Hatake Kakashi nonchalantly dodged to the left as a gaping maw attempted to bite him in half. He had a bored expression on his face as he raised a leg and kicked the offending hollow's mask in, causing it to disintegrate into spirit particles.

"Shunsui-kun," he called with a tone to match his expression, "You let another one go."

His wayward fukutaicho, Kyoraku Shunsui, scowled as sweat dripped down his face. He had a foot pressed against a particularly large and angry adjuchas and both hands on his Zanpakuto while he was trying not to be eaten himself.

"I'm a little BUSY here, Taicho!" he growled out, forcing the hollow back with his foot. The force of the kick made it stumble backwards, which allowed Shunsui to slash its mask with a quick downward strike.

He didn't get a chance to sigh in relief as another hollow clawed at his shoulder, but he rolled under its arm and with another quick movement, it was gone as well.

Kakashi sighed and took out his own 'Zanpakuto'. "I guess I have to do everything myself."

It didn't seem like the man moved at first, but all of a sudden the rest of the hollows surrounding them roared like a flock of angry bees as the entire area was soon bathed in more spirit particles.

Shunsui sagged to the ground, plopping onto his back. "Damn it," he wheezed, "I hate work. I hate hollows. I hate you, Kakashi-taicho."

The silver-haired man sauntered up to his partner cockily. "Maa, I love you too, Shunsui-kun," he smirked from under his mask.

Shunsui replied by flipping him off.

Chapitre Onze: aka, The Montage Chapter

Behind the 12th Division's headquarters was a large, grassy field with training posts grouped here in there, scattered about the sizable expanse. Bisecting it directly through the middle was a small, calm river that continued onwards, into the 13th Division's territory. Over it, right in the middle of the field, was a low wooden bridge. Most shinigami in the Division tended to jump over the stream, but there were a select few that tended to take walks, with said bridge as one of their destinations.

One such shinigami that liked to stop by the bridge was Haruno Sakura.

She listlessly swung her bare feet as she sat on the edge of the bridge, her toes just grazing the surface of the water. If there was one thing that she disliked about being a shinigami, no, about being immortal in general, it was boredom. Her other selves held no qualms about living forever, but she, in particular, was feeling a bit…empty lately. Her friends and other selves kept themselves busy with their own hobbies, such as repeatedly trying to rape Namikaze Fumiko in Makoto's case, or tea ceremonies in Kenshin's, but she never really got into those things.

Ever since Naruto had rescinded his orders and told them to remain in Soul Society for 'a bit longer', which of course mean another few hundred years, there was nothing that had managed to peak her curiosity. Well, there was the – admittedly beautiful – Vasto Lorde that had snuck into Naruto's camp last night, but that was with him, not her. Well, considering that they were virtually the same person, she supposed that she, too, was dealing with that; it just wasn't happening to this particular body.

The pink-headed vassal sighed disparagingly, the act displacing several long strands of her bubblegum colored hair. She leaned forward and positioned her elbows on top of her calves so she could rest her chin on her knuckles. Underneath her breath, she sang mockingly, "I'm bored, bored, booooored… Boredy, boredy, booooorreeedd… Bored, bored, bored…"

"So why don't you find something to do?" a voice suddenly asked from behind her.

She didn't even turn around to greet her guest. "Hullo, 'Kashi-kun," she greeted glumly.

Hatake Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow. "What's got you so down? You've been blocking us out, and it's not like you. Even Anko is becoming concerned."

Sakura looked back at him, grinning faintly. "I dunno, it's just… there's nothing anymore that even remotely interests me anymore…" She sighed, turning back to the flowing water. "And I love my Division, don't get me wrong, but everything is so…so ordinary at this point, it's become boring."

Kakashi chuckled and sank down next to her, folding his legs on top of each other. "I think I know what the problem is," he casually tossed at her.

Sakura tilted her head to give him a deadpan stare. "Oh?" she voiced sarcastically. "Enlighten me, then, please. I don't know what you're thinking with our links closed and I don't feel like opening it up righ now."

