The small girl giggled frantically as she ran along the warmly light hall of her house, occasionally looking back to see her mother running after her comically, holding out her toddler-sized pajamas before her as she tried to catch up.

"Tsukihiko! It's time for bed!" her mom called after her. Tsukihiko laughed a carefree child's laugh and dashed into first open door she saw, which happened to be that of her bedroom.

She quickly sprinted towards her twin-sized bed and scuttled underneath. Tsukihiko was only four, on top of which, she was small for her age, so it was easy to hide in tiny spaces. Something her parents constantly dreaded.

A few seconds later, Tsukihiko saw from the crack between the floor and the sheets hanging over the edge of her bed, a pair of feet she recognized as her mother's come through the door and into the room.

"Hmm. The room seems to be empty. But I could have sworn I saw someone tiny running in here…" The woman spoke to herself, and Tsukihiko had to cover her mouth to keep herself from giggling out loud. "I guess I was wrong…" she said after a while, sighing disappointedly. "It's too bad really, now I'm going to have to finish all that strawberry ice cream in the fridge by myself-"

"I'm here!!!!" Tsukihiko yelled and tackled her mom to the ground before she could even finish the sentence. "Let's go eat ice cream now!" she said happily in her childish voice.

Her mother cracked a smile that Tsukihiko recognized from experience. Before she could run away again, however, her mom had grabbed her and lifted her up with surprising strength for someone her size. "Not so fast, Shortcake." her mother said smugly as she carried her against her struggling, to her bed, using her 'special' nickname, Shortcake, as in 'strawberry shortcake', which she'd won for her addiction to them. "It's way past your bedtime." she set her down on the bed.

Tsukihiko crossed her arms and scowled hard, causing her mother to laugh. "So much like her father." she heard her whisper to herself, but ignored it.

"I'm not sleepy." Tsukihiko stated stubbornly.

Her mother looked at her long and hard. Tsukihiko looked back sternly, not willing to give in. "Okay." her mother put her hands on her hips. "Let's compromise."

Tsukihiko was about to ask what that big word meant, but her mom held up a finger, signaling that she was going to continue.

"If I tell you a story, you go to sleep. No complaints."

Tsukihiko pretended to think about it for a while, the with a huff, said "Okay-" she crawled under her covers quick as a mouse, and after and instant popped just her head out. "But it has to be the one I pick."

"Deal." her mother agreed and sat down at the edge of Tsukihiko's bed, preparing for the story. "Which one would you like?"

Tsukihiko didn't miss a beat. "The one about the Sun and the Moon!" she chirped.

"Again?" her mother asked, with slightly widened eyes, but a small smile started to creep on her lips.

Tsukihiko nodded rapidly. "That's my favorite."

Her mother laughed softly, a warm familiar sound that always soothed her.

"Alright then…

Once upon a time, in a world far far away, there lived a Prince and a Princess. They lived in different kingdoms, the Prince was from the Day Kingdom, and the Princess was from the Night Kingdom. The Prince of Day, also known as the Sun Prince, lived with his father, the King, and his sisters, in a humble castle. The Sun Prince had all he could ever wish for in wealth, and he was loved by his people, as well as his friends and family, but still, he was not happy. The Sun Prince had one wish: to protect. More that anything, he wanted to protect. To protect his people, to protect those close to him, and to protect his kingdom. His father had trained him in fighting, and he could easily defend himself, but he lacked the powers of the warriors that went out to battle, and there was nothing he could do.

One night, the Sun Prince was in his room, when he saw someone enter through the window. Scared that it was someone sent to kill him by enemy kingdoms, he jumped up and knocked down the distracted intruder. The intruder, a girl that looked not much older than himself, got up with a surprised look on her face. 'You can see me?" she asked him, surprised.

'Of course, I just knocked you to the floor, didn't I?' he responded, rather rudely for a Prince, the girl thought. With all the dignity she could muster, the girl got up and dusted herself off, then walked towards the prince. 'You sure are strange.' she said, examining him closely. 'You shouldn't be able to see me.' The prince looked very irritated now. 'What are you talking about?' he demanded. The girl looked at him seriously, then said, 'I am a mage.'

