(Masaru's pov)

We visited a nearby forest, but we found nothing interesting, which was good in some way, but Yukima was getting bored, and when she is bored, troubles come towards her, or rather she finds them.

(A/N: Violence.. Violence.. Violence! I don't like it. I avoid... but violence likes me... I can't aviod.)

"Is there really nothing interesting in these woods?"

"...It's a forest. What did you expect?" Akio answered with a deadpan look.

I sometimes worry that it will become his default look.

"I don't know! Some wolves here and there, maybe a weak Hollow that we could fight- Hey, what is that!?" She pointed in the direction of what seemed to be a shack.

I wonder who lives there. I remember mom telling me how she and dad lived in the forest before they became Shinigami. We aren't that far from that place, but who knew that we would find someone living here?

"Let's go visit there!" Yukima proposed as she started pulling both Akio and me.

"I don't know if that's a good idea. What of its a base for bandits?" Akio tried to stop our sister without any success. I didn't because I knew nothing dangerous was there. Just a person and I believe in what I'm sensing.

"Masaru-nii, stop her!"

"Let's humour Yukima this time. Finding a shack in the woods is better than the other two options."

As we got closer, we could see the shack more clearly, and it could barely be called a shack. There were traces of fire, and it was hazardously put together so there would be at least a roof to protect people living inside from the rain.

Hearing noises, we heard running noises from the inside.

"Gin, why are you always leaving without saying-"

A girl with long blonde hair walked out of the shack. She seemed to be around our age but a bit more mature in her looks. It's kinda hard to know since souls age at a different rate in Soul Society.

But I left these thoughts to later as it was becoming awkward without anyone saying anything.

"Hi... Sorry for coming unannounced." Just a moment later, I realized how dumb I sounded, but I'm in too deep right now, so I'll just roll with it.

As dad is always saying. Doesn't matter if you're right. If you're confident, people will believe it.

Hearing me, the girl stayed quiet.

Thankfully our group had Yukima, who doesn't know the meaning of the word 'awkward' and can dismiss this atmosphere.

"Hi! Sorry for bothering you. We noticed your place while taking a walk and decided to check it out! By the way, I'm Yukima, and these two are my older brothers. The one with silver hair is Akio-nii, you can ignore him if you want, and the one with dark hair is Masaru-nii. Nice to meet you!"

"Hey!" Akio glared at Yukima. As their older brother, I should calm them down.

"Calm down, you two. Don't argue in front of someone you just met." I put my hands on their heads.

I then returned my focus to the girl.

"We will be going now. Once again, sorry for bothering you."

"No, it's not bothering me... I just was expecting my friend. He often leaves without telling me where he is going and when he is going to return. Otherwise, I don't meet a lot of people..." She said her first words to us, and she did it shyly. Maybe it's because of our Zanpakutos.

Thankfully we didn't cause her any problems.

---

We spent some time talking with Rangiku. It was her name, by the way. She wanted to hear some stories from inside Sereitei when she heard that we came from there.

Yukima, of course, was leading the whole conversation.

Not much time has passed, but Rangiku was visibly more comfortable around us and was even having a good time. She also talked about her friend Gin, who was very important to her from what we heard.

Speaking of which, I felt someone near the shack. A single person and a child like us.

"Rangiku, I'm back."

A boy with silver hair, a bit similar to Akio's, entered the room. His eyes were squinted to the point you couldn't see his eyes, similar to dad.

Noticing us, he was a bit surprised but seeing our Zanpakutos near us, he became vigilant. He observed us very thoroughly without making it obvious, but I could tell.

The first word that came to me seeing him act like that was 'snake'. But I also could tell that he cared about Rangiku a lot.

The atmosphere didn't get too heavy thanks to Rangiku, who explained the whole situation to Gin.

We got acquaintanced, and Gin relaxed slightly, but he was still observing us. He was cautious, but I can't really blame him. He doesn't know us, and we have weapons, but I hope that we'll become good friends.

(Ryoto's pov)

I was reluctant to allow my kids to travel outside Sereitei on their own since I'm aware that it can be dangerous. They are strong for their age, but they don't have any experience in a real fight. There's also a problem with Aizen since I heard he joined the 5th Division. It means that he probably started his experiments which I need to be careful about.

I warned Isane, Rin, and Yoruichi to be careful around him but without showing him that they knew something.

I only said that I had a bad feeling about him which was enough for them since my instincts are pretty good, even without my spider sense.

It's really troublesome that I need Aizen for the future otherwise, winning against Yhwach is almost impossible because but not exclusively of the butterfly effect.

In short, no Aizen, no Ichigo, and that will fuck up the world.

Going back to my worries about children, I'm not stupid. I know that they can easily get in danger, especially Yukima. That girl is a trouble magnet. I wonder from who she got that. 

That's the main reason I sent some people from the Stealth Corps to follow them. I ordered them to protect them but, at the same time, sent one member to notify me about that as fast as possible.

But from what I hear, everything is alright for now. They even made friends on their adventure, and I was surprised to hear their names. Rangiku and Gin. Who would have thought that they would befriend my children, but maybe it's a good sign? I could help Gin before he is far gone. His fate is... sad. Also, we are very alike in some aspects.

Both of us would do everything in order to protect the people we care about. The only difference is that Gin rejected his relationship in order to protect his loved one, and I still didn't meet the situation where I needed to do that, but I would probably do something similar if I was forced to.
But enough of the sad stuff. I can fix his tragic future.

Suddenly someone appeared in my office, and it was one of the bodyguards, who was nervous. I could feel it, and I didn't like it in the slightest.

"Captian Yuuki! Your children-!" I didn't need to hear anything else and ran towards my children as fast as possible.

At the time, a lot of people in Sereitei felt a sudden spike in my Reiatsu, which quickly disappeared only because I forcefully calmed my emotions. That didn't mean, however, that I was not worried.

Please let me be there on time!

---

END

Discord server: https://discord.gg/HB2DweuG4J