Surrender

Shadow of an Echo

Chapter Three

What Have You Done

"Let me get this straight." Uryu looked at Ichigo suspiciously from between his parted hair. "You need us to take over the shop for a few months, because you are going back to the Soul Society. Only this time they don't need you, it's you that needs help. Oh, and before I forget, you don't want to tell us why you need to stay there until you get the permission you need from Yamamoto. Did I leave anything out?"

It was Ichigo, Orihime, Uryu, Chad, and Tatsuki gathered around the table in the back of Urahara's old shop, that now belonged to Ichigo. He had put off this conversation as long as he thought he could possibly manage it, but his son had other plans for him, it seemed the little boy was determined to show himself. Every pair of jeans he owned was far too tight, Yuzu was helping him out there, modifying the waistbands to have a carefully hidden tab sown into them that stretched to accommodate his son. Now even his baggiest shirts were getting suspiciously full in the abdomen area, since he had never really worn many over-sized clothes he didn't own much that could conceal his changing body from the few friends who truly knew him.

"Why do you need their help, when you can't tell us?" His eyes narrowed further, piercing into the substitute Shinigami, they might be friends, but a healthy rivalry would always be fostered between them.

Ichigo settled for a half-truth, so he wasn't completely lying and wouldn't be called on it later when he showed up with his son tagging along, "Dad thinks there might be something wrong with me that the Soul Society is better equipped to deal with. He doesn't think it's that dangerous, just something to do with my Soul Reaper side instead of my human."

A spark of understanding from the Quincy, plus a confirming gaze had him smirking into his teacup, finally he had something he could corner Ichigo with. "Really? A simple problem with your Shinigami side, that is going to take months to cure, and you refuse to tell us anything about it? Why do I get the feeling there is something you know, but you just don't want to tell us?"

Ichigo hadn't looked up from the table, "...I might know something, but I really don't know very many details yet. I won't know much until I get to the Soul Society."

"Uh huh, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that you look like you've gained a good ten pounds, and Quincys know a pretty fair bit about Shinigami anatomy, or did you forget Ryuken is a doctor too?" Uryu almost always referred to his father by his first name, unless directly speaking to him, and the word 'father' was used more like a dagger than a proper title.

Damn, damn, damn, Ichigo had forgotten, "Ah Hell, you know?"

"I suspected, but your reaction confirmed," Uryu responded smugly, lips twitching into a smile of victory. "So who is the father?"

"Ichigo, what is he talking about?" Orihime interrupted before Ichigo could respond.

Uryu couldn't keep it in anymore, he started laughing at both Orihime's confusion, and Ichigo's stubborn refusal to admit anything. Uryu rarely laughed, he was a lot like Ichigo in that, but he couldn't help himself in this case. "He's pregnant." Uryu revealed for him, still laughing at the orangette's misfortune in being in a room full of people wearing identical expressions of stunned disbelief.

"What the Hell?" Tatsuki was the first to recover, and she summed up the situation well, at least she thought so.

He finally raised his eyes from the table and met her gaze, "He isn't wrong," Ichigo admitted. "Dad gave me the long version, but in the interest of keeping things short, apparently no one thought it was important to mention to me that Shinigami men can carry a baby, and I'm about four months pregnant as close as dad and I can get figured out."

She blinked rapidly a few times, before joining Uryu in laughing, hers was much heartier though, "Oh something like this could only happen to you." Of course she had known Ichigo preferred men when it came to someone he could relax and be himself around. He wanted someone strong enough to take him on, and not be used against him like Aizen had done when he kidnapped Orihime. There had been the occasional female Ichigo had admitted to noticing over the years, but he noticed just as quick that they were already taken. He was honorable, he wouldn't try for anyone who was already happy with the one they were with. "I didn't know you were with anyone though?" She was curious there, Ichigo knew she didn't have a problem with him, so why had he hidden his relationship?

