Hello all. MissIf has come to rip out your precious little hearts, Bleach fans.

I've had this idea in my head for a while now. I hope you enjoy it, and check out my other stories if you liked this one. I'm always happy to receive feedback!

I don't own Bleach, it and all the characters belong to Tite Kubo, a.k.a My Personal God

Terror.

That was the first emotion that went through her. Terror of the unknown that had suddenly snuck up on her, unfairly since she should be used to surprises by now. How was she supposed to react? She should be feeling nothing but joy. She was going to be a mother!

Masaki Kurosaki was going to be a mother!

Yet she felt nothing but fear. It wasn't like she and Isshin had been trying, maybe one day, when they would have been more sure of the outcome, but now it just felt like the universe was testing her. Twenty-four years old and married for nearly two years, a classic woman was expected to be having children by now, but she and Isshin had agreed to wait.

At first they weren't even sure they could have children. Isshin was a shinigami, technically he was dead! Masaki was a Quincy, human, living and breathing. Even if Kisuke had insisted that Isshin's faux-body functioned just as well as any human's, Masaki and Isshin themselves had had doubts.

Masaki wanted kids. She loved children and had often fantasized what they would be like if they had had any. So why was she feeling this way?

Isshin would be terribly excited. Yet the excitement would die instantly once he realized what this would mean. There were so many things that could go wrong. So many unknown variables that could lead to disastrous consequences for her, for Isshin, for the baby.

Would it be unhealthy from the first moment? Would it die before it's first breaths? A shinigami and Quincy had never been known to procreate, so she had nothing to consult to. If Isshin's body was artificial, would it look just like her? Would it be a shinigami or would it inherit her abilities? What if the child inherited both Quincy and shinigami powers? What if-!

Masaki suddenly felt sick, and she knew it wasn't due to the tiny life growing inside her.

What about the hollow lurking inside her soul?

What would become of her child if she had a monster within herself? Masaki couldn't bare to think of her baby, because she was going to keep it, become something like that creature. Isshin's soul was the only thing standing between her and hollowfication, would that connection transfer to their child, or would the hollow remain in her only and spare her child?

Finally her legs gave out, and Masaki fell to the bathroom floor, one hand on her chest, the other clutching the damned piece of plastic that had sent her life spiraling. She heard the door downstairs open.

Isshin called her, she couldn't answer.

She heard him walk up the stairs, once again call her name. She loved hearing his voice.

"Masaki?"

He was standing in the doorway, his white lab coat on and a bag next to him on the floor. He was staring at her, and he was looking worried. Suddenly he was at her side.

"Masaki, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

All she could do was shake her head. Isshin saw the item in her hand.

"Masaki, are y-"

She let out a chocking sob, "I can't!" The tears swelled in her eyes. "Isshin, I can't! What if-? What if I can't-?"

Isshin held her, too in shock himself to fully grasp the situation, and so resorted to calming his weeping, panicking wife. He let her cry and babble against his chest, already realizing several of her worries as his own (they would need to consult Urahara and possibly Ishida), then continued to try his best at calming Masaki down.

"It'll be okay." He tried to promise.

Masaki disagreed. "What are we going to do?"

"We'll talk to Kisuke, maybe Tessai too if we have to. We'll figure it out."

"I'm scared, Isshin. What'll happen if we can't- can't keep it?"

It cut the former shinigami to the core to hear her sound so scared. He put on a brave face, the face Masaki said made him look cooler.

"What are you talking about?" he smiled with all the confidence he could muster, and placed a hand on his wife's abdomen, "If this kid is going to be a Kurosaki, then you can bet they'll overcome anything. Just as stubborn as their mother."

She nearly cracked a smile, "You're the stubborn one, stupid. If anything it'll be just as weird as you."

"Probably, but at least they'll have my dashing good looks too."

"What if it's a girl?" Masaki chuckled at the thought of a daughter with ridiculous sideburns.

"Then she'd better look like you, or maybe we'll get lucky and it'll be a boy. Then the great Kurosaki name could live on forever!"

"What about the hollow? Isshin what if that thing... What if it effects the baby? What are we going to do about that?"

That was a the big fear for both soon-to-be parents. The creature that Masaki had saved Isshin from all those nights ago, the event that brought them together, the thing that threaten Masaki's life to this day. What would that do to the child?

Isshin kissed her forehead, "We'll talk to Kisuke. If my soul is what's stopping that thing from hurting you, then you can bet your sweet ass that it'll be my super soul that'll be protecting that kid too."

This time Masaki did smile.

"What about-"

"Expenses?" Isshin cut her off. They could worry about the terrible things later, for now they could fantasies about the good things. "I'm sure Urahara and the others wold be more than happy to pitch in and do what they can."

"Like one big family."

"One big happy family. With two married people, some old exiled weirdo's, a cat lady, a pervert shop owner, and if you want to count him, a grumpy, stuck up doctor."

The tears had stopped now, and the overbearing dread was beginning to pass over. Masaki rested her head on Isshin's shoulder, the two of them sitting on the floor in silence and starring at the tiny device that had so suddenly changed their lives.

"We're gonna be parents," whispered Masaki.

Isshin couldn't help but grin, "I bet we'll be the best parents ever. Uh, how many..."

"Six weeks, I think. Good thing I know two doctors. Hospital bills are going to be ridiculous."

"We could have it in the Clinic." He's had to do that before, in rare emergencies.

"Here? Would that be safer?"

He caught double meaning. "Safest place on earth."

"Okay." Isshin kissed the top of his wife's head, and the two sighed as they sat on the bathroom floor, their minds wandering a million ideals of what the future held for them.

wow. I should didn't expect this to be as soft as it was. Poor Masaki, I can only imagine what was going through her head when she was carrying Ichigo. To be honest I would be rather unsettled if she and Isshin HADN'T had any fears about what would have happened because, let's be honest, so much COULD have gone wrong if Ichigo had been born a bit different. The woman has a freaking HOLLOW, made by AIZEN the freaky smart jackass, in her soul. Who wouldn't worry about that being a part of their child? I sure as hell would.

I hoped you enjoyed this little one-shot. I'm holding it as part of my Desperate Situation au, sort of like a pre-prequel to the story, with Shouten One Shots being after and between DS.

Please leave a review and tell me what you thought! I really want to write more early Kurosaki family stories, I just can't resist Isshin being a new dad he's such a fun character, and Masaki deserves her own manga series she's amazing.

Thank you for reading.

Bye-Bye ~