Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
"Unfaithful"
What is the reason(s) for infidelity?
Numerous people have speculated on the subject – some conjuring logical conclusions, some uttering balderdash, some seemingly uncaring of 'why' because there's no excuse, and some choosing to deny it. But despite how one may slice it, they certainly asked, whilst furiously scrounging for reasons in light of discovering their lover has had an illicit affair.
The ensuing question often followed shortly thereafter: Are the "cheaters" experiencing any form of regret or remorse? And if so, do they feel it before or after they're caught red-handed?
Better yet, do they acknowledge the fact that something so severe potentially could mutilate one's spirit to the point where they're unrecognizable? That was quite doubtful – and that was why it was firmly accepted that inquiring minds will continuously ponder over questions similar to these…
"For as long as temptation exists, there will always be infidelity, thus there will be victims wondering 'why'."
O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*
Ichigo Kurosaki ran a lone finger through his spiky, orange locks, grinning slightly as he read over the details discussed in court earlier. It was after hours as he sat in his office, but it didn't burden him at all. In fact, he preferred to be in his lonesome for the better part of each day because he was enabled to accomplish more without "distractions".
The aforementioned trial pertained to a husband who'd committed adultery for seven years prior to his wife becoming wise to his deceit. She decided to seek alimony as well as a divorce when she captured her spouse with a woman after she'd forgiven him for his egregious indiscretions of the not-so-distant past.
Needless to say, the case wasn't much difficulty despite him being relatively new to the genre of 'marriage fallouts'. …And for a man who typically prosecuted sex crimes, as well as crimes involving children, he had to say he welcomed the change, even if it was temporary. There wasn't anything particularly gruesome, which he liked. His usual cases were nothing short of 'morally repugnant'.
He had been mentally drained from the stress each incident entailed. His firm was demanding and they didn't tolerate insubordination or people who didn't obtain a seventy-five percent (or better) conviction percentage. Add to that the last case he prosecuted, to be specific, nearly sent him into a rage, and it required every slither of restraint within his body to not waltz to the defendant and choke him to death for the despicable crimes he perpetrated. Following that, he requested a transfer, which was punctually granted by his superior, Juushiro Ukitake, a respected attorney who has practiced law for forty years.
At first the young lawyer chuckled when he listened to what some of the wives and husbands would do and say to spite one another. Then, he sort of ignored it. But after awhile Ichigo paid attention, asking himself every time what the hell these people were doing as their marriages went from bad to worse, before it transformed into a major catastrophe.
As his mind mulled over the possibilities – yet again – whilst he continued looking over the paperwork, a young woman entered the doorway of his corner office, knocking on the door lightly. Ichigo immediately set the sheet of paper down upon catching a glimpse of his legal assistant and friend, who normally would be long gone by this hour.
"Rangiku…? What the hell are you doing here so late?"
The tall, blonde woman widened her blue eyes in comical disbelief. Indeed she accepted that she was nothing short of indolent, but she wasn't going to confess it to the public, even if she knew it was the truth. "Hey… now why would you ask me something like that, Ichigo? Are you trying to hurt my feelings?" She responded, pursing her lips as she pouted.
The young man was taken aback by her act, although it had to be anticipated due to the fact she always pouted when he or his colleagues called her out on her lethargy.
"Ran - ?"
"Maybe I'm here because I wanted to help, you big blowhard," the jovial woman suddenly laughed. This only made Ichigo even more suspicious of her.
"You … help? That's really rich," he joked, watching her skin redden in light of her frown.
The woman glared at him. "Ha ha… laugh it up, Mister."
She waited for her employer and friend to cease cackling prior to resuming the conversation. "I'm really here because I thought we could go out and celebrate. I should've met Renji and the others hours ago, but I figured you could use a drink too."
"It figures she wouldn't come to help me organize my office."
He quickly replied, "No, I can't."
"Aw… come on… … You never want to hang out anymore…," she whined cutely.
"That's because, unlike you, I actually work for a living."
"Well, at least I don't enslave myself behind a desk while a hot wife is waiting at home for me."
"Fuck you," the man spat.
"I know you want to fuck me. But unfortunately, you're married to the lovely Orihime Inoue."
"Dream on!" he shouted. "…And by the way… I'm 'happily' married to Orihime 'Kurosaki'."
Rangiku winked. "But she's not a freak like me."
"It's a good thing she hasn't been corrupted like you."
