Well, this is the continuation to the last part. How long is this going to go on? (Pathetic moan)

Anyway, mostly about Kaien and Masaki! Have fun!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or the characters.

A Child's Wish

Ichigo finished folding the last small, pink jumper of Masaki's and then grabbed the pile of Kaien's clothes before walking into the child's room and placing the pile on his dresser. He would put them up in the morning when Kaien was awake.

Ichigo made sure that Kaien was tucked tightly under his blankets before turning to leave the room. But before he could reach the door, the small, tired voice of Kaien stopped him.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah, Kaien?" Ichigo asked, turning around and walking back over. Kaien hugged the top of his blankets tightly to him and said quietly,

"Wanna know what I wished for?"

Ichigo nodded and sat down on the bed beside Kaien.

"Sure, squirt," he said, ruffling Kaien's hair.

"I wished that Masaki would love me more. Know why?" he asked, biting on his lip as he moved his small body so his head was resting on Ichigo's lap and his body was curled up beside his daddy.

"No why?" Ichigo said, running his hands through Kaien's bright orange spikes to try and calm them down.

"'Cause while we're at school, she doesn't talk to me much anymore. I want mommy to teach us at home again."

"She can't, baby. Atsushi and Aya are keeping her busy enough, and when I go back to work, she will need all her energy to keep them happy until I come home. Why doesn't Masaki talk to you anymore?"

Kaien shrugged.

"When mommy taught us at home, I was Masaki's friend, but now she has new friends and doesn't talk to me more."

"Ah. I see. Well, Kaien . . . Masaki needs girl friends. Soon, she's going to be interested in boys, and she needs girl friends to talk to about that. Like . . . say she likes one of your friends, if she told you, you would tell them, right?"

Kaien nodded.

"See? A girl doesn't want a boy to know when they like them unless she knows that the boy likes them, too. So if Masaki liked . . . say, Ryo, and she told you and you told him, how would she feel? Nah. She needs girl friends to talk to about that stuff. But she still loves you, OK?"

Kaien seemed to think for a second, then, slowly, nodded.

"OK, daddy. But I still want her to love me more."

Ichigo smiled and gave Kaien a hug and kiss before tucking the blankets around his small, seven-year-old body before walking out of the room.

"Night, daddy," Kaien said sleepily, smiling.

"Night, Kai."

"Ichigo, what's wrong?"

Ichigo sighed as he grabbed a T-shirt, pulling it over his head and down to cover the multiple scars on his chest. He turned around to look at Rukia, and, once he was in only his boxers and Tee, he climbed into bed beside her.

"Kaien."

"What about him?" Rukia asked, worriedly sitting up in bed, the quilt falling off her small body.

"Don't worry, nothing like that," Ichigo said, leaning back against his pillow. He began to play with Rukia's hair, as he always did, when she laid her head on his lap. "He's just . . . I don't know. He wants Masaki to spend more time with him at school. I guess she has a new group of friends and doesn't talk to him much."

"Why is it bothering him so much?" Rukia asked, absently running her fingers over a large scar on Ichigo's knee.

"I don't know. He really does love his sister, you know. He likes to play protector."

"Well, so do you," Rukia pointed out, poking him in the chest. He smirked and grabbed her hand, playfully chewing on her fingers before kissing them.

"Yeah. I think he'll be fine, though."

Rukia murmured something in response that Ichigo didn't hear. They continued to just lay there for a few minutes, until Rukia spoke again.

"I'm going to miss it."

"Miss what?"

"The kids being small. I'm going to miss the dirty handprints everywhere, the drawings pasted on the fridge, the carpet stains, the hand-maid Christmas cards, everything. They're growing up too fast," she said, sighing as she frowned sadly. "Even Atsushi and Aya are growing fast. Their only a month, but this month has passed so quickly, how fast will their lives go?"

Ichigo smiled sadly.

"It is too fast. I remember the day I was helping Kaien take his first steps. And I remember when he first started eating real food. Man, that was a mess. And I remember the day he was first potty trained. He was so happy to be a big boy. He was smiling so big about something so small, and . . . I even got a picture of it. He's naked, though, so I haven't shown it to anyone. But now . . . he just turned seven, and though I should be happy that he's growing up, I'm not. When I was putting the candles on his cake, I felt like life was weighing down on my shoulders, and I almost couldn't do it. Seven candles this year. Seven."

Rukia looked up to see the sad look on Ichigo's face.

"I almost cried today when Kaien brought me something he had made in class. It was a drawing of our family. He wrote at the top that he's the big brother and he had to protect Masaki and Aya and Atsushi because he was bigger than them. It was sweet, but . . . he reminds me so much of you, Ichigo. He really does. And he's growing up so fast."

Ichigo smiled and pulled her into his arms, kissing her softly.

"We'll manage."

The next morning, Ichigo woke early to herd the kids off to school. Kaien was grumpy because he was tired from the day before, but Masaki was jumping up and down happily.

Once they were both off to school, Ichigo set to the days work. He would clean up a little and dress the babies before waking Rukia.

He smiled as he watched out the window as Masaki tripped on the sidewalk and Kaien helped her up before they ran, hand-in-hand, into the bus.

Yeah, they grew fast.

Too fast.

