WOW! Sorry for the late update, peeps. I had a week long writer's block, plus, school was dragging me down like a lead weight. Yup, it was that bad. Well, anyways, I got Chapter 3 up and runnin' now. Hope that makes some people happy!
Crossing his arms defiantly over his chest, Ichigo watched as the small baby on the changing table in the nursery stared innocently up at him, small violet eyes blinking ever so often. It was beyond Ichigo as to how something so tiny, so cute, so seemingly harmless, could smell so bad after soiling his diaper. "Alright, stinky pants," Ichigo sighed, pulling the top of his shirt over his face and reaching for his trusty pair of tongs. "Time to change that bag of nastiness."
Ever so carefully, Ichigo gently pulled open the flaps of Takeshi's diaper. Skillfully maneuvering the tongs, he fully opened the diaper, face scrunched up, bracing for the smell. His eyes widened in comical horror as a horrid odder wafted over him. "Aww, c'mon!" Turning his head to the side, Ichigo continued to, unpleasantly, fulfill his task in changing the baby's diaper. What made this all the more frustrating was that it was midnight. Ichigo had firmly told Rukia to stay in bed and that he would take care of the hazardous task. Strange how, after four and a half months, it hadn't gotten any easier.
Quickly closing up the diaper, Ichigo gingerly carried it over to the waste basket and, eagerly, disposed of the "bag of joy" his son had so graciously produced in the middle of the night. Shaking his head and pulling down his shirt, Ichigo put a fresh diaper onto a rather happy and squirming Takeshi. Stepping back to examine his work, he smiled as the baby happily rolled around on the changing table. "Yeah, you like makin' daddy choke, don't ya?"
Ichigo reached a hand over to gently tickle the baby's stomach. Takeshi clasped onto one of his fingers with tiny little hands, tugging slightly on it. Refusing to release his father's finger, the baby stuck it in his mouth and began gnawing on it with its gums, baby slobber quickly dampening it.
"How can you be teething? You don't even have any teeth yet." Ichigo picked the baby up and cradled it awkwardly against his chest. Takeshi latched onto Ichigo's shirt and curled up in his arms, sticking a loose piece of his shirt into his mouth. "Hey, little guy, now I'm gonna have to get you back to sleep." Ichigo smiled as Takeshi looked up at him, continuing to slobber on his once clean shirt.
Sitting down in the nearest chair, Ichigo continued to rock the baby gently. Looking innocently up at Ichigo, Takeshi reached his hands up and grabbed at his father's face, lightly hitting his chin with an open hand. Cocking an eyebrow, Ichigo looked at Takeshi with visible humor. "You think daddy's face looks funny, huh?" Takeshi began to laugh and grabbed at Ichigo's nose. "Yeah. Mommy thinks my face is funny, too. Bet ya Uncle Renji does, also."
Takeshi ceased his fumbling with his father's face and stuck his fingers in his mouth. "You know," Ichigo leaned back in his chair, letting the baby lay comfortably against him. "Mommy and I didn't like each other at first. Neither did me and Uncle Renji, or Uncle Byakuya." Ichigo smiled at the baby's absentminded expression. "You really aren't interested in this, are you?"
After a few moments of sitting in silence, Ichigo looked sympathetically at Takeshi, who had not yet fallen asleep. This slightly worried him, since he was all too familiar with his son's sleeping habits, and knew that the baby was quick to fall asleep. "You scared, little guy?" Ichigo asked softly as the baby curled up closer to him. "You don't need to be scared. Your daddy's right here, and he won't let anything bad happen to you."
Ichigo sighed in relief as Takeshi began to drool on his shirt again, eyes closed, which meant that he had fallen asleep. Gently easing himself from the chair, Ichigo carried the baby over to his crib and laid him down. Ichigo quietly walked over to the door and turned off the lights. Gingerly shutting the door, he yawned and walked back to his and Rukia's room, scratching the back of his head.
Opening the door, he paused for a moment and let his eyes adjust to the darkness. Letting his gaze shift over to the bed, he let his brown eyes study Rukia's motionless form. 'Hm. Must've fallen back asleep.' Walking quietly over to the bed and pulling off his shirt, he laid down and wrapped his arms around Rukia, closing what little distance there was between them. Sighing contently, he buried his face in her hair.
