Bleach: The Alternate Tale

by blackout2010

We all know that Ichigo Kurosaki was a human who became a Shinigami, but what would happen if he was always a Shinigami when the events of bleach happened, perhaps an altered story. Very minor crossover with Sakura Wars. A/U A/T. Contains incest in later parts.

25. SIS Ai Yori Aoshi

Author's note:

Hey everyone, it's me, Blackout2010. Some of you out there might be thinking 'who the fuck is this guy' and that's ok, since it's been a while since the last transmission. So I'll bring you all up to speed here on why things took so long. First this chapter was extremely long and I needed to tread both a fine line on the story as well as make this chapter as good as the others. Secondly after that…my computer got trashed…and I lost eight months worth of data to which I still haven't full recovered yet. And it hasn't been till about a month ago that my computer has been online once again, only for me to start up school which is time consuming to say the least. So I greatly apologize for that, but alas life is a cruel mistress, and I was born under an unlucky star. Anyway that's pretty much it. So I'll answer to the Unknown reviews and we can get this show on the road. PS: God only knows when the next chapter will be out. Also because temperatures are getting cold there's hot vanilla to warm you up. (1)

To unknown reviewer 'jonnnpark'

Thank-you for that message. I know the next wait will be a while, and I hope I haven't gotten too rusty.

To unknown reviewer 'a simple fool'

That was partially of the fine line. In short, I just intend to leave it to speculation that's all I ever really wanted of that.

To unknown reviewer '23'

I pray to all the gods that is not some kind of cryptic sign of the devil. But I thank-you for the suggestion even though I haven't gotten expunged…yet. The possibility IS still on the table and a matter of IF the admins see it…and they feel like doing something about it.

To unknown reviewer 'jd'

Well this 'filler' so to speak is only really like 4 chapters long, and we're now ¾ of the way through it with this chapter. Yeah, sorry about the transition still working out the kinks on that one. I'll get better with time…probably. Yes, the Soi-Sen is kinda rushed from a perspective. Soifon is actually just going out of her way to be friends with Senna (or at least get along), since the two are kind of stuck near one another, and Senna is (for the most part) a blank slate in terms of changing how she is perceived. I'm working on limited data on how Soifon reacts to other women in general here. All I got is Kiyone who got stepped on in canon and Yoruichi so…yeah. For Senna recognizing Ichigo and Soifon's relationship that gets addressed so no worries.

To unknown reviewer 'Anonymous'

Firstly I am assuming that both reviews were done by you. Now unto Senna was brought in because I needed Rukia to be put into the Gigai containing the Hogyoku problem was, how the hell was I supposed to do that? If she was only injured, Ichigo –who possess healing kido- could just cure her and avoiding bringing Urahara into the picture which means when Ichigo was going to be screwed when Byakuya and Renji showed up, as they'd show no mercy unlike canon. I needed to avoid that dead end, hence I had Rukia go on ahead and transfer power after being injured just like canon. Anyway this story literally evolves as Ideas come to me, so the little kid wearing the ribbon went from an after though to a surprising big role in the grand scheme of things. Funny how things work out. For Isshin…all I can say is maybe read things over. Believe if this story was in anime, manga or even just a comic book format instead of a read medium, there are some questions you wouldn't have and/or already be answer. But alas, all you can do is re-look over things just a bit harder, maybe I mentioned things maybe I haven't.

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S.I.S: Ai Yori Aoshi (2)

A week had passed, and the reconstructive effort to rebuild the war torn state of Soul Society was in full swing. Men and Women were working to rebuild the broken sectors of the Seireitei, and secure the immediate perimeter in case of another attack. Squad twelve was using its entire technological prowess to try and locate Aizen's base of operations, it wasn't until about six after the incident that a hell butterfly arrived from Kisuke detailing it would be better to search Hueco Mundo, since it was obvious, at least to him; that Aizen lied about being in the valley of screams, and instead sought an area with a much bigger surface area to avoid detection. So with a new destination set, and some bitter words from Mayuri, the squad started to scan the vast desert of Hueco Mundo, though it was a very slow effort, since Hueco Mundo was roughly five to six times the size of the earth with many spiritual signatures from the local inhabitants.

Uryu Ishida during this time had been released from captivity of the fourth division and went to the second division's underground information storage facility to help his grand Uncle search for information regarding the special abilities of the five Shinigami who had vacated, and also to help construct any plans that would be necessary in counter acting and eventually bringing Aizen down for good.

Meanwhile the two females that revolved around Ichigo, Senna and Shaolin, had started to a strict early morning training regiment, which included any training the squad partook in before sending them out on patrol to protect the borders. When the squad was gone Senna and the training guru went to see Yoruichi for more training. It was there that Senna made a few casual but enticing comments about combining the Shunko Technique with Bankai, which earned a few perked looks of interest at the lateral thinking.

It was roughly after the third day that Ichigo had finally managed to get discharged from the hospital, and was able to officially return to duty. From what Senna had been able to notice was despite barely being able to spend more than a few minutes together in their constant coming and going, due to the increased workload, Soifon and Ichigo seemed to both be in cheerier moods. While she was happy to see them smiling more, she always noticed that her hand seemed to clench over her heart and forced herself to turn away before she say something that might draw their inquiry.

At the moment Ichigo was off on a variety of tasks both inside and outside of Seireitei, however before he headed out he promised the hard working Senna that while he was out in Rukongai that he'd check in on her father Ein, to ensure that he was still ok and let him know that Senna was stuck inside until things settled down on their end.

"Alright, that's enough for today." Shaolin commanded with a confident smirk, allowing her pupil to desist her effort for the day. The dirt-covered Taicho looked at her equally grimy student, and decided now would be a good time to relax. "I believe we've earned ourselves a reprieve until tomorrow."

Senna frowned a bit, not in disagreement since she'd never say no to any chance at rest with Soifon overseeing her, but rather for the practicality of the matter given the current state.

"Are you sure?" she questioned worriedly "I mean your Fuku-taicho Omega-or-something hasn't been around for a while, and your third seat…um Su-ooooo…um Subaru is…unavailable." She added quietly, having slightly forgotten about the rift there, though the volume change did little to stop the captain from wincing, and she knew the reason why. "And Ichigo's doing something else. If you're gone from the squad; will everything be ok?"

The captain took a sharp inhalation of air to calm herself "Yes. The Onimitsukido are already out delivering messages and patrolling the borders, while Squad two, itself, is helping with the reconstruction. I have done everything I physically can at this point, so until I receive some new orders I can afford to slip away for the time being," she crossed her arms and sent an amused look at the girl "Unlike some of the other captains who I won't name, I actually am used to compressing thirty to forty hours of work within a twenty-four hours schedule. I've had to do it before and I can very easily do it again."

"Please don't make joke like that you slave-driver." Senna pouted depressively since she was a proverbial 'cog in the machine' here while the captain let out a soft chuckle for her guilt in Senna's involvement with the work-shift.

"I find it to be most humorous and you DID ask for me to train you."

"You found it funny because you're a cold, cynical, anti-social bitch. So that means you're the best around!" Senna said with a smile, using the words she called her nine days ago in a much friendlier tune

The other woman reciprocated the feelings with a warm laugh "Come on then you shallow, empty, naïve little girl." She beckoned as they flash stepped off.

(Mid-day: Yamamoto's office)

Inside the head captain's office, General Yamamoto was sitting in his chair deep in thought over what the exiled Shinigami Kisuke Urahara had said and what he had proposed to deal with Aizen.

His pride aside the idea sounded very far-fetched, dangerous, and humiliating to have Shinigami turn to the very powers that separated them from the enemy. The warped power of hollows could drive anyone subjected to it to sheer insanity; it was and always has been a force to be reckoned with. The battle hardened man shuddered at the thought of what if any of the captain's gained such a power and succumbed to it, even he seriously doubted if he could stand toe-to-toe with such a foe, even at full strength.

The tactician in him did consider that perhaps it would be easier to destroy those who crossed the line. Though to do such a thing would require near perfect timing, the only clean window would be after Aizen was confirmed KIA yet before the exiles recovered and became a threat again, though such a call would hinge upon whether or not his forces had the strength to continue another battle. The old man rubbed his eyes tiredly as he banished thoughts on his so called 'final option', while he detested having to resort to such tactics he wouldn't risk the safety of the afterlife, the Shinigami or the humans to be left in the hands of those who could potentially snap and destroy humanity unopposed.

The man's eyes fell to the plaque on his desk "Give your heart and soul to your duty that way you may fulfill it and should you die you will be remembered for it. Humanity rests upon your shoulders. That is what it means to be a Taicho. Yamamoto Shigekuni Genryusai." He recited the quote he had told himself every day since he had become leader of all the court guard squads. His mind drifting back to a much simpler time before this Aizen scandal happened.

The man's thoughts were broken when a loud knock was heard at the door. Straightening himself up, and adjusting his garments to ensure he was presentable, Yamamoto loudly announced for his guest to enter.

The wooden door opened up revealing a man with bright orange hair and brown eyes enter. The man was wearing his Onimitsukido outfit that was usually reserved for formal occasions. He took a step forward his sandals brushing against the rug on the floor. He then bowed his head forward a bit so as not to seem rude to his superior.

"Yes, Sou-taicho. You wanted to see me?" Ichigo asked as he raised his gaze to look at the man.

"Indeed. Please take a seat." Shigekuni gestured for the chair before him, which the man quietly took within a few seconds. The aged Shinigami looked at the man silently measuring his spiritual strength and hardened demeanor, which he noted the man didn't seem to lack of "It's nice to finally meet you in person. I have heard quite a bit of the rumors about you Kurosaki-san, along with the waves you seem to make. Born of one of the greatest Taicho to have ever lived, was the one person to be desired by the most amount of Shinigami captains after being drawn from the pool straight out of the academy and upon being transferred to a new squad, attained a seat-officers position on your own merits, possess the ability to utilize Bankai at such a young age, and still have even more untapped potential to reach towards. That's quite a list of accomplishment for one as young as you."

"I thank-you for your kind words, sir." Ichigo said calmly, bowing forward to continue this civil affair "but, you might need to forgive my impertinence when I say I don't think you came here to simply praise me for that."

"Quite astute, and for that I will let your youthful eagerness slide. I will be frank when I tell this to you now: I honestly do not know what it is I should do with you." The old man said as he adjusted himself in his chair, and flipped both his hands so that his palms were facing upwards "On the one hand Kurosaki-san; I should order every available member of Seireitei to hunt you down for all of the crimes which you have committed which entails: Breaking and entering the Soul Society, Crossing spiritual planes illegally by force of arms, attacking a Taicho and several high ranking seated officers, conspiring with a known fugitive of Soul Society with malicious intentions, destroying the Sokyoku, leading a rebellion of possibly an entire squad of Soul reapers, significant amounts of property damage, interrupting a sacred ceremony, and lastly helping to facilitate a non-authorized individual in learning the skills of a soul reaper. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Ichigo merely raised an eyebrow "That you forgot to mention the amount of jay walking I do, and the amount of unpaid ink and paper costs from the printers and fax machines I use at the office, sir." He pointed out with a brash smirk.

The Sou-taicho continued less than amused by the joke "As you should know for a good majority of those crimes, it punishable by death or at the very least probation in the maggot's nest before being released under house arrest for three years time."

Ichigo's eyes hardened somewhat under the statement "Very well then. I'll tell you some facts. One, I don't make threats. Two, I firmly believe in the oath I took as a Shinigami, that no matter where people are in the world, from the nearest street corner to the darkest jungle, I will find them and save their souls. I don't need to be a part of Soul Society to fulfill that oath. Lastly, you are without a doubt strong, Taicho. Maybe, so strong I could never hope to catch up to you within this millennia; however, as much as I don't like senseless fighting I will never back down from anyone who means harm to me or my friends. So reassured that any victory you might have over me will cost you dearly…sir."

The old man nodded his head while the corner of his lip turned upward, his brazen nature reminding him of himself when he was young and reckless. When he had that fire-that same drive to use the power he'd got for the goal in protecting humanity from all threats. Here he was looking at this in this man, he blatantly stated that if it came to blows so be it, he'd stay true to himself, a dangerous yet honorable individual. "True. It might very well be something I can't afford which brings me to my other hand. You have committed many grave crimes, yet because of your actions and the actions of your fellow 'traitors' Soul Society still stands today. Perhaps in ruin, but she is slowly rebuilding. With your valorous deed, unending efforts, and your impressive display of power and capability to perform and wield Bankai, I dare say I should be on my hands and knee this very moment begging you to allow me to give me the privilege in appoint you a Taicho position."

Ichigo eyes widened a bit at being offered the position, as a sense of pride started to fill him. He opened his mouth to speak, when a thought came to him. He examined the thought and let out a tired sigh and spoke "While I do thank-you for the recommendation, I must ask is now really the time for such things?"

Now Yamamoto was interested which his curiosity reflected in his eyes and voice "Would you care to explain why you think that?"

Ichigo walked around the desk and went to the window and looked out at the white city under repairs "What I'm saying is 'Is now the time for ceremonies and such'? Soul Society has been utterly decimated, we're on the prelude to all-out war, this can't possibly be the right time to have a big party, and welcome new leaders." Ichigo then looked back at the man "Hell, I wasn't even in charge of half the invasion process. That was Kisuke who did a majority of the planning, as far as I know I've never been in charge of more than four, five maybe six people tops. That's a big difference between thirty or forty thousand Shinigami. Besides the only divisions I have even a feel for would be the tenth and the second, both of which already have captains to run them. For me to suddenly taking one of them out of their job is inexcusable, but at the same time I can't fill another position without disastrous consequence."

The old man puffed his lips out and let a small hum "You are quite right." He said seeing the man's logic "yet at the same time this proves that you have the thought process necessary of a Taicho."

Now Ichigo was the one with a curious expression "What do you mean? I just told you why this would be a bad idea now."

"That's exactly it young reaper. You are looking at it in both the near and far sighted goals. You correctly identified your own weakness in being put in charge as well as time to adjust. You then recognized not only your contribution to a group but also the other members in that group. I had deliberately singled you out when I said 'You and your fellow traitors'. I wanted to see how you reacted, if you were egotistical you would have blown up your own ego, an act we can't have within a perspective Taicho. On a further note, you display necessary selflessness in reflecting of how your action and inexperience would play out, a necessary component of any incumbent Taicho." The oldest Shinigami alive surmised as he nodded to himself.

"Yes, you have the thought process most required to be a captain for one of the three opening positions. But to answer your question about ceremonies and the like, I would say now is a rather precarious moment in time." The Sou-taicho then pushed himself from his chair and stood completely straight "In a pragmatic sense such an act would be considered foolhardy, as it leaves us open to any possible attack from Sosuke Aizen and his forces," the old man then walked over to the same window Ichigo looked out from, as he now looked over the decimated world "yet at the same time. Soul Society desperately needs something to cling to, to help it get past this grim chapter in her history. Many brave men and women fought and died in protecting not only this plane, but all the planes of life." the old man looked over his shoulder back at the somber strawberry that was deep in his own memories of events past.

"Yeah, people like Hanataro and Ganju." Ichigo said softly and respectfully as he closed his eyes tightly, fighting off the wave of guilt in not only leading them to their death but also failing to protect them. Which the Taicho could see was haunting him "I need to actually go visit one of their families to give them the news of their loss. I don't know how things will be though so I should probably get going if there's nothing else to say sir."

"Very well." Yamamoto said respectfully, allowing the man to excuse himself from the meeting earlier than he'd like "Before you go, I am going to inform you on two things. Firstly, I am going to make sure someone is with you at all times to keep an eye on you, if Aizen is targeting you, it would be in our best interest in making sure you are well guarded."

Ichigo sense their might have been some kind of ulterior motive and while he didn't voice it he sought to alter it more favorably. "I understand. Then may I request who it is will be with me?"

"Yes, you can do so at a later date. The second thing is I will recommend you to be the incumbent for squad three, should we all manage to survive the upcoming war. But for now, I will allow Kira Izuru to run things as he is quite knowledgeable and should be able to handle the situation."

