Here is the sequel! My first sequel! I didn't think this story would become so addicting! So time frame so far…it has been five years since the events from my last story. Masaki is five years old. Naori finished high school in her first two years on Earth and she's been working as an employee to a shop the last three years. Got that? And one new addition: Omakes! I love omakes! Don't you?
Disclaimer: I don't, in any form or matter, own Bleach. Bleach will forever belong to Tite Kubo. I only own Naori Hibana and Masaki Kurosaki…until Kubo decides to turn Rukia and Ichigo into an OTP and have a child named after Ichigo's dead mom.
Chapter One
Her vision was a bit foggy from the start.
She saw a ceiling. She saw lots of papers. She saw a rectangular ceiling light to her right. She saw a window to her left. These were normal settings. These were normal to her. But she felt her weight being lifted and from that, she could see that this person carrying her was very monochromic. He wore a black kimono and a white haori with black designs. Even his hair was the color white. But when he turned towards her, she saw a flash of turquoise.
Maybe he's not so black and white…
The morning sun began to peek through her silk window curtains. It brilliantly illuminated her little room of pink walls. Rabbits hung about everywhere! On her ceiling, her carpet, her little desk, and even on her lamps. Out of the all the rabbit décor though, a lone one and five was painted onto her closet doors, one digit for each door. The little girl tossed and turned in her pastel bed. With every toss, her bright orange hair moved along with her. Those soft locks flew all around her head, encasing a perfect picture on her pillow. All was well for this young child.
The door opened.
A woman of raven hair poked her head in. "Masaki!" She called, stirring the young child. "Masaki! Wake up! It's almost time for school!"
Suddenly, the young child cracked open both of her chestnut eyes. "Mommy!" She exclaimed, jumped out of bed and enthusiastically ran to hug her mother.
Rukia chuckled. "Well aren't you a little hyper this morning?"
Masaki nodded. "Yes Mommy! I can't wait to start kindergarten!" She excitedly jumped up and down like any hyperactive child.
Rukia laughed again and swept down to pick up her daughter. "Before you start school…" She plopped the young child onto the bed. "You have to put your uniform on and I have to fix your hair. You don't want to start school with bed hair."
"Isn't that what your hair usually looks like each morning?" She heard a low voice and smirked at the man near the doorway.
"At least my hair doesn't stand out like a carrot." She said back with a smirk. "Ichigo. Get me her uniform will you?" She turned Masaki around and started bunching up her wavy orange hair into two low pigtails.
Ichigo walked over to his specialized closet out of the room of Chappy and pulled out a small, light blue dress with a cute little sailor tie in the front. Placing the dress on the bed, he sat down and started tickling his little daughter.
"Daddy!" Masaki screamed, keeling over. "Daddy! Stop it!"
"You're going to ruin her hair." Rukia grumbled and propped her little daughter back up.
Ichigo shrugged, "I'm just playing with my only daughter."
"You'll have more time to play with her when you walk her to school today." Rukia replied back while re-brushing Masaki's wavy hair.
"I can imagine it already." Ichigo lie down to stare at the ceiling. "Your daughter looks exactly like you Mr. Kurosaki. She has your eyes, your face, and even your ridiculous orange hair!"
"That reminds me! Daddy?" Masaki stared at her dad with her baby eyes. "Can I dye my hair when I get older? I want to Mommy"s hair color! It's so pretty!"
From the shock, Ichigo humorously fell off the bed and Rukia turned towards her daughter. "Honey, you already have such wonderful hair!"
"I don't like this color! You know I don't like orange, red, and yellow." Masaki complained, turning towards her recovering dad. "Why are you acting so loony Daddy? Auntie Nao took it pretty well when I said I didn't like her eye color."
"Oh it's nothing huge. Hey! Have I ever told you the time that I went through middle school with the same problem?"
"Save it for the road." Rukia rolled her eyes and pushed her husband out. "Now let me get her changed and give her a quick breakfast. She's going to be late if you're here wasting time. Go and get changed for work!"
"Okay I'm going." He said before planting a soft kiss on his wife's lips.
Rukia stared in awe while slightly touching her lips. "Idiot." She mumbled and closed the door.
OoOoO
"Thank you and come again!" She cheerfully said and gave a little bow.
The young high school student stammered something inaudible. He stood there, hand behind his head, a blush rising out of his cheeks. The girl simply flashed a smile back at him. The sight of her dark blue hair shaping her soft cheeks made the boy take a huge gulp. He quickly made a grab for his daily bread and ran for it.
