A/n: Thanks for the reviews, follows and favourites. Sorry for the century later update - I will be honest. I have been kinda lazy, and the internet has been picky with me...

Anyways, enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: Agua the Awesome A.k.a Luafua cannot and will not own bleach, or any of its franchise. It belongs to Kubo, and Kubo only. In fact, the only thing that I own are the Oc's. I also own the cover image except for the logo, which is on a site I would post up here but fanfiction doesn't allow links and all that jazz

WARNING: There is a little bit of swearing, but hopefully nothing too bad for our readers – thank you.

Chapter 13: The Valued Blessing

Hozumi wasn't the smartest of the bunch, he found himself in terrible situations that earn him a lifelong lecture or beating about his mistakes. Just like the time where he mistook sugar for salt when he was making the captain tea, then there was the time where he was skipping into the women's room when he was clearly heading for the men's, or that time where he gave Matsumoto a cup of water as opposed to sake... or even that time where he tried slipping his own paperwork into Laria's.

But Hozumi was a lot smarter than he let on. Of course he knew that he ran in the middle of a battle, and if he wanted to he could've easily dodged the attacks. When he had sensed them, Hozumi had worried that they would've been majorly wounded if either of the girls attacked.

Now Hozumi could tell that Laria was heavily conflicted when she entered the room with a scowl and took her seat next to him, followed by an annoyed Tahani who sat on the other side of the room. They had an argument – Hozumi didn't know what it was about but it appeared to have bothered both of the girls. Granny was a nice woman, offering some snacks and enough food that would make him quit being a shinigami just to stay there for the rest of his afterlife.

In other words, Hozumi found it a pretty good reason to trust the old woman. Because she offered great and delicious dishes.

"Many years ago, I was returning from the markets for my grandchildren..."

...

Granny strolled down the streets as the sun began to set. A golden light from the sun shot through the buildings of the first district of western Rukongai. Her walking was slow, almost a trudge but she usually took the opportunity to gaze at the view of the setting sun before she would go to her home. The children were like all children; they played, got dirty and gave themselves nicknames. Though Granny didn't approve of her grandson's behaviour, she found it would be the only way for him to finally get along with his sister-figure. He did care about her, just like a brother does for his sister.

Since Granny was so into her thoughts, she found herself nearly tripping over something, her feet stumbled and her eyes widened with a slightly shocked expression. Who would leave something in the middle of the path way like that? She turned to see what she had tripped over, a bundle of moving blankets, followed by a quiet wail.

A baby?

Granny turned back to pick up the tiny infant, that looked no larger than her forearm. The child had short messy brown hair, and the face was pink from the exhausted cries. Slowly, Granny picked up the child and the tiny infant fell quiet, opening two large chestnut orbs.

She smiled softly at the baby, and looked at the coloured clothing the infant wore. This child wore a light pink robe, with flowery patterns imprinted on it. It took a few seconds for the baby girl to realise what was happening, and cooed gently. Did this child just arrive in Rukongai? Or had someone abandoned her? It was rare to see a child abandoned in the first district, but it still happened. Granny looked back at the smiling child, before nodding to herself.

Maybe it was a good thing that she went out to get groceries this time.

The night had finally begun when Granny returned to the little house with a sleeping baby (she had fallen asleep during the walk) and a small bag of groceries."I'm home."

"Welcome back Granny," A toddler sized Toshiro called out with a gentle smile at the older figure, before he turned towards the direction of another room, his face went back into a scowl. "Hey Bed-wetter Momo!"

"Wait! Wait!" Hozumi interrupted with wide and confused eyes. The woman paused briefly, looking towards the shocked Hozumi and slightly surprised Laria. "You're Captain Hitsugaya's and Lieutenant Hinamori-chan's grandmother?!" Now he hadn't seen that one coming. There were times where the Captain will take a day off, and come back as if his mood was lifted. The male had always assumed that the captain had a secret girlfriend.

