Author's notes: I'm not entirely certain when the cut-off point is for determining which birthdates fall in the same school year around the world (it's the first of September in the UK, which would make Ichigo the younger if they were in the same school year, but I think it might be around April in Japan?), so I'm going to go ahead and assume that Ichigo and Uryu were born in the July and November respectively of the same year, making Ichigo just under four months older than Uryu. Also, I'm not entirely sure on when babies start crawling/walking/talking/teething et cetera. Just a warning in case I've screwed anything up in terms of that. :)
Christmas for the Kurosaki family had been such a busy affair that they hadn't got around to putting away the decorations until the middle of January. Although neither Masaki nor her husband were in a hurry to take down the pretty lights and the plastic tree, it had rather alarmed her when their six-month-old son had crawled over to the tree and nearly choked on a bauble, so they made the decision to take down the remaining decorations as soon as possible
"Look, Isshin!"
Masaki Kurosaki plucked a card depicting a snowy scene from the wall, reached inside and handed a short letter with a photograph attached over to her husband. "I had forgotten about it until now, but the Ishidas included this in our Christmas card. Their son was born in November, look!"
Isshin gave the picture of an inky-haired baby a once-over, noting smugly that the Ishidas' sprog was far smaller and weaker-looking at a month old than Ichigo had been when he was born. Smiling fondly at the orange-haired toddler who was currently reaching for the electrical sockets, Isshin turned back to his wife. "That's nice. And how's... DAMN IT, ICHIGO, STAY AWAY FROM THE SOCKETS!" he roared, realising that his son was about to electrocute himself. Ichigo jumped back, his eyes wide and brimming with tears, and his parents both rushed over to him.
"I'm sorry, son," Isshin said softly, gently patting the boy's head as Masaki picked him up and cradled him in her arms. "You can play with electricity as much as you like when you're older, but you're a bit young at the moment."
"Isshin!" Masaki said, scandalised, and Isshin responded by grinning broadly.
"Well, he's probably going to end up developing his own powers some day. If I banned him from ever playing with electricity and his powers turn out to be lightning-based, I'll look a bit stupid, won't I?"
Masaki stuck out her tongue as she set the reassured toddler back down on the floor. "Are you sure you don't look stupid already, goat-face?"
Isshin adopted a dejected expression. "You mean you don't like the beard?"
Masaki giggled. "It looks stupid, but it suits you. Take whatever you like out of that," she said.
"I'll take it as a compliment, I guess," Isshin decided, looking back towards their son, who had picked up the photograph of the Ishida offspring from the floor.
"Ba ba," Ichigo burbled, holding the picture out to his mother. Masaki smiled softly and took the picture from Ichigo.
"Yes, Ichigo, it's a baby," she confirmed, sitting down on the sofa and drawing the toddler onto her lap. "He's your second cousin. Would you like to meet him?" Ichigo nodded enthusiastically.
Isshin blinked. "Um. Masaki? Are you really sure that's a good idea?"
"Yes," she said decisively, setting their son back down on the floor and keeping half an eye on him as he crawled off. "Ichigo is half-Quincy and half-Soul Reaper, so he will always be different. He will likely always be cut off from your side of the family, and the Ishidas are the only family I have. It would be nice for him to have a cousin, and the same goes for little Uryu Ishida. Besides," she confided, "if the poor boy turns out to be like his father, he may need a bit of extra help making friends."
"So, what? Are you going to invite the Ishidas around?" Isshin asked, just as there was an almighty CRASH from the other side of the room and the pair turned to see an astonished-looking Ichigo sitting on the floor, a foot away from the toppled Christmas tree, the floor around him coated with shattered glass baubles.
Masaki gasped. "Stay where you are, sweetie," she instructed Ichigo, leaping to her feet and gingerly stepping around the glass to pick Ichigo up off the floor and hold him against her hip. "No," she said, addressing Isshin again. "It would be easier for us to take Ichigo over to theirs. Also, that way, Ryuken couldn't wriggle out of seeing us!"
Isshin nodded, regarding the mess on the floor. "You're right. If there's to be any destruction, it's best we just let Ryuken clear it up."
