The baby's cries were like an alarm clock for the two sleepy parents. Both of them sighed as they got out of bed at the same time, looking at each other. Seeing how arguing about who does it next usually doesn't help, they thought of a creative way to decide. Squeezing both their hands in the shape of a fist, they shook it up and down three separate times, before finally having their hand in the shape of an object.
"Scissor cut's paper, I win." Ichigo said, going back into the bed. Rukia just sighed as she got out of bed, putting her feet into her new house slippers she bought a few days ago. She rubbed her eyes awake as she saw somewhat of light over the horizon outside, knowing that the sun was rising. So much for sleeping in today. Rukia thought to herself, knowing that she would just get up in a few hours anyway. She stretched her arms a bit as she walked to Hisana's room, opening the door. Her eyes widened though at the sight of Hisana on her back, outside the crib. She quickly rushed over, lifting her crying baby from the ground.
"Hey now, shh shh shh shh. Everything's fine now, mommy's here..." Rukia cooed, trying to calm down the sleeping baby. She looked back at the crib, still in a mystery about how her daughter got out of the crib. Hisana was way to small to climb all the way up, not to mention she wasn't very strong either, and the fact the crib was locked the entire time as well. She quickly walked back into the bedroom, turning on the lights, followed by the noise of someone moaning. Ichigo leaned up a bit though as he heard the baby crying.
"What is it?" He asked, rubbing his eyes and yawning.
"She was outside of her crib." Rukia said. Ichigo took a minute to understand what she said, being half asleep at the time, until his eyes widened.
"She was outside the crib? How?" Ichigo asked. Rukia just rolled her eyes at the question, finding it somewhat stupid.
"Well gee, if I knew I wouldn't be coming here most likely." Rukia replied in a somewhat annoyed tone. The two of them just looked back down at their daughter, still pondered as to how she ended up all the way outside her crib when she's not even half the size of the crib. Whats more, if she did crawl out of the crib, she would've died if she fell from the very top and landed on her head, or at least have a bruise mark from where she fell. Ichigo gently took Hisana as Rukia gave her to him. Ichigo rested Hisana's head in his hand, looking at the crying girl. He put is hand gently on her forehead, and to his surprise, her head was feeling somewhat hot.
"She's running a fever." Ichigo said, surprising Rukia a bit.
"Huh?" She muttered, feeling Hisana's temperature as well. Her eyes widened as she realized he was right, which usually scarred her sometimes. "Ichigo, this is bad. She wasn't running a fever when I got there." Rukia replied. Both of the parents looked at each other a bit worriedly before looking back at Hisana, who was still crying.
"Here." Ichigo said, handing Hisana to Rukia. "I'll get Unohana on the phone, you two get ready to leave." Ichigo said, leaving the room. Rukia quickly got changed in her room then went back to change the baby's diaper, then changed her into somewhat warmer clothes, considering that it'll be a bit cold in the early morning. As soon as that was taken care of, Rukia grabbed her jacket as she waited patiently at the door, cooing at the baby and trying to calm her down. She looked back at the hall as she heard Ichigo walking quickly to them. "How she doing so far?" Ichigo asked, feeling her forehead.
"Not much better I'm afraid." Rukia said, somewhat concerened.
"Unohana said she'll be ready by the time we get there." Ichigo replied, opening the door. In a quick burst of speed, they both disappeared, ending up at the Fourth division doorstep. As Ichigo was reaching to knock on the door, he blinked surprised as the door already opened, seeing Unohana on the other side smiling. "That was fast." Ichigo said, rather impressed with how fast she opened the door, considering he didn't even get time to knock first on it.
"The same could be said for you since you got here practically two minutes after you called." Unohana replied, looking back at the crying Hisana. "Here, let me take a look." Unohana asked as Rukia handed her the baby. As she felt the baby's tempreature, she grew a worried face much like the parents, but tried not to show it as much. She smiled though as she expected the fever, based off of what Ichigo told her. "I have just the thing." She said, walking into the building with the parents trailing behind. The parents looked around too how empty it was as far as the people go, although there were a few assistances here and there.
