Hey, I'm back again! I was so happy this afternoon… by some miracle, I had no homework. I have a test tomorrow, but whatever… screw that! I'm gonna write!

Thnx 2 Shinsei Reimei and Kira440 for reviewing :P u guys rock

Random thought: I find my spell-check very entertaining. If I listened to it, this is what some of the character's names and random Bleach terms would look like:

Komamura: Kookaburra

Shunpo: Shampoo

Aiko: Alike

Ukitake: Sukiyaki

Chapter Thirteen

Aiko sat in a tree above Sunny, who was leaning against its trunk; Sunny yawned. The sun was just coming up over the horizon, turning the sky a light coral pink. It was a crisp morning, and both Sunny and Aiko were cold. The two of them were at the edge of a wide green field at the near the mountains surrounding the main metropolis; with Sunny carrying Aiko and jumping across the rooftops, it had taken them about a half-hour to get there.

"I can't believe you're actually up this early." Aiko giggled. Sunny shot her a dark look, and yawned again.

"It's not like I had a choice." She said through the yawn. "I couldn't very well ditch when I already said I would accept their training, or however the hell they described it… But did it have to be at six o'clock in the freaking morning!?" Sunny muttered. "Boy, am I going to give them a piece of my mind. Six o'clock, you've got to be kidding me. Aiko, how are you not tired? And wait, why are you out here in the first place?!"

"I'm here to laugh at you, of course." Aiko said matter-of-factly. Sunny sighed. Just then, the two of them heard Ukitake's abnormally cheerful voice.

"Good morning, you two!" Aiko and Sunny turned towards the voice, Aiko with a bright smile, and Sunny with a grimace. Ukitake and Komamura were walking into the field. Ukitake was waving happily, and Komamura just walked slowly, expressionless.

"Good morning, Fluffy, Captain Freeloader…" Aiko said; as she spoke, Sunny disappeared, moving to fast for her eyes to see. "Oh." She said, surprised.

"Huh?" Ukitake said, seeing Sunny disappear. A moment later, she reappeared, right in front of him. With a growl, she lifted her leg up high and side-kicked him in the head. He fell to the ground, looking up at Sunny in surprise and rubbing where she had kicked. Komamura looked down at him, and hen back at Sunny impassively, though a hint of an amused grin was sparkling in his eyes.

"What did I do?" Ukitake asked confusedly.

"It's six o'clock!" Sunny moaned. "It's way too early! I'm tired, I'm an emotional train wreck because of it, and I—" She took a step back and composed herself. After a few seconds, she pointed one finger at the still sitting Ukitake. "Am going to take it out on you."

"Ehhh?" Ukitake exclaimed.

"So be prepared." Sunny flipped her hair and turned around, walking back across the field towards Aiko. Ukitake stared after her, his mouth open. Silently, Komamura looked down at him. He was clearly amused, and suppressing laughter.

"Good luck." Komamura said bluntly, walking away from the other captain. Ukitake sighed heavily. It was going to be an interesting day, to say the least.

A few minutes later, the four of them were gathered around the tree Aiko was sitting in. Ukitake was still rubbing the side of his head; even though Sunny had no formal training, that had hurt.

"So what kind of training have you dragged me out here for this fine morning?" Sunny asked, the question not pointed at anyone in particular.

"As you know, we want to nominate you for the captain exam. But before we can do that, we have to help you find your zanpaktou." Komamura said slowly. Sunny nodded slowly and respectfully.

"Why do you only abuse me?' Ukitake said indignantly. Sunny turned toward him.

"You're more fun to abuse than he is." She stated simply and then turned back to the obviously amused Komamura. Ukitake opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. There wasn't much he could say to that.

"So." Komamura continued. "Your zanpaktou—because it is more than likely that you have one, since you can do shunpo so well—is part of your soul. To find it, you must look inside yourself."

"Meaning?" Sunny asked, yawning again.

"You have to meditate."

"Meditate?" Sunny asked skeptically.

"Yes."

"So you dragged me out here at six o'clock in the morning…" She glared at Ukitake. "To meditate?"

"Sorry!" Ukitake said, raising his hands defensively.

"Why the hell did I have to get myself mixed up with you shinigami lot? You all…" she sighed, and slid down the tree trunk to the ground. "So I have to meditate? Simple enough, I suppose."

