A/N: Thank you so much for everyone's support!

Chapter 3:

Today was the first time Shinji would take Emiko to see Aizen, and Toshiro would accompany them. They met in front of Momo's house to pick up their charge.

"Hello Captain Hitsugaya," Shinji greeted when he reached the door.

The silver haired captain nodded. "Captain Hirako."

They heard footsteps by the door and a frazzled Momo appeared with Emiko in tow. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and she had bags under her eyes. She was clearly nervous about Emiko going to see Aizen without her, even though she would be in good hands. She couldn't stop the voice in her head that kept coming up with catastrophic scenarios. What if Emiko cried, and no one comforted her. Or if she tripped and hurt herself. To her knowledge, Shinji nor Toshiro were well-versed in healing kido like she was. Every possible scenario of what could go wrong played through her mind.

"Let me check your backpack one more time to make sure you have everything," she said as she opened the backpack.

"Ready to go kid?" Shinji asked as Momo continued rifling through the bag. Emiko nodded.

"I forgot to pack your coloring book!" Momo exclaimed frantically. "Let me go -"

"Momo," Toshiro interjected with a stern gaze. "She'll be fine." He glanced at Hirako, prompting him to zip up the bag and take Emiko's hand.

"But -" she started.

"We have to go now, and you've got some training to do." She puffed her cheeks, annoyed that he was rushing her. "You should work on activating your bankai since it's been almost six years since you became a lieutenant, and you still don't have it."

She huffed and clenched her fists, irritated with his rude remark. "For your information, I've already made some progress, and I've been busy raising a kid if you hadn't noticed!"

He blinked, nonplussed by her irritation. "Emiko is old enough to go to daycare now, so you don't have any excuses. Get to it." With that, he turned and joined Shinji and Emiko ahead of him, leaving a seething Momo.

"Impressive. I'll need to try that in the future," the blond complimented once out of his lieutenant's earshot. He was genuinely shocked by how quickly Toshiro had distracted Momo from her worries.

He shrugged. "I've had a lot of practice."

"I'll show him," Momo proclaimed. It amazed her that Toshiro always knew exactly what to say to push her buttons. Any worries she had about the visit were gone and replaced with determination to train and prove herself.

There was some truth in what her friend said. Her professional development had taken a bit of a back the last few years. She couldn't help it. Some days she hadn't felt like getting out of bed since she was so exhausted from her day-to-day responsibilities as a lieutenant and single mother. Not to mention, before Shinji came along, she was practically running the division by herself with a newborn. Now that Emiko was older she could get her childcare instead of taking her to work, and Shinji had smoothly transitioned into his role as captain, so she no longer needed to fulfill some of his duties.

There was a tap on her shoulder and nearly jumped three feet in the air.

"Shishio-san! You scared me half to death!" she spoke with a hand over her chest.

He laughed nervously and ruffled his messy jet black hair. "Sorry Momo! I didn't mean to." Shishio was one of her neighbors. Dressed in a forest green hiori with a black sash, she deduced that he was off duty today. His tall, lean frame and graceful gate made him perfect for the Stealth force. However, his most prominent feature were his jade green eyes that complimented his tan skin. He was a friendly man, and she found him attractive. Rangiku had relentlessly teased her about his supposed crush on her. Momo thought of him as just a friend, and nevertheless, dating was out of the question.

"Well, you are in the stealth force," she replied with a half smile.

He chuckled. "I couldn't help but overhear that you're working on your bankai. I could help you train if you'd like since I'm off today."

"I could actually really use some help with my agility." She beamed at him. "I'll go change, and then we can start," she suggested.

"Sure. Want to use one of the stealth forces training grounds? We have a ton of obstacle courses designed for agility training."

"Oh really? That'd be perfect!" she clasped her hands together, very excited to just get a look at the stealth force grounds. Only members or those accompanied by members could get on their base, and even then some sections were restricted.

She gave her thanks again and went inside to change and text Shinji to ask if he or Toshiro could watch Emiko the rest of the day.

Momo: Would you or Toshiro please be able to watch Emiko the rest of the day? Shishio wants to take me to the stealth force training grounds to help me train. I'll make you cookies if you do!