Ichigo nodded his head and turned to the door, the moment he placed his hand on the door, the voice of the Sou-taicho rang out calling his name. Ichigo looked back to see the man saluting him respectfully "Thank-you for your dedicated service, Fourth seat of squad two, Ichigo Kurosaki."

The strawberry felt his lip tug upward a hair as he looked back at the captain and saluted back "It's gonna be Fuku-taicho Kurosaki soon sir, if I might have your blessing to bend a few rules."

"Bending rules, you say?"

"Yes, the sub-clause of dedicated effort or a trip to the human world to apply for the position."

The man hummed to himself in thought before smiled back "I am normally not one to deviate from the rules, but I suppose making an exception now and again, isn't too much to ask for. You are dismissed."

(Shaolin and Senna)

"Why?" the female captain of squad two muttered to herself just loud enough where only Senna could hear, "Why did I think bring her here would be a good idea?" she uttered as her eye brows twitched in annoyance with the recently announced topic of discussion for the S.W.A.

"C-calm down, Sensei. I'm not exactly happy about it either." Senna said with a sweat drop as she recalled what had happened.

Shaolin had taken her from the squad grounds back to the barracks when they ran into a passing Unohana, who held up a piece of paper reading SWA out of -according to Soifon- "natural yet ill-placed curiosity" the purple haired adolescent expressed an interest in it, and after much reluctance on the cold captain's part was convinced it would be a good social experience for the girl and help the both of them take off the edge from things. So they went this time to the fourth division and ducked through some narrow hallways and found themselves in a secret meeting ground.

It was there that Senna met the familiar faces of Ise Nanao and Isane Kotetsu, whom she apologized to both for either attacking or lying to them about earlier. Isane simply smiled and said she'd forgive her only if she promised to never mention what she told her back in her ward, which was able to easily agree since she couldn't remember it. Nanao was a bit sterner but merely wished to convey that as long as she didn't cause a ruckus she could stay, and enjoy the activity, since she was a female Shinigami, thus she couldn't be denied entrance.

And things continued on great or as good as humanly possible for Senna, since Mirokumaru was causing a world destroying flood on the inside of her soul scape from the enormous amount of saliva and drool coming from her mouth at the sheer number of gorgeous, well-proportioned women currently within molesting space, with the exception of Rukia Kuchiki who was absent along with her brother. So Senna was exerting every ounce of control and restraint she had learned and innately had to keep the demon at bay from taking her over and ravish every single woman in the room. After having just got here she didn't need to be labeled as perverted would-be sex-addict, if she managed to live long enough, as her Sensei would no doubt stab her repeatedly with Suzumebachi.

Still all good things came to an end, which came in the busty and glamorous form of Rangiku Matsumoto opening up her mouth to bring up the newest topic "So ladies, now that we've discussed some of the more relevant news, there's just one last thing to discuss."

"Oh what's that?" Yachiru asked as she banged her blow up toy hammer repeatedly while it made a small wheezing noise "Is the candy gumball machine I requested going through now?"

The devilish grin on the woman's face, herald the beginning and the end of things "Nope. Sorry but it's nothing you'd be interested in Yachiru-chan." She then turned her gaze at the rest of the women; while Yachiru stuck her tongue and cried 'boo' "The last topic is Mr. Hero of Seireitei, Ichigo Kurosaki. So who wants to take the floor and open up the discussion?"

And it was because of this that Soifon brought three fingers to the point between her eye brows and top of her nose, her eyes closed painfully to fight off the urge, to kill and maim "Why? Why did I think bringing her here would be a good idea?"

"C-calm down Sensei. I'm not exactly happy about it either." Senna said patting her on the back, low enough where the table in front of her obscured the gesture and removed it from sight.

Surprisingly Yachiru was the first one to speak up "Oh, you mean Ichi-chan!? I played with him once! We did tag! It was super Awesome, he was like WHOOSH!" the girl beamed

Rangiku nodded her head "That's nice," then looked back at the women "You see Yachiru played with him and knows about him. What about the rest of you ladies, have you 'played' games with him, or do I need to start spilling things, from what he tells me?"

Now Soifon spoke up, calling her out on her obvious BS "Matsumoto-fuka-taicho, please. Everyone in this room, with the exception of Senna here, knows you're a rumor mill. How in the world can we trust you have secrets to spill? Besides the topic is pretty vague and pointless, who cares what we think about him? He's still him." She further added to get the topic dropped.

"Ahaha!" The bombshell laughed happily with one hand over her mouth while Soifon silently swore at her persistence. "Oh that's what you think Soifon-taicho. It's actually quite relevant to not only the women here but you too. He's not only Toshiro's boy, but he's also one of yours! Can't you show a little pride in his accomplishments on and off the battlefield? It's not every day that a guy saves Soul Society, achieves Bankai from what I heard, AND happens to be your co-worker."

"Perhaps," the bluenette yielded for now, seeing that she was talking about his records in battle and not something else. If that was all they were talking about she knew she could probably handle any blotted ego that might come up. "But next time around clarify. You wouldn't want to give the wrong idea."

"Huh? Wrong idea?" Rangiku blinked confusedly for a second "Oh! OH! No, No, No you totally hit the nail on the head; I completely meant it in that way too! I thought he was rather strapping in charging with such reckless abandon." She chirped

"What!?" Soifon yelled as she banged her hand against the desk as she stood up, believing herself an idiot for thinking Rangiku didn't mean that and was actually being serious for once.

Even Toshiro would have laughed at her for falling for that.

The strawberry blond girl nodded her head and continued with a friendly smile "Oh yeah, and Hinamori-chan, and Kiyone-chan also had a crush on him. So I think this is completely relevant." She said pointing at each woman with her finger, while said girl went red in the face from being put out there like that.

"Y-you're kidding!" she uttered with such dissatisfaction it came out as plea for denial. 'No…wait. I do believe Subaru once mentioned that several girls had wanted to be an item with him. Those must be them. Uggh…'

"You don't seem very happy, Soifon-taicho, it's just gossip and our impressions about him nothing else." Isane spoke up, trying to ease the tension in the room from Soifon's strange succession of outburst, which was rather odd since the captain was normal soft spoken, and opted for silent answers in the form of her actions.

"Oh…" she spoke weakly as she slumped back down in her chair now that she was put on the spot from being called out on her outbursts. "Forgive me; I…am rather strict on rules of conduct between personnel, particularly the sub-section of intimacy between Shinigami of different ranking. For the sake of the discussion and group I'll hold my peace." She half-lied to avoid any more attention; while silently reminding herself that Ichigo wouldn't succumb to the other girls' wiles

"No worries." Rangiku said as she then diverted her attention back to the room, looking over to her first hot seat victim "Isane."

"Ooh? Y-yes?" the startled giantess stuttered not expecting to be picked

"Tell me what d you think of him. Hot or not, date or no date?"

Isane scratched her head uncertainly "Ummm…well…I don't really know him all that well. Hanataro-kun spoke highly of him saying he looks kinda scary but he's a nice guy and he did help save soul society; though I'd prefer to meet him in person and get to know him from there."

From across the room Isane's younger sister Kiyone hopped out of her chair and pointed an accusing finger at her older sister "What since when did you start holding such feelings Sis. Very well from today onward you are my rival in love!"

"Huh!?" the medic sputtered with a blush "I…I…No…B-but…"

"Mmm…but then again you are my sister." The younger Kotetsu thought it over then snapped her fingers. "We'll tag team him them. We'll share him fifty-fifty or sixty-forty since I thought of it. Yeah seventy-thirty is plenty fair."

"Wha? D-don't no! Stop with those ideas! Bad Kiyone!"

A couple of the girls laughed at the strange idea as Isane tried to shutdown what her sister was saying but seemed to be tongue-tied. While they continued back and forth, the fire starter turned her eyes back to the reluctant squad two captain, who was now feeling her devious gaze. "So Soifon-taicho what are your thoughts?"

"As I said I will not take part in any…disreputable behavior."

"Oh, pleeeease" the woman shooed "It's just an opinion you don't actually have to go out of your way and do what you say."

The cold captain stared blankly at Rangiku for a moment before letting out a defeated sigh "Fine. I think he's very hard working and does whatever job he's assigned to in a timely and orderly manner. Are you satisfied?"

"No." Matsumoto deadpanned not happy with getting a business report

"Fine. Ichigo is very well mannered and extremely caring individual. He's also reliable I would even go so far to say that he was almost like having a fuka-taicho around. He does seem to get involved into trouble though it's usually not of his own volition. As for 'hot or not' that's none of your business and for 'date or no date', while it matters very little to me at this point I'll humor you and just say I don't see a reason not to." She answered with finality unwilling to go any further than necessary.

Matsumoto was about to open her mouth again but was silenced by a glare from Soifon which clearly said to not push it any further so taking the hint the blond woman wheeled around to another "Ahh…Nemu-chan what about you?"

The android perked up at hearing her name, though it lasted only for a moment "I have no data on this 'Ichigo Kurosaki' so no opinion can be generated at this time. However data does exist on the man named 'Uryu Ishida'".

"Oh? Okay ahh sure then let's go with that."

"Understood. Uryu Ishida is a blue-haired Quincy that wears glasses. We encountered one another during the invasion where he defeated me in battle. I hope to run into him again…" The quiet girl's eyes darkened considerably "and this time I will make sure that he will not escape me. Ever."

An uneasy silence washed over the room at the seemingly murderous nature the twelfth fuka-taicho said her words. Backing away to salvage the situation Rangiku looked ahead for her latest questionee. "That's ahhh great. Yeah, really great." She said nervously as her eyes scanned the room.

And found her.

"So how about you Senna-chan?" she asked turning to the otherwise quiet guest member "What do you think of Ichigo? You've been with him most recently, given your actions during the invasion, what's your take on him?"

'Craaap.' Senna diverted her gaze to the side, cursing her never failing bad luck "I plead the fifth."

"The fifth what now?" the bombshell asked aloud hoping someone might speak it's meaning.

"I believe she is referring to the Fifth Amendment Matsumoto-san." illuminated Unohana "It is the right to remain silent; specifically the right to prevent self-incrimination. It is a human world phrase that had started in the west, but has found influence within Japan during it's time it was occupied by American forces."

"Nooo, no, no, no, no, no, no! You gotta answer the question!" Rangiku refused to accept that answer, now knowing what it was "Come on, belch it out!"

"Yeah! (burp) belch it out!" Yachiru cheered from behind the woman

Senna looked at her Sensei who was mirroring her expression, after a moment she sighed in resignation "Fine." And then stood up from her chair, and started to feel uncomfortable with all the eyes on her "Well…umm let see…Ichigo is umm v-very important to me."

"Oooh!" A couple of ladies oohed, while Rangiku fired another question "And why is he so important to you?"

Senna blushed and started to sputter things out "H-he ahh…well s-saved my life. I mean not him personally, Rukia did, but he err…okay he saved my life in the human world!"

Once again another round of 'ooohs' escaped them "So he saved your life. That's definitely something he'd do. So tell me what do you think of him as guy? Was he quiet and shy around you or was he being assertive and strutting his stuff? Did he maybe put some moves on you or did you flirt with him?" Rangiku asked having a fair amount of fun with the interview thus far

"Y-you know what forget it! I'm out of here. I don't even know why I should answer you!" Senna yelled out in embarrassment as she turned and stormed off

"Wait, Senna." said Rangiku who was surprised by the sudden choice in departure, while Soifon got out of her chair and left the stunned silent room following after her. Rangiku recoiled slightly from feelings of guilt for maybe pushing things too strongly as the other girls chattered amongst themselves trying to avoid the elephant in the room.

Only Retsu Unohana knew the full scope of why Senna was tender to questions about her and Ichigo. From what Senna had told her after having a blood test done on her, both to ensure her health was ok and verify if she was related to Masaki and Ichigo, she came to the realization that the girl didn't want to cause waves that would undoubtedly come with announcing kinship to both of the Kurosaki's, as large burdens would be dropped on both of their shoulders. Senna with the expectation from Soul Society to operate and defend the entirety of the afterlife as efficiently as the other adult Shinigami, and Ichigo's compounding worry between her safety, Soifon's safety and the stress of war against Aizen. Though the healer did offer a word of encouragement about her thoughts, in the back of her mind she did feel like Senna wasn't saying something else but decided not to pursue it.

(Outside the room: Soifon)

Pushing out of the room the concerned Taicho whipped around wildly looking for any signs of Senna, and was disappointed to see she was gone. Letting out a frustrated huff, she closed her eyes and concentrated her senses until she picked up the girl's signature, which thankfully wasn't too far away.

So with a quick series of flash steps she zoomed down the narrow corridors; reappearing beside the sullen looking girl. "You're certainly fast when your distressed Senna." The captain announced to the girl who was sitting on bench. The teen didn't bother to meet her gaze. "What's the matter? What was all that about just now?"

Senna glanced back over to expectant captain and dully replied "Nothing…"

"Don't give me that. 'That' was not nothing." Came the rebuttal. Soifon kept her gaze on the girl who returned it briefly before shaking her head.

"If you really want to know…it was everything. The whole topic and stuff."

A perplexed look showed itself on her face "The one about Ichigo?"

A silent nod was given "The way the thing came out really. It just makes him sound likes he's ONLY worth talking about after saving soul society and everything. I really liked him just the way he was before the spotlight and hero recognition. I've always admired and cared about him; if I ever found myself in a bind maybe even say he'd have my back…but those other girls…" she trailed off

"hmhmh…hahaha…" The last thing Senna expected was for the woman beside her to start chuckling "Is that all that's wrong with you? Jeez talk about worrying a person." A reassuring smile creased Soifon's face "Senna listen carefully, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being annoyed at seeing people suddenly claim 'friends' with a famous person. It happens all the time we're only human."

"And you're…okay with it? You're not jealous or angry at all?"

"I can't say I wasn't. Don't you remember how I responded to some of them? Wasn't exactly cold captain material there. Anyway don't sweat it those meetings are just meant for fun and games, nothing serious every really comes from them." The woman glanced aside "Well except that one time with the bombarding of the S.M.A with fire crackers when they tried to install cameras in the female showers. Now they're almost out of a club, rotten bastards." She added which got a grateful chuckle from Senna who appreciated the effort.

Senna wiped the tear out of her eyes, and glanced serenely at the woman beside her, almost completely at ease by Shaolin's soothing words, "You really love him don't you?" She whispered tenderly.

Shaolin's cheeks turned slightly pink at the declaration. She then coughed to clear herself of it before silently nodding. Seeing the open and inviting atmosphere, Senna decided now might be her best chance to lay everything out.

"I'm envious of you and brother."

"Well Senna you've-…" Shaolin stopped mid-sentence analyzing what was just said "Wait, what do you mean brother?"

"I know you can keep a secret that's why I said 'brother' instead of 'Ichigo'." Senna explained. The girl patted the spot beside her with her hand signaling for the captain to take a seat and listen to her which she did "I don't know if you noticed but I've never told you my full name right?"

The Chinese woman brought a finger to her lips as she thought it over "I did think you were hiding something from me. But that wasn't quite what I had thought."

"Well, the reason I didn't tell you my last name was because I was afraid of a lot things that could happen. I really…really didn't want to get compared to Ichigo, especially by you."

"Be compared? By…me?" came the reply from the confused Taicho 'Why would she think that?'

Senna nodded "Yeah. You know it just turns out Ichigo's this super soldier Shinigami and me well…not so much. When we first met you were really harsh, I thought you might just see me as female version of him and want the same results he gives."

"Senna…" 'I see.' the captain shook her head in disagreement "I'm nothing if not fair. I do realize that some people aren't cut out for warfare. Personally when I find someone who can't hack it either in my squad or Onimitsukido I either transfer them out to another squad or assign them to tasks their actually good at. Most captains take the same approach. Why do you think squad four is filled with the worst assortment of fighters? Because they are the best healers."

"Hmmm." Senna hummed quietly considering her words

"But you seem very confident and eager, so unless that's just a facade. I don't see why you'd withhold it."

"I did it mostly for Ichigo. With him being a Shinigami and having to help repair soul society, I really didn't want to pile on any more problems or attention for him. I just felt keeping my mouth shut would let him concentrate."