"Concentrate. Breathe in, out. In, out. Relax. Actually… Aiko, you can do this too. You've found your zanpaktou, right? Doing this can help you strengthen your bond." Ukitake said kindly.

"Really?" Aiko said; Ukitake nodded. Aiko closed her eyes, and began to follow Ukitake's instructions. Below her, Sunny did the same. Ukitake and Komamura watched them relax, jut sitting there. it struck Komamura suddenly that he had never seen Sunny look this peaceful. He allowed himself a small smile as he watched her. As Ukitake looked at Sunny, he smiled as well, though for a slightly different reason. He just found it funny that someone like Sunny could ever look peaceful at all.

Sunny let herself relax, wondering what she would find. She let her thoughts drain from her mind, and began to count her breaths. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. After a while, even her counting faded from her mind as she accidentally fell asleep. She was tired, after all.

Suddenly, she found herself on the black hill. Yoru no Futago's hill. She froze, and inside her dream, her eyes snapped open wide. Outside, Ukitake and Komamura just saw her twitch and curl her hands into fists. Yoru no Futago were there already, standing on top of the hill together.

"You called?" They said quietly.

"What?" Sunny gasped. They began to walk towards her.

"Well, of course you must have realized by now who we are."

"No, who—"

"We're your zanpaktou, of course."

"What?" Sunny choked out. They were her zanpaktou? How could that be? Zanpaktou were supposed to help their shinigami, not scare them. No, that was impossible. They couldn't be her zanpaktou. They walked up to Sunny with twin smiles, their eyes cold.

"You don't believe us… let us prove It." they smiled. "As your zanpaktou, we know everything about you. We know that your mother abandoned you, that you don't want to trust anyone because you're scared that you'll leave you…"

"No, It's not true… you can't be…"

"We are." They took another step forward and each touched a white hand to her face; their skin was cold, and Sunny froze in fear. She wanted to scream, but the sound wouldn't come out. Suddenly, a flood of images ran through her mind; images from her childhood—there was her mother, laughing, there was baby Aiko.

Outside her dream, Sunny fell over from her sitting position, and began to grimace, though her eyes were still closed.

"Sunny?" Ukitake said worriedly. "Sunny, what's…" He kneeled down quickly, putting his hand on her shoulder. He recoiled almost immediately; when he had touched her, a strong shock had passed through his hand, like she was charged with electricity. Slowly, as he rubbed his hand, white reiatsu began to leak out of her, drifting up slowly. Komamura kneeled down next to her quickly, but he didn't touch her.

"What is this?" Komamura whispered anxiously; Ukitake shook his head. He didn't know either. "Sunny." Komamura said under his breath.

Inside the dream, Sunny shook her head, shoving Yoru no Futago's hands away. "No, no." She said desperately, not wanting to believe what they were saying. They took their hands away, and sadness suddenly flashed across their faces.

"I wish you would hurry up and realize it." They said softly. "It would be so much easier that way. For you and for me." Sunny froze again, but this time for a different reason. She was still afraid, but she considered their words. What they were saying did make sense, but it was hard to believe. She looked at them, and opened her mouth to speak; but before she got the chance, the world started to fade away. She reached her hand out to them as they faded away, and she found herself looking at the dirt on the field. She inhaled sharply and closed her eyes tightly closed again, curling herself up into a ball.

"Sunny!" Komamura and Ukitake exclaimed simultaneously. But she couldn't hear them; she had fallen asleep again, though this time it was a peaceful sleep. Ukitake put one hand gently on her shoulder; this time, it didn't shock him.

"Sunny." He said quietly. He was glad she was okay, at least to a certain extent. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around her and picked her up. She felt so… small. Like something he could protect. He smiled softly as he realized that she was lighter than she looked. Komamura looked down at her softly.

"Sunny! Is she…" Aiko exclaimed. Somewhere along the line, she had realized what was going on. Clumsily, she jumped out of the tree.

"Aiko." Ukitake said with a smile. "Let's go. I'm going to take her to the fourth squad, just to make sure she's alright."

Aiko nodded quickly, taking hold of Sunny's hand. "What… happened?" Aiko asked quietly.

"I'm not sure." Ukitake admitted, looking down at Sunny's now-peaceful face. "I'm really not sure."