Shinji: Sure.

Momo: Thank you :)

Momo: Is the visit going ok? Is Emiko behaving?

Shinji: This is CAPTAIN HITSUGAYA. She's fine. Go train slowpoke.

She shook her head and got dressed. She picked out an all black ensemble in the spirit of visiting the stealth force. She wore a black wrap shirt, black leggings, and her standard shinigami sandals. Lastly, she brushed out her black tresses and secured it in one long braid.

Taking her bag on the way out, she met Shishio on the porch.

"Let's go!" she proclaimed with her hands on her hips.

When she and Shishio arrived at the training grounds, he flashed the guards a badge at the gate, and they were permitted entrance. Momo looked around, in awe of the sheer size and diversity of the training grounds. Each training area seemed to have a different terrain or style. On her left was a lake, and to her right was a section of dry rocky terrain. The training grounds seemed to go on forever. "Wow," she commented.

The squad five training grounds were outside and had some targets, but there was nothing this extensive. They continued walking until they reached a grassy field with a large wooden base leading to stairs, which Momo concluded was one of the obstacle courses, since her companion slowed.

"I'll show you how to go through the obstacle course, and then you'll do it," Shishio stated, guiding her up to a platform where the course began.

She nodded, and then he started sprinting up a flight of stairs which led to a bridge. He disappeared from view until the platform began moving on a track parallel to the course. Startled from the movement, she realized she could observe Shishio again.

He stepped on the long wooden bridge, and kunai began flying at him from all directions, but he dodged each one with grace and ease. The weapons were being thrown by small cannons stationed at the beginning and end of the structure. Momo watched him intensely, not wanting to miss a movement.

When he reached the end of the bridge, he jumped onto an adjacent rock wall, about 100 meters high and started to climb. He grabbed a ledge and the wall began to shake.

"Crap. I kind of forgot about this," he remarked offhandedly. He grunted and deftly moved his body up and over the wall, landing on his feet.

The next section was a ropes course. Hundreds of ropes hung from an artificial wall, dangling over a swamp-like body of water. Amidst the cloudy water, Momo saw a large shadow moving below, and the hairs on her neck stood up. She wondered if she should warn him, but she reminded herself that it could distract him. He also wouldn't have chosen this course if he couldn't complete it himself.

Without any delay, Shishio sprung up from the ground onto a set up of ropes and weaved his way through. About halfway through the swamp, a gigantic alligator leapt up from the water and lunged at him. It was no ordinary alligator though. It was twice as large and had purple streaks all along its body. Shishio jumped to the next set up ropes just in time to evade the creature, pulling himself higher to put more distance between him and the unusual alligator. The alligator swam after him and snapped its jaws at the air, frantically trying to catch its prey.

Finally, he reached dry ground, and Momo sighed with relief. She didn't know his position within the stealth force, but the comfort and speed with which he was completing the obstacle course suggested he was pretty high up the ladder.

The last section was a set of 10 hoops on posts of various sizes and heights. Some hoops lit up in flames while others had sharp jagged rims that would definitely tear skin if one came into contact with it. There were two plain metal hoops, but they began to move up and down. It looked like the object of this section was to get through each hoop unschathed. Circumventing the rings would defeat the purpose of the exercise.

Shisui launched himself into the air and quickly passed through the flaming rings. He paused momentarily when he reached the razorus ones, but he took a deep breath and stretched into a plank position, barely fitting himself through. He dove down to enter the moving ring and shot back up to get through the last hoop.

The moving platform met him at the end of the course. Momo clapped, impressed with his performance. He gave a mock bow and took her hand to help her off the platform. She tripped a bit due to the small gap, but he caught her in his arms.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, standing up straight.

"No problem. We'll train all the clumsiness out of you!" he stated with a smile.

She scanned the course again and furrowed her brows. She was confident that she could at least get to the swamp, but after that she wasn't so sure.

"Hey, let's take it one section at a time. I don't expect you to be able to complete in on your first go like me," he reassured her. She brightened and her determination returned.

