Author's Note on the bottom.

NINTH CHAPTER: THE DATING GAME

Of Miscalculations and Even More Fights

Renji and Rukia plainly saw that kiss, as well as the 'captains in black'.

"W- Wow..." Rukia stuttered as she rubbed her eyes. From her point of view, she saw Ichigo and a girl fall to the ground, and start up into a rather messy make-out session. "Is... Is that...? Who- Who is that?"

Renji rubbed his chin. "It looks like... It looks like that girl from Ichigo's school! You know... let's see... that Tatsuki girl, no?" He spoke, looking intently at the spiky black-haired girl. "Hey... it is!"

"Tatsuki?!" Rukia spat out loud, which seemingly brought the two apart, the pair rubbing their own lips as if acid had fallen on it.

They were shocked as they looked at Rukia, Ichigo speaking. "R-Rukia! That-"

Rukia faced the other way, trying to avoid their eyes. "I know. You're guys are both-"

"No!" Tatsuki cut in, standing up as quickly. "It's not what you think! It was all an-" She tried to explain. No avail. It seemed like Rukia didn't really want to listen.

Huh?

Rukia turned to her. "It's okay. I'm sure... I'm sure you both will be happy."

Why...

"Rukia!" Ichigo yelled out to her, but she was already running away from the scene. "H- Hey... Rukia!"

Why am I running away?

She ran as fast as she could, and being small and petite, that was really fast.

It's... It's not... It's not like I have feelings for Ichigo... right?

Tatsuki in Seretei: Troublesome work for Urahara-san.

Tatsuki falling on Ichigo: A bruised arm and a kiss that wasn't really meant to happen.

Watching the look on everyone else's face while they both kiss: PRICELESS.

There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's the dating game.

(I felt like adding this... like a small divider.)

Tatsuki and Ichigo scampered as fast as they could away from each other. "H... Hey!" Tatsuki hissed at Ichigo, furiously wiping her mouth. "What was that for?!" She said. "I have a boyfriend!"

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Geez, Tatsuki. You. fell. on. me. It. was. an. accident." He spoke, running a hand through his hair as he sat down. "Besides- hey, wait- you have a boyfriend?"

Tatsuki turned a bright red, which you don't see everyday unless you were complimenting her on how she kciked ass.

"Well..."

"You do, don't you?"

"Well..."

Ichigo cackled as he moved closer to Tatsuki. "Now then. Who is it?" Ichigo asked her.

Tatsuki shook her head. "I... I was... I was just kidding!" She spoke, and it obviously had a hint of... well... a lie. "And... shouldn't you go and chase after Rukia? She's mistaken it for something else."

Ichigo rubbed his head as he saw Rukia's figure disappear from him, again. "I should." He stood up, and brushed his pants.

"I'll see you later then, right?" Tatsuki grinned, giving a sloppy thumbs up. "I hope you can catch your girlfriend."

Ichigo smirked. "She ain't my girlfriend." He turned and started to run, but looked back at the girl. "... and the next time we can talk again, we're going to have a little talk about your boyfriend." He laughed and ran off.

She didn't see his face after that, which had formed into a much more serious expression than before.

"Well..." Matsumoto blinked at Hinamori, a few minutes after she had been informed of all the things that happened in the last ten minutes she had left to leave them along. "... I think I know what happened."

Hinamori brightened up. "Really?"

"Yep." Matsumoto grinned.

"Okay."

"..." Matsumoto nodded.

"Well... aren't you going to tell me?" Hinamori asked impatiently, tapping her foot. "What did I do wrong?"

Matsumoto sighed and spoke to the younger girl. "Remember when Aizen had betrayed the entire Soul Society, and had stabbed you?"

Hinamori nodded. She had remembered, but really chose to store it in the backburner. "Well... yeah. But what does that all have to do with Hitsugaya-kun getting angry? I don't..."

"Hinamori." Matsumoto cut. "Hitsugaya-taichou pretty much tried his best to avenge your life, and almost died because of it. Not only that, you also fell into a coma."

"But, I don't think that has anything to do with-"

"What would do if someone who you protected with all your heart from someone that you knew wasn't good, started to speak highly that evil person, and not you?" Matsumoto asked, and she spoke very seriously.

"Well of course I would!" Hinamori explained. "Who wouldn't? I would- oh."

"You're really dense, you know that, Hina-chan?" Matsumoto giggled.

Hinamori blushed. "... It's not my fault!" She childishly argued, flailing her arms in the air.

"Well, Hinamori, you should go now." Matsumoto closed her eyes. "You should go find Hitsugaya and apologize. You did make him storm out of the room, so do him a favor." She winked. "You know your feelings, neh?"

Hinamori blanked. "... what do you mean, feelings?" She cluelessly walked out of the door. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Matsumoto managed to call out with a laugh. "Just go apologize!" She laughed.

How dense.

Meanwhile, Ishida plucked the strings of his bow. "Any final words?" He shouted to the man, ready to fire his arrow in a split second.

Mayuri was frozen, and Nemu watched as her father was about to get hit by a flaming blue arrow.

Three.

Two.

One.

Ishida let go of his arrow.

But that arrow was stopped by a large, orange, rectangular shield, that made the arrow almost instantly dissapate.

"Ishida-kun!" Orihime shouted at the Quincy. "Why are you doing this?!"

"He's hurt his daughter, my friend, Inoue-san." Ishida lowered his bow a bit, pushing his glasses up. "I won't let him get away with this." He lifted the bow and aimed for Mayuri again.

"But... Ishida-kun!" Orihime tried to reason. "Violence is not the answer! You could always talk to him!"

