The Rain Stopped
By:: Melissa

Disclaimer:: I don't own anything from this story. Everything belongs to Tite Kubo, creator and author of Bleach. Constructive criticism is welcome. No flames please.

Chapter 2

"Betcha can't catch me!" the melodic voice laughed, darting here and there.

"I bet I can," the baritone voice said as he dashed here and there. "What was I thinking? She's the Goddess of Flash…. I can't catch her," He thought to himself, laughing quietly.

"Are you giving up already, Kisuke?" the voice asked, running past him quickly. He looked around and saw her. He ran quickly to her side and raced beside her. "Not bad," she said, admiring the fact that he could keep up with her.

"You're not even trying, Yoru-chan." He laughed, smiling genially.

"You're right, I'm not." She sped off and ran around their "playground" five times before coming back to his side. Both her and Kisuke had built an underground training room so that they could get ready for the shinigami exams and pass easily. She had stopped to catch her breath. She looked up at Kisuke and saw him watching her.

"Do you think we'll pass the Shinigami exams?" he asked, sitting down a rock. She looked at him for a minute before speaking.

"I think we will. We've been training pretty hard for the past two months. We've both tested each other's limits so I think we'll do fine. Why are you so worried?" she asked, sitting down next to him on the rock.

"I don't want to have a bad seat in the squads. I want to be able to move up quickly. What about you?" He asked, turning toward her. She thought about it for a moment.

"I wouldn't mind being a vice captain or a captain…but what I really want to be is the Commander of the Covert Ops…. I think that would be the best title to have," she said, a twinkle in her eye. He smiled and stood up, motioning toward the entrance.

"Shall we get going then?" He asked, holding out his hand to take hers. She took his hand and stood up as well.

"Of course." She smiled and walked with him to the entrance. They quickly got out of their playground and were dazzled by the sunlight. They hid the entrance and walked together back to Yoruichi's home. He still had hold of her hand.

"I'll see you tomorrow at the exams," he said, smiling that goofy smile of his. She laughed and flash stepped up to her house. He turned and ran to his own home.

The next morning, he rose bright and early for the exams. He didn't get anything for breakfast and ran quickly to the academy where the exams were being held. He met up with Yoruichi inside.

"Are you ready?" she asked, her face slightly nervous.

"I hope so," he said, his face turning a little more confident. He had to pass.

"Will all the shinigami with their names starting with A- H line up over here!" A tall vice captain yelled at the shinigami and some of them moved to go and line up.

"Those with their names starting with I-S stand over here!"

"Shinigami with names starting with T-Z, get over here quickly!" Kisuke and Yoruichi split up, wishing each other good luck. Kisuke went over to the group with their names starting with I-S and stood quietly, reviewing over everything. Yoruichi went over and stood by herself in the last group to be called and practiced her flash step.

"Group A-H, come with me!" the first group left and didn't come back. Kisuke and Yoruichi looked at each other nervously as each hour ticked by.

"Group I-S, let's go!" Kisuke stood up and looked once more at Yoruichi. She had a smile on her face and mouthed the words, "Good luck" to him. He smiled and whispered, "Thank you, you too" before leaving.

Yoruichi was all by herself now. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on what she needed to do. She didn't see Kisuke come back.

"Last group, follow me." Yoruichi stood up and quickly brushed herself off before following the shinigami into the room.

The exams lasted the entire day. There were six parts to the exam but the ones that mattered the most were the written exam, the Kido exam, and the fighting exam. Yoruichi thought she had done well, despite the fact that she almost killed the masked man she was fighting. She shook her head and sat down to wait for the results.

"Hey, Yoru-chan!" She heard his voice and her eyes instantly opened. She looked around and saw his blond head coming for her. She smiled and made a spot for Kisuke to sit down next to her.

"So how did you think you did?" he asked, looked intently at her.

"I think I did alright, how about you?" she asked, folding her hands together.

"I think I did as well as I could've, didn't make too many mistakes." He smiled at her and looked up at the ceiling. "We probably won't know the results until later tonight…"

"Who knows…it could take them hours." She repositioned herself into a more comfortable spot.

Fours hours later, a shinigami came out and announced that the results were posted. Kisuke and Yoruichi didn't get up. They waited on the floor while all the other shinigami went up to the postings and either celebrated or hung their heads. After the group died down, both Kisuke and Yoruichi got up and walked slowly over to the wall. Kisuke was the first one to look.

"What did you get?" she asked, not looking up.

"I'm the squad leader of the 12th division," he said, his eyes not leaving the sheet.

"Well, that's great, Kisuke! You'll be able to move up really fast….maybe you'll even be captain someday." She smiled, hoping the best for her friend and forgetting completely about her own ranking.

"Yoru-chan, look." Kisuke pointed to the paper at her name. She looked up. Her heart was pounding loudly in her chest. She looked at her name and saw it.

Yoruichi Shihouin. Commander of Covert Ops and Executive Militia.

"Yoru-chan…you're a commander." Kisuke's voice was barely over a whisper as Yoruichi looked at the piece of paper in shock.

Kind of a short chapter. xD longer one next time, promise. One thing i will clear up now before it becomes a flame war... I looked to find out what Kisuke's and Yoruichi's first positions in the Gotei 13 was and i couldn't find anything. I even went onto a Bleach forums site and asked and the only results i got were that not many people knew. I don't think that it's even been said in the manga. So...i made it up slightly. Obviously, Kisuke would get a pretty high ranking but i doubt that he would be a captain at first so i made him the squad leader. But with Yoruichi, since she's from nobility, she could easily get the title of Commander of Covert Ops and Executive Militia. So...that's how it is. If you know what their rankings were when they were first shinigami, please let me know and i'll revise the chapter! please review! Thanks!