Orihime's House.

Ah I see, well if you wouldn't be busy with anything else then I would appreciate that, Orihime-san.

Tsubaki smiled again, the atmosphere was getting slightly more friendlier. She wasn't blind to the fact that Orihime was trying hard not to show that she was nervous, but Tsubaki was really not that bothered at all by those reiatsu feelings although she didn't really understand that herself.

Holding the bowl up to her mouth again, she looked at Orihime with a slight amused glint in her eyes

Ah you are right, better not let the tea get cold

she sipped quietly on it and allowed herself to get more used to all those new things that were going on. Although there was a slight silence, it didn't really bother her it wasn't really an awkward silence. It was simply as if their presences were getting used to each other

"Of course, of course. It's the weekend, and... well..."

Orihime diverted her eyes down at the table embarresedly - She hadn't wanted to say this, but she couldn't exactly back out now. Not without looking like even more of an idiot than before.

"To be honest... Everyone's out of town right now, so there isn't really that much to do."

Her hand moved as she spoke, scratching behind her ear in a traditionally nervous gesture.

"Ordinarily I'd introduce you to everyone, but they all left this weekend. Kurosaki-kun is off training, and Tatsuki-chan is at a tournament, and Sado-kun is out with the band on a trip, and..."

She continued rambling on like this for another minute (that is, if she wasn't interrupted - She seemed to be counting on it) before running out of things to say and falling silent and finding a momentary distraction in the tea again, completely flustered.

She raised her hands slightly as to stop the rambling before saying in a soft tone

hmmm I see. Well it can't be helped then, I believe I shall come to the human world sometime again in the future. You will just introduce me then, Orihime-san.

Tsubaki smiled at the nervous and flustered girl. She didn't mean to be cornering her like this and she tried to calm her down, it didn't really bother her at all. It was kinda enough for her to get to know one person at a time.

Ah...guess I am being difficult here.. I really am no good in interacting with others. She gnawed lightly on her lower lip as she wondered to herself just why she had been taken here to the real world in the first place. Was it so she could meet the human allies or was it something else..

"Yeah, we'll have to do that next time... Oh! Speaking of introductions, I should introduce you to the Shun Shun Rikka... Though I think I'll pass on Tsubaki-kun, he's mean..."

As if waiting for the opportunity, a flash of light accompanied her invoking of the name. When the light faded, a sharp-featured, almost middle-eastern style sprite was hovering above Orihime's head, it's face masked by some form of white scarf. Small black wings, lightening (if one could call it that) to a deep red as they reached the tips, held him suspended in air as he thwacked Orihime up the back of the head, and continued to do so as she attempted a feeble resistance with her hands.

"What kind of introduction is that!? Baka girl!"

"Oww! Tsubaki-kun, stop iit!!... Ayame, Baigon, Hinagaku, Lily, Shun'ō."

One by one, the other spirits appeared: Ayame, a quiet little spirit with a red dress bigger than herself covering a small frame (well, they were all small..) and a white-on-pink kimono. Baigon, the bulkiest of the crew, with his strangely patterned mask concealing his lower face. Hinagaku, with his eyepatch and strange purple outfit. Lily, with her bright pink hair and transparent yellow swimming goggles and blue suit, and, of course, Shun'ō with her red and yellow traditional clothing and topknot. The eccentric gathering was made...

"Hey boss, what did you call us for this time?"
"The baka's having a flipping tea party! Wasting my time!"
"Tsubaki-kuuun... Stop it! You're embarrassing everyone in front of Tsubaki-chan."

Shun'ō, the only other (commonly) speaking sprite besides Tsubaki exchanged a sympathetic glance with Orihime before directing the others to positions around the table, all of them taking seats and settling in - Much to mini-Tsubaki's dismay. Still grumbling all the way, Tsubaki reluctantly joined them.

"I swear, when I'm done with you, you won't have a single hair on your head..."

"Sorry about him... Well, Tsubaki-chan, here they are. Guys, this is Hasegawa Tsubaki-chan. Be nice for a change, okay?"
"Pleased to meet you."
"Yeah, Hi!"
"... Hasegawa?"

