Name: Akemi Kurosaki

Age 23

Appearance: Long orange hair that falls to her waist, crystal blue eyes. She has pale but fair skin and she is a few inches shorter than Ichigo.

(Ichigo is also 23)

(Yuzu and Karin are 18 – Yuzu grew out her hair and is studying in college and Karin's is shoulder length and she plays football for the Karakura team)


Here I am again; sat here in the middle of the night alone, I'm sat here looking at the night sky the moon surrounded by all the twinkling stars that kept it company... why wasn't I like the moon? Even if I only had one star to keep me company... A tear rolled down my cheek as I rested my hand on my stomach no... Two stars...

"Akemi" A voice echoed through the silence I turned to see someone leaning on the doorframe "How you doing?" he asked

"Just thinking"

"About Ichigo?" I nodded as he walked closer sitting beside me "He'll be fine, he's an idiot but he knows what he's doing" he pulled me closer as I sobbed slightly "Shh... don't cry" he rocked me back and forth "You can talk if you want, you can always talk to me" I nodded as I wiped my eyes

"Isshin, thanks you always know what to say... but I don't know what to talk about?"

"Well, how about when you and Ichigo met?"

"But..."

"I know about him and what he does, I knew then" he smiled in reassurance "come you shouldn't be sat on the window ledge" I nodded as we sat on the bed "Right, my ears are all yours" I smiled

"Well we met in high school, well sort of..."

"Class, we have a new student, this is Akemi Taiin, Now make her welcome"

"It's nice to meet you all" The new girl smiled as she stood in front of the class, looking up her pale blue eyes scanned the classroom, analyzing who she would be spending class with for the upcoming year, she watched as people murmured and spoke

"Akemi" the teacher instructed "You take the desk next to the window at the back of the class" she nodded as she walked to her desk, she could feel some of the stares directed at her, she sat at her desk which was covered in writing, she quickly sat her bag down as she took out her equipment sitting it neatly on her desk along with a small notebook, just a plain black notebook that no one would take much notice of. She looked around there were several empty desks, five to be exact. She made a small note in her notebook just three words next to the date 'all five – absent' she slid the notebook into her pocket as she copied down the schoolwork, every word exactly as the teacher had said every word spelt correctly, after all that was as she had been raised, she had to be perfect it was as the only way she believed that she could be accepted. The next couple of days passed exactly like that those same three words repeated in her small black book 'All five – absent' she had expected three to return, Uryu, Sado and Inoue, as she knew Rukia Kuchiki had been captured and Ichigo Kurosaki... eliminated. She never expected the news she received that day.

"The four Ryoka have saved soul society, however we want you to keep tabs on them, especially Kurosaki, Ichigo substitute shinigami"

"He's alive?!"

"Yes"

"Captain Ukitake, what happened to Rukia?"

"She will be resting for a while but she is alive"

"Thank goodness"

"Yes indeed, however Akemi the matter at hand, Kurosaki Ichigo is a substitute shinigami therefore he needs to be monitored as you were-"

"In case he abuses his powers. I remember just fine after all it was only three years ago"

"That's my girl, good job keeping the recent hollow outbreaks under control, after the fill in after Rukia quit, you've been a great help"

"It's my job" she smiled as she leant against her bedroom wall as she heard footsteps "I have to go my father's coming" she murmured as she flicked her phone shut as there was a knock on her door

"Akemi, dinner's ready"

"I'll be down in a minute" she murmured as she picked up a soul candy swallowing it separating her from her body "Go to dinner then clean up, answer any questions as I would do, then go to bed early" the soul nodded as she jumped out the window towards the strangely excessive amount of hollows that had gathered she unsheathed her zanpaktou "This is going to be a long night" an hour of fighting had taken its toll on her these hollow seemed different they seemed unnatural. It wasn't long before she was joined by another soul reaper, his hair a dazzling orange his zanpaktou was unsealed and was rather large, they stood back to back as they were surrounded "Who are you?" she murmured before leaping towards a hollow which had steadied itself ready to attack

"Ichigo!" he yelled while he fought, her eyes widened as she heard his name

"So you're the newbie" she mumbled quiet enough to keep him out of earshot

"What about you?"

