Eight days after Aizen's escape:
Kinta let them in, Shiba Kaien and his guest. Yuki had just spit a large percentage of her breakfast down Rangiku's back, and Gin was searching for clean socks, and no one but Kinta had noticed the knock at the door.
"Damnit, Yuki," Rangiku swore. "That was my last clean kimono--has anyone seen what I did with--"
She broke off abruptly. She was crawling on the floor, holding a baby covered in spit up against her shoulder that was equally decorated, and trying to tug a burp rag from under the couch. She supposed there was probably some way she could have looked even less dignified, but as she actually had to use the baby to hide the fact that one of her breasts was falling out of her kimono, she doubted it.
"Kaien," she gasped, forcing a smile while she tried to subtly adjust her clothing. Her eyes were focused on the boy a step behind him even though she addressed the lieutenant. He had brought the orange-haired human with him. "How nice to see you so early in the morning."
The human, she remembered his name was Ichigo, was staring determinedly at anything that wasn't her. She hoped she hadn't given him too much of an eyeful.
"Sorry, Rangiku," Kaien said, not looking overly apologetic. "I was hoping to catch the captain before he'd gone in for the day."
"Can you play with me, Uncle Kaien?" Kinta demanded, grabbing hold of Kaien's hand and trying, unsuccessfully to drag him back toward the door. When he realized Kaien wasn't moving he hung onto him instead, picking up his feet and swinging on Kaien's hand.
"Shiro-chan left an hour ago but if you mean Gin--"
"I give up!" Gin declared, stepping into the hall. "I'll steal a pair from the division laundry--oh, hello."
He stopped abruptly and smiled hugely at Kaien and Ichigo, and Rangiku was unsurprised but a little disappointed to see the fox-smile was back.
"Captain, I thought I'd come and introduce you properly," Kaien said. "This is--"
"Ichigo, good to see you survived," Gin said, in his most faux-friendly tone. "Not that I would expect otherwise from Isshin's son, but--"
"Isshin?" Rangiku interrupted, too stunned to even know what she felt. "Gin? My Isshin? Captain Isshin?"
Kaien was not far behind her. An exclamation of, "What?" was quickly followed by, "This had better not be your idea of a joke, Ichimaru!"
Ichigo just looked confused.
Gin stepped up to Rangiku and set his hands on her shoulders, making a bit of a face when he realized he'd set his hand in baby spit up, but deciding to ignore it in favor of turning Rangiku to face Kurosaki Ichigo. "I don't know the whole story," he told her. "Aizen only let me know of his existence a few years ago, but this is Shiba Isshin's son, the human son of two shinigami, born in the World of the Living. Aizen believes his potential may be limitless, and from what I've heard Urahara Kisuke seems to believe the same--Lieutenant Ichimaru, I'd like you to meet your previous Captain's son, Kurosaki Ichigo. Ichigo, this is my wife, Rangiku. She's the kindest person you'll ever meet; she almost makes up for having to know me."
Rangiku was staring at Ichigo in complete and utter disbelief, making the boy look even more uncomfortable than he already had. "Is--is Isshin still alive?" she asked finally.
"My dad?" Ichigo asked, still unable to process any of this. "Yeah, freak like that? He'll probably live forever."
Rangiku bit back a cry.
"Isshin's alive?" Kaien burst out.
Ichigo found the entire experience of meeting the Ichimaru family surreal. First of all, Gin had actually already threatened to kill him twice, and even if he said he'd never really meant it he continued to smile at Ichigo in exactly the same way he had when he'd sent Shinso within inches of killing him. It was disturbing, and Kaien's assurances that Gin was that way with everyone did not help.
But then there was the home and the two little kids. Hair colors aside, Kin-chan and Yuki were absolutely normal kids. Kin-chan had seated himself between Ichigo and Kaien when he realized no one was going to go outside with him and brought a pile of paper and a set of crayons with him. He was drawing scribbles that looked remarkably like the artwork Yuzu and Karin used to produce. He was just like any other kid. And the home, aside from the lack of electronics, could have been on his street. He could be visiting some neighbor's house, and that was absolutely the first time he had felt that way since coming to Soul Society. And that felt more wrong than every strange thing he'd seen so far; this was Soul Society, the land of the dead, could there really be people here living completely normal lives? And how one earth was it that Ichimaru Gin was the one with the ordinary life?