"Where is everybody?" Rukia asked.
"Well in bed of course. It's way early in the morning, not many people get up this late." Unohana replied, looking back at the parents as they continued to walk. Most of the people who did look at them only looked because of the baby's crying. Rukia and Ichigo felt a little uneasy as they heard gossiping and such from some of the people they passed. "Don't let the people get to you." Unohana said, as if reading the minds of what the parents were thinking. "They're just surprised to see the whole family in a medical clinic is all. Shouldn't bother you, really." She said, trying to make the parents feel better. They finally came to a stop as they entered Unohana's office. She carefully handed the baby back to Rukia, who continued to coo at Hisana in hopes of calming her down.
"What is wrong with her?" Rukia asked.
"Oh, nothing to be really surprised about. She's just going through an abnormal riatsu growth." Unohana answered as she dug through the cabinets, causing both the parents to look surprised.
"But riatsu normally wouldn't make her sick...would it?" Ichigo asked.
"Yes, but then again the two of you aren't exactly normal now are you?" Unohana teased. Ichigo knew that she had somewhat of a good few points. Ichigo was from the living world, Rukia was from the spirit world. Both parents are stronger then normal shinigamis, and they were different in other ways as well. Rukia looked back as she saw Unohana taking a jar and a bottle out of a cabinet. She began to fill it with water as she mixed it with the strange substance inside the jar as well. Ichigo and Rukia noticed how the substance in the water was a bit green before dissolving into the water, appearing to be just clear water again. Satisfied, she put on a bottle top as she handed it to Rukia, and gave her the baby.
"Here, have her drink this. It should bring her temperature down." Unohana said as she began to put away the things she brought out. Rukia nodded as she began to try and feed the baby, but after awhile of drinking the baby began to cry again as she pushed it away.
"She doesn't like it." Rukia said, somewhat concerned. Unohana just sighed before she looked back at the two.
"You don't really have a choice. The thing I just gave her is to help stabilize her riatsu as well as bringing her fever down. The unfortunate part is that nothing around the medical clinic tastes good." Unohana said, with a bit of a smile. Rukia just looked somewhat unsettlingly as she continued to feed the baby again, even as it struggled. Through the drinking Rukia's heart ached as she could hear the whimpering of the baby as tears rolled down her eyes, even as it struggled to push the bottle away.
"Oohh...it pains me to hear her like this." Rukia moaned, feeling a bit guilty about forcing the baby to drink.
"Isn't there another way to do this?" Ichigo asked, disappointed to see Unohana shake her head no.
"Not unless I used a needle. And taking a dose at such a young age may prove fatal to her." Unohana replied. Rukia just moaned more as she sat in a chair in the office.
"I'm sorry sweetie, but it's for your own good, ok?" Rukia cooed to the crying Hisana as she drank. Unohana sighed a bit, feeling sorry for the baby as well, before getting back to buisness.
"Say, can I ask you guys a few questions about Hisana since she was born?" The two of them looked at each other, somewhat worried that Hisana was in more trouble than they thought, before looking back at Unohana, nodding. "Ok, umm for starters, have you noticed her leaking riatsu at any given time?"
"No, she's usually just playful and everything. We haven't noticed her doing anything strange." Ichigo replied.
"Well...except for this morning." Rukia added, catching Unohana's and Ichigo's attention.
"What happened this morning?" Unohana asked.
"Well...I don't know how but this morning I found her outside of her crib. Could that have anything to do with it?" Rukia asked. The three of them looked back down as they noticed Hisana had just finished her bottle, still whimpering in between though. Rukia put her hand on Hisana's forehead, sighing in relief to feel the drop in temperature. "Her fever went do..." Rukia started, before Hisana started bawling again. "What's wrong with her now?"
"She's probably somewhat scarred of you for forcing her to drink it." Unohana answered, giving a bit of a smile. Rukia just moaned in displeasure, seeing her daughter mad at her. "It's nothing to be disappointed about, I expected it sort've. Just give her to Ichigo and she'll be fine." Rukia nodded as she gently handed her to Ichigo.
