BOOM! Guess who's back? SUKI'S BACK! Suki's back with a BOOM!
Kay sorry again for the long wait for an update on this fic but I've been busy with other things and other fics and such and to top it off, I had to redo this chapter several times until I was finally satisfied with it plus my little... break... yeah. Grimmy's still keeping a secret from Ichi I see... hm... I wonder what it could be...
Disclaimer:
Suki: Where's that damn cat?
Grimm: *walks into the room* I'm not a cat damn it!
Suki: Yes you are! *mumbles* And I wasn't talking about you anyway...
Ichi: *walks up, holding Yoruichi in cat form* Found her.
Yoru: Asuki does not own Bleach.
Suki: *glares at her* Traitor.
"I'm concerned... how have "you" been? Have you even told him?"~Kisuke Urahara
"No. And I don't plan on it." ~Grimmjow Jeagerjaques
Grimmjow and Ichigo silently lay in bed. The berry had invited him into the bedroom so that he didn't have to sleep out on the couch again; he just wanted to feel the man next to him as he thought, unable to sleep.
"Grimmjow?"
"Hm?"
"Could you move for just a second?"
"Yeah..." the exhausted blunet lazily removed his arm from around the teen's waist before rolling over onto his other side, facing away from Ichigo who was already up and getting dressed. Where was the orange haired kid going after dark? He looked at his sleeping boyfriend one last time before silently leaving.
... ... ... ... ...
'I feel so... so dead...' looking around, he couldn't help but to notice a family of four walking back into their house most likely just getting back after a night walk. His family had done it quite often. Two little girls... they looked so precious... did their parents even care for them like he cared for Shiro? Have they ever lost what was most precious to them, not sure if they'll ever see their babies again? Doubtful; but he wouldn't say it wasn't possible. Because he has no way of knowing and if he asked, he'd just seem like an obsessed stalker. 'Have you ever thought about how you would feel if you lost your kids or have you lost them before?' Yeah right. That would just make it seem like he was gonna take them and that would make the entire family paranoid. He knows because that's what he would do. He would make sure that no one would be able to touch his son... something that... he failed at doing. "I'm sorry Shiro..." he whispered, his breath being revealed in the cold air. He hoped that his words would somehow reach the small child. "So sorry..." he looked up as it began to softly snow. "I failed you... I'm useless..."
"No you're not daddy."
Ichigo gasped, his eyes searching desperately for his lost child, the source of that strict yet playful voice. His eyes watered as he recalled it as just a memory. When the child was younger and his father had had a rough day just to come home to find that a brick had been thrown through the window. His dad wouldn't show him the note that was wrapped around it but he knew what it said. Shiro dragged him upstairs to get him away from everything and cheer him up and the oranget mumbled that he was a worthless piece of trash. Shiro hit him on the head and glared at him before his eyes softened and he smiled. He knew the other couldn't handle any more stress for one day so he decided it would be best not to lecture him. Instead, he gave him a gentle hug and in his exact words said,
"No you're not daddy. I love you and that's all that matters."
Ichigo accepted his son into his arms, hugging him close to his chest as he thanked him.
... ... ... ... ...
"What is it dad?" an excited boy exclaimed, tearing at the blindfold around his eyes.
"You'll have to wait and see." Ichigo laughed, guiding him into the kitchen and helping him up onto a seat at the table.
"Can I look now?"
"No, not yet." Orihime giggled. She's the one that brought him down, seeing as they had already moved in with her. Ichigo had spent the night at his dad's house working on something special for Shiro and before the boy could even step in the house, he was blindfolded and led inside so he was anxious to see what was waiting for him. Ichigo cued Karin to turn out the lights and for his dad to light the candles. As he slowly untied the blindfold, the impatient child pulled it down to his neck when it was loose enough to do so. Upon seeing the cake before him, his eyes looked it over several times in amazement. "Happy birthday Shiro." Ichigo said, kissing his head. He smiled up at his dad before turning his excitement to his aunt.
"Thanks aunt Yuzu!" she held up her hands and shook her head.
"I didn't make it." Shiro looked at her confused before looking at Orihime, Karin, and Isshin who shook their heads. His eyes lit up with joy at the realization at who had made his wonderful cake but he closed them and shrugged.
"I guess the Boogeyman must have sneaked out from under my bed and made it cause I didn't make it and the only other person in the house can't cook to save a life." a hand ruffled his hair.
"Just make a wish already, you brat." he laughed at his father before turning back to his birthday cake. He closed his eyes and everyone went silent, listening and watching intently as if they were gonna be able to hear his wish.
