Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Ichigo and Rukia. I own... (Takes deep breath) ...Michio, Raye, Anyame, Kaname, Yuki and Sanyu. I also own Aki (IshiHime child) and any other children I add in. Probably none, but still...
An itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout,
Down cam the rain and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun, and dried up all the rain,
And the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again.
Snapshots II
June 28th, 2015 — 3:20 AM
Ichigo was having a very pleasant dream about him and Rukia—that didn't involve a mini-army of children—when he was awoken to the sounds of a loud thunderstorm outside, loud whispering and the soft steps of little feet.
Lots and lots of little feet.
Forcing himself to open one sleepy, amber eye, he looked out from under his heavy quilt to see six pairs of eyes blinking back at him. He groaned, rolled over, and blinked a few times to clear his vision of the fuzziness that had set over them.
Another clap of thunder, and his smallest son, besides the baby, squeaked and jumped under the quilt to hug daddy tightly. Violet eyes were filled with tears as Ichigo lifted the quilt to stare into the face of Yuki, his baby boy.
"Daddy! I scared!"
Ichigo let out the smallest of laughs as his other five children began to climb into the bed. Michio hung behind, a hesitant look on his face as he stared down at Sanyu, his littlest brother. Ichigo smiled at him and motioned him forward.
"C'mon, Michio. Hop in."
Five pairs of eyes blinked happily at their big brother, and he gave in as he crawled beside Kaname.
"OK, but I'm only doing it because Sanyu wants me to. I'm too old to climb in mom and dad's bed every time it storms," he said quickly as he snuggled close to his family. Ichigo smiled and shook his head. He could still remember the day that his son was born; he'd been so small, and every night until he was two, he always wanted to sleep with mommy and daddy, and if he didn't get to, he would scream all night and keep his sister awake in the process.
"Mmm... Ichi... go?"
Rukia, who had just awoken, stared back at both Kaname and Anyame, who were on either side of her.
"Ichigo...?"
He smiled and leaned over Yuki to kiss her on the forehead.
"The children were scared. Let 'em sleep here tonight."
Rukia smiled and nodded sleepily as Kaname wrapped his little hands around her waist and laid his head on her stomach. Ichigo watched, a smile on his own face.
"Mommy?" Anyame whispered, turning to Rukia as she tugged on the sleeves of her bunny-clad pajamas. "I don't like the storm."
"Me too!" Yuki added, his head buried in Ichigo's chest as another clap of thunder hit. He was whimpering quietly, his violet eyes clenched tightly shut until the thunder stopped.
"Want to hear a story?" Ichigo asked. Six pairs of hopeful eyes turned to him, and he laughed. "Fine, fine. Hmm... what story do you want to hear?"
"Um..." Michio seemed deep in thought; he was the only one thinking, actually. Before he could come to a conclusion, though, Sanyu squeaked,
"Mamamama!"
Rukia groaned, taking the baby from Michio as the older boy snapped his fingers.
"I wanna hear about... um... I don't know."
Ichigo laughed.
"How about you guys tell mommy and daddy stories," Rukia suggested, moving herself into a sitting position as she gently rubbed Sanyu's back in attempt to make him sleepy. It was working, because the baby's eyes were slowly beginning to close.
"OK!" Michio agreed. "Raye can tell you about her boyfriend!"
Raye dove under the covers, a blush covering her cheeks as Ichigo's head turned to look at his oldest daughter so fast that he made himself dizzy.
"Raye... do you have something to tell us?" he asked firmly. Rukia felt herself grinning widely as she watched her husband. Oh, boy. Her little girl's first boyfriend. Ichigo was far too protective of his girls to start with; this was going to be exciting.
Raye peaked out from under the quilt, her ice blue eyes shining as she grinned. "Not my boyfriend!"
"Michio?" Ichigo asked. He was getting two different answers, and he didn't like it.
"Well, I saw them holdin' hands, and then he kissed her on the cheek."
