Author's Note on the bottom! Wow, 350 reviews!
Dedicated to The hero of time 2005 for being the 350th reviewer!
Edit: Beta'd version up! Thanks to the Goddess of the Crimson Sand!
Of Kitties and Letters.
Orihime and Ishida, arms clinked together, walked down through Seireitei, wandering aimlessly through the shops. "I didn't know there were shops here," Ishida commented, bringing an item to his face and peering into it. It was a snowglobe, reading, 'I love Seireitei!' "I didn't even know they had tourists here," he chuckled. Orihime laughed along with him, pulling out a small t-shirt from the bundles of large t-shirt in a box.
"That's so funny, Ishida-kun," she smiled. "Although I think that there would be a lot of people from Rukongai coming in! They should have food here too!"
"What would they serve?"
"Well," Orihime put a finger to her lips. "There should be lots and lots of cheeseburgers! Cheeseburgers and wasabi bento box!" she cheered. "That would be delicious, don't you think Ishida-kun?"
"D- Delicious?" More like disgusting. "Eh..." She never gave him time to answer, thankfully. "Well, I think that they do need some quality food around here, y'know?" Was she reading his mind?
Ishida nodded carefully, treading along with the happy-go-lucky girl. "Y- Yeah." Ishida was truly a ladies' man.
Finally, he gave out a straight question. "Inoue-san. Why are we on this date anyways?" he questioned curiously, facing the girl who rummaged around the bargain baskets.
"Mm." Orihime put a finger to her lips. "Well, I don't know," she told him truthfully. "Matsumoto said that I had to ask you on a date before Nemu-san was... or else I would go and--"
He blinked in surprise. "Nemu-san was going to ask me on a date?"
"Yeah, and--"
"Really?" he asked again. Orihime looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Ishida-kun," she pouted, "Just because you wanted to go on a date with Nemu-san, it doesn't mean you have to cut off what I say!" He stumbled back.
"W- What?" he blabbered on and on. "You- you're kidding. Let's get some ice cream!"
"There are no ice cream parlors here, Ishida-kun."
BAM.
Oh, there he goes again stumbling.
"Well," Urahara commented, petting the black cat before him, "Kurosaki-kun and Rukia-san was a bust." He rolled his eyes lazily, rubbing the head of the kitty. "What now?"
"I don't think it was all bad," the kitty purred, jumping off Urahara's lap. "I'd think that we helped speed up the process of this game," Yoruichi pointed out. "And now we can go on to someone else."
"I can't think of any couple that I'd like to play around with right now..." Urahara thought out loud. "Why? Do you have any suggestions Yoruichi? I'd love to hear them."
"I've got one in mind," mused Yoruichi.
"Then don't keep it in, do tell."
"You know that captain in the Tenth Division?" she asked. "You know, the one with that drunken vice-captain we saw at that one party?" Yoruichi described a bit, obviously talking about Matsumoto.
"Yeah, I think so," Urahara piped, fumbling with his green hat. "Toushirou-kun? The one at my birthday party?" Yoruichi laughed cheekily.
"Exactly."
"Well, then. What about Toushirou-kun?" he asked, eyeing the black kitty, who sparkled in delight. "What are we gonna do with him?"
"Well, haven't you noticed his old friend, Hinamori, of the Fifth Division?" She asked, and he nodded. "I'm starting to notice that they spend a little bit more time together... and yet, I've heard that they're not dating."
"Oh, no!" Urahara gasped in glee. "That's perfect. I seem to recall as well, that Toushirou-kun gets slightly jealous when people start to flirt with her. That could be to our advantage, ne?"
"Great minds think alike, Urahara. We're geniuses." Yoruichi smiled. "Let's devise a plan."
"I forgot to do my division's work!" Hinamori squealed in agony, the thought popping out of nowhere. Hitsugaya raised his eyebrows.
"You've been visiting my squad everyday for the past week, and you haven't done any work at all?" he scoffed at the girl. "You're really, really lazy, Hinamori. Geez, it's not like the work is going to disappear when you do." Well, that's what Matsumoto thinks.
"Moe, Shirou-chan!" she pouted. "It's not my fault. I like visiting you." She made an excuse. "And it's not like you visit me!" Hinamori stuck out her tongue playfully.
Hitsugaya's eye twitched. "Hey! I do visit you!" He grumbled. "It's just... you're never there."
"Oh really?"
"Really." It got quiet after that, they both ran out of witty banter.
He rolled his eyes at her, and after a brief silence, Hitsugaya looked up into the air. Peering closer... it was a shinigami. Falling.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"
The two sat in brief silence in Jushirou's office. Ichigo pawed on the ground with his foot, while Rukia played with the side of her uniform. Usually, they'd be at it, on and on, non-stop, arguing about random things that occurred the days before, but now...
They had absolutely nothing.
"Ichigo?" Rukia spoke, twirling her hair with her fingers. "Can I ask you something?"
Ichigo nodded in consent. "Depends. What is it?" he mumbled to her, his gaze set on hers. "Better not be asking me to go get something for you, 'cuz like hell I won't. You'd have to-"
"What would you think if I were to..." She trailed off, making Ichigo wonder, What was she going to say?
