Hello! Welcome to From Under the Sakura Tree, or just FUST. This story follows Kuchiki Byakuya's son and Kyoraku Shunsui's daughter- their friendship, love, and past. I thought of this awhile ago, but finally got my fingers typing, since I've been kind of busy with Shadowed Angel :) It's also going to be about Byakuya and Shunsui's relationships with their children's mothers (which remains a mystery for now...)... The pairings are slightly random, but have some type of canon back story that makes everything make sense ^.^

Disclaimer- I do not own Bleach!

Enjoy :)

Kyoraku Harumi smiled absentmindedly as she stared up at the sakura tree she sat under. The pink flowers were in full blossom and were the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. They made her think of everything that she loved in her life- her father, her Zanpakuto, springtime- those small flowers made her feel happy. Whenever she looked at them, she felt her worries float away. She never thought those flowers could make her have to endure an entire day of him.

The usually cheerful Harumi frowned. Ugh, if there was one person she did not want to spend a day with, it would be him. That arrogant, snobby, rich, noble... he had to be the one person she hated. True, she hadn't seen him in years, but when she learned that he had graduated the Shinigami Academy a year earlier then she had- her dislike flared up again.

Her father had told her that he was a year or two older than she was, but she didn't think he deserved to graduate earlier than she did... his father probably bribed the headmaster. What a fool. Hirumi wondered if he had even been able to achieve Shikai yet... probably not. Then again, his dad was pretty intense, so maybe he had.

"Ah, Harumi-chan, why are you frowning?" She perked up, searching for whoever had spoken. She saw a familiar tall white haired captain heading towards her. She smiled.

"Ohayo, Ukitake-san!" She jumped to her feet to greet her "uncle". He chuckled at her new enthusiasm. He ruffled her dark hair like he had when she was a little kid.

"You looked like you were pretty deep in thought, Harumi-chan," Ukitake said, resting a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at the man and sighed.

"Papa said that we have to go to the cherry blossom viewing party today," She pouted, crossing her arms.

"Is that a bad thing?" Ukitake blinked a few times. He looked surprised at her sudden bad mood. He removed his hand from her shoulder and took a seat on the stone bench underneath the sakura tree. The captain motioned for her to join him. She did so.

"Well, I don't mind the flowers, in fact, I love the viewing!" Harumi began, "It's just that the location could've been better... A lot better..." The end of her sentence was mumbled, but she knew that Ukitake had heard her.

"Oh... I see..." the white haired man held his chin in thought. "That's right... it's at Kuchiki-san's house."

"Precisely," she sighed, leaning back against the trunk of the tree. Her day off from school just had to be spent at the Kuchiki manor with her favorite person.

"Why do you not want to go? Do you not like Kuchiki-san? Does he scare you?"

"No!" She was quick to answer. Kuchiki-sama was not the one who she didn't like. Sure, he was a little intimidating, but she had grown up around him, so he didn't bother her. It was his son.

God, his son.

"Is it the young Kuchiki?" Bingo. Harumi groaned and buried her face in her hands. "Harumi-chan, he can't be that bad." Ukitake tried to reason with the frustrated girl.

"He is!" She exclaimed, waving her hands. "He's the worst!"

"If I remember correctly," the captain said, gazing out at the 8th Squad barracks that were surrounding the courtyard, "the last time you saw Kuchiki-san's son, was," he paused to count on his fingers, "four years ago?"

"Yes..." she bit her lip, looking at the ground.

"He may have changed, Harumi-chan, you never know!" Ukitake smiled comfortingly. He has a point... She thought sheepishly.

"I guess you're right, Ukitake-san..." she gave a small smile. "I guess I'm just going to have to see what happens!"

"Now you are acting like the Harumi I know," He patted her on the leg. "I'm sure everything will be fine. Now, you better get ready, since I just heard Nanao-san shout at Shunsui to wake up and that he was going to be late." The man chuckled at his best-friend's knack for sleeping-in and being late.

"I suppose you're right..." Harumi rose, picking up her Zanpakuto that was leaning against the tree. "Ja ne, Ukitake-san!" She bowed to the captain before running to find her father.

"Ja ne, Harumi-chan!" Ukitake chuckled.