The Prince looked at her incredulously. As a child, he'd heard tales of the mage: men and women with supernatural powers, who went to battle and ferried the souls of the dead to the next life. He'd never met one, though, and he was skeptical that they even existed. So he looked at the girl like she was crazy, and told her he didn't believe her. The girl tried to reason with him, explaining that she came from another land, the Night Kingdom, and that she was what she said, that she was usually invisible to others unless she willed herself to be seen, except just now, and that she didn't understand why he could see her.

Their conversation was cut short by the sound of screams around the castle. 'Stay where you are!' the mage girl ordered the Prince. But the Sun Prince was not one to take orders from strangers, especially not when his family might be in danger. He began to run out his room, ignoring the mage's words, but was stopped by a sudden force that knocked him off his feet. He realized the mage had used her magic on him. 'Let me go! I have to help them!' he yelled at her, but she had already ran off. With all the strength he could muster, and the thought of saving his family, he broke the mage's spell on him, and ran in the direction the screams had come from. He was shocked to see a huge monster, attacking his defenseless sisters. In a rage, the Prince ran to attack the monster, but it was too strong and too fast. It would have struck him, if it wasn't because a split second before he was hit, the mage girl from before jumped in front of him, taking the hit that was meant for him. He watched, incredulous, as she fell, then weakly crawled to a corner. She scolded him for being reckless. Told him he could have done nothing. Then she admitted she could no longer fight with her injuries, and the Prince felt his heart sink. Who would save his family?

That's when the mage girl gave him an offer. She said she would give him her powers so he could protect his family, but that for that, he needed to become a mage himself. With only worry for his family filling his mind, the Prince accepted quickly, and took the girl's powers, then easily slayed the monster.

In result to this night, the mage girl lost all of her powers, and was rendered unable to return to her home. For many days, she stayed at the castle with the Sun Prince, while she patiently taught him how to use his newfound powers. She told him that now, it was his duty to fight all the monsters that attacked the people of the kingdom, as well as help the dead pass on. The Prince was reluctant as first, but eventually he realized that he could finally do what he'd always wanted: Protect. He accepted his responsibilities, and did his job with great skill. He even increased his power to great lengths, amazing the mage girl, who proudly watched him grow.

As the days went by, the Prince and the mage grew closer together. She taught him all about his powers and he, in turn, taught her all about his kingdom, which, according to her, was very different from her own. A bond was formed between them without either of them noticing, and soon, the mage girl grew to feel herself at home.

Back at the Night Kingdom, they had noticed the mage girl's absence, and a search party was sent out for her. The girl soon realized they were after her, and knew she would have to leave. It was unexpectedly painful for her to separate herself from the Day Kingdom, where she had made many friends in the time she spent there, and where she infinitely enjoyed their customs and traditions, and the perpetually warm ambient. But most of all, she knew, she would miss the Sun Prince. They spent almost everyday together, and she had forgotten what it was like to not be with him. But she knew her people were coming for her, and she knew she had made a serious crime when she had given her powers away to the Prince, and she knew that they would both be punished for it. So, in order to spare the Prince's life, she silently snuck out one night on her own, without so much as a goodbye, and went out to meet her fate.

The Sun Prince, however, noticed she was gone, and immediately went out to look for her. It wasn't long before he found her being attacked by unfamiliar people. They were using powers much like his own, and the Prince figured they were other mage. Upon seeing him, the girl urged him to run away, to leave this place. But the Prince wouldn't have that. He had seen that she was in trouble, and, though he did not acknowledge it, he had come to care for the girl as well. So he fought the ones who had come for her. His power, though new and still rough, proved to be a match for them, but in the end, one of the mage came forth, and revealed himself to be King of the Night Kingdom. He also revealed that the mage girl was his sister- the Princess of Night, also known as the Moon Princess. The Sun Prince recovered himself from the shock, but the Night King was too powerful and easily defeated him. Not a moment later, he took the Moon Princess away from him.

