A/N: Bleach is property of Tite Kubo and TV Tokyo.
Did Gin ever consider getting a job as a telemarketer? Ichigo wondered, toying with his phone. Ichigo's phone had been buzzing incessantly for the past week, notifying the collection of voicemails, text messages, and missed calls from Gin Ichimaru. It wouldn't be long before Gin showed at his door or rather Ulquiorra's door. Ichigo had convinced his father to temporarily move in with Ulquiorra until the wedding when he and Shirayuki could move into their home, their foreclosed yellow-pastel white picket fence house.
At first Ulquiorra was reluctant to have Ichigo invade his home, thinking the boy would try something on him. Ichigo arrived with two suitcases (the rest of his junk was packed in boxes and ready to be moved in to his wedding house) and his birthday violin. He humbly requested for violin lessons to be continued and remained distant from Ulquiorra during the daytime; however, Ichigo couldn't resist slipping into his room and watching the green-eyed man sleep. Sometimes he traced Ulquiorra's nose, or fingered his locks until he fell asleep, which was usually in a kneeling position next to Ulquiorra's bed. By the end of the week, Ulquiorra gave in and brought the boy to bed with him, he didn't want Ichigo to catch a cold or anything like that.
Another advantage to being roommates was a place for clandestine meetings between the groom, the watcher, the bride, and the bride's lover. Shirayuki and Shirosaki planned for escape immediately after the wedding, while Ulquiorra sent work applications for several out of state teaching positions. Ichigo was also busy, sending in community college applications and of course, wondering how the hell the wedding could be avoided. But the date to cancel the wedding was set, just before Shirayuki would leave to go buy dresses for the bridesmaids.
The day came and Ulquiorra was lying on Ichigo's lap, idly reading a music magazine. This body contact with Ichigo would have been inconceivable a week ago, but after that night where he mingled the past with the present, it was the least of his concerns. Ichigo had seen him vulnerable, his mask had been shattered and there was nothing to hide. He was Ulquiorra and at the tender age of sixteen, he fell in love with a man that would never love him back. He was also Ulquiorra, age twenty-four, who rejected the infamous boy slut Ichigo but realized that perhaps he wanted more with the orange-haired beauty. But again, it was the least of his concerns.
"Ichigo, that incessant buzzing must stop in the next ten seconds unless you want to pick up the splinter-remains of your Droid X," Ulquiorra warned, looking up from his magazine.
"Alright," Ichigo sighed, "but I need to talk to him alone. So if you don't mind…."
"Anything to get away from that noise," Ulquiorra replied. He walked out of the room and shut the door. Ichigo sighed before answering, "Hey Gin."
"Is that all you can answer after a week of going AWOL? I cancelled ma' trip with Aizen after you didn't reply. For all I knew you could have been lying in the alley of some third rate bar. And whaddabout your lovely new wife? Didda go pick her up?"
"I'm fine Gin thanks for asking. Sorry you cancelled your trip. No I haven't been to a third rate bar lately. Yes, I picked up my new wife but somehow we got arrested by the TSA, I'm sure you found out about that by Aizen and I have something to ask you."
"Well that's a relief," Gin said, "I never wanna have kids. So much worry. So watcha need?"
"Do you have the numbers of…?" Ichigo whispered the last part, just for caution. On the other side of the phone, Gin gasped but replied affirmatively.
"What are ya planning?" Gin asked, "You know you can tell me anything."
"I want to make things right," Ichigo said, pulling out a pen and paper from a drawer, "so what are their numbers again?"
"Alright what are ya gonna do?" Gin was nervous; this boy on the other end of the line was too serious. Maybe it's the wedding, Gin wondered, everyone's like this when they're about to get married.
"You're coming to the wedding right?" Ichigo knew the answer, but he needed to hear Gin's reaffirm it.
"Aizen invited me," Gin replied, "but you knew that. Do you want me to ditch your wedding? Because honestly, I want any excuse to get away from there."
"No! I want you to come, but I want you seated in the third row on the left side." Ichigo hung up before Gin could reply and started dialing with trembling fingers the numbers he got from Gin.
"Hello," Rukia's voice mail greeted, "this is the Kuchiki residence. Leave your name and number and we will call you back."
"It's Ichigo…please listen to what I have to say," He pleaded, "I want to apologize. Not through the phone, but to your face. It's been a year and a half since I…."
He dialed Neliel, his first MILF, next and invited her to the party next. She accepted his apology easily because her only concern about the wedding was the parking problem. After Neliel he dialed Toshiro, trying to remember his ex-boy toy's busy schedule between soccer, fencing, and SAT classes.
"Toshiro speaking," was the boy's curt response, "who's this?"
"It's Ichigo."
"I'm-I'm not home," Toshiro stammered, shaking as he closed his locker, "where are you? We can't do this here because badminton kids are coming after us and if they found out…"
"NO…no you don't understand I'm not calling you to do that. We aren't together anymore, and I have no intention of corrupting you anymore. I called to apologize for all the harm I've done and I hope you can come to my wedding so I can properly apologize."
"Oh," Toshiro sighed, leaning against his locker, "I was scared you were asking for that. I thought that was all you were interested in. When I moved away, I thought you would haunt me even if it was a two hour drive. I was glad you didn't, and I missed your attention; it's pathetic but I felt that way. You're still going through with the wedding?"
"For all intents and purposes," Ichigo replied, "but I can understand if you don't want to come. It would mean a lot if you did."
"I'll think about it," Toshiro sighed, closing his eyes for a second, "when is the date…?"
