Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters, Tite Kubo does.
Chapter Two - First Day
Ichigo and Rukia watched the excited looks on their children's faces stay plastered there all the way back to the Squad Ten courtyard. " You two seem excited." Rukia couldn't hold back a smile as Kaien and Masaki beamed up at her.
"I'm more relieved," Kaien spoke up first, "I mean, yeah we all knew this day was going to come, but when we all go to see Grandpa Ukitake, it usually means something bad has happened. Unless, of course it's a holiday, then we know something is going to happen."
Everyone laughed at this statement. "So, when do we start our classes?" Masaki's normally bubbly personality was overflowing more than usual, probably due to the fact that she had just been accepted into the Shinigami Academy.
Rukia laughed, "Well, since it is your summer right now back in the World of the Living, I don't see why you can't start tomorrow." Ichigo's eyes widened at his wife's statement.
"Rukia, can I talk to you for a second?" He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her off to the side.
"Kai, I can't believe it! We're enrolled in the Academy! How'd we get so lucky?" Masaki couldn't help but giggle at the thoughts of all the pranks she was going to pull on the her fellow students. That could definitely prove interesting, to say the very least. "This is going to be fantastic!"
"Saki-chan, please don't just make this all fun and games." Kaien knew what was going on in her head at that moment. "I know what you're thinking. But this is a great opportunity for us. We could go really far. What if we even beat our brother's school time? We only have three months before school starts back in the Real World, I think that we should give this an honest shot." His brown eyes looked into her violet ones.
"I guess you're right Kai," Masaki said, looking slightly dejected. "There's going to be so much going on! Can you imagine what it would be like if we did graduate before six months? That would be pretty much awesome." Masaki's eyes glinted at the prospect of outshining her older brother.
"So does that mean you are going to take this seriously now?" The twins jumped at the sound of their father's voice.
"Jeez! How can someone as clumsy as you be that sneaky?" Masaki laughed as her father's face got beat red at the playful insult.
"Yes, Dad, we're going to take it seriously." Kaien knew that Masaki had meant it playfully, but, at the same time, he also knew that his dad took everything at face value.
"Can we go visit Grandpa Isshin?" Masaki asked, her eyes sparkling again, "I want to tell him before you guys do!"
"I don't see why not, but we have to do it quick," Ichigo, now distracted from his earlier rage at the "clumsy" comment, laughed at his daughter. "But we can only stay for a minute. It's already getting late and you two have a big day ahead of you tomorrow."
"We're starting tomorrow?!" The twins shouted in unison.
"Yes, your father and I talked it over, and we decided it would be best if you two started right away." Both of the twins knew that by, "Your father and I", Rukia actually meant, "Your father wouldn't budge but I'm deciding anyway".
Kaien and Masaki knew that it would be best to stay quiet on that particular matter. They didn't want to push their father any more than Rukia already had.
The twins ran up and gave each of their parents a huge hug, "Thanks Mom! Thanks Dad! You guys are the best!" Rukia smiled at these words and Ichigo ruffled Kaien's hair.
"Any time." Rukia said, with a smile that could rival the stars with its brilliance.
With that, the kids ran off to where the Senkaimon gate was, leaving Ichigo and Rukia to walk after them, "We're doing the right thing, aren't we?"
Ichigo looked over and saw that Rukia was looking towards where the two young children ran off to. "Of course we are. Why? What's bothering you?" Even the unparalleled lack of perception that Ichigo was famous for could pick up on his wife's unease.
"I'm not sure, I guess it's just that I'm not ready for them to leave. It seems like only yesterday that they were in diapers playing with Ayana here while we sat with Momo. I'm always going to miss that." Rukia's eyes began to well with tears as sh continued to think about her babies growing up.
"Don't worry, We've done as good a job as any other parents. Maybe even better considering the circumstances. They'll always be ours. Just like Shiro-chan." Rukia looked up at Ichigo at the sound of the nickname that he reserved solely for the torment of their oldest son.
"Wow Dad. I never thought you could be so tactful." Toushirou Kurosaki walked up and gave his mom and dad a hug. "Don't worry guys, I'll make sure they don't get into too much trouble."
"Oh great. That's just one more thing for us to worry about!" Ichigo grinned and pulled his son into a hug.
"Like I said, no need to worry. I'll keep them safe."
With that parting comment, Rukia and Ichigo rushed off after their kids.
Time passed quickly and before they knew it, Ichigo and Rukia were carrying the twins to the car outside of Isshin's house.
"Thanks again for having us Dad. It meant a lot to the kids to tell you first hand. I didn't really have the heart to tell them that it was your idea in the first place." Ichigo had placed Kaien in the car and left Rukia to deal with Masaki and the seat belts.
