\\// (Bonus Story) \\//

They were supposed to have left nearly an hour ago, but the two of them had some…delays…in leaving the house. First, Tatsuki took too long to prepare, making Renji—who was still sleeping on the couch—wait for nearly the whole time, dressed for the occasion. They had recently bought a house, and though it wasn't as grand as the Ishida's, it was quite a comfortable home for both of their wages. There were still some complications every now and then, but it seemed that Emiko 's presence seemed to cool their heads, and allowed for some semblance of a "family" begin to develop. Now, however, the two of them sat inside the car with Renji behind the wheel.

"It's not like I've ever driven a car before…"

Emiko had left before them, to help setup for the birthday party along with a hesitant Aiko (And she had borrowed one of her mother's party dresses without permission).

"Oh, really? Then what's the problem?" the raven haired woman asked back, reciprocating his tone of voice.

"Well first of all, it'd be nice if you gave me the directions to the house…perhaps then we'd be able to get there…" Renji tried to reason, not able to understand Tatsuki's daft logic in driving over to the Ishida's house from theirs.

"…I can't believe it…we finally have the house to ourselves…" Tatsuki looked back to the red haired man, who sent out an oblivious gaze. She shook her head with a condescending sigh, "If you really want to go to the party so badly, then go by yourself…" opening the car door with a click, the clack of her shoes against the garage floor echoed against the walls as she walked back to the door connecting to the house.

"What the heck's that supposed to mean, anyway!?" He screamed, not knowing what set her off. "Why wouldn't we-"

"…" She gave her most seductive gaze toward him, as she opened the door and slipped the key back into her purse. Turning the knob, she pushed the door open slowly, as she smiled with knowing how convincing her acting was. 'Thanks a bunch, Rukia…'

"…" His eyebrows furrowed, not sure what exactly was going on. As soon as he saw her make the 'come here' gesture with her finger, all he could do was gulp. Renji's arm moved with a mind of its own, turning the ignition key off and pulling it out. "…oh…" he said breathlessly, as he scrambled out of the car.

My Life as a Teenaged Quincy

Very happy music played. To her ears, she could probably discern a mix of accordion, trumpets, possibly a soft bass, and a generous use of a synthesizer machine. Of course, there was no other way to describe how happy it was other than just saying that fact. Indeed, the music was quite…happy…

"…" scowled a young blue haired girl as she pressed her hands against her throbbing head. Despite her mother's best intentions, playing the same song on a continuous loop was not a considerate form of birthday music (In her opinion, anyway). It only served to make the young girl want the day to be over already, quite contrary to what most children her age would consider a "normal" reaction.

"Come on, squirt…" mused one raven haired teenager. Dipping her fork for another serving of ice cream cake, she happily wore a knee length skirt and arm-less blouse for the hot and sunny day. Sporting a pair winking "Chappy Bunny" hair pins, it was quite a fetching combination that would look well on either her or her mother. "I don't really think it's that bad…" she smirked as the smaller girl glared daggers at her, not intimidated by the stare whatsoever. "Psh, you think that's scary? Try talking to my uncle first…" she scoffed off the attempt.

Brooding even more that her efforts would be ineffective against the teenager, the blue haired girl stood up from the bench and sauntered off to another part of the backyard.

"What's up with her…?" Chin appeared with his own plate empty, and just before he managed to wrap an arm around the raven haired girl's shoulders, Emiko popped in between them. Tying her hair up, the other teen was very much dressed for the occasion, though for what kind of party was a bit uncertain.

"Say, Chin, have you tried this one yet?" she chirped and unceremoniously shoved a fork-full of food into the surprised gigai wearing shinigami's mouth. "Oh, I need to get a drink." Smiling, she turned to Aiko next to her. "Isn't he so cute?" she asked before skipping her way back to the food table.

Though she was quite comfortable with this behavior from her friend, Aiko stared her own pair of daggers with an arched eyebrow without saying a word. She clicked her tongue in irritation toward Chin, and began walking away. "Wh-hack!" he coughed for a moment before he swallowed the food in his mouth. "What?" Chin asked again, unaware for the reason of this sudden silent treatment. "Is there something on my face again…?" quickly, he chased after the raven haired teen, not knowing what he did wrong.

Sighing again, Setsuko began her vain search for a pair of earplugs. Perhaps now she could understand the feeling of looking through a haystack, trying to find a single needle. Before this, she never understood the American saying, wondering why anyone would want to do that in the first place. Nevertheless, she weaved through the crowd of well wishers and party goers, most who were staff at the hospital where her father owned and worked. They would say their "Congratulations, Ms. Ishida." With an obviously fake smile, or "I can tell you're going to look so much like your mother when you get older just by looking!"

