Two Souls, One Story

Chapter 12

It was currently the Second Saturday of the month and Rukia was hanging upside down off the monkey bars with a 3-year-old Ichigo hanging upside down from her hands. He was giggling loudly as she swung back and forth, very careful not to lose her grip, a wide grin on her face as she snickered softly.

In the distance, Rukia felt Izuru's spiritual pressure heading their way. He was tasked with killing Hollows since he was in the area anyway. The man appeared in the park, Gigai on and an annoyed look plastered on his face. "I wonder if the Quincies broke that Hollow summoning thing... There's an annoyingly high number of them lately."

Rukia swung Ichigo in a way that he was flipped, in which case she was able to grab his hands one at a time to carefully set the boy down on his feet so she could jump down from the monkey bars. "It could also be this one's newly developing spiritual energy. It's getting more and more powerful with each passing day..." She frowned. "We should talk to Kisuke about getting a suppressant for him, maybe in the form of a bracelet or necklace."

"Might be for the best..." Izuru watched the pair play. "Maybe it'll prevent... you know, the incident. I could also ask Captain Kurotsuchi if he could develop something. He's been bugging me to cash in some favors."

Rukia nodded, noticing Ichigo getting a bit nervous with the seriousness of the adults, and reached down to tickle the toddler. He giggled loudly. "Pretty soon the twins will be conceived." She said softly.

"Probably sometime next year, when we're with Ichigo. Give the parents a quiet home." He chuckled, reaching down to pinch at Ichigo's cheek. "What'dya think, lil man? Want baby siblings?"

Ichigo eyed him suspiciously. "Why?" He asked, crossing his arms only to get tickled again by Rukia. "I don't need sib-" He paused. "What's a sibling?"

"Brothers and sisters?" Izuru's answer was more like a question than anything else. "Rukia, have we been failing so badly he doesn't know what those are?!"

Rukia laughed lightly. "He's 3, Izuru. Besides this is the first time we brought this topic up in his presence." She frowned slightly. "If I remember correctly... Their birthday is around May... So they'd have to be conceived sometime this year... if they aren't already."

"Nah, not right now. Not unless the extra free time means we bumped Karin and Yuzu's births up by a whole year." The taller man paused and then grimaced. "Think we can convince them to change the girls' names?"

Realizing they'd been ignoring Ichigo, Izuru hoisted the child up by his ankles. "Wanna get ice cream?"

Ichigo cheered excitedly. "Yeah!"

Izuru carried the upside-down child with Rukia. "Wonder what honorifics he'll give us, once he's mastered more of the language? Doubt his mom is gonna let him just address us as Izuru and Rukia straight."

"I'm hoping he calls me Rukia-nee-chan!" She grinned brightly. Skipping along next to them, occasionally reaching over to tickle the cute child. "You really should probably flip him over, his face is going red. He's not like Kotarou." She said seriously.

Izuru rolled his eyes and flung the child into the air. Several mothers in the distance shrieked in fright, but he easily caught the squealing child. "I think I'd love to be called Aniki. Less syllables."

"Ane-chan would be cute... Or Onee-chan." She hummed and looked at the little boy who was breathless and giggling.

Izuru bought the kid a chocolate cone while he got a demented character pop. "Want anything, Rukia?"

"Double swirl with chocolate and strawberry?" She asked curiously, "Do they even do that? If not I'll just take a strawberry." She clasped her hands behind her back and looked at the tiny menu. "A girl could dream." She giggled.