Standard disclaimer applies.
Warning: Sequel to #24 Newsflash, #29 Jitters, #34 Shopping, #39 Bonds.
Author's notes: I've been trying to upload this since Thursday, but this thing wouldn't let me. This is the fifth and last installment of what I'd like to call from now on the "Kurosaki Ichigo Family Saga" xD Ehehe. In other words, this is possibly (who knows...) the last follow up for 'Newsflash'. I hope you enjoy this one as well and thank you very much for all of your lovely reviews. See you soon.

Third
30.04.2006

When it happened the first time, Ichigo felt as though he was going through his teenage years all at once. He was inexperienced and awkward but eager to learn nevertheless. By the second time, he was still learning but there were several parts he had mastered and improved already. It somehow resembled the first time in some ways, but it came much easier and smoother. The third time would be a piece of cake. Or so he thought.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The incessant crying was starting to drill his eardrums.

Masaki had proven to be the loudest of their kids, though that might have been related to the way she'd been conceived. Oh, yes, he remembered… it'd been after a drunken night and hot love-making. (Rukia had lots of surprising moves.) And some months later, they'd been overwhelmed with the news of Rukia's third pregnancy. In the end, despite Masaki being unexpected, it didn't mean that they loved her any less than their other two children.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Again, the whimpers and constant sobs and the wailings….

"Masaki, Masaki," he tried to calm down the weeping infant. "Oh, God, what did I do this time?" he glared at the ceiling before looking down at his daughter again and sighed in frustration. "Shh, calm down," he whispered, "Everything's alright, Masaki."

The seven-month-old girl seemed to be pacified for the moment; she looked up at him with light-amber eyes that were brimming with fresh tears and hiccupped softly. He cleaned her dirty face and smiled gently at the curious gaze he was given in return.

Truth to be told, Ichigo'd been hesitant when naming his child Masaki. Once ago, when they gave Hisana her name, the possibility of calling her like his mother had been suggested by more than one. He'd refused the idea before the very stunned eyes of his family but his motives had gone unquestioned. Hisana had been named after Rukia's late sister, then, and the name very much suited his precious daughter. But when his second one was born and she had looked at him for the first time with the very same eyes of his mother, it had been inevitable that he'd named after the woman that had meant so much to him.

Yuzu, with her one-year-old Ishiro, had happily agreed to it; and Karin, who'd been pregnant of her first baby girl around that time, hadn't protested as he had expected her to (for Ichigo thought either of his sisters deserved naming their children after their mother much more than he did). Both twins had come up with the conclusion that Ichi-nii was still a dummy worrywart, after all.

But anyway! Ichigo shook his head, focusing back to the task at hand which currently was feeding the little mons… err, princess. (Hey, the girl was more like her mother than it seemed!) Rukia had left with the kids for a play-date with Orihime's two sons (one of six, like Hisana, and the other of four), and he'd been left in charge of baby-sitting Masaki for the day. Not as easy as he'd thought at first, since Masaki simply refused to eat.

He looked down at his stained shirt and sighed, turning to take another spoonful of the banana-oatmeal breakfast had left for her and hoping this time the girl wouldn't break into a fit of wails. "Come on, Masaki," he pleaded, offering the food to her as he vaguely thought that he was getting old for this, "Be a good girl and eat your food."

The girl puckered her lips together and turned away just as he neared the spoon to her mouth. He tried once, twice, thrice… a fourth time and Masaki's eyes began to well-up with tears, one more time.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Ma-Masaki!" Ichigo exclaimed in panic, looking around for someone to save him. The little girl had begun to cry loudly as well, causing Ichigo's eyes to grow wide with alarm. 'Oh, not again…!'

"Tut... tut..." Byakuya shook his head disapprovingly and stepped forward into the living room. Ichigo stopped dead on his tracks, spoon in the air and all, as he stared at his son. Byakuya was barely ten, but he already looked too much like his father when the man was his age (Ichigo was actually grateful that his son hadn't taken after his uncle any more than his name). The only difference was, perhaps, that this boy held the intense, blue gaze his mother had granted him.

"Papa's getting old," the soft, girlish voice of his daughter Hisana was heard and he was actually surprised to hear something like this from his own girl; deep down he felt a little bit hurt in his pride, just a little bit. She leaped into the room, following her older brother, and as soon as she reached Masaki, she began soothing down the crying baby. She looked over her shoulder and smiled, "Right, Mama?"

"He is, isn't he?" Rukia inserted as a reply to their six-year-old girl, but he knew it was meant to taunt him. She leaned against the white doorframe, crossing her arms over her chest, and looked around the messy room. She laughed and her laughter filled the room like a fresh breeze; Masaki perked up at the sound of her voice and her eyes shone brightly. Her mother continued with the teasing, "You'd think that after two kids you'd know how to handle one little baby for one day, Ichigo."

"You should do it this way, Papa," his son took the spoon from his hands. He took another spoon of the sweetened oatmeal and turned to his anxious baby sister. "Look, look, Masaki-chan, here comes the plane!" He sing-sung for her, waving the spoon in the air, and the girl opened her mouth contentedly.

"Ah… ah, I should have known..." Ichigo said, dumbfounded, as he scratched the back of his neck. What came out then was a strangled chuckle. He was really getting old, huh?

But life was good. He'd met Rukia and they'd accomplished many things together, their children were proof of that.

Byakuya was the happy, healthy boy they had wished for. However a trouble-maker at school he was, he did always find a way out of uproars he caused and had good grades, so teachers could never put the blame on him. That was their Bya-chan for you. Hisana, on the other hand, had a quiet nature and entertained herself reading books and playing with her dolls at home. They'd recently discovered that she got talkative when she ate chocolate... very talkative. Masaki was loud, made the cutest baby faces, and loved her hot pink frog plushy. Ichigo knew he wasn't ready for the day Masaki had to leave for pre-school. He wasn't ready before, why would he now?

As for himself and Rukia… Well, he was just thirty-five and Rukia was, er... thirty-five too. There weren't wrinkles on his face yet, but the constant frowning forecasted a huge one across his temples. She hadn't changed that much either. She still made those dreadful drawings, but he'd learned to just shut up now. Rukia was also still learning things about this world, and from time to time he found her with that dazed expression when a new technological artifact came out to the market (he always had to convince her they couldn't buy every new gadget on TV, no matter how it could help chase hollows away). He just feared the day his children grew up and she would have to explain the thing with the flower and the bees.

Rukia took care of their house and children (he tried to help as much as possible too), and had a part-time job at Masaki's kindergarten. Ichigo worked very hard at the clinic, trying to keep the family business going on. Sometimes, he even attended some of the clinical procedures at Ishida's General Hopsital because they had fancier instruments. Together they kept up with other activities at night that they had restrained the children from knowing, but they suspected Bya-chan knew something.

He and Rukia fought like usual (their kids were used to it, especially during breakfast over the French toast), didn't agree on many things, and basically were very stubborn people. But he loved her very much and she loved him back very much, so they put up with each other.

"Ichigo, something wrong?" Rukia's voice disturbed his daydream.

"Ah, no," he mumbled, bringing her closer as they sat on the sofa after deciding to watch the TV together.

Rukia smiled at him and then glanced briefly at their children now playing in the adjacent room, and he thought to himself that she was more beautiful than ever. Certainly, many things may have changed for them, but she was still as small as always, fragile as always, and kicked as hard as always. And he loved her all the same.