Bed Check

The king crept carefully down the hall. Last time there had been booby traps and he really hadn't enjoyed hanging from the ceiling until morning. He had liked being cut down even less. The palace floors were hard. He had forgotten that fact living in the human world.

He sidestepped a trip rope, grinning and continuing down the corridor. The crown prince's wing of the palace was a dangerous place and traversing it was not for the faint of heart. But a father's work was never done and he had to make sure all his babies were safely tucked into their beds.

He had made his rounds of the princesses' wing already and everything was in order. His youngest daughter was fast asleep, curled peacefully around the teddy bear Yamada had given her. His older girl was curled up with that cute little captain of the Tenth she had been dating. He had turned a blind eye to their sleeping together since the engagement. They had barricaded the door, which he thought was rather rude. He'd had to scale the balcony to check up on them; but he had done his fatherly duty.

Now he was checking up on his son. The problem was the crown prince did not appreciate his fatherly interest. And he appreciated it even less since taking a consort, which the king thought was rather mean of the boy. He was just looking out for the welfare of his children.

Which was exceedingly difficult when one of his children fought him at every turn. He paused outside his son's door, eyeing the kidou barrier warily. His son was still learning kidou but his consort was quite skilled. He sighed as another balcony scaling loomed in his future.

It took twenty minutes to make it to the roof. He had gotten lost twice. The palace really was too large; it was over a hundred rooms. And that was just the family's quarters! He leapt down to his son's balcony and sighed as he saw the doors were open. That son of his. He would just have to remind the boy that constant vigilance was needed to maintain their rule. He grinned broadly at the thought of ambushing the boy, tiptoeing towards the bed and the shock of vibrant orange hair that was peaking out from beneath the covers.

Cool steel kissed the back of his neck and the king froze. "Ichigo would not be happy if you were to wake him Isshin," murmured a soft voice. The normally jovial tone was gone and in its place was a quiet certainty and strength.

Isshin sighed and slowly straightened, taking a single careful step forward away from the blade at the back of his neck. When the move was met without violence he turned. "Kisuke," he acknowledged with a small nod, glad to see the blonde at least had a robe on. Last time he had checked on his son, he had found the both of them naked - which was really way more of either of them than he had wanted to see.

A faint smile tugged at his old friend's lips. "Let him sleep, Isshin. And stop checking up. He is his own man now," murmured the blonde, slowly re-sheathing Benihime and moving toward the bed. "And I am getting far too old to be waking up in the middle of the night to stop you from annoying your son ," added Kisuke with as wicked grin as he shed his robe and slid back into bed. Ichigo immediately curled around him, mumbling something in his sleep and clutching the blonde possessively.

Isshin smiled and retreated back to the balcony, that was his son and his consort seen to.