"Ahh, well there's nothing wrong with that." The woman replied with a kind smile "In fact I'm sure he'd probably appreciate the consideration." She placed her arms behind her head and leaned back "Well I guess that explains everything then. Why you admire him so and why you got so upset." She surmised

"Well…actually there's more to it. But," the teen looked at her older companion with a soft smile "Do you think we can go to a place a little more private to talk. Just the two of us?"

"Sure." Shaolin replied as she got off the bench; the perfect place came to mind "I've got a place in mind where not only we can speak freely, but also be allowed to relax unlike that stupid S.W.A. meeting."

A small chuckle escaped her compatriot, as both ladies got off the bench and began to head down the hallway out of the barracks.

(Ichigo)

Coming out of a flash step, the renowned fourth seat found himself standing in the tall fields of grass, about a hundred meters away from the home of the infamous fireworks master Kukaku Shiba. The man looked over at the building examining the two sturdy arms holding the banner up welcoming all who dared enter, less than two weeks ago he found himself here, setting forth with Ganju to save the afterlife.

…and now he returned defeated and alone.

Suppressing the guilt within his heart, he forced his body unto the path leading up to the building, each step depleting the amount of time he had left to think about how he was supposed to tell Kukaku and her reaction to the news. At this thought he stopped in his tracks, a burdened frown on his face; he allowed himself a glance back the way he came. Memories of when he learned that his mother was slain began to play itself quietly in his mind, each image served to harden his gaze until it was once again filled with conviction.

Turning back to the home he steeled his resolve. He knew what it felt like and he knew that such things were the consequences of life; he'd just have to accept how she reacted and respect her wishes before he offer her peace. He then resumed his stride.

As he came up the steps to the porch; the shoji door flipped open and two people standing side by side continued walking out, vacating the premises now that their business was concluded. The smaller of the two people was a woman with raven black hair with a rouge protrusion going over the bridge of her nose. Her violet colored eyes reflected surprise in seeing Ichigo of all people here, while her hand gripped the hilt of her Zanpaktou harder out of a sense of safety.

The larger companion was a man with long silky black hair, with three white ornaments in hair. Wrapped softly around the pale man's neck was a silver scarf. The man's grey eyes registered the man's presence though he made little outward expression. The man's Haori was blowing slightly over his matching uniform of his adoptive sister.

"Rukia." Ichigo said with a noticeable pleasantness, then turned his sight over to the sixth division captain, and spoke again though it sounded much less friendly "Kuchiki-Taicho."

Kuchiki-Taicho stared impassively and then nodded his head, no words needing to be exchanged between the two of them. The man then silently walked around him not bothering to look at the man anymore before flash stepping off.

"Ahh, Lord Brother!" Rukia gaped in disbelief as she watched her older brother rather rudely, and most certainly not like him, brush someone off in such a manner especially when being addressed.

"It's ok, Rukia." Ichigo said with a look of pity on his face, which served to keep the woman's attention on him. "It's just hard between us, is all." He explained "Time heals all wounds."

"I'm sorry, Ichigo. I'm sorry you lost your friend." Rukia apologized "I know it's not easy to watch their killer walk by you without being able to do something about it. But…please don't hate him. Please."

The woman was then surprised when Ichigo's hand landed upon her shoulders softly "I don't hate him. I certainly dislike him for what he did, but I understand why he did it. If I hate anyone, it's Aizen. It's because of him that I'm here to tell Kukaku that her brother died." The man's eyes softened "Though I guess that you already spoke to her about it."

The female Kuchiki nodded her head "Yeah, it took three days in total. She didn't even want to see our faces the first day, the second day she yelled at us and threatened to blow us up if we ever set foot on her doorstep again, but…today." The woman recalled the entire lengthy meeting "Today, she just stood on the porch as silent as the grave waiting for us, and then invited us in without a second thought. It was…surreal. She stayed almost emotionless the entire time, like she was dead. But it might have been because of the alcohol. I don't know though."

"Huh… (Sigh) Well let me go talk to her. You should hurry up. I can sense your brother waiting." He said feeling the man's spiritual pressure stop about a mile away from their current location, as Rukia took a step to move out, she was stopped as Ichigo's hand clasped hers. Turning around she looked into the demure face of Ichigo "It's good to have you back, Rukia."

Rukia returned the smile "It's good to be back, commander." She said calling him by his title which hadn't happened back in the human world, before she disappeared in a whirl of speed.

Alone again, Ichigo inhaled quickly to refocus on his purpose, and then walked through the door. Entering into the foyer he called out to Kukaku only to not hear a response. Knowing the woman would still have to be here, he ventured further into the house. After walking a bit down the hallway he saw her lounging disinterestedly in a large red cushion chair, taking a gulp of her medium sized bottle of sake.

"Well, well…" she said as she moved her bottle away from her face, her interest diverted to her guest "I heard you were in the hospital. But you seem fine to me." She then pointed her index finger across from her current spot to the couch "Care for a seat?" she then lifted her free arm "Maybe something to drink?"

"No, thanks." Ichigo declined as he sat down on the couch, his eyes drifting to the twenty or so empty bottles of Sake behind the woman's chair "I see you've been drinking a lot, but I think I know why."

"Heh. Yeah, I'm sure you do." She joked lightly, as she brought the drink back to her mouth to take a much needed swig, when she finished gulping down the last drops of it she looked back at her guest who had his head bowed solemnly

"I'm sorry about what happened to Ganju. I'm sorr-"

"Save it." the fireworks master grunted interrupting the man. When Ichigo looked back up she let out a small burp as she leaned to the side of her chair her long legs going over the arm rest "Don't look at me like that kiddo. If anyone is to blame it for it would be me. I'm the one who forced Ganju into it, because I thought he'd be strong enough to live, and smart enough to learn the difference in reapers. I guess he wasn't as tough as I thought so I'll never know now…I guess."

She let out a depressed sigh as she looked away from him and into the vacant hallway "Do you know the reason why I pushed Ganju around?" when her question was me with silence she continued "It wasn't only just to make him tougher but to make sure that he didn't turn out like me."

"Turn out like you?" Ichigo asked with visible confusion, since while he would admit the woman was dangerous and reckless, she wasn't a bad sort.

Seeing the look on his face, she allowed a soft smirk to reveal itself "I really like you kiddo, so I'll tell you a personal little story about me. Long time ago, I had an older brother. His name was Kaien Shiba; he was a Shinigami like you. He was…a great guy, a model Shinigami. One day he died. That was the day when everything changed. I learned that my brother was murdered; he wasn't killed by a hollow. No, he was killed by a fellow Shinigami from his division."

A shocked look emerged on Ichigo's face having never figured that a Shinigami would kill another seemingly upstanding Shinigami. He would have liked to believe that it was for promotion purposes but given the derogatory tone of voice, he doubted so he was left with the mystery of who?

The image of Byakuya and Rukia leaving the building flashed into his mind. 'It must be one of them.' He concluded given what was said by both her and Rukia.

"I see you got this all figured out." Kukaku whispered seeing the contemplative look on the man "Back to the story, when all this happened I was just barely out of my teens and I was suddenly thrust into the head position of the Shiba family. I bet the Soul Society expected me to be mature like Kaien and just suck things up like everyone else who lost a loved one, too bad I was both angry and stupid."

The woman took another gulp of her bottle just barely getting it in her mouth. As she moved it away she let out a huge exhalation. "I pulled out of the Seireitei with my brother Ganju and we'd lived in the shitty world outside the court of pure souls. Funny thing about retrospect being twenty-twenty, you know being able to see all the mistakes you made. Looking back on it, I can say what I did wasn't fair on him. I forced Ganju into a life he didn't really deserve. I took away a bright future for him, and for what? Temporary satisfaction? Spiting on the establishment that took Kaien away? I don't really even remember now, but it must have been a shitty reason. That's why after living a year out here, I decided to grow some balls and man up to the reality I was in. That's why I started up my fireworks business." she chuckled as she reached down in the front of her chair and picked up another bottle of alcohol.

"'The Kukaku special: Buy one of ours and shoot for the stars!' that was our original motto. We worked hard practically every day of our lives, I had single handedly went from a sister to a mother," she looked over at Ichigo briefly "I'm tellin' ya, it was a colossal pain in the ass, and I don't recommend you do it." she said which made Ichigo laugh at the joke, while she turned back "We fought, screamed, cried, hugged and nursed. We did a lot together." Sadness flickered across her eyes "…and now it's gone." She mumbled to herself

The woman then shifted in her chair, her foot touch back against the floor, and looked sympathetically at Ichigo "You lost your friend as well, from what I heard. So believe me when I say, I know you can understand a small taste of my pain." She then pushed herself up, using the top part of the chair to steady herself from the vast amount of Sake she had consumed, she lifted her hand telling Ichigo to stay where he was, and that she had this. With the woman back in balance she leaned against the nearby wall "(hah) (wuu) Anyway, I'm gonna tell you what I told that primed out Taicho and his kid sister."

"And that is?" asked Ichigo, as he saw the woman smirk dangerously

"I told that son of a bitch that he'd better fucking cherish his sister. Two of my brothers died protecting her, and I will march my happy ass all the fuckin' way to Seireitei and bitch slap the silky scarf off from around his piss thin neck, if he doesn't so much as treat her like a handmade gift from the spirit king himself. Bah! It took a little yelling and a couple a days of those two blockheads showin' up, but I think we finally see eye to eye." She said only to then let out a pained groan, and begin to feel her knees giving out from underneath her.

Ichigo jumped from his seat and picked the woman up, letting her use his shoulder. The woman placed a hand on the black ninja-esque uniform allowing herself to grip it as tightly as she could despite her debilitated state "T-thanks kid," she then closed her eyes and brought a hand to her head "Oooooh, I don't…feel so great. Damn, I hate to say it, but (huff) could you help me to my room? I should be fine if I can reach the door."

"Yeah, no prob." answered Ichigo

The two walked at a very slow pace, Ichigo serving as the crutch while the older woman used her free hand to comb the wall and help her orient herself within her house. To both their relief the woman's door wasn't too far away,

Ichigo felt the woman shift her weight more against the wall so as to manually get through. Still he waited there the whole time as she went to the other side of the wall to open up the Shoji door. When it was opened enough for her to slip through she gave a sparing glance at him, and beckoned him over with her finger.

Taking a step forward he was surprised by the woman's strength when she pulled him in close to her, and kissed him on the lips. Acting on instinct he pushed himself away, enough to put a small distance between them but certainly not enough to cause her harm. Kukaku though looked absolutely amused.

"Geez, calm down you. I was given ya a thank-you kiss for not leaving my drunk ass over there I wasn't gonna fricken' invite you inside my room to have pity sex with me. I ain't that drunk and you aren't that lucky!" She exclaimed even breaking into a laugh when she saw his face turn bright red and grit his teeth at her actions. "Hey kid."

"The name's Ichigo, Kukaku-san." He corrected letting the whole thing slide to her obvious turmoil and drunken state.

"Right, Ichigo." She said more firmly, her playful nature giving way to seriousness "Thanks for everything. You're a good guy and if you ever need anything; a place to stay or just someone to talk to, you got me. So don't be a stranger."

Ichigo nodded appreciatively "Thanks."

"Heh, those girls are lucky to have you." She nudged before turning into the room leaving Ichigo confused by what she meant by that statement. Unfortunately before Ichigo could get out of his stupor and ask she had already slide the door closed completely, ending the conversation. The Strawberry shook himself of this whole endeavor, since he doubted she even knew what she was talking about so turning around he headed down the hallway and outside the residence, his visit done.

It was only when he reached the patio that he closed his eyes and cursed having forgotten to ask about Senna's dad. 'Damn and it's not like I can just go back in there. (Sigh) oh well.' He thought to himself, and looked around finding the area devoid of life 'I wonder where those color coded twins are; maybe they took Ein with them into Rukongai or something.'

"Oh, well. I suppose I should go visit my other friend." Ichigo mused sadly as he disappeared in another series of flash step back to Seireitei.

(Shaolin and Senna)

"Wow, I guess you really did sneak up on us." Senna said in awe as she found both her and her guardian inside the same cave that was used to plan the final stages of the invasion process.

"This is also where I first saw you." Soifon stated passing by the very same spot she had hidden behind when Renji, Subaru and Senna met up to investigate the disturbance she'd caused.

"Hey yeah, your right, this is where Subaru-chan and I almost-…" her voice trailed off as the captain stopped walking "I'm sorry for what happened."

The woman shook her head, though Senna only saw the back of her hair and the twin bands wave back and forth "You don't have to be. Their actions are perhaps the strangest of all things. I know they cut Ichigo down, yet they did not go for a killing strike, merely an incapacitation. They also didn't wish for me to see them, which definitely explains Subaru's constant worry. She wasn't afraid of me finding out that she worked with you all, she was afraid of what I would think if I discovered she had stabbed me in the back."

Senna took a small step forward, and shakily put a hand on the smaller woman's shoulder. Less than a second later did Senna find her hand covered by the woman's own "I thank-you for your sympathy, but it is unneeded." She said calmly, as a small smile started to rise on her face "If there is one thing I have learned in all of this it's that not everything is at seems. Yoruichi-sama was framed for crimes she did not commit and left Seireitei, Ichigo-kun was framed for crimes he didn't commit and fought against Seireitei. I'm not stupid. I don't fall for the same trick three times in a row. I'm sure they had their reasons for doing so, and rest assured; I will find them and the truth."

"Sensei!" The female Kurosaki said aloud, as the woman glanced fully at her apprentice "I know they're good people. And well, I ahh umm…I-I know I'm not the best fighter. But I promise to fight my best to help bring them back to you. They are a part of my family just as much as you and brother."

"…" the Taicho's lips curved upward just a fraction "Thank-you. I'm counting on you, so please help me bring them home." She then walked on to the pools of water

"You can count on it Shaolin." Senna promised, as she followed the woman.

Once they found a rather large pool of water, the two women started to remove their clothing from their bodies. Once both were fully undressed, with each other sneaking glances at the other's body when the other thought they weren't looking, just acknowledging that the other was a beauty in her own right, they both slowly slide into the warm waters that slowly started to ease their exhaustion and pain.

"Ahhhhh~. This is nice." Shaolin moaned blissfully as she remained on the side closest to the edge, since she didn't know how to swim and couldn't risk going too far out. Though at the rate in which her bodies' muscles were turning to jelly in the water, she had to keep her arms out lest she sink beneath the waves.

"Tooootaallllly. I almost forgot about how nice hot springs were!" Senna replied as she moved one arm around her neck and massages the spot just underneath her shoulder blade, removing the knot. The girl opened one of her eyes as she stared at the content looking captain, feeling minute amounts of envy. "Wow, you just seem to be radiating happiness." The woman softly whispered as she gazed innocently at her friend

"Really?" she said quizzically popping open one eye, to keep her in tuned to the world around her "I thought I was frowning like normal, perhaps I was mistaken."

"Ahaha, funny woman."

"I try. I'm really not used to the whole humor thing though. Ichigo says I try too hard sometimes." She muttered as she sat up, barely revealing her chest above the pond's water level

The other girl let out another small chuckle as the water ran down her skin. She then looked solemnly at the relaxing Taicho "But seriously, you…certainly look happy."

For Soifon the look on her associates face and the tone she took let her know something was up just underneath the surface. Leaning forward to stare into the countenance of the strange Shinigami, she decided to press her luck "Is there something else on your mind?"

Senna sent a bitter smile to her "Kinda," she started as she brought her knee close to her chest, so she could blow on it with her breath, which caused small ripples in the water "I really don't want to say it, but I AM jealous of you and brother." Her amber eyes looked down into the water, but still caught the reflection of her friend's face "I…really do wish Ichigo and my own relationship was as deep as yours. That he cared about me as much as he does you."

Shaolin brought another arm out of the water and placed it against the rocky edge of the surrounding floor to lean against, 'Hmm, I suppose it's natural she'd feel left out since; I've known him much longer than she has and they haven't had the chance to make up for lost time.' She noted as she saw the melancholy of the teenager "I think I see what the problem is." She replied simply, forcing the girl to look at her, the captain took a sharp inhalation as she prepared to take another wild stab in the dark "But still, what may I ask makes you feel that way? Did he say or do something to give you such a notion?" she asked trying to get a concrete idea

"Well…during the invasion process and even before then back in Karakura town, you're the one he was worried about most." Senna stated "Don't get me wrong, I mean yeah, he definitely wanted to protect everyone from Aizen, but…it seems whenever he wasn't focused on the task at hand, he always seemed to have his head in the clouds thinking about you."