Ichigo was still putting away the dishes from last night when Rukia walked into the kitchen. She smiled at him, then frowned when she heard Aya start crying. But before she could walk into the nursery, Ichigo stopped her.

"Hey, Rukia, why don't you go shopping or something today? I can manage the babies, and you need a break."

"But-"

"No buts. Come on, you could use it. Call Orihime or go visits your brother; he's at the Urahara shop today until he leaves back for the Soul Society. I'm sure I can hold the fort down here for a few hours. Go."

It took a lot of convincing, but Rukia finally decided to vists her brother. She nearly had to be shoved out of the house by Ichigo, but once she was gone, he missed her terribly; both babies were screaming and crying at once.

But once she got there, ten minutes after greeting her brother, she said worridely,

"I think Ichigo might have killed them by now."

And after that, what she said next nearly had her brother laughing, if that was possible.

"I need to cuddle someone or I'm going to loose my mind."

But it had him worried who she was thinking about: the babies or Ichigo.

Masaki thrust her juice box into her brother's face.

"Will you open this, Kaien?" she asked, her big eyes pleading with him. He sighed and stuck the straw in. Happy, she dropped down and began eating her lunch quietly until her friends came along. She ran off with them, leaving her juice behind.

Kaien sighed and sat down. She didn't talk to him much anymore. He opened her juice for her everyday, but that was about it.

Soon, he stood to his feet and began walking along, shuffling his shoes against the ground as he looked for Ryo. He had to be around somewhere. Or maybe not. He hadn't been in class all morning, so maybe he was sick of something. His mommy had said something like that when Kaien had called last.

Nodding his head and deciding that Ryo was sick, and therefore, Kaien didn't need to look for him, he began heading back to class. He kicked several rocks on his way, and even hit a small animal with one, making it run off squealing and making him wince.

Then, he heard her scream.

Masaki.

Pulling his hands from his pockets, he ran as fast as he could toward the place her voice had come from.

When he found her, she was in a small alleyway between the elementary school and the high school. There were two high-schoolers standing over her, and she had fallen to the ground, her pink jumper stained with blood from her lip and nose.

"What are you doin' to my sister?!" Kaien yelled loudly, his fists clenched. Then, he realized the boys were bigger than him.

Much bigger.

"Buzz off, little freak," the larger of the two said, advancing toward Kaien. Kaien took a step backward, his heart beating fast and hard in his chest.

"No. Leave Masaki alone!"

"Ah, so that's her name. Too bad she's so cute. I'm gonna mess her up 'cause she stole somethin' from me."

"She didn't take anything! Masaki doesn't steal!" Kaien yelled, ducking under the man, who appeared to be drunk, to try and run to his sister. But before he could take five steps, the man whirled around and caught him in the stomach with his foot, causing Kaien to fly backward into the wall.

His back hurt from the contact with the hard bricks, and he had a large cut on his face where it had smashed into the wall.

"Give it back," the boy said, picking up Masaki by her jumped straps. Masaki had tears running down her face, and it was mixing with the blood.

"I don't have anything!" she yelled, trying to kick him with her small feet.

"Yes you do, little lady. Give it back! Give me my money!"

The second man had left, Kaien noticed. Probably didn't want to get in trouble or something.

Masaki was crying so hard she couldn't speak now, and Kaien jumped to his feet and ran over, kicking the man in between his legs. He dropped Masaki, who landed flat on Kaien, and the two stumbled to their feet and ran out of the alley before the man regained his balance.

Masaki was still crying when they found a teacher, and the gash on Kaien's head had bled so much that it was staining the whole top portion of his shirt. Once he had caught his breath and realized how much blood he had lost, he passed out. Masaki screamed and fell down beside him until the school nurse ran up and pulled her off, putting her to the side and yelling at a teacher to call Kaien's parents. She then took him to the nurses office for some much-needed stitches.

"They were yelling really loudly and they scared me. But Kaien saved me," Masaki said, tears slipping from her large eyes as she buried her head in Ichigo's shoulder. Rukia was standing beside Kaien, who was awake now, and was fussing over him.

Ichigo smiled as he passed Masaki to Rukia. She took the little girl and stood back as Ichigo sat down beside Kaien.

"Hey, buddy. What you did was really brave."

"I got beat up," he said, pouting.

"Yea, but you helped your sister. And she's really happy you did. And bud?"

"Huh?"

"She really does love you. She just needs some space. Give it to her, will ya?" Ichigo asked, smiling as he hugged Kaien. Slowly, Kaien slipped his arms around Ichigo and smiled, too.

"Yeah. OK, daddy. I've give her space."

"Good. Now, why don't you hold her hand while we walk to the car?"

Kaien nodded happily, jumping off the bed and taking Masaki's hand when she was placed on the ground beside him.

"Thankies, Kaien!" she said happily, hugging him tightly.

And his grin could have eaten L.A.

Well, no better ending to that. :D And since I'm not doing another story a day son after this, if I write more of these ... What 'o what will I do with them?

Bah. Should I even write more? And more importently, what did you think of this? (Drops on knees and begs shamelessly for opinions)

I think my favorite line to write in this story was:

"I need to cuddle someone or I'm going to loose my mind."

But it had him worried who she was thinking about: the babies or Ichigo.

I also had fun writing Masaki and her juice box. :P

Please Review!