Disclaimer: This is my ELEVENTH time to put this (because I now have eleven stories that are all Bleach. Hey for some, it's probably their twentieth time.) So look, I don't own it, ok?? I mean, it would be sweet if I did, I'm not gonna lie, but I just don't.
Summary: Being a captain to the Gotei Thirteen was pretty tough work, but raising a kid was even tougher. Ichigo and Rukia knew this well. Sequel to Unprepared Battles.
Wow, I got this up fast didn't I? C'mon, you guys know I update fast, and especially when I have everything going! Well, as soon as I started writing it, things just began to pour out! I've never done a sequel to one of my stories, so hopefully it will all work out! There will be humor and everything, but there will be drama too (I can't not put drama in a story).
Offspring
I Happy Burpday
It was early in the morning, too early, and too quiet.
Something was going to happen.
Something was about to ruin the peace that Kurosaki Ichigo felt as he rested on his bed early on a Saturday morning. There was a bad aura surrounding him, and he didn't think it was his wife, Rukia.
With the quickness of a bullet, he heard footsteps, small footsteps, enter the room. They stopped abruptly, but slowly started up again, moving at a much longer pace than before.
Ichigo kept his head turned the other way, waiting for the attack that was coming, the calm before the storm.
It felt like forever as he waited.
When something lunged onto the bed, Ichigo shot up, ready to defend himself, and Rukia if he needed to.
"Pull out your zanpaktou!" A small voice shouted as he moved quickly on the bed. Ichigo rolled over to Rukia, who was now awake and very well aware of the ambush. Grabbing a small wooden sword from the side of his bed, he came back, ready to fight.
"No! The real sword daddy!" The small vicious voice whined, pulling his paper bag mask further onto his face.
"Hajime, this is my real sword!" Ichigo defended. He didn't get to have another say as Hajime, who was currently a hollow, jumped onto him. Ichigo fell back, holding his sword up in defense.
"C'mon mommy, help me fight the shinigami!" Hajime cried. Rukia sat up with a smile.
"I thought you were supposed to kidnap me Hajime, and daddy save me." Rukia said with calmness. Hajime shook his head quickly.
"No. We're playing a new game. In this game, hollows are the good guys, and people like daddy are the bad guys. He's kidnapped you and taken you to his secret cave!" Hajime said with all the energy in the world. At least it was only eight in the morning instead of the usual time of six or seven. His head was covered by a brown paper bag with three holes cut for the mouth and eyes. Next to the mouth were drawn teeth similar to a hollow. Hajime had put on (by himself surprising) knee pads and elbow pads.
"Oh, right." Ichigo corrected, throwing Rukia a glare. She raised her eyebrows with doubt, but brought her playful smile back.
"C'mon mommy, I came to save you! Escape while you can!" Hajime cried again. Ichigo raised his sword.
"Alright Haji, you asked for it." Ichigo warned. Hajime's eyes filled with awe as he watched Ichigo hold the sword up high.
"I release my ultimate power." Ichigo said dramatically. Suddenly he dropped his sword on the ground, and grabbed Hajime. When he heard Hajime giggling loudly, he began to tickle the little adorable hollow monster.
"Mommy come save me!" Hajime yelled in between laughing.
"I think I'm going to join forces with daddy, and tickle you too!" Rukia exclaimed. Hajime cried no over and over again, but it was too late. Ichigo and Rukia had won the intense battle. Hajime was in tears after they tickled him so much, his dark orange hair an even bigger mess than before.
"Ok ok! You win!" Hajime exclaimed. Ichigo and Rukia both fell back, and Hajime pulled his mask off of his head.
"You fought hard Haji, I'm proud of you." Rukia said with deepness in her voice. Hajime just nodded his head, breathless on the bed. When he finally sat up, he crawled and sat in Rukia's lap, leaning his head against her chest.
"What's for breakfast?" He asked. Rukia rolled her eyes.
"Why don't you ask daddy. It's his turn to make something."
Ichigo threw Rukia a loving glare.
Hajime turned his attention to Ichigo. "Whatcha gonna make?" Hajime asked.
"Cereal." Ichigo replied.