Just as he disappeared beyond the horizon, the smiling female quickly dropped the happy act, grabbed a nearby broom, and continued sweeping. She wore a light green kimono with a striped vertical pattern. She also wore a maroon apron where dust started to gather up and her sleeves were pulled up to her shoulders. She looked like any other worker if it weren't for her eyes that stood out.
"Naori-san! I see you're working as hard as ever!" Urahara said in glee while fanning himself with money.
Naori rolled her eyes and continued sweeping. She could still continue sweeping if it weren't for her eyes falling asleep on her. Her whole night yesterday consisted of chasing around hollows and protecting defenseless plus spirits. Basically, she was beat! She could be sleeping in right now if it weren't for Urahara sitting there, keeping watch of her. Well, he was everywhere with her now these days. She did move into his home once she got banished. In the end, his plan worked out perfectly. Somehow get the couple exiled where Soul Society can't bother them. Suit Rukia up with an aging gigai, by the way, one of Urahara's finest inventions. And let them live life till they die. They just didn't calculate that Naori was coming along on the ride.
When she arrived, he gave her up with a spare room and another aging gigai. Ichigo and Rukia pulled some strings and transferred her into their old high school. She enjoyed it there for that time being. She met new people, got accustomed to strange traditions, and learned new things. Well…she only did well in electrical science and Japanese history and language, but she still learned a lot. But her school debut also paved way for more problems.
Boys…
This reason alone was why she refused to go to college.
Who knows what made her attractive? It could be her usually cold demeanor and they thought she was playing hard-to-get. It could be her exotic color eyes. Maybe it was her light voice. Personally, she was riding on the fact that Urahara made more adjustments to her gigai than necessary. Because of that, high school boys barely one-tenth of her age were walking around with her, something that Urahara took pride in. She remembered that night when that man went on and on about how his experiment was a success. That he would be rolling in money soon. Naori didn't know his plans included her.
And here she was…working seven days a week as an Urahara Shop employee.
"Hey Naori-san, here's a new package for you." Urahara chucked a wrapped package at her.
She opened it, groaned in disgust, and promptly threw it back. "Urahara-san! I refuse to wear such a improper outfit."
"Ah ah ah!" Urahara replied, waving his finger. "Do I need to remind you our binding contract? Now tell me. What do you need to do to stay in my residence?"
"I have to earn my keep…" She replied with another roll of her golden eyes.
"How do you do that?"
"Stand here and let the dough roll in." She repeated. Her job was a living and moving mannequin. Ever since graduating high school, she had been working at Urahara's shop, serving attracted customers, which were mostly boys from the same high school. She hated this job. But it kept a roof over her head, food in her stomach…and a little something else. Naori suddenly put away her broom and took off her apron. She proceeded to walk towards a little hatch off in another room.
"Bankai training again? How far are you?" Urahara questioned as he watched her older gigai hit the floor and the younger version of Naori getting on the ladder.
"I just made Denbaku-to materialize. Do you want to see?" Naori replied.
"Nah. I got to finish some bank statements. Tell me when you land a hit." Urahara said and returned to the paperwork.
Naori nodded and released her grip on the ladder, falling down a couple hundred feet into his basement training grounds. She was offered Bankai training along with her stay here. Urahara's shop was prospering and this was her payment. Besides, slaying hollows, helping souls, homework, and studying, she didn't really have much to do these days. So she did Bankai training for the past five years.
Naori was already at her halfway point. She breathed two deep breaths of air and held out her zanpakuto. She watched a huge part of her spiritual pressure leave from her body and form something far away. She watched the yellow aura take shape of a bird, a yellow-feathered bird that had constant electric shocks running throughout its body. This bird was almost half her height with a huge wingspan. Its beak was small and curved downwards. Many tufts of feathers ran down its forehead and neck. This was her spirit, a brilliant bird that had been struck by lightening.
Naori quickly readied her zanpakuto, glanced at her spirit once more, and charged.
OoOoO
Urahara finished the last of his bank notes just as he heard a slight ring coming from the front door. Was it customers? He eagerly walked out, only to see nothing. And then, he felt something tug his pants and looked down. "Masaki-chan? What are you doing here?"
"Hi there Urahara-san! Where's Auntie Nao?" Masaki innocently asked.