"Hey now, don't cry, I got you." Ichigo cooed, calming the baby down a bit.
"Anyway, so you say you founded her outside the crib this morning, correct?" Unohana asked, getting back on topic.
"Yeah, I don't know how she got out either. The crib was locked and she's not even half it's size." Rukia replied. Unohana took a few notes on a clip board about all the details she said.
"Hmm...ok, let me try something." The two looked curiously as they saw Hisana digging through a bin. They blinked both curiously and a bit confused as they saw her pull out a tiny red ball, about the size of Hisana's head. "Look Hisana, ball." Unohana said, handing the somewhat calmer baby the ball. Hisana blinked a bit curiously as she squeezed it a bit, and before long started giggling. To both parent's surprise and shock, her hands started glowing a strange blue light. Hisana blasted the ball, causing it to bounce it off the wall, wacking Ichigo in the side of the head.
"Oww..." He muttered, rubbing his aching head as the baby just giggled.
"How did she do that?" Rukia asked, surprised by what she just saw.
"I think you just found your baby's specialty." Unohana replied.
"What do you mean, specialty?"
"Well, you know how you can use ice based attacks while Ichigo uses his own spiritual energy to create waves of Riatsu, right? It seems her specialty is able to use spiritual pressure as a direct object, and aim it in a certain direction, much like we just witnessed."
"And that I felt..." Ichigo added, rubbing his head again.
"So if she's constantly leaking riatsu, how are we going to keep her from getting another fever?" Rukia asked. Unohana remained a bit silent for a moment, not exactly ready to give the unwanted answer. It took Ichigo a minute to realize what she was thinking.
"Uh uh, no way. No! I'm not giving her to that freaky alien guy at the twelve division!"
"Relax, I'll give a call to Yamamoto about it. He'll make sure not to let him put even the smallest needle towards Hisana." Unohana replied, as both of the parents looked at each other. Neither of them felt comfortable about having Hisana see the twelve division, but they also knew that didn't have any choice. It was either that, or force her to drink the distasteful medicine, and neither of them wanted to go through that again. Ichigo sighed a bit, knowing there wasn't really a way out of it.
"Fine, we'll see him, but you better warn Yamamoto first, because if he even so much as draws blood from my daughter, let's just say you'll need a new 12th division captain, ok?" Ichigo said, in a bit of a moody tone. Unohana chuckled a bit at this as they said their good byes. As they walked to the 12th division, they noticed how the sun was finally up, and more people are around the streets of the Seritei as well. And as expected, they had a few stops from groups of female shinigamis who kept awing and wanting to see the baby as they past. Being nobles, which Ichigo found really annoying, they had to show respect and pride of their baby, although Ichigo was growing a major headache from it. Finally after about half an hour, they came to the twelve division door step.
"I still don't feel good about this." Ichigo complained.
"Well we don't really have much of a choice, now do we?" Rukia replied, opening the door. As they walked through the dark hallways, they noticed how it was pretty quiet in the emptyness, with the exception of their own footsteps being heard. Then again, they weren't surprised since Kurotschi uses his own squad members as experiments. They finally entered a room where the Captain himself was working, relieved not to have to walk so much.
"Ahh, you're here." Kurotschi said in his usual excited tone. Hisana burried her face into Ichigo's chest as he glared.
"I don't want any bull crap Kurotschi, just give us whatever it is we need." Ichigo yelled.
"Oh c'mon, it's not like my experiments would end up killing her..." Kurotschi joked. The only reply he got was a burst of spiritual pressure. "Ok ok, stop! You're gonna ruin my other experiments if you keep doing that." Kurotschi stammered. They looked at him, esspecially carefully to make sure he didn't tamper with anything, as he dug through his dwares. They didn't have the least bit in trust with the crazed scientist, esspecially when it came to the care of thier daughter. They could hear the shuffling of things in his dware as he searched, most likely indicating the massive amount of stuff he could have burried up in there. They heard him gasp in excitement as he finally pulled out what appeared to be a strange pink bracelet, tossing it over to Ichigo as he grabbed it.