"You're such a child, Isshin," Masaki chastised, poking him in the ribs with her spare hand. "Although," she said, thoughtfully, "Kanae would probably do a better job of clearing up broken glass than I ever could, it's true..."
The next week found the three Kurosakis standing huddled on the Ishidas' doorstep, bundled up in warm coats.
"Right, the second Ryuken starts grumbling about hollows, we're out of there," Isshin hissed, bouncing Ichigo in his arms as Masaki pressed the doorbell, frowning at Isshin.
After a few seconds, the Kurosakis heard the sound of light footsteps and the door was opened by a slim woman with straight, black hair.
"Kanae!" Masaki squealed, throwing herself at her old friend who stumbled back in surprise.
"It's good to see you again, Masaki," Kanae stammered, subtly attempting to disentangle Masaki's arms from where they were clamped around her torso.
Isshin softly trod on Masaki's right foot until she got the message and let go of Kanae. "Isshin Kurosaki," he said, nodding at the woman. Kanae straightened her dress, which had been creased by Masaki's glomp, and smiled.
"I remember," she said, inviting the Kurosakis into the hall. "We met a couple of years ago at your wedding. And this must be Ichigo," she finished, looking at the smiling toddler in Isshin's arms.
"Is little Uryu with his father?" Masaki enquired, taking off her shoes and leaving them by the door.
Kanae nodded. "Yes. Ryuken can be a bit clueless, but he's besotted."
"That sounds like him," Masaki conceded, as the former maid led the group through the hall and into the living room.
The Kurosakis followed Kanae into the room and Ichigo's eyes lit up; in the corner of the room was an enormous tree decked to the nines in tinsel, baubles and tasteful white fairy lights.
"Ryuken!" Masaki exclaimed, rushing over to her cousin and giving him a one-armed hug, being careful not to squash the tiny baby in his arms. "So this is Uryu?" she asked, sitting down on the sofa and examining the sleeping infant. "He's so cute! He looks exactly like you did in your baby pictures!"
Isshin snorted with laughter, only to receive a glare from the white-haired Quincy. "Ryuken," he acknowledged, inclining his head towards the man and sitting down by Masaki, placing Ichigo in her lap.
All four adults watched as Ichigo peered down from his mother's lap into Uryu's face. "Ba ba!" he chattered, grinning broadly and clapping his little hands together with glee.
"Yes, Ichigo, that's Uryu. He's your cousin," Masaki explained patiently. Ichigo tilted his head up to look at Masaki and beamed, before reaching out a hand and playing with baby Uryu's shock of black hair.
"Oo-oo," Ichigo babbled.
Ryuken visibly held his breath as Uryu sleepily opened one deep blue eye, before it fluttered shut again in disinterest.
"He's fine, Ryuken," Kanae reassured her husband. Ryuken looked uncertain.
"I just don't want him to wake up and start crying," Ryuken muttered. "It's such an ugly noise."
"He's fine, darling, Ichigo just wanted to see him," Kanae said smoothly. "Now, Masaki, Isshin, would you like coffee?"
"Yes please!" Isshin declared.
Ryuken raised an eyebrow as his wife left the room. "Are you really sure you need it, Soul Reaper?"
"I certainly will if you're going to be so grumpy," Isshin responded cheerfully. "Lighten up, Ryuken, you've sprogged. Your purpose in life is complete!"
"Oh, shut up, Isshin," Masaki said, poking her husband in the ribs with a smile on her face. Ryuken looked distinctly unamused.
The five sat in a very slightly awkward silence until Kanae returned, carrying a tray of mugs of coffee. Ryuken gingerly carried his son over to a blanket-covered baby bouncer in the middle of the floor, setting him down softly so that he wouldn't wake, before sitting back on the sofa next to Masaki and accepting his mug from Kanae.
Masaki reached for a mug and Ichigo used the distraction to slip off his mother's lap and crawl over to his baby cousin.
"Oo-oo!" Ichigo repeated, pointing a tiny finger at the sleeping Uryu.