"Oh…her…" Urahara glanced at his floor. "Hey! Do you want some candy?"
"I'm here." Naori suddenly piped in. Such a girl looked pretty tired because they could hear her bones crack as she took a step. She walked out from the door and picked up Masaki. "Hello Masaki-chan! Come here to play again?"
"Couldn't land a hit?" Urahara whispered.
"Shut up…" Naori groaned under her breath.
"You got five years left." Urahara replied with a shrug and returned to his office.
Masaki innocently looked up at Naori. "Five years of what?"
"Oh nothing!" Naori said with a smile, hoping to divert her attention. "So Masaki-chan? How was your first day?"
"It was great Auntie Nao!" Masaki exclaimed.
Naori frowned and gently placed Masaki back on the front of the porch. "Masaki-chan. How many times do I have to say this? I'm not your aunt. I'm your godmother."
Masaki nodded, shaking her wavy pigtails. "Yes Auntie Nao-I mean, Godmother…" She suddenly pulled onto Naori's kimono. "Hey Nao! Do I have a godfather?"
"Wha-What makes you say that?" Naori asked as she playfully ruffled the young child's wavy hair.
"I had a dream last night. I saw all these old things and old style furniture. Also, I saw this man. He wore black clothes and a white cloak. He had green eyes! Or maybe it was blue…I forgot! But I remember he was saying your name. Do you know him Auntie Nao?" Masaki asked as she stared up at Naori's shocked face.
How did she see that? Either she had a vacation at an old style house or she was seeing something else… Naori was completely baffled! Masaki didn't seem to take note of that as she was looking at Naori. Naori suddenly stammered back, "Uh…I don't know. I think you were just dreaming. Besides…" Her eyes suddenly dropped down. "I don't know anybody close to be your godfather."
"Huh? Really? And I was so sure!" Masaki tilted her head and frowned. "He had a really low voice. You know, like this!" She finished her last two words in a very low version of her high-pitched voice. Her cute little face contorted in confusion as she tried to match his voice.
Naori chuckled and patted young Masaki's head. "Masaki-chan, you've been eating too many sweets." She looked up and saw that the sky began to turn red. "Oh! It's getting late. I should get you back home before your parents start worrying." She bent down and picked up Masaki, letting the young child rest against her shoulder as she walked.
"Don't worry! Mommy knows I come here to play with you all the time!" Masaki beamed. "Hey! Hey! Auntie Nao! I always see you alone when I come over. Are you lonely? Do you think that man in my dreams would be a perfect husband for you?"
"Godmother! Not aunt!" Naori hastily corrected again and she frowned at the young child. "Masaki-chan. What has gotten into you? Since when did you become so interested about my personal life?"
"Because everyday I see a different man with you! And you always look so sad!" Masaki shouted back in a pout.
Naori gently smiled and she ruffled the young one's hair once more. "Masaki-chan… Thank you for worrying about me. But I'll be fine." She started enthusiastically bouncing the young child up and down, hearing Masaki's squeals of glee. "What you should concentrate on is doing well in school! Read a lot of books and get good grades! Okay?"
"Yeah!" Masaki exclaimed.
Masaki kept throwing the girl up and down when she suddenly didn't feel Masaki's body with her. It vanished! She was gone…or more like her concerned father grabbed Masaki while she was in the air.
"Naori. Keep tossing my daughter with your eyes closed and you'll find yourself missing an arm." Ichigo warned.
"Sorry Ichigo-san…" Naori sheepishly apologized, running a hand through her hair nervously.
"Oh! It's Naori-san!" Rukia exclaimed, pushing Ichigo aside to get to her. "How are you?"
"I've been doing fine. Your daughter stopped by the shop again so I brought her back."
"I know, she loves it there. You and Urahara are like family to her." Rukia remarked. "Say! Why don't you stay over for dinner?"
"Ah no! I don't want to intrude!"
Rukia smiled. "Hey! We don't mind. You're welcomed to come over any time! Right Ichigo?"
"Yeah." Ichigo nodded. "I should get Masaki changed for dinner. I'll meet you two at the dinner table!" He said and walked up the stairs carrying a whining Masaki. She probably wanted to stay around longer to be with her mom and Naori or something.