They got back on the platform, and Shishio pressed some buttons in a hidden side panel which sent them back to the beginning of the course.

"Why do you specifically want to focus on agility?" he asked.

"It's hard to explain, but to fully obtain my bankai I need to be able to subjugate my zanpakuto, and she likes to throw things at me," she attempted to explain. Since he wasn't in the Gotei 13, she wasn't sure if he understood anything she just said.

"I kinda think I understand. Your zanpakuto is your sword's spirit, right?" he confirmed. This earned a nod from Momo. "So you need to defeat them in battle?"

"Yes. It's a bit more complicated though. You have to be able to materialize them in the real world and defeat them too. Plus, they can withhold power from you if they want." Her further clarification only seemed to puzzle Shishio who scratched his head.

"Huh. That does sound complicated. I think I'll stick to taijutsu and intelligence gathering," he replied with a laugh. His cheerful expression became serious, "Here's how we'll start. I want to time you while you try to get as far as you can. Then, we'll individually focus on the section you couldn't get to, and once you can make it through them, you'll try to do it all in one go. Sound good?"

Momo agreed. "What do I do if I want to stop and what was wrong with that gator?"

"Yell stop, and I'll pause the platform which should shut down most of the sections. If you're in the swap, I'll come get you myself." He gave her a sheepish look. "The gator is a leftover experiment from the Research and Development Division. I'm not entirely knowledgeable on their capabilities, but they're poisonous and twice as large and three times as fast as a typical alligator."

"They're? As in there's more than one in the swamp?" she probed with a disbelieving tone.

"Yup." She made a mental note not to get stuck in the swamp section.

"On the count of three, I'll start the timer and you can begin." He took a timer out of his pocket. "One. two. Three." The timer started with a beep, and the platform moved.

Momo took off like a rocket. She sprinted up the stairs and trained her eyes on the bridge. The moment her foot hit the wood, kunai flew at her. She increased her speed while trying to evade the flying objects. Unfortunately, one barely grazed her shoulder, but she made it to the other side.

Like Shishio did, she jumped onto the rock wall which shook. She paused to catch her breath and clung to the ledge with all her might. The vibrations only increased with time, so she willed herself to continue before it became too much and she fell off. Pulling herself up and remaining aware of her body weight, she finally made it over the wall, landing albeit not as gracefully as Shishio.

"Good work! Keep going Momo," her trainer encouraged from the sidelines. Steeling herself for the worst section, she slowly inhaled and exhaled, calming her nerves and clearing her mind. She wasn't a lieutenant for nothing. She could do this.

As she ran towards the ropes, a gator sprang out from the water onto the ground and closed in on her. Several other gators followed suit, emerging out of the water.

"Momo," Shishio called in an even cadence. "Don't make any sudden movements." He had stopped the platform.

Her eyes widened in fear and a cold sweat formed on her brow as the green animals moved closer to her. In an instant, she was mid-air in Shishio's arms. He flash stepped to the beginning of the course, safely away from the swap and its threatening inhabitants. Shaken, she noticed how strongly she held onto her rescuer. She pulled away.

"Shishio-san. I'm so sorry. I should have -" He cut her off with a wave of his hand.

"I should be the one apologizing. I don't remember them being this aggressive." He shook his head and sighed, disappointed with himself. "How about we use a different training ground? There's one that is pretty similar and only a few hundred meters north. I guarantee that there's no mutant creatures."

"Just flaming rings and rigged bridges?" Momo teased.

"You're forgetting the rock wall," he reminded, his tone back to its usual cheerfulness.

They ventured to the alligator-free training ground. Shishio wasn't kidding. It was identical to the first training ground, save for the swamp. Momo was able to complete it on her first try, so she focused on finishing faster each round, until she was panting and had difficulty standing.

"Let's call it a day," he commented, looking behind him at the setting sun.

"Sure. I need to get home soon anyways."

The pair returned back to their neighborhood to find Toshiro and Emiko in front of her house.

"What happened to you?" the silver haired captain asked, giving Momo a once over. "You look like a mess." With pieces of her hair stuck to her sweaty skin, a slight limp in her step, and dirt all over the front of her shirt, she looked like she had a nasty fight.