"Hmm, I guess you felt like you were being shafted because of the situation. Is that about right?" Shaolin surmised wanting to reprimand Ichigo for not paying more attention to his allies at the time and instead thought of her; though, she wouldn't since she herself had been reflecting back on Ichigo during their separation like he did.

"Kinda." She sulked

The Taicho then smiled "Then I am pleased to tell you, Senna. That you're overanalyzing it."

"I…am?" Senna said dumbly, as she raised an eye brow, wondering how the captain came to such a conclusion

The woman nodded her head "Correct. Ichigo as we both know has a very big heart, and is willing to protect people with his life if the situation occurred. But you were analyzing that fact out of context. You see he was afraid that he or I would die, before we could ever reconcile with each other, and even then it was still pretty close. I…think what he did Senna was that he tried to surround himself with as many good memories as he could, in case he…died. That way he could pass on without needless regret." She then pushed herself off the wall and moved in close and placed her hand on the amber eyed girl's bare shoulder "But I'm sure you were in his thoughts."

"Ohhh." Senna replied with a small blush, from the feelings of contentment. The teenager smiled softly as she looked into the face of Soifon who's lips curved upwards, as she leaned back. Seeing the woman move back, Senna decided perhaps she should come clean "H-hey Shaolin-san can I ask you something?"

"Anything Senna, and please it's just us, you don't need to be formal at this time." Shaolin replied quietly, opening her ears and mind to answer what it is the girl wanted to ask.

'It's now or never.' Senna thought to herself as she took a deep breath, closing her eyes for the brief second before launching her question "Tell me does…polygamy exist in Soul Society?"

'Polygamy? Where have I heard that word before…Polygamy…Polygamy…tip of my tongue…wait. I think that's multiple people being married to one person or something like that. Why is she interested in that!?' The woman raised an eyebrow at the question wondering where that came from. Her musing was brought to an end when the girl looked on expecting an answer.

"I ahhhhh…I-I don't really know." She sputtered out finally, giving the woman an even look "(sigh) you see Senna, I wasn't one to think about marriage, and I wasn't cultivated to be concerned with politics and stuff of manner when I was growing up, unlike most people. I was born into a family where your destiny was set the moment of your birth. You either: became a member of the Onimitsukido and protect the Shihoin clan or were excommunicated and exiled from the clan." The wet captain shared, while her companion silently nodded with a contemplative look "So I naturally chose the only real option for me, and trained to become strong. I didn't really have time for those kinds of thoughts. So sorry I really don't know if polygamy is allowed in the soul Society, I can only tell you that I have heard no laws preventing it." Her eyes then hardened a bit "Why do you ask?" she said wanting her question answered now.

"W-why!?" she hollered loudly in surprise, which was met with a calm 'yeah' from the Chinese woman, "Well I was just…a little bothered by what that girl Kiyone said."

"Kiyone?"

The teen scratched the back of her head with an enthusiastic smile "Yeah, about tag teaming it with her sister to make Ichigo fall in love with them, ha-ha. I just wanted to know if that was true since this place is so different from earth."

Soifon remained quiet for a moment which did worry Senna. Finally the woman glanced off to the side with a dull expression "True." She muttered which allowed the love-sick girl to breathe a sigh of relief. "Though, I suppose that all in all it's just a matter of personal preference, on the ones involved."

Senna was rather surprised by the declaration "Wow. I never thought you'd be so ok with it."

"I was only lying about the whole strictness on interpersonal relationships. Me and Ichigo are already toeing the line, I'd be hypocritical of me to chastise others for their choices."

Senna nodded her head silently appreciative at how things were going. She might almost been willing to grab the captain and give a huge hug though she held back on it since it'd probably followed up by some kind of demand for explanation. Senna was going to open her mouth to speak when Soifon beat her to the punch.

"Still I don't see why this would be something you'd be interested in" Soifon's eyes narrowed slightly "…unless…" the look on Senna's face was all it took for to know, she was hiding something. "As I thought. You have some kind of interest in this."

"W-what? Me? Naw! I was just curious!" the girl tried to play the fool though from the look on Soifon's face she clearly wasn't buying it.

"Senna you can lie to me, and I will know it. Start talking." She stated firmly

Seeing that there was no way to avoid this she decided to slug it out. "Well, the reason I brought it up was because…I kind of like someone." She said as she moved over next to the captain "But the problem is the guy I like is currently in a relationship with someone else."

"…" The captain remained silent while her eyes peered a little harder at the woman, after a moment she spoke up "I see." She answered harder with an undertone of suspicion "Well, what exactly do, you know about this person?"

"D-does it really matter?" Senna said hastily, not wanting to raise any more red flags too quickly

Her dreams were crushed when the pale girl gave an affirmative nod "Yes, you see depending on how much you know about the person, could be the difference between a fleeting crush between humans, no offense." She said raising her hand up in front of her, while Senna dismissed the backhanded comment "and, not to sound sappy, but for want of a better word, 'true love'."

The moist purple haired girl bit her lip, as she turned away from the confused woman. She looked at her rippling reflection in the water, and after seeing it bear a tiny resemblance to Mirokumaru, remembered she'd promise herself she would do this on her own. She then cupped some water in her hand and splashed it against her face, to help settle her nerves. "It's a little hard to explain," She replied solemnly "realistically I've only known about this person for a really short time, but 'spiritually' I guess, I've known about him all my life." She smiled gently, at the way Mirokumaru was infatuated with him, which in turn meant herself "I admire him and everything about him. He's strong, brave and kind." The girl brought a finger up and scratched her cheek nervously "He probably doesn't realize it, but I've actually had my eye on him for a while now."

"I seeee." The captain stressed even harder as silent alarm bells started to ring in her head "Senna," she whispered cautiously knowing that patience and acceptance was going to be the only way to get her to talk "I want you to know, that whatever you have to say here. I won't hold it against you, but if you don't tell me, I cannot help."

The younger woman moved a piece of hair from her face, as her eyes held uncertainty "Do you promise?" Senna asked unusually quiet, but at the same time held firmness in it, wanting a guarantee "Do you promise not to think any differently of me?"

The older and shorter woman looked into the other Kurosaki's eyes and saw the enormous amount of hesitation, which made the woman herself both curious and fearful of what she had said, and alluded to, still having reached this far she wasn't going to let it drop. Bring a hand up over her heart she uttered two words "I promise." She formed giving her sacred word to not criticize or look down upon the girl

Senna's amber eyes softened as she looked back into her sensei's steely grey. After finally registering the green light, she took a deep breath and prepared herself for her journey past the eye of the storm "I'm in love with Ichigo." She admitted the words leaving the captain speechless

Soifon looked on stunned, her brain not even able to tell her to blink her eyes. She mechanically opened her mouth to say something only to close it but a moment later. The silence continued for a few seconds until she was able to collect her wits "A-are you…sure?" she asked, not knowing how exactly she was supposed to react to such a thing, or supposed to ask for clarification in case she heard and thought wrong, especially about an affair that was greatly considered taboo by certain cultures and demo graphs.

Senna looked abashed, but her voice still continued, when her heart wished she didn't "Yeah." She swallowed a lump in her throat "Whenever he's around, I feel extremely happy. I feel free." She articulated so that the blue haired woman could better understand "Like I can do or become anything I want to be! Whenever he's looking my way I just find myself trying that much harder."

The Miko placed her palms against the top of her kneecaps, and continued to look over the steady water "After I found out from my 'human' dad that he could possibly be my brother, I tried to quash the feels I had, trying not to see him in that way. I managed to get it under wraps within the first few days, and it worked for a little while," she said much more hopefully then before, though it was short lived "But only for it to return later even stronger than before. It was around the early training stages of the invasion that I started to think of him less as the person who shared my parentage, and more of a good man who genuinely cared and loved me."

"But you knew about me as well…" the usually stoic commander pointed out seeing the obvious problem.

"Y-yeah." Senna answered skittishly "There was you. Always you."

"You're not telling me something, aren't you?"

"Just forget it." She tried to forcibly shut-down the conversation "let's just end it here." She glanced away almost tearing up from feeling ashamed of what she might say "You don't…need to know anyway."

"You're wrong." Shaolin cut in "I want to know because I believe I can help. I am your sensei; you come to ME for guidance. I have already given my word, so stop being afraid and tell me why you are so hesitant!"

The words sank into the younger woman's soul, after calming herself down, she tried to speak in as neutral a tone as possible "I admit. On some secret level, that I didn't even know existed before now. I…" she started to feel her eyes tearing up "I wished that you two didn't make up! That, that, after you parted ways, he would…he would see me, a-and only me."

She moved her hand and wiped the tears away only for them to be replaced by more "I know I must be really petty and shallow for wanting that…that's why I tried to stop my myself and think of how you would feel. I came to know so much about you from what Ichigo described of you. Then I finally met you." She gave a pained smile "At first I really thought you were just a stupid, overly controlling, inhuman bitch. But with each passing day, spent training with you, and gradually getting to know the real you underneath the 'captain'. I came to realize, I couldn't bear to wish such a thing on you anymore." She then lowered her head back down as her frown replaced her broken smile "But, I still couldn't bear the fact that my feelings for him would still go unnoticed, to just wither and die."

She turned her tear-ridden face back to the frowning and concerned Taicho beside her "(sniff) Th-that why I asked about the polygamy thing. To me, it would be the perfect solution to solve the problem without any senseless arguing or infighting. T-(sniff)-that way we could both be happy together with him, and he us." She then sniffled again and wiped her tears away with her hand, forcing a smile on her face to try and play off what her body was doing "geez, I-I don't even know why I'm crying. Ha-ha…wooh, I must look like a complete idiot, huh?"

To Senna's utter surprise she found herself pulled into a tight embrace by Shaolin. "W-wha…?"

"Shh." Shaolin hushed "its ok Senna. Let it all out…"

"Sh-shao…eggh…"

Senna then cried again full force into the other woman, who remained absolutely silent. Her only continued act of reassurance was the hand caressing up and down her back, letting her know that everything was going to be okay.

Ten minutes passed before the young Miko found the strength to push herself off her friend to lean back against the wall. Her eyes strained but not red from the tears. "Thanks." She whispered as her voice came out nearly inaudible.

The cool captain shook her head "You don't have to thank me. It's not weakness or idiocy to let your feelings be known to others, in fact it's probably better to vent than keep it bottled up inside. Believe me; I learned that lesson the hard way."

She then reached down and held both of Senna's hand gingerly, her mind mulling over what to say to the confused girl, who fell in love with the same man as her, who not only wanted to be accepted but make peace between them.

"I don't really know what to say. I do understand where you're coming from, trust me. When I was younger I sought the approval and affection from my teacher Yoruichi Shihoin, as you may or may know, it didn't work out, and I ended hating her guts for fifty plus years." She gave a rough analogy, dropping some of the more important details along the way in order to get through

"Really?" The female Kurosaki asked not really knowing that fact about her friend "You…like girls?"

A dash of heat adorned Soifon's cheeks "Yes, I like men and…women."

"Wow that's brave (3)."

"I thank-you for that compliment but that's another story for another time." She said dismissively not wanting to go into it, at least not yet. "The part that concerns you is this Senna. What you ask isn't something you, me or Ichigo could decide on our own, and for this to work, you would not only have to receive Ichigo's unconditional love, but my own as well. I would have to love you…be in love with you as deeply as I do him, which I…honestly can't say that I am. We've only met." She admitted truthfully, which the girl had a pained frown on her face "You are young Senna, and granted Ichigo is too." She pressed on putting on a childish smile at the end to cheer her up.

Senna mirrored the action "hehe, y-yeah. You're a cradle robbing shotacon." She joked, unable to not take the opening the woman presented

A tick mark appeared on the girl's head "As I was sayiiing…" Soifon she muttered angrily, sending a half-hearted death glare at Senna for her words telling her to watch it, but continued on almost like nothing happened "Ichigo is young too, but he's experienced the cold brutal world for what it is. As you've no doubt witnessed of the Rukongai sectors and the Seireitei, this isn't the place the people of the human world would like for you to envision 'Heaven' as. We don't have poverty; we have wide-spread destitution with people starving in the streets. We don't have merciful protection; we have Soul eating monster waiting to devour everyone and everything in their path. The very beings who are supposed to protect you, we Shinigami, are callous to the plights of the suffering and leave individuals to their misery. It's because he was raised in such an environment, that he's had to grow up very fast, and he's gained much maturity because of his origins; and that is why I love him for who he is regardless of anything anyone says. He has and is my heart."

Soifon let out a small breath and looked into the pondering face of Senna who was truly thinking things over. "Senna." She said to get the young woman to look at her "If you want a less abstract example then I can't think of anything simpler than this: If tomorrow morning, he felt compelled to join Sosuke Aizen's cause in destroying the world, I would simply grab my blade, and go with him. The reason for his joining not once crossing my mind; and more importantly, not mattering in the slightest." She said so simply of such a life-altering decision, as if it was just a report for the local weather "That Senna-chan is the depth of my love for him." She then looked firmly into her protégé's eyes and continued "But, you Senna, you have your whole life ahead of you. You should never rush in to such uncertainty. You must be patient and look through the other person's eyes, and see what they see, feel what they feel."

"B-but I have!" she rebutted defiantly knowing that she had careful and had thought about such things; otherwise she never would have confessed. But one look on Soifon's saddened face made her second guess herself.

Turning her eyes downward, she found herself staring once again into the reflection of the water, and was met with the visage of Mirokumaru, who instead of having her typical lecherous grin or scowl of contempt, had a look of pity, her face acting like a dark mirror to what she truly felt. In that instant her heated resolve began to crumble. "…haven't I?"

Shaolin shook her head 'no' "You haven't considered how Ichigo feels." She then stated the problem outright "While I may have some reservations about it but otherwise no real qualms, the idea remains shaky at best. But let's be hypothetical and say that I was in love with you and him as well, and that I'm willing to share him between the two of us until the day we die, my question to you Senna-chan is this: 'Would Ichigo's feelings for you change of his own volition'? Would they change from mere platonic or sisterly to the same kind of love he confers towards me?" she asked the ever piercing question, which Senna hadn't considered.

When a guilt ridden silence was given to Soifon she continued "To be in a loving relationship Senna, you need to understand your partner, much in the way you understand your Zanpaktou. There will be times you laugh and cry with each other, they may have tendencies to get on your nerves, even make you outright hate them to the core, but you'll always come back to a level understanding between not only you, but them as well. It's not about satiating one side's selfish desire like station, power or material possession. It's about the fundamental soul underneath."

"The soul…" Senna intoned softly giving thought to the word. She looked into her sensei's eyes "The thing that makes us human."

"I promise you Senna that I won't stand in your way about what you choose to do but speaking professionally as your Sensei and…personally as someone also in love with the same man; I just don't see how things would work if he didn't feel the same way as you."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." The purple haired teen admitted softly to the truth. The girl had to face some level of reality, that try as she might some dreams were just that dreams. She knew that she probably couldn't have it for keeps, but she felt okay about it now. Casting her eyes skyward, she felt like an enormous weight was seemingly being lifted off her shoulders. "Shaolin…" she whispered quietly "I want to confess my feeling to him."

Soifon didn't utter a word and continued to stare expressionlessly at the woman, no quick judgments being voiced. Secretly glad that she was being given the chance to explain she took it "I want him to know that I love him, even if all of us being together is…hard. Will you let me…please?"

The captain nodded quietly, having no problem to such a thing. "Of course, I also think it would be best for the both of you if he knew."

"Really? Aren't you afraid he might get…put in a tight spot?"

"No, I'll handle that." The captain then got out of the water and gave a hand to Senna "Come on, let's get out of here."

Senna full of appreciation gave a 'thanks' as she took the hand. The two girls dried themselves off and began to put on their clothing once again. With their gear back in place the two women exited the cave and began to travel back to the division barracks. "You know Senna. You might not realize but I've also been jealous of you too." Shaolin admitted as they traveled through the forest.