Ulquiorra paced restlessly in the living room, and decided a drive in his red car would make time fly faster. He slipped a green shirt over his tank top, slipped a belt through his jeans, and grabbed his car keys. Ichigo, Ichigo, Ichigo. The car ignited to those three syllables rolling in Ulquiorra's tongue and mind. Those three syllables belonged to a nuisance who would cancel the wedding with his sister today. He made a right turn into the busy boulevard, and tried locking his eyes on the road, but they wandered to his glove compartment, where he childishly stowed a picture of Ichigo. He blushed at his actions; it was only a picture Ichigo threw away after all. He managed to cross a yellow light in time to notice the cemetery on his left side. He kept going, but eventually sighed and made a left turn.
The nearby grocery store sold gaudy orange flowers, but they would do. He reached into his pocket to feel the picture he retrieved from his glove compartment, tracing the middle crease and memorizing the blank expression on Ichigo's face when he had the picture taken. He walked from the store to the graveyard, walking around other poor souls until he reached his destined tomb.
"Mother," He spoke, removing his sunglasses and folding them into his shirt pocket. He crouched down in front of his mother's tombstone and set the gaudy flowers underneath the epitaph's "she will be missed" line. He conjured memories of his mother, his smiling eccentric mother who refused to wear anything but white and insisted in being betrothed, though the family had long abandoned the action. His also remembered her "sleeping" in her casket, with purple marks around her neck no amount of face powder would be able to conceal. He got up, slipping three of the flowers out of his mother's bouquet.
The next epitaph he stopped at read "ORIHIME JEAGERJACQUES." He paused at the simple grave, eyeing the Pocky packets surrounded around the grave.
"I know you deserve a bouquet, but I could only muster enough courage to bring you three flowers," Ulquiorra stated, "I brought flowers for my mother as well. She abhorred orange, but I hope you can enjoy their beauty. You too left a small boy motherless. You too made a family-man out of a useless fellow. You two broke my heart. But I could never blame a girl in love, and it seems I've forgiven him, after all this time.
"You know I saw him in the park with his boy," Ulquiorra chuckled, "how could I not forgive him? And before that, I met this nice boy who thinks he is bad. He slept with your husband, if that's what you're wondering. But he's confused, and I believe he can set things right."
"Really?"
Small hands covered Ulquiorra's eyes and a petite cheek brushed against his. "Guess who?" Trilled D. Roy, he grinned from ear to ear at the sight of his mother's favorite orange flowers. After a few seconds he let Ulquiorra see again and hugged him.
"What happened to being a 'damn perv'?" Ulquiorra asked the boy, who decided to wear khaki slacks and a white button down shirt. His orange and pink feather pin in his hair was the only anachronism in his outfit, but it suited the boy.
"Anyone nice to my mom is a friend," D. Roy replied, "besides; daddy is still your friend, so I can't do nothing anyway."
"Go ask William for a bouquet," Grimmjow handed his son a five dollar bill, "and while you're at it, ask him about his day, maybe you could learn a thing or two about his OCD."
"Yes sir!" D. Roy saluted, running off to the cemetery's gift shop. Grimmjow sat next to Ulquiorra and stared at the epitaph before directing his attention to his ex.
"Means a lot you came here,"
"It's the first time I've complained at a cemetery, you have nothing to thank me for," Ulquiorra replied, "I was looking for some kind of sign, I suppose."
"Ichigo invited me to his wedding," Grimmjow confessed after a while, "but I was under the impression this charade would be called off."
"Soon, this charade will be over," Ulquiorra replied, standing up and dusting his pants. He pulled out Ichigo's picture and said "Mrs. JeagerJacques, I would like you to meet Ichigo Kurosaki. He is nothing but a nuisance, and I hope you can find in your heart to forgive me for liking that brat over your husband." He walked away, the ties in his throat and heart untangled at last. D. Roy walked up to him and whispered, "My daddy loves you again."
"I know," Ulquiorra whispered, "but I can't love him anymore. Take care of him."
"Hello? Is Shirayuki there?" Ichigo asked, ignoring his cellphone's beeping.
"Just Shirosaki, your "wifey" is buying dresses for the bridesmaids. Wasn't this going to get called off today?" Shirosaki hadn't seen Shirayuki all day and wanted Ichigo to hear a piece of his mind. Acting like a lovesick bride in front of everyone was Hell for his beloved.
"The wedding won't be called off," Ichigo explained, "it can't. Imagine everybody's shook when they find out Shirayuki conspired with me. It would make chances of you two escaping that much harder. The wedding won't get past the wedding march, and I intend to break it off myself. True, Ulquiorra will go down with me, but we decided it was better two than three."
"What do you plan to do?"
"Everything, I've called in a few extra guests to assist me and…."
"Oh…oh well that's chivalrous of you, putting Shirayuki before yourself. But why don't you tell her?"
"I want to publically apologize," Ichigo stated, "and I have to go. My phone is dying. Be a pal and keep it a secret will you?"
Next chapter:
"Hey kid do you need a lift?" Neliel rolled her passenger window to properly see the white-haired boy. He was out of breath and wearing a sweaty penguin getup.
"Yeah," Toshiro huffed, leaning on her car door. He eyed the busty green-haired woman in a teal cocktail dress with two kids in overprotective car seats that contrasted the minivan's dingy appearance.
"Get in brat I have a wedding to attend," She spat, unlocking the door, "where are you headed at?"
"Same as you Mrs. Neliel," Toshiro climbed in the van, "same as you…."
A/N: second to last chapter you guys! Thanks for waiting and waiting since Halloween –bows deeply-