The others chimed in as Orihime grinned nervously. From this little exhibition, Tsubaki could feel Orihime's reiatsu momentarily flare as each sprite arrived, though it calmed down to a more-or-less level state once they had settled in, though it was still, obviously, higher than in their dormant state.

Tsubaki's hands stopped with the bowl just right below her mouth as her eyes got wider and wider when the fairies appeared. Lowering her hands she blinked a few times before getting in what was happening around her. Did Orihime just say... Tsubaki-kun?

She blinked a few times and saw this Tsubaki "fairy" or whatever they were supposed to be called fwhap Orihime repeatedly. Even though she tried her hardest not to change expressions a small chuckles escaped from her lips and then a single word

....cute..

she really liked small cute things, although she'd rather die than admitting it. Her eyes wandered from one fairy to another, studying them slightly. She had never even imagined creatures like this to actually exsists.

So this was Orihime's powers? She certainly had a good reiatsu feeling now, this girl was not just some ordinary healer. Then as if remembering her manners she bowed to them and introduced herself again although Orihime had already done so

It is a pleasure to meet you, I am Hasegawa Tsubaki a lower shinigami from the 10th squad.

"Did I just hear... CUTE!? I'll kill her! Rip her flippin' head off! I'll feed you to the hollows!"

Tsubaki looked as if he was about to do just that, getting red in the face and spluttering... Before a lazy flick from Baigon caused him to stumble and lose his rhythm as the larger sprite grunted a rebuke, much to Orihime's obvious surprise. Baigon never had spoken all that much.

"Temperamental as always. Just be quiet for a change."
"Baigon has the right idea, you know. Besides, you can't be cruel to someone with the same name as you. It's bad luck! Ahem. My name is Shun'ō. The fiery one is Tsubaki.."
"Like you!"
"Yes... Like you, and this is Lily. Baigon is the big guy over there, he and Ayame, the one with the dress, are usually pretty quiet. Hinagaku there likes to think he's the brains of the operation..."
"Because I am!"
"Yes, yes... And as such, he spends more time 'strategizing' than talking, though he doesn't tend to get many results. Have I missed anyone?"
"Nope, Shun'ō. That's everyone! Besides, Tsubaki-chan is going to be staying with us for a little while, so you don't have to tell her eeeeverything."

After the long exchange of dialogue, Baigon, Hinagaku and Lily dispersed into the kitchen before coming back with teacups for themselves, which Orihime poured halfway with a bit of an embarrassed little smile. Shun'ō dutifully ignored spiteful glances from Tsubaki(m), and Ayame, as the odd one out, seemed to have decided to settle on Tsubaki's(f) lap, looking up vertically and backwards towards the Shinigami's face.

"... Hi."

Blinking slightly she made a note not to call the Tsubaki fairy cute again, while he heard at least. She nodded towards them all as she got introduced. This was surely something...else. She was actually kinda thrilled over this all. As Ayame settled herself on her lap, she looked down at her with a kind smile that she had never showed to anyone before

hello there

very carefully she let her finger touch Ayame lightly as if wanting to see if this small creature was for real. Looking at Orihime she studied her slightly

so this is your powers? this is truly remarkable...

"Well, you could say that. Sort of. Sometimes Tsubaki gets a little out of hand, and the others start to argue"
"That's because you're a BAKA!"
"Now now, Tsubaki. Don't make us remind everyone what we had to do -last- time."

A dead silence fell over the sprites as most of them - With the exception of Ayame, ironically - looked over towards the squabbling "representatives." A moment later, the silence was broken.

"You wouldn't..."
"I thought I told you to just be QUIET!"
"Hey guys, could you just stop for today at least?"

Sighing, her head drooped as she tried and failed to gain some semblance of order from the sprites, to little avail... At least, until they saw her condition, at which point Lily and Shun'o quietly tried to cheer her up while Hinagaku swatted the troublesome Tsubaki.

Ayame, meanwhile, had taken Tsubaki's finger in one hand. Applying a gentle, but surprisingly strong for her size, pressure on it, she moved it as if shaking hands.