"W-what? Jealous of me?" the girl sputtered with ill hidden surprise

"That's right. You have a kind older brother who isn't afraid to show it. I never had such a luxury growing up."

"But wait, isn't Shinjiro-san…?" the confused girl trailed off not wanting to ruin her mood but still get an answer

"No, he…isn't my biological brother." She responded no tell tale signs of the topic being brought up affecting her "I also didn't meet him until much later in life, after I had already been placed in Onimitsukido."

"I didn't know that."

The captain huffed to herself "I can't say I'm all that surprised." She said dryly "It didn't take me very long in our acquaintanceship for me to reach the conclusion: You really don't know a whole lot about anything." She jibbed as the women landed upon the barracks roof heading to Shaolin's balcony "Like how you've been quite the topic of discussion between me and Ichigo; whenever, we have the chance to talk in our small breaks between repair work and messenger missions. Having learned about you through our interactions, and experienced your rather innocent heart first hand; I can see why he had wanted us to get along, personal relations aside."

Senna stuck out her tongue playfully as the woman entered the door into the office "Thanks."

Walking back inside Soifon went to her empty desk and pulled open the top right hand drawer to retrieve an item. From what Senna could see as Shaolin's hand pulled back, was a PEZ candy dispenser with a mirror for a head. "What's that thing?"

"This is a nifty little tool that will save you possible embarrassment. What this device does is erase the immediate memory of a person and replace it with a faux memory." She then extended her hand towards the woman "You might find yourself scrambling to use it after you confess to Ichigo."

"Oh, thanks." Senna said as she gently pulled the toy from the captain's grasp. A thought then occurred to her that hadn't before "But what if I confess and he…returns my feelings? That kind of complicates things."

"I've already considered that. If Ichigo does accept your feelings, then I will step aside Senna and allow you to have him for the rest of the day. Afterward, I want you to solemnly swear that you will use this device and wipe his memory of the incident." She then shifted her eyes away, and spoke with a foreign hint of fragility "…please…"

Senna quietly nodded her head as she now knew the problem in its full scope. Even if Ichigo did accept it, Shaolin hadn't. Even accounting for the fact that she admitted to enjoying individuals of the same gender and could theoretically fall in love with Senna too, thus completing the triangle, the fact of the matter was, having only just met her, she couldn't possibly be in love with her enough to agree to do such a thing. A fact that Senna herself couldn't claim to say, she liked the Chinese woman yes, but actually harbor feelings of love for her? Sketchy at best a lie at worst.

And even though that altercating fact was hanging between them, Shaolin still went above and beyond for Senna's happiness, and now the young adult morally felt it was her turn to respect her sensei's right to happiness "I understand, Soifon…I won't break my word so you don't have to worry about a thing."

The woman shifted her eyes "Thank-you for understanding, however in the event that he does denies it right then and there. Then still use it. We can't afford to burden him or you with unnecessary worry and regret."

"I understand." Senna's expression lightened up "and thank-you for this chance, Shaolin-chan."

"You don't need to thank me." She declined "Alright, I'll go get him and bring him back. Don't leave this office as I should be back soon. But if you get tired or want to sit down and plan out what you're going to say, my bed room is right over there. Feel free to use it." Shaolin then walked back to the balcony door and looked at Senna "Good luck." She said as she left, leaving the girl to wait and ponder what it is she would say in her fast approaching confession.

(Ichigo)

Amidst the quiet hallowed grounds of the memorial cemetery, the orange haired fourth seat of squad two stood in front of a single grave that took him the better part of an hour to find. The ruffled edges of His Hakama, that he had changed back into after visiting Kukaku, blew softly in the direction of a small black obelisk that had two short pillars wrap around it, with only two small bouquet of flower at it, the only indication of the grave being visited.

The man, who stood in front of it, felt not only relentless grief and vexing frustration, but incredible amounts of anger. As he stared at the name of Hanataro Yamada, written clear as day on the tablet, he was absolutely seething in the fact, that almost no one had bothered to come pay respect to him. "Goddamn it." he whispered as he kneeled down beside the tomb, placing his hand at the top of the mortem "You did such amazing things Hanataro, and now no one even bothers to care."

His eyes fell down to the small flowers adorning the sides "Probably from Lin and Retsu." He made an educated guess going with people he knew that knew Hanataro "It's rather pathetic." He closed his eyes tightly "You mentioned before that you were an ordinary guy who blended in the background, but that's not true. Even now, you're reminding me what I'm fighting for. I failed to protect you, so I wanted to apologize to your face. I won't let you down again." He said with a fierce look as he planted his eyes firmly on the words written vertically on the memorial.

Ichigo-san…

Ichigo's eyes widened a bit as he perked his head upward, almost swearing he heard someone whisper his name. 'Was that? It…almost sounded like…'

"Ichigo-san." Another voice called out to him. The man looked around and spotted the silver haired Fuku-taicho of squad four approaching in her neatly ordered Hakama.

"Ahh, yes?" Ichigo said finding his voice, as he started to stand up at the approaching woman who was carrying a small bundle of flowers in her arms.

"Oh, nothing. I was just surprised to see you here." She then moved her gaze to the small totem beside them "and visiting Hanataro-kun no less." She allowed herself to smile at the rather kind act "I'm sure he's pleased to have a friend visit."

Ichigo looked back at the monument "He's deserves better." he cursed bitterly

"Mmm." The silver haired woman hummed "It's never really fair is it? I know you were good friends with him. He proudly told me of all the adventures you two had together, yet you of all people couldn't be present for the day he was 'buried'." She said referring to the ritualistic manner of laying bodies to rest underneath the ground, despite the fact the bodies would eventually disappear and return back to the cycle of reincarnation "But I think he's in a better place."

"The human world?" Ichigo asked skeptically, giving a bemused scoff at the notion "I don't know about that. The kid's so helpless from time to time; I swear I'll never figure out how he got through the academy."

"There's nothing wrong with being concerned or thinking about a friend who's no longer with you." The woman said as she walked forward and placed her bundle down in front of the grave. Then reached into her outfit and pulled out a stick of incense and used a small fire kido to light it. She then placed it against the tomb and sat down upon her knees to pay her respects. "Ichigo-san," the lieutenant said with her eyes still closed "I just want to tell you, that me, Unohana-taicho, and the rest of the fourth division are behind you all the way." She then opened her eyes and stood back up "Hanataro-kun might seem undecorated but he's really looked up to now in the fourth. Because he stood by you in your time of need and in our time of need. We'll follow his example and fight alongside you Ichigo for a better tomorrow."

The orange haired man blinked, as he felt a small shift in his heart, as if something of a weight released itself off him. The man brought a hand to the back of his neck and gave a one-sided smirk "Thanks for that Isane-chan it really means a lot." His smile then grew wider "I'll be counting on you and everyone else, let's do our best out there."

"Not a problem, Ichigo-kun. Please have a wonderful day, and keep yourself well." Then the tall woman bowed, excusing herself, and began to walk back the way she came.

"Oh hey!" Ichigo called out to her, throwing his hand in her direction to get her attention

The gray haired woman turned around with an interested look on her face, waiting to hear what he called to her for "Can you tell Unohana-san, I said hi and thanks again for patching me up." He requested; which the girl smiled and nodded her head before disappearing off in a flash step.

The bearer of Zangetsu looked back and placed his hand on the top of the small monument in front of him. Then nodded to himself reassuringly. He then removed his hand, and placed it in his pocket. He turned to walk off when he felt someone's Reiatsu fast approaching, which after confirming it was Lin-chan, made him curious as to why she was coming in so quickly.

In a blur of speed, the Chinese Onimitsukido member landed on the path of the tombs, her sandals kicking up a small patter of dust from her sudden stop "Ichigo." She said softly as she looked to the spot he was standing, and recognized it as Yamada's grave "Now I see why you were here."

"Yeah, I just finished up talking with him." he said with a cool smirk "I feel a lot better now." He then tilted his head when he saw the woman seem to be more than troubled "Is everything all right? You look like something's bothering you."

"Ichigo, I need to tell you some things." She said flat out, not wanting to beat around the bush.

The woman then began to explain the situation to Ichigo fully. Informing him of Senna being from what she could tell, really in love with him. As well as the fact that she was waiting in her office ready to tell him of the way she felt. By the end of the tale, Ichigo had a very disheartened look on his face, as he opened his mouth to speak

"Wow. I guess that might have been her way of dropping a hint." Ichigo said quietly referring to the hot springs incident, while Shaolin looked confused at the statement she decided to she let it go

"Tell me Ichigo what do you think of her?"

Ichigo raised an eye brow wondering why she would ask that particular question. He had a feeling there was more than meets the eyes on this. "Senna is a good girl-

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT ICHIGO!" she shouted seeing that he was going to dance around the question, when she needed answers. Facts. Now. "Do you love her?"

Seeing that she wasn't going to let it drop, he let out a huff "Even before it was brought up she was my sister I admit I did and do think she's cute, and I do think that she has her moments, but I've never put any serious thought into her. I'm happy with you, Shaolin.

The second squad captain let his words settle down as she absorbed what he said. 'That didn't really answer my question…could he…?' She then started shaking her head lightly, as she continued to mull over her thoughts "I see. Then what may I ask do you plan to do when she confesses her love to you?

Ichigo bit his cheek slightly as he knew there wasn't any easy way to settle this.

Someone was going to get hurt either way.

"It's gonna suck. But rejecting her is the only option at this point."

"No." came the immediate reply

"No? What do you mean 'no' Lin-chan?"

"It's…not the only way."

"You can't be serious." He replied as he knew the only other way would be to say yes, which meant she did have something cooking "Why do you want me to say yes?"

Shaolin's eyes dimmed at the question, her own bad memories being stirred "Because…I know what it's like to be hurt by love. In all honesty, Senna…reminds me of me. Of the way I used to be. Wide-eyed and idealistic, and then when I fell in love and got betrayed I changed for the worse. Senna is at similar crossroad. She's scared of saying how she feels and about what people will think about her…but she consider you to be the center of her world and that's what lets her keep going. Losing that one thing will destroy her completely."

"…"

"Ichigo, the war against Aizen is going to be coming soon. You know that and I know that. We both know Senna is gonna fight either of her own choice or because Soul Society is going to forcibly enlist her. I don't think it's fair that a regular seventeen year girl old is going to have to fight in a cosmic war that can ultimately result in her being killed and forgotten. Her life taken for nothing. I want her to be happy, humans beings are fragile creatures. No, I take that back, we are all fragile." A resigned but warm smile spread across her face "I'm…okay with losing you to her…if only for a while."

She then locked eyes with her boyfriend "So please do this for me. When she confesses her feelings to you I want you to return them for whatever they might be. I won't hold it against you, because I trust in you."

Ichigo closed his eyes as he thought it over, unsure of how exactly he should act in this precarious situation. He knew that everything she said was true, the war with Aizen was sure to start sometime soon, and Senna would probably be on the front line with them defending her home. The carrot top opened his eyes and then with a resigned sigh, pulled his girlfriend into an embrace and kissed her softly on the forehead "Alright you win. We'll do it your way."

The relieved woman let go of the breath she held "Thank-you Yojimbo."

The man scoffed but still held unto an amused grin "Whatever you self-righteous half-pint."

An equally dangerous grin spread on the captain's face "Don't you dare get sassy with me you orange-headed lummox. I'M still in charge of this outfit, when I say jump you say how high. Failure to do so will result in your ass being deported to the floor."

"Am I sensing hostility?" Ichigo asked rhetorically, happy to know he could still rile her up "Is the great captain Soifon threatened that her fourth seat is better than her?"

"You wish!"

"I do believe we had an argument similar to this once before." He replied with a certain knowingness in his voice "Yes, it was about How anything you could do I could do better."

"You better than me? Ha! Omeada could probably keep me at a better satisfaction level then you ever could."

"Oh really?" he questioned mockingly taking a thinking pose and decided to run with such the unintentional pun. "If I remember correctly a certain blue-haired captain was screaming 'AH! Ichigo! AH! AH!' in the forest once before and I don't think it's because she wasn't 'satisfied'."

With that little zinger time stopped for Shaolin. 'He…he didn't just!' Her face trapped in the pinnacle expression of horror at what he was saying out loud. In a PUBLIC location! The otherwise taciturn captain's face exploded into a vibrant crimson "S-s-shut UP! Don't go saying that out loud you moron! Stupid Idiot!"

"We're in a graveyard! Whose gonna overhear THAT THE GREAT CAPTAIN OF SQUAD TWO, SHAOLIN FON, WAS HAVING AN ILLEGITIMATE AFFAI-"

"SHUT UP YOU DUMBASS FRUIT CUP!" The red faced captain screamed out in embarrassment trying to drown out his words from unwanted ears.

Ichigo let out a hearty chuckle as Soifon desperately flailed in his arms trying to reach for his throat to strangle him. She continued the struggle until she came to the realization it was futile because he was just too big, so she dropped dead in his arms with a deadly glare locked at him.

Sensing her obvious chagrin at the situation, the young hero lifted her chin up and kissed her on the lips, an action which the woman returned back just as lovingly after letting her anger subside.

"I love you Shaolin." He said tenderly as he placed her back down on the ground

"Don't worry about it. You're not gonna remember anything come tomorrow morning." She commented "Let's go see Senna and then you can just leave everything to me you dummy."

The younger Shinigami nodded and the duo disappeared in a flash step heading towards the second division barracks from the Shinigami memorial grounds. Within about fifteen minutes, the pair was outside the door leading into the captain's office. The small bluenette looked over her shoulder, and when her larger orange haired companion nodded his head, she nodded hers. The sign the operation was underway.

Slowly turning the door knob, the female captain opened the door and allowed Ichigo to step inside as he saw Senna sitting in Shaolin's chair twiddling her thumbs back and forth looking extremely nervous; for reasons that was supposed to be foreign to Ichigo.

For Senna, she immediately perked up when she saw the smiling face of Ichigo, who seemed to be his normal laid back self, while her pokerfaced Sensei remained at the door, but was slowly backing up quietly, seemingly unbeknownst to Ichigo.

"Yoooo, Sen! Lin-chan said you wanted to see me about something important, so what's up?" he asked with an easy going smile despite already knowing what was going to happen.

The girl looked down and couldn't help but blush. Secretly, she glanced back at her fellow conspirator who only gave a terse confident nod before quietly closing the door fully, and begin her sentry duty of warding off unwanted guests; keeping the meeting private until Senna was done with her talk with Ichigo.

The girl caught Ichigo giving a small backward glance though she assumed that he was probably just checking to see that Soifon had left since he seemed to be under the impression that what was said wasn't meant to get out.

That small window in time for her meant it was do or die now, the small reprieve that would be given to her before this moment of truth.

Working up her courage, Senna took a deep breath and pulled the ribbon out of her hair letting the spiked pony-tail in the back fall loose revealing smooth jaw-length hair "I-Ichigo. I…we've only really -reeaallly- known each other for a short time; less than a month actually." She smiled nervously as she inched closer to him, pausing slightly to swallow the lump in her throat "But in that time, I've grown very much attached to you. You've been one of my greatest—most inspirational role model. You've… always been there for me. To cheer me on during the training sessions with Urahara, pick me up if I ever fell to the ground and hurt myself or just crack a simple joke whenever I was feeling bored. You make me laugh and smile. You help define my life for the better."

She paused and smiled as the memories of everything up to this point played itself in her head, from the turbulent encounter in the streets of Karakura to the frequent hospital visits in soul society with Shaolin "I went and saw Unohana-san during my free time, and learned a lot of things about who you are and…and how our mother is…or rather was, like before she died by Grand fisher." She nervously glanced away unsure of how he'd take that little bomb and its unpredictable aftereffects "I know, I know, I should have told you sooner that I got a firm confirmation, but I really didn't want to mess this up. So I'm really sorry, I didn't tell you about that sooner." she apologized with a childishly smile allowing a small comical break, a proverbial calm before the storm "even so…I…know that we're blood related, and that's something that no one can take away from us. It's one of our special, dearest, bonds that I hope continues to grow between us as we get older."

