A/N: I know. This update is way overdue. Chapter 11 is the chapter that won't be my favorite. I don't like the way it turned out but hopefully you won't mind its crappiness. Chapter 12, Meet the Parents, should be a lot better 'cause get who's coming? Find out after you hit the next button at the bottom of the page. Meanwhile, enjoy this chappie.

CHAPTER 11—Moving Forward:

Midori sat up in the hospital bed in her dark room, the only light coming from the sunset.

A nurse had told her she missed the three taichou's defection about an hour ago. To think she missed every fight and battle to stop the Gotei Thirteen from falling apart and to save Kuchiki Rukia. To think she missed Aizen's final speech about becoming a god and his descent to Hueco Mundo with his two loyal followers. To think that she could have been his third follower.

If she hadn't went to jail, then . . . She retched at the idea. She didn't want to know what would have happened over the last twenty-something years.

All she knew was that she had spent at least twenty years in prison to preserve Shuuhei's life. During those years, she had been training herself in prison, doing pushups, sit-ups and so on. It was also in prison that Raimitsu appeared to her more and more. Raimitsu was the only one she could talk to and Raimitsu helped train her mentally.

When she came out a few years ago, she changed her whole appearance by cutting her hair short and dying it green. Then Yamamoto ordered her to work under Komamura as an unseated member. She never hated the Gotei Thirteen so badly. Her opinions were out there, criticizing many of the taichou and fukutaichou and she has picked fights with the lower seats who demanded respect out of her. She made sure that they knew who they were dealing with.

Midori had trained extra hard just to push her way through the ranks again. All the years she had spent in prison, people had became stronger and the gaps were harder to overcome. But eventually she reached sixth seat in Squad Seven. By then, her attitude had softened and her punk image had disappeared. She still had little respect but she wasn't picking fights as often and wasn't being outspoken against her superiors. This change was due to a long talk she had with Komamura and a few harsh words from Shuuhei.

Shuuhei.

The only guy she would give everything up for because she had decided that he was worth it. And that was why she let him go that day. If he was really hers, he would come back even if it took forever. After all, she came back to him after a long time.

The door opened and the lights flickered on.

"Shuuhei," she said, sounding a little too excited.

"Wow, you sound like you're in a good mood," he muttered, scratching the back of his neck. "I suppose you heard what happened."

"I did." She looked over and saw the flowers perched on the small table. "Did you bring these?"

He glanced at the flowers. "Yesterday."

Her eyes lit up. "Thank you."

Shuuhei raised his eyebrows. "What kind of medication are you on? You seem too happy."

"Ecstasy," she said, her voice thick with sarcasm. She then smirked at him as she stretched her arms above her head. "So tell me, are you sad about your taichou's departure?"

"Just surprised by it," Shuuhei stated. "I wasn't expecting it from him. But I plan on bringing him back."

"Interesting . . . How are Izuru and Momo? Devastated?"

"Well, Izuru is sort of down about it."

Midori snorted. "I have to ask Izuru if there was anything good about Ichimaru."

Shuuhei sighed. "Midori, you need to be a little more sensitive to the situation. I know you didn't like Ichimaru but Izuru admired him."

"Yeah, Izuru admired him so much that he stopped listening to reason. The same goes for Momo. Admiration is the furthest thing from understanding. They worked under them and couldn't see it with their own eyes. At least I saw that Ichimaru for what he was."

Midori sighed when she saw the confused look on Shuuhei's face. "I never told you, did I? Might as well tell you now, since he's gone and all."


A few days later, Midori was walking around the Seireitei, for once feeling that there was no weight on her shoulders. She felt left out though; she was possibly the only shinigami who was happy that the three taichou, well former taichou, were gone. Though she had played it off, she didn't want to face Izuru or Momo because they had opposite opinions on the turn of events.

A few days ago, she had told Shuuhei and Kyouraku, who came later, everything—from the time she became fukutaichou of Squad Three till she was apprehended. Kyouraku was upset that she hadn't told him anything about the illusions and threats and that she allowed herself to work under Ichimaru in the first place. And Shuuhei, she didn't know how he had taken it. He had been mostly listening. At least she told him why she had attacked him the way she did.