Ishida scoffed. "Mayuri-taichou," he emphasized the name. "Captain of the 12th Division, and President of the Shinigami Research Institute, talk? Don't make me laugh."

"But!"

"Please, Inoue-san. Move."

"I won't!"

"Move, or I will be forced to move you."

"I won't!"

This wasn't going anywhere.

20 minutes have passed by already.

Hinamori wandered throughout Seretei, trying to find her 'Hitsugaya-kun', to apologize. "Hitsugaya-kun? Where did you go?" She huffed, impatiently wanting to find her white-haired friend.

She turned backwards to check if he was behind her, he usually pops up by then. No luck.

It was the wrong choice too, because she ended up bumping into some shinigami. Two, to be exact.

"Oh, now... who is this girl?" A random shinigami asked.

"Mm." Another said. "She's the lieutenant of our squad." He chuckled. "How cute. What's a pretty little lady like you doing in a place like the Court of Pure Souls?"

"Well..." Hinamori trailed off.

"Need a man to protect you?" The man said, acting as arrogant as can be. "I'm the 5th seat of the 3rd Squad of your division." He winked flirtatiously at her.

Hinamori backed away. "I- I don't need your protection. I'm of a higher rank."

The '5th seat of the 3rd Squad' shinigami laughed. "No matter... I can offer you the protection you need." He coaxed, which irked Hinamori.

She pushed him back. "Are you drunk?" She eyed the man, then at the clock that stood in the middle of the place. "It's only 4:30 in the afternoon, too!"

"We're not drunk, we just want to help you." He cooed, moving closer to Hinamori. She could just smell the alcohol on his breath. "What do you say?"

"I..." She fumbled for her zanpaktou. To knock them out was enough. She felt her sides.

Nothing.

Where was it?

Then, she froze. She remember she had left it in her division's office before she left to visit the 10th Division.

Oh well, there was always kidou.

She put her hands up in front of her and clasped them together. " Bakudou no Ich-" Her hands were quickly held by the other shinigami.

"I'm of the 5th Division, 3rd seat, 3rd squad. Nice to meet you." He whispered in her ear, holding her hands away from each other. She really couldn't do her spells now.

"Get off me!"

"Make us."

Not good.

Hitsugaya stuffed his hands into his pockets. Of all the things Hinamori could say. "Aizen this, Aizen that. Oh, Aizen-taichou, you are my everything!" he mimicked, opening the door to his office.

He had regained his composure and went back into his office, where he was greeted by the lovely Matsumoto. "Ohohoho! Hitsugaya-taichou, have you met with Hinamori yet? Have you... made your move?" She winked.

Hitsugaya rolled his eyes at his vice-captain. "No, I don't think I want to speak to her for today."

"Neh?" She said. "I thought she was headed to apologize to you? It's been... 30 minutes? I'm sure she would've found you."

"Apologize?"

"She wanted to say sorry for making you feel bad." Matsumoto explained to her little captain. "She should've apologized by now."

"... I'll go find her." He finally announced after a second of silence between them.

"Yosh!"

"C'mon, Hinamori-fuku taichou, we'll make your day, neh? Neh? Neh?" One of them coaxed her for the millionth time that day. "What'dja say?" He slurred.

"Let. Me. Go!" She tried to break free. No luck, again.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think we want to." Another said. "We'll just have to make you shut up. No one would care if you were to be kissed by one of us." He hissed.

He pulled into a kiss, but never made it to her lips, his own was almost cut off by a sword.

"Well, I believe I would."

Hitsugaya-kun!

Rukia ran all the way to the 12th division, and plopped down onto the ground, gasping for breath.

"I... I can't belive... I ran... all the way here." She muttered to herself, taking a deep breath in. "What was I thinking?"

"Yeah... W- What were you thinking?"

Rukia's eyes wider, to find Ichigo leaning on the wall, gasping for his own breath. "You're... You're really fast." He gasped for breath once more. He collapsed down beside her, and looked straight at her. "Can we please talk? I can explain."

"I- I have to go." Rukia stood up and walked away.

I really don't want to face you right now.

Ichigo didn't want to lost her again, and grabbed her wrists, pulling her to him.

"Rukia... please. I just want to talk."

Tsukia here!

Hey look. It's the ending of the chapter. I kinda did this like, a day after the last chapter, but I decided to wait. Ohoho. I feel evil. Oh well.

I really do hope this chapter is to your liking, and yeah, I've finally figured out the set pairings! Like definitely, except for one. Still need help.

Nemu or Orihime for Ishida?

Gaah. I'm just stuck on that for some reason.

So... Wow. I got a lot of reviews for the last chapter quickly, and my story alerts rose up by 20. Oh my. I was shocked.

So... In conclusion.

Review,

Review,

And have a nice day! ;D

Extra. Tsukia and Her Miseries.
"Oh, boo hoo!" Tsukia cried out, slamming her head on the computer desk. "I can't think of what else to write! Just 100 words until I can finish this chapter!" She slammed her head on the computer repeatedly, hoping for an idea.

"Hey, mom!" Her sister announced, pointing at her sister, who was in misery. "Tsukia's drowning in misery! Look! Look!"

"Huh?" The mom started towards the computer, and her daughter. "Tsuki, what's wrong?" She glanced at the computer screen. "And what's this?"

Tsukia panicked. I don't want my mom to read this! "Oh... nothing!" She pushed the off button on her computer. "Nothing at all."

"Well, okay then." The mom shrugged and walked away.

Now, imagine Tsukia realizing that she had not saved her story, and that the story had almost been finished.

"Mom, Tsukia's drowning again!"

Now, I sign off, until the next time.

Review!