Hi hi everyone! I'm back again (after a month lol, but hey, more consistent than I've been the past few years haha)! This chapter was a lot of fun to write, I can't believe I haven't written a one-shot for this series in almost 5 years! 2013 feels like it was just yesterday... Anyway, as I've gotten older, I've started exploring more adult topics and themes, so even though this whole story is rated K+, this particular chapter is rated T for some suggested adult themes hehehe...
I hope you enjoy it!
Little Interruptions
Michael: 8
Lynne: 3
XxXxX
"Ichigo... are you awake?"
"Mmm," the young woman rubbed her eyes, squinting in the dark, as her husband finally crawled into bed beside her. "Yeah, barely."
Kashino sighed, sinking into the bed, "I finally got both the kids to sleep."
Ichigo wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face against his neck. "They sure are a handful, those two. It's like we hardly ever get enough time just the two of us." She gently peppered his neck in kisses, while he made a soft noise.
"Ngh, stop that, it tickles."
"You've always been so ticklish," Ichigo chided, continuing to press her lips against his neck, feeling his accelerating pulse. "But you like it when I do this." She closed her lips against his tender skin, sucking gently, "Your heart is beating so fast."
"That's enough," Kashino grumbled, his face warm and flushed red in the darkness of their room. "You're so annoying Amano Ichigo."
"That's Kashino-Amano Ichigo to you," She insisted, tilting her head up, allowing her lips to meet his.
He shifted in the bed as she melted into the kiss, slowly weaving his hands through her hair. The room was soft and quiet, save for the quiet breaths and shifting sheets. Without missing a beat, Kashino climbed on top of her, golden eyes full of love and wonder. His wife stared up at him with that same look she had on their wedding night, and he knew exactly what she wanted.
He leaned down for another kiss, one of his hands slowly working her camisole strap down her shoulder. She shuddered, lips wavering against his for a split second, "Makoto..." she gasped, "I-"
"MOMMY! DADDY!"
Their bedroom door burst open, and frantic footsteps toddled into the room. Caught by surprise, Kashino toppled onto his side, nearly knocking over the lamp on the bedside table as he fumbled for the lights. Ichigo hastily tried to fix her shirt, pulling the blankets up to her chin, "Lynne? Sweetheart, what's wrong?"
The young girl clamoured onto the bed, squeezing in between her two parents. "Monsters!" She said firmly, tugging on her father's sleeve. "You no check for monsters under da bed!"
Kashino ran his fingers through his hair, giving a frustrated sigh. Ichigo snickered. "Fine fine, daddy will go check for monsters," Kashino said, getting out of bed. Lynne grabbed his hand adamantly, pulling him out of the room.
When Kashino came back to his and Ichigo's bedroom, Ichigo was asleep, the lamp still on, the clock reading midnight. Kashino sighed, albeit a bit frustrated. Getting into bed, he shut the bedside lamp off, drifting off to sleep.
XxXxX
Saturday mornings were always the best. No blaring 6am alarms, no waking up in the cold early morning, no fumbling around in the dark. When Ichigo opened her eyes, mid-morning sun already warmed the room, filtering through the curtains, and spilling across the floor.
"Good morning sleepyhead."
Kashino was looking at her, propped up on one arm, smiling gently. "Ah," Last night's events came back to Ichigo's mind. Her face flushed, "I fell asleep last night before you came back."
"Yeah," Kashino rolled his eyes at her, playfully flicking her nose.
Ichigo giggled, shying away by pulling the blanket up to her eyes, "sorry, sorry."
"You'll just have to make it up to me then," Kashino said simply, that all too familiar smile on his face.
"Hmmm, oh will I now?" Ichigo teased, raising her eyebrow. She pressed one hand to Kashino's chest, feeling his muscles tense as she traces soft patterns over the thin fabric of his shirt.
"I think so," Kashino whispered into her ear, before gently capturing her lips in a kiss. Her fingers tightened their grip around his shirt.
His hands moved behind her back, slipping under her tank top to feel the softness of her skin. Just the touch of his fingers gave Ichigo goosebumps. "Mmm," She hummed against his lips, feeling adrenaline flood her bloodstream. She slowly began hiking his shirt up, pulling it up and over his head, while he began to do the same for her.
"Ichigo-"
"MOM! DAD!"
Ichigo squawked, pulling her shirt back down and yanking the blankets over her and Kashino as their 8-year-old son came into the room, clearly looking unhappy.
"Michael?!" Ichigo squeaked, "What's wrong?"
"I'm hungry," the boy said shamelessly, his lips turned out in a pout. He was his mother's son, after all. "Are we having breakfast?"
Kashino groaned, obvious irritation on his face. He ran his fingers through his hair, burying his face in the pillows. Ichigo sighed, sitting up in bed. "Yes sweetheart, why don't we all have cereal this morning? Can you set the table for all of us?"
"Yes mommy," Michael nodded, scurrying out of the room.
