Surrender

Shadow of an Echo

A/N I am so sorry this took so long to get out. There has been a heck of a lot of hassles going on in real life, and it kind of killed the writing bug. I'm trying to pull myself out of my slump with trying some different fandom pieces (Hetalia if you're interested), and just trudging along, but it's not been easy. I hope you like it, even though I have no real excuse for making you wait months to read it other than I just couldn't muster the gumption for a humor story when I was feeling so low.

Chapter Six

Mine

There was a certain amount of vicious glee flooding through Ichigo as they stepped through the Senkaimon and Kenpachi realized exactly where Ichigo intended this little reunion to take place.

"Yah brought us tah the shop?" He observed in dread, the familiar surroundings causing more fear than a gang of Vasto Lordes would invoke in an entry-level academy student.

"Where did you think I was going to bring us?" Ichigo ribbed, "This is my place now, well ours would be a better way of saying it since everyone knows about us now, Uryu and Orihime are only watching it for us. I wasn't going to come back to the Living World and not check on the shop."

Kenpachi looked at Ichigo like he was crazy, "Do yah still sell the same thing?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Ichigo responded with a smirk, Yachiru perking up at the exchange from her place riding on Kenpachi's broad shoulder like usual.

"Wait till Yachiru finds out what yah have in the boxes." Kenpachi muttered. This could not possibly be a good idea, he just didn't see any way taking Yachiru into a candy store would end well.

"Ichigo, you're back!" They had been spotted, Orihime attacking him with a hug. "Ohh and you brought them with you this time; that was nice of them to come along."

"One of them didn't have a choice Orihime, Kenpachi here lost a little competition we were having. His penalty was he has to meet dad." Ichigo informed, his smile showing both Orihime, and Uryu behind her that their friend had come a very long way when it came to relaxing and enjoying life. They had a feeling that change had something to do with the giant of a Captain standing behind him.

Uryu was the one to talk to Kenpachi, "Do the other Soul Reapers know how cruel Ichigo can be?"

Kenpachi let out a burst of laughter, "I doubt it. They seem to think he is a saint or somethin' just cause he don't like seein' people that ain't done nothing wrong get hurt if he can do something 'bout it."

"I heard that," Ichigo warned, words serious, tone teasing.

"You were meant to," Uryu replied with a shrug.

"So how's the baby Ichigo?" Orihime couldn't hold the question in anymore, Uryu had suggested maybe Ichigo would prefer it if they didn't act much differently towards him while they visited. She wasn't able to resist though, he was just too cute not to ask!

"He's doing really good, starting to kick," Ichigo told her with a bit of pride showing in his voice.

That was Orihime's undoing, any intention she had of controlling herself went out the window and she launched herself at him again, just like when he first told everyone here he was pregnant, wanting to feel the baby move. Ichigo was looking a bit wild eyed, but realizing no one was going to be able to stop her when she was like this, moved her hand to where his son was softly kicking.

He might have put up more of a protest if he'd had any idea of the volume of squeals she could produce. He had heard some pretty loud ones in the past, but this topped it by far. "Ah Orihime, I'm glad you're excited and all, but my eardrums will thank you if you lower the volume just a bit, thanks." He mustered the courage to say after it felt a lot like his ears just might bleed.

She backed off quickly, a blush staining her cheeks, "Sorry." She stammered. "But this is so exciting! You're having a baby. I don't care if everyone else thinks it's a little weird. This is you, our Ichigo that protected us all, took care of us, and gave up all of the power he had gained to save everyone he cared about; now finally something good is happening to you that is just for you. I already love your son, and I can't wait to meet him!" There was such a sweet smile on her face at the sincere words that Ichigo couldn't help it, for once it was his turn to hug her.

He was not crying, really he wasn't.

"You haven't thought about it like that have you?" Uryu realized, knowing as airheaded as his Orihime could be, she had a way of seeing the heart of a matter.

"A little, when I visited mom's grave before I left I noticed some of it, but not laid out like that," Ichigo admitted, silently agreeing with Uryu, Orihime was the hidden treasure of the group of four Ryoka that stormed the Seireitei in the effort of retrieving Rukia. They all had their strengths, but she was the soul of them all.

Kenpachi interrupted them, "Hey Ichigo, remember the Shinigami that threatened me? He mentioned the reason he didn't tell yeah this could happen was so yah could have somethin' good for once. Yah think this is what he meant?"

Too shocked to react beyond slow blinking, Ichigo remembered the conversation Kenpachi was getting at, "Kisuke would pull something like that wouldn't he?" He mused. "Possibly as a way of paying me back for that bullshit he involved me in with Aizen. It was one thing to do it, it was another to not tell me about it." That still burned him. Would it have killed Kisuke to tell him about the plan before the battle? Might not have changed how he acted, but the way it panned out still felt like he had been lead through a maze by his nose. It was as if they didn't have faith in him to make the right choices without insuring he did.

