Disclaimer: Yuzuna-chan owns NOTHING! Sadly. Please, nobody sue me. You won't get much. xD
--
- Eight Months Later-
The doorbell rings as Orihime attempts to get up from her seat at the computer and get it. Sousuke comes to her rescue, offering her a hand to help her up.
"Thanks," she says, slightly winded, "moving's gotten a bit... difficult." Though trying to sound annoyed, she smiles and puts a hand on her belly. He wraps his arms around her from behind and pulls her close.
"How are my girls today?" he asks, kissing her temple.
"We're good." she answers as the doorbell rings again. "It's open!" She yells.
Tatsuki comes around the corner with two brightly wrapped packages in hand. "Well, aren't you two cute?" she says, plopping down on the couch. "Did I interrupt something?"
"No. You're good." Orihime says. "Hey, Sousuke?"
"Yes?"
"You do realize this is a baby shower, right?"
"...And?"
"And you know that it's women only, right?"
"What am I supposed to do, drink alone?"
She grins manaically. "Nope." The doorbell rings again. "It's open!" she calls, and they hear the door creak open, then slam shut.
"Orihime?! What's going on here?!"
Ichimaru Gin and Tousen Kaname step around the corner.
"Long time, no see, ne, Taichou?" Ichimaru's perpetual grin widens.
"Yes, it has." His smile is forced. "Orihime!" he hisses into her ear.
"Yes?"
"Why are they here?!"
"Because I thought you might want to spend some time with your old buddies! I only did it because I love you." She gets out of his arms, kisses him on the cheek, and moves, as best she can, towards the front door. "Please, could you two have Sousuke back here before it gets dark?" she asks.
"O'course, Hime." Gin replies, his grin in place. Ah, how he loves seeing his taichou clearly pissed off.
"Yes, we will." Tousen adds.
"Have a good time!" she cries, shoving the trio out the door. She leans against the wall, unwilling to move. "Hey, Tatsuki? Can you go get me a Reese's out of the kitchen?"
Tatsuki rises. "To lazy to get it yourself?" she asks, walking to the kitchen.
"Too pregnant to get it myself." Orihime says, closing her eyes and laying her hands on her stomach.
"So, how are those two, anyway?" Tatsuki asks, handing over the candy.
"Eh, they kick alot. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes not." She grins, opening the wrapper.
"How much do you hate being pregnant?"
"Acutally, I like it. Just wait till you're older, it'll make your life that much easier." Orihime stuffs a whole Reese's in her mouth.
"You think I don't get that enough from my mom?"
Orihime swallows. "I'm just backing her up."
"Your hair looks cute like that, by the way." Orihime has her hair tied into two low pigtails, the ends spiraling, like at her wedding.
"Thanks. I'd curled my hair yesterday, because Sousuke took me out to dinner, and I didn't feel like washing it." She grins.
The doorbell rings again, and she turns to open the door.
She's greeted by a horrified expression from Rukia and a faceful of Matsumoto's chest.
"ORIHIME-CHAN!"
"Hi... Rangiku-san..."
The well-endowed woman steps back, taking her neon-green wrapped package from Rukia. "Wow!" she cries, placing a hand on Orihime's belly. "When did this happen?!"
"Uhm, acutally, I've got twin girls in here." Orihime smiles sheepishly.
"Twin girls?! Wow! You lucky lady!"
Orihime turns to let the two into the house. "Uhm, Tatsuki, you remember Rangiku-san and Rukia-san? They were at my wedding..."
"Oh yeah. Hi, you guys."
"Actually, we brought someone with us!" Matsumoto chirps.
"Who?"
"Well, Nanao, Unohana and Yachiru should be here shortly, but we brought this special addition with us." Matsumoto stands aside, revealing the small woman in a plain blue dress that had been standing behind her. "Orihime-chan, I don't think you met Hinamori-chan but the one time, did you?"
Orihime stares, wide-eyed at the small girl before her. "Uhm, you're right, we only met once..." Her hand twiches over her daughters. What were you thinking, Rangiku-san? What if Sousuke comes back before you all leave?!
