Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. I do however own all of the OC's in the story, unless stated otherwise.

AN: Sorry about last chapter. The fight scene at the end got cut out along with about 800 other words, so they will just be placed in this one. Also, I kind of got hit with writers block. I'm sorry if this came out a little later than I have been releasing them. Also the line break button has disappeared from my computer, so i apologize for the crappy line breaks.

Chapter 3: Shikai

Once you work up enough courage, you knock on Nanao's door. Standing there in anticipation for your date, you think about Soi Fon. Maybe Shi no Dansu was right. Maybe you just need to ask her and hope for the best. What's the worst that could happen?... Well she could kill you. Ok maybe you shouldn't be that direct with her, but if you don't ask soon, then you may lose a chance that you can never get back.

You hear the door handle turn and look up to see Nanao. Your mouth hangs open. She looks absolutely amazing. Her dress is a deep red, with just one strap. She is wearing a red lipstick to match.

She stands, blushing furiously. "Wow. You look amazing Nanao." She looks at her feet with that last comment.

"Thank you Hiroto. You look very nice as well."

You smile wide at her blatant liking of your suit. "Well, shall we get going then?" She nods, and steps outside, locking her door behind her. Her steps fall in synch with yours as you head off.

"So where are we going?" She looks at you, her eyes begging for you to reveal the evening plans in store for her.

"There is a great restaurant in the 2nd district that just opened up. I know the couple who owns it, so o got a reservation for us. After that I thought a sunset stroll through the park near their restaurant would be nice. I mean, if that's ok with you of course!"

She looks up at the sky dreamily. "That sounds absolutely lovely." You continue walking for a while. Nanao brushes against your side gently. You look over at her and she gasps slightly.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean anything by that! Please forgive me!" She sputtered quickly, and moves to step away from you.

You grab her shoulder tightly. She looks up at you with her eyes wide. You just smile down at her. "Hey it's ok. We are on a date technically. Couples are supposed to be close." You let go of her shoulder and extend you hand to her. Her eyes widen even further. She tentatively accepts you gesture, and interlocks her fingers with yours.

Now, with a happy grin on Nanao's face, you both continue your walk towards the Seireitei walls, oblivious to the shadow that is still following you both.

Once outside of the restaurant, you both unlace your fingers, much to Nanao's displeasure.

Not a moment later, a rather tall girl with long blue hair burst through the doors and tackles you.

Nanao looks terrified and steps in to save you when another girl, shorter than the first and with mid length brown hair, grabs her shoulder.

"Just let them finish. If we don't they will be like this all night. Oh, I'm sorry, but we haven't met before. I'm Sotomi Igarashi That crazy lady with the blue hair over there is my wife, Kyo. We own this place. It's nice to meet you!"

Nanao looks back to you in panic, but finds that you and Kyo are laughing and talking about nonsense, and so she relaxes a bit.

"Nice to meet you both as well. My name is Nanao Ise, Lieutenant of the 8th division, but feel free to call me Nanao. Formalities don't seem necessary since you two are friends with Hiroto."

Once you and Kyo calm down, you straighten up, cough lightly, and apologize to Nanao about the interruption.

She smiles at you. "It's ok. They are your friends after all." The two women look at you incredulously.

"You didn't tell her?" Kyo practically yelled the last part at you. Nanao raises her eyebrows in confusion.

"Tell me what?"

Kyo looks at Nanao. "Well I'm his friend, but Sotomi..."

Sotomi looks directly at Nanao. "I'm his mother."

What the hell!? That was the obvious expression on Nanao's face.

"I thought your mother died!"

"Technically speaking, Sotomi is adoptive mother, but I consider her more of a friend." You speak while look at your feet. No one else knows about this. You know you can trust Nanao with this, but you just don't want them to get hurt.

BOOM!

A loud explosion echoes close by. Your head snaps towards it. A hollow. By the spiritual pressure it feels like an Adjucha. You turn towards your mom, Kyo, and Nanao.

"Stay here. I can take care of this. I don't want you girls to get hurt."

Nanao gibes you a look of doubt. "I'm going with you. I can handle myself."

"What level kido can you use? Because last I checked, neither one of us has our zanpakuto. This was supposed to be a date remember?"