Ichigo had to smile at the concerned question, at least even after being shocked and teasing him, Tatsuki was still the same, "No one knew, we kept it quiet. Our son had other ideas though." He chuckled ruefully. "I don't plan on hiding anything after this."

"You're having a boy? Good thing. If you had a daughter you would be calling Yuzu constantly crying for help." Tatsuki teased.

"Hey!" Ichigo protested, "I helped out a lot with Karin and Yuzu! I would have managed with a daughter, and his other father has an adopted daughter already. I'm happy we are having a boy, but we would have been fine with a girl."

The next to snap out of the shock was Orihime, and Ichigo's own eyes widened as he saw her launch herself at him with an excited squeal. She was hugging him tightly before he had really noticed what was happening, though that ended quickly once she noticed that his clothes were covering the fact he was showing a little bit; she switched her focus to the small curve her squeal changing to a coo of delight. "Hi little boy, I'm Orihime, I can't wait to meet you. We're going to have lots of fun together, and if you get into any trouble I can fix you up in no time."

Okay, this was weird. She was right there next to him, but she wasn't talking to him, she was talking to the baby. Also, he thought it might feel odd to have someone touch his stomach, his family and himself not included, but her hand stroking and petting over his baby wasn't too bad. A stranger would surely be too much, but he figured he could handle it from people he knew now that he felt it.

As Orihime spoke to the baby, a large hand came down on Ichigo's shoulder, and squeezed; he didn't even have to look to know it was Chad. The deep soft voice was comforting to hear, an anchor of calm in a rapidly spinning world of uncertainly. "Who is he?" Ichigo did not need to ask for clarification. Though he suspected Chad was only asking for confirmation, of all his friends Chad would be the most likely to have noticed what had been going on in the past three years.

"Kenpachi," Ichigo answered simply, but this was one question he didn't answer reluctantly, he meant it when he said he wasn't going to hide who his son's father was.

Chad squeezed his shoulder again, "He gives you what you need." That was why Ichigo and Chad had been such close friends for so long, they understood each other, no matter how different they looked.

"Yes, he does." Ichigo confirmed.

"...Wait, did you just say Kenpachi? As in Kenpachi Zaraki!" Uryu interrupted.

It was now Ichigo's turn to smile victoriously, "Yes, that's what I said. The baby is his son."

"Aww, I bet Yachiru is going to be so happy!" Orihime exclaimed.

Ichigo nodded, "I think she will be. I've spent a lot of time with her, she likes me, so she might take to the baby all right."

"Ichigo, just how long have you been with this guy?" Tatsuki asked curiously, figuring the Yachiru they were talking about was the adopted daughter Ichigo had mentioned earlier.

A teasing smirk, Ichigo was going to enjoy this one, "Three years."

More shocked looks, and another laugh from Uryu who commented drily, "Well, at least this didn't happen the first time you two got together."

Ichigo was now looking back on that comment from Uryu and couldn't help but think he was perfectly right, because if he had to endure his current torture three years ago he might have been far more tempted than he was to go Bankai and get the Hell away, as it was his hand was twitching towards Zangetsu.

He was under attack, only it wasn't an Espada.

Or an Arrancar.

Or even a Hollow.

It was one overeager Shinigami Lieutenant. The problem? She was hugging him. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, except for exactly which Lieutenant was currently attached to his person, and it wasn't Rukia. This one was much taller, gigglier, and dangerously close to a wardrobe malfunction, though he was pretty sure that last one was deliberate.

"RANGIKU! Stop manhandling him right now!" The irritated voice of the Squad Ten Captain could not have come at a better moment for Ichigo.

"Oh, Captain, I'm just congratulating Ichigo on his little bundle of joy! You shouldn't be so heartless, isn't he your friend to?" Rangiku protested to her child appearing superior.

An angry tick appeared above the Captain's eye, his Lieutenant pirouetting on his last nerve."I didn't say you couldn't talk to him, just let him go while you do it. You should just be glad I'm giving you a break from paperwork for this, a short one mind you." Toushiro warned.

"You're a lifesaver Toushiro," Ichigo thanked as the female finally released him.

