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“Is it today?! Is it today?!”
Ichigo was torn from his rather peaceful slumber, curled up in the arms of his husband, when something very solid, and rather heavy suddenly landed on his stomach, forcing the air out of his lungs rather violently. He sat up quickly, gasping, sending the small figure who had been occupying his abdomen tumbling over on the large bed with its cream-colored coverings. “Gin! Don’t jump on me like that!” he told the lump squirming around underneath the sheets between heavy breaths.
The head of a petit silver-haired boy appeared from beneath the silky cloth, tiny fox ears twitching with excitement, his ice blue eyes, rarely seen by anyone, even his parents, open and glittering with anticipation. He grinned at his mother, “Is it today, Mama?! Is it?!” the boy chirped, just before disappearing under the blankets again, only to crawl around and reappear on the other side of his father, his small head poking out over the brown-haired man’s shoulders, fluffy white fox tail waving with delight.
Ichigo couldn’t stay annoyed with his son for waking him up in such a fashion, not when the adorable little silver kitsune he and his beloved Sousuke had adopted a year and a half ago, roughly four years after their marriage, was so eager for what was to come. With a long exhale, Ichigo reached over Sousuke’s still slumbering form and brought Gin over to sit in his lap.
“Is it today, Mama?” the boy asked again, gazing up into his mother’s honey-brown eyes.
Ichigo smiled, “Yes, Gin.” He said softly, “Today’s the day we go pick up your new baby brother and bring him home.”
“Yay!” the kitsune child cried, leaping out of Ichigo’s arms and jumping around the surface of the bed, until he ended up tripping over his father’s legs, lying concealed under the blankets. Before he could topple over, however, an arm reached out and wrapped around the boy’s waist, steadying him.
“Well . . . someone’s certainly excited.” Aizen Sousuke purred, smiling sleepily at his son.
Gin giggled, wiggling about in his father’s embrace, unable to contain his own overflowing energy, “I’m going to be an onii-chan, Papa!”
“Yes, yes you are, Gin. We’re all very excited to have a new member of our family, aren’t we, my love?” Sousuke chuckled lightly, his gaze turning lazily towards where his wife was sitting.
Ichigo smiled back at him, and nodded, and then grabbed Gin away from his husband and proceeded to tickle the child until he squealed with laughter. Sousuke sat up and ran a hand through his loose brown hair, laughing softly as he watched his wife and his son play.
It wouldn’t be long now, until they would have a second child to tickle senseless, play with until exhaustion, and to love to pieces.
~
“We’re just so glad you decided to adopt another of the children here!” Chizuru was saying brightly.
Ichigo smiled at the red-haired woman, “Well, we just loved having Gin so much, we decided that having another wouldn’t be bad at all. We’ve actually been discussing adopting a second child for some time now.”
“And you chose our sweet little Ulquiorra, at that! All the staff members here have been so anxious for the day that our Ulquiorra went to a good home. He’s our little angel, even if he is, in reality, a demon.”
Gin went up to the woman and tugged on her skirt, looking up at her with an inordinately serious expression, “I’m going to be an onii-chan!” he declared solemnly.
Chizuru beamed down at the boy, remembering the bitty kitsune cub that the District Magistrate and his wife had adopted about a year and a half ago. He was a mischievous little thing, but he was just so loveable no one really cared, but his habit of troublemaking and getting into places he wasn’t supposed to be was making it difficult for him to get adopted, though he was far too young to understand that.
She’s honestly been astonished when the Magistrate himself had called her office, less than two years ago, and told her that he and his wife were interested in adopting a child, and that they would be visiting the orphanage later that evening to take a look at the candidates. They’d taken to Gin immediately, and within a month, she had seen the silver-haired boy go home with his new parents, smiling like never before. She was pleased beyond words that Gin’s adoptive parents had chosen to take a second child. All the children they had here deserved good homes.
“Are you now? Good for you, Gin-chan!” she purred, reaching out with one hand to ruffle the boy’s silver hair. She turned her attention back to the two adults standing in front of her. “I assume you want to take Ulqui-chan as soon as possible, right?”
“If that’s alright, of course.” Aizen replied smoothly.
“Of course it is! As sad as we’ll be to see our Ulqui-chan leave, there’s nothing we want more than to see him leave with a new, loving family! So, come with me, and we’ll get the last of the paperwork out of the way, and let you have Ulqui-chan.”
~
Aizen Ichimaru Gin . . . did not like waiting, he decided. His father had told him to sit quietly in this chair in the front office, while he and his orange haired mother went to finalize everything. Gin wasn’t sure how long it had been since his parents had left, and while he was doing his best to behave and do what his father had told him to do, he was getting close to the end of his young wits. He was bored, and a bored Gin was never a good thing.
A couple of people had stopped and talked to him, people he vaguely remembered from his own time in the orphanage, who all expressed happiness and delight that he was looking so good, and doing so well for himself. Half the time, the little kitsune had no idea what most of them were talking about, and to be honest, all he really cared about at the moment was getting new his baby brother.
