"Ichigo, just go and tell him. He let you marry me he had to see this coming." Rukia said to me as we stood in Urahara's underground hideaway. "Nii-sama deserves to know he's going to be an uncle."
"Remind me again why I can't take Zangetsu?" I asked.
"Because it will keep you peaceful and respectful when talking to Nii-sama, because you rely too much on Zangetsu at times where you don't even need him, and because Nii-sama won't attack an unarmed man, he's too prideful. Now just suck it up like a man and go talk to Nii-sama, or will I have to tell Ishida and Chad that you were a coward and couldn't even relay a small bit of information to Nii-sama without a sword?"
~*~
She had given me the ultimatum and so I marched through the Senkai Gate. Then my palms were sweating as I was standing in front of the door to Byakuya's ("Nii-sama's") office. It was deja vue all over again as I remembered a day five years and twenty-seven days ago. That was the day I had asked Byakuya for Rukia's hand in marriage. That day was different in the fact I had Zangetsu with me, so then I was terrified of him saying "no". There was nothing he could say no to, I had already got my wife, his sister, pregnant. I ran my hand through my hair self-consciously.
Without Zangetsu by my side, I had a very healthy respect for Byakuya's powers, both with Senbonzakura and Kido. I had been working on kido with Rukia recently by presently my powers are on the level of Renji Abarai, useable but not reliable. And without Zangetsu, I was a sitting duck if Byakuya decided to get angry.
"Hey Ichigo!" I jumped a mile into the air as I heard a voice behind me. I turned and saw it was, speak of the devil, it was Renji. "What's got your panties in a knot?" He asked.
"Rukia confiscated Zangetsu so I could have a 'civil' conversation with Byakuya. The topic of conversation is not the best one to have with him without some protection."
"How bad could the topic be? You already asked him for her hand in marriage." He said.
"Bad enough that I begged to take Orihime if I couldn't take Zangetsu purely for protection." I sighed.
"What did you finally get Rukia preg-"
"Shhhh!" I hissed at him, waving my arms like an idiot, "Yes, now shut up!"
"OOOH! I feel for you man. Congrats anyway."
"Hey aren't you going to stay and help me?" I asked.
"If I were to be there when Byakuya kills you, I would have to testify against him. Then he would go to jail and I would never get to finish my agenda with him." He said, walking away.
"Do you know how gay that sounded?" I shouted down the hall to his retreating back.
"How gay what sounded, Kurosaki?" Byakuya's seldom used voice said behind me.
"Nothing!" I squeaked, then winced because of the squeak. Nice way to start the day. I turned around.
"You wanted to speak, come in and speak." Byakuya said , entering the office. I nodded and bowed my head respectfully walking in behind him.
"Much the meek one without Zangetsu aren't you?" He asked waving his hand to my sword-less back. I glared at him from under the fringe of my hair but otherwise ignored the question. "Well now, nothing spiteful to say to me?" he sneered.
"I'm not in the mood to initiate fights with my wife's beloved 'Nii-sama'." I said. "Besides, I plan on sticking around for a long time. I am acting like this because I know Rukia loves you and I wouldn't want to kill you in self defense before you got a chance to meet the child that is going to make you an uncle." There it was, out in the open. I told him he was going to become and uncle and Rukia's his only "sibling", so to speak.
He didn't even bat an eyelash as he drew out Senbonzakura and brought it to my neck. "Scatter, Senbonzakura." Thousands of what appeared to be cherry blossoms wound their way around my neck. I wasn't fooled, I knew that while they appeared to be cherry blossoms, they were actually thousands of tiny blades and they were barely millimeters away from cutting me. A bead of sweat rolled down the back of my neck and one of the cherry blossoms looked wet as it revolved around to the front of my neck.
"You're not going to kill the father of your soon to be niece or nephew are you?" I asked, not quite presenting the question in the way I wanted (which was as a taunt) but at least not sounding like a scared little girl.
"No, I'm merely going to warn him." Byakuya said. Mentally I gulped as I heard his softest, deadliest voice. "If you ever do anything to intentionally harm that child, or Rukia for that matter, I will kill you and I won't bother with honor. I'll just kill you in your sleep. I knew this was coming and you're lucky you two were married first. But if you do anything to harm them," a lone "blossom" floated up in front of my face, "you are dead." He finished and the "blossom" flew towards my face. I mentally backed up five feet, knowing that if I did physically I would have decapitated myself. The next second there was not a "blossom" to be found and Byakuya's sword had been sheathed.
"Message received." I said icily, trying to leave the room with a little dignity in tact.
"By the way, Kurosaki," Byakuya said as I reached the door, forcing me to stop with the door open. I turned my head just enough to be able to see him out of the corner of my eye as he spoke again. "Congratulations." I nodded and as I left I could've sworn I saw a smile race his lips.
I couldn't pass up the golden opportunity to get the last laugh so I yelled: "QUICK EVERYONE! GRAB A CAMERA, BYAKUYA IS SMILING!" I slammed the door shut and ran through the crowd of girls that had magically appeared after my shout. I finally made it out of the pack and started booking it.
Then I heard the door open and Byakuya bellow "SCATTER SENBONZAKURA!"
"Nii-sama won't attack an unarmed man." my ass. I thought as I desperately tried to out run the "cherry blossoms" chasing after me.