"My name's irrelevant!" she yelled slashing through more hollow

"Is that a 'none of my business' irrelevant?" she smirked, he can be taught, rule one trust nobody

"What do you think?!" Rule two give nothing away. He grinned as they stood back to back

"I think. What does a guy have to do to get your name?"

"Impress - me" They both went off in different directions until all of the hollows had been killed. As she walked away a smug voice sounded in the not so far distance

"So what's your name?"

"You'll see..." she used her shunpo disappearing before he could argue, he looked up at where the mystery shinigami had been before returning home. Clambering into his bed he continued to wonder about the mystery shinigami he had met.

"So that's how you two met, he never said that" I looked up slightly

"What did he tell you?" I asked out of curiosity

"Not much, just at school" I giggled slightly

"It feels stupid now, not telling him my name, just little things" I sighed

The next day at school she was running late, she couldn't sleep for some reason, opening the classroom door the bell sounded

"Just" she panted

"Hey Akemi!" Keigo yelled as she waved back as a greeting as she sat at her desk, once again taking out her books along with her little black notebook, in it she wrote 'All five – present' Ichigo was sat in front of her, he hadn't noticed her presence as he was too busy staring out of a window, staring into the far distance. It wasn't until the bell for break echoed throughout the building, and as the class emptied he caught a glimpse of orange hair as she stood and headed for the door when suddenly she was pinned to the wall

"What are you doing here?!" she gasped slightly as she let her body quiver in an attempt to show fear "answer me!"

"I'm a new student, let go of me please" she stuttered

"Are you following me?"

"I don't even know who you are!" she protested

"Don't lie; you're the girl from last night, shinigami"

"Shinigami? I'm human, I swear"

"I don't believe you"

"ICHIGO!" Tatsuki Yelled "What are you doing to her?!" she punched him out of the way.

"What the hell was that for?!" he yelled as he rubbed his head that had previously made contact with the wooden floor

"Akemi, are you ok?" she nodded as Tatsuki walked her out of the room while glaring at Ichigo who sighed as he slung his bag over his shoulder before heading to find the guys. The following lesson he would turn round and talk to her but she wouldn't reply or look up from her work. As the lunch bell rang it wasn't long till she disappeared she headed to the roof, sitting up on the ledge she could feel the wind blowing through her hair, she loved the way it felt. She sat and as she was about to eat her lunch some of the guys came up

"Akemi!" Keigo yelled "Come eat with us!" she nodded as she climbed off the ledge to where everyone else was sitting when someone else walked up the stairs "Ichigo!" she turned quickly to see a less than amused orange haired Ichigo she turned back to her lunch acting uninterested

"Hey guys-" he paused when he saw the mystery shinigami

"Ichigo, this is Akemi, Akemi is the new student she arrived about two weeks ago. Akemi this is Ichigo"

"Nice to meet you Ichigo" she smiled

"Yeah, same Akemi" he emphasized her name almost as if he found out some huge life changing secret. He sat down beside her she continued to eat. They sat listening to Keigo talk about random things which made little or no sense "So Akemi, what squad are you from?"

"Squad?"

"Gotei 13"

"I told you I'm human"

"So am I, why are you here?"

"Working" she murmured taking a bite of her lunch

"Who for?" she leaned closer as she whispered

"What do you think?" she smirked as she turned back to the others who were looking at her strange "what's wrong?" she asked nervously

"How close did you get to Ichigo?!"

"Huh? Did I? I never meant to I just couldn't hear him" she smiled as she packed her things into her bag "See you in class" she smiled as she headed downstairs. Ichigo ate his lunch before leaving. Akemi headed towards the Kendo club's lunchtime sessions sitting she watched them fight she noticed that a bully was fighting the members, and they were losing at their own sport

"Akemi, what are you doing?" she turned to see Ichigo before watching as the bully beat down the team captain

"ANYONE ELSE WANT A SHOT!" he yelled as people backed away

"I will!" she yelled as she stood up

"What the hell are you doing Akemi do you know who he is?!" Ichigo lectured but she pushed her way through the crowd picking up the shinai that was lying on the floor