Isshin smiled indulgently. "Yes, Ichigo, that's Uryu," he confirmed.
"And you had better not wake him up," Ryuken grumbled. "He's a nightmare to get to sleep, he fusses so much."
Masaki blinked. "So, Kanae," she said, hastily changing the subject. "I see you've still got your tree up! I wanted ours to stay up for a bit longer, but it came down last week..."
"It certainly did!" Isshin interrupted.
"Yes," Kanae said. "Ryuken's been busy with work and I've been taking care of Uryu. There just doesn't seem to be enough time."
At that moment, there was a wail from the centre of the room and the adults glanced in the direction of the babies. Ichigo was poking Uryu's cheek, as though he had never seen a baby before and wanted to work out exactly what its purpose was. Masaki winced when Uryu's right leg flew into the air and smacked Ichigo in the face, causing both toddlers to burst into tears.
"Uryu!" Kanae exclaimed, rushing to her son's aid and picking up the squawking infant, cradling him in her arms. Masaki leaned forwards and held out her hands towards Ichigo, who was crawling towards her, but upon looking at her face his tears disappeared and he began giggling instead, heading off to play with a felt sheep near Uryu's bouncer.
"I'm sorry our son scared Uryu," Masaki said, turning towards her cousin, who folded his arms and frowned.
"Everything scares him, Masaki," Ryuken pointed out. "Take that sheep over there. He can't look at it without crying."
Masaki shared a look with Kanae. "I don't blame him, that thing scared me enough when I made it seven years ago," she laughed. "All the same, Kanae did a really good job of making it look a bit less possessed. It almost looks normal, now!"
Masaki's musing was cut short, however, when there was a flash over by the window and a surprised yelp. Masaki gasped in horror as all of the lights fused and the room was hurled into darkness, the only sources of light being the moon visible through the window and a softly glowing Ichigo sitting by an electrical socket, the wire of the tree's fairy lights noticeably cut in two.
"Whoops," Isshin offered by way of apology. "He's teething."
Ryuken sighed heavily as Uryu was set off again. "Kanae, would you?" he asked, taking the baby off his wife, who scurried from the room. However, before she could turn the lights back on from the central controls, the glowing Ichigo got to his feet and made his way over to the corner of the room.
"Is he walking?" Masaki wondered aloud. "I didn't realise six-month-olds could do that..."
"It's a weak Ransutengai," Ryuken murmured. "Looks like he takes after you, Masaki. Not that that's a bad thing..."
CRASH.
The lights turned back on to reveal a scene of utter chaos; half a string of fairy-lights were hanging from the curtain rail, a gold plastic star was perched on Ryuken's head and Ichigo was sitting in the middle of the room, once more surrounded by tree, tinsel and shattered glass baubles.
Kanae ran back into the room and gasped, the silence breaking when Uryu once more began crying.
"That's twice in as many weeks," Isshin muttered to Masaki.
"Well," Masaki declared, springing out of her chair, picking Ichigo up and heading for the door. "It was nice to see you both, and to meet Uryu!" she said, dragging Isshin behind her. "We had better be off now. I'll be in touch!"
Masaki dragged her boys from the room and showed herself out, not even stopping at the sound of Ryuken calling her back into the living room. Once the Kurosakis had put their shoes back on, Masaki led Isshin and Ichigo from the house, and as soon as they were clear of the gate, Isshin snorted with laughter.
"Nice one, Ichigo!" he exclaimed, holding his son's tiny hand up for a high-five. "Thanks to you we didn't even have to spend five minutes with Ryuken!"
"Shush!" Masaki said in a mock-scandalised voice. "Ryuken's not that bad"
"He was rather grumpy, though, you have to admit," Isshin decided, swinging Ichigo's arm side-to-side until the toddler giggled.
Masaki adopted an expression of contemplation. "Yeah, well, he does have a newborn baby in the house. Still," she said, thoughtfully. "He really loves his son."
"Oh yeah, that's plain to see," Isshin concurred.
"Oo-oo!" Ichigo piped up, eliciting laughs from his parents as the three continued walking down the snowy road towards their home.