Disclaimer:I'm currently in the process of suing Tite Kubo for the rights to 'Bleach'. And I'm losing. Quite badly
Chapter 10 – A New Kurosaki
The days passed and as they did, Ichigo couldn't help but notice that Rukia became paler and paler with each that went by. She also seemed extremely tired lately. Ichigo wasn't sure why though; he asked his dad if it was normal, and Isshin had said it really wasn't, but it depended on the pregnancy. Where Rukia had started off so bad, it could have had something to do with that.
She also – though Ichigo wasn't stupid enough to point it out – became bigger. On the mornings she asked him if she was fat, he could never come up with an answer that satisfied her, and he was forced to endure her moodiness throughout the morning. Those were the days he tried to get the extra hours at work, to avoid going home. Of course, when he finally didget home, Rukia was still mad at him. But he learned to live with it. On nights like those, he usually slept on the couch.
Rukia shivered as she rolled over in bed. It was mid-November, and the weather had taken a turn for the worst. There was actually a light cover of snow on the ground now, and every bucket of water, every lake, every bit of liquid that was exposed to the frigid air, froze over.
It was cold in the apartment, despite the fact that the heat was on. Rukia wrapped the blankets tightly around her shivering body. She curled up into a small ball and wrapped her arms around her legs. After a second she felt a slight tugging, and the blankets unraveled from her slightly. "Ichigo," she groaned, pulling one hand out and pulled the blankets back. Ichigo's hand caught the blankets and before long they were in a tug-of-war. Finally, annoyed, Rukia reached out her free hand and poked Ichigo as hard as she could in the side of his head. He yelped and reeled backwards, his grip on the blankets slackening. Rukia, smirking with victory, pulled the blankets back over herself.
"Fine," Ichigo grumbled, "Just fine. You win. I have to get up anyways..."
He muttered darkly as he climbed out of bed. Rukia smiled sweetly as she closed her eyes. A second later she felt a warm hand on her forehead. She opened her eyes again and looked up, only to find herself gazing into Ichigo's sharp amber eyes. There was a look of worry behind his usual scowl. "What-"
"You don't look good Rukia," he cut her off, "Do you feel okay?"
"I feel fine," she said, pushing Ichigo's hand away, "Just cold. And tired"
He didn't seem at all satisfied. "Maybe I should stay home today"
"You can't miss work," Rukia reminded him, "I'm going to need you after the baby's born, that'll be when you can skip work. Not now though"
The worry disappeared from Ichigo's face, leaving nothing but a scowl. "All right, all right. Just take it easy today, okay? And keep the phone on you. And don't open the door without asking who it is first"
"Yes, Dad," she muttered, pulling the blankets over her head, "Jeez Ichigo, I'll be fine"
Ichigo sighed impatiently. "Rukia, I'm being serious"
"Yeah, so am I," she untangled her foot from the covers and kicked him. "Get out"
He muttered swears under her breath as he bustled around the room and got ready to leave. He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. "I'll be home about five"
"Sounds good," she smiled as she nestled deeper into the blankets, eyes closed. "Have a good day"
"Yeah, you too. You want this door shut?"
"Nah, leave it open," a second later she heard the front door open and close, and knew Ichigo was gone. She kind of wished he didn't have to go to work, she got lonely during the day. But he couldn't afford to miss it. They needed the money.
They'd finally started decorating the baby's room a little over a month ago. Surprisingly, they'd been able to fit a crib and a bureau/changing table combo in there. But that was all. It was a small room, after all. But still, to fit in there what they had was an amazing feat.
Yuzu, bored one weekend, had gone to the mall and spent practically every bit of the money she'd saved on baby clothes. Ichigo and Rukia had both insisted on paying her back, but Yuzu had flat-out refused the money, saying that she'd enjoyed looking at the clothes. Ichigo and Rukia both agreed later that the money would find it's way into Yuzu's Christmas present.
Rukia, smiling slightly, pulled herself out of bed after about an hour of trying to go back to sleep. She made her way over to the baby's room, and leaned against the door-frame. A big part of her couldn't wait for when she had a baby to put in that crib. But a lot of her was still worried. She'd tried to put it out of her mind, but the Soul Society still found it's way into her thoughts. She didn't want to think about what would happen after the baby was born, what they might do. They'd left her and Ichigo alone, but that wouldn't last forever. She couldn't bring herself to tell Ichigo that, though.
She also had yet to tell him about the baby's spirit energy, and how it was effecting her body. She knew she should have, it would have alleviated many of his worries, but it would also have given him many new ones. She didn't want him to worry at all, and she certainly didn't want to be the cause of his worries. So she kept her mouth shut.
