Saturday flew by and soon everyone was back at school. Ikkaku sighed happily when Izuru dropped off Ameil, who was the last of his students. He could hear Tessai busy in the kitchen preparing for the week.

"Ikkaku," Yuzu said, coming down the stairs. She was followed by a soccer ball.

"Karin," Ikkaku called, annoyed. "What did I tell you about balls in the house?"

Karin came down the stairs. "I'm sorry. You were going to take it away anyways so I thought I would kick it down for you."

"Ikkaku" Yuzu said again, annoyed at his lack of response.

"I'm sorry Yuzu, what is it?"

"Ichigo and the others will be here around 8 for the pillow fight."

"I can't wait!" Ameil said, walking down the stairs. He was followed by Dan, Nat, and Jinta. Every Saturday the kids would have a pillow fight before bed. But the tradition was that on the first day of school, the kids got to have one right in the living room.

"Ikkaku!" Bess yelled. "Nan won't keep her bugs on her side of the room!"

"Well, I haven't enough shelf room." Nan said, coming to the top of the stairs. Bess followed her.

"Nan, I will talk to Tessai and have him put in more shelves, but until then, keep your bugs on your own side."

"All right," Nan agreed.

At around 7, Ikkaku went over the chore list for the new year, which the children hated. Ururu and Yuzu were glad to be paired together.

"I'm a Kuchiki, I shouldn't have to do chores," Bess sulked.

"Bess, we talked about this last year, and the year before that." Ikkaku said patiently. "We are all equal here."

"Why am I on kitchen duty?" Nan complained.

"And why does Jinta have the least amount of work?" Karin said.

"Because Jinta is eight years old. And Nan, we all have kitchen duty." Ikkaku explained.

"We like the list," Dan said, representing his, Ameil's, and Nat's opinions.

"Me too," Jinta said happily. Karin glared at him.

"Come on guys, he worked hard!" A voice said, and all the kids ran toward it source.

"Yumichika!" He was always visiting and brought a lot of goodies with him.

"We're here too." Orihime's voice was heard saying, and she was followed by Chad, Ichigo and Uryu.

"Let me go get my pillow," Ikkaku said. He did this mainly to defend himself. After about 10 minutes, Ikkaku sat down with a relieved sigh and watched with Tessai and Yumichika. The three men liked seeing the children have fun. After 30 minutes of fun and laughing, the living room was full of white fluffly feathers. The children said goodbye to the older teens and picked up the feathers one by one.

Yumichika talked a bit with Ikkaku. "You make sure they get to Urahara's safely, Yumichika. Especially with the Arrancar on the loose."

"You can trust me just as you always have," Yumichika said reassuringly. He knew Ikkaku had been picked to take care of the kids because of his caution and care. Also, he taught fighting skills part-time and during his life on earth, he'd taught at a one-room schoolhouse.

"By the way, have you talked to Yamamoto about the school books yet?"

"No," Ikkaku said. "He's done so much already."

"Why don't you ask some of the parents? I mean Bess, Nan, Nat and Dan's parents are all loaded, right? Plus I know Gin left a lot of money to Ameil."

"Yumichika!" Ikkaku said, surprised. Their conversation ended abruptly as the highschoolers were ready to go.

"Well then, see you in a few weeks!" Ikkaku waved goodbye. They would be training in the Soul Society for a few weeks when everything was a bit more clear. He insisted their education second when training here.

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