A/N: This is a bit longer chapter even though it only covers a couple of scenes.

I've thrown some Japanese in... simply because I wanted to. I sometimes get these urges to input Japanese even though there is no quarantee that it'll be grammatically correct... *sigh*

Created Life in Death 3
Kurosaki Masaki

"Orenji!" She heard a little girl's voice say and Masaki was hard pressed not to laugh. Poor Ichigo in the other seemed to cringe away and try to hide his face in her skirt. It was after the Shichi-go-san ceremony at the shrine and the families were milling about the place. Photos were being taken, families greeted each other, and children laughed and showed the paper bags inside which they had the chitose ame.

Masaki turned to look at the direction of the voice, finding a little blonde haired girl in light blue kimono standing with her parents. The girl's mother was shushing her while the father laughed. Though it seemed that the mother was trying hard not to smile either. The girl just giggled, looked at Ichigo's direction and smiled up at her mother again.

"Demo… Kare wa kirei!"

Ichigo blushed but smiled then. He then looked at the girl with slightly wide eyes before making up his mind about something.

"Ki-iro!" He shouted back at the girl. She whipped around to stare at him and smiled brightly.

"Kanzo-iro!" She shot back. Ichigo scrunched up his face and looked confusedly at Masaki.

"What does that mean?"

"It means daylily. That's the shade of your hair out of many oranges." Masaki replied to her son with a smile. "It's very pretty." Though it begged a question how the girl of Ichigo's age had known the exact shade it was called.

"What about her hair?" Ichigo asked then.

"… Try Asagi. It means light yellow."

"Asagi!" Ichigo called the girl. She burst in giggles. Her mother seemed to sigh in resignation and then the family of three made their way over to the Kurosaki's. Kanae, Souken and little Uryuu had already left. Masaki was sad that Ryuuken had been unable to come but she could always call later.

"Hello, our children seem to have caught each other's attention." The girl's mother greeted. "I'm Kotobuki Dina, this is my husband Kenji and daughter Mirai."

"Nice to meet you." Masaki greeted back. "I'm Kurosaki Masaki, this is my husband Isshin and son Ichigo."

"Nice to meet you." Kenji nodded and Isshin nodded back. From there the conversation spanned from children (Ichigo and Mirai both and yes, Masaki was expecting twins currently), to jobs (Dina worked as costume designer at local theater. That explained the girl's knowledge of colors. Kenji in the other hand was a kendo instructor.) and to life in general in Karakura. Ichigo and Mirai just eyed each other shyly now that they were suddenly at so close proximity of each other. Both were fascinated of the exotic colors of their hair. And apparently they didn't even try to call each other with their real names.

"Kanzo-iro!"

"Asagi!"

Eventually the families parted then, the mothers as friends and the fathers as amicable acquaintances. And who knew what the two children thought of each other. Something curious maybe? Well, at least Ichigo isn't mad at Mirai. Even after she smacked him on the head with a fan she produced out of her sleeve.

The twins, Karin and Yuzu, were born in spring. The Kotobuki's visited Masaki and the girls at the hospital. Mirai was ecstatic when she got to hold Yuzu on her arms while Ichigo held Karin. And for the first time Masaki noticed that Mirai had considerable reiatsu levels. Nowhere near Ichigo's but still enough to see ghosts. Dina and Kenji didn't have such levels so where did the girl get her power? Or her hair and eye color for that matter as both the parents had dark brown hair and black eyes.

Unexpectedly it was Mirai who provided her a half of the required answer as the two almost four year olds sat on Masaki's hospital bed.

"Mama, can I write about this to kaachan?" The girl asked Dina. The woman smiled.

"I don't see why not. I'm sure she'd like to hear about anything you encounter in your life."

Mirai beamed.

The other half came, sadly, six-years later on a rainy June evening. Masaki was walking Ichigo home from karate practice. Mirai was with them as she also took the classes and Dina and Masaki took turns in getting children home. In the end both Kotobuki's and Kurosaki's lived in the same area of Karakura, just a few blocks away from each other.