Rukia allowed her right hand to drift up to her stomach as she felt the baby kicking. That had started about two months ago. The first time it had kicked, Ichigo had been resting his head her stomach. It'd nailed him in the ear. "It's already so much like it's mother," he'd grumbled as he rubbed the side of his head.
Rukia laughed, remembering that. It wasn't much longer now...
Ichigo swore under his breath as he made the slow drive home. The weather had taken a turn for the worst during the course of the day. It was practically a blizzard out. Wonderful. He leaned forward as far as he could, trying to squint through the snow. The last thing he needed was to crash right now. He was so busy focusing on the road he actually drove right past the apartment building. "Oh you're a smart one," he chastised himself as he slowly turned around and drove snail-like back down the street. Once he'd finally parked, he waded through the snow – which had already built up on the sidewalk – and inside. Shivering, he made his way up to his own apartment.
When he got in, he saw Rukia curled up in the corner of the couch, sleeping. The TV was on. Grumbling about how careless she was, he walked over and turned it off. The second he did so though, she jerked awake. "I was watching that," she said thickly, rubbing her eyes and looking around, "What time is it?"
"Just after six," Ichigo grabbed a soda from the fridge, "It's really bad out there"
She looked out the window, and her violet eyes widened. "It wasn't doing that when I, er..."
"Fell asleep?"
"I wasn't sleeping, I was resting," she threw a scowl in his direction, and just as she did so, the lights above them flickered and went out.
"Oh damn," Ichigo dragged himself to the window and looked out. There were no little pinpoints of light from the apartment building across the street. "Snow must have knocked out the electricity"
That was when he remembered they had electric heat. "Great," he muttered, kicking the wall. "Just freakin' wonderful"
It was pitch black in the apartment now. "Don't we have flashlights?" Rukia asked in a cautious voice.
"Yeah, we've got some in the kitchen," a second later he heard a yell and crash. "Rukia?!"
"I'm fine," she said, "I...tripped over the table. Hang on..."
He heard a drawer open, and a second later a flashlight clicked on. "Tada," Rukia said with a smile.
Sighing, Ichigo carefully walked over to where she was standing. "Yay, we got light. What about heat?"
He saw first a look of confusion, then a look of realization cross Rukia's face. "Oh...yeah. I think we have some extra blankets in the closet"
After making her promise not to get off the couch again, Ichigo grabbed the flashlight and navigated through the dark apartment to their room, grabbing some a pile of blankets from the closet and carrying them back to the living room. He scowled as he dropped the blankets on the couch. Rukia was in the kitchen, playing with a radio. "What are you doing?"
"It runs on batteries"
"I told you to stay on the couch"
"So?" Ichigo knew he wasn't going to win. After a minute, Rukia finally got a station that wasn't completely staticy, and walked back over to the couch, setting the radio down on the coffee table as she did so. She grabbed one of the blankets and wrapped it around her small body. The guy on the radio was saying that it was snowing (no shit sherlock), it probably wouldn't let up until late tomorrow, and the power was probably going to be out until then as well.
"Wonderful," Ichigo dropped down onto the couch, sighing and grabbing a blanket as well. Rukia instantly snuggled closer next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Going back to sleep?"
"I wasn't sleeping before," she informed him. She was out after about five minutes. Ichigo listened to the radio a little more before he too fell asleep.
A sharp pain shot through Ichigo's hand. He yelped as his eyes flew open and looked around. He saw Rukia's own, pale hand clutching tightly to his; looking up at her he saw an intense look of pain on her face. "Rukia?" he said cautiously, moving a little closer to her. It was freezing in the apartment; the snow was still going strong outside. "Rukia, are you okay?"
She took a deep breath, then said, "Yeah, I...I'm fine-" she cut off the rest of the sentence, letting out a yell of pain. Her free hand (the one that wasn't currently breaking Ichigo's) drifted to her stomach, and suddenly Ichigo understood.
"You're not...having the baby...are you?"
"No, Ichigo, this is all just a figment of your imagination," Ichigo withheld his impatient sigh, though it was with great difficulty. His eyes drifted to the window. He didn't relish driving in that...
Another yell from Rukia cut through his thoughts. "Come on," he said hurriedly, jumping up and scooping her into his arms. "Keep the blanket around you, it's cold out there, okay, breath..."
It was difficult, getting to the car when they got outside. But Ichigo managed, shoving his way through the snow. They had to get to the clinic. He yanked the Rukia's car door open and quickly but carefully set her down. "Ichigo..." her eyes were wide with fear and pain.
"Don't worry," he slammed her car door and quickly went over to his own side. This wasn't ideal driving conditions, but he didn't have much of choice.