The twitch grew more prominent, "It's Captain Hitsugaya to you," He corrected automatically. There was an odd glint in his eyes Ichigo hadn't seen before, and he started speaking again, "The baby though, he can call me Toushiro." Ah that glint might be either amusement or excitement Ichigo wasn't sure, but when Toushiro finished, Ichigo was leaning towards amusement. "Until he gets to the Academy, then it's Captain Hitsugaya for him too!"

"See you do care," Rangiku pointed out as if she was the one who made him admit it like he was a naughty child.

He eyed his Lieutenant, "Wasn't there some paperwork you needed to do?"

"But Captain, you were letting me take a break!" She protested.

He crossed his arms in front of himself, "Break's over, now get back to work!" He ordered.

She pouted but left, Toushiro shaking his head in wonderment, did she really think he wouldn't notice she was leaving in the opposite direction of the Tenth? "Question, do you get assigned Lieutenants, or do you pick them?" Ichigo asked curiously after watching the exchange.

Toushiro was settling onto the planks of the porch Rangiku had cornered Ichigo on, he was resting a bit after his display with the moron earlier in the day. Kenpachi was once again beating up the squad members, but there was little chance of a repeat of the morning, at least that day, considering how thoroughly the idiot had been dealt with by Ichigo and Yumichika.

"Depends on the circumstances," Toushiro explained. "The Captain does have some choice, but the final decision has to be approved by the Head Captain. Someone unsuited for the position can not hold it. Rangiku is a Lieutenant by merit, she is powerful, and when she is called on to do her practical duties she is good at them. Paperwork is her downfall, and anything else she deems as unimportant she will procrastinate or downright refuse to do. There are some Captains like that though, so it is tolerated, and as long as she is paired with a Captain willing to do those tasks it works out. The reason I am paired with her though, is because she can be uh, distracting, to the other male Captains, and she is the one who discovered me in the Rukon. Since she already knew me, it works even if she drives me insane most of the time."

Ichigo had a sneaking suspicion there was more to the story, "You don't have to say more if you don't want to, but that isn't the only reason you are working with Rangiku is it? It isn't just about her needing somebody else is it?"

Toushiro held up one of his small hands, inspecting it slowly, "She doesn't treat me like a kid. She just treats me like her Captain who's trying to force her into doing paperwork she doesn't like, and doing fieldwork with her that she does."

"Do you know why I call you Toushiro?" Ichigo asked, wanting Toushiro to realize something.

"Because you have no manners, and are obviously deaf because you have never hear me when I correct you." Toushiro responded.

"Right," Ichigo pointed out, "Now where in that sentence did you say it was because I treat you like a kid?" Ichigo had to laugh at Toushiro's restrained look of shock, he was much better at controlling his reaction than Ichigo's human friends had been, but it was still funny. "It pisses him off but I call Byakuya by his first name, and Shunsui, and all the Visoreds. If I know you, and have any amount of respect for you, or if I count you as a friend at all, then I am going to use your first name; it is as simple as that. That is why I don't listen when you correct me, not because I think of you as a kid."

"Captain Zaraki doesn't treat me like a kid either." Toushiro suddenly informed, looking towards Kenpachi's grinning face, as he slashed threw another opponent. "The older Captains, especially Captain Ukitake, are overprotective and refuse to train even within sight of me, much less fight me directly. In order to get stronger, especially with my Bankai, I need strong opponents willing to fight against me. Aizen and the Espada proved I have a long way to go before I have my Zanpakuto mastered. Captain Zaraki will fight me, Captain to Captain, my Shikai has never been stronger."

"I can help you too, once he is born, I understand needing a strong enough opponent." Ichigo offered, if the fight against Aizen was what drove this desire, what better teacher could he offer Toushiro than the man who beat him?

"I would appreciate that," Toushiro thanked quietly, before tilting his head and catching Ichigo's eye, "Oh, and by the way, congratulations. You broke the news in a creative way that's for sure, I thought Captain Kuchiki was going to pass out when Captain Zaraki started talking after you called out."