"Ooh can I have the Chappy kind? With the marshmallow bunnies?" Hajime begged. Ichigo shrugged his shoulders.
"Sure kid. I'll let you pick what you want today." Ichigo began. "But can mommy and daddy sleep a little longer?"
Hajime put on a pouty face. "How much longer?" Hajime asked.
"An hour." Ichigo replied.
Hajime shook his head. "That's like…forever! How about five minutes?"
"What if daddy got up and went to make you breakfast, and you let mommy sleep?" Rukia suggested. Ichigo threw yet another glare at her.
"Why would you get to sleep in?" Ichigo asked.
"Yah." Hajime copied, throwing his head up to look at Rukia.
"Because today is my birthday, so you should treat me like a queen." Rukia replied smugly.
"Yah, I'll treat you like a queen. A queen of Rukongai!" Ichigo snarled back. Rukia picked up the wooden sword next to her, and bopped it on Ichigo's head. Hajime laughed.
"Again mommy!" Hajime encouraged. Rukia smiled and lighted the small thing to hit Ichigo again, but Ichigo yanked it from around her.
"That hurt Rukia!" Ichigo exclaimed, keeping a hand over where Rukia had smacked him. Rukia smiled at him.
"Serves you right, now go make Hajime some breakfast. I'll be up in an hour."
"Ok mommy. You can sleep since it's your…burpday."
Ichigo and Rukia both looked at the four year old son.
"Burpday? You mean birthday." Ichigo stated. After contemplating on whether or not he should continue to argue with Rukia on the sleeping matter, he decided to give in, and let her rest. She was usually the one to make Hajime breakfast all the time after all.
He stood on his feet and leaned down. "C'mon, I'll give you a piggy back ride downstairs."
Hajime's face lit up with a bright smile, and with a huge lunge, he jumped onto Ichigo's back, keeping his arms tight around his shoulders.
"You ready Haji?" Ichigo asked in his playful voice.
"Mhhm!" Hajime replied, and a second later they were rushing down the stairs.
It had been about five years since Hajime had been born, five wonderful, tiring years. Ichigo and Rukia were well caught up though, even though there was constant change. It still amazed Ichigo that their son was already four. Everything passed by so quickly.
After several minutes of getting down the stairs, because Ichigo did crazy turns and zigzag moves through all the hallways, Ichigo reached the kitchen.. Even though Ichigo was pretty dizzy , it was all worth to see Hajime's smile.
"Alright Hajime, we have to be quiet so mommy doesn't hear. Did you ever make her your gift?" Ichigo asked. Hajime nodded, his eyes full of determination like he'd completed some sort of mission.
"Good. I'll help you wrap it later when mommy goes out with Matsumoto and Hinamori, ok?" Ichigo asked.
Hajime shook his head, his expression changing from tough to excited. "Wouldn't it be cool if we killed a hollow for mommy?" Hajime suggested enthusiastically. Ichigo smiled.
"I'm sure mommy would love that." Ichigo replied, pulling out a bowl from the cabinet. He couldn't help but cringe when he grabbed the bright pink and purple box covered with…bunnies, Chappy bunnies to be exact.
Thank heavens Hajime was only four and couldn't tell the difference between what was good to like and what was horrible.
Ichigo began fixing Hajime's cereal, but stopped when he felt a tug on his Kimono. Looking down, he saw his four year old son staring at him with curious eyes.
Hajime could really be adorable sometimes. Alright, all the time.
"What's up Haji?" Ichigo asked. Hajime paused for a moment looking confused, but lifted his head back up again.
"Can I try?" Hajime asked.
"Try what Haji?" Ichigo replied. Hajime paused again.
"Can I try making breakfast? Mommy lets me sometimes." Hajime mumbled. Ichigo grinned.
"Sure squirt." Ichigo said and brought his arms around his small son. With one arm wrapped around Hajime's waist, he used his free hand to help Hajime pour the cereal in.
"Ok, take the box and pour just a little into the bowl." Ichigo instructed.
Rukia couldn't fall back asleep.
She'd been squirming around for several minutes, but it seemed like her body wouldn't allow her to rest any longer. Maybe it was because she wanted to join in on the excitement of seeing Ichigo and Hajime fighting one another, or maybe it was just that she always woke up around that time on the weekends.
