It was a lovely day in Karakura Town. Many of the children were playing games outdoors, adults were enjoying walks in the park with their dogs, and the streets were crowded. Overall, Ichimaru was not pleased. Aizen had provided him with a Gigai and money in order to buy toys for the young Espada. Had there not been so many people, it would have been more pleasurable, as Ichimaru got to get away from Hueco Mundo and leave Tousen to feed the children. Now, however, it was more of a pain and would make his task all the more difficult. It didn't help that he had to walk quite a way, since he couldn't just open up a portal in the middle of the hustle and bustle and step out where everyone could see him. He didn't understand why he couldn't have just come without a Gigai and taken the toys when nobody was looking. He could have left money on the counter for the shopkeeper to pay for what he took, but Aizen insisted that he buy toys properly. Sometimes Ichimaru wondered if Aizen just enjoyed making things difficult.

The Shinigami eventually found the toy store, and, much to his displeasure, it was packed with whiny kids begging their parents to buy things for them. With a heavy sigh, Ichimaru entered the shop.

There were toys of all kinds lining the shelves, from simple balls to electronic walking robots. The question was what to get. There were 10 Espada, so he would have to buy quite a few toys. Grabbing a shopping basket, Ichimaru started to pick toys out he thought five-year-olds would like. After picking up Legos, balls, Hot Wheels cars, and a few assorted other toys, Ichimaru got in line to pay for his merchandise. As he neared the counter, he froze as he heard two all too familiar voices.

"They have Chappy! Ichigo! I need you to buy that for me!"

"Are you serious? Rukia, it's a stuffed animal. Aren't you too old for stuffed an- Ouch! What was that for?"

"How dare you say that about Chappy! Now buy it for me!"

"Fine, fine. If I buy it, will you leave me alone?"

Though tempted to turn around, Ichimaru kept his eyes facing forward. He hoped the two wouldn't recognize him in casual clothing. Jeans and a black sleeveless shirt were far different from his Shinigami uniform, so unless they saw his face, they probably wouldn't even consider it was him. Yes, it would be fine. Why would Ichimaru Gin, Shinigami and traitor to Soul Society, be shopping in a toy store? It would make no sense for them to believe it was him, the thought was ridiculous. So ridiculous he was currently cashing out, grabbing his bags and walking out the door. As he turned around to head out the door, however, a loud voice stopped him.

"Y-you?!"

Ichimaru stopped and glanced over his shoulder to see Ichigo open mouthed, pointing at him and looking like he had just seen Godzilla taking a casual stroll through the park, Rukia by his side and looking just as much in disbelief.

"Do I know you?" Ichimaru asked.

Ichigo was at a loss for words. "Wh-what are you- why are you- how did-what-"

"Can't a guy buy toys for his children? Pointin' is very rude, ya know."

Ichigo lowered his hand and realized the entire store was staring at him. When Rukia realized he was going to continue standing there like an idiot, she spoke up.

"We are very sorry, we must have mistaken you for somebody else." She bowed slightly, waiting for Ichigo to apologize as well. When he said nothing, she stomped on his foot.

"Ah! Y-yeah, sorry...about that..."

Ichimaru smiled, giving Rukia the chills. "It's not a problem. Bye bye now." Leaving the gawking Ichigo behind, Ichimaru strolled out of the store. Once he was out of sight, he ran.

"Of course. Had ta notice me. Though, I suppose it was a bit humorous." He chuckled to himself when he thought about how incredibly confused Ichigo and Rukia were. It was certainly going to mess with their minds. It actually made the trip worth it.

--meanwhile--

Feeding the Espada was proving to be quite a task. It wasn't quite as smoothly as Tousen would have wished for. Grimmjow had refused to eat what was served to him, preferring to hunt on his own. Getting down on all fours like a cat, he chased down whatever Hollow he could, pouncing on them and biting their necks before devouring them. Szayel seemed more interesting in taking his food apart than he did eating it, Barragan had demanded he get only the tastiest Hollow brought to him, Noitora was enjoying the tortured cries of the Hollow before he ate them, and Yammy was playing (though, from the Hollow's point of view, it was more like torture) with his food instead of eating it. Just when Tousen thought it couldn't get any more chaotic, Yammy decided to throw a small bug-like Hollow at Zommari.

"You shouldn't waste food!" Zommari yelled as Yammy laughed and threw another one, this time hitting Aaroniero. Angry, Aaroniero tossed a small Hollow right back at Yammy. Halibel, Szayel and Ulquiorra tried to ignore the food fight and stick to their own meals, at least until Halibel was whacked in the head by a rather heavy Hollow that Noitora had thrown. Slamming her hands on the table, the sole female Espada hopped off of her chair and marched over to Noitora. Before he knew what was going on, Halibel had him pinned to the ground and in a headlock.

"Ow! Get the hell off of me!" Noitora yelled, struggling beneath Halibel.

"Apologize for hitting me."

"You should have moved!" Noitora spat, only to have his arm pulled backwards. "Ow! That friggin' hurts!"