"Mommy thinks daddy's face is funny, huh?" Rukia smirked, turning in Ichigo's embrace to face him.
"You heard that?" Ichigo smiled.
"Only a little."
"You heard the whole thing, didn't you?" Ichigo scoffed playfully.
"Yeah." Rukia mover her hand up Ichigo's chest and let it rest on the side of his face, slowly tracing the muscles of his neck and his jaw line. Using a slender finger, she absentmindedly played with a stray piece of his orange hair. It felt so soft between her fingers, she ran her hand through his hair.
Ichigo smiled and closed his eyes, sighing contently. "Mmmm. That feels good." The feeling of Rukia's fingers running over his scalp was making him sleepy, but he enjoyed it.
Rukia pulled her hand from Ichigo's hair and moved it down to his chest, beginning to trace a large scar near his shoulder. "Ichigo?"
"Hmm?" Ichigo cracked an eye open.
"Do you think we'll be good parents?" The question surprised Ichigo, and his smile was replaced by a confused look. Fully opening his eyes, he propped his head up on the palm of his hand, his elbow digging into the pillow.
"Why do you ask?"
"Well, what if we do something wrong?" Rukia asked worriedly, taking hold of Ichigo's other hand. "What if we can't keep him safe? What if-"
"Rukia," Ichigo interrupted, putting his finger over her lips. "We'll do just fine. The worst thing we could do is not raise him. Sure, we'll make mistakes, but that's just to be expected." His smile returned, and his amber eyes became soft. "If we just do the best we can, then we'll be fine."
"Wow. You certainly seem to know a whole lot about this." Rukia smirked playfully, poking Ichigo's stomach.
"Yeah, well, let's just say that after we found out you were pregnant, my dad gave me a lot of 'parenting' talks. And I mean a lot." Ichigo laughed lightly, pulling Rukia into a protective embrace. "Let's just say that getting taught about what to expect when your wife's pregnant by a crazy perv isn't exactly a pleasurable experience."
"Neither is throwing up in the middle of the night." Rukia humorously retorted, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"Neither is being thrown up on." Ichigo looked down at Rukia, grinning slightly. He leaned his down and kissed the top of her head, briefly tightening the hug. "But," He sighed, resting his head on his pillow. "When you think about how it all turned out, I guess a few buckets of your upchuck all over the front of me was a small price to pay."
Rukia leaned up, resting her hands on Ichigo's shoulders. "You're acting like you had to deal with the worst of it."
"And what's to say I didn't?" Ichigo inquired, cocking an eyebrow.
"You didn't have to carry around a baby in your stomach for nine months."
"No." Ichigo smiled. "I had to deal with a someone who had a baby in their stomach for nine months."
"Ha ha, very funny." Rukia sarcastically replied.
"Oh, was that a trace of sarcasm I heard?" Ichigo smirked.
"Trust me, it was more than a trace."
"Aww, Rukia, you wound me. What ever did I do to incur your wrath this time?" Ichigo pretended to look shocked, even though his grin was still showing.
"You were being stupid."
"Oh, don't act like you don't love it." Ichigo snickered, his arms clasping around Rukia's waist. "From the info I've gathered from you, I would've thought that my macho attitude was a turn on."
"Oh, is that so?" Rukia asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"Care to prove me wrong?" Ichigo smirked suggestively.
"Don't push your luck." Rukia tucked her head under his chin, snuggling closer into his chest. "You're not that good." Ichigo's chest shook as he laughed, which sounded more like a deep rumbling noise to Rukia with her ear against it. She smirked to herself, and absentmindedly began tracing a scar on his chest. "You we're right about one thing, though."
"What's that?"
Rukia kissed him lightly on the lips before laying her head back on his chest. "Mommy does think daddy's face is funny."
Did that seem kinda fluffy to you? It was meant to be fluffy fluff. I love that word. Fluff. Fluffy fluff. (coughs) Um, yeah, right.
Until next time,
BANKAI!