With Ichigo at one hand and Mirai at the other one, Masaki's attention was solely on the children and didn't notice until too late that something had caught Ichigo's attention. Not until he had already let go of her hand and dashed towards the river at the… bait dangled by a hollow. She vaguely heard Mirai let out a gasp but she was already moving. The girl remained standing at the walkway, watching it all happen, as Masaki reached Ichigo and threw herself on him just as the hollow struck.

Blut Vene didn't work. Why didn't it work?

Well, Ichigo was safe and that was important.

Masaki only hoped that the hollow wouldn't try to attack either of the children now.

Her chain was broken. The hollow was trying to eat her. And Masaki was powerless to protect herself.

"Lecture, Shinjitsu no Shinju!" A woman spoke from nearby. Soundless steps approached through the pouring rain until the… Shinigami was right next to Masaki, cutting the hollow's tendrils apart with… were those clock hands she had? They were golden, decorated with pearls and looked very, very sharp.

"Shinju-sou Nurimono!(Pearly Lacquer)" The woman intoned, slashing the air between her and the hollow, the minute hand at the main hear and the hour hand at the bait. The Pearls on the swords let out shiny coating that enveloped the both heads, thus blocking the hollow's sight. The hollow – in its rage identifying itself as Grand Fisher – yelled and struggled and blindly tried to swipe at the Shinigami but the woman just dodged or cut at the offending limbs, forcing Grand Fisher to back down.

"Kaki. (Oyster Shell)" The woman said next, springing a shield with herself and the hollow on the other side and Masaki and Ichigo on the other side. Then the Shinigami moved, jumping in the air and cutting through the hollow's mask and the coating covering it, like it was just butter. Maybe the coating was soft for the sword it came from even if it looked solid.

The hollow disintegrated and the Shinigami landed lightly on the wet grass at her side of the shield. With an absent wave of her hand, the clock hands morph into a katana with light golden hilt and perfectly round guard. She sheathed the sword and turned to Masaki, her body and Ichigo who was still lying unconscious on the ground. The shield between them has disappeared.

"Kurosaki Masaki-san?" The Shinigami asked. She had straight black hair with bangs cut to frame her face and the rest tied back on a loose ponytail that actually seemed to be slipping a bit more. Her eyes were very dark, maybe even black and her skin was pale. The darkness of the evening only heightened the monochromatic impression the woman was giving off in her black Shinigami clothes.

"Yes?" Masaki asked warily from her place where she was kneeling beside her son. She wondered how the Shinigami knew her name. Isshin hadn't mentioned anything like this. According to him, most Shinigami thought human's below them. Oh kami, what if she was here because of Isshin?

But before Masaki could panic anymore, the other woman spoke again, tucking her hands into the sleeves of her black kosode.

"You need to move on soon. It's not healthy to remain here." The woman explained. "I can konsou you but your soul chain was cut very close. You don't have much time."

It was a strange way the woman was speaking to her. Like Masaki should know these things. Well, she did because of what Souken and Ryuuken and later Isshin told her but this woman… She should have no reason to think that Masaki knew.

"Who are you?" Masaki frowned, wishing that she could gather reishi and form her hand-held bow(the version that she used like a handgun) in her soul-form. It'd at least make her feel safer.

The Shinigami blinked, her dark eyes widening, probably realizing her mistake in some assumptions she'd made.

"Ah… Of course you don't know…" The woman muttered. "I'm…"

"Kaachan!" Mirai came running and threw herself to hug the woman's waist. Despite the apparent surprise, the woman smiled brightly at the girl, detaching her and crouching down to give the ten-year-old a proper hug.

"Mirai-chan! You've grown so much!"

"Kaachan was awesome! Took down the mean monster before it took Kanzo-iro's kaa-san!"

"I know… Kaachan is also happy that she got here in time and took down the hollow. It has been such a bother to Soul Society for decades!"

The… mother-daughter pair continued happy babbling. And Masaki understood. Not completely but some. Mirai was this Shinigami lady's child, for a reason or other in the world of living. The Kotobuki's adopted her thus explaining the lack of similar features and the difference in reiatsu levels. Now that the danger had passed and Masaki realized that the Shinigami probably wasn't a threat to her family, she also could remember seeing the woman before. At home altar in the Kotobuki's living room. There were many photos but there was also a black and white photo of this woman. Dark straight hair, black kimono (or kosode as only the upper part of her torso was shown) and eyes of the same shape than Mirai had. The photo had looked old next to the colored ones of Dina and Kenji's parents so Masaki had assumed that the woman had been dead longer than they had. A great-aunt to Mirai or something.