Nanao looks away in embarrassment. "Yeah that's right. Both of us don't have our zanpakuto."

You close your eyes and focus for a second. Shi no Dansu materializes in sword form above you. You reach out and grab the hilt of your sword. You turn to Nanao with a grin.

"What was that you were saying?" She gives you an evil glare, but backs down.

"Just hurry back in one piece." A roar rips through the air in front of you.

"Never mind, I guess I'm not going anywhere." The hollow walks into sight. It appears to be about 15 feet tall. It has dark purple splotches all over its body and has a horn protruding from its forehead and the back of each forearm. It gazes at you with a hatred burning through its empty eye holes in its mask. Then it speaks.

"You smell tasty." Its voice reverberates off nearby buildings, causing a massive echo. "Would you care to die?"

You look at it with intensity. "Maybe some other time. I have date to get back to, so let's make this quick."

You raise you zanpakuto directly over your head and point the blade towards the ground. The only way you can have a chance at defeating an Adjucha is if you release your shikai. No one outside of the 11th division, with the exception of Head Captain Yamamoto and Yoruichi, has seen your shikai or Bankai. You hesitate for a moment, but decide that your pride is nowhere near as important as the lives of your friends and mother.

You see Nanao's eyes widen, realizing what you are about to do. You strike the ground with your blade. "Die, Shi no Dansu." The blast from the release pushes back the three girls, but doesn't faze the hollow. Once the blast dies down, you see tour zanpakuto's transformation.

Shi no Dansu still looks like a normal zanpakuto. However the blade is now slightly serrated down one whole side. The blade itself is now a lavender color, border lining on white, and the black cloth around the handle has grown to about a foot long.

You give the blade a test swing. Satisfied, you charge the hollow with you sword at your hip.

The hollow roars in defiance and charges you as well. It swings at you with its horned arm. You jump and barely dodge it. Rushing past its next swing, you slice across its stomach, leaving a shallow cut. It kicks you away and charges up a deep purple cero.

As you skid to a halt, the hollow fires its cero. In that instant, you know you can't block the cero, its too powerful. You also know that the girls are directly in the cero's path. You make a decision. You take the hit.

Your whole body feels like it is on fire. You can hear the girls screaming as you fall to one knee. Your breathing is ragged. Your clothes are burnt and are producing an unpleasant smell.

The hollow proclaims its premature victory when it sees you rise to your feet shakily.

"Just die already!" It roars again and charges at you. You raise your zanpakuto to your hand, cutting into it.

"Jigoku no Kama." The blade glows intensely with white energy. As the hollow reaches you it swings its arms. You barely dodge one but are hit by the other and go flying sideways.

You hit the ground rolling. It lowers its head for another cero when you see an opening. You rush towards it, as fast as your injured body is capable of. You slide beneath its head as the cero fires, destroying a building behind you. You take the opportunity to slice across its chest.

You roll out the other side and the hollow turns to face you. "Is that all you got puny Soul Reaper. I'll kill you in this last move!" It starts to walk slowly at you. It stares at itself I'm surprise. "What? What the hell is this? Why am I moving so slow!?"

You walk towards it slowly. "Jigoku no Kama. It's one of my zanpakuto's abilities. By cutting myself, my zanpakuto is able to transfer energy into the next living being it cuts. That energy hinders movement below the neck. It will slowly disappear from you system over time. Since my current energy leave is below normal, and taking into account your energy level, it should wear off completely in about 45 more seconds, but by then you will be dead. Goodbye hollow. Have a great time dying."

It roars one last time before you cut its mask in half. It disappears in a burst of darkness and blood. You stumble forward, but catch yourself before you hit the ground. By now the girls have rushed over to you, concern plastered across each of their faces.

You stand up straight and look at them. "I'll be fine. I just need some rest is all." Nanao helps you back to the restaurant, now vacant from the hollow attack. They all help you to lay down in the back on a spare table.

You turn and face Nanao. "I'm sorry our date is ruined now." She just smiles at you and waves it off as no big deal. You lay silent for another minute before asking her a question. "I remember that I wanted to talk to you about a problem I'm having. Well, basically, I like this girl and I need to find out if she likes me before I say anything about it to her."

