The standard disclaimers apply

Kurosaki Ichigo was having a bad day.

"You can't run forever, Ichigo!"

Make that an extremely bad day. Oh, it had started well enough, simply a visit to his family in the living world. Unfortunately, as was the case on almost every supposedly peaceful occasion (his wedding ten years before being the main exception), it had gone downhill from there. First his father's antics, then getting almost electrocuted by his sister Karin's newly-achieved shikai.

She enjoyed that just a little too much.

He'd hoped to have a chance to relax afterward. Alas, it was not to be; stepping out of the Senkaimon, he was confronted by the madly-grinning captain of the Eleventh Division, Zaraki Kenpachi. Which had immediately resulted in a chase through the Seireitei.

Ichigo knew his best chance was to simply get home. On their marriage, he and Rukia had moved into a kind of annex within the Kuchiki estate, and he knew his brother-in-law would take a dim view indeed of Zaraki's behavior. The trick was getting there.

This is seriously getting old! Grumbling to himself in exasperation, Ichigo decided it was time to discourage his would-be opponent. His left hand came up, drawing his Hollow mask down over his face, then thrust behind him. "Cero!"

It was nowhere near full-strength, of course. Commander-General Yamamoto tended to be lenient when it came to Ichigo's efforts to escape, knowing Zaraki as he did, but a full power Cero would be a bit much. When tamped down, however, if it missed the green-black energy blast would do no more than minor damage to the surrounding buildings.

A booming laugh told him he'd badly miscalculated. "That's more like it, Ichigo!" Zaraki said. "It's no fun if you're holding back!"

Dammit! Home was still half a kilometer away, and all he'd done was excite that madman of a captain. Gritting his teeth, Ichigo reached for the cloth-wrapped handle of Zangetsu. Maybe a Getsuga Tensho will teach him a lesson.

Even as he wondered just how he was going to explain the resulting damage, not just to Yamamoto but to Byakuya and Captain Ukitake, relief came from another source. "Bakudo 61, Rikujokoro! Bakudo 63, Sajou Sabaku! Bakudo 79, Kuyou Shibari!"

Zaraki Kenpachi was a captain of the Gotei 13, and thus wielded tremendous power. However, that power was almost entirely brute force; as Byakuya had rather caustically noted more than once, the man was a brawler and a barbarian. Thus the impeccably-laid kido trap caught him completely by surprise.

Skidding to a stop around the next corner, breathing heavily, Ichigo offered a tired smile for his rescuer, his favorite lieutenant after Rukia and Renji. "Thanks, Momo," he said. "I owe you one."

Petite, dark-haired Hinamori Momo smiled back. "Happy to help," she said. "I knew what was happening when I sensed Captain Zaraki's reiatsu flaring."

Ichigo leaned heavily against a wall. "You sure you won't get in trouble?"

"Everyone in the Seireitei knows Captain Zaraki is obsessed with you," Momo pointed out. "I'll be all right."

She'd come a long way, Ichigo reflected, from the naive girl who practically worshiped Aizen Sosuke. "Thanks again," he said, his wind now back.

"Don't mention it. Say hi to Rukia and the twins for me." With a slight bow, Momo vanished in a burst of shunpo.

Can't blame her for making tracks. Maybe she won't be in for official trouble, but Kenpachi ain't gonna be happy. Ichigo shook his head. To think this had become routine.

Ichigo's mood immediately lightened when he stepped through the door. Being half-tackled by a dark-haired shinigami who somehow managed to generate more kinetic energy than her size should have allowed tended to have that effect.

"Welcome home, Ichigo," Rukia said, releasing him. "Judging by the ozone smell, I presume your day didn't go according to plan."

He wearily sat next to her on the couch, nodding a greeting to Byakuya and Renji. They were frequent visitors, Byakuya especially, what with his weekly etiquette sessions with his niece and nephew. Ichigo had initially balked, until it was pointed out that they would need that knowledge in order to function among Soul Society's elite. That, combined with Byakuya's promise not to directly interfere with Ichigo and Rukia's parenting, had mollified the former substitute.

Besides, Kaien and Masaki loved their Uncle Byakuya.

"The smell is thanks to Karin," he grumbled. "She just got her shikai, and decided to test it on me. Lightning type."

Renji burst out laughing. "About time you were the target for once."

"What, 'cause I beat you within an inch of your life?" Ichigo said.

"That was before I got bankai," Renji shot back.

Ichigo snorted. "Yeah, sure. Mine's about a hundred times faster, remember?"

"Enough, both of you," Rukia said, unable to keep a smile off her face. "We detected a brief spike of Hollow reiatsu a few minutes ago. Was that you?"