The last bit of musing confused Uryu though, "How would he know engineering this would be a reward and not a punishment?" He felt safe enough asking considering Ichigo was obviously happy, or there would be a Hell of a lot more rubble.

"Because despite how many times we might have disagreed or not seen eye to eye, that idiot knows me," Ichigo confessed, hand unconsciously on his stomach again. "I didn't know it was possible to have my own children, so obviously I never thought about it happening, but now that it is I'm happy he is here. You guys should know me well enough by now to know that I don't really care what others think about me when it comes to the people I love, they better not dare look down on me because I'm carrying him, it will not end well for them."

Kenpachi was trying, and failing, to stop his laughter, "Yah already put at least three people in the fourth for sayin' crap about yah or Yumichika. If yah don't care, why do yah protest when I tease yah about calling yah mommy? Or when the others got yah tah switch outta your uniform?"

"You're really curious about that aren't you?" Ichigo realized, and bells shook denoting his lover's nod. "It's about pride, I want to be acknowledged as me. I'm still Ichigo Kurosaki, the same person who fought beside you taking down Hollows, Arrancar, Espada, and Aizen. That person did not up and disappear because our son decided he wanted to join the world. I'm sure Yumichika feels the same way, and probably stronger since he had a lot more time as a warrior before this happened. The big things are what I will violently defend against anyone saying. Why? Because I don't think it is a bad thing that a strong warrior, a fighter, a soldier, like me or Yumichika, should take a time out and have a family. Anyone who thinks this makes us weak should wait until we have children to protect, and a family to fight for. We will be far more deadly when this is over."

"Wait if your pride is telling you to fight and defend, how can you say you don't care what people think?" Ichigo's logic was giving Uryu a headache again.

"What I meant is, the way people think is not going to make me hide away in shame or make me not want my son or love him any less. I have done nothing wrong as a person or a warrior, and he is strong and healthy so I'd say I'm not doing anything wrong as a parent either. That is what I mean by not caring, they can't change my mind about my son, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let them continue to bash my pride and badmouth him at the same time." Ichigo elaborated, clearing up his point a little better.

"I think I understand now," Uryu responded as he slowly assimilated the information.

A sudden happy shriek cut all of them off, "CANDY!" The very hyper voice of Yachiru had three out of four adults sweat dropping while the fourth, the very amused owner of the establishment just laughed and laughed as his adopted daughter finally got bored and started investigating the wares offered at his store.

Kenpachi looked down to his laughing lover, "Do yah have any idea what yer in for?" He asked ominously, knowing it was too late to stop the impending natural disaster that was Yachiru on a sugar high.

Ichigo grinned up at him, cinnamon brown eyes glinting mischievously, "None whatsoever, but if we can't handle her, how do you expect to chase down a miniature combination of us?"

Orihime and Uryu were pretty sure Kenpachi was about to pass out at that one, but they were proven wrong when he burst out laughing. "Can't wait," He claimed, before realizing they had lost sight of Yachiru down one of the candy aisles again. Not good, that girl could eat her own body weight in candy if you took her eyes off her for more than a second.

"Come on, we gotta dig her outta the bins before she eats too much. Yah want tah meet yer family right? Let's make sure she don't demolish the house." He declared, receiving a genuine smile from Ichigo at his acceptance of the meeting with his family.

That one line from him was enough to change things to being more than a debt repayment. It removed his reluctance about it and earned him some breathing room about the other terms in the agreement. Ichigo and Kenpachi's bargains were all about pride and if you accepted the terms gracefully, they usually let up on the strictness of the repayment.

Gathering up Yachiru was only accomplished when Ichigo reminded her of their original goal of meeting his, and now by extension her, family. Although instead of clambering back up onto her usual perch of Kenpachi's shoulders, she followed them on her own, bouncing around excitedly doing a remarkably good impression of a pinball while Ichigo lead them to his house.

He had made sure to time this visit so his dad and both of his sisters would be home unless there was some kind of emergency they had to deal with. Karin and Isshin had always been able to see spirits, and over time with all the powerful people coming and going around her, Yuzu had slowly developed her own Spiritual Pressure enough to see the spiritual forms of the Shinigami visitors, thus he simply walked up to the front door and knocked. Usually he didn't even bother with knocking, but since he was bringing guests, he was at least attempting to use his manners to make Yuzu happy with him.

The door opened to reveal Isshin dressed in his usual casual clothes with his white coat thrown haphazardly over top, at seeing his son at the door with the three people trailing him, Ichigo had no place to run and was forced to submit to the tackle hug of his father. "Oh my darling son, I have missed you so much! You never come home to see your poor worried family anymore, why even your sisters have been pestering me about when they would get to see you!" He exclaimed dramatically, while still encasing Ichigo in the bear hug, Kenpachi's laughter not deterring him in the slightest.