As she stood in front of Ichigo, she reached down and grabbed his hand gently and lifted it up to where it pressed against both of their chests. Her eyes closed tightly wanting to just remain in the genuine happiness given to her by being next to the man who had stolen her heart.

"But, that's not the special bond I want to talk to you about right now. What I want to say…to tell you, bears many negative connotations and it might make you think differently of me. It might disgust you. Maybe…maybe even make you hate me."

She calmly opened her eyes and stared at him straight in the face, completely unafraid of what she was going to say "Even so…I won't lie to myself or to you anymore. Ichigo…brother, I…I love you. I'm in love with you." As tears started to form at her eyes, she closed her eyes tightly, to stop herself from looking into his face, lest she lose her nerve "Y-you're the only person that makes my heart go as crazy as it does, and makes me want to think about a future we can have together. I want to marry you! I want to be your wife and have a family. I want to be able to wake up every single day and tell you 'I love you, Ichigo!' and always mean it! That's, that's all I could ever ask…I don't want…I don't need anything more from life than that." the light grip of her hand on Ichigo's fingers increased in force, as she laid the truth bare "Rich or poor it doesn't matter to me. To simply be able to live with you, as husband and wife in a place we can call home…to…to fill both it and our lives with the children, born from our love…to be a family, happy forever-and-ever. That would be a make believe dream come true for me. "

She opened the lids of her eyes revealing the amber hue tenderly look at her opposite, arms shaking ever so slightly "So tell me Ichigo-kun, do you love me?" shaking her head softly, she whispered "Not as your sister, and not as your friend, but in the way that I love you. Do you love me only as myself, as Senna?" she asked softly, begging for an answer for some sense of joy and relief or bitter but needed closure.

The pause that followed after Senna asked the question was the most excruciating experience she'd ever gone through; her heart pounded away in her chest, her breath short and so quiet from anxiety, that it if she didn't feel her chest rising she wouldn't have been sure if she was still breathing. Finally, after what felt like an eternity in that silent hell between them; Ichigo leaned forward in a slow descent and placed his lips on hers, his arms encompassing behind her neck and waist, pulling her in closer. The young woman's breath hitched as she felt the kiss, and she then closed her eyes, melting into the warm feeling of bliss from that simple act of love.

Pulling away he smiled gently as he cupped her cheek "Yeah, I love you too, Senna." He replied sweetly, as Senna's heart continued to melt at the seemingly surreal reality she thought she was trapped in.

The tomato red girl breathed heavily as she looked at her knight in shining armor, and then looked over to the door leading to the bed room. With a short one-sided mental debate, she edged her eyes over to the door beside them,

"Ichigo…" she muttered seductively trying to catch his attention, and when it was quickly given to her, she tilted her head suggestively, singling the door out for the fourth seat. The man seeing the motion and its implications surprised her by sweeping the girl off her feet entire, carrying her bridal style into the next room over.

Once inside the room he laid her gently down upon the bed, his eyes roamed up and down her taking a moment to admire her innocent child-like embarrassment. With a silent satisfaction he leaned in and kissed her sweetly on the lips again, gently stroking the threads of her silky violet hair. As Ichigo caressed and moved the strands of her hair, the Miko snaked an arm behind his neck to bring him closer and deepen the kiss, her eyes closing in satisfaction of the euphoric sensation that was coursing through her body. A sensation she wanted more of.

Senna felt Ichigo slide his tongue into her mouth, and decided to mimic the actions as best as she could and touched Ichigo's appendage with her own, letting them dance together. Breaking away from her mouth, the stout Shinigami began to plant kisses in a small line down her neck, making the woman huff in wanting as she felt the small static charge of each and every point of contact flood through the nerves in her body, making her legs squirm against each other, her fingers curl, and her panties begin to dampen.

Casting a small glance at her face, Ichigo was pleased to see she was enjoying herself, so he decided to turn things up a bit. Reaching to her neck line with his hands, he began undo the buttons holding it open. Once the final row of buttons were undone, he pulled apart the placket of her Hakama, revealing the toned core of the woman, and her bright red bra that held her full C cup breast, that lay just underneath.

Running his hand over her body, he stopped at the small clip that both rested between her mounds and protected them. Casting a glance up, only to see Senna staring back at him with a bewitching smile, shake her head shaking vigorously with approval, did he continue in their exploration. With the flick of the wrist he undid the clip and tossed aside the crimson garment, allowing himself a moment to send a confident smirk back at her before leaning down and running his tongue from her abdomen all the way to where her breast were, making the girl blush harder and close her eyes in delight.

He pressed himself tightly against her and started licking and sucking the erect nipples of the female Kurosaki, making her arch her back towards, both from being unused to the sensation of having such a sensitive spot teased in an erotic manner, and wanting him to have better access to continue his ministration.

As he kept vigilant attention to what he was doing at her chest, his free hand decided to gain a mind of its own and wander downward using the crevasse created from her half opened attire to dip down to the nether region, following the perspiration and saliva induced trail like guideposts until it led to a thoroughly soaked pair of panties. The seemingly intelligent hand fingered the undergarments lightly, gaining a feel of where it could slip under until it found its entrance, less than a few seconds later did begin to stroke the girl's special spot.

"Ahhh!" Senna cried out from having that once forbidden area touched by his hands. Her muscles tightening up considerably only to then spasm out of her control, making her really glad she was already laying on the bed; because had she been standing she would have sworn she would have fallen to the ground.

Not that there was any doubt in her mind that the man turning her into putty wouldn't strive to catch her from her sudden plummet.

Getting up to better adjust himself, Ichigo went down between the barely conscious woman's legs and pulled down the rest of her pants revealing her white panties stained with sweat and love juices from her virgin pussy. Sliding the damp garment down her smooth moistened legs, he allowed himself to glance at the woman's face before he put his mouth to work upon her sex.

"Mmmm oh god!" Senna panted out as she felt on the edge of something that she couldn't even begin to describe. She could only tell it was hot and rapidly approaching. Seeing this Ichigo increased the pace of his mouth while one of his hands played along the upper half of her slit. After a few more seconds of this treatment, Senna let out a piercing cry as she felt something flood her system, releasing the woman's essence unto the bed and her orange-haired lover.

"I…I... (Pant) (Pant) I'm s-s..soo..sorry Ichi…g-go (pant)." She apologized windily, arms crisscrossing over her face to hide her discomfiture and allow the catching of her breath, from the strange but addicting sensation that had overcome her.

Ichigo however was unapologetic and in fact just gave a bemused smirk "There's no need to apologize. If anything…" he got up beside her ear "it made you look cuter." He whispered sending a shiver down her spine.

The bridge and cheeks of the girl reddened more "D-do you really mean that…?" she stuttered out, not knowing such an unconscious act made her seem cuter in his loving chocolaty eyes.

The affirming 'yes' that was given made the woman part her arms out of her face, a sheepish smile forming from the mixture of embarrassment and gratification of his words.

But mostly the gratification.

Regaining her breath the Miko took notice that Ichigo still had his Hakama wrapped around his still untouched body, which made the girl want to face palm herself for forgetting about him and his happiness. Again.

"Umm…s-should I take off your clothes or…something?" She asked awkwardly since while she knew both people had to be naked for sex to work and really wanted to be proactive in this and not just be on the receiving end of things, couldn't really come up with a more articulate way of say what she wanted him to do.

Ichigo blinked, and couldn't help but laugh seeing that he was still dressed, and only now did she begin to notice "Naw, it's ok, I got it." he then got off the bed and began to take off his clothing,

As Ichigo's shirt started to come off, the woman gulped audibly as she saw his muscular physic that was normally covered up. 'W-whoa…' she thought to herself

'Ahh…Ichigo-sama…' Mirokumaru panted huskily as she could see-feel what Senna was experiencing, and was ready to enjoy every minute of this. 'Let's give him a night he'll neeever forget, Senna-chan.'

As Ichigo discarded his pants now, Senna tried to suppress the smile that came from liking what she saw but was failing at the task miserably, thanks to Mirokumaru erotically egging her on mentally and physically stimulating her adrenaline and sexual response system.

Ichigo himself felt his hand almost twitching from…excitement? He really couldn't tell. All he knew was that his head was as clear as the evening sky that everything was laid out before him and just needed her approval.

"So are you ready for the real thing Sen? You can still back out now if you want." He insisted remaining courteous, despite his nudity.

"No! I-I want you." She then leaned back and spread her legs open for him, using her three middle fingers to spread the path that led to her core "I want you to be my first." her flush reddened even further, as she swallowed the lump in her throat "…and my only one, Ichigo. J-just p-please be gentle." She requested, knowing from Sex ed. that due to physical structure, the first time for women was always supposed to be the most painful.

Walking back unto the bed, Ichigo lined himself up with her sheath and pushed himself in "Ugghhh…!" Senna groaned out unused to the foreign feeling, and almost willing to believe she'd have died on the spot from the incredible pain that surged through her, which was accompanied by a small trail of blood that leaked from her unto the bed.

After Ichigo waited a few seconds, to allow the girl a chance to breathe and get used to the unusual feeling. Once he was sure she had he then started to pump back and forth, repeating his actions like a pendulum in motion. With each thrust, the initial pain Senna felt gave way to an indescribably blissful sensation. After the third thrust, Ichigo allowed one of his hands to grab hold of Senna's sweat covered breast and stimulate the areolas as he leaned down and kissed her lips in tandem with each of his thrust, while Senna leaned in closer to his body, allowing for much easier penetration for her incestuous brother and much, much, more time to capture the lips she'd been lusting after for far too long. As the man continued to pound away, Senna started to feel something once again build up inside her lower abdominal region.

Senna's face soon scrunched up again as she felt herself almost boil over again, as Ichigo thrusted into her again, the female Miko let out a loud cry, as she climaxed a second time. Her nails digging into the skin of her lover, using him as an anchor to keep her tethered to reality against the wave of chemicals that tried to wipe her mind blank.

Upon seeing the girl reach her limit a second time, Ichigo stopped his moving and allowed himself a chance to breathe and allow his member to relax from the stimulation of the activities, before pulling himself out of her.

The sudden parting from her warm flesh made him shiver slightly as he came back down to rational thinking and knew it was almost time. He allowed himself to take a brief glance back feeling more than happy at seeing the contented satisfaction on Senna's face.

Pushing himself up to get off the bed, he spied the memory replacement device barely sticking out of her hakama's pocket beside her. The guy made a fluid half-step to the side, so he could naturally turn into the flash, when Senna would try to make him forget what happened, sealing the deal. But before he could turn all the way around to start the plan, Senna called out to him from the bed, still short of breath. "Brother (pant) did you…have that (pant) feeling too…?" she asked, since she thought something was up when he didn't look all that pleased.

Ichigo hesitated from the question in his mind, not expecting her to make small talk "Yeah, I did." He lied

'Ichigo-sama…? Be wary Senna, he lies…'

'I know…'

"You're lying, Ichigo. Your face it didn't change at all. You couldn't have kept a straight face…" She muttered truthfully, which forced Ichigo to looked back at her and face the accusation. And while he did see her still gasping for air, she knew that something was up. "Was I really that crappy at it?" she asked him, as she moved her jelly-like arms to push herself off the bed sheets a bit "Or were you just fixated on Shaolin-chan." She further wondered

'No point in lying, anymore.' Ichigo thought to himself; as he brought one hand to his shoulder and scratched the limb "I admit that I care a great deal about you Senna, much more than any other random girl," he then frowned as he said what would surely break her heart "but my feelings for you don't quite reach as far as yours. Believe me, I didn't want to lead you on in a bad way, but at the same token I didn't want to break your heart and see you become bitter and depressed. You and I both know that we've been through hell and back just to get where we are right now, and we both know that in the near future there are gonna be fights we might not be able to run from, or win, or even survive. That's why I wanted to let you have this. I know I'm wrong for taking advantage of your feelings like this and I'm sorry for deceiving you, but all I want is for you to be happy. If you can't accept my apology and hate me for it, that's ok. I can live with that. I just want to say I love you too sis."

"It really does hurt to know that you lied to me Ichigo, especially when I…offered myself…my soul to you, and you took it." The woman said fragilely, which made Ichigo feel really crappy about himself. "But…" she then continued getting him to look back at her "I do get that it wasn't a fair choice for you, and that it wasn't fair for me to have put you both in this situation."

'Both of us?' his confusion gave way to the obvious answer "So you figured out Shaolin did more than just bring me along, eh?"

"Yeah, it wasn't too hard. I know Shaolin-chan would have at least told you something, if you so easily agreed to sleep with me. It also explains why you got off the bed in the first place." She then leaned over the edge of the bed where her clothes lay, and pulled out the memory replacer "So you'd be in a great spot for this."

Ichigo shook his head bemusedly "You are way sharper than you let on, Sen."

"Don't you know Ichigo? Girl's like playing dumb and hard to get, ahaha." Senna then started to smile as she got from the bed and walked over to hug her fake lover from behind "But, for all of that, I do get why you did it. I know that you love her. I just hope one day, I'll be as important to you as she is, but I can wait for that day." she then went around him and spoke with a devious smile "Buuuuut in the meeeaaantiiime! Since you owe me for giving you a one night stand, even if it was kinda crappy, how about we try an idea I have that'll work everything out, for at least today." She then gave him a merry wink "So would you at least humor me? I mean I've never led you wrong before have I?"

Ichigo let out a contented chuckle "Well there was that one time at the hot springs." He referenced

"That didn't count! I wasn't in the right state of mind!" she shot back quickly

(Soifon)

Outside in the hallway, Soifon, with one slender leg crossed over the other and her arms folded lazily on her lap, sat expectantly in the chair next to her office door; waiting for the Kurosaki's to finish up their meeting and Senna's confession.

So far a little more than an hour had passed with no real signs of impending changes, and while she was getting a bit anxious, she chose to respect their privacy.

A sigh escaped her, a product of having all this sudden free time thrusted upon her with nowhere to go. She leaned back in her chair, head touching the wall, giving her ample time to spend on thinking if she was doing the right thing, since she had pressed Ichigo to make a decision on the spot instead of giving him time, and any real development of this would be lost within the matter of minutes or hours if Senna needed consoling afterwards. "Why are problems that involve Kurosakis never simple?" she asked herself listlessly. Before her philosophical question could be answered the sudden creaking of the door caught the woman's attention making her shift her body to see what was up.

Sticking only her head out comically, Senna looked directly at the patient neutral faced captain "Shaolin-chan can you come in for a second?" she inquired with her usual chirpiness, hoping to peak her interest just enough "I really really need you for this!"

"Sure, but are you do-" the rest of her sentence died out when Senna ducked back inside before she could finish asking her question of the conversation being finished now. Sighing to herself vexed at Senna's hastiness, the woman got up and closed hers eyes running one hand through her hair while the other pushed the door open enough to where she could enter and see what the problem or possible solution was. 'Hmm…maybe she needs help moving his body…men do weigh more after all.' she concluded believing the storm having passed.

How wrong she would be…

As soon as she entered, the short woman was lurched forward unexpectedly into an embracing kiss by a half-dressed Ichigo. While the other Kurosaki used the distraction to close and lock the office door, ensuring that no one would be entering or leaving anytime soon.

"Mmm, ahh…w-wha? Ichigo!? Why are you awake?" Shaolin asked despite her luminescent blush from the sudden intimate kiss from her shirtless lover.

In her mind she was panicking, this development having not even occurred to her in her seemingly flawless plans with dealing with this sudden Senna hiccup. Before another thought could occur to her, a grunt escaped her as she felt an extra pair of hands begin fuddling her breasts from the outside of her tight form fitting uniform "mmmahh…S-Senna, what are…ahh!…you doing!?"