The Sun Prince was terribly sad and filled with the loss of the Princess who had changed his life. She had given him what he most desired- the power to Protect. Reflecting n this, he resolved that he would use this power, and he would protect her. With a will stronger than steel, he trained to get stronger, and, along with his friends, who had also met at some point the Moon Princess, and were always willing to go to great lengths for him, they went on a journey to the Night kingdom.

Once there, the Sun Prince discovered the Princess hadn't been lying when she had said this place was very different from the Day Kingdom, but even though this made things harder, the Prince's resolve to save her never faltered. He fought enemy after enemy, testing the very limits of his strength, never once seeing defeat as an option. After a long and arduous road, he finally arrived at the White Tower where the Princess was being held. Just as he went to rescue her, the Night King, the man who had defeated him before, and the brother of the Moon Princess, appeared before him. He would not let him pass to save the Princess.

With no other options, the Sun Prince fought the Night King. It took everything he had, and at one point, he thought he might not be strong enough, but he somehow managed to defeat the King, and rescue the Princess.

She didn't thank him. Not at first. When he finally saw her after their painful separation for the first time, she reprimanded him, as she so often had when teaching him, for having come for her. She was angry that he could have been hurt. But deep down, he knew she was happy he had come, and he didn't need her to say it. He was just happy that she was safe, for he had come to think of her as the most important person in his life. She had given him what he'd always wanted, and, without his knowing, what he'd always needed.

He had expected to go home with her afterwards. But the Moon Princess surprised him by saying she wanted to stay in the Night Kingdom. Now that her crime had been forgiven, there was no danger for her here, and she could stay. The Prince was initially disappointed, but when he saw the Princess' happiness, he decided that it was alright. They didn't say goodbye, for they knew without saying that they would find each other again, and then parted for some time.

It was a while before he saw her again, but the day came. Another kingdom had just begun a war against the Day Kingdom, and the Sun Prince had grown depressed, seeing his people fight a loosing battle, giving up their lives in the process. Just when he was about to loose all hope, the Moon Princess came back into his life, lighting a ray of hope and happiness in his heart. She said the Night Kingdom was also at war, against the same enemy, and that she was sent here, along with other mage to gather his help. Soon after, they marched into the war together. The Moon Princess was a strong warrior; in her absence, she had regained her mage powers to full strength, and the Sun Prince had gotten even stronger. They begun a fight that was very even, every side substaining heavy losses.

In one fight, the Moon Princess got hurt very badly, and the Sun Prince lost his resolve to fight. He went after the Princess, wanting nothing more than to save her, nothing else mattered. But the fight was too intense, it was a long time before they would be reunited in the battlefield.

In the end, they had managed to survive and win the war, though not without cost. More than ever, though, the Sun Prince had realized just how deeply he cared for the Moon Princess. Having almost lost her, he realized he could no longer imagine life without her. She had saved him when they first met, and later, he saved her from the rules of her own people. After that, they constantly saved each other every day, in small ways that would go by unnoticed by anyone else.

One afternoon, in the light of the golden sunset, he told her about this. The Moon Princess looked terribly sad, for she also felt the same, but she knew they were from different worlds, and there was no way for them to stay together. One day, the Sun Prince would become Day King, and she would become Night Queen. There was no escaping their destinies, and they simply couldn't be together. It broke their hearts. Not long after, they knew they had to part ways, this time, it would be more permanently. The night before, they spent it together, imagining only the two of them existed in the world, and that they had the rest of their time to be together.

On the day of their impending separation, something happened, an unexplained storm, and the people from the Night Kingdom were forced to delay their journey. Before the Sun Prince and the Moon Princess could wonder what happened, the most unexpected of people, the Night King, who had grown to respect both the Prince and his sister, appeared and took them to a corner alone. In rushed whispers, he explained that he had used his powers to create the storm, and that they should take advantage of it.

They could not have been more surprised, but they wasted no time. Realizing what the Night King intended, the Prince and Princess packed what they needed and ran away together. They rode their steeds as far as they would take them, on to far away, unexplored lands. Over there, the Prince and Princess started their own kingdom, were they were known as the Sun King and the Moon Queen. Together, they watched over their blooming kingdom, as it grew every day in peace and prosperity.