But apparently she was Mirai's real mother, from the afterlife. And the letters to kaachan were apparently sent by burning them at home alter. It made sense. And were probably also the reason how the woman knew Masaki just by sight.

"Masaki-san, thank you for looking after Mirai-chan when Dina-san has been unable to." The Shinigami spoke then, startling Masaki from her thoughts and making her look up at the woman.

"It was a pleasure." Masaki smiled. "May I ask… What is your name, Shinigami-san?"

"Nakatomi Tomo. Ninth Seat of Twelfth Division of Thirteen Imperial Divisions. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too. Umm…" She wanted to ask what the woman's intentions towards Isshin and her family were. And her other family too as they did were Quincies.

"Don't worry. I'm simply passing by. And I have no intention to turn Shiba-taichou over to authorities. As it were, during the investigation, they'd probably find out about Mirai-chan too."

The said girl clutched onto her mother's shihakusho and bit her lip until Tomo gently pried her fingers off and sat her on the ground next to Ichigo.

"Kaachan needs to go now, Mirai-chan. I need to take Masaki-san to Soul Society. And you need to stay here with Ichigo-kun."

Masaki looked down at her son. She smoothed his hair out of his face and laid a kiss on his forehead.

"Goodbye, Ichigo. Grow up to be strong so you can protect your sisters and friends. Don't worry about me. I'll be waiting once you've lived a long and fulfilling life."

Then she got on her feet and took the hand Tomo was offering. The other woman used her free hand to draw her sword and summon a pair of shoji-doors.

"Bye bye, kaachan! Bye bye Masaki-bachan!" Mirai waved after them. "No worries, I'll watch after Kanzo-iro and Ukon-iro and Sumi-iro."

"Say, would you mind terribly if I were to take you to the Shiba house in Rukongai? Shiba-taichou's closest remaining relatives live there. I'm sure they'd welcome you." Tomo asked when they walked after a black swallowtail butterfly. Jigokuchou they apparently were called.

"That sounds nice." Masaki smiled.

"It's settled then."

Settling into life with Isshin's niece and nephew was surprisingly easy. While as lively and even violent as Masaki's husband, Kuukaku and Ganju both had their logical moments and were genuinely good people. They didn't like Shinigami but their older brother Kaien had been one. Had even been a lieutenant before his death at the hands of… hollow? His own subordinate? Masaki wasn't sure of the story and didn't feel like prying into it too deeply. While the event had happened decades ago, time was different for souls in Soul Society and for the sibling their beloved older brother could've passed away just few years or even months ago.

They still welcomed Masaki into their lives and were eager to hear about Isshin's survival and their two nieces and nephew. And threw death threats for Isshin letting them think he was dead.

Next time Masaki saw her son was way too soon but for her relief he wasn't dead. Probably. He was on a rescue mission. And Mirai was with him along with Uryuu-kun and three of their friends. Her son had grown up to be a great protector and Masaki was proud of him.

A/N: I had fun creating Tomo's zanpakuto and its abilities. I hope you liked this chapter from Masaki's PoV. As you can guess, we will be seeing her later too. And Mirai's existence will be a butterfly effect on Ichigo's life too even if she isn't consciously doing anything.

I debated for a long time whether or not keep Masaki as a Quincy. In the end I decided to keep it as canon. I'm still on the fence about Ichigo's Quincy heritage and Zangetsu. Especially considering that I won't be continuing this story past Fullbringer Arc. So would you be terribly upset if I offed Old Man and kept Shiro as Zangetsu since the beginning?

Nick-names based on colors, especially traditional Japanese colors, will be a thing. I think I'll explain the origins for them in the next chapter.

Replies to Reviews

-Eydis Ria:
Thank you. I'll try my best.

-CallMeCrazylol:
Thank you. I can't get it out of my head either. At first I almost wrote it in English but then I saw the romanization of the Japanese and just...