Oh dear, I have so many stories I need to work on, but I got completely sidetracked by school. This has been a rough semester. Anyway, here's a new story idea I was working on. I still ship Ishihime very much, but I couldn't resist an adorable Uncle Ishida fic.
Uryu looked ahead as his home came in view. He was glad to be done for the day. It had been a very intense day at the hospital and he just wanted to get in a few hours of sleep before his next shift. Just because he and Ryuken had began to make amends and start to get along didn't keep the man from running him into the ground like all the other employees that were actually good at their job. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket but decided not to answer it. If it was something important they would call him. If they were texting him then it was something that could wait until later. He parked the car and headed to the door, pulling out his keys as he did. When he reached the door however he had to stop. The door was cracked open, like someone had not taken the time to actually push it shut.
There were five keys to the door of Uryu's home. One that rested in his hand, and one with his father. The other three were given to Sado, Orihime and Ichigo, and Rukia and Renji. He had given Sado and the Abarai's a key because with him working so much he was rarely ever home anymore. He knew Sado, Rukia, and Renji no longer had a place to stay when they came in town and they didn't always like cramping in on Ichigo and his family so they stayed at Uryu's place. Ichigo had been given a key with the statement that it was for emergency's only, but Uryu gave it to him because he knew if he didn't he'd never hear the end of it. It was the same reason Uryu had a key to the Kurosaki home. However when they came over, they were good about closing the door.
Checking to make sure his cross wasn't restricted by his clothes, Uryu pushed open the door to see who had intruded on his home. He was stunned to see two children sitting on his couch. Kazui and Ichika were sitting side by side watching the television, not noticing his presence. Uryu sensed around the place to see that it was in fact just the two children. He closed the door, letting it snap loud enough so the children would know that he was there. Both jumped and looked over, looking guilty as if they were caught doing something they were no supposed to. Uryu looked at them both before taking off his coat and hanging it by the door. "I haven't had a chance to go to the store yet so all I have is green tea." he said, heading to the kitchen. Both of the children let out relieved sighs.
Uryu went into the kitchen to make the tea. He went through his fridge to find two pieces of cake he had brought home from the small party he and his coworkers had at the hospital the day before. He had been hoping to eat it for a treat, but decided the two kids needed more than he did. When the tea was finished he set up a tray with three cups of tea and the two slices of cake before heading back into the living room. Kazui and Ichika were still watching the same movie. He set down the tray in front of them, taking a cup of tea with him to another chair where he could watch the movie with them. He didn't know what it was about, it wasn't a film he had seen before. He suspected that they brought it with them when they came over to his home. His phone vibrated again and Uryu had the suspicion it was one of their four parents.
"Sorry for intruding like this Uncle." Kazui said. Uryu waved the concern aside.
"It's alright." he said. Honestly Uryu didn't mind. It was nice to have company over and something told him that the two kids needed to talk to someone besides their parents at the moment. Something was clearly wrong, but Uryu wasn't one to pry. He would let them tell him if and when they wanted to. He went back to drinking his tea when his phone went off a third time. He pulled out the phone to look at it. There were three messages, one from Rukia, one from Ichigo, and one from Orihime. All three asked the same question, has he seen the kids? Uryu slipped the phone back in his pocket. He would let them know when the two kids couldn't see.
"Can we stay here for a while?" Ichika asked. Uryu nodded, still not asking what was going on.
"I have a spare room that you are welcome to." he told them. They both nodded their thanks.
"Thank you Uncle Ishida, we didn't know where else to go when we ran away." Kazui said. So the two kids ran away from home? Uryu knew what that felt like, after all he ran away from home when he was fifteen and didn't look back until he was almost eighteen. He wondered why these two were doing it, and at such young ages. They weren't even ten yet. Ichigo, Orihime, Rukia, and Renji were good parents and very understanding people so he didn't know what could have happened that made them want to run away. However since Uryu himself took to running away he was the last person who could tell the kids to go home.
"Are you going to ask why?" Ichika asked, sounding a little stunned that Uryu hadn't yet. Uryu shook his head.
"That's your story to tell." he said. The two kids looked at each other, then seemed to decide to tell him.
"We got into a fight." Kazui said. Uryu nodded, having figured that that happened. "Dad got mad at me because I went out to find hollows. He said I wasn't strong enough." Kazui said.
"I was with him, but mom and dad said that I can't. They said I might be stronger than the average human but I'm not near the level of taking on a hollow." Ichika said. Uryu sighed.