Hirumi burst into her father's room, glaring at the man, who was still sleeping.

"Papa!" She shouted, "We're going to be late!"

"Uhhh..." Captain Kyoraku groaned and rolled over. "I don't wanna go..." He mumbled.

"I've been trying to wake him up for thirty minutes, already..." Nanao stood next to the girl, shaking her head. "He's so lazy it's impossible to get him to do anything."

"Papa! It was your idea to go in the first place! Kuchiki-taichou will be mad if we don't show up!" His daughter stood over her father's half asleep form, yelling at him. When she saw him ignore her, she searched around the room to find something to use to wake him up. Her eyes fell upon his favorite pink woman's kimono hanging on a hook. Oh, yeah...

She marched up and snatched it off the hook. His hat was hanging next to it. She decided to take that too.

"Papa, I have your kimono and hat, if you don't get up, I'm going to-"

"I'm up!" the man jolted awake and stared hurtfully at his daughter. "You wouldn't really destroy them would you?"

"Papa," Harumi sighed, extending the garments, "please just get ready. I don't want to go either, but we have to." The captain grumbled, but quickly took his favorite articles of clothing and disappeared into his bathroom.

"He forgot his captain's haori," Nanao observed dryly. Moments later, the sleepy man came back into the room and picked up his captain's robe.

"I forgot my haori..." he said before he vanished into the bathroom again. Harumi and Nanao exchanged dull glances. The captain's daughter shook her head and chuckled at her dad's unbelievably lazy personality. Hopefully, he would be more awake after washing his face and changing. Hopefully.

Captain Kyoraku emerged looking more refreshed and a lot more awake than he had two minutes prior.

"Ah, my favorite ladies! They have saved me from the evil wrath of Kuchiki-taichou!" he joked loudly.

"Not yet, Papa, we still have to get there." Harumi said, smiling. Kyoraku, his daughter, and his lieutenant walked out of the building and used shun-po to quickly make it to the Kuchiki's flower viewing party.

Thankfully, they arrived on time, cutting it extremely close, but getting there at the exact time the other captain had told them to.

"Ah, Byakuya, good morning," Kyoraku said cheerily.

"Good morning, Kyoraku-taichou," The head of the Kuchiki clan said shortly, nodding.

"Good morning, Kuchiki-taichou," Nanao and Harumi exchanged greetings with the 6th Squad captain.

"Where's your son?" Kyoraku asked. Harumi resisted the urge to groan and glare at her father.

"I believe he is in the house..." Byakuya called over a servant to fetch him. The young girl smiled and ran into the house. Of course. Everyone drooled over the young Kuchiki. At the Academy, all the girls wanted to go out with him... it was sickening.

"Kuchiki-taichou," Harumi said, trying to destroy the image of her friends flirting with the captain's son, "which squad is Tatsuo in?" One of her friends had told her... but she forgot.

"Currently, he is in the third," Byakuya took sip of tea, "Which squad were you looking to join after your graduation?" He glanced at Kyoraku and Nanao, as if asking them if they were going to automatically accept her.

"Possibly the 13th, but I really have no preference," Harumi said, hands cupping her tea as she stared at the tea leaves shifting at the bottom. "I'd be grateful to even get in one right after graduation!" She smiled sweetly.

"You have already achieved Shikai," Byakuya noted, "many squads will wish to recruit you. I'm sure some have already approached you." His slate gray eyes stared into her, making her try not to squirm uncomfortably.

"Oh, well... not really, I mean..." She blushed. She was lying. Almost every single squad, excluding the 2nd, 6th, 12th, and 11th, had at one point in time, suggested her joining. But she had merely smiled and said, "Of course!" to each representative that came to her. She wondered if people asked her just because she was Kyoraku's daughter, or if they really thought that she could do it.

"The 6th squad would most definitely appreciate another Shikai user, since we are currently without a lieutenant and need stronger seated members to support the squad while we search for another lieutenant." Harumi's heart fluttered with excitement. She was being asked to join Kuchiki Byakuya's squad! Sure, she didn't like his son, but his squad was another story!