"Why yes, Toshiro and Momo visit me from time to time, but it's so hard for them now because of their higher ranks." Granny replied, with a gentle smile.

"Aoki-san, let her continue with her story," Laria muttered, appearing mildly interested in the story. She had no idea that she was speaking to the one woman who raised the captain up, so it was expected that she respected Granny on a higher level. The unseated officer noticed that Tahani had loosened her guard, but she kept a glare at Granny, as if she had been things that she disliked.

...

"Shiro-chan!" Momo scolded with a glare, short black hair tied into two mini pigtails. The boy beside her growled at her response, "I don't wet the bed anymore, stop teasing me about that!"

"You still wet the bed all those times!" Toshiro sneered back, neither of the two was unaware that Granny sighed behind them.

"Toshiro, Momo – I have someone I would like you to meet." Granny revealed the sleeping babe in her arms, which made the duo widened their eyes in shock.

"Aw, she's so cute!" Momo grinned, forgetting the nickname crisis and taking a step closer to the baby. Having the nap disturbed, the baby opened her eyes again and stared back at the pair of chocolate brown eyes. The baby blinked silently at first, before she squealed cheerfully, revealing the tiny teeth in her mouth.

"GAH!"

Toshiro flinched at the loud voice, just as he sent a glare to the baby. If the infant was going to be staying with them, then the nights were going to be noisy. Now there's going to be two bed-wetters in the house. It seems like the only sane ones were his grandmother and himself.

"Shiro-chan, don't look so cranky! She's adorable!" Momo reprimanded drawing her eyebrows together in an unamused frown. She turned back to face Granny, her eyes sparkling with delight, "Do you have a name for her yet?"

"No, I decided that it should be a name that we all agree on." Granny declared, taking a seat on the ground with the baby comfortably cradled in her arms. The baby decided that Granny's sleeve was good enough for her to chew on.

The grin on Momo's face expanded as she ranted a list of names, "How about Momoni? Miki? Kana? Shizuru-?"

"Momo, slow down!" Granny exclaimed with a grin, watching the girl calm down with a wide grin.

"Besides, those names are dumb." Toshiro stated bluntly, folding his arms and looking away with a scowl, "I know hollows with better names than those." What Toshiro was completely unaware of was that hollows actually did have names.

"Liar! You don't know any hollows!" Momo argued, poking her tongue at the white haired boy, "Besides, I don't see you spilling out any names!"

"Because I don't care!" He growled back, turning away from Momo to glare at the wall. Stupid girls, stupid babies... it's not Toshiro's fault he doesn't want anything to do with the smelly infant.

"SHI!" A voice interrupted his thoughts, making him scowl in brief annoyance. The white haired boy paused, looking silently back at the blinking child who grinned innocently and opened her mouth again. "Shi!"

"Toshiro, maybe you should try to give her a name." Granny looked down to the child, where she was stretching out her tiny fingers to point at Toshiro.

His cheeks turned light pink at the innocent stare of the child, whipping his head away so that Momo couldn't see. "Mari."

Momo's eyes widened with horror at the horrible decision,"Why would you call her wild?! She's just too adorable to be a rebel! This baby is like a blessing, much more valuable than the amanatto that you pig out on!"

Wait... Blessing? The elder looked over to the child who was silently enjoying the little dispute over the name. Should the child be named Megumi? Granny shook her head to herself; the baby didn't look like a Megumi. Maybe something that the kids said... Momo mentioned about being valuable...

"Momo, Toshiro," The children stopped their quarrels and looked over to their Granny stopped who smiled down at the baby. "How about the name... Rie?"

"It's fine..." Toshiro agreed quietly, folding his arms and went back to glaring at the walls. He didn't want to admit that he found the name rather suiting for the infant, while Momo beamed in excitement.

"Rie-chan?! It's perfect Granny!" She lowered down to the little baby, who giggled quietly at the attention. "Hello Rie-chan! I'm Momo Hinamori; I'm your nee-chan from now on!"