Then, just yesterday, she had been questioned about the night she almost died and what she knew about the defection. She told them what they wanted to know. Not like it meant anything now; the traitors had already done their thing and left. The information she had discovered that night was utterly useless.

The woman sighed.

Now that the weight had been lifted, Midori didn't know what to do about Shuuhei. She wanted to get back together with him but at the same time, the relation was always on-off, on-off. If they did get back together, that would be the third time they were 'on'. And the third time was suppose to be the charm. But then she thought about how fragile their current relationship was now. Before she had been attacked, they hardly talked except to reprimand or insult the other. The only time they had a decent conversation was at the hospital and that was because she had suddenly decided to open up.

The blonde shook her head at the memory. Maybe she had been on some serious medication.

Midori saw Shuuhei round the corner, talking to Izuru. She stopped in her tracks, considering her only two options: say hello or run away. Surprisingly, she took the former.

"Hey! Hisagi!" She yelled, making her way over to where the two men stood. "Can we talk?"

Hisagi took a step forward. "I guess."

"I'll leave you two alone," Izuru slowly said, giving Midori a strange look. Last time he remembered, the blonde and his friend were not on good terms. The fact that she wanted to talk to him was unnerving. He hoped this wasn't one her plans to attack the fukutaichou of Squad Nine. He shook his head at the idea and walked off.

"What is it?" Hisagi asked when they were alone.

Midori kicked a rock. "A while ago I asked you question and you didn't get the chance to answer it."

"What was it?"

"You don't hate me, right?" She asked, sort of embarrassed by the question. She averted her gaze, finding the ground suddenly interesting. It was better than looking him in the face.

Shuuhei scratched the back of his head and looked the other way. ". . . Not really."

The woman shifted her feet. "Good 'cause I don't really hate you either." Sighing and realizing there was no reason for her to stay anymore, she turned around and started walking away. "That's all I wanted to know, Hisagi."

Before she could get far, Shuuhei grabbed her by both shoulders and turned her around. He then gazed into her brown eyes. Already he could see her cheeks tinted with pink but had no idea what she was thinking. "I have a question for you, too."

"I'm not interested," Midori said immediately.

"You don't even know what I'm about to ask."

Her blush deepened and her gaze was cast downward. "I'm assuming that it's dating related and I'm letting you know ahead of time that I'm not interested."

Dating, a topic that had crossed Shuuhei's mind a few times but not one he was going to venture into any time soon. That could easily wait. What he had in mind could not for it was killing his male ego. "It has nothing to do with dating. I wanted to ask you for sparring sessions since you have bankai."

"Wow," Midori grinned, remembering when he had been training her. "The tables have turned."

"Can you do it or not?" He reiterated, wanting to get this over with.

"I can do it even if it means seeing more of you," she muttered, glancing up at him again. Truth was, she was happy to have time to spend with the man. She just didn't want to sound too enthusiastic about the idea. She folded her arms. "What time is more convenient for you?"

"Night I guess." Why? Because most shinigami took that time to sleep which meant no one could really stumble across the training. Hence the two of them could do a lot of things and chances were, get away with it. He could lose miserably to Midori and not embarrass himself. Midori could probably show him her bankai without the worry of anyone seeing it. After all that was what he was curious about.

" . . . You want to start tonight?" The blonde asked.

"I thought you were healing from your wounds."

"Squad Eleven made me tough," she told him, grinning widely.

"It also made you battle hungry," Shuuhei muttered.

"I'll take it as a compliment," the woman decided. "That's the only reason I'm more powerful than you are right now."

Shuuhei's left eye started to twitch ever so slightly and he could tell that the third seat found it amusing.


That night, for the fifth time, after another successfully tackle, Midori straddled Shuuhei, frowning down at him. "Seriously, if you're not going to try, let me know. I'm not going to waste my time, Hisagi."

He sighed. What's wrong with me? He asked himself. He remembered when the pinning had happened the first time. That's probably it, he thought. She had tackled him and straddled him. Then she had leaned down, shifting her body against his in a suggestive manner. The fukutaichou did not believe the woman did it on purpose because there she was, right above him, criticizing him for not trying hard enough. If only she knew how badly dirty thoughts plagued his mind.

"How about we call it a night?" He finally said, unable to concentrate.

Midori sighed and got off him. "Fine. See ya."