Rangiku was the worst though, for making Ichigo feel completely uncomfortable. No mother in his experience ever looked like that. She wasn't beautiful; she was hot, so hot, and she moved like the entire goal of every movement she made was to bring more attention to the absolute perfection of her body. A mother should not do that.
Ichigo did his best not to stare, and the fact that Gin noticed and was amused was really annoying. He was trying to answer all of Rangiku's questions about his dad, and his mom, and his sisters as politely as possible, and the way Gin kept smirking at him was enough to drive him out of his mind.
He'd been there for the better part of an hour when it suddenly occurred to Rangiku that as hostess she ought to be offering her guests tea and snacks and shoved Yuki into her husband's arms before hurrying off to the kitchen.
"She seems to be taking things well," Kaien said as he watched Rangiku leave.
"She does seem to," Gin answered. He was holding Yuki as she balanced determinedly on her pudgy little legs, just like any daddy with a baby, which was just so, so strange to Ichigo, especially when he remembered the savage grin Gin had turned on Kaien when the lieutenant had drawn his zanpakuto and told Ichigo to run. He wondered which was the real Ichimaru Gin, and if a person could be both a loving father and a vicious killer.
"No one's been contacted about Rukia," Kaien said. "You told Yamamoto--"
"Not even Kuchiki?" Gin asked sharply.
"No one's heard anything," Ichigo said. "Does that mean she's dead?" He hated that Ichimaru was their only source for information. It seemed to him like these shinigami with all their strange technology should have some way to figure out what was going on in Hueco Mundo, something better than asking Ichimaru, who even he could tell was completely untrustworthy.
Gin shifted Yuki to the crook of one arm, which she didn't seem to appreciate but being less than six weeks old there wasn't much she could do about it but squirm and fuss. "Could he be drawing out the uncertainty? Why bother when he doesn't get to watch them suffer? Doesn't seem right--not without a reason. He wouldn't be waiting for Ukitake to recover. Last thing he'd want is someone to calm everyone down. Wonder what he's waiting for?"
We're thinking about going after her to Hueco Mundo."
"Well, that's a lovely idea," Gin said. "Do say hello to Aizen for me--if you happen to live that long."
"So you think that's a bad idea?" Kaien said.
"Of course it's a bad idea, although, well, letting him decide the timetable is even worse. I don't know why everyone seems fine with that, giving him time to use the Hogyoku, to get all of his pretty little Espada just right, and for what? No one in the Gotei's going to make any leaps and bounds in strength over the next six months. I think we ought to try going on the offense for once, but that's just me. I always prefer to play offense."
"But you just said going to Hueco Mundo would be a bad idea," Ichigo protested.
"The two of you alone wouldn't be an offense. You'd be hollow food," Gin answered, but as he spoke Yuki finally got sick and tired of her position and burst out screaming.
Rangiku raced back into the room, demanding, "What did you do?" As she took the wailing baby from his arms.
"Nothing!" Gin protested as he watched Rangiku pace back and forth soothing the screaming infant. "She just started crying!"
"You must have done something! She was perfectly happy two minutes ago," Rangiku snapped back. The baby was starting to calm down, but her mother did not look happy.
"Can't you even give me two minutes to put on some tea and change into something that's not disgusting?" she demanded gesturing at the patch of dried baby spit up on her shoulder. "They're your children, GIn! I'd think you'd want to have some part in their lives! Do you really think I can just do it all by myself?" Her voice had been growing more frantic with each word, and then she started crying. "Did you really think I'd be alright if you were gone? How could you think I could do any of this without you? I need you! I need you every single day! Why can't you understand that? How could you ever think about leaving me?"
Gin was on his feet and his arms were around her. "I didn't want to, Ran. I swear, I didn't."
Kaien and Ichigo decided it was time to make a quick exit. Kaien made a quick stop by the kitchen on the way out to take the over boiling kettle off the stove.