Either way, Rukia rose from the bed and made her way downstairs.
It was her birthday, her 115th birthday to be exact.
Her day was already going well. She loved more than anything to see Hajime and Ichigo play together, especially on Saturday mornings like previously. Hajime was an energetic child, who currently had a fixation over hollows and shinigami. Rukia didn't know how she wanted to go about explaining what a hollow was to a four year old boy, but Renji, who had been dubbed Hajime's uncle, had taken the liberty of explaining what a hollow was in a four year old lingo type of way.
Hollows were bad, and shinigami were good.
Simple as that.
Rukia could live with it. Once he was older, and more aware of the world they lived in, she and Ichigo would explain what a hollow really was, and what they really did.
So now, Hajime had games he liked to play, mainly with Ichigo, where Hajime liked to fight as rather a hollow or a shinigami, and usually save Rukia, a.k.a. mommy, from the bad guys, whether the hollow or the shinigami were the bad guys.
Rukia chuckled. Hajime could be so…creative. It was just too cute to her to see what ideas he came up with.
Finally, when Rukia began approaching the kitchen, she heard some yelping coming from both Ichigo and Hajime.
Hoping that both of her children (Ichigo always acted like a child so she tended to calm them both her children) were alright, she dashed to the kitchen.
The sight before her was one she would never forget.
On the floor by the cabinet sat Ichigo and Hajime, milk and cereal covering them from head to toe. Ichigo looked dazed, and Hajime looked surprised.
They both lifted their heads at the same time to look at Rukia.
She began to laugh uncontrollably.
Rukia could only imagine Ichigo's angry look as he spoke. "It's not funny Rukia." Ichigo warned. When she heard Hajime begin to laugh next to him, Rukia only laughed harder.
"Wh-what happened?" Rukia asked in between laughing. She literally couldn't breathe.
"What's so friggin funny? I decided to let Hajime help make a bowl of cereal, and this is what ended up happening!" Ichigo said. He didn't sound angry, just irritated. They had to be careful with how they acted around Hajime. Getting mad and angry in front of a four year old would probably not be the best thing.
Rukia only laughed harder. "Why o-on Earth would y-you do that?" Rukia asked with disbelief.
"He said he wanted to try! And he said you've let him!" Ichigo shot back. Hajime suddenly stopped laughing.
"And you believed him?" Rukia asked, her laughing dying down to small chuckles. Ichigo finally stood from his spot on the kitchen floor, wiping off as much evidence of his stupidity as possible.
"I didn't think it would hurt to let him try, right Hajime?" Ichigo asked, turning his head to their small son. He just grinned and nodded.
"Ok, well Hajime can help you clean up this huge mess, and then you can give him a bath to clean him up."
"Awe!" Ichigo and Hajime cried at the same time.
"Why do I have to give him a bath?"
"Why do I have totake a bath?"
Rukia began stomping her foot on the ground so they knew how serious she was.
"Hajime, you should have known better than to lie to daddy like that. Ichigo, you shouldn't have been so naïve to let Hajime try to make cereal. He's only four."
"Four and a half!" Hajime shouted. Rukia raised her eyebrows to him.
"Do I need to take away your Chappy doll for an hour?" Rukia warned. Hajime shook his head slowly, his bottom lip sticking out.
"Now, help daddy clean this mess up, and then after you eat, I want you to take a bath. I'm going to change and go to my vice-captain's meeting. I'll probably be gone for a few hours, please try to keep the house clean." Rukia mumbled as she turned away from the kitchen.
When she reached the bedroom, she began chuckling again.
"I can be really mean sometimes." Rukia mumbled. Hajime had lied to Ichigo though, and Ichigo had been too much of a softie to say no to their son. It was extremely cute, but at the same time, she didn't want Hajime thinking he could do something like that all the time.
Lying was bad after all.
After getting dressed into her shinigami robes, Rukia made her way to the meeting, excited to tell Matsumoto and Hinamori of Ichigo and Hajime's adventure. They always like hearing about her stories.
