Hey everyone! After much deliberation, I have decided to do Sogyo no Kotowari first, then Katen Kyokotsu. Please enjoy!

Chapter 5:

Sogyo no Kotowari

Ichigo dashed through the tunnels and caverns leading towards the zanpakto hideout, where Muramasa was keeping head captain Yamamoto and Ryuujin Jakka. Once again, Suzumebachi was sitting in his hair, revelling in the wind rushing past her small form.

The orange-haired teenager came to an abrupt stop and scanned his surroundings. They were in a medium sized cavern and seemed to be alone, but Ichigo knew better since he could sense that they weren't. However, no alarms were going off in his mind, so it seemed that whoever was with them wasn't hostile, for now anyway.

Suddenly, a weight pressed down on the young substitute's back, making him tumble to the stone floor.

"Found you!" said a pair of voices simultaneously. It sounded like two young boys. The weight disappeared from Ichigo's back and twin boys in blue clothes and matching cone hats entered his vision. "We were told that you'd be coming here soon, but you were still pretty fast!"

Ichigo got up into a sitting position, looking at the duo in mild confusion. "Who are you guys?"

"We're Juu-chan's zanpakto!" replied one of them cheerily.

"Juu-chan?" said Ichigo in bewilderment. "Oh, you mean Ukitake-san?"

"Bingo!" answered the other twin. "The two of us are Sogyo no Kotowari!"

"Hey, Ichi-chan, do you want to play with us?" asked the first.

"Sorry," apologised the teenage soul reaper as he stood back up. "But I'm kind of busy right now. Maybe later."

"Aw, please?" Both of them began to give him the teary puppy eyes, tugging on his elder brother instincts. They even caused Suzumebachi's breath to hitch. "Juu-chan's always sick, so he's hardly able to play with us. You're young, and you've got this nice kind of older brother warmth coming off you."

Ichigo took a nervous step back, feeling as though he was fighting a losing battle. "Look, I'll come back and play with you guys after, but I really need to get going."

"We'll show you the way to Grandpa Yamamoto if you play with us," offered Sogyo, still giving the puppy eyes.

"Please Ichi-nii?" begged Kotowari. Ichigo felt a jolt through his heart, unable to take their pleading faces any longer. Suzumebachi buried herself into his hair, muttering about how it should be illegal to be that cute.

"Alright," the orange-haired teen relented as he slouched over in defeat. "Just for a little while though, alright?"

"Yay!" the twins cheered together.

The zanpakto spirits leaped at him and latched onto his arms. In response, Ichigo stuck them out at his sides and the two began swinging around their respective limb. After half a minute, Sogyo crawled onto the young man's back and secured a firm grip.

"Piggyback!" he declared joyously.

"Aw, I want to do that too Ichi-nii," Kotowari complained.

Giving a sigh, Ichigo gripped each of them with a different hand, then placed the boys on his two shoulders. "There, both of you can ride like that instead." The twins giggled as he took a hold of their legs to keep them in place.

"Forward!" they commanded. "And run fast!"

As the young soul reaper dashed onwards whilst maintaining a firm grip on his small riders, a single thought came to his mind. 'Freakin' kids…' Despite that, a small smile manifested on his face, especially when he heard them whoop in joy along with Suzumebachi, along with a loud cry of "Ichi-nii is the best!"

Omake:

(Kurosaki Household):

Yuzu was preparing dinner for the family as usual. Without warning, she slammed the pot onto the counter rather loudly, gripping the handles in deathly vice.

"Whoa, you okay Yuzu?" asked Karin in concern over her twin's uncharacteristic behaviour.

Yuzu didn't let up her tense and rigid posture. "I sense a disturbance with Ichi-nii… Our position in his heart is being threatened Karin…"

And finish! I hope you all liked this chapter, the next one is with Katen Kyokotsu. As usual, please comment/review. Also, if anybody has any suggestions for a chapter or maybe a certain interaction that they'd like to see, then feel free to PM me or leave it in the reviews.

I have only a few more chapters in mind before this fic is completed, but I may post some bonus chapters up, or make a spin-off fic of said bonus chapters.