Senna smirked filled with naughty intentions "Weeeell after we finished up, it kinda leaked out that it was a set up by you." She said in a sing song tone only to then lean closer to the woman's ear and whispered seductively "So…since it's going to be for one night only, I wanted to see what it would have been like if we all loved each other." She then went and kissed Shaolin on the neck while the Asian girl's moan was stifled by Ichigo locking lips with her once again "I hope that's ok with you, Shaolin-chan." She cooed

As Ichigo broke the kiss again, Shaolin unconsciously moved one of her arms behind her landing upon the top of Senna's head, pressing her in closer to continue the nuzzling "I guess we could find out if only for today." She panted out eyes half-lidded

"I can live with that." Senna replied as all three of them flash stepped into Soifon's bed room

After reaching the safety of the bed room Senna immediately found herself pinned again to the bed but this time by Shaolin Fon, who was leaning forward vigorously kissing the woman intently upon the lips, their tongues both sliding and dancing around the other's lips and tongue. Sneaking up behind the lip locked women, Ichigo kissed the cheek of his girlfriend bring her attention towards him as he slipped the straps of her uniform off her shoulders, revealing that woman wore no bra under her uniform.

Seeing the bouncing breast now floating freely in front of her, Senna pushed herself up and started to suck upon the mounds as similarly as she could when Ichigo had done the enticing action upon her, gaining a favorable response from the woman.

"That's…mmm…not bad," the horny bee commented, "but I don't think we should have all the fun Senna." then disappeared with Senna in buzzing speed of flash step and throwing Ichigo forward unto the center of the bed with both women appearing behind him topless.

The more experienced woman guided the younger girl and had her sit on her knees opposite her, while she undid the pants of Ichigo's Hakama, revealing his elongated member. Knowing of Senna's inexperience -not that she herself was an expert- she decided to play teacher in the bed room as well and invited the girl to assist in a little fun "Now, Senna you need to use your tongue like this." She 'instructed', dragging her slippery accessory upward against her boyfriend's hard cock, her off hand clutching it to prevent it from escaping.

"I…I see like this…" Senna repeated the action with a heavy blush, feeling more hot and bothered by the second.

As the girls were playing teacher and student, Ichigo was doing his best to hold back, and closed his eyes in a fierce manner when he felt the horny teen put the top of his cock in her mouth, allowing her tongue to roll around the head, while Shaolin licked the shaft itself, her hand pumping slightly every few seconds, stopping in intervals to hand out more instruction to her student.

The only describable thoughts that were firing in Ichigo's head were of how good it felt, as the warmth of his own cock increased. Approaching his release, he was promptly shocked by the cold denial of the pair when they came to a sudden halt.

It was in the small lull that the warm internal feelings began dying down from the sudden stopping of mouths, tongues and salvias colliding together in unisonance. Propping himself up, he saw Senna whispering something lowly into Shaolin's ear making the girl go extremely red in the face, before looking at Ichigo and smirk devilishly, go along with the idea apparently.

He was about to pull himself off the bed, when his arms lost their strength and threw him back down against the cushions as he felt both women pushing their tits together and giving him a titty-fuck. He groaned from the soft, smooth, delicate flesh of each woman press against his throbbing shaft.

"Is something wrong? Let us know if you're displeased." Senna asked seductively using her larger breasts to the fullest, while licking the head of her brother's tool.

"Fufufu…Are you really speechless?" Shaolin replied before taking another moment to suck along the side of his dick as best as she could in the situation. As both girl's removed their faces away from his shaft and increased the pace of their pushing breast, they exchanged another seductive kiss, before turning towards him with a devilishly cute look, cheek to cheek, and uttered as one "We live to serve you…Goshujin-sama."

As they worked in unisonance, they were rewarded with their object of affection's load being splatter over the both of their chests, hands and faces. Getting over their initial surprise, the women gazed lustfully at the other as they started to lick up and remove the delectful creamy liquid off the other's body, allowing Ichigo a chance to collect himself from the double team experience.

Releasing herself from Shaolin's warm embrace, Senna couldn't help but blush at what her assister in the risqué act said "You're right, all men are little perverts." Shaolin stated calmly as she licked some semen off her fingers "But you're definitely something else for coming up with that little stunt." She added sending an interested glance at her apprentice.

"I guess I can amaze myself too." She said, knowing she had a vast amount of perverseness due in part of Mirokumaru.

Shaolin then let out a small chuckle of mirth at the explanation, but now felt it was high time to put her apprentice through the ringer. Turning slightly she gave Ichigo an invisible hint to him of what she had in mind next, and was greatly pleased when he smirked in return on board of what she had planned "But now," she pulled back against Senna's body, her smaller breasts pushing against Senna's larger ones "it's. our. turn." She punctuated as her arms slowly slide up against Senna's shoulder.

Shaolin quickly pushed Senna's back down unto the bed, making her bounce slightly for but a split second, but for the assassin that second was almost an eternity. Shaolin grabbed the Miko's arms and bound them together using the red ribbon the girl always wore, while Ichigo straddled atop her and started tease her breasts, allowing his free hand to caress the flesh in between her mounds. The easily corruptible Kurosaki moaned out from the rather kinky actions both her and Mirokumaru's perversion being fed.

While Ichigo was keeping the upper portion of Senna occupied, Shaolin poised herself in between her legs, running her fingers against the teenager's sheath sensually "Is this what you want?" she asked seductively running it up and down the exposed pink flesh

"Ahhh…y-yes!…ooohh…" she yelled almost painfully from the assault from two different fronts of her body

"Alright, then." She answered inserting two fingers inside the woman, her legs twitching and muscles tightening. The twin banded captain started at a near sadistically slow pace into the other woman, a smirk slow in growing wider as she watched the woman lose herself in the sexual pleasure of the actions. The sadistic captain then had to bite back a yelp of her own when she felt something stroking her own folds, when she was distracted servicing the other Kurosaki.

"You shouldn't get revenge like that Lin-chan." Ichigo warned humorously, having used a flash step to get behind her "You did indirectly cause this." his fingers slid smoothly across his lovers soaked womanhood, making her slow her own pace in Senna's satchel from the increased diverting of attention to the new feeling building inside her own body.

"T-tha…not (pant) fair…" she whimpered, as her hand nearly came to a stop.

"I think it is…" he countered as he increased his pace effectively killing his beloved's muscle movement as she let out another moan.

"H-hey…don't stop…" Senna whined from the dying feeling that had once been building inside her, earning a sympathetic gaze from the two bickering lovers. Pulling himself away the man gave Shaolin a kiss politely asking her to move, which she complied and switched spots with Ichigo.

This time Ichigo slipped into the amber eyed teen much more easily, and the girl audibly let her approval be known. "You certainly look happy, Sen-chan." Ichigo said with playful mirth at seeing the sweat covered girl blush heavily before locking lips up with the naked glistening hornet straddling her waist.

Lifting her legs up with his arms, he pulled out and pushed back in as far as he could getting a feel for her again, before he started to pick up the pace. With each passing second that he continued to thrust inside his blood relative, her inner walls would clamp down again his hard cock, almost begging him to not leave.

He continued his pumping inside his blood relative whose folds started to clamp down against his hard cock; as desire began to fill his head he dropped one of Senna's legs and began to fuddle the breast of Shaolin who only gave a slight shiver as she was too busy swapping saliva with the other Kurosaki. Unabridged this time, he felt his body telling him that it was almost time for his release again, as he continued to hammer into the younger woman.

"Ichigo…I...ahh..." Senna could barely speak as her eyes closed in a wince. She couldn't control herself any longer as she crossed her legs around Ichigo's waist stopping him from pulling out any further than necessary to ram it into her again. "Please! Don't stop Ichigo! Harder!"

Her tempered cries only served to fuel Ichigo even more as he continued to fluidly move back and forth in the woman, her sweat mixing both with his and her own love juices from the previous orgasm, letting him reach even further inside her all the way till he touched the entrance of her. Slamming himself into her one more time he felt his load explode out of him and into Senna, who also went over the edge from the warm liquid bouncing around inside her.

"Ahhh…I love you Ichigo…" With the temporary connection between her brain and her legs shut down, Senna's legs fell back down freeing up Ichigo to pull out of her now white stained sex.

"Crazy girl…" The man huffed to himself trying to catch his breath as he wiped the sweat off his brow. 'That's one down…' Unfortunately he only got a split second to relax as Shaolin turned around and was locking lips with him now.

After planting the tender kiss she broke away, and leaned against his chest to whisper into his ear. "Don't worry about it Ichigo. I think you did the right thing and that's all that matters." The matted girl said quietly as her normal long jagged hair was pressed against her hot wet skin. She then closed her eyes and leaned upward into a passionate kiss by her lover, who let his tongue dance against hers. The kiss was abruptly cut short as a moan escaped her when she felt his cock brush up against her now hardening up for the next beautiful woman.

"Still," he said to the hot and bothered woman "I should make it up to you." And pushed her down to the bed with him and sunk about half his length inside his clandestine lover. As she crashed down to the bed, Ichigo lifted up one of her legs and slung it over his shoulder allowing him to go even further inside her much to her contentment, if he was to go by how hard she was gripping the sheets of the bed as they rocked back and forth, and her initial wide eye look from the first thrust.

Not one to slow down, he started pump into her as quickly as he had Senna, trying to overload her mind with ecstasy. Shaolin was feeling rather light-headed from the multitude of stimuli running through her veins but she didn't care at this point. Acting on impulse she grabbed Ichigo by his hair as he pumped back into her kissing him roughly on the lips.

The man responded in kind by shortening the lengths of his thrust, and by nuzzling into her neck, biting softly into her making her body go taut from the exhilaration of what he was doing to her. Dragging his neck away, he groped the captain's sweat covered tits as he ran his tongue on the well-formed thigh that hung on his shoulder.

Under the constant sexual assault, Shaolin could feel the burning flame inside her begin to beg for sweet release. She saw through her hazy vision that Ichigo too was nearing that limit. "Ichi…I…I'm!" She couldn't even finish her sentence before she finally lost control to the blissful sensation. Barely a second after her the spiritual hero gave one last might thrust and let loose his load into the waiting womb of Shaolin, who pulled him in close to her body, allowing herself a well deserved chance to breathe from the stress of their physical activities.

As her heart rate returned back to a better resting pace, she allowed herself to fall back unto the bed letting Ichigo pull out of her cleanly. "I…swear. (Pant) (Pant) I'll never know where get all this energy from, Yojimbo."

Ichigo smiled as he leaned unto the bed to lay beside. He stared at her lovingly which she returned in kind before leaning over and kissing her much more gently. "When it comes to my wife Shaolin; I always treat her like a queen." He said sweetly

"Don't play coy-" the woman stopped at what he just said 'Eh? W-wife…' The woman's eyes widened a bit at what he was asking of her. She turned away from his gaze slightly reverting back to when she was the meek teenager in front of Yoruichi "D-do you really mean that Ichigo? You…you want to m-marry me?" she stuttered out with a heavy blush on her face, greatly touched by being proposed to by the one and only person she eternally loved and adored.

The strawberry Shinigami just gave her a look that said it all to her as he lazily flicked a strand of her hair from her face. "Why wouldn't I wanna have family with you, Lin-chan?" he asked rhetorically but still sealed it by kissing her again on the lips.

As they broke away again, a sly yet modest smile appeared upon the Chinese woman's countenance. "Well, if you want to have a family with me…" the bluenette leaned closer and whispered "you'll really need to show how much you love me." Her face then turned into the epitome of seduction "And I'm not satisfied yet. I. Chi. Go. Koi."

Now Ichigo smirked near predatorily back at her "You really know how to push my button, Shaolin ku-ro-sa-ki." He replied just as slyly at her.

Just as the man leaned back in another arm draped around his side, surprising both the elder Shinigami, turning their attention to the limb they saw the face of Senna rise just over the horizon of Ichigo's body, face showing signs of weariness but definitely ready for another go.

"Sorry for dropping out you two." She apologized

"I was beginning to wonder if you were ok."

The violet haired girl turned her gaze to Shaolin and smiled cheekily "I'm not gonna let this chance to be with him and you go to waste by sleeping. I'm gonna make the most of it." she then pressed her raring to go body against Ichigo, who couldn't help but feel his member get harder again at the softness of her breasts against his back.

Before Ichigo could say anything to Senna, Shaolin took notice of his 'Zanpaktou' reaction to Senna's teasing "My seems your happy about the prospect." She then leaned in closer so her chest was resting against his while her womanhood kissed the tip of his member "I don't mind so much. What about you Ichigo?"

Ichigo remained quiet as his mind had completely stopped processing everything after being sandwiched between the two beauties vying for his affection. Turning his head slightly to look at Senna, he saw the girl with curious expression wink at him merrily like nothing was wrong, turning to his front he came face to face with Shaolin who was very interested to see what he would do now. He did the action two or three more times, each time the women nuzzling a little closer to his body.

'What…to…do…' his remaining shred of sanity and rational thinking asked any beings in the universe that could hear him.

Unfortunately one did…

'AUTO-PILOT ENGAGE! RETURN TO ENGAGEMENT ZONE!' Hichigo yelled out over a megaphone 'Come on! Make it happen, motherfucker!'

'…'

The young man drooped his head as he felt everything beginning to go blank and his eyes begin to go cloudy. The girl's faces showed confusion at what he was doing, concerned by his actions. Suddenly he opened his mouth and what looked like steam as if something internally was overheating came pouring out.

Then the only warning that the girl's had came.

"Fuck it."

It was the only sound heard before the man wiped his arm underneath Senna and flipped her over to Shaolin's side of the bed. The two girls felt exhilarated and anticipation as they watched him rise up and stare at them predatorily, before launching himself at them with reckless abandon.

Several hours passed with the only real indication being the moon had changed position in the night time sky, it was about when the moon was leaning towards the western sky that the the participants of the ménage-à-trois collapsed back unto the bed.

The closed heat-filled room was nearing suffocating levels of the various scents of the three individuals who were not only tired beyond belief but were dripping with varying degrees of sweat, saliva and extracts of their passion.

On the left hand side of the bed was Senna who was on the edge of consciousness and unable to keep her eyes open due to no small part of fatigue and massive amount of erotic stimulation that had taken place that she was unused too. The purple haired woman laid unashamedly on her side with her body turning towards Ichigo, one of her arms running across Ichigo's stomach while her corresponding thigh rested on his leg, some of the man's excess semen flowing out of her from the small gap in between her legs and unto the bed.

On the other end of the spectrum was the fiancé of Ichigo Kurosaki, Shaolin Fon who was cuddling the center piece of the bed. Her long loose hair was either pressed against her dripping body or sprayed across her end of the bed behind her. One of her hands rested on the man's pec as she laid there in complete satisfaction after being teased by the man, proposed to by that same wonderful man and then being thoroughly filled to the brim with his essence, a personal gift from that man.

Finally with both women resting atop each of his arms was Ichigo, who felt ready to drop dead from all this. The amount of physical energy he burned would have been enough for a hundred work outs, though casting a quick glance at both their peace filled faces; he felt it was worth it before he closed his eyes to the world around him.

"This was completely unexpected…I could have never foresaw this happening." The captain mused aloud

"Yeeeaahhhhgghhh…no kiddin'" Senna replied with a slur

"Still…" she continued, dropping her head against Ichigo's shoulder "I…don't think this was a necessarily bad experience."

A light blush emerged upon both women's faces at what the normally cold captain said. "S-so how's everyone feeling? Tired?"

"After all that who wouldn't be?" Shaolin mocked almost willing to slap her on the forehead if she had the energy "What a dumb question, right Ichigo?"

No response was given to the woman which made Senna chuckle "I guess he agrees with me. Haha."

"No way. I can't believe this. You agree with her?" She pouted

Again nothing which made Senna laugh a little harder.

"ahaha, he's giving you the silent treatment. That's funny." She then turned her eyes upward "but seriously Ichigo do you agree with me?"

When nothing was said after the third time with Senna being the one who asked, did the girl both lift their heads up and stare at the other girl with understandable confusion. Sure it made sense if he was ignoring Soifon for the line of questioning but to then ignore Senna when she asked you and you were taking her side made no sense at all.

Using what little strength remained in the tank, they pushed themselves off the bed slightly to see what Ichigo's problem was only to nearly lose it all from what had they witnessed.

"That…that idiot…he fell asleep!" came the astonished respond from the fiancé, while Senna fell back against the bed in a laughing fit. The captain raised her hand up to hit on the head for what he did, but seeing his calm relaxed face made her lower it back down and instead give him a kiss on the cheek.

