A/N: such lovely readers, you make my day extra special. thank you for your support. i'm really glad about how the story is turning out, and i still have a ton of ideas. thanks for everything dear readers. i apologize if i can't thank each and everyone of you personally, but please know that i really am very grateful. without you this story would not exist. thanks. :))

Sweet Pretenses

Chapter 6

The steaming hot coffee he had bought for a couple of yen was enough to calm his senses. It was not at all good, but it was decent especially for a clinic. Being in that room and hearing Rukia say she was raped was too much to bear. She was so fragile that Kaien thought she could literally break. The expression on her face was very difficult to forget, and there he was sitting in a damn hospital cafeteria drinking Kami only knows what while Rukia...he couldn't even begin to describe her. He didn't mean to upset her more, especially about the child, but it was just really difficult for him to swallow the fact that Rukia was about to kill someone innocent.

"Can I sit down?" Kaien looked up from his cup of coffee to the woman who had suddenly approached him. The white coat was a blur until she sat down. Then he recognized her as Dr. Unohana.

"Sure." He answered nonchalantly, his eyes getting back to the coffee.

"Look, I'm gonna give it to you straight." The young man looked up, amused and somewhat confused by what Rukia's doctor was talking about. "When she got here, she looked broken, and even though she improved she still has a long way to go. I don't know how or why but somehow she felt better when you came, and I know the abortion is a bad thing but you could've given it to her a little more gently. You shouldn't have walked out on her like that! Of all times she needs a friend, she could really use one right now but you're just being an ass. There I said it!" Unohana finished her little speech with a slight thump of her closed fist on the table.

Kaien stared at her, a little surprised by the doctor's sudden fit. Unohana might seem very fragile and soft-spoken but after her little rant, Kaien knew she was more than that. She may be all smiles but she cared for her patient deeply, that much he could tell. Kaien knew she was right, Rukia needed him. "Still, I don't want to go against my beliefs…"

The doctor sighed, a little exasperated by the man. "All I'm saying is, if you want to convince her to keep the baby say it in a nice way. Tell her she could consider an adoption."

Kaien chuckled lightly, imagining a pregnant Rukia. "Rukia, she won't do that. She's a softie that girl. Sure if I asked her to keep it she'd keep it. But she'd have the child for life; she's not the type to just be giving it away. After all, the baby's still her flesh and blood" Kaien replied, amused that he was actually having that conversation with the doctor.

"There are two ways out of this, she gets the abortion or she goes through her pregnancy and decides from there, and I know you care for Rukia-dono and her unborn child but please leave it to her to decide. She's been through enough." Unohana stood up from her chair, and touched Kaien's arm. "Don't give her anymore things to get upset about; it's bad for her condition."

The young man nodded, "Why do you like getting into other people's business anyway?" Kaien asked with a slight smile, remembering her not so discreet moves back in Rukia's room.

"For the greater good" She replied with a smile as she walked away from the bewildered man.

Somehow he felt better; the talk with the doctor did well in calming his nerves. Rukia's wishes comes first before his, and whatever path she chooses he would be there for her, all the way.

--

"I told you so…" The incredibly annoying sing song voice of Karin Kurosaki resonated in the vast study of the estate's master. Isshin would give anything to have her daughter stop. "That was a pretty stupid move, giving the CEO position to a baka!" She reprimanded her father. Karin was a free-spirited woman, loud and sometimes she tends to be rude. She's always voicing out her thoughts, whether it might hurt someone or not. She believed that saying it straight on is better than wasting precious time beating around the bush.

"Hey, don't say that Karin. Maybe, maybe Ichi-nii is just having that momentary lapse of judgment episodes" Yuzu, the youngest of the Kurosaki family, spoke up. Yuzu on the other hand is the complete opposite. She's soft-spoken and very positive. Unlike Karin, Yuzu tends to coat her words with too much sugar that it's borderline diabetes.

"Episodes?!" Karin and Isshin both said in unison.

"Those are not episodes Yuzu" Isshin replied, massaging the bridge of his nose, a migraine settling in. The last time he had a migraine was when Yuzu announced her engagement.

"Yeah, dad's right. Those are not episodes, what Ichi-nii's having is the whole chapter…the whole book even!" Karin turned back to his father, an annoyed look on her face. "You should've married me to Toshirou Kuchiki and this wouldn't have happened"

Isshin frowned, he didn't want his precious princesses marrying any bastard. To him, no one is worthy. The engagement of his youngest wasn't very easy to accept, and the fact that he actually heard Karin considering a marriage with Toshirou was just too much.

"Have you called Ichi-nii already?" Yuzu suddenly asked, as she played with the diamond engagement ring on her finger.

"No, I called someone to straighten him out." Was Isshin's simple reply.

"Who?" Karin asked, eyeing her father.

"Someone dear to both your brother and Rukia-chan" Karin nodded in understanding.

"I'm pretty sure Ichi-nii has a good explanation for the things that has unfolded" Yuzu said, being the always optimistic girl she is.

"Oh I am dying to hear his explanation" Karin said, slightly disgusted by her older brother's actions. "But knowing him, I doubt he'd be able to pull it off"

"He better pull it off, alright" Isshin said menacingly, throwing the stack of papers into the trash bin near his desk. The bold and large "Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki-Kurosaki's Official Divorce Document" seemingly mocking him.

