Isshin and Masaki Kurosaki were returning from their nightly walk in the park when it hit. It was July 15th and up until five minutes ago, the sky was clear, stars twinkling softly through the city's light pollution. The freak storm rolled in violently. There was a flash of lightning followed by a sharp crack of thunder and the skies opened up releasing torrents of cold water. Isshin and his wife glanced at each other for a second then Isshin took Masaki's hand and began running for cover. The couple was laughing by the time they made it back to their home/family clinic. Masaki, however, planted her feet in the ground when she noticed something lay on the ground outside the clinic's entrance.
"What is it, sweetheart?" Isshin asked his wife. She didn't reply, only stood there staring at the mysterious object. Isshin opened his mouth to ask his question again when a sharp cry rang out. Masaki immediately ran to the object and gasped.
"Isshin! Help me get them inside!" she yelled back at her husband, desperation tainting her usually melodic voice.
"Holy…." Isshin whispered when he saw what his wife was talking about. He hurriedly unlocked the clinic entrance with his key and bent over to pick up the large basket, ushering Masaki inside. Once the door was shut again, the young couple all but ran with the bundle to the closest room in the clinic. Masaki grabbed a handful of towels from a drawer and got to work. The two small babies in the basket were soaked from the rain and shivering. Masaki picked up the smaller of the two, who once separated from the other, began screaming its poor little head off. She quickly took off its soaked clothing and diaper and wrapped it up in one of the warm towels. Once she was finished, she set the now covered baby on the hospital bed and moved to do the same with the other child. The first was still wailing loudly so she hurried to get the second out of its wet clothing and wrapped in a towel as well. Once she placed the second baby next to the first on the bed, the crying ceased.
"Looks like he missed his brother," Isshin commented from the other side of the room. He had been taking down notes on the children while Masaki took care of getting them dry and warm.
"He? I was so busy worrying I didn't notice…well what do we do now Isshin? We have to get them warm at least," Masaki replied.
"Well, we can try rigging something up with that old incubator we have in the supply room. We should set it up in our room though, at least for a while until we know they're healthy. If they make it through the night it will be a miracle. Let's get that set up and then we can search through that basket, see if there are any clues as to where they came from," Isshin said. He then walked out of the room and down the hall to a room full of supplies. He found the incubator in a corner. The plexi-glass box sat on top of its rolling cart. He walked up to retrieve the device and his heart sank. The glass was cracked and missing a good-sized chunk from the top. 'I guess we'll just have to do without,' Isshin thought to himself as he walked back to his wife and the two babies.
"Well honey, the incubator's busted. Maybe we should take them to a hospital," Isshin told his wife as he walked back into the room. Masaki had one boy in each arm and was smiling down at them.
"Isshin, I don't think we need to worry. They have no sign of a fever and they look healthy. We can just set them up in one of the cribs in our room. We'll turn up the heater a bit, but I think they'll be fine," Masaki replied quietly.
"Ok, sweetheart," was all Isshin could say to his wife. He was mesmerized by how his wife looked holding the two small boys.
After hauling a crib and a case of diapers out of the supply room and into the main house, the young couple set the boys up with fresh clothing. The babies seemed even more content now that they had clean diapers and bottles of formula in their mouths. They soon fell asleep and Isshin and Masaki put them down in their new crib on their backs. Now that they had been cared for and were sleeping soundly, the couple made their way back into the room of the clinic where the mystery basket still sat.
"Alright, let's see what we can find," Isshin said purposefully.
It didn't take long to find the envelope in the basket. It was simply laid underneath the blanket that the babies had been wrapped in. The note inside didn't say much. It was cryptic at best.
"They are twins.
Ichigo, the guardian.
He will be full of life and color.
Hiyoke will be the protector of the guardian.
He will keep his brother
From being burned by the fire.
Raise them well and good luck.
You will need it."
After reading the poem-like note Isshin and Masaki looked at each other, faces blank and confused. Then suddenly Isshin burst out laughing.
"Well there's nothing for it then. What do you say Masaki, ready to be a mom?" he asked his wife.
"Absolutely," she responded with a grin.