"Oh my gosh! Uhm, I don't know what to say!" She was literally at a loss for words. Her father and Nanao were just as shocked. As far as they knew, Kuchiki Byakuya didn't exactly hold the Kyoraku family in high regard... "Arigato Gozaimas, Kuchiki-taichou!" Harumi was beaming, her cheery personality showing in full.

"Think nothing of it, Kyoraku-san." He answered indifferently. "It is also to my understanding that Renji's squad has asked you to join them, correct?" It was true... the 5th squad had also approached her. Abarai Renji was one of the most famous Shinigami of their time... but so was Kuchiki Byakuya...

"Yes," Harumi struggled to remain cool and calm while processing all the information swirling around in her brain.

"And Captain Hisagi Shuhei's division has come to you, as well." Byakuya shared this information flatly, initially making the entire point of him speaking unknown. Harumi nodded slowly. "I would suggest working to become lieutenant there, Harumi-san, the position has been open for some time." His words shocked the three other Shinigami there. Why was he trying to help her? Nanao was more suspicious of the captain, than surprised... she knew that Kuchiki Byakuya was only kind when it benefitted him in some way or the other.

Harumi's gaze was diverted from the captain to another person who seemed to mysteriously appear on the Kuchiki's porch that looked over the courtyard. She had to blink several times to register who was actually standing there next to a short Shinigami who she recognized as Rukia.

Since when has Kuchiki Tatsuo actually looked hot?

He stared out at the scene before him. Wow. His dad had actually invited Kyoraku and his lieutenant? Why? It wasn't like they associated themselves with them... And who was that girl with them? She was just chatting away with his father as if they had known each other for years and years. It kind of disgusted him.

She smiled. No one smiled at Kuchiki Byakuya unless they had a thing for him. Which was also disgusting, considering he was over a hundred years older than her... There wasn't anything weirder than those crazy school girls that always tried to kiss up to the captain and win him over... Thank God he was like a stone wall towards people like that.

But why was he acting somewhat nice to this particular girl? What was so special about her?

"You checking out Kyoraku's daughter?" Tatsuo flinched.

Rukia smirked at her nephew's sudden jumpiness. He whirled around to glare at his aunt, eyes narrowed.

"Don't come up behind me like that..." He grumbled, turning back to look at the girl.

"You didn't answer my question, Tatsuo," Rukia said, ignoring her nephew's bad mood.

"What did you say?" He was purposely blocking out the shorter Shinigami's words, so that he could focus on figuring out who the girl talking to his dad was.

The way her long dark tresses cascaded down her back and caught the light, revealing its true color to be naturally highlighted with browns and reds, was mesmerizing in itself. She had a trim figure and wasn't lacking in the chest department, but she wasn't monstrously huge like Rangiku... thankfully. Her outfit said that she was still in school, but the fact that the katana tied to her obi had a uniquely shaped guard and its hilt was wrapped in ribbons that were different shades of white, light blue, and green, made him think otherwise. She was graduating soon, no doubt. The katana was a Zanpakuto.

Her smile was dazzling, and was something that all the girls and women in Soul Society probably envied and spoke of behind her back. He couldn't really see her eyes and most of her face, but everything else seemed to clearly spell out "beautiful". Her voice was musical- like wind chimes on a summer breeze. He had to find out who she was.

"...graduating in a few weeks." Rukia finished her speech. When she realized that her nephew hadn't listened to anything she had said and was still staring at the girl, she leered at him.

"So, do you know who this girl is?" He asked, still keeping an eye on the attractive girl.

"Did you not listen to a word I just said?" His aunt glared at him and smacked him over the head, despite the height difference of over an entire foot. The man cringed and rubbed the back of his head. "I just gave you, like, her entire life history!"

"Well, if you know it, maybe you'd like to share it with me again?" He knew he was testing his limits, but he wanted to know.

Rukia sighed. "She's Kyoraku-taichou's daughter-"

That was all he needed to hear.

"No." His jaw dropped and his eyes widened.

"What?" Rukia asked, irritated at his interruption. She crossed her arms, "Do you have a problem with that?"

"There is no way in hell that is Kyoraku's daughter." Tatsuo said, gripping the hilt of his Zanpakuto; it was a bad habit he had when he was bothered.

"Uhm, have you looked at her? She looks exactly like him, except a lot prettier and with darker hair and greenish eyes!"

