He had woke up fairly early that morning, due to the sunlight streaming through the gap in the curtains. The light, bothering his eyes, made him roll over on his side, facing Tori, sleeping peacefully, her breathing calm and quiet with her arms wrapped around him; he smiled at the sight of her, she was no longer in pain or hurt like she had been that night.

Toshiro gently moved her hair out of her face and tucked it behind her hair. Toshiro couldn't help but smile at the sight of her. He adored her simple beauty. He thought Tori was more beautiful than any other woman in the world. It was strange really, how much more beautiful and attractive a person could become when their personality shone through. Toshiro sighed happily as he drunk in the sight of her sleeping peacefully, her beautiful face illuminated by the sunlight, the white of her pyjamas and the bedsheets suiting her perfectly. The aches in his stomach and battle of confusing thoughts had disappeared completely; this felt to natural, as if he had this whole that had been filled.

He backed away slightly when he saw her long eyelashes fluttering open, not wanting to surprise her. She blinked a couple times, letting her eyes get used to the light before keeping them open, focusing on the man lying in front of her. She smiled, the happiness obvious in her eyes.

"Good morning snowflake" she smiled at him
He kissed her nose "good morning angel"
The two lay together, taking in the beauty of the moments, the morning sounds of a birds chorus gently playing in the background - wanting the moment to just last a lifetime and beyond. Toshiro had noticed that the few things he had brung or been given had been transferred to the room as well while they had been sleeping. The scene was soon interrupted by the ringing of a phone : toshiros phone. With a sigh and a moan, he got up from the futon and walked over to his coat, taking the device out. After one week he had been finally contacted by the soul society yet it had only taken one week for him to fall in love with this human girl as well.

abandon mission for now. New emergency assignment has been assigned to all high ranked personnel. A deemed dangerous enemy has escaped from the maggots nest and is posing danger to world of the living. Be prepared for war time measures. Leave Izumo to given co-ordinates tonight and report for duty. All commands have been issued by central 46

'No, not now' he thought to himself 'I just found her and I have to leave tonight?' His heart sunk, as a captain he had a duty to protect the world of the living and yet as a man he just couldn't leave the one he loved like this.
"What's the matter?" He turned to see tori standing behind him, her eyes full of worry
"It's nothing" he sighed
Tori raised a eyebrow "I can tell its not nothing" she slide her arms round his into a hug and rested her head on his back "please tell me"
"As I said its nothing serious" he closed his eyes as he snapped the phone shut and turned to tori as he remembered something "go to tanabata with me tonight" she looked up at him a little confused "I know you said to that franky boy that you weren't but go with me"
She was about to argue back saying that there was no need or that she didnt want to but she took one look at his face "ok"


"Tori are you done yet?" Toshiro called from outside the door later that day as they were just about ready to set off for the star festival
"Just a minute" she called from inside her room "I'm fighting with this stupid kanzashi, kino insisted I had to wear it to 'represent the Asakura clans pride' or something" yeah kino could remind toshiro a lot of the kuchiki elders
With a sigh tori finally got the hair decoration into her hair then picked up her own phone "hello?"

...

"Yes it's me"

...

"No"

...

"Yes"

...

"Yes I have and you have a deal" she sighed

"Ok, I will, goodby" she looked down at her phone once more before popping it in her bag; fiddling with the kanzashi once more


"I'm ready"
Toshiro pulled at his collar once more, he had lent a tux from mikihisa who had apparently been round about the same size when he was in his teens, it was just a plain black tux with a white shirt and dress shoes.

The door opened and toshiro tried as hard as he could into not gaping like a goldfish - the rocker rebel tori that she usually dressed as had gone out the window completely. She was wearing a mint green kimono decorated with red trimming and patterns of red flowers which wove together beautifully, a red obi that complimented her curves and slim waist perfectly, she wore a pair of sandals on her feet with corkscrew heels. Her silky cinnamon brown hair was tied up like normal with a red and green flower kanzashi perched in her hair with her bangs falling over those beautiful onyx eyes. He noticed that she was wearing more make up than normal, normally it had been eyeliner and mascara only, as she wore not only eyeliner and mascara but also what looked like a faint powdered blush and lip gloss that tormented him so.
"Toshiro?" She asked blinking
He managed to snap out of it "s-sorry"
She smiled and walked up to him "it's ok, I'm going with you anyway snowflake"
a smirked tugged on his lips "and I'm lucky because of that"
(Somewhere in the soul society ikkaku felt a shiver go down his spine)
"Shall we go then?" He took her arm and the two started the journey to the town festival
In the background they heard the calls of the other asakuras
Yohmei: remember your clans pride
Kino: do not do anything stupid that would embarrass us all
Mikihisa: get me a candy floss while your there
Tori just rolled her eyes at the whole lot of them "lets get out of here"
"With pleasure"


