Tadaima minna!
How are you all doing? I hope you're fine(:
I've been getting a few reviews lately and I'm grateful you all like the story ^u^
Arigatou gonzaimash T~T
Anyway, gomen for not being active and updating this sooner, my grade went down yet again because of a stupid test .
(Why me~)
Also, long story short, I also had no inspiration whatsoever and didn't want this story to be all boring =3=
then suddenly, I had some random nightmare the other night and I was able to compose an interesting chapter :D
Mwahaha!
Personally, I got the ending part in this chapter from Faster than a Kiss, a manga about a high school teacher named Ojiro Kazuma and 2nd year student Kaji Fumino secretly being... well, READ AND FIND OUT! xD
It's extremely funny, romantic, heart-warming ;-; (trust me, I cried pools and when I was done reading this...I personally didn't know what to do with my life O_o)
anyways, arigatou again for supporting me and I hope you enjoy this chapter 3

-PandaLover309

daisuke851- Arigatou gonzaimash for reading my story and reviewing. Tsukiku is an amazing female character is I do say so myself~ Also, I'm glad you're enjoying the story, it means a lot(:

Michiko Burel- Aha, arigatou! I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Thanks for reviewing(:

"Tsukiku..."

"W-who are you?"

"Why did you have to go?"

Tsukiku's frightened figure appeared in a dark and ominous looking place. Her body went numb and her feet won't move, she just kept on shaking and shaking, until she heard footsteps.

"W-whose there?" she said in a fearful tone.

tap tap tap tap

"Show yourself!" She reluctantly screamed. A sly chuckle was heard through Tsukiku's ears as she tried to locate where it was coming from.

"Come out right now! I'm not afraid to put up a figh-nani..."

Just as she reached her hand for her Zanpakuto it suddenly started to fade away.

Terror was written all over her face as she held both of her hand on her face in disbelief.

"I'm sorry," a dark and shadowy figure slowly rose as it maniacally grinned ear-to-ear. Tsukiku stared at the 'thing' with wide eyes as her legs were still shaking in fear and disbelief.

"You won't be needing weapons where you're going, miss."

It suddenly appeared behind Tsukiku and held her hands behind her back and covered her mouth. Tsukiku then decided to scream out and call for help, but no words came out.

'My voice...'

The figure then started to chuckle, "How cute...you think you can scream without a voice."

"Oi! Tsukiku!"

Tsukiku widened her eyes as she heard a familiar voice and looked in front of her. She saw her closest friends Ichigo, Rukia, Momo, Orihime, etc staring at her with smiles and cried tears of joy. The 'thing' disappeared suddenly and Tsukiku felt free.

"Minna! I'm so relieved you're here, let's go," Tsukiku said as she ran towards them with tears flying nearly everywhere.

Just as she was about to say something else, Ichigo's face turned dark and eerily dark as he grinned ear-to-ear like the shadowy and it stopped Tsukiku dead in her tracks.

"N-nani...Ichigo, what's wrong?"

'Ichigo' looked at her darkly as he spoke with a sadistic voice. Soon, everyone's face slowly turned into a dark expression like 'Ichigo' and stared at her ominously.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you Tsukiku? To think that you gave up on Orihime, I thought you were my friend," 'Ichigo shook his head in disappointment.

"I am your friend Ichigo," she tearfully said as she held her hand over her heart. Her voice sounded sad and heartbroken as 'Ichigo' gave her a menacing glare.

"ARE YOU REALLY MY FRIEND? FRIENDS DON'T ABANDON THEIR COMRADES EVEN IF IT MEANS GOING AGAINST THE RULES!"

Tsukiku immediately shot back, "I HAVEN'T GIVEN UP ON ORIHIME! I JUST CAN'T GO-"

"Go to Hueco Mundo and save her because of your grandfather?"

Tsukiku stopped completely as she stared in disbelief at the person who was before her.

The shadowy figure then laughed maniacally as Tsukiku stared at it dumbfoundedly. The 'Ichigo' before her and everyone else started to laugh loudly and their laughter rang through Tsukiku's head like a swarm of bees furiously buzzing around your head.

"Stop it...STOP IT!"

Tsukiku screamed as she held her hands over her ears as an attempt to block out the hideous noise, but when she opened her eyes...

"Nani?"

She saw a shadowy black arm over her right thigh and in just a split second, millions of arms shot out from right around the spot where she was standing and they immediately grabbed her and began pulling her down into the deep depths of utter darkness.

"NANI?! SOMEBODY!"

She only had one eye peaking out before utterly being pulled in by the dark arms and a hand reaching out to God knows what. Her eyes full of fear and she couldn't even feel herself move anymore. Her 'Help' died out as her mouth was covered, her arm already consumed, and the only thing still not consumed yet was her eye.