As if on cue, the girl turned her head and stared at the young Kuchiki heir. His eyes widened.

Since when has Kyoraku Harumi actually looked hot?

Harumi stared. This Tatsuo had to be one of the most drop dead gorgeous people she had ever laid eyes on. He was no longer the awkwardly cute, tall, snobby, noble she had grown up terrorizing and being terrorized by.

His raven colored hair was long and pin-straight, slightly layered, and looked clean and washed. He wore Kenseikan above his ears, leaving his bangs free, unlike his father's. His skin was fair, but had a tan tint to it that must've been from training for hours and hours in the sun. His features were sharp and angled, which made him look shockingly like his dad. The resemblance was astounding, but there were definitely other features that separated him from Captain Kuchiki.

For example, his eyes weren't the dark gray that Byakuya's- they were a lighter, golden flecked gray, somewhat cat-like, and appearing fully gold if they caught the light the right way. His skin was tanner and Harumi remembered how she found several bottles of facial scrub in his bathroom years before when she had been forced to hang out with him. She had asked him if his skin was actually darker and if he scrubbed the tan skin off. He hadn't said anything, which she had interpreted as a yes.

Tatsuo had definitely filled out and gained a lot more muscle than he had before. She could see his chest muscles through the small V-neck of the Shinigami uniform. Harumi could only imagine what he looked like without a shirt on...

"Tatsuo," Byakuya called his son to join them. The younger man blinked a few times before walking across the courtyard to sit with them under the sakura tree. He sat down next to his father silently, hiding the fact that he wanted to jab an accusing finger at Kyoraku and scream "What have you done to your daughter to make her so frickin' pretty?"

"Ah, hello, Tatsuo-san!" Kyoraku said, grinning as he sipped his tea.

"Hello, Kyoraku-taichou." Tatsuo looked at Nanao, who looked like she wanted to slap her captain.

"Good morning, Tatsuo-sama," She said, emphasizing the honorific and glaring at Kyoraku, as if saying "he's a noble you idiot!" The young Kuchiki nodded politely, then waited for Harumi to greet him.

"Ohyaho, Tatsuo-senpai," She was smirking. Smirking!

"Harumi-san," He greeted in silent fury. Her smirk widened when she saw the anger raging behind his eyes.

"Tatsuo," His father's unfailingly calm voice caused him to take a deep breath and look over at the man. "I was just explaining to Kyoraku-san that Hisagi-fukutaichou was promoted to captain of the 9th squad and left the position of lieutenant open. " His son nodded. He had already heard about it.

The group talked for a few more minutes until more people began showing up and wrecking the peace that they had established, since Byakuya had to get up and greet the guests.

"Harumi-chan," Kyoraku said, watching younger Shinigami arrive at the Kuchiki manor, "I'm sure Kuchiki-san could use some help getting food ready. She blinked.

"Which one?" She hissed, looking around at the three Kuchikis in front of them.

"Rukia," He answered, lounging and pulling out a bottle of sake from his uniform. Nanao gaped at him.

"Really?" She stared in disbelieve. "You are unbelievable!" She glared. Kyoraku chuckled and waved dismissively.

"Calm down, Nanao-chan," He said, tipping his hat down. "There's always time for a good drink."

"Papa, you do know that no one except drunks drink during the day, right?" Harumi commented drily.

"Are you calling Rangiku-san a drunk?"

"Uhm... I don't know," She sighed and stood up. "I guess I'm going to go bother Tatsuo. Ja ne." The captain's daughter walked over to the disgruntled looking young man, grinning freely. "Tatsuo-sama," She teased, coming to stand next to the Kuchiki heir.

"Harumi-san." He deadpanned. She rolled her eyes.

"Since when have you become all serious and cold?" She asked, staring up at him. She felt like a midget standing next to the taller Shinigami. "And tall?"

"You say that as if you were once taller than me." Curse him and that arrogant attitude!

"So? You never towered over me like this." She grinned. The aristocrat looked down at her and narrowed his eyes.

"You've got some nerve talking to me like that, Harumi," He threatened, trying to hide the fact that he was incredibly distracted by the long strand of hair hanging in her face.

