Author's Note:

Written in Vietnam.

I looooove the beach. I got to go twice during my stay here. :3 The first time, I was kinda overcome with my excitement and forgot to put on sunblock, which resulted in horribly burnt shoulders, slightly burnt arms, an embarrassingly burnt chest, a slightly burnt face, and slightly burn thighs. My burns turned into nice tans, though, so aside from the icky peeling of my shoulders, I'm satisfied.

In any case, this totally would have been up yesterday were fanfiction not being an asshole. But that's okay, I suppose. -sigh- Anyways, a huuumongous thank you to aznjtgirl, Air Sniper, SoullessReaper, Artificial Life Creator, Amciel, xushi, Flying Through Infinity, Charmane, Batsu Espada, Miko-Ceres, FirestormAngelBlaze, KaidaRita, and Jigoku-HI for reviewing the last drabble. I love yooou. ; 3;

And in response to FirestormAngelBlaze, I'm fully Vietnamese and we were visiting some family from my dad's side. And really? Everywhere I went people were trying to shove snails down my throat... More or less. XD

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Kaleidoscope
a Bleach (© Kubo Tite) fanfiction

Theme #51
compensation

Opening Song: "Sanctuary" - Hikaru Utada

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Honestly, Rangiku's graduating ceremony hadn't been as grand and as wonderful as she had expected. Sure, the fact that her face felt as though it were about to fall off might have been a factor, but overall it was just... boring. The majority of the time she just sat in her seat, not listening to the principal and the teachers and the valedictorian and saluditorian. The only time she got up was to receive her diploma, and her recognition lasted a total of five seconds before the next name was called. There was but one upside to the whole thing: the after party.

As was with any party in which the strawberry blonde was present, Rangiku's graduation party was bursting with life. People both drunk and sober were singing and dancing around, Rangiku included. She stopped only when a familiar silver-haired friend slipped into the bar, in which she instantly ran over to greet him.

"Giiiiin!" she squealed as she threw her arms around him in a tight hug.

He took a couple steps backwards in recoil, but laughed as he patted her back while returning the hug. "'Ey, Rangiku."

"C'mon, take a seat!" She more or less dragged him over to the nearest people, where several people had already passed out from alcohol consumption. She paid no mind to them, however, and nudged one over to the side to make room for both her and Gin. "So, you weren't too busy to come celebrate, hmmm?" she asked, though there was no remorse in her tone.

He chuckled. "I always try to make time fer ya, Rangiku." They both knew she wanted to say something to that, though she kept from doing so as to not ruin the mood. "In any case, I got ya a present."

This time, she was the one to recoil. "If it's anything like your last present, I don't want it."

"Darn, and here I thought ya liked the party popper." She glared at him, revealing her obvious disdain for her last present, and he laughed. "Well, anyways, no, it's not. I got ya somethin' else I though ya'd like a little more." He brought out a rectangular box from behind his back, and her eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"Is this what I think it is?"

"Why don't ya open it ta find out?"

She grabbed the box out of his hands and began tearing away at the Christmas wrapping. She gasped as she held it up. "A Hello Kitty tea set!?"

"I remembered ya wantin' one, and I had a mission in the human realm the other day, so I figured givin' it ta ya late was better than never."

His response was a loud squeal and another tight hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're the best, Gin!" She pecked his cheek before hopping to her feet and running towards her friend. "Mayumi! Mayumi, loooook!"

Gin looked after her in surprise and raised a hand to his face, as though confirming the kiss. He lowered his hand a moment later, a smile on his lips.

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Closing Song: "Stairway to Heaven" - Led Zeppelin

Word Count: 517

There are so many cute shirts here, but then they have to go and ruin them by writing stuff like "Have sunny day" on them. -sighs disappointedly-