"Boo!" he suddenly yelled, throwing his arms up and everyone in the room jumped though Ichigo couldn't say that he didn't expect him to do something of the sort. He sat laughing at everyone.
"Shiro-kun, the candle wax is getting onto your cake." Orihime pitched in, calming his fit of laughter. He closed his eyes again to take a deep breath. The corners of his lips twisted up before he blew out all three candles in one blow. Everyone cheered and applauded but he turned to his dad, who stood next to him, beckoning him down to his level. Obeying the birthday boy, he was surprised when a soft kiss was placed on his cheek.
"Thank you daddy." the boy smiled widely, a smile being returned to him before and after he received another kiss on the head.
"You're welcome. Now dig in." the berry stated, standing straight.
"So Shiro..." everyone looked at Karin. "What did you wish for?"
"I'm not supposed to tell you!" Shiro exclaimed playfully, picking up a fistful of cake to throw it at her. She gasped, surprised, she hadn't seen that coming though Ichigo did and laughed. He just barely ducked as cake was thrown at him. It only took a few moments for everyone to get involved. But not after long, it turned into an all against Ichigo fight who was backed into a corner, without any supply, as he was bombed by the sweet dessert.
"Alright! Alright! I surrender!"
"Cease fire!" he heard Shiro call before he stepped forward. "What was that?" he held his hand to his ear, a smirk on his face. "I didn't quiet catch that."
"I said..." the oranget grabbed him just after Shiro gave the command to open fire. They both got pelted with cake, everyone was laughing and the cake was almost completely gone, scattered all over the house. They had a lot of cleaning up to do.
... ... ... ... ...
As I watched the scene before me, I tried to hide the fact that he was enjoying every second of it... getting to listen to every scream coming from the woman whose only goal in life was to torment me.
"Ichigo I'll kill you! I'll fucking kill you!" she screamed in pain and I couldn't help but to smirk. But when I was able to see my baby's head, I completely forgot about her. I wanted to see my baby boy! I was having a hard enough time not pushing my dad out of the way and pulling him out myself. So far there weren't any problems with the delivery and dad said that he doubted that there would be any at all.
"Ichigo come here!" already at my father's side, watching everything he was doing, I asked what he needed. "Get ready!" at the command, I turned around to where we had already placed everything and grabbed them before turning back. I moved next to my father as he made room for me.
"Yuzu!" I shouted to my sister over Hiyori's screams, cuing the girl. Dad and I had tried to keep her out of this by saying that she was too young but she persisted so we just told her that she had to stay up by her head, hold her hand, and talk to her so that's what she was doing. Karin didn't want to participate in it because she didn't want to deal with the screams but not long after delivery began, she ran in with the video camera. I told her, even though I knew she didn't want to see it, to get behind me and dad and record the birth. She obeyed without a word.
"Come on Hiyori-chan you need to push just a little more." Yuzu told her but she shook her head viciously.
"No!"
"But Hiyori-chan-"
"NO!" she yelled. "I'm done!"
"Hiyori you push my son out right now or I swear to Jashin, you will writhe in pain for the rest of your fucking life!" I yelled at her from between her legs.
"AAHHHH!" she screamed, finally giving in and pushed. I wrapped the blanket around the child when he was finally free but made sure to leave his stomach uncovered. The blond's screams lowered to exhausted pants. Dad showed me where to cut the umbilical cord and after I did, he tied it off himself just to be safe. I watched his eyes, half afraid to look down at the bloody bundle in my arms. He was silent... he wasn't crying... what if something had done wrong? What if... he was... a stillbirth?
"Dad?" I asked hesitantly, my eyes revealing my fear.
"It's always scary at first... but you're ready." Isshin said, patting his shoulder. They were all trying hard not to look at the baby, everyone promised that I would be the first one to see him. I looked at Karin who nodded. I took a deep breath and looked down, moving the blanket away from his face. I stopped breathing. Soft snow lay under a crimson coating, golden eyes looked up at me tiredly, and small hands reached out to me. My son... I was a father. Slow tears began to fall down my face but I paid them no mind. Everyone else came to get a look at him- "Ichigo!"
... ... ... ... ...
"Ichigo!" he didn't recall this as part of the memory, was someone actually calling him? "Ichigo!" he turned around to meet angry blue eyes, the glare of his lover... it was Grimmjow. "What the Hell? You've been gone over two hours! I couldn't find you anywhere!" he shouted in worry.
"Two hours? Really?" time does fly when you're thinking about depressing memories.