Setsuko loved her mother everyway possible, but, come on…who needs that kind of pressure when your mom looks like she quite literally dropped down from heaven and married the poor shmuck whom she landed on as an act of apology?

Not to say that she doesn't love her father as well…Setsuko saw him more than she could ever see such a beautiful woman like her mother whenever she looked in the mirror. Then again, many people had the habit of essentially contradicting themselves as a whole, so there was absolutely no way to completely rely on other's opinions on such a matter.

"Oh, really!?"

"Yeah! Really!!"

Off to the right, in the corner of the backyard towards a far tree, a young blonde girl bickered with at what seemed at first to be herself, but then it quickly began to show that there was a lively plushy yelling back with equal tenacity.

"What's a kid like you dressing up like such a hoochy!?" A female voice screeched out from the lion plush, angering the blonde girl further.

"HOOCHY!? That coming from a possessed doll with Multiple Personality Disorder!? HA!" the girl pointed back with a snarky look on her face, eliciting a growl from the smaller doll.

"I am not a doll!" a slightly more 'masculine' voice protested, but was immediately chastised with a smack to the face from one of its own paws.

"Keep out of the conversation, dimwit…"

A crowd slowly began to form toward the raucous display, as two men tried in vain to push the curious party goers away from the obviously supernatural fight. "Please, it's just a…practice for an upcoming show!" Cloud attempted to dispel the crowd with a nervous laugh. Despite the fact that his mere sense of dress could probably attract a crowd, he continued to make up excuses about Rinrin's manic behavior and her excellent ventriloquist/magic/comedy act.

"…" the red haired Nova however, chose to zip up his hood.

"Uh…here…" A voice from her left garnered her attention, attracting her eyes to drift to what seemed like a large box shoved very close to her face. Setsuko went cross eyed as she glanced at the close proximity of the pink and teal wrapped box, surprising her for a moment as she stepped back to recover her senses. Holding onto the box were a pair of hands, which extended from a very red faced boy. The boy himself avoided looking at her, instead opting to direct his icy blue eyes to the side, possibly to the idling piñata waiting for 'its' time.

"…you could have poked my eye out, you know…" Setsuko told the orange haired boy in front of her, garnering his attention toward her. Kai looked shocked, and stuttered apologies as his red face only managed to redden more. "…" the girl in front of him simply cleared her throat, and pointed silently to the pair of glasses nestled on the bridge of her nose. Noticing his still paled expression, Setsuko shook her head and rolled her eyes, sighing to make a noticeable combination for even the dullest person to realize. "…doofus…" she said in a playful manner. Taking the box, Setsuko walked away from the dumbfounded boy standing where he was, approaching the table where the rest of the presents were.

That pink and teal box, amongst the pile of presents that ranged greatly in color and size, was the only one she peeked into before the opening of other presents that day.

…let's just say…Kon would have one less thing to worry about in his life from that day on…

--

In a much more quiet area of the backyard, three sharply dressed men stood about, holding up a red party cup or a small plate of half-eaten cake. "Say, whatever happened to Kazuhiro?" the blond man was the first to speak up toward the other two, taking a slight sip of his juice as he did so.

"What do you mean?" the bespectacled white haired man said in a cold manner, "We already explained it to you, didn't we?" Drinking from his own cup, Ryuuken watched his granddaughter in the distance interact with the Kurosaki grandson.

"It's a sad thing what we had to do to him…but at least he's in a better place, now…" Munching on his cake, Isshin nodded his head about the fight that had taken place no less than just a few weeks ago.

"I guess it was quite the fight, then…" Kisuke commented, glancing up to the blue sky without the rim of his trademark hat blocking the way. "It's too bad I missed it…"

"Definitely!" Isshin chirped with an excited smile, "You should've seen the awesome moves that Ryuuken managed to do at his age!" he nudged the man to his left with a boastful laugh, much to the dislike of the Quincy trying to watch the party in silence.

"…I could care less about that fight…" Ryuuken sighed in contrast to the goat-faced man's thoughts on the manner, "He endangered my family…"

"Sentimental, are we now?" Kisuke sneered upon hearing this, which Isshin also jumped to pester their companion about as well.

"…" Sighing, Ryuuken shook his head and rolled his eyes, hoping that the two men next to him would notice.

"So, how's your son and that darling Orihime doing?" Isshin began undiplomatically with a mouth full of cake, "Think they plan to have a third grandchild ready for you?"

"…"

It looked like…they didn't…