"HA!" he laughed "This is no place for a girl you could get hurt"

"Funny" she smirked "I was about to say the same thing to you"

"You've got guts"

"More than you" she rested the shinai on her shoulder "how about my rules, first one to cave, loses"

"You're on, but don't expect me to go easily on you"

"I wouldn't have it any other way" she smirked as they took their stances "Go" He took the first strike swinging the shinai over her head, she ducked dodging it easily his next swing was about waist height she jumped landing on his opposite side swinging her shinai low catching his legs causing him to fall over she pointed her shinai at his head "do you surrender?" he nodded hastily "now don't come back" he nodded and scurried away. She smiled as some people clapped and cheered when someone grabbed her wrist pulling her back through the crowd, looking up she saw Ichigo who was holding her wrist tight enough so that she couldn't get away, but not so tight that it hurt her.

"Ichigo!" she snapped "What are you doing?!" he stopped

"After that you think you can still deny being a shinigami?"

"Guess not, my chivalry is a curse" she shrugged "I'm a substitute shinigami, much like yourself"

"Who gave you your powers?"

"No-one, Officially I was dead for ten minutes when my heart mysteriously started working again, it felt like longer, months, years even. Spirit ribbons, did you know ours are red?" he nodded

"What... happened to you?"

"I crossed the line apparently, my step mother was a violent person, three years ago she beat me to death, part of me yearned for it, and it made me stronger. Yet a part of me yearned for life" She stifled a chuckle "She was jealous you know, jealous that my father never loved her he just married her because he thought I needed a mother, after that she was arrested and a divorced ex-wife" a single tear rolled down her face making Ichigo feel a twinge of guilt

"Look don't cry" he reached for her cheek but she suddenly stood up smiling

"Thanks Ichigo, that helped a lot, I never said anything before" she bent down kissing his forehead before heading to class, leaving a flustered Ichigo, pale but pink.

"Ichigo is an idiot of a son" Isshin sighed causing me to laugh slightly

"Nah, just a little bit... wrong in the head perhaps?"

"I'm home!"

"Yuzu!" I smiled as she came to the door

"Akemi!" she smiled "Ichi left you again?" I nodded "so what are you doing to pass the time?"

"Talking about how me and Ichigo met" she sat down

"Oooh! Do tell" I giggled slightly as I nodded taking a small breath

That night she decided to annoy Ichigo further, as well as further her research, picking up her books and her soul candy she headed to the Kurosaki household. Knocking on the door a small girl with black hair answered

"I'm here to see Ichigo" she battered her eyelashes. As the girl turned to the stairs

"Ichigo!" she yelled "there's a girl here to see you!"

"Yeah, yeah" he murmured as he slowly walked down the stairs, wearing only his jeans "Hey Akemi"

"Ichigo" she held up her books "you missed too much class!" she smirked "I'm going to tutor you"

"Tutor?! What the hell are you-?"

"That's a brilliant Idea!" a man interrupted as he appeared in the doorway next to Ichigo "I'm Isshin, Ichigo's father"

"Nice to meet you, I'm Akemi, I go to school with Ichigo" she smiled

"Come in, come in!" she nodded as she stepped in to the heat of the Kurosaki household "Ichigo, take the lady upstairs and listen to what she has to say!" He instructed

"Fine..." he murmured something under his breath as he beckoned her to follow "Why are you here?" he asked as she sat on his bed

"Reiatsu leak" he looked at her, his face full of confusion "you're a reiatsu time bomb"

"A what?!" she sighed

"Calm down, I'll show you" she opened one of the books she had brought, on its pages were several drawings "Right, this is you" she pointed to a detailed picture of Ichigo "Your Reiatsu is naturally high, but your body cannot contain it very well" she pointed the next picture "so it leaks, like so" she flicked the page over "Hollows are attracted to strong reiatsu, so your reiatsu attracts hollow, following me so far?"

"Yeah" he nodded "you're far better at drawing than Rukia" she smiled as she hit him on the head

"Right, so you need to learn to control your Reiatsu"

"How?"

"Practice, I can sense your reiatsu from my house, so I'll be able to tell if you improve"

"From your house?"

