Chapter 6: A Visit From a Wanted Man.

The next morning is Saturday and you're woken up by something insistently poking your cheek. You lazily swat at whatever it is before rolling over on your other side. You hear Ichigo chuckle and you crack one eye open expecting to see the smiling face of your son, but instead you're greeted with an older, scruffier version of Ichigo's face just centimeters away from your own. "Good morning to you, good morning to you. Our day is beginning, so good morning to you." A deep, masculine voice sings with a noticeable Irish accent.

"Geez!" You shout in surprise and jerk backwards away from the man's face causing you to fall off of the bed.

"Dahahaha! Did you have a nice fall, love?" The man laughs and so does Ichigo.

"Did daddy surprise you, momma?" Ichigo asks.

You pick yourself up, "No, your daddy just has really bad breath."

Ichigo laughs and the man pretends to be upset, "Hey! I do not have bad breath!" He then tries to discreetly check his breath.

The man is 6' 6", well built, with bright red hair, chocolate brown eyes, and a light goatee around his mouth. There are three scars over his left eye and his left arm is missing from the bicep down. He's wearing black dress shoes, slacks, and a white button up dress shirt that's been left halfway unbuttoned and untucked from the waistband of his slacks. The left sleeve is rolled up and pinned closed just below what remains of his arm and the right sleeve is rolled up to his elbow.

"Why are you in my bedroom at," you glance at your alarm clock and groan, "six in the morning, Shanks?"

He grins at you, "I just wanted to see how you and Ichigo are settling in. Also, I brought breakfast for all of us."

You sigh, "Okay. Thank you for breakfast...and for the flowers." You start to walk out of your bedroom with Ichigo running ahead of you.

Shanks walks up beside you and wraps his arm around your waist. "You're welcome, love. Now... what's this I hear about you having a gentleman over yesterday? A Arcanine-san?" He pouts and you roll your eyes.

"He's an old friend of mine. His name is Yagi Toshinori. Arcanine-san is just what Ichigo calls him."

"Yagi Toshinori...THE Toshinori that you always went on and on about while you were recovering?"

"Yes."

Shanks' smile temporarily disappears, "Then I was right to be worried about having a rival for your heart." His huge grin returns, "But that's okay. I like a challenge."

You walk into the kitchen and see that Ichigo is already sitting at the small table chowing down on a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit. You sigh, "I wish you wouldn't give him those. They're so unhealthy."

Shanks laughs, "Relax, love. He's four years old, he'll burn off those calories in like 20 minutes."

"Hey! I'm almost 5 now, daddy!"

Shanks' face lights up, "That's right! Your birthday is coming up fast!" He begins to tickle Ichigo with his one hand causing the red headed boy to burst out laughing. "So what do you want for your birthday, little hero?" Shanks asks and stops tickling Ichigo.

Ichigo's face lights up, "I wanna meet All Might!"

Shanks ruffles his son's hair, "Maybe your momma can arrange that for you. But what can I get you, lil' strawberry?"

Ichigo hugs Shanks tightly and grins up at him, "Will you spend the entire day with me?"

Shanks' grin widens, "Of course, I will. That is...if it's okay with your momma?"

Both Ichigo and Shanks look at you with identical puppy dog expressions on their faces. You sigh, "It's fine with me as long as you don't cause any trouble Shanks."

"Yay!" Ichigo shouts and jumps at his father. Shanks catches him with his one arm then spins him around.

You smile at the scene. Suddenly, the alarm on your phone goes off and you pick it up off the kitchen table. You dismiss the alarm and look at your son, "Okay, Ichigo. It's time to get ready to go to daycare. Mommy has to go to work."

Shanks and Ichigo stop play wrestling and look at you. "Super Mommy?"

You smile at your son, "Super Mommy."

Shanks is on his feet in an instant, "I can watch him!"

You look at him, "I don't know... Don't you have...things...that you need to do, Shanks?"

He gives you a huge smile, "Nope! I came here to Japan just to visit you and Ichigo."

You feel Ichigo tugging at your pajama pants, "Please, momma, I wanna stay with daddy today!"

They're both giving you their best puppy dog eyes again. You sigh, "Okay, okay...put those things away. I'll call the daycare and tell them that Ichigo won't be in today." Father and son both cheer and begin to goofily dance around. You make the call to Ichigo's daycare then tell Shanks and Ichigo, "I'm going to go put on my costume."

"Okay, momma."

You grin at Ichigo and lift him into your arms. You place a kiss on both of his cheeks before putting him back down on his feet. You walk to your bedroom and close the door behind you. You walk over to the closet and slide open one of the doors. Easily finding your hero costume, you take it out of the closet then turn around to lay it on your bed. You then turn back to slide the closet door closed. You walk over to your dresser, open the top drawer, and pull out a pair of white panties with a matching sports bra. You take off the black tank top that you slept in along with your sleep pants. While you're slipping on the sports bra and changing your panties, you fail to notice your bedroom door opening and quietly shutting. An arm wrapping around you from behind makes you jump a little. "You're still as beautiful as the day I first saw you, love."

You can feel your face heat up in an intense blush, "S-Shanks! W-what the hell!? Get out!"

He chuckles, "Calm down...it's not like I've never seen you naked before, love." He nuzzles his face into the side of your neck and begins to place chaste kisses up and down it.

You moan softly, "Shanks...stop."

He stops kissing your neck long enough to ask, "Why?"

"Because...because...Toshinori..."

"Are you two officially dating?"

You frown, thinking about last night. Technically, Toshinori used past tense last night...he said that he WAS in love with you. But then you two did have a very heated make out session after Ichigo was put to bed. To be honest, you're not exactly sure what's going on between you and Toshinori. "Well...no."

He goes back to kissing and nipping at your neck, "Good. I can still win your heart then." He finds the sweet spot on your neck that has you softly moaning.

You snap out of your pleasure induced stupor, "Shanks...we can't." You turn around in Shanks' arm to face him, "I'm a hero...and you're a wanted man...I'm supposed to be trying to capture you."

Shanks gives you a brilliant smile and cups your left cheek with his right hand. "One thing is for sure, love...you have definitely captured my heart. Your beauty puts even the most spectacular sunrise to shame. I knew the second I met you that there was something about you I needed. Turns out it wasn't something about you at all. It was just you."

You blush, "Damn you and your silver tongue." Shanks chuckles and bends down to capture your lips with his in a passionate kiss. You suddenly break the kiss, "Wait, what about Ichigo? He could walk in any minute..."

"Dahahaha!" Shanks laughs and moves his hand to grasp your hip. "Not likely, (F/N). There is an All Might special on TV right now...Ichigo is going to be glued in front of the screen until it's over."

Almost a hour later, you rush out of your bedroom adjusting your hero suit. "Crap! I'm late for work!" You rush into the living room and over to where Ichigo is sitting on the couch with his new giant All Might plushie. You ruffle his hair then kiss the top of his head. "Mommy's got to go, sweetheart. Be on your best behavior for daddy. I love you."

Ichigo smiles up at you, "I love you too, momma. Catch lots of bad guys!"

As you're walking towards the front door Shanks walks out of your bedroom, without his shirt on, and follows you to the door. "Be careful, love. If you find yourself in any trouble that you can't handle, call me."

You smirk at him and say, "The only trouble that I can't handle is you."

Shanks chuckles, "I believe you just 'handled' me wonderfully, love." Your entire face turns red in embarrassment which causes Shanks to burst out laughing. "Dahahaha!" You let out a little huff before opening the door and leaving.