Nanao is taken aback by the looks of her shocked expression. She mumbles to you. "The best way would to be just to tell her how you feel. The worst that could happen will be that she says no."

You contemplate for a minute. She does have a point. So what if Soi Fon says no. If she does, then at least you could move on with your life. "Thanks Nanao. I'll keep that on mind." With that you drift off into darkness, rest being the only thing on your mind.

You awoke later that night to find yourself still on the table in the restaurant. Popping your back as you sit up, you look around for one of the girls. They all seemed to be preoccupied because none of them are there. You shrug it off, knowing full well that they probably have better things to do than watching a man sleep. Throwing your legs over the table, you stand up popping your back as you do.

You exit the back room to find Nanao sleeping in a chair behind the counter. You smirk lightly. She didn't want to leave you alone for the night, so she slept at the restaurant. You shake her lightly. No response. You shake her a bit harder, but still no response. Sighing, you teach underneath her legs and behind her back and pick her up bridal style.

Careful to avoid injury to her, you step around the chair and shuffle sideways through the door. Now in the open air you see it is very late. Starting off in direction of Nanao's place, you plan to drop her off before heading home yourself.

Once you arrive at Nanao's place, you carefully and quietly unlock the door with one hand while holding Nanao with the other. You open the door only to trip over the entryway. Falling onto your back, you clutch Nanao to your chest as to keep her from getting hurt.

The fall jolts Nanao awake. She sits up, straddling your waist, looking around before realizing she is sitting on something. She looks down to see you looking back at her. She squeals, and starts apologizing over and over.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for this to hsppen.! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Pushing yourself into a sitting position so you can look Nanao on the eyes. She is blushing severely at the closeness of you both. You stay that way for a minute before Nanao leans towards you.

Your brain shuts down. She is going to kiss you. She is trying to kiss you and your not trying to stop it. She is only an inch away at this point. Your lips brush against hers. She looks at your eyes, as if asking if this is okay. Trembling, she awaits an answer.

Not thinking properly, you lean in and kiss her. She gasps into your mouth as you make the move, but she goes with it without any hesitation. You feel her hand running through your hair. Her grip tightening as you deepen the kiss.

Her tongue flicks across your lips, as though demanding entrance. You hesitantly part your lips for her and allow entrance. After a moment you break the kiss, pushing her off your lap. Her cheeks noticeably flushed and her eyes glazed over, she falls back onto the ground, breathing heavily.

You stand up and make for the door when Nanao grabs your hakama.

"W-where are you g-going?" She stutters slightly confused by your actions.

You stop at the door. "I'm sorry Nanao. Your very pretty and a very nice girl, but your not the one that I like. I... I like Soi Fon. I'm sorry." With that said, you walk out leaving a confused, now sobbing, Nanao on the floor.

Noticing that the lights are on in your place, you figure something is horribly wrong. Slowly opening the door, you hear a woman's voice.

Wait? That voice? That must be Yoruichi. Once you have confirmed it was indeed Yoruichi, you step inside.

"Hiroto! Long time no see!"

"Hey Yoruichi. When did you get back to the soul society?"

"About 20 minutes ago. I told you when we got back we could catch up."

You give her a weird look. "What do you mean, we?"

"Lady Yoruichi, where did yo-" In from the hallway, walks Soi Fon, wearing nothing but a towel, with her braids undone. She freezes upon noticing you standing in the doorway. Her face reddens slowly and she runs back down the hall.

You stand speechless. Soi Fon is in your house. She is wearing nothing but a towel... in your house. You look over at Yoruichi for some kind of explanation. She just smiles at you with her signature cat smile.

"So what happened after I left? Did my little Oto finally get laid?" She smiles at you with intensity. You look at your feet, remembering that you wanted to talk to her about Soi Fon.

"Listen Yoruichi. I really need to talk to you." She perks up for a second, but immediately quiets down once she realizes how serious you are being. You them proceed to tell her everything that happened from the moment she left, from the spar with Should no Dansu, all the way to the kiss with Nanao.

She sits for a minute, taking in everything that you said. "Then she speaks to you in a hushed voice, as to not alert Soi Fon.