"Any time kid, you know that. Oh, Yuzu is having a little get together to celebrate this weekend. She wanted me to tell you." Isshin reached out and grabbed Ichigo's hand and pulled him into a sort of half hug.
Ichigo climbed into the driver's seat and started the car, "We'll be there, Yuzu knows that the twins don't like cake right?"
"Why are you even asking that? She's only been to ever birthday party these kids have had. Sometimes I wonder if you're truly my kid."
Isshin stepped back from the car and walked back up to the house. He turned and waved as Ichigo drove off, wondering to himself.
Masaki woke up and rolled over to look at her clock. The glowing numbers showed that it was before eight. She sighed and, deciding that she wasn't going back to sleep, got up to go take a shower. She grabbed the clothes that Ukitake had given her and went down to the bathroom.
A quick fifteen minutes later she was washed and clothed, standing in front of the full length mirror in her room, twirling back and forth trying to see every inch of her new uniform. The uniform was rather plain and looked like the normal Shinigami shihakusho except that where the regular shihakusho was black the student ones came in colores, red for the girls and blue for the boys.
Her normally long hair was pulled back into a tight bun. Berets similar to those worn by Aunt Orihime held her hair back over her ears.
Looking herself over one last time, Masaki decided to go wake her brother up.
She practically ran down the hallway towards Kaien's room and was about to knock when it opened before she even touched it. A sleepy-eyed Kaien met her at the door, running a hand through his messy hair and yawning. "Good morning, Sunshine." He said around a yawn.
"I'm so excited! What do you think they're going to have us do first?" Masaki seemed oblivious to the fact that Kaien obviously wasn't fully awake.
"I'm not sure, but I would appreciate it if you would step away from my door so I can go downstairs and get something to eat. Today's going to be a long day." Masaki stepped back and followed Kaien down into the kitchen.
Seeing that he was already dressed in his uniform, she asked, "What time did you get up Kai?"
"About five thirty. I couldn't sleep." His face lit up as he grinned. "Look at this."
He handed the piece of paper that he had been holding to Masaki.
Scrawled in their mother's tiny, neat hand writing it read,
Dear Kai and Saki-chan,
Your father and I had to go into Soul Society early this morning, we're registering you for the Academy. Now we both know that you two know how to use the Senkaimon so you should be here by 9:30. See you in a while.
Love,
Mom
"Wow, we get to use the Senkaimon? This is just getting better and better." Masaki looked over at the clock on the microwave, 9:05.
"We should probably get going. Can I boot up the Senkaimon today Kai?" Masaki looked over at her brother and tried to use the "puppy eyes" that always worked so well on their dad.
"You don't need to use those Saki-chan. I was already going to say yes." Kaien grinned again as his sister rushed over and hugged him, squealing in delight.
"Thank you thank you thank you! I knew there was a reason I kept you around." She said playfully as she dragged him away from his bowl of cereal.
Getting one last bite, Kaien set his bowl and spoon in the sink and followed his sister down into the basement.
"You do know how to use this thing, right?" He asked as they got down there.
"Duh! All you have to do is touch it with some reiatsu." She reached out and sent a pulse of reiatsu down her hand and into the gate. "See? Nothing to it."
They both raced through the portal and off towards the Academy.
Shiro met them at the door to the Academy, "Are you two ready?"
"As we'll ever be." Kaien answered.
"I'm so nervous! What's it like Nii-san?" Masaki's violet eyes were darting back and forth, the only sign that she actually was nervous.
"You will be fine, just let it come naturally. Try to remember what I taught you about kidou and you will ace this."
"Is that a confession?" Ichigo walked up behind his three kids and patted Shiro on the shoulder.
"Not in the least old man. I haven't taught them any kidou, just told them what to expect." Shiro's grin didn't escape the notice of his father, however.
"Uh huh, sure. Well I was just coming by to let you kids know that today will be over right after kidou training. We have somewhere to be." With that Ichigo turned and walked out the door.
"It really amazes me that someone that clumsy can be that sneaky." Masaki said grinning.
"Well I'm not sure we have the time to discuss that mystery at the moment. Look, the other firsties are lining up, better hurry out." Shiro shuffled them out the doorway that led to the courtyard and then followed them.
They took their spaces in line and waited patiently for their teacher.
To their immense surprise, Momo walked through the door.
"Good morning to all of you," She said pleasantly, " My name is Hinamori-sensei and today we will be going over basic Hado incantations and will be taking some for a "test drive" towards the end for those of you that are ready."
"This is going to be great! Auntie Momo loves us." Masaki whispered to her twin.
"I wouldn't put it past her to be hard on us because she loves us." Kaien had stayed looking at the front of the courtyard throughout the entire conversation.