'I don't want to end this way...no, no...'

"NOOOOOOOOOO-"

Normal POV

"KYA!"

Tsukiku awoke and held her hands over her forehead. She blinked multiple times as her body continued to quake in mortal fear. She was drenched in cold sweat with her heart speeding up by the second. She wiped the sweat off her forehead as she began to calm herself down.

She held her hand on her forehead and started to inhale deeply again and sighed.

"I-it was just a dream-no, nightmare. I guess it slipped out of my mind that it was a nightmare. It was just a nightmare, it can't hurt me," she softly whispered to herself as she held her arms around herself while taking deep breaths. She thought about the 'Ichigo' in her dream's piercing words that nearly killed her inside.

'ARE YOU REALLY MY FRIEND?'

*tear*

Normal POV

Three captains were sitting in the guest room of Squad 5's barracks and each and every one of the were in an annoyed mood. Jushiro was angrily cursing underneath his fake smile, Shunsui hid his expression under his hat, and Toshiro vigorously twitched multiple times while looking away from the other captains.

'Why are they here?'

Momo then came in with four cups of tea and placed them in front of them. She stared at them optimistically as each and every one of the captains in the room avoided eye contact with each other while sipping their tea.

"Uh, gomen captains, and Toshiro, but why are you here this early in the morning. I know the sun is already out, but Tsukiku-taichou isn't awake at this hour," Momo said as respectfully as she could while feeling extremely awkward.

They all fake smiled as we looked at Momo with dark auras surrounding them whole.

"To visit Tsukiku-san~"

She nearly yelped as she heard their freaky reply, the room was suddenly tense and awkward, two things that Momo doesn't like together. She thought about ways to lighten up the mood since it was a nice day outside.

"So uh...what do you think is so amazing about my captain despite her being strong and beautiful?"

Just when they were about to open their mouths...

"KYA!"

Everyone turned as pale as a ghost while Momo immediately sprinted into action and dashed towards the sound.

"TSUKIKU-SAN! I'M COMING!"

We all blinked at each other and dashed after Hinamori.

Jushiro's POV

'Was that Tsukiku screaming? I must hurry'

I quickened my pace as I nearly caught up to Lieutenant Hinamori. She immediately opened the door and held her hands over her mouth in shock. The two other captains and I immediately caught up and saw Tsukiku covering her face with her hands. Lieutenant Hinamori immediately ran to Tsukiku, who was in a white kimono robe, and pleaded her to look at her.

"Tsukiku-san, please look at me," she pleaded.

Tsukiku held her hands down as her elegant tears streamed down her cheeks. The captains and I gasped as we saw Tsukiku's crying expression and I looked at the ground since I was still full of shock.

'Had Tsukiku always cried? Did I ever know that Tsukiku could cry?'

"Tsukiku-taichou, are you alright?" Captain Hitsgaya said with a tone full of concern and shock.

"Yeah kid, you feeling alright?" Shunsui said as he stared at Tsukiku's crying figure.

She then showed a smile and wiped her tears away. She stood up and bowed to us with a calm expression.

"Arigatou gonzaimash minna, I am grateful I have people looking out for me. I'm alright now and if you excuse me, I'll go clean up. When I'm done, I'll be out soo-"

swoosh

I wrapped my arms around Tsukiku as I felt myself being pained by hearing Tsukiku's cracked words come out of her lips. I furrowed my brows as Tsukiku froze and the others gasping in surprise. I ignored them and immediately spoke to Tsukiku as respectfully yet persuasively as I could.

"Tsukiku-taichou, you're a strong and beautiful woman. I, myself, am not all that close to you and may not know anything about your past or social life whatsoever, but it pains us to see you this pained and not telling us about it. Even the strongest soul has a breaking point and darkest hour. It is alright to cry before us, and it is also important to let us help you. So please, don't hide your despair any longer and share it with us..."

silence... whoosh

I then felt Tsukiku's petite arms around me and her small hands were on my back, she held on to me tightly and cried onto my chest. I was frankly shocked but I 'maned up' and held her back tightly.

"I-I'm sorry Ukitake-taichou, I'm just so weak. I'm sorry *sniff* I'm so sorry," Tsukiku said in between her sobs as she held onto Ukitake.

He held his large hand on top of her head and stroked her hair to calm her down as she continued to sob. Everyone's face began to soften at the sight of Tsukiku shedding tears and beginning to calm down. I held her chin up and we both made eye contact. I stared into her eyes with a neutral expression with a soft smile.

"You are not weak Tsukiku, you've just been strong for too long..."