"... Sword... Like us. Trust."

Ayame then looked over at Orihime and simply nodded without saying another word.

"Sorry about this... They aren't very used to being around guests, so they tend to act like they would normally... Though I've never seen Ayame open up with another person. You must be special."

She watched them fight and laughed a little to herself, they really seemed happy together and she almost envied Orihime there for the split of a second. Being very aware of the dark and overwhelming presence of her shikai spirit that seemed to only be in her life to add some destruction to it.

Feeling Ayame take a hold of her finger her face lit up in a smile, it seemed af this fragile and yet surprisingly strong creature trusted her although they had just met a few minutes ago.

Ah it is no problem at all. Well I am honored to have earned such trust from Ayame, and I hope we shall all be able to work well together in the future.

She longed to ask Orihime how she had gotten them and she ached to see some of their techniques. But she kept that to herself, it would probably be all explained in the near future.

A set of amber eyes connected to the head of a black cat, currently perched in a small tree outside the house, watched as the two people inside conversed. Since Kisuke didnt seem to be home at the moment, which was pretty unsual for Mr.Hat'n Clogs since he was almost ALWAYS there, Yoruichi decided to inquire about a nearby set Reiatsu's that had recently made themselves known for her own amusement. It didnt seem like anything out of the ordinary at first, perhaps it was a few of her division members out on a normal patrol or maybe even a hollow she could take care of out of bordem. These thoughts, however, didnt last very long as she arrived at the reiatsu's location, finding both the orange haired girl she'd met before known as Orihime Inoue and one other she didnt recognize.

It wasent hard to tell the other wasent human, a shinigami in fact, but what was she doing here? The reiatsu wasent familiar and if she had to gauge it's strength, she'd have to say it was somewhere between lower shinigami and a 5th seat, but that still didnt answer the question of why she was there. She also noted that there seemed to be what looked like giant flies moving about the room, just begging to be hit with a flyswatter, and yet the two girls were still sitting there as if they werent there. Black tail swishing back and forth as she looked on in curiosity from her position in the tree, Yoruichi wondered just what the two were talking about and wished she had bothered to learn a little something about reading lips.

With a satisfied purr that can only result from finally having a course of action to take, she leaped from the tree branch, noiselessly landing on the windowsill of one of the upstairs rooms. It was child’s play to extend a subtle thread of reiatsu, snaking out through the glass and unlocking the window from the inside. "I guess I give a new definition to the term ‘cat burglar’", she thought with sly grin as she heard the latch click open. Wedging her claws under the window, she easily edged it open and was soon walking about Inoue’s room like she owned the place. It was amazingly clean and she actually liked how it smelled, her nose twitching here and there to try and catch all the subtle variations wafting about the air. Noticing the open room door, and thanking her luck, she trotted through the opening and made her way down the hallway, following the voices of the girls as they talked downstairs.

Trotting towards the staircase, she catiously made her way down a few steps before stopping on one just within a small shadowed area. Laying down on one of the steps and poking her head out through the bars of the stairway handrail, she watched and listened in on Inoue and the other shinigami as they talked. To Yoruichi's surprise, the 'giant flies' she saw before seemed to be a set of what looked like fairies who were also talking with the two, which did nothing but feed the feline captains curiosity about just what the hell were they.

"... What was that?... Just a chill."

Orihime suppressed a shiver before chuckling weakly, watching the sprites go about their business, struggling with the teacups admirably despite the obvious difficulties facing them - Size certainly not being the least, though Tsubaki didn't seem to know how to drink it properly and Hinagiku seemed to have gotten into a quiet debate with his.

Still... Orihime was certain that something was wrong here, but she just couldn't put her finger on it. Still, she didn't want to worry her guest and put on a cheerful expression... Only to be interrupted by Ayame's hand raising to point behind her... Then drop back to the sprite's side.

"... Oops. I thought I saw something... sleepy. It's dark."
"Baka! You're just the same as the Baka girl! Can't see a thi.."

Tsubaki's commentary was interrupted by a joint response from Baigon and Shun'o, the pair simultaneously thwacking him and causing the irritable spirit to faceplant into his tea.