Her semi-masked counterpart crinkled his eye and ruffled her hair, causing her to scowl at him.

"It's simple, if you really think about it," he responded slyly.

"…well?" she demanded impatiently after the man stayed silent for several minutes.

His eye upturned happily. "You've got wanderlust, my dear."

She stared at him with a deadpan expression.

"What? I'm serious!" Kakashi exclaimed, clutching his hand to his chest in mock indignation.

"No, I know you are," she admitted, "but I never figured that you would be the one to point it out."

"Well, who were you expecting?" he asked curiously.

"…Kenshin."

Somewhere in the outskirts of the Rukongai, a certain redheaded shinigami sneezed.

"Hinaaaaaaa-chaaaaaan~!" Anko called, bounding over the 4th Division compound walls.

"Oi!" an irritated Tsunade called, emerging from the inner sanctum of her headquarters as soon as she heard Anko's voice. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Anko's head whipped back and forth, a hand above her eyes. "Ne, ne, I'm looking for Hina-chan. You seen her?"

Tsunade refrained from decking her in the face. Technically, that would be hitting herself in the face anyway.

"Are you serious?" she asked instead.

"Eh?" The purple-haired woman blinked. "Yeah, I'm looking for Hina-chan. I haven't seen her in a while. Gaara-kun for that matter, either. And I can't sense them like normal."

The blonde medic performed a facepalm. "How are we…no, never mind," she mumbled. Louder, she addressed her companion. "They were put into stasis, remember?"

"What? Really? Why?"

With a straight face, Tsunade said, "Because the author needed to fill in a plot hole or seven and came up with bullshit excuses on the fly."

Anko stared at the woman a little strangely. "What?"

"…nothing. Anyway, being that their main specialty is spying, and we're currently in a time of peace, they were put into stasis because they aren't needed at the moment and it conserves energy for our main body," Tsunade explained.

Anko nodded at her. "Oh, right, right. The Byakugan and Gaara-kun's sand-eye thingy. Gotcha." She pondered on that for a moment then deflated. "Aw man, I was gonna take her out for a drink. Why don't you come with me instead?"

Tsunade rolled her eyes and crossed her arms under her breasts. "Go with Makoto! Isn't she your regular drinking buddy?"

The yellow-eyed woman waved a dismissive hand. "Nah, she's busy doing who knows what, and you know how she gets when she's disturbed."

Both women shuddered momentarily.

They were saved from any more awkward conversation by the timely arrival of Kakashi and Sakura.

"Yo!" Kakashi greeted, holding up the peace sign.

"Hey, guys!" Sakura smiled nervously at them, recovering from the crouch she landed in. "I've got news!"

"What is it?" Tsunade inquired.

"Well, the thing is…I'm planning on leaving the Soul Society," she confessed. Upon seeing disbelieving looks, she hastily reassured them. "No, I'm not going to meet up with Naruto or anything like that, but…I was thinking of exploring the Rukongai and the outer territories."

Anko and Tsunade stared hard at the woman, making her squirm in place. Glancing at each other, they nodded and each grabbed hold of one of Sakura's arm's.

"What the…! H-Hey, what are you doing! Leggo of me!"

Kakashi sweatdropped as he watched the two dragged Sakura off, leaving him to his own devices. "Erm…okay…?"

Recently promoted Vice-Captain Retsu Unohana was enjoying a nice walk after training with her friend Ukitake Jushiro when she came across a somewhat odd sight.

"Stop! No! Let me go! I don't wanna goooo!"

Sakura-taicho was being forcefully dragged by both Tsunade-sama and Anko-taicho.

"You're coming with us, you're going to get drunk, and that's FINAL!" her blonde teacher roared at the pinkette.

While she did so, Anko somehow tied a gag one-handedly around the woman's mouth as they continued on.

"Ne, Tsu-chan we should invite Fumi-chan and Sano-kun!" Anko giggled at her friend as they faded into the distance.

