The Dynamic Trio

Corbeau was sitting on the floor of the 'living room' in the RV playing with Allete who was had just celebrated her first birthday a few days earlier. It was hard to call anything an actual room in their motorhome because it all just kind of ran together. She was waiting on her two other charges to arrive for her babysitting duties to begin. Her job had fallen to a strictly advisory position as far as school went. The teaching duties had now fallen to Rin, who was taking college courses as well. Hiyori took care of the smaller children and conducted a type of daycare/preschool for them. Hiyori, shockingly enough, was showing talent as becoming a new addition to the freak show. She exhibited an amazing strength that almost rivaled that of their current strongman, Ikkaku. The man was even training her and helping her become stronger. Her talent was discovered when she nearly gave her father a concussion with a well-placed shoe upside the head. Kisuke had been teasing her about having a crush on Ikkaku because she had gotten into the habit of watching him lift weights. Her father never mentioned another word about her being in love with the man especially when she became Ikkaku's apprentice. Hana was close to graduating with his master's degree and was ready to pursue his doctorate to become a pediatrician and obstetrician/gynecologist. The men of the show teased him mercilessly about his choice of careers until Hana pointed out exactly what he would be doing in the gynecologist part of his chosen profession. That changed their minds – the whole big group of perverts.

An expected knock on the door was answered with a call to enter from Corbeau without leaving her seat on the floor where she was building a tower of blocks so her daughter could knock it down.

Hiro, Toshiro and Rangiku's child, slowly and calmly walked up the steps. He looked like his mother with honey blond hair and pale blue eyes. He acted like his father with his quiet, shy, somewhat grumpy nature; also having his never hurried, never flustered demeanor. Nothing excited this child in a good way or a bad way. It was a treat to receive a reserved smile or small titter of laughter from him. He never got upset or whined and hardly cried even as a baby. His best friend, Isshin, was his polar opposite and they had a true yen-yang friendship. They had been friends virtually since birth since they arrived within a few hours of each the other.

"Hi, Hiro. Come to play Allete for the day?" she asked, opening her arms for a hug.

"Yes, Aunt Corbeau," he answered politely with a blush on his cheeks as he hugged her.

The door had not even completely closed before it was unceremoniously jerked open again and an orange headed ball of energy hurtled up the steps into her arms. Poor Hiro barely had time to move out of the way before Isshin threw himself into Corbeau's arms.

"I'm here!" he yelled just in case no one noticed.

"So I see," she laughed, looking behind the little boy to see his father.

Ichigo avoided her gaze yet he continued to stand in the door way without coming in. Something was wrong. He swung his eyes to hers ever so briefly and she could see the tears.

"Kids, I'm going outside to talk for a minute okay. You three play nice. You two," she began sternly, eyeballing each boy in turn, before continuing her warning, "Allete is not a tug of war device. If I come in and catch you two fighting over her and pulling her again, I'll spank you both. Do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," they answered in unison before giving each other dirty looks over Allete's head who was playing with her blocks and blissfully unaware. Isshin stuck his tongue out at Hiro who only rolled his eyes and grunted. This relationship between the three was bound to have interesting implications as they got older.

Corbeau could only imagine the drama that would be coming their way when the children become teenagers. She shivered with the thought and got up to walk outside with Ichigo. She suddenly wished Renji had not left early so he could have talked to him. After closing just the screened door so she could hear and see the children, they moved away a few feet so have some semblance of a private conversation.

"What is it?" she inquired, studying his face that appeared as if were about to crack to release of flood of emotion.

"Well, I heard something from Orihime," he said flatly, reaching for his back pocket. He pulled out a folded legal looking document and handed it to her.

"Oh, no," she sighed after her eyes skimmed the paper. "She's giving up her rights to Isshin?" she asked in disbelief. What mother does this?

"There's something wrong here. She would never do this. She loves him more than she loves me," he stated in a slightly whiney voice.

Corbeau bit her lip to hold back the questions on her tongue. If she loves you so much then why did she leave? Why didn't she just forsake the money and stay with her family? Orihime made her choice and showed her true priorities as far as Corbeau was concerned. How could he still be so foolish after receiving these papers? The woman had been gone for over six months and obviously was not coming back.

"I know what you're thinking," he blurted not hiding the anger in his voice.

"No, you don't," she rejoined although she was pretty sure he did.

"She wouldn't just leave us. That lawyer threatened her with something, I just know it," he uttered almost to himself.

"Don't do something stupid," she warned apprehensively. She could see that look all over his face. He was about to do something rash that they all might regret.

"I love you." He seized her by the arms and pressed a hard kiss to her lips. "Take care of Isshin for me," he exclaimed as he was running away.

"Ichigo? Ichigo!" she yelled, running after him then stopping because she remembered the children. "Dammit! That idiot!"

"What's wrong?" Sajin asked, appearing in front of her like a phantom.

"Dammit, Sajin!" she screamed scared out of her mind. It had been awhile since he had done something like this. "I think our friend Ichigo is about to run away from home and go find his girlfriend. He's convinced there's some kind of conspiracy to keep them apart."

"I'll take care of it," he announced heroically before taking off after their distraught friend. He should have just declared, 'Here I come to save the day!' He was a hero of sorts especially to her. He seemed to always be there when she needed him like right now.