"You're so cruel~!"
"Tough."
They both stared at each other for a couple of minutes before the woman bid the young man 'goodnight' and headed for the bar. He caught her prior to her complete departure and gave her some money just in case the guys opted to be douche bags. Of course, as opposed to leaving, Ichigo chose to remain at his office another hour, thoroughly relishing the time he was awarded to simply relax at work, devoid of anxiety.
Once the time neared to leave his haven of sorts, ADA (Assistant District Attorney) Ichigo Kurosaki straightened everything in his office – returning the law books back to their proper shelves and organizing the papers he recently finished looking over in hopes of getting a chuckle, which proved successful. He walked a few steps through his workspace one final time prior to grabbing his dark brown jacket situated on a coat rack next to the open door. He put it on his body and zipped it up before he closed and locked the door behind him.
O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*
Orihime Inoue-Kurosaki, the wife of the famed attorney, had been running late. She was bestowed the misfortune of having a customer stop in the bakery she owned and request a large order of donuts just as she was closing. And knowing she didn't possess the heart to shift business away, the happy-go-lucky woman processed the order and prayed her husband wouldn't be too upset with her for not coming home immediately.
She hastily closed the shop after the customer paid the balance (plus the tip) in order to make up valuable time. She then speedily scrambled similar to someone trying to abscond from justice. She scurried up the stairs connected to a bridge across the street from her bakery right at the time a train had commenced loading passengers.
"Oh no, I have to hurry…"
Her chest heaving, she quickened her pace, tripping over her own feet quite a few times as she ascended to her destination.
The moment she arrived to the top of the stairway, the rear entrance to the train had begun to close. Despite being totally exasperated and a little sore, the woman dug deep inside herself and ran as hard as she could … just barely landing a foot inside the slight opening and forcing the door to reopen. Once inside, the young woman noticed several passengers were giving her weird looks, but she was currently much too winded to even give a second thought to any of them. That was, until one man addressed her.
"Excuse me miss, would you like to have my seat?"
Orihime glanced at the man. He appeared to be around her age – perhaps younger. He had shoulder length jet-black hair with gray eyes. She also took note that he didn't have any facial hair or a wedding ring. It struck her as somewhat peculiar he didn't possess the latter in light of that fact he wasn't a bad looking guy. Her curiosity implored her to ask, but not knowing the man, she wisely opted to keep her thoughts and inquiries to herself.
In an instant, she waved her hands, smiling nervously at the young man, "Oh n-no, I couldn't possibly…"
"Nonsense," he replied. "Take this seat, my dear."
She considered declining his offer, but seeing as he had already stood up and held his hand out in a gesture for her to take a seat, she accepted, thanking the man.
The comfort instantaneously took its toll, and she emitted a grateful sigh following the tough day she had at work. She didn't detect the man's eyes studying her as her mind drifted off into space where the blue aliens waited for her return.
"Um, pardon my interruption, but may I ask what a young lady such as you would be doing riding a train this late into the evening?"
That was a good question. Orihime was never out alone after six p.m. – Ichigo didn't allow it because he worried too much about her safety. It was currently seven, and she dreaded how her spouse would react when she told him she'd broken curfew.
Startled a complete stranger dared to ask such a question, the young woman replied softly, "I was working late."
The man stared at her intently, seemingly intrigued by her as she elaborated further.
O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*
Orihime would eventually complete her story, and she hoped the man didn't deem her to be bizarre or crazy. Her insecurity vastly came to rest when he laughed lightly.
"Wow… now there's a handful in one day," said the man.
"Well, I enjoy it for the most part – the baking, I mean."
"I understand. Perhaps one day you could make a birthday cake for me."
"I'd love to – baking's my passion!" She chirped.
"So I've noticed…," he joked, this time getting her to chuckle.
The two quieted down before Orihime humbly asked, "Since I'm sharing my life story, may I at least know who you are?"
The man raised his eyebrow.
Accepting that as a sign that he wouldn't share, she quickly expressed her sincerest apologies. "I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to be rude. I just –"
"It's fine," he told her. "My name is Koji Tenryou."
"Really…? That's an interesting name."
He smiled at her. "'Interesting' you say? That's a first I believe."
"Well, it is. I've never known anyone named 'Koji' before. I'm sorry if I've made you feel bad about it. I didn't mean any harm."