"From now on... she will have the name Rie Kuri."

...

Rie Kuri grew up rather quickly, her messy brown hair only managed to grow past her chin. It had to be constantly brushed by either Momo (she claimed that it was fun doing another girl's hair) or by Granny herself just so it would stay straight. Despite the young toddler grew quickly, she had a petite figure and she managed to be shorter than Toshiro. She didn't complain though, she was the youngest sibling after all.

"Okay Rie-chan, are you hungry?" Momo wondered, offering a large golden fruit in front of her. The girl's eyes widened with glee, and accepted the mango in front of her. It was a bright sunny day, shining over the district and Momo had decided that she would go get some fruit to cool everyone down.

"Thank you Momo-nee!" Rie ignored the need to cut open the fruit and picked off the skin with her teeth. Mango happened to be Rie's favourite fruit, though she did enjoy watermelon and peaches just as much.

"Where's Shiro-chan?" The taller girl wondered, looking around curiously, "Shouldn't he be watching you?"

"I am," Momo and Rie turned to see the scowling boy sitting under the shade of a large tree. "It's too hot for me to be out there," He grumbled, leaning back to at least attempt to go to sleep.

"Shiro-nii!" Rie grinned, pushing herself on her feet and running towards the shade. "Momo-nee got us some mango!" It was a strange reason, but Rie found herself able to talk to him without any hassle. He got annoyed when she didn't call him but his proper name, and blamed Momo immediately.

"Stop calling me that, you're just as bad as Hinamori," Toshiro seethed. He turned back to face Momo with a scowl, "You just had to call me Shiro, didn't you?"

A light laughter escaped Momo's mouth, as Rie grinned along with him. "You know, Shiro-chan I think that she likes to spend time with you." She commented as Rie nodded quietly in agreement, "You should be nice to her."

Toshiro grunted quietly in response, turning away from the girls. "I'd rather not spend my time with a bed-wetter and a baby." Momo gave a glare towards Toshiro before she noticed Rie's saddened expression.

"Shiro-chan!"

This made the boy whip his head to send another glare, but his turquoise eyes softened at the sight of Rie's tear filled eyes. She then gave him a glare that rivalled his, with a determined stare.

"Fine then Toshiro-nii, I don't need you either." Rie retreated to the back of the house and climbed the roof. Luckily for Rie, the house had many gaps that the girl could squeeze her feet into and remained at the roof for the rest of the day.

Rie glared at Toshiro's direction in annoyance, before she sniffed angrily. She didn't need the white haired boy to play with; there was always Momo and Granny. At least they cared about her enough. Who needed a dumb white haired boy anyways?! Boys were so mean!

It was relaxing to lie back on the roof, and as soon as Rie closed her eyes she fell asleep. The girl didn't remember much about her dream, and woke up to find herself staring at the night sky.

The moon was out, but it was only a tiny crescent in the sky. Rie looked enthusiastically at the night sky, as a small smile branded over her face. She felt at peace, and her eyes darted to the endless amounts of stars.

Oh how she wished that she was the stars, the stars winking down at her as if they were inviting her to reach out for them. It was perfect.

"Kuri..."

The girl scrunched her face when Toshiro pushed himself on the roof with an annoyed scowl. Great, it was a good way to ruin the mood.

"What do you what now?" Rie grumbled, folding her arms behind her head. She didn't know why, but Rie found an attachment to Toshiro but it wasn't like the attachment from Granny or Momo. He was quiet most of the time, and Rie was willing to talk to him easily because he saw life in a different point of view.

"Look, Kuri... you're not a baby..." Toshiro growled, noticing her stubborn behaviour picking up. Something she must've developed from him – why now of all times did she have to copy his cold personality?! He glared at the sky, noticing the bright stars that she was grinning at earlier. "You know... sometimes I wonder why Granny didn't name you Hoshi..."