"Be..."
"... quiet already!"
"Don't fight, guys."

Orihime sighed and frowned... Maybe she was just being jumpy for no reason, and that was affecting them. It seemed likely, so she focused on her breathing and tried to calm herself down.

"So... Tsubaki-chan... Do you come to the real world very often? Or is this a rare visit?"

It seemed as if something had bothered Orihime just for the split of a second but Tsubaki was kinda too busy admiring how good the fairies were doing with that tea of theirs to give it much more thought. She did though spot a pair of golden eyes that were scanning them. A cat?

Having fun there?

She jumped slightly in her seat as the chilling voice of her shikai spirit rang in her head. Couldn't he leave her for 5 minutes to have some peace? What is it now? she thought grumpily.

Well while you are having your little tea here and chatting with this....silly human and those filthy little things of hers then time is flying by! Do you wish to get stronger or not?

Oh stuff a sock in it.... I will go and kill something later on..

she refused to let his irritating voice go through any more by simply shrugging him off. And focusing on what was happening around her yet again, just in time to hear Orihime's question.

Oh this is my first time here.

'Ack, some special forces commander I am' Yoruichi thought in slight annoyance at herself for being so obvious, spotted by the blue haired girl as soon as she stuck her head out from the staircase. If cats could roll their eyes, she really would have done so as she thought about the statement *Curiosity killed the cat*. Those words would have been well justified, not to mention pretty damn ironic, if these people had been Arrancar. She didn't reply, instead opting to act as a normal feline so long as the other captain remaind on the roof. Tilting her head in the slightest at the other shinigami, she slowly rose up on her paws and pull her head from inbetween the stair handrailing.

The words 'Note to self, do NOT stick your head out in the open for everyone to see when on makeshift spy missions being done out of bordem...' passed through her mind as she trotted down the steps to join the two girls and the *Tiny people*. At this point, she began to wonder if she would have been better off sticking with Haishiro this morning, but quickly brushed that thought away knowing there was nothing she could do about it now.

'Ill just have to say hi then......and if there IS a Kami, Inoue wont say anything just yet' Yoruichi thought to herself as she came to a stop next to said other person, 'oh...who am I kidding?' she continued as she glanced up helplessly at the orange haired girl. Crouching low in a pouncing position with a quick wiggle of her haunches, and small leap later, she was plopped with a soft thud on the corner of the chair inoue currently sat. Sitting on all fours and staring at Inoue intently, she silently hoped the girl wouldnt give her away just yet.

"Oh? Your first time? Well, I hope it's an enjoyable one for you... Oh?"

Much, one could be sure, to Yoruichi's amusement, Orihime either didn't recognize her or proved to be a far better actor than she looked. While it was more likely to be the former than the latter, either way it produced effectively the same effect.

Her eyes widened expressively in delight at the cat's "sudden" appearance at her side, one hand moving to suppress a cheerful giggle. Her other free hand practically instinctively moved to pet the cat, whimsical finger movements mock-tickling at it's side.

"Good morning, neko-chan. How did you get in here? Are you lost?"

As Orihime asked this question, Tsubaki managed to extricate himself from his teacup, and was now splitting his attention between glaring down his assailants and reprimanding Orihime again.

"Baka. Everyone knows that cats can climb, and you always leave the window in your room open. The baka neko just got in because you're a baka! Baka!"

Orihime had opened her mouth to interrupt that she was sure she hadn't left it open, but fell into a guilty little silence at his perpetually irritable tone and expression. Maybe he had a point, anyways... She was pretty clumsy like that sometimes.

"Oh... Be nice, Tsubaki-kun. You can lose your temper all you want later when we find someone to train with."

Now, it seemed, it was Ayame's turn to suppress a giggle, and after a moment the others joined in too. This, of course, only served to irritate Tsubaki even more... but for the moment, he was simply too frustrated to come up with a sufficiently good reply to silence them all... So he held his tongue, for now.

