500.

Title: Babysat
Rating: PG
Pairing/Character/s: lightly IsshinxRyuuken, Karin, Yuzu, Ichigo
Word Count: 857
Warning/s: No spoilers I can imagine.
Summary: Probably could only happen in the future or something- Isshin and Ryuuken sort of go on a date. A little.
Dedication: requested by kshi- I LOVE YOU.
A/N: The request was: "babysitting."

Maybe he'd just been out of the game for a really long time now. It had been a while, after all, and he wasn't so vain that he couldn't admit that he was of an older generation. That being said, when he remembered that back when he was young, the dates that usually came to mind often included a nice dinner and maybe a movie, a walk in the park and ice cream, or a festival or even just coffee and good conversation well into the night.

Along those lines, times had either changed drastically since he'd last ventured out into the social world, or this was decidedly not a date despite Kurosaki's insistences that it was.

Ryuuken didn't think the world had had enough time to lap him completely in regards to these date-related sensibilities, so rationally then, he supposed this could only be not-a-date.

Which made sense, given that thus far, it all felt decidedly like… babysitting.

The fact that they were on a playground probably helped.

"Ne, Ryuu-chan, look at how high I'm going!"

"Very high," Ryuuken agreed drolly, and flipped to the next page in his medical journal monthly without looking up.

"You didn't look at all!!" Isshin protested. "I'm going really high!"

"How very nice for you."

Ryuuken could practically hear Kurosaki pout as the other doctor's furious pumping slowed to a halt, Isshin dragging his feet on the sand beneath him to stop his back and forth motions. "Ne…how come you don't wanna play?"

"I don't like swings," Ryuuken told him, and continued to read as the other man idled pathetically in his seat.

Isshin was aghast. "YOU DON'T LIKE SWINGS?!"

And now all of Japan knew it too. Ryuuken sighed. "No, I don't."

Isshin looked absolutely boggled. "But, but the swoosh! How can you not like the swoosh?"

Ryuuken flipped another page. "No particular reason."

"It doesn't make sense!" Isshin insisted.

"It makes plenty of sense. When you think about it."

Isshin paused to think about it.

And then was hit by a brilliant idea somewhere halfway through thinking (because he really couldn't think more than 10 seconds on any one thing). Or rather, it was something he deemed brilliant anyway, which only made Ryuuken cringe physically when he recognized the inspired (manic) expression on his companion's face.

"RYUU-CHAN CLEARLY YOU HAVE TO COME SWING WITH ME NOW. YOU CAN SIT IN MY LAP OKAY? THAT WILL MAKE IT FUN FOR SURE." Thumbs up.

Some nearby mothers gasped at the implications and quickly clutched their children against them, making an outraged beeline towards the park exit while glaring at the old pervert on the swing who was making inappropriate passes at other men in the middle of the afternoon.

Ryuuken's eyes simply narrowed. "No."

Mibble. "BUT RYUU!!!"

"NO. STOP THAT."

Isshin looked on the verge of panic. "YUZU, KARIN!" he sobbed, somehow managing to become even louder now as he called on his daughters for assistance. "TELL RYUUKEN-OKAASAN TO COME PLAY WITH ME!!!"

From beside Ryuuken on the bench, Karin sighed and Yuzu looked torn between whether to obey or to leave Ryuuken-okaasan well enough alone because she knew he liked his reading time.

"Pretend you don't know him," Karin advised her sister after a moment.

"A sound plan," Ryuuken agreed, and marked his magazine with a metal clip he kept handy before closing it and tucking it under the arm. "Shall we go get some ice cream then?"

Yuzu immediately brightened at the prospect. "That sounds like fun!!"

The three of them stood.

Isshin sulked from the swing set. "BUT IT'S THE KUROSAKI FAMILY LEGENDARY PLAYGROUND DAY OF FUN! YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE IN THE MIDDLE OF IT!!!" Distraught, he whirled around to look behind him. "ICHIGO TELL THEM THEY CAN'T LEAVE."

Ichigo stared at him. "Does this mean I don't have to push you anymore?"

"You're free to come along as well, if you'd like ice cream," Ryuuken told the teen.

Ichigo stuck his hands in his pockets and slouched after the Quincy and his sisters. "Sweet."

Behind them, Isshin wailed. "NOBODY LOVES ME!!!!!!"

"If you shut up I'll buy you ice cream too," Ryuuken offered after a moment, and adjusted his glasses in a long-suffering sort of way.

Isshin immediately brightened. "What, really?!"

"Yes, really. Now be quiet."

Isshin grinned and hopped off of his swing, bounding happily after the group and completely forgetting his previous distress at the prospect of sweet treats.

He twitched as they entered the ice cream shop a few minutes later and Isshin immediately ran up to press his face against the glass display, babbling excitedly to the clerk about the various flavors he'd like to try before he made his mind up (32 in all). Ryuuken and the three Kurosaki children looked drolly on.

The Quincy paid for the ice cream after Karin had kicked Isshin in the shin and ordered for him when he wouldn't hurry up and make up his mind.

Ryuuken comforted himself with knowledge that only one of his four charges for the afternoon actually needed to be babysat.

It could have been worse, after all.

Somehow.

END