"Simply put that on her wrist and send me a report of the results within a week or two." Kurotschi commanded. Ichigo looked at the strange bracelet for a bit, confused as to how it would help, before glaring back at Kurotschi.
"How will we know if it works?" Ichigo asked.
"If she doesn't blow up or..." Kurotschi started, before yelping from the sudden whack to the back of his head by Rukia.
"We're not in the mood for joking, or any of your fricken trouble!" Rukia yelled. Kurotschi simply rubbed the back of his head as he moaned in a bit of pain for a few seconds, before looking back.
"Alright alright, you can relax. Some people have no sense of humor. The bracelet should help stabilize her riatsu, although considering she's the offspring of two powerful shinigamis', I can't say for sure it'll work forever, much less at all. There shouldn't be any side effects at all in either case." Kurotschi said, as he went back to typing into his computer. Ichigo just sighed as they quickly walked out of the lab, not even wanting to know what he was working on next. The two of them were just glad to get out of there with Hisana, and what they needed for her. Once they got outside, the gently wrapped the bracelet around Hisana's wrist. They were somewhat happy to see that it was a perfect fit.
"So, what do you want to do now?" Ichigo asked.
"Tch, head back home of course, we haven't even eaten breakfast yet." Rukia replied. They looked back down as they heard Hisana whimpering as she reached towards Rukia. Ichigo just smirked at this.
"And now, I think she's forgiven you." Ichigo said, handing the whimpering baby to Rukia. Hisana giggled as she burried herself deep into her mother's arms, resting. "Or...maybe she just thought I wasn't a good bed." Ichigo teased. Rukia just playfully rolled her eyes to him as the two began walking back to their home.
"By the way, we got another mission tomorrow, and Matsumoto is..." Rukia began to mention, before Ichigo interrupted.
"Oh no, she almost lost her last time, I'm not taking the same chance twice!" Ichigo stammered, still feeling a bit regretful for trusting her the last time.
"Well...who else would we have take care of her? You know how hollows have been popping up around the living world more frequently since Aizen's death." Rukia replied. Ichigo rubbed his chin a bit, knowing what Rukia said was right. There have been an increase in hollow activity since Aizen's demise, but the thing he was most concerned about was who to have babysit. They couldn't use anyone from the fourth Division, seeing how the baby would only distract them as they were busy saving peoples' lives, and there would be no way he'd trust her with Zaraki, even though he finds it a miracle that Yachiru is still alive at this point. He grinned as he snapped his fingers, thinking of an idea.
"What about Toshiro?" Ichigo asked. Rukia just moaned a bit irritably.
"You know he's gonna refuse if you call him that while asking." Rukia replied.
"Shio." A tiny voice popped out. The two blinked confusingly, never even hearing the voice before. They looked around for a few seconds before looking back at Hisana, still cradled in Rukia's arms.
"Did you say that?" Rukia asked. The baby just giggled at this.
"Shio!" She repeated, raising her arms out towards Rukia's face. Both parents looked at Hisana excitedly, surprised that Hisana just spoke for the first time in her life, aside from crying and giggling.
"Does that count as her first word?" Rukia asked, patting the baby on the head and smiling. Ichigo shrugged.
"Ah, unless she says Toshiro I don't think it does (I'm not japanese, so I don't know what shio would mean, all I do know is that Toshiro means short)." Ichigo replied. "Besides, how can you deny going to Hitsuguya if she just called him by his nickname?" Ichigo teased. Rukia sighed, knowing when she's been defeated, esspecially since it rarely happens. It was the first time they ever heard Hisana speak anything, and considering it was part of a name of an actual person, or at least by Ichigo's standards, the least she could do is have her favorite person babysit her. Although, the only question that remains is, does Hitsuguya even know how to take care of a baby......
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And there's chappy 3! Hope you like it, sorry if it seems short, got too side tracked with Resident evil 5 too much Xo, my fault. Promise to make the next one 4000+words! And as always, not getting anything if I don't get reviews!