"Uhm, we were never properly introduced." The dark-haired girl finally speaks, her doe-brown eyes filled with... well, Orihime doesn't recognize the emotion, but it's not anger. "I'm Hinamori Momo, liutenant of Squad Five."
"Hi, Hinamori-chan. Ai... Inoue Orihime." She has begun to say her married name, but corrects herself and uses her maiden name, for Hinamori's sake.
"It's okay."
"What is?"
"I... I know you're married to Captain Aizen. I'm very happy for you." She bows respectfully.
Orihime smiles. "I'd bow too, but that's kind of... difficult." She rubs the back of her head, embarassed.
"It's okay!" Hinamori chirps. "So, uhm, you told Rangiku twin girls, right?"
"Yup yup!"
"I'm so happy for you."
They are interrupted by the arrival of Nanao, Yachiru and Unohana.
"Hi, Orihime-san. Ise Nanao."
"Nanao-san! I've heard so much about you!" she pulls the other woman into a hug- well, as much of a hug as she can give.
"Princess-chan!"
"Hi there, Yachiru!"
The tiny shinigami with bubblegum pink hair rushes into the house. "Who's this?" She's spotted Tatsuki.
"That's my friend, Tatsuki-chan!"
"Spikey-san!"
"Huh?!" the group asks.
"Her hair's kinda spiky, ne? Nice ta meet ya, Spikey-san!"
Tatsuki bows to the little girl with a bewildered expression.
"Don't worry, Tatsuki-chan." Rangiku assures her. "She does that to everybody."
"Okay..."
"Anyways, Orihime-chan, I don't believe you've met Unohana-taichou, have you?"
"Uhm..."
"We exchanged a few words, but nothing more." Orihime is comforted by the sound of Unohana's motherly voice. "It's an honor to finally meet you, Orihime-san."
"No, no, the pleasure's all mine!" Orihime cries, bowing her head slightly.
"It's all right." She smiles and puts a hand on the teen's shoulder, leading her into the house. "Is that everyone, Rangiku?"
"Yup! Now then, let's party!"
So Orihime plays music on her computer as they snack and talk about their lives. Finally, Rangiku yells that Orihime should open her gifts.
They pile the boxes on the couch next to her, and she destroys the wrapping paper package by package.
From Rangiku, the Shinigami Women's Association calandar for this year.
"Thank you so much, Rangiku-san!"
"Ne, I thought it might remind our dear buddy Aizen of home." Everyone laughs, including Hinamori.
From Rukia, matching Chappy the Rabbit pajamas for the girls.
"I had meant for your baby to have two sets, but I guess now there's one for each."
"Wow! These are really cute, Rukia-san! Thank you!"
The gifts are all incredible, but the one from Hinamori nearly brings her to tears.
She tears the deep purple wrapping paper off, lifts the lid on the white box, and pulls it out.
A blanket, made from crisp, but soft black fabric, trimmed with a clean white. In the middle is a large white square which has the Squad Five insignia printed on it.
Orihime's eyes are full of tears as she stares at Hinamori.
"If I had known you were having twins, I would have made two." she says.
Orihime's hand rests on the white patch. "Is it...?" She's afraid to ask, but knows the answer.
"Yes," Hinamori says, her own eyes beginning to water, "it's from Captain Aizen's haori."
Though everyone is dying to ask how Hinamori got her hands on it, and had the will to destroy it, no one does.
Orihime rises, though with great difficulty, walks over, and hugs the girl, the tears beginning to fall. "Thank you so much, Hinamori-san." she whimpers.
"Hm-mm." the other girl sobs.
"Group hug!" Rangiku cries, desparate to break the tension. All the women jump on Orihime, laughing.
"Anyone ready for cake?" Tatsuki offers.
Everyone back in their seats, they begin to devour Orihime's triple chocolate fudge cake.