Rie looked back at Toshiro with an irritated glare. "I don't know, I just like looking at stars... at least they don't tell me mean things." She growled, just as she eyed the sky, "I felt like I own them, like they're mine to look at..."

Toshiro wanted to say that she didn't make any sense, but then he noticed the gentle look on her features. He felt a smile stretching on his face, and when she noticed that she was being stared at, her eyes locked with his, her cheeks flashed pink in embarrassment.

"W-Why are you staring at me like that?!" Rie wondered with a flustered expression.

The white haired boy scoffed, turning away with a smirk. He wanted to protect her, she was so young, and the only child other than Momo to accept him for whom he was. He's overheard Momo talking about becoming a shinigami, and would be leaving... so far Rie hasn't gone to follow that path but he feared the day she will. Did he deserve to have such kind people in his life? He wasn't sure, but Toshiro knew that he was blessed with close family.

"When the stars are yours... I'll protect them with you..." Toshiro promised, which made Rie look towards him and blink. Once, twice-

"Now that's just silly, Shiro-nii... I can't own stars, they're too far away!"

Toshiro sighed in annoyance – she was a weird girl.

...

"Shiro-nii, is it normal for people to be looking at us like that?" Rie questioned, looking towards the residents of the district with confused eyes. Many people avoided their stares, or cringed away from the sight of Toshiro... not Rie. This had been the first time she went to the markets with Toshiro alone; most of the time, Rie is often going with Momo or Granny... maybe even both but Momo wanted to train on her own while Granny wasn't feeling one hundred percent on this particular day. "Why are they being like this?"

"I don't know." Toshiro replied coldly, his voice slightly shaken which made Rie look over with a frown. These people were mean, no wonder Toshiro was cold to everyone – they shouldn't be judging Toshiro until they get to know him.

Something caught Rie's eyes, she reached out and grabbed Toshiro hand and hauled him towards the markets. "Do we have enough coins for some amanatto, Shiro-nii?"

At first, Toshiro was going to scold her for calling him that but he repeated the words in his head. He looked towards the market where his favourite treats were at half price. A gentle smirk went over his face as he looked down and observed the amount of coins in his hand.

"Come on Kuri, we can get enough to last us a week." The white haired boy led Rie towards the store, ordering the amount of amanatto that he wanted. At first, Rie thought the man didn't hear Toshiro... but as she watched the man's expression, she quickly realised that Toshiro was being ignored.

"Excuse me!" Rie puffed out her cheeks and gave an angry scowl to the man. "I want those amanatto now, stop acting like one of those dumb nobles and give us of what we want!" She was glaring furiously at the man, her chestnut eyes now boring into the man's slightly stunned ones.

It took him a moment to contain himself, but he straightened his posture and carried on with the small girl's wishes to get what she wanted. Toshiro folded his arms, silently grumbling that even a girl who was no taller than a four-year old managed to win a dispute. As the amanatto were placed in Toshiro's hand, the duo left the markets and started to head back to Granny's house.

"Granny is going to be excited today we managed to get enough amanatto for the rest of our family," Rie exclaimed hauling Toshiro along at the edge of the marketplace. Just as she was going to leave the boundaries, an odd feeling went into the air. Both of the children paused, turning around to see a single man in a black shihakusho and a katana strapped to his waste. Feeling the power overwhelmed Rie, her legs collapsed under her as if the energy had been sapped from her body. Unlike Rie, Toshiro fell down to one knee and had an angered glare towards the man.

"A shinigami..." Toshiro hissed, pushing himself to his feet forcefully.

"You kids have a bit of reiryoku pumping in your veins." The shinigami observed with a sneer, chuckling when Rie began to tremble with wide eyes. "We could look after you kids and send you to the academy."

A whimper escaped Rie's mouth, indicating to Toshiro that she was frightened and weak from the sudden hunger. He clenched his jaw in frustration, turning back to face the shinigami before raising an arm protectively in front of her.

"Shiro...nii..." Rie managed to say, trying to cower away from the shinigami. It was the power that emitted from the man; it was weighing down on her like stones.