It didn't take long for dinner to be ready. Rukia had most of the dishes cooked by the time Naori and Masaki arrived. Her food smelled simply delectable! Naori's mouth was already watering as she approached the dinner table. One each plate, there was chicken with some different varieties of vegetables. Also, a bowl of rice and a glass of water accompanied each plate. It seemed Rukia anticipated Naori's arrival since there were four plates laid out. Naori took a seat across from Rukia and the other two rushed in. Masaki happily sat next to her mother and Ichigo sat beside Naori.
"So Naori, what did you and Masaki talk about?" He smartly asked and watched Naori's face go red.
"Daddy! It's a girl talk!" Masaki blurted out.
"Boys. Still a testosterone magnet?" Ichigo correctly guessed.
"No. It's nothing like that." Naori confirmed with an indifferent scoff.
"Yeah! It's different!" Masaki suddenly piped in, grabbing all the adult's attention. "We were talking about this guy in my dreams. He wears these old black clothes and this white cloak. His eyes were green…or blue. I forgot. He had this really, really low voice. Like this!" Again, the young girl tried to manipulate her squeaky voice into a very low tone.
At that moment, all the adults started laughing. Ichigo was howling so much that he almost slipped off his chair. Rukia chuckled a lot, but she tried to keep her hand steady as she was attending to her daughter's messy eating. On the other hand, Naori didn't seem impressed. She just stabbed her chopsticks into the chicken and shoved it into her mouth.
"Hey Masaki! I know who you're talking about." Ichigo replied with a smirk while simultaneously ignoring electrical glares coming out from Naori. "You see. That person is really, really close to Naori. They have a bond that nobody can break. They're like…partners. Close partners. Inseparable partners."
"Ichigo Kurosaki! Shut your mouth! Do you comprehend what 'Don't reveal anything about Soul Society' means? It means if you say one more word about that person, Soul Society will have your head on a pike!" Naori harshly threatened.
Masaki tilted her head in question. "Daddy? What's she saying? It sounds like weird Japanese."
"It's just the ancient language. I heard she was very good at it in high school. Luckily, your mother understands her." Ichigo nodded towards Rukia.
"She said to put your plates away and get ready to go to bed." Rukia hastily replied. She gently picked up Masaki and carried away the little girl.
With Rukia and Masaki gone, that left only Naori and Ichigo at the dinner table. A couple minutes passed. They were just sitting there and not attempting to move. Ichigo was smirking at his family cleverness and at Naori's embarrassed behavior. Naori just looked really pissed.
"I swear, she calls me by the wrong title every time I see her. I sound like my captain now these days." Naori sighed and leaned back on her seat. "By the way, what a nice little girl you raised. I didn't expect for little Masaki-chan to be so hyper like a little Chihuahua."
"Well…you know how Rukia gets around rabbits. She sort of picked it up from there."
Naori snorted, "If Captain Hitsugaya and I were still raising her, she would be hardworking and studious. Little Masaki-chan plays around too much."
"You're so old fashioned." Ichigo commented, though Naori thoroughly ignored that insult. "Speaking of Toushirou. You weren't acting like yourself when we mentioned him. Do you miss him?"
"Don't be ridiculous. I'm here in this world on his behalf by my own choosing. Why would I miss him?" She coldly rejected. "Besides…I'm here to talk about another issue concerning your daughter."
"About that dream she was talking about?" Rukia asked as she sat back down at the dinner table. Her hair was a mess and her hands were slightly wrinkled. Masaki must have put her through a hard time preparing her for bed.
"Yes." Naori nodded in agreement. She suspiciously eyed at the couple. "Did any of you expose her to spiritual pressure?"
"No. These bracelets are still on, so our spiritual energy is blocked." Rukia replied. Both she and Ichigo pulled up their sleeves to reveal a small metal band. "Besides, we haven't gone into our shinigami forms for five years. The last time we've been in that form was right when we got banished. And you kind of fainted afterwards. We had to carry you back."
"Well…after that!" Naori mumbled in embarrassment. She was met with rejection from both Ichigo and Rukia. Naori sighed, "It can't be me. I've been doing shinigami duties at night and I always lure the hollows far from Masaki. I'm wearing the limiter." She pulled back the collar of her shirt, revealing the Tenth Division flower tattoo. "So how can Masaki-chan be dreaming about Captain Hitsugaya?"
"Did she possibly pick up any spiritual pressure from Orihime? Chad? Uryu?" Ichigo suggested.
"No. They all were careful about their spiritual energy when around Masaki." Rukia replied. "You forget. They're way better at controlling their spiritual pressure than you ever were."
