A/N: People to thank: Dark Inu Fan, dragonlord1337, Bleached-Whale, Assault Godzilla, Kai-chan94, bleach-otaku, curio cherry, Rukia's Reflection, Metue, shaid, and Lizard Lover. And thank you to anyone who added this or its author to their lists. I meant to get this out yesterday.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Bleach characters, manga, anime, movies, etc. They belong by copyright laws to Tite Kubo et al.

Every Teen's Worst Nightmare

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Byakuya looked over the crowd of teens and for the nth time in the last several days was reminded why he couldn't stand adolescent humans. The group of loud, obnoxious high school students was talking amongst themselves, ignoring his presence as if he were simply a bystander that didn't have to be listened to. Raising one hand negligently, he pointed at the far wall and fired off a Byakurai. Several of the girls screamed in fright while the "Substitute Group" turned to him swiftly in shock and the rest of the boys jumped in their seats.

"Oi, Byakuya!" Ichigo shouted, pulling Rukia behind him in an instinctive move to protect her. She clutched Raiden to her tightly, surprised at her brother's action. "There are people in the next room!"

"Now that I have your attention," the noble stated calmly, ignoring the daiko's outburst. "Return to your seats and pay attention. This next assignment is probably one of the most important. You will need to do a bit of research for this and I expect it to be accurate." Byakuya handed out the next work sheet for their parenting project. He watched as they read it silently, enjoying the grimaces and pale faces that came over them when they reached a particularly disturbing part.

Rukia looked from the assignment to her partner's face and wondered what was making him groan. "Ichigo?" she asked, confused.

"The great headache: daycare and education. Together they amount to a perpetually empty wallet, midget. We have to go around and find out the cost of the different nursery schools and the cost of supplying our kid for several years of primary and secondary education. And if that doesn't beat all, there's college to think of, at a whopping 68% increase of today's cost."

"Oh. Is it really going to be that bad?" the petite woman asked; her violet eyes curious.

"It is unless you can convince your brother to pay for private tutors and nannies. And from the look on his face, I can tell that there's no way he's letting us get away with that." As one they looked at Byakuya who was distinctly unsympathetic of the students' plight.

"It doesn't look like he's going to help, does it?" she murmured.

"After the crap that went on over the weekend, can you blame him? It shouldn't be too bad. Not too long ago the government made it so that there was no tuition to go to public school so the only thing we really have to worry about is nursery school and university. The girls went to great place in the neighborhood from about two to six years old so I think we can safely name that place as our preferred choice."

"Did all of the kids go there?" Rukia's brows furrowed, thinking about someone else taking care of children not their own. She knew someone must have taken care of her when her sister left her alone in Inuzuri but she couldn't remember most of her afterlife before four years old.

"A lot of them from where we live. Some mothers choose to keep them at home until they go to elementary school but for those that work or want to be alone to do their own thing for a few hours, a nursery school is a good place to send a kid. Mom helped Dad in the clinic sometimes so it only made sense to let the girls go there. And then when she died, Dad couldn't do both, so…"

"I see."

Ichigo looked at her face closely, frowning at her pensive face. "Hey, it's not that bad. They get to make a lot of friends and the parents don't have to worry about what's happening to them. Yuzu and Karin ended up going to elementary with a lot of their friends. We'll go visit theirs after school and call the others. I'm sure they've heard by now about the project." He was thankful most of the area businesses that they'd had to visit over the course of the last week had had some kind of heads up. It made things so much easier than having to explain over and over again what two teenagers wanted with baby supplies.

"Why do humans take care of children who aren't their own?"

"That is an excellent question, Rukia," Byakuya's voice cut into their private conversation. "Perhaps you should ask the caretakers when you visit."

Ichigo glanced around quickly, trying to see if anyone other than their friends had heard the odd inquiry. No one seemed to be paying them much attention. "Isn't there child care for Shinigami? I mean nobles can't be the only ones who have kids."

"The only small children that have been admitted to a division within the last one hundred and fifty years are Lieutenants Ise and Kusajishi. As far as I know any children born to Shinigami are the sole responsibility of its parents and the division that said parents belong to. Each squad has its own way of dealing with any children that might be born. It is rare that anyone who was not born a noble becomes a parent. High concentrations of reiatsu are needed for a new soul to be born into the Soul Society. I don't know of anyone who has had a child." Rukia frowned, looking up at her brother for confirmation.

"You are correct. There have been no children born to any Shinigami within that time frame. Ise and Kusajishi came from the Rukongai. Ise went through the Academy alone before being taken by the eighth and Kusajishi just came with Zaraki."

"I see," Ichigo said, rubbing the back of his neck in discomfort.

"Shinigami rarely think about having children anyway," Rukia said, shrugging. "We're soldiers," she went on, as if she was trying to convince him that it didn't matter.

Ichigo knew different. All throughout the project she had taken to being a mother as if she was born to the role. He knew that she had taken care of younger children before her entrance into the Academy and that they'd died. The fact that there was a chance that she'd never be an actual mother was coming back to haunt her with this. Not that she would ever say so and he wasn't about to bring it up.

