Hi, this is not crazyfreakazoid but rather a friend. I regret to inform you that all of crazyfreakazoid's stories are discontinued; because crazyfreakazoid passed away in a car accident several months ago.

This chapter was found alongside several other chapters that were incomplete; only this chapter was completed and I published it without changing anything, so please bear with any mistakes that you find.

Rest in peace, crazyfreakazoid.

"Um, H-Hitsugaya-taichō?"

Tōshirō looked up from his paperwork to see a familiar-yet-unfamiliar Shinigami standing before him.

"Yes?"

"I-err…let m-myself in…" She stole a glance at him before hurriedly looking back at the floor. "But for a good reason, of course! Sorry about that."

Normally, Tōshirō would have snapped at her to spit out what she had to say, but he could see that she was really nervous.

"So what's your reason?" He prompted her gently, remembering to smile at her.

The shinigami muttered some gibberish.

Tōshirō frowned as he tried to make out her words.

"What was that?" He smiled to himself secretly. 'Nerves, lucky I was never like-"

His jaw dropped.

"What did you say?"

"Hina-Hinamori-fukutaichou is in tr-trouble…" Came the stuttered reply.

"What?" Tōshirō exclaimed, shooting up from his seat. He knew that Hinamori had been sent to Rukongai to deal with a Hollow situation, he had seen her off personally, but never did he imagine that she would get into trouble.

"I'm never letting her go out again!" Tōshirō growled as he grabbed Hyōrinmaru and burst out of the office.

"The Twelfth reported that she's in Western Rukongai!" The Shinigami shouted after him.

"Wow, that's very good Yanagi! Ya even sent him in the opposite direction!" Gin commented as he appeared from nowhere, clapping his hands. "Bravo!"

Yanagi scowled. "Don't ever make me do that again! I thought he would see through my lies immediately!"

"Yer such a good liar," Gin laughed. "Good thing ya remembered ta mention Hinamori-chan, or else…"

Yanagi panicked. "Omigosh! What if he finds out and comes after meeeeee…"

"Don't worry, yer too easy ta forget," Gin teased. "Plus he'll probably be in Western Rukongai before he starts sensin' fer her reiatsu."

Yanagi moaned, covering her face with her hands. "I don't wanna be a popsicle!"

"Come on," Gin took hold of her hand and led her outside. "We'll be done before he gets back and no one will be able to guess that it's us!"

"Gin-chan! I got it!" Yachiru bounced up to the two of them, waving a scroll.

"Morning, Kusajishi-fukutaichō," Yanagi greeted as Gin took the scroll from Yachiru to study its contents with a somewhat serious look on his face.

Yachiru smiled at Yanagi blankly.

Yanagi sighed. She had heard stories about the pink-haired fukutaichō's 'memory'.

"Never mind, you probably don't remember me."

"I do!" Yachiru insisted.

"No you don't!"

"Yes I do!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Shhh!" Gin stepped in. "Gettin' caught ain't fun!"

"So…What are we doing again?" Yanagi asked. All she knew was that Gin had dragged her out of the office and asked her to 'get Hitsugaya-taichō away from his office' and Seireitei in general.

"Well…"Gin started, laughing. "It-"

"It's gonna be Shiro-chan's birthday real soon, so we're gonna give him a present!" Yachiru cut in. "And since you helped, we'll put your name on the gift as well!"

"And the gift is…?" Yanagi asked warily. 'Whatever kind of gift that requires Hitsugaya-taichō to be out…Can't be good…Especially with these two…'

She looked at the two in question.

"Hey, why are you guys suddenly so far away?"

Gin grinned. "Come see! It's our present ta Shiro-chan~! He'll 'love' it!"

Yanagi walked across the courtyard and looked at the scroll.

"Th-this…is?"

"The Wakame Ambassador! I borrowed it from Bya-kun's room! Yachiru announced proudly. "I made sure not to be seen!"

'Okay, by that she probably means she stole it…' Yanagi facepalmed. 'Great, now Kuchiki-taichō AND Hitsugaya-taichō are going to come after me…'

Without warning, Gin unsheathed Shinsō and aimed it at one of the pine trees that decorated the courtyard.

"Alright, I'm gonna use this tree!"

Yanagi felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Please tell me that you aren't going to turn that," She pointed to the innocent-looking pine tree.

"Into that!" She pointed at the Wakame Ambassador on the scroll agitatedly.

"Why, how did ya know?" Gin smiled brightly. "Yer growin' smarter, Yanagi!" He patted her head. "See, bein' a Shinigami ain't so bad!"

Yanagi stared at him in horror.

"The world is screwed when I'm smarter than you!" She pointed an accusing finger at him. 'Wait…Did I just insult myself? ...Never mind…'

"I'm leaving!"

"Aww, the fun's just startin'! 'Sides, I need someone ta help me see if I'm cuttin' it right."