Tsubaki's blue eyes followed the black cat after as it made it's way from the place it had been half hiding in and until it reached Orihime. A small smile lifted the corners of her mouth as she watched it jump up next to the orange haired girl and seemed to be begging for a pat, or well at least it seemed to be behaving like that.

She couldn't help but join the others in chuckling at the small arguing that had occured between Orihime and Tsubaki, or well the small outburst of anger that the small fairy let out. He was really adorable, but she knew that it would be better not to say that out loud. She was very content with having all her hair stuck on her head and not being plucked off by those tiny hands.

Does it have a collar?

Although she could see pretty clearly that there was no collar on that cat then she felt like she had to say something just to break the small silence that had followed after their laughter. Scanning the cat slightly she noted that it had a beautiful fur and seemed to be in good shape so it was hardly a stray cat.

Perhaps one of your neighbours own it?

'And so there IS Kami' Yoruichi thought as she let out a breath she didnt know she was holding. Fortunatly, either Inoue had completely forgotten about her or she hadnt been giving enough credit to the girl. Either way, her identity was safe for now, and that was all she could ask for at the moment. She had mixed feelings about being treated like a house pet but she couldnt help giving an instinctive purr as Inoue's finger tips made contact with her fur, it was both typical behaviour and a pleasure of the form. The down sides were when kids tried to grab her tail or pet her just a *little* too hard for her liking that she became aggravated.

'No actually, I broke into your house on purpose to spy on you for my own amusement' Yoruichi thought sarcastically at Inoue's question before one of the small creatures began berating her for it. She learned the fussy one's name was tsubaki as she listend to them talk amongst themselves, and apparently he was pretty annoyed with everyone else, which only served to make things more amusing as she watched them.

Yoruichi's amber eyes turned upward for a moment, feeling someone's gaze on her, and locked onto the blue ones of the other shinigami. At the blue haired girls question, her ears twitched and she could have smirked if cats had the facial muscles to do so. Standing and turning away, she began to circle and paw at the chair(Cat habits die hard) before laying down comfortably, deciding to stick around for awhile to pass the time.

"My neighbors?... No, I don't think so. I've lived here since I was little and I've never see... Wait."

Orihime leaned over slightly and glanced over at the cat, blinking confusedly for a moment before settling into a more coherent train of thought. Her facial features twisted momentarily into a frown before slowly returning back to a bubbly smile. It was at this point when she began:

"Ooh! You must be Imitsu-kun's! He didn't say he had a cat, though... Oh well. Strange guy... Probably wouldn't have told me anyways. Oh. Sorry, Tsubaki-chan. I got distracted again."

Folding her hands together in front of her, she made a brief bow in the girl's direction, leaving the cat to it's nap for now. Absent-mindedly, she began tapping her fingers in a rhythmic pattern on the tabletop.

Around this time, most of the sprites from the Shun Shun Rikka had settled down and were quietly doing their own things - Struggling away with their tea, taking naps, and generally wandering around in a dull haze. Quite simply put, they were bored.

Scratching nervously behind her head with her other hand, Orihime shyly glanced over towards Tsubaki before tossing the proverbial ball in her court.

"So what do you want to do next, Tsubaki-chan? Do you play any sports or anything like that?"

That cat had a slightly.... too scanning gaze for an animal...although she wasn't sure if that was the word she was looking for. She continued to watch it's movements and started to feel like some cat stalker so she quickly stopped doing that, focusing her attention on the fairies that seemed to be getting quite bored. Even Tsubaki seemed to be on the verge of falling asleep there.

Orihime seemed to have found the owner for that cat, but then again that look came on her face. A look like she was slightly... well lost in her own thoughts to put it nicely. It was almost as if she was arguing with herself while the cat took little notice of that and seemed to be having a small nap on it's mind. As Orihime decided to talk about something else and asked the next question, Tsubaki now got slightly lost in her own thoughts with a serious expression on her face

Sports? ....well....I train swordsmanship and practice kidous. What about you? What is the most popular sport now in the human world?

"Most popular?"

Orihime paused at that for a moment. What 'were' the most popular sports these days? All she could really think of were the games she had played with her friends... And wasn't Tsubaki just avoiding her question by asking that? Oh well.