"Brother almost passed out? Oh I'm so going to have to remember that one!" Rukia heard the tail end of Toushiro's sentence, since she was climbing onto the porch with them, Yachiru clinging to her.

The pink haired Lieutenant dropped off Rukia and was running towards Ichigo as soon as she spotted him, "Mommy! Mommy! I told everyone about my little brother, they were so excited, some of them couldn't even talk! Then everyone talked at once! It was really loud, like the time Feathers and Pinball Head left all that candy out and I ate it all! Remember, Remember! Oh, wait, Feathers told me not to let Mommy, or Kenny know about that, oops. Anyway, they know about my little brother and wanted to come visit, but we got told to wait for you to cool down! What happened Mommy?! You get too warm?!"

Ichigo was not sure Yachiru had even taken a breath during all that, he suspecting that candy incident might have happened a little sooner than Yachiru had made it sound. At the last little bit he looked to Rukia helplessly, not sure how to answer, since he was lost at the butterfly comment.

She clarified for him. "A Hell Butterfly came in for Captain Unohana from the Fourth, apparently a patient came in that the Squad was handling, but they thought the Captain should know about. Tell me Ichigo, what was this about you beating up a guy over something he said?"

Ichigo mentally breathed a sigh of relief, instead of a mob, he would just be getting greeted by a steady flow of people he knew. He could handle that. He hoped. "It wasn't just me, the guy managed to get Yumichika angry too!" Ichigo defended himself, retelling the story for the three listening people.

When it was over, the Captain in the bunch was the first to speak, "What an idiot."

"Ichigo has a temper at the best of times, this would be one of those occasions it would not be a good idea to test that," Rukia agreed. "Yumichika isn't a push over either." She added, they had all seen the Eleventh Squad officer fight at some point, and he was undeniably good at it, even if he did let Ikkaku take the lead more often than not.

"Pregnant or not, I was not going to let him say that about Kenpachi. They weren't insulting me, they were insulting him, but anything he said or did was not going to convince them. I had to step in and show them I was not going to be a softening influence. Kenpachi has done more for those men than they know, he pushes them just right, so that they survive and never give in. In a way that man was right, a warrior never surrenders, but he didn't understand the situation. At. All." Ichigo explained.

"Because anyone who has seen you fight knows you never give up," Rukia observed, sometimes wishing that maybe Ichigo would back down a little every once and awhile. She didn't know exactly how many, but she knew her friend's body was covered in scars, his back from protecting people, and his front from confronting the threats head on. "You wouldn't surrender anymore than Kenpachi would."

"It was never about surrender or giving up with us," Ichigo admitted, and he wasn't talking about sex, okay well not only sex. "It was about freedom not more chains." They could be free to show their strength, and trust the other was brave and tough enough to handle it.

"You won't be saying that in a few months, freedom has a way of disappearing when you start carrying around a big belly." He knew that voice, and he winced as he turned to take in the sleek black furred feline walking sedately next to a smirking sandy blonde Shinigami with grey eyes. "Then of course that freedom goes away even more when the child arrives and your world shrinks drastically. So Ichigo, we hear you've gotten yourself into a little bit of a situation." Yoruichi climbed up onto the porch to peer knowingly at her old student and friend with her golden eyes. Kisuke leaned casually on the railing near where Toushiro was sitting.

Ichigo shook his head with a chuckle, "I doubt this is going to be a 'little' situation, at least not for long."

"No, they usually don't stay little." Yoruichi agreed. "Kenpachi huh? I could say how could you and I'm so shocked? But really, I'm not, you did make it kind of easy with all the sneaking away, and the hiding, and the fighting, really you were terribly obvious after awhile."

You could have used a spatula to pry Ichigo's jaw off the floor. "What! You knew?"

"Ichigo, do you happen to remember exactly which Squad Yoruichi was the Captain of?" Kisuke couldn't help but insert himself into the conversation, this was going to be good.