The door opens and everyone turns, with small white circles for eyes and forks in their mouths as Aizen, Ichimaru and Tousen enter.
The groups stare at each other for about a half a second before Ichimaru and Tousen turn around and walk out.
"We'll be leavin' now. Good seein' ya, Sousuke." Ichimaru places a hand on his friend's shoulder before closing the door.
Aizen suddenly realizes the danger that he's in: a room full of potentially angry women and his pregnant wife.
"You're home!" Orihime chirps.
"Uhm, yes." he says, not taking his eyes off the group of women. "Orihime...? Why didn't you tell me you'd have so many people...?"
"What, you didn't think it'd just be me and Tatsuki, did you?"
"Well, no, but..."
"It's nice to see you again, Aizen-san." Unohana is the first to speak.
"Yeah."
"Yes, it is."
"Hey! It's Glasses-san!"
"Yes, it's nice to see you."
The only one who doesn't speak is Hinamori, who is trying to make herself blend in with the wall unit behind her. Unfortunately, seeing Aizen not ten feet away from her has made her need for chocolate kick in, so she begins to shvel down the rest of her cake.
"Uhm, Sousuke, we're not quite done here... d'you wanna just wait for me in the back?" she asks, trying to spare Hinamori, who everyone is watching out the corner of their eye.
"Alright." he says, smiling and proceeding to his and Orihime's room. "It was nice to see all of you again." he says with a small nod at the group.
Hinamori lets out a small gasp. Everyone- Aizen included- turns to stare at her.
"Momo-chan?" he asks, surprised to see her here, of all places.
Hinamori, unable to speak, begins waving her arms incoherently. Part of her wants to sprint over to him, hold him and never let go, and the other is telling her to stay right where she is.
"He-hello, Aizen-taichou." she squeaks, bowing her head.
Every woman gives a terrified look from Hinamori to Aizen and back again.
"Sousuke!" Orihime stands up, nervous as heck, wanting to spare her friend. It's almost like everyone can hear Hinamori's heart shatter into a million pieces as she studies color patterns on the hardwood floor.
Orihime pushes him towards their room. Once inside, she shuts the door. "What the hell is with you?!" She's trying not to yell.
"What do you mean?"
"Addressing Hinamori-chan like that! Calling her out! What were you thinking?!"
"That I haven't seen her in a while and I wanted to catch up a bit."
"Oh, really?!"
"Yes!"
A vein pops in Orihime's forehead as she presses a cold hand to her forehead.
"Stay back here until I send everyone home. Not a peep. You got it?"
"Yes?"
"Good."
She exits the room, while he stands there, flabberghasted. He'd never seen Orihime be more commanding.
Back with friends, Orihime turns off the music and turns on the TV and her Nintendo Gamecube.
"Anyone up for a round of Mario Kart?" she asks.
--
Around midnight, Orihime tells the group to break it up.
"But why?" Matsumoto whines. "I was just getting the hang of this!" She waves a Gamcube controller back and forth in frustration.
"I'm keeping Sousuke up. Besides, if I don't get enough sleep, Sakura and Setsuna won't either."
She ushers everyone out, thanking them individually for the gifts.
Hinamori Momo remains in the doorway.
"Hinamori-chan." Orihime says with a kind smile. "Thank you so much for coming- and for the blanket. I'm sure that wasn't an easy thing to do." She pulls the girl into a hug.
"If Aizen-taichou's happy, then I am. And it seems like he's happy here, with you. So I have no complaints. And it was fun to make that blanket- what else was I going to do with his haori?"
Orihime giggles. "That's true. And I'm sure Sakura and Setsuna will love it."
"Those are cute names."
"Thanks. I picked out Sakura, we were going to use Raito for a boy, but Sousuke decided on Setsuna for the other girl, so... yeah."
Hinamori smiles. "That's nice. Best of luck to you both."
"Thanks. Take care, Hinamori-chan. Please, come back and see us sometime."
"I'll try, honest. I want to see them after they're born."
"Okay."