Ichigo's gaze shifted back to Raye, and both Anyame and Kaname were beginning to giggle. Yuki didn't quite understand what was going on, and Michio was looking triumphant; he'd successfully shared his sister's biggest secret with half of the world.
"He's um... my friend..."
Ichigo raised an eyebrow, then let out a huge sigh.
"Name?"
"Raye."
"No, his name."
"Oh! Takashi."
"Age?"
"12."
"Why did he kiss you?"
"Dunno. Ask him."
"I think I will..."
Rukia reached over and punched Ichigo in the shoulder. He sent her a very wounded look and did his very best to look like a kicked puppy.
"What was that for?"
"Leave her alone," Rukia said, laughing. "She has a friend, so what? I've seen Michio playing with girls before."
"Mom!" Michio protested loudly, a blush covering his cheeks. Ichigo's eyes grew wide as he turned his gaze o his son. Deciding against interrogation, he sighed and flopped back down on the bed as another clap of thunder sounded.
"Geez! What is the world coming to? My kids are only eleven, and they're already hanging out with the opposite sex!"
"We learned about sex," Raye added happily. "In health class."
"Well, remind me to take you out of health class," Ichigo said dryly, rolling his eyes.
"But health class is fun! We learn about other stuff, too. Did you know that plants can sexually reproduce?" Michio asked, grinning as Kaname and Yuki frowned deeply, their little brains working overtime to try and understand what their older siblings were saying. Anyame already knew, so she added,
"Uh huh. I learned that, too. No, wait... that was in Science. But I haven't learned about sex yet—"
"That's enough!" Ichigo said, cupping his hands over his ears. He looked over at Rukia, who actually looked interested, and said quickly, "No more. And tomorrow, I'm going to talk to your teachers. You're eleven, eleven and seven for God's sake!"
Kaname giggled. "Daddy rhymed. Eleven, eleven, seven-eleven... nooo, heavenly eleventy-seven!"
Anyame rolled her eyes at her little brother. She jumped over Rukia and landed on top of him, her little hand beginning to tickle his tummy. He stopped chanting and began to giggle loudly.
"M-Mommy, ma-make her s-s-s-stop!"
He continued to giggle, Rukia continued to do nothing, and Ichigo sighed as he dropped back down onto the bed.
"Sleep!" he commanded, grabbing his pillow and pulling it over his head to block out the noise of his children. Said children all blinked at him before going back to what they were doing. Rukia, seeing that Ichigo was about to lose it, gently said,
"Kids, do that your father says. Either calm down, or go back to your own rooms."
In three seconds flat, all six children were laying quietly under the covers, their little eyes closed and their breathing soft as they tried to sleep. Ichigo gave Rukia an unbelieving look, and she shrugged, her motion making Sanyu slide off of her chest, where he was sleeping peacefully, a little. After repositioning him, she said,
"I spend more than twelve hours a day with them. I might be small—no smart ass comments, Ichigo—but I can be tough. Now sleep."
Ichigo nodded, but then sighed as he looked over at his wife.
"How come Sanyu gets to sleep there and I don't?"
She responded to his question with a kick to the shins—after making sure no children would be in the line of fire—and after mumbling for a minute, he finally shut up and drifted to sleep.
Sighing to herself and closing her eyes, Rukia turned on her side and held Sanyu close. As her eyelids grew heavy and she knew she was close to sleep, she heard Michio's soft voice singing quietly.
"Rain, rain, go away, come again some other day..."
And she smiled.
○ END ○
Hmm... whatcha think? This one was more Raye and Michio centric, but was everyone centric at the same time.
NOTE: Next story is going to have to do with Ichigo, Rukia and all six kids on a train. In a small space. But what after that? Hmm? You vote! If I like an idea, I'll do it. Thanks to therealanon2.bunnisteffi for the train idea!
NOTE2: I updated Concrete Angel yesterday, so if you missed it, go read it! Please?
Please Review!