"Well, Basecer is really fun! And it's not that hard to play, either. I think you'd be really good at it, Tsubaki-chan... Um. First... Nap time, guys."

One by one a pale gold glow, as fine as silk, outlined each of the sprites. Without warning, they then returned to their original shapes, flashing into momentarily sparks of brilliant light as they aligned themselves in their usual positions as her hairpins.

"They can only stay out for so long as I am right now... It's pretty tiring. I really do need more practice with those... Oh well, I'll have plenty of time to work on it later."

She explained with a guilty grin, rubbing at her temples with her middle and index fingers of her right hand. As if struck by a flash of inspiration - Or as if remembering something she'd clumsily forgotten - she glanced back down at the cat again, shaking her head slowly.

"We're going to have to find neko-chan's owner first, though. They must be pretty worried about their cat, especially if they take such good care of it. Hey, Neko-chan, are you thirsty? Want some milk?"

*appears in front of the and knock on it* Hey Hasegawa its time to see your progress hurry up and get in out of the gigai... *he then awaits patiently for her to come out and i at the same time he also wanna see her beautiful face, and think that hollow that appears is like a blessin cause he wanted to see her, quickly shakes his head and say* wut am I thinking about? now its not the time *without knowing it he was already blushing*

as she listened to Orihime talk and nodded slightly to show that she was interested in what she was saying, she had already sensed the hollow that was nearby. Feeling it coming closer she jumped on her feet and was about to say something to Orihime when Toushirou knocked on the door and issued his commands.

Yes captain I'll be right there.

stepping out of her gigai she ran towards the door, turning on her heel and bowing to Orihime

You have my thanks for the tea and your company.

she then turned again and opened the door, almost walking into her captain

"Hold on..."

Careful not to disturb the 'sleeping' cat, Orihime rose and quickly grabbed a coat. Throwing it on hurriedly, she followed her guest, meeting the impatient Captain at the door... Assuming the two actually -had- waited rather than running off without her. For some reason, she had a gut-wrenching instinct that she should go.

"I'm coming too. I won't get in the way, I promise."

With that comment, she steeled her expression to her best 'determined' look, one that said it simply: She was 'going', there was no second way about it - It would simply be easier for the lot of them if they simply let her tag along.

*looking at Orihime's face he thinks maybe it should be a better Ideal to take her with him and have her watch with him and Kuchiki than let her be in the house alone. without sayin a word he grabs on to her by her waist* well no matter what happend dont get in her way... *said with a cold look then looks in Hasegawa's direction* we'll be on the roof Hasegawa, and Kuchiki Taichou is also here, even though i think this hollow won't be a challenge but still i wanna see wut you can do... *he looks at her as if he was kinda scared, as if he was worried, of course he was but he was trying to hide the fact, but ended up saying with a soft voice* Hase chan hmm... be Careful *he then flashstep and go up to the roof*

"Well, I'm home..."

Having made her way back upstairs, Orihime slipped through the already unlocked door (Toushiro's hurry hadn't permitted her to lock it) and switched the lights back on. Seeing as the 'cat' hadn't bothered to leave - Or even move, as far as she could tell - she padded over quietly and sat down beside it, staring at it with an eery intensity.

See, now that all of the other sources of her reiatsu at home were gone, this one became, however slightly, noticeable. Of course, being familiar with it was no small help in detecting it's presence at all, as the Special Force's commander was undoubtedly a master of concealing her presence. In fact, if her own reiatsu had not become some delicately synchronized with the Captain's own, Orihime would never have noticed at all. Still, despite the odds against it, Orihime was beginning to piece together the pieces.

A 'familiar' seeming black cat that she had never seen before, with spiritual pressure, however faint... And with a dark skinned woman's arrival not long before, a woman with a strong spiritual presence at that? Even if they weren't one and the same, it was inevitable that there was 'some' form of connection, and Orihime wanted to find out... So she sat, and she stared, waiting for the cat to wake up from the attention or - More likely - get irritated enough to move.

"Neko neko neko-chan... Ohayou. It's time to wake uup..."