"That's how I found you, duh"

"Akemi!" Isshin yelled "Would you like to stay for dinner?"

"Sorry, I'll have to head home soon" she replied before turning to Ichigo who was looking at her book, she picked up her black notebook slipping it into her pocket as she turned to leave

"You forgot your books!"

"You keep them the blue one was for you anyway" she pointed to the blue book lying on the floor she waved as she closed the door behind her. Ichigo picked up the blue book opening it there was two weeks' worth of notes

"Akemi" he smiled as he sat the books on his desk before heading downstairs.

Akemi bit her lip as she walked "he looked so fine" she murmured as she thought of the shirtless Ichigo turned her cheeks a pale pink "those muscles..." she clenched her fist "What the hell am I thinking?!"

"You think he's fine!" she turned rapidly to see Ukitake as her face turned bright red

"Captain Ukitake!" she stammered "How long were you following me?"

"Not long"

"What's the matter?" she asked curiously

"Just wanted a status report"

"here" she threw her small black notebook at him which he caught in one hand "Why do you need to know so much about him anyway?" she asked while he flicked through it

"Soul society needs to know if he can be trusted"

"By the looks of things he's a bit of an idiot but he's loyal, very trustworthy" he smirked as he threw her note book back, she tucked it in her pocket

"Keep up the good work" he murmured before disappearing.

"So originally you were keeping an eye on Ichigo?" Yuzu asked, I nodded slightly

"It started like that, but then as days turned into weeks and weeks into months we got closer and closer without even realizing"

"That sounds like Ichi, completely clueless" I giggled

"I don't think either of us properly realized our feelings till then..."

"Ichigo! Watch out!" she yelled as she pushed him out of the path of a cero we both tumbled down the steep hill

"Akemi!" he yelled as he reached out for her, he pulled her close trying to protect her from the fall, when they finally stopped falling she opened her eyes and crawled out of Ichigo's arms

"Ichigo, are you ok?" there was no answer "Ichigo?" she rolled him over, there was blood running down his face, she had a horrible urge to cry but she checked his pulse and his breathing "you Idiot" she murmured as she moved his head off of the cold rock floor onto her lap, as she wiped the blood from his head with her thumb "I can protect myself" she mumbled as she let her fingers run through his hair, she laid down looking at the black sky of Hueco Mundo as she slowly fell asleep. Ichigo woke up with a throbbing pain in his head

"What happened?" he groaned as he reached for his head where his hand was placed on top of another hand which was resting on his wound, moving the hand slightly he sat up, turning to see Akemi sleeping peacefully, he placed his hand on her head, smiling slightly to himself

"So you're awake?" she mumbled as he moved his hand

"Yeah" he mumbled as she sat up

"How's your head feeling?"

"Fine" he lied, as he stood up, she walked up to him kissing his wound lightly

"Thanks for saving me, Liar" she smiled as she walked ahead. Ichigo following behind her.

"Akemi, why did Ichigo lie?"

"It's just something men do, to seem tougher" she giggled "Never works though"

"So what happened then?"

"Well, we split up in Las Noches so we didn't meet until..." I trailed off "Noitra..."

"Why?! Why is his reiatsu fading?!" she ran faster than her body could manage, she ran toward them towards him. When she arrived she was instantly grabbed by an arrancar

"Another one?" he hissed in her ear "Maybe, you should watch too" a chuckle escaped his lips as he jerked her head towards a fight, instantly she realized it was Ichigo being... crushed. Instantly tears flowed from her eyes, she didn't care about looking strong anymore, she needed to cry. She tried to struggle free, with no success "Stay still!" the arrancar demanded. She glanced around quickly, her eyes leaving Ichigo for no more than a few seconds, she saw Orihime, also in tears, also restrained. The arrancar fighting Ichigo picked him up by the head squeezing it tight