"Squad Two," Ichigo answered quickly and easily, looking at Toushiro and Rukia oddly when they both let out 'ah huhs!'

"What are the duties of Squad Two?" Yoruichi asked Ichigo, knowing that's where Kisuke wanted to take the questions.

"That's Soi Fon's squad now, they are like the police aren't they? Interrogating and arresting criminals," He answered carefully.

"Ichigo, how do you think they can interrogate anyone successfully if they can't observe a person or situation and figure out the truth?" Toushiro informed him, saving him from becoming the toy of the two older Shinigami. "Squad Ten are the investigators, we often work with Squad Two passing our findings back and forth, so I know quite a bit about them."

"Hey pipsqueak, that wasn't nice, we were having fun," Kisuke grumbled, getting a punch to the gut for his comment, the differing levels of their positions allowing the move.

A very feline laugh sounded on the porch, "You deserved it," Yoruichi proclaimed. She moved her golden gaze from Kisuke to the frosty Captain, "I think this one has spent too much time with Ichigo though."

Two voices shouted "Hey!" At the same time.

"Ain't as many as I was 'espectin," Kenpachi had come over to the porch, his ragged Zanpakuto slung over his shoulder; Ichigo very pleased to note that at some point the giant of a man had thrown off all upper garments and his torso was exposed. Damn did he love those muscles. Now if only he could get Kenpachi to occasionally pull the bells out and the spikes down, leaving his hair wild and untamed like he looked after a particularly long session together, that was pure untainted Kenpachi. He only put the bells in to make fights a little more even, anything that limited his Kenpachi's strength was nothing but a distraction and nuisance to Ichigo, he wanted to feel every bit of that power straining against the bindings placed on it.

"That's because I think Ichigo managed to scare a few into submission." Rukia explained, she had been dealing with the Captain more since she had become a Lieutenant, Kenpachi was a brute, but she had come to understand him better. It helped that she hadn't truly grown up a pampered noble, she was from a poor Rukon district, she had fought and starved during her early years, not as badly as Kenpachi but she didn't have nearly the problems with him that her brother did.

Kenpachi was about to climb onto the porch, which was his own mind you, when he suddenly had a cane pressed to the center of his bare chest. A cane containing one very deadly Zanpakuto named Benehime. "So, Kenpachi is it? I've seen you a few times, but can't say we've ever spoken much directly. Name's Urahara, Kisuke Urahara, and I taught Ichigo, I was also his father's best friend while he was in the Seireitei. Isshin can't be here since he has two daughters to look after, so you see, he kind of asked me to do this in his place."

No one was surprised at Ichigo's groan, which Kisuke promptly ignored, continuing his rant at Kenpachi. "First things first, he is very angry that you didn't show yourself before this. If you could support Ichigo for your son, then you could have done so long ago, that is the way Isshin feels anyway, and he wants to make sure you are really doing this for both of them and not just the child." Kisuke punctuated each sentence with a poke of the concealed Benehime.

"Damn it Kisuke, would you remind Goat Face it was MY decision to keep it quiet!" Ichigo demanded.

A paw on his leg momentarily paused his rant, Yoruichi looking up at him. "Relax Ichigo, this is tradition, it will be fine." She assured, leaning against the limb to watch the show unfold.

"Mommy, why is he poking Daddy?" Yachiru asked, from where she was pressed against his side, watching Kisuke threaten Kenpachi.

Ichigo growled, "Because your grandpa doesn't know when to stop."

"I have a grandpa?" She was surprised.

"Mommy?" Toushiro had to ask, finding himself trying hard not to laugh.

"You do now Yachiru, he will be happy to meet you." Ichigo replied to her first, before turning to glare at Toushiro, who he just knew was laughing at him no matter how sedate he might appear. "Only, and I repeat, only my children can call me mommy."

"Mommy hit daddy when he did!" Yachiru was surprisingly chipper about saying something like that, but with her parents, it wasn't unexpected.