"Get out of here shinigami, we don't want anything to do with it." Toshiro defended, his eyes turning hard. The shinigami looked over towards Rie, a dark sneer forming on his face.

"Children are so naïve."

Rie snapped her head to see that the man was gone, the hunger in her stomach increased. "Shiro-nii..." Her hand grasped his, slowly hauling herself up on her tiny feet, "I'm really hungry... Shiro-nii."

"Me too Kuri..." Toshiro replied calmly, not flinching when he felt contact with the smaller girl, in fact Toshiro felt relaxed when the girl climbed onto her feet. She was safe, that's all that mattered to the white haired boy, "Me too."

...

A few days passed and Rie was often sitting on the roof, napping under the sunny day. She didn't mind the warmth from the afternoon sun; it was perfect for her to take a calming nap. During the nights Rie had trouble sleeping, and Granny often told her it was because she slept so much during the day but Rie couldn't help it! It was like night was calling to her.

Ever since that day, Rie had strongly decided that she wasn't going to be a shinigami. Shinigami were nothing but cold, cruel soldiers and mistreated everyone in Rukongai just because they have zanpakuto. What was so good about a zanpakuto anyways? Wouldn't it be weird to have an inanimate object to talk back? Each day it seemed that she was getting hungrier, just like Toshiro was. Maybe now he'll go through a growth spurt like he always wanted.

Rie was going to close her eyes for another nap, but something odd went in the air. It was a dark, heavy feeling; Rie's gut dropped down to her feet and she had the urge to throw up.

A growl made Rie feel uncomfortable and she dismissed it as nothing, until she felt the hot breeze blowing behind her back. She turned, and saw a two legged hollow with claws as arms. It let out a threatening roar in front of the girl, resulting in a terrified scream.

...

"Please tell me that the hollow got exterminated!" Hozumi begged with desperate eyes, his hands clasped together to do a prayer. Tahani rolled her midnight eyes with a scoff, and went back to glaring at Granny. Laria was observing the scene silently, still inwardly decided on the outcome of the story.

"We don't know what happened to Rie and the hollow that day... Toshiro heard the roar and tried to stop it... but it was already gone."

Silence dawned on the group, Laria staring down at her own clenched up hands. Why was she so upset? Was it because the captain had lost someone important to him a long time ago? Laria hadn't lost anyone, and even if she had Laria wouldn't be able to remember.

"Ever since then, Toshiro hadn't become close to anyone else and desires to protect Momo."

-:-

Captain... when you lost Rie-chan... How did you feel? Who did you turn to for comfort? The brunette wondered, sitting on the roof and staring at the night sky. She couldn't believe that this had been the same spot where a girl probably no bigger than Yachiru, vanished with a monster. It was a frightening thing to consider, the girl probably wanted to stay with the captain forever but couldn't all because of the hollow that took her.

"So ya out here?" Laria didn't have to turn around to see that it was Tahani, but the raven haired woman sighed loudly and took a seat next to her best friend. "Ya know, I'm quite surprised that the lady wasn't so evil after all."

"I'm sorry, Tahani."

Tahani paused her speaking, her eyebrows furrowed in an unnatural line, "Huh? What the heck are ya on about? Don't be whining about some silly fight we had." Laria raised an eyebrow back at her friend and Tahani smirked slightly, "Besides... there's nothing to be angry about..."

Seeing that the raven haired woman had forgiven her, Laria slightly smiled. "Thanks, Tani-nee-sama."

A vein throbbed on Tahani's head instantly, "Get my name right, dammit!"

A/n: I know that it sounds a bit obvious but just keep reading and hopefully try to understand the situation (if not then... I'll explain it in that chapter...) Honestly, the most fun I had in this chapter was making Momo and Toshiro argue like siblings - I personally see them as siblings and wish to see the childish arguments they would have.

Please review

13/12/2013 - It's Laria's birthday tomorrow... yay!