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Lunch
by afrai

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"How's my girl been?" said Rukia. Ulquiorra looked glum.

"She ate half my eye," he said. "I don't think I like it when she does that."

"I'm hungry," Grimmjow announced. "Hey, you. Pass the sprog over."

"You are not eating our daughter," said Rukia. To Ulquiorra: "Don't whine, we'll get you a replacement from the store."

"This is the sixth time," said Ulquiorra. "I liked that last eye."

"Are we gonna fuck?" said Grimmjow.

"No," said Rukia. "What do you want for lunch, darling?"

"Blood!" said the child happily.

"Am I gonna get to eat her?" said Grimmjow.

"No," said Rukia.

"I like blood!"

"I mean, what if you get me another astigmatic eye? You can't trust that trash merchant."

"Then what the hell am I doing here?" said Grimmjow.

"How would I know?" said Rukia coldly. "Stop taking up the couch and go get Ulquiorra another eye from Urahara."

"What? Why the hell do I have to do it?"

"He's your colleague."

"My colleague can fuck off and die," said Grimmjow.

"I'm telling Aizen-sama," said Ulquiorra.

"Why's daddy so angry?"

"It's nothing. Don't listen to the nasty men, sweetheart," said Rukia.

"Can I drink their blood?" said the child hopefully.

"I'm killing Urahara," Grimmjow decided.

"It's the left eye," said Ulquiorra.

"Make sure you get a receipt," Rukia called after Grimmjow's back.

* * *

"I just think you could do better," said Ichigo.

"Probably," said Rukia. The child banged tiny fists on the table, and blood slopped out of the bowl. Rukia made an annoyed noise. "Could you pass me the kitchen towel? Thanks."

"Than a psycho monster with no capacity for empathy who, oh yeah, just happens to be the bad guy's minion -- "

"He's not a very good minion," said Rukia reflectively.

"That's not the point!"

"Don't play with your mask, darling."

"Itches," the child whimpered.

"You know it only grows back every time you tear it off," said Rukia. "If you're patient and stop picking at it, it'll stop itching."

Ichigo looked mildly sick.

"It's like teething," he said. "Only evil."

"You're the one who wouldn't perform the abortion when I asked you to."

"That was when I thought it was Renji's kid!"

"'Conscientious objection', you said," said Rukia. "And then trying to break into the maternity ward and kill her when she was no more than a day old. Really, Ichigo. If you'd tried to kill her earlier it would at least have been legal. Why wait until she was born?"

"She ripped her way out of your belly!"

"I got better."

"Rukia, she keeps trying to eat you!" The child bared pointy teeth at Ichigo's gesturing arms. He yanked them back hastily.

"All children have these habits," said Rukia serenely. "She'll grow out of it."

"Like her father did?"

"Grimmjow hardly ever tries to fry her for dinner nowadays," said Rukia. "There we go. Now don't eat Uncle Ichigo while mother cleans up, there's a good girl."

Ichigo edged away from the child.

"Is it okay if Zangetsu comes out to play?" he called after Rukia. She nodded, pushing the door to the kitchen open with a foot.

"Just be careful," her voice said from the kitchen. "Renji says Zabimaru's still recovering from the last time."

"Yeah? Your brother seemed fine after babysitting duty."

"Ah," said Rukia. "Brother knew enough to bring out his shikai."

"Bored," whined the child.

"Oh, shit," said Ichigo.

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