw, c'mon, it's fun! You should come with me sometime!" Rangiku slings her arm around me, "At least it would take your mind off of Byakuya." She pauses, sensing my mood, "What's wrong?"

"Um, it's nothing."

Rangiku peers at me worriedly, and after a few seconds I cracked a smile at her 'worried' expression. She smiled too, "I know what will cheer you up, Tatomi! I'll introduce you to someone new, 'kay?" Without waiting for my answer, she dragged me with her to the entrance of the Shinigami Academy. I shot her a look of confusion, and she giggles, "Now we wait for someone to come out. Get it?"

I squirm away, "You drank too much sake for one day, Rangiku-chan. Lets go-" I pause, catching a glimps of a short kid wearing the standard trainee uniform come out from the door. One second I was struggling to get away from Rangiku, I was hugging the kid in the next. "You are soooooooo kawaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii" I said, ruffling the kid's white/blue hair.

"Let go of me!" he yells, his eyes flashing indignantly.

"Okay, okay," I say, withdrawing while hearing Rangiku laugh uncontrollably in the background, "Welcome to the soul society, by the way," I give the kid a serious look, "We need more innocent and kawai people like you."

"I am not cute!"

"Yes you are! You're so short and-"

"I'm NOT SHORT!" the kid pauses for a moment, "...Er, thanks. You're the first person that's even said welcome."

"Hi!" Rangiku pops up too, "Remember me?"

"Gah!" the kid takes a step back, "You're that lady from the store!"

"No way," I said slowly, "You're a taichou now?" I ran my eyes over the kid's furrowed eyebrows and snowy thick hair, before bubbles of happiness overflow and I start ruffling his hair and patting it in one shape, then another- much to his annoyance, "You're still very kawai, kiddo!"

He wacks my hand away, "It's HITSUGAYA-TAICHOU."

Rangiku laughs at my confused stare, "You never learned the 'kawai kid's name, did you? It's Toshiro Hitsugaya."

"Really?" I cocked my head at the kid and ruffled his hair again, "Okay then, Toshir-kawai!"

An anger vein pops onto Toshiro's forehead, "I TOLD YOU, IT'S HITSUGAYA -TAICHOU."

I rolled my eyes, "Nope. Too formal."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! I'M A TAICHOU NOW, AREN'T I?"

"Wasn't I the person who welcomed you first when you entered the soul society?"

"Well...yeah..."

I grinned, raising a fist in victory, "So it's settled then, Toshir-kawai!"

"What-" then his blue eyes widen, "ACK DAMMIT YOU TALKED ME INTO IT!"

I ruffle his hair, "You're a kid at heart, Toshir-kawai."

"..." He looks away.

I'm suddenly glomped by Rangiku, and she starts examining my chest. I swipe her hands away, but she held her embrace tight, her blossoms squished against my cheeks, "R-Rangiku-chan? What the-what're you doing?!"

She looks at me, her blue eyes wide, "I may not have changed much, Tatomi, but you have." I have? "Look at this! I can't believe you actually like wearing a captain's haori instead of clothes-" My eyes widen and I look down, realizing I still had Byakuya's haori wrapped around my body. Oops.

Yeah, that's right, oops. Now, when are you planning to pick me up?!

Eh? Oh, right, you're still on the floor. I pick up my zanpakuto and the kimono that was thrown at me, "Um, I guess I'll go and change-"

"No! No way!" Rangiku takes hold of my wrist, "You're not getting way so easily, Tatomi. Especially not after ignoring me for so long when you were already here," not letting me explain, Rangiku continues, "Come to my sake party, Tatomi. It'll be fun!" she pauses, "And you don't even have to wear a kimono. *squeals in delight* I'm gonna dress you up! Just like the old times! Then we'll spend time together; I bet Byakuya's boring you. Anyway," she continued before either one of us could intervene, "I get to have a longer break this way!"

"Rangiku!" I was now trying to get out of the uncomfortable embrace, "That, um, sounds like a lot of fun, but-"

"No buts!" says Rangiku, grabbing me by the wrist and letting the rest of me go. Waving a finger at me, she says, "Plus, don't you think everyone else wants to see you too? I know I want to introduce to you all the new people, and Renji and Rukia are coming back from their mission with Ichigo, oh, I heard that Ichigo is coming back too, and I bet Kyoraku-taichou misses you, and Ukitake-taichou too! Although I doubt Ukitake-taichou would be there-that's okay, we'll just pay him a visit some other day, or maybe I can convince him to come? Either ways, you're SO not talking yourself out of this! You've turned down way to many invitations to my sake parties! And since you weren't here for so long to turn down the rest, you're coming to this one!"

Some things never change.

"MASUMOTO!" yells Toshiro.

"Thanks for the extended break, taichou!" says Rangiku with a happy wink, before she shunpos away with me.

BYAKUYA'S POV

A sake party? I inwardly recoil in disgust, but then remember Yoruichi's warning to 'take care of the kitten'. Tatomi wasn't a kitten anymore, but...she is technically still in my care.

There is no way I'm letting her go to some indecent rowdy place where immature shinigamis will be staring at her-

Master, she is already gone.

I feel my eyebrow twitch, and tell myself to breath, to not get worked up, to relax. It is more efficient to fix things this way, was one of the many things I had learned in the years between now and my childhood.

I better drop by to make sure the idiot doesn't get herself in trouble like she's doing lately. Furthermore, with all those random mood swings going on, the 'party' will either be very successful or extremely-

"Byakuya," says Toshiro, inturrupting my thoughts, "I apologize for Masumoto's behaviour."

"It's alright," I say, eyeing the zanpakuto that Tatomi had dropped, meanwhile..."It's time I return to my paperwork anyways."

"Thanks for the extended break, taichou!" says Rangiku with a happy wink, before she shunpos away with me.

This was such a short chapter and you guys waited so long so I'm really really sorry! I tried squeezing in some time to write this up, but no excuses. Next chapter will be some time in February, and I promise I will write more!

Omake:

Rangiku: Unexpectable! I want to dress up now. Stupid author, stupid, lazy, author, lazy people are so annoying.

Author: ..You're suppose to be on my side...

Rangiku: Are you calling me lazy?! I am not lazy; I put A LOT of effort into making my natural beauty shine.

Toshiro: If Masumoto doesn't finish her paperwork, I'll tell Sou-taichou it was you.

Author: You're her Taichou, take responsibility, child.

Byakuya:...*death glare*

Author: *stares back at him blankly*

Byakuya: *pulls out senbonzakura*

Tatomi: Why is this happening to me?!

Rukia: *looks around the place* Nii-sama, where's the kitten?

Ichigo: What kitten?

Rukia: *smacks him on the head*

Renji: Oh well. We should all thank the lord for getting rid of the violent furball- *received a kick in the gut from Tatomi* OWWWWW I was talking 'bout the kitten, not you!