Yanagi pointed at Yachiru, who was chasing a butterfly.

"Aww, come on!" Gin whined. "Yer chicken?"

"Yes." Yanagi replied swiftly.

Gin stared at her.

"What?" Yanagi exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air in exasperation. "I don't fancy being a popsicle nor being minced meat!"

Gin sighed. "Well, at least see how the first cut goes."

Yanagi shrugged, seeing no harm in doing that. "Okay."

"Ikorose, Shinsō!"

"That's wrong!" Yanagi grabbed the scroll from Gin. "The head is curved! With, uhh…curved ridges! Now try it again!"

"Fine, fine." Gin muttered, secretly pleased that he had roped her in. "Iko-"

"Is it just me, or does it seem pink in here?" Yanagi interrupted.

"Pink?" Gin felt a murderous aura behind him. 'Oh crap.'

The two of them turned around to see a fuming mad Kuchiki Byakuya. (Yachiru was still chasing that butterfly.)

Pink petals danced in the air, covering the surroundings.

'Everywhere I turn, they're there!' Yanagi sweat-dropped; recalling stories of Byakuya's pretty but deadly bankai.

"How dare you…do this…" Byakuya intoned. "Bankai. Senbonzakura Kageyoshi." The pink petals converged and fell on them like a deadly pink wave, blinding them with all that glowing pink.

'Oh crap!' Both Yanagi and Gin thought.

When the petals cleared, the two of them immediately inspected themselves for any missing appendages.

"Look!" Yachiru forgot about her butterfly. "Bya-kun's good!"

They looked at the tree, which was in a perfect image of the Wakame Ambassador, complete with eyes, nose, eyebrows and mouth.

"How dare you do this…" Byakuya repeated, diverting their attention back to him.

"Without me?"

All of them stared at Byakuya as if he had just thrown away his kenseikan and scarf, and started prancing about in front of them like a schoolgirl while singing cheesy songs from the Human World.

Byakuya had a faint hint of a smile on his face as he said, "The shape can be rather tricky, far too difficult for a zanpakutou such as yours."

Gin noted the pink petals around him and wisely decided to keep silent.

"It takes practice." Byakuya continued and suddenly dumped some branches and cloth on the ground.

"Here, I took the liberty of providing the cloth for the headband and the branches for the arms."

He shunpo-ed away.

"What the?" Yanagi said, looking to Gin for an explanation. "Did I just see what I just saw?"

Gin continued to stare into the distance.

"What I want ta know, is where he managed ta keep those."

"What. On. Earth." Tōshirō stared at his tree, now known as Ambassador Seaweed, in shock.

Drawing closer, he saw a piece of paper around the trunk of the tree saying "Gorgeous Artwork courtesy of Kuchiki Byakuya, Sixth Division Captain, Twenty-Eighth Head of the Noble house of Kuchiki, blah blah blah."

Scrutinising the 'tree' carefully, Tōshirō recognised the trimming of the tree into its transformation as the Wakame Ambassador as Senbonzakura's strokes.

Somewhere in Seireitei, Byakuya frowned over a report of the joint Hollow Hunting Expedition by the Sixth and Thirteenth Divisions.

'It sounds dangerous…' His hand went over to the teacup at his side and he took a sip, pondering over the report.

He almost spit the tea out.

Yet, when one was the Head of the noble house of Kuchiki, one most certainly did not spit.

Hence, he swallowed down the cold tea and it was the teacup's turn to be frowned at by him.

'Strange…I could have sworn that it was a steaming cup of tea a few seconds ago…'

After frowning at it for a long while, Byakuya shrugged and gave up.

'It must be the tea…Honestly; bad tea is just about as common as a haori these days…'

"Renji."

"Hai, taichou?" Byakuya's red-headed lieutenant instantly answered.

"Brew me a fresh cup of tea." Byakuya ordered. "And use the secret stash."

Renji stared at Byakuya.

Byakuya stared back.

Renji wordlessly conceded, leaving the room hastily.

Far off, Byakuya heard the ominous sound of thunder.

'The weather is erratic today.' He observed, a sudden chill running down his spine as he looked at the darkening clouds.

'I need more carp.' Byakuya dismissed his earlier thoughts as nothing, turning his attention towards the disappearing fish in his pond.

'It's getting cold…I wonder how the Ambassador Seaweed tree will hold up under bad weather…'

Tōshirō's eyes twitched as he watched various Shinigami pose with the tree for photographs.

One of the braver Shinigami dared get his attention by shoving something into his hands.

"Hey Hitsugaya-taichō, could you take a picture for us?"

"KUCHIKIIIII!"

I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter of Once More;

Check out the story by poohxebony "Never Alone for Christmas", a continuation of sorts for Once More that she wrote in honor of crazyfreakazoid.

Merry Christmas