"It won't hurt you to watch your brother once," Rangiku said.

Toshiro's scowl only increased. "I watched him all last week. I didn't get to go to the Fifth once."

"Well, you don't need to go to the Fifth," Rangiku answered. "You can stay here and play with your brother."

"Play with him? I'm not a kid anymore, Mom. I don't play," Toshiro said. "Hinamori says I'm more than strong enough to go to the Academy. Maybe I should see about taking the entrance exam."

Rangiku's eyes widened, and Toshiro could see fear appear in her eyes. Almost immediately, she forced a smile to her lips. "Don't be silly, Shiro-chan. You can't want to go the Academy! The students are all at least twice your size. You want to go when they'll treat you like an equal, not a little boy.

"Don't worry. You'll be all grown up before you know it, and you'll be the star of the Academy. You'll make lots of friends and have so much fun-I loved the Academy, but it wouldn't be any fun if you're smaller than everyone else. It's being there with your peers that makes it fun. You get to meet and spend time with so many people who are just like you. I know you'll love it!"

"Maybe I don't want to go just to have fun. Maybe I actually want to learn to be a shinigami," Toshiro answered. Even if his father thought he could skip the Academy entirely if he mastered bankai first, he still really wanted to go. He wanted to learn to be a shinigami, not just how his father or Aizen saw it, but every possible part of being a shinigami. He even wanted to study with the kido and stealth squads if he could manage it. There was so much to learn.

That was clearly not the right thing to say. For a second Rangiku looked like she might panic. She took a deep breath before she answered. "When you're grown up you can go be a shinigami, until then you're going to be my little boy, and that's final. Understood?"

Toshiro didn't even know how to answer that. His mother did not give ultimatums. She barely made rules at all. He'd been allowed to go wherever he wanted whenever he wanted for years; all he had to do was let somebody know so they could find him if they needed him. Every other child he'd ever met had been extremely jealous of just how little his mother controlled his life. His father, sure, he could give completely unreasonable orders when he was in the mood, but his mother; he'd always felt like she at least respected his opinions.

Rangiku seemed to realize she'd hurt him, and she tried to explain herself. "Look, Shiro-chan, Daddy and I just want you to have everything we never did, a home, and a family, and a childhood. I guess those don't seem like important things to you since you've always had them, but I can't think of anything more important. So, please, please, try not to be in too much of a hurry to leave it all behind."

"That's what Dad said," Toshiro said, and he figured it probably wouldn't kill him to forget about the Academy for a while longer. Hinamori would be disappointed, but she'd probably understand that he didn't want to upset his mom. She'd be disappointed, anyway, when he got out and didn't join Aizen's division. Just like his father would be disappointed when he waited to test for captain. He'd be disappointing people left and right, but he could at least give him mom a little more time.

"You talked to Daddy about-"

"Don't worry," he said quickly, before she could quiz him on what exactly he had discussed with Gin and why. "I don't really want to go to the Academy now. I can wait."

"Did Daddy tell you about when we were kids?" Rangiku asked, looking hopeful.

She'd been trying for years to get the two of them to talk, but neither Gin nor Toshiro had ever shown much sign that they had any desire to communicate. Toshiro knew this must sound to her like they were finally getting closer, and he really didn't want her to get her hopes up. "No," he said, "And you'd better hurry. You're going to be late for your meeting."

"You don't mind watching Kin-chan?" she said.

He shrugged. "You can't take him to the lieutenants meeting. I'll think of something fun."

Rangiku was walking the dark path to the captain's residence, holding a brand new astronomy book from the World of the Living, and practicing her apology. It was after ten. There was absolutely no decent excuse for getting home this late. The book had been intended as a birthday present for Shiro-chan, but she was desperate.

She should have been home five hours ago at the very latest. She really should have come and picked up Kin-chan after the lieutenants meeting nearly twelve hours ago, but she'd had so much work at the division today, and it was Gin's day to watch the hyperactive child. She really couldn't take another day of making sure that child stayed out of the supply closets, kitchen pantries, and off the roof. How could he be so absolutely impossible when his brother had been so easy?

Enough really was enough! They had the money; as soon as Gin reappeared from wherever he'd vanished to this time, she was going to tell him they were hiring a nanny. Toshiro, at least, would be relieved.

Her young, golden-haired son appeared suddenly on the path in front of her. He was grinning and said, "Hi, Mommy," before he vanished just as suddenly.

Almost instantly he reappeared, shrieking as his brother tackled him to the ground.

"I said, stop it!" Toshiro shouted, as he scrambled to get a tight hold on his younger boy.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Kinta shouted. "Nii-chan, let go!"

"What on earth?" Rangiku demanded.

Toshiro dragged Kinta, still struggling, to his feet. "I may have made a mistake," he said, looking sheepish.

"What?"

"Nii-chan taught me shunpo!" Kinta announced with delight.

Rangiku's mouth fell open. Her horror was beyond words. Her hyperactive child could now more at hyper-speed. Forget the nanny; no one less than an officer in the Gotei was even going to be able to keep up with him.

"I didn't think he could really learn it," Toshiro said, miserably. "His reiatsu isn't very high, and he doesn't know the first thing about controlling it. How could he learn shunpo? It's really advanced."

Rangiku's eyes went from Toshiro's face to his cherubic little brother, grinning despite how tightly his brother held onto him. "Kin-chan," she said, carefully keeping the panic out of her voice. "That's so clever of you, learning shunpo. I bet you're so good at it too, but now it's bedtime, so no more shunpo till tomorrow, ok? Then you can show Mommy just how good you can do, ok?"

"Ok, Mommy," Kinta agreed with his usual pleasantness. Now all she had to do was get him to bed and to sleep before he forgot he wasn't supposed to use shunpo till morning, and they got to chase him down all over again.

She bent down and picked Kinta up, handing Toshiro the book as she did so. "I think we're even now," she told him.

"I'm really, really sorry," Toshiro said as they set out for home.

"So you remember how I got some sekiseki about two months ago, to keep Kinta from shunpoing away whenever I ask him to do anything?" Rangiku said as she ran her fingers through Gin's fine hair.

"Um," Gin answered, nuzzling his face against her soft breasts. She could talk about whatever she felt like right now, he wouldn't complain.

"Well, I had to store it away when I wasn't actually using it because it gives Shiro-chan nausea, and I had to store it somewhere he wouldn't usually go," she explained further and pointlessly.

"Um-hum," Gin answered, running his hand from her rib cage to her hips and wondering if he had the energy for another round.

"I stored it in here, Gin," she said. "I stuck it next to the lamp."

Gin's eyes opened, and he turned his head slightly to look at the little table beside the door. There was no longer an interesting hunk of white stone sitting beside the lamp.

"Shit," he said as realization dawned.

"Maybe it'll be a girl this time," Rangiku said, trying to sound hopeful.