With Michael gone, Ichigo began getting out bed, before Kashino grabbed her by the arm. "Where are you going?" He asked, trying to hold her in place.
"Makoto," Ichigo hissed, yanking her arm from his grasp. "We can't do that now! Our kids are awake and need to be fed."
Kashino sighed, throwing the covers away and picking up his shirt that had gotten tossed on the floor. "Things were a lot easier before we had kids."
"But you love them regardless," Ichigo scolded, heading for the bathroom.
"I know, I know."
XxXxX
"Daddy, daddy, can you pass the milk?" Michael asked. All four members of the family sat at the table. Kashino was busy feeding Lynne, who happily sat beside him. She was a daddy's girl after all.
Ichigo took it upon herself to fetch the milk, passing it to her son. "Careful now, you don't want it to spill."
Michael nodded, concentrating on pouring his milk. When finished, he began to slurp up his cereal, Ichigo wincing as she tried to tuck a napkin into the collar of his shirt. "Daddy, can I ask you a question?" Michael asked finally, taking a break from his cereal massacre.
Kashino looked up from wiping Lynne's mouth, "What is it?"
"Why do you sleep with your shirt off?"
Ichigo nearly choked on her cereal.
As Ichigo rushed off to the kitchen to get a glass of water, Kashino tried to satiate their curious boy. "I just got hot, that's all."
"Mmm," Michael stared at his father, whose ears were beginning to turn red. "Okay."
Not long after, both kids finished their cereal, scurrying off to get changed out of their pajamas. Ichigo washed the dishes in the sink, as Kashino took them from her, drying each with a towel. "We've got to be more careful," Ichigo scolded, pumping more soap onto her sponge. "Michael isn't so little anymore, he's going to start asking weird questions!"
Kashino huffed, "It's your fault, you're the one who took off my shirt."
"But you're the one who initiated the-"
"Like that's a bad thing?" Kashino interrupted, putting down the dish he was drying. "It's been forever since we've-"
"That's not my fault!" Ichigo squawked, interrupting him back. "It's not that I don't want it…" Ichigo blushed, handing him Lynne's little rubber spoon to dry. "It's just… We never have a chance to be alone, our kids just find a way to interrupt us all the time."
Kashino sighed irritably, "Well, we've got to find a way to make them not interrupt us then."
XxXxX
Once the dishes were washed and put away, Kashino and Ichigo made sure the kids had brushed their teeth and changed their clothes. This Saturday was a calm one, no karate lessons for Michael, and no Girl Guides meetings for Lynne. "Mommy, can we watch TV, please?" Michael begged.
"Pwease?" Lynne piped in, wrapping herself around her dad's leg. Kashino gave Ichigo a knowing look, nodding toward the TV and then gesturing upstairs with his chin. Ichigo looked at him perplexedly before she made the connection.
"Of course, sweethearts!" Ichigo said, a bit too eagerly, getting the remote from the coffee table. She turned the TV on, putting on the kids' favourite channel and hiking the volume up ever so slightly.
Kashino peeled Lynne from his leg, setting her down on the couch beside Mr. Bear. "Michael, take care of your sister, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," Michael murmured mindlessly, climbing up onto the single recliner, eyes fixated on the TV screen. If there was one thing Kashino and Ichigo could count on to hold their kids' attention, it was TV.
Once they were sure the kids were engrossed in their show, the married pair slowly made their way upstairs. Ichigo shut their bedroom door behind them, pressing her back against it. "There, all alone."
"All alone," Kashino repeated, advancing toward her, a mischievous flicker in his eyes. He put one hand on her shoulder, keeping her pressed up against the door, as the other slowly fiddled with the hem of her shirt. "All alone and all for me."
"You're so corny," Ichigo complained, though was silenced when his lips met hers. "Mmm, Makoto…"
His hand had found its' way under her shirt, and he pulled his lips from hers to ghost a breath against the shell of her ear, "So what if I am?"
Ichigo felt her body flush, boldly pushing him backward, "Hmph. You tease." She puffed her cheeks, though approached him with the same sparkling mischief in his eyes. She kissed him hard, the two of them toppling onto their bed together, a mess of limbs, hair, and noisy breaths.
"But you like it," Kashino countered, his hands making quick work with her shirt, as he pulled it off, discarding it onto the floor.
Ichigo huffed once more, trying to return the favour. "You are such a-"
"OW!"
A sharp cry immediately caught the couple's attention, followed by two pairs of footsteps racing up the stairs. Ichigo scrambled onto the floor, grabbing her shirt and dashing into their en suite bathroom, just as Michael and Lynne burst into their bedroom.
"He did it!" "She did it!" They both cried at the same time.
Kashino couldn't even find it in himself to be irritated anymore. He forced himself into an upright position, "What happened?"
"Lynne broke the TV!" Michael exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at his little sister.
"Did not!" Lynne squeaked back, "Mikee's fault! He sat on da remote and the TV w'en fuzzy!"
