Welcome back everyone! Sorry this has been such a long wait to receive - I lost my flash drives with my stories and had an absolute melt down for like three days. Then work kicked up cause it's the holidays and my bro found my flash drives and then finished the next chapter (FUCKING FINALLY) so sorry it's been like this :/ I hope you will all forgive me!

Do not own, do not make money off of, this is for entertainment and personal use only.

Kitty Kat

Chapter 44

Nights and days had been uneventful, and the girls were no closer to turning human.

"You're absolutely certain that kisses won't work?" Yoru was wriggling, eyes focused on something that Chase couldn't see.

"Yes. He was very adamant that we had to have a kiss from our mates and to have an additional condition be met." Chase frowned, head tilting in confusion. "He… wasn't exactly forthcoming with information concerning that second part."

"You all have mates, but what does that mean for me?" Heather looked sad, ears drooped and tail swinging slowly. "Does that mean I'll be a cat forever?"

"Ditto for me – what the hell?" Maria barely moved from her position, tail swinging back and forth just a little bit. "Like, we might have mates, but how can we figure out who they are?"

Chase tilted her head. "Well, what's your type?"

Maria groaned, and they were all certain that if cats could blush, Maria definitely would be doing that right now. "Do I have to?"

"Do you want to be a cat forever or no?"

"Ugh, why would you speak logic to me?"

Heather leaned down and started grooming Maria. "Well, come on – spill. Might as well embarrass yourself while you can't see your blush."

Maria yawned, almost dislodging Heather from her grooming. "Well… I like girls?"

There was silence for a moment.

"Wait wait wait, hold on." Chase stood up and walked closer, eyebrows furrowed. "Didn't you tell me that you slept with more than half the school?"

"…I didn't say that it was the male half that I slept with..."

Yoru shrugged. "You know what, that's fair." She stalked over and laid with Maria. "Wish you would have told me earlier though."

"Oh yes, let me just tell my older estranged sister that I am mostly gay. Let me tell my sister, who I haven't heard a word from in years, about all this."

"The sarcasm was pretty deadly there."

"Shut up, Heather." Maria groaned, laying down as flat as she could. "I like girls who are… well endowed?"

The cats laid there laughing for quite a bit, with Maria yowling at them to shut up but eventually joining in on the madness. Other animals scattered from the area, their fear overriding their need for food and shelter anywhere near the cackling cats.

The Soul Reapers watched the Visored as they sparred in the underground cavern that Urahara somehow managed to make and keep updated underneath his quirky little shop. Renji sighed, leaning against Byakuya, slightly bored but not wanting to go and do another patrol.

Karakura Town was quiet, nothing going on, and it left all the Soul Reapers bored out of their skulls. For some reason, the Visored felt the same way. While they weren't allies, they came to a mutual agreement of 'I don't destroy your shit, and we won't destroy your shit' which worked out pretty well for them all.

Ichigo, of course, was fighting them all off at the same time for some training requirement for the group. They were grinning and laughing, chiding when they came upon an opening in Ichigo's defenses.

Renji himself was tempted to join in, but he wasn't that bored yet.

"Alright guys, ready?" Urahara just appeared next to them, enigmatic grin forever in place as he stared down at the two above his fan. Chicory laid comfortably around his shoulders, eyes slit and looking all the world like she was just one lazy ass cat laying across her human. Byakuya knew better, having been friends with the erratic woman for years upon years.

The fighting stopped, Hayori signaling for a break in her usual threatening way. Shinji continued to poke fun at her as Ichigo walked over, smiling just a bit at the exercise. He and Shiro had finally agreed that the both enjoyed fighting – it was a bonding point for the two.

"Right." Urahara snapped his fan shut, catching everyone's attention. "Who wants to go first?"

Renji stood up, silently volunteering. He set his hand on Byakuya's shoulder briefly before stepping forward. Urahara's grin widened.

"Good, just stand there for a moment." He brought out a bracelet, the material clunky and white. Ichigo frowned, thinking that it reminded him a lot of Hueco Mundo for some reason. Urahara did something, and the jewelry seemed to split on one side, and they could all see that wasn't a smooth, round normal bracelet. It had little square sections on it, much like a wrench nut or something like that. "Right, hand me your non-dominant hand."

Renji raised a brow, but he was skeptical. "Why the non-dominant?"

"Theory is that the bracelet could feed off the spiritual energy of your zanpackto, so we're trying to negate that by putting the bracelet on your non-dominant hand." Yoruichi yawned, the deep voice a disguise for the woman she normally was. "For someone that is ambidextrous, we haven't found a solution yet."

Renji seemed to panic just a bit. "What solution have you found then?!"

The bracelet clicked in place.

"We'll see." Urahara stepped back, face now more serious than he usually was. "It's going to take a few minutes for the to sync up to your reiatsu – after that, everything should be smooth sailing afterwards." He gestured to the bracelet that Renji was now examining closely. "That is a match to the gate I'm building, where it will have a feedback loop of reiatsu to this world where the gate is stationed and your actual self."

"Oh, holy shit." Renji swayed where he stood, the vertigo a sudden and unexpected hit. "What the fuck?"

"Hey, man, what's this?" Shinji leaned in closer, frowning. "It's taking quite a bit of reiatsu..."

"Can't find a way around it – the initial feeding will be huge, but after that the reiatsu will be brought back to you in that loop feedback I was telling you about." Urahara lifted Renji's hand, nodding as he saw whatever it was that he was looking for. "At the moment, it looks like the bracelet is working perfectly with the gate. The real test is when you step through to Hueco Mundo."

Ichigo perked up at this. Maybe he and Ogichi could get just a bit of a break from each other… Actually, knowing the orangette's luck, it wouldn't work out that way. Still, this was a step in the right direction.

Renji sighed, giving the bracelet another wary look. "Alright then, let's see this damn gate. Not like we got other things to do..."

Urahara simply grinned further.

Sorry guys, I know things have been slow going, but the action should kick back up in about two more chapters I think? Cause then things get INTERESTING! I hope ya'll enjoy :)

Reviews:

Dragonmaster789 Glad you thought so! It's going to be slow going while I'm wrangling the story, so I do hope the slowness doesn't bore you! Thank you for your review :)

Thank you guys! Tell me what ya'll think, please!

Tiryn