It was seven o'clock at night, and people were going to start arriving in half an hour. Rukia had stated she didn't want a huge party, but Ichigo decided to ignore her, and invite all the friends he could. He decided to pay her back for all the times she invited people Ichigo didn't even like to parties for him.
Besides, Hajime would be thrilled to see all familiar faces.
"When are you coming downstairs? People are going to be here soon!" Ichigo yelled up the stairs.
"Just give me a few minutes!" Rukia replied.
He didn't know what she was doing. She was just wearing her shinigami robes. What could take her so long with that?
Finally, Rukia came down the stairs. She looked exactly the same as before, so Ichigo really didn't have a clue as to why Rukia had taken so long. He went to grab her and give her a little kiss before Hajime came, but Rukia didn't even glance up as she looked around the room.
"Where's Haji?" Rukia asked.
Of course, Hajime always came before Ichigo. It was that mother/son bond or something.
"Haji went with Renji somewhere. They'll be back in time for the party." Ichigo replied. Rukia stared at Ichigo for a second, but shrugged her shoulders.
"And you just let Renji take our son away? Sometimes I think Hajime sees Renji more than we do." Rukia stated with a chuckle. Ichigo rolled his eyes.
"Not likely." He replied, finally getting close enough to Rukia to get her attention. Ichigo grabbed her wrist and spun her around, so that she was facing him. Rukia set her arms against his chest, gazing up at him.
"Happy Birthday, midget." Ichigo whispered into her ear. He could feel Rukia's arms sliding around his neck, and as if he could read her mind, Ichigo lifted her up so that she could wrap her legs around his waist.
"Thanks, idiot." Rukia replied, and brought her lips onto Ichigo's. He hadn't gotten a single kiss from her, which was very out of the ordinary on a Saturday. They usually had several kissing moments throughout the day, whenever Hajime would go and play with his toys in his room.
But Hajime had insisted on spending the day with mommy once she got back from her vice captain meeting, and Rukia had to turn away the lovey-dovey romance.
Ichigo's arms tightened around her waist as the kissing deepened. It was nice to have the house to themselves, which didn't happen very often. When they both pulled away from each other, Ichigo didn't let Rukia go.
"Do I get to give you birthday spankings?" Ichigo asked. Rukia rolled her eyes.
"That would be a lot." Rukia replied, pecking him on the lips.
"Yah, you are pretty old, but at least you don't look old, or act old. In fact, you act like a child."
"Which is why I married you." Rukia finished.
He kissed her again, and with a little more force. Ichigo never got enough of her. It was like every time he kissed her that there was a new edge to the way she felt, something different, but in an amazing way.
Rukia pulling away abruptly caused a frown to form on his face. "I have to go check on some of the food." Rukia whispered.
Ichigo sighed and set her down, but not before stealing one last kiss from her.
When the time finally came, people began showing up.
He couldn't even name all the people there. Mainly people from Rukia's division, minus Ukitake because of his health conditions, but Sentarou and Kiyone came, arguing as they walked in the door, and some other comrades Ichigo had seen around.
Hitsugaya, Hinamori, Matsumoto, and Kenpachi's whole gang showed up. Rukia threatened to kick Ikkaku out since he insisted on brining alcohol in. Ichigo didn't want any around either, not with Hajime in the house.
Even Inoue, Chad, and Ishida showed up. Ichigo was surprised that his own father and siblings didn't come, but that didn't mean he wasn't glad. Isshin gave him a headache with the constant parenting and sex lectures, and the complaints of only one grandchild.
Kuchiki Byakuya showed up as well, though just as always, he had the expression on his face that looked like he had just smelt someone pass gas. Ichigo had a better understanding for the man though. He'd been great with Hajime, and helped Ichigo and Rukia when they needed it the most.
"I can't believe it Rukia! You're 115th birthday!" Matsumoto cried. "I hope you like what I got you!"
Ichigo chuckled at Rukia's bewildered expression. "I'm sure I'll love it Matsumoto." Rukia replied.
The party had taken an unexpected twist when Hajime and Renji came to the party. All the attention turned to Hajime, and his "adventurous" stories with Renji.