"Shut up Rukia." Ichigo muttered with blush rising to his cheeks.
Naori contemplated at their situation. She quietly stared at the tabletop with her chin resting in the fist of her hands. She started muttering quiet sentences. "This doesn't make sense. The only time I can think that Masaki was dealing with spiritual energy was when I read her memories."
"You read her memories! Of what?" Rukia exclaimed.
"Uh! She lost something! And I was helping her find it…that's beside the point!" Naori stammered back as a blush rose to her face. "The point is that at that time, I was taking spiritual energy out of your daughter. She is a baby born from two very powerful shinigami. I would imagine she would contain very repressed spiritual energy. But I took some out to use as my own. I never put any of my own spiritual energy in to trigger a reaction."
Once again, there was a moment of utter and complete silence where each person was in his or her own head. They were probably thinking about the same problem. How did Masaki make her spiritual power work?
"In any case, we can't do anything about it now. Let's just hope it something that comes and goes." Ichigo finally concluded.
"And what if it stays?" Rukia hesitantly asked.
Naori suddenly stood up. "I'll take her to Urahara-san and maybe he'll have a solution. If not, I'll personally wipe away those memories." She proclaimed and started to walk away. "I'll be leaving now. It's getting very late."
"Hold on Naori-san!" Rukia called out to her young junior. "It really dark out and it gets pretty dangerous at this time. You can sleep over in our guest room."
"No." Naori took one step out onto the front door.
Ichigo frowned and crossed his arms. "Don't be so stubborn. You know, you've been acting like a loner these days. Is it because you miss him?"
Naori shot back a glare at him. "I don't miss Captain Hitsugaya. I should remind you that I banished myself. Besides I'm not alone! I live with Urahara and Tessai. Yoruichi and Ururu sometimes visits. Jinta still lives pretty far away with your cute little sister." She smirked as she watched Ichigo writhe in anger but that smirk faded away pretty soon. "Besides…my situation is different. You guys have lived here for more than twenty years. I've only been here for five years. It's hard getting adjusted to this modern world. It's very different from Soul Society."
The blue-haired shinigami only stood at their doorway to gaze up at the stars. She wondered if Soul Society was on the other side. She wondered how everybody was doing. Hinamori was probably having a great time teaching at the Academy. Matsumoto was drinking her head off along with Kira and Hisagi. She could only imagine the usual hustle and bustle of Soul Society five years ago. How much has changed since then? But she could clearly still imagine one thing. Her captain was probably, most likely frantically trying to finish off paperwork without her super forging skills. That was probably true.
"Are you still adamant on going back to Urahara's Shop?" The couple asked her.
"Yes." Naori nodded. "Good-bye… See you tomorrow… And thank you…" She walked away and turned the corner, heading back to a place called home.
What was home these days?
Shinigami Cup!
Three years ago when Masaki was two years of age and Naori was a senior at her high school. Everyday, Naori would carry Masaki to her nursery school on her way to school. Masaki was such a bright kid! Literally! Her orange hair gleamed as it bathed in the sunlight and her amber eyes twinkled in radiance. Her porcelain skin shone with a glimmer. She was a very eye-catching child. But she was also very bright in the brains department. She already learned to speak! Though she could only utter out a few words at a time.
"Ma! Da! Night! Wrestle!" Masaki suddenly shouted.
"Wrestle?" Naori asked in confusion. What in the hell is this baby muttering around about? Well she could find out…but Soul Society would be at her heels if she ever used any spiritual energy around the baby. But then again…it's only for a quick second…and it's really, really small spiritual energy. Deciding at that moment, Naori touched the baby's forehead with her fingertip.
"Gah!"
Jets of blood shot right out of her nose.
What dirty, dirty things did you see Naori? And that was the little spiritual pressure she used on Masaki that possibly, maybe, likely triggered an awakening of her powers. Curiosity killed the cat. Anyways, back to the story. See. Naori here is still in denial land. She's been in denial land for many, many, many, many years. She's that dumb. But this story is going to change that! Cackles!
Sorry if I made her a bit of a Mary Sue at the beginning. That was not my intention. Trust me. All that boy infatuation stuff is going to bite her in the ass later on. And besides, the same thing happens to Hitsugaya all the time in my stories, (spoiler) including this one (end spoiler). And I mean girls! Cause boys…getting all dreamy eyed around our little captain…uh…preposterous! Sorry yaoi fans!
Read and review!