Kashino took a moment to process what was going on. "He probably just changed the TV input by accident…"
"And then," Michael interjected, giving his sister a glare, "Lynnie went up to the TV and smacked it and the whole screen went black!"
Kashino ran his fingers through his hair tiredly. Why did he decide to have children again? "It's okay, daddy will fix it, go downstairs and I'll meet you there."
Both kids nodded, dashing out of the room. Ichigo poked her head out of the bathroom, "Are they gone?"
"Yup," Kashino sighed, standing up from the bed, "But someone's got to fix the TV. So much for no interruptions."
Ichigo was beginning to share his frustrations, coming out of the bathroom, an irritated look on her face. Kashino snorted, giving her a quick glance over. "What?" Ichigo asked moodily.
"Your shirt's on backwards."
XxXxX
The rest of the day constituted Kashino trying to get the TV back and running. While he worked in the living room, Ichigo attempted to keep the kids busy, both insisting on her attention for completely different reasons. "Cookies!" Lynne said adamantly, tugging on her mother's sleeve. "I wanna make cookies!"
"No!" Michael argued, tugging on his mother's other arm, "We're gonna play with lego!"
Ichigo sighed, plopping both kids down at the kitchen table, "Look, you two need to get along! We need to do something you'll both have fun doing. I can't do two different things at the same time!"
Several hours, a mixture of cookies and lego later, Ichigo and Kashino finally collapsed at the kitchen table, absolutely exhausted. Both kids napped on the couch, the TV finally playing their beloved cartoons in the background.
Ichigo had her upper body spread out on the table, her face flat against the cool wood surface. "What a day, I almost forget what our married life was before our kids."
Kashino sighed tiredly, trying to work out the kink in his neck he had gotten from slaving over the TV. "Me too."
The sun was hanging low in the sky, and from the open window, they could hear children playing at the park nearby. "But," Ichigo said, sitting up, "We're finally finally free."
Kashino stole a mischievous glance at her. "Hmmm, what are you saying Ichigo?"
She smiled coyly, standing up and slowly tucking in her chair. "I'm just saying, the kids are asleep…" She made her way around the table, brown hair baptized in the colours of the sunset, "And we have some unfinished business to attend to."
Her husband shivered, her lips just centimeters from the shell of his ear. Goosebumps prickled his skin, and a flushed warm feeling bloomed in his chest. "Yeah?" He teased her, turning toward her to plant a soft kiss on her lips. He craned his neck upward, eager to meet her. Before he knew it, he had stood up, pressing Ichigo's back to the wall as he slowly deepened their kiss, fingers twisting the hem of her shirt into a tight coil. "Ichigo, I-"
Not a moment later, the doorbell rang. Kashino hadn't sworn since they had Michael, but he got dangerously close. He gritted his teeth, pulling away from his wife. "For the love of sweets, what now?" He snapped moodily, bounding for the door.
Ichigo squeaked, hastily running after him. "Makoto, wait for me!" She groaned, still out of breath from his kisses.
"What do you want?" Kashino barked, ignoring Ichigo, and swinging the door open.
A surprised Andou and Kana were at their doorstep, alarmed to Kashino's seemingly unprovoked outburst. "K-Kashino-kun?" Kana stammered, eyes wide and alert.
Seeing that it was their friends, Kashino crumpled dejectedly. "Sorry, sorry. I've been kind of… frustrated today. We've been very busy."
Andou looked at Kashino intently, and then to Ichigo, flushed with a small smile on her face. His eyes landed on the wrinkled hem of her shirt, where Kashino had been holding onto. His eyebrows perked up, putting two and two together. "Hmmm… I see," he said, a hint of mischief on his face. "Well… Last week Kana promised Lynne-chan and Michael-kun she'd take them to the movies, so we were here to hold up our deal… But if you guys are busy…"
Kashino's gold eyes flickered with something between excitement and embarrassment. "No no the kids are just napping!" Ichigo exclaimed, "let me get them right now!" She hastily ran back into the house to wake up the two kids from the living room.
Andou leaned in close to Kashino, "Should we give you a heads up before coming back so you have some time to get decent?" he whispered into his best friend's ear.
Kashino's face slowly turned red, spreading from his neck to the tips of his ears. He slapped his friend's shoulder, looking away. "Shut up!"
Hahahahaha, poor Kashino and Ichigo. There are always crazy shenanigans happening to them! Thank you everyone for reviewing the previous chapter from 5 years ago!
1) oreoinqwbu
2) Katrinoxoxo
3) StarlightFangirl
4) cakeface22
5) Brisingr13
6) AnimeMangaVicki
7) Fosmdndllanebdkal
8) SkyeRiver
9) RedNeko22
10) WELOVEOLYMPUS's Penguin6263
11) MintyAngel
12) DeathlyJester
13) kataragurl27
14) AmieDMJ
15) Chikarinrinfu
16) xFlipJamsx
17) gobsmacked
18) FFlover69
19) darkchocolate23
20) human being
21) Alisha Lin
See you again soon (hopefully)!