Corbeau smiled despite herself. "The children!" she exclaimed and ran for the RV upon hearing the panicked cries of her child.

A scene of pure bedlam greeted her. Each boy had an arm of the poor Allete who was frantically crying and screaming between them as they yelled at each other and pulled.

"BOYS!" she bellowed, making them stop immediately. Two pairs of terrified eyes, one brown and one blue, stared at her. She slapped their hands to make them let go of the terrified little girl who she gathered into her arms to calm down. "What did I tell you two?"

"We're sorry," they said together, hanging their heads dejectedly.

"But I yuv hu!" Isshin yelled in his defense.

"It's love, dummy! And you can't love her more than I do," Hiro hollered back. The one person in the world he reserved emotion for was Allete.

"Oh, God help me," she requested quietly raising her eyes to the heavens. She would be glad when in about three years the boys suddenly realized girls were yucky and had cooties. She would have about seven years to recover and rest before they rediscover girls and then became interested in…oh, Lord.

"He's gone," Renji told her three days later.

"What?" Corbeau asked incredulously.

"What was I supposed to do? Lock him in a cage?" he demanded, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration.

"Yes because he's completely irrational!" she exclaimed, dropping down heavily into her chair. She decided she better shut her mouth before she kept yelling and woke up the children from their naps.

"Sweetheart, try not to worry. I've got to go back," he said, kissing her briefly before he left.

Asking her not to worry was like asking a fish not to stay in the water. Ichigo had a tendency to rush into things without thinking of the long term effects. That was how their whole stupid relationship began. He met Orihime when they had gone into town for something to eat. He was captivated from the start and had been brave enough to just sidle up to her in the restaurant and invite her to the show. They met after the show, things got a little hot and heavy, and then he was totally hooked. She never left his side again until she suddenly took off nearly seven months ago.

"Angel," a soft growl in her ear frightened her from her thoughts.

"Sajin, you damn stalker," she snarled back, pushing him away.

"Ichigo will be all right. He just needs to get some clear cut answers. It will settle it in his own mind and him move on once he knows the truth. You look exhausted. Why don't you go lay down with the kids?" he suggested, stroking her cheek.

Corbeau sighed as his furry fingers tickled her skin with the feather light pressure. She closed her eyes and leaned back in the chair as he continued to stroke her, extending his strokes down her neck. "Does it feel this good when I pet you, Wolfie?" she inquired being sensuous without meaning to. Her eyes opened to look at him after he emitted a high pitched whine. "What?"

"Nothing. I better go," he said, standing up from where he was crouched in front of her. He needed to leave - fast.

Corbeau watched him go then closed and locked the door behind him. She took his advice to take a nap with the children, however, her nap was filled with unwelcome yet very desirable erotic dreams of her canine/human friend. Dreams of that long tongue of his licking certain intimate areas that made her body shake with the possible pleasure it would bring her. Then what would the sex be like? What did it look like and how would it feel?

"Holy crap," she muttered, forcing herself into wakefulness to stop the dreams. She was sweating and shaking as she lay on the bed. Her body jerked to a sitting position when Renji opened the door to the bedroom.

"Honey? Are you all right?" he asked quietly so he would not wake the three sleeping kids.

"Yeah. I was just a little tired so I thought I'd take a nap," she answered, unable to move from the bed because she felt weak.

"Are you sick?" he inquired, pressing his hand to her forehead then her cheek. "You're so hot."

'You have no idea,' she thought to herself, leaning forward to slide her arms around him. She was thankful the three children were with her today. She might have given in to lust for the halfling who captivated her.

"I love you so much, baby," he said, kissing her.

"I love you too," she replied. She took a deep breath, laying her head against his chest. It seemed as if the temptation was getting harder to resist from Sajin. Never before had she had thought such sexually explicit things about him or experienced such a strong reaction to them. The two of them had always shared an odd connection from the moment she met him. Maybe it was just the animal within them was drawn to each other. That intense, basic animal need had to be what was making the attraction so strong. She hoped it was just the emotional upheaval of Ichigo's drama that was effecting her and as soon as that went away, this lust would too.

"What do you think about asking Toshiro and Rangiku to babysit tonight so we can some time alone?" Renji inquired, sliding her fingers through her hair and giving her a peck on the lips.

"I think that's a wonderful idea," she replied, pulling him to her for a longer kiss.

"Better hold that thought. I think somebody is waking up," he murmured when Allete whined slightly and began to stir. He didn't even let the child wake up fully before he had her in his arms.

"Renji, look!" she hissed, pointing at the boys. She covered her mouth with her hand to hold back a laugh.

The two boys each had a little hand patting the bed and searching for their dear sweet Allete who had been napping between them. Their hands found each other and after locking their fingers together they settled back down content to hold hands but not knowing whose it was in their sleep. Oh, how she wished she had a camera close by. This would be great blackmail someday. Her husband must have read her mind because he appeared moments later holding it in one hand while Allete was plastered to his hip and held with the other. She watched as he prepared to take the picture.

"Hurry before they wake up," she giggled.

"Oh, this is going to great," he chuckled, focusing the camera. "I can't wait to show them this when they're sixteen."