Hinamori-sensei continued to speak, " Today we will be going over the thirty-first Hado spell, Shakkaho. This is the incantation and what it is supposed to look like." She proceeded to tell them the incantation and show them what the "finished product" should look like, a fairly scorched, beat on kidou dummy.
"Now break into partners and practice on the dummies. I will be walking around and helping as needed."
"Yes Sensei!" All of the new students began breaking into pairs and looking for a dummy to practice on.
"We know this one, right Kai?" Masaki asked. Looking more nervous than she had at the beginning.
"Yes we know this one. It was the first one that Nii-san taught us, remember? Just take a breath and take my hand." He said as he held out his hand. Kaien was used to his sister freaking out over little things. All she needed was a push in the right direction and she would be fine.
She grabbed the outstretched hand, "Together?" she said, more of a question than a statement.
Kaien nodded. "Together."
Kaien relaxed his body, starting in his mind and working outwards, just as his older brother had taught him. After he was feeling more than hearing everyone, he opened his eyes and looked over at his sister, pleased to see her violet eyes alight with reiatsu.
"Ye lord! Mask of flesh and blood..."
"All creation, flutter of wings..." Masaki's voice started off small but grew and stopped shaking after the first stirrings of reiatsu flowed towards her hands.
"Ye who bears the name of Man!" Kaien was smiling at the power coursing throughout his body. He had never been good at the actual spells, but he was very good at controlling the reiatsu part of kidou.
"Inferno and pandemonium..."
"The sea barrier surges..."
"March on to the South!" They both shouted out the last part of the incantation. Kaien putting out a lot more raw power and Masaki taking it and tempering it into the little ball of red flame.
Bringing their hands together in front of them, they formed the customary triangle. The slightly larger than normal red ball raced out from their hands and screamed towards the kidou dummy. Upon contact, the dummy was completely destroyed.
"Now, what do we have here? I've never seen you two in action before. That was quite a display you put on." Momo had walked up behind them as they stared dumbstruck at the total annihilation before them.
"Sorry Sensei. We didn't mean to destroy the dummy. I just put in a little more pressure than I meant to. It could have happened to anybody. Right?" Kaien looked up at Momo as he spoke.
"A little more than you meant to? Kaien, how much reiatsu did you put out? On a scale from one to ten?" Momo asked.
Kaien looked puzzled, "Uhm, I'm not sure, maybe about a three?"
"Kaien, honey, look around." He did so and was surprised to see his other classmates still getting up from the ground where they had fallen.
"Why are they getting up Momo?" Masaki was puzzled too.
"They are getting up because the two of you combined your reiatsu to very high levels. I'm surprised you could temper that much power." Momo was obviously more than impressed.
It was Masaki that spoke first, "We've learned from one of the best." She gestured over towards Shiro. "Nii-san taught us a lot." in an undertone, "But don't tell Dad." Masaki winked up at Momo as she laughed.
"Alright, but the two of you need to work on not suffocating the rest of us." She shook her head and turned back to the rest of the class. "The rest of you, continue with what you were doing."
"As for you two, come back tomorrow and I'll have a different assignment for you."
"All right Sensei! See you tomorrow!" Masaki grinned and grabbed Kaien by his arm.
"Sorry again about the dummy Momo." Kaien said as he was led off by his sister.
"Don't worry about it Kai." She called after his quickly retreating form.
"What am I going to do with those two?" Momo asked herself as she turned around and started helping the other students with the words and their form.
"Mom! Dad! We're home!" Masaki called up the basement stairs as she and her brother stepped through the Senkaimon gate.
"We got out early because Kaien destroyed the kidou dummy!" She giggled as Kaien glared at her.
They walked up the stairs and into the living room. The lights were off and the drapes were closed over the window so they couldn't see much of anything. Kaien groped along the wall until he found the light switch.
When he flicked it on, Ichigo, Rukia, and the rest of his family jumped out from their hiding places and yelled, "Surprise!"
The twins jumped and immediately grinned and ran over to their parents. "Thanks guys! Your the best!"
And so the party commenced, with about a hundred "congratulations" and a thousand "I'm so proud"s, the party finally came to a close.
"Bye! Thanks for coming!" Rukia closed the door behind Yuzu as she left.
"Now that we have the house to ourselves..." She started as she walked back into the living room. Stopping in the doorway, she looked into the living room.
There, posed almost as if by a professional, was her family. Ichigo in the middle, with Kaien and Masaki curled up with each other next to him and Shiro sitting in the recliner next to the couch.
It was almost to perfect. Everyone's sleeping face looked so peaceful.
"Tomorrow's another day. She said to herself as she walked up the stairs, leaving the rest of her family to their dreams.
All right. Well, here is chapter two. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Send me feed back and I'll change whatever needs to be changed.
A/N - please read and review.