Hey! Sorry for the long wait!! My computer totally crashed...TT To make up for it I gave you an extra-long chapter! WHOOO!

Enjoy


Mitsuki stared wordlessly up at the sky.

It seemed to be spinning, yet she was sure that she was laying perfectly still- or was she the one spinning after all? Mystified, she tried to stop the spinning, since it was making her feel dizzy, but as she struggled upwards, the spinning became worse. Groaning, she fell back again, closing her eyes and trying to ignore the developing headache.

An amused voice somehow penetrated the sickness. "Dear me, this won't do at all. If you keep fainting at lessons, how are we going to get any work done?"

Mitsuki glared at the grinning shop owner out of the corner of her eye. "It's your fault." She grumbled, successfully hauling herself up without falling over. "This is worse than morning workouts with the squad!"

Kiskue hid his grin behind his fan. "It's supposed to be, Mrs. Hitsugaya. If it was easy, you wouldn't be getting your spirit energy back, now would you?"

Sighing ion reluctant agreement, Mitsuki steadied herself before raising Hogosha Chuusin again. Gritting her teeth, she fought back the wave of nausea and watched as Urahara casually raised Benihime. "On your go." He said, waving his hand.

Mitsuki charged, her spirit energy flaring up around her. Kiskue easily dodged her attack, and Mitsuki twisted, blocking his attack. Turning it into a lunge, she fell forward, startled, when the shinigami seemingly disappeared. Realizing he had flash-stepped, she turned in time to barely block his thrust, her spirit energy flaring as she pushed him back.

On the sidelines, Yoruichi looked on silently. The lessons were working surprisingly well, since Mitsuki's power had increased dramatically since the lessons had started two weeks ago. The blond shinigami had started to come three times a week, alternating between lessons, checking the city with Hitsugaya, and preparing herself mentally and physically for the baby. It was already beginning to be visible, the small bump evident. Urahara was naturally careful how he attacked her, and if there was a threat of her injuring herself in any way they would stop. After taking a brief rest, they would continue, trading blows.

When they finally stopped for the day, Mitsuki was out of breath and groaning softly to herself. Yoruichi helped her over to a rough wooden table, where she collapsed, breathing hard. Downing a cup of water in seconds, she refilled it twice more before stopping. "Where's Toshiro?" she asked, finally.

Yoruichi shrugged. "He said he was going to be running late today." She said, and Mitsuki sighed. Toshiro usually arrived promptly on time to help her to their temporary home, letting her rest for a while before they went on a patrol around the city. They had fought several groups of hollows in the last couple of days, leaving little to no time for rest- the only plus side was that the grey-cloaked figure hadn't been spotted again. No one knew who it was, and though they were convinced it was a rouge shinigami, they had no leads on who it could be. Not even the shop-owner could say.

Toshiro arrived five minuets later, and gratefully, Mitsuki hugged him and left, after saying goodbye to the eccentric shop keeper and Yoruichi.

"How'd it go?" he asked, hands in his pockets. Mitsuki smiled. "I've been improving, but it's still hard to make it through practice without throwing up at least once. It's hard work."

Toshiro frowned slightly. "You know, Mitsuki, you're going to have to stop later on. I'm already worried that you might over-exert yourself now as it is."

"I'll be fine, Toshiro- I know my limits. Anyways, did you see any hollows on patrol today?"

Ignoring the obvious change of subject, he said, "All was clear this morning. I still have a feeling that this is only the eye of the storm, though…"

"You have feelings like that all the time." Mitsuki laughed. "And only a quarter of a time do they actually mean anything."

"This one is different." He insisted, but his worries were lost on his wife, who brushed it off and skipped ahead. "I heard Ichigo saying something about a fair today." She said, smiling. "Why don't we go?"

Shaking his head, he sighed and said, "Alright, but lets go to the Kurosaki's and change first." Taking her hand, they walked down the sidewalk, only a few minuets from Ichigo's house.

Someone exited a nearby store, and after a glance, Toshiro realized it was the girl from before, the one who asked him to lunch- she started, then put on a beguiling smile and approached. "Funny running into you here!" she cooed.

His grip tightened on Mitsuki's hand. "Indeed." He said, staring back coldly. "May I help you?"

She twirled a finger through her hair. "Well, I was wondering if you would accept that offer for lunch."

Mitsuki, who was ignored, narrowed her eyes- then she smiled brightly. "Toshiro, is this a friend of yours? You never told me!" Holding out a hand, she said, "I'm Mituski. You are…?"

"Hiro Mine." She said warily.

"Nice to meet you, Hiro-chan." She said, shaking the girl's hand. Toshiro, laughing inwardly, said, "I forget, I haven't properly introduced you yet- even though we aren't exactly introduced ourselves." He said, much to Mine's mortification. "This is Mitsuki, my wife."

"You're married?!" the girl gasped.

Mitsuki elbowed him. "Oh, he's being silly. He likes to say that, since we promised to marry each other when we got out of college. A childhood vow, you see. Not that I'm complaining." She said happily.

Though Mine relaxed, she didn't have time for a reply- Toshiro was already walking off. "We need to get home. Nice meeting you." He said.

Once they were around the corner, he confronted her. "What was that all about?" he demanded. Mitsuki rolled her eyes. "People in this day and age get married after college, Toshiro. I don't exactly know what time you arrived at the soul society, but it's changed since you've been, well, a human." After a pause, she said, "Though I do think she will leave you alone from now on."

