"So Orihime," began Rukia before she drew in a sharp breath, rubbed her rounded belly and said ruefully, "Silly kid only stops lying on top of my bladder long enough to drift up and give my ribs a few cracks by kicking them."
Giving her friend a sympathetic smile as she rested her hand on her own pregnant belly, Orihime winced as she said, "I know the feeling. Before Reika and Ayaka were born, they were quite active, but this one," she looked down at her belly as she said, "seems to be a bit calmer."
"Good for you," said Rukia with another wince and a push against her ribcage, "I certainly hope that if I have any more kids," glaring in Renji's direction, Rukia said slowly, "and that's a big if," before she looked back at Orihime and finished, "they won't be quite as destructive as this one."
Laughing softly, Orihime looked over where her husband was playing with the Reika and Ayaka in the grass. It was a lovely summer day and the girls had just turned a year old about two months previously and so were toddling around after their father and 'Mr. Renji', who were both blowing huge bubbles for the girls' amusement.
Rukia and Renji had travelled over from Soul Society to spend the day since Rukia was nearing her seventh month and wouldn't be able to travel soon. While Orihime loved to see all her friends from Soul Society, she was rather grateful that only Renji and Rukia had come to their house since she got tired easily anymore. Huge parties with family and friends could wait until after this baby was born.
After the girls had been born, Orihime had had no doubts that Ichigo adored both his daughters. In the privacy of their home, Ichigo would spend as much time as possible holding them, talking to them (while he would hold imaginary conversation with them, Ichigo never ever resorted to 'ludicrous baby talk'), playing with them and doing everything possible to make them smile or laugh hysterically.
In addition to all that, not only was Ichigo more than willing to take over feeding and changing diapers, he didn't seem to have any problem sorting through various outfits to dress them in, combing their hair…the whole nine yards. Sometimes, Orihime thought he was better at putting together outfits for the girls than she was. He had even gone out to buy a special edition porcelain tea set for each girl to receive on their tenth birthday.
Then, when they had discovered that Orihime was pregnant again, lots of people had started asking if Ichigo was hoping to have a son this time around. His response had been to shrug his shoulders and say that he would love the child whether it was a boy or a girl. Because the baby was due around Ichigo's birthday, he had specifically requested that they not be told what the baby's sex was as presents were best when they were a surprise.
All this went through Orihime's mind a few moments before Rukia asked, "So Orihime, what I wanted to ask is if you think Ichigo really cares if this baby is a boy or girl."
Looking thoughtfully over at her spouse tickling Reika, Orihime said slowly, "Ichigo has said himself that he'll love the child whether it's a boy or girl and I know he means it."
Turning her gaze to Rukia, Orihime went on, "To be perfectly honest, I think Papa Isshin is more excited about the possibility of a grandson this time around," she chuckled as she said, "Recently, Ichigo and I found out that he tried to bribe the ultra-sound techs into telling him whether the baby was a boy or girl."
"And how did that go over?" asked Rukia.
"Well," answered Orihime with a grin, "they were about to tell him when he was suddenly distracted by a young doctor looking a little too long at his 'precious baby daughters'."
Wincing slightly at the memory, Orihime finished with, "I was almost tempted to use my powers to heal poor Papa Isshin since I thought Karin's fist and foot had caused permanent damage to his face…but Ichigo said he'd bounce back within 24 hours or less."
Quirking an eyebrow and staring long and hard over at Ichigo, Rukia said slowly, "I wonder…"
Orihime tried to lean forward, with no success, and asked quickly, "Wonder what?"
"Isshin and Ichigo are related," continued Rukia rather ominously, "and they do say that the apple never falls far from the tree…so…"
Catching Rukia's drift, Orihime looked wide-eyed over where her husband was still playing with the girls yet trying to keep Reika from throwing herself into a small puddle. Thinking hard, Orihime tried to use her fertile imagination to picture Ichigo acting like Papa Isshin. She couldn't do it. Even though Ichigo would go to a lot of trouble to dress the girls at times, he didn't go around shouting about how adorable they were and every male character had better steer clear of them or he'd slice them with Zangetsu. He'd just make them back off with a scowl.
Suddenly, Orihime's imaginings were interrupted when she heard high pitched crying. Automatically zeroing in on the source, she saw that Ayaka had fallen down face first.
Struggling to force herself into an upright position, Ichigo evidently knew what Orihime wanted and called over, "Just stay there! I'll bring her!" before going over to scoop up the wailing girl.
When Ayaka came within sight of Orihime, she held out her arms to her mother, started squirming in Ichigo's arms and cried all the louder. As Ichigo got closer, Orihime held out her arms in response to receive Ayaka.
Settling the little girl against her side so that Ayaka's head was nestled under her chin, Orihime crooned softly, "There, there Ayaka. It's ok," and went on for a minute or two while Ayaka alternately wiggled around to get closer to her mother, clenched Orihime's shirt and/or hair as she sobbed and whimpered, "Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma," which was the closest she or her sister had ever come to saying 'Mama'.