"How so? Tatsuo," He furrowed his brow and scowled. "Or should I say, Tatsuo-sama." She playfully giggled and tucked her hair behind her ear. It was fun to toy with the Kuchiki heir. He thought he was all that.

"You haven't changed at all," He muttered. A lie. She had become exceedingly beautiful in the four years that they hadn't seen each other in. She had been very pretty before, but wasn't fully grown and had a more childish cuteness than anything else. At this point in time, Tatsuo cursed himself for having the Y chromosome that made him so distracted by women.

"Oh, really? Is that why you can't keep your eyes off of the piece of hair I strategically placed in front of my face to test to see if you had actually gone through puberty and begun noticing girls?" Harumi grinned and inwardly cheered at the fact that her plan had worked. Silly Tatsuo, sure he noticed that she had grown physically, but he didn't know that she had become a lot more playful and sly.

"What piece of hair?" Tatsuo denied, crossing his arms and glowering down at the shorter girl.

"Don't pretend like you didn't notice that, Kuchiki Tatsuo," She poked him in the ribs, "That was only the first part of your test!"

"What test?" Tatsuo asked irritably. He took a step away from the perky girl, not exactly liking where this was heading. Harumi sighed with mock drama.

"You're so boring, Tatsuo, don't you ever have any fun?" The man scowled. "Oh, that's right. You're too noble for fun," Harumi turned away from him, "I guess I'm just going to have to provoke you," she disappeared, using Shunpo to suddenly appear on a post of the koi pond's bridge railing. Tatsuo rolled his eyes at her childish behavior. Kyoraku's daughter flashed in several other places, teasing the young Kuchiki, as her flowing hair was the only thing he could see. Suddenly, he felt a weight on his shoulders, and found the captain's daughter sitting on him, her legs dangling in front of his chest.

"What do you think you-" She back-flipped off of him, tutting.

"Come on, Kuchiki-san, why don't you use those muscles hidden underneath that awful uniform," She whispered into his ear, teasingly. He whirled around, but finding her now standing several yards away. "Isn't Kuchiki-taichou one of the best Shunpo users? Too bad his son is horribly slow," She completed several flips to land at the top of the Kuchiki manor, Tatsuo flashing up to meet her.

"You're pushing your limits, Harumi," He warned, flashing behind her and grabbing her by the shoulders. She was still smiling as she ducked away and flashed behind him. His hand shot backward to catch her, but she predicted his move and performed a perfect back handspring to evade his grasp.

"Have you forgotten, Tatsuo," She mocked playfully, beaming. She appeared next to him and tugged on the hair coming out of his kenseikan mostly out of childish curiosity, knowing it would irritate him into actually chasing after her. "I'm the most flexible soul in Soul Society," Harumi grinned from ear to ear and jumped clear over the other's head, displaying just how great she was.

"And have you forgotten that I had the best Shunpo among my graduating class?" Tatsuo retorted, speeding up considerably.

Unfortunately, both of them failed to remember that they were at a party with almost all the captains, lieutenants, and seated officers of the Gotei 13, which caused everyone to stop what they were doing and stare at them- watching Harumi do acrobatic stunts to escape Tatsuo's incredibly quick Shunpo. Everyone's eyes were glued on the pair, gaping at the agile young people. Even Byakuya was impressed by Kyoraku's daughter's flips and how she seemed to defy gravity and be swift at the same time with minimal effort.

She would make an excellent lieutenant or third seat... possibly even for the 2nd division... I'd love to see Renji's face if she made that decision. He thought, amused in his own little way. A small smile playing on his lips.

"Where does she get that from? You're the most lazy Shinigami on the face of the earth," Nanao said to Kyoraku, who was smiling proudly.

"Ah, Nanao-chan, if only you knew who her mother was..." He chuckled, "sometimes she reminds me exactly of her." Nanao shook her head and sighed. The captain had refused to tell her who Harumi's mother was, no matter how she pestered him and yelled. It seemed like the type of information he would take to his grave. Over a hundred years into the future.

"And I assume you aren't going to tell me now who that is?" She tested, crossing her arms.

"Of course not," His smile grew as he watched his daughter execute a flawless somersault. Her turquoise green eyes were shining with energy, and she was grinning, even when Byakuya's son got dangerously close to catching her.