"Why did you go looking for hollows?" he asked, although he was pretty sure he knew the answer.
"Dad is so busy running the clinic now, he never goes out to protect the town. Someone has to do it and it can't just be you Uncle!" Kazui said. Uryu felt the need to point out that he only helped protect people from hollows when he had the time, and that most of it was done by the members of the thirteenth division, but he decided it was best not to at the moment.
"I see. Kazui, what do you think your father is trying to do by not letting you fight hollows?" Uryu asked. The two kids looked at him in confusion.
"What?" they both asked. Uryu smiled.
"What do you think your parents are trying to protect is the better question." Uryu said. He could remember the conversation he had with his grandfather from all those years ago. He had been in the same position. His father got mad at him for being what he was, but that was because Ryuken didn't want him to become a Quincy. The man had lost so much to the Quincy's, and he didn't want Uryu to be added to that list.
"What do you mean?" Ichika asked.
"I was fifteen when I met your parents. Honestly I didn't really care for them at first. Especially Ichigo. He was loud, brash, and never thought through a single thing. He'd just charge into a situation and hope he was strong enough to get through it. I never understood that at first, but then I learned why. He watched his mother get taken from him at such a young age. He was intent on not loosing anyone else who he cared about ever again. So when Rukia was taken away, he charged in after her. Orihime and Sado were the same. They both lost the only families they had and couldn't bare the thought of loosing someone else if there was anything they could do about it. They wanted to help Ichigo to make sure he came back. Rukia and Renji too. They lost their families when they were growing up and it ended up being just the two of them. That is why they were able to go head first into a fight without any hesitation. That is also why they are the first to hold someone else back from fighting if they feel that person isn't strong enough." Uryu said. The two children looked at him in confusion.
"So your saying they are protecting us?" Ichika asked. Uryu walked over to his bookcase. It was completely filled with books, but in front of the books in a few areas were pictures in various frames. They were from over the many years. There was one from his childhood, the only one with the entire Ishida Family. There was one with his mother, and one with his grandfather. The bulk of them were with Ichigo and the others however. He quickly located the one he wanted and took it over to the two children.
It was a rough photo and Uryu remembered when they took the picture. It had been Kisuke's idea to take it. They had defeated the Quincy King and now everything was at peace. Kisuke thought they should have a victory photo to capture the event. Ichigo was in the center with Rukia in front of him. Uryu was to his left with Orihime, and Renji was to his right with Sado behind him. They could see Yoruichi a little off to the side with her little brother, both chuckling at the image of Grimmjow trying to get to Ichigo but being held back by Nel. On the other side was Ryuken trying to leave but Isshin pulling him back into the photo. Everyone was still beat up pretty bad and they're clothes were in rags. However the smiles on all their faces were so bright it made you forget what kind of state they were all in.
"Your parents have been through a lot. They don't want you to take on anything your not ready to face. They had to struggle everyday just to stay alive. For now they just want you to be kids." he explained. The two children looked at the picture, then back up at Uryu.
"Uncle Ishida...can we come back and stay here another night? I think I want to go home now." Kazui said. Ichika nodded. Uryu smiled.
"I'll drive you over." he said.
xxx
Uryu pulled up to the Kurosaki clinic and let the kids out of the car. The three of them walked into the clinic to see Orihime pacing in the kitchen. The other three were probably out looking for the kids. "Kazui!" She yelled, pulling her son into a hug. It had genuinely scared her when he and Ichigo had been arguing and then Kazui and Ichika had just ran off. They couldn't find the two children anywhere. "Ichika!" she called, pulling the girl into a hug too. Then she released them. "Where were you two?" she asked.
"We were with Uncle Ishida." Ichika said. Uryu nodded to back up the statement.
"Mom, I'm sorry for scaring you. I promise not to go off looking for trouble again." Kazui said, then he turned to Uryu.
"Thank you Uncle Ishida." he said, before running off to go up to his room.
"Thanks Uncle." Ichika seconded before running after him. Orihime turned to Uryu.
"Thank you so much Uryu, we knew you'd be able to find them." she said. Uryu was the best at sensing out reiatsu of the group after all. Uryu shook his head.
"I didn't find them. They were at my place when I got home." Uryu said. She smiled. She was glad that the two felt they could go to someone when they were upset.
"I'll text the others and let them know. Why don't you stay and have something to eat?" Orihime asked. Uryu was about to decline, the early work day in the morning hanging over his head. However he changed his mind. It had been a long time since he hung out with the others and it would be a nice change of pace. He nodded.