Aizen's Kingdom (Bleach Fanfic)

Enter the She Cat

A soft breeze blew past the porch as Ichimaru sat with the small child held tightly in his arms. The sun finally set and the stars came out and he found himself wishing that Toshiro would in fact wake up and look at the stars too, knowing full well that the boy liked looking up at the sky, no matter what time it was.

"I guess the innate want to touch the sky is one of the things that has remained the same." Gin suddenly said aloud. A sound on the path coming to the house caused him to suddenly look away from the spot and he saw Tousen starring at him.

"Shouldn't that child be inside?" The man then walked into the house, past Ichimaru with a package in his hands.

Letting out a deep sigh, Ichimaru scooped the child into his arms and then carried him inside to lie on the futon. Glancing over to where the dark skinned man was, he watched as the man prepared a tea with the herbs he brought with him. The man then slid the tea over to where the small child was, and glanced at Gin, indicating that he should wake his son up.

The man reached over and shook Toshiro's shoulder, which caused the boy to stir. It took a few minutes for him to stir, and then Ichimaru helped him to sit up. The boy's bright teal eye suddenly looked at the cup and his mouth twisted up. "I don't like that stuff."

"Shiro-chan, you've got to take your medicine." Gin stated, suddenly holding the cup to the child's lips, wishing that there was some way to make the boy have an actual normal life. In one life, he had been left in the role of an adult and in this world, he was left so ill that he never had the chance to run around and play with the other children.

He watched as the boy swallowed the tea, and then flopped back down on the bed, burring his head into the pillow part of the futon. He remained quiet, until Tousen dropped something next to the small child. "I brought some of your favorite."

At that, Hitsugaya grabbed the bag and pulled it towards himself and opened it up, digging inside. Ichimaru expected the boy to pull out amanatto, but instead Toshiro pulled out a piece of dried persimmon and placed it into his mouth, chewing on it before he swallowed, and then let out a mummer of a thank you.

"I thought amanatto was your favorite?" Gin shook his head, his confusion suddenly growing.

At that, the small boy glanced up at that man, a smile filled with humor plastered on his face. "Oto-san, you know that is granny's favorite."

At that, Ichimaru felt the corner of his mouth suddenly twist up, not sure what to think about the situation. However, the child quickly drifted off to sleep while Tousen waited beside him, his zampaktuo pulled away from his waist. The sun went down and the old female suddenly prodded the fire to spread more light across the room.

It was then that footsteps were heard from outside and the silver haired man found himself glancing up in time to see a rather busty female come into the room. Rangiku's blue eyes suddenly turned to him and her mouth was turned up into a frown. "Tousen-san is here again. You've been drinking again, while you were on the job, haven't you?"

"Maybe." Ichimaru stated, turning his head away, knowing for a fact that he had stepped into something far out of his control.

It was then that Rangiku grabbed him by the front of his robes and pulled him up and outside the house. She pushed him away from the house, her face filled with a great deal of anger. "Why? Why do you have to make our lives hard like this?"

"The honest truth is, I don't have an answer for you." The man stated, his normal mask upon his facial features.

The woman then crossed her arms across her chest. "I want you to stay at Tousen-san's place for a week or two, until you get things straightened up."

"Ran..."

Gin found himself interrupted as she held up her hand. "I am not going to hear any excuses from you. I'll tell him that you've gone on another mission and won't be back for awhile. Just get yourself put back together."

At that, Ichimaru felt his mouth twist up into a frown, just as Tousen left the small house and grabbed him by the back of his uniform. "You don't want to have this escalate into a major argument. The last time the two of you had an argument, your son woke up and became emotionally distressed and had an attack. Your wife didn't just kick you out for a week or two, it was for four whole months."

"May I ask what our argument was about that time?" The man raised an eyebrow, waiting for an answer.

The dark skinned man allowed Gin to walk by himself, following behind him. "It was another argument about you not taking proper care of that child of yours."

"What did I do that time?"

The silver haired man suddenly found himself grabbed by the front of his clothing. Tousen's face twisted up with extreme anger. "Do you think all of this is a game, Hitsugaya?"

At that, Ichimaru's eyes widened, noting the name he had abandoned a long time ago. "My memory apparently has been fuzzy of late."

"You drink while at work. You lose your pay. You forget your pay. You forget about the medicine." Tousen then took a deep breath. "You also think it is all right to take him outside like you did today. Honestly, don't you understand that going outside raises the risk of him having an attack?"

At that, Ichimaru narrowed his eyes at the man. "The kiddo asked for me to take him outside."

At that, the other man suddenly punched him hard in the chin, causing Gin to fall to the ground. "What the child wants doesn't matter here! You are the parent, not him. Are you trying to kill him."

At that, the silver haired male wiped the blood away from his lip. "If he doesn't have long to live, I want him to have the chance to live while he still can, to have the chance to actually enjoy life. He may not be a normal child, but he deserves to have as many chances to be a normal child as possible. Do you honestly wish to tell me I am wrong about this?"