"And I'll do it every time he does," Ichigo promised.

Kisuke had moved on from the original rant, "Also, Isshin would like to pass something else along, we can't fault Ichigo for this since he didn't know it was possible, but as a Captain you should have been aware of the possibility. How come you didn't warn Ichigo this might happen?"

Suddenly, Ichigo wasn't so mad at Kisuke or his father anymore, they did have a point. "You know, that's true. Why didn't anyone say anything to me about it? I understand if it wasn't mentioned right away with the whole Aizen thing, but it's been years, don't you think this is something I should have been told about? I realize I didn't tell anyone I was with Kenpachi, but several people on this porch knew, or the very least suspected, I liked men."

This time Kenpachi did respond, but his wide grin was not portraying humility, "I didn't know no one told 'im." He shrugged a bit, "I didn't get all worked up about it. I don' think it's a bad thing tah have a baby with Ichigo. He's great with um. Our son will be powerful because of him. He's always strong but now he's fuckin killer when yah piss him off."

"I thought your father, or Urahara would tell you," Rukia confessed, she was the first from Soul Society to find out about his preference. She did insist on stealing his closest after all, and well, he had a few incriminating dreams. "We grow up knowing about it, even the Rukon residents know the born souls are different and other things are possible for us. Not all Shinigami are lucky enough to be born directly into the Seireitei, in fact most are born in the Rukon and brought to the Academy from there to be trained."

"That's what makes the noble families different, we can trace our heritage back further," Yoruichi added in, "Beyond that I don't really believe there is any difference between a Shihoin or a Kuichiki, and a Zaraki or a Kurosaki."

Ichigo just shook his head again, "Okay, talking to my dad about that kind of thing the first time around was the most scarring moment of my life, I mean you've met him, even if he did try there is no way I am going to listen. Kisuke, now you I might have listened to, so that's a good one, since you are the one doing the threatening, why didn't you?"

"Yes Kisuke, why didn't you?" Yoruichi piped up still in her cat form.

There were some days where Kisuke really missed his hat, this was definitely one of them, but it had a lot bad memories associated with it of being exiled for a crime he didn't commit. "It was most definitely not because I was quite possibly not potentially maybe planning, a little bit, of a maybe, ah well; you know three years, and Ichigo is good with kids, and they are both so strong."

"Kisuke Urahara!" Yoruichi's voice rang out sharply, "You did not do what I think you did, right?"

"Depends, what are you thinking I did?" Kisuke asked worriedly.

"You set us up!" Ichigo realized, oh pissed did not even begin to cover what he was feeling right now.

"No," Kisuke protested firmly, "I didn't set anything up. Just because I chose not to tell you, doesn't mean you couldn't have found out, as Rukia said, anyone who grew up in the Soul Society knows about it. You two got your son completely of your own doing."

"You just can't keep your nose out of things can you," Yoruichi chastised, "Ichigo, he knew you wouldn't ask, and no one would think to tell you. For us it's so common a piece of knowledge it wouldn't hit us that you didn't know."

"Why?!" Ichigo demanded, "Why mess with this?"

Kisuke looked at him with a mischievous glimmer, "Ichigo, maybe I thought you could use someone precious to protect. Isshin did explain there are conditions that had to be met right? I can't meddle with those circumstances, I meant it Ichigo, you two got this child on your own. I simply didn't tell you it could happen."

"Someday your crazy schemes are going to come back to bite you, or just maybe you are going to learn to, I don't know, ask!" Ichigo grumbled, stroking his stomach where his son was growing. He loved his baby boy, Kenpachi had given him a baby, could he really say it would have turned out different if he had known it was possible? He didn't know, but he wouldn't give his son up for anything.

Kenpachi finally moved forward again, intending to join Ichigo who was still surrounded by the small circle of friends, but was once more stopped by the cane blocking his path. Kisuke had an easy smile on his face, his words calm, "Oh by the way, this isn't from Isshin, but me; if Ichigo or that baby is harmed in any way I will gut you."