"That's Kyoraku Harumi, right?" Renji asked loudly. "I never knew that she was so... flexible." His obnoxiously loud speech caused Harumi to snap out of her intense focus, immediately recognizing the rough voice as Abarai Renji- the captain of the 5th squad. Tatsuo's arm grabbed her waist and held her in place.

"Gotcha," He whispered, triumphant. She elbowed him in the gut and nodded in the direction of the crowd watching them. He froze.

"Ohayo!" She waved, pushing Tatsuo off of her, blushing slightly. They both jumped off of the roof and landed softly on the ground, nervously shifting under the gazes of the Shinigami.

"She's joining my squad!" Renji announced, puffing his chest out and crossing his arms.

"Quiet, Renji, she has also been asked to join my squad," Byakuya said, raising a challenging eyebrow toward his ex-lieutenant. "And besides, the only position available in the 5th squad is 10th seat A student of her caliber deserves more than that." It was true. Harumi blushed deeper, fingering the hem of her Academy uniform with excitement and shyness.

"Kuchiki-taichou, if I may be so bold as to say," Captain Soi Fon emerged from the crowd, staring down the other captain with a cold glare. "You have only lieutenant and 5th available. I have had the 3rd seat position open for quite some time," She turned to look at Harumi. "which includes the position of Detention Unit Commander." Harumi's heart hammered. Detention Unit? The Detention Unit?

"Alright, alright, calm yourselves," Kyoraku walked up and put an arm around his daughter. "She still has a month until she graduates, you can hold the fighting until then. That is, if she graduates with the rest of the kids..." Harumi blushed.

"Papa, stop," she hissed, not liking how everyone was staring at her. The man pretended like he hadn't heard her and led her away to get something to drink. Harumi looked over her shoulder at the now stone-faced Tatsuo, mouthing "Sorry!" A tiny smile lifted up the sides of his mouth to signify that he didn't mind.

"Rangiku-chan!" Kyoraku called, inviting the lieutenant over. The woman flounced over, smiling. Harumi had to admit that she was one of the most beautiful Shinigami in Soul Society, but she had a reputation of being rather... lazy and an intense drinker. Captain Hitsugaya often complained about her bad drinking habit.

"Ohayo, Kyoraku-taichou, Harumi-chan!" she took a swig from a bottle of sake, grinning drunkenly.

"She's already drunk..." Harumi muttered, blinking. That's actually not too surprising... she added mentally, but smiling good-naturedly.

Kyoraku tried to convince his underage daughter to take a drink from his sake bottle, saying that it would be "symbolic". Harumi eagerly pushed away the bottle and refused to do anything of the kind.

"Papa, I'm not even a real Shinigami yet," she insisted, trying to save her father from being scolded about his parenting skills by the captains staring at them. "And I'm underage. I can't drink!"

"Ah, Harumi-chan, you shouldn't follow the rules so diligently!" He tipped his hat down and smiled coyly.

"Papa, just because you are a captain and can pretty much do what you want, doesn't mean I can." Harumi tapped on his straw hat and rose, shaking her head at her father's requests. She began walking over to Tatsuo, but stopped. He was talking to his father about something... his eyes were brightening and he looked happy about something. Whatever it was, she didn't want to interrupt.

The young, almost Shinigami took a seat under a sakura tree in the corner of the courtyard. She sighed contently, staring up at the sunlight shining through the pink flowers. She untied her Zanpakuto and laid it across her lap, closing her eyes.

Ohayo, Tentsubasa, Harumi thought, her mind coming in contact with her Zanpakuto. The familiar image of a winged white horse with a slight sky blue tint and electric green eyes appeared in her head, making her smile.

Ohayo, Harumi-chan! Tentsubasa's voice was clearly feminine and carefree, but had a seriousness that one could only describe as wisdom.

Can you believe that Tatsuo looks like that now? Since when did he become a man? Harumi admitted that it was kind of scary to see the Kuchiki heir after so many years. Especially since they were both older and matured.

Last time we saw him, he was a scrawny teen with anger issues... oh, what puberty does to kids!

Tentsubasa! Harumi groaned mentally, I'm pretty sure he had hit puberty last time I saw him.