"I was training," she replied indignantly. "Why? You got a problem with that?"

"No. I was only making sure that you were productive," came his snarky retort.

"She was great. Even after one day of training, I'm already seeing progress," Shishio complimented.

Toshiro's eyebrow arched up, in interest. "Hm. Well, you've got your work cut out for you."

Momo glowered at him but bit her tongue when her sweet little girl rushed into her arms to be picked up.

"Kaa-chan!" Her twinkling brown eyes instantly put a smile on her mother's face.

"Were you good? Did you have fun with oji-chan?" she asked. Toshiro wrinkled his nose at the cutesy nickname. He'd let it slide while Emiko was still a child.

She bobbed her head up and down enthusiastically. "Yeah!" Momo smoothed her hair lovingly.

"We won't keep you," she began turning to face the two men. "Shishio-san, thank you for the wonderful training, and Shiro-chan, thank you for taking care of Emi-chan," she finished with a bow.

"It was my pleasure. I'm off at the same time next week if you want to do it again," the blacked haired man proposed, his eyes fixed on Momo.

"I'd love that," she replied. He turned to leave with a small salute.

Toshiro's teal eyes flashed between the man's disappearing figure and his longtime friend. "He's awfully friendly," he observed. In his experience, most men weren't that nice to women unless they expected something. He would keep an eye on this Shishio.

"That's what friends do. They're friendly to one another. You should try it sometime," she quipped with a smirk.

"I better get those cookies you promised me." He really was looking forward to it. Momo was always great at cooking and baking. Her skills only improved when she had Emiko.

"Yeah. Yeah. You'll have them tomorrow," she said with a sigh. Clearing her throat, "In all seriousness, I really appreciate you watching Emi-chan. She can be a bit of a handful, but she really looks up to you." She gave him a half smile.

"I don't mind. She's a good kid, and she does a great job of distracting Rangiku from distracting me." At this rate, he'd volunteer to nanny Emiko. His lieutenant loved playing with her and dressing her up. She practically ignored everything and everyone around her when she was with Emiko. That meant Toshiro could work without having to worry about Rangiku bursting into his office with ridiculous ideas like going to the bar in the middle of the day or breaking his tea cups.

Momo added, "and you're right. I haven't challenged myself enough. All the other lieutenants have really grown the past few years, except me." Her chocolate orbs became sad. Over half the lieutenants who served when she began as a lieutenant had gotten promoted to captain or activated their bankai. Even Rangiku, who was notoriously lazy, started special training to activate bankai.

"Geez Momo I only said what I did this morning to get rid of your nerves!" He shook his head.

Her eyes widened, and she laughed. He had a funny way of showing he cared, but he did. "I guess I can't be too mad since it kind of worked. I'm fired up and ready to get my bankai!" She pumped her fist in the air.

"Bankai!" Emiko parroted.

Toshiro smirked. "I'm excited to see it and so is Emiko." A large growl came from the toddler.

"Hungry?" Momo asked, with a knowing smile. Emiko nodded and blushed.

"Maybe oji-chan would like to join us for dinner." She glanced at him for an answer.

"I would, but I got roped into going to a bar with Captain Kyoraku and some of the other captains," he explained, crossing his arms.

"Don't worry about it. That's not really something you can pass up," she replied. His blank stare and deep set frown made it obvious that he would prefer to pass on the invitation, but the captain-commander was his superior. "Have fun! I'll drop by your office tomorrow with your cookies."

He nodded and left, steeling himself for an evening of buffoonery and shenanigans that he was forced to participate in. Visiting Aizen this morning had irritated him plenty for one day.

"Caaappptaiin!" an annoying but familiar voice called from ahead.

His busty lieutenant bounded towards him like an excited puppy. "Are you on the way to the bar?" she asked cheerfully.

"Yes. Why?" he responded in a clipped tone.

"Shunsui texted me an hour ago and invited me too. We can walk together," she beamed. The ice user bankai inwardly groaned. He was wrong; his day could get worse.