Chapter 15

"Toshi come too." Toshi said as she held one arm in the air, the other arm holding her pacifier in her mouth.

"I'm sorry but I can't take you with me." I said to her as she as I threw my haori over my shoulders and slipped my arms into the holes.

"Toshi come too please." She said again still with her arms in the air.

"Toshi, daddy can't take you with me." I said to her again. She dropped her arm and frowned at me. I watched as large tears welled in her eyes as she stared up at me with a pocked out lip. I could feel my heart sinking down in my chest as I watched her inch closer and closer to the edge tears.

"Why don't you just let her tag along?" Karin asked as she picked Katsu up from the floor.

"I don't think that I captain's meeting is the place for a two year old." I said to her.

"Well it couldn't hurt. The other captains might actually be happy to see them." she said with a small smile.

"You don't really think that Katsu is going to let me take him along?" I asked.

"He might, you know they don't like to be apart." She said.

"Fine, I'll take them along?" I said to them.

"Toshi come too?" she asked.

"Yes, Toshi come too." I said to her. She smiled and reached up for me again. I bent over and picked her up from the floor. I knew there was no way that Katsu going to let me carry him. Instead of letting me touch him he walked beside meat a safe distance.

When we got to the meeting hall the captains were in fact excited to see the twins. I set Toshi down on the floor and she ran over to captain Ukitake. He scooped her up from the floor and held her in his arms. She moved her pacifier over in her mouth showing her wide smile.

"Captain Grandpa." She said happily.

"Hello to you too little miss Toshi." He said with a kind smile. He looked over at Katsu who was giving him the same emotionless look he gave everyone else.

"Hello to you as well Katsu." He said, Katsu nodded and walked away from him.

"He's quite mature for a two year old." Jushiro said to me as we took our places in line.

"He doesn't seem like a two year old, he acts just like-"

"His pathetic excuse for a father." Said a familiar voice.

"What the hell are you doing here Ichigo Kurosaki?" I asked.

"Please call me Kurosaki." He said as he stepped closer and patted my shoulder and walked around me to greet Toshi and Jushiro. Toshi squealed with delight before she leaped into Ichigo's arms almost falling on the floor as she did so.

"You sure are happy to see you favorite uncle aren't you?" he asked.

"You're her only uncle." I said to him.

"Shut up," he said to me. I rolled my eyes and watched as he played with Toshi in a way that only he could. He was holding her by the feet with her hands reaching towards the floor. He swung her gently from left to right as she swung her arms happily trying to touch the ground underneath her. Any parent in their right mind would protest but he's been playing with her like this ever since she was 6 months old.

"You better not hurt her." I warned him only to have him roll his eyes.

"I'm not going to hurt her, she's tough." He said.

"Does anyone else feel that?" Jushiro asked.

"Feel what?" Ichigo asked. He stopped swinging Toshiro and placed her hands down on the floor. He continued to walk her around the room.

"It feels like the ground is moving." He said. Now that he mentioned it I did feel it. The ground was in fact shaking like there was a small earth quake or something close to that.

"I do feel it," I said. "What is that?"

"I don't know." Ichigo said as he placed Toshi down on the ground, and just like that the rumbling stopped.

"It's gone." Jushiro said.

"That was strange." Soi-fon said from her place in line.

Before anyone could say anything else the head captain walked in and the meeting started. The twins proved not to be as much of a distraction as I thought they would be. They seemed to understand that it was time for them to be quiet and they did. They sat by my feet quietly until the meeting was over and when it was they went right back to being their normal selves.

"Your children are very smart for such I young age. I was surprised to see them so well behaved during the meeting" Said the head captain as he watched Toshi running around the room, Katsu was sitting in the corner watching her as well but at the same time keeping himself as far away from the other men in the room as he possibly could.

"They get it from our side of the family." Ichigo said in a voice that he didn't think anyone could hear.

"Shut up Kurosaki." I said to him.