"Damn it Goat Face let me go!" Ichigo complained, shoving at his father's bulky form, which he just knew was actually managing to hold back on his glee for the baby's sake thankfully. There was still far too much gushing involved in this reunion for Ichigo's tastes though. "I bring your granddaughter to meet you for the first time and this is how you behave?" He jabbed, knowing the news of Yachiru would cover any irritation that might have bled into his voice.

The statement had the effect of a brick to the face for the former Shinigami captain, his body stopping all motion, no sound emitted from him, and Ichigo was pretty sure he wasn't breathing either. "…Granddaughter?" He finally broke the tableau to ask, pulling away slightly from Ichigo to look at him pleadingly.

Ichigo gestured over his shoulder to Kenpachi, who had managed to wrangle Yachiru into a buzzing ball of energy up on his shoulders for the few moments it would take to get them introduced. "You think I would knock if it was just me? I brought some people to meet you, well meet you for what they mean to me anyway."

"Did Kisuke pass my message along?" Isshin asked pleasantly, once his focus had been successfully redirected to the pair standing behind his son; although if it wouldn't have interrupted their bonding moment Ichigo would have gladly pointed out Isshin was still clinging to him.

"About that, I still have issues with the two of you treating me like I'm a damsel in distress," Ichigo muttered as Kenpachi's laughter once again thundered around him, as he reassured Isshin the message had been received loud and clear.

"Mommy! I'm bored, where'd all the candy go?" Yachiru had finally gotten fed up of standing in the doorway and made her impatience known. She could wait, it wasn't that she didn't have patience at all, but there had to be something worthwhile for her to do it; like watching her father's battle each other for the hours on end they used to. She was secretly ecstatic about this meeting, she had a family, a real family, now if she drew attention to herself it would speed up getting to see them.

Well, her plan worked, Isshin spied the tiny pink haired girl, put two and two together and soon had his arms full of giggling Shinigami, swinging her around like he used to do to Karin and Yuzu. The noise of which summoned the aforementioned girls, who arrived at the scene soon after and looked on in a mixture of confusion and amusement.

Karin was the first one to take her eyes away long enough to see Ichigo and Kenpachi standing there, "Ichi!" She called, launching herself at her brother in a tight hug, not caring about the intimidating man's presence. She had been worried about her brother and her nephew, as weird as the situation had been to the twins when it was broken to them, they had taken to it quickly due to the utter devotion they had to their big brother. Yuzu mirrored her twin's actions a heartbeat later, Ichigo had braced himself and was prepared for the extra addition, hugging them both back. "It's good to see you guys," He greeted warmly, only shaking his head when he realized a hand from each of them had strayed to his stomach.

Yuzu squealed and there was a soft gasp of surprise from Karin when he moved their hands to where the baby was kicking, his son awake and letting him know it.

From there they settled in the living room, Ichigo with a sister on each side of him, neither one removing their hands, Kenpachi holding up surprisingly well under the creepily underhanded threats he was getting from Isshin, only blanching occasionally at a particularly violent one.

As for Yachiru, she went from person to person chattering away, her cheerful hyperactivity causing Isshin to snatch her up and cuddle her randomly. His own children were too big and would protest violently, okay very violently, whenever he tried to be this affectionate with them, this little girl raised by Ichigo's lover was exactly what he had been looking for.

Especially when the girl got it in her head to climb all over the heavily scarred warrior, turning the mountain of muscle into playground equipment, it relaxed the anxiety that had been building in his heart ever since Ichigo had revealed exactly who he had chosen as his partner. A parent always wanted to know their children were safe, and Ichigo was going to be learning that lesson soon.

It was late, Ichigo was getting tired, and Yachiru had passed out across Kenpachi's broad arm from a sugar crash; when they felt it was time to head back to Soul Society. It wouldn't be a clean get away though. Kenpachi had been welcome enough, but now was the telling part, and Yuzu was first as she got up from the couch where she had been curled against her brother, stretching cutely.

She made her way over to Yachiru and Kenpachi, to gently brush a bit of Yachiru's bangs away from her face, "You make Ichi very happy, please make sure he stays that way? He spent so long taking care of us, he forgot how to smile, but he has finally remembered. Don't let him forget again?" She requested, voice soft and faraway, addressing Kenpachi but her eyes were on Yachiru's sleeping face as she spoke.