That's questionable. The winged spirit chuckled, making the sound of tinkling bells, shaking her feathered white wings.

"Hey, Harumi."

Her eyes flew open, recognizing the voice immediately.

"Thanks for interrupting my talk with my Zanpakuto... jerk." She grumbled, glaring up at the tall young Shinigami in front of her.

"You can talk to it?" Tatsuo blinked. He hadn't been expecting her to be at the level of actually being able to converse freely with her sword. It had taken him months of hard training to do that. Not that he wasn't connected to his Zanpakuto... it had just taken awhile.

"She," Harumi corrected, crossing her arms and standing up. She slipped her sword back into her belt and looked up at Tatsuo. "She thinks that you've become more manly since four years ago."

I didn't say that... I said he finally hit puberty. There's a difference.

Harumi laughed. Tatsuo furrowed his brow.

"Excuse me?" He raised an aristocratic eyebrow.

"She's like that," Harumi yawned, leaning against the tree. "Anyway, what do ya need?"

"Nothing," Harumi narrowed her green eyes in suspicion.

"Okay...?" Tatsuo grinned and stood next to her, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"So you're graduating soon?" he asked, glancing at the girl.

"Yeah, in about a month." she sighed and stared up at the sakura blossoms.

"You don't sound happy about it," Tatsuo noted, confused. She had every reason to be happy. She was graduating a year earlier than all of the other kids.

"I am, it's just..." Harumi looked at the noble. "Everyone's upset with me. They think that just because I'm 'Kyoraku-taichou's daughter' I get to graduate earlier." She winced at the memory of people she thought she was friends with looking at her disdain.

"That's stupid." the Kuchiki heir stated bluntly, "Everyone thinks it's so easy to achieve Shikai and become a Shinigami until they actually enroll in school and find that it takes years and years to even be of worth to the Gotei 13. They're just jealous, don't worry about it. I dealt with the same thing." he yawned.

"Easy for you to say... you're done with everything." Harumi sighed heavily, fingering the hilt of her Zanpakuto. No matter what anyone did or say, learning the name of her Zanpakuto was the best thing that had happened to her. She enjoyed the constant company of a spirit with wisdom and firmness that helped her in whatever she did, no matter how insignificant or pointless.

"Yeah, but I stayed up every night for an entire year to learn the name of my Zanpakuto during school. It was worth it- I don't know how people live with out knowing who their Zanpakuto is." Tatsuo ran a hand through his raven colored hair.

"Me neither..." Harumi suddenly smiled, "Just watch, when I'm lieutenant of the 9th division, they'll all be sorry." she giggled and her eyes shined. Simply because of her personality, it was hard for her to stay angry or depressed for more than a few minutes. Tatsuo remembered this from when they were kids- he'd fume over not being allowed to fight with the Gotei 13 and stay frustrated and angry for at least an hour. Harumi, on the other hand, would just smile and say that they should prepare before they were allowed into the Academy, so that they could become Shinigami faster.

"I'm sure they will..." Tatsuo chuckled and shook his head. This girl is going to be in for a rude awakening... I highly doubt her Shikai is strong enough for her to survive even a seated officer's duties.

"Harumi-chan!" both teens looked up, wondering where the obnoxiously high-pitched voice was coming from.

A small girl, no older than 15, wearing the Shinigami Academy uniform, came charging towards them, her caramel colored hair billowing behind her. Her face wore signs of pure panic, brown eyes wide and frantic.

"Akemi! What's wrong?" Harumi ran forward, holding the young girl by the shoulders while tears streamed down her face. Sobs racked her body, yet she was clearly out of breath. "Calm down, what's wrong?" Harumi asked again.

"T-T-Takako-chan-n-n-" Akemi sputtered, still sobbing, "She's gonna kill Kiku-u!" That was all the other girl needed to hear, before she used Shunpo to disappear.

"Harumi!" Tatsuo shouted. He groaned and grabbed Akemi before using his own Shunpo to chase after his childhood friend.

That girl is going to get herself killed one day...

I hoped you liked it, I worked pretty hard on it, but if you find anything that doesn't make sense or that you don't like, don't hesitate to send me a message or review (but you can also review if you like it ^^)

3 SSM