Double Trouble

4. Odd Behaviour

Shiro peered over the top of the couch down at a sleeping Masaki. Her belly was extended and had been growing larger and larger over the months. At almost four years old, he'd grown out of his terror phase, though Ichigo hadn't. He still was the silent one out of the two of them, something that his mother couldn't understand. He'd gone from being a terror to her to being a sweetie. Like Ichigo, he was a mama's boy. The news of becoming a big brother had flipped his world upside down. He'd always been the baby of the family, having been born second to Ichigo gave him certain rights and now he was going to lose them. A part of him was angry at this development, but another side told him that it wouldn't be that bad.

A tug on his pant leg caused him to look down. He was standing on Ichigo's shoulder looking over from the back the couch. "What?" he asked too innocently. His black/golden eyes not betraying any sign of playfulness.

Ichigo didn't buy it. "Is she asleep?" he whispered.

Shiro climbed off of his brother's shoulders. "Yeah." He said as a half grin appeared on his face. "Let's go terrorize Goatface." Ichigo giggled at Shiro's nickname for their father. Shiro still could recall Isshin's phase of ignoring him, but then one day it had stopped, and the raven haired man began to shower him with affection and love. It still unsettled him, but he took it in stride.

The two boys quickly made their way from the living room into the hall that led towards the clinic. This time Ichigo got onto Shiro's shoulders to look into the clinic. Upon seeing nobody in the next room, he turned the doorknob. Both boys fell forward, giggles threatened to escape their lips, but before that could happen they both slapped a hand over each other's mouths. They waited for a second before standing back up and running to the office where they knew their father would be.

When they arrived at the large room, the door was left wide open. Looking into the room from the edge of the doorway, they both spotter Isshin doing a mountain of paperwork, a week's worth that he was behind on. They both smiled upon realizing that he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. Moving quickly, they both took a side of the desk to hide by and waited to strike.

Isshin on the other hand was about to call it a day. Ever since he and Masaki had found out that she was pregnant with another set of twins, something she blamed him for, he'd been taking extra shifts at the hospital, which had brought more business to their small clinic. He now had three times as many patients and for some reason every last one had decided to come and see him in the last week. With Masaki no longer helping him out, Isshin had found himself backlogged with paperwork. Thankfully Masaki only had two more moths before the babies were born, then only a month after that before she'd come back and help him.

Feeling sleep about to take over, Isshin yawned and leaned back into his chair. I could use a nap, he thought with a smile. In the old days I'd do just that, but now... Sighing he was about to go back to work when suddenly from either side of him two boys jumped out and screamed at the top of their lungs.

"RAWR!" Both Ichigo and Shiro jumped out of their hiding places. Both boys began laughing at he look of terror on their father's face before both decided to jump onto his lap.

Terror wasn't the word Isshin was feeling at the moment. With a hand over his chest, his heart felt like it was going to pop out of his chest. With a lap full of giggling boys, Isshin just shook his head at them. "Boys," he began as he finally calmed his heart. "What are you doing in here? You know it's off limits during the day." He was trying to sound stern, really he was; but as the smiling faces looked up at him, he found himself failing in that.

"We're bored!" Ichigo said, "Mama is sleeping again." Shiro just nodded in agreement. "Shiro and I wanted ta have fun. You're always fun."

Isshin got the point Because he was fun to be around, the boys had sought him out. Still... His eyes looked from the boys to the work he really needed to finish.

"P-Play?" Shiro stuttered as he spoke. It was a habit he'd begun to do in front of Isshin, along with peeing his pants if Isshin scared him too badly.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow at his brother. He really didn't understand why Shiro would get all scared whenever they were near their father. It made absolutely no sense to the other boy.

Isshin gave a sigh as he gave in to the twin's whims. "Alright." He told them. "Go get your coats. We'll go to the park and have fun."

"Yay!" came the twin yells before they hopped off of his lap and ran off to obey him.

Looking at the paperwork he chuckled. Oh well. He thought as he stood and began to follow his children. Tomorrow is another day.

~~

In order for Shiro to go to the park, he had to wear the dark glasses that blocked the sunlight. They were strapped to his head like his goggles had been when he'd been a baby. This was in order for him not to worry about them falling off of his face. He really hated the glasses. He never understood why he had to wear them. His eyes weren't sun sensitive like the doctors had originally thought. What most people, except for Ichigo, didn't know, was that he could see at night like he could during the day. Ichigo thought it was a cool ability, Shiro didn't.

Running around like a couple of idiots, the two boys practically tired themselves out in thirty minutes. Shiro was ready to go back home within that timeframe. Isshin picked him up and put him on his shoulders. Ichigo, however, wasn't ready and began to act out. No matter how many times Isshin yelled his name, Ichigo ignored him. Having enough, Isshin grabbed the little boy off of the jungle gym. This earned a lot of screams from the orange haired boy before suddenly he stopped moving.

Isshin figured Ichigo had tired himself out or something and continued to walk home with Shiro on his shoulders. The white haired little boy looked down at his twin as he was carried in Isshin's arms like a limp sack of noodles. Ichigo looked up at Shiro and suddenly Shiro felt a bit scared at the dark look in Ichigo's eyes. Just as they arrived at their home, Isshin was about to put Ichigo down in order to open the gate when Ichigo suddenly bit Isshin's hand causing the older man to drop him. Ichigo hissed at his father as he reached towards the boy before running towards the house and leaving Isshin in shock at what he'd just done.

"Brother scary when mad." Shiro commented from above.

Isshin looked up at the silver haired boy. Ichigo's behavior was not typical for human children, instead it reminded him of a Hollow. What the hell is going on? He wondered as he walked into the house only to find Masaki looking upset at him with a very innocent looking Ichigo clinging to her leg. Oh dear. What did the boy tell her? He thought before he was yelled at for having carried Ichigo the way he had only to drop him.

It was odd, but for once Shiro didn't enjoy watching his mother give Isshin a tongue lashing, instead he went upstairs to sleep and ponder on why Ichigo had bitten their father. In his dreams Shiro found himself under a crescent moon, black night sky and white desert with a large white marble building in the distance. This was in front of him. Behind him, he saw a city with skyscrapers going in all directions. He seemed to be in the centre of these two places. It was weird, but familiar at the same time. Then he saw two beings who seemed to be sleeping. He couldn't quite make them out, but something told him they were important. He just didn't know how or why. That's when the dream came to an end and he found himself once again in his shared bedroom with Ichigo.