Settling back down to rest against his chest, she heard the sound of his heartbeat soothing, as a strange peace seemed to just fill the room between her, Senna, and Ichigo. Looking across the man's chest she saw Senna also rubbing her cheek into his body, like a child snuggling into a loved pillow or favorite stuffed toy.

An action which made the woman feel oddly happy in being able to see. Moving her eyes away from the young Miko, the long haired captain gazed lazily into space. "I'm actually really surprised about how all this turned out."

Senna who had not quite fallen asleep winced slightly when she heard that come out from Shaolin's mouth "I'm sorry about that." The seventeen year old apologized misconstruing what the older woman meant

"You certainly apologize a lot Senna." The girl noted as she gazed back to Ichigo's sister "Don't. You have nothing to apologize for."

"I guess you're right. But I think it's always good to be polite, especially to people you care about." She explained "You're my friend and my brother girlfriend. So we should keep sticking together."

'Stick together, huh?' The Shinigami thought to herself as an oddly warm yet familiar sense started to fill her persons. Moving her gaze away from Senna she turned to the only other Kurosaki in the room, her look filled with a longing purpose as if trying to understand something unsaid.

"Are you ok?" Senna asked after not hearing a reply for a little bit

"Just thinking about what happened before I got dragged into this." She said quietly still focusing in on the sleeping Ichigo "If I remember correctly he was half dressed and you were naked. So I take it you two had sex before this?"

"Umm…y-yeah." She diverted her gaze to anywhere else but in front of her "But he was a gentleman the whole time."

Breaking her quiet stare from Ichigo, the woman turned back to her bashful friend "Perhaps he holds some feeling towards you, Senna."

That caused the other girl to snap back to the captain "W-what!?" she sputtered out not believing what she was hearing.

"I told him to return your feelings with whatever he felt more or less. He also did admit to you being cute." She informed sparing barely a glance as she pulled the slimy blanket up to cover her body "So maybe…"

"Maybe…?"

"Maybe he does feel something else towards you." She said

Now Senna turned red "This…is awkward."

Indeed it was since Ichigo couldn't confirm or deny this, and the other girl in the equation was less than two feet from her.

"Senna…Do you truly love Ichigo with all your heart?" The woman asked with all frankness

She nodded "Yes, I do. But why do you ask?"

"You're a good girl Senna. A kind person." Shaolin replied which seemed kind of random for Senna "I…really like that." After hearing that part and the way she said it, Senna looked like a deer in the headlights as she put two and two together, which made Shaolin snicker quietly before return to her usual seriousness. "I'll make you a deal Senna. IF and this is a very big 'if' but if all three of us survive the war between Aizen and Soul Society, I'll consider sharing Ichigo with you and no one else."

"You…will?" the girl lit up at what she was being offered

A nod was given "My only reason for not sharing him with you is simple. One this situation is very sudden, so I had no time to truly consider my option, and more importantly two I don't know you very well to be precise little more than a week and a half there's no way I can be in love with you." She closed her eyes and then opened up the palm of her hand "However, if more time is placed before a decision must be made. I can make a better one."

"…" Senna continued to pay attention to what she was saying

"I believe a person's actions define them; therefore, when this is all over I'll have a very good idea of what you're like meaning I'd have no reason to be afraid of you." The woman then dropped her hand down uncaringly "This is all assuming of course your still in love with him by that point in time, and haven't found someone else."

Opening one of her eyes to see what she thought the girlfriend saw the young woman in front of her in tears. "T-thank-you." She whispered quietly "but…" she looked sadly at Ichigo "but doesn't that mean he won't have a say? I want him happy as well."

The older woman allowed a warm smile to reveal itself, setting the younger woman anxiety at ease "As I said he wouldn't have had sex with you in the first place if he didn't already feel something towards you. If he was as completely platonic in his feelings about you as he said he would have taken you out on a date somewhere instead of having sex with you. So no matter how miniscule there is a chance he'll say yes to your feelings one day, but he also does still reserve the right to say no too. Which means you'll have to accept that and move on with your life." She then lightly stretched out a hand to the emotional girl "So do we have a deal, Senna?"

The woman gave a confident nod "You bet. It's a deal." She then leaned over and instead of grabbing the hand kissed Shaolin on the lips surprising her. As they kissed Shaolin brought her extended hand behind Senna to pull her closer and deepened the kiss. Her tongue going into the rookie's almost like an exchanging of secret vows.

Pulling back Senna was red faced at what she experienced "I guess this makes us 'friends with benefits' now with the possibility of being life partners and even co-wives to Ichigo-kun later on in life? Maybe this can be our daily morning exercise instead of the basic training regiment! Ahaha."

"Pervert…" Soifon muttered to herself sardonically though the mentioning of the word 'wife' brought a certain pep to Shaolin's step; while she was too tired to argue that she was already his fiancé and technically her sister-in-law, she was going to just give a casual 'playing dumb' smile. "Get some rest you stupid kid. We -meaning you and I- have a long time before were 'co-anything' let alone wives…and I only said I'd think about it, nothing is set in stone little Gakusei."

A small chuckle was heard from the other female "Humanity always looks on the bright side because sometimes it's all we got. Good night, Sister Shaolin.

"Good night, Sister Senna."

---

[Post fic banter]

Blackout2010: Hmm…I gotta admit that was rather intense, perhaps I might actually have to do the 'Summer of love' fic I've had bouncing around…eventually.

[Trophy Alert!]

Blackout2010: Oooh! What'd we earn in this save file?

PS3 B.T.A.T: Silver Trophy earned 'A beautiful dreamer' [(="o"=)]

Description: For letting Senna find comfort in her heart, and live an impossible dream.

PS3 B.T.A.T: Gold Trophy earned 'Humming Birds and Honey bees both love succulent Strawberries!' [(S.I.S) O 0 o \\(0u0)/ wave wave]

Description: For bringing the gold home! – Hichigo, BTAT: Ch.6

Blackout2010 (teary-eyed): (sniff) beautiful…

Isshin/Masaki: Our little is boy is finally all grown up…

Masaki (crying): hold me Isshi-chan…!

Isshin (crying): Yes, Ma-chan!

Ichigo: (I wonder if Yuzu and Karin have to deal with this in their fics)

Shaolin/Senna: Later!

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Omake: Partner reaction?

(Ichigo's Soul scape)

Kicking down the roof top door of the highest building in the side winder like city. A tall white pallet version of Ichigo ran all the way to the building's edge, and looked into the sky, as the normal gray skies parted by the intense radiant light of the sun. The solar rays illuminated the entire city skyline, and bathed the young hollow in a warm sensation.

The grinning madman felt his excitement hit new heights when Cherubic choir started singing hallelujah. Finally unable to restrain himself any further he threw his arms out, in complete and utter surrender to the light and screamed as an unending stream of joyful tears escaped him "YES! YYYYYEEEEESSSSS! (4)"

Not too far away the real Zangetsu looked on, and merely crossed his arms fiercely and said "Fund it." (5)

(Senna's Soul scape)

Sitting down at the top of the mountain in Senna's world, Mirokumaru lay kneeling down in quiet prayer, having stopped her tirade of waiting for the confrontation with Senna. Sensing the great change that had happened outside she merely decided to add unto her normal prayer "Thank-you my lord God for creating someone as sweet as Ichigo for my fair lady to love." She then warped to her dark half "and thank-you master Satan for creating a body as sexy as mine, and the knowledge to use it."

(Shaolin's Soul scape)

"YAAHHOOOO! I knew it, knew it, knew it, knew it that she had it in her!" Suzumebachi cried out joyfully as she did some loopy-loops in the air. She then smirked triumphantly, and rubbed her knuckles against her black and yellow outfit in a cocky manner "And she didn't have any interest in anyone to begin with. HA! I called that guy out a mile away, and she got even more than what she was bargaining for. Ohohoho! I should go into the match-making business! 'You've been stung by the love bug, Mistress Suzumebachi!' Ahahaha!"

(Omake: A Kurosaki thing…)

"So tell me Soifon-taicho what brings you to my office?" Retsu Unohana asked of the seemingly deflated captain of squad two.

Said captain lounged in the chair without any regard of her body language, back slouched, hand over face, legs sprawled, the one eye that was revealed tired, face screaming release. "I wanted your personal opinion on my day today." She said in almost life-less tone

"I see." The kind healer said as she grabbed a nearby paper and pen to take notes "Whenever you're ready."

Straightening up her body Soifon then launched into her explanation "Over the course of the day I have been involved in a variety of things. I trained alongside Senna in extremely high intense, high repetition exercises. Shortly thereafter we encountered you and attended that completely off the wall Shinigami Women's association."

Retsu nodded her head affirmatively "Ah, yes I recall that. It was indeed much more hectic than usual." She jutted down some notes quickly "Please continue."

"After that I got dropped with a lot of heavy stuff such as Senna being blood relation to both Masaki-sama and Ichigo-kun. And then after that we went to a hot spring where it was utterly laid out in front of me that she was completely in love with him, and wanted to have polygamous relationship between the three of us."

Unohana sweat dropped at that and decided to not put that in the notes, but she couldn't help but ask on it. "And how did that work out?"

"That comes a little later." Soifon attested "I told her to think things over more or less, and had her wait to confess to Ichigo, while I went to inform him on what happened. I convinced him to hear her out, but he made a…small comment about a compromising incident between us."

"Compromising?"

"He more or less stated the fact we had sex in a public location. I was mortified beyond belief. I can only pray the captain-commander didn't overhear."

Unohana closed her eyes not wanting to image how that went "…and then?"

"I got them to meet up, and was eventually invited inside."

Unohana breathed lighter seeing a small hope spot trying really hard to salvage the smaller taicho's day. It was almost inspiring and she had to stop herself from cheering it on out loud. "And when you were let inside had they finished up?"

"Yes and at the same time a huge resounding no."

"What do you mean exactly by that…?" Unohana's mouth asked before her mind could stop her. The hope spot she'd been cheering for in her head was now on the chopping block. 'No… it might be bleak but he can still turn this around. Like the little train that could.' She tried to convince herself about the little bugger.

"I ended up more or less having three-way sex between myself, Senna and Ichigo. And I was then proposed to by said man."

The dull clacking of the guillotine coming down was the only sound heard the in the back of the healers mind. Unohana was left utterly speechless. She didn't know if she should laugh or cry at this completely preposterous story, yet here it was being told by the otherwise serious, no-nonsense Soifon.

And the kicker? Poor little hope spot died, which made this story even more depressing for the healer.

Soifon saw the look on Unohana's face and could roughly guess what she was thinking. "And that was my day. So my question for you is, in your professional opinion am I str-"

"Yes. You are very much stressed." Came the immediate reply, with enough conviction behind it to make a second opinion on the matter pointless.

"I didn't eve-"

"It's a Kurosaki thing." Unohana replied which got a confused look by Shaolin. Seeing it she elaborated "I say a Kurosaki thing because they cause…unusual incidents. You see back before I was a captain and Isane my lieutenant, we both worked under Captain Masaki before she retired. She…had a very odd habit."

"Odd habit?"

"Yes. She was really into the aura and synergy of the squad. And one day she said that it was completely off base. Of course, we -the members of the squad- didn't know what to make of what she meant, so we made the stupid mistake of asking her what it is we should do about it."

Now it was Soifon who sweat dropped not liking where this was going "And what exactly did she suggest?"

"She believed that the Synergy of the fourth division could be increased if there was more skin to skin contact between not only us and the patients but between each other. So…every seventh or eighth day she'd have a…ummm" a blush crept on the healers face "an underwear day. A day where you had to attend in your undergarments: Bra and panties for women, and boxers or fundoshi (6) for men."

Soifon's mouth hung open as she started to picture, Ichigo and Senna running around the barracks in their underwear followed by Yoruichi, Shinjiro and Subaru. It was when she got to Omeada in a fundoshi that she nearly threw up "Uggh…N…no way! I couldn't survive that kind of embarrassment."

"Y-yes. I admit it was extremely embarrassing. In fact poor Isane was one of the few who tried to skip on those days because she's so self-conscious about not only her height but also her chest and hip size. Unfortunately Masaki-sama…was very team-oriented and would personally go and find those who skipped out and drag them to the squad barracks for work, even going so far as to strip them of their clothing personally. Poor Isane-chan, ever since then she's become even more self conscious about her body. It used to just be her height now it's when people stare for too long."

"That's…insane."

"Yes, I agree. In fact it was during those times that we had the 'highest injury rate'. I clearly remember the many excuse from captains Yamamoto and Kyoraku of needing 'immediate emergency treatment' by either myself, Isane or Masaki for 'serious bone trauma with the possibility of fracturing from falling down a flight or two of stairs.'"

The younger woman sweat dropped as she found herself amazed and admiring the resolve the healer must have in not killing them for such blatant sexual harassment. "Talk about rough."

"Indeed. That's how I know you're stressed. All I can tell you Soifon-san is that everything bad that happens is more or less a product of being near a Kurosaki." She then placed a reassuring hand on the downed captain "I wish you well when you get married to him. You'll need it."

(Omake: A Kurosaki thing…)

---

(Small learner's guide)

This part is entirely skippable (well technically everything is skippable with the end key.) this part is just a small correction of a misconception about the word 'kami'. Now in my perusing of fanfics, I've come across several instances where kami is misused.

Ex. His muscles were so kami-like.

Ex. Oh, kami!

Now the reason I say this is misused is because literally Kami translates into 'Sacred Power'. Literally. It's meant to be understood in conversation as 'Divine power/influence', it doesn't directly refer to god(s). If I have my facts straight from my religion class the reason is that Kami originates from Buddhism, and Buddhism doesn't have a god (Buddha was originally seen as an average guy who grew wiser/enlightened). Everything is Brahma, and Brahma means 'one being' or something like that. I'm Brahma, your Brahma, the fic is Brahma, my computer is Brahma. Everything in life is Brahma from their P.O.V (hence why they don't believe in taking any life and are vegetarians. Life is sacred and is Brahma)

So from that being said about the meaning of Kami, any spiritually aligned being that is 'good' can be considered 'kami'. A simple angel is Kami, yet it's not necessarily god (unless he's in disguise). Any Shinigami in bleach is Kami because they are 'sacred powers' in the scheme of life.

If you wished to be using something a little more accurate and Japanese, then I suggest you use Izanagi (-like) for men, and Izanami (-like) for women. Reason being they're the primordial god and goddess of all creation for Japan, and refer directly to the highest of beings in Shinto culture (Japanese religion).

So I hope that helps, and this is just me throwing it out there, cause I felt Obsessive compulsive to just clear up that little misconception, and I felt this would have been the best way to reach a lot of people.

Hope you learned something!

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Guidepost:

1. This is a pun. To those of you who read h-manga or even just urbandictionary, you understand the pun. Vanilla means more less 'sex' and further depending on your definition 'pure love kinda sex', hence the pun since with the weather getting cold and it being entitled hot vanilla, it can mean hot sex or a type of hot chocolate that you drink. So I better not hear that there was no warning about all this as the savvy ones probably jumped down here, and the information to find out is clearly obtainable. Remember a rose called by any other name would still smell just as sweet.

2. Ai Yori Aoshi. Literally means 'Love is the color of indigo' (blue)/Pure love. It's an indirect reference to Shaolin (blue hair) and her love for Ichigo, and it is also a reference for Senna (purity) and her love for Ichigo. The S.I.S of course refers to their name, and shows equality between the two ladies, since it's never mention which girl's name comes first, Shaolin or Senna. Hence S. I (Ichigo). S.

3. This refer to the fact that in Japan relationships between women is considered Juvenile, and women who still practice it into adulthood are given a negative stigma. Hence why Senna calls her brave.

4. M. Bison and Daniel Bryan approve.

5. The line comes from a really random show called 'Perfect hair forever'. In it a executive producer big shot get proposed this extremely out there idea, and the producer says in a dead serious way 'fund it.' in approval. You gotta hear it to believe it.

6. A Fundoshi is both swimwear (for hot springs) and underwear. If you've watched enough anime you know what I'm talking about if not it's similar to a Sarong.

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Unohana: If you believe that hope spot deserves a second chance to live please leave a review. (Teary-eyed) Please. He needs your support! Give his story a much needed a happy ending.