"Hold on a sec," he said before she could get away.

The blonde looked at him. "What is it?"

"How did you get bankai?"

"I don't know how to explain that."

"Try to."

The woman sighed again and sat back down on the grass. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Shuuhei take a seat next to her. She looked up at the stars and picked her words. "When I was in prison the first few weeks, it was lonely and I didn't really do much. Then Raimitsu got bored too and started to pop up more and more in my dreams and stuff. He started to train me in this weird 'inner world' so I could control my zanpakutou better when I got out of prison. When I finally got out, I trained by myself until I finally got my bankai. And there you go, another one of my life stories for your listening pleasure."

"And how much training did it take you?" He asked, ready to approximate the amount of time it would take him.

"It took me a few months. But it depends on your zanpakutou. See, Raimitsu is like me. He's battle hungry and wants to become powerful. So that helped in the long run, you know? Your zanpakutou, I don't know about." Midori glanced over. "Since I won't be much help, no more fighting sessions, huh?"

Shuuhei studied the woman but couldn't tell if she was happy or sad about the idea. "Sparring wouldn't hurt," he slowly said, not sure if that was the response she wanted.

"Okay," she said, standing up and stretching her arms. "Again tomorrow night, right?"

"Sure."

The man thought for a minute in silence. "I'm glad we can talk like this again," he admitted.

Midori stared at him, slightly surprised. "As what?"

Shuuhei raised an eyebrow. Another question he wasn't sure what answer would please her. He decided to go for the lesser of the two. "As friends," he replied, scratching his head. He could see that she was contemplating this answer but he couldn't tell if it was in a good way or a bad way. Then he saw that she just accepted his answer, regardless if it went with her opinion or not.

"Alright, then. Night." Midori flashstepped out of the area.

Shuuhei sighed. If he had known she would have left this quickly, he would have continued the sparring. Or maybe provide a different answer. Anything just to keep her by his side a little longer. That was all he wanted.


Shunsui was in his home, sipping some good sake he had. After a tough day at work, he needed something to ease his stress. It would have been nice if his fukutaichou had joined him but she had said no, that she had more important things to do. He had also asked Ukitake if he wanted to come over but his friend had other matters to take care of. Everyone was seemed busy tonight. He was beginning to wonder if anyone was free.

As if an answer from above, there was a knock. He could sense who the reiatsu belonged to. "Come in, Midori."

The blonde woman opened the door and walked inside. "Hello, Kyouraku."

"Want to join me?" Kyouraku asked, pointing to the bottle of sake on the table.

In a few minutes, Midori was sipping sake from her glass. "I haven't had any sake since the hospital," she said, savoring the taste. It was much better than what they served at the pub.

"Well, what brings you here?"

Midori sat up straighter, suddenly remembering the reason why she came. "I wanted to ask you something," she stated.

"Go ahead."

"After telling you about what happened so long ago, I realized that I have no idea how you got me out of execution."

"You want to know that badly?"

"Obviously," Midori muttered. "How'd you do it?"

"I kind of convinced them that you were not in the right state of mind," Kyouraku admitted sheepishly.

Midori could feel her eye twitching. "Excuse me?"

"I'm trying to put this lightly. You see, I figured that if I could prove something that would work in your favor, they might let up on you. So I asked around and found two very reliable people. One was able to say there had been tension between you and Ichimaru before you were even working together. The other one was able to verify you had been to the infirmary, claiming you were seeing things that were not there, proving that you had mental problems."

"Okay," Midori said, not liking the idea that she had been made out to be crazy. Despite that, she brushed it aside; she was more curious about the two other people who saved her. "The last person is obviously Unohana-taichou. But who's the other one?"

Kyouraku paused for dramatic effect, wanting the suspense to thicken. He could see how Midori eagerly waited for the identity of her other savior. He took a sip of sake before settling the cup on the table. He looked her in the eye and said with a smirk, "Kuchiki Byakuya."

The suspense was worth the expression on her face. Does that mean that I have to treat him with respect? She asked herself. And the whole time, she couldn't stand being near her uptight savior. The irony.

A/N: That's it. Thanks to cheeky half-demon, Foca, and SweetYuya for reviewing. Enjoy the next chapter and hopefully my future updates won't take long. And don't forget to REVIEW! Yeah. :)