"Yah! And then we saw a huge snake! Renji killed it with his sword!" Hajime cried, his hollow paper bag mask covering his head once again.
"You killed a snake in front of my child?" Rukia asked in shock. Renji smiled at her crookedly. Ichigo smirked.
Although Rukia had specifically asked for a guest list of only ten people, she decided that twenty wasn't bad either. It was a good thing they'd decided to keep Hajime at the party, because about half the guests were in awe by Hajime's adorableness.
She felt proud of herself that she made such a cute little boy.
A hand falling on her shoulder startled her.
"I think it's time we opened presents." Ichigo whispered from behind her. She rolled her eyes, giving Ichigo a smile.
"Fine." She replied, smiling once again when Ichigo kissed her heck.
The presents were outrageous. First of all, Matsumoto got Rukia some extremely expensive face wash, saying that it would brighten up her complexion. What was wrong with Rukia's complexion exactly?
Hinamori got Rukia a Chappy doll that Rukia already had. She didn't have the heart to tell her she already had the same one. Byakuya got her a book called "Dealing with Insane Husbands". Even though Ichigo looked pretty annoyed, Rukia actually considered reading it.
All the other gifts were clothes, and a few things for her office at the division.
"Hajime, why don't you give mommy your gift." Ichigo insisted.
Rukia's eyes brightened as she watched Hajime plop down from Matsumoto's lap and walk to where all the gifts had been. On one of the chairs sat a small box covered in newspaper.
Ichigo obviously helped wrap it.
Hajime's grin didn't drop as he trudged to Rukia, holding the hand with his gift up high.
"Here mommy, Happy Burpday." Hajime said, the biggest smile possible forming on his face.
A loud awe swept through the room.
Rukia laughed again and began to open her gift. It was wrapped up so tightly. How much tape did Ichigo use anyways?
Her mouth dropped when she reached the gift.
The room was silent.
Wrapped in the newspaper was a picture frame with rocks and pieces of paper glued around the frame, and in the middle a drawn picture (similar to Rukia's style) of Hajime and Rukia.
"Did you draw this Hajime?" Rukia asked in surprise. He nodded his head slowly.
"Daddy got the frame, and I glued on all the stuff and drew the picture. I hope you like it." Hajime said back.
It was by far the best present she'd ever received in her entire life.
With one swift motion, Rukia pulled Hajime tightly into her arms, hugging the life out of him. He wrapped his tiny arms around her, burying his head in her shoulder.
"Thank you, Hajime." Rukia whispered.
"I love you mommy." Hajime replied.
The party ended following, and everyone went home. Rukia was still feeling wonderful from Hajime's beautiful gift to her. It amazed her that he had done all of that. Just knowing that he took the time to glue all the little pieces of rock and paper onto the frame, and the fact that he'd drawn a picture of them together brought her so much joy.
After putting Hajime to bed, Rukia went downstairs to help clean up.
"Hey, you haven't opened my present." Ichigo said from behind. Rukia turned around to see him standing in the living room.
Rukia smiled and took the small box from his hands. Just like Hajime's present, his was wrapped with newspaper, and had way too much tape.
"I know it's not much, but I thought you might like it." Ichigo mumbled.
Rukia laughed as she gazed at Ichigo's gift, rolling her eyes. "You and Hajime keep surprising me." Rukia whispered.
Ichigo took the ring from her hand, and placed it on her right index finger. "Why is it so surprising? I've gotten you jewelry before." Ichigo replied.
"But you've never gotten me a ring, minus when you proposed to me."
"So, do you like it?" Ichigo asked, sounding self conscious. Rukia rolled her eyes again.
"Of course I like it, dimwit." Rukia replied, and yanked Ichigo's head down so that she could kiss him.
—
A/N: Ok, I don't know about you, but I think Hajime is adorable. And his nickname is Haji, which is why Ichigo and Rukia were calling him that. This chapter was a lot longer than I thought it would be.
So what did you think? Was it a good start? I personally liked it, but it's all up to you! There's a lot to come, and I'm thinking this story is going to be approximately 10 chapters like my last one, but we'll see! It's crazy, but I already have the next chapter typed and ready to go!
PLEASE REVIEW!