Orihime closes the door, pressing a hand to the frame and closing her eyes. What a strong woman. I need to learn to be more like her.
Warm arms encircle her from behind and pull her close to her husband.
"You shouldn't be staying up so late, Princess." He lips are at her ear.
"I know. That's why I made everyone go home." She smiles.
"We could continue celebrating, if you want." He says seductively.
"Not while I'm this pregnant. I'm seriously going to burst at any minute. I'm not quite sure that's the smartest thing to be doing."
"You're right." he says, kissing her cheek. "You usually are."
"Sousuke? You know what I'd really like?"
"What?"
"If we could stay in bed all day tomorrow and just talk. Eat, of course, but still. You know what I mean?"
He smiles. "I know exactly what you mean."
So they fall asleep as they usually do, him with his arms protectively around her and her curled up against him. When they wake the next morning, they keep breakfast simple, tossing Pop-Tarts in the toaster.
They go back to bed, and he hold her against him- well, as close as he can get- and whispers her name over and over into her hair.
"Sousuke?"
"Yes?"
"...There's something I need to show you." She gets up, walks into the living room, and comes back with the blanket in hand. She puts it on top of the new comforter and crawls into bed next to him.
"What is this?" he asks, eyeing it. He suddenly notices the patch in the middle, then realizes that it's made to look like a shinigami uniform. "Who...?"
"It's Hinamori-chan's gift." Orihime says in a small voice.
"Oh."
"'Oh'? That's all you can say?"
"What am I supposed to say, other than she's clearly over our little... fling?"
"Well, clearly you have too, otherwise it would be her in your bed and not me!" she snaps.
He wraps his arms tighter around her. "Is this what our whole marriage is going to be about? You worrying that I'm going to leave you for another woman? Orihime, I haven't even looked at another woman since you came into the picture. Why can't you understand that?"
She sighs, then snuggles closer to him. "I guess you're right." She smiles. "Oh, hang on a sec. Bathroom break." She stands up and walks towards the bathroom. He rolls over onto his back, hoping he never has to deal with a pregnant Orihime again. She'd wake up at one, two, sometimes three o'clock in the morning with a craving for something they didn't have lying around, she was moody and acutally got angry. And then, there was the fact that she was eating for three. That was enough to nearly empty their refrigerator in almost 2 days.
He hears her small scream from the bathroom. "Sousuke!"
He jumps up dashes to the bathroom door. "What's wrong?! Did something happen?!"
"Sousuke, call Tatsuki's mom. I think I'm going into labor."
--
Tatsuki jumps about three feet into the air when the phone rings. She answers, knowing her mom probably won't.
"Hullo?"
"Tatsuki-chan!" Her brow furrows at how panicked Aizen Sousuke sounds. "Get your mother on the phone! Please, it's an emergency!"
"Mom! Pick up the phone!"
A click signals Haruka entering the conversation. "What's up?"
"Arisawa Haruka?! Aizen Sousuke. You have to come quickly, Orihime thinks she might be in labor."
"Oh, my God! I'll be right there!"
All three parties hang up. Haruka grabs her jacket, purse and car keys and sprints toward the door.
"Wait, Mom! I'm coming with you!"
"You sure?"
"I want to be there for Orihime."
"...Okay, let's go."
Sure enough, when they get to the house, Orihime is doubled over in pain, with Sousuke walking around incoherently.
"Yup. Hime-chan, you're in labor. Let's go. Sousuke, call your doctor. Meet us at the car."
Thirty minutes later, they arrive at the hospital, everyone running and terrified.
"Orihime?!" Her doctor sprints out to meet them. "How is she? How long has she been like this?"
"About forty minutes." Sousuke provides.
"Okay, Orihime-chan? We're going to get you into a room right now. Don't worry, we'll give you something for the pain."
She nods, biting her lip.
About ten minutes later, Orihime is surrounded by doctors, nurses, and her family, with Haruka holding her hand knowingly, and Sousuke and Tatsuki looking at each other like, "Lord, that must be painful."