"You know, I have talked with Soi Fon about something similar. Turns out she is into men, or at least one in particular. However, if you really do like her, you need to just tell her. She likes it when the guy is toward and doesn't beat around the bush."

You stare at her, blinking. Did she really just give you advice without making an innuendo? Well either way, she gave you the same advice as both Nanao and Shi no Dansu. All three of them couldn't be wrong, right?

"Thank you Yoruichi. This means alot to me. I'm in your debt."

"Well of you want to pay me back... Hey Soi Fon!" Yoruichi called down the hall where Soi Fon was still at. Probably due to my presence.

I gave a "what the hell!" look towards Yoruichi and made to rum out the door, when Soi Fon appeared, fully clothed this time.

She looked at me briefly, then back at Yoruichi.

"Lady Yoruichi, you called." Her voice echoed throughout your body. To hear that voice saying your name... you shiver at the thought.

"Yeah. I think Hiroto here needs to talk to you about something. On that note, I have some business with Byakuya. I'll catch you two later." With that she walks out the front door, leaving Soi Fon and yourself standing there alone.

"Well what is it you wish to talk to me about?"

"W-well I uh... I..."

"If you are not going to tell me, them there is no point in continuing this conversation. I will now take my leave." She starts for the door.

"Wait Captain." You call to her. She stops and looks back at you. "I.. I have a crush on... that is to say I like... I like you!" Soi Fon doesn't even look surprised. She just stares blankly at you.

"Is that all?" You cringe mentally at those words. You knew it. She doesn't like you. She is probably disgusted with you very prescence and can't wait to get away from you.

"Yes Captain, that is all." She turns back around and flash steps out of your house. Once she is gone, you pull yourself to your feet and shuffle to your bedroom.

You flop down on the bed, and for the first time since Yuyu died, you cried.

-Soi Fon POV-

Flash stepping away from Hiroto's place, you set out in search of Lady Yoruichi. You can't believe it. He likes you. Lady Yoruichi was right. You feel your cheeks heat up.

"Stop it Soi Fon! You're acting like a school girl who has finally gotten a boyfriend." You freeze for a moment. Boyfriend? He just said he like you and you already think of him as a boyfriend!? You really need to find Lady Yoruichi. She will be able to explain what you should do.

-Hiroto POV-

After about 20 minutes of crying you pull yourself out of bed and go to your kitchen. You sigh in exasperation. Well at least you know now...

Shi no Dansu appears next to you holding Oto Jr.

"Hiroto, I think Oto Jr wants a friend."

You look over at her inquisitively. "He needs a friend?"

"He's lonely."

When she says that, your eyes begin to water again. Lonely. Yeah, you can understand that. "Let's go get Oto a friend then."

Shi no Dansu looks up at you smiling widely. "Really?! Thank you Oto!" She hugs your waist. You can't help but feel happy for her. She doesn't know what you are going through yet. She can't share your sadness.

"I'll go get Oto Jr a friend tomorrow. Right now I need to sleep." You fill IP a glass with water and head back to your room with Shi no Dansu in tow. Once in your room, you set the glass down on your nightstand.

"Goodnight Oto. I'll be waiting for Oto Jr.'s friend."

You smile at her. "Goodnight Shi."

She dematerializes along with Oto Jr. You let your facade fall and once again sadness overtakes your being. How can you sleep with this on your mind. You might as well try so you look rested tomorrow for Shi no Dansu's sake. With that you try to let the darkness consume you.

The door to your room swings open. You tense up. You just want some sleep dammit, is that too much to ask for. Quickly you jolt out of bed to your zanpakuto. Drawing it you turn around and point it at... Soi Fon? You lower your sword out of respect.

"What brings you here tonight Captain Soi Fon?"

She closes the door behind her and sits down at the foot of your bed. She gives an audible sigh, which makes you nearly gasp. This can't be the captain you know. Soi Fon doesn't sigh.

She looks up at you, her face, which you can now see, is streaked with tears.

"We need to talk."

AN: One more thing before I close this chapter. Because of the way Hiroto trained, he is not able to converse with his zanpakuto spirit in the normal sense. She has to physically be there for him to talk to her. She can still sense his emotions, but she doesn't actually know what he is thinking. Hope that clears up any confusion that might arise.