"It's cool. …And anyway, I doubt a lovely woman like you could plausibly harm a fly, let alone a human being."
"…"
The man cackled yet again while Orihime blushed in embarrassment. "I assume you don't care for compliments?"
"No, no, I do … it's just that I…"
"It's all right. Just take a deep breath and relax."
The wife accepted his advice and the two would resume idle chit chat until they arrived to her destination. The train came to a screeching halt, and the conductor announced, "Halpin Station!"
Leaping up abruptly, the young woman thanked the gentleman for the talk and the seat, bidding him farewell. But before she could properly exit Koji reached to grab Orihime's hand, "May I have your business card?"
"Oh sure," she responded, reaching into her apron and retrieving it for him. The moment she ensured he had it in his hand, the wife rushed out of the train prior to it departing.
Koji instantly retook his seat as the door shut, peeking out to the window to capture one final glance of the woman on the opposite side.
"Quite a dazzling woman she is."
O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*
Orihime made it home only minutes after leaving the station, only to suddenly fall into a deep despair when she observed their empty driveway, which obviously meant that her husband hadn't made it home yet. This caused her to have a huge frown on her face, and she trudged up the stairs leading to the door. She then fumbled through her gray sweatpants to get the key, and hastily unlock the door.
"Home sweet home," she said aloud, though she knew no other soul was there. The woman closed the door and turned on the lights before quickly making her way to the bedroom she shared with the love of her life. She discarded her apron and picked up the phone off the receiver to dial Ichigo's number.
But out of the blue, the door opened, prompting her to hang up the phone. "Ichigo," she called, running to her spouse. Once he was in range, she leapt into his arms, kissing him. "I've missed you," she admitted in a gentle tone.
The husband finished kissing his wife before he responded. "I can tell," he began. "So how was your day?"
"It was pretty good. I had a customer that forced me to work overtime, but otherwise, I'm good," she smiled, just happy to be home with this man.
"You know I don't like you working too late," he reminded her.
"I know, but everything's okay. I'm okay," she assured him.
"I'm glad for that," he said as he gave her a chaste kiss. It was then that he took note of the flour marks on her clothes. "I think we should take a bath, Orihime."
Inspecting herself, her skin flushed when she witnessed how filthy her clothes were. "I'd love that – but first, let me put our clothes in the wash."
"Okay," he nodded, beginning to strip himself down to his birthday suit right before her very eyes – his maroon tie, black vest, white top, maroon socks, black Stacy Adams, and maroon boxers no more. His wife had watched with fascination, fidgeting and twiddling her little fingers and licking her lips from beginning to end (though her husband failed to discover any of this).
A few moments later, Orihime followed Ichigo's lead, removing her gray sweatpants, pink slip-ons, pink t-shirt, white lace bra and matching panties very slowly in an attempt to seduce him on the spot.
Quickly catching on, Ichigo informed her with a grin, "not tonight, babe."
"Aw…!" she whined, looking down. "But I've waited all day…"
"I'll tell you what: If you're a good girl tonight, then I'll be all yours tomorrow," he proposed, hoping it was enough.
The wife didn't appear satisfied with his compromise, and stated as much. "But Ichigo, I need you. I really need you~!"
He expected her to say as much. "Listen to me. You're really hot right now," he began, "and I'd love nothing more than to make love to you, babe – but, I have to get up early in the morning. So please, can we put this on hold until tomorrow? Please?"
Orihime looked at him and saw the stress bottled deeply inside in spite of his acting. She quickly understood and thus, sympathetically grabbed his cheek and smiled as she kissed him. "Okay. Tomorrow … but there'll be no excuses, Ichigo Kurosaki."
"You got it," he said as he motioned for her to follow him inside the bathroom, forgetting the discarded clothes in the middle of the hallway.
O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*O~*
The couple's bath was pleasurable, with both of them beaming with delight as they exited. On their way to the bedroom, Ichigo gathered the used articles of clothing, and placed them in the bin outside the bathroom. Soon he joined Orihime, who had previously dried herself off and gotten dressed, lying down on their queen size bed next to her. There, they exchanged a mere gaze and didn't utter a solitary word amongst themselves as they swiftly drifted off to sleep.
Neither of them knew what tomorrow or the succeeding days would bring… but as long as they had each other, everyday promised to be better than the previous day, and that was something anyone would hope to live for.
To Be Continued…
A/N: The next chapter shall be out very soon.