Ichigo groaned. "That was me," he acknowledged, covering his face with one hand. "Ran into Kenpachi the moment I got back, and got chased halfway across the Seireitei. Finally tried a low-level Cero to make him back off, but it just made him more excited."

Byakuya paused in his lecture. "If it were anyone else, I would recommend disciplinary action," he said mildly. "Given your history with Zaraki, however, I can hardly blame you for such a maneuver." He lifted one elegant eyebrow. "That does raise the question of how you managed to escape without leveling several buildings. Though I would hardly classify you as an Eleventh Division brawler, your methods tend not to be subtle."

He had a point. For all the extra speed his bankai gave him, and his knack for analyzing his opponent's moves, Ichigo's fighting style was about as subtle as a flaming chainsaw. Oversized zanpakuto, Getsuga Tensho, Cero, all pure destructive force. Always applied very precisely, of course, but his opponents tended to end up unconscious or dead before they realized that.

"Momo showed up, and caught Kenpachi in a nice little kido trap," Ichigo explained. "Gave me just the breathing space I needed. She says hi, by the way," he added to Rukia.

"If anyone can do it, she can," Renji agreed. "Not many can beat her at kido."

Finally relaxing, Ichigo leaned back on the couch. It still amazed him, the turn his life had taken since the night Rukia had appeared in his room. Back then he was a mere high school student, albeit one who could see ghosts. Now he was a powerful shinigami, married to a lieutenant who happened to be a noble, and father of two.

Rukia hadn't changed much in those years. She was a bit taller, her figure had filled out a little, and she wore her hair longer, but the look in her large violet eyes was the same. Lieutenant or not, bankai or no, she was still the same midget who'd irrevocably changed his life.

The twins, seated at their uncle's feet, were the most tangible proof. Aside from her eyes, inherited from Ichigo, Masaki strongly resembled her mother, petite, pale-skinned, black-haired. Same hint of mischief, too; Ichigo had once caught her playing a prank on their cousin Shiba Ganju. Not that he'd interfered; Ganju deserved it, in his opinion.

Kaien's hair was equally dark, and spiked like Ichigo's; his eyes were the same violet as Rukia's. Even at nine years old, he was proving to be a studious sort, though still as energetic as a normal boy his age. He'd already declared his intention to join the Gotei 13 when he was old enough, to live up the name he'd been given. It had brought Rukia to tears.

Kuchiki Byakuya, Ichigo's brother-in-law, had unsurprisingly changed little. He was more relaxed, though very few would have noticed, and no longer bristled when Ichigo called him by name. To the surprise of everyone save Rukia, he was very fond of his niece and nephew.

Renji was still Renji. Briefly an enemy, now one of Ichigo's closest friends, no longer so fixated on surpassing Byakuya. He's been a major help integrating Ichigo into the Gotei 13's structure.

Ichigo himself was still much the same, even as a husband and father. There was but one truly significant change, which he still occasionally marveled at. Ten years of marriage to Kuchiki Rukia had done what many (notably his sister Karin) had considered impossible: his perpetual scowl, engraved on his face since his mother's death, had at last faded.

With the exception of his old friend Yamada Hanataro, Ichigo seldom associated with shinigami below the rank of third seat. Though some (notably Lieutenant Omaeda, who still hated him) suggested it was because he thought himself too good for the rank and file, nothing was further from the truth. Younger shinigami had a marked tendency to genuflect when speaking with him, something he found intensely annoying.

At some point in his musings, Byakuya had apparently finished the week's lesson. "Done corrupting the kids, Byakuya?" Ichigo said.

The noble merely looked at him sidelong. "Have I mentioned what a relief it is that Kaien and Masaki take after Rukia?"

"Come on, I thought we buried the hatchet years ago," Ichigo protested.

"So we did," Byakuya said. "And I do not regret supporting you before the clan elders. However," there was the barest hint of dry humor in his voice, "I do not believe Soul Society could survive more than one of you at a time."

Ichigo joined in the resulting laughter. There was nothing malicious about Byakuya's comment, after all, and besides, it was true. After all, he'd turned everything upside down and inside out during his first visit. Two such beings probably would lead to some kind of catastrophe.

He smiled, feeling Rukia's head slowly lean into his shoulder. This was his life, now. And he wouldn't have it any other way.

Author's note: Yeah, here's another one. I decided to leave things open, and add something if the mood strikes. One thing I wish to expand on in my previous explanation, with the manga ending, especially pairing Ichigo and Orihime, Kubo committed one of the gravest sins possible for a writer: inconsistent characterization. Ichigo marrying Inoue Orihime is the molecular opposite of consistent characterization.

Anyway, I hope this passes muster., ~D.S.