"Yeah, really! What the Hell are you doing out here anyway-and you didn't even bring a jacket." he shouted, taking his off to wrap it around the smaller male's shoulders. The man always used anger to hide worry and fear... all emotions at that.
"I'm sorry Grimmjow..." Ichigo stated, looking down sadly. Grimmjow sighed before pulling his chin up to meet his softened eyes.
"It's okay. Just next time you decide to go for a walk in the middle of the night, wake me up first." his berry's lips pulled up into a small smile as he nodded. The blunet pecked his lips before taking his hand and began walking. They were already out here so why not continue on? "So what are you doing out here anyway?"
"Nothing really, I just wanted to get out for a bit to think. Now I kinda wanna go to dad's place and see if I can barrow the video camera."
"For what?" Grimmjow asked, an eyebrow rising up.
"The one that I want is the one that we dedicated solely to Shiro. His entire life is recorded in its memory."
"And you want to watch everything again?" Ichigo nodded and the blunet sighed again. "Alright but if it gets to the point where you're crying uncontrollably, I'm shutting it off and you're not watching anymore."
"Fair enough." they walked in silence for a ways before Ichigo spoke. "Grimm?"
"Hm?" he asked, looking down at his boyfriend.
"Thank you... for everything." the panther's eyes looked down at the ground blankly before looking straight ahead again, a smile playing on his lips.
"You're welcome."
... ... ... ... ...
Once the house was in clear view, Ichigo checked the windows for lights. The only one on was the living room light so he figured that someone had to be up. Walking up to the door, the teen knocked on it, moments later, it was answered.
"Hey dad." he whispered nervously, feeling as if he had been gone for years and was suddenly showing up again.
"Hey Ichigo, how are you?" Isshin asked with a smile as he allowed them in.
"Better." he answered, taking off his shoes. "Uh... I was wondering if I could barrow Shiro's camera?" his dad gave him a wary look as they walked into the living room, Grimmjow following silently as he looked around, this being his first time in the place.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Don't worry, I'll be watching him." Grimmjow spoke up, his eyes looking up the stairs before meeting the other man's. "We've already established that if it gets bad enough, we're turning it off and bringing it back." Isshin nodded in understanding.
Grimmjow looked down at the berry laying on his lap. After about an hour into the video, he fell asleep. He had done a lot of crying but managed to keep his tears under control so he wasn't allowed to turn it off. The blunet sighed, running his hand through the others bright orange locks as he continued to watch the rest of the video.
"So Shiro are you excited?" Orihime's voice asked as the camera focused on the boy holding his dad's hand.
"Yup! I'm gonna miss grandpa, Yuzu, and Karin but now I'll get to spend more time with Aunt Hime!" he sang, his joy showing through his voice as he looked behind him to see the girl who Grimmjow guessed was holding the camera.
"Don't worry, we're not moving that far, we'll visit them a lot." Ichigo stated, not turning back though part of his face was still caught on the frame. He looked too serious... hurt even. The blunet put the pieces together, they were just leaving his dad's place to move in with Orihime.
"Are you okay Ichigo?" the girl asked, concern and worry consuming her voice. He turned her head to see her before his tear full eyes widened and his head quickly turned away.
"Orihime now's not the time for that, turn the camera off." his voice rushed.
"Okay, I'm sorry."
"Dad?" Shiro asked sadly. Just before the screen went black, Ichigo picked the toddler up and held him tightly.
Grimmjow looked down at Ichigo, his eyes full of sorrow. The boy was scared to leave but he did it for his son. He was a good father. No other videos started as he figured that was all of them. Grimmjow carefully moved out from under Ichigo's head before heading into their room to retrieve his art supplies and his unfinished picture from their hiding place in the closet. He moved over to the table and begun working on it again.
Waking from sleep, Ichigo yawned and stretched. He looked around, seeing that he had fallen asleep on the couch and wondered where Grimmjow had gone when he saw the man's figure slouched over the table, his head rested on his folded arms. The berry stood and walked over to him to kiss his head when his eyes caught the piece of paper his boyfriend was on. His curiosity got the best of him and he carefully pulled it out from under him to look at it. His eyes softened and a small smile showed on his lips. The picture was finally complete, signed, and dated. Grimmjow really loved him and cared about Shiro like he was his own. He placed the picture back down and kissed his lovers head again before walking into their room to lay in bed, intent on going back to sleep.
So sorry about the shortness of the chapter but I couldn't think of anything else to do and I had a lot of other things to work on and yeah... *bows* Forgive me.