"Well, I guess there are certain Shinigami that shouldn't be parents. Just look how Yachiru is being raised." The Kuchiki siblings nodded as one before the elder returned to his position at the front of the class. "We'll talk more about this later. I have a feeling your brother is about to toss us a pop history quiz."

"Pop quiz?" Rukia asked, thankful that her partner had dropped the subject of children.

"It's a quiz that's given without prior notice. Ochi-sensei's usually too gleeful to keep tests to herself so she gave up trying to give them a month after we started school."

"I wonder where Nii-sama learned the term," she mused.

Ichigo didn't have the heart to tell her their other teachers had probably given him all the information he needed on how to make their school days with him as miserable as possible. She probably wouldn't have believed him anyway.

Ishida glanced sideways at his partner, wondering how he should approach the subject of daycare. He knew from things said in the past that her childhood hadn't been a happy one, her brother being the only source of genuine love and care she'd gotten. Even though the assignment was to check out daycare and schools, he had a feeling that Orihime Inoue would rather keep a child of hers close until she had no other choice but to send him or her off to elementary school. The Quincy had noticed that after each section of possibilities, there was a line for the pair's ultimate choice. He had almost written in "Stay at home mother," but had refrained when he'd overheard the Rikka wielder and Arisawa chatting about the daycare that the latter had gone to. The conversation had brought a smile to the archer's face and he'd tucked the paper away to fill out later. He knew that if he said anything to his father, Ryuuken would insist on nannies and private schools despite the fact that Kei was only a doll and would be returned to Urahara by the end of the week. The director of Karakura Hospital had made it plain that if he left any grandchildren of his in the public system, they'd probably turn out like their father. Something that was clearly unacceptable.

The head of the class shuffled his books aside when the captain of the sixth division captain passed out a test that hadn't been announced before the weekend. Looking at the content, Ishida had to give a small smile of his own, Quincy superiority shining through. If the Shinigami noble thought a pop quiz was enough to throw him off his game, he had another thing coming. Regardless of the fact that he'd had to put up with his father for most of the last two days, he had managed to get in a large amount of quality studying in.

Picking up his pencil, he began answering the questions, determined to show the captain a little distraction caused by a young child wasn't enough to lower his scholastic standing. As usual he was the first to finish, bringing it up to the older Kuchiki with a blank face. Byakuya nodded his acceptance and allowed the younger man to return to his seat. Obviously despite the fact that he was a Quincy, Ishida clearly had the man's approval. As more and more people finished, the louder the sounds of uncomfortable "silence" got and Ishida couldn't wait until lunch came around. At least they'd be free of the cold and calculating grey gaze of Byakuya Kuchiki.

Byakuya looked over the group of adolescents after the test and decided that they'd been tortured enough for the morning. "I have some news that I think you'll all enjoy. Ochi-sensei is going to return Thursday and that will be the end of your project." Cheers went up and several of the dolls were tossed up, Keigo being the only one not able to catch his on its descent.

"Finally," Tatsuki breathed. "There is a light at the end of the tunnel."

"Aa," Chad murmured and went back to contemplating the assignment page. He would be glad when it was over as well. While he had enjoyed being partnered with someone that was serious about passing the project, he'd be glad when he could return home and focus on his music again. Although they were nothing but welcoming to him, the large half Mexican was becoming uncomfortable with the family atmosphere. It had been so long since he was part of a traditional family, it was strange to sit among another and participate in the daily banter. If he hadn't been partnered with the martial artist he doubted he'd ever be a part of such a thing again until he married sometime in the future.

"So," the dark haired girl said when the class broke up to eat. "What do you think about child care and school? Have any ideas about what type of university we should check into? I know every parent's dream is to get their kid into Tokyo University but it's a long shot."

"A place that has several choices."

Tatsuki looked at her partner and wanted to smack him. Most universities had several majors over a variety of specialties. That left nearly all of the schools of advanced learning in the country. "I think we should look into ones that focus on sports and music. That's what we specialize in."

"As you wish."

"You know," the tomboy said, lifting the doll into her arms from where they had kept her on the floor between their desks. "I think I'm going to miss her," Tatsuki said.

"You are?" Ichigo butted in, his own "child" grabbing at his hair.

"Well, yeah. I mean she's pretty normal even though she has spiritual pressure."

"You're going to miss feeding it every two hours?" Rukia asked in disbelief.

"Well, no…"

"The sleepless nights?" Ishida pressed.

"Like hell," she snapped.

"Dirty diapers?" Orihime offered.

"Definitely not," Tatsuki denied.

"Then what?" Chad asked, for once interested.

"She's cute, all right?"

"Oh, yes. All the babies are," Orihime agreed, Rukia nodding.

"Girls," Ichigo muttered and walked away with Raiden still in his arms. Ishida and Chad kept their own council, more interested in lunch than adding to Ichigo's comment.

"What's wrong with cute things?" Tatsuki demanded.

Wisely neither of the remaining males answered her.