Meanwhile, Reika had toddled over under Ichigo and Renji's supervision and when she saw Ayaka receiving all her mother's attention, her bottom lip started to tremble and her eyes filled.
Thinking quickly (and also wanting to have a chance to hold one of the girls since she hadn't done so in a while…which meant about 20 minutes ago), Rukia leaned forward as much as her belly would allow and said, "Oh Reika," and when the little girl looked in her direction, Rukia blew a handful of snowflakes in the little girl's direction.
Sucking in a breath so that her small mouth was in a perfect 'O' shape, Reika stood frozen for a moment until Rukia did it again and she squealed in delight and started babbling, "Shoo frsh frsh da BOOM!"
As Reika clambered over to chatter away with Rukia, Ichigo said drily, "I guess it really is like Christmas in July now."
Crossing his arms and giving Rukia a meaningful look, Ichigo went on, "You do realize that you'll probably have to do that trick for the next 10 years or so, right?"
Giving Ichigo an 'oh-be-quiet' expression, Rukia went back to conjuring snowflakes and 'conversing' with Reika…only she had no qualms using 'baby talk'.
As the day wore on, all four girls lost lots of energy, so the two males decided it was time to break up the get-together. Supporting his spouse, Renji helped Rukia through the Spirit Portal just before they both turned around to give a final wave. Standing with his arm around the shoulders of his own wife, Ichigo held Reika while Orihime still cuddled Ayaka before turning and taking them all into the house.
The twins were completely worn out after the day's activities and so put up little fuss when their parents got them ready for bed. Within a few minutes, the sound of light toddler breathing could be heard from the nursery over the baby monitors in the master bedroom, which allowed the two adults to settle in comfortably for the night. However, it was not to last.
Apparently, the youngest Kurosaki was anxious to make an appearance and so signals of the event started at around midnight. Staying calm in the face of pressure, Ichigo immediately picked up his cell to call over to his father and sisters to let them know that they needed to babysit the twins right away. Less than ten minutes later, they arrived, looking puffy-eyed, yet excited as they quietly went into the house and wished Ichigo and Orihime luck with the delivery.
Everything went smoothly at the hospital with getting Orihime a room and settling her in…Ichigo just couldn't stand the couple they had to share a room with. The wife was a 'screamer' and this was apparently her first delivery since she constantly upbraided her husband for not bringing enough protection on their honeymoon or something. The husband was completely frazzled and tried his best to keep up with his wife's demands for ice or juice or snacks or whatever, but it seemed to Ichigo that the poor guy was fighting a losing battle.
The only signs Ichigo ever got from Orihime that she was in pain was when she would squeeze his hand or wince and hold her side. Even when she squeezed his hand, Ichigo could tell that a part of her brain was telling her not to hurt Ichigo just because she was hurting.
After a particularly long contraction, Orihime opened her eyes to give Ichigo a small smile as she said, "I do hope your birthday present arrives soon. Tomorrow is your birthday, so it will be a bit early…"
Kissing the side of her head, Ichigo said quietly, "That would be nice."
Two hours later, Makoto Kurosaki was born.
As tired as she was, when she heard that the baby was a boy, Orihime immediately looked over at Ichigo thinking that his face would be grinning to hear that he had a son. However, what she saw instead confused her and at the time, she didn't have enough strength to think through the implications of what she witnessed.
Ichigo was completely stunned. Not in a 'are-you-serious-I'm-so-excited-I-have-a-son-now' way, but more of a 'what-am-I-going-to-do-with-a-boy' or 'I-wanted-another-girl-for-my-birthday' way.
After the nurse had cleaned Makoto up, she brought him over to give to Ichigo. Without thinking, Ichigo held out his arms to hold the infant and then spent a few seconds looking at Makoto thoughtfully.
Smiling through her tears, Orihime said softly, "Happy Birthday Ichigo. You have a son."
Looking up at the sound of Orihime's voice, Ichigo gave her a grin as he came to her side to kiss her and say, "We have a son," then he looked down at the tiny bundle and said with a chuckle, "Well little guy, guess we're going to have to call your aunts to go out and buy some things for you since I don't think you'll want your sisters' hand-me-downs."
As long as she lived, Orihime would never forget that moment. It was very uncommon for fathers not to get excited when they heard that they had a son. In some ways, it was the dream of most fathers to have a son to play sports with, go hunting and just all around do 'guy stuff' with. However, her husband was a very uncommon person and she loved him for it.
Author's Note:
Well, doing another Ichihime Week, but I don't think many of these stories are going to be very long, so it hopefully should not detract from my attention to any of my other stories.
Anyway, after seeing the prompt for this first day, I immediately thought about a father meeting his child for the first time. It's also based around a story I heard about a father who reacted in the same way after having all daughters and then at the end having a son. I thought it was sweet and decided to put Ichigo in that position.
Hope you enjoyed it. :)