"Ichigo!" she tried to scream, but her voice was muffled by the dry hand clamped around her mouth. She bit the hand of her captor while kicking him as hard as she could manage, as he let go dropping her to the ground she screamed "Ichigo!" as her body began to shimmer a vibrant white "Ichigo!" unsheathing her sword she knew what she had to say "Condemn, Black angel" her zanpakto became engulfed in a charcoal black as her shinigami robes turned white with black embroidery, one of her eyes turned white while the other turned black "Bankai!" she murmured as she charged towards Ichigo and his competitor. She jumped high into the air swinging her zanpaktou down, he turned to block when her zanpaktou sliced straight through his arm causing him to stumble backward "Chained soul, release" the black ribbon that hung from the hilt began to constrict around the fraccion bringing him to his knees "You will die here... no more lives will you take" she raised her zanpaktou above her head "Death's Decision – Guilty" she brought the blade down through his hollow hole, where his heart used to be and he let out a deadly scream as his body turned to dust. "Never again..." she murmured as she sheathed her zanpaktou at her waist causing her bankai to deactivate. Instantly Ichigo flashed into her mind "Ichigo!" she turned running towards him "Ichigo!" she crouched down beside him "Speak-" she was interrupted when she heard a voice

"What the hell happened to you? You're practically dead"

"Kenpachi!" she smiled

"Akemi take Ichigo and the girl out of her, leave that guy to me" she nodded as she slung Ichigo over her shoulder, Noitra threw Orihime to the side

"I have no interest in you, girl!" she ran over to the small Nel who was beaten up

"Orihime!" she ran over to them "Follow me, we need to go" she nodded carrying Nel, they found shelter a small distance away "Can you heal him?" she nodded as she activated her barrier around Ichigo and Nel. "Are you ok?" she nodded in reply, before turning back to Ichigo

"I've never seen you cry like that before..." Akemi froze slightly, she had seen her "you love him don't you?" she paused; Akemi didn't know how to reply... did she? "I thought so... you're someone I can't compete with"

"Orihime...are you ok?" she looked up with a smile on her face

"I'm fine, Fine!" she laughed slightly, but she could still hear the sadness in her voice. After a few minutes of silence she spoke "he's waking up..."

"Ichigo" she smiled as tears threatened to fall "you're ok"

"Akemi, Orihime" he stood up causing the barrier to separate. He walked over to them when suddenly Orihime screamed as she was flung over Illquiorra's shoulder

"Orihime!" she yelled as Illquiorra disappeared, "No!" she fell to the floor "She was right beside me... Dammit!" she yelled as she punched the floor as she was about to strike another blow she felt a hand on her shoulder looking up she saw Ichigo

"Don't worry, we'll get her back" he comforted, she nodded slightly as she stood up

"Itsugo..." Nel Murmured

"Nel" she smiled "Let's go Nel" she picked her up lifting her onto her shoulders holding her ankles in her hands,

"Athemee" she grinned

"Ichigo, Let's go" he nodded as the left towards the faint sense of Orihime's reiatsu. When they arrived at the fifth tower she lifted Nel off of her shoulders "Nel, stay here I don't want you getting hurt" she smiled

"But I wanna stay with Itsugo and Athemee!"

"Who'll look after Dondochakka and Pesche if you get hurt?" she nodded "now go, stay safe" Nel nodded before running and hiding, she turned to Ichigo "Let's go..."

"Inside we fought Illquiora, I don't remember much... I was seriously injured after trying to protect them... If it wasn't for Orihime I would have died"

"Really?!" Yuzu asked in disbelief

"Afterwards she told me something, I didn't expect..."

"What was it?!" Yuzu interrupted

"That Ichigo cried when he saw me like that..."

"Ichigo cried!" Isshin yelled "What a wimp!"

"DAD!" Yuzu yelled "I think it's sweet" I giggled slightly "what happened after you got back?"

"It's so good to be back!" she smiled twirling around in circles her red dress spiralling with her, Ichigo just walking behind her with his hands in his jean pockets "Don't you think so?"

"I guess"

"Fine, be that way" she pouted "I'll go find some other guy to hang out with" she teased as she started to walk she felt a strong hand around her wrist "What? Does that offend you?"

"No!" he replied a little too quickly "It's just you could still be injured, there's no saying you recovered properly!" she smiled as she turned round his hand still on her wrist, she was just millimetres from him, causing a blush to form on his cheeks

"So you're worried about me? Thanks Ichigo" she smiled as she lightly kissed his cheek as she ran towards her house

"Hey! Wait up!" Ichigo yelled as he followed but she had stopped at the end of her street

"No... No... It can't be..." Ichigo stopped beside her looking down her street, outside her house was an ambulance and a police car.