Kenpachi found his usually cockiness melting away in her presence, his heart laid bear, and he understood exactly what Toshiro had meant by Yuzu had far more protectors than she knew about. He would bet good money there were hardened warriors who would give their life for this girl after hearing her speak like that, she was so genuine and faithful it nearly burned to be in her presence with any measure of bravado. She stripped a person raw, but in a way that made you not care, and wish for her to put the pieces back together again, such an odd feeling. "Ichigo is happy cause he is free, I don't make him be any more or any less than who he is. It is his choice tah stay, and cause he does I get tah see him happy. I can't promise yah everything yah ask of me, but if Ichigo stays with me he will always be free."

Yuzu nodded in acceptance as she stroked Yachiru's hair one more time, "Good." She approved. "My nephew needs a happy home, and Ichi's smiles are always the best for that even if he didn't do it very often."

"Your nephew is going to be spoiled rotten," Ichigo interrupted with a smile on his face as if to confirm exactly what Yuzu and Kenpachi had just been talking about. "There are so many people waiting for him it isn't even funny, I doubt I'm going to get to hold him more than once before he is a month old the line is so long!"

Yuzu threw her arms around her brother's neck, letting out a giggle at the image, "Yea, it's about time someone realized how special our Ichi was! We better be at the front of the line though Ichi!" She pouted and warned, pulling away slightly to add a glare to her warning.

Ichigo couldn't hold the laugh back at the adorable image of his littlest sister telling him off, "Of course, my family will be the first to see him." Ichigo promised, his smirk turning devious as he tickled her. He knew she wouldn't retaliate under the circumstances.

Kenpachi had been so caught up in watching those two, he almost hadn't noticed the third person sneaking up on him, almost being the operative word. He kept himself still, and waited to see what she would do, and it didn't turn out to be what he expected as she flicked one of the bells in his hair, and then another. A random pattern of sound following her fingers as she casually flicked them, seemingly gathering her thoughts. "You raised this girl? Yachiru." She finally asked, looking at the slumbering lieutenant.

He nodded, a hint of his usual grin on his lips in a minor challenge; just where was she going with this? He was intrigued with Karin that was sure, even as he felt the urge to defend the other, Yuzu, with everything he had; it was unlike anything he had felt before.

"Is she your daughter?" The question appeared simple, but it sure packed a punch, taking Kenpachi's breath away.

He was glad he had taken Ichigo's advice and spoken to Toshiro so had a bit of a heads-up about Karin. "Close enough fer us." Kenpachi wasn't hedging, Yachiru and him had never bothered to put a name to the relationship, but she might as well be his daughter for all that they had been through.

Karin's sharp gaze bore into Kenpachi for a moment, before flickering between the now grim faced Ichigo and Yachiru's sprawled form in the giant Captain's lap. "Ichigo has claimed her as family, he is not doing it in name only, everything Ichi does is for a reason whether other people know it or not. If he has gone that far, then it means he is sure Yachiru will not be taken from him, she is going to stay. It means he believes you see her the same way, or deeper, as he does. You want my approval? Start with her." Karin ordered gesturing to Yachiru, "I think you are missing something right in front of your eyes."

"So I gotta prove somethin to yah?" Kenpachi asked for confirmation.

Karin shook her head, her smirk a mirror of her brother's adding to the game, "It isn't me you have something to prove to, but that is the only hint you are getting. Now Ichi is starting to look really tired, get him home, take care of him, and figure out what I said and you'll realize I am only doing what's right." Karin affirmed.

The rumbling chuckle served to make Yachiru stir and toss around a bit her sleep as Kenpachi stood, but she drifted right back off. Should have known this would happen at some point with the massive amount of sugar she had consumed and then the abrupt cut off, oh well, it was adorable. "Yah gotta deal." Kenpachi agreed, grin widening a bit as her smirk fell in response to his confidence. She was too much like her brother for him not to know how to handle at least some of her moods.

Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief as the tense moment was over. At least for now he could relax, that was until Kenpachi started to puzzle out what Karin was getting at, he had his suspicions, but this was Kenpachi's challenge not his.

Isshin was waiting at the door to let them out, he had already threatened Kenpachi enough so he simply said, "I trust my boy to make the right choices, and he has chosen you. Take care of each other okay?" He directed this to both of them, and to the sleeping girl.

"Of course we will take care of each other Goat Face, that's what families do." Ichigo replied, enduring the goodbye hug before gaining his freedom and a breath of fresh night air.

Kenpachi was a bit too stunned to move, and Isshin realized the problem, "This is the first time you realized you and him were building a family isn't it?" A faint nod was his response, not even enough to set off the bells in his hair.

Not afraid, Kenpachi admitted, "I don't know what a family is, I never had one."

"Yachiru?" Isshin left it hanging.

"She's mine," He claimed immediately, "But we never needed tah use words for it."

Looking out the open door to where his son was gazing up at the stars letting the light breeze cool his face, Isshin commented quietly, "I think you might have to get used to words."