"That was a clever comeback." He admitted. "Though I doubt she'd stop."

"Never know until you try. Now, are we going back to Ichigo's or not?" She said airily. "Race you there!" She took off, charging down the street- after a second of surprise, Toshiro raced after her, beating her to the door. "Don't do that! You could faint!" he chided. Mitsuki sighed. "Practice is worse then that." She grumbled, but let him help her to their room, where she instantly crashed. Asleep even before her head hit her pillow, she mumbled something and settled down.

Toshiro went to the kitchen for some lunch, and spotting Karin, he instantly knew how to distract himself from worrying about Mitsuki. Opening the refrigerator and pulling out sandwich ingredients, he turned to Karen "I was going to go play a few rounds of soccer. Care to join me?"

Karin's eyes widened. "Of course! Let me go change!" she said, dashing upstairs. Shaking his head, he ate the hastily made sandwich before she came dashing back down again. "How long do you want to play?" she asked, tossing him the soccer ball.

He caught it and glanced at the clock. "About an hour." He said, heading toward the door. Karin followed him like a puppy, and though he was annoyed at her antics, he didn't let it show, as usual.

Though he beat Karin in every round, he barely noticed she had gotten better- his mind was elsewhere, with Mitsuki, thinking of the days when she had just joined tenth squad, and he was giving her private lessons. Her zanpaku-to, revealed for the first time to be the winged unicorn, had completely stunned him. His feelings soon changed when he saw how easy it was to beat her. But her determination to get better and her truly caring nature intrigued him, and he found he was getting closer to her, not only to find out about her past, but just because of who she was- strong, kind, and an overall carefree individual. She was, literally, the opposite of him, his other half- when he thought he had lost her, not once but twice, he nearly died inside. He swore he would never go through that again. Viciously he kicked at the soccer ball, making it sail into the air and into the goal.

"That was amazing!" Karin said. "Can you teach me how to do that?" He blinked, and then shrugged. "I guess. I wasn't really thinking about it though." Running over to get the soccer ball, he grabbed it just as an explosion rocked the ground. He staggered, glancing at the direction of the noise- the ball dropped, forgotten, to the ground as he saw the plume of smoke. Instantly, he was out of his gigai and racing toward the damage. Karin followed, falling rapidly behind.

Toshiro skidded to a halt, staring down at the confusion and wreckage in front of him. Humans ran around in a panic, screaming, not noticing the group of hollows that had landed there. Drawing Hyorinmaru, he called for the giant water-ice dragon, sending it flying strait and true at the nearest hollow.

Before he could slice it, another zanpaku-to carved its way through- Zangetsu. Ichigo was wielding it expertly, Rukia right behind him- they joined Toshiro, all three defeating the hollows with ease.

As the last one faded away, Toshiro was about to sheath his sword when he heard Rukia inhale sharply. Immediately he and Ichigo turned. There, in front of them, was the same grey-cloaked figure as before. This time, however, it spoke.

"Where is the wielder of the unicorn?" it said, the sound distorted and fragmented, as though passing through a fog. "Where is she?"

Toshiro's eyes narrowed. It was talking about Mitsuki- who else would it be? Only a select few knew about her sword's spirit, and even then some of the few had only an inkling of what it was. "None of your business." He said coldly.

The figure laughed- an eerie sound. "Oh, it is very much my business." It snarled. "Very much so…"

"What do you want?" Ichigo demanded, shoving in front of Toshiro. "Why are you here?"

The figure began to fade. "Only the luna unicorn will know…only the luna unicorn…" it said, and then it was gone. The only trace that it left was a small glimmer of sparkles that seemed to hang in the air, but soon shimmered out of sight.

"This isn't good." Toshiro said, sheathing Hyorinmaru. "What does she want with Mitsuki?"

"She was talking about her?" Rukia said, concerned- Toshiro nodded. "Hogosha Chuusin's spirit is a unicorn, and it controls the moon." He said. "I've got to talk to Mitsuki about this."

Karin raced up from where she had been hiding around the corner of the building. "Who was that?" She demanded.

"We have no idea." Ichigo said, annoyed. "Left before we could find out. He turned to see Toshiro already racing away. Shaking his head, he said, "Might as well return home."

Toshiro went back to his gigai before leaving to return to the Kurosaki household. Going upstairs, he was relieved to find Mitsuki still asleep, apparently undisturbed. Sighing silently, he gently woke her, and she blinked up at him, sleepy. "Is it time already?" she mumbled.

He helped her up. "Yes, Mitsuki, and there's something I need to ask you- just now the figure from before appeared, and she wanted to know where you were. When Ichigo asked what it wanted, it said, 'only the luna unicorn will know.' It was talking about you, Mitsuki. Do you have any idea what it means?"

Mitsuki's eyes had widened, and she stared at him, panicked. "Please tell me you misheard it." She whispered. Confused, Toshiro shook his head. Mitsuki closed her eyes. "Of all the things to happen…why this….why now…?"

"Mitsuki, what is it talking about?" he demanded. Mitsuki opened her eyes and looked at him sadly. "The figure…it wasn't-isn't- an 'it'. It's a she. And her name…is Chiyo."


OMG!! 0.0 Who saw that one coming?

And don't forget to review :D Please, constructive criticism is nice to have. I don't mind it. I love hearing from you guys!