"And then?"

Tsukihiko was almost completely hidden under her heavy covers, and her voice was clumsy, her eyes droopy, on the edge of sleep, but she forced herself to stay awake until the end of the story.

"And then what?" her mother asked back, after stopping the story.

"What happened to them after that, you never tell me." she complained to her mom, who only smiled softly.

"That story will have to wait for another time. Right now, you have to sleep, unless you want to stay tiny all your life." her mom said, giving her a kiss on the forehead goodnight.

"You mean stay tiny like you did?" Tsukihiko asked.

Her mom's cheeks turned red and she said in a voice that wasn't yelling only by a small amount of volume and self-control. "Did Daddy tell you to say that?"

Tsukihiko giggled.

"What are you dragging Daddy into now?" a masculine voice said from behind, making Tsukihiko's mom jump.

Her husband stood on the doorway with a bright-haired eight-year-old boy clinging to his leg.

"Hi Kaien-onii-chan!" Tsukihiko said brightly, the drowsiness leaving the hyper four-year-old magically at the sight of her brother.

"Haha, Tsuki-chan has to go to bed early!" Kaien taunted, receiving a slight smack from his father.

"Shut up, you're going to bed too." He told his son.

"Alright, Shortcake, we had a deal. Sleep. Now." her mother said firmly, but with a warm smile that had spread on her face ever since her husband walked in, and hadn't left since.

"Fine." she pouted, but obliged. "I love you Mommy." Tsukihiko said, before burying herself under covers again.

"I love you too, sweetheart." her mom said, before being glomped by a blur that she recognized as her primogenital son.

"He wouldn't go to sleep without seeing you first." her husband explained, leaning against the door frame in faked annoyance.

Kaien hugged his mother and she hugged him back. "Goodnight, baby."

"'Night, Mommy. I love you."

"Love you too." she kissed the top of his unruly hair and let him go back, running past his father and in the direction of his room.

Soft even breathing told her that Tsukihiko was already fast asleep.

She gave one long sigh of relief.

"They're a handful. Are you still sure you don't want to give them up for adoption?" her husband said, still behind her.

"Shut up, Idiot."

He grinned at that, then quietly came up to her so that he was just behind her, she could feel the warmth coming from his body. "So, did the Sun King and Moon Queen live happily ever after?" he whispered in her ear, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"So you were listening?" she asked,

His response was only to say her name.

"Rukia."

"Ichigo." she smiled, standing up from her daughter's bed, and Ichigo's eyes locked with hers, brown and with an intensity they never lost.

"Nice story. You left out all the bloody parts though."

"I was censoring."

"I see. Is that why you never tell Tsukihiko the ending?" he asked with seriousness to hide his playfulness. He had leaned in close now, really close. Rukia could feel his breath on her face.

Rukia smirked. "You wish." then began to pull back, only to have Ichigo grab her face with a hand that was inexplicably rough and gentle at the same time. He pulled her to him, she offered no resistance until their lips met. After ten years of kissing, they still felt the same electric spark that traveled throughout their bodies just as they had with their first kiss.

They pulled back slightly, to look at each other. Violet met brown.

"So-" Ichigo said with a voice as soft as his warm eyes. "Did they live happily ever after?"

Rukia stared for another moment before standing on her tip toes for a quick kiss. "They had each other for eternity."

"Oh. Too bad." Ichigo teased, earning a punch for that. Instead of grimacing, he had to grin. He pulled his wife against himself, her body melting into his so naturally. He half-buried his face in her raven hair, like every other time he held her like this, he never wanted to let go.

A perfect moment.

"EWW MOMMY AND DADDY ARE GONNA MAKE BABIES LIKE KAIEN SAID!"

Ichigo and Rukia jumped as the supposedly asleep Tsukihiko pointed at them like deer caught in headlights.

XxX

There you go. My first future-fic. I'd like some feedback please^^

The title was inspired by the song 'When the Day met the Night' by Panic at the Disco. I saw it recommended here in , looked it up, and was like Dang! Totally IchiRuki 3

Bai Bai for now!!!!

ICHIRUKI RULES 8D