--

A 2009 Maserati GranTurismo pulled over the parking lot of Mercy Clinic, an unusually orange-haired man stepped out of the vehicle and scanned the area. It was a small health facility, with decent shrubbery, and the clinic was a good distance away from the main highway giving the patients a quiet place for maximum recovery.

Ichigo walked up the front door and straight to the receptionist's desk.

"Good afternoon sir, what can I help you with?" The brunette woman behind the desk greeted him with a smile. Not the fake ones you usually see, but a genuine untainted one.

"What room is Rukia Kurosaki in?" He asked the girl.

"Just a minute sir" The woman said as she turned her attention to the computer, she typed a bit and then looked up to Ichigo with a rather uncertain look.

"I'm afraid we didn't admit any patient by the name Rukia Kurosaki"

Ichigo was quiet taken aback, Grimmjow has confirmed that Rukia was indeed in this hospital…that or he screwed up. "Please check again, I really need to see her. She's my wife" The word 'wife' surprised him, especially the fact he called her 'my wife'. It just seemed odd, somehow. The words escaped Ichigo's lips in a very strange way.

"Sir, there is no data recorded here that we ever had a patient named Rukia Kurosaki" The girl said with sympathy.

Ichigo cursed silently, of course, Byakuya would try to hide her from him.

"Ah, could you check if anyone from the Kuchiki family has been admitted here?"

"Okay sir, let me check" The girl typed again, looked up to Ichigo with the same uncertain look she had a while back.

"I'm sorry sir, no Kuchiki" She said, trying to sympathize with Ichigo's current dilemma.

"Are you looking for Rukia Kuchiki?" Ichigo turned to the source of the voice. A petite woman with long braided black hair was standing behind him.

"Yes, do you know where she is?" He asked, feeling a bit hopeful.

"What are your relations to Mrs. Kurosaki?" The doctor questioned

"I am her husband. I'm Ichigo." He replied, the word 'husband' rolling out of his tongue in a very unusual way. He had never introduced himself as such, and to him it felt awkward saying it for the first time.

The doctor looked him over, Ichigo wasn't sure if she was appalled or pleased but one thing he knew was that the woman before him knew where Rukia was.

"I'm Dr. Unohana. You are asking for the wrong person Mr. Kurosaki." She finally said. Dr. Unohana turned to the receptionist. "Give him Ms. Aiko Hitsu's room" The doctor smiled up at him and walked away.

"Here it is sir, Ms. Hitsu's room. Room 18. It's down the hall then, you turn right" Ichigo nodded, and started to walk but before he could go any further a certain red-haired man stopped him in his tracks, Ichigo would recognize the eccentric tattoos anywhere

"Renji" He said, slightly surprised. How long has it been since he last saw him? He couldn't really recall, after Renji had settled with his wife, he had hardly heard from him.

"You hell son of a bitch" He said, anger in his already saucer-wide eyes.

Renji Abarai. Boy had he changed. He was still the same obnoxious man Ichigo had known, one of the true friends he had ever known, but somehow the slight kindness that was usually engraved in his eyes had vanished, without a trace of possible return. He turned bitter and somewhat anal, and Ichigo could only wonder why.

Confusion was evident in Ichigo's eyes as Renji's angered face grew darker with each passing moment. Nurses, doctors and even the other people in the small hospital had stopped and watched as the scene before them unfolded. Ichigo felt like his life was being placed under the microscope again, the people watching his every blunder, waiting and wishing he'd explode.

"Renji! How have you been?"

Renji gave a bitter chuckle, eyes removing from Ichigo's expectant ones to the ceiling above. It was difficult facing him, the man who had destroyed his cousin's life. He couldn't even begin to comprehend the evil Ichigo has done to her.

"How've I been? You've got some nerve! Marching in here like you own the goddamn place!" Renji exclaimed angrily, it had been a surprise to him when Isshin Kurosaki suddenly phoned him. He was in Kyoto with his wife, enjoying a vacation, but he deemed the situation at hand with greater importance. His wife was more than supportive; they had left their two month vacation with only a week spent. Renji was less than happy, with his well-deserved vacation in the drains; the red haired man was going to make sure that Ichigo would follow. "Don't come near Rukia like nothing happened, like you didn't cast her away like some piece of trash!"

The onlookers had stopped what they were doing; some were discreetly listening while others had sat down on the aisle seats just to listen. A discreet coughing from a lone figure not far from them was a discreet way of getting the two men to pay attention to the people's presence and her thoughtful existence. When she caught the two slightly annoyed glances that had been expected, the doctor smiled and replied in a soft voice, "I think that was your cue to leave. Please mind that you are in private property, if you want to slit one another's throat you are free to do that outside. I won't stop the people from witnessing a possible fight to the death but the recovery of my patients is my top priority so please settle your differences in the parking lot, you two are becoming a nuisance in my clinic. I'll have a couple of nurses to assist if things go bad and you really decide to kill one another."

And so the two men left without another word, Ichigo momentarily forgetting what he came there to do, and Renji readying himself to tear Ichigo inside and out. All hell was about to break loose.