If his parents didn’t hurry, he couldn’t be held responsible for what he did to sate his boredom.
Just as he was about to jump out of his chair and run over to climb up the filing cabinet across the room, the big doors where his parents had gone through earlier, opened up again, and his mother and father came back into the room. His mother seemed to be carrying something in his arms. Something that looked like . . . .
“Gin, this is your new baby brother, Ulquiorra.” Ichigo said softly, as he gently put the slumbering infant on Gin’s lap, arranging his little arms so he was holding the tiny, blanket wrapped form securely.
Gin stared down at the dark haired infant, his ice-blue eyes wide and bright with awe and wonder. He tightened his grip ever so slightly, “He’s so . . . small and soft . . . and squishy!”
Ichigo laughed, “That’s because he’s just a baby, just about one year old. He’ll grow with time, just like you Gin.”
“What’s his name again?” the silver-haired child asked, his gaze never leaving the face of his new sibling.
“Ulquiorra. Aizen Ulquiorra Cifer.” Sousuke murmured, coming up to his wife and now two sons, a hand coming up to delicately stroke the sleeping child’s down soft black hair.
“Uru-ki-ora.” Gin sounded out slowly. “Ulquiorra.” He smiled foxily, “He’s really cute.”
“He is . . . .” Ichigo agreed.
“We’re keeping him . . . right?” the kitsune cub asked, his ears pricking slightly, waiting for his parent’s answer.
Ichigo and Sousuke looked at each other, and then began to laugh. Gin looked at them curiously, confused as to why they were laughing. Were they laughing at him? His cheeks reddened a bit and he frowned.
Ichigo noticed this, and reached down to take the now-stirring baby from his older son, while Sousuke picked Gin up out of the chair, and set him on his shoulders. “Don’t get upset, little one.” The brown-haired man purred, “We aren’t laughing at you.”
“Yes, we’re keeping him. Forever. Ulquiorra’s going to be your new little brother, and you got to make sure you look out for him, and take care of him, and love him a whole lot, okay, Gin?” Ichigo added, smiling adoringly at both his silver-haired child, and the brand new one in his arms.
Gin nodded, seeming to understand the importance of what his mother was telling him. “I’ll be the best onii-chan ever!” he stated, both firmly, and happily.
A faint noise drew the attention of all three members of the Aizen household, to the fourth member. The tiny bat demon was awake now, and looking up at his new family with big emerald green eyes. Those eyes were intelligent, despite his young age, and he seemed to sense the warmth coming from these people. The child’s small lips curved upwards in a tiny smile, and he let out a small cooing noise.
“Welcome to our family, precious little Ulquiorra.” Aizen whispered.
~
“Hnnnn. He sure is a tiny lil’ thing . . . .”
“He’s just a baby, Shiro-nii.”
Hichigo put his hands on his hips and straightened from his position of bent over at the waist, so he could get a good look at his new nephew, who was dozing in Ichigo’s arms. “Ren was bigger than he is at this age.” He said matter-of-factly.
“Renji’s a were, Shiro-nii. Ulqui’s a bat demon. They tend to run somewhat smaller than most other species. Like I told Gin, he’ll grow in time. For now, just let him be a baby.” Ichigo replied, his tone slightly dry, but mostly amused. He was sitting in a chair in their large front room, where his brother and brother-in-law had come to see his new child. They were the first to come since they had leaked the information that he and Sousuke had just brought home their second child, but they most certainly weren’t going to be the last.
It had been about four days since they’d brought Ulquiorra home, and honestly, Ichigo was having a hard time believing that the child was really only about one year old. He was quiet, and never screamed loudly like infants did. When he cried, it was soft and pitiful, and it made one want to do everything in their power to make it stop immediately, to soothe, comfort, and calm the child as quickly as possible. He liked to be held and cuddled, and seemed to be the slightest bit more attached to his new father than he was to Ichigo, but Ichigo didn’t mind.
Gin was doing absolutely everything he possibly could to help out with the new baby. He helped feed and dress him, he helped Ichigo wash his hair and his little wings when they put Ulquiorra in the bath, and just liked to hold him and play with him whenever occasion permitted.
“Whatever you say, Hichi, I think he’s an adorable little bastard.” Grimmjow said from where he stood nearby.
“Yeah, I guess he is pretty cute.” Hichigo replied slowly, “But I still think Ren is cuter.”
“That’s because you’re biased, Shiro-nii.” Ichigo chuckled. He loved his new child the way he was, and wasn’t about to be in a hurry to see him grow up. “Let’s be quiet now. Let Ulquiorra sleep.” He murmured, gazing down at the dark haired baby, his eyes gleaming with uninhibited love and warmth.
Hichigo and Grimmjow exchanged knowing glances, knowing exactly what Ichigo was feeling at the moment, so they kept quiet and let Ichigo’s parental emotions blossom.