"Then apologize." Halibel responded calmly, not releasing her grip on Noitora.

Noitora growled. "You're just a girl! I don't have to say nothin' to you!"

"Children!" Tousen's voice boomed, bringing all the chaos in the kitchen to a screeching halt. The children's eyes all turned to him, surprised at the normally quiet adult's outburst.

Having caught their attention, Tousen lowered his voice. "That's better. Now, I want you all sitting back in your seats to finish your meals. No more throwing food around. When you are done eating, I'd like you to clean up the messes you made."

The Espada did as they were told, finishing up their meals in a more civilized way. As they had just finished cleaning, Ichimaru stepped into the kitchen.

"I set up all the toys in the room." He glanced around at the room, watching Grimmjow mumble as he cleaned up the remains of a crushed Hollow. "Wow. Ya even got 'em to clean?"

Tousen nodded. "They created the mess, thus they must clean it. Well, not that all of that is taken care of..." He clapped his hands together to get the Espadas' attention. "We are going back, everyone please get in line. Now, since Zommari was being so well behaved, he gets to be in the front this time."

With some grumbling from other children, Zommari took up the first position in line. He stood straight and proper, trying to set an example for the other children. The rest got into line with less complaint than the previous times and followed Tousen out of the room. About halfway to the play room, Stark stopped walking, sat on the ground, and fell asleep. Ichimaru, who had been following behind the line, kneeled down beside the Espada.

"Stark? Hey, Stark. What are ya doin' fallin' asleep in the middle of the hall? Are you listenin'? Get up!" The Shinigami poked and gently shook Stark, but to no avail. "Ah, Kaname, I think we have a problem."

Tousen turned to face Ichimaru. "Hm?"

"Stark fell asleep an' won't get up."

Tousen sighed. "Can you pick him up then and carry him to the room?"

Ichimaru frowned. He didn't particularly want to carry the kid, but felt he had no choice and lifted Stark off the ground. Had Stark been awake, he probably would have been complaining about the uncomfortable way he was being held, as Ichimaru tried to keep the Espada as far away from his body as he could while still holding him, as if the child had some sort of disease. When Stark began drooling on him, he was ready to drop the kid right where he was and walk away. "Ew."

When they arrived at the play room, Ichimaru was all too willing to put Stark down on a mat in the corner of the room and let him sleep. The rest of the Esapda took a moment to gawk at the toys, then ran off to play with them.

"Sounds to me like you did a pretty good job." Rousen said, smiling at the sounds of the happy children.

Ichimaru shrugged. "I just picked out stuff any kid would like."

Szayel had taken an immediate liking to a toy chemistry set. After looking through it, he discovered he needed water in order to use it. He approached Ichimaru, holding the instruction booklet up for the Shinigami to take. "I need water."

Looking over the instructions, Ichimaru sighed. "Alright. Hold on, I'll be right back." Exiting the room, he headed back to the kitchen. Without having to herd the brats, it was much faster. After filling a large bowl with water, he headed back to the play room. He thought back to the fact that there was no water to be found in all of Hueco Mundo, and inspected the water in the bowl. It certainly looked like water and had the consistency of water. Aizen once offered to tell him how it was the tea was made. Ichimaru shuddered. He had a feeling that he was far better off not knowing where their water came from. There were some things one was better off not knowing, and this was one of them.

When he returned with the water, Szayel was patiently waiting, guarding his toy chemistry set from anybody who dared try to mess it up. He kneeled down to place the bowl on the ground for the pink-haired scientist, and almost dropped the bowl as he glanced over at Yammy.

"Yammy! No! Don't put that over your head!" Quickly placing the bowl down, he rushed over to the large five-year-old, who was walking around with a plastic bag over his head. Ichimaru thought for sure he Esapda was about to suffocate himself, but luckily he pulled the bag from Yammy before anything could happen. "Tousen! You're supposed ta be payin' attention!"

Tousen frowned. "I'm sorry. I didn't...realize."

Ichimaru then remembered that his comrade was blind and couldn't have seen Yammy running around with the bag. "Ah...right. Sorry 'bout that. I guess that means I gotta keep an eye on 'em all."

In one corner of the room, Ulquiorra was busying himself by building towers with Legos. Halibel was helping, though the two were not talking nor interacting in any other way. Szayel had let Aaroniero use his chemistry set with him, the two pouring colored powders in different plastic beakers and mixing colors. While the children were playing, Barragan dragged a large chair to the center of the room. With some effort, he climbed on the seat, sat down, and began commanding Espada to get him various toys.

"Noitora!" He yelled, pointing to the Hot Wheels cars the 5th Espada was playing with. "Bring me some of those!"

Noitora raised his eyebrows. "Hell no! You can get them by yourself!"

Grumbling to himself, he turned his attention to Halibel and Ulquiorra. "Build me a castle with those. I'm the king, and I need a huge fort!"