With some difficulty, he pulled out of his parking spot and took off down the street. "Ichigo!" Rukia hissed, her voice wracked with pain, "Slow down, you're gonna crash"
"I will not," he shot back, "Unless you wanna have the baby in the car, just be quiet and let me drive"
She started to retort, then winced as another contraction shot through her body. She bit her lip, trying not to scream, and Ichigo felt the anger drain out of him. "Don't worry," he said in a slightly calmer voice. "It'll be okay"
And it was, until they turned onto the road for the clinic. Ichigo had slowed down a little, enough so that it wasn't scaring Rukia anymore. But it didn't matter. When he hit the patch of ice he still spun out. "Ichigo!" Rukia's voice was just barely audible over the screeching tires and the roar of the wind.
The car jerked to a stop very suddenly. Both Rukia and Ichigo were thrown forward, but thankfully they were both wearing seat belts. Ichigo twisted around in his seat to look out the back window, and saw that the back end of the car had spun into a telephone pole. "Wonderful," he muttered, looking back at Rukia, "Are you okay?"
She nodded, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. After a second, Ichigo unbuckled first himself, then Rukia, and got out of the car. "W-Where are you going?" she asked, sounding worried. He walked around to her side of the car and opened the door.
"The clinic's just down the street, I can carry you," making sure the blanket was still tightly wrapped around her body, Ichigo picked her up and took off down the street. The sign for the clinic came into view, and he saw lights on in the house.
As he started up the driveway, the front door opened. Isshin's eyes widened in surprise when he saw his son and Rukia. "What's going on? Was that your car we heard-?"
"Dad, shut up," Ichigo snapped as he approached, "Rukia's having the baby"
Yuzu peered out from behind her father, eyes wide. "She...what?" Isshin asked, confused, "But, it's early-"
"I don't think it matters," Ichigo cut him off as Rukia winced again. A small whimper escaped her lips; Ichigo could tell she was trying not to scream. "Are you going to let us in or what? It's cold out here!"
Isshin and Yuzu, still gaping, quickly stepped aside so Ichigo could walk in. Isshin jumped into action. "Okay, bring her into the clinic, we'll start prepping her...Yuzu, do you still want to help?"
Ichigo's eager little sister nodded, her face the picture of concentration. Karin, who was standing in the door to the clinic, said she also wanted to help, and with that they made their way into the clinic.
The next thirty minutes were hectic. Ichigo wasn't quite sure what his family was doing, but on the other hand he didn't particularly care either. He stood next to Rukia, his hand (which felt broken now) clutched tightly in hers as she tried not to yell out during the contractions. "It's okay," Ichigo muttered, "To yell, I mean. If you want..."
But she shook her head. She was stubborn one, Rukia was. "All right," Isshin said finally, "Rukia, this time when the contraction comes I want you to push. Okay?"
She nodded, not wanting to open her mouth and try to speak. Rukia had felt pain before. She'd felt the physical pain of hollow fangs ripping through her flesh. She'd felt the emotional pain in the aftermath of Yukio raping her. But somehow, none of those things could quite compare to the pain she was going through right then.
As another contraction wracked her small body, she did exactly as Isshin said, and pushed. The pain that shot through her was almost unbearable, and she tightened her grip on Ichigo's hand (she was surprised she hadn't heard his bones cracking yet, she knew she was clutching it quite hard).
Ichigo had to admit, he was actually in awe of Rukia. He could tell she was in a lot of pain, but she'd still managed to keep from screaming. Of course, he thought he deserved a little credit for not yelling as well, considering the death grip she had him in. He wouldn't complain though...
He kept his eyes on Rukia, muttering reassurances to her and pushing strands of hair out of her eyes. Sweat was beading on her forehead, soaking her hair. "Just a little more..." Isshin was saying, "Come on Rukia, you can do this..."
The girl in question nodded and squeezed her eyes tightly shut, her face a picture of pain. A minute later, a loud cry echoed through the room, and Rukia fell back on her pillows, breathing hard. "It's a boy!" Isshin was saying, "A baby boy, congratulations you two!"
Ichigo smiled as he looked away from Rukia. The baby was bundled in a white towel. He was very small; Ichigo could just barely make him out.
Ichigo looked back at Rukia. Her head had fallen onto her shoulder, her eyes closed. Ichigo leaned over, closer to her, and realized something very disturbing; she wasn't breathing.
A special note to XxDoctorxX: You'll recall what I said about going into hiding after I finished this chapter...well...if I'm not in school on Monday, an angry mob found me
Author's Note:Anyways, review...and remember...if I die, you'll never find out what happens...please...I want to live...mostly...