Toshiro had to admit it had been...fun
They had looked round the festival booths, grabbing about every fast food there was without a care though he would of normally scolded someone for eating such disgusting foods to find that it actually tasted amazing. He'll he had even agreed to take part in one of those stupid skill booths and won her a panda plushy (another thing he would of never done before even after momo had whined all through the last festival that had come to the soul society for one); she said how it was cheesy and that he didn't need to win or shower her with gifts for her to love him but she took it anyway with a cute smile which filled him with such warmth all over his body, from head to his toes.

The two watched the sky at such a close embrace, his arm round her while her head rested on his shoulder.
"Toshiro" she looked up at him, the moon making his white hair glow in its light
"Yes"
"You trust me and love me don't you" she looked down at the ground and played with the grass a little with her free hand
"Of course I do" he looked at her with a little confusion; not knowing where this conversation was going
"So would it be crazy if I told you that I can see ghosts"
He smiled at her, he wasn't surprised at all by this "no because your not the only one"
She looked back at him "you mean you can...as well..."
He shrugged "yeah" as technically he wasn't lying to her
"So what if I told you that I was a shaman?"
"What's a shaman" in the many years he had spent studying in the academy and in the gotei 13 he had never come across the word shaman before
She giggled a little "let me show you" at that moment leaves from the tree they were under fell around them even though it was July, the leaves then lit with what looked like green fire as they danced around the couple singing the traditional tanabata song like a children's choir- so sweet and light.
"What are they?" Toshiro asked in amazement: he had never seen anything like this before in fact he had nearly drawn his zanpakuto at the first sight of them
"It's called shikigami Kooni, the green flames you see are the spirits of the leaves and by using something we call a over soul with the leaves as mediums it creates this effect. Usually they can be used for simple domestic tasks like picking up a paper, doing chores or sending messages yet they can also k(ill) a person in a huge group" she explained "in fact it's not just me, all of my family are shamans"
"It's amazing" he turned to her "your amazing" she blushed a little. The green sould of the leaves lighting the two in a green glow; in the background the fireworks were set off, they danced in the sky together as it lit the sky in a series of patterns and colours
The couple kissed, more passionately than they had before; toshiro poking her lips with his tongue after battling a little for dominance, she let him into her mouth, letting him explore her mouth. After what had seemed like too short of a time they broke apart to breath
"I love you snowflake" she smiled at him
"I love you too angel" the two looked at the night sky once more, finding themselves back in the same positing as before: toshiros hand round her as she rested her head on his shoulder 'and that's why I don't want to leave' he could feel a lump in his throat forming at the thought


That night

Quietly toshiro managed to slip away, he looked back at the girl peacefully sleeping - the girl he loved. He could feel tears stinging his eyes as he prepared to leave:though there was something in him saying dont leave, you could stay here with her, pretend you died on the mission and live in the Asakura compound. No matter how tempting it was it was still selfish and wrong to put his desires before the lives of others, in a way by leaving he would be saving her life. And yet he found that his heart was still cracking, ready to break at any point; to think he actually had a heart to break since it wasn't covered in ice like most thought. He had already disposed of his gigai (in the proper required manner that would not cause questions) and he was physically prepared for war with most of his wounds in his spiritual form healed. It was the emotional wounds that were causing harm.

He heard a murmur from Tori's sleeping form, he hurried over to her as she slightly woke "shiro?" Her eyes weren't adjusted yet as most things were still fuzzy to her
He stroked her hair "it's one tori go back to sleep" he soothed her, she dropped back off to sleep again peacefully. He kissed her forehead "goodbye my angel" wishing thahe they could be together yet they came from 2 different world and nothing could change that.


so she told him that she's a shaman and he doesn't mind at all - yey!

but he had to leave her after only one night because of his duty without telling her the truth - boo!

but is that all that's going on and what's with the mysterious phone call? Hmmmmm (thinking face)

toshiro: your the author!

Oh yeah heheheh

a kanzashi is a traditional hair ornament used in Japan and tanabata is a Japanese star festival in July or August (set in July for the story though)

please keep reading and commenting thanks :)