The two looked up at him, but said nothing and went back to building. Convinced that they were building his castle, or that he would simply claim it once it was fully built, Barragan set his sights on Yammy.

Grimmjow glanced over to Ulquiorra and Halibel. Several lego towers formed what looked like a mini city. Grimmjow grinned to himself. Acting casual, he walked over to the two, his hands behind his back. Ulquiorra looked at him suspiciously, but Grimmjow just smiled and looked back at the Legos.

"What a nice city you made. It's perfect...to destroy!" Without any more warning, Grimmjow pulled the Godzilla figure out from behind his back and proceeded to knock down the Lego towers. "Roar!" After he knocked down all of the Legos, made his Godzilla figure stomp on one of them, wrecking it further until it was in several pieces. He stood back, admired his work, and laughed.

Ulquiorra looked at the destroyed Lego towers, then at Grimmjow. He held out his hand as if he were pointing, and a small, green light emanated from his fingertip. Before Grimmjow realized what was going on, Ulquiorra unleashed a small but powerful Cero. The attack sent little Grimmjow flying across the room and into the opposing wall. The blast caught everyone's attention. Yammy got scared and began crying, and Ichimaru looked over at Grimmjow, horrified. The Shinigami went to help him, but Grimmjow got up and rushed at Ulquiorra, knocking him to the ground and punching him in the face. Halibel tapped Grimmjow in his shoulder, getting his attention. As he turned to her, she punched him in the face, knocking him off of Ulquiorra.

Before anything else happened, Ichimaru and Tousen were between the fighting Espada, Ichimaru holding Grimmjow back while Tousen kneeled by Ulquiorra and Halibel.

"Stop strugglin' and stay still!" Ichimaru yelled at Grimmjow, getting the Espada to settle down.

"He attacked me!"

"You should have come to us." Tousen scolded. "Two wrongs do not make a right. All three of you will be punished for this."

"Uh, Tousen?" Ichimaru interrupted. "Ulquiorra's nose is broken."

Tousen frowned. "Are there other injuries?"

Ichimaru looked Grimmjow over. Surprisingly, there didn't seem to be much wrong with him. Then again, he was an Espada. They could all take quite a beating before being any serious injuries. Halibel's punch looked like it had left the worst mark. "He's just got a few bruises, but I think his cheek is getting swollen. I'm surprised he didn't hit his head."

"Then I'll take Ulquiorra to get his nose fixed up. Grimmjow, you stand in the corner opposite of Halibel. Ichimaru, I'll be ba-"

"Is something the matter?" Aizen's voice suddenly cut in. Everyone turned to see him standing in the doorway, Wonderwice at his side.

"Ah, A-Aizen!" Ichimaru blurted. "Well...ya see...uh...the kids got into a little fight. Ulquiorra hit Grimmjow with a Cero, then Grimmow punched Ulquiorra in the face and broke his nose, then Halibel hit Grimmjow."

"I see." It was silent for a moment before Aizen spoke again. "Let me take care of Grimmjow and Ulquiorra. Kaname, Wonderwice came up to me apparently looking for you."

"Haaaaooo!" Wonderwice happily ran up to Tousen and began nuzzling him like a cat. Tousen smiled and patted him on the head.

"I'm sorry, Wonderwice, I have been busy. We had a bit of an...accident. Would you like to play with the Espada?"

"Haaaah! Haaaooo!" Wonderwice nodded excitedly.

"Zommari?" Tousen asked, getting the child's attention. "Would you like to play with Wonderwice?"

Zommari nodded. "He seems good. I'll play with him."

At that moment, Stark chose to get up, having been awoken due to the fight. He walked over to Zommari and Wonderwice, asking if he could play. The two nodded, and the three of them were soon sitting on the ground, forming a triangle and rolling a ball back and forth to each other. The rest of the Espada had gone about their playing. Szayel was now trying to get Noitora to drink some of the concoctions he had mixed up with Aaroneiro. Tousen, meanwhile, went to comfort Yammy. When the Espada finally stopped crying, he joined Stark, Wonderwice, and Zommari in their game. After Ulquiorra and Grimmjow had been healed, they were each sent to a separate corner as punishment. Barragan decided to take the Legos and build his own castle since he now had nobody to build it for him.

"Well, they are quite a handful." Ichimaru sighed as he watched the children play.

Tousen nodded. "I think even you will be a child expert by the time this is done."

Ichimaru gave a nervous chuckle. "That's provided that we don't lose our minds first.

"Now now." Aizen jumped in, "I think you two are doing a good job. Ten little Espada aren't easy to care for. Well, I have more work to do. Keep doing as you are."

Ichimaru grumbled as Aizen left the room, "What could he possibly have to do that he can't help out."

Pulling up a chair, Tousen took a seat. "Well, I guess can let them play for a little while longer. Then perhaps they will be ready to go to bed for the night. It is getting late."

With any luck, all the playing would tire the children out, and they would be asleep for the night. If they were really lucky, they would all be back to normal by the morning. "I sure hope so..."