After a bit of screaming and nearly breaking Haruka and Sousuke's hands, Orihime sits back, holding her daughters in her arms.
"I can't believe it." she says quietly. "Now somebody's gonna be calling me 'Mommy'!"
Sousuke brushes her hair away from her face. "That was... Well. I have quite a bit more respect for women, now that I've witnessed the birth of a child."
Haruka laughs. "You were great, Hime-chan."
"I know I'll be having a C-Section..." Tatsuki mutters.
Sousuke strokes the dark hair of the baby nearest him.
"I can't even tell them apart," Orihime says. "I just know the one on my left is the oldest, and the one on the left is younger." She smiles. "Oh! Sousuke, here! Take the oldest one!" Already, the child has been staring at him with very angular brown eyes. He takes her in his arms.
"This one is Sakura." he says.
"Yeah, she looks like a Sakura, doesn't she?" Orihime chirps. She turns to the one still in her arms. "So, I guess you're Setsuna, ne?" Setsuna has an equally dark head of hair, but with big grey eyes, like her mother.
"She has your eyes, Sousuke-san." Tatsuki says.
"Yeah, she does!" Haruka adds.
"But Setsuna looks a bit more like Orihime."
Orihime can not stop smiling, so overjoyed that this day has finally come.
The doctor comes in.
"How are we doing, Orihime-chan?" she asks with a smile. She's friendly woman, with large blue eyes and brown-black hair cut in an angled bob.
"Great, now that the painful part's over." Orihime smiles.
"So then, you've named them? Which is which?"
"This one is Sakura." Sousuke says, gesturing to the infant in his arms.
"And she's older by two minutes, yes?"
"That's right."
"And the other...?"
"This is Setsuna!" Orihime says.
"Those are cute!" The doctor cries. "Well, anyway, the tests came back great. They're both very healthy girls. You can take them home today, if you'd like."
"Oh, that would be great!"
"Alright. I'll get the release forms together." She exits, smiling.
Orihime plays with a curl on top of Setsuna's head. The baby laughs, and Orihime smiles. Sousuke wraps an arm around his wife.
"Tatsu-chan, let's go." Haruka says suddenly.
"Go where?"
"Hm... I'm thirsty. Let's go get a soda!" Haruka pulls her daughter out by the elbow.
"Can you believe it?" Orihime asks quietly. "We're parents."
"I know. Isn't it amazing?"
"...I hope we don't screw up."
"We won't. Because youll be a caring and understanding mother, and I'll be an insanely overprotective father."
She smiles up at him. "They're gonna hate us."
"Yup. And then you can just hug them all you want to, to make them mad."
"I look forward to it."
--
That night, they tuck their girls into bed under Hinamori's blanket. Orihime's eyes widen at the scene before her.
"Ohmigosh wow they look so cute!" she whispers.
"They do."
"Hang on a sec." She dashes from the room and returns with a digital camera. "I'm gonna take a picture of this."
"Why?"
"Because I want to." she zooms in and presses down on the shutter. There's a flash of light, and she holds in a somewhat fangirly reaction. "They're just... so... cute...!"
"They take after their mother." he says, wrapping his arms around her.
"Don't be so kind." She sighs. "So, ready to take on fatherhood, Mr. Power-hungry-shinigami-with-a-God-complex?"
"I think I can handle it."
"I hope we can handle it."
"Stop worrying about it, Princess." He kisses her hair. "You'll be a great mother, of that I have no doubt."
"Okay," she mutters, "let's get out of here and let them sleep."
"Good idea."
So they sit on the couch, the TV turned on though neither of them are really paying attention, her lying with her head on his chest and his hands absent-mindly tracing random patterns across her skin.
"Don't worry," he says into her hair, "we're going to be fine."
--
Author's Note: Sorry if this chapter was a bit short, it just sorta flowed like that... anyway. Next chapter will be final chapter of this fanfic! -sob- But anyway. Stay turned for the conclusion of "Darkest Before the Dawn"!!