"Akemi..." she broke into a run pushing her way through the small crowd that had gathered she was held back by a policeman "Let me go!" she screamed "This is my house!"

"Calm down, who are you?"

"Akemi Taiin, the daughter"

"I'm afraid your father had a heart attack, the paramedics are taking care of him"

"Akemi" she turned to see Ichigo who she just instantly hugged "My dad... heart attack" she sobbed into his chest when she heard a voice other than the one she expected

"Akemi honey, don't cry..." her body froze

"Dad..." she turned to see her father's ghostly image, she shook her head frantically "No!" her breathing became irregular "No!" She screamed as she ran back to the house the policeman tried to stop her but she just jumped over his head. She was stood at the door when she heard it "Time of death... 15:07" she fell to her knees, she couldn't cry...

"why can't I cry?" she murmured Ichigo picked her up taking her away from the house, and out of sight, he was followed by her father's ghost.

"Akemi" Ichigo shook her slightly causing her to return to reality she took a soul pill from her pocket swallowing it whole.

"Dad..." she faced him as he smiled "I love you"

"I love you too, go on... do it" he pointed at her sheathed zanpaktou "just promise me one thing"

"Anything"

"Promise you'll be happy" she nodded as she unsheathed her zanpaktou bringing the hilt to his forehead, as he began to shimmer a heavenly blue she replied

"I promise" she walked back into her body "Ichigo... thank you" she smiled as she leaned closer kissing him not on the cheek, nor on the forehead but on his soft lips, he kissed back as his hands found their way to her waist and hers were sliding behind his neck pulling them closer together. As they pulled away she smiled "As of today I'll have no regrets" she took a breath "I'm in love with you, Kurosaki Ichigo" he just grinned as he leaned to her ear and whispered

"Shame... cause I'm in love with you too" she chuckled

"What were you too chicken to admit it first?" he brought his lips closer to hers, hovering over her rouge lips he whispered

"Don't ruin the moment" before she could reply he captured her lips, both of them trying to fight for dominance, after a breath-weary battle Ichigo claimed her mouth as his own, smirking he pulled away.

"Don't get used to winning" she grinned as she walked away causing Ichigo to follow after

"Does that mean you're going to let me try again?" he chuckled as his arms wrapped around her waist from behind

"Depends"

"So you're not going to let your boyfriend kiss you?"

"Is that an offer?"

"Maybe it is"

"Then I guess I will" she grinned as he kissed her cheek lightly.

"We were officially an item after that" I smiled to myself as I stood up walking to the window looking up at the moon, then down at the picture that was sat on the window ledge, on it was a picture of me and Ichigo at graduation, both of us in our robes, we held each other so close as if neither of us wanted to let go, I know I didn't. Looking back out of the window everything began to look blurry I felt faint. Screaming I fell to the floor

"Akemi!" Isshin yelled "Yuzu help me get her to the clinic!" she nodded as they carried me downstairs I was barely conscious, the pain was unbearable.

"Happy 21st birthday!" everyone yelled as she entered the room

"What the?!" she smiled as confetti flew everywhere causing her to giggle as she attempted to pull it from her hair "Thanks everyone"

"Dammit! Two weeks, we should have prepared, just in case!" I faintly heard Isshin yell

"Where's Ichigo?" she asked as she scanned the crowd

"Up here!" she smiled as she looked up at the stage "Get up here birthday girl!" she laughed as she was pushed from one side of the club to the stage where she was lifted up by Ichigo himself "Right! Akemi 21 is it, getting older I see"

"You didn't-"

"Doesn't look it does she? She's still as beautiful as when I first met her"

"Nice way to save yourself" she grinned as she heard laughter

"Right we're almost done, just a little more"

"Anyway, Akemi ... Announcement time!"

"What on earth are you talking about?" she asked completely clueless

"Akemi... will you marry me?" she grinned

"Do you even have to ask? Yes I will!" He hugged her, spinning her round before kissing her lovingly

"We're done" he muttered a healing Kidou healing the laceration on my stomach; I felt the pain ease away "Akemi..."