"Were to?" His voice raised a bit, in concern and curiosity though.
"Were to..." she paused, gulped in a mouthful of air. "If I were to like Renji?" She finally said it. In the end, Ichigo had not expected that of all things.
Ichigo froze slightly on the spot, taken aback by what she said. "What'd you say? You like Renji?" Harmless question.
"What would you say if I did?" Another harmless question.
"Well," Rukia put her head down, dodging his eyes, waiting for his answer. Ichigo rubbed his chin, as if he were deep in thought. He wasn't. "I'd say that I wouldn't mind." Harmless answer, I think not.
"Oh..." She was slightly disappointed. "Okay."
It was silent after that again. Silence they both really didn't want-- who did? Finally, furrowing his brows, "So... do you?" Ichigo asked monotonously, leaning on the nearest wall closest to him. "Just wondering. Do you like Renji, Rukia?"
"Well," Rukia had stopped fiddling with her hair and uniform, and went straight to her thumbs, twiddling them furiously. "I... I... think that I..."
"Kira-kun?!" Hinamori rushed to the fallen shinigami. "Kira-kun! Are you alright? Where did you fall from?" She asked worriedly, helping the poor guy up. The blonde boy shakily raised his finger.
"Pretty fall." He said dizzily, staggering with each step, finally falling in a heap. Hitsugaya chuckled.
"He's drunk. I bet he and Matsumoto went on a drunken rampage," he mused cheekily, which followed up with a deep glare from Hinamori.
"Hitsugaya-kun, that's not that nice."
"Well, being drunk isn't nice either, Hinamori," he retorted, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "We'll call for help."
"No need!" A voice appeared out of nowhere. "Help is here!" it cheered-- Hitsugaya spun around to see who it was.
"Kisuke Urahara?" He asked in awe, glancing upon a man and a cat running up to Kira. "And... a cat? What are you doing here?" he questioned again, patiently waiting for his answer. "I never noticed you here."
"A cat?" Yoruichi scoffed, "A mere cat? You've got to be kidding, juuban-taichou." With that, she poofed into a woman.
Hinamori covered her eyes, face plastered red-- and Hitsugaya scoffed.
"Pfft."
Yoruichi blinked in amazement. Usually, besides Urahara, the men would go crazy. But this-- this boy! Scoffing at her body, how rude. "... where's the surprise?" she asked the shorter guy.
"... I'm not that surprised." Hitsugaya commented casually. "The drunken Matsumoto does that on a daily basis." He groaned at the memories of nights before. The terror. "Every night, I'd have to lock her in her room. Don't ask how I got her in the room."
"Hmph."
"Hitsugaya-kun, you saw a naked woman?" Hinamori's eyes snapped open wide. "Hitsugaya-kun... are you a virgin still?!"
Hitsugaya almost fell back in shock, but regained his composure. "I-I am!" he responded shakily. Urahara, who held Kira up, could see from the corner of his eye that Hitsugaya looked like a beautiful red fire truck right at the moment. "My, my. Hitsugaya-kun. You've already ruined yourself?"
"I JUST SAID I'M A VIRGIN!" he shouted in utter annoyance, his voice echoing throughout the place.
VIRGIN
VIRGIN
VIRGIN
VIRGIN
"Yes, yes, we know," Urahara clucked. "And now, the whole world does too." Urahara and Yoruichi shunpoe'd out right after; Hitsugaya's reiatsu was flaring up. They didn't want to die yet.
"Hitsugaya-kun?" Hinamori quietly walked to the boy. "H- Hitsugaya-kun?" Hinamori saw Hitsugaya stiffened, eyelids lowered over his eyes, a dangerous aura around him.
"Yes?" He hissed. Well, Hitsugaya tried to say it in a nicer way; it just didn't come out right. He wasn't really in the mood.
"I- I'll... just go now..." She sweat dropped, taking baby steps away from him. "Bye!"
----
"Oh, yes!" Soi Fon jumped in glee, almost ripping the envelope into pieces. You see, she had written a letter earlier to Yoruichi, and now, she was about to receive her answer. She opened it up to see her own letter before her, as well as the response on the bottom.
Dear Yoruichi,
Oh, I cannot express all my feelings for you. You are the light of my world, the apple of my eye. How I long to be by your side, how I long to see your face once more near mine. I truly love the way you talk, it reminds me of an angel. Did it hurt when you fell from heaven? I'm sure you didn't climb up from hell. I love you. I love you divine. Won't you please be mine?
Love, Soi Fon.
K. -Yoruichi.
Soi Fon almost collapsed.
----
I hope this isn't bad. I'll be sad, since I snuck on to finish this. Hehe.
LOL. Guess what? I'm grounded. Oh well. I think that I'll still have time to sneak on. Wheee. It's cuz I got a 78 in math for not turning in homework. Oh, wow. I'm so smart I never did my homework. Haha.
And you know what else? All my fanfiction emails were counted as spam, so I never noticed them! Gyaah.
So, please rate and review and stuff! It's really appreciated, and I'll be sure to reply to them, now that I know the alerts work. Bleh.
I also recommend watching The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya if you haven't seen the anime! I just finished it. In one day. Cheers!
-Tsukia, tma.