Unohana blinked once, twice, and then quickened her pace towards her 4th Division personal quarters.

"Perhaps there was something in that water I drank…" she mumbled distractedly.

She could feel it bubbling up in her gut, threatening to get out as she gazed at the scene.

It was overwhelming, this feeling.

Being that she was never one to hide her feelings, without further ado, she let it all out.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH~!"

Somewhere on the human plane, a puppy died, turned into a hollow and was promptly slain by a patrolling shinigami.

Isshin cringed at the sound of the maniacal laughter. "Ah, Yoruichi-san, I don't think evil laughter is your strong suit," he hedged nervously, slowly stepping away from his friend.

Kisuke grinned at the spectacle. "Really? I thought it was cool!"

"Forget that, this has got to be the best training ground ever!" Yoruichi shouted excitedly, pumping her fist into the air.

Tessai pushed his glasses up, and they sparkled ominously in the faux daylight. "I'm glad you like it, Yoruichi-san. It took many long hours to make this place."

Immediately, both he and Kisuke were grabbed in a tight hug. "Ooooh, you guys are awesome!"

"Hey, what about me?" Isshin mewled pathetically, confounded as to why he wasn't included in the group hug.

Yoruichi fixed a glare at him. "Because I know you, and you didn't do a thing to help out."

An invisible arrow shot the scruffy black-haired man in the heart. Crocodile tears poured out of his eyes as an aura of depression settled over him.

"S-So mean…"

Somewhere in the outskirts of the Rukongai, a certain redheaded shinigami was mobbed by bishonen fangirls, alerted to his presence by the sneeze, and nobody heard him scream.

"So," Naruto started off, scratching the back of his head, "What's your name?"

The blonde hollow, still lightly blushing at his presence, looked at him in surprise. She mumbled something in a low, whispery voice but Naruto couldn't understand it.

Naruto's mouth was scrunched in an odd frown. "Hmm…"

Quickly, he flashed through some hand seals and touched his throat. "Can you understand me now?"

"Oh! Y-yes…"

He nodded in relief. "Okay, that's good. So, as I was asking before, what's your name? Mine's Naruto," he said, grinning.

Her blush seemed to intensify as she whispered out, "My name is T-Tia Harribel, Master…"

"Master? Huh?" he asked bewilderedly. "What are you talking about?"

Despite the redness of her face, she looked at him determinedly. "You are my new master."

Naruto nearly groaned. He knew that look well. Many a time he had seen it on one of his other selves' faces. As soon as the expression came upon the hollow girl's face, he knew he had no choice. Well, except to leave her here to die, but he wasn't a heartless bastard.

Deciding to put his qualms aside, he flashed her a megawatt smile. "Well, then, Harribel-chan," he announced, mixing up her last name with her first name, "It's nice to meet you!"

He didn't count on her fainting – for the second time, but he didn't know that.

Author's Note: aka, 'The Excuse II'

Alright, I probably lost some fans again for the lack of updates again, but that's to be expected. I don't like to dick around with my readers, but I had some legit reasons…again.

For one thing, Microsoft Windows XP – yes, I know it's 'old' – is a fickle bitch who is also really sensitive in that one small problem happens and you're fucked. That's what happened back in late August – I was totally set to publish this chapter. All of a sudden, shit happens and my laptop is dead as dead with the blue screen of death. It took me and my dad three and a half long weeks to fix that crap, then another two weeks to get it back in working order; that sucked. And, of course, everything was wiped clean, so that sucked too.

And senior year of high school (in the U.S.) is a hell of a lot harder than what most people tell me – also, fuck physics! Yeah, there's that, and I was and still am applying for colleges, so that takes up a lot of my time, with the essays, forms, letters, etcetera, etcetera.

Since I'll be busy with real life and the like, I figured I'd toss this out – even though it's more of a joke chapter than anything else – to show that I wasn't dead. I'll probably repost something much better when I have the time.

Consider the story on yet another hiatus, but that was kind of obvious. Anyway, enjoy it or don't, but it might be a long while 'til I update again.