"Yeah?" I mumbled as I sat up, my strength slowly returning

"Yuzu..."

"Meet your son... Akemi" she smiled as she handed me the baby boy, my baby boy "What you going to name him?" what to name him...

"Naoto"

"Naoto... honest person... I like it" she smiled

"I'm glad" I smiled

"I'm a granddad!" I heard Isshin murmur, causing me to giggle

"Would you like to hold your grandson?" he nodded as I handed him over

"He's healthy even though he was two weeks early, he's strong. Like his mum and maybe his dad too" he smiled as he rocked Naoto back and forth.

"I'm going to take him to soul society, Captain Ukitake will want to see him" I smiled he nodded

"I knew you would, there's a bag in the cupboard, and it's got baby things in it"

"Thanks" I smiled as he handed me Naoto back. As I walked into the room.

"Dad, why didn't you tell her about Ichigo?"

"I wanted her to go for her own reasons, not because Ichigo was there."

Exiting the sekai gate, I arrived in the thirteenth squad barracks. Naoto was in his holder on my back. I headed towards the Captain Ukitake's office; knocking on the door I entered the room

"Akemi, nice to see you" he smiled

"I brought someone to see you" she smiled as he looked at her confused, she slid the holder off of her back holding Naoto in her arms he stood up from his desk hugging me

"Congratulations, may I?" I nodded as he took Naoto from me "He looks so much like you"

"How can you tell he was only born a few hours ago?"

"I just can" he smiled "Have you been to see Ichigo yet?"

"He's... here?"

"Yeah, didn't you know?" I shook my head "Unohana won't let him leave until he's had a full examination... which didn't go too well with him, he wanted home" I giggled as he handed Naoto back to me "he's in squad four go see him, I'm sure he wants to see this little guy" he tickled him causing him to squirm in my arms

"I will" I turned to leave

"Also pop into squad three, the new third seat might interest you" I gave him a curious look before waving goodbye. The squad four building was as usual, eerie but welcoming, heading inside I saw a far too familiar orange haired shinigami looking at the ceiling.

"Nice view?" I asked as he turned

"Akemi?" he sat up walking over to me kissing my cheek

"Ichigo, Meet Naoto" I smiled as he looked at the wriggling baby in my arms "would daddy like to hold him?"

"Yeah did you have to ask?" I smiled as he took Naoto from my arms cradling him back and forth

"Let's go for a walk, I'm sure Unohana won't mind" he nodded as we left. Walking around the squad barracks I remembered what Ukitake said "Can we go to squad three? There's someone Ukitake wanted me to see"

"Sure" he replied as he lifted Naoto in the air making him giggle slightly I smiled as I watched my two favourite boys. When we arrived at squad three I spoke to the new captain Kasumi, she told me that her third seat would be back in a minute he was just taking some paperwork to the 7th squad captain. We were waiting for about five or six minutes when he arrived

"You asked for me?" a voice echoed I looked up

"Dad... is it really you?"

"A...kemi...?"

"You became a shinigami... "I ran and hugged him "Dad"

"My baby girl is all grown up" he smiled

"Dad, I want you to meet some people" I pulled him towards Ichigo "This is Ichigo, my husband and Naoto, my son" He looked Ichigo up and down before his attention turned to the baby in his arms

"Do you want to hold him?" Ichigo asked, he nodded as he took Naoto from Ichigo

"I see you kept your promise"

"Of course I did" I smiled as he handed me Naoto

"Keep living... "He smiled as he kissed my forehead, he turned to Ichigo "Thank you" he entered the office leaving me and Ichigo alone.

"Ichigo... let's go home"

"Yeah" he smiled as he kissed my forehead "lets" I smiled as he held my hand in his.

"Do you Taiin Akemi, Take Kurosaki Ichigo to be your husband?"

"I do"

"Do you Kurosaki Ichigo, take Taiin Akemi to be your wife?"

"I do"

"You may now kiss the bride" he leaned closer kissing her deeply and lovingly

"Ichigo" I smiled "I love you"

"I love you too" We walked through the Sekai gate towards home.