Author's Note:For anyone that actually reads this, sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been stuck on re-editing, and I haven't been happy with what I've been writing lately. So here's something that was pre-written and mostly untouched. I'll start up again with faster updates soon!

Hair sticking out and face covered in dirt, he was a picture-perfect child- the best a mother could ask for. Father's face and mother's eyes, he was beautiful. He was a treasure.

"Mama!" his voice was small and gentle, yet it held a rasp of his foreshadowed manhood. He was just like his father. "Mama!"

Rukia turned her head to her son and crouched down to pick him up. "What is it?"

Rukia had been trying in vain to push an earring through the seldom-used holes in her earlobes. She cursed the day Ichigo convinced her to get them pierced. It had all been a sly trick to cover up Ichigo's mistake of buying her earrings for their anniversary without making sure Rukia actually wore them. It was funny hindsight, but now she felt obligated to wear them on special occasions. Tonight was their sixth wedding anniversary, and all Rukia wanted to do was get out of the house.

"Mom!" Kaien whined.

Shaking her head, Rukia put her son down. "What was it, now?"

"Masaki isn't playing nice!" He held a firm pout- definitely his father's- and crossed his tiny arms.

Rukia couldn't help but smile at the trivial life of a child. "What is she doing, Kaien?"

"She won't share the crayons!" He was so serious in his anger Rukia couldn't help but give a short giggle.

"It's not funny! Tell her to share!"

Rukia ruffled her son's hair and craned her head out the door of her bathroom. "Masaki! Share with your brother!"

There was a pause from the other room, but then the air was broken by a heavy sigh. "Aww, okay."

Kaien gave his mother a triumphant look and scurried back to the living room to play with his sister. Rukia closed her eyes and sighed sweetly. What a simple life this was turning out to be. Such innocent children with such innocent problems.

Both Ichigo and Rukia were happy with their children and their home. How they convinced the Captain-Commander to let them live permanently in the Living World was a feat the often didn't question, but it was nothing short of wonderful. They had two beautiful healthy children, a comfortable home, and a handful of willing babysitters when it was time to slay hollows (and occasionally save the worlds).

Rukia selfishly ached for everything to remain in this peaceful dream-like state, but her thoughts turned dark when she remembered it wasn't going to be this way forever. Both Kaien and Masaki contained enormous spiritual pressure even as small children. Ichigo and Rukia were switching off Hollow patrol nightly ever since they were born. They knew what they were getting themselves into when they had their kids, but sometimes they forgot how much danger their births had put the entire family in.

One day their innocence would be stripped of them so violently they might never forgive their parents… but for now, they were blissfully unaware of the monsters that lurked in the dark and the tightly kept secrets their parents tried hard to keep. They had no idea the nice woman who watched them when "mommy and daddy went out" was actually a healer who also stopped the blood-flow before Ichigo or Rukia could enter their home. Their tall and muscular uncle was a fighter who protected them when their parents were away on Soul Society business. The lanky "Glasses-Man" was there to defend the entire Kurosaki family if things were ever too tough for the two shinigamis. "Grandpa Hat-n-Clogs" was an exiled captain who risked his life on numerous occasions just to make sure Ichigo and Rukia could remain alive long enough to parent the children they had created... The very children who were living an existence based on lies and deceptions. The very children spawned from the most powerful shinigami couple to grace any universe. The very children who, on a day to day basis, had their lives in great danger based on the selfish whim of Ichigo and Rukia to be parents.

Deep inside, Rukia wondered if they had made a mistake.