Name: Just Like Daddy
Rating: PG
Summary: Little Kurosaki Ichigo, Jr. has a talk with his uncle about 'the birds and the bees' ... OK, well, mostly about mommy and daddy, and why he was staying at Uncle Byakuya's because they needed a night alone.

Author's Notes: Hmm ... nothing ... well, this came to me while I was in school. Sad, huh?

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or the characters.Thanks to CrystalRaindrop007 for Beta'ing!

Just Like Daddy

"Uncle Bya-kun, why couldn't I go with mommy and daddy?" the little boy asked, frowning as he twirled a lock of orange hair in his fingers. His bright violet eyes were questioning as he stared up at his uncle, who had been elected to baby-sit the little boy.

"They need some time alone."

"Why do they gots to be alone? I like being with mommy and daddy. Daddy tells me stories and mommy lets me sleeps with her and daddy when I'm scared. I want ma baby bunny ... "

His eyes were sad, and Byakuya knew that if he didn't do something soon, Kurosaki Ichigo, Jr, would break out crying.

"..."

"I want mommy!"

Big tears began to slowly make their way down Ichigo Jr.'s face and Byakuya sighed; what was he going to do?

Tiny, three-year-old hands clasped tightly at the stuffed teddy that the little boy had brought with him. His bare feet kicked back and forth slowly on the hard chair that he had been set upon, and his missing teeth showed clearly; his small mouth was open as he cried.

"Ichi, come here," Byakuya said, patting the couch beside him. Little feet jumped to the floor and padded over to where he climbed up onto the couch, his teddy and blanket still clasped in his grasp.

"I want mommy and daddy," he said, sticking his thumb in his mouth as he blinked tears out of his eyes.

"I know you do, but your father and mother ... needed to be alone. They wouldn't have left if they knew that you would cry, but you were fine this morning."

"I wasn't sad this mornin'," Ichigo Jr. pointed out.

Byakuya didn't know quite what to do; he'd been around children before, of course, because Hisana liked to play with the children in the village when she had been with him, but he didn't know how to comfort one, and when said child looked so much like the man he wanted to hate, he couldn't hug him like his instincts told him to; it would feel so wrong.

"Why do they needs ta be alone?" Ichigo Jr. asked, a curious look on his face as he snuggled close to his uncle; Byakuya looked surprised at this action, but let the child do as he pleased. He was sure that Ichigo let him do that at home, and it seemed to comfort Ichigo Jr., so he would let him.

"Well, they're ... adults ... and ... "

How did he explain this? Oh, boy, his sister was going to kill him if Ichigo Jr. came home yapping about alone time.

"Are they gonna get kissy and stuff?" he asked, sticking out his tongue and sighing.

"Do they usually?"

"Only when they thinks I'm not watchin'."

"Oh ... "

Silence came over them again until Ichigo Jr. asked, again, "Well, are they?"

"Are they ... what?"

"Gonna get kissy and stuff!"

There was a tired sigh in the question, and when Ichigo Jr. rolled his eyes, Byakuya was sure that he'd been spending way too much time with his father.

"Maybe ... ?"

"You're hopeless."

Byakuya raised his eyebrows; well, at least the little kid wasn't crying anymore. Silence followed, and Byakuya was beginning to believe that Ichigo Jr. was asleep when he chirped,

"What are the birds and the bees?"

Byakuya coughed.

"Um ... well, it's an expression used when parents are explaining a ... certain subject to their older children." He was hoping that Ichigo Jr. got the message.

"Tell me!"

But of course he hadn't. What son of that bone-head Ichigo could anyone have gotten such a clear message across to?

"It's how babies are made."

"Like me? I was a baby, too, once, mommy said."

"You were tiny, like your mother. A tiny little baby." Byakuya almost smiled at the memory of holding his nephew for the first time. His hands had been so small, and his tiny feet had kicked back and forth strongly. Violet eyes proclaimed him as the son of Rukia, and the loud, orange hair had been given to him from his father.

Byakuya had actually smiled at that point in time; it had only been the naming of the perfect little boy ... well, in his opinion, perfect minus the orange hair and almost picture-perfect copy of Kurosaki Ichigo, that had ripped the smile from his face.

"I want to name him Ichigo. Kurosaki Ichigo, Jr."

When his sister had uttered those nine words, he had frowned and protested.

"Uncle Bya-kun!" Ichigo Jr. yelled, bouncing up and down on the couch happily. Byakuya was torn from his thoughts.

"Are mommy and daddy making a baby?"

Byakuya's eyes were wide as he turned to face the completely innocent look of the small child in front of him.

"Ah ... "

"Cause I asked mommy for a baby sissy for Christmas. She just smiled and told me she'd try. What's that mean?"

"Ah ... "

"Does daddy help her make the baby? Do they buy it and put it together?"

"Ah ... "

Ichigo Jr. interrupted again.

"Then how would it get in mommy's tummy? Ma friend has a baby sissy, and she lived in her mommy's tummy for a while, too."

"Yes, your daddy would help make the baby."

"How?"

Oh, those bright, innocent eyes again.

"I'll tell you when you're older."

"Ah, man!"

He was pouting now. His light pink lip was stuck out as far as he could manage as his violet eyes began to droop a little; as much as he fought sleep, it was nearing eleven at night, and all little boys needed sleep.

"Can I help make a baby!?"

"No!"

"Oh ... "

Byakuya sighed and stood up from the couch, tucking Ichigo Jr. under the blanket he had curled into only minutes before. He said, "Go to sleep now. Your mother will be mad at us both if you're too tired to walk tomorrow."

"All right ... "

The sudden excitement had died down in only seconds; a child could be bouncing one second and sleeping the next. Ichigo Jr. was sleeping soon and Byakuya sighed in relief. Sleepy words were forced out of his lips before he completely fell into dreamland, and Byakuya smiled at them.

"I love mommy and daddy and Uncle Bya-kun."

Byakuya shook his head as he walked out of the back room and into his office again; surprisingly, Renji was sitting there, doing paperwork. He was smirking; he had heard everything.

"How is he?"

"He's just like his father."

Another smirk.

"But really ... why did Ichigo and Rukia need a night alone?"

Byakuya glared and Renji shut up.

LOL. I had way too much fun writing that.

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